Patrick and Natty had snuck out of physics. Their teacher was absent, and the substitute was one of those kind types who wouldn't be able to hold down order in the room if her life depending on it. Both claiming the need to relieve themselves, they'd rushed out of the room, and into the choir room, which they both knew would be empty at this time of day. "So, now that you've ditched your first class ever…what do you fancy doing?" Natty winked at Patrick, patting the spot next to her on the bench. He chuckled, sliding onto the bench. "Well, you know how I've been working on learning how to play the drums?" She nodded, side eyeing him. "Yes. What about it?" "Well, would you like to help me practice?" She too, chuckled. "Fair enough. What song were you thinking of?" He thought for a couple of seconds, then nodded, his mind made up. "You're a fan of Panic! At the Disco, aren't you?" She shrugged. "Sure. They're good enough." "Well, do you know That Green Gentlemen?" She looked at him. "I don't go by song names, love. You're going to have to tell me what it sounds like." "Things are shaping up to be pretty odd?" She though, rubbing her lips together in the effort, then played a few notes on the piano. "Is it that one?" He nodded, and sat at the drum set, looking at her expectantly. After a few moments of awkward silence, he asked. "You're expecting me to do a tap off, aren't you?" She nodded, and he clicked the sticks together.
"Things are shaping up to be pretty…" Natty smiled vaguely. This song held fond memories of her middle school life, before half of her intelligence had kicked in. It really was a funny little song. "Odd." Patrick grinned over at her. He didn't know the song too well, to be honest, but he had asked Louis what sort of music she listened to, and this had been one of the first songs on the list.
"Little deaths in musical beds." Natty pulled a face, feigning death over the piano keys, disrupting the flow of the song and causing Patrick to chuckle yet again. She really was the strangest person sometimes, but he liked her more for it. She didn't worry about the little things, but rather thought of the whole picture. She gave him perspective.
"So it seems I'm somebody I've never met." Natty couldn't say she thought of Patrick much before the club, but she definitely thought about him now. All the time, actually. Even when she was calculating in math, or helping build a house for those less fortunate, there was always that little part of the back of her head which wondered about him.
"You will only hear these elegant crimes." People said Natty had been to juvie as a child. He had a hard time imagining it. It wasn't that she wasn't dangerous, for that was something she definitely was. It was just that…well, that's the thing with love, isn't it? You can't imagine those you love doing something terrible, or at least, something warranting arrest before the age of ten. Maybe it wasn't love in general, maybe it was just the way Patrick worked. It didn't matter, really. He found this girl incredibly precious.
"Fall on your ears from criminal dimes." That line had never made any sort of sense to Natty. She knew from experience, criminals don't generally hold any sort of monetary value. There was probably a deeper meaning. Natty had little use for deeper meanings. To her, "I love you," meant simply, "I love you". Not hidden attachments, no strings.
Celeste and Mary had also snuck away from class, and were hidden away, in plain sight, just outside the choir room. It was a real wonder that Patrick and Natty hadn't noticed them, but the again, they were masters of disguise. Celeste giggled, and pressed her lips against Mary's, feeling a little hurt when she didn't respond. "What the hell is wrong with you today, Mary? You've been distant all day." Mary looked at her, but the words clearly hadn't registered. "That's nice. Yeah. Great." Celeste groaned, and lightly slapped her. "I said, earth to Mary. You've been away with the færies all day. What's up, girl?" Mary sighed, shaking her head. "I'd rather not say." Celeste glared. "Look. You're my best friend. We see each other naked on almost a daily basis. If anything is bugging you, I have the right to know." The final bell had just rung, and the hallway was beginning to fill with people. Louis passed, and a short while after, DJ wandered by, talking to Russell, trying desperately to ignore the fact that Kyle was hanging off her hand. Mary bit her lip, shaking her head again. "I'd really rather not tell you." "Spill." Celeste's look told Mary clearly that, until she did, she wouldn't hear anything else from Celeste. "I'm pregnant." Celeste blinked, and looked at her. "What?" "I said. I'm pregnant. Knocked up. With child. I have a bun in the oven. I'm in the middle stages of procreation. The stork visited. Any other ways you'd like me to put it?" Celeste continued to stare. "How…how far…along are you?" Celeste's fists were clenched, and white. "Somewhere between six weeks and a month." Celeste's finger nails had cut into her hand, and they were beginning to bleed. "Mary, we only started dating a month ago. Were you…" Mary looked at her. "We never said we were dating. But I haven't slept with anybody else since we confessed…you know…" Mary looked down, her eyes closing. "Do we know who the father is?" Mary shook her head. "It's either Jake or Aaron. I'm not certain which exactly." "You had…" "Condoms break, okay? Condoms break, and because of some stupid rule, my parents refuse to put my on the pill. It's not my…Celeste, where are you going?" Celeste had pushed Mary away, storming towards Jake, who was unfortunately, taking to Aaron.
