Growing Up McGee

The Tragedy - Chapter 13

A little over a week later, Morgan started her first day of seventh grade. She didn't want to dress up too much, since no one really did that anymore. So, she decided to wear a nice top, jeans, and a pair of Golden Goose sneakers. She knew she would have to break the news of her dead mother and brother to her friends, and she would rather look put together while doing it.

The Fieldings had arranged for their driver, Cormac, to escort Morgan to school every morning. He was a large, unmarried, middle aged Scottish man who listened to 70's rock music on every drive. He was always very nice to her and talked the entire drive, mainly because Mr. and Mrs. Fielding never let him talk, but Morgan often encouraged it. She felt like it was quite therapeutic for both of them to have someone to talk to.

"How ya feeling 'bout yur first day?" He asked her, turning the music down slightly.

"A little nervous." She admitted. "I haven't talked to anyone since last school year."

"Well, yur good at small talk," Cormac told her, "I'm sure you'll pick up right where you left off."

"I hope so." She responded.

There was a moment of silence before he turned up the radio. "Oh, Aerosmith is on!" He gave Morgan a thirty minute lecture on the band and the impact they've had on culture until they arrived at her school. "Have a good day, kiddo!"

"Thanks, Cormac, you too." She shut the door and walked into school, worried about the conversations she was probably going to have.

She pulled up her schedule on her phone to see what her first class was. To her luck, it was Chorus. At least I'll have something familiar. She walked into the chorus room to see at least half of the students already there.

"Morgan!"

She looked over to see Emily and Rachel. Shoot. She had forgotten they were taking chorus again this year. She put on a fake, but large, smile and walked over to them, taking a seat.

"We haven't talked in ages!" Emily told her. "What's been up with you?"

"Oh, um, this summer has just been a lot." She informed them, trying not to sound suspicious.

"Why, what happened?" Rachel asked.

Morgan had two options. She could pretend that she assumed they knew about the accident, or she could admit that she had been keeping it to herself all summer. Both would be awkward, but the first option would be easier for her to deal with.

"Do you not know?" She asked.

The two girls looked at her, confused. "No?"

"Well, um, uh," The words were caught in her throat. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't spit it out. C'mon Morgan, you've had time to deal with this. This isn't anything new, it's been three months.

"You good?" Rachel asked, concerned.

"Yeah," she spit out, "it's just that, um, my Mom and Johnny, uh, we got in an accident right after school let out."

"An accident?" Emily cut in. "Like a car accident?"

"Yeah," Morgan responded.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Both friends asked at once.

"I'm fine." She told them. Both girls were looking at her expectantly, sensing there was more.

"But, uh, Mom and Johnny..." She paused for a moment, hoping her friends would fill in the blank, but they just sat there staring at her. "They're dead."

"They're what?!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Morgan, oh my God." Emily said, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Yeah, but um, it was like three months ago, so-"

"Morgan, why are you even here right now?" Rachel cut in.

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked, surprised.

"Your Mom and brother, twin brother I may add, just died in a car crash! You need to be at home... grieving!"

"I've already done that." Morgan chuckled, nervously. "I'm fine."

"But-" Emily started to interject, but Ms. Holland, the chorus teacher, was already walking out from behind the risers.

"Good morning class!" She shouted. "Glad to see some familiar faces! I hope you all had a great summer. We'll get to discuss some of our adventures over the past three months later, but first, I need to pass out some sheet music."

Morgan let out a sigh of relief. That was a lot harder than she expected. How am I gonna get through the whole day like this?

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When class was over, Morgan quickly grabbed her bookbag and tried to leave as fast as she could in order to avoid talking to anyone. But, she heard Mrs. Holland call her name, so she slowly turned around and approached her.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation at the beginning of class." She confessed. "I'm so sorry for your loss. If you need anything, please let me know. I know this is going to be a hard year, so let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Holland." Morgan said, trying to smile. "I've had a few months to process everything, so I'm okay, but I really appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Alright, take care."

Morgan nodded and walked out the door, relieved that she could just move on from that class. However, when she turned the corner, Emily and Rachel were there waiting on her. Before Morgan could say anything, Emily hugged her with such a force that she almost fell over. "I'm so so so sorry."

"If we would have known we would have called you." Rachel added.

"Guys, it's fine." Morgan said, a little annoyed. It's not that she didn't appreciate the gesture, but she just didn't want to linger on the subject. "I appreciate all this, I really do, but I don't want to be late to English. Call you tonight?"

"Yeah, okay." Emily said, breaking the hug. Morgan smiled before walking off into the crowded hallway, which stressed her out even more. She almost made it in the door, before she heard her name being called once again. She turned around to see Max. Johnny's friend.

Shit, not now. "Hey, Max."

"Hey!" He responded, pushing against the crowd to get closer to her. "Where's Johnny? I can't find him and he hasn't answered my texts all summer. Was he grounded or something? I know your Mom can be kind of annoying like that."

That's not what Morgan expected to hear. "What?"

"I mean, your Mom's pretty strict." He told her. "She'll ground y'all for the stupidest stuff. I don't know how y'all put up with it."

"What the fuck are you trying to say, Max?" Morgan yelled.

"Woah, chill." Max said, backing up a little bit. "I just want to know where Johnny is."

"He's dead." Morgan stated angrily.

"Bro, just tell me where to find him!" Max exclaimed, thinking she was being sarcastic.

"The fucking cemetery." She shouted.

"What?"

"Ivy Hill Cemetery. You pull in, take a left, and it's the one five graves over from the giant tree. You'll find my Mom there too."

Max just stood there for a moment, getting pushed back by the wave of students. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Find out for yourself." She spat before walking into the class, a single teardrop rolling down her face, but she wiped it before anyone could notice, sitting down at a seat in the back of the classroom. She couldn't believe she just did that. Max didn't know any better. God, he didn't even know his friend was dead, and she just cussed him out and left him to process the information in the middle of the hallway. What is wrong with me?

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Hope y'all are liking feisty Morgan lol I know she's being crazy, but I wanted the first day of school to be a bigger part of this story, especially since this is her first time being around a lot of people since the accident. If y'all enjoyed this, please leave a comment or vote!