Log: Artie, Tina & Mercedes
Who: Artie, Tina & Mercedes
When: January 15, 2012
Where: Artie’s house
What: Fixing Artie
Mercedes had gotten permission to go over to the Abrams house after church. She knew that he was still sad about the mess that went down with Rachel. Part of her wanted to really believe that Rachel didn’t mean to say what she did, but it was too late to do anything about it now. She had texted Tina immediately after church to see if her dad would bring her over to the Abrams, letting her know that her dad would bring her home.
Church had gone without incident and Artie had thankfully been able to go home afterwards instead of staying for some meeting or function. Since his father was the minister he frequently had things going on after church and so did his mother. Today though they had just had a family lunch and they were all just beginning to relax and get out of their church clothes when Mercedes arrived. Answering the door Artie was surprised to see his friend. "Hey," he said, looking up at her. He was very upset about what Rachel had said, taking it not just as a slight against him, but against his family too. There were a lot of people who felt that he should never have been adopted by the Abrams like he was.
As soon as Tina got Mercedes’ text she went in search of her father, knowing that he wouldn’t mind taking her over to Abrams. Tina was actually glad that Mercedes had texted her suggesting she come over to Artie’s because she really wanted to make sure that he was doing okay. What Rachel had said to him in her journal was just plain wrong and completely unacceptable. Tina took offense to anyone bothering her friends but something about the fact that it was Rachel just annoyed her even more. Tina unbuckled her seat belt as her father pulled into the Abrams’ driveway, saying bye to her dad as she hopped out of the car. She headed towards the front door and spotting Mercedes and Artie still standing at the entrance she called ahead, “Hey guys.”
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I thought you could use a little friendly brain scrub as I like to call it.” Mercedes began. “It’s where friends come and help you scrub bad crap out of you memories and replace it with better things. Preferably laughs, music, and a little candy.”
She was just about to head inside when she saw Tina’s dad pull up. She waved at him and then gave Tina a hug once she got to the door. “Hey T! I was just explaining to Artie about my brain scrub therapy.”
“Hey Tina,” Artie couldn’t help but smile hugely at the two girls. “Mercedes, you guys didn’t have to do this,” not that he was about to send them away. He had some great friends and he was so grateful to them right now, “Now, candy?” he led them into the house and then back to his room to hang. “You need anything? Drinks or whatever?”
“Brain scrubbing is important and it’s not as if I’m going to turn down candy,” Tina laughed as they went inside. She figured she didn’t need to tell him that, yes they did need to do this, because that’s what friends do. “Water or juice or something would be good.”
“We’ve got orange and cranberry juices,” Artie replied automatically. They always had those juices on hand. “Or water, of course. Mercedes?”
“Cranberry juice would be awesome.” She opened her bag and began pulling out various candies. Sweet Tarts, Pop Rocks, Pixy Stix and Gummi Bears. She always had an emergency stash for when her mom drove her particularly crazy. She hadn’t been allowing herself any though, instead she’d go in the garage and sing angry songs.
“I’ll just have water. Thanks Artie,” Tina decided. She watched as Mercedes pulled out candy. “Do you think you ever reach an age where it becomes inappropriate to be excited about candy?” She certainly hoped not because she pretty much always got excited about candy. The only thing she got more excited about was ice cream. She loved ice cream.
Artie went to get their drinks, coming back with two bottles of water and a glass of cranberry juice wedged carefully between his legs, which he handed to the ladies. How Mercedes could willingly drink cranberry juice he had no idea. “Candy!” Artie exclaimed, voice rising almost an octave as he reached for the gummi bears. He loved gummi bears, especially when they were mixed with ice cream. “Awesome!”
“So how are you? I don’t think I’ve ever been as mad at Rachel for saying what she did to you than I have been since glee club started.” Mercedes replied, and that was a strong statement because Rachel managed to annoy her constantly.
Artie shrugged and made a face, “She managed to hit basically every insecurity I’ve ever had, but otherwise no big deal,” he replied, popping another gummi into his mouth. “I haven’t heard any crap about...well, being me in years. Usually I get stuff for being in a wheelchair, not for everything else,” of course, most people didn’t know about his adoption or his family, which was just fine with him. “She’s black too, apparently.”
Tina could feel herself getting angry on Artie’s behalf just thinking about it and so she took a deep breath trying to make sure she was calm. She didn’t want the anger to come across when she spoke. “She’s wrong. I hope you know that, Artie. One hundred percent wrong. The fact that she’s apparently black too just makes the whole thing more ridiculous. I swear that girl doesn’t think before she speaks.”
“Now see, I think that’s what really topped the pissed off meter for me. So she has a black father. Now, should I go up to her and tell her she isn’t being black enough for my liking? That she is obviously just trying to hide her heritage or some crap? No, because that would be insanely rude of me to do. But yet she sees no trouble telling someone else what they are not.” Mercedes rolled her eyes and sighed. “Why on earth does she feel she is so much better than us?”
