IMPORTANT A/N:

This is something I've been working on for a while and decided to start posting even though right now I'm about on the 4th Glee character's chapters, or 4th "episode". This story is modeled after the TV show "Skins", which, if anyone is unfamiliar with it, is a show about a group of kids that gives each kid their own episode each season. Each kid's episode is mostly all about them and is titled their name. For example, the 2nd episode of season 4 is titled "Emily" and centers around the character of Emily.

So in this story, each Glee character is going to get their own "episode", which should last about 3-4 chapters total. I'm probably just going to cover about one school year in the Glee-verse, but this is AU so season 1 of Glee never happened, although this story takes place in what is presumably everyone's junior year (ignoring RIB's ret-con of Tina's age, etc.) It'll basically just follow New Directions over the course of that year and will cover Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals, Prom, etc, just like a season of Glee would, but with a more in-depth look at each character's lives and personal inner conflicts, things like that.

Obviously, none of this is canon, just me having fun with characters I love from a show I love. There will be 13 episodes in all, with 12 characters (early season 2 ND, or season 1 ND but replace Matt with Sam) getting an episode and then an "Everyone" episode at the end. (Blaine is in this story but will not be getting an episode.) If you read fanfic for a certain ship or character, this probably isn't the story for you, although you're welcome to scan through and just read the episodes of the characters you're interested in.

I'm not done with the story yet so I'm not completely sure what the endgame couples will be, but for you shippers out there, these are the ships that as of now I'm absolutely sure will be touched on, whether they're endgame or not, and whether it's just a brief fling, a meaningless hookup, or a full-blown romantic storyline: Finchel, Brittana, Klaine, Fuinn, Samcedes, Puckleberry, Tike, Tartie, Bike, Bartie, Pucktana, and Quam. The first three are most likely endgame but I make no promises.

And one last thing: I got bored and made "Skins"-type openings for each "episode", so when one character's chapters for their episode are finished and I've just posted the final chapter, I will go to my profile and post a link to the video for the next episode. So if you want to know ahead of time who's episode is coming up next, you can go to my profile and check that out after you're done reading the final part. Up first: Sam! His video is up already just for giggles if you'd like to watch it anyway. For those of you unfamiliar with "Skins", the openings are always the same except each one ends by showing the character the episode is about, with a different character at the end each time.


Sam's eyes shot open to the opening guitar solo of some Metallica song he recognized but couldn't name, and he stared up at the poster on his ceiling as his lips parted and his tongue left his mouth to wet them. He could hear feet padding down the hallway outside his bedroom door, and he slowly sat up, rubbing at his eyes and looking around at his bedroom. Clothes littered the floor and the lone lamp in the room was still turned on, next to where his guitar and sheet music lay. Sighing, he slipped out of bed and turned it off before it caught the house on fire, then shut off his alarm and moved to his window to pull the curtains aside, letting sunlight stream in through the window and replace the lamplight. The calendar on the wall next to him had "1st day WMHS" written in one of the small squares, and he grabbed a marker off the desk across the room and then circled that square with it, before tossing the marker back to its original spot and then turning towards his closet. He stared for a moment, then sighed again, running a hand through his hair and stepping forward to pick out his clothing for the day.

Ten minutes later, he was racing down the stairs, fully dressed with his backpack on his back. His little brother and sister were at the kitchen table eating breakfast, and his mother was in the kitchen. "Hey, Stevie!" he called, catching his brother's attention and raising both hands suggestively. Stevie grinned at him and tossed him the granola bar lying on the table. Sam caught it and nodded a goodbye in his mother's direction, ruffling Stevie's hair on his way out and kissing his sister on the cheek.

"Be careful!" his mother called after him, just before the front door shut behind him.

Once outside, he jogged to the end of the driveway, opening the granola bar on the way, then shoved the end into his mouth and picked up the bike resting at the edge of the road, halfway in the driveway and halfway in the front yard. He slipped onto the seat easily, and without further ado, pedaled his way down the street, granola bar melting in his mouth and backpack bouncing on his back.


