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VOTING: CHALLENGE 15 - JUST A TASTE - PART 1
VOTING: CHALLENGE 15 - JUST A TASTE - PART 1
1.
In the beginning, Glee club had been about winning. Not winning solos, or competing against other teams, because when had something like that ever mattered to Quinn Fabray? It wasn't Cheerios. It was Glee.
It had been about one-upping Rachel Berry. It had been about keeping Finn.
But it was senior year, and everything had changed. Quinn liked to think she was self-aware enough to realize that Glee mattered to her now. She still wanted to win, but not just for her own sake. Brittany had told her once, in that matter of fact, strangely wise way of hers, that Glee club was about family -- and she was right.
Two years ago, she'd never have thought to encourage Rachel Berry, but the words passed her lips all the same. It was strange, she thought, her lips quirking into a hint of a smile; she actually wanted to see Berry do well.
"Break a leg, Rachel."
Rachel smiled back at Quinn.
“Thank you.”
All the girls in the club were wearing matching bright green dresses. They had silver sequins lining the hem, sleeves, and collars. Everyone looked gorgeous. Rachel entered the stage with Finn joining her from the other side. He was wearing black pants and a matching green shirt with a silver tie- as were all the guys. Quinn listened to the piano notes as they started. She didn’t mind that instead of a solo to open Sectionals this year, it would be a romantic duet between Rachel and Finn. She was finally over Finn, and in fact truly happy for both of them. They obviously were in love, and Quinn had come to accept that.
“So did you finish sending in all your college applications last night?” Puck asked right in her ear as he sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her torso in an intimate way. “I really want to come over tonight,” he breathed. She couldn’t resist being turned on by him right then, but as she caught sight of Tina eying them and smirking playfully, she quickly squirmed out of his grasp with a huge embarrassed smile.
“Did you even start on yours?” she asked, truly concerned for her boyfriend. She listened as Rachel and Finn kept singing “Always Be My Baby” - it was such a beautiful song, especially when they sang it. And it kind of fit her and Puck, in addition to fitting Finn and Rachel. She smiled at the sweet thought and turned back to Puck. “I love you so much,” she told him quietly but sincerely. He smiled in response.
“Come on,” Puck then said, grabbing her hand. They ran onto the stage with him leading, getting properly in position for the group number.
2.
There had to be, thought Tina Cohen-Chang, grimly determined and invoking the full power of her two last names, a way to do this.
It was nice (in a way) that after a full school year, Mr. Schue had realised the importance of being an equal-opportunities employer, but Tina wanted New Directions to win. Sectionals was only the first step to glory, and if they couldn't have Rachel, well...
No one (except Rachel) was overtly championing her cause, so it was unlikely that Mr. Schue would give her the lead again.
Unless, of course, their rival show choirs stole their set list again, and New Directions would be out there mad-libbing their songs. (Hmm... there might be something in that line of thought...)
Staring down at the proposed sheet music for the competition, Tina mentally dismissed that thought. It was too difficult and she was no Coach Sylvester. (Dammit.) No, different tactic... what they needed really was Kurt.
Unfortunately for them, Kurt was now their chief rival, competing alongside their competition at Dalton Academy. Tina didn’t behoove him that move, of course, not after everything he’d been through with Karofsky and the rest of the brain dead jocks that seemed to make it their life’s mission to torture their little glee family.
No Rachel, no Kurt. No Sections, she thought, her mouth sliding into a frown.
“What’s wrong?” Mike asked beside her, his arm resting along the back of the mall bench they sat on. She smiled at him and shook her head.
“Nothing important. I’m just thinking about Sectionals.” Mike stared at her, a small smile on his face.
After a moment he leaned forward and kissed her on the tip of her nose, and her smile broke widely across her face. “Wanna tell me what you’re thinking about Sectionals?”
“I’m just wondering who we could have as our featured singer, now that Rachel is out of the running, and Kurt transferred.” His smile grew, and she shook her head slightly, her softly curled hair bouncing against her shoulders. “I just really want to win.”
“Well, then I think you should be our featured singer.” Tina laughed, and pushed at Mike’s shoulder gently.
“Yeah, sure.” Her smile was big, joking with him, but his faded until his mouth was a straight line, and his brow furrowed slightly.
“Tina, I’m serious. You don’t give yourself enough credit you know.” His smile returned a bit. “You have an amazing voice. I think you should campaign for that featured spot.”
Tina’s smile widened, and she felt a few tears forming. “You really believe in me that much?”
Mike’s grin returned, full force, before he kissed her nose once more. “Of course I do, Tina.”
3.
Sectionals was supposed to be a breeze. They were supposed to coast through it, a simple step on their climb towards Nationals. But things don't go the way they were supposed to. It was as if the fates had collectively decided to give them complete hell.
They had been doomed from the start. It had been raining hard all that morning, and as Artie rolled himself down the ramp, the wheels skidded and he crashed into the wall. He hadn't been hurt, but the wheels of his chair had become slightly dented, not ideal from dancing.
Their first performance, a solo that had been given to Mercedes, failed to captivate their audience, when the band lost their place and the chorus messed up along with it. Even though Mercedes perfect pitch and runs couldn't get the audiences attention back on them, and it only got worse during the group number.
Half of the group, led by Finn who got confused half way through, messed up both the lyrics and dance steps, screwing up the complete performance and leaving them unable to wait for the curtain to fall.
And when it did fall, and they were finally left alone, the knowledge that they had lost, that they wouldn't be moving on weighed heavily on their shoulders.
As they walked onto the bus in silence, Brittany broke the silence by saying, “Well at least they didn’t throw things at us, this time.” Everyone looked at Brittany with Serious faces until she busted out laughing. Rachel glared at Brittany, with piercing eyes. “You think this is funny?” Rachel asked. “Oh come on Rachel, What’s the point in being so caressed about it?” Brittany said.
They all started to laugh at her. “’Caressed’ about it?” Puck asked. Brittany gave him a confusing look, but no one could tell cause that was how her face looked all the time anyways. “You know instead of use focusing on the next sectionals, I think we should all make an effort into making Brittany smarter.” Puck continued. They all started pointing and laughing at her. Brittany’s face turned bright red as she slumped further down into her seat.
As the laughing continuously echoed in her head, Brittany’s eyes popped open wide and she jumped up, exclaiming, “It’s not caressed, it’s depressed!” All the kids started pointing and laughing at her; it was her worst nightmare come true!
4.
The bell just rang. There was still a few of smattering students walking down the school hall, but all the glee clubbers had arrived, and now talking and giggling among themselves. Tina found herself sitting beside Kurt, who sat beside Mercedes in the front row. From behind her, Mike circled his arms casually on her shoulders. Beside Mike, Finn drummed his fingers absentmindedly on Kurt's shoulders, and without realizing it, travelled his fingers to the top of Kurt's head. Tina couldn't contain her laugh when Kurt snapped at his stepbrother and almost sent the tall boy tumbling out of his chair. Their shenanigans were interrupted by Mr. Schuester coming in, and immediately clapped his hands to gain their attention.
"Alright, guys! We've arrived at this time of the year again!" shouted Mr. Schue. He smiled brightly to his students, and pronounced the next word deliberately, "Sectionals."
As soon as he said this, small talks broke out here and there, Brittany whopping enthusiastically, while Rachel already had her hand in the air. "Mr. Schue, if I may," she said, and without waiting for permission started to bombarding them all with a whole bunch of ideas she apparently had prepared for the occasion.
Tina could feel tension rising on her side from Kurt and Mercedes. Oh, Tina could feel it inside her, too; but unlike Kurt and Mercedes who already put their bitch faces on, Tina looked down at her lap instead. Tina wished she had a little more backbone than that, and this wasn’t the first time she had thought of this. Mike, being sensitive as usual, lowered his head, and whispered in her ear, "Hey, what's wrong?"
“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Tina said quickly and lifted her head up, throwing on a fake smile.
“I know you better than that,” Mike’s arm made its way behind her chair. “You don’t have to tell me what’s up, but just know I’m here to listen if you need someone to listen to you.”
“It’s just…” Tina started but trailed off. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid if it’s making you upset, tell me.” Mike smiled slightly at her, trying to break the tension between them.
“It’s just I had some ideas for Sectionals this year, but it’s impossible to get in a word in with her,” she stopped and pointed to Rachel. “Always jumping in before everyone else and then Mr. Schue shoots down everyone else’s ideas, so it’s not even worth it.”
Mike looked at her, his smile widening before he stood up. He brought his hand up to his mouth and blew, causing a ear piercing whistle to sound through the choir room. Everyone stopped talking and looked to where he stood in the front row.
Mike cleared his throat before speaking. “I’m sorry to interrupt Rachel, but I think it’s unfair that you just jumped in with your ideas without giving anyone else a chance. I know for a fact Tina has some ideas.”
“I agree with Mike, Tina, would you like to share?” Mr. Schue said, signaling for Rachel to sit down, which the latter did, fuming.
Mike sat down and smiled at Tina and whispered, “You are worth it.”
5.
Brittany wandered down the hall of McKinley. It was early, so not many people were there yet. It was the first day of the year, and she was excited for glee. She hadn’t seen any of her friends this summer, not even Santana. But it wasn’t because she had been busy. It wasn’t like she hung out with Rachel or Kurt or Mercedes regularly anyway, but usually Santana was her constant summer companion.
Not this summer. She had been lonely. Spending her days with Lord Tubbington was like a dream, but it wasn’t the same without her best friend. At first, right after school had let out, she called Santana a few times, but she only got excuses, some of them so lame, even Brittany knew Santana was lying.
