As a small portion of the glee club sat in the choir room, scattered around the piano, they began to theorize about which teacher they would be stuck with for sectionals.
"I bet we'll get stick with Mister Sinacori as our sectionals advisor," Noel guessed, and Sandra nearly gagged.
"Ugh, the creepy math teacher?" he scowled in disdain.
"He's always singing when he walks down the halls..." Sheldon remarked disdainfully, and the three students exchanged worried looks as Casey bounced through the choir room towards them.
"Hey guys," she began quickly. "Did any of you think it was weird the way that Derek rushed to Sally's aid during rehearsal yesterday?"
Sally had slipped and fallen on the floor, and both Derek and Ralph began asking if it was the baby and if they were supposed to get hot towels. Sally proceeded to angrily shove them off.
"...No?" Emily eyeballed Casey oddly and tried to mask what she already knew.
"He likes her, I mean, they're friends," Noel offered. "We all know that."
"Yeah, but it seemed like more than that," Casey waved the two off, pushing her theory. "I've never told you guys this before, but I'm a little psychic. I can't read minds or anything yet, but I do have a sixth sense. Something is definitely going on there!"
Emily, Sandra, Sheldon and Noel looked at each other hesitantly, and Emily coughed nervously. "Uh, we gotta go..." she mumbled as she headed for the door in a rush.
"But we have to practice!" Casey called helplessly as the four began to leave.
"Oh, and we will," Sheldon assured her. "As soon as Paul names a faculty advisor to replace him."
Casey sighed and called out to her fellow club members, "It's nothing to be scared of!" she tried. "I mean, it's not like a Carrie or anything!"
~L~
"Hey, she's onto it," Emily said worriedly into her cell phone during a call to Sandra.
"I know, it's really freaking me out," Sandra agreed from directly beside her friend.
"Hold up. Noel's buzzing in, I'm going party line."
"Dudes, this is serious," Noel panicked from across the school, on his way to his next class. "If she finds out, she's going to tell Ralph! She's a total troutmouth."
"Sheldon wants in," Sandra updated the others, and Sheldon's voice rang into the call.
"I say we lock Casey up until after sectionals," Sheldon said smugly. "I volunteer my basement!"
"Babe, we can't, we need her to sing," Emily corrected her boyfriend, and he nearly stomped his foot in outrage.
"Damn her talent!" He exclaimed.
"We just heard," Kendra said from alongside Amy as Sandra added the two into the party-call. "Who told?"
"We assumed it was you," Noel deadpanned as he squinted, and Kendra rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.
"Why would I do that?" she asked incredulously.
"To get back at Derek," Sheldon hissed into his cell phone accusatorily. "Aren't you guys dating?"
"Oral sex is not dating," Kendra grumbled angrily.
"Yeah, if it were, Kendra and I would be dating," Amy chipped in.
Beats of silence in the phone call passed, and Sheldon mentally noted that Emily now owed him twenty dollars.
"...Look, I don't wanna rock the boat," Kendra broke the silence. "Since Sally got pregnant, I'm top dog around here."
"Hold up, Casey's walking by. Hey, hot mama!" Emily enthused to Casey as she strolled past, and she all but stopped dead in her tracks while she eyed the glee clubber confusedly. Something was definitely up, and she was going to figure it out. "She's gone. Look, I know I screwed up telling all you guys about Sally and Derek, and I feel really terrible about it, but we cannot let Casey figure this out. If she tells Ralph, he's going to flip!"
"And then we really have no chance at sectionals," Sheldon continued, and each student ended the call nervously.
~L~
"Are you sure about this?" Paul questioned as he sat in Kathy's office, and she nodded eagerly. She wanted to help the kids… help him. "But, you're looking for an apartment with your realtor on Saturday."
"I know, but there will be other Saturdays... and other realtors," Kathy winced as she remembered a rather nasty argument with her realtor. "Really, I wanna do this, Paul; I wanna take the kids to sectionals."
