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?

14. Forced Bonding Time

Finally! A new chapter! Sorry once again for the long wait. On the bright side though, at least I gave fair warning at the end of the previous chapter right? And of course, today the wait is finally over ^_^. And I'll admit, this is definitely one of my longer chapters. In this chapter, the New Directions boys and girls meet up to do fulfill their parts in their newly assigned secondary assignment, both on school grounds in the place of what would have been their after-school glee club session, and outside school at Daniel and Diana's homes. And furthermore, once his part for the 'on school grounds' segment of the bonding time is over, Zach returns home and receives his much deserved and awaited punishment for his crimes. Sound worth the wait? I certainly hope so!

A/N: Before we begin, let me just quickly remind you once more that I do not own Glee, or any of the songs performed in this chapter. All I own are my OCs. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the story!

Chapter 14:

Forced Bonding Time

A good couple hours later, Daniel sighed, and shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. "Good God Zach," he thought to himself. "Why did you have to make my life become so difficult this week?"

At that particular moment, the quarterback and male lead of the New Directions was hanging around by himself in the boy's locker room, and with his head leaning up against one of the lockers as he tried to keep himself calm and wrap his head around just how very difficult the task he was now trying to do on Mr. Schuester's mandatory request that should have been quite easy had now turned out to be.

At first, when all the gleeks had met up in front of the choir room door with Mr. Schuester at around the time the after-school glee club sessions had usually begun the past few days, things had seemed like they'd turn out ok enough. They'd all managed to meet up with Mr. Schuester, be divided into their respective groups, and be sent on their way to find a place to gather and do their group number without a hitch. Admittedly though, the smug smirk that had been on the other students' faces when Mr. Schuester had informed Zach of his parents making it clear that they wanted him to come straight back home after school without making any stops along the way, and that this news made him officially exempted from joining the other boys at wherever location Daniel picked for them to continue bonding after departure from school, had most certainly not escaped his attention. The location that the boys had chosen to do their work for the secondary assignment, meanwhile turned out to be the football field.

On the way to the football field, there had been a small moment of somewhat minor tension when the group had reached the boy's locker room. Not too long after entering, the six neurotypical boys had been promptly made aware of Calvin's higher sensitivity to certain sensory stimuli when the autistic boy had paused, panting and waving his hand in the air in front of his face upon getting a whiff of the smell of the air within the room. To be fair, even the two athletes amongst the group could agree that there was a definitely a quite strong smell within the locker room.

Zach, however, had chosen to take advantage of this newfound opportunity to make a dig at Calvin. And as Daniel could remember quite clearly now, Zach had gone so far as to scoff and then say, "Oh come on! No need to act so melodramatic!" He had then made a point to take a deep whiff, and then exhale in a surprisingly loud sigh of contentment. "Honestly pal, it's all nice and rosy in here!"

Daniel had still had his eyes closed, teeth gritted, and the rest of his face likewise tensed into a wince when Calvin had promptly responded. "Rosy my ass!" The autistic boy had then gestured off to a random area to the side and continued with, "It smells like a herd of elephants went to the bathroom in here!"

Dunlap and Darren had seemingly winced upon hearing that description. "Did not need that image," Darren had gone so far as to say seconds after that.

At that moment, Zach had been about to say another barbed response before Daniel had pointedly snarled, "Guys." That one word, and the tone with which Daniel had spoken it had been enough to get Calvin and Zach calmed down and to take their minds off their feud long enough for Daniel to calmly suggest for Calvin to use his shirt as a makeshift mask to filter the scent. And from there, the seven gleek boys had made it through the locker room and out onto the football field with no further hassle.

However, it wasn't until the seven boys and Hobbes had all gathered around in the football field that things had finally started getting a little too overwhelming for Daniel. What had happened to cause Daniel to come to this point? One word; balls. Daniel, Calvin, Dunlap, Darren, Cody, and Raj (plus, of course, Hobbes) had promptly grouped up together and were more than willing and prepared to get to work on bonding with each other and deciding upon a song to perform for a group number together.

Zach, however, had turned out to have other ideas; and had made it seem quite clear that he still didn't exactly appear to be taking the matters seriously. To be more specific, immediately after noticing that Zach hadn't joined up with them, the rest of the boys had looked around in time to catch him giggling around and juggling footballs, still standing in the exact spot he'd been in when the rest of them had moved over to gather around.

Daniel, irritated yet again by how needlessly difficult Zach was now making this whole ordeal, sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose, exhaling heavily. "Good God, man," he grumbled irritably to himself in his mind.

Unfortunately, Daniel's irritated pause upon seeing Zach's current antics soon proved to be a mistake. For in pausing in that way, he'd unwittingly ended up allowing just enough time to pass for Calvin to beat him to the punch in calling Zach out on his behavior. Daniel had just opened his eyes after hearing Calvin yell at Zach in time to see Zach grin in smug triumph from clearly having expected for Calvin to be the one to respond in irritation to his current antics. And before long, despite Daniel's best efforts, Zach, Calvin, and the other four 'subordinate' gleek boys had promptly started squabbling and arguing heatedly. And while Daniel had eventually managed to get them all settled down and cease the argument, the next few comments from Zach and Calvin had almost immediately gotten them all squabbling again! At which point, Daniel had been forced to yell "ENOUGH!" to get them to stop. And when this second argument had finally been quite effectively stopped, Daniel had proceeded to groan in irritation, lift his eyes to Heaven, and then promptly storm back off into the boy's room, telling them that he'd now been quite in need of a break from all the stress they were now putting him through, but not without making a very strongly implied threat on how angry he'd be if he were to catch them squabbling all over again when he came back.

Thus, now Daniel was currently still in the locker room, ¾ away from finally calming back down, but also nowhere close to looking forward to going back out to the football field and deal with is six fellow boy gleeks all over again. He sighed, face-palmed, and then shook his head side to side. He exhaled heavily in irritation. "Good Godfrey," he grumbled under his breath. "How the heck does Mr. Schue do it? Hell, how the Devil was Finn Hudson able to stand this kind of travesty?"

He sighed, lifted his head to face the locker room ceiling, and then sighed yet again. He looked down towards the pants pocket where his cell phone was located. After about a minute of hesitant inner debate, he drew his phone out of his pocket and proceeded to unlock it and access his contacts. "That's it," he thought to himself, clearly still quite peeved at the whole mess he was now going through. "I could so use Mr. Schue's help right now."

Having thus made his decision, Daniel proceeded to access Mr. Schuester's phone number (which the teacher had been nice enough to provide to all thirteen of the gleeks in their brief meeting from directly before splitting off in their respective groups to take part in the newly assigned secondary assignment), and initiate a call. After about 30 seconds, Mr. Schuester answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Mr. Schue," said Daniel. "It's me, Daniel Taymor."

"Good to know," said the teacher. "I'm guessing, however, that the reason you're calling me isn't strictly to say a friendly hello."

Daniel sighed. "Sadly, yes."

"What's the problem?" Mr. Schuester asked, his voice tone clearly indicating that he was genuinely concerned.

"It's Zach and the rest of the boys," Daniel responded bitterly. He sighed. "Look, I wasn't expecting this to be easy. But honestly Mr. Schue, with all of Zach's current antics and how easily he, Calvin, and the rest of the guys are getting on each other's nerves and squabbling with Zach and each other, I'm really can't seem to have any idea on how to keep them all civil and under control sufficiently enough to properly get things to work out for us the way you want."

The gray eyed Daniel Radcliffe lookalike pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, and sighed irritably. "Honestly Mr. Schue, it's only the exact middle of my very first full week as both a member, and the male lead, of New Directions, and all this drama and travesty is already driving me up the wall."

"I can imagine."

"Why am I not surprised?" Daniel asked himself rhetorically. He sighed once more. "Look, the point is, I could really use your help right now."

"Well I can try to at least give you some tips and advice here on the phone right now," said Mr. Schuester. "But I'd best remind you that I can't constantly intervene to help you every time things start heading south for you in your efforts at properly working as a leader of this club."

"I know that," Daniel grumbled. "And I'm saying that that's what I want you to do, I'm just asking for a little help for at least this one little time. And this is only the first time I've asked you for this kind of assistance in glee club matters!"

"I know Daniel, I know," Mr. Schuester responded in a firm, yet still patient and kind, tone. "I'm just making sure you are fully aware of and understand this matter."

Daniel sighed in a half irritated and half exhausted tone.

