A New Generation is Born

by A-LionGleek

It's the first official week of glee club sessions for the 13 newest members of the New Directions, and they are more than ready to get the show on the road. But with drama popping up at every turn, the beginning of their time in glee club will be far from easy. Can the 13 brand new gleeks handle it all and show that they have what it takes to be a worthy new generation of gleeks?

7. Fire and Ice

Hey everybody! Boy I hope you're all ready for yet more Glee-ful amazingness, because here I finally am with a new chapter! In this new chapter, Daniel becomes aware of some very unsettling news about Zack. And in the recess session of glee club that follows, McKinley High's current resident bad boy and bad girl do their part in fulfilling the week's assignment. Sound good? I certainly hope so!

A/N: Just to remind you all, I do not own Glee or any of the songs featured in this chapter (or story, period). Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic people!

Chapter 7:

Fire and Ice

"Sure is nice to have new friends now, isn't it?"

Calvin chuckled, and turned his head to direct a smile at Susan. "You betcha."

Hobbes snarled in agreement.

Susan chuckled back, shaking her dark hair side to side. "Glad to hear it."

Diana and Daniel chuckled as well. At that very moment, the four newly established friends were walking together side by side through the hall alongside Hobbes, who likewise seemed to be in a good mood.

Diana sighed in content, draping her arms over the shoulders of Susan and Daniel. "I must admit," she said when Susan and Daniel turned their heads, "it sure is nice to have new friends."

Calvin chuckled. "Hey," he said. "My pleasure."

Daniel chuckled, and then sighed in content. "I will admit," he said, "I'm quite glad indeed with this development." He looked over at Calvin and Susan. "It will be nice to finally get to know you two better after all this time." His smile widened. "And considering how good of a friend you are to Diana, I'm surprised I didn't become a friend of yours sooner Susan."

"Hey it's fine," said Susan. She nodded her head. "I don't mind the wait. And hey," she pointed at Diana. "Any friend of hers is a friend of mine. So you were somewhat a friend of mine already."

"Well said," said Calvin.

Daniel chuckled. "That's good to hear." He stared ahead. "Who knows, at this rate, I'm sure that all the other members of this club . . . besides Charlotte anyway . . . will become friends of ours in no time."

"That's certainly a comforting sentiment; that's for sure," Calvin admitted.

"Indeed," Daniel agreed. He rubbed his left hand through his hair. "Heck, perhaps Diana and I could go ahead and see if we could get Zack added into the picture today."

At the sound of this suggestion, Calvin and Susan noticeably faltered and came to a stop. Diana and Daniel managed to proceed a dozen steps ahead before they noticed. They turned around to face Calvin and Susan, concerned.

"Is there a problem?" Daniel asked.

Calvin and Susan looked each other in the eyes. Then they looked at Hobbes, who gave out a low snarl before nodding his head up and down. Calvin and Susan looked back at Daniel and Diana and opened their mouths to speak.

"You bet there's a problem."

Caught off guard by the unexpected voice, the four Juniors and the dog looked in the direction from which it had come from in time to see none other than Cody and Raj standing not too far behind Daniel and Diana. And from the looks on their faces, they did not look happy. The two Asian Americans came to a stop, shook their heads side to side in unison, and glared at Daniel.

"The basketball team captain," Cody said flatly. "He is your best friend correct?"

For a brief moment, Daniel was speechless from the unexpected question. "Um . . . yes."

"Well your best friend, the basketball captain, is an idiot and a nuisance," said Raj.

"Yeah; no shit," Cody grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah," said Diana. "What did he do?"

Cody and Raj raised their eyebrows, and then looked at each other. "Do you want to tell him?" Cody asked Raj. "Or should I?"

"Just get it over with," said Raj.

Cody nodded, and looked back at Daniel. "I don't know how that dumbass even got Bailey's number," the Korean American began. "And neither does Raj, or even Bailey herself. But tell him this." He leaned forward. "He needs to lose it."

Calvin and Susan raised their eyebrows. Diana and Daniel, likewise, looked confused as well. "Why?" they all asked.

"Because for the entirety of the past afternoon and evening," Raj began. "And at least three times this morning, he has been texting her nonstop with some less than helpful advice," he air quoted 'advice' as he said the word, "about how she could handle the current drama between her, Cody, and I."

"That's one way to put it," Cody hissed. "You want to know what he suggested? He suggested that she just date both of us at once and engage in a threesome! Seriously! A freaking threesome! Do you have any idea how disgusting that sounds?"

"Not to mention unhelpful," said Raj. "I mean seriously; was he not paying attention to our introductions yesterday? We're trying to properly resolve our drama with as little drama possible and to allow for one of us to be happy with Bailey while the other still retains some level of happiness. How is a 24/7 threesome between us supposed to help us achieve that?"

"And that's not the whole problem," Cody added." Honestly, there wouldn't be anywhere near as big of a problem with all this if he'd just had the sense to back off the 1st time Bailey turned down his asinine suggestion. But no, he just had to keep on insisting on it and asking her over and over again if she'd changed her mind."

"And not only that, but even if were to so much as consider the idea worth trying, he's being even more of an ass by insisting that we up and do it now, giving us zero time to think it over and properly weigh our options." Raj shook his head side to side. "Seriously dude, whatever it is about him that made him worthy of being your best friend," he looked back at Daniel. "I'm not seeing it."

"You think that's bad?"

