xxxxxx

chapter 1

xxxxxx

"Hey, Morty!" An uncomfortably familiar voice shouted from down the hallway.

Morty grimaced and sucked in a small breath between his teeth as he shrunk down slightly, shoved his books into his locker and quickly slammed the door. He chose to pretend he didn't hear that.

"Morty!"

The voice continued as Morty grabbed his backpack and shrugged his arms into the straps turning and briskly walking down the hall away from the source of the voice. He didn't want to out-right run... but he sure as hell didn't want to walk slow enough to be caught.

"Morty stop! I'm fucking talking to you!" The voice shouted one last time, much closer now, as a large hand reached down and grabbed Morty by the shoulder.

Morty frowned, but let himself be turned around. Trying to leave at this point - after there was no way he could claim to have not heard him calling out would just make Ivan angry. Of course, Ivan always seemed to be angry with Morty, and Morty never really knew why. He did know, however, that ignoring the older boy was just going to make him more angry, and in that case, Morty would probably end up hurt.

"What do you want, Ivan?" Morty pouted, noticing Ivan's friend Theo was standing there too. Great. Maybe they'd shove him back and forth between each other, or steal his back pack and play keep away, ultimately running off with it and shoving in in the toilet. It was always disheartening to see the two of the operating as a pair.

They both looked amused as they smirked down at him... They both still looked practically six feet tall, as they always did. And they both looked like they had enough strength individually to beat Morty up with one hand tied behind their backs. They were seniors on the basketball team. 'Cool' kids who liked to be dicks to him seemingly just because he was small and awkward and weird.

"We need your help, Morty." Theo answered in a casual, friendly tone that was quite unusual for the boy who normally called Morty names and never said anything to him that wasn't purely hateful and rude. Theo also had a habit of shoving him viciously into the sides of lockers - sometimes even into lockers and then slamming and locking the doors behind him.

Morty scoffed, pulling his backpack straps up onto his shoulders and taking a small, hopefully un-noticed step back. "No you don't, Theo... Come on, man... It's Thursday... Can't you just wait and beat me up before the weekend so I don't have to come to school the next day with a black eye? Teachers ask me about it..." He added in a small whisper.

He hated having to make excuses about that. He also hated making excuses to his mom and dad, but fortunately he spent so much time with Rick that he barely even saw his parents half the time. Rick either didn't ask questions, or proposed propelling his bullies into space and letting them suffocate. Morty tried to avoid the subject with his grandfather.

"We're not gonna beat you up." Ivan laughed. "We really do need your help... You've got to ask Jessica out on a date. To the dance."

Morty felt his stomach do a flip at the mention of his long-time crush. "W-why? So she can say no? Wh-why do you want me to do that?" He looked nervously around, almost suspecting a third basketball player might be filming him from somewhere nearby, wanting to document this whole weird trick and share it with the whole school.

"We actually have a plan that involves her saying yes." Theo noted. "I know it sounds weird, but we're not kidding. We need you to cooperate, and if it works, we'll owe you one. And that's a big deal... Meet us at the basketball courts at 4:00."

Morty frowned. "It's three thirty now... J-just tell me..."

Ivan shook his head. "It's kind of a secret. But she'll say yes... Just meet us there. I promise it'll be worth it."

Morty frowned and exhaled loudly. How could he resist? It was Jessica... He hadn't planned on going to the dance. He really never went to them because he never had a date, or even friends... But if somehow Jessica was going to say yes, and Theo and Ivan had the secret magic plan to get it to happen? How could he say no?

"Come on, Morty..." Theo went on. "I know we haven't always gotten along great, but I think things are gonna turn around for you. We haven't really ever given you a chance. I'll admit that. But you're into really fuckin' awesome shit lately - like space travel and portals. You're actually kinda cool... I don't know that I'd feel as embarrassed to be seen talking to you now that you do all the science stuff - no offense."

Morty narrowed his eyes, but felt a small glimmer of hopefulness in his heart."R-really?" He frowned. That didn't sound right. Ivan and Theo had been bullying him all year. Ivan regularly beat him up and Theo was always pushing him in the hallway. They both called him names and he always saw them talking to girls, then the whole group would look his direction and start laughing.

