CHAPTER 44
The short Christmas break passed extremely quickly, with Finn spending most of his time with Bella and her family. Finn had built a really good relationship with Bella's parents, and they really liked him.
Sooner or later, it was time to go back to school and before Finn knew, he was sitting in that choir room once again. The whole Glee club were sitting in the choir room, looking extremely blurry eyed and tired. Mr. Schue bounded into the room, a huge smile on his face.
"Hey guys, how were your Christmases?" He asked them.
"Good." They all replied.
"That's good. Now prepare to work harder than you ever have in your lives. Football season is done, and we have Regionals coming up. Finn, I'm sorry to say this, but you're no longer getting the solo."
Rachel jumped up.
"Thank you for finally seeing sense, Mr. Schue! So what song am I singing?" Rachel asked.
Finn rolled his eyes and ignored her.
"Umm… ok? May I ask why? Did I do something wrong?" He asked. Mr. Schue shook his head.
"No, you didn't. I just received a letter from the National Show Choir board with a theme for Regionals. Apparently, our 'solo' number can't be a solo: it has to be a boy band or girl group number."
He walked over to the board and wrote down the title of the lesson.
BOY BANDS & GIRL GROUPS
"Ok, so who's performing the number?" Tina asked. "The boys or the girls?"
"Well…" Mr. Schue said. "What I thought is that we split you guys up into two boy bands and two girl groups, and each of the 4 groups perform a song. I'll choose the best one and they get to perform at Regionals, and possibly Nationals."
Finn, George, Liam and Harry smiled at each other. They had the competition in the bag. The New Directions quickly split into the four groups. The first contained Bella, Santana, Brittany and Quinn - group named Rhythmix. The second contained Mercedes, Tina, Kurt and, to their annoyance, Rachel. They didn't have a group name yet. The third group was Puck, Sam, Mike and Artie, and they called themselves One Direction. The final group was, of course, Finn, George, Harry and Liam, whose group name was All Stars.
"Woah, woah, woah. Mr. Schue? How is this fair?" Mercedes exclaimed. "Finn and that group have been singing together a lot longer than we have. They have an unfair advantage!"
"How is that unfair?" Harry asked. "If the winner of this contest gets the solo for Regionals, aren't we looking for the best group to represent us?"
"No, the girls are right." Mr. Schue said. "Look, I don't want to split you boys up, as I think you sing amazingly together, but I've got to give you some kind of handicap to level out the playing field. Does anyone have any ideas?" He asked the group.
"Why don't we say that Finn can't solo?" Rachel suggested. George shook his head.
"Now that's just ridiculous. We should be able to choose who in our group solos!" He replied.
"OK, how about we get to choose their song for them?" Quinn suggested. Mr. Schue vetoed this idea, much to the relief of the 4 boys. A couple more ideas were bounced around, before Tina thought of the best one.
"How about they can choose their own song, BUT, it has to be a song from a musical?" Tina suggested. Everyone nodded and Mr. Schue turned to the four guys.
"Is that OK with you?" He asked. They shrugged.
"I mean, it's not ideal." Harry said. "But we'll make it work."
"Good. Now get rehearsing! You'll perform at the next rehearsal!"
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The 4 groups split up to rehearse. Mercedes and her group called dibs on staying in the choir room, Puck and his group went to the auditorium, Finn and his group left and didn't mention where they were going, leaving Bella's group wondering where they should go rehearse.
"Why don't we practise on the basketball court?" Santana suggested.
"Nah, it smells like feet in there. Anywhere but the basketball court." Quinn replied.
"OK, what about an empty classroom?" Brittany said.
"We can't. Classrooms aren't soundproof, so people will hear us. And you remember what happened during the christmas caroling!" Bella complained. "How about outside, by the bleachers. It's calm, it's quiet. Nobody will disturb us."
The girls nodded and walked outside. When they made it to the field, they realised that it was already occupied. Finn, George, Liam and Harry were kicking around a soccer ball, clearly not rehearsing, just having a good time. When they spotted the girls, they walked over to them.
