"Guys, I've got some bad news." Mr. Schue said, as soon as he walked into the choir room that day. "You know how we decided on Sing by My Chemical Romance for Regionals? Well, I hold in my hand a cease and desist letter from the band. We can't do it."

"Ugh, it was the perfect anthem." Puck groaned.

"How much do you wanna bet Coach Sylvester had something to do with this?" Mercedes asked then, as Mr. Schue nodded.

"One step ahead of you." He said. "Questioned her about it and she admitted it was payback for me taking away her Cheerios."

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Piper asked.

"I think... We should write original songs for Regionals." Rachel spoke up, still clearly trying to push her original songs idea.

Once more, however, that hadn't been too well received.

"All those in favor of voting Rachel down a second time?" Santana asked, and even before anyone could put their hands down, the unexpected happened.

Speaking up in Rachel's behalf was no one other than Quinn Fabray herself.

"No, I think Rachel's right." She said, as Piper frowned, absolutely shocked about seeing Quinn agreeing with Rachel at all, but especially about this. "This team works best when we push ourselves and do something a little different."

"Well, that's true but if all the other teams are doing amazing songs." Mercedes said. "We're not gonna be so good."

"You're right, we're not gonna be as good. We're gonna be better." Quinn argued, as Mercedes turned to look at Piper, who just shrugged at her and turned around in her seat to stare at Quinn. "We won't be using other peoples' words or music. It'll be our own. Our own heart, soul, not just our voices. We have a really talented songwriter in our midst. Rachel? I was thinking maybe you and I could write a song together."

Write a song together? Why would Quinn even want to be in the same room as Rachel, let alone write a whole song with her? Rachel smiled at Quinn, though. But noticing Piper's stare on her, Quinn looked away. It wasn't until Finn Hudson spoke up that it all started to make a bit more sense again.

"I'm with Quinn and Rachel." He said. "I mean, if these two can agree on something it's probably an idea worth considering."

And when Quinn sent him a small smile, Piper scoffed. And there she was again... Quinn Fabray, deciding to ignore her feelings in fear of people's reactions as she pursued another pointless rendezvous with yet another boy.

"W-wait, wait." Santana spoke up then, snapping Piper's out of her thoughts. "So, suddenly you two are writing the music for Regionals? No way. I think that everyone should get a chance to write a song."

"Santana's right." Sam said. "We can do this."

"What do you think Mr. Schue?" Mercedes asked then, turning to look at the teacher as he smiled.

"I think we're doing original songs for Regionals."

***

"All right guys, let's hear it for our first songwriting seminar." Mr. Schue said, as the kids all clapped. He smiled then, passing out some rhyming dictionaries for everyone. "While Quinn and Rachel are hard at work, we are gonna try and write an anthem of our own. Now, these are rhyming dictionaries for all of you."

"Hum, Mr. Schue." Santana raised her hand as everyone turned to look at her. "Tina and I have been uh already working on a song that I wrote."

"Really? That's amazing." Mr. Schue smiled proudly. "Can we hear it?"

When Santana and Tina stood up, the whole group clapped.

"This is a song that I wrote for Sam." Santana announced, as Tina sat by the piano. "It's called Trouty Mouth."

And at that, Piper gasped quietly, watching as Santana smirked at her boyfriend, who widened his eyes at her.

"Wait, what's it called?" He asked, causing Mike to lean closer to him.

"Trouty Mouth." He repeated over at his friend, as Piper — who was sat in front of him — slapped him gently in the knee.

"Michael!" She warned as Mike just shrugged.

Now, Piper was aware that Sam was uncomfortable with the whole situation, especially if they were to judge on how he covered his mouth for the whole time Santana sang, but Piper couldn't deny it... Seeing Santana pouring her heart and soul into the song she wrote for Sam that was nothing short of offensive terms and clever jokes might just have been the funniest thing Piper had ever seen in her life. She tried to hide her laughter from Sam but when Mike snorted from his seat behind her, she broke out in a giggle that must have just set off Sam who, very rudely interrupted Santana's performance.

