(Haley's Voiceover):

"My name is Haley Aldrin and this is my sophomore year at Mckinley High School. I struggle with anxiety and depression. It is very difficult to not feel like a burden and to feel alone. Not too mention, never feeling loved truly...Oh god, I am rambling. To sum it up short, the list of struggles and reasonable explanations goes on . The only thing that has not made my life miserable here is the Glee Club. Although we lost Regionals, I have gained a few close friends, and a true second family away from my terribly dysfunctional family at home. Well sophomore year, you better be worth it."

--

Haley Aldrin took a deep breath as she walked slowly down the hallway to meet up with Santana, Quinn and Brittany, only to see JBI approaching.

"Please kill me now I beg you." she whispered to the other three, only to be returned with a giggle from Quinn, a sarcastic remark from Santana and a confused and an innocent but naive response from Brittany.

"Quinn Fabray." He said, shoving the microphone in her face. "How has life changed since the birth of your bastard child?"

"Well, I'm happy to be back, and I'm ready to start fresh. And...I'm a lot less hormonal, so..."

As the camera drifted from her to Santana who lacked complete disinterest while filing her nails. Quinn quickly observed this and turned the camera back to her. "So there's not really any crying."

Ignoring Quinn, and unbeknownst to her annoying sigh, Jacob turned the camera towards Santana who was quick to scoff and roll her eyes, while moving the camera to focus on her face. "My eyes are up here, JewFro." "And it was uneventful."

Brittany was quick to add in. "People thought I went on vacation, but I actually spent the summer lost in the sewers." she said, as the other three turned to look at her with confused but adoring facial expressions. Haley quietly giggled at the blonde's innocence and naive but gentle response.

——-

Haley discreetly said goodbye to the girls, and attempted to take off down the hallway, knowing JBI would be after her next.

Unfortunately, he saw her leave and ran after her.

"Is it true you are a burden to everyone?" he asked.

"That depends." she responded, slightly rolling her eyes and feeling humiliated. "Seriously do you not respect our privacy and space?" she asked.

Ignoring her question, he continued to pester her with questions, as she continued to walk and ignore him, finally losing track of him.

Not looking where she was going, Haley walked straight into someone very tall and quite strong.

After the person helped her up, Haley looked up to meet a very handsome boy. She swore she felt herself blush and quickly looked away. She then turned back towards him.

"I am so sorry. I was not looking where I was going because that stupid JBI kid was chasing after me." She continued to ramble, playing with her hands, until he stopped her.

"It's okay. I could guess that you were either running away from someone or something, or you were urgently in a need to get somewhere."

"Well, you guessed precisely. I'm Haley by the way, Haley Aldrin." she reached her hand out towards him.

"I'm Sam, Sam Evans,'' he replied, putting on an impression, which she did not recognize. He returned the gesture by shaking her hand.

"Well, Sam Evans, I have to get to class now but I will hopefully see you around." Haley replied with a smile, trying to hide the fact she was blushing.

"Yeah definitely. I hope so too." Sam replied with a smile as they each went their separate ways.

Unbeknownst to her, she didn't see him turn around to take one last glance at her.

------

The New Directions were getting ready to perform a song in the courtyard and frankly, Haley couldn't be more nervous, while she anxiously pulled and played with her hands, bouncing her left knee up and down.

She turned towards the person closest to her, which happened to be Brittany. "What happens if all goes awry, and I end up fainting or something horrific happens?" she asked. Brittany turned towards her with a response off topic, "Did you know dinosaurs still exist in the clouds? I bet they are trying to kick their ecstasy problem."

"Oh Britt." Haley responded with a slight giggle and a gentle hug. "You always know what to say."

"I am a true genius." replied Brittany with a laugh.

Eventually they got into their places and the music began.

{SONG-EMPIRE STATE OF MIND,

SUNG BY THE NEW DIRECTIONS}

As they finished, they stood smiling, only to be returned with no applause or verbal responses.

Haley made eye contact with Sam who smiled at her. She smiled back and waved.

That wave didn't go unnoticed by Finn and Kurt who turned towards her with curious looks.

"You know that guy?" asked Finn, persistently making her jump only to wack Kurt in the face with her hand. She quickly sent Kurt an apologetic smile before turning to face Finn.

"God! you scared me Finn, and yes I know him. Met him this morning after my interview with JBI."

"He's probably gay." Kurt interrupted whispering in her ear, before Finn could say anything.

"Well he was clearly into it! He was tapping his foot. He has to join New Directions!"-Finn said excitedly

"He's new here, and is not going to want to join yet. We can't force him. He is literally at the bottom of the Mckinley food chain." she replied. "Why would he want to join our group? We are clearly losers." she said, although she was amused by his enthusiasm.

"Obviously if he becomes friends with me, the quarterback, he will move up the food chain, and I am sure if that does not work, you would make a pretty awesome girlfriend." He sent her a wink and knowing look.

"Hey! Stop! I get a say in this too." Haley replied before running after him.

-----

Later on, as Haley was making her way to class, she was suddenly grabbed by Finn and dragged to the choir room.

"Hey! Why are we heading towards the choir room?" she asked him.

"We got him interested and he's in the choir room ready to audition."-he replied, not making eye contact.

"Who's him?" it took Haley a minute to realize who the person was. "Oh, you mean Sam?" she asked as they entered the choir room.

"Precisely." he responded.

They entered the choir room where Mike, Puck, Artie and Sam were already waiting.

