And Here's What You Missed on...GLEE

As quietly as I could, I shut the door behind me. Dad and Mom were screaming at each other, though, at first, I couldn’t tell about what. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, I tried to drown them out, but it wasn’t too easy.

“Can’t you get more control over her?!” Dad bellowed, his voice almost echoing through my head. “She’s like a loose cannon! Have you seen what color her nails are recently? Black is a color for drug addicts. You know that!”

“She’s a teenager now, Bill. I can’t control everything she does!”

I rolled my eyes. Unfortunately, I had to make my way through the living room in order to get to the stairs. To get to my escape from all this drama.

Keeping my head down (as if that would disguise who I was), I slipped through the room as my parents’ voices escalated.

My foot was on the first step. Free, I whispered inside my head as my hand clasped the railing against the wall. I was about to be free from my parents, unscathed.

“ELEGANCE JOY!” my mother yelled. I cringed at the sound of my real name. Why would anyone give their child the name Elegance? It was a word, not a name. At least, in my opinion. That was why I liked Ellie much more. I planned to change it legally once I turned eighteen. “Why the hell would you go somewhere without telling us, huh? Did we even know this friend that you were with?”

“No,” I responded simply. “And frankly, I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t want him to get scared of talking to me.” I didn’t hold back when it came to my distaste for the way my parents treated each other. In all honesty, I wanted nothing more than for them to get a divorce, but they refused, claiming that they were in a ‘snag’ and they would ‘work it out’. Work it out, my ass.

“Him? See what happens when you don’t keep tabs on your daughter?!” Dad screeched. “She starts going over strange boys’ houses after school.”

Just to piss off my father even more, I grew a smirk. “Actually, you’ll be happy to know that he’s gay.”

My father was severely homophobic, so that simple statement made his face turn a deep color of red-purple. “You’re associating with one of…them?” It was almost painful for him to refer to them as even human beings.

“Yup. Well, now you guys can finish your argument. Uh, I mean, ‘discussion’.” Bringing my hands back down to my sides from using air quotes, I finished up the stairs and closed myself into my room. Though I could still hear them screaming a little, I couldn’t make out any distinct words. I could gather, of course, that my father was reprimanding my mother for letting me associate with the ‘scum of the Earth’. Yeah, ‘cause that title definitely wasn't already awarded to Dad or anything...

To drown out my thoughts, which were getting nastier by the second, I popped my ear buds into my ears and let music fill my mind. It was the only thing that could help me gain my cool back after getting worked up at my parents.

It was crazy, how much my personality changed from talking to them to talking to anyone at school. At school, I was quiet and didn’t talk to anyone unless they approached me first. Even then, I usually tried to keep the conversation brief.

At home, while I tried to avoid talking to either of my parents, it was usually unavoidable. But when I did talk, I was rude and snippy. I could bet that if anyone from school saw how I acted once the front door of my baby blue two-bedroom house was closed, they wouldn’t have believed it.

When the song I knew I was going to sing for Glee came on, I couldn’t help but smile. Glee Club, I knew, was going to be another escape that I could use. It sucked that Mr. Schue was sick, but he would probably be back the next day.

Around ten o’clock, I heard the stairs creaking and knew that meant that Mom was going to sleep in her room. Dad would sleep downstairs on the couch, letting the sound of late-night TV fill the house into the early hours. He was a bum and didn’t work, letting my mom bring home all the money. We were damn lucky that she wanted to do something good with her life and became a therapist, which pays extremely well.

Once I knew that the coast was clear, I grabbed some pajamas and made my way to the bathroom to take a fast shower. This was my regular routine because I didn’t want to risk running into anyone on my way to or back from the bathroom.

Around eleven, I was finished and ready to pass out. After turning on my iPod dock in my stupor, I let the sounds of When I See You Smile by Bad English lull me to sleep.

* * *

In the morning, I was groggy, but I managed to get up and start to get ready. Instead of doing my makeup as I usually did, I just left my face natural. My clothes were as bright as I owned, including the Converse I picked (bright orange).

Once downstairs, I scrambled to get my breakfast and lunch both done. I was the only one up at six thirty, since Mom didn’t have to wake up until eight, and Dad would be sleeping until two in the afternoon. Which was fine, since I’ve established that alone is the best for me.

By six forty-five, I was out the door and making my way to school. It wasn’t that far from my house, so I preferred to walk. Buses in the morning…were not my thing. Too noisy and crowded.

I let out a loud yawn at my locker once I got to school, not even bothering to cover it, since I was facing away from the student body.

“Ellie,” Kurt greeted with a flat tone, “when I said use natural colors…I didn’t mean go all natural.”

After rubbing my eye to get rid of a slight blur in the corner, I responded, “I didn’t get the makeup yet, and I figure no makeup is better than, as you called it, ‘goth makeup’.”

He debated this for a second before mumbling, “I guess you’re right. Oh, by the way, we need to go shopping soon, too.”

Rolling my eyes, I questioned, “Why would that be? I’m wearing clothes that are not dark.”

“But they’re still unflattering. And they look like they were bought at Walmart.”

As I looked down at the shirt again, I remembered that it was from seventh grade and very well could have been bought at Walmart. “Alright, you win.”

Then, he took in the shoes and almost gasped. “Why in the world are you wearing a bright pink shirt and orange shoes?” He looked up at the ceiling, then around at the other kids, almost embarrassed that he was talking to me.

“Um…because they were both bright colors…?” I trailed off with an innocent smile.

“Ellie, Ellie, Ellie,” Kurt shook his head and sighed, “we have some serious work to do. Do you realize that?”

“I’m starting to get it,” I laughed.

He nodded and blinked, as if he was trying to ignore what I was wearing. It was like I almost felt badly because I wasn’t as fashionable as him. Not that anyone in the school was as fashion-forward as he was. Maybe Mercedes, but that was it.

“So, I have to get to class, but I’ll see you at Glee! If you see Mercedes today, make sure that you wish her good luck. She’s going to perform today. She already cleared it this morning with Mr. Schuester.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “I can’t wait to hear her sing. I’ve heard she’s great.”

“She’s amazing,” Kurt corrected with a smile. “See you then!”

“Yup!” I replied. After he made his way down the hallway, I turned back to my locker and grabbed my last notebook that I needed.

I couldn’t wait for Glee Club.