Chapter Four
The Winner I
But I believe in whatever you do,
and I'll do anything to see it through.
Peacefully, Kelly sat beneath the oak tree, strumming on the chords of her guitar. This was her favourite part of the park. It was the most quiet and relaxing, where you felt safe and alone. Kelly liked the feel of privacy, because she didn't want anyone to overhear her practicing. Avoiding playing music at home was one of Kelly's top priorities. Truth was, she hadn't played music in a while. The last time she had played, was in the glee club she was part of back in New York. Her father always avoided watching her perform with the glee club. Not because he thought Kelly had no talent, or hated that she was a part of a glee club, it was simply because it was too painful.
Music reminded her, and Nathan, too much of her mother. She was the person that had taught Kelly how to play the guitar. Her mother, Marie-Ann Clark, was a music teacher. She could play so many instruments, and every time Kelly watched her play it was like she was being introduced to a whole new world, hidden behind the pain and sorrow of this world. A year and a half ago, Marie-Ann went missing. She was at a musical theatre production rehearsal, which she was in charge of, and never came back. Her car was found, abandoned. No-one knew what had happened. She never showed up and they never found a body. Since that day Kelly hopes and wishes every single day that her mother would come home to her safe and sound… but it never happens.
Kelly had developed a negative view of the world. But when she was playing music, listening to music, she felt the same way she had felt the first time she strummed her first chord on her guitar. The same guitar she had had since she could remember. The same guitar she got for Christmas, the one her mother bought her when she was seven.
She continued to strum the chords, trying new sounds. Change, was a powerful song. It wasn't easy to turn it into an acoustic version. However, Kelly was working hard, she really wanted to show her talent and make a good impression on the New Directions, on Mr Schuester. Not because she was ready to say she was going to join, just because if she did decide to join she wanted to be accepted.
Because these things will change,
I can feel it now,
These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down
It was a beautiful song. It was powerful but it had softness to it. It's like a Cadbury crème egg, the chocolate is hard and once you bite into it the orange cream oozes into your mouth, with a soft feel to it.
For a moment she just sat watching people walking with their friends, lovers, pets and family. Kelly always saw parks as a getaway from the real world. It's so peaceful and natural, you lose yourself in it. But it's a great distraction.
Moments after, Kelly decided she had worked more than hard enough on the song, and she was a hundred and one per cent sure she was ready to face the New Directions tomorrow.
"Look, we have to do the best songs, we have to work the hardest, and we can't underestimate her."
Rachel was worriedly pacing her bright pink bedroom. It was covered in pink and flowers. It was exactly like what you would expect a ten-year-old child's bedroom to be like. Finn Hudson, was sat on her bed with a quizzical look on his face. You could tell he wasn't as competitive as Rachel was, not even close.
"Rachel, maybe this isn't about winning. We should give Kelly a chance, why do you want to knock her out of the competition before she even has a chance to settle in."
"Because, Finn, I have to win that solo for sectionals. It's perfect to put on that NYADA application. Ok? I have to get in-"
"-and you will. But blocking Kelly out isn't gonna help our chances of winning Nationals this year. She has quite a good voice."
Finn was always the nice guy.
"Finn, you told me that you were hardly awake when she was singing and Kurt doesn't want to get involved in this."
I can imagine why, he thought to himself.
"So maybe you should just, let it go."
"Finn, I won't let her join my glee club without putting up a good fight."
"You talk about her like she's going to take over our lives."
"Yes, exactly, that's exactly what will happen if she joins."
"Rachel, you're trying make this sound like a group decision but it seems to me, you're the only one that has a problem with Kelly, why don't you just tell me what's really going on?"
Rachel held her breath for a moment. The thing she hated the most, was getting caught when she was planning a selfish mission, to heighten her chances of getting leads and solos.
"Finn… I don't want her to join because…"
She didn't want to tell the truth. She knew Finn would get mad, because her reason for hating Kelly were unreasonable.
"Im afraid, Finn."
Finn was even more confused than he was before.
"Of what?"
She sighed.
"Of her." Finn continued to wear a look of confusion. "I'm afraid that she will be better than me, I'm just so afraid of losing the only thing I'm truly good at, and liked for. I don't want her to join, because I don't want her to take the solos, I deserve, especially for sectionals and more importantly, I don't want her to take you away from me."
