Ok so, my best friend is sleeping over, and we're watching Glee because we both love it. And because we both ship Madison and Roderick like crazy, we made up this story idea. This is starting at the episode The Hurt Locker Part 2 and will go through until the last episode of season 6.
We're making Madison have an eating disorder (I know that my other main story has an eating disorder in it, but this is what we decided mutually) so trigger warning.
There will be a few lines from the show in the story, no copyright intended.
So with all that being said, let's get on with the story.
Madison's POV
"All right! That's enough! Practice is over!" Coach Sue shouted into the megaphone. We all turned around to go back to the change rooms when Coach Sue yelled "Wait Madison, I need to talk to you" into her megaphone. I turned around reluctantly and walked anxiously over to her, crossing my arms over my stomach. "Yes Coach?" I asked nervously. She looked my body up and down, the looked back at my face with a disappointed look on her face. "Your hips!" Coach hissed. "What about my hips?" I asked sheepishly. "They're too big! It's basically impossible to lift you, let alone throw you up in the air. And what is this?" Coach asks, pinching my stomach. "Umm... my stomach?" I say quietly. "Make it smaller!" Coach yells in my face. "I'm trying to!" I squeak. "Well try harder. Now go!" Sue yells finally, turning on her heel.
I feel the tears well up in my eyes as I turn around and run to the change rooms. By the time I get there, all the other girls are gone. I take one look around and burst into tears, sinking down onto one of the benches. I've been trying so hard to lose weight, I really have. I've been skipping meal after meal, day after day. But it just isn't working. "Madison, are you in here?" Jane calls from the other section of the change room, where the door is. She walks around to where I am and gasps. "Oh my god, why are you crying?' Jane asks. "I just twisted my ankle in practice. Nothing major. It's all good" I say shakily, standing up and faking a limp as I walk over to her. "Are you sure?" Jane asks. "Yeah, I'm fine" I reassure her, wiping my eyes and cheeks dry. "Well if you're sure. Anyway, I came in here to tell you that Miss Berry called us for an emergency glee club meeting. Something about the Invitationals" Jane shrugs. "Alright sounds good. Is it now or later?" I ask. "It's now. Your brother sent me to look for you" Jane laughs. "Of course he did. Alright then, let's go" I laugh back.
"Oh good, Madison, Jane you're back. So you're probably wondering why I brought you all here. We're going to change our setlist for Invitational because this setlist is more emotionally vulnerable than our last one. Look I know Sue is going to make your life hell, she made my life hell. But I promise you, it'll all be ok in the end. We'll work all night if we have too" Miss Berry says. "Yeah, and we can order pizza and drink root beer," Spencer says as he walks into the room. "Wait, are you in?" Kitty asks. "Yeah, I'm in," Spencer says. "Yes!" I squeal jumping up and down. Rodrick smiles at me and my heart skips a beat. I really need to get over my crush for him. there's no chance he likes me back.
The songs Miss Berry has chosen for us are It Must Have Been Love, Father Figure and All Out Of Love. I get to sing most of All Out Of Love with Mason, which I'm really happy about. I love that song.
Sure enough, we ordered pizza and root beer. We sat in a circle around the pizza box, everyone but me taking a slice. Coach Sue's words still ringing in my ears. "Are you going to eat anything Madison?" Roderick asks, earning a glare from Mason. "Nah, I'm not that hungry. I'm going to go get some coffee" I say, getting up and going over to the coffee machine that we stole from the staff room to keep us awake through the night. I've drunk the most coffee out of everyone, this being my third cup and it's only 10.30. "Madison, don't you think you've had enough coffee?" Jane asks. "Nope," I say bluntly. "Alright, we should probably start with the blocking for the numbers, since that will be the hardest parts" Miss Berry announces, getting up from the circle. "Umm Miss Berry, random question but what are we going to do about costumes?" Jane asks. "We're just going to wear the blue things we were originally going to wear. There's no time to get a new costume" Miss Berry says.
3 hours and another 7 cups of coffee later, the blocking is done. Spencer has fallen asleep in his chair, Miss Berry has gone looking through the school, trying to find Mr. Hummel and Mr. Anderson, taking Kitty with me. Roderick, Jane, Mason and I were the only ones still awake and in the choir room. The caffeine is getting to me now, and it doesn't help that it's 1.30 in the morning. I can't sit or stand still. I'm doing laps around the choir room, crashing into all sorts of things. Coustume racks. Random instruments. People. "Madison do you want to go into the hall to burn off all the extra energy you seem to suddenly have?" Roderick asks, looking up from his phone after hearing me crash into the piano. "That's a really good idea," I say, walking to the door.
