When Rachel walks into school the next day she immediately searches out for Puck. She walks by her locker first to make sure he's not there waiting for her but no one is there. Walking quickly through the halls, she finally finds him at his own locker talking to Artie. She walks up behind him and taps him on the shoulder. He turns around to see her and smiles while Artie looks around him and gives her a smile of his own as well.

"Rachel! I haven't seen you in awhile", Artie says.

"Yeah I know sorry. I've been busy," she says quickly. "Noah I need to talk to you for a sec…alone."

Puck looks at her face and knows she's pretty serious. He closes his locker and tells Artie he'll catch him later. Rachel grabs him and pulls him along the halls until they find an empty classroom. When they get in she closes the door and finally lets go of him.

"Geeze woman if you wanted a minute alone with the puckerone you didn't have to try so hard…just say so."

"Puck shut up. I have to tell you something."

He closes his mouth and looks at her worried face. "What?"

"I'm leaving."

"What do you mean you're leaving?"

"I'm leaving McKinley. I'm transferring."

"Well where are you transferring to?"

"This school about a half hour from here. Dr. Damon says they have a really great performing arts program, people are very nice, he knows the school counselor very well, and bullying really isn't tolerated."

"Why does your doctor want you to leave?"

"He doesn't think this place is healthy for me anymore."

"Well…when did this happen?" he asks exasperated. "I mean I know the slushee sucked yesterday Rachel but you can't let them win and drive you out of here. It's bullshit!"

"I know but…I can't do this anymore Noah. I'm tired of fighting for something I'm never going to get here. Acceptance. I don't belong here Noah. I just don't. So today is my last day."

With that she gave him one last look and left him alone in the room.

When her dads walk into Dr. Damon's office their faces are frantic and worried.

"Is everything alright doctor?" her dad asked. "I mean you've never called us into a session before."

"Well," Dr. Damon starts, "that was before I figured out one of the main causes of your daughter's depression and suicidal tendencies. We all need to figure out some things. Sit down please."

Her dads sit on the loveseat that is close to the armchair that Rachel is sitting in. She's not even looking at them at this point…mostly because she hoped they would never have to find out about all of this.

"Rachel…how about you tell your dads about what happened to you today."

She looks up at him surprised that she has to do this and pleads no with her eyes. But he won't relent. She sighs and looks at her dads who are more confused than anything.

"I got slushied," she whispers.

Her daddy raises his eyebrow. "And what pray tell is that?"

"It's when someone throws a slushee in your face. You know…like the slushees from 7-11."

Her daddy is still confused. "Why on earth would that happen? I don't understand."

"Rachel why don't you tell them how long this has been happening." Dr. Damon tells her.

"This isn't the first time?" her dad interjects angrily.

She sighs. "No. This has been happening since the middle of freshman year. It stopped at various times and it hadn't happened for a long time before today's incident. But no this isn't the first time dad."

Her fathers are stunned at this piece of information.

"So you're not aware of any of the bullying that Rachel has been enduring at McKinley?" Dr. Damon asks.

They both shake their heads. They all look to Rachel.

"Tell them the rest that you told me Rachel. They need to know."

She really does not want to do this. She thought she could spare her parents the stress of having to know about what happens at school. It's not that they're oblivious or neglect her-they don't. But she's an actress and a seasoned veteran of hiding things from her parents. They usually weren't home when she got back from school so it was always easy to explain her change of clothes. It wasn't hard to explain why she never had friends over. They didn't have to know about how much of a loser she was at that school. Not because of disappointment-her fathers would never feel disappointed about something like that.

It was the guilt.

Lima is a small town and while most people are pretty accepting of her fathers and their lifestyle there is the occasional person who goes and ruins that point of view. They would feel like it's their fault that she's bullied…that this is their punishment for putting her through this. They just want a normal life for all of them.

It's just that she's not really normal.

"Well...people call me names. Lots of names. Manhands, RuPaul, and hobbit seem to be favorites. They also draw pictures of me on the bathroom stalls that aren't very appealing…they're quite graphic actually." She doesn't look at them while she says any of this.

The room is quiet for a few minutes with Dr. Damon looking between the three members of the Berry family. He sighs finally and sits up in his chair.

