Hell. I'm in hell.
Rachel panted as the music came to a stop. She wiped her forehead and took a sip of water as Cassandra July's slender frame came closer.
"Did I tell you that you could have a drink of water Little Miss David Schwimmer?" Cassandra asked. Rachel shook her head no and quickly set the water bottle down on the floor next to her dance bag. The teacher swiftly kicked the water bottle across the dance floor with the toe of her black heels. She flipped her blonde hair and looked straight down into Rachel's eyes. Rachel's lips quivered as she looked up at Cassandra in fear. "You sure aren't in Kansas anymore, Dorothy." Cassandra said snottily, her face only inches from Rachel's. Rachel could smell the alcohol on the blonde's breath and she cringed. Cassandra rolled her eyes and walked away from Rachel. "Class dismissed!" she said.
The class cleared out one by one until only Rachel and Cassandra were left in the large room. Rachel looked at herself in the wide mirrors; she watched as the tears finally poured from her eyes and streamed down her face. Cassandra caught Rachel's tears from across the room and laughed. "Do you really think that crying is going to make me go easier on you?" She said sarcastically empathetic.
Rachel shook her head and turned to face her teacher. "No," she said, "but I thought maybe it'd make you realize that I'm only human. I'm only a girl with a dream in a big scary city with no friends."
Cassandra strutted up to Rachel sloppily and put one hand on Rachel's shoulder. Rachel shook the hand off her shoulder. Cassandra scoffed. "You don't get it do you?" She said, "I see girls like you every day. I eat girls like you for breakfast; I will chew you up, and then spit you out in front of all your peers to set an example. Usually I do feel sorry for the first poor unfortunate student who happens to rub me the wrong way, but you're making it way too easy for me to pick on you."
"Why do you hate me so much?" Rachel yelled out.
Cassandra raised an eyebrow and smirked down at the little brunette. "Oh, a feisty one aren't you?" she said.
"Answer me." Rachel demanded.
Cassandra looked down at Rachel and gritted her teeth. "Fine." She spat, "I don't like the way you look. I don't like your big stupid nose or your perfect cheek bones. I don't like the way you act; the whole innocent small town girl routine is way overdone. I don't like your ambition or your attitude. I think you squeaked your way past Carmen Tibideux to get into this school but you aren't getting past me. It has been my personal vendetta since day one to get you the hell out of my classroom."
"Mr. Schuester, you have got to be kidding me!" Marley said, frustrated as she paced around the classroom.
"Marley," Will said calmly, "Kitty asked me to audition, and I let her because we are the one club on campus who will take anyone regardless of their popularity in this school. And to be honest, she nailed that audition."
"But you don't understand!" Marley argued, "She has made my life a living hell since I started at this school! Her and her jock boyfriends torture my mother, its harassment and that shouldn't be stood for!"
"I agree," Will said, "and I will have a talk with Kitty about the way she's been treating you and your mother. I will even take it to Principal Figgans if I have to but for now she's in the Glee club because she auditioned and, well, fair is fair."
Marley rolled her eyes and walked out of Will's office, only to be hit with a cold purple slushie in face.
Kitty giggled as Marley wiped the dye and ice out of her eyes. "What is your problem with me?!" Marley yelled at Kitty.
Kitty smirked. "Oh I could write a book about my problems with you." The blonde said, "Your thrift store Wal-Mart wanna-be hipster schoolgirl wardrobe pisses me off. The food that your whale of a mother serves in the cafeteria is so greasy that the boys on the football team have considered reenacting Greased Lighting during lunch. Obviously, your mom would be the car. Now, I'm sure she's a single parent because no man would ever want to sleep with that more than once; and any man who would even have a one night stand with her would have to be seriously disturbed, which would explain why you're so weird. I have to ask, does she have to reuse her hairnets because your family is so broke?"
Marley's eyes filled with tears. She wiped them away quickly with the sleeve of her Wal-Mart sweater.
"Aw, poor innocent little Marley Rose is going to cry now." Kitty said sassily, "Well, get used to it loser. I'm going to make your life a living hell until you walk across that stage at graduation."
"Hi mom." Marley said halfheartedly as she opened the door of her mother's old 90's Toyota.
"Hey sweetheart!" Her mother said. "What's wrong? You aren't your smiley peachy little self as usual! I thought you were excited to be in glee club today, what happened?"
Marley sighed as she seat belted herself into the passenger's seat. "There's just this girl at school, she's really been picking on me lately."
"Who?" Her mother asked her, concerned. "I'll talk to Principal Figgans if I have to. Nobody needs to pick on you, Marley."
"No," Marley said and looked down at her hands, "I think she's just a stupid stuck up cheerleader. All she cares about is herself. I just don't know why she's singling me out."
"Why don't you ask her?" Her mother asked, "She's got to have a reason."
"I did ask her!" Marley said frustrated, "She said she could write a book on the reasons she doesn't like me, when I've never said one bad thing about her!"
Marley's mother sighed. "High school is a tough time, kiddo." She said, "But it's not just a hard time for you. It's hard for everyone, even the cheerleaders. I just want you to do what I raised you to do and be as compassionate and understanding with her as you are to everyone else; because you don't know what she could be going through right now."
