It was the beginning of a new school year at McKinley High when Jake Puckerman, begrudgingly sitting in his mom's car headed to his new personal hell for the next four years, realized this was actually happening. This was his life now, and there was no going back to the way things were. In middle school Jake met up with his friends most days to walk to school, and it was only half a mile away so it wasn't a big deal. If the weather was bad someone's parent would come through, but for the most part Jake's mom was already leaving for work before he even had to be at school. She still worked multiple jobs with crazy hours to support them, but things were different now. Jake got into too much trouble in their old town and now Danielle Picott was determined to be more present in her son's life. They were already pretty close, but she knew she would have to step it up if Jake was ever going to respect her authority as a parent.

Despite the fact that Jake had music playing and an earbud in, Danielle tried to make some ineffective attempts at small talk with her son. "Come on Jake," she piped up with a dejected look on her face. "Things have been okay between us all summer, even after the move. I didn't expect you to shut me out like this."

"And I didn't expect you to force me into accepting your ride," Jake bemoaned. "I can wake up earlier and walk y'know."

"We talked about this, you have to earn some of my trust back first."

"So, what? You're just never gonna work mornings at the diner again 'till I can somehow prove to you that I'm not a piece of shit despite what Lima's Finest might think?"

The truth was, being able to watch Jake walk into school with her own eyes would give the single mother some peace of mind that at least her son was starting the day off right, even if she wouldn't be around to control what he does when he gets out. Danielle stood her ground as she turned onto the road that would take them to McKinley. "Hey, if we're lucky the cops in this town won't even know your name."

"Luck?" Jake scoffed. "More like weekly drug tests and about 30 miles between me and everyone I know…" They didn't even have access to buses he could hop to get to his old town anywhere nearby. He'd checked.

Jake was angry. It felt like his blood was boiling but he didn't want to blow up on his mom, partially because it just wasn't in their nature to fight with each other, but mainly he just didn't have it in him to rehash the same old spiel he'd been spewing all summer. It was too early in the morning for this BS and too late for Jake to fight back at his current circumstances as he could now see the school coming up across the street. His mom slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road to let him out, meanwhile Jake pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter about to spark one up.

"You're dreaming," Danielle spat, "not in my car".

Jake chuckled, exiting the vehicle before anything could be confiscated. He grabbed his guitar case and swung it over his shoulder before sparking up a cut from a cig and taking a sharp inhale. His other hand still leaning on the car door, Jake looked back at his mom who seemed slightly disappointed. He parted his lips open to let the smoke out, asking, "what did you expect?"

"It's been three months Jake, find better ways to cope."

"The only thing I have to cope with is the fact that I'm about to start off high school knowing absolutely no one." Jake didn't like making his mom upset, but it had to be said. Even though he knew she was on his side, it didn't always feel that way, and he felt compelled to advocate for himself. He took another hit from his smoke and looked off in the distance at the school yard. He saw groups of people talking and walking together, various students greeting each other as they passed by, and immediately felt separate from it all.

Danielle turned sympathetic in her response. "You'll make friends, even if it's hard at first."

"It's not hard, I just don't feel like it. I already have friends and I should've been able to stay with them."

"This is how it is, and I'm sorry Jake but that's the end of it. Try to join a club or something. I don't know what else to tell you."

Jake rolled his eyes and shut the car door as the ember between his fingers reached the filter and he flicked it to the ground. He stepped on the butt as a final cloud of smoke rose from underneath his shoe up into his face. The jaded teenager didn't have it in him to muster up another reply. He began dragging his feet slowly across the street. He was tired, mentally and physically. Jake imagined most people go into high school expecting it to be their glory days, and suddenly felt hit with the jarring contrast between him and his peers as it seemed like the best of his fun, friendships, and freedom were already behind him.

xxx

Jake had 20 minutes to kill before freshman orientation which, according to a letter his mom got in the mail, would be held in the auditorium. The only problem was he had no clue where that would be and no one to help look around with. McKinley was a bigger school than he anticipated considering how dumpy the town was, and they don't exactly provide a map.

The loner boy wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes hoping to get lucky without a plan. Usually he wouldn't care about being late but also knew this orientation would be where he'd get his locker and class schedule. You know, the basics. As much as Jake was completely dreading this school year in a new town, he also had one simple objective: to change the way his mom perceived him. Right now, she just saw a selfish kid who was too immature to see all the sacrifices she'd made for him in pursuit of having a good time. He had to show her that he's willing to do at least the bare minimum to stay out of trouble, and getting detention for being late to his first class wouldn't exactly be a great start.

After walking all the way down a long hallway on the main floor Jake approached a set of big doors that looked like they could be the auditorium so he decided to check it out. It turned out to be the cafeteria, which gave him an idea to see if he could buy a coffee.

