AN: So this chapter is a little shorter, but I hope you guys like it! Please leave a review to let me know what you guys think!
Emilia's Wednesday was going very well up until third period when the quarterback of the football team decided to make an appearance.
"So, Delaney," Todd Cameron sidled up to her and leaned against the locker next to hers. Todd had the kind of face where you couldn't decide if he was attractive or very punchable, or both. Being a lesbian Emilia had decided his face was just punchable. "I hear you've joined the Nude Erections."
"So?" Emilia said coldly. She had been turning Todd down since middle school, but somehow he didn't seem to take the hint. He hadn't even stopped when she was dating Tobias, but Bai had been pretty good at showing up at the right time to throw an arm around Emilia and stare intimidatingly at Todd. It had been a great perk of dating the only Freshman who was over six feet tall. Tobias showing up usually sent Todd retreating within two minutes. Emilia doubted Brielle would have the same effect.
"So, you need something cool to hold onto your popularity," Todd grinned in that intolerably slick way of his. He was one of this boys Emilia couldn't understand that straight girls found attractive. Sure, his jaw was chiseled and he was tall, but he also looked like he was made of plastic. "I'm here to offer my services."
"And I'm here to politely decline," Emilia replied, not very politely. She closed her locker and walked away before Todd could find another way to try to ask her out.
"Where you going, short stuff?" A deep voice rang out behind Iris. She froze instinctively as another boy appeared in front of her. She could feel the first one breathing down her neck. The second boy held a slushy in his hand and Iris didn't doubt that the one behind her had a matching one. "I said, where are you going?"
"Glee club," Iris stuttered, simultaneously dreading what was to come and wanting to get it over with. The two boys laughed cruelly and the one behind her pushed her shoulder. The one in front of her pushed her back to the first one who grabbed the front of her thin sweater and forced her back against a locker. Iris recognised the one who had grabbed her as Abel, but the other guy was probably new. Maybe it was an initiation. Congratulations, you are officially on the football team after slushying your first nerd.
"You hear that, Kyle?" Abel said, stepping closer to Iris. "Little Cho Chang is going to sing about how hard it was to escape North Korea."
"First of all, I'm not Korean," Iris snapped back, immediately regretting it when Abel shoved her against the locker. She bit back her whimper and looked down. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing her pain.
"I don't care," Abel replied, smiling coldly. "I think it's time we show Miss Ramen Noodles who makes the rules around here."
"Is that you, Abel?" A deep voice cut in and stopped Abel in his tracks just as he was about to throw his green slushy in Iris' face. Looking up, Iris found Tobias Blake standing behind Abel. With his arms crossed over his chest and looking down at Abel he looked every bit a vigilante. If Iris wasn't so sure that he'd only come to her rescue to slushy her himself, she would've been relieved. "I thought you just did what Todd was too lazy to do himself?"
"Back off, Bai," Abel said, turning away from Iris to look at the taller boy. If he would just loosen his grip on her shirt Iris was sure she could run off. Of course she also knew that the boys could catch her easily. "I'm just showing the new kid how things work around here."
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Bai said. Even though he seemed to be helping her, Iris couldn't help but cringe. That was probably the reason he never seemed to throw verbal insults at anyone.
"Really, Blake?" Abel said, and Iris didn't need to see his face to know how incredulous he looked. Tobias on the other hand, was able to keep a straight face. Iris figured he either didn't realise how cliché his line was, or he had known going in and was deciding to ignore it. "What do you care anyway? Don't tell me you've joined the rainbow brigade?"
"So what if I have?" Tobias said, stunning the other three. This either had to be some elaborate prank, or the jock had lost his mind. She saw a brief flicker of something cross Tobias' face, but he stepped closer to Abel, keeping eye-contact. "Are you going to do something about it?"
Iris held her breath as the seconds passed. Neither Abel nor Tobias blinked, they just stared at each other. Iris and Kyle looked back and forth between them waiting for one of them to budge. Iris' heart was in her throat, she couldn't honestly say which of them terrified her more.
"Come on, Kyle, let's go," To Iris' surprise Abel let go of her sweater and stalked off with the new kid in tow. They kept looking over their shoulders at Iris and Tobias, who put a hand on her back and guided her away. He was surprisingly gentle, which only made Iris more confused.
