It was the next day after the auditions and the directors had made their decisions on who they wanted to play what role. It was early in the school day, even before school had started when Artie rolled down the hallway in his wheelchair with a piece of paper on his lap and his backpack hanging on the back of his wheelchair. He rolled his way down the hallway towards the choir room. Finally reaching the choir room he grabbed the piece of paper off his chest and leaned up as far as he could, and as he was struggling to reach the height Mr Schuester walked around the corner with a cup of coffee in his hand, noticing that he was struggling, Mr Schuester jogged towards Artie.
"Here," he said to him as he took the piece of paper off him, "Let me do that for you."
"Thanks, Mr Schue," Artie replied, "I was up early today so I thought that I would come in and post it before anybody came into school."
"Well," he responded as he pinned up the line up sheet, "I'm pretty sure that whoever you chose was the best decision." He glanced at the casting and winced, "Yikes," he winced, "I hope you're prepared."
"For what?" Artie asked him.
"For how you're gonna respond to Rachel," he told him as he pointed at the casting sheet, "You know she's not gonna take it well."
"I know," Artie nodded, "But the truth is, she wasn't good enough for the role." He shrugged and turned his wheelchair around to face the hallway, he placed his hands on the wheels and started to wheel himself down with Mr Schuester following him down. "Don't get me wrong," Artie told him, "Rachel has an amazing voice but she just wasn't suited for this role."
"And you think Santana was?" Mr Schuester asked him.
"She had the sexiness," Artie told him, "I know this is kinder awkward talking to you right now about that, but she did and Rachel was just too innocent for the role."
"I just hope that you're prepared for the backlash," Mr Schuester said to him as he placed his hand on his shoulder, "Because she is not gonna be happy about it." And with that Artie stopped his wheelchair as Mr Schuester carried on walking down the hallway. Realising that Artie had stopped, Mr Schuester turned around to look at Artie, who was looking sadly down at the ground. "Artie?" He asked him, "Are you okay?"
"Do you think I've made the correct decision?" Artie asked him.
"Do you think that you've made the correct decision?" Mr Schuester questioned him.
"I don't know," Artie shrugged, "I mean, Santana was amazing for the role, she and Sebastian just had so much chemistry and she had the sexiness."
"But," Mr Schuester added, "You're afraid of how Rachel's gonna take the news."
"Yeah," Artie sighed, "It's just, Rachel always gets the leads and she expects to get them."
"Well," Mr Schuester told him, "You can't always get what you want in life and you can't expect to get everything. Life doesn't work like that, and you know what they say, high school is a practise for the real world because in the real world you don't always get what you want."
"So," Artie asked him, "Should I just be honest with her?"
"She has to learn," Mr Schuester told him, "I teach you kids every day about life, this is just another life lesson for you all. You have to expect some bad news and knockbacks because if she wants to go onto Broadway then she will get some knockbacks, everybody does."
"Okay," Artie exhaled, "Okay, everything should be fine. Everything should be fine."
"I never said that it would be fine," Mr Schuester told him before turning on his heels and heading down the hallway.
Artie looked around nervously, "I'm a dead man," he swallowed nervously.
Not long later after Artie had put up the line up for the school musical did the students flow through the doors of the main entrance, chatting and joking with one another, passing on gossip or jokes that they'd heard on the bus ride there. Rachel walked down the hallway holding her books close to her chest as she walked towards the choir room. She had a smile on her face and she flicked her hair back expecting to see her name in the lead role of Satine. She made her way towards the choir room, arriving at the choir room she glanced to the side of the notice board beside it to see the line up, when scanning the paper on the wall her smile faded and her eyebrows knitted together to form a frown, a frown of confusion. She placed her finger on the piece of paper, touching the name Satine and tracing her finger across the dotted line to find that her name wasn't at the end of it.
"No," she cried, "No, no, no, no, no!"
Santana walked down the hallway with Puck who had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, hearing her cry, Santana's gaze turned from Puck to where Rachel was standing. She looked at Puck and nodded towards where Rachel was standing, they picked up their pace and made their way towards her.
"What's wrong, Rachel?" Puck asked her.
Rachel spun around, noticing that it was both Puck and Santana standing there, she took a step towards Santana and pointed a shaking finger in her face. "You," she said angrily, "You did this on purpose."
"Okay, one," Santana responded, "Don't you ever point in my face again," she smack her hand away from her, "And two, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Of course you don't," Rachel responded harshly, "You only auditioned for the role so I wouldn't get it because you've wanted to jeopardise my chances of going to Nyada and going on Broadway since the beginning because you're jealous of me."
"Okay, dwarf," Santana snapped at her, "I'm gonna say this one last time because the next time I say it, I'm gonna be pelting that face of yours. Not everything is about you. I did this because I wanted to be lead and yeah, it was fun because if I was the lead, which I'm guessing I am, it would mean for once that you wouldn't be the lead and somebody actually gave somebody else a chance for a change because not everything is about you."
"But I want to go to Nyada," Rachel whined, "I want to perform on Broadway like Barbra Streisand and I'm not gonna do that now because of you."
