A/N: Another extremely long episode, but it's finally here! This was one of the hardest episodes that I had to write because prom is another thing which is best experienced visually, and in GLEE's case, through audio. Still, I tried my best... lots of things going on here (including being stuffed with lots of music and TWO proms!) so try to bear with my speeding through some things! Hope you enjoy this one (:
EPISODE NINETEEN - "A Night To Remember"
Mercedes was looking at the running list of senior prom king and queen nominees on the noticeboard, when somebody tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh my God, Sam!" Mercedes held her hand to her chest. "You scared me!"
"Sorry," said Sam, sheepishly. Then he looked at the list. "What's up with that?"
"Check out the prom queen nominees for the moment."
Sam's eyes flitted down the list. "Lacey... Rachel... oh, our Rachel, hmm... Annabelle... huh, Santana again. And wow, Lauren Zizes is in it again too! Cool."
"Doesn't anything strike you as weird?" asked Mercedes.
"What?"
"Hello, Quinn?" Mercedes waved her hand. "The girl who would do anything to be prom queen?"
"Oh," said Sam, frowning. "That's true. What's stopping her this time?"
He looked at the list of prom king nominees. "Finn... Dave... like seriously? People are voting for him again? Mike... ooh. I bet somebody wrote Changster in, he wouldn't nominate himself." Sam grinned. "Jake... wow, seriously? Jake Fuller? I haven't gotten that guy back for downing me in slushie..."
"Okay let's just skip the next two and focus on this," said Mercedes, jabbing her finger on the crossed-out name of 'Noah Puckerman'. "Why's he not running too?"
Sam furrowed his eyebrows together. "Maybe the exam fever's catching onto him."
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Puh-leese. Seriously?"
"Well, he's been working hard." Sam's gaze trailed to the junior prom king and queen list.
Mercedes watched him, then folded her arms. "Not entering that one?"
"Nah," said Sam. "Not interested in that kind of accolade. My sights are set on that quarterback position, stat."
Mercedes chuckled. "Ever so ambitious."
"And..." Sam stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I was thinking I wouldn't be attending junior prom."
Mercedes arched an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"I was... erm, well... hoping to get an invitation to the senior prom instead," said Sam. The edges of his lips quirked up.
Mercedes bit back a smile. "I wonder how you're going to get that."
"Hmm." Sam broke into a grin. "Is that a yes?"
"Was there a question in the first place?"
"Ah, playing hard to get," said Sam. Then he took a pencil and a slip of nomination paper from the board. "Guess I'll have to do one thing in order to get you on my side."
Mercedes beamed. "That's more like it." And both of them started filling in 'Quinn Fabray' and 'Noah Puckerman' for Prom Queen and King.
-.-.-.-.-.-
"What is this?" Puck muttered to himself as he walked past the prom noticeboard, only to backtrack and find his name back on the list again. He was about to pick up the pencil and strike it off when he heard someone clear their throat next to him. He turned around and saw Lauren Zizes standing before him.
"And who are you?" Puck asked, ungraciously.
"Look, Puckerman, we may have had some issues before," said Lauren, folding her arms. "But let's get this straight: both of us want to graduate high school with something decent on our records, and I figure we have a better chance this year now that butch queens are banned and Karofsky's popularity quotient has dipped by about twenty percent. We've got the goods, we've got a good message, and so we'll make a good team this year. Fair and square?"
"Kurt's not a butch queen," muttered Puck, "and he can win again for the right category this year."
Lauren arched an eyebrow. "What did you say?"
"Did you nominate me?" Puck stared at the list.
"Well, the moment the nominations opened, but then I saw your name crossed out. It just got put back on, which means your quotient is going up, swell," said Lauren, smirking.
"I'm not running. This year's system was supposed to be awesome 'cos I could pull out whenever I wanted to. But turns out people can also chuck you back in whenever they want to, which sucks balls."
"We don't have to date to run, you know."
"I said, I'm not running and for your information, Zizes, I have a lot to show on my record, thanks for the support," said Puck, grouchily as he put the pencil to the list.
"Then at least turn up as my date?" Lauren's voice was now softer. "I know... there's no one you're seeing right now."
"Have you been spying on me?"
Lauren shrugged. "I'm in the AV club. I'm pretty good with bugs."
"If you are, you'd probably know that I'm planning to just have a damned good time. Chicks have made a hella mess out of my high school life, and I'd like some time to myself."
Seeing Lauren's face fall, Puck began to feel awkward. "Look, I'm not putting you down or anything, Lauren. You're cool and special and you should be proud going up there as a prom queen nominee. But I just don't think anything between us is gonna work out. The sooner you go find somebody who can really make you queen, the better."
"Yeah, whatever, Puckerman," said Lauren, smirking once again. "I don't think I'd care for someone who doesn't care about anything."
Puck felt a familiar rage rise within him, but before he could say anything cutting, Lauren had already made her way through the crowd simply by shoving through the middle.
Rachel was one of those unfortunate ones Lauren had simply shoved aside, although she was lucky she was leaning against Finn.
"Oof!" Finn gasped as Rachel was pushed straight into him. "Wow, what's gotten into Lauren?"
Rachel cocked her head in the direction of Puck, who was busy cancelling his name out on the list. "I'm surprised he's not running though." Then she pulled out a few posters from her lockers and presented them proudly to a surprised Finn. "Check this out and tell me if they're good. I mean, they are good, but tell me anyway."
Finn unrolled the posters and chuckled nervously. "That's not gay at all. Stars and musical notes."
