I'm sorry this took so long! I've had my exams, and that's why it took this much time. Sorry! Again, quite a rushed chapter, especially the ending, and I'm terribly sorry about that, but my conscience was killing me for not posting in so long. I'll try to make it up to you :)
Like I said, rushed, so please, try to not judge it too harshly.
In the midst of this nothing. This miss of a life.
Still there's this one thing just to see you go by.
Sandy began the song, her clear soprano sounding great as it mixed with Kevin's soft guitar strumming. The girls were sitting in their chairs, some clutching their sheet music like life-lines, some had thrown them away, while most held them, just in case. When Sandy finished her solo, Paige took over, her slightly raspy alto contrasting heavily.
It's almost like lovin'. Sad as that is.
Isabella sang the next line in her soft mezzo. She shared the part with Catarine, but instead of singing together they usually split the song between them.
May not be cool, but it's so where I live.
Isabella rolled her blue eyes at the end of her line, just as Nicole began singing, her voice as sweet as Isabella's.
It's like I'm your lover or more like your ghost.
I spend the day wondering what you do, where you go.
Isabella sang lead again, Catarine would take their next solo.
I try and just kick it but then what can I do?
We've all got our junk, and my junk is you.
As the chorus began the girls stood up and sang, their voices melting together.
See us, winter walking after a storm.
It's chill in the wind but it's warm in your arms.
We stop all snow blind, may not be true
We've all got our junk, and my junk is you.
The girls stood in the center of the room keeping quiet as Jasper stood up to sing his lead.
Well, you'll have to excuse me, I know it's so off.
I love when you do stuff that's rude and so wrong.
As Jasper made his way over to the girls, Tony stood up to take his turn. He looked extremely small next to Jasper.
I go up to my room, turn the stereo on…
Shoot up some you in the you of some song.
Catarine the next solo, with the others backing her up. Even if she seemed kind of tired, her soft mezzo soprano sounded great.
I lie back just driftin' and play out these scenes
I ride on the rush all the hopes -
Catarine stormed out clasping a hand in front of her mouth. Will almost ran after her, but something told him not to. The other glee clubbers stood looking rather lost, except for Liberty, Chrystal and Isabella who smirked rather meanly.
"Okay, guys, we can't stop so let's just take it from the top and Catarine can join when she comes back," Will told the kids, who had all began talking the second Catarine was out the door. The cheerios looking like someone had just handed them a very juicy bit of gossip, Nicole looking very worried and the rest just randomly babbling. "From the top!"
"Hey, mom?" Paige asked as she entered the living room of her stepfather's mansion. She lived there, but she still referred to it as his, not theirs, or hers, but his. Her mother sat on the loveseat knitting. When she had found out she was pregnant the first thing she did was to learn how to knit. For some reason pregnant women seemed to feel an urge to knit.
"Yes, Paige?" Her mother answered, not coldly, but not in that motherly tone she had heard other moms use. She was always "Paige" too, not "honey", or "sweetheart", but "Paige". Before her mother married her stepfather, Paige had been "Peanut" or "Doodles".
"My school glee club is putting on a musical in a few weeks," Paige grinned at the thought. Even if her mother hadn't thought Paige would get in the glee club, she still seemed to like the idea of her daughter being in the performing arts, even if it was just to brag to her husband's high society. "And I would really appreciate it if you would come. Because I've got this cool part and it would mean a lot to me."
"Of course we'll be there, Paige." Her mother smiled, and Paige felt her own grin grow, even if the smile she got was just that smiled that only half reached her mother's eyes. It was still a smile.
"I mean it! It's amazing, you really should read it!"
"Sure, but isn't it like, a book for little kids?" Jasper raised an eyebrow at his younger friend with the rainbow scarf, who was nearly jumping up and down in excitement, wild black curls dancing around.
"No, the Narnia books are for everyone! Okay, maybe the first one is sort of simple, but the rest are written for people of all ages."
"Whatever you say, man," Jasper grinned at Kevin's enthusiasm, but stopped smiling immediately as Kevin was shoved into a locker by someone in a Letterman jacket. Kevin's eyes were wide, as all his previous glee had faded. He looked simply terrified, shaken to the core.
