Hey guys! I apologize for the wait. I was going to post this long ago but there was a thunderstorm where I live and all of the power in the neighborhood was out for the last 20-ish hours, which was a terrible experience because I couldn't update! So as part of my apology please enjoy this photoshopped picture of the glee club according to me, that I have just posted along with this chapter and finally a make-up so that you guys can be happy!
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"I can't just spring all of that on him," Julie hissed at Jake as the two approached Ryder's locker. An entire week had passed since the dance and Ryder had given them each the cold shoulder.
"Julie, he needs to know the truth," Jake insisted. "He's suspicious and he--"
"What's going on?" Ryder said as they reached him and he looked up suspiciously.
Jake looked at Julie, who didn't speak and sighed, "Nothing..." Instead of staying with them, he walked off. Ryder hesitantly closed his locker and started making his way away from Julie, but she decided Jake was right.
"So last week was weird," she began. He turned around hesitantly and looked at her.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean we hardly spoke and there weren't many glee club meetings," she said. "So I felt kind of disconnected to everyone. Especially you."
"Oh, well," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I'm sure Jake kept you plenty of company." He started walking forward but Julie was not satisfied with that encounter.
"Enough!" she exclaimed, following after him and, grabbing his arm, forced him to turn back. She looked around at the crowded hallway around them and sighed. "Follow me," she said, walking out through the front doors and leading him out into the cold. At least they were alone.
"What?" Ryder said once they were outside.
Julie shuddered. "There's something I haven't told you about," she said.
"Is it Jake?" he asked automatically.
She shook her head. "No..." she murmured. "I don't have feelings for Jake and there's nothing going on between us."
Ryder turned in frustration and then rotated his body back to face her. "Then what, Julie?" he said. "What is it that keeps forcing itself between us now? It's not Sam. It's not Jake. Then what?"
"It's not another boy, okay?" she said, taking a deep breath. "It's... It's... It's my mom, okay?"
"Your mom?" said Ryder, his voice and expression softening as he realized regardless of what she said next he'd been a jerk. "What about her?"
"It's a long story," she said. She shivered so Ryder started taking his jacket off. She shook her head and said, "It's okay, I just left my jacket in my locker. We have to go back inside for class soon anyway. Listen, we can finish this conversation later and I'll tell you everything. Right now, though, what I really need is for you to be here. I can't take this awkward distance between us anymore. Okay?"
His angry eyes were now sad as he looked down at her and nodded. "I'm sorry," he said without needing to hear her story.
"For?" she said.
"Being jealous and insecure," he said, shrugging. "I was just stupid last week."
"It's my fault for not telling you what was really going on," she said. "But we'll leave this talk for later. Right now, we need to go to Study Hall or Mrs. Blanchet is really going to kill us."
***
"Tell me," Alex whispered to Amity during English. "What's your favorite love song?"
She looked up at him, blushing. "What's it to you?" she asked with a smile.
"Oh, no reason," he answered. "It's not like it's Valentine's week or anything."
She put on her most serious face and whispered, "Up until this year it's always been Eric Carmen's 'All by Myself' so..."
Alex looked at her with a blank look on his face. "You're kidding," he said. "That is sad."
"What's so sad?" asked Mr. Seifried as he approached them with an angry look on his face.
"This book," said Alex, looking down at the book in his hand. "Angela's Ashes."
"Oh yeah?" said Mr. Seifried. "And what's so sad about it?"
Amity looked at Alex with an expectant gaze, knowing he had not read a single page since they were assigned the novel. "Umm..." he said. "You know... the part with Angela and the, uh... the... the ashes..?"
"Detention," said Mr. Seifried as he walked away. "After class."
"Fantastic," said Alex to Amity. "And I was planning on singing you whatever song you said during lunch but now I can't."
"Oof..." said Amity, pretending this had bummed her out. "That would've really made my day."
He laughed and said, "There's still an entire week left. And hey, I can even pay the Christian Club to do a singing gram and serenade you for me."