"What way is the choir room?" Tobias said softly to her, probably so the other boys wouldn't hear. Iris hesitantly told him and he dropped his hand from her back.
"You're coming?"
Tobias glanced over his shoulder, set his jaw and nodded. Iris didn't know if she should be grateful, confused or terrified.
"Hey, Dakota," Brielle sat down next to the blond boy in the choir room. Without thinking he accepted the sheet music she handed to him, glancing down to read the title. Most of the other members were either sitting around them or on their way into the room. "I was wondering if you'd want to sing this with me at Homecoming? I think we'd sound really good together."
"Oh, thanks, Brielle," Dakota smiled, thrilled to find he wasn't the only one who cared about Glee Club. He had persuaded his parents not to come to homecoming, saying they shouldn't need to close the store just to come to one silly school dance. He had also told them that football was having extra practices because of all the new guys on the team, to cover for all the time he spent in Glee rehearsal. He was feeling pretty good about himself. "Sure."
"Great!" When Brielle turned in her seat to face the front again she saw something she had never expected to see. Iris was walking in, which wasn't unusual, but trailing behind her was a very tall boy in a letterman jacket. Usually when boys in letterman jackets walked behind Iris they had slushies in their hands, ready to throw. She had seen Tobias Blake throw more kids in dumpsters than she could count, and he had probably slushied more students than anyone else at McKinley. He had probably slept with more cheerios than anyone else at McKinley too, but somehow that thought was more uncomfortable for Brielle.
"Blake, are you lost?" Arcelia called out to the tall boy. "The meeting for half-giraffe people is down the hall."
"Yeah, Bai," Emilia added. "Why are you here?"
"He's joining Glee club!" Dakota said before Tobias could answer. Iris had already sat down next to Brielle in the only free seat, leaving him to awkwardly grab a chair from the back of the room before sitting down next to Dakota. "Right?"
"Uhm, yeah, I guess," Tobias answered, glancing over at Kalyani who very obviously looked away. "If that's okay?"
"The more the merrier," Everett said, smiling at Tobias, who returned the smile sheepishly. "We need to work on our set for homecoming though, so we don't really have time for an audition."
"That's fine by me," Tobias replied, realising that he might not have a way out of that situation. Handing out sheet music to the club, Everett didn't notice Frank leaning as far away from Tobias as he could without falling out of his chair, and the dirty looks Kalyani occasionally sent in the new member's direction. Even if he had noticed he would have done his best to ignore it. He really needed more members.
"Kalyani, can I talk to you?" Tobias caught up to Kalyani as she hurried out of rehearsal. She didn't look at him and kept walking. In desperation Tobias stepped in front of her to block her path.
"What?" Kalyani demanded, crossing her arms and looking up at him. Seeing her annoyance Tobias immediately regretted his aggressive move.
"I just wanted to talk to you," he tried, hoping to soften her. It didn't work.
"Then talk," Kalyani replied, still looking up at him impatiently.
"I just, I feel bad," Tobias said, biting his lower lip and looking down at Kalyani.
"Is that new for you?" Kalyani said, raising her eyebrows at him. "Feeling things?"
"Look, I'm trying to apologise," Tobias replied, harsher than he had meant to.
"Well, I'm not the one you should be apologising to," Kalyani said. "It's Frank you should talk to, he's the one you've been throwing in the dumpster." Tobias' face was blank. "You didn't even know that was his name, did you?"
Tobias looked away in shame, confirming Kalyani's suspicion.
"I helped Iris," Tobias insisted. "The guys on the football team were going to slushy her, and I-"
"Oh, you do one nice thing and all of a sudden you're the BFG?" Kalyani snapped back, and waited a moment to see if he would reply. When he didn't she shook her head and licked her lips. "You stopped one person getting slushied. How many people have you thrown slushies at?"
Before Tobias could answer she shouldered past him and headed to her locker. Behind her Tobias watched her go.
"Look behind you, but be discreet," Arcelia whispered in Emilia's ear as she caught up with her and grabbed her arm. Emilia strolled over to the lockers and leaned against one, turning towards Arcelia and looking to her right. At first she didn't see what she was supposed to be looking for, but then she spotted Stella who gently tapped Tobias' shoulder. They were too far away to hear what the two were saying, but from the way Stella looked up at Tobias Emilia figured she had probably asked him something. "I told her to ask him to homecoming."
