"All right, guys. Nationals are just a few weeks away, and it's time to bear down." Mr. Schue said, as everyone gathered together in the auditorium. "Okay, your singing at Regionals was amazing, but your dancing... It's booty camp time."

And at that, everyone cheered. Piper frowned a bit, feeling her head spinning for a second as she sighed, knowing she should've at least eaten the granola bar that had magically appeared in her locker the other day. Along with about four others that had been left there over the past week and that she blatantly ignored.

"So let's get it going." Mr. Schue clapped once. "Five, six, seven, eight. Push yourselves, guys. Vocal Adrenaline takes no prisoners."

And for a minute or so, everything was going fine. Piper was even keeping up with everyone when it came to dancing, but suddenly the few dark spots around her eyes started to grow wider and wider and suddenly, everything went black.

"Oh, my God!" Mercedes gasped, as soon as Piper hit the ground.

The one to take action first wasn't her, though. Rushing out from Finn's side, Quinn was quick to kneel down by Piper to turn her into her back as Mike sat on the floor by her legs to lift them up a bit.

"We need to take her to the infirmary." She said, as Mike nodded.

And as Finn watched Quinn watching Mike pick Piper up like a hawk, he felt that old, familiar feeling of jealousy. But, considering Piper was really needing help and he knew how much she had helped his girlfriend before, he decided to let it go.

***

"Okay, so... Before you all start freaking out about what happened at bootcamp, I'm gonna make an announcement out of it." Piper said, as she stood in the middle of the choir room in front of her friends as they all watched her quietly. "I fainted because of low blood pressure. I had, hum... Skipped lunch and the auditorium was hot that day and I just... Couldn't handle it. But it's fine. I'm fine."

"Really?" Mercedes asked then as Piper sighed heavily. "Because skipping lunch is not fine to me."

"I wasn't hungry." Piper argued, as Quinn sighed.

"And when are you hungry, honey?" She asked, quietly. "You have a problem, P. And you need help."

"It's fine." Piper rolled her eyes. "I've gotten help before so now I know how to control it."

"Is that why you passed out during bootycamp?" Tina asked.

"Is it true what they're saying?" Mike asked. "About three girls in the Cheerios said they've spotted you throwing up after lunch."

"This is none of your business." Piper scoffed. "I said I got it under control."

"Why do you do this?" Sam frowned, worriedly. "You are a very pretty girl, Piper."

"Hold up." Santana interrupted the conversation then, as Piper rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Could we all just get real here for a second? I hear that Piper's got a bit of an eating problem. Maybe she wants to look thinner. Maybe she just doesn't like the food from the cafeteria. But can we all just stop lying about how there aren't things that we wouldn't change about ourselves? I mean, I'm sure that Sam's been at the doctor's office and rifled through pamphlets on mouth reduction. I'll bet Artie's thought about getting his legs removed since he's not really using them anyways. Berry's definitely thought about getting a nose job. And I'm definitely sure that Tina's looked into getting an eye de-slanting."

"That's extraordinarily racist." Tina scoffed.

"I'm keepin' it real." Santana shrugged.

"Sorry, Santana. I'm a beautiful person." Tina argued. "I'm in love with myself, and I would never change a thing."

"Is that why you're wearing blue contacts today, Tina?" Mike pointed out. "Self-hating Asian."

"Not many Asian sex symbols, Mike." Tina rolled her eyes as Piper just stood there, a bit confused at the direction that conversation had gone down, but happy to not be the center of attention anymore. "I'm just trying to be in fashion and mirror what I see in the magazines."

"My dancing kind of bothers me." Finn shrugged. "But I like the way I look."

"Oh, please. You have weird, puffy pyramid nipples. They look like they're filled with custard." Santana scoffed, as Sam reached over to pull Finn's hoodie off a bit so he could check it, only to have the older boy slap his hand away. "You could dust them with powdered sugar and they could pass for some sort of dessert. Look, maybe Piper's fine with skipping some meals. Maybe she isn't. All I'm saying is that if you look in the mirror and you don't like what you see, you should change it."

