CHAPTER 41
The next few weeks dragged by extremely slowly for Finn. Even though he knew he couldn't graduate, Finn still went to classes. He knew that if he wanted to somehow make an adequate future for himself, he would need to be as smart as he possibly could. Soon, It was finally the week of Nationals and despite everything, the New Directions were excited. Although Jessie was a huge dick, he was undeniably a good singer. Finn had even volunteered to stand aside and let him solo. The last thing Finn wanted in his condition was the extra stress of having to prepare for a solo on the grand stage of New York.
Rachel and Jessie's relationship was also going very well. In fact, Rachel was very close to saying the 'L-word' to him, something she hadn't said to anyone since Finn.
Mercedes, Artie, Kurt and Tina were walking to Glee rehearsals together, chatting about the upcoming competition.
"Is it just me, or does it feel like we have a real shot at Nationals next week?" Mercedes asked, excitedly.
"The National show choir chat rooms are all buzzing about how Vocal Adrenaline has lost a step." Artie informed them.
"I agree," Kurt said. "The judges know all their tricks, and now that we have Jessie, they've lost their best performer."
Rachel suddenly ran up to them.
"You guys have to come to the auditorium. NOW!"
They all ran to the auditorium, where they were met along the way by Santana, Brittany, Puck, Quinn, Mike, Sam, Finn and Bella. The 13 of them entered the auditorium together, and saw Vocal Adrenaline on the stage. Suddenly, the lead singer turned his head and they saw who he was… it was Jessie!
"Jessie? What are you doing up there with them?" Rachel cried. Jessie smirked at her.
"I've transferred back to Carmel High, Rachel. I'm sorry that it's come to this, but you guys were awful to me. You never accepted me, you never listened to my clearly superior ideas."
"Why are you here, in our auditorium?" Finn demanded.
"The blogs and chat rooms say that we're finished, and that you guys are ripe to topple us. We just wanted to show you a little something we came up with a few days ago to see if you agree with that assessment."
Vocal Adrenaline then got into position for a number, and a backing track immediately started playing.
Oh! let's go!
Steve walks warily down the street
With his brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go
Are you ready hey are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat yeah
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust hey
Hey I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you when you're gone
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy? Are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat look out
Another one bites the dust
At the end of the song, Rachel and Jessie made eye-contact. Rachel was heart-broken. She had been played. Everyone had warned her but she didn't listen. She put her own happiness first, and it was going to cost the team.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"It's a Carmel High tradition." Mercedes explained later that day. "They psych out the competition before the big show. They call it a funkification. Meaning they show us what they've got, and we spiral into a deep black funk."
"Yeah. Yeah, we used to do the same thing to other football teams." Sam said. "You know, try and get inside their head before a big game, pull little pranks to intimidate them."
"Yeah, well, the difference is our football team was ass. Those guys are golden." Finn pointed out, laughing.
"Come on, keep your heads up, guys." Kurt exclaimed. "It's going to take more than that to get us into a funk."
They then walked into the choir room, only to see the whole room covered in streams of toilet paper. Mr. Schue then walked into the room and his mouth dropped. He saw what happened in the auditorium - he was in the lighting booth at the top of the auditorium so nobody noticed him - but never expected this. He sighed.
"Come on, guys. Let's clean this up." He said. They all nodded and started throwing the copious amounts of toilet paper into large black bags.
"I feel so violated." Tina said. "It's like someone broke into our home."
"Look, it was just a lame little prank. And the fact that they're trying to get to us means maybe we got them spooked." Mr. Schue tried to encourage the Glee club, but none of them bought it.
"Uh-uh, Mr. Schue. They aren't afraid of anything." Mercedes murmured glumly. "That number they did was fantastic! You know, which doesn't make any sense. They had all that equipment. How did they even get in?"
"I gave 'em all keys." A voice from the doorway said. They sighed as they immediately recognised the person. Of course it was Coach Sue trying to mess with them. "Even helped them a sound check over the weekend."
Coach Sue then left the room and everyone put their head in their hands. Morale was already low, and this sudden change only made it lower. And they left for New York later that day!
"OK guys, I want to talk to you guys about regrets." Mr. Schue said after Coach Sue had left the room. "Who has some?"
"Giving my heart to Jessie, just to have it crushed like the stage floor at a performance of Stomp." Rachel said.
"Thinking 'trust me' was a sensible birth control option." Quinn added.
"Besides lowering morale even further, why are you telling us this?" Santana asked.
"Because if we lose to Vocal Adrenaline at Nationals, none of us are going to regret it. We will have given it our best shot and we won't look back. But we will regret letting them get the best of us right before the competition."
The New Directions touched down in LaGuardia the next morning, both upset about the recent developments with Jessie but at the same time, extremely excited about the upcoming com
Once they made it to their hotel and checked in, they immediately ditched Mr. Schue and started exploring the city. Rachel couldn't help but smile to herself as she strutted through Time Square. She had made it!
