"Michael Chang..." Winnie smirked as she made her way toward Mike as soon as she noticed her best friend at the end of the hallway. "Oh, you look good! Chicago is treating you well, I see."
Mike laughed, pulling Winnie in for a hug as they laughed together for the first time in a while.
"Oh, I've missed you!" Mike smiled as soon as he pulled away from her. "And Chicago is awesome. You still haven't visited me, though."
"I will, I promise." Winnie smiled. "Maybe it will be my graduation gift."
"Do it." Mike nodded, all excited. "I have a few restaurants and places that I need to show you."
Winnie nodded then, walking with Mike down the hallway as the boy talked on and on about Chicago and Joffrey, every once in a while asking her about her life in Lima and, as much as Winnie didn't have that much to tell him, she did tell him what she was planning on doing after school, which she had yet to tell anyone yet.
Walking into the choir room, the two of them were hit with a wave of nostalgia pf all of the good times they had spent together in that very room. Smiling at everyone inside the room, they greeted them briefly before moving closer to Mercedes, who was talking to Unique, so the four of them could discuss Mercedes' upcoming album.
From the corner of her eye, Winnie could see Rachel talking to Sam, Blaine and Tina about her Broadway debut and she could tell she was basking in the attention, much like Mercedes. Before either of the girls could even properly say anything, however, Mr. Schue arrived, walking inside the choir room as everyone moved to take a seat. Rachel and Mercedes exchanged a glance before rushing toward the one chair right at the front and right in the middle of the room at the same time.
"Greet each other." Kurt practically growled at the two of them as Winnie chuckled.
"Hello, Rachel." Mercedes sent the girl a fake smile as she fixed her jacket over her shoulders. "I am so happy to hear about all of your success."
"Oh, thank you so much, Mercedes." Rachel responded in the same fake tone. "And you are looking well."
"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll make my way to the back of the bus."
As Mercedes moved to sit beside Kurt in the second row, Mr. Schue walked toward the white board, writing down 100.
"100 lessons." The teacher announced as they all cheered a bit.
"Hey, can I get Finn's plaque when we clear this place out?" Puck asked as Mr. Schue shook his head.
"No, the plaque stays here." He said. "Lillian and Finn belong here at McKinley. It means so much to me that so many of you came back on such short notice to celebrate the past few years. To sit in this room one last time and sing. Your assignment is to sing one of the songs we sang in here, but reinvented in some way. Way back in the old days when I started the glee club, I would give an assignment, and then I would... I would give a little demonstration of what I was looking for."
Again, the kids cheered.
"See, you all cheer now, but just wait till he starts rapping." Santana said as everyone laughed a bit.
"Okay, no hip-hop today, Santana." Mr. Schue smiled. "However, I have asked a very special person to come join me. And it seemed appropriate since her contributions helped save the glee club, or at least the auditorium way back when. Please welcome, all the way from Broadway, Miss April Rhodes!"
And as soon as April walked into the room, the kids erupted in cheers and claps, happy to see the familiar face. The woman smiled as she walked inside, greeting them all before starting to talk about her adventures on Broadway in her very unique April Rhodes' way, ending up with all the kids reunited around the piano as she talked.
"So, Mr. Moneybags says to me, he says, April Rhodes, you sing like an angel and make love like a tiger. But the old ball and chain's got your number. So I'm afraid I gots to set you loose. So, you know what he did? He bought me an island!" She said. "That's right. I own my own island in the Caribbean called Santa Abrilrodeo. It's not war-torn or filled with landslides or got destitute locals in it. Just me and my manservant Kadeem. With long, sensuous nights full of home-brewed poi and intimate massage..."
"Okay, thank you, April, for that... Wonderful lesson in female empowerment." Mr. Schue interrupted her before she could get into too much detail.
"Amen!" April called out.
"Amen, but... Why are we all holding these plastic champagne flutes?" Artie asked.
"Cause we are about to pop the cork with some bubbly. But don't worry, this Spumante is virgin." She said, before turning to Unique. "Probably like you will be for a long time. Anyways... Will and I want you to raise your glass to celebrate the glee club by singing hands down the best song New Directions ever did."
"Wait a second, the New Directions never sang Raise Your Glass." Blaine pointed out, causing April to turn to him with a frown. "The Warblers did that."
"I was wondering why it didn't annoy me every time I heard it in my head." She mumbled, before shrugging as she winked at Blaine. "I always have had a soft spot in my heart for you prep school boys. Well... Honk! Hit it, boys."
