Jeff walks inside the doors of Holy Trinity School and suddenly stops as Ashley continues walking ahead. It isn't clear whether Jeff is having second thoughts or if his abrupt halt was involuntary – a terror-induced temporary paralysis. There's no question there were only a handful of things Jeff would find more unpleasant than walking back into that gym. As he quickly compiled that list in his head, he immediately came up with: A Real Housewives of ...anywhere marathon, six days trapped in an elevator with Zamphir, master of the pan flute, and three physical acts so vile and stomach-churning, he could not express them aloud out of respect for community standards of public decency. Eventually, Ashley notices Jeff has fallen behind and takes a few steps towards him, prepared to physically escort him inside if necessary. She hopes it won't come to that.

"So we're agreed?" she asks, half-pleadingly.

"That Caddyshack II is so bad it deserves to be recognized as a global atrocity through a joint United Nations resolution? Absolutely," Jeff offers.

"That you apologize for earlier tonight and renounce the trophy," Ashley replies.

"Yeah, I was afraid that's what you were talking about."

Jeff inhales deeply and mentally prepares himself for walking back in to his high school reunion. After a few moments of reflection, Jeff is able to get his legs working once again and he starts towards the gym doors. Before he can get there, he is intercepted by a sight that makes him immediately reconsider his stance on Zamphir and two of the three vile acts. Dennis Bruce wheels by and parks his wheelchair in their immediate path, giving them no option but to stop and greet him. Jeff and Dennis lock eyes; the tension between them is palpable.

"Dennis."

"Jeffery."

A few more seconds of stare-down before Dennis rolls away. "Good Lord! How can someone so close to death muster up so much hatred and contempt for me?" Jeff asks.

"Gee, I wonder what it could be," Ashley replies with as much sarcasm as she can get away with without sending Jeff running out the door.

*********************

Louie is standing in the corridor just outside the gym when Niko walks up to him. They greet each other with the subtlest of nods, not unlike two opposing power attorneys before heading into the courtroom. Neither is willing to lower his guard just yet.

"So Vicky must think we're quite the pair," Niko offers as a trial balloon. It works. Louie loosened up enough to allow himself a tiny chuckle.

"Yeah, between your bladder control issues and my STD, I'm sure she's weak in the knees." The guys now share a laugh over this. "You know we're on a path of mutually assured destruction," Louie cautions.

"I know. If we don't stop this soon, neither one of us will have a shot with her."

"Or worse, we might not be speaking to each other. But I'm not ready to give up and you have dibs so what can we do?"

Niko ponders this and it soon becomes clear he has an idea. "Make me an offer."

*********************

Standing inside the gym, Jeff finds himself struggling with the weight, both actual and karmic, of that huge, shiny albatross Ashley is forcing him to lug around. Giving the trophy back and getting out of there as quickly as possible is Jeff's only goal. Fortunately, he spots the one person who might be able to facilitate this. Jeff approaches Tracey and leans in to her.

"I didn't get a chance to say it before but you still look great," he says gently.

"Thank you. And congratulations. You've really changed since we were a couple. I'd love to meet this lingerie model wife of yours."

"Yeah, me too," he says immediately recognizing the lunacy in that statement. He plows ahead, hoping she won't notice. "I was wondering if I might be able to say a few words to the class."

Before she can answer, Brent, a balding, bespectacled insurance salesman comes by and throws his arm around Jeff's shoulder. "Jeff buddy, come on!" Brent starts pulling him up towards the stage. "They're honoring our varsity basketball championship!"

Brent pulls Jeff up on to the stage. Within moments, they are joined by rest of the varsity basketball team. This moment marks the first time these 12 guys have been together since the 'come to Jesus' party where they celebrated the provincial championship. The party got its name from the Purple Jesus drink the boys pounded all night. A Purple Jesus is an extremely potent combination of grape juice, ginger ale, and whatever hard liquor is brought to the party. So the boys came to Jesus all through that night. After which, Jesus rose again in the form of alcohol induced vomiting in the early morning hours, the late morning hours, well into the afternoon hours, followed by the dry heaves clear into the following night. In actual fact, the party really should have been called the "Please Jesus, either kill me or make this puking stop" party as this was a sentiment expressed by more than one champion basketball player the following day.

But even that awful memory makes Jeff smile, which is something he didn't think would be possible just ten minutes earlier. Brent takes the microphone at the podium and begins commenting on a video montage which is showing highlights of that championship run. Many of the clips feature a young and spry Jeff Dempsey.

