Hey! Just a note to say, I have nothing against Maxine Valera, the DNA tech from Miami, I just needed a mean girl ;-) Thanks to those people who reviewed, this chapter is mainly centred around Nick, Morgan, Greg and Catherine. Here we go...

Read. Enjoy. Review!

Chapter Eleven

As the school bell rang to signal the end of mentoring MJ Stokes raced down the corridor. "NICKY!"

Nick froze, foot in midair, unsure whether to run for it or not.

"Nick Stokes!"

He sighed and whirled to face his sister. "What?"

"I can't give you a lift, I gotta go to hospital."

"Okay...wait, why?" Nick frowned.

"Remember that big fight? Well, Cath fainted and Don got hit in the head bad, so they're both there. I said I'd give Sam Flack a lift to the hospital and drop Don and Sam home." MJ rushed.

"Oh..." Nick frowned.

"I heard about your singing."

Nick went bright red.

"Ethan told me."

"Shit..."

MJ laughed softly. "He won't give you any stick. He cried."

"Really?" Nick frowned.

MJ nodded. "Remember Poppy?"

"The kid who lived with us as a foster kid for a bit?"

"Yeah. She was abused. Nearly died. She and Ethan were close before her uncle adopted her."

"Oh..." Nick shook his head. "This has been one hell of a day. Are you okay?"

MJ smiled and ruffled Nick's hair. "I'm good, thanks Nick. Will you be able to get ho-"

"Yes."

"Good." She turned.

"Oh, MJ? Is Catherine gonna be okay?"

She nodded. "I think so..."

"Good." He smiled.

Warrick raced up to him. "I just saw Greg with this girl, Ellen. She is hot. And totally into Greg."

"Really?" Nick grinned. He looked down to a courtyard and saw Greg talking to a pretty girl. "Wow. She's hot."

MJ rolled her eyes and walked away to meet Sam.

"Have you noticed Morgan, though?" Warrick asked softly

"You mean the fact that she walked out of the room first chance she could? Yeah." Nick said softly. "She likes Greg."

"I thought it was a slam dunk." Warrick nodded. "He likes her, she likes him. Done."

Nick shrugged. "I'm gonna go find her, 'kay?"

"Sure." Warrick nodded. "Better you than me - I'd have no idea what to say."

Nick nodded and raced to A11, where he knew that Morgan had mentoring. As she came out of the classroom, he threw her a ball.

"Don't break my nose!" he warned, holding his hand above his face as she instinctively caught, and she smiled softly.

"Hey Nick."

"What do you think of Ellen?" Nick asked deliberately.

"She's pretty."

"You never saw a picture." Nick stopped and looked at Morgan dead in the eyes. "Fancy a smoothie? Not a date?"

"You have football..." Morgan looked at the floor.

"I already told Coach Tripp I wasn't going. I was going to go with Greg to hospital for a check up but then Greg cancelled on me." He winked at her. "Went in yesterday instead."

Morgan sighed. "Fine. I'll come."

"Great." Nick grinned.

As they approached the smoothie bar, Nick stepped up quickly. "One Triple Chocolate Mega Ice Cream Shake and an Iced Mango and one Passion fruit Smoothie, please."

Morgan looked at him as he threw ten dollars onto the counter and took the change. When the assistant came back, Nick passed the Triple Chocolate Mega Ice Cream Shake to Morgan.

"I need to lose weight Nick..." she bit her lip.

"Not today, you don't." Nick decided not to argue with the teenage girl about weight – he'd had enough of that with all of his sisters.

She sighed, and took a sip as they sat down. "How'd you know what to order?"

"Four sisters who have all gone through puberty and therefore a hell of a lot of experience of what to do when a girl needs a pick me up." Nick grinned, and Morgan half smiled.

"What makes you think I need a pick me up?" She looked at her milkshake.

"Greg asked Ellen out."

Morgan looked up in shock.

Nick nodded and showed her his phone.