She kept calling though, hoping that eventually Santana would give in, but she’d had no luck all summer and she didn’t know why.
She’d wracked her brains for something she had done, but couldn’t come up with anything. Her fingers hovered over the dial on her locker for a few moments, until she gave up and let her head rest against the cool metal.
She had written down her code like she’d been told to, but she’d put it inside her locker she wouldn’t lose it. Santana could fix this.
Brittany figured that the best thing she could do was wait out until the other girl came and hope she would be forgiven. She was kind of nervous. It wasn’t like she was used to this treatment. She’d been friends with Santana since Kindergarten and they’d never ignored each other for so long.
Santana stalked down the corridor. Brittany watched through her peripheral vision. Suddenly, she felt nervous. Sneakers stopped only yards away from her. The silence seemed to last longer than the summer.
“’Tana?” Her reply was a roll of the eyes. A flick of hair. Santana merged into the streams of students shoving their way down the corridor. Her heart sank. At least her locker was open.
6.
Sectionals didn’t turn out the way everyone had planned. The trip there had been awkward and you would need a chainsaw to cut the tension on the bus. Finn wasn’t there and Quinn had never felt so anxious. She knew the pain in her stomach had nothing to do with the pregnancy and she wanted nothing more than to talk to Finn. Puck kept trying to talk to her, to comfort her, but he was not they boy she wanted to speak to. Rachel avoided any eye contact with her and the other members didn’t pay her any attention. As much as she hated to admit it, that hurt. If there was any chance she could continue with the performances today, she knew she would have to give Finn some sort of explanation. At the gas station, Quinn went into the ladies toilet and sent a text message to Finn:
I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me, but I can't hide my feelings anymore.
Quinn still had a hard time accepting what happened between her and Rachel. The entire situation took her by surprise; she wasn't aware of how hard you could fall for someone you were supposed to loathe. But she didn't loathe Rachel anymore -- she adored her. Even with her due date creeping closer, Quinn couldn't get Rachel out of her mind. It was becoming easier to avoid Puck, now that she didn't have to deal with choosing between him or Finn. However, Quinn knew that she had hurt Finn beyond repair by letting Rachel know her feelings. It had shook Rachel to the core and now Rachel was questioning her own relationship with Finn as a result.
Quinn made her way off of the bus and lined up backstage with the rest of the Glee club. She heard Finn's voice in the distance and let out a huge sigh of relief. As long as their golden boy was there, they still had a shot. She had no idea if he would talk to her again, but at least the rest of the Glee club didn't have to find out about her and Rachel. At least not yet.
Once New Directions took the stage, Quinn did all that she could to remain in the shadows. While she was embarrassed about her giant, pregnant stomach, she also wanted to give Finn and Rachel the space to shine. It killed her a little bit on the inside as she watched the two of them performing together, looking as adorable as any couple could. Quinn closed her eyes and pretended she was in Finn's place beside Rachel, singing their hearts out for each other, for the crowd. When she opened her eyes, Quinn realized that she had made her way to center stage and the music had stopped. With a gulp, she took Rachel's hand and made a decision to stop pretending.
7.
“SPIES!”
Puck fought not to look completely embarrassed when everyone turned to look at him after his outburst.
“You’ve been spending too much time with Berry, Puckerman,” Santana finally said.
“Shut up, Santana. We’ve got Dalton douches walking in on our rehearsal for Sectionals and if I have to learn a new set of songs because they suddenly know what we’re doing, I’m going to-“
“We’re actually here to see Blaine and Kurt,” one of the guys-Puck was just going to think of him as Third Asian, he decided-said, interrupting Puck (not cool).
“As you can see, we’re in the middle of rehearsal,” Rachel told him. “As our competition, I think it’s hardly appropriate for you to be in here while we finish. Therefore, please feel free to wait in the choir room while we wrap things up here in the auditorium.”
Puck smirked. Ha, take that, Third Asian.
Third Asian pulled at the knot on his tie and cleared his throat, “We can wait right here until we get to talk to Blaine and Kurt.”
Dude, what was up with those Warblers? That Asian dude was just about as stiff as his tie.
“If you need the Puckasaurus to bring out the big guns and law down the law just let me know,” he said and winked at Rachel.
He did a chest pump and the kid to Third Asian’s left, a skinny blond haired boy, jumped backward. Puck chuckled to himself. Stupid sissies.
“Now Noah, we don’t need to resort to violence,” Rachel said. She turned to the douches that remained rooted to their original spots. “However, you do need to wait outside. Kurt and Blaine will come along after we are finished.”
“But - “ Third Asian interrupted.
Puck was tempted to do another chest pump or even smack down that Asian dude, but Blaine finally manned up.
“Guys, it’s great to see you, but give us a minute. Okay?” Blaine said.
It was weird, like Blaine was their supreme leader even after he had left, and each of them, even that obnoxious Asian with the tight face, exited the room.
Score 1 New Directions; score 0 Warblers.
8.
"I don’t think I can do this."
The words feel foreign leaving her mouth. She has never been unsure about anything-no, that’s a lie, she is always unsure about everything-but Quinn has never said it out loud before. It isn’t exactly something that’s easy to admit.
"What?" Rachel responds. "Quinn, of course you can do this. We’ve been practicing for weeks."
Regret sinks in. She should not have said anything. It doesn’t bother Quinn because she is worried; it bothers her because, for once, she doesn’t have reason to be. They have practiced for weeks. They are ready.
Rachel’s ready. She is ten seconds away from bursting through that curtain and singing their song.
Quinn is anything but. It doesn’t matter how much she practice, or how much encouragement she gets. This will never be something she can mentally prepare for.
She just has to do it. Ready or not.
The countdown starts in her head. Eight seconds. Seven.
"It’ll be okay," Rachel tells her, touching her cheek gently. "You will be perfect."
Four seconds. They break apart and stand at both sets of curtains.
One second.
Rachel bursts out right on her cue singing her heart out, she quickly glances over but Quinn has not appeared yet. A little moment of panic settles in but it only lasts one second.
Quinn walks out, maybe a second later than she had to but she is greeted by such an enthusiastic audience that she immediately forgets the feelings she just had seconds ago. Rachel's words had already helped her calm down and find the courage to even go out there but it is the audience, all on their feet already that gave her that last push she needed to be secure.
They both walk down their paths in between the audience singing and stealing sideways glances of each other.
Rachel gives her an encouraging smile and Quinn smiles back thankfully just before they lock hands and walked up on the stage together.
Their hands still locked they stand on the stage singing their last lines together before the rest of the club joins them for the big finale of this song and to perform the rest of their set list.
9.
Mercedes glared at her phone. “I’m going to kick those boys’ asses when they finally get here!”
“Girls, being angry isn’t getting us anywhere. Finn and Blaine aren’t picking up their phone; I’m worried. ” Kurt said, looking anxiously at his phone, hoping to see his boyfriend’s name pop up.
“Neither is my idiot!” Lauren said.
“They’re going to make us lose because of their lack of punctuality, which is going to make me look bad. We should have made them choose between Sectionals and their stupid football game! Who knows where they are now, getting drunk at some jock party... We need a boy for Kurt’s duet! I would volunteer to do a fantastic solo myself, but unfortunately, Kurt’s duet would guarantee us first place.”
The new girls agreed with Rachel.
Brittany sighed “I miss Artie...” hugging Santana. “And his wheelchair...” she added as an afterthought.
Everybody looked up when Mr Schue entered the room with Dave Karofsky in tow.
“What are you doing here?” Santana said, glaring at her ‘boyfriend’ forgetting that she’d forced him to come.
“Dave witnessed the football team and hockey team beating up the boys.”
Collective gasps ran through the room, but Mr Schue wasn’t done yet. “Dave called the police before it got out of hand. Everybody’s fine, except for a couple of bruises and scratches.”
“They’re not likely to get here in 20 minutes, are they?”
“I’m afraid not, Tina.” Mr Schuester said sadly. “They’re filing complaints now.”
Rachel approached Dave with determination. “While I believe you have changed and are on your way to becoming a likable person, I still don’t like you.” She said, placing her hands on her hips. “However, you may be our only chance.”
Dave frowned “The hell are you getting at, Berry?”
“Can you sing?”
“What?!”
“I said ‘Can you sing?’”
Dave looked around suspiciously “yeah, I can sing, not that it’s any of your business”
The girls all looked at each other then at Kurt “oh, girls, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all” he said
“What choice do we have? We need this duet, if we don’t even try then we lose, at least with this we might have a chance” Tina said looking at Dave with a little disgust.
“It’s this or nothing” Mercedes conceded
“You have to be kidding, there is NO WAY I’m singing with another dude, that’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard” Dave turned to leave.
Kurt started to follow but was stopped by Santana “I’ll talk to him, I’m sure his…girlfriend can convince him…”
Santana caught up to Dave, “hey, meat-head! I wouldn’t leave if I was you”
“Like you could stop me”
“You know I could, If you don’t help us out here, I’m going to be help you “out” on stage” she raised her eyebrows knowingly.
“You can’t do that!” Dave panicked
“Sure I can”
“If you do that…… then I’ll do the same!”
Santana shrugged “I figure you have far more to lose than me, you wouldn’t be able to play sport in school again, no guy is gonna want you in their locker room, you’d be an outcast. As where I am already in the gayest club in school, so I’m not sure people will care all that much”
“I don’t know about that, you didn’t see the hockey team fighting…..” Dave said quietly. “But if I sing on stage….. “ Dave worried
Santana got closer “look we aren’t even at school, how many people do you think are going to hear about this?”
