Mean

A/N: Taylor Swift song fic. Sophomore Faith Preston joins Glee club after quitting color guard. She had surgery her freshman year where it made it hard for her to perform with the guard. The director always put her down and was mean. Original character, partially a true story.

PREVIOUSLY:

"Okay, because I really think that's one of the things that's bothering her the most…"

"Me too, I'll work on that tomorrow.." she says, packing up some of her things to leave.

We leave the office and I get to my car and before I get home, my phone beeps with an incoming call from Faith's mother.

"Hello…" I say to the woman, wondering what could have happened.

*gLee!*

WILL'S CAR

Will's POV

"Hey Mr. Schue, it's Mrs. Preston, how did Faith act in class today?" she frantically asks.

"She was really quiet, and her back was really bothering her today, it was hard for her to sit still…" I reply, beginning to worry about her.

"Okay… you're never gonna believe this…" she says.

"What? Is she okay?" I ask.

"I caught her in the bathroom cutting herself… she was really close to slitting her wrist…" she explains. Oh god, I have to tell Emma.

"Where is she now? Do I need to come check on her?" I reply, I'm really worried about her.

"We're still at home… her cuts aren't that bad, I'm really worried about her though… she's not talking.." she replies.

"Oh god, do you think she'll talk to me?" I ask.

"Maybe, that's why I called… She's really upset…" she says.

"Okay, I just left the school, so I'll swing by. I know what Mrs. Jacobs has done has really hurt her, but we're gonna do whatever it takes to help her get better…" I reply.

"Thanks, should you call Ms. Pillsbury? I think she should know… but I know Faith doesn't want her to know.." the woman says.

"Yeah, I'll call her. Let me talk to Faith first though, I know Ms. P's been working with her, so I wanna see if she'll talk without telling Ms. P…." I say.

"Alright… that's fine." The woman says, as she hangs up the phone. I basically speed over to Faith's house and her mother meets me at the door.

"Hi Mr. Schue. I don't know what I'd do if you didn't come. Her father's in Iraq right now…. and I know she really misses him which makes school so much harder…" she explains.

Oh god. Emma didn't tell me that. No wonder she seemed really upset earlier today.

"I'm gonna help her get through this. She might not talk right now, but it's possible she could start talking to me soon…" I reply.

"Okay. She's up in her room, and she won't let me come in…" the woman tells me. She's even upset, I may have to call Emma sooner than I originally planned.

"alright. Let's just see how she reacts with me here…." I suggest, following Danielle up the stairs to Faith's room. Her door is tightly closed and I can hear loud music, Celine Dion… which surprises me.

Danielle knocks on the door "FAITH… will you please open up…"

There's silence in response. So I knock again, "Faith, please. It's Mr. Schue, I just wanna make sure everything's okay…."

The volume on the radio significantly drops and the door cracks. "go away mom…" the sixteen year old whimpers.

"it'll be fine… I'll talk to her…" I reassure Danielle as she walks downstairs.

"can I come in?" I ask, not wanting to scare Faith.

She slowly opens the door and completely turns off her music. I can tell she's been crying and notice the spot on her wrist where she'd tried to hurt herself.

"hey… I didn't know you liked Celine Dion…" I calmly say, just trying to ease into the conversation.

She just nods. "the first song I remember hearing was in my dad's truck… and it was one of hers…"

"maybe you can work on one of her songs for Glee… I think you can handle it…" I suggest.

"I don't know…. I haven't sang one of her songs since dad left…. It's been over a year…" she sadly says.

I squeeze her shoulder, "I could help you. You might be able to use one of her songs for the assignment this week…"

"I don't think I can even sing her stuff anymore. Even singing Jar of Hearts was hard…" she pouts.

"you've got a great voice. I think that once we start getting your confidence back up, and your back starts feeling better, it'll be easier…" I say to her.

She looks at me with nothing but exhaustion written on her face. There's just way too much going on right now and her father being gone doesn't help at all.

She's not sure what she should say in return, and grabs a stuffed white tiger that looks like it's been through as much as she has. She squeezes the tiger close to her and struggles not to cry.

