By the end of my first week at Lima, I'd gotten to know this Sam guy a bit better. I helped him with his math homework and we kind of helped each other out with directions. It was kind of a relief that we were both new, because we would be suffering together, but half the time we ended up lost. We also were getting labeled as that stereotypical new kid couple already, which I knew was totally and completely untrue, so it kind of sucked.
Also by the end of my first week at Lima, it was eating away at me alive. I wanted to join Glee. I hated admitting it, because it wouldn't exactly make me the most popular girl in school and I wasn't sure if I was any good at singing or not, but it was true. I wanted to be stuck with a bunch of musically gifted nerds, including that bitchy Rachel girl. I wanted to sing and maybe I'd even get to play some bass. I hadn't picked up a bass since eighth grade, but I was sure I knew the chords and stuff still.
It was a Thursday and I was wearing a black shirt printed with hot pink skulls, a neon yellow vest (vests were the staple of my every outfit), a jean skirt, hot pink tights, and once again, my Converse. There were Glee club flyers all over the place, seemingly trying to haunt me. A tiny voice inside me wondered if Sam would try out with me, though I doubted it. He had a nice voice –we'd get distracted by the radio and start singing every once in awhile when we were trying to study- but he just didn't seem the type. This thought continued to haunt me even more than the flyers, though it really didn't help any part of me wanting to be in New Directions knowing that I might have a partner to try out with.
Biology was my first class of the day. My partner was a cheerleader named Quinn. I didn't like her attitude – maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was head of the Cheerios squad, but she seemed to act like a Miss Popularity Queen type of person, and I didn't tend to like people who acted like that. We managed to get our classwork done, though, and that was what mattered.
The classes passed really slowly all the way up through lunch. At lunch I found a table sitting with Rachel from the bathroom. She wasn't really so bad I guess – her friends were nicer, though. Quinn was friends with her, but she sat with the cheerleading squad. Everyone Rachel hung out with was one of the Glee club members. It was a small table of five today – a nice darker-skinned girl named Mercades, a pale gay guy named Kurt with a rockin' fashion sense, Rachel, and her football-playing boyfriend, Finn. The one thing I couldn't stand about Finn was how much taller he was than me. It was aggrivating. I sat there stabbing at my salad and finally felt compelled to tell them, "I'm thinking about trying out for glee club." Kurt gave me a smile. "That's great. You'd be fabulous, you know," he praised. Mercades, grinning, seemed to agree. "Yeah, you would. You should go for it." Rachel sat there pouting and Finn seemed a little afraid to say anything. "Well, I would, but it all kind of depends on whether or not I can get my friend to try out with me," I explained. Mercades smiled. "A friend or a more than a friend type of friend?" she asked teasingly. I rolled my eyes and munched on a crouton. "Shut up, Mercades, it's not like that at all." Kurt pitched in: "Well if it's that gorgeous blond football player you've been hanging around with, I'd say it was a more than a friend." Finn rolled his eyes and said, "I'm sure Dana and Sam have nothing going on." I gave him a grateful smile whereas Kurt and Mercades, "whatever"ed.
Later that day, I cornered Sam. During school, it was hard to get a chance to talk to him. Guys from the football team were always around him, asking him questions – Sam'd taken Finn's place as quarterback, so he was kind of in charge of a whole team of sweaty guys. Well, maybe more than kind of….you get the idea. Anyways, I cornered him in a very….unique way – by hopping on top of him piggyback-style. "Hey Sam!" I shouted, jumping on his back. "Ahh! Dana! Get off of me!" he exclaimed. I laughed and hopped off. "I'm surprised you knew it was me," I admitted. "How could I not? You're the loudest person I've ever met," he said with a shrug. I rolled my eyes. "So….I was thinking about going out for glee club," I changed the subject conversationally. "Sounds like a good idea. You'd be good," Sam responded, taking a sip out of his bottle of water. "Would you try out with me?" I asked him. He did a full-on spit take and yelled, "WHAT?"
I didn't bother to repeat the question. Instead, I clasped my hands together in a beggar's position. "Please please please Sam?" I asked, fake-pouting. "No way! Are you crazy? I mean, I like this singing stuff as much as you do I guess, but I can't do that! I'm already way too much of an outcast for being new," he complained. "Are you sure about that? You're the frickin' quarterback. Doesn't that make you automatically like the most popular dude in the school?" I protested. He shrugged. "Whatever. You don't care what people think of you, so it's easy for you to say." I rolled my eyes. "You know I blush more than anyone else on the planet. I get embarrassed over everything! Of course I care what people think…..I just don't think that what people think should stop you from doing stuff you wanna do." "Who said I wanted to do this?" Sam pointed out. "You and I both know you do," I sing-songed.
"Please Sam?" I asked. "Please please please?" He rolled his eyes, then his face lit up as if he'd invented a cure for cancer. "On one itsy-bitsy condition," he said. I grinned and clapped my hands eagerly. "Yay! What's the condition?" I asked with excitement. "You try out to be a cheerleader. If you go and tell Coach Sylvester that you want to be a Cheerio, I'll try out for that New Directions thing with you." My mouth dropped to the floor. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I screamed. "Sam, you know cheerleading is against everything I stand for – morally, ethically, and socially! It's just a bunch of sluts in skimpy uniforms flouncing around and showing off their matching underwear!" Sam rolled his eyes. "I guess you don't want me to go out for glee then." I groaned. "I hate you." "So you'll do it?" "I hate you so much right now, Sam." "You're trying out aren't you?" "Yup. And you're trying out for glee?" "Um, I guess so." "This sucks." "Yeah, it does."
And so I, Dana Gloria Estelle, agreed to do the one thing I never wanted to do – I was about to try out to be a cheerleader. On the brighter side of the mountain, Sam was gonna try out for glee club with me. So, we walked side by side and discussed happier things than cheerleading and decided to start talking about what songs we would sing. All in all, I think I'd gotten him at least a little excited for auditions.