So, this chapter is a lot different than most. I read your advice, and from now on, every chapter will have ONE NARRATOR, and read here to figure out who it is. This one is pretty unexpected, seeing as it's Tina. Finn and Kurt may be the poster boys of this story, but I want there to be more layers than just that. Anyway, enjoy!


I am the worst girlfriend in the world. Here I am, supposedly picking up Artie's favorite sandwich from Subway, but in reality, I've skipped picking up his 6 inch delight. You see, today, he was acting even stranger than usual, and while I want to believe in him being faithful to me, I can't help but think there is someone else. There was Katrina from his physiotherapy, she looked like a right tramp, or it could be Allison, she may be paralyzed from the waist down, but something tells me she's found a way to spread her legs, or maybe Amy, her arms may be broken, but that doesn't stop her hips from- ugh, see, I really am the world's worst girlfriend. I don't even know these girls, but here I am, talking about them like common night walkers. OK, just enter the house, and find out Artie is watching cartoons or something, or talking on the phone with friends, checking his email, anything but being with another girl.

"Hey, Artie, I'm home, listen, Subway was closed for renos, so I just went straight-" Technically, I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary. No flustered blonde mounting him, no lacy panties found in the back of the sofa, or the window open with a pair of amazingly tanned legs hanging out. But this wasn't ordinary. Artie was sitting in the middle of the room, hair toussled, jacket undone, and he wouldn't look up. "Artie, Artie, did you hear me?" Oh god, here it was, cliche soap opera evidence that would make any loving girlfriend scream; crutches, bright pink handles, just resting against the fridge, my fridge, my house, the house where Artie and this dumb broad have been screwing for god knows how long. The pink is blurring, right now, all I can see is red, and I don't want to know the truth, but I need to. I need it, I need to leave him if I am right about any of this.

"Where is she?" Artie is now looking at me, with a pitiful glance, barely working through the motions of looking confused, as if that'll throw me off the track now. The more I think about it, I can smell a cheap perfume off of his clothes, and his lips are shinier than normal, probably due to her lip gloss smearing all over his unfaithful lips. I have a right to be dramatic right now, OK, my boyfriend is basically choosing to end our relationship without telling me first, going behind my back, finding someone else. Right now, though, that same empty glance was still being given to me.

"Oh, no, don't even give me that, tell me, where is the dumb bitch who you are sleeping with?" I am surprised my voice barely cracked as I said this, and I almost sounded ferocious, opposed to the timid girl I had been throughout our relationship. Artie's eyes mellowed out, and he finally spoke.

"I don't know what you are-"

"No, no, don't even give me that! How stupid do you think I am, Artie? You don't use crutches, perfume, lip gloss, I mean, what the hell, do you think I was just going to keep on pretending to trust you when you clearly abandoned me. So, as a tribute to what we once had-" Now his face contorted into actual pain, something I had never seen while we were together, "let me see the bitch who ruined this relationship. Please." Even though I knew the truth, knew he was cheating, I am feeling this thing in the middle of my chest, wishing that he'd show every hiding place, and no one would be there. He was just holding the crutches for a friend, he would explain, and his physiotherapist tried a new perfume that was quite putrid, he would tell me laughingly, recalling the awful fragrance. His lips have been chapped lately, so before his sandwich came, he put on way too much chap stick to reduce the pain of eating his sub. But those words never came, instead, he slowly wheeled over to the closet, and opened the door to reveal a pretty blonde girl in a frilly purple dress, with a sad face directed towards me. Her mascara was running down her eyes, as if she was the one who had been cheated on, and she hobbled towards me, attempting to exit the closet, but Artie helped her off her feet and let her sit on his lap. Something he never let me do. Now, I was angry, but there was nothing left to say anymore. The girl held her hand out weakly towards me, but what I am I supposed to do, take it, accept that everything is over. Now she's bitterly laughing, with tears spilling down her face and Artie rubbing circles in her back. He never showed me this kindness in our relationship, I was the caretaker, I was the physiotherapist, I was the friend, and he just sat there, no offense, letting me do everything for him.

"Did you ever love me?" Oh crap. The words spilled out of my lips, and while I didn't want to know, I had to. We may have never said we love each other in our relationship yet, but it was unspoken, we knew how we felt, at least, I thought we did. Now, his head was just sinking down into the floor, and I had my answer.

"I cared about you. It's just not working out. Melissa and I just met at physiotherapy four months ago, and-" the words are just a blur. Does it even matter what he says now? I realized how dumb I had been. Melissa's name had been mentioned often, even her face being a presence in places it shouldn't have been, dates at the mall, feeding ducks in the park. Even without physically being there, day one had been poisoned. Every single second I spent with that son of a bitch is now meaningless, because I never meant anything to him.

"Stop." Good. He's stopped talking about the girl who I could kill with my bare hands right now, but she hasn't stopped crying. "I'd give you ten seconds, but because of your disabilities, you have two minutes to get the hell out of my house, and never come back. Don't tell me how sorry you are, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever dated you, Artie, and sorry I wasted your time when you'd rather feel up some random girl who clearly understands you better than I do. So go, and you-", I referred to the crying blonde, seeing as I would join her if I acknowledged her as a human being, "if I ever see you around my house, my friends, my life, I will let everyone know what a shameless home wrecker you are." Finally, I hated those tears before, but knowing now that I was making her produce them, there was a certain joy in that. Now, the pretty little couple, perfect looking if you didn't know that they were forbidden, went and left my house. I wanted to sob into the pillow Artie gave me. I wanted to scream at Mercedes for telling me how stupid I was for thinking he was cheating. I wanted to smash every photograph we had ever framed around my room. But I couldn't. Lately, I've been treating people differently, women's intuition or whatever. Artie didn't just cheat on me, he gave me paranoia, and I've been walking on egg shells around everyone in my life. Now, I need to fix something I seriously screwed up.


