On "Stayin' Alive" by Kevin McIntosh (3776 words) ***

I liked a lot about high school, which likely makes me one of a minority. As such, I had much enthusiasm for high school reunions--or the idea of them--when I was in high school. Ten years pass, twenty, soon twenty-five, and my enthusiasm has waned entirely. I've not been to a one. It took maybe five years, but after that my interest in replaying those elements of my past disappeared. If anything, the prospect of such a reunion seems depressing. Perhaps, I'm not satisfied with where I am in life, and knowing that others have gone on to better things makes me feel even more the loser and knowing that still others haven't makes me feel terribly sad (I suspect, from my distant perspective, that I'd likely think more the former than the latter: things look rosier from the outside).

McIntosh's story is about a twentieth reunion. It's one that, contrary to the narrator's initial reservations, appears to hold much promise. That hunk from high school who never paid attention to you, that smart girl from high school who never paid attention to you--hey, it's twenty years later, and we're a lot more mature and not so scripted to our own cliques. Or are we? Read the story here at Grey Sparrow Journal.