Hello! So this is my first fanfic and I hope you like it. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any characters in it

Marley had always believed in soulmates. It wasn't something that was unnatural to her, it just was. She knew that one day she would have that special someone that made her happy when she was having the crappiest day. She just didn't know who it was going to be.

When Marley was in first grade she met this boy named Ryder. He had brown hair and was funny and smart, but he wouldn't sing for her, no matter how much she begged and begged. So she didn't know if he could.

The first thing she said to him was "You have brown hair."

"Yes, I do." said Ryder. "Do you wanna sit? I have some extra playdoh you can use. I'm building an 'R' for Ryder."

Marley looked at Ryder with a confused look on her face. It's not that she expected him to be rude, it's that she was still thinking if he could be her soulmate. She then realized that she had been staring at him for five minutes now and he started to get creeped out by her. That's when she smiled and nodded before sitting down in the pink chair across from him.

Throughout the whole day, Ryder and Marley were inseparable and whenever someone would tease or be mean to Marley, Ryder would defend her as if it was him that was being teased. During recess they played tag and hide and seek and would swing on the swings together and no one bothered them. By the end of the school day, neither of them wanted to leave school without the other one next to them, so when they realized that they were on the same bus, they were ecstatic!

As Marley climbed onto the bus, she picked a seat by the front so she could see all the kids that were also on her bus. She watched all the kids climb onto the bus and every time she saw one pass by her she recited the same thing. Not Ryder, not Ryder, not Ryder, not-

"Can I sit here?" a boy with brown skin and black hair questioned her.

Marley's first instinct was to say "no", after all she was waiting for Ryder so she could tell him about this new Crayola product that was released. But she didn't want to have a bad reputation on top of being weird and shy. So she nodded hesitantly and let him sit down next to her.

"You know that you're not actually weird right?" the little boy said. "Because I think you're pretty cool. My name's Jake."

Marley smiled at that statement, but her smile faltered as Ryder climbed onto the bus and stared at her with a hint of betrayal. She felt extremely bad about it, but she couldn't help but think that he would forgive her the next day.

He forgave her the next day.

When she was in third grade, Marley realized that Ryder was her best friend while she was crying over this girl that was a grade above her. They were on the playground when the older girl pushed her onto the sharp mulch and called her "weakling". Ryder was in a different class that year so he wasn't there to defend her. But he was there to see her crying on the bus seat curled up in the fetal position.

He got off on her stop instead of his and walked her home with his jacket draped over her shoulders. Her mom wasn't home when she walked through the door so Ryder took her into the living room while he went into the kitchen to make a platter of milk and cookies. They had made the cookies yesterday and she stated with loudness that she loved them.

As she was waiting for him to return, she realized that he was her best friend. And she then concluded that he might be her soul mate. When he returned she couldn't help but look at him differently and by the time he had left to go home she started crying for an entirely different reason. She could care less about the stupid, mean older girl that was a total bitch to her, she was crying because she liked her best friend and he probably didn't like her back.

It sucked.

When she was in sixth grade her whole life changed. Her dad hadn't been home when she got home on the Thursday of March she started to get worried. She called Ryder and he looked as worried as she did, if not more. But at the time she didn't know why. She hadn't told him anything about her dad so she didn't understand.

Later that day when her mom came home a call came from a blocked number they found out it was her dad who was calling, but it wasn't tell them that he was running late. It was to tell them that he wasn't coming back. Marley cried harder than when she was being bullied in third grade, harder than when she realized that she liked Ryder, and harder than when her grandmother died.

Ryder was there through it all, next to Marley without every moving. He even slept over her house that night, with permission from his parents of course. But every time Marley looked at him she noticed that something was off with him. She didn't know how right she actually was.

A week or two later she found out why he was acting so strange.

It was a Friday and she was explaining to him about how she was gonna celebrate his birthday in August when he started to cry.

"Oh my god, did I say something?" Marley cried. She didn't like when Ryder cried.

"No, it's just…I'm moving back home to Miami." Ryder couldn't look Marley in the eye when she finally understood what he was saying. She stopped walking and the tears started to pour. "It's not my idea; my mom got a job there that makes her close to my grandmother who just got sick."

But Marley still didn't look at him, she couldn't, it was too hard. Marley ran home leaving Ryder staring at her as she disappeared.

On that following Sunday, Ryder came to her house to say goodbye.

"Hey" Ryder said sheepishly. Marley looked up even though she didn't have to, to know that it was him.

"Hi" Marley replied, and following was an awkward silence that made Marley, for once, uncomfortable when near Ryder.

As Ryder sat down next to Marley, her heart started beating faster. She couldn't believe that her relationship with him had to end like this. Ryder had been staring at her the whole time and it was like their roles in kindergarten had swapped.

"Ryder I-"

Then Ryder kissed her. It was slow and sweet but for Marley it happened to quick. She just had her first kiss at 13 years old. And she was too surprised to talk so Ryder did.

"I needed to do that before I left. I couldn't have left without telling you that I love you. And I can't help but want to stay here, but I can't" Ryder confessed.

"I love you too, Ryder." Marley replied. And then she closed her eyes and he was gone.

And Marley no longer believed in soulmates.