"This is not about how she looks." Quinn spoke up then. "This is about the fact that she won't admit that her problem is getting out of control."

"No, it isn't." Piper argued, as Quinn sent her a glare. "I just want to look a bit skinnier, what's so bad about it?"

"Whoa, guys. I'm really shocked at what I'm hearing here." Mr. Schue interrupted then. "It goes against everything the glee club stands for. I'm telling you, the thing you would most like to change about yourself is the most interesting part of you."

"Well, maybe..." Piper whispered, as she moved to sit back down at the back of the classroom by herself. "But at this school, the thing that makes you different is the thing people use to crush your spirit."

***

"You haven't asked us anything about our New York trip." Mercedes said as she and some of the glee girls sat together with Blaine and Kurt at the Lima Bean.

"Is it because it's too painful?" Tina asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, but while the New Directions are preparing to perform at Nationals, the Warblers are preparing to perform at a nursing home in a strip mall next to a National Bank." Kurt said, eyeing Piper for a second and smiling proudly when he noticed her eating a muffin. Sure, she was taking very small pieces at a time and she was probably going to leave half of it untouched, but it was something. Looking back at Tina, he nodded at the girl. "But I'm so proud of you guys."

"We miss you so much, you know?" Piper mumbled quietly with a smile as Mercedes nodded.

"Isn't there any way you could come back to McKinley?"

"I told him, I would be all for it if it wasn't for Karofsky." Blaine said.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Santana said, snapping her attention a table a bit far away from them where Brittany was having coffee with a few of their Cheerios friends and toward the small group she was in.

"Kurt needs to be safe." Blaine said.

"Okay, can we please change the subject?" Kurt asked then, as Blaine shrugged.

"I'm just saying..."

And as Blaine went off on a tangent about some of the Warblers' next performances, Piper turned to see Santana still staring at Brittany. This time, however, it wasn't one of her longing stares or wishiful glances. This time, as Piper looked at Santana staring at Brittany, she could almost hear the gears in her mind turning. Before she could even say anything, however, Santana stood up, rather abruptly, causing everyone to stop for a second and look at her, surprised.

"I've gotta gay." She said, as Kurt turned to look at Piper only to frown when he noticed how the girl bit back a smile. Quickly correcting herself, Santana shook her head and ignored everyone's stare on her. "Go. Go. I've got to go."

***

"Hum, why is Ms. Pillsbury here?" Finn said, asking the question in everyone's minds as they all stared confused at Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury standing in front of them beside a big machine of whatever it was, covered in a blanket.

"She's helping us out with this week's assignment." Mr. Schue explained. "Now, this is the only club at school that is represented by just about every race, religion, sexual orientation and clique, but many of you are still having a hard time with acceptance."

"That's crazy, Mr. Shue." Mercedes shook her head. "We love each other."

"No, I won't deny that you accept each other, but you don't accept yourselves." The teacher said, as Piper sighed, looking down for a second, fully aware that this lesson had, most likely, had been thought about for her. "This week's assignment has two parts. I want all of you to sing songs about accepting yourself for who you are... The best and the worst parts."

At that, Piper sighed, unable to look up at her teacher even though she could feel his eyes on her. Noticing her discomfort, Mercedes reached over to her then, grabbing the girl's hand in hers hoping to offer her some comfort.

"What's the second part?" Rachel asked, causing Mr. Schue to turn around and look at her instead.

"Well, we're going to do a group number by the queen of self-love-Gaga." He announced. And this time, not even Piper was able to hide her enthusiasm. "We're going to perform her anthem to acceptance: Born This Way."

"Wait, wait, I still don't know why Ms. Pillsbury is here." Finn said, over all the cheers.

"I'm here to help you with your costumes for the big number." Ms. Pillsbury said, as she pulled the blanket off of her machine. "Each of you will be issued a beautifully fitted white T-shirt. We will then use this letter press to write a word or a phrase that best describes the thing about you that you're the most ashamed of or you'd like to change but you can't because you were born that way, which is super terrific."

