A/N: Big shout out to sjwmaw for reviewing! Dude, you're really consistent. I love it. Also, you totally read my mind on the plot. Damn I thought I was less predictable than that but there's still plenty built up to surprise you :)

This is more of a filler chapter, getting us where we need to go so tune in next chapter for some funky stuff. Something that I want you guys, the readers, to know is that I might not be able to update till after the weekend because I'm going to be in Florida visiting my mother because she moved there without telling anyone… Cool, right?

Anyways, back to the story!

-redwoodoriginal

Chapter 41: Halfway Right

"So I'm thinking we we head to the Mall at like 10 tomorrow. My mom said she couldn't drive, so could your dad take us?" Madison asked, the two of them walking down the hallway. It was the middle of the school day. It had been almost a week since Morgan and Liam had kissed. So far, no one knew they were a thing.

"Uh, I could ask him but don't worry. If he can't, Sam can," Morgan promised, referring to her uncle. Sam and Dean often made sure that at least one of them was home at a time. "Oh, and remind me to make a hair appointment at that salon in the Macy's. I need to get a haircut,"she told Madison. Her best friend nodded.

"Yeah, no kidding, girl. You could sit on that hair if you wanted to," Madison joked, but it was most definitely true. Morgan pulled out her phone to text the group chat with the three of them to see about getting a ride. Technically she would be the one driving, but with her temps she still needed a parent in the car with her. The two girls were walking to the cafeteria since it was raining, keeping them from going outside to eat lunch.

"Alright cool, oh my god wait don't look now," Madison tried to warn her, but it was too late. Morgan saw that Lainey was walking down down the hall, moving towards them. She knew by the look in her eyes that they couldn't pass like trains in the night. Lainey looked like she was going to stop them. But before she could figure out an exit strategy, one was chosen for her. Morgan got snatched from the hallway, causing her to let out a short shriek as she was pulled into an empty classroom.

"Hey," Liam smiled, leaning down to kiss her. She let his lips crash into hers as his hands cradled her face to his. The teenage girl felt the warmth rise in her chest as he had just made her day so much better.

"Hey," she whispered back, grinning from ear to ear like a silly little school girl. He tucked a strand of her long, mahogany hair behind her ear as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I wanna take you on a date tomorrow," Liam told her before bringing his lips down to hers once again, gently pecking her lips before pulling away, still holding her against him with his hands wrapped together at the middle of her back.

"I can't. Madison wants me to go shopping with he-" She tried to finish, but Liam cut her off with one of those mind numbing kissed. He picked her up and sat her down on a desk, his lips working their way over hers as she melted in his grasp.

"Sunday then," he offered and she grinned.

"Okay," she answered with such an elated tone of voice as he pulled her back into another kiss. It was their perfect little moment, and all of the sudden it was ruined.

"No freaking way," She heard coming from the doorway. They must not have heard the door open. Morgan was dreading looking at who was standing there. It was obviously a girl and judging by the tone that sparked a rage inside of her, it was probably Lainey, but Morgan didn't want to look. She pressed her eyes shut, keeping her head facing Liam's chest. Judging by his breathing, he was probably staring at at the person in the doorway. She peeled her eyes opened and turned her head. She was right. It was Lainey. She had followed her in when Liam had tugged her in.

"So, you wouldn't mind keeping this a secret for us now, would you?" Morgan asked. She and Liam had both agreed that they wanted things to happen at their own pace and everyone knowing would add unwanted pressure. This was that kind of unwanted pressure.

"Like I would give you any favors. This just proves everything I've been saying, only difference is that your venue has gone from under the bleachers to empty classrooms," Lainey snarked, wiggling her phone screen in they're faces. She had taken a picture of them before alerting her presence with an exclamation. First, Morgan was scared and embarrassed over the rumors about her that Lainey had been spreading and was about to continue spreading. But then, she was pissed. Her hand gripped around Liam's hand that she didn't know when he started holding her hand but he had and she was gripping it for dear life, trying to keep herself from snapping.

"You really don't have to do that," Liam stated, trying to help, but it didn't.

"Oh, I most certainly do, Liam. Or should I say, Morgan's latest customer." That was it. Morgan had snapped. She let go of Liam's hand and shot up from the desk with rage in her eyes. A look of fear twisted Lainey's face as she went to leave the classroom. The blonde was running down the hall in her heeled boots with Morgan bounding after her. The brunette was seething as she caught up to the little blonde. Lainey screamed as Morgan sprinted up, leaping up with her footing against the lockers as she pounced, scaring some of the other students walking. She dove right over Lainey's head and snatched the cellphone out of her hands and stopped in front of the blonde.

