I do not claim to own or be affiliated with Glee. It belongs to RIB and Fox network. I do not own the videos in this story.
So here's what you missed last time… the boys and girls are attacking each other so Sam makes it boys vs girls week. Ferris breaks it off with Dixie and then goes to Chad, who he kisses. Dixie finds out and outs him on the anonymous insta page. He gets bullied, but plays it off as nothing. Sam can't decide a winner, so he lets the New Directions slushie him as their prize. Dixie decides in a fit of rage to throw hers at Beth. And that's what you missed on…. ENCORE
BOOTYLICIUOS
Jack roamed the hallway between periods the next Monday after girls vs. boys week. He turned to make sure no one was watching him, per his instructions, and walked into the janitors closet.
"Do you have my work?" the voice asked and Jack handed her a piece of paper with notes on it. "And the hall pass?" Jack slipped her a yellow piece of paper. "You're the best." Jack could feel the warm lips of Dixie on his.
"This is a little extensive, don't ya think,"
"I can risk it. You remember what I did," she remembers last Friday when Mr. Evans let them slushie him. Dixie had thrown hers at Beth. She didn't say anything. Not even blink. Dixie didn't dare breath and turned around and ran.
"Yeah and it's the last class of the day and nothing bad's happened yet," Jack explained. Dixie looks down at her notes.
"I… I don't know. It was stupid," she laughs it off and Jack's grabbed her shoulders.
"It was stupid. But we all do stupid things. So I have to go. You have your pass. I'll see you in glee," he kissed the top of her head and left the closet. Dixie opens the door moments later and walks down the empty halls to her last class. Spanish goes by slower than usual for Dixie and she was dreading glee club. This is the one thing she felt guilty about. She walks in with everyone staring at her and she takes her seat in the "Rachel Seat", front and center.
"This is gonna be good," Francesca mutters to Taylor, who slowly nods, her eyes facing the camera if there was one in the room. Chad, Ferris and Beth come walking in and take their usual seats. They both smile at Dixie, who prays that something bad won't happen.
"Aren't you going to do something?" Dixie snears at Beth.
"There is a time and a place for everything and this Dixie, is neither," she sighs and turns to talk to Francesca. Dixie turns around, confused on why her face wasn't stinging. The New Directions start to chatter and Sam Evans walks in.
"Ok ok ok, guys listen up," he claps his hands and they turn to face him. "So last week we had some great performances and some awesome songs, but singing isn't the only thing to perform. Can someone tell me what else is important?"
"Costumes," Chad blurts.
"Emotion," Dixie calls.
"Confidence," Jake adds and Sam writes down the answers on the board.
"There's one In looking for…" he leads and Nick raises his hand.
"Killer dance moves," he shouts.
"Exactly. Now we all might not be great dancers, but what helped my glee club members was what we called…" he paused and wrote under the list. BOOTYCAMP. "This week, there will be no singing, we will be working on our dance moves," he explains and starts dancing around. "So after last week's performances, I realized that our sweet moves need a little more sweet and a lot less brick. Ahh… Nick, Taylor, come show us how it's done." Nick kisses June and takes Taylor's hand. Sam plugs in his iPod and the music fills the room from the overhead speakers. "Call Me Maybe". Everyone claps and cheers when Nick and Taylor finish. Pete raised his hand.
"I don't think I can do know with the leg brace things" he snarked.
"One step ahead of yeah. Can you use a wheelchair?" Pete nodded, holding Taylor's hand, who looking longingly at him. "Watch these," he shoves DVDs into the lap of the scrawny boy.
"I don't think I even own a DVD player," he says to Taylor.
"And for all of you, besides participating in Bootycamp, which is mandatory for all, I will be posting some of the videos of the glee clubs greatest dances to our Google Classroom each day. We will come in and discuss it and take inspiration. We need to bring that flare to the stage," he says. The glee club nodes. "So Booty Camp starts tomorrow. Come dressed for PE and get ready to work."
For the remainder of the time they had, Sam showed them the video from 2011 Sectionals and talked about how they needed to dance like Mike Chang and Brittany S. Pierce.
