Alright ya'll! Hope you haven't lost faith in me as a result of the long wait, cuz here is a new chapter! In this new chapter, Calvin and Daniel have finally had enough, and promptly set off (with Hobbes in tow) to find the mysteriously absent Diana and Susan (and in the process, we all figure out alongside them just WHAT Silena and Ashley did to cause them to be absent in the 1st place). And in the events that unfold as a result, things epically backfire in Charlotte's face yet again! Hip, hip, hooray! Sound like fun? I certainly hope so! Please read, review, and enjoy!
A/N: But first, I'll just remind you again; I do not own Glee. That being said, onward with the fic people!
Chapter 17:
Up Close and Personal
As it so happened, Diana and Susan were indeed not alright, safe, and healthy. Not at all. But at the same time, they also could've just as easily been even less so. Then again, the fact that their current situation could have been even worse would have hardly been all that comforting for them when one took into account just how bad their situation already was.
How bad was their current situation, one might ask? Well for one thing, they were currently locked inside a janitor supply closet. Beforehand, they'd been minding their own business at their lockers in preparation for their classes to immediately follow recess before planning to make their way back towards the choir room and meet up with Daniel and Calvin. But then, right as they'd been wrapping up their locker business and preparing to leave the area, they'd abruptly been grabbed from behind with an arm wrapped around their bodies to pin their arms down and a hand covering their mouths, at which point they'd been dragged backwards and into the closet.
Upon entry into the closet, it hadn't taken long for Susan and Diana to become aware that their captors were none other than Charlotte's two highest ranking cheerio underlings, Silena and Ashley. But almost immediately after they'd learned this, the two cheerios in question had promptly made their already unpleasant situation even worse thanks to some conveniently present items inside the closet that Diana and Susan now couldn't help but feel disturbed about being present in the janitor's closet in such readily available capacity. As a result, not only were they locked inside the janitor's closet, but they were also tied up and had their mouths taped shut. Needless to say, they were not happy about having been abducted period, let alone in such an undignified fashion.
Diana thrashed and squirmed around angrily on the left side of the closet as she furiously struggled to free herself from the yellowish ropes pinioning her hands together behind her back and binding her feet together, grumbling irritably through the strip of black duct tape that Silena had gagged her with. "Jjjssshhhsss Ccchhhrrrsssttt," Diana snarled through her gag, shaking her head side to side. "Ttthhhsss rrr ttthhhttt."
"Jjjnnn ttthhh ccclllbbb," Susan growled as she struggled against her own bonds and glared just as irritably as her friend above her own black duct tape gag that Ashley had placed across her mouth. She looked towards the locked door to the closet. "Hmm dddnnnttt kkknnnwww fffrrr cccrrrtttnnn wwwhhhmmm rrr wwwhhhttt wwwsss rrrssspppnnnsssbbblll fffrrr ttthhhppphhh, bbbttt hhhfff Ccchhhrrrlllttt hhhddd hhhnnnmmmppphhhnnnggg tttmmm dddmmm wwwttthhh ttthhhppphhh, ttthhhnnn bbbmmm Gggddd, ssshhhsss gggnnn tttmmm fffrrr ttthhhppphhh tttmmm."
"Nnnmmm bbbllldddmmm kkkdddhhhnnnggg." Diana snorted, rolled her eyes, and tossed her blonde hair side to side as she continued to struggle to free herself. "Gggddd!" she roared angrily through her tape gag as she continued to have no luck, green eyes blazing venomously. "Hhhttt ttthhhppphhh rrrhhhttt, wwwlll bbbmmm lllttt fffrrr ggglllmmm ccclllbbb!"
Susan glared at Diana, her blue eyes icy above the black tape on her mouth. "Yyymmm cccrrrtttnnnlllmmm hhhvvv yyyrrr ppprrrhhhmmmhhhrrrhhhtttmmmsss ssstttrrrhhhttt," she grumbled sarcastically.
. . . . .
Daniel was not in the best of moods at that moment as he sat patiently at his seat in the choir room. He wasn't angry, per se. Not at all. He was, however very much aware of how unsettlingly long Diana now appeared to be taking in a task that quite simply should not have taken even a quarter as long as it now seemingly taken, and getting increasingly worried about why she and Susan still seemingly hadn't yet finished their task and arrived at the choir room.
Calvin, meanwhile, was feeling the exact same way that Daniel was now feeling. Except, naturally, where Daniel was especially concerned about Diana, he was far more concerned about Susan. Hobbes, naturally, felt the same way as his master. In fact, even now, both Calvin and Hobbes were tensed up in their respective positions and looking intently in the direction of the choir room door with narrowed eyes as they watched for any sign of Susan or Diana.
Most of the other people present in the room at that point also seemed confused, worried, and similarly uncertain about Diana and Susan's conspicuous absence. Seven of the other gleeks were looking around and worriedly whispering to each other about the absence. The band members also looked worried. Mr. Schuester clearly was both worried and trying his best to remain optimistic. Even Brad looked noticeably worried.
The only two people who didn't seem to look worried, meanwhile, were Zach and Charlotte. In Zach's case, he seemed to be lost in his own little world, while also still having a rather guilty look on his face as he remembered his earlier encounter with Charlotte that morning and his actions over the past few days. As for Charlotte, she seemed rather pleased and excited. Granted, a small part of her was surprised and unnerved at the fact that Susan and Diana were indeed absent and taking so long to arrive at the choir room. But at the same time, she also couldn't help but feel triumphant and joyful that Silena's nutty idea appeared to have miraculously worked.
