Artie briefly mentioned over dinner on Friday night that several of the cast would be meeting him at school on Saturday to try and finish the sets. He wanted everything to have the next day to dry before they came back for rehearsal on Monday. Then they could begin to really finalize blocking. He invited the alumni to join them, if they didn't have other plans, and thought maybe Puck or Finn would come if they didn't have to work. Unfortunately, they both did have to work. The cast was invited too, but Artie wasn't holding his breath that many would come. Everyone was busy on Saturday, but if even a few showed up, it was better than attempting to do this alone.

So, one could imagine his surprise when Rachel Berry was the first to arrive. He was in the process of trying to put the little door wedge in the side door himself to prop it open. It was not going well. He'd dropped the wedge instead and it was just out of his reach now, beside his left wheel someplace. She walked up, grabbed it, kicked it into place, and smiled proudly down at him. He rather forcibly smiled back.

She was holding a protein shake in one hand and a brand new paintbrush in the other. Her hair was done up in a red head scarf and she was wearing an old denim shirt. And it looked like she'd deliberately tried to look like the 'We-Can-Do-It' lady. Rachel Berry was too much. But she was here to help, the first to arrive, and that certainly counted.

"Missing the stage this much?" he asked, surprised and also not surprised that she was the first one here, ten minutes early. She subscribed to the theory that not-early was late.

He'd said they'd be starting at 9:00 and that they could come and go anytime as they pleased. He'd be winding down around 3:00, with plans to hurry home in time to rest up a little before his pool party that evening.

"You know I always miss the stage," she said, wistfully. "And unfortunately, when you're a freshman, you've got to pay your dues at NYADA before you ever step foot on it."

Once again, she was being much more honest and open about her real experiences at NYADA with Artie privately than she'd been with the others the night before. He didn't call her on it. Instead, he just nodded and suggested they get right to work. He had a tape measurer, a yard stick, and some black paint ready for her. If anyone could do as a good as job as he expected with this checkerboard pattern, it was Rachel, who would make sure that all the lines were perfect and straight, all the squares uniform, of that he could be certain. He handed her the pink paint, in case she needed to cover any mistakes or drips, but he was fairly sure she wouldn't need it.

Just as Rachel was about to get started, Quinn arrived right on time, followed by Mercedes. The two were both carrying Lima Bean coffee cups, so Artie quickly deduced they'd arrived together. In fact, Quinn was probably staying with Mercedes while she was visiting. Quinn had a second cup in her hand, which she offered to Artie, having already known his usual coffee order by heart.

"Sorry, Rachel," Quinn said, hiding a smile, probably trying not to laugh at her ridiculous working woman outfit. "I didn't know who else was going to come."

"Oh, that's quite alright," Rachel said, briefly looking up from her tedious painting task. "Last time I went to the Lima Bean, they were out of soy milk."

"I think Rachel's pretty much got the hang of the checkerboard pattern," Artie said, sipping his coffee before handing it back to Quinn so he could be hands-free to push his wheels and not worry about hot coffee spilling in his lap. "Follow me, you both can work on the Beauty School Drop Out set that Coach Beiste just dropped off this morning."

He hadn't had a chance to even offer the coach any help, not that she really needed it and not that he could have helped anyway. Coach Beiste had gotten there even earlier than Artie. She was just supposed to meet him there to let him in the auditorium. But, to his great surprise, she'd brought the Beauty School Drop Out staircase, which was just a series of platforms stacked on top of one another. They needed to be painted white and lined with lights along the edges, which would keep Teen Angel Jake from tripping in the dark while also illuminating the stage to give everything a heavenly glow.

"Surprise in there for you, Punkin," she'd said earlier, when she let him in the side entry of the auditorium. She'd left it in the middle of the stage full of sets, in all its glory. He'd immediately hugged her and raved over how perfect it was.

And now Quinn and Mercedes did the same thing. Artie explained their task, which was to paint it all white, as soon as they were ready and done with their coffee. Artie took his cup back and they started off the morning by drinking coffee, Mercedes and Quinn perching on the edge of the platform, while Rachel slaved away.

"You think maybe she's getting to do a lot of this type of thing at NYADA?" Quinn said, gazing in Rachel's direction. "I bet it was a big adjustment, to be part of a sky full of stars instead of being the only one."

"Excuse you, she was not the only one," Mercedes replied, haughtily, getting a laugh out of both Quinn and Artie. "Some of us just didn't get as many chances to shine."