Glee had ended and Dixie stood behind Nick and Jack as they snuck her from the school. She shooed them away when she saw Beth standing at her locker with Chad. Maybe Chad could protect her. The two girls started to walk away and Dixie ran over to them and grabbed onto Beth's arm and started laughing.
"Hahaha I know totally," She laughs. The two girls rolled their eyes and Chad walked off to go find Ferris and Deja. "Now before you punch me or throw me in a locker I just... I want to say that I'm sorry for throwing that slushie in your face and-" she says in one breath, but was cut off.
"Please stop talking. You sound like a sad dying baby animal. I'm not into that stuff. I'll be the one to… put bees in your locker or your Barbra Stiestan record in jello," she explains and pulls her arm from Dixie's. Beth was not a confrontational person. But Dixie did make her want to scratch her eyes out. However, if anyone found out she would deny it, Dixie was right, maybe. She was never nice to Dixie, throwing around insults. Beth just didn't want to break the glee club. Even though she hated Dixie, for some reason. Maybe she was just meant to hate her. "Have a good day now." She waves her fingers at a shocked Dixie.
"You live!" Jack yells when Dixie walked into the auditorium the next day for glee. She blushes and smiles.
"Barely. She's gone all passive aggressively nice. But I think she's gonna put bees in my locker. Jack walks over to her and kisses her.
"Does that mean that I have to keep stealing passes from teachers?"
"Are we dating? Or just kissing?" She blurts out and Jack is taken back. He did want to date her. But he was afraid of getting hurt. She kissed him when she was with Ferris and Beth cheated on him. Jack couldn't really answer that. He wanted to, but she was so unpredictable and honestly, he didn't believe Beth and still wasn't over her.
"I-" he started and was cut off by the rest of the glee club walking onto the stage ready for Booty Camp.
"Ok everyone, circle up," Sam calls walking in from stage left. "Did everyone watch the video I posted?" There were collective nods. "Ok so what did we- wait where's Jake?" Everyone turned their heads.
"Beth you should know, you've been sleeping with him," Taylor blurts and Beth blushes.
"I'm… we're not… I don't know where he is. He was here and then ran to his bus at the end of the day," she explains.
"Well, I'll figure it out. So what did we think of the video?"
"I think it was weird and kinda creepy that Principal Schuster would do such a pergrogive dance with a bunch of teenagers," Chad said, talking about the horrifying performance the glee club did of Toxic. There were nods. "The dancing was cool though. Like musicality," Deja adds.
"And the partner works," June pipes in, gazing to Nick.
"The props were cool. How they used the hats as partners," Nick mentions.
"Just remember props aren't what make a number memorable. That's called hairography, but that's a different lesson. We definitely need musicality and we can incorporate partner tricks. Nick, Taylor take it away," he explains and clicks on the CD player and Big Booty blasted through the speakers. Nick and Taylor lead a struggling New Directions and taught them simple dance moves such as the pivot turn, box step, kick ball changes, and hand and feet moving simultaneously. Sam taught them a section from I've had the time of my life and kept telling them to run it again. Over and over and over again until kids were sprawled on the stage floor, covered in sweat and were red in the face. Sam comes storming on the stage and clicks the CD player off, cutting the music abruptly.
"Guys," he starts and runs his temple. The New Directions breathe heavily, waiting for what he has to say. "What is going on?" Everyone looks at each other. "Like a pivot turn isn't that hard," he snaps and shows them. "I don't see-''
"I'm sorry but not everyone has a body like you," Deja snaps from the back of the group. Everyone turns to Deja. "Yeah, I spoke. Not everyone expects the sad black girl in the back to speak. It may seem easy to some people," she ushers to Sam and Nick, "but some of us don't have bodies like that. Look at me, I don't look like anyone here. I'm overweight and shop plus size. Nothing fits me and I have to fix everything to fit me. You have the pretty size zero cheerleaders and beefy football player. Even Pete has more muscle than I do. So I'm sorry if I can't do a simple jump spin! Not everyone was a stripper!" she cried. Sam takes a step back and sighs. His face grows compassion, emphasizing with her, just not finding the words to comfort his student.
