Hi! The songs I used for this chapter are Please Don't Leave Me by Pink and Cut by Plumb. Enjoy!


The boys of the football team were making a tremendous din in the locker room. Brad stepped inside and rolled his eyes at the mess.

"Boys!" he said, trying to get their attention. He was completely ignored "Boys!" he tried again.

They still didn't shut up, and Brad sighed. He put his hands around his mouth and yelled:

"BOYS!"

This finally got their attention. The boys stopped trying to spray Athletes Foot medicine in their teammates' eyes, and everyone sat down.

"I have an announcement to make" Brad said, smiling "I want to introduce you to the new member of the football team!"

The boys expected a giant, tough guy to step inside. So when it was Sam the one who came in through the door, already wearing her uniform, the looks of shock that spread across their faces was understandable.

"Hi" she said casually.

There was a moment of silence before the jocks erupted into surprised and in some cases indignant exclamations. When James saw the perverted smirk on Steven's lips, he elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Girlfriend" he mouthed in response to his annoyed look.

"A girl, Coach Wilson?" a tall, black-haired boy said, pointing at Sam "You have to be kidding!"

"I'm sure I'm a better player than you, Keppler" Sam said, glaring at him.

"Oh, really?" the boy said, standing up.

"Yeah" Sam walked towards the boy and pushed him. Keppler took a few steps back, surprised by the girl's strength "Really"

"Sam" Brad said, placing his hand on her shoulder "Please don't start a fight"

"But he started!" she reclaimed, pointing at him.

"Sam, I hoped that you could bring a little bit of… refinement to these boys" he whispered in her ear "Please don't let them turn you into one of them"

"Fine" Sam said.

She glared at Keppler one more time before sitting between Spencer and Steven, who had to restrain himself in order to avoid looking at her legs, clad in tight white pants.


Sam left the locker room accompanied by James, Steven and Spencer. They were laughing and talking cheerfully. Elizabeth was waiting for her outside.

"Lizzie, your girlfriend is AWESOME!" Spencer said.

"She's the faster runner I've ever seen!" James added.

"And she tackled Ryan!" Steven added, pointing at a huge boy who was leaving the locker room too.

Sam had blushed deeply at the compliments, and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, smiling.

"I'm not that good…" Sam muttered.

"If you're still as good as you were in sixth grade, then you're really good" Elizabeth said.

Sam smiled at her. Steven put an arm around Elizabeth and said:

"Now we only need that Lizzie joins the Cheerios again!"

The girls gave him a confused look and James sighed.

"Steven has a fetish with uniforms" he said.

Elizabeth just laughed, but Sam narrowed her eyes at Steven.

"Is that the reason you've been staring at me during the whole training?"

Steven turned crimson and everyone laughed at him. He turned angrily to James.

"It's not a fetish" he said "I just happen to like girls in uniforms, that's all"

"Boys" Brad said, stepping out of the locker room "Did anyone of you hid Parker's underwear?"

The three boys exchanged a look before Steven asked:

"Time to run?"

"Time to run" James confirmed.

In the blink of an eye, the three of them were running down the hallway. Brad ran after them, yelling at them to come back. Sam and Elizabeth rolled her eyes and walked away.

"So, how was your first practice?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, they remind me of cavemen in so many ways" Sam answered, and her girlfriend laughed "But it was really fun"

They kept walking in silence, holding hands as always. When they got to their lockers, Sam finally said something.

"You should join the Cheerios again"

"No way. We would become the high school couple cliché: a football player and a cheerleader" Elizabeth said.

"But if you join again you could cheer for me whenever I play!"

"I can cheer for you even if I'm not a Cheerio"

"But it won't be the same if you're not wearing your uniform" Sam pouted.

"Please don't tell me you share Steven's fetish"

Sam laughed and showed Elizabeth a picture hanging in her locker. They both laughed when Elizabeth saw it was a picture of her during Cheerios practice.


