The Hero Chapter 26, a glee fanfic

CHAPTER 26

And the girls actually meant it. For the next couple of weeks, they kept their distance from Finn and to their sadness, he actually seemed much better. He was more engaged in Glee and Football and was all round more confident in all aspects of his life.

The Glee club were sitting in rehearsal one morning and they all kind of tuned out as Rachel and Mr. Schue droned on for most of the lesson but they tuned in when they heard the word Regionals.

"So, for those who weren't listening, auditions for solos for Regionals are starting soon. Whoever wants to solo can sing in rehearsal over the course of the next week and the best performer gets the solo. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes." Everyone chanted. Rachel shot to her feet.

"Mr. Schue. Please let me, as the captain of the Glee club, be the first person to audition." She announced. Mr. Schue raised a hand.

"Hold up, Rachel!" Mr. Schue declared. "What I'm looking for in this assignment, more than anything else, is something unique and different, so I swear to God if you sing Don't Rain on my Parade, I personally guarantee that you will not get the audition."

"Mr. Schue, you can't be serious?!" Rachel scoffed, disbelievingly. Mr. Schue shrugged.

"Dead serious, Rachel." Mr. Schue replied. "There's so much talent in this room. It's unfair and frankly, quite boring if you guys sing the same song every time.

"With that in mind, would you still like to sing now or would you like to take some time to prepare?"

"I'll prepare." Rachel murmured and sat down.

"Oh, one more thing!" Mr. Schue exclaimed. "The one restriction I'm giving you guys is that your song choice has to be an original song!"

Everyone's eyes widened.

"So, does anyone want to perform today or what?"

"I will." Finn said, standing up and walking to the front of the room. He picked up his guitar and sat down. "The song's a bit rough cause I've only been tinkering with it for the past week or so. It's called Grace."

Finn walked over to the piano and started playing a gentle melody.

Counting days, counting days since my love up and got lost on me

And every breath that I've been taken since you left feels like a waste on me

I've been holding on to hope that you'll come back when you can find some peace

Cause every word that I've heard spoken since you left feels like a hollow street

I've been told, I've been told to get you off my mind

But I hope I never lose the bruises that you left behind

Oh my lord, oh my lord, I need you by my side

There must be something in the water

Cause everyday it's getting colder

And if only I could hold you

You'd keep my head from going under

Maybe I, maybe I'm just being blinded by the brighter side

Of what we had because it's over, well there must be something in the tide

I've been told, I've been told to get you off my mind

But I hope I never lose the bruises that you left behind

Oh my lord, oh my lord, I need you by my side

There must be something in the water

Cause everyday it's getting colder

And if only I could hold you

You'd keep my head from going under

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooooh

It's your love I'm lost in

Your love I'm lost in

And I'm tired of being so exhausted

Your love I'm lost in

Even though I'm nothing to you now

There must be something in the water

Cause everyday it's getting colder

And if only I could hold you

You'd keep my head from going under

There must be something in the water

Cause everyday it's getting colder

And if only I could hold you

You'd keep my head from going under

To hear the actual song, click:

watch?v=goZS7AKp1ck

Or search: 'Bruises Lewis Capaldi'

At the end of the song, everyone applauded wildly. Despite the fact that they were all competing against each other, nobody could deny that Finn absolutely slapped the song out of the water. Every note leaked with emotion and it reflected everything he had been through in the past year. Finn had certainly set the bar extremely high and it was up to the rest of the group to meet him there.

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That afternoon was the final game of football season. They had already topped the conference on points and were set to play in the State championship next week. However, they didn't sit back on their laurels during the final game. They gave it everything they had and were 3 points up with less than a minute left of the game. The football team huddled up for the final play of the game and Finn, the captain, faced his team.

""All right, I just want to take a minute to congratulate you guys. We didn't even have to win this game to go to Championship next week, but nobody took it off. And when we take a knee, we're gonna finish first in Conference for the first time in McKinley history."

"Football is back, bitches!" Puck shouted and they all cheered and grunted in agreement.

"Maybe we should all break out into a song after we win." Karofsky spat, killing their good vibes, and replacing it with pure tension between him and Finn.

"Hey, hey, shut it Karofsky." Finn growled.

"No fucking way. I figure if I stay on you, you'll run away again like a fag."

"That's funny Karofsky, how you're calling everyone gay all the time, but you never seem to have a girlfriend."

