A/N: Hi everyone! I first and foremost wanted to say thank you all for your patience with this chapter and also a huge thank you to everyone who reached out to wish me a happy birthday! As I'm sure most of you know by now I've got just a few things to say before we get into the actual fic lol.

The first is that you'll notice the songs are a bit shorter this time! I love writing them, but I prefer writing the interactions between the kids and what the songs mean to them and that kind of thing, but you can sort of still get the idea! And as always there's the list of songs used at the bottom of my second author's note!

The second thing I'd like to mention is that this chapter is honestly sort of all over the place lol. I will admit I had some trouble really getting back into the story after not writing it for a week, and I also realized how quickly sectionals are coming up and there are a LOT of plot seeds I needed to plant before then, so while I realize this chapter is a bit of a mess lol, I promise it's so that things can happen in the long run!

All that said, I'm once again asking for you guys to let me know if you're still reading! The more detailed reviews and responses I get, the better and the easier it is for me to write for your OCs! So please, please, please review, PM me or post your thoughts on the forum, I would love to hear them! All that said, please enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

TUESDAY MORNING

The Jones household was as chaotic as it always seemed to be. All five kids sat at the table while Sam ran like a chicken without its head trying to make sure they all had what they needed before heading off to school. What had added to the chaos was that there was now a sixth child, Kendall, who they had taken in for the last few days.

They didn't mind, of course. Mercedes was off being famous and of course with that came wealth, and a lot of it and it showed, especially in Lima, Ohio. So they had a house that, even when all seven family members were home, still had several spare rooms and more space than any one family could ever need.

"Dad, we're leaving!" Naomi called out referring to herself, Kendall and Simon.

"What? Already? You didn't even have your breakfast," Sam spoke, more confused than upset.

"Well, we wanna drop Kendall off at Carmel, then we'll swing back and head to McKinley," Naomi tried to reason with her father.

"Yeah, okay, I guess that makes sense," He scratched his head for a moment, "Did you want to take some breakfast to go then?"

"I'll grab some," Simon piped up, earning him a smile from Sam.

"Thanks again for letting me crash here," Kendall took her turn speaking up, though she wasn't talking to anyone directly, more so talking to everyone else in the room."

"Hey, it's really no problem, kiddo," Sam smiled happily, "Any friend of any of the people in this house is a friend to the rest of us," He paused wondering if that made sense, "Or something."

Laughing, Kendall shook her head, "Well, again, thank you. All of you. Seriously."

"It's honestly nothing, we have people crash here all the time," Naomi shrugged before turning to her brother, "Now, c'mon Simon, we're gonna be late."

"Bye dad, love you!" Both of the twins called out in the exact same tone and cadence, sending a shiver down Sam's spine.

Shaking his head to forget about their weird twin senses, he realized what they'd said and called back just as they were heading out the door. "Love you guys, too! Oh! And don't forget your mom's coming back Thursday night!"

"Mom's coming back Thursday?" Finley, who had overheard the conversation, questioned as he walked into the kitchen. He tried his best to keep track of when Mercedes would be home and when she wouldn't be, but between recording albums and shooting music videos and touring, it got a little difficult to keep track of.

"She is! Which means we have to take this week and make sure that we get the house in shape because we don't want to recreate what happened last time," Sam widened his eyes and shook his head.

"Oh you mean when we thought she'd burn us all alive 'cause we hadn't taken the trash out for four weeks?" Rowan smirked, making their way into the kitchen.

"Exactly," Finley nodded to his sibling.

"I wouldn't say 'burn alive'," Sam put the words in quotations, moving his head back and forth for a small moment as he noticed Hazel enter the room, "There she is! Did you hear the good news?"

"About Mercedes?" Hazel questioned. Unlike Finley, she did not try to keep track of when Mercedes would be home. She gave up on it fairly early on.

"Yeah, she's coming back in a few days," Rowan reiterated just in case she was missing something.

"Oh, cool," Hazel nodded, feeling somewhat awkward as she and Mercedes simply were not very close.

"Dad was just saying we gotta stop leaving our crap around, or Mom's gonna burn us," Finley laughed.

"Stop with the burning," Sam raised his eyebrows, "Now c'mon and eat your breakfast, then we'll head out," He instructed his kids as they sat, each picking away at their plates.

MCKINLEY HIGH

Audrey had noticed Savannah from the hallway, calling her over right before they were meant to meet up with their separate glee clubs.

"Savannah! Hey!" Audrey smiled, greeting her friend.

"Uh, hi?" Savannah raised her eyebrows looking at her friend skeptically.

"Why do you seem confused?" Audrey questioned, followed by a nervous laugh.

"Oh, I just haven't heard from you in a minute. Didn't know if you still even had time for me." Savannah shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Audrey furrowed her eyebrows, both somewhat taken aback and frustrated with this new narrative Savannah was trying to pull. They weren't new to arguing, especially with each other. But it always seemed to just go in circles with them.

"You want to do this now?" Savannah spoke, her words sounding almost like a threat, "Fine, we can do this now."

"Do what now?" Audrey rolled her eyes.

"Talk about the fact that ever since you joined the Troubletones last year we've barely spoken. And I was hoping this year would be better, given that we would both be in glee. But if anything you've only gotten further away. And I'm not the only one who's noticed." Savannah quipped.

"Where is this even coming from? Besides, you had the choice to join the Troubletones this year and you didn't! That is not on me," Audrey practically hissed back, "And what do you mean you're not the only one who's noticed?"

"C'mon, Audrey. You're smarter than this. I know about your date with your little Troubletones girl toy. And I heard it from Lex, who you also seem to have just left in the dust." Savannah rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I haven't left anyone in the dust! Especially not you or Lex!" Audrey cried out, though sunk into herself when she realized this could quickly turn into a scene.

"Well, that's not how either of us feel. I'm tired of putting in effort for someone who wouldn't do the same. Talk to me when you actually want either of us in your lives, and not just for a backup when your little girl group isn't available." Savannah spoke, her words and tone bitter.

"Savannah, come on, I didn't even do anything!" Audrey pleaded.

"Exactly. You didn't." Savannah turned, making her way towards the New Directions choir room, leaving Audrey alone in the hallway.

Savannah, however, wasn't alone for very long at all, as Lex came up behind her.

"What was that all about?" He raised his eyebrows curiously.

"Tired of Audrey's bullshit," Savannah shrugged nonchalantly.

"Of her…what? I'm sorry, I don't follow," Lex shook his head.

"She is literally always like this. I have kept trying to make plans and they have always fallen through because of that glee club she's in. And I know she did the same to you." Savannah spoke, already tired of this conversation.

"Did what to me?" Lex asked, just as confused as before, just as Savannah stopped right outside of the choir room.

"I know you were going to ask her out and I know she went out with that girl," Savannah spoke in hushed tones as to not embarrass her friend.

"We're not…together. And even if we were, it's not my place to tell her who she can and can't hang out with," Lex tried to reason, "I get why you're upset but you're both my friends. I don't want to be caught in the middle."

"Fine. But you can't deny that you've felt her pulling away the way that I have." Savannah gave him a knowing look before they entered the choir room, looking around and noting that everyone else was already there.

Lex took a seat and thought about Savannah's words for a moment – she did have a bit of a point. He liked Audrey. A lot. In a more than a friend sort of way, but that much was obvious. He did notice though that even though they'd been getting close again, the last week did sort of throw him off his game. Since he had been dazing out, he almost hadn't noticed Will writing on the whiteboard.

"Heartache," The glee director spoke out the word as he finished writing it, "Whether it's romantic, platonic, something you've dealt with – we've all felt it. And with the sectionals lists coming out this week, I think it's time we tap into some real emotion in here. Now, I know we've seen a little bit of it here and there, but I really want to see what you guys come up with."

"So like, songs that make us cry?" Sophie questioned, mildly confused by the assignment.

"Sort of," Mr. Schue continued, "It doesn't necessarily have to be a sad song, or even one that you relate to entirely. Any song that just fits your personal definition of heartache. So! Get to thinking of some songs and we'll dive into them later today and this week,"

Meanwhile, over in the Troubletones choir room, Marley was giving her girls similar instructions. She and Mr. Schue had decided it would be a good idea for them to both let their kids get into the emotional side of things, and so decided to do the same lesson.

"So, do we all understand the assignment?" Marley tried hopefully.

"So you want us to be sad and bitter?" Cay furrowed her eyebrows.

"I hope so, I'm really good at being bitter," Heather nodded enthusiastically, earning her a somewhat annoyed look from Mia, "So are you apparently," She half laughed to the girl sitting beside her.

"Mom," Leah sighed out, looking somewhat out of it, "Do we really have to do this?"

"I think it's a good idea. For all of us! But it could also be good for you, since, you know…" Marley trailed off, hoping she got the picture.

"Since she dumped her trashy boyfriend?" Nikki snickered, saying exactly what Marley was thinking.

"Enough!" Leah called out, "Clearly I don't want to talk about it."

"But if you're the one who dumped him, then who cares?" Tia rolled her eyes.

"I care, because he's my brother." Trina spoke up. She and Jude were never close and very rarely got along, but she did find it frustrating that they were speaking like his feelings about it weren't equally as important.

"Alright, alright. Enough. We'll stop talking about… that," Marley sighed out, "But I do encourage you all to get in touch with what heartache means to you. I really think it'll be good for all of us."

As the bell rang, Leah got up and left as quickly as she could, not wanting to deal with anyone else in the room. Trina, Cay and Nikki followed, also wanting to leave that conversation behind. Trina because it made her uncomfortable, Cay and Nikki because they simply did not care enough.

Audrey got up to do the same thing but was stopped by Heather, "Hey dude, you good? You look like someone just told you your dog died."

"I'm uh," Audrey contemplated telling Heather the truth but shook her head instead, "I'm good. Or at least I will be. But thanks,"

"Well, if you change your mind, I got your back, buddy," Heather smiled, giving Audrey a small pat on the back.

"Buddy huh?" Mia came up behind Heather just as Audrey started to walk away.

"Yeah, you're all my buddies. You know me too well to not know that by now," Heather shrugged with a smirk.

"You've just, uh, been spending a lot of time with Audrey." Mia tried to hint at what she was upset about, but didn't know how to do it.

"Mia," Heather paused, starting to realize what was happening, "Is this about that thing that we never talk about?"

"Kind of?" Mia tried. Her relationship with Heather was complicated – they had known each other since they were kids, and then were sort of friends with benefits for a short while, and then in the last year decided to try dating but kept it an open relationship. Mostly because at first, it seemed like the most logical thing, but then Mia just stuck with it because it seemed to be what Heather wanted, but she was starting to realize that maybe she didn't want it to be open anymore.

"It was just a date, Mia, it's not that deep," Heather shook her head.

"You could have at least told me? I had to find out through Tia," Mia sighed out.

"You find everything out through Tia, I just don't get what the big deal is?" Heather's voice was relaxed but confused, unsure of what Mia wanted form her, "Besides I was going to talk to you about it because-"

"C'mon Mia, let's go," Tia interrupted Heather, as she was eavesdropping and knew that this conversation was about to go south.

"I'll, uh, see you later, Heather," Mia gave her a sad smile, as she walked off with her twin, leaving Heather alone, and wondering what the hell just happened.