"But never mind that for now," said Mr. Schuester. "Look, here's the best I can give you for now. Here's what I'm now thinking from what you've told me, and correct me if I'm wrong. Right now, what I'm gathering from the information you've given me is that the rest of the boys don't yet fully seem to fully be at the level where they're ready and willing to 100% answer to you and act as if you're their leader."

"Well," said Daniel. "You're not entirely wrong there."

"I thought so," said the teacher. "And right now, I think that's the crux of the current matter."

Daniel raised his eyebrow. "Do clarify."

"You know how you're currently, to a slight extent, still viewing me as being the 100% overall leader of the New Directions as a whole? And in doing so, you've possibly not quite fully accepted and come to terms with the fact that you're technically also essentially a leader of this club?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes, and drew breath as if about to respond.

"I said to a slight extent Daniel," said Mr. Schuester, clearly aware of the somewhat insulting undertones in his previous comment. "And possibly."

Daniel thought to himself, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Fair enough," he admitted. "Continue."

"Well here's the thing," Mr. Schuester continued. "I think that, like you, but to a far bigger extent, the rest of the guys, and likely all the girls for that matter, are still too reliant on having me play the leader role. And this fact, combined with how you, and potentially Diana, are possibly just as reliant on that element to a smaller degree than they are, is what's making it so difficult for them to properly act as if you're their leaders and for you to confidently and properly act as if you truly are in fact leaders of this club in your own right as the male and female lead."

Daniel thought to himself, and then sighed, and hung his head. "Sadly enough," he admitted, "that actually does make sense."

"And I'm sorry that it does," said Mr. Schuester. "But don't feel too bad; you're not the first lead and captain of this club to have to deal with this kind of situation. This very club itself, when under the name of New Directions never even truly had an established duo of captains serving as male and female lead until the time of yearbook pictures for the winter portion of the 2009-2010 school year. And belief me, Finn and Rachel had just as much trouble at the time of getting everyone else in the club to start viewing them just as much leaders and equal to being answered to alongside me as you, and potentially Diana, are; not to mention so did Ryder and Marley and all the other captain lead duos to come between them and you."

"It still feels awful to go through," said Daniel.

"I know," said Mr. Schuester. "But nonetheless, I do know the best course of action for you to take to get this unpleasant matter over with; though I do have a bad feeling you probably won't like it."

"Thanks for the warning," said Daniel.

"In that case," said Mr. Schuester. Daniel heard the teacher take a deep breath, and then exhale. "I know you want all your fellow members of this club; except Charlotte that is; to be your friend, and that you're trying your best to be as relatively nice to them as you can virtually all the time in which you're interacting with them. But sometimes, like in this situation, you have to act a little rough around them."

Daniel winced, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. Just as Mr. Schuester had suspected would be the case, Daniel did not like the sound of that suggestion. "Do I really have to?" he asked. "You said it best, I really don't like having to act mean towards my friends, or any people that I want to be friends with for that matter."

"I know it's not the most savory of ideas for you," said Mr. Schuester. "But the sad truth is, with the way you're currently attempting to do your work as a leader for this club, it seems to much as if you're still not 100% confident enough about the fact that you even truly are a leader, let alone in your skills as one. And as long as you continue to give off that kind of vibe, the others will take notice of it and continue to act as if you're not their leader and that they're free to do as they see fit unless I intervene and get them to act under my authority instead of yours.

"To put it simply," the teacher continued. "If you want to be able to adequately serve as a leader of this club like Finn Hudson and all your other predecessors, you need to be able to take charge. You need to be able to be decisive, to take the initiative, and genuinely prove that you're capable of being a leader as well as willing and unafraid to do what absolutely needs to be done for the good of this entire club and all its individual members. Because unless you can prove to them that you yourself believe that you're a leader, then they won't believe you're a leader to them either."

Daniel thought to himself, sighed, and nodded his head somberly. "I suppose that's true," he admitted grudgingly.

"Thank you," said Mr. Schuester. "And like I said, I know that what I'm suggesting is a little out of your comfort zone considering just who I'm suggesting for you to take this approach towards. But think of it this way, it's not like you're going to be beating them up, yelling at them nonstop, treating them like they're beneath you and inferior to you, doing a 'your way, or the highway' approach 24/7 with them, or similarly acting like an all-out asshole, right?"

Daniel shuddered. "Good God, no."

"Alright see there?" said Mr. Schuester. "That behavior I just talked about that you shot down? That level of behavior is definitely mean. Compare those behaviors you just shot down, and any similar behavior for that matter, with what I'm suggesting for you to do. Is what I'm suggesting for you to do truly all that mean compared to how much worse you could be treating them?"

Daniel thought to himself some more, and then let a small smile come to his face. Now that he thought about it, what Mr. Schuester was suggesting for him now didn't really seem all that bad an idea, or really all that truly mean compared to how mean he could have been getting asked to treat the other gleeks instead. "No," he said. "I suppose not."

"Perfect," said Mr. Schuester. "See? I'm not asking you to truly be all that mean. All you need to do is to just be firm enough to prove that you're confident and believing enough in yourself and your skill as a leader, yet still nice enough for the others to treat you like a leader and still be willing to consider you as a friend at the same time. Nothing too extreme or mean spirited, right?"

"Right." Daniel nodded.

"But know this," said Mr. Schuester. "If there are ever any times where you end up outright yelling and berating anyone in this club, please do make sure that it's only at times in which you truly believe that you absolutely must. Save it for when there's something or someone involved that's truly, genuinely, making you angry enough to just flat out need to yell. Again, don't yell all the time; just the times when you truly believe that the situation calls for it."

"Noted," said Daniel. "Thanks Mr. Schue. I'll see what I can do. But I can't promise you anything other than that."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said the teacher. "Good luck Daniel."

"Thank you," said Daniel. "Bye."

"Goodbye."

Daniel hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Keep it together," he thought to himself. "I can do this." He opened his eyes and gazed confidently back in the direction of the exit leading onto the football field. "Here goes." With his head held high, gray eyes agleam with confident determination, and his mind set, he began to resolutely march his way back to the football field.

Unfortunately, the minute he was halfway through the small tunnel that led from the locker room to the football field, he jerked to a stop upon hearing what sounded like the absolute last thing he'd wanted to hear. He promptly rushed towards the football field. "No, no, no," he thought to himself.

Sadly, the source of the noise turned out to be indeed what Daniel had feared it would be. The rest of the boys were gathered in the very center of the football field; and just as Daniel had come to fear, Calvin and Zach were tensed up and facing each other, clearly prepared to fight, while Cody, Raj, and the two sophomores were positioned in a circle around them egging the two combatants to get on with their seemingly quite imminent combat.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" shouted the four onlookers while Calvin snarled and Zach kept a cocky grin on his face. Even Hobbes was in on the action, barking again and again in clear encouragement of his master.

Daniel hurriedly ran over to where the drama was unfolding. "Guys!" he yelled. "What are you doing?! Stop this!"

Sadly, the other boys ignored him. For another few minutes, Daniel tried again and again to get their attention and put a stop to the rapidly escalating drama. It soon became quite clear, however, that his current efforts were not going to get him anywhere.

Then Daniel remembered the advice Mr. Schuester had given him; particularly about moments in which he believed he absolutely had to yell. "If this doesn't count as a moment where yelling is truly the only answer," he thought to himself, "I don't know what will." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Here goes nothing."

While Calvin and Zach continued circling around in preparation for their supposed upcoming fight, and the other four boys continued egging them on, Daniel took another deep breath, and crouched downward with bent knees, clenched fists, and his head facing the ground. Then he abruptly straightened back up and thrusted his head and upper body towards the other six boys. "ENOUGH!"

The other six boys, plus Hobbes, instantaneously snapped their heads to face Daniel, all sharing the exact same shocked expression on their faces from hearing Daniel's abrupt, and surprisingly loud and angry sounding, shout. This same shock only strengthened when they got an eyeful of Daniel tensed up, gray eyes blazing with rage, and his teeth gritted nightmarishly as he emitted a series of angry panting snarls. One look at the currently quite enraged looking Daniel, combined with the sound of how he'd damn near roared at them just now, was all the other boys needed to know that the current male lead of the New Directions was not happy. Not. Happy. At all. Even Hobbes very glaringly kept silent.

Daniel snarled one last time, took a deep breath, and then practically spat it right back out. "That's it," he hissed. He looked directly at his six peers; particularly at Zach. "I am sick and tired of dealing with your crap!"

