Disclaimer: Mine= absolutely nothing.

Author's Note: Why hello there! Guess what? I realized for the first time that when I made the OC sign up sheet I didn't put in a personality section. I face palmed at my own stupidity. I'm not exactly sure how this chapter was, I feel a little uneasy, like it wasn't really at the same level that my previous chapters may have been. I really hope it was okay, and if it wasn't please let me know, and just stick with me. This chapter introduces three more characters, but it's set during the same day as the next chapter.

The performance in front of the whole school is featured, and the dance moves and singing lines are pretty much the same from the previous chapter. Like I said before, at the bottom of the chapter is a list of the characters I've accepted. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. :)

"BOO!"

Nicole screamed, instantly dropping her quesadilla and spun around with her hand in her purse (to make it appear that she had pepper spray or a knife, or something intimidating in her purse). Her face was set into a "threatening" expression, where her lips were puffed out, her eyes squinted and her eyebrows furrowed.

But instead of coming face to face with a psycho murderer, who wanted to harvest her organs to sell in some underground black market, she came face to face with her good friend Una Donnelly, who had her hand over her mouth as she tried to muffle her laughter.

Nicole placed a hand over her heart, as she let out a breath of annoyance. "You scared the shit out of me!" she whined, before her eyes widened comically, as she realized what she had just said. "Shit, I just said shit! Shit I did it again! Oh my god, what is wrong with me? Shit I can't believe I just said that! Crap! I am just going to stop talking now."

Una shook her head in amusement, as she laughed softly. "That would probably be a good idea."

"It sort of sucks being friends with the captain of the God Squad sometimes," she moaned, taking her hand out of her purse for the first time, and shoving it back into her locker. "I just swore, and used the lord's name in vain. I'm trying to train myself, by rewarding myself with cookies each day, but as you can see it's not going so well."

"So, what were you going to do? Attack me with your lipstick?" Una asked, tilting her head curiously to the side. She knew her friend; Nicole probably had her IPod, her phone, a book and about seven different coupons for Senor's Salsation in her purse, along with a bunch of other stuff that she would never use, but there was no way she had anything threatening inside.

The blonde rolled her eyes, and let out a fake huff of irritation. "Who needs any weapons when I've got these guns?" she asked, flexing her arms, as if she was in shot-put and was about to throw the ball. "Fire power!"

A look of mocking doubt came over Una's face, as she reached her finger out to playfully jab Nicole in the side. "You couldn't open your jar of pickles yesterday. In the middle of the History Exam, you got up, slammed the pickles down on my desk and told me to open them for you. I still have no idea why you had them in the first place."

"Pickles are my brain food," Nicole remarked. "Besides, I was just trying to make you seem superior in front of your crush."

"You got a D! I still have no idea how you are in Advanced Chemistry, or Advanced Physics, or really any of your classes," Una commented, disbelief clear in her tone. "And for the last time. I. Do. Not. Have. A. Crush. On. Mike."

Nicole scoffed, as she nodded sarcastically. "So, you just stare at him all day for research on your Anatomy paper?"

Una nodded curtly, the muscles in her face tight, as she unconsciously traced the tattoo on the side of her hand. The tattoo was easily one of her worst mistakes, but unlike her other mistakes, and other traces of her past, she couldn't force it to the back of her closet to never be spoken of again. It was out for anybody to see, and was engraved permanently into her skin. Whenever a 'I'm going to act before thinking about it' situation comes near, she traces the little drawing to remind herself the damage a split second decision can make.

The first bell rang to signify the beginning of the school day, and while on most days Una would be headed to Economics with Mr. Peters, and Nicole would be headed to Advanced Chemistry with Mr. Thompson, today they had a morning assembly that would overlap the first three periods.

Recently, there had been a school shooting in Akron, Ohio and in response to the tragic event, the state ordered a mandatory school assembly that lectured kids on gun violence, and depression/bullying, which took place every two months.

Nicole shut her locker door, and bent down to pick up the now ruined quesadilla, and jutted her bottom lip out when she saw the delicious delicacy covered in dirt and hair, with a piece of chewed up bubblegum sticking to it. "That was my breakfast."

Una gingerly picked the food out of her hand and placed it in the garbage can on her right. "Aren't you in Spanish club?"

