What really happened to Matt
"Hey," said Matt as he walked into the choir room. The rest of the club was discussing something, so no one replied. Matt went to his chair and then tripped over a cable. He caught himself and looked around to make sure no one saw what happened. He looked at Santana, who was too busy talking to her friend Brittany, to see. She looked heavenly in her cheerleading outfit. Matt wondered if angels dressed in cheerleading uniforms, as pretended to listen to what Finn was saying.
"Guys I think we should talk about how we did at regionals this year."
"Are you sure this is the time to talk about this," said Artie. "We have other things to worry about." Currently the glee club was deciding what their t-shirts should look like. Artie suggested that they would be black, with New Directions, the club's name, in purple. However Quinn wanted the shirt to be purple, with New Directions in black.
Finn raised his voice. "We have to talk about this now. You guys can't just slide by, hoping Rachel can carry us."
Next to Finn was Rachel, his annoying girlfriend. "Finn, maybe you cut them a little slack-."
"Can we cut you instead Dwarf girl?" Santana smiled at Rachel. It was that mischievous smile that Matt had learned to find so sexy. Matt laughed, until everyone gave him weird looks. They didn't get Santana's sense of humor.
Finn continued talking. "We need to take this thing seriously. We were crushed this year. We can't have a repeat next time."
"Oh come on it wasn't that bad." Mercedes put down her cellphone and stopped texting. "We got third place."
"There were only two other teams," said Kurt.
"We need to start working now if we want to win next year. That means we have to take things seriously. We need to cut the pop songs. The judges don't respect themm" said Finn.
"Isn't that a little extreme? You do want to have fun here, right? You know, before you have to start worrying about student loans, alimony, and all that super fun stuff." Mr. Schuester walked into the room along with Brad, the school pianist. Mr. Schuester was carrying a laptop, which he put of Brad's piano. This made Brad roll his eyes.
"Come on Mr. Schue. Doesn't our funding get cut if we don't win regionals next year?"
"That's true." Mr. Schuester positioned himself in the center of the glee club, preparing another motivational speech. "You guys do need to work hard to win. But that doesn't mean you can't have some fun. You guys are young, you need to enjoy this time while you can…"
While Schue was talking, Santana decided to provide some commentary. "You see Finn, I'm not really satisfied with my life so far, so now I'm using you guys to live out my High School fantasies," she whispered to Brittany.
Brittany didn't get the joke. "Wait, when did he say that?"
"It's subtext Brit. He didn't say it, but I know he's thinking it."
"So you can read his mind?"
Matt decided to step in, doing his best Finn impression. "Look Mr. Schue, we have to win, because that's the only way my girlfriend will put out."
Santana gave Matt a smile. "You see Brit. He gets it."
"…All I'm trying to say is don't worry about winning regionals next year. This reminds me of a song." Mr. Schue put sheet music on Brad's piano and Brad played a few notes. Immediately Rachel and Finn began singing a carefully choreographed duet of the classic song about savoring your youth, You Belong With Me. The rest of the club joined in. Matt followed along with the rest of the club, but he was still focused on Santana.
"Can't you see that I'm the one who understands you?" Santana danced with her friend, occasionally giving looks to the guys and getting a kick out of their reactions. "Been here all along…" She stared at Finn and licked her lips, much to Rachel's chagrin. "…so why can't you see?" Santana winked at Kurt. "You belong with me." Finally Santana looked directly at Matt. She then mouthed the last words to the song, "You belong with me." His heart skipped a beat. Then the song ended
"Well, that sounds like something the judges will respect," said Will.
When rehearsal ended everyone made a beeline for the door, except for Matt. Matt knew that Santana was just being Santana. She didn't mean anything by it. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he needed to stop moping around. Every day it tortured him to see her with others, knowing that he didn't have the courage to ask her out. Today that was going to end.
Matt stayed behind so that he could be alone with Santana, who was pretending to adjust the tissues in her bra. Clearly she was giving him an opening. "Hey Santana."
