The bell rang, after another long day at Mckinley. Tina Cohen Chang tightened her doc martin boots before slamming her locker shut and heading down the hallway. It was packed, as usual, but it was the only time of the day where fewer kids where slushied. The jocks were all too busy trying to get to football practice (Coach Tanaka didn't like tardiness) than trying to slushie kids. Tina breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the last of them scoot round the corner. Her relief was short lived, as Coach Sylvester came striding down the hall , just out of a meeting with Principal Figgins. Her usual powerful smirk was replaced with anger and , even if it wasn't, she still would have been feared. She shoved her way past Tina, but the girl in front of her wasn't so lucky as she was slammed into her locker. Tina watched Coach Sylvester turn the corner before she dared to move again. The girl who had been shoved into the locker beckoned at Tina as she walked past. She clearly had recovered from her locking slamming moment. 'Hey, goth girl', the girl called after Tina. Tina turned around. 'Y- yes?' She said, making sure her stutter came across. Sure, it may be fake, she thought to herself, but it stopped people from giving her such a hard time. Hopefully it would stop the locker girl from saying anything. She'd already made it through the day without being slushied, she just wanted to get to glee club before anything could happen.
The locker girl handed her a piece of paper, which at first glance was a jumble of letters written in block capitals. 'You dropped this'. Her voice was sickly sweet, but Tina knew better. Tina stared at the note for what seemed like a lifetime. She knew she hadn't dropped anything, her black skull printed dress had no pockets, and the notes she and Artie had passed in Biology were in the trash can.
The locker girl laughed, her voice full of faux kindness, holding out the note for her to take.
The note ,clearly written by one of the cheerios, read 'Watch out'. Tina stared it in confusion for a few moments. Her body realized before her mind did , and when she stared at the note, she held back the tears that were making her nose sting. Before she turned around, she felt the sudden icy sting as a slushie hit her . Thankfully, as she wasn't facing it, she didn't get the familiar burning sensation in her eyes, but she could feel it dripping down her hair and all down her neck. Don't cry, she told herself, don't cry. She stood there , too shocked to move for a few moments, and then she began running down the hallway, one hand holding her hair away from her neck, while the laughter roared in her ears.
'Guess I'm gonna be late for Glee Club.' she thought to herself as she rushed into a thankfully empty bathroom. For a minute, she thought about blowing it off completely and just going home. But she couldn't, Artie would be there and he would be even more worried if she didn't turn up at all than if she turned up late and in different clothes. Did he even notice what she wore? He'd remarked a few times about the blue streaks she'd put in her jet black hair, but he'd never said anything about her clothes, probably because he'd thought she'd accuse him of looking at her boobs. Which she didn't actually mind, though she didn't tell him.
She took off the sweater that was over her skull printed dress, and rinsed her hands of the blue slushie dye. She sighed as she stared in the mirror at her sticky hair, before tying it up and then making her way to the choir room.
As she walked in, it was well into motion. Mr Schu was laughing along with the rest of the club and Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones were singing some hilarious show tune. Rachel Berry was sitting by herself , staring quite obviously at Finn, who was sitting by two cheerios, Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce. They were joking about something, . Rachel was wearing a frown , the one she wore when things weren't going her way, that made her look like an angry toddler. She was wearing a bubblegum pink dress, which made Tina think she'd been slushied, as she'd seen her earlier in a signiture reindeer sweater and knee high socks, making her look like a festive librarian.
Artie was sitting by himself at the end of them all , and he looked up as she came in. She smiled, clutching her shoulder bag with both hands as she made her way past Kurt and Mercedes and sat next to him.
"Hey'. He said, 'Where have you been? You missed like three arguments between Rachel Berry and Mr Schu.'
She smoothed out her skirt and tried to look calm. 'I w-w-was slushied after last period. W-w-what happened?'
He rolled his eyes over at Rachel Berry. Then, as they were only a few seats away from her, even though she probably wasn't listening to them anyway, he leaned in closer to Tina and whispered. Tina felt his warm breath hit her ear, and she felt something that she couldn't put a name to.
'Mr Schu's thinking of not featuring her for the Student Arts NIght with Figgins. She told him that he's only doing it because he's deperate to be a star himself, and he almost cut her from Glee.'
Tina laughed. She couldn't stand Rachel Berry. She was pretty sure Rachel Berry couldn't stand her or Artie either, even though what with Rachel being the most unpopular girl in the school. Getting slushied was just part of Rachel's daily routine, from what Tina could see. But her voice, despite her horrible personality, made even the jocks stop throwing kids into lockers just to listen , even if it just was for a few seconds. Tina always wondered what it was like being such a star. She knew she could sing, but she didn't have the same range or power that Rachel had. And nobody even noticed her , anyway. Only Artie it seemed had notice her come late to the choir room.
