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Megan and her sister Denise have taken some time out from the family to hit some shops in town.  Mexico is warmer than Chicago and the two young women chat pleasantly about each others lives, this being the first chance they've had to really chat since Denise went off to Yale.

"So, mom seems to like your boyfriend.  Dad must hate him."

Megan was wearing a tank top and shorts over the bikini she had been wearing at the beach earlier in the day as her and her sister strolled through the town looking at some of the shops. 

“Hate him?  Well, I’m not sure he hates John, but he did run a background check on him.  There was some tension at first, but I think he is accepting him, somewhat.”  Megan replied.  Flipping out her cellphone, she pulled up a picture of John to show Denise.  “Dad took some good pictures of us for Homecoming, I’ll email you some when I get back home.”

"Wow."  Denise says looking at John's picture.  "Very nice."  She chuckles, "Dad never ran a background check on any of my boyfriends, I'm not sure if I should be flattered or jealous."

“Thanks.”  Megan said with a wide smile at Denise’s comments about John’s picture. 

When she mentioned their dad never running background checks on any of her boyfriends, Megan just shrugged.  “Maybe you just never knew about it?  John’s dad used to work for the government in DC, so a friend of his let him know when the background check had been run on John.”

Denise stops walking and looks at Megan.  "That's too bizarre even for dad.  What's been going on since I left home?"

Megan stopped as well as she looked back over at Denise.  “You mean besides students at school causing havoc on a drug that gives them superstrength?  And a creep with a device that made him invisible taking pictures of girls in the locker room showers and getting caught in my room trying to take pictures of me?  Or a kid getting ahold of some sort of raygun and shooting up the school?  Or me being attacked by some bizarre liquid guy on a school field trip and almost injured in the lab we were at?  Or a number of other crazy things?”

“Dad has twice thought of transferring me and Donnie to Fenwick.  But besides all that, mom also mentioned that your going off to college seems to have made dad realize how much things are changing.  He has started spending more time with Donnie, taking him with him on golf outings and the like.  Maybe in regard to me this uncertainty has translated into over protectiveness of the youngest daughter?”

"Wow.  I go away and all kinds of stuff happens.  How come I didn't get any of this excitement when I went to Oak Park?"  They walk a little ways further before Denise speaks up again, "I'm glad you're getting more of his attention, you and Donnie.  If my leaving had anything to do with that, then I'm glad.  He's spent so much time not being there, maybe this will help his exercise his father muscles."

“Trust me, that’s easy to say when your not there watching a fight between some kids at school on drugs where their superstrength is tearing up lockers.”  Megan replied seriously.

She slowed down some as they went along, looking over some stands and picking out a few things for souvenirs for some of the people back at school.


When Denise spoke up again, she looked back over at her, and nodded slightly.  “Yeah, he never was.  But its not fair that you have to miss out on him trying to change that.”

She then brightened up as she asked, “So, what’s Yale like?  They working you to death?  Or you getting to have some fun?”

"I'm taking it easy, still trying to decide what I want to leave there with.  It's plenty hard, but I'm having a great time.  Meeting lots of great people.  And don't worry, I'm not sad that I didn't get more of dad's attention.  Mom was always there, and I'm meeting more and more people that didn't have anyone around except nannys and house staff.  Boy are they messed up."

“That’s good.”  Megan said in reply to her sister’s comments on Yale.  “You have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do as far as a degree.  Any cute boys that have stood out?”  She asked with a grin.

“Yeah, mom has always been there.”  Megan said in agreement as she picked out some things to buy for people.  “I have been spending time with her, more than Donnie does that’s for sure.  And I know what you mean about people that only had nannys and the like.  You remember Lisa Janush?  While she was still at school, I saw her everyday because she was captain of the cheerleading team.  I still see her a few times a month outside of school.  I like Lisa, but she could have probably used more involvement by at least one of her parents.”

"Janush?   Isn't her brother the chief slaker there or something, that name sounds familiar."

“Yeah, Elrod.”  Megan replied, somewhat surprised her sister did not know Lisa better than that.  “She was the head cheerleader at the start of the year, not sure if she was last year or not.  Their parents have a big place house out near (Megan describes where the Janush home is located).” 

"Oh yeah, I remember her.  She was on the squad I guess, I don't remember her being all that popular though.  Times change though."  Denise picks through a bin of scarves, "Mom said your on the constitutional debate team, you headed towards a law degree too?"

