81AN: Oh hello. Yes I'm alive. Please don't throw that-. (ducks in corner). Here have a chapter.
-OMWF-
Charlotte was livid. The night before, her father had come home from the hospital and ignored her completely. And the only thing he said to her was, "Have any of your sisters called yet?" She clenched her hands.
The nerve of that man! She set out time during her day to be with her workaholic father and all she gets is a question asking about where her other sisters were. She should have known. All her Dad talked about was about how impressive Jess was, what with being a brain surgeon in a fancy hospital in Maine. Ugh. And then how interesting it was that Nicole was living abroad in France with her hot foreign boyfriend. Then he went to talk about how perfect Diana is doing at Davis on her stupid swimming scholarship, gold medals and some shit. Her father then would rave about Nina's career at UCLA (which Charlotte really didn't mind because Nina was probably the only person in family that deserved her scholarship) then ask her how her day was. Its not a hard question to ask. Its just four words, thirteen letter and take less than a few seconds to say.
There was also the added fact that the stupid rebel without a cause was getting in her way, every single place she went. All she wanted was to accompany out the dancer yesterday and ask her a question about um… lady things and out of the black hole where she came, emerged Hayley Coleman. Ugh.
Smoke was close to pouring out in waves and when she saw one of her teammates, the tall freshman with the hat fetish, being ratted on by a couple of jocks, she broke.
"Get the hell away from him you gorillas!" She pushed past the football players with empty slushy cups in hand. "You three are to report to Coach Sue for punishment for harassing another student!"
"You do it all the time," a tall boy with short red hair said, pulling back when the HBIC growled at him.
"Off limits!" she screamed at the on lookers and all but pierced them with her gaze. "The entire glee club is off limits! Anyone who goes as far as laying a hand on any one of us will deal with Sue and I personally! Do you understand?"
No one moved.
"I asked if you understood! Now are you going to answer me or am I going to have to start taking names down personally?" He nostrils were flaring and her lean form was shaking with rage. Erick and Dom watched from the side. Erick was smirking and Dom looked a little taken aback.
"You should feel blessed, you have finally experienced the true HBIC rage of our top dog. They say that she's like a mini version of Snix."
"What's a Snix?"
"Never mind."
The crowd dispersed and Charlotte started to wipe some of the slush off the boy. "Ugh. Lime is the worst flavor there is. Those jocks go out of their way to pick the one slushie flavor that smells and tastes the worst." She motioned her two other Cheerios over. "Help me out here."
They lead the boy to the boy's bathroom and Erick started running water through the tap. The freshman winched at the feeling of the hot water on his scalp. "Thanks."
Charlotte waved it off. "Whatever, I had some steam to blow off and that gave me some way to let it go." She patted his head. "But really, if you ever are in a situation like that, with those assholes, just look for me, Erick or even Dom. We can put them in line."
"You have that much power? We can put jocks in their place?" Dom's eyes twinkled.
"Yeah, it's a curse and gift at the same time," she shrugged. "But yeah just remember that. C'mon Dom, let Erick finish helping Walker here. We have to go to sing songs to the running chick." She waved and the two were gone.
"I smell like pool cleaner," the blonde sighed. "And artificial coloring, this is going to be extremely difficult to get out of my clothes.
Erick chuckled and handed him a few paper towels. "Just use Magic Joe's cleaner, rumor has it that he was once a slushy victim himself. You can find it at the local drug store."
"You sound like you have gone through this a time or two yourself."
"You could say that," he Latino looked over the boy. He had a good fashion taste and yeah his blonde hair was unkempt but the look worked well and his eyes were really nice… Like really blue…. Erick audibly cleared his throat. "Stay safe Walker." The Cheerio picked up his bag and left the bathroom.
"Was he checking me out?" He picked up his basketball and fixed his newly stained green bowtie in the mirror. "What a crazy thought."
-OMWF-
Alicia walked into the auditorium; her arms crossed and face blank. Autumn guided her into one of the seats up close and then lifted herself onto the softly lit stage. There were six stools all placed in a semi circle facing the runner.
Sam, Juliet, Hayley, Dom and Charlotte stepped out from behind the curtain and took seats at the stools. Autumn sat down last. "We know that you really don't want to be here know, but you're staying, no questions. We've put together a little song just for you." The freshman signaled for the band to start playing.
(Start Exceptional by JoJo)
Sam sang the first bit and all the girls began to sway slightly.
"Mmmm…
You're beautiful, but you don't know,
Can't see what's there inside your soul,
Always feeling like you're not good enough."
Hayley's voice was surprisingly soothing as she sang the next part, the words seeming to calm her, judging by the small smile on her face.
"You wish you could be someone else,
Sometimes you just can't see yourself,
But I can see just who you are, who you are."
All the girls sang together and watched Alicia's reaction as they hit the chorus. The girl bit her lip enough to draw blood as she tried to rein her emotions in.
"You're exceptional the way you are,
Don't need to change for nobody.
You're incredible anyone can see that,
When will you believe that?
You are nothing but exceptional."
Sam picked herself up and slowly walked to the edge where she gingerly sat down.
"You never think, you measure up,
Never smart or cool or pretty enough,
Always feeling different from all the rest,
You feel so out of place, you think you don't fit in,
I think you're perfect in the skin you're in,"
Hayley followed the auburn haired girl down to the front part of the stage and sat down next to her.
"You're just perfect, just how you are,
Just how you are, yeah."
Alicia closed her eyes as the rest of the girls got off their stools and stood behind the two girl singing lead vocals.
"You're exceptional, the way you are,
Don't need to change for nobody,
You're incredible anyone can see that,
When will you believe that you are…?
Nothing but exceptional."