"Okay. Can we stop?" He said, as everyone turned to look at him. "Stop with the mouth jokes."

"Sit down." Santana scoffed, clearly offended. "I'm not finished."

"Yes you are." Sam argued. "Mr. Schue we're not doing a song at Regionals called Trouty Mouth."

"Hum, y-you know what I have to agree with Sam on this one." Mr. Schue spoke up then, as Santana rolled her eyes. "But, such a good first effort. I just don't think it's got the epic feel we need for Regionals."

As Sam sat down again, both Mike and Piper spun around in their seats to look at Sam instead.

"I'm sorry, bro." Mike apologized quietly as Sam just shrugged.

"Yeah, me too. I didn't mean to laugh like that." She said. "You know, for what it's worth, if I wasn't so into girls, I'd totally want to tap that."

At that, Sam rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Thanks, I guess?"

"Hum, Mr. Schue? I wrote a song too." Puck spoke up then, standing up as he walked to the middle of the choir room. "I wrote it for Lauren. I-I know that when I sang Fat Bottomed Girls it might have hurt her feelings a little bit but, I think this makes up for it. It's got a bit of a rock-a-billy feel so it'd give us an edge this weekend."

"All right." Mr. Schue nodded. "Show us what you got."

"It's called Big Ass..." Puck smirked, causing everyone to stop for a second, surprised, before he opened a smile. "Heart."

And as Puck started to sing his song, everyone jammed along since, despite the lyrics, the melody was actually quite good. And as he watched his students dancing and clapping along to Puck's song, Mr. Schue started to question if letting the kids write their own original songs to Regionals was actually a good idea.

***

Piper was actually starting to hate the fact that her locker was so close to Finn's because she was about 70% sure that if she had to endure any more conversations between Finn and Quinn during her breaks between classes, she would actually end up murdering someone.

As Quinn asked Finn about the prom, Piper tried to block out her voice with all her might, not really wanting to hear how Quinn talked to Finn about the two of them being prom royalty to be back on the top again. But as they argued about it, the question of when to go publiv with their relationship came up and some of Quinn's words suddenly sparked Piper's interest again.

"Do you wanna be in this relationship or not?" Quinn asked her boyfriend after he had asked to keep it in the down-low for a bit longer, until Nationals as to not affect Rachel.

At that, however, Piper turned to look at Quinn, raising an eyebrow at her as the blonde caught her eyes for a split of a second and softened, before looking back up at Finn with a glare.

"Whoa, scary Quinn." Finn mumbled. "Okay, hum, after Regionals."

At that, Quinn sent him a fake smile, turning around to leave with him but not before sending Piper another look from over her shoulders and a small smile that was not reciprocated.

"After Regionals." Quinn told Finn then, causing Piper to scoff and slam her locker shut.

"I hate how much she cares about what everyone else thinks of her." She groaned, to no one in particular before jumping a bit when Mercedes appeared beside her.

"Who?" She asked, as her best friend sighed, spinning around to stand against the lockers beside Mercedes like they usually did whenever they talked in the hallways.

"Quinn, who else?" Piper rolled her eyes then. "Dating Finn just to be prom queen this year after drunkenly confessing she wanted me at Rachel's party."

"Wait... She said that?" Mercedes gasped, turning to frown at her best friend, who stared at her, confused for a second.

"Didn't I tell you?" She asked, causing Mercedes scoffed.

"Well, I had just come here to ask you for some help with my song, but now we have to skip class so you can tell me what happened at Rachel's party."

"Wait, you wrote a song?" Piper asked, giggling a bit when Mercedes grabbed her by the arm and tugged her forward, probably already guiding her toward the bleachers, where they would always go whenever they wanted to gossip.

"It's not important." Mercedes shook her head. "First, you're gonna tell me everything that happened at Rachel's party and then, if we have the time, you can help me finish writing my top charts hit. Come on."

***

In Piper's opinion, Mercedes' Hell to the no was a bop and everyone in the room had seemed to enjoy it as well, clapping and cheering the girl on as soon as she was done with her performance.

"Really good!" Mr. Schue praised, as Mercedes smiled.

