Thankfully, Artie didn't have to invent a "thrilling tale" of how he'd been injured in a motocross accident. (All he actually knew about the sport came from watching Brittany, back when they'd dated.) Because, without even realizing that they were saving Artie from fabricating his story, Blaine and his dad interrupted to tell everyone the food was ready. Artie was just relieved his dad hadn't heard the beginning of his huge lie, as he could only imagine what his reaction might have been

As they all lined up for hotdogs, Artie became aware of Kitty hovering over him and glanced over his shoulder, and discovered she was behind him in line.

"You told me it was a car accident," Kitty said, not loud enough for anyone else but him to hear, as she leaned over slightly. "So, which is it?"

Artie pretended he hadn't heard her properly as he loaded his plate with a hotdog and chips, then leaned over to grab a cold, off-brand Dr. Pepper ("Dr. Thunder") out of the cooler to wedge between his thighs. Sticking the plate back on top of that, he wheeled around the circumference of the pool, to claim the spot at the table under the porch with the chair pulled out.

Kitty followed him. She set her stuff down by his and plopped into the seat next to him, still staring at him like she expected an answer to the question she'd asked while they were in line.

"Look, I'm a little selective about who hears my whole story, okay?" he finally said, feeling exasperated and somewhat regretting having put out an open invitation to this party now. "If she wants to ask me about it privately, she can. It's not a story for a big audience. Truthfully, I don't even remember the actual accident, just some stuff that happened before me and my mom got in the car and then waking up in the hospital, so I haven't got much to say about it." Certainly not enough to satisfy some random person's morbid curiosity.

Kitty nodded solemnly. For the first time, Artie saw something like remorse in her wide, hazel eyes. "I'm sorry about Bree," she said, sincerely. She opened her mouth to say more, seemingly changed her mind, and busied herself with picking at the chips and diet soda she had chosen in the line. She'd opted not to get a hotdog.

Probably thinks it'll make her fat, Artie thought, spitefully, noticing that Marley had sat down on the opposite end of the table, across from Ryder, with a hotdog, chips, soda, and a couple of the store brand chocolate chip cookies. Good for you, Marley.

Artie noticed the Cheerios were headed their way. He didn't want to talk to Bree, as he really had dug himself into a rut. He didn't want to come up with some kind of story, which was what she'd be expecting. He stuffed the rest of his hotdog in his mouth, tucked his can drink back between his legs, and unlocked his wheels.

"They can have my spot," he said, briskly, his mouth still somewhat full of the food he'd choked down in his hurry to get out of there. Luckily, at that exact moment, Lauren wandered into the yard, followed closely by Wade. He wanted those two, especially, to feel welcome so he worked his way around the circumference of the pool once more, so as to greet them as they entered.

"Hey, guys!" he said, brightly. "Lauren, this is Wade. Wade, this is Lauren's Zizes. If you ever need someone to kick someone's ass for you, this is who you call."

"I'm your girl," Lauren said, with a smirk. "Yeah. We met out front. You've got a pretty, uh, massive turnout. I'll try not to be offended that you've never hosted a party for the AV Club..." (Artie bit his lip)"...just kidding, those guys hate sunlight."

Wade chuckled at her joke. "I like this girl," he said, as she gave a little bow.

Wade was wearing a bright pink shirt and swim trunks that were just a tad shorter than one might expect with a brightly-colored parrot print. His lips were shiny, like he couldn't resist putting something on his face. He stood in contrast with Lauren, who had on all-black that day – loose, black t-shirt, baggy black athletic shorts, and her hair rolled into two little buns atop her head. The Cheerios and football players – there really were a lot of them, since even more of them had shown up while they were all lining up for food – stared at the two newest arrivals like they were fresh meat. Bree had the biggest, most amused smirk of them all.

"Help yourself to some food," Artie said. "After we eat and swim for awhile, Blaine's going to start karaoke."

"Oh, goody," Lauren drawled, rolling her eyes. "Because that's what every glee club pool party needs, karaoke. Did you invite Mr. Schue?"

"Uh, no?"

"Too bad." Lauren turned to Wade to explain. "Mr. Schue is their fine-ass glee club teacher. He looks like a mix between Justin Timberlake and Marky Mark. He teaches Spanish too, and he's the sole reason I took the class all four years. Porque él es muy guapo. I'd watch him do karaoke."

