Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor am I making any profit from the writing of this story.

A/N: Just a short story I wrote based on the speculation for "Shooting Star." It deals sort of abstractly with the subject of school shootings; no graphic violence. It's just a one shot, so no updates. Please review and tell me what you think!

Marley Rose sighed as she looked in the bathroom mirror. She looked as good as she was going to get, she decided. Then she dug a mint out of her purse and popped it in her mouth, completing her post-lunch ritual.

She was still shoving the wrapper into the pocket of her jeans as she left the girls' room, slamming into someone passing by in the otherwise-empty hall. "Oh!"

"Sorry!" the other person said, grabbing her shoulders to steady her. "Marley! I'm sorry, I was rushing. Are you okay?"

Marley smiled as she looked up into the face of Ryder Lynn. "Hey, you. I'm fine. And I'm sorry, it was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going."

He smiled back at her, but she couldn't help noticing that he seemed a little distracted. "No problem." As an afterthought, he removed his hands from her shoulders.

Things with Ryder had been a little awkward for a while after he had kissed her following Mr. Schuester's non-wedding, but he had apologized to her, and to her boyfriend, Jake, and it seemed like everything was getting back to normal. "You're not in class." she noted. It wasn't her most brilliant observation, and Ryder looked amused, but he didn't call her out on it.

"You neither." he said instead. He looked at the doorway she'd just come out of and the tiniest flicker of worry crossed his face. She knew he was thinking of the time he'd caught her in the bathroom before Grease, forcing herself to throw up. "Hey Marls, you're not-"

"And just where were you rushing off to?" she asked quickly, heading him off before he could ask any uncomfortable questions. "I thought you had study hall this period... back there." she pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

Now it was his turn to look uncomfortable. "Yeah... I'm sort of skipping."

"Skipping study hall... you rebel." Marley teased. Actually, for Ryder, it was pretty rebellious, if only because he always used his study halls to actually study. "But that doesn't explain where you were going..."

Her class was in the same direction he'd been walking in, and they fell into step together. Ryder rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... it's kind of awkward, but... I was going to meet this girl."

Marley fought the urge to stop in her tracks. It definitely didn't bother her that Ryder was sneaking out of study hall to spend time with another girl. Well, not another girl, just a girl, since it wasn't like Marley had any claim on him. Why should she care? She didn't. "A girl?" she repeated, with what she hoped was a totally detached air of casual curiosity. "Do I know her?"

Ryder gave a little laugh. "It's funny... I don't even know her."

Marley frowned at him. "Okay, now I'm confused."

"Well..." he stopped walking and closed his eyes briefly. "This is kind of embarrassing."

Marley reached over and tugged gently on his sleeve. "Come on, you can trust me... I won't tell anyone." She wondered if it was the affectionate gesture that coaxed the smile to his face, and quickly pulled her hand back.

"No, you'll just think I'm totally pathetic." he told her.

"I won't. I swear." Marley promised. She didn't know why she wanted to know about this girl so badly, but she felt like the curiosity was eating her up.

Ryder rolled his eyes, relenting. "All right. Her name's Katie. I... I met her online."

"You met her online." Marley repeated, trying not to betray any kind of opinion with her voice.

"Yeah, I know it's weird." he said quickly. "She friended me on Facebook. It was after I—I mean, it was during feud week, while I wasn't exactly talking to you and Jake. You guys are like my best friends at this school, and I just needed someone else to talk to, you know?"

Marley felt a little twinge of guilt that she and Jake had—however unintentionally—made Ryder feel like he had to turn to a stranger for friendship. But it wasn't like Ryder hadn't caused their estrangement in the first place... well, mostly, anyway. "Sure..." She nodded to him to continue.

"So I accepted her, and she was... really cool. She was so smart, and funny, and it was like she always knew the right thing to say. I mean, she even helped me get up the courage to apologize to you and Jake and Unique." Ryder confessed.

"Well... good." Marley said, a little awkwardly. "I mean, I'm glad she did. I missed you too, when we weren't talking." He gave her that warm smile that always made her stomach do that little flip-flop that she always ignored. "So... you're... finally going to meet her in person?"

"Well, I was gonna try." Ryder said. "See, the thing is, I kept asking her if she wanted to meet in person, but every time I did, she'd just change the subject, or log off, or something like that. So I thought... maybe she's hiding something."

"Like maybe she's not who she says she is...?" murmured Marley.