"You know, Kathy," Paul said gently. "I really am gonna miss you when you leave. You've helped the glee club and I so much."
Kathy smiled sadly, "I'm going to miss you, too."
A quiet moment passed between the two, but Paul shook his head to get him out of his thoughts. "I can't thank you enough!" he enthused, and Kathy nodded happily as he left her office with a grateful look in her direction.
~L~
"Hey!" Casey yelped, nervously and loudly as Sally shut her locker. "I know it's not my place, but have you and your doctor run a full genetic test panel on your child? I only ask because my cousin Leon and his wife got pregnant, and then they found out that he was a carrier for Beta-Thalassemia."
"What's that?" Sally asked, pregnancy hormones already making her grow worried.
"It's a genetic disorder, pretty terrible from what I understand, it can cause anemia," Casey explained hurriedly, her eyes wide and looking a little less than sane. "If one of the parents has it, there's like a fifty percent chance that the child has it or something like that. Leon's baby was fine; it was still pretty scary, though."
"My doctor never mentioned that," Sally mumbled, to herself but loud enough for Casey to hear.
"Oh, I'm such an idiot," Casey said quickly, slamming the palm of her hand into her forehead, "They would only run the test if one of the parents was of Mediterranean or Italian decent... only they carry the gene."
"Oh," Sally mumbled, beginning to wonder about Derek's familial roots.
"Okay, I'll see you in rehearsal," Casey said with a smile as she bounced away down the halls.
~L~
"Derek," Sally said quietly as she peered over her shoulder, pulling him aside in the choir room. "Exactly how Italian are you?"
"Pretty Italian," Derek replied nonchalantly. "On my mom and dad's side... why?"
"Then you've got to take me to get those Mediterranean-slash-Italian baby tests!" Sally whispered, and Derek's face contorted.
"Is that even a real thing?" he asked, and Sally sighed, tired of all this work having a baby was.
Behind them, Casey feigned reading a book and she saw the two speaking. She was furious; she had to hold herself back from mauling them. She was at least ninety-five percent sure that her suspicions were right – and she was pretty sure that she had heard the word 'Italian' escape from Sally's mouth.
"I don't want anything to happen to my baby," Sally pleaded desperately, but at that moment, Paul walked in with Kathy at his heels.
"Guys, let's gather around," he said, and the students sat in their seats, looking on sadly. "Well, I have found my replacement. So give it up for Ms. Zeldin."
The class clapped at their sectionals advisor's arrival, and Kathy smiled at her students.
"She cast me as the crazy girlfriend in one of her plays," Amy whispered to Kendra, who held back a snort.
"I don't know what the future holds for me, for us," Paul began, his eyes panning across the faces of his students. "But I know on Saturday, you're gonna make me proud. You guys are gonna be great. So, goodbye for now."
Paul turned to leave, but Emily piped up, "Wait, what about our setlist?"
"I can't help you with that. You've gotta figure that out for yourselves," Paul said with a sad tone in his voice, and he began to walk out the door. "Alright, guys."
"Well, we have to do Proud Mary blindfolded," Noel insisted after their previous coach had left. "That's in."
"And Don't Stop Believin', for sure," Ralph contributed.
"What about the ballad?" Sam reminded his club, and Casey saw an opportunity to seize the spotlight, so she took it. This could be her moment to shine, her moment for the world – or at least one audience – to see her true potential.
"I would be thrilled to contribute a ballad from my repertoire," she said as she stood up, walking to the middle of the room.
"Okay, you know what, Miss Bossy Pants? Enough," Emily said, mustering up as much courage as she could to firmly put her foot down. "I've worked just as hard as you, and I'm just as good as you, and you always end up stealing the spotlight!"
"Emily, do you really think you're as strong of a balladier as I am?" Casey asked, as she explained to Kathy how she was an expert at ballads, Emily turned to face Max, mouthing, 'balladier?!' 'I don't know!'
