Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
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Chapter Thirty-One
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"Good luck on your exams, honey. Make me proud!"
Mouse waved back at her mother weakly, feeling slightly sickened at the fake expression on her mother's face. Sarah tore out of the parking lot a moment later, tyres screeching loudly as she cut off another car. Sighing heavily, Mouse adjusted her bag and headed into the school building for the first of her five exams that week.
As she made her way down the corridor, Mouse couldn't help but notice how nervous everyone looked. Some people looked as though they'd just rolled out of bed, others were clutching travel mugs filled with coffee, some were jittery and tapping their fingers against their legs. The tapping started a beat, and she could almost hear the desperate song that accompanied the sound.
Tell me where our time went,
And if it was time well spent.
Just don't let me fall asleep,
Feeling empty again.
'Cause I fear I might break,
And I fear I can't take it.
Tonight, I lie awake,
Feeling empty.
The door to the exam room opened. Goosebumps raised on Mouse's arms as everyone filed inside in time to the beat. Their footsteps continued the song, and her heart raced. They were all instructed to turn their phones off and leave their bags at the front of the room. The only things they were allowed to carry were a pencil and eraser. If anyone was caught with anything else, they would automatically fail.
I can feel the pressure,
It's getting closer now.
We're better off without you,
I can feel the pressure.
It's getting closer now,
We're better off without you.
They were seated alphabetically, and Mouse sat at her labelled desk quietly, trying to take deep breaths and calm herself. Puck squeezed her shoulder gently as he passed to get to his seat at the back of the room, and she tried to smile in response. Around her, Mouse could see her friends from Glee, and they all looked as nervous as she did.
Now that I'm losing hope,
And there's nothing else to show.
For all of the days that we spent,
Carried away from hope?
Some things I never know,
And I had to let them go.
I'm sitting all alone,
Feeling empty.
"Your exams start now!" The examiner's words pulled Mouse out of her thoughts abruptly and she could faintly hear the sound of the school bell ringing, signalling that it was 9am.
Mouse took a deep breath, and turned the page to begin her English exam.
...
On the final day of their exams, BreadstiX was packed with senior students. Some had looks of pure relief, others seemed terrified, and everyone was talking over tables to each other about how they thought they went. The Warblers were in attendance, Kurt looking paler than usual as he reiterated the horror of forgetting everything he'd learnt in Music class and how he was sure that he'd completely failed. Mouse was quiet as she watched everyone talk to each other, a few people walking around the restaurant restlessly. She leant back against Puck, his arm around her as he talked with Finn and Mike about the English exam.
"Oh god, oh god. My parents are going to absolutely freak out if I don't at least pass my exams. How am I going to tell them that I've probably failed everything except English? Although that's debatable," Tina groaned, hitting her head on the table.
"I'm sure you haven't failed, Tina. I think the only way you can do that is if you write nothing but your name," Artie said, attempting a grin but falling short.
"Oh, god. Did I even write my name?! Tell me I wrote my name," she begged, looking at the others imploringly.
"You wrote your name. It was the very first thing we had to do, and I saw your pencil moving. You'll be fine, Tina," Mouse said, patting her hand gently.
"How are you so calm?"
"I'm not calm. I'm pretending to be calm. I'm not going to be calm until I get my results back, and even then I won't be completely calm until I hear back from the colleges I applied to," she replied, her hands shaking a little. "Now, breathe in and out with me, and we'll both pretend like everything's perfect."
Tina nodded and followed Mouse's example, inhaling and exhaling loudly, before forcing the biggest and cheesiest grin on her face that she could manage.
"How many times do we have to do this?" Tina asked a few moments later.
"Until we stop thinking about the exams," Mouse replied, exhaling again.
Tina groaned in annoyance, but continued along with Mouse, smiling at Artie and making him laugh.
"What are you two doing?" Santana asked with a frown, sitting across from Mouse.
