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 55th cycle. Now cycle 56!
This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: The Fair Collaboration, chapter 9.
"Instant Stars"
Rachel/Puck, New Directions & Rent co.
Project No Day But Today series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)
Of all the possible outcomes, they never would have picked out this one. They wouldn't have expected that the project they had kept as a secret for so long would be unveiled in such a grand way.
It had started when Rachel and Puck had been called into Principal Figgins' office. There they had been presented with the video they had made along with the rest of the cast of their Rent company. The video had been no more than a tool for them to see what all the work they had done so far could look like… at least that was what it was supposed to be. But the Ellie's little brother Zack had found it on his sister's computer and he'd decided to post it on YouTube, just to mess with her.
They had all been looking to get in a heap of trouble, the whole of the cast as it could be seen in the video. They would have gotten in more trouble than they did, if not for Mr. Schuester stepping in and taking the hit for them. He had been suspended for a month, and all the cast really had to look forward to as far as punishment was detention. But then there was still the video.
They had been on the verge of getting Ellie to delete it, but then she had seen the view count. It was impressive for the six days it had been online, so they had ended up leaving it on the site. This proved to be a wise decision. Within days more, the count had gone from impressive to unbelievable. They would go so far as to say it had gone viral.
Whatever was going on beyond McKinley was one thing, and they couldn't really see any of it, but at their school… Already the day Rachel and Puck had been called in to the principal's office, there had been the next part, which involved all the cast members as seen in the video – minus Kurt and Blaine who were at Dalton, obviously – being called in turn to see Figgins and receive their detention 'sentence. They had 'lovingly' begun to refer to it as the shame parade. It had stirred much curiosity on the part of the McKinley student body, to see so many people get called in to see Figgins on the same day, and it had not taken long for them to realize that, among those that were called they could count the whole of Glee Club. Add to that the suspension of their direction, and they had as juicy of a mystery/scandal on their hands.
Then someone had found the video, and they had ticked off the detention getters like they were working through a checklist. And mystery solved.
It should have led to their being ridiculed, completely and without shame, at least that was the norm around McKinley, in these circumstances. Only the fact was this wasn't a 'circumstance' they were used to, not exactly. While the word had spread through the school, it had gone much further, thanks to the video, and to those who were personally connected to the kids in that video, it became like their own sort of piece of the fame. Whether they had ever really spoken to any of them or not, it didn't matter. Whether they had spoken to them, in ill will or not, it didn't matter. Whether they had ever tossed them in a dumpster, locked them in a portable toilet, or thrown a Slushie in their face… All of a sudden, from what they would claim, they were friends.
"Okay, Jacob Ben Israel just offered us his house to do an interview with us," Santana reported as she and Brittany came to sit with the rest of Glee Club in the cafeteria.
"She made him cry," Brittany added.
"This is getting kind of creepy," Lizzie had to say, looking around. She was part of the new crop of New Directions members, those who had crossed over from the musical, and she was still getting used to what being part of Glee awarded us, before they'd gotten this flip thanks to the video. A lot of people were staring at them from around the cafeteria, as much as they were trying not to focus on it.
"Hey, eyes on your plate before I bring the two of you closer," Puck had frowned at one table in particular, and Rachel had smacked him.
"Leave them alone, we have to figure some things out here," she told him, turning back to the others.
"What's going to happen with the musical?" Tina asked. "You still won't say."
"That's because I don't know, alright?" Rachel admitted.
"I'm pretty sure right now we would sell out if we started offering tickets," Artie suggested.
"That's the least of our worries right now," Rachel shook her head.
"Exactly, we wouldn't have to worry," Artie reiterated, but Rachel ignored him.
"I am personally going to do my best to get Mr. Schuester back from his suspension. It is unfair to him, to the school, and frankly we can't afford to lose Glee Club for a month if we expect to make it to Nationals."
"Well as long as you've got your priorities straight," Santana told her.
"Fine, we don't have to go to Nationals," Rachel stared her down, and she didn't take long to cave.
"Okay, fine, what do you have in mind?"
"Well, I…" There was the static of the microphone being turned on over the speakers, and then…
"Rachel Berry, Noah Puckerman, please report to Principal Figgins' office, immediately."
"Oh, what now?" Rachel groaned.
"We can come with you," Mike offered, and the rest of them nodded along in support.
"No, that's alright," Puck told them, while he and Rachel stood, all eyes in the cafeteria having already turned to them. The co-directors had walked out of the cafeteria together, heading to the office. "Aren't you scared this time?" he asked her.
"What's the point? I'm too angry. I don't want all that we've done to have been for nothing."
"It won't," he promised her, and she breathed out. "Come on, let's see what he wants."
THE END/TO BE CONTINUED (IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT)
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!