Chapter 8: The Power of Madonna

So here's what you missed on Glee.

Melissa loves Artie and Artie loves her, too, so they finally got together after the glee club won at sectionals and announced it to the glee club in song. No one really seemed to care that much—can I ask what the point of that extremely boring song was?—except for Kurt and Mercedes who were really happy, and also Tina, who seemed really upset about it.

Rachel's dating Jesse from Vocal Adrenaline which is bad news for the glee club, who just had their performance at sectionals sabotaged by another glee club and can't afford to have that happen again at regionals. Because if they lose regionals, the club is disbanded for good. I don't think you guys understand the seriousness of what we're up against.

So if the glee club wants to have a chance at regionals, Rachel has to break up with Jesse. It's for the good of the team. We can't handle any distractions right now. But not only that, Tina wants Melissa to break up with Artie, too, and Melissa suspects that has more to do with Tina's feelings for him than it does her looking out for the team. And Tina's kind of a sensitive subject for Artie, so she's not even sure that she can bring it up with him.

And that's what you missed on Glee!

"Can I ask you guys something…private?"

The seven of us girls in glee had gathered in the choir room when Rachel said it. We had some time before school started, and it was too cold to hang out outside. I wasn't in much of a mood to socialize with anyone, but I would rather be with the girls of the glee club than face my boyfriend after what had happened between us.

"Yes, you should move to Israel," Santana answered.

Rachel picked up a stool and moved to sit in front of us. I looked up at her out of necessity more than anything else.

"It's about dating," she said. "Not that I'm dating anyone. We all know that Finn and I are no longer an item and for the sake of the team, I broke up with Jesse." The rest of the girls looked up at Rachel to see where she was going with this. "But let's just say I was dating someone. Let's just say, hypothetically, we went to a Wiggles concert last Friday night"—I could hear Santana and Brittany quietly giggling at this—"and then because my dads weren't home, we went up to my room and started making out. It-it was erotic. And romantic. And then he said, 'we should do it', but I've never done it before, and he didn't understand that for a girl, this is a big deal. What if then he got really crabby and left and didn't even take home the Care Bear I won him playing skeeball?"

A million different thoughts were running through my mind, but two were at the forefront: this was obviously about Jesse, and Rachel's personal life was a lot weirder than I had once thought it was.

"Would you please stop talking?" Quinn said exasperatedly. "You're grossing out my baby."

"I just want to be ready," Rachel said. "I know I'm getting older and these things are gonna happen someday, but how do I stop a guy from getting mad at me for saying no?"

"Just do what I do," Santana said coolly. "Never say no."

"Oh, totally," Brittany agreed. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen?" Quinn looked down at the sketch she was making in her notebook as a momentary uncomfortable silence fell over the seven of us. "Sorry, Quinn."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat at this and dropped my eyes, hoping nobody noticed the visceral reaction that I had. The least that I could say was that I definitely empathized with Quinn and her situation.

"Look, girl, don't ask me," Mercedes said. "The last guy I liked was the mayor of gay town. And I can't wait to get a guy mad at me for saying no."

"We just have to accept that guys don't care about our feelings," Tina said. "The other day some guy in my English class was caught trying to take up skirt photos of every girl on the Cheerios, and didn't even blink when he got suspended."

"What about you, Melissa?" Rachel asked. I tried to avoid eye contact with her even more than I had moments ago. "I mean, now that you and Artie are going steady, I'm sure things are heating up for you two, right?"

After a moment of searching for the right thing to say, I finally came out with, "Artie's a gentleman…" Then, after a pause, I added, "Usually." This was something I hadn't told anyone yet, not even Kurt or Mercedes or even my parents. "Like, just last night, we were at Breadstix…"

Artie and I had gone to dinner for what was quickly becoming a weekly routine. A Madonna song was playing over the speakers. I had been picking at what was left of my food when all of a sudden Artie said it.

"You know, I've been thinking about something lately," he said.

I swallowed a mouthful of food. "Thinking about what?"

"Well, things are pretty serious between us, now that we've finally made things official. You're one of the hottest girls in our grade." I blushed at this, thinking that there was no way that that was true, and took a sip from my straw. "Look, let's not beat around the bush here. I just want to make something perfectly clear to you: my penis still works."

