Hoowee! Dear God I took WAY too long! I apologize right away for the fiendishly long wait. I recently moved back to the United States and I had so much craziness to deal with in settling back in and all (among other things). Nevertheless, I have FINALLY gotten the final chapter of this story finished and ready for you all to read, review, and enjoy! In this chapter, loose ends are tied up to nicely bring this story to a sad, but necessary, end, while at the same time very slightly calling forward to what happens later in this series' timeline during the events of the main GWAF story. Sound like a worthy send off for this installment of the GWAFU? I certainly hope so! That being said, here's to hoping you all read, review, and enjoy this final chapter for this current installment of the GWAFU!

A/N: But first, I shall remind you one last time (for this story anyway) that I do not own Glee, or any related elements and songs.

Chapter 27:

Goodbye Old Times, Hello New Age

"We're in trouble. Aren't we?"

Mr. Schuester mentally chuckled upon hearing Calvin ask this question. "Oh, Calvin," he thought to himself. "Don't ever change." He then shook his head to get his mind back in gear. Now was not the time to get distracted.

He looked directly at all his students. "Under other circumstances," he began, "yes, you probably would be in trouble right now."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, and then they all raised their eyebrows upon realizing exactly what their teacher had said.

"So, under these particular circumstances, we are not in trouble," said Daniel. Mr. Schuester nodded his head up and down to indicate that Daniel was correct. "Why?" the younger boy asked.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and then gestured his hand towards his students. "Well before I answer that, why don't you tell me why you picked the songs you chose." He lifted his finger as if to forestall an argument. "No," he then said, "don't tell me why you chose to replace the songs I picked; I think that answer got made quite clear this Monday." He shook his head. "No, I want to know why, out of all the songs you very likely could have picked as replacements, you chose the ones you ended up singing today."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, and then looked each other in the eyes, and then eventually turned their heads, one by one, to face their teacher.

However, right as Diana was about to speak, Mr. Schuester raised his finger as if to say 'hold it,' a slight wince on his face as he clearly realized something else he needed to say.

"Sorry," the teacher immediately said. "But there's one more thing I'd best ask before you answer that question." He gestured to indicate both Diana and Susan. "I noticed that you two arrived here in the choir room about 8 minutes after Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes," he then said. "And for that matter, there was still about 2 minutes before this current session began by the time you finally arrived." He paused for a few seconds, just to make sure that both of the club's current female leads had fully gotten what he said. "You're not in trouble," he then said. "But I'm just wondering, is there any particular reason you took so long?"

Diana and Susan looked each other in the eyes, seemingly considering what to say. Then they turned their heads to face Mr. Schuester once more, a half proud and half sheepish look on both of their faces. "Oh, nothing too serious," said Diana.

"Yeah," Susan agreed, a slight nervous chuckle escaping her lips. "We just . . . um . . . had a couple of loose ends to tie up in the gym."

Upon hearing this, Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes raised their eyebrows in confusion. Then, after about a minute, comprehension finally dawned on them. Zack had a similar reaction, as did the majority of the other gleeks. Charlotte, however, instantly found her eyes widening and the rest of her face similarly conveying her newfound shock as she very swiftly realized just what Susan and Diana were very likely referring to. Then her shocked face morphed into a somewhat nervous one, and she directed a side glance towards the choir room door from the corner of her eyes as she found herself remembering that Silena and Ashley had been noticeably absent today at the cheerio practice session to occur directly before this current glee club session.

"I should probably drop by Coach Sylvester's office and inform her to go searching through the gym sports supply closet after glee club finishes for today," she thought to herself. Then she thought to herself some more. "Or better yet, maybe I should go ahead and just look through them myself immediately after this session's over and worry about informing Coach Sylvester later."

For a brief moment, Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrow. Then he thought to himself, shrugged, and nodded his head. "Maybe it's better I just not ask this time," he thought to himself. "If you say so," he then said aloud. He cleared his throat. "Alright, sorry about that." He nodded his head a 2nd time. "Ok, now you can answer my previous question."

The gleeks all nodded, and Diana cleared her throat.

"Well," Diana began, "as much as we weren't entirely sold on the time period in which your original choices were made, we didn't want to have all of our replacement songs be strictly contemporary for our age. We wanted to have at least one comparatively 'old' song amongst our new playlist as . . . well . . . compensation, you know?"

"What she said," said Daniel. He nodded his head. "Oddly enough, it actually took us a heck of a lot longer for us to decide on just which 'old' song we'd use than it did to decide on the two more contemporary songs we'd be singing after that one." He lifted his finger. "But then I remembered one particular song that I thought would be especially appropriate due to its significance as Finn Hudson's reportedly #1 favorite song of all time, and so we decided upon that one . . . after putting it to a vote first."

