"God, is it always so loud in the morning?" Sienna muttered as she entered school after an eventful weekend. Wearing a pair of dark aviator sunglasses, the young Cheerio scowled at every person who crossed her path, her head pounding like someone was repeatedly hitting it with a bat.
"I don't know, but I know that I never want to go to one of Gigi's parties again," Lily retorted, sporting sunglasses of her own. Even an experienced party girl like her was miserable on Monday morning; the aftermath of Gigi Borden's party on Saturday was taking its toll on the girls. "I just hope Coach doesn't find out," she added afterwards, flashbacks of Saturday night playing in her head as she opened her locker up to grab her book for her English class.
Loud music was blaring - some annoying EDM song that played non-stop on the radio- to the point that everyone was shouting to hear over one another. Lily was navigating her way across the main floor of the Borden house, which was amazing, if she was telling the truth.
Located in the middle of Lima Heights, it stuck out like a sore thumb; it was like if someone had built the White House in the hood, with its stone pillars and high, arched ceilings. Somehow, Gigi had convinced her parents to take a trip this weekend - it was a feat no one questioned, but everyone was grateful for. Lily loved coming over just for the ability to say she had been there. Gigi wasn't the type to have real friends, and she wasn't going to be fake enough to pretend that they were.
As she grabbed another drink from the kitchen counter, she felt hands rest on her hips, and she turned to face none other than Six Starling. "What do you need, Six?" She asked, feigning disinterest as she sipped her drink, which was a bit too strong and made her wrinkle her nose.
"Do you wanna dance with me, Lils?" Six asked, or more like slurred in his deep English accent, bobbing his head to the beat of the music with too much bass. Instead of protesting the nickname like she normally would, she actually giggled, flipping her blonde hair flirtatiously. The Cheerio pretended to contemplate this for a moment, tapping a finger against her chin jokingly before biting down on her lip to conceal a grin as she broke.
"Fine, let's go," Lily said, placing her cup on the counter before heading out to the makeshift dance floor that used to be Gigi's living room. She moved to the music with no inhibitions, grinding with Six shamelessly. Before she knew it, his lips were on hers, and...
"Damn it," she muttered, cursing herself for forgetting about this very important detail until now. Slamming her locker shut, which only made both she and Sienna wince, she started walking to her English class with a scowl. Today was not her day.
"You seriously kissed Lily Carter, dude?" Dean asked Six with wide eyes. The boys were sitting in the back of their Spanish class, blatantly ignoring everything SeƱor Rosario had to say about the proper way to have a conversation in the language. Their teacher looked exhausted, worn out by class after class of students not even giving him an hour of their attention, but he went on with his lesson in a monotonous voice that was always slightly drowned out by the conversations of his students.
"I don't kiss and tell, Dean," Six replied with a smug smirk, leaning back slightly in his chair as they spoke, arms crossed over his chest. "What's so special about it, anyway? It's not like I'm the first guy she's ever drunkenly kissed at a party, and I'm sure I won't be the last," he mused, rolling his eyes at the bad boy sitting next to him, who looked like one of the gossiping Cheerios eager to hear every detail.
"So you did kiss her! Dude, you're a legend. Half the school has been trying to get in her spanx since her freshman year!" Dean told him with a smirk of his own, making Six quickly shake his head in protest.
Six didn't know what came over him, but suddenly he was kissing Lily, the petite girl clinging to him loosely as their lips moved together to the rhythm of the music. He wasn't going to lie, this was nice, but completely unexpected. Sure, he flirted with her in the hall, but he did that with every girl, and he was fairly certain she did that with most guys. His surprise was only multiplied when she tried to pull him closer, their kisses growing sloppier, and he quickly pulled away.
"What, am I a bad kisser?" Lily slurred, giggling as she smiled up at the Brit. He felt guilty, but he knew that this going any further would get messy, and he didn't want to take advantage of her in this state.
"I'll see you later, Lils," he mumbled, leaving the blonde girl stunned in his wake.
"I didn't 'get in her spanx', whatever that's supposed to mean. We just kissed for a while, and then I left and went back to the party. End of story. Now conjugate your verbs and leave me alone. I've got to figure out my audition for Glee Club," Six muttered with a low chuckle. The dark haired boy was willing to drop the subject, as he picked up his pencil in an attempt to figure out the bogus worksheet in front of him, but Dean certainly wasn't.
"I'm just saying, Six, you're a legend! You've joined the ranks of men stronger than a rabid grizzly bear! Even I haven't hit that-" Dean was cut off by Six slamming his pencil down on his desk in frustration.
"Enough, dude, seriously. Either get to work or help me figure out my Glee Club audition, because I'm tired about hearing about Lily Carter," he said coolly, before standing up to turn in his finished work.
