Kitty wound up sitting next to Mason on the plane, but she made sure that Bree was a team player, too, and arranged for the other girl to sit next to Madison, which was undoubtedly going to irritate her, but she'd brought it upon herself. She'd set Kitty up.
Because when Kitty had approached the coaches about the twins, neither Sue nor Roz knew what she was talking about. But Roz asserted that Kitty brought up a good point, that it was important to make the new members feel a part of the team, and then charged her with the task of sitting by one of them.
"Great idea, Bree," Kitty said, on her way to her seat, passing Bree as she was trying to store her carry-on in the overheard compartment. The other girl paused what she was doing long enough to shoot Kitty a nasty look that, thankfully, went unnoticed by Madison.
"Lucky me," Mason said, as Kitty took her seat next to his. "I get a seat by the captain. Congratulations, by the way. You deserved it."
"You and Madison were good, too, though," Kitty said, smiling at him. "I thought for sure it was going to be one of you. But thanks."
"Er, yeah, I didn't really want to be captain," he confessed. "And Madison's pretty shy, it wouldn't be her thing either. We're just glad to still be cheering."
They were interrupted by annoucements from the pilot, then instructions from the flight attendants, and then it was time to fasten seatbelts for take off.
"So, you said you're from Chicago?" Kitty asked.
"Yup," said Mason. "And since kindergarten, we've been at the same school, but we moved to Lima for our dad's job."
"I transferred here last year," Kitty said, without bothering to explain the reason. Anytime she could leave that out of the conversation, she did, which was why only a handful of people even knew about her mother. "We moved from Dublin, that's right outside of Columbus."
"So, from one transfer student to another, what can you tell me about McKinley?" he asked. "It sucks to move during senior year, but I guess it's some kind of consolation that at least we're on a nationally ranked cheerleading team, just in time to apply for colleges."
"Where do you think you'll go?" Kitty asked, certain, based on the weird bond he had with his twin, they they'd be applying for the same places.
"Our first choice is the Joffrey," he said. "It's a dance school in Chicago."
"I know someone who goes there," Kitty said. "Well, actually, I guess I know someone who knows someone who goes there. It's her ex."
"And I guess they didn't want to do the long distance thing, eh?" Mason shrugged. "Same for me and my girlfriend back in Chicago. We broke up when the move happened."
That was a little refreshing, Kitty thought, to learn that he'd had an actual girlfriend, not just a sister who creepily seemed like a girlfriend at times.
"I don't think a little distance has to mean that it's over," Kitty asserted, feeing a little defensive on this point. "My boyfriend's going to Ohio State, but it's just like, an hour and a half."
"Was that the guy cheering for you at try-outs?" Mason asked. "The one Sue yelled at?"
Kitty was thankful that Mason didn't feel the need to use Artie's usual identifier. She gathered that he was a uniquely thoughtful kind of guy, if he went with "the one Sue yelled at" instead of the usual "one in the wheelchair."
"Yeah, that's him," she confirmed. "He just graduated last year, and I'm a junior, but..." she shrugged.
"I wouldn't recommend," Mason commented, innocently. "Sorry, I just don't think many college freshmen stay with their high school girlfriends. But, hey, maybe your guy is different."
"I like to think that he is," Kitty said, before swiftly changing the subject. "Have you ever had a slushy, Mason?" And when he nodded, looking slightly puzzled, she added, "Have you have had a slushy thrown at your face?"
Mason stopped nodding and shook his head slowly, concern etched across his face. "Is that a thing?"
"It is at McKinley," Kitty said. "Of course, being on the Cheerios offers you certain protection. It's no guarantee of immunity but it helps."
Kitty continued filling Mason in on all the unique aspects of his new high school, as they flew, and the novel she'd planned on reading remained untouched in her lap. It was some old book called Flowers in the Attic, and apparently a remake of the movie was coming out early next year. Kitty had once told Artie that she preferred to read the book before the movie, hence his recommendation.
After a little while, their conversation stalled and Mason closed his eyes, so Kitty did the same, hoping to take a nap before they landed in South Carolina.
