Burt POV
I bent down and scooped up Lex in my arms and then hurried up the stairs. I hesitated about where to go but after all- even when she was ill herself Carole was the nurse- and I was under no circumstances pulling her out of bed so I pushed the door to mine and Carole's room open and then walked around the bed to lay Lex down on my side of the bed.
Carole looked to us and then sat up when we came in. Lex still lay lax in my arms as I walked around the bed and then laid her down, kneeling by her side and starting to stroke her hair, then I shortly explained to Carole what had happened, and had finished just as Lex started moving.
"Hey…." I continued stroking Lex's hair as her eyes fluttered open and she looked first from me, to Carole, and then to me again. "Are you okay honey?" Lex didn't answer, for several seconds no one of us moved or said anything, then suddenly she shot up and threw her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shirt and broke down in wild sobs.
"Hey." I laid my palm against her head and the dark- red hair. "It's okay now. He can't touch you anymore." I silent, I didn't know what more to say- or if there was anything to say at all. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say. Whatever I said or did there was nothing that could fix what had been so damaged for almost sixteen years before we even knew who she was.
And yet I would have given anything to know how to do just that.
I didn't know for how long it lasted, for how long I and my wife sat there with our very beloved daughter as she first sobbed wildly- and then went on with just quiet sobs and snivels, barely looking up from my shirt for hours.
But I did know that I would give my all to never let my daughter hurt again.
Leah POV
"So" I looked to myself in the mirror that hung in my locker after shortening the crutches and shoving them into my already over- full locker. "This is it." I still held one hand on whoever- the- locker- next- to- mine's- belonged- to and one hand on the door to mine as I looked myself in the mirror and spoke to myself while waiting for Jonah to come up. "You can do this…"
"You know Leah." Suddenly Jonah came up- from what seemed like coming out of nowhere. "If you keep on talking to yourself like that you might have to soon be walking through the asylum instead of school." I looked to him and ironically pretended to be laughing and then closed my locker slowly removing my hands from the lockers.
"This is it." I breathed and then closed my locker and slowly made my way through the hallway. I could only walk very slowly and my legs and feet moved in a way far from normal to minimize the risk of falling- but I was walking- no wheelchair- no walker- no crutches or rails or anything. Just me and my own body, and my own mind.
I saw many people looking after me, I guess a few of them because of how used they were to me being in a wheelchair or using crutches but I guessed about ninety nine percent of them was of my special walking style. "This is great you know." Jonah said happily. "I can finally keep up with you without having to walk the fastest I can." He gave a short chuckle as we passed around a corner and right away I saw Lex standing in the middle of it. She looked tired and was leaning slightly against Carole- who stood with her arm against Lex's shoulders. Mr. Schue and Burt- both very easy to recognize only on the haircuts stood with their backs towards us.
Despite how tired she looked, when Lex saw me a big smile began to form on her lips and in her eyes. "Leah…" She sighed and when the ones she was standing around with saw her big smile and heard Carole- whom too looked tired and pale- looked up and Mr. Schue and Burt turned around- not long before all four of them had big smiles on their faces as they saw me.
"Hey." I said. A bit embarrassed of how they were all staring at me. "What's going on?" I looked to Burt and Carole. And before I had stopped myself I asked. "What are you doing here? Have something happened?" Carole waved my question off but as she answered it was only for a parent, teacher conference her voice sounded hoarse and I couldn't quite hear if it was from emotion or something else.
"WHOA." The second after Carole had stopped talking I was knocked off my feet of someone- who fell on top of me his books- and my books- spreading over the floor. At first I only saw a bunch of dark brown hair and I was afraid Jonah had had some attack and fallen. But when the person rolled over me apologizing about a thousand times.
Then I saw it was Aiden- stuttering trying to explain that he was late, had come running and when he almost dropped his books- because one of his hands was in a big cast- he had tried to remain control over it and therefore not noticed that he was running into me.
"AIDEN." I shouted to have him shut up while I pulled myself up and, sitting on the floor started gathering both his and my own things. "It's okay. I'm okay and it was an accident." I sorted his things from mine and handed Aiden his books before Burt and Mr. Schue helped me to get up on my feet again. "Jonah, shut up. It was an accident- and I knew that if I'm going to walk on my own from now on I will fall."
Caroline POV
I took a deep breath while walking through the hallways of McKinley- I had made up my mind about what to say to Jasper and the only think that took from me now was to gather all of my freaking courage to even dare to say it at all- and say it right.
"Hey Carr'" My older sister Lacey- in her Junior year came up to me. "Do you have glee- club today?" I nodded, and acted like I didn't hear the cocky tone she always used while talking to me. "You're paired up with that Jasper Gota right?" I nodded again. "Well then I want you to do this- you know how Jasper and Aiden O'Malley are best friends- you know that hot guy in my Spanish and History class- he's in the glee club." I nodded- I knew who Aiden was. "Can you tell Jasper to tell Aiden to be outside entrance A2 at seven tonight?" I nodded, and before she had the time to say anything else, I turned around and walked into another hallway. I saw Jasper, and gathered my courage to say it.
"You took my Aiden…." I felt my cheeks heat as I blushed from saying it wrong. "J-journal- you took my journal." I could see that Jasper was biting his lip trying not to laugh as he pulled the journal out of his bag and handed it to me. "Here it is, but I didn't take it I found it lying in the hallway and thought I'd give it back to you.