The water that I had just sipped immediately came spraying back out of my mouth. I turned at the last second to avoid splashing Artie as it did. My hand shot up and covered my mouth as I sputtered. What was I possibly supposed to say to that?

After my coughing fit subsided, I finally said, "Uh…good to know?"

"You've never wondered whether we could make things a little physical?"

"No, and it's not something I really want to talk about in public, and especially not this soon."

"Come on, we're crazy about each other."

"Yes, and I don't need to take my clothes off to show it to you."

"I'm just saying, I know that somewhere inside you, you want to get all up on this. Besides, everyone else is hooking up."

"But we're not everyone else, Artie. Okay? Alright, yes, I have wondered once or twice about what your disability means in terms of intimacy, but I was thinking, like, years down the road, not a week after we got together. It's too soon."

And for the umpteenth time, the feeling that I was about to cry was back. Honestly, I was scared of what intimacy would mean, for personal reasons. It was something I had never discussed with anyone outside of my family, but knowing that kids my age were sexually active and also knowing that that meant I might be pressured myself was a thought that honestly unnerved me. Mercedes had assured me that Artie was sweet, and I had thought the same, too, but this was a different side of him I hadn't expected to see.

"I don't understand what the big deal is," Artie said, and he even rolled his eyes, instantly making me a strange mix of scared, angry, and hurt.

"The big deal is I'm not ready, and you just won't take no for an answer." I had lost the battle; tears were starting to form in my eyes. I rummaged through my purse and put a ten dollar bill on the table to pay for my dinner before I stood up. "I'm going to go call my dad to come get me, unless you want to take back everything you just said to me."

He made no attempt to follow me.

"That's gotta sting," Rachel said.

I looked down at my shoes again, trying to get my mind off of what had happened at dinner. Mr. Schue, who I had completely forgotten was in the room, stood up from his desk and walked over to address us. "Hey, guys," he said as we all looked up at him. "I'm sorry to interrupt your little sorority, but I couldn't help but overhearing. Are you really having that much boy trouble?"

"You wouldn't understand, Mr. Schue, you're a guy," Quinn said. A few of the girls nodded in agreement.

"Well, then, maybe you should talk to someone else about it," he said. "Like Ms. Pillsbury."

"I tried that," Rachel said forlornly, then filled us in on a conversation she had had with the school guidance counselor. Ms. Pillsbury's advice to talk to Rachel's mother and rabbi weren't exactly options; Rachel had two gay dads with no mother in the picture, and her rabbi was…well, a rabbi.

The bell rang. The seven of us girls stood to leave the room. Quinn, however, walked up to Mr. Schue to address him one last time before she left: "The fact is that women still earn seventy cents to every dollar that a man does for doing the same job. That attitude starts in high school."

I nodded more to myself than anyone else in agreement with her. I followed Mercedes and Tina out the door, though my friend and I parted ways as I made my way to my first period class. I had no choice but to keep walking with Tina, as we had the same first period. I was still trying to figure out if she liked me or not, so without Kurt or Mercedes around, I usually didn't say much to her.

"Are you and Artie really already having relationship problems?" Tina asked as we walked down the hall.

I turned to look at her, surprised that she was talking to me. "It's like you said, Tina," I said, hardly able to believe that I was agreeing with her. "Boys don't really care about our feelings."

"I never had this kind of a problem with him before."

"You also only ever went on one date with him. He's my boyfriend."

"Look, Melissa, I'm not jealous of you two, if that's what you think," she said, pausing outside of our classroom. I stopped and stared at her, unsure whether I should believe her. "Artie's a good guy, and you seem really happy with him. I'm just glad you didn't get laughed out of school after what happened to you. I mean, that must have been so humiliating. I probably would have killed myself. Twice to make sure I was dead. Or just not come back to school out of fear of getting laughed at and teased everywhere I went—"

"Thank you, Tina," I said sarcastically, hating to relive the memory of what had happened. "Really appreciate it."

"I just want to see you be happy. And if Artie makes you happy, then that's great. But don't sacrifice your happiness for a relationship with him. That's all I'm saying."

Then she walked into our classroom, leaving me alone and confused in the hallway.

Later that same day, with things still tense between me and Artie, I joined Mercedes and Tina for a meeting of the glee club. I was confused at Tina's newfound dedication to being my friend, especially after she had threatened me to break things off with him. I suspected that she may have an ulterior motive to being so nice to me. Still, I didn't question it. I didn't want to make assumptions, especially not when I was still trying to get on everyone's good graces.

