The reason Christian and I were there was because he was going to meet up with an old classmate. He had gone to another school our freshmen year of high school and had made little to no friends there. Once he moved back to our city, he met this girl online that had gone to his school and apparently was in his class. They had not spoken in person before that, but knew who each other were. That day at the mall, they were just going to say hello, and like a friend, I came along. Later, they would call each other their “destined friend,” or something to that effect, because even though they had class together before, it was not until they met online that they actually started to become friends.
Before it was time for them to meet, however, we made our way around the mall, just to walk and kill time. I remember that I was wearing the same cargo jeans that I had on at Jackie’s party. Those were my favorite pair of jeans until they were stolen from my P.E. locker—I had to find another favorite pair of jeans after that.
Coincidentally, Jackie, Charmane, and Jackie’s little cousin were also walking around the mall in the opposite direction. I was speaking to Christian when he spotted the two girls looking in my direction as if they knew me. For some reason, I turned to look at them, as if something inside me had told me to turn around as we passed each other. At the same moment, Christian pointed out what he saw, and with a slight glance, I confirmed what he had witnessed.
In fact, they had stopped walking twenty feet behind us and had their bodies pointed directly towards me, waiting for me to acknowledge their presence. And, just as I always do with something that takes me a few seconds to recognize, I gave them a squinted look with a slight tilt of the head and a quizzical thought. Then, after I had recognized Jackie and Charmane, I un-squinted my eyes and began walking in their direction.
We met half way and immediately greeted each other, still with a somewhat surprised look on my face. I then introduced my friend Christian to them and began chatting with Jackie.
It had been a while since we last spoke. It was probably when I heard that she had a boyfriend that I last conversed with her. Looking back now, I believe it was through the internet that I found out, because I am sure that she did not tell me with her own voice.
My friend Christian stood aside while we spoke, while Charmane and Jackie’s cousin walked towards one of the stores to give us privacy. We did not speak for long, just like whenever we spoke on the phone. I had nothing to say, so I ended the conversation quickly, although I did not want to end the moment. I saw that my friend was starting to feel a little awkward, so we said our goodbyes and left each other to whatever we had been doing beforehand.
I was not totally surprised to see Jackie at the mall, though. After all, she did work there at the time. In fact, she worked at the AMC movie theater connected to the mall, just outside of Gameworks. Her sister had worked there and she apparently followed. I had known that and actually expected to see her around the mall that day, though not fully aware of it.
A few minutes later, Christian and I made our way to Gameworks to meet his friend Regina. She was accompanied by her older brother, who I knew was Pilipino, but looked as if he was Latino; he had a shaved head and was wearing a baseball jersey. I was somewhat intimidated by him when I first saw him standing with Regina. I found out later that he was actually intimidated by me sitting there at the high table. (I had a way of dressing in high school that made me look as if I was part of some Asian “mafia” gang. In reality, I was far from being in one. I was the exact opposite with a top-ten ranking and honors.)
Feeling somewhat guilty for having cut all communications with Jackie after her birthday party, I started calling her again. We also started talking online again. For one reason or another, it felt as if I could not just forget about her so easily. There seemed to be something that just would not let us let each other go.
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