Mary grabbed her. "You can't do that. We'll be late for Glee! Besides, they're both asses. They won't help me, Cici. Just drop it, okay? I'll figure something out." Celeste snarled, turning towards her, "I knew you slept around before me, Mary, but honestly, how could you be so careless? After the first time, didn't it occur to you that you might want to stop, because accidents happen? How will you afford it? What will your parents say? How does this make our relationship look, Mary. How does it make me look?" Mary opened her mouth to speak, but Celeste shook her head. "Look. We're going to be late for Glee. I've been working on a song for regionals, but it works better now, with your recent revelation." Mary let out a small whimper. She'd never seen Celeste so angry. Her nails, still slightly wet with the blood from her own hands, had started to dig into Mary's arm. They came hurtling through the Choir room door. "What ever we're doing now, it can wait. I have a song, and I have to sing it now. Kyle, Natty, Louis. We've been working on it. You should know it well enough by now to keep up." The Doctor opened her mouth to protest, and then noticed the look in Celeste's eyes. Nobody could calm her down in this state. She would have to sing it off. Celeste grabbed the mic, and not bothering with the count off, began to sing, making the band scrabble to catch up.
"It's these substandard motels on the corner of fourth and Freemont, street." Mary wanted to cry. To run out of the room. To yell at Celeste, to punch her in the uterus, and then disappear forever. To kiss Celeste, feel the flush that would spread over her features, hear her slight whimpers as she teased her. To press her against the wall, and just stay there, leaning against her, sobbing. But she couldn't move, because Celeste was staring at her, and her gaze lead for little question as to what would happen should she try it. She had heard the term 'spontaneous combustion' used once. She didn't really know what it mean, but she knew that would definitely occur, should she try to move.
"Appealing only because they are just that unappealing." Mary couldn't help but feel that those words were directed towards her. Was Celeste insulting her, calling her unappealing? Her mind ran through all the insults she could think of. Almost all of them applied to her. Would Celeste really say those things to her? Did she really think that little of her? Was she really that soiled, that disguising? Would Celeste tell her it was over, once the song was over and done with?
"Any practiced catholic would cross themselves upon entering." Another jab, this time at the fact that she'd joined the Christian club for Celeste. Celeste crossed herself, as she was a catholic, and Mary? Mary had crossed Celeste, betrayed her trust. For the strangest reason, she still couldn't blame this completely on herself.
"The rooms have a hint of asbestos and maybe just a dash of formaldehyde." Mary felt an arm around her shoulder, and leant against the person, surprising even herself. What she needed right now, however, was comfort, and Celeste clearly wasn't in the comforting mood at the moment. She turned, to nod her thanks, and found, to her surprise, that it was Echo who was trying to comfort her.
"And a habit of decomposing right before your very eyes, along with the people inside." Celeste glared at Echo, and he nervously moved away from Celeste. Was Celeste truly angry enough to make the rest of her high school, no the rest of her conceivable life, a living hell? Looking into those steely eyes, she didn't doubt it. But Celeste was beginning to stumble over the words. She was already beginning to tire in her anger.