“She wasn’t?”  Megan asked, a bit surprised.  “She was like the most popular girl in school at the beginning of the year.  Everyone was copying her fashion style and she completely dominated over the other cheerleaders.  In fact, she helped maneuver a few things to get me set up with the guy I was dating at the beginning of the year.  Now that she is at Fenwick, she seems to be going through a lot of boys there.”

As her sister changed the subject, Megan could not help but smile.  “I don’t know.  Not really something I’m planning on, I just thought it would be something interesting to do.  Never hurts to have experience getting in front of people and being able to sway them to your point of view.  When Laura Chapman asked me to join, I figured I would give it a try, after all, wouldn’t hurt for college applications.  Was also how I initially met John.”

"Well, Laura has been trying to get a team together for a while, I'm glad she finally managed to pull it off.  I'm glad you're involved too.  Just, if you do look towards law, try not to look at it like dad did.  There are plenty of really great reasons to practice law."

“Yeah, she even got Brendan Frye to be on the team.”  Megan replied as she picked out a few things for some of the girls on the squad.

She nodded as her sister mentioned not following their father’s path if she went on to be an attorney.  “Don’t worry, if I do decided to get a law degree, I would not want to not be there for any family I will eventually have.  Mom has pretty much shown me how important that is.”

"Well, that's not all I meant."  Denise says, "There's more to law then huge corporate mergers and buckets of money."

Megan nodded.  “Yes, I know that as well.  Right now I am not sure I would even want to pursue a law degree, so what kind of law I would be involved in, if I got one, isn’t quite high on my list of things to think about.”

"Good.  I'd hate to think dad had already convinced you to take the buckets of money route.  He's sure to convince Donnie though.  Well, if his boy goes that way I'm sure he'll feel he's done right."

“Its not like we don’t already have buckets of money anyway.”  Megan replied.  “Because of this possible settlement from the lab accident, dad has already started me on learning to manage my trust investments.”

"Well, thank mom for making sure those trusts were set up.  Oh man did they fight over that when we were little."  Denise says as she spies a hat to go with the top in her hand.

“Why would they fight over that?”  Megan asked.  “Most of the stocks and stuff came from our grandparents anyway, and would have needed to be put into trusts.”

"I'm talking about the college funds and the trusts mom set up.  When you turn eighteen she'll explain it all.  She just wanted to make sure we got to do what we wanted as far as school and with our lives."

“Well, our grandparents money would assure that, we just need to wait longer to get that.”  Megan replied.  She had a feeling that if she pressed her mom now, she might be able to learn more, as she already had talked to her about a number of things that Denise likely did not know.  “And when the settlement does finalize, that will be money I get access to at eighteen anyway, which is why dad is concerned that I learn now how to manage invetments.”

"Well, money always was his strong suit.  So, if Lisa was the head of the squad, and she's gone.  Who is running things?"

“Well, another Senior, Denise Weston, sort of stepped up to be Captain.  But she broke her leg when some bleachers collapsed.  So, I have been running the squad since then.  I had already been helping Lisa with a lot of things, even worked on choreographing use a dance routine, and the other girls are not the most assertive, least in terms of taking charge of things.”

"Wow, so if you play it right, you could be head of the squad.  That would be a nice feather in your cap."

“Well, after this year I probably will for sure.  But when Denise comes back she will likely want to run things again.  If she even comes back.  Even before she got hurt, she was talking about transferring to Fenwick as well, due to all the craziness at school.”

“The choreographing has probably been one of the best things about being on the team really.  I put together a routine to Justin’s Sexyback earlier in the year, and have been working on a new routine for basketball season to Rihanna’s Shut up and Drive.”  Megan continued.  “I also have been helping the drama club with some choreography for their next production.”
   

"Well, that's all going to add up to you being the likely choice for captain of the squad.  Pretty impressive ofr a Freshman."

Megan smiled.  “Yeah, hopefully I can get together a stable squad soon, we have had more than a few people leave.  We even have a couple of guys on the squad right now.”

“Next year we are going to need to find at least one more person for the Con Debate team as well, as we will loose both Laura and Brendan.” 

"Hey, just promise me you wont get so wrapped up in doing stuff that you forget to be a kid.  You only go to high school once.  Try to enjoy some of the time, okay?"

Megan grinned.  “No worries about that sis.  I have been to all the best parties this year.  And for Homecoming week, I dressed as the Woman in Red from the Matrix, and John and some guys from the Science Club were Agents one of the days.  On another, me and the other cheerleaders were in poodle skirts, John and some football players dressed as greasers and with the help of a guy and girl from the drama club, we recreated a scene from Grease in the lunchroom.”