"You realize I'd be one of the singers, right?" she said. He nodded proudly and the two laughed, only to look away from each other innocently when Mr. Seifried shot them a look.
***
"So oi wus tinkin," Rory said as he and Sugar made their way over to the choir room after school. "Maybe nigh dat we've been official for a few weeks, we shud consummate our relationship."
Sugar gasped. "You mean..." she mumbled. "You think we should... you know... do it..?"
Rory shrugged, his face flushed. "Only if you want to," he said. Sugar thought about this for a second.
"No thanks!" she exclaimed merrily. "I'm good!" She walked on with quick strides and a defeated Rory struggled to keep up.
A few steps behind, Marley and Jake were walking to class together. "So it's something personal then?" Marley mumbled.
"Yes," Jake said. "We are not dating. She is just going through some stuff."
"Is she okay?" she asked concerned.
Jake nodded. "I think so," he said. "I appreciate the concern and I'm sure she will too, but right now I think she just needs space until she can come forward and share what she's going through."
"Well..." Marley mumbled hesitantly. "I guess... But since she's let you in, just know that you have the responsibility to tell someone if she's in danger!"
Jake looked over at Marley. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I don't know," she shrugged, not wanting to say the wrong thing. "Just... Look out for her okay. Julie's a fragile girl and..."
"She's stronger than you'd think," he said automatically.
"I know," Marley said, nodding in agreement when she saw how defensive he got. "Just watch out for her, okay?"
Jake decided not to question what Marley meant any further and simply nodded as they continued on to the choir room. They made it just as Julie, Kitty and Bree rounded the corner of the hallway.
"Bree, wait up!" Julie exclaimed as Bree walked a few steps in front of them. They were all in their cheerleader uniforms with similar ponytails after Principal Sylvester had done a surprise inspection of the squad and Coach Roz had warned them in time. Most girls were already in uniform, as it was the best way to claim social status during the school day, but a few of them didn't have their high ponies and Julie typically had neither.
Bree turned around, annoyed. "You could've gotten us in trouble," she said, firmly.
"I know," Julie said. "And I'll be more careful about wearing the uniform and the pony in the future but please just talk to me."
"So you can stab me in the back again?" Bree asked.
"Okay, enough!" Kitty exclaimed. "Okay? She's proven that she's not into Jake, Bree! She went to the dance with Ryder and was all mushy and cute with him so you can just--"
Bree raised an eyebrow. "Did she tell you who she left with?" she asked her.
Kitty turned to Julie. "Not..." she started.
"That's right," Bree said. "Your sweet little innocent friend left with Jake. Multiple people saw them. So if you want to defend her, at least do your research before beginning your argument."
As Bree walked away, heading past the choir room angrily, Kitty turned to Julie, waiting for an explanation. "Leaving with Jake was not part of the plan," she told her.
"I know," Julie said, feeling guilty. "It was an emergency."
"It better have been life or death," said Kitty, crossing her arms.
Julie sighed. "It was," she said in a mere whisper. "Look, I don't really want to get into it because nobody knows except for Jake and pretty soon Ryder once I get a chance to explain. But the deal is... My m-- Isabella... She's sick. She has cancer and it doesn't look like she's going to recover."
"Oh my gosh..." Kitty murmured, putting a hand to her mouth. "Jules, I'm so..."
"I know," said Julie. "Me, too. Last night she had an accident and it scared me and I didn't want to have to explain to anyone so I had Jake take me to see her. And now everyone thinks there's something going on that isn't and other than coming clean to Ryder, I don't know how else to fix it."
Kitty forced a smile. "Sweetie," she began, "there's nothing for you to fix. People's misgivings about you and your personal life shouldn't be your concern, okay? You owe them no explanation and I'm sorry for making you think you had to give me one. But I'm glad you did because no matter what they think of you, I'm going to be there for you. Okay?"
Julie nodded, thankful that she had befriended Kitty in the first place.