Ryder nodded. "I've gotta find out, Marley. I mean... maybe it's something stupid, like, she's not as pretty as she is in her profile picture or something like that. I don't really care about that, so if that's all it is, then I still want to meet her."

That warmed Marley's heart a little bit... Ryder was such a sweet guy, of course he wouldn't think that his mystery girl's looks were that important. She really hoped this Katie girl was the real deal, because Ryder didn't deserve to be screwed with like that.

On the other hand... there was a tiny part of her that felt—not jealous—but... maybe just a little sad that she wasn't the most important girl in his world anymore.

Apparently not noticing her inner turmoil, Ryder continued, "But then I thought: what if it's not that at all? I mean, what if she's not even a girl? She could be some like, creepy old guy or whatever. So..." he paused dramatically. "I traced the IP address of the computer she was using. And it's in this school."

"Really?" Marley was stunned. She didn't personally know any girls named Katie who went here, but she was still new to McKinley; it wasn't like she knew every single person.

"The library." Ryder said, gesturing toward the far end of the school where the library was. "I was trying to book it there before she—or whoever it is—could leave the computer."

Marley's eyes widened in frustration; she was feeling a lot of emotions at the moment—some of them emotions she shouldn't be feeling—but one of them was definitely curiosity. "Well what are you wasting time talking to me for? She could be gone already!"

Ryder shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I don't know... When I ran into you it all kind of hit me at once, and... I guess I'm kind of putting it off. Like, maybe I don't want to know, you know? I mean, what if, after everything we've talked about, she's not really her? If I never find out, it's like it's not real. As long as I don't know for sure, I don't feel stupid for letting her trick me. For letting myself-" he cut himself off abruptly.

"For letting yourself fall in love with her?" Marley finished softly, looking at the ground, tucking her hair behind her ear. They'd stopped walking ages ago, and suddenly a loaded silence sprung up between them.

"No." Ryder said finally, and Marley looked up at him in surprise. "I mean... not yet, but maybe I could have... with time." He cleared his throat. "You know, if she's not a dude."

"Well naturally." Marley said with a smile, the tension broken. "Well, I hope-"

A loud bang echoed through the hallway.

Marley jumped a little. "What was that?" she whispered. Somewhere in another part of the school, she thought she heard screaming. "Was that-?"

"I don't know." Ryder said tersely, grabbing her arm. "But maybe we'd better get-"

Another loud bang. More screaming. It was hard to tell where it was coming from as the sound bounced around the empty halls. Marley took a look around; the nearest rooms were the gym and the cafeteria, neither of which would provide very good cover if those bangs were what they sounded like.

Gunshots.

An alarm started blaring through the halls. Principal Figgins' voice came over the intercom. "Attention students and staff. Please do not panic. Gunshots have been reported in the west first floor hallway. Please follow emergency protocol by locking your classroom doors and taking cover immediately."

It seemed like everything was happening at once. Suddenly the air was filled with the sounds of slamming doors and panicked cries. The alarm continued to blare. A few more shots went off.

The only thing screaming in Marley's head was the instruction to take cover. Her shaking hand found the nearest doorknob—a janitor's closet. There was barely enough room for one person inside, but she pulled Ryder in after her and shut the door behind them, fumbling with the lock until it clicked. She was shivering, but her body felt numb, and she wondered if she was having a panic attack. She couldn't see Ryder in the dark, but she could hear him breathing heavily, as though they'd just run a marathon when in fact it had been mere steps.

"Is this happening?" she whispered, not even bothering to wonder whether he could hear her over the sirens. She reached out a hand in the darkness and found one of his arms, just needing the comfort of touching someone. He put his other arm around her and pulled her against his chest, and they just stood there for a moment, terrified, embracing.

"We're okay. It's gonna be okay." she heard him murmuring through the din, and she couldn't quite tell whether he was talking to himself or trying to reassure her.

After a minute they began to shift around, trying to find a comfortable way to fit in the tiny space. Ryder slid down the wall to sit on the floor, and Marley eased herself down next to him, cringing in terror when she accidentally kicked over an empty bucket. Somehow, even with the sirens, even with the shots, the clattering plastic seemed louder than an earthquake—definitely loud enough to give away their hiding spot. A few tears squeezed out of her closed eyes as she pressed her face into Ryder's shoulder. He found her clenched hand and took it in his. "It's gonna be okay." he whispered.