"Besides," she thought to herself. "Whatever it is Silena and Ashley did to enforce this absence upon them, it couldn't have been all that drastic, right? Being drastic is my job." She nodded her head slowly, taking a deep breath and exhaling with her eyes closed. "Yeah," she reasoned to herself in her mind. "They're just keeping them occupied with a nice civilized talk. That's all that's going on. Nothing too serious." To be fair, she still wasn't entirely convinced of her own excuse. But nonetheless, she had to admit that, whatever it was that Silena and Ashley had done to ensure Diana and Susan's absence from the recess glee club meeting, it had worked spectacularly. She then directed a seductive smile in Daniel's direction, now quite aware that she indeed did seemingly have an ideal opportunity to talk with him. And even better, absolutely no one else at all, Daniel included, seemed to be even noticing how she was now looking at him. Her smile widened, blue eyes bright with delight and triumph. It seemed now that things would actually work out quite well for her for once.
What Charlotte didn't realize, however, was that Daniel in fact was aware of her scrutiny, as he was surreptitiously watching her from the corner of his left eye. And at that moment, he now found himself feeling even more unnerved about the current situation as a direct result of Charlotte, and not just because of her current scrutiny either. For starters, she'd arrived earlier than usual. Granted, she had still arrived five minutes past the time that the glee club session was supposed to begin, but the fact that she'd arrived five minutes late as opposed to her usual ten minutes late was still a noteworthy detail. And furthermore, not only had she managed to arrive five minutes earlier then she usually did, but she'd also very glaringly arrived before Susan and Diana. And these two elements combined, plus the fact that 10 minutes had now passed without Susan or Diana arriving at the choir room, were enough to make Daniel feel very worried indeed.
Calvin was also surreptitiously directing his gaze at Charlotte. But unlike Daniel, he was now both suspicious as well as worried. "If I didn't think she had anything to do with Susan and Diana's current absence before," he thought to himself, "I definitely think so now." Hobbes, likewise, was now glaring in Charlotte's direction as well, clearly in agreement with his master's current thoughts.
At that moment, Charlotte leaned forward, her eyes bright and gleaming, and a smile still on her face as she finally chose to initiate an effort at making a move. But as her usual bad luck would have it, she was only seconds away from even speaking before she was interrupted.
"Alright class, from the top."
Calvin and Daniel's eyes widened, and so did the eyes of all the other gleeks present. In Charlotte's case, it appeared as if she were pleasantly surprised and delighted by the news she'd just heard. In Zach's case, it looked as if he'd been in his own little world and was now completely off guard as to just what was going on. The remaining nine gleeks, however, were quite understandably surprised, and not in a pleasant way.
"You're starting already?!" Daniel yelled. "Without Diana!?"
"And without Susan!?" Calvin yelled. Hobbes barked thrice in apparent agreement with his master.
Mr. Schuester sighed, and shook his head side to side. Truth be told, he didn't like the fact that he was now having to do this anymore than his students did. But at the end of the day, he really had to do his job. "Guys, I know that it would be better if Diana and Susan were here, but we've been waiting 10 minutes now. We've only got another 20 minutes left before recess ends and its time to prepare for 3rd period classes; so we might as well get at least some sort of proper session taken care of while we still have the chance."
"Without our female leads?!" Calvin yelled. He snarled. "You're the one who said how important it was to even have both male and female leads. We can't have glee club sessions without them! Plain and simple!"
Mr. Schuester was about to respond with the not 100% factual way Calvin had just interpreted his words from that Monday when Daniel continued. "And especially not without Diana! She's been one of the most hardest working and most dedicated members of this club since the day we all first joined, and she's been wanting so badly to be a part of this for the last two years. Do you have any how heartbroken she'd be if we started without her?!" He turned his head back to face all the other gleeks behind him. "You agree with us, right?"
Seven of the other gleeks promptly responded with a hearty 'yes'. Charlotte merely glared, her fists clenched, clearly trying to keep herself from exploding in anger. Zach, on the other hand . . . "Hey, where's Diana and Susan?"
Even Charlotte and Hobbes couldn't help but direct a perplexed glare at Zach upon hearing this.
"Where were you for the last 30 seconds?!" Calvin howled.
"Forget that!" Daniel yelled. "Where were you for the last 11 minutes!?"
"Guys," said Mr. Schuester. "Please don't make me break up another fight today. . ."
"You know what Zach?" Daniel folded his arms across his chest and glared at the black boy. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have any suspicion of you being somehow behind all this?"
The other gleeks briefly found their eyes widening at this accusation. But then all of them but Charlotte thought to themselves, realized that it was actually a somewhat fair point, and directed their suspicion filled gazes at Zach, who mentally winced, vocally sighed, and physically shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. "Man," Zach thought to himself, "I've really gotten the short end of the stick this week."
"What makes you think he did it?"
The other people in the room all looked at Calvin in shock. Even Hobbes looked caught off guard. "You're defending him?!" Daniel yelled.
Zach felt a brief flicker of hope. "I can't believe this," he thought to himself. "He's actually forgiven me . . ."
"Well of course he couldn't have done it," Calvin snarked, his eyes narrowed and rolling in dismissal. "Not if he's smart." He pointed at Zach. "He knows full well that I'll kill him if he dares pull any further funny business against Susan again, or against any of my other friends for that matter. And he knows that, if I fail to do that, he'll end up either expelled, in jail, or both."
