Sue put the phone down and leaned back in her chair. Shock showed on her face, something that didn't happen often. Finn Hudson was dead. She was met with conflicting emotions. He was, generally, a good kid. A born leader, and Sue could respect that. Caring enough to help her with her sister's funeral, and Sue was grateful for that. But, he did have a temper, and she fought herself to forgive him for using the "r" word to describe her precious Robin. She also did feel bad for Will. She never quite understood it, but he was close with the boy. He became the role model Hudson had needed. Now, she had to call that group of misfits in to give them the bad news. In all honesty, as much as she loved inflicting fear, pain, and sadness on the glee club, she felt awful having to tell them this. She picked up the PA microphone.
"Attention McKinley High, I need to see Artie Abrahms, Tina Cohen-Chang, Blaine Anderson, and Sam Evans in my office, now." In their classroom, the four looked at each other, confused. She didn't make fun of them over the pa, something she usually loved doing. The four got up and left.
"Did any of you think that was odd?" Sam asked. The gang nodded.
"I just want to know what she wants now," Tina said bitterly. They walked by the choir room. It was a force of habit, but their eyes roved inside as they were walking. It was empty.
"Wait. Did any of you see Finn or Mr. Schue this morning?" Blaine questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.
"No," they all said. While it wasn't unusual to see Finn until the afternoon, usually Mr. Schue was always lurking around, just waiting, it seemed, to say hello.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Blaine said quietly, almost to himself. They walked into the office stiffly, and Sue motioned for them to sit down. She looked nervous, and that almost never happened.
"Look, I am not going to pretend that we are friends and that I like any of you," Sue began, and Blaine rolled his eyes. "But, I have some bad news to tell you. Schuester will be in later to give you more details." Tina grasped Blaine's hand. "It seems that Finn Hudson died last night." She said it simply, on purpose. She wanted to give them a moment to let it sink in. She looked at the group. Artie looked shocked; Tina was in tears along with Blaine, and Sam? Sam looked like nothing had happened and that worried Sue. She had heard about him after the gun incident. How he had changed his mental personality into somebody different. She didn't want to think about how this news might affect him.
"I know this is hard to take. Will asked me to tell you that there is going to be a meeting for the original glee members this afternoon after school in the choir room. With that said, he does NOT want you telling the newer members. He wants to be the one to do it, but tomorrow. Is that understood?" The group nodded and Sue continued.
"Now, you can use the conference room to grieve and compose yourselves because you don't need to tip off the newer members. Take your time, there's no rush. And guys?" The group looked up at her. "I really am sorry." Tina, Artie, Blaine, and Sam headed out of her office and into the conference room, where Tina fell apart and sank to the floor next to Artie's chair, sobs bursting through her tears. Blaine leaned against the wall, appearing to have an anxiety attack, reaching for his phone, debating on whether he should call Kurt. Sam just stood in the doorway. Calm and relaxed, he just stared straight at them. No one seemed to notice it except Artie.
"S-Sam?" Artie called out shakily, eyes full of tears. Sam just looked at him. "Are you okay?" And to the trio's horror, Sam actually smiled.
"What do you mean? You know what she's doing right?" Sam asked, his smile growing. The others just stared at him, disbelief and confusion on their faces.
"It's Sue Sylvester. She's just screwing with us. A new way to torture us and make us lose focus. Genius really," and he let out a deep laugh. But there was something in the laugh that was not quite right. It was partly hollow, like a small part of him knew that his theory was incorrect. Tina looked at Blaine, who sighed and put his phone in his pocket before walking towards Sam. He placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.
"Sam, listen to me. Sue is cold-hearted, mean, and sneaky. But she would never joke about something like that. Not since her sister died. Even the way she talked to us and the way she acted goes against the way she always messes with our heads. And then, with Mr. Schue not being here, it makes sense. He wouldn't joke about Finn's death. If he's not here, it must be true. You need to process, and accept that this isn't a sick joke," Blaine explained, hoping that it would register this time. Sam said nothing. The smile faded from his face, and he sat down in a chair, staring into space. Tina started to walk over to him, but Blaine stopped her. He knew that Sam would process it eventually, but that it would take him a while to work through all the possible theories he could concoct to prove it false. It would hit him eventually. Probably when he saw the rest of the members today.
Kurt. Blaine took his phone out again, and dialed Kurt's number. Part of him wanted to be mad at Kurt for not telling him. But, how could he be upset with the love of his life, especially since he had now lost a brother. The phone went right to voicemail, and Blaine hung up. Leaving a message didn't seem like the right thing to do. There would be time for talking, later. Blaine wiped at his eyes, and looked around at the others. Artie's eyes were still red, but he was no longer crying. Tina was beginning to gain control of herself as well. And Sam still sat in the chair, just staring, completely expressionless.
"Okay, guys. We need to get back to class. I think five more minutes to get ourselves ready, then we go. We don't want to make the others suspicious that we haven't shown for lunch yet," Blaine said taking control.
Five minutes later, and the group of four walked steadily to lunch, eyes dries, and very little sadness showing. They sat with their other glee-mates, laughed with them, and put up a great front that nothing was wrong, and the newer members had no idea that one of their leaders was no longer with them.