Dave huffed “FINE, but you owe me BIG”
10.
- - -
11.
Quinn walked out onto the stage and found her place. As the curtain began to rise, she took a deep, deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. The rest of the club was standing in formation facing her as she stood with her back to the audience in the dim light.
Quinn thought about how hard it had been and how tirelessly she had worked to get to this point. Of course Man Hands had assumed she was singing all of the solos at Sectionals, which Quinn would not put up with for the third time. Without a pregnancy or a new romance or anything else to distract her, Quinn was just aching for a cause and what's better than trying to take Rachel Berry down a notch? Of course, Quinn never tried, she always just did. What was that line that Sam had quoted to her last year? Something from that little green guy in Star Wars or Star Trek? Anyway, she had set her mind to dethroning Rachel through a series of surreptitious attacks and manipulative usage of the other glee club members, and she had succeeded. She might have felt bad if it were anyone else, but come on, it's Rachel freaking Berry.
As the first notes of the music drifted out of the auditorium speakers, Quinn panicked. This couldn't be happening. After everything, after all she did, was she really forgetting the words!?
Suddenly it was like the expectations of the team were a physical thing, surrounding her and muffling her and lodging in her throat. She remembered her impassioned speech to the club about why she should be allowed to do this, the slow fight to win them over to her cause one by one, the arguments and the diva-offs that had come down to this one moment, this one last chance where all their hopes rested on her.
She suddenly wished it was Rachel up here instead of her. She suddenly wasn’t so sure she could do this.
Then the tempo of the music raised. Brit and Santana walked forward on either side of her and she turned automatically, and suddenly the words were there, her head was clear and she could breathe again as her friends danced around her. It wasn’t foreign or hard of suffocating and she could DO this.
Her cue came and, almost with no conscious input, the words flowed out of her and she was moving and dancing as the other team members twirled around her.
After, when they held the trophy high, she wouldn’t admit to that moment of weakness, she locked it down inside but, later, she would remember how it had felt, and how she’d gone on to win anyway.
12.
New Directions takes first place at Sectionals and, for a minute, it’s almost enough to make Quinn forget the disaster her life has become. Almost. But then she’s sitting in the back seat of the bus and her hand brushes over the gentle curve of her belly and she remembers everything. She remembers the people she’s hurt -Finn, Puck, Santana, her parents- and the disappointment she saw in their eyes. It’s enough to make her want to throw up.
She’s staring absently out the window of the bus, watching the trees whiz by, when she feels someone slip into the seat beside her.
Santana clears her throat, “Hey.”
“Hi,” Quinn replies, looking over at her. “I thought you weren’t talking to me anymore.”
She shrugs, her eyes drifting to Quinn’s belly. “Finn kick you out?”
“Yeah,” she nods, chewing on her bottom lip.
“Do you need somewhere to stay?”
Quinn shakes her head. “I moved in with Puck.”
“Oh, right,” Santana sighs. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she tells her, even though she’s already turned her attention back to the window.
“Why did you do it?”
MY PART TWO IS BELOW
Quinn doesn’t respond, instead she rests her hands one her growing belly and sighs. Now that everything is out in the open she doesn’t know why she lied about Finn being the father of her baby. It seemed right at the time, she had just found out she was pregnant and she knew her life was about to be turned upside down so she had tried to hold onto the one thing she thought she could, Finn. It hadn’t been hard to convince herself that Finn would be a better father then Puck, or at least she had until Puck surprised her and was supportive.
“What would you have done Santana?” Quinn asked instead of answering.
“Used a condom,” Santana retorted with a smirk causing Quinn to shoot a glare at her.
“I didn’t think Puck would make a good father,” Quinn stated softly.
They sat in silence, both girls staring out the window before Santana softly patted Quinn’s shoulder and stood up, “I can understand why you would think that Quinn, but you had also never seen him with his sister. Give Puck a chance, he’ll surprise you.”
Quinn nodded in response and watched as Santana walked back to her seat. Her hands continued to rest on her growing stomach and she said a silent prayer hoping that Santana was right.
13.
“Guys, Guys!” Cried Mr. Shue as he ran into the choir room waving a slip of paper. “You guys, OMG!!”.
The choir room fell silent as everyone tried to figure out why their director was acting like a 13 year old girl who just discovered that her (omgIlovehimsooomuch) favourite celebrity crush was in town just to see her.
“Ummm, Mr. Shue”, says Finn, cautiously, “you’re kinda freaking us out”.
“Mars!!” cries Shue, “Mars guys!!”
Everyone shuffled nervously as they watched their teacher flail about the room. Wondering if perhaps, the unresolved sexual tension that had been simmering between Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillbury had finally gotten the better of their teacher, Finn slowly begins to sneak toward the exit, planning to get help for his obviously unstable teacher. Just as he reaches the door Mr. Shue finally seems to pull himself together.
“Sorry guys”, says Shue, “this is just huge”, breathes their teacher as he finally takes a seat at the front of the room. “We thought we’d lost out when we lost at sectionals this year, but boy were we wrong! Someone out there was watching and took notice of your amazing talent! We've been invited to participate in something much, much, bigger.”
Everyone shifts excitedly, waiting to hear what Shue had to say.
"This year, we shall be competing in the Intergallactic Show Choir Championships on Mars!"
The whole choir rooms buzzes with excitement.
Rachel's eyes grow crazier and crazier as she envisions her dreams coming true, "I'm going to be the star I have always longed to be. A real star. Performing amoung the stars!"
Kurt claps merrily, "I don't want to seem cliché gay, but I think now would be the perfect time to start rehearsing a tribute to the fabulous Elton John. Rocket Man. Nothing could be more fitting."
Artie high-fives Mike as they start discussing space exploration and the moments they plan on re-creating from their favourite science fiction comics.
Brittany meanwhile ponders aloud to Santana if Artie's dad will be joining them, "Y'know, because he's into space and stuff."
"Is he? I guess he told you that when you and Artie were together..."
"No. I saw it on TV. He's really famous because he's super smart even though he's got a strange voice."
"Brit... Are you talking about Stephen Hawking.. because that's not Artie's dad..."
"Oh..."
All the while, Sue Sylvester listens from the doorway, hidden just out of sight. "Pffft, 'Glee Club'... 'Gullible Club' more like."
14.
Puck was sitting in Spanish class daydreaming. It was the only class he really turned up to. For one, Mr. Schue was his teacher and two, he really needed to learn Spanish. There was some really hot ladies down in Mexico - he wanted to go down there and seduce them all.
But that wasn't the only reason: Puck had a love for burritos. A love much greater than any love he'd had before. He needed Spanish so he could go order great burritos from all over Mexico.
All of a sudden, Schue asked, "El Pucko, cántame una canción," which in English translates to "Puck, sing me song." Puck looked at Mr. Schue mortified. All he could think about were the hot latinos and the dancing burritos that were in his daydream. How could he sing a song at a time like this? Why on earth was Schue asking him to sing during Spanish anyways?
Then it hit him. The perfect song. He could do this.
“Un momento!” Puck said and dashed out the door, not waiting for permission. If he was going to make a fool of himself in class, he was going to do it right. He quickly ran to his locker, grabbed his guitar and took off running.
He skidded to a halt in front of the door to find Mr. Schue reviewing the verb “cantar”:
“Yo canto....clase!”
“Yo canto,” 30 voices mimicked back to him listlessly.
“Mr. Schue! I...got...it!” Puck said breathlessly from the front of the class.
“Puede proceder.” Puck had no idea what Schue had just said, but he assumed it was the go ahead to sing from the fact that Mr. Schue had sat down.
Though his mind had been momentarily clouded with adrenaline from running to get his guitar, his love of burritos quickly returned to him.
“This song is dedicated to the love of my life.”
Santana perked up a bit in her seat. Though she loved Brittany and has come to terms with her sexuality, she always had a soft spot for Puck.
“BURRITOS!” Puck crooned as he strummed an unmistakably Spanish chord of his guitar - Santana slumped back down in her seat.
Yo soy in love with you, Burritos
Mi corazón, it beats for you, Burritos
When I think of your delicious queso sauce
Your spicy carne, your tasty pimientos
It makes me caliente!
Yo soy in love with you, Burritos!!
Puck finished his song, finding himself with one leg on top of Jacob’s desk. Everyone in the class was staring at him with absolutely nothing to say.
“That was….interesante, el Pucko. Please...have a seat.”
Puck returned to his own seat while Mr. Schue went back to verb conjugations. Puck returned to his day dreams of those fine Spanish ladies holding trays of burritos….
15.
Sectionals had always been Finn’s favorite competition. It didn’t have the higher stakes of Regionals, and Nationals in New York had been enough pressure to make his neck sweat. But even more than that, Finn just felt there was something special about Sectionals. That first year, after the other teams stole the New Directions’ numbers, they’d all had to come together as a team in order to just perform, let alone win. Since then, Finn knew, they’d been a family.
But this year, he wasn’t sure they’d even make it to Sectionals. Three weeks into senior year, everything was in a shambles. They were short a few members, without Sam; then Lauren quit, and Quinn hadn’t shown up all semester. Santana was trying to use her Bully Whips power to recruit some new members, but nobody had joined them yet. Morale was low. It was bad enough Kurt seemed distant from the rest of the team, but Mr. Schue was picking horrible songs and Rachel, once the leader and shining star, seemed entirely disinterested in the group’s success.
New Directions needed a new direction.
He had to get Rachel behind him, then he could get everyone on board. But first he needed a plan. A good plan.