"Que quieres?" Matt stared blankly for a while. She made Spanish sound so sexy. He thought a bit about what he would say. He figured it didn't matter. Even if she rejected him, he would be fine. He just wanted to get this weight off his chest. Still, he didn't want to make things awkward between them. Finally Santana rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"
"Well…I," Matt braced himself, readying for her answer. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question?" He figured this was a good way to break the ice. Everyone likes answering questions.
"Can she answer my question first?" It was Puck, her ex-boyfriend, maybe. Puck used to date Santana, but then he got Quinn, Finn's ex-girlfriend, pregnant. Matt was pretty sure that Puck was dating Quinn, but he could be mistaken. "When was the last time we ever spent time together? You know outside of school."
"I don't know. You've been so busy with Preggo and Dwarf girl, that you haven't had that much time for me. I think it was two months ago." Santana puffed out her chest, showing off her tissues.
"Well why don't we spend some time together tonight?" Matt rolled his eyes. She wasn't interested in Puck; her body language betrayed it.
"Sure, come over tonight. The only people there will be my parents." Santana's smile made Matt weak at the knees. As Puck headed off for his next class he grinned at Matt. When he left the room Santana turned back to Matt. "So what did you want to ask me?"
"Ah. Well…when is the history report due?"
"Wednesday. I think. I don't really pay attention in that class."
It would be difficult for her to pay attention since Santana didn't have the same history class as Matt. "Thanks." Matt walked away quickly, desperate to get out of the room.
Matt had figured everything out. He had been to Puck's house before, so he knew where to find him. He would poke a hole in his car's tire, so Puck would be late in meeting Santana. Then Matt would text Quinn, using Puck's phone, to tell her to meet Puck while he was changing his tire. They would talk so long that Puck would never meet Santana. It was fool proof.
Since Matt needed to go to Puck's house, he had to take a bus that left in fifteen minutes. This left he with some time to kill. As Matt walked down the hallway he passed the choir room. This looked like a place where he could stop and think. He peeked through the door and noticed that Brad was still there. Matt saw that Brad had Mr. Schue's laptop out. Apparently Mr. Schue was too lazy to type up his own lesson plans, so he had Brad do it instead. Matt decided that Brad didn't want to be disturbed, so he waited in the hall.
Matt went over the conversation between Puck and Santana in his mind, wishing that it wasn't real. After a while he heard something coming from the choir room. At first it sounded like the soundtrack to a TV show. Then he heard people talking. "I don't know." That was exactly what Santana said. "You've been so busy with Preggo and Dwarf girl, that you haven't had that much time for me." Why was hearing it again? "I think it was two months ago." He had to know what was going on.
Matt rushed in and startled Brad. Brad acted quickly and tried to hide his work, but it was too late. Matt saw everything. On top of the piano were two cameras. They all had cables that ran into an outlet under the piano. There were two holes in the wall, both large enough to fit the cameras. There was on one explanation. Brad was filming the rehearsals.
Brad froze as he looked for an explanation for what was going on. "What does it look like?"
"You're filming our rehearsals so you can put together some sort of video memento for our club."
"It's not what it looks like. Wait..."
As Brad wondered what kind of excuse wouldn't get him arrested, Matt looked around the room to take stock of the situation. He had ten minutes until his bus left. He saw that a third cable in the outlet that wasn't connected to any of the cameras on the piano. It must still be in the wall. He ran, following the cable to its camera. Brad would have tried to stop him, but it was too late. The cable ran into the wall, around where Matt sat. It led to a motivational poster that said, "Teamwork is all about knowing what your part is". Matt tore it away. Beneath the poster was another camera.
"We were going to have the poster say 'We're looking after you', but we decided this would make more sense." Brad stood between Matt and the door. "Personally I was in favor of-."
Matt tore the camera from the wall. "What is this?" No answer. "I asked you a question. What are you doing with these cameras?"
