Singing in Harmony Chapter 10: Sectionals, a glee fanfic

Chapter 10: Sectionals

The week started anew and Blaine and I met in the choir room for early practice. After I'd broken up with Erik, I'd talked to Mr Schuester about switching my partners. Instead of dancing with Erik, my partner was Blaine. However, though we could both dance insanely well, we had decided last week to work on the two of us together.

I had been waiting for Blaine for about ten minutes when he finally came in. His eyes were slightly red and wet from tears. I stopped him, holding his arms, "Blaine, what happened?"

He sniffled, shaking, "I told Kurt that I cheated on him. He broke up with me." Though I wanted to support my friend, I found it really hard to be sympathetic when Erik had just cheated on me.

"That. . . stinks," I answered, wrapping my arms around him. I'd been able to ignore the dark storm that hovered over my mood since I'd broken up with Erik, but seeing Blaine in the same depressing mood made me want to strike out and do something to make both of us feel better. I smiled mischievously, "Hey, Blaine. What makes both of us feel better?"

"Chocolate and chick flicks?" Blaine whined, looking up at me. I shook my head and smiled widely.

"Singing!" I looked at the piano man, whispering my song choice and then turned back to the crying Blaine.

"I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing/ Just prayed to a God that I don't believe in," I took Blaine's face in my hands, staring into his eyes. "'Cause I got time while she got freedom/ 'Cause when a heart breaks , no, it don't break even."

Blaine sniffled, his head rising as I sang and he caught on to the lyrics. When the next part was ready, Blaine stepped forward, "Her best days were some of my worst/ She finally et a man that's gonna put her first/ While I'm wide awake she's no trouble sleeping/ 'Cause when a heart breaks, no, it don't break even. . . even. . . no!"

"What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?/ And what am I supposed to do when I'm all choked up that you're okay?" We sang together, bouncing with the rhythm. "I'm falling to pieces, yeah/ I'm falling to pieces."

We then began to practice different parts of the dance, just letting one part flow to another. We went with the music, let it consume us as I sang, "They say bad things happen for a reason/ But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding/ 'Cause she's moved on while I'm still grieving/ And when a heart breaks no it don't break even, even. . . no!"

"What am I gonna do when the best part of me was always you?/ And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up that you're okay?" Blaine sang, our eyes locked together.

"I'm falling to pieces, yeah."

"I'm falling to pieces." I sang while Blaine said in the background, "One still in love while the others leaving."

He sang, "I'm falling to pieces," and I finished with, "'Cause when a heart breaks, no, they don't break even."

As the song finished, we found ourselves in each others arms, our breath heavy. Blaine's eyes flicked to my lips, then he slowly leaned forward, his lips pressing against mine. My lips opened in response, answering easily to his mouth.

After a couple seconds, I pulled back slightly, our faces still close to each other. I chuckled, "That was. . ."

"Weird. . ."

I nodded, pulling away, "I'm just not interested in you for some reason. . ."

"I'm definitely still gay."

"Then that's settled."

"Yep!"

We were on the bus ride to Sectionals and I was half asleep, my head on Blaine's shoulder. I mumbled softly in my half sleep, cuddling into Blaine. You'd think things would be weird after we practically made out in the Glee room, but we'd mutually agreed that it was too weird and neither of us wanted it.

In just twenty minutes, we would be at Sectionals. We were competing with Haverbrook School for the Deaf and the Dalton Academy Warblers. Most members of Glee were completely sure we would defeat both teams and move on to Regionals. Being new, I couldn't help but be nervous. Blaine and I had talked about Dalton, him explaining their "style". He said with our co-ed popular dance song, we would blow them out of the water.

As the bus pulled to a stop, I pushed Blaine's shoulder slightly. "Wake up, Blaine. It's time to get off the bus," I murmured.

