For reasons unknown, Jayden felt herself walking down the hallway with a bit more confidence as she entered the school with Rachel, who had a huge smile on her face.
"Hey, babes," Mercedes grinned as she walked up beside the two sisters. "Looking good."
"Feeling good, Mercedes," Rachel smiled.
"This is amazing," Jayden said as Kurt walked up next to her. "Ever since Glee Club won sectionals, everybody looks at us differently."
"I wanna be with you, Jayden," Jacob Ben Israel said as the group of teens walked by.
"Never in a million years, Jacob," Rachel scoffed as she protectively put an arm around her sister.
"We're glitterati," Kurt breathed. "I feel like Lady Gaga."
"Get used to it, guys," said Rachel. "We're stars now, on par with all the jocks and popular kids. It's the dawn of a new era here at McKinley, and we are gonna rule this school!"
On cue, three football players walked up to them and threw slushies in their faces.
"Welcome to Loser Town," Karofsky chuckled.
"Population you," Azimio said as he tossed a second slushie at Jayden, getting the attention of a certain blonde at the end of the hall.
The jocks walked away laughing, and the three older teens made their way to the nearest bathroom, leaving the petite freshman alone in the middle of the hallway, her body entirely numb from the double-slushie facial.
I hate this school.
****
"Hello," Mr. Schue said after drawing a stick person on the whiteboard. "Hello?"
The club mumbled back a 'hello.'
"What do you say when you answer the phone?" Mr. Schue asked.
"What up?"
"Who dis be?"
"No, she's dead. This is her son."
"Why didn't you text me?" Jayden mumbled. "I don't answer the phone unless you're really special. And by that I mean I don't answer the phone unless you're Rachel or my dads."
"She'll sometimes make an exception for me," Brittany said with a slight shrug.
"Is that why you didn't answer my call last night?" Tina asked as she turned around to face the younger freshman.
"I listened to my Set Fire to the Rain ringtone and watched it ring," Jayden shrugged. "Sorry."
"Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, liked to say 'ahoy, ahoy' when he answered the phone," Mr. Schue continued. "It was Edison who decided that 'hello' was a more appropriate greeting. Look, I am really proud of what you guys did at sectionals. But as most of you have realized by now, it hasn't made a difference in your day-to-day at school."
"I have a slushie-stained training bra to prove it," Rachel stated.
"Jayden cried for thirty minutes," Brittany said as she comfortingly rubbed the freshman's back.
"The fact is, we're gonna have to be better, even more spectacular at regionals," said Mr. Schue. "It's time for some reinvention. Some new New Directions. We need a new...hello. Here's your assignment for the week. Come up with a fresh number, but it has to have 'hello' in the song title."
****
After looking around for a while, Artie and Tina found Jayden at a table by herself in the library, her head resting in her arms and a pout on her face.
"You okay, Jay?" Artie asked as he rolled up to her.
"They left me alone to rot," Jayden mumbled.
"Who did?" Tina asked as she sat down next to her.
"Brittany and Santana," the Jewish girl whined. "I've been forgotten. They ditched me."
"What happened?" Artie frowned. "I thought you guys were close."
"We were. But then they decided they'd rather hang out with Finn."
"Yeah, what's up with that?" Tina asked. "I thought he was dating Rachel."
"He was, but then he left her to be with Santana and Brittany," Jayden said as she sat up. She crossed her arms over her chest and slouched down in the uncomfortable chair.
"Is that why she sang that song earlier?" Artie asked.
"Yup."
"I wouldn't let this get you down, Jayden," Tina said gently. "It's obvious they care about you."
"Yeah, I'm sure this thing with Finn is just some way for them to get under Rachel's skin," Artie added.
"I guess," Jayden shrugged.
"Alright, come on," Tina said as she stood up, pulling Jayden with her. "Let's get out of here and go see a movie or something."
"You guys aren't gonna make out the whole time again, right?" the smaller girl asked, raising a brow.
"Pinky promise," Tina said as she held up her pinky, smiling when Jayden linked them together.
****
The New Directions heard that Rachel was dating Jesse St. James from Vocal Adrenaline, and they weren't happy about it. He was the competition, and they each had a gut feeling that he was up to no good.
Kurt had called an emergency meeting with Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and Jayden. After talking it over, the five teens waited for Rachel so they could confront her about it.
"Hey, guys," the diva smiled as she walked into the choir room.
"Don't you 'hey, guys,' us," Jayden said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked, her smile fading.
"Cut the butter, Benedict Arnold," Kurt scoffed. "We heard about your new boyfriend."
"Look, Rachel, we're all happy that you're happy, but we've worked too hard in Glee Club to let you throw it all away on a relationship that might not even be real," said Mercedes.
"Why?" Rachel asked. "Cause he's in Vocal Adrenaline?"
"Their motto is, 'Aut neca aut necatus eris,'" said Jayden. "It translates to 'murder or be murdered.'"
"They give their dancers human growth hormone," said Tina.
"Look, we're not saying the dude is playing you–"
"He's playing you," Kurt interrupted Mercedes.
"–We just think that until regionals are over, we can't risk the possibility that he is."
"We don't want him to hurt you," said Jayden.
"And none of us want to go through what happened at sectionals again," Tina added.
"Okay, look," Rachel sighed. "Jesse and I might not be true love, but what if we are? I know who I am. And how many chances at this am I gonna get?"
There was silence for a moment before Kurt spoke up.
"If you don't break up with him, you're out," he said as he folded his arms over his chest.