"You think this is hard?!" Sue screamed into the mega phone, "I just had another human come out of my vagina a few months ago, now THAT'S hard!"
The Cheerios panted and sweated as they finished their seventeenth lap around the track, when one of them passed out from heat exhaustion and Sue finally dismissed the girls.
"Hey Brittany," Kitty said quietly as they walked quickly to the locker room, "can I ask you something."
"No." Brittany said plainly, not even looking at Kitty.
"But, w-why?" Kitty stuttered.
"Because," Brittany said, "the way you look makes me want to hug you, but the way you act makes me want to lock you in a closet somewhere and feed the key to Lord Tubbington. I don't enjoy feeling conflicted, so I've just decided to stop looking at you. You're like that lady with the snakes for hair; I don't want to turn into stone."
"Please!" Kitty begged and stepped in front of Brittany, "This is important!"
"Why would I talk to you after you've been so mean to me?" Brittany said, "You told everyone that the reason I got held back is because I couldn't spell my own name, and that is a lie because Santana taught me how to spell it last year."
"I know, I know." Kitty said, "I've been a bitch and I'm really sorry. I'll tell everyone I lied about you not being able to spell your name. I'll also take down that Facebook page I made about you sleeping with Stoner Bret."
"Oh no," Brittany said, "that rumor actually is true; don't worry about taking that page down."
"Okay, so will you help me?" Kitty asked desperately.
Brittany stopped walking and thought about it for a second. "I guess so," she said, "but only because you kind of remind me of Quinn and because I kind of want to see your boobs."
Kitty shook her head, slightly disturbed. "Okay, whatever." She said, "Well…I have this problem."
"Oh, is it a toilet problem? Because I'm not a plumber." Brittany said.
"No!" Kitty yelled, "It's not a toilet problem! It's a gay problem!"
"Why is gay a problem?" Brittany asked seriously, "I mean, I'm not totally gay but I'm gay enough to say it's not a problem."
"It's not a problem it's just…" Kitty glanced all around to make sure she wouldn't be heard, "I think I might be."
"Oh!" Brittany said and smiled, "Good for you, Kitty!"
"No," she said, "not good for me. Do you remember what happened to Santana last year when people found out that the head cheerleader was gay?"
"I don't even remember breakfast."
"Everyone knew." Kitty said seriously, "I'm not ready for everyone to know how I feel when I don't even know how I feel. This is the first time I've ever told anyone about this before in my whole life."
"Well, how do you feel?" Brittany asked.
Kitty looked down at the ground. "Miserable." She admitted, "I'm a bitch all the time because I can't admit to anyone who I really am; I can't even admit it to myself."
Brittany frowned. "That's how Santana was." She said, "It makes me a sad little panda when people can't just embrace all the stuff inside them that makes them awesome."
"Are you saying I should embrace it and just tell everyone about it?" Kitty said frantically, "But everyone will look at me differently. I don't want to be different, I want to be perfect."
Brittany rolled her eyes. "Haven't you heard the Miley Cyrus song?" She said, "Nobody's perfect."
Kitty thought about it. "I guess you're right." She said and shrugged.
"I'm not saying you should tell everyone that you're gay, I'm just saying you should stop denying it and do what makes you happy. You don't have to write it in the sky with an airplane or send it in a galactic message to aliens; I just think if you have someone special in mind you should share it with them and see where it goes. That's how Santana and I got together. Now, lots and lots of fights and scissoring later we're still together. It's like, we found love in a hopeless place."
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Sure, lesbian love in Lima Ohio is definitely love in a hopeless place."
Brittany smiled and nodded. "So," she said, "do you have anyone special in mind?"
Kitty gulped.
"Hello?"
Rachel sighed in relief as she heard the sweet voice on the other end of the line greet her.
"Quinn." She said. Her voice cracked as she started to choke up. It'd been months since she'd heard from her friend and she didn't realize how much she missed that soft voice until she finally heard it.
"Rachel?" Quinn said frantically, "What's wrong? Are you crying?"
"I'm just so happy to hear your voice." Rachel admitted as she smiled and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "How are you?"
Quinn sighed. "Stop," she said, "Rachel tell me what's going on with you. You don't sound okay."
Rachel's jaw shook and she put her hands over her face. She couldn't cry there in the middle of Central Park. "I'm miserable!" Rachel said as the tears welled up in her eyes, "My dance teacher is a drunk and she's verbally abusive! Half of the girls in my class have already dropped out or stopped eating. I have nobody to talk to, I'm all alone and I don't know what to do with myself! I miss you, I miss everyone! I just want to give up and go home!"
The pain in Rachel's voice broke Quinn's heart. The blonde closed her math book and hopped up from her desk. "Where are you?" She said frantically as she threw on her sweater and a pair of shoes.
"I'm in Central Park, by the fountain." Rachel managed to say through the sobs now wracking her body. She wrapped her free arm around her chest to coddle herself, and took a deep breath.
"Stay where you are," Quinn demanded as she grabbed her purse, "I'll be there in two hours."