It was challenge day at McKinley High School, no one knew what to expect. There was only one thing that everyone heard about Challenge Day, that one thing was that everyone cries no matter who you are boy or girl, gay or straight, tough or weak you were going to cry. Most of the students of McKinley High School didn't believe that, especially the tough ones. Everyone filed into the cafeteria first, everyone who was participating was to meet there first, and about 100 students in the school were participating that day, most of them only going because it was a day of missing out of classes. All the Glee Club kids sat together, as they usually did. Rachel sipped her coffee as she was the last to sit down. "So Finn do you think you're going to cry?" Finn looked over at Rachel, he hesitated with his answer. "What? No, of coarse I'm not going to cry. Men don't cry." Kurt stared at his step brother with an odd expression on his face, especially since Finn had seen Kurt cry on multiple occasions. What? Was he not really a man or something? Finn looked back at Kurt apologetically and Kurt just looked down at his own coffee. Blaine was next to step into the conversation. "I don't see anything wrong with men getting emotional, we all have emotions." Then Puck stepped into the conversation. "Yeah but men know how to control their emotions so they don't look like a pu-." He was interrupted by Mercedes "That's enough guys, I agree with Blaine. I really like a guy that has a sensitive side who isn't afraid to cry." Blaine smiled over at Mercedes. "Thank you Mercedes." She smiled back at him then they heard a loud voice quieting everyone down. Ms. Pillsbury and Mr. Schuster stood before them; they were the ones that brought this program to the school. Everyone lined up in two straight lines, ready to enter the gym. That's where they would be locked up, all day. As they entered the gym, they were greeted by teachers and facilitators cheering them on and giving them high fives as they walked to take there seats. A lot of them laughed and they all sat together.
They were surrounded by signs with the encouraging words 'Be the Change', two people from the Challenge Day program stood before them, one was named Angela, and the other was named Sean. Angela stepped up first. "Welcome everyone to the Challenge Day program. My name is Angela, everyone say what's up Angela?" Everyone repeated what she said. "And this is my partner Sean, everyone say what's up Sean?" Everyone repeated her again. The two Challenge Day leaders explained what would happen throughout the day. The first thing they were to do was play some games. The goal of the games was to get everyone out of their comfort zone; the games were designed to make them feel somewhat uncomfortable. They played one game where they said a phrase such as 'If you're wearing blue socks move three seats' if there was no one in the chair you sat in the chair and if there was someone in the chair, you sat on their lap. One of the phrases was 'If you like to sing, move over 5 chairs.' Kurt looked over and saw that 5 chairs over sat one of the football players who bullied him all the time. Kurt stayed where he was, not wanting to have to sit on his lap. As much as he believed in this whole be the change thing, he was scared. He looked over at Blaine who was sitting on some random guy's lap who he'd never seen before; Blaine was smiling and laughing with him. Kurt couldn't help but be a little jealous. At the end of the games everyone was to take their chairs and sit in front of the two Challenge Day coordinators, who then explained their stories. Their stories were sad; some students had already begun to cry. Rachel, Mercedes, and Brittany had already begun to cry. Blaine was sitting next to Brittany and he gently rubbed her back to comfort her. She smiled at him through her tears.
Next all of the students were separated into groups. It was now their turn to talk. The Glee Club kids ended up being separated into two groups. Group 1 was Kurt, Blaine, Rachel, Finn, Santana, Quinn, and Puck with Mr. Schuster as their group leader. Group 2 was Sam, Mike, Brittany, Mercedes, Artie, and Tina with Ms. Pillsbury as their group leader. They were asked to finish the sentence 'If you really knew me you know…' First one up in Group 1 was Kurt. Kurt looked around the group and sighed before speaking. "If you really knew me, you'd know that I miss my mom every single day. I make it seem like it's nothing, but really it hurts me every day knowing that she's gone." A single tear fell from Kurt's eye as he spoke; he quickly wiped away his tear he was now afraid to cry. "I would give anything to see her again, to talk to her, and tell her things that I wish I could tell her." Blaine gently placed a comforting hand on Kurt's knee. This was the first time Kurt openly talked about his mom like that. After he talked for a few minutes everyone in the group hugged Kurt then it was time for the next person to speak.
