Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 60th cycle. Now cycle 61!

This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"It's the Story of a Girl"
Sue & Brittany, Finn, Kurt, Carole & Burt, Santana & Quinn, New Directions, Will
Sylvesters series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

1. How Did We Get Here?

Quinn's sneakers squeaked as she made her dash around the corner, and she wasn't entirely sure but she thought she might have shoved someone by accident, but that was the last thing on her mind. Right now the only thing that mattered to her was to find her coach.

There were exactly two of them in this building who would know to go to her right now, and the other was busy, so she had to hurry. She understood about the secret, but in this case there were some secrets worth breaking.

The door to her office was open, and she caught on to the frame to swing right into the room. "Coach, you need to come with me, right now."

"What the hell are y…"

"It's Brittany, she's hurt."

X

One week earlier

The new school year had barely started, but it was like no time had passed. One minute it had been her junior year, the next she was a senior, slipping on her Cheerios uniform, lacing up her shoes, tying up her ponytail, going in for one last year through the halls of McKinley High… provided everything went alright, which she still had no idea about.

But that was alright, and she wouldn't worry herself over what she didn't know. She would get to return to her friends, to cheerleading and Glee Club, and that was definitely a reason for her to smile. The question remained whether she would get to keep that smile.

She knew her mother's issues with the Glee Club, and there had been a lot of ups and down between them about that. Things had been good between them for the last little while. She wasn't sure what this year was going to look like for them, but she hoped it continued to be good. She didn't like being torn in between both of her worlds.

"So what do we do after this year?" she asked as she sat to breakfast with her mother.

"After this year?" Sue repeated, not grasping.

"Well, after I'm out of school. Do we still keep things like… this?"

"You mean, with this secret," Sue's posture shifted, and Brittany immediately felt like she shouldn't have brought it up.

"I should go, Santana's picking me up two blocks from here and if I'm in a hurry I'll take a wrong turn and get lost," she got up, taking her bag.

"Brittany, wait," Sue reached for her arm, looking up at her. They were silent for a beat before she let out a breath. "We can talk about it later, okay?"

"Okay," Brittany agreed, giving her a smile before scurrying off.

X

At McKinley that day, one of the teachers had been stuck bringing their child along. All day long, they would see Mrs. Meyers go down the halls with her daughter, who couldn't have been more than four or five years old. A lot of them would watch her go by, right on her mother's heels. Some would stop and try to talk to her. The girl was shy, staying silent, but she would at least look up when people talked to her. Other teachers had a better shot at it, getting a hello out of her. Emma had gotten a hello and a compliment on her hair, as the pair of them matched in color. But the one encounter that had brought the hallways to a grinding halt was when Mrs. Meyers' daughter had trailed off and ended up coming across Coach Sylvester.

It was like watching a tiny mouse go up to a roaring lion. There was no chance this could end without that poor child breaking into tears, and everyone watched, trying not to look like they were waiting to see what would happen.

Sue had stopped just shy of tripping over the girl, and she looked down to find brown eyes and a pair of ginger braids. "Almost didn't see you there," Sue pointed down to the girl. She kept staring up without a word. "What's your name?"

"Anna," the girl spoke, blinking at the tall woman before her.

"Aren't you a little young for this school?" Sue asked, leaning forward to save the girl from craning her neck so far out.

"It's my mommy's school," she pointed back to her mother, who was watching the exchange as much as the others.

"Right, I know her," Sue nodded. "I'm guessing that hair came from your dad, red like yours, right?" Anna grinned. "Tell you what, if your mom says it's alright, maybe you could come and see my Cheerios practice. Would you like that?"

"Cheerios?"

"Not the cereal," Sue assured her. "Cheerleaders," she explained. "Can't imagine you've been having too much fun sitting around all day with your mom, have you? So how about it, dancing people or sleeping people?" Anna laughed, turning to her mother. She didn't even need to ask.

"If it's not too much trouble. Most of my students have been taking this as an opening to be even more obvious about not paying attention," Mrs. Meyers let out a breath.

"Alright, then, Anna, off we go," Sue offered her hand and Anna took it. Their march down the hall was followed by every last pair of eyes. "What are you looking at?" she snapped at a cluster of girls. "Get to class, you might learn something." The girls ran off, as did the majority of students standing about.

Finn had been one of those who had witnessed the scene, and so had Kurt. The stepbrothers had turned to one another, both of them stunned by what they had seen and left intrigued. And that was before they had shared the story with their parents.

TO BE CONTINUED (SATURDAY)