Old Habits Die Hard

3

TW: unintentional self harm

"It won't be that bad." Marley told Barry as they entered McKinley High. 

"It's always that bad." Barry answered her with a sigh. 

"Come on, what's the worst thing that could happen?" She asked. 

"Well, They could find out that my father's in prison. They co-" he got cut off by Marley.

"Jus- forget I asked." She said with a small chuckle.

"Alright the-" Suddenly a jock pushed him into the wall. 

"What the hell are you doing here, Smythe?"

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Marley exclaimed. "Leave him alone."

"I wanna know what he's doing here?" the guy said through grit teeth.

"I have no idea who you are, man," Barry said nervously.

"Stop playing dumb," the guy said. "Did you think we wouldn't recognize you if you stopped wearing the gel and uniform?"

"I think you have the wrong person," Barry said. "Seriously, I've been here for two minutes."

"I can see right through that lie," the guy said.

"What lie?" Marley asked. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Barry's arm began hurting. Horribly. Mostly because the guy was holding him against the wall.

"I'm not just gonna let you stroll on in here like nothing happened!" He shouted.

"Man, I don't know what you're talking about." Barry attempted to say but the guy only pushed him harder into the wall.

Suddenly a teacher pulled him off. "Sam, what's going on?" They scolded the guy. "You can't just attack another student like that, the first day hasn't even started yet."

"But Mr. Shue, it's him!" 'Sam' exclaimed. Marley took the chance to grab Barry's unhurt arm and pull him away from the guy before he could try anything again.

"Are you okay?" she asked once they were a few hallways away.

"I-I think," Barry said, wincing slightly. "My arm is hurting again though."

"If you see him again, just try and go the other way before he can try something again," Marley said.

"I think that's easier said than done, Marls," Barry said. "Maybe I won't even see him again."

"Let's hope," Marley said.

"So, what was that you said? 'It won't be that bad?' " He joked lightly. Marley lightly hit his uninjured arm. 

"Oh shut up." She laughed as the two of them walked to the office to get their schedules.

~~~~

Class had gone by like any other, Well besides the fact they had to find seats. Now, it was lunch time.

Marley looked around the cafeteria trying to find Barry within the lunch room madness. She finally spotted him, only to see that he had a whole table looking at him. Well, some of the table, others were talking about the new lunch lady, her mom. She frowned a little, and walked over to Barry.

"Hey, Marls," he said as she sat next to him. "What's wrong?"

"They're making fun of my mom," she said.

"Who are?" Barry asked, suddenly looking around.

"It doesn't matter," Marley said. "They all probably are."

"They all are a bunch of bigots, and you shouldn't care what they think, okay?" Barry said. Marley nodded.

"I guess you're right..." She said with a small frown.

"Hey, stop that. No frowning allowed." Barry joked lightly. "Hey, did you see those Glee club sign up sheets?" He asked, changing the subject. It seemed to do the trick because her eyes lit up.

"No, they're up?" she asked. Barry nodded and picked up a carrot from his tray.

"You're going to try out, right?" he asked.

"Duh," Marley replied. "You should try out with me."

"Maybe," Barry shrugged.

"Please, it'll be fun," Marley said.

"Only because you want me to," he said. "But you have to help me prep my audition song."

"Deal," Marley said.

The two began chatting about audition songs after that. Whether they should go with Coldplay or Miley Cyrus or Kelly Clarkson. Even the Beatles had crossed Marley's mind. But that idea got shot down rather fast.

Before they knew it, lunch was over. "What class do you have next?" Barry asked her. Marley went quiet and quickly checked her schedule. 

"English." She told him.

Barry already had his schedule out so he spoke after, "Aw, man. I have Spanish with...Mr. Shuester." He said.

"Schuester? As in, Shue? The teacher from earlier?" Marley asked.

"Hopefully not," Barry responded standing up. "I should go, Spanish class is pretty far." He said before quickly running off leaving Marley on her own.

Despite leaving right after lunch ended, it had been ten minutes and Barry was still trying to find his way to class. Was he lost? No. No he was not. Or at least, that's what he told himself. Truth be told, he had gone by the classroom ten times and hadn't noticed. Until he did. He quickly ran in gaining the attention of the teacher and everyone in the class. Turns out, the Jock from earlier, Sam, was in that class. Along with a few others that he assumed he knew because they were glaring at him.

"Sorry, I kinda got lost," Barry said, trying to avoid looking at them.

"What's your name?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"Barry," Barry answered, then thought to add, "Allen."

"Alright, Barry, take a seat wherever," Mr. Schuester said. Barry looked around the room for an open seat and saw there was only one seat actually open, at the table next to Sam.

Screw my life, he thought, reluctantly taking the seat. Mr. Schuester sent Sam a warning look that Barry didn't see.

"Alright, so, back to what I was saying," Mr. Schuester said.As he continued to speak, Barry drowned his voice out being pulled into his thoughts. His thoughts raced inside his head. Although one kept coming back to him. Will it be like last time? Subconsciously, he scratched his arms. Suddenly, he felt someone kick his seat from behind which frightened him. One of the idiots behind him got bored and started kicking his seat.

Barry let out a sigh, 'Damn it...' he thought to himself. He glanced down at his arm then looked at the teacher. He could have sworn he saw something. He looked down and sure enough, he was bleeding quite a bit. This was normal though, whenever he got lost in his thoughts he'd scratch his arm. Some days he'd go a bit too far. Instead of asking to step out like an actual person, he let it go. If no one noticed, he'd be all set. He tried to use his sleeves to hide it, cursing his choice to wear a light color when it began to seep through the fabric.

His attempts to hide it seemed to draw unwanted attention from Mr. Schuester. "Barry, are you okay?"

Shit. "What? Me? Y-yeah, I'm fine."

But Mr. Schuester wasn't convinced and crossed the room, and noticed the blood. "I think you need to go see the nurse."

"I-It's normal, I'm fine," Barry said.

"I don't think that's normal," Mr. Schuester said. "Go to the nurse's office, she can patch that up."

"I don't know where that is," Barry said.

"I can take him," Sam offered.

"Thanks, Sam, but I'll bring him down there," Mr. Schuester said. Barry wasn't really sure which option was worse. "Everyone stay in their seats and keep it down."

Great.