Nicole nodded, as they started to walk side by side to the gymnasium. "Your point?"

"Quesadillas are Mexican. They're not exactly the same thing," Una responded, not missing the way that Nicole's eyes looked behind them at the trash can with a longing look in her eye. It still came as a shock to her that Nicole could be as skinny as she was, and still manage to eat like she did. The girl was like a vacuum, she would eat anything that crossed her path.

She shrugged, lazily slowing down her pace when she noticed that they had reached the doors, but the only other person in the hallway was a kid behind them. "It's free food. I'll take whatever I can get."

The kid behind them, who was wearing a big black hoodie, a pair of jeans and a weird pair of gumboots eventually passed them, just as Nicole counted on, and when she (or at least Una thought she was a girl, the hoodie covered most of her face) threw open the door, Nicole quickly sped up her pace, and rushed through before the girl could leave, which forced her to stand there and hold open the door for them.

As Nicole made her way through the door, Una followed, but turned back at the last second to thank the person holding the door open for them.

Instantly the brown of her eyes connected with the ocean blue of the girl's, but instead of an effortless 'thanks a lot' falling from her lips, she froze. She felt a certain feeling of familiarity settling in her mind as she looked at the girl.

The girl was a naturally born ginger (or so she could only assume) with long hair that flowed gracefully down her shoulders, but shielded everything but her eyes from view. Her eyes peeked out at her, the dark blue being accentuated by a heavy amount of eyeliner, holding a look of disinterest.

She had never met the girl before, or even seen her, but something in her eyes reminded her of the Una Donnelly that used to exist, the one who vanished as soon as she stepped foot in Lima.

It wasn't long before Nicole hooked her arm through hers and started to drag her away to their seats, murmuring something about elephants and spicy foods. But even after they were sitting on the bleachers, sandwiched in between Coach Sylvester and a overweight football player, and her eyes wandered back to the gym doors to find nothing but a vacant spot, her heart continued to thud loudly as a wave of memories came crashing down onto her.

Not even Nicole's voice broke into her reverie. "So, what do you think about joining the track team?"

Holly was nervous. Like really nervous, to the point that she couldn't even stand in one place for longer the two seconds, and every time that she tried to she would feel an extreme amount of nausea course through her.

A little over two hours had passed since the assembly began, and every minute she kept telling herself in a calm collected voice that they would be fine. They would go, execute the number flawlessly, receive a thunderous amount of applause, four people would sign up and she would officially be the teacher of a glee club. But she was still feeling sick to her stomach, and she wasn't even performing. She hadn't felt this way since her childhood best friend dared her to jump off the bridge that overlooked the river.

A hand reached out to rest on her shoulder, forcing her from continuing to pace behind the confinement of the curtain. "Miss Holliday, it's time for your glee club's performance."

Holly pursed her lips as she responded to Figgins with a tight smile, before turning around to face the eight teenagers standing behind her, all of whom seemed more together than she did.

"Okay, you guys have got this. Just remember this is not eight different takes on this song, this is one. You guys are a team, and if you remember that, everything else should come naturally," she told them as she clapped her hands together. They could do this, she knows that they can. They just had to believe in themselves as individuals and everybody else as a team. "Knock them dead. Break a leg. Raise the roof. Leave nobody dry eyed. Kill it."

Tyler looked up from where she had been picking off the strings off of her "costume". They hadn't had much time to form a wardrobe, but they still needed to represent unity, so they were all wearing dark blue T-shirts with maintenance written on the back in bright white letters (they had been the janitors' bowling shirts the year before) and plain black pants and shoes. "Kill what?"

Her face was contorted in pure confusion, and it was obvious that she hadn't been listening to a word that Holly had been saying. Ricky gently patted her on the back, and took pity on her. "She was just talking in overly used idioms."

"And now please welcome your very own glee club…The New Directions."

The eight members quickly got into position as the red curtain swung up, and the opening notes of 'Titanium' began to drift through the air.

Stella came out first once again, taking long purposeful strides. "You shout it out, but I can't hear a word you say," she sang, gently raising her arms to rest on her head for a split second before they were placed at her side once again. Her eyes searched the crowd, skimming past many dazed and confused looks (they all knew glee was social suicide) before interlocking with the bright green eyes she had been searching for.