"What a wonderful caricature of intimacy inside, what a wonderful caricature of intimacy." The anger subsided, and she collapsed into the tears. Mary ran forward, and pulled her into her arms. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Celeste shook her head, the tears beginning to make the skin beneath her eyes puff up unpleasantly, the red tracts of tears beginning to form on her cheek. "N-no. I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to. It's just that…with everything…and if I lost you. And it's not fair, Mary. It's just not fair." Mary continued to rock Celeste, making soothing noises. "I know, babe. I know. We'll figure it out. Hey. Doc, I'm going to take Celeste home. She's kind of shook up about something, and she won't be any use. I'll get her home safe, so I won't be back. Later, everybody." She wrapped a protective arm around Celeste, and wandered out, leaving the room with an air of awkward silence. Eventually, Kyle stood. "DJ and I have been working on a song, if anybody wants to hear it."
Louis looked at the two of them, surprised. "We thought it would be a good idea, to get rid of the tension, and stuff. It's called, "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off." It's kind of a long title, but it's an awesome song." The Doctor pursed her lips. "It sounds rather too…sexual for children of your age. But if you must, the floor is yours. Heaven knows, we need something to distract from what just happened." Everybody nodded, save Skyler, who was busy trying to figure out exactly what had just happened, and how she could use it to her advantage. Kyle and DJ both stood, and DJ pulled out his iPod, plugging it into the stand on the piano.
"Is it still me who makes you sweat, and who you think about in bed." DJ pointedly refused to look at Kyle. He might have been singing the words, but they were no longer to him. They were more to himself. He had to make this point. He had to get over Kyle.
"When are the lights are dim, and your hands are shaking as you're sliding off your dress." The Doctor again pursed her lips, not appreciating the vein of this song. Russell was smiling at Kyle. This was one of her favourite 'Panic! At the disco' songs. She'd been a fan since the days of the exclamation point.
"Think of what you did, and how I hope to God he was worth it." Why Russell? Was it simply the gender? Was that all that mattered to Kyle? Did he really have any right to be angry now? It wasn't as if Kyle had physically taken anything from him, really.
"When are the lights are dim, and your heart is racing as your fingers touch his skin." Russell flushed, remembering last Friday night. They'd kept it light since then, holding hands, smiling, the occasional kiss in the hallway; but she was dating Kyle. You can't erase three years of heavy drinking and debauchery with one sweet word, one pang of the heart. She wasn't perfect either. After the first instance, she hadn't trusted anybody with herself. Her body, perhaps, but not her mind. She felt more for him that just the heat of bodies in a passenger seat. It was probable that that was all he felt, however.
"I've got more wit, a better kiss, a better touch, a better fuck, than any boy you'll ever meet." Kyle had winked at Russell, and DJ felt the anger rising in his chest. How dare Kyle pick this song; when it would only confuse him further. Luckily, the music had been paused by the Doctor, whose face was simply livid. "I have never been more ashamed in you than now. Your teammate left in tears, and all you can think about is the beast inside. How dare you even attempt to sing such a song for your peers? Do you wish for me to expel you from the group? Do you not care about one another? I cannot pretend to care for you, but as a team, you should all be looking out for one another as a matter of pride. We are only as strong as our weakest link, and emotions, tears; half the things I've seen in here could be easily avoided. Do you wish to win this, or is this just fun and games for you? Do you not care how you place? For god's sake, if you don't care about one another at least care for that. I don't have the time to, but you as students should. Aren't you ashamed?" Their faces were downcast as they left that day. The Doctor's words rang a bit too true for all their tastes.
It was early on a Friday morning, and the Doctor, as usual, was the first to the school, save the janitor, Steve, who never seemed to leave. She gave him a curt nod as she entered, and found him smiling back, much to her surprise. "There are some students in your room. They said they had something to tell you, and that you should go straight to the choir room. Something about an apology?" She nodded again, and made her way to the room, her heels tapping slightly on the linoleum floor. As she entered, she noticed a large bouquet of sunflowers had been set in the umbrella stand next to the piano. There, sitting neatly, each dressed in a similar outfit of a pastel shade, was her Glee Club. She examined them, nodding slightly. "Steve said you had something that I would wish to hear."
Mary stepped forward, nodding, the pale mint crème colour of her baby doll dress still fairly loose. "We just wanted to apologize. You're stuck with bratty teenagers for, what? More time than you sleep? And being some of the brattiest teenagers of the lot, we take up ever more of your time. And we haven't apologized." The Doctor inclined her head in Mary's direction. "Apology accepted, in that case."