DALTON ACADEMY

The vibes were somewhat off that morning at the Warblers meeting. While last week had been beneficial for many of the Warblers coming out of their shells or even meeting other people they otherwise would not have, for a group that was very much still adjusting to each other, a whole week apart really set them back.

Looking at his phone briefly, Tommy furrowed his eyebrows, as the rest of the Warblers were settling in.

"Apparently over at McKinley they're doing 'heartache' as a theme? In preparation for sectionals? Is that allowed? The themes for this year haven't even come out yet, have they?!" Tommy spoke in hushed but exaggerated tones.

"There's been rumors," Trent spoke somewhat more quietly and directly to the council as he continued, "That there will be strict themes for all of the competitions this year…and several themes per competition. I think everyone is doing their best to be prepared,"

"I think we should follow suit, then," Teddy responded back at the same level of volume, "Best case scenario - this is a theme and we're prepared. Worst case scenario - it isn't, and we're in the same boat as everyone else,"

"I agree with Teddy. While we won't make it a whole 'theme', we should ask the Warblers to get in touch with their emotional side." Trent nodded in agreement and was met with more nods of agreement from Mack and Tommy.

"ALRIGHT!" Tommy called out without warning. "Welcome little Warblers! We've got an assignment for you this week!"

All of the Warblers suddenly paying attention, they looked up at the council, waiting to hear what the assignment would be.

"You guys ever heard of heartache?" Mack tried desperately to not acknowledge that the theme matched his own feelings.

"You want us to sing songs about being unhappy?" Ambrose questioned slowly, though he was barely there mentally, still reeling from the events of last week.

"Kind of," Teddy spoke up, "Any song that you feel could relate to that theme in some capacity."

"But….why?" Sutton wasn't opposed but was confused.

"In the spirit of full transparency," Teddy responded, his tone cool and controlled, "The Troubletones and the New Directions are doing this as a theme to prepare for sectionals. While we, of course, are not going to do it the same way they do, it could be nice to brainstorm some ideas in case we need to emote this way for a sectionals theme."

"Sectionals have themes?" Frank questioned, stared blankly.

"Most competitions do, yes," Trent spoke up, knowing Teddy shouldn't have to deal with the confusion alone.

"But…what if we don't feel…you know….heart achey?" Zach questioned.

"You don't have to! Just brainstorm a few songs that you know, maybe have that sorta vibe." Tommy shrugged.

"Can anyone think of a song off the top of their head?" Trent tried.

"I think I've got one?" Addison raised his hand meekly, "I know we mostly do, you know, acapella, but would it be okay if I used the piano?" He nodded his head towards the far end of the room where a grand piano sat.

"Of course," Teddy smiled, glad to see someone stepping up – a new Warbler at that.

Making his way to the piano, Addison sat, swallowing hard. A few of the Warblers exchanged glances as he started the first few chords, Sutton nudging Eric to look at him sing, surprised that he'd been looking away.

"Won't you turn around and please look at me
For everything we are, everything we've been?
I promise I'll be good if you stay with me,"

Addison sang out, his voice gentler than it usually was, beautifully carrying out the words of the song. Teddy and Trent exchanged a look, both impressed with how well he was performing.

"But everything we are it just went away
With a slight of a tongue and a sour taste
I cannot recall I can't explain,"

Realizing the weight of the song, a few of the other Warblers looked at Eric concerningly, while he was looking at his shoes.

"But I remember the nights when you'd lie with me
Where we'd talk and we'd touch and we'd fall asleep
I wake up in your arms and I feel at ease,"

Addison continued on playing, though his breath was now becoming audibly shaky as he made way to finish up the rest of the song.

"But now it's just me and I lie awake
And I toss and I turn and I see your face
When I wake from a dream it won't go away,"

While the Warblers continued looking around at each other, Addison took a small glance at Eric before he, still shakily, sang the last line.

"Oh, it's gonna be a long night,"

While there was applause scattered around the room, Tommy's curiosity got the best of him.

"Any particular reason you chose that song?" He questioned, his eyebrows raised.

Addison looked at Eric who gave him a small nod before standing up.

"Me and Eric have um, mutually decided, it's best not to see each other, romantically, anymore," Addison let out a deep breath before looking down.

"We weren't going to tell anyone right away, but then the lesson…and I guess it just happened," Eric continued on, doing his best to make it look like he wasn't ready to fall apart, "But like Addison said it is, you know, mutual. We realized this is both of our first year in glee and we thought we needed some time to, uh, figure out who we are as people, outside of being in a relationship."

"Damn, that whomps," Sutton shook his head.

"But thank you, boys for sharing that," Teddy spoke up, "And Addison thank you for such a beautiful song. If that's all anyone else has to say, I think we can adjourn this meeting?" Teddy wanted to get things wrapped up quickly as, while he was impressed with Addison's performance, it was a bit of a mood killer. Then again, he should have expected it with 'heartache'.

"Yes, I think that's all!" Trent called out in agreement, "Think about what songs you might like to do and we'll see you back here this afternoon!"

CARMEL HIGH

"Did you hear what they're doing for sectionals prep over at McKinley?" Xavier spoke in hushed tones despite himself and Emery being the only two people in the auditorium.

"No," Emery responded slowly, "But I've got a feeling you're about to tell me."

"Heartache! How can they expect Trina to feel heartache when we are so in love?" Xavier sighed out dramatically.

"Maybe she'll focus on how you're at two different schools," Emery smirked, thinking that Xavier would catch on that they were joking. He didn't.

"Oh my god," He gasped, "We are the Romeo and Juliet of Lima!" Xavier called out, still just as dramatically as before.

"What's up with him?" Sydney sneered as she entered the auditorium, Steven following close behind.

"Apparently one of the other schools is doing a 'heartbreak' lesson for sectionals? Or something?" Emery who had barely been paying attention uttered back.

"Oh my god, is that one of the themes?!" Sydney gasped, as Steven simply shrugged in response.

"I dunno, but the Warblies are doin' it too!" Dana announced, holding their hands on the top of their head.

"Yeah, I heard that too," Kate, who'd walked into the room with Dana, spoke.

"And just how did you find that out?" Sydney's eyes narrowed, remembering the conversation they'd had last week.

"My brother?" Kate responded, not wanting to start a fight, "He and his boyfriend broke up, literally yesterday. He texted me to talk about it because of how eerily fitting the theme was."

"Speaking of breakups," Kendall spoke loudly as she walked into the room, "Did you guys hear about Jude?"

"Who?" Anthony, who was walking in behind her, questioned, genuinely still not bothered enough to learn the names of most of his teammates.

"Jude? Hart? My best friend? My beautiful girlfriend's brother?" Xavier tried.

"Nope, not ringing any bells," Anthony shrugged.

"What's not ringing any bells?" Leslie questioned as she, Sawyer and Chloe entered the room.

"The name 'Jude'," Anthony responded nonchalantly.

"Isn't he… literally in this glee club?" Isaac, who came in close behind them, questioned. "Unless it's another Jude?"

"No it's this Jude," Kendall smirked, "and if I could finish my sentence I'd tell you all that rumor has it he and his girlfriend broke up."

"Not shocking," Sydney rolled her eyes.

"I don't really… feel comfortable talking about him behind his back, guys." Emery spoke up, "It's really none of our business."

"I have to agree with Emery," Kate nodded in agreement, "There are more important things to focus on."

"Like sectionals!" Sawyer piped up, hoping they were helping.

"Yeah, who cares about Jude or whatever?" Chloe yawned, admittedly, not really knowing what was going on.

"Good question," Jude rolled his eyes as he entered the auditorium.

"Jude, she didn't mean it like that! People were trying to talk behind your back, but Emery said not to and then Chloe was trying to agree!" Xavier tried to come to his sister's defense, but inevitably made the situation much worse.

"Wow. Not surprising, but good to know I guess," He shook his head, taking a seat as far away from everyone else as possible just as the two directors walked in.

"Before you two say anything," Sydney suddenly stood up, "I'd like to request that we do a heartache theme this week. Some of the schools that are rumored to be our sectionals competition are doing it, which must mean it's a rumored theme which means that we have to do it to get ahead of them."

Both Unique and Harmony exchanged a look before Unique spoke up, "You…took the words out of our mouths. Alright!" She clapped, "You heard Sydney! Think about songs that resonate the feeling of heartache! And then sing your aching hearts out!"

"And don't do anything stupid," Harmony shook her head.

"If that's all…. are we free to go?" Leslie questioned tentatively after a few long moments of the kids looking around at each other.

"Unless someone has a song they want to sing now?" Unique tried but was only met with blank stares. "Alright, fine. You're all free to go," She waved them all off.

The students began filing out, Harmony and Unique following close behind, but Emery hung back for a moment, telling Xavier that she'd meet him in class in a minute.

"You okay?" Emery hesitantly asked Jude, who'd still been sitting there by himself, "I'm sorry about…all of them."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Jude shook his head, "From my understanding, you stuck your neck out for me, which I appreciate."

"You know I've got your back, dude," Emery shrugged. She and Jude had been friends since he joined glee last year, but especially after the small talk they'd had after the performances on Friday, it was nice to know they had someone they could check in on, who would check in on them in turn.

"I do know that, and I appreciate it, and you," Jude offered a small smile, "Life is just shitty sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah," Emery nodded, "I know,"

For a second the two just stayed in silence, looking at each other and then around the room.

"I uh, I should get going, Xavier will kill me if I'm late to class," Emery laughed as they fumbled with their sleeves, "I'll see you later though?"

"Yeah, Em, I'll see you later," Jude nodded, offering a small smile, though he stayed in the auditorium as his friend walked off.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON
MCKINLEY HIGH

"Who're you texting?" Oscar teased Kyla, nosily looking at her phone.

"Stop, you know it's Anthony," She rolled her eyes, the two of them standing outside of the choir room.

"You really like him, huh?" Oscar raised his eyebrows.

"Honestly? I don't know. I think it all happened kinda fast. I'm still unsure of how I feel," Kyla admitted, sighing out.

"You gotta do what makes you happy," Oscar shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right," Kyla began to walk into the room, "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, just uh, give me a second," Oscar pretended to look down at his phone for a moment, but secretly was watching Kyla walk away.

"What the hell was that?" Bryce came up behind him giving him a light, friendly whack on the head.

"What was what?" Oscar spoke, already annoyed with the fact that Bryce had seemingly come out of nowhere.

"That weird yearning look you just gave that tall girl," Bryce laughed, eyes widening for a moment, "you like her, don't you?"

"Of course I like her, she's my only friend in glee club," Oscar shook his head, forcing a laugh.

"You know what I meant, squirt," Bryce ruffled Oscar's hair.

"Don't call me that," Oscar rolled his eyes, "I've gotta go or I'm going to be late."

"Yeah you don't want to miss giving anyone else anymore yearning looks," Bryce teased, standing outside the doorway, watching carefully as Oscar sat down next to Kyla.

Next to Bryce outside was Audrey and Lex who were having a similar conversation to the one Audrey had with Savannah that morning.

"You can't be serious, Lex," Audrey tried to reason with him.

"All I'm saying is she kind of had a point. I thought we'd get to hang out more this year, and I get that we're in different glee clubs or whatever, but it feels like you don't have time for me. And it does kind of also feel like you don't have time for Savannah, either." Lex sighed out, not even sure of what he was saying at this point.