"Actually, it's not because of me," Santana told her as she took another step towards her and looked down at her patronisingly, "It's because of the directors, and because I'm just that much better than you." Rachel looked up at her pouting like a spoilt child and frowning up at her, "And of course I'm gonna get that role over you because I'm sexy, I've had sex and that's what the role is all about." She paused and smirked at her, "You just weren't good enough, dwarf, get over it."
Rachel stomped her foot on the ground like a spoilt child before stomping off down the hallway. Santana smiled to herself and spun around to face Puck.
"Well," she smiled, "Looks like I got myself the lead in the musical, are you proud of me?"
"Yeah," he smiled back, "I'm so proud of you. Quite surprised that she didn't get it though. Not that you're not good enough, but because nobody knows how to say no to her."
"Well," she shrugged, "I guess I was just so good that they couldn't say no to me."
"Who's playing the other lead?" He asked her curiously, "I hope it's Blaine."
"Why?" She asked him with furrowed eyebrows.
"Because I know him," he shrugged.
"And because he's gay," she added, "And Sebastian isn't and you're afraid that if we spend so much time with one another we'll fall in love with one another."
"Well, yeah," he shrugged awkwardly, "There is that."
"Puck, babe," she said as she took a step towards him, "You don't have to worry about me straying away. I love you. I'm with you and that's all that matters."
"Yeah," he smiled small, "I guess you're right. I just," he groaned, "That guy is just so incredibly good looking with his smile, I'm scared in case he charms you with that smile."
"Since when have you lost a girl to anybody?" She asked him with a smile on her face.
"Never," he replied.
"That's because you're Noah Puckerman," she informed him, "You're a lady's man and you know how to treat a girl. You know what they want and you give it to them. You're good at what you do and there's no way that I'm straying away."
"Good," he nodded, "Because that guy is so good looking."
She took a step back away from him and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Is this you worried about me straying away with him," she questioned him, "Or are you trying to tell me that you might stray away with him?"
"What?" He replied shaking his head, "No, I would never do that."
"Well," she responded, "The way that you were talking about him sounded like you had a thing for him too."
"Definitely not," he responded quickly whilst still shaking his head, "I'm a guy and I like girls."
"Good to know that," she replied.
"Just see who you'll be paired up with," he sighed. With that she spun around on her heels and faced the line up. She scanned the sheet of paper and noticed that Sebastian would be playing the lead role, she swallowed hard and closed her eyes letting out a disappointed sigh. "He's playing him," Puck said to her, "Isn't he?"
"Yeah," she sighed, "He is."
"Who am I playing?" He asked her.
She opened her eyes and glanced back up at the line up, she scanned the line up and noticed his name. "You're playing the Duke," she informed him before turning around and facing him, "Which is a good thing because we'll still be acting together and we'll be touching."
"Would've rather played Christian," Puck said to her, "But if I'm gonna have to play the Duke, then I'll play the Duke."
Santana smiled at him and her gaze wandered over his shoulder to see Sebastian standing not so far away from them, she swallowed awkwardly before turning her gaze back at Puck where she smiled at him again, she took his hand and they both walked off down the hallway towards their first class, they passed Sebastian as they walked down the hallway, she glanced to the side and gave him a quick look, he looked at her sadly before she turned away from him and continued down the hallway before disappearing around the corner. Exhaling sadly, Sebastian pushed himself away from the lockers and headed down the hallway towards the choir room. He took a look at the line up sheet and noticed what role he was going to place, a massive smile appeared on his face and he clenched his fist together, pulling it towards himself.
"Yes," he smiled. Blaine and Kurt walked down the hallway noticing him standing by the line up sheet, Blaine quickened up his pace and finally arrived next to him.
"Don't tell me," Blaine smiled, "I got the lead, didn't I?"
"I'm afraid not," he replied and faced him.
"Wait, what?" Kurt exclaimed, "Then who did?" Sebastian looked to the side and pointed his thumb at his chest with a small smile on his face. "You?" Kurt asked, "You got the lead role, why?"
"Santana got the lead," Blaine pointed out, "Didn't she?"
"Yeah," Sebastian nodded, "She did."
"Well, that's not fair," Kurt blurted out, "You had real chemistry, that's not fair, it wouldn't be acting."
"Yeah, but Kurt," Blaine pointed out, "In fairness to Sebastian, when you see real life couple's act together they have more chemistry together than people who have never met before and because of that, they're better actors."
"I still just don't it's fair," Kurt groaned as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Oh," Sebastian said, "You're just jealous because you didn't get the lead."
"Well," Kurt replied, "Yeah."
"It's okay, Kurt," he smiled, "You've still got college." He patted his shoulder, "Maybe next time, go for something more feminine." He patted his shoulder before heading off down the hallway. Both Kurt and Blaine turned at the same time both with their arms folded across their chests, their eyes following Sebastian as he walked off.
"He's up to something," Kurt told Blaine, "He's always up to something."
"He's doing it for her," Blaine replied, "He wouldn't be smiling like that if Rachel had gotten the part."
"That's true," he agreed, "He'd most probably beg the directors for you to get the role."
"That's true," Blaine laughed, "You know what I can't wait to see?"
"What's that?" Kurt replied.
"The Rachel Berry show in Glee Club," Blaine laughed, "Now that's a show I would pay to see."