Yay part one of the Wheels story line!!! I've been sick today and yesterday so that's why you only get half the headache got too bad. But anyway to be clear the next part is going to finish the Wheels story line but there's going to be some more stuff before the Ballad story line starts. It's probably going to be along the lines of a party etc but I'm not sure yet.
Oh congrats to sweetcaroline1986 for getting the 400th review. Thanks for being there from the beginning :)
Let's see what else oh I broke 100 favorite story and 300 story alerts. Thanks so much guys!!!!! Enjoy!
Oh I think this chapter requires a disclaimer considering I've taken dialogue directly from the show. SPOILERS!!!!! and I don't own Glee.
The next day went as well as could be expected. When Glee rolled around Rachel was in a really good mood. She actually felt normal. It was really nice. Mr. Schue walked in.
"Alright guys we're going to be doing a new number for sectionals. I know that pop songs have normally been our signature pieces, but I did a little research on past winners, and it turns out that the judges like songs that are more accessible. Stuff they know. Uh, standards. Broadway."
"Defying Gravity?" asked Kurt, the excitement clear in his voice. "I have an iPod shuffle dedicated exclusively to selections from 'Wicked'. This is amazing."
"Think you can handle it Rachel?" asked Mr. Schue and the happy face on Kurt's look fell. Puck saw Kurt's shoulders slump. Gee Mr. Schue. Oblivious much? Then when he heard what he had just thought, he shot a glare over at Rachel. Her and her speaking in long words, making him learn.
"It's my go to shower song," replied Rachel. "It's also my ringtone."
"Oh!" said Puck suddenly. "If you change my ringtone to that again…" he growled and everyone laughed.
"It's only for when I call," she protested.
"Don't care," he replied.
"So you switched it back to 'Sweet Caroline'?" she asked a knowing smile on her face. There were a few snickers and he just glared at her.
"Well anyway, why do you we have to go all vanilla on this song?" asked Mercedes. "See what we need is my chocolate thunder." Everyone laughed a little bit.
"Ok, we don't have time to rearrange the song for you Mercedes. Rachel is singing it. Don't worry. We'll find something for you to dip in chocolate." More laughter was heard.
"On to item 2," said Mr. Schue. "The school won't pay for the special bus we need to take Artie and his wheelchair with us to sectionals." Artie's face fell. Tina was the first to speak up, unsurprisingly.
"Wh-wh-what?" she demanded, her stutter a little worse than normal from the anger she felt.
"That's completely unfair," said Rachel.
"So," continued Mr. Schue. "We're gonna have to raise money to pay for it ourselves." Tina nodded towards Artie, letting him know they wouldn't let him down.
"See when I was in Glee club and we needed new silk cummerbunds for regionals we held a bake sale."
Puck turned to look at Mr. Schue disbelievingly. Rachel had smiled however. After a moment of silence a few people laughed. Tina looked very unhappy, as did Artie.
"Wait you're joking right? I mean bake sales are kind of boujie," said Santana. She was slightly startled at the glares that were sent her way but she just sat back in her chair and ignored them.
"So hip people stopped eating delicious sugary treats?" asked Mr. Schue, not believing his kids were doing this.
"It's not that," said Brittany. "It's just most of us don't know how to bake. I find recipes confusing."
"While my family may be fully committed to take out, I do know how to make my sugar cookies," said Rachel throwing a smile towards Artie. Mr. Schue smiled at her.
"Well either way Mr. Schue," said Finn and Mr. Schue sighed. "Kids are busier than when you went here. We've got homework and football and teen pregnancy, lunch."
"Can't Artie's dad just take him?" asked Mercedes. Rachel and Tina were looking around the room, shocked at their friends.
"I can't believe how insensitive you're all being," said Mr. Schue. "Are you a team?"
"Of course," said Quinn. "But Artie understands. Don't you Artie?" she asked turning to him. He immediately plastered on a fake smile.
"Of-Of course. I-It's cool," he said, starting to sound a little like Tina. "I mean anything that takes away our time rehearsing doesn't serve as a team." Tina looked at him, knowing he was lying. The bell rang and almost everyone stood up and left. Rachel stayed, as did Tina. Rachel stood up.
"Well I'm going to go start planning out when I have free time to start churning out cookies," said Rachel. Mr. Schue smiled at her.
"Thank you Rachel." She just smiled back, gave a smile to Artie and left. Tina moved down and hugged Artie.