"You can't kick me out!" Rachel protested.
"But we can all quit if Mr. Schue doesn't," said Artie.
"Well, good luck winning without me."
"Everyone's replaceable," said Kurt. "Even you."
"Seriously?" Rachel scoffed. "Jayden?"
"You have to think about the team, Rach," the younger Berry mumbled.
"How could you do this to me?"
"How could you do this to us?" Jayden scoffed as she walked up to her sister. "We're a team, but more importantly," she pointed between the two of them, "we're family. You don't betray your family."
With that, Jayden walked out of the choir room. She had no idea if playing the family card would guilt Rachel into doing the right thing, but if she really cared about the team, then she'd dump Jesse.
****
Adele's Hello echoed through the dance studio. The tiny dancer's hair was pulled up into a bun, and she wore purple and gold spandex shorts with a matching sports bra. She twirled effortlessly in her jazz shoes as she practiced the contemporary routine she'd be competing with at her upcoming dance competition.
No one at McKinley cared about the Dangels, which was short for their team name, "Dance Angels." They didn't consider dance to be a real sport, so it wasn't as important to them as the football team and the Cheerios, even though they worked just as hard as them.
Brittany watched from the door with a small smile on her face. She'd never really seen Jayden dance before. The only times she had was whenever they'd perform for Glee Club or dance just for fun. The brunette seemed to lose herself in the music, and it was like the rest of the world didn't even exist.
Jayden did a series of pirouettes before falling gracefully onto the floor as the song ended, her chest heaving up and down as she panted for air.
"That was really good," Brittany said as she walked in.
"Thanks," Jayden said, out of breath.
"I had no idea you were on the Dangels," Brittany said as she reached a hand out to the younger girl and helped her up off the floor.
"Yeah, not many people do. According to everyone at this school, we don't even exist. We don't even have a uniform or lettermans. The school doesn't give us enough funding for that," Jayden explained. "But we don't really care. We just love to dance, so that's all that matters. And at least I get to wear whatever I want instead of having to wear the same thing everyday."
"Yeah, being trapped in this Cheerios uniform can be annoying sometimes," Brittany nodded. "Uh, so...I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What is it?" Jayden asked as she crossed the room. She took her sweatpants out of her dance bag and put them on over her dance shorts, not noticing the way the blonde's eyes looked her up and down as she bit her lip. She slipped off her jazz shoes and put them in her bag before putting on her tennis shoes and sitting down on the floor.
"I just noticed that you've seemed a little sad this week," Brittany said as she sat down next to her.
"I'm not sad," Jayden lied as she took a sip of water.
"Are you sure?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Guppy," Brittany said, tilting her head to the side a little. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
Jayden mumbled something in audible, her gaze lowered to the ground and her fingers tracing the patterns in the wood.
"Can you say that a little louder?" the older girl asked gently as she reached a hand out to lift the dancer's head up, frowning when she saw her blue eyes on the verge of tears.
"You abandoned me to hang out with Finn," Jayden pouted.
"Jaydee, I could never abandon you," Brittany sighed as she brushed a fly-away out of the younger girl's face. Her fingertips lingered on her cheek for a moment, her gaze drifting down to her lips before looking back into her eyes. "You're the most important person in the world to me. Santana and I didn't mean to make you feel like we were forgetting about you. Sue made us do it."
"Why?" Jayden asked, her brows furrowing slightly as Brittany lowered her gaze. "Oh my god, this is part of her plan to take down the club, isn't it?" she asked with a scoff. "Traitor."
"Jay, it's not like that," Brittany said, standing up as the younger girl did the same.
"Then what is it like?" Jayden asked, her voice breaking. "Because what it looks like to me is you pretending to be my friend, when really you're helping Coach Sylvester destroy the club from the inside."
"That's what it was at first, but–"
"Just save it," Jayden scoffed as she grabbed her dance bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. "You know, I actually thought you were different from the other popular kids at this school, but I was wrong because you're just like them. You don't care about us losers, and you don't care who you hurt to keep your social status at this school."
"Jayden, why are you getting so worked up about this?"
"Because maybe I like you, okay?!" Jayden cried, her eyes widening when she realized what she had just said. "I...I mean, like, as-as a friend," she mumbled as she pushed past Brittany. "I gotta go. My dads are waiting outside."
"Jayden, wait," the taller girl said, grabbing her arm. The shorter girl wiped a tear off of her face before turning around to face her. Two pairs of blue eyes looked into each other for a moment, neither girl knowing what to say. Brittany took her Cheerios letterman off and draped it over Jayden's shoulders. "It's cold outside. I don't want you to freeze."
"Thanks," Jayden said, setting her bag down so that she could slide her arms in before picking it back up. As she turned to walk away again, Brittany placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Believe what you want, but I'd never do anything to hurt you," Brittany said softly.
Jayden was quiet for a moment. She took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth to calm her overthinking brain.
"I believe you," she said as she hugged the older girl. "But I really do have to go. We have dinner reservations for my dads' anniversary." She pulled out of the hug and looked up at the older girl. "I'm sorry for getting upset with you."
"It's okay, Guppy," Brittany said with a small smile. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I abandoned you."
"It's okay, Brittsy. I'll see you later."
As the petite dancer walked away, everything that she had been feeling throughout the school year was finally beginning to make sense. She doesn't know why she didn't realize it sooner, but that would explain why she didn't like the thought of them dating Finn.
She liked Brittany and Santana.