A/N: Thank you, Adelina Le Morte March for your advice. There's loads more of originality in this chapter!
Nippah: Oh, no te preocupes, Nimueh se encontrará en mierda hasta el cuello en el extremo. Y, por cierto, Morgana es mucho mejor que Nimueh ;) Gracias por la review.
Disclaimer: Don't own Merlin.
"Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?" Sophia seethed. "What's so great about Caesar? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. OK, Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar-" At this point everyone in the class was staring at Sophia, completely confused. Morgana wondered if she had taken it too far and made her friend completely mental. "And when did it become OK for one person to be the boss of everybody? Because that's not what Rome is about! We should totally just stab Caesar!"
Sophia Tír-Mòr had cracked.
Morgana was lending a sympathetic ear to Sophia in the toilets.
"OK, if you even knew how mean she really is. You know that I'm not allowed to wear hoop earrings, right? Yeah. Two years ago, she told me that hoop earrings were her thing and that I wasn't allowed to wear them anymore." Morgana knew that Nimueh was the leader but she didn't know just how deep her power ran. She was half disbelieving and half disgusted at Nimueh's treatment of her (former) second in command.
"And then for my Hanukkah, my parents got me this pair of really expensive white-gold hoops. And I had to pretend like I didn't even like them, and it was so sad," Sophia's voice began to crack, so Morgana put her hand on her friend's shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"And you know she cheats on Merlin? Yes. Every Thursday he thinks she's doing GCSE prep," Morgana's hand dropped from Sophia's shoulder in utter shock. "But really, she's hooking up with Alvarr Neahtid in the projection room above the auditorium, and I never told anybody that, because...I'm such a good friend!" Sophia exclaimed, the tears now freely running down her face. Jackpot.
Sophia's secret had put the plan back in motion. After Christmas break, the avenging trio tried every Thursday to help Merlin catch Nimueh in the act.
"Hey," Morgana said to Merlin and Lancelot, who were at their lockers. Lancelot, being a man of few words, merely nodded at her in acknowledgement.
"Hey, what's up?" Merlin replied, trying to act cool around her ever since he found out about her 'crush' on Cedric Rich (who he hated anyway because the guy was such a bootlicker to Arthur).
"My purse!" Morgana exclaimed when Trickler grabbed her purse, wearing a black mask to conceal his face. Merlin immediately ran after him. "Looks like he's headed for the projection room above the auditorium!" she yelled excitedly. Lancelot gave her a questioning look to which she smiled sheepishly.
Trickler and Merlin walked in on the wrong, odd couple.
"Coach Borden?" Merlin said disbelievingly.
"Freya Lake?" Trickler shrieked.
"Guys, why did we think we could do this? We're amateurs," Morgana complained, as she was studying with her friends. Well, she was studying with Elena since Trickler was busy looking for food.
"No, we just have to regroup. Think outside our box," Elena replied, from the seat next to her.
"What are Kälteen bars?" Trickler asked, taking a packet of said bars out and showing them to Morgana over the counter.
"They're these weird Swedish nutrition bars. My mom used to give them to me to help me gain weight. I used to be anorexic," Morgana answered, instantly looking at Elena who had come up with a plan.
"They're these weird nutrition bars my mom uses to lose weight," Morgana lied to Nimueh.
"Give me it," Nimueh ordered, snatching it away from the other girl straight away. "It's all in, like, Swedish or something."
"Yeah, you know, there's some weird ingredient in them that's not legal in the U.K yet," Morgana replied.
"Ephedrine?" Nimueh guessed confidently.
"No."
"Phentermine."
"No," Morgana repeated as Nimueh gave her an almost suspicious look. "It burns carbs. It just burns up all your carbs."
"I really wanna lose three pounds," Nimueh said, looking at Sophia and Morgause. She raised her eyebrows at all of them when they didn't comment.
"Oh, my God, what are you talking about?" Sophia asked.
"You're so skinny," Morgause followed suit, from her seat opposite Morgana.
"Shut up," Nimueh replied, satisfied with the compliments.
Morgana was pushed into her room by the Plastics. Morgause gaped at her sister's beautiful face and then proceeded to put a bracelet on her wrist. Sophia played with Morgana's hair and Nimueh inspected her friend's reflection in the mirror.
The weird thing about hanging out with Nimueh was that Morgana could hate her, and at the same time, she still wanted her to like her.
"OK. You have really good eyebrows," Nimueh praised.
"Thanks," Morgana replied.
"Move!" Nimueh demanded, pushing Sophia out of the way, who gasped and looked at her Queen. Sophia reached for Morgana's hair but Nimueh slapped her hand away. However, it didn't stop her from trying again when Nimueh moved on to observe Morgana's clothes.
It was the same with Sophia; the meaner Nimueh was to her, the more Sophia tried to win Nimueh back. She knew it was better to be in The Plastics, hating life, than to not be in at all. Because being with The Plastics was like being famous. People looked at them all the time, and everybody just knew stuff about them.
