Abraham always knew Lily Mae as a sweet, innocent, yet motivated girl. He imagined that a car crash would destroy her idea of life. Apparently not.

In front of him, Lily was standing, hands slammed down on the receptionist's desk, screaming and cursing.

"Hey, hey, Lily? What are you doing?" Abraham asked, running over to her. He put down the coffees that he had just bought for his friends in the waiting room.

"Discharging myself! That's what I'm doing." Lily had fire in her eyes, which didn't quite match the hospital gown she was wearing.

"Whoa, what!? You only got here a few hours ago, and you were out cold then," Abraham said.

"Do I look like I need any medical treatment? Do I look ill or injured to you?" Lily protested loudly. She obviously hadn't yet looked in the mirror at the scars on her face.

"Lily, calm down." Abraham spoke softly and mesmerizingly. Somehow, it managed to bring down Lily's mood a little. "Now go back to your hospital bed, and I'll bring the others to come visit you."

Lily pouted. "Why can't I just be discharged already? I'm perfectly okay."

Abraham nodded. "I'm sure you are, but it's best to be safe. We don't want you passing out when there's no nurses around to help you."

Lily opened her mouth to protest but shut it again. She looked down and noticed the coffees Abraham had been carrying earlier. "You win… But only if I can have one of the coffees."

Abraham sighed sarcastically and offered her one.

In the waiting room, Blake, Charlie and Tyler sat in silence. Usually, Tyler would entertain them with a joke or celebrity impression, but right now, there was nothing that could lighten the mood.

Blake still had an arm slung over Charlie's shoulder, while Tyler was lying on the chairs next to him.

"You know what? We need to do something. We can't just sit waiting for the girls to get better. It could take weeks," Blake said eagerly. Tyler grunted, and Charlie ignored him.

"There's nothing we can do." Tyler sighed pessimistically, running a hand through his thick brown hair.

"What about something for the girls when they get out of hospital? We could make them a card?" Blake maintained his eagerness.

"That is the worst idea I've heard ever," Tyler responded before adding a quick, "No offence."

"We could…" Blake paused as he tried to think of an idea. The three sat in silence. Blake bit his nails in thought, listening to Tyler humming a melodic tune.

"That's it! We can sing a song!" Blake beamed "You sing in Glee Club, Tyler—Charlie and I do, too. We can get Michael, Nellie and Abraham involved, too. It'll be awesome!" Blake reached a new level of excitement, his eyes glistening. Tyler just sighed, cutting his humming.

Tyler sat up, deep in thought. "That could work." He paused. "But what would we sing?"

"Well, anything. It's the gesture that they'll appreciate." Blake smiled. "Are you in?"

Tyler nodded eagerly, and Charlie gave an approving grunt.

"Thanks for coming over, Ali." Mario spoke shakily, sitting on his sofa opposite the blonde-haired girl in a wheelchair. The two were very close, mainly because they were the only two in their school that had to cope with such severe disabilities.

"It's okay." Ali spoke softly, with a supportive tone to her voice. "What's wrong, Mario?"

The blind boy held his head in his hands. His arms were shaking violently. "It's stupid, but everything people say gets to me. I can't deal with the constant fear of not knowing who's standing round the corner and if they're going to hurt me."

Ali watched helplessly as Mario let tears fall down his cheeks. She pushed herself forward and laid a hand gently on his forearm. He flinched at the feeling, which gave Ali an indication of the fear he was feeling.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe here, Mario. You're in your own home, your parents are upstairs, and I'm here… You're safe." Ali was moved by Mario's story but wanted to dig deeper into what was upsetting him. "What are people doing to scare you?"

Mario was reluctant to reply, but he trusted Ali to comfort him. "They—They trip me over, and they push me around and down stairs. One of them keeps taking my walking cane. I know it's the same person; I recognise his voice."

Ali was impressed with Mario's ability to distinguish people by their voices. "Mario, you're an amazing person, you don't deserve any of that. You need to let someone know. Tell the teachers or your parents." Ali waited for a reply, but Mario stayed silent. "You can't just bottle it up; you need to face this head on," Ali pushed.

Mario nodded slowly. "I know, but I don't know what those guys will do once the teachers have left. I'm scared it's going to make it worse."

Ali thought for a moment before responding. "Well, I'll be your personal bodyguard. It's bad enough bullying a blind kid, but they'd never hurt a girl in a wheelchair. I'll help you, Mario. They'll stop, I promise."

Mario felt himself welling with tears once again, but this time with appreciation. He pushed himself to the edge of the sofa and reached forward to hug his new bodyguard.

Author's Note:

Yay, I got another chapter up already! Hope you loved the Ali-awesomeness, and there'll be even more of her next chapter!

Well, we had our first Glee reference, and there's more to come too!

Stay tuned!

~Marcalus