Chapter 21

Sunday Morning Practice

7:45am. Ashley left the house to go to the 7-11. She arrived at the store less than five minutes later and proceeded to get two cans of Red Bull. She went back to her car and drove to school for their 9am practice. Being that the parking lot was empty, she chose to rest her car on the space nearest to the auditorium entrance.

She turned off the engine and opened the window slightly to allow some air to enter while she ate the sandwich she'd made that morning. Ashley opened a can of Red Bull and drank it like it was Pepsi.

It was eerily quiet—in the car, in the parking lot, in her head. She was exhausted from lack of a reasonable amount of sleep. She spent the greater part of the night thinking about Artie and Tina, and the number—but really, mainly about Artie.

He'd been quiet since she saw him yesterday in the parking lot. He wouldn't eat dinner and he wouldn't speak at all when asked about what was wrong with him. His parents had asked Ashley about what happened in school that day and she wasn't sure how to answer because she didn't know it herself. But she was certain it had something to do with Tina. Both of them seemed gravely upset judging by the tones of their voices.

Today is the first and last time glee is practicing this number together (with Tina singing live) before they perform in front of Will tomorrow afternoon. But, Ashley didn't text Tina to confirm if the girl would show up at rehearsals. She figured, it would be inconsiderate of her to make Tina come to rehearsals when, clearly, she needs some time alone to think or get over something.

A knock on her window, coupled with a soft call of her name, brought Ashley out of her trance. She turned and saw Puck.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Ashley checked the clock on her dashboard—8:10 it said—then returned to Puck and nodded. He opened the door without warning; and somehow, Ashley thought she was required to step out, so she did.

"You don't look alright. You look like you got hit by a bus."

Ashley scowled at him and folded her arms in front of her, leaning against the car. Puck fought back a grin. He fixed a concerned expression on his face instead.

"No, I'm serious," he said. "You look terrible. If someone sees you like that I'm not sure you'll be able to maintain your status in this school."

Ashley turned to look at her reflection in the car window. She sighed and dropped her arms. She did look terrible.

"Come on," Puck said. "Get your stuff. Let's go inside so you can fix yourself."

Ashley didn't give it a thought. She just followed.

"I'm on my way to you right now," Kurt said to Mercedes over the phone.

"Did you talk to Ash?"

"No. But, I'm sure she's already in school. Why?"

"I tried calling Tina last night and she won't answer. That's not like her at all."

Kurt stopped in front of Mercedes' house. She was already on the sidewalk then, so she immediately opened the passenger door of the SUV.

"Well, she'll be in rehearsals today. We could ask her then. Maybe they were busy together 'til late at night." Kurt said as soon as she was seated.

"What, you think they did something?" Mercedes asked, a sneaky smile on her face.

"Oh god," Kurt reacted. "I wasn't even thinking that!"

Mercedes laughed her hearty laugh before they proceeded to discuss glee club matters.

"Don't you think Noah's been acting kind of weird lately?" Rachel asked, maneuvering her body to look at Finn, extending the seat belt as she did so.

Finn, surprised that Puck's name had been suddenly brought up, glanced quickly at Rachel and then back to the road. "I didn't notice anything," he shrugged, in an attempt to look unfazed.

"Really?"

"Same Puck I've always known."

She leaned her back against the chair, looking straight. "Huh. It's probably just me then."

"It's just you. You were probably too upset about the whole Ashley-has-full-command thing that it made you look at things differently."

"No," she replied in a calm and thoughtful manner. "I mean, it's just me that he's being weird with."

Finn gripped the wheel for a second, complementing the skip of his heartbeat. "H—how is he weird?"

"Well, I almost feel like he's avoiding me or something."

"All the time?"

"No, not all the time. Just… just sometimes." Rachel shook her head. "I don't know."

"You're just imagining it, Rach. The man's always tired, maybe that's why he's like that. Forget about it."

Rachel smiled weakly at Finn and nodded.

Ashley checked herself in the mirror before she exited the bathroom. "Oh, hey," she greeted faintly, surprised to see Puck at the other side of the door.

"Well, you cleaned up good. How do you feel?"

"Red Bull hasn't kicked in yet, I think." She furrowed her eyebrow. "Did you hang out here the whole time I was in there?"

He shrugged. "Didn't really have anywhere else I needed to be."

She smiled.

"Got a text from Finn. Everybody's already at the auditorium."

Her eyes widened as she searched for her cellphone inside her bag. "Eleven missed calls," she groaned as she read the screen. She fiddled with the device, then announced, "Kurt texted too."

They hurried to the auditorium without speaking. When they got to the backstage door, Puck opened it and signaled for her to be the first to enter. She looked at him and nodded.

Ashley walked quickly and got to the stage, immediately apologizing for being late as soon as she was within the view of the glee club members. She walked directly to where Kurt, Mercedes and Quinn were.

"Why won't you answer your phone?" Kurt demanded.

"I forgot that it was in silent mode. Sorry."

Puck got to the stage and made his way to where the jocks were huddled. Kurt, Mercedes and Quinn followed Puck with their eyes, before returning their gaze to Ashley.

"Tina's not here yet," Mercedes said. "And she's not answering her phone too. Since last night. Is there something wrong? What did Artie say?"

Ashley looked at each of their eagerly waiting faces, and sighed. "I don't know what happened because Artie wouldn't talk to me at all."

"They obviously got into a fight or something," Quinn contributed.

"Yeah, that's my bet too," Ashley affirmed with a nod.

