Hey guys! It's been really cool to see the attention my story has gotten so far from readers all over the world. I appreciate all the reviews and am thrilled that others love this pairing like I do. Now I'm just nervous that I'm not going to do it justice. Here's another chapter though! I have finals for my college summer classes coming up so I may not update for a few days. As always reviews are appreciated, let me know if you want me to keep going with this story and what you think.

Edit: I am re-uploading this chapter. I'm learning three different languages right now and I have the different different keyboards on my iPad and it is messing with my grammar on here. They are little fixes but they were bugging me.

Quick note: Some prep schools have dorms and a lot are laid out like 4-5 bedrooms and a common area from my understanding. I'm making this up about Dalton, if anyone knows differently let me know and I can amend it.


Marley POV

For the first time in awhile, Marley was happy going into school on Monday. Even the bullies couldn't get under her skin this morning. She texted Sebastian in between classes and he would reply in between his own. Westerville apparently put on a big winter festival around Christmas time every year and Sebastian wanted to take her to it, especially a big production of the nutcracker that had won some national awards. It was a three-day event, so Marley had to convince her mom to let her go and that would require her introducing Sebastian.

By the time glee club came around, Marley was still in a good mood until she saw everyone turn to look at her the moment she walked in.

"What?" She asked, confused. "Do I have something in my hair?"

"Sam and Brittany saw you with Sebastian last night." Blaine said. "Marley is there something you want to tell us?"

Marley paused for a second taking in the expressions in the room. Most looked concerned, but Ryder, Jake, and Kitty all seemed upset. Well Kitty didn't seem as much upset as she did a predator about to strike.

"Sebastian and I were just hanging out, like friends." Marley said.

"Well we can say 'goodbye' to winning." Kitty said crossing her arms. "No doubt you've told him all our secrets by now just cause of a charming smile."

Marley tried to keep her expression neutral. "I didn't tell him anything." She said stiffly.

"Marley, Sebastian is manipulative." Tina said. "He just going to use you."

"Right, cause it's so crazy that we could actually be friends." Marley said, anger and hurt combining in her voice. "I don't get it! Blaine has stayed friends with all of the Warblers, even Sebastian himself, and yet the minute I make friends with one of them I get singled out?"

Mr. Schue walked in at that moment, immediately taking in the scene. "What's going on in here?" He said.

Marley angrily wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "You guys are hypocrites." She turned to walk out, but then turned around again. "And for your information, not once have we even talked about glee." With that she stormed out, despite them calling her name.

She sat in the stands overlooking the football field for awhile, just holding her coat close to her frame and trying to stop crying. As she sat there, her phone dinged indicating a text.

I've never seen a more boring video on biology.

Marley smiled at Sebastian's text and replied. Why are you on your phone in class?

Everyone is. The teacher left 10 minutes ago. Aren't you supposed to be in Glee?

Marley frowned. I should be…

…what happened?

Marley brushed away the last of her tears and replied back. It doesn't matter. I'm heading back there in a second.

She watched the little text bubble indicating he was typing for a long moment. When the response came back she laughed. Sebastian was colorful when he got upset apparently.

She sent back a quick reply promising to call him when she got home and then got up to head back inside. If she hurried she could make the last half of Glee practice. To her surprise, the choir room was empty when she walked in. Mr. Schue was in his office.

"Marley are you okay?" He asked as she walked in.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry I walked out." She replied. "Where is everyone?"

Mr. Schue motioned for her to take a seat. "I sent everyone out after you left. They told me what happened."

Marley fiddled with the cuff of her sweater sleeve. "Do you think they're right? Should I not be friends with Sebastian?" She held her breath waiting for the reply.

"That isn't my call or anyone else's call to make." He replied. "I would suggest caution. I've seen more than one student get hurt when they are close with the competition."

"But Blaine forgave the Warblers and is still friends with them." Marley said.

"I'm not just taking about Blaine." Will said. "I know you haven't interacted with Rachel a lot, but did anyone tell you about her relationship with Jesse St. James from Vocal Adrenaline?"

Marley thought about it. "I remember hearing that she dated him…"

"Things are better between them now, but while they were competing against one another first year, Rachel got hurt a lot in that time. It was an emotional rollercoaster." Will said. "I'm not saying that will happen to you, but these are tricky situations when glee life and personal life can't be separated."

Marley nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Mr. Schue."

She walked out of the office into the hall; her locker was pretty close, and she needed to grab her math book. As she opened her locker, she noticed Blaine and Sam were talking in the hall. They noticed her before she could turn away. She shut her locker and started to walk away.

"Marley wait up." Sam said walking over.

She tensed, holding her book tightly to her chest, not quite meeting their eyes.

"Marley, we're really sorry." Blaine said. "Everyone feels horrible about the way we handled it."

She looked up at him with a skeptical frown.

"Okay," he amended. "Most of us feel bad about it. We should have never singled you out or tried to make you feel bad about spending time with him."

Marley saw the sincerity in their faces, so she smiled slightly. "It's okay. I get it." She said. "And I know there is bad history there, but I don't know, he just hasn't been that way with me."

Blaine smiled. "And I hope that he never is. Just promise me that you'll be careful okay?"

Marley smiled. "I will."

Just as she said that she got a red slushee tossed right in her face. She screamed in shock, dropping her book and tried to wipe it out of her eyes, Blaine helping her while Sam yelled at whoever had tossed it.

This was going to be a long week.

Sebastian POV

Sebastian walked into his dorm room, tossing his book bag on his bed and sitting down at his desk with a sigh. This week had sucked, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. School seemed never ending, Warblers practice was disastrous, and somehow his dad was mad at him for something that was actually not his fault. The only bright side to his days was hearing Marley's voice once school ended.

They had been talking every day and he found that he was eagerly anticipating each call. Marley had been having a rough week too, she had gotten a slushee tossed in her face every day this week and apparently the new cheerleader Bree was singling her out, but she still tried to seem cheerful every time he talked to her.

His phone rang, and he smiled at the picture. It was a candid shot he took on their first day out together, they had stopped and gotten ice cream after the bookstore, she was looking at her new purchase while she happily ate her ice cream cone seeming so content. He slid his finger across the screen and held it to his ear.

"Hey there." He said as he loosened his tie.

"Hey!"Her cheerful voice came over the speaker. "How was your day?"

He smiled, leaning back in the chair. "Better now." He grinned to himself, picturing the blush he knew was there. "What about you? Anymore slushee facials today?"

"Funny thing, I saw it coming and ducked and it hit one of the jocks who have been tormenting all of us instead." Marley said, her shock evident in her voice.

Sebastian laughed, and they went on trading stories of the day and just talking about meaningless things. He had moved to lay on his bed while he listened to her talk about how boring her math class was. One thing he had discovered was that she was a lot smarter than anyone gave her credit for, he had suggested that she could see if the school would allow her to move up a grade, so she could take more advanced classes.

"Are we still on for tomorrow?"Marley asked after a minute.

"Yeah." He said looking towards his door as he heard one of his roommates come back. "What time should I be there?"

"Like 5? Mom really wants to know more about the festival, especially where I would be staying."

"It's nothing too scandalous. Just the guest room in my house." He promised. "I'll be there at 5."

Marley acknowledged him but then cleared her throat. "Umm…also Blaine and I are working on a project, so Mom invited him to stay for dinner as well." She said nervously. "He and the others still aren't 100% okay with you and I spending time together."

Sebastian couldn't really blame them but still rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior."