I don't own Home Alone

Enjoy!

The moment that Megan stepped foot into the school hallway, she felt that all eyes were on her. She had to admit being away for weeks, especially now that the semester was almost over, she too would be shocked. She cleared her throat and adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulder and kept her eyes averted from anyone that stared at her. She was thankful for the fact that Linnie stood by her side and guided her through the hallways.

"Alright guys," she heard her sister say as she took her to the locker room, "nothing to see here."

"She's really back...I thought she wasn't going to show her face here ever again...I thought she moved towns...I heard she was abducted by aliens..."

Wait, what? Megan wanted to ask when she heard the last rumor about the alien. No, she hadn't been abducted by any alien but she wished she had. She hated being the center of attention over an issue that she had to suffer through.

"Don't listen to them Meg," Linnie said as they arrived over to Megan's locker.

Letting out a sigh, Megan opened her locker and gasped as she saw an infinite amount of letters spilling out. A slight hesitation came upon her as she looked at the letters scattered on the floor, but she knelt down and collected them. She sifted through the letters and couldn't help but smile at the words that her classmates and teammates had written for her.

Get better soon Meg.

You're going to get through this, fly high Cardinal.

You kicked butt on the field and we won! Hope you get better soon.

Never thought I would see the day that you would make a goal. Proud of you, girl.

So aside from the silly rumors that she had heard, these letters seemed to make up for them. "I never thought my goal would make such a difference," Megan said and couldn't help but smile at Linnie.

Linnie gave her sister a playful punch on the shoulder. "Of course it did," Linnie said to her, "you have always made a difference on the team, but you just weren't able to see it soon enough."

Suddenly, two girls that held onto the school's newspaper stopped as they looked at Megan. One of the girl's jaw was hanging open and the other stared at Megan as if she was a teen celebrity. "That's her," the girl who's jaw was hanging gasped as she walked at Megan. "Can we have your autograph? Right here," she said as she pointed to the article that Becky had written.

Megan glanced over at Linnie who silently urged her to take the initiative. The whole school knew about Megan after what Becky had written about her and why not be a part of that fame that had been created. "Uh...sure," Megan said as she fished a pen from her backpack and scrawled her name on the newspaper.

"Thank you," the girl smiled as she held the newspaper close to her, "I aspire to be like you!" she smiled as she and her friend hurried away from her.

Megan looked from the two girls and then back at Linnie. "Is this too much to handle in high school?"

"It's not," Linnie shook her head, "if you enjoy the fame."

The school hours had been going very fast for Jeff and Becky. His sister had arrived at nine o'clock after her doctor's appointment and they were now sitting in the last class of the day. History. A class that no sibling held a particular interest in but they were doing it just for the grade. However, his attention in history was the least of his worries. Ever since Jeff had stepped into school this morning, Megan had been upon everyone's conversations and the newspaper had been in everyone's grip. He was happy for his sister but he wasn't happy about what Becky had written.

Jeff had read and reread the column that his sister had written, multiple times to ensure that his conclusions were wrong, but he had been right. She had been biased on what she had written and that was neither good for Megan nor Becky...well, Becky in this case. He looked over to his sister who was trying her best to concentrate in the class but he could see that she was only mindlessly taking down notes as opposed to absorbing the information.

Mrs. Jakub already knows about this Jeff thought to himself. He remembered an earlier encounter that he had with her as he had passed her by the hallway. She had glanced his way and the way her facial features were, he could tell that she was cross about what had been written, and if Jeff knew better, she rarely gave second chances. Jeff only hoped that Mrs. Jakub would go easy on the newspaper committee, for Becky's sake.

RIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGG!

Jeff stood up straight when the bell rang and collected his things. When he did so, he walked over to Becky. "Ready to go to the newspaper committee?" he asked her as she collected her things.

Becky nodded her head and stood up from her seat. "Yeah."

A look of concern crossed Jeff's face as he looked at his sister. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Can't help but feel like I did something wrong writing about Meg," Becky told him. Just like Jeff, Becky know how difficult Mrs. Jakub was after being on the newspaper committee for two years. If she was to lose her spot over what she had written, Becky didn't know what she ought to do. It seemed that the saying 'all good things come to an end' was appropriate for this situation.

Jeff knew that Becky was at fault but he didn't want to make her more upset by saying 'I told you so.' He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle pat. "Do you want me to come with you? To meet with Mrs. Jakub I mean."

It was very sweet of her brother to offer but Becky knew that this was something that she had take care of on her own. She shook her head and slung the strap of her backpack on her shoulder. "No," she answered him, "I can take care of it. Let's go, we don't want to irritate her even more by being late."

Both of the siblings walked down the already crowded hallway as students collected their items and headed home for the day. The two of them walked into a classroom where students of the newspaper committee were already seated into groups and discussed about any upcoming projects that they planned on writing for the newspaper.

"I think it's a great idea to add a summer reading list," Madison Barrs spoke with her group, "I have some good books that I can recommended for people to read, some of them series." Once this bookworm started talking about books, it was difficult to have her stop.

Jeff and Becky took their seats at the back of the class. It wasn't too long before they heard the soft click-clack of high heels entering the class room. Mrs. Jakub's was a middle aged elegant slender woman but with a very icy stare in her eyes and hair like Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath. "Good afternoon newspaper committee," she greeted the members, "I say that we have had quite the popular newspaper circling around school this week."

