I don't own Home Alone


Megan chose to stay at home for the next couple of days after the occurrences from the soccer game. Not only did she currently endure a great headache but she also didn't want to endure her classmates gossiping about what had happened to her. There was always some form of gossip going around that school and even if Megan kept a hard exterior, she just didn't want to be affected by the words of others from within. A part of her felt that she shouldn't even care about what other's were saying, her team had won the game, but the rumors that might circulate about why she had fainted, she just didn't want to be present for those. It was always the why that always interested people and at times Megan wished that they would mind their own business. She didn't know how long these rumors would circulate, but she knew that she eventually had to face them. She stood up straight in her bed and placed her headphone in her ears and allowed herself to escape into the world of Nirvana. After a good couple of minutes, the moment when Megan shut her eyes and finally felt at peace with herself, the door opened at Kate walked in with a glass of orange juice.

"Hi honey," she greeted her with a serene smile upon her lips as she placed the orange juice on the dresser countertop of Megan's room. "How are you feeling?" she asked. Kate felt that she already knew the answer to that question. Even after Megan had stayed at home for two days, those dark circles under her eyes were still present, though they had begun to fade. She had to go back to school eventually but as of right now, Kate felt that it was best for her daughter to stay at home. She had already let the principal know of Megan's condition and had asked her children to bring whatever assignments the teachers had for Megan so she could complete them at home. However, Kate had taken an extra step in this process, one that she knew would be something that Megan didn't approve.

Megan shrugged her shoulder towards her mother. She had spent the past two days in bed, but that headache still continued. "I've been better," she said as she took a sip of the orange juice. Cold and sweet but not enough for a headache cure. She placed the cup next to the teddy bear that Jeff and Kevin had bought her the night she was at the hospital. She had teased both of her brothers about it, but she was grateful that they were kind enough to think about her. She couldn't say the same for Buzz, Linnie, and Becky. She loved all of them whether they gave her gifts or no gifts, but it seemed that there was a tension between those three during that day and Megan didn't have the energy to ask them what was wrong.

"You're looking a little better," Kate chimed in, trying to give her daughter some reassurance.

"I'm going to get worse after all of the homework that I'm going to have to make up," Megan chuckled as she ran a hand through her hair removed the headphones from her ears. "Just thinking about the quizzes and tests that I need to makeup."

"Honey it's only been two days," Kate said to her, "it's not going to be too bad." She took in a deep breath as she mentally fought with herself whether she ought to tell Megan what she had done. "Listen, I spoke with your coach over the phone yesterday and I voiced my concerns that I had with her."

"What concerns?" Megan immediately chimed in.

Kate caught herself before she continued any further with her words. She is getting upset, I know it she thought as she looked at her daughter's facial expression. Those furrowed eyebrows and the glare that she sent her was evidence enough to Kate that this conversation was not going to end well. "I want you to be reasonable on what I am going to say," she said to her, "first, I do not like how that coach has been treating you. You have been too overworked in your training, which was a result of you winding up in the hospital and I don't want that to happen again. Therefore, I told her that given the circumstances that had happened, you will not be on the team this year...and she agreed with me."

Megan clenched her hands into fists and her jaw tightened when her mother said those words. How could she take something away that she was passionate about? What made it worse was the fact that her coach had agreed with her mother! Her chances of even being the team captain had been diminished because of her mother's and coach's lack of trust that they had in her. "How could you do that?" Megan asked, her voice at a normal tone yet shaky from the news that she had just heard.

"Megan," Kate said, "I did it because I don't want another episode like that to happen again. I know how hard you have worked for the team, I know that you have tried to be the best that you can be but there comes a time when we have to think seriously about this. Right now, your priority is you schoolwork, which I am shocked to hear that you're barely passing history."

"Ugh," Megan groaned as she leaned back in her bed and placed the pillow over her face, wishing that she could just vanish from his lecture.

"I hoped that you were making some progress in your schoolwork but this is unacceptable!"

And it's unacceptable that you had to do this to me! Megan wanted to yell at her mother but had little to no energy to even continue this fight with her. Just go away she mentally pleaded as she kept the pillow tight against her face.

"Megan McCallister did you hear what I said?" Kate demanded.

"God yes!" Megan blurted out as she removed the pillow from her face. "You never wanted me to do soccer, something that I am passionate about, in the first place. Now that I had the chance to be team captain, I get cut off from the team because my mother is too overprotective and my coach sees me as nothing but a piece of crap on the team and I bet she is happy to hear that she will never see my face again!"

"You stop that right now young lady!" Kate's eyes flared as she looked at her daughter, "I will not have you speak to me like that because I did something that I did was best for you. You know how worried your father and I was when you were in the hospital? How worried your siblings were?"

"Yeah right," Megan scoffed, "they were too busy fighting with one another to even care about me. Jeff and Kevin were the only ones who did and honestly, I am very angry that you did something like this without even talking to me about. You always say that we should be responsible for ourselves but this is not being responsible. This is being babied by your mother."

Kate clenched her jaw at the words that her daughter had just said to her but she tried to keep herself calm from this whole argument. A part of Kate felt guilty for doing what she had to do, but at the same time, it was something that needed to be done. "Responsibility comes with consequences," Kate said to her, "and you have not been responsible with your school work."

Megan was about to retort, but felt at a loss of words. Her mother was right, she had been struggling with her coursework but she felt that shouldn't be the reason why she was cut off from the team. "We all have our struggles," she mumbled.

"That we do," Kate said to her, "but we have to keep trying our hardest, and that hasn't shown in your schoolwork." Kate took a deep breath and let out a sigh as she glanced at the floor and looked at her daughter's discarded soccer uniform.

Megan lied back down on the bed and placed her head on the pillow as she heard her mother's footsteps walking out the door. Thank you she mentally said to herself, grateful that her mother was not present in her room for the time being. After what had just occurred and the news that she had heard, Megan wanted to be remain alone with herself. All of these emotions that she had kept bottled up were becoming to munch to the point where she just couldn't keep it in anymore. With one blink with her eyes, a single tear escaped and it was that moment where she realized that her mother was right.