"If you could see the one I see when I see you,
You'd know how lucky you are to be you,
I see through, into you…"
Sam hummed smoothly into her mike as the other girls harmonized with her.
"And you are…
You're exceptional, the way you are,
Don't need to change for nobody,
You're incredible anyone can see that,
When you believe that… you are!"
The music hit a powerful high and the girls all stood up and poured all their emotions into getting the message across to their friend. They looked at her with gazes willed with pleading and slight sadness as the end came to the song and they ended together on a final, longing note.
"You're nothing but exceptional."
There was a long silence and the other girls looked down at Alicia with expectant faces.
She then flew out of the room like something was chasing her, tripping over the seats as she went. Her breaths were short as she spirited towards the locker room.
There was that feeling again. It was a mix of disappointment in herself and the loathing for those for were trying to fix her. She didn't need anyone to help her. She was fine by herself, like always.
She grew up getting loads of attention from her two adoring parents. Growing up in Washington D.C. was great. She loved going out with her parents to the local park to simply play and let the world go by. She was carefree and the light of her parent's life until tragedy struck close to home. Her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
No longer were the days of old, the family upped and moved when Alicia was just six. Her grandparents lived in a little cottage outside of Lima. It was close to the treatment center Anna Riles was to go to help herself get better. Luckily, her mother healed like a true champion but her body was left too weak to bare children anymore. So the Riles adopted a lovely little girl, Lizzie, into their family. The attention shifted to the newest member and off of Alicia.
So it's been her and herself for almost nine years now. She thinks that she can take care of herself just fine. She repeated the mantra that she doesn't need help as she broke into the stall in the room and threw herself to the floor.
She felt like shit. The walls were closing in on her and a bead of sweat formed on her forehead and she took a few calming breaths.
She tried to justify her actions. Her closest friend, Alice, her body was flawless; defined abs and perfect looking face. Sure she wasn't as a good at some things as Alicia but in general was a better athlete. The runner dry heaved into the bowl but nothing came out. It was almost as if her body was fighting against its controller.
After a few more tries, she gave up and ended up lying on the bathroom floor, head against the door. She sighed.
"Crazy right?" Alicia jumped from her position on the floor to see a woman with bright blue eyes staring at her from above the stall. She unlocked the latch and opened the door. Standing there was a woman in her mid-twenties with wavy brown hair framing her face. "Hi, I'm Ms. Salem."
"Oh no," Alicia sighed. "Please go, I don't need anyone helping me. Thanks." She grabbed her things but a hand stopped her from going.
"Well, Alicia I just wanted you to know that your friends are extremely worried and I insist that you get back out there and assure them that you are okay. You see I know that kids these days don't care for the advice of people older than them but here I am giving you some that will benefit you for your future" Ms. Salem leaned against the white sinks and gestured for Alicia to join her.
"Why do you even care?"
"I care because I'm the woman who is supposed to guide you along your high school journey and because I was once in the position your friends were in. Now my friend didn't try to do what you were attempting but she did starve herself to make sure she made the weight for the team she wanted to join. It ended her up in the hospital and let me just say it took a while for her to heal. I'm not saying that you have to stop everything and let go of these feelings you have about your body, I just want you too see that in the long scheme of life, how you look right now will have to effect on what you have in here," she pointed to her heart. "I know its cliché and overused but your body should be kept healthy so you can be too. So what do you say? Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I want you to come in for weekly sessions with me in my office and we can talk about whatever you need to talk about. Is that okay?"
The teen nodded slowly and the woman exited the bathroom.
-OMWF-
The glee kids waited silently in the choir room for the brunette to return. Walker was twirling his basketball while Juliet talked to him about the pros and cons of self-defense.
She lightly pinched his arms and shook her head with shame. "I mean you need to gain more muscle than your basketball chicken build to karate those meatheads."
"Rude and wow that was a violent thought."
"Sorry not sorry. But anyway…" she noted he was zoning out. "Are you even here today? Or are you like space cadet gone?"
"Just thinking, but enough about me. How was your chat with your look a like?"
"She told me to go get a life and never to speak to her side of the family again, which I thought was extremely factually inaccurate because hey I'm still made of the same flesh and blood as you are." She rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. "Like really? What makes you think that you own one half of the family?"
Nick turned around and wagged his finger. "Ooo sassy. Me gusta."
"Shut up perv."
"You seem a little more irritable today. Are you on your lady cycle this-." The whole room went silent as he looked around and saw shaking heads.
He got pushed over.
Juliet looked down at him with rage while Hayley crouched next to him. "I feel as if you just stayed silent, bad things wouldn't happen to you."
"I could say the same thing to you Walking Disaster," the blonde cheerleader quipped from the top row.
Hayley shot her a dirty look and was about to say something when Alicia walked into the choir room.
Emmett stood up and looked at her expectantly. "Are you okay? Did the girls really do that bad of a job?"
"I second that question because JoJo is so out."
"Erick please, music like that never goes out of style."
"They were great," the runner started. "It was me and my own ideas that put me in this place. I think that I'm getting better but am not even close to being done. But I just wanted to thank you all for doing what you could for me. It really means a lot to have friends like this. I'll try not to let you all down."
The room filled with a warm feeling as the kids all smiled in sort of uniform fashion. After a few beats Sam stood up and stretched her arms. "Well sorry to kill the fluffy mood but I have to eat something or I think my child might start eating my organs. See you guys later." Everyone cringed while Kale followed her out. Then the students started filing out, following the couple's example.
Juliet and Emmett were left standing together and they shared a knowing smile as Alicia left the room chatting with Autumn.
"I think we did well."
"I'd like to think so."
-OMWF-
AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope that I'll have some more free time to write this. Please leave me some feedback and have an awesome week.
G6