"So you're gonna show people a picture that you took out of context? Huh?" Morgan asked.

"Give me my phone back," Lainey demanded in a quiet tone.

"No! You cannot have it back! Not yet!" Morgan roared, anger bleeding into her voice. She held her finger up, gesturing to Lainey to wait a second. Morgan was thankful that the phone was still unlocked so Morgan deleted the mass text that Lainey was drafting and deleted the picture off of the blonde's phone.

"Give me my phone back!" Lainey hissed again, reaching out with her hand.

"Fine by me," Morgan smirked, tossing the cell phone back to her. Lainey caught it with painstaking hands. She checked to see what Morgan had done and when she figured it out, her eyes had narrowed at the brunette. "Have a nice day, Lainey," Morgan wished her as she walked back past the blonde to get back to Liam, who was standing in the hall in front of the doorway to the classroom that they had been canoodling in.

"Morgan! Watch out!" She head Madison yell from down the hall.

"That's it!" Lainey yelled, the sound of something swinging through the air. The blonde must've gotten her hands on someone's lacrosse stick that was passing by because the butt end of the stick nailed her in the side of the head when she turned around to see Lainey taking a swing at her. Morgan stumbled, but she didn't fall. Her ears were ringing, muffling the sounds around her. The brunette's green eyes were wide as saucers as she zoned out for a moment with her hand reaching up to touch the side of her head. Everything had slowed down, there was a low sound of someone talking to her… no… yelling.

"Morgan! Duck!" Liam had yelled. Morgan looked up, finally focusing on Lainey with the lacrosse stick. The blonde girl swung again, but this time her instincts had taken over. Before Morgan even realized what she was doing, she grabbed the lacrosse stick mere seconds before it hit her. She twisted the stick out of Lainey's hand, jabbed it into her chest, and swept her legs out from under her as she was tilting backwards. When the blonde's back slammed into the ground, she started to jab at Lainey's neck but stopped when the end of the lacrosse stick was inches from her neck. The daze vanished and everything around her had sharpened into focus.

"I don't understand your hatred for me. I mean, I understand you really don't like me, but what I don't understand is your insane desperation to physically attack me when by know, you should know that I'm actually to fight. Did you know that I weight train? I can lift twice your weight. Small but mighty doesn't even begin to cover me-no you don't get to speak! Not yet!" Morgan snapped at her. Lainey had tried to say something but Morgan wasn't having it. "You and your god complex that makes you delusional enough to make you believe that there is nothing you can't do to me. No. You can talk about me behind my back, call me a whore, but to hit me, attack me with a goddamn LACROSSE STICK," Morgan roared. "All because I wouldn't let you use an intimate moment with my fucking BOYFRIEND to make people believe that I'm a whore! You are just a sick, twisted, deluded, bitch. And do you know what? I hate you," She finished. Morgan and Lainey locked eyes, anger versus fear. But then it became anger versus surprise as the brunette moved the lacrosse stick, dropped it on the ground, and offered her hand to the blonde. Lainey was apprehensive at first, but then she caved in, taking Morgan's hand to stand up.

"Okay," Lainey murmured, tears welling in her eyes, but the blonde didn't dare let them escape.

"Okay," Morgan breathed as the blonde walked away, her now slightly messed curls bouncing behind her. She looked to Liam and he smirked.

"Boyfriend, huh?" He asked and Morgan pursed her lips in an attempt to hide her smile. But then Morgan cringed.

"You guys finally got together and you didn't tell me?!" Madison screeched from down the hall. Morgan just sighed.

"Yeah, whatever. We're together and everyone knows now and I'm really hungry so we're going to go to lunch and not talk about what just happened. Okay?" Morgan decided and Liam just laughed, taking her hand, right there in front of everyone, and walked her down the hallway towards Madison where they walked hand in hand as Morgan was forced to give her best friend the rundown on how she got together with Liam. He didn't even mind getting dragged along by the two girls. He just snaked his arm around her and kept her close.

Liam couldn't keep himself away from her. After they had hung out at his house, after he had sang to her, he just couldn't stay away. She was small and she kicked ass for the upteenth time this year. He felt somewhat useless when Lainey attacked her, but he was also afraid to step in and upset Morgan. She had the tendency to prove herself when challenges would arise. Morgan always had to take care of herself. She would never let anyone help her. Now that they were together and hopefully they stayed together, Liam had this need to show her that it was okay to ask for help. He wanted to show her that he could be there for her, no matter what because that was what a boyfriend is supposed to do. It's what he would've done, boyfriend status or not. He really cared for this girl and he couldn't stop it. He tried to stop the way he felt, afraid that it wasn't what she wanted and he was fine with that, if she didn't want him. He was just desperate to be with her, care for her, protect her if need be. Not that she needed his protection, but he would always be there is she needed him.

