The Vampire and Taylor Swift

2- 'You got this'

Marleys POV
I've been working on my audition piece but I can't seem to sing loud enough. I'm too quiet for this. And probably too fat. I have to be able to belt this but I can't. I sigh looking over my music. What am I gonna do?
"Everything okay?" My mom asks as she's cooking dinner. Bless her heart.
We struggle a bit with money so I always feel bad when I can't bring myself to eat the meals she makes. I mostly just give it to our dog if it's edible for them.
"Yeah everything is fine. I'm just struggling a bit with this song." I shrug.
"You used to be a very confident girl you know." My mom says almost wistfully, "You'd belt out songs as a kid."
"Yeah I know. Things are just different now I guess. I haven't actually sang a song alone for awhile."
"Why don't you invite one of your glee friends over to help you? That Kitty girl seems like she'd be good help."
"Yeah... I might invite Morgana over to help. I have the notes I just need to be able to sing in front of other people."
"Wait back up, who's this Morgana?"
"She's new to the school. I met her about a week ago and she's nice." I shrug fiddling with my hands. "She's really confident too so maybe she'd rub off on me."
"Well in that case, invite her after school. You can take the bus so she doesn't know I'm your mom and I'll stay out of site." She's really too sweet. She's always tries to spare me embarrassment.
"I like getting rides from you, and you don't have to stay out of sight. Im not ashamed of you." I sigh.
"Alright then. I'll take you both after school. I'll even make you kids some snacks!"
"Great, Thank you!" I kiss her cheek and head to my room.
The real problem is actually asking her. Sure she knows I'm awkward, but even more so when I have to ask people to do things. If I plan everything out now, it should go smoothly tomorrow. The key word being should.
                            ***
     The worst part of the day is definitely lunch. It's where I'm prone to the most bullying. There's obviously Kitty, I have a few classes with her, but there is also Bree and some other kids. They start making fun of my mom before they start making jokes about me and my weight. I heavily sit down at the glee clubs usual table as I wait for everyone else to arrive. I make sure to keep an eye out for Morgana, I'm not sure if she plans on sitting with us today and I still need to ask her if she  can help me run lines and get over my slight stage fright. Speaking of the devil the darkly styled goddess had just walked into the cafeteria. Wait back up, goddess? Why would I-why would I refer to her like that? I mean she is pretty. She has a jawline sharp enough to cut paper. The only way to really describe her is to say she looks like a goddess. She looks over at me and gives me half of a smile. I give a small wave and she starts traveling towards me. She drops her bag next to me and walks over to the long lunch line. Guess I don't need to worry about her not sitting with us. Kitty takes her usual seat at the table and that's when hell really starts. We're always the first two to get there.
     "You got the hamburger? I thought you were gonna go for the salad. Less chance of weight gain." She slyly comments making me look down at my meal.
     "Well I... I was planning on well..." I can't bring myself to say that I make myself hurl. I'm ashamed. I simple hold up two fingers and Kitty nods.
"Remember Marley, it's really just self love."
"Yeah. Totally..."
She smiles proudly as she sighs into her meal. I look down at my plate. Suddenly it doesn't really look appealing anymore. Slowly everyone else starts coming to the table, completely missing our conversation. Morgana moves her bag and takes her seat. She pokes at the salad she got before taking a beep breath.
"Hey Marley, I decided I don't really want a salad. Wanna trade lunches?" She asks casually. Kitty looked over at her, almost offended really.
"Oh, sure!" I try my best to sound cheerful as she takes my tray giving me her small salad.
Vegetables don't make you gain as much weight. It's okay to have a few bites. Conversation between everyone flowed smoothly as usual. I had asked Morgana where Arthur was, but turns out he had easily got in with the jocks. I think she muttered a joke about him trying to act as straight as possible. I waited until mostly everyone started to head to class before I decided it was now or never. I need help with my song.
"Mmmm... Morgana?" I ask hesitantly. So much for what I rehearsed last night.
"Mmmm... Marley?" She shot back in a similar manner. Was she trying to make me less embarrassed, or was she mocking me?
I take a deep breath. For confidence. "Iwaswonderingifyoucouldmaybepossiblycomeoverafterschooltohelpmegetovermystagefright."
"You do know, no one can understand you when you talk that fast, right?"
"Right... I was hoping you'd be able to help me get over my fear of singing in front of people..."
"Okay, just one question." I look at her expectantly, "Why me and not one of the kids from glee?"
"Well I'm assuming you don't actually know how to sing, so it makes it ten times less scary."
"I think that's the rudest thing you've said."
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Relax! I was joking. It's fine, promise." She laughs slightly as the bell rings, "Meet here after school?"
"Y-Yeah! Totally!"
"Great, see ya." She gives me a smile–I think it's her first genuine smile she's given–and a quick wink.
     I actually did it... oh my stars. What if she makes fun of my room? Did I hide my stuffed animals? Is my room clean? I hid my songs after writing last night. Or did I? I shake my head to try and make the thoughts go away. Morgana's different. At least I think she is.
                             ***
I walk into the cafeteria and see Morgana standing there. She didn't stand me up. But she's also talking to my mom and that can be dangerous. As a mother she knows very embarrassing things about me. I quickly walk over interrupting whatever conversation they were having.