“Because she’s jealous,” Artie spoke slowly and quietly, his eyes fixed up on the Jimi Hendrix poster on his wall. “She’s so scared that she isn’t better, that she isn’t even equal, that she has to put us down. It’s the same reason we get bullied in school, because we’re different and because they’re scared of us. Because they know exactly how the rest of their lives are going to go and they have no idea what we’re going to do,” the realization made him smile, “Rachel is jealous and scared. Despite all her talent, her grades, her take-charge leadership, what do we have that she doesn’t? We’re all losers, but not all equal in our loserdom.”
Tina had never actually thought about it that way before. It never once occurred to her that Rachel might be jealous but now that Artie had said it, it almost made sense. “We have each other,” Tina said quietly, as if that was only just occurring to her. “We have friends. Amazing friends. It doesn’t matter that we’re losers, really. Not when we’ve got each other.” Okay, that was sort of a lie, sure she’d love to not be a loser, but she also wouldn’t trade Artie or Mercedes for anything. “Rachel doesn’t have that. Not even close,” she finished her thought.
Artie always had a way of dropping truth bombs, this time was just another example. “And what’s sad is that she could, you know? Yes, she is very talented, but that doesn’t mean you have to run over everyone in your path to make sure your star is the only one that shines. And heck, we’re technically all minorities at school on top of everything else.”
He nodded, they were both absolutely correct. “But minorities or not, that doesn’t mean we have to hate ourselves. Anyways, together we stand, divided we fall. Rachel...isn’t an island unto herself. So, if we’re going to be in Glee, we’re gonna have to have a come to Jesus meeting. She doesn’t get to treat us this way.”
“Right. Absolutely,” Tina nodded. “Though we probably shouldn’t call it a come to Jesus meeting. I think she’s Jewish,” she laughed a bit.
A snicker escaped Mercedes before it turned into an all out laugh. “I’m sorry, that just...whoo. Okay, I’m fine I promise.” There was something about saying a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with Rachel and her being Jewish that sounded like the set up to a really bad joke in her head. “See, I’ve already had too much sugar, I’m laughing at everything.”
“My dad’s a minister. It’s a Come to Jesus meeting,” Artie stated firmly, “And laughing is good. We should do a lot of it. Want to watch a movie or something?”
“Laughing is better than good, it’s like awesome” Tina corrected. “I want to watch a movie but only if it’s funny. We need the laughing and I’m not one of those weird people who laughs during horror films.”
“Me no likey horror movies anyway. So I am definitely on board with something funny.” Mercedes said in agreement. “Heaven knows we’ve had enough drama so we don’t need to watch any.”
“Definitely not horror,” Artie agreed, thinking about what they had at the house. “We can check out what’s streaming on netflix,” he suggested, “Kick my brother and sister out of the living room.”
When: January 15, 2012
Where: Artie’s house
What: Fixing Artie
Mercedes had gotten permission to go over to the Abrams house after church. She knew that he was still sad about the mess that went down with Rachel. Part of her wanted to really believe that Rachel didn’t mean to say what she did, but it was too late to do anything about it now. She had texted Tina immediately after church to see if her dad would bring her over to the Abrams, letting her know that her dad would bring her home.
Church had gone without incident and Artie had thankfully been able to go home afterwards instead of staying for some meeting or function. Since his father was the minister he frequently had things going on after church and so did his mother. Today though they had just had a family lunch and they were all just beginning to relax and get out of their church clothes when Mercedes arrived. Answering the door Artie was surprised to see his friend. "Hey," he said, looking up at her. He was very upset about what Rachel had said, taking it not just as a slight against him, but against his family too. There were a lot of people who felt that he should never have been adopted by the Abrams like he was.
As soon as Tina got Mercedes’ text she went in search of her father, knowing that he wouldn’t mind taking her over to Abrams. Tina was actually glad that Mercedes had texted her suggesting she come over to Artie’s because she really wanted to make sure that he was doing okay. What Rachel had said to him in her journal was just plain wrong and completely unacceptable. Tina took offense to anyone bothering her friends but something about the fact that it was Rachel just annoyed her even more. Tina unbuckled her seat belt as her father pulled into the Abrams’ driveway, saying bye to her dad as she hopped out of the car. She headed towards the front door and spotting Mercedes and Artie still standing at the entrance she called ahead, “Hey guys.”
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I thought you could use a little friendly brain scrub as I like to call it.” Mercedes began. “It’s where friends come and help you scrub bad crap out of you memories and replace it with better things. Preferably laughs, music, and a little candy.”
She was just about to head inside when she saw Tina’s dad pull up. She waved at him and then gave Tina a hug once she got to the door. “Hey T! I was just explaining to Artie about my brain scrub therapy.”
“Hey Tina,” Artie couldn’t help but smile hugely at the two girls. “Mercedes, you guys didn’t have to do this,” not that he was about to send them away. He had some great friends and he was so grateful to them right now, “Now, candy?” he led them into the house and then back to his room to hang. “You need anything? Drinks or whatever?”
“Brain scrubbing is important and it’s not as if I’m going to turn down candy,” Tina laughed as they went inside. She figured she didn’t need to tell him that, yes they did need to do this, because that’s what friends do. “Water or juice or something would be good.”