He played nine hours of Call of Duty: Black Ops before he had a plan forming. No, it wouldn't be a first person shooter thing, he didn't think violence was a good thing to encourage in glee club, because they all kind of spazzed out. But they could totally do tactical strikes and awesome formations and covering flanks.
Rachel blinked when he told her his ideas, but then she smiled, a real pretty smile. "That's perfect, Finn!"
And so, there was singing all throughout the school. A member of New Directions at the corners of the corridors. Lauren re-joined, Quinn started to at least smile (even if she said, she'd still have to think about re-joining), Kurt invited everyone over for free food, and Santana had the Bully Whips... keep doing Bully Whip things.
But all in all, Finn was feeling much more optimistic about the group's future. And this year's sectionals was going to be totally awesomesauce.
16.
Another year, another Sectionals. The William McKinley High School Glee Club had been preparing harder than ever, and they were confident they’d breeze their way through to Nationals yet again. One thing they hadn’t prepared for however, was one Sue Sylvester.
Sue was on a mission: a mission to prevent the atrocious New Directions from competing at all costs. She couldn’t even remember the reason why she was so incredibly dead-set against them anymore, it was just ingrained in her nature. It was her motivation to get out of bed each morning.
There was a knock on her office door.
“Ah, Becky, did you get it?”
“Yes, Coach.” Becky handed over the dirty, broken-toothed hair comb.
“Good, good. I know you must be wondering why I asked you to steal this for me, Becky. It has come to my attention that this hair comb is the talisman that has lead the talentless Glee Club to victory several times in the past. I’m afraid I cannot allow this to continue...”
Her plan was an ingenious one, naturally. No more messing around with amateur skullduggery such as the pitiful League of Doom. It was time to get down to business and put a stop to that deplorable Glee Club once and for all.
The New Directions chattered happily as they climbed on the bus, giddy to arrive at Sectionals and show everyone what they were made of. After all, this year, they had Kurt back AND Blaine, and they were more prepared than ever. No more silly original songs, no more Finn and Rachel duets, and most importantly, no more Journey.
The wheelchair lift brought Artie up onto the bus and once he was secured in, they were off. The bus ride was filled with loud singing games, lots of laughing, some secret kissing in the back of the bus which Mr. Schue quickly broke up once he discovered, and lots of loud speculation of what the other groups would be doing. (Which came entirely from Rachel.) None of them noticed the loud ticking noise of the bomb until it was too late.
The bus sat at the side of the road in flames, and a car pulled up behind it. Sue got out, laughing maniacally, her hands held dramatically in the air. "YES!" she declared. "I HAVE FINALLY RID THE WORLD OF THE NEW DIRECTIONS FOR GOOD!" Her laughter continued on and on and on .... until a beeping noise brought it to a halt and Will sat up straight in bed, drenched in sweat.
It was just a dream, he told himself, calming his heart. Just a nightmare. Sue would never really be that evil.
............ Or would she?
17.
It was a revoltingly hot day of the Indian summer they had to endure in Ohio when petite Rachel, wearing mid length black tights and a neon blue tank top, her hair up in a simple ponytail, shyly opened the door of the gym class.
The heat flushed her cheeks instantly, turning them into glowing ones and she suddenly felt overdressed. This was hot yoga and she should have figured out that there was going to be an awful heat. She then examined the girls that had their mats already set.
She saw Quinn the girl with the perfect looks across the room, but there was something different about her. Instead of her golden locks, a bold pink met her insistent gaze. Once the girl turned her head around, she rapidly moved her peek to the huge mirror in front of her and finally arranged her mat.
She tried keeping up with the others, but she couldn’t, since the class was for the advanced only and she was only a beginner, but her ambition was so strong that she just couldn’t give in. The instructor asked multiple times if she was alright, but she kept responding with the same words.
“Rachel, I think you should slow down, drink some water and rest. You’ve already done more than enough for your first day.”
“I appreciate your concern. I acquire the need to tell you that I am in great condition. The hot air is doing its magic."
Suddenly, her hands collapsed under her body weight and she landed painfully against the floor. Everyone stopped for a moment and so did the pink haired girl at the sight of Rachel standing there with tears in her eyes. Her heart leaped into her chest and she rushed by her side in seconds.
"Rachel-" Quinn started, but even that small kindness was too much for the overwrought Rachel to take.
"I can't even do this right," Rachel said, and it echoed out into the yoga room like a gun shot, and every face turned to her. Quinn could literally see the rainbow of emotions that fell over Rachel's pale, drawn face, and she recognized each and every one of them. Because they were emotions *she* had felt since losing the Sectionals so badly in front of so many of their peers.
Rachel turned and fled from the room, her ponytail streaming behind her, and Quinn didn't even falter for a second. Blonde Quinn, cheerleader Quinn, wouldn't have even gone to Rachel's side; following her felt natural, like something she wanted to do, and that was what dyeing her hair was about in the first place.
Doing what she *wanted*, rather than what she thought she *should* be doing.
Quinn had finally realized the right thing for her, and she didn't know if she could help Rachel realize it too. But when she found Rachel, hiding in the back of the theatre, and Rachel smiled up at her... well, there was hope for it.
And if there was a world where Rachel Berry would let Quinn Fabray help her? It was a world where anything was possible, including New Directions winning next year's Sectional. And when Rachel stopped crying, that was the first thing Quinn was going to tell her.
18.
The door bell rang through Rachel's house, it was the morning after the first huge party the Glee kids celebrated. She went to the door and who was it? She wasn't expecting this, it was Puck.
"Noah, what are you doing here?” she asked nervously.
"Good morning. Last night was a blast and I have the worst hangover, but I still can remember how I said I would replace the booze, so get ready now before I change my mind", Puck rambled.
Rachel bit her lip. "Okay, let me grab my jacket real quick", she said, went back into the house to get it. Puck waited outside.
"We can go", Rachel said with a smile, closing the door behind her. Puck smiled back.
And so Rachel and Puck went to the supermarket.
Rachel and Puck finally arrive at the local supermarket.
“Jez, Noah, I glad we made it safely. How fast were you going? I’m pretty sure you weren’t going to speed limit at all.” Rachel said unbuckling her seatbelt and trying to fix her hair after being messed up because Puck refused to put up the window.
“Berry, you need to learn to loosen up more. You are always so up tight about everything.” Puck said unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing out of the car.
“Come; let’s get the booze, so I can go home and go back to sleep.” Puck said.
Rachel walked faster to catch up to him trying not to hit the water puddles in the parking lot.
They both got in the store. “I’ll go get a cart” Rachel shouted to Puck who was already looking at other things.
They both were walked through the store and they finally got to alcohol section.
“Ok. Just keep right behind me and I will just put a few things in the cart” Puck said.
Puck walked down the aisle talking to himself “Beer, wine, and some vodka. That should do it.” He said.
“Wait, Noah, What are we doing? We’re not old enough to buy this stuff. What are were going to do? Rachel said concerned and nervous.
“It’s ok I have everything under control. It’s going to be fine. This isn’t the first time that I have done this, you know.” Puck said very confident.
“Ok, if you say so” Rachel very nervously.
They got to a check out and started putting things on the check out counter to be checked out. Rachel heart was pounding so hard, she thought it was going to be coming out her chest. They got checked out and Rachel wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
“Well, we did Berry” Puck said proudly.
“Yeah, we did, I can’t believe that I did such a thing.” Rachel said as she could finally breathe again.
Rachel had fun. Rachel was really turned on by Puck’s bad boy behavior. She really liked the rush she felt when she was with Puck. She didn’t want it to end.
19.
David Karofsky may have some regrets in his life. Okay, to be honest with himself, he had a lot of regrets. Mostly revolving around one Kurt Hummel and the last three years of his life. He wished he hadn’t been so rough with Kurt, he wished he could take back all the hurtful stuff he did or said. He wished he could have been honest with himself from the start. But most of all, he wanted to be able to go back one year. Just one year and take the chance to dance with Kurt on their prom.
Walking away from the dance floor had hunted his every thought for the whole of last year. Now, prom was coming again. Their last prom, his last chance. He knew Kurt had big dreams of going to New York, to be someone, while he would be forever stuck at Lima. A loser, he had called Kurt and many other kids on school. If only he had know who was the real loser back then.
His Senior year had been a quite different from the rest of high school. The events of the last year spurred David to make major changes in his life over the Summer- the biggest being coming out to his family. He quit the all sports teams, and spent time studying. Once school had started, David kept to himself. Somehow, coming out to the entire school was harder than even telling his Dad.
Kurt had been voted Prom Queen last year as a joke; but this year, he’d been voted Prom King because he’d won over the McKinley student population.
Miss Pillsbury called out the name of this year’s Prom Queen- Brittany S. Pierce (though no one was actually sure if she had the grades to graduate, everybody loved her.) Kurt and Brittany moved towards the middle of the dance floor to start their dance as Prom Queen & Prom King.
David Karofsky summoned up his courage, and tapped Kurt on the shoulder. “Can I have this dance?”
Kurt raised his eyebrow, but didn’t speak.
“Last year, I wasn’t ready. Last year, I couldn’t be honest with myself. I didn’t like myself. But I see you, and you don’t hide or pretend or try to be something that you’re not. And this is my Senior year, my last chance, to be as courageous with you and admit to everyone that I’m gay.”
Kurt smiled. “It takes a lot of courage to say that.”
Someone in the crowd began to applaud- it might have been Santana? One by one, the members of New Directions clapped. Azimio joined in, followed by others in the crowd. Some students stood silent, frowns on their faces, disapproving- but their approval didn’t matter to David Karofsky half as much as his opinion of himself.
