Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Hellooooo there! Behold, another transition chapter! (Only because it's short-but I will be posting chapter 8 tomorrow). Enjoy and don't forget to drop a review! :)
"I am shaking and it's either from low-blood sugar or rage," Kurt said, holding his lunch tray close. "I knew it was only a matter of time before Rachel tried to take Mr. Schue's place while he's sick."
Mercedes shook her head.
"I mean, I love her and all but Santana was ready to kill her today."
"We'll forget all about it tonight at bowling," Mercedes said, grabbing a milk carton.
"I can't. Blaine asked me to hang out," he responded.
Mercedes gave him an incredulous look. "But I've been looking forward to it all week." When he didn't respond, Mercedes scoffed. "Are you two going out? Because I think you need to come clean."
"No-I'm not on another 'Jesse-Rachel' train scenario. Please Mercedes, mom's the word."
"We'd be happy for you, we've known how lonely you've been," she said.
"All we do is hang out. We don't talk about glee club," he walked toward the salad bar. "It's just nice to have someone like me to talk to."
Kurt noticed how Mercedes had seemingly stopped listening to him. Instead, he could tell she was staring off to the distance. Following her gaze, he saw tater tots.
"Oh god, Mercedes, really?"
Mercedes moved him aside. "Hang on," she said.
"Sorry, we're just hungry," Kurt tried to explain to the people she cut in front of.
"What are we going to do about glee club, then?" she asked as she asked for a couple more tots.
"I have a plan. Have you met the new Spanish teacher? Holly Holiday?"
"Dude, what are you doing?" Finn asked slowly.
Puck looked up at him as if Finn had offended him. "Kurt got us a substitute, so I'm buttering the floor."
"Fantastic," Quinn said sarcastically. "Way to set an example for our daughter, Puck."
"Hey, she doesn't have to know," Puck retorted.
"Why? Sectionals is two weeks from now-we should really start thinking of songs for the set-list," Finn said.
Heels clacked behind him. "I'm sorry, did I hear someone say 'substitute'?" Rachel asked. A second later, she was on the floor, her face astonished.
"Rachel, are you okay?" Anne asked, lending a hand.
Rachel smiled and took Anne's hand. Finally standing, she adjusted her skirt. "I'm fine. At least I didn't fall and break my talent."
A blonde woman ,whom Rachel assumed to be the infamous substitute, walked in and smiled coyly as she slid effortlessly across Puck's buttered floor.
"Oh, what the hell?" Artie mumbled, hands up.
"Nothing quite like a buttered floor to say 'welcome'." She said.
Behind her, Kurt fell. There was a small collective laughter as the sub smiled again.
"Names. Go," she demanded, looking at Puck.
"My name is Finn Hudson," he imitated. Behind him Finn scowled.
Santana giggled. "And I'm Rachel, his loud, very loud girlfriend."
"Yeah, and I'm Mike Chang," Brittany said.
The substitute shook her head. "Those aren't your real names. Want to know how I know that? Because I just finished watching a video of you guys performing at last year's Regionals where you came in last."
Brittany gasped lowly. "She's psychic..."
"Maybe it's because those songs are like thirty years old," she added.
"Those songs are classics," Finn stated in shock.
She turned to look at him. "Those songs are amazing, but they sounded like somebody else's favorite songs, not yours."
"She has a point," Mercedes said.
The blonde kept making some jokes about goofing on and everything inside of Rachel screamed 'Wrong! No! No! Unacceptable!'.
"Okay, no," Rachel spoke up at last. "We can't just goof off, we have to write a set-list for Sectionals."
"You're right," the sub said. "What songs would you like to do?"
Everyone became silent.
"Oh, don't get asked that question a lot, do we?"
Kurt cleared his throat. "Ms. Holiday is right. Mr. Schuester's set-list sometimes sounds like he hasn't listened to the radio since the 80s."
"It's true. He didn't even consider when I asked if we could do Cee Lo's new song," Puck said.
"Cee Lo! Now that's what I'm talking about," Ms. Holiday said.
"Okay, what would you know about Cee Lo?" Santana inquired. "You're like, 40."
"Top 40, sweet cheeks," she looked at the band. "Hit it!"
"Hey there, Rachel," Ms. Holiday said, approaching the young girl.
"Hello, Ms. Holiday." Rachel stated blandly. "I'll have you know that I have bruise on my right buttocks from your game of Ganster Rap Musical Chairs, but I will notify the school nurse later today."
Ms. Holiday frowned. "Rachel, you suck."
Rachel's jaw dropped. What did she just say?
"Oh my god, you're like a total drag. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"I have," Puck said as he passed by. "Oh, Puckerman. Here are the answers to the pop quiz you'll be having in Spanish today. It is so boring in there."
Puck smiled. "Oh, thanks Ms. H."
"Righteous," Ms. Holiday said, high-fiving and fist-bumping Puck before he left.
Rachel nodded, clearly not amused. "You know what, you're right. Maybe I should be more like you-all fun and forgetful about the consequences."
"Yes, you should. At least sometimes," Ms. Holiday said. "When was the last time you did something just because you thought it would be a blast?"
"Mr. Schuester is kind of selective on song choices," Rachel admitted. "For once I'd kind of like to do something upbeat and glamorous."
"That's good, have you asked?"
Rachel groaned. "I tried. He said no and ventured on to tell us about finding a Journey song we haven't done yet."
"I used to be just like you, Rachel," Ms. Holiday said. "I used to want to get everything just right-I was uptight."
"What happened?" Rachel asked, slightly interested.
"I got punched in the face," Ms. Holiday stated blandly. "Now, why don't you tell me what the name of this fabulous song is?"
"We sang 'Nowadays'." Rachel said into the camera.
Jesse smiled, running a hand through his unruly hair. Lately his curls had become unbearable. It almost made him want to cut it all off-it was such a ridiculous idea.
"I'm happy that you finally had some actual fun in glee club," he said at last.
Rachel's lips turned up. "How've you been, college man? Enjoying life away from home?"
"I've got to say that college is something else, Rachel," he answered. "It's exciting. It's new. It's freedom. But to answer your second question, I can't be a hundred percent happy if you're not with me. I miss you-you. The live, physical you. Seeing you through a computer screen and hearing you over the phone just isn't enough."
"I know," Rachel said. "I miss you too. First thing after you get here is that I'm going to cut your hair, it's too long."
Jesse laughed. "Nobody touches my hair. I'll find a way to keep it tame."
Rachel's face suddenly became serious, alarming him.
"Everything okay, Rachel?"
"Did I tell you about Mercedes' protest to return tater tots to school?"
"Kurt," Mercedes whispered.
Kurt shut his locker, looking to his right to see his friend holding a brown paper bag.
"Look what I snuck in," she teased. For a second he thought it was something amazing but it turned out just to be a container of tots.
"Are you out of your mind? After what you did to Sue's LeCar? You're going to end up in prison!"
"So?" Mercedes questioned. "You know what they have in prison-tots."
Kurt shook his head. "I'm not breaking it off with Blaine. I really like him."
Mercedes looked down. Suddenly tots didn't make her feel good.
"You're substituting love with food. It's not healthy," he said. "Look at me- you will find somebody. I found Blaine. Me, out of all the people, found someone. You will too. Until then, you've just got to take care of yourself."
"You're right, Kurt." Mercedes acknowledged. "I'm going to go talk to that Anthony kid. The first time I saw him I thought he was kind of cute."
"You're one of my best friends, Mercedes," Kurt said, smiling.
Mercedes smiled back. "Same here, Kurt. Thanks."