"So I'm not allowed to have a life outside of my friends?" Audrey's eyes widened.

"You shouldn't forget about the friends you had in the first place," Savannah who'd just walked up to them interrupted.

"This is ridiculous, Savannah you always do this. You get mad at me for something that I didn't even know I was doing, and certainly wasn't doing on purpose, and then in a few days you'll come apologize and start the cycle all over again." Audrey breathed out heavily.

"It's not my fault that you don't know how to be a good friend," Savannah sneered.

"And it's not my fault that I never know where the hell I stand with you!" Audrey cried out.

"I'm…just gonna go to glee," Lex sighed out, wanting this discussion to end. "Sav, are you coming?"

"Yeah," Savannah took one last look at Audrey before looking back to Lex and following his lead, "Right behind you."

"Alright!" Mr. Schue called out as the New Directions were finally all present and sitting down in the class. "I know it's only been a couple of hours, but does anyone have anything you want to share with the class?" He tried.

"There's actually a song," Simon spoke out cautiously but optimistically, "That Finley and I have been toying around with? And it suits the theme I think."

"By all means then boys, the floor is yours!" Will smiled happily, glad someone would go up and perform.

"Is it alright if I use this?" Finley questioned before getting the okay and picking up a guitar from the side of the room.

"Whenever you're ready, go for it!" Their coach encouraged them.

Both of them sitting on stools, Finley began strumming a few chords before Simon took the first part of the song.

"Come rest your bones next to me," The older Jones sang out, his voice smooth and fitting with the vibe of the song well, "and toss all your thoughts to the sea,"

"I'll pull up each of our anchors," Finley took the next part, his voice slightly lower and raspier, though it fit the song just as well, but in a different way, "so we can get lost, you and me,"

"Woo!" Naomi called out, followed by another cheer from Rowan as the two were happy for their brothers and impressed with their performance.

"My heart is buried in Venice," Finley continued singing, smiling slightly at the support from his siblings, "Hidden beneath all my worries and doubts,"

"My heart is buried in Venice," Simon sang out the rest of the chorus, "Waiting for someone to take it home,"

Finley played a few more chords, while around the room Rey and Lex both let out various cheering noises.

"Say, say what you mean," Simon continued to sing, doing his best to really feel the song, "Tell me the truth or tell me you're through,"

"Don't leave me to breathe," Finley took over, "Don't leave me to bleed,"

Looking at each other, the two brothers each took a deep breath before really singing out together, "For someone who chose to leave me be,"

They both surprised each other and everyone else in the room by how they not only managed to hold the note for as long as they did but also how they managed to stay in tune and in harmony with each other, earning them a loud cheer from most of the people in the room.

"My heart is buried in Venice," Finley began to wrap up the song, lowering his voice slightly before Simon picked up the next line

"Waitin' for someone to take it," His voice was soft and subtle as he turned to his brother.

"Home," The two sang in unison.

As the class applauded somewhere between politely and enthusiastically, Mr. Schue got up to take control over the room again.

"Great way to start us off, guys! Did anything inspire you to choose that song?" Will asked, hoping they would say something that would inspire the other kids.

Finley and Simon looked at each other for a short moment before shrugging in sync, "Not really," Finley admitted with a sheepish smile, "We both just kinda dug the song, and it worked out for this week."

"Well, either way, fantastic job," Mr. Schue smiled, looking on at the rest of his students, "Does anybody else have anything?"

Will was met with blank stares and quiet muttering from the students.

"Alright, well, have a think and feel free to spend some time now trying to come up with something," He sighed out defeated.

Over in the Troubletones room things were going about as well, most of the girls were sitting inside, while Mia was still standing in the hallway talking to her cousin, Zoey.

"I don't get it. If you're in an open relationship, why are you mad that she went out with someone else?" Zoey questioned, more interested in the drama of it all than being interested in Mia's thoughts or feelings.

"I guess I didn't know it would bother me so much?" Mia sighed out, dejected, "I just don't know what to do."

"Give her a taste of her own medicine. You're in that stupid singing thing, right?" Zoey spoke without thinking, looking at her nails instead of the girl in front of her. "Sing a song to make her mad and then tell her you've moved on or something."

"Do you really think that will work?" Mia's eyes widened.

"I don't know? I don't really care either. I'm bored now. Toodles," She waved to her cousin, walking off.

Sighing out, Mia did have a song in mind, but also didn't want to push too many of Heather's buttons. As she walked in though, she saw Audrey and Heather discussing a possible song to do.

"Yeah, I know it. I can back you up, no biggie," Heather smiled to Audrey.

"I see you two are still close as ever," Tia sneered, calling them out as she watched her twin walk into the room.

Before Heather had the chance to interject, Marley spoke up, "Alright girls! Has anyone had a chance to think about what they'd like to sing?"

"I have!" Mia called out, as Cay and Nikki exchanged looks, neither knowing or caring much about what was going on with everyone else in the room.

"Alright, well, feel free to go ahead then!" Marley encouraged her, moving to take a seat with the other girls, as Mia got up to perform.

"As some of you may know," Mia began speaking, "Heather and I have had a bit of a falling out lately, despite our previous relationship."

"Previous?" Heather's eyebrows furrowed.

"Relationship?" Nikki asked, in the same tone as Heather.

"So I would like to sing a song about that." Mia smiled, ignoring the comments, music starting behind her. While it wasn't her typical style, she'd thought of it on the fly, and thought it would make a lot of sense, given her situation.

"State the obvious, I didn't get my perfect fantasy," Mia started, her voice strong as she looked directly at Heather, "I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me,"

"What the fu-" Heather started but was immediately cut off by Mia continuing to sing.

"So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy," Mia continued to sing, "that's fine I'll tell mine that you're gay,"

This line caused Audrey to burst out laughing, as Cay and Nikki exchanged looks of confusion.

"By the way,
I hate that stupid old pickup truck
You never let me drive
You're a redneck heartbreak
Who's really bad at lying,"

Mia was now dancing around the room, and while Trina and Leah sort of bopped politely along to the music, Tia smiled encouragingly, and Heather continued to watch and felt about as confused as she'd ever been.

"So watch me strike a match
On all my wasted time
As far as I'm concerned
You're just another picture to burn,"

Mia began wrapping up her song and while the glances between the other members of the glee club continued, Marley was at least content that someone stepped up to sing a song.

"Burn, burn, burn, baby, burn, you're just another picture to burn," Mia sang out, her voice strong, as she paused directly in front of Heather, "Baby, burn," She concluded with her hands on her hips.

"Hey, so quick question," Heather stood up, "What the hell was that?"

"I was singing my feelings," Mia straightened herself out.

"I kept telling you I wanted to talk about it and you refused to hear me out. That's on you, not me. Not my problem," Heather sneered.

"Well," Tia stood up, now getting ready to speak up on her sister's behalf. "Is it your problem that she's now in an exclusive relationship with someone else?"

"Who?" Heather rolled her eyes.

"None of your business," Mia spoke up, going along with her sister's blatant lie.

"Ladies, I think that's enough…" Marley tried to interject.

"Whatever, I'm out of here, I've got more important things to do," Heather sneered, "Audrey, come on, let's go practice your song."

Reluctantly Audrey obliged, leaving the other girls standing around looking at each other trying to figure out what to do next.

"I guess….that's enough for today then?" Marley practically cringed as she spoke, but just as reluctantly as Audrey, the other girls got up and left.

DALTON ACADEMY

While there were of course whispers among the Warblers about the performance and news from that morning, they still did their best to be supportive of Eric and Addison. As they all filed in for the afternoon meeting, many of them were distracted by Tommy speaking to basically anyone who would listen.

"So we're planning our second date now!" Tommy squealed excitedly.

"Date with who?" Trent asked, eyebrows raised out of curiosity as he and Zach walked into the room together.

"Naomi Jones, from McKinley. We've kind of got a little Romeo and Juliet thing going," Tommy smiled in a way that could only be described as 'cheesing'.

"And we're all very happy for you," Teddy responded, his tone dry.

"I'd believe it more if you said it happily," Tommy crossed his arms over his chest.

"In fairness, we are still focusing on heartache," Teddy reminded his co-councilman, "Which reminds me, does anyone have anything they'd like to share?"

"I uh," Mack spoke up meekly despite being at the head of the table, "I've actually got something."

"Is it Fireflies?" Ambrose raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"No!" Mack responded defensively before brushing himself off slightly, "It's uh, a song that kind of fits the theme, I think?"

"Well what're you waiting for, bestie?" Tommy nudged him, "Go on and show us what you've got!"

"Oh, um, okay!" Mack faked putting on a brave face though it was obvious that most of the Warblers saw right through him.

"Thanks for stepping up, Mack!" Trent smiled, "Whenever you're ready, please go ahead!"

Mack stood in front of all the Warblers, clearing his throat awkwardly before he began singing.

"Somebody said you got a new friend," He began, his voice was shaky, as were his hands but he was definitely trying, "Does she love you better than I can?"

Teddy then stood up, creating the percussion for his friend as he saw that he was clearly about to go through it, just as Sutton and Ambrose jumped in with background music.

"And there's a big black sky over my town
I know where you're at, I bet she's around,"

Mack looked at Tommy just for a moment before continuing on as Michael, Frank and Bob all also jumped in in the background.

"And yeah, I know it's stupid
But I just gotta see it for myself,"

Sutton nudged Mack playfully for a moment, noticing how tense he seemed, trying to get him to loosen up as Tommy also jumped in dancing around to the music.

"I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her, oh," Mack continued to sing, his voice, surprisingly getting better and more emotional with each word he sang, "I'm right over here, why can't you see me? Oh,"

As the rest of the Warblers danced around him, Mack once again made eye contact with Tommy for a brief moment before practically belting out the rest of the chorus.

"And I'm giving it my all
I'm not the guy you're taking home, ooh
I keep dancing on my own,"

Looking around the room, Mack was both embarrassed and surprised at all the support he was getting from the young men around him.

"I keep dancing on my own
I keep dancing on my own,"

He finished the song as strongly as he could, though he swallowed hard trying to push away the emotions that threatened to explode out of him at any moment.

"Very well done, Mack!" Trent applauded him, not quite completely understanding what exactly it was that had just happened, or the weight of it. "What encouraged you to pick that song?"

"I um," Mack stuttered for a few long moments, stalling to think of any kind of excuse, "Just a song I like?" He tried.

Though Teddy saw right through him, he understood the real reason Mack chose the song, but elected to not bring it up because he, of course, didn't want to embarrass Mack, but more than that he just did not want it to turn into a whole thing.

"Well either way, I think I can speak for all of us when we say, congratulations on picking a great song for the theme," Trent continued to smile, as Mack looked awkwardly around the room, truly now just wanting the moment to pass.

CARMEL HIGH

"God, would it kill you to leave me alone for 30 seconds?" Sydney snapped at her brother, Steven as they stood outside of the auditorium, the two of them the last to enter, other than their coaches.

"I just…wanted to hang out with you," Steven admitted sheepishly. He wasn't even entirely sure where this was coming from. Sure, he and Sydney were never quite as close as he had wanted, but this truly seemed to come from nowhere.