"I put footballs on yours," said Rachel, defensively.
"Footballs with stars and musical notes on them."
"It's everything you love."
"And everything the school hates."
"Changing it would ruin the perfect harmonious dynamic between my artistically designed poster and yours."
"Of course, therefore we won't change it," said Finn, with a plastic smile. "Where's the Blu-Tack?"
Nearby, Josie was fiddling with her lock. But she wasn't concentrating on getting her locker open; she was listening to Rachel trying to tell Finn about her strategic mapping of the school regarding their campaign posters. It made Josie so tempted to march up to Rachel and rip apart every one of those revolting posters because the way she was making Finn hang onto every word of hers was disgusting.
So what if she had helped Rachel Berry with her dance assignment previously? The girl was ambitious, arrogant and annoying – every single glee club practice somehow involved her suggesting something that was part of her big Broadway dreams and Santana's occasional digs had lost their spice. It must have something to do with coming out, thought Josie, rather rudely.
"Josie?"
Josie snapped out of her reverie and came face-to-face with a smiling Mike. "Oh, hey!"
"So umm... I was wondering," said Mike, his hand at the back of his neck. "Since you're a freshie and wouldn't be attending any dances... I thought maybe you'd like to let your hair down and dance the night away at senior prom? It's next Friday."
He looked at her so hopefully that she couldn't help giggling. "Is that like, an invitation to go to the prom to dance solo?"
Mike looked alarmed immediately. "I meant..."
Josie patted his arm. "Silly boy, I know what you meant."
Mike went red.
"Yes," said Josie, and Mike brightened. "I'd love to go as your date."
"Well..." Mike grinned. "I didn't exactly say that."
Josie eyed him suggestively. "Oh really? Well, I said I'd love to, didn't say I would."
Then they both burst out laughing.
"I'll call you again," said Mike, positively beaming now. "See you at glee practice later!"
Josie watched as Mike literally bounced away, then turned back to her locker. Mike Chang puzzled her sometimes; he never seemed to be very torn apart by being in both the popular football team and the loser glee club. He never seemed to get himself into serious issues between the two, whereas Finn Hudson seemed to always straddle the two in a very precarious position.
It all boiled down to Rachel Berry. It had to, because that girl was such a control freak and gave Finn ultimatums all the time. She had heard so many stories about the two of them from Mack and Sheila that she was fuming about the way Finn was being wrapped around the Berry finger.
Her dance competition was in a few weeks' time and she was rehearsing hard everyday. She was the hot favourite; she was going to win. That should be her goal.
But there was nothing related to dance on her mind now.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Kurt took his seat in the choir room and crossed his legs primly. He stared at the whiteboard, then at Mr. Schuester – who was sorting through a stack of sheet music – then found that Rachel had strategically shifted a seat away from him.
"What's that for?" asked Kurt. "Ditching your friend for your boy cushion?"
"No, I'm giving up a seat for your boy cushion," said Rachel, jerking her head towards the entrance of the room, where Blaine was standing.
Kurt gave her a dirty look.
"Blaine!" Will's head shot up upon hearing the murmurs. "Welcome, Blaine! We're so happy that you're back!"
"For all the solos," muttered Grace, and Santana nearly shoved her off the seat.
"Yeah," said Blaine, smiling awkwardly. "Hi, guys."
Rachel began to clap furiously, and the rest except Kurt joined in.
Kurt glared at Rachel, who completely ignored him and pointed to the empty seat in between her and Kurt. "Only empty seat's here!"
Blaine looked at Kurt, who gave a stiff nod. Then he walked over and sat down, keeping his eyes on the whiteboard.
"Come on," hissed Rachel, to Blaine. "I didn't go through all this just to have the two of you act like cardboard cutouts."
"It's glee time, Rachel," said Blaine, quietly. "Let's just..."
"So guys," said Will, interrupting all their mini-conversations. "Prom's coming up and we all know what that means!"
"No Rebecca Black this time," said Artie, mournfully. "That took a hell lot of courage from me."
"Seriously?" Puck chortled. "I thought Coach Sylvester's interrogation would have ruined your day even more."
"And who got me into that whole crap?"
Puck shut up.
"Mr. Schuester, Finn and I would like to put up an item," said Rachel, excitedly.
"Oh, come on, Berry, if that's your way of fishing for votes..." Santana rolled her eyes.
"It's our last chance to perform at McKinley's prom," retorted Rachel. "I think I'd be honoured to have any opportunity on that stage!"
"Any objections?" asked Will. "Oh, and we're also performing at the junior prom, for our younger members – time for you to shine as well. Let me know if any of you are keen on doing anything..."
"Solo," said Grace, at once. She eyed Natalie, waiting for her to object.
Natalie said nothing.
"Okay, Grace, just let me know your song choice by tomorrow – Rachel and Finn as well... and then I was thinking maybe we could do a more rock-style kinda song. Puck, you wanna give me some suggestions on that?" Will looked brightly at Puck.
Puck pretended to unzip his mouth. "Sure man. Maybe we could do –" Artie glared at him and he mimed zipping it back.
"I'm sure Artie could chip in with some suggestions too," said Will, amusedly, and Artie nodded vigorously.
"A Mercedes solo, please," chimed in Tina, and everybody looked at her. "She's one of our brightest stars and McKinley deserves to hear her sing."
"Yeah!" Brittany pumped her fist.
