CHAPTER 18
The next morning, Finn woke up pretty early to try and find a song for Glee. As he rolled out of bed that morning, he smiled to himself. Senior year was going much, much better than junior year. He was genuinely happy. He walked downstairs and, to his surprise, nobody was awake yet. Settling into one of the armchairs, he started to sift through his various Spotify playlists for a doable song. Finally, he found a song that he deemed good enough. By this point, it was 7:30 am and the rest of the house started to stir. Kurt was the next to emerge - he came downstairs and poured himself a cup of coffee. When he saw Finn sitting in the living room, he jumped.
"Hey, Finn. You're up early." He pointed out. Finn laughed.
"Yeah, I needed to find a song to use for Glee." He replied.
"Didn't you find one last night when you went to Bella's house?"
"Nah, I helped her with her song. I never ended up finding one for myself."
"Uh-huh. You sure you two didn't get a little distracted?" He winked. Finn's eyes widened.
"Huh? How did you…"
"Oh, come on! You two are clearly into each other! So what happened? Did you guys kiss? Did you guys get together?" He asked eagerly, clapping his hands together in excitement.
"Yes, and yes." He replied. Kurt smiled.
"That's amazing, Finn! I'm really happy for you. Just…" Kurt's voice trailed off and Finn looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Just, what?" He asked. Kurt sighed.
"Just… don't let a girl take a hold of your heart so strongly that it breaks you if it doesn't work out. I know how cut up you were with what happened with Rachel and Quinn last year and it would kill me to see it happen to you again."
"Kurt, don't worry. If nothing else, this summer taught me that everything I have is a blessing and many people would die for the opportunities I get on a daily basis. Girlfriend or no girlfriend, I'm happy, healthy and alive and that's really all that matters."
Kurt smiled.
"That's great, Finn. I'm really happy for you."
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Finn walked into school that morning with a grin on his face. It was his second day in McKinley and he smiled faintly as he walked past the football field, auditorium and familiar car park on his way in. He felt a pang of sadness as he Just as he was about to enter the choir room for morning Glee, he heard a voice call him back.
"Hudson?" They remarked, incedulously. Finn turned around to see Coach Beiste grinning at him. He smiled and walked over to her, shaking her hand.
"What's up, Coach?"
"No way. Here I was, thinking you were dead all this time. You know, after you spent the summer deployed in the military and then not coming back to school for the first couple weeks." She remarked.
"Not yet." Finn laughed. "I spent the first month on a full ride at Dalton Academy bu it was boring as hell so I'm back now."
"That's awesome, man! That's really great! Well, now that you're back, I'm assuming that you're rejoining the football team. We're 0-3 in the first three games of the season and we need our quarterback and captain back!"
Finn's eyes widened.
"Wait, really? I just thought because I issued the tryouts…"
"Are you kidding? Dragging us to conference last year… you're a Titans legend! You've always got a spot on that team."
Finn smiled.
"Thanks, coach. Well, I've gotta run but I'll be at training this afternoon?"
"Awesome! Well, see ya Hudson."
Coach Beiste then walked away and Finn entered the choir room…
The whole Glee club were already there when Finn walked in and as he looked around the choir room, his eyes widened. Toilet paper was covering every inch of the room. Finn whistled and raised an eyebrow at the astonished Glee club.
"Wow. What… interesting redecoration." Finn remarked. "Who was in charge of this change?"
"We don't know." Mercedes replied. "We just came in and it was like this. No note or anythi…"
"Found a note." Finn suddenly announced, picking up a note that was half-hidden in the corner of the room. He opened it and read it aloud.
Dear New Directions,
How's it going? Hope you're having a good, productive start to the year. NOT. We were just writing to let you know that we are going to destroy you at Sectionals. You guys are nothing compared to us. Like ants against elephants. We are going to make your puny show choir wish that you never existed.
See you at Sectionals and at our Victory Ceremony when we win our 7th consecutive show choir championship,
From your good friends at Vocal Adrenaline
"What the fuck?!" Puck shouted. "We gotta get revenge. Huddy, let's go kick some ass!"
He stormed towards the door but Finn held him back.
"Hold on, man. We're not going to use violence." Finn said, quietly yet firmly. "If you fight fire with fire, the world goes up in smoke."
"Says the guy who spent the summer in the Army." Mercedes remarked. Finn nodded.
"Exactly. I know from experience the consequences of fighting like that." He snapped.
"So, what? We're just supposed to sit around and do nothing?" Tina asked. Finn shook his head.
"I didn't say that." He murmured. "Look, I have an idea but you guys have to trust me…"
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Two weeks later…
Two weeks later, it was halloween, finally the time for New Directions to put their plan to action. They all put on their hooded monk costumes just outside of the Carmel High auditorium and Puck grumbled quietly.
"I still feel like this is a dumbass idea and a waste of time. We should have just gone with my plan. Slash their tires, rough 'em up a bit." He muttered. Finn raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah. You think so?" He challenged. "Hit me."
Puck furrowed his eyebrow in confusion.
