So, it's been a while and I realise that but here's another chapter for you all. Hope you enjoy and thank you for being patient.

All mistakes are my own and I don't own Glee.

Ryder's POV

Marley came running up to me at the end of rehearsal.

"What did you think?" she asked excitedly. She linked her arm through mine and we continued to walk out to the parking lot.

"About what?" I asked.

"The performance of course? Jake was great wasn't he?" she asked.

"You were wonderful." I told her. Her face fell.

"Jake was good too don't you think?"

"Yeah he was great. He'll make a great addition to the New Directions."

"Do you actually think that or are you telling me that because you think I want to hear it?" she asked.

I stopped us in the middle of the hallway and she unlinked her arms from mine. "What do you want me to say Marls? I told you I thought he was good." She instantly looked sad. "I'm sorry Marley." I said instantly. "Shall we go and get some ice cream?" I asked and she instantly perked up.

"I'd love that. I have to get home soon by six though because Rachel is going to call me tonight."

"We have plenty of time." I told her, linking her arm with mine and walking out the front entrance of the school.

Jake's POV

When I got home that night, I first thing I thought to do was call Puck. He answered almost straight away.

"Little brother, how did it go in Glee today?" he asked.

"Amazing!" I said loudly. "Marley is amazing and the song she chose with amazing. I can't get over how nice she is." I told Puck.

I heard Puck chuckle at the end of the phone. "Ok, I get it, you like her."

I sniggered. "It's a little obvious isn't it?"

"Probably to everyone but her." He told me. "It's usually the way things work."

"Do you think Rachel ever knew?" I asked.

"What did I say yesterday about her?" he asked, his voice raised a little.

"Don't ignore this Puck. I'm your brother. You can talk to me about this."

He sighed. "I honestly don't know but there were some people who knew and they decided to ignore it. Apparently they thought she was better off with Finn which is complete bullshit if you ask me, he put her on a train and left her. You don't do that if you love someone." He fumed.

"Have you spoken to either of them since you graduated?" I asked.

"No but I've spoken to Santana who is close to Rachel and apparently Finn hasn't tried to contact Rachel."

"Go for it Puck. What have you got to lose?" I asked.

"Apart from a friend?" he said.

"A friend you're not even in contact with? Yeah, you'd lose so much." I bit back. "Look, Puck, you told me to face my fears so you need to take your own advice and do the same." He sighed loudly over the phone. "I have to go Puck. Mum just got back from the store and needs help. Think about what I said."

"Thanks little bro." he said before putting the phone down.

Kitty's POV

I was still kind of shocked that Jake was in New Directions so when I got home, I wanted to tell Quinn the news. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get her on the phone. I left her a message letting her know about Jake and told her to get back to me as soon as she could.

"Kitty? Is that you?" my mum's voice called through the house as the front door closed.

"Yes mum, it's me." I said tiredly. Who else was it going to be? Daddy had left us when mum had let Quinn back in the house and he only saw me on weekends. He refused to acknowledge Quinn in the slightest and even now he doesn't mention her and when I do, he pretends I haven't said anything. It's like she doesn't exist and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

"Have you just got home?" she asked.

"Yes mum."

"How was school?" she asked even though I could tell she wasn't really interested.

"It was great." I told her. I never went into too much detail any more.

"That's great honey. Go upstairs and do your homework." She told me. We had the same conversation everyday whether I came home first or she got home before me. This exact conversation and then there wasn't a lot else between us. Kind of sad really, I think she hated that my daddy preferred me over her and resented me for it. She would never say that out loud however.

I walked upstairs to my room and shut the door.

Marley's POV

"You like Jake don't you?" Ryder asked me as we sat down for ice cream.

"Well of course I do. He seems like he'll make a good friend." I told him.

"Marley, I mean you like him, like him."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "He's sweet and funny. But I'm only a freshman, I don't want to get into deep with a guy like Jake now. I'm still young. He'll be there in a couple of years when I want a relationship." She told me.

"And what if he's not? You can't shy away from something because you're scared." He said.

"I'm not scared." I insisted. "I just don't want to date yet and it's not just Jake, its all boys. I don't want to date a boy yet. And anyway, why are you suddenly on his side? You got so jealous of him this morning."

"You noticed that?" he asked. Now it was his turn to swallow the lump in his throat.

"I'm you're best friend. I notice everything when it comes to you. I don't see why you're so jealous."

"You're my best friend. I don't want him to hurt you." He told me.

"So pushing me in his direction is going to help?" I asked, I raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, so I don't want you to get hurt but I know you like him. I'm trying to help you out. Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

"It's just strange how you're getting jealous one minute because you're afraid he's going to hurt me and then pushing me towards him the next minute."

"I'm a boy?" he reasoned. I just laughed in response.

"How was school today?" my sister asked over the phone later that night.

"It was really good. I sang with a boy who was auditioning."

"Oh wow Marley that's great. What did you sing?" she asked.

"Just Give Me a Reason by Pink and Nate Ruess. I really enjoyed singing with him."

"Oh Marley that's so great. I'm glad you're making friends."

"You might be surprised over who the boy was." I told her.

"I know him? Was he an upperclassman?" she asked.

"No, he's in my year but you know his brother." I told her.

She was silent over the phone. "Who Marley? I can't think of anyone."

"He's Puck's brother Jake." I told her and waited for her reaction.

"Noah Puckerman?" she screeched over the phone. I held the phone away from my ear.

"The one and only." I muttered.

"Wow. I didn't know he had a brother. Are you sure it was him?" she asked.

"Rachel, I'm sure. He walked into the choir room with me and Kitty Fabray called him out. And then he admitted it to me."

"Oh." She said quietly.

"Are you ok Rachel?" I asked.

"I'm fine Marls. I just haven't thought about Puck really since I graduated. It's a lot of memories to think back to." She said.

"Good or bad?" I asked. I knew she'd dated Puck in the past but she never really talked about it.

"Both I guess. The week we had together was fantastic. He made me feel like I was worth it."

"What about Finn?" I asked. I didn't want to ask about Jesse.

"Finn is different. He made me feel differently. I'm not really sure how to feel for Noah." she told me. I don't want to push any further. She was still clearly trying to overcome her past.

That's it for the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and the next one will be better….hopefully….whenever that is…sorry.

Comment if you liked it….favourite it…follow it…up to you. Until next time.