Santana looked a little miffed that she wasn't suggested, but then she saw Mercedes' eyes light up and she sighed. "I think most kids here fall for the kind of sappy heterosexual love potion Mercedes puts in her voice compared to the sexy, sultry girl love I exude."
"That's right, girl," said Mercedes, grinning despite Santana rolling her eyes once again. Then, Mercedes pulled a pleasantly surprised Tina into a one-armed hug.
"I think this is going to be one really memorable prom night," said Mike, cheerfully. He turned to grin at Josie, who managed a smile. Oh yeah, she thought, it sure is going to be memorable.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Freshly showered after practice, Shawn was heading down the hallway towards the carpark when he heard the tinkling of piano sounds, laughter and singing all at once. He retraced his steps and found himself staring into the choir room where Natalie was playing the piano and Artie singing in a most ridiculous manner. Both of them started laughing midway and Natalie couldn't continue playing.
"Hey," said Shawn, brightly.
The smiles on both Artie's and Natalie's faces were wiped off as they regarded the visitor. Then Artie smiled once again. "Hey, come on in! We won't bite."
Natalie didn't say anything; she just turned back to the piano.
"Aren't you guys heading home? Or like, for prom shopping or something?" asked Shawn.
"I'm trying to get Natalie to crash senior prom since she ain't interested in junior prom, and she's ignoring me," said Artie, looking expectantly at Natalie.
"Aw c'mon girl," said Shawn. "He has sincerity to make up for his legs."
Both Natalie and Artie stared at him.
"What, did I say something wrong?"
"I'm not his date," said Natalie, though the side of her mouth quirked a little.
"Oh."
"There's music the whole night through! By our fellow glee clubbers! See, I'm trying to influence her through plain ol' jammin'," said Artie, grinning. Natalie narrowed her eyes at him, but he merely winked and began to sing,
L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
Before Artie could continue, Shawn surprised them all by chiming in with a deep, raspy voice,
E is even more than anyone that you adore and...
Artie joined in, his eyes twinkling,
Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Natalie couldn't help being amused and began to add an upbeat, jazzy piano accompaniment to their singing.
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don't break it
Love was made for me and you
"You can sing!" Artie announced, causing Natalie to stop playing and Shawn to raise his eyebrows.
"Uhh..." Shawn chuckled. "Of course I can."
"No, I mean like, you sing well."
Shawn laughed. "Well duh, my dad always hosts these big-ass lounge parties and I sing for the guests."
"Artie, this guy doesn't do sarcasm very well," said Natalie, in a deadpan voice. "He also doesn't do humility very well."
Shawn's grin faded.
"Any reason apart from our loser status that you're not joining glee club?" asked Artie.
"Artie..." Natalie groaned.
"We need a serious baritone. Finn kind of loses it so that he can sing pop duets with Rachel and I'm too sharp to be a good one. This boy here? He can seriously do some Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole."
Shawn's good-humoured grin came back. "Sure I can. But yeah, I think the 'loser status' thing covers it all."
"Thanks," said Natalie, coldly.
"Well, it just means you guys are braver than me, yeah? Taking slushie facials on the regular," said Shawn. "But I'm not down with that, sorry."
"At least," said Artie. "you could still show the school that you're pretty good at something else."
"Ha. Ha," said Shawn. "I know what the school thinks of glee."
"No, but glee during prom is a different thing altogether," said Artie, with a sly grin. "We're rockstars then."
"Seriously?" Natalie looked at him incredulously.
Artie sighed. "Seriously. We did 'Yesterday was Thursday, today it is Friday, we so excited' and everybody was jammin' it real bad."
Natalie couldn't help giggling and Shawn began to guffaw. Then the two of them exchanged looks and began to laugh.
"Yes, yes," said Artie, red in the face. "Best day of my life."
"That's pretty awesome, dude, you're not kiddin' me right?" asked Shawn. "'Cos if that's considered cool, I'm so in. I love singing in front of an adoring crowd."
Natalie choked on her own laugh and gave Shawn the most incredulous look.
"Well, I'm not too sure about the junior crowd, but it shouldn't be too different," said Artie. Then he looked at Natalie. "Hey, you should give Grace a run for her money on the junior prom stage too."
"He can sing then, I'm out," said Natalie. "And no, that doesn't mean I'm in for senior prom either."
"Two's better than one," said Shawn. "Come on, Grace is singing solo, I don't need to steal her spotlight with one too. This could be a surprise of sorts..."
"I think we have the perfect song," said Artie, grinning wickedly. "A song sung by someone she," he eyed Natalie, "can never resist."
Natalie groaned once again.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Blaine was about to get into his car when he heard somebody call out his name in the distance. He pretended not to hear and threw his bag onto the backseat before clambering into the driver's seat.
"Oh goodness gracious me, don't drive off! BLAINE!" yelped that most familiar voice.
Blaine sighed and leant against the seat. Then he turned to see Kurt running towards the car, panting furiously.
"Why didn't you stop?" demanded Kurt, heaving.
"Did you call?" Blaine looked at him innocently.
"Now," said Kurt, sternly. Then he groaned and took a deep gulp of breath as he clutched at the open car door. "Oh boy, I don't even have the energy... to get mad... WATER!"
Blaine extracted his waterbottle from his bag with his right hand and then squirted the water into Kurt's face. Kurt yelped and nearly fell back, but Blaine grabbed hold of his jacket and then stuffed the waterbottle into his hand.
Kurt promptly used the waterbottle to thwack Blaine on the head.
"Ow!" cried Blaine.
"Huh!" Kurt glared at him before leaning against the car door and downing the water from the bottle.
