when her high school career starts at william mckinley high school, eleanor madigan has no idea just how much her life is about to change over the next few years, for better and for worse. all she really knows is that getting slushied does not sound...
𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝, chapter fifty six — a half-assed apology
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the following monday, the glee club was treated with a beautiful duet from quinn and rachel. elle watched with a smile, not noticing how gorgeous their voices sounded together.
they were met with a generous applause, but both girls still seemed solemn, like they were still holding something back.
elle couldn't think about that for too long though, as once the two girls had sat down again, jeremiah raised his hand. "mr schue, i also have something prepared." he explained before slinging a guitar over his shoulder and sitting on one of the stools quinn and rachel had left up.
jeremiah looked terrified as he performed an accoustic version of panic at the disco's 'girls/girls/boys', essentially spelling out to elle exactly why he didn't want her to defend him to karofsky about liking guys.
once the song was over, elle was quick to jump to her feet and wrap her arms around her brother. "i'm sorry," she mumbled. "i get it now why you didn't need me to defend you."
jeremiah breathed a sigh of relief. "i appreciated the sentiment," he told her. "but i honestly don't care what karofsky, or azimio or any of those other guys think. i'm not ashamed of who i am or who i'm attracted to. it's like mr schue said, it just makes me all the more interesting."
later that week, finn and mike performed a song together highlighting how finn wasn't the best dancer and how mike wasn't the most confident singer, it was a more fun and lighthearted take on the weeks assignment compared to the previous performances that the group had watched.
after the performance, rachel took the floor to talk about her rhinoplasty, once again, only to get cut off by tina expressing how it was obvious that she was considering the procedure for all the wrong reasons.
"the assignment this week made me realised that if i don't have any asian sex symbols to look up to, i have an obligation to become one myself," tina shrugged, earning a genuine smile from elle who sat beside her.
"my new mantra is be the change you wanna see in the world." tina finished.
"i love you so much right now," mike smiled leaning across eleanor, who sat between him and tina, to kiss his girlfriend.
"oh, jesus," elle muttered when their kiss, that was directly in her face, became more passionate. "seriously?" she huffed pushing the two apart before moving to sit beside santana.
"you may become an asian sex symbol, but you'll never be a symbol for feminism." elle mumbled under her breath as she folded her arms.
"excuse me?" tina gasped while mike frowned.
"you heard me man eater." elle replied.
though she had decided to forgive mike and try to become better friends with him, elle still couldn't deal with the constant pda that occured between him and tina, and while she had been able to put up with it for this long it was unbearable that close to her face.
santana spluttered a laugh and nudged elle with the toe of her shoe. "tell 'em, freshers." she spoke under her breath making elle have to bite back a smirk.
"mr schue, if i could take up a minute of your time?" principal figgins asked, poking his head into the choir room. "david has something he'd like to say to all of you."
as principal figgins lead karofsky into the choir room, the new directions were immediately up in arms and protesting against whatever it was that he had to say.
"we don't care what he has to say!" finn exclaimed above the noise of the rest of the group's protests.
"now, i know david has had some issues in the past, but i have great respect for what he's doing right now, and i ask you to hear him out." principal figgins spoke up once the room had quietened down significantly.
"how about we punch his face in?" sam suggested, his expression blank.
"enough guys, everyone listen up!"
elle narrowed her eyes and waited for whatever bullshit karofsky was about to spout to them. "first off i want to say that i'm sorry for what i did to kurt, and sorry for what i've done to most of you." he began before glancing at eleanor and then at jeremiah. "and especially to elle and jeremiah."
elle glanced at her brother, who's expression mirrored her own almost perfectly.
"i think i've slushied everyone of you," dave continued. "i treated kurt the worst, and i'm really ashamed of who i am and what i did."
"why should we believe you?" puck asked, his voice low and very obviously pissed off.
"you don't have to, i know i'll need to earn your trust." he nodded. "all i can say is that santana has really helped me to see the light."
elle's eyes widened as she glanced at her best friend who was smiling warmly at dave as he spoke.
"she showed me all these stories online about kids jumping off of bridges, and hanging themselves because they were being bullied so bad." elle chewed on the inside of her lip, truly having no clue as to how this was all happening.
"but she helped me accept that i was one of those bad people, and i don't wanna be one anymore." dave finished.
"wait, santana?" quinn asked.
"this glee club isn't complete," santana spoke up. "not without kurt. so i've taken it upon myself to try to rehabilitate dave, to see if kurt would consider coming back and help us win nationals." she explained, joining karofsky at the front of the room.
"i did this for us," she continued. "and then something funny happened, something called love."
"are you kidding?" elle asked aloud while puck audibly gagged behind her.
"i want kurt to feel safe to come back, which is why santana and i have started a new club 'the bully whips'." dave explained, very clearly ignoring everyone's shocked, and quite frankly disgusted, expressions.
"i'm planning on reaching out to kurt personally, through figgins, to try to make ammends. this is a chance to really change this place, i hope you can support us."
elle shook her head and stood up gathering her things. "eleanor, where are you going?" mr schue asked her.
"i can't sit here and listen to this crap," she spat. "if you think you can win me over with a half-assed apology just days after you spouted racist crap in my face then you're sorely mistaken." she explained before walking out of the room to calm down.