"Okay, um, Casey, why don't you let Emily give it a try?" Kathy tried as kindly as she could, nervous from every story she'd ever heard about the Casey's famous stomp outs, but she nodded in polite agreement, much to Kathy's relief, taking her seat next to Ralph.
"Thanks Ms. Z," Emily said gratefully, and she turned to Tinkles, high on her newfound ability to speak her mind. "Do I even need to tell you what song? Horns, strings, keep up."
The music began slowly, and Emily began to sing, "And I am telling you… I'm not going! You're the best man I'll ever know," as she sang, Casey and Ralph looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Emily's performance. "There's no way I can ever go, no, no, there's no way, no, no, no, no way I'm living without you!"
"I'm not living without you," her voice resonated around the walls, and Sandra smiled widely at her friend as she sang. "I don't wanna be free! I'm staying, I'm staying, and you, you're gonna love me."
"Tear down the mountains, yell, scream and shout it, say what you want, I'm not walkin' out! Stop all the rivers, push, strike and kill, I'm not gonna leave ya', there's no way I will… and I am," Emily closed her eyes as she held the notes, and the club began to cheer and clap at her success, even Casey found herself staring on in amazement. Sheldon looked at her endearingly as he applauded her. "Telling you, I'm not going! I'm not living without you, not living without you, I don't wanna be free! I'm staying, I'm staying! And you, and you, and you, you're gonna love me! Yeah, love me, love me! Love… me!"
As Emily got a standing ovation from her club, Casey rushed up to her as she asked, "Thoughts?"
"It's clear, the room adores you," Casey said with a smile. "And, although it wouldn't be my first choice… I can't wait to see you sing that song at sectionals. You're amazing, Emily, and you deserve it. I'm going to hug you now."
Emily beamed, and her smile lit up the room, "Okay,"
"Okay," Casey agreed, and she wrapped her arms around Emily, and it was as if that cleared up every problem they ever had with each other as they laughed light-heartedly.
The bell rang and the students gathered their things and left the room, but Ralph chased after Casey as she walked out of the choir room. "That was pretty cool in there," he said in admiration. "I know that must've been hard for you."
"It was the right thing to do, I mean," Casey turned towards him. "I wanted to bring the team together."
"Yeah... you know, I gotta be honest, I'm kinda pumped about sectionals," Ralph admitted as he leaned against his locker. "This has been a hard couple of months, with Sally and the baby and everything. I dunno, I really think that winning could make everything good for a while, you know? Is that stupid?"
"It's not stupid at all," Casey rushed with a strange look in her eye that Ralph couldn't place. You never knew what was wrong with her when she was acting oddly.
"Is somethin' up with you?" Ralph asked.
"I want you to be happy, Ralph," Casey began, and she knew that now, there was no getting out of what she was about to do. "And when you care about someone, you can't sit around and watch them suffer when you know you can do something about it."
"W-What are you talking about?"
"I have to tell you something," Casey said sadly.
Just minutes after she had spilled the proverbial beans, Kathy dragged Paul into the choir room, and when he walked in, he saw Ralph with Derek pinned to the floor, punching him as fast as he possibly could. "Get off of him!" Paul yelled as he ran over to the teenagers. "Come on, knock it off!"
Casey stood among the group with her hand over the mouth, trying her best to remain as innocent as possible while her vision shifted between the tears freely flowing from Sally's eyes and the brawl on the floor between the two boys.
Max and Sam held Ralph back after Paul had managed to pry him off of Derek.
"Tell the truth!" Ralph screamed, and Derek scrambled off of the floor.
"He just walked in and sucker punched me!" he yelled, cradling his jaw.
"Don't play dumb," Ralph growled, "You're too freakin' dumb to play dumb!"
Paul tried to keep Ralph at bay as Sally meekly walked a few feet forward, "Who told you this, Ralph?" she choked out.
