A/N: Thanks to CarmenMauri, Average Everyday Sane Psycho and Artie Tina Gleek for your reviews :). If you do read, please drop me a review, its crazy how much they make my day :D.
The song in this chapter is Battlefield by Jordin Sparks.
Rachel Berry tried desperately to avoid the inevitable the next day. However, she knew that she was going to be slushied at some point.
Rachel had arrived at school and looked around the car nervously. Waving goodbye to her dad, she almost ran through the parking lot and into the school building. She knew there was going to be retaliation from the hockey team.
She reached her locker without any troubles, and as she pulled out her books and responded to a text message from Jesse (she got butterflies when she saw the little x on the end of his message) she thought that maybe, today wouldn't be so bad. Famous last words.
She had just shut her locker door when she saw them. Not one hockey player, or two, or even three. Five. Five hockey players, all armed. And it was too late to try to escape.
"Berry." One of them said as they circled her, backing her up against the lockers.
"Just do it." Rachel said, shutting her eyes.
"Rutherford!" One of the hockey players yelled out, and Rachel opened her eyes just a crack to see what was going on. Just in time to see the purple slushie heading for her face.
She really did owe Matt, who had turned up just in time for her to get just three of the five slushies. Bad, but not as bad as all five; two of which had ended up all over Matt. A group of Cheerios had passed by at that point, all carrying slushie cups, and Rachel had shut her eyes again. She was incredibly surprised when the Cheerios didn't throw them at either herself or Matt.
The Cheerios demonstrated exactly where their allegiance lay when they tossed the drink at the hockey players. Santana sauntered down the hall after the small group, smirking at them.
"Good one." She said, causing the hockey players to glare at her. Kurt had approached at that point, taking one look at Rachel and leading her to the bathroom for clean up.
It didn't surprise Rachel as much when the football players joined in too. However, they seemed to have no allegiance to anyone. It became somewhat of a free-for-all; and nobody was safe in the halls. Rachel had no idea why Figgins had not stepped in, and was seriously considering going to him with her thoughts and objections to the whole situation. (Note to self: prepare an argument the moment you get home; imperative to include a reference to dad and daddy).
Rachel saw all of her fellow Glee clubbers hit at some point; even Brittany and Santana. Santana went for the guy this time, and it took Matt and Finn to pull her off of him, and pull her into the choir room where Mr. Schue was waiting to start Glee. She sat angrily, accepting the towel that Mercedes offered her; but refused to change into any of the selection of clothes offered by the rest of the club. Rachel didn't think that Santana needed to respond quite so viciously to her offer of her cat-print sweater; she was only trying to help.
"So guys, has anyone made any progress on the assignment this week?" Mr. Schue began. He had given them all the task of singing a song that expressed some sort of conflict; based, (rather obviously, in Rachel's opinion) on all the drama that had been going on. From relationship drama to slushie wars to marriage breakdowns to pregnancy issues; Rachel agreed that singing about these conflicts would help the situation. She was about to raise her hand when Tina put hers up slowly.
"Mr. Schue?" Tina spoke tentatively from her seat next to Quinn and Artie. "I have something that I've been working on. Can I show everyone?" Mr. Schue looked surprised, but nodded enthusiastically.
"Um, so this is kind of about the whole slushie situation. Well, that and everything." Tina said, and then nodded towards Brad and the drummer.
"Don't try to explain your mind, I know what's happening here." She begun, a bit too quiet, Rachel thought, but hitting each note well. Tina had her eyes closed, her arms raising slowly in front of her as she sung. "One minute, it's love, and, suddenly, it's like a battlefield." Her eyes opened and her voice got louder. Rachel could see her overcoming the nerves, relaxing into the music. It was a beautiful thing to witness; each protective barrier Tina had up against the world fell away until it was just Tina and the music.
"One word turns into a war, why is it the smallest things that tear us down? My world's nothing when you're gone I'm out here without a shield. Can't go back, now." Tina looked at them all as she sung, but Rachel noticed that she mostly looked at Artie; and realised what the 'everything' truly meant. Tina was getting some closure about the whole fight thing that had happened with Artie.
Tina smiled as she moved through the song. She didn't have as many years of training as she did, Rachel had to say, but she was really feeling the song. "Both hands tied behind my back for nothing. Oh, no, these times when we climb so fast to fall again. Why we gotta fall for it, now?" Rachel started everyone in the backup vocals. She was getting more and more used to being in the background, and found that she didn't mind it as much as the initially thought she would.
Tina grinned widely as she sung, "I never meant to start a war." She sounded as though she was trying not to laugh. "You know, I never wanna hurt you. Don't even know we're fighting for." Quinn was harmonizing nicely, and Rachel felt so proud that Quinn had actually listened to her advice and taken it. She made a mental note to tell Quinn this later. (Quinn can really harmonize).
"Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield? Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield? Why does love always feel like..."
Tina never danced along to the songs like Brittany, or walked around theatrically like Rachel, or attempted to move to the beat like Finn; she stayed in one place, but still threw her whole body into the song, bending slightly when adding more power to the lyrics, moving her arms, and tapping one foot along to the beat. "Can't swallow our pride, neither of us wanna raise that flag. Oooh, if we can't surrender then we're both gonna lose what we have. Oh, no."