"I haven't been one to tell Rachel my opinions on anything she has told me in our sessions. I've never thought it was necessary. You raised a very smart daughter who is capable of making her own decisions but she just needs someone to prod her along. I was very fine being in that role. Now this is the only time I'm going to actually tell you all what I think in any capacity. You need to get your daughter out of that school sooner rather than later. She has gone too long thinking that this treatment by her peers is in any way acceptable or normal. And it's not. It's bullying. They're bullying her. In fact I'm surprised Rachel didn't try to commit suicide sooner. From what I've gathered no one in that school has been willing to stand up for her except maybe 1 or 2 people. And because of this it has become acceptable for other people to treat her as less than she is, including the glee club she was a part of. And the best way for Rachel to get better is to remove her from toxic environments and people. Before that was not allowing her back into glee club or talking to that Finn guy but I see now that the problem is her school. And she needs to get out of there."

Her fathers are stunned not only by what the doctor is saying but how many words he's using. They clearly haven't had many conversations with Dr. Damon.

"Wh-what if…we just talked to Principal Figgins? Talk to the kids that are troubling her…" her dad wonders to himself out loud.

"We'd have to talk to half the school dad," Rachel mumbles.

"It's more than that Mr. Berry. While talking to the higher authorities might decrease the bullying it's not going to take away the animosity that Rachel feels there. If Rachel felt that she was in a safe environment to learn and be herself she wouldn't have felt the need to commit suicide in the first place. Stopping the bullying problem doesn't solve the fact that these kids just don't like your daughter. They still won't be her friend. And more than anything your daughter doesn't deserve to feel lonely at a time like this…she'll never get better if that's the case."

Her fathers are pretty silent and thinking to themselves at this point. She feels a little bad that they're springing all of this on them and expecting them to process everything. It's a lot to think about, but after talking more with Dr. Damon she sees what he's saying.

She hates being at McKinley everyday. She really does.

And besides what does she have keeping her there? Finn is obviously satisfied in many ways with his relationship with Santana and the rest of the glee club doesn't care that much whether she's around or not. Mr. Schuester hates her and even if she joined the club again that wouldn't change. She would still have a hard time.

But then there's Puck. He has been especially good to her for the longest time and even though she hasn't always appreciated it she does now. He does for her what no one else in McKinley does.

And he saved her life. Apparently he cared enough about her life to follow her from school and make sure she didn't die.

But even if she left McKinley it didn't mean she had to leave Puck necessarily. They could still be friends of course.

It was decided then-for her anyway. It was time to get out McKinley.

"Rachel why don't you tell your fathers about the school I told you about."

"Well..Dr. Damon says it has a really great performing arts program. Better than McKinley since the only thing we have there is glee club really. And he knows the guidance counselor personally and she'll really help me a lot with getting adjusted. Plus bullying isn't tolerated there. That's a plus right? But it's a half hour away which isn't too bad compared to other options. I could start driving myself to school every day again. So what do you think?"

Her fathers look at each other and look at her.

"Well…as long as you want to do this Rachel. I just don't want you to feel pressured. I'm just worried that transferring this late in the year would be more of a stress-"

"But it won't daddy! It won't. We need to do this. I can't stay at McKinley anymore…Dr. Damon is right."

"Ok. Ok…we'll start the process and get you transferred immediately," her dad finally relents.

It feels slightly surreal to go to all of her classes and hand them the sheet releasing her from their class. All of them feign sadness or surprise to see her go, but she honestly can't be bothered to even think about it.

She skips Spanish.

Even though she doesn't like Mr. Schuester she doesn't know how to tell him she's just leaving. She figures she might as well catch him later. Instead she goes to see if she can find Puck.

She wanders around the school, avoiding hall monitors and Coach Sylvester and checks a few places she would think to find him. But she can't. Feeling a little defeated she goes to the auditorium until the period is over.

As usual when she walks in the place is pretty dark, but the only light is coming from the stage. She sees Pucks sitting on the piano bench softly strumming his guitar and singing and as she gets closer to the stage she can hear the lyrics he's singing faintly.

And we're standing on top of our hopes and fears

And we're fighting for words now concrete girl

And we're swimming around again, again

And we're swimming around now

Concrete girl

Concrete girl don't fall down in this broken world around you

Concrete girl don't fall down

Don't fall down my concrete girl

She smiles a little at the gruff nature of his voice. She wishes she heard Puck sing more than he actually does-he should be displaying his talent more in New Directions. He shouldn't have to have the opportunity to sing when he's trying to prove a point to some girl. He should be able to sing because he has something to offer everyone with his voice.