Sweat beaded up on Brad's brow. "You know how you said that it looked like I was editing together a video memento for the club."
"Yeah and you said that you weren't."
"I did, didn't I?" Brad took off his glasses and cleaned them to buy him some time. "I guess I'll have to level with you. You know how you guys cover songs at glee club."
"Yeah, that's the definition of a glee club."
"And you know how people like to cover songs and sell them on iTunes."
"So you're recording the songs we sing in rehearsal, so you can sell them on iTunes. Is there a market for that?" Matt said.
"There is, but there's so much competition that we need a gimmick to set us apart. Right now reality shows are popular so-."
"You're filming our glee rehearsals, turning them into some reality show, and then marketing the songs we sing on iTunes!" Matt had to laugh. "That's the best you could come up with? Really?"
Brad looked offended. "It's true. We're filming you for a reality show. Why is that so hard for you to believe?"
"I can come up with five problems with that right off the top of my head. Who would want watch us sing songs?"
"Well we add in a bit of your personal lives."
"Our personal lives?"
"Relax. You're just a minor character. Two lines. Here I'll show you." Brad picked up his laptop and showed it to Matt.
"No I think I know what's going to be on there." Matt spoke as if he were talking to a child. "Wait, is this show on broadcast?"
"Yeah."
"Not on cable, or satellite, or pay per view?"
"No."
"So then why haven't I heard about this show before?" Matt had Brad stumped.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised you didn't find out sooner. We haven't been exactly subtle."
"There's that we again. Who else is part of this?"
"Well we need people to set up the cameras, edit the footage, and make sure you do what we want."
"What?" Matt raised his eyebrow. This kept getting better and better.
"Oh it's not as bad as it sounds. Creative editing can only get you so far. We just try to get you to sing certain songs, say certain lines, and rig certain competitions for the sake of drama."
"Are you saying that parts of our lives have been manufactured, and are entirely false?"
"What else would I be saying?"
Matt had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing. "So you're saying that you are filming us for a reality show…"
"Yes."
"…that none of us have ever heard of, despite being on public television…"
"Yes."
"…and you and a secret cabal of television producers are manipulating our lives for the sake of drama?"
"Cabal? What, did you get a word of the day calendar?"
"No. My brother runs a conspiracy blog. Every day I hear about the evils of television networks."
"Okay. And to answer your question, yes. Everything you said is true. Some of your friends and teachers are in on it."
Matt grinned. "Who came up with this? This has got to be the most retarded idea I have ever heard."
"No it's not! Look it's true. I'll show you." Brad went to his laptop and opened a file. Matt chuckled. There was no way this was real. "Okay. Here's a promo for last week's episode."
The promo started playing. Then Matt saw it. "Next Tuesday. Every song had led to this…"
"No." The promo showed footage of the New Directions at regionals. Anyone could have gotten that.
"…the event you've been waiting for is finally here…"
"No." There was footage of Mr. Schue making out with the guidance counselor. If someone was really trying they could have gotten that.
"Don't miss the season finale where all their dreams may come true." Matt saw the footage of the New Directions hearing the results of Regionals. There were lots of people with cameras there.
"No! Is that the best you could do? You take your footage and put a voice over it. That doesn't mean it's part of a TV show."
Brad put on his glasses. "Okay, you're still skeptical. How about this. Why would I go through all this trouble to get that footage, edit it together professionally, and get someone to do a voiceover?"
"Well it's simple. You wanted an excuse in case someone found you."
Brad sneered. "But wouldn't I come up with an excuse that wasn't so far-fetched?"
Matt was taken aback. "Not necessarily. If you were…well there are lots of reasonable explanations, like…" Matt had to sit down. He thought about it more and more. The more he thought about it, the more Matt realized that there was only one reasonable solution. The school had hired a crazy man to teach kids piano. "So why tell me all this?"
"What do you mean?"
"This is obviously a very secretive operation. You're telling me all about this operation. Isn't that kind of counterproductive?" said Matt.
