Chapter Seven

"You're dismissed. Go take a shower and head out to class everyone! That's right Mr. Furlong- class!"

"Megs…where were you last night? Squib and Cameron said Séb was gone and when you didn't show up…Rick almost found out," prodded Adena.

"We went out. Did I miss anything? Did Rick tell on me?" asked Megan anxiously.

"Not even! The amazing Tanis just told him you were in the shower, with the water on really hot and steaming…and you were much too wet to answer the door." Grinning, Tanis pulled on her top and grabbed her bag. "He was too distracted to realize the water wasn't on."

"Tanis!" Dodging Megan's mock-angry glare, Tans waved and left for English.

---

"I'm starved!" whispered Megan to Séb as they neared lunch.

"Ten minutes until lunch," he said longingly. "I hope they have pasta shells."

"Bean sprouts…" she answered dejectedly.

"Would you mind if I pick your lunch out today?"

"Not as long as you pick out bean sprouts."

"What's with you and bean sprouts?"

"What's wrong with bean sprouts? They're healthy!" she protested.

"That's just nasty."

"At least I don't have to alphabetize my m-"

Gunnerson clicked off his slideshow and glared at the couple. "Since you're obviously not going to pay attention until you get your alphabetical bean sprouts I'm going to be very kind and dismiss you early. But I want you focused tomorrow!" Blushing, Megs and Séb wasted no time in dashing over to the caf. Pushing Megan- for the first time- away from him, Séb grabbed two trays and loaded them both up with the long-awaited pasta shells. "Oh, yea."

"Oh yea what?" asked Squib, joining them at the Group A table.

"I've been waiting to eat these since you finished them off the last time they served it!" Séb claimed.

"Hey Megs, you're even eating the same food as Séb now?" teased Adena.

Not bothering to answer, Megan picked at her pasta, then took a huge spoonful out and shoved it in her mouth. A smile grew as she realized that food does have taste sometimes, and she heartily devoured her bowl.

Not long afterwards, the bell rang again and they all split off into their classes. Megan and Séb were happily full now, but they could barely pay attention as they realized that tonight would be the night Séb's secret came out to the group. Hours passed and they all headed out to practise again.

"Nice strokes, Ms. O'Connor. Just keep it more steady and smooth. You seem nervous and you need to overcome that, especially during high-tension tournaments." Gunnerson moved on down the rows, adjusting people's swings and finishing off practise with a short tennis-style scrimmage to relax the players. As they all emerged from the change rooms, Megan managed to convince Top Gun to meet up in the girl's dorm just to catch up with each other.

"So what's so important about tonight?" asked Squib over dinner.

"We've all been so busy with training that it's hard to find time to talk, right?" said Megan tentatively.

"And do we finally find out where you guys were last night?" whispered Cameron. "Or is that just between you two?"

Not sensing the innuendo behind his remark, Sébastien replied, "We just went out last night…but yea, that's part of it."

Put off by his dry answer, the rest of the group exchanged glances and continued eating- today's dinner consisted of the pasta leftovers and Megan's precious bean sprouts. Megs barely covered half her plate with the sprouts, looking miserable the entire meal.

Leaning over Sébastien whispered in her ear, "Is that all you're eating?"

She glanced at him with a desperate look on her face, "I shouldn't have eaten all that pasta."

"It's only one bowl!"

"I'll end up paying for it."

"Not anymore." Séb poured half his pasta onto her plate, but when Group A got up to leave, he noticed that she hadn't even touched it.

"We'll meet you guys in half an hour, just got to change," said Cameron.

"See you later then," Cody called.

---

As the girls set up some snacks and dimmed out the lights, they heard a knock on the door and the window at the same time. Megan opened the window and saw Squib hanging onto the sill with a triumphant grin on his face, "I beat the-"

"Hey Squib," laughed Cameron. "Told you it's faster to use the door."

Cody pushed him away from the window and waved at her boyfriend, grinning wickedly. She slammed the window shut and pulled the blinds down, letting him sweat it out for a few seconds before pulling him into the room. "You've got problems with hanging out of people's windows, you know that?"

"Ahh shuttup. So what are we doing anyways?" he looked up expectantly at Megan.

"We actually…I mean, Séb and I have something to tell you. And Cody too, I guess." Cody looked surprised to hear her mentioned, but she simply sat down next to the low-fat popcorn and shrugged.

The rest of Top Gun joined her, sitting in a tight circle on the floor. For Megan, Adena, Cody, Squib, and Sébastien it was a bit of déjà vu, minus the possibility of expulsion. Then again, the boys could get in trouble if they were found in the girls' dorm, but they weren't very strict about that. As long as they didn't catch you doing anything that would distract you from your game, that is.

