Breakdown
Author's Note- I dedicate this story to Diane. Without her persistence (it's annoying, believe me…j/k) this story would not have been written so soon. The story is her ideas; I just put it on paper. Enjoy!
~>~>~>~>~>
Prologue:
Morgan ran down the beach, crying all the way. Today had been the worst, for she was the school's latest victim for their rumors. When they had spread all the way to the teachers, she was on her last string. Now she had lost her best friend, and couldn't take it anymore. She ran out of class and jogged all the way to the beach a mile away. Here she could finally be alone, and at peace without other teens breathing down her neck or making fun of her.
She found the big rocks she had always sought shelter in, from both the weather and the world. The beach was deserted, and she thanked whoever was looking out for her. She wasn't sure if it was God, because He would never let this happen to her, or anyone.
She crawled on the rocks, and sat looking out at the ocean. She wished her troubles could float away on the waves, away from her Orlando school. She sat in silence, letting her mind go blank. It felt good to not worry about anything, however when she thought about the next day, new tears fell from her eyes.
Morgan was lost in depression when she heard a voice behind her.
''Is this seat taken?"
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
Morgan turned around, startled. "Oh, man, now I'm delusional. You look like Chris Kirkpatrick from Nsync. But that can't be, because I'm just a normal girl. I didn't win a contest, and I'm not the prettiest thing-"
She was cut of from her self-loathing when Chris interrupted, "You're not delusional, I was just looking for a place to get away from things. Is that okay?"
Morgan shut up. "Uh, sure." She blushed and looked back out to the ocean as he sat down next to her. "Sorry," she mumbled. "It's been a rough day."
"I know what you mean," he said, also looking out to the ocean. "So what put you here?"
"Just your regular rumors and things," she generalized. "The same old, 'you know Morgan? She's a slut,' crap. I don't know how things like that get started, I didn't even give the guy a kiss!" she cried, tears starting to form again.
"I'm sorry about that," Chris sympathized. "I know things like that can be tough," he continued, giving her a friendly hug.
She let him pull her close, suddenly not believing whom she was with. The feeling quickly passed as she remembered, "So why are you here?"
"I just get sick of people always in my face," he sighed. "I'm not trying to sound stuck up or anything, but I never get any time to myself, and after a while, I get sick of it. I can't stand it anymore."
Chris kept his eyes to the ocean, but when Morgan looked into them, she could still see the pain there. "It sucks, don't it? Life at the top's not too smooth once you're there. I guess that's the price you pay."
"Wow. It's not everyday you meet someone who knows what you're going through so well." Morgan replied.
"Right place, right time, I guess," Chris sighed, giving a slight smile.
"Well, as much as you cheered me up, I must get back to that hell hole," Morgan said, starting to get up.
"Wait," Chris stopped her. "Do you want to meet the other guys?" Chris asked, turning his attention to her.
"Well, uh, I guess. Thanks!"
"No problem. You helped me too. Come on, let's go."
Together they walked back off the beach, feeling not so disconnected now.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt 1
Pt.2
'Ohmygod ohmygod!' Morgan screamed over and over in her mind. 'I can't believe I'm doing this!' Butterflies beat their wings wildly in her stomach as Chris parked the dark purple Neon beside the bus.
"Here we are," he announced, opening the door. He rounded the car to open Morgan's door for her. She was still daydreaming when she felt a breeze on her arms. She suddenly realized they were there, and she must look incredibly stupid still sitting in the car. She glanced at Chris embarrassingly as she got out. "So this is it?" she asked, changing the subject before it could be mentioned.
"Yeah, this is it," Chris replied, shutting her door and joining her tense walk to the door.
"Wow. It's big," she marveled, looking up at the top of the bus, squinting at the sun.
"Yup," Chris said, opening the door and waiting for her to go first.
Her heart was in her throat as she nervously boarded the bus. She instantly recognized the teen with curly blonde hair, sitting closest to the door.
He turned around and locked eyes with Morgan. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Justin tore his eyes away and looked to Chris.
"Hey guys," Chris announced, getting the other's attention. "This is Morgan. I met her today and invited her to see the bus."
Justin was the first his feet as he approached her, his hand outstretched. "Hi Morgan, I'm Justin," he said, shaking her hand.
"Hi," she whispered, forgetting to breathe.
Chris smiled at the sparks flying before him. "Justin, please don’t smother my new friend," he teased.