"Watch this steal and no-look pass by Junior!" The crowd cheers. Jeff lets out a fist pump.

"Down by two, less than five seconds to go. Dempsey launches a three and...MONEY. That one got us in the playoffs," Brent says inciting an even bigger cheer from their classmates. Jeff is feeding off this energy, he's really into it.

"And who could ever forget Jeff Dempsey's 51-point game against Franklin Heights in the semi's."

The crowd goes crazy both in the gym and on the video. But Jeff's head snaps around when Brent says Franklin Heights. He's confused and finds himself bombarded by several questions which all occur to him at once. How can this be? Wasn't the 51-point game against St. John's? And how did Ashley know when-

"I was told Jeff wanted to say a few words. Jeff come on up," Brent says.

Brent's call for him to speak prevents Jeff from giving any further thought to the barrage of internal questions. Jeff has to put that aside for the moment and think about what he's going to say to the now raucous crowd.

"That was pretty awesome huh!" The crown cheers again. Jeff got a bit of jolt from that boisterous reaction. 

"What I wanted to say is...ST. JOHN'S CAN SUCK IT!"

Again, they cheer wildly! Everyone except Ashley who buries her face in her hands, unable to watch. What is he doing, she thinks to herself.

"FRANKLIN HEIGHTS CAN SUCK IT!" More wild cheers. Jeff is now caught up in wave even he cannot rein in now. "DENNIS BRUCE CAN SUCK IT!"

This last statement is met by dead silence and blank stares. Then...wild cheers!

Jeff and his teammates are as happy as they've been in years as they exit the stage together. Desperate for one last glimpse of his youthful glory, Jeff turns back to the screen and that is when he finally sees it. There, in the bottom corner of the frozen frame, is the unmistakable image of a young and gangly Ashley sitting on the team bench. Jeff is suddenly hit by quick flashbacks

He's immediately brought back to saying goodbye after their initial conversation in the Cedar Room earlier that night. "Nice to see you again Jeff."

Then again speaking with her in the city square. "I once scored 51 points against St. John's and..." "It was against Franklin Heights."

Jeff rushes off the stage and goes over to find Ashley. "We went to school together."

Ashley looks at him quizzically for a moment. "Mountains are tall."

Now Jeff looks at her blankly.

"I'm sorry I thought we were playing the state-the-obvious game," Ashley explains. "I was the equipment manager when you played varsity in senior year."

"No, that can't be. I remember that girl. I think her name was Ginny. Ginny Holder."

Ashley holds out her hand. "Virginia Ashley Holder. Nice to meet you."

Jeff now looks at her as if he's seeing her for the first time. "Wow. You're not a..."

"...geeky insecure tenth grader anymore. Thanks."

Jeff can't shake the feeling he's been sucked into an episode of The X-Files. Every answer only leads to more questions. And while Jeff had no shortage from which to choose, only one seemed most pressing at the time. "Why are you doing all this for me?"

"Because four and a half years ago I was Jeff Dempsey. Or at least the broken shell of him that's standing before me."

Jeff is a bit stung but doesn't let it show. He's more than eager to hear where she's going with this.

"I celebrated my 34th birthday alone, in a restaurant, crying. When the waiter took pity on me and didn't charge me for the bottle of champagne I ordered to share with my friends who didn't show up, that was one of the highlights of my year. My husband ended our eight-year marriage because one day he realized that his hot blonde 23-year-old assistant 'just gets him.' I was stuck in a sales job that I hated but had no idea how to get out. Luckily my boss made that process easy for me when he fired me for poor performance. So yeah, I know the deep hole you're in Jeff. And, more importantly, I know how to get out."

"How?"

"I did two things for myself everyday. For one, I made sure I did one thing the old me was too afraid to do. It was hard at first but that process eventually led me into Life Coaching which is what I do for a living now. One day I woke up and realized that I was happy, confident and light years away from the person I was before. And that's when I started going by my middle name. Ginny was someone I didn't want to be anymore."

Jeff just stares at her, lost for words.

"You can be the new Jeff Dempsey. But you have to stop running and hiding. Really look at your life in a brutally honest way and you'll know what you have to do. We're adults Jeff, not children. It's time to start acting like it."

Before Jeff can give that any thought, Louie rushes up to him almost out of breath. "Jeff, Niko is willing to give up dibs on the hot chick but he wants me to trade some of my cool stuff."

