MCKINLEY HIGH
APRIL'S ENGLISH CLASS
APRIL'S POV

I can't hold my concentration. I'm sitting in my English class taking that test I told Will I can't miss, but it was completely pointless for me to even bother. I'm not going to tell Will, of course, but he was right. I can't process the questions and answers to these questions between my worrying, excess stress, hunger, and lack of sleep.

I've actually been able to go and sleep and stuff thanks to Debbie but I'm still so tired from not sleeping and I can't help but worry about Rachel. She freaked out so much when I told her I'd go for twenty minutes yesterday before Will's mom got there. I'm so glad that Debbie and Emma decided to pitch in and help with Rachel.

Other than Will asking and it being Rachel, I'm not so sure why Emma was so willing to help. I mean, it was one of Will's old glee students and stuff, but she could have ended up helping Rach without helping me too. I'm already aware that she didn't/doesn't really like me but I'm not completely sure where I stand with her anymore. Apparently, Sue planted some mics in Will's apartment and they "caught" us in his bed. So Sue ran off and told everyone that we "slept together". In the figurative sense, not the literal. But that was a few years ago so I'm not sure.

Technically you could say that that Sue's statement is true, but we did it literally—we just slept in the same bed. Nothing else, whatsoever, happened in that bed. Well, actually, according to Will, I spent the night asleep. Will was getting kicked by me. (Oops… well it's not my fault I suffer night terrors!) Now I've gotten over the nightmares for the most part, but they still come back sometimes. I think sharing the bed with Will for longer than one night helped me a bit though. (Shut up, Sue.)

I'm suddenly pulled back down to earth again when someone starts tapping my shoulder. It turns out that while I was lost in my thoughts, the English test was supposed to be turned in. I sigh and hand it in, already knowing I failed yet another test. My grades probably aren't goin' anywhere until I know for sure Rachel is okay again.

~•~•~•~•~•~

Finally, I arrive in Spanish class. The whole day so far has been dragging so slowly I could almost swear someone is making time go slower just to torture me. If they are, they're succeeding.

"Will?" I say, going up to him.

"Yeah, April?" Will turns around and looks at me, putting down some Spanish papers he was grading.

"Could I go call Rachel?" I ask, "I've been wanting to check on her all day so much that I haven't been able to concentrate on my school work."

"Go ahead," Will says, "I had a feeling you'd probably ask that. You already know that I'm going to let you though. I've been doing that since Rachel got here."

~•~•~•~•~•~

WILL SCHUESTER'S APARTMENT
Debbie Schuester's POV

Rachel has gotten some sleep, thank god. She's a little bit calmer now that she's slept peacefully, or at least I think she did. She's sitting on the couch watching some random Barbra Streisand movie. Her phone is sitting on the table when I notice it light up. Her body tenses when it starts singing a song that I think is from Wicked.

She looks at it, terrified, not wanting to answer it. I calmly move towards it, "Honey, it's only April. I'm gonna answer it and then let you talk to her…"

She just nods, and leans back on the couch. "April…" I say.

"Debbie? Where's Rachel?" the tiny blonde asks.

"Right here, with me. She's watching a movie…" I explain.

"Is she okay?" April asks.

"She just got scared when her phone rang, but she's been pretty calm today…" I tell her.

"That's good. Can I talk to her?" the woman asks.

"Sure, hang on…" I smile.

"Rachel, do you think you could pause your movie and talk to April for a few minutes?" I ask.

She sighs and punches a button on the remote, causing Barbra to stop mid sentence and stare at me from the screen. I hand her the phone and she slowly puts it on her ear.

"Hello…" she shyly says.

I quietly get up because I hear the dryer beeping in the other room. Will and April have been so busy taking care of her that their laundry has been piling up, I've just washed about ten pairs of Will's jeans and probably the same amount of April's tiny McKinley shirts. I start to fold April's shirts when I hear crying from the living room.

Rachel's phone is back on the coffee table, the movie is still paused and she's laying on her stomach with her face buried into a pillow, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"A… April wants to stay for Glee practice this afternoon, and so does Will…" she whimpers.

