Log: Let's Do This
Who: Gabe, Alvin, Molly, Jen, Josie, Bree, Emily, Lily-Puck, Josh and the rest of New Directions
When: Monday, 3 Jan 2019
Where: Gabe Young’s house
What: Making progress for Sectionals
Gabe came down the stairs into the basement where his girlfriend, Molly Popp, sat on the couch waiting for him. “Sorry that took so long. I had to take a shit the size of my head,” he said, coming to sit next to her, kissing her cheek.
Molly looked up at her boyfriend as he came down the stairs, recrossing her right leg over her left leg as she smoothed her dress out over her knees. She made a face as he kissed her cheek, pushing him away. “Ugh, you are so disgusting sometimes, really.”
“What? It’s true. People have to take shits. Sometimes they’re painful and sometimes they look like you’ve swallowed someone’s arm whole.” He held up his arm for her to see, grabbing his bicep.
Alvin looked up from the tv with a disgusted look on his face. "Dude, that's really gross. Even coming from you. Little Miss Molly over there is right. Did you at least spray to get the smell away?"
“Are you trying to say my shats aren’t pine fresh? I bet it smells like roses up there,” Gabe said, smiling over at Molly.
Molly rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest. “I am so disgusted by you right now, Gabriel Young. I don’t know how Alvin stands being around you so much.” She turned, narrowing her eyes at him.
When Jen arrived, she’d been greeted by Gabe’s father and directed downstairs. Stepping into the room at the bottom of the stairs, she’d descended she was sure that she interrupted some sort of conversation, but she was more relieved that neither Emily nor Puck had arrived yet. “Hi,” she said as she sat her backpack down, trying to quickly decide where to sit.
Gabe looked over at Jen as she sat down in the wing chair next to the couch. “Hey Jen, would you fancy a beverage or anything?”
“Oh uh...” Jen smiled at his offer. “Water would be great.”
“MA!” Gabe shouted at the top of his lungs, ignoring the glare on Molly’s face as she covered her ears. He waited for his mother to call back before continuing. “Can you bring down the drinks now?”
Coming downstairs holding a tray with some lemonade, glasses and an assortment of cookies and chips, Josh looked at the rest of the group. “You guys order some food or something?” He smiled as he set down the tray on a nearby table. “What’s up, gang?”
Molly smiled politely as she took the opportunity to hop off the couch and away from Gabe, taking the tray from Josh. “I’ll take that, thank you.” She took a second, waiting for him to take a glass off the tray before the set it down on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Once Molly set the tray down Jen leaned forward to pick up a glass of water. She leaned back into the chair, careful to keep the keep the liquid off of the material. “So, does anyone know when everyone else is supposed to get here?”
Emily sniffed indelicately as Gabe’s father led the way to their basement. A year ago this time, Emily would’ve laughed in someone’s face if they’d told her she’d actually be on this side of town in this house willingly. She still wasn’t entirely willing. Next time, I’ll just have practice in the club house, she thought. As she made her way down the stairs behind Kiran Rawat, Timberly Daniels, Sophia Ben Israel and Tyrell Bright.
Her eyes fell to Jen immediately before she turned away quickly, taking one of the seats on the far side of the room next to Alvin. She smiled at him slightly. They’d crossed paths a few times at team parties and she’d always thought he seemed nice.
Jen nodded politely to each member as they entered. Then Emily came into the room. Her grip tightened on the glass in her hand and she set it down before she dropped it and made this situation embarrassing along with everything else it was. They hadn’t talked since Sunday when Puck had told Emily what happened between them. Well, some of what had happened. She didn’t know if she should try to make eye contact or just leave it alone like Emily had requested. She tried to will Emily to look at her for a few moments. To let her apologize like she had let Puck. She didn’t think an apology would make what she’d done okay. But she needed Emily to know that she was truly sorry. Emily wouldn’t meet her gaze and Jen finally looked away.
Emily could feel eyes burning into the side of her head, but she refused to look. This was another reason why she hated being in this damn club. Glee club was supposed to be fun because her best friend and her girlfriend were both there and now she would be forced to see them after they’d...she shook her head, focusing on Talia Lujan, Katie Matthis and Luke Harrison, who were coming down the stairs.
Molly sat back down on the couch next to Gabe as more people trailed down the stairs, watching Emily out of the corner of her eye as she reached to take two glasses off the tray on the coffee table. One she handed to Gabe, not even looking at him, and the other she took a sip from, leaning back against the couch. If she could’ve had a pad and a pencil to take notes, she would’ve. Maybe she should start taking notes. She could pretend to be the club’s secretary or something. That would make it that much easier to relay the information back to Coach Sylvester after their meetings. Molly smiled to herself, pleased with the idea.
Reaching forward for a drink, Alvin looked up and noticed the rest of the members coming in. He nodded his head in acknowledgment before settling back against the couch. Looking over at Emily he asked, "Hey, Emily. Are you ready for this exciting discussion? I just know how much you love Glee."
Emily grinned, shrugging. “Yes, it’s the best part of my day,” she said sarcastically. “Why do you do it?”
“If you say that again, I might actually start believing it,” He joked before sobering. “My cousin was in Glee when he was at McKinley and he got me into it. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m pretty damn good.” Alvin grinned before asking, “What about you? If you don’t like it, why are you in it?”
“Because a glowing recommendation from a well-known, Broadway actress will look great on my college applications.” It wasn’t the entire reason, but he didn’t know that.
“Ahhh. I know what you mean. Recommendations are pretty important. I should probably find some people to give me some,” he replied, nodding his head.
Josie cleared her throat loudly as she entered the room, attempting to make some sort of grand entrance. “Hello everyone,” she chirped, settling herself in an empty seat. She settled her backpack next to her and pulled out her clipboard and file in preparation.
Bree appeared next, looking a little flustered that she was quite late compared to the rest. She waved to everyone and gave a small smile, taking the empty seat next to Jen. “Nice house, Gabe.”
Gabe nodded over at Bree. She was a right foxy little bird and if he hadn’t gotten with Molly, he would’ve gone after her. “Thanks. Have a drink. My mum made some lemonade for you lot to have, yeah?”
Bree nodded appreciatively and reached for a glass. She had taken quite a walk to get to Gabe’s house, which partly explained her tardiness. “Thanks.”
