It was Monday morning and Rory was standing with his back to her at his locker. Naomi really couldn't resist as she quietly walked up behind him and twisted his keys off the chain he had attached to his belt. She said hello, making him turn around and complete the process.

"Top o' the mornin' to yo'," he said grinning as usual. Then he frowned, "You're very bright for a Monday mornin'. Should I be worried?"

Naomi grinned and waved him away. "Of course not."

"That's not exactly reassurin'."

"Pfft. Don't be ridiculous."

He pulled some books out of his locker and swung his bag around. "Glee Club is on durin' lunch, so I can't sit with yo'. We have to pull extra practices for Sectionals."

That's when a thought hit her, a rare moment of brilliance. "Why do you sit with me at lunch?"

"What?" he didn't look at her, just continued to sort out his books.

"Why do you sit with me and not your friends from New Directions?"

Rory looked at her briefly, seemingly confused. "Because you're my friend and yo' shouldn't have to sit alone. I'm sure the guys from Glee wouldn't mind yo' sittin' with them, but I know you'd say no."

"Oh," Naomi mumbled, "Um, thanks."

"'Don't be ridiculous'," he repeated her words mockingly, trying to put on an American accent. Naomi burst out laughing. He sounded like a thirty year old version of Mickey Mouse in pain.

"Remind me to never let you become an impressionist."

"But I thought my Puerto Rican accent was good in West Side Story?" the comment came out sounding like a question. Naomi bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing. She said his performance had been good, but not necessarily his attempt at an accent.

"Yes Rory, yes it was."

Rory smiled, luckily not catching the sarcasm, and looked at his key chain. He patted his trouser pockets, searching for the keys. Naomi laughed again and threw him the keys, saying, "Think fast."

"I don't know how the Pierce's trusted you with them," she grinned.

"I don't know how I trusted you," he joked, but the words brought her up short. He shouldn't trust her, not with her planning to join New Directions for reasons that were only hers to know. She just didn't want his dreams crushed.

"Yeah," she said, distracted.

"Naomi?" he asked, noticing her change in tone. He looked at her, but Naomi was too preoccupied with her thoughts.

"Yeah. You know, I'll see you later," she muttered and walked off, leaving Rory wondering what he did.

::::::::::

"So, do you know if your friend is joining Glee?" Finn asked him, wiping his face with a towel.

Rory shrugged, his eyebrows drawing together in thought. "I don't know. I was talkin' to her yesterday mornin' but then she avoided me for the rest of the day. Well, I don't know for sure, but I haven't seen her."

Rory looked up at his American friend's face and it looked guarded. Finn turned and pulled out a shirt from his gym bag. Puck answered his unasked question when he said,

"I'm not surprised if your friend is Emo Seymo."

"If she's what?" Rory asked out loud this time.

"That's not cool man," Finn told Puck over his shoulder, who nodded, conceding.

"I guess."

Rory looked on. "I'm still as confused as a snake hidin' under Saint Patrick's bed."

Puck grimaced. "Sorry man. You know, Seymour – Seymo? It's just a nickname some people came up with for her after her parents died."

Rory froze completely. "What?"

Puck and Finn became still in turn. Finn turned around slowly. "You mean you didn't know?"

Rory was still in shock, and confused but managed to nod. These guys had known her much longer than he had, so there was zero chance of them being wrong. But – he really didn't understand.

With the worst timing ever, Artie came in between Puck and Finn, who were glancing at each other, unsure of what to say. His happy face stood out.

"What's with all the glum faces?"

Finn whispered in his ear. Artie's mouth opened slightly. Rory was still waiting for them to continue, but when it was clear they wouldn't, he asked something completely irrelevant that had been nagging him from the start of the conversation.

"What's 'emo' mean?"

The three guys looked at him like he was crazy. Finn and Puck seemed to have a silent discussion, then Puck slapped the back of Artie's wheelchair, saying,

"We'd better be going Artie." The two of them disappeared pretty fast.

"Four years ago her parents died. She was eleven or twelve I think," Finn set the scene. "I was in eight grade," he said like this explained his confusion.

"The only reason I know was that her teacher, Miss Bloggen, knew a zookeeper and brought them there. It also turned out she was on drugs, but yeah, they went to the zoo."

"Naomi's parents died about three weeks before. She was emotional, obviously. And some jerk said something, dissed her parents," Finn looked at his feet. Rory's face hardened. It had only been four years ago. He wished he had known, so he could be nicer or so he wouldn't have talked about his Mammy at every chance he got.

"So, understandably, she freaked. But maybe went into over-kill mode."

Rory nodded. At least that sounded like the Naomi he was friends with. The Naomi that would fight back. "What did she do?" He was expecting her to have beaten him around a bit.

