Happy Harbour, Part 2
- - - July 19th - - -
Another Monday. Megan M'orzz blinked at her digital alarm clock sleepily. July 19, 6:16 am. Seven more weeks until her first day at high school.
Megan Wheeler would have loved the summer break. Right before her junior year, she had gone to cheerleader camp at Lake Superior with her best friend Rita, sunbathing and canoeing and dripping ice cream all over her bathing suit… There were three flash backs to these summer camp scenes in 'Hello Megan' episode seven, which was one of her all-time favourites - after those episodes that focussed on Megan Wheeler's relationship with Conner Manley, of course.
Megan couldn't wait to finally go to high school on Earth.
She couldn't wait to make human friends, at last.
No, no, that was not fair. Megan quickly redacted the stray thought. She had friends here. They even went on a mission together just yesterday.
And it had felt good, yesterday, when they returned to the cave from Happy Harbour, elated by their first successful endeavour, the boys bubbling with excitement as they celebrated their joint victory over the strange Mister Twister with pizza and ice cream. Megan had let herself be carried away by the wave of euphoria, the rush of relief that their plan – her plan – had actually worked, the joy of finally feeling accepted.
And even Superboy had said that he was sorry for his earlier outburst, had spoken kindly to her for the first time, rekindling her hopes that one day, maybe…
But today was Monday. It was time to touch base with reality again.
Back on Mars, the first day of a new week had always been the darkest. Martian weeks had nine days, divided into three triplets. For her family, the last triplet, from septimus to nonus, was free. Primus until sextus were work days, or school days for children and adolescents like herself.
On primus, Megan had to leave the TV-induced fantasies into which the weekend allowed her to escape. Primus morning meant to return to the reality of her step father's scorn and her step brothers' cruelty.
No, don't go there. That was over. She was free.
Yet it was still Monday.
And it was time to accept that things were not going perfectly on Earth either.
She had skipped her little ritual last week, but the past days had shown that she could not afford to loose the habit. She was making too many mistakes.
Megan pulled her blanket onto the rough stone floor of her chamber, than lay down at its centre with her legs tucked in beneath her.
She stretched her arms out in front of her, then closed her eyes.
Time to remember, to process, to cleanse.
The meditative pose was designed for a true Martian form, and she felt strangely off-balance with her shorter arms and humanly proportioned torso. Yet she would rather die than shift into that other shape again. Not here.
She faced the hideous image in her mind, her White Martian appearance.
That was not her. No matter how often her older step brothers had forced her back into it, had broken the green glamour with which she tried so hard to hide her inheritance, tearing down her mental resistance and compelling her to turn pale by the sheer force of their will, every single school day morning…
She was Megan here, not M'gann. She would never take that true Martian form again, neither green nor white. It would seem monstrous here on Earth, and she knew better than anybody that many of those who wore it were monsters indeed.
She had thought it would be easy to be Megan on Earth. Why was she messing it up so much?
Why was it so hard to make friends?
At first, she had thought Mary could be her Rita. The close companion with whom she could talk and gossip and laugh and cry, who would share her secrets and always have her back. They would go shopping together and listen to the same pop music, practice their cheers and help each other with homework, paint each others' nails and borrow each others' outfits. Spending summer break together would be fabulous.
How could she have been so naive?
She could sense that Mary cared for her, and tried to be her friend, but she was older and worked full-time, did not even know what cheerleading was and never wore nail polish. Mary had grown up in the UK decades before 'Hello Megan' first aired in the US. They truly came from different worlds.
Lesson one: Don't expect other people to act like TV characters too.
That was not all, though. Mary had tried to talk to her, and naturally she had been curious about life on Mars. Megan had not known how to respond to that, and broken off several of their earlier conversations rather awkwardly.
Lesson two: Come up with a better backstory. Her team would surely ask similar questions soon, and she should better have an answer ready. Uncle J'onn had promised he would not reveal the truth to them; how she had stowed away on his bioship when he left for Earth after his last visit on Mars, how he had detected her and how she had begged him to take her with him, how she had been so desperate that if he had refused, she might have gone to the air lock and…
No, don't go there. That was all over now.
She might have had a rough start with Mary, but it seemed like they had finally found some common ground. Baking together was fun.
Lesson three: Be open for new experiences. Find common activities.
They had even made chocolate chip cookies, like the ones Megan Wheeler had prepared for the bake sale with her mother in episode seventeen...
The mental image of Aqualad appeared before her eyes, and she flinched as she recalled his last visit. How could she have been so rude to him last week, flying away when he had just arrived for a visit?
Because she had only thought of Superboy.
Lesson four: Don't only think of Superboy.
But how? He was just… perfect. So gorgeous! So emotional. So handsome, so strong, so dedicated… And he was her team mate, a fellow alien even, one of the few people on Earth whom she could show her powers, with whom she might be able to actually communicate…
Except that he hated it.
Lesson five: Don't use telepathy unasked.
Her other team mates had also reacted very badly to her first attempt to create a mind link.