"Obviously it was Casey!" Sheldon piped up, gesturing towards her, and Casey locked eyes with the floor.
"What?!" she began, nervously and unconvincing. "I didn't do anything!"
"Yeah, it was Casey," Ralph admitted of her, growing calm for a moment. "But I wanna hear it from you; I wanna hear it from both of you."
"Ralph, just calm down!" Paul tried, wanting to avoid as much violence as he could.
"No, they're both lying to me!" Ralph yelled, his throat scratchy and sore. He turned towards Sally, and tried to ignore her crying. "Is it true? Just tell me, is it true?"
"Yes," she muttered, approaching him. "Derek's the father."
"So, all that stuff in the hot tub?" Ralph said, his heartbreak taking form in confusion. "You just made that up?"
"You were stupid enough to buy it!" Derek yelped back at him.
Ralph stared at him for a moment before lunging forward, but Paul blocked him off – he was shocked by the news, having spent so much time trying to help the couple deal with the pregnancy, but he couldn't let it hinder him from keeping his students safe. "I am so sorry..." Sally sobbed, and he looked back at her.
"Screw this. I'm done with you!" he said towards her, and she flinched. "I'm done with- I'm done with all of you!"
Ralph turned on his heel and began to walk out the door, kicking a chair to the side of the room as he left, and Sally all but dissolved into sobs.
~L~
Sally sat on a small indention in the hallway wall that was meant to be a fancy decoration, but had been used by many students as a bench. She wrapped her arms around the bottom of her stomach, and she didn't bother looking up as Casey approached her slowly and tentatively.
"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, her hands tensed in worry at her sides. "I fully understand if you want to beat me up. If you can, just try to avoid my nose."
Casey looked down at Sally for a moment before squinting her eyes shut, and she finally took the time to look at the scared girl in front of her, feeling numb and worthless. "I'm not mad at you," She said flatly, softly. "All you did was do what I wasn't brave enough to do… tell the truth."
Casey hesitantly sat next to her, and they made no eye contact. "I-I was selfish when I told him," she said, stumbling over her words. "I wanted to break you two up so he would wanna be with me."
"And now neither of us have him," Sally mumbled. "I have hurt so many people... can you go now? I just really wanna be alone."
Casey nodded slowly, and despite every dispute that she had ever had with the former cheerleader, she wanted nothing more than to console the girl. But nonetheless, she walked away in respect of her wishes. She saw Derek as she walked back down the halls, and she grabbed his arm before they passed.
"We need to talk," she whispered, keeping too tight of a grip on his arm, but he looked at her somewhat and gulped.
She continued to walk away, but she only stayed just out of earshot while Derek sat down next to Sally.
"Hey," he said slowly as to not further upset her. "So, I know you're upset now, but I wanna let you know that I'm gonna be everything I can to be a good dad to our baby."
"Thanks… but I honestly can't handle any more stress in my life right now," Sally insisted, and Derek's face fell. "I'm gonna do this on my own, and I know you don't understand it, but please respect it."
Sally stood up and left to somewhere that she could be alone, even though she didn't know where that was just yet. But when Casey saw Sally walk away from her hiding spot, she ran back to the small makeshift bench, where she saw Derek sitting, looking down at the floor.
"Hi," she said meekly, looking down at him, and he peered up at her. "Y-you know, we'll get through this. Derek- if there's anything you need, I'm here, okay?"
"…You're not mad?" Derek questioned, sitting up straighter.
"No!" Casey assured him, sitting next to him and grabbed his hand experimentally. "Why would I be? I mean, this was all just a big accident."
He stared at her for a moment before realization dawned on him, and he sighed before he broke the news to her. He could've allowed her to go on believing a lie, but he couldn't handle the dishonesty anymore. "Case, I knew it was mine the entire time."
"Excuse me?"
