AN: Chapter 6, guys! This is your friendly reminder to please read and review, and also, maybe, check out the tumblr we have a lot of fun stuff happening over there. And if you're not following the story it would be cool if you would because I'm not uploading as regularly as I did before, so if you want to be notified whenever I post a new chapter, you should follow the story!
I have a question for you. How do you feel about the length of my paragraphs between song lyrics? Do you feel like you have time to read everything before the song moves on, or would you want more time? Do you listen to the songs as you're reading? Also, do you want me to put a little mark (i.e. *) where you should start the song? Let me know guys!
Thank you for reading!
Song list:
Impossible year - Panic! at the disco
Dancing's not a crime - Panic! at the disco
Walking into McKinley on Monday morning Brielle felt heavy stares taking her in. She was nearly 20 minutes late to her first class, and still enough students littered the halls to make Brielle feel like a hunted animal. Holding on to the straps of her backpack she looked straight ahead and tried to not take in the looks as she passed the other students. She was used to being looked at, and mocked, it was nothing new. Why then did she feel each jock's leering, and each cheerio's raised eyebrow like a knife in her back?
In four years at McKinley she had never once worn sweatpants to class. That morning she had barely managed to get out of bed, let alone get dressed. If her dad hadn't insisted on driving her to school she probably wouldn't have gone. She didn't feel ready to face anyone, let alone all of McKinley High.
Brielle:
There's no sunshine
This impossible year
Only black days and sky grey
And clouds full of fear
And storms full of sorrow
That won't disappear
Just typhoons and monsoons
This impossible year
"Miss Donahue," Mrs. Houston said, sounding like she only just recognised her favourite student. Usually someone who came in late to Mrs. Houston's class would get an earful, but the blonde woman was too taken aback by Brielle's tardiness and unkempt appearance that she just told her to find a seat. Brielle's blank face as she moved to a seat at the back of the classroom was like a dagger in Emilia's heart. She had never seen Brielle look so unlike herself.
Brielle couldn't pay attention to class, her head was still swimming with thoughts from the weekend. Staring out the window she completely tuned out Mrs. Houston droning on about some math problem.
There's no good times
This impossible year
Just a beachfront of bad blood
And a coast that's unclear
All the guests at the party
They're so insincere
They just intrude and exclude
This impossible year
A small white object hit Brielle in the face before landing in front of her on the desk. Opening the piece of paper she saw three words written in a familiar slanting hand. Are you okay? Brielle scowled at the note,unable to find the energy to care about Emilia's concern. She didn't need Emilia to say that she had told her so.
Then she looked up and saw Emilia's face. The blonde's lips were parted and a million questions flickered in her eyes. Taking in Brielle's dishevelled appearance it was clear that Emilia understood. She could see the bleak look in Brielle's eyes, and the dark circles under them. Brielle didn't find any traces of satisfaction in Emilia's eyes, just concern and pain. It was like there weren't any more people in the room.
Brielle had to look away.
There's no you and me
This impossible year
Only heartache and heartbreak
And gin made of tears
The bitter pill I swallow
The scars souvenir
That tattoo, your last bruise
This impossible year
As soon as class ended Brielle sprinted out and locked herself in a bathroom stall, hoping no one saw her wet eyes. She felt like her skin had been turned inside out over the weekend, raw and vulnerable. If she could just stay in the bathroom for the rest of the day she could tell her dad she had been at school all day. She didn't need to go to class or see anyone. Then she could lock herself in her room and not come out until it had all passed.
Pressing her fingers under her eyes she tried stopping the tears that kept welling up in her eyes. Her head pounded and she felt like she wanted to throw up.
There's never air to breathe
There's never in-betweens
These nightmares always hang on past the dream
"Brielle?" A soft knock sounded on the door. Opening the door Brielle saw Iris and immediately found herself wrapped in a hug. Iris was surprisingly strong for her small frame, her arms firm around Brielle. Letting her guard fall Brielle sobbed into Iris' shoulder. She didn't tell Iris anything about what had happened, she just cried.
There's no sunshine
There's no you and me
There's no good times
This impossible year
"First of all, you guys were all amazing in Wicked!" Everett beat his hands on his fist with his usual enthusiasm. The members of the glee club cheered and high fived each other, some doing little bows to their cast mates. "An extra round of applause for our director Iris, who made it all possible-"
"Coach Elliott, Iris isn't here," Hazel spoke up, stopping the teacher mid-sentence. Looking around Everett found that Iris was, in fact, missing, and it looked like she wasn't the only one.
"Brielle isn't here either," Emilia chimed in. "Shouldn't we wait for them?"