"I-I'm going to help her," she told him before running after Rachel. Artie smiled before leaning down and trying to tie his shoe. Mr. Schue walked over.
"Here let me help you buddy."
"Thank you," replied Artie.
"Hey I'm really sorry about how they all reacted Artie."
"It's okay I'm used to it. They just… don't get it," he chuckled. "Can I use the auditorium to rehearse this afternoon Mr. Schue?" he asked after a brief silence. "Some of the band equipment's in there."
"Sure," replied his teacher with a smile. Artie smiled and rolled off, Mr. Schue watching him go.
After school, Noah took Rachel home. He came up to her room to hang out for a bit before he had to get home. She went over to her desk and laid out the tentative schedule she had created earlier. She bit her lip.
"I don't know if I'll be able to make them fast enough…" Noah sighed.
"I thought Mercedes and Artie were friends."
"They are," replied Rachel. "But I didn't hear you speak up in his defense."
"Hey I can't bake. I can cook but I can't bake," he protested. Rachel sighed.
"Quinn had seemed so nice at the sleepover but today she was such a…"
"Bitch?" offered Noah. Rachel sighed and nodded.
"Despite how I hate the use of profanity I feel that word is proper to use in this situation." A silence fell. Noah finally decided to try and talk to her about what he'd been thinking the rest of the day after Glee.
"Hey Rachel. You know that chick solo you're singing." Rachel fixed him with a glare.
"You mean Defying Gravity?"
"Yeah. You know I think Kurt really wanted the solo."
"But it's sung by a girl. And it's my solo."
"Rachel listen to yourself."
"No Noah. I know what you're going to say, but I am a rising star. The more people that hear my talent the better and that means all the solos I can get." Noah got up from her bed and walked over to where she was sitting by her desk.
"And when you're finally at the top, you're not going to have any friends because you've stolen from them their turns to shine."
"You're asking me to give away my solo?" she demanded.
"I'm asking you to think about it Rachel. What if you were in Kurt's shoes? He obviously loves that song as much as you do. Besides, I really think you need to calm down your whatever it is when it comes to singing."
"You mean my drive and determination?"
"I mean your rude attitude to anything that takes you out of the spotlight," he said bluntly. "You hurt people Rach but I don't think you even realize it." Her eyes widened slightly.
"Like Tina…" she said looking down.
"Like Tina," he confirmed. "Hey I have to go. Promise me you'll just think about it? And call if you need to talk."
She nodded and gave him a little smile. He smiled back and left her room. A few minutes later she heard his truck starting. She got up and threw herself across the bed, staring up at the ceiling before getting lost in her thoughts.
The next day in Glee, Kurt stood up. "I have something I'd like to say." He paused. "I want to audition for the Wicked solo." There were a few murmurs around the group.
"Kurt there's a high F in it," said Mr. Schue disbelievingly.
"That's well within my range," replied Kurt. The murmurs grew louder. Puck appeared to be disinterested but he had his eyes on Rachel.
"Well I think Rachel's gonna be fine for the female lead," said Mr. Schue. Kurt snuck a glare at Rachel "But I'm happy to have you try out something else Kurt. And we'll make sure it has a killer high note in it." Kurt deflated and began to sit down, but Rachel popped up.
"Wait Mr. Schue." The whole Glee club froze except for Puck who just smiled to himself. "What if we make it a duet?"
Everyone's jaws dropped. Kurt had turned to look at her wide eyed and disbelieving . She shifted uncomfortably.
"Is it really that unbelievable?"
"Yes," chorused everyone. She flinched but turned back to Mr. Schue.
"I think our voices would blend well together. The harmonies wouldn't be that difficult to write in and Kurt wants to sing it. Would you be ok with a duet?" she asked Kurt. Kurt threw her arms around her, but before she could respond he had pulled away regaining his composure.
"Yeah that'd be fine with me," he said nonchalantly. A smile slowly spread on Mr. Schue's face.
"Well excellent. It looks like that's settled." Both Rachel and Kurt sat down, Mercedes squealing and hugging Kurt as he did. Rachel looked over to Puck who just nodded his head.
"Wait wait stop," said Matt turning to Puck. "You convinced her to do this." Everyone's eyes turned to him.
"What? No. I had no idea she was going to do this," he protested.
"Noah just gave me some good advice," said Rachel. Everyone seemed to accept this and looked back to Mr. Schue.
