(title: come home – one republic feat. sara bareilles)

.:There's someone I've been missing:.
I think that they could be the better half of me

Massie Block was sure she had run out of tears.

She had spent all night at Kristen Gregory's house, not sleeping. She watched the whole first season of Glee, sang with all the songs, and cried at all the love songs. When Kristen asked her why she was crying when Kurt and Rachel sang Defying Gravity, she said it was because "they sang it so beautifully, and what Kurt did was so sweet."

She told Kristen everything, and Massie realized that it was amazing she had a best friend like this, who didn't care if Massie cried in front of the TV the whole night, eating Oreos.

Now, it was five a.m., Massie stopped crying, sure that she was out of tears. She was watching what she called the "Jesse episodes," those episodes that had Jesse St. James in them. She liked Jesse. He was her favorite for Rachel, and she really hopes he becomes a regular.

"Mass," Kristen said, and Massie turned around to face the blonde. "Are you going to school today?"

"Oh, crap. It's Monday. I forgot," Massie said. "Um…yeah. I'll go to school."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Then, we should at least take a nap or something."

-o-

The moment Massie walked into the school, she was surrounded by her friends. They already knew what happened, because Kristen called Alicia Rivera yesterday and Massie allowed her to tell the Hispanic. Massie also asked Alicia to explain to all the other girls, because she just couldn't explain again.

"Oh, Massie, your eyes look horrible," Dylan Marvil said. "It's kind of bloodshot and you look extremely tired."

"That would be because she watched Glee the whole night, crying at all the love songs," Kristen explained.

"I have eye drops," Claire Lyons said, holding up a small bottle, and Massie took it. "Thanks. Bathroom?" Massie asked, and like any typical group of girls, they all went together.

The eye drops actually helped, reducing the bloodshot-ness, and kind of waking up her eyes.

"So…Massie," Alicia asked tentatively, after making sure that the bathroom was empty except for the five girls. "What are you going to do now?"

Massie was silent for a moment. "I don't really know."

"You want to talk to him? We can lock you up in a room together or something," Dylan said, and despite the small pang in her chest, Massie found Dylan's suggestion funny, mostly because of Dylan's energetic expression. She laughed.

"No need for that," Massie said. "Come on. We need to get to class."

-o-

Derrick Harrington was sure he felt too apathetic to do anything today.

It was Sammi who forced him to go to school, and when he asked her why she was even here when she should be in college, she said "Because I missed you."

Derrick scoffed and said, "Fine. I'll go to school. But only because you're here and I don't want to see you."

So now here he was, sitting under a birch tree in school, staring blankly at the school building.

"Dude, I think there's something wrong with him," he heard Cam Fisher say. Cam already knows what happened, since he was the one Derrick called. The other boys didn't know, and Derrick still wasn't sure if he should tell. They'll find out about it anyway, he was sure.

"I think he finally cracked," Kemp Hurley said.

"I can hear you, you know," Derrick said, looking at his friends.

"So, Derrick, what happened?" Josh Hotz said.

"What do you mean what happened?" Derrick said, faking ignorance.

"There's something wrong," Plovert said. "It's obvious. I mean, first, you're spacing out. Second, we've been talking for the past thirty minutes, and you've said, like, seven words. Third, you arrived in school alone."

"So?" Derrick snapped.

"Derrick, you haven't arrived alone in school in a long time," Plovert said.

"We're not talking about this," Derrick said, pulling out his iPod and plugging in his earphones. He turned it on, but the volume was low so that he knew what was happening.

"Hey, Kemp, there's Kristen," Josh said, looking behind Kemp at the blonde. "Man, she looks dead on her feet."

"Yeah. She watched Glee the whole night. Then, she slept for an hour," Kemp explained, waving at Kristen.

"Why would she do that?" Plovert asked, looking at her heading inside the school.

Kemp lowered his voice to a whisper, and Derrick paused the song so he could hear. "Massie was there the whole night. They both didn't sleep," he said.

Derrick figured as much. He left the Guesthouse (really, what was the point of him staying?) at midnight, and Massie still wasn't home. He was sure she went to one of her friends. When he saw her in class (which was actually very awkward, since he's determinedly ignoring her), he could see that she was tired, and she obviously didn't sleep.

"Why would she be there?" Josh asked in a whisper.

Kemp shrugged. "Kristen wouldn't tell me. But, it's obviously connected to why Derrick's like this."