Students were milling about in front of the school by the dozens and Sam examined the crowd apprehensively as he led his bike to a nearby rack, kneeling down to clip it to the rack with a lock. A loud bout of laughter somewhere off to his right caught his attention and he straightened up when he was done, looking over just in time to see a small boy with heavily-gelled hair struggling to climb out of a dumpster while a large group of guys in letterman jackets laughed and jeered at him. The leader, a boy with a Mohawk, was doubled-over and laughing loudest of all, and as a result, didn't see or hear an even bigger set of guys approach until they were lifting him up by the arms and dumping him into the dumpster next to the small boy. The group of guys in letterman jackets laughed louder as the guy with the Mohawk scrambled back up to his feet and shouted, "What the hell, Karofsky!"

The boy named Karofsky high-fived his dark-skinned canning partner and then left in the direction of the entrance to the school. The smaller boy in the dumpster moved to pluck a banana peel off of Mohawk-boy's shoulder, and received a sharp shove in response, sending him tumbling back into the trash while the guy with the Mohawk heaved himself out and brushed himself off, ignoring the laughter from his friends. Sam raised an eyebrow and shook his head as he watched the entire exchange, then hefted his backpack up higher on his shoulder and turned to go inside.

His schedule had said 1st period Mathematics and so he figured the Math Hall would be the best place to start looking for his class. On the way there he passed a loud brunette girl holding up a piece of paper and shouting something about a Glee Club, but he quickly dismissed her and moved on, despite being tempted to check it out. He could sing and he could play guitar, but he'd never done either in front of anyone and he figured it would be better for him to get acclimated to the new school before joining any clubs. The football team was his only safe bet for now.

Luckily, he got through his first few classes okay, and found the lunchroom easily enough. So far, his day had been pretty decent for his first.

As he walked inside, Santana looked up from her spot next to Quinn and Brittany at their claimed lunch table, then smirked at the new blonde boy. "Ooh, new hottie alert."

Quinn scoffed without looking up from the notebook on the lunch table in front of her. "Can you keep it in your pants for one second, Santana?"

Brittany smiled on Quinn's other side and nudged her lightly with an elbow, forcing Quinn to let out an annoyed sigh and look up to see what all the fuss was about. She focused on Sam as he moved to stand in the lunch line, hands in his pockets and posture stiff with all the signs of being in an unfamiliar location. Her expression softened and she smiled slightly. "Cute." Santana shot her a knowing look, and she finished, "But not as cute as Finn."

Right on cue, Finn himself appeared across from them and placed his tray on the table, scratching the back of his head as he slipped into his seat. "Quinn, do you know where the Spanish classrooms are? Because I kind of forgot over the summer where Mr. Schue teaches and I ended up hanging out in the choir room until second period was over."

"I thought Mr. Schue taught in the choir room…" Brittany inputted airily as Finn dug into his food and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"See, that's what I said, too. That should totally just be his classroom, anyway. It'd be much easier to find him since we go there once a day anyway."

"Britts and I skipped his class every day last year," Santana told him. "It's not like I don't already know Spanish anyway."

"And I know stuff like 'me gusta' and 'más' because Santana says those while we're-"

"Hey, Finnocence, go get me some artificial sweeteners, would you?" Santana cut off, shooting Brittany a glare. "I can't get down this shit Coach Sylvester is forcing us to eat without them."

"I just don't eat at all," Brittany announced.

"Get it yourself," Quinn answered for him. "He's my boyfriend."

"Whatever, bitch." Santana rolled her eyes, got to her feet, and headed for the lunch line, catching sight of Sam again as he finished getting his food and turned to look for a place to eat. She caught his arm as she passed him, getting his attention and tilting her head toward her lunch table. "Hey New Boy, my table's right over there, okay? Go sit down next to the freakishly tall boy with the dark hair and the clueless look on his face and maybe you'll make some new friends."

Sam swallowed, a little intimidated, but nodded his agreement and moved towards the table while Santana headed in the opposite direction. Brittany and Quinn saw him come closer, but Finn was startled when Sam's tray hit the table beside his own with a loud clang. "Uh…your friend told me to sit here."

