Megan learned to live with her mistakes and without Deanna around to remind her, she lived a whole lot easier. She made plans to meet Ron the following week and notified Kylie of her intent to bring her into the fold.
“That’s fine by me,” Kylie answered. “Although, it’d be nice if he could bring a friend.”
“Male or female?” Megan joked.
“Why not both?”
Megan’s reemergence seemed to uplift Carrie as well. Argumentative and rebellious, she expected her ploys to be met with punishment or simply ignored. Megan surprised her by doing neither. She showed her compassion. There was an incident when they were shopping for diapers for her and Carrie was mortified because the cashier went to her school (a grade older) and was sure to torment her to no end.
“He probably doesn’t even care,” Megan insisted.
“He and his friends are jerks,” Carrie protested. “They threw eggs at Chris when he was walking home from school. Can’t we please just go somewhere else?”
“Look…. we’re already here.”
“…And the door’s right there.”
“He won’t give you any trouble. I promise.”
“I dunno, Meg….”
“What am I, a liar?”
“No, but….”
“Then let’s go.”
Carrie begrudgingly selected a package of diapers and brought them up to the register. Megan was right behind her. The cashier, an odious twerp, gave Carrie a look of recognition and a smug, knowing smile. Carrie looked down in embarrassment.
“Excuse me,” Megan said, tossing her hair back. She looked the cashier in the eye and grinned. “But do you know where the birth control products are? I’m going to need LOTS!”
The cashier’s smile faded and his face reddened. “They’re…um….”
“I only ask because you look like you’d know.”
A few of the other customers in the store began to watch him now as he sweated.
“A…aisle t…three,” he stammered.
“Thanks,” Megan said, winking at him. He was so embarrassed that he rang Carrie’s purchase up sans incident. The girls had a good laugh about it later.

“It really is nice to see how much she’s changed,” Nancy remarked.
“Which one?” Drew asked. “Megan or Carrie?”
“Carrie…. but now that you mention it, Megan has been a lot more pleasant lately as well.”
“Two teenage girls in diapers,” he said incredulously. “And suddenly they’re angels. Who’d have figured?”
“Stephen, meanwhile, seems to be heading in the opposite direction.”
“You’re too hard on him, Nanc,” Drew insisted. “I wasn’t much different when I was his age.”
“You and your friends never chased each other on scooters through downtown traffic and nearly onto the highway.”
“He did WHAT?! I knew that scooter was a bad idea. And now he wants a new bike? Forget it.”
“Do you think,” she said. “That it would be any different if he were like his sisters?”
“In diapers, you mean?”
“Well, it IS something to consider.”
“It isn’t a magic wand, dear,” Drew argued. “Megan had to, Carrie chose to follow suit. We don’t have the right to force this upon any of our kids.”
“But we do have a right to make sure they don’t hurt themselves….or others.”
Drew sighed. “Let’s see how well he behaves himself around Independence Day. Then MAYBE we’ll consider it. In the meantime, I’ll talk to him….”
Megan had overheard all of this. She, like her siblings, was quite adept at eavesdropping. This time, however, she was given a piece of information that she could really do with out. It put her in a difficult position. Did she warn her brother? Or keep her parents’ conversation in confidence? To whom did she owe an allegiance?
A.)Megan decided to keep her mouth shut and let the chips fall where they may.
B.)Megan decided to warn Stephen to watch his step. If she were being discussed in the manner in which their parents discussed him, she would have wanted to be warned before it was too late.