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I woke up to Morgan sitting on the edge, of my bed. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw her close my dad’s journal and sit it on the side table. I couldn’t even remember reading any of it, before I had fallen asleep.

“Looks like you were pretty tired, last night.” She smiled, ripping the covers off, of me.

“Yeah. I had a long night.” I rubbed the sleep, from my eyes, and sat up. Leaning against her, I let my head fall onto her shoulder. “Do you know what you’re going to do after we graduate?”

“Not really. I have been thinking about going into law, though. Why?”

“Like a lawyer?” I questioned, as I pulled a pair of shorts on, over my boxers. “Now see, that’s really cool. How did you come up with that? I have NO clue what I want to do!” I let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“We’re not supposed to know, yet, Baylee. I just have ideas. Don’t you have any ideas?” She raised her eyebrows as I stood in front of the mirror, messing with my hair. We were planning to go see Kevin today.

“Well, of course, I have thought of things…but…I don’t know. My ideas are silly.” I sighed, pulling on a shirt.

“No idea is silly, Baylee. And…what is up with the questions today? You aren’t normally worried about these things.”

“Believe me…my ideas are…let’s just say ‘out there’. Nick told me that I should be trying to meet my own expectations of myself…not anyone else’s expectations of me. The only thing is, that I don’t know what my expectations, of myself, are. I have no idea where to, even, begin!”

“Maybe you should start on a smaller scale. For example, what are your expectations, regarding your grades? My mom is happy, as long as I do my best and pass. But I expect and push myself to get all A’s because I know I can do it.”

“I’m just happy if I pass!” I chuckled. Passing is good!

“Well, by taking Nick’s advice…you would not let me push you to get all A’s and B’s…you would just study enough to pass.” She shrugged, with a smile.

“But…I like it when you push me to do better. I don’t have the dedication that you do. I mean…I am happy when I get all A’s or whatever…it’s just that I couldn’t do it by myself.”

“Alright…” she rolled her eyes and sighed, before continuing on, “…how about basketball? Do you expect yourself to lead the team to state finals or do you expect to just do your best and be a team player?”

“Do my best and be a team player.” I answered as if it was a dumb question.

“So what are you gonna do…” she got up and walked towards me, with determination in her eyes “…when Claire starts that dumb cheer? Come on Baylee lead the pack! Make the shot and win the game, Baylee.” She looked my straight in the eye and continued. “You’re gonna take us to state’s this year, Baylee. You’re our best player, Baylee. Win us the game, Baylee. You’re our man, Baylee. Give me a ‘B’…”

“STOP IT!” I shouted, backing away from her. She was turning into one of them! Morgan was supposed to be on my side!

“What? I didn’t hear you? What did you say?” She smirked at me, raising her eyebrows.

“I SAID STOP IT!” I screamed, louder.

“Oh…you’re going to make the school proud? Is that what you said? Well, that’s good because we are all depending on you!”

“NO! SHUT UP!” I was really starting to get angry. Why was she pushing my buttons, like this, when she knew how bad it bugged me? She crossed her arms and continued to stare at me, with our noses almost touching, again.

“Oh but, Baylee, we need you. You just have to win the game for us! It all comes down to you.”

“NO! I am not the only one on the court! The whole team wins the game for us! IT’S NOT JUST ME!” I backed up, bumping into my dresser.

“So…what are you saying Baylee? You’re not going to, single handedly, win us the state championship?” She stuck out her lip in a pout.

“NO! I can’t do it by myself! I am a part of a TEAM…it’s called a basketball TEAM, for a reason, and I am going to play as part of that TEAM! Why doesn’t anyone get that?” I screamed, at the top of my lungs. I was so angry and frustrated. Why couldn’t anyone understand that it’s not just me?

“That’s what Nick was talking about.” She grinned, as her face softened and she plopped back down, onto my bed. “Don’t let other people’s expectations run your life. Don’t give in to people…stand up to them. Just think of what I would be like, if I tried to be what people expected me to be. Can you say ‘Claire Clone’?” Rolling her eyes, she giggled.