Sam saw them come in and immediately smiled when he saw Haley enter. She shyly returned the smile, quickly going to sit down in the front row to watch his audition.

"So, Sam, tell us about yourself." Finn said, cautiously trying to get the audition and introductions started.

"My name's Sam Evans." Sam began, a bit shy but trying to maintain a slightly confident appeal. "I like comic books, sports. I'm dyslexic, so my grades aren't that good, but....I'm working on it."

"Dude, your mouth is huge." Puck commented, as Haley slapped him, causing him to wince. Nonetheless, he continued. "How many tennis balls can you fit in there?"

"I don't know..." Sam frowned slightly. "I've never had any balls in my mouth. Have you?"

Haley snickered at his response, causing Sam to smile back at her, and making him feel more comfortable in front of the small group.

"I like this kid." Finn whispered in Haley's ear.

"I like his confidence, but the Bieber cut's gotta go." Artie added, leaning in towards Finn and Haley.

"I am sure he will fit right into our group." she replied, sending him a smile.

"So can you sing with that big mouth?" Puck asked.

"I've never really sung in front of anybody before.: Sam shrugged, lifting his shoulders as everyone got up from their seats.

"Dude, let me tell you, chicks dig singers." Puck said, reaching for the guitar to give to Sam.

"Well, give it a shot. We'll back you up, I promise." Finn replied as Sam grabbed the guitar from Puck.

"What song you got in your back pocket?"

"Umm...Billionaire?" Sam responded. Finn gave him a nod and walked toward the drums.

Haley smiled as she walked toward the piano and hoisted herself onto it so she could watch the boys sing. As Sam sang, she admired him, trying to push the feeling of comfort she had when she was around him. She also tried to ignore the knowing looks from the boys, especially Finn.

As the song ended, everyone cheered and clapped.

"That-that was really cool!" Sam laughed.

"Nice: Finn said. "So do you think you can come back and do that in front of everybody?"

Everyone turned to Sam who hesitated, but glanced at Haley and noticed her friendly smile that graced her face, he finally nodded.

"Sure.: He answered, causing everyone to cheer in excitement.

----

Afterwards, Emily was wandering an empty hallway talking to her mom.

"Yes mom, I'll be home soon. I might be a little late." she hung up after sniffling and wiping a few tears away. The truth was that Haley hated being home sometimes, because she was mentally abused by her dad and treated unfairly. Her mom didn't seem to have time for her or notice when she wasn't doing well. Sure she had seen a therapist, and took medication. Not that she could say these helped. She was a mess, who would want her? These secrets and struggles she kept hidden, not even Kurt, Finn, Quinn, Santana or Brittany (her closest friends) knew about it. She already felt like a burden, so she decided to push this struggle down.

She walked down the hallway trying to avoid eye contact, in her eyes might be red, she failed to notice Santana and Quinn fighting in the hallway. She did overhear Brittany say. "Stop the violence." However she continued walking trying to not completely breakdown.

----

The group waited patiently hoping that even one person would come and audition for New Directions. Unfortunately, there was no luck.

It was two minutes to 5 and everyone had begun to give up on the hope of someone coming in to audition.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but it doesn't look like anyone's gonna be joining us, so I think we should just call it a day." Rachel said aloud.

"We said 3:00-5:00." Mr. Schue replied, trying to get everyone to wait the final two minutes. "It's only 4:58."

"Just wait." Finn agreed with their teacher as he also attempted to get everyone from packing up their bags and leaving. "My buddy Sam's gonna try out."

"Face it Finn, he probably isn't going to come." Haley replied, walking to stand beside him.

"He totally idolizes me, though."

Haley sent him a "are you kidding me" look. "Egotistical much?" she asked, as she packed her bags and walked away.

"Oh, face it, Finn." Kurt said as he packed his bag. "You're no longer the quarterback. You're not the Pied Piper anymore. No one's gonna follow you around thinking everything you do is cool." He walked out after Haley.

"What about that Sunshine girl? Mercedes asked Rachel. "I thought you said she could sing."

Rachel let out a fake but awkward laugh and left the room, replying with "I guess she didn't want to hang out with us losers."

-----

To Rachel's dismay, Sunshine had ended up auditioning.

Haley could tell Rachel was jealous and she unfortunately chose to act on her jealousy.

Haley along with Mr. Schue, Tina, Mike and Rachel sat in the choir room while Rachel explained the whole situation.

"Tell me this isn't true, Rachel." Mr. Schue said in disbelief.

"She could have died." Tina added.

Trying to act innocent, Rachel protested. "I didn't send her to an active crackhouse. Besides, how did you guys find out anyways?"

"The Asian community is very tight." Mike responded.

"I just don't get it. You're better than this." Mr. Schue said to Rachel.

"No, she's an ambitious little freak who will do anything to hold onto her power." Tina responded.

"Yes she truly is a racist and arrogant bitch." Haley mumbled.

"I just... I...I just love you guys so much. I was wrong before. I don't want any new members. I didn't want anyone coming in and-and messing up our group dynamic. Tina, Mike, I mean, what if Sunshine can dance? Then your contributions to Glee will be even more insignificant than they already are now. I did this for you guys."

"Whatever your motivations, you need to make this right, Rachel."

"He's right. You already cause great trouble and steal the spotlight from everyone. Sometimes when people act on their jealousy, they do things unintentionally and don't realize their actions until they've acted on them. In your case, it was intended. PLEASE Go fix this." Haley said before walking out with Tina.