The six gathered gleeks all looked in the direction this new voice had come from in time to see a very annoyed Dunlap standing nearby and seemingly helping to escort Naomi, who appeared to be in pain. The albino boy snarled, his red eyes agleam with anger. "That nasty little turd slathered oil all over the floor of the easternmost hallway. I arrived in time to catch him standing at the opposite end chuckling while Naomi was lying flat on her face at the entrance and groaning in pain." He gritted his teeth, damn near growling at the memory. "I swear, if it hadn't been for all the oil, I would have run right down the hall and beaten his disgusting face in."

"It's fine," Naomi managed to grumble. She winced, tightened her right hand's grip on her cane, and gave Dunlap a reassuring pat on his left shoulder with her left hand. "Honestly Dunlap, it's ok."

"No it's not," said Dunlap. He growled, and clenched his left fist. "Honestly Naomi, that kind of mean spirited and insensitive jerkassery? That should have come to a stop last year. And believe me, after what happened at that party last year, the last thing we need is for some other bully to subject you the torture all over again."

As this happened, the five juniors and the single senior gaped in stunned speechlessness at the two sophomores. Neither of them knew yet the full nature of what the albino boy and the ginger-haired blind girl were talking about regarding her past. They did, however, understand perfectly well that Naomi had been subjected to a mean-spirited prank that was especially cruel considering her condition and that Zack Skinner was the apparent guilty party responsible. But while Cody, Raj, Calvin, and Susan looked far more angry then shocked, and Hobbes even had an almost literally blood thirsty snarl on his face, Daniel and Diana were quite clearly stunned by what they were hearing.

"What the Devil?" Diana thought to herself. "Is this seriously Zach they're talking about?"

"This can't be true," Daniel thought to himself. "Zach? That's impossible. He'd never do something like this. Never!"

At that moment, the attention of the gathered gleeks was attracted by what sounded like Darren whispering encouragement and words of comfort to what sounded like a whimpering and blubbering Amber. They all turned their heads just in time to see that the source of the noise was exactly what it sounded like.

Darren was walking along towards Naomi and Dunlap from behind, a whimpering and quivering Amber walking alongside him with her head lying against his shoulder as she blubbered and sobbed and had her arms wrapped around him as he draped his right arm over her shoulders and whispered words to cheer her up and assure her that things would be alright. Even with his yellow contacts, it was clear from the look in his eyes that Darren truly felt bad about whatever it was that had gotten Amber into her current state and genuinely hoped to get her to feel better.

As the other gleeks already in the area gaped in shock at the scene before them, Darren noticed and came to a stop. Amber tensed up upon coming to a stop, and then lifted her head away from Darren, revealing her tear stained and frightened face. She quivered, her blonde hair dangling down the sides of her head like dead weight. "Huh . . . huh . . . high . . . guys," she managed to say.

For what seemed like an eternity, the other eight gleeks were speechless at just how badly Amber seemed to have been affected by whatever had gotten her into her current state. "What . . . the . . . Hell . . . happened . . . to . . . you?" Diana managed to sputter out, completely stunned and horrified, yet also concerned.

Darren's eyes narrowed, he growled, and he clenched his left fist. "What happened?" he snarled. He pointed at Daniel. "That basketball bastard who calls himself that boy's best friend happened! That's what!"

"Not you to!" Dunlap groaned.

"To?!" Darren snapped. "What do you mean to . . .?"

The redhead boy's yellow eyes narrowed. He had put two and two together . . . and gotten four. "All that oil on the floor of the easternmost hallway," he spat. "That was his doing?"

Dunlap and Naomi nodded their heads, the ginger haired girl wincing in pain immediately afterward. "All the evidence so far points that way," said Dunlap.

Darren growled. "Son of a bitch!" He face-palmed. "Man; I thought Amber and Naomi's troubles were over."

"What happened?" Susan asked.

Darren sighed, and looked over at the brunette girl. "I caught him getting all up in her business and acting as if he were going to go all sexual predator on her or something. And get this." He spread his hands out to his sides, a mixture of irritation and rage on his face. "After I got between them and told him to get the Hell away, he acted as if I were in the wrong and told me to lighten up and grow a sense of humor! Seriously! What kind of depraved mind must he have to treat that kind of behavior like a joke!? Honestly!"

The other eight gleeks had myriad expressions on their faces as they heard all this. Dunlap, Cody, and Raj looked angry. Naomi had a pained look of sympathy on her face. Daniel and Diana were still gaping uncomprehendingly at Darren and Amber in stunned disbelief. However, Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes looked downright fit to explode. They were that angry at the news.

Calvin snarled. "I should have guessed that he'd be willing to try his little game on some other unlucky girl after his failure yesterday," the autistic boy growled.

Daniel and Diana directed a confused look towards Calvin. "What's this about?" Daniel asked.

Calvin and Susan glared in the male and female leads' direction. "Your friend," Susan grumbled, air quoting 'friend', "had a bunch of those airheads that worship him gang up on me and try to help him get me added to his list of conquests." She pointed at Calvin. "To make a long story short, if Calvin here hadn't intervened when he did, I'd have officially been that bastard's very first rape victim."

"No bloody kidding," Calvin growled. Hobbes snarled in apparent agreement. Calvin looked back at the two main leads of the glee club. "Believe me, I was there long enough to get the full picture. And believe me, that so called best friend of yours? He would not, and I mean would not, take no for an answer. I had to beat him unconscious with a frying pan twice to get him off her tail. And don't get me started on all those wishy-washy sluts that were there trying to help him."

