Hey everybody! MAN, it's been SO long since last time I updated. By God, I really thought that I'd have had this finished and posted sooner than now. But hey, such is life. On the other hand, at least you all will no longer have to wait for this current new update! And in this update, we take a brief break from the 'main cast' and take a look at what our favorite senior class low ranking cheerio and gay sophomore water boy have been up to lately. Sound like a worthy read? I certainly hope so. That being said, here's me hoping you read, review, and enjoy.

A/N: But first, let me remind you guys again . . . I do not own Glee. And I most certainly do not own the song used in this chapter either. Get that? Got that? Good. Now, let's get on with the story shall we?

Chapter 18:

Unlucky in Love

At around the same time that all the insanity had been going on in and out of the choir room with the gleeks and the highest-ranking cheerios, one of the lower ranking cheerios was having a somewhat less flashy day of her own. Kimberly Chung sighed, and hung her head as she sat cross-legged on the lowest bleacher on the left side of the gym. So far, she was having an ok day, but she could honestly just as easily have been having a much better one.

She hung her head, sighing bitterly. At this moment, much like she'd been doing for the entire past summer, she was thinking about her current situation regarding Raj. She sighed. Even now, she still couldn't stop thinking about him, or of all the drama that had popped up in her life ever since that one fateful day 3 months prior.

She briefly felt on the verge of tears as she remembered that terrible day, plus the cruelly contrasting 3 happy weeks that had occurred prior to that day. Three weeks prior to that day, she had finally mustered up the courage to do something that she now wished she'd had the bravery to do in the summer after her freshman year, or perhaps even during freshman year. She'd confessed to Raj about how she'd developed romantic feelings for him.

She closed her eyes, and nodded her head up and down as she remembered the fateful day that she'd finally confessed. She could remember how nervous she'd felt about the whole matter, not to mention how much she'd been dreading the very likely possibility for rejection that she'd been so certain Raj would respond with due to his having already been successfully dating his friend Bailey for one full year, plus three months, by that point. She then remembered how surprised, and later delighted and hopeful she'd been when Raj had instead not immediately responded favorably or unfavorably, had taken the time to get further details out of her (details she'd only been all too eager to give), and had honestly admitted that he wasn't certain what to think but was willing to think things over and perhaps give things a chance with her. And for the 3 weeks that had followed, Raj quite honestly had indeed been giving her a chance, and it had felt to her as if she'd at that point genuinely been his girlfriend in all but name.

But then she remembered the one terrible day where all that bliss had come to a cruel crashing downfall. And to make it worse, it had actually started off seemingly quite pleasantly enough. But then the moment had come at the end of the school day after she and Raj had rendezvoused together in a hallway that had quite romantically turned out to be empty, and had proceeded, after a short talk, to kiss and even start engaging in a small make out session. They had only been engaging in said make out session for at least 2 or 3 minutes before they were interrupted by the arrival of none other than Bailey and Cody.

Within minutes, things had rapidly fallen apart for all involved. As Kimberly had been quite devastated to find out, Raj had, unlike her, not fully committed to the idea of her and him being together in that way. In fact, he hadn't even broken up with Bailey before initiating his recent 'trial run' with Kimberly. As Raj had explained a couple days later, he had in fact handled the matter the way he'd been doing for those past 3 weeks as a means to try to compare and contrast her and Bailey, as well as under the hope that doing it this way would allow him to soften the blow and let Bailey down gently in the event that he ended up turning her down and breaking up with her in the end for Kimberly. But of course, for the sake of this intended goal, he had told neither Kimberly, Bailey, or his and Bailey's other close friend Cody about his plans, let alone about how he'd been 'interacting' with Kimberly over the past 3 weeks from before that fateful day. Needless to say, the results had not been pretty.

