Ali was slowly wheeling down the hall, attempting to navigate around the many rushing students, when an ice cold substance suddenly hit her. The blonde couldn't help but scrunch up her eyebrows, shivering slightly as the jock who had thrown a slushie at her began to laugh.
"That's from the Quarterback, loser," he roared, making sure the whole hallway heard.
Slowly tears began forming in Ali's eyes. She knew that the general population of McKinley would believe that she was crying from the stinging feeling that the slushie left in her eyes, or even the humiliation. Only a few knew the real reason for her tears; one of who was walking through the corridor.
"Ali! Oh my gosh! Are you alright? We have to get you cleaned up straight away," Shanna mumbled with a quick worried voice, hating that slushie throwing was becoming more and more common.
The blonde rapidly wheeled Ali to the bathrooms near the back of the school, fully intending to use the more isolated area to freely speak. As they went in, Shanna quickly grabbed some paper towels and began to wash the ice cold liquid off Ali. For a while, the two remained silent, both waiting for the other to begin speaking.
"Was it Blake again?" Shanna finally whispered, offering Ali a watery grimace.
Blake and Ali had been dating for a little over two months now, but they hadn't revealed it to the population of McKinley High School, as Blake was extremely protective of his reputation. They had had many dates which both of them had really enjoyed; Blake could be the most romantic guy, bringing her various coloured flowers most dates, but as soon as they entered the walls of their school, he ignored her, or called her hurtful things; even going to the extent of calling her 'Wheelchair freak'. Ali always had to force herself to remember that he didn't mean anything hurtful that he said; she would attempt to simply overlook it.
Unfortunately, a week and a half ago, while the two were on a date to celebrate their two month anniversary, some of Blake's friends had seen them. As soon as Blake had caught sight of his friends, he had tried to run away from her, but it was too late, his friends had seen them together. Ever since then Blake had been ordering slushie attacks on her to prove to his friends that he thought she was just another loser.
"Yes," Ali quietly replied to Shanna, a matching grimace on her face. "I'm so sick of this Shan. I don't understand why he isn't willing to put aside his reputation for me. I'm sick of him pushing me aside and ordering those brainless lackeys to throw those ice drinks at me. I really like Blake when we're outside of school, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to put up with this for the rest of the school year. I just don't think that he's worth it."
"I know it's hard, Hun," Shanna replied, pulling her into a hug despite the colourful ice that stained her clothes. "Have you tried talking to him?"
"I've texted him eight times in the past couple of days and he's ignored them all!" Ali muttered bitterly, "and I've been too scared to approach him at school or his house," she admitted, biting her lip gently.
"You two really need to talk, Sweetheart." Shanna gently whispered, pausing in thought before exclaiming, "I could get my Girl, Aylin, to get him alone after school today so that you can talk all this over. She's head cheerleader so he kind of has to say yes!"
"Your girlfriend is the best, Shan." Ali exclaimed, her voice a slightly higher pitch than usual. "I would appreciate that, thanks a lot."
"No problem, Sweetie, I'll text her to bring us some spare clothes right now and we can discuss what we want her to do when she gets here." Shanna rapidly pulled out her phone and sent off a text.
"So…" Shanna began to speak but hesitated, before finally sighing and gently asking, "Are you going to break up with him?" Ali knew that that that question had been hanging in the air for a while, but she had tried not to acknowledge it.
"I..." the blonde paused, her eyebrows scrunching up in thought, before mumbling, "Honestly, I don't know. I feel so happy and special around him but he's so frustrating! He acts like a real jerk to me seventy percent of the time; yet the other 30% he's the most lovable sweetheart."
Shanna meekly nodded at her sympathetically, before the two fell into a comfortable silence once again; both impatiently waiting for Aylin to arrive.