"Are we even now?" asked Blaine, rubbing his forehead ruefully.
"Not really," said Kurt. "Depriving me of first aid natural resource for one second?" He held up the waterbottle. "I could have died of dehydration and you would be accused of first-degree murder."
"And fraud, in many ways," muttered Blaine.
"Yeah, yeah, and that," said Kurt, taking deep breaths. He drank from the bottle again then shoved it back to Blaine. "Although I think I'd be culpable of assault too."
"The police might hold you up for obstructing justice. False accusations."
"Huh. Contempt of the court."
"Are we even going to get legal with this?"
"Everything ahead of us requires legal approval. Might as well have a headstart."
Blaine stared at Kurt, who moved away from the car door, round the front of the car and ended up seated next to him in the car.
Silence.
Blaine shifted uncomfortably.
"I've been an ass," said Kurt, finally.
"So have I."
"No, no... shut up, Blaine, don't be so nice."
"Mm-hmm."
"I'm glad you're back."
"Mm-hmm."
"I'm so sorry all this happened to you and I wasn't there for you."
"Mm-hmm."
"Although you pulling that girlfriend shit on me was way out of line."
"Mm-hmm."
"And can you stop that?"
"You asked me to shut up."
"Can you not make a sound while doing that?"
"Well, there is one way to shut me up and let me make the most appropriate noises while doing that," said Blaine.
Kurt leant over and pulled Blaine in for a deep kiss.
When they pulled away, Blaine could feel the moisture at the tip of Kurt's eyelashes.
"You suck," said Blaine, lamely. "I wasn't supposed to feel bad about anything."
Kurt sniffed. "Neither was I."
"Your sincerity speaks volumes."
"Of course," said Kurt, pulling out a box from his pocket.
Blaine stared at the box.
"No, Kurt, you are not pulling that just after we've had the biggest drama ever."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're the one being dramatic. You just made this the most anti-climactic thing ever. Open it and don't show me your disappointment."
Blaine opened the box and saw a bright orange rose nestled within. "Kurt...?"
"Pink kinda brought about the wrong results last year," mumbled Kurt. "So I thought..."
Whenever I'm weary
Kurt stared at Blaine, who was singing quietly,
From the battles that rage in my head
Blaine took out the orange rose from the box.
You make sense of madness, when my sanity hangs by a thread
He pinned it onto his polo tee pocket.
I lose my way but still you seem to understand
Kurt cracked a small smile.
Now and forever
Blaine grinned before singing,
I will be your man
Kurt chuckled. Then he held onto Blaine's collar. "Just make sure you don't wear this to prom."
-.-.-.-.-.-
"It's demoralising going prom dress shopping with you," remarked Grace, as she sifted through the racks of dresses with Quinn beside her.
Quinn stared at her incredulously. "Hello, have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You didn't become Head Cheerio for nothing." Then she bit her lip. "Sorry."
"Mm." Grace continued to push the dresses apart at intervals. "No, it's the hair colour. Maybe I should dye my hair."
"You should be jealous of Tina and Natalie; their jet black hair goes well with anything. Is red even your natural colour?"
"Just because I was a fraud doesn't mean I cheat at that, too."
"Well, Sam's hair colour's fake. He's not a fraud for that."
Grace whipped her head around; her jaw dropped.
Quinn arched an eyebrow.
Then both of them burst out laughing.
"Oh. My. God!" Grace giggled helplessly. "Are you serious?"
"Please don't tell him I said that," gasped Quinn. "He'll kill me."
"That's so gay!"
"Oh, hush!"
"How did you know?"
"Well, I dated him before, remember? Oh, right, you don't. Well, credit goes to Kurt."
Grace managed to pull out a short black spaghetti-strap dress with red trimmings. Quinn made a noise of approval as she saw it. "I think that's perfect."
"Is it a bit too devilish?" asked Grace. "I don't want Shawn to still think I'm after his manhood."
"Oh right, that," said Quinn. "Then you should go for white with red trimmings." She pointed at the next dress. "That will do."
As Grace exchanged the dresses, she shot a side look at Quinn. "Aren't you picking something?"
"I've got a dress back at home that I haven't worn before," said Quinn, mildly. "I'm just gonna use that."
"That takes half the fun out of prom."
"Yeah well, prom never was meant to be fun for me."
Grace quirked an eyebrow. "Does this have something to do with the reason why you're not running for prom queen? Or that you're going alone?"
Quinn shrugged. "Maybe."
"Well, congratulations, your name is back in the running."
Quinn groaned. "No! How many times must I cancel it out? This new voting system sucks. Why isn't there a rule that stipulates that I can drop out permanently?"
"School always goes by popular vote, hun," said Grace, as she paraded in the mirror. "Now how does this look?"
"Fantastic," muttered Quinn. "As always."
-.-.-.-.-.-
Senior prom was one step better than junior prom – it was outdoors. Figgins had decided to spend the rest of the school budget on creating a rather decent platform across the football field and had erected a giant tentage above to prevent freak-weather issues. There was another elevated stand where the performances were to be held, and the AV crew was busy setting up the stage. The crowd was filing in – and Sue Sylvester stood by the punch bowl with her eagle eye roving.
