Now that he was a member of New Directions again, Artie could relax and enjoy the weekend. The never-ending week was punctuated by a whirlwind weekend that flew by at record pace. Like most weekends, Artie spent his free time with Tina. On Friday night, they saw a movie that neither of them liked very much. On Saturday, they took advantage of the warm weather and spent the day at the park. On Sunday afternoon, Artie knocked out his homework, but Tina took a nap and put hers off until that evening. Artie suggested that she come over to his place to finish so that he could keep her on track.
After they finished their third make out session, Tina wiped her lips, which were getting a little chapped and said, "Artie, you're supposed to be forcing me to do homework, not making out with me all evening."
"Oh... yeah," Artie replied, breathing heavily as he propped himself up against the pillows. Tina carefully untangled herself from his legs. Artie hadn't noticed that she'd wound her lower body around his, but the fact caught his attention now, and he couldn't help but like that. "Sorry, do your homework, Tee. I was just, er, giving you a little motivation. When you finish, there's more where that came from." Artie did a little seductive eyebrow wiggle that made Tina giggle.
"You are so smooth," she retorted, rolling her eyes and reaching for her Spanish book. He noticed that she did seem slightly more hurried to finish her work, and for that, he was pleased. Tina turned her attention to conjucating verbs, and Artie tried to come up with something to occupy his time.
He decided to Google. Googling was always a good cure for boredom. Artie transferred from his bed to his chair and wheeled over to his desk. He turned on his laptop, singing Proud Mary softly as he waited for it to boot up. Tina chimed in with her parts, smiling up at him. Artie, realizing he was distracting Tina again, stopped singing aloud but let the song continue in his head. He was getting really pumped about glee. Practices resumed on Monday. This reminded him of Olivia.
Before he knew it, Artie was googling spina bifida. It occurred to him that all he basically knew about spina bifida was that this serious birth defect caused paralysis, either partial or complete. He wanted to know more, however, since it looked like they would all be spending a lot of time with Olivia. Artie felt like he owed her this much. He skimmed past a few websites until he found himself at the Spina Bifida Association's website. This looked credible, and he began reading.
There was a slightly frightening component of the disorder that stood out to Artie as he found himself reading an article entitled HYDROCEPHALUS AND SHUNTS IN THE PERSON WITH SPINA BIFIDA. Having taken a class in anatomy, he knew right away that hydo- referred to water and -cephalus was talking about the brain. Hydocephalus, he deciphered, referred to fluid in the brain. The next thing he read made his skin crawl.
"About 80 percent of people with spina bifida have hydrocephalus that needs treatment. Almost all shunts are put in during the first days or weeks after birth," it read. Artie wondered if Olivia belonged to the majority described in the article. He went on to read about how shunts could sometimes malfunction and the problem might even go undetected, even on CT and MRI scans. Most people with spina bifida, it seemed, dealt with a shunt malfunction at one time or another in their life.
"What'cha reading?" Tina asked, causing Artie to jump, startled abrubtly out of his reading. "Whoa, pretty interesting stuff over there? You were staring at the screen with your mouth open."
"No, it's just..." Artie glanced back at the article. "Come have a look, here." He waited while Tina set her book aside to join him in front of the computer. He watched her read and saw the expression on her face change from curiousity to concern. When she finished reading, she gave Artie a meaningful look.
"I know," he said, shaking his head as he reread the statistic. "I kind of want to ask her about it, but I'm not sure that's any of my business. And how do you even approach a question like that? 'Hi, do you have a shunt in your head or are you in the lucky, twenty-percent minority?' I get the feeling that she's pretty sensitive about her disability. But I think that the more open she can be with us, the more comfortable she'll feel with the whole group. It helped me when I finally came clean about my skiing accident. Maybe if -"
"Artie?" Tina interrupted, sheepishly. "Please don't take this the wrong way. I think Olivia seems like a great person, but don't you think you're obsessing just a tad? We all know you, but I guarantee you I'm the only person who's done extensive research on spinal cord injuries. I think we can get by without knowing every little thing about her disability. And if you ask come right out and her, it probably will embarrass her. She does seem shy."
Artie couldn't get past the fact that Tina had just used the word 'obsessing' to describe his interest in Olivia's disability. Was it obsessing to innocently google a few facts while killing time? Artie didn't think so. He couldn't help feeling a little cross over Tina's reaction. "Fine, I won't ask," he said, flatly.
"Well, don't look so sour about it," Tina said, shrugging innocently. "I'm not telling you what to do. I'm simply giving you my advice on the matter. If you don't want to take it, then just forget I said anything. Do whatever you want."
"Well, it's going to be kind of hard to forget that you just accused me of obsessing over another girl!"
"I meant obsessing over her disability," Tina shot back, glaring at him. "Don't twist my words."
"I'm sorry," said Artie, quickly. The past several months of having a girlfriend had taught him that the sooner he could apologize for his misdeeds, the better off he was. Sure enough, Tina's accusing glare softened at this. Looking away, she nodded, but Artie could tell that this wasn't the end of it. Was he imagining things or did Tina seem jealous of Olivia?
He was imagining things, he decided. He'd given Tina no reason to be jealous.
The choir room was fuller than ever as new members and old members alike came straggling in after the bell. Artie and Tina had been two of the first to arrive, their excitement hardly containable after waiting all day for the final bell to ring. Unintentionally, the old members and new members were still segregated, twelve on the right and twelve on the left. Actually... Artie counted... eleven on the left. Olivia was still missing. He worried suddenly that she'd only said she'd join to avoid the slushie they'd threatened her with on Friday. He was about to say something to Tina, but recalling their conversation on Sunday, Artie wisely held his tongue.
