Acceptance. Mr. Shue wrote the word in capital letters on the board.
"We're not in Glee club Mr. Shue," Sam said, "You don't have to come up with a theme or anything".
"Yeah Mr. Shue," Kurt agreed, "I kinda just thought that since this was the first meeting, we could all try to get to know each other."
"That's what this exercise is going to be Kurt. I want you all to dig deep inside yourselves. I want you to find the story that sticks out in your mind when you think of the word acceptance, whether it's a story of someone accepting you or you accepting yourself. It can be painful or it can have a happy ending, but I want you guys to be able to relate to each other. Even those of you that are straight should be able to think of something."
The kids in the GSA looked around at the room, obviously not thrilled with the idea of sharing such personal stories, but knowing that it was important to get the ball rolling.
When no one spoke up, Rachel said, "Fine. You guys know how I wanted to get a nose job right?" Almost everyone in the room nodded. "Well, what you guys didn't know was that it wasn't because I wanted to improve my voice. I've always been insecure about my nose, but not just my nose, my whole body. That's something that I've always felt. No one could make me feel better about myself, well that is, except for one girl."
Rachel flashed a dazzling smile at Quinn, causing the girl to blush. "Well, we all remember when I embarrassed myself and tried to seduce Finn by dressing up as one of those girls from Grease." Now it was Rachel's turn to blush. "Well, that wasn't the only time I tried to seduce Finn. Each time ended badly, with him either running away because I scared him or because he didn't want me. One day, Quinn," the girl blushed again just at the sound of her name, "found me crying in the bathroom. I ended up spilling the entire story to her, along with the fact that I thought I was ugly and that was why he didn't love me. I told her that I was certainly too unattractive for anyone to ever want me." Rachel blushed again. "Well, I'll spare you guys the details, but let me tell you, she proved me wrong." Rachel got up and walked around the circle that they were all sitting in and sat down in Quinn's lap. "This amazing girl right here convinced me that I am worth something; even when I feel like I'm the most unattractive person on the planet, she continues to convince me otherwise."
Rachel placed a chaste kiss on Quinn's lips, causing everyone in the room – except Brittany and Santana – to gasp. Quinn quickly pulled away and pretended to glare at Rachel. "I thought you were gonna let me tell everyone!" she wined. Rachel laughed and said, "I just couldn't keep the secret any longer!"
Everyone in the room started talking all at once, obviously excited about this new piece of gossip. Brittany and Santana high fived the girls and Santana whispered something in Quinn's ear that made her turn even a deeper shade of red.
After a few moments, the room settled down. Quinn picked the small girl up off her lap and said, "I guess that means it's my turn. My story doesn't have a happy ending, but it is a lot shorter than Rachel's," Quinn said, her eyes teasing her girlfriend. Everyone laughed, but quickly became quiet again, waiting for Quinn to share her story.
After a moment, Quinn said, "My parents kicked me out. They walked in on me and Rach making out, and without saying anything, they threw a duffel at my head and waited while I packed my things." A few tears fell from her blue eyes as she said, "They didn't speak a word to me, they just pointed to the door, the disappointment clearly stated on their faces. I haven't spoken to them in over a month."
The kids enveloped Quinn in a group hug, and it didn't take long for the smile to reappear on her face. "Thanks guys," she said. "And hey, just in case you guys were wondering, Rachel is totally worth it".
The room erupted in cheers. Sam screamed, "Whipped!" but Quinn was too busy kissing Rachel to care.
Next, Kurt told his "Mellencamp" story, earning some hearty laughter from Sam and Dave, who had yet to hear the story.
Santana and Brittany's story was obviously intertwined. "You remember what it was like to come out, right Britt?"
Brittany's normally sunny face filled with clouds as she said, "How could I forget? We ended up in the emergency room, you with a broken arm and me with extremely irritated eyes from all the slushies that were tossed our way".
The kids nodded as the recounted the scary fight in the hallway and the few minutes before the ambulance came. When the hallway is empty, it's still easy to imagine Brittany's screams. She lost vision in one eye that day, making it impossible for her to cheer anymore. Brittany eyes filled with tears as she said, "That day was so scary. That was the day that I realized that people liked the idea of girls who liked other girls. They don't really like girls like us though". Quinn and Rachel nodded in agreement, obviously understand the girl's pain.
The entire room became lost in their own thoughts until Dave cleared his throat. Everyone in the room looked up at him expectantly awaiting his story. "When I first realized I liked boys," Dave ignored the collective gasp filled the room, "I hated myself. I buried the feelings deep inside me until I exploded". Dave glanced up at Kurt with an apologetic look in his eyes. "I hated who I became because I couldn't accept myself. One day, I just had to sit down and say to myself, 'I'm gay. And that's totally okay. I can like whomever I want. It doesn't matter what other people think, it just matters that I'm in love". Sam grinned sheepishly as Dave asked, "Do you want to tell them, or should I?"
"Why don't we show them?" Sam said as he leaned over to kiss his boyfriend. The whole room erupted with shouts, but Rachel could be heard above the ruckus as she screamed, "Is ANYONE in this room straight?" The whole room erupted with laughter as they congratulated the two boys. Santana screamed, "Get some!" as Dave leaned over to kiss Sam again. Sam pulled away, blushing and said, "I guess it's my turn."
He waited for everyone to settle down before saying, "Last week, I took Dave to my church. We walked into the room holding hands, and within two minutes, my youth pastor came over to us and said, 'You can't be here'. Now, you have to understand, it's not like Dave and I were making out on the stage or anything, we were just holding hands. I tried to reason with him, told him that we weren't hurting anyone. I reminded him that my father was an elder of the church and he said, 'Well, we'll have to see to changing that,'" Sam took a moment to steady his voice before he said, "Because we can't have an elder who has a faggot for a son".
The whole room became deathly silent as everyone realized they all had something in common. All of them faced the same kind of adversity, even the easy-going quarterback. All of them were in the same boat. They needed each other, and they always would.
The ties that formed over the next two years carried them well beyond their high school years and into their adult lives. Once every three years, the kids met up in the choir room, and sat in a circle, just like they had all those years ago, and caught up on life. They were the group Rachel ran to when an esteemed critic called her "a dressed up dyke" after her first Broadway performance. The group was brought together again when some homophobic boys in her school killed Brittany and Santana's first child. But these friends didn't only comfort each other when things got hard. They were there when Kurt's first line of clothing was released to the public. They stood hand in hand in Washington, D.C. as they fought for their rights to love and marriage. They cried tears of joy as they watched each other walk down the aisle into the arms of their true love.
What started out as a way to educate and relate, became so much more than a safe haven, it became a family.