Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 44th cycle. Now cycle 45!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 45 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: A Dish Best Served Cold, chapter 5.

"Take the Floor"
15yo Mike/Tina
Chang Squared
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Later she would describe this moment as the longest twenty seconds of her life.

It had started a few days ago, when Mike had made his suggestion, presented the thought that she should stage some sort of coup, to get back her spot on the Cheerios. She'd hesitated about it at first, fearing the wrath of Sylvester for even defying her decision, but he was right: the worst she could do was say no… right?

First she had gone to Brittany, as suggested. The blonde was her one true friend on the squad. Even after she had been thrown out, she still talked to her, and she'd say how much she missed her. So the afternoon after the plan had been hatched, she had called shown up early, aiming to ambush her friend. She really wanted to get her alone, not with her other friends. Santana and Quinn had not been as understanding of the fact that, just because she wasn't on the squad anymore it didn't mean they had to ignore her having ever existed in their social circle. Luckily, after the other two had gone in, Brittany had stayed behind, having tripped on her laces. As she stood there crouched and laboring over the damned laces, Tina had gone over to her.

"Britt, hey…" she'd started, and a moment later the startled cheerleader had tipped back and fallen into a seated position. "Sorry, are you okay?" Tina chuckled when she saw her laugh about it.

"I'm okay," Brittany assured her.

"Can I talk to you about something?" They had gone to the side, to the spot where Tina had been waiting for her. She didn't necessarily want it to look like she was hiding, or else someone might have tipped them off to the coach, but she didn't want to be too in the open either. "I need your help with something."

"Sure, what is it?" the blonde had asked.

"I want to get back on the Cheerios, and I have an idea how, but I can't do it alone."

"What about Coach Sylvester?"

"I'm going to try and convince her to take me back, by proving to her that I belong there."

"How?"

"At the next game, I want to do the half-time routine with you guys. Actually, for this to work I would need to take the lead position." Brittany's eyes went wide.

"How are you going to do that? They called you a fish or something."

"A fish?" Tina asked.

"A piranha…" Brittany nodded. 'Pariah, great,' Tina had thought, then shook her head.

"You're going to help me convince them."

"I am?"

"Hopefully," Tina nodded.

"I can try. But they get really cranky, especially when Coach Sylvester has 'special cleanse blend' weeks," she cringed and Tina shuddered.

"Okay, well… how about this: who's got lead for the next game's routine?" Brittany thought about it, then remembered.

"Wait, I do." Tina blinked.

"That's perfect!" her voice had gone a little higher than she would have hoped, but luckily no one was really paying attention to them. "Here's what we'll do…"

As they days were going by, getting them closer and closer to the game, she didn't know how she was managing not to sweat buckets every day. She hated the wait, wanted to just go through with it, but it had to be at the game, not before. So far the plan had come together brilliantly, but it was easy for that to be the case when there were still so few pieces in play. For now the only people who knew what she was aiming to do were herself, Mike, and Brittany. The rest of the squad would not know until the day of the game itself, and once they did, she would either get her chance, or she would get shot down.

She didn't have a Cheerios uniform to put on, seeing as the coach had made her turn them all in, the day she was thrown out. But that was okay. She was going to earn it back. Besides, if she was going to stand out, like Mike had told her she should, then wearing a Cheerios uniform would defeat the purpose. She chose a dress, still with enough of the school colors to make her feel like she belonged with them.

The day of the game finally came, and she was starting to think her nerves might betray her before she got a chance to do this. But she showed up at school, went toward the locker room and then she waited, hiding. She had to wait until the rest of the squad was in there, but the coach wasn't. For that, Mike had volunteered himself… sacrificed, was more like it. He would distract the coach, keep her away long enough for her to make her proposition to the squad. She stood, and she waited, and then when they had gone far enough, she went up to the door and slipped in.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Santana was the first to see her, and soon all eyes were on her.

"Don't let Coach Sylvester catch you here or she'll have you polishing her trophies for hours," another one shook her head, chuckling.

"Let her talk," Brittany stood tall, and Tina had never been prouder to call her a friend.

"I know you guys haven't been speaking to me since I got kicked off the squad, and I don't actually hold it against you. But right now I need your help, to get back on the squad." There were a few laughs.

"You're kidding, right?" Quinn shook her head. "That's not going to happen."

"Maybe, maybe not. But I've got to try, and I would get a much better chance if you were all on my side, helping me."

"How?" Santana asked.

"At half-time, I'll take Brittany's spot in the routine."

"Do you even know the steps?" one asked.

"Better than you," Tina lashed back, and the girl glared.

"I showed it to her," Brittany explained.

"Look, what happened with me, it could have been any of you, and you know that. At any time, she'll pick up her list, and she'll decide 'you're no good to me anymore.' I thought I was able to just let it happen, but that's not true, I won't let it. We were teammates once, and I want us to be teammates again, but for that I need to know you've got my back, just this once." There was a moment of silence, and if it stretched out any longer than she'd know all hope was…

"Sure, alright," one of the girls in the back nodded. "Let's show her." That started a few of them nodding as well, which coursed like a chain reaction. In the end, even Quinn and Santana had agreed, and Tina smiled… One less thing to worry about.

But then there was just one more thing, and it counted for most of it: she had to go through with it, and she had to get Sylvester's answer.

Waiting out the first half of the game wasn't so bad once she had Mike back by her side. He looked slightly traumatized from his attempts to keep the coach away, but he had succeeded, which was what mattered for now. The closer they got, the more her feet tapped, or trembled, she wasn't sure anymore. She felt his hands cover her in support and she smiled.

Finally it was half time, and in yet another stroke of luck, with how the whole thing was laid out, she would be able to make her entrance and have the performance start, all before Sue would see her, much less realize what was going on, and once the performance had started, she knew she wouldn't be stopped; it wasn't the coach's style.

She left Mike in the stands, while she joined the rest of the squad, passing Brittany, who had found a new place to stand, while what would have been her spotlight was left vacant… for her. Tina had never done anything like this, but Mike had been right… she wasn't ready to let it go. So if that was what it took…

The music started, the lights came on, and they were on. She led the charge, as the crowd erupted. They probably didn't even realize anything was out of the ordinary, for all they knew this was just as things had been planned. Tina didn't try and find the Coach's eye, knowing that would probably destabilize her. Instead she didn't focus on anyone, she just went right for it… With the roar of the crowd, and the throbbing of the music, it brought her right back to how things had been before she'd been thrown off the squad, and even better. This may well have been the best she'd ever been. When the song had ended and she stood there, panting from the exertion, with the ongoing cheers from the stands, she felt… electrical.

But now the moment of truth was coming. The Cheerios had to retreat to the sidelines, and there she would find the coach waiting. In all of twenty seconds she would be face to face with the woman, and she wasn't sure what would happen. She couldn't read her face.

From the stands, Mike had watched, trying as best he could to see the exchange, even if he couldn't hear it. What he saw was Sue apparently talking very animatedly in the beginning, and then sort of calmer. The whole time, Tina just stood there, facing her, and he wasn't sure what was happening. But then Tina was coming back toward the stands, toward him. He climbed down, dropping to his feet before her.

"So what did she say?" he asked, more nervous than he'd anticipated.

Tina stared at him for a while, betraying nothing until…a smile. He almost needed to hear her say it again, he was stunned, but then he hugged her, practically lifted her off the ground, much to her delight. He held her close, and she held right back… She'd done it. He'd had his doubts, about the coach, never about Tina, but she'd gone and pulled it off… They had done it, together, she would tell him.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!