Once we're out in the hallway, Rodrick leans against the lockers, while I begin to bounce up and down the hall. "Is this what caffeine usually does to you?" Roderick asks. "I don't know, I've never really had more than 2 cups of coffee at a time before" I admit. "Well that's probably why you've gone hyper then" Rodrick laughs.
After the high was over, the tiredness the caffeine was hiding seemed to hit me like a truck. I curled myself into the corner of the choir room, with my knees up to my chest. Rodrick, who was on the other side of the choir room came over and set next to me. I smiled shyly and turned my head to the side, laying it on my knees. "Can I ask you a serious question?" Rodrick asks. "If you must" I sigh. "Why didn't you eat any dinner? Or lunch, at all this week?" Rodrick asks. My head snaps up and my eyes go wide, tears already forming themselves in the corners of my eyes. "W-what? How did you? What?" I stutter. "Madison, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that you've been skipping lunch for ages. I sit with you. I see you push your food around on your plate. Can you tell me why, please? You can trust me" Rodrick says softly. I shake my head and let the tears fall down my cheeks.
"God don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry. Please Madison, don't cry" Rodrick pleads frantically. Mason, who obviously just heard what Rodrick said, stomps over to us, clearly pissed. "Back the hell away from her man!" Mason yells, causing me to jump. "Mason!" Jane hisses from across the room. "I didn't mean to make her cry I swear!" Rodrick says, standing up in a hurry. I bit my lip to hold back a sob. Mason is never like this. "I get that! But why did you go and ask her that?" Mason yells. "Boys! If you're going to fight, go into the hallway and do it" Jane says, getting up from her chair and moving to sit next to me. "Ok fine. We'll go into the hallway" Mason says, giving Rodrick a death glare before going to the door.
Rodrick's POV
"Ok fine. We'll go into the hallway" Mason says, giving me a death glare before walking out the door. This isn't going to go well in the slightest. I look down at Madison, who looked smaller and more fragile than she did a few minutes ago and sighed worryingly, before also walking to the door. I knew exactly what was wrong with Madison. I'm not stupid enough to not realize what's wrong with Madison. It's blatantly obvious that she has an eating disorder, or that she's at least developing one.
I walk into the hallway, met by Mason's cold stare. "I'm going to ask you again. Why did you have to go and ask her that?" Mason screams at me. "Because I'm worried about her! She didn't eat dinner tonight and she hasn't eaten lunch like all week!" I scream back at him. Surely he would understand. Out of anyone to understand my concern for Madison, surely it would be her brother. "Doesn't mean you had to go and straight up ask her! And why do you care anyway?" Mason yells. "Because I love her dammit!" I scream, immediately regretting what I said. If Mason was mad before, now he must be furious. "You love her?" Mason questions, his voice softening. "Yeah, I love her," I say quietly, looking down. Just as I looked up, Mason pushed me into the lockers and ran off. Well, what did I expect?
Madison's POV
"Because I love her dammit!" I heard Rodrick screamed. With that, I cried harder. He actually likes me, and this is how I find out. While he's screaming at my brother about my eating disorder. Fantastic. It went quiet for a few moments after that we heard a large crash, which Jane and I both knew was Mason pushing Rodrick into the lockers. With that, Spencer woke up (I'm genuinely surprised he didn't wake up earlier). Both him and Jane jump up and run out the door to find Mason, leaving me alone.
Another few moments later, Rodrick comes back into the room and sits down next to me. He takes one look at me and I lose it again. "I'm so sorry" I sob. "Sorry about what?" Rodrick asks. "If I hadn't started crying that never would have happened. I'm so sorry" I sob back. "Madison, none of that was your fault" Rodrick reassures me, wiping the tears off my face. "Are you sure?" I ask quietly. "I'm positive" He promises. I smile slightly and lean my head on his shoulder, linking our arms and snuggling into his side. "Ok, I'm going to ask you this, and I need you to answer truthfully but with no tears. I don't like seeing you cry. Ok?" Rodrick asks. I nod my head against his shoulder. "Why aren't you eating anything?" Rodrick asks cautiously. I feel the tears well up again but I hold them back. "It's the cheerleading" I mumble. "What?" Roderick asks. "I'm not pretty enough to be on the Cheerios. I'm not skinny enough" I say shakily. "That's ridiculous! You're the prettiest girl I've ever laid eyes on" Rodrick says. My heart rate quickens slightly and a blush warms up my cheeks. "Seriously Madison, you're gorgeous. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise ok?" Rodrick says. "Ok" I nod, actually smiling. We sit in silence for about ten minutes, and I feel my eyelids start to drift shut. I'll ask him about what he said tomorrow, this moment is just too peaceful. "Hey Rodrick?" I say. "Yeah?" He replies. "Thank you," I say quietly, closing my eyes. He kisses my head softly, and I drift off to sleep.