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1.
In the beginning, Glee club had been about winning. Not winning solos, or competing against other teams, because when had something like that ever mattered to Quinn Fabray? It wasn't Cheerios. It was Glee.
It had been about one-upping Rachel Berry. It had been about keeping Finn.
But it was senior year, and everything had changed. Quinn liked to think she was self-aware enough to realize that Glee mattered to her now. She still wanted to win, but not just for her own sake. Brittany had told her once, in that matter of fact, strangely wise way of hers, that Glee club was about family -- and she was right.
Two years ago, she'd never have thought to encourage Rachel Berry, but the words passed her lips all the same. It was strange, she thought, her lips quirking into a hint of a smile; she actually wanted to see Berry do well.
"Break a leg, Rachel."
Rachel smiled back at Quinn.
“Thank you.”
All the girls in the club were wearing matching bright green dresses. They had silver sequins lining the hem, sleeves, and collars. Everyone looked gorgeous. Rachel entered the stage with Finn joining her from the other side. He was wearing black pants and a matching green shirt with a silver tie- as were all the guys. Quinn listened to the piano notes as they started. She didn’t mind that instead of a solo to open Sectionals this year, it would be a romantic duet between Rachel and Finn. She was finally over Finn, and in fact truly happy for both of them. They obviously were in love, and Quinn had come to accept that.
“So did you finish sending in all your college applications last night?” Puck asked right in her ear as he sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her torso in an intimate way. “I really want to come over tonight,” he breathed. She couldn’t resist being turned on by him right then, but as she caught sight of Tina eying them and smirking playfully, she quickly squirmed out of his grasp with a huge embarrassed smile.
“Did you even start on yours?” she asked, truly concerned for her boyfriend. She listened as Rachel and Finn kept singing “Always Be My Baby” - it was such a beautiful song, especially when they sang it. And it kind of fit her and Puck, in addition to fitting Finn and Rachel. She smiled at the sweet thought and turned back to Puck. “I love you so much,” she told him quietly but sincerely. He smiled in response.
“Come on,” Puck then said, grabbing her hand. They ran onto the stage with him leading, getting properly in position for the group number.
2.
There had to be, thought Tina Cohen-Chang, grimly determined and invoking the full power of her two last names, a way to do this.
It was nice (in a way) that after a full school year, Mr. Schue had realised the importance of being an equal-opportunities employer, but Tina wanted New Directions to win. Sectionals was only the first step to glory, and if they couldn't have Rachel, well...
No one (except Rachel) was overtly championing her cause, so it was unlikely that Mr. Schue would give her the lead again.
Unless, of course, their rival show choirs stole their set list again, and New Directions would be out there mad-libbing their songs. (Hmm... there might be something in that line of thought...)
Staring down at the proposed sheet music for the competition, Tina mentally dismissed that thought. It was too difficult and she was no Coach Sylvester. (Dammit.) No, different tactic... what they needed really was Kurt.
Unfortunately for them, Kurt was now their chief rival, competing alongside their competition at Dalton Academy. Tina didn’t behoove him that move, of course, not after everything he’d been through with Karofsky and the rest of the brain dead jocks that seemed to make it their life’s mission to torture their little glee family.
No Rachel, no Kurt. No Sections, she thought, her mouth sliding into a frown.
“What’s wrong?” Mike asked beside her, his arm resting along the back of the mall bench they sat on. She smiled at him and shook her head.
“Nothing important. I’m just thinking about Sectionals.” Mike stared at her, a small smile on his face.
After a moment he leaned forward and kissed her on the tip of her nose, and her smile broke widely across her face. “Wanna tell me what you’re thinking about Sectionals?”
“I’m just wondering who we could have as our featured singer, now that Rachel is out of the running, and Kurt transferred.” His smile grew, and she shook her head slightly, her softly curled hair bouncing against her shoulders. “I just really want to win.”
“Well, then I think you should be our featured singer.” Tina laughed, and pushed at Mike’s shoulder gently.
“Yeah, sure.” Her smile was big, joking with him, but his faded until his mouth was a straight line, and his brow furrowed slightly.
“Tina, I’m serious. You don’t give yourself enough credit you know.” His smile returned a bit. “You have an amazing voice. I think you should campaign for that featured spot.”
Tina’s smile widened, and she felt a few tears forming. “You really believe in me that much?”
Mike’s grin returned, full force, before he kissed her nose once more. “Of course I do, Tina.”
3.
Sectionals was supposed to be a breeze. They were supposed to coast through it, a simple step on their climb towards Nationals. But things don't go the way they were supposed to. It was as if the fates had collectively decided to give them complete hell.
They had been doomed from the start. It had been raining hard all that morning, and as Artie rolled himself down the ramp, the wheels skidded and he crashed into the wall. He hadn't been hurt, but the wheels of his chair had become slightly dented, not ideal from dancing.
Their first performance, a solo that had been given to Mercedes, failed to captivate their audience, when the band lost their place and the chorus messed up along with it. Even though Mercedes perfect pitch and runs couldn't get the audiences attention back on them, and it only got worse during the group number.
Half of the group, led by Finn who got confused half way through, messed up both the lyrics and dance steps, screwing up the complete performance and leaving them unable to wait for the curtain to fall.
And when it did fall, and they were finally left alone, the knowledge that they had lost, that they wouldn't be moving on weighed heavily on their shoulders.
As they walked onto the bus in silence, Brittany broke the silence by saying, “Well at least they didn’t throw things at us, this time.” Everyone looked at Brittany with Serious faces until she busted out laughing. Rachel glared at Brittany, with piercing eyes. “You think this is funny?” Rachel asked. “Oh come on Rachel, What’s the point in being so caressed about it?” Brittany said.
They all started to laugh at her. “’Caressed’ about it?” Puck asked. Brittany gave him a confusing look, but no one could tell cause that was how her face looked all the time anyways. “You know instead of use focusing on the next sectionals, I think we should all make an effort into making Brittany smarter.” Puck continued. They all started pointing and laughing at her. Brittany’s face turned bright red as she slumped further down into her seat.
As the laughing continuously echoed in her head, Brittany’s eyes popped open wide and she jumped up, exclaiming, “It’s not caressed, it’s depressed!” All the kids started pointing and laughing at her; it was her worst nightmare come true!
4.
The bell just rang. There was still a few of smattering students walking down the school hall, but all the glee clubbers had arrived, and now talking and giggling among themselves. Tina found herself sitting beside Kurt, who sat beside Mercedes in the front row. From behind her, Mike circled his arms casually on her shoulders. Beside Mike, Finn drummed his fingers absentmindedly on Kurt's shoulders, and without realizing it, travelled his fingers to the top of Kurt's head. Tina couldn't contain her laugh when Kurt snapped at his stepbrother and almost sent the tall boy tumbling out of his chair. Their shenanigans were interrupted by Mr. Schuester coming in, and immediately clapped his hands to gain their attention.
"Alright, guys! We've arrived at this time of the year again!" shouted Mr. Schue. He smiled brightly to his students, and pronounced the next word deliberately, "Sectionals."
As soon as he said this, small talks broke out here and there, Brittany whopping enthusiastically, while Rachel already had her hand in the air. "Mr. Schue, if I may," she said, and without waiting for permission started to bombarding them all with a whole bunch of ideas she apparently had prepared for the occasion.
Tina could feel tension rising on her side from Kurt and Mercedes. Oh, Tina could feel it inside her, too; but unlike Kurt and Mercedes who already put their bitch faces on, Tina looked down at her lap instead. Tina wished she had a little more backbone than that, and this wasn’t the first time she had thought of this. Mike, being sensitive as usual, lowered his head, and whispered in her ear, "Hey, what's wrong?"
“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Tina said quickly and lifted her head up, throwing on a fake smile.
“I know you better than that,” Mike’s arm made its way behind her chair. “You don’t have to tell me what’s up, but just know I’m here to listen if you need someone to listen to you.”
“It’s just…” Tina started but trailed off. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid if it’s making you upset, tell me.” Mike smiled slightly at her, trying to break the tension between them.
“It’s just I had some ideas for Sectionals this year, but it’s impossible to get in a word in with her,” she stopped and pointed to Rachel. “Always jumping in before everyone else and then Mr. Schue shoots down everyone else’s ideas, so it’s not even worth it.”
Mike looked at her, his smile widening before he stood up. He brought his hand up to his mouth and blew, causing a ear piercing whistle to sound through the choir room. Everyone stopped talking and looked to where he stood in the front row.
Mike cleared his throat before speaking. “I’m sorry to interrupt Rachel, but I think it’s unfair that you just jumped in with your ideas without giving anyone else a chance. I know for a fact Tina has some ideas.”
“I agree with Mike, Tina, would you like to share?” Mr. Schue said, signaling for Rachel to sit down, which the latter did, fuming.
Mike sat down and smiled at Tina and whispered, “You are worth it.”
5.
Brittany wandered down the hall of McKinley. It was early, so not many people were there yet. It was the first day of the year, and she was excited for glee. She hadn’t seen any of her friends this summer, not even Santana. But it wasn’t because she had been busy. It wasn’t like she hung out with Rachel or Kurt or Mercedes regularly anyway, but usually Santana was her constant summer companion.
Not this summer. She had been lonely. Spending her days with Lord Tubbington was like a dream, but it wasn’t the same without her best friend. At first, right after school had let out, she called Santana a few times, but she only got excuses, some of them so lame, even Brittany knew Santana was lying.
She kept calling though, hoping that eventually Santana would give in, but she’d had no luck all summer and she didn’t know why.
