A/N: yes, it's another young April story. We keep coming up with what ifs of April's past and this one gave me so many ideas I just had to write this first chapter. This story is basically about what would happen if April was taken in by one of her high school teachers.

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own it. if we did, this would be on TV… well maybe not this idea but some of out ideas would be! and there would actually be a thicker plot on glee!

Kelly Garrison's POV

I'm grading essays as I come across a rather short one. I glance up to see the name, April Rhodes. I sigh, she's barely passing. They had to write about what they wanted to do after they graduated. I always have my students do this as their first assignment. Minimum of six pages. Hers is barely three. Hers is also the only one not typed, it's written in a mix of half print, half cursive, hot pink ink. I glance down the page and notice she talks about Broadway. I know she's in Glee club, it's on her schedule. She's supposed to be a sophomore but she's in freshman math, again.

I put down the pile of papers I was reading and grab my binder with all my student information in it. I flip to third period, and then find her name listed towards the back. The info sheet she filled out is blank in most parts, but has her name and birthday. September 1st ,1995. she's the baby of her class, and should have probably been held back a year. Her parents information is what concerns me. It just lists their names. No work information, no contact numbers, no emails. I also notice she has no emergency contacts. She's an only child, and the only other thing it mentions is that she really wants to be on Broadway.

I continue to read her essay, she talks about how she hates Lima and is planning on getting out of this town as soon as she leaves graduation, if she makes it that far, she says. That's not out of the norm, most of my other students are looking at colleges in other states, or cities. Most of them want to stay close to home and go to Ohio State.

I glance down at her information sheet again, it's also written in hot pink ink. Thankfully school has ended and I grab her essay, and take her sheet from the rings of my binder up to the counselors office. I knock twice before I hear "come in" from the other side of the door.

The counselor is one of the better ones we've had. She's an older woman, about five years older than me. Trisha Brighton, the nameplate reads. I've heard kids talk about how nice she is when they talk to her about college and what they think they want to take the coming year. So I'm hoping she can give me more information on April than her paper and the information she gave me.

"I'm a little concerned about one of my students" I tell her, closing the door behind me.

"ah, this always comes up this time of year. Teachers get the first set of grades in and a student fails, so they come to me. Who are you worried about?"

"April Rhodes." I calmly answer. She always has a conversation with students after the first two failing grades they receive, it doesn't have to be in the same class either.

She sighs and types something into her computer, "blond, tiny little one. Sophomore?" she confirms.

"yeah. Her information sheet is more than half blank, and her first essay was written on notebook paper, half the length of what it should have been. What's really going on with her?" I ask.

She clicks a few buttons and sighs again. "our records are sketchy as well. We just have names, and a nonworking phone number for them. I've tried and tried to get a new one from her, but can't"

"Well, I'll let you look through her essay and see if there's anything that concerns you. I think we should try to do something to help her" I say. We have an early intervention program, but nobody really uses it and the teacher in charge just left to have a baby.

"I tried talking with her last year, she was quiet ninety percent of the time and wouldn't say much. She only answered my questions about classes and what she needed to take next year. I really wanted to enroll her in the tutoring program but it really upset her because it would mean she couldn't do Glee club. I wasn't going to argue so I let her stay" she tells me.

"I'll talk to her, she seems like she doesn't have the support she needs from home. And I've started to notice her wearing the same outfits a lot. She doesn't seem to have a big enough selection of clothes to get her through." I explain, her clothes consist of mainly light summery sundresses and one or two pairs of jeans with a few tops that look too small. She doesn't have a coat, and it's going to be getting colder soon.

"I noticed that too last year. We tried getting her to talk, her teachers even tried. But she insisted nothing was wrong and said they just didn't have enough money. And even when she admitted that she seemed freaked out" Trisha tells me.

"well, most kids her age don't like to admit that their family is struggling. I have one boy who said he wrote his essay on McDonalds napkins at work until he could get to the library and type it, and the librarian let him print it for free" I tell him, thinking of Stephen.

"I know who you're talking about. But I'll read through April's, and send you an email. I've been watching her grades since she's started here, but maybe if you try really hard to work with her she might finally open up and tell us what's really going on." The older woman tells me.

