Kitty was gathering things from her locker when she heard the familiar sound of rubber rolling across the floor. She turned to see Artie Abrams smiling up at her. Kitty gave her friend a friendly smile in return. "Hey, Artie," Kitty said.
"Hey, Kitty," he responded. "Can I talk to you?"
"Sure! What about?" Kitty said, faking enthusiasm.
"I can't really talk about it out here. The last time I did this, I got denied…," Artie said. "Follow me."
Artie turned himself around and rolled into the choir room. Kitty followed, no denying that she was a bit interested in what he wanted to talk to her about.
Kitty didn't notice Ryder standing behind a locker door, watching Kitty walk into the choir room with curiosity.
"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Kitty asked, letting some of her regularly annoyed tone show in her voice.
Artie locked shut both doors. "Please, sit," he said, Kitty sat down. "Okay, look, I know that we're friends and all, and prom is coming up. I don't have a date, and you're a sixteen-year-old girl, so I know that you want to go. Do you think, you want to go to prom with me? Just as friends, though. I'm not hoping for anything to happen out of this."
"Artie, I would love to go with you," Kitty said with a wide smile, causing Artie to smile widely as well.
Five minutes later, Artie and Kitty exited the choir room doors. The hugged each other and they went on with the rest of their day. Ryder was still hiding behind a locker door, watching the two hug and walk away from each other.
At lunch, Ryder and Kitty were seated in the choir room. Ryder was eager to ask her about what went down between her and Artie just hours ago in the same room they were sitting in. Ryder finally decided to ask.
"He asked me to prom, that's all. We're going as friends," Kitty told Ryder. "Have you asked Marissa yet? Speaking of prom, and all."
"Not yet. I'm still trying to figure out how exactly to ask her," Ryder said, taking a bite out his apple.
"Well, that's easy. Didn't you sing to her when you first met her?" Kitty asked, Ryder nodded. "Then just sing to her again! It's not that hard."
The following day, Ryder told Kitty his plan of serenading Marissa in the auditorium during the study hall period the two shared. Kitty agreed to help Ryder in whatever way she could. Her job was to keep anyone from entering the auditorium.
Kitty now stood in front of the auditorium doors, which were now shut, but that didn't stop Kitty from hearing Ryder singing "Babel" by Mumford and Sons to Marissa. Kitty couldn't herself from wishing that she was in Marissa's position, as selfish as it sounded.
Not even five minutes later, the door opened and Ryder and Marissa walked out with huge grins on her faces. Ryder had is arm draped over Marissa's shoulders. "I take it she said yes, then," Kitty guessed.
"Who can turn down a boy who sings Mumford and Sons to you?" Marissa asked.
Marissa and Ryder gave each other pecks on the lips, shocking Kitty, before saying goodbye. Kitty was stuck with walking with Ryder to their third period, trying to keep her jealously to herself.
After school, Ryder and Kitty, along with the other New Directions, were helping Blaine, Sam, and Tina help set up for prom which was just three days away. "I heard you asked that Marissa chick to prom, dude. Nice," Sam said with a smile, patting Ryder on the back.
Sam walked away as Ryder said, "Thanks." Ryder then noticed that Kitty was staring at him. "Is there something on my face, or something?"
Kitty was taken off guard. She snapped out of whatever was going on, and gave Ryder a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?" she asked, baffled.
"Why are you staring at me?" Ryder asked, curious.
"I wasn't," Kitty said, defensively, then walking away.
Marley walked up to Kitty, who was now painting pieces of scenery with fellow lower classmen. "Alright, Kitty, what the hell is going between you and Ryder?" Marley asked, cutting straight to the chase.
"What are you talking about?" Kitty asked, trying to pull off the naïve act.
"Don't pull that act on me. I see you two together all the time. And you can't keep your eyes off of him," Marley responded.
"There's nothing going on between us. He's with Marissa, anyways," Kitty said, dipping her brush into more paint.
"Okay, going to prom with someone doesn't mean they are together. You are going with Artie, aren't you? That doesn't mean the two of you are going together," Marley said.
"That's different. Me and Artie are going as friends. Besides, he's just going with me to get back together with Tina, he told me. And Marissa and Ryder are together. They kissed after he asked her to prom," Kitty said. Marley gave her a knowing look.
"You like him, don't you?" Marley asked.
"What!? No! We're just friends," Kitty insisted.
"Whatever you say, but I see that look in your eyes. And I'm sure your heart beats one-hundred beats per minute whenever he even shares the same air as you. You like Ryder," Marley said, smiling sweetly and then walking away.
Kitty turned to see Ryder, who was supposed to be spotting Jake, who was hanging streamers against the back wall, absently texting Marissa on the phone. Every once in a while, Ryder was laugh. Kitty looked at him with great disappointment.
She wasn't disappointed in him, per say. She was more disappointed in herself. "Kitty!" Artie's voice immediately snapped out of her thoughts. She turned to face Artie.
"Huh?" she asked.
"I wanted to make sure you were still wearing that pink dress to prom. I don't want any last minute changes, that's all. My mom already bought the tie," Artie said, causing Kitty to smirk.
"No, it's still the pink one I showed you," Kitty said.
"Good. But now I want to talk about what really brought me over here," Artie began. "I know that you like Ryder. Don't deny it, it's practically all over your face whenever he looks at you. I know that I'm only taking you to prom so that you can make Tina jealous, but you can take me to prom to make Ryder jealous. I have AP Government with Marissa, and she's not as nice as people make her out to be," Artie said.
"Thank you, Artie," Kitty said.