College was a huge issue. Izzy had applied to a lot of them, just as backups in case. The pressure was on, and right now, glee club was secondary to her. Mostly because Mr Schue had lost his mind and gave them the worst glee club assignment to date. Even worse than Sue doing super bass and night of neglect. Even worse than Mr Schue almost playing Rocky in the school musical. If this was what they were supposed to do to beat Throat Explosion, then Throat Explosion really sucked.
"It's like Mr Schue is trying to make us lose. What's next, a lesson on how to be sexy? We did that two years ago," Izzy rolled her eyes.
"Well, at least we get to do a Katy Perry song," Kitty tried getting her hopes up.
"I hate this. I quit Cheerios, I keep glee club because I think it'll help me, and now this crap. I applied to so many colleges and now I need to wait. I can't even sleep anymore," Izzy crossed her arms.
"You'll be fine. You're crazy talented and any college would be lucky to have you," Kitty comforted her.
Flashing a reassuring smile Izzy's way, both of them walked up to Sam to meet him at his locker.
"I have never seen the inside of your locker before," Kitty stuck her head inside of it, frowning as she opened and closed the door repeatedly. "Is that chapstick? And what's True Jackson VP?" Kitty stared at the giant poster in confusion.
"It was on Nickelodeon," Izzy explained.
"Oh you are such a Katy," Kitty looked at him judgementally, earning a nudge to the ribs from Izzy.
Smacking Izzy in return, Kitty rubbed her ribs. "Ow," she complained. "These hurt."
"I know right?" Sam said in amazement.
"So since you're now a Gaga, we're expecting a top tier performance, meat dress and all," Kitty smirked devilishly.
"Mr Schue is totally reusing ideas, I wore spikes on my head when we first did Gaga week," Izzy scowled. Mr Schue was losing his mind.
"Well good luck to you on your Gaga endeavours, since the closest thing to Gaga you've ever done was taken off your shirt in front of middle aged women-" Kitty said, once again earning a nudge to the ribs. Rolling her eyes, Kitty continued, "But you clearly have some Gaga in you, so I guess you can maybe pull it off," Kitty gave a sweet smile.
"Happy?" her smiled was replaced with a cold glare.
"We have to get going now," Izzy interjected. "But I'll see you in glee club."
Waving goodbye, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and left to go find Artie.
*******
With Jake leaving halfway through their Katy meeting, Kitty, Unique, Izzy, and Tina were very skeptical of him. Hell, even Unique talked to Marley, warning her about his slutty ways. Sitting down to watch Sam's performance, it slowly derailed once everyone saw Marley's bubblegum Katy Perry inspired look.
"What happened to the seashell bikini?" Sam asked, annoyed.
"I wasn't comfortable," Marley fought back.
"Well, get over yourself! You think I'm just comfortable up here with no shirt on?"
"Yeah, you probably are," Marley argued.
"Well, I'm not exactly loving this giant white thing that keeps getting caught in my wheels," Artie complained.
"Yeah, and I look like Siegfried and Roy, and I still did it," Blaine added.
"Okay, I'm sorry, you guys, but I am who I am, and I'm not gonna change that for any number, or any guy," Marley said, clearly about Jake. Kitty and Izzy looked at each other knowingly, and they then looked at Jake, shaking their heads.
"Marley, we're all trying to win a championship here, as a team, but you put your personal agenda above that. I'm sorry, but you're suspended for the rest of the week," Mr Schue said.
Izzy was fuming. This was completely unreasonable. But she didn't want to be suspended too. Oh, what the hell.
"This is so unfair!" Izzy broke the silence. "You know she had an eating disorder, and if she wasn't comfortable, then you shouldn't push her."
Kitty was stunned. No one else in the glee club was going to back Izzy up, clearly. But Marley didn't deserve this.
"What's unfair is Marley not doing the assignment," Sam argued.
"Yeah, well not everyone's comfortable in a seashell bikini, Sam," Izzy shot him a glare.
Mr Schue let out a sigh. "After your Katy performance, you're suspended too."
Izzy opened and closed her mouth like she was about to argue back, but a look from Kitty made her shut her mouth, and instead, storm out.
