𝚃𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴 𝙾𝙵 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙽 ➭ 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝗇 𝗁𝗎𝖽𝗌𝗈𝗇

nine; wheels

After hearing Mr. Schuester's plan to get a special bus for Artie, Winona was estatic to help her best friend. She knew he hated being excluded just because his leg's didn't work. Everyone else seemed unhappy to go out of their way to do this for him, which made her almost as sad as it made him.

"Can't Artie's dad just take him?" Mercedes proposed with a shrug.

"I can't believe how insensitive you're all being. Are you a team?"  Mr. Schue countered with a frown.

"Of course. But Artie understands, don't you, Artie?" Quinn asked, turning to the boy while Finn slung his arm over her shoulder. Winona watched from the back of the class, between Matt and Mike, who she bonded with after coincidentally sitting next to eachother to see some zombie movie Eric dragged her to watch over the weekend. She was deeply disappointed in her team for their lack of compassion.

"Oh. . . Of course. It's cool. Anything that takes away our time from rehearsing doesn't serve the team," Artie excused, nervously playing with his suspenders and avoiding eye contact with everyone. Winona frowned as the bell rang end everyone eagerly left the room, except for Artie, Winona and Mr. Schuester.

He rushed to help Artie tie his shoelace as Winona stood up and started pacing.

"I can't believe them," She mumbled bitterly, "They aren't even a little compssionate. Frankly, it's rude."

"It's fine, Win," Artie replied with a shrug. Mr. Schue shook his head.

"No, Winona's right. I'm really sorry about how they all reacted, Artie."

"Oh, it's okay. I'm used to it. They just don't get it," He trailed off, changing the subject entirely, "Can I use the auditorium this afternoon to rehearse, Mr. Schue? Some of the band equipment's in there."

He nodded at the teen, as Winona made her way behind him to push him through the halls and to class.

( — ✿ — )

Winona was the only person in glee club that didn't object to the idea to riding around in wheelchairs. Obviously, Artie's state was not ideal. She didn't like being hit in the face by people's bags or nearly getting stepped on by football boys, but she wanted to show her best friend that his struggle didn't go unnoticed, and that he mattered just as much as any other able bodied person.

"How are you so good at that?" Finn asked, standing up. Now he really towered over her. She planned on spending more than the required three hours in the chair a day, and it seemed like she was the only one not afraid to face the challenge. Finn, however, hadn't reached his wheelchair quota that day, maybe he could skip it and Mr. Schue wouldn't notice.

"What? Using a wheelchair?" Finn nodded, prompting Winona to shrug.

"I went to his house a few weeks back, he had me try out his spare wheelchair and He took me to this epic skatepark— we did beginner tricks. I did nothing cool, but still." She smiled fondly. When she was there, she felt like an imposter with her two working legs. But looking back, she knew how important it was to him that one of his friends at least tried to understand what he felt every day. 

"Like,, a date?" Finn's smile faltered for a split second, holding his backpack strap over his shoulder. Winona shook her head frantically.

"No. Oh god no. Artie is my best friend. Hell, I'm trying to set him up with someone as we speak." Winona sputtered, he watched her with an amused half smirk, "And, I have my eye on someone else anyways."

No she didn't. Did she? If she did have her eye on someone, it would be Finn. But she can't tell him that, so now she's practically digging herself in a hole that will be hell to crawl out of. She could see the curiosity in Finn's eyes.