Hey fam. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was super busy with homework and my job and I was sick. And my Dad rebooted my laptop the other day and it deleted ALL OF MY PROGRESS ON THIS CHAPTER. I literally had written almost the whole chapter and it was one of my longest chapters, but I didn't save it and the WHOLE thing got deleted. Sorry, rant over. But then I was really discouraged and I didn't feel like rewriting the whole thing so I'm sorry. This will now be the third time I've rewritten this chapter. From now on I'm gonna save this like 10 times. Anyway, Gemstoneopal- I know you said I don't have to thank you for your reviews but one last time won't hurt. Your reviews are always so helpful, especially this one because I wasn't planning on writing about their little lock-in/rehearsal thing, but then you requested it and I thought it would be fun to give it a shot. Without reviews I don't know what my readers want, so thank you for your input. Here's chapter 10: enjoy! It's extra long cause I don't know when I'll post again. But don't worry, it won't be longer than a week!
When Spencer officially joined the glee club, he was immediately swarmed with the rest of the New Directions.
"Ok, so you're a football player, so you have strong arms, which means you can lift thing or people or whatever!" Madison blurted out quickly. Spencer could barely understand what she was saying. He was a little taken aback by their enthusiasm, but he was really glad that Coach Evans made him join. Everyone started calling their parents to let them know why they wouldn't be home that night. Mason and Madison didn't for obvious reasons; they never had to ask permission to do anything, so they didn't know what it was like. But they were both surprised that everyone's parents were totally cool with their kids sleeping at school so spontaneously. It was about 9:30 and they had to be in class the next morning by 8:30, so they had about 11 hours to get ready for Invitationals. They followed Rachel to the auditorium to get started, cheering. They started with 'It must Have Been Love', which they decided Kitty and Spencer would sing. They practiced until about 11, then decided it was time to take a pizza break. The pizza guy looked kinda confused about why he was delivering 4 large pizzas to a high school at nearly midnight, but they tipped really well so he let it go.
Rachel watched in awe as Mason, Roderick, and Spencer ate their 5th piece. Kitty nearly matched them with 4 pieces. As Mason reached for his 6th, Madison slapped his hand away, scolding him for eating so much when Cheerio season was starting. He pouted adorably, but obeyed his sister. Madison had only eaten 2 and Jane was on her 3rd. When they were done eating and relaxing a little, Rachel stood up and addressed her students.
"Ok, guys, this was super fun and I feel like we've all really gotten to know each other! But I think we should practice until 1 and then we can watch a movie or something!"
"I'll get the coffee," Kitty said as everyone stood up, rubbing their eyes. They started rehearsing 'Father Figure' and choreographing. Roderick sang the song perfectly and they all decided they were ready. Roderick was really excited cause this would be his first time singing in front of an audience that wasn't just his friends, but he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Vocal Adrenaline and the Warblers were legendary, how could they top that? After several cups of coffee and an hour of rehearsal, Rachel decided they had earned a break. Maybe this all-nighter thing wasn't such a good idea? The kids looked really worn out. She wished Kurt was there, she was still really worried about him.
"Alright guys, let's take a break. You're doing great!" Rachel said chirpily. Everyone sighed with relief and sat in the audience of the auditorium.
"Ok, let's start a movie," Kitty suggested, "It's a nice, relaxed activity that doesn't require effort, and anyone who wants to can fall asleep." The New Directions nodded in agreement. The 3 Cheerios seemed to be the only ones who still had some energy left.
"Great idea! I'll go see what we have in the choir room," Rachel said. She returned a few minutes later with a DVD case.
"So, the only thing I could find is Grease!" Rachel exclaimed. There was a mixture of groans and excited cheers. Kitty remembered all the drama of the musical with her old friends. She was such a bitch back then. But she also remembered how she turned around with everyone before it was too late, Kitty had no regrets. She was feeling a little nostalgic, why not watch grease?
"And if you don't wanna sleep, you could act it out and sing along on the stage!" Rachel squealed. Mason and Madison fist-bumped and nodded. How were they so awake? Rachel put the movie in and projected it on a jumbo screen behind the stage. Jane and Roderick could hardly keep their eyes open through the opening scenes of the movie. As the first notes of 'Summer Lovin' started, Mason and Madison jumped on stage and started singing and Kitty joined in as Rizzo. Everyone else laughed hysterically as they acted it out just like the movie. Jane thought it was hilarious that Mason loved this movie so much and knew all the words to all the songs; he was such a dork sometimes. But that's one of the things she loved about the twins, they didn't care what anyone thought.
Kitty got up and sang 'Sandra D' and Madison and Jane backed her up. Kitty was perfect for the part of Rizzo. Everyone had long forgotten how tired they were. The New Directions watched the movie happily, eating popcorn and joking around. They were very surprised when Jane got up and started singing 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' without any shame. How does she know all the words to this? Jane sang the whole song perfectly, looking confident and in her element. As she finished, everyone clapped slowly and started cheering. She looked startled, as if she forgot she wasn't alone. She blushed and got off the stage, taking her seat next to Mason. He looked at her and gave her a high- five.