"Deja,"
"Yeah I'm going," she huffed and grabbed her duffel bag and stormed from the auditorium. No dares speak when they hear the door slam shut.
"Umm… I think that's enough for today. I'll post a new video. It's a Vocal Adrenaline one, but don't get syked out," Sam says and hurries from the auditorium.
The next day, Jake slugged down the hall. He rubbed his eyes and slowly opened his locker, trying to remember what he was doing. His eyes were heavy and he was fighting to stay awake. He had stayed awake most of the night waiting for his mom to come home, but she never did. But he wasn't surprised, she never came home on time. He thought about ditching, wasn't like he was smart enough anyway to stay in school, so why did it matter. However, a small burnette clung to his side.
"I don't really want to talk to you," he grumbled. Dixie took in a deep breath and Jake could feel like she was ready to vomit words. "I know you posted those things. You started the confession thingy. So please walk away from me," Jake requested. Dixie groans and takes his arm.
"Where were you yesterday?" she asked not acknowledging what Jake said, even though it's true.
"Family stuff," he replies, which wasn't a total lie. His voice was monotone from exhaustion.
"Well I hope it was important, because you're out of glee club," she huffed and walked away. Jake drops his arm and watches the kids in the hallway shuffle around. He shuffles around to class and drops his stuff on the floor and takes a seat next to Beth in Spanish. He throws his notebook on the desk and smashes his head on the table.
"Good morning sunshine," she says sarcastically.
"Suck it," he snapped and lifted his head just a little bit to look at Beth. Her frown turned to a small smile. "What?" he asked, knowing just by the shift in her eyes and the quiver in her lip that there was something. Beth rolls her eyes.
"I presumed Douches Dipshit told you about glee club," she sighed and opened her notebook as instructed by the teacher.
"I don't care anyway. More time for football," his lowered his voice to a whisper as the teacher started class.
"I know that's a lie. You care about being in glee club. I talked to Mr. Evans. He'll let you back in, just talk to him."
Jake sighed and copied notes. "Can't do that," he explains without looking at Beth. He knew if he did, she could look in her eyes and use her Fabray persuasive powers and pull the truth from him. She could sense his bitterness towards the idea and stole his notebook. "Hey," he sneered a little too louder than a whisper. He sighed and let her write whatever she was working on. "You done now?" he snapped and Beth threw his notebook back in its place.
"Meet me after cheerios and football practice. Behind the bleachers," she whispered.
"Well what about bootycamp?"
"I'll just tell Mr. Evans I can't make it. Seriously Thompson, he doesn't care what you have going on, just tell him," Beth says. Jake groans.
"You know I can't do that," he explained and goes back to staring at the board and Mr. Martinez.
For an October afternoon, there was a warm haze over Lima and a cool breeze brushed over the football field. The Cheerios stood perfectly poised in their finishing stunt. They had been behind the music by one eight of a beat, but had flipped and handspringed and threw girls and finished on time with the music. Coach Roz Washington stood with her megaphone and her two bronze Olympic medals slung around her neck.
"What was that!" she screamed into the megaphone and the stunts were demolished ever so carefully. "That was a disgrace to Six time nationals champion cheerleading coach Roz Washington. The one Sue Sylvester did not train two time bronze olympian of solo synchronized swimming cheerleading coach Roz Washington to have Cheerios that performed like… whatever that was. You need to flip higher, jump higher, tumble further with more power! All of you in my office for the biweekly weigh in by Sue Sylvester!" she clicked off the megaphone and the cheerleaders. Once on the ground, the so-called God Squad scurried to the office of one, Sue Sylvester, leading the cheerleaders who didn't bother going first. The 20 William McKinley cheerleaders stood at attention in the hallway outside Sue Sylvester's office. The door creaked open and a small girl stood with a clipboard.
"Line up beaches," the girl screamed. The cheerleaders stood up straighter as they watched an ancient Sue Sylvester stroll from her office.
