"Come on, guys. We're back with the Beatles!" Mr. Schue cheered as everyone clapped. "We're leaving the mop tops behind and moving on into their experimental years. Now, the Rubber Soul album marked a turning point with the group where they literally and figuratively let their hair down. And the Beatles were the biggest musical act in the world. They could have remained in their comfort zones, but instead, they risked everything to explore new musical worlds."
"He's been talking a really long time," Adalynn grumbled under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest and sank down in her chair.
"They had something important to say, and they weren't gonna let something as silly as the fear of failure get in the way. Now–"
"Good afternoon McKinley High."
"Thank fuck," Adalynn said as Sue Sylvester's voice rang out on the PA system.
"This year all the proms are being fused into one giant brundle-prom."
"What's a brundle-prom?" Marley frowned.
"I don't get the reference," Jake mumbled.
"That's from The Fly," Ryder snapped his fingers in realization.
"And now, for the moment that will crush 99 percent of your misguided views about your own popularity, here are your nominees for prom king and queen," Sue continued. "First, here are your nominees for prom king. Blaine Anderson. Muhammad Omar. Artie Abrams. And Stonder Brett Bukowski."
"Wait, I didn't get nominated for king?" Sam frowned as everyone clapped for Blaine and Artie.
"As last year's queen, I can confirm that you are not royalty material, Fish Face," Adalynn said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"And now onto the queens," Sue continued as Bailey laced her and Tina's fingers together. "Kitty Wilde."
"But I'm a sophomore," Kitty mumbled confusedly as everyone clapped for her.
"Adalynn Hummel... Bailey Pierce... and, inexplicably, Tina Cohen-Chang."
"Yes!" Tina exclaimed as she and Bailey jumped up and hugged each other.
"Okay, okay, we have to campaign together," Bailey said as Adalynn smiled at them.
"You both have my vote," she smiled as she stood up to hug her best friends.
"Congratulations. Six of you will be disappointed."
****
Maya grunted as pulled the handle to the door to Bailey's room. Ava helped her push it open, and the two toddlers walked in and crawled up on the bed.
"Hi, Tubby," Maya said as she plopped down next to Lord Tubbington.
"Want treat?" Ava asked as she took a cheese cube out of her jumper pocket.
"But Mommy said no," the older twin frowned.
"Gappa said yes," the younger twin smiled. "Ere, Tubby. Es chee."
Lord Tubbington looked at the cheese cube with an unamused expression on his face. Ava set it down on the bed in front of him, and he lazily sat up and ate it.
"Want 'ore?"
"No! Ava, you bad!" Maya scolded. "Tubby no eat chee."
"Tubby like chee," Ava pouted as she took a bite out of a cheese cube.
Lord Tubbington stretched before jumping off the bed and leaving Bailey's room, his tail swishing sassily behind him.
"Tubby, come back!" Ava whined as she crawled off the bed, Maya following close behind as they followed the cat downstairs.
****
"Here are the latest prom poll numbers," Dottie Kazatori said as she showed Tina her iPad screen, "and your 3 o'clock coffee."
"I said no caffeine until prom," Tina said, annoyed. "I can't afford to look tired like some sad, anemic dishrag. Give it to Adalynn," she said, as she shoved the coffee cup back into Dottie's hands.
"Okay, Tina, I get you're a little stressed, but don't take it out on Dottie," Bailey said gently.
"What is with these numbers?" Tina scoffed.
"Oh, boy," the blonde sighed, rubbing her temple.
"There's been a sudden spike in Kitty's popularity," Dottie said as Adalynn walked up beside her. "Oh, here Adalynn," the freshman said, handing the older girl the coffee.
"Thanks," Adalynn said as she took a sip of the bitter-sweet drink. "Mhm, hazelnut."
"Kitty?" Tina's jaw clenched as she stormed up to the sophomore.
"Oh no," Bailey groaned as she walked after her. "Tina, be nice!"
"This is unbelievable!" Tina spat.
"Tina, I didn't put these up," Kitty said as she motioned to the posters. "That's not even me. That's my head photoshopped onto Olivia Munn."
"Oh, please," Tina scoffed. "I should've known that when you weirdly said you'd support me it was just some classic backstabby, gas-lighty Kitty mind game."
