Chapter 76: Something Worth Coming Back to

The emcee for the evening was Beatrice Ong, who had apparently transformed from a shy student with a beautiful singing voice into a woman who could command a room without raising her voice.

She tapped the microphone.

"Before anybody becomes too comfortable, we’d like to welcome all the people who survived adolescence with us officially."

Applause broke out.

"That includes our teachers, who deserve particular recognition because we now understand what they were dealing with."

Louder applause.

Several former teachers had attended.

Mrs. Lourdes Ramos came with a cane and immediately complained that too many former students were slouching.

Mr. Daniel Flores had gone almost completely white-haired and still carried a pen in his shirt pocket.

Alexander leaned toward Giovanni.

"Red?"

"Probably."

Ms. Teresa Mendoza arrived in a wheelchair pushed by her daughter and somehow looked as delighted to be there as though no time had passed.

And then came Mr. Arturo.

The older caretaker walked slowly now, supported by a cane and one of the younger school staff.

The entire class stood.

Mr. Arturo stopped.

"What is this?"

Patrick shouted, "You caught too many of us sneaking around to sit down!"

The older man laughed.

"Most of you were terrible at sneaking."

The class had arranged transportation for all of their former teachers and Mr. Arturo so none of them would need to worry about traveling home later. Small gifts waited beside the stage as well: grocery baskets, gift certificates, handwritten notes collected from former students, and framed photographs of the class.

Nothing extravagant.

Just things meant to say they remembered.

Mrs. Ramos looked at the basket.

"You spent money."

Adrian called out, "We’re adults now, Ma’am."

"That doesn’t mean you’re responsible."

The room erupted.

After the opening remarks came a short video montage.

Classmates had submitted every photograph willingly.

No stolen embarrassing photographs from social media.

No surprise images anyone had specifically asked not to show.

Still, there were enough old pictures to generate constant laughter.

Sports days.

Science fairs.

Classroom presentations.

A photograph of Giovanni asleep over a textbook.

He turned toward Alexander.

"You submitted that."

"I did not."

Patrick raised his hand from another table.

"I did."

Traitor.

Then came a photograph of Alexander with one side of Giovanni’s hair noticeably shorter than the other.

The entire table exploded.

Giovanni slowly turned toward Alex.

"You."

Alexander covered his mouth.

"I forgot there was evidence."

Dominic’s carefully timed entrance became little more than a man arriving late.

His expression tightened for a fraction of a second.

Then disappeared behind a pleasant smile.

Eventually, he found his way toward Alexander and Giovanni.

"Alex."

Alexander turned.

"Dominic."

"Gio."

Giovanni nodded.

"Dom."

For several seconds, the three stood exactly as they had countless times in school.

Except nothing was the same.

Dominic smiled.

"It’s been a while since all three of us were back here."

Alexander answered evenly.

"It has."

"You remember the science lab?"

Giovanni said, "You nearly set your sleeve on fire."

"That was Alex."

Alexander looked offended.

"Absolutely not."

Dominic almost laughed.

For one brief moment, the conversation could’ve belonged to another time.

Then Beatrice called everyone toward the courtyard.

The moment passed.

No one tried to hold onto it.

Temporary lamps lit the pathway to the old science building.

Mr. Arturo knew exactly where the time capsule was buried. Every graduating class had a time capsule, so he learned to mark the concrete slab with the graduation year.

He developed his own map for all the batches, which he intended to give the new caretaker after his retirement.

"You people would’ve dug up half the garden without me," he complained.

"We had a map," Samuel argued.

Mr. Arturo looked at it.

"That’s not a map. That’s a drawing."

"It has measurements."

"It has a tree with no name that died fifteen years ago."

Eventually, they found the correct location.

The capsule had been sealed inside a protective container beneath a marked concrete slab, thankfully dry and intact.

They broke the slab and pulled the capsule out for everyone to see.

The first object was a disposable camera.

"No idea if that still works," Claire said.

Then letters.

Photographs.

Cheap bracelets.

A school pin.

Patrick’s contribution was a sealed packet of instant noodles.

Everyone stared.

"What?"

"You buried food?"

"It was sealed."

"It’s older than some people’s children."

"I wanted to know how long it would stay edible."

No one allowed him to open it.

Elena had placed one of her favorite pocket books inside.

"That’s where that went!"

Giovanni stared.

"You accused me of losing it."

"I was young."

"You searched my bag and my home."

"And found nothing. Justice served."

Samuel’s letter predicted he would become an engineer.

He was now a lawyer.

"Close enough," he said.

"No," everyone replied.

Dominic found a small medal from an academic competition.

He smiled when he saw it.

"Of course," Alexander murmured.

Dominic glanced toward him.

"What did you put?"

Alexander found out several minutes later.

A folded sheet. The paper had turned slightly yellow.

He opened it.

His seventeen-year-old handwriting stared back.

By the time I read this, I hope everyone I love is still in my life.

For a moment, the surrounding noise faded.

Ben had been alive then.

His mother had still been home.

Dominic had still been his friend.

Giovanni had still lived down the road.

Alexander folded the paper carefully.

Giovanni had found his own contribution.

A tiny wooden carving.

Not the one Alexander had given him.

Something cruder.

On the underside, younger Giovanni had written:

Make something worth coming back to.

Giovanni stared at the childish handwriting beneath the little wooden carving.

Alexander saw the words from beside him.

Neither spoke.

Years ago, Giovanni had buried that message beneath the school grounds, not knowing he would leave unceremoniously.

He’d had no idea then that coming back would take this long.

Or that Alexander would still be standing beside him when he finally did.

The time capsule was supposed to show how much they’d changed.

Instead, sometimes it revealed which parts of them hadn’t changed at all.