Quinn muttered something he couldn't hear under her breath, but Brittany smiled kindly and Finn scooted over to make room, so Sam figured he was welcome enough and quickly took a seat.

"So you're new here?" Brittany questioned, placing a hand under her chin. "I was new here once, too." She paused for moment. "Well…I mean, not really, since I went to William McKinley Middle School and then started here with everyone else that was in the same grade as me, but it's, like, the same thing anyway. But different."

Quinn blinked at her, then shook her head slightly. "Just stop talking."

"Okay."

"It's cool that you're sitting here with us," Finn told him with a friendly nudge of his shoulder. "We don't get many new kids here in Lima. I'm Finn, by the way. That's Brittany, my girlfriend Quinn, and the other girl's Santana. Our friend Puck should be here with us, too, but I haven't seen him all day…so I'm not really sure where he is, actually. He's not hard to find, though."

"Yeah, that disgusting Mohawk really makes him stick out in a crowd," Quinn muttered with a wrinkle of her nose. Sam's eyebrows furrowed at that.

"I think he's the kid I saw this morning. He got tossed into a dumpster."

Finn choked on his food next to him and Santana arrived in time to sit down and question, "Who got tossed into a dumpster? Hummel?"

"Uh, I don't know who that is, but…your friend Puck did."

Santana forced a laugh as she reached up to tighten her ponytail. "That's impossible. Look, let me give you a lesson in the McKinley High hierarchy. The Cheerios and the football players – that's us – are at the top. Next come your other jocks, then your scene kids, the hipsters, the Goths, the AV kids and the nerds, and then…them." Sam followed Santana's eyes to a table across the lunchroom, the occupants of which included the smaller boy from the dumpster, a heavy-set African American girl, an Asian boy and girl, a boy in a wheelchair, and the loud brunette girl he'd seen that morning in the hallway.

"Who are they?"

"McKinley's biggest losers," Santana told him with a smirk. "The only exception is Mike Chang, the skinny Asian kid. He plays football but he's dating Tina, that loser Goth chick, so he immediately loses dozens of cool points. And see the dark-haired girl, there? That's Rachel Berry, resident Glee Club diva. She's the worst of them all; even the rest of the losers only let her sit with them because she has nowhere else to go."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Why does everyone hate them so much?"

"Because they're in Glee Club," Santana informed him.

"So are we," Finn mumbled defensively, sounding a little hurt.

"But we were cool first," Santana countered. "And we aren't dating any of the losers, like Mike is. Unlike him, we know how to stay on top." Brittany giggled at that, and before Santana could glare at her again, Puck plopped down in the seat on the other side of Finn, his lips turned down in a frown.

"Who's the new guy?" he asked the table, gesturing half-heartedly in Sam's direction. All three girls wrinkled their noses disgustedly in response.

"You smell like shit."

Puck rolled his eyes at Santana. "Yeah, I know. Karofsky caught me off-guard this morning while I was canning Hummel. Fucking Glee Club is so not worth another year of this."

Sam fought the urge to smile. "Wait…you're in Glee Club, too?"

Puck ignored him, looking to Quinn exasperatingly. "Seriously, who is this kid?"

"This is Tom," Brittany explained.

"Sam," Santana corrected.

"Whatever. He's super fine."

Sam's bite of food nearly went down the wrong way, and Brittany shot him a wink as he rubbed at his throat.

"So since you'd have to kinda have a social death wish to try out for Glee Club, is there anything you do have in mind?" Finn questioned, bringing the conversation back directly to Sam. "Sports teams or something?"

"It's important to find somewhere to fit in. Preferably somewhere not lame," Santana added, pulling a nail file out of her purse and delicately buffing at the nails of her left hand.

"Uh, well…I played football at my old school. Running back."

Finn and Puck raised their eyebrows simultaneously, and Brittany whispered something in Quinn's ear.

"We need a new running back, actually," Puck told him, exchanging grins with Finn. "Our old one, Matt, transferred this year, so we're down one player."

