20/ The Purple Piano Project
To say that Paris Hudson had, by far, the worst summer ever would be an understatement. Not one thing went right for her and she blamed Same Evans, he had ruined not just her summer, but maybe even her whole life. It all started with her finding Sam Evans and Mercedes Jones at Breadstix in a promising position and right after that, Sam left Ohio without a word, leaving Paris heartbroken.
Paris slammed her locker shut, not caring how loud it was and she turned around ready to walk towards Glee Club but a certain boy with a camera interrupted her, "Paris Hudson, I've been looking all over for you." Jacob Ben Israel said to the girl as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and pushed the microphone he held, in her face.
"Now tell me P, how wa-" Paris glared at the boy as she stopped him, "Only my friends call me P, not you." Paris said as she glared at the boy and crossed her arms over her chest as Ben turned towards the camera and started to laugh, "I guess Paris still isn't over her nasty breakup with Sam Evans." He said as he turned back towards Paris and pushed the microphone back into her face.
"Now tell me, Paris, is it true that Mercedes Jones had everything to do with yours and Sam's break up?" He asked as Paris pushed the microphone out of her face and she walked away from the boy so he could go pester someone else with his ridiculous questions. "Hey P." She heard Noah Puckerman's familiar voice say as he approached her and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god it's you!" She said happily as she reached up and gave him a hug, "I feel like I haven't saw you all summer." She said as Puck nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah that's because you were busy with S-" Paris held up her finger, telling him to stop talking and he did and she smiled at him thankfully. "Noah Puckerman, you know we do not mention that godforsaken name, especially when I'm around." Paris said as the two started walked down the hallway again.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He said as he playfully rolled her eyes and Paris caught sight of Mercedes and she couldn't help the hateful glare she threw her way. The girl was walking away from Ben Israel as her boyfriend twirled her and they walked side by side down the hallway and Paris felt her glare turn into a frown. Puck noticed what the girl was looking at and he wrapped his arm around the girl and smiled down at her, "Well if it makes you feel better, you deserved much better." He said as the two reached the Glee Room and Paris smiled up at him as the two went their separate ways.
Paris walked in and stood beside Tina and Brittany as she looked down at all the trophies Glee Club had won and Tina asked the question everyone in the room was wondering, "M. Schue, why are all our trophies in the middle of the room?" She asked as Brittany turned towards Paris with a frown, "I was sure our Nationals trophy would go during the summer," She said as Paris patted the girls back as Mr. Schue started to speak.
"I want this image burned into your mind. This is what the difference between first, and twelfth place looks like." He said as he picked up the trophy the group had won in New York and the trophy the group had won when they won Regionals. "It's also what it feels like." He said as Paris took a seat in between Kurt and Santana and Puck looked at Schue with a playful smirk, "You planning on bumming us out all year long?" He asked as he took a seat.
"No, I'm planning on pushing you harder than you've ever been pushed." He said as Paris' eyes widened, she didn't think she could've been pushed harder considering she had given all her effort and time into Glee Club. "We made it to Nationals last year, this year I'm not going to let anything, or anyone, stop us from winning at all. I let you down last year, I lost focus, let some Broadway Pipe dream get in the way." He said with a sad tone as Rachel started to speak, "And we're really sorry that the guy who replaced you in the April Rhodes musical won the Tony, I mean I could only imagine your regret." She said.
"Yeah you know what I regret?" Mercedes asked and Paris groaned as she glared at the back of the girl's head, "Not really." She said as Mercedes turned towards the girl with a frown but she quickly turned away and continued to speak. "Being the laughing stock of the show choir world." She said as Artie agreed with the girl.
"That's saying something." Artie said as Kurt spoke up, "Mercedes has a point, Finn and Rachel's 'The Kiss That Missed ', already has twenty thousand views on YouTube and the comment section is just full of pithy banter like, "Why is that T Rex eating the Jew."" Kurt said as Finn and Rachel smiled at each other, "How many times do we have to apologize for that?" Finn asked as he looked down at Rachel with a wide smile.
"Yeah, no more apologies." Rachel said as Paris frowned at how happy the two were. "This school hates us even more now." Mike Chang said as Paris looked over to see Tina rubbing his shoulders and her frown deepened as she mentally groaned at how everyone but her - and Puck and Santana - were in a relationship. "Which is why we have to work even harder this year if we're going to recruit new members." Will said as he cut off the large light and walked towards the middle of the room as he continued to speak.
