We broke into the school at 7PM once everyone's flights were in, cars had reached their destinations.
The lights went on, almost in slow motion. From darkness to a soft dim in what felt like 5 minutes. The heat rushing through my cheeks caused me to blush, making me feel extremely warm from the happy feeling in my stomach.
Quinn and I hold hands as we skip in front of the stage, Puck strumming the guitar. We both give him a group hug and then let go as the song he's playing begins.
Homeward Bound/Home is what was radiating off of Puck's acoustic.
The lights move towards the entrance of the auditorium, where Mr. Schue once entered during the first official song the glee club ever did 4 years ago.
Mike Chang, Mercedes Jones, and Santana Lopez are found by the light that had landed on them as they harmonize with Quinn, Puck, and I.
Finn then appears from the shadows behind one of the red velvet curtains to take the melody shortly.
Quinn hugs my former boyfriend and the song finishes with all of us on stage together.
"Home for the holidays" Quinn smiles, breaking away from Finn.
"Just like we promised" I smile before we all turn into hug monsters, hugging everyone left and right.
We all head to Breadstix for a little 'reunion' dinner.
"So, where's Rachel and Kurt?" Mercedes asks, since she's been out in California she doesn't really know anything that's happened after Grease.
"I don't think they're coming" I say before taking a bite from one of the garlic breadsticks.
"Why not?" Mike asks.
"I think it has something to do with Kurt not wanting to see Blaine and Rachel 'supporting' him" I say in between chews of my stick of bread.
"It's so funny that they wanna stay out of drama but end up causing more. Just saying" Santana who's sitting next to me laughs.
"So have you guys gotten married yet?" Puck asks Finn and I.
"Puck, we've been broken up for months now" I chuckle awkwardly.
"Dude, I told you that when it first happened" Finn admits. "I think there's too much pool water in your ears from your pool cleaning business"
Everyone laughs at Finn's statement.
"I'm just glad that we're all together again" Quinn smiles. "Some of us" She says looking at me. "Are together everyday" She smiles once again as she looks at Finn.
"Sorry that we got chosen as Mr. Schue's favorite students" Finn shrugs, earning a high five from me.
"If only JBI was here to interview you guys about what it's like to be the number one geeks in the world" Puck rolls his eyes.
I lean over to Finn and whisper an idea that just came to me, in his ear.
"That's a great idea" he whispers back but louder than my previous statement.
"What's a good idea? You guys gonna go have a quickie in the bathroom?" Santana sneers.
"No actually, we thought that if you guys wanted to come in tomorrow for like this week's lesson we could pair you all up with a glee member and have you guys mentor them" Finn says.
The next day during glee club, the boys split up and head to the auditorium to practice for Finn's choice for Sectionals... Gangnam Style. I hate the choice, but whatever.
After Finn and I revealed who's paired up with who for the week, Quinn with Kitty, Marley with Santana and finally, Wade with Mercedes, we all stand together at the piano just talking.
I'm zoned out until I hear Marley ask "Can you give us an example?"
"well, it's been a few months but I'm sure the four of us could put together something on the fly" Quinn says referring to Santana, Brittany, Me and herself.
The girls all whoop for us as we move so we're standing in front of the high schoolers.
The band starts to play one of my favorite songs Come See About Me to which Quinn and I sing the lead on.
"Are you okay?" Santana says to Marley after the performance.
Marley sits up "Yeah why?"
"you look like you're about to hurl" Santana answers for her.
The bell rings and everyone files out of the choir room.
Soon after everyone's spending time with their mentors, I get a text from Quinn.
Is Marley dating a Puckerman?
I text her back
I think so, why?
Meet me in the hall
I listen to Quinn and meet her in the hall as the text says.
"We need to find that boy and put him in his place. He's pressuring that poor Marley girl" Quinn instructs as we march through the halls.
After pretending to listen to Quinn rant on about the Puckermans, we finally see Jake and Noah in the hallway.
"Are you pressuring Marley into having sex with you" Quinn goes full force on the poor sophomore standing with her baby daddy.
"what? no" Jake responds. I put my hand on his shoulder and tell him to just ignore her.
"No, don't ignore me. I know you Puckermans, you're all just womanizers and I won't let another innocent girl get knocked up and have her life ruined."
"You're out of line Quinn" Puck steps in, protecting his kid brother.
"The way you're going to win Sectionals is if Marley's at her best, and if you keep distracting her? She's not going to be" Quinn says powerfully, then links arms with me and we march away from the boys. I turn around to look at their confused faces before mouthing sorry to one of my students who my best friend just scared the shit out of.
The next day, Santana and Quinn are in the choir room before I even can get there.
"God, you two are earlier than me? Wack" I say, putting my purse down on the piano bench before joining their conversation.
"i'm telling you that Kitty girl is insane. She put laxatives in Marley's bag" Santana whispers to Quinn and I
"Okay, this is being put to a stop, right now" I say about to storm out of the room.
Quinn yanks me back into the choir room to stay with her and Santana.
"Ohhh I'm Santana, I'm hiding from everyone in cheer college because I have no idea what to do with my life. I don't even wanna have a full ride to Louisville, oh poor me" Quinn mocks 1/4 of our friend group.
"Oh please, at least I'm not dating a Yale professor that's like 20 years older than me and divorce is supposedly finalized."
Quinn slaps Santana which results in Santana slapping Quinn back.
"ENOUGH STOP!" I get in the middle of my two friends just as Brittany walks in.
"What did I miss" She says with her usual perky tone.
"Nothing, we were just leaving" Quinn says, her eyes asking me to follow her.
Finally, the day of Sectionals arrives and I'm backstage with all the kids getting ready for their performance.
The Warblers perform Whistle as we wait to go on and finish with Live While We're Young.
I see Marley and Jake in the corner, and Marley looks like a mix of tired, upset, and frustrated.
Instead of doing nothing, I walk over to the pair to check on them.
"Hey, we all okay?" I ask.
"I'm just nervous, you know?" Marley says and Jake wraps his arm around her.
"I'll be okay, you're great. You're gonna do amazing." I smile and give Marley a little hug. "Alright everyone! Show circle!" I announce and everyone walks over to me where Finn counts us down.
"1, 2, 3" Finn yells. "NEW DIRECTIONS" Luckily we're in the green room so we don't disturb the performers/the audience.
The announcer announces the New Directions as Finn and I take our seats in the audience.
The kids walk out and perform Gangam Style with Tina finally getting that solo she's been whining about for months.
I smile at Finn when the performance nears it's end but I jerk my head to the stage after I hear a thump.
Finn and I both stand up and run up to the stage to see Marley, passed out on the ground.