It had been a little less than 3 months that Rory had left. Sugar wasn't sad in particular, the two of them weren't really in love so to speak. But she was feeling sad, and little confused. Had she made the right decision on Valentines Day? She knew there was a spark between Artie and her, and when he sang Let Me Love You to her on Valentines Day, she couldn't help but melt. And then they were assigned dance partners during Nationals and when he smiled at her during the performance, she couldn't help but laugh and smile too. It reminded her of why she liked him in the first place.
She couldn't help but wonder if he still had a crush on her. Deep down inside, she wished he did. Maybe they could pick up where they left off on Valentines Day.
It was the beginning of the school year. Sugar was ready to start the year off right. She walked down the halls on Monday, morning waving to familiar faces and unfamiliar ones who only knew her from being in the Glee club. Since the New Directions won Nationals, many people she didn't know before started talking to her. Cheerios and Football players, included. Even cute football players smiled at her. She smiled back, of course, but she wasn't really interested in them.
She opened her locker, and put all her unnecessary items inside. All of a sudden, she heard the familiar voice of Jacob Ben Israel talking to his camera. "Freak." she muttered to herself. Jacob, then walked down the hall and stopped at Artie's locker. "Oh look there he is, cute as ever." Sugar thought to herself as she watched Jacob interview him. When, Jacob left she thought of going over to his locker to talk to him, but wasn't exactly sure what to say. "Maybe Hi Artie, how are you or What do you think of the new fat lunch lady?" she whispered to herself, then rolled her eyes. Those ideas sucked. She looked over at his locker to see if he was still there, which he wasn't. She sighed and was startled by the sound of the bell. She had to get to Glee club.
As she shut her locker, she heard the sound of a voice.
"Hey, Sugar." the voice said.
She looked down and saw Artie. He was smiling and seemed happy to see her.
"Hey Artie, what's up?" she said, as she closed her locker.
"Oh you know, the usual. Just trying to maintain a 4.0 GPA while practicing my new raps for my Grammy performance in 2021."
Sugar wasn't sure whether he was joking or not, so she just laughed. Next thing she knew they were walking - rolling and walking down the hall together.
"So who's going to be the new Rachel?" she asked him when he brought up the idea of the New Directions having someone to "replace" Rachel.
"I don't know." he said, "There's a lot of good people to choose from."
"Well, I think you're just as good, if not better than all of them." Sugar, said wondering if it was too much.
Artie smiled. "You really think so? Well, thanks Sugar."
"No problem, cutie." She said, as she put down her sunglasses and entered the choir room feeling her confidence coming back to her.
She ruffled Brad's hair and laughed when he rolled his eyes. "Sugar has arrived." she said aloud.
"Okay, everyone settle down." said, Mr Schue, who sat in his usual stool in front of the chairs.
Sugar looked around the room. There were many empty chairs of course. But there was one that wasn't being occupied right next to Artie. "Should I go sit next to him?" she asked, herself. "Or should I go sit next to Teen Jesus?"
"Yo, Sugar." Artie said, pointing to an empty stool next to him.
Sugar quickly walked over and sat down. She smiled at him, and when he smiled back, she could feel the same feeling she felt when he sang to her last year in front of the entire Glee club. Was she just having a crush or was it something more? She was determined to find out. This was her opportunity to see if she did make the wrong choice of not picking Artie to be her date at the Sugar Shack last year.
As she pretended to listen to Mr. Schue talk about recruiting members, she thought about the reason she picked Rory last year. It was only because she felt bad for him. It was Artie who really wowed her. To Sugar he was everything she really needed. He was sweet, smart, could wheel her to class, and could carry a tune. But there was only one major problem. "What if he's completely over me?" she thought. "What if he's into someone else?" She thought about the last possibility. Sugar had been the only person that Artie had a crush on last year, he said it to her himself. She sighed. She would have to wait and see, maybe something would happen between them.
The bell rang, and everyone began to get up from their seats. Sugar took this as an opportunity to ask Artie something.
"Hey Artie. Do you wanna go study with me in the library?" She asked him.
She could see by the look on his face, that he already had something else to do. She was sad of course, but it's not like they couldn't hang out another time. Artie seemed like a busy guy, to her anyways. Besides, maybe he didn't want to go, and she didn't blame him. She wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box, but she was the richest.
"I really wish I could Sugar, but I have to prepare for this New Rachel Sing-Off in the auditorium today." he said, looking at her with pity in his eyes.
Sugar shrugged it off. "Oh, it's fine. I guess I'll just find someone else?" she said, with a smile.
He forced a smile, and rolled away from her, rather slowly. He then turned around and faced her again.
"I'll save you a seat at lunch, okay?"
Sugar looked startled. Save her a seat at lunch? That was awfully sweet of him. Why was he doing it?
"Seriously? You aren't sitting with any Cheerios today.. And is this to make up for not being able to make it to the library with me this period, because you don't have to-"
"No, and No." he cut her off. "See you at lunch?" he said with a smile.
"See you at lunch."