Diana had a look of disgust on her face. Clearly, she trusted Susan enough to be convinced that she and the others were telling the truth. Daniel, however, still had a wide-eyed look of speechless shock on his own face. "This can't be," he thought to himself in disbelief. "This has to be some kind of joke! It must be! Zack would never do anything like this!" Then he gulped, and nervously thought to himself as an unpleasant possibility reached his mind. "Would he?"

"Well I'll admit," said Cody, "after hearing all that, what he did to irritate Bailey yesterday and this morning certainly does look tame now."

"Not to mention what he did to us," Raj added.

The other gleeks all snapped their heads to look at the two Asian Americans. "What did he do to you?!" they all asked.

The duo seemed just about to reply when they all heard Bailey's voice say, "I'll tell you what he did."

The 10 gathered gleeks looked in the direction Bailey's voice had come from in time to see her walking down the hall from right behind the four sophomores, shaking her head side to side and rolling her eyes in annoyance. "They told me about this yesterday after we left the choir room following the afterschool glee club session."

The African American girl came to a stop in between the two Asian Americans and pointed at Bailey. "The reason he was wearing a different pair of glasses during the afterschool session then he was during the recess session? The recess pair got flushed down the toilet during lunch. Courtesy of our mutual friend Zack Skinner." She pointed at Raj. "And his change of outfit yesterday?"

She shook her head side to side, her eyes closed as if she were trying to avoid losing her temper. "Turns out, the little trog flooded his sneakers with soda while Raj was in the midst of his gym glass and applied a very generous coating of fresh red, white, and blue paint on the seat of his assigned desk in the class that followed."

The eight gleeks present who hadn't been aware of this matter gaped at the trio. They had no words to say that could possibly convey how surprised they were. Then Bailey directed a glare towards Daniel and pointed at him in an almost accusatory fashion. "You there, quarterback!" The other gleeks unconsciously directed their own gazes at Daniel as well. "What do you have to say for yourself to explain your so called best friend's behavior?"

For what seemed like an eternity, Daniel seemed to struggle to think of something to say. He eventually spread out his hands helplessly. "I . . . I don't know," he shakily admitted. He shook his head side to side. "Honestly . . . he's never acted like this before." He hung his head. "At least . . . I don't think he has."

"Some friend you are," Cody grumbled.

"Yeah," said Raj. "If you can't pay enough attention to your friend from before joining this club to determine whether or not he's truly acted this way before or not, how are we supposed to believe you'll be a good friend or fellow glee club member to the rest of us?"

"Here, here," Dunlap and Darren growled in unison, their red and yellow eyes narrowed dangerously and their teeth gritted into feral snarls. Naomi and Amber, meanwhile, merely gulped and nodded their heads up and down in apparent agreement.

"I have to agree," said Susan. She sighed, and shook her head side to side. "Look Diana, I know Daniel's an especially good friend of yours, and I may be your other best friend in this equation, but how can we know for certain that you guys can properly handle things in the glee club when you've also associated with a person like Zach who's now so clearly proven himself unworthy of our trust without you even realizing?"

"Yeah?" Calvin hissed. "How do we know we can trust you as our leaders, or even as friends, when you're also apparently close friends with a monster like him?"

Diana and Daniel looked each other in the eyes, now clearly looking both surprised at Zack's apparent feats of nasty behavior and nervous about their seemingly about to be quite shaky status with the rest of the glee club members. Daniel sighed, and looked back at the two deputy leads. "Look guys," he said. "I know it looks bad right now; but trust me, I'm sure there's a logical explanation behind this . . ."

"There's a world of difference between logical and acceptable," Susan interrupted. She folded her arms across her chest, her eyes now narrowed in a disapproving glare. "And regardless of how much of a nice guy he's made himself out to be towards you and Diana, his recent behavior against the rest of us is quite simply not acceptable."

"I'm not saying it is," said Daniel. He sighed. "Look, I'll talk with him later today and see if I can work things out." He looked around at every single one of the 9 gleeks, plus the German Shepherd, that were even now directing suspicion filled glares at him and Diana. "Look guys, I get it. I know how suspicious this looks and how badly his behavior reflects on me and Diana for being friends with him. But really guys, I'm not like all the other jocks you've encounter around here. I'm not a bully. I want us all to be friends. Honest I do." He placed his hand on Diana's right shoulder. "And even if I end up truly worthy of your distrust, then at least don't just brush Diana under the same heap. She's nothing like the cheer leaders or any of the other arrogant and stuck up bullying witches around here. She's nicer than that. She's kinder than that. She's better than that." He pointed at Susan. "She can vouch for that. She was a close friend of Diana's long before Diana ever even met Zach. If you can't trust my judgment on Diana, then at least trust hers."

The two deputy leads and the seven 'subordinate' gleeks, plus Hobbes, thought to themselves, and then nodded their heads up and down in unison with their eyes closed in a clear 'fair enough' gesture. "Sounds reasonable," said Calvin. Then his eyes narrowed once more, and he pointed at Daniel. "But even so, there's still one simple fact in all this that remains unchanged. Something still needs to be done about unsavory friend of yours."

"Indeed," Susan agreed. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in a silent snarl. "As much of a friend he's been to you and Diana, his recent actions against the rest of us are things that we simply cannot stand for, and I doubt Mr. Schuester would be all that pleased with him either if he were to find out."

"I understand."

Daniel nodded his head up and down, his eyes closed in agreement. He looked back at the two deputy leads. "Trust me, I'll get to the bottom of this and figure something out to get this matter resolved. I know him well enough that I should be able to somehow get things smoothed over before they get worse."

