I don't own Home Alone
April 15th, 1991
Megan McCallister tried to keep her cool throughout the school day. Today was the day and she knew that she was going to have to put all of her efforts into tonight's soccer game. She had practiced as much as she could during the weekends and any free time that she was able to make after finishing her studies. According to her coach, they were going to be up against one of the toughest rivals that her school had ever faced and she could feel the pressure weighing down on her before the game. In the locker room, she quickly changed into her uniform and proceeded to head out into the field.
"So!" a voice yelled behind her, causing Megan to jump in place and whip around to see none other than Becky with their brother Jeff right beside her. "Whoa, it's just us."
Megan looked and noticed that Becky had a notebook and pencil in her hand whilst Jeff had a polaroid camera hanging on his neck. "Guys I'm late for practice. Can these pictures and interrogation wait?" Megan rolled her eyes.
"It's called an 'interview,'" Becky said as she flipped open to fresh clean page and began to scribble some notes on it, "and second, the school newspaper needs it. Jeff can take as many pictures of you and the team and we'll have to pick and choose which ones go best for the newspaper."
Megan had no idea how the school newspaper function but according to Becky, it seemed like she knew what she was doing. "Fine," she said as she threw her arms in the air knowing that she had no choice on the matter. "How do you want me to pose?"
Becky perked up as she turned her head and looked over to Jeff. "How about we have you stand by the wall here?" She took Megan by the shoulders and position her against the yellow colored wall.
"And a soccer ball!" Jeff added as he looked over to the left and noticed an abandoned soccer ball. He took it in his hands and placed it next to Megan. "I think we should have he foot on the ball."
"Yes!" Becky agreed, "foot on the ball, hands on the hips, and a big smile to display team captain!"
That was one of the many positions that Megan had been fighting for ever since she had started soccer. The team captain was going to graduate in the upcoming months and the team was already looking for someone to replace her. During that time Megan had given her all in their trainings to the point where she felt she might faint but she never allowed that sensation to overcome her. "I am not team captain yet," Megan reminded them.
Becky and Jeff looked at one another. "If anyone deserves that role it's you," Jeff said to his sister. He was not one to always give a compliment but even he had been present during those days when his sister trained hard.
"Yeah," Becky agreed, "so give us that pose and give it all you got out there!"
Megan took a deep breath and placed her foot on the football. She clenched her hands into fists and placed them on her hips before giving her siblings the best dazzling smile that she could. Before she knew it, the polaroid light flared in her eyes and she blinked a couple of time trying to get rid of the light.
"One shot down, a couple more to go," Becky said. "I think we ought to get a picture of the team. Give the article more essence." The three siblings headed out of the building and into the field where the team was already stretching.
"Gotta go," Megan said as she headed out into the field and joined in on the stretching.
As for Becky and Jeff, the two tried to find what they could write about and the pictures that were probably needed for the newspaper. Jeff took pictures of the field itself, the school building, and others whilst Becky was furiously scribbling onto her notebook. Stretching, upcoming game, team captain. "My hand is beginning to hurt," she mumbled to herself but she had to keep her reputation as the school's journalist.
As her eyes lifted up to see what else she could write about, her eyes suddenly fell on the bleachers where she noticed two people sitting there. It was none other than Lucas and her sister Linnie. Clinging tightly on her pencil the tip broke and fell into the blades of the grass.
Linnie took a deep breath as her fingers curled around the books that were resting upon her lap. Ever since school had begun from the holidays, she had tried to get Lucas to notice her and through all of her attempts, it had finally worked. She had been embarrassed at first for focusing on trying to get his attention rather than her studies but she just couldn't contain that emotion any longer. To her, it was rather funny how this whole situation began.