He groaned and opened his eyes, his hazel meeting my blue. They were smiling at me, friendly. Then they slipped to a spot just past my face, hardening. Confused, I turned to the side, my eyes meeting the one person on the bus that I didn't want to speak too (maybe excluding the peppy blonde at the front of the bus with Tina). Dark chocolate eyes matched with blonde hair stood before me.

My heart fell into my stomach and I turned away quickly. I hadn't spoken to Erik since we broke up. Blaine's hands touched my arm lightly and he looked me in the eye, judging what he should do. After ascertaining that I was still avoiding my ex, Blaine glared up at Erik.

"What do you want?" he said, almost seeming to growl.

Erik's pants rustled. My shoulders tightened as I expected him to touch me but he only said, "I wanted to speak with Valerie."

"She doesn't want to talk to you," Blaine said, curling a protective arm around me. Though many people wouldn't believe it, I hated not wanting to speak with him. I wanted to be the better person and be unaffected by what he'd done. Although most people believed me to be a heartless bitch, he'd been my boyfriend for a year and I had believed I loved him. He'd been my closest friend and my only ally at some times. But now I couldn't even look him in the face.

Erik snorted, "Don't be childish, Val."

Blaine half stood, glaring at Erik, "Leave now, Erik."

"What are you going to do to me, gay boy?" Erik sneered, leaning closer. "You can't keep me from talking to her."

In answer, Blaine shrugged, still oozing hatred, "I can protect her from you, even if you try to scare me. Just leave her alone, Erik. You don't know how much you're hurting her."

Erik laughed and I turned in surprise, not expecting him to find this situation funny. Blaine touched my back lightly, also surprised. Erik's head was back as he laughed then he shook his head and looked back at Blaine.

"You really are stupid if you think Valerie is hurt by what I did. She's just using you to get back to me. She's a cruel, black-hearted girl, Blaine. Valerie doesn't care about anyone, even though she pretends. I should know, I was with her for a year," Erik said. My eyes widened in surprise. He'd always been insanely sweet when we'd been dating. Is that what he really thought of me?

"Then why do you want to talk to me?" I whispered, unable to speak louder, almost scared of what he would say. Blaine rubbed my back and I knew he was no longer focused on Erik, but more on comforting me.

"I wanted to know if you were still pissed. Why are you keeping up this act of being 'hurt', Val? We all know you don't care about me cheating on you."

"I don't need to defend myself. Leave me alone, Erik," I said, my eyes down. He snorted and began to leave to get off the bus. I raised my head and called after him, "And don't call me Val."

Erik's head turned towards me and he rolled his eyes before taking Brittany's hand and exiting the bus. I ran a hand through my ponytail and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Blaine hugged me and smiled at me, "Let's go win Sectionals!" He grabbed my hand as his warm arms disappeared, pulling me off of the bus, into the auditorium of Dalton Academy.

As we waited for the announcement for New Directions to come on the stage, the nervousness built in my stomach. My first ever competition in Glee and I was the lead female singer for one of the songs. I couldn't tell if I was ready and I self-consciously smoothed my tight, red, high-necked, sequin dress. The guys were dressed in red button-ups with black dress pants.

Blaine stood beside me, his hand in mine. He looked up at me (he was, after all, two inches shorter than me) and frowned, "Nervous?"

I nodded and stared straight ahead of me, "Completely. I'm freaking out."

"Just relax, Val. It's amazing on stage. Everything just seems to melt away until it's just you and the music. With the lights on you, you can barely see the audience. It's amazing!" Blaine said, rubbing his thumb over the top of my hand.

"I definitely hope so," I whispered, closing my eyes tightly and taking deep breaths.

"William McKinley. On in five minutes," a voice said from a speaker overhead.

Mr Schuester excitedly ran to the middle of the room, "Okay, everyone! Now's it. First performance of the season! Bring it in!" He put his hand in the middle and we all cheered for the team.

