𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃, mike chang

063 - nationals

mike nodded sympathetically.

"it's just hard to keep my spirits high when i keep getting told i'm not good enough." she admitted, fighting back the tears that had welled in her eyes.

mike sighed softly before stepping closer to eleanor and squeezing her shoulder. "you're more than good enough," he told her earnestly. "i think you're the most talented performer in the club, songbird."

elle blushed when mike used her dearly beloved nickname. "so, go out there and show everyone else that you are too." he told her. "okay?"

elle nodded. "okay, thanks mike." she smiled before he pulled her into a tight hug.

"i believe in you, elle."

finn and rachel began the song beautifully, making elle smile as she watched from the sidelines before she and the rest of the team joined them for the final chorus.

from their positions, the rest of the new directions couldn't see why the audience didn't give them any applause after their first song, causing all of them to flush with embarrassment as the band started playing their second song.

the embarrassment that they were feeling quickly died down once they reached the chorus and got into the groove of the song.

by the time the song had ended, elle felt as though she was just getting started, and didn't want to stop.

after the show, all of the teams were loitering in the lobby, waiting for the placings to be posted.

"don't you think this would look so hot, on lord tubbington?" brittany asked, holding up a commemorative t-shirt. "i'm gonna go and get an extra large."

elle chuckled and watched her friend run off. "you're in a better mood." santana snipped, elbowing her friend before one of the girls from the other teams pushed past them, squealing incessantly.

"they just posted the top ten, for showcase!" kurt announced, leading his friends over to where schue, rachel and finn were already standing. "come on, gather around! this moment is two years in the making!"

"what should we do?" rachel asked.

"let's go look at it, together, come on." mr schue encouraged, leading the team over to the board.

"ugh, i'm too nervous to look," rachel commented while elle grabbed onto quinn and merecedes hands.

"i'll go," mr schue told them, pushing through the crowd around the board to see the listing.

"what did we place?" finn asked mr schue, followed by a long moment of silence. "well, mr schue? say it, what'd we rank?"

"we didn't." he finally revealed. "i'm so sorry guys. we aren't in the top ten."

no one said anything after that, not until the new directions made it to the hotel where santana absolutely lost it, screaming at rachel and finn and having to be restrained by elle, sam and mike.

on the flight back, elle was too sad to say anything and so she just pretended to sleep, resting her head against the wall and facing away from quinn who was flipping through one of the complementary magazines left on the plane.

she felt the seat shift next to her, but just figured that quinn was getting up to pee, and so she jumped when a voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"i know you're not asleep," mike told her, laughing gently when elle still didn't move. "you told me you couldn't fall asleep sitting up after sectionals last year." he reminded her.

elle sighed and turned in her seat to look at mike. "i just can't believe it's all over," she told him. "again."

mike nodded. "you wanna talk about it?"

elle shook her head. "not really. how come you're up here, aren't you supposed to be sitting with tina?" she asked, craning her neck to look at tina who was sitting a few rows back with quinn, mercedes and sam in a middle row.

"i wanted to make sure you were alright." he told her.

"that's sweet." she nodded. "you can get back to tina now, if you want."

mike shook his head and made himself more comfortable in his chair. "i told her i was gonna come and sit with you for a while." he explained. "she's cool with it."

"can i ask you something?" mike asked.

"go ahead."

"how come when we tried to be friends again, it all went bad so quickly?" he asked. "cause we obviously get along." he gestured between the two of them.

"i think we put too much pressure on ourselves to immediately go back to how it was, and we didn't consider the fact that we were both still in the process of moving on?" she suggested.

mike nodded solemnly. "but do you think we can still actually be friends?" he asked. "even after everything that's happened?"

after a moment of silence, elle smiled and nodded her head. "i do," she told him earnestly.

"good, cause i really wanna make things work between us ellie." he explained before gently taking one of her hands in his. "you were my first, you mean a lot to me."

elle chuckled. "well, you know what they say," she joked. "you always remember your first time."

"not just that," mike shook his head. "you were my first everything, elle; my first kiss, my first girlfriend..." he hesitated for a moment. "my first love."

elle's heart swelled while tears threatened to spill from her eyes again. "you were my first everything too."

—

END OF ACT TWO

making a quick authors note here because songbird is currently ranked #1 under the glee tag 😭😭😭