"That new girl moved here from Cornwall," Mithian would say.
"I saw Morgana Pendragon wearing Army pants and flip-flops, so I bought Army pants and flip-flops," Freya would say.
"Morgana Pendragon is related to two popular people making her even more popular. She Arthur Pendragon's half sister by Headmaster Pendragon and Morgause Tingatel's half sister by their mother!" Isolde would explain.
"That Morgana girl is hot. She might even be hotter than Nimueh Isle," Valiant would comment.
"I hear Nimueh Isle is dating Merlin Ambrosius again," even Uther would join in. "The two were seen canoodling at Leon Knight's Halloween party. They've been inseparable ever since."
Sadly, that last statement was true. When the Plastics were at school, Merlin would walk up to Nimueh in the corridors and flirt with her. Morgana would usually interrupt their conversations though, making Merlin happy and infuriating Nimueh. Once, Nimueh decided to have Morgause walk in between her and Morgana so the other girl couldn't talk to her boyfriend. Morgana was so frustrated and distracted that she fell into a bin and had to be pulled out by her sister. Nimueh didn't even bother to wait for them.
Morgana was a woman possessed. She spent about 80 percent of her time talking about Nimueh. And the other 20 percent of the time, she was praying for someone else to bring her up so she could talk about her more.
"She's not even that good-looking if you really look at her," she babbled, whilst fixing her under-eye makeup.
"I don't know. Now that's she's getting fatter, she's got pretty big jugs," Elena replied, disinterested. Morgana could hear people getting bored with her. But she couldn't stop; it just kept coming up like word vomit.
"I have this theory that if you cut all her hair off, she'd look like an American man," she continued, walking up to her friend.
"Yeah, I know. You told me that one before," Elena cut her off, confusing her. "Hey, I'm having an art show. So why don't you take a night off from your double life. I want you to see it."
"Coolness," Morgana replied, taking the flyer. Elena nodded her head slowly, noting Morgana's Plastic language.
"What is that smell?" she asked.
"Oh, Nimueh gave me some perfume!"
"You smell like a baby prostitute," Elena deadpanned.
"Thanks," Morgana responded, unsure whether it was a compliment or not. The blonde girl got an air freshener out and sprayed the whole place.
Meanwhile, Morgana was finding any excuse she could to talk to Merlin.
"I don't get this. Do you get any of this?" she asked him, referring to her easy calculus work whilst chewing gum.
"Nice job, Morgana," Ms Tregor praised, giving her student her test paper back.
"Kind of seems like you get it," Merlin commented upon seeing her score of 98. He shared a smile with her, but when he turned back to his desk, her smile dropped.
If she was gonna keep this going, she was gonna have to really commit.
"Not your best," Ms Tregor stated. This time, one of her top students had gotten a 68.
"Damn, Cornwall, what happened?" Cedric asked from her left.
"How'd you do?" Merlin inquired, turning around.
"Not so good," Morgana replied. "You know, I think I need a tutor."
"I'll tutor you, if you ever wanna get together after school or something," he offered. Morgana maintained a straight face despite her urge to pull a Gwaine-like grin. "Do you think Nimueh would mind?"
"No. You guys are friends," Merlin replied. She merely nodded whilst he considered what would happen if his girlfriend found out. "Or maybe we just won't tell her."
"Merlin, teach me magic!" Morgana demanded, out of nowhere during her 'tutor' session with Merlin at his house. They were sitting pretty close, mostly because Morgana was leaning forward a lot.
"WHAT?" he asked, shocked.
"Please, I know you have magic!" she replied.
"No, it's not that. Everyone knows anyway. I mean, what about your maths tutoring?" he asked.
"We've done that already, I just really need some help with my magic! Please? I don't know how to control it at all..." she pleaded, with those emerald eyes that he couldn't resist.
"Fine," he gave in, sighing. "But we have to be quiet, my mum will kill me for using my magic for no apparent reason. She'll think I'm showing off for you rather than teaching you!"
"Okay," Morgana agreed, blushing when he said 'showing off for her...'
"We'll start with the simple fire spell. Watch and repeat after me," he began, stretching his hand out toward the cooker, in the kitchen opposite them. Thankfully, the door was left wide open and Hunith was in the shower. "Forbærnan!" His sapphire eyes flashed gold and the cooker lighted up immediately. Then he got rid of the flames. "Your turn."
"Forbeanie!" Morgana exclaimed, her hand outstretched. Nothing happened. Merlin chortled in laughter.
"What?" she asked, frowning. "You find this funny?!"
"No, don't get mad... It's Forbærnan not Forbeanie! For-bear-nan." Morgana blushed at her stupid mistake.
"Oh, Forbearan!" she tried again.
"Try again."
"Forbærnan!" This time she succeeded. Immediately, there was a fire on the non electrical, old fashioned cooker. Merlin put it out.
