The day has finally come for the big announcement.
Mr. Schue has Finn and I sit on the two wooden stools that are facing the students as they flood in.
"I have an announcement to make" Mr Schue says when everyone has gotten settled and is seated. "I've been selected for the Blue Ribbon government panel to improve the arts programs in America."
"That's great Mr. Schue" Tina smiles.
Mr. Schue's smile fades, "but, that means that I'll be in D.C for a little while. So, I've found two substitutes for you guys while I'm gone." He says, and presents Finn and I.
"Finn? Are you kidding? He has no authority. No offense, Finn. But he's so unqualified." Tina yells.
"That's why I'm here-"
"You're even worse! You went to YALE and dropped out of YALE!" Tina takes a hit at me. I pretend to be shocked but I just roll my eyes at Tina, aka the new drama queen.
"Well, I'll be back after Sectionals" Mr. Schue tries to make the situation better.
"We'll all be dead by then" Tina throws her hands up.
The glee club is interrupted by none other than Sue Sylvester.
"Macaroni head, Baby Hater, and Traitor? Figgins, now" Sue demands and we all follow her out of the room.
"They have no qualifications whatsoever to be head of the glee club. Or the maturity" She says, the last part looking at Finn.
"You see, they're adult volunteers. It's just volunteering" Mr. Schue pleads with Figgins who had already approved the situation prior to Sue's uproar.
"I don't see any issue with this" Figgins says.
"If Finn Hudson remains in charge, my fragile peace with this school will be over." Sue says.
Figgins puts his hands up and ignores Sue.
"Fine" She says, storming out of the office, before going on one of her familiar rampages throughout the school.
After school, I help the girls with their outfits that Tina worked on earlier.
"My skirt-" Marley says as she tries to fit into her yellow skirt. "It fit yesterday" she says quietly.
"Maybe you're inheriting your mom's weight genes" Kitty shrugs and I give her the death stare. "What?" She asks, knowing exactly what I was looking at her for.
"Can I see your skirt really quick?" I ask Marley to which she nods along with.
I get on my knees and look at the fabric.
"Says it's a size 4." I whisper to myself. I hit the jackpot when I feel stitching in the side of the skirt. "Looks like it's been tightened a little bit over in the side." I say. "I'll get some scissors and cut that so it'll fit you again"
"I- I didn't put that there" Marley says obviously frustrated.
"Who else has been here Tina?" I ask since Tina's in charge of the costumes.
"Uh, Kitty was a few days ago" Tina looks down at her feet.
"Kitty? Did you do this?"
"No" She rolls her eyes. "the fact that you even-"
I cut her off "It seems like something you would do. Plus you have your motives." I cross my arms. "Come on" I say softly, nodding my head in the direction of Figgins' office.
Kitty walks next to me as I take her to Figgins'. Like yea, does this make me uncool? Yea it does. But she's trying to bully Marley which is also uncool. And if people would've stepped in for like Hitler and stuff, I'm sure he wouldn't have done the whole invading Poland and all those places.
I walk through the glass doors after Kitty and present her to Figgins.
"She tried to get inside another student's head by tightening her clothes to make it seem that she's getting fat. Which could lead to an eating disorder." I say to a silent principal.
"Hm" He says. "Was there any physical contact?"
I shake my head no.
"Well, this doesn't go against the school's policy of bullying or hazing. I'm sorry Ms. Peters but my hands are tied" Figgins says, uttering his famous line.
I can feel the embarrassment in the room. Kitty smiling her devilish grin behind me adds to the feeling.
"You're off the hook, this time. But there better not be a next time. At all" I say to the girl who looks like a younger version of me.
Kitty scoffs and rolls her eyes and follows me out of the room back to the auditorium.
Finn informs me the next day that Sue told him she booked the auditorium and the gym for the Cheerios, meaning we have no where to rehearse.
"Okay, so here's the plan." I instruct. "Take the boys to Burt's to work on Greased Lightning, and I'll have a sleepover with the girls to work on Sandra Dee and all that" I say.
"Sounds like a plan" Finn shakes my hand.
There's an awkward silence that fills the choir room, just the two of us.