'So. Was it Karofsky this time?' Artie said, shocking Tina out of her thoughts.
"W-what? Oh, no, i'm not sure who it was. I got slushied from behind.'
Artie laughed sadly. "That totally sucks, T.' Tina knew that he'd been slushied , but not as much as her, due to him being in a wheelchair. Even the jocks had a moral code, sometimes.
'S-so,' Tina said, 'Where's Puck? And Quinn.'
'M.I.A' Artie responded. 'Quinn's probably at the doctors.' He grimaced. Everyone knew that Quinn was pregnant now, and Finn Hudson was the babydaddy.
'But Puck? It seems k-k-kinda weird for them to both be gone.'
Artie shrugged. 'Football practice, probably. I heard Ken Tanaka is trying to get football to be at the same time as Glee Club, but Mr Schu went all crazy about it and insisted that Finn and Puck got to miss the practice. Puck probably didn't know and went to football. The only thing he listens to is the sound of cracking skulls.'
Tina nodded in agreement. She normally just liked to listen to Artie talk, he always was so blunt about everything but he made it sound humorous. She knew what he was saying about Puck was true, but something just seemed a bit weird. Puck was torn between glee and football, and the latter made him throw kids into dumpsters and slushie everyone to keep up his popularity status. Tina knew that he'd once locked Artie in a port-a - potty, despite him being in a wheelchair and not being able to get out. Puck had just slushied Tina, and she wondered if he had been the mystery slushie thrower earlier. It would make sense, with the note from the cheerios (Puck had slept with every one of them), and throwing it from behind, so that she hadn't told Mr Schu and then got him cut from Glee.
Kurt and Mercedes had finally stopped singing, and Mr schu patted them both on the back as they went to sit down. 'Guys, you were great!' he grinned. 'We should do a duet like that for the Student Arts Night?'. Rachel snorted at this and then folded her arms. 'Mr Schu, don't you see that while giving the lesser members of the Glee Club solos is a good way to let them have a moment in the spotlight, you're ruining any chances of impressing anyone at the Art's Night?'
Mr Schu sighed. 'Rachel, that's incredibly rude to everyone else here. How many solos have you gotten? And this club is about being a family, a constellation of stars, not just one. If we want to make the night special, we can't just have one person doing it.'
'Wanky' Santana interupted, and Mr Schu frowned
'Santana, be quiet.' He turned to Kurt and Mercedes , who sitting together, arms folded, scowling at Rachel. 'It's time for the other stars of McKinley to get solos. I was thinking we should start with a Kurtcedes duet, followed by maybe a ballad by Quinn when she gets back, and maybe another duet?'
Tina tensed up at this. She and Artie were a shoo-in for this duet. They got on, not just proffessionaly, and if it was time to let the other members shine, why not pick them? She wasn't even sure if Brittany could sing, and Santana seemed too busy texting to even care about a slot. She turned to look at Artie. He was cleaning his glasses, squinting slightly at Mr Schu. She liked him, a lot honestly. She wasn't sure if he liked her or if he just thought he'd get through things if he had a friend. She wasn't even sure if he thought about relationships or anything like that, being in his chair, he might have just thought them completely impossible.
'A-a-artie' She said, almost forgetting to stutter. He turned to look at her.
"Yeah?'
'That d-duet, do you think we should try out for it?'
He smiled, his infectious smile that always made Tina feel better. 'You think we'd be any good, T?'
She shrugged. 'Y-y-ou're a good rapper so we could do something like that.'
To be honest, she just wanted to work on a duet with him so she could spend more time with him.
Chapter Two.
Artie put in his earphones and let Micheal Jackson's voice flow through his veins. It was Friday afternoon and almost time for Glee club rehearsal. It was his favorite time of the day, because he got to hang out with Tina. Lately he'd been having feelings about her, ones that had been there before, but now they were much stronger. But he couldn't tell her. She wouldn't want to be with a loser like him , especially one in a wheelchair. He was addicted to Angry Birds and his mom still cut his hair, he needed his glasses all the time, and he knew that suspenders , white shirts and khakis weren't exactly what you'd expect on a teenage guy. But still, he couldn't stop himself staring at Tina, and somtimes more prescicely, certain parts of Tina. He thought that she'd caught him looking , like yesterday, when she was lost in her thoughts and he'd taken that moment to look at her boobs before she'd suddenly turned back round and stared at him. He knew that yesterday she'd been slushied, but he'd been fortunate all week. He knew that because it was Friday, there was a chance that he'd get mega slushied. He couldn't see Tina anywhere, and that annoyed him because he wanted to hang out and maybe have the courage to ask her out, but he knew that if she wasn't with him there was less chance they would get double slushied together. He took an earphone out as he wheeled down the hallway, and then turned the corner to the hall where Tinas locker was. He saw her standing by it, surrounded by a bunch of jocks with their signature McKinley jackets. And then he realized that she was dripping head to foot with red slushie. The jocks all laughed and walked off, and he wheeled down over to her.