"Why?" Emilia asked, turning back to her friend. Arcelia was wiggling her eyebrows and smiling devilishly. Tobias was glancing over his shoulder in Emilia and Arcelia's direction, and Emilia couldn't help but turn to look further down the hall where Kalyani was just turning the corner. When she looked back Tobias turned back to Stella with a smile and nodded.
"Because I wanted to see what she would do," Arcelia said, looking over at the blonde cheerleader and the tall jock. "British Invasion over there has clearly never spread her legs for anyone, so I figured I would see how much it would take."
"So you what? Just said 'Hey, Tobias has a dick, sleep with him?'"
"No," Arcelia scoffed and moved to lean against the locker next to Emilia. "I just planted the idea that she's very unsexy and should get laid. Then she came to me, asking for advice. It was sort of endearing."
"You're wicked," Emilia smiled at her friend and shook her head. "You should really consider joining the musical, you'd be a natural wicked witch."
"No thanks, green's not really my color," Arcelia shrugged and walked away. Glancing over her shoulder at Tobias and Stella who seemed to be exchanging numbers, Emilia headed towards the exit.
On her way out Emilia walked past Brielle and was about to talk to her, but changed her mind. Brielle was talking with Iris, and even though Emilia was pretty sure she had been seen, Brielle pretended not to notice her. Keeping her head high Emilia pushed through the doors of McKinley and headed towards her car.
Just as she exited the school building she spotted Dakota talking to two other jocks. It seemed weird to her that Abel would still be at school, but she didn't think anything of. Not until she spotted the slushie he had in his hand, not until he threw it in Dakota's face. The new kid was shorter than Dakota, probably not much taller than she was, but he seemed strong as he wrapped his arms around Dakota's chest. Dakota was probably too shocked to resist, because Abel and the new kid easily lifted him up and threw him into the dumpster.
"That's what you get for joining homo explosion, Vasko!" Abel mocked loudly enough for Emilia to hear, as he slammed his fist against the dumpster. Giving the shorter jock a high-five Abel turned away from the dumpster and headed towards the parking lot. Emilia stood frozen on the steps.
""Hey, Todd," Emilia said to the tall boy as she slid up next to him by his locker. He seemed pleasantly surprised to find her there and smiled the intolerable smile he thought was charming. "I've been thinking, and I think you're right. We should go to homecoming together."
"Finally came to your senses, huh, Delaney?" Todd said, closing his locker and turning to Emilia.
"Yes," Emilia replied, smiling her sweetest smile. "So you can pick me up at 7."
"Great," Todd smiled. "Wear something sexy."
He winked at her before leaving. Emilia felt like throwing up in her mouth a little bit.
"What was that?" Brielle was suddenly next to Emilia, with a furrowed brow and shining eyes.
"Nothing," Emilia said, looking away and shrugging. "I was just checking with Todd if we had homework in English."
"Don't lie to me," Brielle said, anger edging into her voice. "You asked him out to Homecoming. Why would you do that?"
Without answering Emilia grabbed Brielle's arm and pulled her into an empty classroom.
"Look," Emilia said, closing the door and turning back to Brielle. "I need to keep up appearances here. If I don't have a date to homecoming, people will start to suspect something."
"Like what? That you're single? That you don't want to date?" Brielle snapped. "No one is going to think you're a lesbian just because you're going stag to homecoming."
"It's not just that," Emilia insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I joined Glee club for you, I need something to stay popular."
"And Todd Cameron is that something?"
"Yes," Emilia replied. "He's captain of the football team, he's apparently handsome and he's popular."
"And he's a guy."
"And he's a guy, yes," Emilia snapped back. "I know you're okay with being the school laughing stock, but I'm not, okay? I'm not ready to come out yet."
"That's not what this is about!" Brielle hissed. Brielle's eyes were looking even wetter than when she had first walked up to Emilia, and it was taking a lot for Emilia to not step closer to Brielle and wrap her arms around her. "You don't have to go with me to homecoming, but you're my girlfriend, I don't want you to go to homecoming with someone else."
