𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐲 | q. fabray

Nationals

"Shh, Maya it's okay," Bailey cooed, placing a kiss to her daughter's cheek as they sat down on the floor at the end of the hallway.

"Julian, you ducking idiot, get Ava out of here!" Adalynn yelled as she pushed her cousin out of the loud room and closed the door behind him.

"Mr. Schue, are you aware that while we're arguing about jazz squares, Unique is being handed a key to the city by Rahm Emanuel?" Kurt asked as he looked at his phone.

"Plus my blanket and my pillow fell in the pool," Brittany said as she looked out the window. "Disaster."

"What's a disaster is how you upset the twins, you fucking idiots," Adalynn scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Look, I think everybody's just a little tired," said Artie. "We've been rehearsing for three straight hours."

"The only straight thing I ever did," Adalynn mumbled as she leaned into Quinn, who wrapped an arm around her.

"Yeah, and we'll rehearse all night if we have too," Finn bossed. "We can rest after we've won!"

"Just because we lost Mercedes doesn't mean we can be anything less than perfect," said Rachel. "Perfect!"

"That's easy for you to say!" Artie shouted.

"No one likes you!" Adalynn yelled, sending Rachel a glare as everyone started yelling at each other again.

"You know what? Hey!" Santana yelled over the shouting. "I don't want to hear any of this, 'We can't do it without her.' Because guess what? We don't have a choice! So be warned, if you are not giving this everything you've got, I will go all Lima Heights on your sorry asses!"

"Listen to yourselves," Mr. Schue scoffed as Bailey came back into the room.

"I know, I'm sorry. I always go to the yelling place. I have rage," Santana said before turning to the younger Pierce sister. "How are the twins? Are they okay?"

"Julian's gonna get them out of here for a while," Bailey said as she rubbed her aching temples.

"There is so much passion in this room," said Mr. Schue. "Even with all your arguing, it's about the work. You guys really want this. Okay, so let's take a half hour break, and then we'll run it from the top."

"Mr. Schue, is it okay if we keep going?" Tina asked. "We've got the first slot, which is the death slot."

"We have to be amazing," Bailey agreed.

"Yeah, Edge of Glory's a bitch," said Quinn. "I said I'd be dancing by nationals. I'll be damned if I don't."

"Okay, then let's keep going," said Mr. Schue. "Mike, help the guys out with the choreography. Artie, help Puck with his Geography. Ladies, Edge of Glory. Brittany, run us through it."

"From the chorus?" Brittany asked as she went over to the group of girls.

"Yeah, let's do it."

"Ready? Five, six, seven, eight."

Brittany counted the eight counts as they ran through the choreography. Quinn stumbled a bit on one of the turns, and Adalynn was quick to steady her. She sent her a small smile and a nod.

"You can do this," Adalynn whispered as Quinn smiled at her.

The room was quiet again, the only sound being that of the quiet chatter as Artie helped Puck study and the counting as the New Directions went through choreography.

****

It was the day of the competition, and the Glee Club sat in the greenroom getting ready. To say they were nervous would be an understatement. For many of them, this was their last competition, and the underclassmen wanted to make sure they won so the seniors had something extraordinary to remember when they graduated.