Don't Stop Believin': Book One of the Kimberly Hummel Series

Chapter Sixteen

"Is it just me or does it feel like we have a real shot at regionals next month?" Mercedes asked as her, me, Kurt, Artie, and Tina walked or rolled down the hall.

"Ohio Show Choir chat rooms have all been buzzing about how Vocal Adrenaline has lost a step," Artie said.

"I agree. The judges know all their tricks," Kurt said.

"And now that we have Jesse, they've lost their best performer," I said as Rachel came running to us.

"You guys have to come to the auditorium. It's an emergency," she said.

We went with her to the auditorium to find the rest of the club already there. Vocal Adrenaline was on our stage in costume, including Jesse.

"Jesse?" Rachel said. "What are you doing up there with them?
"I've transferred back to Carmel High, Rachel. I'm sorry that it's come to this, but you guys were awful to me. You never accepted me. You never listened to my clearly superior ideas," he said.

"Why here in our auditorium?" Finn asked.

"Blogs and chat rooms say we're finished and that you are ripe to topple us. We just wanted to show you something that we came up with a few days ago to see if you agree with that assessment."

They all got in their formation before starting to perform "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. Watching them was just like how it was the first time. They were freakily talented.

I reached for my brother's hand where we sat on the wall in front of the back seats. He took my hand and squeezed it as we watched the competition perform. When they finished one of the girls said, "Thanks for letting us use your auditorium. It's quaint."

* * * * *

"It's a Carmel High tradition," Artie said as we all walked out of the auditorium, "they psych out the competition a few weeks before the big show. They call it a 'funkification' meaning they show us what they got and we spiral into a deep black funk."

"Yeah, yeah, we used to do the same thing to other football teams," Finn said. "Try to get inside their head, pull little pranks to intimidate them."

"Difference was, our football team sucked. Those guys are golden," Puck said.

"Come on guys, keep your heads up," Kurt said as we walked into the choir room. "It's going to take more than . . ."

He trailed off as we all found the room to be TPed.

" . . . Get us in a funk," Kurt finished.

We all got to work on taking it all down. Artie went as far as wearing a N95.

"I feel so violated. It's like they broke into our home," Tina said.

"Look, it's just some lame little prank," Mr. Schue said. "The fact that they're trying to get to us, we got them spooked."

"Unh-unh, Mr. Schue," Mercedes said. "They aren't afraid of anything."

"That number they did was fantastic," I said as I started to realize something. "Which doesn't make any sense, they had all their equipment. How did they even get in?"

"I gave them all the keys," Sue said as she walked in with a few guys who were carrying a trophy. "Helped them do a sound check over the weekend. Hey, this way, fellas. Let's punch out this wall here, open up the space a little bit."

"Sue, what are you doing?" Mr. Schue asked.

"William, I can't talk now. Drafting class is helping me redecorate around here. You see, I have nationals over the weekend, and expect to return with a comically large first-place trophy for which I have absolutely no room in my trophy case. As soon as you hurry up and lose at regionals, this choir room will become my official trophy annex." She turned to the drafting class. "You know what it has to look like. Elvis's gold record room at Graceland. Except I'll be wanting far fewer morbidly obese white women waddling around and crying."