The New Directions were waiting for their teacher in the choir room. Puckerman had taken a seat behind the piano, but was strangely enough playing his guitar. Florence had gotten enough of all the couples in the room, and was seated on top of the piano.
"Alright, New Directions" Mr. Schuester spoke, directing Puck and Florence to their seats. The only empty chair were next to each other, Puck smirked and patted on the chair beside him. Florence sighed and took a seat next to him. "Big news!" Mr. Schuester continued, "As you all know, Vocal Adrenaline came in second last year at Nationals"
Finn seemed to have a flashback as he stared at the ground. "The only good thing to come out of that lost weekend" He chuckled. Rachel didn't find it that funny and harshly nudged his arm. "Oh.. Besides us getting back together" Finn quickly corrected himself.
Mr. Schuester interrupted. "Well, the boosters at Carmel don't donate tens of thousands of dollars every year to come in second, so they fired Dustin Goolsby" He spoke.
"So handsome" Artie and Florence both whispered. Puck felt ignored and flexed his muscles before placing his arm around the girls' shoulder.
"I'm gonna count to three" Florence bitched. Puck seemed to understand what she meant and quickly removed his arm.
"Anyways, they're having trouble finding a new coach, it seems that no one wants to take on that pressure cooker" Mr. Schuester explained.
"Which means they're vulnerable, right?" Tina questioned
Mr. Schuester nodded happily. "Yes. And if we work hard enough, we can beat them. Which is why I've realized that, uhm... I can't direct the musical this year" He added, an apologetic look on his face.
Rachel looked like she was about to have a stroke, and Florence found it very entertaining. She didn't really care about the musical this year, if it wasn't for Kurt she would't even be in the Glee Club.
"But Mr. Schue!" Rachel yelled, standing up. "You can't cancel the musical! My New York dreams depend on it!"
"I'm not cancelling it" Mr. Schuester explained, "I'm not cancelling it, I'm just not directing it. My sole focus has to be in here. Nationals" The teacher spoke, walking over to the whiteboard to write on it. "And it's not just me that has to focus harder this year. I've been too easy on you"
Artie spun around to see if his classmates thought the same as he did. Florence was the only one looking back at him and she sent him a questioning look. When the letters bootycamp appeared on the board, a sigh escaped from multiple mouths.
"So everyday after choir practice I'm instituting a mandatory bootycamp so that we can work on our dancing" The teacher explained, "Now, it's not for all of you, just the people that I think need help... Like, Finn, Puckerman and Hummel"
"Which one?" Florence asked, already knowing the answer but motioning her hands between her and Kurt. Mr. Schuester smiled and pointed at the male Hummel.
Mike smiled at Brittany and Florence. He placed his hands in the air, waiting for the girls to answer his high-five. Both of them send him a smile and smacked their hands against his.
"I must protest!" Kurt huffed. Mike and Florence both sent the boy a questioning look and Kurt rolled his eyes at them.
"You kinda only have one move, Kurt" Mike smiled, "It's like this" Mike placed his hands before his chest and shook his shoulders quickly. "And it's very distracting"
Florence laughed "That's exactly what our ballet teacher said ten years ago" She huffed. Kurt sighed and slid down in his chair, immediately being comforted by Blaine.
"Jones" Mr. Schuester continued. Mercedes looked extremely insulted as she heard her name. Brittany sensed the tension and her jaw dropped, not believing what she was hearing either.
"What?" Mercedes laughed, "Hell to the nizzy-no"
"You told me once you were Beyonce. You don't think she spends extra time in the dance studio?" Mr. Schuester argued. Mercedes seemed slightly less offended and he carried on. "Mike Chang has offered to be my assistent. We start tomorrow" Mr. Schuester explained. Puck raised his hand, but the teacher was a few steps ahead of him. "And yes, Puckerman, it is mandatory"
Blaine also raised his hand, but he had a different question in mind. "Mr. Schuester, would you mind if I dropped by for a little bit? I really need to catch up with you guys" He spoke. Mr. Schuester nodded happily and Blaine smiled back at him.
Rachel only seemed to have the musical on her mind as she sighed before speaking again. "Okay, Mr. Schue, I'm glad that you're concerned with our special needs members, but what about me? Who's going to direct the musical?"
Mr. Schuester had an answer prepared for everything today. He smiled at Rachel's question and pointed at the door. "Ladies and Gentlemen... Your co-musical directors!" He announced proudly, "Ms. Pillsbury and Coach Beiste!"
The two teachers entered the room and the reactions were mixed. While some people were happy to hear that the musical wasn't completely cancelled, Rachel still seemed to be disappointed Mr. Schuester wasn't directing.
"Ms. Pillsbury did such a good job on helping me out with Rocky Horror last year that I knew she could handle the job" Mr. Schuester explained, seeing how some of his student seemed surprised by his choice of teachers.