Josie took a mental note of the attendance at the meeting. “Lily and a few others are not here yet, shall we start without her anyway? I need to go for my piano lesson later.”
Rolling his eyes and making a quick “is she serious?” face at Bree, Gabe winked before turning to Josie. “Right so, this is my meeting. So, no need in getting your knickers in a twist. I’ll handle it.” Gabe stood and looked around at the eighteen other people in the room. “Figgins said Ms. Berry ain’t comin’ back til after her babies are born. And she’s been teachin’ us usin uChat and we never get shat done because the girls in this club can’t seem to shut their gobs long enough to get anythin done.”
Alvin rolled his eyes at Josie's antics. She was being her usual annoying and high-strung self today and he was not in the mood for it. Sure, she's pretty to look at, but her looks didn't always dull the pounding in his head that he would get when she talks too much. He stifled a laugh as he heard Gabe put Josie in her place. This is why Gabe is my bro; he always tells things how they are, he thought.
Josie nodded, folding her arms. “I think we should get the set-list settled first. How’s the mashup?” she asked, looking over at Alvin and Gabe.
“Well, why don’t we play it first and then decide on leads?” Gabe suggested, walking over to his laptop and hitting play. The first note filled the otherwise silent room and the group listened intently to the mix.
Emily listened intently. She had to admit it sounded pretty awesome considering, but she was at a loss as to how they’d get this done.
Puck made her way down the stairs as music played. Well, guess I’m late. Not that she was surprised. Half of her didn’t want to show at all. Emily and Jen would be there at the same time and the entire shebang spelled catastrophe. At least this mash up doesn’t sound half bad. She slipped in beside Emily, careful to avoid eye contact with Jen when her eyes swept over the group to see who had showed up before her. “This spot taken yet?” she asked Emily quietly.
Gaze flickering over to her girlfriend, Emily shrugged but didn’t speak. She hated that her stomach still flipped when she saw the other girl. Only now, once it settled, she just felt queasy. She shifted towards Alvin slightly and tried to make herself focus on the song again.
Puck let out a quiet sigh as Emily scooted over. Still mad. Not that Puck necessary blamed her. She probably would’ve been, too. Actually, you were. Puck rolled her eyes at herself in her mind. She did her best to settle in beside her girlfriend despite the awkward tension that continued to build. Millimeter by millimeter, she moved her knee until it gently pressed against Emily’s knee.
Emily’s eyes fell to their touching appendages, frowning slightly. She was still mad at Puck, wasn’t sure when she’d want to be touched by her again, but the connection was oddly comforting. So, she didn’t move away.
“It’s good,” Jen said as the last notes faded. “...great.” She looked to a few different members. “I guess...does anyone have any objections? Since we don’t have anything else I would really suggest no one does.” Jen was careful that as she looked around her gaze didn’t fall on Puck, skipping over her to Emily then Alvin then to someone else. Puck and Emily sitting together was fine. Totally fine, perfectly okay.
Bree nodded, enjoying the mix thoroughly. The songs were from some time ago, but she really liked majority of the songs. And the guys did a good job in mixing all the different songs. “I think it’s a really good mix. I think it’ll impress the judges.”
Molly sighed, looking over at her boyfriend as she pursed her lips. “I guess it’s a perfectly fine mix. It’d be better if we did songs that were less... offensive, in my opinion. I think that should be something we try to work towards in the future.”
Josh shrugged lightly and bounced his head from side to side a bit as he chose his words. “It’s an okay song. I think it may be a little busy, but if we can figure out a way to make it work without the ‘choppyness’- then it should be good. I’ll do whatever though.”
“Well, wait,” Jen said, sitting up some and looking over Bree’s shoulder so she could see Molly. “What do you mean offensive? Do you think there’s something that could offend the judges or the audience or something?”
Raising an eyebrow condescendingly, Molly looked over to where Jen was sitting. “Popular music from the past few decades tends to lean in the offensive direction, yes. Just because you edit out the dirty parts doesn’t make it okay. Innuendo can be just as bad, if not worse.”
Emily sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. Sometimes, well almost all of the time, she wondered how Molly had ever become a Cheerio.
Jen’s eyes widened some as she realize how serious Molly was about the songs being offensive. “Oh,” she replied, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Molly’s stance was interesting to say the least. “Well...for now, it’s good that you’re...willing to sing.”
“I would’ve preferred Mary Wells, something more akin to what I did in my audition, which I’m sure all of you took note of. But this is good too. And as a girlfriend, I need to be supportive of my boyfriend’s decisions, no matter how ridiculous they may be at times.” Molly patted Gabe’s knee curtly before folding her arms in her lap, ending the conversation.
Gabe made a face at Alvin, letting him know that he thought Molly was mad before smiling back at her sweetly. “Well look. I picked the songs from that year in honour of the original New Directions and Alvin’s cousin, Matt Rutherford, who was a member and died during the blackout. Ms. Berry has made us better than Mr. Schue ever did. I think she’d think it nice.”
“Berry would love that and she is better than Schue by a long shot,” Puck piped up from her spot, careful not to move too much for fear any agitation might throw off the careful balance of her knee pressing against Emily’s. She grinned at Gabe, eager to piss Molly off some more. “I think that honoring the original New Directions and Matt Rutherford would be an awesome idea considering what a hot topic the blackout still is. Plus, it’d just be the right thing to do, or whatever. And when we pull it off, it’ll sound much better than whatever it was that you wanted to sing. It’ll be more impressive.”
Molly cocked her head at Puck, giving her a half smile of contempt. “I wasn’t suggesting anything. I merely said that if we were to sing something more wholesome and Christian, we could create a better image for ourselves. I know you don’t understand that, being Jewish and all, but we probably shouldn’t draw attention to members like you by singing songs like that. That’s all.”
Puck stiffened. “I’m not the only Jew in the club. There are quite a few of us. We make up over ten percent of the group. There are even more of us who aren’t Christian. We’re an incredibly diverse group and it would be against everything New Directions is about to suddenly hide all of our differences. Just because you’re narrowminded doesn’t mean the rest of us have to pretend to be, too.”
Molly sighed, clicked her tongue as she shook her head. “I’m not being narrowminded. I’m being practical. It’s a shame you can’t see that, or have decent taste in music for that matter.”