"Hey, watch it!" Jasper shouted after the jock, but he was long gone. Shaking his head he turned back to Kevin. The shorter boy still looked rather petrified, but seemed to have gotten over part of the shock. "You okay?"
Kevin only nodded, his face empty of expression. Jasper hated seeming him like that, it always reminded him of the day they met. How small and vulnerable Kevin seemed whenever people shoved him. It didn't look like it was just the shoving, or the shock, it seemed to go deeper, but Kevin would never talk about it. He'd just nod, and say he was okay. It made Jasper feel sort of helpless.
The third time Catarine had to run out of rehearsal, Will began to get worried. He wasn't dumb, he knew what morning sickness usually meant. Catarine's nasty temper and fatigue, didn't exactly argue his suspicions either. The other glee clubbers didn't overlook her running out either. On the contrary they seemed to read just as much into it as Will did, but they seemed to want to gossip about it, instead of help the cheerio.
"Just wait till' she's showing, coach Sylvester will kick her off," he overheard Chrystal tell Isabella and Liberty. "And then, that head cheerio position, will be mine."
"Excuse me? I think you meant mine," Liberty interrupted the red-head cheerio. The girls looked into each others eyes intensely, neither seemed to back down. One could nearly see the tension in the air.
"Not hers, anyway," Isabella cut off their stare-off with a cold comment. None of the cheerios seemed to care about Catarine's feelings. Not one ounce of sympathy.
The cheerios weren't the only ones discussing Catarine behind her back either, the others talked to.
"I wonder what she's going to do with it." Paige wondered out loud. It had to be a huge decision, whether or not you would keep your child.
"Well, she sure as heck is not going to keep it," Nathaniel said, not really thinking. He just knew he would never had wanted to keep his baby if he got someone pregnant so young.
"And why can't she?" Paige accused, her head snapping toward the jock. Her own mother had only been 17 when Paige was born. She knew a lot of people looked at her mother like she was worth less than others, just because she had been young and made a mistake. Beside, Catarine didn't have to keep her baby, she could adopt it out.
"Because she's 16! She's too young to be a mom," Nathaniel argued. Wasn't it obvious?
"My mom was 17 when I was born, and she's managed just fine."
"Who says she needs to keep it anyway? I'm sure someone would want to adopt it," Tyler suggested, trying to keep the peace.
"Why would she? Who'd want to give their baby to some couple they don't even know?" Nathaniel asked, fighting Tyler's attempt. "Beside, adopted kids always turn out weird."
"We're adopted!" The kids snapped back in unison, their violet eyes practically shooting lightning bolts at Nathaniel.
"Case in point," Nathaniel replied, smirking. Both twins turned away from him, crossing their arms, and literally pouting.
"Chill, dude," Jasper broke in, speaking for the first time. "What we think doesn't matter anyway. It's her decision."
"Well, hers and the baby-daddy's," Ramiele reasoned. She didn't really care what the cheerio did, but she didn't see why she shouldn't join the conversation. It was sort of like the Spanish soaps she watched with Aria, Her family's maid. "Unless she was raped, of course."
At the word "raped", Nicole flinched, but nobody seemed to notice. Nobody except Seth that was, he had been paying a lot of attention to the timid girl lately. He had begun noticing little things she did, like how she began biting her nails when she was nervous, or how she would always use her left hand to brush her orange-reddish hair out of her face, even if she was right-handed.
That was usually how their conversations went, back and forth all the time. None of them knew what Catarine was going to choose, and none of them felt like they could ask her either, because no one really knew her. She had friends, but no close ones in Glee club. No sane person would just begin spilling everything if some random stranger asked them; "Hey, I know you're pregnant, so tell me everything!"
"Dudes, any of you going to that party on Friday?" Felix Zhang asked some of his fellow football-players in the locker room. The Korean still on the fence about going himself, he had originally told his little sister that he'd hang out with her that Friday, but that party might be the party of the century(at least until the next party came around). Being at that party would be great for his reputation, not that it needed improvement, of course, but just in case.
"Can't, we've got Glee Club." Jasper said matter-of-factly. He didn't even sound upset or pissed that something as uncool as Glee Club got in the way of a wild party. Then again, Jasper didn't seem to care that much about his reputation, he even hung out with that rainbow-kid, whatever-his-name-was.