"Thank you Robyn," she croaks and takes her glasses off and looks up the line. "This is… disgusting. In my prime I had thin cheerios that would fall to their knees at the sound of my voice and you all have the desinisy to look me in the eyes!" Spooked at the familiar voice, the eyes of the cheerios looked every which way but at the taller women in a white track suit and wispy white hair. The blonde girl hands Sue a scale and she drops it on the floor with a Clang. This rattled the group as Sue called her first victim to the scale.
"Gained two pounds since last week, Grey." Sue announced to the cheerleaders watching the blonde girl step on the scale. "Lose it or boot it!" The young girl looked down and scurried away. With each step on the scale and the discouragement of one cheerleader, the God squad took a step.
"I'm so nervous. Last night we had tortillas," Francesca whispered and Beth didn't turn around."You know how I can't resist muy delicioso." the latina adds and takes a step. Taylor was up first and she stepped on the scale and Sue wrote down notes.
"2 pounds TayTay. Lose it or boot it," Sue snapped and Taylor pulled her arm back in celebration. She didn't know what it meant but Sue actually had talked to her. Beth was up and she took a step on the scale, sucking her stomach and breath in. Sue let out a sigh of relief.
"Very nice Mini Q, lost 2.5 pounds in a week." Beth smiles to herself and takes her bag. She didn't wait for Taylor and Francesca before running down the hall. She hurried past Deja sitting on the bench outside the principal's office and hurried back.
"What're you still doing here?" she asked, taking a seat next to Deja. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Are you gonna slushie me?" Beth looks down and chuckles to herself. "Why weren't you at Bootycamp today?" she questions, not looking up from her hands.
"I talked to Mr. Evans. Can you answer my question?"
Deja jolted her head up and looked at the blonde cheerleader. "Why are you doing this?" Beth didn't answer because she was confused. "I mean talking to me? I can't remember the last time we had a conversation that didn't involve the words "f*ck" and "you". Do you feel bad for the fat black girl? Is that it? Because humor me," she snaps, her body language changed when the words came out in a different tone than the soft demeanor that Beth had been met with.
"Look, I was kinda a jerk to you. I get that. But after your little blow up on Tuesday, I know something's up. So you can tell me and I can work my ways or… you can let all your anger build up inside and it'll just create more problems and then it'll be too late. Like it or not, I'm here to help, no matter what happens before, it's my job to look out for you guys…"
"And by you guys," Deja says and raises an eyebrow.
"Yes the glee club kids. Because no one else will. It may seem hard to believe, but I'm not the stuck up cracking skulls head bitch in charge dica that everyone thinks I am. I can be a nice person," she explains.
Deja takes a deep breath and her face grows tense. "If you have to prove that you're a nice person, then are you really?" she sneered. Beth sighs and looks down.
"Look, stay after school on Thursday. If you really think of yourself as… you know, I can help. I have to lose 3 pounds anyway," she lied. Deja's sour face grows softer.
"Thanks," the soft demeanor came back and Beth smiled.
"I'll see you in glee club tomorrow." Deja smiles and sees a tall blonde boy walking past her.
"This seat taken?" he asked in his country boy accent.
"Sawyer, what are you doing here?" she says with shock.
"Remember, I moved to Lima. I have to go to school don't I?" he jokes and Deja laughs and motions for him to sit. "What are you doing here so late after school?"
Deja takes a deep breath and tries to relive the memories.
She was sitting with her feet hanging off the stage of the auditorium. The New Directions had left and she snuck back. She looked at her legs and thought how many Cheerios could fit into her thighs. She turned around quickly at footsteps coming from backstage. She scurried up and was at ease when she saw the tall blonde teacher come waking in.
"At ease soldier," he teased and walked over to Deja and plops down on the stage. "Sit," he says and Deja sits down next to her. They could feel the dampness in the room and the shiver from the absent stage lights that would cast a glow of heat onto the stage. Neither party spoke as they took in what had unfolded previously in the afternoon. Deja was out of line, both knew that, but she was right. Sam had gone a little hard core of them. Saying things like "Again!" and "You think that was hard, try being homeless that's hard!" It wasn't Deja had spoken up that he realized that he was starting to sound like Sue Sylvester and not Will Schuster. He didn't want to be Sue, he wanted to be like Will and Shannon. Deja could feel her mouth go dry when she opened her lips.