"Christina, stop!" The girl raced down the hall, clearly upset, but moving with a direct purpose. "Christina, talk to me, before you do something you'll regret." Now, she is swooping in towards me, a look of total pain and betrayal, coupled with protectiveness. Oh no, she knows about Kurt and Finn, she has to.

"Finn told me about my brother and him. Sam has a right to know about their secret relationship, seeing as it ended the day they went out. Don't even talk to me, Tina, I know you walked in on Finn and Kurt, seeing as you didn't say anything, I'm guessing you knew about Sam and Kurt." Great, she has it all planned out in her mind, a scenario she barely understands, compartmentalized into a simple story which in reality is way more complicated than she would believe. She's back to huffing and heaving, getting up, and racing for the doors.

"Wait, Christina, just don't, please, how is this helping Sam?" Christina is now completely motionless, her hand at the door, looking back at me with a fierce look in her eyes. "Why do you want him to know something that means nothing now? If it meant something, tell him. Tell him if it was a lie, if everything Sam and Kurt did together meant nothing now, but it does. It means everything, because now, Kurt only cares about Sam." I can't tell if she wants to throat punch me or break into tears, but she releases her grip on the door.

"Uh, listen, thanks. I mean, for convincing me to do the right thing for my little brother. Finn just, my god, he made the whole thing sound like an illicit love affair behind my brother's back, I thought he deserved to know, but if I know Kurt, he'd tell him when he thinks it's important. Thank you, Tina." I wanted to smile and relish in this moment, but I couldn't. I saved the relationship that deserved to be saved, and I don't know if mine could have been, but I threw it away. I saw a sign of danger and ran, and maybe that is why Sam shouldn't know. It's easier to run in fear than face what you are most scared of, so I guess I just ended it before I could identify all of our imperfections. It's easier to say it was all wrong than a good thing with flaws. What, my face is wet, I think the ceiling has a leak.

"Tina, you're, you're crying, what's the matter?" I am embarrassed, ashamed, angry, sad, and now, crying to my neighbor in the middle of the school hallway.

"Artie, uh, he, ah, he c-c-cheated on me with some gi-girl from his physioth-therapy class. I didn't want to believe it, but, uh, it's true, he did, he cheated and we're-we're-we're d-d-done. We're done. We're-" Now, tears. Tears everywhere, just non-stop sobbing. It's over.


"OK, so Kurt and Finn were happy enough to volunteer their impromptu showcase yesterday, so who would like to go today?" I did prepare something. I prepared to perform Photographs by Rihanna, but now, my hand is up, volunteering something I hadn't thought of before, but fits a thousand times better.

"Great, Tina, thank you for volunteering!" How does Mr. Schue always look so happy when his life is so screwed up, with his crazy ex-wife, and his obvious obsession with Ms. Pillsbury. "Whenever you're ready." I already whispered the changed song to the band just seconds ago, and now, fixing my hair, I am about to perform. The piano comes in, sad and romantic, and my voice, straining with emotion, is coming in.

"Time to tell me the truth

To burden your mouth for what you say

No pieces of paper in the way

'Cause I can't continue pretending to choose

The opposite sides on which we fall

The loving you laters, if at all

No right minds could wrong be this many times"

The class is completely silence, looking up at me, with glances of pity and confusion. I don't understand, the song maybe heartfelt, but it is hardly weak or fragile. Why are they looking at me like someone shot my puppy?

"My memory is cruel

I'm queen of attention-to-details

Defending intentions if he fails

Until now, he told me her name

It sounded familiar in a way

I could have sworn I'd heard him

Say it ten thousand times

If only I had been listening"

Leave unsaid unspoken

Eyes wide shut unopened

You and me

Always between the lines"

Now the song was playing out on the piano and the class was applauding my performance. To be honest, I feel quite great about it as my first solo in Glee that I am really proud of, one that showed off my individual ability as a performer. Artie is looking at me sympathetically, but not happily, remorseful even. I really hope he is happy with Melissa, honestly, what we had meant something to me, and we can be friends eventually. Right now, though, I am not ready yet to open up to him about the pain he put me through, which I'd have to do if I ever want to move on with him.

"That was really great, Tina, I am surprised you were able to bring out such an emotional performance." Mr. Scheuster's expression reminded me of how much I missed being happy, just enjoying life, a little shy, but not dehumanized through a witch hunt for Artie's mistress. So, finally, a genuine laugh is passing my lips.

"Thanks, Mr. Schue, thank you so much!" I giddily moved back to my seat, but Mercedes and Kurt just looked at me, the only ones knowing I was in pain, but me, being the only one who could understand my pain. Slowly but surely, though, the pain will be all gone.


Poor Tina, don't say Artie is being OOC, though, I actually have always thought on the show he isn't a great boyfriend, even before he told her to get a makeover. It's just that she tries a lot harder than him to be nice. The song is "Between the Lines" by Sara Bareilles, just don't say that's not what the song is about, because it can be interpreted in two different ways, the more common way not applying to this story. Probably expect more of her music, I am a really big fan, and I think every song has a good narrative. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I loved all of your feedback, I'll reply to all of you when I have time (I've been really busy since I got back), but thank you to everyone who reviewed, it means a lot to me. Until next time!