“The point isn’t the ratio of Christians to other religions and I don’t really know why we need to talk about what anyone believes. We’re going to lose anyway if we go into it thinking about how one member doesn’t believe like someone else, divided.” Jen shook her head. “There are going to be people in the audience and maybe some of the judges who aren’t Christian. So maybe it’s not the best idea to sing religion specific songs.”
“Oh my goodness, I said the song was good, didn’t I? I agree with Josh that it will be hard to arrange, but if we can pull it off it will be just fine. For future reference though, I suggest all of you download the great Mary Wells and maybe some Ruby and the Romantics, which I might add is not necessarily Christian music. But the song is good. Gabe picked a good song.” Molly rolled her eyes at the club before looking up at Gabe, smiling encouragingly.
“Actually, it won’t be that hard to arrange,” Emily said, speaking in a tone that let her annoyance at the turn the conversation had taken. “You just can’t have a bunch of leads. I think limiting ourselves to seven would be the easiest.”
Gabe nodded and grinned. “Pom-poms is right. We can just keep is simple and split it up between blokes and girls it won’t even take long. How do we decide the leads? You know without it turning into a brawl...”
Molly straightened up a little. “Well, I am obviously one of the strongest if not the strongest of the females of the group.”
Josie instinctively turned her head towards Molly, blinking at the other girl in disbelief. Whaaat. She crossed her arms and leaned slightly forward, trying her hardest to keep her mouth shut. She knew she needed to get things done efficiently and frankly, she didn’t want to waste her breath arguing.
Emily’s fist clenched at her side. She seriously didn’t know who was more annoying, Josie or Molly. She could already see the other girl gearing up to argue and rolled her eyes. Thank God she was captain of the squad. She just told Molly what to do and she had to fall in line. If it were the other way around, Emily would probably want to kill herself.
Sitting up a little straighter, Alvin tried to think of a way to decide on leads. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it might get the other members to think of ideas. "Why don't we all vote on who we think would be best for each part? Maybe, if you want a certain part, let us know. Since I'm sure more than one person will want any part so we can write our votes on a piece of paper and have it anonymous," Alvin suggested. After a beat, he shook his head and added, "That made more sense in my head."
Bree leaned forward, elbow on her knees and hands holding her head, trying to zone out all the noise going on around her. She couldn’t stand arguments, mostly because they killed the fun of being in Glee. She got on with Molly well, but she couldn’t help rolling her eyes as the argument seemed to keep going on back and forth.
Jen rolled her eyes and out of habit looked to Emily to share a look that said, ‘we’ll talk about her later.’ It was startling to look to Emily and see that she wasn’t smirking back at her. She’d forgotten for a moment that they weren’t okay. Taking a breath, she tried to focus her attention on Alvin as he spoke. “What do we do if there’s a tie or something? Or...I guess, should we consider if someone doesn’t even want a lead?”
"I think we should definitely consider if somebody doesn't want a lead. And if there's a tie, we can cross that bridge when we get to it. No need to worry about it if it's not a problem, ya know?" Alvin replied, shrugging slightly.
“Yeah, okay.” Jen nodded, offering Alvin a small smile. “I guess I just don’t like not having a plan.” She took a breath. “Doesn’t usually work out for me, but if everyone is okay with waiting, it’s cool.”
Emily bit back a biting comment about Jen needing “a plan.” It just made her angrier to think that what had transpired between Puck and Jen had been premeditated on Jen’s part. She rolled her eyes and looked at the stairs longingly. They’d probably be here for at least another two hours just picking leads. “Instead of voting on who we ‘think’ would be the best,” she started, using her “captain’s” voice. “How about we first ask who even wants to be a lead? And Josie, before you raise your hand and you and Molly have a fight to the death, though I’m sure most of us would thoroughly enjoy that, maybe as captain you can give someone else a chance to shine and you can take charge of assigning who gets which lead? After all, you already are a lead in the girls’ number.”
Josie was about to stand up and make her speech when Emily started speaking, so out of politeness she let the other girl speak. Her face slowly fell as she heard what Emily had to say, but she decided to just suck it all up. Nationals was what she would be aiming for. And Pop was honestly not her favourite genre either. “I guess I’m...fine with that. Like Mr Schue always said, there’s a lot of talent in this club.” she said a little hesitantly, purposely avoiding looking at Molly as she said the latter part of her speech. She wasn’t going to boost the blonde’s ego.
She could tell Josie wasn’t exactly thrilled with the prospect, but she’d needed to save face and seem like a good sport as well. “Any objections to doing things this way?” Emily asked the group, looking around. When no one spoke up, Emily nodded. “Okay, who actually wants to be a lead on this new song? You can just raise your hand.”
Alvin raised his hand. This was honoring his cousin; there was no way that he wouldn't take an opportunity for a lead. Matt was the main reason he was a member of New Directions, after all.
Gabe lifted his hand as well. After all, he and Alvin had worked hard on this and it’d get Molly off of his arse about participating more.
Bree hesitated, not knowing whether she should raise her hand or not. Hands were slowly going up, but there were still only a few. Her sister’s voice nagged in her head, urging her to take up a solo. She raised her hand a little hesitantly. If I can’t dance, I might as well sing. she urged herself.
Josie stood up and held her clipboard to her chest. “One more time please, Gabe.” she ordered, tapping her foot to the beat as the song played again. She bit her lip, twirling the pen in her hand and making notes every once and then.
“I think I’ve got the assigning done,” Josie said, passing a sheet of paper around the room. “Speak up if there are any objections. I’ve used my knowledge and experience in music to hopefully give the leads the most fitting parts.” She smiled at the sight of some of the glee clubbers nodding in agreement.
Emily looked down at the assignments. She had to admit, Josie was annoying, but she wasn’t a bad captain. She felt begrudging respect for the other girl.
Josie clasped her hands together. “Right then. If there are no objections, could we move on to the costumes? I’d like to start choreography only when we get Ms. Brittany Pierce with us. So, we need something comfortable and easy to dance in. Any one have any ideas?” Josie was totally clueless about fashion, so this was one thing she really needed help in.
Emily blinked, a small grin spreading across her face. “Brittany’s going to come choreograph our Sectionals performance? Like seriously?” It wasn’t exactly a secret that what had gotten New Directions their Nationals spot in 2012 was the amazing routine that Brittany and Officer Chang had come up with.