Silence hung in the air as the still quite angry Daniel managed to miraculously allow his six peers a chance to let the news sink in. Zach gulped, turned his head to face Calvin, and then nervously said, "Yeah, you heard him, he's sick and tired of dealing with your crap right now." Calvin's eyes narrowed, and he turned his head to face Zach, angry retort seconds away from leaving his mouth.

This time, however, Daniel was fast enough to beat the autistic boy to it. He took a step towards Zach. "I was talking to you!" At the exact moment he said this, Daniel very forcefully jabbed his right pointer finger against Zach's chest to emphasize his words and leave no room for doubt.

Zach briefly stumbled backwards, now looking more shocked and ever. He got his voice back seconds later. "What?" he said. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me Zackary!" Daniel howled. "You know damn well what I'm talking about!"

He gestured at their five peers. "For the last two days, plus most of today so far, you've been doing nothing but antagonizing and going out of your way to make life miserable for everyone in this club! Me and Diana included!"

He lifted his hands in the air, gray eyes now practically glowing as he reached another point that got him even angrier. "And look at this! Do you have any sense of decency at all?! You're already in enough trouble as it is for all the stuff you did the past two days!" He adjusted his attention to focus on all six of his peers, plus Hobbes, as well as Zach. "Not to mention, I specifically told you guys to stay civil while I was gone! And what did I just come back to?!"

The other five boys apart from Daniel and Zach promptly gulped, and hung their heads, suitably chastened. Even Hobbes bowed his head in apparent shame. Daniel snorted, directed his full focus back on Zach, and continued, "Honestly Zach, what is wrong with you!? Can you not spend any time around us without needlessly causing trouble amongst us? And after how much you've jeopardized this club's existence, Mr. Schuester's job security, and all of our lives, futures, and dreams no less?!"

Zach pointed his finger towards Calvin, now acting entirely on heat of the moment snap decisions in a desperate effort to continue trying to shift blame away from him and make himself feel better. "He started it this time!"

"Did not!" Calvin shouted.

"You did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"ENOUGH!"

Calvin and Zach ceased their argument and redirected their attention back to Daniel, who now looked even angrier than before. The black haired and gray eyed boy snarled, shook his head side to side, and then snorted. "Look Zach," he spat. "I don't care who started it this time! But regardless of who started this bit of needless tension, it ends now! And not just this little debacle either! I want all; and I mean all; of your crazy, stupid-ass, and needlessly mean spirited shenanigans to stop! TODAY! HERE! AND NOW!"

After another few seconds of silence, with Hobbes and the five bystanders amongst the boys silently watching, Zach finally managed to respond. "Daniel," he said. "Please. Let me explain. . ."

"I'm serious!" Daniel sighed. "All your shenanigans. I want them ceased and desisted today! Right here! Right now! That is a direct order!"

Zach's eyes narrowed upon hearing that last phrase. "And who are you to give me orders? You're not Mr. Schue!"

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!"

Zach reared back, stunned once again at how his trump card comment had failed to effect Daniel the way he'd hoped it would. Before he could say anything else, Daniel continued. "WELL I KNOW I'M NOT MR. SCHUESTER! AND I KNOW THAT I SURE AS HELL AIN'T THE DIRECTOR OF THIS CLUB! BUT THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE FACT IS THAT I'M STILL AT LEAST THE MALE LEAD, AND ONE OF TWO CAPTAINS OF THIS CLUB! AND IF MR. SCHUESTER ISN'T AROUND TO TAKE CHARGE, DIANA AND I ARE IN CHARGE!"

The five onlookers amongst the boys looked each other in the eyes. Daniel had a point. And now that they thought about it, as much as Daniel and Diana had never yet before really shown any signs of confidence in their having any authority in the glee club, they themselves had likewise never yet fully taken their captains' positions as leaders seriously either. But now, from the way Daniel was now behaving, it was quite clear that he was taking his position, and the authority that came with it, very seriously indeed. And he was not happy with how chaotic things had gotten in the time it had taken for him to step up to the plate and properly take charge.

Daniel jabbed his finger towards Zach once more. "AND CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT YOU WERE EVEN NOW CONTINUING TO DISREGARD MR. SCHUESTER'S OWN AUTHORITY BY CONTINUING TO DRUM UP YET MORE CHAOS RIGHT HERE BEHIND HIS BACK, THEN CLEARLY IT'S UP TO ME TO PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE AND STOP YOU FROM RUINING EVERYTHING!"

"I'm just trying to look for out you man!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Daniel roared. "YOU'RE JUST BEING SELFISH ZACKARY! IF YOU CARED AT ALL ABOUT ME AND HOW MUCH A FRIEND I AM TO YOU, YOU'D ACCEPT THE FACT THAT I WANT TO HAVE MORE THAN JUST YOU AND DIANA TO CALL FRIENDS! IF YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT ME AS A FRIEND, IT WOULDN'T MATTER WHAT SOCIAL STANDING OR SIMILAR ATTRIBUTES MY CHOICES OF FRIENDS COME WITH; NOT AS LONG AS I WAS HAPPY WITH HAVING THEM AS FRIENDS! IF YOU REALLY CARED ABOUT ME AS A FRIEND, YOU'D SURE AS HELL WOULDN'T BE GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO RUIN MY LIFE! AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HOW YOU'RE ALSO DOING EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO ANTAGONIZE EVERYONE IN THIS CLUB THAT I WANT TO BEFRIEND, SABOTAGE DIANA AND MY CREDIBILITY AS FRIENDS AND LEADERS, DESTROY ALL OUR FUTURES, KILL DIANA'S DREAMS, AND DISRESPECT MR. SCHUESTER AND FORCE HIM OUT OF A JOB!"

"That's not what I want!" Zach yelled.

"THEN ACT LIKE IT'S NOT WHAT YOU WANT! GROW UP! BEHAVE! OWN UP TO YOUR DAMN MISTAKES! LOSE THE ATTITUDE! SHOW SOME RESPECT! ACT LIKE YOU REMOTELY GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT DIANA AND I WANT! STOP ACTING LIKE A PREJUDICED ASSHOLE TOWARDS ALL MY OTHER FRIENDS! AND START ACTING THE WAY A REAL FRIEND WOULD BEHAVE! BECAUSE GUESS WHAT ZACKARY! AFTER ALL YOU'VE DONE OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, I'M ACTUALLY GLAD THAT CALVIN STOPPED ME FROM SELECTING YOU AS MY DEPUTY!"

Zach felt as if he'd been utterly bulldozed in the gut upon hearing this, and the five bystander gleeks, plus Hobbes, merely gaped in stunned silence at Daniel. Daniel, however, wasn't finished. "YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! YOU HEARD ME! I'M GLAD NOW THAT CALVIN VOLUNTEERED HIMSELF TO BE MY DEPUTY BEFORE I COULD OFFICIALLY APPOINT YOU AS MY DEPUTY LIKE I'D INITIALLY PLANNED! BECAUSE AFTER ALL YOU'VE DONE OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS SINCE, IT ONLY GOES TO SHOW HOW MUCH WORSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I HAD SUCCESSFULLY SELECTED YOU AS MY DEPUTY! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT ALL YOUR BEHAVIOR LATELY TOWARDS EVERYONE IN THIS CLUB APART FROM ME, DIANA, AND WHORELETTE ONLY FURTHER CONFIRMS HOW HORRIBLE OF A CHOICE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN AS MY SECOND IN COMMAND IN THIS CLUB! WHY? BECAUSE CLEARLY, ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOUR OWN DAMN HAPPINESS AND GETTING WHATEVER YOU, NOT ANYONE ELSE, YOU WANT! WHILE ALSO SUBSEQUENTLY NOT GIVING TWO SHITS ABOUT THE GOOD OF THIS CLUB, THE HAPPINESS OF YOUR TWO SUPPOSED BEST FRIENDS, OR ALL THE LIVES, FUTURES, AND DREAMS YOU'RE PULLING ALL THE STOPS TO RUIN, SABOTAGE, AND NULLIFY THE CHANCES OF EVER COMING TRUE!"