"Nice," said Wade, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, um, glad you both came," Artie interjected, before she could say anymore weird stuff about Mr. Schue. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get in the pool, while it's not too crowded."

With that, he turned and wheeled away from them. It seemed like those two had instantly hit it off and didn't require his presence to keep the conversation going.

Rather than transferring himself out of his chair at the shallow end, since the Cheerios were piled along the steps there with the large group of football players who'd come, he came up with plan B. He headed towards the deep end, so as to brace himself against the diving board on the way down. Now was a good time to do it, since no one was really paying attention to him. He hoped nobody would be rude enough to sit in his empty wheelchair when he left it there. For the last two parties, he'd stayed in his chair the entire time. At the time, it seemed like the best way to play host. Now he wanted to actually swim with everyone. He just didn't know if all of these people would know to respect the chair by staying out of it.

"Hey, Tina?" She was perched nearby on the rock feature, huddled up with Sam and Blaine. Upon hearing him, she shifted her gaze in his direction. He pointed to his chair. "Would you just put it in my room? I'll let you know or someone else when I need it back."

Tina looked a little doubtful at first, but seemingly understood why Artie had asked her to move it. She nodded, hopped up, and retrieved his empty chair to put it away like he'd asked. When she came back, she brought Artie one of his best rafts and helped him steady it, as Sam – who by now had spent plenty of time with him in pools – gave him a hand so he could haul himself up. After that, the trio joined him in the pool, and their senior quartet was complete. As Artie gazed around his pool full of popular kids, he couldn't believe he'd pulled this off again.

After a few minutes, Mike walked over and joined them in the deep end, sticking his feet in as he sat on the side. "I've been talking up your show with some of the football players," he told Artie, sticking a thumb in their direction. "Told them how dancing might improve their footwork on the field. I don't know if they listened, but I did my best."

"I appreciate it, man," Artie said, as he drifted close enough to exchange a high five with Mike. "We'll for sure need to work out a time for Hand Jive camp. Speaking of dancing, how's your time at the Joffrey been going so far?

As Mike launched into a spirited discussion of all things Joffrey, Artie kept a watchful eye on Tina. He knew what it looked like when she was holding on by a thread. She perched on the side of the pool also, her feet dangling in, and Artie saw her carefully tug at her shorts to ensure that the ink on her hip was covered. He never thought he'd feel this sad over seeing Tina and Mike come to an end.

As Mike talked, Artie got a little distracted by thoughts of the history of a once-complicated love triangle between he, Mike, and Tina. He'd been recovering from major surgery on his back the summer after freshman year. He didn't even tell Tina he was having an operation while she was gone all summer. If he was honest with himself, it was because he'd known then that they were growing apart. He'd never forget getting a Facebook notification and a face full of pictures of Tina and Mike. He'd been so hurt at the time, and it still stung a little, but he could finally sit here with the both of them now like it never even happened. (Besides, both he and Tina had made mistakes. He could admit his fault in it too now.)

The sun started to go down, and his dad turned the pool lights on. Also, once he'd finished cleaning up, he gave Artie a little wave and headed inside for the night. Artie knew he was still being supervised, but his father had the sense to hang back and refrain from embarrassing him in front of his friends. Maybe he'd been a teenager once, too.

It was nearly time, by Artie's estimate, to start karaoke. But, before he could do that, one more guest arrived, and Artie spotted him all the way across the yard as he entered through the gate. "Puck!"

Puck hadn't regrown his signature Mohawk and was still rocking a shaved head. He'd come with his guitar slung over his shoulder, to Artie's great astonishment. Artie had mentioned that there would be karaoke at the party in the text he'd sent out to all the alumni. But Noah was the last person he expected to show. And not only had Puck graced them all with his presence, it looked like he had come prepared to perform, too.

One of Artie's very first memories of truly bonding with Puck involved music. It had come right after a really low point in his life. It was right after he'd had sex with Brittany, only to later find out it meant a lot less to her than it did to him. After being taunted in the lunchroom by Santana and dropping out of the duets competition, Artie had been really depressed. Then Puck pulled him out of that place by doing a spontaneous courtyard duet with him and making a grand total of three-hundred bucks that they split equally. And that was just the beginning. No one had ever made Artie feel as cool as Puck did.