Finn gave her a look of disgust.
"How could you feel that? How could you think that? Kelly's not like that-"
"See, she's already turned you against me, don't you see, she's taking everything good away from me."
Finn stood up.
"No, Rachel, she didn't do that." He looked her in the eye, to make sure she understands that he means the next thing he was going to say. "You did that!"
Rachel was left standing with a tear in her eye. She lowered herself to her bed and cried into her striped pink and white pillow. At that moment, she decided what song suited the way she was feeling.
Mr Schuester was leaning against the piano by the time Kelly arrived. She lowered into a seat next to Tina, and slid her bag underneath her, placing her guitar behind her. She didn't want to use a school guitar because there was something special about her guitar. It made her feel special.
"Alright guys, let's get started. Group one will perform today, and Group two with perform tomorrow. Rachel, would you like to go first."
In group one was; Rachel, Mercedes, Kelly and Kurt. Everyone else, apart from the guys, excluding Kurt, who somehow convinced Mr Schuester this wasn't their kind of assignment, were in group two.
"Actually, Mr Schue, I would like to go last."
She turned to face Kelly and gave her a smile, but it felt evil to Kelly. Despite the argument she had with Finn the day before, Rachel was still determined to destroy every chance Kelly had. Mercedes, the diva of the New Directions, went up first. Powerfully, she sang, Enchanted. It was an unusual song for someone like Mercedes to sing, however she sang it perfectly. Although, Kelly couldn't help but notice that throughout the entire song her eyes were fixed on Sam, a blonde rather tall boy, which had a rather unavoidably noticeable huge mouth. Then Kurt went up, and he courageously sang, Mean, expressing his hatred to those who bullied him because of his sexuality, and as he would like to say, their jealousy of his good fashion sense. The moment Kelly was dreading came sooner than she would have liked.
"Kelly! You're up!"
She grabbed her guitar from behind her and strode to the front and held her guitar for a moment, then gently began to play the soft tune of the acoustic version of Change. She began with an intro.
And it's a sad picture, the final blow hits you
Somebody else gets what you wanted again
Out of everyone, Kelly was most focused on Rachel's expression. Everyone was silent. No-one was whispering, or texting or doing anything but looking at Kelly's elegant face. It was like she was singing a tune that everyone once knew and this was them remembering it.
She was on the last verse, which was to Kelly the most powerful.
Tonight, we standed on our knees
To fight for what we worked for all these years
And the battle was long, it's the fight of our lives
Will we stand up champions tonight?
Hallelujah!
She was flattered when everyone started clapping as soon as she was done. She felt as though in that moment she had achieved something. Mr Schuester then cut in on the applause.
"All right, guys." He was grinning; it was truly one cheesy grin. "And last but not least, Rachel!"
Of course, when Rachel is about to do a performance she has to give a speech beforehand. However, Rachel was shaky, she wasn't as confident as she had been in previous competitions with her fellow classmates.
" Well, I was going to do Love Story, but then I didn't feel as into the song as I was when I chose it so now I've decided to do Mine. Because it truly expresses everything I feel. I dedicate this to you Finn, because I want you to know how much I love you."
Finn looked away. He was stilled angry with Rachel after their argument the night before. Then she started. Kelly had never known just how talented Rachel truly was. Now she understood why she liked to stick a gold star after her name, because she was – a star. She wasn't jealous of her, she was happy that she had such a perfect voice.
Do you remember we were sitting there by the water?
You put your arms around me for the first time…
Finn had a smile on his face, because no-one could hide a smile when a love song was being sung to them.
You are the best thing that's ever been mine.
That part was Kelly's favourite line of the song because it was so romantic and loving.
After a few minutes she was done. And the entire glee club applauded, and so did Kelly.
There's just no way. Rachel thought to herself. There's just no way she can beat that.
Mr Schuester ushered Rachel to her seat and laughed aloud.
"Wow guys! You were all amazing. God, I'm already having trouble trying to decide who's going to win-"
"Well, don't make your mind up yet Mr Schue, the best is yet to come." Santana arrogantly said.
