A/N: Sorry for the wait (again). Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter :)

Just like she'd expected, Lucy was all but pushed into a puddle the next morning. She had scarcely enough time to change into dry clothes in one of the cramped bathroom stalls before first period. Somehow, though, she managed to do it.

Some people had the nerve to look disappointed when she showed up wearing dry clothes, but Lucy scurried to her seat without saying anything about it. They'd only laugh at her, after all.

As she put the bag of wet clothes in her locker between classes, a group of girls passed her, muttering quietly. One of them actually stopped walking and turned around to say, "There's dirt in your hair, Lucy Caboosey. Don't you ever take a shower?"

The hallway exploded, and Lucy felt almost inclined to crawl into her locker and hide. She had tried to dry her hair earlier, but apparently, her hair being wet had been but one of her problems.

"Just leave her alone." Frowning, Lucy perked up slightly. That was just a figment of her imagination, wasn't it? Who would ever stand up for her, and why?

As she looked around, she realised that it must've been Blaine – which was odd, because they weren't even really friends, were they? They were just working on a project together. Andrew was standing next to him – which might've been the reason why people actually walked away. Blaine might be able to say stuff like that and get away with it, but the fact that he was barely five foot tall did take away from the amount of fear he inspired in the students around him.

"Come on, let's go to class," Blaine said, turning to her. After doing some weird handshake with Blaine, Andrew took off as well. Only now did Lucy realise Blaine was walking around with their History project in his other hands.

"You really didn't have to do that," she told him as they walked. "It happens all the time, I'm used to it by now." That was only partly true; yes, it happened all the time, but each blow, be it physically or emotionally, hurt. "Should I carry that?" She asked, gesturing towards the rolled up map.

Blaine just grunted at first, before shaking his head. "No, it's fine. It's not heavy or anything."

As they entered the classroom, people were whispering about something. They stopped for a moment before continuing, and Lucy started feeling rather uncomfortable. Seeing as their teacher wasn't there yet, there was no way that class would start already, or that the other kids would at least feel a little restricted in what they could say or do.

"Hey, Blaine!" Someone in the middle of the classroom hissed. "Anderson!"

Blaine turned around, looking a little suspicious, but, from what Lucy could see, he smiled nonetheless. "Yeah? What's wrong?"

The boy who'd called him just snickered a bit, and the girl sitting next to him asked, "Are you dating Lucy Caboosey now?"

Lucy, who hadn't turned around, felt her hands grip the edge of her desk. Could they get anymore childish?

"Of course not," Blaine scoffed. "Do you mean you're dating everyone you stand up for? Because…" Some people in the room sniggered at his insinuation. "But Lucy hasn't done anything wrong, has she? Why are you all pestering her anyway?"

"She's Lucy Caboosey," another girl, who wasn't laughing, replied. "That's reason enough."

Fortunately, their teacher walked in at that moment, and everyone quieted down pretty quickly. Lucy didn't dare look up all throughout class; it was clear that, whatever she did, people were going to whisper about it and judge her for it.

After handing in their project after class – they wouldn't have to present this in front of the class, but the same wouldn't go for certain future projects – Blaine asked, "Are you going to be joining us for lunch again today?"

Lucy stared at him like a deer caught in headlights. "Uh – why?"

Blaine blinked, giving her a slightly confused look. "Why not?"

"Won't your friends be annoyed if I sit with you again?" she asked, slowly walking towards her next class.

"No, they won't," Blaine replied. "Caroline was actually the one to suggest it in the first place. She said she's seen you in church sometimes and it doesn't look like you've got any friends there, so…"

Oh. That was news. Lucy knew that some of her classmates went to the same church as she did, but she'd never noticed Caroline before. Then again, she hadn't really been looking. "Yeah, I'll – I'll think about it," she said in the end, before parting ways with Blaine.

They didn't have bacon in the cafeteria that day, so Lucy decided to grab a salad now. No matter what had happened these past few weeks, she tried to not stand out too much (which was pretty hard, being her; everyone seemed to always notice her, much to most people's dismay). Then, Rosie turned up and all but directed Lucy towards the same table they'd sat at the day before.

Not really knowing what to do, and if the others really wanted her there, Lucy remained silent for the biggest part of the lunch break. The salad she'd got was different from anything she'd ever eaten for lunch (except for that apple she'd had two weeks earlier), and she had some trouble with getting herself to eat it. Yes, she ate salads as part of dinner sometimes, but she'd never had to survive on just a salad for the entire afternoon. Maybe she'd just have to swallow whatever pride she had left and ask her mother to make her lunch – something sort of healthy but more than what she'd had today. She figured she could try to make it herself, but it would, most likely, end up being even less healthy than what she usually got.

When it was almost time for class, Lucy had barely said three words. They'd attempted to talk to her – Jessica asked how the gum incident had ended, Rosie and Caroline tried to talk math with her, and Andrew tried to talk the whole group into coming to his first soccer game of the season later that week – but it had felt so odd, just talking to people, that she just hadn't talked much. Besides, she could feel the eyes of the other students on them, most likely judging them and wondering why they were hanging out with her. She didn't want to make that worse. So with a quick goodbye, Lucy left the table two minutes before the bell rang and all but fled the cafeteria.

A/N: So, what do you think? Let me know, please review!