Admittedly, she at first had held onto a tiny flare of hope when Raj had later made it clear that he was not going to necessarily completely give up on the possibility of being with her, but wanted to have some time to think things through and work things back out with Bailey and Cody before he made a final decision and gave her a definitive answer. At that time, she'd expected for all that to have been taken care of within a couple weeks, or maybe even at least by the end of the month that had followed the day in which he'd gotten busted with her. But now, at least 3 months had passed, and not only had she still not gotten her promised straight answer, but Raj himself had clearly both not only still not yet worked thing back out with his two friends, but also seemed to still be leaning heavily towards Bailey than towards her. Granted, she had no solid proof to indicate that this latter assumption was true. But even so, what she'd seen and heard of Raj and his current behavior and antics regarding Bailey were hardly reason for her to be hopeful for her own chances. And the very possibility of her being rejected, and in such a cruelly indirect fashion no less, was something that made her feel more than a little saddened and filled with despair.

She sighed, and shook her head side to side. She really wished that she could avoid spending so much time thinking about her current situation with Raj. She really did. After all, it wasn't like she didn't have any other important problems that were just as deserving, if not more so, of her concern and attention at the moment.

As she had this thought, her eyes narrowed in anger. Now that she thought about, there was one especially serious that had arisen in her life quite recently. To be precise, it had come into existence this past Monday. And it was all coach Sue Sylvester's fault. As of that Monday, per Coach Sylvester's decree, the after-school cheerio practice sessions had been extended to last longer than usual. Granted, this news, and the changes that had occurred so far in the timing, hadn't resulted in all that much difficulty. However, knowing coach Sylvester, Kimberly had a very bad feeling that, as the year went by and the closer the time for the Nationals championship for the cheerios came, the coach would likely end up gradually increasing the amount of time that practice sessions lasted up till the point that it would greatly interfere with Kimberly's attending chorus club. This possibility, understandably, was not something that Kimberly was happy about. Not one bit.

"Hey Kimberly."

Kimberly lifted her head, and let a smile briefly touch her face at the sight of her young gay sophomore friend, Sid Weber. Much like her, Sid was an especially good friend of Raj's from middle school. And despite the age gap between them and how little they'd spent sharing the same school together as a result, this friendship had remained strong all the way up till now. At least, it had remained strong between Kimberly and Sid anyway. In Raj's case, the friendship appeared to have somewhat weakened over the days that had followed that fateful day and his subsequent efforts at getting back in Bailey and Cody's favor. Of course, despite this factor, Kimberly herself still held onto the belief that Raj was still a nonetheless good friend to both her and Sid, even though Sid himself had occasional doubts.

"Everything ok?"

Sid sighed, and hung his head. Kimberly's heart promptly sank, her brief smile fading in the process. "What do you think?"

Kimberly groaned, and hung her head, shaking it side to side in the process. "Jesus Christ Sid," she began. She looked up at the boy. "What is it with you? Half the time, you're working to rebel against even the slightest of expectations, even at times in which conforming is the only thing preventing you from being killed; and the other half, you're cowering in fear and not even lifting a finger to defend yourself. Can't you ever make up your mind?"

"It's not that simple Kimberly," said Sid. He sighed, and shook his own head side to side. "Honestly Kimberly, if I could fight off Abby and Joanna, I would. Not to mention I'd do the same to all the other people in this lame school who subject me to the more verbal abuse that the cheerios replace with physical abuse."

"Oh sure," Kimberly grumbled. "And I'll bet you'd probably fight off all the dangerous things and people you've ended up getting on the bad side of during your moments of rebellion; not to mention have utterly made you regret said rebellions the painful way. Isn't that right?"

"Hey," Sid snapped, pointing his finger at Kimberly. "Don't make jokes out of that! How was I supposed to know that rebellion in those situations would be as dangerous as they turned out to be?"

"The fact that it's happened so many times before them, that's how!"

Kimberly got up from her seat, pointing her own finger at Sid. "Honestly Sid, do you never learn? Why can't you follow the simplest of orders?"

"And prove myself the very wimp every cheerio here apart from you thinks I am by turning down challenges?"

"What challenges?!" Kimberly damn near shrieked. "Half the time you, quote on quote, take challenges, you're deliberately violating recommendations made from genuine concern for your safety! Honestly Sid, look at the idiocy you've taken part in for the sake of your oh so special rebel liberty! Seriously! Letting people walk all over you one minute and deliberately endangering yourself despite genuine concerns for your safety from others the next minute? You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days!"