"Sally and I had a thing a while back," he admitted, and he expected nothing short of the apocalypse. But he couldn't lie to her, not about that. "I-it was nothing, and I was drunk-"
"How could you not tell me?!" she asked, standing up hurriedly and he looked back up at her, groaning in frustration.
"Casey," he pleaded, burying his face in his hands. "I can't do this with you right now."
"Yeah, well, I deserve a few seconds of your time," Casey said, crossing her arms. "I deserved to know about Sally!"
"Pardon me if I didn't want to spew ever detail about what I did with other girls to you!" Derek hissed at her, and Casey's eyes narrowed.
"You were the one who was stupid enough to let this happen!" Casey accused, "And it's not like you just made out with her, Derek, you got her pregnant! And you didn't just conveniently forget to tell me, but you didn't tell Ralph! He's your best friend! And if you aren't decent enough to tell him, how can I expect you to ever tell me the truth about anything?"
Derek leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, the palms of his hands on his forehead. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was right; he should've told Ralph first out of all people, but it wasn't right to keep it from her either.
"I'm sorry," he said, feeling ashamed of himself. "You're right, okay? But Sally was shutting me out! I want to be a good dad to my kid, despite what a lot of people think, and I can't do that if she completely blocks me out of her life because I told everyone."
"That doesn't matter! You should've taken responsibility for your actions!" Casey yelled, shaking her head at him. She had grown to trust Derek, and she had grown to like him more than she probably should have, and she felt that her trust in him had been violated.
Derek stood up to leave, because he couldn't explain to her how much he tried to be responsible, and he was tired.
"Where are you going?!" Casey called after him.
"I don't know yet," Derek replied as he walked away, and Casey stared as he walked away, plopping back down on the bench.
~L~
The kids climbed onto the bus, but they didn't take their seats, instead they stood on the side of the bus closest to their teachers and watched them talk.
"So, the competition starts at eleven," Paul said for what felt like the millionth time. "And I'll have my cell phone on."
"Right, I know, you already told me," Kathy reminded him. "Three times. And then you wrote it down."
Paul smiled, but before he got the chance to say anything, Tinker Tomlin jogged up to them. "Reporting for duty, Paul," He said. "I have to tell you, I get terrible public event anxiety."
"You know what, Tinker, it's okay, we just need a twelfth member, so just sway in the back," Kathy said supportively. "You don't even have to sing."
"Yeah," Paul seconded. "Don't even sing."
Tinker nodded in understanding and ran up to the bus to see eleven teenagers with their faces in the windows.
"Thank god," Paul sighed in relief, and Kathy had to restrain a giggle.
"So, um... still no word from Ralph?" she questioned, and Paul began to shake his head sadly.
"No," he replied quickly. "I can't thank you enough."
Kathy smiled as she walked away and into the bus, and the kids started to take their seats. Tinker sat down next to Casey, and he placed an arm around her shoulders comfortingly, but she shrugged him off as though he was an unwanted, slimy worm.
~L~
"Okay, so, smooth sailing so far!" Kathy enthused as the New Directions sat on and around a couch in the lobby. "We're all signed in, and according to the program, you have drawn performance slot number three."
"We're going last?" Sam asked worriedly. "Isn't that bad?"
"Hardly, this is good news," Casey said happily, taking it upon herself to cheer up the team. "My extensive auditioning for community theatre has taught me that we either wanna go first or last. If we're first, then everyone has to measure up to us, and if we're last, then we're the freshest in the judge's minds."
"And did you ever get any of those parts?" Sheldon snarked, and Casey sighed.
"Well, one of them!" She tried, and Sheldon rolled his eyes.
"I'm with Casey on this," Kathy attempted to go along with her student's plan. "The glass is definitely half full of some very good things right now."
"Yeah, Ms. Zeldin's right," Emily agreed with a smile. "I mean, we're here now, right? No reason not to go in with some positive mojo."
"Right! Right, right," Kathy spluttered nervously as she looked around, and Casey took her seat next to Sally, and farther away from Derek.