Zach's heart sank, and he hung his head once more. "So much for that little bit of hope," he thought bitterly to himself.
"And furthermore," Calvin continued. "I do believe we both know someone much more likely to be behind this, assuming there's anyone in this room who is in fact behind Susan and Diana's absence." He pointed at Charlotte. "And she's sitting right next to the bastard you were just now willing to blame."
Daniel looked briefly in Charlotte's direction, looked away with a thoughtful expression on his face, then glared back at Charlotte, and then looked at Calvin. "You're right," he said to Calvin. He pointed at Charlotte. "If there's anyone apart from Zach that I should likely expect to be behind all this, it's her."
At this point, Charlotte found herself once again feeling fit to explode. "Silena," she thought to herself bitterly, "you and Ashley are so fired!" And as drastic as such a thought might have sounded, the fact that whatever nutty idea Silena and Ashley had used to ensure Diana and Susan's absence that had seemed so delightfully successful not too long ago was now going horribly off the rails.
"Guys," said Mr. Schuester, clearly trying his best to restore order before it got out of hand entirely. "There's no need to blame anything, or anyone, for this absence. I'm sure Susan and Diana are fine. And for all we know, they just plain weren't able to come after all."
"Without telling me?!" Daniel and Calvin roared angrily at the teacher in unison.
Zach chuckled. "Dude, no homo!" He grinned cheekily.
Calvin snapped his head, black eyes boiling with rage, and Zach's grin faded as he promptly regretted his badly timed joke and ill choice of words. Calvin snarled, and started to snap up to his feet with his fist drawn back to punch Zach, only for Daniel to snap his hand onto Calvin's shoulder and stop him. "Calvin," he growled. "Not now."
Calvin jerked himself free from Daniel's grasp, snapped his head to face the dark-haired boy, and snarled like a dog with his teeth gritted and eyes still narrowed. After a tense few minutes, Calvin took a deep breath, exhaled, and turned around to face Mr. Schuester's direction once more.
The teacher himself took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Ok," he said. "Now that all that drama's out of the way. . ."
"No."
Mr. Schuester gaped incredulously at Daniel, as did everyone else in the choir room. "Excuse me?"
"No," Daniel repeated. He lifted his head to face Mr. Schuester, gray eyes showing unrelentingly how serious he was at that moment. "I know what you're about to suggest Mr. Schue, and I'm telling you right now that that's not gonna happen . . . not yet."
"Danny," Charlotte said as she tried to extend her hand towards his shoulder from behind.
Daniel snapped his head to face her with a look of annoyed rage on his face. "My name's Daniel! Get that through your head!"
"No need to be rude to her," said Zach.
"I have every right to be rude to her you fucker!" Daniel yelled. He pointed at Zach. "And if you actually thought with your head instead of your dick, you'd agree with me!"
"Daniel," Mr. Schuester began patiently.
"Like I was saying before these two idiots interrupted," Daniel said to Mr. Schuester while still looking right at Charlotte and Zach. He turned around, standing up from his seat in the process. "This glee club session is officially on hold until Calvin and I come back here with Susan and Diana."
"Damn straight," Calvin snarled in agreement. He got up from his seat just in time to start following close behind Daniel as the dark-haired boy started making his way towards the choir room door. "Come on Hobbes." The dog snarled, got up to his feet, and promptly followed his master as Calvin and Daniel proceeded to walk right out of the choir room and down the hallway in the direction that they knew would lead back in the direction of Susan and Diana's lockers.
For what seemed like an eternity, everybody else in the choir room were too stunned by what had just happened to speak, move, or similarly react. Eventually, Dunlap managed to break the silence by saying, "Did they just walk out on us?"
"They just walked out on us," Darren replied.
The gleeks all looked at each other, and then at Mr. Schuester. Brad and the band members, likewise, directed their gaze at Mr. Schuester. The teacher sighed, shook his head side to side, and looked directly at his 9 students who hadn't just now abruptly up and left the room. "Well guys, you heard your male leads. The session is now on hold. Anything you wish to discuss in the meantime while we wait for them to come back?"
. . . . .
"Diana!" Daniel yelled. "Can you hear me? Where are you?"
"Susan! Susan!" Calvin shouted as he and Hobbes followed close behind Daniel in their search through the McKinley High hallways.
"Diana!" Daniel yelled.
"Susan!" Calvin shouted.
Hobbes even went so far as to bark loudly as if trying in his own way to call for Susan or Diana alongside Calvin and Daniel.
For several minutes, the two boys and the dog continued making their way through the hall in search of the two missing New Directions female leads. And by the end of those several minutes, Calvin was very clearly seeming half panicked despite is equally strong hope that Susan and Diana were alright. Hobbes, sensing his master's nervousness, also looked unsettled by the matter.
"Good grief," said Calvin. "Where are they?"
"Wherever they are," said Daniel, clearly determined and not about to give up, "we're going to find them. Of that, I can assure you."
. . . . .
Meanwhile, back in the janitor's closet, the still bound and gagged Diana and Susan continued struggling like mad to get free from their bonds while shrieking and grunting irritably through the duct tape sealing their mouths. And the fact that they were both still no closer to getting free then before and now quite late for glee club left them both quite unhappy about their current situation.
"Ggghhhddd gggrrrfff," Susan growled as she looked at the seemingly tired out (and still no closer to being free) Diana. Her blue eyes narrowed irritably above the tape. "Hhhrrrhhhmmm hhhppp Dddnnnhhhnnnhhhmmm!"
