Disclaimer: I don't own this thing called Glee which breaks my heart into 89189039382048 pieces, okay? I DON'T.

So, the months and seasons are hella different from the present day – it's prom season. Also, this chapter has another song! Yay for songs.

Ryder was sitting blankly in Glee Club for yet another week after practising the song for his much-awaited solo at nationals - everyone agreed with the song choice, thankfully. But he couldn't even be happy about that. And as the most awaited and cared-about event on the high school calendar was rapidly approaching, his insides felt like they were being blended and squished into a pulp. What is this event? McKinley High School's Annual Summer Prom.

A lot of things were on his mind lately: as well as the usual fantasy about Marley magically falling in love with him again; them making it official and other students not fazed at all, it was the fact that she had obviously moved on and he hadn't. A day after his fantasy duet with Marley during Glee Club, word spread around the school that Marley was dating one of the most prestigious jocks in the entire school, Jake Puckerman.

According to Tina (the go-to for school gossip), Marley and Jake had "rocked the house" before agreeing to take it slow. The day after, the two confirmed their relationship on Jacob Ben Israel's video blog. Ever since they have been seen holding hands in the hallway, making out against the lockers and Marley even wears his letterman jacket. They were McKinley High's new power couple, and it stung Ryder even more when so-called "Jarley" were nominated for Prom King and Queen. There were posters all around the school, and Marley had even seized the opportunity to stick one directly on his locker. Every time he looked at the edited poster, he felt a million daggers enter him in slow, sharp, stabbing motions. She hadn't just moved on - she was mocking him, too.

So, when the New Directions were preparing songs for the prom and Ryder was nominated by the unknowing souls of the room to sing the Prom King and Queen's slow dance, the daggers returned to haunt him again. And again. And they didn't stop torturing him up to the much awaited night, for which (of course) he had no date.

After combing his hair slightly into a smart Bieber style (as usual) and straightening out his rented tuxedo and bow tie, he looked at himself in the mirror thoroughly after proceeding to fix his glasses onto the frame of his complexion. He heard a voice behind him, a figure, and it began snaking its thin arms around his waist as it spoke:

"You look very handsome, babe."

The voice was hers; the arms were hers and yet, when he looked back into the mirror before him to check his suspicions... nothing. "Get out of my head," The boy found himself mumbling angrily under his breath. All he wanted was to forget she ever existed, or that he had never existed. He'd been thinking about the latter a lot more these days, especially when the jocks (including Jake Puckerman himself) hurtled him into the school lockers almost hard enough to make a dent.

"Have fun at Glee Club, Librarian Hooker!"

"See you 'round, Gaytard!"

"Dude, you left your masculinity at Math Camp!"

As these memories whirled around Ryder's head at full speed, he huffed furiously and prepared himself best he could for a night of torture. He grabbed his car keys before trudging down to the small garage and driving to the school to set up the band with fellow Glee-goers.

People began to arrive suddenly as others danced to the popular music playing in the background. The scenery was a typical American high school prom - the theme looked like it was "dreams" or something of the sort, as there were coloured balloons and fake clouds everywhere. There was a photo booth section cut off with a photographer and a background and a food table with the main event punch, just waiting to be spiked. Ryder found himself leaned up against the wall whilst fellow students danced and exchanged small talk - he was the obvious wallflower at this event and as his vision was surrounded by hundreds of girls and boys dancing and laughing, he felt outnumbered to say the least. Ryder was casting his glance over the growing crowd once more as he noticed her.

Marley looked perfect. She had her hair down but slightly curled, and her long hair fell down her back and her front effortlessly. Her makeup was simplistic, albeit dramatic and smoky around the eyes, and her lips were coated in a distinctive red gloss. She wore navy killer heels, although they were mostly concealed behind her long, flowing dress. Her dress was strapless, satin and coloured navy; it had ripples from the waist downwards, with a beautiful cream pattern below the bust and around the waist. The dress cascaded down her figure with no imperfections, and it highlighted every inch of skin, bone and every curve in her body. She was glowing, and Ryder couldn't help but grin in spite of himself as she adjusted her peony corsage, given to her by Jake; she had told him on one of their study sessions that peonies were her favourite flowers. The brunette was smiling and laughing with her friends when Jake decided to join the conversation. Ryder looked away before he could witness any more of their contact.

The night descended slowly for the boy as he kept his eye on Marley. A few times his friends from Glee came over to ask if he was okay and he replied with the same "yeah, I'm fine" every time before proceeding to ask them how their evening was going. Soon Ryder found himself cocking his head to the main stage as Principle Figgins held a piece of paper determining the results of Prom King and Queen. Ryder swallowed down the lump in his throat as the man on the stage gestured to the King and Queen nominees standing in two lines behind him on the stage, introducing them one by one. As the boy predicted in his head, everyone cheered when Marley's name was called. Soon, two students (presumably on the prom committee) emerged from the hall's curtains, holding red velvet cushions with crowns and sashes on them. One was tinted pink and read 'McKinley High Prom Queen' whilst the other one was tinted blue, differing only by reading 'McKinley High Prom King' instead. Ryder felt his heart beat louder and faster in his ears as the classic dramatic pause was a silent tsunami crashing waves over the room before the dreaded yet predictable words rang through the decorated hall:

"Jake Puckerman and Marley Rose!"