Artie hoped that wasn't a dig on him, for casting Rachel instead of Mercedes as Maria last year. Mercedes had been cast as the understudy and actually ended up performing the second night of the show because Rachel had been too upset about Quinn's accident. (To be fair, Mercedes was upset too, but everyone handled these things in their own way.)

Mercedes did seem to be thinking about it, judging by what she said next. "So, Artie, tell me more about your decision to cast this sophomore as the lead?" she said, leaning forward with interest as she sipped her coffee. "I hope it doesn't have anything to do with her being your date last night."

"That wasn't a date," Artie said, quickly. "She didn't want to go to the dance and she asked me what I was doing–" he paused, realizing that sounding exactly like a date. "She's more comfortable with an older crowd, I think. What is that look supposed to mean, Quinn?"

Quinn had been arching a brow at him as he tried to explain his reasons for showing up with Kitty. "Nothing, nothing, just..." she smirked, glancing over at Mercedes before turning back to him. "Well, I did call this one when I met her right before school started, if you recall."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Artie said. Now that his cup was nearly empty, he could safely tuck it in between his legs. He did so, as he heard the commotion of someone entering on the side door. Wade and Lauren had joined them.

"Hey guys!" Artie said, approaching them and smiling brightly. "Glad you could make it. We've got some touch-up to do on the sets we painted Friday. Can I put you on touch-up duty?"

"Sure," Lauren said, surveying the room and then grinning broadly when she spotted Quinn. "Oh, look, Lucy's here."

"Uh, yeah," Artie said, hoping Lauren and Quinn's reunion wouldn't result in someone getting covered in paint. Good thing Santana isn't here.

"We missed you at the dance, Artie," Wade added. "Of course, Wade wasn't there either. Wade's attractive and talented cousin Unique came instead."

"Adding further evidence to the vicious Lauren-is-a-lesbian rumor," Lauren added, with a shrug and a grin. "Oh well. Unique and I had a good time. Missed seeing you find a random girl for your lap this year, Wheels."

He knew her comment was meant to be funny but it evoked sudden thoughts of Mackenzie again. Lauren briefly appeared to notice his gloomy expression but he fixed his face before she could comment on it.

"Well, grab a roller or a brush and the paint's all next to the set it goes on, so it should be pretty simple," Artie said. He'd decided not to go belly-down on the stage to help today and instead would spend his time going from set to set to make sure everyone was doing it right. He got to boss everyone around today, which as usual, brought him so much enjoyment.

Next to arrive was Tina, flagged by Sam and Blaine. Artie was just glad Mike had family commitments today and wouldn't be there because he really didn't need to see this. Tina was doing what she'd done at the game, which was to flirt with both guys shamelessly. Now, of course, Blaine wasn't an option, but Blaine was just friendly and kind of silly with Sam and Tina, therefore, one might interpret it as flirting. Artie couldn't help but think of their strange choice of karaoke song, Britney's '3.'

He put them on white platform duty with Quinn and Mercedes, so they could all catch up. Then he checked on Rachel and the checkerboard pattern. She was still doing a good job, concentrating so hard that she didn't even look up as he wheeled by.

He looked up from Rachel's handiwork just as someone else arrived. Four someones. It appeared that Kitty, Marley, Ryder, and Jake had ridden there together. Artie remembered that Ryder had just recently turned sixteen, affording him the ability to now drive his friends places. Kitty was a pace behind the others. Marley had a guy on either side, reminding Artie of Blaine, Tina, and Sam in that moment.

"Hey guys!" he said, avoiding eye contact with Jake. He didn't know if the younger Puckerman knew that he'd taken his HoCo date out last night for not-a-date but something that must have seemed like one to outsiders. Then again, maybe like most people, Jake wouldn't see Artie as much of a threat anyway. "Hey, Lauren and Wade need some help over there doing touch-ups. And we've got Quinn, Mercedes, Tina, Blaine, and Sam painting that enormous structure white over there. It's for Teen Angel."

He had to look at Jake as he said that, of course, and Jake merely nodded. He either didn't know or else he knew but Artie's theory about himself not being a threat was correct.

But after a few minutes, Artie had a new theory, that perhaps Jake had abandoned interest in Kitty altogether in favor of breaking up Marley and Ryder. He seemed to be butting into all their conversations, stealing Marley's attention away from Ryder whenever he could. And what he did was actually working, it seemed, as Artie judged their body language from a distance under the guise of supervising. They no longer reminded him of Tina, Sam, and Blaine. Now he was thinking of someone else...