Jeff looks at Ashley with a sheepish look and a bit of shrug. As always, Louie powers on. "He'll give me dibs but he wants veto power over the next three women I call dibs on, my Springsteen vinyl collection and a steak dinner at a restaurant to be named later."

Jeff is quick to respond. "Springsteen on vinyl is a non starter. You'll offer him veto on the next woman you call dibs on, your Hall and Oates collection and lunch at a restaurant of your choice."

"That's great," Louie beams. "You're an awesome guy, Jeff. I don't know why Ellen called you overbearing." Louie runs off excited. Jeff feels as if that boxer gave up on the left jabs and connected with the roundhouse right cross.

And that's when it hit me. I don't know if it was Ashley's challenge to look at my life in a brutally honest way or that Ellen found me overbearing but all of a sudden, I was seeing things I never saw before.

Jeff is picturing the scene he described to Ashley earlier where he and Ellen are taking art classes. Once again Jeff pictures Ellen showing her painting to him as Jeff smiles broadly upon seeing it. Only this time Jeff is noticing what she has painted. It's an image of Ellen looking out the window of a suburban house, except the house has bars in the window and a huge barb wire fence surrounding it. Jeff feels like an idiot as he sees his previous self just smiling and nodding in approval. He can now recall how Ellen's looked at him incredulously.

In an instant he's back to the time he and Ellen are seated at their dining room table playing Scrabble. For the first time, Jeff is recalling the word that Ellen spells out on the board: D-E-S-P-A-I-R. Also on the board are: MONOTONY and ESCAPE.

Jeff looks at Ashley like a man who's feeling the earth crumble beneath his feet. "How did I not see it coming?"

*********************

Niko and Louie are staring each other in what appears to be the latter stages of a tense negotiations. "Hall and Oates?" Niko says with scoff. "You can't come to me with Hall and Oates."

"I can't budge on Springsteen."

Niko sighs. "I'm a friend so here's what I'm prepared to do. Veto power over the next two women you call dibs on, dinner at a steakhouse of my choosing and your Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers vinyl collection."

Louie considers this for a few seconds. It's asking a lot but when he thinks about the night he's about to have in return, he quickly spits out his answer. "Deal."

"Fine I relinquish dibs."

*********************

Jeff picks up his trophy and notices it feels lighter for some reason. It could be surge of adrenaline that is rushing through him at that moment or perhaps the recent revelations has removed a weight from him in more ways than one. Regardless of the how or why, Jeff carries the trophy up on the stage and taps the mic to make sure it's on.

Some in the crowd start chanting. "Jeff! Jeff! Jeff!" He waves them off and holds up the trophy.

"I don't deserve this and I can't accept it. I'm not a doctor, I don't help anyone and I'm not married to a lingerie model."

From his vantage point off to the side of the stage, this is the greatest thing Dennis Bruce has ever seen. His smug grin can be seen from space.

"I said all those things on my form because I didn't want to come here and face you all as who I really am. Another divorced forty-year-old who never lived up to his potential and whose best days are behind him."

Jeff now has the complete attention of his classmates who look on in stunned silence.

"There's just this expectation that we all have to show up here and talk about how our lives worked out perfectly. Perfect job, perfect home, perfect spouse. Well life doesn't always work out that way. So I'm trying to take an honest look at my life and take stock of all the things I could do better. It's not just me, right? I'm sure there are a lot of you out there who would like to change some aspect of your life.

A man's voice rises up from the crowd. "I have a gambling problem!"

Then a woman." My kids are awful. I can't wait for them to move out."

Jeff is overcome by a sense of joy and relief. Yes! Yes, that's it!"

"I like to watch old Menudo videos and touch myself," another voice loudly confesses.

"Okay, maybe that's enough with the sharing," Jeff says waving his hands as if to signal enough. "The point is, it's not too late to still become that person we all wanted to be."

Jeff looks out to find Ashley before continuing. "And with just a little bit of help from a new friend, I can still fulfill the potential you saw in the 17-year-old in those clips earlier tonight. Because who says forty has to mean your best days are behind you? For us, forty is the new twenty!"

Immediately after Jeff finishes his speech, he closes his eyes. Partially out of complete emotional exhaustion and partly out of fear for what might happen next. What did happen next was beyond his wildest dreams. The room erupted in thunderous applause. Tracey joins him on the stage and picks up the trophy.

"I think this belongs to you," she says smiling.

