Team Fic
Team Fic, finished story. I didn't edit any of the grammar, etc. I simply divided it out into (hopefully) logical and readable paragraphs - that was easier with yours than with the others. Thank you, dialogue! :P
Quinn looked down at her stomach, and shuddered a bit. She wasn't used to not being pregnant. She actually sort of missed her baby bump, but she missed her toned abdomen even more. "Forget it, Mercedes, I'm not going," she told her friend as she tugged on the bottom of her tankini.
"What do you mean 'you're not going'?" Mercedes asked turning to look at her friend, "Oh no, you are going because you need some sun."
"Too much sun is bad for your skin," Quinn retorted. " Besides, my water already broke in front of the entire glee club, I don't need the added humilation of them seeing my disgusting body in a bathing suit."
Mercedes sighed and crossed her arms to look at her friend. "Quinn, you can't hide from them forever; pregnant or not, you're still apart of our family."
Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed because Mercedes had pulled the family card on her. "Fine, but if Rachel Berry is parading around with Finn on her arm, wearing a ridiculous pink bikini and looking all thin in it, I can't be held responsible for drowning her."
Mercedes laughed and shook her head. "If it gets that far, you can join Kurt."
Quinn smiled, "talk about needing some sun, Kurt looks like he needs SPF 100. Doesn't he ever go to the pool?"
"I heard him mumbling something earlier about maintaining his perfect pale complexion," Mercedes said with an eye roll. "He claims he has to look nothing less than perfect when he shows up to cheer camp."
"Oh, right," Quinn sighed. "Glad I don't have to deal with that this summer," she said in a tone that was hardly convincing.
"Cheer up, Q." Mercedes said comfortingly, "We can have our own Ex-Cheerios Camp!"
"Yeah," Quinn said wistfully, "it's probably better than having to do double back handsprings on command and having my carb intake closely monitored anyway... oooh, but promise me our 'Ex-Cheerios Cheer Camp' will have s'mores! Sue never allowed them."
"S'mores it is," Mercedes agreed with a laugh. "Now let's get going, we do not want to miss this."
Still slightly reluctant, Quinn stood from the stool she had been sitting on, hiding away in Santana's kitchen while everyone else was at the pool. "Fine, but only because you promised s'mores."
"Quinn," Mercedes sounded more serious now and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's gonna be alright, and we're gonna have a lot of fun - I promise."
"Mercedes, what would I do without you?" Quinn questioned as she slid back the heavy glass door and stepped out onto the patio.
She was instantly hit by a wave of heat followed by a splash of cool water when Mike cannon balled into the pool. "Thanks, Mike."
Mike resurfaced from the water, a giant grin on his face. "It's about time you got out here."
"Yeah," Brittany agreed, breezing past Quinn with an inflatable duck innertube tucked securely around her waist. "We thought you weren't coming."
Quinn smiled, and she stuck a toe into the pool. Even though she was mostly wet from the cannonball earlier, she prefered to get used to the water a little at at time. Santana came up next to Brittany, her arms crossed over her chest. "Just get in already Fabray."
Quinn, slowly edged her way off the edge of the pool. Then she felt a tug on her leg from under the water.
"PUCK," she squealed as she saw his mohawk under the water. "LET ME GO!"
Puck tugged her in, smirking, "Chill, Quinn. I clean pools, and anyways, its not the deep end."
Quinn splashed him, an instant reaction to being pulled into the water, jokingly muttering the word "jerk."
Behind them, Rachel marched up to the side of the pool as she said, "Noah! It is simply not safe to pull unsuspecting people into the pool. There is a risk that they could hit their head on the edge of the pool and potentially drown. This is even more likely when there isn’t a qualified lifeguard on duty."
"Yeah, Noah," Quinn teased once Rachel finished her tirade, "I could have drowned."
"Relax, Berry," he smirked, looking up at her tiny form, "I know mouth to mouth."
Rachel rolled her eyes, "Well isn't that just lovely." She sat down, and picked up her ~lifeguard whistle, and blew it.
"It's just a pool Berry," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "And it's my party, so who said you get to be in charge of anything?"
Rachel tipped her head in Santana’s direction, with her focus on the other girl she failed to notice Mike sneaking up from behind her. Mike quickly hoisted Rachel into his arms and threw her in the pool, life guard whistle and all.
"Oh," Finn groaned as he watched his girlfriend's body hit the water. "Dude, you're totally going to regret that later."
Rachel surfaced, spitting out the chemical water, "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Do you even know what goes into here?
“Chlorine and water,” offered Mike with a grin as he dived back into the pool. Rachel could only look at him in shock as she took Finn’s offered hand to get out of the pool.
"Told you not to bring the whistle," he whispered gently as he draped an annoyingly pink towel around her shoulders.
"And I told you safety first," Rachel replied, pressing herself up against his side because she was freezing.
Finn wrapped his arms around her shivering form. “You know I could always throw Mike in the pool, too.”
"He's already wet," Rachel pouted as she looked around the pool for suitable payback. "Santana's awfully dry...."
For a second, Finn looked as if he was actually thinking about pushing Santana into the pool. Kurt rushed over to him--wearing thick sunglasses and carrying an over-sized sun umbrella--and said, "If you have any sense of self-preservation, I wouldn't even think about it."
Finn knew that Kurt was right Santana would kill him, or she’d tell the Cheerios to kill him, or maybe Puck, or... Rachel though was still looking at him with pleading eyes, however the distinct click of the gate saved him from having to make a decision.
"Hey, look," he exclaimed, pulling away from Rachel and walking towards the gate. "Artie and Tina are here."
Tina was struggling to carry what appeared to be a very large watermelon. Finn, eager to escape any possibility of having to throw Santana in the pool for Rachel rushed over to help her.
"Thanks, Finn," Tina smiled as she eased the large watermelon into Finn's arms.
"No, thank you," Finn said with a goofy grin.
Artie rolled up besides them,” I brought a mini karaoke machine too.”
Somehow from across the other side of the yard Rachel heard this, and quickly skipped over with a grin on her face, still clutching the bright pink towel around her.
"Fabulous," Rachel squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly, "now we can get in some much needed practice time for glee. We're going to be rusty when school starts in August if we don't." Rachel quickly grabbed the karaoke machine from Artie. “Santana, where is someplace I can plug this in?”
"Oh, hell no, Berry," Santana groaned, rolling her eyes. "This is a karaoke free party."
Undeterred Rachel continued, “currently this party is karaoke free, however that needs to change. Do you think that Vocal Adrenaline doesn’t practice in the summer?”
Santana glared at her icily before relenting. "Fine, you can set it up in the basement, but only because I hate losing."
Beaming with her victory, Rachel skipped off into Santana’s house. “I’ll expect all of you in ten minutes,” Rachel tossed over her shoulder before she entered the house.
"Ugh," Santana huffed as she sat down on the edge of the pool, "I told you we shouldn't have invited her."
Brittany shrugged casually, "She's one of us now, we had to invite her."
“Maybe but we didn’t have to tell her the actual time the party started,” Santana continued.
“It’s not nice to lie,” Brittany stated simply as she pushed off the edge of the pool in her duck inner tube.
"Nice duck," Quinn smiled as Brittany kicked towards her.
"Thanks," Brittany grinned,"I'm really glad you came."
“Me too...” replied Quinn quietly. “Mike throwing Rachel into the pool was worth it.”
"Totally," Brittany beamed before looking at Quinn, "you look really good, by the way."
It's so simple and sweet and unexpected that it makes Quinn want to cry, "thank you, Britt, that means a lot to me."