"You sure about that?"

All the other gleeks, the two leads included, promptly directed their gaze at Calvin, who lifted his hands to forestall further comment. "Don't get me wrong," said the autistic boy. "I'm not deliberately trying to be the Devil's advocate here, and I trust you to get this all taken care of." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But even so, if you truly knew him as well as you say, would you have been anywhere near as caught off guard by all we've just told you about his actions against us? Would you have been at all surprised by the mere idea of him being capable of deeds as vile and despicable as the ones he committed against us this morning? Not to mention yesterday?"

Daniel was about to comment the first response to come to mind, only to pause and think carefully. Truth be told, as much as he hated to think the worst of the boy he'd long since viewed as one of his best friends, his deputy male lead had a very real point.

The four-minute-long pause that ensued upon Daniel was all Calvin needed, and he nodded his head with his eyes closed in a clear 'I rest my case' fashion. "Think about it," he continued. He opened his eyes and stared straight at Daniel once more. "Do you really know him as well as you think you do?" He leaned forward. "Do you truly know him at all?"

Daniel thought to himself for about another minute; and then hung his head. "I don't know," he admitted. He looked up to face his deputy male lead once more. "I thought I did." He shook his head. "But now? Now I'm honestly not so sure anymore that I do."

. . . . .

Several hours or so later, Daniel still had this very real question on his mind. In fact, he was hardly even paying attention to what was going on around him as he sat quietly upon his seat in the choir room, staring blankly at empty air and seemingly quite withdrawn into his own little world.

"How could I have allowed something like this to happen without my even realizing it?" Daniel thought to himself. He slowly shook his head side to side in a very numb fashion. "I thought Zack was better than this. Hell, I thought I knew Zack better than this." He sighed. "What am I going to do?"

"Hey," he heard a voice from behind him say. "Is everything ok?"

Daniel turned his head. Zack was seated on the row directly behind the row where Daniel himself was seated alongside Diana, Calvin, and Susan. Daniel briefly paused, uncertain as to what to say. Admittedly, Zack certainly seemed genuinely concerned enough at the moment. But at the same time, Daniel now couldn't help but wonder just how much he could trust Zack after the news he'd received this morning of his best friend's less than pleasant behavior towards so many of the other gleeks; particularly since all the alleged victims were students that Daniel hoped very much to befriend.

"Hello? You in there?"

Daniel jolted back to reality and shook his head side to side. "I'm fine," he managed to respond. He turned his head to face ahead once more. "I've got a lot on my mind right now, that's all." He checked his clock, and his gray eyes narrowed irritably upon noticing that it was now 10 minutes past the time that the glee club's recess session was supposed to start. "And for that matter," he thought to himself, "why hasn't Mr. Schue gotten the session started already?"

Zack instinctively looked at his own watch, and mentally winced as he to realized that the session was apparently going to begin later than it was supposed to. "Man," he thought to himself. "What is taking her so long?"

The reason the recess session that day hadn't yet begun by that point? One glaringly empty seat in the row where Zack, Bailey, and the two Asian Americans were seated combined with the conspicuous absence of a certain cheerleader provided a more than sufficient answer. Charlotte, for some inexplicable reason, hadn't yet arrived to the choir room. Zack sighed, and shook his head side to side. Truth be told, this was now the second time that Charlotte would be arriving late for a glee club session. The very first time had been the previous day's afterschool session, and Zack was currently strongly hoping that the head cheerio wouldn't make a habit out of arriving late.

Right as Zack had this thought, he suddenly found himself feeling the very uncomfortable feeling that people sometimes got when they felt as if they were being watched. He surreptitiously looked to his left just in time to see that Bailey, Cody, and Raj were all directing a rather unnerving glare towards him. The trio noticed Zach's subtle glance towards them, and their eyes narrowed further. Then Cody proceeded to push his glasses upward with his left pointer finger to adjust him. However, with the glare on his face, the gesture seemed to be more of a silent physical means for the Korean American to tell Zack that he had his eye on him. Raj gritted his teeth in a silent snarl and lifted his right leg, positioning his right foot as if preparing to thrust it at Zack in a painful jabbing kick. Bailey, meanwhile, drew out her cellphone and positioned it so that Zack could have an undeniable full view of her rather meaningfully pointing at it with her right finger. From the look on her face, Zack had a bad feeling that she was indicating that she was at the ready to call the police on him.

Mentally shivering, Zach unconsciously turned his head to look behind him. Unfortunately, he soon learned the hard way that it would have been better for him to look at the area in front of him instead. In the row of seats behind him, were the four sophomores; and Dunlap and Darren were directing venomous glares of suspicion towards him while also holding having their arms positioned in front of a seemingly quite shaken up and nervous Naomi and Amber as if trying to protect them. Zach mentally gulped at the sight of this. If looks could kill, then the shared look of hatred and malice he could now see in Dunlap's crimson red eyes and Darren's amber yellow contact lenses would have been turned him to ashes a thousand times over.

