Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters. I do not own the song 'Tattoo' by Jordin Sparks


Author's Note: Wow, long time no update. So freaking sorry, been working on other stuff, but I'm back, and luckily I have heaps of ideas (dear Lord, Season 2 was amazing in it's entirety. :D).


Chapter 2:

"It's not that bad."

"Cat, a slushie in the face? Are you kidding me?"

"Blaine, shove it - Mom shouldn't have told you." Lina thumbed absently through her Science notes.

"Mom didn't tell me. I heard her and Brian on the phone a few days ago."

"So what? Things are relatively normal now."

The two sat crosslegged on Blaine's bed, studying. Blaine was home for the weekend, and since Heather had gotten visitation, Lina was spending the weekend at her mother's house as well.

"Exactly what is the norm at McKinley?" he demanded.

"None of your business." Lina stuck her tongue out.

In all honesty, she did not want to tell Blaine about the bullying that went on at school. Slushies weren't the only things the jocks used - she'd witnessed several locker slams and a few dumpster tosses as well.

Thankfully, Blaine changed the subject, though she knew he didn't want to.

"Are you still gonna try out for their Glee Club?" he said.

"I don't know." she said honestly.

"You should! Give me one good reason why it wouldn't be cool to join."

Lina tensed.

"All the reasons it wasn't cool to join at our old school."

"Lina, from what you just told me, McKinley sounds like heaven compared to that...place."

You have no idea how wrong you are, Blaine. she thought miserably.

Lina reached over and rubbed his arm.

"I'll try out." she said soothingly. "I'm scared as hell to do it, but I will - for you."

Blaine kissed her cheek.

"Cool. So do you want me to quiz you for your World History test on Tuesday?"

Lina grinned.

"Sure."


"How was that shopping trip you went on?" asked Allie.

"Mmm. Oh, last week - it was fun...Kurt tried to totally trash my closet. He almost succeeded."

Allie laughed and leaned against the lockers by Lina's.

"Why almost?" she said.

"I threatened his own collection. Tell me I don't know designers..." she scoffed. "You should have seen his face when I started rattling off exactly what designer made the clothes he was wearing. It was priceless. Mercedes was in tears afterward." she paused. "I did get a couple new outfits."

Lina picked up her backpack and shut her locker before they started off down the hall.

Allie frowned.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait until after their Sectionals competition to audition?" she asked.

Lina was silent for a moment.

"I thought about it," she admitted. "but I mentioned it to Kurt and Mercedes. They think I should, and they haven't even heard me sing yet. Why?"

"It's just - the glee club." said Allie lamely. "It's been taking a lot of damage since Schuester started it. About a week before you came here - the thing with the slushies started. I wore my poncho every day just in case...but the jocks were after the Glee club mostly. Even the jocks in Glee."

"Wow." said Lina. "Really?"

"Yeah. You're - the new kid, and you're my friend. I don't want to see you hurt."

Lina smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks Allie."

"No problem."


"She wants to audition?" said Rachel in disbelief. "This close to Sectionals? Out of the question!"

Finn shrugged.

"What's the big deal? We elected you captain for the Thunderclap photo...doesn't mean you get to decide if someone can't audition -"

Rachel's eyes hardened.

"I never said that - she'll throw off our group dynamic -"

"Can she sing?" Quinn asked Kurt. "I don't care if she wants to audition. I don't think any of us do...but -"

Kurt arched an eyebrow.

"Do you think she'd want to audition if she couldn't?"

Finn looked at the brunette.

"Rach, look at it this way, she gets in, you have someone to take the captain's photo -"

"She's the new kid, Finn," interjected Mercedes. "You really want to face her when her first yearbook picture gets defaced?"

He just shrugged his shoulders again.

"Not really, but -"

"She can audition." said Kurt calmly. "No rule that says she can't. Frankly, Rachel, you're just scared Schue will give her a solo if she's better than you are. I'll go let her know."


Lina looked at Allie, who was leaning against the doorframe of the choir room. Her friend gave her an encouraging smile.

She turned back and saw Kurt and Mercedes both flash her a thumbs up.

The band started to play, and she started to sing.

No matter what you say about love
I keep coming back for more
Keep my hand in the fire
Sooner or later, I get what I'm askin' for

No matter what you say about life
I learn every time I bleed
That truth is a stranger
Soul is in danger
I gotta let my spirit be free
To admit that I'm wrong
And then change my mind
Sorry but I have to move on
And leave you behind

I can't waste time so give it a moment
I realize, nothing's broken
No need to worry 'bout everything I've done
Live every second like it was my last one
Don't look back at a new direction
I loved you once, needed protection
You're still a part of everything I do
You're on my heart just like a tattoo
Just like a tattoo, I'll always have you

I'll always have you, I'll always have you

I'm sick of playin' all of these games
It's not about takin' sides
When I looked in the mirror, didn't deliver
It hurt enough to think that I could
Stop, admit that I'm wrong
And then change my mind
Sorry but I gotta be strong
And leave you behind