     "Ready to go?" I smile at both of them. Morgana seems to be sporting a smile too. It suits her.
    "I've been ready for five minutes." Morgana joked causing my mom to laugh, "We were really just waiting for you."
     "I definitely like this girl." My mom nods.
     "Thank you Ms Rose. Now I'd like to hear more about the concerts Marley gave to her stuffed animals."
     I knew it was a good thing I interrupted them. Or at least tried. My mom finished her story and told several others on the ride home. Let's just say I rushed Morgana up to my room as fast as humanly possible. And I only hid most of my stuffed animals. I still had my stuffed bear on my bed. Fantastic. She carefully looked around my room. She picked up the bear holding it up.
     "What's his name?" She asked simply. I couldn't sense any judgment so I decided it was safe to answer.
     "Berry."
     "Cute." She says softly placing him back down, "Your room suites you by the way."
     "Thanks." She's definitely different.
     "So, if I remember correctly you need to get over your little fear."
     "I wouldn't exactly call it little, but yeah."
     Morgana sat on my bed, picking up Berry and hugging him to her chest, looking at me expectantly. I started singing. Well I opened my mouth but nothing actually came out.
     "Okay... well that was a good try..." Morgana smiles, "Now if I remember anything from your mom's stories, you only find me scary not Berry. Right?"
    I nod being slightly confused. What does me being five and giving a concert to my stuffed animals have to do with anything? There is no way I have that amount of confidence now.
     "Okay then close your eyes."
     "What?"
     "Just close your eyes Marley. Imagine you're five and you're preforming your newest song to your adoring stuffed fans."
     That time when I sang something actually came out. It was still soft, definitely not belting but it was louder than practicing by myself. I opened my eyes and Morgana was practically pouting.
      "Berry's disappointed." I giggled when she made him nod in agreement, "He wanted it to be like old times."
     "I'm very sorry to disappoint but I'm just not that confident anymore."
     "But," she made sure to drag it out, "You could."
     "Confidence doesn't grow on a tree ya know."
     "I'm well aware of that, but with words of encouragement, and some more practice around people, it'd be a start. So try again, you got this."
      I give half of a laugh before we run through the song more. Each time I got louder and louder. And eventually I could sing pretty loud with my eyes open. Something about Morgana's confidence really helped. There was a knock on the door and I yelled come in knowing it was my mom.
     "Dinner is ready if you girls want it." She smiles sweetly as always.
    "Thank you, we'll be down in a bit. I wanna run the song one more time." Morgana smiled politely. She's surprisingly polite.
     Morgana makes a few more jokes after I sang it one more time before we went downstairs. Morgana complemented the smell making my mom smile brightly. She always works so hard. I ate my meal, even if I had to force down the majority but Morgana seemed to enjoy it. I excused myself to use the restroom as Morgana and my mom continued chatting away. I took a visit to puke town as Kitty likes to call it. I came out and saw my mom and Morgana sitting crossed legged on our couch watching Dancing With the Stars. It was mine and mom mom's normal routine. We'd eat dinner then watch whatever show we'd be watching. Morgana noticed me and gave me a small wave and I moved to sit next to her.
     "Which couple is dancing next?" I ask turning to my mom.
     "You're just in time to see your favorite couple dance." She smiles.
     We continued talking about who we'd think would get eliminated and who would be safe. I turned to check to see if Morgana was bored or anything but she seemed perfectly content watching the show and trying to keep up with all we were rambling about. It was nice to not have to worry about being judged.
                             ***
Morgana's POV
     Marleys house was nice and warm. Her mother was sweet and took great pride in telling stories of when Marley was a baby. And as I thought, Marley had an amazing voice. It was also entertaining to watch Marley and her mom just talk away. My mom died when I was younger, and my dad was a flake... or I thought. For several years I thought I wasn't Uthers daughter but I actually was. So clearly my household wasn't exactly normal. But Marleys was. It was refreshing. About thirty minutes into the episode I got a text from Arthur saying he was outside waiting for me. If Uther tracked my phone again...
    "My brother is here I better get going." I announce standing up to stretch, "Thank you for having me Ms Rose."
     "Of course dear, come over whenever you like." She smiles warmly.
     I nod before giving Marley a small wave, "See ya tomorrow."
     Marley smiles waving back before I head out the door. I get in my brothers car frowning as I turn to look at him.
     "Did Uther track my phone again?"
     "Yeah..." Arthur said regretfully, "I told him he didn't need to."
     "One of these days I'm gonna find a way to disable that damn tracker." I say crossing my arms as he starts driving.
     "And then you'll just get grounded again."
     "Well fuck Uther and his rules!"
     "Maybe if you actually called him dad he wouldn't be so strict."
     "Give me 14 years then I will." I shoot back.
     "Fair. So how was Marleys?" Arthur asked. He's good at knowing when to change the subject.
     "It was fun. Her mom's nice and her house has a nice feel to it." I say nonchalantly.
     "Someone's got a crush I see." I forget how well he knows me sometimes.
     "She's straight so it doesn't matter."
     "And how would you know?"
     "I saw her room. I didn't even see a hint of gayness in her decor."
     "She could just be closeted and doesn't want to risk getting outed." Arthur shrugged simply.
     "Just shut up and drive."