• MARINA • Hunter Clarington-BOOK TWO✔

t w e n t y - f i v e

It was time for Kitty and Marley's duet, the blonde wanting Marina's tightest all-black bodysuit. The girl gave her it, saying she could wear it and try not to ruin it at all. She promised she wouldn't, and Marina was thankful for that.

Kitty and Marley looked amazing in their costumes, dancing and harmonising with one another as they sang. Kitty took a whip from Joe, using Cheerio-based moves with the prop. The girls backed up the pair during the chorus, everyone clapping and cheering loudly when they finished.

"That was incredible. You worked so well together." Finn exclaimed.

"Teamwork! Yeah!" Arabella yelled happily, a fist in the air.

"You guys, I don't smell raspberry hair gel. Does anybody know where Blaine Warbler is?" Brittany asked, seriousness in her tone. Marina, Kara, Jamie, and Arabella all exchanged glances.

"Uh, well, as some of you guys might know, uh, recently, Blaine has been going through a bit of a rough time..." Finn began to say when Tina cut him off.

Her tone was dry, unimpressed. "Oh, boo-hoo. Get over it. It's like a bad Lifetime movie."

Finn continued, "and he's decided to finish the rest of his senior year at Dalton Academy."

Everyone exchanged glances of shock. "When I said he should be happy I didn't think he'd go back to Dalton." Marina muttered.

"I just hope he doesn't want his dorm room back." Arabella muttered sourly, "It's mine now."

"He's been taken by the Dark Side." Artie gasped.

Later that day, Marina stood in the cafeteria with her phone to her ear. "Hey, Hunter." She stated, keeping up her pace as she walked. Some of the members of the New Directions looked to her, the girl rolling her eyes.

"They there?" Hunter asked her knowingly. She hummed out a yes, the boy smirking on the other side. "Well, I hope they don't hear about the plans to break in and take the rest of your trophies." Hunter laughed jokingly.

"Yeah, okay, Clarington, you stole our trophy. Now why don't you be a good boy and give it back? Or will I have to pry it from your cold, lifeless hands, you obnoxious asshole." Marina fake growled into the phone, not one person able to tell her lie from her truth. Their eyes stayed on her, waiting for another reaction. Most were shocked, knowing Marina's loyalty to the Warblers.

"Princess, that was hot," Hunter chuckled, "Maybe if I keep up with being an obnoxious asshole you can have a night-time visit to my dorm?"

Marina rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just give us back the trophy." She then saw some boys making fun of Marley's mom. "Clarington, I don't care what you're going to say but I have to go." She said slowly, an edge to her tone.

"Whoever it is, kick their ass Princess."

"Hey, Dump Truck, get back to work." One of the footballers joked.

"What did you say to her?" Jake growled out. "I believe he called her a broken-down, ten-ton crap-filled dump truck. Oh, and your new name is officially Kosher Cappuccino." The other footballer said to Jake.

"You make this so easy when there's only two of you." Jake responded.

"Why don't you count again, sweetheart? It's payback time." One of the two boys said as more footballers crowded around Jake.

"Hey! Jake's my boy. From now on, you mess with him, you mess with me." Ryder called. Marina slowly walked up behind them, the rest of the Glee club behind her, all in their costumes.

"And me." Artie agreed.

"And me." Joe glared at the boy.

"And me, too." Becky added.

"Whatever. Better stuff to do anyway." The boy shrugged, beginning to walk away.

"Actually," Marina drew out, "I don't tolerate bullying." Marina stated half-heartedly, "But I'm willing to beat a guy up."

"It's okay, Marina." Jake muttered. He then looked to Ryder. "What'd you do that for?"

Ryder smiled. "You had my back. Now I've got yours."

Sam grabbed Marina, Arabella, Jamie, and Kara, asking them about Blaine. "You guys know about the Warblers, right? Their set list.... Stuff like that?" He questioned.

They all shook their head. "We don't ask them; they don't ask us." Arabella replied. Jamie and Kara nodded.

"I don't ask them; I don't ask you." Marina responded afterwards. "The only thing we do is hang out with Hunter, Sebastian, Thad, Nick, Jeff, and Trent for the most part. Hardly any of the others." The three nodded.

Sam sighed, "Well, we should talk to Blaine."

"The Dalton boys all miss him," Arabella informed, "They want him back not only because he's talented, but they miss having him around." It didn't take a genius for them to figure it out.

"Blaine misses them too. When I told him to be happy and that 'Once a Warbler, always a Warbler' I meant he could drop by any time not that he should come back to Dalton!" Marina exclaimed to them, sighing as they walked through the halls of McKinley high.

They saw Blaine emptying his locker, Sam moving towards him first. "Dude, this is part of some master plan, right? You're going back to the Warblers to gather intel for us so we can kick their ass at Sectionals." Sam said, hope in his voice.

"Sam, don't. I feel awful enough as it is." Blaine sighed in response.

"Stop, okay? You've been beating yourself up for, like, weeks since you and Kurt broke up. But going back to Dalton? You told Finn it was 'cause you feel more at home there. If you ask me, it's just another way to punish yourself. And for what? What did you do, exactly?" Sam ranted. Blaine paused, deep in thought.

The boy spoke slowly. "It was a guy that friended me on Facebook. I went over to his place because it felt like Kurt was moving on with his life and I wasn't a part of it. And I got to thinking that maybe Kurt and I weren't meant for each other. That we weren't supposed to spend the rest of our lives together. But the horrible thing is, right after I did it, I knew that we were."

"Blaine, you got to tell Kurt that." Kara stood forward, giving him a sympathetic look.

"What, you think I haven't told him that? You think I haven't tried?" Blaine said, speaking hastily as he shut his locker.

"Calm down. It's okay." Arabella gently held the boy's arms, her voice just over a whisper as their eyes connected.

"No, it's not okay, Arabella, 'cause I cheated on the one person that I love more than anything in this world. I hurt him, so of course he's not gonna trust me. He's never gonna forgive me."

"Even if he doesn't, you got to forgive yourself." Jamie stated.

"You got to stop... What's-what's the word when you make someone into a villain?" Sam said, looking to the four for help.

"Uh... Villainize?" They chorused, as if it were obvious.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, you got to stop villainizing yourself. Yeah, you hurt Kurt; That wasn't cool. So, you're trying to make it right. But exiling yourself to Dalton won't fix anything." Sam tried to convince the boy.

"I just want to stop feeling like I'm a bad person." Blaine said weakly.

Marina laughed. "Blaine, I could have been in juvie majority of last year- that screams bad person. You're not. You're one of the good guys- maybe even the best. And I got a whole glee club that agrees with me." She grinned.

"Give me a day. One day before you pack it all up. One day to be the hero we all know you are. And then, you know, you can decide where you really belong."