“Sure,” Brittany smiled. “Though we should probably get out of the pool if we don’t want Rachel to come out and yell at all of us.”
"Berry's harmless," Puck laughed, swimming up beside them. "Besides, if she comes out and starts yelling, we'll just throw her in again."
Quinn laughed,” Though I doubt your being wet would stop Rachel from having Finn throw you in the pool.”
“Let him try,” smirked Puck.
"You'll have to come up with something more inventive than throwing Miss Diva into the pool again if you want to get us out of this practice," Kurt interjected from where he was lounging in the shade.
"What's Grandma Lopez doing here," Brittany furrowed her brow in confusion as she looked at Kurt and his big sunglasses.
“GRANDMA Lopez,” shouted Kirk affronted. “I would have you know that this outfit is classic Alexander McQueen and that umbrellas is Trey 6,” he continued as he whipped off his sunglasses to glare at Brittany.
"Oh," Brittany giggled, "hi, Kurt, I didn't realize that was you."
Kurt shook his head, it was awfully difficult to stay mad at her when she was floating around in that damn duck, "hello, Brittany."
“You really should come swim with us Kurt. The water is really nice,” said Brittany as she playfully splashed some at him.
"Careful, girl," Mercedes said with a sly grin, "he may melt."
Kurt looked as his friend in feigned annoyance but then nodded, "it's true."
“Like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz,” asked Brittany with a slightly worried look on her face.
“Uh huh,” said Mercedes, her grin becoming even more pronounced,” just like that girl, it ain’t a pretty picture.”
Brittany frowned, "I don't want Kurt to melt, dry him off, fast!"
"Britt," Quinn laughed, "they're just teasing you."
“Oh,” said Brittany with a grin. “Then I can do this,” and she splashed Kurt again, this time he got soaked.
"Thanks, Q," Kurt sighed, toweling off his face as she snickered.
Quinn shrugged, "If I have to be wet, then everyone else does as well." Quinn surveyed the rest of the team in their various states of shenanigans. Besides what was going on near her, she noted Matt lounging on a lawn chair on the opposite side of the pool and watching the others with his usual quiet surveillance. "Including Matt," she said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "Splash him, Britt!"
Brittany nodded and started floating straight for Matt's chair.
"Hey Matt!," she yelled with a devilish smile, "are you thirsty?"
"Huh," he asked, looking towards her.
"I said, are you thirsty," she repeated, cupping her hands under the water and flinging some at him.
Matt sputtered, kicking his feet up like Brittany had just thrown acid on him instead of water. Quinn and Brittany burst into pleased laughter as he scowled.
"It's just a little water," Quinn teased gently and Matt smirked.
"Just a little water, huh," he questioned, grabbing the jar of cold ice water sitting beside him and striding over to the pool before promptly dumping it on the girls heads.
Brittany and Quinn shrieked, jumping backwards away from him as he laughed.
"May I have everyone's attention please?" Rachel's voice carried across the yard. "As you all know, Artie was kind enough to bring his karaoke machine and Finn and I have taken the liberty of setting it up in the basement. If we plan on winning anything next year, it is of utmost importance that we begin practicing now."
"Seriously Berry, you are giving me a migraine," Santana groaned, rubbing her temples. "What part of 'it's my party' do you not understand?"
Rachel sighed, "I'm just acting in the best interest of the team, Santana."
"Come on," Finn urged, stepping between the two girls, "it could be fun."
Kurt eyed Rachel over his sunglasses and sighed. "I suppose it WOULD be a good idea to keep up with the competition," he agreed reluctantly.
"Yes," Rachel beamed, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her, "anyone else?"
"It could be fun," Artie agreed, "but can we eat first?"
"I'm all for some grub," Puck agreed, climbing out of the pool.
"And s'mores!" Quinn cried, starting to trail back towards the house.
"As long as it's vegan," Rachel agreed reluctantly, following the rest of her team towards the patio.
"There's no such thing as vegan burgers and hot dogs," Santana told her sarcastically.
"What's a leave in burger?" Brittany whispered frantically to Santana. "Where do you leave it?"
"Vegan," Santana annunciated to the blonde, "it means there's no animal or animal products in them."
"Ohhhhhh," Brittany nodded and then curled her lip in horror, 'wait, hot dogs aren't made out of actual dogs, are they?"
"No, Britt, they're made out of pork- pigs," she explained.
"Pigs sleep in the mud," Brittany said with a wrinkle of her nose.
Santana couldn't help but grin at Brittany, shaking her head lightly. She held out her pinky for Brittany to take as they headed towards the house.
Once inside the Glee Club ransacked Santana's pristine kitchen in search of food to grill. Tina and Artie both grabbed up the paper plates, napkins, red plastic silverware, and cups to carry outside to the picnic tables Finn and Matt had set up earlier.
"Who's going to grill these suckers" Puck asked, pulling a package of hamburgers out of the fridge and twirling a lighter around his finger.
"Not you," Quinn replied, grabbing the lighter from him.
“Babe, the Puckster can handle a little grilling.” Puck replied as he tried to snatch his lighter back from Quinn.
Rachel marched over to them, completely appalled at how easily distracted they were, and said, "We do not have the time necessary to grill anything, let alone meat products! We need to start practicing as soon as possible."
Santana scoffed and crossed her arms, "Who made you queen of the glee club?"
"You all did, when you elected me captain," Rachel reminded her, folding her arms across her chest and sticking her nose up in the air.
Santana glared at Rachel,” well I am hungry.”
Rachel held Santana’s glare,” it would be a much more efficient use of our time to order pizza."
"Yeah," Santana questioned as she looked Rachel up and down, sizing her up, "and who's gonna pay for it? Besides, I thought you were vegan."
"I'll order a salad," Rachel huffed, "and we can all chip in. You don't want to lose again, do you?"
“Fine,” Santana admitted. From the look on her face it was obvious that small admission pained her.
Rachel beamed with excitement. "Do you have a delivery menu anywhere?"
"In the drawer," Santana gestured with a defeated wave of her hand. "I swear Rachel, you better hang on to Finn if he's willing to put up with all your high maintence crap."
As she rifled through the drawer Santana gestured to, she made no sign that she heard the other girl’s comment. Triumphantly her hand shot up with the menu,” found it!”
Rachel quickly scanned through the menu, already having an idea for what she wanted to order. "Okay, a large pizza and a small salad for me will come to seventeen dollars, just two dollars a person with tip."
"I don't believe in tips, as far as I'm concerned they're just doing their job." Puck quipped.
Finn looked over at Puck. "Come on man, it's just a couple bucks."
“Fine, whatever,” Puck sighed, digging down into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. “Happy, Berry?”
“Yes,” Rachel nodded, satisfied, “I’m quite pleased. Now if you could all kindly make your way towards the basement...” she trailed off as she watched the boys, including Finn, heading towards the pool.
"Where do you think you're going?” she asked, stepping in front of Finn, causing him to nearly trip over her tiny frame, “because last I checked, that was not the basement.”
“Out to the pool until the pizza comes,” he said, but it came out more like a question.
“Oh no you're not,” she replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him out onto the patio where Mike, Matt, and Puck had already gotten back in the pool.
“You’re right,” Finn grinned before bending to kiss Rachel’s nose, “we should practice first.”
“Whipped,” Santana fake coughed, eliciting a glare from Rachel and a giggle from Quinn.
“Boys,” Rachel called, standing by the edge of the pool with her hands on her hips, “it's time to come in and practice.”
“But mom,” Mike teased with an evil grin.
He looked up to see Rachel's face, it was less than amused, so he quickly climbed out of the pool and took the towel she was waving at him.