"So, what have you been up to for the past few months?" I ask Finn, breaking the silence.
"Nothing but working, honestly. You?"
"Same, but not really. I don't have a job. I'm trying to get one at Breadstix but I feel like that's embarrassing." I admit as I crack my knuckles nervously.
"Well, if you ever get a job there, let me know. I'll be there every night for dinner with a tip for you" Finn smiles at me.
"I've missed how we used to talk." I say causing him to make eyecontact with me. "I just- you're my best friend, and to lose that? That's the hardest part of all of this."
Finn reaches for my hand. "I know we might not be together now, but I'm always here for you Jess. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. We'll always be best friends, there's no way around that. I still love you" He whispers.
"I love you too. But now's not the time for us. We've established this. If-"
"when" Finn cuts me off.
"excuse me?"
"You were going to say 'if we get back together' so I fixed your mistake. You meant to say 'when we get back together'. Continue." Finn says and I laugh.
"Okay, when we get back together, it'll be the right time, and it'll be perfect. But right now? We need to spend time individually. We've spent so much time together that we forget who we are as individuals." I give Finn a peck on the cheek and get up. I stand at the door of the choir room. "I'll see you tomorrow" I say since he'll be at the tire shop for rehearsals today.
"See ya" He smiles and waves bye to me.
Soon enough, it's about 7 and it's time to go to Britt's for the 'slumber party'.
I'm last to get to Brittany's house and all the other girls have arrived and have found vintage pj's on such short notice.
"Wow, you guys look so good! All in character!" I clap for the girls.
Marley gets up and goes to the bathroom, Kitty takes this opportunity to mock her with a brown haired wig she found, dancing all around singing 'Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee'.
The night ends when Marley starts crying and everyone's brought down, so they go home.
I feel horrible about the whole Marley and Kitty situation, but I've already tried going to Figgins and he totally ignored it. I have no other ideas on what to do. Should I ban her from the play?
I can't believe that tonight is opening night.
I wake up and get to school to meet with Finn.
When I get into the choir room, Finn left a sticky note with my name on it.
Come to Figgins office ASAP
I take the directions from the small square of paper with glue on the back.
When I walk into the principals office, I see Unique, Finn and two people who I presume is Unique's parents.
"Although we've been supportive, we're worried about Wade's safety. We've told him that he can wear wigs and dresses around the house, but to be more discreet at school. We're pulling him from the play" His mom says and then they all get up and leave.
Finn and I walk back to the choir room where we sit and figure out what to do.
"I've done a crash course and I think I can be off book by tonight" Tina says with the script in her hand.
"Sorry Tina, I called in a favor already." Finn said to Tina who then throws her script to the ground.
"We've recruited Santana, since she's in town, to play the role she was born to play" I sit up and announce to the students who are filling up the choir room.
Finn and I spend about 3 hours getting the show ready in time for the 7 PM time slot that we put on the flyers.
Around 6:30, we finish the stage and props.
Heading to the cafeteria where there're refreshments, Finn and I bump into Rachel and Kurt.
"Oh hey" I smile to my former classmates, embracing both of them.
"Hi" Rachel smiles.
"Rachel!? You look so good! I'm glad you realized how to use makeup to extenuate your features! Your eyes look beautiful, and gosh those cheekbones! I see you also got Ombre done! New York has been good to you" I say to my former enemy, clad in black.
"What brings you guys here?" Finn asks.
"Just figured it would be a good little break" Kurt shrugs but his eyes are focused on what's behind us. He steps back and whispers to Rachel. "I'm gonna go get us a seat, I look forward to the production" Kurt excuses himself and leaves Finn and I alone with Rachel.
"I'm gonna go get us water. Rachel would you like some as well?" Finn asks and she nods.
Now with Finn gone it's just me and Rachel standing in the old halls of our former school.
"I thought you two broke up" She says, breaking the silence.
Unprepared for this statement, I stare at the floor. Trying not to have my eyes well up. "We did" I say, straight up.
"Why are you two working together then?" She keeps pushing her limits.
"Because, Mr. Schue chose us as the new co directors of the New Directions while he's in DC." I stick my chest out as I inform her of my credibility. "So, we're working together. We're still best friends, just the romantic end of things have ended for now" I shrug.
Finn returns with three cups of water.
"Need some help with that?" Rachel asks, obviously flirting with her old flame right in front of me.
"Thank you" Finn returns the look. A look I knew really well since it was reserved usually for me. A look of love and need.
"Well" I interrupt their moment, to excuse myself. "I'm gonna go help everyone get ready. It was very nice seeing you Rachel" I lie and walk away, tears streaming from my face.
When I get backstage, I try to hide my redness from my face due to the tears. I rub my face before opening the door but I do a poor job.
"Were you crying?" Tina walks up to me.
I shake my head because I know if I try to speak, the water works will form again.
Brittany walks up to me. She just hugs me because after spending three years together every day, you know your best friends. She just pulls me close and holds onto me for a while.
I pull myself together because I'm supposed to be a role model for these kids, I can't be crying over a guy when all these girls are watching me.
Finn arrives after flirting with Rachel and we start a show circle.
After we all put our hands in, the curtain rises.
The show starts with Blaine as Teen Angel and he sings Beauty School Dropout which could make any girl melt.
I search for Marley after Blaine is off stage but she's no where to be found. She returns with Ryder, looking how I did earlier after crying over Finn.
"Okay. Let's go guys!" Artie instructs everyone. "Let's get a move on"
Santana gets in the chair for her makeup, with a lit up mirror facing her. I watch as Brittany approaches her. My heart breaks for Brittany because all she wants is Santana. They're soul mates for sure and watching them not together just hurts too much to bear.
I can hear little bits of their conversation as Santana gets ready to play Rizzo. Something about how Brittany misses her a lot and she's single. Santana says that Brittany being single doesn't really matter anyways. Brittany says that it's a sad song that Santana has to perform and that she should think of how they're not together anymore. That last part just breaks my heart which forces me to stop listening to their conversation.
I shouldn't be eavesdropping but I just want my favorite couple together. They belong together.
Santana finishes getting ready and Artie directs her onstage where she performs her number There Are Worse Things I Could Do
I give a huge round of applause for my friend since she did a killer version of the classic number.
Tina then performs and runs off stage to Mike who's waiting for her in the wings. I see them hug and I think they try to make up or something but all this coupley stuff just makes me sick. I was in a relationship for 2 in a half years and just to see everyone still in one, having what I used to have? Heart breaking.
Artie and I get the final number on stage which is You're The One That I Want. Marley's in her catsuit and Ryder gets his black shirt on with his varsity sweater.
The high schoolers get on stage and perform the song but during the performance, I keep on seeing Finn and I out there as Sandy and Danny.
We go throughout the set, the Funhouse and the Shake Shack, dancing together like we would've if it were our senior year all over again. As I go back to reality, I see Finn lost in thought, across from me watching the performance of the song. I get back in my little fantasy and everyone from last year is dancing with us. Mercedes and Sam, Mike and Tina, Brittany and Santana, and Blaine and Kurt. Everything just feels great again. But I snap out of it when the crowd roars with applause for the final performance.
I try to clap but the whole picturing me and Finn together really got the best of me and I run to the bathroom where I touch up my makeup before we go to the choir room to talk to the kids.
My makeup is a little smudged but I fix it. I walk out of the bathroom confidently until Finn stops right in front of me.
"You okay?" He asks.
"Yup" I put my head down and try to keep walking.
"No you're not. You're crying" He says stating the obvious.
"Let's go to the choir room and just congratulate the kids okay?" I ask sniffling.
"Alright" He follows me as my heels clack as we walk to the room with the kids who just performed.
Mr. Schue's sitting there with them waiting for us.
"Awesome job guys!" I cheer as I walk in.
"Couldn't be more proud of you all" Finn chimes in.
Artie reads the newspaper review from the McKinley Muckraker.
"Well, I'm glad to be leaving the glee club in such good hands" Mr. Schue says standing up and putting a hand on both Finn and I's shoulders. "So-" Mr. Schue tries to give some last advice but Finn cuts him off.
"I've got this" Finn says, and Mr. Schue lets Finn give a pep talk.
"Literally, the student has become the teacher" Mr. Schue says.