This is kind of a lengthy chapter, but… yeah. I hope you'll enjoy it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The door of the auditorium gives a little creak as Gina pushes it open. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the wide, black-tiled stage, where Jake is pacing back and forth. He stops when he sees her, and Gina freezes.
"You came," he says. Gina can't tell if he sounds relieved or disappointed.
She takes a deep breath before approaching the stage. "Look, Jake, before you beat the crap out of me, I just want you to know –"
Jake frowns. "Who ever said anything about beating you up?" he asks.
Gina hesitates. "So… you're… not going to yell at me?" she questions carefully. "Or threaten me or something?"
Jake gives a tiny chuckle. "No," he shakes his head. "You're crazy. Why would I do any of those to you?"
"Um, because I pretty much ruined everything for you," Gina points out. "Kind of… humiliated you socially, maybe even ruined your reputation. Messed up big time with your girlfriend, potentially destroying your chance of winning Regionals."
Jake scoffs and shakes his head again. "Nah, it's… it's cool," he says. "Although you did kind of do all of those to me."
Gina lowers her eyes. "Yep…" she mumbles.
Jake takes a deep breath. "I called you here today to tell you that nobody's blaming you," he says.
"Thanks for the assurance," Gina mutters. "Still a horrible person."
"It wasn't Ryder," Jake says, and Gina looks up at him in surprise. "It was Kitty."
Gina stands in silence for a long moment. "What?" she finally manages to squeak.
"It was Kitty," Jake repeats patiently. "The one who spread all the rumors about you, sending us that text? It was her all along. I should have known. We all should have."
"How… how did you know?"
"Ryder told me that Kitty might be up to something funny," Jake answers. "We did some serious interrogation, and… let me just say that she finally had no choice but to confess." He grins. "You should thank Ryder, though. He was the one who thought about the whole thing."
Gina is dumbstruck. Ryder did that for her?
"And I am here to personally apologize to you," Jake continues. "I know I've been quite a jerk to you. Ryder told me how you'd been kind of watching me for the past month or so, and I'm sorry that I have never even noticed you before. And, I'm sorry I accused you of hurting Marley. Guess I wasn't thinking much."
"No problem," Gina blurts out, feeling more like an idiot every second. Her mind races. She needs to talk to Ryder. She needs to explain, apologize. Now!
"I'm not mad at you anymore, or anything," Jake continues. He shrugs. "Actually, I think you're really cool. I mean, at first I thought you were a bitch, but after everything, especially that dance-off at Breadstix… I meant it when I said you were my new best friend. I really like you, Gina."
A lump forms in Gina's throat. "I'm glad you do," she says quietly.
"And the Glee club is sorry too," Jake says. "That's what we're here for. The Glee club wants to tell you we're sorry."
Gina is about to ask what exactly that means, when music suddenly starts playing. She hadn't noticed the band, which has been ready behind Jake all along. As soon as the music starts, Gina realizes what song this is – Who You Are, by Jessie J.
"I stare at my reflection in the mirror: why am I doing this to myself?
Losing my mind on a tiny error, I nearly left the real me on the shelf, no, no, no, no…"
One by one, the Glee club members appear from the two opposite doors of the auditorium. Tina appears first from the left door as she takes the first solo, followed by Artie and Sugar. Blaine and Brittany shows up from the right door, singing the next lines together.
"Don't lose who you are, in the blur of the stars,
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing, it's okay not to be okay…"
Marley appears and sings the next line, a bright smile on her face.
"Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart,
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,
Just be true to who you are."
Gina's knees start to tremble, but then Marley runs to the stage and gives her a long, big hug. Gina feels tears swell in her eyes as she grips Marley tight. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed her.
The other Glee club members join them on the stage, all singing and smiling at Gina. Some, like Unique and Brittany, even give her hugs. Sam and Blaine pat her on the shoulder, and everyone seems happy to have her back with them.
Finally, Ryder shows up last. He has that big, warm smile on his face that Gina grows to love as he sings in the chorus. He stands in front of Gina, and the other Glee clubbers make a circle around them.
"Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,
Just be true to who you are! Yeaah, yeaah, yeaah…"
The song ends, and everyone cheers.
"Wow," Gina breathes, suffocating herself with tears. "Um, that was… that was… awesome…"
"We want to tell you that we're sorry," Tina is the first one to speak. "I guess we judged you as a mean bitch who wanted to tear us apart."
"What Tina means is that we're terribly sorry," Blaine says. "We didn't realize that everything was just a trick. We're sorry we singled you out and made you feel horrible."
"We should have known it was all Kitty's doing," Tina adds.
"Um, yeah, where is Kitty?" Gina asks, looking around for the sassy-mouthed blonde.
"Kicked her out of the group for a while," Jake says. "She'll be back, but we've given her a warning. Now everyone's avoiding her." He shrugs. "Anyways, we're sorry."
"It's okay," Gina smiles. She turns to Marley. "Actually, Marley, I should be the one apologizing to you. I –"
"Hey, it's okay," Marley grins. "I understand. And I'm sorry too for thinking of you as fake. That was… kind of mean." She spreads her arms for a hug. "Friends?"
"Friends," Gina laughs, and the two girls embrace.
After everyone has apologized, Gina's attention returns to Ryder. They stare at each other for a moment. Artie tells everyone to "spread out", and the rest of the Glee clubbers disappear almost as quickly as they had appeared. Marley gives Ryder and Gina one last lingering look before she walks out of the auditorium, with Jake's arm wrapped around her waist. She wants to stay; she wants to hear whatever conversation Ryder and Gina are going to have. What is this feeling that Marley has inside of her? Why is she so curious, and why does she feel an odd sense of pain as she leaves the auditorium? She should be happy that the two friends are reconciling. But why isn't she?
Marley would have stayed. No doubt. But Jake is pulling her away, and she has no choice but to leave them.
Soon, the auditorium is empty.
Now, it is only Gina and Ryder left.
So… what's up with Marley, huh? ;)