FINALLY! A new chapter! Boy I'm hoping you all find it worth the wait! In this chapter, Silena and Ashley decide to take a shot at directly getting involved for once in Charlotte's insane efforts at getting her hooks into Daniel. But just how far will they go in this effort at helping their friend? Find out, in this new chapter! And that being said, here's to hoping you read, enjoy, and review!

A/N: Once again, I do not own Glee. All I own are my OCs. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic ya'll!

Chapter 16:

Playtime's Over

Silena Townsend and Ashley Manning gazed intently at their mutual superior as she worked carefully on reading the textbook pages that the teacher had assigned her and the other students present to read. Quite frankly, the two of them were supposed to be reading the textbook pages as well. However, they currently had other thoughts on their minds.

As the two cheerios were quite aware, today was Charlotte's 16th birthday. And as it happened, the two of them had even been invited to attend her celebration to occur that very weekend alongside Charlotte and her family. Both, naturally, had accepted. In Ashley's case, she was just that good of a friend, plus a mostly all-around nice girl. And as for Silena, while she did want very much to take the throne of head cheerio for herself, she was far from the type to be mean-spirited to Charlotte on her birthday of all days. The two of them had even already gotten their planned birthday gifts for Charlotte that past weekend.

But now, at this current moment, Ashley now had a tiny idea of how they could perhaps attempt to help make their captain's special day even better. She turned her head to Silena, and made a whispered hiss to attract her attention. The brunette turned her head to face Ashley.

"You remember how today's Charlotte's birthday right?"

Silena nodded. "Yes."

Ashley briefly turned her head to look in Charlotte's direction. Then she looked back at Silena. "You are also aware of how important it is that today be a good day for her, right?"

Silena narrowed her eyes irritably. "I was born at night; not last night."

Ashley winced, and quickly shook her head side to side to clear her thoughts. "Right, sorry." She leaned forwards, whispering, "The point is, I have an idea of how we could help make today even better for Charlotte."

Silena raised her eyebrow, now clearly interested. "Oh really?"

Ashley nodded her head.

Silena grinned, clearly convinced that this idea might be worth considering. "Do elaborate further," she whispered.

Ashley looked towards Charlotte, then the teacher, and then back at Silena. "You know how Charlotte's always basically on her own in her efforts to get herself hooked up with the quarterback?"

Silena rolled her eyes. "Is that a trick question?" She directed a half annoyed and half perplexed glare at Charlotte. "Honestly, every single detail about that little quest of hers is so honking obvious. It would be a miracle for you to find anyone around here who isn't an obvious freshman or similar newcomer that isn't aware of that detail, or any other detail, about this whole mess."

"Well I was thinking," Ashley promptly continued once Silena was finished speaking. "Maybe, just for today at least, the two of us could see if she'd let us try to help her."

Silena's eyes widened. "You're joking," she said.

Ashley's eyes narrowed. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Silena's own eyes promptly narrowed to match Ashley's own glare. "Well there ain't no way you could possibly be serious about this."

"And why's that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Silena gestured her hand towards Charlotte. "This quest of hers, as you so eloquently put it, is quite simply an exercise in futility."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Try telling her that," she grumbled sarcastically.

Silena narrowed her eyes further. "Oh sure, great idea. I'll go ahead and place myself in line as the latest person to tell her exactly that, or something along similar lines. I'm sure I'll totally be the one who tells her that and gets lucky enough to be the person in which telling her that makes even remotely makes a difference."

Ashley groaned irritably, just barely keeping her voice at whisper volume. "That's beside the point," she hissed.

"You think?"

Silena took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Look Ashley," she managed to say calmly. "Don't get me wrong, I know full well that it is somewhat our fault that she even got the idea that she was possibly in love with Daniel and potentially had a chance to be that girl for him in the first place thanks to that talk we had after that talent show from the summer after middle school graduation."

She shook her head side to side. "But in the last two years that have followed since that talent show? We've all changed Ashley. And furthermore, I've been paying quite a bit of attention, and I know you have too. And to put it simply, Daniel's clearly not any more interested in Charlotte period, let alone in any romantic sense, then he was in middle school. Heck, very likely as a direct result of how much interest she's been showing towards him since the start of Freshman Year thanks to us, I'd say he's now even less interested in her then he was in middle school."