"But it doesn't mean anything!" Emilia said, more loudly than intended. "It's just one stupid date with a stupid guy to keep everyone from getting suspicious."
"Were you going to tell me?" Brielle asked, stepping closer to the blonde.
"What?"
"If it meant nothing, were you going to tell me?" Brielle asked, cold anger plain on her face. Emilia knew her face had already told Brielle the answer, but she did her best to keep her face blank.
"You're being ridiculous," Emilia said, but looked away. Brielle nodded and shouldered past Emilia and out the door.
Later that day in Glee club Emilia leaned against the piano while Jackson played the opening chords. Brielle sat in the first row with her arms and legs crossed, looking huffy already.
Emilia:
Every single day I walk down the street
I hear people say 'baby's so sweet'
Ever since puberty
Everybody stares at me
Boys, girls, I can't help it baby
So be kind
And don't lose your mind
Just remember that I'm your baby
Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me, baby
Or leave me
Take me baby or leave me
Ruffling Jackson's hair as she walked away from the piano and over to the rows of seats, Emilia strategically avoided looking at Brielle. Instead she sang to each of the other members in turn. At one point she grabbed Tobias and Kalyani by the shoulders and pulled them closer to herself. Kalyani rolled her eyes and looked away from Tobias, who looked hopeful, then disappointed. Releasing them Emilia moved over to Dakota who sat tapping his foot and smiling, and grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand, tracing a finger along his jaw with the other.
A tiger in a cage can never see the sun
This diva needs her stage baby let's have fun
You are the one I choose
Folks would kill to fill your shoes
You love the limelight too now baby
So be mine
And don't waste my time
Crying oh honey bear are you still my my my baby
Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me baby or leave me
As Emilia worked her way from member to member, stopping flirt with each of them, Brielle was making a point of not looking at her. Instead she pretended to find the tiles on the floor to be very interesting. When Emilia made her way to the front again and sat down sideways in a chair that stood next to the piano, Brielle found she had to look back at the cheerio. Emilia was leaning back over the edge of the chair, making eye contact with Brielle for the first time in the number.
No way
Can I be what I'm not
But hey
Don't you want your girl hot?
Don't fight
Don't lose you head
Cause every night who's in your bed
Who?
Who's in your bed
Kiss pookie
Brielle finally couldn't sit still anymore and stood up to join Emilia. The blond looked surprised, but Brielle didn't care. If Emilia thought she could sing Take me or leave me as a solo she had another thing coming. Emilia sat up in her chair as Brielle came over, and Brielle decided to take advantage of it and circled the other girl, grabbing hold of her shoulders to keep her in the chair.
Brielle:
It won't work
I look before I leap
I love margins and discipline
I make lists in my sleep baby
What's my sin?
Never quit I follow through
I hate mess but I love you
What to do with my impromptu baby
So be wise
Cause this girl satisfies
You got a prize so don't compromise
You're one lucky baby
Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me baby or leave me
Emilia:
Control freak
Snob yet over attentive
Lovable droll geek
Anal retentive
Emilia wrenched free of Brielle grip and shoot up from her chair. They grabbed a side of the chair each and sang directly to each other. They didn't see Everett look over at Iris, who nodded with a smile.
Both:
That's it
The straw that breaks my back
I quit
Brielle:
Unless you take it back
Emilia:
Women, what is it about them?
Both:
Can't live
With them or without them
They both let go of the chair circled each other instead. They ended very close together, singing right in each other's faces.
Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be (who I was meant to be)
And if you give a damn (and if you give a damn)
Take me baby (oh take me, baby)
Or leave me (take me or leave me)
Take me, baby
Or leave me
Guess I'm leaving
I'm gone
After saying the last two lines in unison the two girls turned sharply and took a few steps away from each other. No one in the choir room said or did anything for a few seconds, feeling the tension in the room. Then the tension burst with applause and laughter.
"That was amazing, girls, well done!" Everett said, completely oblivious to the tension between the singers. "You're auditioning for the musical too, Brielle, right?"
"Yes," Brielle smiled, glancing over at Emilia. "I am."
"Awesome," Everett nodded. Brielle was about to turn to say something to Emilia, but the blonde had already sat down in her seat.