Mentally shuddering, Zack looked back at the row in front of him, only for it to take all his willpower not to visibly jolt and scream at the sight of the murderous look that Calvin was now directing towards him. The blonde boy had his black eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed up as he glared at the African American boy. As Zack continued to hold Calvin's gaze, scarcely daring to breath, the autistic boy gritted his teeth, snarled, and draped his left arm over Susan's shoulders from behind. Right as he did this, he pointed his right finger at Zack in a clear 'watch out' gesture. The sound of a low growling from Calvin's right caused Zack to direct his attention in that direction just in time to see Hobbes looking towards him with a glare on his face that was almost an exact canine replica of the one on his master's face. Zack shuddered, closed his eyes, and shook his head side to side. At that moment, he was starting to get the feeling that it would somehow be very bad for his health if Charlotte didn't arrive soon and allow Mr. Schuester to be able to get the glee club session underway within the next three or four minutes. "Man," he thought to himself. "Charlotte better get here soon." He surreptitiously directed one more glance at each of the students that were glaring at him. "And for that matter," he thought to himself. "Just how badly did I piss these guys off?"

"Hello everyone!"

All the gleeks looked towards the door to the choir room just in time to see none other than Charlotte Thornton herself strolling in all casually as if there were nothing wrong. Hobbes, Mr. Schuester, Brad the piano man, and the members of the band, likewise looked in her direction, varying levels of annoyance on their own faces. Mr. Schuester, naturally, was the only one to masterfully hide any annoyance he may have felt with a mask of happiness at her arrival and being able to finally get the newest session of the glee club on the road. "Good to see you've arrived Charlotte," he said diplomatically.

"Took her long enough," Calvin grumbled under his breath. All the other gleeks, bar Zack, nodded their heads in agreement.

Surprisingly enough, the usually silent Brad was the one to speak his thoughts aloud. "You're late," he grunted frankly.

Upon hearing this, the band members flinched, clearly expecting Charlotte to fly off the handle. The gleeks, Zack and Hobbes included, likewise went on guard. Mr. Schuester, on the other hand, winced, teeth gritted and eyes closed as he shook his head side to side. "Good God Brad," he thought to himself. "Was that really necessary?"

Much to everyone's surprise, and somewhat relief, Charlotte merely took a deep breath, exhaled, and then let a small smile come on her face. "So I'm a bit fashionably late." She shrugged. "Oh well."

"There's a difference between being fashionably late, and being tardy."

Calvin folded his arms across his chest and glared at Charlotte. "And this here? This is more of an example of the latter."

The other gleeks all rolled their eyes and slumped over in irritation upon hearing Calvin's very blunt and undiplomatic summation. Susan even went so far as to facepalm. "Really Calvin?" she thought to herself. Hobbes, meanwhile, proceeded to slam his face down on the floor and unleash a withering groan that sounded very much like a canine equivalent of a sigh.

Charlotte directed her smile towards Calvin; only now, her smile looked very noticeably tight as if she were struggling to avoid losing her temper. "Let's agree, to disagree, shall we?" Without even bothering to wait for Calvin to respond, she walked over to her empty seat to Zack's right and sat down.

At that moment, Mr. Schuester decided that now was a good time to get the club's attention off Charlotte's glaring second late arrival in a row to a glee club session and get everybody in good spirits for the now quite overdue to begin session. "Alright everyone," said the teacher, clapping his hands together once to make extra sure that he got the attention of all the students present in the choir room for the glee club. "Now that we're all here, who'd like to come up to fulfill their part for the assignment this week?"

Nine of the gleeks who hadn't yet fulfilled their part in the assignment began thinking to themselves, trying to decide if they were ready to do so today. Zack, however, had an idea of his own. "I have a suggestion."

Everyone in the room looked at Zack, who smiled, pointed at Charlotte, and said, "I say we have Charlotte give us a peace offering for her late arrival by being the first to perform this session."

Charlotte was at first stunned by how Zack had effectively made the decision for her on whether she should go ahead and do her performance for the assignment. Then she thought to herself some more and found a smug smile coming onto her face. "I'll admit," she thought to herself. "This idea does sound rather appealing."

The other gleeks, meanwhile, were all directing suspicious glares towards Zach once more. Daniel sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Well this certainly isn't making them feel any better about him," he grumbled to himself under his breath. As little as he knew about the glee club members he didn't yet know nearly as well as Diana and Zack, he had come to realize quite quickly the previous day that they all seemed to share a mutual dislike towards Charlotte. And now, the fact that Zack had very blatantly done something that was just slightly in her favor was not earning him any points or trust amongst them. And if what he'd reportedly done this morning and the previous day to earn their current distrust towards him had in fact happened, trust was the one thing he really needed to work on building.

"Alright then," said Mr. Schuester. He beckoned towards Charlotte. "You heard Zack. I suppose you're up first today."

Charlotte smiled, got up from her seat, and made her way over to where a microphone stand was conveniently positioned.

"Alright everyone," she said as she picked up the microphone and turned to face the rest of the glee club members. "Hope you're ready, because my performance this week is gonna leave you seeing stars." She turned her head towards the band and winked at them. "Hit it boys."

Charlotte had just turned her head to face her audience, smile still on her face, when one of the three boys amongst the band said, "Hit what?"

Charlotte looked back at the band, her shock clearly showing on her face as she gaped at the three boys, particularly at the single blonde amongst them that worked as the guitarist. The guitarist, glare not once leaving his face, stated matter-of-factly, "What's the song you want us to perform?"

Charlotte continued gaping in stunned speechlessness at the three band members. "Buh . . . buh . . . but . . . why?"

The three band members' eyes narrowed even further. "Well how else are we supposed to know what to perform when one of the singers performs?" the bassist asked. He rolled his eyes. "It's not like we're mind readers or anything."

"You never asked them what song they were performing yesterday beforehand!" Charlotte yelled, gesturing with her hand at Cody, Bailey, and Raj.

"We did," said the bassist. "And they told us in advance yesterday once they'd decided upon their choice of songs."