Sid clenched his fists, letting out a shaky and tense breath to keep calm. "Kimberly," said Sid. "I know I've screwed up in the past. God knows how many times I've screwed up. But trust me on this, one of these days, I will get my act together, ok? I just need more time."

"You've had plenty of time," Kimberly snapped. "You should have learned by now and gotten your act together last year! The year before that even!" Sid clenched his fists, gritting his teeth in an effort to avoid losing his temper. "Just think of what Cameron would say!"

That was enough to get Sid to snap. "You leave Cameron out of this!"

"Why?" Kimberly asked. "Lord knows nothing else will get your head out of the clouds and convince you to take your issues seriously!"

"I take them plenty seriously!"

"Then why don't you act like you take them seriously?" Kimberly retorted.

Sid took a deep breath, and then exhaled irritably. "Look," he said. "Like I said, I need time. . ."

"Which you've had plenty of already," Kimberly hissed.

"Well you've had plenty of time too!" Sid pointed his finger at her accusatorily. "God knows how long it's been since you've last made any headway with Raj! What's taking you so long to get those issues taken care of? Huh?"

Kimberly was very noticeably silent upon hearing this, and Sid promptly took advantage, pointing his finger at her and glaring. "Yeah that's right! I know full well how you're hardly doing any better with your Raj situation then I am with my own issues! Why don't you go ahead and take care of your own business before you get all in my face on mine!? God knows you could use the extra time that you waste on my own problems!"

Kimberly gritted her teeth, trying her best to keep herself together.

"Especially considering how you could use have even less time to waste on stuff like chorus club and my own issues when you could be trying to work out your own problems!"

The two could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed this last shout. Kimberly gaped at Sid in a mixture of shock, rage, and sadness. Sid, meanwhile, had a face that had very abruptly morphed from angry to wide-eyed and stunned at what he'd just said. After what seemed a far longer amount of time than the amount that had actually passed, Sid finally managed to lift his hands up and say, "I . . . I'm sorry . . . that was mean."

"Oh . . . you think?!"

Sid winced upon hearing this. He'd already been quite aware of how much of a line he'd crossed with his last angry comment quite a few seconds before hearing Kimberly say the line in question. "Kimberly, honest to God, I am so sorry. . ."

"You'd better be," Kimberly hissed. She stood up from her chair, her finger pointing accusingly at the sophomore. "You think I don't know about all these issues of my own I have to deal with!? You think I don't know that I could be trying, keyword being trying, to get them taken care of instead of trying to help you!? You think I don't know how much more difficult it could soon get for me to get my issues taken care of, or, quote on quote, 'waste my time' with chorus club as a result of Coach Sylvester's current plans for extending the amount of time for cheerios' practice to last?! Huh?! Do you?!"

Sid mentally sputtered and tried desperately to muster up the power to respond.

"Well guess what pea brain! I do know all that! I do! I know all that so flipping much I wish I could forget as easily as you seem to be so arrogant as to believe right now! I get reminded of it all every single day without even trying!"

"Kimberly. . ."

"And at least you've got me trying to support you and help you! Who's tried to help me with all the shit I have to deal with since that fateful day last year? Not you! Not my fellow cheerios! Not Cameron! My own parents have barely made any effort either! And Raj certainly hasn't helped either one of us!"

Kimberly lifted her hands skyward in exasperation. "Because Lord knows how nice it would be for him to stop focusing on patching things up with Bailey and Cody and devote just a single second towards meaningful interactions with you and I again for once! And at the rate he's going at solving his own problems and how much luck the two of us have had in our efforts with our own issues, it's not like we're get our problems solved, or any assistance or interaction with Raj, anytime soon; let alone this school year!"

For another few seconds, silence hung in the air between Kimberly and Sid after Kimberly finished her bitter tirade. Then, she shuddered, now clearly struggling to keep herself together, sat back down on the bottom row bleacher, and then lowered her face into her hands and started crying.

Sid calmly walked over to the bleacher and took a seat next to Kimberly. After waiting a few seconds or so to let Kimberly allow some of her sadness and tension to leave her system, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok Kimberly," he said. "Really it is. Everything will be fine. I'm sure it will."

