Author's Note: I have a week off from my Summer semester of college and I WILL have both my other WIPs updated by the end of the week. This is only going up now because it's the plot I was using on RP I had that died and nearly all of this chapter is made up of the first three self-paras I had there. I was never able to get the plot to really play out the way I wanted and it died before I was anywhere near done, so I decided to convert the story into a fic.

The title is a reference to Lifehouse's "Broken", I used lyrics from that song in a couple para titles on the RP and the song really fits Ryder's mindset throughout the story. Though the RP was Ryley, I honestly ship both Ryley and Kyder and I'm not sure which this story will be, so feel free to voice your opinion in a review. Obviously, this story is my own take on the Katie issue based on an idea that occurred to me after 4.16, the story is AU after 4.15 though because the plot I developed on the RP was dependent on some things in 4.16 not having happened, and I like it that way.

Story Warnings: Rape and the aftermath of rape. If I add anything else that requires a warning, I'll both edit this and post a warning onto the relevant chapter.

Prologue:

Ryder leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair as he stared at his computer. He had made such a mess of things with his friends and he had no clue how to even begin to fix it, he could kick himself for losing control long enough to kiss Marley. He sighed before scrolling through his favorites and pulling up a familiar chat room. What he needed right now was to talk to people who weren't involved in the huge mistake he'd just made.

He slipped quickly into the easy conversation about movies he hadn't even seen yet and tried to focus on keeping up with the fast moving conversation instead of thinking about the fight with his best friend. He followed along with what was being said, reading more than talking himself as he wished that everything could just blow over and things could go back to the way they had been before, when he had finally had friends and a place where he fit in.

It wasn't very long before a message to him popped up from a girl he had begun talking too that past week, 'You okay, Ryder? You're pretty quiet tonight.'

He found himself smiling a little at the fact that someone actually paid enough attention to him to notice that before he replied, 'Just a bad day.'

'Private chat? I'm a good listener.' the girl responded and he smiled again.

'Sure, Katie. Thanks.' he typed back before clicking the private chat link that appeared soon afterwards.

'What happened?' she asked nearly as soon as he joined and he leaned back in his chair again as he tried to figure out how to even begin to explain the situation.

'I kissed my best friend's girlfriend. We both liked her but she chose him and I was cool with it. Mostly. But then she was there and I wasn't thinking and I just kissed her. I'm an idiot.' he said before waiting for her response and preparing himself to be lectured again.

He knew that he deserved everything that had been said to him. He had made the stupidest mistake in his life when he kissed Marley and he couldn't blame his friend for being made at him. He just wished that Jake didn't seem to think that Marley was to blame too. It hadn't been her fault and the last thing he wanted was to have messed things up for her.

'You're not an idiot. You just made a mistake, everyone makes mistakes sometimes.' As the message popped on his screen his eyes widened before he broke into a small grin. At least someone wasn't mad at him.

'He's really angry though and he's mad at her too. And all our other friends found out somehow and most of them are ticked at me too. It's a pretty huge mistake.' He explained, sighing as he remembered the awkward Glee meeting earlier that day where none of the girls had even spoken to him after the initial angry rants he had gotten from Unique and Tina.

'You seem like a pretty awesome guy, your friends must be jerks if none of them can get over one mistake.'

Ryder blushed slightly, shaking his head even though he knew that she couldn't see him. 'I'm not really that awesome.' He admitted, 'I'm not really that good at anything.' He told the girl before glancing at the clock, knowing he couldn't stay online much longer before he had to get back to trying to study.

'That can't be true. Didn't you say you played football and you're in a glee club?' Katie sent back.

He sighed, wishing things really were that simple. 'I'm probably one of the worse guys on the team. Same for Glee too, really. I can't dance and all the guys are better singers.'

'I bet you're a lot better than you think you are. You're probably really cute too. ;)"

Ryder blushed again, not sure how to respond. 'Thanks, but I don't think so. I gotta go though, homework.'

'That sucks. :( Can we talk again tomorrow?' she responded.

