Regionals... They are all excited, but they know that it will be harder this time around. Without knowing how the other choirs performed, New Directions are doing their best. Jack makes a really bold move before the winners are declared, and even if the judges are unaware of it, the audience loves his performance.
Songs in this chapter:
Backseat of a Greyhound bus - Sara Evans - M/L: Lindsey, Lindsey, Mayo, Verges
Marry you - Bruno Mars - M/L: Mars, Lawrence, Levine
Anything goes - from 'Anything goes - M/L: Cole Porter
"On the backseat of a Greyhound bus
Head hung down with the windows up
Staring at the rest of her life
She never thought this would be the place
Where she would find her saving grace
But she fell in love, she fell in love
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus…"
Sam was sitting with Charlie on the bus that were taking them to regionals, and he was trying his best to sing along with her. He knew that his voice wasn't worth a damn, but not many of the other travelers new the lyrics of this particular song.
Dean was seated right behind them strumming his guitar, covering up Sam's shortcomings in the singing department. Ianto, sitting across the aisle with his own instrument, did his best follow, but he had never heard the song before either.
"The moon was full, the stars were smilin'
God has a funny sense of timin'
The baby came on the interstate…"
The rest of the crowd was just humming along, and didn't seem to care that one of the lead singers was less than adequate.
"Somewhere between Jackson and Memphis
She finally found what she had been missin'
She cried and laughed while the red lights flashed
Sweet baby girl, she looked into the face of a new
The face of a brand new world…"
Sam couldn't even begin to grasp how excited he was about being a part of this. Since he was technically a roadie for the band on this trip, Brad had offered him a seat in their van, but he'd much rather be on the bus with the choir.
It would probably have been a much more comfortable ride, because this was a dingy old school bus and didn't much resemble the real Greyhound they were singing about. It didn't matter.
Not everybody looked equally excited. Mason was sitting in the back of the bus with his sister. Madison tried to cheer him up, but he had made a big drama about the sleeping arrangements, causing Mr Evans to make a small adjustment. It wasn't such a big deal, but a couple of the other guys had teased him about it.
The rearrangements didn't have any consequences for Sam, but Dean had been a little disappointed. He had been excited about sharing with Cas; Sam could easily spot that, but after Mason's outcry, Jack and Castiel had to trade. The two of them had accepted the swap without making a fuss; Jack had actually looked like he'd just won the lottery.
Sam had to chuckle to himself as the thought about it. Ianto hadn't seemed to react to the exchange at all, and Sam wondered if it was because he didn't know that Jack had a crush on him, or if it was because he didn't care.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
They barely got time to dump the luggage at the motel before they had to take off to the venue of the competition. Santana was excited. It was almost like being back to the 'old' days, when she was a member of New Directions herself.
She didn't know Gwen Cooper that well, but she seemed nice enough, so sharing a room with the girl wouldn't be a problem. Unique could be more than a handful, but Santana knew how to handle the trans-girl, and was sure that the three of them would manage fine together.
There had always been a lot of drama between the girls at school. Especially between those who were in the different arts programs. She remembered vividly the competition between the Cheerios and the Glee Club back in the days, and had been pleasantly surprised when she discovered that these petty quarrels had seized.
This year, it was the boys who created the most drama. Santana was kind of excited about it, but it was sometimes a problem in class.
When Jack came to her class, she soon discovered that he was a big flirt. He had actually tried to swoon her into upping his grades, but that did not fly with her. Turned out that his Spanish wasn't so bad, and there was no need for him to use his charms to get a decent grade.
He had later turned his attention to one of the other students, and although Ianto didn't seem to fall for it, it was quite interesting to observe. Santana had heard a few rumors about Jack, but wasn't quite sure what to believe. The one thing she was sure about was that he was a player, and that he was used to get what he wanted.
It was kind of weird being there as a chaperone. She had been on stage with some of the students back when she was a member of the choir herself, and now she was supposed to take care of them. It had to be a little strange for Sam Evans as well, but he mingled with them in the choir room on a regular basis, and was probably used to it by now.
There was only a few of the students that she didn't know much. Apart from Gwen, she also hadn't had the pleasure of being introduced to Dean Winchester. She had to admit that the guy was quite handsome, and she couldn't help throwing an extra peek at his ass when he walked by. Not that it meant anything; she was happily married, but having a nice view wasn't bad.
She didn't know John that well either, but she had heard about him and seen him in the halls back when he was a freshman. Hearing him sing this year, it surprised her that he never auditioned for New Directions before. As far as she could remember, the guy had been very popular, and that could of course be it. The members of Glee-club were considered as losers back then.