"The online poll for prom queen puts you at 5% to Lauren Zizes' 15%, how does that make you feel, Half-Eaten Berry?" asked Jacob Ben Israel, obnoxiously shoving his mike into Rachel's face and nearly chipping her teeth. She glared at him indignantly and grabbed the mike to say,
"Obviously the school wants Lauren to represent a certain message for many insecure girls out there, but I think I need to reiterate that prom is also about just having pure fun and celebrating people for who they are and what they can bring to the world! That is why tonight Finn and I will be bringing a wonderful item for all of you to–"
"–and there goes Lauren Zizes, we gotta move it, move it," said Jacob, snatching the mike back from a stunned Rachel. "We gotta move it, move it..."
"I am going to steal every bottle of product Blaine has and dump it on that tribal clown's hair!" said Rachel, fuming. Then she primped up her curls, adjusted her white gown and parted the crowd in search of Finn, who had disappeared to get her punch.
"You think it's gonna work?" asked Karofsky, as he appeared next to Santana, who was sipping her punch. "They don't stand a friggin' chance."
Santana choked a little, then glared at him. "Against you? Oh, please."
Karofsky returned the glare. "They're not like the hip kids of the school."
"Oh, you'll be surprised," said Santana, with a smirk. Then she nodded her head in the direction of the 'red carpet' entrance that had been laid out from below the stands to the front of the platform.
Kurt and Blaine were walking towards the crowd – no physical contact though – but they weren't alone. Escorting them were Mike and Josie on one side, and Sam and Mercedes on the other. Behind them stood Puck, with his best mafia impression.
Immediately, there was some movement on the side – some big, burly movement, and Karofsky groaned. Azimio and gang were making their way towards the little entourage.
"Back off," said Sam, instantly, as Azimio drew near. But to his surprise, Azimio didn't stop as he walked past them. He did, however, give Blaine a little menacing grin. Blaine stiffened visibly, but Kurt put a hand on his wrist and he relaxed. Just a little.
"We're not gonna let those Neanderthals ruin this last prom night for us," whispered Kurt. "C'mon, let's get to the middle." He looked around at their 'bodyguards'. "Uhh, guys? I think we'll manage. They're not gonna sock us in the middle of the dance floor unless they're risking staying at home the whole year playing Nascar."
"I think that's a pretty good option for them," said Puck, and all of them grinned at each other.
As the three pairs followed Kurt and Blaine to the middle of the platform, Santana looked at Karofsky. "So, regretting your vote for the hottest couple on the dance floor over there?"
"Gayest thing I've done in my life," grunted Karofsky, and he stormed off. Santana smirked again, then turned to Brittany by her side. "Say, wanna dance?"
A very upbeat piece of swing music had just begun, and Mercedes had made her way to the stage. She held onto the microphone and yelled out,
"Everybody havin' a good time?"
"YEAH!" chorused the whole senior cohort.
If you need me, call me
Mercedes winked as she spoke. Sam took out his iPhone and waved it at her.
No matter where you are, no matter how far
Just call my name, I'll be there in a hurry
On that you can depend and never worry
Santana laughed as Brittany did a sultry move and twirled her around. Somebody made a wolfwhistle and a bunch of girls laughed at them. Santana's smile faded as she glared at them, but Brittany twirled her again, this time away from the unsavoury crowd. In their place came a new duo, who succeeded in rolling straight onto the toes of those who were still cackling away.
"OW! Watch where you're goin!"
"And watch who you're laughin' at," retorted Artie, who jammed his wheelchair forward to bring forth another howl. Then he wheeled back carefully and spun round to meet a grinning Tina. "Ooh, let's jam out to our girl Mercedes, yeah!"
No wind (no wind), no rain (no rain)
Nor winter's cold
Can stop me, babe, baby
If you're my goal
Sam was jumping and whooping about with everyone, who were clapping and jiving to the beat. Mercedes grinned and moved sassily as she continued to sing,
Oh... No wind (no wind), no rain (no rain)
Nor winter's cold
Can stop me, babe, baby
If you wanna go
Mercedes pointed at the crowd and began to belt,
'Cos baby... ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from you
To which, the crowd chorused back the song,
Ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
And Sam yelled out at the top of his voice,
"To keep me from you!"
"Did someone spike Sam's punch?" asked Quinn, appearing next to Puck with an amused grin on her face.
Puck took in the sight of Quinn in a beautiful yellow toga dress. "Wow. I thought you weren't coming."
"Couldn't miss Mercedes' performance for the world."
As it was, Mercedes hit the final note with such aplomb that there was a deafening round of applause. Quinn screamed in approval and Puck hollered, although none of them could really rival Sam yelling his lungs out.
"As it is," said Quinn, once the crowd calmed down a little. "I was called in last minute because somebody keeps nominating me to run for prom queen no matter how many times I've struck out my name."
Puck grinned. "Why am I in a similar predicament?"
"You are?"
"Too much talkin', not enough dancin'."
"Puck, I really didn't come to... ahh!" She couldn't protest any longer given that Puck had already pulled her onto the dance floor as Rachel and Finn took to the stage while the band began to play. Rachel began to sing,
I am here to tell you we can never meet again
"Oh great song choice," muttered Quinn, as she danced slowly with Puck. "Makes you feel so secure."
Simple really, isn't it, a word or two and then
A lifetime of not knowing where or how or why or when
You think of me or speak of me or wonder what befell
The someone you once loved so long ago so well
"Huh," murmured Puck. "I think Finn just went with it because it was a Broadway song and he thought it was romantic."
Finn took over, singing,
Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by
You don't have to ask me and I need not reply
Every moment of my life from now until I die
I will think or dream of you and fail to understand
How a perfect love can be confounded out of hand
Then Rachel and Finn both sang,
Is it written in the stars
Are we paying for some crime
Is that all that we are good for
Just a stretch of mortal time
"Well, it is cheesy. I'll give it that," said Quinn, with a small smile.