"And you're letting that stop you?" Felix asked incredulously, while shoving his towel into his locker. When the four Glee jocks nodded, Felix couldn't believe it. Sure, he sometimes wished his popularity wouldn't suffer if he did certain things, but Glee Club? All they did there was just, sing songs from like, musicals and stuff, and musicals really sucked. Seriously, nobody burst into song like that. Ever. "Why?"
"Because our show is in like, two weeks." Jasper explained slowly, as if telling a two year old how to use the potty. The others nodded simultaneously, and Felix rolled his eyes.
"Why did you join, anyway?" Felix asked, they to have a good reason to join such a loser club. No sane human being would jeopardize their popular jock status for a bunch of misfit sing-stars, right?
"I'm going to turn the Glee club cool," Joshua said, not that it explained a lot to Felix. He didn't think anyone, not even Joshua could make that club cool. Still, Joshua seemed to think it a valid answer.
"I joined because it's fun," Jasper said, and gained agreeing mutters from Tyler and Seth. Felix really didn't see the logic of it all, how could dancing around singing silly little songs about your feelings fun?
"Besides, the ladies love it!" Joshua continued, before finishing with a smirk. "Sort of like your Shakespeare thing."
"Glee club is nothing like my Shakespeare! Chicks dig Shakespeare!"
"And they dig romance, and most musicals are romantic. They think someone serenading them is oh-so-amazing," Joshua explained, ignoring Felix' protests. He found Felix' love of Shakespeare rather disturbing, and very, very gay.
"So, just because chicks dig it, you guys suddenly want to sing stupid musical-tunes, or whatever?" Felix' tone was still very much incredulous.
"They're called show-tunes," Tyler corrected, if Felix was going to insult them, he might as well do it knowing the correct term. The others didn't see his logic, and looked at him like he was from another planet. "Tony told me." Tyler felt himself blush, and suddenly became terribly self-conscious. No one knew about his feelings for Tony yet, and Tony refused to date him until he was 100% sure he was gay. They did hang out more none the less. Tyler hadn't managed to find the courage to tell anyone, but he was going to.
"Oh, so you're gay now?" Felix accused, a mocking smile on his face. Tyler felt himself stiffen, and before he could summon the braincells to reply, Jasper cut in.
"You know, you've got to stop that. It's not like he's gay just because he likes show-tunes, or hangs out with someone who is gay." Jasper snapped. Maybe he couldn't do much for Kevin, but he could at least try to keep the homophobia under control. "You don't know that Tony is gay, anyway. Because I assume he hasn't told you? Or has he?"
Felix' bitter expression was a clear answer. Tyler bit his lip, because he knew. He knew both he and Tony were gay, but he sure wasn't going to stop Jasper if he wanted to stop a bully.
"Didn't think so," Jasper finished as he quickly excited the locker room.
"Where's Catarine?" Coach Sylvester roared through her megaphone. Even if she was just standing a couple feet from her cheerios, she seemed to find a megaphone necessary. Mentioned cheerios stood in a line like in the army, staring straight ahead.
"Probably in the bathroom puking her guts out, Coach Sylvester." Chrystal smirked meanly, Liberty also smirked beside her. Even if they were up against each other for the head-cheerio position, they were also fighting Catarine, and with her gone, it meant a better shot at the title for the both of them.
"What did you say?"
"She's in the bathroom, puking." Liberty chimed in, smirk still in place. Sue Sylvester looked furious, nostrils flaring, eyes wide open. All the cheerios silently thanked their lucky stars they were not in Catarine's shoes when coach Sylvester got her. They had all heard the story of how Quinn Fabray had gotten pregnant and had been kicked off. None of them wanted to share her fate.
Catarine felt like crap. Not only did she have to run back and forth to the bathroom all morning, but she felt exhausted, and she got cramps. Then there were all the whispers, and the glances. She wasn't even showing yet! How could they all know? Suppose the bathroom-running sort of said it all.