Jonathan huffed and ripped the page from his notebook. He crumpled it and threw it on the trash can. Barbra watched him do it, sitting a couple seats behind him. She was dying to go and talk with him, but she knew it wasn't a good idea. She tried to pay attention to the teacher, but it was impossible. Barbra couldn't stop thinking about Jonathan. Now that he had come back, she thought that maybe they could talk. But the boy avoided her constantly. Every time she talked to him, he ignored her. When he saw her walking towards him, he turned around and walked to the opposite direction. Barbra couldn't help but think that she kind of deserved it after all…

Jonathan looked at her for a moment and she looked down at her notebook. But she was sure that he had seen her looking at him.

Jonathan sighed and looked away. That was the umpteenth time he had found Barbra looking at him. He felt bad for treating her that way, but he still wasn't ready to talk to her. He still had a lot of feelings to manage and he knew that nothing good could result if they talked right now. So maybe waiting was the best. But the boy couldn't help but to wonder if he would ever be able to forgive her…


"Hey, Hannah!"

Hannah turned around. She saw Anna running towards her, smiling broadly, and kept walking down the hallway.

"Hey, Hannah, Hannah!" Anna said excitedly when she got to her sister.

"What?" Hannah said in a grumpy voice.

"Remember that step I couldn't make?"

"Yeah"

"Look!"

Anna showed her sister the complicated dance step. When she finished, she looked at Hannah with a big smile on her face.

"Cool" Hannah said, not really interested.

"'Cool'? Is that all you have to say?" Anna asked as they kept walking.

"I managed to do that step on the first try, Anna, it's no big deal"

"Well, I'm sorry, I'm not as good as you!"

"Yeah, I know" Hannah said, stepping into the classroom.

Anna looked at her, shocked. What the hell was wrong with her sister?


"Wow, that's awesome!" James exclaimed as Anna sat next to him at the lunch table.

"I'm glad you think so" the girl said "Hannah doesn't think the same"

"What are you talking about? That step is amazing!"

"She told me that she managed to do it on the first try. And when I told her that I wasn't as good as her, she just said 'I know'" Anna explained, playing with her food.

James frowned.

"That's weird" he said "Hannah is always really sweet to you"

"But she has been so mean these last days! She ignores me, she doesn't want to talk with me, and when we do, she rolls her eyes at everything I say!"

"Have you told her this?"

"No" Anna sighed.

"Maybe she doesn't realize that she's being mean to you" James said "Why don't you talk with her?"

"You're right, I'll talk with her"


On a nearby table, Spencer was seated with Elizabeth, Sam and Kevin. The boy was humming while he ate, and he had a little smile on his lips. His friends exchanged a look. Spencer was never this happy.

"How's everything with your dad, Spencer?" Elizabeth asked.

"Great!" he answered immediately, grinning broadly "He's like a totally different person. Actually, he's not a different person."

Kevin, Sam and Elizabeth shot him a confused look and Spencer smiled even more broadly.

"He's the person he was before. I feel like I got back my old dad"

"That's great" Sam said, taking his hand.

"Hey guys!" Lucy said, as she and David sat with them.

"Hey" the four of them said, smiling.

"Where's everybody?" David asked. Usually, all of the Glee Clubbers ate together.

"Anna and James are over there, I guess they wanted some time alone" Kevin said "Barbra is in the bathroom, Jonathan missed school again, I have no idea where Hannah is, and I'm sure that Steven and Amanda are making out in some dark corner"

Everyone laughed and kept eating.

"Am I the only one who thinks that Amanda is hiding something?" Lucy said, breaking the silence "She's really nice and everything, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something that she's not telling us"

"I thought I was the only one!" Elizabeth said "Sam thinks I'm thinking too much about it, but she's definitely hiding something"

"Why do you think that?" David asked.

"Have you noticed that she jumps every time someone touches her?" Lucy said "And she's really quiet and never talks more than what's strictly necessary"

"And she always wears long-sleeved shirts" Elizabeth added.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lucy asked.