"Breathing and smiling until we stop thinking about exams," Tina replied.
"Is it working?" she asked dubiously.
"It's better than sitting here worrying over it uselessly," Mouse said, shrugging.
"Good point. But you look ridiculous, so I'm definitely not joining in," Santana said, smirking.
Someone ran past, looking queasy and heading for the bathroom.
"They look better than that guy," Artie said, joining in with the breathing and smiling exercises too.
"Yeah, but by comparison, that kid covered in spaghetti looks better than that guy," Puck said with a chuckle.
"That kid covered in spaghetti looks really happy," Finn said, grinning.
"We probably did at his age too, if we were covered in food," Mouse said.
"I don't think you have to be a certain age to be happy about being covered in food," Puck said with a grin, scooping up the last of his cake and smearing it on Mouse's face.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise and she let out a sound of annoyance that had everyone going silent and looking over at them. She would have been embarrassed if not for the fact that she was so annoyed at Puck. Mouse wiped the cake off her face and smeared it on Puck, giving him a satisfied smirk at the sight of the pink icing on him. Artie gave a chuckle and got Tina's attention, throwing some of his ice cream at her. She squealed as the cold substance suddenly hitting her and retaliated with her carrot cake. In a matter of seconds, food was flying across the restaurant, people laughing and screaming. Kurt immediately went to hide in the bathroom, not willing to ruin his outfit. Blaine just laughed and joined in the fray. Mercedes threw a piece of cake at Terrence as she hurried after Kurt, laughing. Puck pulled Mouse out of the booth, icing-covered fingers gripping hers as he used a plastic plate as a shield. Finn and Mike were working together to throw heaps of jelly at people, until Finn turned on Mike and dumped a plateful of the coloured jelly down the back of his shirt. Mike swore vengeance and took the last of Artie's ice cream, standing on the booth's seat to pour it directly on top of Finn's head. Standing up at such a height made Mike a bigger target, and he soon found himself covered in condiments, surrounded by a ragtag bunch armed with bottles of sauce and mustard.
The restaurant manager wasn't happy at the food fight, yelling that it was a safety hazard for them to be throwing food everywhere. (He was immediately set upon by cheerleaders with bowls of spaghetti.) While some of the families left the restaurant complaining loudly, there were a few who joined in the food fight, adults and children alike laughing in delight.
Puck batted away most of the food that was coming their way, the plate a surprisingly strong shield against the array of foods. Mouse laughed at the sight of Quinn with bright pink hair, Brittany's strawberry cheesecake a victim to the fight.
The food ran out soon enough, people laughing at the sight of each other. Everyone still in the restaurant was made to clean up everything that they'd thrown, the restaurant manager refusing to let anyone leave until it was spotless. There were a few groans at that, but everyone hurried to comply when he threatened to call the police.
"I don't know if I'll want to eat dinner after this," Mouse said, sweeping up a mess of spaghetti, ice cream and cake.
"Well, you probably will want something eventually. It's not like we actually ate any of this," Puck said, grinning at her.
She grinned and agreed with a nod, and they continued to clean up quietly.
...
"So, are you going to Prom?" Puck asked Mouse.
"Yep, you?"
"Yep. Want to go together?"
"My, how utterly romantic of you," Mouse said in a droll voice, breaking into laughter when he looked worried. "Yeah, sure. I promise not to wear pink, and I'm happy with a cheap over-the-counter corsage."
"What the hell's a corsage?" Puck asked, frowning and hoping he hadn't gotten in over his head already.
"Basically, a pin made out of flowers. It probably has a special meaning or origin, but I've got no idea what that is. You're also meant to wear a tie that matches the colour of my dress."
"Uh-huh. Why?"
"So we can find each other in a crowd by colour alone? Probably so it looks nicer in the photos," she said with a shrug. "Oh, I know! Let's go wild and match my dress to your tie!" Mouse said, laughing.
"You're loving this, aren't you?" he muttered.