"Anyway," said their teacher. "I wanted to say something to you guys. I was a little disappointed at how most of you were all so willing to take the bus together to sectionals and make Artie drive by himself with his dad. We're a team guys. We're in the Glee club together."
"Artie doesn't care. His dad drives him everywhere," said Mercedes.
"I do care," said Artie. "It kind of hurt my feelings."
"We didn't think you would take it personally," said Santana.
"Well you're an ice cold you know what most of the time but don't take that personally," replied Artie. Santana scoffed and looked away.
"I don't know if you guys really understand how much harder Artie has to work just to keep up," said Mr. Schue.
"Preach," said Artie.
"We're riding to Sectionals together or we're not going at all. And to pay for the bus, you guys are going to help Rachel and Tina with the bake sale." A few scoffs were heard while Artie gave Rachel a smile before turning to Tina who grabbed his hand and squeezing it as a congrats. *
"St. Ignatius nursing home was having a tag sale," said Mr. Schue going to the choir room door. "And my A.V. club friends here agreed to help out. For the next week, each of you is going to spend three hours a day in a wheelchair." The murmurs of defiance broke out.
"Oh, oh, oh. And we're doing a wheelchair number." Artie started clapping, a huge smile on his face.
"Rachel, Tina I know you guys already volunteered to help but I would like to ask you guys to do this along with the rest of the Glee club."
"It's no problem Mr. Schue," replied Rachel. "It will help me get used to the chair for the number."
"D-d-don't worry Mr. Schue," said Tina smiling. Mr. Schue smiled back.
"Thanks girls. Ok you guys are dismissed."
The rest of the week didn't work out too well for everyone. Everyone had problems, though Rachel getting her lunch dumped on her was one of the worst. Artie apologized profusely for that, since Rachel had offered to do the wheelchair experience. She assured him that it was ok and eventually he did stop saying he was sorry.
Halfway through the week, Puck followed Rachel to a room he hadn't been in before. He walked in to see her surrounded by cooking ingredients.
"I didn't even know we had a home ec room," he said. "What's all this?" Rachel looked at him with a slightly incredulous look on her face.
"Ingredients for cupcakes. For the bake sale. Tina has got the grasp of my famous sugar cookies and is going to be working on those at home but I decided to see if I could make cupcakes."
"Your famous sugar cookies?" he asked teasing her. She rolled her eyes.
"You are such an egg head."
"I'm not," he replied, moving closer to her. She looked at him before smiling a little and turning towards the ingredients. In a flash she had picked up an egg and smashed it on his head. She smiled widely, biting her lip to keep from laughing. He turned and grabbed some flour and threw it at her. She was laughing now and the next thing they knew, they were in a full out food fight. Finally they slowed down, she was still laughing and he just smiled looking down at her and moved some hair out of her eyes. Just then Mike walked in.
"What the hell?" he said laughing. Rachel turned to him smiling.
"We're baking," she said and Mike fell to the ground because he was laughing so hard. Puck just chuckled.
"I'm gonna go change."
"No you don't," said Rachel. "You are staying here until everything I had perfectly measured out is back where it's supposed to be."
"Make Mike do it."
"I can't breathe!" said Mike in between laughs. Rachel bit back another laugh.
"See? He can't breathe. You have to help." A laugh escaped Puck and then all three of them were laughing uncontrollably.
The next day Kurt, rolled up to Rachel.
"My dad is in love with you," he informed her.
"And why is that?" she asked smiling.
"I had told him about the solo that I loved and he had encouraged me to try and see if I could get it. So when I came home and said you offered for it to be a duet he got really excited."
"Because you got the solo sort of?" she asked.
"Because he saw how happy I was," he said smiling. Rachel just smiled back. They didn't say anything after that. They didn't really need to. They just went their separate ways.
Puck, Finn, and Santana were at the bake sale table with the cookies and cupcakes in front of them.
"These are really good. I don't know why we aren't selling any," said Finn.
"It's not about the cupcakes or the cookies," said Quinn. "It's about us. Nobody wants to buy from losers. We're in Glee club and in wheelchairs."
"She has a point. Six months ago I could have sold 50 of these things on fear alone. Wait…" said Puck scanning the lunchroom. He quickly saw the subject. He stood up.
"I'll be right back."
"You're not supposed to be out of the wheelchair," said Finn. Puck just looked at him.