“Come on guys, let's just practice and then we can swim.”
"Dude,” Artie protested when Matt started pushing his chair into the house, his hand still anchored in the chip bowl, “I'm hungry.”
“Then take it to go,” Rachel quipped, grabbing the chips off the table and placing them in Artie's lap.
“You’re girlfriend is bossy,” Artie mumbled under his breath as he wheeled past Finn.
“Yeah, but she’s also really hot,” Finn told him with a devilish grin.
“True, dude,” Artie started, but stopped when Tina cleared her throat. “Not as hot as my girlfriend though.”
“That's my man,” Tina said with a grin, prompting Santana to cough out another thinly veiled 'whipped'. “Like you have room to talk,” Tina replied as she indicated towards Brittany.
"What do you mean?” Santana asked, linking her pinky with the blonde's and leading her towards the stairs.
“I mean, was it really your idea to invite all of us to your pool party?”
“No,” Brittany jumped in, completely clueless, “she invited you guys because I told her to.”
Tina smiled in satisfaction, “point proven.”
“Thanks, Britt,” Santana whispered sarcastically under her breath.
“You're totally welcome, S,” she replied with a smile.
"Uh, guys?” Artie called as he watched the rest of his team file down the stairs into Santana's basement.
“Sorry, dude,” Finn answered, quickly running up the stairs followed by Puck and Matt. “We got ya.”
“Alright, everyone,” Rachel announced, standing on top of a chair next to the karaoke machine once everyone was assembled in the basement, “I realize it’s been an entire three weeks since we practiced together, but I trust you all remember how to carry a tune.” She glared pointedly at Brittany.
“Why does she always look at me when she says stuff like that?” Brittany whispered to Santana.
“Because she's....” Santana started to answer but was interrupted by Rachel clearing her throat.
“Focus, Santana,” she paused, waiting for Santana to look at her.
“As I was saying,” Rachel continued once she had everyone’s undivided attention, “I understand you’re not all as vocally gifted as I am, but I believe you have enough practice that we can skip past basic vocal warm-ups. Does anyone have first any song suggestions?”
Eleven hands simultaneously shot up as the members of the glee club started throwing out song suggestions, everything from The Beatles (Artie) to the Jonas Brothers (Brittany), anything to avoid the dreaded show tunes Rachel was sure to suggest.
“Enough,” Quinn bellowed at the top of her lungs when the noise became deafening, reminding them all why she'd once held the coveted position of head cheerleader.
“Do you have any better ideas?” Rachel asked, meeting Quinn's eyes
“We'll put Santana's iPod on shuffle and use whatever comes up first.”
“My girl’s hot and smart,” Puck smirked, throwing his arm around Quinn’s shoulder. She snarled a little, but didn’t push him away.
“I admit, it's a relatively decent idea, but I'm sure Santana doesn't have a music collection that's as varied as mine.”
Santana growled and lunged toward Rachel, but Quinn pushed her back.
“Alright, we'll use yours then.”
“Perfect,” Rachel replied before scurrying off to grab her iPod from her purse.
When she returned, she handed it to Quinn who plugged it into the speakers and put it on shuffle before joining the rest of her team. 21 Guns began playing and Rachel squealed excitedly because it was almost a Broadway song.
Their first few times through were a little rough, but by the third time their voices came together in almost perfect harmony. “That’s it, guys,” Rachel said with a satisfied smile, “we sound really good.”
“Of course we do,” Finn replied, a goofy grin spreading to his face, “we're New Directions. Now let's run it again!”
And run it again they did, over and over, and once they had the harmonies down Mike and Brittany began working on some of the choreography.
They were all laughing and talking so loud they hardly heard Mrs. Lopez when she called downstairs to tell them the pizza had arrived.
“This is sort of fun, isn't it?” Brittany asked, sitting next to Santana on the floor when they finally took a break and sat down to eat.
“Yeah, it is,” Santana whispered with a smile. “But don’t tell them I said that.”
Just in the middle of July, Quinn sent texts to all of the glee club. She’d found out that the roller-skating rink was going to close soon, and she secretly had a great time. To her surprise, everyone agreed to go, and naturally, Rachel was overly excited. Santana, though, sent a text back complaining about how ridiculous it was, but Brittany liked it so she would go. Quinn would never actually tell anyone how she really wanted to go to the rink. She just passed it off as something to do other than the usual stuff, which everyone agreed was getting kind of tired.
She got picked up by Santana and Brittany--her mother never actually let her drive, it was kind of ridiculous-and by the time they got there, the rest of glee club was already inside.
“What took you guys so long?” she asked, looking at the two of them with a raised eyebrow.
Santana just rolled her eyes and got out of the car. “Does it matter?”
Before Quinn could reply, Brittany leaned over to her. “I had a hard time picking an outfit and S was helping me.”
Quinn shrugged, figuring that there wasn’t really any point in pushing this further, and got out of the car. Still somewhat hiding her excitement, she followed Santana and Brittany inside.
Once inside, she looked around to see that almost all of glee club was already in the center of the rink, going in circles around the platform in the middle. Rachel and Finn were holding hands, trying to as close to each other as physically possible.
Tina was pushing Artie in his wheel chair, smiling whenever he looked up at her. Matt and Mike were racing.
Kurt and Mercedes were at one of the tables off to the side, gossiping. When Mercedes looked up and saw Quinn, she waved with a big smile on her face, and Quinn waved back. The only person she couldn’t find was Puck. She expected him to be over by the food stand, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Quinn felt someone poking her shoulder, and turned around to see Puck, holding a pair of skates in his hands. “So you wouldn't have to wait in line or anything.”
“What line?” she asked, only seeing Brittany and Santana renting skates. Actually, she noticed, Santana already had her skates; Brittany was the only person in line.
“You know Brittany won't be able to figure out what size to get for at least another five minutes,” he answered. “But, hey, if you don't want these, I can just give them back...”
As quickly as possible, she reached out and grabbed the roller skates from him. “They'll have to do,” she said playfully.
Moving over to one of the benches, Quinn sat down and started putting the roller skates on. She tossed her shoes in one of the shelves that was designed to hold customers’ shoes and stood.
Puck had waited for her, so they went out on the floor together. But when he reached to take her hand, she pulled away.
“Hey!” he called after her. “What was that for?”
She didn’t want to seem moody, but already things weren’t going like she had planned, and this place was closing soon so it would probably be the last time they could come here as a group. “This isn’t couples skate, Puck.”
“Yeah, well Finn and Rachel seem pretty coupled.” Quinn looked back at them, and Puck was right, they were still stuck together at the hip.
Determined to make this more of a friendship thing, Quinn skated faster so she could catch up with Matt and Mike. “Hey Quinn,” Matt said when she finally moved next to him, “this is a really cool idea you had.”
“Yeah,” Mike echoed. “I didn’t even know this place was still open.”
“It's closing soon,” she answered, but she wasn't going to get sidetracked. “You guys want to have a real race?”
“You know it.”
“Great,” (she was unable to hide her smile), “because I want to have a race with all of us, but you have to get Finn and Rachel to detach themselves.”
“Not a problem,” Matt said, “but how are you going to get everyone else involved?”
She smirked, answering, “I’ll take care of it.”
With more determination than she had when making the glist, Quinn left the skating rink and marched over to the skate rental booth, only slightly wobbly in her skates. “I need to use the mic on that platform.”
She somewhat recognized the kid that was working there, remembering him vaguely from McKinley.
“I don't think I can let you do that,” he told her.
“Listen, you go to McKinley, right?” At his quick nod, she continued, “Then you know who I am, and you know that I’ve been through giving birth, so God help me if I’m about to let some pimply little freshman tell me what I can and cannot do.”
