A/N: Ahhh, sorry it's been so long. I've been sick for quite a while now. Anyway! I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks again for all of your feedback! Oh, yeah, for the song in this chapter, lines "like this" are sung by Hermione and lines "like this" are sung by the football team/the male members of New Directions.

Enjoy! :)

~Chapter 27~

Previously: "Well, we could always go try to pick up women, but I'm pretty sure Santana would kill me if I allowed you to do that. Wanna go outside and toss a football?" The British girl's eyes lit up as she nodded her head and dragged Puck out to the football field.

"Damn, babe, you're a natural," the football player whistled as she caught the pass he threw.

"At my old school, I helped my friends practice for the game we played there," Hermione called back to him, thinking of the times when she and Ginny would toss the quaffle back and forth on the ground to help with the red-head's hand-eye coordination.

"Oh, sweet, what sport was it?" Puck questioned as he caught the football before throwing it back.

"Um, it's not very popular here. I doubt you would've heard of it," she answered with a chuckle as she easily caught the ball yet again much to the amazement of the crowd that had gathered around the two.

A couple days later, Hermione sat in glee club with her arms crossed as Coach Beiste and Will informed the New Directions and the Titans about their latest development.

"No frickin' way!" Karofsky spat as he stood up angrily.

"We don't have a choice. Sue pulled the Cheerios from the game, so if we don't do it, there's no halftime show," the choir director informed them seriously.

"And this is a problem because…?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"It's not a problem, it's an opportunity. The whole point of this week was to bring you guys closer together, to bring the school together!"

"Wait, so you want us to play the first half, change into some sequin ball gowns, and then go out and do the halftime show at our own championship game?" Azimio exclaimed with a scoff.

"Yes!" The football coach answered frustratingly.

"This is the championship game! This is crazy!"

"Oi, will you all shut up? You're giving me a bloody headache. Look, Neanderthals, we want to perform with you all as much as you want to perform with us. Let's just get this over with and then we can go back to our respective teams, alright?" Hermione suggested, ever the voice of reason. The rest of the teenagers groaned, but nodded in agreement.

"Wait, what about the Cheerios in glee club?"

"They have a choice: us or the Cheerios competition," the curly-haired man answered with a sigh.

"Well, obviously they are all going to pick the Cheerios competition," Rachel pointed out sarcastically.

"Hey, you don't know what they're going to do. Have faith in them, Rach," responded the British girl defensively, earning a fond smile from the Latina sitting next to her.

"I think the cheerleading competition is going to be a lot of fun, but if you go, you're going to miss out on us doing the most iconic song of all time, the super bowl of pop anthems…Thriller." The group began to cheer enthusiastically. "And we're going to mash it up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' equally spooky single Heads Will Roll."

"Alright, New Directions, Titans, we're going to zombie camp," Coach Beiste informed the group before blowing her whistle. After rehearsing the choreography, both teams returned to the choir room to work on the zombie makeup. Hermione was applying some fake blood to her face, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"What do you want, Karofsky?" She muttered tiredly while glancing at him in the mirror.

"Do you think maybe we should do a warm up number or something before we do that big Thriller thing at halftime? You know, I figure the only way I'm gonna have any street cred around here after dancing around like an idiot in front of the whole school is if we kick ass at it." Hermione blinked for a few seconds before turning around to face him.

"That's actually a really great idea, Dave. I'll talk to Will about it." The football player nodded stiffly and returned to his chair.

A few days had passed and Hermione was making her way to the library to meet Sam when Will stopped her.

"Mia, I have some bad news."

"What is it?" She inquired, fearful of the answer.

"The Cheerios turned in their letter of resignation…"

"Are you serious?" The British girl replied quietly. Her uncle nodded and kissed the top of her head before going back to his office. The wavy-haired brunette slowly walked to the library and the blonde football player immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Herms, what happened?" Sam asked comfortingly as he put an arm around her shoulder.

"The Cheerios left glee," she informed him despondently.

"Really? Man, that sucks, I actually thought they'd leave the Cheerios."

"I know. Hey, can we meet up later to work on your paper? I'd like to go talk to Santana," the brown-eyed girl told him with a small frown.

"Yeah, of course, Herms. I don't mind putting off Twain for a bit," the blonde chuckled.

"Thanks, Sammy," smiled the brunette before hugging him and running off in search of the raven-haired girl. A few minutes later, she found the girl in question standing by her locker.

"Oh, hey, Hermione," beamed the Latina.

"How can you pretend something's not wrong when it is?" The British girl demanded while crossing her arms.

"Um, what did I do exactly?" The shorter girl questioned with tilt of her head.

"You left us for the Cheerios!" Hermione finally shrieked throwing her arms up in the air.

"Hermione, I'm sorry! I did what I had to do," mumbled Santana, trying to calm the other girl down.

"How can you say that? Did Sue point a gun at your head and force you to sign your name?"

"No, but you don't understand! I have a reputation to uphold. Please don't be mad at me," the younger girl spoke quietly.

"It's fine, San, really. I just don't understand why you guys care so much about the Cheerios when everyone who actually loves and appreciates you is in glee," Hermione replied disappointedly before looking the Latina in the eyes. "I guess I'm just upset because I'll barely see you now," she muttered so softly, as she was walking away, the cheerleader almost didn't hear her.

Hermione slowly walked to the auditorium and put on her zombie makeup before turning around and facing the football team.

"You ready, boys?" The team nodded nervously before they all moved into position and Hermione nodded at the band to begin playing.

"Hey little sister, what have you done?
Hey little sister, who's the only one?
Hey little sister, who's your superman?
Hey little sister, who's the one you want?
Hey little sister, shot gun!"