After being crowned and draped in a labeled sash, the new monarchs made their way down the steps to dance as the floor was cleaned of people. Ryder's hands shook and he anxiously wiped them down his tux before slowly treading up the stairs to the stage and standing in front of the bedazzled microphone; he clasped it softly with one hand as he looked down to his feet, swallowing whatever pride he might have had before along with the lump lodged firmly in his throat. He didn't even attempt to wrap his head around the situation, but he had to stay composed - only him and the Prom Queen knew the true depths of the situation. The music was about to play when he heard a voice yell from the dance floor.

"Dude, who got this nerdy loser to sing for my dance?" Jake hollered out to his jock friends, who laughed along with a few members of the audience. Ryder squeezed his eyes shut as if to block out such sounds as the music began to play via the band. He was glad he wasn't completely alone; Artie and Sam were singing back-up harmonies. He took a shaky breath away from the microphone before finally singing with passion through his soft-as-velvet voice:

"In a dream I was untrue,

Shot up in sweats and I knew it was you,

All the while as I traced her spine,

Tear up my head through my peace of mind.

If you breathe in, then I breathe in

And slowly let go,

If you need it, then I need it

And only we'll know."

Ryder looked up for the first time and cast his gaze once again over the audience. He remembered what Mr Schue had told him: "Smile, and relate to the audience and the song. This song is a proclamation of love, so you have to perform with as much passion as if you were the Prom King, singing to the love of your life - the Queen." but how was he supposed to pretend? How on earth was he supposed to watch who he believed to be the real love of his life dance with another guy? How was he supposed to witness their foreheads pressed together as they looked lovingly into each other's eyes and danced to a song that his voice was trying best to eject in a tune, let alone a loving, passionate song? He wholeheartedly disagreed with the idea. But he feared for his life if he messed up, so he did just that. He smiled as he sang, trying to avoid her gaze at any cost.

"Can't be the same as we lie in the light,

Knowing full well your virtue's my vice,

In the night we are one,

Till the moment is gone,

Till my race has been run."

It was after he sung that line that he came to the realisation - he didn't need to smile for the camera, really. Because as he looked at all members of the audience, all they were looking at was them. As they danced and stole nose kisses and grinned like Cheshire cats, it would take a man made of stone to believe that they didn't look adorable. So, as he contemplated whilst singing, he grasped that maybe Marley had truly moved on - he thought nothing of it before, but as she was dancing with a guy and looking lovingly into his charming bad-boy eyes and kissing him softly - like she used to do with him - maybe she had realised the utter stupidity of ever falling for the laughing stock of the school. Maybe she had forgotten; maybe she had finally seen him in the light that everybody else did. He was a speck of dust on her perfect prom dress now.

"If you breathe in, then I breathe in

And slowly let go,

If you need it, then I need it

And only we'll know.

And your sorry words don't know my mind,

So please refrain from use."

So as the instrumental bridge that followed played through his ears, Ryder concluded his hypothesis. Jake twirled Marley around and she did a small, suppressed giggle as she crinkled up her nose into the laugh; the laugh that would usually be reserved for him. Understanding things better throughout the song had given him strength as he finally began to accept the thought of actually moving on. It stung, of course, but he wanted to follow in his ex-lover's footsteps.

"And if you breathe in, then I breathe in

And only we'll know."

As he sang the final lines, Marley looked up. It was the first time the brunette had looked at something other than Jake for the entire song and as her eyes landed on his, she sported a blank look. It was plain, but for some reason Ryder saw surprise and pity mixed within - it almost angered him that she pitied him. But after the song had finished, everyone began clapping - all for them, of course. They had not even witnessed the girl cast a glance at Ryder - she was facing away and looking at him over Jake's shoulder at the time. Marley let loose an award-winning grin at the audience then turned back and kissed Jake again on the lips with her arms still firmly wrapped around his neck. The couple soon evacuated the dance floor, and Ryder left the stage along with Artie and Sam.

Sometime later, Ryder found himself lugging an amplifier to a band member's car in the middle of the school's dark parking lot. It was late at night and he was one of the last to leave, lugging the group's equipment across a concrete space.