"Why would revealing to you that …oh crap." Brad dropped his glasses to the floor and picked them up to buy him some more time. As Brad struggled for an answer, Matt looked at the clock. It was five minutes until his bus left. He could go and tell someone about Brad's insanity, but he would miss his bus. "Well you won't tell anyone. Right?"
"I won't?"
"Yeah," said Brad, "Think about it. They are controlling the events around you-."
"They? You mean writers."
Brad nodded. "It's reality TV of course. If you're willing to go along with their plans they can make things pretty nice for you. They could give you a cut of the profits. We could pay for your college."
"Please, I've got recruiters waiting for me to graduate. Paying for college isn't an issue."
"Well they could use editing to make someone you don't like look like a dick. They would be humiliated on national television."
"Tempting, but she wouldn't know she was humiliated on national television. That takes away some of the fun."
Brad was sweating nervously. "Maybe they could give you a girlfriend."
Matt rolled his eyes. "No. That's ridiculous."
"Why? What's so ridiculous about that?"
"Look I can buy that you guys are secretly filming us. I can buy that you guys can make some weird things happen to us. I can buy that I live in a controlled environment where everything is a lie. But there's no way you guys can force someone to date me if they don't want to."
"Oh we can be very persuasive." Brad twirled his mustache.
"Persuasive?" Matt stood up.
"Yeah. And you guys are really easy to win over. I mean if we put two of you alone in the same room chances are you'll be making out in thirty seconds or less." Brad sat down on the piano bench.
"Yeah, that's fair." Matt inched his way towards the door cautiously. He knew that Brad, slow as he was, could catch him if he made a run for it now. Matt still held the camera beneath the poster in his hand. He just needed to show it to Principal Figgens, and Brad's delusional fantasy would be exposed to the school. Brad could then get the help he needed. "So you just get two of us in the same room together and you've got a couple?"
"Pretty much."
"It's that easy?" Matt kept asking questions to distract Brad.
"Well sometimes we have to use certain advanced methods of persuasion."
"Like what?" Matt was getting closer to the door.
"Hey that Rachel chick is hot."
"She is…I mean no. Well she is, but I have no desire to be with her…maybe."
"See."
"So you can get us to do whatever you want just by telling us what you want." Matt was almost to the door. He began wondering. If what Brad was saying was true, then Matt had just missed out on an opportunity to have a girlfriend. Of course what Brad was saying wasn't true.
"We literally tell you what to think and you do it. If I weren't making money off of this I would be seriously worried about you guys."
It was about this time that Matt heard it. Outside the door was the sound of faint footsteps. This was perfect. All he had to do was jump out of the door as they walked past and show them the evidence. Then this guy would take care of things while Matt headed for the bus. He just needed more time. "How often does this work?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what's the success rate for getting us into each other's pants?" The footsteps were getting closer. Just a bit more time.
"Again you guys are hormonal teenagers. Brushing me teeth requires more skill."
"So one hundred percent success rate?" Matt was a few feet from the door, his hand reached for the handle.
"Pretty much. If we wanted to we could hook you up with let's say…oh let's say Santana."
Matt stopped. "Wait you would do that?"
"Sure. I mean it would be easy and you like her, don't you?"
"She's hot." Matt tried to sound confident, but his tone betrayed everything.
"I could sell that to the guys upstairs. Think about it. She's a cheerleader and you're a football player, so it wouldn't be too much of a reach that you two got together. The fans would buy it. Not to mentions she's already with someone else, so that would create some interesting drama. The more I think about it the more this pairing sounds like a good idea. What do you think?" The footsteps were just outside the door.
"Well…Well I think…I think that…" Matt's hand was on the door handle. He was about to turn it, but his mind kept rushing back to Santana. Sure Brad was crazy, but that didn't mean Matt couldn't play along with his fantasy. Was there anything wrong with getting Brad to play matchmaker? And why shouldn't he be with Santana? Matt began thinking about her transcendental smile, her otherworldly hair, and her well-formed-.