She’d wracked her brains for something she had done, but couldn’t come up with anything. Her fingers hovered over the dial on her locker for a few moments, until she gave up and let her head rest against the cool metal.
She had written down her code like she’d been told to, but she’d put it inside her locker she wouldn’t lose it. Santana could fix this.
Brittany figured that the best thing she could do was wait out until the other girl came and hope she would be forgiven. She was kind of nervous. It wasn’t like she was used to this treatment. She’d been friends with Santana since Kindergarten and they’d never ignored each other for so long.
Santana stalked down the corridor. Brittany watched through her peripheral vision. Suddenly, she felt nervous. Sneakers stopped only yards away from her. The silence seemed to last longer than the summer.
“’Tana?” Her reply was a roll of the eyes. A flick of hair. Santana merged into the streams of students shoving their way down the corridor. Her heart sank. At least her locker was open.
6.
Sectionals didn’t turn out the way everyone had planned. The trip there had been awkward and you would need a chainsaw to cut the tension on the bus. Finn wasn’t there and Quinn had never felt so anxious. She knew the pain in her stomach had nothing to do with the pregnancy and she wanted nothing more than to talk to Finn. Puck kept trying to talk to her, to comfort her, but he was not they boy she wanted to speak to. Rachel avoided any eye contact with her and the other members didn’t pay her any attention. As much as she hated to admit it, that hurt. If there was any chance she could continue with the performances today, she knew she would have to give Finn some sort of explanation. At the gas station, Quinn went into the ladies toilet and sent a text message to Finn:
I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me, but I can't hide my feelings anymore.
Quinn still had a hard time accepting what happened between her and Rachel. The entire situation took her by surprise; she wasn't aware of how hard you could fall for someone you were supposed to loathe. But she didn't loathe Rachel anymore -- she adored her. Even with her due date creeping closer, Quinn couldn't get Rachel out of her mind. It was becoming easier to avoid Puck, now that she didn't have to deal with choosing between him or Finn. However, Quinn knew that she had hurt Finn beyond repair by letting Rachel know her feelings. It had shook Rachel to the core and now Rachel was questioning her own relationship with Finn as a result.
Quinn made her way off of the bus and lined up backstage with the rest of the Glee club. She heard Finn's voice in the distance and let out a huge sigh of relief. As long as their golden boy was there, they still had a shot. She had no idea if he would talk to her again, but at least the rest of the Glee club didn't have to find out about her and Rachel. At least not yet.
Once New Directions took the stage, Quinn did all that she could to remain in the shadows. While she was embarrassed about her giant, pregnant stomach, she also wanted to give Finn and Rachel the space to shine. It killed her a little bit on the inside as she watched the two of them performing together, looking as adorable as any couple could. Quinn closed her eyes and pretended she was in Finn's place beside Rachel, singing their hearts out for each other, for the crowd. When she opened her eyes, Quinn realized that she had made her way to center stage and the music had stopped. With a gulp, she took Rachel's hand and made a decision to stop pretending.
7.
“SPIES!”
Puck fought not to look completely embarrassed when everyone turned to look at him after his outburst.
“You’ve been spending too much time with Berry, Puckerman,” Santana finally said.
“Shut up, Santana. We’ve got Dalton douches walking in on our rehearsal for Sectionals and if I have to learn a new set of songs because they suddenly know what we’re doing, I’m going to-“
“We’re actually here to see Blaine and Kurt,” one of the guys-Puck was just going to think of him as Third Asian, he decided-said, interrupting Puck (not cool).
“As you can see, we’re in the middle of rehearsal,” Rachel told him. “As our competition, I think it’s hardly appropriate for you to be in here while we finish. Therefore, please feel free to wait in the choir room while we wrap things up here in the auditorium.”
Puck smirked. Ha, take that, Third Asian.
Third Asian pulled at the knot on his tie and cleared his throat, “We can wait right here until we get to talk to Blaine and Kurt.”
Dude, what was up with those Warblers? That Asian dude was just about as stiff as his tie.
“If you need the Puckasaurus to bring out the big guns and law down the law just let me know,” he said and winked at Rachel.
He did a chest pump and the kid to Third Asian’s left, a skinny blond haired boy, jumped backward. Puck chuckled to himself. Stupid sissies.
“Now Noah, we don’t need to resort to violence,” Rachel said. She turned to the douches that remained rooted to their original spots. “However, you do need to wait outside. Kurt and Blaine will come along after we are finished.”
“But - “ Third Asian interrupted.
Puck was tempted to do another chest pump or even smack down that Asian dude, but Blaine finally manned up.
“Guys, it’s great to see you, but give us a minute. Okay?” Blaine said.
It was weird, like Blaine was their supreme leader even after he had left, and each of them, even that obnoxious Asian with the tight face, exited the room.
Score 1 New Directions; score 0 Warblers.
8.
"I don’t think I can do this."
The words feel foreign leaving her mouth. She has never been unsure about anything-no, that’s a lie, she is always unsure about everything-but Quinn has never said it out loud before. It isn’t exactly something that’s easy to admit.
"What?" Rachel responds. "Quinn, of course you can do this. We’ve been practicing for weeks."
Regret sinks in. She should not have said anything. It doesn’t bother Quinn because she is worried; it bothers her because, for once, she doesn’t have reason to be. They have practiced for weeks. They are ready.
Rachel’s ready. She is ten seconds away from bursting through that curtain and singing their song.
Quinn is anything but. It doesn’t matter how much she practice, or how much encouragement she gets. This will never be something she can mentally prepare for.
She just has to do it. Ready or not.
The countdown starts in her head. Eight seconds. Seven.
"It’ll be okay," Rachel tells her, touching her cheek gently. "You will be perfect."
Four seconds. They break apart and stand at both sets of curtains.
One second.
Rachel bursts out right on her cue singing her heart out, she quickly glances over but Quinn has not appeared yet. A little moment of panic settles in but it only lasts one second.
Quinn walks out, maybe a second later than she had to but she is greeted by such an enthusiastic audience that she immediately forgets the feelings she just had seconds ago. Rachel's words had already helped her calm down and find the courage to even go out there but it is the audience, all on their feet already that gave her that last push she needed to be secure.
They both walk down their paths in between the audience singing and stealing sideways glances of each other.
Rachel gives her an encouraging smile and Quinn smiles back thankfully just before they lock hands and walked up on the stage together.
Their hands still locked they stand on the stage singing their last lines together before the rest of the club joins them for the big finale of this song and to perform the rest of their set list.
9.
Mercedes glared at her phone. “I’m going to kick those boys’ asses when they finally get here!”
“Girls, being angry isn’t getting us anywhere. Finn and Blaine aren’t picking up their phone; I’m worried. ” Kurt said, looking anxiously at his phone, hoping to see his boyfriend’s name pop up.
“Neither is my idiot!” Lauren said.
“They’re going to make us lose because of their lack of punctuality, which is going to make me look bad. We should have made them choose between Sectionals and their stupid football game! Who knows where they are now, getting drunk at some jock party... We need a boy for Kurt’s duet! I would volunteer to do a fantastic solo myself, but unfortunately, Kurt’s duet would guarantee us first place.”
The new girls agreed with Rachel.
Brittany sighed “I miss Artie...” hugging Santana. “And his wheelchair...” she added as an afterthought.
Everybody looked up when Mr Schue entered the room with Dave Karofsky in tow.
“What are you doing here?” Santana said, glaring at her ‘boyfriend’ forgetting that she’d forced him to come.
“Dave witnessed the football team and hockey team beating up the boys.”
Collective gasps ran through the room, but Mr Schue wasn’t done yet. “Dave called the police before it got out of hand. Everybody’s fine, except for a couple of bruises and scratches.”
“They’re not likely to get here in 20 minutes, are they?”
“I’m afraid not, Tina.” Mr Schuester said sadly. “They’re filing complaints now.”
Rachel approached Dave with determination. “While I believe you have changed and are on your way to becoming a likable person, I still don’t like you.” She said, placing her hands on her hips. “However, you may be our only chance.”
Dave frowned “The hell are you getting at, Berry?”
“Can you sing?”
“What?!”
“I said ‘Can you sing?’”
Dave looked around suspiciously “yeah, I can sing, not that it’s any of your business”
The girls all looked at each other then at Kurt “oh, girls, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all” he said
“What choice do we have? We need this duet, if we don’t even try then we lose, at least with this we might have a chance” Tina said looking at Dave with a little disgust.
“It’s this or nothing” Mercedes conceded
“You have to be kidding, there is NO WAY I’m singing with another dude, that’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard” Dave turned to leave.
Kurt started to follow but was stopped by Santana “I’ll talk to him, I’m sure his…girlfriend can convince him…”
Santana caught up to Dave, “hey, meat-head! I wouldn’t leave if I was you”
“Like you could stop me”
“You know I could, If you don’t help us out here, I’m going to be help you “out” on stage” she raised her eyebrows knowingly.
“You can’t do that!” Dave panicked
“Sure I can”
“If you do that…… then I’ll do the same!”
Santana shrugged “I figure you have far more to lose than me, you wouldn’t be able to play sport in school again, no guy is gonna want you in their locker room, you’d be an outcast. As where I am already in the gayest club in school, so I’m not sure people will care all that much”
“I don’t know about that, you didn’t see the hockey team fighting…..” Dave said quietly. “But if I sing on stage….. “ Dave worried
Santana got closer “look we aren’t even at school, how many people do you think are going to hear about this?”
Dave huffed “FINE, but you owe me BIG”
10.
- - -
11.