Mason wordlessly stared at her, his face set in a stony expression.

"I'm talking loud not saying much," Emily crooned as she stepped out, a bright white show smile gracing her face. Her smile slightly faltered when she saw the face of her little brother flitter through her vision, but when she blinked he disappeared, and the smile came back full force, a little less genuine.

Stella dropped back, as JT sauntered up and took a hold of Emily's right hand. He smirked when he noticed the looks his fellow football buddies were throwing at him. "I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet. You shoot me down, but I get up." With the memory of his mistake the previous day still burning in his mind, he gently tugged Emily towards him and returned the appreciative smile she shot his way, before they separated to opposite sides of the stage.

"I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down but I won't fall. I am titanium," They sang together in the formation of the horizontal line, in the middle of the stage.

Holly beamed from her place on the bleachers, as she watched all eight of the members' arms moving in sync. As one person swung up, so did the other seven. When one person went left, so did the other seven. Then there was the fact that she had heard Hayley coming in a little too strong, before a look of realization dawned on her face, and she slowly lowered her volume to match JT's. A few minor issues were still present, but the club in front of her seemed to be a completely different club then the one the other day.

"Cut me down, but it's you who has farther to fall," Ricky resonated, taking four steps forward, as Emily and Tyler planked him on either side.

Stella's eyes were still glued to Mason's as she tried to distinguish the look in his eyes, wondering if she had just royally messed up the only relationship that somebody would be willing to have with her.

With a sudden moment of clarity, another thought entered her mind, squeezing its way in between all of the Mason related ones. 'If I'm thinking of him now, while I'm performing, and not really paying attention to the steps, does that mean that I've started to put him before Emily, or even myself?'

The thought comes a little too late, because after Ricky finished his last lyric, the members in the back were supposed to complete a 360 degree turn to the right, before throwing their arms up into the air. But her body's working on autopilot, and when she recognized that small fact, she hastily turned the wrong way, and ended up colliding with Hayley, and both of their bodies fell to the ground. Sawyer, who was on the opposite side of Hayley, ended up tripping over her as he went to make his turn, and the same for Ellie who was on the opposite side of Sawyer.

"Ghost town and haunted love," Emily intoned, not aware of the dog pile that had just occurred behind her. She went forward to gently place her hand on his shoulder, when his face suddenly morphed into her little brother's, wearing a scared expression on his face as he cried for help. She released a cry of astonishment as she tried to step back, but instead ended up catching the back of her shoe on her leg, and accidently elbowed Ricky in the nose as she stumbled forward.

The gymnasium suddenly went quiet, and the music was stopped mid beat, as everybody simply stared at the eight teenagers on the stage. One minute they had been doing exceptionally well, and the next they were all laying face down on the floor.

"You better get your ass off me Esty-D."

"Same goes for you Ramirez."

"Please, you only wish that I would willingly be between your legs like this, Wright."

"I'm so sorry Ricky, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just a bit of blood."

"What about you Ellie? You came down on your ankle at an abnormal angle."

"Don't worry. The only thing I hurt was my dignity."

JT had recovered almost instantaneously following the incident, due to the fact that he had seen Ellie's dainty figure coming towards him almost instantly, and was able to step out of the way to avoid the crash. Just like the previous day, he tore his eyes away from everything that was happening and met Holly's eyes hesitantly, silently asking what they should do. Holly just nodded her head.

He shared a momentary look with Tyler, as he lightly began to hum. "Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones. I'm talking loud, not saying much," Tyler belted, as she placed her hand on Ricky's shoulder and cocked her hip. Emily looked at her unsurely, not quite comfortable with the idea of continuing especially considering Ricky was hurt. But when Tyler and Ricky both looked at her expectantly she complied, as she mimicked the movement.

The two of them circled him, before all three melted back into the line, where JT, Ellie, Sawyer and Hayley were already tentatively standing. Reaching her hand down Tyler pulled Stella up giving her a reassuring smile.

"I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down but I won't fall. I am titanium," The six of them sang, as both JT and Ellie contributed by humming the tune. The first few notes were uncertain, and when they completed the 360 degree turn, it was slow and uncoordinated. But halfway through the chorus they eased back into their previous routine, hitting the notes in stride.