Jen fought the urge to laugh happily at Emily’s barely contained excitement. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Emily light up at the mere mention of the former Cheerio. Of course if anyone mentioned Santana there was usually a very long conversation about legacies and idols where she’d just nod and agree for awhile and then as soon as she could, find someway to tease Emily into changing the subject. Feeling Bree shift beside her she turned her attention to the blonde at her side.
Bree sat up and nodded. “Yeah, she is. I’ve been asking for her to help out, seeing the condition Ms Berry was in. I’m glad Ms Berry invited her to help.” Bree was slightly relieved, because at least her sister would understand her lack of coordination and wouldn’t kill her for it.
Molly bit her lip, shaking her head. It was always so hard to hold her tongue during these meetings sometimes, really. How did they expect her to put up with this? The song was fine, but they all knew how Brittany choreographed and... ugh, she just couldn’t take this sometimes. It was a lot to put up with just to get on Coach Sylvester’s good side. “I’m sorry, but don’t you think with... that choreography it will be a little... much?” She looked around at her fellow club members, eyebrows raised. No one ever agreed with her, but she still tried. “I just don’t think dancing around showing our... bajingos to the audience is the way to go! The song is enough.”
“What the hell is a bajingo?” Jen sat up again looking over at Molly. How had she not noticed how annoying some of the things that came out of this girl’s mouth were? She tried to ignore the little voice that was telling her she was also taking a particular dislike to this girl because of what she said to Li - Puck. “If you want a club where everyone stands still and sings hymns, and I’m sure when we talk about costumes you’ll mention something about whatever anyone comes up with being inappropriate, maybe you should try to start a WMHS Gospel Choir. But this is not that. If we want to win we might have to be a little current.”
Gabe was torn. He knew Molly’s “Virgin Mary” act could get a little old, but she was still his girlfriend. “A bajingo is what she calls her fanny. And I think there’s a way to be a wee bit modest since it makes her so uncomfortable. You lot want it to be fair all around. Well, Molly’s a part of this group too, yeah? There is a such thing a compromise.”
Molly had opened her mouth to reply to Jen’s remark but turned to look up at her boyfriend when she heard him speak instead. It made her smile, if ever so slightly (since he still had mentioned her bajingo), that he actually stuck up her in these situations and quite often. A lot of people questioned their relationship, but to her, it was rather obvious. Gabe could be crude and incredible idiotic at times, but at least he was a real man.
“I’m just saying,” Jen said, “I understand...people have their opinions. But if you’re going to say no at least have another viable option. We’re already cutting this really close as it is. So if you don’t have anything to say but ‘no’ it doesn’t really help.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but to be fair, she didn’t say no,” Emily said before this could turn into another fight. “Molly, just chill out. You’re a Cheerio. I’m pretty sure we won’t be doing anything nearly as provocative as we do at competitions. So, I think you’re good. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t really want to be here with any of you for another three hours fighting. Josie, let’s get this done.”
Josie sighed loudly, folding her arms and tapping her fingers on her arm impatiently. Will we even get anything else done? She couldn’t stand wasting time. “So, costumes. I did some searching, and found some outfits, but that was before I heard the mix. I have ideas actually, but I don’t know which one will work,” she paused, gathering her thoughts. “Since we’ll be singing a mash-up of pop songs, I think we could dress up in bright colours. Or we could dress in black and white if you want something more decent and less showy.” she continued, looking at Molly pointedly. She took out a self-made scrapbook from her bag. “I have a few references here of past year costumes of schools participating.”
“Well we are singing the song ‘A Few of my Favorite Things’ right? There’s a part that says ‘girls in why dresses with blue satin sashes.’ There’s a costume idea built right in,” Emily suggested.
“And the guys can wear blue satin ties to go with it! Why didn’t I think of that!” she exclaimed excitedly, smiling at Emily. She was glad that they were coming to a decision of some sort. “I think I’ll try searching for the costumes, if everyone is fine with the idea.” The glee clubbers murmured in agreement, leaving Josie feeling extremely relieved about having a problem settled.
“Um, do ya think that maybe the blokes could wear all black with blue ties? I’m not so sure all white will look so go. We’ll look like mental patients or a boy band, yeah?” Gabe asked, interrupting Josie’s thoughts.
Josie thought about it for a while, then nodded, taking down notes on her clipboard again. “Noted. Anything else to add guys?” she asked again, scanning the room for response.
Gabe made a face behind Josie’s back, shrugging when she swung back around. “Let’s just do this. My dad’s homemade pizza will be done soon and I’m starvin.’” He stood with the rest of the team and stood in the groups that Josie picked for everyone.
Emily looked around at her group, Molly, Bree, Timberly and Jen, and bit back annoyed groan. This was going to take even longer than she thought. She moved between Timberly and Bree and looked down at the lyrics that Gabe handed to everyone.
Jen nodded to Gabe as he handed Timberly the lyrics for her group. She made a mental note to apologize to him when she got a chance. They were in his house, he’d arranged this whole meeting and she hadn’t been the nicest to his girlfriend. When Emily moved away from her to stand between Timberly and Bree, Jen let out a sigh. She had a lot of apologizing to do. Hopefully they’d be able to make it through Sectionals without everything completely blowing up.
Relieved that the costume discussion didn't long, Alvin went to stand with his group and waited for Gabe to hand him his lyric sheet. This meeting was going pretty smoothly overall and he was glad they were almost done. Alvin was hungry and the smell of his uncle's homemade pizza made him happy that he was staying for dinner.
Molly surveyed her lyrics sheet, lips pursed. It wasn’t the worse thing she had ever or would ever have to do. Of course, leaking the Glee Club and Ms. Berry’s every move to Coach Sylvester was probably the worse thing she’d ever done. Maybe the worse thing she would ever do. But it would all be worth it in the end. Emily would be gone soon and it only made sense for Molly to step up into her spot. She supposed in this situation, it was normal for the two of them to be friends but... goodness, Molly could just not bring herself to do that. She looked up from the lyric sheet to smile encouragingly at Gabe but there was a pit in her stomach now. Why did she care so much whether they won Sectionals or not?
Bree studied the lyrics sheet. She was rather relieved to see that the notes were pretty okay, and she most probably wouldn’t go off-key and ruin the song.