Diana glared right back at Susan, her green eyes blazing angrily above her gag. "Hhhmmm tttrrrmmmhhhnnnggg! Hhhmmmkkkhhhmmm?!"
"Tttrrmmm hhhrrrdddhhhrrr," Susan grumbled. She shook her head side to side and squirmed against her bonds yet again. "Hhhmmm dddnnnttt wwwnnnttt hhhppphhh tttmmm bbbmmm ssstttkkk lllkkk ttthhhppphhh hhhlll dddmmm!"
Diana sighed, and leaned her head back against the wall behind her. "Hhhmmm kkknnnmmm," she mumbled through the tape on her mouth. "Jjjsssttt lllttt mmmhhh rrrggghhhnnn mmmhhh hhhnnnhhhrrrgggmmm fffrrrppphhh."
Susan grumbled angrily, and leaned her own head backwards against the wall behind her in irritation. "GGGDDD!" she roared through her gag. "Wwwhhhlll nnnvvvrrr gggttt hhhttt hhhvvv hhhrrr hhhttt ttthhhppphhh rrrhhhttt!"
Diana was just about to try to give her friend a muffled effort at cheering her up when the two girls heard the feint sound of two familiar voices speaking from a distance outside the closet they were locked in. They directed their attention towards the area the sound seemed to be coming from, eyes widened and ears listening intently. After a tense moment, the noises got louder as whoever was speaking clearly got closer to their location, and it took all of two seconds for the girls to recognize that the voices were indeed Daniel and Calvin. And judging from the fact that Calvin was there, and double confirmed by Calvin's own words they heard, Hobbes was coming along as well.
"I think we're near their lockers," they heard Daniel's voice say.
"I see the lockers," piped in Calvin's voice. "Right there down that hall. Come on."
The sound of the boys' voices was enough to reenergize the girls, and they promptly leaned forward towards the closet door, eager to try to get Daniel and Calvin's attention.
"Dddnnnhhhmmmlll!" Diana screamed frantically, the tape on her mouth muffling her cry. "Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr!"
"Ccclllvvvnnn!" Susan yelled equally frantically, her own cries likewise muffled by the black duct tape blocking her mouth. "Hhhbbbppphhh! Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr! Gggttt hhhvvvrrr hhhrrr nnnhhhwww!"
Then they heard words that brought them uncomfortable pause. "What are you doing?" asked Calvin. "I said come on!"
"We're going that way," said Daniel's voice.
"What do you mean that way?" said Calvin. "We're going this way! Towards Diana and Susan's lockers!"
"And make a clear waste of searching time?" said Daniel. "I don't think so."
The two girls glared in the direction of the voices, eyes narrowed in irritation and disbelief.
"Hhhrrr yyymmm sssrrrhhhmmmhhhmmmppphhh?" Diana grumbled.
"Yyyvvv gggttt tttmmm bbbmmm kkkdddhhhnnnggg mmmhhh," Susan mumbled.
"Waste of time?" said Calvin. "On what evidence?!"
"Um, hello?" said Daniel. "Can you not see how there's clearly no one present in this hallway you're so insistent on searching?"
"Just because we can't see anybody doesn't mean there isn't anyone in there!"
"There's nowhere in this hallway for anyone to be apart from out in the open!"
"Hello!? There is a janitor's closet right there!"
"Wwwlll tthhnnkk Gggddd sssmmmhhhnnn hhhsss hhhmmm bbbrrrnnn hhhnnn hhhppphhh hhhddd tttdddmmm," Susan grumbled.
"And why the Hell would they be in a janitor's closet!?"
"I don't know, but I do have an idea! How about we actually check this hallway, try to look in the janitor's closet, and, if they're there, we ask them!?"
"Don't get smart with me!"
"I'm being dead serious!"
"Hhhnnnddd yyymmm hhhrrr hhhlllppphhhmmm bbbhhhmmmhhhnnnggg hhhdddhhhmmmhhhppphhh," Diana grumbled.
Susan snarled in agreement, and the two girls started kicking at the door with their bound feet, growling and hissing viciously through their gags.
"Hhhmmm!" Diana howled. "Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr yyymmm ffflllsss!"
"Wwwhhhppphhh ttthhh mmmtttrrr wwwpphhh yyymmm?!" Susan roared. "Qqqttt hhhccctttnnnggg lllkkk hhhdddhhhmmmhhhppphhh, gggttt dddnnn hhhrrr, hhhnnnddd gggttt hhhppphhh hhhttt hhhvvv hhhrrr!"
After another couple seconds of the two girls trying to make their presence in the janitor's closet known while listening to the two boys arguing, they finally regained reason for hope when they heard Calvin tell Daniel to be quiet.
"What do you mean be quiet?" Daniel asked. "I'm trying to . . ."
"Quiet!" Calvin hissed. "I think Hobbes might have heard something."
"Well of course he heard something," Daniel grumbled spitefully. "He's been hearing us arguing these last few minutes. . ."
"Shush!"
Diana, eager to not miss the newfound opportunity to properly get the boys' attention, lifted her bound feet and slammed them against the closet door as hard as she could. The impact was enough to produce a medium volume thumping noise.
"Ok," said Calvin two seconds later. "It looks like he may have heard something again."
"You sure about that?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, I am," said Calvin. "I think. Hold on, let me see if Hobbes hears it again, or if any of us hear it."
"Well I certainly didn't hear anything," Daniel responded snidely.