"And Stella is missing too," Dakota added, looking around and finding the rest of the club present.
"Well, you guys can just tell them next time you see them," Everett said, too excited to hold back any longer. Emilia furrowed her brow and kept her eyes on the door, waiting for Brielle to come in. "Anyway, this week we're doing something very different. I got in touch with the old glee club director, Mr. Schuester, and he told me about this amazing thing that they used to do when he ran the club. They did tribute weeks. They would dedicate an entire week to one artist."
"Can we do Imagine Dragons?" Dakota asked eagerly.
"Beatles!" Levi quirked up.
"No, no," Arcelia interrupted. "We're doing Selena!"
"What about Sara Bareilles?" Katrina suggested.
"On second thought, I am not listening to you all botch the Spanish," Arcelia wrinkled her nose. "I'll just do Selena-week by myself."
"Maybe another time," Everett said, quieting the members down. "I wanted us to start off with a band that meant a lot to me when I was your age. Drum roll, please!"
Slapping their palms against their legs, the ten teens looked expectantly at Everett, who smiled eagerly at them.
"We're doing Panic at the disco!"
While the rest of the glee club were gathered in the choir room working on their group assignment, Stella, Brielle and Iris were at Iris' house, curled up in her bed. Brielle sat in the middle, and each girl had a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream on her lap. After about half an hour of disagreement they had finally settled in to watch Frozen on Iris' computer. After finding Brielle in the bathroom Iris hadn't thought twice about cutting class. When Stella saw the two of them heading out, and saw the look on Brielle's face she insisted they let her get the keys to Mark's car and drive them.
"Thanks, guys," Brielle said, looking between the two girls. "I really needed this."
"Of course," Iris smiled and put her head on Brielle's shoulder. Brielle glanced up at Stella before putting her head on her shoulder. When Stella gently leaned her head against Brielle's, the other girl wrapped her hand around Stella's. Stella felt the heat rising in her cheeks, but just looked at the screen.
"I love this part," Brielle sighed as Elsa headed up the mountain to the first piano chords of "Let it go".
"Hey, Frank, can I talk to you?" Katrina tapped Frank on the shoulder as he was getting ready to leave the choir room. His heart sank, figuring she probably wanted to chew him out about the kiss. He had tried to pick up the courage to text her an apology all weekend long, but he couldn't find the words.
"Yeah," Frank said, swallowing hard. The rest of the club was out of the room quickly, all seemingly having better things to do. Frank braced himself and balled his hands into fists in his lap. He still sat while Katrina stood in front of him, but even then she wasn't much taller than him. Looking up at her felt right if she was going to be yelling.
"I just wanted to ask if you wanted to do a song together this week?"
"You want to sing together?" Frank had never been so confused. That definitely didn't sound like yelling. In fact, Katrina's voice was even softer than usual.
"Yes," she breathed out and smiled.
"Oh, uhm, okay," Frank couldn't help but smile back. He probably looked really goofy, elated that he wasn't being yelled at and thrilled a very cute girl wanted to sing with him.
"Okay, great," she said, nodding. "I have an idea, so can you meet me Wednesday after class?"
"Yeah, okay," Frank said eagerly.
"Awesome," Katrina flashed him another bright smile, leaned down and to Frank's surprise she kissed him on the cheek. "See ya!"
She was out the door before he could fully process what had just happened.
If you were a student in high school, Lima, Ohio had a surprisingly varied array of food-centred places for you to hang Lima Bean catered to the caffein-addicts and those craving surprisingly filling pastries. If you were going on a date the go-to would be the Italian restaurant Breadstix, famous for it's mediocre breadsticks. For a more casual meal, most opted to head out to The Great Shakesby, Lima's newest retro diner. Other regulars at The Great Shakesby included families with small children, elderly women getting together to pretend to knit while actually gossiping about each other's grandchildren, and a group for women who sell beaded jewellery on etsy. A mismatched pair of a tall boy in a letterman jacket and a short girl dressed like the stereotype of a librarian, sat in a booth in the back, sharing a basket of fries and two milkshakes.
"Dàmá," Tobias said, brow furrowed in concentration. His hands were balled into fists and he was pressing them down on the table. Hazel had to concentrate to not laugh at the striking resemblance between him and the four-year-old boy in the booth behind them glaring at his mother with his knife and fork ready in his fists. In addition to their similar poses, both had very intense looks on their faces. "Was that right?"
"No. Dàmā, try again," Hazel repeated slowly. For their first couple of lessons they had worked at McKinley, but this chilly December Monday Tobias suggested they get some food while they worked. After his burger and half the fries disappeared within the first three minutes, Hazel wondered how he stayed so fit. "Dàmā."