Quinn walked out onto the stage and found her place. As the curtain began to rise, she took a deep, deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. The rest of the club was standing in formation facing her as she stood with her back to the audience in the dim light.
Quinn thought about how hard it had been and how tirelessly she had worked to get to this point. Of course Man Hands had assumed she was singing all of the solos at Sectionals, which Quinn would not put up with for the third time. Without a pregnancy or a new romance or anything else to distract her, Quinn was just aching for a cause and what's better than trying to take Rachel Berry down a notch? Of course, Quinn never tried, she always just did. What was that line that Sam had quoted to her last year? Something from that little green guy in Star Wars or Star Trek? Anyway, she had set her mind to dethroning Rachel through a series of surreptitious attacks and manipulative usage of the other glee club members, and she had succeeded. She might have felt bad if it were anyone else, but come on, it's Rachel freaking Berry.
As the first notes of the music drifted out of the auditorium speakers, Quinn panicked. This couldn't be happening. After everything, after all she did, was she really forgetting the words!?
Suddenly it was like the expectations of the team were a physical thing, surrounding her and muffling her and lodging in her throat. She remembered her impassioned speech to the club about why she should be allowed to do this, the slow fight to win them over to her cause one by one, the arguments and the diva-offs that had come down to this one moment, this one last chance where all their hopes rested on her.
She suddenly wished it was Rachel up here instead of her. She suddenly wasn’t so sure she could do this.
Then the tempo of the music raised. Brit and Santana walked forward on either side of her and she turned automatically, and suddenly the words were there, her head was clear and she could breathe again as her friends danced around her. It wasn’t foreign or hard of suffocating and she could DO this.
Her cue came and, almost with no conscious input, the words flowed out of her and she was moving and dancing as the other team members twirled around her.
After, when they held the trophy high, she wouldn’t admit to that moment of weakness, she locked it down inside but, later, she would remember how it had felt, and how she’d gone on to win anyway.
12.
New Directions takes first place at Sectionals and, for a minute, it’s almost enough to make Quinn forget the disaster her life has become. Almost. But then she’s sitting in the back seat of the bus and her hand brushes over the gentle curve of her belly and she remembers everything. She remembers the people she’s hurt -Finn, Puck, Santana, her parents- and the disappointment she saw in their eyes. It’s enough to make her want to throw up.
She’s staring absently out the window of the bus, watching the trees whiz by, when she feels someone slip into the seat beside her.
Santana clears her throat, “Hey.”
“Hi,” Quinn replies, looking over at her. “I thought you weren’t talking to me anymore.”
She shrugs, her eyes drifting to Quinn’s belly. “Finn kick you out?”
“Yeah,” she nods, chewing on her bottom lip.
“Do you need somewhere to stay?”
Quinn shakes her head. “I moved in with Puck.”
“Oh, right,” Santana sighs. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she tells her, even though she’s already turned her attention back to the window.
“Why did you do it?”
MY PART TWO IS BELOW
Quinn doesn’t respond, instead she rests her hands one her growing belly and sighs. Now that everything is out in the open she doesn’t know why she lied about Finn being the father of her baby. It seemed right at the time, she had just found out she was pregnant and she knew her life was about to be turned upside down so she had tried to hold onto the one thing she thought she could, Finn. It hadn’t been hard to convince herself that Finn would be a better father then Puck, or at least she had until Puck surprised her and was supportive.
“What would you have done Santana?” Quinn asked instead of answering.
“Used a condom,” Santana retorted with a smirk causing Quinn to shoot a glare at her.
“I didn’t think Puck would make a good father,” Quinn stated softly.
They sat in silence, both girls staring out the window before Santana softly patted Quinn’s shoulder and stood up, “I can understand why you would think that Quinn, but you had also never seen him with his sister. Give Puck a chance, he’ll surprise you.”
Quinn nodded in response and watched as Santana walked back to her seat. Her hands continued to rest on her growing stomach and she said a silent prayer hoping that Santana was right.
13.
“Guys, Guys!” Cried Mr. Shue as he ran into the choir room waving a slip of paper. “You guys, OMG!!”.
The choir room fell silent as everyone tried to figure out why their director was acting like a 13 year old girl who just discovered that her (omgIlovehimsooomuch) favourite celebrity crush was in town just to see her.
“Ummm, Mr. Shue”, says Finn, cautiously, “you’re kinda freaking us out”.
“Mars!!” cries Shue, “Mars guys!!”
Everyone shuffled nervously as they watched their teacher flail about the room. Wondering if perhaps, the unresolved sexual tension that had been simmering between Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillbury had finally gotten the better of their teacher, Finn slowly begins to sneak toward the exit, planning to get help for his obviously unstable teacher. Just as he reaches the door Mr. Shue finally seems to pull himself together.
“Sorry guys”, says Shue, “this is just huge”, breathes their teacher as he finally takes a seat at the front of the room. “We thought we’d lost out when we lost at sectionals this year, but boy were we wrong! Someone out there was watching and took notice of your amazing talent! We've been invited to participate in something much, much, bigger.”
Everyone shifts excitedly, waiting to hear what Shue had to say.
"This year, we shall be competing in the Intergallactic Show Choir Championships on Mars!"
The whole choir rooms buzzes with excitement.
Rachel's eyes grow crazier and crazier as she envisions her dreams coming true, "I'm going to be the star I have always longed to be. A real star. Performing amoung the stars!"
Kurt claps merrily, "I don't want to seem cliché gay, but I think now would be the perfect time to start rehearsing a tribute to the fabulous Elton John. Rocket Man. Nothing could be more fitting."
Artie high-fives Mike as they start discussing space exploration and the moments they plan on re-creating from their favourite science fiction comics.
Brittany meanwhile ponders aloud to Santana if Artie's dad will be joining them, "Y'know, because he's into space and stuff."
"Is he? I guess he told you that when you and Artie were together..."
"No. I saw it on TV. He's really famous because he's super smart even though he's got a strange voice."
"Brit... Are you talking about Stephen Hawking.. because that's not Artie's dad..."
"Oh..."
All the while, Sue Sylvester listens from the doorway, hidden just out of sight. "Pffft, 'Glee Club'... 'Gullible Club' more like."
14.
Puck was sitting in Spanish class daydreaming. It was the only class he really turned up to. For one, Mr. Schue was his teacher and two, he really needed to learn Spanish. There was some really hot ladies down in Mexico - he wanted to go down there and seduce them all.
But that wasn't the only reason: Puck had a love for burritos. A love much greater than any love he'd had before. He needed Spanish so he could go order great burritos from all over Mexico.
All of a sudden, Schue asked, "El Pucko, cántame una canción," which in English translates to "Puck, sing me song." Puck looked at Mr. Schue mortified. All he could think about were the hot latinos and the dancing burritos that were in his daydream. How could he sing a song at a time like this? Why on earth was Schue asking him to sing during Spanish anyways?
Then it hit him. The perfect song. He could do this.
“Un momento!” Puck said and dashed out the door, not waiting for permission. If he was going to make a fool of himself in class, he was going to do it right. He quickly ran to his locker, grabbed his guitar and took off running.
He skidded to a halt in front of the door to find Mr. Schue reviewing the verb “cantar”:
“Yo canto....clase!”
“Yo canto,” 30 voices mimicked back to him listlessly.
“Mr. Schue! I...got...it!” Puck said breathlessly from the front of the class.
“Puede proceder.” Puck had no idea what Schue had just said, but he assumed it was the go ahead to sing from the fact that Mr. Schue had sat down.
Though his mind had been momentarily clouded with adrenaline from running to get his guitar, his love of burritos quickly returned to him.
“This song is dedicated to the love of my life.”
Santana perked up a bit in her seat. Though she loved Brittany and has come to terms with her sexuality, she always had a soft spot for Puck.
“BURRITOS!” Puck crooned as he strummed an unmistakably Spanish chord of his guitar - Santana slumped back down in her seat.
Yo soy in love with you, Burritos
Mi corazón, it beats for you, Burritos
When I think of your delicious queso sauce
Your spicy carne, your tasty pimientos
It makes me caliente!
Yo soy in love with you, Burritos!!
Puck finished his song, finding himself with one leg on top of Jacob’s desk. Everyone in the class was staring at him with absolutely nothing to say.
“That was….interesante, el Pucko. Please...have a seat.”
Puck returned to his own seat while Mr. Schue went back to verb conjugations. Puck returned to his day dreams of those fine Spanish ladies holding trays of burritos….
15.
Sectionals had always been Finn’s favorite competition. It didn’t have the higher stakes of Regionals, and Nationals in New York had been enough pressure to make his neck sweat. But even more than that, Finn just felt there was something special about Sectionals. That first year, after the other teams stole the New Directions’ numbers, they’d all had to come together as a team in order to just perform, let alone win. Since then, Finn knew, they’d been a family.
But this year, he wasn’t sure they’d even make it to Sectionals. Three weeks into senior year, everything was in a shambles. They were short a few members, without Sam; then Lauren quit, and Quinn hadn’t shown up all semester. Santana was trying to use her Bully Whips power to recruit some new members, but nobody had joined them yet. Morale was low. It was bad enough Kurt seemed distant from the rest of the team, but Mr. Schue was picking horrible songs and Rachel, once the leader and shining star, seemed entirely disinterested in the group’s success.
New Directions needed a new direction.
He had to get Rachel behind him, then he could get everyone on board. But first he needed a plan. A good plan.
He played nine hours of Call of Duty: Black Ops before he had a plan forming. No, it wouldn't be a first person shooter thing, he didn't think violence was a good thing to encourage in glee club, because they all kind of spazzed out. But they could totally do tactical strikes and awesome formations and covering flanks.