Josie studied her own lyrics sheet once more and held her arms in a conductor’s stance. “Alright everyone, from the top!”
When: Monday, 3 Jan 2019
Where: Gabe Young’s house
What: Making progress for Sectionals
Gabe came down the stairs into the basement where his girlfriend, Molly Popp, sat on the couch waiting for him. “Sorry that took so long. I had to take a shit the size of my head,” he said, coming to sit next to her, kissing her cheek.
Molly looked up at her boyfriend as he came down the stairs, recrossing her right leg over her left leg as she smoothed her dress out over her knees. She made a face as he kissed her cheek, pushing him away. “Ugh, you are so disgusting sometimes, really.”
“What? It’s true. People have to take shits. Sometimes they’re painful and sometimes they look like you’ve swallowed someone’s arm whole.” He held up his arm for her to see, grabbing his bicep.
Alvin looked up from the tv with a disgusted look on his face. "Dude, that's really gross. Even coming from you. Little Miss Molly over there is right. Did you at least spray to get the smell away?"
“Are you trying to say my shats aren’t pine fresh? I bet it smells like roses up there,” Gabe said, smiling over at Molly.
Molly rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest. “I am so disgusted by you right now, Gabriel Young. I don’t know how Alvin stands being around you so much.” She turned, narrowing her eyes at him.
When Jen arrived, she’d been greeted by Gabe’s father and directed downstairs. Stepping into the room at the bottom of the stairs, she’d descended she was sure that she interrupted some sort of conversation, but she was more relieved that neither Emily nor Puck had arrived yet. “Hi,” she said as she sat her backpack down, trying to quickly decide where to sit.
Gabe looked over at Jen as she sat down in the wing chair next to the couch. “Hey Jen, would you fancy a beverage or anything?”
“Oh uh...” Jen smiled at his offer. “Water would be great.”
“MA!” Gabe shouted at the top of his lungs, ignoring the glare on Molly’s face as she covered her ears. He waited for his mother to call back before continuing. “Can you bring down the drinks now?”
Coming downstairs holding a tray with some lemonade, glasses and an assortment of cookies and chips, Josh looked at the rest of the group. “You guys order some food or something?” He smiled as he set down the tray on a nearby table. “What’s up, gang?”
Molly smiled politely as she took the opportunity to hop off the couch and away from Gabe, taking the tray from Josh. “I’ll take that, thank you.” She took a second, waiting for him to take a glass off the tray before the set it down on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Once Molly set the tray down Jen leaned forward to pick up a glass of water. She leaned back into the chair, careful to keep the keep the liquid off of the material. “So, does anyone know when everyone else is supposed to get here?”
Emily sniffed indelicately as Gabe’s father led the way to their basement. A year ago this time, Emily would’ve laughed in someone’s face if they’d told her she’d actually be on this side of town in this house willingly. She still wasn’t entirely willing. Next time, I’ll just have practice in the club house, she thought. As she made her way down the stairs behind Kiran Rawat, Timberly Daniels, Sophia Ben Israel and Tyrell Bright.
Her eyes fell to Jen immediately before she turned away quickly, taking one of the seats on the far side of the room next to Alvin. She smiled at him slightly. They’d crossed paths a few times at team parties and she’d always thought he seemed nice.
Jen nodded politely to each member as they entered. Then Emily came into the room. Her grip tightened on the glass in her hand and she set it down before she dropped it and made this situation embarrassing along with everything else it was. They hadn’t talked since Sunday when Puck had told Emily what happened between them. Well, some of what had happened. She didn’t know if she should try to make eye contact or just leave it alone like Emily had requested. She tried to will Emily to look at her for a few moments. To let her apologize like she had let Puck. She didn’t think an apology would make what she’d done okay. But she needed Emily to know that she was truly sorry. Emily wouldn’t meet her gaze and Jen finally looked away.
Emily could feel eyes burning into the side of her head, but she refused to look. This was another reason why she hated being in this damn club. Glee club was supposed to be fun because her best friend and her girlfriend were both there and now she would be forced to see them after they’d...she shook her head, focusing on Talia Lujan, Katie Matthis and Luke Harrison, who were coming down the stairs.
Molly sat back down on the couch next to Gabe as more people trailed down the stairs, watching Emily out of the corner of her eye as she reached to take two glasses off the tray on the coffee table. One she handed to Gabe, not even looking at him, and the other she took a sip from, leaning back against the couch. If she could’ve had a pad and a pencil to take notes, she would’ve. Maybe she should start taking notes. She could pretend to be the club’s secretary or something. That would make it that much easier to relay the information back to Coach Sylvester after their meetings. Molly smiled to herself, pleased with the idea.
Reaching forward for a drink, Alvin looked up and noticed the rest of the members coming in. He nodded his head in acknowledgment before settling back against the couch. Looking over at Emily he asked, "Hey, Emily. Are you ready for this exciting discussion? I just know how much you love Glee."
Emily grinned, shrugging. “Yes, it’s the best part of my day,” she said sarcastically. “Why do you do it?”
“If you say that again, I might actually start believing it,” He joked before sobering. “My cousin was in Glee when he was at McKinley and he got me into it. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m pretty damn good.” Alvin grinned before asking, “What about you? If you don’t like it, why are you in it?”
“Because a glowing recommendation from a well-known, Broadway actress will look great on my college applications.” It wasn’t the entire reason, but he didn’t know that.
“Ahhh. I know what you mean. Recommendations are pretty important. I should probably find some people to give me some,” he replied, nodding his head.
Josie cleared her throat loudly as she entered the room, attempting to make some sort of grand entrance. “Hello everyone,” she chirped, settling herself in an empty seat. She settled her backpack next to her and pulled out her clipboard and file in preparation.
Bree appeared next, looking a little flustered that she was quite late compared to the rest. She waved to everyone and gave a small smile, taking the empty seat next to Jen. “Nice house, Gabe.”
Gabe nodded over at Bree. She was a right foxy little bird and if he hadn’t gotten with Molly, he would’ve gone after her. “Thanks. Have a drink. My mum made some lemonade for you lot to have, yeah?”
Bree nodded appreciatively and reached for a glass. She had taken quite a walk to get to Gabe’s house, which partly explained her tardiness. “Thanks.”
Josie took a mental note of the attendance at the meeting. “Lily and a few others are not here yet, shall we start without her anyway? I need to go for my piano lesson later.”
