I don't own Home Alone


A couple of hours passed when the McCallister family finally gathered around the dinner table. Kate looked at her children and noticed how little they were speaking to one another as opposed to Buzz who was gorging on the food. She turned her head and looked over to Jeff who was silently eating his food, as if he was deep in his thoughts, Megan who barely touched her food, Linnie who was eating as delicately as possible, Becky who ate as quickly as she could, and Kevin who was poking a couple of vegetables with his fork.

"Kevin, honey don't play with your food," Kate said to the youngest McCallister as she gently stroked his arm before she turned her attention to Megan. "Megan you need to eat something."

Megan continued to stare at her plate of food. Her stomach was begging for food but her mind was telling her not to eat anything, feeling that urge that if she was going to eat it she would probably throw it up. She made a slight face at the perfectly cooked chicken and rice before averting her eyes from the dish. "I can't even look at food right now." She had been feeling nervous ever since she had arrived home from practice doing nothing but counting down the hours of the big game. With each hour that ticked by, the more nervous she felt.

Kate knew that a lot of pressure was riding on Megan's shoulders. There was never a day when Megan never spoke about being team captain and winning for the team. A sigh escaped the woman's lips as she looked at her daughter with concern. "I know that this is very difficult for you," she said to her, "but nothing matters more than your health."

Megan knew that her mother was right. She couldn't deprive herself from food just because her stomach wasn't agreeing with her, but she just couldn't fathom the idea of eating anything at this moment. "Maybe I'll have a bite after the game," she said, more to herself than her mother who listened with attentiveness.

"Why don't you just have some chicken?" Peter suddenly spoke up, "its cooked perfectly just the way you like it."

Megan wanted to, but she responded to her father's suggestion with a shake of her head. "Can I be excused?" she asked but didn't want for any response from her family before she got up and headed upstairs.

Kate took a deep breath through her nose as her eyes followed her daughter's footsteps. She hated seeing her children feeling that stress that was upon them not only through their studies but also their extracurricular activities. Before, Megan had been so happy trying out for soccer and making the team but now that the pressure was on it seemed that all of that fun had been extracted away from her and it wasn't fun to her anymore. Setting down her fork on the plate, she got up from the chair and headed up the stairs.

"Peter," she said as she stopped midway up the stairs, "finish dinner and get everyone ready. I'm going to talk to Megan."

Peter complied to Kate's words with a nod of his head as he continued to finish the rest of his food. "So, how was everyone's day?" he asked his children but there was no response from any of the teens other than Kevin.

"We learned about dinosaurs today," Kevin spoke up as he looked at his father, "did you guys know that all the continents that we know of today were all stuck together? It was called Pangea."

Buzz stopped eating his food and looked up at his younger brother. "Everybody knows that already," he told him.

"Buzz," Peter said to his son before a fight broke out at the dinner table, "now that's an interesting fact," he said back to Kevin, "would that be the reason why fossils are found in different places of the world?"

"Yup," Kevin responded with a nod of his head, "because after many years, the land broke apart and formed into the continents that we have now."

At least there was some form of conversation at the dinner table even though it was only temporary. There was quite the tension in the room, Peter could feel it but he wasn't sure of what the reason was. Megan's discomfort was one thing but seeing Becky and Linnie eating in silence was another. They usually had an ardent conversation with one another especially with Megan but not it seemed like there was nothing there. "How about you girls?" he asked his daughters, "any news?"

Linnie wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked at her father. Should she tell them that she had officially found a boyfriend? Perhaps that was too early. Maybe it was better to say that she had gotten a good grade in her French test. "I had a very difficult test last week and the teacher handed back our results. I got an 'A,'" she announced with a smile.

At that moment, Becky slammed a fist at the table and got up from the table. "For crying out loud!" she exclaimed before running up the stairs and into her room.

The whole members of the family jumped in their seats and Becky's unexpected reaction. "What the hell?" Buzz said to one in particular as he looked up at the stairs where his sister had suddenly disappeared.


Kate turned her head when she saw her other daughter stomping up the stairs and slam the door shut. What in the world was going on tonight?! "Megan," she said as she knocked on the bathroom door, "open this door right now."

When there was no response coming from the bathroom, Kate continued to knock again. "Megan, honey open it right now. I'm worried about you." She heard a loud sniffle coming from within and before she knew it, the door opened and a teary-eyed Megan appeared by the sliver opening of the doorway. Kate gave the door a gentle push as she walked in and shut the door behind them.

She took in Megan's appearance. She had bags under her eyes, disheveled hair, and she was in her soccer uniform. "What's the matter?" Kate asked as she approached her daughter and enveloped her in her arms.

Megan hugged her mother tightly in return, feeling that gentle warmth from her as she hugged her. Why was it that when a mother hugged her child, all that stress seemed to temporarily disappear? "I don't think I can do it," Megan finally said with a sniffle.

Kate held her daughter close but looked down at her. "What do you mean?" she asked, "you have practiced for weeks. You're more than ready to do this."

"I want to be the best I can be," Megan responded, "and I want to make my coach proud, my teammates proud, win a trophy for the school, become team captain...but I also want to make the family proud too. How can I do that when I don't believe in myself?"

Where was all of this doubt coming from? One thing that Kate was certain about Megan was that she was always confident in what she did...aside from her studies of course. So why was she having this uncertainty about herself? Was it something that her teammates or her coach had said to her throughout their practice?

"And why are you not believing in yourself?" Kate asked her. "What makes you think that you won't do it? And if you don't, so what?"

"So...everybody will be disappointed in me," Megan answered her mother's question, "I can't do that to them. I worked so hard to get to where I am and I'm so close at being team captain. If we lose...all of that would be for nothing."

"No it wouldn't," Kate disagreed with a gentle shake of her head, "you would have given it your all. A team captain is not someone who wins all of the games. They are someone who shows leadership and sportsmanship to their team and raises their morale. They train to become stronger and feel better about themselves even after they lose a game. It's not about winning the game, it's giving it all that you can and that's what counts the most."

Coach doesn't think so Megan thought but decided not to verbally say it. Megan couldn't tell whether her coach was pushing her because he believed in her or if he just saw her as a joke. After the practices her coach had kept her for a while longer than needed, having her run laps around the school yard, doing various exercises that made her muscles ache, and even belittling her on some occasions. However, Megan paid no mind to those words for she knew that if she was to become a team captain she was going to have to be tougher than she already was.

"I have to get ready," Megan said as she rubbed her eyes with her hands, "I can't be late to practice." She quickly tied to laces of her shoes, not even giving her mother's concerned expression another thought as she headed out of the bathroom and down the stairs to get ready for the big game of the night.