When Derek left for a moment because he realized that he couldn't find his wallet, Casey tried to make conversation with the girl next to her.
"I can't believe what he did to you," she began quietly, and Sally looked over at her. "I mean, he let Ralph take the blame for his mistake, he didn't even try to help or take responsibility."
"Oh, he did," Sally corrected her. "He tried to give me money, baby books, support… but I was just too stubborn and stupid to take it. He's a good guy, Casey, don't forget that. It's me that made the mistake, all those times he tried to get me to tell the truth, and I didn't listen."
Sally stared on blankly as Derek walked back with his wallet in tow, explaining that he had left it at the pretzel stand. Casey looked at him and realized that not just Sally had made a mistake.
~L~
"And you, and you, and you," one girl from the Jane Addams Academy sang as the rest of the club danced behind her. "You're gonna love me!"
Casey sat next to a very upset looking Emily, and she leaned towards her, "It's a really popular song," she tried to comfort the girl, but to no avail.
But what really took the cake was the large group of girls all blindfolded, singing Proud Mary.
~L~
In the green room, things weren't going well.
"We've got a problem!" Kathy said, her voice panicky as she spoke with Paul over the phone. "They're doing all of our numbers, the kids are completely freaking out, Noel keeps ramming himself into the wall, and I'm pretty sure Tinker Tomlin just wet himself!"
"I knew it!" Paul growled as he sat in the choir room back at William McKinley. "Ryan leaked the setlist!"
"P-Paul, these kids need a leader right now," Kathy said nervously.
"Just hold tight, I know what to do," Paul assured her, and she nodded in spite of the fact that he couldn't see her, and she hung up.
Back in London, Ohio, Paul walked out of the choir room and down the empty hallway when he unexpectedly saw Ryan stroll past the choir room. "Ryan! What kind of coach are you?!"
"Hey, buddy," Ryan cheered as he turned around to face the older man. "I just came by to water my venus flytrap."
"You leaked the setlist," Paul hissed. "And you are not going to get away with it!"
"That is a libelous accusation and I insist you retract it immediately," Ryan said calmly, and Paul rolled his eyes, all attempts of acting professional with this ridiculously power-hungry child called off. "You have no proof."
"No proof?!" he yelled. "You are the only person who had the list!"
"But other than that, you have no proof," Ryan said, poking a finger into his chest. "It's time to face facts, Paul; at one PM this afternoon, your little club will have had its shot at the big time, and they will have failed. Glee club will be canceled, and all that money Lassie has been funding into your budget will finally and rightfully be restored to mine."
Paul shook his head in disbelief – how could this have gone on so long?
"You have crossed the line," Paul said, his voice trembling with anger. "I am not going to sit idly by anymore! I am going to expose you for the fraud that you have become."
"Bring it on, Paul," Ryan laughed. "I am reasonably confident that you will be adding revenge to the long list of things you're no good at - right next to being married-"
"Don't," Paul said, blinking slowly at the struck chord.
"Running a high school glee club, and finding cologne that doesn't make you smell like a desperate freshman in high school," Ryan continued without a beat, and then he placed a hand on Paul's shoulder. "Love ya' like a brother."
"Get your hands off me," Paul demanded, brushing his hand away, but then the teenager retaliated by shoving the teacher backwards.
"You're not gonna push a kid, are ya'?" Ryan challenged, and Paul scowled at him, but did nothing. "I didn't think so."
Ryan turned to leave, and Paul shook his head angrily. But he pushed the thoughts out of his head – he had to act fast if his club was going to succeed.
~L~
Paul walked into the locker room with his keys in his hand and saw Ralph emptying his locker. "Hey, Ralph," he said, and the boy turned to look at him. "I just called your mom; she told me you'd be here."
"Yeah, you know, hockey season ended, so I'm just cleaning out my things," Ralph explained, and Paul walked forward.
"Sounds like something that could've waited until Monday,"
"...Have you heard anything?"