"Stone-hard, machine gun,"Hayley belted out, stepping forward confidence unwavering.

"Firing at the ones who run,"Sawyer sang, pretending to pick up an imaginary gun and fired it at Sue, laughing as her face contorted and she slammed her first down onto the plate Nicole Lion had been holding, about to pick up her burrito.

"Stone-hard, those bulletproof glass,"Ellie harmonized. She was happy. This is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, and even if she fell down sometimes, she would pick herself up again, dust off and come back swinging.

"You shoot me down but I won't fall; I am titanium. You shoot me down but I won't fall; I am titanium. I am titanium."

As the last word fell from their lips, silence once again enveloped the room. The stereo had never been turned back on following the game of human dominos, so instead of getting the prolonged time of about two seconds, in which they could survey everybody's faces and decide before it happened what sort of response they would receive, they didn't.

A half a second later, the people started to clap politely, their bottoms still fastened to their seats. Nobody booed, nobody cheered; they received a modest response.

But they had worked as a team: they had succeeded as a team, failed as a team, and got back up as a team, and that was why Holly stood on her feet, hollering and whistling, and smiling.

Una frowned, repositioning her hands on the orange basketball in her hands, before slowly imitating her usual free throw. Something didn't feel right and at times like this she really wished she could see herself through someone else's eyes, so she could know whether or not the problem was simply in her mind, or if it did indeed exist.

Una slowly brought the ball down again, before squaring herself to the net, and releasing the ball from her raised hand. The ball left her hands, and went soaring to the other side of the gym, swiftly landing in the net.

Still unsatisfied, she focused her eyes on her good friend, hoping to get her opinion. "Nic, be honest, do you think that most of my power is coming from my arms or my legs?" Una asked the honey blonde, as she replayed her last seven shots in her mind.

The blonde tossed the ball back from where she was standing behind the basketball net, with a perplexed expression on her face. "Does it really matter? You got it in, and we both know that is all coach really wants."

"Of course it matters. If I continue to rely on my arms for the power, then I will slowly be moving backwards in progress," Una glowered at her. She wasn't that impressed, especially considering Nicole was usually the only one of her friends who would tell her the truth after every single one of her questions. The others would often get tired of being asked the same question over and over again, just stylized in a different form, and start giving noncommittal grunts and murmurs of agreement.

"You relied on your legs more so than your arms. In your last shot your arms acted as nothing more than a little more motivation," Nicole supplied, rolling her eyes when Una furrowed her eyebrows before repeating her previous action of imitating her free throw. She could tell her that her free throw was fine multiple times, but it wouldn't make a difference, because Una wouldn't believe it until she felt it for herself. "I still can't believe your fretting over your below par free throw, when my stomach is pretty much devouring itself after the death of both my burrito and my quesadilla!"

"I knew it was below par!"

Nicole let out a deep breath and grabbed the ball from Una's hands, placing it back in her warm up bag, before she zipped up the bag and thrust it against Una's chest. She locked her hand around her wrist, and harshly pulled her out of the gym, ignoring the way Una squirmed against her grip. Nicole cringed internally when Una let out a hiss of pain in objection, but she continued to drag her through the hallway, not stopping until they stopped in front of main bulletin board.

Una blinked in confusion, instinctively rubbing her right wrist, as she stared at the apparent cause of Nicole's sudden surge of forcefulness. One of the things about Nicole was that she always had such an airy, carefree personality, and on more than one occasion she was the one calming down their more passionate friends. The sudden urge of power that resulted in her dragging her down the hallway, leaving her scrambling in an effort not to drop any of her stuff, was not in character.

"You know if you wanted to join The New Directions you could've just told me, instead of me experiencing your vice like grip," Una commented, looking at the white piece of paper in front of her. So, far it held only one name: Carson Aaronson. Carson's name was nothing more than a scribble, giving her the impression that it was a hasty decision he made and carried out before he had time to change his mind.

Grabbing a pen from her bag, she scrawled her own name directly underneath Carson's, drawing a small smiley face at the end. "See? I wouldn't have objected. They did pretty well in the assembly, and it looks like a lot of fun; you didn't have to unleash your wrath on me."