"Don't you find it weird?"

"No, not really" Lucy said, and everybody shook their heads.

"I still think that you're giving it to much importance" Sam said "Probably she's just jumpy, that's all. And she's very shy, that was the reason she didn't audition the first day, remember?"

The rest nodded, and Sam continued, looking at Elizabeth.

"And get over the long-sleeved shirts! I'm sure that she just likes to wear them, that's all"

There was a small silence before they started to talk about something else. But Elizabeth kept thinking about Amanda. It was all too weird to be just a coincidence.


Anna sat next to Hannah, who was watching TV in the living room. Hannah looked at her briefly before turning to the screen again.

"Can I talk with you?" Anna asked, and her sister shrugged "Why are you being so mean to me lately?"

Hannah looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"You've been ignoring me, you act like everything I say or do it's stupid…"

"Don't be such a cry baby" Hannah said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not a cry baby!" Anna exclaimed.

"Yes, you are. Now let me watch TV"

Anna took the remote and turned off the TV. She answered to Hannah's annoyed growl by throwing the remote hardly to the floor. The batteries came off and flied away.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hannah exclaimed.

"I'm trying to talk with you, but everything you do is looking at that stupid screen!" Anna shouted "Why are you being such a bitch lately?"

"I'm not being a bitch, you're just being dramatic!"

"Have I done something wrong? Because as far as I remember, I've never treated you as bad as you're treating me right now!"

The twins exchanged angry looks before Hannah sighed loudly and looked away.

"The reason I've been upset lately is because of Steven" she said.

Anna raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted to try again with him this year" Hannah explained "But now he's only interested in Amanda. He doesn't even remember my existence…"

"And you take it out on me?" Anna interrupted her "That's not fair!"

"I'm sorry!"Hannah said, rolling her eyes again "Are you happy now?"

"No, I'm not happy!" Anna exclaimed.

"Whatever!"

"Fuck off, Hannah!" Anna yelled, storming out of the room.

Once her sister was gone, remorse assaulted Hannah. Anna was right, it wasn't right to take it out on her, it wasn't her fault. Hannah bit her lip and kneeled down to pick up the batteries, cursing herself internally.


Elizabeth sat next to Jonathan, who shot her a confused look. They didn't share history class, what was she doing there?

"I should be in science class, so I'll make it short" the girl said "Please forgive Barbra"

Jonathan blinked a couple times, surprised. He wasn't expecting Elizabeth to say that. The girl sighed and kept talking.

"I know that you feel hurt, and I totally understand it. You have all the right to be mad at her. But you should know that the main reason Barbra broke up with you was because she didn't want you to get hurt"

"Really?" Jonathan said sarcastically.

"What I mean is…" Elizabeth searched for the words "She felt that if she kept being your girlfriend while she was in love with someone else, then she would be lying to you. And she wanted to end that as soon as possible"

"If she was so in love with Adam why did she become my girlfriend in the first place?" Jonathan asked.

"I… don't know" Elizabeth said.

"Exactly. She was just using me!"

"No, she wasn't!" the girl shook her head "She really cared about you, Jonathan, I know she did. You're right, it was wrong to start dating you while being in love with Adam, but I can tell that her feelings for you weren't faked. She wasn't using you"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Lizzie" Jonathan said "Sometimes I'm willing to forgive her and move on, but then I remember how much I loved her, and how she played with my feelings"

Elizabeth shook her head again and tried to say something else, but Jonathan cut her.

"I know what you'll say: 'She wasn't playing with you'. The thing is that I don't know if I can believe that"

They were silent for a while, until Elizabeth stood up and said:

"Thanks for hearing me, Jonathan. I need to go now"

Jonathan nodded and she left. The boy sighed and hid his face in his hands.


Hannah walked towards James and touched his shoulder to get his attention. The boy closed her locker and looked at her.

"I need your help" she said

"For what?"