Calvin nodded. "Like Diana said," he began, "the other two songs were comparatively easier to decide upon." He nodded his head. "For one, we all agreed. . ." He narrowed his eyes, and then directed a slight side glance towards the area directly behind him . . . where Charlotte, naturally, was seated. "Surprisingly enough," he continued. He directed his full gaze back to Mr. Schuester, eyes now no longer narrowed. "Anyway, point is, we all agreed that, at the very least, the 2nd one should perhaps be something inspiring. I mean, most songs of that kind of nature tend to get a positive response. Then we thought about considering Superheroes by the Script. After all, it sounds plenty inspiring, and is basically about superheroes, which, for the most part, just about everybody likes."

Susan, at this point, now felt that Calvin was starting to get at risk of taking a little too long and going off on tangents. "To make a long story short," she broke in, "Superheroes seemed to be just the right song, and we rolled with it."

"Yeah," Calvin agreed, a sheepish look now coming on his face. "What she said."

As one, Calvin, Susan, Hobbes, and the rest of the gleeks all looked back at Daniel and Diana. Clearly, they all believed it would be the two primary leads' job to finish the explanation. The two primary leads, thankfully, were quite happy to oblige. "And the last song," Diana began. "Well . . . honestly, not only did we think it would be especially conducive to our image for us to sing a song that this glee club itself is solely responsible for creating, but that song in question?" She nodded her head up and down. "It might as well be our own personal anthem."

"She's right," said Daniel. He nodded his head. "Us? And everyone else who's ever been in this club before us? This song described us all so perfectly. Every year, this club always goes through the same basic cycle. Constantly getting put down. Never getting treated with proper respect for more than a couple weeks at most. Always having so much adversity and obstacles to face. And, in the end, still rising above it all? Like I said, that describes us and this entire club in general in a nutshell."

Diana nodded her own head in agreement. "All in all," she then said, "what better song for us to sing to show our own pride as New Directioneers?"

The rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, nodded their heads in agreement immediately after Diana said this. Even Charlotte, though she did so noticeably more reluctantly compared to the rest.

Mr. Schuester nodded, cleared his throat, and directed his full attention towards all 13 of his students. "And that," he began, "is what I can now happily call additional confirmation to the conclusion I reached over the course of the assembly today."

The teacher turned around and made his way towards the white board, his students all raising their eyebrows in half confusion and half anticipation. "And to be fair," the teacher continued seconds before any of the gleeks could muster up the willpower to ask him what he meant, "this wasn't so much a case of me reaching a completely brand new conclusion as it was a case of me getting a much needed reminder of something I've already learned and received multiple reminders of before."

Mr. Schuester reached the white board, picked up a sharpie, and started writing. "You see, what I wasn't entirely as willing to admit as I could have been this Monday, but now realize all too clearly, is how, as much as I wanted to play things safe this week, I may have ended up playing things a little too safe, especially as far as song selection for the assembly setlist was concerned."

The gleeks all mumbled in agreement, much to Mr. Schuester's amusement.

"However," the teacher continued, "as often as things tended to end in controversy or outcry in the past whenever I managed, unwittingly or otherwise, to leave the setlists and other important matters for assemblies in the hands of my students in this club, I tend to forget how my students are not incapable of picking songs and ideas that aren't so likely to end in such a way. In fact, it was Rachel Berry herself who suggested that we have "West Side Story" be the school musical back in the 2011-2012 school year so as to avoid running the heightened risk of controversy that was narrowly avoided in the two school years to occur directly before that year."

He paused in his writing and turned around to face his students once more. "Let me elaborate on one other little detail that came into play regarding the 1st three controversies that occurred at assemblies involving this club." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "As much as I may have unwittingly helped in some ways over the course of past incidents, one other important factor, especially as far as the 1st three assembly controversies go, was that many of the incidents were also just as much a result of pandering."

He lifted one of his fingers. "Incident #1; now, to be fair, this was during the club's first year of existence as the New Directions. Nonetheless, it was still a major case. And while I almost certainly only worsened the situation through my insistence at the time of this club's roster from those days performing mostly songs I enjoyed from the disco era, what sealed the deal for the songs they chose to perform instead causing the parental outcry they caused was arguably a case of my students choosing to pander to a specific popular trend amongst this school's student body. The trend in question, songs involving sex, did prove pleasing to the audience, it also induced rampant concerns amongst parents about the potential for their kids at this school being unwittingly encouraged to behave recklessly and in similarly unsavory or generally unacceptable ways as far as sexual matters were concerned."

