Marley shuffled into the courtyard. She was the last one to arrive for Glee rehearsal. She looked terrible, as she had for the last few weeks. What you could see of her was practically a skeleton, but she was bundled up from head to toe. Despite this, she was still shivering. There were dark circles under her eyes. She could barely hold herself up because she was so weak, and her hair fell in lank strands around her gaunt, pale face.
"Hey, guys, it's Sleeping Beauty! Wanna take a nap during our dance rehearsal just like you did during Sectionals?" Tina called, earning smirks of agreement from several other Glee club members.
"N-no, I'm fine," Marley stammered, swaying as a gust of wind almost tipped her over.
"Not gonna faint again, are you?" Tina jeered.
"I'm not, I promise!" Marley was close to tears now, but the Glee club laughed.
Finn sighed cheerfully and said, "Very funny, guys, but we need to start running choreo for this number. It's super-intense. Marley and Jake, you can take the lead on this number."
Santana hopped down from the piano. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you *still* ignoring the fact that my girl is severely ill?"
"No," Tina replied flippantly, "we're done with that plotline."
"But she's obviously not better!" Santana protested. "She's skin and bones!"
Marley shook her head. "I'm fine. I'll be okay."
"See?" Tina said. "She's fine!"
"No she's not! She has a disease! She needs help!"
"Chill out," said Kitty, rolling her eyes. "She'll be fine."
Santana rounded on the cheerleader. "Oh, god. Don't even get me started on you! You were the one who put all of this crap about not being good enough into her head! WHY are you not getting any crap for all the times you fucked with her self-esteem?"
"We told you," Artie butted in, "no one cares about this anymore."
"No one? Really? How about Marley's mom?"
"We haven't had any conversations important enough to televise in the past month. All the airtime was taken up with Rachel having huge new revelations about herself," Marley supplied.
Santana let out a noise of frustration. "At least you could disappear for a few episodes while you're in rehab!"
"I guess not…" Marley shrugged.
"So we're just going to sit here and pretend that Marley doesn't have a problem and that all of your verbal abuse isn't making it worse?" Santana asked incredulously.
The Glee members looked around, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, pretty much," said Finn.
"I am so done!" Santana cried, stalking off. "If anyone wants me, I'll be at the college that apparently doesn't mind if I disappear for long periods of time."
"Bye, Santana!" called the club.
Then Marley collapsed again. Tina poked the girl's body with her toe, but she didn't move. "New Rachel my ass. The old Rachel wouldn't have died after not eating for over a month."
"I know, right?" Artie agreed, rolling over Marley's corpse.
FIN