Nicole smiled, grabbing the pen from her friend's extended hand and wrote her name on a blank line. The reason she had dragged Una down wasn't because she doubted whether or not Una would join, but because she had been internally battling herself on whether or not to join and she wanted to sign up before she could second guess her final decision. "YOLO right? You only live once."

"Is this really YOLO? Or is this really a YOHTTSUFTCYCII?" she grinned, watching as a faint blush crept up onto Nicole's cheeks. They both knew what it stood for. YOHTTSUFTCYCII translated into 'You only have today to sign up for the club your crush is in'. Just the fact that Nicole was able to decipher it so quickly, made her real intentions very clear. "Just admit that we're joining because of your little crush."

"I didn't even end it with Chloe two days ago. I don't move on that fast," Nicole defended herself quickly. "Anyways, are you ready to head over for lunch?"

Una nodded, deciding to leave the particular subject alone for the time being, but judging by Nicole's beat red face it was far from over. She was just teasing her friend, because she was secretly extremely grateful that they were joining glee club, where she could keep an eye on Nicole and her crush. By joining the club, and being in close proximity of her crush, Nicole's feelings would most likely come forward sooner and stronger, or even possibly disappear when she got to know the real person behind the picture that she had already painted in her head. Una desperately hoped that it would be the latter, because at the end of the day if it continued Nicole would get hurt, and she couldn't stand to see that happen.

They arrived at the cafeteria just as the hallway began to swarm with bodies, students and teachers alike. At the same moment as Una pushed open the door, she spotted the familiar pair of black gumboots out of the corner of her eye, heading out of the school's North entrance.

"I gave up coffee and cigarettes; I hate to say it hasn't helped me yet. I thought my problems would just dissipate and all my pain would be in yesterday," Jordan sang softly as she made her way up the stairs of the building, towards the small apartment that she managed to live in. The building was a run down one, having been built around the 60's, and being one of the only ones that didn't get torn down and renovated when real state became the next big thing. Every time she walked up the steps, she had to do so carefully, in order to avoid any possible damages.

It wasn't the nicest place to live in, far from, but it didn't have any infestations or mould problems, and the landlord of the building was very kind to them in terms of rent. They had to pay the same rate as everybody else, but had an extra four days to get the money in, which she greatly appreciated.

But still, every time she made her way up the stairs, a pang of guilt hit her when she thought of her little brother. Some nights she wasn't even positive that they were going to be able to eat, without her having to ask their next door neighbour, Sophie, for a little something for Brandon, knowing that she would survive, but he shouldn't have to.

This week had been better than most though, she had ended up having enough money to buy him the new book that he had been talking about, and the look of pure excitement that lit up his face made all the other bad days worth it.

"I poured my booze all down the kitchen drain, and watched my bad habits get flushed away. I thought that it would keep my head on straight, and all my pain would be in yesterday."

Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans, she grabbed the key to the apartment out and stuck it in. The key struggled in its place, refusing to enter at its specified placement. Jordan continued to struggle with the key, quickly growing anxious when it still refused to do so, because she knew that the tenant was gone for the week and they couldn't afford a locksmith. Out of pure distress, she tried to slam the key in the lock, hoping that it provided the necessary force, but instead watched as the key snapped towards the end.

'No. Please, please don't,' she prayed, as she rattled the doorknob hoping that the lock would come loose like it had many times in the past. Sophie and her husband had also left for the week to go and visit their family in the south, and she didn't feel safe asking all of the other tenants in the building for a place to stay.

The door still refused to open, the doorknob continuing to clatter loudly as it made contact with the edge of the wall again and again, not budging.

Unwarranted tears were already starting to gather in her eyes, as she brought her fist down on the door in frustration. She let her head fall back against the door with a loud thud, and slowly felt as the ground came up to meet her.

"Jordan?" A voice cut through the silence.

Jordan looked up through her tear filled vision at the familiar slim figure looking down on her. "Sophie?" she asked, her voice catching on the premature sob that already started to bubble up in her throat.

The older woman had a look of sympathy on her face, as she extended her hand to offer assistance in standing up. Jordan directed a watery smile in her direction before latching onto her hand, and propelling herself back up onto her two feet.

"I thought you were going away?" Jordan asked. "To the south to visit your family."