On the board, Mr. Schue had written a single name: Madonna.

He turned to us and pointed at it. "What comes to mind when you see that name?" he asked us.

"Genius!" Rachel said.

"Icon!" Kurt added.

"Hall of fame MILF," Puck said, nodding.

"So, we're all aware of Madonna's musical and cultural significance," Mr. Schue said, leaning against the piano. "Which is why this week your assignment is to come up with a Madonna number."

All of the girls and Kurt were overjoyed at this news, squealing in delight. Mercedes even hissed, "Yes!" as she joined me and Tina in a three-way high five. Even with my music tastes, I could not deny that Madonna's songs were catchy and often even empowering. It wasn't as awesome as it would be if Mr. Schue had assigned us a week of Avril or Green Day, but it was still pretty damn good.

The guys, however, were noticeably less excited about this announcement. I tried to ignore the look Artie shot me, Mercedes, and Tina as we celebrated. Even Puck, who had just announced that he thought Madonna was hot, said over the noise, "Mr. Schue, as a dude, Madonna makes me kind of uncomfortable."

"Yeah," Finn agreed, "she's smoking and everything, but can't some of us do something else? Like the guy version of Madonna? Like, you know…Pantera?"

Finn's suggestion of Pantera elicited a similar reaction in the guys as Madonna had in the girls. Immediately, my eyes shot to Artie. He nodded in agreement with Finn. It was my turn to roll my eyes at him.

"Guys!" Mr. Schue said. "It has come to my attention that many of you haven't been treating the young ladies of our group very nicely lately." I shot Artie a look. He glanced at me, then immediately turned away to avoid eye contact. "You're disrespectful, bullying, sexist, and I hate to say it, misogynistic."

"I have no idea what that means," Finn said.

"When I pulled my hamstring, I went to a misogynist," Brittany told him. I couldn't help but think that she was more helpful when she didn't contribute.

Mr. Schue stared at her, looking for something to say, then thought better of it and shook his head. "What it means is, put yourself in their shoes for a change. Culturally, Madonna's legacy transcends her music because by and large, the subtext of her songs are about being strong, independent, and…and confident, no matter what your sex." The girls nodded in agreement with him. "But more than anything, Madonna's musical message is about equality. And that is something I think you guys need to work on."

I could feel Artie's eyes on me, but like he had just a minute ago, I avoided looking back.

"Mr. Schue?" Kurt piped up. "I don't think we can have an honest conversation about Ms. Ciccone without acknowledging that her images are as indelible as her songs. I would like to honor her contributions by tackling a multimedia project. With Mercedes."

She turned and smiled at him. Mr. Schue was positively beaming at the positivity. "Great! Go for it, Kurt."

"I'm still not down," Puck said. "And no chick intimidates Puckzilla. I just don't think her music translates to show choir."

Seriously? That was his hang up? Now was when he decided to care about the group?

"Really?" Rachel asked. "Well, I for one couldn't disagree more."

The girls in the glee club had performed a Madonna number for the guys, who were less than thrilled (minus Kurt and Mr. Schue for presumably obvious reasons). After we had finished our performance, Kurt and Mercedes left to discuss what their multimedia project for the Madonna assignment was going to be. I walked through the halls without them, racking my brain to see if there was a Madonna number that I could perform for the rest of the club.

Tina ran up to greet me once more. "Hey, Melissa, wait up."

I turned to look at her, still confused on what exactly our relationship with one another was. Were we sort of becoming friends?

"Hey," I said, trying to be cordial. "What's up?"

"I was thinking about your problem with Artie and I think I have a solution for you."

I couldn't deny that I was slightly intrigued. "Really?"

"The way I see it, you have two options. You can either give him what he wants—which I know you said you're not ready for yet—or you can kick him to the curb. I mean, if we don't stand up for ourselves and take control of our bodies, the guys will just continue to treat us like their little puppets. You understand what I'm trying to say, don't you?"

I slowed as I pondered this. I knew that dating someone meant making sacrifices, and I debated what kind of a sacrifice I was willing to make for my new relationship. Tina did have a point. I had to take ownership of myself, because Artie was never going to respect me if I didn't.

"Yeah," I said, and nodded. "I think I do."

Because I had a plan.