Next in Group 1 was Rachel. "If you really knew me, you'd know that I'm under a lot of pressure to be a good performer. Scratch that, a great performer. People wonder why I'm so stuck up all the time, especially in the music room. I have this constant pressure to be perfect. I'm not good looking, I'm not smart. Music is the only thing I excel at, and it needs to be perfect. I need to be perfect." She sighed looking down at her lap and played with her hands. Everyone stood up and hugged Rachel before the next person spoke, it was Finn. "I can relate to Rachel a bit. The football scout didn't want me; I'm not good enough at football. I'm not a strong enough singer to do anything with music. I'm not very smart. I don't know where I fit in, I don't know what to do with my life. I don't feel like I belong anywhere." When Finn was done talking everyone hugged him and they moved on to the next person. Santana was next to speak followed by Quinn. They didn't want to talk about anything personal. They just talked about cheerleading and Glee Club. Quinn briefly talked about Beth and giving her up for adoption. At the end they both received hugs although they didn't say much. Last to talk was Blaine. "Well…" He looked at Kurt, Kurt was his comfort. He took a deep breath but looked down at his lap. "If you really knew me, you'd know I don't get along with my parents. At all actually. I don't spend very much time at home; I try to avoid going home." Kurt was shocked with what he was hearing. Blaine never talked about his life at home. "I was constantly bullied at school and at home. It's been really hard for me…to deal with this." Blaine bit his tongue, not wanting to cry after the conversation they'd had this morning. Kurt rested his hand on Blaine's back; he was the first to hug him. The rest followed after him, hugging Blaine tightly to comfort him.
Meanwhile with Group 2 Mike spoke first. He talked about his father and how he wasn't very supportive of his dreams. He also talked about how happy he was when he finally came around. Everyone hugged him for support. Next to speak was Brittany. "If you really knew me, you'd know I-I'm really confused about my sexuality." She said looking around at the people in her group. "I think I'm bi-sexual but I'm not sure. It's all so confusing and trying to find yourself in this school can be hard. I try to talk to Lord Tubbington…but he's really quiet." She sighed and everyone in the circle hugged her. It was now Mercedes time to talk. "If you really knew me, you'd know that sometimes I don't like being overweight, well I don't like being overweight at all. But it's who I am." She smiled a bit. "I like who I am." Her smile faded. "But sometimes society makes it so hard for me to stay confident. When I was a cheerio Coach Sylvester wanted me to loose weight. My parents want me to loose weight. But I just want to do me." Everyone hugged Mercedes and she smiled at everyone's support. When Sam hugged Mercedes he whispered in her ear "You're perfect." Mercedes smiled and sat back down. Next it was Sam's turn to talk. "If you really knew me, you'd know that I had to grow up to fast. I had to take care of my little brother and sister. I had to sell all my things. I was almost homeless when my dad had lost his job. I miss being a teenager." Sam looked down and started to cry a little, he didn't usually cry but this was a sensitive subject for him. Everyone hugged Sam, giving him some encouraging words. Mercedes squeezed him tightly when she hugged him. After Sam was Artie who talked about his accident and never being able to walk again. Then Tina who talked about how much she wanted to be a performer but wasn't sure if she could handle the pressure. At the end everyone hugged each other.
After they ate lunch it was time for the most emotional part of the day. Just when they thought that the day couldn't get any more emotion. There was a line placed on the gymnasium floor, the students were asked to stand on the left side of the line. Angela would read a phrase out loud, if the phrase applied to you, you were to cross over the line. Angela then showed everyone the sign language sign for 'I love you'. "This is the international sign for I love you. When you want to show your support, just put this sign up in the air. Also, we do this activity in complete, silence." She put on some soft, sad music in the background before reading the first phrase. "Please cross the line if you've ever been judged by the color of your skin or the size or shape of your body." A lot of students had crossed over the line, when Mercedes saw this she crossed the line, as well as Quinn. Mercedes and Quinn both looked at each other and smiled, showing a sign of support. Finn had also crossed the line for this. Everyone on the other side of the line showed the sign language sign for 'I love you' and everyone returned to the other side of the line. "Please cross the line if you've ever experienced the death of a close family member." A lot of people crossed the line, including Kurt and Finn Blaine followed with Kurt; he had lost his grandma who he was very close with just a few months ago. Puck had also crossed the line for this, but no one knew why. Kurt had started to cry again even Finn had let a few tears fall from his eyes. Blaine wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, gently rocking him back and fourth. Everyone showed the I love you sign to them and they went back to the other side of the line.
