Alright everyone, I proudly present a new chapter! Definitely hope it proves worth the wait and that you read and leave plenty of feedback! In this chapter, the time has finally come for the assembly. How will this one unfold for our favorite glee club? Let's find out, shall we?
A/N: But first, let me remind you that I do not own Glee, or any songs used in this chapter.
Chapter 26:
The Assembly
Mr. Schuester was in a good mood that Thursday morning. And for good reason if he did say so himself. Over the course of the past few days, things had gone remarkably smoothly. In fact, there had, miraculously enough, not been a single ounce of drama to pop up over the course of this week so far; at least, not that he knew of anyway. And as far as he knew, he saw no reason to believe that the fact he wasn't aware of any drama to have occurred that week was necessarily a bad thing. Sure, a tiny part of his mind was very much suspicious about how nearly the entire week had passed without any form of drama popping up; especially considering just how jam packed with drama the previous week had been. But right now, the rest of his mind was strong and loud enough to drown out and cast aside that one tiny portion of his mind that seemed destined to be the designated naysayer.
His smile widened as he remembered exactly why today was especially important as far as the New Directions were concerned. "Today's the assembly," he thought to himself. He nodded his head to himself. "Here's me, hoping that today won't be the day we finally end up having another assembly incident."
"I see you're in a good mood this morning."
Mr. Schuester turned his head. Sure enough, as he'd suspected upon hearing the voice behind him, none other than Emma was also present in the hallway. "Good morning to you to," he promptly said.
Emma smiled, spreading her hands sideways in an 'I rest my case' fashion. "Yep," she said. "Definitely in a good mood this morning."
"So are you, it would seem," said Will. He chuckled and gestured for his wife to come closer. "Come on," he said. "We're already both here in this hallway. What do you say we take a little walk together before school starts?"
"Sounds like a plan."
For several minutes, the husband and wife made their way through the McKinley High hallways, a companionable silence between them as they thought of how smoothly the current week had unfolded so far and how things would hopefully continue to be that smooth all the way to the end of this day and the day after that. And soon after this topic reached Emma's head. . .
"You ready for the assembly today?" Emma asked.
Will thought to himself. "I certainly would like to think so," he eventually responded. "I'd certainly hate it if this was the year that we finally ended up having another assembly disaster unfold. Especially after how hard I worked to pick the absolutely safest songs I could think of."
Emma chuckled upon hearing this. "I'll bet you did," she than said.
Truth be told, she was well aware of how her husband tended to pick songs that were, to say the least, inaccessible to his students when he put the level of effort at deciding upon setlists for them that he currently indicated he'd taken. Nevertheless, right now there was a part of her mind that was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt this time.
"Granted," Will continued, "I haven't really heard much word from the kids about how they're practicing for the assembly has gone aside from what I have a pretty good feeling was strictly all that was necessary for them to say. And quite frankly, a part of me is still more than a little concerned about how there has been basically zero drama this week . . . especially compared to last week."
The teacher took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But still," he then said. "Considering just how much drama I had to go through last week, let's just say that I'm more than willing to hope right now that the fact I haven't heard of any further drama as far as the glee club is concerned is a case of 'no news is good news'."
Emma thought to herself, and then nodded her head. "I suppose I can't really blame you," she admitted.
"That's good to hear," said Will.
At that moment, they happened to reach the middle of one of the hallways, and promptly came to a stop in surprise when they saw the state of the room directly to their right. The room in question was the room typically used for the chorus club meetings. Except right now, the door was closed and had a sheet of paper indicating that the room was 'closed for repairs' placed on the front, and the windows were also boarded up and similarly marked to indicate need for repairs.
Will eventually regained his voice. "How . . . when did this happen?"
"You just noticed this?"
The teacher and guidance counselor turned their heads in time to see a Korean American girl dressed in the distinctive outfit of the cheerios standing nearby. The girl shook her head side to side. "The chorus club room's been like this since this Monday. A couple of morons from the rugby team apparently showed up drunk that morning, got into a fight, and caused mass damage to this room over the course of their drunken brawl." She looked at locked door and boarded up windows of the chorus club practice room. "I'll say this, I'm very hopeful indeed that the repairs will be finished at their planed finish date tomorrow and this room will be open for its intended use once more starting next week."