Kimberly sniffled, lifted her head, and glared tearfully at Sid. "Oh really?" she asked in a mixture of sadness and spite. "This from the guy who just threw all my effort at trying to help you in my face and trivialized the only thing in this damned school apart from Raj that gives me any happiness?"

"Yes, from that guy," Sid admitted. He hung his head, sighing in regret. "And again, I really am sorry."

Kimberly sighed, and turned her head to face the opposite side of the gym. Sid turned his head to face the same direction, also sighing in the process. The duo spent about a minute staring numbly and silently at the opposite side of the gym. "This stinks," Kimberly finally managed to say.

"Tell me about it," Sid grumbled.

Kimberly sighed, and hung her head. "I wish these issues of mine could be so much easier to solve, not to mention already taken care of by now."

"Me to," said Sid.

Kimberly snorted bitterly. "You saying that about my issues? Or yours?"

"Both," Sid responded without hesitation. He nodded his head. "And one of these days, those issues will be taken care of. And by God, one way or another, those issues will be solved by the end of this school year. I don't know how, but I know they will."

Kimberly snorted, and lowered her head to face her lap and hands. "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it happen."

Sid sighed, and hung his head. Truth be told, as irritating as it was for Kimberly to put a dark cloud on his newly spoken aloud hopes, he also still couldn't help but feel regretful at how he'd potentially been directly responsible for putting her in such a negative mood in the first place with his earlier tirade against her.

Then he lifted his head, a determined look on his face, and he drew his IPod out from his backpack. "You know what Kimberly," he said. Kimberly looked to her right to see what Sid wanted to say. "I know just the thing for us to do right now before recess ends. If anything, a nice little bit of music ought to get us back into a somewhat good mood."

Kimberly snorted, and rolled her eyes. "Well that certainly depends on more than one factor."

"Yes," Sid admitted. "But even with those many factors, there's only one way to see if all the right criteria are met." He selected the tune he wished to play. "And that being said, I hope you're ready." He pressed play, swiftly setting his IPod down and getting up from his seat. By sheer luck, he was able to fully stand up to his feet and be in the ideal position in time for when the music started. And when the time came for the vocal portion of the song to begin, the resulting performance went something like this:

(Sid:)

I know your insides are feeling so hollow
And it's a hard pill for you to swallow, yeah
But if I fall for you, I'll never recover
If I fall for you, I'll never be the same
(Scene Break: Roller Skating Rink)

I really wanna love somebody
I really wanna dance the night away
I know we're only half way there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way
(Scene Break: McKinley High Hallway)

I really wanna touch somebody
I'll think about you every single day
I know we're only half way there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way
(Scene Break: Gym)

(Kimberly:)
You're such a hard act for me to follow
Love me today, don't leave me tomorrow, yeah
(Kimberly and Sid:)

But if I fall for you, I'll never recover
If I fall for you, I'll never be the same
(Scene Break: Skating Rink)

I really wanna love somebody
I really wanna dance the night away
I know we're only half way there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way
(Scene Break: Hallway)

I really wanna touch somebody
I'll think about you every single day
I know we're only half way there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
(Sid:)
I don't know where to start, I'm just a little lost
I wanna feel like we never gonna ever stop
(Kimberly:)

I don't know what to do, I'm right in front of you
Asking you to stay, you should stay, stay with me tonight, yeah
(Kimberly and Sid:)
I really wanna love somebody
I really wanna dance the night away
I know we're only half way there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way
(Scene Break: Skating Rink)

I really wanna touch somebody
I'll think about you every single day
I know we're only half way there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
You can take me all the way, you can take me all the way, yeah.

(Scene Break: Gym)

About several seconds after the performance ended, and with it the song, Kimberly and Sid stood absolutely still in the center of the gymnasium, eyes closed as they continued to mentally bask in their enjoyment from both their performance and the roller skating they'd imagined themselves doing at the local roller skating rink a couple times over the course of their singing and dancing for the performance. Not to mention, naturally, the fact that they'd also very much been imagining themselves singing the song to Raj and Cameron, despite the very real lack of the two being present in their imagination sequences to have occurred during the performance.