The kid didn't say anything in response, just stared at her with his eyes wide open, kind of terrified. “So, if I were you, I'd turn that mic on, got it?”
He nodded quickly and Quinn marched off, clearly pleased with herself. She crossed through the rink and stepped on the middle platform.First she tapped the mic a couple of times to make sure it was on, a few loud clicks echoing throughout the rink. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but being up on the platform made her realize that the glee kids were the only people in this place besides a guy at the food stand and the kid at shoe rental (no wonder the place was closing).
At the sound of the tapping, almost everyone looked up at her, confused expressions on their faces. Pretty much the only exception was Matt, who was skating around the rink while lifting up Rachel in his arms. Rachel was shouting at him, demanding that he “put her down this instant”, and looking at Finn for help, but Finn was being held back by Mike, who was skating around him in circles.
“Come on man, quit it,” he said to Mike, but the boy wouldn’t stop.
“You guys can stop now,” Quinn said into the mic, and they stopped right away. It was slightly shocking to her that she had manage to take control of everything almost instantly; it was like she was the captain of the cheerios again.
Once she had both of her feet back on the ground, Rachel flattened out her skirt and stood up perfectly straight, glaring at Quinn, having figured out that she was the one in charge of all of this. “Quinn, what do you think you’re doing?”
“We're having a race,” Quinn announced, a self-satisfied grin on her face. “Three times around the rink.”
“I’ll have you know that all of us racing around the track is simply not safe,” Rachel retorted. “And I will not risk having one of us injured come the school year.”
Santana cut in, “Jesus Berry, what's with you and safety? It's just a stupid race, not like anyone's gonna get hurt.”
“Fine,” Rachel conceded, “we’ll have a race. But there should be some sort of reward for the winner; it’s only fair.”
Quinn's smile grew; she had figured that Rachel would be the hardest person to win over, but somehow it seemed really easy. She already knew what the prize would be, something that every person in glee club would want.
“The winner gets a solo,” she said into the mic. “Whoever wins gets the first solo of glee-that enough for you Rachel?”
Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. Meanwhile, both Kurt and Mercedes shot out of their chairs simultaneously. They were the ones that got passed over for solos when they deserved it the most, both easily having the second and third best voices in the group. And some people-Matt, Mike, Brittany-never got solos.
Everyone seemed all up for it, but now they had a problem: finding a judge. Quinn wasn't about to ask either of the two workers-she'd scared that freshman enough and the guy at the food counter was sleeping.And there was no way that she would leave it up to honesty; these people wanted solos way too much, Quinn herself included. She looked at all of them; no one was ready to give up their chance.
“Rachel you be the judge,” she said, unable to think of anything else. “You get all of the solos anyways.”
“Quinn, I assure you that I deserve each and every solo I sing, and being the go-getter that I am, I am not about to pass up the opportunity to earn another one, even if it is as something as barbaric as a race. Considering that you are the one with the microphone, maybe you should judge.”
“Noah Puckerman is that you?” was heard from across the rink, and all of the glee kids looked over to where the voice was coming from (Puck was the first). At the entrance to the rink stood April Rhodes, a smile on her face and a drink in her hand.
“Well hey,” she continued as she walked onto the rink and approached the group, “if it isn’t my favorite group of high school misfits. Who’s up there using my mic?”
“It's Quinn,” she answered, not really humored by April's forgetfulness. “Remember?”
“Yeah, yeah, you know, I’ve got this thing with names,” April sputtered, obviously a little tipsy. But when is she not?
Quinn rolled her eyes, but April just kept on talking. “What are you doing with my mic?”
“We’re having a race,” she answered, “but we need someone to be a judge. If you want this mic back, you have to do it.”
“You've got ambition Q. I like it,” April said as she stepped onto the platform and held out her hand for the microphone.
Quinn handed it over to her and slowly got off the platform, careful because she was still wearing her skates. She moved over to the rest of the group and waited for April to start the race.
April was the kind of person who liked any sort of attention in the limelight, and being in front of twelve high school students was apparently enough. She gripped onto the mic with a passion and spoke into it.
“All right kids, get yourselves lined up. Three laps around the track and when it’s all over, I’ll announce the winner...On the count of three, take off. One, two, and... three!”
All of the glee kids took off on their skates, Matt and Mike easily taking first place in the beginning. Santana was close behind, followed by Puck and Brittany. The second time around the track, Santana managed to take first place, followed closely by Matt. Kurt had moved near the front of the pack, neck and neck with Puck.
“Britt,” Santana called behind her as they rounded around the track a third time, the final lap, “give me your hand.” She stretched out her hand behind her.
Brittany grabbed onto the hand and Santana pulled her forward, sending her instantly to the front of the pack. She passed April--the decided “finish line” for the race--and cheered as she realized that she won.
Santana and Brittany hugged, but pulled apart when Puck muttered something about cheating. “Whatever, Puck, you’re just pissed ‘cause you got beat out by a girl,” Santana said, smirking.
April announced that Brittany had won, referring to her as Blondie. When she was about to get off the platform, Rachel stood in front of her.
“April, although I find you somewhat deplorable due to your alcoholic habits, there is no denying that you have an excellent voice. Would you mind singing with us?” she asked.
“We came here to skate, Rachel, not to sing,” Artie said. He was having a great time, even during the race, and he didn't want to stop to sing, not yet anyways. They always sing, and this is something that they never really get to do. He wanted to just enjoy it without having to worry about his voice.
“We need to practice as much as possible,” Rachel said, glaring at him. “One time at a pool party is simply not enough to keep our vocals strong enough.”
“If you want to practice,” Quinn interjected, “you should call us and set up group practices, not decide to take over whenever any other one of us makes plans.”
“She's got a point, Rachel,” Mercedes added. She didn't mind singing, but it did seem like Rachel needed to take control whenever they were having fun as a group.
“I don’t know about you, Mercedes, but I do not want to lose to Vocal Adrenaline this year. Don’t any of you realize that if it happens again, we might not be able to keep glee club?”
That won Mercedes, along with everyone else, over. It had been so sad when they thought glee club was coming to an end, because they had made strong friends within the group, and no one wanted it to happen again.
“All right,” said Quinn, “we can sing. Is that okay with the rest of you?”
The rest of glee club nodded, some more excitedly than others. Rachel looked back up at April and asked, “Would you like to join us?”
“I’m never one to pass up a chance to sing,” April answered. “We’ve crossed paths enough times for you to know that by now. Hey kid,” she called over to the freshman, “put on my mix. Track 6.”
Rachel recognized the song immediately. It wasn’t Broadway-not at all-but it was widely recognized as a classic song and had been used in the movie-musical Across the Universe, so she could not object.
April started in, singing the opening words to “Come Together” by The Beatles. Rachel had expected that it would be problematic to hear April's voice overlay the original vocals, but as April sang, she realized that it was a karaoke version of the song. After the first two lines, Rachel joined in, and when the chorus kicked in, the rest of the kids had started to sing along as well. It was far from a perfect rendition, but the glee kids found themselves enjoying it nonetheless. They found, as they have before, that when they sing with April, the caliber of her voice forced them to push their own. Each and every one of them was singing to the best of his or her ability.
When the song came to a close, April hopped of the platform (which she obviously thought was close enough to a stage). “Thanks kids,” she said, “that was great.” The mix cd kept playing though, prompting April to again shout at the freshman, “Jeez Barry, turn it off already!” Everyone doubted that his name was actually Barry, but they weren't about to say anything. She walked off the track and said, “All right, that was fun and all, but you kids have to get out of here. We’re closed for the night; I just came here to get my money from the rentals.”
