Chapter 11: Dudes and Duets
I
Following their impressive performance under the tutelage of Sue Sylvester, things seemed to be going better for the members of the New Directions. Slushy-facials and dumpster-dives were replaced by flirty winks and girlish giggles, and the occassional lewd suggestion. It was weird at first, but strangely also kind of fun.
Unfortunately, that particular state of events didn't last too long.
Naturally, the first to revert was Karofsky. Seemed like he just couldn't handle a sexy gleek. One cherry-ice covered Artie Abrams later, and the general student body shook off their hypnosis in favour of preserving the status quo. This act however did have a positive up-side: When Finn saw what happened to his (only remaining) friend, he finally stepped up. His defending of Artie not only garnered him his very own slushy-facial, but also grudging forgiveness from some glee-club members. And he knew just how to get the rest of them to forgive him too.
"Duets!" Mr Schuester turned from writing the word on his trusty dry-erase board, eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Wait," Tina said, raising her hand slightly. "I thought Coach Sylvester took over the glee-club?" She gestured to the tracksuit-clad woman. "Or do we have two coaches now?"
"Bite your tongue, Asian number one," the devil's own interrupted with a scoff. "While I will concede; it was not as life-threatening as I'd feared to breath the same air as you bunch of misfits," she glowered at the assembled teens, "I have moved on to bigger and better things. Glee-club," Sue sneered, "has had its day."
"So, you're not coaching us anymore? Ever?" Tina clarified, cautiously optimistic. It had been nice to be polished and completely sure of the choreography of their performance for once. And well in advance of their expected appearance, too! But she couldn't deny wanting to have their regular teacher back again. Sue Sylvester was scarily intense.
"Guys," Mr Schuester reassured, "that was a one-time thing, okay? Coach Sylvester was doing me a favour, but it was always meant to be a temporary situation, and it's over now." He paused to smile encouragingly at his team. "I'm back, and ready to tackle our setlist for Sectionals."
"Curly fried grease-head is right. My tenure as McKinley's glee director has ended. I'm sure you are all crying in your kiwi-flavoured day-old froyos, but I will survive. Or my name isn't Sue Rodham Sylvester."
"It's not," Mike muttered, only loud enough for Quintin and Tina to hear. "Is it?" He trained a suspicious eye on Sue, until the youngest Fabray entered his field of vision.
"I'm gonna miss singing and dancing with you, Coach," Brittany said, pouting sadly. She had just released Sue from an unexpected hug. "You were like, really good. Now I'll have to go back to dancing with inferior partners, like Kike and Pam."
"Who?" Finn asked, staring at Brittany in confusion. He didn't remember any of those names belonging to the New Directions. "Who is Pam? And what kinda name's Kike?" he mumbled to himself.
Rachel's eyes bulged in surprise when she registered what Brittany had said, and she too turned to stare at the oblivious blonde. Did she just...?*
Mercedes rolled her eyes at the confused look on Finn's face. She was glad he was back, especially since he dropped his poor me attitude, but she had almost forgotten how exhausting he could be.
"She means Puck and Sam," she informed him, waiting in vain for the confused look to melt into understanding. She sighed in resignation. "You know, Puck plus Sam gives you Pam? And Kurt and Mike makes... Never mind," she huffed, turning her attention back to Mr Schue instead. "Will this be a competition? Because that would be awesome."
"Well, it was Finn's idea," Mr Schuester began, turning a questioning smile in his protege's direction. "What do you think? Does a free dinner at Breadstix for the winning pair sound good?" From the rapid head nodding all round, the answer was made pretty clear.
Immediately, the choir rom was filled with ecstatic chatter. Mr Schue raised his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, guys, you've got until Friday to practice your songs, and yes; you may choose your own duet-partners." He paused to let the kids' cheers die down. "The only rule is that you can't sing the same song as anyone else, not even a remix. No exceptions." He smiled quietly to himself, just taking in their excitement. It felt good to be back.
II
The first to perform were Santana and Brittany. They were clearly taking advantage of the little bit of Britney Spears-fever that still remained, as was proven by their choice of song. Me against the music turned out perfectly, the uncomfortably squirming of Mike and Puck aside.
Unfortunately the rest of the gleeks weren't half as prepared.
"So, which of Barbra's duets do you wish to emulate with the dashing Mr Fabray?" Kurt asked Rachel. They were on their way to lunch. "Personally, I think he'd make a passable Bryan Adams," he wiggled his eyebrows at her. "He's certainly got the rockstar-swagger down."
Unbeknownst to the two Broadway-divas-in-training, Quintin had already outlined his plan to NOT sing with Rachel to his siblings, and Santana.
