Setting: Hallway
Jacob Ben Israel: MCKINLEY BLOGOSPHERE! I'm Jacob Ben Israel reporting on the latest details of the Glee Class of 2013! Where they're headed, and what drag queen nonsense this school awaits!
[Tina and Artie are at their lockers]
Jacob: Tina Cohen Chang. Glee Club original. Future Mrs. Tina Cohen Chang Chang. Assumed to be the Glee Club's new female vocalist. What are your plans for the future, Mrs. Chang?
Tina Cohen-Chang: Well I just plan to make the best of my high school year and to lead the Glee Club to another victory at Nationals!
Jacob: [whisper behind the camera] College or Career!
Tina: Oh, my actual future? Well, I'll be pursuing a degree in theater education from NYU or NYADA if I can get in!
Jacob: What about you, Artie Abrams?
Artie: Me? Oh, I have a vision for two sensational musical productions that will be aired here at McKinley High. But once the year's over I'll be headed off to get a degree in directing and in eight years, I'll have released the next Hollywood Hit… And walking, hopefully…
[Jacob exits to focus on Season 1's original freshman crushers]
Tina: [to self] I don't know if I really want to attend NYU. Maybe it's just because I don't want to spend the next five years of my life away from Mike. But a little separation is good for relationships, right?
[Blaine and Brittany at lockers]
Jacob: Blaine Anderson. Have you ever noticed your initials match the name "Benedict Arnold?" Former Warbler, Glee Club traitor, the trader of secrets to Glee Club rival Sebastian Smythe. What's your plan for the future, Benedict Anderson slash Blaine Arnold?
Blaine: Uhm, well, I will be running for Student Body President here at McKinley High to push for more respect among our student body and—
Jacob: Yes, well no one really cares about respect. Ms. Jones could sing R-E-S-P-E-C-T a thousand times and no one will care. Do we need a repeat of the heinous attempts at Glee recruiting the past few years?
[Flashback to food fight "We Got the Beat" and ignored "Empire State of Mind."]
Blaine: Funny you should mention that because I've got a killer plan to recruit members for New Directions! But if you're just so anxious about my career I was planning on pursuing a degree in Law with a double major in Performing Arts from Yale or NYADA.
Jacob: What about you, Brittany S. Pearce?
Brittany: I'm already nominated for Senior Class President for the second time in a row, so MCKINLEY HIGH! You can expect a full return of Topless Tuesdays this year!
[tumultuous applause from jocks] [Jacob exits]
Blaine: [to self] I know I'm into Law and all that but Kurt would kill me if I don't take the chance to audition for NYADA. I mean, I love performing, I really do, but I feel that I could have greater potential in activating a revolution in gay rights and anti-bullying policies in schools…
[Jacob enters Locker Room]
Jacob: Sam 'Trouty Mouth' Evans! Rumor has it that you've regained your prized Quarterback position on the football team, is this true?
Sam: [after smelling old deodorant] Woah, um, yeah, it's true! So the McKinley TITANS can expect a lot of victory this year.
Jacob: And what are your plans after graduation, Trout?
Sam: Um… [stares at camera] Well, I'll be resuming my, um, business back in Kentucky. Maybe attend a community college there if I can afford it…
Jacob: Well viewers, you had it! Sam really is returning to his life as a night-bar stripper!
Sam: WAIT, HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THAT?
** ** ** ** ** COMMERCIAL ** ** ** ** **
[Setting: History Classroom]
[Will checking over student registration papers for the year] [Flashback to "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," "Mr. Cellophane," and "On My Own"]
[to self]
Will to Mercedes: Such a diva, but so much soul. I'm sad I didn't realize that until it was too late
Will to Kurt: All those times I saw him with the football guys, not aware they were tossing him in dumpsters. I should have done more to protect them, but I'm proud of where he's gotten.
Will to Rachel: Ugh, that was the year she had a crush on me, like Suzie Pepper. So controlling, so self-centered, but I feel honored to have taught a future Broadway star.]
