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chapter twenty !
( takes place during 1x21 'Funk' )
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LUNA HAD BEEN PSYCHING HERSELF UP THE ENTIRE CAR RIDE HOME. She knew she had to start planting the seeds of the fake Ivy League Day to her parents when she got home. But, like Lia had said earlier that day, Leo and Claudia Moretti were like vultures when it came to lies. Particularly when Luna told them.
But, having been reassured by Lia, Artie and Quinn before they'd departed at the end of the school day, Luna was feeling slightly more confident about the fib she was about to tell her mom and dad.
As she opened the door to her house, the overwhelming smell of her father's infamous tuna casserole wafted straight up her nose, making her mouth water at the mere thought of getting to eat that for dinner that night.
"Hey." She greeted, spotting her father standing over the stove, and her mother sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen, doing some paperwork.
Both of them looked up, Claudia giving Luna a small smile, which Luna returned, and Leo came over to where Luna was dumping her back on the countertop, giving Luna a kiss on the forehead.
"Hey, sweetie." He greeted her. "How was school?" He asked her.
Luna nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, it was good." She said shortly, the nerves not letting her spill all the Ivy League beans right away.
Luckily, neither of her parents picked up on her nerves, as Leonardo nodded as he started to prepare more of their meal for the night.
"Anything interesting happen?" He inquired.
This was it. This was the moment she had to lie to them.
"Uh, yeah, actually," she admitted. "I got called into the principal's office."
This first lie was enough for both Claudia and Leo to stop what they were doing immediately and give her an incredulous look.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Claudia demanded. "Why did you get called into the principal's office? What did you do?"
Luna furrowed her eyebrows at her mother's sharp tone. "Why do you assume I've done something wrong?"
Her response caused her to receive a glare from her mother, and a disappointed look from her dad.
"Don't try and be smart, Luna." Leo scolded her. "Answer your mother's question. What did you do that got you called into the principal's office?"
Luna scoffed, offended at the fact her parents believed her lie so easily, and at the fact they had such little faith in her that they could only assume that she had done something wrong.
"Nothing." Luna continued to insist. "I didn't do anything. They called me along to give me this!"
Luna, having looked and seen the disbelieving look on her parents' faces, decided it was time for the photoshopped, cherry-on-top of this lie, and so she brought the envelope containing the Ivy League Day poster, out of her bag and placed it down on the kitchen island.
Both of her parents stared at the envelope their daughter produced with looks of confusion, before Claudia finally reached forward and grabbed it, using her thumb to tear it open at the top.
Her facial expression went from confused to placid, and then to one of shock. She looked up at Luna, and, much to Luna's surprise and somewhat fascination, Claudia actually smiled at her.
She smiled.
At Luna!
"Oh my god." Claudia breathed out. She handed the ( fake ) flier over to her husband, whose interest in the piece of paper had now increased tenfold after seeing his wife's elated reaction to it. Leo's eyes scanned it quickly, but he still looked pretty confused.
"Don't you know what that is, Leo?" Claudia asked him, and he shook his head with an apologetic expression on his face.
"Sorry!" He apologised as his wife rolled her eyes at him.
Luna heard her mom mutter "freaking men," under her breath before Claudia made her way over to stand beside Luna.
"What it means, Leonardo," Claudia began, turning to her spouse, who pulled a face at the use of his full name. "That our daughter is already being scouted by some of the most prestigious colleges in the country."
The pride in her mom's voice wasn't something that Luna was used to, and Luna was further perturbed when she felt her mother's slim arm make its way to wrap around her shoulders. She was then brought into her mother's side for a hug.
Now her mom was actually showing her affection. Clearly Claudia knew what an Ivy League Day was, and clearly it was a big deal.
"Wow!" Leo let out, turning to Luna with an impressed expression. "That's so amazing, honey. I'm so proud of you!" He told Luna, rushing over and scooping her up in a massive hug.
Luna couldn't help but feel guilty at how happy her parents seemed to be, all based on a lie. All so she could attend a competition that they had no idea about, because she had been lying to them all year about being in the glee club.
Wow she really has weaved a massive web of lies, hasn't she?