Silena pointed at Charlotte, who was still focused entirely on reading her textbook, and blissfully unaware of the discussion her two friends were having. "And I don't know about you, but I also think that it would be much better for our mental health to continue keeping our distance from all this as far as direct involvement is concerned. I mean, seriously, have you seen what she's been trying to pull lately? The first few plots she tried, I'll admit, perfectly acceptable and somewhat harmless enough. But at this point, the stuff she's been cooking up? The lengths she's been willing to try to go to? Say what you will about my family's history with the extremes we've been willing to go to over the course of our 'always get what we want' mentality phases, but Charlotte's been making my family's most infamous past incidents look tame over the last few months. Color me suspicious, but I honestly fear the poor girl's gone mad."

Ashley took a deep breath, and exhaled, working to regain her composure. After all, the last thing she needed to do was to explode in anger right there in the classroom. And besides, Silena did have a legitimate point. "Look Silena," she whispered. "I understand where you're coming from. I really do." She gestured towards Charlotte. "But honestly Silena, surely it wouldn't hurt for us to at least try to help her out at least this once? I'm not saying we should fully commit ourselves to always helping her out with her efforts 100% from this day onward. I'm just thinking we should at least see if she's willing to let us try to assist her at least this once. For all we know, she could yet say no. Besides. . ."

She shrugged in a 'win-win' fashion. "Today's her birthday. You've gotta admit, regardless of whether she says yes or no to this proposal, she'd probably at least appreciate the sentiment coming from us on this day of all days."

Silena thought to herself, considering Ashley's words. Then, after what seemed like an eternity to the patiently waiting Ashley, Silena sighed, and nodded her head up and down. "Ok," said the brunette. "I suppose we could try just this once." She lifted her finger. "But only this once. Understood?"

Ashley nodded, indicating that she understood.

"Good." Silena took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Now if, hypothetically, Charlotte says yes to this proposal, what exactly did you have in mind?"

Ashley thought to herself, a sheepish grimace starting to appear on her face. "Well . . . I honestly haven't really gotten that far."

Silena narrowed her eyes.

"Look Silena," said Ashley. "I get that this looks bad. But let's be reasonable, all I was suggesting was that we offer to provide assistance to Charlotte. Coming up with devious plots and such? That's not my territory. Devious stuff is what I leave for you and Charlotte to handle."

At the sound of this, Silena's eyebrow rose, but this time in interest. "Hmm, that is a fair point." A wide grin came on her face, and she placed her hand comfortingly on Ashley's. "Fear not," she said. "I'll see what I can think up with as far as actual ideas to suggest. All you have to worry about is making the pitch for us providing assistance to dear ol' Charlie." She directed her gaze towards Charlotte, grin still on her face and her dark eyes agleam with a very mischievous looking light. "Like you said," she admitted. "Devious stuff is me and Charlie's area."

She chuckled. "A Townsend always gets what she wants," she whispered half to herself and half to Ashley. She turned her head to look at Ashley once more. "And today, this Townsend wants Charlotte Thornton to have an especially happy birthday today. And in the event that Charlie says yes to your proposal, I have a good feeling that I'll have a perfect scheme all thought up and at the ready to be carried out by the time we finally get around to asking her."

. . . . .

"Let me get this straight," said Charlotte. "You're telling me that, for once, you're thinking of getting yourselves actively involved in my little quest alongside me?"

"That's one way of putting it," Ashley said modestly.

Silena nodded her head in agreement, a smug grin on her face.

As of that moment, the three highest ranking cheerios were meeting in an otherwise empty hallway in the time interval between the 1st and 2nd class periods to occur before recess, with the 2nd and 3rd highest ranking cheerios pausing only long enough for Silena to briefly take care of something she claimed to be of high importance that inexplicably enough involved looking through the contents of a nearby janitor's supply closet for some reason. Now, here they were discussing the possibility of the two of them helping their captain and friend out in her personal romance quest. And while Ashley was half excited and half nervous about how Charlotte would potentially respond to the offer, Silena was feeling quite smug and confident about the chances of Charlotte saying yes, and had even managed to think up a suitably devious scheme, just as she'd promised to Ashley back in their 1st period class.

Charlotte thought to herself. "I don't know," she said. "I've been working on my own for the past two years. You've gotta admit, it's pretty late in the game right now for you to suddenly want to help me out like this."

"I understand that Charlotte."

Ashley nodded her head, further emphasizing how much she understood where Charlotte was coming from. "But like you said, it's been two years since you've started this quest of yours, and results have been far from favorable."

Charlotte snorted irritably, but didn't comment. "No use denying the truth," she thought bitterly to herself.