Then Morgan blushed as she remembered the other three guys waiting to meet her. She let her hand fall from Justin's grasp and turned towards the others.
"Hi," she greeted, shaking each one of their hands.
"Hey," Joey replied, shaking Morgan's hand. Any friend of Chris's is a friend of ours."
"Thanks," Morgan smiled, moving on to Lance, then J.C.
Morgan noticed as J.C. shot Chris a look, and not a happy one. She could see anger in J.C.'s eyes, and wondered what had happened between these friends.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt. 2
Pt. 3
She was torn from her thoughts when Justin volunteered a tour of the bus. He led Morgan back the bus, pointing out various things. But she kept her attention to the front of the bus, where the other four remained. She listened closely, tuning out Justin completely. She heard J.C. viciously laying into Chris with harsh whispers, too quiet for her to understand. Chris kept his head down, and when J.C. was done, mumbled and apology.
"You okay?" Justin asked, breaking through her worries.
"I…uh, I'm fine, thanks," she replied, turning her attention to him. "This is a nice place you got here."
"Thanks. It's not much, but it's home away from home," Justin replied. "So how did you meet Chris?"
"He found me, actually. We're both going through some stuff right now, and it helps to talk about it."
Justin glanced at the others. Morgan saw a flash of pain in his azure eyes, but it vanished when he looked back to her. "Come on," he said. "Let's take a walk."
~~~~~~~~~
"So tell me a little about yourself," Justin said as they walked through the small park. It was a beautiful day, and the sun was filtering through the trees, dusting everything with gold. The sun sparkled in Justin and Morgan's hair, making it shine.
"Well," Morgan started, taking a deep breath of the clean, fresh air. "I live with my mom and two dogs. My parents got a divorce three years ago, and once in a while, I have to go visit my dad."
"Have to?" Justin questioned.
"I hate him. I honestly wouldn't care if I never saw him. He spends all his money on himself and gives me and my mom junk or nothing at all."
"I'm sorry," Justin said, unsure of anything else to say.
"I'm sorry too. You probably don't even care," Morgan sighed, keeping her eyes on the path.
"No, I do. I'm just not good at talking about that kind of stuff. I guess that's why you and Chris clicked," Justin said, putting his arm on her shoulder.
"Me and Chris clicked because we're talking about popularity and how it sucks. I am the victim of my ex-friend's rumors, and now everyone at school hates me."
"Man, I know how that feels," Justin replied.
"But Chris never told me exactly what was wrong," Morgan said, hoping to get some clues about the guy's actions earlier.
Justin removed his arm from her shoulder and let it hang at his side. Now he kept his eyes straight ahead as he took a deep breath and said, "It's just a bunch of stuff. I don't really want to get into it now."
'So close,' Morgan thought. 'Whatever this is, it's big.'
Justin glanced at his watch, suddenly becoming uncomfortable. "Well, I should be getting back. You coming?"
"As long as I'm not intruding," Morgan replied.
"You? Never," Justin smiled.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt. 4
As they approached the bus, they saw Chris sitting outside, his knees drawn up and face down, looking through crossed arms that were resting on his knees.
Justin ducked his head as Morgan asked, "What's wrong?"
Chris looked up, surprised. His left eye was puffy and swollen. The skin had a hint of purple; the beginnings of a bruise.
Justin looked away as Morgan kneeled in front of Chris. "What happened?" she asked, carefully feeling the spot.
"Nothing," Chris said softly, wincing at her soft touch. "I just ran into a wall."
"You know, that's the same thing I told my mom when my dad would hit me," Morgan stated, looking into his brown eyes.
Chris looked accusingly at Justin. "Did you tell her?" he asked harshly.
"No man! You know how bad I am at talking about these things," Justin defended, finally looking at Chris.
"You guys, the only thing that's gonna help this is you talking about it," Morgan interrupted. "Now you can tell me, or continue to hide this until it destroys you."
Justin turned his attention back to the ground as Chris took a deep breath. "It's J.C.," Chris started. "He's-"
Chris was interrupted by the bus door slamming open. J.C. stormed out, followed by Lance. "I'll be back," he growled, glaring at the three who watched him wearily.
Lance trailed behind, looking like a puppy about to be beat. He and J.C. got in one of the rental cars and drove off.
"What's wrong with J.C.?" Morgan asked, concerned.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Let me get this straight. J.C. is doing drugs?" Morgan asked, trying to straighten out everything Justin, Chris and Joey had dumped on her.
