A/N: Hey everybody! Is this another cliche high school fic you ask? You're damn right it is! I know it's an overused concept, but writing our favorite characters as teens is just so much fun. This is my first Friends fanfic, despite using fanfiction for years, and being a Friends fan even longer than that. I decided recently I wanted to try writing for these characters, and hopefully not ruin what I love about them. As I said in the description there will be a lot of Mondler in this story, they were my first ship and I still love them dearly. Little bit of Roschel here and there. But mainly this is a story about the friendships between all of the characters, and how they could have all come together in high school. First chapter is very short, and takes place years after the actual story is going to. If this is something you'd like to see more of leave a review and let me know, I do have more chapters written already if this sparks any interest. Thanks for sticking with me through this much too long author's note, now here we go…

High school. It's thought of pretty much universally, no matter where or when you went the concept is the same. Teenagers all set loose in one building, the objective being that they learn what they will need to know to get through life successfully. But oftentimes the classes and the subjects learnt in them are not the things remembered, more often it's the memories made there. Like the first day of school where you daydreamt about the year being the best of your life, the sports games and dances you attended, and that one teacher that you favored more than the others, but most importantly the friends that you met there who changed your life.

Most of the time these friendships are lost in the past. Sometimes simply because you were never fit to be friends in the first place, you were just thrown together at a young age and stuck with each other till graduation. Or you became distant after a big fight, never finding a way back to the friendship you once held and slowly growing apart till there was nothing left. A lot of the time though it's just a part of growing up. Everything was easier when everyone walked the same halls together everyday, but as soon as the last bell rings on that final day the people that you once knew change. They are no longer being held onto by that place, and they are free to go off into the world and do anything they want to. Sure plenty of people tried to keep in touch, claiming that they would find the time for each other. Sadly though, that was a pipe dream for most of them. Life just got too busy. And those faces they used to see all the time became a distant memory.

Tonight proved that fact as old friends gathered in one gymnasium, the same one where at one time they used to race laps together. Each person sharing the details of their lives, lives they lived separately from each other. Telling of the careers they went onto, the places they had explored, the partners they had fallen in love with and wed, and showing off pictures of their own children they had had along the way.

In a sea of former classmates that were now near strangers stood six people, six extraordinary people who managed to beat the odds. Where everyone else had failed to stick together these friends stood linked arm in arm, admiring a wall of photos from their schools past.

"There, there we all are!" Phoebe said excitedly, pointing to a black and white photo of them.

Each of them leaned in and looked, smiles forming on their faces that matched the ones their younger selves had. The picture had been taken at the last school assembly back in the '86/87 school year, over ten years earlier now. The gang were all sitting together on the bleachers. On the left was Chandler, his arm wrapped tightly around Monica. Next to them was Ross, his arms both draped over Rachel who was sitting directly in front of him and leaning her back against him. To the right was Phoebe and Joey, their heads tilted to the side and resting on each others.

"Can you believe we were ever that young?" Monica asked.

"No, not at all." Rachel said, smiling over at her.

"I still can't believe that Ross really had that perm." Chandler joked, earning chuckles from everyone.

"I thought it was cool at the time." Ross said, a small tint of red forming on his cheeks from embarrassment.

"Don't say we never warned you." Joey said, putting a hand on Ross' shoulder. "I still remember Chandler laughing hysterically when you brought up wanting one."

"Personally I miss that long wavy hair you had the year before we started dating." Rachel said, glancing around at more pictures. "You think they have any photos of that?"

"Just look for any photo that looks like a reject from Motley Crue." Chandler said, smirking over at Ross.

"My hair wasn't that long." Ross defended. "It didn't even go past my shoulders."

"I'm just trying to figure out how everyone was fully conscious in a room with that much hairspray." Monica said, pointing out the students around them with full bodied hair. "And I'm surprised that aside from Ross' end of the year perm we managed to avoid all the terrible eighties hair choices."

"Till college that is." Chandler said, wincing at the thought of his old Flock of Seagulls hair due.

"I actually liked your hair in college." Monica said, smiling over at him. "It always tickled my chin when you kissed me." She added, leaning in to give him a quick peck.

"Well maybe I'll grow it back then." Chandler said, running his hand through his now buzzed hair.

"If we're bringing back old trends can I start wearing jean jackets again?" Phoebe asked. "They are still the most comfortable thing I ever wore."

"You wouldn't have to worry about that bitch Stacy Peterson teasing you about them anymore, have you seen the way she dresses now?" Rachel said, laughing to herself as she noticed a woman beside them turn her head quickly. "Hi Stacy, I ah, like your earrings." She said awkwardly, the woman rolling her eyes before turning away again.

"Thank god, there's one less person we have to make small talk with at the next reunion." Monica said, smirking at her friends mishap.

"We really could have just came the six of us and it would have been way more fun." Ross said.

"I know, then they wouldn't have run out of crab cakes so quickly." Joey added.

"That wasn't really his point, Joe." Chandler said, grinning at him.

"Oh, what did you mean then?" Joey asked, looking over at Ross.

"I meant that the six of us at this school would be enough. That's all I think of when I remember high school, us here with each other. The first place we all came together as a group." Ross said, everyone glancing around at one another and smiling.

"Back then did you guys ever think we would still be friends after all these years?" Phoebe asked.

Their heads all turned to the photo and they stared a moment, thinking back...