He lifted a 2nd finger. "Incident #2; the very next year. At around that time, while I was adamant on a very specific category of music for that week's assignment and assembly, several students amongst this club's roster back then, as well as amongst this entire school's student body in general, had become part of a large following in a rising popularity at the time in music by Britney Spears. And eventually, with more than a little help from some dental incidents and other elements that I'd best not go into that much detail on right now, I myself ended up agreeing to allow myself and the club's membership roster at the time to blatantly pander to this group. And while, in the end, the main controversy of that incident was more a case of the abrupt fire alarm induced cancellation that Coach Sylvester brought upon that assembly that year, the fact that I had blatantly encouraged this pandering in the first place was also a small matter of contention back then."

He lifted a 3rd finger, his face now taking on a noticeably more serious and stern look. "Incident #3; two years later. While this incident didn't involve pandering to a popular trend, it nonetheless involved pandering." He shook his head side to side with his eyes closed, clearly still far from happy about the memory of this incident. "Back then, Brittany Pierce was still a student in this club and at McKinley High. And at the time, she was also in a bad place in her life. And over the course of efforts by the other students at the time to try to cheer her up, they ended up going more than a little too far in those efforts." He took a deep breath, and then let out a heavy exhale. "And the scandal that resulted from that," he then said, "is something that I still thank my lucky stars never ended up getting spread to the ears of the national show choir board." He lifted his head, eyes still closed, and still taking a series of deep breaths.

As this happened, the gleeks all directed each other awkward looks. As vague as their teacher was currently being about the incident he'd just described, they could tell all too easily how he was currently thinking of what they'd heard described as the infamous New Directions lip syncing debacle.

Mr. Schuester finally regained his composure. "The assembly incidents that have followed that one, and any factors that may or may not have played a role in their occurrence, are a matter for another discussion." He lifted his finger once more. "However, what is important right now is how, for this assembly, the songs that were chosen, and as deliberate replacements for what was originally planned for the setlist, were songs that were chosen out of any sense of pandering. These were all songs that you, not anyone else, you, genuinely and selflessly thought would be the best." He turned around and resumed his earlier writing. "And all this has thoroughly reminded me of something that I really wish I didn't have to keep getting reminders about every now and then."

He placed the sharpie back where it had originally been, turned around to face his students, and stepped aside. Thus, he revealed the word 'Mutuality' written in large black sharpie print right there on the white board. He pointed at the word. "This," the teacher began, "is what, in an ideal setting, should always be present between me and my students."

Mr. Schuester lifted the very finger that he'd been pointing at 'mutuality'. "And some; emphasis on some; of the worst cases of drama in this club have resulted from moments in which this trait has been sorely lacking." The teacher nodded his head. "As I'm sure everyone here can agree, everyone has secrets. And this club has had no shortage of times where one or more people involved have kept one secret, earthshaking or otherwise, to themselves. But for the sake of this current discussion, the moments of lacking in mutuality that shall receive the most focus are the ones involving making decisions for setlists, assignments, and individual songs."

He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "As uptight and overly set in my ways as you may have thought I was earlier this week, it can be argued that, in the earlier years of the New Directions' existence, I was actually even more so." He nodded his head. "Granted, while my students and I were ultimately able to come to agreements and keep things peaceful and happy between us over the course of this club's first year of existence as the New Directions, it wasn't until the 1st time we met and worked with Holly Holiday during this club's 2nd year of existence that I honestly started to put more effort into allowing for more comparative equality between us and for my students to have more of a say in the decision making compared to my prior, and somewhat authoritarian, approach to the matter."

He took another deep breath, and then exhaled. "And over the years," he continued. "I have only continued to try my absolute best to continue to put that same higher amount of effort into ensuring that such equality remains between me and my students. Now, of course, as is to be expected, fluctuations have inevitably occurred, and each side has made a blunder and required a reminder more than once. Sometimes, like today for example, we've been lucky, and no major negative consequences have unfolded. Other times, like was the case with multiple other assemblies and similar incidents, things have gone horribly wrong.

"And as much as I appreciate the reminder you gave me at today's assembly," the teacher continued, "it is nonetheless entirely possible that I'll still need to receive similar reminders all over again multiple times in the future." He pointed back at where he'd written 'mutuality'. "But regardless of how necessary it becomes for reminders on either side of this equation, the important thing is that we all work our hardest to keep the period in between the reminders lasting as long as we possibly can, and that we also similarly do our best to fulfill our goals for this club, our dreams, and everything else that matters." He nodded his head. "And to that end, I apologize for my original song choices."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, and then nodded, smiles on their faces. "So, we're off the hook?" Daniel asked, more out of formality then any genuine worry.

