I've got to break the C barrier...I've been stuck on a C grade for some time now and I think I deserve a B at least. I'm putting in the effort, I do my homework nearly on time...I mean, I could be doing something frivolous with my time right now but instead I've given up that to do this homework...how can the teachers grade me a C now?
I finish it with just minutes to spare before I have to go to school. Finish it the night before, finish on the day, finish it in between breakfast and having to leave...it all gets marked the same way.
A few hours later...
"Jamie...can you take the trash out for us please?"
"Sure mom..." I say flatly. That's all I'm good for I suppose: Garbage collector or quarry worker. I grab the sack of refuse and put it in the bin around the side of the house. As I return, I see someone I really didn't expect to on my front doorstep. I mean, when I see who it is I'm glad...pleased...even excited but still, how does she know where I live?
"Hi Jamie...I guess I found the right place"
"Morgan! Yeah, this is my home...how did you find out where I lived? I thought we only exchanged phone numbers the other night?"
"Yeah, but I'm no good with talking over a phone but I knew you were friends with Efrain Webber so I broke into his locker and looked in his address book and...hey presto...there were your details!"
"You broke...into....Efrain's locker?"
"Yeah, no big deal. He has a crappy cheap padlock on it which I know how to pick. Oh don't worry, I didn't steal anything: I just wanted to have a look through it."
She...didn't...steal anything. Oh well that makes everything A-OK then! The way she says it, almost innocently with those wide, bright green eyes of hers it sounds like breaking into people's lockers to look at their private address books is just a normal, everyday thing. I don't get it: Is she joking? Is she a nut job? But she's so pretty and those big, bright green eyes...oh my!
"Oh hello, is this a friend of yours, Jamie?"
Oh no! It's Mom! Trust her to walk in on us...whatever is she going to make of Morgan?
"Ah...yes...yes it is. Mom, this is Morgan...Morgan this is my mother"
"Hey there, Mrs McGregor"
"Hello Morgan, lovely to meet you. Jamie have you invited Morgan inside yet?"
"I was just about to"
"Now, Morgan, I'm just about to make some dinner...you're very welcome to stay and join us. It'll be great meeting one of Jamie's friends...he rarely invites them around."
"Thanks, Mrs McGregor...I'm STARVING!"
Oh swell, Mom's moved right in...what if Morgan starts talking to her about breaking and entry?
"Yeah, Jamie and I are at high school together...although we're not in the same class. We met down at the park a few days ago. He was cooking up some delicious hamburgers on the BBQ grills there and I hadn't eaten dinner and lunch was sparse so he was literally a life saver. Yeah, and we got chatting..."
Morgan has turned on that cute, chatty charm of hers. This is the kind of thing that drew me to her...that open friendliness. And those eyes! And lovely long red hair...and her legs...anyway, I like this chick; why does she have to make me all tense with all the naughty stuff she gets up to?
"Hi honey I'm home...oh, I see we have a guest"
"Hi dad, this is Morgan"
"Pleased to meet you"
Dad quickly gives me the wink. I think we share similar tastes in women.
"I was thinking, Mom, Dad...maybe Morgan and I can go out into town for a few hours. Does that suit you, Morgan?"
"Sure does! I know this great place!"
"Well that sounds good...OK, let's go"
"You know the rules, Jamie?"
"Yeah, Mom, don't worry. This is just a casual thing. Isn't that right, Morgan?"
"Yeah, casual like. Don't worry Mr and Mrs McGregor...I'll return Jamie home in one piece! HA!"
Things seemed promising. We'd go somewhere cool; Morgan seems like the kind of girl who knows where all the cool spots are in town. Maybe a bit of dancing, a bit of quality time and...well, who knows, maybe we could get to make out! OK, I'll just ignore what she said earlier on...
"Do you mind if we swing by my place, Jamie? I want to change outfits. It won't take long"
"You look great as you are. That's a nice dress."
"Meh. It's a little too big. Wofie knows my dress size so I'm annoyed he didn't swipe one that fits me properly."
"Wolfie? Swipe?"
"You know Wolfgang Munch, don't you? He's the leader of The Renegades; this gang I'm a member of"
"I don't know Wolfgang. And you're in a gang?"
"Sure! I'll tell you all about it but first I need to change out of this dress and get it back to Wolfgang."
OK, now I find out she's in a gang with this character called Wolfgang and he apparently swipes dresses. This is just going swell and I'm being ironic here.
I travel with Morgan to her house but she makes me wait outside while she gets changed. When she emerges she's in her black, form fitting outfit with the skin tight top, short shorts and red boots. Wow, she looks amazing like this. Again, my concerns fly out of the window when I look at this willowy beauty with those big, bright green eyes.
"Thanks for waiting for me. I'd invite you inside but my step-sister is having one of her nerdy club meetings."