"Really, Morty... It'd be cool to go to the dance as a group... You just have to meet us out there at the courts in a half an hour, and we'll explain. Some girls like science and space and all that shit. It's kind of in style right now... Being smart is cool, and stars and aliens and shit is even cooler. So will you meet us?" Theo smiled warmly, a look Morty had never seen directed at him before.

Morty felt a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Okay." He agreed. "See you out there..."

"Great." Ivan clapped Morty on the shoulder. "This is gonna be awesome. Thanks, Mort."

Morty laughed breathlessly, but didn't tell Ivan that 'Mort' was a fucking terrible nickname and he hated it. He was just kind of honored to have been given any nickname from one of the cool kids. Something other than the usual nicknames, like 'loser,' 'dumbass,' or 'runt.'

Morty raised his hand and waved slightly as Ivan and Theo walked off. They didn't see him do it, but somehow it felt appropriate. He wondered if they really did think the science stuff he was into was cool. Sure, Rick was actually the one to really do the science things. Morty kind of just followed him... But if science was becoming cool among teenagers, maybe Morty could pay more attention to everything Rick did, actually start understanding some of it, and make tons of friends.

He would invite them on the more tame adventures he and Rick went on, show them different planets, maybe even take them for drives through space. He knew how to drive the space-car Rick made now. Not that well, but well enough. If he didn't go too far, he could drive girls around in it. They'd think he was so cool. Maybe they'd kiss him. Maybe they would think kissing out in space with distant planets and moons and stars out the windows was romantic.

Surely there were easy science things Rick did that Morty could actually learn to do himself. He kind of understood the inter-dimensional cable box. Summer's friends seemed to think that was cool, so if Morty made friends, he could show them that... And then learn science and show them that too.

Until he learned more, he could fake it. Ivan and Theo associated him with science, and science was cool, apparently. It didn't matter just yet that Morty didn't actually do much besides accompany Rick on his scientific quests. Just the fact that Morty had been to space and to other planets and met alien creatures was pretty cool, and maybe he was finally going to get credit for it.

"Morty, there you are!" Rick's voice brought Morty out of his blissful thoughts as a green portal appeared in the middle of the hallway and Rick stepped through.

Morty audibly groaned as he frowned at Rick and looked nervously at other kids staring with curious raised eyebrows. Morty started to smile then. This might increase his cool-factor. No one else's grandpa showed up at school through a portal.

"Come on, Morty. We gotta go." Rick grabbed Morty's arm and started tugging him back toward the portal.

Morty frowned and shook his head, yanking his arm down out of Rick's grip. "No, Rick. I've got plans."

"Plans?" Rick scoffed, looking around the hallway and shrugging and he shook his head. "Like what, getting stuffed into a locker? Missing the damn bus again?"

"No." Morty scowled. "I'm doing something after school. I'm busy. Ask me first next time before you try to make plans that include me. I can't always just drop everything I'm doing and go with you every time you randomly decide you want to go somewhere. I have a life too."

Rick laughed and rolled his eyes. "Wow... Well, aren't you a busy kid all of a sudden... I don't think jerking it off counts as plans, Morty."

"Actually, I do have plans. Real ones with other people. I already told them I'd do it. I have plans to-" Morty started.

"Yeah, plans to whatever. Don't care about your dumb social life, Morty. You have to come with me. I'm not really asking. It's not optional this time. This is important." Rick insisted, reaching toward Morty's wrist again. "Rejuviberries are finally in-season again on the Mik-Mak planet and that's the planet that got blown up four-thousand years ago in most dimensions, so it's hard to even find one that still exists. The rejuviberries are ready, like now, and they're only ripe during a three-day window once every ten fucking years, so we need to go now, while we still can. We've got three days and one of those days is half over, because I had to wait for you to finish your school day. I hope whatever dumbass algebra and English literature bullshit you slept through today was worth it."

Morty frowned and pulled his arm back. "I'm meeting my friends. I already said I would. You didn't tell me about this until right now. I can't do it. Sorry."

