new directions | glee

17. SAY ☑️

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN |
say

WARNINGS: school shootings, panic attacks, religious aspects, mentions of child abuse etc. please be safe when reading this and if you need anyone to talk to, i'm always here 💕

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"WAS IT YOU?" Ryder's voice came tumbling at her down the hall and she looked up from her locker with a tired gaze. She hadn't really talked to him in weeks. Even though he had made up with Unique and apologized, it didn't feel totally sincere to Kayla, so she was keeping her distance. Thankfully Ryder was talking to some girl, so she didn't really need to talk to him anyway.

She sighed, shutting her locker gently. "What did I do now?"

That anger was still settling deep within him and he raised his voice. "It's not funny, Kayla! Are you her?"

She jumped back a little bit. In all the time she'd known him, Ryder had never yelled at her. If anything, he was one of the few people who was patient with her bullshit, but right now she felt anything but comfortable.

"Ry, what are you talking about?" she placed her hand on his shoulder, though she was a little scared that touching him might set him off.

When his eyes moved away from the ground and looked at her again, she saw tears welling up. She frowned, immediately wrapping her arms around him and letting him fall into her grasp.

He mumbled into her shoulder, letting a hot tear fall. "Katie's not—she's not real."

She pulled away at the admission and looked at him confused. He sighed, answering, "I got catfished."

"Oh, Ry." she mumbled, rubbing his back to soothe him. She used to do this all the time when they were together. It was basically second nature at this point. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out. I promise."

"So it's not you?" he asked softly.

She was so offended she almost scoffed, but seeing his face made her settle on a deep seated frown. "How could you ever think I'd do that to you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You got really mad at me about the Unique thing."

"Yeah, because you're an idiot, but I'd never catfish you. You know me better than that." she answered.

He sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I—I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

She hesitated. "No, it's okay."

It really wasn't. When he came at her like that with that look in his eyes, it reminded her of when her biological father was about to beat the shit out of her. It was an all too familiar feeling that unsettled her to her core.

"We'll figure this out. It'll all be okay." she whispered in his ear, but she wasn't sure she believed herself. Nothing about this was okay and she couldn't act like she had any power to change that.

←⧪→

Kayla was in the parking lot during the switch between her gym class and glee rehearsals. She had just thrown her gym bag into her car when someone called out her name and she grinned widely, running up to throw her arms around his burly middle. She felt at home in Dave's arms. It was a luxury she couldn't often afford right now, but when she could, she'd bask in it forever. She often thought about how much things had changed for her and Dave. Freshman Kayla wouldn't be caught dead hugging Dave Karofsky in the middle of the parking lot, but she was a different person from who she was just four years ago. She was just so unbelievably proud of him. He was working towards a degree in sports management and he was even in Ohio State's boys acapella and he had a football scholarship. Everything was going so great for him and sometimes she forgot that not even a year ago, he was almost taken away from her. But she didn't like to dwell on that too much because Dave was right here in front her, looking the happiest she had ever seen him. She liked to think she had a part in that.