"Yeah, I think I'm better than all of you. And after I win this opportunity to sing a solo at sectionals and prove to all of you that I am better, I am gonna demand to sing every single solo from now and onwards." Brittany agreed." I think you should all be scared of me just like Lord Tubbington. He won't speak to me anymore - I think he's afraid of me." She added. Everyone just gave her a puzzled look and then the bell rang and everyone left. Kelly took longer to pack her stuff up because she had to get her guitar into its case.
Rachel slyly tripped herself up purposely and spilled her books out of her book, to find an excuse to hang back to talk to Kelly.
"Rachel, are you ok?"
Finn asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'll be ok, I'm just gonna collect all my stuff up."
"Do you need some help-"
Just as Finn knelt down to help, Rachel snapped at him.
"No!" Rachel realised she had been alittle harsh and tried to soften the mood. "I mean, it's ok, don't worry yourself, Finn. I'll collect all my stuff, then I'll meet you outside."
He nodded.
Mr Schue had left, and Kelly and Rachel were the only ones left behind.
Kelly could feel the awkwardness and decided to compliment Rachel, to clear up the awkwardness.
"You're very talented. You have an amazing voice!"
Kelly said in admiration.
"I know I do. That's why I'm going after a broadway career, because I know I can make it as a star."
Kelly was shocked at how arrogant she was. She knew she was annoying and cocky, but not that cocky.
"Just so you know, I'm the reason this glee club is even together."
Rachel said to her seriously.
"Oh, Kurt said that Mr Schue was a part of the McKinley glee club back when he was our age, and when he saw how the glee club was no longer running, he decided to coach it and keep it going."
"Yeah but I was the one who recruited most of the members. Like Finn."
"Why's that? I thought he liked singing."
"Oh he does, just not publicly."
That confused Kelly and Rachel noticed. Rachel saw an opportunity to protect her position as Queen and was going to take it.
"Well, I guess Kurt forgot to mention how each of us gets bullied because we're in the glee club. That's why it took some convincing to recruit members."
"Yeah, Kurt forgot to mention that." She said with a disappointed attitude. " Ah well, a few names aren't going to break me."
"Are you sure? Because bullying doesn't mean a few mean names and comments thrown at you every minute of every day – no. Bullying as in slushies in our faces almost every morning and they dig up facts about you, everything they can so they can mock you and get underneath your skin."
Kelly was considering this. She could see the look of satisfaction in Rachel's rounded face and she wouldn't let her have that.
"I gotta go."
"Wait!"
"What?"
"I am the Queen bee of this glee club, and you are going to change any of that, so don't try."
"I wasn't trying to be anything-"
"Good, then you don't have anything you worry about then, do you? But still, watch out, keep your eyes open."
Kelly left, leaving Rachel stood all alone with a smirk on her face.
"Dear Students of McKinley, please do not run in the halls.."
Principal Figgins was speaking through the mic and the hustle and bustle of the early morning rush in the halls of McKinley, was blocking out the sound of what he was saying, you could only hear him vaguely.
Kelly was walking down the halls proud of how she had done, performing in front of crowd, after so long, especially because the sound of music reminded Kelly of her mother. Just as Kelly was almost by her locker, which was ten lockers down, a rather tall woman in a red tracksuit with white stripes along the sides, who coached the cheerios, cheerleaders, called coach Sylvester (Sure Sylvester), walked past her saying,
"Welcome to the glee club, Nemo. I guess you kids like cold facials early in the morning."
Kelly had no idea what she was on about but seconds after she understood. Right after Coach Sylvester went, a group of hockey players came up to Kelly.
"Hey, new girl, welcome to the dork club. To give you a proper welcome, we'd like to give you a gift."
Splash!
Kelly was gasping for breath. The flaming red coloured slushie hit her face with a splash. It was worse than getting a snowball in your face. It dribbled down her top, making her freezing cold, and all over her hair. She didn't even want to know what she looked like but she had a feeling something like a ridiculous mess.
"Oh my god, Kelly!"
Kurt was coming over to her. Kelly couldn't even open her eyes, but when she tried she ended up getting some in her, it was like acid and it stung badly. She couldn't resist the often ouch!
Kurt and Mercedes took her to the girls bathroom to get her cleaned up. She was lucky she had an extra jacket to cover up the mess on the top underneath. She had no idea how the hockey players even knew Kelly was a member of the glee club – which she wasn't, not officially anyway.