"Well don't!" Sydney tried to keep herself composed, but let their voice raise enough to be dramatic, "I would literally rather be strangers with you than have you following me around like a lost puppy." She was entirely aware of how she sounded but couldn't be bothered enough to try to be nice to him. In her eyes, this had been going on for years, and she was just tired of it.

"Is….is that how you really feel?" Steven swallowed hard, trying to not show how it was getting to him.

"Yes. Now scram," Sydney directed, walking into the auditorium.

While Steven was at first unsure of what to do, he waited for a few long moments before following Sydney in, making sure to sit on the opposite side of the room as her, doing his best to avoid making eye contact, or any kind of contact at all, with any other member of Vocal Adrenaline. Just as Kate asked if he was okay, Unique and Harmony walked in.

"Alright losers," Harmony yelled out, "Who's got a song?"

"Can we please not call them losers?" Unique practically begged.

"Yeah! Most of you are losers," Anthony spoke out, "But I'm not and would very much like to not be grouped in with you." Though several members of the glee club were getting ready to fight him on what he said, Unique cut them all off.

"Enough!" She called out, "Now if I may rephrase Mrs. Pearce's question, does anyone have any song they'd like to perform?"

"We've got one!" Xavier called out happily. Grabbing Emery's arm and raising it as high as his own as the coach looked for volunteers.

"Go ahead, sweetie!" Harmony cooed, hoping that, just for once, Xavier understood the assignment.

As he and Emery quickly made their way up the stage, Chloe cheered slightly for her brother as she watched him and his friend sit on a couple of stools as Emery grabbed a guitar which they, admittedly, did not play as well as many of the other students in the glee club and began strumming.

"Set on this girl and I just can't show it," Xavier began singing as a few of the students in the audience exchanged looks, wondering where this was going. "I'm taking my time 'cause I don't wanna blow it, but I can't get her out of my mind,"

Xavier certainly sounded great, and to most of the audience's surprise, so did Emery as she took the next part.

"She looks one way and I look another," Emery looked out into the audience, realizing she was looking too directly at someone specifically, before shaking their head, continuing to sing "All my friends say please, don't bother, but I can't see the truth when I'm blind,"

While this did earn her a small but fleeting look of confusion from Xavier, he elected to ignore it, singing out, "I know it's real,"

The group of teenagers in the audience looked at each other confusingly, though Sawyer and Dana were swaying along to the song happily as Xavier and Emery began the chorus together.

"The older that I get,
The less that I regret,"

They sang, their very different voices complimenting each other incredibly well, leaving many of the group to wonder why they hadn't sung together before.

"And baby, it's 'cause of you," Xavier took the line on his own, doing his absolute best to connect to the words.

"Since the day we met, you know I won't forget," They both sang once together once more, as Harmony raised her eyebrows, impressed, of course, by Xavier, but mentally noting that whatever solo she would give him at a competition, Emery would work well on the lower harmonies of it.

"That baby, my aim is true," Xavier sang by himself once more, swaying back and forth on the stool he sat on.

"Oh Amy, A-A-Amy, you've changed my life," Emery sang out strong, though their voice wasn't as crisp or as clear as Xavier's.

"Oh Amy, A-A-Amy," Xavier took over, still swaying, "You make everything,"

The two froze for just a second for dramatic tension before finishing the song, "alright,"

While there was some confused applause, Isaac was the first to speak up, asking, "Who the hell is Amy?"

"It's just the name of the song," Xavier did his best to explain, "I wanted to sing Trina instead,"

"But I thought that was a bit too far," Emery rested their hand on Xavier's shoulder.

"Why that song? For heartache?" Unique questioned, kindly but firm.

"Because I miss my girlfriend! I long for her!" Xavier cried out dramatically, "Being away from her makes my heart ache."

"Isn't she literally at a school like, twenty minutes away?" Sydney rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"That doesn't change the heartache! I feel so empty," Xavier continued on, dramatically.

"And who am I if not a supportive friend?" Emery shrugged, not that anyone had even bothered to ask why they performed with him.

"Alright, get off the stage," Harmony directed before looking at Xavier, "And great job," She did her best to be supportive before turning to everyone else, "Now does anyone else have anything else they'd like to share?"

"I've got something," Jude spoke up, surprising most of the group.

"The stage is yours," Unique responded, genuinely surprised, albeit a bit concerned, that Jude was so ready to go.

As he made his way onto the stage, he picked up the same guitar the duo before him had used, strumming a few notes before clearing his throat. He thought for a moment about whether or not he wanted to talk about the song first, but then remembered the events of that morning and how quickly word got around, so he figured they'd all be able to put the pieces together.

"10am once again and you're giving me the run around," He began, his voice cool and controlled, visibly trying to keep it together, "I heard you said in your head that you wanna hear a different sound"

He looked out into the audience for a short moment, feeling somewhat awkward that he was performing this in front of his now ex-girlfriend's mom's best friend, but decided to put that thought to rest as he carried on.

"The sun was hot but you were so cold
We were too young for this to be getting old
And you taste the same
We've been led astray,"

"Shocking," Kendall half laughed, acknowledging the song choice since she was the one who had broken the news about his break up to everyone earlier.

"Let him sing," Leslie nudged her friend slightly, unsure of whether to be supportive or act like she didn't know what was going on since it wasn't really her place to know, anyways.

"Thought that I realized that I'm not on my own again
Is it bad that I'm sad but I just don't know why yet
I was looking up, you were looking down
You were breathing in, but I was fading out
Now you can't deny
So I'll ask why,"

Strumming for longer than necessary, Jude did his best to buy himself some time knowing the chorus would, easily, be the most difficult part to get through.

"When will my love just be enough?" He began, his voice now growing to the edgier, more familiar tone he normally sang in, his voice shaking just slightly at the words, though it was hard to tell if it was out of sadness or anger, "When will my love not be a crutch?"

Taking a small deep breath, he looked around the audience again before closing his eyes as he finished out the song.

"If it's not for you
Then I hope someone feels the way that I do
When will my love just be enough?"

As the song finished, lots of scattered, polite applause could be heard as well as Harmony speaking up to say, "That actually kind of fit the lesson. I'm surprised."

"Thanks?" Jude was confused at the notion of Harmony giving even a half compliment to someone who wasn't one of her kids.

"Now does anyone else have anything?" Unique called attention back to trying to get everyone involved. While Steven looked like he wanted to say something, he made the mistake of glancing at Sydney who gave him a warning look, shutting him down before he even had the chance to say anything.

"If that's everything, then we'll see you all on Thursday," Harmony dismissed them quickly, wanting to give Xavier a full explanation of what she would expect from him from future assignments.

THURSDAY MORNING
MCKINLEY HIGH

Kyla and Oscar once again stood outside of the choir room, Oscar putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"It's so stupid, you know? I didn't even like him, and it was my choice we broke up, but I still feel weird about it. Like I should feel sad or something," Kyla shook her head.

"It's not stupid at all," Oscar shook his head in turn, "Your feelings are never stupid and are completely valid. The relationship was new, but now so is the break up. It's okay to not know how to feel about it," He shrugged.

'Thanks, Os," Kyla smiled, "You always know what to say,"

Though Oscar smiled back, he did feel somewhat guilty for being happy that Kyla's week long relationship was over. Bryce wasn't wrong about him having feelings for her, but he did still want her to be happy. Shaking his head as if to rid himself of the thoughts, Oscar followed Kyla into the classroom, both of them being the last of the group to enter.

"Alright everyone!" Mr. Schue called out, "Now I know we don't have a lot of time in these morning meetings, but is there anyone who has a song they'd like to share?" He was surprised by the number of hands he saw go up, before asking "Are there any groups going together? We can do maybe a few of those this morning and everyone else can go this afternoon."

While Naomi put her hand up for groups, she noticed Savannah also put her hand up, rolling her eyes.

"You know you don't have to perform every day right? You're aware there are other people in the glee club too, right?" Naomi shook her head. She, of course, typically had no problem letting other people perform but it seemed like Savannah was always performing.

"For your information," Savannah snapped back, "I'm singing with my good friend, Lex, because of an argument we got into with another, now ex good friend."

"For your information," Naomi raised her eyebrows, "I didn't ask for or need that information."

"Okay ladies," Mr. Schue looked between them, "That's enough. You can both go this morning. Savannah, why don't you and Lex go ahead and start?"

While Naomi rolled her eyes once more she got a warning nudge from Finley as if to say "stop".

"So!" Lex called out trying to distract from the issue at hand, "I'm not entirely sure just how well this song sort of fits into everything, but we both like it and it seemed fitting enough, I guess?" He shrugged. His mind, of course, was still on Audrey and how he wanted to make things right, but knew he just had to get through the song and was trying to channel all of his energy into that.

A few slow notes started on the piano as Savannah began singing, her voice crisp, clear and beautiful.

"This is gospel
For the fallen ones
Locked away in permanent slumber
Assembling
Their philosophies
From pieces of broken memories,"

She sang out confidently as both her and Lex stood still, noting that for this particular song it was more important to emote than to move as they looked at each other for a moment before singing in harmony.

"Oo-ooh-oh-oh-oooh
Oo-ooh-oh-oh-oooh,"

Lex straightened himself out, nodding along to the piano as he sang out the next part of the song strongly, surprising most of the glee club with his low range.

"The gnashing teeth and criminal tongues
Conspire against the odds
But they haven't seen the best of us yet,"

Now taking a few steps away from each other, Lex and Savannah turned to look at each other just slightly as Savannah sang out, "If you love me let me go," holding the last note.

Following suit, Lex echoed her singing, "If you love me let me go," with the same power and strong note hold.

Now turning away from each other and facing the audience, Savannah continued to sing out, her voice becoming more emotive with each word.

"Cause these words are knives
That often leave scars
The fear of falling apart,"

Lex swallowed hard, feigning confidence. He was not normally someone who had trouble with singing out confidently and proudly but he couldn't stop thinking about the aforementioned falling out with Audrey and still not knowing how her date with Heather went. The next line of the song certainly didn't help that, either.

"Truth be told I never was yours," He sang out, the audience once again surprised with his performance and how expressive he was able to be, "The fear, the fear of falling apart,"

Stepping close to each other once more, Lex and Savannah sang out the remainder of the song together in perfect harmony.

"The fear of falling apart
The fear, the fear of falling apart
The fear of falling apart
The fear of falling apart
The fear of falling apart
The fear of falling apart"

"Wow!" Will called out, as their peers clapped for them, "Incredible performance, you guys. Naomi? Who will you be singing with?"

"I'll be signing with Rowan," Naomi smiled diplomatically, knowing the real reason she was mad about Savannah and Lex getting to perform first was that Rowan hadn't really done a performance for the glee club yet, and since they came to her after seeing Simon and Finley perform and they chose the song, she just wanted Rowan to feel like they had a place in glee.

"Alright, whenever you're ready!" Mr. Schue encouraged, as Simon clapped loudly for his siblings as they pulled up a couple of chairs sitting in front of the class.

Rowan picked up a guitar and began strumming on it as Naomi took the first part of the verse. Much like Lex, she surprised the other teens with her lower range.