"Please cross the line if you've ever been scared in your neighborhood or even your own home." When this was said Santana had crossed the line, growing up in Lima Heights she was always afraid to step out of her house. Puck had also crossed the line, as well as Blaine. Kurt had wondered why Blaine had crossed the line for this. He lived in a pretty good area. He gasped to himself, realizing something must be going on at home. Everyone put up the I love you sign and the others returned back to the other side of the line. Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand squeezing it gently. Blaine was about to let go, he hated PDA at school but he saw the expression on Kurt's face and continued to hold his hand. "Please cross the line if you've ever been considered homeless." A couple of people crossed the line, including Sam who had started to cry again. Everyone put up the I love you sign and they returned to the other side. A couple people hugging Sam when he'd returned. "Please cross the line If you've ever been bullied or have been a bully." To this, everyone in Glee Club had crossed the line, and almost everyone in the room had crossed the line. Everyone in Glee Club wrapped there arms around each other giving hugs for support. A lot of them going to others giving them hugs to show there support. Then they returned to the other side of the line. "Please cross the line if you've ever experienced abuse, or lived with violence." At this phrase, both Blaine and Puck had crossed the line. At this point, Puck had let a few tears fall, he quickly wiped them away. Blaine was staring at the floor, he was obviously uncomfortable. He then started to cry, the sounds of his sobs could be heard over the music that was playing in the background. Kurt wanted so badly to run to the other side and hug him. He put up the I love you sign with both of his hands and waited for Blaine to return. When he returned Kurt held Blaine tightly in his arms. Kurt gently wiped the tears from Blaine's eyes once he had calmed down and gently rubbed his back, keeping an arm around him. A bunch of girls had come up to Blaine giving him hugs to show that they cared, some he'd never met or seen before.
"Please cross the line if you or someone you know is gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender." At this phrase the entire Glee Club had crossed the line for Kurt, Blaine, Santana, and Brittany. They all gave them hugs and signs of I love you before returning to the other side of the line. "Please cross the line if you or anyone you know has thought of, attempted, or committed suicide." Blaine hesitated a minute and waited seeing that other people had crossed the line including Kurt. Blaine followed Kurt, considering just a few days ago he'd attempted to commit suicide. He had started to cry again, as well as Kurt. They looked beside them to see Sam, Quinn and Santana had also joined them. They all wrapped their arms around each other then returned to hugs from many people including people they didn't know. They were all then asked to return to their seats in their groups and talk again, they were asked to talk about their experience with the activity or to talk about anything. At this point everyone had been crying at least a little bit, the rumors had been true. (which they are true for anyone who is having Challenge Day at their school and hear the rumors that everyone cries. It's the first thing you hear when Challenge Day is brought up and it's 100 percent true. I've been through two Challenge Days and no matter who you are or what you've been through you're gonna cry.)
Quinn was the first to speak up in her group. "As most of you know, when I was younger I was a lot chubbier then I am now. I hated myself and I wanted to make a change. I stopped eating in order to loose weight. No one could see what I was doing to myself, I was really good at hiding it and no one knew…until now. Sometimes I still feel like I'm not good enough." She was now crying. Everyone in the group hugged her. Rachel stood up and hugged her tightly. "You're amazing Quinn, just the way you are." She said to her before sitting down. They both smiled at each other across the circle. Santana had spoken up next. "My grandma is one of the most important people to me in my life and to hear that she doesn't except me killed me inside. I want her to love me no matter what. She told me to never speak to her again." Santana was also crying. "She means so much to me and she doesn't want me to speak to her because of who I am. I can't change who I am for her, but I'm seriously considering it." Blaine hugged Santana first telling her not to change who she was. Everyone followed after him. Puck finally decided to talk. "I live in a really bad part of town, my brother was involved with a gang. One day we got a call, my brother had been shot in a gang fight." No one knew this about Puck. Puck hid his face in his hands as he began to cry. No one had ever seen him like this; it was a shock to everyone. Everyone pulled him into a giant group hug, giving him a ton of support. Next Blaine spoke up. "There was a point where everything that I was going through became too much. Actually this happened a couple of times. I wanted to end it, I didn't want to be here anymore. I tried to…but I didn't but I'd failed." Blaine had started crying again and Kurt wrapped his arms tightly around him. The rest of his group had followed. "I love you." Kurt whispered to Blaine. "Please talk to me if there's a problem. Please. I can't loose you." Kurt had started to cry again as well. The rest of the group was also crying between the stories they'd heard and there own stories. It was now the end, Challenge Day had come to a close. Angela stood up on a chair in front of everyone with Sean. "Thank you for being a part of this day with us. Be the Change you wish to see in the world. Now I want you all to hug as many people as you can before leaving this room" Everyone got up and hugged each other, hugging complete strangers giving them their support. Everyone in Glee Club met up at the end exchanging hugs between each other and showing how much they appreciate each other. The day had brought the entire club closer together and they all thanked Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury for bringing the program to the school.