──･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──
―
I sat at the piano in the choir room, playing the opening notes to the only song I knew on the piano 'I have a dream, by ABBA. The club was waiting for Mr. Schue to arrive, as he had been called to Figgins's office just before glee was meant to start so, now we wait. "I Have a Dream, a song to sing, To help me cope, with anything," I sing softly, as I played the notes to the song. "If you see the wonder, of a fairy tale You can take the future, even if you fail,"
"I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream, I Have a Dream, a fantasy To help me through, reality And my destination makes it worth the while Pushin' through the darkness, still another mile" I sang, messing up the keys to the song. then laughing as I did. I was never too good at piano.
"Okay, guys, listen up," Mr. Schue said entered the room with some guy I didn't know. "This is Mr. Ryan. He's a member of the school board, and he would like to say a few words. I-I just want you guys to listen critically and know that what he's saying is just one of many opinions,"
I got up from the piano bench and move over to sit with the other, taking a seat next to Tina. "Take out a piece of paper. And on that paper, I want you to write down your biggest dream. A dream that means so much, you're afraid to admit it even to yourself," Mr. Ryan said.
I opened my bag, grabbing a notebook and a pen, flipping to an empty page. A dream, my dream, well I want to be a dancer, but that's not my biggest dream. Instead, I wrote 'a happy family'.
Mr. Ryan walked over to Artie, taking his paper, and crumpling it up. "Your dream is never going to happen. Ninety-one percent of you will spend your entire lives. living in Allen County, Ohio. So unless you wrote down that your dream was to 'work for a mid-market health insurance provider' or 'find an entry-level job in an elderly care facility,' you're going to be very disappointed." he said.
His words hurt me, and I clearly wasn't the only one who was hurt by them. "This is really depressing," Mercedes said,
"I'm going to guess that a lot of your dreams involve 'showbiz.' Well, let me tell you. Showbiz dreams are the most unrealistic of them all," Mr. Ryan continued.
"But... that's what I want to do with my life," Tina said, a lot of people including me agreeing with her. It may not have been what I wrote but dance was what I wanted to do as a career.
"Oh, look, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, I'm just trying to spare you disappointment,"
"I think we get your point," Mr. Schue said to Mr. Ryan.
"Aw, well, Schuester here's a prime example. He used to have that glimmer of hope in his eyes that I can see right now in all of yours. But he couldn't make it happen for himself, so he now has to try and convince you all that it will happen for you. Guess what? His dream didn't work out. And neither will yours," Mr. Ryan said.
Beside me Tina let out a sob, so, I reached over and grabbed her hand smiling over at her when she looked up at me. "Okay, you're done here," Mr. Schue said, seeing Tina starting to cry.
"You would be wise to show me some respect," Mr. Ryan said, turning to Mr. Schue neither man happy with the other.
"You've said your piece. Now get out," Mr. Schue said, more firm this time.
"Well, Schuester, I should thank you. You've made my decision about which program to cut a lot easier," Mr. Ryan said, leaving the room.
♫
I don't realize until after I had left the choir room, but I was missing my notebook, the one I wrote my dream in. So, I headed back to the choir room expecting it to be empty, but instead, I found Tina there picking something out of the trash can. She pulled out a piece of paper, the one Artie had written his dream on. Tina looked shocked reading over the paper. "Um, Tina is everything alright,"
"Ye-yeah," Tina said. "I was j-just-"
"Reading Artie's dream," I supple for her, "it's alright I'd be curious too, I mean I am curious, but I just came back because I left my notebook, can I see that," I walked over to Tina reading the paper upside down before she could move it out of my view. It had said 'Dancer' the same thing I had thought about writing.
"He wants to dance," I asked confused.
"I-i had no idea,"
"How could you, I doubt it was something he wanted to share," I say. Tina looked sad, I could tell she really cared and wanted to help Artie succeed in his dream. "Hey, maybe the two of you could do a dance for the glee club,"
"Y-yeah, That's a good idea, T-thanks Carrie," Tina said, heading out of the room. I smiled, making my way over to the chair I was sitting in earlier and looking around it for my notebook. It wasn't there.
♫
I still hadn't found my notebook by the next day, which wouldn't have been a problem if it didn't also have the history notes I needed for an upcoming test. I asked Mr. Schue and pretty much every member of the glee club if they'd seen the notebook, but none of them had. Before I gave up and went and asked one of my classmates to borrow their notes I decided to check the choir room one more time.
I went to enter the choir room just as Tina exited it. "Hey Tina," I say, almost bumping into her.
"H-hi," She said, she sounded sad again. "b-bye," Tina walked past me down the hallway.
"Have you seen my history notebook?" I called after her but she didn't answer, she may not have even heard me. So, I just shrugged entering the choir room to find Artie laying face first on the floor. "Why are you on the floor?" I asked.
"because I'm pathetic," Artie answered.
I opened my mouth, quickly closing it not sure what to say. "I doubt that's true," I finally say, walking over to Artie and leaning down to help him up.
"I can do it myself," He said.
"Okay sure, let's see it," I say. Artie just groaned taking my hand. "so, what's your problem?" I asked as I helped him back into his chair.
"I can't dance," Artie answered.
"No, Finn can't dance," I say. "Last time I checked you can dance just fine,"
a small ghost of a smile appeared on Artie's face. "Except my legs,"
"don't matter," I cut him off, "there are plenty of dancers in wheelchairs, just because it's not dancing in the usual interruption, doesn't mean it's not dancing."
"I just want to dance with my girlfriend,"
"Then dance with her. Tina will not care if you are good at dancing, or if you suck, or if you don't dance at all for that matter," I say, starting to look around the room under chairs and speakers for my notebook.
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but-. What are you doing?" Artie asked, watching me.