"Thank you."

"But hum..."

"But my butt Mr. Schue, that song was amazing." Mercedes interrupted him, sassy as ever.

"No, I agree." The teacher said. "I'm just not sure that it's Regionals material."

"Mr. Schue, I wrote another verse of Trouty Mouth." Santana said, causing Sam to glare at her as he held up his Hell no sign he had made during Mercedes' performance as Piper giggled.

"Eh no, no. Guys, guys. Just think about it." Mr. Schue said, trying to grab everyone's attention again. "What's your favorite song of all time?"

"My Headband." Brittany said.

"Alanis Morisette's You Oughta Know." Santana added.

"I'm still standing by Elton John." Piper shrugged.

"What's Going On, Marvin Gaye." Puck said, smirking when Lauren nodded in approval.

"Puckerman, you're on a roll." She said.

"Okay and what are all those songs about?" Mr. Schue asked.

"Headbands." Brittany nodded to herself.

"All those songs come from a place of pain." Mr. Schue continued, choosing to ignore Brittany's input. "The greatest songs are about hurt, and that's the side of yourselves I want you to get in touch with."

"Well, that should be easy..." Piper mumbled, humorlessly.

"Yeah, Coach Sylvester tortures us for no reason and tries to get the entire school to hate us." Artie said, misinterpreting a bit Piper's comment, even if the girl couldn't entirely disagree with him.

"Yesterday, she filled Britt's and my locker with dirt." Santana said.

"Okay." Mr. Schue said, as he rushed to the whiteboard to start writing down key-words of what the kids were saying. "Okay, slow down. Slow down."

"She literally throws sticks at me." Mercedes said.

"Okay, what else?" Mr. Schue urged. "What else?"

"She called the Ohio Secretary of State, saying she was me and that I wanna legally change my name to Tina Cohen-Loser." Tina spat.

"She... Okay, and how does that make you feel?" Mr. Schue shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, at first it hurts, but... Then it mostly makes you want to win." Finn said and when everyone nodded, Mr. Schue smiled.

Circling the word loser on the board, the teacher smiled at the kids.

"Guys... I think you may have just found your song." He smirked, as everyone chuckled a bit, growing excited. "Now let's get to writing."

***

Piper was taken by surprise that afternoon as she headed toward her art classroom only to have no one other than Rachel Berry herself crashing into her out of the blue and holding her close as she cried.

"Oh, wow, okay..." Piper mumbled, unsure of what to do as she ran a hand through Rachel's hair. "What's going on?"

"I... I just... She... I went..."

"Okay, alright... Okay, just stop. Come here..."

Very gently, Piper threw an arm around Rachel's shoulders and walked with her toward the nearest bathroom. Throwing her stuff off to the side, she grabbed her towel from her bag and offered it to Rachel after getting the girl to, at least, stop sobbing. After a few minutes of silence as Rachel dabbed Piper's towel on her face, Piper smiled at Rachel a bit, before leaning against the sink as she looked at the girl, standing beside her.

"Okay, are you a bit calmer now?" She asked as Rachel nodded.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good." Piper nodded, encouragingly. "Now... Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was just with Quinn in the auditorium." Rachel said, and, as soon as the words left her lips, Piper sighed, already knowing where this was going. "She told me she's dating Finn again."

"I knew." Piper nodded quietly as Rachel frowned.

"She told you?"

"No. But I knew."

"And doesn't it hurt you?" She asked, as Piper scoffed.

"If it doesn't hurt me?" She repeated. "It tears me apart. But what can I do? She had a choice and she made it."

"I just don't get it..." Rachel sighed. "They didn't work out the first time. Why would they ever try again?"

"Well, you're trying to get back with your ex, too." Piper shrugged. "Isn't that the same thing?"

"No." Rachel protested. "It's different."

"Whatever you say, Rachel." Piper shrugged, fully aware that arguing with the girl would take her, literally, nowhere. "But why are you so worked up about it? If you think they won't work together, you just have to wait."

"Quinn is just so... She's so conceited about this. She was so mean to me, throwing in my face that my relationship with Finn didn't work..." Rachel whined.