"How?!" Charlotte asked. "I didn't see or hear that happening!"

She suddenly heard a slight vibrating noise coming from behind her, and she turned her head just in time to see her cell phone that she'd left on her seat brighten up with a text message notification. As she watched, with the rest of the gleeks, plus Mr. Schuester and Hobbes, instinctively turning their heads to look at the matter themselves, Zack leaned over to his right in time to get a good look at the content of the text message.

Upon sight of it, the black boy's eyes widened, and his teeth gritted in a silent wince. "Man," he said. "I never thought texting images had stuff this vulgar amongst the options.

"There's your answer."

Charlotte turned her head back towards the band just in time to see the drummer slip his cell phone back into his pants pocket. He glared back at her. "It's called texting." He nodded his head once with his eyes closed. "You should try it sometime."

Charlotte heard a mass storm of sniggering from behind her, and she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes at the sound of it. She could tell without even looking that the other students amongst the 'singers' as the band so accurately put it, were responsible. "With my luck," she thought to herself bitterly, "Daniel's sniggering alongside them." She sighed, shook her head side to side, and then looked towards the band, a seemingly world weary expression on her face. "Fine," she sighed. "If I must."

She walked over to the three band boys and whispered something into the ear of the guitarist. After about a minute, the guitarist nodded, beckoned for his two fellow band mates to come over, and then passed the information to them in the same fashion that Charlotte had provided it to him. Satisfied, the three band members took their positions and likewise prepared themselves and their instruments. Charlotte, meanwhile, walked back over to where she'd been positioned before the brief hold up.

"Sorry about that," she said, already back to her prior cheery and self-confident self. She lifted the microphone back up to her lips. "Now I'll have you seeing stars with my performance."

She snapped her fingers without turning her head. "Hit it boys."

The band members, more than prepared, promptly began playing the appropriate tune. It didn't take long at all for the 12 students still seated to recognize the song. The performance that ensued, with Charlotte singing and dancing, the band's performances with their instruments, and under the watchful eyes of a quite excited Zack, politely interested Brad and Mr. Schuester, and 11 quite bored other gleeks, went something like this:

This is more than the typical kinda thing
Felt the jones in my bones when you were touching me, uh oh
Didn't wanna take it slow
In a daze, going crazy, I can barely think
You're replaying in my brain, find it hard to sleep, uh oh
Waiting for my phone to blow
Uh oh yep
Now I'm here in a sticky situation
Got a little trouble, yep and now I'm pacing
Five minutes, ten minutes, now it's been an hour
Uh don't wanna think too hard, but I'm sour
Uh oh, I can't seem to let you go
See, I've been waiting all day
For you to call me baby
So let's get up, let's get on it
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to
So can we finish what we started
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right, cheerio
What's the time, such a crime
Not a single word, sipping on that Patrón
Just to calm my nerves, uh oh
Poppin' bottles by the phone
Oh yeah
Had me up, had me down, turn me inside out
That's enough, call me up
Baby I'm in doubt, oh oh
I don't even think you know, no no
See, I've been waiting all day
For you to call me baby
So let's get up, let's get on it
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to
So can we finish what we started
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right, cheerio
Anything you wanna do, I'll be on it too
Everything you said is like gold with the view
Business in the front, party in the back
Maybe I was wrong, was the outfit really wack?
This kinda thing doesn't happen usually
I'm on the opposite side of it, truthfully
I know you want it so come and get it, cheerio
See, I've been waiting all day
For you to call me baby
So let's get up, let's get on it
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight, ohhhohohhhoohhhh
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to
So can we finish what we started
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right, cheeri, cheerio
When you gonna call
Don't leave me brokenhearted
I've been waiting up
Let's finish what we started, oh oh
I can't seem to let you go
Come on, that's right, cheerio, uh!

Once her performance was finished, Charlotte needed only to wait for about 3 seconds, before she heard applause. She smiled happily, blue eyes bright and wide with an almost victorious gleam. Then she listened more carefully as the applause continued, and her eyes narrowed with her smile turning into a frown as she realized that the applause sounded very clearly as if there were only one person involved. She looked directly at the audience just in time to see that there was indeed only on person genuinely applauding for her complete with clapping and cheering; Zack.

The other 11 students, meanwhile, had seemingly found better things to do. Raj was looking to his left as he bounced a tennis ball back and forth off the nearby wall and into his hand. Bailey had a binder, pencil, and text book out as she seemingly worked on homework. Cody was cleaning his glasses. Amber appeared to be looking something up on her phone. Darren was tuning his guitar. Naomi had drawn out what looked like some sort of rag and was seemingly polishing her cane. Dunlap had an oil can in his hands that he was now applying to various joints and similar areas on his prosthetic legs. Diana was reading a book. Susan was in the midst of drawing something. Daniel had his eyes closed, and his head moving side to side as he listened to whatever was playing through the earbuds in his ears connected to his IPod. Calvin, however, was by far the worst offender out of the bunch; for he had somehow managed to fall asleep over the course of Charlotte's performance, and was now still fast asleep, snoring like a lion. And the real kicker? Hobbes was asleep as well.

Charlotte slumped, glare still on her face as she watched the very icy reception she was getting from almost her entire audience. "Seriously?" she thought to herself venomously. "What the Hell? All that star quality and I get treated with this?" She clenched her right fist and lifted it in the air. "Bastards! How dare they!?"