We all turned and walked onto the stage, preparing for the non-dance song, which would be preformed by the entire club. As the music began, we all began to clap, heads bowed. Sam raised his head to begin singing, stepping forward and holding the mic to his lips, "Paranoia is in bloom/ The PR transmissions will resume/ They'll try to push drugs that keep us all dumbed down/ And hope that we will see the truth around."

Blaine stepped forward, his mic raising also as Sam seemed to 'shut down', his head dropping back with the rest of us. Blaine began to sing, "So come on/ Another promise, another seed/ Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed/ And all the green belts wrapped around our minds/ And endless red tape to keep the truth confined."

Everyone raised their heads and said, "So come on/ They will not force us/ They will stop degrading us/ They will not control us/ We will be victorious/ So come on!"

I took a deep breath and continued singing as all the others lined up behind me, "Interchanging mind control/ Come let the revolution take its toll/ If you could flick the switch and open your third eye/ You see that we should never be afraid to die."

As I stepped back into the line of other members, Tina stepped forward, "So come on/ Rise up and take the power back/ It's time the fat cats had a heart attack/ You know that their time's coming to an end/ We have to unify and watch our flag ascend."

In unison, we all sang the chorus, "So come on/ They will not force us/ They will stop degrading us/ They will not control us/ We will be victorious/ So come on!" When the song ended after one more chorus, everyone's heads bowed and the dance song began. As the next song began, we all started to stomp and clap to the beat, all of us walking to our spots.

When Blaine began singing, we began the dance, "So this is what you meant/ When you said that you were spent/ And now it's time to build from the bottom of the pit/ Right to the top/ Don't hold back/ Packing my bags and giving the academy a rain-check." The music was simple steps and partner dances. Spinning from one side to the other, jumps that were boosted by our male counterparts. It was high energy and Brittany and I hadn't originally thought the Glee kids could do it.

"I don't ever wanna let you down/ I don't ever want to leave this town," I sang as Blaine bent and flipped me over his shoulder easily while everyone else twirled with their partners. "'Cause after all/ The city never sleeps at night."

Everyone sang together for the chorus. Although I had wanted it to be only a duet, Mr Schuester had informed me that wasn't how 'New Directions does things.' "It's time to begin, isn't it?/ I get a little bit bigger but then, I'll admit/ I'm just the same as I was/ Now don't you understand/ That I'm never changing who I am."

I sang the next part, holding onto Blaine tightly as he twirled me high above his head, "So this is where you fell/ And I am left to sell/ The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell/ RIght to the top/ Don't look back/ Turning to rags and giving the commodities a rain-check."

Blaine sang the part I sang last time and twirled me around him, effortlessly almost, "I don't ever want to let you down/ I don't ever wanna leave this town/ 'Cause after all/ This city never sleeps at night."

Everyone sang the chorus twice more. As the last chorus note sounded, the male in each group raised the female above their head and then lightly set them on the ground, unmoving as the next part began.

Blaine and I were the only ones that moved. As Blaine, sang , he lifted me up then set me down, turning away from me and to the right of the stage as he came to his knees, "This road never looked so lonely!"

"This house doesn't burn down slowly!" I sang, jumping over Blaine's kneeling form lightly and twirling as I knelt to look into his eyes. As we sang the next two lines together, we both rose to standing, "To ashes, to ashes/ It's time to begin isn't it?" The rest of the chorus continued as usual and on the last note of the song, everyone came to a kneel, heads down. The lights were gone and applause was heard from everywhere in the auditorium.

We all stood and bowed before leaving the stage. My heart was bursting with excitement at having gotten through the performance without a mistake. I leaped up and wrapped my arms and legs around Blaine's back- an impromptu piggy back ride. "I did it!"

As the Haverbrook School for the Deaf students left to perform, an attractive Dalton Academy boy walked up. He had brown hair and flashing green eyes and an almost snake like grin. Blaine set me down and glared at him, "Sebastian."

He sighed, "You're still mad?"