After the holidays and a whole new semester, Lucas had been in Linnie's French class. His attempt at even speaking French was horrible, but since Linnie was at the top of the class she took it as an opportunity to tutor Lucas. After a couple of tutoring sessions, one thing had lead to another. Now Linnie was aware of the fact that Lucas and Becky were friends, especially with the fact that Lucas only laughed when Becky called him a 'Loser.' However, Linnie couldn't tell whether Becky truly liked Lucas or only had him as a friend. She had fought with the fact to tell her sisters about her likeness for Lucas but she never had the courage to do so. She knew that Megan would only make fun of her and Becky...well, she didn't know how her sister would react upon that fact.
"Just wanted to let you know," Lucas broke her out of her thoughts as he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper. He held it in front of Linnie and she took notice of a 'B-' that was marked on his paper with a red pen.
Linnie smiled brightly as she took hold of the paper. "You're getting better and better in your French."
Lucas smiled proudly as he leaned back on the bleacher and put his arm around the girl's shoulders. "I have a very great tutor."
"I had to push you a little bit to learn the passé composé," Linnie chuckled.
"Oh God," Lucas rolled his eyes at the mention of the past tense. "That was a nightmare. I literally got an 'F' the first time."
Getting an 'F' on anything was something that Linnie was afraid of. Whenever she studied, it seemed like everything was stored in her mind but when it came to the exams it felt like she had forgotten everything. The lowest grade that she had ever gotten was a 'B+' in math but that always proved to be a difficult subject for her. "And now you won't," she responded as she looked over to Lucas with a smile.
Lucas looked over to her with a sincere smile of his own before he leaned close and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Jeff frowned as he looked at the pictures that he had just taken. Why was it that they had all come out blurry? "Tch," he clicked his tongue against his teeth in disappointment before heading over to Becky. "We need to retake these pictures. I mean look at this!" he exclaimed as he held one of them towards Becky's eyes.
Becky blinked as she came out of her daze and looked at the pictures. "Jeff," she groaned, "I have told you a million times hold the camera with both hands."
"I did!" Jeff said in defense, "maybe it was out of focus or something."
Becky turned her head back to the bleachers and glared at her sister and friend once more. "Yeah...maybe." She wasn't upset of the fact that Linnie was seeing Lucas. It was mostly of the fact that she had never uttered a word to her about it. Had Becky ever liked Lucas before? There may have been some feeling towards him that she never openly expressed. In fact if the circumstances were different, she would be truly happy for the both of them. But this? It seemed like they had gone behind her back.
"What are you looking at?" Jeff asked as he glanced over to the direction where Becky was looking.
Taking a deep breath, Becky only shook her head before giving Jeff a push to head back inside the building. "Nothing of great importance. Let's see what we can do about those pictures before the game."
Back at the McCallister residence, Kate had gotten home early from work and was busy preparing an early dinner for the family. Now that Megan was having her big game of the night, she wanted to make sure that she and the rest of the family were present during that time. The only thing that Kate wanted from her daughter was not to only have passion for soccer but to also put some focus in her studies. She hadn't been too happy with Megan when she presented a 'D+' on an assignment a couple of months ago. She had scolded her daughter to the point of telling her that she wouldn't go to practice until she bought her grades up. That conversation had gone really well to the point that Megan had disappeared into her room and slammed the door shut.
After that whole fiasco, there hadn't been a single 'D+' nor any 'C's' appearing on her assignment for that matter. It was very difficult to be in a home where there were teenagers and an eight year old and sometimes Kate didn't know how she was able to handle it all. In the end, no matter how many fights they went through they were still a family to one another. She looked over to the living room and noticed her little one sitting by the table doing his homework.
Kate found it a little interesting how she never had to fight Kevin when it came to doing his homework whilst she always had to have a discussion with Jeff, Buzz, Megan, and Becky to do theirs. She could see how focused Kevin was to whatever assignment he was doing and how quickly he was able to finish some of them. It was like he was ahead of his class, though his teacher had never said anything about that during the parent-teacher conferences.
"Do you want a snack?" Kate asked Kevin as she walked over to him.