[Setting: Locker Room Office] [Flashback to Will and Sue's pizza scheme]
Beiste: [To self] Even while I was being bullied by my own fellow staff, Evans, Hudson, Chang, and Puckerman always made me feel respected as a coach… Well, except for the times when I was their key to ending sexual tension. But still, I can't believe they're gone. But at least I have Abrams and Evans leading this team of misfits to a highly possible victory at the state tournaments.
[Setting: Counselor's Office, Emma is cleaning her desk and organizing new pamphlets] [Flashback to taking the kids to Sectionals]
Emma: [to self] Oh, those little angels. Time flies by too fast. It feels just like yesterday that their set list was stolen and Sue was abusing their pretty little heads and Will was having his own struggles with Terri. But that's all past now. I just hope I prepared them enough for what lies out there in the world. I mean, Finn especially, I hope he realizes that he should be pursuing his dreams for what he's passionate about, not what his fiancée wants for him. But I just can't wait for the day where I'm at Rachel and Kurt's Broadway debuts and everyone is starting successful lives… Ah, where has the time gone?
Setting: Sue's Office] [Flashback to the MANY times she's abused the Glee Club]
Sue: [to self] Dear Diary, It's the first day of school and, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually MISS the Glee Club! I mean I just look back on the days where I was filling Will's hair products with chicken fat and maple syrup just to have an excuse to embarrass him in front of Figgins. And perhaps I was wrong to be throwing all those sticks and dumping all that dirt, and perhaps I could even have been sued if a parent ever found out about all those times I pushed Jones and Porcelain around. But I just can't believe I lost Sand Bags and Q. But at least I've still got Brittany and sweet Becky. But I just don't see how we can take Nationals this year with such a young team, my pregnancy, and Roz Washington constantly out to get me. Now I get how Will felt all those times I brought up the bird nests and Disney characters making their homes in his tumble weed weave.
** ** ** COMMERCIAL ** ** **
[Setting: Choir Room] [Flashback to Tina's confession about faking her stutter]
Artie: I guess I've forgiven you about deceiving me like that.
Tina: That was like three years ago, Artie.
Artie: Yeah, but that kind of relationship and that kind of secret just don't mix. I think we've both learned that by now.
Tina: Yeah…
Artie: But it's a new time now.
Tina: And they're all gone.
Artie: Well, we'll see them again periodically!
Tina: Yeah, but it won't be the same. Without them here in Glee Club.
Artie: But there's still a handful of us left.
Tina: Do you think we can do it?
Artie: [eyes widen] Do… it?
Tina: No, it. Leading. Glee Club. Can we keep up the legacy that Finn and Rachel left behind for us?
Artie: I'm sure of it.
Tina: [giggles] Well I honestly can't wait to see the new faces we get in Glee Club this year.
Artie: So a count. There's you, me, Brittany, Sam, and and Blaine here.
Tina: Class of 2013! But don't forget Joe.
Artie: What about Rory?
Tina: Oh, I don't think he got an extended Visa to keep studying in America.
Artie: Oh okay, but we have Sugar.
Tina: Oh my goodness…
Artie: So that makes…
Tina: Seven!
Artie: Seven. Which means we only need five new kids this year.
Tina: Maybe four, if Rory possibly comes back in time.
Artie: Well I'm not hoping on it. Sugar's finally mine!
Tina: She still hasn't fallen for you.
Artie: She will! [rolls off]
[Setting: Cafeteria, Blaine's drinking a cup of coffee watching all the scared freshmen] [Flashback to first meeting Kurt at Dalton]
Blaine: [to self] I left behind a lot and sacrificed so much… I just want to make a difference in this school. But I'm not sure if everyone else will go for that, me still being the newest to New Directions and all. But there's so much that McKinley High can benefit from. And first order of business, better breakfast selections in the morning.
[Setting: Football Field, Sam is practicing his tackles] [Flashback to "Billionaire"
Sam: I know I'm finally the hottest fish in the sea at McKinley High now. Literally. My trout mouth and whatnot. But part of me thinks I don't deserve this position. Finn wasn't just a winning Quarterback. He was a role model, a leader, someone who started a revolutionary at this school. I just hope no one expects me to follow his footsteps. I'm just here to play ball, hopefully earn a scholarship, and make something of myself. I know what it feels like to be on the streets… Well, in a one-bedroom motel for five, at least. But I'm not going back. We're not going back.