As she settled back in her seat and closed her eyes, she was thinking about how last year, she hadn't been to camp, because she'd only managed to score a private audition for Cheerios week or so before school had started. The loss of her mother had still been pretty fresh. Kitty had come in, determined to establish herself as tough, hard, unapproachable. In short, a bitch.
Now she was trying to be the opposite — she still wanted to be tough and hard, but as the captain, it was important that she be respected and liked among her peers.
Unexpectedly, as Kitty tried to sleep, she found herself thinking about the first time she'd seen Artie Abrams. He was sitting with a bunch of the cool kids, and as Kitty learned, the glee club seemed to think they had earned a newfound place of respect, coming off of their win at Nationals. It had been someone else's idea to sit with them, and of course, it had been a game. Sit with the glee club geeks and make them think they're cool now. Kitty joined in without a second thought. She and the other guys promptly laughed about each bizarre conversation that they were subjected to. Except that she'd been strangely drawn to the sweet, serious guy who dressed more like one of the teachers than a student. She hadn't even noticed he was in a wheelchair until he'd started to back himself out and leave. He'd caught her eye and noticed she was staring before she could close her mouth quickly enough.
The need for a Cheerio to maintain a certain social status meant that it took her months to make the first move. It happened during Guilty Pleasures week. Kitty had been dressed as Scary Spice, complete with the sequined British flag dress, found in the back of a costume warehouse. (It still hung in her closet to this day.) Apparently, she'd tapped into some kind of fantasy of his, and from that day forward, she caught him watching her all the time. Unknowingly, he'd just given her the greenlight to make her move. She'd noticed him moping around one day after glee club and made it her mission to find out why. Did she have to care about the guy with the weird sweaters and the thyroid-conditioned eyeballs who oogled her like a Taiwanese streetwalker? No, no, she did not, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't leave him alone. Something about him just drew her in.
And when she became the first one to find out he'd gotten into film school but wasn't going, she wasted no time in taking action.
Because Kitty was never one to be concerned about boundaries, she'd taken the liberty to get what she needed straight out of Mr. Schue's filing cabinet, which held his vast collection of sheet music, along with the emergency contact information from Nationals last year. Artie's file contained more pages, due to some medical information which, to Kitty's credit, she did not read. All she had needed was a home address.
Armed with his address, which was on the same side of town as Kitty's new-old house, a fact she'd never admit to, given that it was the poorer side, she was able to jog just a few blocks to get there, and she was pleased to see that she'd beaten him there. His mother was there, though.
Meeting Nancy, Kitty recalled, had brought about an unexpected surge of emotion, as the woman had a warmth that reminded her of her own mother. Kitty had merely introduced herself as a friend of Artie's and, noting the Cheerios uniform, the woman had said, "Oh, yes, Brittany, right? Hello, come in."
Once Kitty had straightened her out and informed her that, in fact, Artie had yet another blonde cheerleader friend, besides Brittany and Quinn, Nancy hadn't hesistated to welcome her inside.
"I know you're probably wondering why I came by," Kitty had said, when the two were settled in the couch in the small family room, that Nancy had led her to, walking them right by an old family photo that featured a young Artie standing front and center.
"School project?" Nancy had guessed.
"No, no," Kitty had said, with a smile. "I came to talk to you, Mrs. Abrams."
"Call me Nancy, please."
"Okay, Nancy," she said. "Well, my name is Kitty. I'm in glee club with Artie, and the other day, I found out he got accepted to film school in New York but you're afraid to let him go..."
"What?" Kitty recalled the way Artie's mother's eyes had popped out of her head at that moment, and she was immediately shaking her head, a look of disgust on her face. "Is that what he told you?"
"Well, yeah..." Kitty had said. "He says you've taken care of him all his life and you're afraid for him to go to a place that's not very, to quote him, wheel-friendly."
"First of all," Nancy started in. "I didn't even know he'd received his acceptance letter, because he didn't bother to tell me. But I have no problem with him going, in fact, I want him to go. He needs to follow his dreams..."
They'd been interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, as Artie called out to announce he was home. He saw his mother first, as she greeted him, and then he locked eyes on Kitty, as he rolled down a ramp into the small living room.