Karofsky tried to lunge at Finn, but he was held back by some of the other players. Finn and Karofsky just stared down at each other fiercely. By the sidelines, along with the rest of the cheerleaders, Bella noticed the tension in the footballers' huddle, and she turned to Santana.

"What's going on? That doesn't look good." She said, nervously. She always got extremely nervous whenever Finn was playing football, and she was always scared that he would get hurt. Santana shrugged.

"I have no idea. Looks like him and Karofsky are about to fight. But they probably won't, what with the championship game next week."

Bella nodded and looked on, nervously. It was almost like she could tell something bad was about to happen.

"I really hope that linebacker doesn't get the jump on me. I bet it would hurt like hell to get sacked by him." Karofsky snarled at Finn. Secretly, Finn was a little worried. Karofsky was one of the guards, and he could easily let a defensive player through if he wanted, leaving Finn to get absolutely bulldozed by the 250 pound players. Finn briefly looked at the monstrous linebacker, and a look of fear flickered on his face. It quickly vanished though as Finn turned back to face his team.

"All right. Slot left on one. Ready? BREAK!"

"BREAK!" The rest of the team shouted.

"Come on, boys. Let's go!" Coach Beiste shouted from the sidelines. The football team got into position. There was probably only time left for one more play, and as long as the ball wasn't intercepted, they would win the game and finish on top of the division. The men all crouched and got ready for the play to begin. Finn eyed Puck, who he would be passing the ball to, and he nodded.

"DOWN! SET! HUT!" Finn shouted. The ball was quickly snapped to him, and he waited for the perfect time to pass the ball. He could faintly make out the guards around him jostling with the linebackers to protect the Quarterback - Karofsky being one of them. Puck quickly got rid of his marker, and Finn prepared to fire the ball when disaster struck…

Karofsky 'slipped' over, giving the linebacker a clear path at Finn. Finn only had time to briefly turn to see the 250 pound bulldozer charging at him, before he was knocked clean off his feet, smashing his head HARD against the ground and causing him to drop the ball. The opposing team grabbed the ball and easily scored a touchdown, winning the game in the dying seconds. Coach Beiste flipped the table in frustration. She was PISSED!

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"WHAT A JOKE!" Coach Beiste yelled in the locker room after the game. "What the hell happened?! Finn, you're the captain, talk!"

"Karofsky sucks, that's what happened!" Finn shouted.

"That's crap! Hudson's a frickin' girl and couldn't take a joke about his precious Glee Club!" Karofsky responded.

"Because I'm sick of you guys getting down on us for it. We're in Glee Club. What's the big deal?" Finn yelled.

"It's embarrassing! We're dudes!" One of the neanderthal football players shouted. "Getting all hot and bothered about singing a Kesha song? It's freaking weird!"

"Yeah? Well, maybe you'll think it's cooler when I go all Tik Tok on your face!" Puck growled.

"Bring it, Puckerman." Karofsky snarled, lunging at him. Puck threw Karofsky into a locker and a long awaited brawl between the Glee footballers and the other football players erupted. It was long overdue given that tensions over the past few weeks were so thick that they could have been sliced with a knife.

"That's enough! That's enough!" Beiste shouted.

"Look, Championship game or not, I am not blocking for him." Karofsky snapped.

"Shut up, Karofsky. Of course you are." Coach Beiste said, almost bored. "Fact is that this group of players is the best group that McKinley's ever had. And to throw that away for a petty feud would be stupid."

"I don't care. I'm not." Karofsky said.

"Then you're off the team." She replied, bluntly.

"No way." Karofsky said, disbelieving. "If we all quit, you don't have enough guys to play next week. It's the Championship game. You're not going to throw it away."

"Try me." She growled. Finn stepped in between them.

"Don't do this, Karofsky." Finn said. "If we stand together, we can win this game and be kings in this place."

Karofsky thought for a moment.

"Good luck with that." He spat, and the whole team - minus the guys from Glee club - walked out of the locker room. Finn punched the wall in anger. What the hell was he going to do?

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Later that week, Kurt, Blaine, Bella and Quinn were sitting at the Lima Bean together, chatting about what was going on.

"Our school is so messed up, we can't even keep our own football team together." Quinn grumbled.

"It's so sad, you guys." Bella said. "Coach Beiste was so close at getting everyone at the school together."

