"just how dumb do you think sam is?" i came up to quinn at her locker.

"oh, not now stevie." she shut her locker and began to walk away.

"quinn, you saved his life? i mean jesus christ, i didn't realize you had the suction of a vacuum cleaner." i walked with her.

"stevie this is really none of you business."

"sam is a good guy. he's not stupid. he knows you're lying, but he loves you so much he's willing to believe whatever it is you have to say. so just, don't break his heart okay? he's a sweet guy." i said my peace and left her side.

next i went to finn, because i know he'll always allow me to stick my opinion in where it doesn't belong.

"finnathan. let's walk to glee." i linked my arm with his.

"this is weird...what do you want?" he asked me suspiciously.

"i wanna talk to you about how unfair this is to sam. quinn sucked a gumball from your throat? are you insane?"

"stevie, why are you telling me this?"

"because it's not fair to sam. he really loves quinn and you and her shouldn't be doing this to him."

"oh, so just because he really loves her means she can't love someone else? by that logic stevie, you should be with me." finn huffed.

"this isn't about us." i shut him down.

he turned to me as we stood outside the choir room.

"everything i do is about us! you don't really have room to speak on this situation, so please just leave me alone." he turned and walked into the room.

i sighed and slid down the wall. he's a fucking headache.

"hey, you alright?" i heard someone ask.

i looked up to see sam.

"fine. just annoyed." i rested my elbow on my knee and leaned my head on my hand.

"yeah, you and finn seemed to be arguing. about what?" he slid down and sat next to me.

"nothing really. he just always finds a way to bring it back to me and throw it in my face that he loves me and i'm still with jess." i told sam all i could about our argument.

"he really needs to let that go, don't you think? you've been with this jesse guy for like, seven months. i mean, it's not your fault he missed his chance."

"i know, and the whole thing is he totally could have had me. before i met jesse. i liked him, he was single. but he kept on about rachel and quinn, and now i'm supposed to feel guilty because i moved on? it's not fair." i leaned my head against the wall.

"i'm sorry. but i think the problem is you say you're over him...but i think since you guys are best friends he sees some actions that you do with him as romantic. which, benefit of the doubt, it's not."

"yeah, but i'm not gonna stop hanging out with him. i love him, even with all the comments," i nodded and looked at sam. i hadn't even noticed his new look,"are you...dressing like justin bieber?"

he looked down at his clothes and laughed.

"oh, yeah. trying to wow quinn. it's gonna work." he informed me.

i laughed.

"well, alright then."

"um, guys are you gonna...go in the choir room?" mr. schue walked up to us.

"oh...yeah i guess." i shrugged as we got up.

we all walked in together and i took a seat next to tina.

"hey tina." i smiled.

"hey, glad you sat here. do you and jesse wanna go bowling with me and mike tonight?" she asked.

"you guys are cool with jesse?" i raised my eyebrows.

"well, we figure you guys have been dating so long...and we love you so we should try with him."

"that's so sweet. great, um yeah we'll be there."

"cool, we'll meet up at six."

i nodded.

it was then i noticed ms. sylvester sitting a few seats down from me.

i didn't really realize people were arguing about it, i was too caught up in my conversation with tina.

personally i find her funny, though some of her comments are really mean.

"let me break it down for you. i am no longer a threat to you people, alright. i'm just hoping that your singing and dancing around will pull me out of my doldrums and give me a reason to live... is that too much to ask?" she told us.

"guys, it's settled. sue's going to be with us for the week. now, i received a envelope in the mail today. i know that we're facing kurt and the warblers at regionals." mr. schue confirmed.

"sweet porcelain..." ms. sylvester said softly causing me to stifle a laugh.

"and it looks like this year, we face oral intensity again."

"man, they broke our hymen's last year." i shook my head.

"weird way to put it...but yeah. it seems that the governing board has assigned a theme to this year's regionals and part of our score will be based on how we interpret it. this year's theme: anthem. now who can tell us who what an anthem is?"

rachel raised her hand excitedly and impatiently.

"it's the bottom of ant's pants." brittany said, confident in her answer.

"so close. no, an anthem is an epic song of a groundswell of emotions, that seems bigger than itself. even bigger than the person performing it." mr. schue explained.

i already had the perfect anthem in mind to present to the class. once and for all, from newsies. it's a genius anthem.

i just need all the boys in glee to do it with me. you know, since newsies is a boy heavy show. i might need tina to be a katherine for me. i'll ask her and mike tonight.

now, i need to assign roles. i'll be jack, naturally. puck is race, for sure. finn can be davey, though i think sam is more of a davey.

i was taken out of my thoughts when i saw sam standing at the front of them room.

