High School Struggles and New Girls

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: Morgan
"I'm home!" Morgan Palia called as she walked through her front door.
"Hey, Morg!" Her mother slurred from the family room. "How was school today?"
Morgan shrugged casuY. "You know, the usual."
"That's nice, dear. What would you like for dinner?"
"Mom, it's three o'clock! It's not even close to dinner yet!"
"No, it's five-thirty!" Her mother insisted vehemently. "Just check the clock!"
Morgan just no.ed before slipping upstairs to her room. She knew it was NEVER a good idea to make her mom even crankier when she was this out of it. Picking up her phone, she checked !see if any of her friends had texted her:
Kaitlyn: Hey, Morgan. Need 2 tlk about smthng. Mega-urgnt. Call ASAP.
Morgan started getting worried. Kaitlyn never told her to call, which she didn't particularly like, but now that her friend was actually asking her to, she knew there had to be some sort of problem. She quickly hit Kaitlyn's speed dial.
"Hey, sweetness!" Kaitlyn answered immediately. Morgan couldn't help thinking that she sounded a little too cheerful.
"Hey. What's going on? You literY almost never ask me to call you."
Kaitlyn let out a huge sigh. This was definitely not a good sign. "Okay, we need to have a super serious talk." "What about?" Morgan asked slowly. Kaitlyn sighed again, this time in exasperN. Morgan could almost hear her rolling her eyes through the phone. "I HAVE to do something about Laura Brayton!"
Now Morgan was super confused. She'd always thought Kaitlyn glowed when the wannabes came up to talk because she was so hungry for attention all the time. "I thought you liked Laura?" She squeaked out, not at all sure if she'd said the right thing. She really wished she didn't feel this way around Kaitlyn, but the truth was her friend intimidated her. She felt like she always had to watch her back around Kaitlyn and her other friends, which made her doubly uneasy. Shouldn't you be able to say anything to your best friend, not even caring whether they laughed at you or not? That certainly wasn't the way she felt around Kaitlyn. She was always worried she would make fun of her for the smallest thing.
"Correction," Kaitlyn snapped, jolting Morgan back to the present. "I PRETEND to like Laura. There's a great difference, in case you didn't know."
Morgan blushed furiously. This was exactly the thing she'd been worried about. Why had she even bothered calling her so-called friend? "I'm sorry. Anyway, what's going on?"
"You have to get me away from her," Kaitlyn actuY pleaded, making Morgan even more surprised. Kaitlyn never asked anyone for help! "She is just so clingy! I can't deal with her anymore!"
For the first time in maybe, like, ever, Morgan actuY felt sorry for her. "What do you want me to do?"
"I literY just freaking told you!" Kaitlyn cried. "Just do anything to make Laura stop liking me!"
"That's the disadvantage of popularity, you know," Morgan muttered, getting kind of fed up with Kaitlyn's serious begging. Wasn't this exactly what the other girl wanted, for people to look up to her? "Look, Kaitlyn, I'll try my best."
"Don't just try your best," Kaitlyn whispered urgently. "Do something!" Then she hung up before Morgan even had time to reply.
Sighing, Morgan tossed her phone aside. She loved that Kaitlyn actually wanted something from her, but now that she was needed she just plain didn't know what to do!
"Morg?" She heard a familiar voice call from the other side of the door.
"Hmm?" Morgan replied without looking up.
Her mother came in and leaned on the desk chair to support herself. "What do you want for dinner, honey?"
Morgan's head snapped up upon hearing the word "dinner." "Oh, no you don't." At this stage, her mom was in no condition whatsoever to cook.
"What do you mean?" Her mom asked. It always took her a little longer to process things when she was this disoriented.
"You can't cook like this," Morgan explained slowly so her mom could understand every word clearly. "You might break something, and we definitely don't need that." They had enough broken appliances as it was.
"But I want to cook!" Her mother whined. She sounded just like Morgan had when she was little, which was extremely annoying.
Morgan tried a nicer tactic. "Mom, seriously, it's okay. Let me cook."
Her mom sighed heavily. "Oh, all right. You can cook." She backed out of the room.
Morgan sighed gratefully, relieved that discussion was over. It was seriously so hard to get through to her mom sometimes.
Her phone suddenly dinged, which meant somebody had texted her. She grabbed it.
Kaitlyn: Srry for the abrpt hng-up.
Morgan: Its ok
Kaitlyn: But seriously, though, can u hlp me?
Morgan: Like I said, I'll do my bst.
Kaitlyn: Yeah, whtevr. Just thght u mght like 2 hlp, but it dsn't snd like u do.
Morgan: I wnt 2 but--
Her phone went blank, which meant Kaitlyn had turned hers off. Sighing, Morgan did the same, her message still unfinished. Why did getting through to Kaitlyn have to be almost as hard as, say, getting through to her mother?
Deciding to forget about that for now, Morgan turned her phone back on and went on IM to see if anyone was online.
KAYLEIGHROCKS: Hey, Morg.
MORGUNDY: Hey. Did you hear from Kaitlyn?
KAYLEIGHROCKS: No, why?
MORGUNDY: No reason, just curious.
AMAZINGGRACE: Hey, guys, what's up?
MORGUNDY: Hear from Kaitlyn?
AMAZINGGRACE: No, why?
MORGUNDY: No reason.
KAYLEIGHROCKS: Okay, seriously, what's going on? You haven't sounded this tense in, like, ever.
MORGUNDY: Kaitlyn called and asked what to do about Laura.
AMAZINGGRACE: Like that's anything new.
KAYLEIGHROCKS: Never heard that before ′n!′
The phone automatically closed the app altogether. Her friends had logged off.
Morgan blinked back the tears. Why did talking to her friends always have to end like this? She was only trying to do the right thing, but it seemed like no one cared. —pletely discouraged and defeated, she stood up to go downstairs and make dinner. At least she could do that right.