"Now let's go inside," she said. "We can sit together and show everyone we don't give a--"
Julie gave her a look. "We can be normal," she said to Kitty, who sighed and agreed. They headed inside the choir room and took a seat just as Will was getting them started.
"Love," he said as he wrote the word on the board. "Well, it's that time of year once again. Last year, I was on my way back into town after being gone for a while. And when I returned, I was getting married."
"Technically," Sugar pointed out, "you were getting stood up. It took a at least a week for you to actually get married."
Will looked over at her and pressed his lips together. "Yes, Sugar," he said with a nod. "And now I'm happily married with a beautiful boy. So I see Valentine's Week as the greatest time of year... Which is why this week we're going to be cliche and sing love songs."
"Yeah!" cheered Sugar, Unique and Joe. Everyone else had less excitement in their cheering.
"So I encourage anyone who wants--" Mr. Schue continued. He was interrupted by Bree, who stormed into the room angrily.
"Alright, who did it?" she asked, holding up a piece of pink parchment.
"Sorry?" said Will. "What's going on?"
"I went to my locker to drop off my gym bag," she explained, obviously still angry, "and found this," she crumbled up the paper and threw it towards New Directions, "along with some awful chocolates and a rose. So who's idea of a joke was it, huh?"
"Someone left you a Valentine?" asked Sugar with an excited smile. Bree looked around at the guys.
"I wouldn't go there," said Jake. Defeated, he added, "Again..."
"Oi only 'av eyes for Sugar," Rory frowned as Sugar cuddled onto his shoulder happily. Bree's eyes shot over to Ryder and Dan.
"I'm a one girl kind of dude," said Dan.
Ryder looked at Julie, smiling, and said, "Same here."
Bree squinter her eyes at them, not lowering her suspicion, and turned to Alex. "Was it you then?" she asked angrily.
"Why would I even bother?" he asked lazily. "Valentine's is so not my style." Amity's heart sank, thinking of all he had been feeding her earlier in the day. Bree rolled her eyes and turned to John instead.
"I'm King of Laziness," he reminded her. "I don't go the extra mile. Or any mile."
"Never has his words been more true..." Kitty muttered, not hiding her bitterness at the fact that they were fighting. In frustration, Bree turned to the girls.
"Okay," she said. "I've been a bitch to pretty much all of you at one point or another in the last two years. So which one of you decided it'd be funny to prank me?"
None of the girls spoke, instead just looking around at each other. "Come on guys," said Mr. Schue, picking up the balled up Valentine from the ground. It had hit Marley and bounced back to where he was standing. "This isn't funny and I expect whoever did it to own up to it."
"Why do we assume it's someone in this room?" asked Ryder, getting a bunch of yeah's from his peers.
"She said it herself," said Marley. "She's been mean to everyone and that isn't limited to just the people in this room."
"You're probably at the top of my enemies list," said Bree. "That makes you the prime suspect."
"Why would I send you a fake Valentine?" asked Marley.
"I don't know," Bree shrugged. "Because a year ago I had sex with your boyfriend and proceeded to sleep with him behind your back and even after the two of you broke up?"
Marley crossed her arms, fighting back the urge to insult her. Jake sighed as everyone else looked back between them, anticipating what would come next.
Bree turned to Unique. "Or maybe it was you," she said. "Marley the Dog's greatest defendant. I've made fun of pretty much everything about you but I don't think you really hated me until I slept with Jake. So maybe you thought you'd mess with me this time around for revenge."
Unique rolled her eyes and didn't dignify her with a response. Instead John sighed and said, "Can whoever thought it'd be funny to prank Bree just admit to it already so we can move on? This is really stupid..."
Bree snapped at him. "I agree," she said. "And maybe your girlfriend was so pissed that you stood him up and went to have dinner with Marley that she decided to take it out on me. After all, I did take the throne from her last year and became the next Quinn Fabray, which was always her dream."
