Page 23 of Rekindled
6
Molly finished powdering her face before taking one last look in the mirror. She inspected the black, knee-length dress for any wrinkles or layers out of place. Next, she moved on to her black heels, and finally, her necklace and earrings.
Once she was satisfied everything was in order, she headed to the living room to wait for Spencer. Her stomach did a somersault in anticipation of seeing him, and she had to remind herself not to get too attached. Her real purpose in being in Bayfield was not to reconnect with Spencer, or catch up with old friends. Instead, she was really investigating to determine if he was a corrupt public defender. She needed to spend the night talking to people about Spencer to get to the bottom of the truth. Developing romantic feelings for Spencer again would complicate everything. She didn’t want to jeopardize her future for a man who had already hurt her and ruined her life once before.
She heard a knock at the door, but before she could get to it, her father made it there first. He opened the door, and she heard Spencer say from the other side, “Good evening, Mr. Price. I’m here to pick up Molly for our class reunion.”
Her father didn’t budge, his bulking frame taking up the doorframe. “Spencer, I want you to know, I’ve watched you over the years. I know you’ve changed; however, that doesn’t change what you did to Molly ten years ago. I’m warning you; there won’t be a repeat. If you do anything to hurt my daughter again, I’ll make sure you regret it.” He stepped back and let Spencer enter the hallway leading to the living room.
As her eyes finally settled on Spencer, she realized she was in trouble. It was going to take all her efforts to keep from falling for him. He looked so handsome in his black suit with a white shirt and navy tie. His dark hair was styled to one side, and his eyes appeared to be a deep, ocean blue because of the shirt color he’d picked.
“You ready?” Spencer asked with a grin.
She nodded as she grabbed her jacket and purse. He helped her into the former, before they headed out the door.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Red Lion Inn. They parked the car and headed into the ballroom where the reunion was being held.
The room was decorated with tables with white linens, accented with blue napkins and gold center pieces. The lights were dimmed. Popular songs from their youth softly hummed in the background. There was a wall of pictures from their high school days, along with another wall of memorial pictures of the three classmates who had passed away.
There was a table where everyone checked-in. Though they both had tags on with their names and senior photos in the corner, Molly recognized the two women behind the table. They were Regina Burke and Theresa Vasquez. Both had been on the student council as well as on the cheerleading squad.
When they saw Spencer, they gave him a warm smile and greeting, but as they turned their attention to Molly, their smiles vanished. It was replaced with a look of disdain.
“My, isn’t this surprising, seeing the two of you coming here together,” Regina stated with a disapproving tone.
“Will wonders never cease,” Theresa added, handing them both their name tags as well as their meal preference card. “And here I thought tonight was going to be boring.”
Molly didn’t like the sound of that. She had nothing but problems with those girls after Tiffany made it her job to ruin Molly’s life. The bullying had gotten so bad, she had to leave town permanently.
It had started out with small occurrences—dirty looks, snickering, and notes being passed around about her. Then it progressed to name calling in the halls and nasty emails. The final incident was the worst, which drove Molly away.
Molly was at her locker switching out her books, when she heard from behind, “Look who we have here. If it isn’t Spencer Conrad’s little side-piece,” Tiffany shouted loud enough for the dozens of students in the school hallway to hear.
Shocked and afraid, Molly spun around to find Tiffany glaring at her. She was wearing her cheerleading outfit with her red hair pulled back into a high ponytail. As she placed her hands on her hips, it was obvious Tiffany liked flaunting her status to everyone.
“We have a poll going,” Tiffany said as she handed Molly a flyer. “Everyone is voting on whether Spencer hooked up with you because you’re a sure thing—you know, since you’re easy and all—or because he felt bad for you since you’re a loser.”
Molly looked down at the flyer in her hand, and saw a horrible picture of her face added to a fake body dressed in a short skirt and tube top. Below it, there were big bold letters that read, ‘Molly Price—decide why Spencer went for the school’s biggest tramp.’ Sure enough, the two options were as Tiffany described.
Tears filled the corners of her eyes, but Molly forced herself not to let them fall. There was no way she would give Tiffany the satisfaction of reacting to her bullying.
She pushed the paper back towards the cheerleader, not wanting to look at it one more second. “Take it back. I don’t want it.”
Tiffany shook her head and moved closer, forcing Molly’s hand to drop to her side. “No, you need a reminder of what really happened. You threw yourself at Spencer because you’re desperate. You thought you found a way to become popular, but it doesn’t work that way. Once a tramp, always a tramp,” Tiffany teased.
A crowd had gathered around them. Everyone was pointing and jeering. Molly wanted to defend herself, but the chaos of the situation made her shrink back in embarrassment.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spencer join the back of the group. She hoped he would come to her aid, but after several more seconds of ridicule, she realized he had no intention of rescuing her.
Unable to take the abuse anymore, Molly pushed through the crowd. The tears she tried to keep from falling fell fast and furious, stinging her eyes and blinding her path of escape. She rushed from the school, not caring where she went, except as far as way as possible.
“Hello, I asked you a question. It’s impolite not to answer someone,” Theresa whined, bringing Molly’s attention back to the present. “Geez, you’re just as weird as ever.”
“I’m sorry. What did you ask me?” Molly inquired with confusion.
“I asked, why did you decide to come to the reunion? Considering why you left and all, I wondered what would make you think you’re welcome.”
“Despite what you and your friends think, I did have some friends at school,” Molly defended. “You weren’t the only ones who went there.”