The cheerio looked back at the two adults, who briefly continued to remain confused. "Wh . . . where did you practice?" Will eventually asked, evidently having managed to guess that the younger girl was in fact a member of the chorus club. He pointed at the locked room. "You obviously couldn't practice in there."
"In the auditorium," the cheerio answered. She then raised her eyebrow. "Didn't your students tell you?"
Mr. Schuester shook his head. "Strangely enough, no." He looked back at the cheerio. "I'll admit though, it was certainly nice of them to let you and your group practice alongside them."
The cheerio directed an even more baffled look right back at Mr. Schuester upon hearing this comment. The teacher raised his eyebrow in confusion upon sight of that look. Emma, meanwhile, was now starting to feel slightly nervous.
"What are you talking about?" said the cheerio. "They weren't in there with us." She folded her arms across her chest, her eyebrow raised and the rest of her face similarly looking confused. "Did they honestly not tell you about this Mr. Schue?"
For what seemed like an hour, Mr. Schue found himself desperately trying to think of an adequate response. However, the still comparatively long silence that ensued as Mr. Schue kept his teeth gritted, eyes closed, and mind grinding furiously to think of what to say soon proved to be enough of an answer for the younger girl. "Well, I'll admit," she than said. "This is certainly strange. I mean, considering how you're their teacher and especially after everything that went down last week, you'd think one of them would have told you directly or at least left some sort of hint about what was going on."
At the sound of a bell ringing, the cheerio seemed to wince. "Crap, I'm sorry, I got to go." She turned around and ran off down the hall back the way she'd come, clearly in a hurry to get to class before the next bell rang to signal the true beginning of 1st period classes. "Have a nice day!" she yelled before she left the hallway.
Seconds after the younger girl had left, Emma turned her head to face her husband. One look was all she needed to tell how very confused and somewhat nervous her husband now was. As it so happened, Mr. Schuester now couldn't help but feel worried about the news he'd just received regarding his students and their after-school practice sessions from the past three days. And for that matter, he was now finding it especially hard to ignore the more negative and suspicious part of his mind, which was now very loudly making note of all that he'd just learned combined with the very same details he'd earlier been willing to dismiss and give the benefit of the doubt.
With a gulp, deep breath, and respectable amount of will power, Will eventually managed to get himself somewhat calmed back down. He looked back at Emma. "I think we'd better get going," said Will. "We don't want to be late for work."
Emma thought to herself, and then nodded. "Right," she then said, clearly in agreement while still feeling somewhat uncertain over the news she and Will had just learned. She turned and hurried off to get to her office. "I'll catch up with you later," she then said right before she left the hallway.
"I'll be waiting," her husband called in her direction. He turned his head to face the direction leading to his classroom, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Now, now," he thought to himself. "There's no need to get too worried right now about all this. I'm sure they had a good reason to keep all this a secret." He walked down the hall, getting closer and closer to his classroom with each step. "I mean, come on, considering how much drama I had to put up with last week, maybe they were trying to let me have a nice reprieve by only allowing strictly themselves to worry about these unexpected developments. I mean, it's not like they had any other ulterior motives behind this secrecy alongside such a selfless intention. Right?"
Even as he had these thoughts, however, the designated nay-sayer side of his mind couldn't help but point out both how his students had been less than impressed with the songs he'd chosen for them to sing at the assembly today and how many of the assembly incidents and other unpleasant events in the New Directions' history had unfolded somewhat as a result of leaving the students to their own devices as he'd done this very week. But nevertheless, he tried his hardest to keep these more negative thoughts to the back of his mind. He didn't want to believe that things could possibly be at risk of getting too bad today. The last thing he wanted was to believe something like that. But at the same time, that very annoying nay-sayer portion of his mind seemed in no hurry whatsoever to shut up and go away.
. . . . .
A couple hours later, Mr. Schuester was feeling somewhat better, but still reasonably nervous as he sat next to Emma on the bottom row of the bleachers in the gym. As of now, only 5 minutes remained before the assembly was supposed to begin, and the gym was jam packed with the obligatory crowd of students and faculty. And despite the various conversations and other forms of chattering going on between everyone else in the audience, all of the talking seemed to be background noise in Mr. Schue's mind as he continued thinking, wondering, and worrying about just what was to be in store for the New Directions' scheduled performance for the assembly.
He looked directly at the 'stage' that had been set up as usual for the assembly. At this current moment, all 13 of his current glee club students, plus Hobbes, were gathered around either directly behind the curtain, or at least in the 'backstage area'. And as Mr. Schue's own luck would currently have it, not even the small pep talk he'd had with them at least 9-10 minutes prior hadn't helped to ease his mind. For as excited as they'd all seemed to be, he just had not been able to shake off the feeling that there had been a moment or two where they'd seemed to have either lied or at least not quite told the full truth.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Stop thinking like that," he thought to himself. "Everything will be fine."
Meanwhile, the gleeks themselves were similarly both excited and nervous. Unlike their teacher, however, they were feeling far more excited than they were nervous. Or at least . . . most of them were.
"I am so hoping to God that this doesn't end like last week's cafeteria performance ended," Calvin whispered.
Susan placed her hand on Calvin's shoulder, and the autistic boy turned his head to face her. "Don't worry Calvin," said Susan. "Everything will be fine." She let a wide smile come on her face, her blue eyes agleam. "And besides, you remember perfectly well how careful we were in making our alternate setlist and how hard we worked in practicing for today. Trust me, this performance will not be another Tuesday food fight. I know that for a fact."
"She's right you know," said Zack. "I'd listen to her if I were you."
"Ha-ha," Calvin said sarcastically. "Ha-ha-ha," he snorted sarcastically again as he turned his head to face Zack, a half amused and half irritated look on his face. "Like I don't already do that all the time."
"You absolutely sure this will work?"
The gleeks all looked over at Raj, who seemed to be dealing with some pre-performance jitters of his own. "You guys each have at least one more year at this school to maintain or repair good reputations. This is my last year, and I really don't want to risk getting any more humiliation from the student body here than my being in the glee club may have already made me."
Bailey placed her hand on Raj's shoulder. Cody briefly narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth in a silent snarl at the sight of this, but quickly bit his tongue to keep himself cool. "She's just giving him reassurance as a friend. Nothing more, nothing less," he thought to himself. "No need to lose your cool."
"Don't worry Raj," said Bailey. "This isn't going to end like last Tuesday's cafeteria performance. I promise you that. And besides," she spread her hands out sideways. "You're practically a shoe-in for class clown this year amongst the seniors for the year book nominations. Today's performance tanks by some impossible twist of fate from out of nowhere? Just do your thing and remind this school of the power of your comedy chops. That will get your reputation fixed up in no time."
The other gleeks, Cody, Hobbes, and Charlotte included, all found themselves nodding their heads in agreement.
"See?" Bailey said as she gestured with her hand at her nodding fellow gleeks. "Even they agree with me here." She placed her other hand on Raj's other shoulder, Cody now fighting with even more willpower than before to avoid bursting with jealous rage. "Everything will be fine."
Raj took a look at Bailey, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then opened his eyes back up with a confident look now shining in them. "You're right," the Indian American boy admitted. "Everything will be fine." He directed his head to face the four leads, incidentally catching Zack in his gaze as well. "Well, I'm suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be; and dear God I hope the rest of you guys are."
"Have no fear," said Diana. She nodded her head, green eyes agleam with confidence. "We can do this."
"You heard her," said Daniel, his gray eyes similarly shining with a determined light, and his right fist raised and clenched into a fist. "Today, we are going to go out on that stage, and blow this audience away. And there ain't no reasonable way that this is going to end with the whole situation going pear shaped. And if, for some impossible inexplicable reason, we all end up going down in slushy mixture, then so be it."