Jasper was lying- I knew he was lying because he had been in the room when it had disappeared and I had looked everywhere for it even though I knew perfectly well where I had put it before I went to the bathroom. But I had no intention of fighting so I just took it and thanked him for it, and then walked away suddenly remembering what my sister had said.
"Jasper? If you see Aiden, can you tell him to be outside entrance A2 at seven tonight?" He answered me yes, and because I turned around and plugged my earplugs in my ears I didn't see or hear how Jasper suddenly took a big jump and ran the fastest he could through the corridor to catch up with Aiden and tell him what they thought were good news.
I saw my sister in the other side of the hallway, she gave me a meaning look and I nodded slightly to show her that I had told Jasper to tell Aiden to meet her.
I was quite tired of my sister- or not really of her- but of being her sister. She was prettier then me, more popular then me, smarter than me, had better grades, she was a part of the cheerios, she had had a bunch of boyfriends and everyone seems to want to get to know and be friends with her. And then there was me- I was shy, no one barely looked at me, I wasn't popular and I was just… I was just normal.
I wasn't even normal- I was not even good enough for that!
I sighed- it might be that I was head over heels falling for Aiden O'Malley, that I only kept on falling more and more for each time I saw him but I just had to face it- there wasn't one guy who would choose me if they had a chance on my fantastic and special older sister.
Burt POV
"No Carole." I turned the car towards our street. "You are not going to work today. I know the fever have gone down but you need to rest- you if anyone should know that." I glanced over at Carole taking my eyes off the road for a split second- maybe it was true what they said that nurses and doctors themselves would always be the hardest to care for when they were ill.
Carole sighed, but didn't protest anymore, I pulled over in our driveway and followed Carole inside, spreading a blanket over her shoulders and the remote in her hand before I backed towards the hallway. "Don't move from the couch okay? I will be back during lunch, I will bring some food home so don't mind about making anything. Lex and Rafaél have glee club today, so well… I fast walked over to Carole again, kissed her another time and then walked back towards the hallway. "Don't move. I mean it. See you later." I turned around and walked out the door.
Rafaél was still living with us, neither I nor Carole had the hearts to kick him out and why would we? There wasn't anywhere else for the young man to go as long as his dad wasn't letting him into his house again, and as it looked like now he wouldn't. I had been thinking about having a talk with Mr. Pablo Gerardo myself but decided against it as long as Rafaél was probably too messed up to take another round of bad news.
I pulled over in front of the gas station to see a man standing leaning against his car in the parking lot. I hadn't seen him before but his skin was white but dark- ish- perhaps he could be Latin- American, his hair quite long, pulled back and dark and he stood with a cigarette in between his lips which he took out when I stepped out of my car.
"Sorry I'm late." I said and unlocked the door to the station. "How can I help you Mr…." I glanced back at the man to get a last name, but whatever I was expecting it was not this as he waited with answering to after he'd stepped on the cigarette.
"Gerardo."
I stopped in the middle of the move I was doing, pulled out the key from the door and turned to the man, when I had heard his name it seemed clear to me. The tanned skin, the long dark hair, the eyes, shape and proportions of the face- there was no doubt to me about who this was. "Then you're Rafaél's dad?!" I spoke and turned towards him fully.
"Rafaél is no son of mine." I pushed the door to his car as he made an attempt to open it.
"No sir." I said with a deep, serious tone. "Now you listen to me very closely. A few days ago I, my wife and our daughter drove past Rafaél sitting on a park bench in the middle of the rain without even a coat. Our daughter knows Rafaél from the glee club and recognized him. We are letting him stay at ours for the moment because what else would we do and do you know what?"
The man in front of me opened his mouth to say something but with a meaning glare I held up my hand and silent him.
"My son is gay, I've known since he was three. I tried for as long as possible to push the thought away until he came out to me when he was sixteen. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for me to say that I never wanted to speak with him again but I didn't because I love my son- and I know you do too because I know what it feels like to become a father. So that's why I'm asking you to have another talk with your son and give him another chance- it might feel weird from the beginning but it's gonna get easier with time and he might be gay and you might not like that but he always was and before you knew it you loved him- so why stop when he's the exact same person now as he was before?" I stopped talking.
"I am not letting Ralphie back under my ceiling." He mumbled something in Spanish, I opened the door to the station and I knew I wouldn't be able to help this man without setting up his brakes or something. I slammed the front door shut after telling him I couldn't help him and walked straight into the office where I stopped holding both of my hands tightly clenched around the desk of the table.
What! A! Jerk!
Marcie POV
Sean had asked me to meet him in the auditorium to do some practicing on the song we had chosen the day before. We stood with each paper with the text on and sang- or well- I sang, he rapped- and he was still really good at it as it played through the end of the song and we all silent.
"The laces." Sean pointed to my feet and before I had reacted he had kneeled in front of me and taken my shoelaces in his hands to tie them. He silent as he kneeled and then when he stood up he stood close- too close- and it got even closer.
"There is something I've been wanting to say." He said. I nodded.
"I know"
I knew Sean felt more for him than "just friends" even more than "just best friends" there was no way I could have been mistaken on the way he had started looking at me lately. I had been trying to push it away- I was in love with Ben and no one else- we were together for Christ's sake but I knew all along what Sean felt for me.
And then Sean's lips reached mine
And he kissed me
Uh oh, here comes trouble! And for some reason Carole always seem to be close when Leah is falling. But well….
And this is the first chapter I put up after graduation so why not tell you- on Wednesday I graduated "Yay" which was so sad and so happy and so AWESOME!