"Yes," the teacher responded. He lifted his finger. "But as lucky as we got today, and as sorry as I am for the setlist that made you feel your actions were necessary, I still strongly advice that you try your best not to allow any other incidents like this happen again. Like I said, we got lucky this time. But next time, assuming there is one, things might not end so well."

"Understood," the gleeks all said at once, Hobbes letting off a low snarl to indicate his own acknowledgement of what the teacher had said.

"Excellent," said Mr. Schuester. He clapped his hands together once. "Alright then, all that being said, it's time for us to go over other important bits of business for this month."

The gleeks, plus Hobbes, all nodded, their attention clearly fully on the teacher and whatever it was he now deemed necessary to tell them.

. . . . .

The four leads, plus Zack and Hobbes, couldn't help but feel both relieved and tired as they stood around in one of the McKinley High hallways waiting for the rest of the gleeks to join up with them. As happy as they were that things had unfolded nicely over the course of the assembly and the after-school glee club session, they were also now feeling somewhat tired and ready to go home. But even so, they were not unwilling to stay where they currently were and wait for the rest of their New Directions peers to join up with them.

Daniel turned his head to face Calvin, taking note once more of how Calvin's eyes seemed to be half closed. "Good day?" he then asked.

The autistic boy let a small smile come on his face. "You could say that," he responded. He nodded his head, and then turned to face Susan. "It certainly turned out better than it could have been; especially as far as that assembly is concerned."

"I can certainly agree with you there," said Susan. She nodded her head, her eyes closed as she sighed in contentment. Then she opened her eyes and directed a slightly concerned look towards him. "Still, did you and Hobbes really have to do your usual routine after the final number?"

Calvin chuckled nervously, a sheepish half grin on his face as he rubbed his hand across his hair. "Um yeah, that," he stated. "Force of habit. Sorry."

Hobbes, meanwhile, barked twice, and then started happily panting, seemingly quite unrepentant of what Susan had just brought up.

"It's fine Calvin," Susan said, clearly to reassure her autistic friend. "Really, it is. But nonetheless. . ."

She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Can you promise to at least try to not let that happen at any other important glee club performances? Or at the very least, try not to do that at competitions? I mean, yes, we got lucky at the assembly today, but audiences at events like Regionals or Nationals, and especially judges, may not be quite so receptive."

"I can try," Calvin said. He nodded his head. "But other than that, I can't really promise anything."

Daniel placed his hand on the autistic boy's shoulder. "Don't worry," said the dark-haired boy. "No need to put too much pressure on yourself. Whatever happens in the future, I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

"Yeah," said Diana. "What he said."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said Zack.

All five of the gleeks present promptly chuckled.

"Having a good time, are we?"

The five juniors turned their heads and smiled at the sight of four now very familiar sophomores. "Nice of you to drop by," said Daniel.

Diana nodded her head in agreement, and then placed her hands on her hips. "Thought we'd stick around and wait for you," she then said.

"So I guessed," said Darren.

The four sophomores promptly chuckled in unison upon hearing Darren say this, while Hobbes and the five juniors rolled their eyes.

"In all seriousness though," Darren then said, nodding his head in understanding. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Zack, smile already back on his face.

"Good week?" Daniel asked.

The four sophomores nodded their heads.

"You bet," said Dunlap.

"How's progress on your goals for the year?"

Upon hearing this question, the other gleeks all directed confused looks at Calvin.

The autistic gestured at the four sophomores. "Last Monday," he explained. "You said that you wished to, over the course of this school year and your time in this club, increase your own sense of camaraderie amongst yourselves, make new friends out of the rest of us in this club, and sort out a few of your personal issues from previous years." He nodded his head. "I'd just like to know if you've made any significant progress on those goals so far."

The four sophomores all gave off a silent 'oh' in unison upon hearing Calvin's explanation, and they then thought to themselves.

"Well," said Dunlap. "I'll admit, last week certainly could have gone better."

"You got that right," said Darren, his yellow contacted eyes directing a meaningful sidelong glare at Zack. The black boy chuckled nervously, and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face.

Amber placed her hand on Darren's shoulder, shaking her head side to side. "But other than that," she then said before looking at the 5 juniors and single German Shepherd, "yes, I'd say we've been doing quite well so far."

"Yeah," said Naomi. She nodded her head with her eyes closed. "What she said," Naomi continued, successfully pointing in Amber's direction.