"You blinded me for a bit!" Blaine said. Confused, I couldn't understand what they were talking about. The two boys obviously had a past and I didn't want to get in the middle of it. I turned and left Blaine to his conversation, distractedly walking down a hall towards the bathroom, unable to go to the dressing room and face Brittany and Erik alone.

As I turned a corner, a boy with shaggy black hair was getting a drink from a water fountain. I was about to enter the bathroom when he stood and stopped me, "I wouldn't go in there. Some girl is retching and I don't think that would be very nice to listen to." I assumed it was probably Quincey as all the Haverbrook girls were on stage and Dalton had no girls.

"I'll wait. Thanks for telling me," I smiled and leaned past him, leaning down to take a drink from the water fountain to soothe my aching throat from singing. My hair fell into the bowl in the fountain and I groaned. Cold hands touched my neck and I stiffened. Surprise flitted through me as I realized the guy was holding my hair back.

"You're in New Directions aren't you?" he asked as I finished my drink. I pulled back and wiped my mouth slightly. He let my hair go and leaned against the wall. His eyes were a piercing dark blue and seemed to stare into me.

I nodded and stood awkwardly in front of him, "Yeah. What's your name?"

He flicked his hair from his eyes, "Luca Ashworth." He said, "And yours?"

"Valerie West," I pushed a strand of hair back. "What school do you go to? Your not from William McKinley."

"How do you know?"

I looked at him incredulously, "I'm head cheerleader and everyone at William McKinley knows who I am."

He laughed, "You caught me. I don't go to William McKinley."

"And you're not from Haverbrook, as you hear well."

"Also true."

"So. . . Dalton?"

He smiled lightly and shook his head, "I have to say no." He laughed, "I couldn't imagine going to an all boys school. That would be torture."

I chuckled and said, "Tell me which school."

"You'll have to guess."

"We'll probably never see each other again."

He pursed his lips, thinking to himself. Then he stepped forward and took my hand in his, pulling out a pen from his leather jacket. He scrawled some numbers on my hand and then stepped back. Though his hands were still cold, where they had touched, my skin tingled. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. As I looked over the boy, Luca, I decided he was insanely attractive. I knew I wasn't ready for a relationship but we could still be friends.

"Here's my number. We can meet up for coffee some time," he said and I heard a voice call his name from down the hall. His head snapped up and he smiled at me. His smile was sweet and friendly. "I have to go. My brother's calling. Call me?"

I nodded and answered, "If I get time, yeah."

He smirked and leaned his head down, taking my hand in his and kissing the back softly, then turning it over and kissing the heel of my palm, "Enchante." He leaned back and stared at me for a second before leaving down the hall.

Though kissing my hand was as cheesy as a guy could get, I couldn't help the odd flurry in my chest as blush rushed back to my checks. I couldn't wait to call him, to be swept up in someone that wasn't Erik.

As I rejoined the group for the results, I stood at front with Blaine. I looked at him and whispered, "How did it go with Sebastian?"

"Supposedly he turned over a new leaf," Blaine answered and took my hand in his, smiling at me.

We both anxiously waited for the results. A heavily made up woman came on stage, "Hello everybody! I'd like to say thank you for comin'!" The woman had a heavy Southern accent and bushy blonde hair. She leaned forward to speak into the mic, "Wasn't this an ah-mazin' group of kids?!" The auditorium clapped lightly.
"Now, second place runner-up is. . . The Dalton Academy Warblers!" Everyone politely clapped and Sebastian took the trophy, a broken smile on his face. He was upset they hadn't won but wasn't over board angry.

She smiled widely and looked at the sheet, "And you're 2013 Sectionals winners is. . . William McKinley High's New Directions!" The New Directions kids all hugged each other and Blaine and I tightly hugged. The woman gave us the first place trophy and we both held it up for the world to see.

Regionals, here we come!

Songs in this Chapter:

"Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)" by The Script

"Uprising" by Muse

"It's Time" by Imagine Dragons