Becky looked down at the table where she sat and she swore she could feel the other members' eyes falling upon her.

"While I am happy to see the popularity of our newspaper amongst our peers, I am very adamant when I say that the newspaper needs to remain unbiased when it comes to our peers. The purpose of that is to ensure that no feelings are hurt. Indeed praise can be given but it must be done in a professional and, as I mentioned, unbiased manner whether it be your best friend, significant other, or even your family member." She stopped and adjusted the half-moon glasses that she wore before regaining her composure, "now let us discuss some headlines."

Both Jeff and Becky were caught off guard and Mrs. Jakub's sudden change of topic. At first, Becky thought that she was going to directly lecture Becky in front of everyone about how 'unprofessional' she had been with the newspaper. It was just a school newspaper! Not the Chicago-Sun Times! Becky thought it was her lucky day and distracted her thoughts with talking with her group about any extracurricular that her classmates had picked up, though that distraction was only limited. There had to be some trick in this whole lecture that Mrs. Jakub had given to the committee. Either that or she had awoken on the right side of the bed, which was highly unlikely.

Time was passing by very quick but Jeff thought that they had been productive enough. Within the hour, the group had agreed to feature Madison Barrs's summer reading column on the last newspaper for the semester as well as any extracurricular activities that were taking place. After the hour was up, everyone gathered their items and began to file out of the classroom. Jeff waited for Becky as she walked over to him but before the siblings turned to exit, Mrs. Jakub called Becky over to her.

Becky looked at her brother and then proceeded to walk over to the teacher.

"You can stay Jeff," Mrs. Jakub said, "this shouldn't take too long." Her icy eyes glazed over at Becky as she folded her hands and looked at the young teen before her. "I must say, you have come quite a long way with your writing Becky."

Is she praising her? Jeff though, knowing that Mrs. Jakub was a woman that was blunt and straight to the point.

"Oh thank you," Becky brightened and smiled to her, "I have always tried my-"

Mrs. Jakub held up her finger and wagged it in the air, "no, no. I wasn't giving you praise," she said to her. "Why were you thinking in writing what you wrote?"

That's when Jeff saw his sister standing rigid as she looked at the woman before her.

"I didn't think it was anything terrible," Becky said to her, "my sister has worked hard for that spot on the team, let alone train to get to where she was."

"'Was,'" Mrs. Jakub repeated her word, "is she not there anymore?"

"Well..." Becky halted and tried to think of her sister's current status on the soccer team, "I don't know but I-"

"Then what is the point in writing it," Mrs. Jakub interrupted her once more, "I have stressed time and time again to not be biased on the newspaper and believe me, I take this matter very seriously."

"Mrs. Jakub," Jeff spoke up but the woman hardly turned her attention to him, "Becky only wanted to say a few nice things for her sister."

"While that is an admirable action," Mrs. Jakub said, "I will not condone it." She folded her hands together again and rested them under her chin as she looked at Becky. "Your services at the newspaper have been very enlightening and helpful, it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that your services will no longer be needed for next year."

The moment Mrs. Jakub said those words, Becky felt something drop in her stomach. She took a deep breath and batted her eyes multiple times. So much work and effort had been put into this newspaper and now it had all gone to waste. "And with a heavy heart Mrs. Jakub?" she heard herself say, "because it's made of stone?"

Mrs. Jakub stopped writing on a stack of papers as she lifted her head and looked at Becky. "What did you just say?" she asked her.

Before Becky uttered another word, Jeff took a hold of his sister's arm and pulled her over to him. "Nothing Mrs. Jakub," he said to her and walked backward to exit the classroom. "We need to get home." When the two siblings were far away from the classroom, Jeff then confronted Becky. "What were you thinking?" he asked her.

Becky's eyes were glazed over as she slowly shook her head. "What was she thinking?" she asked as her hands formed into fists. "I have worked hard to be in that committee, worked hard to impress her and my peers, and just because I write something about my sister she has the gall to take away my right to work in the newspaper!"

She was getting very fired up about this, Jeff could see it and he put his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down," he whispered to her.

"No!" Becky yelled, "I will not calm down! I have lost so many things dear to me! I lost a best friend, I lost my sister, I almost lost my life, and now I lost the newspaper!"

Losing a best friend, Jeff knew whom she meant but she had never lost Linnie. The newspaper in this high school was a small matter but the one thing that stood out at Jeff was her saying about her life. "You almost lost your life?" he asked her with a raised brow. Jeff knew that his sister had tendencies to exaggerate about certain things but this had sounded serious. "What do you mean you almost lost your life?"

It was the moment that Becky wanted to slap a hand over her mouth and take back the words that she had said. Jeff and the others didn't know about her and Kevin's encounter with those two bandits on Christmas Eve and both siblings had made a pact that they wouldn't say anything. She tried to think of something to hide that fact from her brother. "You know," she said to him, "Mrs. Jakub's stare. It's like Medusa's! One stare and there, your life is over!"

Before Jeff had a chance to say anything, Becky turned around and marched out of the school with Jeff following right behind her. Sisters Jeff thought with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head.