"Anna is mad at me because I was being a bitch to her. Now she doesn't want to talk with me, and I don't know what to do to let her know that I'm sorry"

"Well, you're her sister, you should know how…"

"But I've tried everything!" Hannah exclaimed "I even baked her apology cookies!"

"Apology cookies?"

"They worked when we were kids…" the girl muttered "Anyway, what do you do when she's mad at you and you want her to forgive you?"

James thought about it for a second and smiled.

"Have you tried a song?" he said.

"A song?"

"Yeah. Sing a song to her. Anna loves that"

"You're right! Why didn't I think of that?" Hannah smiled at him "Thanks, James!"

"You're welcome" he said.

But Hannah was already running away, a big smile on her face. James smiled and shook his head.


Hannah raised her hand.

"Miss Schue, do you mind if I sing a song today?" she asked.

"Go ahead" Alma said.

Hannah stood up and looked at her sister. Anna was looking down, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Anna, I'm sorry" Hannah said "I've been trying to show you how truly sorry I am, and I think I found the right way to do it"

Anna bit her lower lip, but she still didn't look at Hannah.

"Lizzie, can you help me?" Hannah said.

"Sure" Elizabeth said, standing up.

Hannah looked at Anna again before she nodded to the band members and Elizabeth, who was standing behind her. Elizabeth began to sing.

Da da da da, da da da da
Da da da da da da

The band started to play and Hannah began to sing, looking at her sister.

I don't know if I can yell any louder
How many times I've kicked you outta here?
Or said something insulting?

Elizabeth helped her with the background vocals, and Hannah didn't take her eyes from Anna.

Da da da da da

Hannah sang the next verse, and Anna still wasn't looking at her.

I can be so mean when I wanna be
I am capable of really anything
I can cut you into pieces
When my heart is broken

Elizabeth sang again before Hannah sang the chorus.

Da da da-da da
Please don't leave me
Please don't leave me
I always say how I don't need you
But it's always gonna come right back to this
Please, don't leave me

Hannah started to walk in front of her partners, singing, but her eyes never left Anna.

How did I become so obnoxious?
What is it with you that makes me act like this?
I've never been this nasty

She stood in front of her sister and frowned. Hannah just wanted her sister to look at her, but Anna kept looking down.

Can't you tell that this is all just a contest?
The one that wins will be the one that hits the hardest
But baby I don't mean it
I mean it, I promise

Hannah bit her lip while Elizabeth sang her part, and then she sang the chorus, even louder than before.

Da da da-da da
Please don't leave me, oh
Please don't leave me

Don't leave me
I always say how I don't need you
But it's always gonna come right back to this
Please, don't leave me

Hannah kneeled in front of Anna and placed a finger under her chin to make her look at her. She sang to her, looking into her eyes.

I forgot to say out loud how beautiful you really are to me
I can't be without, you're my perfect little punching bag
And I need you, I'm sorry.

Elizabeth looked at them while she sang, smiling.

Da da da da, da da da da
da da da da-da da

Hannah saw tears welling in her sister's eyes.

Please, please don't leave me

While she sang, she pulled Anna to her feet, still looking straight into her eyes.

Baby, please don't leave me
No, don't leave me
Please, don't leave me
I always say how I don't need you,

but it's always gonna come right back to this.

Hannah wiped away a tear from Anna's cheek and smiled to her.

Please, don't leave me.
Please, don't leave me.
I always say how I don't need you
But it's always gonna come right back to this
Please, please don't leave me

Anna smiled back to Hannah, as she sang the last line.

Baby, please, please don't leave me

As soon as Hannah finished the song, Anna hugged her with so much strength that they fell to the floor.

"So, does this mean I'm forgiven?" Hannah asked.

"Of course" Anna said, and placed a kiss on her cheek.


"See you tomorrow, guys!" Alma said, leaving the choir room.

They said goodbye to the teacher while they picked their things and left. Hannah and Anna left together, holding hands. Everything was okay between them again. They all left one by one, and the last ones in the room were Steven and Amanda. The boy was about to leave too when he heard a noise behind his back.

