worth the risk • dean portman

chapter seven

morgan

The sound of my alarm going off at three in the morning is the last sound I want to hear right now.

I mean, at least it's Black Friday. Also known as, the best day of the year and the only reason I'd ever willingly be up this early.

Even though I absolutely hate everything about being awake right now, especially after the torturous Thanksgiving meal I had to sit through with the Kennedys that literally never ended, the knowledge that I'll soon be spending a lot of money on unnecessary things is making me feel a lot better.

I know I sound like a spoiled brat right now, but I promise that I'm extremely grateful for everything I have. Besides, I'm not allowed to touch a penny if my chores aren't done and my grades aren't where they should be.

In order to look somewhat awake, I do what I like to call, my "natural" makeup routine. It's literally just concealer, bronzer, blush, highlighter, mascara, and lip gloss, but I swear to you, it makes me look like a completely different person than when I have nothing on.

Once my makeup is finished, I brush my teeth and go downstairs. I pour myself a bowl of cereal, eat it quickly, and then flop myself on the couch, glancing at the windows every now and then to see when Ella's white Jeep will be in front of my house.

Within five minutes of me sitting down, I see the lights of her car from down the street. She pulls up to the curb and I basically launch myself off the couch, running into her car without a second thought.

I don't even care how crazy desperate I look to leave right now, I just need to get away from my problems for a few hours. And what better way to do that than to spend lots of money?

Since Ella lives right around the corner from me, she chose to pick me up first. This means I don't only get shotgun, but I also get control of the music. Taylor Swift it is.

Unfortunately, Ella is quick to ruin my plans as soon as I open the passenger side door. "Morgan, I swear on everything if all we listen to on this car ride is Taylor Swift, I'm going to drive my car into a telephone pole."

"Good morning to you too!" I say with a laugh. "I know that it's way too early for you to function right now, but you volunteered to drive and chose to pick me up first. As the DJ for this trip, I'm deciding that we're listening to Taylor the entire time."

"Can we compromise?" Ella asks, to which I immediately nod. "Sure, what's your offer?"

She pulls away from the curb and looks at me when she's at a stop sign. "How about we listen to Taylor on the way to get Sadie, but after that, you have to play other people too?"

"But that's basically only one Taylor song!" I protest, which makes Ella laugh.

"Exactly."

"Fine." I grumble, putting on Better Than Revenge and then crossing my arms. "I hate you."

Ella snorts. "Oh please. You could never."

"You're right." I answer with a sigh. "I could never."

"That's what I thought, Morgan Rae." She did not just middle name me. I can practically see the smirk on her face.

"Well Ella Paige," I fire back, emphasizing her middle name. "Maybe I lied and I do hate you."

That sentence causes her to start hysterical laughing, which of course, makes me laugh too. This is why I love our friendship. Basically nothing we say could hurt each other's feelings, because we're that comfortable with each other. We've been friends forever, but we're honestly more like sisters than friends.

The five minutes it takes to get to Sadie's house from mine pass by quicker than I expected, and I'm not at all shocked to see her walk out in the baggiest clothes with a huge iced coffee in her hand. That's just Sadie, and it's something I love about her.

Both Ella and Sadie are ridiculously stunning, and it's something I've always been slightly jealous of. They can look like how they do right now - no makeup on whatsoever, hair pulled back, and wearing the most ridiculously big clothes, yet still look like models.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm the ugliest person in the world. But I feel like I can never walk out of the house without makeup, which is something that I want to work on.

Anyways, as soon as Sadie shuts her car door and sits down, she's quick to complain about my music choice. "Morgan, if we listen to Taylor the entire time I swear I'm going to rip my hair out."

"That's what I said!" Ella practically yells in agreement, which makes me sulk.

"You both are the worst ever." I mumble with a pout, which makes Sadie laugh.

"Oh please." she says through her laughs. "You couldn't hate us if you tried."

"I swear we have twin telepathy or something, because I said that too." Ella pipes up, which makes Sadie laugh even harder.

I slap my hand on my forehead in frustration, but turn on One Direction to get them to stop complaining. I'm satisfied to see them start jamming out, but it's One Direction. How do you not love them?

When we pull into the mall parking lot twenty minutes later, I'm practically throwing myself out of Ella's car before she can even put it in park. "Let's go, you slowpokes! We need to beat the lines!"

I hear a burst of laughter from behind me, and turn to see Sadie dying. "Never, ever, say slowpoke again."

I roll my eyes at her, but smile to myself once I'm turned around. These girls are the best people ever and I'm about to spend even more time with them, doing our favorite thing to do.

What could be better?

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After five hours, I'm officially drained.

Me, Sadie, and Ella went to every single store we could possibly go to, and are finally walking out with probably thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Whoops.

At least I bought my entire family and all my friends their Christmas presents, which saves me a trip here. I don't think I need to come back for at least a month. That's how much we shopped today.

We're somehow able to fit all of our bags into Ella's trunk, even though we had to squish them a little more than we would've liked. At least I have new stuff to wear and a clearer mind than this morning.

Instead of directly going home, we go to a local diner and have breakfast. I order french toast and the largest coffee they have. I definitely need it after all of the shopping I just did and the money I spent.

After breakfast, Ella drops us both off at home. I run all of the bags up to my room and immediately sort out my things from the Christmas presents. I hide all of the presents in my closet and put my stuff away, then immediately flop onto my bed. I'm exhausted.

The knowledge that Dean is coming home tomorrow helps me fall asleep, and I'm already counting down the hours until I get to see him.

I'm stupidly in love with this boy, and you know what? I'm perfectly okay with that.