A/N: Hey, i've decided to omit the Trip week, because I'm so insanely behind that I can't possibly catch up in time. but, i plan to maybe do an accompanying story to it later.. & Matt and Mercedes got together on the trip.
"Hey Babe!" Mercedes said, falling into step with Rachel, Kurt joining them on her other side, "looking good."
"Feeling good, Mercedes!" Rachel replied, excitedly.
"Ever since we won sectionals everyone looks at us differently." Mercedes continued, smiling uncontrollably at the thought of being popular.
"We're glitterati," Kurt said, dreamily, "I feel like Lady Gaga!" He looked at the two girls next to him with a fierce twinkle in his eye.
"Get used to it guys, we're stars now!" Rachel started, determinedly, "On par with all the jocks and popular kids! Oh, it's the dawn of a new era here at McKinley, and we're gonna rule this school!" And, just to add emphasis to the irony of her statement, Rachel's sentence was punctuated with a slushie to the faces of all three of the Hockey teams starting-defensive players, courtesy of the Glee Divas. They high-fived happily, and walking down the hall, all three swinging their hips as they walked.
"I don't understand," Mr. Schuester argued, "They won at sectionals, I've completely demonstrated the validity of this program! Now you're saying that they have to place at Regionals or the glee club's gone?"
"Shue, that was the deal from the beginning!" Prinicipal Figgins countered, "Here's a bottomline, the lights in the auditorium don't run on dreams, William. Our electricity comsumption is up two percent!" He held up two fingers for emphasis, "Plus, it's cold out, Shue, the cheerios can no longer practice out of doors, they need the use of the auditorium as well!"
"But the Cheerios don't even have a coach." Will fought.
"Oh yes they do!" Sue said, busting open the door to Principal Figgins' office.
"Did you get a new haircut?" Sue asked, "It looks awful."
"What are you doing here?" Will said, in disbelief.
"I'm just dropping off a Mocha, for my maharishi." Sue said, proudly strutting through Figgins' office, "I took the liberty of making it a double whip, because after our conciliatory dinner, I happen to know that there is nothing you won't eat whip cream off of." Sue set the mocha on the desk in Figgins' office, and blew into Figgins' ear, making Will shudder at the thought of what happened that night. "I would have gotten you one Will, but I don't like you." She turned and walked to the door of the office, and said, "Okay," and walked out.
"What the hell is going on here?" He argued, "You suspended her after she leaked the setlist and sectionals!"
"Yes, Will, and the point of suspension is reinstatement," Figgins' retorded, grudgingly
Finn was walking down the halls of McKinley High, stuff obviously running through his mind. Rachel stepped up to him and held up an atrociously decorated calender that included pictures of kittens with Rachel's and Finn's heads photoshopped into their faces.
"Hey Finn!" Finn's head snapped up as he heard her familiar voice, "I made us his and her relationship calenders, so we always know what the other is up too, so you can't say you forgot we made plans when you miss our dates anymore." Finn tried to side step her to get to his locker, but she just turned around and starting rattling off names of plays and events that she had already planned for her and Finn. He just looked past her, and continued to pretend he was looking at her.
I'm off my game, and I don't know how to get back on it. He thought to himself, escaping Rachel as quickly as possible to get to his next class.
The entire Glee club was sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs in the McKinley High Choir Room when Mr. Schuester walked in. Mercedes and Matt were holding hands and whispering into each other's ears, while Mike and Heather were Thumb Wrestling, Kurt was analyzing Tina's asian hair, and Artie was exchanging Battle strategies for Halo with Puck, and Quinn was sitting awkwardly on Puck's side.
"Hello," Mr. Schuester said, turning towards the teenagers after drawing a lame stick figure on the whiteboard. They snapped out of their side conversations and replied with a weak "hello." Mr. Schuester said it again, and the club just repeated, a little louder this time. "What do you guys say when you answer the phone?"
"What up?" Mercedes said, sassily.
"Who this be?" Artie said, pulling a stank face.
"No, she's dead. This is her son." Kurt said, absent mindedly.
"Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, liked to say 'Ahoy, Ahoy' when he answered the phone." Mr. Schue started, "it was Edison that decided Hello was a more appropriate greeting. Look, I'm really proud of what you guys did at Sectionals, but the fact is, we're going to have to be better, even more spectacular at Regionals. Its time for some reinvention, some new New Directions. We need a new, Hello!" He announced. "Here's the assignment for the week, come up with a fresh number, but it has to have Hello in the title, alright?" He smiled hopefully at the kids, who were now sorting through their Ipod libraries to see if they had any Hello songs. Mike Chang popped out of his seat first, and ran over to Mr. Schuester's laptop and furiously starting typing into the Google Search bar.
"You three should be wedding yourselves with shame." Coach Sylvester said, stepping off her elliptical machine, and walking over to the three cheerleaders standing in her office, trying to act guilty, "Glee club won Sectionals and you did nothing to stop it. If you were Samurai and my letter opener were sharp enough, I'd ask you to commit sepoukou, which means ritual belly slitting."
"We were seduced by the glitz and glamour of showbiz." Brittany spoke up, looking at Santana guiltily.
"Let me drop some knowledge on you," Sue said determinedly, she picked up two arm weights and started pumping them which she faced the three girls backs, "If Glee club manages to win Regionals, their social status will go up, and consequently, the Cheerios' will go down. We just can't have that. If you want to prove yourselves, and be back in my good graces, you're going to need to turn around." She girls whipped around, "You're familiar with a little Glee Clubber named Rachel Berry? Rachel's the kind of girl that wants things too badly, and what she really wants is one Finn Hudson. I want you to go after him, she'll go crazy, she won't be able to stand your dating him. Humiliated, shamed, she'll have no choice but to leave the club, and without her, Schuester won't have any chance at Regionals." Sue threw her dumbbells at Santana and Brittany who caught them as she walked past and sat back on her desk.
The next day, Finn stepped into Glee with a huge smile on his face.
"Okay guys, Finn has something he would like to share with you all!" Finn smiled goofily,and stepped into the middle of the room.
Hello, I love you
Won't you tell me your name
Hello I love you
Let me jump in your game
Hello, I love you
Won't you tell me your name
Hello I love you
Let me jump in your game
She's walkin' down the street
Blind to every eye she meets
Do you think you'll be the guy
To make the queen of the angels sigh
Hello, I love you
Won't you tell me your name
Hello I love you
Let me jump in your game
Hello, I love you
Won't you tell me your name
Hello I love you
Let me jump in your game
She holds her head so high
Like a statue in the sky
Her arms are wicked and her legs are long
When she moves my brain screams out this songSidewalk crouches at her feet
Like a dog that begs for somethin' sweet
Do you hope to make her see, you fool
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel
Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!
Hello! Hello! Hello! Oh, I want you! I need my baby Yeah Yeah Hello! Hello! Hello!
The room was filled with cheers, laughter, applause, and one seductive face, as Finn took a small bow after his performance.
"And that, fellow glee clubbers, is how we say, hello!" Rachel said, always wanting the last word, "Mr. Schuester, I'd like to run some of my Hello ideas by you." She followed Mr. Schuester into his office, and was too busy spitting ideas at him to notice Santana and Brittany cornering Finn.
"Look Finn, I know it's not easy being my boyfriend, I'm not Quinn, I don't look like her, I'm not popular, and my personality although exciting and full of surprises, isn't exactly low maintenance." Rachel started, making the conversation about her right off the bat, pulling Finn to the side, "But, I'll always be honest with you, painfully so, and all I ask is that you're honest in return."
"I don't think I wanna be your boyfriend," He blurted out like, word vomit.
"What?" Rachel said shyly.
"Rachel you're really awesome, but I think I need some time to connect with my inner rockstar before I could fully commit to one woman." Finn tried to save the situation as he best could, "I need to find out who I am now."
"I'll tell you who you are," She said fiercely, determined to not let him see her cry, "you're a scared little boy, you're afraid of dating me because you're scared it may hurt your reputation, which you'd never admit it is very important to you. You hate what Quinn did to you, not just because it hurt, but because it was so humiliating." She sliced him with her words.
"You're freaking me out," Finn gasped, "its like you're in my head right now."