"You killed that song," He complimented. She blushed and muttered a quick 'thanks', looking down at her hands in her lap. They watched the movie like nothing happened. When Greased lightening started playing, Mason and Spencer ran up the stairs to the stage. Jane looked over at Roderick, wondering why he hadn't joined in, but he was passed out in his chair. Jane nudged Madison and pointed silently. Madison got out her phone and took a picture. He looked adorable when he slept. His mouth hung open just a little and he rested his hands on his stomach.
Mason and Spencer were still on stage singing and dancing along to 'Greased Lightening'. Mason was doing all kinds of cheerleading tricks and moves around the stage and Spencer just sang the Danny part. He wasn't the best dancer, but he was a pretty good Danny Zuko. After their performance, everyone settled in their chair and followed Roderick's lead. They were all knocked out, even Rachel, until the very end. The twins woke up before everyone else, right when the graduation fair in the movie was starting. Mason looked over at Jane, still sleeping peacefully. He thought she was the cutest thing ever when she was asleep and just stared at her for a few seconds. Madison noticed and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and pointed to the stage enthusiastically right before their favorite Grease number started playing.
Jane woke up to Madison pulling her on stage when 'You're the One that I want' started playing. This time, everyone was on stage, including Roderick. The only one who didn't join in was Rachel, who seemed to be in her own world. Kitty nudged Jane toward the center of the stage as Mason started singing the opening lines. Oh, no no no, Jane thought and started backing away. Kitty blocked her and gave her a look. Jane took a deep breath and faced Mason. He gave her a light-hearted smile and fell to his knees in front of her like Danny.
Madison watched from a distance as they sang the song together. They had amazing musical chemistry, but that's all it was, right? Madison was very skeptical. Roderick saw her standing off to the side and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the fun. She laughed at his attempts to hand-jive. He loved seeing her smile and her cute bossiness as she tried to show him the correct way to dance like you're from the 60s.
Rachel watched her students from the audience, smiling. She really needed to stop watching this movie; it reminded her too much of Finn. But she loved seeing the New Directions having fun and bonding. She definitely saw some blooming romances among the glee club and it made her very nostalgic. She was broken out of her trance when Kitty pulled her on stage with the rest of the kids. The New Directions and their coach sang and danced until 4 am.
"Oh my gosh guys, this was an amazing idea! This all nighter really brought us together as a team! Let's tackle our third song for Invitationals while we're all energetic and awake!" Rachel said. Mason and Madison sang 'All out of Love', sitting on stools.
"Um, Ms. Berry? Why are we just sitting on stools? Why don't we do some choreography?" Jane asked.
"At this point, we don't really have time to come up with a complex routine. It's all about the emotion you put into it, not the crazy dance moves. Trust me, we got this," Rachel said confidently. The New Directions shrugged and kept practicing. They took short and frequent breaks instead of hour long sessions, including a 30 minute nap, until about 8 am. They had run through everything over and over and felt very prepared.
The New Directions could hardly sit through their classes and were relieved when the bell rang, dismissing them from class for the day. Everyone ran to the choir room to start getting ready for their performance. Rachel had gone through the entire costume wardrobe and finally found matching outfits in everyone's size. If only Kurt was here. They ran through their numbers one last time and then went to the auditorium. They waited backstage for their performance to start. The New Directions were very anxious about singing in front of the best show choirs in the state and Jane thought it would be humiliating to fail in front of the Warblers. They had to show them they had a chance.
"Ok, guys! Come here for a second, we're going to do an ancient show choir tradition: the show circle!" Rachel said. The New Directions circled up, holding hands. Rachel gave a quick pep talk and led them in an 'Aaaaamazing' and they got in position to do their first song. Rachel called Kurt one last time. Where was he?
"Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of everyone at McKinley, I sincerely apologize for the New Directions," Sue introduced. Rachel just rolled her eyes. We'll see what she thinks after our performance. Kitty smirked as she saw Sue singing along, nearly crying. We've got this. Rachel saw Mr. Shue dancing along to their performance and smiled slightly. His students looked at him with disgust and Rachel rolled her eyes angrily. They need to appreciate him more. As the New Directions finished, the other show choirs clapped politely, looking a little underwhelmed. They weren't exactly intimidated by the New Directions. They hardly even danced.
The New Directions didn't car what they thought. They had an amazing time preparing and performing these songs and it didn't matter to them if they won or lost. Rachel and Kurt were proud of them and they knew the glee club would come back and beat everyone someday. It was just the beginning for the new kids.
Sorry about the weird ending. I know there's not a lot of interesting dialogue or anything and I'm sorry, but it's late on a Sunday night and I just wanted to get this chapter out to you guys before the weekend ended and I had to go back to school and work. Hopefully see you soon! I really hope you all liked this one. This version of the chapter is super different from the one I wrote before it was all deleted, but I think it's better. The original one had them playing the game 'Mafia' that I love playing with my friends instead of watching a movie, but it was kinda boring and they hardly ad enough people to play anyway. Bye!