"Yeah well, I'm not asking you," Calvin snarked back.
Susan growled irritably, rolling her eyes above her gag. "Hhhmmm fffrrr Hhhvvvnnnsss ssskkk!" No sooner had she let out this irritated muffled roar when she lifted her feet and pounded her feet against a nearby set of brooms, mops, and other supplies, causing them all to fall to the closet floor with a loud clatter.
. . . . .
At the sound of a loud clatter, Hobbes bolted down the hall, barking his head off cacophonically. Daniel and Calvin found themselves paused in both words and in movement for all of two three seconds. They looked each other in the eyes. "Definitely heard that," they both said in unison. They dashed off to follow Hobbes. And soon, much to Calvin's immense smug satisfaction, Hobbes came to a stop right in front of the door to the janitor's closet he'd pointed out not too long ago and barked at it just as he'd been doing while running down the hall towards it.
Daniel and Calvin came to a stop by the closet door. Calvin instantly banged on the door. "Hello!" he shouted. "Is anyone in there?!"
"Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr!" yelled a muffled girl's voice from the other side of the door.
"Yyyppphhh Ccclllvvvnnn!" shouted a second muffled girl's voice from the other side of the door. "Hhhtttsss hhhppphhh! Gggttt hhhppphhh hhhttt hhhvvv hhhrrr!"
Calvin smiled. "Yep, that's definitely them."
"How can you tell?"
Calvin turned his head to face Daniel, a smug wolf-like grin on his face. "Oh trust me pal, I've heard Susan's voice so many times unmuffled, I am more than capable of recognizing it even when it is muffled. And since I clearly recognize her even now, then that other voice is likely Diana."
For a moment, Daniel was uncertain how to respond. But then he decided to just go with it and trust Calvin on this one. "Ok then, I guess we'd best get this open then." He grabbed onto the door knob for the closet and tugged at it. It did not budge in the slightest. "And it's locked," he grumbled. He rolled his eyes. "Naturally."
"Not for long," said Calvin. "Step aside."
Daniel found himself doing exactly that without thinking, much to his surprise. Hobbes, seemingly quite aware of what his master planned to do himself, also moved aside. Calvin leaned his head back towards the door, hands cupped around his mouth. "Susan!" he yelled. "We're gonna get you out of there! But I need you and Diana to move as far back as you can!"
The sound of muffled grunts and squeaks, plus the sound of shuffling, clinking, and clanking from inside the closet, came out from behind the locked closet door for the next few seconds. After the noises stopped, Calvin left a tiny pause hang in the air before he asked, "You ready?"
"Yyyppphhh!" yelled Susan and Diana's muffled voices in unison.
"Awesome," said Calvin. "Just give me a second now!"
He took a step back, leaning backward and bending and tensing his right leg as if in preparation for a kick. And sure enough, Calvin then proceeded to lift his right leg and foot and deliver a thundering stomp kick to the locked closet door. And lo and behold, the door burst open and slammed against the left closet wall right where Diana had been positioned before she'd moved back out of the way. The two girls, it has to be admitted, briefly flinched from the sight and sound of the locked door suddenly bursting out of position and slamming right against the area where Diana had originally been positioned. But then their shock wore off, and they directed their gaze towards the now very much open doorway in time to see Calvin still standing there, with Daniel and Hobbes watching from the sides.
The sight of the still bound and gagged Diana was enough to get Daniel's attention, and he hurriedly ran into the closet towards her. "Diana!" he screamed. At the exact same time Daniel entered the closet and got down on his knees to start helping Diana get free, Calvin and Hobbes entered the closet as well and started to work on helping Susan.
While Daniel began with untying the rope binding Diana's hands, Calvin wasted no time in making sure to yank the tape off of Susan's mouth first while Hobbes gnawed and chomped at the ropes binding her hands.
Susan gasped reflexively from the sensation of finally being able to open her mouth again combined with the all too natural sting from how painfully swiftly Calvin had removed her gag. "Thank God," she managed to say once she finally regained her breath sufficiently enough to speak as Hobbes continued to gnaw what remained of the rope binding her hands and Calvin got to work on untying her feet. She looked straight at Calvin. "What took you so long?"
At the exact same moment Susan asked this question, Hobbes finished gnawing the rope in his mouth sufficiently enough for Susan's hands to be freed, and the dark-haired girl reflexively extended them out from behind her back and started impulsively helping Calvin in getting her feet untied.
"Never mind that," said Calvin as he and Susan made short work of the rope that had been used to bind her feet together. The blonde boy grabbed her by the hand and pulled while Hobbes pressed himself against Susan's back to give her an additional push upwards back on her feet. "Just be glad we've finally come and gotten you out of here."
"What he said," Daniel agreed as he proceeded to finally undo the last knot in the rope that had been binding Diana's hands together. Diana promptly swung her hands back out from behind her back and ripped the duct tape off of her mouth, gasping reflexively just like Susan had.
"I'll say," she said in agreement once she'd fully regained her own speech capabilities. She looked over at Daniel. "Though I will admit, you could definitely have done without that senseless arguing from earlier."
Daniel seemed to wince upon hearing these words. "You heard all that huh?"
Susan snorted. "Heck yeah," she said. "And for that matter, I still think that we were loud enough that you really ought to have heard us screaming for you in here while you and Calvin were bickering about how to best continue your search for us, and am surprised now that you're surprised we heard you arguing."
"Ah yes," said Calvin. He directed his gaze at Daniel, and the dark-haired boy's heart sank in embarrassment at the sight of the clear 'See? I told you,' look in the blonde boy's black eyes.