"And I'm here to keep the football guys in line" Coach Beiste introduced herself, "And I've also talked them into playing the Jets" She spoke, earning some appreciative looks across the room.
Rachel sighed "Mr. Schue, with all due respect-
"Here we go" Florence huffed
"With all due respect to Ms. Pillsbury and Coach Beiste, this is crazy. They have absolutely zero experience in directing a musical!" Rachel continued, still feeling as if she was being wronged by the whole situation.
"Not true" Coach Beiste replied, "In college I was in A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. I played the forum
Mr. Schuester sighed before continuing. "The teachers at this school are already overworked and unfortunately a lot of them agree with Sue that the arts are a waist of time. Besides, they are gonna have some help... I decided to include a student director this year"
Rachel's interest was sparked at the last sentence. "Mr. Schue, I'm honored. But Barbra was forty when she directed herself in Yentl, so it's just... It's too soon" She spoke, placing her hands on her heart.
"I hate you" Brittany loudly spoke. Florence laughed and Brittany smiled at her, raising her hand in hopes of yet another high-five.
"I was actually hoping that Artie would take the job" Mr. Schuester said, his eyes on the boy in the wheelchair. Florence let out an even louder laugh as Artie looked up in surprise.
"Me?" The spectacled boy asked, not believing what he was hearing. "I've developed my whole persona around conflict avoidance" He softly spoke, the look on his face looking like he thought Mr. Schuester was playing a joke on him.
Tina sent Artie an encouraging smile. "Come on, Artie. You've made short films, directing is your dream. You can do it" She spoke. To everyone's surprise, Rachel didn't seem to be upset, she was even smiling at Artie.
Seeing how everyone looked confident he could do it, Artie smiled. "Im in"
ꕥ
Quinn and Florence were enjoying the last summer sun in the garden of the Hudson-Hummel household. Quinn was smoking a cigarette. Florence had also one placed between her lips, but Kurt had snatched it from her mouth before she got the chance to light it.
"I'm thinking about dying my hair black" Florence suddenly mumbled. She had bought multiple colors of hair-dye recently, and the black bottle had been calling her name ever since she brought it home.
"That's a great idea" Quinn agreed, "But you know what would be even better? Talking about your problems instead of dying your hair for the hundredth time"
Florence just huffed. "Oh, like you're one to talk?" She bitched. Quinn laughed and nodded. She suddenly sat up straight and removed the cigarette from her mouth.
"You still haven't told me what happened with you and Sam" She spoke. Motioning towards the lettermen jacket that was in his usual spot, around Florence's shoulder.
A knot formed in Florence's stomach at that name. "That's not true" She sighed, "I told you what happened"
Quinn rolled her eyes. "You broke up, I know. But you haven't told me the story behind it yet" She explained.
"Since when do you need to know every single detail of my life?" Florence mumbled.
Quinn laughed. "Since we swore to be best friends in second grade, now spill the tea" She smiled, leaning back into her lawn chair.
"Fine" Florence sighed. She tried to empty out her mind, hoping to find the memory she had shoved away so many times.
It was hot outside, the grass had turned yellow and the stones in the parking were practically melting. As a man and a woman were placing item after item into one car, two teens stood across each other under a pink cherry blossom. The blonde boy had tears in his eyes as he held the girls' soft hand. The girl ran a hand trough her long, brown hair as she took a deep breath.
"Promise me you'll come back someday" Florence spoke, her voice breaking at the last word.
Sam smiled at her, trying his best to look happy even though his face was completely taken over by the sadness he was feeling. "I promise" He softly whispered, unsure if he was telling the truth, but hoping he was with every part of his body.
He cleared his throat, hoping Florence hadn't seen the tear escape from his eye. "I uhm... I still have your ring" He whispered. He slowly reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out the ring Florence gave him during Regionals all those months ago. He held it in front of her, but she didn't take it from him.
"Keep it" She smiled sadly. Sam thought about it for a while. Eventually he smiled back at her and placed the ring around one of his fingers.
"Sure" He whispered, "Only because I'm going to be giving it back to you someday. In a much happier setting than this"
It was quiet for a while as the two just stared at the ground in silence. The hot summer sun shining down on them. "Sam! We're done packing!" Sam's father suddenly yelled from the parking lot, startling both kids.
Florence shut her eyes, hoping to somehow freeze the time. Sam carefully grabbed her hand and she looked up. A tear rolled over her face, which had gained even more freckles now because of the sun. She wiped it away with the sleeve of the coat she had on. When she looked down she realized it was Sam's. Before she could say anything, Sam cut her off. "Keep it. As a promise i'll be back" He softly spoke.