Daniel grabbed Zach by both lapels of his shirt, yanked the other boy forwards, and thrusted his head directly into Zach's face. "BECAUSE THAT'S ALL YOU'VE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS, AND THIS MORNING! AND IT NEEDS TO STOP!" He snarled, his teeth gritted and showing, and his gray eyes erupting with hate and rage. "AS OF NOW," he snarled, "I AM DONE WITH MESSING AROUND AND LETTING YOU GET AWAY WITH ALL THIS TRAVESTY! I AM SICK OF ALL THIS NEEDLESS DRAMA AND ADDITIONAL DIFFICULTY THAT YOU'RE SO HELLBENT ON FORCING UPON ME AND THIS CLUB! AND I AM TIRED OF LETTING DIANA AND I SEEM LIKE INCOMPETENT WORTHLESS LEADERS AND HORRIBLE FRIENDS BECAUSE OF YOUR BRAINLESS AND HIGH HANDED REFUSAL TO CARE ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR OWN GODDAMN SELF!"

He moved his face even closer to Zach's. "NOW EITHER GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, GROW A DAMN HEART, AND TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!" He thrusted his head even further forward. "OR GET OUT OF MY CLUB, OUT OF MY SIGHT, AND OUT OF MY LIFE!"

Time seemed to freeze. The five bystanders amongst the group of boys, plus Hobbes, could only stand where they were and watch in varying degrees of shock, smug satisfaction, or even full blown pride as Daniel continued to snarl and gaze damn near hatefully at the very much stunned speechless and utterly slammed Zach. In fact, Zach was even now rapidly thinking to himself in shock and horror over all that Daniel had just said. At first, he tried desperately to convince himself that maybe Daniel didn't truly mean what he was saying as well as to somehow mentally shift blame away from himself yet again. But then, after what seemed like an eternity, he took one good long solid look into Daniel's gray eyes, saw the blazing hatred and rage within them, and gulped as he finally realized that Daniel was being 100% serious in both his behavior, and his words. Then Zach found himself on the verge of tears as he logically switched from that matter to the point of finally admitting in his mind the truth that Daniel had now so brutally forced him to admit to despite how he himself should have done exactly that a long time ago; that he truly did have only himself to blame for all the bad things that were now happening to him, that he had indeed in fact been causing far more damage and harm than he had thought he was, and had succeeded in merely two full days in proving his father's fears from the beginning of the week 100% correct. With a final gulp, and a closing of his eyes, Zach hung his head, now no longer trusting himself to look Daniel, or any of the other boys, in the eye. "Yes Daniel," he managed to say weakly. "I understand."

"Good," Daniel snorted coldly. "You'd better." Without another word, he practically pushed Zach away, and then he turned to face the other boys. "You guys get all that?" The other boys all promptly indicated 'yes'. Even Hobbes nodded his head up and down and let off two barks to indicate his own understanding. "Good," said Daniel. He slammed his right fist into his left palm. "Now let's get to work. Mr. Schuester made it crystal clear that we need to perform a group number here before we leave school. And the sooner we get that over with and leave this school to bond some more at my place and get Zach out of our hair, the better."

Zach mentally winced upon hearing that last bit, but wisely chose to remain silent. As mean as Daniel was currently acting in his regard, his friend had every right to behave the way he was currently behaving, and any complaint about it would only bring further pain upon himself.

"Alright," said Daniel. "If any of you guys have an idea for a song, raise your hand."

The other boys all started thinking to themselves, trying to come up with a song to suggest for their group number. Except for Zach. At that moment, he a feeling that even if he did think up an idea, it would probably not a wise idea for him to try to suggest it to Daniel while his friend was in his current state of mind.

Dunlap's crimson eyes widened, a clear 'Eureka!' look on his face. Daniel noticed this, and promptly responded before the albino boy even had a chance to raise his hand. "You have an idea?" he asked.

"I think so," said Dunlap. "There was something you said to Zach. It was in about a similar vein as getting his head out of the clouds. . ."

"Get your head in the game," said Calvin.

"That's right!" Dunlap eagerly yelled. "Get your head in the game! That's it! Thank you, Calvin!"

"What's that have to do with anything?" Daniel asked.

But Calvin had managed to catch on, and he decided to answer for Dunlap. He beckoned for the other guys to gather close to him, though with noticeable reluctance when he indicated that Zach was allowed to join in and be made aware of the knowledge alongside them.

The boys all gathered together around Calvin, who proceeded to inform them of exactly what song Dunlap had now gotten inspired into suggesting as a result of Daniel's tirade against Zach. It didn't take long at all for the other subordinate gleek boys to agree with the choice. Even Daniel and Zach promptly nodded their heads with smiles on their faces.

"I'll admit," said Daniel. "A good idea." He thought to himself. "Ok . . . I just realized, how are we going to get the music we need for it?"

"Have no fear," said Calvin as he drew out his IPod from his pants pocket and started looking through his music. "I've got it right on here," he explained. "And best of all, this particular IPod has a setting that allows me to place a delay between the selection of the song and the moment it actually starts playing. Thus, we'll have plenty of time to fully prepare ourselves for when the music starts."

Calvin found the song in question, walked over to the bleachers in front of him, placed the IPod on top of the lowest bleacher, selected the song, and then hurriedly rushed back to join up with the other boys. Hobbes, meanwhile, calmly loped off to an area right next to where his master had left the IPod, thus getting himself to a safe and appropriate distance where he could watch without getting in the way of the upcoming performance.

Seconds later, Daniel had just enough time to suddenly pick up a football, the other boys promptly doing the same without thinking, before the music for the chosen song finally began. And when the music in question began, it didn't take the boys long at all to almost instantaneously get into the spirit of the song in question, even going so far as to 'dribble' their footballs, some in more unique ways than others. By the time the moment in which the actual singing portion of the song came along, all seven of them were very much in the right mood. The resulting performance went something like this:

(Daniel:)

Coach said to fake right, and break left
Watch out for the pick and keep an eye on defense
Gotta run the give and go, and take the ball to the hole
But don't be afraid to shoot the outside "J"
Just keep ya head in the game
Just keep ya head in the game
And don't be afraid to shoot the outside "J"
(Turns and runs toward the other boys)

Just keep ya head in the game
(Scene Break: All the boys come together in a 'football huddle')
U gotta
Get'cha, get'cha head in the game
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)
U gotta
Get'cha, get'cha head in the game
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)
Come on

(Break from huddle)
Get'cha, get'cha head in the game
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)
U gotta get'cha, (Other Boys: Get our) get'cha, (Other Boys: Get our) head in the game
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)
(All:)

Whoo!
(Daniel:)
Let's make sure that we get the rebound (Zach throws his football onto the ground and causes it to bounce right back into his hands)
'Cause when we get it then the crowd will go wild (Calvin: Roar!)
A second chance, gotta grab it and go
Maybe this time, we'll hit the right nooooooootes
Wait a minute, it's not the time or place
Wait a minute, get my head in the game
Wait a minute, get my head in the game
(All seven of the boys start running skipping forward)

Wait a minute, wait a minute
(Scene Break: The boys have stopped skipping and start taking part in a High School Musical level dance routine)

(Daniel:)

I gotta
Get my, get my head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
I gotta
Get my, get my head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
Come on
Get my, get my head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
I gotta get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
(All:)

Whoo!
(Daniel:)
Why am I feeling so wrong?
My head's in the game, but my heart's in the song
She makes this feel so right
(Speaks)
Should I go for it?
Better shake this, yikes!
[Instrumental interlude]
(Daniel:)

I gotta
Get my, get my head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
I gotta
Get my, get my head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
Come on
Get my, get my head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
I gotta get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) head in the game
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)
(All:)

Whoo!

At the exact same moment that the boys all shouted that last word, they all threw their footballs in unison towards the 'touchdown post'. The balls all went through the 'goal'.

After a few seconds of silence, Daniel turned to face the other boys. "See there?" he said. "That's how a glee club works!"

"You've got that right," said Calvin. He directed his attention towards the other boys, though with as little attention directed towards Zach as possible. "What team!?"

"New Directions!" the other boys, Daniel and surprisingly even Zach included, all shouted, surprisingly managing to instantaneously get what Calvin was referencing.

"What team!?"

"New Directions!"

"What team!?"

"New Directions!"

"Get'cha head in the game!"

"Yeah!"

In that instant, despite how most the boys still had miles to go before they let Zach in their good graces, there couldn't have been a stronger feeling of unity between them all. Even Hobbes clearly felt carried away in the mood as he barked and howled happily in synch with the cheering of his master's peers.