Sophie shrugged her shoulders, as she opened up the door to her apartment. "Nick forgot his passport, so I ran back to get it," she responded, and Jordan tensed slightly when Sophie paused, another pitying look coming over her face. She braced herself for the questions to start. Was she okay? What happened? Why was it so easy to set her off? "I never told you, but there is a conjoining door between our apartments," Sophie said instead, slipping into her apartment as Jordan hesitantly followed.

Sophie navigated her way through the small cramped apartment, swiftly stepping over all of her son's clothes and toys. Jordan had to stifle a laugh when she herself ended up stepping on a talking stuffed SpongeBob that hummed the tune of 'It's the Best Day Ever'. Eventually they reached the back of the room, and Sophie silently motioned towards the wooden door nestled between their fridge and their stove.

"So, I heard your school opened up a glee club," Sophie said, watching as Jordan opened up the small wooden door to reveal the darkened walls of Jordan's kitchen/living room.

Jordan nodded her head, as she picked the notebook containing her Biology homework up off the chair. Sophie's words were barely registering within her mind, as she wiped the edges of her eyes clean, getting rid of any of the premature leaking.

"I also heard you singing on your way up the stairs. Your voice is beautiful," she commented after another moment passed. "Did you ever consider joining the club?"

Jordan shook her head, folding the notebook closed again, and placing it underneath her arm. Joining glee hadn't even crossed her mind once. She was still currently working two different jobs, was on the Track team and raced in every single marathon or competitive race that was advertised in a 50 mile radius, time wasn't exactly something she had a lot of. "Would you mind lending me one of your keys, until the landlord gets back?"

Sophie handed her the spare key, which she had already been holding in her hand since they entered her own apartment. The worried expression present on Jordan's delicate features stirred a bit of annoyance within her; the fear Jordan was feeling at her request being rejected obvious, as if there was even a remote possibility that she would do that to the young girl. "Would you? Consider joining I mean?"

"No. I don't think I would," she replied honestly. There was nothing to gain by lying; she had asked a question and Jordan had answered the truth. It wasn't only about a lack of time, but also at the thought of having to work collaboratively in a group, where people would expect her input on a regular basis.

"But you enjoy singing?"

"I guess so."

"Then I can't do this anymore."

Jordan turned to face her warily, not quite understanding the meaning behind the words that the small Hispanic woman had just spoken. But there was something in the gaze of the older woman that set her nerves on edge. "Do what anymore?"

"I can't watch Brandon for you anymore. Not while you are at work, or are at a marathon or at school and he has a day off. I won't," Sophie stated seriously. "I can't stand by and watch as you slowly waste away. All you do is work, or run in marathons for cash, and when you have free time you spend it with Brandon. Everything you do is for that kid and I find it beautiful and admirable, but I refuse to stand by and watch as it continues. If you don't join that club, I swear I'll stop, and I'll call child services."

The pain that washed over Jordan's face at that moment nearly broke her heart.

"You wouldn't," she whispered.

"Are you really willing to risk it?" Sophie asked softly.

The memory of the previous night, floated to surface at the ivory haired woman's words. It had been the only day that Jordan had been able to completely spend with him in the past two weeks, so she didn't have to worry about arranging a get together with his friends, or an extended stay at Sophie's.

"When is mom coming home?"

His voice was nothing more than a whisper, his voice heavy with exhaustion. Jordan knew that he was mere seconds from drifting off into a deep sleep, where nothing could wake him, excluding the occasional nightmare he experienced.

They're curled up on their old sofa, his head resting against her chest as he took rhythmic breaths, and one of her arms holding his outstretched legs, making sure that they didn't drape off the end of the couch, while the other was placed daintily on his shoulder. An old Jackie Chan movie was still playing on the TV. She didn't know what she was going to do when they eventually worked their way through all of the movies, because the loud explosions were the only thing that seemed to be able to lull him to sleep recently.

The TV was tightly fastened into the wall, so she couldn't even move it into his bedroom, where they could rest more comfortably, without the worry that the small couch one day wouldn't hold them.

"When is mom coming home?" he asked again, his eyelids fluttering open as his big brown eyes glanced up at her.

Gently, she pressed her two fingertips down onto his eyelids forcing them down. Leaning her face down she placed a gentle kiss into his hair as she murmured, "I don't know buddy."