He quickly grabbed some coffee and rushed through another door leading outside so he could have another smoke. Screw it, right? At this point he had ten minutes left but really wanted to start the day off with a rush he could hopefully get from combining some nicotine and caffeine together. Better than nothing, he figured.

As Jake puffed away and chugged down his drink a few people walked past, but it seemed like this probably wasn't a main entrance that students normally used to get in from the outside. Suddenly he heard someone come through the door behind him from the cafeteria and he frantically turned around, shoving the cigarette behind his back praying this wasn't a teacher.

Jake was now faced with a blonde girl in a cheerleader uniform who also had a coffee in her hand, a backpack hanging off her shoulder, and seemed to be sizing him up with a puzzled grin on her face at Jake's apparent nervousness.

The girl snickered when a cloud of smoke appeared from behind Jake's back, it now making sense why he seemed so skittish. "Don't worry kid, I'm not gonna rat you out for smoking, if that's what you're worried about."

"Whatever," Jake replied quick, playing it cool as he brought the cigarette back to his lips. Being nervous to get caught breaking the rules was never something Jake would have felt at his old school, and he didn't need this chick talking down to him because he seemed like some paranoid freak. After all, there was nothing less cool than someone breaking the rules just to fit in, all the while being scared to get in trouble for it. And he didn't want to give off the impression that he was doing something just to look cool.

Then again, Jake never used to care about appearing cool at all. By all accounts he just was, without putting any effort into it. And he didn't care what people thought of him – not teachers, peers, or the cops, no one. But everything was different now. He had to watch his back because if he got in trouble now, not only would his probation officer find out, but his mom would probably find new, creative ways to punish him. And as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, he had to care what his peers thought of him if he hoped to make any new friends. It was easy to not give a thought to the opinions of others when he had a solid crew of friends to wreak havoc with around town every day. But now everything was different.

Jake hoped the blonde would move the conversation along, but when she simply shrugged and took a sip of her coffee, he figured he would have to be the one to open up first. She stood before him still, so clearly, she must have been intrigued by him enough to want him to elaborate.

"I'm on probation," he continued, flicking the ash off his cigarette and taking another drag. "So if I get in trouble for anything, my probation officer will come down even harder on me, and it won't be good…"

"Then why smoke cigarettes at all?" the girl asked with a bit of an attitude in her voice, but seeming genuine enough nonetheless.

Jake chuckled. "'Cause it doesn't show up on a drug test."

That seemed to have really caught this girl's attention. "Is that what you got in trouble for – drugs?" She seemed a little skeptical, like she hadn't had any exposure to kids her age doing drugs before. Still though, she didn't exude any judgement or downright disbelief, maybe just a bit of shelteredness.

Jake's past behavior with the other kids in the col-de-sac was all he ever knew, and sometimes he forgot that typically teenagers didn't start experimenting with substances until they were much older. His upbringing was particularly unique considering his mom was always working and thus, never around, and his neighbor-friend had a 17 year old brother who introduced them to the world of drugs younger than a lot of kids got to experience. Most of the kids on the street were aged 16-19 and had absent parents, so they enabled each other to party. For Jake, it really was all fun and games until he got caught.

"You could say that…" He took the last drag on his cigarette and threw the butt on the ground, putting it out with his shoe. "Anyway, I have to get to this orientation thing for the freshmen and don't even know where the gym is. Think you can help me out?"

The girl smiled. "I'm going there too, dude. Let's go together."

Jake grabbed his coffee and guitar case, and followed her gesture to follow suit.

"Yeah, my brother graduated from here a few years ago and gave me this map," she explained, pulling a wrinkled-up pamphlet out of her backpack and unfolding it. I made sure to get here early to decipher the damn thing. There's three building to this shithole – who knew?!"

"Okay, so now I don't feel so bad that I was going in the complete opposite direction."

They laughed together as they walked in stride, hoping to make it to this meeting on time. By the time they got to the auditorium the bleachers were almost completely packed. Not intimidating at all… Jake thought. He held the door for his new companion to lead the way.

"By the way, I'm Kitty," the girl finally introduced herself formally, walking past him into the crowded room with a welcoming smirk.

"Jake."

They sat in the first empty section they could find as the orientation was just about getting started. Jake was happy he met Kitty so he wouldn't have to start this thing off with no trace of a familiar face, as he glanced around and noticed the majority of other students had some kind of established friend group or people to talk to. He felt like if he hadn't had Kitty he would feel completely cut off from the rest of the kids around him. He was also grateful that Kitty had an older brother who gave her that map – without it he probably would have been late and risked starting his freshmen year off on the wrong foot.