"I guess I beat you home," Kitty had said, with her usual amount of sassy attitude. "And I guess I beat you to telling your mom your good news.
"Honey, why would you hide something like that from me?" Mrs. Abrams wanted to know.
"So much for your lies," Kitty added. "Your mom's completely on board with you going to the Brooklyn Film Academy, by the way. I thought you were a lot of things, but I didn't peg you for a wuss." And with that, Kitty had jumped to her feet and slung her backpack over her shoulder, patting his shoulder as she left, saying, "I guess you two have a lot to talk about."
She drifted off to sleep as her thoughts lingered on the memory of how her life and Artie's life had first intersected. And now she'd played at least a part, thought she'd never know how large, in changing said plans to something entirely different.
Mason nudged Kitty as the pilot was telling them to fasten their seatbelts again, for landing. As Bree was headed back to her seat, she stopped by Kitty's to deliver what may or may not have been an actual message from the coaches.
"Coaches told me to tell you that, as captain, you need to haul ass to baggage claim as soon as we land," Bree said. "We can't be late because we need to claim the gym first, for practice."
"Right," Kitty said, putting on her best fake smile. "Thanks, Bree, and I'd appreciate your help in making sure nothing gets missed, so you're coming with me."
What was the old saying? Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer? Kitty wasn't letting her out of her sight.
"We'll help too," Mason said, and even though Madison was two seats in front of him, Kitty guessed that it was supposed to just be understood that he meant her.
As it turned out, Bree might not have been lying when she'd relayed that particular message. It seemed that at camp, Captain equated to servant. Kitty just hoped this job would start getting more glamorous soon.
She ended up with Madison for a roommate when they got back to the hotel. The Cheerios, unlike the glee club, weren't required to pile into a few rooms. In order to ensure everyone had adequate bathroom and mirror access, the girls were two to a room. Their eight guys did go four to a room, on account of not needing extra time to devote to achieving the perfectly-curled ponytail.
But evidently, rooming with Madison pretty much equaled rooming with Mason, too. After their first practice and a quick dinner at Chicken Salad Chick, down the street from the hotel, they were ordered straight back to their rooms. Mason wandered into their room, where he remained until Kitty finally hinted that she wanted him to leave so that she could shower and go to bed. She still wanted to be able to FaceTime with Artie before bed.
When she got out of the shower, she noticed that she'd already missed his FaceTime call. As Madison headed into the bathroom to take her shower, Kitty placed her sponge rollers in her hair while waiting for Artie to pick up.
"'Sup, Medusa?" he said, grinning when she appeared on the screen.
"Two weeks of Cheerio boot camp," she said, patting her curlers. "If the curl falls out of my ponytail, I do twenty push-ups. So, what did I miss at home?"
Artie pouted. "Watching Drunk History with me, Tina, Blaine, Sam, and Hunter," he said. "Tina's dad got this big screen and a projector for the backyard and we watched outside. It was really fun, Kitty, but I hated not having you with us."
"Hunter, as in, my brother?" Kitty echoed. "He was at Tina's house?"
"He was there before I got there," Artie added, eyebrows raised. "It kind of makes sense that she likes him. I mean, they're both going to Brown, right?" He grinned. "I have to say, it's kind of nice to see her finding someone after what she went through after her break up with Mike."
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Kitty said. "I thought she just invited him to hang with the group. Now, suddenly, they're finding each other?"
"That's just me guessing," Artie said, quickly. "Calm down. Tina's a great girl. She deserves to be loved openly, and proudly, and without conditions..."
Kitty would have smacked his arm, if he had been in the room with her, so she just gave him a knowing smirk instead.
"You know, I really should thank her for saying all that and standing up to me. Maybe now that I don't hate her guts, I could find it in me somehow..."
"Don't go losing your mean streak altogether," Artie said, playfully. "You need to keep your edge if you're gonna lead the Cheerios to victory."
Kitty grinned. "Okay, Artie, and speaking of which, I'd better go get some rest. Gotta make a lot of people cry tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomorrow night."
"Okay, love you," Artie said, and this was apparently just what they did now. Leaving off 'I' made it sound a bit more casual but didn't change the intent.
"Love you, too, Artie."