Rolling his eyes and making a quick “is she serious?” face at Bree, Gabe winked before turning to Josie. “Right so, this is my meeting. So, no need in getting your knickers in a twist. I’ll handle it.” Gabe stood and looked around at the eighteen other people in the room. “Figgins said Ms. Berry ain’t comin’ back til after her babies are born. And she’s been teachin’ us usin uChat and we never get shat done because the girls in this club can’t seem to shut their gobs long enough to get anythin done.”
Alvin rolled his eyes at Josie's antics. She was being her usual annoying and high-strung self today and he was not in the mood for it. Sure, she's pretty to look at, but her looks didn't always dull the pounding in his head that he would get when she talks too much. He stifled a laugh as he heard Gabe put Josie in her place. This is why Gabe is my bro; he always tells things how they are, he thought.
Josie nodded, folding her arms. “I think we should get the set-list settled first. How’s the mashup?” she asked, looking over at Alvin and Gabe.
“Well, why don’t we play it first and then decide on leads?” Gabe suggested, walking over to his laptop and hitting play. The first note filled the otherwise silent room and the group listened intently to the mix.
Emily listened intently. She had to admit it sounded pretty awesome considering, but she was at a loss as to how they’d get this done.
Puck made her way down the stairs as music played. Well, guess I’m late. Not that she was surprised. Half of her didn’t want to show at all. Emily and Jen would be there at the same time and the entire shebang spelled catastrophe. At least this mash up doesn’t sound half bad. She slipped in beside Emily, careful to avoid eye contact with Jen when her eyes swept over the group to see who had showed up before her. “This spot taken yet?” she asked Emily quietly.
Gaze flickering over to her girlfriend, Emily shrugged but didn’t speak. She hated that her stomach still flipped when she saw the other girl. Only now, once it settled, she just felt queasy. She shifted towards Alvin slightly and tried to make herself focus on the song again.
Puck let out a quiet sigh as Emily scooted over. Still mad. Not that Puck necessary blamed her. She probably would’ve been, too. Actually, you were. Puck rolled her eyes at herself in her mind. She did her best to settle in beside her girlfriend despite the awkward tension that continued to build. Millimeter by millimeter, she moved her knee until it gently pressed against Emily’s knee.
Emily’s eyes fell to their touching appendages, frowning slightly. She was still mad at Puck, wasn’t sure when she’d want to be touched by her again, but the connection was oddly comforting. So, she didn’t move away.
“It’s good,” Jen said as the last notes faded. “...great.” She looked to a few different members. “I guess...does anyone have any objections? Since we don’t have anything else I would really suggest no one does.” Jen was careful that as she looked around her gaze didn’t fall on Puck, skipping over her to Emily then Alvin then to someone else. Puck and Emily sitting together was fine. Totally fine, perfectly okay.
Bree nodded, enjoying the mix thoroughly. The songs were from some time ago, but she really liked majority of the songs. And the guys did a good job in mixing all the different songs. “I think it’s a really good mix. I think it’ll impress the judges.”
Molly sighed, looking over at her boyfriend as she pursed her lips. “I guess it’s a perfectly fine mix. It’d be better if we did songs that were less... offensive, in my opinion. I think that should be something we try to work towards in the future.”
Josh shrugged lightly and bounced his head from side to side a bit as he chose his words. “It’s an okay song. I think it may be a little busy, but if we can figure out a way to make it work without the ‘choppyness’- then it should be good. I’ll do whatever though.”
“Well, wait,” Jen said, sitting up some and looking over Bree’s shoulder so she could see Molly. “What do you mean offensive? Do you think there’s something that could offend the judges or the audience or something?”
Raising an eyebrow condescendingly, Molly looked over to where Jen was sitting. “Popular music from the past few decades tends to lean in the offensive direction, yes. Just because you edit out the dirty parts doesn’t make it okay. Innuendo can be just as bad, if not worse.”
Emily sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. Sometimes, well almost all of the time, she wondered how Molly had ever become a Cheerio.
Jen’s eyes widened some as she realize how serious Molly was about the songs being offensive. “Oh,” she replied, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Molly’s stance was interesting to say the least. “Well...for now, it’s good that you’re...willing to sing.”
“I would’ve preferred Mary Wells, something more akin to what I did in my audition, which I’m sure all of you took note of. But this is good too. And as a girlfriend, I need to be supportive of my boyfriend’s decisions, no matter how ridiculous they may be at times.” Molly patted Gabe’s knee curtly before folding her arms in her lap, ending the conversation.
Gabe made a face at Alvin, letting him know that he thought Molly was mad before smiling back at her sweetly. “Well look. I picked the songs from that year in honour of the original New Directions and Alvin’s cousin, Matt Rutherford, who was a member and died during the blackout. Ms. Berry has made us better than Mr. Schue ever did. I think she’d think it nice.”
“Berry would love that and she is better than Schue by a long shot,” Puck piped up from her spot, careful not to move too much for fear any agitation might throw off the careful balance of her knee pressing against Emily’s. She grinned at Gabe, eager to piss Molly off some more. “I think that honoring the original New Directions and Matt Rutherford would be an awesome idea considering what a hot topic the blackout still is. Plus, it’d just be the right thing to do, or whatever. And when we pull it off, it’ll sound much better than whatever it was that you wanted to sing. It’ll be more impressive.”
Molly cocked her head at Puck, giving her a half smile of contempt. “I wasn’t suggesting anything. I merely said that if we were to sing something more wholesome and Christian, we could create a better image for ourselves. I know you don’t understand that, being Jewish and all, but we probably shouldn’t draw attention to members like you by singing songs like that. That’s all.”
Puck stiffened. “I’m not the only Jew in the club. There are quite a few of us. We make up over ten percent of the group. There are even more of us who aren’t Christian. We’re an incredibly diverse group and it would be against everything New Directions is about to suddenly hide all of our differences. Just because you’re narrowminded doesn’t mean the rest of us have to pretend to be, too.”
Molly sighed, clicked her tongue as she shook her head. “I’m not being narrowminded. I’m being practical. It’s a shame you can’t see that, or have decent taste in music for that matter.”
