THESE DAYS, finn hudson

v. the rhodes not taken

Since Rachel was gone, Quinn got her part in 'Don't Stop Believing'. Everything was going well until Quinn ran out of the choir room, looking like she was gonna barf. "Quinn, you okay?" Mr. Schue asked, but she was already out the choir room.

Finn tried thinking of a believable lie. "I think she just had a bad breakfast burrito." He told him.

"Can we please talk about the giant elephant in the room?" Kurt asked.

"Your sexuality?" Santana asked, smirking.

Kurt shot her a look. "Rachel. We can't do it without her."

"That's not true." Mr. Schue corrected. "We may have to layer Santana and Mercedes over Quinn's solo but... we'll be fine." He seemed like he was trying to convince himself the most.

"Maybe for the Invitationals, but not for the Sectionals and certainly not the Regionals." Artie told him.

Everyone knew that Artie wasn't lying. "The wheelchair kids right." Puckerman agreed. "That Rachel chick makes me want to light myself on fire, but she can sing."

Mr. Schue knew that they were right, but he still tried to convince them they weren't. "Rachel left us, guys. She's gone." They all stood there in silence. "Now, if we're gonna make this thing work, we can't look back. All right take five guys." Mr. Schue sighed and went to his piano.

Magnolia was about to sit next to her usual group of friends, Mercedes, Tina, Heather, Gavin, and Artie but she was pulled aside by Mike Chang and Matt Rutherford. She smiled at them. "What can I help you two with?" She asked them.

Matt and Mike exchanged a look. "Do you wanna maybe, hang with us?" Mike asked her. Magnolia gave them a confused look. "Not as a date or anything like that. We just thought you seemed cool and we wanted to hang with you." He explained.

Magnolia smiled. "Yeah, I would like that."

Matt and Mike smiled back at her. "Can you bring Heather?" Matt asked her. "Mike over here has a small crush on her."

Magnolia giggled. "Sure, I'll play matchmaker." Matt high-fived Mike. "We can figure out when we can hangout, since Heather has a pretty busy life."

They nodded and Magnolia talked to them for the rest of the break.

• • •

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to someone very special. This is April Rhodes." Mr. Schue introduced the short woman who looked older than him. She waved at all them and smiled. "She's our newest member."

Nobody clapped for her, they were all very confused. "Wait, so old people can join Glee Club now?" Finn asked.

"Old, huh?" April questioned him. "You guys look like the world's worst Benetton ad." She chuckled a little as they just stare at her.

"Mr. Schuester, this seems like a terrible idea." Artie tells him.

"April is a great singer." He tried to make them more open to having her. "And she never graduated." None of these were winning them over.

"We appreciate what you're trying to do, but she's no Rachel." Mercedes said.

"Who's Rachel?" April asked.

"Sh-she's kind of our star." Tina told her.

"Your star, eh?" April questioned. "Well, where is she?" She asked them.

"She left. To be the lead in 'Cabaret'." Kurt said.

April chuckled a bit yet again and takes of her jacket. "Hey, Tinkles, give me 'Maybe This Time' in a B flat." She throws her jacket at Mr. Schue. "And don't let me catch you snoozing." She tells him.