PART 2
Quinn looked down at her stomach, and shuddered a bit. She wasn't used to not being pregnant. She actually sort of missed her baby bump, but she missed her toned abdomen even more. "Forget it, Mercedes, I'm not going," she told her friend as she tugged on the bottom of her tankini.
"What do you mean 'you're not going'?" Mercedes asked turning to look at her friend, "Oh no, you are going because you need some sun."
"Too much sun is bad for your skin," Quinn retorted. " Besides, my water already broke in front of the entire glee club, I don't need the added humilation of them seeing my disgusting body in a bathing suit."
Mercedes sighed and crossed her arms to look at her friend. "Quinn, you can't hide from them forever; pregnant or not, you're still apart of our family."
Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed because Mercedes had pulled the family card on her. "Fine, but if Rachel Berry is parading around with Finn on her arm, wearing a ridiculous pink bikini and looking all thin in it, I can't be held responsible for drowning her."
Mercedes laughed and shook her head. "If it gets that far, you can join Kurt."
Quinn smiled, "talk about needing some sun, Kurt looks like he needs SPF 100. Doesn't he ever go to the pool?"
"I heard him mumbling something earlier about maintaining his perfect pale complexion," Mercedes said with an eye roll. "He claims he has to look nothing less than perfect when he shows up to cheer camp."
"Oh, right," Quinn sighed. "Glad I don't have to deal with that this summer," she said in a tone that was hardly convincing.
"Cheer up, Q." Mercedes said comfortingly, "We can have our own Ex-Cheerios Camp!"
"Yeah," Quinn said wistfully, "it's probably better than having to do double back handsprings on command and having my carb intake closely monitored anyway... oooh, but promise me our 'Ex-Cheerios Cheer Camp' will have s'mores! Sue never allowed them."
"S'mores it is," Mercedes agreed with a laugh. "Now let's get going, we do not want to miss this."
Still slightly reluctant, Quinn stood from the stool she had been sitting on, hiding away in Santana's kitchen while everyone else was at the pool. "Fine, but only because you promised s'mores."
"Quinn," Mercedes sounded more serious now and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's gonna be alright, and we're gonna have a lot of fun - I promise."
"Mercedes, what would I do without you?" Quinn questioned as she slid back the heavy glass door and stepped out onto the patio.
She was instantly hit by a wave of heat followed by a splash of cool water when Mike cannon balled into the pool. "Thanks, Mike."
Mike resurfaced from the water, a giant grin on his face. "It's about time you got out here."
"Yeah," Brittany agreed, breezing past Quinn with an inflatable duck innertube tucked securely around her waist. "We thought you weren't coming."
Quinn smiled, and she stuck a toe into the pool. Even though she was mostly wet from the cannonball earlier, she prefered to get used to the water a little at at time. Santana came up next to Brittany, her arms crossed over her chest. "Just get in already Fabray."
Quinn, slowly edged her way off the edge of the pool. Then she felt a tug on her leg from under the water.
"PUCK," she squealed as she saw his mohawk under the water. "LET ME GO!"
Puck tugged her in, smirking, "Chill, Quinn. I clean pools, and anyways, its not the deep end."
Quinn splashed him, an instant reaction to being pulled into the water, jokingly muttering the word "jerk."
Behind them, Rachel marched up to the side of the pool as she said, "Noah! It is simply not safe to pull unsuspecting people into the pool. There is a risk that they could hit their head on the edge of the pool and potentially drown. This is even more likely when there isn’t a qualified lifeguard on duty."
"Yeah, Noah," Quinn teased once Rachel finished her tirade, "I could have drowned."
"Relax, Berry," he smirked, looking up at her tiny form, "I know mouth to mouth."
Rachel rolled her eyes, "Well isn't that just lovely." She sat down, and picked up her ~lifeguard whistle, and blew it.
"It's just a pool Berry," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "And it's my party, so who said you get to be in charge of anything?"
Rachel tipped her head in Santana’s direction, with her focus on the other girl she failed to notice Mike sneaking up from behind her. Mike quickly hoisted Rachel into his arms and threw her in the pool, life guard whistle and all.
"Oh," Finn groaned as he watched his girlfriend's body hit the water. "Dude, you're totally going to regret that later."
Rachel surfaced, spitting out the chemical water, "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Do you even know what goes into here?
“Chlorine and water,” offered Mike with a grin as he dived back into the pool. Rachel could only look at him in shock as she took Finn’s offered hand to get out of the pool.
"Told you not to bring the whistle," he whispered gently as he draped an annoyingly pink towel around her shoulders.
"And I told you safety first," Rachel replied, pressing herself up against his side because she was freezing.
Finn wrapped his arms around her shivering form. “You know I could always throw Mike in the pool, too.”
"He's already wet," Rachel pouted as she looked around the pool for suitable payback. "Santana's awfully dry...."
For a second, Finn looked as if he was actually thinking about pushing Santana into the pool. Kurt rushed over to him--wearing thick sunglasses and carrying an over-sized sun umbrella--and said, "If you have any sense of self-preservation, I wouldn't even think about it."
Finn knew that Kurt was right Santana would kill him, or she’d tell the Cheerios to kill him, or maybe Puck, or... Rachel though was still looking at him with pleading eyes, however the distinct click of the gate saved him from having to make a decision.
"Hey, look," he exclaimed, pulling away from Rachel and walking towards the gate. "Artie and Tina are here."
Tina was struggling to carry what appeared to be a very large watermelon. Finn, eager to escape any possibility of having to throw Santana in the pool for Rachel rushed over to help her.
"Thanks, Finn," Tina smiled as she eased the large watermelon into Finn's arms.
"No, thank you," Finn said with a goofy grin.
Artie rolled up besides them,” I brought a mini karaoke machine too.”
Somehow from across the other side of the yard Rachel heard this, and quickly skipped over with a grin on her face, still clutching the bright pink towel around her.
"Fabulous," Rachel squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly, "now we can get in some much needed practice time for glee. We're going to be rusty when school starts in August if we don't." Rachel quickly grabbed the karaoke machine from Artie. “Santana, where is someplace I can plug this in?”
"Oh, hell no, Berry," Santana groaned, rolling her eyes. "This is a karaoke free party."
Undeterred Rachel continued, “currently this party is karaoke free, however that needs to change. Do you think that Vocal Adrenaline doesn’t practice in the summer?”
Santana glared at her icily before relenting. "Fine, you can set it up in the basement, but only because I hate losing."
Beaming with her victory, Rachel skipped off into Santana’s house. “I’ll expect all of you in ten minutes,” Rachel tossed over her shoulder before she entered the house.
"Ugh," Santana huffed as she sat down on the edge of the pool, "I told you we shouldn't have invited her."
Brittany shrugged casually, "She's one of us now, we had to invite her."
“Maybe but we didn’t have to tell her the actual time the party started,” Santana continued.
“It’s not nice to lie,” Brittany stated simply as she pushed off the edge of the pool in her duck inner tube.
"Nice duck," Quinn smiled as Brittany kicked towards her.
"Thanks," Brittany grinned,"I'm really glad you came."
“Me too...” replied Quinn quietly. “Mike throwing Rachel into the pool was worth it.”
"Totally," Brittany beamed before looking at Quinn, "you look really good, by the way."
It's so simple and sweet and unexpected that it makes Quinn want to cry, "thank you, Britt, that means a lot to me."
“Sure,” Brittany smiled. “Though we should probably get out of the pool if we don’t want Rachel to come out and yell at all of us.”