However, hidden deep within the upper area of the bleachers, two girls were watching the unfolding events. And the two girls in question were not at all pleased with what they were seeing. However, it wasn't so much for any reason directly involving them that they were upset with what they were seeing. Rather, they were upset because of what the things they were now seeing meant for the person who'd hired them to watch what was going on.

"Charlotte's so not going to be happy about all this," said Ashley.

Silena scoffed, and rolled her eyes. "Oh really?" she asked sarcastically. "I would never have guessed that."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in the backstage area for the McKinley High auditorium, none other than Charlotte herself was currently quite in her own little world. To elaborate, she was currently admiring herself in a mirror, acting quite haughtily enough like a model in the process. It certainly didn't help that she was currently dressed in an outfit that struck a very fine line between sexy and just plain horrifying.

The outfit in question? To start off, the main peace of the outfit was a simple skintight, mid-thigh-length, black dress. Provocative, but relatively acceptable enough. The other pieces that went with the outfit, however, stretched things a little. For one, the shoes she was now wearing with the dress were high-heeled, knee-high, boots that were modeled to somewhat resemble a dragon's feet. On her head, was a bizarre headdress designed to resemble the iconic horned hood worn by Maleficent herself in Disney's take on the 'Sleeping Beauty' story, but without the hood part so as to allow her ash blonde hair to still be seen clear as day. These details, combined with the dress, kohl eye-liner around her eyes, and the almost fan-like extensions that covered the backs of her hands while extending from serpent-styled bracelets around her wrists, made for a quite unusual fashion statement worthy perhaps of a Lady Gaga performance. But not entirely without good reason.

"Hello?! Are you listening?!"

Charlotte, jolted out of her thoughts, promptly turned away from the mirror and faced the other girls in the glee club, who were all gathered around several feet ahead of her. Diana and Susan looked annoyed, Naomi and Amber looked dumbfounded, and Bailey clearly looked amused. But most importantly, to an extent, they too were dressed in somewhat 'unique' styles. Much like Charlotte, they were all wearing dresses; except their dresses were all more conservative and reached down to their ankles instead of stopping provocatively mid-thigh. They were also wearing high heels, only these shoes were more like ballroom slippers and didn't reach up to their knees. And as it turned out, Charlotte was even the only one amongst the six girls who wasn't wearing some sort of mask alongside her specific headdress.

But of course, the fact that they were wearing dresses and ballroom slipper style shoes was not what made their outfits so unique. Rather, it was the additional décor that came with the dresses and shoes. Out of all of them, Diana's outfit seemed the most relatively simple and 'normal'. She was wearing a floor-length, forest green, sleeveless dress, had an emerald green tiara on her head, was wearing an emerald green mask worthy of a medieval masquerade ball, and was also wearing ten emerald rings, one on each finger. Susan was wearing a similar dress that was a dark violet purple color, but was also wearing some strange 'gloves' that had claw-like extensions on the backs that, combined with a set of cat-like fake fangs she was wearing in her mouth, plus a purple tiger patterned mask, gave her a noticeable cat-like motif. Naomi was wearing a crimson red dress that went down to her ankles, had what looked like a pair of red stuffed snakes wrapped around her cane, and was also wearing a headdress that made it look as if she had a pair of resplendent red deer-like antlers on her head, as well as a red mask that seemed to have small antler-shaped extensions popping of the left and right top side corners. Amber was wearing a golden yellow ankle-length dress that also came with feather-like extensions on the sleeves and a crown of feathers she was now wearing in her hair, plus a yellow feathered mask with a 'beak' extension above her nose. Finally, Bailey was wearing a simple dark blue dress that came with a dark blue opera style mask, light blue opera gloves, and a pair of blue leather whips, with one whip in each of her hands.

At the sight of the other five girls in the glee club looking expectantly at her, and also clearly having spoken to her at some point not too long ago, Charlotte gulped, took a deep breath, and hurriedly regained her composure. "Right," she said. "Sorry. Got distracted." She lifted her left index finger as if to emphasize a point. "I agree full heartedly 100%."

Naomi raised her eyebrow. "You agree full heartedly 100% that you are a closeted lesbian who hopes to someday engage in a threesome with Carrie Underwood and Katy Perry?"

The look on Charlotte's face was priceless. "What?!" she practically shrieked.

Bailey promptly started chuckling while the other four girls merely shook their heads side to side with dumbfounded looks on their faces. "Oh have no fear girl," said Bailey. "We don't actually believe that. I just pulled that little phrase clean out of my ass and spoke it out loud just to see if you were paying attention." She then gestured towards her in an almost 'ta-da' fashion. "And from your reaction, evidently you weren't."

"Yeah, no shit," said Susan. "Honestly, what Bailey just said to test how much attention you were paying just now? That's not a sentence I typically hear every day. And considering some of the things I've heard Calvin say, that's saying something."

Charlotte grumbled, narrowing her eyes and glaring at the dark-haired girl.

Diana sighed, and shook her head side to side. "Never mind that," she said. She clasped her hands together, a confident look back on her face. "Come on, we've got a group number to perform. We've all agreed upon the song and dressed appropriately to get into the spirit of said song. Let's not keep prolonging things."

The other girls nodded their heads in agreement; except Charlotte, who rolled her eyes and grumbled. "You know," she said. "We may have all agreed that we could freely choose whichever outfit we wanted, but did all of you really have to play it this safe? I mean look at me." She gestured to indicate her own considerably more provocative outfit compared to that of the other girls. "At least I'm not afraid to take full advantage of my natural sexiness."

"Hate to break it to you," said Susan, not sounding sorry at all. She folded her arms across her chest, but noticeably making sure to carefully position her hands so that her claw extensions pointed harmlessly to the side without potentially giving herself any nasty cuts. "But not all girls are shameless sluts."

Charlotte glared at Susan. "I highly resent being referred to as such."

"Just because you don't like it doesn't make it any less true," said Amber.

Charlotte turned her gaze to Amber, clearly about to snap at her.

"Girls," said Diana. "Now's not the time for disputes." She gestured towards the path leading out from the backstage area to the stage proper. "Let's just get our group number over and with and finished so we can go home and talk whatever we want between each other properly."

"And who are you to tell us what to do?"

Charlotte placed her now clenched fists upon her hips in a quite haughty manner, an arrogant look of disdain now on her face as she glared in the direction of her rival. "I have no idea who you think you are, but you sure as Hell ain't Coach Sylvester."

"Yeah well, this isn't the cheerios."

Diana turned around to face Diana, arms folded across her chest, clearly not in the mood to deal with the other girl's petty grievances against her this time, let alone in the proper state of mind for such tactics to have the usual effect. "This is the New Directions. And as captains, what Daniel and I say is law; doubly so if Calvin and Susan agree with us."

Charlotte scoffed. "I'm sorry," she said in a clearly mocking and not even remotely apologetic tone. "But from what I'm seeing and hearing right now, you appear to have mistaken yourself for Mr. Schuester."

"She may not be this club's director."

Diana and Susan promptly directed their attention to Susan, who proceeded to walk straight on over into position directly to Diana's left. Upon coming to a stop, the tanned skinned brunette placed her hands on her hips, but in a way that allowed her 'claws' to point outward away from her body while the backs of her hands rested against her hips, and then continued, "But she is one of two captains, and this club's female lead. And contrary to what you seem to be thinking, such positions actually do come with authority, and sure as Hell ain't little more than figurehead token roles."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes and glared at Susan once again. But right as she was seconds away from hissing out a disparaging comment Susan's way, she was promptly forestalled yet again when Naomi and Amber stepped forward and came to a stop alongside the club's leading ladies.

"You heard her," said Amber. "Just because they're not the director doesn't mean that they're powerless. They've got plenty of authority of their own."

"Yeah," said Naomi. "Mr. Schue may be the one who casts the final vote, sets up the assignments, and acts as a judge regarding the rules of this club. But our captains," she pointed at Diana.

"And their deputies," Amber chimed in while pointing at Susan.

"Are the ones who enforce these rules and decisions," Naomi finished.

"Damn right ya'll," said Bailey. No sooner had the African American girl said this when she to stepped forward to join up with her captain, deputy lead, and two sophomore peers. "And that's doubly true in the event that Mr. Schuester ain't around directly watching us and available to immediately bring down the law himself." She made a show of looking over her shoulder and checking the area. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but I sure as Hell don't see Mr. Schuester himself directly in the area with us. Do any of you?"

The other four girls siding against Charlotte shook their heads side to side, and then they all looked back at Charlotte, who clearly looked as if she was tensed up and fighting to think up some sort of worthy response to adequately defend her position.