He gave a small smile before sending one last message 'Sure. I'd like that.' Maybe he wouldn't have to be totally alone, even if all his friends were mad at him.

Ryder sighed as he got up from his desk chair and plopped down onto his bed, laying down and staring at the ceiling. Jake was still furious with him and now Marley wouldn't even speak to him. One moment of his brain deciding to short out on him had cost him his two closest friends and he had no idea how to fix it. Nothing he said seemed to make any difference to Jake and Marley was going to do whatever it took to save her relationship and he knew he couldn't blame her.

He already knew that Kitty and Unique weren't on his side – not that Kitty had ever been on his side in anything – and he wondered if he had any friends left except for Sam and maybe Brittany or if they would side with Jake too in the end. He knew that he deserved it, but that didn't make him hate the situation any less. Ryder had never wanted to know how to time travel so much before now, he would give just about anything to go back and stop himself from kissing Marley.

All he could really do now was damage control. He would avoid Marley like Jake wanted and he'd avoid Jake too unless the other boy wanted to talk. Maybe if he gave him some space his best friend would eventually be willing to forgive him. Until then he'd be on his best behavior. Surely things couldn't stay this way forever.

As he sat up, he thought about the girl he had talked too the night before. She was the only person who seemed to really understand his side of things and she wasn't even involved. A tiny smile formed on his face as he thought of how nice she had been and he wondered if she really would be willing to talk to him again like she had said.

He headed back to his desk and opened his laptop, turning it back on before searching for the instant messaging name Katie had given him the night before. After a small triumphant fist pump, he quickly pulled up an instant messenger.

'Katie? It's Ryder from last night. Just wondered if you wanted to talk again.' he sent, bouncing his leg impatiently as he waited to see if she would reply.

'Hey, Ryder! Of course we can talk, I was just about to send you something. ;)' popped up on his screen and he smiled again. He might have lost his friends at school, but at least he had Katie now.

Ryder smiled to himself as he sat in front of his computer chatting with Katie. The past few days had been nothing short of awful and it was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn't in the middle of the whole mess. He loved how well she seemed to understand him and even though they hadn't been talking long, he was starting to feel like he could tell her just about anything and that was something loved.

Katie was always there to talk to him and she didn't seemed to judge what he had done, she just comforted him and tried to help and that only made him look for ways to spend more and more time talking to her. Jake had been his closest friend before he had gone and messed things up and he might still have Marley if she was ever able to talk to him, but he knew that it might be a while before that happened and he still felt guilty about kissing her. While some of the others were turning out to be pretty nice and most of the initial anger and awkwardness after they found out what had happened seemed to have faded, he didn't feel very comfortable talking to them about anything serious. Combining that with the distance he felt with his parents – and especially his father – meant that his new friend was fast on her way to becoming the most trusted person in his life.

The more they had talked, the more he found himself enjoying the flirting she did. He had been a little embarrassed the first time she asked if he had any shirtless pictures, but he loved the way it made him feel when she told him how good he looked. If he ever wanted to really fix things with Jake, he knew that he had to get over Marley and what better way than by finding someone else? Katie was just about perfect and he almost couldn't believe his luck that someone like her would actually like him. She was exactly what he needed and he couldn't begin to tell her how grateful he was for that.

Talking to Katie had made everything so much easier to deal with and more and more of his time was being taken up by chatting with her. When Kitty was insulting him or Jake and Marley were avoiding him, she was always there to listen. He didn't know what he would have done if he hadn't met Katie, but he knew he certainly wouldn't have been able to handle things anywhere near as well as he was now that he had her.

She was the only one he had been able to talk to about how hard it was to have Jake mad at him and how he was worried that the rest of the club might turn on him if things were to get worse. She was the only one he had talked to about how determined he was to get over Marley because he knew she didn't love him and Katie was the only one who made him think that maybe someone else could.

He had just finished telling her how much he was looking forward to Spring Break and the camping trip that had been planned for New Directions when a thought occurred to him. He bit his lip in thought for a moment before smiling as he leaned back over to send a very important question.

'Hey, do you think that maybe we could meet?'