"In a nutshell, yes," Joey confirmed.
"Every time he goes out to get high, he makes on of us go with him. We go just to make sure he's okay, but he's not. We keep telling him to get help, but he won't listen." Chris explained.
Busta jumped on Chris's lap as Morgan asked, "So he did that too?" pointing to Chris's black eye.
Chris ducked his head in unnecessary shame and started petting Busta as Joey explained, "Yeah, but you gotta understand, he gets delusional. He doesn't even know what he's doing."
"You can't tell him we told you," Chris spoke up, squinting through his bruised left eye.
Suddenly Morgan felt like she had been sucked into these five men's lives so hard, that she couldn't breathe. Only a few hours ago, her worst problem was that her friends were leaving her. Now, the top boyband was battling drugs, and they put their trust into her to help them. "I won't tell anyone that you told me," Morgan replied, placing her hand on Chris's shoulder and looking each of them in the eye.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt 5
Once Morgan had calmed each of them down, she got Chris to lay down with some ice on his eye. Due to the enormous amount of emotional distress, he quickly fell asleep; Busta curled up at his side.
Morgan, Justin and Joey sat on the couch, comforting one another and trying to decide how to help J.C.
"Maybe I could talk to him tonight-" Morgan started.
"No. You cant' stay here overnight, that's when he's worst," Joey said. "We usually get Justin out too."
"Yeah, luckily, I've only seen him on the first night," Justin said. "I usually go to a motel."
"He can't be worse than my dad," Morgan argued.
"I said no," Joey replied firmly. "I don’t want to risk it."
"Okay, I won't," Morgan gave in. "But you can't waste your money on a hotel," Morgan said, looking at Justin. "Come stay with me. My mom will understand."
Justin looked to Joey for a nod of approval before accepting the offer. "Okay. Thanks," he smiled.
"Now, about J.C…" Morgan started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
J.C. returned to the bus a few hours later, and he was high. Lance trailed behind, thankful nothing had happened.
J.C. stumbled onto the bus, startling Joey, who sat on a chair watching TV. "Hey J.C.," he greeted, unsure of J.C.'s mood.
"Don’t hey me," J.C. replied. "Hay is for horses." He stumbled over to the couch, but stopped when he saw Chris and Busta. "Get up!" he yelled, waking Busta. The dog began growling when it realized his owner was in danger. Chris sleepily opened his eyes, just in time to see J.C. pick up the dog by the scruff of his neck and dropping him on the floor.
Busta yelped in surprise, then ran to Joey as Chris sat up. "Hey asshole, touch my dog again and die," Chris said, looking J.C. in the eyes.
"Did you threaten me, wuss?" J.C. asked, smiling. 'That's so cute, looks like that slut you brought home gave you courage."
Chris stood up, glaring at J.C. All traces of fear were gone as he challenged, "Take that back."
J.C. cracked up, and turned to the others who were watching. "I do believe the man want's a fight!"
Chris's rage bubbled over inside him. He hit J.C. as hard as he could in the stomach.
J.C. doubled over, gasping for air. Then suddenly, J.C. lunged for Chris both of them falling back on the couch.
And so the fight had begun.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt 6
"Thanks for letting me stay here," Justin said, looking at Morgan and her mother.
"It's no problem," Morgan's mother replied, smiling. "I know how rough things can get. But don't worry, your friend will get through this."
"Mom, I need to talk to Justin alone for a minute," Morgan interrupted.
"Sure, honey," she smiled. "I'll be in my room if you need anything." With that, she left, humming to herself.
Justin looked at Morgan expectantly. He felt a pressure on his jean leg, and looked down to find a dog, eagerly taking in all the smells in the fabric. They sat in the living room, and it was warm and brightly lit. Morgan had brought down a pile of blankets for him to sleep on, in the couch's foldout bed. Now they sat together on the love seat, talking about the next day.
"We've gotta make J.C. see what he's doing to himself, and to you guys," Morgan said, lost in thought.
"How?" Justin asked, petting the small brown dog at his leg.
"We're gonna get him arrested," Morgan announced, her eyes bright.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris woke up the next morning and the first thing he saw was Joey leaning over him. Almost immediately after that, he realized his arm was killing him. "What the-?" he asked, sitting up. The room tilted and his head throbbed, forcing him back down.