"Yeah, a little bit. Just know that both of our mothers are going to need at least half an hour each for photos. I say we elope to Prom instead; I say we're going to meet at your house, you say we're going to meet at mine, and we meet at a halfway point and go from there instead."
"Do you really think it'd work?" Puck asked with a wry grin.
"Doubt it. Hmm, a limo might be cheaper if we all go as a group."
"Limo?" he asked, his voice close to breaking at the mere thought of the cost.
"Don't look so worried; you're not the one who has to go dress shopping," Mouse said, shuddering.
Puck grinned suddenly, his eyes roving over her form. "Will you take requests?"
"About what? And don't you dare say anything about a see-through dress, or I'll have to hit you for being a pig."
"You really think I want everyone else looking at you in a see-through dress?" he asked with a snort of disbelief. "I was just going to ask about the colour. I want to see you in red," Puck said with a broad grin.
"Red? Hmm, I don't know if I can pull that colour off. I'd probably look like I escaped from the circus," Mouse said, looking down at her body and frowning as she tried to picture wearing such a bold colour.
"Will you try, for me?" he asked.
"All right. But if I look ridiculous, then that's the last we'll discuss it, okay?"
"Fine by me. Now, explain more about this corsage thing."
...
"How do I look? Actually tell me this time," Mouse said, glaring at Quinn, Mercedes and Kurt.
They were meant to be helping her, but all they'd done was sing random bits of songs at her instead of telling her if she looked like a circus clown!
"Girl, you're amazing,
Just the way you are," they sang, laughing.
"Oh, that's it! I'm changing back into my normal clothes. I don't care anymore, I'll go to Prom in a suit!"
"So long as it isn't your birthday suit; you can't steal my thunder," Kurt said primly, laughing when she huffed at him.
"I'll take your thunder and shove it up your butt, you annoying..."
"Jane! Language!" Quinn said, laughing.
"Would you prefer Spanish or French? I might even remember a curse in Chinese too," she said sarcastically over her shoulder.
Pulling on her pants and shirt, Mouse sighed as she sat down to put her shoes on again. This was the third store. Quinn and Mercedes had already found their dresses, Kurt was designing his own suit, and Mouse was getting frustrated that nothing seemed to be right.
Ugh, she hated clothes shopping anyway! She didn't know why she'd thought this self-inflicted torture would be fun.
Mouse left the changing room and saw that she was alone. Her friends were over in the accessories section now, looking at bags, jewellery, and hats to match their outfits. Sighing, she put the dress back on the rack and headed over to the others. On her way, Mouse noticed a dress she hadn't seen before. It was a midnight blue colour at the bottom, lightening to a soft blue at the top. There were a series of diamond-like sequins along the hem of the dress, a few swirling up into a pattern along the middle of the dress. Looking at the price, Mouse almost laughed out loud. It was gorgeous, but for that price, she'd never be able to leave Lima!
"Try it on, Mouse," Kurt said firmly, taking the dress off and handing it to her.
She was surprised that she hadn't seen him coming - or heard him, at that, considering he was wearing a ridiculous bag with bells sewn into it - and was too surprised to stop him from leading her back over to the changing rooms.
"I... I can't afford it," she hissed, even as he ushered her into the stall.
"I don't care. You were staring at the dress for a good three minutes. Put it on, or I'll make you," Kurt threatened.
Remembering the last time he'd made her get into a dress, Mouse sighed and shut the curtains with a snap, changing out of her clothes yet again.
"Are you still in there, or did you dig your way out with a plastic spoon?" Kurt asked.
"Thanks for the idea," Mouse said, opening the curtains and rolling her eyes at him. "What?" she asked when she saw his slack jaw expression.
"Come out here. Right now. Girls!" Kurt called loudly, pulling her out of the changing room and into the well-lit store.
"What the hell? Is that your equivalent of a dog whistle for fashionistas?" Mouse asked with a mutter when Mercedes and Quinn seemed to appear out of thin air a second later.