"Dàmá," Bai said again, sighing when Hazel shook her head. "Are you sure it's not right? They sound the same to me."
"They're not," Hazel replied and took a sip of her strawberry milkshake. "You're saying dàmá, it's supposed to be dàmā."
"Dàmá," Bai tried and Hazel shook her head. Each time he repeated the word his intonation was different and more exaggerated than the last. "Dàmá? Dàmá, dàmá! Dàmá?"
Hazel could't help but to burst out laughing, holding a hand up in front of her mouth.
"What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry," Hazel said, biting down on her lip to keep from laughing. "It's just that with the way you're saying it, it means 'weed'."
"I thought you said it meant 'Auntie'." Tobias laughed, leaning back in his seat and grabbing a handful of fries.
"It does," Hazel said, smoothing down her checked skirt. "When you say dàmā, but your intonation was off. You were saying dàmá."
"Dàmá? Is that right?"
Hazel shook her head and bit her lip.
"Did you give me a hard one on purpose?"
"No!" Hazel exclaimed, before looking down and smiling, a little mischievously. "Maybe."
"Hazel, you jerk!" Tobias exclaimed, but he was laughing. "That's not fair!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Hazel smiled over at him, heat rising in her cheeks.
Just then the color drained from Tobias' face and he shrank down in his seat, interrupting the moment. Following his gaze to the door Hazel found a group of boys she did not want to see. All of them were wearing red letterman jackets, and at the front of the group stood Todd Cameron. The group headed to the counter, but Hazel turned back to Tobias who looked like he was trying to disappear behind the menu. It would have been funny if it wasn't so humiliating.
"I'll have have six orders of fries and four cheeseburgers." Hazel didn't need to turn back around to know that Todd was leaning against the counter, and flashing the girl behind it a sleazy smile. She wondered how Emilia put up with him. "To go."
Tobias breathed a little easier, but stayed behind the menu. Todd and his posse were loud and without looking back Hazel could feel their presence in her bones. After several long minutes of Hazel biting her tongue and ignoring the tightening in her throat, and Tobias occasionally peeking out from behind the menu to see if Todd and the others were still there, the group of jocks finally left.
"Sorry about that," Tobias sighed in relief and put down the menu as he sat up straight in his seat again. Hazel didn't look at him. "I just don't want to see the guys right now."
"You just don't want them to see you hanging out with me," Hazel corrected, her insides suddenly turning to water. Luckily her voice remained steely. "Because I'm not cool like you."
"No! No, Hazel, that's not it," Tobias said, shaking his head. Hazel raised an eyebrow at him. "It kind of is, but it's not like that. Todd is kind of an asshole and he's not going to leave us alone about it. Trust me, you don't want him to know you're hanging out with me." Tobias looked down at his hands, avoiding Hazel's eyes. "And I don't want him to know why we're hanging out."
A heavy silence hung between them as they both avoided eye contact. Hazel's insides intermittently knotted together, and turned fluid. It felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Her jaw was tight and even though the jocks had left Hazel's body was still tense.
"Tobias?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?" He nodded, and Hazel took a deep breath before continuing. She was relieved when her voice didn't shake. "Are you ashamed?"
"About something specific?" He twisted in his seat a little. "Or just in general? Because I make a lot of crap choices."
"I meant about being Chinese," Hazel said mildly, biting the inside of her lip and looking up at him.
"Oh," he breathed, looking even more tense than he had when Todd was there. A pained look crossed his face and he rubbed his forehead, giving Hazel a very clear answer. "Uhm, will you be mad if I say yes?"
"No," Hazel looked away, the knot in her stomach moving up to her throat. She felt stupid and part of her wanted to run out of the diner and never see him again. Another part of her felt sorry for him.
"It's not like I think you should be ashamed or anything," Tobias said, catching Hazel's eyes again. She concentrated really hard on looking at him and not letting him see that her eyes were misty. "It's just- I've never really felt Chinese, you know? I don't speak Chinese, I've never been to Asia, Panda Express is the closest thing I've had to actual Chinese food, and I'm pretty sure you're my first Chinese friend. The only time I've felt like I was Chinese was when the other kids were picking on me for looking different."
"I'm sorry," Hazel said, unsure of what else to say. She tried giving him a small smile, and let go of some of the tension in her body. Her anger fizzled out, leaving an empty feeling in her gut.
"It's not your fault," he shrugged. "I guess I've always kind of tried to not stick out a lot, and ignoring that part of me was kind of a big part of that."