"And that was my ruby slippers moment. I had been exposed to the notion of Esse Quam Videri my whole life but never really got it until that very moment. How all the trophies and accolades in the world can never equal one genuine moment of honesty and courage. Of course, not everybody saw it this way."

Over at his table, Dennis has seen more than he can handle. He is overcome with incredulous rage.

"This....is....BULLSHIT!"

Dennis pushes himself away from the table and tries to flip over the table. Of course, given his physical affliction, he lacks the strength to do it with adequate force. He struggles mightily but is unable to lift the legs even a millimetre off the floor. What is supposed to come off as blind rage is more adorable and just a little sad. He starts to wheel himself towards the exit.

"I'm the inspirational one," he shouts to anyone within earshot. He does the only damage he can do - knocking over a flower arrangements and a lectern holding up some photos. He tries to kick over a garbage can but, once again, can't muster the strength. Finally, someone takes pity on him and tips it over for him.

"You see, once your eyes are opened to the message of Esse Quam Videri, you start to see it almost everywhere you look. Like no matter how much you may try to pass yourself off as the studly ladies man who gets the girl...

Louie finds Vicky by the bar and taps her on the shoulder. "You know, there's nothing getting in our way now."

"I'm not following."

"Clear path. You and me. Getting together. All systems go."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure that's going to happen." She casts a glance over Louie's shoulder. Louie turns around and sees Niko standing there shrugging.

"What, how?" Louie blurts out.

Niko takes Louie for a stroll down memory lane to the scene where he and Louie arrive at the reunion. He tells Louie what he failed to notice was that Niko was standing directly behind Louie when he first spotted Vicky. As Niko describes it, Vicky sees Niko and lights up immediately. She holds his eye contact.

"It's you. I was hoping I'd see you here tonight."

Niko gives her his patented Niko wink and points to himself and her as if to say "later, me and you". Vicky nods and returns his wink.

"...it's always the actual studly ladies man who gets the girl."

Vicky consoles Louie by putting her hand on his shoulder. "So sorry but I'm not interested."

"Dibs is relinquished," Niko triumphantly declares.

"If you knew this the whole time, why the deal making?"

"Because now I have the girl and the Tom Petty vinyl collection." With that, Niko puts his arms around Vicky and escorts her out. 

Louie looks up and shouts at the heavens... "I HAD DIBS!!!!!"

*********************

Jeff and Ashley are walking down the main corridor of Holy Trinity looking at the different photos and decorations. They aren't saying anything, they're just silently enjoying the moment. Finally, a thought occurs to Ashley. "You just did something the old you wouldn't have done. Congratulations on taking the first step to becoming the new Jeff Dempsey."

Now it's Jeff who is struck by sudden realization. He stops walking and turns to her. "Wait, you said before there were two things you did everyday. The first is to do something the old you was too scared to do. What's the second one?"

"I make sure I give those experiences a voice by sharing them on my blog."

Jeff emphatically shakes his head. "I'm not really much of a writer."

Ashley considers it for a few seconds. "Even better."

Jeff sits in front of his computer in his bedroom as he works away on the webpage Myblog.com. He's to the point where he has to enter a name and, after some thought, begins typing "Dempsey 2.0".  He looks at it for a few seconds and makes a face. It's good but it's not perfect and so he deletes that title. He gives it more thought and is struck by a thought that makes his face light up. He eagerly types "The New Twenty" and then sits back and smiles in satisfaction. He clicks a button that reads "begin recording video blog" but when he looks up at the screen all he sees is black. "Son of a... Why can't I see anything?"

Somewhere in another part of the world, a fortysomething year old man is scrolling through the myblog.com site when he comes to a link titled "newest blogs" He sees one called The New Twenty and clicks on it. Jeff's face appears on his monitor.

"So while I don't know precisely where this new adventure will take me, I'm okay with it."

Another man in his late 30's man is watching Jeff's vlogg on his desktop PC.

"Because while this particular yellow brick road might be scary and uncertain..."

Three shirt and tie corporate types at a bar have also stumbled upon Jeff's vlogg and watch on a tablet.

"...it also gives me a feeling of hope."

Tucked in her bed at home, Ashley is watching Jeff's vlogg and smiling. In her hands is her copy of the high school yearbook the year she was in the 10th Grade and Jeff graduated. She sets the year book down beside her and it falls open to the back inside cover where, hand drawn with a red pen is heart with initials G.H. + J.D. etched inside.

"And you never know where that may lead."