Taking a deep breath, Ryder walked through the parking lot, pressing the button on his keys so the car would lock. He wasn't supposed to be here. He had told his mom he'd be at the school practicing with coach but that had never been true. He'd never get a football scholarship so the extra practice seemed almost worthless. Besides, he needed to focus on grades. That's what Will said.

He pushed through the doors and waited for someone to wave a metal detector over his being, making Ryder shiver at the thought of what he was walking into. All his life he'd been sheltered from the world; the world of bad people. If there was some sort of crime being reported on the news, his mother made sure his ears were covered and his eyes were shut. She didn't want Ryder's innocence to leave him. She wanted him to believe in good.

Ironic how the man she chose, singlehandedly made Ryder realize the evil in the world.

"Keys, pens, any coins." A man ordered as he shoved a tiny box into Ryder's hands. Licking his lips, Ryder quietly put everything that was in his pockets into the box and handed it back to the man. The guy standing in front of him looked mean and he scared Ryder but it was too late to walk out now. He needed to man up, be the man he knew his dad would be proud of. The man his dad had always wanted him to be. "Through that door."

Ryder nodded his head and pulled open a heavy white door that lacked a window. It was cold in the room he had just entered and a few other people were standing around waiting. To Ryder, they looked like they belonged behind the bars this place had but somehow they appeared to be as innocent as he was.

Another guard walked into the room from another door. He screamed for everyone to listen to him. No giving the prisoners anything. No taking anything from them. No conspiring. It was all common sense to Ryder but he wondered if any of that had happened before. It had to, right? Why else would the guards feel the need to remind them it was against the rules? Suddenly Ryder didn't feel very safe.

Still, he walked through the other set of doors when the guards told him he could and he was surprised to be in a pretty well decorated room- or at least a well decorated room for prison. He had pictured there'd be mud and bugs at every corner but the room was pretty clean. At least they clean up after themselves.

He stopped looking around when he saw him sitting at a table by himself. Once again, Ryder had to convince himself to walk forward, to be friendly. But when he sat down he realized that it didn't matter how friendly Ryder was, his dad was going to be as unpleasant as he was the last time Ryder had seen him. He tried to remember what Marley had told him not too long ago: He's still your dad. He loved you before and he still loves you now. Somehow, Ryder highly doubted that.

"Hi dad." Ryder tried to sound happy, or at least look like he was trying hard to be happy. But there was nothing to be happy about and Mr. Lynn responded with an eye roll. "How's life been treating you?"

Mr. Lynn mumbled something incoherently and Ryder could only assume it was an insult of some kind. That's really the only relationship they'd had for a few years now, which thinking back to the trial a few months ago, didn't really seem all that surprising. A dad who loved his son and never insulted him would have a much harder time blaming his son for a murder than Mr. Lynn did.

"Beth misses you." Ryder offered after a few seconds had passed. He looked around at the other people in the room. They seemed to be happy seeing their loved ones again. How come Mr. Lynn didn't look the least bit relieved? How come Ryder wasn't fighting back a smile because he got to see his dad again? What the hell happened to them? "She comes home for school and cries sometimes because you're not there."

"Does she blame you?" Bradley asked bitterly, not exactly pleased with Ryder's choice of conversation. He didn't want to think about the family he'd never see again.

Ryder shook his head and mumbled a quick "No" before staring off again at the other people in the room. "Mom was pretty mad at me at first but she's come around, I think. It only took a few months."

Bradley rolled his eyes. His wife had never been one to hold a grudge which is probably why she didn't seem to care when Bradley told her the truth about the accident. She was mad at first but a week later, she came around and seemed to understand all the reasons Bradley had to do what he did.

"I started football again." Ryder mentioned when he was once again met with silence. "Coach Beiste let me on the team."

"You can't play for shit." Bradley responded as he chuckled dryly.

Ryder looked down at the table. He wasn't sure why he was so surprised when his dad said that. First of all, it was a pretty accurate statement. Second of all, as previously mentioned, insults were pretty much all his dad ever said to Ryder. But still, he couldn't say it didn't hurt.