They did their secret handshake as Puck approached the edge of the pool and crouched down to greet him. This "handshake" was actually rather gross, now that Artie really thought about it, but it had seemed just fine a few years ago.

"Let me know if your dad ever wants to pay someone to clean this beautiful pool," Puck said. "I'll give you my family discount. I can afford to do that now, now that business has been booming all summer long."

"I'm really glad to hear it," Artie said, and it was also a relief to hear that Puck had been busy with something productive, rather than going to jail, like everyone speculated he would someday do.

"Speaking of family discount..." Puck muttered, as he scanned the pool until his eyes landed on the group of football players. He pointed in their direction. "You. You're him. You're Jake Puckerman."

That silenced the crowd, Puck's tone, even those who didn't have a clue who he was. Jake stopped talking to Marley long enough to look up and acknowledge Puck with a dark scowl. "Who wants to know?"

"You're the waitress's kid," said Puck. "I'm Noah Puckerman. Your brother, I guess."

"Half-brother," Jake said, getting to his feet. His fists were curled in a manner that was decidedly Puckerman. "My mom didn't know your dad had another family when she met him." He paused. "Probably wouldn't have given me his last name if she did."

"Wow, and I take it you guys have never met?" Marley asked, being the first to break the silence that had followed Jake's last statement. Jake broke his intense eye contact with his half-brother and spared her a glance. "Jake, come on, he is your brother."

"I know who he is," Jake said, indignantly, as the family drama just kept getting more and more interesting by the minute. "I've known about him ever since my mom told me about my dad. Just didn't realize I'd be going to his school until I got here."

Just Jake, Artie thought, derisively. His secret would have gotten out by the first football game, for surely Jake would be wearing the name of 'Puckerman' across the back of his jersey. Artie was a little offended for Puck. Puck was a good guy, most people just didn't know it. Why did Jake think he had to hide their relation?

"I didn't know about you until about a month ago," Puck said, coolly. "When Coach Beiste called me up to tell me the news, that my brother had transferred here and joined the football team."

"I know your parents got divorced a long time ago," Jake said. "Probably over me, am I right?" (Puck's silence said it all.) "Look, just to be clear, my mom didn't come here to get back together with your dad. She's from here and my grandma needs her help. We don't want anything to do with him. So he can just stay away from us."

"That's fine," Puck said, matching the iciness of Jake's tone. He actually looked uncomfortable now, because of all the stares. "I just wanted to meet the brother I didn't know I had."

Silence. Ice, cold silence. Lauren Zizes grinned from ear to ear as she munched on a bag of chips and leaned over to whisper something to Wade, who covered his mouth to hide a smile. Artie decided to diffuse the tension.

"Blaine, let's start karaoke," he suggested, before toppling not-so-gracefully off his raft and swimming the length of the pool to get to the steps. As expected, when he surfaced, he realized he'd drawn stares again. But it was the good kind, the wow I didn't realize you could do that reaction.

As Blaine went to get the laptop set up, Tina hurried inside to get Artie's chair for him, having known without him saying so that he needed it back. In the interest of saving time and sparing himself some curious looks, he let Sam lift him out of the water and set him in his chair. Again without being told, Tina had placed a towel in the seat and handed him another so he could dry himself with it. He was really, really glad for friends as understanding and intuitive as Tina and Sam. While they got ready for the first song – it was going to be 'Billionaire' and Mike was going to contribute his dance moves – Artie remembered that Puck had sang this with them the first time.

"Yo Puckerman!" he yelled across the yard, as both Puck and Jake stopped whatever private conversation they'd been having and turned to look at him. "Uh. N-Noah. Puckerman. The elder Puck. Care to join us? We're doing 'Billionaire.'"

Some things hadn't changed. The instant he had an opportunity to perform, Puck dropped his carefully cultivated tough guy image for a chance to pick up the guitar and strum alongside Sam's smooth vocals and Artie's rap. As the other guys set up, Artie busied himself with carefully drying his legs with a towel. He'd skipped the leggings and water shoes, opting to look more like everyone else, which meant the bare skin on his legs was exposed. He picked up one foot and placed it atop his knee, carefully drying all the crevices under his knees. If he didn't, he could risk skin irritation, which could lead to other problems left unchecked. In the middle of concentrating on this task, he completely missed what was happening in the pool.