"I want you to love those parts of you." Mr. Schue said. "You know, embrace them, wear them on your chest with pride."

"Can you give an example?" Mike asked then.

"Yeah." Mr. Schue nodded, turning to look at Ms. Pillsbury then. "It's the big moment."

At that, Ms. Pillsbury stepped forward, pulling open her cardigan to reveal her shirt underneath that read in big, bold letters ginger just across her chest. Everyone frowned then, including Mr. Schue.

"Wow, Emma, I thought the whole purpose of you doing this was to write..."

"Being a ginger has plagued me my entire life." Ms. Pillsbury interrupted him, as the teacher sighed, clearly disappointed. "People say that I smell like copper, I can get a sunburn indoors at night, and according to recent legend, I have no soul, but I'm here to say that this very curse is what makes me unique. Children, I claim my ginger hood before you today. I was born this way. Hooray. Hooray! Hooray!"

***

"You really didn't need to do this, you know?" Piper mumbled as she sat with Quinn at the waiting room of her doctor's office.

"I wasn't going to let you come here alone." Quinn argued. "Not after that stunt you pulled at bootycamp."

"I said I'm fine."

"And I said I don't believe you." Quinn shrugged, sighing gently when Piper looked down at her lap in shame. "How worse did it get? Since last year, I mean?"

"Last year was an easy breeze compared to what I went through since." Piper admitted. "The weeks I was in the Cheerios were the worse, but then I managed to control it myself during the school period. But then Summer came along and it all went downhill. I skipped meals and I threw up anything that I ate. I went two whole days once with nothing in my body but water. Then I crashed, obviously, and I ended up in the hospital. When the doctor told my dad that I'd die if I kept up like that, we decided that it'd be better if I went to a clinic. So I did. And I stayed there for weeks. They gave me some antidepressants and some tips about what to eat and when to eat... I got better, you know? I really did."

"I believe you." Quinn nodded then, encouraging the girl to keep talking. "You were amazing at the start of the year."

"Yeah..." Piper mumbled. "But then Karofsky happened. And then Kurt transferred. And now my mom is all up in my business again. It's just... It's a lot and I'm not the best person when it comes to pressure. So I crashed. Again."

"Oh, P..."

"And since we're being honest... There's something else in my mind too these last few days." Piper admitted, finally looking up from her lap as she stared right into Quinn's eyes for next word. "You."

"Me?" Quinn frowned.

"Yeah, you." Piper nodded. "Because everytime I look in the mirror, I can't help but think that the only reason why you're not with me... The only reason you chose Finn... Is because you'd be ashamed of being seen with me."

"Piper..."

"Come on, Quinn..." Piper scoffed, wiping her tears away as Quinn struggled not to cry herself. "You're the most beautiful girl I know. You can have anyone you want. Why'd you ever go for me."

"Piper..." Quinn shook her head then, reach out to grab Piper's face in her hands as she turned her to look at her. "You are the most beautiful person I've ever met. Inside and out. And I know you don't feel like that, but you are. And right now, I want to take at least that burden off you shoulders, okay? I lo- I... I do think you are incredible, Piper. You have to believe me. Do you?"

"Not really, no." She admitted.

"Well, then... I'll tell you everyday how beautiful you are until you believe me." She promised, her heart breaking a little at the way Piper sobbed in her arms after leaning over to hide her face in her neck. "And to prove I'm not ashamed of you, we can sing together, at glee club. You and me. Would that make you feel better?"

"Yes, actually." She smiled a bit as Quinn did too. "It would."