"alright. it's doubtful, but I'll let you know if I find anything" I say, sighing.

She just gives me a small, but reassuring smile and places the papers on the top of her basket of papers labeled to do. I quietly walk out of her office and it's just my luck that I find the tiny blond girl wandering through the halls. It's nearing four-thirty. Glee practice ended about ten minutes ago, so I know she should be heading home soon. She hangs her head and tries to avoid me, today she's wearing a light pink dress with nude pumps. She always seems to wear heels, I guess to make herself seem taller.

"hey April" I say, smiling.

She avoids eye contact and mumbles a tiny hi back to me. "what are you still doing here?" I ask her, trying to hide the serious concern in my voice.

She hesitates and stumbles on her words, "uhm, waiting on someone…"

This is when I notice we're close by the football locker room. They practice until about five. "you sure you have a ride home?" I ask, she's too young to drive.

She nods, "one of my friends…"

I notice she's got her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, clutching the tiny notebook she uses. There's a old Coach purse hanging from the spot where her elbow is bent and she's trying to hide the fact that she's cold.

"alright. you can talk to me if you need anything, okay… I'm here to help you" I remind her. She just nods. Walking closer to the locker room. I just watch her sit down on the bench that's there, and dig in her purse for her cell phone. She then pulls out her charger and hooks it up to the wall.

I quietly walk away from her and go back to my room, gathering my things to leave. Most of the other teachers have gone already so the parking lot is empty, except for the athletic lot because the football and volleyball teams are still practicing. I can't get April out of my head and I'm even more worried about her now than I was last week. Something just isn't right with her home situation.

I get home and sit down at the computer, first checking emails, and then I start to search for what it would take for me to report possible neglect, and what I could do to help her. I lose track of time and I hear Jack's key jiggle the lock and he comes in. "honey.." he calls.

I close the windows on the computer and walk into the living room of our smallish apartment. "hey" I say, hiding the stress in my voice.

He squeezes my shoulder, "how was school?"

"okay…" I tell him, glancing off into the guest bedroom, it could be made into something livable for a teenage girl. There's a dresser, desk and a good sized closet. All I'd really have to do is change the sheets to something she'd want instead of blue and grey plaid.

"you've got something on your mind. What is it?" he asks me. He can tell when I'm worried about one of my students. I tend to get distant and not say much.

"just one of my kids… she's barely passing.." I tell him. it's true, but I don't want to tell him about the neglect, just yet, because I don't even know if that's really the case.

He starts rubbing my back, "it's only the beginning of the year. She still has plenty of time to pull her grade up"

"I know. I'm not too sure if she can though" I quietly say, not realizing I was thinking aloud, "don't listen to me, I'm just thinking aloud" I quickly add, so he doesn't seem too worried.

He sits down on the couch with me, "you were on the computer and the rest of the house was dark, something's really bugging you"

"I was just looking something up. And I lost track of time" I tell him.

"does it have to do with this girl?" he asks.

I nod, I finally decide to tell him, "I'm worried she might be neglected, she wears the same few things to school, and her information sheets are nearly all blank. I was looking into what would happen to her if I reported that she was neglected"

He rubs my back, "have you talked to her?"

"a little. She won't say much, but a lot of the signs are there. I'm gonna try again in the morning and if I feel like something's really going on, I'm gonna report it" I tell him.

"okay. just don't worry too much, I'm sure she'll be fine." he says, pulling me into him. I snuggle closer to him and lean my head on his chest, he kisses the top of my head and wraps his arms around me. I'm still able to see in the guest bedroom and keep imagining what it would be like if we took April in.

"mmhmm." I mumble. I guess I didn't really realize how tired I am until he pulled me close. I've stayed up the past two nights working on school things and it's been almost one before I laid down in bed.

He starts to rub my shoulder and whisper things like he loves me and I need to rest in my ear. It's only about seven, but I'm so tired, but I can't seem to let my mind rest because I keep thinking of April.

I just mumble something in agreement and my eyes start to flutter closed. He kisses my head again and tells me that he'll make dinner, and I should just sleep. I nod into his chest and he holds me for a while until I can no longer hold my eyes open and everything goes black.

A/N: Please review for more!