The worst part wasn't really how the others were toward her, or the pregnancy itself, it was how disappointed she felt. She was disappointed in herself for letting him have his way that night, and how she hadn't even insisted on a condom, how dumb was she? She was disappointed in the glee club, because she knew they had helped that Quinn girl. Maybe that was a few years ago, but it was still Glee Club. Most of all, she was disappointed in him. First, for knocking her up, didn't the guy have any sense of moral? She was freakin' 16! Second, she was disappointed he hadn't called her sometime after the party. Third, that he didn't even care when she told him. He had been all fun and games in the beginning, asking her out to somewhere private, but when she broke down and told him, he backed out. He told her to do whatever she wanted, because he did not want the kid. Did he honestly think she did?
She wasn't completely sure of what to do, though. Most part her screamed to get it out, have an abortion. Another smaller part told her to adopt it to some nice couple, do a good thing. While the smallest voice wanted to keep it herself. The first option would probably be the easiest for her, but what about the baby? It didn't feel anything yet, did it? Giving it to some childless couple was most likely the best for the baby, they would take good care of it. But what about her? A pregnancy would surely end her run for captain of the cheerios, the whispers would grow louder, the glances more mocking, and her grades would probably go down the drain too.
But nobody cared, not even Glee Club! At least they didn't whisper when they saw her, but she knew they whispered too. How could they not? Somewhere deep inside she knew she would have glanced and whispered if it was someone else in her shoes, but there wasn't. It was her, and she would have to deal with that.
Paige sat in Glee Club, waiting for Mr. Schue and the others to come. There were not many people there yet. Nicole sat on a chair beside Seth, both glancing shyly at each other, blushing. Ramiele sat listening to music through her headset, looking like she didn't give a a crap about the rest of the world. Then there were them. Tony and Tyler sat chatting animatedly about something, probably one of Tyler's weird musicals, judging by the excited look on his face. Sandy sat beside Tony, like she always did, but neither boy was paying her any attention, they were all too busy staring at each other. It was disgusting. It wasn't like she was homophobic or anything, and they would probably be adorable, if they weren't so goddamn annoying!
"Oh, please, he did a much better job in A Very Potter Musical!" she heard Tony exclaim, his high voice disbelieving, but she could almost hear his smile. "Voldemort had much more to him than Umbridge! A much better character."
"But that does not mean Joe didn't do an excellent job in A Very Potter Sequel too!" Tyler argued, and she could hear a smile in his voice too. Their flirting was really getting on her nerves, not that a lot of people hadn't been worse. If she was really honest with herself, it was probably just because Tyler had rejected her. It had made her feel unwanted, but when she saw how upset he was about it, it didn't matter much. Then, when he was so comfortable with Tony, it stung again.
The way they looked at each other, blushed and then smiled, it made her feel left out. The way they never missed out on opportunities for physical contact, it made her feel like a complete outcast. She had really liked Tyler, and when he blow her off it was hard. Seeing him flirting with someone else, and a guy too, was even worse.
"Now that Ms. Sylvester knows, there is no way Catarine is getting the spot!" Chrystal gloated, as she walked down the halls to Glee rehearsal with Isabella and Liberty. The three cheerios proudly stalked the halls as if they owned them, which in a way, they did. "Even if she doesn't keep it, she's screwed!"
"No kidding," Liberty joined, smirking. Isabella was more quiet when they spoke of Catarine's "condition". It wasn't like she knew Catarine any better, everyone knew her background, but Isabella felt sort of bad talking about her like they didn't know, like she was some weird case they'd seen on "teen mom" or something. She didn't feel bad enough to stop them, though.
Seth was silently freaking out. Absentmindedly he ran his hand through his short dark-brown hair, as he watched Nicole do her homework, form a distance. She was in the library reading in some big red book, sometimes taking little notes, and was completely oblivious to Seth watching her. Nicole bit the tip of her pencil every now and then, distracting Seth.
Come on, kid, you can do this! All you need to do is go up to her, and ask her out. It's not like she'll eat you, right? Just go up there, sit down and talk. His pep-talks didn't really work, because even when he made valid points he was too freaked out to actually do something. People were beginning to look at him funny too, like he was some crazy stalker. When the librarian, a mean-looking older woman, looked at him particularly sharply, he sat down by a table just behind Nicole's, pretending to read a book. Nicole was still completely unaware of his presence.