Daniel sighed, for the autistic boy had, as of now, been proven very much in the right several times over. "Indeed," Daniel agreed. "And yes, we are sorry about that."
"What he said," said Calvin, his smug look already gone. "But we can worry about that matter some more later. Right now, we need to get ourselves, and you two, to the choir room. And for that matter, an idea as to just how you ended up tied up, gagged, and locked in this closet wouldn't hurt either."
Susan snorted, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, I know you'll enjoy hearing the story Diana and I have on that matter. . ."
The sight of Diana's widened eyes and frantic pointing towards the direction the two boys had entered the hallway from (incidentally pausing in her efforts at helping Daniel untie her feet) was enough to get Susan to stop talking, and convince Susan, Hobbes, and the two boys to direct their gazes in that very direction just in time to see Ashley and Silena walking down the hall towards them, evidently having just entered the hallway not too long ago, and clearly talking about some random topic and not at all paying attention to or aware of what was going on at the janitor's closet.
Miraculously enough, it took all of two seconds after the arrival of the two cheerios for Calvin to connect the dots. Daniel's own eyes also narrowed angrily. And nightmarishly enough, even Hobbes looked just as angry as his master. Calvin took a running start out the closet and towards the cheerios. "YOU!"
The two cheerios were jolted out of their conversation in shock, and they gaped in the direction right in front of them just in time for their eyes to widen and mouths to close in horror at the now quite frightening sight of the enraged Calvin now barreling straight towards them while Daniel charged along right next to him. At the exact moment that the two cheerios began shaking in their shoes and nervously stumbling in place without fully leaving their position, the angry Calvin only further confirmed who he and Daniel were gunning for by yelling "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"
Mere seconds after Calvin yelled this, Ashley and Silena were finally able to snap themselves into turning around and running away, screaming in fright as the angry Daniel and Calvin chased after them, the furiously snarling and barking Hobbes dashing along behind the two boys, and the two very girls they'd initially kidnapped and locked inside the janitor's closet following close behind the dog. And as if to really sink in just how much hot water the two cheerios were now in, the encouragement spouted off by the two girls and Hobbes' snarling and barking were largely overshadowed by Daniel's unnaturally loud inarticulate scream of rage and Calvin's equally unnaturally loud, and just as unnervingly life-like, t-rex-like roar that were unleashed as they initiated their chase against the two cheerios.
. . . . .
"Can we please just start the class now?"
Mr. Schuester let out a theatrical sigh, clearly exasperated, and Zach's heart sank.
"No," the teacher insisted. "You heard what Daniel said Zach. This lesson is on hold until he and Calvin return, hopefully with Susan and Diana."
"You were willing to start it not too long ago without Diana and Susan you know," said Amber.
Mr. Schuester sighed again. "I am well aware of that Amber," he said. "But at this point, with all four of the leads absent, and the current circumstances behind these absences, it is best I just respect Daniel and Calvin's wishes and have us keep waiting for them."
"I guess that means I won't be able to just up and leave this stupid room unless Danny Boy and Animal still haven't returned by the end of the recess session," Charlotte grumbled sarcastically to herself.
"That is exactly what that means," Mr. Schuester promptly said without missing a beat. "Among other things."
Charlotte glared at the teacher. "Oh really?" she asked spitefully. "Like what?"
Mr. Schuester had just opened his mouth to answer when the air was suddenly split with the sound of two loud voices yelling, "HELP!"
For a brief moment, everyone in the choir room gaped incredulously at the still open entrance to the choir room, stunned and dumbfounded at the sudden shouting they'd just heard. Then they dismissed the noise and redirected their attention back to the matter they'd been focusing on before hearing said shout.
But then the air was split with shouting once again. "CHARLOTTE! HELP US!"
At the sound of this, everyone in the choir room directed their attention towards the choir room entrance once again just in time to see none other than a seemingly quite panicked and terrified Silena Townsend and Ashley Manning bolting down the hall and right past the choir room door. The two terrified cheerios were followed mere seconds afterward by none other than a clearly furious Daniel and Calvin, who unleashed an apoplectic scream and volcanically pissed off t-rex roar (respectively) in perfect unison as they chased the two cheerios. The two boys in question had only just gone past the open door and out of sight of the choir room occupants when an absolutely seething Hobbes barreled past the door as well, snarling, slavering, and barking with rage. And mere seconds after Hobbes had bolted past the open door, none other than a pissed off Diana and Susan came bolting past the door themselves.
"You're gonna wish you'd never been born once Daniel gets his hands on you two sluts!" Diana shrieked in rage as she and Susan rushed past the open door and out of sight.
"Get them Calvin! Get them!" Susan's voice roared encouragingly from past the door after she and Diana had vanished from the choir room occupants' sight.
"Well they found Diana and Susan," said Darren.
"Indeed," Amber agreed. She and Naomi exchanged a look, a silent message passing between them. The two sophomore girls turned their heads and directed a meaningful look towards Charlotte. "And perhaps you could explain what reason they'd have to be so pissed off right now at your two right-hand bitches?"
Charlotte groaned exasperatedly, and hung her head. Granted, she was technically responsible in some way for whatever it was that had gotten her precious Danny Boy and his Autistic right-hand man so angry at her 2nd and 3rd in command. But nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel both insulted and disheartened at the fact that the two sophomore girls had been so quick to assume she was to blame. The fact that the rest of the gleeks, including Zach, turned their gaze to look at her alongside the two sophomore girls didn't help in the slightest. "Why is it always me?" she thought to herself bitterly.