Aylin sat in Spanish class, glancing up at the board with little interest. The clock seemed to be ticking slower than it should be; class still had thirty-five minutes left. As the Turkish girl looked around the classroom, she saw Charlie staring at her with lust in his eyes. She immediately scoffed at him then quickly rolled her eyes. She'd made it clear to the whole school that she and Shanna were dating, and that if anyone wanted to mess with their relationship they would regret it.
Once a jock had told Shanna that he could make her straight if she came over to his house Friday night. Soon Aylin had made sure he regretted his words. He had been slushied at least once every day and she had even paid the rest of the football team to push him around a little or completely ignore him. It had taken a month (and several more advances on Shanna much to Aylin's frustration) but he had finally transferred schools.
Aylin continued to look round the classroom with boredom. Soon she began to get the feeling that she was being watched, causing her to turn around with narrowed eyes. Blake was sitting in the desk behind her, his eyes staring directly into hers. Aylin quickly gave him a HBIC glare that she had learned from her Dad's good friend, Quinn Fabray, which quickly got Blake to look away.
Blake; they'd briefly dated before, when Aylin was still too scared to tell Shanna how she felt, despite the fact that Shanna was singing love songs for her in Glee club every week. Although Shanna hadn't specifically said that the love songs were for her, Aylin had known. Eventually Shanna was brave enough to ask Aylin out. That was a very happy day for Aylin; she had immediately dumped Blake and the two teens had proceeded to have a very happy and healthy relationship.
"What was Blake like when we dated?" Aylin mused to herself. She honestly didn't remember much about him, they only really saw each other in school. He wasn't really that sweet. He'd never brought her flowers, like Shanna did, and he never kissed her gently or sweetly the way Shanna did. He only really wanted her because she was head cheerleader. The only time he kissed or showed her any affection was in front of his friends to 'show her off'. She knew that he never really liked her for her, but for her social status on top off the school.
According to Shanna's best friend, Ali, who had been dating him for a while (in secret), he was a really sweet, gentle guy. Aylin honestly wasn't sure whether Ali would still say that though; Aylin had heard the Blake himself had slushied her three days ago.
Without warning, the Turkish girl felt something vibrate in her pocket; not hesitating for a second, she pulled her phone out, noticing that she'd received a text from Shanna. 'Blake ordered another Slushy attack on Ali. Can you get her some clothes out of her locker? Also I may have given her a hug, so I'll need some clothes too. Ali's locker combo is 17 – 1 – 15. There is also some chocolate I got for you in my locker. Feel free to grab it : ). Thanks Babe – Shan xo.'
Aylin quickly gathered up her belongings and walked towards the door, though not before angrily whispering 'You Jerk' to Blake. Aylin was actually thankful for having Spanish now, as Mr. Schue would understand why she had to suddenly leave.
Shanna wrapped her Jacket tightly around the Ali's shoulders as she saw the smaller girl begin to shiver.
"Thanks, Shanny." Ali gratefully mumbled as the two exchanged smiles.
"So much has changed since kindergarten, hasn't it?" Shanna exclaimed, running her hand through her hair.
"Yeah, so much has cha-" Ali began to say, but mid-sentence Aylin burst through the door, a deep frown evident on her face.
"How dare that Jerk slushy you again!" Ali and Shanna quickly exchanged a look; they both knew how vicious Aylin could be when she was feeling protective. Aylin quickly noticed their exchange and inhaled deeply, calming down to the best of her abilities.
"Sorry," she gently whispered, "but you should not have to put up with him."
"We actually have to talk to you about that," Shanna slowly mumbled, drawing out her words.
"What?" Aylin asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Hey there, Blake, we need to talk," Aylin seductively whispered with a wink.
Blake couldn't help but think how weird her sudden behaviour was. Why would Aylin, who had given him a death glared and called him a Jerk earlier that day, be flirting with him? Plus, she had Shanna and it was pretty clear to everyone that they wouldn't be breaking up for a very long time, if ever.