***
Winnie could barely look away from the Unholy Trinity as they did their very sexy performance of Toxic for the class and, just like everyone else, she cheered and clapped for them, frowning, almost offended, at the way Quinn's Yale boyfriend, Biff McIntosh, had seemed to be more interested on his phone than on his girlfriend.
"That is what I'm talking about, kiddos!" April praised the girls as they all smiled at her "What did you think, Mr. Preppy McDimplebutt?"
At that, Biff finally lifted his eyes and coughed a little when he noticed all of the eyes on him.
"Oh, I thought it was, hum, very energetic." He said, as Winnie practically scoffed.
He definitely hadn't watched a second of the performance because calling that energetic was almost a crime in itself.
"Dude, you were texting the whole time." Mike pointed out.
"Yeah, well, he's very busy." Quinn was quick to defend him as everyone rolled their eyes at Quinn. There she was again... Letting yet another man define her life. "He's, hum, president of a... Of a secret society and also captain of the water polo team."
When was she gonna learn? Quinn was so much more than the punks she dated and she definitely didn't need a man to feel better. She was Quinn Fabray after all. Winnie debated whether she should intervene and have a conversation with her friend or not, but when she noticed the way Puck glared at Biff as Quinn practically skipped over to her boyfriend when the bell rang, she decided maybe she should let fate fix that one.
***
"All right, everybody, I wish I could say that this week isn't about competing against each other, but time for one last diva-off!" Mr. Schue said, as Mercedes and Rachel stood in the middle of the choir room, refusing to look at one another with Kurt beside them, clearly unamused. "And apparently, the only song we can sing in a diva-off is Defying Gravity."
"Wait. So we have to listen to Kurt shred that note again?" Santana asked, as Kurt just sighed.
"For the millionth time, I did it on purpose." He defended.
"And after we're done singing the song, there will be a secret ballot where you guys can finally answer the age-old question: Who is the true star of the glee club, me or Mercedes?" Rachel said, before they all took their places so that they could all do their own rendition of Defying Gravity again, expecting some kind of recognition from the kids in that choir room. When they were all done, they all clapped.
"Bravo!" April called over the cheers. "The song should be on the Broadway."
"All right, let's stop playing around. It's time to vote." Mercedes said, frowning when Mr. Schue stood up.
"Actually, let's just take a beat and... And just enjoy how amazing those performances were." He said, as both Mercedes and Rachel turned to glare at him. "We'll sleep on it and vote tomorrow. But today, right now, you are all winners."
Winnie could tell neither of the girls was too pleased with it, but she understood. After all, that was not the first time Mr. Schue basically tried to step away from a competition between his students as if not to pick a side - even though they all already knew he did anyway. And, by the looks of it, it wouldn't be the last either.
***
"Okay, guys, we're having our secret ballot at the end of class, but before we get to that, Puckerman have asked to do a number." Mr. Schue said, as Puck stood up from his seat.
"Actually, Mr. Shue, we were hoping for this number that..."
"Hold up, hold up, Private Puckerman." Santana interrupted him as she walked into the room. "I'm gonna let you finish, but first, I would like to uphold the tradition of hijacking this glee club and making everyone sit through what is basically an intervention."
Puck sighed, but sat down anyway when Santana practically kicked her out of the center of the room.
"Mr. Shue, you said that we could redo some of our favorite numbers, right?" Santana asked, as the teacher nodded. "Well, then I want to do a dance duet with Brittany."
Brittany shook her head a bit, but smiled a a little when everyone cheered. Santana smiled too, before turning to the band with a nod.
"Hit it."
Santana started off the song, looking at Brittany and inviting her for a dance. Winnie instantly recognized the first notes of Valerie started playing, shimming her shoulders a bit as she leaned toward Mike, who was dancing in his chair a bit as well. It wasn't until Mike joined in that Brittany finally let go, singing and dancing with Santana as Mike pulled Winnie up to her feet to dance with her as the other two girls started dancing with each other. Everyone cheered when they were done, Winnie and Mike moving to take their seats back as Santana turned to Brittany with a smile.
"See? This is who you are." She said, as Brittany offered her a gentle smile. "This is what happens when you don't think about it."
"Well, I wouldn't want to follow that number, but, hum... If you two are still up for it, Puck..."
After Mr. Schue's speech, Puck stood up again.
"Well, you know what, for our number, I think we should move to the auditorium."