After she finished the first verse, the football players began to dance around her and joined her on the chorus.

"It's a nice day to start again.
It's a nice day for a white wedding.
It's a nice day to start again."

"Hey little sister, who is it you're with?
Hey little sister, what's your vice and wish?
Hey little sister, shot gun.
Hey little sister, who's your superman?
Hey little sister, shot gun!"

"It's a nice day to start again.
It's a nice day for a white wedding.
It's a nice day to start again."

"Take me back home.

"Hey little sister, what have you done?
Hey little sister, who's the only one?
I've been away for so long.
I've been away for so long.
I let you go for so long."

"It's a nice day to start again.
It's a nice day for a white wedding.
It's a nice day to start again."

"There is nothin' fair in this world.
There is nothin' safe in this world.
And there's nothin' sure in this world.
And there's nothin' pure in this world.
Look for something left in this world.
Start again.

"Come on."

"It's a nice day for a white wedding.
It's a nice day to start again.
It's a nice day to start again.
It's a nice day to start again."

Once she and the guys hit the last note, the remaining glee club members began to cheer loudly.

"That was awesome, guys!" Will praised happily. "I think I speak for all of us when I say that your performance was very impressive!"

The performers looked at each other happily before exiting the auditorium and walking down the hallway, still clad in their zombie makeup. Before they could get too far, however, they ran into the hockey team.

"Wow, look the head dyke is in charge of a whole army of gays," Scott Cooper, the hockey team captain, taunted before he and his teammates threw their slushies all over the football players and Hermione. As Karofsky and the rest of the football team angrily stalked off to the locker room, Hermione sighed and headed towards the nearest girls' bathroom.

"Hermione, wait up!" A voice called out causing the British girl to turn around with a small frown.

"What do you want, San?"

"Do you need some help getting that slush off you?" The cheerleader inquired shyly.

"That's sweet of you," the wavy-haired brunette responded quietly. "I wouldn't want you to be late to Cheerios practice though."

"B, can cover for me," the Latina spoke with a smirk as she dragged the other girl to the bathroom.

The next morning, Hermione joined Kurt and Blaine at the Lima Bean before school. After they sat down, the two Warblers began joking about how they were going to win Regionals. They stopped when they noticed the brown-eyed girl's crestfallen expression.

"What's going on, babe?" Blaine questioned, concern shining in his eyes.

"McKinley is such a disaster right now, we can't even keep the football team together. It reminds me of the house rivalry at my old school. Coach Beiste and Will were so close to bringing the whole school together, only to have it blow up in their faces."

"Why hasn't Finn told me anything about this? We live together!" Kurt gasped as he put his coffee down.

"I suppose, he and the rest of the guys are too proud. I may not know a lot about the American school system, but I think that winning this game could have really helped the guys get out of their funk and establish their place on the social food chain," Hermione grumbled as she banged her head on the table.

"So the whole team quit?" Blaine asked after absorbing everything the British girl had said.

"Everybody except for the guys in glee," the wavy-haired brunette nodded. "Wait, you can't play football with five guys…right?" The curly-haired Warbler shook his head.

"Well, the good news is that you only need four more guys. High School regulations actually let you play a couple guys short if you want to. But, hey, if they figure out how to make it work, we'll definitely be there to cheer 'em on."

"Totally. Blaine and I love football. Well, Blaine loves football, I love scarves." Blaine and Hermione chuckled at Kurt's honesty and went back to their drinks. As the Warblers began chatting about the latest cover of Vogue, Hermione found herself deep in thought.

That afternoon as the remaining New Directions tried to figure something out with Coach Beiste and Mr. Schue, Hermione murmured something to the female members of glee. She stood up and walked to the center of the room before taking a deep breath.

"The girls and I want to join the team and play in the championship game," she stated bluntly.

"C'mon guys, stop screwing around. It's not cool," Sam muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"We are perfectly capable to play football, gentlemen!" Rachel shrieked as she and the rest of the girls joined the wavy-haired brunette in front of the group.

"Mia, have you ever actually seen a tackle football game? When they tackle you, it hurts," Will informed her warily.

"I'm a quick learner. After watching that one game the other afternoon, I understand the basic concepts of football and I asked Blaine to explain some of the smaller details to me. Also, William, if you remember, I spent four weeks being tortured by sociopaths. I doubt the boys on the rival football team could really injure me more than those people," she murmured darkly while glaring at her uncle.

"The rest of us have thought of that as well," Rachel interrupted, trying to diffuse the tension that was being created. "The truth is you guys don't really need us to play, you just need enough players out there to field a regulation team, so when they snap the ball, we're just gonna lie there."

"I'm not. I have a lot of pent up aggression I need to get out," Hermione scoffed. "Besides, I can throw and catch the ball pretty well. Puck can vouch for me."

"I guess they won't get hurt if they just lie down," the football coach pointed out as she stood up and faced the girls.

"What do your parents have to say about this?" The choir director questioned exasperatedly.

"Mercedes, Rachel, and I all have signed permission slips from them. It took some convincing, but they understood what it means to all of us," Tina informed the group with a smile. Will gazed at his niece and knew that she could be just as stubborn as her mother was and sighed.

"Well, what do you think, Coach?"

"Welcome to the football team," she spoke respectfully. The girls cheered enthusiastically and began jumping up and down as the male members of the New Directions surrounded them with crooked grins.

"Let's do this!" Puck yelled out as he spun a now giggling Hermione around. The group continued to goof off, unaware of three sets of disheartened eyes watching them from the doorway.

A/N, part II: Song was "White Wedding" by Billy Idol.