"See. That's right. That's good," he praised, whilst she leaned in.
"Well, you're a good tutor," she complimented and he leaned in too. And with that, their lips brushed against each others. Morgana grinned as she finally got what she wanted but Merlin pulled away quickly. It tore him in two to see her frown.
"Morgana, look, I... I can't do this. It's not fair to Nimueh," he managed to say, feeling guilty that the kiss had ignited sparks inside him.
"Why do you like her?" Morgana asked bluntly.
"Look, I know she can be really mean sometimes, but..." Merlin began but got cut off by her.
"Then why do you like her?" she repeated.
"Why do you?" he fired back.
"But-"
"Look, there's good and bad to everybody. Right? Nimueh's just... She's just more up-front about it," Merlin commented, hoping to reason with his beautiful friend. However, this just angered her. Oh, no. It was coming up. The word vomit. She didn't mean to say it, but...
"She's cheating on you!" she blurted out.
"What?"
The girls were gathered at Nimueh's house, in her bedroom, comforting her over the break up that followed the next day. Morgause and Sophia were sat on either side, gripping Nimueh's hands. Elena had crossed 'Merlin Ambrosius' off the list on her blackboard.
"Did he say why?" Morgause asked from Nimueh's left, even though she already had an idea.
"Somebody told him about Alvarr Neahtid," the devastated girl replied, not from heartbreak but the idea of her reputation being damaged.
"Who?" Sophia inquired, sharing a wide eyed, anxious look with Morgana who was standing in front of them.
"He said some guy on the baseball team," Nimueh responded, slightly confused.
"Baseball team?" Morgause repeated, also confused.
"I gave him everything. I was half a virgin when I met him," Nimueh sobbed.
"You wanna do something fun? You wanna go to Nandos?" Morgause asked, attempting to cheer her friend up.
"I can't go to Nandos, I'm on an all-carb diet. God, Morgause, you are so stupid!" the brunette beauty yelled, running off to the toilets.
"Nimueh, wait. Talk to me!" Sophia exclaimed, taking to the chance to get into Nimueh's good books again. She ran out of the bedroom too, leaving Vivienne's daughters alone together.
"Nobody understands me!" Nimueh whined.
"I understand you," Sophia reprimanded.
"You're not stupid, Morgause," Morgana said, taking a seat on the bed next to her blonde sister.
"No. I am, actually. I'm failing almost everything," Morgause replied.
"Well, there must be something you're good at." Morgause pondered for a moment.
"I can put my whole fist in my mouth. Wanna see?"
"Morgause, drop it," Morgana ordered, sighing. Morgause looked horrified.
"What?" she squeaked.
"I can see right through you..." Morgana replied. "Sister..." A tear brimmed in Morgause' eyes.
"Sister... Oh, you are my Morgana!" she sobbed, grabbing Morgana and pulling her into a hug.
"Yes," Morgana responded, crying too. "I've always wanted to meet you but when I did I was sorely disappointed." Morgause pulled away slowly.
"What?" she asked confused, wiping her tears away. Morgana took her hand.
"I knew you were my sister from the moment I saw you during your P.E class. I just didn't want to believe it after hearing people's opinions of you. That you were a slut, never had a steady boyfriend, didn't know how to spell orange. Then when you asked me if I was your sister, I had to face the facts. It only got worse when I heard you talking about Arthur being your cousin, because I knew that Aunt Igraine and mum were sisters..." Morgana paused, to get rid of her smudged eyeliner and mascara.
"I'm so ashamed of that, believe me. Especially since Arthur is going out with Guinevere Leodegrance..." Morgause commented, red with embarrassment. "Carry on."
"But at the talent show I realised something. You weren't stupid at all, it was just an act. Why, Morgause? Why?" Morgause took a deep breath.
"When I met Nimueh and Sophia, they took me in because of my beauty. Eventually, Nimueh started to get jealous of it, so to stay in the Plastics, I had to dumb myself down so she was better than me in some way. It was so bad, that I actually got held back a year and ended up in their classes, despite being a year older. Anyway, after that happened, she moved on to beating Sophia and now, you."
"Me?" Now, Morgause took Morgana's hand.
"Merlin has a crush on you. You're more beautiful than her and hell, you're even more intelligent than me," Morgause elaborated. "The real me, I mean," she added as an afterthought.
"Then be her," Morgana replied.
"What?" Morgana squeezed the blonde girl's hand.
"Be yourself; the real you. Sister, in one of your letters, you once told me that you wished to be a journalist. Don't let anything hold you back and maybe one day, you will be popular and famous. And for all the right reasons." Morgause hugged Morgana again for her heart warming speech.
"And don't let anything hold you back sister..." Morgause replied. Morgana frowned over her sister's shoulder, not knowing what she meant by that but she nodded anyway.
A/N: Hope you liked how I altered the last scene there :) Review please!