"She, um," Finn paused. "She tossed him over the fence and into the penguin enclosure. When his friend yelled some things at her, she, uh, she – she stabbed him in the hand with a pen." Rory's mouth dropped.

"No charges or anything serious happened, but this is a small town and the story kinda spread. Before you came she barely talked to anyone unless she had to."

The locker room was empty now. Finn threw his bag around his shoulder and gave him a cautious glance. "See you around."

Rory sat in the locker room alone, thinking what the hell was he to do.

::::::::::

"What should I do Mammy?" Rory asked into the phone, sitting on his bed and leaning back against the wall.

Well, Naomi seems like a nice girl, his Mammy answered. Rory rolled his eyes.

"She is but I don't know what to do."

Why should you act any different? His mother replied. It probably seemed so simple to her.

"Doesn't she deserve to know that I know?" There was a knock on the door ownstairs, but Rory could hear Mrs Pierce going to get it

Calm down son. I think she'll know somethin' is wrong with yo'. From what yo' told me it sounds like yo' have been avoidin' her. His Mammy was right. He was avoiding her. And he felt awful for it.

"I haven't. Well, not really…"

Men. Are yo' sure, because that's what it sounds like to me.

"Well on Monday I said I would be practicin' for Glee a lot."

There's no need to lie to me.I know yo' are sorry.

"Ah, yo' are right. What do I do now?"

Act towards her like yo' always have. Maybe beg for her forgiveness first. There was a knock on Rory's bedroom door. M Pierce looked in. She smiled kindly.

"Rory, a friend of yours is here." She moved aside for Rory to find Naomi standing there, arms crossed and lips pursed. But when Mrs Pierce turned around to her, she smiled.

"Do you mind if I come in Rory?" she asked sweetly. Much too sweetly. Rory was terrified. His eyes did a quick scan of his room to make sure there were no pens in reach. There weren't, so Rory nodded dumbly.

Mrs Pierce smiled and closed the door behind her.

Rory was already wincing in his head, but Naomi said, "Rory, I didn't know how to bring it up in conversation."

He stared at her blankly. "What?"

"Puckerman told me. It's not that I didn't trust you. The whole school knows. Bu if I told you, I would have to remember the day I found out they were gone," her throat tightened. "And I couldn't Rory."

Rory was stupefied. A cough his mother gave on the still connected cell phone in his hand brought him back to the real world.

"No," he began. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm sorry for avoidin' yo'." Naomi gave him a cautious look. He decided to chance his arm. "Friends?"

"Yeah, sure," she said in a flat tone. She cleared her throat. His mother coughed again on the phone, trying to get his attention. Naomi's eyes zeroed in on it.

"Were you on the phone?"

He half shrugged. "Maybe?" His mother coughed again. It sounded even more fake than the other times. "To my Mammy?"

"You left your mom on the line?" Naomi asked, incredulous. He winced and nodded at the same time. Naomi shook her head. "Rory, you'd better stand on the other side of the room, 'cos right now I'm doing everything in my power not to come over and give you a whack on the back of your head."

He nodded and held the phone up to his ear.

So?

"So what?" Naomi shot him a look that clearly said, 'Be rude to your mother once more and I'll forget about penguins and just hurl you into a lion enclosure'.

Did she forgive yo'?

"Yes." He was grateful for her advice but he would tell her after Naomi left. She didn't need to see he had been telling people about her.

Can I speak to her? Rory froze for a second. It might be rude to ask, but Naomi seemed not to mind he was talking to his mother. There was no harm in asking, right?

"Um, Naomi?" She looked at him piercingly. "Would you like to say hi?" Why did he just say that? It sounded like he was treating her like a kid. Wow, that was stupid. And now he was going to have to suffer the consequences.

But Naomi surprised him for the second time today when she held out her hand for the phone. They started out talking politely but got really chatty after a while. Rory sat on his bed and listened to one confusing side of the conversation.

Naomi was laughing at something his mother said, and now Rory was worried. He really hoped she wasn't telling her about the time when he was convinced that knights rode cows into battle, not horses. But his stomach curled as he heard Naomi say, "Yes, he still does!"

Not very reassuring.

Eventually, he got the phone back. Naomi realised she had been here half an hour and mostly talked to Rory's mom. She managed to keep a straight face as she apologised to Rory and headed home, saying, "See you in school."

"What did yo' tell her?" he asked his Mammy slowly.

Why does it matter? She's only a friend, isn't she? Rory knew she was teasing him.

"Yes."

Oh, I'm sure. What was it yo' were tellin' me a week or two ago? Something about how she looked very pretty when she went to see yo' in West Side Story?

"It's America," he was trying to cover up. "Everybody's good-lookin'."

Just keep tellin' yourself that, son.

I don't own anything. Sorry this took me so long to write. Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and alerts that are being given to this story.

P.S. Reviews are almost as good as cake. And I love cake *hint hint*.