"We're three men down." He said as Santana rolled her eyes, "Yeah only because Puckerman couldn't convince Zizes to stay." She said as Puck remembered what had happened right before Paris had walked up and started to talk to him. Lauren and Puckerman were walking down the hall when Lauren told him that she couldn't be I Glee Club because she had a reputation to uphold.
"She's the one that got away." He sighed as he looked up and started to mumble, "Really, really slowly." He added as Paris rolled her eyes at the boy and she looked around the room confused, "Wait, where's Quinn? I really need my favorite blonde cheerleader." Paris said as Brittany playfully glared at the girl and Artie turned towards her and shrugged, "She's MIA. No one's heard from her, it's sad, I miss her too P." He said with a frown.
"No one is going to join Mr. Schue." Mercedes said as Will nodded his head, "They will, all they need is a little inspiration and I happen to have some. Courtesy of Al Motta of Motta's Pianos, bring them in guys." Will said as people started to wheel in purple pianos. "You guys are going to love this." He said with a knowing smile.
"Okay if there are purple pianos involved in this then I am onboard." Kurt said as Will jumped onto the moving piano as he continued to speak, "These pianos were repossessed from foreclosed homes." He said as the piano came to a stop and he stood up, "They're cast offs, just like all of us. Used, and in need of repairs." He said as Tina looked at him with a smile.
"But they're still capable of making beautiful music."
"Right, so Mr. Motta, as a lover of the arts, has agreed to donate them to Glee. I fixed them up and painted them purple and the Purple Piano Project was born." Wills said as Paris felt Brittany grab her wrist and soon she was dragging her towards the piano as Will continued to speak.
"Now I'm going to be placing these grapey uprights randomly across the school and whenever you see one, no matter what you're doing, I want you to sing a song. Now use this assignment to attract kids who are just like you, kids who can't keep the music inside, those are the kinds of additions we need to win it all this year." Paris started to play a few keys and she smiled as thought about all the songs she could sing.
"Now, for many of you, this is your last year. Let's make it special." He said as the bell rung and Paris grabbed her things and left the room, heading to her next class.
∆∆∆
"Do you see what I see?" Paris asked Puck as the looked down at the end of the hallway to see one of the purple pianos, "Uh huh." Puck said as his eyes narrowed at it. Paris looked at Puck and back towards the piano, deep in thought. "Now, the question is, do we walk away or do we go play a song?" Paris asked as Puck looked away from the piano and frowned.
"Although I am the one to always break the rules so I think you should go play a song." He said and Paris looked at him confused, "Wait what does you breaking the rules have to do with me playing a song on the piano?" She asked, now completely forgetting about the purple piano sitting at the end of the hall.
"Well since Mr. Schue told us that we have to play a song when we see a piano, that means we have to so I, being Noah Puckerman, must break the rules by doing the complete opposite of that." He said as Paris rolled his eyes and handed him her bag. "Fine since you don't have the balls to do it, I guess I'll go." She said as she made her way towards the piano as she nervously sat down and started to test out the keys.
"Here goes nothing." She mumbled as she started to play one of her original songs, "I can write a son with my new piano, I can sing about how love is losing battle. Not hard, it's not hard, it's not hard, it's not hard." She started as she looked up to see Puck giving her a thumbs up and she rolled her eyes and continued to sing.
"And I could sing about cupid and his shooting arrow, in the end, you'll find out that my heart was battered. Real hard, it's so hard. real hard, it's that hard." Paris looked up to see that students were starting to stop and she glared at Puck for making her do this alone.
"But I'd rather make a song they can play on the radio that makes you wanna dance, don't it make you wanna dance. But I'd rather make a song they can play on the radio that makes you wanna grab your lovers hand." By now there was more than a small crowd and they seemed to be enjoying it so far but Paris knew to never trust the students that roam the halls of McKinley.
"So hold up and take it through the night. And you should follow through to make it alright. Now grab each others hands, and get em up. I wanna see you rock to the piano, the piano." Paris looked up to see all the Glee kids now in front of her as they clapped along to the song and she smiled at them. "I could write a song on my new piano. I could sing about how love is a losing battle. Not hard, it's not hard, it's not hard, it's not hard."
"And I could sing bout cupid and a shooting arrow, in the end, you'll find out that my heart was battered. Real hard, so hard, real hard, it's not hard." She sung as she looked up to see that Will Schuester had joined everyone out in the hallway along with Sue Sylvester who stood in the back with her arms crossed.