Okay, do it, it's not that hard. Just smile, and ask her out. What's the worst that can happen? When he thought about it, the worst was her saying no, which really wasn't all that bad, was it? He would survive, it wasn't like no one had been rejected before.
Just as Seth built the courage to actually walk over, he discovered that Nicole was gone. Looking around the room like a deeply confused chicken, he found her exiting the library, her head bent in that sweet and shy way of hers. Cursing silently, Seth left the library, though another exit.
Nicole was trying to summon courage of her own. She needed the courage to talk to someone too, but not to ask them out, she rather wanted to tell Catarine that she understood and wanted to help. Still, it was pretty terrifying to her, just walking up to someone, declaring something like that. Taking a deep breath, Nicole walked up to Catarine, who was stuffing books into her locker.
"Hi, Ca- Catarine," Nicole more whispered than said. Catarine seemed to be too caught up in her own little world to notice. Swallowing once, Nicole tried again. "Hi, Catarine."
"Hello?" Catarine said, her tone clearly implying; "Why the heck are you talking to me?". Nicole chuckled nervously, her throat dry. This really wasn't going how she planned, maybe she should just back out a once? No, she was not.
"I... I just wanted to... To say th-that I," Nicole stuttered, her throat closing up, and her brain shutting down. Why would Catarine want to listen to her? Why would she care what Nicole had to say? Catarine waited for Nicole to say something that made sense, her eyebrows raised. "I understand how you feel."
"How can you?" Catarine spat coldly, her walls instantly flew up. Nicole was at a loss, she had never told anyone, no one except her parents. Everyone else had either known, or her parents had said it for her. Helplessly looking at the Bulgarian girl, Nicole opened and closed her mouth. "See? You can't. No one can!"
Catarine spun on her heel, quickly storming away from the other girl, who still stood doing her fish-on-land impersonation. Well, that went well.
There's a moment you know…you're fucked –
Not an inch more room to self-destruct
No more moves
Joshua sang lead in yet another song, he was pretty darn sure all he did those days were reading lines and lyrics. He was getting quite sick of Sandy always pushing him, making him study his lines harder, look deeper into them. Supposedly, it was to make him a better actor, and to give the play more credibility, but how far into something could he go?
While he was singing Catarine's thoughts were anywhere but where she was. She was thinking of how much the lyrics really applied to her. She was f*cked, it was true. She couldn't do anything about it. No matter what she did from now on, people were always going to look at her differently. At least, everyone who knew.
oh yeah, the dead-end zone
Man, you just can't call your soul your own
Joshua finished, as Nathaniel took over, but he was speaking his lyrics.
"But the thing that makes you really jump is that the weirdest shit is still to come. You can ask yourself: "Hey, what have I done?" You're just a fly – the little guys, they kill for fun"
Catarine wasn't the only one who wasn't really paying attention, Kevin wasn't really that into it either. He was thinking of the way bullies always seemed to target him. Even before he began wearing his scarf people pegged him as a target. No matter how good grades he got, how nice he was to everyone, they got down on him.
Jasper took over for the next two lines, his strong baritone expressing the anger the song had.
Man, you're fucked if you just freeze up
Can't do that thing – that keeping still
Tony had next two lines, his voice a lot higher than Jasper's, but just as strong.
But, you're fucked if you speak your mind
Jasper and Nathaniel joined him for the next line, their voice sounding great together, before everyone joined in on the chorus.
And you know – uh huh – you will
Yeah, you're fucked all right – and all for spite
You can kiss your sorry ass goodbye
Totally fucked – will they mess you up?
Well you know they're gonna try
Joshua cocked his head slightly, like Sandy had told him too, and said his next line, the others repeating after him like parrots.
"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."
"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."
With his head cocked in that same way Joshua continued, singing this time.
Disappear – yeah, well, you wanna try
Just between "disappear" and the rest of his line, Joshua had added a short, and near-sarcastic chuckle. Or, Sandy had added it. He was really getting sick of that girl telling him what to do. Still, Mr. Schue approved, so what could he do? Also, it sounded kind of cool, not that he'd tell her. Besides, the irritation he felt at Sandy bossing him aorund, sort made acting angry easier.
