Title: Lifetime Through The Fog In The Rain
Author: amaltheaz (LJ) / pseudohuman (FFn) / boldlikelove (Tumblr)
Length: 2,564 words
Pairing/s: Eventual Rachel/Quinn and Ashley/Spencer (Other pairings along the way though)
Rating: 15 (for language)
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or South of Nowhere, or the people in either of them. I also do not own the song that Ashley is singing. It belongs to the awesome Missy Higgins.
Spoilers: Refer to 1st Chapter. I know I hadn't mentioned it before but everybody here is a junior (except for Kyla, she'll be a sophomore), except obviously y'know, the teachers and Miss Pillsbury, lol. I've decided in the case of Glee to keep everything canon up to Regionals. Yes, Finn did say the three words to Rachel but they are not together.
Author's Note: I got asked whether I will be using Ashley's POV for the story. The answer is no because I have a difficult time keeping just to one perspective. If you've read my other stories you'll know already that this is my style. You will also know that I take my time between updates. I'm not reliable with fast updates but I'm reliable in that I will complete this. So, just sit tight, okay?

Lifetime through the Fog in the Rain

Chapter Two

Another day at McKinley High School. Just another day. But like they always said, every day brought something new.

It was mid-morning at school and Rachel Berry was standing at her locker, dropping off her books. After closing her locker door shut, she turned around to find the very bulky and very intimidating figure of David Karofsky, one of McKinley's star hockey players, carrying a Big Quench slushie in his hand with her name on it. The cup was already tipped in her direction and there wasn't enough time to dodge out of his way, so she sighed heavily and braced herself for the onslaught of the ice cold drink. Sometimes Rachel wondered why people spent so much money just to slushie her when they could use the money for something else they could actually use. She barely had time to close her eyes when she felt the ice cold drink hit her in the face.

At least it was grape, her favourite.

Rachel opened her eyes, grunted in annoyance as she turned to open her locker again to take out her emergency pack, ignoring Finn as she made her way to the girls' bathroom.

As she rinsed the ice out of her hair, Rachel wondered why she ever thought that things would change around here. The rest of the school weren't exactly privy to what went on in Glee club. They weren't the first to find out about the Head Cheerio's pregnancy. They didn't witness the fall-out when they discovered that the father of the baby was not the Head Cheerio's boyfriend but was in fact, his best friend. They didn't know about the many, many times that Coach Sylvester tried to take down the club.

It was a whole year of so many changes, events that changed their lives but in the grand scheme of things – in the grand scheme of high school – life still went the same.

Rachel sighed heavily as she thought of soft, apologetic brown eyes and she rolled her eyes at her reflection in the mirror as she towel-dried her brunette locks. She hated that Finn was making her feel guilty for not being with him. After he said those three words to her at Regionals, her world was rocked. And it took her by surprise that what she felt after wasn't happiness or a sense that she finally had what she wanted after so long like she expected. She didn't want to run into Finn's arms, proclaiming her own love for him. And she did love him, but it just wasn't the same kind of love that she felt for him in the beginning anymore.

And not only that, it wasn't that long ago that she had broken up with Jesse. Despite the fact that he broke up with her in the most horrific way that would traumatize her for the rest of her life, Rachel had been in love with the male diva. Even now there was a part of her that loved him still, and she couldn't dishonour their relationship by just jumping into another one with Finn so soon after.

Finn had initially understood that. When she told him that she still needed time to heal after breaking up with Jesse, he promised that he understood. Over the summer, the only times they ever saw each other were when a Glee party was arranged, he seemed content to play on the X-Box with Noah and the other boys while she sat with Kurt and Mercedes. And that was fine with her, except when he wasn't doing that, he was constantly badgering her about going on a date with him. Constantly. And while Rachel appreciated that he was making the effort, she wasn't very fond of the way that Finn downplayed her relationship with Jesse, implying that she'd never love him the way she loved Finn. Sure, Rachel liked confidence in a man but something about that just rubbed her the wrong way.