“The point isn’t the ratio of Christians to other religions and I don’t really know why we need to talk about what anyone believes. We’re going to lose anyway if we go into it thinking about how one member doesn’t believe like someone else, divided.” Jen shook her head. “There are going to be people in the audience and maybe some of the judges who aren’t Christian. So maybe it’s not the best idea to sing religion specific songs.”
“Oh my goodness, I said the song was good, didn’t I? I agree with Josh that it will be hard to arrange, but if we can pull it off it will be just fine. For future reference though, I suggest all of you download the great Mary Wells and maybe some Ruby and the Romantics, which I might add is not necessarily Christian music. But the song is good. Gabe picked a good song.” Molly rolled her eyes at the club before looking up at Gabe, smiling encouragingly.
“Actually, it won’t be that hard to arrange,” Emily said, speaking in a tone that let her annoyance at the turn the conversation had taken. “You just can’t have a bunch of leads. I think limiting ourselves to seven would be the easiest.”
Gabe nodded and grinned. “Pom-poms is right. We can just keep is simple and split it up between blokes and girls it won’t even take long. How do we decide the leads? You know without it turning into a brawl...”
Molly straightened up a little. “Well, I am obviously one of the strongest if not the strongest of the females of the group.”
Josie instinctively turned her head towards Molly, blinking at the other girl in disbelief. Whaaat. She crossed her arms and leaned slightly forward, trying her hardest to keep her mouth shut. She knew she needed to get things done efficiently and frankly, she didn’t want to waste her breath arguing.
Emily’s fist clenched at her side. She seriously didn’t know who was more annoying, Josie or Molly. She could already see the other girl gearing up to argue and rolled her eyes. Thank God she was captain of the squad. She just told Molly what to do and she had to fall in line. If it were the other way around, Emily would probably want to kill herself.
Sitting up a little straighter, Alvin tried to think of a way to decide on leads. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it might get the other members to think of ideas. "Why don't we all vote on who we think would be best for each part? Maybe, if you want a certain part, let us know. Since I'm sure more than one person will want any part so we can write our votes on a piece of paper and have it anonymous," Alvin suggested. After a beat, he shook his head and added, "That made more sense in my head."
Bree leaned forward, elbow on her knees and hands holding her head, trying to zone out all the noise going on around her. She couldn’t stand arguments, mostly because they killed the fun of being in Glee. She got on with Molly well, but she couldn’t help rolling her eyes as the argument seemed to keep going on back and forth.
Jen rolled her eyes and out of habit looked to Emily to share a look that said, ‘we’ll talk about her later.’ It was startling to look to Emily and see that she wasn’t smirking back at her. She’d forgotten for a moment that they weren’t okay. Taking a breath, she tried to focus her attention on Alvin as he spoke. “What do we do if there’s a tie or something? Or...I guess, should we consider if someone doesn’t even want a lead?”
"I think we should definitely consider if somebody doesn't want a lead. And if there's a tie, we can cross that bridge when we get to it. No need to worry about it if it's not a problem, ya know?" Alvin replied, shrugging slightly.
“Yeah, okay.” Jen nodded, offering Alvin a small smile. “I guess I just don’t like not having a plan.” She took a breath. “Doesn’t usually work out for me, but if everyone is okay with waiting, it’s cool.”
Emily bit back a biting comment about Jen needing “a plan.” It just made her angrier to think that what had transpired between Puck and Jen had been premeditated on Jen’s part. She rolled her eyes and looked at the stairs longingly. They’d probably be here for at least another two hours just picking leads. “Instead of voting on who we ‘think’ would be the best,” she started, using her “captain’s” voice. “How about we first ask who even wants to be a lead? And Josie, before you raise your hand and you and Molly have a fight to the death, though I’m sure most of us would thoroughly enjoy that, maybe as captain you can give someone else a chance to shine and you can take charge of assigning who gets which lead? After all, you already are a lead in the girls’ number.”
Josie was about to stand up and make her speech when Emily started speaking, so out of politeness she let the other girl speak. Her face slowly fell as she heard what Emily had to say, but she decided to just suck it all up. Nationals was what she would be aiming for. And Pop was honestly not her favourite genre either. “I guess I’m...fine with that. Like Mr Schue always said, there’s a lot of talent in this club.” she said a little hesitantly, purposely avoiding looking at Molly as she said the latter part of her speech. She wasn’t going to boost the blonde’s ego.
She could tell Josie wasn’t exactly thrilled with the prospect, but she’d needed to save face and seem like a good sport as well. “Any objections to doing things this way?” Emily asked the group, looking around. When no one spoke up, Emily nodded. “Okay, who actually wants to be a lead on this new song? You can just raise your hand.”
Alvin raised his hand. This was honoring his cousin; there was no way that he wouldn't take an opportunity for a lead. Matt was the main reason he was a member of New Directions, after all.
Gabe lifted his hand as well. After all, he and Alvin had worked hard on this and it’d get Molly off of his arse about participating more.
Bree hesitated, not knowing whether she should raise her hand or not. Hands were slowly going up, but there were still only a few. Her sister’s voice nagged in her head, urging her to take up a solo. She raised her hand a little hesitantly. If I can’t dance, I might as well sing. she urged herself.
Josie stood up and held her clipboard to her chest. “One more time please, Gabe.” she ordered, tapping her foot to the beat as the song played again. She bit her lip, twirling the pen in her hand and making notes every once and then.
“I think I’ve got the assigning done,” Josie said, passing a sheet of paper around the room. “Speak up if there are any objections. I’ve used my knowledge and experience in music to hopefully give the leads the most fitting parts.” She smiled at the sight of some of the glee clubbers nodding in agreement.
Emily looked down at the assignments. She had to admit, Josie was annoying, but she wasn’t a bad captain. She felt begrudging respect for the other girl.
Josie clasped her hands together. “Right then. If there are no objections, could we move on to the costumes? I’d like to start choreography only when we get Ms. Brittany Pierce with us. So, we need something comfortable and easy to dance in. Any one have any ideas?” Josie was totally clueless about fashion, so this was one thing she really needed help in.
Emily blinked, a small grin spreading across her face. “Brittany’s going to come choreograph our Sectionals performance? Like seriously?” It wasn’t exactly a secret that what had gotten New Directions their Nationals spot in 2012 was the amazing routine that Brittany and Officer Chang had come up with.
