This is quite a lengthy chapter, I apologize for the length, but all the explanations just have to be crammed in this chapter. So… I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too. :)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Gina stares at Nick, who is pacing back and forth in front of her. Panic and annoyance start to take over her, but she finds herself unable to be mad at him.

"What do you mean, 'you can't'?" Gina demands. "Nick, talk to me. What's going on? Did I do something wrong?"

Nick stops pacing and closes his eyes. He puts both hands under his chin. "No," he whispers, more to himself than her. "No, you did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong."

"Then what is it?" Gina asks, exasperated. "Are you… are you having doubts about this? About us?"

"Yes," Nick breathes, and Gina's heart aches. What did he just say? "But… but not in a way you might think." He walks up to her, takes both her hands in his, and holds it up to his chest. His face is pale, and if Gina isn't mistaken, he looks… terrified. "Gina, I'm a horrible, horrible person. I thought I could go through with it, but I just can't."

Gina can feel her heart hammering down on her chest. "What… what do you mean?" she whispers. Why does she feel so afraid right now? What had Nick actually done to make him act like this?

Nick takes a deep breath, trying to gain composure. But he fails. His expression of horror and disgust reappears on his face, and he scoffs as he tries to get the words out of his mouth.

"Gina…" he begins deliberately. His hands, which were warm before, are now icy cold. "Gina, I… I need to tell you something. I…" he shakes his head, then takes another deep, long breath before continuing his confession. "Gina, I… I didn't… I didn't ask you out… because I liked you."

For a moment, Gina's mind goes numb. She doesn't understand a word he is saying. "What?" she croaks, her throat dry, her lips chapped. What he said makes no sense to her.

"That day, at the charity… I didn't go to your stall by accident. I… I asked where you were to one of your friends. All the things I said to you, the flowers, the performance at the auditorium… they were all planned."

Gina lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, you mean you've planned everything! It's okay, Nick! You told me yourself, right? That wasn't the first time you've seen me and –"

"No, no, Gina, you don't understand," Nick cuts her, gripping her hand tight. He holds her eyes, and she sees guilt welling up inside of him. "I asked you out on purpose." He holds his breath.

Gina's hands go rigid. "What… what are you saying?"

"Hunter and Sebastian put me up to this," he finally confesses, and all the composure and bravery he had gathered scattered like broken glass on the floor. "They… they were so angry that the New Directions had gotten them disqualified, and they thought of some plan to get back on them, and… and…"

Gina's blood runs cold. She seems to be suspended in time, her feet made out of solid rock, unable to move. Instinctively, she lets her hands drop from Nick's. Her eyes are still fixed on him; she can't look away. She is staring at him, wide-eyed, too shocked to even say anything. Her body feels like it was made out of jelly; she can't move them, she has no control over them. She must have misheard him. She must have misunderstood, or she didn't get something right, or…

"What… plan?" she finds herself ask. Her voice sounds alien to her, as if it wasn't her own. Her tongue felt papery and dry inside her mouth.

Nick sighs. "The plan to… to ruin you all from the inside," he says, unable to meet her in the eye. "The plan was to get close to one of you, one of you who could win the New Directions Regionals, seduce them, and… and ruin them."

"How?" Gina manages to croak again.

Nick lets out a heavy sigh. "Hunter thought of everything," he says. "He's the mastermind, the one who got into everyone's heads. Sebastian was reluctant at first, but Hunter persuaded him into this. He… he can be very persuasive when he wants himself to be. He knows how to get to us. Knows how to get what he wants. He was angry, so he made up a plan."

"At first, we planned on doing it the subtle way. At least, that's what they told me. I would get you to skip Glee practices, take your head out of the game, distract you. Then they wanted me to turn you against your friends, get ideas stuck in your head, get you to hate them, to fight them, to break them all. I thought, I thought that was all they were going to do, but then…" He shakes his head, biting his lip in remorse. "It… it got worse…"

He reaches behind Gina and retrieves the gift he had just given her. He tears it apart, to reveal a black-and-red backpack underneath it. He holds it in front of Gina's dumbstruck face. "Three days ago, they gave me this," he says. His eyes are red, brimming with tears. "They said that it was time to go hard on the New Directions. They wanted them to pay for what they did. They wanted the New Directions to fall exactly like the Warblers had fallen."

Gina's eyes widen with shock, repulsion, and understanding. "You… you don't mean…" she shivers, staring at the backpack as if it was a two-headed monster. "No, you can't be serious…"

Nick's grip on the backpack tightens. "They sewed it in," he says, his voice breaking. "They sewed it in some hidden inside pocket, at least twenty packs of them. The plan was to give the backpack to you, then call in your principal and some of your teachers early Monday morning." He looks away. "Today, when you've all gone home, I have to slip in some of the drugs to the Glee kids' lockers, the choir room, and everywhere that might cause Principal Figgins to believe that you all used drugs."