"Remember the words you told me? 'Love me 'til the day I die'," She sang out, her voice soft but powerful and emotional, "Surrender my everything 'cause you made me believe you're mine,"

"Yeah, you used to call me baby, now you're calling me by name," Rowan took their turn singing out, their raspy voice working surprisingly well with the song, "Takes one to know one, yeah, you beat me at my own damn game,"

A few feet tapped around the room in rhythm with the song, as Naomi took over singing again.

"You push and you push and I'm pulling away, pulling away from you
I give and I give and I give and you take, give and you take,"

Naomi's voice was strong, powerful, and clear, reminiscent of her mother. Delia made note of that as they were going to be preparing for sectionals very soon.

"Youngblood," Rowan sang out powerfully, surprising everyone that they even had any real power to their voice at all, "Say you want me, say you want me out of your life," They continued to sing out as Naomi jumped in with high and soft harmonies, complimenting each other perfectly.

"And I'm just a dead man walking tonight
But you need it, yeah you need it, all of the time, yeah,"

They continued to sing in perfect harmony just in time for Naomi to sing out, "Ooh, ooh, ooh," before jumping back into harmonies as they finished up the song.

"Youngblood
Say you want me, say you want me back in your life
So I'm just a dead man crawling tonight
'Cause I need it, yeah I need it, all of the time, yeah ooh ooh ooh,"

Much like the duo before them, they earned a loud round of applause just as the bell rang and Mr. Schue dismissed them. While the kids began to file out and Simon immediately jumped out of his seat to congratulate his siblings on a job well done, Finley had someone else he wanted to congratulate.

"Hey, uh, sorry to bother you," He spoke with a charming smile as he walked up to Savannah, "I just wanted to let you know that I think you did a really great job up there. I mean, your voice is like, killer."

Though slightly taken aback, Savannah was never one to dismiss a compliment, "Hey, thanks, Finley," She smiled, surprising herself with the fact that she'd remembered his name – most people around school just knew him as the water boy for the football team. "I always appreciate a good compliment," She smiled kindly.

"Well," He shrugged, "You deserve it, what can I say?" Finley laughed slightly.

"Well thank you again," Savannah smirked before continuing on, "But isn't your sister going to, I don't know, kill you for talking to me?" She rolled her eyes.

"Naomi isn't all bad, I promise. She just… gets protective of all of us. If I had to guess, I'd say it had more to do with Rowan than with you," Finley did his best to explain.

"Be that as it may, I don't appreciate people like her trying to boss me around," Savannah sneered.

"I get that," Finley shook his head and sighed out. He truly did love Naomi but knew that she could be a bit much sometimes. "Wanna walk with me to class?" He asked suddenly, "I know we've got the same first period, and if we're going there, we might as well go together," He smiled.

"Sure," Savannah nodded, not thinking anything of it.

Over in the Troubletones, tensions were still high from earlier that week. For the first time since glee had started, Heather and Mia were on opposite sides of the room. While Mia sat with Tia, Heather sat with Audrey, both claiming that they needed someone to "be on their side."

"This is ridiculous," Cay rolled her eyes, "Can't we go a week without Heather pissing someone off?"

"I kinda like the drama," Nikki shrugged.

"In fairness," Heather spoke up, ignoring Nikki, "It's everyone else that's the problem! Not me! And even, say, hypothetically, if most of the time it is my fault – which it's not! This time I literally didn't do anything. I went on a date with Audrey because Mia and I were in an open relationship. And suddenly I'm the bad guy!"

"How'd the date go, though?" Nikki spoke up once more, trying to get a reaction out of literally anyone else in the room.

"Bad. Audrey is the worst. As a date! But turns out we, platonically, go really well together," Heather explained with a shrug.

"The worst?" Audrey raised her eyebrows with a laugh.

"So…you're not together?" Mia questioned, confused.

"Doesn't matter, because you've already moved on." Tia reminded her sister of the lie that she and Zoey had come up with.

"Alright, ladies. That's enough," Marley walked in, Leah close behind her.

"You're late, Marley," Nikki spoke up knowingly.

"Firstly, don't call me that. Secondly, how did you get here so early?" Marley was confused as she placed her bag down.

"She came with us, did she not tell you?" Trina questioned, "Since the group thing last week Nikki and Sophie have been hanging out."

"So you've been hanging out with the Harts?" Leah groaned, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Yeah. Sophie's brother is pretty cool, I think you two would get along great," Nikki laughed, knowing how annoyed that sentence would make Leah.

"Nicole. That's enough," Marley spoke, her tone equally upset and firm, "Stop."

"I can't stand you!" Leah ignored her mother, yelling directly to Nikki.

"Well then, sit down!" Nikki responded back, earning her a reluctant high-five from Cay.

"Seriously! Stop! Both of you! All of you!" Marley shook her head, unable to believe how they were all acting. "Audrey. You said you and Heather were working on a song, right?" She tried to change the subject and move things along.

"Yeah, I mean, it's not totally put together…" Audrey trailed off.

"That's fine! Please, Audrey, go ahead!" Marley spoke to her niece with a desperate look in her eyes.

While Heather and Audrey exchanged a slightly confused look, they got up, Heather, per usual, grabbing a guitar as Audrey spoke up, "So this has been a, um, real weird week. I had sort of a falling out with two close friends of mine, and one of them is just… someone I fight with a lot and while this song is technically about a relationship, I think it still fits the vibe I wanted to go for? In terms of how I feel right now about that particular friendship." She did her best to explain, "And, since she's sort of the queen of writing about heartache, we decided to follow Mia's lead and do a Taylor Swift song."

This was not entirely true – they were planning the song anyways, but they thought it would be a nice touch to try to bring a sense of togetherness to the group.

"Amazing! Can't wait to hear it!" Marley encouraged the girls, taking a seat with the rest of the glee club.

As Heather began playing a few chords, Audrey jumped in with the words.

"I'm really gonna miss you picking fights," She started singing, letting her frustration with Savannah show in the words she sang, "And me, falling for it, screaming that I'm right,"

"And you would hide away and find your peace of mind
With some indie record that's much cooler than mine,"

Audrey's voice was soft but confident and strong as she expressed how she felt, Heather swaying behind her, still strumming away.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh
You called me up again tonight
But ooh, ooh, ooh
This time, I'm telling you, I'm telling you,"

Leah felt conflicted – while she liked the song and, of course, related to it, she didn't really want to sit there and listen to it for that exact reason. Trina, Cay and Nikki, however, were getting ready to sing along to the chorus as they all swayed in their seats.

"We are never ever, ever getting back together," Audrey continued to sing as she moved around the room, Heather moving in a different direction still dancing around with the guitar. "We are never ever, ever getting back together,"

The other girls backed up Audrey's vocals as she got ready to wrap up the song.

"You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me,
But we are never ever, ever, ever getting back together"

Audrey paused, looking at the rest of the girls with her hand on her hip thinking about not just this week when she and Savannah had fought, but also every other time before that. Since they were kids they bickered like that, and as she thought of this she called out the last two words, "Like, ever."

Earning quiet applause from the kids in the room, Audrey smiled and gave a small curtsey as Heather put her guitar down.

"Well done, girls! And Audrey, thank you for sharing that with us and being so personal. Great job, ladies!" Marley applauded her students, just as the bell rang.

"Hey," Heather ran up to catch up to Tia and Mia, "Are we gonna talk or what?"

Though both Tia and Mia opened their mouths to speak, they were interrupted as Zoey popped out of seemingly nowhere.

"As far as I know, there's nothing to talk about. Mia is in a new, closed relationship. So now you've got to move along," Zoey spoke, moving her hand as if to shoo Heather away.

"Always a pleasure, Zo," Heather rolled her eyes, "Especially when you refuse to mind your own business."

"Mia is my cousin and I care about her well being. This new girl is great for her. They're both cheerios, both talented-" She was cut off by Tia who popped back into the conversation

"And she wouldn't be afraid to perform in front of her glee club," Tia snickered.

"C'mon guys, just drop it. We're going to be late for class," Mia groaned, tired of both of the other girls trying to fight her battles for her, and also frustrated with this situation getting completely out of hand so quickly.

Deciding to follow Mia's lead, Tia and Zoey walked off with her, just as Audrey came up behind Heather.

"What's up, buttercup?" Audrey asked her purple-haired friend.

"I think I might need your help with this assignment," Heather thought out loud, as Audrey smiled.

"Does this mean we're finally going to get to hear you sing?"

DALTON ACADEMY

As the week progressed, and many of the Warblers struggled with coming up with songs to sing, a group of seniors sat excitedly together ready to perform, which is why when the question of who wanted to perform came up from the council, Zach was quick to jump on his feet.

"We've got a song!" He called out excitedly.

"Who exactly is we?" Teddy questioned cautiously.

"Me!" Tommy stood up, surprising both other members of the council as he got up from behind the desk, moving to stand with Zach in the middle of the room.

"Me too!" Frank stood up with them, also surprising the group.

"Wow," Trent smiled, shaking his head, "I love the initiative! What song have you boys got planned?"

"Well," Tommy spoke slowly and just as cautiously as Teddy had spoken moments ago, "We've all kind of got something going on with a girl at another school-"

Tommy was cut off by most of the room saying "What?!"

While they all knew about Tommy and Naomi going on a few dates, the other two were surprising.

"Frank?" Bob questioned, surprised that his brother, who, up until this point told him everything, did not tell him about this.

"Zach?!" Trent shook his head, easily the most surprised person in the room.

"It's not, like, a serious thing or anything, so I don't talk about it, so I don't jinx it," Zach shrugged nonchalantly.

"We're going to talk about this at home tonight," Trent shook his head before directing his attention back to the unlikely trio before him, "Alright boys, what song are you doing?"

"As I was saying earlier before I was interrupted," Tommy cleared his throat, adjusting his tie, "We all kinda ganged together 'cause none of us really feel heartache right now? But this song felt right." He shrugged, not answering Trent's question as Zach and Frank began doing instrumental behind him.

"You can tell the world you never was my girl
You can burn my clothes up when I'm gone
Or you can tell your friends just what a fool I've been
And laugh and joke about me on the phone"

Tommy sang out confidently, as Oliver laughed and shook his head at the sight before him and Teddy let out a deep sigh knowing that, technically, this did fit in with the assignment. Tommy switched spots with Frank, now taking over the background. Because it was just three of them the instrumental noises could have used some work, but the actual singing sounded alright.

"You can tell my arms go back to the farm
You can tell my feet to hit the floor
Or you can tell my lips to tell my fingertips
They won't be reaching out for you no more"

Frank sang the next part of the verse, his voice lower and smoother than most of the other Warblers knew he was capable of. Much like Tommy his vocals were impressive, but the most surprising of the bunch was Zach who, while he was not necessarily the best singer, did know how to sell the song as he took on the chorus.

"But don't tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
I just don't think he'd understand
And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
He might blow up and kill this man
Ooh"

As he sang, the boys danced around the room. While Michael politely swayed to the music, and Sutton was full on dancing, Mack had his eyebrows furrowed, Bob was still trying to figure out who Frank was 'seeing', and Ambrose had the blankest stare possible on his face.

"Don't tell my heart, my achy break heart," The boys dropped the instrumental, shockingly making the song sound that much better as their different vocal ranges complimented each other well in harmony, "I just don't think he'd understand,"

"And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
He might blow up and kill this man
Ooh"

While the applause was scarce, nobody could disagree that while it was not the strongest performance they'd ever seen in that room, they at least found their way by the end of it.