Rachel heard Artie join in the next bit, and Tina seemed to be surprised but didn't stop singing herself, a small smile spreading across her face. "Both hands tied behind my back for nothing." This allowed Tina to sing a higher, "nothing" over Artie's, and Rachel saw how impromptu it was, but at the same time very beautiful. "Oh, no, these times when we climb so fast to fall again. I don't wanna fall for it, now."
Rachel saw Artie's participation as him understanding Tina's double meaning as well as Rachel herself did, and was in awe of how good their voices sounded together. She looked at Mr. Schue, who was smiling, and made another mental note. (Tell Mr. Schue that Artie and Tina need more duets).
"I never meant to start a war. You know, I never wanna hurt you. Don't even know we're fighting for." Mike was on his feet, dancing around Tina; and Rachel let him pull her to her feet and join in. He spun around her, and Rachel put the mental-note folder part of her brain to good use again. (Get Mike to teach you that dance move)."Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield? Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield?"
Rachel didn't know why Mike had picked her to dance, but she was really enjoying the way it felt to be voluntarily included in that way. Usually he would pick Brittany. As he spun her, she grinned. (Thank Mike later). Santana was singing loudly, clearly letting her anger out into the song. Rachel was glad; it meant that she wouldn't be Santana's first target. "Guess you'd better go and get your armour." Tina began, letting Santana take the echoes. "Get your armour!" Santana stood up as she and Tina sang back and forth.
"Get your armour!"
"Get your armour!" If Rachel had been singing, she would have put up a fuss, but saw how into it Santana was. Cue the next mental note: Santana uses singing as an outlet.
"I guess you better go and get your armour!" This time, Mercedes sung one of the echoes, and Quinn laughed and did the final one.
"Get your armour!
"Get your armour."
"Get your armour."
"I guess you'd better go and get your..." Tina stopped moving as the song slowed. Mike started dancing slower, and Rachel used her extensive ballet training to adjust and dance along with him.
"We can pretend that we are friends tonight..." Rachel saw Finn as he "O-o-o-ed" and laughed slightly at Puck, trying to appear as though he wasn't actually having a good time and singing along under his breath. She then suppressed a squeal of surprise as Mike picked her up, still dancing along; but managed to just go along with it. (Organised routine is great, but maybe this is okay too?).
"...and in the morning we'd wake up and we'd be alright. 'Coz baby we don't have to fight. And I don't want this love to feel like a battlefield..." Brittany threw her fist into the air as she sung "Oh!"
"...a battlefield..."
"Oh!"
"...a battlefield! Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield?" Tina hadn't drawn enough breath; and Rachel noticed, singing the next line to help her out. "Guess you'd better go and get your armour!" Tina shot her a grateful smile, inhaling deeply.
"I never meant to start a war..." As the club started the chorus, Tina's voice took off above them, harmonising and powerful, something Rachel had never heard her do, or believe she actually could do. "Start a war."
(Tina is much, much better than you ever thought. Apologise about the whole Tonight debacle. And try to get her to come out of her shell a bit more). Rachel and Mike sat down again, but Mike kept moving his feet to the music.
"You know, I never wanna hurt you. Don't even know we're fighting for."
"What are we fighting for?" Tina was really belting the higher notes.
"Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield? Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield?" Mercedes was singing loudly too, her "He-e-e-ey!" blending nicely with Tina's voice, and Rachel joined in too; earning her beaming smile from Tina.
"I guess you better go and get your armour..." Matt and Artie clapped along with the beat.
"Get your armour!" Tina laughed happily as Quinn gathered enough confidence to put in a "Ye-e-e-yeahhh!"
"Get your armour!"
"Get your armour!"
"I guess you better go and get your armour!"
"Get your armour!" Kurt put in loudly.
"Get your armour!"
"Why does love always feel like..."
"Whoo-o-oo-oa!"
"Why does love always feel like?"
"Whoo-o-oo-oa!" Tina put her hands up, and everyone's singing faded out in surprise. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes again, putting the most power that Rachel had ever heard from her behind her final line, as the music slowed and faded. Rachel was amazed; although she wasn't as good as Mercedes, but she was definitely attempting (and pulling off) a 'wail on the last note,' drawing out the word 'battlefield.'
"Why does love always feel like a battlefield! O-o-o-o-oh!" The music stopped when she did, and she peeked her eyes open to look at them.
They were mostly looking shocked that shy little Tina could pull that off. It actually reminded Rachel of the assembly after Push It when everyone had just kind of stared at them. Artie was the first to break the silence, clapping loudly and yelling, "Way to go, Tina!" Everybody else joined in, Brittany standing up and clapping wildly; Mr. Schue putting a hand on her back and saying, "That was really good Tina!" Rachel stood up, moving towards Tina with a small smile and saying, "Tina, you know I never really apologised for my atrocious behaviour regarding the Tonight solo. I was very wrong." Tina's smile was worth the awkwardness that Rachel felt whenever she apologised. She threw her arms around her, and Rachel hugged back, saying, "So, I am sorry about that Tina."
Rachel never ceased to find it amazing that one song could say shed so much light on a person, or people, or a situation. Apart from the slushie war going on, life was good.
And the slushie war was very close to ending.