"But I'd rather make a sing they can play on the radio, that makes you wanna dance. Don't it make you wanna dance? But I'd rather make a song they can play on the radio that makes you wanna grab your lovers hand." Paris was hoping no one would throw a slushie in her face after she sung this sing because she only wore the best clothes she had, to school and she didn't have any money to buy more.
"So hold up and take it through the night. And you should follow through to make it alright. Now grab each others hands, get em up. I wanna see you rock to the piano, the piano." She finished the song off early because she honestly didn't want to spend a moment longer waiting for someone to embarrass her.
As she stood up Will walked towards her with a large smile, "Well done Paris, you did amazing." He said which made Paris smile at him as she turned towards the crowd that had formed to see that they were actually clapping for her and she waited for something to go horribly wrong, and it did.
"Paris Hudson, I want to see you in my office, now!" Sue's voice shouted and Paris' eyes widened as the hallway grew quiet and she slowly walked towards the woman's office. "Take a seat, I have put plastic under all of your chairs' for the anticipation of this announcement so feel free to wet yourselves." She said as Paris looked at her confused.
"Wait? Am I not in trouble for disrupting the people in the hallway?" She asked and Sue rolled her eyes, "Well Paris, I wasn't going to say anything. I was just going to let that one slide but since you want to talk about it, you were pitchy and the lyrics could've been a bit better." Sue said as Paris looked at her shocked at her harsh words.
"Now, you three are my Cheerio co-captains." Sue said as Paris, Santana and Becky looked at one another and then back at Sue, "What?" They asked in unison as Paris leaned up in her chair, "Wait co-captians, as in- no, no way." Paris said, she either wanted to be the only captain or nothing at all.
"I can't work with them." Betty cried out as Paris shook her head and Santana spoke up. "Let me tell you how this is gonna go down, okay? When I look at a person I don't see a person who looks a certain way or this or that amount of chromosomes, I just see someone who I may or may not have to destroy. So if you ever tell me what to do, I will end you." Santana said as Paris looked to see she and Becky were arguing.
"Sorry Sue but can I kindly decline this offer?" Paris asked and Sue shook her head no, "Ladies, I'm aroused. However, we have a more pressing issue at hand. There are purple pianos polluting this school, and I will seem weak if it appears I cannot control my own workspace." Sue said as she got up and closed the door.
"I want you to track down those pianos, take care off them, and make it look like an accident." She said as she sat down on the edge of the desk and looked at Santana, "Now, Santana, you like playing for both sides, isn't that right? What team you playing for this year? Losers or winners." Sue knew that whatever she said, Paris and Becky would do, but it was Santana she was concerned about.
"Team Sue." She said and Paris smirked at her answer as she turned towards the girl, "Glad to hear that, S." She said as Santana smiled at her and Sue dismissed everyone. As Paris walked out of the room, she couldn't believe Sue thought she was going to actually going to ruin Glee Club.
Although some people in there did her wrong, they were still her family and she knew she was going to do everything she could to protect that, even if she did get caught.
∆∆∆
Paris was glad that she missed lunch today after what she had heard happened to them, "I thought slushies' were bad but spaghetti sauce in the eye is so much worse." Artie said with a frown as Brittany looked down her cheerios uniform, "I have Pepperoni's in my bra." She said as she looked up and Santana gave her a blank stare. "Those are your nipples." Santana said in a knowing tone as Mike Chang walked towards Will.
"Mr. Schue, if you were trying to tear us down and rebuild us, it's working." He said as Will turned towards Mike and sighed as Mercedes walked through the door, "Not one single person was inspired by our hot lunch jam to try out Mr. Schue." She said as she threw her rag down and took a seat.
"It's true, you guys sucked ass." A girl said as she walked into the room and Rachel quickly turned towards the girl, "I'm sorry, you are?" She asked as Paris looked the girl up and down, wondering why she thought it was okay to come into the room and be rude. "I'm Sugar Motta and I have self diagnosed Asperger's so I can pretty much say anything I want. I'm like the diplomats daughter." The girl said as Paris looked at the girl dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry, I think I just lost a few braincells. I don't think that's how it really works Sugar, but, continue." Paris said, urging for the girl to get on with what she had to say. "Here's the deal, I'm awesome and I want to be a big, big star." Sugar said and Paris rolled her eyes at the girl and spoke up, "If you haven't noticed, everyone in this room wants to be a big stars so you're going to have to be a little more specific on what you're doing here." Paris said, growing annoyed.