They were walking together to lunch, and everyone was staring at the two of them. Not only did word travel fast, but word from Lainey traveled at light speeds. It was something that baffled Liam. Even when he had started his freshman year back in California, nothing spread faster than Lainey's gossip. Not even the secret that made him transfer schools. Her words spread faster than wildfire and the only way to avoid it was to not give her anything to go on. So Liam just ignored the people staring at him and Morgan and kept on eating. Since they didn't have to hide anything anymore, he surprised Morgan by holding her hand under the table. It wasn't necessarily hiding, but it also wasn't all in the open and couldn't make Morgan uncomfortable. When they got up to go to class when lunch was over, she kept on holding his hand as he led his girlfriend… girlfriend? Yes, girlfriend, to their Science class. They were passing his locker when Morgan shivered involuntarily.

"Hold on, I need to get something from my locker," Liam told her, backtracking. Morgan just sighed and went with him. She had goosebumps nearly all over her, and he could tell that they were all over her because Morgan was standing there in a loose navy t-shirt and a pair of shredded white shorts. The goosebumps were all over her legs and arms and he noticed her shiver again. He just unlocked his locker and whipped out his Lacrosse sweatshirt. It was black with his last name and number on the back with SPARTANS written on the chest. Liam handed it to her and Morgan's eyes lit up like a christmas tree.

"You're amazing," Morgan rushed out before she pulled the thick sweatshirt over her head. It was cute, seeing her in his clothes again. The sweatshirt was too big on her, but in a good way. The sleeves were spilling past her hands and the hem was just barely shorter than her shorts.

"I know, babe. I know," He laughed, putting his arm around her shoulders. Liam loved seeing her in his sweatshirt, especially the one that had his name on it. Like it was telling everyone that she was his.

They went off to their science class for once, Madison let the two of them sit together instead of taking her seat next to his best friend. They were just watching a movie today so Morgan pulled out her notebook and pretended to be taking notes but in reality she was just doodling on the paper. He could've sworn he saw her let go of the pen for a second, the point still detailing the pattern before she grabbed it again and kept on going. For a moment, he thought maybe she was like him, different, but then he shook it off and told himself he was imagining things in the dark. When their science class ended they got up and went off to their history class. Then they separated to their individual art classes. Liam had gotten up to go to the bathroom and passed by the classroom she was in. He stared in and saw her painting. It made him smile to see something so beautiful. The painting was pretty great too. Gym class came and went and before he could walk her to the locker rooms to get ready for their practices, an announcement was made that all outdoor athletic programs were canceled due to the thunderstorm rolling in.

"You need a ride home?" Liam offered her, trying to be nice. Morgan was quick to shake her head.

"I'm going to Madison's house, she just asked if I wanted to come over and her mom's waiting in the parking lot," Morgan told him, reaching for the hem of his sweatshirt to give it back to him, but he put his hands on hers to stop her.

"You can keep it, I like seeing you wear it," Liam smiled, pulling her into him. She snuggled into his chest. Her hand rested over his heart as he held her. She could feel his heart beating.

"Okay," Morgan smiled. Liam watched her look around before she reached up and pulled his face down to her, kissing him lightly, like she knew she was going to do it again. Liam sure hoped it would happen again. "Bye, Liam," She whispered, giving him one more little peck of a kiss.

"Bye, Morgan," he told her before they released their embrace and he went and walked to his locker, pulling out his phone to call his dad to pick him up. It wasn't long before his dad showed up in their usual black SUV.

"So did you ask her out?" His dad asked as Liam climbed into the passenger seat. Liam sighed.

"I did," He admitted. His dad was still waiting for an answer.

"Well?" He asked his son. Liam laughed, shaking his head.

"She's having a girl's day tomorrow with Madison. But she said Sunday was okay so I think I want to take her to the roller rink. I know it's cheesy but she'd like it," He rambled, trying to figure it out as he want alone. His dad pulled out of the parking lot and started driving back to their house.

"Liam James! You do not just think you wanna take a girl like that to a roller rink! You have to know! Is that something that she would like to do?" His father asked as they headed off to the house. The drive home was always really pretty, the two of them driving past fields of crops and rolling landscapes.

"Alright, I want to take her to the roller rink. She has this thing for old stuff. She loves those mom jeans that were in style before the nineties, she listens to classic rock, sixties music, and movies like the Breakfast club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, etc. She will love this date because roller rinks are classic and pretty much a throwback. So yeah, she'll like it," Liam reinforced like he was trying to convince his father, but the more he spoke the more he realized he was trying to convince himself that she was going to like the date and that he wasn't going to mess this up.