In order to get out of the house the next morning, I had to throw a winter jacket over myself and practically run out the front door. When I got across the street to Kurt's house, I ducked into his Cadillac so that my parents wouldn't see me, then immediately ripped off the jacket.

Almost immediately, he responded with, "Whoa, where are the rest of your clothes?"

I looked down at my outfit once more—a long sleeve fishnet top and black bandeau, a dramatic leather mini skirt, and a pair of black combat boots with spikes—before I answered him. "This is it."

"Okay, I know we said that I would stop trying to give you fashion advice, a decision that torments me every time you show up to school wearing yet another band T-shirt, but this is a little much. You look like you fell into a paper shredder when you were getting dressed."

"I'm just taking a page out of Ms. Chicharrón's book, like you said."

"First off, it's Ciccone; second, are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with Artie?"

I folded my arms across my (rather cold) chest. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"Mercedes told me that he tried to get you to sleep with him." I sighed. "Look, me and Mercedes are working with him and the A.V. club on our Madonna project, and he told us that he's sorry for what he said to you at Breadstix the other night."

"It'd be nice if he told me that himself," I grumbled back.

"I thought we had already established that it was not a good idea to change yourself for a guy."

"I didn't change myself. I already owned all of this."

It was Kurt's turn to sigh. "Melissa, you are not thinking about sleeping with him, are you?"

"No," I said, trying to convince myself that it wasn't a lie. Technically, I wasn't thinking about it; I had already decided it.

"If I find out you're lying to me, I'm instituting a strict ban on Avril Lavigne in this car."

I bit the inside of my lip as we drove the rest of the way to school. I had already been on thin ice once with Kurt and didn't want to lose his friendship yet again. I figured that if everything went according to plan, he would never need to know.

He said that he needed to meet up with Mercedes when we got to school, which was fine by me. I had someone else I had to talk to, who I saw instantly as I made my way down the hall. I went up to Artie, who was crouched over at his locker. I had had the mental image of slamming his locker shut and being there, in his face, intimidating. But I forgot (somehow) that he wouldn't be standing at his locker and that I would have to improvise. When I approached his locker, faced with no better options, I kicked his locker shut, then put one hand against the upper row of lockers as I leaned on it, the other resting on my hip.

He jumped in surprise, then looked up at me. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me; I couldn't tell if he was more relieved that it was just me and not someone the likes of Puck, or if he was liking what he was seeing with me revealing more skin than I ever had.

"Did Kurt get ahold of your wardrobe again?" he asked, though he sounded mildly intrigued by what he saw.

"I have a proposition for you," I said, trying to hold onto what little confidence I had. "I'm going to come over to your house tonight at eight so we can take our relationship to the next level."

"Uh…"

"Do you want to or not?"

He sat up straighter in his wheelchair, adjusting his glasses nervously. Then he said, more to himself than to me, "I figured it was only a matter of time before you wanted to get all up on this." He finally looked up at me and said, "It's a date. Tonight at eight."

"Good," I said, then turned and walked away, already regretting what I had just done.

I had all day to change my mind about the idea, yet I still had my dad drop me off at Artie's house at eight o'clock sharp. I had made up a lie that we were going to be studying for a Spanish test together, and he had told his parents that we were going to be playing video games in his bedroom. They hated how loud the video game system was, so they left us alone downstairs.

I had once again had to wear a jacket to get past my dad and his mom. The second that the door to his room was shut, though, it came off and fell to the floor.

Artie adjusted his glasses again, a small smile on his face. "You, uh, you changed your mind pretty quickly about this whole thing," he said.

"I thought about it, and you're right. We're young, we're in love—what's stopping us?"

"I'm just a little confused. You were pretty upset the other night at Breadstix."

"I'm simply taking a page out of Madonna's book and getting a sense of that female empowerment." I reached into my bag and pulled out a CD. "Speaking of, I brought us some music."

He took it from me and put it into the disc drive of his computer. The computer whirred and beeped, then within a few seconds, the song filled the air. I took my hair out of the ponytail it had once been in, shaking my hair out into loose curls, as he dimmed the lights in his bedroom.

Swaying room as the music starts
Strangers making the most of the dark
Two by two their bodies become one

I climbed into his lap and leaned against him. My head fell backwards so that my mouth was by his ear.