Luna was broken from her guilt-ridden thoughts by her mom coming over to her again, and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Yeah, we're so proud of you, honey." Claudia told her.
A lump formed in Luna's throat, and her eyes welled with unshed tears for what felt like the one hundredth time that week.
"Thanks, mom." Luna said sincerely.
The one time her mom says she's proud of her and it's all based on a lie.
Sounds about right.
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It was now nearing the end of the week and Luna thought that she was done with having to hear Jesse's name be mentioned, or a complaint about Vocal Adrenaline.
That's when it happened.
Egg-gate.
Attack of the Eggs.
ArmEGGeddon.
Whatever name it had been dubbed by various members of the New Directions, the only way it could realistically be described was a disaster.
Luna had been finishing up at her locker when Mercedes and Lia had rushed up to her and told her that they needed to go to the choir room ASAP. When they'd entered, Luna heard the tail end of Rachel's complaint about nightmares about 'the mother of the baby chicks coming after her for revenge'. It had been then that she asked to be filled in on what had just happened.
Rachel, of course, only glared at her, so Tina took it upon herself to fill Luna in on what went down between Rachel and Jesse in the parking lot.
Rachel had been called out to the parking lot to meet Jesse, and the heartbroken girl had, pretty naively in Luna's opinion, jumped at the opportunity to reconcile with her now ex-boyfriend. She was then attacked by various members of their rival glee club, all of them throwing eggs at her.
"The worst part was. . ." Rachel had said sadly. "I told him that I loved him, and he couldn't even say it back to me. I'm starting to doubt that he ever loved me at all."
Luna's stomach dropped and an overwhelming feeling of guilt and sympathy weighed on her shoulders.
She also pretended like she couldn't see when Lia and Quinn's eyes both turned to look at her after Rachel's revelation.
The guys of the glee club were just about ready to go and actively seek out a fight with Jesse and Vocal Adrenaline, Mr Schue arrived and put a stop to it, much to Luna's relief.
But even though she was relieved that the boys weren't about to do something that would get them into even more trouble, Luna still felt angry.
She felt angry that Jesse had betrayed them, she felt angry that VA had came in and performed in their auditorium like it meant nothing, she was angry that Rachel was now not speaking to her because Jesse decided to expose their kiss to everyone ( okay, so this one was partly on her, but still, Luna was angry ), and now, as she gazed around at her fellow glee clubbers, all of whom were still in the same funk since the start of the week, she felt even more pissed.
But most of all she was angry that she couldn't find it in her heart to hate Jesse yet.
And it was this anger that had led her to her current situation.
Luna was now sitting in her car, in the parking lot of Carmel High, waiting on Vocal Adrenaline getting out of their rehearsal. She knew that they practiced till about 6PM, because Jesse had mentioned it to her once and she remembered his laughter at the look of shock on her face when he'd said it.
Luna glanced to the passenger seat, where a freshly-bought carton of eggs was sitting, waiting to be used.
She gulped, looking up as she saw students begin to exit the school doors, she kept watching until she saw him. Then she grabbed the carton of eggs and got out of her car, making her way across the Carmel parking lot to where Jesse had parked his car.
Ignoring the looks of surprise, and the mocking laughter she heard as she approached him, she found herself standing only a few feet away from the St James boy, waiting for him to look up and notice her.
Much like she had been at the beginning of the week.
Luna felt her palms begin to sweat, and, to avoid the carton of eggs slipping out of her hands and her plan being ruined, she decided to loudly set them on the bonnet of his car.
Then he finally looked up and saw her.
In any other situation, Luna would have relished in the look of genuine surprise on his face, but for some reason, right now it only made her more sad.
"L-Luna." Was all Jesse could think to respond. "What are you doing here?"
All the cockiness that he'd exuded at the beginning of the week was gone now as he stared at her, much like how the certain softness that appeared in her eyes whenever she looked at him was now replaced with an ice-cold glare, one of betrayal and heartbreak.
"I heard what you did." Luna told him. "To Rachel."
A look of regret did cross Jesse's face at the memory of what he and his glee club had done earlier that day.
"Luna, that was-" Jesse tried, but Luna cut him off.