"What if it's not?" she whispered back. "What if... my mom's out there, Ryder. My mom, she's all I've got. And Jake... God, and Unique and Brittany-"

Before she could work herself into a real panic attack, Ryder pressed his forehead to hers, cradling her head with his big hand in a way that would have seemed achingly intimate if they were in a different situation. As it was, she was just glad he was there. "Marley... hey. We just gotta try to stay calm, all right? That's all we can do. We'll stay safe, and we'll trust them that they'll stay safe, okay?"

He was right. She knew he was right. She took a few deep breaths and trusted that he wouldn't mind her crying on him. "...Okay. I'm okay. Thank you." She took one last shaky breath, but didn't pull away from him. "Thank you. How are you so calm?"

"I'm not." he whispered. "Can't you feel how sweaty my palms are?"

She could, and she nodded, her forehead still resting against his.

"Great." He let out a huff of a laugh. "Trust me, I'd be freaking out worse than you if you weren't here. It helps to have someone else to focus on." he confessed.

"Okay." she whispered back. "Then I'm going to focus on you, and you're going to focus on me, until this whole thing is over."

"Deal." he murmured.

There were a few more bangs, and Marley concentrated on Ryder, trying to make out his features as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. The thick wooden closet door muffled the sounds, and she couldn't tell if the shot were growing louder or not, if they were coming closer. His hands squeezed hers painfully, but she didn't mind; the pain was keeping her grounded. "Hey," she whispered, trying for a distraction. "About Katie?"

"Yeah?"

"If she's for real, she's a lucky girl."

"Why's that?" His breathing was getting a little harsh again, but she could tell that he was trying to go along with her.

"'Cause you're awesome, stupid." Marley said, keeping it way platonic. Even if it did somehow feel like a dying confession anyway.

"I hope she is real." Ryder whispered. "If she's not... there's no way I'm ever getting over you, Marley."

Marley shook her head, causing his to move with her. "You will, Ry. You'll find someone amazing. Someone better than me."

He had to know he'd said too much, because his next words came lightly. "Yeah, maybe..."

"I'm serious." Marley pressed softly. "I'm not so great. Really."

"What's stupid is that you actually think that." Ryder said, and he brought their joined hands to his lips and gave them a quick kiss, palm sweat and all. "Hey, if we make it through this, you should stop doing that to yourself."

"Doing what?" Marley murmured, but she knew.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Ryder said. "What you were doing in the bathroom earlier. What you were doing before Grease. If we make it out of here, you should take it as a sign that you deserve to be happy and healthy, and stop abusing yourself."

Self-conscious and defensive, Marley pulled away from him, and he let her, but didn't release her hands. "How did you know?"

"'Cause I pay attention." he said softly. "To you. I pay a lot of attention to you."

"Well you should stop." Marley said. "You don't understand."

"No, I don't. Not at all." he answered. "I thought you were getting help."

"I was. Am." she told him. "It's just hard sometimes. Sometimes you stumble."

"Okay. That I understand." he said. He put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned back into him, satisfied that he wasn't going to keep questioning her. "I just wish there was anything I could say that would help you see yourself the way the rest of us do."

"I'm gonna keep trying." she murmured. "To stop."

"Good."

The siren stopped wailing and the sudden silence was louder than Marley could've imagined. How long had the entire ordeal taken? Five minutes? A week?

"Ryder?" The thinnest of whispers.

"It's gonna be okay." It was fast becoming his standard response, but somehow it actually did help.

The loudspeaker clicked on. "This is Sergeant Brown of the Lima Police. The shooter has been taken into custody. We will be evacuating the school in a safe and orderly fashion. Please be patient and stay in your classrooms until an officer comes to escort you out."

Marley burst into tears and threw her arms around Ryder, who hugged her back just as tight.

There were adult voices in the hallway, hushed voices, the crackle of police radios. Marley clambered to her feet and yanked Ryder up after her. She put her hand on the doorknob, but didn't turn it, suddenly very afraid.

"We don't know what's out there." she whispered. Now she understood what Ryder had meant earlier about chickening out with regards to finding out Katie's identity. As long as he didn't know, he could hope. And as long as she didn't know what had happened out there, who had done this, who had been hurt... it wasn't real.

"I know." Ryder said, and his voice was a little hoarse, like maybe he was as close to tears as she was. He squeezed her shoulder and gave her a little smile. "But people will worry if we stay in here forever."

"Not forever." she said quietly. "But... maybe just for one more minute?"

He nodded. "Okay."

Taking a few last moments to calm herself, she gripped his hand in one of hers and with the other, she twisted the doorknob.