"Why haven't I heard anything about this?" Kurt asked, surprised. "I literally go to this school! My brother's the captain! How hasn't he told me? We literally drink tea together every night for an hour!"

Everyone raised an eyebrow at him.

"Finn has tea parties with you?" Quinn remarked.. Kurt shrugged.

"Well, he drinks beer or scotch. I drink tea."

"That sounds about right." Bella laughed quietly. "Finn's too proud to complain. He feels like he needs to keep it together for everyone, but I know it's just killing him inside. I hope he realises that if he and I were still together, I could make him feel a lot better, you know."

"Let it go, Bella." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I just… I wish there was a way we could help." Bella murmured.

"Yeah. The worst part is how bummed the guys are. I mean, they already get enough crap just for being in Glee. I really think winning the game could have eased some of the pressure, at least for a little while." Quinn said.

"Wait, so the whole team quit?" Blaine asked, really confused.

"Everybody not in Glee." Quinn replied. "I mean, you can't play football with 7 guys."

"Yeah, Coach Beiste put up a sign-up sheet for people to join. I think they'll take anyone at this point." Bella added.

"Well, the good news is you actually only need 4 more guys." Blaine commented. "High school regulations actually let you play a couple guys short, if you want to."

Bella and Quinn looked at each other, an idea starting to form in both of their minds.

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Coach Beiste and Mr. Schue stared at the school notice board, scowling at the football sign-up sheet, which had absolutely zero names.

"I cut 50 guys when we had tryouts at the beginning of the season. You're telling me not one of those guys wants to play?" Coach Beiste shouted at nobody in particular. Mr. Schue put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's like crossing a picket line. Nobody wants to be a scab." He replied.

"I guess we should go break it to them." Coach Beiste said. Mr. Schue nodded and they walked into the choir room to break the news to the frustrated guys…

"Why can't we let them back on the team, just for this game?" Sam complained.

"No. We carry this thing through, even if it means having to forfeit the game." Coach Beiste replied.

"I can't believe this is it." Finn grumbled to Puck, who was sitting next to him, both of them clad in McKinley Letterman jackets.

Bella and Quinn looked at each other. It was time to present their idea.

"Maybe it isn't." Bella said. Every eye in the room turned to her. She walked to the front of the room.

"We want to join the team." She stated, confidently. The guys put their heads in their hands, frustrated.

"We, who?" Puck asked, confused.

"All of us Glee girls." Quinn said, standing up and walking next to Bella. "We want to join the football team, and we want to play in the championship."

"Come on guys. Stop screwing around. It's not cool." Mike snapped, annoyed.

"What's not cool is you guys not respecting women enough to realise we're perfectly capable of playing football." Tina argued.

"Have you guys actually seen a tackle football game before? When they tackle, it hurts." Finn remarked.

"Yeah, and not in the good, Mellencamp way." Puck added. Finn rolled his eyes and sighed.

"We're not being disrespectful to women." Finn said. "We just don't want you guys getting your spines snapped by a 300 pound linebacker."

"We thought about that." Bella replied. "But the truth is that you guys don't really need us to play. You just need enough players out there to field a regulation team. So when they snap the ball, we're just going to lie down on the ground."

"Oh, I'm not. I'm gonna bring the pain." Santana hissed.

"I guess they won't get hurt if they stay down." Coach Beiste said, standing up.

"Okay, what do your parents have to say about this?" Mr. Schue asked.

"We all have signed permission slips from them." Tina replied. "It took some convincing, but they understood what it means to all of us."

Mr. Schue collected all of the permission slips, then turned to Coach Beiste.

"What do you think, Coach?" He asked.

"Um… I don't know." She said. "I'm still not totally convinced. Finn, you're the captain. What's your opinion on this?"

Finn sighed.

"Look, trust me when I say this: nobody wants to play and win this game more than I do. I NEED a scholarship if I want to go to college, and that's not gonna happen if we have to pull out of the game. But what's more important to me is that the people I care about don't get their heads caved in by these mega-hulk footballers. So I'm sorry but I vote no. You're the coach though, so it's your opinion that matters."

Coach Beiste thought intently for a bit, weighing out the pros and cons of having the girls play. Finally, she came to a decision."

"Girls… welcome to the football team." Coach Beiste said. Finn, Mike and Artie - the three guys who actually had common sense - put their heads in their hands, but the others cheered. They were playing in the championship game!