Spotlight - Glee

Chapter 15 - Violette Donovan's Official Fall from Grace

A/N – Warning! Things are going to get a little bit dark for Violette for a few chapters, so I feel I should add a little warning that this next sort of story arc will include body shaming, eating disorders, mental illness, and things of that sort. If that is something you are not prepared to read, I understand, do what you need to do, but if anyone wants me to put trigger warnings for specific things in specific scenes/chapters, please let me know. Otherwise, please enjoy the chapter.

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"Tell me what's wrong with me. My body, face, my hair." – What's Wrong With Me? (Bebe Wood)

Violette's room looked as if it were hit by a small tornado. Clothes were carelessly strewn about her bedroom/lounge room and makeup was piled in front of her floor length mirror. Violette stared hopelessly at the mess around her, frozen by indecision. She spent as much time as possible perfecting her concealer that morning, both in an effort to hide the lingering redness of her eyes and to procrastinate choosing an outfit. After almost two years wearing the same cheer to school every day, Violette was pretty certain she had no clothes, despite the mess of her room seeming to scream the opposite.

Violette thought about staying home, about staying in her pyjamas and crawling back into the bed already stained with her tears. After her fight with Quinn and a day spent as a heartbroken, sobbing mess, Violette didn't feel quite ready to face McKinley High, but she was tired of hiding from her issues. Violette Donovan was, albeit reluctantly, heading into a new, Quinn-less and Cheerio-less era and she was determined to do it with her head held high. She needed to push on and pretend that she didn't feel like a trillion broken pieces held loosely together by sticky tape. She didn't need to be McKinley's queen bee anymore, but nothing was going to get her down and she was going to strut through those halls with confidence in her new post-Quinn era, even if it was all fake. After all, she'd gotten good at putting on a different persona, a show for the halls of McKinley, it was about time she did some of that acting for her own benefit. So, with a huff of determination, she grabbed a denim skirt and tight-fitting long sleeve shirt before sprinting across the house to shower.

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When Violette finally felt ready to leave, after applying plenty of lip gloss and about ten tonnes of perfume, she took a deep slow breath before getting into the driver's seat of her car. She played her favourite cd softly as she drove and adjusted her mirrors slightly at every stop sign and red light. When she finally pulled into the parking lot of William McKinley High School, she felt stuck to her car seat. She didn't take her seatbelt off, she didn't take her hands off the steering wheel, Violette just sat for a moment letting the weight of her situation wash over her. She wasn't co-captain of the Cheerios anymore; she wasn't a Cheerio period.

Eventually, Violette slowly began to climb out of her car, grabbing her things and the bag that held her old Cheerios uniform. She closed her car door softly, double checking she had everything, before sighing in relief when she noticed Kurt's car a little further down. At least she wouldn't be alone. Rachel would probably be at school too, she was never away, and she'd get to see her Glee friends at that morning's practice. However, that also probably meant coming face to face with Quinn. Violette wasn't sure she was ready to even look at Quinn, but she couldn't let Quinn control her life anymore, she had to keep living. So, with her head held high, Violette walked into school.

Stepping into the halls, Violette felt like a freshman all over again, like she'd never stepped foot into McKinley before. She felt exposed without her Cheerios uniform, with everyone's eyes on her as they stopped to stare. After a moment of silence where Violette stood like a deer caught in headlights as most of McKinley's student body seemed to stare at her, Violette walked on trying to ignore the whispers that started around her.