"Honey, listen, I'm here. You're just as safe with me here as you are with them. April needs to get her school work together, she really wants to graduate. And Will needs to be there for the Glee club, I'm sure you know what it's like…" I calmly say.

She just sobs into the pillow, "Maybe, when you get better, Will might let you help out at Glee for a while…"

She turns her head so I can see her pale face. I sigh, hopefully she'll eat some more at dinner tonight. She hardly ate anything when I tried to make her lunch. "I'm sure there's no one there as talented as me now…" she says to me.

"I don't know. But you need to get better first before you can go help out…" I tell her.

I help her sit up, "Let's start with eating something. That's one thing that will help a lot…"

She sighs and hangs her head, "I'm not hungry…"

"You've got to be… I hear your stomach growling all the time…" I reply, "You just think nothing sounds good, so you don't want to eat. I think you should start with something really light, like some crackers or soup…"

"Crackers…" she replies, this is definitely a good start.

"You can turn your movie back on if you want to. I'm just going to finish doing some laundry for Will and April." I tell her.

She nods and follows me into the kitchen and I give her a bowl full of goldfish, and some grape juice. She slowly walks back into the living room and sits back down on the couch and in a few seconds, Barbra is singing again. I quietly walk back into the laundry room to finish folding the clothes. I get most of April's stuff folded and then realize there are about ten pairs of her jeans in the basket in the corner. So I throw them in the washer, and leave to go check on Rachel.

The goldfish bowl is practically empty, except for maybe four or five still in there. She's sipping on the grape juice and humming along to the movie. My phone buzzes and she tenses up. "Sweetie, it's mine… you're okay…"

It's Will texting me. "how is she?"

"better. She ate a few goldfish and she's watching some old Barbra Streisand movie." I reply.

"that's good. Has he texted or called her today?" Will asks.

"once. This morning, and she freaked out. But I got her to calm down fairly easily and that's when I suggested she watch a movie…" I explain.

"that's good. I'm gonna stay for Glee, and then April and I will be home." he tells me.

"okay. I've done some of yours and April's laundry…"

"thanks mom… I've got to get back to class…" he replies.

I put my phone back in my pocket and she notices. Her muscles relax and I notice that the washer has stopped making noise, so I go to hang April's jeans up to dry.

FOUR HOURS LATER.
5PM

Will and April walk through the door of the apartment and Rachel slowly turns around on the couch to look at them. She smiles at April, who looks exhausted.

"Hey, Rach…" she smiles.

"Hi…" the woman mumbles.

"How was your day?" April asks, trying to get Rachel to talk. Which is a really good thing, because she hasn't said much and we both know it's bad for her to keep everything bottled inside.

Rachel doesn't reply, but just sighs. April looks at me and yawns, Will walks into the laundry room and comes back with all of his clean clothes, "Thanks mom…"

"No problem… April, most of yours are done too…" I tell her.

"Thanks Debbie…" she yawns again. Poor thing, she probably needs to sleep for a good eight hours, or more, before she's fully caught up again.

"April, honey, go take a nap. You're exhausted…" I say to her.

"Ugh, homework…" she sighs.

"I'll give you two hours. I'll wake you up in time for dinner and then you can work on it after we eat…" I suggest.

"Fine…" she replies and makes her way into Will's bedroom.

Will walks out a few minutes later, "Mom, she's sound asleep already…"

"I knew she was tired. How did she do at school today?" I ask.

"I know she couldn't concentrate… but she insisted on going anyways…" he tells me.

"I'm making her stay here tomorrow. She really needs the sleep, and we both know she won't do good on whatever test or quiz she might have. So you might want to talk to her teachers and figure out what she needs to make up and work on…" I tell him.

"Okay… I'll talk to her after dinner too… and we can help her get her school stuff back on track…" he tells me.

"Sounds like a plan… I'm gonna check on Rachel, and finish up April's laundry…" I tell him, and walk into the living room.