"I just see you for what you really are," She finished with a pained look, "Unlike you, who can only see me as this silly girl who made a fool of herself in her first glee club rehearsal. And, that's where you lose, Finn, because if you take a second look at me, you'd realize that I'm the only person in your life that knows you, and accepts you, for who you really are. " She stormed off, trying to force back the tears.
Rachel was glaring at Finn from her seat, and Heather was sitting by her, whispering into her ear that Santana and Brittany are only going after him for Sue. Finn was talking
about Pizza, and Santana was twirling her hair around her finger and making seductive faces at him. While Matt and Mike were just looking onto the entire club, and waiting for the drama to start unfolding.
"Alright guys, we need to get cracking on those Hello numbers!" Mr. Schue said, unaware of the tension in the room, "Who has got something to show us? Volunteers?"
Rachel Berry gave a quick sideways glance towards Finn and raised her hand, "Mr. Schuester, I think I've found a song that sums up my feelings perfectly."
"Fantastic, Rachel, show us what you got." Mr. Schuester stepped out of the center of the room, and let Rachel take the floor, giving her space to rain guilt and horror on Finn.
I wake up every evening,
with a big smile on my face
And it never feels out of place
And you're still probably working at a 9 to 5 pace
I wonder how bad that tastes
When you see my face
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
Now where's your picket fence love
And where's that shiny car,
And did it ever get you far
You've never seem so tense love
I've never seen you fall so hard,
Do you know where you are
And truth be told I miss you (truth be told I miss you)
And truth be told I'm lying (Oooh)
When you see my face
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn
and treats you well (treats you well)
Then he's a fool,
you're just as well
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself
Where'd it all go wrong,
the list goes on and on
And truth be told I miss you (truth be told I miss you)
And truth be told I'm lying
When you see my face hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn
and treats you well (treats you well)
Then he's a fool, you're just as well
hope it gives you hell Now you'll never see,
what you've done to me
You can take back your memories
they're no good to me
And heres all your lies,
You can look me in the eyes
With that sad sad look that you wear so well
When you see my face hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell When you walk my way
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well (treats you well)
Then he's a fool,
you're just as well hope it gives you hell
When you see my face hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you hear this song
and you sing along
oh you'll never tell
Then you're the fool,
I'm just as well Hope
it gives you hell
When you hear this song
I hope that it will give you hell
You can sing along
I hope that it will treat you well
The song ended in Rachel standing on a chair and watching the rest of the glee club, minus Finn, dance around her in a circle.
"Hey Hey, I don't mean to be buzz-kill, but the assignment was Hello." Mr. Schuester said, clearly disappointed in his students.
"I'm sorry, I was just focusing on the first syllable." Rachel said, smirking happily at a distressed looking Finn.
"You know what, I don't think you guys understand the seriousness of what we're up against." He lectured, ''Vocal Adrenaline is last year's national champion, they haven't lost a competition in 3 years! This is the big leagues guys, and if we don't place at Regionals, glee club's finished." Mr. Schuester succeeded at killing the joy that was floating around the room a few moments earlier.
"Well, Mr. Schuester, if it's alright, I have my assignment done," Mike spoke up, the club looked a little surprised. Mr. Schuester nodded skeptically, and the glee club shuffled back to their seats. Puck got up, and pulled out a few stools while Mike grabbed two acoustic guitars from the instrument room.
Hello beautiful
hows it going?
i hear its wonderful in california
i've been missing you
its true
tonight im gonna fly
yeah tonight im gonna fly
cause i could go across the world see everything and never be satisfied if i couldnt see those eyes
hello beautiful
its been a long time
since my phones rung
and you've been on that line
i've been missing you
its true
tonight im gonna fly
yeah tonight im gonna fly
cause i could go across the world see everything and never be satisfied if i couldn't see those eyes
(The song seems short, but it's really 2:25. Go listen to it, if you want too: Hello Beautiful by the Jonas Brothers.)
"So?" Mike breathed still holding the guitar.
"Wow," Mercedes said, "That was incredible."
"Mike, I didn't know you were..." Heather's voice trailed off as she realized that the song was about a girl. Ugh, I bet its about Brittany, or Rachel, or Quinn, Heather thought to herself.