"Welcome back," Joey said with a slight smile. "Rough night last night."
"What happened?" Chris asked, squinting and holding his head.
"You and J.C. got at it," Joey replied, wiping away some blood that trickled from a cut on Chris's head. "Did a number on each other before we could break it up."
"Where is he?" Chris asked, not really wanting to know.
"Don’t' know," Joey replied. "But I bet he'll be back when he gets a second wind."
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt 7
Morgan stood by the couch, watching Justin sleep. 'Poor thing, this is probably the best sleep he's had in a long time,' she thought, smiling. She took in Justin's features; his healthy blonde curls, slightly tanned soft skin, and those perfect lips. They gave him many faces, a sexy pout; charming smile, or heart-breaking frown.
The smell of fresh, hot pancakes brought them both back to reality, although Morgan still marveled at Justin eyes. They are the window to the soul; clear and bright, and showed his personality; soft funny, lively, and sensitive.
His eyes locked on hers and she stuttered. "I- uh…breakfast is ready," she announced.
"Okay, good. I'm starving," he replied, giving a smile that lit the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How do you think they handled it?" Morgan asked, her eyes on the road.
"They're fine," Justin replied, smiling hopefully.
"Shouldn't they have called or something?" Morgan asked, completely running a red light.
"Did you give them you number?" Justin asked, praying the cop they passed had more important things to do.
"Oh. Good point," she replied, biting her fingernails.
"Will you relax?" Justin teased. "You remind me of Chris the day he lost Joey's Superman necklace."
"Sorry," she replied, smiling a little.
They pulled into the parking lot where the giant bus was parked. They both got out of the car at the same time and hurried to the bus. Justin went first, making sure it was safe. "Holy shit…" he whispered, stepping on the bus to get a better view.
The place had been wrecked. Chairs and tables were over turned, and what used to be a glass vase was smashed on the floor. Light from a nearby window filtered in, reflecting of the bits of glass.
In the light, Justin could see blood coating the jagged pieces of glass.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt 8
Morgan stepped up behind him and she too gasped at the view. Back the hallway, she saw Joey on the floor, kneeling beside Chris, who was in his bunk. Above them and on the opposite wall, was Lance, sound asleep.
"What happened?" she asked, pushing past Justin. She stood beside Joey, who was helping Chris sit up.
"Ballroom blitz," Chris mumbled, grabbing the bunk above him until the room settled on the floor again.
Morgan looked at Joey, who explained, "That's Chris for, 'We had a hella fight."
Justin was at Morgan's side as they helped Chris stand up. The room swayed again, and Chris reached out with his right hand as his left arm hung at his side. Morgan noticed this and asked, "What's wrong with your arm?"
"I don't know, it hurt this morning, but it's not too bad-" Morgan reached out to feel for broken bones, but the minute she moved the arm, he yelped. "Ow! Okay, that hurts," Chris winced.
"I can’t see anything broken," she replied. "I think it's dislocated."
"Well what do we do?" Lance asked, yawning as he sat on his bunk with his feet dangling over.
"We take you guys to see my mother," Morgan replied.
"Why?" Joey asked, the sun playing in his hair and making it burn with deep red color.
"My mom's a nurse. She can fix it no charge," Morgan replied.
"Well let's get out of here now then," Joey said.
The others sensed his uneasiness and agreed. Justin helped the wobbly Chris to get the door, grabbing his box of AppleJacks on the way.
They piled into Morgan's metallic purple Breeze. Justin sat shotgun while the others sat in the back. Morgan started pulling out onto the highway when suddenly all the guys ducked. "What?" Morgan asked, looking around. A forest green car pulled into the parking lot, but she saw nothing else out of the ordinary.
"It's J.C.," Justin whispered, scrunched down in his seat.
"He didn't recognize this car," Morgan reminded them, pulling out on the highway. "You can get up now."
They all breathed a sigh of relief as Morgan drove them to their next destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now this is gonna hurt," Morgan's mother warned, placing one hand on the front of Chris's shoulder and the other on his back.
Chris nodded, taking a deep breath. With one swift movement, she firmly pushed back on Chris's shoulder. She felt the pop of his joint sliding back in place as he winced and slid out of her reach in pain. "I'm sorry," she apologized, almost feeling his pain. "Go take some aspirin and you'll feel better in a while."
