Chapter Text
Morgana has lived on the same street her whole life. She took her first steps in these halls, fell, laughed, and cried. Learned to ride a bike on the road outside, fell, and scraped her knees. She even made her closest friend on this road.
She was eight. About a week or two into third grade, she was familiar with most of her classmates, the ones you recognize but aren't truly your friends.
It was quiet reading time when the table behind her caught her attention with their whispers. Two boys were laughing at one of their peers, who seemed to be rambling about something, his shoulders scrunched up to touch his ears.
“They make perfect circles! There is no way a human can make that perfect of a big circle; it has to be aliens!” The boy tried to be quiet, but his enthusiasm shone.
“Well, my mom says they aren’t real, so you're wrong,” One of the boys spat with the confidence of any kid repeating their parents' words,
Shamed, the alien enthusiast hunched further in his seat. Morgana watched before leaning over, “Do you think aliens need cars?” The boy whipped his head towards her, eyes wide. “I’m Morgana.”
“Sam,” He responded, “And no, they're in space; they use spaceships.”
Morgana tilted her head. “My daddy says everyone needs cars, so maybe they have both, and that's how they make the circles! By doing donuts in their space cars!”
Laughter spilled between the two kids. “No way!” Sam had turned fully to her. “Here I’ll show you my books at recess.” Morgana nodded. At the time, she didn’t realize that this boy would be her closest friend.
Nowadays she shared more than books with him. Learning they lived on the same street made it easy for the kids to travel between homes. Nights spent at either of their homes, researching, growing, sharing secrets, they became everything to each other.
Even during the awkward phase of parents teasing them about possible crushes, they knew it wasn’t that; they were twin flames, they joked. One flame split, the same but different
Morgana was certain they’d be friends forever. She was there as Sam's crush on Mikeala sparked and grew. And most importantly, at the moment helping him study when he struck a deal with his dad to get a car.
It was a regular Wednesday; she had spent the whole night before helping Sam practice for this presentation. If he got this final A, he would be able to get his car.
Sam was clearly nervous; he wasn’t good at hiding his emotions, especially to her. Morgana felt sympathy for him as he stumbled his way to the front.
A reassuring smile on her face, she exaggerated her breathing as a reminder to Sam to breathe.
It was painful to watch, if she was honest, but all that mattered was the grade, and she knew that the information filled all the requirements for a good grade.
It was torture to wait for the end of class. Waiting for the teacher to hand back their grades.
As the pages were passed out, she didn’t glance at hers; she knew she did fine. Eyes locked on Sam, a breath passed, then a huge grin broke across his face.
He turned towards her, lifting the page to show the circled A on the page.
Luckily, the bell rang as both Sam and Morgana stood from their seats. Meeting in the middle, she nudged his shoulder, “I told you you’d be fine.”
Disbelief sat on Sam's face, “I did it! You have to come with me, Ana, to help choose the right one.”
The sun shone down on them as they walked out of school; a glance showed Ron sitting against the curb waiting.
Rushing, Sam ripped the car door open. “I did it!” He thrust the paper at his dad. “Can we get it Friday? After school maybe?”
“Hello, Ana, Sam,” Ron greeted, ignoring the bundle of excitement next to him. “Now let me see that paper.” After inspection. Ron nodded, “I don’t see why not. I assume, Ana, you’ll be joining us?”
Ana in the backseat laughed, “If you’ll allow it, yes.”
Nodding, Ron peeled off the curb, heading down the road, towards home.
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After a quick 15-minute drive, the car rumbled its way onto the Witwicky driveway. Sam's excitement hadn’t dimmed a bit.
He nearly tripped climbing out of the car, waiting not a moment for Morgana to finish climbing before tugging her towards the front door. In his haste, they stumbled in the grass before a shout sounded,
“Samual James!” Both teens were startled; looking through the large kitchen window was Judy, Sam's mom.
Hands on her hips and an eyebrow cocked, she was the vision of a mother's anger.
“Now I understand your excitement, but you better get your ass off my brand new grass right now!” The teens scrambled inside, shoving each other out of the way.
“Sorry, Judy, the grass looks beautiful!” Morgana said as she greeted Judy with a hug,
Sam passed by, weaving his way through the rooms towards the stairs. “Ana, let's go!”