Kitty looked over at John and then Marley. It became evident to everyone that she had no idea the two had gone to dinner together. Julie put a hand on Kitty's shoulder, anticipating an attack on either John, Marley, or Bree. Instead, Kitty took a deep breath and smiled at Bree.
"You should call Brittany," Kitty told her, failing to acknowledge the accusation. "Last year Lord Tubbington sent out a dozen Valentines behind her back so maybe he sent you one this year, too. You have been pretty unlucky in the dating game and he's a very helpful cat."
Bree scowled at her and rolled her eyes as she finally took her seat. "Okay," said Mr. Schue as he let out a deep breath. "I really hope if anyone in the room did put this in her locker, he or she comes forward and apologize." He tossed it to the trash can and continued where he'd left off. "Now that that's been addressed, Joe had an announcement."
"Yes," said Joe, nervously making his way to the front. "At our last student council meeting, we brainstormed different ways we could use this week to fundraise. We've posted several posters throughout the school and made announcements during both homeroom and lunch, but in case you all haven't heard, John and I," at this cue, John went to the front of the room with him and unzipped his backpack, "wanted to make sure you knew what was going on."
"We've come up with several ideas," John said. "First, we're selling Valentine Grams. These come in several forms, the first being candy bags." He reached down into his backpack and pulled out a small, pink-plastic-wrapped bag containing boxes of Nerds, Hershey kisses, and other top favorite candy choices. Only two dollars."
As John passed Marley the bag so they could all check it out, Joe continued, "Another gram will be the yearly God Club-sponsored singing grams. Obviously you guys are all singers and can sing to your loved ones as you please, but it would be great if you could give just three dollars to us and we'll put on a fantastic number without you having to lift a finger. We have many options to choose from. For satisfied costumers, give any member of Finchel or Brittana a call. Also Klaine may have a few good stories to tell."
"We will also be having a Kissing Booth," John announced, raising the excitement of most of the group. "And we were hoping to hire from within."
Everyone looked back blankly. "We wanted volunteers from in here," Joe elaborated. "Our student council staff is busy making and selling the candy so we need different people to take shifts during passing periods."
Sugar raised her hand. Rory shook his head at her, forcing her arm down. The group filled with whispers, friends asking each other what they thought of it.
"How many people do you need?" Unique asked.
"Just two or three of each gender," Joe told her. "I'm doing it and umm John is--"
"--going to talk about it later with his girlfriend," muttered John, forcing Joe to stop talking.
Marley raised her hand. "Yes Marley?" Joe asked her.
Marley looked around and then said, "My hand is raised because I'm volunteering." This surprised many people, including John and Joe.
"Are you sure?" John asked slowly, evidently nonplussed.
Marley nodded. "I've been trying to find ways to help out and get more involved in school," she explained, "and this seems like a perfect time to step up."
"I'll do it, too," said Shana, raising her hand and shrugging.
"Great!" Joe exclaimed, smiling at both of them. He looked over at Ryder and said, "And we were hoping you'd be up for it, too. Since you know, other than me you're the only other single guy in the club."
Ryder creased his eyebrows in confusion. He turned around and looked at Jake, who said, "It's me, Joe. I'm the one."
Joe seemed doubtful as he looked at Jake. "Really?" he asked, starting to point at Julie. "But I thought..."
John realized what was happening and interrupted. "Great," he said. "So we can count on you, too, then?"
Jake sighed, nodding as he realized that unless he agreed everyone would keep thinking he and Julie were secretly seeing each other.
"So if that's everyone then--" John started.
But Kitty raised her hand and said, "I would also like to help out."
"With the Valentine Grams or..?" he asked.
Kitty raised her brow and said, "Kissing booth."
"Umm..." said Joe, trying to help John in what had just become an incredibly awkward scenario. He pretended to count on his fingers and said, "It looks like we're actually all booked on shifts. But if anything opens up we'll happily let you know."
"If that is all of your announcement," said Will, "then let's get started with glee stuff now."