Eric was looking around the building for his last recruit. He found Andrew and his little sister Ariella standing outside near the football bleachers. "Hey, guys. I need your help with something." Eric had met Andrew yesterday when he'd had locker problems and the easygoing senior had helped him out with a quick smile. They'd then continued to chat about popular music. Andrew'd mentioned that he played the guitar, which Eric had was one of the only seniors Eric had met who he'd actually liked.

"What's up? I'm sure me and Ari would be more than happy to offer our support."

This was going better than Eric had originally thought, "Would you be willing to join Glee Club? We talked about music yesterday, and I know the club likes to use many different genres, so I think you guys would add a well needed amount of variety to the club. What do you say, care to help a guy out?"

Andrew looked down at his little sister, and she shrugged. "Sure, we both will."

After Eric left, Ariella waved goodbye to her brother and headed to the cafeteria to throw away her lunch. Quite a few students had already finished and dispersed to the library or their next classes, but almost all the jocks and cheerleaders were still eating.

She heard a familiar tap-tap-tap of a cane behind her and turned around to see a tall brown-haired junior walking into the cafeteria. "Hey Emmett," she said. "It's Ariella."

"Oh. Hi, Ari," Emmett replied, lifting his head up in the general direction of her voice. His eyes darted around aimlessly.

"Do you need help?" she asked him, coming towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder gently. He was a really nice guy who'd been blind for as long as Ari had known him, which, granted, wasn't very long. He'd mentioned a car accident before, so Ari assumed that he hadn't been born blind, but he seemed to have adjusted amazingly well.

His bright blue eyes flickered around aimlessly before settling somewhere a little to the right of Ariella. "I'm okay," he said, shrugging slightly. "But thanks for the offer."

"All right," Ari replied. "I'll see you around, then."

She watched him make his way to a table and realized, a tight ball of dread forming in her stomach, that a couple of basketball jocks were also making the way to his table.

The jocks came up behind him, and just as he was about to sit down they pulled his chair out from under him and he fell to the floor, hitting his body hard against the tile flooring of the cafeteria. Ariella ran and helped him up as delicately as she possibly could, ignoring the pool of students around them laughing and pointing at the crude display of harassment just demonstrated in front of everyone. "I'm so sorry Emmett, I don't know why they do this to you."

Just then his sister, Bridgette, also came out from the sea of students to help defend her brother against the arrogant football jocks. She followed after them and grabbed one of them by the shoulder, turning him around to face her head on. "Hey, why did you just do that? Is that the cool thing now, to be mean to a blind kid who can't even defend himself? I'm glad to see that you've set such high standards for yourself, maybe now the girls at this school won't scream and run away when you walk down the hallway."

"Yeah, Emmett may be blind but at least he's not a dimwitted, contumacious douchebag." Ariella added in. This made Bridgette go wide-eyed and back off a bit. It was okay for her to say that kind of stuff because she hung out with them and they probably wouldn't even care since she's popular, but for someone like Ariella to say that...they definitely weren't going to take it very lightly.

They all glared at her, though some of the guys actually looked intimated. A boy named Michael spoke up, "Shut up. At least people actually like us. You're just a little loner with no friends. How does that feel?"

Ariella would never actually admit it, but things like that hurt. Stephanie walked up to the boys, and glanced at Ariella like she was a piece of garbage. "You know, Ariella, you really have no right to judge people. It's painfully obvious to all of us that you will die a virgin. You've never even been kissed, and it's pretty obvious why." Ariella was holding back the tears now, but she knew she had to stay strong. "The only thing you will ever be is a trophy wife. Or a stripper, either way. Emmett may actually make it out of this town, and so will I. But you will live here forever, and die a Lima Loser."

All of the jocks had smirks on their faces by now and Bridgette just stood there not saying anything, arms crossed and eyes cast down towards the floor. She had never made it a point prior to stand up to her friends, and she wasn't about to start now. Ariella on the other hand felt completely humiliated and walked off, she knew she couldn't handle any more insults today.