. . . . .
Ashley and Silena kept running as fast they could through the McKinley High hallways, panting and gasping in terror as they tried desperately to escape from the four furious gleeks and single apoplectic dog chasing after them. The fact that Calvin continued to blare out t-rex roar after t-rex roar only further intensified their already strong fear. "I never thought that I'd end up living the full Jurassic Park t-rex chase experience," Silena thought to herself, "and by the hands of a human no less!"
Ashley, meanwhile, had other things on her mind. And as the two cheer leaders continued to run, Ashley briefly snapped her head towards Silena, an angry look on her face briefly replacing her scared look. "I told you this was a bad idea!"
It took all of Silena's willpower not to explode in anger or laugh at the hilariously bad timing behind Ashley's airing out her grievances. "Yeah well," she said, "you can lay on the recriminations all you want; AS SOON AS WE'RE NO LONGER RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES!"
"YYYYAAAAAHHHH!"
"BBBBBOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"
"BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!"
"Yeah, good idea," Ashley promptly agreed, her fearful look instantly returning to her face at the sound of Daniel's inarticulate scream, Calvin's latest t-rex roar, and Hobbes' seething rapid fire barking.
The two cheerios and their pursuers managed to run right past the entrance to another hallway. Silena and Ashley were so focused on staying ahead, however, that they failed to notice Calvin swiftly point his finger in the direction of the other hallway, or hear him yell "Take that route!" For that matter, they also failed to notice Hobbes instantly react to his master's command, just as swiftly turn around and skid to a halt, and then lunge into running down the other path. The two girls, seemingly paying no mind to the deviation Hobbes had taken from the initial chase path, ran right past the entrance to the hall the dog had entered just like their respective best male friends had done, continuing to scream out their encouragement.
The two girls made it all the point where they only had ΒΌ of the hall to run down before they could turn to run down another hall. But then they reflexively skidded themselves to a halt with frightened and shocked screams at the sight and sound of a barking Hobbes leaping out of the very hallway they'd been so prepared to use to continue their effort at escape and then come barreling straight towards them from the direction opposite his master and the other humans pursuing the two cheer leaders.
The two cheerios frantically looked forward and back, and then proceeded with despairing whimpers to slide themselves to the side so that they had their backs against a nearby wall right as Hobbes and the four enraged gleeks came to a stop together right at their approximate location and turned around to face them, blocking them off from any chance at escape.
As they gazed at the five furious faces glaring and snarling at them, the two cheerios nervously grinned. "Um . . . hey there," said Ashley.
Silena chuckled, likewise nervous. "Nice day today. Isn't it?"
Calvin snorted. "You have 30 seconds to improve our mood." He pointed at Hobbes. "Or I let Hobbes have an impromptu feast upon your toes."
"Such a level of violence will not be tolerated, or necessary."
The four angry gleeks, single likewise angry dog, and two nervous cheerleaders turned their heads in the direction this new voice had come from just in time to see none other than Mr. Schuester and all the other gleeks, Charlotte and Zach included, standing nearby.
Daniel groaned, rolled his eyes to Heaven, and directed an annoyed glare at the crowd of new arrivals. "And when, may I ask, did you arrive at this area?"
"Evidently, just in time." Mr. Schuester folded his arms across his chest, his eyebrow raised as he continued to watch the scene before him. "May I ask just what is it that's happened here to get you to threaten to have your dog bite off and eat the toes of these two girls?"
Calvin snarled, and stomped over to the area directly in front of Mr. Schuester. The autistic boy took a deep breath, exhaled, glared at Mr. Schuester, and then abruptly directed his glare towards Charlotte, grabbed her by the lapel and yanked her forward. Charlotte had just gotten her breath back, regained her balance, and directed an angry glare at Calvin when the autistic boy pointed his finger at her. "You," he snarled, "are going to explain, right now, why it appears that your two right-hand airheads over here are responsible for Daniel, Hobbes, and I finding Susan and Diana tied up, mouths taped shut, and locked in a janitor's closet!"
The eyes of the other gleeks, and Mr. Schuester, promptly widened. Even Zach looked stunned, and joined in with the others as they proceeded to direct shocked gazes towards a surprisingly equally stunned looking Charlotte. Charlotte then gritted her teeth, clenching her eyes shut as well. "Good Godfrey," she thought to herself in annoyance. "Of all the things Silena and Ashley could have done to try to help me out today, they picked something as drastic as kidnapping? God!" She opened her eyes, now looking humiliated and irritated, opening her mouth to speak.
"It was our idea!"
Mr. Schuester, Hobbes, and the gleeks all looked over at Silena and Ashley. Silena nodded her head as if to confirm what she'd just said. "That stuff you just mentioned?" she said to Calvin. "That was our idea entirely."
"Yeah," Ashley agreed. She pointed at Charlotte. "Charlie here? She's only deserving of like 33% of the blame. The remaining 66% is entirely on me and Silena!"
Both Charlotte and Silena mentally facepalmed at how Ashley had just now nullified Silena's entire effort at getting Charlotte completely absolved of blame for the incident. The rest of the gathered crowd members gazed intently, some of them with narrowed eyes, at Silena and Ashley.
"Go on," Calvin growled.
Ashley took a deep breath, exhaled, and then continued. "Like I said, Silena and I? We're 66% responsible for the incident being carried out, but the actual idea behind the incident was 100% our responsibility!"
