glory days • glee

fourteen

jacob boarded the bus, finn had declined showing up. and who could blame him? i kind of expected this, he barely even wanted to talk to me.

"hey, you alright? you seem down." matt and mike turned around from their seats.

"yeah. i just feel really bad. finn isn't really talking to me right now." i confided in them.

"why?" matt asked.

"because i kinda laid into him about cheating on quinn. like really harshly. and then it turns out...well you know what happened. so i think he is kind of mad at me. which is understandable."

"did you apologize?"

"yeah. yeah, i did. he said it was okay, and i was just doing what i thought was justified. but i don't know if he meant it."

"i'm sorry, stevie."

"it's alright. thanks."

•

while we all sat and learned what slot we had drawn. with a little debate about whether or not the last slot we had gotten was good or not.

i personally just couldn't care less.

after a while we walked in to watch the other people's set.

and boy were we in for a shock when we saw the jane adams girls. doing our fucking numbers.

"are you shitting me?" i turned to matt.

"this is bullshit." matt shook his head.

we just had to sit there and watch as both choirs did all of our numbers.

it was the last straw when we saw people crying because the deaf group singing don't stop believing.

we met in the green room trying to figure out what to do.

"you leaked the set list. you don't wanna be here you're just sue sylvester's little moles." kurt said to brittany and santana.

"i know for a fact that's true. sue asked us to spy for her." quinn concurred.

they continued to chat.

"stevie, do you have any ballads? i think the judges might really like what you bring to the table." kurt asked me.

"nothing as good as what rachel could do." i shook my head.

as much as i hated to admit it.

"then i guess that's our ballad. and we can close with somebody to love. it's a real crowd pleaser." quinn said.

"yeah, that and a can of soup will guarantee us third place. we still need another song we can all sing together." puck pointed out.

"i have one. i found the sheet music online. i used the cheerios' copier to make copies and then i trashed the thing. mike, matt, brittany, santana, you're our best dancers. figure something out and we'll all follow your lead."

"it's going to be choppy." mike answered.

"good. we're best when we're loose. look, all we have going for us is that we believe in ourselves and what we're singing about. if we can show the judges that...we might have a shot at this thing."

"it's good to have you back, finn." rachel came up to him.

i decided to stay back.

"cool if i have my spot back?" he asked jacob.

he said something about just wanting to get into rachel's pants and then left.

"stevie," he looked over at me,"you got this?" he handed me the female lead sheet music.

i couldn't help but smile as i got up with him and reviewed my lines.

"so, are we-are we okay?" i looked up at him.

"look stevie, it wasn't your fault. i know why you did what you did. i forgive you." he pulled me into a hug.

i wrapped my arms around his upper torso my head resting against his chest. he had his arms wrapped loosely around my neck, resting his head on top of mine.

"alright, let's get to work." i pulled away from him.

i turned to see rachel looking staring at me. when she made eye contact and noticed u had seen her she pursed her lips and nodded at me.

•

after we performed and the judges decisions were revealed, needless to say we had won, finn and i drove back to my house.

"i-is quinn gonna be there?" he asked me.

"no, she moved in with puck. didn't even really tell me. she just packed all her things, her car was gone and that was it." i shrugged.

"oh. hey, thanks for taking the lead with me today."

"anything that takes away from rachel." i said causing him to laugh.

"rachel's not that bad."

"no, she's not. just...i don't like seeing her in the spotlight so much. i like when everyone has opportunities to showcase their talents." i explained pulling up in my driveway.

"you always say no to leading roles!" he exclaimed as we got out of the car.

"because i want other people to have a chance! i only say yes if i like the song. otherwise someone else can have it." i shrugged and we walked to the front door.

"fair enough. rachel doesn't do that."

"no she does not." i shook my head.