Diana shook her head, a blank look on her face that masterfully hid her rising amusement and smug triumph. "Face it Sharpay," said Diana. "You may be the queen amongst your precious cheerios, not to mention be treated like the supreme ruler of the entire flipping universe by all your fellow high caste members, not to mention by all those other sycophants and yes-men you know of amongst the student body around here."

"Indeed," Susan agreed. She turned her head back away from Diana to face Charlotte once more, her tiger-patterned mask and fake cat fangs now making her look especially intimidating. "But here in the New Directions, you're a follower." She gestured towards Diana. "With Diana and I as your queens." She lifted her left index finger. "Daniel and Calvin as your kings." She then pointed at Charlotte. "And Mr. Schue as our Merlin."

In that instant, as Susan continued pointing and staring at her, Charlotte gritted her teeth, now silently, and angrily, forcing herself to mentally admit that she'd once again been thoroughly beaten.

Susan raised her left index finger once more. "And as vice female lead," she said. "I second Diana's notion for us to get out on that stage and get this show on the road."

And get the show on the road they did, for the six girls, with Charlotte very reluctantly following, confidently made their way out from backstage to onstage proper, where the band members were already waiting within the orchestra pit for the signal to begin. Taking deep breathes, and with anticipatory smiles on their faces, the girls got into position. Diana, Susan, and Charlotte were standing closer to the front while Naomi, Amber, and Bailey stood a few feet or so behind them. Diana and Naomi were standing at the far left of the stage, Charlotte and Bailey at the far right, and Susan and Amber directly in the middle. The lights were on and at appropriate settings, and the stage itself had even been set up to be almost exactly the way it had been 25 years ago when the club had performed the very same song about to be performed in its first year of existence. Seconds later, with the girls ready and the band likewise prepared, the group number for the girls finally began. The performance that resulted, complete with fantastic singing, dancing, and 'fashion displays' from the girls and the band likewise masterfully joining in right at the appropriate moment with the necessary music, went something like this:

(Charlotte:)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
(New Directions Girls:)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
(Charlotte:)
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma
Gaga, Oh-la-la
Want your bad romance
(New Directions Girls:)
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma
Gaga, Oh-la-la
Want your bad romance
(Amber (with New Direction Girls):)
I want your ugly, I want your disease
I want your everything as long as it's free
I want your love
(Love, love, love)
I want (your love)
(Naomi:)
I want your drama, the touch of your hand (Charlotte: Hey!)
I want your leather studded kiss in the sand
I want your love
Love, love, love
I want your love
(New Direction Girls:)
Love, love, love
I want your love
(Diana with New Directions Girls:)
You know that I want you
And you know that I need you
I want it bad, bad romance
(New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)
I want your love and I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
I want your love and all your lover's revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Charlotte with New Directions Girls:)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
(New Directions Girls:)
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma
Gaga, Oh-la-la
Want your bad romance
(Susan (with New Directions Girls):)
I want your horror, I want your design
'Cause you're a criminal as long as your mine
I want your love
(Love, love, love)
I want (your love)
(Susan and Diana:)
I want your psycho, your vertigo stick (Charlotte: Hey!)
Want you in my rear window, baby you're sick
I want your love
Love, love, love
I want your love
(New Directions Girls:)
Love, love, love
I want your love
(Diana with New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)
You know that I want you
And you know that I need you ('Cause I'm a freak, baby!)
I want it bad, bad romance
(New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)
I want your love and I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
I want your love and all your lover's revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Charlotte with New Directions Girls:)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
(New Directions Girls:)
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma
Gaga, Oh-la-la
Want your bad romance
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma
Gaga, Oh-la-la
Want your bad romance
(Diana:)
Walk, walk fashion baby
Work it move that thing crazy
(Susan with Diana:)
Walk, walk fashion baby
Work it move that thing crazy
(Naomi with Susan and Diana:)
Walk, walk fashion baby
Work it move that thing crazy
(Amber with Susan, Diana and Naomi:)
Walk, walk passion baby
Work it, I'm a freak baby
(Bailey (Charlotte with New Directions Girls):)
I want your love and I want your revenge
I want your love, I don't wanna be friends
Je veux ton amour et je veux ta revanche
Je veux ton amour, I don't wanna be friends (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
No, I don't wanna be friends (Caught in a bad romance)
I don't wanna be friends (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Want your bad romance (Caught in a bad romance)
Want your bad romance
(Bailey with Susan and New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)
I want your love and I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
I want your love and all your lover's revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Charlotte with New Directions Girls (Bailey):)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (Want your bad romance)
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance (Want your bad romance)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (Want your bad romance)
Oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romance
(New Directions Girls:)
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma
Gaga, Oh-la-la
(Charlotte:)
Want your bad romance

All of three seconds passed before the band started applauding. To the six girls who'd been performing, however, it seemed much longer. Nonetheless, even Charlotte couldn't help but smile at the applause, not to mention at the fact that they'd actually had quite a bit of fun performing.

When the band finally stopped applauding, the six girls smiled, and nodded their heads up and down. "Thank you very much," said Diana. "Your work is much appreciated."

Susan nodded her head in agreement. "You're free to go," said the brunette.

The band members smiled, and promptly started packing up to leave the auditorium and go home.

The girls all turned to look at each other. "You heard Susan," said Diana. "Let's get out of these costumes and report to Mr. Schuester so we can go home. Remember everyone, we've all agreed that we'll be meeting at my house for the second part of today's mandatory bonding."

. . . . .

An hour and a half later, all the boys amongst the gleeks, with the very real exception of Zach, were gathered around in the living room of the Taymor household. To further elaborate, they were currently having a good time conversing, laughing, and likewise having a good time bonding together . . . and all while still finding time to work on their homework in the process. And they were all very happy about it to.

"I'm telling you guys," said Calvin. "When it comes to How to Train Your Dragon, I'm not ashamed at all to admit that this is a rare case in which the movies are actually better than the books."

"You got that right," said Cody. "Honestly guys, the very first book in that series feels like such a letdown compared to the first movie. And then the later books in the series ended up getting too dark!"

"You can say that again." Raj nodded his head. "On the bright side, at least we got some awesome movies inspired by those books, and their departures from the source material were at least ones that enhanced the movies and made the stories better . . . unlike with Dragonball Evolution."

"Oh, do not even mention that monstrosity," said Dunlap. He shook his head side to side, snarling and narrowing his red eyes. "I don't know what the idiots who made that movie were thinking, but they got everything wrong. That movie is a disgrace to Dragon Ball, it's fans, and everything great about the story that it stands for."

"You said it pal," said Darren. "Honestly, the only good thing that came from that movie is that Toriyama finally shed his usual apathy and got more directly involved with the anime people. And as a result, we got the awesomeness that is Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', and Dragon Ball Super; all thanks to Akira flipping Toriyama himself. Talk about a silver lining!"

"Amen," said the five subordinate gleek boys in unison. They turned their heads to face Daniel.

"What do you say Daniel?" said Calvin.

Daniel smiled and shook his head side to side. "Well honestly, as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't really have all that much of an interest in Dragon Ball until I ended up watching my cousins' copy of the Evolution DVD. And after that, through a good bit of research and reading up on the source material, let's just say that I was able to see the light and realize just how screwed up Evolution actually was compared to the masterpiece that quote on quote 'inspired' it."

"Well said," said Dunlap and Darren.

"No kidding," said Calvin. He rolled his eyes. "That's Fox for you. Sometimes it seems like they just can't do anything right. I mean look at them, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, their Fantastic Four movies, Dragonball Evolution, that Ben Affleck Daredevil movie and Jennifer Garner's horrendous Elektra movie, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not to mention Eragon and those two Percy Jackson movies . . ."

The autistic boy winced, clenched his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, and then face-palmed, sighing heavily. "Oh, dear God, how they disgraced the Inheritance Cycle and the Percy Jackson series with those movies . . . dear God, why?" He lowered his palm, his eyes open once more and revealing a half irritated and half saddened look. "Look guys, the point is, with all those movies they've made that have either screwed up, disgraced valuable source material, or clearly been made, or even suggested, while high on marijuana, one can't help but wonder whether or not they're truly worthy of movie goer faith. Heck, they can't even give flipping News that can be taken seriously!"

