Hello. It's been a while since I've posted anything over here, although of course I still lurk in my favorite fandoms. I am really enjoying Glee so far; seriously, Mash Up was one of the smartest, subversively funny episodes of any show in a LONG time. This is my first story for this show, and I hope you enjoy it.
Title: And the World Came Tumbling Down
Author: msathenaxf
These have been the strangest, most unexpected two years William McKinley High School has ever seen. Nothing seemed to go the way high school is supposed to go.
Custodians were the first to see it, actually. They weren't mopping up as much sticky, slushy goo from the hallways. They never ran low on spray cleaner anymore because there wasn't as much bathroom graffiti. Gradually, the teachers took notice, as the students who always failed classes began to turn in B level papers. And earned it.
The kids were the last to catch on, even though the changes were right in their midst. Like forests and trees, they couldn't see the world through the students. But the change was there. And once they felt it, they wanted to keep it. So they did what teenagers do best which, of course, is whatever they want.
It started in the most unlikely of places—the choir room. Two years ago, an inspiring teacher—everything great happens because of inspiring teachers—took over the glee club. The glee club, with its diva personalities, shrinking violets, and unlikely heroes, was suddenly forced to mesh with the dumb jocks, ditzy cheerleaders, and pitiless tormentors. It was a failure before it even began.
Except.
Things changed. The non-singing football players eventually stopped harassing their musically gifted team members. Some of them even signed up for their own extracurricular activities during the off-season. The chess team went to a dance. Two of them actually enjoyed it. And while the goth kids didn't start braiding flowers into their hair or anything, they were caught laughing once in a while.
But the repercussions of these minor changes got bigger and bigger. It started in glee club, and then danced its way the football team. It began in classrooms, then breezed into the movie theater, where the popular kids sat with the freaks. It originated in Lima, Ohio, then hit up the colleges and universities, as more students than ever moved on to higher education. A goal reached because people—classmates—were telling each other it was possible.
And it went deeper that, too, but in a big, big way. The quarterback learned that it wasn't possible to lead and follow at the same time—and he liked leading. The biggest gleek of them all realized the nighttime sky was beautiful because of all the stars in it, not just one. The boy with the most non-secret secret decided that secrets were overrated, and told the world who he was.
The head cheerleader found that friendship had nothing to do with the people who surrounded you, but had everything to do with the people who were behind you. The shy loner challenged herself to do what everyone else knew she could do. And the tough guy loser showed everyone else that he could accomplish more than they knew.
Effects of this shift in perception didn't just stay within the student body, either. The guidance counselor, always shy and lonely, saw that anyone worthy of her would do more than just put up with her quirks, or string her along. On the flip side, the football coach recognized that he deserved to be wanted, and not simply tolerated.
And even the teacher who inspired this momentous change in feeling didn't get out unscathed. He taught his students and they, in turn, humbled him. While he was telling his students that popularity was trivial, they were showing him that it was actually true. And that, even though he was all grown up, his own desire to be accepted—admired even—was still there, and just as trivial.
The social norms of high school were suddenly completely backward. It was the craziest, weirdest thing imaginable. The top dogs came down the totem pole, the bottom-dwellers went up, and everyone in between began to mingle.
But that isn't quite right, either. Because the thing is, there doesn't seem to even be a totem pole anymore.
FIN