Celeste, too, stood, and stepped forward, her tight lavender dress rustling slightly. She took Mary's hand, and smiling at her, turned to look at the Doctor. "That's not all, though. We also wanted to thank you." "To…thank me?" The Doctor cocked an eyebrow. "What is there to thank?" "Well, I wasn't here when you chewed these guys out, but from what I've heard, it really hit some of them. You're right. We do have to care about each other, because, this club is like a family. We might not have picked to be with all the people in here, but we were forced to be with them. So, might as well learn to love, live, and forget, right? I know I would do almost anything for most of the people in here. And if I've made them feel less than important, whom am I helping really? Not myself. Even if I don't see half of them after high school, I'll remember who they are, ten years from now. And that's important."
Louis nodded, standing. Everybody stared at him. "We need each other, now. We make each other happy, most of the time." The room blinked. That was the longest most of them had ever heard him speak. Natty hopped up on a chair, and used his shoulder as an armrest. "I agree with the big guy. But isn't there something more important you are forgetting, you guys?" Once again, everybody stared. "We were going to sing something, and I, for one, can't wait to sing this song." There was a slight chuckle, and for once, Shawn took up the piano. There was the slight shuffling and squeak as they all stood.
"Back to the street where we began, feeling as good as lovers can you know." Echo was the first to step forward and sing. He gently grabbed a sunflower by the stem, and handed to the Doctor as we walked past, singing the line. She took it, pleasantly surprised at her students.
"Yeah, we're feeling so good, you know." Another sunflower, this time from Louis, though he was slightly less gentle, and the stem had been crushed in his grip. All the same, the Doctor accepted it, the slightest hints of a smile beginning to draw themselves onto her lips. He too, walked past, going to stand, for all the world like a proud parent, just behind Echo, his hand resting on his shoulder.
"Picking up things we shouldn't read." Kyle too, gave her a sunflower, thought he winked as he walked past. He stood, slightly further from the other two, though he was still within the reach of Louis' arms. Louis grabbed him, and ruffled his hair before letting him go.
"It looks like the end of history as we know." Russell's sunflower was already in the Doctor's arms by the time she realized that she had sung the line. Russell's hair was laced with yellow strands of yarn, and small daisies. "My dad's a florist," she murmured as she walked by.
"It's just the end of the world." Elle shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "Your arms are full, so I think I'll leave my sunflower in the umbrella stand." The Doctor nodded. "But they're all for you, really."
"Back to the street where we began." Celeste sung this, not moving from in front of the doctor, rather waiting for Mary to sing the next line.
"Feeling as good as love, you could, you can." Mary took Celeste's hand, smiling, and the Doctor nodded at the two of them. "I see no issue with the two of you, provided you are respectful to one another." Mary looked at her. "Me, respectful? I suppose I could try it, but that doesn't sound like too much fun." Celeste and Mary both laughed at this, and even the Doctor managed to smile.
"Into a place where thoughts can bloom." Lise danced past, curtseying quickly to the Doctor as she did so. Her voice wasn't as strong as most of the others, but it had a clear sort of resonance to it.
"Into a room where it's nine in the afternoon." Even Skyler was there, though she didn't smile like the others, or dance. She sung her line as if it was a fact, as if there was really such a thing as nine in the afternoon, and that everybody should know it. Still, she didn't seem to be plotting anything at that particular moment in time.
"And we know that it could be." "And we know that it should." Patrick sung the first line, and Natty popped up behind him, singing the second line. Their voices matched quite nicely, really. The Doctor would have to see about getting suitable duet for the two to improve upon.
"And we know that you feel it too." DJ sung this, smiling at the Doctor. "You're part of this family too, Doc, whether you like it or not." She sighed. "I suppose, if I must."
The piano playing didn't stop, but her club surrounded her, and somebody, probably Leanne, grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the piano. As they did so, the chorus began, and they all sung. "'Cause it's nine in the afternoon, and your eyes are the size of the moon. You could 'cause you can, so you do. We're feeling so good, just the way that we do, when it's nine in the afternoon."
Nobody noticed Skyler, slinking off in the background.