Autumn took a deep breath and walked through the front doors of McKinley High, keeping her head held high and avoiding the eyes on her. She walked up to where Puck was at his locker and put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.
"Good morning to you too," the mohawk boy smirked when they pulled away. "What was that for?"
"Just to put certain morons at this school in their place," said Autumn. "It's not important, though. Come on. We have an early morning Glee Club meeting."
Puck took Autumn's hand and the pair headed to the choir room. When they walked in, Rachel's eyes immediately fell on the couple, her heart dropping when the cheerleader didn't even look at her. She just tightened her hold on Puck's hand and joined the rest of the popular kids in the club.
"Competition," Mr. Schue said, turning around to the class after putting some pictures up on the board. "Every one of these people or elements was a champion in their own right, but they used competing with each other to make themselves even better."
"I don't understand how lighting is in competition with an above ground swimming pool," Kurt mumbled confusedly.
"Just go with it. You guys have become complacent. You were great at the invitational, but you gotta up your game if you wanna get through sectionals. Okay, split up. Guys on the left side, girls on the right side. Let's go. Come on."
Puck placed a quick kiss on Autumn's cheek before moving over to the boy's side. The brunette moved to the girl's side and stood next to Quinn.
"Uh, Kurt." Mr. Schue nodded to the other side of the room. "Boys team."
The brunette boy rolled his eyes and moved over to the boy's side.
"Here's the deal," the teacher began. "Two teams. Boys versus girls. One week from today, you will each perform a mash-up of your choice."
"What's a mash-up?" Puck asked.
"A mash-up is when you take two songs and mash them together to make an even richer explosion of musical expression," Mr. Schue explained. "Boys will perform on Tuesday. Girls the next day. I want you guys to go all out, okay? Costumes, choreography. Whoever wins the competition gets to choose the number that we do for sectionals."
"Wait," Rachel said, holding up her hand. "Who's gonna be the judge? Your gender makes you biased."
"Ah, there is going to be a celebrity judge," said Mr. Schue.
"W-who?" Tina asked.
"You're gonna have to show up to find out."
"We got this in the bag," Mercedes said as the group of girls headed to the door.
"Totally," Rachel agreed. "I'm gonna start storyboarding our choreography tonight."
****
After a meeting with all the Glee girls except Autumn, Rachel decided to go find the cheerleader and see if she couldn't convince her to come back. She knew that she was probably the last person Autumn wanted to talk to, but she knew she had to try.
After looking around for a little while, Rachel finally found Autumn in the back of the library reading Pride and Prejudice.
"I haven't seen you at Glee rehearsals," Rachel said, timidly sitting down next to Autumn, who looked up at her with hurt green eyes.
"You're not the one who was outed to the whole school," Autumn said coldly. "You're not the one who got a note in her locker saying that 'God could save me.' I'm still trying to figure everything out, and I'm terrified, Rachel. And you just had to go and kiss me out of nowhere."
"You don't have to be embarrassed. No one in Glee is gonna judge you–"
"I love my boyfriend."
"I find that hard to believe," Rachel admitted. "I know that kiss wasn't a mistake. And you can deny it as much as you want, but I know you liked it. You wouldn't have kissed me back if you didn't. You would've pushed me away, but you didn't."
"You don't get it," Autumn mumbled, closing her book shut and shoving it into her bag. She stood up and hoisted her backpack up on her shoulders before smoothing out her Cheerios uniform. Without sparing Rachel a glance, she left the library, tightening her ponytail as she headed down the hallway.
"Autumn, wait," Rachel said as she grabbed the cheerleader's arm, flinching when she turned and glared up at her. She had to admit, she was intimidating for someone her height. "Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you didn't love it."
"I didn't love it," Autumn said, lowering her gaze and cursing herself for the blush that tinted her cheeks.
"That's what I thought," the diva said, sighing and tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "Look, I know everyone expects us to be enemies and be in competition, but... I don't hate you."
"Why not?" Autumn asked, looking back up. "I'm being awful to you."
"That's because you finally know what it's like to be me. An outsider. More people are gonna start finding out about this and you're gonna need friends who can relate."
"How can you relate to what I'm going through?" Autumn asked, crossing her arms.
"You don't think people whisper about me in the lunchroom or draw pornographic pictures of me on the bathroom walls?" Rachel asked, raising a brow.
"That was me, actually," the cheerleader mumbled, lowering her gaze.
"Oh... um... look, you're gonna need Glee, okay? You have three years of your youth left. You should enjoy it. You shouldn't let this setback define the rest of your life. And, let's face it, as long as you have that Cheerios uniform on, no one's gonna care. Look around at the people in this hallway. None of them are harassing you." Rachel paused and allowed Autumn a moment to take that all in. "Just... come back to practice. Boys versus girls. It's fun. And we could certainly use your voice right now. You're a really good singer. Occasionally sharp but that's just because you lack my years of training."
Autumn lowered her gaze for a moment and chewed the inside of her cheek before looking back up at Rachel.
"I couldn't have cared less about you if the roles were reversed, you know," the shorter girl said.
"I know," Rachel sighed, giving Autumn a small smile before walking away.
As Rachel walked down the hall, Autumn turned and looked over her shoulder, secretly wishing she could run after her and pull her into a kiss like what they do in the movies. But this wasn't like the movies. This was high school – a place where no one gets what they want.
****
If Autumn had known that coming back to Glee Club would mean finding herself in the nurse's office with her aunt, she would've faked being sick the rest of the week. Terri smiled at her niece as she handed out blue pills and small cups of water.
"Everyone gets a dose," said Terri. "Oh, except for Quinn. You get folic acid." She then turned to Howard, who Autumn recognized from Sheets'N'Things. "Get the lead out, Howard. We have patients waiting."
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Rachel asked.
"It's over the counter. It's safe. You can trust me. I'm a nurse. It's good for you."
Autumn exchanged a look with Santana before placing the bright blue pills in her mouth and swallowing it down with a drink of water.
****
"Thank you so much. It really is a pleasure. While the boys chose a selection of songs that cast an eye inward on the irresponsible life choices and sexual hunger of today's modern teens, we have chosen a selection of songs that speaks to the nation as a whole during these troubling times filled with economic uncertainty and unbridled social woe. Because if there's two things America needs now, that is sunshine and optimism." Rachel paused to catch her breath. "And also angels."
****
"I'm really disappointed in you guys," Mr. Schue said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Glee is supposed to be about what's in your heart, not what's coursing through your veins."
"We know," said Rachel. "And I think I speak for everyone when I say that we'd be happy to move forward and put this episode behind us."
"Well, it's not that simple. Because of this debacle, it's been decided that I'm no longer fit to run Glee Club by myself. We've been assigned a co-director."
"Who?" Autumn asked, furrowing her brows as she exchanged a look with Puck.
"Hey, kids!" Sue smiled as she entered the room. "I gotta tell you, I'm just thrilled to be coming on board to co-captain your little showbiz cruise. I can't wait to start singing and dancing and maybe even putting on the Ritz a little bit."
This is gonna be interesting, Autumn thought as everyone stared with shocked expressions at the cheer coach, except for Brittany and Santana, who exchanged a smirk with each other as if they knew all along.