"Think of it this way," said Silena. She placed her hands on her hips, grin still on her face. "It's certainly something new to try out. And besides, we're not saying that we want to be your permanent partners in this business from here on out. We're just suggesting that we try to help you just this one time." She nodded her head. "Be honest. Surely it wouldn't hurt for us to try to assist you at least this once. I certainly don't see anything for you to lose."

"She's right," Ashley agreed. She nodded her head. "And besides, today's your birthday; your sweet 16 no less. You've gotta admit, on this day of all days, the fact that we're offering to do something this nice is a good reason to feel happy."

Charlotte thought to herself some more. When she really put her mind to it, her 2nd and 3rd in command certainly had a point. After all, she'd already spent two full school years now working strictly on her own in her efforts to get her hooks into Daniel, with consistently abysmal results. Not to mention the fact that, out of all her plans she'd currently thought up and attempted, the idea of letting her friends help out in any capacity certainly wasn't amongst them. She let a smile come on her face. "Maybe their assistance is just the thing I need to finally make some significant progress for once." Her smile then widened as she thought once again about how today was her birthday. "I'll admit," she thought to herself, "the fact that they're actually willing to get directly involved in all this certainly does make a pretty sweet birthday present." She nodded her head up and down with her eyes closed. Then she looked directly at them. "Well when you put it that way," she began aloud. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give this a shot." She nodded her head once more. "Mind if I ask just what exactly you had in mind?"

"I'm glad you asked." Silena chuckled, dark eyes agleam. "I've got just the thing for Ashley and I to do."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow in confusion. "I thought this was Ashley's idea."

"Technically," said Silena, "it was her idea merely for the two of us to assist you. Exactly how we would assist you was for me to worry about." She nodded her head up and down. "And like I just said, I know just what we're going to do."

Charlotte kept her eyebrow raised, but her facial expression was now indicating interest rather than confusion. "Well in that case, care to elaborate further?"

Silena chuckled, and grinned at Charlotte. "And spoil the surprise? Come on Charlie, today's your birthday."

Charlotte pretended to pout.

Silena chuckled again. "I'll compromise. The basic gist?" She pointed at Ashley. "Ashley and me? We're going to make sure that Diana is removed from the picture and kept busy over the course of the recess session meeting of No Directions."

Charlotte turned confused once more. "How is that supposed to help?"

"I'll admit, it's a bit iffy." Silena nodded her head. "But if we're lucky, her absence from said club meeting will allow you ample opportunity to get your moves on."

"How?"

"Put it this way, with their female lead missing, especially for as long as I plan for Ashley and me to make sure she stays that way, everyone else will be so distracted wondering about where she is that it should be quite unlikely that anyone will be all that quick to interrupt you in your efforts at having a nice little chat with your precious Danny Boy."

Charlotte thought to herself. "Well you're certainly right about it being a bit iffy." She shook her head side to side. "I honestly don't know if arranging for Diana to be absent from the recess glee club meeting will be enough to prevent any interference from Mr. Schuester or any of the other losers amongst the club's student roster." Her eyes narrowed. "And that's before I get into one other little detail."

Charlotte folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm quite aware of how much time she spends with that Vanessa Hudgens body double. Hell, with how little attention I've ever bothered to pay to those two, I know that they were already good friends and chummed around together for large amounts of time since long before this year. But honestly? Ever since they both joined this club, they're almost never anywhere outside each other's company, not to mention rarely ever not alongside Danny Boy and the puzzle brained animal for that matter. Suffice it to say, I have a pretty good feeling that it would take a miracle for you to find Diana all alone without at least Susan present alongside her."

Ashley cringed, a half sheepish grin and half grimace as she realized the valid point that Charlotte had just made. The two blondes both looked at Silena, who herself briefly appeared thrown for a loop over this detail. But then the brunette shrugged, and her confident grin returned. "Well no matter," she said. "If she's with Diana, Ashley and I will just take her out of the picture to. That way, there will be two members of the No Directions inexplicably absent from the recess meeting for those present to wonder and worry about. Not to mention the fact that said absent members happen to be the club's leading ladies as that bippity bopper Broadway wannabe would put it."

Silena lifted her finger to further emphasize what she was saying. "And furthermore," she continued, now really on a role. "With the vice leading lady missing, odds are very high indeed that both the, as you so lovingly called him, puzzle brained animal and his unsettlingly smart bodyguard dog of his will be plenty distracted." She placed her hands on her hips, grinning still, and her dark eyes agleam. "You gotta admit, iffy as this plan is, it's certainly worth at least trying, right?"