“We’ve got orange and cranberry juices,” Artie replied automatically. They always had those juices on hand. “Or water, of course. Mercedes?”
“Cranberry juice would be awesome.” She opened her bag and began pulling out various candies. Sweet Tarts, Pop Rocks, Pixy Stix and Gummi Bears. She always had an emergency stash for when her mom drove her particularly crazy. She hadn’t been allowing herself any though, instead she’d go in the garage and sing angry songs.
“I’ll just have water. Thanks Artie,” Tina decided. She watched as Mercedes pulled out candy. “Do you think you ever reach an age where it becomes inappropriate to be excited about candy?” She certainly hoped not because she pretty much always got excited about candy. The only thing she got more excited about was ice cream. She loved ice cream.
Artie went to get their drinks, coming back with two bottles of water and a glass of cranberry juice wedged carefully between his legs, which he handed to the ladies. How Mercedes could willingly drink cranberry juice he had no idea. “Candy!” Artie exclaimed, voice rising almost an octave as he reached for the gummi bears. He loved gummi bears, especially when they were mixed with ice cream. “Awesome!”
“So how are you? I don’t think I’ve ever been as mad at Rachel for saying what she did to you than I have been since glee club started.” Mercedes replied, and that was a strong statement because Rachel managed to annoy her constantly.
Artie shrugged and made a face, “She managed to hit basically every insecurity I’ve ever had, but otherwise no big deal,” he replied, popping another gummi into his mouth. “I haven’t heard any crap about...well, being me in years. Usually I get stuff for being in a wheelchair, not for everything else,” of course, most people didn’t know about his adoption or his family, which was just fine with him. “She’s black too, apparently.”
Tina could feel herself getting angry on Artie’s behalf just thinking about it and so she took a deep breath trying to make sure she was calm. She didn’t want the anger to come across when she spoke. “She’s wrong. I hope you know that, Artie. One hundred percent wrong. The fact that she’s apparently black too just makes the whole thing more ridiculous. I swear that girl doesn’t think before she speaks.”
“Now see, I think that’s what really topped the pissed off meter for me. So she has a black father. Now, should I go up to her and tell her she isn’t being black enough for my liking? That she is obviously just trying to hide her heritage or some crap? No, because that would be insanely rude of me to do. But yet she sees no trouble telling someone else what they are not.” Mercedes rolled her eyes and sighed. “Why on earth does she feel she is so much better than us?”
“Because she’s jealous,” Artie spoke slowly and quietly, his eyes fixed up on the Jimi Hendrix poster on his wall. “She’s so scared that she isn’t better, that she isn’t even equal, that she has to put us down. It’s the same reason we get bullied in school, because we’re different and because they’re scared of us. Because they know exactly how the rest of their lives are going to go and they have no idea what we’re going to do,” the realization made him smile, “Rachel is jealous and scared. Despite all her talent, her grades, her take-charge leadership, what do we have that she doesn’t? We’re all losers, but not all equal in our loserdom.”
Tina had never actually thought about it that way before. It never once occurred to her that Rachel might be jealous but now that Artie had said it, it almost made sense. “We have each other,” Tina said quietly, as if that was only just occurring to her. “We have friends. Amazing friends. It doesn’t matter that we’re losers, really. Not when we’ve got each other.” Okay, that was sort of a lie, sure she’d love to not be a loser, but she also wouldn’t trade Artie or Mercedes for anything. “Rachel doesn’t have that. Not even close,” she finished her thought.
Artie always had a way of dropping truth bombs, this time was just another example. “And what’s sad is that she could, you know? Yes, she is very talented, but that doesn’t mean you have to run over everyone in your path to make sure your star is the only one that shines. And heck, we’re technically all minorities at school on top of everything else.”
He nodded, they were both absolutely correct. “But minorities or not, that doesn’t mean we have to hate ourselves. Anyways, together we stand, divided we fall. Rachel...isn’t an island unto herself. So, if we’re going to be in Glee, we’re gonna have to have a come to Jesus meeting. She doesn’t get to treat us this way.”
“Right. Absolutely,” Tina nodded. “Though we probably shouldn’t call it a come to Jesus meeting. I think she’s Jewish,” she laughed a bit.
A snicker escaped Mercedes before it turned into an all out laugh. “I’m sorry, that just...whoo. Okay, I’m fine I promise.” There was something about saying a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with Rachel and her being Jewish that sounded like the set up to a really bad joke in her head. “See, I’ve already had too much sugar, I’m laughing at everything.”
“My dad’s a minister. It’s a Come to Jesus meeting,” Artie stated firmly, “And laughing is good. We should do a lot of it. Want to watch a movie or something?”
“Laughing is better than good, it’s like awesome” Tina corrected. “I want to watch a movie but only if it’s funny. We need the laughing and I’m not one of those weird people who laughs during horror films.”
“Me no likey horror movies anyway. So I am definitely on board with something funny.” Mercedes said in agreement. “Heaven knows we’ve had enough drama so we don’t need to watch any.”
“Definitely not horror,” Artie agreed, thinking about what they had at the house. “We can check out what’s streaming on netflix,” he suggested, “Kick my brother and sister out of the living room.”