Is this God's experiment
In which we have no say
In which we're given paradise
But only for a day
"Stop analysing the song and just dance," said Puck, smirking. "Have paradise for at least a day."
Quinn responded by leaning her head against his shoulder.
-.-.-.-.-.-
I can see you stalking like a predator, I've been here before
Temptation calls like Adam to the apple but I will not be caught
'Cos when I read those velvet eyes and all I see is lies
Grace was on a huge high singing her song and watching as the junior prom crowd raised their hands in the air as they danced around the gym like maniacs. This was a huge surprise for her; while she never turned down a solo opportunity, she had her reservations as to how prom was turning out. Quinn had assured her she'd be fine, but she hadn't realised that the school really let down all its barriers when it came to having a good time.
Spin me faster like a kaleidoscope, all I've got's the floor
Yeah you can try but I've found the antidote, music is the cure
So you can try to paralyse but I know best this time
Grace threw her hands up in the air as she sang,
No more poison killing my emotion
I will not be frozen, dancing is my remedy, remedy, oh
Stop stop praying 'cos I'm not not playing, I'm not frozen
Dancing is my remedy, remedy, oh...
She caught sight of Shawn in the distance, ever so dapper in a white suit with a red rose in his pocket. They really looked like a wedding couple together and it made her blush just thinking about that. Shawn pretended to headbang along to her song before saluting her, and she grinned. This was definitely her best night ever.
Move while you're watching me dance with the enemy
I've got a remedy – oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
Move while you're watching me dance with the enemy
Here is my remedy – oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
As the music came to a close, she took a bow and soaked in all the raucous cheers. The hearing aid in her ear began to buzz with the sound, and she switched it off temporarily till she got off the stage. When Shawn approached her, she turned it on again and beamed at him.
"Wasn't I awesome!"
"You totally were," said Shawn, grinning. "Now it's my turn!"
"What?" Grace stared at him.
"Here, take this," and Shawn handed her his punch glass. Then he hopped onto the stage, startling Grace.
"What are you doing?"
"Hey folks," said Shawn, once he had taken over the microphone. "Here's a slow one for you guys to catch your breath." Then he winked at Grace. "Dedicating this to you."
Grace blushed as she made her way to the front of the stage.
"C'mon, Natalie, where are you?" asked Shawn.
Grace blinked as she watched Natalie Yang walk up on stage in a stunning black dress with smoky eyeliner to boot.
Shawn was singing with her?
A familiar guitar solo began, and the couples slowed down in their dancing to put their arms around one another. Shawn began to sing in his deep voice,
I remember what you wore on our first day
You came into my life and I thought, hey
You know this could be something
Shawn looked at Grace as he sang solo. She held a hand on her chest listening to him.
'Cos everything you do and words you say
You know that it all takes my breath away
And now I'm left with nothing
Then Natalie's soft harmony floated into the chorus and Shawn turned to look at her as he sang,
So maybe it's true, that I can't live without you
And maybe two... is better than one
But there's so much time, to figure out the rest in my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinking two... is better than one
All the couples were swaying around to the music. One boy by the side held his hand out to Grace, but she refused politely. She looked back up at the singing duo and was surprised to see that the usually stoic and rude Natalie was looking unusually gentle and sweet singing that song.
I remember every look upon your face
The way you roll your eyes, the way you taste
You make it hard for breathing
Shawn took over, holding out his hand, though neither of their hands touched.
'Cos when I close my eyes and drift away
I think of you and everything's okay
And finally now, believing
Together they sang the chorus again, with all the couples slow dancing around Grace as she watched intently.
So maybe it's true, that I can't live without you
And maybe two... is better than one
But there's so much time, to figure out the rest in my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinking two... is better than one
Shawn grinned and Natalie's smile deepened.
Two... is better than one.
Shawn and Natalie ended the song staring at each other, then turned to the crowd and bowed. Shawn looked up and winked at Grace. Then both singers exited the stage in opposite directions.
"Why didn't you tell me you were performing?" asked Grace. "That was beautiful, by the way."
"Got some encouragement from Artie and Natalie and thought, why the hell not," said Shawn, grinning. "I know right, we totally rocked that."
Grace was about to say something, when Shawn checked his watch and exclaimed, "It's already nine! Look, I heard the glee club boys are doing a really awesome number at half-past nine and we should totally go check that out."
"Shawn! We might miss the crowning of Junior Prom King and Queen!" Grace protested. "And you're in the running!"
"Aw shucks," said Shawn. "We can run back in time, it's just at the field, no worries!"
"Are you..." Grace stared at him. "Are you thinking of joining glee, Shawn? 'Cos you know what that means."
"I didn't say anything about that," said Shawn, laughing. "I heard singing during prom is cool, so it's just adding to the X-factor in me, y'know?"
"Great," said Grace, relieved. Then she muttered to herself, "Great. 'Cos one of us being in a loser club is bad enough."
-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hey!"
Rachel gathered up her train and ran towards the polling booth. "Hey, what do you think you're doing!"
Sheila stood there, a lazy picture with her hand in a cardboard box. "What do you think I'm doing?"
"Oh. My. God. Miss Sylvester!" screamed Rachel.
"Hey ladies," Sue announced, as the crowd parted to make way for her. "Now what do we have here? A Skank," she eyed Sheila, then turned to a horrified Rachel, "and a Nun. Wow."