It seemed like the timing of things aligned in his favor, but still, it made him think that maybe he should reach out to his own brother. Maybe this was his sign to do it. As far as he knew, his older brother doesn't even know he exists. He's heard stories about his brother, about how he was apparently a legend at McKinley High in his time. He only graduated last year. He had no clue what the guy may have been up to since June, or even how the hell he would even get in contact, but maybe he would ask his mom. It couldn't hurt, he thought. Shit, 5 minutes in and Jake was already letting his mind wander. He tried his best to pay attention for the rest of the assembly, got his locker number and schedule, and found out he had 5 classes with Kitty, including lunch.

This was good. Jake made his first friend a lot more quickly and easily than he had expected. Maybe this new school thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

xxx

Gym class was interesting. Jake had no interest in sports whatsoever and wasn't particularly athletic, but he knew his days of skipping gym were over if he was to stay out of trouble and in his mom's good graces. He had this hope that if he got through one school year solid and completely sober, and got off probation, his mom would move them back home where he could go to school with his real friends. So he had to keep his eye on the prize, even if it meant making an ass out of himself in gym class, where he couldn't even sport his leather jacket. But maybe if he was lucky, they would do class outside and he could sneak off for a cigarette break…

They didn't go outside (bummer) and instead played basketball in the gym. It was pretty easy though – since half the bleachers were still up from the assembly, the teacher (what the hell kind of a name is Beiste?!) said they could just partner up to free-shoot. Kitty wasn't in this class with him (ugh) so Jake had no clue who the hell he would pair up with. A lot of his peers had friends that quickly paired up, but for the lot of the students left over, Beiste assigned people together.

Jake got partnered with a kid named Ryder and the first thing he thought was, Damn, this guy is attractive. Ryder was tall, but not too much taller than Jake that it was domineering, he had medium-length blonde hair in a skater-style hairdo, and an athletic build. He had piercing blue eyes that captivated Jake's attention, and a smile that seemed friendly but not overbearing. He wore a McKinley High Football shirt, but Jake could tell right away that this dude was a lot warmer in his demeanor than the other jocks he had run into so far.

The fact that Jake was bi was a complete secret to everyone in his life thus far, and he was determined to keep it that way. Still though, he had never been so enamored by another guy before, and figured he could keep it to himself whilst treating Ryder like his own personal eye candy.

They exchanged some words while shooting hoops together. He found out that Ryder was also a freshman and new to Lima. Even though Ryder was on the football team he was finding it kind of hard to make friends himself. Apparently a lot of the jocks at McKinley were more aggressive than the ones at Ryder's old school, making him feel like he didn't fit in. In the locker room after class the two boys exchanged phone numbers after coming to the realization that they both struggled with their grades, and figured maybe they could study together sometime. All the while Jake made sure not to give any indication that he found Ryder extremely attractive. His main objective was just to make friends, but shit, if he got some hot jock on his side out of it, that was cool too.

xxx

Lunch with Kitty turned out to be awkward as hell when he found himself sitting at a table with a bunch of other jocks and cheerleaders, and Jake felt like he didn't fit in with them at all. While Kitty claimed to have not made many close friends before meeting Jake, her alpha personality seemed to shine through as she easily made conversation with her peers. Jake sat by her side awkwardly, realizing just how hard it was for him to engage similarly in conversation when the people around him weren't his lifelong friends, or on any type of illicit substances.

Halfway through the period Jake got up to smoke a cigarette and ran into Ryder who was making his way to the same table Jake was sitting at. He explained he was late because he spent half his lunch in study hall trying to get a head start on his class curriculums. Weird, Jake thought, considering it was the first day of school, but whatever. He made a mental to strike up a conversation with Ryder when he returned from his smoke break, and hoped the lightheadedness would help him ease up.

When he got back, though, another blonde girl in a cheerleader uniform approached their table and Kitty in particular. She waved around a sign-up sheet for the Glee Club, to which more than half the people at the table rushed around to write their names on the list.

"Seriously?" one guy in a letterman jacket scoffed. "Since when did Glee Club get so popular around here?"

"I guess you haven't heard that we totally crushed it at Nationals last year," the perky blonde spat back. "And we're going to Chicago this year! Whoooo!" The girl fist bumped the air, doing a little dance. This only excited the hopeful new recruits at the table even more.

"Let me get that paper over here?" Jake asked, and crammed his first name all the way on the bottom, on the only open space on the page when it finally made its way over to him.

The older blonde looked pleased when she noticed Jake's guitar case hanging off his shoulder.

"You didn't strike me as the type to hop on some bandwagon," Kitty chimed in.

