14| SECTIONALS

[ Chapter Fourteen ]

❝The whole situation is fucked up and no one seems to give a damn.❞

[Sectionals]

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Sectionals day had arrived and the kids couldn't be more gloomy if they tried. They were upset by the fact that Finn had left glee club and Quinn's secret was officially out to everyone in the club.

Raven had been there for Quinn for the entire time, and Quinn had moved out and into Raven's house. She hadn't however, spoken much to Puck, and she didn't plan on it. She needed time to herself and was focusing all her extra effort on her best friend. Puck wasn't pleased by this and had done his best to get her back but she just said she needed time. And that was an excuse that could go on forever, as far as Raven was concerned.

Quinn clung to Raven's hand as they boarded the bus to Sectionals, Raven smiling sadly at Mr. Schuester who was watching them, but unable to join them, "We're going to make you proud, Mr. Schue."

Mr. Schuester smiled back at her, "You always do, Raven."

She led Quinn to a seat and plopped herself down in it, ignoring Puck as she walked past him.

"You don't have to sit with me, Ray." Quinn told her.

"No. I do." Raven insisted and lay her head on Quinn's shoulder, "I am going to be so happy when Sectionals is over. There's too much sadness and tension in this bus and it needs to go away."

"Yeah, and I caused most of the sadness and tension, Ray." Quinn complained to her best friend.

"Q. It's not your fault, okay. Stop beating yourself up about it." Raven told her, and looked as Artie's wheelchair was lifted onto the bus.

"Finn's going to hate me forever." Quinn groaned.

"No. He isn't. Just like I didn't hate you for very long. He's just upset. I mean, you did sleep with his best friend." Raven pointed out.

"Don't remind me. Not only did I screw up our relationship. But I screwed up his friendship with Puck, and your relationship with Puck."

"You did not mess up my relationship. I've told you already. We're on a break. Maybe indefinitely." Raven grumbled as the bus pulled out of the school lot, "But it is not your fault."

Raven left her head on Quinn's shoulder the whole way over to the competition, and despite them being a glee club it was almost silent.

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When they get to the auditorium where their competition is being held, there are loads of people milling around in the lobby, clutching programs and chatting away. The New Directions sit down in a spot and Ms. Pillsbury goes to sign them in.

"Okay. So, smooth sailing so far, we're all signed in. And um, according to the program, you have drawn performance slot number 3." Ms. Pillsbury told them when she came back.

"We're going last? Isn't that bad?" Tina asked.

Rachel shook her head, "Hardly. This is good news." She gets up and stands next to Ms. Pillsbury, "My extensive auditioning for community theater has taught me that we either want to go first or last. If we're first then everyone has to measure up to us. And if we're last, then we're the freshest in the judge's minds."

"And did you ever get any of those parts?" Kurt asked.

"Kurt." Raven hissed at him.

"I'm with Rachel. On this." Ms. Pillsbury agreed, "The glass is definitely half full with some very good things right now."

Mercedes nodded, "Yeah, Ms. Pillsbury's right. I mean, we're here now, right? No reason not to go in with some positive mojo."

"Right. Right." Ms. Pillsbury agreed and they all nodded and headed to their seats.

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The Jane Addams School was up first. And the New Directions soon noticed that they were in a very bad spot. The Jane Addams girls started with the song Mercedes was supposed to sing as their ballad. Raven clutched onto Quinn's hand. Puck had sat himself down in the seat next to Raven but Raven didn't pay him any attention.

The Jane Addams girls then followed up with Proud Mary, in wheelchairs, which was the second song the New Directions were supposed to sing. Raven gulped as she looked at her fellow glee club members who all sat with expressions of shock.

Afterwards, Ms. Pillsbury called Mr. Schuester and the kids paced in the lobby, not knowing what to do.

"Omigod. Why the hell are they doing our numbers?" Raven hissed at Quinn, "Do you think Santana leaked the setlist? Did you leak the setlist?"

"Do you think I'd give a thing to that woman after she kicked me off the cheerios?" Quinn hissed back, "As for Santana, it seems pretty damn likely."

Puck came up to Quinn and Raven, "Um. Raven, can I talk to you?"

Raven gave him a tight-lipped smile, "Now's not really a good time, Puckerman."

Puck rolled his eyes, "Please?"

Raven looked over at Quinn who nodded at her and let her hand go. Raven grimaced but got up and followed him to a semi empty corner of the lobby, "What do you want, Puckerman?"

"Resorting to calling me by my last name, are we?" Puck asked.

"Just get on with it." Raven crossed her arms.

"Raven. You can't stay mad at me forever." Puck pleaded.

"I'm not mad at you. I said I needed time and space which you aren't very good at giving me, apparently." Raven told him.

"Raven. We messed up." Puck told her.

"No, I'm not mad at you for something you did before we were dating. I'm mad that you're letting her go through this alone. She's terrified and way too young to have a baby. You know, what you did could be called rape as it was unconsented." Raven told him angrily.