"Give me a minute and I'll be right back in it Mom," he said. He came back dragging Jacob Ben-Israel.
"Now, you buy some of this stuff, you tell your friends or just people you run into because I doubt you have friends about this and we leave you alone the rest of today."
"The rest of the week," said Jacob.
"The rest of today and tomorrow or no deal," said Puck leaning over him. Jacob whimpered.
"Fine," he muttered, before buying a cupcake and a cookie and scurrying off.
"Dude," said Finn. "That was a good idea." Puck smirked and sat back down in his wheelchair.
"Oh my god," said Quinn. Puck and Finn both looked to see her staring at Brittany who was walking with a girl with Down's Syndrome. "What is she doing?" Puck forced himself not to glare at Quinn. Geez she had been a bitch this week.
"I actually think they're kind of friends," said Finn.
"Brittany's always cheating off her test papers in Math class," said Puck.
"You don't go to Math class," scoffed Quinn. Puck looked away.
"Oh my God. Rachel got you to go to Math. Is she a saint or something?" she scoffed. This time Puck did glare at her.
"See so many?" said Brittany, finally at the table. "And look how pretty they are Becky."
"Wow," said Becky.
"Brittany you're supposed to be in your wheelchair," said Santana.
"I lost it," replied Brittany. Puck hid a smirk.
"Are you a cheerleader?" Becky asked Santana. "It's so cool." Puck was now glaring at Santana. She had a look of disgust on her face and if she said anything, he might have to bend his rule about not hurting girls.
"So is buying a cupcake," said Brittany before Santana had the chance to say anything. "That's really cool."
"But I don't have any money," said Becky looking up at Brittany.
"That's ok. I have some," said Brittany pulling out her wallet and giving Becky a dollar. She handed it to Santana who took it and handed it to Quinn, who handed it to Puck, who handed it to Finn.
"Thanks," said Becky as she got her cupcake before she walked off.
"So how much do we have now?" asked Brittany.
"Well with this one dollar we have three dollars," said Finn.
"This is ridiculous," said Quinn. Puck rolled his eyes.
"Maybe if we gave free samples or something," said Finn.
"Are you an idiot?" demanded Quinn. "How am I supposed to trust you to take care of our baby when you can't even figure out how to sell a damn cupcake?"
"Stop attacking me," said Finn. "I'm sick of it."
"Get a job."
"I'm trying!" said Finn standing up and kicking his wheelchair before storming off. Quinn sighed and went to roll away in her wheelchair but got stuck a few times before leaving. After lunch Puck ran into Tina.
"Tina," he said. She turned and saw him.
"Wh-what's up Puck?" she asked. "How much did you sell?"
"Two cupcakes and a cookie but I made a deal with Jew-fro to buy the cupcake and cookie and tell people they're good and we wouldn't bother him the rest of today and tomorrow," he replied before pulling out his phone and texting the guys and Mercedes about the deal he had made.
"Cool," she replied about to roll away.
"We need to talk about your stutter," he said looking up at her from his phone. She froze.
"You thought I forgot didn't you?" She didn't say anything but began to roll off towards the choir room. He followed her. The choir room was empty when they got there.
"It's not real," she said as soon as he closed the door.
"Artie doesn't know does he?" She shook her head.
"Tell him," he said. "It's better if you're honest about it. You don't want him to find out from someone else if they find out and then you two won't have a chance." She blushed at those words but didn't deny the insinuation. "Besides, it's just going to eat at you." He felt his heart clench and his stomach flip nauseously as he realized the advice he was giving Tina was the exact opposite of what he was doing with the baby… Oh god he needed tell Rachel. He needed to tell her before the secret destroyed anything that could possibly happen between them. Tina seemed to notice.
"Thanks Puck. But if I may say I think you need to follow your own advice with whatever's eating you up right now." He just nodded, now extremely distracted. But how could he tell her? He couldn't tell her now, she was just getting back to normal. He resolved to wait at least a week to tell her but at the most a month unless something else came up. When he looked up Tina was gone and he went off to his class.
Well there you go. Oh the place up there where there's an * symbol by where Artie and Tina squeezed hands? That's actually in the show! Go check your DVD's. Speaking of the DVD's I highly encourage you to watch the whole season again except watch the background characters. It's quite amusing and you get a better feel for Matt and Mike among others.
Anyway hope you guys enjoyed it!!!! See you next time :)