Chapter 117

"I haven't looked in here in ages," she said with a cough, waving away a cloud of dust that was floating in front of her face from abruptly opening the box. I smiled and leaned forward on the table, sitting on my knees in the chair. I felt like a child again, asking my mother to show me an old scrapbook -- except this time, my wishes were actually granted instead of being told that scrapbooks were silly and that no one should keep "useless old junk like that".

"Can I?" I said, reaching for the box. Tiffany nodded enthusiastically and slid it closer to me. I reached in and pulled out a pile of photos, flipping through them as the smile on my face widened. There were so many pictures of Tiffany and her friends; pictures from Halloween parties where she wore matching tiger costumes with her friends, pictures of them sitting around a campfire with bottles of beer in their hands, pictures of her smiling and laughing as they gave each other piggyback rides.

One picture caught my eye, however. It was a photo of the entire group together -- the hockey club, judging from the handmade banner they held up with big, cheesy grins on their faces. Tiffany was right in the center, surrounded on either side by her smiling friends, one of which was oddly familiar...