"dude, that haircut makes your mouth look even bigger." puck noted.

"let her speak." ms. sylvester demanded causing me to give a short laugh.

sam then went on to talk about how justin bieber's song baby is an anthem and sang it for us.

and it was actually kind of hot. normally, justin bieber's high pitched soprano voice confused me, but sam made it work.

"i gotta get that girl on the cheerios..." ms. sylvester muttered, deep in thought.

her outrageous comments really made this class pop.

•

"alright boys, first of all i would like to thank you for joining me on such short notice. special thanks to tina, for agreeing to be my katherine. love you baby." i winked and blew her a kiss.

"secondly i would like to assign roles to you as my newsies ensemble." i grabbed my sheet music and straightened it up.

"look, i don't care who i am. i only agreed to do this so i can get in lauren's huge pants." puck told me.

"puckerman, a bit of advice, maybe don't call the girl you're trying to charm 'huge'. it's rude and it won't appeal," i nodded and turned my attention back to me,"so i, am jack kelly. the leader of the newsies. and assuming, you all have never seen newsies i'll give you a quick synopsis-"

"isn't that the thing in nerve systems?" finn asked cluelessly.

"that's a synapse. anyways, newsies is about kids with either poor or no families buying newspapers from distributors and selling them, to pocket the money. basically what happens is the big corporations such as the world and the journal, raise their prices from fifty cents per hundred to sixty per hundred for the newsies to buy, just so they can make more money, which takes away from the newsies who are already poor as is. so the leader of lower manhattan newsies, jack kelly, starts a strike. and they form a union. then they go to get spot conlon and the brooklyn gang, and every other newsie group to unite. so then they strike but the police come in and pulitzer and hearst goons beat up the newsies and crutchie, jack's best friend, gets detained and they quit the strike and jack runs away to a theatre. so then blah blah blah the strike is back on and in this song they are making papers to give to the other newsies so that everyone knows about the strike and what's happening. and that's really all i've got for you." i explained.

"so...we're like...poor?" puck asked.

"yeah, but you'll look really hot in the newsies costumes i'm making for you guys." i nodded.

"alright. so who am i?" puck asked.

"i was thinking you'd be race." i handed him his sheet music.

"okay."

"finn, you can be davey." i handed finn his sheet music.

"tina is katherine, mike is romeo, sam is buttons, and artie you are jojo." i smiled.

"cool, so is jojo like in a wheelchair?" artie asked.

"no...i didn't wanna type cast you." i said causing everyone to laugh.

"i appreciate it." he smiled, amused with me.

"great. so let's get to work."

•

i stood at the front of the stage in my newsies costume, which made me look very good.

as a newsie we all had black smudges on our faces and such and i was very excited.

i had my hair in dutch braids, with a newsie cap resting on top of my head.

all the girls (besides tina), mr. schue, and ms. sylvester said in the seats of the auditorium.

"hi, my anthem is once and for all from newsies. to keep it short, the newsies have unionized and now we're making newspapers to let everyone know about the strike and get other newsies on our side. thank you."

(song above)

STEVIE:
there's change coming once and for all
you makes the front page and man, you is major news

STEVIE AND FINN
tomorrow they'll see what we are

STEVIE FINN AND TINA
and sure as a star, we ain't come this far... to lose

PUCK
here they come!!

EVERYONE
this is the story we needed to write as we're kept out of sight, well no more
in a few hours by dawns early light we'll be ready to fight us a war
this time we're in it to stay, talk about seizing the day

STEVIE
write it in ink or in blood, it's the same either way.
they're gonna damn well pay!

EVERYONE
see old man Pulitzer snug in his bed, he don't care if we're dead or alive
three satin pillows are under his head, while we's begging for bread to survive
joe, you can stop counting sheep, we're gonna sing ya to sleep
you've got your thugs with their stick and their slugs, Yeah!
but we got a promise to keep!

STEVIE
once and for all if they don't find their manners, we'll bleed 'em!

EVERYONE
bleed 'em!

PUCK
once and for all we won't carry no banners that don't spell freedom!

EVERYONE
finally we's raising the stakes, this time whatever it takes!
this time the union awakes, once and for all!

SAM
come on, boys!

EVERYONE
yeah!!
this is for kids shining shoes on the street with no shoes on their feet everyday
this is for guys sweating blood in the shops while their bosses and cops look away
i'm seeing kids standing tall, glaring and raring a brawl
all of these guys who are sick of the lies getting ready to rise to the call!
once and for all they'll be blood on the wall if they doubt us
they think they're running this town, but this town will shut down without us
ten thousand kids in the square, ten thousand fists in the air!
joe, you is gonna play fair, once and for all!