"That's OK, so where are we going?"
"Somewhere new, somewhere I've never been but I want to go to. You'll see"
We head off to Newcrest and to the brand new Charrington Bowl complex. It used to be the Bowl-O-Rama but it was getting old and dilapidated so they tore it down and built a new bowling alley and movie theatre on the site.
"So are we catching a movie or going bowling, Morgan?"
"Neither. There's a nightclub downstairs. I thought we could go there...if you like music and dancing"
"I love music and dancing. Sounds good!"
This is shaping up nicely. As we walk into the place some people are checking out me with this hot red head. Yeah! But as we got to the stairs that led down to the club, we saw a sign that read CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT.
"That's a shame, I guess a movie instead?"
"Pfft! I know for a fact they've finished refurbishing the club as the Renegades held a meeting there the day before yesterday. They're just putting the sign there because of one or two minor things the fusspots who run this place want to tinker with. Come on, let's head down there for some fun!"
"But the sign says 'CLOSED'!"
Morgan shot me a disapproving look and walked on down the stairs anyway. What's a guy to do in this circumstance? I quickly followed her, looking around to see if anyone had noticed what we'd done.
Downstairs looked groovy with all it's bright colours, swirling lights and fountains embedded into the walls. I was impressed. Morgan, however, went over to the record player and switched everything on. She pulled out a record, put it on the turntable and whacked the volume up. Then she trotted over to the dance floor and beckoned me to join her.
"This is a cool place but aren't you worried we're going to get busted?"
"Oh lighten up, Jamie, don't be so tense! If anyone comes downstairs I can handle them"
"By handle do you mean....?"
"I'll bat my eyelashes, act all cute and innocent while you run upstairs, ring the fire alarm and then we'll all get out"
"...swell..."
This chick's on the edge! We dance some more but there are definitely more questions than answers Morgan is raising. I'll try to find out more, try to find out whether I'm going to make it out of this date in one piece and not in jail.
"So. This club, The Renegades. What do you do?"
"Oh we hang out, challenge each other to dares, push the limits a bit"
"What kind of dares? Doing things like this?"
"Yeah, but this is small scale stuff. A level one dare. One time we kidnapped a sheep and put it in the Dean's office..."
"Oh my gosh! Wow! That would leave a mess I would imagine."
"What? Who cares about the mess? The Dean screamed the place down but he never caught us. I hate that Dean: Graded me an F on my history paper when I slipped in a little sentence saying he smelled in the middle of a 2000 word essay. I just wanted to see if the teachers actually read the papers and I got an F and a week's detention! I hate that Dean!"
Keep dancing, Jamie, keep dancing and maybe she'll snap out of this. But I can't help but checking the staircase to see if anyone else is coming.
"Hey, quit checking the stairs. Like I said, no one should come down here and if they did, we have a plan. Sheesh, you are so square, Jamie"
"I'm just not used to sneaking into places where we shouldn't be and...well...shouldn't we keep the music down, just in case?"
"You're being a real drag, you know?"
"I just don't want to get a ban from coming here? Listen, there's a club in Windenburg we could go to..."
"Huh...do you always play it safe? Wolfie says..."
"LOOK! I don't know who Wolfie is but he sounds like the kind of guy you should avoid!"
And at that moment the music stopped. We both stood there, looking awkward. I walked over to the couch and sat down. Morgan joined me but that spark we had earlier had gone now. We sat on that couch and didn't have anything to say to each other. She looked hurt but I was worried that if I did what she said I'd end up in the hands of the law: I don't know how far she'd go. The silence was too awkward and I had to say something to her.
"Look...I'm sorry I was rude about Wolfie. I don't know the guy..."
"It's OK. I think you and me are too different. You're a nice guy..."
Oh here comes THAT line again...
"...but I'm not a nice girl."
"Don't say that. I think you are."
"Yeah, right"
"No, seriously. If you were a genuinely bad girl, you would have stolen stuff from Efrain's locker or you'd make for that bar and drink the contents dry but you didn't. You certainly would have said something stronger than 'the Dean smells' in your essay. No, you're not bad you just live life on the edge and, well, I'm a few feet back from that and I think that gap is too much for us."
She looked at me and I swear there was a tear welling up in one of her eyes. She cleared her throat and stood up.
"Awww, don't make me feel so sentimental! I hate that! No, seriously, that's one of the nicest things anyone has said to me. I hope you find someone more in tune with you...but if you ever get the urge to be a bit naughty, you've got my number."
Time to leave Charrington Bowl and this strange girl. I had hopes when she approached me back at Desert Bloom Park, but it's all come to nothing. The one time, THE ONE TIME, a girl took notice of me and it turned out to be crazy, wild Morgan Fyres. I hope she doesn't get hurt on one of her escapades. Ugh, it's a long, lonely walk back with nothing to show for it.