"I wanted to say-" she started, but was cut off.
"No it was me. I was out of line and unleashed my inner Sue Sylvester…"
"The athletic director?" she asks and makes a digested face. Deja has heard of the one Sue Sylvester but clearly she was never into sports.
"Do you know who that is?" Of course she knew Sam, what kinda question is that!? He yelled at himself.
"I've heard of her. But look at me, do I look like a girl who's into sports?" she snapped. Sam sighs.
"Have I told you how much you remind me of my wife," he starts and Deja shakes her head. "Wel…" he pulls out a picture of his pocket of him and Mercedes and hands Deja the picture. She exams it and hands it back.
"Why because I'm black and fat?" Sam winced.
"No. It's because both you two stand up for what you want. Never let anyone put you in the back. I understand that dancing is not everyone's strong suit. And not everyone looks the same way. But, it doesn't matter how many jump spins you can do, it matters how many times you get back up after you fall. And even if you sway along in the back, it matters that you try. Set a goal and reach that goal. Even if it takes a day, a week, a year, it matters that you set your mind to the goal and reach it," he vents.
"I just don't… I don't think I can do this anymore," Deja replies. "The looks, the glares when I walk down the hall. I want to be thin and pretty. Is that bad?"
"You have some goals. But you already achieved one," he says. "You are already pretty. Don't go changing yourself just because… well because. It can be hard to be comfortable in your own skin, but there is no standard for what pretty is." Deja smiles. "So can I expect you in Bootycamp tomorrow?" Deja shrugs.
"Can I think about it?" Sam nodes and gets up from his spot. "And another thing you have in common with Mercedes… you both can really sing. Like truest. And we need that," he says and leaves the auditorium.
Deja just finished explaining the story and looked to Sawyer.
"He's right," he mentions.
"What?"
"About you being pretty. Like… really pretty." Deja tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and blushes. Sawyer was gonna do something he didn't think of doing, but Sam's office doors open and a stoned kid came strolling out, high as a kite.
"Deja, come on in," he calls and Deja grabs her bag and walks into his office.
"I just wanted to say, I'll be there tomorrow… if I still have a spot in the glee club," she explains. Sam nodded.
"Of course, I want you to feel safe in that choir room. And that starts with me. If I didn't say it already, I'm sorry."
"It's all good Mr. Evans. I better get going," she says and opens the door.
"He's looking at you kid" Sam states. He points to the blonde boy in a plaid shirt sitting on the bench and is met with a blank stare from Deja. "Humphrey Bogart. Casablanca." Deja shakes her head and gets up from the bench.
"Thanks Mr. Evans. For everything,"
Jake slung his equipment bag over his shoulder and walked through the football field. He stopped by the water cooler and watched the varsity team toss footballs around and run up and down the field. He leans up against the table and sipped on the paper cup he had snagged from the end of junior varsity practice.
"They look good." he jumped at the voice and turned to see Coach Beiste standing on the other side of the table. He nodded and moved his gaze from the players to his coach. "I need a new receiver for the game next Friday," she starts. Jake takes a sip nervously and wipes the sweat beads dripping from his forehead. "I was looking at you Thompson, but after the homecoming game, I'm kinda regretting it." Jake gulps nervously as she goes to finish her sentence. "I was hesitant about putting you on the JV team, but you're looking good. But your mind's not in it. You've been distracted," Jake sighed at the truth. "What is it, girls, grades, glee?" Jake takes a sip and tosses the cup in the trash.
"D: all of the above," he jokes, but she didn't know half of it.
Shannon sighs. "Look, I get it. I need you to get your head in the game okay. I need you to play in this Friday's game, so that means limit distractions. And I'm here. We're all here for you, just gotta tell us what's going on." Jake nodded and adjusted his bag and walked to the bleachers. "Thompson," she calls and the tall boy turns around. "Practice's starts at 3." He strolls over and throws his bag down and sees Beth standing in her cheerleading uniform. She turns around at the sound of her name and runs into his arms, pecking him on the check.