He nodded, trying to hold in his tears. Morgan laughed as she realized how much he looked like a little kid. "Follow me tiger," she said, leading him to the bathroom. After she had gotten him to swallow two aspirin, they joined the others again.
"So you tried talking to him…" Morgan started.
"Results in pain," Joey said, nodding his head.
"And you tried having other people talk to him…"
"Results in pain," Lance nodded.
"And you tried beating it into him," Morgan said, looking at Chris.
"I'm in pain," Chris replied, eyes bright even though one was swollen shut.
"Okay then, here's the plan…"
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt 9
"Okay, here he comes," Justin said, looking through his binoculars. They had spent the last hour in Morgan's car and watching for J.C. to return, cell phone in hand.
"Okay, go," Morgan said, motioning to Joey. Joey ran out of the car and across the street to the parking lot. Joey got in J.C.'s car, then backed it up against the bus door. He then got out and ran back across the street, joining the others. "That takes car of the door," Morgan said, smiling. "You sure he can't get out the windows?"
"Yeah, they're too high and too small. He's stuck." Joey said, breathing heavily.
"Okay. Justin, go ahead," Morgan said. Justin took a deep breath, then called the police. He told them the situation, then gave the address. When he hung up, he looked to the others, unsure. "I don't think we should have done that," he said.
"You did it for J.C.," Morgan comforted. "He needs help, and you gotta do something to help him. You guys are good friends. He's lucky to have you."
"But he's gonna be alone," Lance said.
"A lot of the recovery is up to him. He just needed a push in the right direction. It's the only way to get the old J.C. back."
"I still don't like doing this to him," Justin pouted, crossing his.
"Do you like what he's doing to himself any better?! I know you guys love him that's why you're doing this! Remember that, okay?" Morgan said, her voice raised. But she had made her point. The guys looked at each other as the sirens grew louder, bringing two police cars into view. The guys watched as they pulled into the parking lot, screeching to a halt in front of the bus.
"Guess I gotta move the car," Joey sighed. He got out and went across the street, but couldn't bring himself to go to the car. Instead, he tossed the keys to a cop and leaned against one of the squad cars. He was soon joined by the others, and Morgan. They watched with tears in their eyes as the police brought out J.C. He was in handcuffs, yelling and cursing the whole way. When he looked up, his red eyes met theirs, and they grew silent.
They exchanged glances, and for a second, the whole world fell away. J.C.'s expression grew soft, and he finally realized what he was doing. Not only to himself, but also to the four people that meant the world to him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, before being pushed into the police car.
The others heard his apology from where they stood, thirty feet away. Suddenly a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders and they realized they would finally put this behind them. It would be a long, hard road, but together they could do it.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
Finnis
Epilogue:
Morgan hurried out of the school as soon as the final bell rang. She had survived another day of teasing and being shunned. She stepped out into the fresh air and warm sunshine, happy to have gotten through another day. Outside was the exact opposite of what she felt inside the cold, dark, dreary high school.
A group of he ex-friends, led by the school drama queen, Nicole, pushed past Morgan, eager to go shopping. Morgan dropped her notebook, sending papers all over the ground in front of her. She sighed, for Nicole and her clique had stopped to laugh.
Morgan bent down to gather the scattered homework, when a strong hand held some papers to her. Her eyes traced up the arm, then chest, then rested on the smiling face of Justin.
Her mouth dropped open as Justin said, "I think you dropped these."
"Thanks," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. This was the first kind act she had experienced in a long time, and she was grateful. She gathered the rest of the papers and stuck them in her notebook.
They stood up together, and Justin could see she was on the verge of a breakdown. With no hesitation, he pulled her into his caring embrace.
Morgan's days of built-up tears finally escaped, but at last she felt warm inside. She looked in front of her and over Justin's shoulder she saw Nicole and the others, their jaws on the ground.
"Oh my God…" Nicole started.
"Is he hugging Morgan?" another girl asked, disbelieving the sight in front of her.
Morgan closed her eyes in thankfulness as she clung to Justin. All around them, rumors began to fly, but this time, Morgan was glad to be the center of them all.
"Let's go see the others, before things get out of hand," Justin whispered.
Morgan nodded, and together they walked to the blue convertible that held the other four members of Nsync, alive and well.
Together they drove off, to celebrate a whole week gone clean, and the discovery of new friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you or someone you know is doing drugs, get help now. Drugs DO kill, and that's not 'cool'.
Back
Home
Email: jaysmyrascal@cs.com