[Setting: Emma's office, getting their schedules cleared]
Emma: So, Sugar, are you okay with the switch?
Sugar: Switching from Choir to Piano? No. I'm not down with that.
Emma: But it's the only thing that's keeping you out of taking remedial Algebra, which you barely passed last year.
Sugar: Look. New Directions has made it perfectly clear that I'm not a good singer, so Choir is going to help that. But Piano is, like, third class citizen job. They play the music for the star to shine, and I'm that supernova. Just ask Brad!
Joe: There's got to be another alternative for Sugar, Mrs. Scheuster.
Emma: [blank minded] Oh! Me! Mrs. Scheuster. Yeah. Still not used to the name change.
Joe and Sugar: The alternative?
Emma: Oh, yes. Well, according to the master schedule, the only other way to fix your schedule is to bump English to second period, and to put you in Accounting where Piano was.
Sugar: Accounting? Isn't it, like, illegal to have two math classes at once?
Emma: Oh, no, Accounting is very beneficial to your schedule! And your daddy, being a big businessman, maybe this class will come easier to you!
Sugar: I'll take it! [Shakes Emma's hand]
Emma: Oh, um, wow. [Stares at the puppy in Sugar's left arm] Those things are so unhygienic!
[Sugar leaves]
Emma: [rubs hand sanitizer] Okay, so, Joe, what was the problem with your schedule?
Joe: Yeah, it says I'm in a class called AP Biology?
Emma: Oh, is this about taking AP Biology and Physics both in one year?
Joe: Um, no, it was just that I thought I had Band in fifth period?
Emma: Oh! Yes, band! Well, are you sure you don't want to drop AP Biology? I mean, you could earn college credit for it…
Joe: I can? I thought AP was just advanced placement.
Emma: It is, but it's a class to train you up for the AP exams at the end of the year, which earns you credits for college so you won't have to take it there! [hands Joe a pamphlet on AP Classes]
Joe: And this counts for the Biology credit I missed in freshman year?
Emma: Yes, because you took Physics while you were home-schooled your freshman year.
Joe: Alright, thanks Mrs. Scheuster!
Emma: Who? Me! Yes, me! Yes, you're welcome Mr. Hart.
** ** ** [COMMERCIAL] ** ** **
[Setting: Stage] [Flashback to first Finchel kiss]
Rachel: Do you regret it?
Finn: What?
Rachel: Kissing me… While you were still dating Quinn.
Finn: Oh. Well, I mean, I guess it was cheating, but in the end I have you, right?
Rachel: [smiles] I just kind of regret being so pushy and following you around everywhere, trying to make you love me.
Finn: And when it didn't work you sang a song about giving me hell, right?
Rachel: Haha, yes, I did.
Finn: Do you regret being in love with Jesse in sophomore year?
Rachel: Well, yes. Then no. Then yes entirely. It's just, I'm glad that he helped me find my mom. Well… my birth mother. But in the end, he and his friends abused me, and my relationship with my mother didn't work out the way I hoped it would anyway.
Finn: But you finding Shelby was still better than wondering who she is now then, right?
Rachel: Yeah, I guess.
Finn: And if it weren't for her letter of recommendation for you, you probably wouldn't have been accepted to NYADA.
Rachel: Yeah. I guess fate has a way of making life…
Finn: Too indescribable?
Rachel: Yes… So full of glee.
[Setting: Parking lot] [Flashback to "Bust the Windows"]
Kurt: And just think that it was that very trash bin that Puck threw me in every day.
Mercedes: And it was in that parking space where I bust the windows of your car.
Kurt: Oh my gosh, I can't believe you did that.
Mercedes: I can't believe I didn't know you were gay when I first met you!
[Both pause and frown as passing freshmen pass by, laughing at the comment]
Kurt: When will these kids stop being so mean…
Mercedes: Ugh, agreed.
Kurt: I mean, Blaine's told me every day over the summer that anti-bullying is top of his list for his reign as Student Body president, but it reminded me that no matter how hard I tried, no one was ever truly accepting of who I was… Except for you guys!
