A/N: This is the second chapter of the double-post reward for exceeding 1000 reviews! DOUBLE POST HAPPINESS AGAIN. So this chapter probably won't make a lot of sense if you don't read the previous one, so go back and read it. AND REVIEW IT. Please? And then come back here.
First Season 2 POV from my favorite TGP2 person!
A/N (2): Waugh! Thanks to those who notified me that I posted ch 42 twice! Sorry, I guess that sort of defeats the purpose of a double-post...
Matheus is stunned.
"What do you mean, she's not coming back?" he snaps, splashing a bit of Lima Bean coffee on Hannah's shirt. "She told us last Friday that she's going to pull out right before Regionals!"
"And she is," Tina says soothingly. "But her mom was offered a nice job at Carmel High, and they've got green cards now. She'll pull out but remain enrolled at Carmel because her family is better off there." Tina shakes her head sadly. "They became American citizens yesterday. It might not be legitimate, but it works for now."
Matheus' face flushes red. "How can you back her up, Tina? Vocal Adrenaline's doing this on purpose! They're trying to sabotage the Rachel-and-Finn show by pulling us out—"
"Quinn's singing," Hannah cuts in, trying to rub the coffee stain off her yellow shirt. "And so is our very own Damian! Rachel's going to be in the background for the entirety of Sectionals with us for once."
Matheus thinks for a moment before coming up with a new argument. "You know what? Sunshine won't be able to pull out before Regionals. Vocal Adrenaline's dangling some really expensive bait in front of her. If she does anything to cross them, Dustin Goolsby will just threaten to revoke the green card or kick them out of the condo. If Carmel High got the bait through illegitimate methods, then they can just as well take it away illegitimately!"
Hannah looks horrified, as if she's just realized this. Tina doesn't say anything, staring at the tabletop in shock.
Matheus mentally pumps his fist in victory.
Then Tina just stares at him dully and says, "So what do we do?"
"Tell her," Matheus says right away. "Tell her that she—"
"She already accepted the bait," Tina interrupts flatly. "It's too late."
"She can still refuse!" Matheus shoots back. "It's not too late. It'll be a bit harder, but she can say no and come back—"
"And tell her mother that she has to keep babysitting three bratty kids instead of sitting at a quiet desk doing administrative duties? Tell her sister that she can't have her own room in a nice big condo? Tell her family that they can't be American—"
Matheus slams his hands into the table. "Why are you arguing against me? Do you hate Sunny so much that you want her gone forever?"
Tina slams her hands into the table too, fury bubbling up around her. Hannah jumps back at the surprising display of emotion. "Sunny called me Thursday night, it's how I have all this insider's knowledge. She made the decision for her family, not herself, and I'm supporting her decision as her friend." She backs off suddenly, aware that all eyes in the Lima Bean are on their table. "Matheus," she says softly, "I love Sunny too, and I wish she could be here with us. But ask yourself: why do you want Sunshine here?"
"I want what's best for her," Matheus snarls. "Kept on a Vocal Adrenaline leash and not being able to escape is not the life she wants, even if she thinks it will give her more stage time."
Tina doesn't say anything. She just stares at the tabletop silently.
"Matheus," Hannah begins, but Matheus stands up quickly.
"I'm going to call her," he says with an air of finality, bolting towards the door—
—And barreling straight into a barista carrying a tray of drinks. Coffee-flavored slushies slosh all over Matheus and the dark-haired girl. She gasps but somehow manages to hold her tongue, even as ice drips down her shirt.
"I'm sorry," Matheus says shortly, his mind on other things. He leaves quickly.
"Oh my gosh," Hannah gasps, glancing between Tina and the barista. Tina makes a quick decision and gets up to help the girl.
"Are you alright?" Tina asks, approaching the barista slowly. "I'm so sorry about my friend. Uh, I'll pay for the drinks…"
The Lima Bean manager emerges from the stock room. One look at the soaked girl with coffee dripping out of her ponytail, and he says, "Take the day off, Nellie."