"I'm not." Jake handed the paper back to the enthusiastic girl with a slightly suggestive wink. Sure he was bi, but he wasn't going to let some completely meaningless crush on Ryder distract him from playing the field with any girl who showed an interest in him, just like he used to at his old school. It didn't mean anything – he just liked keeping his options open, and part of him hoped his charm would help his chances at standing out in the audition process. "I'm not lugging this guitar around for nothing, y'know."

Kitty seemed unimpressed with both his lackluster explanation and the subtle gesture made at her counterpart.

"Look," Jake pulled Kitty aside and hushed his tone. "I've been going kind of crazy these past few months being newly sober and all. I need something to fill the time."

"I guess that makes sense."

"And besides the guitar, I kinda do like the sing and dance. My mom's thinking of getting me lessons."

"Okay, so you're actually serious about this, huh?"

"Yeah… Not that I give a shit what you think. No offense, but we just met a few hours ago."

"Fair enough." Kitty nodded in agreement, coming to the realization that Jake wouldn't tolerate her alpha act. And she decided she wanted to be friends with Jake more than she cared to make fun of him for something as pointless as the Glee Club.

Before Jake got a chance to make conversation with Ryder, the bell rang and lunch was over. Kind of disappointing, but whatever. This was shaping up to be a pretty good day, and it was only halfway over. Jake made some friends, made the moves on some people, and even had his Glee Club audition to look forward to. He was excited to actually have something to do when he got home – after enduring the most boring summer ever with no friends, booze, or anything… not even weed.

Jake was surprised to find out his mom would be there to pick him up when school got out, to which he was conflicted – on one hand he was still attempting to hold a grudge against her for uprooting his whole life and changing towns. But on the other hand, he really was looking forward to getting home to prepare for his audition. And he wasn't quite sure which side he wanted to show her after the day he had.

"I thought you'd be at work," Jake scoffed lightly, trying to remain neutral in his tone as he hoped in the car.

"I'm on lunch – just wanted to make sure you got home okay and not mixed up with one of your old friends who has their license."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Funny… too bad they want nothing to do with me now that I'm on probation."

"Then were they really ever your friends?" Danielle asked, almost too sincerely for Jake's liking when he was trying to be mad at her. Silence. "Anyway, how was your first day of school, honey?"

"It was alright." Jake shrugged. "I signed up to audition for the Glee Club."

"That's great!"

"I guess. I'm thinking of singing a song by The Fray. I really like their frontman's voice and already know some of the guitar chords."

The mother and son talked for a few minutes, although Jake tried to downplay just how well the school day went, desperately trying to hold onto his grudge but also realizing if he plays his cards right he's more likely to get his way at the end of the school year.

Danielle dropped her son off before heading back to work. They said their goodbyes and as Jake went to grab his guitar case and textbooks from the backseat he added in, "By the way, I think I'm gonna reach out to my brother, Puck!"

His mom looked a little bit stunned but Jake shut the door and waved her goodbye with a grin on his face. He was pleased he found a way to subtly stick it to her even though he was being genuine in wanting to meet his brother. It was perfect because there was nothing she could do to stop him.

Jake practiced his song for hours, knowing the auditions were going to be held the following day. He also found his brother on Facebook, and contemplated sending a friend request, but backed out. Maybe after the audition for Glee, he thought. He knew Puck was in the club and didn't want to be compared to him. He heard stories about his brother at parties whenever his last name would come up, and apparently the dude could be a douchebag and a bully, and didn't always have respect for the women he got with. Jake didn't want to get lumped in with those character traits and figured he could wait a week to get into the club on his own merit, and see where things go from there. Nonetheless, even though he planned to hide it from his mom for a while, he wasn't completely dreading the school year ahead anymore.

xxx

A/N: hi guys! I hoped you liked chapter 1 if you've made it this far! as the story description says, this fic is eventually gonna be Jyder-centric with a pretty gradual slow-burn leading up to that point. basically, I'm writing as if the s4 newbies started off as freshmen instead of sophomores when they were introduced, and we will follow them through all the canon events of the show with a Jyder twist on certain plot points that make sense for the story. in this story it's as if s5 was not a split school year so the characters will be sophomores at that point. then the gap year mentioned in canon will occur in this story, and then s6 will be their senior year. I've had this idea stewing in my head for over 10 years now (!) so what I lack in actual writing skills I will more than make up for in pure plot gold, I promise. so if you like Jyder like me or are just looking for an interesting new Glee fic to follow, then come along for the ride! … I would like to add a disclaimer that I've never fully finished writing a fanfic before, but I literally have this whole story outlined which I've never done in the past, and I have a new job with weekends off from work which I've also never had before, so I have faith that I will see this thing all the way through. I really want to! my passion for Jyder is honestly nutty. and again…10 years of ideas and perfecting this plot! lmao, anyway, I hope you all have a great week or 2 and I will try my best to update this baby consistently (at least, if people actually give a shit) :P