I see you through the smoky air
Can't you feel the weight of my stare
You're so close but still a world away
What I'm dying to say is that

I turned around to straddle him, putting my hands on his shoulders.

I'm crazy for you
Touch me once and you'll know it's true
I never wanted anyone like this
It's all brand new
You'll feel it in my kiss
I'm crazy for you, crazy for you

I stood back up off his lap and walked around his bedroom. He followed me in his wheelchair.

Trying hard to control my heart
I walk over to where you are
Eye to eye, we need no words at all

I backed myself up so that I sat on his bed, slipping out of my boots. He pushed himself towards me, a passionate look on his face as he got closer.

Slowly now we begin to move
Every breath I'm deeper in you
Soon we two are standing still in time
If you read my mind you'll see

And with that, he moved his wheelchair to the side of the bed. He yanked one of the arm rests out of place, setting it on the floor. He put his hands on the bed and pushed himself up on it. I fell backwards to lay next to him, the two of us wrapped up in each other's arms.

I'm crazy for you
Touch me once and you'll know it's true
I never wanted anyone like this
It's all brand new
You'll feel it in my kiss
You'll feel it in my kiss
Because I'm crazy for you
Touch me once and you'll know it's true
I never wanted anyone like this
It's all brand new
You'll feel it in my kiss

"I'm crazy for you," I said quietly as the music faded to nothingness.

Using his upper body strength, he turned in the bed to face me. We kissed with a sense of passion and gusto. When our lips parted, Artie was breathing heavily. I bit my lip, suddenly wrought with nerves. He leaned in to kiss me again, grabbing my face. I kissed him back, but instantly my eyes opened wide when he reached down for the hem of my shirt.

In fear, I pushed him away from me and said, "Stop, Artie, wait."

"Oh, thank God," he said breathlessly. "I had no idea how to take this off."

I sat up straighter in his bed. "Artie, I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I'm not ready." He was silent, staring down at his bedsheets. "I thought I was, but…but I really just am not comfortable with this so early in our relationship. I'm sorry," I said again, starting to rise, "I should go."

He grabbed onto my wrist. "Why are you sorry?" he asked. I sat back down on the edge of his bed and started talking to myself more than him.

"Because being in a relationship with me is obviously holding you back. I can't give you what you want. We're at two different places and I understand if you want to find someone who's more your speed." To my surprise (and horror), he laughed. "What is so funny?" I asked.

"Well—you are," he said. "Melissa, my mom still cuts my hair, I own entirely too many sweater vests, and I wear orthopedic shoes on feet that I can't even feel."

"Wait, your mom cuts your hair?"

He ignored me, continuing, "Do you seriously think that I'm going to have too many other prospective girlfriends if you weren't in the picture? I'm lucky enough that you even like me."

"So you're not upset that we're not going to be intimate?"

"No. Actually, I'm relieved." He looked over at his wheelchair as he continued to speak. "When I got in my accident, we never even knew if I would ever be able to have sex. And when I found out that I could, well…it means a lot to me. I don't want it to end up being something I rushed because my girlfriend thinks that she has to do this to stay in a relationship with me."

"You're sure you're fine?"

"I want the moment I lose my virginity to be special, and let's be honest, this isn't special, even though I'm just as crazy for you as you are for me."

I heaved a sigh of relief, shutting my eyes. "I'm so glad you said that." I opened my eyes and looked at him, about to lay my soul completely bare for him. "To tell you the truth, I was terrified out of my right mind coming here tonight. I feel much the same way that you do. I want this to be special because…" I stopped myself, not quite as ready as I thought I was to tell him what was on my mind. "Look, I just thought that taking ownership of my body like Madonna would make you like me more. I mean, you were pretty candid at Breadstix the other night…"

"No, I should have never said any of that stuff to you. I was really rude to you. You're right. We're young, we're in love, and we're not ready to be intimate." I finally was able to crack a small smile in relief. "Do you want me to get my mom to take you home?"

"We might as well play some video games to convince her first," I said, and he smiled back before he popped the game Modern Warfare in his Play Station.

I was just as awful at the game as Rachel was at keeping her mouth shut, but it was honestly a much more intimate moment than what I had originally come over to do. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye as we played, smiling to myself at the concentrated look on his face. His passion was exactly why I liked him.

I was standing by my locker on Monday looking through my planner when I saw Tina approaching me yet again. I looked up at her inquisitively.