"Well done, gents." Trent smiled encouragingly, just as he got interrupted by the bell for all of the kids to head to class, "We'll see you again this afternoon! Please bring your best heartache!" He tried, before realizing how bad that sounded.

"I think," Teddy spoke up, "What Mr. Nixon means is, remember the theme!"

"Thank you," Trent nodded, smiling as the boys filed out of the room, glad that regardless of whatever else happened in that room, he and Teddy still had each other's backs.

CARMEL HIGH

"What's with the long face?" Leslie questioned as she walked in, seeing that Anthony was the first and only other person in the auditorium, as he sat pouting.

"So you know how I was seeing that McKinley girl?" He questioned.

"Vaguely?" Leslie responded, somewhat confused.

"Didn't you only date for a week?" Kendall snickered as she entered closely behind Leslie.

"Yes, but, it's over." Anthony sighed out dramatically, and admittedly, for the attention.

"What's over?" Kate asked, Dana following close behind her.

"Yeah, what's over?" Sawyer repeated, only hearing what Kate had said as Steven followed them in.

"Anthony's weird one week relationship with that senior?" Isaac raised his eyebrows with a smirk as he entered the room.

"Why do we do this every day?" Kate questioned, referring to their conversations always going in circles.

"Do what every day?" Sydney sneered as she entered.

"Ha!" Dana called out, "It happened again!"

"Anthony and his weird senior broke up," Kendall giggled once more, glad to talk about anything that wasn't herself.

"In my own defense," Anthony put his arms up in a mock surrender sort of way, "I mostly did it to get information about New Directions,"

"You what?" Kate's eyes widened.

"That's hilarious," Chloe spoke, though her voice was dry and flat as she entered the room with Xavier and Emery.

"Well you kind of shat the bed on that one, didn't you?" Sydney rolled her eyes, "If you're going to spy can you at least do it right?"

"Hey, at least he tried his best!" Xavier nodded supportively, as Dana nodded rapidly in agreement.

"Am I the only one who's not okay with him trying to spy on one of the other teams?" Kate looked around at her teammates in shock.

Though Leslie and Sawyer didn't entirely agree with Anthony's motives, they felt it wasn't a great time to speak up. And Steven didn't totally agree either, but he wasn't about to make things more tense with Sydney than they already were.

"Afraid so, Karofsky," Sydney shrugged.

"Wait," Emery spoke up suddenly, "So are you bummed about the break up? Or bummed about not being able to spy?"

"I don't know? Both?!" Anthony cried out. In fairness, he didn't like Kyla romantically, but he didn't mind her as a person, which was rare for him.

Though most of the glee club exchanged confused looks, nobody had the chance to respond as Harmony and Unique entered the auditorium.

"Good morning, Vocal Adrenaline!" Harmony practically screamed out, as she entered, taking a quick head count. "Where the hell is Jude?"

"Can't be surprised. Guess he has a thing for missing meetings," Kendall shrugged, as Sydney nodded in agreement.

"Be nice to him!" Xavier called out in Jude's defense.

"Can't keep defending him if he's not here to be defended," Sydney rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," Harmony breathed out, defeated. It was not unlike Jude to miss rehearsals, but two this early on in the year did feel odd.

"Has anyone got a heartache song to perform?" Unique questioned, desperately trying to move things along.

"I've got one!" Anthony raised his hand, far too enthusiastically and drastically different from his demeanor just moments before, as he didn't wait to get the okay before he stood up and made his way to the stage.

"Go on then, I guess!" Harmony called out as he was already on the stage, frustrated that it seemed as though nobody here respected her anymore.

As Anthony stood on the stage, he plugged his phone into a speaker before announcing, "This is the greatest song ever written and I fear the band would not do it justice, so I had my parents' people – that's what you call your professional team when you're in the industry – put an arrangement together. If you don't know this song you are simply uncultured, and I am so sorry for your poor taste." He wrapped up his monologue, as most of the people in the audience either looked annoyed or confused.

A few short notes started as he pressed play on the music before he dramatically began singing.

"What have I done?
I wish I could run,
Away from this ship going under,"

He sang out, his voice was beautiful and carried the words brilliantly, though nobody in the club recognized the song.

"Just trying to help out everyone else
Now I feel the weight of the world is on my shoulders"

Dana swayed along to the music while nearly everyone else rolled their eyes at Anthony's dramatics.

"What can you do when your good isn't good enough
And all that you touch tumbles down?"

Anthony was certainly giving a strong, theatrical performance, but he did feel somewhat disconnected from the actual emotions that were supposed to be behind the song, which is something Unique noted.

"'Cause my best intentions
Keep making a mess of things
I just wanna fix it somehow
But how many times will it take?
Oh, how many times will it take for me to get it right, to get it right?"

Anthony wrapped up the song, as Sawyer and Kate clapped politely, and Dana cheered out encouragingly, the same way they would do for everyone else in the group.

"Well done, Anthony," Unique began to speak, "If I may give one small critique-" She began but was, unsurprisingly, cut off immediately.

"You may not. That performance was brilliant and if you can't see that then that's on you, not on me," Anthony spoke up, proud of the work he'd done.

"Don't speak to her that way," Harmony spoke up, surprising not only Unique, but the other members of Vocal Adrenaline that she had stood up for her co-director at all, "She was trying to help you, and not just because you've got an obvious attitude problem." Harmony tilted her head, smiling though her words were like venom.

"I don't have-" Anthony began to defend himself, but was interrupted.

"Yes, you do." Harmony raised her eyebrows knowingly, "Now shut up and go to class. And learn to respect your teachers."

While most of this came from the idea that none of these kids respected her, she knew if they didn't respect her, they sure as hell weren't going to respect Unique. As the bell rang, all of the students looked at each other with mixed expressions trying to process whatever had just happened.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON
MCKINLEY HIGH

Sophie, Rey and Flora all walked into the room together and were the first to arrive.

"I totally bombed that test," Rey groaned, fumbling with her glasses.

"Just pray about it, you know, bargain with God or whatever," Sophie shrugged, "It's what I always do."

"Flora!" Mr. Schue called out as the three girls walked in, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uh sure, Dad," Flora walked over to her father, "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you had a song planned for this week? Obviously, I don't want anything that would cause you emotional pain, but I was kind of hoping you'd step up and show these kids how it's done," His voice was low, as not to upset the other students in the room by his blatant nepotism.

"No, I get it, Dad. But I've just been spending a lot of time with some of the other kids my age and trying to adjust to that so I haven't really had time…" Flora trailed off, looking at her shoes.

"I get that, completely. And I'm glad to see you're making friends! But just…be careful, alright?" Mr. Schue breathed out for a moment, knowing he could be a bit overbearing at times.

"I always am, Dad," Flora rolled her eyes, but laughed as she turned to go sit with her friends.

"If you two are talking about sectional solos," Felix spoke loudly entering the room as he noticed the two Schuesters speaking, "Then that's blatant favoritism and that's whack."

Laughing, Will shook his head, "No, no sectionals solo talk here. In fact," He paused for dramatic effect as Simon, Finley and Naomi all walked in together, "We're still waiting on the list of dates and themes and our competition." He sighed out.

"What? They were supposed to be out this week, right?" Naomi asked, surprised that they hadn't received it yet.

"It was supposed to be, yes. And there's still time! But for now, we need to focus on the theme at hand," Mr. Schue smiled.

"Our emotional trauma?" Oscar questioned as he and Kyla walked in.

"What a fun way to think of it," Savannah rolled her eyes, walking in Lex close behind.

"I thought it was kind of funny," Lex shrugged, earning a smile from Oscar.

"Come on, guys," Will practically pleaded, "It's the last day of heartache! Let's try to be optimistic about it."

"Optimistic? About heartache?" Delia sneered walking in, as Naomi couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Delia, can you come here for a moment?" Will asked her, pulling her aside the same way he did with his youngest daughter, just moments ago.

"Favoritism!" Felix called out as Rowan walked in, Hazel following just a few steps behind.

As Felix got them all caught up on the last few moments of glee, Will was - essentially - lecturing Delia.

"I just thought since you've been in glee club for years and it's your senior year, you would have stepped up by now. Especially during this week. You're applying for NYADA! This would have been a great week to show off your acting chops."

"Why does my heartache have to be acting?" Delia blinked at her father a few times, suddenly feeling defensive as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're just not the most…emotionally expressive. That's not a bad thing-" He tried to defend himself to her.

"You don't think I feel heartache?" She whispered, clearly upset, "I feel it every day I sit in this room and watch you favor every other kid in here over me. I feel it at home when you do it with Flora. It's you who's not paying attention to the heartache I feel."

"Delia-" Mr. Schue couldn't decide whether he should argue with her or apologize, but apparently, Delia had made the decision for him.

"You know what? Forget I said anything. I'll come back to glee on Tuesday, but I think I'll take the afternoon off. I'm going to go talk to my mom who actually listens to my feelings and not just because it's her job," Delia did a great job of not showing how she felt as the kids in the choir room were completely unaware of what had just happened until Delia walked out.

"Is…she okay?" Flora questioned, somewhat concerned.

"She's just realized there was something she had to see her mother for," Will spoke – it wasn't a complete lie, it just wasn't the complete truth. "But moving along – who's got a song to sing?"

"I've got one, Mr. Schue," Kyla raised her hand shyly.

"Way to step up, Kyla! Go for it," Mr. Schue nodded but mentally was still miles away.

"So uh, I've kind of had a weird week. This song is a song I've been listening to for years and I don't know, it just seemed to fit?" Kyla did her best to explain. She had kept her and Anthony dating pretty lowkey, and while of course there were a few people that knew, the less people knew about her and her relationships, the happier she was.

"Sounds great, go ahead," Will forced a small smile as the band began to play.

"You took my hand, you showed me how," Kyla began, her voice strong but subtle as she did her best to disassociate from the words of the song, "You promised me you'd be around, uh huh, that's right,"

While there were some glances around the room at everyone trying to figure out exactly what she was singing about, most people were just impressed and enjoyed seeing her actually perform.

"I took your words and I believed
In everything you said to me
Yeah huh, that's right,"

Kyla took a deep breath before she got into the chorus, thinking about what the song meant to her, and the emotion that came with it.

"If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong and"

Her voice surprised most of the other glee kids as it was still powerful, but she managed to give a little edge and harshness to it that worked beautifully with the song.

"That last kiss, I'll cherish
Until we meet again
And time makes it harder
I wish I could remember,"

Kyla kept her eyes closed not feeling brave enough to look at her peers, though there was not a negative thought about her performance in the room, if anything, they were all still in awe since Kyla normally was so quiet.

"But I keep your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling, who knew
My darling, my darling, who knew
My darling, I miss you
My darling, who knew
Who knew,"

Though she would never show it, she felt a lump in her throat, her tears threatening to come out, but she choked it back, as she finished the song, looking to Oscar as he was the only person in the room she could count on for comfort in that moment.

"Wow, Kyla that was… emotional. And exactly what we were looking for this week. What made you pick that song?" Mr. Schue was just as in shock as everyone else.