“Oh…” I plopped onto the bed, beside Morgan. Well…why didn’t Nick just say that?

“Not as complicated as you thought, huh?” Her eyes almost twinkled, as she smirked at me.

“I guess not.”

“Well, we better get Mason and head over to see Kevin. I told the receptionist that we would be there around 10.” She stood up and headed to the door. “Oh and Sean is going to meet us for slushies and lunch, at Josie’s, around noon. If we’re not done visiting Kevin, Sean said to just call and let him know.”

“Alright. That sounds good. I think Nick is going to drive us, this time. Is it still raining?” I followed her, downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, Nick tossed me a yogurt and granola bar. Smiling, I passed them to Morgan and caught the next ones that he tossed. Both Nick and I knew, from experience, that Morgan would have missed and the yogurt would have splattered all over the floor. He grabbed some for himself and we all joined Mason, who was already eating at the table.

“I hope today’s visit goes better than the last one,” Mason sighed, crumpling the wrapper of his granola bar. I slouched, in my chair, nodding my head and hoping for the same thing.

“I’m sure it will still be rough,” Nick patted his shoulder, “It’s going to take time, but he’ll wear down.”

“Are you going to come in, with us, Uncle Nick?” Mason’s eyes looked hopeful, but, I knew the answer was going to be ‘no’. Nick didn’t seem like he was ready for that step, yet. There was too much, that had happened, between them. There was a lot of mending that needed to happen, between them.

“Nah,” Nick shook his head and looked down, to see Mason’s disappointment. “I don’t think it would help…probably make things worse, actually.”

“We understand, don’t we Mason?” I looked over, seeing a small nod.

“I promise that I will…just…not yet, okay?” Nick gave us, all, a small smile and got up from the table. The rest, of us, followed suit and threw out our trash. There was a long silence as we all headed out to the garage. It didn’t take very long to get to the center, seeing as we drove, this time.

“Good morning, you kids are here to see Kevin, correct?” the bubbly woman smiled widely, at us.

“Yes, that’s right,” I nodded, stepping up to the front desk.

“Well, we have set up a bit of a different situation, this time. You will be meeting him in a comfortable lounge area. We have a counselor that will be sitting in, with you, to help. We do this often and it usually does wonders to help everyone involved. Okay?” She picked up a clip board and stepped out, from behind the desk. “Shall we?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Mason smiled as he walked through the door that the woman held open. We were probably there for an hour or more, that morning. The counselor mainly talked with Kevin and Mason. At least, Kevin hugged us all, before we left, this time. He agreed to weekly visits on Saturdays. He also said that he would like the chance to talk with Nick and AJ…well, Howie, too…but, mainly Nick and AJ.

“So where’s Mason?” Sean asked, as soon as Morgan and I walked into Josie’s.

“Nick picked him up at the center. Mason said he didn’t feel like hanging out with us older kids. He just wanted to head home,” I shrugged and looked down at the menu.

“What sounds good, guys?” Morgan’s eyebrows were scrunched, as she sat staring at the menu. She always has a hard time deciding what she wants to eat. Is that a girl thing or just a Morgan thing? Half the time, I end up ordering for her!

“Mmm…I’m just gonna have a Josie’s Deluxe burger, with chili cheese fries, fried mushrooms, onion rings, a chocolate milkshake and I’m debating on the caramel apple pie.” Sean grinned widely, announcing his selections.

“I’m definitely getting fries smothered in cheese and gravy! But, I don’t know if I want the grilled chicken sandwich or bacon burger.” I sighed, thinking about my dilemma.

“I want cheesy gravy fries too,” Morgan nodded. “I have no idea what I want with it though. The grilled chicken sandwich sounds good.”

“Hey!” I grinned widely. “Why don’t you get the chicken, I’ll get the bacon burger, we’ll order the mondo fry platter, and we can split?”

“Sounds good to me.” She shut her menu, just as our server came to take our orders. Sean placed his, rather large, order first. Then I ordered the mondo fry platter with extra cheese and gravy, as well as my bacon burger and Morgan’s chicken sandwich.