"Well look on the bright side," said Daniel. "At least we've got all the other X-Men films and TV shows from them that haven't been atrocities like Origins and Last Stand. Not to mention James Cameron's Titanic and Avatar movies; plus, the Ice Age franchise. And wait till you hear my dad give you an earful about all the joys of Highlander, Braveheart, and Tora! Tora! Tora!"

Calvin thought to himself. "That is true."

"And not just those either," said Dunlap. "It was also thanks to their work that we got the first six Star Wars films, The Princess Bride, and the Planet of the Apes series; not to mention Night at the Museum."

"You got that right," Darren agreed. "And don't forget Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Martian, the Independence Day series, Fight Club, Fault in our Stars, and the Kingsmen series! Do not forget the Kingsmen series!"

"Oh we won't forget those," said Cody. "Let alone Alien, Predator, the Die Hard films, Moulin Rouge, and Dude, Where's my Car?"

"And let's not forget," said Raj, "the wonders that are Life of Pi and 12 Years a Slave."

"Indeed," said Daniel, now feeling even happier. "And as for TV, they have made the world a pretty happy place with X-Files, Malcolm in the Middle, and Buffy!" He pointed his finger at Calvin. "You can't forget Buffy!"

Raj gaped at Daniel in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "You've watched Buffy?"

"Sure have," said Daniel. "Not ashamed of it either. There's plenty of stuff in there for girls and guys to like."

"That's certainly true," said Calvin.

"Oh yeah," said Dunlap.

"Such is the skill of the mighty Joss Whedon," said Darren.

"Hate to agree with them," said Cody, a smug grin on his face indicating that he was far from sorry. "But they sure as Hell are right."

"Indeed," said Daniel. He looked back at Raj. "And even if that weren't the case, it would probably still be a guilty pleasure of mine at least thanks to how it was only thanks to Diana and how much she enjoys that series that I even heard of it, let alone watched it, in the first place."

Raj thought to himself. "I suppose you've got some good points there," the Indian American admitted.

"Yeah that's right," said the other boys.

"Sounds like you're all having fun in there."

Daniel turned his head in the direction of the kitchen, where his mother currently was. "You've guessed correctly mom."

"Darn right we are Mrs. Taymor," said Calvin, his thumb raised to emphasize how serious and genuine he was in his answer. "Trust me, that Loathello that your son considers his so called best friend ain't the only guy he can have fun hanging around with here. Let alone at school or anywhere else for that matter."

Hobbes barked thrice in apparent agreement with his master.

"Well let me know if you guys need anything," Mrs. Taymor said from the kitchen, where she just happened to be in the midst of baking cookies to 'celebrate Daniel's making so many new friends this year'. "And if possible, feel free to stick around long enough to have a cookie or two."

"Will do," said Daniel and all five of his newly established friends. They all looked at each other and away from the direction of the kitchen.

Dunlap chuckled, and rubbed his stomach. "Oh boy," said the albino boy. "I'm looking forward to having a taste of those cookies already."

"I know how you feel pal," Darren agreed.

The other boys were likewise quick to agree. Calvin even went so far as to grin like a wolf and lick his chops hungrily. Clearly, he was looking forward quite strongly to tasting the cookies himself.

The phone on the living room table they were sitting around suddenly started ringing, jolting the boys out of their anticipation of the upcoming snack. They all directed their gaze at the phone. Daniel, however, was able to get a direct look at the caller ID thanks to where he was positioned, and his narrowing eyes upon recognizing the number was enough to clue the other boys in on him both having an idea who was calling, and not being pleased with the information.

"Who's calling?" said Mrs. Taymor. "Is it someone important?"

"No," said Daniel. "No need to worry. It's just Charlotte. You can stay in the kitchen and keep worrying about the cookies."

"Charlotte?" said Mrs. Taymor. "You mean that witch who keeps borderline stalking you around school and trying to go out of her way to make Diana cry and force you to be her boyfriend?"

"Yep," said Daniel, his teeth gritting into a silent snarl at the quite accurate description.

"Well in that case," said Mrs. Taymor. "Carry on, and please do ignore that call."

"Don't you worry mom," said Daniel as he continued glaring at the phone. "That won't be a problem at all."

After about another few seconds, the phone finally went to voice mail. And soon after that, Charlotte's voice came out of the phone as the now clearly annoyed McKinley High head cheerio started leaving a message.

"Hello Daniel," said Charlotte, her tight voice and the fact that she hadn't referred to Daniel by some sickening pet name or other making it crystal clear to Daniel and the other boys that she was now quite irritated indeed. "This is Charlotte speaking. In case you were wondering, this is the third time I've tried to call you this afternoon. And clearly, since you seem to be quite insistent on denying my calls on your cell phone within the first 3 seconds of it ringing with my attempts at calling you there, I have no other choice but to try to contact you by your house phone. So with how needlessly awkward and difficult you've now just made this whole business, how about you be a gentleman, answer the phone like a proper good boy, and talk with me?"

Daniel and the other boys present in the Taymor household's living room glared at the phone. "She says I'm the one making this difficult and awkward?" Daniel thought to himself. "Excuse me, but you're the one who's even now insisting on continuing your brainless and inane crusade towards me despite how much I've made it clear again and again that I'm not interested." The other boys were likewise irritated. Calvin, however, seemed particularly aggravated by the current situation, as he had gone so far as to clench his fists and lean forward closely towards the phone while Daniel and the other boys had been content to just stay positioned as they were and glare at the phone at a 'safe distance'. Hobbes, naturally, was also leaning his head forward towards the phone from his respective position on the floor to the right of the arm chair Calvin was sitting in, his teeth bared in a silent snarl and his eyes narrowed tensely.

"I know you're there Daniel," Charlotte's voice popped out from the phone. "Pick up the phone and let me and you have our much deserved and needed chat."

Calvin gritted his teeth, emitting a very unnervingly realistic wolf-like snarl. Daniel and the other boys promptly turned their heads away from the phone to direct their attention towards the autistic boy, their earlier glares now replaced with clear looks of unnerved concern. Even Hobbes turned his attention to his master, now clearly sensing that his master was now getting particularly ticked off in this particular situation.

Charlotte's voice rang out from the phone yet again. "PICK UP THE PHONE!"

. . . . .

Much to Charlotte's surprise, her cellphone suddenly indicated that her call had been answered all of one second after she shouted out this last demand . . . only for her to then shriek and reflexively toss her cellphone into the air when an impossibly lifelike tyrannosaurus-rex-like roar erupted from her cellphone. Diana and the other gleek girls also jolted back in shock from the quite unexpected turn of events, eyes widened and hearts thumping rapidly in their chests from shock and fright. Charlotte's cellphone plopped down upon the center of the floor the girls were seated in a circle around, the ear-splitting roar still spouting out of it for a few seconds before it suddenly ceased, followed by the phone indicating that whoever had answered the phone had now ended the call.

For another few seconds, the six girls remained gaping and reared back in fright in their circle around Charlotte's cellphone while seated on the floor at the base of Diana's bed. Then, one by one, they all got their breath back and their hearts under control. Susan even went so far as to facepalm, having only taken seconds to put two and two together and figure out who had clearly been responsible for answering the phone and giving the quite unexpected roaring response. "Good grief, Calvin," she thought. The other girls, likewise, soon managed to figure out just who had responded to Charlotte's 3rd attempt to call Daniel that afternoon.

"What was that?"

At the sound of her mother's call, Diana turned her head towards the open door to her bedroom and hurriedly yelled, "Nothing mom, just Calvin answering the phone."

"Susan's friend, Calvin?" Mrs. Eberhart responded from back downstairs. "I thought he was at Daniel's."

"He is," said Susan. She then directed an annoyed glare at Charlotte. "Charlotte was trying to call Daniel again, but this time by his house number. As it turned out, not only did her call get answered this time, but it was answered by Calvin."

After a few seconds pause, Mrs. Eberhart finally responded. "Oh, I see," she said. "But nonetheless, try to keep it down up there."

"We'll try," said Diana.

Charlotte glared at Diana, but wisely held her tongue. After all, she smart enough at least to know that it would be a bad idea to try to antagonize Diana right there in her own house, not to mention with Diana's mom home.

A few minutes later, with Charlotte still glowering and grumbling silently to herself, Diana and the other girls resumed their chat they'd been having before Charlotte had made her 3rd attempt to call Daniel. From what little she managed to hear, it was becoming increasingly clear that they'd now switched from the previous topic to the matter of fashion. To be more precise, Diana, Susan, and the two sophomores now appeared to be under the impression that, with a few modifications, the very same dresses they'd worn during the group number back at school earlier that afternoon would potentially make good outfits for them to wear at future formal events. Perhaps maybe even at Prom if they were lucky enough to attend.