And indeed, things were going well for the four sophomores at this moment in time. Granted, yes, they would have quite preferred for there to have been a fair amount less drama to befall them the previous week, and Zack had most definitely been zero help in that regard. However, as of this moment, things had gotten undeniably better compared to the previous week. And in the time that had unfolded, especially after the crack house incident, they had in fact made considerable progress in achieving the goals Calvin had just now brought up. Not only was the existing friendship between the four of them all the stronger, but they had also managed to form some acquaintanceships with multiple older members of the glee club they'd joined that they were certain would develop into strong friendships in their own right. Even the guy who'd arguably helped make things over dramatic the previous week had, unexpectedly enough, ended up becoming a decent enough acquaintance to them as well. And they had every right to believe that, with them all well on the way to getting some fantastic new friends in these multiple older peers from the glee club, they would have somewhat easier times with allowing Naomi and Amber in particular to finally get a full move on away from the terrible horrors that had befallen them the previous year. All in all, things seemed to be looking up for the four sophomores.

"I see you guys are all having a good week."

The 9 students gathered in the area turned their heads in time to see none other than a happily smiling Cody, Bailey, and Raj walking up towards them.

"You to, huh?" Calvin asked.

Bailey chuckled, and placed her hands on her hips. "You can say that again. Sure, last week could have gone down better, but I daresay my boys and I are having a good week this week so far." She positioned her eyes as if giving a sidelong glance at Cody and Raj from behind her. "Isn't that right?"

Cody and Raj seemed to think to themselves, and then they both nodded.

"Yep," said Raj.

"Sure thing," said Cody.

"That's what I like," said Bailey. She nodded her head and directed her gaze fully back towards the other 9 gleeks in front of her. "Heck, I'd say that, if things continue going this smoothly for the rest of the year, I'm sure the three of us will have our respective goals mentioned last week fulfilled and our drama between us over and done with in no time." She turned around to directly face Raj and Cody. "Don't you think so?"

This time, Cody and Raj had a noticeable pause between Bailey's asking that question and their eventual response. As the silence seemed to drag on with Cody and Raj having awkward looks on their faces as they thought to themselves, their 9 peers gathered in front of them and Bailey all looked each other in the eyes awkwardly. Even Bailey found herself gradually losing her smile and looking worried.

Eventually, with slightly gritted teeth, the two Asian boys both managed to say in unison, "Yes, I suppose so." And no sooner had they said this when they, again in unison, gave each other a sidelong glare, Cody with his left eye and Raj with his right eye. And in their eyes was a clear 'This isn't over' look.

Bailey let a sheepish smile come on her face, all while silently thinking, "This will definitely be longer and harder than I thought." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled, calming herself down before she could even begin to get overwhelmed. "But hey," she thought to herself. "We've still got a whole school year. I'm sure that will be a decent amount of time for the three of us to resolve this issue. And besides, with all the others in this club to join us as our friends, they could probably be more than a little helpful at solving this dilemma. Yes, that's right. That oughta work." She closed her eyes and nodded her head. "Yep," she thought to herself. "Exactly that easy."

At the sound of footsteps walking up to them from behind the four sophomores, the 12 gleeks and single dog all turned around in time to see none other than Charlotte borderline stomping her way over to the group with her fists clenched and a tense pokerfaced look on her face. After about one or two minutes of her walking in this fashion towards them, she came to a firm stop right in front of Diana and Susan, pokerfaced glare still on her face and fists still clenched. For what seemed like an eternity, her 12 fellow gleeks and the single dog with them stared at her in half confusion and half nervousness as they wondered just what she now had on her mind to have her behaving the way she currently was.

Then, when the apparent eternity finally ended, the head cheerio took a deep breath, exhaled, and then pointed at Susan and Diana with her glare now slightly less pokerfaced then before. "You two," she began, "are so lucky I was able to convince Silena and Ashley not to try to gang up on you two and have you beaten up this afternoon after that stunt you pulled on them before the after-school glee club session today."

Diana promptly had a sheepish smile come on her face, and she rubbed the back of her head with a nervous chuckle. Susan, on the other hand, had an obviously smug grin come on her face, and she folded her arms across her chest. "I take it you found where Diana and I hid them?"

Charlotte gritted her teeth, directed her pointing finger more directly at Susan, and snarled, "Oh yes, yes I did. And dear God you and Diana made it a real chore for me to get them free." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Judging by how tight the knots you made were, I have a strong feeling that at least one of your parents was a scout." She lifted a finger. "And the fact that you had athletic tape gagging them underneath the single strips of black duct tape you also gagged them with was a very dirty move. I had to have Coach Sylvester put her departure from here on hold so she could help me safely remove it."