"That was what, Jesse?" Luna fumed. "If the next words out of your mouth aren't 'that was wrong of me', then I don't wanna hear it!"
Jesse quickly shut his mouth as Luna continued.
"Rachel's a vegan, you asshole!" Luna yelled. "And you decided that it would be okay to just throw eggs at her?!"
As she was talking, Luna gestured to the carton eggs that she'd set on Jesse's car, and once Jesse took not of them, he visibly paled.
"So that's why you're here?" He asked, his voice thick as he swallowed the lump that had begun to form in his throat. "To crack some eggs on my head, yell at me and then leave?"
Jesse looked at her, and the quiet tone of his voice caused some of her anger to slip away and now be replaced by exhaustion and defeat.
She was tired. Tired of the constant feelings of affection that she'd feel when she thought about the boy that was standing in front of her. She was exhausted by the events of this week, and the fact that she'd spent so much time making an effort with Jesse, only for him to throw it all away as if it had never mattered to him in the first place.
It probably hadn't, to be fair.
"No." Luna answered his question. "The eggs aren't for me. They're for you."
Jesse's head whipped up in confusion. "What?" He asked in sheer confusion.
Earlier when Luna had been mulling over everything that she was angry about, she'd realised the one thing she was most angry about when it came to Jesse.
She was angry that, no matter what he had done that week, whether it was the betrayal, or the attempts to intimidate everyone, or the attack of the eggs, one thing remained the same throughout it all.
She just couldn't bring herself to hate Jesse.
Her stomach still did flips whenever she thought of him. She still felt the jealousy whenever she thought of the way that his dance partner had been looking at him during Another One Bites The Dust. She felt everything that she shouldn't be feeling for him.
And she hated herself for it.
Which is why he needed to do something unforgivable, that would make her never be able to forgive him.
"The eggs are for you. To throw. . .at me." Luna explained slowly, gesturing numbly to them.
The silence that fell between them was one where Luna just stared blankly ahead at Jesse's face, which was staring at her like she'd just told him that she was actually an alien from another planet.
Eventually Luna grew impatient. "Well, what are you waiting for? Wasn't this the whole reason you came to Mckinley?" She asked him. "To humiliate us, to break us?"
Jesse's face showed that he was beginning to understand what she was trying to do, and he began to shake his head.
But this only infuriated her more. "What are you waiting for, Jesse?!" Luna's voice cracked on his name.
God, she had literally cried so much these past few weeks.
Maybe it was sixteen years of pent-up anxiety finally coming out.
"Throw them! Throw them at me like you did with Rachel, cos god knows I should hate you and for some reason I can't. You made me feel like an idiot, but for some reason I still can't hate you!" Luna was now crying as she spoke, but she didn't care by this point.
Jesse did, though. He cared that she was crying, that she was crying due to him and his actions. He tried to take a step towards her, but she stepped back and further away from him.
"Luna, please. . ." His voice was soft as he tried to reason with her.
Luna shook her head, bringing her hands up to wipe the tears from under her eyes and on her cheeks.
"Jesse, please, just throw those eggs cos right now I'm looking for a reason to hate you're fucking guts." Luna pleaded.
She felt pathetic, practically begging him to humiliate her like this, but she knew that having him do this would be so much easier than convincing her heart to hate him.
Jesse began making his way over to her again, and this time she let him, not moving again as he came to stand only millimeters away from her. She felt his hand reach out and grab her own that was resting in the crook of her arm.
"I'm not gonna throw them at you." Jesse told her in a firm voice.
At his words, Luna let out a large sigh, bringing up her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.
"I don't understand, Jesse." She admitted to him. "How can you be so mean to Rachel, the girl who's supposed to be your girlfriend, one minute. And now you're refusing to throw them at me? Shouldn't it be easier for you? I don't get you."
Jesse looked down at his feet at her words, but Luna's eyes never once left his face.
"Rachel was never the one that I had feelings for." Jesse spoke in a low voice.
It was like he was hoping that he spoke too quietly for her to hear, but Luna heard him just fine.
With her throat now suddenly feeling awfully dry, Luna's mouth opened in shock at his admission.
"What-what is that supposed to mean?" She stammered in response.
