The next stop will be Lima, Ohio and we will be arriving in 20 minutes
I couldn't believe it was already Thanksgiving break and Quinn and I were already heading back to the small town that we graduated from 6 months ago. It was a little bitter sweet to come back here after the drama that ensued me when I left but it was also nice to come back to a place that hasn't changed as much as the rest of my life has. It was this realization that made me thankful more times than not that Quinn and I had a close connection between us still. "You seriously need to calm down. I doubt Finn will even be in town considering he told Kurt he is still in basic training. They don't let you take days off instead of running 10 miles a day." "I know what Kurt said but the anxiety of not knowing is what is getting to me. What if he is in town? What if I see him and start crying all over again? What if he asks for his ring back?" "Is that why you brought it with you? Rachel, it doesn't do anyone any good if you continue to freak out about questions that you might not have to ask or answer. So please just calm down and focus on something else." "That is easy for you to say. You didn't have a tragic scene at the train station with the love of your life while all of your friends watched pretending to have smiles on their faces for you." "For your information, we were all smiling because we were happy that you were able to go to NYADA. Plus, you and I both know that Finn did the right thing for the both of you. It was clear that he needed to go on the journey that he is on and you were destined for New York." "That doesn't mean it didn't suck." "I thought we were supposed to be getting off of this subject. What are you going to do first when we get into town?" "I'm hoping your mom can take me by my house so I can grab my car and put my suitcase inside. After that I'm not sure. Tina did tell me that the new club practices during last period today; so I thought about stopping by the school to say hi to everyone." "That actually isn't a horrible idea. I might swing by the school after I have lunch with my mom."
We are now pulling into the Lima station. Please wait until the train has made a complete stop before you exit and be sure to grab all of your luggage. For those of you returning for the holiday, welcome back to Lima.
Here goes nothing.
GLEE
"I can't wait for tonight! Mike is going to back in town and he is going to stay over tonight to watch movies all night with me while we pig out on the latest snack foods that Breadstix has to offer." I said walking to the choir room with Blaine. "I would say I know the feeling but since Kurt decided to stick with school around here until I graduate, I don't have the problem of seeing my significant every other weekend." "Yeah, yeah you are super lucky that your boyfriend's dreams were crushed in May so you could have him closer to you now." "I know that is supposed to be a shot but I'm so happy that it's Thanksgiving break after today so I will let it slide." He gave me a little nudge before we walked into the choir room. Everyone was still excited about the big win we had last weekend that won us sectionals for the 4th year in a row. The makeup counters were still out along with all of the sheet music and suddenly I felt very relieved that I'm a senior now and can delegate these cleanup project to the under classmen. "Great, now that you are all here, we can head up to the audio visual room in a minute to watch the tape of sectionals so we can critique and improve for the regional competition. First I want to introduce a special guest that most of you know already." Mr. Shue announced just as Rachel walked in the door that connected to his office. "Hey guys, I just thought I would drop by and say hi." I was already running towards her to give her a hug with Blaine close behind me. "It is so great to see you! You have to tell me all about New York. How have you been? I haven't gotten an email from you in two weeks." "I missed you too Tina and I promise to spend some time catching up with you while I'm here." "Let's go ahead and head upstairs to watch the video. Tina, you can continue to quiz Rachel after class."
We made it to the room and each of us took seats in front of the big screen that hung on the far wall. "It is even better than I thought it would be. The city is amazing and can't believe I have only been there for a few months." "It sounds so great. I told Mike we will be moving there someday." "So I take it you and Mike is still going strong?" "Stronger than ever; he is picking me up from school tonight and then we are going to have a great week of just the two of us hanging out." "Seriously ladies, after practice you can talk as much as you want. Now here is our performance from last Saturday." Mr. Shue said slightly annoyed and turned the projector on. I wasn't so much worried about my performance since I was the one that sung all of the Rachel Berry solos, but what Rachel thought of my performance. She has spent the last few months with the best retired names in show business and her feedback would mean more to me than anything the others could give. The look on her face as she watched my solo was clear though and the smile she has made me think I was worrying for nothing. I was about to ask her if she had any criticism about that song until there was some screaming coming from the hall along with students running as fast as they could. "You guys stay here; I'm going to check it out." Mr. Shue announced as he started to the door the same time that Blaine and Sam scooted closer to Brittany, Rachel, and I.
GLEE
I was happy to be home for longer than two days this time. Driving down here every weekend was a lot but worth it every time when I pulled up to Tina's house Friday nights and she would come running out to me for me to catch her. Our parents have come to the realization now that we aren't the kids they think we should be and are serious about each other, so they let us stay with one another while I'm in town. That discussion came after the first weekend I came home and Tina and I tried to spend as much time together as we could and ended up falling asleep on whatever surface we were sitting on. I guess they also figured that there is very little that they should worry about now that we have been together for over two years and are still going strong. Everyone isn't surprised anymore at how well it is working for us considering there wasn't a moment this summer that we were apart.
Pulling into my parents' driveway, I looked down the street to see Puck getting out of a cab in front of his mom's house. I turned the jeep off and walked across the front yard to yell at him. "Hey Puckerman who let you come back to Lima?" He looked up and saw me while throwing his bags inside the front door of his house before running over to say hi. "What's going on with you Chang?" He asked as he gave me a manly hug. "Nothing much, I was going to head up to the school in a bit to pick Tina up from glee practice." "You and girl Chang are still together? That's really great for you man. Maybe one of these days I will get the same kind of luck." "Knowing your luck, you have already met her and you let her slip by. How is California?" "Truthfully, it sucks. I got stuck with a minimum wage job and an apartment with three guys and one bathroom. My mom thinks I'm here just to visit but I haven't told her that I plan on staying for awhile and that I turned in my notice at work." "Sorry about that man. I know how much you wanted to go out there and catch a break." "No big deal, I'm just happy I don't have to do anything for the next week except eat like a pig." My phone started ringing then and looked down to my pocket to get it.
