Infuriated

•7•

I groan, agony dripping in my voice, as I double over to clutch where the fist smashed against.

,,Don't try to argue with me Beca." My father stands over me with his eyes flaming with hatred. ,,If I say you are going to your room without dinner, you are!" He snarls as he raises his scratched knuckles over me threateningly. I flinch and nod slowly, trying to control my shaking body and ragged breaths. He announced five minutes ago that I was a disappointment and didn't deserve dinner. When I gave a meek attempt in refusing, he went wild. My father glares at me as if he is waiting for me to burst into tears as I used to when I was young before my mother died. Tears sting my eyes but I quickly blink them away, knowing the consequences of crying in front of him. I can only hear blood roaring against my ear as my glossy eyes avert his gaze, trying to look anywhere but my father's eyes. My father finally sighs gruffly, cursing under his breath as he flexes his fingers and turns to go back to the living room. I run to my room and stay silent until I hear the loud thud of the door echoing through the hall. I let out a shaky breath, hoping he doesn't come in here to punish me again! My body crumples to the floor as tears flood my eyes again. I bite my trembling bottom lip to keep from emitting soft sobs, as warm beads of tears slide down my cheeks and hang onto my jawline. I bury my face into my hands, my heart wrenching with every gasp I take to control my sobs...

I sniff as I quickly wipe my tears with the heel of my palm and gather my shattered emotions. I drag my petite body to the bathroom, push open the door with my shoulder. I slowly peel off my jeans, revealing bruises along my lower thighs. I unbutton my checkered button-down shirt, a vibrant flood of purple now coloring the spot where the blow struck earlier. Just like my legs, bruises lace my wrists with shades of red. It reminds me of what I'm dealing with. Only two years Beca and then you'll live in a dorm room at Barden University and you'll be free! I let out a sad, quiet sigh. I would be smiling with glee right now if I hadn't been abused and thrown around like a sack crap five minutes ago. I step inside the glass stall and turn on the water. I take a deep breath as I close my eyes and let the droplets of water soak my hair and face, washing away the tear stains.

•The next day•

I find it really difficult not to see Chloe walking through the halls. I kinda liked seeing her every day, but on the other hand, I think it's better because now she won't see my bruises. I walk up to my locker and to my surprise head cheerleader, Santana Lopez is waiting for me.

,,Hey, you're Beca, right?" She asks me.

,,Yeah. Did I do something wrong?"

,,No. Puck, Quinn, Brittany, Matt and I recently joined Glee club but we can't figure out what to do. Finn told us you are an expert in making music."

,,I can do a lot with a guitar, drums or piano but I wouldn't say I'm an expert."

,,Well, can you help us in the Glee club? We need some mashups. It's the girls against the boys this week."

,,I don't know if Mr. Schuester agrees with the idea of me helping out."

,,You can ask, right?"

,,But why do you want my help? You have never talked to me before."

,,I want to impress someone." I smile and nod understandably. ,,This will help you with Chloe too." I look at her with wide eyes.

,,How do you know?"

,,Please, everyone who pays attention can see you drool over her."

,,I-" Is all I could stutter out. Santana raises her eyebrows giving me a knowing look and a smirk. I bit back a smile and looked down.

,,Wow, you aren't even denying it!" My eyes shoot back up and widen at her sudden volume, glancing around, suddenly looking to see if the very beautiful blond subject to our conversation had crept up from behind me.

,,Dude! Keep it down, someone might hear you!" I hiss. Santana just let out a laugh and spins me around by the shoulder, giving me a gentle shove towards Mr. Schue's office.

,,Go ask. NOW. And I can assure you if what Finn said is right, I'll see you at Glee." I roll my eyes.

,,You just keep believing that!" I call over my shoulder to her as I approach the door to Mr. Schuester's office. I knock quietly and had it not been silent in his office, I doubt he would've heard me. He looks up though and met my eyes with a smile.

,,Beca, come in, what can I do for you?" he said, gesturing for me to take a seat. I declined his request, knowing that the chair would probably aggravate the bruises on my back, and stood behind it awkwardly.

,,Iwaswonderingifyoumightwantsomehelpwiththemusicforgleeclub." I get out, quickly and in a voice so small even I struggled to hear it. I drop my head, taking a sudden interest in my boots. Wow, the black of them really contrasted with the navy blue of his office carpet, it was a real compliment to the color. My thoughts are interrupted by Mr. Schue stating

,,Deep breath. Slow down. Volume up." I do as instructed and gasp, a sound I do not allow to pass through my lips as the muscles of my chest and stomach stretch over my ribs, a sharp, stabbing pain shoots through my whole body, and I have to fight back tears.

,,I was wondering if you wanted some help with the music for the Glee club. I... uhm... I make mashups of songs and uhm... I was wondering if... that was something... maybe Glee club could use... or something like that, I dunno." I mumble out, my eyes still trained on the floor.

,,You got one I can listen to? To help explain what you do a bit better? I've got no clue how that stuff works, but I'd love to be able to hear what you can do, I reckon that it could be a massive asset to the team." My eyes shoot up.

,,Uhm... yeah." I pull a flash drive from my pocket and hand it to him. It's one of my favorite mashups, a lot of work had gone into it, and my dad had hated every second of it. I worked on it late at night, in the hopes he wouldn't yell at me for doing it during the day, which I thankfully managed for a while before he found out. Mr. Schuester plugs in the flash drive and opens it on his computer, copying the file over before he plugs in a headset. He listens to the whole track and I watch the smile on his face grow at each beat and twist I knew of-by-heart from having the mix on loop and making it in the first place. Once the song is over, he removes the headset and hands me back the flash drive, grinning.

,,We could really use something like that with Glee, and if you're happy to do that for us, Beca I'd be honored to invite you to join us officially as our... sound guy? I dunno, that seems weird... Musician? nope, they're all musicians... Dj-Producer-Musician-Sound-Guy-Thing. Yeah, we'll use that, you know what scrap all of that. Welcome to Glee." He says, holding his hand out with an awkward smile, which I return with one of my own before shaking his hand, and then walking out of the office, unable to wipe the proud grin off my face.