"So we're doing this now?" he taunts and she peels herself from him.
"Keep it casual," she replies. "What took you so long?" she snapped, changing her tone and facial expression.
"Coach wanted to talk to me about being distracted or whatever," he shrugged.
"Are you distracted?" He shrugs his shoulders.
"I don't think so. I mean… family stuff yea know." She nodded and swayed a little with the breeze.
"Did you read my note?"
"I did. It was very lovely." Jake can't remember the last time he used the word "lovely". Maybe to make a sarcastic comment about his mom. But he wouldn't lie. Not to Beth. Because her note was… lovely. He can't resize it word for word but it went along the lines of she's an open book and can keep a secret so whatever he had going on, he could tell her.
"Then just tell me. Even if you don't want to talk to Mr. Evans, I can."
"I can't do that," which was the truth. He didn't need people to know why he wasn't there. The truth about his life. It was his personal life, not everyone else's life. "And what's the point of this?" he snapped.
"An intervention, but I guess it didn't work," she sighed agitatedly. She grabbed her duffel bag and started to leave.
"Wait," he calls. "Let me walk to you to the parking lot." Beth stopped and let Jake catch up with her before they walked away. They started to have a playful conversation, pushing each other like old friends, maybe like brothers and sisters. At that moment, both of them forgot about their troubles.
"Hey you made it!" Beth called when Deja walked into the auditorium. She smiled and saw Beth was wearing an oversized Cincinnati Bengles t-shirt. The one that her and Jake had "tye dyed".
"Bengles fan?" she asked. Beth smiled and looked down.
"Oh," she laughed and opened her notebook. "I have some exercises that we do for cheer and I was thinking we could try them out," she explains. Deja nodded and went to plug her phone in.
"Beyonce or Rihanna?"
Beth was brought from her gaze on her notebook. "What?"
"Music. Beyoncé or Rihanna?" she repeats.
"Oh, Rihanna's fine," Beth says and goes over to Deja to explain the workout. The music of Rihanna blasted through the overhead speakers. After about an hour, Deja drops to the floor and chugs her water.
"Hey, it's not good to chug," Beth calls and wipes her forehead. Deja aggressively puts her bottle down.
"I'm sorry it's just harder for me to do this. I'm not anorexia like you," she snapped and instantly regretted her words. "Oh my god I'm sorry I didn't mean it…"
"No I get it," Beth sighs and sits across from Deja.
"It's just… everyone thinks that I can move as easily as they do, but it takes a lot more work when you're not skinny," she explains. Beth chuckles nervously.
"Look, I know it's hard…"
"No, no you don't," Deja snapped. Beth was taken back.
"I'm sorry, I'm a teenage girl, I hate how I look," Beth confessed, meeting Deja's tone.
She steamers up. "You. Are. Not. Fat!" Deja barks. Beth gets up and looks at her.
"I can still feel uncomfortable. You try having biweekly weigh-ins. I need to be perfect and you just can't seem to understand that!" she roared.
"Ok take that and your rich white girl ass and figure out your problems!" she thundered. Beth stepped back and tightened her ponytails before bursting out into laughter. Deja raised her eyebrow in confusion.
"This is so stupid," she laughs. "Look at us. We're sutton be helping each other." Deja doesn't say anything. "Here, let's go," she grabbed Deja's hand and led her to the choir room.
"Are we even allowed in here?" Deja asked as Beth takes a guitar off the wall.
"I was practically raised in this room, it's like a second home," the blonde explained.
"That doesn't answer my question," Deja snarked and Beth pulled a stool over next to hers.
"Sit," she commanded and Deja obliged. Beth starts to strum the guitar and the girls sang along to the anthem of loving yourself, Most Girls. Beth goes and puts the guitar back on the wall. "Feels good… to sing it out," Beth says.
"I liked this. It feels good to have someone going through the same thing as me. Even if it's not exactly what I'm going through." Beth smiles and gives Deja a hug from the back.