"Maybe they've been fighting behind closed doors and are only playing 'perfect couple' while at school." He thought, shrugging slightly as a small grin found its way onto his face. "Does Aylin want to get back with me? I mean, I have Ali now, but she won't mind if I fake date Aylin while at school! She's a very sweet and understanding girl, I'm lucky to have her. If only she was more popular, then our relationship could go public, but until then we're both happy to keep it under wraps."
"What do you want to talk about?" Blake replied loudly to Aylin, attempting to make sure everyone saw that the head cheerleader was talking to him.
The Turkish girl slowly took a step forward and leaned in towards his ear. When her face was practically touching it she whispered, "Meet me under the bleachers afterschool today."
She then promptly turned away from him and walked in the direction of her next class. Blake was definitely looking forward to after school.
"Ready, Sweets?" Shanna asked Ali as they sat under the bleachers.
"Yeah! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. He can either stop all this crap or break up with me; although I'm sure it won't come to that." Ali stated with confidence, grinning at her friend.
"He's coming, be quiet!" Aylin whispered to them from the side of the bleachers.
"Hey Babe, I am rea-" Blake began to speak, but as he entered the space under the bleachers, he saw Ali and Shanna standing behind Aylin. The half-cuban boy froze, unsure of what to do. Some part of him was telling him that he knew it was a trick and that he shouldn't have come; another was rapidly trying to think of what to say.
"Hi," he muttered sheepishly. Aylin and Shanna both raised one eyebrow slightly at this.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Ali cleared her throat. This seemed to be some sort of signal, as immediately Shanna and Aylin walked out from under the bleachers and onto the football field.
"Blake, we really need to talk," Ali stated, inhaling deeply. "Firstly, why have you been ignoring my texts?"
Once she had said that, she began to glare at Blake. He'd never seen her get angry before and the stare quickly made him fiddle with his fingers as he bit his lip gently.
"It's just that when you've texted me, I was playing video games with my mates from football." Blake weakly explained.
Ali maintained the glare. She could tell that it was making him nervous, but she refused to stop until they had resolved some of the problems in their relationship. She knew that they needed to finish this conversation, as without it he'd just continue to brush her off. "Why didn't you text me back later then?"
Blake gently rubbed the back of his neck. "I've just been busy lately, Al, that's all."
"Another lame excuse," Ali thought with gritted teeth, her frustration levels rising. "Maybe it would be best if we actually did break up."
The girl felt began to feel extreme doubt that they'd continue to have a happy relationship. "And why have you been asking your friends to throw slushies at me?" The emotion in the blonde's eyes quickly changed to vulnerability.
"You know that we have to pretend where not dating." He simply replied, staring her directly in the eyes.
"Why?" Ali could tell how angry she'd suddenly become. Her voice had begun to tremble slightly, but she was ignoring it.
"You know I can't risk my reputation, Ali." He responded, glancing towards the ground as he sensed Ali's frustration. He slowly began to step backwards, towards the football field. Ali knew that Aylin and Shanna would stop him if he attempted to run away though; she wasn't worried.
"No," She simply stated in quite a cold tone, inhaling deeply.
"What do you mean by no?" Ali could tell that Blake was becoming frustrated too, but she knew now new what she was going to do, as her disbelief about the brokenness of their relationship continues to rise.
She released all the hurt she'd been bottling up and belted, "Either you tell everyone we're together and stop your stupid bullying towards me or we're over!"
Blake stared down at her with wide eyes. "Ali, you know I can't," he simply mumbled, before running off, although he didn't get far before Aylin tackled him to the ground.
"Let him go," Ali sighed to the cheerleader as she wheeled out from under the bleachers, attempting to hide the hurt in her voice; Shanna, however, noticed straight away.
"Oh no, Sweetheart, what did he do to you?" She whispered to Ali.
"We're no longer together," Ali simply stated before rolling herself away from the bleachers and towards Shanna's car.
"Ouch, stop slapping me! She said to let me go," she heard Blake cry from behind her, as Aylin pinned him to the ground. Ali only hesitated for a second, not even turning back, before she continued to wheel away.