"Okay," Mike whispered, hoping for a more excited reaction, rather then the blank one he was receiving right now.
"Now, that is what I'd like to see!" Mr. Schuester said, getting up and clapping loudly for Mike, while the rest of the club just stared in shock.
"What?" Mike asked, defensively, when his teammates looks didn't falter.
"That was just, so good," Kurt said in utter disbelief.
"I'm...sorry?" Mike said, confusedly.
"It's a good thing, dumbshit!" Puck growled. "Why the hell didn't you sing like that before? We could have used your voice!"
"Uhm, I wasn't aware we needed it." Mike rolled his eyes at Puck.
"We sure as hell do!" Finn said, fist pumping in the air. The bell rang, interrupting Finn's cheer for Mike, and Heather abruptly left the choir room, not meeting anyone's eyes, clearly upset. Mike looked at Rachel questioningly, and Rachel just replied with a shrug. Matt had already picked up Mike's backpack for him, Mike grabbed it, and bolted after her. She was standing at her locker, which was unfortunately placed in the same hallway as the choir room.
"Heather!" Mike called, jogging towards her locker, "What's wrong?"
"Mike," Heather turned towards him, and closed her locker door, forcefully, "Who was that song about?" Her voice seemed aggravated, and as she looked past him, she saw that the whole of New Directions was crowding at the door, witnessing their conversation.
"Uhm, it was just a song." Mike stuttered, You, You, it was you. "I saw that it had the word Hello in it, and Rachel said something about it being in my wheelhouse." He rambled on, lying through his teeth.
"Mike, why are you lying to me?" She said, quietly, looking at the floor now.
"Because, its about you," Mike whispered quickly, hoping that she'd missed the part where he admitted his feelings for her, ashamed, 'cause he knew that she didn't feel the same way.
"Really?" Heather said, looking up, her eyes shining. Mike just nodded, solemnly, Nope, she got the message loud and clear. Heather threw her arms around his neck.
"W-what?" He stumbled, putting his arms around her anyways.
"Mike, I like you too." She whispered into his ear, smiling uncontrollably. He gasped, and spun her around, holding her close. He set her back on her feet, and took her hand.
"Heather, will you be my girlfriend?" He asked, in the spur of the moment, not even thinking of what just happened.
"Yes!" Heather said, Mike stepped forward and kissed her, and they just stood like that, for a while, while the glee club just went crazy, and cheered and erupted into choruses of "YES!" and "FINALLY!" When the new couple finally separated they just looked at their best friends and shook their heads.
Santana and Brittany were seated in a booth at 'Breadsticks' side by side, having a conversation about the cutest boys in school.
"Oh, Puck's super fine," Brittany began, working down the line of McKinley's jocks. "Mike's incredible, only with H, of course, usually he's only like, a 9. Finn's cute too." She shrugged at the last one.
"Yeah, he's not hot though," Santana shook her head.
"He's really not," Brittany said, trying to remember to say what Coach Sylvester told her.
"And you know what, Britt, I think that dwarf girlfriend of his is dragging down his rep," Santana smiled evilly, "If he were dating say, popular pretty girls, like us, he'd go from dumpy to smokin'."
"Uh, hello?" Finn said, waving his hand from across the table, "I'm right here you know. Would you mind including me into your conversation?"
"Let me give you an insight to how we work," Santana turned to him and smiled, "You buy us dinner, and we make out in front of you. It's like the best deal ever." She gave him a look, that told him that she was serious. Finn scoffed a little, and Santana turned back to face him, "You know what, can you wait in the car?" Finn looked confused, "and leave your credit card." And, that's when he got off the table, and left, making sure to not leave them his credit card.
Rachel was sitting at her favorite music store, shuffling through song books, and looking for one that included the word Hello. She opened up the Lionel Richie book to page 13, and was interrupted by a guy with ridiculously styled hair pushing the book down so she could clearly see his face.
"Lionel Richie, huh?" He said, his voice was smooth, and recognizable. Rachel gasped.
"Ohmygod, you're Jesse Saint James!" She sputtered, looking at him with wide eyes, and spitting out words like vomit, "You're in Vocal Adrenaline."