Wanna bundle up into some big ass lie
Long enough for them to all just quit
Long enough for you to get out of it
Tyler was also quite distracted. He had always been popular, more or less at least, and no one had ever called him a "loser", or anything, but lately people had begun staring at him weirdly, like he had some kind of mutation. Many kept their distance, too, like he had some fatal decease. He remembered what Felix had said too, about him and Tony, but they weren't together. Sure, Tyler would be happy if they were, but just because they hung out they didn't have to like each other in a non-platonic way. Like the song said, sometimes he did want to just get away, forget he ever noticed his lack of interest in girls and stay that way. Oblivious.
Everyone joined in for the chorus again, and kept singing the entire song through. There wasn't much choreography in the performance, as it looked just as impressive when the kids just shouted at the audience, expressing their anger.
Yeah, you're fucked all right – and all for spite
You can kiss your sorry ass goodbye
Totally fucked – will they mess you up?
Well you know they're gonna try
Yeah, you're fucked all right – and all for spite
You can kiss your sorry ass goodbye
Totally fucked – will they mess you up?
Well you know they're gonna try
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Totally fucked!
The song ended with Joshua staring straight out into the imaginary crowd, giving them the finger. Maybe not very appropriate for the time the play was set in, but it fit the song so well they kept it.
"Great job guys, take five and we'll just go through the last four songs and call it a day." Will smiled at the kids, who looked rather tired after a long day of rehearsals. He knew it was tough having to rehearse for long hours on a Friday, when most of them would probably prefer to be out enjoying the weekend. Still, they didn't really have much choice, if they were going to go through with the show. He sure wasn't thinking of giving up.
"So, what did you think of my chuckle?" Joshua asked Sandy, during the break. Personally he thought he had nailed it.
"You're getting better," Sandy replied, smiling slightly, before her business-face returned. "But it still sounds kind of forced, try loosening up a little."
Joshua felt his mouth fall open in disbelief. She needed him to "loosen up"? Wasn't she the one who had forced him to do extra rehearsals with her? Made him spend over upon hour reading those goddamn lines? She had been the one to rant to him about the "importance of focus and devotion", which led to more hours of hard work. Now, she was telling him to "loosen up"?
"The hell? You're the one who needs to loosen up! All this time you've been telling me to focus more, put more into it, and I have had it up to here!" He punctured the air just by the top of his head with his hand. Sandy's eyes grew wide with shock. She had ranted to him sure, and he had snapped back at her, but he had never yelled like this. "You have been nagging me all along, telling me to cut slacking off, and now you want me to relax? That's what we call a double-moral here in Ohio!"
"I have a double-moral? You're one to talk!" She snapped back viciously. He wasn't the only one with some restrained anger. She had always held back whenever he went on with how being gay was wrong, but she was pretty pissed about his prejudice. Didn't he think she'd feel that way, her parents were gay, and her brother. How could he just ignore that?
"Oh yeah? Well, actually, I think you're the one to talk of moral. How can you speak like that, with your..." He didn't know how to put it. He wanted to spit back to her how sick he felt her parents and her brother were, but he remembered he face the last time he had let himself get carried away. The hurt in her eyes, the disappointment.
"What, Joshua? My what? My family? Because I don't see what's immoral about them, because they have just as much right to love whoever they want to, as anyone else." Sandy bit back, her voice was still pretty loud, but had grown more silent and intense. Everyone else had gone silent, and only watched as the pair fought. "You know what I find immoral? People like you, who don't see their own errors, but find errors in others, that don't even exist!"
"Shut up!"
"I think you're a jerk, and-"
Sandy was cut off by Joshua's hand colliding with her cheek. Shocked at himself, Joshua stood frozen. His mind couldn't seem to process what he had done. He had hit a girl, a really small one too. Joshua's mouth kept opening and closing itself, as he simply stared at Sandy in complete terror. The others stared at him, a lot of their mouths forming perfect, shocked "O"s. Sandy's cheek was burning, and her brain couldn't even summon the braincells to blink, much less react. She had never been hit before, not off-stage anyway.
"I- I am sorry," Joshua stumbled at a loss of words. He tried to take a step toward her, but something stopped him, told him not to step close to her. The same thing told his feet to get him out of there, and not on his own accord for the most part, Joshua ran out. Sandy was left, still in her shocked position, head snapped to the side, eyes and mouth wide open. No one dared break the silence.
