A/N: Smell that? That is the smell of a new chapter, hot off the presses! It's around 2:10 AM...again...but you know, couldn't sleep and all that. It took only a few hours to type up the whole chapter, around three, I'd presume, with the ending spiced with The Kiss scene and The Song in my head. It was a joy to type, in other words. So, have fun, disclaimer is in the first chapter!
Late afternoon on the following Monday, 3:15 PM on the dot. William McKinley Senior High School's buildings were devoid of all students; there was no SAT practice, no Math Club or Chess Club or anything of the sort. Monday was the start of the school week, when teachers piled on boatloads of homework. This day wasn't meant for devotion to extracurricular activities, but rather the dropping of an anchor for students, to make sure they could be all that they could be. The only exceptions were the dimwitted Jocks and Cheerios. They had physical prowess, no need for an anchor that would hold them back. That meant less grants and funds for the school.
The silence, or lack of loud, truncated groans and yells common with barbaric teens, could be taken any number of ways.
New Directions, the resident show choir, took the silence as a blessing. After the performance, the kids had decided to make it up to their former director who had inspired hope in them all by performing a song, as though they were back in the week when they were performing ballads. It was a closely guarded secret from Emma, because she would no doubt say something to Will and ruin the surprise entirely. A few others had ulterior motives, but it was unimportant and barely touched on at the time. All of Sunday had been spent in Kurt's basement first choosing which song would convey the message perfectly, and then working out the choreography. No one was too content with learning new choreography (it was bad enough coming up with choreography in only an hour during Sectionals) after Sectionals, so they decided on a mash-up of ALL of their performances, from the Cheerios' audition to the drug-induced mash-ups, even Kurt, Tina, and Brittany's "Single Ladies" dance. All it needed was just blocking and brushing up. Getting past the bickering, the snark, and the put-downs, and everyone came to realize—again—that they really were a great team.
Things hadn't been great with April Rhodes, but it seems she had brought them closer, for her influence was still felt when they decided to use choreography from "Last Name" near the beginning of their song. Rachel even called Brad and Artie called his Jazz Band friends to make sure the instrumentals would be absolutely perfect. When Burt Hummel had come down to tell his son to keep the noise down, he couldn't help but clap and give a strange smile as he watched them perform, having genuine fun.
When 3:15 PM finally rolled around, the kids could barely contain their excitement. Even in Kurt's basement, they had taken care to decide how they were going to present the trophy and the number. Lines were worked out, and all was well.
"Hey guys!" Will seemed unusually cheery today, and the choir exchanged nervous glances. The only time someone was ridiculously cheery was when they were trying to hide their sadness. "Uh…why are you all standing there like that?"
Finn broke the silence and the nerves. Nothing could stop this, not now. "Well, we have a few things we'd like to show you Mr. Schue." A strange glance from Will. "First…" One second, two, and just as rehearsed, the kids cheered and said ta-da while Finn and Rachel backed away to reveal Artie carrying the Sectionals first place trophy. Rachel pushed Artie to Will, and he gladly took the trophy and held it, marveling at its gold and red.
"I am so proud of you guys. You won fair and square. The result was unanimous, and—and the judges didn't even know about all of the shenanigans going on behind the scenes." The students chuckled at this, for they knew all about it already, but to hear it from the man who gave them hope…well, it meant something deeper, something…more. None of them, not even Rachel or Artie, could explain it if they tried. "So…congratulations. You earned this." The students clapped again, and Will encouraged them with, "Yeah! Give it up! Come on! All right! But—!" The students stopped clapping as he set the trophy down on the ground to his right, their left. "Now we have Regionals to worry about, and you can bet that Vocal Adrenaline is going to be hard at work, so we should be too. So, let's get started!"
"Uh, wait, Mr. Schue, there's…one more thing." Puck didn't struggle at all with his lines, but added in his normal cadence.
Rachel momentarily snapped out of her gaze at Puck. She was proud of how far he had come. Now he had something to care about, and she couldn't be happier. "Since you weren't able to be there to see us perform, we put together a special number just for you! Take a seat!" Rachel said in a sing-song voice.
Finn already had the chair prepared, and put Will down in it by the shoulders. The group nodded, and they started to sing. That gave the immediate cue to Brad and the other musicians to start playing, and within a few seconds, the group had launched into the first verse of a popular song called "My Life Would Suck Without You". They knew he wasn't acquainted with pop songs, so Kurt had decided it was time for that to happen. Wouldn't want a repeat of the pep rally, would we, he gave as his reasoning.
There were only a few minor transgressions, such as Tina not getting into the "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" pose soon enough, or Kurt not moving away from the "Single Ladies" dance quickly enough, but all in all, they were so minor that they could be taken as planned. Will seemed to be having too much fun watching them to care.
At the end of the song, he gave a few claps. "That was great guys! Ah, but—could you excuse me for just one moment?" And he bolted right out of the rehearsal room without even getting the okay to do so.