She smiled sadly as she stared into the eyes of the person before her. Sam dad yelled his name again as a sign they were really leaving. Florence positioned herself onto the tips of her toes and softly pressed a kiss onto Sam's cheek. She started laughing when she saw his cheeks starting to blush.
"Oh shut up" Sam mumbled, "I don't know why, but you still have that effect on me after all this time"
After his dad yelled for him a third time, he sighed. He softly placed one hand onto Florence's cheek. She smiled at him and placed her arm around his shoulder. He leaned down a bit, pressing his forehead against Florence's before kissing her for the very last time.
After what seemed like multiple minutes, the two separated. Sam planted a small kiss onto her forehead before quickly making his way to his family. Tears streamed down Florence's cheek as she saw the car drive away. She placed her hand into her pockets, feeling something that wasn't there before.
As she got it out, she noticed it was a page from Sam's school notebook, folded so many times that it fitted into the pocket of the letterman jacket. It had Flo written on it in Sam's writing. Florence doubted briefly if she wanted to open it yet, but the feeling of it being the last thing he gave to her made her push it back into her pocket.
Quinn stared at her in awe. "That's so cute" She mumbled. "Like something out of a romance novel" She added, apparently having a different idea of romantic than her friend had.
"Yea, it was the best day of my life" Florence sarcastically spoke. Kurt hurried into the yard, a glittery sheet of paper stuck on his hand.
"Help me! These are flyers for my campaign, but Brittany went a little crazy with the glue and now they're everywhere" He cried, desperately trying to keep the glitter sheet away from his white shirt. Florence sighed and got up. She walked into he house, the lettermen jacket tied around her waist.
ꕥ
Florence was admiring the photos in her locker when she was suddenly surprised by Noah Puckerman. He had been flirting with her ever since Sam left town, and Florence didn't know what she thought of it. She wasn't really into him, but she liked the attention he gave her.
"What do you want, Puck" Florence sighed. Peeking at a picture of her and Sam in her locker before closing it.
"I wanted to ask you out" Puck spoke, straight forward as always. Florence stared at him, hoping he'd tell her he was kidding, he unfortunately didn't.
"You're joking, right? You've asked me out a hundred times, and that's only this week. And I told you I'm not interested every single time" She bitched, tucking a loose strand of blue hair behind her ear.
Puck smirked at her. "And I know you well enough to know that that isn't true" He spoke. When Florence looked at him confusedly, he chuckled. "That thing you just did, tucking you hair behind your ear, you only do that when you like someone"
Florence focussed her gaze on the floor as she felt caught. "Damn you" She mumbled. Puck had accomplished his goal and was now just staring at the girl in front of him.
"Just give me a chance" Puck smiled.
Florence laughed. "I already gave you a chance. Two years ago. And you cheated on me" She spoke, memories flowing back into both kids' minds.
"And I apologized!" Puck smiled, "And it wasn't really cheating, it was only Berry and we didn't even sleep together" He spoke, finding it a good enough apology. Florence didn't think so, but was also mildly flattered by the way he still looked at her.
Puck opened his locker. In contrast to Florence's locker, which was decorated from top to bottom, he only had some empty food packages, a few books and a small stack of photos in his locker. He grabbed the photos and shoved one under Florence's nose.
There were two people in the picture, a boy and a girl. The girl had a pair of pink glasses on her freckled nose and matching braces on her teeth. The boy had a muscular arm around the girls' shoulder. Both kids were smiling brightly.
"You see this. Look how happy we are" Puck smiled, pointing at the picture. "This also proved that I don't just like you because of your looks"
"Thanks, dude" Florence huffed.
Puck sighed. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you might be hot now, but I liked you back when you didn't look like this. That proves something, right?" He explained. When Florence still didn't say a word, he continued. "I never meant to hurt you, you know"
"Well, you shouldn't have cheated on me then" Florence shot, "Oh, and impregnating my best friend was also not a great move" She added.
"About that..." Puck began. Florence's head shot up and she raised an eyebrow. Puck smiled at her expression and softly grabbed her arm. "No one is pregnant, don't worry" He laughed. "But I kinda have a favor to ask you"
"What did you do this time?" Florence sighed. Puck shot her a charming smile, slightly catching her off-guard.
"I was wondering if you would come to see Beth with me. I want to get to know my daughter and maybe if Shelby sees that I'm in a stable relationship she'll allow me to see her" Puck spoke. It all made sense to Florence, except for one part of his story.
"But we aren't in a relationship?" She questioned.
"Shelby doesn't know that" Puck smirked. "And we could be, I'm all for it" He added. Florence smiled at him. "Just go on a date with me" Puck cried, "Just one"
Florence thought about that for a moment. She still wasn't over Sam, not in the slightest even, but maybe it would be good for her to go out with someone else. "Fine" She eventually decided.
"One date"