The cheerleader directed an almost accusing glare towards Mr. Schuester, who could only grimace and spread his hands out to his sides with a sheepish and apologetic look on his face. Charlotte narrowed her eyes, snorted, and then gave an arrogant toss of her hair over her right shoulder before she then stormed back to her seat with clenched fists, practically slamming herself into seated position on the chair. Upon reclaiming her seat, she sat resolutely with her arms folded across her chest and her face seemingly paralyzed in an angry glare, stewing away in her funk.

Mr. Schuester sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Animosity like this always tends to pop up in this club," he thought to himself. He sighed once more. "But that never means I have to like it." He cleared his throat. "Ok everyone, is there anyone else who'd like to perform today?"

Zack stood up from his seat. "Say no more Mr. Schue. I shall perform."

At the sound of this announcement, the other 11 glee club students who'd been amongst Charlotte's audience paused in their respective activities, raising their eyebrows in apparent interest. "Well this oughta be better than anything that tone-deaf witch has to offer," Calvin thought to himself. The others, Daniel and Diana included, were thinking similar thoughts . . . to an extent.

"Whether he's truly gone as bad as they claim or not," Daniel thought to himself. "I wouldn't say he's warranted us behaving for his performance in the same way we just did for Charlotte's performance just yet."

"Regardless of what he may or may not have done to earn the ire of the other students in this club," Diana thought to herself, "he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt when his musical performance ability is to be considered. He's still worthy of that much at least."

Zach picked up the microphone Charlotte had discarded. "Good morning people," he began good naturedly. "Hope you had fun not too long ago, because now I'm ready to give you some more."

At the sound of the first half of that phrase, all the other gleeks, Charlotte included, slumped their heads forward; all of them with the same 'are you for real?' look on their faces. Even Mr. Schuester was dumbfounded at Zach's apparent obliviousness to how he'd been the only one who appeared to have enjoyed Charlotte's performance in any capacity. "Were you not paying any attention at all?" he thought to himself.

"I now proudly present, my performance."

Zach turned his head to face the band members. "And yes, I do believe I did text you the song I planned to perform. Am I right?" The band nodded their heads. "Good." He snapped his fingers. "Let's get it on."

The guitarist was the first to react, and the resulting tune was one that Mr. Schuester recognized quite quickly, a nostalgic smile coming on his face. The other gleeks, likewise, recognized the tune. Even Charlotte could resist the small smile that formed on her face as she recognized the song as well. The performance that ensued went something like this:

I thought love was
Only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else
But not for me
Love was out to get to me
That's the way it seems
Disappointment haunted
All my dreams
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried
I thought love was
More or less a given thing
But the more I gave the less
I got, oh yeah
What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried
(Duel guitar solo from guitarist and Zach)
What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried
(Guitar solo)

Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
Now I'm a believer
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm a believer
I'm a believer
I'm a believer

All of two seconds passed the end of Zach's performance before the other 12 students burst into applause. Even the 9 gleek that currently hated and distrusted him couldn't help but guiltily clap and applaud. For as much as they didn't like him at that moment, not even Calvin could deny that Zach was at least a good singer for the club. Hobbes even went so far as to thump his tail on the ground at a polite speed while slowly nodding his head up and down with a 'well played' look on his face. Zach smiled, gave a bow to his audience, and then returned to his seat.

Mr. Schuester finished his clapping, nodded his head, and then said, "Well done Zack. I'm sure Puck would have been honored."

Zack gave the teacher a thumbs-up. "Thank you, Mr. Schue."

"You're welcome."

Mr. Schuester clapped his hands once to gather the attention of all his students, plus everyone else in the room. "Alright everyone, listen up. At this time, Zack's performance will be the last one for this session due to one sadly not entirely punctual arrival."

"That's one way to put it," Calvin muttered under his breath.

"However," the teacher continued. "We still have just enough time for me to tell you of one small matter that I want you all to take care of at some point this week."

All 13 of the gleeks promptly directed their attention towards Mr. Schuester. "What do you want us to do?" Daniel asked.

Mr. Schuester smiled. "I was hoping you would ask." He nodded his head. "If possible, I want you all to engage in a group performance during lunch today at the earliest, and at least before the end of this Friday at the very latest." He started to walk towards the white board in the room. "As I'm sure you're probably aware, there have been multiple times in past years in which I've had the members of this club put on live group performances somewhere in the school where large numbers of other students gather early on in the year to spread awareness, promote interest, and attract potential new members."

"But we've already got 13 members," said Calvin.

"He's right," said Susan. "And besides, we're all brand-new members."

"Exactly."

Mr. Schuester turned a full 180 to face towards the 13 students, his back facing the white board, and a black sharpie in his right hand. "As of this current school year, the New Directions, for the first time in history since their inception, have a membership that consists entirely of brand new members with no old timers whatsoever from previous years amongst the roster."

He turned around and started writing on the white board. "For any other glee club, this wouldn't be a problem. But here at McKinley, this is something that will very much allow for a small bit of tension."

Diana raised her eyebrow. "And why's that?"

"I shall explain."

Mr. Schuester paused in his writing to face his students once more. "You see, for some reason or other, the student body around here has a not entirely view point of view on how deserving students in this club are of their respect in direct correlation with how long they've been members of this club and whether they've been around to experience a Nationals victory.

"To name one example," the teacher continued, "In the beginning of the fall 2012 semester, as you are probably aware, the 7 preexisting members that were still around following the graduation of half the previous year's roster and the deportation of one other member were still treated with relatively high respect by the rest of the student body. However, . . ."