"This isn't about me," said Rachel, hotly. "She's stuffing the ballot box!"
"Hi, hun, check this out," said Sheila, turning her hand so that the box was facing Rachel. The box read, 'LUCKY DRAW'.
"Oh..." Rachel gasped.
There was a ripple of murmurs amongst the crowd and Rachel felt her ears heat up.
"Don't waste my time, Virgin Mary," said Sue, in a clipped tone. "You come to prom zipped up in a conservative, shallow and uptight shell and I'm telling you that you need to break out of it before the gospel choirs come bursting through your mouth and I'll be forced to apprehend you for assaulting the secular peace of McKinley High's prom night."
"But I..." Rachel eyed Sheila and the box most suspiciously.
"My hand's stuck. I'm headin' to the first aid," said Sheila, nonchalantly sticking a lollipop in her mouth with her free hand and sauntering off. The real ballot box stood on the table, guarded by a sleeping freshman.
Rachel stormed away in a huff. Nearby, Josie, who was having small talk with Mike, noticed her. Then she exchanged glances with a smirking Ronnie, who had just snatched away a vote ticket from a frightened girl, put it with the pile of tickets in her hand and calmly dropped the lot into the ballot box.
"Final call for prom king and queen votes!" yelled Jacob Ben Israel with his loudhailer, jerking the sleeping freshman back into ballot box duty. "Will it be the audio-visual club's director and heavyweight wrestler Lauren Zizes, glee club catties Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry, or the extremely beautiful rhythmic gymnast Lacey Caven?"
Lauren was busy glaring at Quinn, who was engaged in conversation with Puck. Rachel beamed all around, while Lacey was doing a sexy contortion in the middle of the dance floor, garnering whoops and cheers from a predominantly male crowd.
"I think this is the first time I couldn't care less I fell out of the running," said Santana, grinning as she leant against Brittany, who rubbed her back. "This is going to be such a bitchfight."
"And for the boys, it's anyone's guess between our man jocks Noah Puckerman, Finn Hudson, Dave Karofsky and Jake Fuller! Football and hockey, guys! But that's not all! There's a new contender here, what's this?"
Santana winked at Brittany as Jacob Ben Israel was swarmed with a group of girls who were now dumping their ballots into the pile that the ballot box boy was sorting. Josie watched with interest as another group, now boys, followed suit.
"It's all the same vote!" announced Jacob. "We have a mystery contender!"
"Who is it?" demanded everyone.
"That ain't fair!" yelled Jake Fuller. "What's this?"
"These people haven't casted their votes yet!" yelled Jacob in return. "So it's well and completely fair!"
"What did you do?" whispered Brittany, to Santana.
"Oh, let's just watch and see," said Santana, grinning. She eyed Karofsky from afar and gave a thumbs-up, only to get a middle finger in return, much to her amusement.
"It's time to announce our senior prom king and queen!" Principal Figgins yelled into the microphone, and the senior crowd cheered enthusiastically. "I have been told that due to a last-minute influx of votes, there is some recalculation of votes for the Prom King. Hence, I will announce the results of the Prom Queen first."
The cheers died down into whistles, and finally silence. Lauren clutched at her dress, Quinn at her punch glass, Rachel at her fingers and Lacey at her date's arm.
"QUINN FABRAY!"
There was a sudden burst of noise all around Quinn, who wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
Puck swivelled around to look at Quinn, who was staring glassily in the direction of the stage. "Quinn! Quinn, you've won! You've finally won!"
"I... I did?"
Finn pulled a listless Rachel against him. "C'mon, Rach. It's not the end of the world."
"It's not," said Rachel, with a miserable sigh. "But I hope this is not a sign of things to come."
"It won't be."
"Come on!" Puck yelled, as he had to help push a dazed Quinn towards the stage. "Atta girl!"
Quinn accepted her tiara, sceptre and sash from Principal Figgins, albeit rather reluctantly. She turned to the crowd, who quietened down as she tapped the microphone.
"Thank you," she said, quietly. "I wasn't expecting this. I had to keep crossing my name out because I wasn't... I mean not that it doesn't mean anything. But I think over the last year I've realised that there are things that mean much more than just titles. This is for the people who believed in me this last year even though I was such a bitch to them all through high school life."
"I'm amazed that prom really takes away the glee club loser label," whispered Shawn, to Grace, as they peeped in on the party from behind the bleachers. "Quinn's out of the Cheerios and she's still prom queen."
Grace managed a smile. "Yeah. But it's only for tonight."
"Pity."
"Thank you," said Quinn, looking at her fellow glee clubbers, particularly those who had been with her the last few years. Rachel smiled coyly; Finn looked proudly at her; Tina had her hands clasped together; Artie was nodding; Mercedes was tearing; Sam blew her a kiss; Kurt had the most understanding look on his face; Blaine was grinning; Mike whistled... and there was Puck, who had his usual smirk on. Quinn couldn't decide what expression to give him, so all she did was to curtsey and stand back to await the announcement of Prom King.
"And now... for our Prom King," said Principal Figgins, as he received the result from the ballot box boy. He unfolded the paper and his eyes widened. Then a smile spread across his face.
"Please give it up for... KURT HUMMEL!"
There was a stunned silence as the spotlight hit Kurt's face, almost reminiscent of the previous year.