Nellie shivers, nods, and staggers into the back room.
"Um, sir," Tina says weakly. "My friend…"
The manager waves her off. "Don't worry about it," he assures her. "Accidents happen all the time."
Hannah grabs Tina's arm and quickly pulls her away. "If you can save money, you take it," Hannah mock-hisses. "And I thought you were Asian."
"Did you see the look on the barista's face?" Tina whispers back, guilt from her indirectly causing Matheus to crash into the girl still hanging around. "The poor girl!"
"I'd feel the same way, if I had ice cold slushie dripping down my front," Hannah answers. "Oh wait…"
Tina's mood lifts considerably; they have personal experience with slushies. She can't hold back her giggles. "Oh Hannah," she sniggers. "I can always count on you to brighten up my day."
Hannah grins and gives Tina a side-hug as they toss their empty cups into the trash and leave, searching for Matheus.
About fifteen minutes later, Nellie teeters out of the Lima Bean. Three ice-cold frozen Frappuccinos to the face was not her idea of a great work day, but at least her manager acknowledged that she couldn't work another three hours covered in dried, sticky coffee.
A whole Monday afternoon, completely free. What to do?
Nellie slides into her car. Ugh. Even with half a canister of Wet Wipes, she couldn't get all the coffee. There are still some sticky spots in the most awkward places, especially noticeable now that she's sitting down. She can feel every strand of her thick black hair sticking to the back of her neck, even though she's retied it in an extra high ponytail.
Shower, now. Then call Boyfriend as soon as possible to complain.
Sounds like a plan.
Nellie practically speeds home. Her mom will probably be there in an hour, which means that she has a very short period of time to clean up and quickly arrange another activity before the ever-present threat of a substitute teacher for a mother arrives and forces her into more homework.
While the shower water warms, Nellie throws her sticky clothes into a separate bag. She rinses off quickly, making sure that every last droplet is wrung from her long hair, then jumps out, pulls on random clothes and leaps out the door and into her car before 5pm.
Charlie doesn't pick up when she calls him. She's disappointed but not surprised; Charlie's been like this lately. Not picking up. Too busy with homework, or playing soccer with his friends, or ancient cell phone ran out of battery. Excuses, excuses, but she's got them too. They've been dating for three years and they pretty much know each other inside out.
It feels like they've been together forever, and though he gets on her nerves sometimes (and vice versa), Nellie can't really imagine life without him.
After the fifth unanswered call, Nellie gives up and texts him; spontaneously, she also adds her best friend to the send list. She steers with her knee and makes sure to look out the windshield more often than she looks at her phone.
Worst day at work ever, she types quickly, pulling onto the road out of Lima towards Carmel.
True to her speculation, her best friend replies within a couple minutes (even though he should be in practice). Damn! What's up?
A little guy ran into me while I was carrying frozen drinks. Three slushies to the face X(
Ouch! You better have gotten out of work, girl.
Yeah I'm out. Can't work with sugar and cream down my shirt.
BOOBS, bitch. Just say it. You know you want to! Besides, there already are innuendos all over that statement.
Nellie bursts out laughing, but she flushes red at the same time; she doesn't really want to think about what he might be implying. Ugh, Abraham, forget I said that. So my afternoon's free, can I come hang out?
Sure! We're practicing flips. As long as you hide up in the balcony and stay out of sight. Dakota Stanley pretty suspicious about spies, with Sectionals coming up next week.
I won't take pictures, Nellie promises, glancing at her camera case in the back seat.
Or maybe she'll just turn off the flash.
When Kurt turns around to hand a stack of French assignments to the girls sitting at the table behind him, he catches Dave Karofsky staring at him.