"No matter what anyone says or how many times I might slushie you, I'm here for you. Like friends." Deja turns around to see Beth leave.
"Friends?"
"Friends," Beth replies and walks from the choir room.
The next day, Ferris comes out of his class and strolls to his locker on the seemingly normal day.
"All I'm saying is that why do you need to study Shakespeare, didn't he die like… 500 years ago," Deja complains. Ferris mumbles and pops open his locker. Before he can gasp, glitter comes pouring out and onto him and the floor. He sucked in a deep breath of air in shock. A group of football players came by and pushed up against the locker. Two held him up while the third one put a tiara on his head. The fourth one put a boa around his neck.
"Nice look fag," their leader, Mitch Daniels says and the rest of the footballer laugh. Deja didn't dare speak as they walked away. He shakes some glitter from his hands and wipes the forming tears in his eyes. He storms to the choir room with Deja on his heels.
"Ferris!" she yells. "Ferris you don't have to do this!" Ferris stopped in his tracks.
"Do what!? I'm fine," he flashes a fake smile and storms to the choir room. He hoped that he was fast enough to be the first one in the classroom, but he was wrongly mistaken.
"Woah, where's Ken?" Francesca teased and was slapped by Beth.
"Ferris what happened?" Jack asked with concern. Ferris threw boa and tiara into the wastebasket and tried to get the glitter off.
"Just some football jerks," he groaned. Jack, and Nick shot up.
"Varsity or JV?" Nick asked. Ferris turns around.
"Excuse me?"
"Varsity or JV?" he repeats and Deja come running in, out of breath.
"Mitch… Daniels…" she huffed and reached for the door. "Did… this…" The three boys tried to storm from the choir room when Sam came in and stops them.
"Where're you guys going?" He pushed them back in the room. "Oh my god Ferris, are you okay?" He shrieked.
"I'm fine," he snapped. "Does anyone have an extra shirt?" No one spoke as he tried to fish glitter from his shirt and hair. Jack shook his head out of his gaze.
"Yeah yeah I do in my locker," he got up and led Feris from the room. Sam watches the pair leave the room and takes a seat on the stool, addressing the New Directions.
"What happened?"
"Some football jerks glitter bombed him," Deja explains half heartedly, still in shock. Sam leans back.
"Word got out that him and cabbage patch are an item," Beth explained and glared at Dixie. "people can't just accept that it's 2025," she huffed.
"We should just get on…" Sam starts.
"But we need to discuss this," Dixie grumbled.
"Why you gonna sing a song about him going to hell?" Beth mocked. "You can't be a good Christian girl one minute and support the gays the next."
"I will have you know I am not homophobic. I have two lesbian moms," she announced.
"And I have blonde hair, doesn't mean I'm stupid. All I'm saying is that what you said to me was kinda hurtful." She explains.
Dixie huffs. "For one day could we not talk about you and you're oh so terrible life," she snapped. Beth opened her mouth. but was calmed down by Deja. No one speaks or breaths when Ferris comes back in sporting a six too big Ohio State football shirt. He sighs and takes a seat.
"Guys come on," he sighs, "It's fine let's just sing damnit," he jokes, playing it off as though he was over it. But he wasn't over it. Sometimes it was easier to plaster and fake a smile than tell the truth.
"Well I have something that will take our minds off of it," Deja stands and addresses the group. "This week there wasn't really a lesson because we were too busy learning a dance from like 15 years ago. However… I think there was a lesson. Happiness. Whether it be from dancing or being happy with yourself. So if the band would so kindly join in, I found my happiness," she says and ques in the band. They start to play what Deja calls her fat-girl anthem. About accepting yourself and being happy about you. All about that bass. The new directions watch as Deja belts out and shakes her stuff. Ferris leans on to Chad and smiles. When she finished, the glee club clapped.
"If no one else has anything to say… then let's go to the auditorium." The group shuffles up and Dixie catches up with Jack. She pecks him on the cheek.
"Are we a thing?" she asked and Jack was taken back.