"Did you hear?"
"Joshua hit her!"
"That one guy on the football team, he hit the New York-girl!"
"Slapped her on the cheek."
"Heard her face is all swollen!"
The rumors were all over McKinley High School by Monday. Everyone knew of Sandy's run-in with Joshua's hand. No one had heard their entire conversation, and most people didn't know how bad their fight had been. What most people knew was that Joshua Harris, senior and football-player, had hit a girl, and a freshman on top. That was all they needed to know.
The looks were the worst to Joshua, the way people looked at him, like he was some sort of monster. Maybe he was, he had hit a girl after all. He still couldn't quite believe it himself but he knew it had happened. The thing he dreaded the most was seeing Sandy in glee club, looking into her eyes. Joshua knew he wouldn't be able to do that without feeling guilty as hell. He assumed she would stare at him with the same blame and disgust he had seen in so many others' gazes that day. He could understand them, he would probably have looked at a person the same way, had it been anyone else. But it wasn't, it was him and he was the one who had to deal with it. Taking a deep breath Joshua walked into after-school glee club practice.
"I need to talk to you," was the first greeting he got. He knew that soprano-voice at once, he was going to have to face it earlier than he had expected. Swallowing he nodded, not meeting the petite girl's eyes. He followed her out into an abandoned classroom, his mind racing. What was she going to say? Was she going to say anything at all, or was she going to let him grovel at her feet, and beg for forgiveness? It seemed likely. Maybe she had made some jocks come to beat the crap out of him, they seemed to be willing to do it, because nothing was worse than hitting a little girl like that. Whatever Joshua had expected, ha wasn't prepared for what Sandy said.
"I'm sorry." Joshua's mind went blank. She had said what? Wasn't he supposed to do the apologizing? He was the one who had hit her, not the other way around.
"I'm sorry," Sandy stated again, because Joshua clearly didn't get it, judging by his as-confused-as-a-transgendered-squirrel-expression. "I pushed you too hard, and expected to much. I'm sorry."
"Wait, shouldn't I be the one saying I'm sorry?" Joshua was genuinely confused. Sure, she had pushed him very hard, and expected a lot, but he still shouldn't have hit her. It was still wrong. "Because I am you know, really-"
"Save that apology for a time you do something really bad to someone." Sandy half-smiled at him, which confused him just as much. Wasn't hitting someone bad? Hadn't he broken some sort of unspoken morality-rule, or something? "I know I must seem kind of stupid for letting you off the hook, but I don't believe in holding grudges. At least not against the people you star in plays with."
It never ceased to amaze him how much she cared about those silly plays. Was she really willing to forgive him that easily, just because they were in a play together? She really was kind of crazy, wasn't she?
"Ready to go back in?" She asked, while he was still trying to wrap his head around it. It had seemed very easy, earning her forgiveness. A bit too easy. Still, he couldn't see any trap-doors of torture instruments, so he just went with it,and nodded, following her back to the choir room. In which, he meet by something very wet, sticky and brightly colored. Slushies, about a dozen of them.
"Thanks a lot, guys." He muttered sarcastically, wiping slushy out of his eyes. The glee club giggled in unison, and most couldn't help but smile, rather evilly at him. He had never been slushied before, and now he got more than ten at once. Suddenly, he didn't feel so lucky Sandy had forgiven him, anyway.
"Admit it, you sort of deserved that," Sandy grinned wickedly at him, and as some slushy went down his underpants, Joshua knew he and Sandy were even.
When I wrote this I hardly noticed how short the different part are, but that's mostly due to my current lack of imagination, and the fact that I only had time to write a little at a time. I'm sorry again, but I've been busy.
The songs were "My junk" and "totally f*cked", both from spring awakening obviously.
Yeah, so tell me what yo think. I appreciate both praising and criticizing reviews. Tell me if you're especially interested in a character, maybe someone I only mention briefly, or someone you feel I should look more into. I try to do a little of each character in every chapter, but some are harder to write than others, and some I just really enjoy writing.
Klainebows and Klisses
Laiquahen