"We're also down one Glee Club member for the same reason," Finn added casually. "If you can sing and you make the football team, you can probably get away with joining Glee, like Puck and Mike and I did."

"I can sing. I play guitar, too."

"Electric or acoustic?" Puck questioned.

"Acoustic."

"Awesome, dude. Same here."

"You should think about joining," Quinn suggested, surprising the rest of the table. She rolled her eyes defensively. "What? If Glee Club doesn't have enough members to compete, Coach Sylvester will have nothing to destroy all year and she'll put more effort into the Cheerios squad instead."

"I pulled my hamstring five times freshman year, when there wasn't a Glee Club," Brittany confirmed with a nod. "She totally pushes us harder when she's not distracted by Mr. Schue and his hair."

"Think about it," Finn said, nodding his agreement. "Football tryouts start this afternoon. So do Glee tryouts, but all you have to do for that is sing a little and you're in as long as you aren't awful or anything."

"Brittany's never even sang and she still got in," Quinn corrected.

"That's true," Brittany muttered.

"She can dance, though," Santana elaborated.

Sam frowned. "I can't."

"Well, all you really need is one out of three: singing, dancing, or a musical instrument. Apparently, you have two out of three. I hear Mr. Schue's pretty desperate anyway," Puck told him. "He'll probably take you whether you're good or not."

"Just make sure if you do join, you stick with us and not with them," Santana reminded him, nodding toward the "loser" table. "Otherwise you'll end up like Mike."

The bell rang for the end of lunch and Sam swallowed as the others stood up and moved to leave, his eyes on the group of six across the room. As he watched, another group of guys in letterman jackets approached their table and tossed red slushies onto every one of them other than Mike, who still got hit by some of the crossfire. Sam's eyes widened and he got to his feet, then glanced over his shoulder, in the direction his new friends had just left in. Letting out a controlled breath, he shook his head and tossed his tray into a nearby trashcan, then grabbed his backpack and left the cafeteria.


Sam took a seat in the back of his next class, Physics, just as the warning bell rang. A minute or so passed and then students began to file into the room, filling up the desks one by one until only a few empty ones remained. Sam caught sight of two kids he recognized from lunch. They were still drenched in slushie but it looked to have dried up a little since then. "I swear to God, Mercedes, if Dave Karofsky ruins one more of my vintage silk scarves with those slushies I'll-"

"Try to beat him up and end up back in the dumpster again?" Mercedes finished for him, chuckling lightly while Kurt sighed in the seat beside her. "Face it, Kurt, we're probably gonna have to deal with this for the next two years. That's the price you pay for singing in a show choir." Sam frowned at them from a few rows back, but the entire class was soon distracted by the teacher slamming the door shut.

"Alright, it seems we have someone new to our class today. Let's all get reacquainted with each other, then. One by one, I want you to stand up and tell the class something about yourself. You," he pointed at Sam, who immediately looked taken aback. "Go first. Stand up." Sam got to his feet hesitantly, and two dozen pairs of eyes turned to focus on him. "Now, what's your name?"

"Sam Evans. I'm new this year." He moved to sit back down, but his teacher snapped his fingers abruptly and shook his head.

"Uh uh, don't think so. Tell us something else."

Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing around the room until his eyes finally settled on Kurt and Mercedes. "Um…my old school had a zero-tolerance no-bullying policy." The entire class stared at him, including the teacher, and after a beat, he quickly added, "And I play guitar."

"Good. Sit down."

He took his seat quickly and scratched at his head as he felt his cheeks start to burn. Across the room, Kurt and Mercedes exchanged looks, then grinned in Sam's direction as the next kid stood up and the introductions went on.

When the class finally ended, Sam hurried out of the room as quickly as his feet would carry him, ignoring the way Kurt and Mercedes obviously tried to get his attention as he left.


"Hut!"

Finn turned and pressed the ball into Sam's chest as he ran by, and Sam immediately pushed out to the right, spinning quickly to avoid the hands of one of the linemen and then sprinting down the field, the flag on his hip flipping back and forth in the wind as he ran. Another player came at him from the side and reached for the flag, but Sam pushed at his chest without slowing down and sent him sprawling to the ground. A few seconds later, he'd made it into the end zone.

