CHAPTER 1
It was Monday morning, and Tina didn't feel like getting up. She felt groggy but knew that she had to get up and go to school. Her mother called her down to breakfast, so Tina got up and breathed in the familiar and inviting aroma of blueberry pancakes. She had her breakfast, showered, and threw on whatever she could reach in her tiredness. She grabbed her backpack and headed to school. She knew that she couldn't really start her day right without listening to music, and one of her favorite artists was Britney Spears. She put on her headphones and pressed Play on her iPod to Britney's "Gasoline".
This seemed to help her get to school faster, because the next thing she noticed was the school hallways, with students dancing along to her singing. She found herself dancing with Joe, Blaine, Emily, Sam, Gina, Dina, Hannah, and Artie around, eventually rounding up Xavier, Brittany, Alexander, Sugar, Rory, and Amanda, as she concluded the song. The others cheered and clapped for her performance, and the bell rang to indicate the start of class, and they headed their separate ways.
INTERLUDE
Alexander left Chemistry class and saw Rory being harassed and roughed up by the hockey players, led by Scott Cooper, who had become the new captain after Rick Nelson graduated. Alexander looked closer and saw that Rory was bleeding. Without a moment's hesitation, Alexander sprinted forward and ripped Scott off of Rory, making him fall against the lockers across the way. The other hockey goons backed off as Alexander knelt to assist Rory.
"Hey, dude, are you all right?"
"Eh, I've had better days", Rory said with difficulty, and Alexander quickly noticed his busted lip.
"Why are these guys attacking you?"
"I don't know. They've been at it now that Finn and Puck are gone."
"All right, well, can you stand?"
"I think so. Nothing feels broken."
"Okay, come on, I'll get you to the nurse's station."
He put one of Rory's arms around his shoulders and gently lifted him off the ground.
"Oh, come on, man, he's a Junior. He's man enough to take it", Scott called to them, but they paid him no attention. It was at that moment that Mr. Schuester and Principal Figgins rounded the corner.
"Alexander, what happened to Rory?" asked Mr. Schuester.
"They did", Alexander said, jutting his head to the hockey players, "I'm taking him to get looked at."
"Don't bother with him, dude, you're just another freak to replace him", shouted Scott, and the other hockey players laughed.
Alexander ignored him and proceeded to help Rory, but Scott wasn't finished.
"I heard you are an orphan, Orenda. What happened? You were born a loser, so you were taken in by losers?"
Alexander stopped dead and gently placed Rory in Mr. Schuester's arms.
"Alexander, don't do anything you'll regret", said Mr. Schuester.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill him."
He turned to face Scott and jammed the tip of his cane straight into the ground, making a loud metallic clank, and it stood upright on its tip. Alexander placed his top hat on the cane and then proceeded to advance on Scott, cracking his knuckles as he went.
"Oh, please", said Scott mockingly, "don't beat me up. The most you could do is scratch me up a bit", and he and the other hockey players hooted with laughter. This laughter ceased immediately when Alexander's fist came into direct contact with Scott's nose, making a horrible cracking sound. Scott went down, clutching his broken, bleeding nose and wailing in agony.
The other hockey players backed off quickly as Scott got up to fight, but Alexander was ready. He grabbed Scott's already broken nose with his index finger and thumb and twisted, hard. Scott screeched in pain and kicked Alexander in the shin, but this only made him wince slightly. He threw Scott face-first into the lockers, ruining his nose for a third time. Scott fell to the ground, panting heavily, trying to breathe through the pain. Alexander shook his hand around to relieve the pain in his knuckles, yanked his cane out of the floor, where there was surprisingly no indentation, and went to take Rory to the nurse's station. Mr. Schuester and Figgins could only watch the whole ordeal in amazement, and the other hockey players helped Scott up to take him to the nurse's station as well.