"You might want to include the rest of the club in this little meeting? Or at the very least the captains?" Rachel interrupted, crashing into the conversation and settling between Quinn and Mercedes with her arms crossed.

"This is not about the number, okay?" Kurt snapped.

"Then why are you discussing it here? Everyone got up really early for this rehearsals—which, by the way, I think is too indulgent. Sunday morning practice? Even Ms. Sylvester doesn't do this. I think you're abusing this complete power bestowed upon you." Rachel said, directing the last sentence at Ashley.

Kurt gave Quinn a look that she interpreted to be 'I'm just about ready to slap this little girl silly'.

"Um," Quinn began, resting her hand on Rachel's shoulder. "It's Tina. We can't get a hold of her."

"Oh," Rachel breathed out, realizing that there was something else going on. "Did Artie—?"

Ashley shook her head.

"What happened?"

Ashley turned to Mercedes. The diva took this as a cue to be the one to tell Rachel that the kissing scene yesterday had not ended on a happy note. They were all silent for a moment, pensive.

"There's nothing we can do about that now," Rachel finally said.

They all looked at her.

"We…." Rachel paused to make sure that the words come out of her mouth correctly. "We're all here. Let's just rehearse, as scheduled. And then, later, we could discuss more about this issue and maybe find a way to help our friends."

The four stared at her. This made Rachel uncomfortable. Then, Ashley nodded.

"You're right," Ashley said to Rachel. "She's right," she said to Kurt, who was beside her. She turned to the others and announced with authority, "Let's use the studio recording for now."

"But, tomorrow, what if Tina's still not up to it?" Quinn asked bluntly.

Ashley weakened. She didn't have any back up plan and wasn't thinking clearly enough to find the solution. But, she didn't have to because Rachel had the answer.

"Ashley's singing lead."

"Really?" Mercedes asked sharply. "Wouldn't you rather that you take the solo?"

"I…" Rachel was surprised at Mercedes' brazen inquiry. But she immediately got her confidence back and, with her chin up, answered, "It's going to affect the production if my partner gets a new partner. We have to present this to Mr. Schue tomorrow, right? So we have to be logical about this. Ashley knows the song perfectly. We don't need to disturb the dynamics of the group."

Quinn, Mercedes and Kurt, astounded at this seldom seen side of Rachel, turned to join the other members of glee at the middle of the stage. Rachel and Ashley smiled at each other before they walked to their respective positions on the stage.

Tina opened her eyes. Her room was pitch black except for the light coming from the clockradio on her nightstand that read 9:14am.

Rehearsals, she thought as she stared at the red numbers. She'd locked herself in her room since she got home yesterday. She had neither eaten nor drank anything since then. No one at home had even noticed; but she was thankful for this. There was no way she'd open up to her parents—as far as she's concerned, they're strangers.

When Tina left Artie yesterday, she couldn't stop crying. She entered the nearest broom closet she came across and fell down sobbing on the floor next to a couple of buckets and mops. She was pretty sure that there were at least three people that walked by and heard her in there; thankfully though they didn't open the door. When she'd stopped shaking and her tear ducts had tired, she wiped her face and exited the closet—thankful again that the hall was empty. She went straight to her car and headed home.

The moment she had laid on her bed, the tears started to fall again. It had momentarily halted when she spoke to Ashley on the phone. But, when she realized that Artie was probably alone and miserable, she sobbed again—gripping her sheets and curling herself into the fetal position. She had cried herself to sleep only to wake up at two in the morning, crying, until she fell asleep again.

Slowly, she sat up and turned to the window. The thick black drapes completely prevented the sunlight from entering her room. Please be a nice day, she begged quietly.

After taking a bath and dressing up, Tina went straight to the kitchen. A note stuck on the refrigerator door caught her attention. At the country club. Enjoy your Sunday, honey! Mom and Dad. Tina smirked as she opened the door and scoured for food.

After eating a banana and gulping a glass of orange juice, she was out the door. As she drove to school, she thought about what to say when she's face to face with Ashley. Tina was about 99% sure that Ashley hated her. She thought about whether Artie was there or not; and if the others already knew. These were all in her head, but there were no resolutions for any of them. The resolutions will have to come later on when she gets to her destination.

The school grounds were quiet, except that as Tina came nearer the backstage entrance of the auditorium she could hear music playing from inside. Of course they're rehearsing without me, Ashley would never cancel rehearsals, she figured. Oh God, I don't want to go in there.

She opened the door anyway and walked inside.

"That was good. Except, Puck and Jean? There were a couple of times that you were dancing ahead of the others. You need to be attentive to your surroundings." Ashley sounded off. She was once again at the edge of the stage, judging their dancing. "Now, let's—"

Tina's appearance from the shadows cut Ashley in the middle of her sentence. Everyone turned to the latecomer.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Tina said. She stood still as she looked at everyone's faces, taking note specifically of Kurt's and Mercedes' reactions.

"It's alright," Ashley said in a much lesser volume than her last statement. "Okay, guys," Ashley declared, turning to the others and with a domineering tone again. "Let's try this with Tina. Matt, would you please set up the mic stand right here? Everyone else, take five."

Ashley saw that Kurt and Mercedes immediately went over to Tina. She looked at the Asian girl, who timidly smiled at her. Ashley nodded, straight-faced, before getting off the stage on her way to the control room.

A/N: So, I had to insert something non-Artina/Tartie related to update the statuses of the other characters. Making way for their own stories. :)

Much love to HanaDear, XxAlwaysAnonymousxX, VampireGleek, maggie-mae-pie & of course, Proud Marry!

Next Chapter: Do Right