"Good. Are you going to bring her flowers?" Liam hadn't thought about that. He was starting to panic.

"Do I need flowers? Like, she never seems like the kind of girl to want flowers. Dad you've only seen her all dressed up for that dinner. She's usually the girl wearing heavy eyeliner to school and listening to heavy metal when she's not kicking someone's ass in soccer," Liam panicked, trying to figure it out in his head while still worried to do the wrong thing. His dad just laughed at him.

"If she's that kind of girl, you're going to bring her a pink hawaiian hibiscus and make sure the stem is cut sort of short and you're going to tuck it in her hair behind her ear. She'll love it okay?" His dad helped, trying to calm down his frantic son. Liam was really beginning to panic. "When we get home, can you help me with something in the garage?"

"Yeah, sure," Liam responded as they turned a corner. It really wasn't too long before they were rolling down their street. When they pulled into the driveway, his dad pressed the garage door opener and pulled into the overly large garage, parking the SUV in it's designated spot before Liam climbed out of the car. He followed his dad over to one of the cars he was working on.

"So, what I need help with is getting the engine back into the car," his dad told him. Liam sighed.

"You know I'm not supposed to do that stuff," Liam protested, worried about what happened that made him leave his old school mid year.

"Liam, no one's here to see you, the garage door is closed. Just save me a crap load of time and energy, please?" his father pleaded. Liam rolled his eyes. He hated doing this kind of thing because it made him a freak at his old school when people saw what he did. But his dad was right. No one was going to see him do it. The teenage boy strode over to the engine, grabbed the engine on both sides and squatted, lifting with his knees. Nearly six hundred pounds later, he was lowering the engine down into the car frame and situated it just right before taking his hands off of it and standing up straight, quickly wiping down his greasy and blackened hands on a rag.

Morgan was sitting contently on Madison's bed in Liam's sweatshirt, which was far to big for her small frame. She loved how it smelled. It smelled like him and she couldn't get enough. Her had best friend had been interrogating her ever since she set foot in her mother's car. Even Madison's mom wanted to know about the boy her daughter had been calling the "California Dreamboat". Morgan rolled her eyes at the two of them and simply declared that he sang her an Ed Sheeran song and they kissed so they were just kind of a thing now. She told them that calling him her boyfriend in the hall while yelling at Lainey was a mistake and that she and Liam were just in a casual relationship where they didn't have any set labels yet, but Morgan knew all too well that that was an outright lie. She could feel it inside of her, that she was completely and utterly his and he was her own. It was probably just the way a highschool fling felt, but Morgan didn't mind. She hadn't been this happy in a long while.

"Oh my god, we should buy you an outfit for your date tomorrow!" Madison exclaimed as Morgan looked up from her homework. Her friend had commented earlier that Morgan was probably one of the few people at their school that actually did homework on Fridays. Her excuse was that she didn't have time to do it any other day this weekend, so she was doing it today.

"You think I should?" Morgan wondered. "I mean, I don't even know what the date is so what if buy the wrong outfit?" She worried, suddenly thinking about the millions of things that could go wrong on this date. Their first date.

"Then ask him where you're going, and quite frankly I really want to freaking know," Madison pressed, giving Morgan this look that made her laughed.

"Alright fine, I'll ask," Morgan gave in, pulling out her phone and texting Liam. "Text sent, we'll figure out what I get to do when he texts back," she told her friend before getting back into doing her homework. Madison was over on the futon infront of her tv, painting her toenails a dark red color. She had said earlier that the specific shade of polish was called 'Sex Appeal' and it was exactly what she was going for with Tyler. It made Morgan laugh, even though neither Madison nor Tyler had ever actually done anything sexy like that cause they were freshman. They were all freshman, just trying to love. It might be puppy love, but they were just trying to enjoy their time in school. Then her phone went off.

"Oh my god! Tell me!" Madison nearly screeched, forcing Morgan to fumble with her phone. She turned it on and looked at the screen to read what it said. The words made her grin from ear to ear.

"Madi, we're going to a roller rink!" She laughed, getting att giddy and excited. Madison just burst out to laughter.

"Okay, okay, he gets points for being creative!" She rushed out between breaths. She just could not stop laughing.

"Yeah, it's kinda funny, but isn't it also really cute? It'll be like an eighties chick flick where the guy takes the girl to the roller rink and do a bunch of cheesy and cliche things? I honestly love that kind of thing!" Morgan tried to defend Liam from her best friend trying to make fun of his choices. Though it wasn't actually defending because she loved the idea of this date. She just wanted to get to it because it meant they were going to be on their very first real date.

Oh snap

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