It wasn't just that but also the fact that every date he suggested was to a Glee party or where they would be kids from Glee around and not somewhere else where it was just them and somebody else from school could see them. Jesse had no problems letting people that they were together, and neither did Noah, so she didn't know why Finn was still clinging so desperately to his reputation. It was obvious that he wasn't ready to be with her at all, despite everything that he said.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she packed up her things and left the bathroom, noting once again that nobody had come to her aid. Her relationship with the club had improved but not by much. Rachel knew that as a group, they loved her but individually, they were hard pressed to actually like her most (if not all) of the time, which she knew was down to her. She had her moments of being utterly annoying, tactless and overbearing but it was really the only way to get them fired up. New Directions just couldn't afford to be complacent, especially after the stunning loss at Regionals last year.

Rachel had always known that it was a lonely position to be but Broadway was her dream, and she'd be damned if the team that she helped founded suffered another major loss. Relationships came and they went and though Rachel desired nothing more than to have somebody care for her and love her the way she deserved, she knew she wasn't going to get it from anybody in this school. Not with the way they were treating her now. No, this year was going to be all about New Directions, because this was their year and if she was going to annoy everybody to the point that they actually wanted to kill her, then so be it.

Tawny-coloured eyes surveyed the empty auditorium, taking note of the vast space and the empty seats, zeroing in on the three guitars sitting neatly in a row, held by their respective stands. Her fingers suddenly itched to play and Ashley obeyed the call, her legs propelling her body to the stage until she was finally sitting on the stool that was already there. She picked up a black acoustic guitar that was gleaming at her and she marvelled at how well-looked after it was. Whoever the owner of that guitar was, sure loved it very much. She picked at each individual string, wanting to make sure that it was in tune. In her mind, she could hear the song she was going to play, the words she wanted to sing, and the strings she was going to pluck.

Ashley never had any vocal training. Her voice was raw and untested with an audience but it was also the one gift inherited from her talented, deceased father that she truly cherished, rather than the trust fund that he had set up for her and Kyla. She had only sung in front of him and nobody else, and she entertained no thoughts of wanting to change that any time soon. And right now, this very moment? As Ashley's singing echoed words of a reckless youth, learning the hard way how cruel a mistress life truly was; this was only for her and for him.

She heard her voice first. It was faint but with years of training, Rachel's finely-tuned ears had still been able to pick it up. She had just dropped off her bag in her locker when she passed by the auditorium on the way to the music room as there were only a few minutes left to the period before lunch and she figured she could get some time to practise. That's when she heard it. It was usually the jazz band or the other kids from Glee that would use the auditorium to rehearse but Rachel didn't recognize this voice. This one was new.

Until now I've been bold
I've laughed at fire
I've danced through the unknown
But lately things have shaken me

And whoever it was, sounded good.

Rachel surreptitiously walked through the main door, making sure to not alert whoever that was on stage, singing with such refrain that it actually made her heart ache. There were very few voices in the world that could affect her like this, and even fewer that made her want to stay behind to listen. So the diva took a seat near the back, cloaking her presence in darkness as she listened and watched the mystery girl. The New Directions diva couldn't really see the singer's face, only making out the curly brown hair, tanned skin and really provocative clothes that were so very out of place in this very small town. Rachel wanted to know her story, where she was from and more importantly, whether she was willing to join their Glee club.

The sudden vibration of her cell-phone tucked in her front pocket of her skirt startled Ashley, forcing her to stop playing and put the guitar down. There was really only one person who had her number and thankfully it was not Christine. "Hey Ky, what's up?" she nonchalantly greeted her little sister after placing the phone to her ear.

"Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

The older Davies girl chuckled at Kyla's admonishing tone. It tickled her that it was the younger of the two Davies sisters that acted more as the adult. "If you knew that, why are you calling me?" she asked teasingly as she stood up from the stool, strolling down-stage then turning her back to the empty seats.

"Because I know you, Ashley Marie Davies."

Ashley snorted in an unladylike manner into the speaker, "Fine. I didn't exactly get the best welcome wagon after I checked in this morning, so I bailed," she said with a shrug. "I felt like some exotic animal in the freaking zoo or something."

"Yeah, they don't really get many girls coming into school wearing the belts-you-call-skirts."

The curly-haired brunette rolled her eyes at her sister's discerning tone. "Whatever, I look hot. That's all that matters and there is no way anybody's going to complain about that," she reasons, letting her brown eyes move over the dark stage. "Where are you anyway?" she asked, going back to the guitars, inwardly hoping that she'd get some more time to play.