Ryder coughed and shook his head. "You know, I'm trying here. You screwed up and I have every right to be pissed off at you. I have every right to ignore you for the shit you tried to pull, but I know nobody else came to see you so I thought I'd give you someone to talk to. You don't want to talk to me? Fine. I don't really care. Just let me know so I don't waste my time coming here."

Bradley raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair. He always found amusement when his son got annoyed. "Well look who's got a backbone." He teased as he allowed himself to chuckle once more. "You're a shitty son and an even shittier person. You think I honestly give a fuck if you come talk to me about how perfect your life is? Do you really think anybody would want to be stuck in a room with you? Because I can't think of one fucking person who would put themselves through that voluntarily."

Ryder stood up and shook his head disapprovingly. "Fuck you, dad."

X X X

"Marley!" A voice sounded throughout the house and Marley rolled her eyes as she grabbed her keys from the bedside table. He had been screaming at her for about five minutes now even though she had told him she'd be ready soon. "Get your ass downstairs!"

Rolling her eyes again, she skipped out of her room and followed his voice downstairs and into the kitchen. "I'm ready."

"When I said I'd drive you in today, I meant today." He mumbled as he stood up from his chair and grabbed his car keys. Marley could only roll her eyes once more as she shook her head. With a smile on her face, she watched him cross the kitchen and kiss his fiancé before walking out the door, sending a glare Marley's way. "Let's go."

As she slid into the passenger's seat, she looked over and smiled at him. "You love me. Don't lie to yourself."

"I hate you." He muttered as he pulled out of the driveway. "You sicken me and I just want to slap you with a fish sometimes."

Marley raised her eyebrows and let out a brief chuckle before shaking her head and turning to look out the window. "You don't like fish, Mark."

Marley watched as the car pulled up in front of a big building with what seemed like a thousand windows. She imagined that they advertised it by saying that they were windows to the future. Rolling her eyes at the thought, she turned back towards her brother as he muttered, "Get out and good luck!"

She rolled her eyes and reached down to pull her bag up onto her lap. With one last glance at him, she got out of the car and started her walk towards the front doors. Kids were hanging all around the lawn; some were smoking even though she was sure that was against the rules. She vowed to stay away from those kids. There was a big group of girls in short cheerleading outfits drooling over a group of boys who were passing a football back and forth. Although Marley knew that in another life she'd have been all over that, she continued to walk into the school. She'd been hurt too many times already to be worried about boys right now.

As she entered the school, she was overcome with an entirely new group of students that were either hanging around their lockers or walking through the halls with friends. How many kids went to this school and how the hell did they all fit? Biting her lip as she tried to navigate through the wave of people, she forced her feet to move forward towards the sign that said 'Office' in all capital letters. The second she opened the door to the separate room, the bell rang and Marley was relieved that she didn't have to battle her way through the mass of people outside.

Carefully and as respectfully as she could, she walked up to the man sitting at a desk in the corner. He had glasses on and looked pretty harmless but she knew better than to trust anyone. She learned that from an early age and even though she was getting better, those memories were still at the back of her mind, threatening to escape from the lock she kept them under.

"Hi. I'm Marley Rose." She breathed out as she placed her backpack on the floor. Not much was in it, but it was still bothering her shoulders. After telling her brother to get just a bag from Hollister or somewhere so the straps didn't hurt her shoulders, he came home with a JanSport, dark blue bag with a clearance tag on it. "I'm uh… I'm new here."

"Welcome to McKinley, Miss Rose." The man welcomed as he stood up and motioned for her to follow him. "There is some paperwork for your parent to fill out-."

"Brother." Marley corrected as she took the packet of papers from it. It wasn't very thick but she was still surprised how much Mark would have to look over. The last thing she wanted was to take any more of his time away from him. She'd been doing enough of that already. "I live with my brother."

"Right. Well then paperwork for your brother." The man said kindly as he grabbed another stack of papers. "Here's your schedule and some flyers for some school events so you can make new friends and everything."