"Damn straight," said Susan, flashing a thumbs-up in the process.
"That's what I'm talking about," Calvin agreed, ramming his right fist into his left palm.
"Grr, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF!" Hobbes growled and barked.
Calvin very quickly had to signal with his hand and hiss in 'shush' fashion to get Hobbes to quiet down. Despite this, there was still a noticeable silence from outside the area where the gleeks were all gathered before the silence was finally broken once more by the sound of Principal Figgins' voice coming from right on the other side of the curtains blocking the gleeks from view of the assembly audience. "I'll admit," said the principal. "No idea what that was about. Nevertheless;" he cleared his throat. "Welcome to this year's annual McKinley High fall assembly."
Hobbes and the gleeks instantly got into their necessary positions, the two main leads taking deep breaths to mentally prepare themselves for the coming time in the spotlight. Calvin, meanwhile, looked nervous as all Hell, yet still attempting simultaneously to put on a brave face.
"Now first, before we get truly started, I'm gonna tell you all right now that no, contrary to what recent rumors may say, I do not worship cows. I do not take part in a religion that requires me to get on my knees, bow three times in a row, and say 'I am not worthy' the entire time, upon sight of a cow. And even if I were, I would not take part in such an action for every single individual cow in a mass group of them. As far as I'm concerned, just one act of such behavior is good enough for the entire herd."
The gleeks slumped, shoulders drooped, and clear 'are you for real?' looks on their faces. "Seriously?" Raj thought to himself. "All these years, and he still finds more ridiculous rumors about himself to publicly disprove at assemblies?"
"That said," the principal continued. "We shall begin today's assembly with a performance from 1st place show choir Nationals competition winners, our own the New Directions, complete with a repertoire of entirely brand-new members. But first, let us allow our own American History teacher and glee club director, William Schuester, to come on stage for a speech."
A mild applause rang out from the other side of the curtain as Mr. Schuester evidently left his position on the bleachers and made his way onstage for his speech. As the gleeks listened from their side of the curtain, their teacher cleared his throat and began his speech.
"Good morning everyone," said Mr. Schuester. "I hope you've all had a good year so far, and also hope very much that you continue to have a good year throughout the rest of this school year."
There was a brief pause in the speech, the gleeks guessing it to be a result of the teacher nodding his head. "However," the teacher then said, "that is far from the only thing I wish to speak about right now. Right now, I wish to make a statement regarding the upcoming performance this morning and the students that, combined with my own efforts, are making this performance in question possible."
The gleeks heard their teacher take a deep breath, and then exhale. "I understand how much of a reputation this club has for drama. I also understand how much this club can become the designated punching bag amongst many people at this school. And I also understand how, as much respect as this club gains with every Nationals victory, that the entire vicious cycle is still all too capable of happening all over again every time brand-new members join this club."
There was another brief few seconds of pause. "But I'll say this, nonetheless," the teacher continued. "As much as this club may seem to not nearly get enough respect compared to when I was a student here, and as much of an uphill battle as the students and I seem to constantly have to fight every year to gain and maintain what little respect this club does earn, I still stand firm by my belief. As was said by my own teacher from glee club at this school, 'by its very definition, glee is about opening yourself to joy'. And the way I see it, no meaning could be any truer when it comes to this club, the inner songs that my students get to release from their hearts as members, and the dreams that my students get the chance to find and pursue over the course of their membership."
There was a final couple seconds of pause. "Thank you," said the teacher, evidently having finished a bow. "I hope you enjoy this morning's performance." Another modest applause rang through the air as the teacher evidently departed from the stage. As this happened, the gleeks all took deep breaths and similarly prepared themselves. They had a strong feeling what was coming next.
Sure enough, the very next thing they heard was Principal Figgins say, "And now, let us welcome on stage, our 1st place Nationals winning club with an entire roster's worth of brand new members, the New Directions!"
The curtains started to rise, and the gleeks smiled. They were ready. And as if to emphasize this, the band members, masterfully hidden as they were from audience view in the 'backstage area' alongside microphones and other tech allowing their work to be broadcast to the audience anyway without difficulty, started playing the appropriate music for the first song. These same band members, loyal as ever, had not had any problem in working to practice playing for the songs that the gleeks had chosen as replacements for Mr. Schuester's original ideas, and had similarly worked to keep the change a surprise.
As the music started playing, and the gleeks started letting off the necessary vocalizations they'd deemed as appropriate accompaniment, all the audience members took only seconds to react. The majority of them, surprisingly enough, seemed to recognize the song. Those who didn't mostly seemed only to raise their eyebrows in mild confusion. Those who did recognize the song, however, showed a considerably larger variety of reactions. A decent, but still comparatively small, sized portion of the audience were clearly excited and overjoyed. A much larger portion of the audience, however, showed signs of either pleasant surprise or polite interest instead. Even many of the less glee club friendly jocks nodded their heads in grudging respect as a result of their inner rock music fan. However, the single audience member who was considerably more shocked and caught off guard than anyone else was amongst the Schuester duo. Emma looked as she were feeling a mixture of confusion and interest. Will, on the other hand, looked quite clearly stunned the instant he heard the first few seconds of the combined instrumental and gleek vocalized beginning of the performance, his eyes widened in surprise. "What the?" he thought to himself upon recognizing the tune in question. "This . . . this wasn't on the list." But then the time for the actual singing came along, and the teacher hurriedly cast these thoughts away so as to properly pay attention to both the song and everything that would be unfolding around him over the course of it. The song in question went something like this:
(Daniel:)
I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
(Zack with Daniel (Zack):)
I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
(These city walls)
Only to be with you
(Zack with Daniel and New Directions:)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found what I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found what I'm looking for (Grr)
(Calvin:)
I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing fingertips
It burnt like fire
This burning desire
(Susan with Calvin (Susan):)
I have spoke with the tongue of angels
(I have held) (Calvin: I have held)
Hand of a devil
It was warm (in the night) (Calvin: In the night)
(I was cold as a stone) (Calvin: Cold as a stone)
(Zack and Daniel with Calvin and New Directions (Susan):)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) (and Susan: Haven't found)
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (What I'm looking for)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) (and Susan: Haven't found)
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (What I'm looking for)
(Zack with Susan (Calvin):)
I believe in the kingdom come (I believe, oh)
Then all the colors will bleed into one (Bleed into one)
Bleed into one (Ooh, yeah)
(Zack (Susan):)
But yes, I'm still running (Yes, I'm still running) (Calvin: Yes, I'm still running)
(Daniel (Calvin):)
You broke the bonds and you loosed the chains
Carried the cross and, oh, my shame
Oh, my shame (Ooh)
You know I believe it (I believe it)
(New Directions: You know I believe) (Mh, I believe it)
(Zack with New Directions (Calvin):)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found (Still haven't found)
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Yeah, yeah, hey)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found (No, no, yeah)
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Oh, no, no, no)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Zack: Still) haven't found
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Zack: What I'm looking for) (What I'm looking for)
(New Directions (Zack and Susan):)
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) (and Zack and Susan: Haven't found) (Calvin: Ooh)
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Daniel: What I'm looking for) (Zack, Daniel, and Susan: Looking for)
(Calvin, Zack, Daniel, and Susan with New Directions (Susan):
(Calvin, Zack, and Daniel: But I still) (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) haven't found (Calvin: Haven't found)
What I'm looking for
(Hobbes: Grr)
