CHAPTER 1
Morgan Kendrick stared at her friend, Angela Marconi, in disbelief.
"You know, Morgan, its weird, don't you think, that we're in our senior year?" Angela rambled.
Morgan stared at one of her best friends. Angela had that Italian skin that tanned easily, and dark brown eyes to go with it. Morgan had known Angela since she had literally been born…well maybe the next day or so, since the Marconi's lived next door to the Kendrick's.
"You've said that at least three times." Payton Ericson, Morgan's other best friend stated. "How many more times are you going to say it?"
Morgan grinned at her brunet friend. Payton's hazel eyes flew past Angela's head to someone behind her. "Hey look, Tanya is headin' over this way."
She looked behind her to find her other best friend, Tanya Linwood, moving toward their table. Tanya's blond hair blew slightly in the wind, and she had to hold it, so she could keep it from flying in her face.
"Where have you been?" Morgan asked. "We've been waiting for like twenty minutes for you.
Tanya rolled her eyes. "What do I do every year on the first day of school?" She said.
Morgan and her friends sighed. "Who's the new foreign exchange student?" She asked.
Tanya pulled out a sheet of paper from her notebook. "Not a foreign exchange student this year." She passed the paper to the middle of the table. "Hector Santos. Just moved here from Spain."
Payton leaned in and let out a small whistle, "he's a hottie." She muttered.
Morgan had to agree. The picture on the sheet was of a guy with black wavy hair that curled around his face and hung down to the collar of his shirt. His eyes were a bright green, and his skin was tanned to an olive complexion.
She had never seen a finer looking man. "He is a hottie." She murmured.
Angela sighed. "Just moved here? From Spain?" She asked sarcastically. "I say we go to Spain and find us some of those boys."
Tanya laughed. "You guys are too crazy. He seems serious, if that means anything. Plus, moving to Massachusetts is hardly a great thing."
"Yeah, but moving here to Salem is." Payton said. "I mean what place is cooler? We have everything. And you cant forget the fact that when Halloween comes around, we've got the best home around."
"True," Morgan murmured.
Tanya just glared at them. "I can't believe you guys still get hyped up about Halloween. It's a kids' holiday."
Angela only grinned. "Listen, we're still considered kids until we turn eighteen. And that's not happening for me until December."
The school bell rang, and Morgan gathered up her books and put them in her blue backpack. "We should get going," she told her friends, "or we'll be late. And unlike your homeroom teachers, mine nearly bites my head off if I get there like two minutes after it's started."
Payton scoffed. "Liar. You just want to get a peak at the new kid."
She gasped. "How could you think that?" She whispered, and then laughed. "You caught me, now let's go."
Angela mimicked Morgan's slightly higher voice behind her back. "I can hear you," Morgan said.
"Damn." Angela muttered, before walking up beside her to throw her arm around Morgan's shoulders. "You know Morgan, we've been friend's for our entire lives-"
"Tell me something I don't know." She said, causing Payton and Tanya to laugh.
"What I meant to say was that I know you. And you've never been like this before." Angela continued.
"Been like what?"
"So quiet, and out of it." She said firmly.
Morgan forced herself to roll her eyes and glance in the opposite direction. How could she tell her friends, that she had a very good guess that her parents were going to get a divorce? That they were fighting everyday, and when Morgan tried to break it up, it only got worse?
She wanted to tell her friends. She'd wanted to tell her friends when the intense fighting had begun last May, but now…well everything had gotten worse.
She would wake up and go downstairs, to find her father asleep on the couch, and grumbling about falling off.
She sighed softly, and said good-bye to her friends, while they continued down the hall, and she walked into her homeroom. Taking a seat by the window, she glanced outside.
Morgan might be seventeen, but she felt like a twenty-seven year old on the inside.
How many times had she woken up to find her mother telling her to make her own food for the day? Or how many times had she had to use her own money to pay for household appliances?
She couldn't tell her friends this stuff, God only knew they'd totally freak out.
Or if not freak out, definitely call her out for goofing off. But she wasn't joking this time around.
She had been friends with them her whole life, and these types of things should have been easy to say. But they weren't easy. Hell, it was past hard.
Morgan felt as though she was being torn apart. If her parents divorced it wouldn't be one of those divorces where the parents were still civil to each other; her parent's divorce would be harsh and quite ugly.
They'd probably end up fighting in court for her; and since she was an only child, it wasn't like they could split the kids in half...unless her mom wanted the bottom half of her body, and her dad her torso and head.
Morgan's homeroom teacher, Mrs. Sutton walked past her while taking attendance.
"How was your summer, Morgan?" Mrs. Sutton asked.
She smiled as much as she could. She had been in the same homeroom for the past three years, with the same teacher and kids. Morgan had to admit, Mrs. Sutton was one of the nicer teachers in school. She was younger than most teachers, and she was easier to talk to.
"Good," she lied. Well she hadn't lied entirely. She had had fun with her friends, not with her parents. On the topic of her parents, fun was becoming a foreign word.
Mrs. Sutton furrowed her blond brows and stared at her. "Morgan, are you sure? You seem almost out of it. Knowing you on the first day of school as I do, I really don't think your okay."
Morgan glanced at the clock. Five more minutes left of homeroom, never before had she wished to leave the only class where homework wasn't given.
"Just tired I guess. I mean, I haven't woke up this early since last June."
"I suppose. What classes will you be taking this year?"
"AP European History, for one thing. AP English, like last year, and a few electives." She said.
"Any math classes?" Mrs. Sutton was a math teacher.
Morgan smiled weakly. "Uh, no. Not my strong point."
Mrs. Sutton shook her head. "Not your strong point? You had an A in Honors."
Yeah, and Morgan had stayed awake until early morning every night trying to understand everything. There was no way she would do that this year; senior year was for partying. Sure she had taken three AP courses, but no math or science class in sight. Unlike Angela, who was a math and science genius, Morgan was the complete opposite in academics.
"I just didn't feel like doing it this year I guess. I took classes more to my taste." She replied.
Mrs. Sutton shrugged. "I'll see you later Morgan, I'm off to talk to Vincent."
Morgan slid her gaze to where the leather-bearing, tough boy sat by the window. His brown hair was long, and thick; though he wasn't looking at her she knew his eyes were a velvety brown that matched his hair. Vincent Kyles wasn't hot, but his dangerous appearance held a certain appeal.
The bell suddenly rang and she basically rushed out the door crashing right into Tanya.
"What are you doing-" Morgan snapped her mouth shut as Tanya smiled widely.
"I need you to do me a favor." Her friend said.
"Oh no," she placed her hands in front of her. "I'm not getting myself wrapped up in one of your schemes."
"Not a scheme, Morgan. You have AP English first right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I need you to give this to Hector Santos. I forgot to give it to him when I was showing him around. He told me that's his first class, but mine's on the other side of the school."
"Me, talk to the hottie? Are you kidding me?" She asked in disbelief. There was no way she would be able to hand him the packet without totally making a fool out of herself.
"Hey, he's a guy just like the rest of them. Don't worry about it, Morgan. Just hand him the packet, say hello, and go to your seat. Easy enough."
Morgan stared at her friend. "You owe me."
"Right." Tanya grinned at her, and hurried down C hall.
"You could have said no," a deep, gravelly voice said from behind her.
Morgan turned to find Vincent looking at her. She hadn't realized before he was so tall, over six feet most likely. "She's my friend."
His chocolate gaze followed in Tanya's wake. "Friends or not..."
"Well..." She shrugged her shoulders. "Listen, I have to head to class, and give this...packet thing to the new kid. It was nice talking to you Vincent. I'll see you later."