The two friends opened their eyes, and then relaxed. At this point, Kimberly couldn't help but admit that she did feel somewhat better, just as Sid had expected. Granted, part of her still felt plenty bummed about both her situation with Raj and the potential difficulties to befall her later in the year as a result of Coach Sylvester's plans for the cheerios. But for now, she felt reasonably more content and hopeful of things working out in the end.

Sid, clearly aware of this, let a toothy grin come on his face. Then his grin faded into a simple smile, and he placed his hands on Kimberly's shoulders in a companionable gesture. Kimberly lowered her head slightly to directly face the much shorter Sid, and the gay boy said, "There's no need to worry Kimberly. Not today. One way or another, we will both have all our issues resolved. And I do mean all of them."

Kimberly let a small smile come onto her face, and she nodded her head. "Hell or high water?"

Sid chuckled, and nodded his head. "Hell or high water."

The two friends chuckled, shaking their heads side to side in amusement. Sid checked his watch. "Well," he said. "I suppose we'd best start on our way to our next class. I don't know about you, but I'd rather avoid the post recess rush if at all possible."

Kimberly chuckled. "I know the feeling buddy," she said. "Let's go." And at that, the two friends departed from the gym, both of them still very much aware of the issues that were even now still lying heavily upon their minds, but also feeling somewhat more hopeful about their chances at resolving them then they had before their performance together. And for now, the performance in question was something that would stay strictly between them. After all, while they most certainly did not feel for each other the way they did for Raj and Cameron, they were nonetheless good friends in their own way. And sometimes, just plain good friends just had their own little things to enjoy and keep strictly between themselves. And for them, this performance, quite simply put, was one such thing.

And just like that, another chapter done. Once again, I hope you all read and enjoyed, and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, no less than 1-2 reviews must be provided for this chapter in order for the next chapter (upon completion of course) to be posted. And even with this specific quota in mind, I highly (and I mean HIGHLY) recommend that everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) who reads this (Guest or otherwise) leave a review. I know that a bunch of you may find the idea of leaving a review and thus opening yourself (and the review) open to criticism or mockery or whatnot uncomfortable. But please, trust me, this is more than worth the risk. Seriously, in case it's not bloody obvious enough, writers on this website like myself and others need, (I mean NEED) reviews and feedback! Honestly, for us writers, sometimes trying to get people to get out of their shells and leave ANY feedback at all is like pulling teeth or digging for needles in haystacks. Seriously people, as long as you like what I'm writing (and ESPECIALLY if you don't violate the anti-flame rule for my stories), then just go to the review section at the bottom of this page, type in your thoughts (and leave them as simple OR as detailed as you want), and TELL me so! Seriously people! I know that more than 3 people (the current amount I've got actively reviewing this story) read this story. And by God, if THIS isn't enough to convince you that it's perfectly acceptable all those amongst you readers who HAVEN'T left any reviews to FINALLY leave reviews, then I don't know what will. And that being said, I'm sorry if this little tract rubs anyone the wrong way.) Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and leave plenty of feedback. And for that matter, I especially you like having had gotten to spend time with good ol' Kimberly and Sid this chapter for that matter. Again, hope you had fun and leave plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) of reviews ^_^.

Coming up Next: Charlotte has finally gotten things discussed and sorted out with her 2nd and 3rd in command after the whole fiasco they brought about back in chapters 16-17, and is in a somewhat less happy mood because of the whole mess. At least, that is, until she ends up meeting up with what seems to be a sympathetic fellow student who appears to be more than capable of helping her fulfill her wishes in time for it to serve as a real birthday treat. And later that day, she decides to seemingly both apologize for her highest ranking subordinates' actions AND extend an offer of friendship to both the two female leads AND the rest of their fellow New Directions girls. Question is, is this a genuine apology and offer of friendship? Or is it something else entirely? And what about the 'sympathetic fellow student' who appears to be somewhat behind Charlotte giving this supposed apology and friendship offer? Is he really what he says he is? Or is he someone else entirely? So many questions. Let's hope next chapter allows just a LITTLE light to shine on these matters!