"Stare any harder and your eyes are gonna fall out of your head," said a voice in his ear that made him jump right out of his skin. Thankfully, he turned and saw that the person who caught him was just Quinn.

"I'm not," he said, promptly angling his chair away from them. "I was just... overseeing their work." Quinn fixed him with a most skeptical expression. "Alright, fine, I was watching them and thinking that it kind of looked like Finn and Puck competing to win Rachel with you watching and trying to figure out how to sabotage the whole thing."

Artie was momentarily afraid he'd stepped on her toes – or metaphorically rolled over them, whatever – but Quinn burst out laughing. She expertly avoided looking their way.

"Holy crap, that's exactly what that looks like," Quinn said, aghast. "Kind of feels like an out of body experience, the way they're all our doppelgängers and Jake over there is Puck's actual brother."

"Meanwhile, people like me and Tina are still just here to watch and comment on the action like always," Artie added, with a grin. "I guess the more things change, the more things stay the same, eh?"

"Hi, Mercedes!" That was Brittany, who had just arrived to join their efforts. Mercedes looked up, mystified as Brittany actually greeted Wade, mistaking him for Mercedes instead.

"Over here, Britt," she called out, as Quinn and Artie shared another fit of giggles.

The painting party was a huge success, with more people coming in throughout the day. Sugar Motta even showed up around lunch. She mostly flirted with Joe Hart and claimed she couldn't mess up the outfit she was wearing, but she did say that her father would order them all pizza. That turned out to be a welcomed treat, as Artie hadn't stopped to consider what to they would do for lunch. The pizza sustained them and allowed most everyone to stay and work until they actually finished the job.

"The only thing left to do now... is to party, Artie-style!" Artie happily announced, after they'd finished the task of cleaning up. "I'll see you all at my place in a couple of hours. Potluck, as always. Hey, and this one is just for cast, crew, and our understudies, the alumni. No inviting outsiders. I'll see you all there!"

"Hey, Artie?" Sugar approached. "What's potluck?"

Sugar hadn't made it to many of his recent parties. Artie figured this was because she had her own bigger, better pool.

"Where you bring your own dish to share," Artie patiently explained, figuring her parties were all fancy parties with catering, making the idea of asking guests to bring whatever they wanted a foreign concept.

"Oh!" Sugar brightened, now that she understood. "In that case, what's your address. I can have Daddy order us some fajitas!"

Sugar's daddy did, in fact, pay for a huge platter of fajitas, plus all the fixings, that arrived about the time everyone else did. Artie's dad was home for the evening and greeted his old friend at the door, surprised by the enormous plate of food for the kids. He then asked if he could help pay for it, but of course, Mr. Motta insisted he do nothing of the sort. Because of course, he was ridiculously wealthy. Even so, Artie caught a look from his father that most definitely was meant to remind him not to make a habit of taking advantage of Mr. Motta's generosity. It was a just a good thing his dad didn't know about the car, the leather jackets, and the gallons of paint.

After everyone had eaten their fill, a few brave people were the first to strip down to their bathing suits in the chilly fall air and hurry into the pool, where the warm water greeted them and quickly made them forget they were swimming in late September.

"Are you getting in?" Quinn asked, as she casually perched on his armrest, something only his closest friends did. Artie shook his head. "Oh, right, because with these cooler temps, if you get in, you basically have to stay in or else your body's gonna react poorly."

"Right, and I would rather play host tonight and make sure everyone's having a good time," Artie said. "Like... Mike for instance. He'd like to talk to Tina, but instead he's over there talking to Mercedes, who would probably like to talk to Sam. Only Sam's busy flirting with Tina. And Blaine's flirting with both of them. And Kurt just looks confused, like he's not quite sure if he needs to say something."

"And in this corner," Quinn said, chiming in to continue his narration of the scene. "We have Kitty, still looking like she's plotting a way to steal both of these guys back from Marley. And Marley looks like she has no idea what she's doing and like she'd rather be at home in her bedroom making MySpace videos."

"MySpace?" Artie echoed. "You sure we're still talking about Marley?"

"It's just eerily familiar, like you pointed out before," she said. "Where is Berry, anyway?"

"She wanted some private time with Finn tonight," Artie said, shrugging and not worried about the face that those two took another night for themselves and skipped the party. It made sense.

"I'm kind of worried about Kitty," Artie confessed. "She acted weird last night."

"Weird, how?"