"There's my girl," she said, smiling at me.

I smiled back, though I was definitely confused. Tina was still acting like we were friends, and I wasn't sure whether this was something that was genuine or not. "You've been looking for me?" I asked.

"I just wanted to come tell you that if you need anything in the wake of your most recent heartbreak, I am here for you."

I chuckled, then crouched down next to my locker to put my planner away. "I'm sorry?"

"I know that breaking up with Artie must be hard for you after everything else you've been through, so I just wanted to offer you my condolences, ex girlfriend to ex girlfriend."

I shut my locker before standing to my full height to face her. "Okay, first of all, from my understanding, you guys were never a couple, and secondly, we didn't break up. Artie's still my boyfriend."

Tina frowned. "What about our conversation the other day?" She suddenly dropped her voice. "You didn't sleep with him, did you? Because I've heard from a trusted source that the plumbing still works."

"No," I said, wondering just how many people knew about the possibility of a sexual relationship between us. "I took ownership of my body and he respected it. We're still young. There's no rush."

She stood there looking confused when I heard Artie approaching us. I turned to face him. Tina, too, angled her body towards him as he approached and slowed to a stop.

"Hey girl," he said. "Hope I'm not interrupting. Can I give you a lift to rehearsal?"

I smiled at him as I climbed in his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, draping my legs over him and off the side of his wheelchair. He led us down the hallway and we made our way to the choir room. I could still feel Tina's eyes on us as we went, but I realized I didn't care what looks the rest of the school gave us as we made our way through the halls. I felt truly comfortable with Artie, and wanted the world to see just how much I cared about him.

I took up an empty chair on the side of him when we got to our glee club meeting. Unfortunately, my happiness did not last long. Mr. Schue walked in the room with a student by his side and immediately cut to the chase with, "Okay, guys, I want to introduce you to our newest member. Please help me in welcoming Jesse St. James."

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. I had been sort of hoping I wouldn't be the new kid anymore, but this wasn't quite what I had in mind. The complete lack of conversation and general uncomfortable feeling in the room spoke for itself. No one wanted Jesse here, and I personally suspected that there was some ulterior motive for him arriving.

"What the hell?" Finn said and broke the silence. "It seems like now everyone's doing things just to hurt my feelings!"

"I thought you all would take this news a little better," Jesse said. "I'm a star. You can learn from me."

In just three sentences, Jesse had already made me hate him.

"We were already fighting for second leads and now that you've shown up, I've lost all hope at ever getting a solo," Kurt said. This was another problem. If Jesse was truly the star of Vocal Adrenaline, he would almost certainly be taking the spotlight away from the rest of us.

"Yeah, that's right," Mercedes agreed. "And y'all just trot me out at the end of every number so I can wail on the last note. How is that okay?"

"He's a spy, Mr. Schue," Santana said, and for a moment I wondered why she would even care. "I would know." Exactly my point.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys," our teacher said. "I saw all the paperwork. I spoke with his parents."

"They winter in Bali," Jesse said. "It's a very expensive phone call."

Me, Artie, and Finn all shared a disgusted look; Artie even shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Jesse just moved in with his uncle," Mr. Schue continued. "He lives in our district. It's all above board, guys. He goes to this school now."

"But this isn't fair," Artie said, looking at me when he did.

"Guys!" Mr. Schue said. "Everyone who's ever auditioned for this group has gotten in! That's how we do things here. Okay?"

"Yeah, and we got stuck with Widman to prove it," Santana said. I turned around in my chair to glare at her.

"You need to start being nicer to the people in this group," Mr. Schue said, pointing at her. "Including Jesse. For us to suddenly change the rules now? That would be unfair." Exasperated, he called on Brittany, who had her hand raised.

"Mr. Schue, is he your son?" she asked, clearly confused, referring to Jesse.

Mr. Schue and Jesse exchanged a look with one another. Nobody quite knew how to respond; it was Rachel who broke the silence.

"I don't understand why you're doing this," she said.

"Because when you love something, you got to go for it," Jesse said. "You would never be with me completely if I were on the opposing team. And I care about you more than winning another national title. So I left Vocal Adrenaline. For you."

No one said a word. I could understand what he meant about going after something you loved; I had Artie to prove it. But I seriously suspected he was up to no good. There was no way he was serious about being a part of our team—and a part of me suspected that he wasn't serious about Rachel, either.