"Hey mom, I will see you tonight when you get home but I'm talking to Puck right now." "Michael stop talking. I was calling to tell you that I haven't seen Tina come through here yet and I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Everyone is running around here like crazy but I have all of the nurses looking out for her." "Wait, what are you talking about? Why would you be watching the ER for Tina to come through?" "There is a shooting going on at the high school right now. The ambulances have brought in a couple of patients already but there are still students trapped in the school. I'm telling you that Tina is not here." Without thinking I hung the phone up with my mom and started running towards my jeep. "Chang, what the hell was that about?" Puck asked running behind me. "The high school has a shooter running around and Tina is still inside." He ran around my jeep then to jump in before I threw it in reverse to make our way to the school.
GLEE
"Have fun visiting your friends Quinnie. I'll see you later sweetheart." My mom gave me a kiss on the cheek before she climbed out of the SUV and walked back into the house. We just had a great lunch together and then went shopping for some new clothes but now I was heading to the school to join up with Rachel and see all of our friends that were still there. It was going to be great to see Tina, Brittany, Artie and the rest of them that I have missed these last few months. Driving through the town was enough to almost bring a tear to my eye seeing that nothing had changed. Life changes so much and so fast that it's great to see that some things stay the same. It was hard to look at all of the landmarks I love when all of the emergency vehicles seem to be passing me every other minute. What was going on? I had never seen more than two fire trucks out at once but they all seemed to be going to the…high school.
I pulled my explorer into the grass area that was usually where they hung all banners of upcoming events but today it was a parking lot because the parking lot was roped off. What was going on here? I climbed out of my truck then and started to make my way to where the crowd seemed to be when a jeep screeched to a halt in the spot next to my vehicle. Normally I would have been stunned by the fact to see Puck and Mike climbing out of the jeep in a hurry but now I was more in panic mode. "Puck, what is going on here?" I asked as they were running toward me and I had to keep up at the same pace in order to run with them because they didn't stop when they saw me. "There is a shooter in there and Tina is still in there." Puck replied just as we made it to the crowd of people standing directly behind the police tape all screaming and crying to find students that they love. "Michael!" We all turned our heads to see Mike's dad and Tina's parents standing directly behind the tape just a few feet away from us. Mike quickly forced his way to them with Puck and I following close behind.
"What the hell is going on in there?" Mike asked with anger and worry in his eyes. Tina's mom was crying hysterically while holding a necklace up to her mouth and the two dads had fear in their eyes as well but also knew they need to get things done. "All they know for sure is there are two shooters and they are still in the building. They have cleared most of the first floor but haven't found any of the glee kids yet. There have been two deaths but the police haven't released their names." Mike Sr. told us trying to let Mike know as much as he could about the love of his life even though he really didn't know much. "What class does she have right now?" Kyle asked the group. "She has glee right now so they should be in the choir room." "They already cleared that part of the building son. She has to be somewhere else. Is there any place that you would go in the school as a group?" The three of us started to think about the last three years of high school trying to figure out where everyone was. "We would go to the auditorium or the gym all the time." Puck suggested. "They cleared those places first." "Sometimes we would go to the dance room." I suggested. "Tina said they turned that into a classroom this year because they ran out of room. The only other place I could think of is the audio room because they had sectionals last week." Mike said with his eyes dark as if he is looking through us. "That has to be it! It is on the second floor and in the far corner without any windows except the one at the top." I shouted.
"I'm going to get her out of that school." Mike said starting to run to the far side of the school that almost touched the police tape. "Michael, the police will find her. All we can do now is waiting for them to get to her." Mike went to stand in front of his dad and I noticed then that Mike was taller than his dad. "I love Tina more than anything I can ever describe to anyone. If she is in there, then nothing will be able to stop me from going in there to find her." We all looked in shock at Mike standing up to his father. None of us had ever seen that before. "What happens if you get hurt trying to find her?" Michelle asked very quietly. "I couldn't bear it if you were injured trying to save her." Mike's face softened as he turned to face her. "I don't care if I get hurt. Tina is my number one priority and I will get her out of there." He turned back so all three of the parents were looking at him now. "You guys don't seem to get it. I would die for Tina that is how much I love her." There was silence for a minute before Mike Sr. spoke up again. "Be safe my son; go find our Tina." "I'm going with you Chang." Puck announced as Mike gave his dad and Tina's parents a quick hug. "That's a good idea because Rachel is in there too." I told them and Puck stopped in his tracks. "What? Why is she in there?" "We got home early and she wanted to go see everyone. That is the reason I'm here, I was supposed to meet them." I saw the look that Mike had thinking about the danger that Tina is in hit Puck's face now. He always had a thing for Rachel but it was clear now that his feels were more than just something. Maybe Finn breaking things off wasn't a bad thing. "I'm going to save Berry." That was all he said before both boys started running around the building.
I don't own anything Glee just love the show! I hoped you like it. I have two more chapters to go along with this and will get them out this week. Thanks for reading