"Huh?" He asked.
"Hit me. One free shot. To the face. But… if my methods are successful, after we're done, I get to hit you back. Deal?"
"Deal." Puck smirked, clenching his hand into a fist but before he could swing, Bella caught his hand in mid air.
"Woah, woah, woah. You're not hitting my boyfriend in the face." Bella stated. "Now, are we going to do this or not?"
Finn nodded.
"Let's do it…"
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The 13 members of the New Directions and Mr. Schue silently crept into the auditorium complex, with the group spreading out across the balcony of the auditorium and Mr. Schue making his way into the lighting and sound booth. Finn, however, tiptoed backstage, a mic in his hand. He silently watched as Vocal Adrenaline took a break from rehearsal and sat in the stands and he listened as Jessie St. James, the male lead, chatted with the female lead.
"So, it's been two weeks since we TP'd their choir room and no word from them. You reckon they'll respond?" The girl asked. Jessie laughed.
"Are you kidding? They're so dumb I bet they didn't even know it was us. And even if they did, they're too big pussies to do anything about it."
Oh, how wrong you are, Jessie St. James!
Giving Mr. Schue the signal, Finn prepared to begin singing. Mr. Schue gave him a thumbs up and cut the lights in the whole arena. Vocal Adrenaline all stood up and looked around, confused.
"What's going on?" Jessie murmured. Before anyone could do anything, Vocal Adrenaline's infamous 10,000 watt spotlight shone brightly on the center of the stage. Slowly but surely, Finn walked into the centre of the stage, dressed in a hooded monk costume so nobody could see his face and dragging his mic stand with him.
"Who the hell are you?" Jessie snapped, slightly afraid. "What are you doing here?"
Finn didn't respond and moments later, heavy rock music echoed around the auditorium. He took a deep breath and prepared to sing.
To hear the following song, click:
watch?v=pyjUXjKf0Bo&ab_channel=TheXFactorUK
Or search… "James Arthur Sweet Dreams"
Sweet Dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I traveled the world
And the seven seas.
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to be used by you
Some of them want to abuse you,
Some of them want to be abused
Ooooh, yeah yeah
"Who is that?" One of the members of Vocal Adrenaline murmured to the other. The raspiness Finn brought when singing a heavy, intense rock song made is voice practically unrecognisable.
"Is that… no way…" Jessie muttered, disbelievingly.
Sweet dream are made of this,
And who am I to disagree?
I traveled the world
And the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Oooooh, Ooooh, Ooooh
Nobody from Vocal Adrenaline had ever been able to pull off a cover like this: it was truly unique, and it was only going to get better. At this point, the New Directions started floating down from the balcony towards the ground using the sophisticated equipment Carmel High used for their school plays. This while being dressed as a hooded monk and holding a flaming tiki-torch… it was truly petrifying.
New Directions:
Hold your head
Finn:
Oh, hold your head uuuup
New Directions:
Keep your head
Finn:
Ooooo oh
New Directions:
Hold your head
Finn:
Oh hold your head up
New Directions:
Keep Your head
Finn Hudson:
Ooh, Oooooh
New Directions:
Sweet Dreams are made of
Finn:
Sweet dreams, sweet dreams
New Directions:
Who am I?
Finn:
Who am I? To Disagree
I traveled the world
And the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Sweet dreams are made of this
To add even more flair to an already terrifying number, Mr. Schue used Vocal Adrenaline's lighting equipment to erupt bursts of fake fire from the ground, making the emo group look like demons from hell. Vocal Adrenaline were absolutely speechless. That was one hell of a number - pun intended - and if the New Directions performed like that in Sectionals, there was a chance they advanced over Vocal Adrenaline. Suddenly, the lights cut off once more and the New Directions disappeared off stage. Finn stayed though in the complete blackout and he growled into the microphones.
"See you at Sectionals, bitch." He spat before strutting off stage. Before he did though, he took out a lighter and dropped it on the ground, lighting up the trail he had poured in gasoline. The words NEW DIRECTIONS illuminated in flames and burned into the eyes of Vocal Adrenaline.
Message sent.
The mission had been an absolute success. They had successfully knocked Vocal Adrenaline off their throne and sent them into spirals of depression as they watched their rivals slay their number on stage.
Finn walked out of the auditorium complex, dumped his costume in a bin and walked over to his friends. They all embraced and high fived him.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Artie exclaimed, fist-bumping him.
"Yeah, great job Finn." Tina smiled, hugging him.
"I got to admit, Hudson, you really nailed it. You scared the panties off them." Puck admitted. Finn shrugged and winked at him.
"What can I say? Y'all should listen to me more often." He replied. "Now, dinner?"
"Dinner!" They all chanted and they laughed. As they walked away from the high school, Bella grabbed his hand and murmured into his ear.
"You know, that performance… very sexy." She whispered, nibbling on his ear. "What do you say we blow off dinner. My parents aren't home so we can go back to my place and participate in… other activities."
Finn grinned at her.
"Don't have to tell me twice."