Uncle J'onn had warned her that she might feel lonely on Earth, where people did not know how to share their minds.
At the time, she had been delighted by that prospect.
Now, she just wished that Superboy would let her in, would finally open up to her. She could help him with his rage, if she only knew its cause… They could try to make sense of this strange new world together, share their worries and triumphs, join high school together, and maybe, one day, he might turn out to be the Conner to her Megan…
Remember lesson one: Don't think of other people as TV characters.
No mind links, for now. Maybe the team would allow her to attempt it again on their next mission. Uncle J'onn linked the League up all the time, and instant soundless communications would give her team a great tactical advantage. They would need any advantage they could get, judging from that disastrous first encounter yesterday…
There was no denying it, she had messed up badly. Mistaking Mister Twister for Red Tornado had endangered the entire team.
Inexperienced, Robin had called her. He was right, she was inexperienced at all this. All the others had trained to be heroes with their mentors – all except Superboy, who still had been trained telepathically by the G-gnomes feeding him knowledge. She had much to catch up on.
Lesson six: Gain experience.
She knew how to train her mind, she had done it every single day of her life, in order to strengthen herself against her step brothers' assaults. In the last months, they had never dared attack her when less than three of them were present, despite their advanced age – which had not made their invasions any less terrifying, of course…
She would train hard to become a worthy member of this team. This was the future she had chosen, this was the one chance she had been given – she would not mess it up.
Seven more weeks of summer break. She would dedicate those weeks to preparing herself, to becoming a hero – before fulfilling her dream of becoming a high school girl, too.
Megan took a deep breath, sorting her thoughts.
Don't let 'Hello Megan' dictate all your expectations. Come up with a believable background story. Find common activities with the people you want to be friends with. Don't neglect others because of your crush on Superboy, even if he is distractingly gorgeous. Don't rely on telepathy to communicate, and never use it without permission. Learn how to become a hero.
A tall order.
Yet she had faced many first days of the week in the past when that list had been even longer, and included points as seemingly impossible as 'Find a way to leave Mars'.
She had made it to Earth. Now she would find her place here. Even if there were no cheerleading practices or shopping sprees with friends – not yet.
Megan took another deep breath, drawing up all the embarrassment, her stumbles and mistakes, the doubts and disappointments of her first two weeks on Earth. For one long instant she faced all these dark moments, promising herself that she would learn from them, that they would make her stronger. Then she let them go, letting them drift into that dark archive she had erected at the back of her mind, filing them away in one of the countless metal cabinets, then firmly closing the drawers.
When she left her mental archive, she imagined locking its heavy metal door behind her, then turned to face the happy place she had constructed in the centre of her mind. The soft tune of the 'Hello Megan' theme song calmed her, the well-known figures of Rita and Connor and Mrs and Mr Wheeler greeted her with her smile, and in their midst stood Megan Wheeler herself, joyful and bright, ready to embrace her and merge with her once more.
Megan opened her eyes, slowly rising from the floor of her chamber, a green-skinned, red-haired girl with human physiology. It felt so good that her outside appearance could finally match the mental image with which she had identified herself for years.
She folded up her blanket and made the bed neatly. Before stepping out of the door, Megan took one last look at her room, her new home.
For once, she thought, it might be nice to own a mirror.
Mary was writing a shopping list when Megan entered the kitchen.
"Good morning, Mary!" The young Martian sounded as cheerful as ever.
"Good morning to you, too! I think there might still be some milk and cereals left, if you are looking for breakfast. Your team raided most of our food supply yesterday..."
"Oh, is that a problem?" The fridge door sprang open, the milk jar and a carton of orange juice gliding purposefully towards the kitchen counter.
"No, no, not at all, we'll just have to restock soon. You were celebrating your first day of action!"
"I'm just glad it all worked out, in the end..." Megan poured herself a glass of juice while plucking a spoon from the cutlery drawer. "We still have a long way to go. Do you know when we will start with the training?"
"I believe Black Canary will stop by on Wednesday to discuss your schedule with you and Superboy."
"Wednesday", the Martian repeated slowly, levitating the breakfast cereals down from the top shelf towards her.
"I was wondering..." Mary paused. "Would you like to come shopping with me today?"
The cereal box dropped a few inches before Megan caught it telekinetically.
"At the mall, I mean", Mary explained, unsure what had caused that reaction. "You would have to help me buy the groceries, but I thought we could take a bit more time, if you'd like to? You were asking me about fashion earlier, and there are lot of stores there that could give you a much better expression what people wear today than I ever could. And maybe we could get a few things for your room as well, to make it a little more homely – maybe add a carpet? Just if you want, of course..." She trailed off.
"I would love that", Megan replied, beaming as brightly as the morning sun.
Author's note:
Please let me know what you think of this chapter!
I really hope Megan will forgive me. I was struggeling to write her at first, until this somehow clicked into place. I am aware that I made her past darker, her mind heavier than canon usually demands - but I feel that she's strong enough to take it.
What do you think? Please leave a short review!