"Damn it!" Amanda said, kneeling to pick up her things, which had fallen from her messenger bag.

"I'll help you" Steven said.

They picked her things from the floor in silence. Steven stood up first and offered her a hand to help her. Amanda studied it for a moment before she took it, the fabric of her black gloves caressing Steven's calloused skin.

"Thanks" Amanda said.

Her gray eyes met Steven's brown ones. They looked at each other for a while, before Amanda looked down and walked past him.

"Hey, Amanda" Steven said, and she turned around "Can you give me your number?"

"Um, sure" Amanda said.

They exchanged cell phone numbers. Steven smiled at her, and Amanda smiled back.

"See you" she said, leaving the choir room.

She hadn't gone too far before she got a text. It was from Steven.

"Hey. Just wanted to check that you didn't give a fake number ;)"

Amanda laughed and texted him back.

"Why would I give you a fake number?"

"I kinda feel like you're avoiding me, so maybe you don't like me…"

Amanda's smile vanished. Of course she liked him. But she just couldn't show him.

"If you only knew..." she thought.


Amanda opened the door and stepped inside her house.

"I'm home!" she shouted.

She got no answer. As she approached the kitchen, she could hear her parents arguing.

"Typical" she muttered under her breath.

Amanda heard something breaking, possibly a plate, and she went upstairs. She stopped a moment in front of her room to look inside an empty room next to hers.

"Hi, Lindsay" she said.

The girl entered her bedroom and closed the door. She threw her bag on the floor next to her bed and took off her gloves. Amanda flopped on her bed and sighed. She could still hear her parents screaming to each other, and an occasional breaking sound. At this rate, they would run out of tableware, she thought.

Her parents kept fighting for what it seemed like hours, and Amanda only wished that they would shut up. She looked for her iPod on a drawer and put on her earbuds. The girl listened to some random songs for a while. Then, a song with a piano intro started to play. Amanda sat in her bed. The song was perfect for her right now. Softly, she began to sing.

I'm not a stranger
No, I am yours
With crippled anger
And tears that still drip sore

She looked down at her hands, resting on her lap. Her eyes darted to her fabric covered wrists, and she kept singing.

A fragile frame aged
With misery
And when our eyes meet
I know you see

With trembling hands, she took off her jacket, revealing the red scars shining against her white skin.

I do not want to be afraid
I do not want to die inside just to breathe in
I'm tired of feeling so numb
Relief exists I find it when
I am cut

Amanda kept looking at her wrists while she sang. She hated those scars. She hated them.

I may seem crazy
Or painfully shy
And these scars wouldn't be so hidden
If you would just look me in the eye
I feel alone here and cold here
Though I don't want to die
But the only anesthetic that makes me feel anything kills inside

She closed her fists and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see them. That was the reason she covered them. Those scars where the reminder of how weak she was.

I do not want to be afraid
I do not want to die inside just to breathe in
I'm tired of feeling so numb
Relief exists I find it when
I am cut

Tears fell from her eyes while she sang loudly. She could feel her parents falling silent to listen to her. And for a moment, the world stopped. And there was only her, her voice… and her scars.

Pain
I am not alone
I am not alone

Amanda opened her eyes slowly and kept singing while more tears fell from her eyes.

I'm not a stranger
No I am yours
With crippled anger
And tears that still drip sore

She wrapped her arms around herself. She felt cold… she felt so vulnerable.

But I do not want to be afraid
I do not want to die inside just to breathe in
I'm tired of feeling so numb
Relief exists I found it when

Once again she looked at her wrists. She closed her eyes and sang the last line.

I was cut

Then, the house fell silent. But not too much time passed before her parents started shouting again, this time louder than before. Amanda covered her ears with her hands and closed her eyes tightly. A sob escaped her lips, followed by another. And then, a lot more, accompanied by tears.


I must say, that last scene was really tough to write. I hope you liked this chapter, please review :)