Calvin raised his eyebrow, clearly confused. "That makes absolutely zero sense."
Silena groaned, rolled her eyes, and promptly broke in. "I'll simplify it for you before my friend makes you hurt your brain." She pointed at Charlotte. "Today's Charlotte's birthday, and Ashley thought it would be especially nice of us to offer our services in helping her achieve victory in her little quest."
At the sound of this, Daniel groaned, rolled his eyes to Heaven, and then sighed heavily in irritation. "Why am I not surprised?" he thought to himself.
Calvin thought to himself, and then nodded. "I see; do continue."
Silena complied instantly without thinking. "Like I said, her idea was merely for us to offer Charlie assistance in her quest. I, however, was the one who thought out the exact nature of how we'd attempt to carry out said assistance."
"What she said," Ashley piped in. "I was just the girl who decided that it was worth a shot to merely provide assistance to Charlie. Going so far as to resort to kidnapping for the sake of getting Charlie's competition and her best gal pal out of the way? That was entirely Silena's idea."
Silena let a brief grin of amusement come on her face. "That part was kind of fun while it lasted."
She promptly regretted her words when everyone else, including Ashley and Charlotte, glared at her venomously.
"Fun?" Diana hissed. "You call snatching us away from our lockers in the hall, tying us up, taping our mouths shut, and locking us up like that in a janitor's closet fun? Are you serious?"
"You know," Susan grumbled, "Diana and I are more than willing to subject you two whores to the exact same treatment and let you test out just how much fun it actually is." She let a devious grin come on her face. "You've gotta admit, that would be pretty darn karmic."
"Enough," said Daniel, clearly annoyed with the deviation the discussion had just taken. He glared back at the two 'subordinate' cheerios. "Just finish the explanation."
Silena and Ashley snapped back to attention. "Right, sorry," said Silena. "Like we were saying, the actual incident you've gotten so angry about, and not entirely without good reason, is on me and Ashley." She hung her head and sighed, cursing under her breath at how Ashley had thrown Charlotte under the bus not too long ago and essentially forced her to now let Charlotte be dug down even deeper. She directed her gaze back at the four angry gleeks who'd been chasing her and Ashley. "But like Ashley also said," she directed a brief sidelong 'I'm gonna kill you for this' glare at the cheerios' overall 3rd in command, and then returned her gaze towards her former pursuers, "the only reason we even carried out my actual idea was because of how, as per Ashley's wishes and idea, we asked Charlotte for permission to attempt to help her out with her quest in the time between 1st and 2nd period, and she said yes."
Silena took another deep breath, hung her head, and sighed. She lifted her head back up to face the group once more. "But know this," she stated. "Charlotte had no idea whatsoever about the exact details of my idea. She only knew the overall outlining gist behind it. Not even Ashley knew the full details of what I'd planned until we were in position to carry it out and I deemed it ok to tell her them." She then winced as she found herself remembering yet again a certain not so minor detail. "And she was not entirely happy herself with those details when she did become aware of them; if that, you know, makes anyone feel any better."
Charlotte sighed, facepalmed, and exhaled irritably. She then gestured dismissively at the other non-cheerio members of the group. "Go ahead and leave," she said. "Clearly, this is something I'd best go ahead and get over with now. No need for you lot to be dragged further down into it now that you've gotten the explanation you wanted and the obligatory kick out of seeing me get screwed over in the process."
"Are you really sure you want to be alone. . ."
"Yes. I'm. Sure. Skinner." She turned her head to face him, eyes open and glowing in an almost owl-like fashion that looked quite terrifying in her current angry glaring mode. "GO!"
Zach gulped. "Yes ma'am," he whimpered before he turned around, and started making his way back the way the rest of the gleeks had come. After a while, including several moments of silent consideration, the rest of the gleeks apart from Charlotte, Hobbes included, chose to go ahead and depart as well. Even Mr. Schuester, reluctantly, chose to depart and leave Charlotte to whatever business she now deemed necessary for her to do involving her two cohorts in the cheerios, but not without reminding her how she now had only about 10 minutes left of recess. But as he left, he couldn't help but sigh, grit his teeth, and likewise be irritated as he felt a horrendous headache start to take form over the craziness and drama he'd just now had to endure. He was now strongly considering cancelling the after-school glee club session for today just so he could have a much-needed break from the almost quite literally headache inducing drama that his glee club work seemed so insistent on thrusting upon him this week.
Another chapter done ladies and gleeks! BOY! I hope you enjoyed this one and leave plenty of reviews ^_^ (remember, I require a minimum of 1-2 reviews (ZERO FLAMES!) in order to be capable of posting the next chapter (upon its completion of course)). That being said, I again hope you liked this chapter (and if you have any trouble figuring out just what the heck Diana and Susan were saying during certain parts (cough, cough, you know which parts) of this chapter, feel free to ask me for a translation (if you wish for one of course ^_^)). For that matter, I was also initially having this chapter be one single subsection longer. But in the end, I have decided to have said subsection moved to a later chapter (so that I could finally get this damn good chapter finally posted for our mutual enjoyment ^_^). Again, hope you all enjoyed, and that you leave plenty of feedback ^_^. Peace out!
Coming up Next: Time for a brief interlude in which we check on a certain low ranking Senior class Korean American cheerio who is more than a little in love with Raj and her and Raj's mutual sophomore class gay best friend. Just how are they doing right now? Let's find out next time ya'll! ^_^