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Three years ago, the New Directions were nothing but a group of 5 misfits, stumbling their way through a horrific rendition of Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat. Now here we are, at the top of the Show Choir heap: Nationals!" Kurt exclaimed. The New Directions were sitting on a couple of benches in Times Square, chatting and taking in the incredible city. Most of them had never ever left the State, let alone been to a city as diverse and unique as New York City.
"I want to hit up Central Park, get my frolic on." Tina remarked.
"I want to throw stuff off the Brooklyn Bridge!" Puck exclaimed.
"Guys, hold on. I mean, we still have our songs to rehearse, and we haven't even decided on who is soloing because Jessie's out." Finn pointed out. Everyone rolled their eyes.
"Okay, Mr. Bossy Pants." Mercedes snickered. "But I think we might have some time for a tune before we leave…"
Start spreadin' the news, I'm leaving' today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York
Rachel, who was walking around Times Square, suddenly walked over to them.
"Guys, I have news." She announced. "To celebrate our impending win at Nationals, I got us all tickets to Broadway's longest-running show ever, Cats!"
Everyone cheered but Bella raised an eyebrow.
"Ummm… Rachel? You might want to check the dates on those tickets because Cats closed about eleven years ago."
Everyone snickered quietly as Rachel's cheeks instantly went red with embarrassment.
"He did seem crazy." She admitted. "Charged my credit card by swiping it through his butt-crack."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Okay, welcome to the Intercontinental New York Times Square. Your rooms are on the seventh floor." The hotel receptionist said, giving Mr. Schue the room keys to their hotel.
"Great. Thank you." Mr. Schue said, taking the keys.
"You planning on fitting all those kids in two rooms?" She asked, pointing to the group of 11 teenagers in the hotel lobby. Mr. Schue nodded.
"Yeah,well, it's all we can afford." He admitted. "I was just thinking about splitting them up, boys and girls."
"You guys in for the show choir competition?" She asked. Mr. Schue nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Most of the other teams split by sexual orientation." She remarked. Mr. Schue rolled his eyes and nodded. He picked up his key and walked back to the group and immediately noticed that someone was missing.
"Hey guys, where the hell is Puckerman?" He asked. Mercedes pointed towards the hotel bar, where Puck was talking to the bartender.
"I'll have a Manhattan." Puck told her. She raised an eyebrow.
"Do you even know what's in a Manhattan?"
"Yeah, me, for the first time. Which is why I want to celebrate with a cocktail."
Mr. Schue rolled his eyes and walked over to the boy and dragged him back to the rest of the group.
"Guys, group meeting, in the room, now." He said.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Do you know that I can get ahi tartare and a steak sandwich at 3 in the morning from their all-night dining menu?" Kurt exclaimed, reading through the room service menu. "I feel like Eloise!"
"I have pills for that." Brittany said, dumbly.
"All right, guys. This is our time. We're not going to screw this up." Mr. Schue stated. "So what, Jessie left us? We were honestly better without him! However, we do have one problem: we don't have a soloist anymore. Bare in mind, whoever solos needs to put on an incredible performance. It needs to be Nationals quality. The best you can possibly do. So with that said, who wants the solo?"
Nobody answered. Normally, they would jump at the opportunity to solo on such a big moment but with no preparation, nobody wanted to risk it and risk messing up and costing the whole team.
"Seriously guys? Nobody wants it?" Mr. Schue asked, incredulously. "Well, somebody has to do it. Rachel?"
Rachel didn't answer. She blushed furiously and looked down.
"Mercedes?"
"Sorry Mr. Schue." Mercedes murmured, shaking her head.
"Kurt?"
Kurt also shook his head. Mr. Schue then turned to his first-choice singer, but someone he knew didn't want the solo.
"Finn?" He asked, tentatively. Finn shook his head and laughed nervously.
"Nah, Mr. Schue. If I wasn't willing to do it, even with a month of preparation, do you really think I'm going to do it now?"
"Come on, Finn!" Tina exclaimed. "You've gotta do it. You're our leader."
Rachel cleared her throat and Tina rolled her eyes.
"Co-leader." Tina corrected herself, sighing.
"I'm sorry. I don't need that stress. In two weeks, my life is going to be more stressful than I could have ever imagined. Can't I have two final stress-free weeks? I don't want to be guilty of screwing up this opportunity for all of you."
"Finn, you won't be screwing anything up, even if you fail miserably. You'd be stepping up for the team, like a leader." Mike remarked. Finn sighed.
"Well, when you put it that way, how can I refuse?" Finn muttered. He sighed. "Fine. I'm in."
Everyone cheered. Finn looked down and took a deep breath. He had a solo to prepare, and less than 24 hours to prepare it for…