"I… umm…. yes," he stutters, not sure of his answer. Dixie smiles.
"Just gotta ask me out," she taunts and skipped away. Jack let out a sigh of relief and a wave of uncertainness washed over him.
"Girl trouble." Jack jumped at the sight of Jake next to him. He came running up wearing his football uniform. Jack rolled his eyes and didn't speak. "Look, I wouldn't ask unless it was absolutely necessary," he explained and Jack continued to remain silent. "Fine don't talk, just listen. I need help with… distractions. Coach wants me to play with varsity, but she won't unless I'm not distracted."
"Distractions?"
"He speaks!" Jake teased. "Now, I've narrowed it down to three things, girls, grades, and glee. Glee is covered and I asked about grades, but yours aren't much better than mine…"
"Just get to the point," he sneers.
"I need help with Beth. you dated her, you should know how to get her."
"You did a perfectly good job on your own," Jack snapped.
"Sassy one," Jake teased. "Come on man, what happens to Jake and Jack, kick n' slap?" he asked using the name they have given themselves in kindergarten. Jack stopped outside the auditorium and watched the rest of the glee club file in.
"When you slept with my girlfriend." He stormed into the auditorium, leaving Jake in the doorway to follow along at his heels.
Jake lugged his bag at the end of practice towards his moped. He strapped his bag in and turned to see Beth standing in her cheerleading uniform, as all ways.
"Oh my god," he shrieked. "We need to get you a bell."
"Har har very funny," she mocked. "I hope you haven't you switched your last elective,"
"I just hang out in the locker room or just go home," he joked. Beth puts her hands on his chest.
"Well, I talked to Evans and your back in!" Beth smiled. Jake sighed.
"What did you say?"
"Can you just say thank you? Or did I have to do something illegal?" she teased.
"Thank you," he sighed, giving in and flicks her hair bow back into place.
"I just explained that you had personal things going on…" Jake raised an eyebrow, knowing there was more to the story. "Then I used the your-wife-is-my-godmother cards. I usually only use it in dire emergencies such as when I get detention, stuff like that," she explains and bites her lip and looks up.
"And this was a dire emergency?"
"For you," she says and stands on her toes and kisses him. "I missed you." Jake leans down to her and kisses her back.
"I missed you too. You have a ride?" Beth shakes her head.
"Ah," she turned to the wind and looked at the entrance of the parking lot, squinting in the sun. "My… someone should be here."
"Here I'll drive you," he says and tossed her a helmet. Beth half heartedly smiled and hoped on the back of the moped.
"How does this support all your crap?" she joked.
"My crap?!" he yelled as they drove down the road with the wind drowning their voices. "Who has two bags of cheerios equipment? Why does Miss Sylvester make you carry all that crap?"
"Don't know, don't care!" Beth screams and let's go of Jake, who freaked out when he felt the weight of her arms were released from his side.
"Do you have to be so stupid?!" he yells and Beth puts her arms back around him. She smiled under her helmet. Even for it was just for a moment of time, both of them felt free from their distractions.
It was the end of the day on a Friday and Deja adjusted her bag on her shoulder. She fiddled with the packet in her hands, wondering if it was right. She had remembered what Beth had said about Coach Sue and Roz and about the biweekly weigh-ins. She saw that her friend was struggling with her body image and the cheerleading wasn't helping. Deja had really owned Beth for about a week and knew that she wasn't a quitter, but she also knew that Beth needed to be happy, just like she was. She knocked on the door and Sue Sylvester ushered her to come in.
"What is it black bear?" she sneered when Deja took a seat. She gulped and fiddled with the packet some more. Her forehead was beading with sweat and her heart beating in her throat. She placed the packet of Chronic Lady on Sue's desk and she instantly swiped it, throwing her glasses from her face. Deja began to explain a well rehearsed story about finding it in Beth, Francesca, and Taylor's lockers and bags. She hated bringing Francesca and Taylor into this, but they could vouch for Beth. She excused Deja from her office. The girl walked down the hall and felt a pain of guilt rush over her. However, it was too late. The damage had been done and all Deja could do was wait and see what happened.