"Friends?" Rick laughed, raising his eyebrow. "What fucking friends?"

Morty continued glaring, crossing his arms over his chest. "I do have friends, Rick. Cool ones. As a matter of fact, lots of people around here think I'm really awesome. That wasn't always the case, but I've been moving up in the social world. I'm going to the dance with a really cute girl, and her friends and their dates. Maybe no one cool liked you in high-school-"

"Nope." Rick cut him off, holding his hand up in front of Morty's face. "I'm not getting bullied by a fuckin' fourteen year old. First of all, I was the fuckin' coolest then, and I'm the coolest now. We've been over this. I always have been and always will be the most awesome motherfucker in any room I walk into. Second of all... What. Fucking. Friends?" He said again, laughing breathlessly. "You've never had friends at school... I've seen you invite kids over exactly zero times. You went to that one dance where you had to drug your date to get her to like you and you fuckin' destroyed the whole world. You're standing here alone right now... Are you hallucinating, Morty? You get into my special stash or...?"

Morty felt anger bubbling up inside him as he stared back at Rick. "I do have friends. Ivan and Theo. They're seniors and they play basketball, and they're really cool. They're gonna help me get a date with Jessica and we're all going to go to the dance together. Sorry if your stupid red juvenile berries don't get harvested in time, but I do have a fucking life, Rick. You need to stop being so dependent on me always doing whatever you want whenever you say." Morty held his head high, starting to feel a cockiness he wasn't sure he'd earned. "If you need my help so bad, you're just gonna have to wait. I don't put my life on hold for you anymore. I've got better things to do."

Morty felt his breath stick in his throat as he stared nervously at Rick, who looked back with a raised eyebrow, clearly a bit surprised that Morty decided to put up a boundary for once. He hoped he didn't make Rick too mad. Morty wanted to be taken seriously and respected, but it was so hard to get that kind of thing from Rick. Maybe impossible.

"Is that the same Ivan who punched you in the nose?" Rick stared. "Almost broke it."

Morty shook his head, then nodded and shrugged. "Well... Yeah, but that was like a month ago... It's old news. We're friends now."

"You came home crying." Rick frowned, looking legitimately worried.

Morty grimaced, for a moment fearing what Rick was probably fearing - that Ivan didn't really want to be friends. That this was all some elaborate joke, that Morty would meet him on the basketball court and Ivan would beat him up. Maybe his other friends would be secretly watching. Maybe Jessica would see it all and think Morty was a complete loser.

"You had a bloody nose and you were fucking crying." Rick glared. "You went upstairs real fast so no one would notice. Your mom and Summer didn't notice. Your dad pretended not to. I came up to give you an ice pack and you were sobbing in the bathroom like your cat just fucking died. Don't be fucking naive, Morty."

Morty shook his head. "That was a long time ago." He said again, his voice small as something in the back of his mind begged him to agree with Rick and just ditch Ivan and Theo. Was he being completely fucking stupid hoping they really did want to be friends this time? Was this dumb as hell?

"These kids aren't your friends, Morty." Rick insisted. "Not even trying to be an ass here, but they're not. You know they're not."

"They might be." Morty stared. "People change..."

"People like that don't change. They're fucking with you because you're small desperate for approval for some reason and they know they can take advantage of that. They know you won't fight back, you'll do whatever they want just for a chance to be seen as accepted, to feel accepted. They're banking on that - on you being an innocent, naive little dipshit, falling into their fucking trap." Rick explained in the most blunt way possible.

"Fuck off, Rick." Morty stuck his lower lip out and glared, balling his hands into fists. Maybe Rick was right... But he didn't have any right to actually say it. Rick should have had confidence that Morty was cool enough to make friends with the popular kids. "Go harvest your stupid fucking berries and leave me alone." Morty growled.

Rick rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Whatever. Call me when it all falls apart and you're ready to do shit that actually matters.."

Morty turned and started walking away as Rick made his way back into his portal. There was no fucking way Morty would call Rick now - no matter what happened.

xxxxxx