Derrick looked at his watch. They still had fifteen more minutes of lunch. Normally, they would only worry about being late after lunch ended. But Derrick was already tiring of this conversation. He pulled off his earphones and said, "Let's go. We might be late."

"Derrick, we have fifteen more minutes."

But he still stood up and walked back into school.

-o-

Massie didn't like this school day. She was feeling apathetic, but that wasn't her biggest problem now.

First of all, Derrick was ignoring her.

Second, Landon didn't go to school, so she couldn't talk to him about what happened.

Third, she was sleepy as hell.

But one good thing was it was already the last period, and they only had nine minutes of school left.

-o-

Nine minutes went by fast, and pretty soon, Massie was dragging her feet to Kemp's car (she was hitching a ride with Kristen and Kemp). Before she even got to the parking lot, she saw Landon Crane waiting for her by the cafeteria. He motioned for her to follow him inside the cafeteria, and Massie thought, "What the hell. There's nothing to lose anymore." She couldn't be more heartbroken—hell, by third period, Massie started to go numb, and by fourth, she was already completely apathetic.

So she followed him inside.

"Massie, I'm sorry," Landon said, wringing his hands together.

"I know," Massie said. Landon was a good person. Yes, what he did was bad, but still. He was a good friend.

"I shouldn't have done it."

"I know."

"I really didn't mean to do it, I was only caught up in the moment."

"I know."

"I'm really sorry."

"I know.

"So…how are you?"

"I don't know."

-o-

For some weird reason, Massie felt better after she talked to Landon. Maybe it was because she got the frustration out of her chest, and she got to talk to him about Derrick. She told him that she really liked Derrick, and might actually love her. He accepted that. She returned the necklace he gave her. He accepted that, too.

"Mass, we're here," Kemp said, looking at her cautiously. She knew he wanted to know what happened between her and Derrick, but if he wasn't telling, she wasn't, either.

"Thanks for the lift, Kemp. Bye, Kris," Massie said flatly, going out of the car.

"Bye, Mass. Call me if something goes wrong or…something," Kristen said.

"I will. Thanks," Massie said, managing a small smile.

She walked to the front of the guesthouse, but she stopped in front of the door. She didn't know what to expect.

Wait. Actually, she did.

She expected him to be gone.

She doesn't know why, but she turned up the music on her iPod before she opened the door. Maybe she thought louder music would make her feel better?

At first, the living room looked the same. But Massie saw the difference almost immediately. The soccer ball was gone. Some of the games were gone.

She climbed up the stairs, and stopped in the middle of the hall. Which door to open? The one on her left, or the one on her right? His room or hers? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and opened the one on her left.

She could see that he packed in a hurry. The closet doors were still open, the pillows and bed sheets were in a mess, and there were random scraps of paper on the floor.

Seeing it empty hurt worse than she thought.

This was really it. He was really gone. He was never coming back.

She slammed the door shut, and hastily entered her room before the tears came.

She waited, but they never did. Maybe she did run out of tears.

She plopped down on her bed, and kicked off her shoes. She usually took them off carefully, but right now, she really didn't care anymore.

She flipped over awkwardly, and hit something on her bedside table that crashed to the floor. She lifted her head up and looked down. And the sight broke her heart even more. It was the snow globe he gave her for her birthday, and it was now in pieces on her floor.

That was really it. They were broken.

The sight of the shattered snow globe made her want to cry, and it made her mad at herself.

But, really, she didn't have the energy or the tears anymore.

So she just put her head back down and listened to the music.

It was then that she finally paid attention to what she was listening to.

The song didn't make her cry, it didn't make her mad.

But it did cut her heart.

So, she pulled her earphones off the iPod and threw it to the door.

It crashed into the wood, and fell to the floor.

No one was there to catch it.

Everything I can't be/Is everything you should be/And that's why I need you here/So hear this now/Come home/Come home/Cause I've been waiting for you/For so long/For so long/And right now there's a war between the vanities/But all I see is you and me/The fight for you is all I've ever known/So come home

Welcome, emo, apathetic Massie!

No, she won't really cut herself or turn emo.

But she will turn apathetic.

And my Massie-centered sentences would be less lively and less…expressive!

Okay, so, yeah, this is just a filler to show you how everyone's doing. Landon's being remorseful, Derrick's being defensive, and Massie's being apathetic!

Oh, joy!

Hopefully next chapter will be up sooner…

OMG! I RHYMED IN TWO OF THE LAST SENTENCES!