All of 10 seconds passed following the end of the song before the entire audience burst into applause. Granted, at least ¾ of the applause sounded more modest, polite, and grudgingly respectful as opposed to genuinely joyous; but that was certainly better than not applauding at all. Even Mr. Schuester couldn't help but clap alongside his clearly happy wife, despite still feeling numb and stunned from the unexpected change his students had made to the setlist for the assembly. Then, when the applause finally died down and the music for a 2nd song started playing, Mr. Schuester once again found himself caught off guard upon recognizing yet another song that had most certainly not been amongst the 3 he'd originally picked. And, in his mind, even worse, this song wasn't even a song that originated from the same basic time period as the previous one, but rather a comparatively more 'modern' song. But despite his mentally reflexive rising misgivings, he mentally steeled himself up and directed his full attention to the performance that ensued; a performance that went something like this:
(Daniel:)
All her life she has seen
All the meanest side of me
They took away the prophet's dream for a profit on the street
Now she's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
(Diana:)
All his life he's been told
He'll be nothing when he's old
All the kicks and all the blows
He won't ever let it show
(Daniel and Diana:)
'Cause he's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
(New Directions:)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(Calvin:)
All the hurt, all the lies
All the tears that they cry
(Susan:)
When the moment is just right
You see fire in their eyes
(Calvin and Susan:)
'Cause he's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
(New Directions:)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(New Directions:)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power
(Zack:)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(Zack:)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(Zack and Calvin:)
She's got lions in her heart
A fire in her soul
He's got a beast in his belly
That's so hard to control
'Cause they've taken too much hits
Taking blow by blow
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode
She's got lions in her heart
A fire in her soul
He's got a beast in his belly
That's so hard to control
'Cause they've taken too much hits
Taking blow by blow
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode, explode, explode, explode
(New Directions:)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(New Directions:)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(Zack:)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Daniel:)
Oh, yeah...
(Zack:)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(Zack:)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Power, power, power, power, power)
(Diana:)
Ooh, yeah
Whoa
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)
(Every day, every hour
Turn the pain into power)
(Raj:)
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
This time, all of 5 seconds passed the ending of the song before the applause started. To the gleeks, however, it seemed impossibly longer thanks to the sheer amount of audience members (particularly those amongst the audience who were students) that were gaping in stunned shock seemingly straight at Raj, likely out of surprise at just how good of a singing voice the established McKinley High 'class comedian' had just now turned out to have.
The apparent eternity finally ended, and the applause came pouring out once more from the audience. This time, a solid half of the audience was genuinely joyous in their applause while the other half was applauding more out of politeness, modesty, and grudging respect. Even Mr. Schuester this time couldn't help but feel genuinely happier compared to earlier as he clapped. At this point, he'd come to realize that, perhaps maybe the fact that his students had now twice deviated from his original ideas for the assembly's setlist wasn't truly such a bad thing in this particular case.
When the applause finally ended, the music for the third song started playing. And this time, Mr. Schue found himself still perfectly happy and smiling despite the fact that it was clear that the gleeks had yet again deviated from his original ideas. And considering how this song in question was arguably a creation of his own glee club, he'd have been a major hypocrite in some capacity or other to have felt anything else about the fact that it was currently the one that his current students had chosen as their 3rd song to take the place of his original ideas. The song in question went something like this:
(Diana:)
Yeah, you may think that I'm a zero (Charlotte: Huh)
(Diana with New Directions (Diana):)
(But) hey, everyone you wanna be
Probably started off like me
(Diana:)
You may say that I'm a freak show (Charlotte: I don't care)
(Diana with New Directions (Diana):)
(But) hey, give it just a little time
I bet you're gonna change your mind
(Diana:)
All of the dirt you've been throwing my way
It ain't so hard to take (Daniel and Diana: That's right)
(Diana (with New Directions):)
Cause (I know one day you'll be screaming my name)
(Diana:)
And I'll just look away (Daniel and Diana: That's right)
(Diana with New Directions (Daniel and Diana):)
Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth
(So everyone can hear)
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down
(Baby, I don't care)
Keep it up and soon enough you'll figure out
You wanna be, you wanna be
A loser like me
(Hobbes: Aroo!)