Kurt drops the worksheets in front of Marissa like a bunch of hot potatoes and quickly faces the front of the classroom again. But now that he's seen Karofsky, Kurt can literally feel the closeted bully's eyes burning holes in the back of his neck. He almost wants to turn around and shoot back a glare so hard it'll make the guy look away, but he can't bring himself to do it.
He's scared.
So he just sits like a stone statue, not daring to look back even when Marissa taps him on the shoulder to hand him the extra papers.
As soon as class is over, Kurt quickly shoves his book and papers in his messenger bag in a hurry to get out of the room. Too late; it's almost as if Karofsky had been waiting the entire class period just to jump in front of him and "accidentally" swipe his pencil case onto the floor. Pens and erasers and spare change clatter underneath students' feet as the class moves towards the door like a slow herd of cattle, unaware of the bits of plastic crunching underneath their shoes.
Kurt mentally steels himself, holding back exasperated tears. It's not that bad; just a pencil case. Just a couple cheap pens and random stuff. Just another act of bullying, in addition to the spilled milk on his lunch tray an hour ago. And before that, a slushie. And before that, slamming Kurt's locker closed while he was still pulling books from it. And before that, taunting him by winking in his direction. And before that, flicking paper clips at the back of his neck.
All these little actions that used to be fine on their own… but now that they're all compressed into one day, every day of the week, Kurt can't stand it.
He just can't.
And Karofsky said that if he told anybody about the kiss, he'd kill him.
Kurt doesn't feel safe. He can't walk down the halls of McKinley without fear of Dave jumping out of the shadows to harass him, then jokingly taunt him afterwards while that death threat continues to hang in the air.
He loves his friends—Finn's become pretty nice since Burt kicked him and Carole out of the house last year after Finn made some hateful remarks; and Mercedes is his chatter buddy, always available to talk to him. Hannah's a sweet girl and knows how to cheer people up. But none of them truly know Kurt's nature, and because of that, they don't know just how deep Kurt's fear of Dave Karofsky reaches.
Only one person has been through what Kurt's going through right now. Only one person knows exactly how Kurt feels and what he should do.
Blaine.
Kurt jerks out of his mental reverie as a soft hand touches his shoulder. He jumps, alarmed—but it's just Marissa. She's handing his pencil case back to him, with all his stuff shoved back into it.
"Thanks," Kurt rasps, wiping away tears that have appeared out of nowhere.
She doesn't ask anything stupid like "Are you okay?"; she just pats him gently on the back and leaves the classroom.
Marissa—she's a nice girl too. In the popular group, but without the snotty personality. But even she doesn't have the power to hold Karofsky back. Nobody does. He could try to get Principal Figgins to suspend Karosky, but there's always a possibility that he could come back.
Just because he transfers schools, it doesn't mean his friends will stop loving him. So what if he's switching to the New Directions' competition five days before Sectionals? Sunshine's doing the exact same thing with Vocal Adrenaline. And her friends—Tina, Mike, Damian, Hannah—they'd all supported her when she told the New Directions last Friday that she was leaving. If Mercedes and Finn are her true friends, they'll support him too.
Especially if he's fleeing for his life.
He skips the rest of his classes and drives straight to his father's garage. He breaks down and confesses his past month of hell. He contacts Blaine, who collaborates with Burt and the school administration.
By Glee practice of the same day, Kurt tells everybody that he's transferring to Dalton Academy.
Giselle is stunned.
"Coach Goolsby, you can't be serious!" she yells, stomping straight up to the tiny Asian girl and towering over her. "Sectionals are next week! There's no way she'll be able to learn the choreography in—"
"And she won't be singing lead at Sectionals," Coach Goolsby interrupts. "That's all up to you and Bryce." He eyes the far corner of the stage. "And, of course, Lindsay and Abraham, it's your job to back them up."
"Then why is she taking my position in the front?" Giselle growls.
"She's our secret weapon for Regionals," Coach replies calmly, casually slipping an arm around the tiny girl's shoulder. "Nobody will expect her powerhouse of a voice from such a tiny body."