Diana slightly grimaced, and rubbed her hand across the back of her head, a sheepish 'guilty as charged' half wince and half smile on her face. Most of the other gleeks whistled silently and shook their heads side to side. Calvin, meanwhile, chuckled, and said "That's what I'm talking about." Susan also chuckled, a clear unrepentant look of smug satisfaction on her own face. And she and Calvin promptly gave each other a high-five after Calvin made his comment. Hobbes even let a canine smirk of his own come onto his furry face alongside a toothy grin.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, and folded her arms across her chest. "Like I said, be glad that I'm feeling merciful this week. Or Silena and Ashley would have been making you feel so very sorry by now."

Diana nodded in understanding, a still slightly nervous look on her face despite her equally present happiness. She had to elbow Susan in the side to get the dark-haired girl to indicate her own (somewhat reluctant) understanding.

"Good," said Charlotte. "She turned around so that her back was facing the rest of the gleeks. "Now let's get out of here. The sooner I get to no longer share immediate breathing space with you today, the better."

The other gleeks, Hobbes included, all rolled their eyes, and waited until Charlotte had taken a full 10 steps ahead of them before they started following her down the path that would ultimately lead to the McKinley High parking lot.

However, 13 minutes later, they all managed to turn down and start heading through one of the last remaining hallways in their path, only to come to a stunned halt when all 13 of the gleeks (minus Hobbes) found themselves getting splashed in the face with what could instantly be identified as slushy material.

The 13 gleeks had just enough time to fully realize what had just happened, and Hobbes enough time to move his head side to side in complete confusion for a while, before multiple familiar jock voices in front of them stated in unison, "Surprise!"

The eyes of the gleeks, and Hobbes, promptly narrowed despite the presence of the slushy facials. Charlotte, in particular, seemed especially pissed as she proceeded to angrily clench her fists and grit her teeth as well as narrow her eyes.

The jocks who'd clearly been responsible for the slushy facials all chuckled. Then, the gleeks all heard Becket say, "You did good. I'll grudgingly admit that. Your performances this morning? Especially the one of that rock song? Actually bearable." There was a brief pause, presumably a result of Becket pausing to nod his head. "However," he then stated, "you all are living in dream world if you think that that's going to be enough for you to have our respect earned just yet . . . if ever."

It took all the gleeks' willpower not to snarl at the more negative aspects of the hockey captain's comments, while they also simultaneously grudgingly accepted the comparatively more positive details sandwiched between the negativity. Hobbes, meanwhile, grudgingly snarled, and directed a half confused and half angry look towards his master as if asking, "Can I kill them now?"

"Like I said," Becket continued. "You've earned some points today. But we sure as Hell ain't gonna make things easy for you lot. Consider this a warning for what you can expect over the course of this year. The last people to be in your position? They may have earned their well worked for respect from this school, but they ain't here at this school anymore. And you lot? Like everyone's made clear, this is all of ya'll's first year as members of this wish-wash fest. You want our respect? You'd gotta earn it. And if it takes literal blood and sweat? So be it."

After a final brief pause, with only Hobbes being able to adequately see him and the other jocks flash the 'looser L' gesture at them all, Becket ended his speech to the gleeks with a, "Later losers."

As one, the jocks all chuckled, gave each other high-fives, and departed from the area, leaving the slushied gleeks and silently fuming German shepherd standing where they'd been upon initial slushy facial. After what seemed far longer an amount of time then what actually passed, the gleeks finally managed to sigh in unison and shake their heads.

"We really have some big shoes to fill," Raj said in an exhausted tone.

"Yes," Cody said in a resigned tone of voice. "Yes, we do."

"Too true," Bailey grumbled. "Too true."

Calvin sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "All these years of the New Directions being in existence. I know what Mr. Schuester said last week about this inevitability. But honestly, is it too much to ask for a previous generation of New Directioneers' well earned respect carry over to the next such generation at least once?"

"You can say that again Calvin," Susan agreed. She sighed, and shook her head side to side. "Honestly, counting the 13 of us, this club has had at least 12 generations of students based upon lead duos. You'd honestly think that, after 11 entire respect-worthy generations of students, this club wouldn't need to be pulling teeth and fighting with blood, sweat, and tears to have this school's respect anymore!" She lifted her hands, her slushied face turned upwards to face the ceiling at the same time. "Seriously!" she yelled. "Can this club never get a break from all this!?"

Zack sighed. "I hear you girl," he then said. He sighed. "Like you said, as the 12th generation in a row, we should have this school's respect earned a hundred times over. But no. Every previous generation of New Directioneers just has to be a tough act to follow for all new blood generations such as ourselves." He shook his head side to side. "The sheer injustice of this. I swear."

The other gleeks, plus Hobbes, all grumbled and nodded their heads in agreement. That is, except for Daniel and Diana.