"Well when I say you singing and dancing in the cafeteria, I thought, I am so much better than you." Sugar started and she looked at everyone's facial expressions to see that they were growing more annoyed with her so she quickly apologized, "Sorry, Asperger's." She mumbled and Will turned towards the group with a proud smile. "You see guys, you have inspired an audition, good job." He said as he started to clap.
"Sugar why don't you show us what you can do. You know, take your time. Whenever you're ready." Will said as he took a seat beside Paris and everyone watched the girl sit her purse down and she turned around and smirked at the pianist, "Be ready to taste some serious ear candy, hot it hottie."
When the piano started and Sugar began to dance, Paris looked towards Puck as she tried to stifle her laugh but she quickly stopped when Sugar started to sing. Paris sat there as she sung, wondering is the girl was being serious because there was no way someone would actually embarrass themselves like that.
"Holy sh-" Will started at Paris looked at him and nudged his arm as he quickly stopped himself from saying shit, "Sugar!" He shouted and Paris rolled her eyes at his terrible save and Sugar smirked at the group as she picked her back up. "Text me, re our rehearsal skedge." She said as Paris rolled her eyes at the abbreviation she used for schedule and Mr. Schue looked at the girl, still shocked, "Of course."
"Mr. Schue, stop speaking." Rachel said as she kicked the back if his seat and she looked up and gave Sugar a fake smile, "Okay Sugar, we'll be in touch, bye." She said as Sugar Motta left the room and everyone looked at each other and Paris decided to speak up.
"Okay, I think I speak for everyone when I say this, she was terrible. There is no way that is happening." Paris said as she looked to Mr. Schue and he sighed as he turned around and face the rest of the group who was agreeing with the girl. "Guys, I know she was a little rough but, we have always had the policy that anyone who tries out gets in." Will said as a large frown found it's way onto his self.
"You're not doing her any good sheltering Sugar from the truth, okay?" Rachel said, trying hard to convince him to not let Sugar join, "High school is where you learn survival of the fittest. She's going to drag the New Directions! down, and that's not fair for those of us who don't want to spend our lives rotting in this insignificant town." She continued and Paris started to speak, hoping he wouldn't let the girl join.
"You said the other day that you would do anything to get us to Nationals. Okay, and she is going to keep us from winning that elusive crown. If anything, she's going to kill all of our chances." Paris said as everyone else around her agreed and Will Schuester turned away from the group, thinking really hard on his decision.
Thankfully for Will, the bell rang end everyone left the room and Santana walked towards Paris with a smile, "Ready for cheer tryouts?" She asked as Paris nodded her head and offered the girl a fake smile. "Can't wait." Paris said as the pair walked towards the gym and they took a seat beside Becky as they waited for Sue.
"Ladies, the key for successful Cheerios tryouts is in brutal honesty." Sue said as she took a seat in between Paris Santana. "Actually, maybe just brutality as I have no intention of bringing anyone new in. I basically want to see people cry, hit it!"
At Sue's words, a bunch of people came in, one by one and Paris couldn't believe how every single one of them had been much worse than Sugar Motta. At the mention of her name, Paris had drifted off into her own thoughts, completely forgetting about cheer as she thought about what Mr. Schuester was going to.
Deep down, Paris knew he was going to let her join. Will Schuester would never be mean to a student and it wouldn't be right if he didn't let her join because much like Paris and the rest of the Glee Club, Sugar Motta was an outsider. "Paris!" She heard Sue yell as she felt the woman nudge her and she looked towards her.
"Well, what did you think about her?" Sue asked as Paris looked to see a guy with his legs over her head and her eyes widened, "Nope, next please." She said as she saw Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury walk into the gym with a red bucket and a camera.
"Well, well, well, Wavy Gravy, Dr. Zaius." Sue said with a proud smirk as Will looked at the woman with a blank stare as she continued to speak, "To what do I owe this pleasure?" Sue asked as Will started to walk towards the table and Paris could tell this was going to end badly.
"Candidate Sylvester," He said as Emma lifted the camera and started to record, "I think you could use a little show business sparkle." He said as he reached into the bucket and grabbed a handful of gold glitter and threw it in her face as he laughed and started to walked around her as he continued to throw glitter at her.
"Every tiny grain if this glitter represents a kid whose dreams wont come true if you get elected and end school arts programs." He said as he got behind her and started to sprinkle it on her head, "John F. Kennedy once said, "The arts are the roots of our culture." The arts enrich our lives and help kids achieve in all walks of life." Paris watched him lift the bucket with a smirk and she scooted away from the woman, knowing what was going to happen next.