The two women shared an eyeroll before Morgana followed him up the stairs. Inside the second door down the hall was the lovely mess Sam called his room. It looked like a tornado had been given access to an internet connection. Clothes lay abandoned across the floor, half-finished projects crowded his desk, and the faint glow of his computer screen cast blue light across the cluttered room. Posters peeled slightly at the corners, while years of forgotten junk had somehow found permanent homes on every available surface.
“Sam, that better not be the same coffee from Friday on your desk.” Morgana knew her own room was in a similar state of mess, but she was clothes messy, not food messy.
Sam, who had placed himself at this desk, glanced over. “Nah, that's the one from last night.”
“You concern me sometimes,” Morgana said. She didn’t hesitate to kick her shoes off before throwing herself on his bed,
Sam gave a hum of acknowledgment, busy scrolling eBay. “No one's tried to buy Grandpa Baldie's glasses yet?”
Huffing, Sam swiveled to look at her. “Nope, I’m talking prices for some other stuff, but we’ll see.” He then jerked his head towards the nightstand. “Your books are still in the bottom drawer.”
“Oh yeah!” Scrambling, Morgana grabbed the book before making herself comfortable. “Thanks, Sammy.”
Sam, who turned back to the computer to continue his eBay auction, paid her no mind; they had spent many afternoons like this over the past 9 years.
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A shark knock sounded, jerking Morgana from her book. At the bedroom door stood Ron. “Ana, your mom called to ask if you were here, said you weren’t answering your phone.”
Scrambling for her bag, Morgana saw the 2 missed calls from her mom. “She said she wanted you home.”
“Ok, thanks, Ron.” Message delivered. Ron walked off, heading back downstairs. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Sammy. An absent-minded wave saw her off as Morgana headed down the stairs.
“Bye, Ron. Bye Judy. I’ll probably see you tomorrow.” Morgana waved goodbye to the couple as she passed through the kitchen. The couple sent her off with well wishes.
Outside, she didn’t head towards the street but back into the backyard. When Sam and she were about 12, they discovered that if they kept along the back wall of the fence, they could cut through the bushes to reach her backyard. At first it was very overgrown, but after years of use, a well-worn path had formed.
Cutting through the bushes, Morgana opened the lock to her own backyard, where she saw the light in the kitchen glowing. She honestly hadn’t expected her mom to be home so soon; she worked late hours at the local diner down the road.
Opening the back door, she called out, “Mama, I’m home!”
“I’m in here, sweetheart.” Following the noise, she traveled into the living room where her mom sat, sorting through scattered pieces of a puzzle. With a single glance, many could tell they were related.
They shared the same wavy black locks, a strong Greek nose, and even cheekbones if one looked close enough. Though Morgana's eyes and complexion were all her dad's. Her skin was splattered with dark sunspots, scattered across her olive complexion like flecks of paint, most noticeably over the bridge of her nose and high along her cheekbones. Hazel eyes, warmer than her dad's ever were, shifted between shades of green and brown depending on the light.
“Hi baby, how was school?” Katerina, her mom, asked.
Morgana made herself comfortable on the couch. “It was good! Sam got his last A today. I’m going to help him pick his car on Friday.”
Katerina smiled with pride. “I knew he could do it! Make sure that boy doesn’t get a beat-up, alright.”
The women shared a laugh. “Of course, mama.” Then she asked, “Actually, why are you home so early?”
“Halfway through the shift, Theo noticed that one of the water lines had broken in the back. It fully flooded half the kitchen, and we had to close as it's unsafe to serve food in those conditions.” Katerina sighed, “Hopefully we’ll be up and running by Friday, but I picked up an extra shift at the library for tomorrow just in case.”
“Oh wow, I’m sorry.” Morgana responded, “I should head up and shower, but do you want to have a movie night? I have leftover cookie dough in the fridge.”
Katerina smiled softly. “That sounds wonderful. Go enjoy your shower.”
Nodding, Morgana headed off down the hallway towards her room. Inside, she placed her bag down, then went around collecting her pajamas that she would wear that night. Did she have to step over some piles of unfinished art projects, maybe, but it was fine; she knew where everything was anyway.
Reflecting in the bathroom, Morgana was excited for this Friday. With Sam getting a car, it opened a new possibility of things they could do. Plus, she knew Sam would want to put his flair on it, which meant she could get a chance to work on a car again after all these years.