She walks up the stage and clears her throat to make her presence known. He looks up at her and scowls a bit at first but softens his gaze.

"You still leaving?" he asks, not even looking at her.

"Are you still mad at me?" she counters back.

"That's not even an answer to the question!" he exclaims.

"Yes Noah I'm still leaving…all the paperwork is getting signed and everything."

He doesn't say anything and continues to lightly strum at his guitar. She really can't understand what he's so mad about.

"I just thought…I just thought we were friends now you know? And now you're leaving all of a sudden and it sucks." He shrugs.

Her heart warms a little bit at the sentiment.

"You're going to miss me," she says with realization.

He scoffs. "Whatever no I'm not."

"Yes you are!" she laughs. "It's ok that you're going to miss me. I'll miss you too. You've been so good to me around here."

He nods and smiles sheepishly. "Yeah well…you don't deserve any of the crap you get. You're kind of cool Rachel. Sure you do annoying things but like…Finn does annoying things all the time but he was my best bro for years. The annoying stuff just makes you human. If you didn't have that you'd be perfect or something and that would just be exhausting."

She just smiles wider and walks closer to him so she can sit next to him on the piano bench.

"You know we can still be friends right? I'm still going to be in the neighborhood and there's texting and phone calls. Plus what if the people at this new school don't like me?"

"It's kind of impossible to get it worse than you did here Berry so I'm sure you'll be fine. But yeah…I guess we'll still see each other. It just sucks you won't be around here anymore…not that this place deserves you."

They sit there in silence for a few minutes until Puck decides to strum his guitar more. Rachel turns around on the bench to face the piano and screws around with a few notes. They sit there and play for a few minutes until the bell rings.

Puck moves to put his guitar back in the case. "So are you gonna tell Schuester and the glee club you're officially out?"

She flinches at this question. "Do I have to? I forgot about that."

"Well yeah…you have to tell them to basically fuck off and you're better than them and getting out of here."

"But how am I supposed to do that Noah I don't get it?"

"How else does Rachel Berry tell people how she feels…music."

Her smile widens at this realization. "You're kind of brilliant Noah do people tell you that?"

He just smirks and shrugs. "People can't handle my badassness. You got a song in mind?"

She thinks to herself for a few minutes and it's like a lightbulb goes off in her head. "Actually I do! Do you have to be in class? You can help me with it!"

"Do I ever have to be in class? Fuck no I'd pick helping you over that any day let's do this!"

They spend the remaining periods of the day going over the logistics of the song and even getting ahold of some of the band members to help them out at some parts. Rachel feels back in her natural habitat, laughing at fumbled notes and the euphoria of nailing a verse. She can't wait to sing this and finally tell everyone in that room how she feels about how they've treated her all this time. And then she'll be gone and never have to deal with any of them ever again.

As the two of them walk down the hall towards the choir room, Rachel becomes more and more nervous. Her palms are sweating, her footsteps are heavier, and her face is slowly heating up. This might be one of the most important performances she has ever done. She's singing more than a song-she's telling 10 other people goodbye basically. It's so much more…it's like she's taking back her dignity.

Before she knows it they're outside the choir room and she stops, hesitating to walk in. Puck looks at her closely and recognizing the slight fear in her eyes. He takes her and squeezes it while giving her an easy going smile.

"Berry…it's ok. You'll knock em dead. It's kind of a weird song choice for you but…it's gonna be good. Just say what you need to say, sing your song, and we'll like go get pizza or some shit to celebrate. No worries."

She smiles back at him, slightly relieved that he has her back and reaches for the doorknob to open the door.

When they walk in the loud chatter and laughter that she hasn't been apart of for quite awhile immediately deafens and all eyes are on her. She looks at all the faces in the room and most of them are displaying shock. The silence is broken by Mr. Schue walking towards her and Noah.

"Rachel! It's so good to see you back in here! Are you back for good? If so that's great because we've really needed you. You and Puck should sit down, Finn and Santana were about to show us the duet they've been working on for Regionals."

His smile is so fake that it's pretty nauseating to keep being in this room. It's kind of funny how he immediately assumes she's back for him to use and prop in the back while her ex-boyfriend and his cheerio girlfriend make eyes and sing in circles around each other.

"No Mr. Schue I'm not coming back."

His eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Oh. Then uh…what's the purpose of the visit? Are you coming back anytime soon?"

