The Day My Life Began

by Authora97

Building Bridges

Monday

Caroline had forc-talked me into sitting with her and her friends at lunch. Usually I ate out in the courtyard alone, especially in the colder months. My lunch had just finished cooking in the microwave when Care approached me and started dragging me towards table filled with teenage girls.

“This is a bad idea.” I told the teen. “Can’t I just eat outside again?”

Care shook her head. “No eating outside. Just have one lunch with these guys and if you don’t want to, I will never ask again.”

“No, you’ll ask passively.” I deadpanned.

Care laughed. “You know me so well.” She continued to drag me towards the large table.

It had four girls around it. There was one I noticed as the school’s senior, a pair of ninth graders, and a single eleventh grader.

The senior waved at Care. “Hey, is this Morgan?”

My new friend (for now) nodded. “Yep. Morgan, these are the girls.” She gestured to the senior. “That’s my sister, Anna.”

“Hello.” Anna greeted.

Care gestured to the eleventh grader. “That’s Maddie.”

“Hi.”

The two ninth graders piped up. The one with strawberry blonde hair spoke first. “I’m Lauren, and this is Becca.”

The second ninth grader raised her hand. “...hey...”

I waved. “There, I met them. Can I go now?” They all laughed. “I’m not joking.”

Care guided me to an empty chair and dropped me in it. “We agreed you would spend one lunch with me.” She gestured to the table. “Here is your lunch, these are your peers, enjoy it.”

“If you say YOLO, I will slap you.” I warned, unpacking my lunch box.

Anna, Maddie, Care, and Lauren laughed. Becca made a disgusted look as she looked down at my plate.

“Ugh...what are those?” Becca asked, sounding disgusted.

I looked down at my plate. I usually had the same thing for lunch every day. Four mozzarella sticks, a small bag of chips, a banana, and a Little Debbie treat. The mozzarella sticks always kinda melted out onto the paper plate. “My lunch.” I said.

“You can’t eat that stuff.” Becca said, sounding like a primpy teenager. “That’s carbs.”

I took my fork and ate a mozzarella stick. “If I cawed about carbth, I wouldn’t be thitting hewe.” I said.

“Eww! Don’t talk like that!” Becca groaned. “It’s disgusting!”

Swallowing, I looked half-heartedly at Becca. “If I cared about carbs, I would not be sitting here.” I repeated.

“Fine, but don’t come to us when you get fat.” Becca said, returning to her meal of a simple salad.

“Becca!” Anna interjected.

“Hey!” Maddie said.

“Not cool, Becca, apologize.” Caroline ordered.

“Yeah, Becca. That was mean.” Lauren added.

“What? It’s true! Carbs make you fat!”

“That’s why I added a banana.” I said, tossing the banana into the air. “Bananas are good. Full of potassium. Never go to a party without one.”

But, none of them heard me. They were all still yelling at how Becca shouldn’t call me almost fat.

This is why I don’t hang around with teenagers. Makes me wish Darcy hadn’t...died......because of me.....

I was stopped mid-chew by my throat closing up. Hacking, I ran out of the cafeteria and out towards the courtyard. Trying to lock away my emotions wasn’t working. Why couldn’t my heart just turn itself off for a while? At least until this whole Darcy thing blew over.

Well, until then, I’ll just cry in this corner. My cries echoing in the empty yard. I shut my eyes tight. My throat kept closing up, I think it must be a panic attack ‘cause I can’t breathe. I gripped my throat to try and start-up my breathing.

Damn it. Why did I have to cry? Darcy hates-hated criers. Now I can’t stop and I can’t breathe. I can almost hear Darce mocking me. Maybe I’ll get lucky and this will kill me.

Footsteps approached my hiding spot. At least three people. One of them grabbed my shoulders.

“Morgan, Morgan, honey are you alright?”

Great. As if my crying wasn’t enough, now my mom is here. Fucking perfect. Just fucking perfect.

“Morgan, what’s wrong? You can tell me.” My mom pleaded.

“Becca said she was sorry. She didn’t really mean it.” Anna explained.

“*gasp* I *gasp* *sob* miss *gasp* *sniffle*.” I choked out.

“Who do you miss, Morgan?” Mom asked.

The third figure leaned down, in a whisper she said “Is this about what you told me in the library yesterday?”

Too riddled with sobs to speak, I nodded.

“Oh, okay. Um...can you two take a step back?” The sounds of Mom and Anna’s shoes hitting the concrete filled my ears. Caroline gripped my shoulders. “It’s okay Morgue, it’s gonna be okay.”