"You are certainly correct," said Diana. She nodded her head, and then turned around to face all her fellow gleeks apart from Daniel and herself. "All of you are. It really isn't fair."

"No, it is not," Daniel agreed. He to turned around to face his fellow gleeks. "And yes, it truly would be easier if we were to automatically inherit the same respect as any previous generation before us." He nodded his head with his eyes closed, and then opened his eyes back up. "But the plain and simple truth? We aren't any previous generation of New Directions."

For a brief moment, the rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, all looked at each other in confusion. Then they all looked over at Daniel and Diana, eyebrows raised in confusion and suspicion.

"He's right you know," said Diana. She nodded her head. "Last time Daniel and I checked, our names are Daniel Taymor and Diana Eberhart; not Riley Hansford and Tess Sewicky. And for that matter, we're certainly not Leon Talbot and Yolanda Milner, or Shawn Forbes and Gretchen Temple, or Jackson Siskel and Stephanie Ebert."

"Correct," Daniel chimed in. "And neither are we Ashton Swan and Dawn Cullen, or Ryder Lynn and Marley Rose. And as much as Diana and I may wish for it every now and then, we sure as Hell aren't Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry either."

"No you are not," Calvin agreed.

"Here, here," said Susan.

Hobbes growled lightly, and nodded his head up and down as if in agreement with his master and Susan.

The other gleeks (apart from Charlotte) had a brief chuckle at this. Even Diana and Daniel smiled at this development.

"In all seriousness though," Diana then said, clearly now wishing to get back on topic. "We're not any previous generation of New Directioneers. And we simply can't rely on piggybacking on their respect."

The other gleeks grumbled and nodded their heads in grudging acceptance; except for Charlotte, who surreptitiously let a smirk come on her face at the sight of Daniel nodding his own head in agreement. "Indeed, we are not," she thought to herself. "And you and I both know what we really are Danny boy."

"What we are, however," said Daniel.

Charlotte let her smirk expand into a wolf-like grin as the other gleeks all directed much less smug looks of interest towards the club's current male lead.

"Is a completely different generation of New Directioneers! 100% brand new, 100% fresh, 100% our own! Isn't that right?"

"Yeah!" the other gleeks all shouted; except for Charlotte, her smug grin now a disappointed frown.

"Should have known he'd still be naïve about this matter at this point," she thought bitterly to herself, while simultaneously letting off a flat, "Yay," so as to avoid falling under the gleeks' suspicion.

"We shouldn't have to wish ourselves to be carbon copies of our predecessors," said Diana, her green eyes agleam underneath what remained of her slushy facial. She lifted both her hands as if to silently say 'behold'. "Like Daniel just said, we're all brand new to this club. We should take this as the opportunity that it is; to do our own thing! To follow our own path! To make this our own age! Isn't that right?"

"Yeah," came the resounding response from her fellow gleeks.

"That's the spirit," said Daniel. He lifted his own hands as if making a victory gesture. "And if we have to fight with blood, sweat, and tears to ensure we achieve the same level of respect as all our predecessors, then so be it!"

"Yeah!" yelled the other gleeks.

"Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!" Hobbes barked in agreement.

"That's what I'm talking about," said Diana.

She and Daniel turned around to face ahead once more, Daniel pointing his finger forward in the process. "Goodbye old times, hello new age," Daniel yelled.

"Yeah," all the gleeks (with the natural exception of Charlotte) shouted as they proceeded as one to resume their trek down the hall, with Charlotte very noticeably slowly following and falling behind with her head and shoulders slumped. But if any of the other gleeks, or Hobbes, happened to notice this, they showed no sign of it, let alone of even caring about that matter. At that moment, the sense of camaraderie they now felt, strong yet still needing further development as it was, was already much too strong for them to fall back into their earlier glum mood from the slushy facials.

In fact, as it so happened, all the gleeks (again, apart from Charlotte) already had the perfect song in mind for them to potentially sing the very next day to showcase their current happiness. What they didn't know at that moment, of course, was how Mr. Schuester would indeed say yes to this very song and performance idea the very next day. And when the time came that day, the performance in question, complete with appropriate music, outfits, and dancing (plus Calvin imitating a t-rex), would go something like this:

(Scene Break: McKinley High Auditorium, very next day)