"Kurt, how did they know?"
Kurt sighed.
"I don't know. Must've heard about it from somewhere."
"Where? No-one knew I was attending glee club meetings a part from Mr Schue and everyone in the New Directions-"
That was when Kelly realised what had happened.
"Keep your eyes open."
"What?"
"Rachel!"
Kurt got more tissue to help dry wipe more of the now melted red slushie. He came rushing back when he heard 'Rachel'.
"What? No. Kelly, I know Rachel wasn't very welcoming, but she wouldn't do this, she's not evil to this extent. "
"How do you know? She threatened me, Kurt. Not only does not want to welcome me, but she hates me. She told me not to try to be the new Queen bee and to watch out and to keep my eyes open, she told the hockey players. She did this."
"Ok, ok, why don't we just ask her."
"No! You can ask her, I'm not going anywhere near her, not after this anyway."
Kelly gave in and shoved all of her stuff into her bag and left to go to her next class.
The bell rang and that was the signal for the end of the day, which meant the glee club were meeting. Kelly wanted to meet up with Kurt before so she left him a message in his locker. She assumed he would have read it so she went to the cafeteria where she was going to meet him. Eventually he showed up.
"You wanted to meet me!"
"Hey Kurt, I need you to do something for me."
He nodded.
"And what would that something be?"
"I need you to tell Mr Schue that I'm dropping out of glee club."
"I thought you weren't a member."
"I'm not, but the world thinks I am so I am going to pretend that I was."
"Why are you dropping out? Because of one slushie?"
"No Kurt, not because of one slushie. It's because I can't be dealing with this right now, I have more than enough on my mind."
"Don't let Rachel win."
"This isn't about Rachel, this is about me."
"You can't just quit! I won't let you!"
"That's not your call to make."
And she walked out and left Kurt standing like she left Rachel standing.
"Settle down everyone." Mr Schue told the New Directions. "Where's Kelly and Kurt."
At that moment Kurt walked through the door.
"Kelly quit."
"What?"
Mr Schue asked puzzled.
"I thought she was enjoying glee club. Why did she quit, did she tell you?"
"She quit because Rachel told the hockey players that Kelly joined the glee club so they would slushie her this morning. Well done, Rachel. Your plan worked, Kelly quit and you remain at the top of the pyramid. You should be ashamed of yourself."
And then he sat down.
"I didn't do anything Kurt, how could you say that? We're friends, you know I'm not like that."
"No I know exactly who you are Rachel. You're right, you aren't like that, but you are when it means you don't have to have competition for the solos."
"I…"
"How could you do that, Rachel?"
Finn got up and shouted at her.
"Is this true, Rachel?"
Tina questioned her. Mr Schuester eyed Rachel, as if to say 'tell me the truth'.
"Ok, fine, I did it. I told the hockey players because I know it would give them a reason to attack someone. And I knew Kelly is far too delicate to take it. But I did it for us, now Tina, Kurt and Mercedes don't have very slim chances of doing solos."
"Rachel, you have been disqualified from the competition and you have to apologise to Kelly and bring her back."
"What!" Rachel screamed. "You can't do that Mr Schue! Think of Sectionals, think how we are going to lose without me."
"Rachel, you need to stop thinking of yourself and think about others. Think about how you might've hurt Kelly's feelings."
"But I-"
"You nothing. You are going to do as I say or I will ban you from competing in Sectionals all together."
"Rachel sat down and crossed her arms frustrated.
Mr Schue tried to hush the mood by continuing with what was planned.
"Right, we'll see group two perform and then I will make my decision."
Tina performed Love Story, Santana sang Picture To Burn, Quinn performed The Way I Loved You and Brittany performed Superman, because she liked the Superman movies. Sugar didn't perform because she claimed that she was too upset to perform.
Straight after the meeting, Kurt showed Rachel where Kelly lived. Rachel nervously walked up to porch and rung the bell.
To Be Continued…
I thought this chapter was droning on a bit too much so I've decided to do it into parts. Two different parts. Hope you guys liked it! I know I haven't updated in a while so I thought I would make this update a long chapter.. but I think I overdid it a bit lol. Please review, I would love to hear what you guys thought of this chapter!
Until next time … !
R_ProudLibyan ( YourGleekyWhen)