"Ready!" I answered Mr. Schue and then looked straight forward, then I moved my right hand a little bit forward on the rail and slowly, I began to move my right foot. But when the toes of my shoe dragged towards the mattress on the floor I fell forward- before I had even had the chance to take a step I fell forward. Barely had I reacted on the fact that I fell until I felt two pairs of strong arms catch me.

"You okay?" Mr. Schue asked, I nodded and regained my balance. Tears- mostly of anger and disappointment I felt rising in my eyes. I bent my head to be able to stroke them away on my own sleeve.

"Hey" I felt Mr. Schue's hand on my shoulder. "It's alright, you gotta be prepared that this'll be two steps ahead and one step back." I sniveled.

"You don't understand Mr. Schue." I said. "I gotta do this… I need to prove… I need to prove to my parents that I can do this. And…"

"Leah… what's your full name?" Coach Beiste forced me to look at her.

"Leah Sophia Marilla Carmichael"

"Well… Leah Sophia Marilla Carmichael… you don't need to prove to anyone that you can do this okay?.."

"You don't understand… I gotta prove it… the guy who hit me… Harvey… my parents are so cross with him… I am not and I don't want them to be either, maybe, if I could walk again, then we can all just leave this behind. I can walk, Harvey can forgive himself, and mum and dad can forgive Harvey."

"Listen Leah." Mr. Schue told me. "Your parents are aware of the fact that they're gonna lose your brother, they were so close to losing you too. Can you imagine them getting a phone call and being told you've been hit by a car? And can you imagine the feelings towards the man who caused it?"

"Not really," I mumbled, while the scene of the accident played over and over in my head, as always when I was talking about it, Jonah shouted, I turned around, could see the car but I couldn't move… I couldn't move.

"Leah? Leah?... Leah?" Coach Beiste's voice brought me back to reality.

"Mhm."

"You want to try again." I looked straight ahead, then nodded and looked back to her.

"Remember! You don't need to prove anything to anyone… okay?" I nodded again, then looked straight forward, took a deep breath and started lifting my right foot, every movement was slow and stiff, but at last, I put the foot down again, it wasn't far from where I had lifted it up, but it was a step, and I continued with moving the other foot, then again, then again. It was slow, stiff, but it was walking.

"Leah you're walking." Another nurse- Lionel said. "You're really walk…" he hadn't finished the sentence when I stumbled and fell again, again Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste caught me from each side, pain shot through my spine, as I moaned and without thinking my hand reached for my back.

"You okay?" Mr. Schue asked again. I nodded again. "Maybe that's enough for today?!"

"No…. I want to try again."

"Leah…"

"I want to try again." I tried to regain my balance again, only to have pain shoot through my spine again and completely losing it. Coach Beiste caught me before I'd hit the mattress. But the sudden movement make another wave of pain shoot through my spine, as I whimpered in pain.

"That's definitely enough for today!" Coach Beiste scooped me up and lifted me back to my wheelchair. I was in too much pain to protest, as I leaned forward and put my head in my hands.

"Hey." Mr. Schue came along. "Remember what I said, you gotta be prepared that it will be better and worse times, and this was the first." I sniveled and looked up at Lionel.

"Couldn't you have waited a little longer with saying that?" Lionel smirked and walked away to handle another patient.

The next day I sat by my desk in my room, if it was anything that always helped me to move on, it was writing. I always wrote poems, a bit now and then, when I had something to write a poem about, now I had an idea to write about the accident, I had two lines to start with, but it wasn't any good. I knew it wasn't any good. I wasn't a good writer- but I loved writing, and that's what made me carry on.

I put the pencil to the paper again, and carried on my sketch, I tried once, twice, three times, my trashcan kept on filling with more and more paper- balls. At last. I took the last sketch, made it into a ball, and threw it towards the door without looking.

"Leah." I heard Jonah's voice, that's when I understood he had just came through the door, and when I turned around and saw him stroking his forehead I understood I'd hit him with that paper ball.

"Sorry Jonah."

"It's alright." I turned around and started on another sketch.

"UGH." I fizzled. "Why can't I just write something good for once?"

"You know that isn't true… and this is quite good." I looked back to Jonah to see him standing with the paper that had recently been a paper ball, he had unwrapped it and was now reading it, I wheeled over to him and ripped it out of his hands.

"You are under no circumstances allowed to read my sketches. And this is rubbish."