STEVIE
once and for all!!

FINN
once and for all!!

SAM
once and for all!!

EVERYONE
there's change coming once and for all
you're getting too old, too weak to keep holding on
a new world is coming for you, and joe, we is too!
til once and for all you're gone!

STEVIE
once and for all!

FINN
once and for all!!

EVERYONE
once and for all!
once and for all!!

as we finished everyone but ms. sylvester clapped and cheered.

"that was super hot." santana smirked.

"yeah something about scruffy guys is really sexy." quinn agreed.

"it was really good guys...but i don't know if it's us. keep it up, we need to find an anthem we all can do."

i rolled my eyes and laid on the auditorium floor as mr. schue and everyone left. i worked really hard on this number. i made all the choreography, and the costumes, i enlisted the av club to help with the set, and mr. schue dismissed it in an instant.

"stevie, come on. we know you love newsies, but it's alright." artie came up to me.

"i worked really hard on this." i looked up at the ceiling.

"we know. but come on, you've gotta get up." finn told me.

"i'm too tired. i stayed up all night making these outfits and buying these hats." i sulked.

i mean, i know i'm being babyish but mr. schue didn't even commend my efforts. and then he wonders why no one tries except rachel.

"i'm sorry. but either get up, or we're all spending the night in here. and the janitors are not gonna appreciate that." tina said.

i sighed and stood up. they smiled and cheered.

"atta girl, come on. we'll buy you ice cream." sam slugged his arm around me platonically.

we started to walk out of the school.

"don't you wanna change first?" i looked down at his clothes.

he thought about it for a second.

"nah. you worked hard on these, what's a couple more hours?" he asked.

i smiled and thanked him.

"god, and mr. schue wonders why we don't try. it's cause when we do he makes us feel like this." puck shook his head.

"it's alright." i sighed.

"no, i mean he at least could have said something about the work we put into it. i know it wasn't what he wanted but come on..." puck continued.

"well now isn't really the time for a revolt against mr. schue." tina laughed.

"you know what we could do?" a smile grew on my face as i nudged sam, who still had his arm around me.

"what?" sam smiled down at me.

"start a union." i said causing everyone to laugh.

•

i walked into the choir room to see finn dressed like justin bieber. despite the fact he was trashing the guys for doing the same. he even had what little hair was on his head swooped down.

it was over for me when he tossed his hair as if it were anywhere near his eyes.

i scoffed with laughter,"you're embarrassing. i'm embarrassed to be your best friend."

he rolled his eyes and smiled.

i took a seat next to mike, seeing as tina took a seat next to finn.

we watched rachel and mercedes' diva off as they did take me or leave me from rent.

i love that song they should have let me fight with them as well.

as they finished they seemed to be all done with their hard feelings, much to sue's dismay.

•

i walked into mr. schue's office after history class.

"you wanted to see me?" i sat across from him.

"um, yeah. sam and puck told me you were upset after i rejected your anthem idea. they stood up for you, in fact."

"they did?" i sat up fully.

"yeah, they did. i just wanted to apologize." he said sincerely.

"i don't even care that you rejected it, that's fine. it's just...i worked really hard on that. i made everyone's outfit, i did all the choreography, i did a damn set design. it's like, you tell us to work as hard as rachel and then when we do it doesn't go as far." i expressed.

"you're right. i should have recognized your efforts. i should have recognized all of you guys' efforts. some of those dance moves were challenging. especially for finn. i'm sorry."

"i don't know...it's alright." i shrugged unenthusiastically.

i'm glad he apologized it just...still didn't feel great.

"how about i make it up to you?" he suggested.

"how?" i questioned.

"now, we can't perform it at regionals, it's too...intricate. but, i would like to feature you and your group in regionals in a separate number." he said causing me to smile.

"really?" i said trying to contain my excitement.

"really. we will figure something out for you guys."

i smiled and walked around his desk to quickly hug him.

"thank you."

•

we had just finished singing the anthem sue had suggested for us.

it was actually really great. mr. schue announced we had found the song for regionals.

as we walked off stage i called out to puck and sam.

"what's up?" sam smiled politely.

"i just wanted to thank you guys for sticking up for me and all, you know with mr. schue."

"oh, yeah of course." sam nodded.

"yeah, i was pissed too anyways. i danced for that." he said causing me to laugh.

"still, it was really sweet. you didn't have to do that."

"put in a good word for me with lauren and let's consider it even." puck told me.

"sure thing. also, mr. schue said he would feature us in regionals." i bit my lip and smiled.

"that's great."