Marley leaned in for another full kiss onto the boy's lips. Her tiara at a precarious angle and her dress and sash in disarray, she felt ridiculous. But as she was making out with Jake on the bench of his car, and no one seemed to be watching (for once), the girl could care less. Through another heavy and damp kiss, Jake mumbled something incoherent - it was after a few seconds that Marley was able to finally unscramble the words: "Wanna go back to my house?" to this, Marley smirked - it was the ultimate test that she had gone back to herself again. She nodded and presented this smirk into the next kiss as she began to slowly untangle herself from his grasp to get into the passenger seat of his four-by-four. She rearranged her hair, tiara and attire before she found herself gazing out of the window - Ryder.

"Umm, hold on a sec." she stated plainly as she began to get out of the car, before being grabbed by the wrist and forced back into the seat.

"Woah, babe, where are you going?" Jake chuckled with a tinge of impatience in his voice.

"Well... I thought I could help that guy-"

"Bieber-Dork? What the hell are you thinking?"

"I thought it would be a nice thing to do," Marley tried not to bark back at him as she pronounced the words strictly. "I'm not a bitch all of the time, you know." She said as she crossed her arms, looking at her boyfriend through the darkness of the car. He let go of her hand.

"Fine. But be back before I have to rip that sash off you and take you right in that parking lot." Jake smirked at the girl who replied with a simple and absentminded "I won't, babe". She soon hopped out of the car and began running as fast as you can run in five inch heels to the chestnut-haired boy. The sound of Jake's car engine running, already raring to go back to his house for their 'evening activity', accompanied her hurried footsteps on the concrete.

"Hey," She found herself half-yelling as she came face-to-face with him. He soon cocked his head up and looked surprised at the girl.

"H-Hi, Marley. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you needed any help" she smiled at the boy and rearranged her dress and hair again; it was a simple expression, but Ryder took it as a look of pity once again and declined, finally putting another amp in the back of the car.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Okay..." Marley huffed. "You look nice, by the way."

"Oh, uhhh..." Ryder's eyes drifted down to his creased tuxedo and sighed. He looked pathetic, but he looked back up into her blue eyes and gave a look of gratitude. "Thanks, I guess. You look amazing tonight." He found himself smiling, and Marley reciprocated the action.

"Thanks," the girl grinned as she said quietly, looking down at her own attire herself. Ryder was giving a nod of an awkward farewell as he began to turn away to lift up another amp. Marley found the words darting out of her mouth before she could even comprehend them herself: "I didn't know you were that good at singing, Ryder." she blurted out, and Ryder froze like a deer in the midst of headlights. For a second or two he stayed like this, before turning back to face her once more.

"Thanks. I mean, I don't think I'm as good as some of the other people in Glee Club, but thanks." he smiled at her.

"I loved the song, I haven't even heard of it before. What was it?" Marley spoke hurriedly again.

"It was... Need It. B-by Half Moon Run. From the Dark Eyes album I think."

"Half Moon Run?"

"Yeah. Not many people have heard of them," Ryder elaborated.

"Wow. Even by your music you're all mysterious and dorky," Marley chuckled a little, before she heard a honk coming from Jake's car.

"Hurry up with that dork, babe - my mom's coming back in a few hours and if we want to do it, you better hurry up and get that sexy body in this car!" Jake yelled from the vehicle.

And Marley was embarrassed. No one knew that such graphic terms made her feel like an object; they made her feel the opposite of beautiful. But she looked awkwardly up at her ex-lover and cleared her throat.

"I-I'm sorry, duty calls..."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You go and have... fun." the last word danced mockingly on the boy's tongue as Marley gave a quick nod and picked up her dress so that she could walk. "And hey," he began again, causing the brunette to spin around with her eyebrows raised at what his final statement was to be. "I-It was nice to see you, Marley. You know, after the...-"

"Yeah." Marley nodded in understanding and gave a sincere smile. "It was nice to see you, too."

"Have a great night." Ryder concluded. She smiled before turning around, and she walked back to a honking car and stepped back into it.

And for Ryder, that's when the daggers came back to haunt him a final time.

"Hey, Ryder!" Blaine called through the busy hallways of McKinley to the boy in question. Ryder cocked his head to the shorter boy who was running up to him from behind.

"Can I walk with you to Glee Club?" Blaine panted.

"Uh... sure..." Ryder asked questionably. Was that all he needed to say? To ask?

Apparently not.

"You were amazing last week at prom. You know, the whole Prom King and Queen song... it was amazing. You totally got in touch emotionally with that song." the gelled boy grinned, causing Ryder to reciprocate the gesture.

"Thanks, man. That's really nice of you to say."

"So when was the last time you kissed Marley?"

Ryder was taken aback to say the least. Had Blaine figured it out? Had rumours already spread around the school? Did Marley tell Blaine? He was speechless and breathless, and his mind was drifting in all directions. Due to these things, all the chestnut-haired boy could pull out of his throat was a strangled, exasperated "Whaa... what?"