All of a sudden, Artie jolted to attention, startled by the sound of a scream and a splash. Bree, who had been carefully keeping her hair dry by staying out of the water the whole time, was now resurfacing and sputtering in the shallow end, looking like a drowned rodent with mascara streaked across her cheeks.

"She pushed me!" Bree screeched, pointing a finger directly at Lauren.

Lauren smirked down at her, giving a little mock pout in direction. "It's true," she said, more to the gaping crowd than to Bree. "My hip might have grazed you while I was on my way to get another baggie of those tasty off-brand Cheetos. They really do taste like the real thing, Artie."

Bree huffed her way up the pool steps and out of the water as Lauren just continued to smirk. As Bree approached her, Lauren folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the much more diminutive girl, as if to say what are you gonna do about it?

"C'mon, girls, we don't need to stay for any of these stupid cover songs anyway," Bree said, while backing down. She turned to Kitty, motioning for her to follow first. "Come on, Kitty!"

Kitty actually looked conflicted. She'd been talking to Ryder, seemingly trying to pull his attention away from Marley, while Jake and Puck had been sorting out their drama on the opposite side of the yard. She hesitated every so slightly before jumping to her feet, grabbing her towel, and following the angry, drenched brunette. As the Cheerios marched out of the yard, with some of the football guys jumping up and following, Kitty looked over her shoulder and cast the most sorrowful look at Artie before disappearing through the gate.

Lauren meanwhile avoided direct eye contact with everyone. He wasn't sure what Bree had said to set her off, but it must have been mean.

"Good riddance," Tina said, looking at those remaining. Ryder hadn't left with the other football players and neither had Jake. "On with karaoke..."

The rest of the night was an incredible display of talent. Lauren and Wade even teamed up and sang 'Alone,' with Lauren being super dramatic and obviously making a joke of the whole thing, Wade joining in and matching her enthusiasm. But they were surprisingly good. Then everyone started reprising things from glee club. They all suffered through Sugar bringing back 'Big Spender.' Puck and Artie sang 'One Love,' since it was the song they'd bonded over that time in the courtyard. And, in a seemingly premeditated effort, Tina joined forces with Sam and Blaine to sing a rather confusing version of '3' by Britney Spears that had Mike scratching his head. Artie too. Jake and Puck finished it off with 'Sweet Caroline' as a duet, and everyone in the yard held their red solo cups of Dr. Thunder high in the air and sang along during the chorus.

As his party guests finally dispersed, Artie became aware that Lauren seemed to be waiting around to talk to him.

"What is it?" he asked, as he used the pool net to fish the rafts out of the middle, so as to deflate and store them.

"Don't invite that Bree and her little friends over to any more parties," Lauren said, her tone foreboding. "I didn't like what she said about you."

Me? Artie guessed he'd gotten it wrong, then, when he assumed Bree had made some sort of crack about Lauren's size. "Wh-what'd she say about me?"

"Yeah, what'd she say?" Of course Tina would have to hear that. Blaine and Sam were still there, but they were busy taking food back into the kitchen, leaving Artie alone with Lauren and Tina in the backyard. (Mike had left not long ago, and Tina had been trying to stay away from everyone so as to cry in private.)

Lauren sighed, like she didn't want to tell him but knew she had to now. "You were picking up your leg to dry it off and she said, 'Oh, how cute, he looks like a little Pinocchio.'"

Artie paused, trying to process the weird insult. Oh, I guess 'cause he's a puppet and I look like I have puppet legs? When he didn't respond, out of confusion, Tina misinterpreted his reaction as an upset one.

"Artie, don't worry about what she says!" Tina said, fuming. "Good for you, Lauren! I'm glad you turned her into a soggy Cheerio!"

That got a laugh out of both Artie and Lauren. Soggy Cheerio. Who knew Tina had it in her to be so clever? Certainly more clever than Pinocchio.

"Well, I think you were trying to help, so I'm going to say 'thank you,'" he told Lauren, who still looked just as proud of herself as she had that day she'd body-slammed Santana into a locker for making fun of her weight.

"In return," she said, grinning. "I don't want you to cast Joe opposite me as Jan. I have someone even better for the part in mind..."