A whistle blew, and Sam caught his breath and then turned around, looking to the rest of the guys on the field. Nearly all of them were staring at him wide-eyed, and he scratched at his head, somewhat embarrassed. Even Coach Beiste looked surprised. "…What? Did I do okay?"


"Dude, you're so gonna make the team." Puck clapped him on the back as he passed him in the locker room. Sam rubbed his neck with a towel. "You're even better than Matt was."

"Thanks."

"Now all that's left is Glee Club," Finn reminded him. "You still up for that? We could use someone else that's actually cool, and judging by the way things are going, you're gonna be pretty popular around here."

"Uh…yeah, sure," Sam told him after some hesitation.

"Awesome." Finn grinned. "The choir room's just a couple minutes' walk from here. Tryouts for Glee Club start in like fifteen minutes, and it's only going to be the same eleven people just reestablishing our spots in the club, so you'll be the only new addition. All you have to do is show up, and we'll have a guitar there for you to use. Got any go-to songs?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I guess."

"Alright; can't wait to hear you sing," Finn told him happily. "See you there." He left the locker room with Puck, and the boy named Mike shot Sam a smile and then followed them out. The door shut and some of the other boys immediately began to snicker in Sam's direction.

He shifted uncomfortably, looking around. "What?"

The boy he recognized as Dave Karofsky shook his head in disappointment, then replied, "You're joining Glee Club?"

"Yeah. I mean…I think so. Should I not?"

"Not if you want to have a future here, lady-boy," Karofsky's friend Azimio told him with a snort. "You join that club, and even your own teammates here are gonna have to disassociate like we did with Hudson, Chang, and Puckerman."

"Let's put it this way," Karofsky finished. "There's a reason the 'popular' kids that're in Glee Club don't sit with the rest of us and the Cheerios. They're outcasts. And you will be too, if you join. Good luck fitting in here after you've marked yourself for slushieing on your very first day. Hell, even some of your own club might pick on you once you've joined. I know Puck likes to pick on Hummel every morning, and he's slushied pretty much all the Glee losers by now. And even Finn's slushied Rachel Berry once." He smirked. "Don't worry, the girls won't pick on you, though. They'll just ignore you."

He laughed and high-fived Azimio, who corrected, "Well, except for Brittany and Santana. I don't think they ignore anyone, if you know what I mean."

Sam shook his head while another round of laughter started up, then pushed his way out of the locker room and stepped out into the hall, looking back and forth between the end of the hallway that led toward the choir room, and the visible front door to the school at the other end. After a moment's hesitation, and he turned and headed for the front door, his hands shoved into his pockets and his head hung low.


"You're home late," his mother observed when he finally got home. She was in the kitchen peeling potatoes, practically right where he'd left her that morning.

"Yep," he replied, taking the stairs two at a time. "Had football tryouts."

He entered his room and shut the door behind himself without giving his mother a chance to reply, then grabbed his guitar and sat down on his bedroom floor, strumming it quietly with his back and the back of his head pressed against the wall. He stared up at the poster above his bed again. It was an album cover from the early 70s, and written across the middle of it were the words "Music Is My Life".

He sighed to himself and set his guitar off to the side after a moment, running both hands through his hair and staring straight ahead at where his sheet music lay. His mind raced, going back and forth on joining the club, but a moment later he was interrupted by a knock at his door. "What?" he called out.

The door swung open and his mom peered into the room, smiling when she spotted him on the floor. "You just ran right up here without telling me about your first day. Come downstairs and share, honey. Make any new friends?"

"Yeah," he answered shortly.

"How did football tryouts go?"

"Good."

They were both silent for a moment, and eventually his mother sighed, moving to shut the door. "Alright, well…dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"You got it." He went back to his guitar without another word, and heard footsteps heading back downstairs a few seconds later. A light tap on his window caught his attention and he set his guitar aside, turning around and peering out of it just in time for another pebble to hit it smack-dab in the center pane. For the first time that afternoon, Sam smiled.