I gently rub her shoulder, "it's gonna be okay Faith… I'm gonna help you.. I promise…"

She blinks back tears as she yawns. "I can't do this…"

"Yeah Faith, you can. We're gonna take it step by step okay. I don't want you to worry…" I reassure her.

I notice a single tear fall, "It would help if he'd just come home…."

I start rubbing her back, "I know. It's not easy, but I'm gonna be here for you okay, I know you can get through this…"

She sighs, "he left before she started getting mean… and all I want sometimes is a hug from him.. but he's too far away.."

God, if only Ellen knew that her father was away, maybe she would have been nicer. Hopefully Emma knows about this, she really needs to.

I hug her and she leans into me crying, "I hate this…"

"Shhh… I know you do. I'm gonna try to make things better at school okay.." I tell her.

"I don't know why I couldn't do it…" she whimpers. I know she's really stressed out, and maybe the fact that her dad's not here is one of the reasons she didn't hurt herself.

I gently rub her back, "you're a lot stronger than you think. You may not believe me now, but I'm serious. Everything's gonna be okay…"

I notice her mom is peeking into her room, smiling. I nod and she comes in the room.

"Faith honey, Mr. Schue's right. We're gonna help you. Everything's gonna be okay…" she says, sitting next to Faith.

"I'm sorry mom.. I just don't know what else to do anymore…" she whimpers, still leaning against me.

"I know sweetheart, we're gonna take this one step at a time. You will get through this…" the woman says, squeezing Faith's hand.

I keep rubbing her back, "You can talk to me whenever you need to. I'm gonna give you my number, and if you need anything, don't be afraid to call okay…"

She needs someone besides her mom that she can talk to and learn to trust.

"Kay…" she mumbles, squeezing the tiger.

Danielle smiles at me and brushes some hair out of Faith's eyes.

"my back really hurts…" she whimpers.

"I know honey. I called your doctor earlier, you have an appointment in a few days. But she said it's okay if you take some Advil just to take the edge off…" the woman calmly says.

"I can't miss any school.. I'm already too far behind…" she mumbles.

"don't worry, it's after school. So you should be fine…" Danielle reassures her.

"mmk…" the teen whimpers, and yawns.

"why don't you take a nap, and then sort through some more school work? It'll be easier to concentrate if you've had some sleep…" I suggest.

She nods and lays down on her bed, trying to get comfortable. Her mom fixes the sheets and brushes the hair away from her eyes.

"it'll be okay honey. Just relax, I'll come get you when dinner's ready.." she says, as Faith starts to close her eyes.

I squeeze her shoulder, "don't be afraid to call me if you need anything okay. You're gonna be fine…"

She's asleep before we leave the room and her mom cracks the door.

"I'm not sure what I'd do if you didn't come. I know a lot of the reason she's so upset is because her father's gone. But Mrs. Jacobs just made everything worse…" the woman tells me.

"Yeah. I know a few people I might be able to call and see if they can get him to come home because of a family emergency…" I tell her.

"really? She'd love that. I think it would really help her get through this." Danielle smiles.

"I do too. I'll make the phone calls first thing in the morning and let you know what happens. Maybe when she wakes up just do a little school work with her, and help her find a song she can start working on…there's a lot she can do but doesn't realize it.." I explain.

"Okay. She might miss glee one day because of her doctor's appointment…" she tells me.

"That's okay. I don't have a problem with that, I know she needs to go.." I tell her.

"Alright, but you might wanna talk to her about that. She's a little worried about missing school…" she replies.

"I will. It should be okay…" I reassure her.

"Thanks, I'll bring her by school in the morning and I might stop in and talk to Ms. P… just to see what more we can do to help her…"

"that would be a good idea. I'm gonna go ahead and head home, call me if she wants to talk…" I say.

"Alright. I'll see you soon.." she smiles as I leave their house.

Hopefully I can call Dylan and see if he can get her dad to come home. That would really help her a lot, and she might talk to him more than anybody else.

A/N: random idea, but I was watching those surprise homecoming shows and it made me start thinking if I could use something like that in this story. Next chapter is back in Glee and more singing! Still with the love song theme and it's Puck's turn!