"Yeah, it's pretty bad," Paul informed him, and a silence passed between the two before he continued. "I can't be there-"
"And I can?" Ralph asked angrily, dwelling on things. "I can't even be in the same room as her without crying like a girl, I can't look at him without wanting to punch his face off."
Paul was tired, very tired, and so he decided to tell his student the truth.
"Look, I don't have any more pep talks, Ralph," he said. "I know how you must feel. All I know is that, between you and me, I don't think that they can win without you."
"But that's not fair!" Ralph cried. "Why does it always have to come down to me, why do I always have to be the bigger man?"
"Because sometimes," Paul tried to explain as he sat down on the bench. "Being special sucks."
"I just want everything to be like it- like it never happened, you know?" Ralph confided in his teacher, who sat his keys down on the bench.
"Well, Ralph, you can't always get what you want," Paul said, and Ralph nodded very slowly. "Listen, I'll be in the choir room."
Paul stood and headed for the door when Ralph spotted his keys still resting on the bench, and he grabbed them. "Oh, Paul, you forgot your keys."
"No, I didn't!" Paul denied as he walked away, and Ralph peered down at the keys in his hand…
~L~
"Nope! Your money's no good here," Mister Rumba said to Ms. Hitchens at the pretzel stand after the Jane Addams girls had performed. "I'm buying celebratory giant pretzels."
"I don't feel much like celebrating," Ms. Hitchens confessed with a half-hearted laugh.
"Why not?" Mister Rumba asked as one of the employees handed them drinks and pretzels. "One of us is gonna take this thing."
"Hi, nice set list," the two were surprised by Kathy as the turned around after paying for the snacks. "Of course, I haven't heard your deaf kids perform yet, but I hear they're singing Don't Stop Believing?"
"Um, who are you?" Ms. Hitchens asked, looking at her oddly.
"I'm sorry, let me introduce myself," Kathy said shortly as she stood with her hands interlocked in front of her. "I'm Kathy Zeldin; I'm the faculty advisor for the McKinley High-School Glee Club."
"Oh, what happened to the guy who hosted the scrimmage?" Ms. Hitchens asked, but Kathy disregarded her question and hopped directly onto her soap box.
"You should be ashamed, aren't you ashamed? You're educators! Actually, no, you know what? You're more than that, you take care of disadvantaged kids, and you're teaching them that the only way they can compete in this world is by cheating," Kathy said in disgust for the two. "I'm sorry, but what kind of message is that?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Mister Rumba lied. "Don't Stop Believing is the most downloaded song in the history of iTunes, I've only got one good ear, and even I know that! Scarlet fever!"
"Right, and Proud Mary? Blindfolded?" Kathy challenged as she turned to Ms. Hitchens.
"Do you have any idea how much winning is going to mean to my girls?" Ms. Hitchens defended her actions, but her confidence façade was slipping. "It's gonna be a life changer; make them feel like they're worth something again."
"I'm sorry, do you think they're not gonna know that something's up – the fact that you just magically came up with two new numbers days before competition?" Kathy asked, and Ms. Hitchens sighed.
"They were great up there," Ms. Hitchens attempted. "That's all I know."
"I think what we have here is a case of deaf racism!" Mister Rumba exclaimed, and Kathy fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Shame on you!"
"No, you know what the real shame is?" She said, her eyes moving between both of them. "It's that maybe if you believed in them just a little bit more, they would've been amazing up there… without cheating."
~L~
"Don't stop believin'! Hold on to that feelin'!" the Haverbrook students sang, and in the audience, Amy waved to them, but Noel smacked her arm. "Street light people!"
Casey saw a man in the seat below her wiping his eyes with a handkerchief, and her jaw fell open before she stood up in outrage, her hands balled into fists. "Meeting in the green room in five minutes!"