She had suspected that his popularity was mostly linked to the fact that he was rich, and that his multitude of friends were a quite shallow gang. This year, it seemed like he'd seen through that, and had made new friends in the choir.
Castiel was her favorite. In the beginning of last semester, she had been quite rough with him; pushing him harder than any of the others. She had felt bad about it, but he'd always met her requirements, and was by far her best student. His Spanish was practically flawless, and she was amazed by the fact that he wasn't from a bilingual family.
Growing up down south, Cas had learned Spanish from his classmates in elementary school and hadn't had any formal education in the language until he was fourteen. That he also read Italian and a little bit French was equally amazing.
She did suspect that his language skills didn't end there. She knew that he was trying to understand German and Greek as well. Santana had seen the pile of books he carried from the library on occasions.
His social skills weren't that great, and sometimes Santana felt sorry for him when the other students were chatting up a storm. He had always kept in the background, but lately it looked like he was coming out of his shell. She didn't want to draw any fast conclusions, but it could actually look like he wasn't coming out of his shell so much as coming out of the 'closet'. After spending time with them on the bus, she was pretty sure that Dean Winchester had something to do with this, and she hoped that Castiel wouldn't get his heart broken.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Sharing a room with Mason and Castiel was going to be such a drag. John had contemplated on booking room for himself for the night; money was not an issue, but it turned out that the motel was fully booked. There was a hotel across the road, but it looked rather dodgy, and he wasn't sure it would be such a good idea to get a room there.
From what he'd seen during the short time they had at the motel, it looked like a place that would let out rooms by the hour rather than for a night.
It was still an option. If he could get a few of his friends to join, John wouldn't hesitate for a moment if it meant that they could party all night. He'd brought enough booze anyway.
Knowing that Ianto was going to sleep in the same room as Jack was not as problematic for John as he thought it would be. He was pretty sure that nothing was going to happen between the two of them that night. No matter how forceful Jack decided to be, Ianto wouldn't cave in with Dean in the same room.
The worst part of it all was that John didn't really feel that Ianto was his soulmate. He liked him plenty, and he wouldn't hesitate for a moment if Ianto came to his bed. He knew that he had a real crush on the guy, but he wasn't sure that this was it.
John would have wanted more time. He would have wanted to pursue this at his own pace, but Jack was way too competitive so he felt that he had to be in this battle just to prove himself.
'That damned kiss!' John couldn't stop beating himself up over it. He and Ianto could still have been best friends if it wasn't for that infamous kiss. He could have been the one Ianto confided in if he thought that maybe he was attracted to boys. John could have been there to soothe him and tell him that it was okay. They could have experimented together and been a 'couple' in their own minds before Jack even entered the scene.
'Hindsight is…' John didn't even bother to finish the line he had in his head. He just wanted to be able to hang out with Ianto like they did before, and if things happened it happened.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The venue was quite a bit bigger than the one they used for sectionals. The auditorium itself was about the same size, but the complex had a basketball court and big locker-rooms. From the court there was a short walk through a narrow corridor to a backstage area big enough for everybody to fit.
The McKinley students camped on the bleachers at one end of the big gym, waiting for their turn in the locker room.
The kids from Carmel were about ready for their sound check, while the Glee-choir from Indianapolis was still getting dressed. They had brought a dance-crew of twelve, so there was no room for New Directions in the locker rooms at the moment.
It wasn't a big problem; they still had plenty of time to get ready.
Gwen was pacing back and forth, nervously chewing her lip. Their choir was up last, and it bothered her greatly. She wished they could have just got it over with. She had always loved competing, and it was normally not in her nature to be so bothered about it.
When she first joined Glee-club, it was just to have something to do outside of the curriculum. She didn't even know that there was going to be any competitions. She thought they would rehearse and then perform in front of the students from their own school.
For sectionals, she hadn't really believed that they could win, so she had been quite laidback about it. This time, it was different. She really wanted to win, and knowing that their competitors probably were better that the ones at sectionals, Gwen was in attack mode.
She knew that their first song - Salute - had to be performed flawlessly, and she really hoped that she was up for it. The will was strong, and Gwen was pretty sure that the rest of the girls felt the same, but one little slip-up could easily ruin it for the rest of the choir.
Jack and John's number could possibly save them from total humiliation regardless; the boys - especially Jack - did the song quite professionally, and unless something really bad happened, that song was a sure winner.