It's a lie. But he's too tired to identify the slight tremor in her words, like he usually does. If Alexandra had any intentions of coming home, of coming back to them, she would have already.

The hole in her heart, the one that felt like a second skin to her, grew a little bit bigger as she stared down at her little brother's fragile frame. He didn't deserve this.

'I'm so sorry.' She thought to herself, as the tears started to stream down her pale complexion.

"Will you sing to me?"

"Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes. And save these questions for another day…"

She shook her head, because she knew that there never ever would be any circumstance in which she would.

Una munched on her power bar, as she tried to accomplish both texting and walking at the same time. One hand was being used to shove the K-Fighter power bar into her mouth at fixed intervals, while the other was responding to the text messages Nicole was sending her. Nicole had left after lunch to go to a dentist appointment, and ten minutes ago her phone beeped with an incoming text message, the first of many. She could only assume that she received some sort of aesthetic, based on the content of the messages.

The messages served no real point, instead sounded like she was musing to herself not even recognizing that Una could read everything that was being said. But she didn't mind, in fact she found herself laughing at the meaningless questions being thrown her way.

Nicole: Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

Nicole: Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?

Nicole: If Winnie the Pooh was fancy enough to store his honey in jars, why does he always eat it with his hands? No spoons?

Nicole: Why does Sally sell seashells by the seashore, when you could just pick them up there? She clearly doesn't care about her business.

Nicole: At a movie theatre which armrest is yours?

"Una!"

She glanced up from her phone to see Anberlin running towards her, waving his arms frantically. When he reached her, she placed her hands on his shoulder to brace him so he wouldn't fall over. Almost as an afterthought she sent a quick 'LOL' to Nicole.

"Where is the sign up sheet for glee? It's not too late is it?" Anberlin panted, taking the opportunity to catch his breath.

Una chuckled, her long brown locks flying, as she disputed his worries with a shake of her head. "Try outs are after school at 3:30pm. Why do you seem so anxious? Glee has been open for weeks now, and you haven't said a word, and now you're practically drenched in your own sweat in an effort to join."

"Recent information has caused me to reconsider," Anberlin told her, knowing better than to tell his meddling friend what the said information happened to be.

"I don't even think I want to know," Una assumed. While, most things she did prefer to be in her knowing, there were certain things she had learned were more of an obstruction than a blessing. "It's over there," she added, pointing to the white sign up sheet that still remained on the bulletin board. Part of her assumed that some jock, or Miss Sylvester, would've ripped it off by then, but apparently not.

But just as Anberlin took his first step towards his own membership in the club, Una gently stopped him, placing a hand against his chest. "Who is that?"

Anberlin followed the direction of the girl's stare and realized that her eyes were locked onto the frame of the girl in his Forensic Science class. It was the same girl who Una had seen before the assembly began, and afterwards before her and Nicole entered the cafeteria, the one who had been invading Una's thoughts all day, despite telling herself that whatever she thought she saw was fabricated in her mind.

"Jordan Sullivan. I have Forensic Science with her," Anberlin responded, the confusion clear in his tone. Why would she ask that?

"Jordan," Una mimicked, tasting the name out on her tongue, before tenderly giving Anberlin a squeeze on the shoulder (which he was supposed to interpret as his cue to stay there) and she started to walk towards her.

The girl, or 'Jordan' as she had learned, was standing beside the Glee sign up sheet, glaring at it as if it was an animate object that had just spited her. She did so for the remainder of Una's walk towards her, before she finally printed her name on the line, just as Una reached her.

"You're joining glee club?" she asked, frowning when she realized that she was stating the obvious. The girl had just written her name to sign up after all. "That means that we might be teammates. My name is Una Donnelly, and I occupy that line two up from yours," she beamed, giving Jordan her 100 watt smile.

Una spluttered when instead of receiving a "It's nice to meet you" or a "I'm Jordan Sullivan" or even a "Hello" Jordan's blue eyes simply looked at her for a moment, before she turned on her heel and was walking away, her large gumboots squeaking every time they made contact with the freshly cleaned floor.

"If you would've let me finish, I would have mentioned that. She doesn't talk to anyone, besides the teachers when they ask questions, and even then the words are minimal," Anberlin's voice chimed off directly in her ear.