~L~
"You leaked the setlist!" Sheldon accused of Kendra and Amy as they all gathered in the green room. "You don't wanna be here; you're just Ryan Sylvester's little moles!"
"I know for a fact that's true, Ryan asked us to spy for him," Sally informed the group as she walked in, and Kendra gaped at her.
"Look, we may still be Cheerios, but neither of us ever gave Ryan the setlist!" Kendra defended herself and Amy, who squirmed slightly.
"Well, I did, b-but I didn't know what he was gonna do with it," she said, and Kendra sighed and walked up to the front of the room.
"Okay, look, believe what you want, but no one's forcing me to be here. If you ever tell anyone this, I'll deny it, but I like being in glee club," Kendra said, and after several blank stares, she continued. "It's the best part of my day, okay? I wasn't gonna go and mess it up."
Kendra moved to the other side of the room and sat down on one of the large chairs next to Casey.
"I believe you," she said, and she decided that she was the only one who was going to be able to lead this group without Ralph there. "Okay, guys, there's no point in us arguing any more; we have to go on in an hour!"
"And we have no songs," Sam said blankly, his head resting on his hands.
"Perhaps I could improvise some of my def poetry jams?" Noel suggested, and several others shook their heads. "No?"
"No," Sam said.
"No, okay, we're going to do this the right way," Casey insisted, and she turned towards Emily. "Let's start with a ballad. Em, do you have anything else in your repertoire?"
"Yeah, but it's not as good as anything you're gonna sing," Emily said, and though she had already decided this when she saw the Jane Addams girls sing the song, she still sounded upset.
"No, no, we agreed-"
"We agreed that I would sing And I'm Telling You, and that isn't happening," Emily said as she stood up from her seat. "Look, Casey, the truth is you're the best singer that we've got."
"As much as it hurts me to admit it - and it does – Em is right," Sheldon winked at Casey playfully. "Casey's our star, if anyone's gonna go belt it on the fly, it should be her."
Casey tried to hold back her beaming as she spoke, "Well, I do have something that I've been working on since I was four."
Emily smiled at her, because that was, without a doubt, the Casey that had been missing all day in the stress of so many different things.
"Then I guess we have our ballad," Sally said. "And we can close with Somebody to Love, it's a real crowd pleaser."
"Yeah, that and a can of soup will guarantee us third place," Derek hissed grouchily. "We still need another song we can all sing together."
But out of nowhere, Ralph walked in wearing his McKinley High jacket and holding twelve pieces of paper. "I have one," he said as he held up the paper. "I found the sheet music online, I used the Cheerios copier to make copies, and then I trashed the thing. Max, Sandra, Amy, Kendra, you're our best dancers. Figure something out and we'll all follow your lead."
"It's gonna be choppy," Max warned him, but Ralph shrugged.
"Good, we're best when we're loose," he said confidently, but he was shaking in his shoes. The four gathered together and began to work on some choreography. "Look, all we have going for us is that we believe in ourselves and what we're singing about. If we can show the judges that, we might have a shot at this thing."
"It's good to have you back, Ralph," Casey said with a smile and a nod.
"Cool if I take my spot back?" Ralph asked of Tinker, and he nodded in rapid speed.
"Quite," he assured him. "I was just here because I was hoping to get into Casey's pants."
Casey rolled her eyes and tried to fight the blush invading her cheeks. She watched Derek approach Ralph, holding his hand out in a gesture of a hug.
"We cool, dude?" Derek asked, and after several moments of staring at him, Ralph spoke up.
"No," he hissed, and Derek's shoulders slumped as he lowered his hand.
"Ralph, I-" Sally began, but he gave her the cold shoulder, turning towards Casey and walking up to her.
"You okay?" she asked quietly, the conversation remaining only between the two of them.
"Don't worry about me, okay? This is all up to you now," Ralph said truthfully, but supportively. "You wanted the solo, you wanted the chance be the star… this is your chance. Don't screw it up."
They smiled at each other… the show must go on.
~L~