Charlotte considered the idea. Then she closed her eyes and nodded her head. "I suppose that's true." She opened her eyes and stared straight at her two friends. "Alright, I'll let you try to help me out at least this once; and if we're all lucky and this nutty idea of yours works, then I suppose we'll have even more reason to celebrate this weekend."

Ashley let out a sigh of relief, glad that Charlotte had accepted their offer to help her. Silena, meanwhile, chuckled maliciously, unnerving grin still on her face. "Don't you worry Charlie," said the brunette. "This plan will work. There ain't no doubt about that. Just you wait and see."

. . . . .

An hour or so later, with 2nd period class over and about 15 minutes left before the recess session of glee club began, Diana and Susan were walking together through the hallways to make a quick stop at their lockers. A few minutes earlier, they'd been walking towards the choir room alongside Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes. But they'd since split off from the boys and dog to make their locker trip, and the boys had promised to meet up with them in front of the choir room. And now, it wouldn't be much longer before the two of them reached their lockers. And as soon as they were finished, it would likewise not take too long for them to regroup with Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes at the choir room.

The two girls reached their lockers, opened them, and started sorting out what they would need for their classes to occur immediately after recess while putting away what they no longer immediately needed. At that moment, suffice it to say, they were having a pretty good and happy day, and they couldn't see any way that it could possibly turn otherwise.

Little did they know, however, that they were being watched from within a nearby janitor's supply closet by a pair of cheerios who were now quite keen on making sure that exactly that possibility came true. Or at least . . . one of them was keen on making this happen. The other cheerio, however. . .

"I'm asking you this again," Ashley practically hissed, her tone clearly indicating how shocked and scandalized she appeared to be. "Are you insane?"

Silena narrowed her eyes at Ashley in annoyance. "For the 7th time, no. What part of that did you not get the first time?"

Ashley narrowed her own eyes back at Silena. "Well excuse me for being skeptical," she hissed. "But what you're about to have us do sounds awfully hypocritical of you after our discussion earlier."

Silena's eyes narrowed even further. "Oh really?" She folded her arms across her chest. "Enlighten me."

"Wish granted," said Ashley. "This apparent perfect scheme of yours? Color me cynical, but I hardly see how what you're suggesting for us to do right now to Susan and Diana is any different, let alone any better, than any of that beyond Townsend standard craziness you claim that Charlotte's been up to lately."

"This is different," said Silena.

"How?" Ashley asked spitefully in response.

"Simple."

Silena took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Think of it this way," she began. "What we're doing? Doing this our way, the worst that happens is that Roxie and Velma are left preoccupied for a short while or so, admittedly in not entirely conventional or similarly socially acceptable fashion, but are otherwise unharmed. If Charlotte were doing this?" She shook her head side to side, shuddering in the process. "Lord knows how much she'd overdo the whole business and how much torture and horror she'd put the poor girls through."

Ashley raised her eyebrow. While in fairness, Silena did have a reasonable enough point, Ashley still wasn't 100% convinced. "Are you sure you're not just trying to make up excuses to deny how much more similar you are to Charlotte than you think you are?"

"Ashley," said Silena. "Look, I get it. I know that it's hardly the most palatable idea I'm suggesting for us to do here. But honestly Ashley, as extreme as Charlotte's been getting lately? She's still been playing it relatively safe so far."

Ashley raised her eyebrow. "You call those last few schemes you tried out playing it safe? I'm not buying it."

"The point is," Silena hissed, "if the two of us, or Charlotte for that matter, are to succeed in this matter, we can't mess around and treat this like a game. We need to be decisive, firm, to the point." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "To put it simply, now's not the time to act like children. Playtime's over."

Ashley moaned uncomfortably, directed her gaze towards the still blissful and happy Diana and Susan. "I don't know," she whimpered. "I really don't like the sound of what you're suggested for us to do here."

"I know Ashley," said Silena, this time sounding noticeably more patient and sympathetic than in her last few comments. "But think of it this way, my version of this plan? It will be God knows more safe and comfortable for the victims than it would be if Charlotte were at the reigns for this idea."

Ashley thought to herself, grimacing and clenching her teeth in the process. Then she sighed, hung her head, and exhaled, eyes closed the whole time. "Fine, I'll go through with this." She looked back at Silena, eyes open and glaring. "But mark my words, if this goes wrong, you're explaining to Charlotte, as well as to any other of the wrong people who end up getting involved and pissed off."