"Berry's harmless," Puck laughed, swimming up beside them. "Besides, if she comes out and starts yelling, we'll just throw her in again."
Quinn laughed,” Though I doubt your being wet would stop Rachel from having Finn throw you in the pool.”
“Let him try,” smirked Puck.
"You'll have to come up with something more inventive than throwing Miss Diva into the pool again if you want to get us out of this practice," Kurt interjected from where he was lounging in the shade.
"What's Grandma Lopez doing here," Brittany furrowed her brow in confusion as she looked at Kurt and his big sunglasses.
“GRANDMA Lopez,” shouted Kirk affronted. “I would have you know that this outfit is classic Alexander McQueen and that umbrellas is Trey 6,” he continued as he whipped off his sunglasses to glare at Brittany.
"Oh," Brittany giggled, "hi, Kurt, I didn't realize that was you."
Kurt shook his head, it was awfully difficult to stay mad at her when she was floating around in that damn duck, "hello, Brittany."
“You really should come swim with us Kurt. The water is really nice,” said Brittany as she playfully splashed some at him.
"Careful, girl," Mercedes said with a sly grin, "he may melt."
Kurt looked as his friend in feigned annoyance but then nodded, "it's true."
“Like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz,” asked Brittany with a slightly worried look on her face.
“Uh huh,” said Mercedes, her grin becoming even more pronounced,” just like that girl, it ain’t a pretty picture.”
Brittany frowned, "I don't want Kurt to melt, dry him off, fast!"
"Britt," Quinn laughed, "they're just teasing you."
“Oh,” said Brittany with a grin. “Then I can do this,” and she splashed Kurt again, this time he got soaked.
"Thanks, Q," Kurt sighed, toweling off his face as she snickered.
Quinn shrugged, "If I have to be wet, then everyone else does as well." Quinn surveyed the rest of the team in their various states of shenanigans. Besides what was going on near her, she noted Matt lounging on a lawn chair on the opposite side of the pool and watching the others with his usual quiet surveillance. "Including Matt," she said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "Splash him, Britt!"
Brittany nodded and started floating straight for Matt's chair.
"Hey Matt!," she yelled with a devilish smile, "are you thirsty?"
"Huh," he asked, looking towards her.
"I said, are you thirsty," she repeated, cupping her hands under the water and flinging some at him.
Matt sputtered, kicking his feet up like Brittany had just thrown acid on him instead of water. Quinn and Brittany burst into pleased laughter as he scowled.
"It's just a little water," Quinn teased gently and Matt smirked.
"Just a little water, huh," he questioned, grabbing the jar of cold ice water sitting beside him and striding over to the pool before promptly dumping it on the girls heads.
Brittany and Quinn shrieked, jumping backwards away from him as he laughed.
"May I have everyone's attention please?" Rachel's voice carried across the yard. "As you all know, Artie was kind enough to bring his karaoke machine and Finn and I have taken the liberty of setting it up in the basement. If we plan on winning anything next year, it is of utmost importance that we begin practicing now."
"Seriously Berry, you are giving me a migraine," Santana groaned, rubbing her temples. "What part of 'it's my party' do you not understand?"
Rachel sighed, "I'm just acting in the best interest of the team, Santana."
"Come on," Finn urged, stepping between the two girls, "it could be fun."
Kurt eyed Rachel over his sunglasses and sighed. "I suppose it WOULD be a good idea to keep up with the competition," he agreed reluctantly.
"Yes," Rachel beamed, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her, "anyone else?"
"It could be fun," Artie agreed, "but can we eat first?"
"I'm all for some grub," Puck agreed, climbing out of the pool.
"And s'mores!" Quinn cried, starting to trail back towards the house.
"As long as it's vegan," Rachel agreed reluctantly, following the rest of her team towards the patio.
"There's no such thing as vegan burgers and hot dogs," Santana told her sarcastically.
"What's a leave in burger?" Brittany whispered frantically to Santana. "Where do you leave it?"
"Vegan," Santana annunciated to the blonde, "it means there's no animal or animal products in them."
"Ohhhhhh," Brittany nodded and then curled her lip in horror, 'wait, hot dogs aren't made out of actual dogs, are they?"
"No, Britt, they're made out of pork- pigs," she explained.
"Pigs sleep in the mud," Brittany said with a wrinkle of her nose.
Santana couldn't help but grin at Brittany, shaking her head lightly. She held out her pinky for Brittany to take as they headed towards the house.
Once inside the Glee Club ransacked Santana's pristine kitchen in search of food to grill. Tina and Artie both grabbed up the paper plates, napkins, red plastic silverware, and cups to carry outside to the picnic tables Finn and Matt had set up earlier.
"Who's going to grill these suckers" Puck asked, pulling a package of hamburgers out of the fridge and twirling a lighter around his finger.
"Not you," Quinn replied, grabbing the lighter from him.
“Babe, the Puckster can handle a little grilling.” Puck replied as he tried to snatch his lighter back from Quinn.
Rachel marched over to them, completely appalled at how easily distracted they were, and said, "We do not have the time necessary to grill anything, let alone meat products! We need to start practicing as soon as possible."
Santana scoffed and crossed her arms, "Who made you queen of the glee club?"
"You all did, when you elected me captain," Rachel reminded her, folding her arms across her chest and sticking her nose up in the air.
Santana glared at Rachel,” well I am hungry.”
Rachel held Santana’s glare,” it would be a much more efficient use of our time to order pizza."
"Yeah," Santana questioned as she looked Rachel up and down, sizing her up, "and who's gonna pay for it? Besides, I thought you were vegan."
"I'll order a salad," Rachel huffed, "and we can all chip in. You don't want to lose again, do you?"
“Fine,” Santana admitted. From the look on her face it was obvious that small admission pained her.
Rachel beamed with excitement. "Do you have a delivery menu anywhere?"
"In the drawer," Santana gestured with a defeated wave of her hand. "I swear Rachel, you better hang on to Finn if he's willing to put up with all your high maintence crap."
As she rifled through the drawer Santana gestured to, she made no sign that she heard the other girl’s comment. Triumphantly her hand shot up with the menu,” found it!”
Rachel quickly scanned through the menu, already having an idea for what she wanted to order. "Okay, a large pizza and a small salad for me will come to seventeen dollars, just two dollars a person with tip."
"I don't believe in tips, as far as I'm concerned they're just doing their job." Puck quipped.
Finn looked over at Puck. "Come on man, it's just a couple bucks."
“Fine, whatever,” Puck sighed, digging down into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. “Happy, Berry?”
“Yes,” Rachel nodded, satisfied, “I’m quite pleased. Now if you could all kindly make your way towards the basement...” she trailed off as she watched the boys, including Finn, heading towards the pool.
"Where do you think you're going?” she asked, stepping in front of Finn, causing him to nearly trip over her tiny frame, “because last I checked, that was not the basement.”
“Out to the pool until the pizza comes,” he said, but it came out more like a question.
“Oh no you're not,” she replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him out onto the patio where Mike, Matt, and Puck had already gotten back in the pool.
“You’re right,” Finn grinned before bending to kiss Rachel’s nose, “we should practice first.”
“Whipped,” Santana fake coughed, eliciting a glare from Rachel and a giggle from Quinn.
“Boys,” Rachel called, standing by the edge of the pool with her hands on her hips, “it's time to come in and practice.”
“But mom,” Mike teased with an evil grin.
He looked up to see Rachel's face, it was less than amused, so he quickly climbed out of the pool and took the towel she was waving at him.
“Come on guys, let's just practice and then we can swim.”
