new directions | glee

2. CIRCUS ☑️

He quickly broke. "Okay, Schuester called me down here to talk to Jake. Apparently he's my brother."

Kayla's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Holy shit."

He nodded in response as she watched Mr. Schuester lead Jake into the room. Now that she was looking at him, she could see the resemblance. There was the obvious matter that Jake was mixed and Puck was not, but through that slight difference, they really stood the same way and had the same nose. During her audition, Jake reminded her exactly of Puck and now it made perfect sense.

"I'm gonna go for a little bit." Kayla raised her eyebrow, pointing her way out. She saw the way Jake's eyes stayed trained on her, but she ignored it, moving into the hallway as she waited for the conversation to be over.

She stood outside the door listening closely. Blaine and Tina were on either side of her when she told them what was going down. Seeing Jake charging towards the door, they all jumped back trying to make themselves look busy.

He had an amused expression on his face as he approached her. "You're not very subtle, gorgeous."

She rolled her eyes. "Sorry, princess. I've already had a taste of Puckerman." she smirked at him, making him chuckle.

He mumbled an incoherent comment as he walked away. Kayla shook her head, letting the tension disappear as she skipped into the choir room. She was performing today and she was planning on surprising everyone. She was singing Circus for Britney week and she was excited to be tapping back into her sexy side. She hadn't even tried to be sexy since sophomore year and Sam was the only one who saw that. This time, she wanted to show everyone that she was a real performer.

Mr. Schuester clapped his hands together as he pulled Kayla to the front of the room. She smiled and unzipped her jacket, revealing a one piece bodysuit that made all the boys whistle and the girls clap. She never showed off her body, especially after everything that had happened to it over the years, but she was feeling confident today. She pulled a chair to the middle of the room and nodded to the band for them to start.

< circus, britney spears >

Her head raised up and her leg went out at each beat. "There's only two types of people in the world--the ones that entertain and the ones that observe. Well baby, I'm a put on a show kind of girl. Don't like the backseat, I gotta be first. I'm like the ringleader. I call the shots. I'm like a firecracker. I make it hot."

Tina and Sugar got up as she kicked the chair out for the chorus and got into position for the choreography. Each girl bent down and flipped their hair.

"When I put on a show, I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins. Spotlight on me and I'm ready to play. I'm like a performer. The dancefloor is my stage. Better get ready. Hope that you feel the same."

She chuckled, moving down to sit on Joe's lap as he dipped her in his arms with an awkward laugh. "All eyes on me in the center of the ring, just like a circus. When I crack that whip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus. Don't stand there watching me, follow me. Show me what you can do. Everybody let go--we can make this dancefloor just like a circus."

In the fade out, they each jutted out their chests in the last beat and by the time the music stopped the room had erupted into applause and whistles. She chuckled, hearing Puck call out that he had the hottest fake girlfriend. She was panting, trying to catch her breath again as everyone came inwards to pull her into a hug. When Sam's hands laid on her waist, she couldn't help the butterflies that still appeared in her stomach. She worried those would never go away.

←⧪→

Kayla was sitting in the audience next to Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury at the pep assembly. Brittany had somehow convinced everybody to lip sync and Kayla outright told her no. It went against the very foundation of what glee was. She didn't care if Brittany was having a nervous breakdown right now. She understood that getting kicked off the Cheerios was hard for her and even more so she understood not getting to see her girlfriend much anymore (the long-distance relationships were one of the things Brittany and she had in common), but it was no excuse to completely give up and start lip synching on stage. She was totally with her hitting Jacob Ben Israel with her umbrella, though.

Ms. Pillsbury gave her a soft smile as she entwined hands with Mr. Schuester. Normally she found anything to do with their director disgusting, but even she couldn't deny that they were made for each other. She was excited for their wedding later this year.

"Oh, I just wasn't feeling well." she lied, answering as vaguely as she possibly could. She watched her counselor scoot closer to her fiancé and further away from her. She couldn't blame her after what happened that time April Rhodes gave Kurt vodka.

Kayla had thought about telling Mr. Schuester that they were planning to lip sync. It could have some serious repercussions, but she also didn't want to seem like another Rachel by tattle-telling on them. Instead she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for her teammates to begin as she shook her leg in impatience and nervousness.

Finally, Principal Figgins introduced the New Directions and the curtain was drawn back to reveal everyone dressed in all black with Brittany in the center of the stage in booty shorts and a black bra with cheeto dust all around her mouth. A backpack was hanging off of Artie's wheelchair with a bag of Cheetos inside it. Everybody else was doing their best to make it look like an authentic performance, but as soon as Brittany pulled out a two liter orange soda and started drinking that instead of lipping her verse, Kayla's head flew into her hands. This was too painful to watch. Not even Toxic or Push It could compare to the secondhand embarrassment she was getting from this and even more so when Kitty (because it was always Sue's little mole, wasn't it?) yelled out that they were lip-synching and the crowd started booing. Kayla's body externally shrunk as she tried to hide herself in the bleachers.

She heard a curse fall off Mr. Schuester's lips as she followed him along while the rest of the glee club had already moved to the choir room to avoid the hateful crowd.

He turned to her with a glare. "Did you know about this?"

She looked to the side. "Okay, technically—"

He cut her off. "Kayla, come on! You are a leader in this club. When something like this is happening, it's your job to tell me!"

She returned the icy glare. "No, it's not. I was co-captain for two weeks in my freshman year. I'm not Finn or Rachel. I'm not gonna just report to you and yeah, I get that maybe I should've said something, but Brittany is going through it right now and she just needed a moment."

He slowly nodded. "I—I know you were just trying to be a good friend, but Rachel and Finn are gone. You're our leader now. I need you to step up to the plate."

"I get what you're trying to do, but you can't just nominate me as team captain. Maybe I don't want to be a leader. I know you're just trying to replace what you had with Finn, but I'm not him and I need you to just be my teacher and let me be me." she explained.

He nodded in response, shrugging it off. "Fine. We'll talk about it another time, but please just be on my side for one day and help me yell at them."

She chuckled warmly. "Oh, Slut. Yelling is my most impressive talent. Watch and learn."

She nearly earned a chuckle out of him as she charged her way into the choir room to yell at her friends. She loved Brittany, but there were better ways to do this. They were never going to lip sync again if she had anything to say about it.
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[A/N: here we are! Britney 2.0. last time i wrote a britney episode, it took me two weeks, so this is a major improvement. also, it just gave me major nostalgia and reminded me how much i miss writing rayla 😭 yes, i'm trash. this update is also coming to you to remind you that Britney Spears is not free and has been controlled by her father since she was a child. #FreeBritney. as always my love for you is unconditionally. up next, Makeover which is probably gonna be boring 😭💗💗💗]

*edited 1/15/23

~ Dani