Mercedes: And that even goes for the fat kids, too. Remember when Coach Sylvester had me lose ten pounds in a week?
Kurt: And you fainted.
Mercedes: And that's when my friendship with Quinn started?
Kurt: Oh, gosh, the things we were up to back then.
Mercedes: I mean, it's sad how we spend the past three years of our lives trying to make something of ourselves, but we both just kept getting shot at for our personal flaws.
Kurt: Like me being gay?
Mercedes: Or me being the fat diva?
Kurt: Well like our original song says, we'll get them back when we're their boss.
Mercedes: But will we ever be up at that level? I'm not going to be a boss any time soon.
Kurt: We'll both be performers…
Mercedes: Exactly. And what happens when these spoiled jocks and Cheerios go off to college? Most of them will make something of themselves.
Kurt: But that means they'll be paying to see our shows!
Mercedes: But what can we do to them? Give them a bad show to waste their money?
Kurt: What's the harm in that?
Mercedes: We're better than them Kurt. If anything those people can spread more hate on review websites about how they know us losers in high school and how we're no different in the future than we are now.
[Setting: Football Bleachers] [Flashback to "Put a Ring On It"]
Puck: I still can't believe Finn and Kurt put us up to that.
Mike: But it did make us finally join Glee Club, didn't it?
Puck: And what good did that do?
Mike: I met Tina…
Puck: And I guess Glee made me a better person.
Mike: And a better father.
Puck: Well it's not like I get to see Beth at all these days.
Mike: Well I'm still glad of where we got.
Puck: Yeah, cleaning pools for a living…
Mike: Are you regretting it?
Puck: No, of course not. I can't wait to meet all those older California babes!
Mike: But?
Puck: But I just think of my dad and how he never had a stable job, and had the nerve to ask his own son to pay his rent.
Mike: Well you could always go to college in California.
Puck: With whose money?
Mike: Scholarships, grants, and you could work your way up to it.
Puck: Yeah, but look at you. You're going to be a famous dancer one day!
Mike: Funny how you don't see where you're going when you're a freshman.
Puck: Yeah, not knowing where you're headed, only stuck in those teenaged fantasies of happiness and cool factor that'll probably destroy you.
[Setting: With Puck and Mike] [Flashback to Sue's 'SLOPPY BABIES!'
Quinn: I miss that.
Santana: The days of the Unholy Trinity?
Quinn: That, and how cool I was back then.
Santana: Yeah, but look at you. Off to Yale?
Quinn: And you off for professional Cheerleading?
Santana: I still can't believe the trinity didn't graduate together.
Quinn: There was nothing we could have done.
Santana: Yes there was! We were in almost all of Britt's classes, we could have tutored her!
Quinn: But we didn't see the danger in our freshman year where she pinned her 0.0 GPA on her locker.
Santana: I just can't help but blame myself.
Quinn: Don't. You're off to bigger and better things. And Brittany's thrilled to be doing double time as senior class president.
Santana: Yeah she thinks she'll get a huge scholarship.
Quinn: There's no telling where Britt's going to go, but I know she'll have a good year.
Santana: Guess it goes to show. High school actually is important after all…
Song: Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life
Finn: Here, I stand, with life ahead of me. No place to hide…
Rachel and Finn: Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
Puck: Though, it's true, what some have said of me. That I'm untried…
Mike and Puck: Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
Quinn: Hushed, and scared, and flushed, and wary. I watch for dawn.
Santana and Quinn: All my waiting years, suddenly are gone…
Kurt: Wait, don't move, I'm still not ready yet. I need more time to-
Mercedes and Kurt: -steady my heart! But it's too late! But let it start!
[Run to Emma's office] Rachel: Beat, by beat, my pulse is quickening. And growing strong…
Finn, Emma, and Rachel: Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
[Run to Will's office]Mercedes: One might say, my plot's been thickening! For far too long!
Kurt, Will, Mercedes: Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
[Run to Sue's office] Santana: There, right there, my future's gleaming! It blinds my eyes!
Quinn, Sue, Santana: Soon my world will grow, brighter than the stars!