1 New Message

From: Greggo WhoIsSoAwesome

I did it! She said yes!

Morgan bit her lip and turned her eyes back down to her milkshake.

Nick sighed. "I know kinda how you feel."

"How?" Morgan laughed bitterly.

"I have a major crush on a girl who only sees me as a friend."

Morgan saw the honesty in Nick's eyes. "Sara?" she asked quietly.

He sighed. "Tali."

"Really?" she asked. "Well you do a better job at hiding it than me."

"Six siblings. No secrets." Nick winked.

"I just...I thought he liked me, y'know? I mean...when I did that dare about the date with Hodges, he seemed upset...but I guess it's just because he hates Hodges and doesn't have anything to do with me at all." Her voice was the same soft, sad tone that Nick remembered Katie, his sister, having when her boyfriend cheated on her.

"I'm not sure it is...I'm not gonna say anything about how Greg feels, cause I don't know. And once I played matchmaker in Texas. I told Billy that Anna liked him when she didn't and told Livy that Leo didn't like her but he did. None of them talked to me for ages."

Morgan shook her head, half smiling.

"Nah, I'm not here to play matchmaker, Morgan. I'm here to buy you milkshake and try and make you feel better. It's not you, y'know."

"Oh yeah?" Morgan scoffed.

"Yeah. You're pretty, loyal, funny, a great friend. Any guy would be lucky to have you. Rosa would tell you that if it's meant to happen it will. Well, actually she says que será, será but it basically means the same thing."

Morgan sniffled and wiped her eyes which were starting to fill with tears. "I really like him, Nick."

Nick smiled sadly at his young friend and put an arm around her shoulders.

Greg walked past the window of the smoothie parlour with Ellen, laughing at something she'd said. As he walked past, he saw Morgan hugging Nick tightly, and he felt like ice had been poured over his heart.

You can't have it both ways.

But Nick knew I like Morgan, he must have known!

You didn't tell him.

Yeah, but-

You're with Ellen. You should have forgotten about Morgan when you asked her out. You can't have it both ways.

Greg sighed and listened to his common sense.

"Are you okay?" Ellen asked.

"I'm good." Greg smiled at her, his school bag hitting his crutch.

"I'll carry that for you." She smiled.

"Thanks." He glanced back at the window and saw Morgan looking at him. When he met her eyes she turned away, and he hung his head.

"Why were you staring at that Morgan girl?" Ellen frowned.

"I wasn't." Greg frowned back. "She's my friend..."

"You can do better than that, Greg...she's so obnoxious..."

Greg shook his head and stopped. "No she's not."

"Oh, Greg, I'm sorry. I just don't like her much, okay?"

Greg sighed. They stepped into the park and suddenly he felt a hand shove him from behind. He cried out in shock and pain as he landed on his broken arm.

"Oops, Greg, did that hurt?" Ellen asked sweetly. Behind her stood four other teenagers that Greg identified as Shane Casey, Maxine Valera, Michelle Lee and Jeffery White.

"What are you doing?" Greg asked through gritted teeth, trying not to show how much his arm hurt.

"You honestly think that someone like Ellen would go out with someone like you?" Shane laughed. "Why would she do that?"

Greg's heart sank as he realised what was happening, but he had always had a smart mouth, as his mom was keen to point out. "Probably 'cause I'm a nicer guy than you?"

Greg howled as Shane's foot connected with his injured leg.

Maxine and Jeffery laughed, while Michelle seemed to hang back.

"Least I don't have a stupid name like Jeffery!" Greg spat through clenched teeth. The boy frowned and pushed his glasses up his nose before kicking Greg in the ribs.

"You'd think you'd have realised that being such a smart ass doesn't get you far. You should stick to that geeky little whore, Brody."

Greg's eyes flared with anger. "She is not a whore!"

"Well, no, but she would be if anyone would bother to do her. I wouldn't go near her with a foot long stick." Maxine sneered.