"Sue Sylvester you just got glitter-bombed." He said as he poured the bucket on Sue's head and he turned towards Ms. Pillsbury with a proud smile, "You get that?" He asked and when Emma nodded her head yes, he grabbed her arm. "Okay, come on." He said as the two rushed out of the gym.
"Paris, I need the three of you to escort me to my hyperbaric chamber, as I have glitter in my eyes." Sue said as the three girls held their laughter in as they helped the woman up.
∆∆∆
Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Paris said as she looked up and saw Blaine walking towards her and Kurt. Blaine saw the frown on Kurt's face, "Bad day?" He asked as the three started to walk down the hallway and Kurt groaned. "Bad week, more like it." He said as Paris looked at Blaine confused.
"Hey, what are you doing here anyways? Don't you have Warbler practice?" Paris said as Kurt cut in, "You know, putting fine tuning touches on our new Katy Perry showstopper." He said as Blaine rolled his eyes and stepped in front of the two.
"Okay, for two people who loves clothes so much, I can't believe you all haven't noticed that I'm not in my Warbler outfit." He said with a happy smile and Paris looked at him shocked. "Really?" Paris asked excitedly as Kurt gasped and he pulled Blaine in a hug but he soon let go, "Wait, wait, you didn't do this for me, did you? Because if you did this for me, I mean, it would be very romantic for one, but it could lead to resentment, which could lead to anger, which could lead to a horrible, horrible, nasty breakup like, you know, on The Bachelorette, when we watched that-" Kurt rambled but Blaine cut him off.
"Hey, hey, I came here for me. Because I can't stand to be apart from the person I love." He said and Paris looked between the two with a smile, "Well, I guess we'll just have to find a way to ease you into the New Directions now, huh?" She asked as Blaine looked at her with a smile. "I've already have that figured out." He said as he dragged the two outside and he started to sing, It's Not Unusual by Tom Jones.
Paris looked down to see The Glee Club sitting together and she smiled as she walked down towards them and sat down as Blaine continued to sing. Santana looked over towards Paris with a smirk and she inwardly groaned as the two made their way to dance back up for him as they followed Sue's plan perfectly.
When the song came close to an end, Paris, Santana, and a few other girls danced around the purple piano as they poured gasoline on it and they walked away from it as Quinn threw her cigarette onto it, making it burst into flames.
The cheerleaders were already gone before they could actually see Glee Clubs reaction but Paris could already tell that their reactions were not going to be happy.
∆∆∆
"Ladies and gentlemen, lets hear it for Glee Club's newest member, Blaine Anderson." Will said as the two walked into the room and Blaine smiled at everyone. "Thanks so much, everyone. I'm so thrilled to be here. It's gonna be a great year, I can feel it. We're all gonna go to Nationals." He said as everyone cheered and Santana took a seat beside Paris.
"Yeah. Is there a problem, guys?" He asked as he looked at Finn's face to see his mouth was slightly opened. "I just want Blaine to know that we're not the Warblers. You know, we're not into the bells and whistles or the ball hogging, you know?" Finn said as Blaine looked at him, slightly hurt. "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" Blaine asked as he took a seat beside him.
"Well, yeah, you set a bonfire in our courtyard." Finn said as Santana smirked as she leaned up and looked at him, "Actually, Doorknob, that was an act of political protest." She said as Paris rolled her eyes and she pulled the girl back. Will narrowed his eyes at the girl and he walked towards the two cheerios who were sitting beside one another.
"Which leads me to the next order of business. Paris and Santana, you need to leave. It was you and the Cheerios! who set fire to our piano. How could you do that?" He asked as he looked at the two disappointed and Paris went to explain herself but Santana cut her off. "Mr. Schue, Sue made us." She said as she added a laugh as if it was alright and Paris rolled her eyes, knowing this wasn't going to end well for the two girls.
"Brittany didn't do it." He said as he looked across the room to the blonde headed cheerleader and Britt started to speak, "Well, yeah, I was gonna help, but I don't know, I'm a water sign, so." She said as he looked back at Paris and Santana, "You two are banned from Glee. Don't come back unless you can be as loyal to this club as the rest of the people in this room." He said as Paris' eyes widened, not knowing that he was going to kick them off. She only hoped he would just get a detention or something.
"You know what?" Santana said as she grabbed Paris' hand and the two stood up, "We could use a break." She said as Paris walked out of the room feeling guilty as ever and she wished she would've done something to try and stop Sue Sylvester.
A/N!
Sorry for the late update I've just been really sick for the past week but I hope you enjoy