"I uh, would prefer not to say. If that's okay?" She tried, knowing that at this point the people who knew about Anthony could probably figure out that her performance had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"That is completely fine. But really, Kyla, thank you for that," Mr. Schue smiled and nodded before continuing on, "Now we've got time for one more. Hazel, I saw your hand go up this morning. How about you come and show us what you've got?"

"Uh, sure," Hazel suddenly felt nervous, "It's actually by the same artist Kyla picked, I hope that's okay?"

"Of course it is," Mr. Schue smiled kindly.

"We didn't know you were performing!" Naomi smiled excitedly, "Go get 'em, Hazel!"

Hazel fiddled with one of her ear piercings for a moment as she told the band her song and it started to play.

"You fight about money, bout me and my brother
And this I come home to, this is my shelter,
It ain't easy growin up in World War III
Never knowin what love could be, you'll see
I don't want love to destroy me like it has done
My family,"

Her voice was beautiful against the music, but there were a few confusing looks directed to the Jones' and within the Jones' as they weren't entirely sure why this was the song she picked.

"Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't leave"

Naomi's eyes suddenly narrowed, growing quickly upset with the situation at hand. Hazel however, didn't notice as at this point she was just trying to get through the song.

"In our family portrait, we look pretty happy
Let's play pretend, let's act like it comes
Naturally
I don't wanna have to split the holidays
I don't want two addresses
I don't want a step-brother anyways
And I don't want my mom to have to change her
Last name"

Lex - who also knew the Jones' pretty well - was incredibly lost by this performance, as were many of their family friends. Even Will had some questions about it as Hazel finished out the song.

"In our family portrait we look pretty happy
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
Let's play pretend, act like it goes naturally,"

"What the fuck was that?" Naomi barely let the song finish before she got up out of her seat angrily.

"Naomi, calm down, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation," Mr. Schue looked to Hazel, who simply looked down.

"I don't care what the explanation is. We have always included you and supported you in everything. Who the hell do you think you are?" Naomi raised her voice.

"Naomi-" Lex started but was cut off.

"Don't 'Naomi' me. How the hell would you feel if Michael got up and sang that song?" Naomi cried out. "Screw this, Delia was right to walk out."

While the other Jones' looked at each other, unsure of how to feel, the other kids began to file out awkwardly, leaving Hazel alone with Will, who of course wanted to make sure she was okay, but also was confused by the performance.

"Are you okay?" He asked, despite figuring he knew the answer, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Shaking her head, Hazel muttered the words, "Forget it," as she left the room.

Over in the Troubletones, things were - surprisingly - going slightly better. While there was still a fairly big divide between most of the girls, they at least were, at the moment, being civil with each other.

"Alright," Marley started tentatively not wanting things to get quite as out of hand as they did earlier so she jumped in before any of the girls really even had the chance to talk to each other, "So, we'll see a few more performances today, and then we have the auditorium tomorrow if we want to try to come up with a group number, just for fun."

"What about sectionals?" Trina asked the question on everybody's mind.

"The lists were supposed to come out this week and they… haven't yet," Marley shook her head, "My hope is that they'll be out tomorrow and that we can open it together when we try out our group number. Now, moving on, who's got a song they want to do?"

"I do," Heather announced, earning her surprised looks from virtually everyone in the room.

"Really?" Cay shook her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, really. Fabray over there helped me with the arrangement, and it's still on brand with T Swift, and, in a way, heartache, I guess." Heather explained with a shrug.

"Well, okay!" Marley sighed out happily knowing this unexpected turn of events was better than more arguing.

"So, I chose this song to sing to Mia, who is either my ex-girlfriend or current girlfriend? I'm not sure? But anyways, she wouldn't even hear me out after my date with Audrey when all I was going to tell her was that I wanted to be exclusive, but she's a big dummy who can't get her head out of her ass and is now dating a cheerleader who I'm still not convinced is real" Heather explained, placing her hands on her hips, looking at Mia who had a shocked expression on her face, "Anyways, here's my song,"

She pressed play on her phone which she'd previously connected to a speaker and for the first time, sang in front of the fellow members of her glee club.

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset," The first line was enough to alert the room of why she didn't sing – she was horrible. Marley didn't know how it was possible for someone to be so unaware of what the key of a song was, but that didn't stop Heather from continuing on, "She's going off about something that you said, cause she doesn't get your humor like I do,"

While Audrey stifled a laugh, Nikki directly laughed out loud, while Trina tried to politely smile, and Tia looked at Mia, wondering if she knew Heather was going to try to pull this song off.

"I'm in the room, it's a typical Tuesday night
I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like
And she'll never know your story like I do,"

"Yes Heather!" Audrey called out as Heather's voice simultaneously stayed off pitch and off rhythm.

"But she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts," Heather moved around, acting as though she was giving the performance of her life, "She's cheer captain, and I'm on the bleachers,"

"Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time,"

Heather still moving around frantically, the room started to realize they were only supposed to take it as seriously as Heather did, but understood she meant the words she was singing.

"If you could see that I'm the one
Who understands you
Been here all along
So, why can't you see?
You belong with me"

Heather now moved to fall on her knees directly in front of Mia, as she practically screamed out the words, still incredibly badly.

"Standing by and waiting at your backdoor
All this time how could you not know, baby?
You belong with me
You belong with me
You belong with me
Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me?
You belong with me"

Standing up, despite the awful vocal work, Heather earned both applause and laughter from the girls before her as she stood up.

"Thoughts?" Heather questioned, placing her hands on her hips as she continued to look directly at Mia.

"The girlfriend is fake," Mia admitted sheepishly and quickly, "I didn't want it to go that far but Zoey kept pushing and-"

"Not surprising," Heather shook her head, "But uh, are we, you know, good?" She questioned raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, we're good," Mia nodded and smiled, moving up to wrap her arms around Heather in a warm embrace.

"Alright enough with the mushy stuff," Heather shook her head, but took a seat next to Mia as she held her hand.

"That was….not at all something I was expecting to happen today," Marley laughed, "But good work. Alright, does anyone have anything else?"

"I do, Mom," Leah stood up, getting her music ready, "I know we've all kind of had a weird week – few weeks, really. And you all know most of what happened in mine, but this song seemed too perfect to not sing," She nodded in conclusion. "And, again, is by Miss Swift," She let out a small laugh.

"I can't wait to hear it," Marley smiled – she was of course happy that Leah was no longer dating someone she did not approve of but was also proud of her for being able to express herself through it.

"Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street
Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly,"

Leah sang out the words, her soft but strong voice reminding her mother of her own voice at that age.

"Loving him is like trying to change your mind
Once you're already flying through the free fall
Like the colors in autumn, so bright, just before they lose it all,"

While the girl's weren't sure if Leah genuinely just sounded that good, or if anyone would compared to the previous performance, but either way she was doing incredible, many of the girls dancing in their seats.

"Oh, losing him was blue, like I'd never known," Leah was surprised when Nikki began harmonizing with her in her seat, but not opposed to it, smiling knowing that for Nikki, this was a peace offering, "Missing him was dark gray, all alone, forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met,"

Many of the other girls jumped in backing Leah up, the group once again, looking and sounding like a group.

"'Cause loving him was red
Yeah, yeah, red
Burning red,
And that's why he's spinning 'round in my head
Comes back to me, burning red
Yeah, yeah,"

Leah continued to sing out just as beautifully and emotively as she did previously, thinking about her now finished relationship, and in that particular moment, accepting that it really was over as she sang out the last line of the song.

"His love was like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street,"

While the group smiled and cheered, all in high spirits, Cay suddenly came up with an idea.

"Marley?" She spoke up confidently, "I think I've got a song for a group number,"

DALTON ACADEMY

"This week has absolutely whomped," Sutton groaned, trailing his way into the room, his brother Oliver close behind him, the two of them first to arrive for the meeting.

"You've got to stop saying that, it's rubbing off on the other Warblers," Oliver rolled his eyes, despite knowing that if nothing else, Sutton did have somewhat of a point.

"Fine. This week totally whomped," Sutton corrected himself though Oliver couldn't tell if he actually knew what he meant, or if he 'corrected' himself that way just to try to get a rise out of him.

"I get what you mean," Bob spoke up as he entered the room behind them, "vibes have just been…strange." He thought about how he was still trying to figure out who Frank was supposedly seeing.

"I was mostly thrown from Mack's song," Michael caught up with them, shaking his head, "Between that and Eric and Addison breaking up…" He trailed off, not allowing himself to finish his thought.

"I think," Ambrose walked in, simply wanting the meeting to be over, despite the fact that it hadn't even started yet, "That we need to just focus on the task at hand. What goes on or doesn't go on between anyone else in this room is none of our business."

"I actually agree with you," Oliver nodded, surprised he agreed with anyone in the room about anything.

Before anyone had the chance to respond, Teddy walked in, Trent following close behind trailing along slowly behind them.

"Where's the rest of the council?" Sutton furrowed his eyebrows, hoping Teddy wouldn't be the only one in today.

"They're coming in in just a moment," Teddy began to explain, "They just had some…business to attend to first."

"What kind of business?" Eric piped up as he entered, Frank not too far behind him.

"Don't worry about it," Trent tried to wave them off, just as Addison walked in. Taking a quick headcount, he smiled, "And that's all of us! Let's just take a second while we wait for Mack and Tommy, maybe brainstorm some ideas for sectionals, even though we are still, unfortunately, waiting for the information packet."

Meanwhile in the hallway, Tommy had stopped Mack, knowing there was a conversation that needed to be had.

"I just wanted to say," Tommy spoke slowly but happily, "Thanks for being so cool about me and Naomi. I really appreciate it."

"You're my best friend, Tommy," Mack shook his head "Why wouldn't I be cool about it?"

"Because of your crush on me," Tommy shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"My…huh?!" Mack was confused – Tommy wasn't wrong, but Mack wasn't expecting him to bring it up, he didn't even know Tommy knew about it.

"Yeah," Tommy shrugged once more, "It wasn't exactly a secret, so you know, thanks for being cool," He smiled, moving to give Mack a small pat on the arm.

While it wasn't much, Mack couldn't help but smile – there was something nice about knowing that Tommy was cool about it, and didn't mind, which deep down Mack knew would be the first step to closure and moving on. While he let himself think about this for just a few moments too long, Tommy soon – literally – shook him out of it.

"C'mon," Tommy grinned, "We're gonna be late, you know the Warblers can't survive without their fearless leaders."

Laughing and shaking his head, Mack followed Tommy in, as the Warblers turned to look at them.

"You're just in time!" Sutton announced, literally jumping out of his seat, "Me and a few of the guys were just working on throwing something together."

"Show us what you got!" Tommy encouraged as he and Mack didn't bother to go back behind the council desk as they assumed they'd get up and sing with everyone at some point anyway.

Looking at the room, Sutton, of course, took the first part of the song, singing out dramatically as Bob and Michael popped up behind him, harmonizing.

"I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone?
Baby, it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?"

He sang out acapella with the other two boys still backing him, as the council looked at each other smiling, Mack and Tommy jumping in with the instrumental and Teddy, per usual, taking the percussion, just as Michael began to sing the verse.

"Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember
The people we used to be
It's even harder to picture,
That you're not here next to me,"

Michael sang out, his voice smooth and matching the song well, Oliver and Ambrose now both also jumping in to do the background instrumental while Sutton and Bob continued to harmonize.