"It's my free period so I'm in the library. What about you? It's almost lunch. We can hang out so we can have lunch together since I didn't see you before I left for school this morning."

"I'm in the auditorium," Ashley replied with a sigh, as her finger trailed wistfully over the guitar fret. She guessed that she definitely wasn't going to be able to play now.

"I'll see you in ten, sis."

Ashley swiftly ended the call, knowing that Kyla would know it to mean that she'd be waiting for her. She did miss being able to hang out with her sister so lunch would be good. Maybe she'll even get to see that bitchy cheerleader again, ruffle her feathers some more. She spun around when she heard shuffling foot-steps behind her. Brown eyes squinted into the darkness trying to see if there was somebody in there with her. "Hello?" she called out, caution in her tone. The possibility that somebody else might have been here while she was singing, completely invading her privacy royally pissed her off. "Whoever is out there, come out now so I can kick your ass from here to fucking Sunday," she growled out. "He-" A lone figure abruptly jumping out from one of the aisles stopped Ashley's next few words and she made a start towards them when she saw that they weren't approaching her but actually making their way quickly towards the exit. "Hey, wait a minute!" she yelled out, chasing them out of the auditorium.

That was how Kyla found her, just stomping through the swinging doors with her hands folded into angry fists hanging by her sides, with a scowl on her face.

The younger girl saw the look on her sister's face and she approached her cautiously, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Ashley's quick, volatile temper. "Hey Ash, I thought we were meeting inside? What's up?" she asked lightly. She hated that she was so intimidated by her sister but Ashley could be very cutting when she wanted to be. Kyla waited a few more minutes until she let out a sigh of relief when Ashley turned, frown still ever present but not as strikingly harsh as before.

"Did you see anybody coming out from here?" Ashley asked, only for Kyla to shake her head in the negative. "They must have gone the other way. Damn it," she cursed under her breath, annoyed that she didn't catch them, if only because she didn't get to vent out her frustrations of her sucky morning. She ran her fingers through her curly hair as she let out a deep breath instead.

Kyla grinned crookedly at her sister. "Scaring people already huh, Ash?" she teased as she walked to stand by her sister.

The L.A. native chuckled. "I can't help that I'm too much for some people to handle," she crowed, popping the collar of her shirt.

"I'm glad to see that you haven't gotten a slushie facial yet," Kyla said, walking in the direction of the cafeteria as the lunch had just rung.

Her eyebrows dropped in confusion. "Slushie facial?" she repeated quizzically, following Kyla in the forming line for food.

"Yeah, it's something they do to new kids and y'know, the unpopular kids," she explained, honestly glad that her sister didn't get hit as she knew it spelled trouble for the slushie thrower if they were brave (or stupid) enough to put Ashley through that.

"They throw slushies at people? That's sick," the curly-haired brunette hissed, genuinely appalled that something like that actually happened. She could only assume that it wouldn't be very pleasant to have cold corn syrup thrown in your face. Ashley was glad that she was planning to stay under the radar, hopefully then able to escape from this supposed 'treatment'.

The younger brunette shrugged. "It's pretty much the way it is here," she said plainly as she looked at the food laid out in front of them, scrunching her nose in disgust at what was there.

"Wait," Ashley stopped, placing a hand on the crook of Kyla's elbow. "Please don't tell me you've gotten this 'slushie facial' thing," she growled, feeling her anger rise at the thought of somebody doing that to her sister.

Kyla smiled at her sister's protective gesture and shook her head. "No, I'm pretty much invisible here so they don't really care about me but I've seen it happen. The Glee club is a popular target though."

She didn't think it was fair for a group of people to get targeted like that. But it wasn't like she was going to do to change it. Who was she to change the status quo anyway? "Why?" she asked, out of curiosity and bafflement.

"No idea," Kyla shrugged, not knowing the reason. "I just want to finish with high school and get out of here," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You and me both, little sister," Ashley chuckled as she paid for both their lunches. "You and me both," she sighed wistfully as they made their way to an empty table, oblivious to dark brown eyes following Ashley's every move.

END OF CHAPTER TWO