"Dude,” Artie protested when Matt started pushing his chair into the house, his hand still anchored in the chip bowl, “I'm hungry.”
“Then take it to go,” Rachel quipped, grabbing the chips off the table and placing them in Artie's lap.
“You’re girlfriend is bossy,” Artie mumbled under his breath as he wheeled past Finn.
“Yeah, but she’s also really hot,” Finn told him with a devilish grin.
“True, dude,” Artie started, but stopped when Tina cleared her throat. “Not as hot as my girlfriend though.”
“That's my man,” Tina said with a grin, prompting Santana to cough out another thinly veiled 'whipped'. “Like you have room to talk,” Tina replied as she indicated towards Brittany.
"What do you mean?” Santana asked, linking her pinky with the blonde's and leading her towards the stairs.
“I mean, was it really your idea to invite all of us to your pool party?”
“No,” Brittany jumped in, completely clueless, “she invited you guys because I told her to.”
Tina smiled in satisfaction, “point proven.”
“Thanks, Britt,” Santana whispered sarcastically under her breath.
“You're totally welcome, S,” she replied with a smile.
"Uh, guys?” Artie called as he watched the rest of his team file down the stairs into Santana's basement.
“Sorry, dude,” Finn answered, quickly running up the stairs followed by Puck and Matt. “We got ya.”
“Alright, everyone,” Rachel announced, standing on top of a chair next to the karaoke machine once everyone was assembled in the basement, “I realize it’s been an entire three weeks since we practiced together, but I trust you all remember how to carry a tune.” She glared pointedly at Brittany.
“Why does she always look at me when she says stuff like that?” Brittany whispered to Santana.
“Because she's....” Santana started to answer but was interrupted by Rachel clearing her throat.
“Focus, Santana,” she paused, waiting for Santana to look at her.
“As I was saying,” Rachel continued once she had everyone’s undivided attention, “I understand you’re not all as vocally gifted as I am, but I believe you have enough practice that we can skip past basic vocal warm-ups. Does anyone have first any song suggestions?”
Eleven hands simultaneously shot up as the members of the glee club started throwing out song suggestions, everything from The Beatles (Artie) to the Jonas Brothers (Brittany), anything to avoid the dreaded show tunes Rachel was sure to suggest.
“Enough,” Quinn bellowed at the top of her lungs when the noise became deafening, reminding them all why she'd once held the coveted position of head cheerleader.
“Do you have any better ideas?” Rachel asked, meeting Quinn's eyes
“We'll put Santana's iPod on shuffle and use whatever comes up first.”
“My girl’s hot and smart,” Puck smirked, throwing his arm around Quinn’s shoulder. She snarled a little, but didn’t push him away.
“I admit, it's a relatively decent idea, but I'm sure Santana doesn't have a music collection that's as varied as mine.”
Santana growled and lunged toward Rachel, but Quinn pushed her back.
“Alright, we'll use yours then.”
“Perfect,” Rachel replied before scurrying off to grab her iPod from her purse.
When she returned, she handed it to Quinn who plugged it into the speakers and put it on shuffle before joining the rest of her team. 21 Guns began playing and Rachel squealed excitedly because it was almost a Broadway song.
Their first few times through were a little rough, but by the third time their voices came together in almost perfect harmony. “That’s it, guys,” Rachel said with a satisfied smile, “we sound really good.”
“Of course we do,” Finn replied, a goofy grin spreading to his face, “we're New Directions. Now let's run it again!”
And run it again they did, over and over, and once they had the harmonies down Mike and Brittany began working on some of the choreography.
They were all laughing and talking so loud they hardly heard Mrs. Lopez when she called downstairs to tell them the pizza had arrived.
“This is sort of fun, isn't it?” Brittany asked, sitting next to Santana on the floor when they finally took a break and sat down to eat.
“Yeah, it is,” Santana whispered with a smile. “But don’t tell them I said that.”
Just in the middle of July, Quinn sent texts to all of the glee club. She’d found out that the roller-skating rink was going to close soon, and she secretly had a great time. To her surprise, everyone agreed to go, and naturally, Rachel was overly excited. Santana, though, sent a text back complaining about how ridiculous it was, but Brittany liked it so she would go. Quinn would never actually tell anyone how she really wanted to go to the rink. She just passed it off as something to do other than the usual stuff, which everyone agreed was getting kind of tired.
She got picked up by Santana and Brittany--her mother never actually let her drive, it was kind of ridiculous-and by the time they got there, the rest of glee club was already inside.
“What took you guys so long?” she asked, looking at the two of them with a raised eyebrow.
Santana just rolled her eyes and got out of the car. “Does it matter?”
Before Quinn could reply, Brittany leaned over to her. “I had a hard time picking an outfit and S was helping me.”
Quinn shrugged, figuring that there wasn’t really any point in pushing this further, and got out of the car. Still somewhat hiding her excitement, she followed Santana and Brittany inside.
Once inside, she looked around to see that almost all of glee club was already in the center of the rink, going in circles around the platform in the middle. Rachel and Finn were holding hands, trying to as close to each other as physically possible.
Tina was pushing Artie in his wheel chair, smiling whenever he looked up at her. Matt and Mike were racing.
Kurt and Mercedes were at one of the tables off to the side, gossiping. When Mercedes looked up and saw Quinn, she waved with a big smile on her face, and Quinn waved back. The only person she couldn’t find was Puck. She expected him to be over by the food stand, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Quinn felt someone poking her shoulder, and turned around to see Puck, holding a pair of skates in his hands. “So you wouldn't have to wait in line or anything.”
“What line?” she asked, only seeing Brittany and Santana renting skates. Actually, she noticed, Santana already had her skates; Brittany was the only person in line.
“You know Brittany won't be able to figure out what size to get for at least another five minutes,” he answered. “But, hey, if you don't want these, I can just give them back...”
As quickly as possible, she reached out and grabbed the roller skates from him. “They'll have to do,” she said playfully.
Moving over to one of the benches, Quinn sat down and started putting the roller skates on. She tossed her shoes in one of the shelves that was designed to hold customers’ shoes and stood.
Puck had waited for her, so they went out on the floor together. But when he reached to take her hand, she pulled away.
“Hey!” he called after her. “What was that for?”
She didn’t want to seem moody, but already things weren’t going like she had planned, and this place was closing soon so it would probably be the last time they could come here as a group. “This isn’t couples skate, Puck.”
“Yeah, well Finn and Rachel seem pretty coupled.” Quinn looked back at them, and Puck was right, they were still stuck together at the hip.
Determined to make this more of a friendship thing, Quinn skated faster so she could catch up with Matt and Mike. “Hey Quinn,” Matt said when she finally moved next to him, “this is a really cool idea you had.”
“Yeah,” Mike echoed. “I didn’t even know this place was still open.”
“It's closing soon,” she answered, but she wasn't going to get sidetracked. “You guys want to have a real race?”
“You know it.”
“Great,” (she was unable to hide her smile), “because I want to have a race with all of us, but you have to get Finn and Rachel to detach themselves.”
“Not a problem,” Matt said, “but how are you going to get everyone else involved?”
She smirked, answering, “I’ll take care of it.”
With more determination than she had when making the glist, Quinn left the skating rink and marched over to the skate rental booth, only slightly wobbly in her skates. “I need to use the mic on that platform.”
She somewhat recognized the kid that was working there, remembering him vaguely from McKinley.
“I don't think I can let you do that,” he told her.
“Listen, you go to McKinley, right?” At his quick nod, she continued, “Then you know who I am, and you know that I’ve been through giving birth, so God help me if I’m about to let some pimply little freshman tell me what I can and cannot do.”