"No." she says firmly. "I'm not coming back at all. I thought I should let you all know I'm leaving McKinley. Today was my last day and I'm transferring to another school."

Everyone's mouths hang open at Rachel's news and they look at each other collectively in confusion. But Mercedes body stiffens after a few moments and she speaks up.

"So you're leaving us? We kind of need you Rachel we have Regionals coming up. I mean we understood you being away with…what happened to you and all but now you're just up and leaving? That's kind of selfi-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Rachel hisses. "Selfish? Are you kidding me? Where were all of you when I needed you? When I needed someone to see how miserable I was? When I wanted all of you to notice me so badly that I killed myself for it. Yeah. That's what happened. I tried to commit suicide. I swallowed a bottle of pills and went to lie down and die. But luckily Noah noticed and cared enough to follow me home from school after the mother who rejected me and the boy who broke my heart show up in my school without a care in the world, and made sure that didn't happen. He stayed at the hospital until I was awake and I come to find out none of you even came to see me. So where were you? Where were you when I was going through therapy, needed someone to sit with at lunch, or needed someone to help wipe the slushee off my face yesterday." At this point she looks towards Tina and Finn. "Oh that's right…you're not there. You're standing idly by and watching it happen and watching everyone laugh at me."

She walks closer into the room at this point until she's standing directly in front of all them.

"You don't need me. You need my voice and you need my body so you can say you have 12 people here but you don't need me. And you know what? I don't need you guys either. I used to think I would be nothing without all of you but I'm starting to realize that trying to live up to your expectations is part of what put me in a hospital bed. And that's why I can't be here any longer."

None of them are looking her in the eye, all looking in different directions with shame and guilt in their eyes. She looks towards Mr. Schue.

"I want to sing something for you all before I go. Consider it…a goodbye song."

Mr. Schue is entirely too shocked and perturbed to even say anything and just gives Rachel a curt nod. She looks to the band and signals them to play while Noah gets his guitar ready.

He was completely silent during her speech but the look he gives her before the music starts is so proud…and grateful.

The music starts and she lets herself sway to the beat, losing herself in the music and ah's that the band is singing. When her cue comes she begins to sing slowly, looking at all of her former teammates.

As she goes through the first verse she looks every single one of them in the eye but they avoid her gaze. When she comes to Artie though she gives him a grateful smile that indicates her lack of bitterness towards him. He sighs in relief and gives her a nod and smile. When she gets close to the chorus she looks at the rest of them again with unleashed anger in her eyes, and her voice carries and becomes stronger.

You look down on me

Don't you look down on me now

You don't know me at all

A slap in the face

In the face for you now

Just might do now

I'm leaving so soon

Never had a chance to bloom

But you were so quick

To change your tune

Don't look back

If I'm a weight around your neck

Cos if you don't need me

I don't need you

As she gets to the end she closes her eyes and let's the song drift off into silence. When she opens her eyes, the expressions on the faces of New Directions can't be described as…happy.

Except for Lauren and Artie. Lauren gives her a nod and a smirk while Artie discretely gives her a thumbs up.

None of them say a word, no reactions. She looks at all of them one more time but her gaze locks in on Finn for a moment.

Unlike the glare and confusion she's receiving from everyone else, the look in Finn's eye is…pleading.

She knows what he's asking of her. Stay for me…we need you. I need you. It reminds her of when he manipulated her into joining the group again when April Rhodes took over the lead. She was naïve and stupid back then but…she kind of gets it now.

She's not really inclined to believe what Finn tells her at this point.

She just shakes her head at him and walks quickly over to the bag, pulling out a piece of paper. She walks over to Mr. Schue and hands it to him.

"I need you to sign this for me…to release me from your class."

Any pretenses of false adoration are gone from his face at this point now that he knows her true intentions. He's glaring at her and snatches the paper out of her hands harshly.

"You sure you want to do this Rachel?" he grits out.

"I'm more than sure Mr. Schuester. I can't stay here anymore," she says stonily.

He gives her a curt nod and takes a pen out of his pocket. He signs the paper quickly and hands it back without looking at her.

"Here…you're released."

She takes the paper and goes to get her bookbag while Puck stands at the door with his guitar case waiting for her. Once she has everything packed up she looks at New Directions one last time.

"Goodbye everyone. Good luck."

She and Puck leave the room in silence and close the door.

After Puck drops her off at home from eating pizza and goofing off she walks into the kitchen to find her dads finishing up their dinner. Her daddy sees her first and lights up at her presence.