Their group number didn't sit right on their last rehearsal before they took off, but Mr Evans wasn't swayed by it. "It's fun. It's upbeat. You all know the few dance-steps you have to do. Dress-rehearsals are supposed to go sour." Gwen wasn't convinced by his words, but she decided to try to see it that way. That this was also a song that the 'famous' New Directions from way back when had performed on one occasion didn't help, but at least it wasn't for a competition.
The kids from Indiana came trickling out of the locker-rooms waving over to New Directions to alert them. Gwen gathered her stuff and together with the rest of the girls, she went inside to change for their first number.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The way it was set up this time, they were not able to see the other choirs' performances. They could partially hear them, but it was impossible to make out if they did a good job.
Sending Sam Winchester out there to scout was a bad idea. He was in awe when he peeked in after Vocal Adrenaline's first song, and was totally unable to say whether they were better than New Directions.
Santana, Sam Evans and Principal Schuester were sitting with the other teachers on the front row, and couldn't easily sneak out to relay their take on the matter, so the students from McKinley had no idea what to expect.
Jack was totally at ease, and he did his best to calm down his classmates. "It's better this way. We can pretend that it's not a competition." He peeked over at the students from Indiana. Jack couldn't remember the name of the choir, but didn't really care. The more important thing was that they seemed to be way more nervous than his own group.
The next time the younger Winchester came through the door, they could all hear the applause from the audience. It was massive, and after a few seconds, Jack could hear the steady clapping sound that told him that the crowd wanted to hear more from Vocal Adrenaline. It was a bummer, but not unexpected. They had heard that this choir was very good.
The door slammed shut and the sound got muffled somewhat before a young girl came through it to wave the next group onto the stage.
As the guys from Indianapolis trickled out of there, everybody could hear the emcee introduce the 'Hoosierdaddies'. Jack nodded to himself. No wonder he couldn't remember the name, it was too lame.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The 'Salute' song went so well that Jo almost passed out as she scooted back with the rest of the choir to make room for John and Jack. The audience was applauding wildly and especially a group of girl in the back made quite a bit of noise whooping and whistling. So much so that the emcee had to ask them to shut up.
She was happy that she only had to hum a little on their next song because she was pretty sure that she would be totally unable to sing as much as a line for the next few minutes.
John looked a little nervous, but as Jack patted his back and gave him an encouraging smile, he seemed to find his footing.
Jo focused on Jack as she did her best to calm down. She knew perfectly well that he was a tad more into boys than she wanted to know, but she couldn't help herself crushing a little bit on him. He was extremely handsome, and he was also very supportive and helpful.
Even if he had been straight, he was completely out of her league regardless, so she knew that for her he could only be eye-candy.
It was fine really. Jo wasn't into those kind of guys. Jack was a bit full of himself, and he wasn't shy about pointing out that he had been singing for a living. That it was for a short period of time didn't matter. The guy had managed to make a living for a brief moment in New York relying on his own voice.
The two boys did great. John did his best performance ever the way he weaved his lyrics into Jack's.
As they approached the end of the song, Jo noticed that both John and Jack stared at Ianto. She didn't understand why - Ianto wasn't supposed to participate in this song - but she decided to take it in the stride. It didn't really have anything to do with her.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The whole audience knew. Ianto wasn't stupid. He saw the looks Jack and John gave him at the end of the song, and he knew that everybody in the audience would think that this song was about him.
He knew for sure that it was, and even if he didn't want the world to know, he played along. With a courage he didn't even know he possessed, Ianto took a couple of steps forward.
"It took time to understand him…"
John looked a little frightened as he delivered the lines staring straight at Ianto moving towards him, but he composed himself enough to join Jack on the last line.
"I know him so well."
Ianto grabbed both of their sleeves and pulled them towards him before he pushed them away and turned around to walk away.
With his back turned to the audience, he could hear their response. It was like an explosion. Ianto didn't know if he was partially responsible; Jack and John had done a marvelous performance, but he hoped that what he'd done had made an impact on the judges.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Dean didn't even have time to cherish the moment. Ianto's courage had exceeded all expectations, but Dean had to get ready for their next song.
In his white button-down and the black tie and pants he stepped up towards the audience. He'd thought for sure that he'd forgotten the chords, but as he strummed the guitar, he knew what he was supposed to do.
"It's a beautiful night
we're looking for something dumb to do…"
All the girls had ran out to put on those white, long skirts. They were all wearing white tops, and even if it was t-shirts, they still all looked like brides as they came running out again.
