Next Friday morning, Kitty met Artie in front of his first period class with his morning coffee, as he sat by the door and intently thumbed through his notecards, speaking to no one as he concentrated intently on some last minute cramming. He'd been studying all week, though, as had Tina, who was seated on the ground by the opposite wall, doing the same thing Artie was doing.
"Here," Kitty said, softly, passing the latte his way. She sat down, cross-legged beside his chair, and sipped her own coffee quietly, not wishing to interrupt Artie's crucial preparations.
"Hey, guys, what's up?" Sam said, greeting them loudly and jovially, only to be simultaneously shushed by Artie, Tina, and Kitty. "Geez, wow..."
"This is the test that determines which one of them gets valedictorian," Kitty whispered, gesturing for him to maintain the silence.
As they sat there, waiting for the bell, the only sounds being sips of coffee from Kitty and Artie, others from the glee club began to gather. Evidently, Sam was texting everyone to tell them about the situation. Anyone who was nearby came by to wish them luck.
The bell rang as Artie finished his coffee. Kitty held out her hand for his empty cup. As their eyes finally met, he gave her a small smile as she mouthed you've got this.
Tina hopped to her feet and approached Artie. She stuck out her hand, exchanging a friendly handshake with him, like it was a sporting event.
"No matter what happens," she said. "I couldn't have found a more worthy competitor than you, Artie. Good luck."
"Good luck, Tina," he said.
Meanwhile, Kitty had her own quiz in Spanish class that she'd barely studied for. Luckily, most of Mr. Schue's quizzes had pictures, and you'd have to actually try not to pass them. As she turned in her paper, she decided she had to be the first to know who'd won. Artie had told Kitty earlier that their physics teacher planned to grade he and Tina's tests as soon as they'd been handed in, having been tipped off that this would be the deciding grade to determine who was at the top of the class.
"Mr. Schue," said Kitty, after she'd handed in her paper. "May I be excused early? I need to haul butt across campus so I can find out whether Tina or Artie won Valedictorian."
"Oh, that's today?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "Alright, Kitty, you can go, but please do me a favor and make sure nobody sends anyone to the nurse today."
Kitty managed to get to their classroom before the bell rang. She stood on her tippy toes in order to peer through the space in the covered window, and she could see both Artie and Tina waiting patiently at the front of the room, as the teacher graded their tests. He handed Tina hers first, and Kitty saw a rather smug expression come across her face. As Artie received his back, he didn't look quite as pleased. Kitty felt like she was going to be sick, as her stomach dropped. Just then, the bell rang and Kitty hurriedly backed away from the door.
"If, for some reason, they both flunked, it goes to me," Blaine joked, as he joined Kitty to wait with her for the results, bringing Sam along, too.
The door swung open as students poured out into the hall. Artie and Tina finally emerged last, each holding their tests but not showing anyone their grade just yet. Artie's was face-down in his lap and Tina held hers against her chest. They stopped, face to face with each other, wearing matching tense expressions.
"Artie, I'm gonna catch you if she tries anything again," Sam said, getting behind him, causing all of them to laugh at that. "No shoving, Tina!"
"Ladies first," said Artie, with a nod to her.
"Ninety-five," Tina announced, holding up her test, proudly. Artie bit his lip.
"Ninety-nine." Artie held his paper up, a bit apologetically. However, much to Tina's credit, she neither cried nor pouted. Instead, she bent down and threw her arms around him.
"Well done," she said, sincerely, as she tightened her hug. "If somebody had to beat me, I'm glad it's you." She straightened up. "I guess you'd better get to work on a speech. Congratulations, Artie."
"Didn't you used to stutter just to get out of giving speeches?" Sam asked Tina, at which she dutifully smacked his arm. She tucked her test away in her messenger bag, linking arms with Blaine and Sam as their little trio disappeared down the hall.
After the other three left, Kitty leaned over for her turn to give Artie a big hug. "Congratulations!" she said. "What's your speech going to be about? 'Overcoming adversity?'"
She'd quite obviously meant that last part as a joke, because of Bree's stupid posters, but to her dismay, Artie didn't look all that amused.
"That is what everyone will probably be expecting," he murmured, wheeling along, getting lost in his thoughts.
"Well, you'll give them something different," Kitty said, with a shrug, as she followed him.
"Yeah, but what?" Artie wondered. "Speeches aren't good if they aren't personal. There just isn't anything personal that I'm really willing to talk about in front of the whole student body."
"You'll come up with something," Kitty said, trying to sound reassuring.
"I hope I didn't just cost Tina her shot at Brown," were the next words out of his mouth.
"Okay, stop," Kitty finally said, getting in front of him, so that he had to stop and give her his attention. "Tina will be just fine. Stop feeling bad about finally getting what you wanted, Artie. Seems to me, you're just not used to winning. You don't even know what to do."
Artie chuckled. "We didn't sing a song once called 'Loser Like Me' for nothing," he said. "I always kind of thought it would have worked better as a ballad, though."
"Maybe you could just sing a song instead of giving a speech," Kitty suggested, but Artie was already shaking his head. "What? Why not?"
