Take Me Home

Chapter One: Elaina's POV

*Friday, October 1; 4:00 PM*

"And that's what makes you beautiful!"

My voice rings throughout the choir room, finishing the song for the audition into Glee club, the show choir club and the only thing I am actually looking forward to at this high school.

This is the second semester of my senior year, at London High School, (A/N: I looked this up, and it is actually a real high school. I do not own it, no copyright intended. If someone has a better idea for a school name, please inform me and I will replace this with it.) the school that I am currently at after getting kicked out of the one I was last semester, Woodside High School (A/N: I also looked this one up. I DO NOT OWN IT, AND NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED. I will also be taking ideas for school names for this one too.), by accidentally-on-purpose tripping the principal in the hallway, stealing the megaphone he always carries around, and belting out the lyrics of "Die Young" by Ke$ha into it. What can I say? I like to have some fun from time to time.

Plus, I'm used to getting kicked out of schools, and I don't really care if my parents - my father and my stepmother - get mad at me or not. I have nothing to lose to them, and they don't care for me anyway. Ever since I was five years old, when my mother died of cancer, when my father became such a depressed state he forgot about his only child, and when my stepmother - who, by the way, totally despises me - stepped into my family and took total charge, they stopped loving me. They stopped cooking for me, they stopped buying stuff for me, they stopped caring for me when I became ill. Most of the time my parents aren't even at home, only to sleep. During any other time, they are at a club drinking or something, and when they come back home at night...sometimes...not all the time, but from time to time...they abuse me. They abuse me and call me names and snap at me. I guess that's where my horrid personality comes from.

Luckily, my best friend's parents serve as mother and father to me. They pay for my school fee, and they never seem to mind that I keep getting expelled from almost every single school here in London. They probably just pity me too much, and I don't mind. A child needs some love from time to time, doesn't she?

"Elaina." The voice of the Glee club teacher, Mr. Johnson, brings me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?" I ask, my voice surprisingly even. I am terribly nervous. Singing is my passion, my life. If I don't make it in...I don't know what to do with myself. Only my dreams about going to the Regionals and Nationals contests for glee club, maybe even becoming a famous singer in the future, keep me standing.

After a long silence, three words escape Mr. Johnson's mouth. "That was wonderful." His smile stretches from ear to ear. "Congratulations Elaina, I'm glad to have you in the Stunning Singers." He winks. "That's our glee club's name."

I can't control myself. I squeal one of those girly squeals that I never make. "Omigosh! YAY! Thank you so much!"

I skip out of the choir room, out of the school building, and into the cool frosty air. The auditions were right after school, and they took about thirty minutes, so it is 4:00 PM right now. I decided that I would go to Baskin Robbins (A/N: Is there even a Baskin Robbins in London? If there is not, please notify me and tell me a London ice-cream store similar to it?) - which, by the way, is my favorite place ever - order some ice-cream, and work on homework in there until it closes at 9.

I find Baskin Robbins and enter the ice-cream store, not surprised to find that it is empty. I mean, who eats ice-cream at Baskin Robbins during the winter when they have the other choice of grabbing a hot chocolate at the neighboring Starbucks?

Well, meeeee.

"Lainy! I knew you'd be here!" Just as I walk up to the counter to the clerk, I hear the familiar voice of-