Gina is so numb, she can't speak. Her entire body shivers with cold sweat. She can't believe a thing she's hearing.

"It's not the same performance-enhancing drugs that the Warblers used; it's a different kind of drug. Hunter said the cops wouldn't hear a thing, so you wouldn't be jailed or anything, but it'd get you all suspended, maybe even disqualified early for Regionals. I don't know. But this is going to screw you all. Hunter planned the whole thing, and I had to carry out what he and Sebastian said, but… but…" He pulls at his hair. "The drug was just too much, Gina. I can't. I just can't put that kind of guilt on my shoulders." He lets out a sob, shaking his head in dismay.

Gina, she feels like a statue. Her heart is aching terribly, but her brain is too dumbstruck to give it attention. "Why me?" she peeps out then. "Why you?"

Nick looks up at her. His eyes are red-rimmed, his face flushed with embarrassment, but this time he looks at her with seriousness. With intensity.

"Hunter thought you were the most approachable," he says, and Gina's heart sinks lower. "That Tina girl is head over heels for Blaine, plus she's too close to him, he'd sniff something out. Brittany and Marley were potential targets, but they have boyfriends. Sugar isn't a star performer, and Kitty kind of scares everyone out on the Warblers. As for Unique, the boys are not sure how to get close to her. She's a tough case." He takes a deep breath. "You were the most potential target, Gina. You're new, you haven't developed that strong bond the New Direction members have. You're still trying to fit in there, you're still clueless. Plus, you're going to be one of the star dancers in Regionals. Hunter and Sebastian saw how good you were. They thought that taking you down first would be perfect."

Gina's heart bleeds some more. So this is it? This is what she means to Nick? Only some toy, some piece in his cruel game to destroy the New Directions? Nothing more?

"As for me, they chose me for a reason," Nick continues, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Sebastian's had a bad reputation with the New Directions. They will always see him as the bad guy, so using him won't work. Hunter wouldn't do it himself. They knew that I wanted to go to New York after this. They knew that the drug case and my suspension were huge blots in my application. They talked me into carrying out their revenge plan. They told me… they told me that there was a huge chance I wouldn't get accepted into New York, and the New Directions were the ones to blame."

He rubs his hands together, letting out a bitter laugh.

"At first, I was tempted. I have to be honest with you. We just lost Sectionals. I was angry. I had counted on winning Regionals, maybe even Nationals, to give a little boost on my application. Now, I probably can't even get in. Hunter and Sebastian knew that I had a strong reason to be angry at the New Directions, and they turned that anger around in me. A part of me wanted revenge. I felt like they had ruined my future. I was angry, I wasn't thinking, and I was stupid." He lets his accusations hang in the air. "So… I said yes."

"I can't believe this," Gina murmurs, her body trembling.

"At first, they told me that all I had to do was to seduce you and distract you. Then I should get you to break the team apart, influence you and turn them against you. That was all they said. It didn't sound too bad for me, so I agreed to do it."

"Didn't sound too bad?" Gina repeats, anger rising inside her.

"I told you, Gina, I was mad, blinded by rage. So I set the plan in motion, tried to be smooth, charming, make you like me. It surprised me that it didn't take too long. I… I didn't think it would go this well." He looks around, tortured by his guilt. "But after spending some time with you, Gina, I… you're… you're funny, and smart, and sarcastic, not like any of the other girls, I –"

"Don't you dare say you started to really like me," Gina threatens, her voice dangerous, "because none of this has ever been real."

"I truly like you, Gina!" Nick says exasperatedly. "You're a very likeable person, and I can't help it. I started to feel guilty for doing this to you, but I thought to myself that I could play along with this. After Regionals, whatever happens, I was planning on making this real." The bottom of his lips quiver. "But then Hunter and Sebastian were impatient, and Hunter was in one of his mood swings, and he proposed this… this other idea to frame you. They thought that wrecking only one of you is not enough; they want to destroy all of you. I said no, but they forced me to do it. They would probably kill me if I knew I told you everything, but I just can't, Gina."

His eyes are filled with pain, sadness, and guilt, all wrenched into one, as he looks up at her once more.

"I can't stare into your eyes and lie to you anymore."

Did you expect this confession from Nick? Did you believe that Nick was a nice guy, or did you agree with Ryder and had your suspicions from the beginning?

I didn't want to make Nick or the Warblers as bad guys, but when I thought of a plot the Warblers came to mind. Their reactions and feelings to their bitter disqualification were never really shown, so I thought something like this could happen, especially with people like Hunter and Sebastian on the lead. Also, I was watching "Michael" the other day and realized that Nick was one of the main Warblers who contributed to Sebastian's slushie prank on Blaine. So I thought that maybe he's had some kind of anger burning inside of him for the New Directions for some time. Anyways, I love Nick (well, I love Curt Mega actually – does anyone here watch Curt's Buffering series on youtube?), and I love the Warblers. I hope I am forgiven for making them the bad guys in this story!