I can't waste time so give it a moment
I realize, nothing's broken
No need to worry 'bout everything I've done
Live every second like it was my last one
Don't look back at a new direction
I loved you once, needed protection
You're still a part of everything I do
You're on my heart just like a tattoo

Just like a tattoo, I'll always have you
I'll always have you

If I live every moment
Won't change any moment
Still a part of me and you
I will never regret you
Still the memory of you
Marks every thing I do

I can't waste time so give it a moment
I realize, nothing's broken
No need to worry 'bout everything I've done
Live every second like it was my last one
Don't look back at a new direction
I loved you once, needed protection
You're still a part of everything I do

You're on my heart just like a tattoo
I can't waste time so give it a moment
I realize, nothing's broken
No need to worry 'bout everything I've done
Live every second like it was my last one
Don't look back at a new direction
I loved you once, needed protection
You're still a part of everything I do
You're on my heart just like a tattoo

Just like a tattoo
I'll always have you

There was a fair ammount of cheering when she dropped the last note. Mercedes and Kurt were applauding enthusiastically.

Mr. Schuester grinned and patted her on the shoulder.

"I think it's pretty much decided," he said, "Welcome to New Directions!"

Lina gasped and a huge smile lit up her face.

"Really? Thank you!" Her hands trembled slightly as she extracted her cell phone. "I'll - I'll be right back."

She darted out of the room, grabbing Allie's hand and pulling her into an empty classroom.

She hit 1 on her speed dial.

Bubbles? What the - it's fourth period -

"I got in!" Lina exclaimed. "Blaine, I got into New Directions!"

What? Hang on a sec - David shut up! Sorry, Li, we're on our way to lunch.

Lina snorted.

"I got in!"

You did? Bubbles, that's great! What did you sing?

"Tattoo, by Jordin Sparks." she replied.

Wow really? I half expected you to sing something from the country genre.

"You know I like other stuff besides country music, B." said Lina. "Hey, I gotta go. Talk online later tonight?"

Yeah sure - oh Wes and David say hi. Bye Lina. Love you.

"Tell them I said hi back. Love you too, bye."

She clicked her phone shut, just as one of the boys walked out of the choir room.

She froze, and there was a good reason why: he'd been one of the jocks who'd slushied her on her first day at McKinley.

Crap.

"Woah, relax, alright?" he said, noting the alarmed look on her face. "I don't know what your deal is, but I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Puck, go shove your crap down the throat of someone who cares." snapped Allie.

"Woah, Als, give it a rest. You were cool last year, what happened?" Puck said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his letterman jacket.

Allie's eyes narrowed.

"You know what happened - you and the rest of the football wimps let the Hockey team throw me in a dumpster!"

Lina's eyes widened.

Puck scoffed.

"Allie, chill. Figgins suspended them for three weeks after that. Danny even said -"

Allie's hand flew up, palm turned toward his face.

"Noah I swear, if you mention Danny at all -" she snarled. "Lina, I'm heading to lunch. See you there?"

Lina nodded.

"Yeah...in a minute." Allie nodded and walked off.

Noah watched as Lina scrolled through her texts and then pocketed her phone.

"Boyfriend?" he asked casually.

Lina looked up at him.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no, it's not my boyfriend." she said. "Family...and mine kind of sucks - with the exception of my brother."

Oh shit, why had she said that? She barely knew the jock and already she was unloading personal crap on him. Not to mention he'd slushied her, so she was pretty sure he was bad news.

"Huh." he seemed thoughtful for a moment.

She arched an eyebrow.

"So Noah -"

"Puck."

Okay...? Lina sighed. Whatever.

"Puck...why the mohawk?" she gestured to his hair. "Trying to score more points in the badass area, or are you just acting the part?"

He snorted and relaxed his stance.

"C'mon." he said. "Mr. Schue told us we're gettin' a page in the Thunderclap. School year book." he added. "Nobody's really happy about it."

"Why?" she asked, suddenly curious.

He laughed.

"Sheesh, Anderson, you're like a bottomless pit with all these questions." he commented. "You'll see why. Trust me. Let's go back in, okay?"

She nodded and followed him back into the choir room.


"Who's the chick?"

Puck looked over at Azimio and Karofsky. He'd been watching Lina and Allie walk by on their way to class.

"New girl." he said.

Seriously. That's all she was. He was into Quinn - for crying out loud, she was carrying his friggin' baby!

"Ahhhhhhhhh man, Puckerman's crushin' on the new kid." Karofsky laughed. "Dude forget it, she'll kill your rep - not that she needs much help since you both joined -"

"Karofsky I swear, if you call it 'Homo Explosion' one more time -" Puck growled.

"Boy has a point." said Azimio. "You wanna keep your rep, either get in her pants and leave her, or just forget her."

Puck's eyes widened.

Get in her pants...

Huh. He could do that. It wasn't like Lina wasn't attractive.

Oh yeah, he could do this.


Okay so, this ended up being longer than I anticipated, so I had to split it.

Hope you all liked it...thoughts?

No flames please!