[Run to Beiste's office] Mike: Wait, don't move, I'm still not grown enough! I need more time-
Puck, Beiste, Mike: -to own my own heart!
All kids: I'm not prepared!
All cast: But let it start!
BAM into Figgins' office.
Figgins: Finchel, Quinn, Santana, Kurt, Mercedes, Puck, and Mike, I'm very pleased to see you all! Go out there, make a difference, and remember: Once a Titan, always a Titan. McKinley will miss you in his halls.
** ** ** [COMMERCIAL] ** ** **
[Setting: Choir Room] [Characters: All cast above]
Will: I just can't believe how fast times have come since we started New Directions.
Rachel: Yep, and I was already fighting for solos under Mr. Ryerson's Glee Club tutelage.
Tina: And you ratted him out for false sexual relations with a male student…
Rachel: Hey, I had to! We wouldn't have gotten Mr. Scheuster to take over!
Artie: Hell no, you did it because you couldn't stand not being the star!
[Flashback to Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat]
Mercedes: Oh damn, that was a hot mess!
Rachel: The five conflicted teens. Until Mr. Scheuster busted Finn for drugs that he didn't own, right?
Will: Hey, I had to. That was the trigger for getting six more additions to complete our original 12!
[Flashback to Regionals 2010, the last note of the Journey Medley]
Puck: The time we were finally together.
Santana: Oh, was that the year I actually started liking you people?
Sue: Oh, don't worry Sand Bags, that was the year I was mercilessly taunting Will's brier patch on his scalp!
[Flashback to Sectionals 2010]
Sam: Yeah, you guys kinda owe me for getting us that win at Sectionals.
Quinn: Hey, that was our duet!
Santana: Uh, no, that was my solo that got us the victory! My raspy hot eargasms were too much for the judges!
[Flashback to Nationals 2012]
Emma: But then you finally achieved the big goal, right?
Beiste: First place!
Will: And it wasn't an easy journey, but we got there, right?
[Class of 2012 nods]
Will: And to my awesome juniors, we'll do that again this year!
Sugar: And don't worry, I promise my solo at Sectionals will get us to Regionals.
Joe: Oh, but Sugar, you're going to be too talented for those judges. You might have to let someone less talented take the solos.
[All laugh]
Tina: Well guys, I guess it really is our time to take control and get us all to Nationals again.
Song: Our Time
Tina: Something is stirring, shifting ground, it's just begun…
Rachel: Edges are blurring all around, and yesterday is done…
Blaine: Feel the flow, hear what's happening, we're what's happening…
Finn: Don't you know we're the movers and we're the shapers.
Joe and Sugar: We're the name in tomorrow's papers.
All above: Up to us pal to show 'em…
Puck and Mike: It's our time; breathe it in, worlds to change and worlds to win.
Santana, Quinn, Brittany: Our turn, coming through
Five above: Me and you pal, me and you.
Mercedes: Feel how it quivers on the brink, everything… Gives you the shivers, makes you think there's so much stuff to sing…
Kurt: And you and me we'll be singing it like the birds, me with music and you the words, tell 'em things they don't know.
Two above: Up to us pal to show 'em…
All 14: Our time, breathe it in, worlds to change and worlds to win. Our turn we're what's new. Me and you, pal me and you.
Girls: Feel the flow
Boys: Feel the flow [echo]
All: We're what's happening, we're what's happening! Long ago all we had was that funny feeling, saying someday we'd send them reeling, now it looks like we can. Someday just began.
Class of 2012: It's our heads on the block.
Class of 2013: Give us room and start the clock.
Joe and Sugar: Our time, coming through, me and you pal me and you!
All: Me and you!
Finn, Rachel, Kurt: Me and you. (On the plane to New York)
Mike and Mercedes: Me and you. (On another plane to New York)
Santana: Me and you. (On plane to Kentucky)
Puck and Quinn: Me and you. (Separate screens, one plane to California, one plane to Yale)
All Cast and Will: Me and you.
Final cut: [Tina, Artie, Blaine, Brittany, Sam, Joe, Sugar, and Will exit the choir room after putting up the other 8 kids' portraits on the wall. Football kids splatter them all with slushies.]
Will: Good times…