"Hey guys. What are you guys doing here?" George asked, kissing Quinn. The two of them had been dating for around as long as Finn and Bella had, and both couples were going great.
"Well, we were looking for somewhere to rehearse. What are you guys doing, and don't say rehearsing because you clearly weren't."
"Nah, we don't really need to rehearse. We've sung enough songs together to know how to work together, so we're just messing around now." Finn replied.
"You guys are too overconfident. We're going to beat you, and you guys are going to feel so sorry for yourselves." Quinn said, confidently. George raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, is that so, babe? Care to bet on it?" He challenged.
"What did you have in mind?" She asked.
"How about this? If we win, you have to get a spray tan in a shade of my choice, and if you win, I have to get one in a shade of your choice. And, bonus, I'll shave my head bald."
Quinn thought for a moment.
"Well, I know that we're going to win…. So…. you've got yourself a deal, George Shelley." She said. "Now girls, let's go rehearse! We have a competition to win!"
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"Welcome back guys! Are you all ready to perform?" Mr. Schue asked the New Directions. They all sat in the auditorium, waiting to perform with their respective groups.
"Yup." They said. Mr. Schue nodded.
"That's good. Now, each of you nominate a leader for your group, and leaders, come to the front of the room so we can decide the performance order."
George, Quinn, Mercedes and Puck walked to the front of the room. Five minutes later, George walked back to the group.
"4th. We're going fourth!"
Finn, Harry and Liam smiled at each other. Last is definitely the best spot to be performing in. They had the opportunity to watch everyone else perform, and it helped show them what they had to measure up to. Puck's group went first, and they sang a sub-par cover of The Scientist by Coldplay. They won't definitely not be soloing at Regionals, and they knew it. Their performance was a bit of a joke. The second group to perform was Quinn and Bella's group. The guys sat up a bit straighter in their seats. This performance could possibly determine whether George would have to shave his head bald and dye his skin a grotesque color. The girls put on an edgy and flirty performance of Toxic by Britney Spears. It was pretty good, but Finn knew that his group was better. The third group was Mercedes' group, who were probably the least prepared group. They sang Royals by Lorde, and it was pretty bad. Finn and his group stood up and walked on stage for their performance.
Finn:
O-o-o-o-oh
Oo-oo-oo-oh
Oo-oo-oo-oh
Oh
George:
I don't want to talk
About the things we've gone through
Though it's hurting me
Now it's history
Finn and Liam:
I've played all my cards
And that's what you've done too
Nothing more to say
No more ace to play
All:
The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
That's our destiny
George:
I was in your arms
Thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense
Building me a fence
Finn:
Building me a home
Thinking I'd be strong there
But I was a fool
Playing by the rules
All:
The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
That's our destiny
The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
That's our destiny
Finn:
The winner takes it all
For the actual song, click:
watch?v=RFMU-yrqQ8c
From the first verse of the song, Quinn knew that Team George had won. The four boys' voices gelled perfectly together, they had so much chemistry, and they had so much more experience performing as a group. Despite the fact that they were disadvantaged, the boys still put on a world-class show. Mr. Schue stood up when they were done performing, and he faced the group.
"Well, guys. I've made up my mind. The group performing at Regionals will be… George and his boys. Congratulations guys!"
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"Babe, please don't make me spray tan my skin." Quinn said. Quinn was sitting on George's bed, and the two of them were about to go out for dinner. George laughed and pulled his girlfriend into a kiss.
"OK, fine. But you owe me, babe." He said. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief and deepened the kiss.
"I swear, I'll make it up to you." She whispered seductively. George nodded. Suddenly, Quinn's face dropped, and George noticed.
"Babe, you okay?" George asked, concerned. Quinn took a shaky breath and a tear ran down her cheek.
"George… I… I need to tell you something. And when you do, you're going to want to break up with me." She stammered. George raised an eyebrow.
"Can I be the judge of that? What did you need to tell me?" He asked, getting a little nervous.
