"No, it's more like this..." Artie placed his fingers on his cell phone demonstrating how I was supposed to arrange my hand on his guitar.
I shook my head, "Urgh, I don't think I'll e-ever get this. I don't know how you ever had patience for this."
He just shrugged and chuckled. "I had a lot of time on my hands. Here, let me show you." He scooted his chair a bit closer to where I sat on his bed and moved my fingers a little on the fret. "Now try."
I strummed the guitar again and this time heard a perfect G chord. "Hey, that's pretty cool. Thanks, Artie," I smiled softly at him and my eyes met his big innocent blue eyes. It'd been a while since a boy looked at me like this...
He smiled softly. "I just realized you haven't been stuttering as much now that it's just the two of us."
"I g-g-guess I'm not as n-nervous when it's just us," I said with a sigh.
He just kept smiling and leaned back a little. "By the way, I never really thanked you for standing by me. I can tell you love performing, even though it makes you nervous." I chuckled a little at just how right he was. "You could have joined glee without me. No need to let something you can't control hold you back." He sighed and looked down at his useless legs. I knew this was more about his own disability than about me. Why couldn't Mr. S be more understanding of just how much Artie wanted to be in glee club? He really loved performing and would do anything to be heard, but unfortunately, Mr. Schue had stopped his dream because he'd been nervous.
Nerves. That's what it all boiled down to in the end. Mr. Schue was too worried what Artie might look like up on stage. I was too worried about what people might think of me. Artie wasn't worried about anything or anybody. I vowed I would help him get his chance. I looked up into his eyes and sighed, "Look, Artie..."
"No, I mean, you really could have overcome all the frustration."
I looked down nervously and finally sighed. "Artie, I don't have a stutter. I faked it in sixth grade because I was shy and didn't wanna give a speech. I never realized anybody saw it as a disability. Heck, I never really knew anybody with a disability or I never would have started. I never realized how hard this must be for you."
His face was like a stone and I knew I'd said too much. This is why I don't talk, I thought, looking into his hard eyes. I always mess something up. "Well that explains a lot," he shook his head and backed up a little.
"What?"
"Just leave," he ushered me to his door. "I knew this was a bad idea."
I bowed my head and had no choice but to leave.
I walked into practice that afternoon to a room full of disdain. I didn't recognize many of the faces that stared at me: a big bodied black girl; a stylish boy with a childish face; Puck's friend - the tall jock named Finn; a pretty girl with brown hair and big eyes; and that boy in the wheelchair. He glared at me the hardest, as he knew who had sent me. Santana had said it would be easy to get into glee and she hadn't been kidding. I'd practically only said two words to Mr. Schue and he let me in. Turned out he was pretty desperate for members.
"OK, everyone, please welcome our new member, Tina C." Mr. S clapped for me as I took a seat among the other members. He was the only one. "In honor of our new member, we're starting a new number, 'Tonight' from West Side Story." He handed out the sheet music and I was happy to see that I got the solo.
While I was smiling, everyone else grumbled. "This is completely unfair, Mr. Schue," the brown eyed girl said. "You can't give her the solo just because she's new. I know for a fact I could sing it better than her."
"You've never even heard me sing," I defended myself.
"Rachel's right," I turned to the new voice. It was that kid in the wheelchair. What did Quinn say his name was? He sent me a nasty look when I caught his eye. "I don't think she deserves it."
What? Luckily, Mr. Schuester seemed to be on my side. "This kind of attitude goes against what glee club stands for. We're all in this together. I said that Tina's getting the solo and that's final."
"I wish you would stop sabotaging my life," Rachel glared at me and Mr. Schue in turn and stomped out of practice.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Rachel on this." The boy said and rolled himself out of the room after Rachel.
"What do you have against me?" I gasped after the boy a few moments later.
He glanced over his shoulder. "Come, walk with me." He started wheeling away, so I caught up with him. "Why are you hanging out with those Cheerios? They're out to ruin you."
"Why do you care? You don't even know me."
"I've had my eye on you, Tina."
My eyes went wide. "How do you-"
He just laughed at me. "Let's just say I'm pretty observant. I saw you on the first day of school when you were playing with your fishnet gloves. You sure have changed since then." He looked pointedly at the colorful dress I wore.
I shook my head. "Who are you?"
"Artie Abrams, nice to meet you." He paused and stuck out his hand.
I shook it, chuckling a little. "Well, Artie, maybe I like dressing like this," I said softly and looked at him.
"How come I don't believe that?" Now he was heading down a dark hall I'd never explored before. Large metal lockers rose next to us in the gloom. He turned into a small room unexpectedly. It was full of band instruments of every sort, from huge bass drums to shiny tubas and silver flutes.
He ushered to a large guitar case from the corner. "That's my guitar over there. Sure, you could play a million songs on the guitar, but all it will ever be is a guitar without anything else. You need more instruments to make a symphony." He looked around the room at all the instruments around. "You have to play what you know and everybody will join in."
"Why are you showing me this?"
"Because you've got to do what you know." His blue eyes pierced into my soul. "I'm almost positive Quinn and her cronies are setting you up. If you're gonna be in glee club, you've got to be honest about it. I really love glee club and I really don't want anybody to ruin it for me, especially you."
He glared at me until I finally remembered myself and looked away. "How-"
"I have my eye on you," he threatened and backed up a little. Before he turned around to leave, he said, "If you try anything, it's on."
A/N: I'm not sure how much I like this chapter... :/