Then all of a sudden, the cheers engulfed Kurt's auditory system. He gasped as everyone was descending upon him, hitting him hard on his back and cheering wildly. Blaine laughed as he rescued Kurt from the avalanche of congratulations and hurried him towards the stage. Rachel was jumping up and down and squealing at the top of her voice while Mercedes' tear ducts were completely overloaded by now. Quinn watched as Kurt was crowned right before her – the right type of crown, sceptre and sash this time round – and she stepped forward to stand beside Kurt, her eyes brimming with pride and happiness.
"I'm so glad, Kurt," she whispered. "So glad."
Kurt met her gaze and she saw that he too, was overwhelmed with emotion. He steadied himself with a deep breath, then spoke into the microphone,
"Thank you, too. I... I completely didn't expect this. Mystery contender, more like mystery assassin, hehe..." He chuckled nervously. "Thank you for all those last-minute votes. I... this is a great way to cap off my high school life."
"Which has been miserable," continued Kurt, and the crowd cheers died down instantly. "And horrible and heartbreaking."
Principal Figgins shifted from foot to foot. Karofsky downed his punch and pulled at his tie.
"I was slushied, called names, threatened and abused," said Kurt, quietly. "People say high school is the best time of their lives, but it definitely isn't going to be on my list of top ten shining moments."
Blaine watched from below, guilt, sadness, happiness and pride all taking turns to appear on his face.
"But I'm glad I had high school though. It's a dry run for real life, quoting a certain Miss Sylvester," Kurt said, looking slightly amused at a not-so-amused Sue Sylvester. "And at least I know that no matter what kind of crap real life hands me, I've got my glee club mates to make it all better."
"I can't believe prom king and queen are both from the loserdom of glee club," muttered somebody in the crowd, next to where Will Schuester was standing with Emma Pillsbury. Will exchanged looks of pride with Emma.
"So thank you," said Kurt, holding up his sceptre. With his other hand, he took Quinn's and raised their clasped hands in the air. "Thank you."
Blaine began to clap loudly, followed by Rachel, Finn, Puck... then the applause intensified and exploded into a huge burst of delight and enthusiasm. Kurt turned to hug Quinn, who whispered in his ear,
"Even if beyond tonight, things go back to the way they were, remember tonight when everybody was happy for you, because you made them see that being yourself is something to be proud of."
Kurt trembled against her as he whispered back, "I hope you remember that too."
"Best prom king speech ever," whispered Natalie, surprising both Shawn and Grace as she took her place beside them under the bleachers. "Now why hasn't the party started?"
As if on cue, Puck divested himself of his blazer and went in search of Artie. Together with Sam, he lifted Artie and his wheelchair on stage. Blaine had already begun to play something on the synthesiser – a wispy electronic sound. Sam began to pluck on his electric guitar as Puck got ready. When Finn kicked in with the percussion and Artie on bass, everybody had begun to jump up and down to the latest music of Coldplay. Mike was leading everyone in that very jump as he scrunched his face up and pumped his fist.
Puck grabbed the microphone and crooned into it,
I stole a key
Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet
Took a car downtown and took what they offered me
To set me free
Kurt had led Quinn down to the middle of the dance floor, but since this wasn't much of a couply-dance song, he could only laugh and yell, "Let your hair down tonight, Quinn!"
Quinn literally pulled the pins out of her hair and shook her long blonde hair out as she grinned.
I saw the lights go down at the end of the scene
I saw the lights go down and they're standing in front of me
"Hey," said Lauren, and Quinn spun around.
"Oh. Hey."
Lauren held out her hand. "You won fair and square."
Quinn looked at Lauren intently.
My scarecrow dreams
When they smashed my heart into smithereens
Be a bright red rose come bursting the concrete
Be the cartoon heart
Quinn took Lauren's hand and they smiled at each other. Josie's happy smile faded slightly as she watched Rachel go forth and hug Quinn tightly as well.
Light a fire, without a spark
Light a fire, a flame in my heart
We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark
Blaine, Finn, Sam and Artie dove into their performance again with an incredible instrumental rendition that got all of them dancing and yelling, including the trio under the bleachers. Shawn was twirling Grace round and round while Natalie was just clapping and dancing along.
"You're drunk!" yelled Grace, laughing as Shawn swung her around.
"On punch? That's some incredible dope!" Natalie yelled back.
"No, the dope's the music! Your boys can rock it!" Shawn shouted.
All the boys, all the girls
All the madness in the world
Everyone chorused along with Puck,
All the boys, all the girls
All the madness that occurs
Will was spinning Emma around; Sue merely stood stoically by the punch and watched all that went on. In particular, her eyes were trained on Quinn, who was laughing and dancing along with Kurt.
All the highs, all the lows
As the room is spinning, oh...
Puck put on his most emotional look as he sang,
We'll run wild... we'll be glowing in the dark...
-.-.-.-.-.-
Songs:
Nat King Cole – "L.O.V.E." (Artie & Shawn)
Richard Marx – "Now And Forever" (Blaine)
Diana Ross – "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Mercedes)
Aida – "Written In The Stars" (Rachel & Finn)
Little Boots – "Remedy" (Grace)
Boys Like Girls ft. Taylor Swift – "Two Is Better Than One" (Shawn & Natalie)
Coldplay – "Charlie Brown" (Puck ft. Blaine, Finn, Sam, Artie, Mike)
A/N: Musical and Nationals prep, college options and admissions... the glee club is getting very busy as the year-end is approaching. Some people get accepted, some people don't, some people win, some people don't. It's a mixed episode for our favourite characters and we'll see where the ride takes them!
Also, if you have read thus far, let me know what you think of my story (: I see so many readers but hear very little, and it means a lot to me to hear from you!