"Were we that bad?" Tina asked first, breaking the five second silence.
"Of course not. He probably…forgot something." Rachel was trying to make sense of his sudden absence as well, but wanted to give Tina some reassurance. Rising stars always gave reassurance to people.
"Like what?" Mercedes asked, a little bit of her attitude taken away. "It's not like there's someone he has to go to."
"Actually, there is." Kurt said with his usual command. "I confess, there was another reason I chose Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You". Her music normally makes my ears bleed…but I'm afraid it was the only song that would convey the right message to Mr. Schuester."
"And what message would that be?" Mercedes asked back, shaking her hair a tad.
"Really?" Puck butted into the conversation. "Are all of you this stupid?" Finn scoffed, and Kurt merely quirked an eyebrow.
"So I'm not the only one who noticed." Interesting, considering your intelligence, Kurt thought to himself. He didn't want to be thrown in the dumpster, no matter the trust they had due to the club. Jocks were Jocks through and through.
"I'm sorry, noticed what?" Rachel asked.
"Mr. Schue has the hots for the ginger." No epiphanies as of yet. "Ugh, Ms. P, our baby-sitter."
"What?" Mercedes asked, incredulous. Tina darted her eyes, unsure of the new information revealed.
"The tension they give off is enough for even the fashion-challenged to notice." Kurt absently remarked.
"In English." Santana rudely commanded.
"They're practically dating." Puck added.
Brittany looked around, and then asked, "So, are they like, having sex?" Kurt mouthed an 'oh God' of shock, Puck rolled his eyes, and Santana elbowed her closet partner.
"Who else knows?" Quinn asked to dispel yet another awkward moment.
"The whole school knows." Puck retorted, momentarily forgetting that Quinn had asked the question. He had pledged that he'd be nicer to her so he could claim his rightful paternity. He'd sue if it came down to it.
"Well, I didn't." Rachel said.
"You're not the whole school." Kurt retorted, which made Rachel's mouth, for the first time in a long time, drop open like a codfish.
Suddenly, Mike felt the need to say something, if only to keep a verbal spat between Rachel and Kurt from breaking out. "There are bets on this. We bet that they'd get together after—"
"Dude! What the hell?!" Matt spoke for the first time in front of everyone in an enraged tone, which made everyone look in his direction.
"Who was in on this bet?" Finn asked in a slightly tempered tone. Puck, Santana, Brittany (who raised her left hand despite being right handed), Mike, Kurt, and Matt raised their hands. After thirty seconds, Artie, Mercedes, and Tina raised their hands slowly and nervously. They were fearful of Finn's sudden temper, and after seeing what he did to Puck…
"How barbaric." Rachel commented. "Betting on people's love lives. Work relationships are discouraged anyway; I read the faculty rules."
"Which is why there isn't anything going on." Mercedes said. "They should know better." She looked around for a target to glare at, and tried to find Puck.
He was nowhere in the room. "Hell no," Mercedes yelled out. "He did not just—when I get my hands on him…" She seethed as she began to briskly walk out of the door. At the threshold, she stopped. "What are you all waiting for? He went to see if they've kissed yet! He could lie to us and I'd be robbed of twenty dollars!"
"SHIT!" Matt yelled, and ran after Mercedes; Mike, Santana, Brittany, and the rest of the choir followed them.
They first ran to the woman's former office, now bare as the empty feeling she was feeling in her heart at that moment. They decided to immediately run down the hall, where hopefully, they'd find her right around a corner. They were taking care, because if they happened to startle her…they'd never know about the outcome of the bet.
Soon, they turned yet another corner, only to find Puck, who seemed to be looking around a corner, watching something—or someone. The people who placed bets carefully spied around the corner, only to find a man, unmistakably their director, putting down a green box with an orchid sticking out of it and gazing intently at the red-head, also unmistakably their director's stand-in, and maybe something more…?
With bated breath, the group filed out from behind the corner to get a better view (they weren't noticed for reasons possibly beyond anyone's knowledge), and after around fifteen seconds, it happened. Puck flipped out his camera phone and took a picture of the "parents" of their choir finally making an important step in their strange, and maybe even strangled, relationship. He and the bet-winners smirked in delight.
The group, together, somehow strengthened by that electrifying kiss from afar, immediately filed back to the choir.
Puck passed his phone with the evidence, his claim to the bet. "I believe some of you owe me twenty dineros." He remarked with a smug smirk.
After Mercedes, Matt, Mike, Artie, and Tina paid their dues to Kurt, Puck, Santana, and Brittany, with much grumbling, laughing, gasping, and scoffing, there was one final question.
"So, are they going to be having sex?"
To the shock of all of the kids, there was a reply. "What?!" But the tacit addition that everyone knew?
Not yet.
A/N: I tried to put a lot of humor in this one and get the character voices, because I don't specialize in New Directions' voices. Did it come across alright? Reviews are highly appreciated!