"Hey hun! How was your last day?"

"It was um…interesting daddy. I'm glad to be out of there."

Her dad raises her eyebrow at her answer. "You absolutely sure honey? You're definitely set to leave and start at Liberty High tomorrow?"

She smiles reassuringly at him. "I'm positive dad. I need to do this. It's going to be a fresh start!"

Her dad nods while her daddy gets up to put their dishes in the sink. He then walks over to the freezer and gets out a pint of Ben and Jerrys.

"We got you some chocolate chip cookie dough….your favorite before you gave up dairy. I figured we could all eat some and play Monopoly for the rest of the night."

She laughs at the sentiment because this was one of their favorite things to do when she was younger.

They eat ice cream and argue jokingly over properties, hotels, and community chance cards all night. She has no worries in her heart for once.

She's sitting in her car, staring at the front entrance of the school and all the teenagers standing in their respective groups talking and laughing.

She doesn't know if she regrets this decision now or not.

She feels her phone vibrate in her hand and looks to see a text message from Puck.

If this ends up being lame and you need to bail, text me and I'll meet you halfway or whatever. We'll hang.

Thanks. But you shouldn't have to skip class for me!

Psh whatever. I'd rather hang with you than be in this stupid fucking school you should know this by now.

But you're education is important Noah.

It'd be easier if you were still here but…you're not. Which is ok or whatever but hey you're the new kid. Who knows what will happen. So if it gets lame let me know and we'll make an escape plan.

…do you think they'll like me Noah?

I think they'd be stupid not to like your crazy ass.

She laughs and wipes the lone tear coming down her cheek. With renewed confidence she takes a deep breath, squares up her shoulders and get out of the car.

She walks past many students, who look at her with some confusion but mostly friendly looks on their face and finds the main office. She gets her schedule, locker, and combination from the secretary, a lovely old woman named Mrs. Beatty who seems to be the sweetest woman Rachels ever met.

"Well dear you have everything you need here. We also got you a guide for the day to make sure your day gets on well. So I do hope you have a smooth first day dear. I think that's your guide coming in now."

Rachel turns around to see a tall girl with short red hair walk into the office. She's slightly built, but the yellow top and jeans she's wearing hide that a little bit. She has small and cute nose that Rachel is already kind of jealous of, and sparkling green eyes. But most of all she has a nice smile.

"Hi there!" she exclaims brightly. "I'm Joanna you must be Rachel. Welcome to Liberty! Did you get your locker and first class? I'm sure you have a lot of the same classes as me since they picked me as your guide but I just wanted to make sure and I'm sorry I'm talking so much and so fast it's a habit of mine and it's kind of enhanced when I have coffee in the morning which I did because I was up late doing homework and got caught up listening to John Legend's newest album do you like him?"

Rachel just stares at her with wide eyes.

"Um…uh…I've heard a couple of his songs. I don't listen to much R&B but um…I take it you like music?"

Joanna nods enthusiastically. "I love music! I'm in our choir here at Liberty it's really fun. You should join if you can sing!"

Rachel just nods and follows the girl as she walks out of the office. She perks up a little bit when Joanna mentions that she also likes to listen to musicals, rock, and pop and that Rent is one of her favorite musicals. They trade opinions on some of the songs from the musical as they walk down the hall to Rachel's locker.

And as Rachel gets her locker set up while Joanna goes on about the merits of Nickleback that no one ever thinks about, she smiles at the feeling that she's actually going to be okay here.

A/N: The songs used in this chapter are Concrete Girl by Switchfoot and Leaving so soon by Keane. The original lyrics for the Keane song say You're leaving so soon but I tweaked them for my purposes.

This is the end everyone! Thank you so much for the feedback and reviews I've gotten. Keep them coming please! A lot of you may say that there's so many left to talk about and say such as Jesse and Shelby but those loose ends will get tied eventually I promise. Rachel won't get better at the drop of a hat! It takes time but she's on the right track. I plan on writing a sequel in the near future-can't make any promises right now with school and such. But it's coming.

Also-from a lot of feedback I've seen not only on here but also on Livejournal where I post, there's a lot of love for Dr. Damon. To see who i've always pictured as Dr. Damon while writing this go check out my LJ. I use the same name on there as I do here except without the "the" so it's edgeofthedesert dot livejournal dot com. Thank you so much again everyone! It's been really great to write this story.