"You know," Jonah continued. "If you put something after lights flashing, like blinding me or something, and move places on these three, take silence last so you've got silence where the poem ends… pain comes first…"

"I don't like that you're a better writer than me…" I did as he said.

"I am not… by the way… there's an extra glee club meeting on Monday, at two." I kept on sketching at the poem, and at last I had something, it wasn't good, kind of like my other poems then, but at least it was something and it was about the accident.

I can hear
You're shouting
turning around
lights flashing
blinds me
I can't move
Then pain
Darkness
Silence

I sighed, and put the paper inside a twist- folder I always carried around, I had been writing since I learned to spell my own name, always, as long as I could remember. But no one except Jonah or a few teachers- correcting my essays had ever read what I'd written. Jonah kept on telling me my poems were good- but I didn't think so.

Monday, glee club

We sat around the floor on the stage in the audiotourium, the whole glee club. Jonah had his backpack open and pulled out a small freeze- box with ice- cubes made of orange- juice, he opened the box and put one of those cubes in his mouth- he knew it drove me crazy when he chewed on them. So that's what he did.

"JONAH." I half shouted and put my hand on my ear. "Stop that."

"But I'm so bored." Jonah moaned with the cube still in his mouth.

"Not for long." Mr. Schue came walking. "Leah, happy birthday." I nodded thanks, and was soon greeted by loads of the others wishing me happy birthday. Jonah chewed again.

"JONAH." I moaned.

"Why do you keep having those at all?" Jasper asked. "Isn't it just cold?" Jonah looked to me, I knew what he was thinking, and he chewed up the rest of the ice cube.

"Listen… you're gonna get to know that sooner or later… but not right now okay? Today's Leah's day…"

"That's right…" Mr. Schue wanted to keep on speaking but was interrupted when Sean started shouting in the phone.

"MUM FOR GOD'S SAKE WE GOTTA…. NO…. Curtis? No you can't. Listen… I know it's weird but… FOR FUCK'S SAKE CURTIS LISTEN. NO I'm not letting you replace my dad… I know it's been sixteen years, aah hell no… Wait… Curtis? Mum?" he swore mumbling to himself when he turned off his phone.

"Sean?" Mr. Schue raise an eyebrow at Sean.

"What?" Sean said rudely.

"You want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Well then… today's Leah's birthday, and sometimes, a week for someone's birthday I let them decide what we're having as the theme for this week so… Leah?"

"Well…" I thought. "That sorry- song… it was from the saddle club series right?" Some of the others nodded. "I remember those series, I used to watch it all the time when I was little, so… can't we have a week for the saddle club songs?"

"Saddle club week it is…"

"Leah?" I heard dad's voice behind me. I turned around and saw both him and mum stand there.

"I haven't got rehab today." I said, because that was usually the reason they were here at McKinley. "And Jonah's fine…"

"Leah… we're gonna take you to your birthday- present." Dad came over and lifted me back in the wheelchair. "So… I am afraid we'll have to leave now." Dad had a smirk on his lips, that made me both made me exited and a bit freaked out. Mr. Schue grabbed a box from the piano. He reached it to me.

"This is from the whole of New Directions, including me, Coach Beiste and Brad…" The pianist laid down and hit his head on the piano-keys, Mr. Schue sighed. "Okay maybe not from Brad.. but you aren't allowed to open it until after you have gotten your birthday present." Dad pushed me out of the room and out to the parking lot, then we rode the car…. For three hours. At last, dad pulled up at a driveway in front of a big white house, Jonah walked before me and knocked the door when my dad pushed me up the rest of the driveway. A woman- perhaps in her early forties came and opened.

"Hello, you must be the Carmichaels come in come in." Dad lifted me up from the wheelchair and carried me into the house. Mum came after with the chair, and then I was in it again. I wheeled after the woman, who suddenly stopped.

"I'm Marissa Stewart by the way, but you just call me Marissa. What are your names?"

"I'm Abram." Dad pointed to himself, then to mum. "This is my wife Edna, and our children Jonah and Leah."

"And who is the lucky one today?"

"That's Leah." Dad patted my shoulder.

"Okay… Marissa opened a door out to the garden in the living room, and immediately, during high yelps and stumbling, seven white puppies came running into the room, they had different brown and grey spots, one of the puppies had grey ears, and looked up at me. Dad helped me to sit down on the floor, immediately all the seven puppies came jumping up and climbing on me.

