The bus ride home was terrible. People were taunting me about Nick and saying cruel things.
“Are you gonna transform him into a zombie, too?” one said.
“I hope he doesn’t die, he’s too nice,” another said. I tried desperately to ignore the negative insults thrown at me. This was exactly what I was afraid of. The Goth girl gets a friend and they all go berserk. They just loved to make my life as miserable as possible. Next thing I would know on the front page of the school’s paper headlines would read: The Goth Girl Gets a Friend! or Hope the New Kid Doesn’t Die. I felt like crying my eyes out when I thought of all the nasty things they would come up with. Poor Nick, I was convinced he would never want to be my friend after he saw what being my friend was like. The misery of food being thrown at you, the misery of being name called. He would have to endure it all because of me. Stupid little me. I sunk down in my seat, and tried to ignore the insults. When I got home I was going straight to my room to cry. Forget the homework. I’d tell Nick about this too. Maybe that would make him change his mind. I was almost positive I liked him, but I would never make him go through this for my sake. The bus came to a stop and I rushed down the stairs and to my house. I heard the snickers behind me as I hurried off. I threw the front door open and slammed it closed.
“Morgie?” I heard a high pitched voice say. My little sister rushed to the door to hug me. “Yay Morgie, you’re home! Now we can play tic-tac-toe!” She squealed.
“Not today, Gina. I’m not doing so good. Maybe some other time, kiddo.” I replied trying to keep my voice even. The water works were coming, I could feel them. Gina dropped her arms and looked at my face with a disappointed look, but she didn’t argue. I walked around her dropping my bag next to beat up brown sofa. I walked down the narrow hallway to my room. I closed the door lightly. Mom must be sleeping. I plopped down on my red bed and began to cry.
The light nock on my door woke me up. I looked at small clock on my nightstand. It read 6:15.
“Yes?” I croaked.
“Can I come in, sweetie?” my mother’s voice was drowned in worry. Great.
“Yeah,” I said, sitting up in and Indian position. She opened the door slowly, cautiously.
“How are you feeling, honey? Gina said you looked upset. She was grumpy because you wouldn’t play with her.”
“I’m totally fine,” I lied. “She was just grumpy because she didn’t get what she wanted.”
She sighed. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
“Mom I’m fine! I have homework I need to get done.” I growled. I crawled out of bed and let her watch me stalk out of the room. I grabbed the homework and finished in an hour. I grabbed my phone from my pocket. It said I had 1 new message. I flipped it open and read the text.
Hey Morgan, its Nick.
Hey, what’s up? I texted back quickly.
Nm. Hows life at ur house?
Lovely. I cried myself to sleep and just finished my homework.
U cried? What happened?
Nothing you need to worry about…
Tell me.
Its nothing. I g2g bye.
I placed my phone on the table and tried to avoid the constant buzzing it made from Nick trying to figure out what was wrong. Then the buzzing stopped. I sighed in relief, then my ring went off. Ugh. I flipped the phone open and put it to my ear.
“What?”
“I need to know what happened,” Nick’s desperate voice said on the other end.
“I don’t even know why you care so much. No one else does.” He was silent for a minute.
“I don’t know why I care so much, but I do. Doesn’t that count?”
“Why should it?”
“Because... well… I don’t know… it just should!” His determination silenced the remark I was about to say.
“Ok, whatever. I was crying because people were insulting me again….but about you.”
“You shouldn’t let that get to you. I’m here for you, I promise.”
“I think you’ll change your mind when you come here,” I replied softly.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you! My parents had to pay a couple grand, but I’m going to school tomorrow. With you.”
“Really? Well then you’ll see what I mean. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. See ya Nick.”
“Wait, Morgan?”
“Yeah?” I asked surprised.
“Never mind, it’s nothing.”
“Ok, bye.”
“Bye” He said something after bye, but I couldn’t make it out. Then the line went dead. I was like a stone sitting there at the table. What did he say? I was so anxious to know. The only thing I made out was “I….” What was I suppose to make out of that? It could mean a lot of things. I hate you. I love you. I don’t want to be friends. There were so many possibilities. I would just have to ask him tomorrow.
“Mom I’m going to bed. Night.”