Kevin blinked up from his homework feeling that slight disconnect from his homework. The moment that his mother mentioned the work 'snack' Kevin couldn't help but feel a little famished. "Yes please," Kevin said, "can I have some cookies?"
"Now you know that sweets will spoil your dinner," Kate reminded him, "how about some carrots and ranch?"
It wasn't something that Kevin preferred but anything was better than an empty stomach. Putting down his pencil, he followed his mother into the kitchen and sat down one of the the chairs by the countertop. In a mere few minutes, Kate presented him a plate of neatly arranged carrots and a small jar of ranch.
"I will join as well," Kate smiled as she sat across from Kevin with a plate of carrots and ranch of her own. She mimicked her son when he dipped the carrot in the ranch before taking a bite. "I do hope that everyone will come home soon. Have dinner, finish homework, and then we can go to Megan's game."
This would have been the first time that Kevin ever had to go to his sibling's high school. He couldn't even fathom himself being in high school when he would be Megan's age. It seemed like a very weird age to be in. From what he saw from his siblings, they were always arguing with their parents, crying for the littlest reasons, and having their girlfriends or boyfriends come over.
"You think she'll win?" Kevin asked.
That was a question that Kate didn't really know the answer to. Anything could happen when it came to such games. Megan could trip and miss her goal, someone could get hurt, but it was better to just enjoy the game than continue to live in stress about it. She had seen how much Megan had practiced and the time that she had put into her practice as opposed to her studies. Being captain seemed to be more important to her than her studies and Kate knew that it was a difficult time to change Megan's mind about it.
"I think so," Kate said, "she has been practicing for weeks."
"She could win a trophy for the school too," Kevin added, "that would be kind of nice to have on display."
It would be Kate thought to herself. Though trophy of not, she was still going to be a proud mother to all of her children.
Being cooped up in her apartment for weeks, Amy couldn't bear being awake for another minute. She wanted to shut her eyes and just remain sleeping until this whole situation was over...for better or for worse. She felt that she had been living in hell, through all nine circles of it, and there was no way out. The constant torments from Ray and Robert and fearing for her own life had gotten to be too much that she would wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats and have difficulty going back to sleep. The thought of just disappearing out of Chicago had been tempting but she just couldn't abandon her husband no matter how angry she was on certain days.
Robert and Ray had shortly left her apartment, after catching up with how her visitation went with Harry. She knew that they were trying to get more information if she had tipped Harry about them but Amy only stated no with every question that they had in relation to their suspicion. Ray had threatened her a couple of times of what they would do to her if she was lying, but Amy wanted to keep her husband safe from them. How long this was going to go, Amy just didn't know.
Maybe to the point where one of them was dead.
Letting out a sigh, she got off the couch and headed out the door and down the stairs where she reached her mailbox. She hadn't checked it in weeks and it was probably overflowing with bills. She opened the box and, she was right, a bunch of letters fell from the mailbox and in front of her feet. She gathered the letters in her arms and headed back to her apartment to sort through them. It wasn't much but it was a little something for her to do to get mind off things.
Bills, bills, bills...I am going to get evicted she thought as she threw the letters on the table. One of the letters fluttered on the floor and she picked it up. It was from Cook's County Jail and Amy immediately tore the letter open.
Amy,
Through our conversation, I had a good idea of who you were talkin' about. I can't disclose everything into this letter but I'll tell you this...remain low where you are now. Continue to do what you're doing and don't let them get to ya. I have figured out a plan but it's gonna take a while to do it. I don't know how long but hang in there.
I love ya and I miss ya
Harry.
Amy took a deep breath as she read Harry's short letter over and over again. There wasn't much but words of encouragement which was something that Amy needed but it didn't have that effect on her. She was about to place the letter on the table when she took notice of some words written on the back of the letter. Amy frowned as she tried to read what he had wrote. It seemed like Harry had taken the moment to write a short poem that clearly made no sense no matter how many times she read it, but there was one word that seemed truly out of place in Amy's perspective.
And that word was...gun.