"But why not?" the latina whined. "I don't see the problem, Q. You like the midget; she likes you," she pointed out, "it would make Finnept's head explode; win-win for everyone!"
"Because that's not the plan,Santana," the blonde retorted calmly. "Sam's gonna woo Mercedes to do a Michael Jackson number with him, and convince her to convince Kurt to do Barbra Streisand with Rachel, and I'm gonna sing with Finn. Or Puck; I haven't decided yet." He ignored the incredulous Cheerio when he spotted the best friends in the hallway. "Whoop, here we go," he cheered quietly.
He watched as Sam approached them, saying something to Rachel before dragging Kurt away. The brunette watched them go with a slightly disgruntled frown, causing Quinn to smile. He quickly fell in step with her, gently nudging her arm. "Hey, Rachel," he greeted.
"Oh, Quintin," she said, "hello. I didn't see you there," she apologised, glancing at the boy shyly. She blushed when he raised his eyebrow at her, before winking in reassurance.
"It's cool, Rae," he nudged her again. "I don't need your attention on me at all times." He smiled at the way her eyes widened at his words. "I seriously do not need any more stalkers," he added, chuckling a little when her shy smile turned into a frown. "Although..." he drawled, cocking his head in thought. His eyes flickered down to Rachel, who was too busy staring daggers at the posse of giggling freshman girls following Quintin's progress down the hallway to notice.
He reached for her hand, smiling in amusement at how sharply she turned to look at him. Quinn sqeezed her hand softly, before saying, "I suppose I wouldn't mind so much, if my stalker was you."
It seemed Azimio wasn't a particular fan of sweetly adorkable, yet still sexy gleeks either.
"Enjoy tasting the rainbow, Fag-bray!" he chortled, high-fiving the other guys who had helped to drench Quintin in a colourful slushy mixture. "I'm sure your boyfriend will gladly lend you a hand!"
Quintin was confused at what he meant, but Rachel's shocked gasp of "Kurt!" had him whipping around. There, right in front of the doors of the cafeteria was Kurt, similarly soaked in icy corn-syrup. It had obviously been a coordinated effort between the two biggest bullies of McKinley, and very well executed.
Azimio was admiring his fellow Neanderthal's handiwork with a smug grin on his face, nodding at Karofsky who still had Kurt trapped against the wall. There were as many empty cups lying around the slight boy as there were around Quintin's feet.
"Now this is what I call classic," the hockey-player sneered in Kurt's face. "Homos covered in filth, exactly how it should be."
Quinn felt his stomache clench at the look of abject misery and terror on Kurt's face. He had known the boy was a favoured target of Dave and his cronies, but Kurt's fear had never been as obvious to him as right now. And nobody did anything to help.
"Stop it," he said, striding closer to the pair, uncaring of his own slushie-covered appearance. "Leave him alone, Karofsky." He finally reached them, stepping smoothly between a glowering Karofsky and the visibly trembling Kurt. "What, do you think you can beat the gay outta him?" he spat at the fuming hockey-player. "Do you think he likes being afraid of you, of your hate?" He shoved the teen roughly, ignoring the growing crowd of onlookers. All he could feel was his growing anger; with Karofsky for terrorising Kurt, and at everyone else for just letting him do it. "Don't you think he would change it, if he could?" Quintin was practically yelling by now.
Sam had pushed his way through the gathered students by now, and made his way to Rachel's side. The petite singer was crying softly, eyes locked on Kurt and Quintin. Her breath hitched at the pain she could see, shining so clearly in the raging blonde's hazel eyes.
"Don't you think ..." the broken boy bit off a sob, shoulders sagging in defeat. This was all too familiar, and Quintin had never fully forgiven his father for choosing another family over theirs. For telling them that they just weren't enough for him. That they weren't worth him loving them and their family.
Luckily, Sam knew his brother exceptionally well. He slipped over to him, grabbing the silently sobbing Quinn into a fierce embrace. His movement triggered everyone else, it seemed, and soon Rachel had her arms around Kurt too. The rest of the students, including a red in the face Karofsky, wandered back to their interrupted lunch-tables, eagerly dissecting the latest Fabray-flavoured debacle.
The emotional foursome remained in their respective embraces, ignoring everything else until Santana and Brittany joined them, trailed by a concerned Mercedes.
"Hey, let's get you guys cleaned up," Brittany said, running a gentle hand through Quintin's hair. She shared a sad smile with Sam, knowing how much their parents' divorce, and the reason for it, still affected their big brother. "Come on."
The three blondes walked to the nearest bathroom together, united in their sadness and pain. Maybe, Lima would finally be the place they could be the family that the Fabrays have always wanted to be, after all. Accepted and loved for what they were, as well as what they weren't.