"Look, Rachel, I don't what you expect from me." Piper said, honestly, as Rachel sighed.

"How are you not angry about any of this?"

"Angry? You think I'm not angry?" Piper laughed dryly, grabbing her towel from Rachel rather harshly as she shoved it back in her back. "I'm furious about this. I hate Finn and I hate Quinn and I hate the whole fucking universe for making me fall in love with a girl who... Who just wants to keep me around. I hate what she's doing to me, but most of all, I hate what I'm letting her do to me. So, yes, Rachel, I'm angry, okay? I'm pissed. But, unlike you, I don't take it out on anyone else. I take it out on me."

"Why?" Rachel asked, then, as Piper stopped for a second, trying to come up with an explanation to a question she didn't know the answer to.

"Because... Because I can't control other people. And I can't change Quinn." She explained. "She's ambitious to a fault and she cares too much about what people think about her. She constantly wants to be seen as the perfect straight A, prom queen, teenage dream girl. I knew that when I... When I fell for her. And I fell in spite of it. Because, even though that's a part of her I don't admire, It's a part of her and I have to learn to deal with it. Because... Because I love her. And, if you love Finn, I'm sure you understand what I'm saying."

"I do." Rachel nodded then, watching with soft eyes as Piper wiped some of her own tears away.

"It sucks that love hurts that bad." She whispered. "Sucks that we have to make the same mistake so many times before we... Before we..."

"Before we get it right." Rachel finished, watching as the girl in front of her finally crumbled, sobbing quietly as she leaned against the sink.

And, without a word, Rachel reached over to Piper, pulling the girl in for a hug as she ran her own hand up and down her back, trying to calm her down the same way she had.

"It's okay, Piper..." She hushed the girl gently as she cried into her shoulder. "It's alright."

***

Piper hated this part. She hated this feeling and no, she wasn't even talking about the actual throwing up. It was always the lead up for it that killed her. Those few moments when all the little voices in her head got a little too loud, arguing about what to do. Should she eat? Should she not? Could she go another few hours in just a glass of water? Should she have a banana? Maybe a smoothie? Maybe she could have a whole meal now that she had skipped breakfast and lunch? Did she look bad? Was her body really looking the way she saw in the mirror? Did people really see her the way she saw herself?

They probably did. And they probably hated it just as much as she did. Especially her mom, as she made a point of reminding her that night, after Regionals.

Piper had been ecstatic about winning. They were going to Nationals. In New York! And as she drove home with her dad from school, she had never once stopped talking about it, going on and on about how proud she was of her friends and even herself and how much fun she had had with them, up there, singing and dancing. And Harry just let her, happy to see his daughter so happy in spite of the crazy few days they had been going through with Joanna. And, that night, Harry was happy to just let Piper go on and on about her competition, hoping that that hype distracted her enough so she could eat a little something before heading off to bed, but that was not what had happened.

That was not what had happened at all and, as soon as they saw Joanna's car parked in front of their house, they knew it wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

And Harry had tried, he really had. He had tried to get Piper inside the house before Joanna could get to her, but he hadn't been fast enough and when Piper froze by the door when Joanna yelled after her, he knew she had heard everything.

"I saw you in your little singing competition today, Piper!" She had said. "And you looked absolutely poorly up there."

"Joanna!" Harry yelled back at her, as the woman scoffed. "Piper, get inside."

And so she did, but before she could close the door behind her, she still heard her mom's last words.

"It's a punishment, and you know it!"

And Piper didn't even need to think twice to know what she had meant. Joanna really believed her eating disorder had been a punishment from God himself for her sin of being gay or whatever. And as much as the logical part of her brain knew that was not at all what was happening, she was so caught up in her own emotions now that she couldn't find it in her to be logical.

And so, there was how she found herself here, hitting rock bottom again as she cried against her toilet and heaving into it as she tried to block out all the voices in her head and the screaming from her parents outside. She sobbed again, after gagging one more time, almost involuntary.

What a way to end a day that was supposed to be filled with nothing but happiness after a very well deserved victory for their group.