"The New Directions will," one of the dancers pipes up, a chocolate-skinned girl with a cropped pixie cut. Giselle doesn't really care about the people in the background, but the name McKynleigh comes to mind—so ironic that she shares a name with their competing high school. McKynleigh elaborates, "She's the girl who beat us out a couple days ago during our invasion. McKinley High knows just how great she is."
"Regions have shifted since last year with the increase of show choir clubs," Coach Goolsby informs the team. "We will no longer face the New Directions at Regionals; they've been shuffled down to competition with a naughty girls' reform school, the not-at-all stupidly named Aural Intensity from Indiana, a preppy boys' school acapella choir, a couple deaf kids from Haverbrook, and a singing group straight out of a retirement home. We'll never compete against the New Directions unless they somehow manage to squeeze their way to New York. In the meanwhile, nobody else knows about our Secret Weapon."
With a final, gruff side-hug, Coach releases the tiny girl and pushes her towards show choir group, just as Dakota Stanley marches into the limelight and barks, "Alright, you spineless wimps! I want to see those cartwheel flyers perfecting their form by the end of today! Bases, start with some lifts and proper drops—and I'd better see you in the weight room after practice. And you, Tiny Speck!"
The short Asian girl jumps and glances around in confusion before her eyes land on the choreographer only a couple inches taller than she is. She looks like such a pushover; Giselle knows right away that she'll have no problem putting the girl in her place after practice. "W-w-what? Me?"
"As if that nickname wasn't specific enough," the little man grumbles. "Asian Speck! I don't care if you're hiding a trumpet with the power of a hundred constipated elephants in that tiny, tiny body of yours, I want you standing and belting on two-man base in an hour and flying in two."
"Belting? Sing what?"
"Whatever the hell you can pull out of that tiny head. Just make sure you can still perform while suspended six feet off the floor."
Sunshine bites her lips nervously. Giselle's expression slips into a smug grin as three male bases prepare to hoist her into the air.
No problem. With Stanley's abusive treatment, instant alienation from the larger group, and Giselle's intervention, Sunshine won't last more than three practices.
Giselle will get that spotlight focused on herself once again.
References
A couple nicknames for Sunshine were siphoned off Mary in the Stars' story "Nicknames." Great story for Sunshine's behind-the-scenes during Season 2 canon.
Author's Rant
Waugh I love you guys so much! 1000+ reviews is simply incredible and pretty much mind-blowing. Hence the super length and ranting of the last chapter, plus the DOUBLE POST.
Sunshine's gone to the dark side - cue entrance of a bunch of TGP2 people! And don't hate Giselle... I'll admit, I'm having trouble not writing her as a one-dimensional villain, but I have plans for the girl, so don't kill her!
cowboy-mcginty brought this up and I thought I'd address this now: you know how, when I first started off this story, I said I'd try to stick to the real people's lives as much as possible? Well, I'm still going to try to do that, but the thing is, I began incorporating TGP2 characters a couple weeks before the premiere, as opposed to Season 1's three weeks in. So that might change some things - my first impression of Lily Mae was that she was a bubbly happy girl; Abraham seemed gay. Since then, I've found out that Abraham is Camp Straight and Lily Mae is incredibly competitive, defensive, and has a pretty sharp tongue.
Also, I've decided that I'm going to wield my creative license liberally and create situations thatthe real people are definitely not associated with. Namely Michael and Taryn; on a lesser scale, Matheus, Tyler, erm, and probably a bunch of others. So things like real-Nellie and story-Nellie being baristas? That's true. Other things, not so much. Just remember: my story, my crazy world.
In addition to Charlie's crazy resemblance to Cory Monteith, anybody see striking similarities between Blake and Chord Overstreet? I'll eventually explain where I'm going with this...
Repeating for good measure: CREATIVE LICENSE = NOT SO REAL SITUATIONS.