"Hey baby. I think I wanna marry you."
Mason stepped up next to him and sang the next few lines , and then Jane sang her part.
"Well, I know this little chapel
on the boulevard
We can go…"
Kevin grabbed her hands and twirled her around.
"No one will know…
oh come on, girl."
Dean didn't feel quite comfortable up front until the rest of the guys in the choir joined him.
"Don't say no no no no no
just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…"
He stepped back. He was only supposed to start the song, and now he could hide in the background with the band. He didn't even dare to look at the other members; he was shaking a little after having to be center of attention for a moment.
Unique and Gwen danced around him as they sang. It was part of the plan, but Dean didn't feel very comfortable about it.
"If you wake up and you wanna break up.
that's cool…"
As everybody in the choir stepped up to do their lines, and then grabbed onto someone of the opposite sex to dance with, Dean was happy that he had the guitar in his hands. He wouldn't have wanted to dance regardless, but if he'd had to, there was only one person on this stage that he'd consider as a partner.
Castiel was dancing along with Gwen and the two of them stopped short for a moment.
"Who cares baby? I think I want to marry you."
Garth pushed them aside to deliver his line before the whole choir sang the last few lines of the song together. Dean decided to stay with the band. The judges couldn't possibly hold it against him.
"I think I wanna marry you…"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
It wasn't how he'd expected to spend his seventeenth birthday, but Castiel was happy standing scrunched together with the rest of the choir backstage. Gwen's arm was wrapped firmly around his waist, and even if he would have wanted to feel someone else's hand on his hip, it was quite alright.
Dean was standing a bit away, fraternizing with the band. He tried to look unfaced, but Cas knew him well enough to notice the nervous glances he threw over at the other two choirs.
The only feedback they had gotten from their director was a subtle thumbs-up as they received the cheers from the audience after the last song. Castiel was far from convinced by it. Mrs Lopez was applauding, but she rolled her eyes as she leaned over to whisper something into Mr Schuester's ear. He, on the other hand, was all smiles, but that didn't reveal much. The guy had smiled through their whole performance, so it could be that his face was just stuck that way.
Castiel had plenty of time to assess their chaperones; he was basically a background singer for this competition, and he knew that he did his own part perfectly. He was a little embarrassed about his thoughts about his own performance, but he knew for sure that if they didn't win, it wasn't his fault.
The emcee took his time. He obviously needed to drag it out to give the judges time, but the lame jokes and the boring stories he spewed out was starting to get bothersome.
They should have planned for it in a better way. They could have arranged for a band to play or someone to sing while they were waiting for the verdict, but instead they had to listen to this guy throwing humorless comments to the audience.
Keeping a keen eye on Dean, Cas didn't miss the little commotion between Jack and Brad. The pianist shook his head vigorously as Jack tried to pull him towards the stage. Cas couldn't hear what Jack was saying, but it obviously worked.
Brad snuck out there and sat down at the piano, while Jack went over to one of the stagehands and pointed towards one of the microphones before he grabbed it.
Dean obviously knew what was going on, and he patted Jack's back before the guy followed Brad out on stage.
The first few chords was barely audible, but when the audience started to respond with some scattered clapping, Brad got a little more courageous.
"In olden days, a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking.
But now, God knows,
Anything goes."
Jack was leaning on the piano as he sung the first lines. Castiel couldn't see the emcee, but he could hear the guy start stuttering before he went totally quiet.
"If driving fast cars you like,
If low bars you like,
If old hymns you like,
If bare limbs you like,
If Mae West you like,
Or me undressed you like…"
Jack walked towards the front of the stage and out of sight from Cas. He could only imagine what the emcee was thinking, but the crowd's response was easily heard.
"When Rockefeller still can hoard enough money to let Max Gordon
Produce his shows,
Anything goes.
The world has gone mad today
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today,
And that gent today
You gave a cent today…"
The small burst of applause died down quickly, but it didn't take long before the audience started clapping in sync with the music. It was quite clear that they had been bored as well, and welcomed this impromptu performance.
"When Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction
Instruct Anna Sten in diction,
Then Anna shows
Anything goes."
Castiel tried to come loose from Gwen's grip so he could move to see Jack on stage, but she held on and followed him. "Suddenly I don't care if we win. This is just...awesome." She whispered quite loudly into his ear. "This is a memory I will cherish. Shutting that guy up is worth more than a first place."
"So Missus R., with all her trimmings,
Can broadcast a bed from Simmons
'Cause Franklin knows
Anything goes."