"It was not." Puck insisted.

"It was, and you know it. You got her drunk on wine coolers and she let you have sex with her because she was drunk and feeling sorry for herself. She didn't have the energy or the mind to say no because she was drunk. But, what's done is done. The least you could do is help her, like I am. Do you know where she's staying since her parents kicked her out, and then Finn kicked her out? My house. My mom loves Quinn and is letting her stay but Quinn should be with her family. Not her best friend's family. The whole situation is fucked up and no one seems to give a damn." Raven yelled and then took in a breath, "Look. I like you a lot, but I am putting aside my own feelings to help my best friend and when I'm ready, I'll find you. But until then, you need to leave me the hell alone."

Raven looked at Puck before spinning on her heel and marching back to the others who were getting ready to go back into the auditorium.

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The deaf school was singing Don't Stop Believing, of course, which was the last song on the New Directions setlist. Puck had decided against sitting next to Raven who was grateful as she had meant every word of what she had said earlier in the lobby.

Rachel suddenly stands up, "Meeting in the green room in five minutes," and then she storms out.

Raven pulls Quinn up and follows behind her. Quinn whispers, "What did you say to Puck?"

Raven rolls her eyes, "The truth, Q. It will keep him off my back for a little while. Hopefully."

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The kids all sat in the green room in various states of distress. Rachel had her arms across her chest as she looked at Santana, Brittany and Raven who were all standing next to each other.

"You leaked the setlist, you don't want to be here. You're just Sue Sylvester's little moles." Kurt yells at them.

"I know for a fact that's true." Quinn walked in from the bathroom, "Sue asked us to spy for her."

"Raven, seriously?" Puck yelled at her.

"I thought you were my friend." Rachel exclaimed at Raven.

"Seriously?" Raven shook her head, "Do you guys even know me at all? Yeah, I pretend to be on her side to keep my head cheerio spot, but I don't give her anything. And I would never give her the glee club setlist. I love being in glee club, you guys are my friends."

"Look, we may still be Cheerios, but none of us ever gave Sue the setlist." Santana crossed her arms.

Brittany shrugged, "Well, I did. But I didn't know what she was going to do with it."

Santana sighs, "Okay, look, believe what you want, but no one's forcing me to be here. And if you ever tell anyone this, I'll deny it. But I like being in Glee club."

Everyone looks at her in shock.

"It's the best part of my day, okay. I wasn't going to go and mess it up." Santana continues and sits down.

Rachel smiles and breaks the silence, "I believe you. Okay, look, guys there's no point in us arguing anymore. We have to go on in an hour."

"And we have no songs." Tina says.

"And no dances." Raven puts in.

"Perhaps I could improvise some of my Def Poetry Jams." Artie offers and everyone shakes their heads.

"No. Look, we're going to do this the right way." Rachel says, "Let's start with the ballad. Mercedes, do you have anything else in your repertoire?"

"Yeah, but it's not as good as anything you're going to sing." Mercedes answered.

"No. Look we agreed." Rachel says.

"We agreed that I would sing, And I'm Telling You, and that ain't happening." Mercedes said, "Look, Rachel, the truth is you're the best singer we've got."

"As much as it hurts me to admit it, and it does, she's right." Kurt adds, "Rachel's our star. If anyone is going to go belt it on the fly, it should be her."

Raven sighs, "Yeah, Rachel you are."

"Well, I do have something that I've been working on since I was four." Rachel smiled.

"Then, I guess we have our ballad and we can close with Somebody to Love. It's a real crowd pleaser." Quinn said.

"Yeah, that and a can of soup will guarantee us third place. We still need a song we can all sing together." Puck said.

Raven rolled her eyes at him, "Unfortunately, Puck's right."

All their eyes turned to the door when Finn walked in, "I have one. I found the sheet music online. I used the Cheerio's copier to make copies and then I trashed the thing. Mike, Matt, Brittany, Raven, Santana. You're our best dancers. Figure something out and we'll all follow your lead."

"It's going to be choppy." Mike answered.

"Good. We're best when we're loose." Finn said, "Look all we have going for us is that we believe in ourselves and what we're singing about. If we can show the judges that we might have a shot at this thing."

"It's good to have you back Finn." Rachel smiles.

Raven goes up to him, "Thanks, Finn. For coming and helping us."

"Yeah." Finn nods, "Sorry about everything."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Finn." Raven shakes her head and goes over to the others to help prepare the dances.

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Raven goes up to Rachel before her solo starts, "Break a leg."

Rachel smiles at Raven, "Thanks, Ray. You too. And thanks for believing in me."

"What are friends for?" Raven smiles, "Can I hug you?"

Rachel laughs and nods before wrapping her arms around her.

"You know, I'm glad there's someone else who's relatively short. Well, besides Tina." Raven smiles as she pulls back from her, "I'll see you on stage."