I wish I could tie you up in my shoes

Make you feel unpretty too

I was told I was beautiful

But what does that mean to you

Look into the mirror who's inside there

The one with the long hair

Same old me again today

My outsides are cool

My insides are blue

Every time I think I'm through

It's because of you

I've tried different ways

But it's all the same

At the end of the day

I have myself to blame

I'm just trippin'

You can buy your hair if it won't grow

You can fix your nose if he says so

You can buy all the make-up that MAC can make

But if you can't look inside you

Find out who am I too

Be in a position to make me feel so

Damn unpretty

I feel pretty

Oh so pretty

I feel pretty and witty and bright

And I pity

Any girl who isn't me tonight

Oh oh oh oh oh (Tonight)

Oh oh oh oh oh

Oh oh oh oh oh (Tonight)

I feel pretty (You can buy your hair if it won't grow)

Oh so pretty (You can fix your nose if he says so)

I feel pretty and witty and bright (You can buy all the make-up that MAC can make)

But if you can't look inside you

Find out who am I too

Be in a position to make me feel so

Damn unpretty

I feel pretty

But unpretty

***

And once again, Piper was left feeling scared for her life inside the only place in that school that she should feel the safest. And as much as all of her friends were questioning that decision, Piper couldn't help but feel her whole stomach churning at the mere sight of David Karofsky.

"Okay, listen, I'm all...That's all I'm asking for." Principal Figgins yelled over the commotion, trying to get the children to settle down. "Let me finish. Excuse me. Quiet!"

"No." Lauren scoffed, as Principal Figgins sighed.

"Quiet, okay?"

"We don't care what he has to say." Finn said.

"Shh. Now, I know David has had some issues in the past, but I have great respect for what he's doing right now, and I ask you to hear him out." Principal Figgins said, as everyone finally settled down a bit, even if a little bit annoyed. "Thank you."

"How about we punch his face in?" Sam asked then, as Mercedes nodded from beside him.

"Right."

At that, Piper reached a hand over Mercedes' thigh to let her know it was okay, but as her and Sam turned to look at her, they could see she was still fearful.

"Okay, that's enough, guys." Mr. Schue said. "Everyone listen up."

At that, everyone stopped, but as soon as Karofsky opened his mouth, Mercedes grabbed Piper's hand and held it tight not wanting the girl to pull away from her when she knew she needed the support.

"First, I just want to say how sorry I am for what I did to Kurt and for what I've done to a lot of you. I think I've slushied every one of you." Karofsky said, before sighing a bit. "I treated Kurt and Piper the worst, and I'm really ashamed of who I am and what I did."

When Karofsky turned to look at her, the girl scoffed, tears in her eyes as she looked away, squeezing Mercedes' hand in hers for support.

"I don't believe you." She spat at him, as the boy sighed.

"You don't have to. I know I'll need to earn your trust." He said and again, Piper rolled her eyes. "All I can say is that Santana has really helped me to see the light. She showed me all these stories online about kids jumping off of bridges and hanging themselves because they were being bullied so bad. I couldn't believe someone could make another person feel that awful, but she helped me accept that I was one of those bad people, and I don't want to be anymore."

At that, everyone stopped for a second, frowning at each other as they turned to look at Santana.

"Wait." Quinn spoke up. "Santana?"

"This Glee Club is not complete." Santana said then, standing up as she started to make her way to the front of the classroom to stand beside Karofsky. "Not without Kurt. So I've taken it upon myself to try to rehabilitate Dave to see if maybe Kurt would consider coming back and help us win Nationals. I did this for us, and then something funny happened. Something... Called love."

Piper gasped when she saw Santana reach out for Karofsky's hand and, as everyone gasped in shock, Piper felt a wave of indescribable rage taking over her.

"I'm going to barf." Tina said, as Puck gagged.

"I want Piper to feel safe when she walks down those hallways again. I Kurt to feel safe to come back, which is why Santana and I have started a new club... The Bully Whips."

"The name was my idea." Santana stated proudly. "We're going to be like guardian angels."

"I have deputized David and Santana and the rest of their club to roam the halls, identifying bullying and stopping it in its tracks." Principal Figgins said.

"I'm planning on reaching out to Kurt personally, through Principal Figgins, to try to make amends." Karofsky said. "This is a chance to really change this place. I hope you can support us."

And at that, Piper scoffed again, gathering her things as she stood up from her chair to leave.