Hazel didn't know what to say, so she just waited for Tobias to continue.
"I get it if you don't want to keep doing this," he said after a moment.
"What? No, I still do," Hazel's eyebrows shot up and she shook her head. "If you still want to learn?"
"Yeah, I do," he said, nodding.
"Okay," Hazel smiled at him. "Maybe we'll do it somewhere else though. Somewhere Todd Cameron won't just show up. Maybe you could come over to my house after Glee on Wednesday?"
"Yeah, that would be awesome," he grinned at her, and the rest of the tension in Hazel's body melted away. "Thanks."
"My pleasure," Hazel shrugged and smiled, knowing her face was suddenly a few shades redder. "Besides, it's not everyday I get to make someone say weed for ten minutes straight."
"Dàmá!" Tobias said triumphantly, pointing to Hazel and smiling brightly.
"So close," Hazel smiled, holding her thumb and index finger about an inch apart. "Try again."
Two milkshakes and another order of fries later Tobias finally got it right. Hazel felt butterflies in her stomach, and told herself she was just proud.
Levi Sanders didn't have a lot of time to himself. Between school, extracurriculars and helping out with his little brother, Levi didn't find himself with a lot of time on his hands. The time he did get to spend by himself was precious and there were few places he liked to spend it better than at Between the sheets, his favourite sheet music store. After every Glee assignment he liked to go there to browse through sheet music to find the perfect song. Picking up a book of Panic! at the disco songs, Levi tried finding a song he knew and liked.
"I see you've finally succumbed to the charms of Brendon Urie," a silky voice came from Levi's right. Turning he found a striking Korean boy with inky black hair and pale skin. He was a couple of inches taller than Levi and a lot leaner. Levi hadn't seen him in months.
"Tyler? What are you doing here?"
"I heard the ghost of David Bowie punched a homophobe in the face at a party, and I thought there's only one guy I know who fits that description," Tyler smirked at Levi, picking the book out of Levi's hand and breezing through the selection. "Want to tell me what this is about?"
"It's just a Glee club thing," Levi rolled his eyes and tried to grab the book back, but Tyler stepped back too quickly. Tyler had always been the nimbler one of the two.
"Since when are you a glee guy?"
"Since like a month ago," Levi replied, trying again to get the book back. Tyler just pressed the book to his chest.
"That's different for you," Tyler raised and eyebrow, but Levi just shrugged. "What do you say we take it for a spin?"
"No," Levi said.
"Yes." Before Levi could protest again Tyler was over by the counter and typing something in on the computer there. A fun beat blasted from the speakers and Tyler dramatically turned toward Levi and started singing. Levi couldn't remember him being such a good singer and he certainly didn't remember Tyler being the kind to bust a move in the middle of a store. Smoothly dancing over to Levi and singing right at him, Tyler's glee was infectious.
Tyler:
I'm a moon-walker, I'm like MJ up in the clouds
I know it sounds awkward
I'm filthy as charged, filthy as charged
Levi confidently stepped into Tyler's path, looking the other boy up and down. Tyler had grown at least an inch since Levi had last seen him. Except for that he looked exactly the same, maybe a little sharper.
Levi:
You're a sweet talker,
But darlin' whatcha gonna say now?
The midnight marauders,
The higher never come down, never come down
Skipping back and jumping up to sit on the counter Tyler was more carefree than Levi had seen him before. There was no one else in the store except the guy behind the counter, but he didn't even look up from his magazine as Tyler lay down across the counter and pointed to Levi.
Tyler:
You can't take me anywhere, anywhere
You can't take me anywhere, anywhere
I'm still uninvited, I'm still gonna light it,
I'm going insane and I don't care
(Whatever they tell you)
Jumping back down off the counter and launching into a full-on dance routine Tyler was very impressive. Levi had always been the better dancer, and he was shocked at how good Tyler had become. He had clearly been working on his moves. Laughing and joining Tyler Levi tried his best to keep up with the other boy, but the moves were a lot harder than they looked. They would have looked ridiculous if Tyler wasn't so charismatic. Levi, on the other hand, was sure he looked ridiculous. He hoped he had enough swagger to pull it off anyway. At the end Tyler ran over behind one of the shelves of sheet music, leaving Levi by the counter.
Tyler and Levi:
Dancin', dancin'
Dancing is not a crime, 'less you do it without me
'Less you do it without me
Oh dancin', dancin'
Dancing is not a crime, unless you do it
Do it, do it, do it do it (without me)
Grabbing the book of sheet music from the counter and running to follow Tyler to one of the shelves Levi held the Panic! at the disco book up to Tyler pointing to Brendon Urie's face on the cover. Grabbing a random book out of the shelf and pointing it toward Tyler, Levi grimaced when he saw the smiling faces of the Village People. Tyler pressed a hand to his chest in mock insult at the accusation.