"And you're Rachel Berry," Rachel almost fainted, Jesse St. freaking James knows my name... "I saw you sing at Sectionals, your rendition of 'Don't Rain on my Parade' was flawed, you totally lacked Barbara's emotional depth. But, you're talented." He said, like it didn't matter that he just insulted her performance, something that Rachel completely understood, as she did it all the time in Glee Club, he took the book of Richie's Greatest Hits out of her hands, and started walking towards the piano, "This is one of my favorite haunts, I come here and flip through all the biographies, pick up some lifestyle tips. I'm getting out of Ohio soon, I have a full ride to a little university called the University of California Los Angeles. It's in Los Angeles." Rachel scurried behind him like a lost puppy, not even commenting on the horrible statement he just made. Rachel was following his every step with her eyes. One thought running through her head, He'd make such a good boyfriend.
Finn Hudson took a huge breath, and stepped up to meet Rachel, who was standing at her locker.
"Hey, Rach." He started, she closed the door to her locker quickly when she realized she was gazing lovingly at her picture of Jesse that was taped to her locker door with sparkly heart stickers, "Can we talk?" Rachel just looked at him questioningly. "I don't want to date other girls," He started with a huge breath. "Only you." Rachel's eyes grew wide as she thought about the picture that was in her locker. "You do talk too much, and usually it's only about yourself but, at least I don't feel alone when I'm with you."
"I'm glad you've come to that realization, but you're too late." Rachel began, further proving Finn's point, "I've met someone else, a boy who's finally worth my talent and love."
"Wait, wait, do I know him? Is he bigger than me?" Finn said, catching Rachel's attention before she could walk away again.
"Oh, he doesn't go here, and he's a senior. His name is Jesse, and he's the male lead in Vocal Adrenaline. We're both aware that our Romeo and Juliet romance will be hard, but our deep respect for the other's talent will carry us through." Rachel started, knowing that shoving details in Finn's face would make this whole ordeal more satisfying for her.
"Whoa, Rachel, don't you think that's a little suspicious?" Finn interrupted, "We make it to Regionals, and suddenly the top guy in our main competition picks you up?"
"I know that it's hard to believe that a guy would like me without an alterior motive, but you have to respect that our love is real. Move on, Finn, I finally have." Rachel obviously took the comment seriously, and wasted no time in hurting Finn's feelings the same way he did to her. She stormed away, leaving a utterly flabbergasted Finn to watch her leave. Finn took off in a brisk walk, with his head down, people were giving him death glares. I forgot, with Glee Club becoming popular, people are actually gonna care about Rachel, he thought to himself. He reached the Choir room just as Mr. Schuester was putting new sheet music into his ugly shoulder bag.
"Mr. Schue, we have a problem!" Finn said, knowing that the only reason he was really doing this was because Rachel was being such a bitch.
"Hey guys," Rachel said, bouncing into the choir room, while the original Gleeks sat there.
"Cut the butter, Benedict Arnold," Kurt snapped, immediately dimming Rachel's happy demeanor. "We all know about your new boyfriend." He said, sounding extremely irritated, mostly because he was hoping that Jesse St. James was secretly a closeted gay.
"Look, Rachel, we're all happy that you're happy, but we have worked to hard to let you throw it all away on a relationship that might not even be real," Mercedes said, giving Rachel several sassy eye-rolls.
"Why, because he's in Vocal Adrenaline?" Rachel pleaded silently to her teamates, looking towards Tina and Artie, hoping they would understand the joy of a loving relationship.
"Their motto is Aut neca aut necatus eris, which loosely translates to 'murder or be murdered.'" Kurt said.
"They give their dancers human growth hormone." Tina said, sternly, Artie nodded along.
"We're not saying the dude is playing you-" Mercedes started.
"He's playing you," Kurt interrupted, in that especially painfully blunt tone of his.
"But, until Regionals is over, we can't risk the possibility that he is." Mercedes continued, playing the friendly side now.
"None of us want to go through what happened at Sectionals again." Tina said, guiltily.
"Look Jesse and I may not be true love, but what if we are? I know who I am, and how many chances at this am I going to get?" Rachel said, making the most valid point of the entire argument, and causing Tina to shrink away from her disheartening face.