"Hey, uh, what's with these posters?" Ryder frowned as he walked up to them. "I thought you were supporting Tina and Bailey?"
"And why is your head photoshopped onto Olivia Munn's body from February 2011?" Jori asked.
"Tina, don't worry about it," Adalynn whispered to her friend as she pushed her away from Kitty.
Bailey mouthed a 'sorry' to the younger blonde before following Tina and Adalynn down the hall. Kitty groaned in frustration and ripped the posters down as she angrily stormed off in the opposite direction.
****
Senior prom had been a blast so far. As the underclassmen performed a Beatles song on the small stage that was set up, Adalynn danced with Jori, who asked her to go to prom with her as a friend. She figured it was better than missing her last school dance, so she agreed.
Unlike last year, Bailey wasn't spending the night at a table by herself as she worried about the twins and over-thought her feelings for Tina. Instead, she knew in her heart that her kids would be just fine with Julian for the evening, especially considering that he had matured a lot since when they first met her freshman year. Instead of sulking and drowning her thoughts in spiked punch, she spent the night dancing with Tina, and she couldn't have asked for a better way to spend her last prom.
As the next song came on, Adalynn spotted the wannabe-Santana, Bree, talking to Dottie. She furrowed her brows. She could tell by the look on the smaller girl's face that the Cheerio was up to something, and if Adalynn learned anything from her first year at William McKinley High School, it was that Cheerios were coldhearted, backstabbing little bitches.
Before she could go confront her about it, though, all the nominees for prom king and queen were called up to the stage.
"Adalynn, are you okay?" Tina asked.
"Yeah..." Adalynn mumbled, eyeing Bree suspiciously from her spot onstage.
"Congratulations, New Directions, on accomplishing the impossible. You've made me hate the Beatles," Sue said as she got everyone's attention. "Your nominations for prom king are Stoner Brett, Blaine Anderson, Artie Abrams, and that radical cleric kid. And now, your nominees for prom queen. Taylor Swift look-alike, Asian number one, Kitty I-forget-your-last-name, and the depressed lesbian."
Adalynn bit her tongue as she held back a laugh and exchanged a look with Bailey and Tina. The blonde whispered something to them, and they both put a hand over their mouth to contain their laughter.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for because your lives are devoid of meaning that something like this seems very important," Sue continued as she opened up an envelope. She frowned and furrowed her brows before shrugging it off. This was McKinley, after all, which meant prom anarchy wasn't unusual. "Your prom queen and queen are..."
Adalynn's eyes widened as she looked out into the crowd. Did one of the Glee kids rig the vote again? She scanned the audience and carefully looked over everyone's faces, but they all looked innocent.
"Bailey Pierce and Tina Cohen-Chang."
As the gymnasium erupted in cheers, the couple gasped and hugged one another tightly before going to accept their crowns. When she noticed the smile on Kitty's lips, Adalynn knew exactly what was going on.
"You sneaky little rascal," the brunette scoffed with a small laugh. "You stuffed the ballot box."
"The least I could do after everything I did this year," Kitty shrugged.
"You know, maybe you're not as bad as I thought, blondie bitch," Adalynn said as the younger girl smiled.
Kitty's smile faded, however, when she spotted Dottie backstage. She nudged Adalynn and nodded to where the freshman was standing, her hands gripping a rope. Adalynn frowned as her eyes followed the rope up to a beam. A bucket sat on top, and a dollop of red slush dripped down.
Kitty's eyes widened in horror when she spotted Bree in the audience with a smug look on her face. She exchanged a look with Adalynn, who looked to her friends, who had no idea what was happening.
Not on my watch, Satan.
"Bailey, Tina, look out!" Adalynn shouted as she rushed to the middle of the stage and pushed them out of the way as Dottie pulled the rope. Cold red slushie poured down on her, and she gasped as her entire body chilled to the bone.
There were horrified looks from everyone in the room, and Kitty placed her hands over her mouth as Bailey and Tina exchanged a look.
"How humiliating," Bree chuckled cruelly. "If I were her, I'd kill myself after this public humiliation."
"Don't say that, you bitch," Kitty spat as she jumped down from the stage. "She's already suicidal."
"Aw, what are you gonna do about it?" Bree pouted sarcastically.