"Because I don't want to drink Sue Sylvester's pee for the rest of my life," he said, pushing past her. "I gotta go, or I'll be late to second period. See you in glee club later!"
"Yeah, see you later," Kitty said, leaning back against the lockers and watching him go, realizing with sudden sadness that the remaining glee club rehearsals with him were numbered. It was nearly time for Nationals. Later that same day, they'd be choosing their final song selections, even though Kitty mused that it seemed as though that should've ideally happened right after Regionals, so they could have been rehearsing all this time.
Except that rehearsal didn't go on as planned that day.
Mr. Schuester was already in the choir room that afternoon, even though usually he was the last to arrive, typically making a grand entrance with a peppy lead-in to the day's lesson. Not today. Today, he leaned on the piano and didn't look at anyone as they trickled in, one by one, all of them noticing that something was clearly not right.
"Mr. Schue, are you okay?" Sam, who had been the last one in, stopped by the piano instead of going to his seat.
"No, I'm not," he said, and Kitty wondered if glee club was in trouble again, as it had been many, many times already. But that wasn't it. The older man straightened up and struggled to look at them.
"I don't know how to tell you this," he went on. "I guess I just have to say it. Guys, I just got the news that Finn Hudson passed away, earlier today."
Sam sank down onto the piano bench, shock etched across his face. Tina immediately began to cry. Blaine put an arm around her, as tears steamed down his face, too. As for Artie, Artie sat completely still, in shock, his lips parting slightly, eyes empty. Kitty had to jump up and run to the back of the room. She couldn't look at anyone as the news began to sink in. Bracing herself against the wall, she found herself sobbing, too, even though she probably knew him the least. After a moment, she felt Marley put an arm around her and the two cried together, huddled there in the back, as the other glee "newbies" surrounded them.
"Rehearsal is off, for today," said Mr. Schue, sighing deeply. "Maybe... maybe next week, we'll sing some of his favorite songs. I don't know. For now, I just want to give us this time to talk... to cry... to just be together. That okay with you all?"
They did just that, for the next hour, although twenty minutes before others started to leave, Kitty realized Artie was already gone. She waited to leave until the others dispersed, too, figuring Artie needed his space or he wouldn't have slipped out.
She decided to go find his car in its usual handicapped parking spot in the front of the school. Artie wasn't one to cry in front of others, so she figured this to be the most logical place he'd go to be alone.
His car wasn't in its usual space. Kitty gazed across the lot and finally spotted it. He'd moved it. It was now parked by the football field. Kitty picked up the pace as she jogged, then sprinted, across the parking lot until she reached the field and found him sitting there. Strangely, he'd parked his chair by a portable toilet, thankfully far enough away so as not to take in the full extent of its stench.
"Uh, Artie?"
He pivoted to look at her, tears streaming down his face. He took his glasses off, swiping his eyes, then replaced them. She didn't know the significance of this spot, exactly, but she didn't ask him to explain. Instead, she leaned over and enveloped him in her arms as his shoulders shook in huge, silent sobs.
"This was where I was the first time he rescued me," he finally told her, as she straightened up to stand beside him. "I know it sounds crazy now, because people like Finn have actually managed made this place so much better since my freshman year, but we were all being tormented for being different. Kurt. Rachel. Mercedes. Tina. Me. I didn't know how much more I could take. But then glee club happened. Glee really happened, because Finn Hudson made it so. And, from then on out, we all had a safe place to go. A place where we could unapologetically be ourselves."
Kitty swallowed hard as Artie got out his phone and looked over the last texts Finn had sent him. She remembered doing the same thing, when it was her mother who'd been unexpectedly taken from her life in one impossibly ordinary day, for the rest of the world.
"I just called him last week," Artie said, softly, turning his phone over in his hands. "He was telling me about how his college classes were going pretty well. He was just about to earn a passing grade in college algebra, and he thanked me for our tutoring sessions. He wanted to know about how our preparations for Nationals were going. He wanted to stop by rehearsal soon and say hello. I told him about how things were going great with you and me. And about how Tina and I were competing for Valedictorian." Artie stared back at the port-a-potty, its significant still lost on Kitty. "How is it possible that I'll never talk to him again?"
"I asked myself the same question, when Mom died," Kitty said, as Artie immediately reached out for her hand with both of his. She brushed away a few tears that fell, her other hand trembling a bit in his strong ones.
"What did you do?" Artie asked her.
Kitty shrugged. "What I had to," she said. "I had to get up the next day, and the next day, and the next. Isn't that what you had to do, too?"
"Losing the ability to walk isn't the same as losing a loved one," Artie said, with a shrug. "I was lucky." He paused. "Oh, god, Kurt." He hung his head. "Rachel," he added.
Just then, Kitty felt a few drops of rain hitting her arms. She thought she'd felt them earlier, when she'd first stepped out on the field. The rain picked up quickly, and if they stayed much longer, they'd soon be soaked. Artie didn't make a move.
"Come on, Artie," Kitty said, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Let me take you home."