Greg kicked her back powerfully with his good leg and she stumbled backwards. "Morgan is-"

"Is what? If Morgan was so amazing how come you threw yourself at Ellen?" Shane frowned with an evil glint in his eye.

"Yes, Greg? How come?" Ellen pouted.

Greg's mouth popped open as he realised that he didn't have a reason. "She...she...there's nothing wrong with Morgan."

"There's no such thing as a perfect person, Greg." Ellen sung.

Greg swallowed again.

"You see, Morgan," Casey sneered her name as if it was a dirty word, "humiliated me in front of the whole class because of you, but all you do for Morgan is ditch her for Ellen, simply because Ellen's prettier."

"She's not," Greg said quietly.

"What did you say?" Casey frowned.

"Ellen's not prettier than Morgan. Morgan's prettier. And at least Morgan's not a bitch." Greg said strongly.

Shane smashed his foot into Greg's leg again, and Jeffery went for Greg's head.

"Cut it out!" Greg cried. "Stop it!"

"Guys... maybe we should stop..."

Casey wheeled around to face Michelle. "If you can't handle it Lee, go home!" The small Chinese girl turned tail and fled, and Greg watched her go with a sense of pity as the others kids attacked his face, arm and leg.

"Hey, Casey!" another boy called and Greg groaned. As the boy came closer, he shoved Casey out of the way. "What the hell you doing, Casey? The kid's on crutches!"

"Stay out of this, Messer!" Casey snapped, kicking at Greg. The boy pushed Casey away, bringing a baseball bat out of his bag and holding it like a weapon.

"Get away!" he ordered. "Get your creepy psycho asses out of here."

As the others scarpered, Shane spat at the boy before turning tail and running. The boy shook his head and dropped the bat into his bag. He bent down and picked up the crutch and ran away, and Greg sighed. Now how the hell would he get home?

Within minutes, however, the boy was quickly back, holding Greg's bag and crutch. "Sorry I took a while, they threw your bag in a tree."

"Oh..." Greg frowned. "Thanks..."

"Shit, man, you should get to hospital." The boy frowned.

"I just left." Greg laughed bitterly.

"Either way, man, they beat you up pretty bad..."

Greg sighed and reached for his crutch. The boy just shook his head and offered him his hand to help him up. Greg accepted, wincing as his left arm jarred.

"Damn, sorry. What'd you say to them anyway, Sanders?"

Greg went to retort before realising the kid knew his name. "I didn't say any...Sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, right. I'm Danny Messer, I'm on the baseball team with Nick Stokes, he told me about you the other day at practice. I saw you and him and the rest of your friends earlier, put two and two together, and boom."

"Ah, okay. Well they... Morgan...bah, I don't even know." Greg shook his head. He didn't necessarily want to talk to Messer about what happened with Ellen.

"Tell you what, if we get to the hospital, I know a nurse who can get you checked out an' if there's nothing wrong with you, she won't tell your parents." Danny winked.

"I guess." Greg shrugged, limping towards the sidewalk. "Ow...dammit..."

"You right? Uh...is it supposed to bleed under your cast?" Danny frowned. "I know for a fact that's a no."

"Shit, my mom is gonna freak so bad..." Greg worried, peering at the blood trailing down his hand.

"Okay, it's cool. The hospital is just round the corner, you can do it." Danny encouraged, and Greg managed to get the hospital quite quickly.

"Thanks, Danny." Greg grinned sadly as the New Yorker nodded goodbye.

Danny walked up to the desk and winked at the nurse. She rolled her eyes. "Messer, go home. Your mom's not working today, she's not here."

"Nah, I'm not here to see mom. My friend Don got him in the head at school today, d'you know if he's okay?" Danny grinned at the nurse, who sighed and tapped on the keyboard.

"He's being kept a little while for observation but he'll be fine. He's in room 236."

"Thanks, Lisa." Danny skipped to the elevator.

