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 39th cycle. Now cycle 40!
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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 40 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days, starting in cycle 40!
This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: The Ties That Bind, chapter 7.
"When the Feathers Fall"
Glee Girls (w/o Rachel)
Sequel to "Thwack, Pow!"
The door to the girls' room opened, and slowly six heads peered out, like something out of a cartoon. "Any chance they heard us?" Tina asked. Their pillow fight had been out of control after a while, but it had also been insulated by the amount of feathers fluttering in the air, so it was hard to tell if people outside their room – primarily the boys, in their own room – had heard.
"Probably," Quinn looked down to her.
"Who cares, they might not know it was us," Santana shrugged.
"Yes, because this hotel is just crawling with rooms full of high school girls…" Lauren scoffed.
"Like, say, other Glee Clubs?" Brittany pointed out, and Santana could only beam with pride at her showing up Lauren's comment.
"The longer we wait, the more likely it is they'll see us coming," Mercedes brought them back on task.
"Quinn, go first, they won't expect it from you," Santana told her, still looking down the hall. The blonde turned to her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think it means…" Brittany started, but then the group was pushed out into the hall proper, as Lauren gave the five of them a small nudge.
"Go, Quinn, go," Tina nodded. So the 'elected solicitor' moved forward, the others lining up one by one and following behind.
"We're still shedding…" Brittany pointed out, indicating the trail of feathers on the hallway carpet, dropped from their hair and clothes as they moved forward.
"We'll get those after," Santana waved it off.
"Quiet," Quinn whispered as she reached the door. The girls hugged the wall, so they wouldn't be seen until the boys opened for Quinn. She looked to them, they nodded: they were ready. Quinn lifted her fist to knock, wound back…
"What are you girls doing?" They looked up and gasped when they saw him: Schuester.
"Fall back, fall back!" Lauren spoke through gritted teeth as they began to back up.
"What?" Brittany missed the message, but already Santana grabbed her hand and pulled her along, so she got it: run. They dove back in the room, hoping their teacher would just think they'd been slacking off, and that now that they were back in their room they would be left alone. But even as they shut the door, Brittany remembered. "But the feathers…" There was a collective intake of breath, and then a repeated knock at the door. They backed up.
"Let me in. Now," he didn't sound happy.
"We can't," Mercedes called back.
"We're naked!" Brittany followed up and the others looked at her. "What, he won't be able to come in," she shrugged.
"Open the door," he just went on.
"He sounds calm… too calm…" Tina shook her head.
"The longer we wait he's just going to get worse," Quinn had to bring them back to reality. There was a collective silent agreement. So Quinn sighed, moving to open the door, just a crack at first. "Hey, Mr. Schue, we're just working on our original song… Rachel's stepped out to get us coffee and donuts," she nodded, dislodging a feather in her hair, which Will caught. He held it up to her: not fooled. Quinn sighed, stepping back and letting him in. As he walked in, the other five girls stood absolutely still, looking at him but not quite meeting his eye.
"Oh my g…" he covered his mouth, sighing. The sight of the feathers, covering beds, floors, and all other surfaces which would have them, along with the emptied pillow cases was all he had to see. "I leave you alone for just…"
"Sorry, Mr. Schue," Mercedes was the first to speak.
"Sit down," he instructed, and the girls scrambled to sit on the nearest beds. "Someone wants to explain to me what happened here?" Before Brittany could even raise her hand, Santana had them both covered and shook her head at the blonde.
"Writer's block," Lauren spoke innocently.
"You realize we'll have to pay to replace all the pillows." They didn't reply. "You're going to clean this place up, not one unaccounted feather, is that clear?" They nodded. "After that, we'll have even less time to work on these songs," he reminded.
After he'd left, the girls slowly got up, taking a pillow case each and starting to pick up the feathers, which they stuffed in the cases. "That's a lot of feathers," Tina spoke with her hand to her mouth, afraid one would get kicked up and accidentally get aspirated down her throat.
"You know what the worst part is?" Santana asked, holding a case while Brittany gathered arm loads of feathers and pushed them back in.
"Having to pay for the pillows?" Lauren guessed.
"Cleaning up?" Mercedes followed.
"Wasting writing time?" Quinn went next.
"Losing?" Tina guessed.
"Feathers in your underwear?" Brittany put another load in the pillow case.
"Rachel is going to get back here with an 'I told you so.'" There was a collective groan at this.
"What are the odds she won't find out?" Tina asked.
"Oh, she'll know, believe me," Santana shook her head.
"Okay, then maybe we can work on a song while we work, then we won't lose as much time," Quinn suggested.
"I volunteer to write!" Lauren raised her hand, putting her pillow case down.
"Well, that didn't take long," Santana shook her head.
So they brainstormed as they worked to clean up all the feathers. Lauren took note of everything. The mission now was not only to get the feathers picked up, but also to get a song or at least the better part of a text for a song, both before Rachel returned and before the boys came up with something.
Eventually they had gotten something. It was a lot easier to develop on it once they actually had something to work with. The song developed, while the feathers slowly disappeared. Soon though they had to move to the more difficult task of gathering those feathers that had flown away and hidden…
By the time their feather hunt was done, they had their text. They were also exhausted. They crashed into beds and chairs, anything would give them rest. As sleep slowly claimed them one by one, Tina was the one who declared the thing to remind them that, no matter what, they had still had fun earlier.
"We still need to get the guys…"
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!