Marley looked at the different color papers in her hand and fought the urge to roll her eyes. She already knew what she wanted to do with her life and it didn't matter if she had friends now or if she went to all of the hockey games. She was content by herself. "Oh, well thank you."

"You're really going to enjoy McKinley." He mentioned as he picked up his phone and dialed a few numbers. She heard him request someone to come down to show her around. That was the last thing she wanted. As she looked down at her schedule, she noticed she had history with a girl named Mrs. Holliday. Quite honestly she'd rather be there than getting a tour of the school.

"I'm sure I will." She whispered as a girl with brown hair entered the room. The man introduced Marley and then walked back to his desk.

"Marley…" The girl repeated him as her smile grew. "That's such an interesting name. I'm Santana and you have the amazing pleasure of getting a tour of the school from me."

Marley nodded her head and tried her hardest to keep from looking intimidated. The girl seemed nice enough but there was something about her that made Marley want to run and hide under a rock. They made their way through some hallways before they stopped in the stairwell. Marley shivered slightly as she thought of the girl jumping her and taking everything she had. Fortunately, Marley didn't have much.

"I could take you to your class…" The girl started and Marley felt her smile grow. Finally she'd be able to end this awkward encounter and sit in class like everyone else. "…or we could go out to the turf and we could watch the football practice."

Marley felt her stomach flip as she thought of the many ways this situation could end terribly, but she smiled anyway. "Sounds fun."

"That's what I like to hear." Santana exclaimed before she took a turn and walked to the end of the stairwell, pushing through a door that led to the outside. Marley had to squint her eyes as the harsh sunlight began to blind her. "The cheerleaders are practicing now too."

Marley wasn't quite sure why her brunette tour guide brought up the cheerleaders but she didn't question it. Instead, she followed Santana until they were seated on a set of bleachers a few yards away from the field. Marley wondered what type of trouble she'd get into if they were caught. She assumed Santana could just say this was part of the tour but would anyone really believe that?

Santana chuckled and Marley turned to see what she was looking at. Some guy had just caught the ball and now all the guys were screaming and huddling around slapping each other's helmets and swinging their arms like wild animals. "What are they doing?"

Santana laughed again. "They're being idiots." She concluded as they both continued to watch the guys jump around. They had way too much energy. "It's normally worse when the captain is here."

"Captain?" Marley wondered out loud, surprising herself with her interest. She imagined that normal girls talk about boys all the time, but she had just never been a normal girl. Her abnormality was decided for her and unfortunately she never really had much control over it.

"You've probably heard of him. Everyone in the state pretty much knows about what happened last year." Santana noted, only tugging at Marley's curiosity. When she noticed Marley's intense stare, she continued. "You know, the Lynn family scandal. Do you even watch the news?"

Marley's stomach dropped as she heard his last name. People knew about that? She thought that since he was under 18, they would have kept his name a secret. But maybe since it was a small town everyone talked about it like it was celebrity gossip. Wait, no. That's not possible. The last time Marley talked to Ryder she could have sworn he said something about attending Dalton Academy. Clearly, there had just been another scandal.

"You mean Ryder?" Marley asked disbelievingly. Santana scrunched her eyebrows and nodded her head. And for the first time Marley reacted in a way she never thought she would. She scrunched her eyebrows and put her hand to her head in aggravation. "Well, fuck."

"You know him?" Santana asked but Marley's thoughts were already gone. Seeming to catch on to that, Santana looked away and started to watch the Cheerio's practice.

Marley was doomed. The universe was against her. That had to be it. The universe had a deep dark plot to ruin the little bit of her life she had left. Well consider it ruined, she thought, you win.

X X X

Yay! I'm back! So like the description says, this story takes place a year after Ryder left the rehab center. All of the characters will make a few appearances but it might take a while to build their stories and have them actually show up. I promise characters like Sam, Jake, Kitty, and even Tina will be in this story at least twice each.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I'm sorry it took so long. I know this was supposed to be up in June (at least I think that's what I said). Anyway, this story will be updated on Tuesdays for now and maybe it'll turn into twice a week later.

Leave a review and like always, I'll respond. (I miss talking to you all!)

Love you!