Meanwhile, Greg had spoken to a nurse about what had happened. After several long and tedious tests, the doctors concluded that nothing had broken again, he was just a little bruised. The doctor did however, adamantly say that he had to call Greg's parents.

As he waited gloomily in the waiting room for his mom to come and pick him up, Greg wanted to cry. He'd been led on by a girl he thought liked him, he'd upset Morgan, he'd been beaten up, his mom had been called...

Though everything hurt, what hurt the most was the second. He couldn't stand the thought that now Morgan couldn't even look at him. The worst part was that he had planned to ask Morgan out soon, but he just wasn't brave enough...

He didn't even notice he was crying until a tears dripped off his chin onto his knee. A willowy blonde stepped out of a corridor and quietly thanked a doctor, making her way to the exit. When she saw Greg, she paused.

"Greg Sanders? What's wrong?"

He looked up and wiped his eyes quickly. "I'm fine."

Catherine Flynn raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah?"

"Well what about you?" Greg sniffed slightly. "You're the one that collapsed, according to Calleigh Duquesne."

Catherine smiled and shook her head. "I fainted. I hadn't eaten all day, my best friend had just got a head injury fighting with my boyfriend and I got saved by freshman half my size..."

Greg frowned. "Are you okay? And why haven't you eaten?"

"I have now. I'm fine." Catherine smiled. "I just didn't have time to grab any breakfast or lunch. So what happened to you?"

Greg shrugged. "I got beat up. I hurt my best friend. The doctor called my mom."

Catherine frowned. "What happened?"

Greg took a deep breath. "Well, I've kinda liked Morgan for ages, and I thought that she might have liked me, but I was...she didn't... It wasn't getting anywhere. Basically, after Nick sang that song, he and Warrick asked Sara if she was okay and she got offended, so I decided to go to the library for some research and...I met a girl called Ellen who was new and asked if I could take her to the science block...she gave me her number." Greg shook his head. "So I went back to A11 and showed everyone the picture and told them what happened. I...then Morgan left...I felt bad but Ellen seemed...well she seemed into me." Greg hung his head. "So, I asked her out and it was all a joke."

"What do you mean?" Catherine asked softly, having a fairly good idea.

"She lured me to the park, took my bag and her friends all beat me up. On the way past I saw Morgan hugging Nick and she saw me but couldn't even look at me." Greg admitted sadly.

Catherine sighed and put her hand on Greg's arm. "Don't think it will last forever. I've spoken to Morgan a couple of times at cheerleading, she's a nice girl. Down to earth, sweet. Loyal. She won't hold this against you, at least not for long."

Greg sighed. "Says you."

"Hey," Catherine smacked his arm gently. "I know a lot about relationships, and even more about girls. I mean, I am one. Don't worry about Morgan."

Greg snorted.

"Hey, she got in a fight with a boy twice her size for you. She's not going to let it go for something like this." She smiled, and Greg sighed again. Catherine's smile saddened.

She took a deep breath herself. "You know, today my boyfriend cheated on me with a freshman cheerleader. Turns out that the family dinner he was heading to, was his actually the cinema with her. Then when my best friend caught them in the act and confronted Eddie, they got in a fight that sent Don to hospital. Now the doctor tells me that I'm pregnant."

Greg looked up at Catherine who nodded, looking down at her hands. "Pregnant?"

Catherine wiped her own eyes. "Yup." She sniffed. "Apparently Eddie's condom broke. And now I'm 16 and I'm pregnant."

"I...I'm sorry..." Greg said awkwardly.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm not really sure why I told you that." Catherine laughed, embarrassed.

Greg sat quietly. "I guess we've both had a pretty messed up day."

She snorted and nodded. "Yeah." She glanced at her young companion. He looked slightly awkward, not to mention guilty and extremely upset.

"Hey, what's Ellen's full name?"

"Ellen Whitebridge. Why?" Greg asked monotonously.