"She overheard us talking about you and your doctor's appointment over dinner last night," he explained. "She asked me about it on the way home, so I ended up telling her about your accident. And... about Mack." (He noticed her expression change, much the way his did whenever Mack was mentioned.) "I'm sorry, okay? It feels wrong not to talk about her."

"No, I know..." Quinn trailed off, idly twirling a strand of her hair around her finger as she gazed across the yard. "What did Kitty say?"

"She started crying," Artie said. "Not just a little bit either. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She ran inside without explaining herself. That's not the only time she's been weird. When I told her about my accident, she was weird about that as well."

"You seem to be forming a theory," Quinn observed.

"I think- I think she lost someone," Artie said, under his breath, not able to tear his eyes off of Kitty. "In a car accident. And that's why our stories affect her the way they do."

"I think you'd better keep that theory to yourself," Quinn whispered back. "She may not be ready to talk about it yet. Especially if it was recent."

"Hey, so tell me about this doctor's appointment you have on Monday?" Artie said, changing the subject. "Maybe I could take off school and come along for moral support?"

"I appreciate that, Artie," she said. "But aren't you in the running for Valedictorian? In the event of a tie, attendance is a factor, you know. Anyway, my appointment's first thing in the morning, then I have to make my flight on time. I was really lucky to find a good deal on a flight like I did."

"But didn't you drive here?"

"I did," Quinn confirmed. "Mom's taking me to the airport and just driving my car back home. I can get by without a car for a little while. Maybe I'll just fly back in a month when I come for your show. I've got my roommate and public transit around campus when I need it."

"That doesn't seem wise for someone who's trying to limit the amount of walking she does," Artie countered, as Quinn gave a sheepish nod. "Hey! I know what we could do. It doesn't count against me if I turn in a note that says I made a college visit. What if a couple of us visit you and bring back your car? Then we could just fly home."

"Artie, I appreciate it, but do you even want to go to Yale?" Quinn asked, arching her brows at his spontaneous plan. "You still need to visit that school in Brooklyn, don't you?"

"We're going there over Christmas," Artie said. "I'm taking off a few days early so I can see the campus before they shut down for the holidays. Everyone says you've got to visit New York at Christmas."

"Well, and everyone says you've got to see New Haven in the fall," Quinn added. "It really is gorgeous. But again, is Yale even on your list?"

"I did apply," Artie said, with a half-grin.

"What? And you didn't tell me?"

"Well, you know, I am top of my class and the only disabled member of an award-winning show choir that recently placed first at Nationals. Ms. Pillsbury pointed this out to me while I was filling out applications over the summer and encouraged me to apply to a bunch of top schools, even places I hadn't thought about before."

"Artie, you'd be amazing at Yale!" Quinn was getting excited now, and she was getting a little ahead of herself. It wasn't like he'd been accepted yet or anything. "I mean, you'd be amazing anywhere, but I think you'd love it there. I assume you know about the Yale Film Alliance."

"I'd love to know more," he said. "I'm a little hesitant, because it's not a film school, but I don't even know if I'm set on that. I wish I knew what I wanted to do. I thought I did. It's getting a little... confusing... now that it's here. And trying to focus on the present, on directing this show, while also thinking about the future, it's..."

"Scary," Quinn supplied. "And complicated."

"Especially when you're me," Artie went on, always able to be more honest with Quinn that anyone else. "I just have more to think about than the average person. But truthfully, I'd love to visit Yale and learn more about it, so bringing back your car is a good excuse. Finn and Kurt can run a rehearsal or two while I'm away. I just need to find a road trip companion..." Artie scanned the pool. "I've been trying to convince Tina to apply for more schools, even though Brown's the one she wants. Maybe she'd come."

"Tartie on a road trip," Quinn commented, smirking. "Sounds like fun."

"Don't call us that," Artie countered, wrinkling his nose. "Makes us sound like a couple. If we went on a road trip together, well, it would be as friends and nothing more, I can promise you that."

Artie hadn't originally been serious when he'd applied to Yale. He'd been having a lot of doubts about the Brooklyn Film School lately, though, and given that they were so small and prestigious and just took a few students each year, it seemed less and less likely that Brooklyn was really going to happen. Therefore, he did need a back-up plan.

"Artie, even if you don't come, having you visit will be fun," Quinn said, rising from her perch on his armrest. "I'll make sure to work everything out before you get here, okay? So you can have a comfortable stay. Don't worry about a thing." She paused, surveying the crowd. "But right now, I think they want to do karaoke."

"Oh, right!" As Artie headed off to get that going, he was positively giddy with excitement over his impending visit to Yale.