A loser like me
(Daniel:)
Push me up against the locker
(Daniel with New Directions (Daniel):)
(And) hey, all I do is shake it off
I'll get you back when I'm your boss
(Daniel:)
I'm not thinking 'bout you haters
(Daniel with New Directions (Daniel):)
(Cause) hey, I could be a superstar
I'll see you when you wash my car
(Diana with New Directions:)
All of the dirt you've been throwing my way
(Diana:)
It ain't so hard to take (Daniel and Diana: That's right)
(Diana with New Directions (Diana):)
(Cause) I know one day you'll be screaming my name
(Diana:)
And I'll just look away (Daniel and Diana: That's right)
(Diana with New Directions (Daniel and Diana):)
Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth
(So everyone can hear)
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down
(Baby, I don't care)
Keep it up and soon enough you'll figure out
You wanna be, you wanna be
A loser like me
(Hobbes: Aroo!)
A loser like me
(Hobbes: Aroo!)
Rachel:
A loser like me
(Naomi and Amber with New Directions (New Directions):)
Hey, you, (oh) over there (oh)
Keep the "L" (oh) up-up in the air (oh)
Hey, you, (oh) over there (oh)
Keep the "L" up, (oh) cause I don't care (oh)
You can throw your sticks (oh)
And you can throw your stones (oh)
Like a rocket, (oh) just watch me go (oh)
Yeah, (oh) l-o-s-e-r (oh)
I can only be who I are
(Diana:)
Yeah!
(New Directions:)
Just go ahead and hate on me
And run your mouth
(Daniel and Diana:)
So everyone can hear
(Diana with New Directions (Daniel and Diana):)
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down
(Baby, I don't care)
Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out
You wanna be, you wanna be
A loser like me
(Susan:)
Yeah! (Hobbes: Aroo!)
(Diana with New Directions:)
Go ahead, and hate on me and run your mouth
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions: So everyone can hear)
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions: Baby, I don't care)
Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out (Susan: Oh)
You wanna (and Susan: be), you wanna be
(New Directions:)
A loser like me (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Diana: A loser like me)
A loser like me (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Rachel: A loser like me)
A loser like me
Literally 3 seconds passed the ending of the song's performance when the silence was once again split. But this time, applause was not the sound to immediately break the silence. Rather, the sound, or rather sounds, that were the first to break the silence this time turned out to be Calvin unleashing a flawlessly realistic lion-like roar at the top of his lungs while Hobbes simultaneously emitted an equally flawlessly realistic and similarly loud wolf-like howl.
In that instant, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone in the gym, performers and audience members alike, stared at Calvin and Hobbes. The duo in question, as it so happened, were both smiling and happy, clearly not seeing anything wrong with what had just happened and feeling proud of themselves for both the noises they'd just made and the performances they'd done before unleashing said noises.
Then, after an apparent eternity, right as Calvin and Hobbes had found themselves raising their eyebrows and giving off slightly confused frowns, the silence was finally broken with raucous applause. This time, in an exact inverse of the applause following the first song, ¾ of the audience were genuinely joyful and happy in their applause while a solid ¼ was giving a more modest, polite, and grudgingly respectful applause. Even Sue Sylvester found herself giving a modest applause, while also shaking her head side to side with a bemused look on her face. But Mr. Schuester, however, was most definitely not feeling as numb as he'd been when applauding for the 1st song of the assembly. Right now, he was so happy for his students as he genuinely applauded and cheered for them that he didn't even care anymore how very blatantly they'd deviated from his originally planned setlist. In his mind, his current students had done so well at this assembly's performance, and with some actually perfectly good choices of songs for that matter, that it just didn't matter anymore that they hadn't performed the songs he'd originally intended.
And just like that, this chapter is done! I hope you all read and enjoyed it, and that you leave plenty of reviews. Speaking of which, remember, as per usual, this chapter requires a MINIMUM of ONE review by the time I have finished writing the next chapter of this story in order for me to allow that chapter to be posted. And speaking of the next chapter, that chapter just so happens to be what will be the LAST chapter of this story. So yeah, hope you've all enjoyed the ride so far. And that in mind, again, hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of feedback.
Songs Used:
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2 - Performed by the New Directions
Superheroes - The Script - Performed by the New Directions
Loser Like Me - Cast of Glee - Performed by the New Directions
Coming up next: After a few final details to wrap things up, this entry in the GWAFU comes to an end.