we all sat in mr. schue's living room, as he called for the first ever setlist nomination party.

finn and i sat on the floor, i laid the back of my head on his chest, using him to prop me up.

all my spirit had drained since we learned sue sylvester was one of our judges for regionals.

"what's the point mr. schue? coach sylvester's one of the judges. she's gonna crush us." artie said.

"artie you don't know that." mr. schue replied.

"yes we do. she told us at cheerios practice."

"yeah she said,'i'm going to crush glee club.'"

"a whole freaking year. all that for nothing." puck griped.

tina soon began to cry, making me feel incredibly more sad.

"i'm sorry. i just really love you guys. you know how many facebook friends i had before i joined glee club? two. my parents. rachel was right. being a part of something special– it made me special. i just can't believe it's going to be over in a week." she sputtered.

at that point i was a mess and began to cry as well.

"wait, who says it's gonna be over?" finn asked.

"please, finn. you think puck or santana or even gonna acknowledge my existence when glee's over?" mercedes asked.

"she has a point." puck nodded.

"mr. schuester? do you think instead of nominating songs...we could just go around the room and talk about things we loved about glee club this year?" rachel sniffled.

•

we sat in the green room, in our competition outfits.

"a mash up of olivia newton john and josh groban. are you kidding me? someone tipped them off about the judges." puck exclaimed in anger.

"i'm gonna go get a drink of water." i stood up.

"hurry back. we're on soon." mr. schue told me.

i nodded and walked out of the room.

i walked down the halls and made my way to the concession area.

when i got there, instead of water i saw jesse st. james.

i rolled my eyes and turned to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist.

"stevie, can we please talk?" he asked.

"make it quick. we're on soon." i turned back and tapped my foot in annoyance.

"i'm really sorry," he said causing me to scoff and turn to walk away again,"stevie just hear me out." he pleaded.

i sighed and looked at him.

"i really did like you. it wasn't a joke, it wasn't a trick, and i wasn't trying to hurt you. i genuinely did and do wanna be with you." he held my hands lightly in his.

"jesse, what did you expect to happen? you were just gonna leave the new directions and humiliate us. you were just gonna throw eggs at rachel and call me stupid, and expect me to want to be with you? it doesn't work like that." i frowned.

"i shouldn't have called you stupid. and i didn't wanna throw eggs at rachel, but...the team. stevie, i'm sorry. and i don't know...i thought- i thought we could have some amazing romeo and juliet romance." he told me.

"jesse, the world just doesn't work like that. you can't hurt me and then tell me you're sorry and expect to come running to your arms. i want better for myself than that."

"i can be better. i can be that guy for you, stevie. i just need the chance. please, just give me the chance." he begged.

i could tell he was really sorry. and he did wanna be with me. but i needed more than that.

"jesse, i just-i just don't know..." i trailed off.

"stevie, you say the word and i will throw this competition. i wanna win, but it doesn't mean anything if i can't share my success with you." he said.

"jesse, you don't have to do that. look, i'm willing to talk. after the competition. okay? we can talk about us, and this and everything." i nodded.

a smile played on his lips.

"thank you."

"uh, stevie," i heard mr. schue say from behind me. i quickly let go of jesse's hands and turned to see the rest of the team looking at me suspiciously,"we've gotta get in places."

"oh, sorry." i nodded and walked off with them.

"what the hell was that?" rachel asked as we walked to places.

"nothing, rachel. don't wanna talk about it."

"he's just trying to trick you like he's tricked me. don't fall for it, stevie." she said.

"you don't understand." i shook my head and walked faster to avoid her.

"stevie, please tell me that wasn't what it looked like." finn said in disbelief.

"finn...he's sorry. he cares about me, and...he even said he'd throw the competition for me. that's huge."

"stevie, are you stupid? he doesn't care about you like i do. i don't understand why you can't see that." he hissed.

"no, i'm not stupid-"

"i didn't mean it like that."

"no, i know how you meant it. and i'm not stupid. i'm giving him a chance."

"give me a chance." he said.

we stood in our places waiting to get on stage. mr. schue had decided to have us open up with the two lead roles.

"well, good luck out there." i ignored his comment.

"i love you." he said abruptly.

i looked at him in shock. i knew this wasn't like the usual times he said it. he said love as in he was in love with me.

before i could say anything the music started and it was time for me to go out.

wish me luck.

•

we walked off stage, really excited about how we had performed.

"we've got second place in the bag!" tina grinned.

"screw that, we are going to win this thing!" rachel exclaimed.

as we walked off stage and were still buzzing i heard a few simple words from quinn.

"my water just broke."

•

we all stood on the stage, aside from quinn and puck who had stayed behind since she had her baby.

"thank you all for coming. as you all know, glee club is such an important... and i honestly can't even finish that sentence. so let's just get to it. the 2010 midwest regional runners-up from fort wayne, indiana, the not-at-all stupidly-named aural intensity!" coach sylvester announced.

we stepped forward along with vocal adrenaline. this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. we either won or didn't place at all.

lord, please say we won.

"very good. and now, your 2010 midwest regional show choir champions. vocal adrenaline!" she announced.

all our heads fell.

"we didn't even place."