Hannah cursed slightly as she messed up on her newest piece that shouldn't have been this hard; she just couldn't manage to get the fingerings for her cello down in the right time for the melody to flow correctly, and it was really beginning to get on her nerves. She flipped her sheet music back to the first page and read over it one last time to make sure she had everything right in her mind, and then gave it another attempt. A failed one, at that.
"What the hell?" she exclaimed, her eyes narrowing in anger as she set her bow down. She took a deep breath, knowing that she had to be over reacting. Maybe that was why the music wasn't coming out correctly in the first place.
"You know, it sounded fine to begin with," spoke a voice from the back of the music room. Hannah turned and found Isabelle, who, while not necessarily a stranger, was no familiar face. "You're just working yourself up. What is that piece anyways?" the young starlet to be asked, walking towards the band geek, who uncomfortably shifted in her seat to look at her.
"Elgar's Cello Concerto," she informed her, fully aware of the fact that she might not know of it. "It's proving to be much more difficult than I thought it would be to learn," she then confessed, scowling once again at her sheet music, which, if it could, most likely would have scowled back at her.
Isabelle seemed to consider this for a moment, as if searching for some sort of recollection of the piece in her mind, before shrugging. "Well, it sounded nice before you started cursing at your poor, poor cello. What did it ever do to you?" she joked, smirking slightly.
"He. His name is Anthony," Hannah corrected. She wasn't a superstitious person, but she fully believed in naming an instrument for good luck. Isabelle rolled her eyes at this, but she smiled as well in an attempt to comfort the obviously frustrated girl in front of her.
"Fine, well then Anthony did nothing to you. You'd better relax before you start to play him again, or he might start a full on instrumental revolution," she joked, which made Hannah finally crack a smile. Maybe the music nerd had judged the diva to be too soon; she certainly didn't seem to mean any harm.
"What are you doing in here anyways?" Hannah asked, smoothing out her flowing floral skirt as she stood up to put her cello in its case. She hummed to herself, freezing when Isabelle responded with, "looking for sheet music for my Glee audition!" She had completely forgotten about it in the midst of her worry about the Concerto, and now she was going to have that to worry about, too.
By lunch time, Tanner was nervously walking into the cafeteria. Glee Club auditions were after school, but even worse than that, he still had to return the clothes he had borrowed from Hugh the week before. Even to him, it seemed like a minor moment, but that was until he saw the Quarterback sitting at a table full of the same jocks that had slushied him in the first place.
Mustering up as much courage as he could, he strode up to the table with the plastic baggie he had holding the spare clothes, looked Hugh straight in the eyes and said, "These are for you. Thanks so much again for letting me borrow them," in what he thought was a confident voice, though a slight quiver betrayed his otherwise even tone
Hugh practically snatched the bag away from the slim boy, who frowned at his actions. "No problem. Um, do you need something else or...?" he trailed off, uncomfortable under the judgemental stares of his teammates. He could already feel a conflict brewing between him and the rest of his team, and he just wished Tanner would leave so that he could try and avoid it.
Before Tanner could respond, Chucky was already speaking. "What, are you two boyfriends or something? Sanford, you're not seriously swapping spit with Lady Boy, are you?" he asked, his voice raising so that everyone at the next table over could hear. "You let him borrow your clothes, so what's next? Are you gonna paint each others nails?"
Tanner felt tears burning in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Hugh remained speechless, not knowing what else to do besides run a hand through his mess of dark curls. All of the other football players were laughing at the nonsense Chucky was spouting, while a few bystanders joined in with their own hesitant laughter.
"I should have just given you them back at the Glee auditions, shouldn't I?" Tanner finally asked Hugh, wiping his eyes quickly to stop his tears from falling, but it was growing increasingly harder by the minute. He instantly regretted saying this, as it really set Chucky off.
"Glee Club? Hugh, you're joining the ranks of Pansies 'R Us? Oh my god, next you're going to be wearing a tutu on the field!" He exclaimed, and the Quarterback just hung his head in shame.
"I wrote my name as a joke. I'm not actually going to join," Hugh muttered, though he had actually been looking forward to being a part of it. "Get off of my case, Chuck. Tanner, you should probably leave," he said, trying to ignore the feeling of his blood boiling in anger. "Like, now," he added when the younger boy looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. His words seemed to get him into action, though, and he rushed off towards the exit without another word, feeling ultimately betrayed.
Okay, so I know that I said that auditions would be in this episode, and they will be. I just wanted to start the episode off with something other than them, and to start a bit of the drama everyone knows and loves. I promise that auditions will start in the next chapter!