Raven walks back over to the others and when Puck stands in her way, Raven puts on a brave face, "Break a leg. It means good luck."

"I know what it means, Sanders." Puck nods.

Raven then gets on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to his cheek before walking away.

The first notes of Don't Rain on My Parade, Rachel's chosen ballad, begin and they all get into position as Rachel throws open the curtain and steps out, away from view.

When Rachel belts out the words, "I march my band out," the New Directions members start to step through the curtains. Raven is directly behind Brittany and she follows her up onto the stage where she stands next to Tina, on the second to the bottom row.

When Rachel finishes singing, the audience goes wild. Raven has a big smile on her face as she knows that Rachel killed it. Rachel introduces the New Directions and then moves to her space for the second song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

The crowd loves it and joins it on the clapping. The dance moves are indeed a little choppy but make them look effortless. At the end, everyone cheered.

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The New Directions gathered outside the judge's office to listen in on what they were saying. Artie had a cup placed to the door in order to hear better.

"Well?" Raven asked Artie.

"It doesn't sound good guys." Artie told them.

Quinn reached out for Raven who grasped her hand just as the leader of the Jane Addams group came up to them.

"Hey. I just wanted to say how great you all were, and I thought you were amazing."

"We have nothing to say to you." Rachel said.

"Because we cheated, I know. I feel terrible about it, but I'm going to tell the judges right now that we don't deserve to win."

Raven whispered to Quinn, "Wow. She really thinks they'd win, doesn't she?"

Just as she went to open the door, the judges came out. One of them smiles at the New Directions, "You guys were so much fun to watch. You should be very proud."

Another woman pushes them aside, "Get me the hell out of here."

The judges move down the hallway and disappear.

"Well. Truth time." Raven speaks for all of them, "Let's see what we ranked."

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"I think we should put together something for Mr. Schuester since he didn't see us perform." Rachel told them on the bus ride home.

Raven stood up in her seat and looked at the others, "Yeah I agree with Rachel. It's partly our fault that he didn't get to see us perform."

"I think we should sing My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson." Rachel tells them.

Everyone agrees and she sits back down.

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In the next Glee club meeting, the New Directions gathered in front of their trophy from Sectionals where they won.

"Well, we have a few things we'd like to show you, Mr. Schue." Finn said, "The first."

They suddenly all step away from it, cheering and Mr. Schuester claps.

"I am so proud of you guys. You won fair and square. The result was unanimous and the judges didn't even know about all the shenanigans that were going on behind the scenes. So, congratulations. You earned this" Mr. Schuester says.

Everyone claps again.

"But, now we have Regionals to worry about." Mr. Schuester exclaims, "And you can bet that Vocal Adrenaline is hard at work, so we should be too. So, let's get started."

"Ah wait." Puck stops him, "Mr. Schue. There's one more thing."

"Since you weren't able to be there to see us perform, we put together a special number, just for you." Rachel says, "Take a seat."

They all grin at each other and start, "Lah la la la la la. La la la la la. La la la la la la, la la la la la."

Rachel steps forward, "Guess this means you're sorry, you're standing at my door. Guess this means you take back, all you said before. Like how much you wanted, anyone but me."

The guys put on the cowboy hats and do the dance they did earlier with April Rhodes.

"Said you'd never come back, but here you are again." Rachel continued, and tossed her hat to Mr. Schuester.

They all sang the chorus, "Cause we belong together now, yeah. Forever united here somehow, yeah."

Brittany, Kurt and Tina did the choreography to Single Ladies, and Raven burst out laughing mid singing, and then the three other cheerios did the choreography to the song they auditioned with.

"You got a piece of me. And honestly, my life. Would suck. Without you."

"You know that I've got issues." Finn joined in, "But you're pretty messed up too."

The girls did some of their Halo/Walking on Sunshine choreography, laughing.

"Either way, I found out. I'm nothing without you." And the guys did their choreography from the mash-up.

"Cause we belong together now, yeah. Forever united, here somehow, yeah. You got a piece of me. And honestly. My life, would suck, without you."

When they had to pair up in partners, Puck immediately pulled Raven to his side and for once, Raven didn't push him away.

"Cause we belong together now, yeah. Forever united here, somehow, yeah. You got a piece of me. And honestly. My life, would suck. Without you."

They ended the song, and cheered together. Raven's arms were wrapped around Puck's neck as she had her body turned to the side. She smiled up at him and whispered, "This doesn't mean we're together, but you're almost there," and he smiled and pressed his lips to her cheek.

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Word Count: 2934

Hey guys! It's been so long! I've been so busy with homework and college. Finals are this week and I needed a break so I wrote this chapter even though it took me over two hours. 

What did you guys think? I loved writing this Sectionals chapter. What do you think is going to happen?

I love you all and will hopefully see you next week for Chapter 15!

POSTED ON:

12. 16. 18