Read Awaking (The Naturals, #1) for Free Online

she just smiled. For a few moments, she and Miss Ellie Scotford just stared at each other. Then Miss Scotford motioned to the JY door. “I’d better get back in there. Nice talking to you, Morgan.”
    Miss Scotford walked back into the room, and Morgan made a quick trip out to her car. There were no alerts on her phone and Morgan found she was both disappointed and relieved. Resolving to put Kellen’s impending call out of her mind until the end of the meeting, she made her way back into the school. It wasn’t until she was almost back to the JY door that she realized something: Miss Scotford had called Morgan by her name, but Morgan hadn’t introduced herself.
    She wasn’t able to reflect on this discovery for long, however, because when she got back to the room, she saw that Mr. K’s presentation was over and the staff was already at work. Morgan smiled. She loved the look of the JY room when everyone was working. It made her feel like she was part of something important.
    Apparently she took just a little too long in her appreciation, however, because Lia Roderick, this year’s editor-in-chief, approached Morgan, hands on hips. She looked polished and put together, as usual, with her brown hair in a bob just below her chin and a pale yellow shirt that flattered her soft cocoa skin. Upon seeing Morgan, she immediately put on her not amused face.
    “Are you just going to stand there?” Lia asked, brushstroke eyebrows arched in irritation.
    “I was considering it,” she said, just because she knew it would irk Lia.
    It seemed to work. Lia crossed her arms over her chest and took a step closer to Morgan. “Look here. I know Mr. Kment’s always gone kind of easy on you, but I’m your editor this year, and I don’t want your sass. Do I make myself clear?”
    “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Morgan asked.
    This comment elicited an exasperated sigh from Lia, who stalked off to terrorize a couple of first-year members of the staff.
    Morgan shrugged and walked back to the table where McKenna and Stew were working.
    McKenna looked up as Morgan approached the table. “How was your run-in with the fuehrer?”
    “Ouch. That’s a bit rough, isn’t it?” asked Stew.
    McKenna shrugged. “Now that her name’s listed as editor-in-chief, I’m sure she’s going to do more micro-managing than ever. And it looks like the micro-managing has already begun. Morgan?”
    Morgan nodded. “She seemed very concerned that I wasn’t working already.” She sighed. “What’re we doing, anyway?”
    McKenna explained their task and Morgan set to helping. During the remainder of the meeting, Morgan noticed that Lia didn’t stop circulating once. She stopped by Morgan’s table not less than a half dozen times. Morgan found it a bit disconcerting. She also noticed Mr. K and Miss Scotford spending a lot of time off to the side of the room, talking quietly to each other. Morgan found this disconcerting, too.
    The meeting went on for another hour. Before everyone was dismissed, Mr. K reminded them that they were meeting again tomorrow to sell ad space in the community.
    At the end of the meeting, Morgan bid farewell to Stew and McKenna. She wanted to swing by and say goodbye to Mr. K, but Miss Scotford was still beside him. Deciding she’d catch Mr. K some other day, Morgan headed out into the hallway, which was filled with knots of people chatting and catching up.
    Morgan wove around the different groups and started down the stairs. Echoing voices told her that there were people at the bottom of the stairs, but Morgan didn’t pay any attention until she heard her own name.
    “I never said I was going to ask Morgan—”
    “Yes you did. I don’t understand why you’re so chicken—it’s what she does.”
    Before the girls came into view, Morgan had already identified the speakers by their voices: the first one was Lia Roderick, and the second was a girl named Alecia Emerick, a regular for having her cards read.
    Lia