And so they did, everyone walked out of the room and toward the auditorium, sitting in a circle on stage, making sure Quinn was right in the middle. Keeping his eyes on the blonde girl, Puck started his solo version of Keep Holdin' On and, by the second chorus, all of the original glee members stood up as well to join in the singing and recreate, the best they could, the performance they had done for Quinn when the pregnancy scandal went out to the whole school.
Winnie bit her lip when she noticed Quinn crying. Puck placed his guitar down and walked over to Quinn. The rest of the kids walked away to leave Puck and Quinn alone to talk, all hoping that, this time around, Quinn would finally understand letting go of her past didn't mean denying it altogether.
***
"All right, everybody! No more drama." Mr. Schue said as the kids reunited in the choir room again. "Time to vote for either Rachel or Mercedes."
"Excuse me, Schuester." Santana said, as she stood from her chair, causing everyone to look at her. "Before we cast another pointless vote in a meaningless contest that has absolutely no practical ramifications whatsoever, I would like to say some words about my good friend Rachel Berry."
Surprised by the initiative, Mr. Schue allowed her to speak, Rachel perking up at the prospect of being praised as she stood beside Mercedes. Bad idea, really, and, honestly, they should have known, after all, weren't Rachel and Santana in one of their bad phases anyway?
"Rachel Berry is the most horrible human being on the planet." Santana said, as Rachel gasped.
"What?"
"Can it, troll."
"Santana..." Mr. Schue warned, but, as per usual, Santana just ignored him as she kept on talking.
"You have sold half the people in this room down the river more times than I can count so that you can get a solo or the lead in a musical, and I'm pretty sure that you don't know the names of the other half of the people." Santana said.
"That's not true." Rachel protested.
"All right, what is his name?" Santana pointed at Ryder, as Rachel hesitated for a second.
"Rick." She decided, as Winnie rolled her eyes. Of course she wouldn't know.
"Exactly. Thank you." Santana said, as Ryder mouthed his name to Rachel and the girl winced, knowing she had just proved Santana's point in front of everyone else. "See, you've all met Rachel, okay? But I've... I live with her. Let me tell you what it's like to share a bathroom with this stubby, undergrown little cretin. Someone in that apartment shaves their face and leaves their stubble in the sink, and we all know it ain't Kurt, so do the math."
"That's a lie." Rachel squeaked.
"You know what else is a lie? When you won Prom Queen." Santana retorted without missing a beat.
"What?" Rachel asked, as Winnie and Quinn looked down, already knowing what was coming next.
"Yeah, that's right. You didn't win, okay?" Santana said, as Rachel just stared at her with her mouth hanging open. "Everybody just felt really bad for you, and the three people that you hate most in this whole world, Quinn, Winnie and I, stuffed the ballot box so that you would win."
Winnie bit her lip, looking down at her lap and completely missing the way Rachel's face contorted from hurt to angry and then all the way to humiliated.
"You're so cruel, Santana." She whimpered, causing Winnie to snap her head up in surprise. "I mean, you're only doing this to me because I'm the lead of Funny Girl and you're just the lowly understudy. You want to make me feel bad because I'm better than you. And you're an awful person."
Widening her eyes a bit when Rachel walked out of the room, only to be followed by Mercedes, Winnie spun in her chair a bit to look at Santana as the older girl dusted off her dress a little bit and sat down with a relieved smile.
"Oh! I feel so much better." She sighed happily. "Let's vote."
***
"All right, everybody." Mr. Schue said as everyone turned to look at him. "It's time to get this voting nonsense out of the way so that we can continue on with what you all came here for: the music."
"Y'all can use your left hand for anonymity." April said.
"But I'm left-handed." Sam pointed out, as April shrugged.
"Then use a foot."
"Okay."
"Oh my God..." Winnie rolled her eyes when she noticed how Sam was, in fact, trying to use his foot. She didn't stop him, though. Watching him struggling to write down his vote was so much funnier anyway.
After writing down her own vote, Winnie gave her slip to Mr. Schue when he came to collect the votes, walking toward the piano to count them.
"Okay, that's everybody." He announced, as he started to sorted out the votes just as Rachel and Mercedes walked back into the room.
"So, hum, sorry about that outburst earlier." Rachel smiled gently as Mercedes stood beside her with a nod of her head. "Mercedes and I have been talking..."
"And we both realize that asking you guys to vote for who's more talented is just... It's completely ridiculous, unproductive and narcissistic." Mercedes continued. "I mean, how could we ask you guys to choose between two beautiful queen divas?"
"Well, funny enough, they did vote and they did choose." Mr. Schue said, as everyone turned to look at him. "And guess what? You're both equally talented in their eyes. And mine."