"I lost my notebook," I say, opening the lid of the piano, I didn't think the notebook would be in there but I was running out of ideas. "It has my history notes in it. The one's for the test,"
"You can borrow my notes," Artie said.
"Thanks," I say, looking over at Artie, "but this notebook also had my dream written in it, the one Bryan Ryan made as write, and I'd-i'd just like it back,"
"Why? I figured you would have written dancer," Arties said
"right, right. except I didn't," I admitted, "so if you happen to see my notebook, return it to me."
"Yeah of course," Artie said, wheeling slightly back and forth, clearly wanting to ask me what I'd written.
"Thanks," I say, smiling, starting to head out of the choir room. "I see you around, and I can't wait to see your and Tina's dance."
♫
Somehow Mr. Schue convinced Bryan Ryan to change his mind and now the guy was more on board about glee club than I think we members of the glee club were. he was in the choir room showing off a box full of things he got for us. "Guys, I've got good news. I siphoned off funds from the Cheerios and I took a little shopping spree through the Jazzhands catalogue. You know why? 'Cause the arts matter," He explained, pulling out a jean jacket from the box. "And I got custom-made New Directions jean jackets and some rad tearaway dancewear. Hello. And every piece of sheet music from every Broadway show for the last 50 years. Everything a show choir needs to become champions."
"Wow, that's just amazing. Let's all give a hand for Mr. Ryan," Mr. Schue said, and we all clapped.
"Thank you. Thank you," Bryan said, as Sue entered the room.
"Congratulations, Will. I'm over the moon for you," She said to Mr. Schue.
"Thanks, Sue. I'm glad you have a good attitude about your budget being cut, Mr. Schue said back to her.
"No, no, I'm not talking about that. I came over here to congratulate you on your new role. Local director, Herb Duncan, does the dry cleaning for the Cheerios and he let it slip that you just landed the lead in Les Miz! Congratulations. Oh, I'm ecstatic. And the good news just keeps coming, 'cause you got a part, too, Bry. The exciting role of Townsperson. And you got a line, too. Way back here in the second act, you get to say..."Hooray." Congratulations, both of you, really. I can't wait for opening night," Sue explained, leaving the room again. Bryan was clearly upset by the news about not getting the lead.
"Wait, Bryan," Mr. Schue said, also clearly noticing how upset Bryan was about the news.
"Congratulations, Will. You're going to be great in the show," Bryan said, bitterly, grabbing back the things he had bought for us and throwing them back into the box.
"Can we talk about this?" Mr. Schue asked him.
"Nothing to talk about. I'm cutting the program," Bryan said, taking the next and leaving the choir room.
♫
I sat in the library studying for my history tests with the notes I borrowed from Artie and my textbook. I still wished I had my own notes but I was starting to believe I was never gonna see the damn thing ever again when It was placed down in front of me. I looked up at the person who dropped the notebook to see Tina standing in front of me. "I-i think this is yours," Tina said, sliding into the chair across from me. She both looked and sounded sad.
"Yeah, it is thanks," I said, smiling over at her. "Is everything alright?"
"A-artie decided he didn't want to do the dance with me," She answered.
"Oh," I say, "well is everything okay with you two,"
"Yeah," She said, "He's still going to sing, he just decided not to dance,"
"So, are you still going to dance,"
"Y-yes," she answered
"by yourself? or-" I asked.
"I-i don't know," she admitted. "Would you be my dance partner?"
"Oh, um, I would love to, but because I lose this notebook," I say, pulling my notebook towards me. "I haven't been able to study for the history test, and because I haven't studied, now I'm gonna have to cram, so I can get at least a b+, I don't really have time to learn the dance and study. I'm sorry, but maybe you can ask Mike, he's always down to dance,"
"I Understand," Tina said, standing up plain to I assume go off and find Mike to ask him to be her dance partner, but stopped and turned back to face me. "Carrie,"
"Yeah?" I asked, looking over at her.
"about your notebook" Tina started, "I-i saw your dream,". I looked away from Tina, and down at the table.
"I-i didn't mean to read it, but-," Tina started to say. "You know you have a family right,"
"Yeah, I have Emma," I say fiddling with my pencil.
"I-i meant us, the New Direction," Tina said. "W-we're your family,".
"Thanks, Tina. You're a good friend," I said, looking back up at her. Tina smiled weakly at me, before leaving the library. I started thinking about what Tina had said, about the new directions being my family, and I knew she was right. They may be dysfunctional as hell but what good family wasn't.
♫
"All right, guys, listen up. Tina has something that she wants to share with all of us, but first, I have an announcement to make. You've all been reprieved. Bryan Ryan isn't cutting Glee," Mr. Schue announced to the glee club doing the next practice, causing the room to fill with applause.
"Did he die?" Puck asked once the clapping died down.
"No. He didn't die," Mr. Schue answered. "He, uh, is going to be distracted for a couple of months making his star turn in Les Miz. He got the lead role."
"But I thought you got the lead," Quinn said.
"I resigned. It was the price for keeping the club,"
"Sorry you had to do that, Mr. Schue," Finn said.
"I'm not. You know. th-the way I see it, I'm trading my one dream for the chance that all 13 of you might find yours. I mean, come on– you can't argue with those numbers. So, let's start with Tina's dream. Come on up, Tina," Mr. Schue explained. Tina got to her feet and moved to the front of the room, high-fiving Mr. Schue. "I understand that you whipped up a little dance number for us– a breakout that we might use at Regionals,"
"Yes," Tina answered, looking briefly at Artie before looking away from him.
"You got a dance partner?" Mr. Schue asked.
Tina looked briefly at Artie then over to me before answering the question, I gave her a reassuring smile. "Mike Chang,"