"If you don't break up with him, you're out." Kurt said heartlessly, hoping that Rachel chooses Jesse so that he could actually get a solo.
"You can't kick me out!" Rachel said, furiously.
"No, but we can all quit if Mr. Schuester doesn't." Artie said, obviously the brains behind the solution to the problem.
"Well, good luck winning without me," Rachel said, trying to leave the room with her dignity.
"Everyone's replaceable, Rachel, even you." Kurt said, fiercely. Rachel left in a huff, and with a horrified look on her face.
Heather stepped up to Rachel's locker, in which Rachel was switching out her class books awkwardly, as she tried to keep the door at a 20 degree angle.
"Rachel," she tried to reach out to Rachel, emotionally.
"Ï suppose you're here to tell me that you want me to break up with Jesse too," She closed her locker, and turned to leave before Heather caught her again.
"No, I'm here to tell you that I'm okay with you dating Jesse, and that just because Mercedes and Kurt are too selfish and jealous to be supportive, the rest of us will be." She said, extending the extra support from not just herself, but Mike, Matt, and Brittany too, and maybe, just maybe Santana too. Rachel just stood, unable to grasp what she just heard.
"Er, Thank you." Rachel said, awkwardly, "I'm not used to people wanting to make me happy. I'm not sure how to respond." She admitted, shyly.
"That's a little depressing, but you should get used to it. Apparently, on Finn's date with Santana and Brittany, they were dissing you, and he defended you, then left, and Kurt said that your 'relationship calender' is back up in Finn's locker." Heather winked, "So, I think Finn wants to make you very happy, if you know what I mean."
"Well, that's not something I really want to deal with, Jesse and I are very happy, and I intend to keep it that way," Rachel said, confidently, "I want to prove that I can keep a happy relationship that will not come to bite me in the butt like with Finn and Noah."
"Rachel, if you're doing this just to prove that you can keep up with a working relationship-" Heather started.
"That's not it, I really like Jesse, and right now, I'm not willing to give him up just yet, for glee club, or for Finn." She said, closing her locker door, and walking away before Heather could start again.
"Finn, we need to talk," Mike said, walking up to Finn, Matt, Puck, Santana, and Brittany right behind him, and Heather walking a few feet behind, creating a scene oddly reminiscent of when he was attacked by the football team using paintball guns.
"About wha-whaat?" He stuttered, flinching away from Santana's ice-cold glare.
"You pushing around Rachel," Puck spoke this time.
"You don't even like Rachel," Finn said, confusedly.
"Berry may not have the most attractive personality, but she is the glue that holds this glee club together, and like I said, I like being in the club," She said, stepping forward menacingly, and causing Finn to wince a little.
"Rachel got me a duck for my birthday," Brittany smiled, thinking about the stuffed duck that Rachel had gifted her with.
"Yeah, man, and it's not cool how you've been treating her like shit, going out with Santana and Brittany behind her back, breaking up with her, giving her shit about the fact that she's with someone else, and then acting like just because you made the wrong decision she should be waiting for you." Matt said, condescendingly.
"You're the worst." Brittany added, staring at the ground, knowing quite well that she just insulted Finn.
"The absolute worst." Heather added quietly, earning a quiet chuckle from Mike and Matt, as a result of the three of them, and Mercedes, spending the night at Heather's house watching The Office.
"I don't understand," Finn said, trying to take in why all of his friends were defending Rachel.
"Well, you need to understand that whether or not Rachel is with Jesse from Vocal Adrenaline, it wasn't your business, and you can't even act like you didn't know that they would tell her to break up with him. Its her life, if she wants to get with Jesse, let her, honestly. It has nothing to do with you, you broke up with her." Heather snapped at Finn, and turned away before he could comprehend what she had just thrown at him.
"Okay, kids, in the spirit of this week's assignment, our ensemble piece this week will be, Hello Goodbye, by the Beatles!" Mr. Schuester said, looking around at the kids, who were all glaring at each other, or someone else in the room, "Wow, guys, there's some really heavy tension in the room."
"It's not our fault that some people here are untrusting and unfair." Heather mumbled.
"and icky." Brittany added, smiling.