"I'm going to need an answer Matt. The writers already have plans in motion, and the longer you wait the harder it's going be to change them."
Matt was ready to turn the handle, but something inside of him made him want to say yes. Everything Brad said made sense. The two of them had chemistry. He wanted Santana and Santana wanted him. She had given lustful looks to him earlier during practice...and to Finn…and to Kurt. Well she did listen to him after practice. Had Puck not been there, he and Santana would probably be together right now. Of course Puck was there. Would she ever pick him over Puck?
Matt turned the handle. He was about to open the door, when it opened by itself and Matt was almost knocked to the ground. "Don't come in here!" Brad yelled.
Matt immediately spun around, ready to expose what Brad had been doing, when he recognized the person behind him. "Mr. Schue!"
"Hey Matt. Want a Twix?" Will pulled a candy bar out of his pocket, along with an iPod.
"No." Matt held up the camera in his hand. "Look. Brad's been filming our rehearsals…"
"I know Matt." Mr. Schuester forced Matt back into the choir room.
"You know? Then why…"
Brad chuckled nervously. "Took you long enough. I was running out of ways to stall him."
"Shove it," said Mr. Schuester.
"Mr. Schue, what are you doing?" Matt was afraid to ask the obvious question.
Will then put his hand on Matt's shoulder and sighed. "Look, this isn't exactly the best way to find out that everything that you thought was important is a lie. You must feel so confused right now. If it were up to me I would let you go."
"But it's not up to you," Brad said. Will shot him a look and Brad shut up.
"The thing is, at the moment my boss can't afford to have you running around and telling everyone that their lives are really a false reality created by smoke and mirrors. You kids wouldn't know what to believe. Your friends might start to doubt whether or not their life experiences were real or not. They would probably go crazy. That wouldn't good for ratings."
"I understand," Matt said.
"Plus let's not sugarcoat things; you've only spoken two lines. That makes you expendable." Mr. Schuester locked the door behind him.
Matt shrugged. "I get it."
"If it'll make you feel better I'll say this: Matt, I really wished I could get to know you as person and not just some kid I was being paid to film," said Mr. Schuester, through a mouth full of Twix.
"I wish I could have known the real you too."
"Well enough of that shit. Let's get down to business." Will pulled out his iPod and looked for a song. "Do you like the Talking Heads?" Will's iPod then began playing Once in a Lifetime. The music was loud enough to drown out Matt's screams. At this time Matt's bus left.
As Mr. Schuester walked into the glee room he heard the kids talking. The club was listening to Rachel talk about some show she heard about, "…so it's apparently about a glee club just like us. I mean, isn't that-."
Santana interrupted her. "Not that this isn't interesting, Dwarf girl, but has anyone seen Matt?"
Rachel smirked. "What Santana, is he tonight's booty call?" For some reason she was wearing high-heels today.
"Jealous?"
"Please. You may be hot, but-."
"You think I'm hot?" She shot Rachel a smile.
Finn giggled a bit. Rachel elbowed him. "No it was a Freudian slip…wait, I meant…shut up! At least I don't stuff my bra." The rest of the club burst out into laughter.
"Hey!" said Mr. Schuester. The club quieted down. "I've just heard that Matt and his family have moved across counties. He will no longer be attending school here."
"Really? He didn't say anything about transferring," Puck said.
"His mother got a job in another town. It was a last minute thing."
"Maybe we should try to get in touch." Quinn pulled out her cellphone. "Does anyone have Matt's number?"
"That doesn't really matter right now," said Finn, "We needed him to help us win next year. Now we've got to find a replacement."
Quinn put away her cellphone. "What did Matt do?"
"Well he…I'm sure he did something."
"I thought he had a solo once?" said Rachel.
"I'm sure he did," said Mercedes. While the New Directions were talking about how to replace Matt, Brad pulled out his laptop and began working on something.