"We went out to Arnie's last night after I got us a pass from Cody's dad. We ended up staying pretty late and we realized that we'd be locked out of campus since it was past curfew. So Sébastien and his dad offered to let me stay at their apartment for the night," Megan started.

Cody sat up, incredibly aware of the sensitivity of the topic. "Apartment? I thought you lived in a mansion in France!" said Squib, his mouth full of popcorn.

"Yes well we're getting to that!" snapped Megan, pulling away the bowl. "And you call yourself an athlete…" After everyone in the room stopped and stared at her, she sheepishly returned the food and patted Squib on the head. "Sorry. Just…we're serious here, k?" Megs wrung her hands in her lap, digging her nails into her palm. "What's up Megs?" asked Cody tenderly.

Clutching her hands tighter, Megan just shook her head. Sébastien pulled her hands out of her lap and tugged them open again, seemingly entranced by her fingers. She nudged him, and without looking up he began to explain in a harsh, loud voice. "I live in an apartment because my dad and I can't afford a house. He's not a diplomat, and we don't own half of France. The only connection I have with the government is the welfare check it sends us every month, supposedly. I spend my free time cleaning up at Arnie's trying to get us out of debt, but it's not really working out so I'm hoping to get a job at the hospital after I finish Wiley's service project there. I'm not like you guys." Expecting Top Gun to reject him in a moment, he tensed and waited for their voices to attack him.

"So?" was all Adena said.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" asked Tanis. "Or did Megan know the whole time…"

Swallowing deeply Sébastien tackled the next barrier. "Actually- I only told Megs yesterday. And only because she was the one who registered my dad for welfare. Cody knew right from the beginning…"

"What! Oh I knew it! I knew there was something going on with you two!" yelled Squib, anger- and fear- mixed up in his eyes.

"Hold it Squibber's, nothing happened!" cried Cody, holding up her hands between the two of them. "I caught him meeting his dad once… and you know, being a faculty brat has its' advantages," she said, shrugging.

"You better be right about that…" answered Squib, suspiciously.

"Well she is," finished Sébastien. "Megan…"

Megan was shaking, and Séb held her hands tight in his. "Séb's not the only one with secrets…" she couldn't continue. After a moment, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, still clutching her hands. "Adena, remember Jack?"

"Yea. He was our old coach, before we came to Cascadia," explained Adena to the rest of the group. "He really didn't want Megs to leave, but she had to insist on getting a new agent to fit her 'new tennis life.'"

Swallowing deeply, Megs let herself step back into the past for the second time in two days. "I had to change agents Dena…he-" and a dry breath escaped her lips. Séb knew that she just couldn't get the words out of her mouth, and when she glanced at him desperately he took the wheel.

"Megs was always an amazing player, but Jack wanted too much. He asked her for perfection and payment for it…he was- wasn't- right. He wasn't right." Cody was listening extremely attentatively- like the rest of Top Gun- but now she was remembering how tired her father looked after meeting with Megan. How she thought that there was something especially difficult going on there, and how he said that "sometimes silence can be painful," once after she asked him about it.

"All agents can be tough," said Cameron, thinking of his failure of an endorsement deal with C+C.

Megs shook her head. "He wasn't just tough…" she winced as she saw the racket coming at her again. Her eyes seemed to see nothing but whatever was playing in her mind, and it wasn't pretty. "He used to hit me after practise, then-" she shuddered. When she spoke again, her lips barely opened and she felt every word rest on her tongue. "-he touched me. He hurt me."

Adena looked away, feeling incredible guilt for not having known. "Why did you tell us this, Megs?" she said blankly.

"Because…I can't do this alone."

"No. You just wanted to push your burden on all of us so it wouldn't hurt so badly for you. You're just selfish," Adena accused coldly, still with no emotion in her voice.

"Adena!" said Tanis, staring at her roommate in awe.

"You want to bring down my game. You want to go to the Hampstead's because you couldn't go last year. You want me to fail." The last word hissed out of her mouth and she walked to the door. "You always wanted what you couldn't have." Turning away, she closed the door gently and they listened as her footsteps faded away.

"She's just in shock. It's a lot to take in," tried Cody.

"No, she's right. I was selfish to tell you like this," Megan said in a hollow voice. She looked stricken, horrified at how badly the night had turned out.

"We knew it'd be difficult," Séb reminded her. "It might just…take some time."

That night Cody, Squib, Tanis, Cameron, Megan and Sébastien hardly moved from their places on the floor as they waiting for her to come back. Morning dawned, and when it did Rick burst in on the sleeping crowd.

"Adena's gone."