"I was with someone," Quinn blurted out, her words clear and crisp. George stopped pacing around the room and stood still, processing the bombshell that was just dropped on him. He was angry, confused, betrayed and hurt beyond belief. It was Sam, he knew it.
"It didn't mean anything, it was just a drunk hookup ok," Quinn continued. That didn't make it any better. George swallowed thickly as he tried to hold back tears, it might have hurt less if it had been with someone his girlfriend didn't know. But with an ex-boyfriend? It was heartbreaking. He vaguely heard her talking, trying to defend her actions, expressing that she was drunk to which George scoffed haughtily.
"The fact that you said it didn't mean anything is incredulous, you know how much our relationship means to me. How you could just throw that all away, I'll never understand. You think I haven't had girls hit on me? Of course they have! I've had temptations but I resisted because I knew in my heart that they could never compare to you-"
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed. George shook his head.
"You don't get to play the victim, Quinn." George spat. "Why?" He growled.
"I was drunk, I was feeling fat that day, you weren't there."
"No why that guy, why couldn't you have called me, if you were so sure you couldn't resist you should have called me and we would have worked it out. We see each other pretty much every day. I work two jobs, play on the football team, sing in the Glee club, and I still find time to take you out on dates and maintain a relationship. For you to stand there and say that I wasn't around and never there for you," George spat, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry," Quinn cried, reaching out to hold George's hand, but he jerked it away.
"How long ago?" George asked.
"Huh?"
"HOW LONG AGO? HOW LONG AGO DID YOU CHEAT?" George shouted.
"It was one time, a month ago." She murmured.
"A MONTH AGO! And you didn't feel the need to tell me until now! You know what, we're done. Get the hell out of my house. NOW!"
George kicked a crying Quinn out of the house, and he trudged back inside. He collapsed on his bed and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. A couple of minutes later, Finn knocked on the door and entered the room.
"Hey man, can I talk to you about somethi…"
Halfway through his sentence, Finn noticed his friend's expression and he walked over.
"Dude, you okay?" Finn asked, concerned. George shook his head.
"No. No, I'm not. I broke up with Quinn." He murmured. Finn's eyes widened.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry. What happened?"
"She… she cheated on me."
Finn put his head in his hands. He should have seen this coming. He genuinely thought Quinn had changed since last year, but clearly once a cheater, always a cheater.
"Dude, can I do anything to help? We can burn any photos of Quinn you have, if you want. Trust me, from my experience, it helps."
George laughed.
"Yeah, let's do that. But what do I do with the clothes she left here? I feel like I shouldn't burn them." George said. Finn nodded.
"I know. I have an idea. Just give me a minute."
One minute later.
"Boom! Here it is. I call it Quinnpillow." He said. George looked at it and couldn't help but laugh. Finn had stuffed a couple of pillows into a cardigan and leggings that Quinn had left at his place.
"Um… ok. What do I do with this?" He asked, confused. Finn smiled.
"Well, you beat it up. It relieves stress and anger. Just try it."
George sighed and stood up, facing Finn, who was holding Quinnpillow in front of him. The two boys circled each other and Finn started shouting instructions at George.
"Right hook! Right hook! Uppercut!" He shouted. George complied, beating up the pillow sack. He had to admit, it did feel good, and it helped him work through the intense anger he was feeling.
"Jab! Jab! Jab, Cross!"
This went on for about an hour, before they got tired, and George collapsed on his bed, falling asleep pretty quickly. The day had taken a huge toll on him. Finn walked back to his own room, the army brochure still burning a hole in his pocket. He was going to tell George today, but he couldn't. Not after what he just went through with Quinn. Anyways, there would be lots of time to tell him, wouldn't there?
A/N
I am planning to, after I finish this story, write a sequel, which is a five years later story. It will contain the same characters but with huge plot twists. My question to you guys is should I just tack the story onto the end of this one, or should I use a new story and call it Part 2? P.M or review your recommendations.