"I understand," said Silena.

"And furthermore," said Ashley. "Regardless of how well this goes, this had better be both the 1st and last time I end up having to do something that goes so strongly against my personal morals and comfort zone."

"I'll try my best," said Silena. She sighed. "But I can't promise anything other than that."

Ashley narrowed her eyes, clearly not fully convinced by Silena's not entirely convincing response to her last demand.

Then Silena happened to glance in Diana and Susan's direction from the corner of her eye, and her eyes widened. "Shit, it's time." She looked at Ashley. "We'll worry about the subtle details later, we gotta make our move! Now!"

"Fine," Ashley growled. "But regardless of how this unfolds, you owe me."

And at that, the two girls hurriedly, but quietly, slipped out of the janitor's closet and made their way towards Susan and Diana right as the two New Directions female leads were wrapping up their business at their lockers. The two female leads in question were none the wiser . . . until it was too late.

. . . . .

Calvin stared down the hall in the direction that led back to where Susan and Diana had departed to go to their lockers. His eyes narrowed in a mixture of suspicion, confusion, and worry. He knew through both personal locker experience and how well he knew Susan that her and Diana's planned business with their lockers was a quite simple and easily completed task, and that they strangely appeared right now to be taking far longer than they should have been. And this was enough to get him, and Hobbes for that matter, to feel quite worried that something was wrong. "What's taking Susan so long?" Calvin thought to himself.

"You ok?"

Calvin and Hobbes looked to their left, and saw that Daniel had turned his head to look at them. Calvin sighed, and looked back in the direction leading towards where Diana and Susan supposedly still were. "Need I answer?"

Daniel sighed, and hung his head, nodding it up and down briefly in understanding. "I'll admit," said Daniel, "it is definitely unsettling that they're taking as long as they are."

"Understatement," Calvin grumbled. Hobbes snarled in agreement.

Daniel placed his hand on Calvin's shoulder to keep him calm. "But nonetheless," Daniel said calmly, clearly trying his best to keep himself together for his vice male lead's sake despite his own worries about potential negative reasons behind Susan and Diana's continued prolonged absence. "I'm sure there's no need to worry too much. I'm sure that Diana and Susan are perfectly fine."

Even as he said this, Daniel still wasn't fully convinced of the idea himself. But at the same time, he wanted to believe that Diana and Susan were perfectly fine and safe, as well as to prevent Calvin from losing his cool from worry. Granted, if enough time passed much longer without Diana and Susan showing up and proving that they were alright, he would definitely worry full stop, and let Calvin do the same. But for now, Daniel really wished to try to keep things civil and calm as long as he could while still hoping for the best in regard to Susan and Diana's welfare despite their current absence.

Calvin raised his eyebrow, clearly not 100% convinced. Hobbes also looked at Daniel with clear suspicion in his eyes. Then the autistic boy and his therapy dog looked each other in the eyes, seemed to think to themselves, and then hung their heads. Calvin even went so far as to sigh heavily in resignation. "I hope you're right," said Calvin.

"Me to," Daniel admitted. "Me to."

And with that, the two boys reluctantly turned around and entered the choir room. Thus, they were the first people to enter the choir room for the recess session that day. And right now, they could only hope that Diana and Susan were indeed perfectly alright, safe, and healthy. But of course, in the event that they continued to remain absent and the chances of them not being alright, safe, and healthy rose too much higher than they currently were to ignore, then they would be more than willing to go right back out and search for them to make damn sure that their two female leads were restored back to a comfortable level of safety.

And just like that, another chapter over. I'll admit, somewhat (and I do mean SOMEWHAT) suspenseful ending here on this particular chapter. Oh well. Nonetheless, I hope very much that you all enjoyed reading this chapter, found it worth the somewhat long wait between this one and the previous chapter, and that you all leave plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) of feedback (remember, I require a minimum of 1-2 reviews, but it is STRONGLY encouraged that EVERYBODY who reads this and is capable of leaving reviews leave a review). Again, hope you all enjoyed this new chapter and leave plenty of feedback!

Coming up Next: Calvin and Daniel finally reach breaking point, and promptly set off to find Susan and Diana, to the point of putting the recess glee club meeting on hold, and thus putting a significant wrench in Charlotte's plan (again!). And for that matter, just what HAVE Silena and Ashley done to 'ensure Diana and Susan's absence' from the glee club recess meeting? Find out next time!