Jen fought the urge to laugh happily at Emily’s barely contained excitement. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Emily light up at the mere mention of the former Cheerio. Of course if anyone mentioned Santana there was usually a very long conversation about legacies and idols where she’d just nod and agree for awhile and then as soon as she could, find someway to tease Emily into changing the subject. Feeling Bree shift beside her she turned her attention to the blonde at her side.
Bree sat up and nodded. “Yeah, she is. I’ve been asking for her to help out, seeing the condition Ms Berry was in. I’m glad Ms Berry invited her to help.” Bree was slightly relieved, because at least her sister would understand her lack of coordination and wouldn’t kill her for it.
Molly bit her lip, shaking her head. It was always so hard to hold her tongue during these meetings sometimes, really. How did they expect her to put up with this? The song was fine, but they all knew how Brittany choreographed and... ugh, she just couldn’t take this sometimes. It was a lot to put up with just to get on Coach Sylvester’s good side. “I’m sorry, but don’t you think with... that choreography it will be a little... much?” She looked around at her fellow club members, eyebrows raised. No one ever agreed with her, but she still tried. “I just don’t think dancing around showing our... bajingos to the audience is the way to go! The song is enough.”
“What the hell is a bajingo?” Jen sat up again looking over at Molly. How had she not noticed how annoying some of the things that came out of this girl’s mouth were? She tried to ignore the little voice that was telling her she was also taking a particular dislike to this girl because of what she said to Li - Puck. “If you want a club where everyone stands still and sings hymns, and I’m sure when we talk about costumes you’ll mention something about whatever anyone comes up with being inappropriate, maybe you should try to start a WMHS Gospel Choir. But this is not that. If we want to win we might have to be a little current.”
Gabe was torn. He knew Molly’s “Virgin Mary” act could get a little old, but she was still his girlfriend. “A bajingo is what she calls her fanny. And I think there’s a way to be a wee bit modest since it makes her so uncomfortable. You lot want it to be fair all around. Well, Molly’s a part of this group too, yeah? There is a such thing a compromise.”
Molly had opened her mouth to reply to Jen’s remark but turned to look up at her boyfriend when she heard him speak instead. It made her smile, if ever so slightly (since he still had mentioned her bajingo), that he actually stuck up her in these situations and quite often. A lot of people questioned their relationship, but to her, it was rather obvious. Gabe could be crude and incredible idiotic at times, but at least he was a real man.
“I’m just saying,” Jen said, “I understand...people have their opinions. But if you’re going to say no at least have another viable option. We’re already cutting this really close as it is. So if you don’t have anything to say but ‘no’ it doesn’t really help.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but to be fair, she didn’t say no,” Emily said before this could turn into another fight. “Molly, just chill out. You’re a Cheerio. I’m pretty sure we won’t be doing anything nearly as provocative as we do at competitions. So, I think you’re good. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t really want to be here with any of you for another three hours fighting. Josie, let’s get this done.”
Josie sighed loudly, folding her arms and tapping her fingers on her arm impatiently. Will we even get anything else done? She couldn’t stand wasting time. “So, costumes. I did some searching, and found some outfits, but that was before I heard the mix. I have ideas actually, but I don’t know which one will work,” she paused, gathering her thoughts. “Since we’ll be singing a mash-up of pop songs, I think we could dress up in bright colours. Or we could dress in black and white if you want something more decent and less showy.” she continued, looking at Molly pointedly. She took out a self-made scrapbook from her bag. “I have a few references here of past year costumes of schools participating.”
“Well we are singing the song ‘A Few of my Favorite Things’ right? There’s a part that says ‘girls in why dresses with blue satin sashes.’ There’s a costume idea built right in,” Emily suggested.
“And the guys can wear blue satin ties to go with it! Why didn’t I think of that!” she exclaimed excitedly, smiling at Emily. She was glad that they were coming to a decision of some sort. “I think I’ll try searching for the costumes, if everyone is fine with the idea.” The glee clubbers murmured in agreement, leaving Josie feeling extremely relieved about having a problem settled.
“Um, do ya think that maybe the blokes could wear all black with blue ties? I’m not so sure all white will look so go. We’ll look like mental patients or a boy band, yeah?” Gabe asked, interrupting Josie’s thoughts.
Josie thought about it for a while, then nodded, taking down notes on her clipboard again. “Noted. Anything else to add guys?” she asked again, scanning the room for response.
Gabe made a face behind Josie’s back, shrugging when she swung back around. “Let’s just do this. My dad’s homemade pizza will be done soon and I’m starvin.’” He stood with the rest of the team and stood in the groups that Josie picked for everyone.
Emily looked around at her group, Molly, Bree, Timberly and Jen, and bit back annoyed groan. This was going to take even longer than she thought. She moved between Timberly and Bree and looked down at the lyrics that Gabe handed to everyone.
Jen nodded to Gabe as he handed Timberly the lyrics for her group. She made a mental note to apologize to him when she got a chance. They were in his house, he’d arranged this whole meeting and she hadn’t been the nicest to his girlfriend. When Emily moved away from her to stand between Timberly and Bree, Jen let out a sigh. She had a lot of apologizing to do. Hopefully they’d be able to make it through Sectionals without everything completely blowing up.
Relieved that the costume discussion didn't long, Alvin went to stand with his group and waited for Gabe to hand him his lyric sheet. This meeting was going pretty smoothly overall and he was glad they were almost done. Alvin was hungry and the smell of his uncle's homemade pizza made him happy that he was staying for dinner.
Molly surveyed her lyrics sheet, lips pursed. It wasn’t the worse thing she had ever or would ever have to do. Of course, leaking the Glee Club and Ms. Berry’s every move to Coach Sylvester was probably the worse thing she’d ever done. Maybe the worse thing she would ever do. But it would all be worth it in the end. Emily would be gone soon and it only made sense for Molly to step up into her spot. She supposed in this situation, it was normal for the two of them to be friends but... goodness, Molly could just not bring herself to do that. She looked up from the lyric sheet to smile encouragingly at Gabe but there was a pit in her stomach now. Why did she care so much whether they won Sectionals or not?
Bree studied the lyrics sheet. She was rather relieved to see that the notes were pretty okay, and she most probably wouldn’t go off-key and ruin the song.
Josie studied her own lyrics sheet once more and held her arms in a conductor’s stance. “Alright everyone, from the top!”