"Oh, stop being sarcastic and turn around so we can look at you properly," Kurt said, stepping back.
"What, no random song this time?" she asked, turning around slowly.
"What did I just say?" Kurt asked sternly.
Mouse sighed, but stayed silent as she completed a full turn. Looking between the three of them, she frowned when they just kept looking at her as if she'd grown a second head.
"Okay, I don't care what you just said now - you're really starting to freak me out. What's going on?"
"You have to buy it," Quinn said. "Go back in there, get out of that dress, and buy it."
"You're kidding me, right? This costs more money than I have! How do you expect me to pay for it?"
"I'll pay half," Quinn replied simply.
"What?! No! I'm not buying this dress. Where's that first one? That wasn't so bad," Mouse said, turning away to look for the orange dress.
"You looked like an overcooked carrot, I refuse to let you walk out of the store with that thing."
"Great, now you tell me the truth?!"
"The second one made you look like you were wearing a tent instead of a dress. Numbers three through six aren't even worth describing, and do not even get me started on the other stores! That dress is the one that you're meant to buy, and that is the dress that you're wearing to Prom," Quinn said firmly.
"I refuse to accept your money or your charity, Quinn. I'll just borrow one of my mum's dresses from home. God knows she's got enough to choose from."
"No," Quinn said, glaring. She took Mouse's arm and guided her back into the dressing room. "You are buying this dress, Jane. The reason I want to pay half is to pay you back for everything you did for me while I was pregnant."
"I... I didn't do anything. You just slept at my house."
"That's more than my own parents did for me," Quinn replied. "Look, you kept me warm, fed, and - somehow - you also kept me sane. You're the reason I haven't gone off the deep end and dyed my hair some ridiculous colour, okay? I'm paying for half of this dress, and if you keep arguing with me about it, I'll buy the whole thing and superglue the damn thing to you just to make sure you wear it to Prom."
"Geez, and you think I kept you sane?" Mouse asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Shut up, and look at yourself," Quinn said, turning her abruptly and facing her to the mirror.
"Yeah, okay, I look decent and somewhat feminine. It's not worth blowing my budget on; I'm probably only going to wear it once, and it'll probably get stained within minutes of getting to Prom. Finger food and fancy dresses, not a good idea," she muttered, even as she smoothed the material down carefully.
Mercedes opened the curtain and looked in with a grin. "We've been wearing the salesperson down; she's agreed to a 50% discount just to get us out of the store."
"Hurry, her offer expires in five minutes," Kurt added, grinning when Quinn pulled Mouse's zip down quickly.
"Get changed now. I'll buy it, you pay me back for half," Quinn said, somehow physically lifting Mouse out of the dress and running out of the change rooms with the bundle of material.
"What the hell just happened?"
"She's a cheerleader; Quinn lifts people on a daily basis for fun. You'd better do as she says; I think she's close to doing a triple somersault over someone's head," Mercedes said with a laugh.
Mouse shook her head and pulled her clothes on yet again.
...
"Mousie! Mousie! Your mail's here!" Candy called, holding the envelopes carefully as he made his way upstairs.
Mouse opened her door quickly and waited as patiently as she could while Candy brought the mail up to her. She'd been waiting for news from the colleges she'd applied to for months!
"Thank you, sweetie," she said with a smile, taking the envelopes from him with a trembling hand.
Candy waited expectantly for her to open the envelopes, and Mouse tried to calm her nerves as she ripped open the first one.
"Can sweet read it?" Candy asked, looking up at her with big eyes.
"Okay," she said, more than relieved to not have to read the news for herself.
Candy grinned brightly and accepted the open envelope solemnly. He pulled out the letter with a careful precision, his brow furrowing as he tried to read the words.