Levi:
And if you're night crawlin' with him, I won't take it lying down
I've got a few lawyers
And you're guilty as charged, guilty as charged
Tyler pushed the books aside and leaned over the shelves toward Levi. He was suddenly a lot closer and Levi could smell his minty fresh breath.
Tyler:
We could be waltzin'
But darlin' don't be throwing shade now
Don't call me Saint California if you're at another altar
Just gimme your vows, gimme your vows yeah
Spinning around and away from Tyler, Levi grabbed two books of sheet music from the shelf on the opposite wall. Holding one up in front of his face and mimicking the expression of the singer on the cover, Levi celebrated internally when he made Tyler break out laughing and forget to sing.
Levi and Tyler:
You can't take me anywhere, anywhere
You can't take me anywhere, anywhere
Levi grabbed another book and threw it over to Tyler who caught it and pressed it to his chest. Tyler held the book out again, singing to it like it was his scene partner in a very dramatic romantic movie. Throwing the book over his shoulder he launched into the Charleston, winking at Levi.
Levi (and Tyler):
I'm still uninvited, I'm still gonna light it
I'm going insane and I don't care
(Whatever they tell you)
The two danced on opposite sides of the shelves, occasionally throwing each other books. They both caught them each time and struck some ridiculous pose with it, trying to make the other laugh. When Tyler reenacted the lift from Dirty Dancing with an Elvis album Levi couldn't help but laugh at was glad there weren't more people in the store so they could take as much space as they wanted.
Levi and Tyler:
Dancin', dancin'
Dancing is not a crime, 'less you do it without me
'Less you do it without me
Oh dancin', dancin'
Dancing is not a crime, unless you do it
Do it, (do it) do it, do it, do it (without me)
Moving over to Tyler's side of the shelves, Levi leaned against the shelves resting against the wall. Tyler leaned against the ones on the other side, raising an eyebrow at Levi.
Levi:
Boo ooh ooh what's come over you
Babe just tell me now
Smoothly moving over to Levi's side Tyler "counted" their shoulders to place an arm around Levi, who rolled his eyes fondly. Leaning his head down on Levi's shoulder and looking up at him, Tyler acted like they hadn't cut contact months ago. By the way he was acting you would think they were always attached at the hip.
Tyler (and Levi):
Ooh ooh ooh let me make that move
'Cause I just wanna be
(Your boyfriend, girlfriend oh yeah)
I just wanna be
(Your boyfriend, girlfriend oh yeah)
Oh yeah
(Whatever they tell you)
Jumping off the shelf and pulling Levi with him Tyler started dancing again. This time he suddenly ended up on top of one of the shelves. Levi didn't have time to ask how he got up there before Tyler had pulled him up too. Levi had never noticed the solid beam between the two shelves, but judging by the cashier's indifference to their dancing, this probably wasn't the first time someone decided that dancing on the shelves was a good idea. Dancing together on top of the shelves, Levi caught the guy behind the counter shoot them a look, but he didn't say anything. Somehow Tyler managed to do the Charleston again on the narrow ledge between the shelves. Jumping down to the safety of the ground Levi caught Tyler by surprise, sending the other boy tumbling after him. Tyler managed to land on his feet, but just barely. The two barely managed to finish the song before they burst out laughing.
Levi and Tyler:
Dancin', dancin'
Dancing is not a crime, 'less you do it without me
'Less you do it without me
Oh dancin', dancin'
Dancing is not a crime, unless you do it
Do it, (do it) do it, do it, do it (without me)
Do it, (do it) do it, do it, do it (without me)
(Without me)
(Without me)
(Without me)
Out of breath, but filled with joy, Levi and Tyler leaned back on the shelves and breathed for a minute after the song ended, occasionally looking over at each other and doubling over again in fits of laughter again. It took Tyler a few minutes to regain his composure and run a hand through his dark hair to flatten it again.
"It's good to see you again," he smiled over at Levi.
"You too," Levi said, still a little out of breath. He didn't mean to complain about Everett's choreography, but three minutes of dancing with Tyler had him more out of breath than he had ever been in Glee rehearsal.
"I'm getting this for you," Tyler reached over the shelf to grab the Panic! at the disco book and held it up so Levi could see. Then he headed over to the cashier before Levi could stop him. Rolling his eyes again, Levi followed Tyler over to the counter.
AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you thought in a review and don't forget to tell me how you read the songs!