Daniel (and Diana):
You say yes
I say no
(You say stop)
(I say go, go, go!)
(Oh no!)
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions):
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello!
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello
Hello, hello!
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello
(Daniel and Diana (with New Directions)):
I say high
You say low
You say why and I say (I don't know!)
Oh no!
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions (New Directions)):
You say goodbye and I say hello
(Hello) Hello, hello! (Hello)
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Goodbye)
(Hello) Hello, hello! (Hello)
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Goodbye)
(Daniel (with Diana)):
Why, why, why, why, why, why (do you say goodbye, goodbye?)
(Daniel, Susan, and Diana):
Oh no!
(Daniel with New Directions):
You say goodbye
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions (New Directions)):
And I say hello (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)
Hello, hello (Hello, goodbye!)
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)
Hello, hello (Hello, goodbye!)
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello
(Daniel (New Directions)):
You say yes (I say yes)
I say no (But I may mean no)
(Daniel and Diana (New Directions)):
You say stop (I can stay)
And I say go, go, go (Till it's time to go!)
Oh no!
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions (New Directions)):
You say goodbye and I say hello (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello, goodbye!)
(Hello) Hello, hello (Hello) (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!) (Rachel: Hello!)
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello, goodbye!)
(Hello) Hello, hello (Hello) (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Oh, oh)
(Daniel and Diana):
Hello! (New Directions: Oh, oh)
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions):
Hello...
(Susan):
Oh, oh, oh, oh!
(Diana with Daniel and New Directions (Susan)):
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la!
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Hey, hey, hey-lo-la!)
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Diana: Hey-lo-laaaa!)
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Hey-la!) (Diana: Hey, hey, yeah!)
(Diana with Daniel (New Directions)):
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (I say hello! Hello, hello!)
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello) (Susan: Say hello!)
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Hello, hello! I don't know why you say goodbye)
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions):
I say hello (New Directions: Oh, oh)
(Daniel and Diana):
Hello (New Directions: Oh, oh)
Hello...

After what seemed like an eternity with the New Directions members staying frozen in their positions from the song's end, the silence in the air was finally broken with the sound of Mr. Schuester happily clapping from his seat in the front row of the auditorium chairs, a smile on his face. And he couldn't have felt happier then he was at that moment. After all, for starters, his current students of the New Directions had just now managed once again to put on a truly magnificent performance.

But the amazingness of their performance was most certainly not the only reason he felt so happy right now. In fact, he also felt happy because of just how much they were now starting to remind him in more ways than one of the very first 12 students he'd ever had in the glee club under his leadership. For one, that very group had performed the very same song that this current group of students had just finished once before, though arguably under somewhat less pleasant circumstances. Secondly, all 13 of the students were dressed exactly the same way that his first 12 students had been during their own performance of this very song. However, Diana and Daniel had managed to take the reminder up to 11 in how they'd positioned themselves back to back with their arms folded across their chests at the end of the performance. This position, and the wide smiles that had been on their faces, strangely reminded him very much of a position he was quite certain their idols had taken at least once under similar circumstances during their time as his students.

The 13 students on stage, meanwhile, were similarly feeling happy. Hobbes, naturally, was also feeling quite happy as he watched from his seated position in the left wing of the stage, happily panting as he stared in the direction of the equally happy and smiling Calvin and Susan. Even Charlotte had a small smile on her face, though hers had considerably less to do with the reason for the other gleeks' smiles and more to do with her own optimistic hope for the future of her own ulterior goal.

Nevertheless, regardless of reasons, all the gleeks were happy, and so was their teacher. And at that particular moment in time, that was all that mattered. Of course, what none of them knew for certain, if at all, was just how much more drama, wonder, love, dreams, and amazement they'd be put through over the course of the days, weeks, and months that would follow. Not to mention how one particular previous gleek generation they were equal parts inspired by and equal parts willing to set themselves apart from would end up playing a powerfully large role further down the line in their time as New Directioneers. But of course, right now the future wasn't what mattered. Right now, what truly mattered was how everyone immediately involved was happy, excited, and willing to keep moving and looking forward to what was to come. As of that moment, it was safe to say that, after all the drama that had occurred so far and would doubtless come into fruition much later on, a new generation had truly been born.

The End

And just like that, the story ends. Once again, I apologize for the ungodly long wait. BUt nevertheless, I also hope very much that this finale (for this story anyway) proves well worth the wait (not to mention enough to keep you all pacified and entertained in the interim I now must take from writing Glee fanfiction). Much as was the case for previous chapters, this chapter requires a minimum of 1 review in order to guarantee that I'll have the will to return to Glee fanfiction writing once I've reached a sufficient stopping point in my return to writing for Teen Titans fanfiction. Once again, hope you all read, review, and enjoy this chapter, and that you all enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it, and that you all are more than willing to wait for me once again as you did the last time I went on hiatus for this fanfiction community. That all said and done, thank you once more for all of your support. It truly means a lot to me, and I hope that you will once again patiently wait for me during my new hiatus just like you did the last time I took an extended leave from writing Glee fanfiction. Once again, thank you.