"You have got to be kidding me…" I said, my voice almost breaking. "You're kidding me… you're kidding me…" Dad kneeled down next to me.

"We wouldn't do that and you know it… one of these is going to be yours, all yours." I sniveled, and felt tears starting to stream down my cheeks.

"What's the matter?" Dad asked me. "Isn't this what you wanted?" I nodded.

"Oh it's just happiness, oh thank you… this is the best present ever." The most brave puppy, the one with the grey ears came and climbed on me.

"This little guy is sold." Marissa lifted away a little puppy with brown ears and spots.

"And you know what to do right?" Dad asked I nodded, leaned forward and hit the floor with my palm as hard as I could.

"AAAH." I screamed to check which puppy would back away, all six pups except the little one with grey ears, she just stayed and looked at me as if she wanted to say "what are you doing?" I smiled and lifted her up.

"Oh I was gonna pick you anyway," I said. "Yes I was, yes I was."

"That little one is the only female, and she classed out all her brothers. Do you come with me or…" Marissa talked to dad, she nodded stood up and walked out of the room with her while I kept on scratching my puppies stomach.

"Her name is Chasmir by the way."

"Chasmir?" I said to myself. "uh- uh, in our house we've all got names from the bible and that ain't gonna change…" I said and thought back on every girls name in the bible I could think of, it was hard. But at last I came up with one.

"Ariel is from the bible is it?" I looked up at mum, she nodded. I looked down at the puppy.

"Ariel?" I tasted the name. "Ariel… Ariel… your name is Ariel." Ariel yelped. "Oh you like that don't you, yes you do, yes you do."

"Like what?" Marissa and dad came back into the room. Marissa kneeled down. "Chasmir come here." Ariel didn't react. "Chasmir, Chasmir…."

"I'm calling her Ariel." Ariel yelped.

"Okay…. Chasmir," still no reaction, Marissa shook her head. "Ariel?" Ariel looked up and immediately ran over to Marissa.
"I guess she kind of chose her own name." I smiled, Marissa nodded and hugged Ariel.

"So… I guess we're done here." Marissa shook hands with all of us, dad lifted me up in the chair, and back in the car, where I opened the box Mr. Schue and the others had given me, I ripped away the paper and opened the carton, in there I found a collar for Ariel, dog treats, a leash and dog toys. Ariel began to screech when dad started driving, but I knew I had to ignore it, so I started riffling in one of the books we had gotten from Marissa. But she didn't cry out for long, after just about twenty minutes, she curled into a ball and laid down between me and Jonah to fall asleep.

Just about half an hour before we were home, dad pulled up in front of a store, he told me to pick Ariel- only half awake and we walked in, it was the store where you can get any kind of things you need to your dog. The others pulled me with to where they had dog- beds, and I picked one out. A red one, all soft and I was sure Ariel would like it.

Right by the cashier, there hung tags for collars which you could put the name of the dog on, I looked to them, then shook my head- I'd already had so much today, I could buy one for myself later.

"You want one of those?" Dad asked as if he could read my thoughts, I shrugged, though I knew that dad knew it meant yes. "Go pick one out then." I barely believed it, when I came back with a tag, formed as a heart with the name "ARIEL" on it, and happy but tired, both I and Ariel fell asleep in the car.

Abram POV

When we almost were home Leah fell asleep with Ariel in her arms, when we came home, Jonah lifted Ariel up, and I Leah. I laid Leah down on her bed and pulled her covers over her, Jonah laid Ariel upon it. Edna wanted to protest about that but I stopped her, the last thing I did before walking out of the room was slightly touch Leah's forehead with my lips.

"Happy birthday Tiger." I whispered, and then left the room after turning the lights off.

AWWWWWWW. I LOVE ARIEL! Anyways, a picture of what Ariel looks like (or more likely, what she will look like when she's grown a bit) will come up in my album, link on my profile. And that thing with Marissa, when Marissa calls "Chasmir" and Ariel doesn't react, about a year ago, in the beginning of the summer when we went to pick up our Yippie, Yippie´s name was actually Scilla, and they had tried to call "Scilla" and Yippie didn't react, and then they tried "Yippie" and then she came, so that's based on a true story

What do you think's going on with Sean? I know!Yeah yeah, I know, black guy rapping and swearing, very original. But trust me when I say "I've got a plan" I can't believe I made him use that language... don't like don't read