Protective

Chapter 3

Isabella's POV

I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, having woken up from a nightmare, and decide to go for a run since I don't have to be at school until 8. I change clothes, grab my headphones and put my hair up. Whilst walking down the hallway, I check on Santana to make sure she's okay before I leave. I walk out the door and take the same route I always take when I want to clear my head.

I put my music on and start my run. As I look up, after what I think has been a couple of minutes, I realize it's been an hour and a half since I left the house. I start heading back knowing San would be worried about me. I get back to the house and head into the kitchen to get a bottle of water when I realize my sister and Brittany are standing in the kitchen staring at me.

"Umm, good morning?" I say confused as to why they're just staring at me. "Where were you?" San asks crossing her arms. "I woke up early this morning and decide to go for a run" I say looking down. "You couldn't have let me know first?" San says walking over to me. "I checked on you before I went and you were knocked out. I didn't want to wake you" I say feeling guilty that I didn't at least leave a note.

"How early did you wake up?" Britt asks leaning on the counter across from my sister and I. "4:30" I say taking another sip of my water and taking off my shirt. "4:30? 4:30?! You should've woken me up, I would've came with you, you shouldn't have been out by yourself at that time, Is" my sister says worryingly. "San, it's fine, I had a nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep. Plus I was nervous about the names being posted today for softball" I say grabbing an apple and giving Britt a smile when she kisses my cheek as a greeting. "Hey, Britt. When did you get here?" I ask changing the subject. She gives me a look, "just a few minutes before you, you're sister was worried about you, and so was I. Next time, let her know, or at least leave a note" she says as I nod and give her a hug. "I just need to change clothes and then I'll be ready" I say sprinting up the stairs and changing clothes.

Santana, Brittany, and I all pile into the car and head to school. We walk inside and before they can leave to head to their first class, I grab both of their hands. "Do you think you guys could come with me to check and see if my name was posted?" I ask quietly, embarrassed for being so anxious. They both smile gently at me, "of course, Is" Brittany says taking my hand and tugging me in the direction of the board. We stop in front of it and I freeze. "Go on, babe. I'm sure you did great" Santana says, pushing me gently to the board. I look towards the paper, skimming my finger across it.

"I did it" I whisper shockingly, "I made varsity first baseman!" I yell turning around and jumping in my sisters arms. "I'm so proud of you, Isabella" Brittany says joining in our hug. "You guys will come to my games right?" I ask. "We wouldn't miss them for the world" my sister says, "when do they start?" She asks

"We do slow pitch in the fall, along with regular season in the spring, so next week will be our first game." I say. And then I realize, "oh my gosh I only have 3 days to practice" I say horrified. "You're one of the best players I know, you'll do amazing. Plus, we'll be there to cheer you on, so you have nothing to worry about" San says, "yeah! We'll even make signs and put on face paint!" Brittany exclaims as I look at my sister and see her smirking.

"Oh, this is going to be so fun embarrassing you" She says chuckling. I glare at them, "I hate you guys, go to class" I say. "Love you too, kiddo" my sister says as her and Brittany kiss my forehead and walk down the hall to their class. I shake my head and chuckle, walking to class.

*skip first 3 classes*

As the bell rings for the end of my third class, I go to my locker and grab my bat bag, heading to the softball field for practice. I get there and everyone introduced themselves, almost all of them being very kind. Except for the pitcher, she kept glaring at me and just being a bitch. Towards the end of practice we do a scrimmage and we head to our positions. When we get done our coach dismisses is to the locker room to get dressed for the last class of the day.

As I'm heading out of the locker room and back towards the school, the pitcher, who I learned was named Karley, bumps into my shoulder and glares at me, making me fall and skin my elbow. I get up and head into the school, going to glee to wait for my sister again. As I walk in the door and head to where I sat yesterday, I see Finn come towards me.

"You play softball, right?" He asks me sitting in the seat next to me grinning. I nod, "yeah I'm the varsity first baseman" I say grinning back. "That's so cool dude! I play baseball, maybe we can throw sometime!" He says throwing an arm around my shoulder. I nod, already thinking of how I see Finn as an older brother.

Finn looks down and sees my elbow, "woah, dude. What happened to your elbow" this makes Brittany look over, "let's just say, I don't think the pitcher likes me too much" I say and then look over at Britt, "Please don't tell San" I say as Britt looks at my elbow. "She'd be pissed if she knew this happened" she says. "Which is exactly why she won't find out" I say.

Santana and the teacher walk in, my sister making a beeline to me and Finn, "Finnocence, move" she says pointing at the seat next to me, sitting down when he moves back to the seat next to Rachel.

"Okay, first things first, Isabella, are you joining the New Directions?" He asks eagerly. I look around the room at everyone. I see Mercedes and Kurt giving me a thumbs up, Quinn giving me a gentle smile mouthing 'you won't regret it, I promise', and Finn giving me his goofy smile. Finally I look at Britt and San, "you're so talented, Is. Think of how much fun you could have doing what you love" my sister says. "Plus, you'd be here with me, and we all know I'm your favorite" Britt says kissing my cheek and smirking at Santana. I look around once more, "okay" I say finally, "I'll do it" At that, everyone erupts in cheers.

"Okay everyone, now that we have that out of the way, Duets!" Mr. Scheuster exclaims. I stop listening to what he's saying, looking around the room at everyone. I catch Quinn's eye, smiling gently at her. I stare at her, until I hear my name being called, "what?" I ask. "You and Quinn will be doing a duet together" he says again. I nod and look down blushing.

"Alright, well that's it for today. I'll see you all tomorrow" he says walking out of the room. I get up slowly, walking towards Quinn. "Would you maybe want to work on the duet at my place tomorrow" I ask scratching the back of my neck nervously. She looks at me and smiles, "sure! Does right after school work?" She asks. I nod my head blushing. She grins, "great! I'll see you tomorrow" she says, walking out the door. I look towards the door, staring at where Quinn just was.

"Is! You ready?" I hear San call out to me. I nod as she wraps an arm around my shoulder, "lets go, Britt's coming over for a movie night" she says excitedly. I look at San, "I can't, I have to work. I'm taking a double shift since I missed my last one" I say sadly. "I told you, you didn't have to get a job. I can take care of everything myself." She's says, looking at me. "I know, but I don't want you to work yourself too hard. Especially if I can do something to help" I say as we get in the car. She sighs, driving to drop me off at Breadstix. "I'll see you tonight, San" I say as she drives away.