"You say it's too late to make it,
But is it too late to try?
And in our time that you wasted
All of our bridges burned down,"

As Michael finished his verse, Tommy jumped to the front of the Warblers, coming up with very loose, easy, choreography on the fly, all of the Warblers doing their best to follow just as Bob started singing.

"I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed
Still stuck in that time
When we called it love
But even the sun sets in paradise,"

Frank and Zach now also got up, following the movements, singing along with their teammates, leaving both Addison and Eric looking at each other for a long moment before sharing a knowing look as they got up to back up Sutton as he took the chorus again.

"I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone? Baby, it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?"

All the Warblers now danced, sang, and hummed in sync, all of them smiling for the first time this week, as Sutton let his strong and pleasant sounding voice carry out the rest of the song.

"If 'Happy Ever After' did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick"

They all paused dramatically as Sutton sang out one last, "Now I'm at a payphone,"

Cheering and laughing, the boys looked around at each other, glad that some form of normality was coming back to them.

CARMEL HIGH

"Alright!" Harmony called out, already wanting to get started as she made her way from the back of the auditorium to the front where her co-director was standing, "Still no sign of the sectionals information, but we'll carry on anyways, I guess," She was clearly bothered by the fact that they still didn't know exactly how they were supposed to prepare for the upcoming competition.

"We've got at least one more performance for this week, right?" Unique questioned looking at the kids while Harmony took a head count.

"Is Jude still not here?" Harmony rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, about that," Unique cleared her voice, before speaking to both Harmony and the kids before her, "I received a call from Jude's mother today. He's been having some…medical issues. We won't be seeing him for a few weeks."

"What?!" Harmony called out, as did many of the Vocal Adrenaline members.

"Is he okay?" Emery questioned, genuinely concerned.

"What happened?" Kendall's eyes widened, wanting to know all the details.

"It's not my place to get into details about it," Unique spoke calmly, trying to keep things under control, "But he's fine. Or, he will be. So nothing to get too worked up about."

"What about sectionals? How are we supposed to practice when we don't even know how many members we have?" Anthony gawked, clearly annoyed with the situation.

"We'll rehearse with the twelve of us, if Jude is back by then we can teach him, and if not, then that's that." Unique sighed out before turning to Harmony, "I told you it would be a good idea to take a thirteenth member," She smirked, proud to have an I-told-you-so moment.

"Whatever!" Harmony sighed out, "Alright, who's performing today?!"

"I've got a song, Mrs. Pearce!" Steven raised his hand shyly, as Sydney immediately narrowed her eyes towards him.

"How come you didn't tell me you were singing a song?" Sydney practically spat.

"It's uh, hard to tell someone anything when they don't, uh, talk to you," Steven swallowed hard before looking to his directors for the okay to go. Once he got it, he walked onto the stage. "I um, got into a disagreement with someone I really care about this week," He looked directly towards Sydney, "So this song is kind of about that?"

"It's just Sydney, you can say it," Kendall smirked.

Shaking his head, Steven let the band start playing as he tried not to get worked up about the words he was about to sing.

"You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness," He began, Sydney's eyes going wide as she recognized the song, "like resignation to the end, always the end,"

"So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over,"

Steven opened his eyes for the first time since he started performing, looking at Sydney directly who had her arms crossed over her chest. Dana was, per usual, moving his hips back and forth in his seat to the music, while Kate looked on feeling bad for Steven, but also felt somewhat confused by the performance as she didn't realize things with him and Sydney were that bad.

"But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough,"

The last line made Steven feel even more choked up than before and it showed, but he continued to press on, while for the first time, maybe ever, Chloe looked at Xavier, feeling grateful to have him and grateful they got along because all this drama between the Smythes looked absolutely exhausting.

"No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know,"

While many of the students exchanged glances, Leslie, Kate and Sawyer all seemed genuinely concerned with Steven's well being, while everyone else looked at each other or to Sydney as Steven sang out the last few lines of the song, his voice was strong and very pretty but with evdient emotion behind it.

"Somebody,
Somebody,
Somebody,
Somebody,
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Somebody"

While there was awkward and slow applause as the audience tried to wrap their head around what had just happened, Steven spoke out a small "thank you,"

As nobody else volunteered to sing, Harmony reluctantly dismissed them all, glad that the 'heartache' week was over as now she just wanted to focus on sectionals. Meanwhile, Kendall felt strange. On one hand, she was grateful to not have that kind of family drama – but on the other hand she still had her own, which, in her mind, could be made easier if Ambrose would have accepted their truth the way she had. Shaking her head, she followed her peers out of the auditorium hoping the feeling would pass.

THURSDAY EVENING

Kendall was the last to arrive back at the Jones' household, grateful that despite everything she had a place to stay. However, what she was not expecting to walk into was international superstar Mercedes Jones trying to keep her kids in check. What Kendall had missed was Hazel being open and vulnerable about her past with other families – a lot of it about a not so nice man that was known to treat her incredibly poorly and tended to take his aggression out on her.

"That's really shitty, I'm sorry that happened, and I'm sorry for lashing out at you," Naomi spoke as Hazel finished, "But you should have talked to us. It wasn't cool for you to make people at school think that we treat you like that."

"Naomi," Mercedes tried, "I'm sure people didn't think that,"

"You weren't there, mom," Rowan shook their head, "Hazel we love you, and you know we're here for you, always. But there were better ways to handle that situation."

"I don't know what you want me to do?" Hazel spoke, her voice cracking, "I'm sorry I upset you, but that's not what that was about,"

"We know that now," Naomi shook her head, trying her best to not get frustrated with Hazel, but found herself having a hard time, "And we can't even begin to imagine what you've been through. But we have always been here for you. It did feel bad to be sitting in that room, having people think you were singing about us,"

While Mercedes had opened her mouth to speak again, she turned her head for a moment, just long enough to see Kendall enter. Smiling, she did her best to pretend the conversation that was happening had been dropped.

"You must be Kendall Holliday," Mercedes continued to smile widely, "It's so nice to finally meet you. Sorry you walked in the middle of…all this," She laughed awkwardly.

"It's um, fine, I can go," Kendall refused to make eye contact with the other kids, turning to leave.

"No, don't be silly," Mercedes waved her hand, "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like," Mercedes thought about bringing up how she knew Holly, but figured since Kendall was staying here and not with her, it probably would have been best not to.

"Thanks," Kendall nodded slowly, before looking at the kids, "I uh, hope I'm not overstepping – especially since I'm not sure what you guys were talking about but…you're really lucky. To have each other. All five of you. And parents who love you. Honestly, it feels…really nice to be here," Kendall spoke out before rushing up to the bedroom she was staying in, unsure why she said that, but hoped it helped whatever the Jones' were going through.

Looking around, the kids knew Kendall was right. Regardless of everything else, they were lucky to have each other, Simon smiling as he and Finley pulled all five of the kids and Mercedes into a long, silent but loving group hug.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Marley sat in the seats of the auditorium, watching as the girls were about to perform their first official group number. In her hand she held the envelope with all the sectionals information, but thought it would be best to watch them do their song before they all opened it together. As the music began to play, Tia took the first part of the first verse, moving to stand at the front of the stage as she sang.

"He said, 'let's get out of this town
Drive out of the city, away from the crowds,'"

She sang out in a lower range than normal, and there was a surprising but pleasant raspy quality to it that sounded gorgeous against the soft music as Audrey came up beside her, standing completely parallel to the other girl, as she sang in the same range and tone.

"I thought heaven can't help me now
Nothing lasts forever,"

They suddenly turned to face each other singing out in harmony, "but this is gonna take me down," they turned around as Leah and Trina seemed to magically appear behind them.

"He's so tall and handsome as hell," Trina sang out, her voice strikingly higher than the other two girls but in a way that was calculated and precise.

"He's so bad but he does it so well," Leah took over singing, her voice in the same range, "I can see the end as it begins,"

Trina and Leah paused to look at each other, as Trina sang out as the music dramatically paused, "my one condition is,"

Cay and Nikki made their way to the front, the other girls dancing in sync behind them as Cay took the main melody and Nikki took the low harmonies.

"Say you'll remember me
Standing in a nice dress
Staring at the sunset, babe
Red lips and rosy cheeks
Say you'll see me again
Even if it's just in your,"

The two girls took a step back now standing in a full semi circle with the other girls as they all sang together.

"Wildest dreams, ah-ha oh
Wildest dreams, ah-ha oh,"

Moving to the front of the stage, hand in hand now, Mia and Heather stood together, as Mia took the main melody and Heather sort of talk-harmonized with her.

"You see me in hindsight
Tangled up with you all night
Burning it down
Someday when you leave me
I bet these memories
Follow you around,"

The other girls moving to the front now, Mia continued singing the main melody while the rest of them followed Heather's back up.

"You'll see me in hindsight
Tangled up with you all night
Burning it down
Someday when you leave me
I bet these memories
Follow you around,"

"Say you'll remember me," Cay sang out her voice crisp, holding the note, continuing to do her best to belt out as the other Troubletones continuously sang behind her.

"Standing in a nice dress
Staring at the sunset, babe
Red lips and rosy cheeks
Say you'll see me again
Even if it's just in your
Wildest dreams, ah-ha oh
In your wildest dreams, ah-ha
In your wildest dreams, ah-ha"

Clapping loudly, Marley cheered out for her girls. "That was incredible!" She complimented them all, genuinely, happy that it was a success. "Now, are you ready to find out about sectionals?"

Met with enthusiastic head nods, Marley began to slowly open up the envelope. "Okay so," Marley began slowly, "looks like there's three themes! The first is Broadway, the second is a duet, and the third is a song from the 80's."

"Well that's easy enough," Trina smiled excitedly.

"Enough small talk, are we competing against the Warblers?!" Nikki practically screamed out.

Taking a deep breath, Marley looked at the list, a small, "huh?" escaping her.

"What is it?" Tia asked cautiously.

"We're…not performing against The Warblers. Or New Directions. Or Vocal Adrenaline."

"Really?" Leah's eyebrows furrowed – she didn't mind, of course, but was confused given that they'd spent the last month, the coaches making them all think they'd be sectionals competition.

"Yeah," Marley laughed, shaking her head, "And it looks like none of them are competing against each other, either."

"What the hell?" Audrey questioned but laughed.

"So that performance we just did… what was the point?" Cay questioned placing her hands on her hips.

"That was…just for us," Marley smiled.

A/N: Thank you guys for getting this far! I know I said it earlier but I would just like to reiterate that I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on every plot, character, group, song whatever you feel like discussing! Thanks for reading, and thanks again for your patience with this chapter! And of course, as always, here are the songs that have been used!

Long Night - With Confidence
My Heart Is Buried In Venice - Ricky Montgomery
Picture To Burn - Taylor Swift
Dancing On My Own - Robyn
Amy - Allstar Weekend
10 AM - State Champs
This Is Gospel (Piano Version) - Panic! at the Disco
Youngblood - 5 Seconds of Summer
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
Get it Right - Glee Cast
Who Knew - P!nk
Family Portrait - P!nk
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
Red - Taylor Swift
Payphone - Maroon 5
Somebody That You Used To Know - Gotye
Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift