Chapter 5

If there was anything Morgan Miller hated, it was not getting her way. She’d always gotten what she wanted since day one, and she wasn’t about to stop now.

“I’m really not sure if I can take time off to fly all the way across the country,” Taryn said apologetically. Her voice crackled over the phone and Morgan frowned.

“Are you positive? I mean, it’s not a matter of life and death or anything, but it would definitely pay off eventually,” she urged. “Come on, it’s Brandon and Shelley!”

“You know I’d love to, but I really don’t think I can. Sorry, Morgan. But hey, how about you guys put me on speaker? That way I can still be part of the meetings too,” Taryn offered diplomatically.

Not what Morgan had wanted, but had she really expected everyone to drop what they were doing just to get Shelley and Brandon back together? She had to be out of her mind.

“That’s fine, I guess. So it’s decided then. Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” she mumbled.

Taryn laughed. “Don’t sound so down, Morgan. Look on the bright side. You’re in New York. Have some fun; live a little.”

“I’ll try,” Morgan responded lamely. “Talk to you soon, okay?”

“Definitely. Bye.” With a click, Taryn was gone.

So much for reunification. Taryn claimed to be swamped with work – what was it she did again? – and Destiny Hoyt was simply impossible to get a hold of. That left Team BS with Morgan, her mother, and Mrs. Sinclair. Taryn would communicate over speakerphone, but it wasn’t enough. They needed more recruits.

She knew what she had to do. Desperate times called for desperate measures. She was going to enlist Kyle.

Yes, she decided, she was definitely out of her mind.

- - - - -

“Absolutely not.”

Kyle sat with his arms folded over his chest, a defiant look rested on his face.

“Why not?” Morgan asked for what had to be the twentieth time. “Brandon might never be truly happy again. He’s one of your best friends!”

“I’ve got other best friends,” Kyle said indifferently.

“Kyle!” Morgan stomped her foot. “Stop being ridiculous.”

He matched her steely gaze with one of his own. “You know what’s ridiculous? You wasting your time trying to make a miracle happen. She’s getting married, he can get over it, end of story. God, what do they teach you kids at Berkeley?”

Morgan stuck her tongue out at him. “At least I wasn’t enrolled in ballroom dancing and basket weaving my freshmen year of college.”

Kyle inwardly winced. So what if he had wanted to learn how to dance? He had really only gone to college to play football. And what the hell was wrong with him? Here she was, practically begging for his help. It would have been the perfect opportunity to put himself in Morgan’s good graces. However, after the previous night, he wasn’t sure being such a pushover was a very good idea. The only way to get Morgan, he concluded, was to get her to really notice him. But maybe he was taking this new attitude too far.

“Fiber art. It was FIBER ART, not basket weaving!” he nearly yelled. “Listen, you’re a really great girl Morgan. And I’m sure your intentions are only the best, but I really don’t think it’s going to work out. Getting into other people’s business…it’s just not right. I told you before and I’m telling you now: the best medicine for Brandon would be for him to move on.”

He thought his answer sounded diplomatic and reasonable, but Morgan had other concerns.

“What, you want him to party and screw around like he did last year?” she countered.

Defensively, Kyle said, “You don’t know what went on last year. You don’t know shit.”

Was Kyle Stanford really talking to her with that tone? Morgan would have been impressed had she not been so offended.

“I might know if someone would just tell me the truth. What really happened last year?” she pressed.

Kyle shook his head. “That’s not for me to tell you. Are we done here?” he said curtly.

Taken aback by the drastic change in Kyle’s demeanor, Morgan quickly reassessed the conversation. Had she rubbed him the wrong way? Last year was obviously a touchy subject. Her original goal, to get Kyle’s help, was now long forgotten. Her goal-of-the-moment was to get to the bottom of this big secret.

“Almost. How’s my brother doing today?” she asked, figuring it was neutral territory. She was a concerned sister, after all.

“Not so good,” he answered. “He got to our room so smashed last night that I’m surprised he made it back at all. It was almost like reliving last year again.”

“What?” she said sharply. “Come on, you can’t seriously not tell me after letting that one slip out!”

Once again, she was denied any information. “It’s really not my business to tell you,” he told her coldly. “Stop asking about it.”

Morgan nodded. “Okay, well, if you change your mind about Team BS, we’re all meeting in my parents’ room in an hour.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You know, you were a lot more fun when you were in high school,” she threw in.

Kyle silently turned away and left, leaving Morgan sitting on her bed, hurt and confused. This was new. What had happened to the sweet, I’ll-do-anything-for-you Kyle from last night that had been replaced by this new mind-your-own-business Kyle? She liked him a lot better then.

- - - - -

“So I hereby call this meeting to order,” Morgan said without any enthusiasm. Her voice was flat, and she was so uncharacteristically lackluster that Mrs. Miller had to stifle a laugh.

“Dearest, you don’t have to be so drab about everything,” she said.

“Are you kidding me?” she spat out. “It’s the reunification of Team BS, and there are three people here. And Taryn on speakerphone. That’s four people! Oh my god, this is such a national disaster.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” said Taryn. Morgan could hear her shuffling papers around on her desk – multi-tasking, perhaps? That wouldn’t do. This matter required everyone’s full attention!

“I’m not being dramatic!” she protested. “It’s really not me. You guys are the ones who aren’t taking this seriously! Remember senior year when we were all way into this? We were so good that we got Brandon and Shelley together. We can do it again!”

“Morgan, darling, this was fun back then, but now we’d just be interfering,” declared Mrs. Sinclair. “Your brother is a nice young man, and I’m sure they had something back then, but I didn’t really think you were going to take this so-called reunification so far. I thought you wanted us to go out for drinks, or something. The bottom line is that Shelley is engaged, and I’m convinced that she loves Zachary.”

“Maybe, yeah, but does he love her?” Morgan asked pointedly. She turned and glared at her mother. “Is this all just amusing to you, too?”

Jana Miller sighed. “I’m proud that you have so much determination and that you care about your brother’s happiness, but I think Claudia’s right. We’d just be in the way. If Brandon and Shelley are meant to be – and don’t look at me like that, you know I want your brother to be happy and in love – then it’ll happen on its own. Let love run its course,” she said soothingly.

“Your mom’s right,” Taryn intoned. “And besides, there’s not much I can do from across the country. So let’s call it a day; I’ve got a meeting in ten and I still need to prep for it. Bye!”

She hung up without waiting for them to say goodbye.

Claudia looked at her diamond-encrusted watch. “Oh, I’ve got to go, too. Shelley’s press conference is in half an hour and it’ll take me forever to get to there!”

What was wrong with people these days? And what was Morgan supposed to do now that everyone was suddenly backing out on her?

She got up to give Morgan and her mother quick hugs and flew out the door before Morgan could get a word in edgewise.

Mrs. Miller went over to her daughter and embraced her. “I know you’re disappointed with the way things are turning out, but maybe you should start focusing on your life, not manipulating your brother’s. After all,” she pulled back and looked Morgan in the eye, “this is your life, not Brandon’s. Whatever happens, happens. Just let things be the way they are.”

“Whatever,” Morgan mumbled. “I’m going back to my room.”

She pulled away and left, her mother knowing better than to follow her. She wasn’t even going to go to the press conference – that was how depressed she was. She thought maybe she’d go back to her room and wallow. It was one of the things she did best. Maybe she’d wake up to find that Shelley had found out about Zachary Fox’s cheating ass on her own, end it with him, and run back to Brandon. But deep down, she knew that would never happen. Not without outside help.

Just as Morgan’s head hit her pillow, there was a knock on her door. “Morgan?” the voice behind it asked.

Kyle. What the hell did he want?

“Go away. Morgan’s not here!” she shouted.

“Come on, let me in,” Kyle implored. “You know you want to. I’ll even let you be a bitch to me, like you always are. Just let me in.”

Grudgingly, Morgan got up and opened the door, stomping back to her bed before Kyle could even say hello.

“I wasn’t actually expecting you to be back already. Wow, the meeting was that bad, huh?” he guessed, settling himself at the foot of her bed.

“What, did you come to gloat?”

Kyle shook his head. “You know I’m not like that. What happened?”

He wasn’t really here to ask her what had happened…What he really was dying to ask Morgan was what had happened last night. Had it just been a ploy to get Brandon and Shelley to go out together, or had she really wanted to go out on a date with him? Unfortunately, Morgan was in such a shitty mood right now that he figured he’d have to tackle that subject another time. Maybe when her attention wasn’t focused on being a matchmaker.

“No one was taking it seriously,” Morgan said bitterly. “They all think I should just let it go.”

“I could have told you that,” said Kyle, forcing back a smirk. That was the last thing she needed to see. “Actually, I think I did.”

“You’re gloating,” she reminded him.

“Right, sorry. Well, if more than one person agrees, it’s the truth, you know? You should just let it go. Focus on your own life.”

“But I can’t just let it go!”

Kyle raised his eyebrows quizzically. “Why is this so important to you?”

“Because they give me hope that love can still exist,” she said simply. “Do you know how rare that is nowadays? The divorce rate keeps going up.”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “But there are plenty of other people in your life who are still in love. Your parents, Taryn and Alex, the Sinclairs, my parents…even Zachary and Shelley.”

Morgan shook her head vehemently. “Zachary and Shelley? That’s not love.”

He cocked his head. “Oh? And how would you know? You wouldn’t know love if it was sitting right in front of you, Morgan.”

Something about the way Kyle said it made Morgan get defensive. “Have you ever been on love?” she shot back.

“Maybe,” Kyle said noncommittally.

This surprised her. She’d never pegged Kyle as the kind of guy who would fall in love – at least, not now or in the past. But it made her feel a pang of jealous because somewhere out there, there was a girl Kyle Stanford was in love with. And whoever that girl was, she was really lucky because Kyle could be a really great guy when he wasn’t being a jerk. For a split second, she wished it would be her. But that was impossible, because Kyle had never ever shown any other interest in her than friendship.

“Oh yeah? With who?” she asked.

“That’s not even important right now,” he said evasively, glancing around the room for a distraction. “Would you look at the time? Shelley’s press conference airs in a few minutes. Hey, how come you’re not there?”

“Because I’m depressed and angry,” she said. “But turn on the television. I want to watch.”

Kyle turned the TV on, and, in what he considered a bold move, repositioned himself next to Morgan on her bed. They were in such close proximity that Morgan could smell faint traces of his cologne, and she could feel body heat radiating from him. It was getting a little too warm for her comfort, so she nudged him to move over.

“You take up too much space,” she told him, as he flipped through the channels. Finally, he found the right one.

The camera was focused on Shelley, who sat regally behind a microphone in what looked like a larger version of the conference room she’d signed her contract in. Then it zoomed out, and Morgan saw the familiar Millennium Agency emblem on the wall behind the blonde. Zachary sat slightly behind Shelley, with Mrs. Sinclair and Marguerite Thompson on her other side. Morgan could tell Shelley was alarmed and a little anxious but was doing a good job covering it up. Reporters began firing questions.

“Shelley, how does it feel to have landed a contract with the most successful talent agency in the world by sheer accident?”

Poised, Shelley took only two seconds to form her answer before modestly saying, “Well, it’s a real honor and I’m completely flattered. A lot of girls dream about this, but I’ve miraculously had it handed to me. Thank you, Marguerite, for seeing something in me.”

The screen panned to show Marguerite Thompson’s face, which preened with delight at having been mentioned.

“Are you planning on using your new career to open the doors to other jobs, such as acting?” someone from The Insider shot out just after Shelley finished talking.

The questions went on like that for several minutes and Morgan tuned it out. Everything was just for show, anyways. She knew the real story behind the new model. It wasn’t until one reporter asked the million-dollar question that her attention shifted back to the television screen.

“You’ve been seen at a few events and out in public with Zachary Fox,” a reporter from Entertainment Tonight was saying. “We’ve also noticed the ring on your left hand. Is he more than just a friend, now?”

Shelley turned her head slightly at Zachary, whose face lit up as he nodded. Morgan saw Shelley blush and nod as well. “Yes, we’ve actually been engaged for two months now,” she said.

There was a collective gasp and Morgan could practically imagine that every female who was watching was in shock as well. If only they knew what scum Zachary Fox truly was, they wouldn’t think he was such a hotshot.

“Why so hush-hush about it?” the ET reporter pressed for another answer.

Shelley moved aside so that her fiancé could answer. “We really didn’t need all the attention, especially not when it needed to be focused on Claudia’s new line. And now you can’t say celebrities don’t know how to keep secrets.”

“How admirable,” Morgan muttered sarcastically as Zachary sat back in his seat and smirked. How she would love to be able to wipe that satisfaction off his face!

Kyle heard her remark, but didn’t say anything. She was obviously still pissed off.

There were several more questions about Zachary and Shelley’s upcoming wedding plans, but Morgan didn’t notice because she was fuming.

“That should so be Brandon with Shelley,” she said loudly.

“Morgan, give it a rest. Just this once, please?” pleaded Kyle as he turned off the TV. “She’s happy with Zach. I know you don’t like that Shelley is with him, but I know my cousin, and he used to be a commitment-phobe. He wouldn’t have asked her to marry him if he wasn’t head over heels in love with her.”

“Then you are seriously deluded,” said Morgan, with the air of someone who knew valuable information, “Because he doesn’t even know the definition of commitment.”

Kyle sensed she knew more than she was letting on. “Okay, spill it, oh great one. What do you know that no one else does?”

She wondered if she should tell him. Maybe then he’d help her…but judging from the way he’d been against her plans before, perhaps he didn’t deserve to know, after all. She would just have to work on her own for now.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” she said mysteriously. “Or you’d at least have to sign your life over to me.”

“Is this the information that’s got you so convinced they’re not in love?”

“Maybe.”

“Are you gonna tell me or keep it a secret and use it to your advantage?” he demanded to know.

Morgan recalled an episode of Grey’s Anatomy that she’d seen. What was it Bailey had said? Oh, right. She grinned.

“Well, you know what they say…knowledge is power.”

And she was definitely planning on using what she knew to her advantage. It was time to start plotting – for real.

Morgan Miller didn’t have an abnormally high IQ for no reason.

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A/N: I know, I know. This is all we get after nearly 6 months of no updates? Please don’t throw anything at me! Not my best, but it’s something, right? To my readers, I apologize profusely for the long wait. I’ve probably lost a few of you, but I hope you’ll come back. School and a ton of other stuff just overwhelmed me, and it was really hard to find enough time to sit down and actually write. My schedule has opened up a bit and I’m beginning to get back into the feel of the story, so I really hope that I can write more often. Hope you liked this chapter. Please let me know what you think…not enough action? Too much dialogue? Your comments help make me a better writer!

To my reviewers, you mean so much to me. Really, if you guys didn’t review I’d probably lose hope in anyone being interested in my story. To Your Anti-Drug, Luv-TU, goodbyemylover, bec1246, violin-lady13, Tu Morrow, naningxoxo, DuchessYappingDog, abitterkiss., xpressgirl, wandless, SilverAlexis, BlueSoldier, candyluvr4554, Inky-Angel, siddika, a reader, thoughtsofwisdom, and - you guys are the people who have reviewed since my last update, so this one’s for all of you! Thank you so much for taking the time to review.

General Q&A

Why is Zachary such a jerk now after being a ‘nice guy’ in For the Love of the Game?

- Well, let’s look at it this way: one story is from Shelley’s third person point of view, and this one is from Morgan’s. Naturally, they both see Zach in a different way.

(to quote Tu Morrow) AH! I really want Zachary to be discovered! He is getting on my freaking nerves... You think he can get run over by one of the million taxis in NYC?

- All in due time, my dears. You know it’s inevitable – not that he’ll get run over, but that he’ll be discovered. And I’m thinking it’ll be quite the scandal, so get ready for that!

It’s a little slow/not exciting. When are things going to get unpredictable and crazy?

I’m trying to ease into the story and develop Morgan’s romance with Kyle, which definitely hasn’t taken off yet. Things will get more interesting (hopefully) when Morgan really tries to take Zachary down.

Why did Brandon and Shelley break up? They were supposed to be together forever!

Okay, well realistically, long distance relationships rarely work out. But you will find out about the infamous ‘last year’ that Kyle keeps talking about. You’ll also find out why they broke up, and who broke up with whom.

Isn't this supposed to be Morgan's story?

Of course it’s Morgan’s story. Part of Morgan’s character is the fact that she wants to be in the spotlight, but someone’s always in the way. But you know Morgan – she’s pushy, and now’s her chance to shine. She will definitely steal the spotlight in her own way, on her own time. If you don’t think the story is about her right now, you will definitely change your mind by the end of it.

P.S. To American and Canadian readers, watch the finale of The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll on the CW and support my friend and personal favorite (naturally), Melissa R! hehe just thought I’d throw that in there.

I hope to pick up the pace next chapter; a little Zachary-sabotage, maybe? And some romance, of course. You’ll have to wait and see. Until next time! Which will be soon…cross your fingers!