Rachel blinked when he told her his ideas, but then she smiled, a real pretty smile. "That's perfect, Finn!"
And so, there was singing all throughout the school. A member of New Directions at the corners of the corridors. Lauren re-joined, Quinn started to at least smile (even if she said, she'd still have to think about re-joining), Kurt invited everyone over for free food, and Santana had the Bully Whips... keep doing Bully Whip things.
But all in all, Finn was feeling much more optimistic about the group's future. And this year's sectionals was going to be totally awesomesauce.
16.
Another year, another Sectionals. The William McKinley High School Glee Club had been preparing harder than ever, and they were confident they’d breeze their way through to Nationals yet again. One thing they hadn’t prepared for however, was one Sue Sylvester.
Sue was on a mission: a mission to prevent the atrocious New Directions from competing at all costs. She couldn’t even remember the reason why she was so incredibly dead-set against them anymore, it was just ingrained in her nature. It was her motivation to get out of bed each morning.
There was a knock on her office door.
“Ah, Becky, did you get it?”
“Yes, Coach.” Becky handed over the dirty, broken-toothed hair comb.
“Good, good. I know you must be wondering why I asked you to steal this for me, Becky. It has come to my attention that this hair comb is the talisman that has lead the talentless Glee Club to victory several times in the past. I’m afraid I cannot allow this to continue...”
Her plan was an ingenious one, naturally. No more messing around with amateur skullduggery such as the pitiful League of Doom. It was time to get down to business and put a stop to that deplorable Glee Club once and for all.
The New Directions chattered happily as they climbed on the bus, giddy to arrive at Sectionals and show everyone what they were made of. After all, this year, they had Kurt back AND Blaine, and they were more prepared than ever. No more silly original songs, no more Finn and Rachel duets, and most importantly, no more Journey.
The wheelchair lift brought Artie up onto the bus and once he was secured in, they were off. The bus ride was filled with loud singing games, lots of laughing, some secret kissing in the back of the bus which Mr. Schue quickly broke up once he discovered, and lots of loud speculation of what the other groups would be doing. (Which came entirely from Rachel.) None of them noticed the loud ticking noise of the bomb until it was too late.
The bus sat at the side of the road in flames, and a car pulled up behind it. Sue got out, laughing maniacally, her hands held dramatically in the air. "YES!" she declared. "I HAVE FINALLY RID THE WORLD OF THE NEW DIRECTIONS FOR GOOD!" Her laughter continued on and on and on .... until a beeping noise brought it to a halt and Will sat up straight in bed, drenched in sweat.
It was just a dream, he told himself, calming his heart. Just a nightmare. Sue would never really be that evil.
............ Or would she?
17.
It was a revoltingly hot day of the Indian summer they had to endure in Ohio when petite Rachel, wearing mid length black tights and a neon blue tank top, her hair up in a simple ponytail, shyly opened the door of the gym class.
The heat flushed her cheeks instantly, turning them into glowing ones and she suddenly felt overdressed. This was hot yoga and she should have figured out that there was going to be an awful heat. She then examined the girls that had their mats already set.
She saw Quinn the girl with the perfect looks across the room, but there was something different about her. Instead of her golden locks, a bold pink met her insistent gaze. Once the girl turned her head around, she rapidly moved her peek to the huge mirror in front of her and finally arranged her mat.
She tried keeping up with the others, but she couldn’t, since the class was for the advanced only and she was only a beginner, but her ambition was so strong that she just couldn’t give in. The instructor asked multiple times if she was alright, but she kept responding with the same words.
“Rachel, I think you should slow down, drink some water and rest. You’ve already done more than enough for your first day.”
“I appreciate your concern. I acquire the need to tell you that I am in great condition. The hot air is doing its magic."
Suddenly, her hands collapsed under her body weight and she landed painfully against the floor. Everyone stopped for a moment and so did the pink haired girl at the sight of Rachel standing there with tears in her eyes. Her heart leaped into her chest and she rushed by her side in seconds.
"Rachel-" Quinn started, but even that small kindness was too much for the overwrought Rachel to take.
"I can't even do this right," Rachel said, and it echoed out into the yoga room like a gun shot, and every face turned to her. Quinn could literally see the rainbow of emotions that fell over Rachel's pale, drawn face, and she recognized each and every one of them. Because they were emotions *she* had felt since losing the Sectionals so badly in front of so many of their peers.
Rachel turned and fled from the room, her ponytail streaming behind her, and Quinn didn't even falter for a second. Blonde Quinn, cheerleader Quinn, wouldn't have even gone to Rachel's side; following her felt natural, like something she wanted to do, and that was what dyeing her hair was about in the first place.
Doing what she *wanted*, rather than what she thought she *should* be doing.
Quinn had finally realized the right thing for her, and she didn't know if she could help Rachel realize it too. But when she found Rachel, hiding in the back of the theatre, and Rachel smiled up at her... well, there was hope for it.
And if there was a world where Rachel Berry would let Quinn Fabray help her? It was a world where anything was possible, including New Directions winning next year's Sectional. And when Rachel stopped crying, that was the first thing Quinn was going to tell her.
18.
The door bell rang through Rachel's house, it was the morning after the first huge party the Glee kids celebrated. She went to the door and who was it? She wasn't expecting this, it was Puck.
"Noah, what are you doing here?” she asked nervously.
"Good morning. Last night was a blast and I have the worst hangover, but I still can remember how I said I would replace the booze, so get ready now before I change my mind", Puck rambled.
Rachel bit her lip. "Okay, let me grab my jacket real quick", she said, went back into the house to get it. Puck waited outside.
"We can go", Rachel said with a smile, closing the door behind her. Puck smiled back.
And so Rachel and Puck went to the supermarket.
Rachel and Puck finally arrive at the local supermarket.
“Jez, Noah, I glad we made it safely. How fast were you going? I’m pretty sure you weren’t going to speed limit at all.” Rachel said unbuckling her seatbelt and trying to fix her hair after being messed up because Puck refused to put up the window.
“Berry, you need to learn to loosen up more. You are always so up tight about everything.” Puck said unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing out of the car.
“Come; let’s get the booze, so I can go home and go back to sleep.” Puck said.
Rachel walked faster to catch up to him trying not to hit the water puddles in the parking lot.
They both got in the store. “I’ll go get a cart” Rachel shouted to Puck who was already looking at other things.
They both were walked through the store and they finally got to alcohol section.
“Ok. Just keep right behind me and I will just put a few things in the cart” Puck said.
Puck walked down the aisle talking to himself “Beer, wine, and some vodka. That should do it.” He said.
“Wait, Noah, What are we doing? We’re not old enough to buy this stuff. What are were going to do? Rachel said concerned and nervous.
“It’s ok I have everything under control. It’s going to be fine. This isn’t the first time that I have done this, you know.” Puck said very confident.
“Ok, if you say so” Rachel very nervously.
They got to a check out and started putting things on the check out counter to be checked out. Rachel heart was pounding so hard, she thought it was going to be coming out her chest. They got checked out and Rachel wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
“Well, we did Berry” Puck said proudly.
“Yeah, we did, I can’t believe that I did such a thing.” Rachel said as she could finally breathe again.
Rachel had fun. Rachel was really turned on by Puck’s bad boy behavior. She really liked the rush she felt when she was with Puck. She didn’t want it to end.
19.
David Karofsky may have some regrets in his life. Okay, to be honest with himself, he had a lot of regrets. Mostly revolving around one Kurt Hummel and the last three years of his life. He wished he hadn’t been so rough with Kurt, he wished he could take back all the hurtful stuff he did or said. He wished he could have been honest with himself from the start. But most of all, he wanted to be able to go back one year. Just one year and take the chance to dance with Kurt on their prom.
Walking away from the dance floor had hunted his every thought for the whole of last year. Now, prom was coming again. Their last prom, his last chance. He knew Kurt had big dreams of going to New York, to be someone, while he would be forever stuck at Lima. A loser, he had called Kurt and many other kids on school. If only he had know who was the real loser back then.
His Senior year had been a quite different from the rest of high school. The events of the last year spurred David to make major changes in his life over the Summer- the biggest being coming out to his family. He quit the all sports teams, and spent time studying. Once school had started, David kept to himself. Somehow, coming out to the entire school was harder than even telling his Dad.
Kurt had been voted Prom Queen last year as a joke; but this year, he’d been voted Prom King because he’d won over the McKinley student population.
Miss Pillsbury called out the name of this year’s Prom Queen- Brittany S. Pierce (though no one was actually sure if she had the grades to graduate, everybody loved her.) Kurt and Brittany moved towards the middle of the dance floor to start their dance as Prom Queen & Prom King.
David Karofsky summoned up his courage, and tapped Kurt on the shoulder. “Can I have this dance?”
Kurt raised his eyebrow, but didn’t speak.
“Last year, I wasn’t ready. Last year, I couldn’t be honest with myself. I didn’t like myself. But I see you, and you don’t hide or pretend or try to be something that you’re not. And this is my Senior year, my last chance, to be as courageous with you and admit to everyone that I’m gay.”
Kurt smiled. “It takes a lot of courage to say that.”
Someone in the crowd began to applaud- it might have been Santana? One by one, the members of New Directions clapped. Azimio joined in, followed by others in the crowd. Some students stood silent, frowns on their faces, disapproving- but their approval didn’t matter to David Karofsky half as much as his opinion of himself.
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Deadline: November 1, at 11:59pm, EST. (Time Left)