"This," Kitty said, slapping the taller cheerleader hard across the face as Bailey and Tina ushered Adalynn off the stage, the rest of the Glee kids following close behind.
****
"That was really brave of you," Bailey said, smiling softly as she used a damp towel to gently clean the slushie off of Adalynn's face.
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time I've taken a slushie for someone," Adalynn chuckled sadly. "I'm so sorry Bree and Dottie tried to ruin your moment like that."
"We're sorry you're the one who got humiliated," Tina said as wiped her best friend's arm with a towel.
"Adalynn, are you alright?" Blaine asked as he rushed into the choir room with the rest of the New Directions.
"I can't feel my legs, feet, arms, boobs, anything," the brunette mumbled as she ran a hand through her slush-filled hair. "Can someone call my dad? I want to go home."
"Adalynn, this is your last prom," Marley frowned. "You can't leave."
"What's the point in staying? My dress is ruined and I have slushie dripping into my underwear."
"You can have my dress," Bailey offered.
"Or mine," Tina smiled softly.
"Or mine," Jori shrugged.
"Or mine," Kitty chimed in.
"Or mine," Marley smiled.
"Or mine," Unique grinned. "Although, it would be a crime to break this look," she added with a wink, smiling when Adalynn laughed a little.
"Don't let this ruin the rest of your night," Artie said as he wheeled up to her. "What you did was so unbelievably courageous, especially considering how awful and humiliating it was."
"This is one of the last nights that we're all going to be together," Bailey said, tears filling her eyes. "I want to spend it with you."
"We want to spend it with you," Tina smiled softly.
"You deserve to have one last night of fun with your friends after everything you've been through," said Blaine.
"We're all here for you, Adalynn," Sam spoke up with a small smile.
"Besides, as queen, I hereby decree that you are required to let us get you cleaned up and go back into that gym with your head held high like the badass you are," Tina said as Adalynn smiled.
"Okay, dorks," Adalynn rolled her eyes with a small laugh. "You guys win. I'll stay."
****
After prom, which still ended up being a total blast after the slushie incident, Adalynn went back home and took a much needed shower to wash any remaining slush off of her and out of her hair. When she got out, she changed into some fluffy black pajama pants and one of the sweatshirt's she had stolen from Quinn before she left for college – a gray crewneck with 'Ohio' printed on it in big, bold letters.
She curled up on her bed with Oreo, who was happy to see her after being alone all night. He wiggled his butt and covered her with kisses.
"Missed you too, buddy," she giggled as she kissed the top of his head. Her phone rang, and she rolled her eyes when she saw it was Rachel. "What do you want, Barbra?" she asked as she answered.
"That's really funny that you said that," Rachel chuckled. "I have some big news."
"Big nudes?" Adalynn scrunched her nose. "Gross. Send those to Finn. I don't want 'em."
"No, news, silly."
"Oh, news," Adalynn gasped in realization. "Okay. What could be so important that you're calling me this late?"
"I got Fanny."
"Oh my god!" the younger girl exclaimed. "Are you serious? That's amazing!"
"I wanted you to be the first to know, besides Kurt and Santana, obviously," said Rachel.
"Wow, Rachel, I'm so happy for you," Adalynn smiled. "That's incredible. Make sure you save me a seat in the front row on opening night."
"I will. Oh, how was prom?"
"Bleh," Adalynn groaned and pulled Oreo onto her lap. "It was interesting. I'll text you all the details in the morning."
"Okay, sounds good," said Rachel. "It's late. You should get some sleep."
"Tell Santana to make fun of Kurt for me since I'm not there to do it myself," Adalynn joked.
"I will," Rachel chuckled.
"I heard that!" Kurt shouted.
"Love you Kurtie!"
"Love you too, little me," Kurt said into the phone as Rachel held it out to him. "Make sure Julian doesn't burn the house down."
"I won't," Adalynn chuckled. "I miss you guys."
"We miss you too," said Rachel. "Talk soon, okay?"
"Yeah," Adalynn nodded. "And congrats on getting Fanny."
"Thank you," Rachel smiled. "Sweet dreams."
"You too," Adalynn said, smiling softly to herself as she hung up. "Aw, Rachel's dream came true, Oreo," she said as she kissed the top of the frenchie's head.
Woof.