With a laugh, Mercedes and Rachel exchanged a hug and everyone clapped. Before anyone could say anything else, however, April moved to the center of the choir room as the two girls took their seats beside one another.
"Excuse me, excuse me." She said, as Mr. Schue sent her a rather disappointed look. "I'd like to apologize. It's not the first time I've raised someone's hopes and then left them on the rocky shores of disappointment and regret. Just ask all of my A.A. sponsors."
"April?" Mr. Schue called. "We just want to spend the rest of the week singing in peace."
"But I did do was use the last few hours of my NetJets account to bring in someone whose infectious happiness surely will make the next few days that much brighter." April continued, pointing at the door as Winnie raised an eyebrow, wondering who she was talking about. "Ladies and gentlemen..."
Winnie gasped excitedly and clapped along with everyone else when no one other than Holly Holiday herself slid — yes, slid — into the room with a smile, stopping right at the middle of the choir room.
"Hola, clase." She smirked, before turning to April. "April, thank you for buttering the floor for me. You know I like to make an entrance."
"Wait, I'm-I'm sorry." Mr. Schue laughed a bit, causing the two women to turn to look at him. "How do you two know each other?"
"Oh, because there's a whole Facebook page for people who were guests of Glee Club." Ms. Holiday shrugged. "I'm on it, April..."
"Blaine's brother, Rachel's mom, that Mexican guy." April continued.
"Holly..." Mr. Schue smiled as he walked toward his friend. "This is amazing. Where have you been?"
"Oh, I've been everywhere." She shrugged, turning back around to the kids. "I quit being a substitute teacher because I couldn't stand being tied down. I like teaching a room full of kids if I know I'm never gonna see them again, but then, if you're any good at it, they keep asking you back, which kind of defeats the purpose. So, I started my trademark Holly Holliday Teachin' Pop-Ups. I just show up at a classroom unannounced, teach a lesson and get the hell out of there. But when I heard Glee Club was ending, I ripped off my Pol Pot uniform, hopped on that first flight out of Buenos Aires and came to pay my respects."
"Hum, Holly, you know that we're singing our favorite Glee Club songs we've already sung before." Rachel said, clearly expecting to hear something from the substitute teacher, only to be turned down by her.
"That's a terrible idea!" She said, as Winnie snorted under her breath at Rachel's offended face.
"Listen, that might be fine for you nerds, but when Holly Holliday is in town, this hot bitch is not looking in the rearview mirror; she's looking forward." She said, turning to the band as they started to play Happy for her to sing and dance around with the kids. "Hit it!"
***
"I want to show you guys something." Mr. Schue said, his voice soft and low as if scared of talking too loud and bursting that little bubble that he and his oldest students found themselves in after reuniting in the auditorium, in front of Finn's plaque at his request. "All of you that were together from the very beginning when the glee club was just a dream. Their new and final resting places. For as long as McKinley's around, all the students who travel through this auditorium are gonna see these."
"And have absolutely no idea who they are." Winnie whispered sadly as Santana nodded from beside her.
"You know what? This is crazy." She said. "Because I could really give two poops about this place, but this is really getting to me."
"I know." Quinn agreed. "Why is that?"
"We were all raised by different parents." Mr. Schue said. "But we grew up together in the glee club. It's a part of all of us. Of course you're sad about it."
"I don't know, Mr. Schue." Mike mumbled, sadly. "With this and Finn, it's kind of hard to believe that anything lasts."
"I don't have any more pep talks." Mr. Schue admitted, noticing all the kids looking at him, half-expecting him to speak. "I just have you guys. And the memory of the people on this wall. My friends. I mean, we share this special bond. We're the only ones in the world who know what this glee club meant to us. What it felt like to sing together. To be... To be together. And what it feels like to say good-bye to it."
Winnie wiped a single tear from her face, leaning against Mike as the boy rubbed a thumb over Winnie's exposed arm. From beside them, they heard a quiet sniffle and sent Rachel a small smile as she cried quietly in Kurt's arms, this whole situation probably getting to her more than at any of them.
"I didn't come here to cheer you up." Mr. Schue continued, his voice already breaking. "Just to thank you. To thank you for going on this ride with me. All right, come on. We've still got a few days until, hum, Sue shuts the lights out on the choir room, so... Let's make the most of them."
And as soon as he was done, Mr. Schue broke down, crying quietly as all the children huddled up around him and held onto each other, hanging on in the last few minutes they'd be having together and hoping that, despite the disband of the glee club, this bond they built with each other wouldn't break as well.