"Who were her friends?"

"Why?" Greg frowned. Catherine gave him a look and he exhaled. "Jeffery White, Shane Casey, Maxine Valera-"

"That bitch!" Catherine swore. "You'd think that ruining one person's day would be enough."

"What do you mean?" Greg frowned.

"She was the one snogging my boyfriend." Catherine explained. "That dirty little...So she's running around with Jeffery White, Shane Casey and Ellen Whitebrige..."

"I'm such an idiot..." Greg muttered in a broken voice.

"What makes you think that? I heard you were pretty smart..."

"They were right." Greg said glumly. "There's no reason in hell someone like Ellen would go out with someone like me..."

Catherine hit Greg again. "Don't think like that. She's just a lying bitch who enjoys making people feel bad."

"Why do girls do that?" Greg asked sadly.

"Hey, not all girls do it! And some boys do it too."

"Why?"

"They think it's funny. It's not, Greg. And don't worry about Morgan. She's not the type of girl who'll avoid you forever."

Greg looked at his hands. "Am I being melodramatic again?"

She laughed. "Nah. You're just being upset."

"How about you? You can't be in the best mood..."

Catherine sighed. "I'll survive. I just...uh. Hey, I don't really want Eddie to know, y'know, about my pregnancy..."

"My lips are sealed." Greg smiled. "I won't tell anyone. I swear."

"Thanks." Catherine smiled. The doors to the waiting room fell open and Greg winced.

"Oh my god!"

"Mom-"

"Greg! What on earth happened to you baby?" Greg's mother cried

"Mom!"

"Hospital, again, already?"

"Mom!"

"Excuse me, Mrs. Sanders? I'm Catherine Flynn, I go to school with Greg. I can explain..."

"Did you do this to my baby?" she cried and Catherine held up her hands.

"Mom! No!" Greg frowned.

"No, ma'am, no one did. I catch the bus home from school every day and when I got on this afternoon this creepy guy started harassing me. Greg was the only kid brave enough to get on the bus and tell him to back off, and as got back off the bus he tripped and fell off the bus. So, I took him to hospital and said I'd wait until you showed up. I'm really sorry about what happened, but I'm very grateful." She finished with an apologetic smile.

Greg grinned sheepishly and shrugged at his mom after sending Catherine a quick, thankful smile.

"Oh...I'm sorry for accusing you Ms. Flynn. That's my brave Greg..." Elise smiled and hugged her son.

Greg grimaced but mouthed "Thanks!" to Catherine over his mother's shoulder. She winked.

"Do you need a ride home?" Elise asked, and Catherine shook her head.

"No thanks, Mrs. Sanders. A family friend is picking me up." She smiled and stood up. "Bye, Greg, Mrs. Sanders." She kissed him on the cheek, whispering "Call her!" so his mom couldn't hear before leaving.

"Oh, my brave boy! Just stop getting into trouble, okay?"

Greg rolled his eyes. "Okay, mom."

As soon as he got home he limped to his den and pulled out the landline he kept in the desk. He punched in the number and bit his lip.

Greg took a deep breath and pressed call.

"Hello, who is this?" A familiar voice answered sadly.

"Morgan." He took a deep breath. "I gotta tell you something."

So, will Morgan forgive him? Is there anything to forgive? Will they or won't they get together?

BTW Jeffery White was this creepy criminal guy from NCIS season two episode 'Chained' which is a great episode but anyway yeah!

Note: I am very sorry to SomewhereOnlyWeKnow9 but Greg/Sara probably won't happen in this story, as I had more people wanting something else. I'm really sorry and I really hope this doesn't stop you reading, but if it does you may wanna read High School Times, High School Problems by AmberKyep because even though I'd prefer for you to read mine there is a really cute Greg/Sara storyline in that and it was part of my inspiration for this J I'm sorry again.

PS: AussieTayla and Jannet525 – you are very welcome! It may (probably will) happen ;-)