"Dear Miss Jane Franklin - that's you, isn't it Mousie? - Thank you for your app-li-ca-tion to Ohio State College. D-u... - what's this say? Hee, it rhymes with blue - Due to a record number of sch-scho-scholar - I know, Mousie! - scholarships, we are un-for-tuna-tely - unfortunately? Oh, that's not good. - unfortunately unable to accept you to our college."
Candy stopped reading abruptly, his smile fell, and he glowered at the piece of paper as if it offended him in the worst possible way. Then, with a ferocity that surprised even Mouse, he screwed up the piece of paper and threw it over the stair banister.
"Candy!"
He blew a raspberry after the piece of paper for good measure, not looking at all remorseful as he turned back to Mouse. "It was bad!"
"You know not to do that to people when they're bad, don't you?" she asked in a mutter.
"Sweet wouldn't do that to people! Just paper," he replied, shaking his head at his silly sister. "Can sweet read that one too?" Candy asked, smiling again.
"All right," Mouse said, opening the envelope again and handing it to him.
His eyes scanned the letter slowly and he frowned, going to screw the paper up.
"Read it out loud first. You could do with the practice," she said, nodding for him to start.
"But it's badder than that one!" Candy protested. He saw the look on Mouse's face and sighed heavily before starting to read from the letter. "Dear Miss Jane Franklin. We are unable to offer you a scholarship. Thank you for applying."
"That's it?" Jane asked in surprise, taking the thin piece of paper and seeing the mere five sentences - including the date and Dean's signature. Muttering under her breath, she screwed the piece of paper up and threw it down with the first.
Candy giggled. "Don't do that to people, Mousie."
"Only paper," she promised with a quick smile.
"Next?" he asked, moving to sit on the top stair carefully.
Mouse sat next to him, opened the third envelope and handed it to him. There were only two more envelopes to open after this one, and Mouse had no idea what she'd do if she didn't get accepted into any of the colleges. She felt a little nauseous at the thought, but tried to stay positive and returned her attention to Candy.
"Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, due to high scholarship numbers - do I have to finish reading it, Mousie?"
She sighed and shook her head. Candy scowled at the piece of paper, screwed it up tightly and threw it down the stairs. Mouse did the same with the envelope just to make herself feel better. The next letter and envelope met the same demise, and Mouse put her head on her knees as Candy began to read the final letter.
"Dear Miss Jane Franklin. Thank you for applying to the University of Illinois - Urbana ... Champ-a-ign ... Champaign. We are pleased to accept your scholarship application for the Library and Information Studies degree." Candy stopped suddenly and looked to her, smiling brightly. "That's good, isn't it, Mousie?"
"Yes, it really is, Candy."
He hugged her tightly, then stood up carefully and headed to her room, the letter still in his hand. Mouse breathed a sigh of relief, her hands still trembling, and she looked at the pamphlets that were inside of the envelope. She thought it had felt heavier than the other ones, but hadn't wanted to get her hopes up. Candy returned a moment later, a large book in his hands.
"Where is it?" he asked, sitting down again and handing her the book of US road maps.
Mouse flipped through the pages to find where Champaign, Illinois was. Candy squinted at the name on the page, and asked where they were now. A few more minutes passed as she found Lima in the book, and Candy made a funny little noise as he tried to compare the distance to real life.
"It's about four and a half hours away," Mouse said.
"Oh... Sweet goes to school longer than that," he said, smiling.
"Yes, and I can come up every week if you want."
Candy nodded and smiled again, hugging her once more. "Sweet is happy for Mousie. You'll be good."
"Thanks, sweetie," Mouse murmured, stroking his hair gently as she hugged him in return. "Come on, let's go make pizza to celebrate."
"Oh, yum!" Candy said, standing and going downstairs to the kitchen eagerly.
Mouse went after him, picking up the balls of paper that were littered on the floor. A sense of relief and sadness washed over her. She was finally going to get out of Lima, but in doing that she'd have to leave Candy - and Puck - behind.
...
End of the thirty-first chapter.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!