"Come on, be honest."

"I just-"

"You just what?"

"H-How?"

"How what-?"

"How the hell did you come to that conclusion?!"

"You were totally giving her the googly eyes. And at the end of the song I saw that she gave you the look." Blaine confessed as if he thought it was so blatantly obvious that a hamster was sure to comprehend it.

"Okay, one: you know that I've had a thing for Marley, even though she hasn't talked to me, ever. Only for insults. And two: what the hell is the look?" Ryder asked these questions with a large amount of confusion.

"Well, the look is a total look of either..." and these Blaine counted on his fingers one by one, "lust, utter regret, longing, jealousy, admiration or pity. And please, Ryder, she sure didn't look like she was insulting you when she talked to you last night."

Ryder hesitated and found himself lost for words again as he tried to speak. "Okay. What did you see last night?"

Blaine cleared his throat and sighed. "I saw her come over to you to compliment you on the song. And she told you that you looked nice, and then you said "Nice to see you, you know, after..." and you trailed off. And I was like 'after what?' and that's when I started adding all of the bits and pieces together - like when she freaked out about that girl for the calendar we did. And then I came to the conclusion: you two fooled around."

Ryder was, again, lost for words. He didn't know how or why Blaine had come to that conclusion and why Blaine was confronting him - wouldn't he rather just spread it around the school straight away? That usually happened. He opened his mouth to let out another exasperated retort. "Okay. Are you stalking me or something? How did you find out about last night?"

"I was helping the guy with his mics and I was by the school door - I saw and heard you two. She was giving you the look again, and when Jake honked out for her to "get her sexy body in his car", she looked both humiliated and guilty. I'm gay, but I can read women pretty well - as well as men. You guys went out. Am I right?"

"Uhh..." Ryder contemplated his options. He could lie, or he could give the entire game away. But then again, was there a game anymore? Of course Marley would hate if the word got out, but she didn't seem to care about any other aspects. And Blaine was trustworthy - he knew that. He took a deep inhale to get his head together before continuing. "Yes."

Blaine grinned at his correct theory, and then asked, "You're serious?"

Ryder took a deep sigh before nodding slowly. "Yeah. I'm a loser, but I'm not so much of a loser to make up the fact that I had a thing with her… this conversation is awkward." Ryder concluded shyly.

Blaine sighed and let out a small chuckle at what was going on, ignoring Ryder's statement about the density of the conversation. Blaine actually got it right. "How did it happen?"

"It's... uh... it's complicated." Ryder replied simply. "But you can't tell anyone about it, okay? If people started to tell, it would kill her reputation."

"Got it." Blaine sung. "I won't even tell Tina,"

"Especially not Tina. She's a gossip, I know that." Ryder laughed.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Blaine asked, slightly concerned.

"Dude," Ryder shook his head and chuckled, "do you think if I told you 6 months ago that I was fooling around with the most popular girl in secret, and if you asked her she would deny every word... it doesn't really sound very believable, does it?"

"Fair point," Blaine raised his hands up in defeat and chuckled. "Do you love her?"

"W-What?"

"You love her, don't you?" Blaine challenged again with all the wisdom and knowing in his eyes from before. Ryder found himself awkwardly coughing as they reached the choir room. He didn't know how he could answer that question and not get teased, so he performed the obvious stunt and changed the question.

"So what do you think the group song will be for Nationals?" Ryder ejected these words from his throat in a hurried rush, causing Blaine to give a knowing smirk.

"I don't know, Ryder." Blaine said to continue and play along with the act.

Chapter complete!

Okay, I know I haven't updated as soon as I would have liked, but I have reasons. I had half-term break and for most of the time I was either away without a computer, seeing friends or working. But this chapter is up now, and wow it's long. I didn't even realise how long. But yay for long chapters! That must've been somewhat emotionally draining to write, though, because now I am completely stuck as to what to do for the next chapter. I'm still working on my ideas, but I promise that I am already drafting the chapter after, haha. So, the next one might be kind of a filler. I would really appreciate any ideas!

The song included was Need It by Half Moon Run, as Ryder said ;) I love love loooove that band and everybody should go and check them out because they're amazing. Also, when I first heard the song, I couldn't stop thinking about Ryder singing that at a prom... But I know zilch about proms. I'm British, so anything that is wrong in the American high school way of life, sorry – feel free to correct me too, I'd be interested.

I also stumbled across a HUGE mistake that I made – when I was first writing this I was writing as if Marley and Ryder and the newbies etc. were in junior year, but if they were then Blaine, Tina, Artie and Sam would have all graduated. And in the UK, if the most popular girl in school was a sophomore, it would be pretty weird. So, let's now assume for this story that THEY ARE ALL IN JUNIOR YEAR. I'm an idiot, sorry.

Also, the nationals chapter is coming up!

Until next time,

-Beth :P