For the most part, however, Charlotte was largely not entirely paying that much attention. At the current moment, the majority of her was both angrily stewing and trying her best to hurriedly think up something new to try out in her efforts at her quest. For as had now been quite strongly implied with Zach's recent actions, her original idea from earlier that week was clearly not going to go anywhere. But at the same time, a small part of her just couldn't help but wonder just how things were going for Zach himself at that moment.

. . . . .

About several minutes before the other boys and girls from the current New Directions roster arrived at their respective chosen meeting grounds to continue their bonding time, Zach arrived at home. And now, he was standing somberly at his door step. He sighed, and hung his head. He knew full well what would be waiting for him behind the front door of his house; and he was not looking forward to it at all.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes clenched shut as well. While part of him knew full well that he'd only brought the current upcoming unpleasantness entirely upon himself and just wanted to get it all over with and out of the way as soon as possible, the other part of him wanted to do nothing more than to prolong it even a tiny second longer. Then his more guilty and reasonable side won out, and he hung his head, sighing resignedly. "Here goes," he thought to himself. With another deep breath, followed by a guilty and resigned exhale, he grabbed the door know, turned it, and entered his house.

"I'm home."

For about a minute, Zach stood in the open doorway to his house, waiting for a response. He raised his eyebrow after noticing how much time had passed without any response. "Mom?" he said. "Dad? Are you here? I'm home."

"We're in here son."

At the sound of his mother's voice coming from the living room, Zach sighed half in relief and half in dread. "No turning back now," he thought to himself.

Zach's father then chimed in. "Shut the door, and come here."

Zach took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. He closed the door to his house and then marched resolutely over to where his parents were waiting for him in the living room. At the sight of the stern glares being directed at him, he mentally cringed, but outwardly remained stoic and resignedly accepting. He came to a stop in the very center of the living room, facing the armchair his father was sitting in and his mother was standing next to from the right.

"Your father and I received a phone call earlier this afternoon from your teacher and glee club director, Mr. Schuester," said Mrs. Skinner, having decided to break the silence herself after a few minutes of waiting.

"Indeed," Mr. Skinner agreed. "And through that phone call, some very intriguing news has come to our attention."

For a moment, silence hung in the air. Then Zach finally decided that maybe it would be necessary for him to speak. "Noted."

"According to Mr. Schuester," said Mrs. Skinner, "for the last two days, you've been going out of your way to harass, antagonize, and outright bully the majority of your peers within the glee club."

"And not only that," said Mr. Skinner, "but you also not only harassed one girl in particular both days to the point that you apparently went so far as to attempt to rape her, but you also went so far yesterday as to attempt to murder a boy who was brave and noble enough to come to that girl's defense."

Zach winced again, this time physically as well as mentally. "Noted," he repeated.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

Zach briefly paused upon hearing his father ask this. Then he hung his head. "No," he admitted. "It's not." He looked back up at his parents. "And before you ask, yes, that news you heard today from Mr. Schuester on the phone? It's true." At this point, he saw no point in trying to deny it.

"So you admit," Mr. Skinner began, "that over the course of the past two days, and potentially a tiny bit of today, you have gone above and beyond your usual level of irresponsibility and rebelliousness, attempted, and very nearly succeeded, in violating your own moral code that you claimed to be so proud of two days ago at breakfast, and effectively proven me 100% right in worrying about how things would turn out if you continued to live your life in the way you've been doing for the last few years?"

Zach opened his mouth, briefly on the verge of trying to defend against this claim from his father. But then he paused, winced, and then sighed with his head hung. "Yes," he admitted. "I do." He looked back up at his parents, who were now glaring at him even more unpleasantly than before. "I admit that what I've done the last few days was wrong. I admit that you were right to be worried about me and how I was living my life dad." He hung his head once more. "And I will accept whatever punishment you see fit."

"You are absolutely certain of this?"

Zach nodded his head. "Yes mom, I am."

"Good."

Mrs. Skinner turned her head to face her husband, who turned his own head to face her. A silent message passed between them, and then they turned their heads to face their son once more. Mr. Skinner stretched his hand forwards. "Your keys," said Mr. Skinner. "Now."

Zach dug into his pocket, not even bothering to try to rebel against this order, drew out his car keys, and tossed them over to his father. Mr. Skinner caught the keys in his hand and then slipped them into his own pants pocket. He pointed his finger at Zach, a stern and pokerfaced glare on his face.

"You will continue to go to school," said Mr. Skinner. "There ain't no way you're getting out of attending school early that easily. But until your punishment time is over, your mother and I will be responsible for making sure you get there and back home." He then lifted his finger. "And before you comment on how lenient that sounds, there is more." He pointed his finger back at Zach once more. "Strictly aside from school, and I do mean strictly aside from school, you are not allowed to leave the house for the remainder of this week and the entirety of next month."

For a moment, Zach's heart stopped and he gaped at his father in stunned shock. Then he gulped, realizing that it was quite frankly a more than fair punishment, and he hung his head. "I see."

"And what's more," Mr. Skinner continued. "You shall also be banned from video games, doing anything on the computer that isn't in any way related to your school work, and from watching TV without supervision for the same amount of time. Furthermore, you shall not be allowed to visit or speak to Daniel, Diana, or any of your other peers from school or the glee club unless they either visit here at our house or you contact them on the phone. Again, for the exact same amount of time as the rest of your punishment."

Zach thought to himself, and then nodded. "Understood."

"Good." Mr. Skinner extended his hand forward once again. "Your cellphone, if you'd please."

Zach drew out his cellphone and tossed it over to his dad. His father caught it just as effortlessly as he had Zach's car keys. "Good boy," said Mr. Skinner. "Tomorrow, once your mother and I have had time to place a block on all your contacts apart from us and the emergency contact line, you shall get it back."

"Understood," said Zach.

"Good," said Mr. Skinner. He pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "With that out of the way, if there's any homework you need to work on tonight, I'd recommend you get started on it right now, in the kitchen area. If you have it all done before dinner, then just maybe we'll let you watch The Wire with us on Netflix. If not, then you'll just simply have to wait and catch up alongside us at a later date. Understood?"

"Yes," said Zach.

"Good," said Mrs. Skinner. She pointed at the kitchen. "Get to work."

"Yes mom," said Zach. He turned to face the kitchen, and promptly made his way there to get started on his homework.

And just like that, another chapter finished and posted! Once again, I hope you all read and enjoy it after the latest long wait I've put you all through. For that matter, once again, a minimum of 1 review (maybe 2 if I'm lucky) is required (though I do also strongly encourage that everyone who reads it and is able to leave feedback please leave feedback) in order for me to post the newest chapter upon its completion. While the next chapter hopefully won't take as long, we'd still best not hold our breaths right? That being said, I especially hope you enjoyed the song choices and performances for this chapter. For that matter, I also hope you like the different approaches I took in just how swiftly the boys and girls took to accepting the authorities and positions of Daniel and Diana as captains. Not to mention I hope you like how Zach has once again been called out on his actions (this time by both Daniel, AND his own parents). The way I see it, I thought it would be nice to have Daniel have to really step up and prove how confident and willing he was to be a leader in order to finally convince the other boys that his position and authority as captain and male lead is to be taken seriously (especially in the face of Zach's behavior), while the girls wouldn't necessarily need to go through any trouble aside from Charlotte's usual antics in order to unite and show their support and loyalty to Diana as their captain and female lead. For that matter, I do also hope that Zach has been appropriately punished for his crimes and that all his experiences so far will be enough to set him on the path to being the more lovable person we all know and love from the main GWAF story. And of course, I do hope you like all the bonding that the gleeks all went through both on and off school grounds in this chapter. And heck, in regards to the boys' conversation at Daniel's house, feel free to consider the first half of their talk about Fox to be equal parts 'take that' and equal parts 'self deprecation' (after all Fox did help to produce and distribute GLEE). That being said, once again, hope you enjoyed, and am looking forward to your feedback.

Coming up Next: It's one Charlotte Thornton's 16th birthday, and she is quite happy and eager to make the most out of it the very next day in the Glee world. And she is not in the mood to let anything, including a brief morning encounter with Zach Skinner ruin her mood.