After the situation in the cafeteria was finally over, Bridgette helped Emmett outside and they sat down to talk on a nearby bench. He was absolutely humiliated, and still couldn't understand why people were so mean to him all the time. "Emmett, are you okay?" His sister asked in a quiet voice.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" The blind boy replied, not even acknowledging what went down just a few minutes ago.

Bridgette looked down at her hands and continued, "Em, I'm really sorry. I should have said something or stopped them, but I-"

"You couldn't. I know that's what you're going to say. But I don't want to hear it anymore. You and I both know that you care more about your reputation and how many friends you have than me."

Bridgette looked extremely offended, and she wasn't about to back down from voicing her far more altered opinion. "Excuse me? As far as I could tell I was trying to defend you. But apparently you have your head so far up your own ass that you can't realize when people are genuinely trying to help you."

"Is that what that was? I mean I know I'm blind, but, I can still spot your bullshit from a mile away B. And I think you should learn to take your own advice sis, because you're one of the biggest hypocrites I've ever met. You're calling me oblivious? You don't even notice the terrible people you hang out with everyday. So don't be so quick to pass judgement, because you're worse than all of them and you know it."

"Oh of course, I'm such a bad person because I'm nice to everyone and I like being popular!" His sister replied while noticeable raising her voice in the process. "When did you become so freaking righteous Emmett?"

"See, that's the thing. You think your such a little saint! But in actuality, your conceited and fake. I mean, at least those popular girls know they're mean, but you just try to prove everything you do by saying you have no control over the situation. And that's what people don't like about you." Emmett got up from his spot on the bench and outstretched his cane so it could reach the sidewalk. "I'm done trying to argue with you Bridgette, you've made it very clear you don't care about my opinion, and I'm fine with that. So have a nice life."

Her brother walked away and left his sister sitting on the bench alone, with a lot to ponder over. Emmett warily paced down the hallway of the school and heard a group of popular girls talking. They always complained about the stupidest things, no way would they be able to handle being blind. Emmett knows he will never date a girl like that, and trust me, it IS for lack of trying.

Sydney, Tessanne, and Kaylie were all standing around Kaylie's locker. It had a big megaphone magnet on it, the one that only she and Marissa had for being co-captains of the Cheerios. Right now, they were discussing their other friends.

"Stephanie was flirting with this freshman at lunch-" Sydney said informatively before being cut off.

"Wow. She really does do anybody, doesn't she," Tessanne scoffed, idly checking her hair for split ends. "Does this look like a split end to you?"

Kaylie, deciding that this conversation was stupid, prompted to change the subject. "Coach Sylvester called me and Marissa into her office this morning. She said that Marissa was on the sign up sheet for Glee Club auditions! Isn't that weird? Glee Club is for weirdos and gay kids, it's like she's trying to ruin her reputation!"

Sydney thought for a minute, then replied, "It might be because of her new boyfriend, Eric. I heard he was asking people to sign up for it. He's totally hot, by the way."

"That's stupid. He and his brother just started to rule the school, and now they're just throwing it all away. Like, seriously," Tessanne decided. "They are ridiculously hot, though."

Kaylie started blushing at the mention of Eric's brother, Dallas. She had seen him when he competed in the X-Games, and had a huge crush on him. Tessanne didn't seem to notice though, and pulled the girl from her thoughts with a proposition, "Maybe we should join, too. Since Marissa is doing it, it could actually be pretty cool."

"No! What are you thinking? We would look like losers," Sydney said, disagreeing.

Just then, Marissa walked up. "Hey guys. I just heard a fantastic rumor that my boyfriend likes a little midget who is new at McKinley. That can't happen, because me and Eric are the power couple at this school. So, we are joining Gay Club, I mean, Glee Club to keep them as far apart as possible. Any questions?"

Kaylie spoke up again, "All of us?"

"Yes, Kaylie, all of us. And it'll be good for you too because everyone already knows about your little crush on Dallas. He's in the club, too." All the girls snickered, and Kaylie blushed. The only person that could intimidate her was Marissa.

The bell then rang, and the four girls walked to their next class, all wondering how long before the Glee Club ruined them all.