*******
The Gagas were lost. All five of them had no idea what they were doing. Izzy was fuming, but she wanted this last performance to be a good one.
"It is now the day of, and we still don't have a strong plan for this Katy song, and I think it's pretty obvious what the problem is," Tina interrupted their screaming.
"Because we're a bunch of Gagas trying to out-Katy the Katys who just did a Gaga song featuring Marley as Katy? Besides, we did have a plan, but King Latifah dropped the ball," Kitty crossed her arms.
"Let me auto-correct that for you. I tried breaking into the zoo to get us live tigers. Plot twist: Lima doesn't have a zoo! Why'd we think it did? But I did get us a lion costume to make up for it. Didn't I?" Unique replied.
All looking to Jake in a ridiculous tiger costume, he let out a heavy sigh. "I'm really not okay with this."
"Guys, the real problem is, we're thinking gimmicks and spectacle, and, yes, both Katy and Gaga share that, but what people love about Katy's music is it's fun and kind and real and girl-next-door. We need to strip it down. No costumes, no special effects, no gimmicks, just the music," Tina explained, with everyone agreeing.
"I suggest Wide Awake," Izzy said.
"I second that," Kitty pointed to Izzy.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go practice," Izzy pulled out sheet music for it, out of nowhere.
"Do I have to stay in this?" Jake gestured to his tiger costume.
"Yes," Izzy and Kitty said in unison, before learning the lyrics to Wide Awake.
*******
Sitting next to Marley, both of them were going to wallow with watching Julie Andrews movies and looking at kittens. Izzy, Kitty, Tina, Unique, and Jake's performance was absolutely amazing. Kitty especially. But Izzy was mostly holding back narrowing her eyes because she was being suspended from an optional club and also because Sam looked somewhat cozy with that new nurse McKinley hired. She wasn't exactly a good nurse, but she was really pretty.
"I'm sorry," Marley sighed. "You shouldn't have done that. I got you suspended," Marley said, very guilty.
"No, Mr Schue got me suspended. That's because he's a dumbass, he just lost the two greatest parts of glee club," Izzy smiled, taking Marley's hand in hers. They didn't have glee club, but they still had each other. And school.
"You know, Sam and the others got suspended for a week. Not just from glee club, but from actual school, so who's laughing now?" Izzy smiled, before noticing Marley's blank expression. "What's up with you?"
"Jake," she spat. "He pressured me into doing something I didn't want to do," Marley shifted uncomfortably.
Izzy made a mental note to confront Jake. And maybe smack him, since they were infamous for being extremely painful.
"We haven't talked since," Marley said solemnly.
"He sucks. If he doesn't make up with you, I will go all Lima Heights," Izzy knew Santana would be proud. That's what best friends were for.
"Thanks," Marley sighed. "Have you talked to Sam yet? I mean, you kind of look mad at him."
Izzy shook her head. "He was a jerk," she leaned on her locker.
"You should. Just because my relationship is doomed doesn't mean yours has to be either," Marley gave a grim smile.
"No way. Today is all about us, and cute little kittens, and Julie Andrews," Izzy tried cheering her up.
"Yes way," Marley fought back. "We can do all that after you talk to him. Communication is key," Marley dragged her to Sam, where he was emptying his locker.
"Go," Marley flashed Izzy a thumbs up and walked away.
"So I'm guessing you didn't like the number?" Sam asked.
"It didn't suck. But I don't get why you were so obsessed with it," Izzy bit her cheek.
"Because I wanted to impress the best Gaga- you," he told her, making her heart flutter.
"Sure it wasn't to impress the new nurse?" Izzy chuckled nervously.
Sam went into a panic. "No, no way," he said, all flustered. "She just wanted to check out a Katy number. Like, she loves Katy."
Still unconvinced, Izzy dropped the subject as to not cause any more drama. "Well, Marley's waiting for me, so I will see you next week since you're suspended," she shot him a sympathetic look.
"What about tomorrow? We can totally watch a Julie Andrews movie and have pizza," he suggested.
"Chipotle," she corrected. "See you around," Izzy said, turning around and walking to try and find Marley, fully prepared for their night out.