"You're in."
"You're in."
Ned replayed it over and over in his head. He managed to convince himself every five minutes that he's got it wrong. He must have misunderstood somehow. He'd screwed up so many of the notes, and he'd been shaking the whole time, and his eyes has been glued shut. The weekend had been torture; he went through this loop of doubting and reassuring himself until he could hardly remember Friday. Apart from those words. "You're in. Welcome to the Warblers." He'd said it like it was no big deal, and carried on saying other stuff. Ned was pretty sure it was just a mash of sounds and clicks coming out of a big smile.
He tried to look casual walking into the common room. He could see the other boys doing the same thing, but nobody was hiding their nerves particularly well. Ned couldn't help but smile a bit when he remembered, yet again, that he'd already made it, but something put a stop to that pretty quickly. Someone. Ned's eyes had landed on the boy who'd auditioned before him on Friday. Of course, Ned wasn't really the type to hate anyone, but boys like him brought out the worst in everybody. He was leaning back, legs crossed, arms folded, ignoring everyone else and staring out of the window, a smug smirk on his face that said 'I'd rather sit in silence than talk to these nobodies'. Ned smirked back (not that the boy noticed), remembering enough about Friday to know the Warblers weren't crazy about him. He suppressed his bitchy thoughts and took a seat to one side. The last thing he wanted to do was give anything away and go against the Warblers' instructions on his first day. Just as he realised he'd been looking at the boy for a bit too long, he heard a gavel banging. Suddenly he was brought crashing back into the room, surrounded by noisy, excitable young men as if they'd come out of nowhere, and the noise halted just as quickly. Everyone (with one obvious exception, who was apparently a bad-ass) looked at the desk at the end of the room, with Jeff, Wes and David sitting behind it, just like they had on Friday.
"Gentlemen, if I could have your attention..." Wes didn't need to say anything. They'd all shut up after one bang of the gavel. "Now, you all did really well last week. We're lucky to have so much talent at our disposal." Ned was struggling to keep his cool. Soon that 'we' would include him. "But as you all know, we only have spaces for two new Warblers. Otherwise, we'd let you all in. Anyway, the newest additions to the Dalton Academy Warblers are..." There was so much tension in the room that even Captain Cocky's eyes were shifting from side to side. "... Ned Greene..." Ned didn't have to feign surprise as he felt hands patting him on the back and heard people congratulating him. "... And Sebastian Smythe." The reaction was different this time. Everyone looked at that boy. Apparently he was Sebastian. And apparently Ned wasn't the only one who had taken an instant dislike to him. Nobody said anything to him. They kept smiling at Ned, and either ignoring Sebastian or giving him dirty looks and muttering things under their breath. Ned was just looking at him. For a second, something changed. There was a flicker of a frown as he looked down, then he glanced over at Ned and the boys congratulating him. He looked confused. Hurt. But it disappeared just as quickly, as he rolled his eyes and stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulder. The others couldn't help but turn as he spoke:
"Cool. Thanks. So when do rehearsals start?" Everyone was surprised by his response. Anyone else would have been doing cartwheels. Ned would have, if the shoulder-pats and shock weren't weighing him down, sticking him to his seat. Also, Ned couldn't do cartwheels. He was pretty sure he was going to struggle with the Warblers' two-step. After a pause, Wes got over Sebastian's anti-climactic reaction. It threw him off, but he'd been doing this far too long to let the new guy faze him. Jeff, on the other hand, was sitting with his mouth open again.
"Today at 3:30. And as we have to integrate you and Ned into the group so close to Sectionals, we'll be meeting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We have a lot of work to do; I hope you realise that, Sebastian." The room emptied quickly as everyone went to class. Ned stood and tried to move towards the desk. It wasn't easy, as he was jostled by boys slapping him on the back, ruffling his hair and saying 'Good job!' and 'You deserve it, man!'. In a few seconds it was just Ned, Sebastian and the three lead Warblers. David was smiling at Ned encouragingly, Jeff was sitting awestruck by how brazen Sebastian was being, and Wes was fixing him with a cool stare. We've actually got plans for an ambitious number, so until we pick a soloist we need to get to work. We'll see you back here this afternoon. We should all be getting to class." He offered a stiff hand and a cordial smile to Sebastian. He had to make it clear who was in charge. He'd seen this guy's type before, and he still wasn't sure about having him on the team. But he did have a good voice. And that was what they needed after losing Kurt and Blaine. Sebastian took his hand, squeezing it predictably too hard, meeting Wes' glare head-on. "Welcome aboard." Sebastian simply nodded back, not even bothering to pay Jeff and David any attention. Ned, on the other hand, got an expressionless look up and down, followed by the subtlest smirk. Ned felt tiny again, gawping back helplessly. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve that, and he continued to stare as Sebastian strutted out of the room. He turned back to the Warblers, his fellow Warblers, and their expressions had changed already. They were all smiling at him.
"I don't know if I said anything on Friday, but thank you. Thank you so much. I know I wasn't great, but I'll get better, I promise-" The others laughed, and David walked around the desk and squeezed his shoulder. Wes feigned a glare in Jeff's direction.
"Of course, you weren't supposed to know until today-" Ned started to apologise but Jeff put up his hand. Not to shut him up, just to say 'It's OK; he doesn't mean it'. Wes turned to David and Ned. "But it's good to have you with us. Your singing was better than you think, and that kind of attitude is what being a Warbler is all about. We're a team. You don't have to stand out and be perfect all the time. It's all about being a team, and being willing to work hard."
"Exactly. I think you're gonna be just fine.", Davie added.
"I don't know if I can say the same for that Smythe guy-", Jeff chimed in, followed quickly by a jab in the ribs from Wes' elbow. "What? The guy's an ass-hole-"
"Jeff, language! Your parents don't pay your tuition so you can express yourself with all the eloquence of a caveman. We're better than that." Wes looked back to the door and sighed. "Anyway, he's our ass-hole now." There was a pause of uncertainty before they let themselves get excited about Ned. David left a hand on his back and he smiled nervously at Wes until Jeff jumped at him, pulling him into a hug. Ned flinched, taken aback by the physical contact. He quite liked it, though. It was hard to feel nervous when someone jumped at you this fearlessly, like just hugging you, squeezing you as tight as possible was all that mattered. Ned had friends; he'd just never felt this at ease before. He stopped feeling fragile and anxious. He just felt stupidly happy.