'Are you okay?'
She turned and smiled at him, though he could see that her eyes were full of tears that she was holding back. 'Y-yeah, i'm fine.' She shook her hand and some of the slush fell off.
'Need a ride to Glee Club after you've cleaned up?' He smiled at her and gestured around his chair.
She shook her head. ' I think i'm just gonna skip Glee today and go home.'
'I'll walk you home?' He offered. He didn't want her to leave just yet, not just as he almost had the courage to ask her out.
She nodded. 'T-that's really sweet, Artie. My parents are out so you could stop by if you like.'.
He tried to hide his excitment. That was all he wanted. He'd never been to Tina Cohen Chang's house, but he wanted to, and it would be a chance to maybe ask her out. Or was it already a sort of date ? He wasn't sure. He knew that he was over thinking things, he'd never even kissed a girl before and he was desperate to kiss Tina, but he didn't think that was possible.
'That sounds great, T.' She grinned and sat on his lap . He started wheeling them out of McKInley and onto the street. She directed him to her house , which was a few blocks away. As they reached the door , he suddenly wondered if she had thought about how he could get inside and if there would be stairs. That would be super embarassing , if she had to carry him, or worse, she wasn't able to lift him.
They reached the door and Artie was able to wheel through. She jumped off of his chair .
'So w-what do you wanna do?' She asked.
Kiss you, he thought, but instead he pretended he was really busy looking around the place. 'I don't know , T. It was your idea to skip Glee.'
He thought he sounded rude, but he was thankful he hadn't said anything about wanting to make out with her aloud.
They ended up putting a movie on. Neither of them really knew what else to do. Artie pulled himself out of the chair and onto the couch, next to her.
Halfway through the movie, she turned to him. 'A-artie, how did it happen? The accident, i mean.'
He frowned and shifted himself to face her.
'I was eight. I was in a car accident with my mom, and she was fine, but I've been in the chair ever since.'
She took his hand , 'That's really sad, Artie. I'm sorry'. She didn't even bother to stutter, this was too sincere.
'But it's okay.' He said, trying to smille. 'Because you and I have something in common.
'Like what?'
'LIke your stutter. You know what it's like to have something affect your life. Like my chair, and your stutter.'
She felt insanely guilty. She knew that if she told him it would really upset him, he might even leave. But she knew she couldn't keep lying. I mean, what if they ever got to date? She couldn't keep stuttering then.
'Artie, I need to tell you something.'
'Sure.' He was still smiling that beautiful smile of his.
'I've been faking it.'
'Faking what?' His face fell and was full of confusion.
'My stutter. I pretended to have one, when i had to do a presentation on the missouri comprimise, and I was really shy, and it made people leave me alone.'
For a second, there was a silence. Then Artie shook his head. 'I can't believe you could lie about that. I thought we had something really special in common.' He eased himself off the couch and back into his chair.
'Artie, wait!'
But he'd already rolled away.
And to think, he would've finally asked her out then.
Chapter Three
Monday at school was the worst day for Tina. Artie wouldn't talk to her, at lunch time , he chose to sit with Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel. She knew that she'd really messed up if he was choosing to sit with Rachel Berry. In Glee club, he'd put his earphones in and waited for her to sit down before he wheeled anywhere. Mr Schu had asked them about doing a duet , but he just shook his head and went back to his music. If she saw him in halls, he'd leave before she could talk to him. In class, he swapped seats with Stoner Brett so that he didn't have to sit next to her. When she got slushied on Tuesday , he was there, at his locker, and he didn't even say anything to her, though she caught him looking right at her. She couldn't believe that she'd messed up the once chance to maybe be with him. She really liked him, she just hadn't realized that her stutter would ruin that. If she'd known, she would have never faked it , missouri compromise or not.
On Wednesday, she saw him in the halls and took her chance. She strided over to him, place two hands on his wheels so that he couldn't roll away, and started talking. Her words came out in one big rush.
'Artie, please, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you, i didn't know that my stutter was so important. I'm so sorry, please just talk to me again, i really like you and i just , i'm sorry.'
He stared up at her. 'You like me?' Instanly he felt stupid, as he realized she must have meant as a friend.
She blushed bright red. 'Yeah.' She couldn't belive she'd just admitted it to him.
'And you're sorry about the stutter?'
'Artie, I'm so sorry.'
He grinned , and Tina felt her heart soar.
'I like you too T. Like, really like you.' Now they felt themselves both blushing.
'Do you wanna go out sometime?' She asked, barely able to believe she'd just said that.
'Yes, woman!' He took her hands off his wheels and held them for a moment too long. She felt something inside, but she knew that she was only showing it by blushing on the outside.
Chapter Four