Mr. Schuester took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "The brand-new students that joined that year, starting with Marley Rose and Unique Adams, turned out to be what the less sympathetic students around here considered 'fair game' due to they're being brand new to the club and having not yet been members long enough to have proven themselves worthy of being treated with respect as champions."

Mr. Schuester turned to face the board once more and resumed his writing. "And with each batch of new students to join the ranks of the New Directions over the years, that same unpleasant inconvenience has continued without fail to pop up again and again and again."

"Let me guess," Darren grumbled. "This could very soon befall all of us."

"Exactly," Mr. Schuester confirmed. "Which is precisely why I want you all to undergo the following task as soon as possible."

He stepped aside to allow what he'd written on the white board to be fully visible to the 13 gleeks, simultaneously turning another 180 to face them once more. The word that was revealed to have been written on the white board in big all capital letters was 'RESPECT'.

"I want you," Mr. Schuester began, pointing his still uncapped sharpie at the 'RESPECT' written on the white board, "to go out there and nip any potential resurgence in this unpleasant mentality in the bud." He pointed the sharpie at the 13 students. "I want you guys to go out there and prove that you are worthy of the student body's respect around here. I want you all to show that you are not at all afraid or ashamed to be a member of this club. I want you to prove to the student body that the fact that you're all brand new to the business and have never yet won any Nationals Championships doesn't make you or this club any less deserving of decent proper respect than all the stars who came before you were."

For a moment, the 13 gleeks all thought to themselves, considering what their teacher had told them. Then, one by one, all but two of them started nodding their heads up and down in apparent acceptance and agreement. One of the two who didn't nod was Charlotte. At that moment, she was quite busy thinking about the potential effect on her reputation that could come from being seen actively singing and participating in a group number alongside the other students in the glee club as well as worrying about both her still unsuccessful work at winning Daniel over and the fact that he was making such a strong effort of his own to befriend the other gleeks from a lower student caste then the jocks and cheerleaders. The other gleek who wasn't yet nodding, meanwhile, was none other than Calvin; but for reasons far less sinister then Charlotte's.

"This early on?" Calvin asked, a clear hint of nervousness in his tone.

Susan and Hobbes both directed concerned looks at Calvin, and then at each other. They both knew Calvin well enough to understand how the autistic, as willing to broaden his horizons as he was by joining the glee club, he was still far from prepared to do something as blatantly attention grabbing as publicly taking part in a group number in front of God knew how many people.

"This early on," Mr. Schuester confirmed.

Susan and Hobbes directed their attention at Calvin, clearly still concerned. Nine of the other gleeks also directed concerned looks towards the autistic boy. Charlotte, of course, had a malicious smirk on her face, complete with a very wolf-like grin. However, as Daniel was very surprised to notice out of the corner of his eye, Zack had a similar smirk on his face directed towards Calvin as well. At this, Daniel gulped, an uneasy look on his face as he realized the very unfortunate implications that came with the sight. He was now starting to become considerably less confident then he'd already become about whether there truly was any possibility that his friend was in fact innocent of what all his hopeful new friends had accused him of that morning.

Calvin gulped, looked briefly at Susan out of the corner of his eyes, then at Hobbes, and then sighed and hung his head. "If you say so."

Susan placed her hand on Calvin's left shoulder, a reassuring look on her face that silently spoke loud enough for even Calvin to tell that everything would be alright. Most of the other gleeks, Diana included, directed warm smiles towards Calvin and Susan as the tanned skinned brunette did her work at comforting her autistic blonde friend. Even Hobbes was staring happily towards his master and close female companion. Daniel, however, had a noticeably nervous look on his face as he looked at Zack, who had a very unnerving look on his dark face that seemed in Daniel's mind to radiate with jealousy. Charlotte, meanwhile, simply rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out as if she were grossed out by the display.

At that moment, the bell rang. And in that moment, Daniel couldn't have been happier to get out of the choir room. As of now, he had quite a lot to think about, and he was now not entirely sure if he could trust himself to be in the same room as Zack.

And just like that, another chapter over! Boy I hope you enjoyed this chapter and found it worth the long wait! I also hope you enjoyed the song choices for this chapter as well. And in case any of you were wondering, the content of the 'vulgar' message that the drummer sent to Charlotte? A virtual image of a hand giving the finger. And while I'm at it, like I said two chapters ago, you have indeed not seen the last of what I like to call 'Dark Zack'. As of this chapter, you can definitely see just how much darker he's capable of being then I allowed him to be shown as in the main GWAF story. Chilling isn't it? Well anyway, on that note, again I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of TWO reviews for this chapter before I can post the next completed chapter). Furthermore, I also hope very much to get the next chapter done a heck of a lot quicker then this one (but don't hold your breaths on that one :/). Again, hope you enjoyed! ^_^

Songs Used:

Brokenhearted - Karmin - Performed by Charlotte Thornton

I'm a Believer - Smash Mouth - Performed by Zack Skinner

(P.S: I forgot to mention, the song in the previous chapter was I Gotta be Me by Sammy Davis Jr. as performed by Daniel Taymor with dancing accompaniment from Calvin Martenson; you may remember that Finn himself once sang this very song with dancing partnership from Mike in the season 2 episode, Born this Way).

Coming up Next: Charlotte has some words to say to Daniel about his efforts at befriending so many more students in the glee club that are in the same student popularity caste as Diana. Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester spends some time in the choir room alone before his next American History lesson to both think about how good the chances of his current generation of New Directioneers may yet be while also reminiscing about some of his older generations of students in his beloved glee club.