“No *gasp* it’s *gasp* *sniffle* not.” I sobbed.

“Yes it is.” She grabbed the sides of my head and lifted it up so we made eye contact. “You. Are. Okay. It wasn’t your fault.” I started to shake my head. “No. What would she say if she saw you beating yourself up over this?”

“Oh God, Morgue, stop fucking crying! It was gonna happen someday. Now, grab me a beer.”

Despite all the painful emotions in me, I chuckled. “That *gasp* it was *gasp* gonna happen *sniffle* someday.” I was calming down. “Then she would tell me to stop crying.” I chuckled again, wiping tears from my eyes. “She hates criers.” I explained, still chuckling.

Care patted my shoulders, nervously. “There. Ya see? She wouldn’t want you to be sad.”

‘You don’t know Darce like I did.’ Shaking my head, I began lifting myself off the ground. “Okay. I’m okay. It’s okay.”

Care nodded. The two of us started walking back inside, although I was still a little shaky.

“What happened? Is she alright?” Mom asked.

Care glanced at me, silently asking for approval. She didn’t want to break her promise. I shook my head.

“Morgue is just dealing with-”

“Morg?” Anna asked.

“Morgue.” I corrected. “Morgue. It’s my nickname...Care made it for me.” I lied.

Anna nodded. Mom was still worried. “Morgan, are you okay? Do I need to take you home?”

I opened my mouth to tell her no, but then I thought it over. “Yeah. I think I need a nap.”

A real one this time.

---

Tuesday

The next day, I walked into the school building. My family was already inside. Although, I noticed Becca standing by the main door of the building with a concerned expression on her face.

She gasped when she saw me. She ran up and immediately began talking. “Oh my God! I am so, so, so sorry for what happened! I didn’t mean to call you fat...not that you’re fat! I just thought you should know about those carbs!” She gasped again. “I wasn’t saying you were going to be fat! Please, please don’t-”

“Stop.” I ordered in my best angry parent voice. Being around Lilac these past few months had helped with that.

Becca closed her mouth, a surprised look on her face. She lowered her face, gazing down at her shoes in shame.

“Do not start graveling. It is beneath you.” I gazed sharply. “Look up.”

Becca’s head snapped up.

“This school is to train leaders. Leaders do not lose eye contact. When apologizing, it would be wise if you kept eye contact.”

“But-”

“No.” I ordered, looking right into her deep brown eyes. “You will look them in the eyes. You should also respect the choices others make in their lives. You have no right to judge them for their choices, as they have none for judging yours.” I scolded. Looking into the building, I saw some of the students gathering in the Main Hall. “It’s time for Morning Meeting. You’re forgiven, yadda, yadda, yadda, let’s make up and be buddies, blah, blah, blah. Goodbye.” I said quickly, running into the building.

---

Wednesday

We walked towards English class in relative silence. Caroline looked over at me with worry.

“So, anything new happening?” Caroline asked.

“No.” I said.

Caroline nodded. “Cool.”

Another small moment of silence.

“Would you-”

“I am not sitting with your friends at lunch again. We agreed to one lunch.” I said sternly.

“I wasn’t gonna ask that.” Caroline defended.

“Then what?”

Caroline stepped in front of me. “Would you like to go see Rise of the Guardians with Anna, Maddie, Grace, and I?”

I stared at Caroline with disinterest. “Why?”

“Well, it’s a cool stor-”

“No. I don’t mean ‘why should I come?’. I meant ‘why are four high school girls going to see this movie?’”

“Ha. Funny story.” She laughed nervously. “We were all just sitting around, when I said ‘does anyone have the feeling we should watch this movie?’ And everyone said yeah, they did.” Caroline explained.

I sighed. “Sure. I have nothing Planned for tonight.”

“It’s tonight at seven forty-five. We’ll pick you up at your house.”

“How do you know where I lived?” I asked sternly.

“I visited Derek sometimes at your house.” Caroline reminded. “You were there, we talked about Chemistry homework?”

I blushed, nervously rubbing the back of my head. “Oh...right.”

Author's Note:

Sorry. This was supposed to come out yesterday, but I got called into work.
Happy Presudent’s Day!

Comments

[DJ Discharge]

Do I smell a small rise of the guardians chapter maybe? :3

[Authora97]

5636676 if I can figure out which mythical character to make her, then maybe

[DJ Discharge]

5638571 *smiles evilly* Excellent....