His eyebrows furrowed at the expression still painted on Una's face, multiple questions springing to mind. Why does she care so much? It's not the first time somebody's rebuffed her friendly introduction, why is this different? But instead of vocalizing his thoughts, he instead leaned over her shoulder to be able to write his name on the blank line.

Her phone vibrated at the same moment, and Una gladly welcomed the distraction from the hundreds of different thoughts whirling around in her mind all revolving around the ginger that she still technically had not met, but felt like she knew.

Nicole: If you put your two cents in, but only get a penny for your thoughts, what happens to the other cent?

Holly purposefully took slow, short steps as she walked out of the choir room, following the final bell of the school day ringing. A single white sheet of paper, stapled to a blue bulletin board, controlled the future of the New Directions and her own future as well. If there were anything less than three names on the sign up sheet, the glee club would be shut down, and quite honestly, there would be no real reason for her to stay in Lima anymore. It's not like she had any real friends, and her family had already verbally expressed (on many occasions) their own opinion about her sudden urge to mentor a bunch of singing and dancing teenagers. Needless to say they weren't exactly her decision's biggest supporters.

Though, she still smiled with pride as she thought about the performance of the glee club earlier that day. Even if she left the next day, she hoped that they finally realized how much talent they possessed. She truly believed that each one of those kids were special and would grow up and change the world one day.

When she finally made her way to blue bulletin board, her eyes carefully scanned the list line by line.

*Glee Club Sign Up*—Auditions held Thursday 3:30pm, Choir Room

Carson Aaronson

Una Donnelly

Nicole Lion

She stopped at the third name, silently praising the kids on the fact that three kids had at least resulted from their one performance, flaws and all. If the rest of the lines were revealed to be blank, they still would've come close. One performer away sounded much more admirable than four performers short. But as her eyes continued to make their way through the list, her face broke out into a wide grin.

Jordan Sullivan

Mason Cohen-Chang

Anberlin Young

Not only had they managed to get the needed four names, but two extra people had signed up. She remembered Sue's words from only an hour earlier, where she had cornered her in the teacher's lounge, right before she had been about to grab a muffin from the open container.

"Despite the fact that the sweet smell of inevitable failure wafts from your poor little club's armpits more excessively than a fat man sweats during a walk to his fridge, I can not stand to watch this monstrosity carry on. If you stay in this school, I will inform you that you become public enemy number one. Before president Bush, The Spice Girls and the more recent Olivia Newton John. I may have even felt sorry for you, if it was not for the fact that you are not a winner. And I simply can not feel sorry for losers, because a winner is something that I simply do not know how not to be. Even though, I can still not figure out if you are simply here because there is a remake of another Girls Gone Wild film."

As she started to walk towards the Choir Room, her eyes sparkling with anticipation for the auditions, she spotted Sue standing by a small cheerio's locker yelling at her through a megaphone. They made eye contact for a brief second, before Holly turned her face away, and continued forwards.

She resisted the urge to tell Sue Sylvester exactly where to shove it.

A/N: So there it is! Again, I hope you enjoyed it. I absolutely despise trying to write Sue, even if for a second, because while my mind is capable of coming up with insults, when I try to accomplish one on the same level as Sue Sylvester, I fail. As demonstrated above.

As for that little list above ^, those are the people who are immediately joining the story. There are others that I have chosen, who will be joining a little later on. Oh, and even if you don't see a certain original character below, that doesn't mean that they won't be in the story. Because I'm still toying around with the idea of adding some others. The list below also does not include the characters that I have accepted as antagonists (the ones not in Glee).

The list (including the other characters already introduced):

1. Emily Quincy 2. Stella Thompson 3. Hayley Ramirez 4. Ricky Alvarez 5. Ellie Coughlan 6. JT Palmer 7. Tyler Anderson 8. Sawyer Wright 9. Carson Aaronson 10. Jordan Sullivan 11. Una Donnelly 12. Anberlin Young 13. Mason Cohen-Chang 14. Nicole Lion

Another list containing people who will join later in the story:

1. Kenzie Harrison 2. Mike Geer 3. Ty Benz 4. Amber

Haha, I'll start of writing 14 people, and slowly try to ease my way up to 18.

Review? :D