Jesse looked back up at her, his hand still grasping onto her's. "It means that since our second meeting in the library all those months ago, it was you that I had feelings for, Luna. Not Rachel. That's why I'm not gonna throw those eggs at you."
Luna blinked her eyes a few times, almost as though she was trying to wake herself up from a dream. But not necessarily a good one.
Jesse took this chance to move even closer to Luna, now they were even closer than they had been before.
It was only then that Luna began to shake her head.
"Don't." She said, and Jesse immediately halted his actions.
Luna shook her head, tearing her hand out of his grasp. "That's not how this works. You don't just torment my friends for this full week then expect me to fall into your arms because you admit you have feelings for me."
Jesse's shoulders fell in defeat once again.
Luna took several more steps backwards. "I'm not doing this, Jesse." She told him. "Not with you, I can't."
Luna knew that if she were to let Jesse kiss her at this point, then she would succumb to the evermounting feelings that she had for him, and she couldn't let that happen.
"Luna, wait-" Jesse called out as she started making her way back over to her car.
Not once did she look back, not even when she heard the carton of eggs fall to the ground after Jesse knocked them over out of frustration. She didn't look back over at him until she was back in the safety of her own car, where she glanced back over at him for a brief second before reversing and driving out of the parking lot and away from him.
It wasn't until Jesse got back into his car that he realised. And when it finally clicked, it hit him like a train travelling at the speed of light; he wasn't alone in his feelings.
Luna clearly returned them.
That would explain her sudden need for him to do something to get her to hate him, why she could barely look at him after he admitted his feelings for her, and why she seemed so incredibly upset at his betrayal.
But the happiness of this realization was soon overshadowed by the fact that, yes, Luna did return his feelings, but now, he had ruined any chance he ever had with her.
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Luna always knew that she had two amazing best friends, but it wasn't until she had sent a text that read:
SOS. LIMA BEAN, ASAP.
Into her, Lia's and Quinn's 'three girls and an unborn baby' group chat, did she realise just how ride-or-die they all were for each other.
She had expected a response from Lia, who was probably just at home watching Netflix or annoying her twin. But she was surprised when she received one from Quinn, who she thought would have been preoccupied with moving into her new home at Mercedes' house.
Less than twenty minutes after she'd sent the text, the two of them had come rushing through the door of the coffee house, and over to where Luna was sitting.
Well, Quinn did more of a pregnant waddle, but that's besides the point.
They both sat across from her, identical frowns on their faces as they saw the obvious tear tracks and her puffy eyes.
"Are you okay?" Quinn was the first to ask.
Neither of them knew what she was upset over, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess what the reason was.
Luna shook her head at the question.
"No." The Moretti girl admitted. "I'm not okay."
Lia sighed, reaching across the table to grab her friends hand. "You wanna talk about it?"
Luna shrugged. "I don't know what to say, I just-" she cut herself off, before deciding to just bite the bullet and admit it. "I really like him, and I don't know what to do."
Luna feared the judgement that she thought might have crossed her friend's faces, but, alas, there were only looks of sympathy for after her admission.
"Well no matter what happens, you know we'll be here for you, right?" Quinn reassured Luna, grasping her other hand that Lia wasn't holding.
Luna nodded. "I love you guys." She said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.
"We love you too." Lia cheekily smiled back at her.
Lia and Quinn were the one thing that was constant in Luna's life right now, and it didn't surpass Luna just how lucky she was to have friends like them.
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I do not own glee, all rights go to Ryan Murphy, FOX and whomever else made that acid trip of a show that I love so much.
I neither own the gifs in any of my chapters unless stated otherwise, all credits go to the creators of the gifs.
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A/N:
^^^^ above is a candid picture of me whilst writing the angst in this chapter.
Yes I was listening to the mamma mia soundtrack as I wrote a scene where Luna was crying, just though it let yous all know this.
Also,, not me getting emotional cos we're now officially in the twenties when it comes to chapters😭,, I've literally never wrote a fic this long in my life so I'm so sorry if it starts to go rapidly downhill from here😂.
Jk jk I love my bbys too much to let that happen.
N E ways, tysm for reading, hope yous enjoyed the double update😉
ily all sm
— Jade 💙💙