The kid didn't say anything in response, just stared at her with his eyes wide open, kind of terrified. “So, if I were you, I'd turn that mic on, got it?”
He nodded quickly and Quinn marched off, clearly pleased with herself. She crossed through the rink and stepped on the middle platform.First she tapped the mic a couple of times to make sure it was on, a few loud clicks echoing throughout the rink. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but being up on the platform made her realize that the glee kids were the only people in this place besides a guy at the food stand and the kid at shoe rental (no wonder the place was closing).
At the sound of the tapping, almost everyone looked up at her, confused expressions on their faces. Pretty much the only exception was Matt, who was skating around the rink while lifting up Rachel in his arms. Rachel was shouting at him, demanding that he “put her down this instant”, and looking at Finn for help, but Finn was being held back by Mike, who was skating around him in circles.
“Come on man, quit it,” he said to Mike, but the boy wouldn’t stop.
“You guys can stop now,” Quinn said into the mic, and they stopped right away. It was slightly shocking to her that she had manage to take control of everything almost instantly; it was like she was the captain of the cheerios again.
Once she had both of her feet back on the ground, Rachel flattened out her skirt and stood up perfectly straight, glaring at Quinn, having figured out that she was the one in charge of all of this. “Quinn, what do you think you’re doing?”
“We're having a race,” Quinn announced, a self-satisfied grin on her face. “Three times around the rink.”
“I’ll have you know that all of us racing around the track is simply not safe,” Rachel retorted. “And I will not risk having one of us injured come the school year.”
Santana cut in, “Jesus Berry, what's with you and safety? It's just a stupid race, not like anyone's gonna get hurt.”
“Fine,” Rachel conceded, “we’ll have a race. But there should be some sort of reward for the winner; it’s only fair.”
Quinn's smile grew; she had figured that Rachel would be the hardest person to win over, but somehow it seemed really easy. She already knew what the prize would be, something that every person in glee club would want.
“The winner gets a solo,” she said into the mic. “Whoever wins gets the first solo of glee-that enough for you Rachel?”
Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. Meanwhile, both Kurt and Mercedes shot out of their chairs simultaneously. They were the ones that got passed over for solos when they deserved it the most, both easily having the second and third best voices in the group. And some people-Matt, Mike, Brittany-never got solos.
Everyone seemed all up for it, but now they had a problem: finding a judge. Quinn wasn't about to ask either of the two workers-she'd scared that freshman enough and the guy at the food counter was sleeping.And there was no way that she would leave it up to honesty; these people wanted solos way too much, Quinn herself included. She looked at all of them; no one was ready to give up their chance.
“Rachel you be the judge,” she said, unable to think of anything else. “You get all of the solos anyways.”
“Quinn, I assure you that I deserve each and every solo I sing, and being the go-getter that I am, I am not about to pass up the opportunity to earn another one, even if it is as something as barbaric as a race. Considering that you are the one with the microphone, maybe you should judge.”
“Noah Puckerman is that you?” was heard from across the rink, and all of the glee kids looked over to where the voice was coming from (Puck was the first). At the entrance to the rink stood April Rhodes, a smile on her face and a drink in her hand.
“Well hey,” she continued as she walked onto the rink and approached the group, “if it isn’t my favorite group of high school misfits. Who’s up there using my mic?”
“It's Quinn,” she answered, not really humored by April's forgetfulness. “Remember?”
“Yeah, yeah, you know, I’ve got this thing with names,” April sputtered, obviously a little tipsy. But when is she not?
Quinn rolled her eyes, but April just kept on talking. “What are you doing with my mic?”
“We’re having a race,” she answered, “but we need someone to be a judge. If you want this mic back, you have to do it.”
“You've got ambition Q. I like it,” April said as she stepped onto the platform and held out her hand for the microphone.
Quinn handed it over to her and slowly got off the platform, careful because she was still wearing her skates. She moved over to the rest of the group and waited for April to start the race.
April was the kind of person who liked any sort of attention in the limelight, and being in front of twelve high school students was apparently enough. She gripped onto the mic with a passion and spoke into it.
“All right kids, get yourselves lined up. Three laps around the track and when it’s all over, I’ll announce the winner...On the count of three, take off. One, two, and... three!”
All of the glee kids took off on their skates, Matt and Mike easily taking first place in the beginning. Santana was close behind, followed by Puck and Brittany. The second time around the track, Santana managed to take first place, followed closely by Matt. Kurt had moved near the front of the pack, neck and neck with Puck.
“Britt,” Santana called behind her as they rounded around the track a third time, the final lap, “give me your hand.” She stretched out her hand behind her.
Brittany grabbed onto the hand and Santana pulled her forward, sending her instantly to the front of the pack. She passed April--the decided “finish line” for the race--and cheered as she realized that she won.
Santana and Brittany hugged, but pulled apart when Puck muttered something about cheating. “Whatever, Puck, you’re just pissed ‘cause you got beat out by a girl,” Santana said, smirking.
April announced that Brittany had won, referring to her as Blondie. When she was about to get off the platform, Rachel stood in front of her.
“April, although I find you somewhat deplorable due to your alcoholic habits, there is no denying that you have an excellent voice. Would you mind singing with us?” she asked.
“We came here to skate, Rachel, not to sing,” Artie said. He was having a great time, even during the race, and he didn't want to stop to sing, not yet anyways. They always sing, and this is something that they never really get to do. He wanted to just enjoy it without having to worry about his voice.
“We need to practice as much as possible,” Rachel said, glaring at him. “One time at a pool party is simply not enough to keep our vocals strong enough.”
“If you want to practice,” Quinn interjected, “you should call us and set up group practices, not decide to take over whenever any other one of us makes plans.”
“She's got a point, Rachel,” Mercedes added. She didn't mind singing, but it did seem like Rachel needed to take control whenever they were having fun as a group.
“I don’t know about you, Mercedes, but I do not want to lose to Vocal Adrenaline this year. Don’t any of you realize that if it happens again, we might not be able to keep glee club?”
That won Mercedes, along with everyone else, over. It had been so sad when they thought glee club was coming to an end, because they had made strong friends within the group, and no one wanted it to happen again.
“All right,” said Quinn, “we can sing. Is that okay with the rest of you?”
The rest of glee club nodded, some more excitedly than others. Rachel looked back up at April and asked, “Would you like to join us?”
“I’m never one to pass up a chance to sing,” April answered. “We’ve crossed paths enough times for you to know that by now. Hey kid,” she called over to the freshman, “put on my mix. Track 6.”
Rachel recognized the song immediately. It wasn’t Broadway-not at all-but it was widely recognized as a classic song and had been used in the movie-musical Across the Universe, so she could not object.
April started in, singing the opening words to “Come Together” by The Beatles. Rachel had expected that it would be problematic to hear April's voice overlay the original vocals, but as April sang, she realized that it was a karaoke version of the song. After the first two lines, Rachel joined in, and when the chorus kicked in, the rest of the kids had started to sing along as well. It was far from a perfect rendition, but the glee kids found themselves enjoying it nonetheless. They found, as they have before, that when they sing with April, the caliber of her voice forced them to push their own. Each and every one of them was singing to the best of his or her ability.
When the song came to a close, April hopped of the platform (which she obviously thought was close enough to a stage). “Thanks kids,” she said, “that was great.” The mix cd kept playing though, prompting April to again shout at the freshman, “Jeez Barry, turn it off already!” Everyone doubted that his name was actually Barry, but they weren't about to say anything. She walked off the track and said, “All right, that was fun and all, but you kids have to get out of here. We’re closed for the night; I just came here to get my money from the rentals.”
PART 2