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

Chapter Seventeen

We all sat in Mr. Schue's apartment depressed, boxes of pizza in front of us. Even though we had regionals coming up, we all couldn't help but think what would happen if we lost. Especially after finding out that Sue is one of the judges

"Nobody wants any pizza?" Mr. Schue asked as he and Quinn came back from the kitchen. We stayed silent. "Alright, then, let's get started. Thank you for coming to the first annual New Directions regionals setlist party."

"What's the point, Mr. Schue?" Artie asked. "Coach Sylvester is one of the judges. She's gonna crush us."

"Artie, you don't know that."

"Yes, we do, she told us at Cheerios practice," Santana said depressed.

"Yeah, she said 'I'm going to crush Glee Club'," Brittany said.

"The whole freaking year. All that hard work for nothing," Puck said.

Tina started to cry, "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 part of something special . . . it made me special. I just can't believe it's gonna be over in a week."

"Wait, who says it's gonna be over?" Finn said.

"Please. You think Puck and Santana are gonna even acknowledge my existence once we're not in Glee Club together anymore?" Mercedes said.

"She has a point," Puck said.

Rachel sniffled, "Mr. Schuester? Do you think instead of nominating songs, we can all go around the room and talk about things that we loved about Glee Club this year?"

He nodded whilst I started to break down from where I sat on the armrest of one of Mr. Schue's couches. Kurt put an arm around me from where he stood behind me.

"Oh my god, Kim, are you crying?" Mercedes asked. "You never cry, at least not in front of us."

I sniffled, brushing away one of my tears, "Sorry . . . sorry. I just . . . same thing as Tina. I love you all, no matter how inappropriate Puck is or how annoying Rachel can be sometimes. You know what I love most about getting you all out of this? You all accepted me, every part of me." I chuckled through my tears. "You all have no idea what it's like to be shoved away just because your body will freak out if you eat a nut. I've seen people in the allergy chatrooms go on about how accepting people are in their district but I never had that here. Until I met you all. I mean, Finn," he looked up at me, "you went as far as asking for the ingredients for the slushies when you got them for us. And that is such a pain to do sometimes. Rachel, when I helped you with that makeover you went as far as getting all new makeup for me to use on you, and I know how expensive all that is. And Mr. Schue, you have been the easiest teacher to tell. You understood right away."

"I told you, my wife at the time had a nut allergy, I understood," he said with a small smile.

I looked at my friends, "I just want to thank you guys. Really. You all have just been so helpful. Even at lunch you've been careful to not get anything that may even have a trace of something, even though I've told you plain M&Ms are fine around me."

"We don't want to kill you," Artie said with a small smile.

"I would give up trail mix any day to hang out with you, girl," Mercedes said, making me chuckle through my tears.

"You guys really have no idea how much you've helped her," Kurt said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"It's really not a big deal. I mean, obviously it is health wise, but it's easy to cater to," Santana said.