"Alright, now that's what I'm talking about!" Mr. Schuester clapped his hands, getting the group's attention. He marveled at the sheer number of students sitting in front of him, all of the elite ones who had stood out above the rest at auditions.
Puck, seeming to mistake his environment for the boys' lockerroom, jumped to his feet and led the rest of the jocks in a series of loud grunts and whoops. In addition to Puck, Finn, Matt, and Mike, there were now two more jocks that Artie recognized but couldn't name. In addition to Brittany and Santana, there were also two new Cheerios added to their number. All four girls wore the uniform that Quinn Fabray had surrendered once and for all after the birth of her daughter last year.
"Nice enthusiasm there, Puck," said Mr. Schuester, when the jocks and Cheerios had settled down. The other members of New Directions looked slightly alienated at this outburst, especially the new ones who hadn't been expecting glee club to be completely overrun with popular kids. "I can already tell that this is going to be the best year ever. Now, before we get started, our first order of business is introductions. Is everyone present?"
Mercedes saved Artie the trouble of speaking up. Raising a hand, she answered, "Olivia still isn't here."
"Yes, I am," said a voice at the doorway. Artie looked up to see Olivia wheeling herself in, catching the doorframe as she turned the corner. She flushed immediately, as twenty-four pairs of eyes (twenty-seven, counting the band) stared back at her. Pushing the wheels on her chair, she approached the group and parked beside Artie. "Sorry I'm late. I traded my crutches for my wheelchair after the bell. Mom was keeping it in the kitchen for me all day, which is clear across the school. I figured I could, um, dance better this way."
Artie couldn't help but stare, and it had nothing to do with the chair she sat in. Olivia had dressed up for the occassion, her dark curls worn down today, a change from her usual ponytail. Her shoulder-length black hair framed her cherub face perfectly, calling attention to her wide, dark eyes with their long, long lashes. She had traded her usual jeans for a denim skirt today, which fell over her knees and was frayed at the edge. For the first time, he noticed that Olivia wore braces on her legs, a fact which shouldn't have surprised him. Her legs were small and frail with very little muscle tone. Even Artie, who hadn't really used his legs for going-on nine years now, maintained some of the muscle tone in his legs through therapy. She bore the mark of being born with paralysis.
"I like that, two wheelchairs," agreed Mr. Schuester, cheerfully. "That should balance out both sides of the stage nicely when we do ensemble performances. Our first project isn't a number for the entire group, actually, but before we get started on that... introductions. No more new members on this side, old members on this side. Let's have an icebreaker. We'll have everyone state their name, a few facts, and a favorite song or band."
"Another Asian," muttered Tina, rolling her eyes as a new guy stood up to be first to introduce himself, causing Artie to hold in a laugh. Mike Chang caught Tina's eye, nodding at the new Asian, and gave her the thumbs-up. The new Asian, it turned out, was a freshman named Yudai Nguyen. ("You-die-when?" echoed Tina, repeating the name exactly as the boy had pronounced it.) You-Die-When shared that he usually sang bass. His favorite band was the Killers. ("How original," said Tina, rolling her eyes.)
Besides the other other Asian, there were the two new Cheerios (Natalie and Tamara), the two new football players (Isaac and Cole), Suzy Pepper's little sister, Kinsey Pepper, and five others who were less memorable. In all, they had twelve new members, doubling the size of the team last year. Once the twelve new members had finished their introductions, the old members followed suit. Puck's fun fact about himself was that he was God's gift to singing. Mike followed that up by stating that he'd danced for Mother Teresa and Ghandi.
When they had finished making all the introductions, Mr. Schuester passed out lists. "Now," he announced. "We'll waste no time getting to work. Based on my initial impressions after your auditions, I've paired each old member with a new member. I would like for the returning students to mentor their partners. Each pair will be working on a duet."
Tina rolled her eyes when she realized she'd been partnered, yet again, with the only available Asian. Across the room, Yudai Nguyen was grinning eagerly at her. Artie resisted the urge to snicker out loud at this pairing. He was so amused by Tina's predicament that he almost forgot to check the list to see who he'd be singing with. Skimming the names once again, he prayed for anyone besides Kinsey Pepper as his partner. He shouldn't have been surprised to find himself paired with Olivia.
Of course.
"The duet can be anything you choose," Mr. Schuester went on. "But I have suggestions, if you'd like to hear them. Just come see me later. Some of you may recall that we worked on ballads in partners last year. This can be a ballad, but I'm not making it required that you sing a ballad. Do whatever you'd like, just make sure the song suits both of your voices and personalities. We'll be having a competition within our team to determine which duets we take to competition. Prior to Sectionals, the powers that be have decided to hold a small duets competition as a preliminary invitational. Three pairs will be selected to represent McKinley. For us, that means three new members and new old ones will represent us... in five days. We compete this Saturday."
Five days? The members of New Directions murmered in surprise, stunned that the competition was happening so quickly. This meant that they all had a limited amount of time, working with someone brand new, to come up with a flawless duet. Still, it wasn't like they hadn't thrived under pressure in the past. Who could forget their miraculous save at Sections when the team managed to put together two brand new songs in a mere ten minutes? Compared to the task of saving Sectionals, duets would be a piece of cake.
"We can do it," whispered Artie to Olivia, who already looked nervous. She smiled ruefully at him and whispered her thanks, barely audible. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Tina looking at them with an troubled expression. Once again, Artie tried to convince himself that he was imagining things. He'd still given Tina no reason to be jealous.