"Alright, guys," Mr. Schue said to break the silence. "We have got a lot of work to do. I think we can all agree that our choreography will be better if we have an even number of guys and girls again. Jesse," he said, holding his hand out for him to shake, "great to have you here. Welcome aboard. Okay! From the top!"

And with that, he clapped his hands together above his head, ending our conversation.

That was far from the weirdest thing that happened that week: I later found out that Kurt and Mercedes had joined the cheerleading squad.

They had performed a routine to a Madonna song at a basketball game to announce the news. No one had known, apparently, other than the other people on the cheerleading squad. Not even Mr. Schue had been aware of their decision. I was absolutely livid when I found out. So much so, that the next time I saw them at school, I cornered them by Kurt's locker. There they were in the iconic red, black, and white uniforms, Mercedes with her hair in a high ponytail to boot.

"So you guys are Cheerios now?" I said without an introduction.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Mercedes asked.

"It's just that Coach Sylvester is awful to us. Do you not remember when she leaked our set list for sectionals?"

"You don't have a problem with Santana and Brittany being Cheerios," Kurt said.

"No, Santana and Brittany hate me. I couldn't care less what they do. But you guys are different. You couldn't at least tell me you were thinking about it?"

"The same way you told us you were going to sleep with Artie?"

I sputtered as I tried to find something to say. Nobody knew about my liaison with Artie other than the boy himself. Even Tina, who had been the person who had tried to talk me into having sex with him in the first place, only knew that we had come to an agreement that we didn't need to sleep together to be happy in our relationship.

Finally, I shook my head and said, "I didn't sleep with Artie."

"But you were going to."

"And who told you that?"

"Artie."

Kurt

After they had finished shooting their music video for Vogue with Coach Sylvester (which Kurt already knew was going to be a huge hit), Artie had been in a big rush to leave. Kurt couldn't quite understand why; Artie had been rather excited to make his directorial debut with the project, and had extensively studied each shot of the original music video in order to make sure that their recreation was perfect, though admittedly Artie had said something about how he was having a great day on his way out. This certainly caught Kurt's attention.

"Looks like somebody's in a hurry," he said. "Someone grease the wheels on your chair again?"

"Not this time," Artie said, making his way to the door of the choir room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go lose my virginity to my girlfriend."

Kurt and Mercedes shared a glance. He was going to do what?

Melissa

"I can't believe he told you," I said, more than a little hurt.

"I can't believe you didn't," Mercedes said. "Let's be honest here, Mel. Ever since you and Artie started dating, we haven't been much of a priority for you anymore."

"You guys are my friends—"

"Maybe it's time you start acting like it, sister," Kurt said. "Joining the Cheerios is giving us a chance to have the spotlight that we won't have anymore thanks to Jesse joining glee club. And frankly, you should be thanking us. All you've wanted since you came to this school was to fit in and be liked. With us being on the Cheerios, you're only one degree of separation from popularity. Don't forget who went out of their way to help you with your boyfriend troubles and who was there for you when the entire school turned on you."

I wanted to tell Kurt that he and Mercedes hadn't really been all that helpful with Artie, and that their idea of 'being there for me' wasn't anything special either, but from the little spats that we had already had, I had learned to keep my mouth shut on all issues pertaining to my friends. I hadn't lost Mercedes—yet—but fighting with Kurt was getting old fast.

Instead of clapping back at him, I said, "I'm happy for you guys," though I knew that my voice betrayed me. "Good luck at Nationals."

I walked away, feeling better that I had patched things up with Artie, but still confused about my relationship with Tina and hurt about the most recent development in my friendship with Kurt and Mercedes. Plus, with what Tina and Kurt had just said to me, I had a burning question.

Who was it that sent Jacob Ben Israel that video of me?

AN: Sorry that this chapter was rather nonexciting. I have really big plans for the next few chapters, but this one was a lot harder for me so it's mostly filler. I will say that I used this chapter in part to set up something coming in a later chapter, which you might be able to put the pieces together for. In case it wasn't clear, the scene of Artie and Melissa with Madonna's Crazy For You was also supposed to be a continuation of the Like A Virgin scene on Glee, but I wanted to use a different song for it to avoid using music that the show has already covered. Thanks for reading this far and please remember to favorite, follow, and review!