Before Mr. Schue could even start this week's lesson, Finn lifted his hand to talk.
"Mr. Schue? I have something to say." He said, as Mr. Schue gave him the floor. Standing from his seat, and walking toward the middle of the room, Finn fidgeted a bit with his words and Emily frowned. What the hell was going to come up with now? "Something happened to me and I can't really get into it, but it's shaken me to my core."
"Oh, my God, he's coming out." Puck whispered.
"Why, yes." Finn said, apparently unfazed. "There is a man who's sort of recently come into my life and that man is Jesus Christ."
"That's way worse."
"And I know there's others in here who dig him too." Finn continued, despite his friend's interruption and, beside her, Emily could see Quinn perking up at Finn's words. "And so I thought maybe this week we could pay tribute to him in music. You know, pay tribute to Jesus."
"Sorry, uh, but if I wanted to sing about Jesus, I'd go to church." Kurt said, and honestly, Emily had to agree. "And the reason I don't go to church is because most churches don't think very much of gay people. Or women. Or science."
"I don't see anything wrong with getting a little church up in here." Mercedes argued.
"I agree." Quinn added, nodding her head. "I've had a really hard year, and I turned to God a lot for help. I, for one, wouldn't mind saying thanks."
"Thanks for what?" Santana scoffed at her friend. "That it didn't come out a lizard baby?"
"Whenever I pray, I fall asleep." Brittany commented, before Quinn could even respond.
"Well, guys, maybe our song selections don't have to be about Jesus." Mr. Schue offered. "We could do songs about spirituality."
At that, Puck made a face. Noticing it, Finn suddenly grew defensive.
"You got a problem with Jesus?" He asked, rather harshly as Emily widened her eyes in surprise.
"Oh, I got no problem with the guy. I'm a total Jew for Jesus." Puck defended. "He's my number one Hebe. What I don't like seeing is people using J-Money to cramp everybody else's style 'cause it seems to me that true spirituality — or whatever you want to call it — is about enjoying the life that you've been given. I see God every time I make out with a new chick."
"Okay, okay. That doesn't make any sense." Rachel rolled her eyes. "In fact, it's stupid."
"Are you calling Mr. Billy Joel stupid?" Puck challenged, before getting up from his seat and walking up to the spare guitar that the bend usually left for them. "At this time I'd like to continue my streak of doing only songs by Jewish artists. Hit it."
And as Puck started to sing Only the good die young, everyone eventually got into it, getting up from their seats and dancing and singing along. Well, everyone except for Kurt, who didn't seem too thrilled about this week's assignment. ANd even if Emily wasn't either, she couldn't deny it... Only the good die young was a jam and she wasn't about to pass an opportunity to enjoy her time with her friends.
***
As soon as Emily stepped foot into the choir room and she found Kurt sitting there by himself, with Brittany and Santana close behind her, she looked at her friends and nodded slightly in the direction of the boy. Sure they could all be a bit mean and a bit bitchy every once in a while, but they did have good hearts. So when news of Burt's heart attack got to them, they knew they had to be respectful about it.
"Hey, Kurt. We're really sorry about your dad's heart attack." Santana said, softly, as the three of them approached Kurt.
"Anything you need, you can talk to me, you know that, right?" Emily added, as Kurt gave her a weak smile and a nod of his head.
"Thanks, Santana. Thanks, Em." He told them.
"I did a book report on heart attacks if you want to give it to the doctor." Brittany said, sweetly, pulling out a colorful handmade book before offering it to Kurt. "I got knocked down an entire letter grade 'cause it was written in crayon."
Emily could see Kurt was hesitant to grab it, but when she smiled at him, he did, thanking Brittany before nodding just barely when Emily walked past him and squeezed his shoulder as she moved to take a seat on the row behind him. Emily had barely made herself comfortable in her chair when Finn came barging into the room.
"What the hell happened?" He demanded, getting all up in Kurt's face.
"My dad's in the hospital." Kurt answered, rather calm considering the whole situation.
"I know. My mom just called me." He said, as Kurt kept looking at him, apparently confused. "I feel like I'm the last one to know."
"I'm sorry, Finn. It didn't occur to me to call you, because he's not your father."
"Yeah, well, he's the closest I'm ever going to get, okay?" Finn argued. "I know it may not look like what everybody else has but I thought we were sort of a family. Look, I guess I just... I didn't like overhearing other people talking about it in gym class."
Kurt simply nodded at that, taking his bag off the chair beside his and silently offering it to Finn. The boy sighed, but sat down anyway and that was when Mr. Schue walked in.
"Hey, guys." He started. "Our thoughts are all with Kurt and I know it's sort of hard to really focus on anything else..."
"Mr. Schue?" Mercedes interrupted him, as he turned to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"I've been struggling, trying to figure out what I wanted to say to Kurt all day and I realize I don't want to say it, I want to sing it." She said, as Mr. Schue nodded. Getting up, she moved to stand in the middle of the room with her eyes on Kurt. "This song is about being in a very dark place and turning to God. It's a spiritual song, Mr. Schue. Is that okay?"
"It's fine." Mr. Schue nodded.
"Tina, Quinn, can you help me out, please?" She asked, as the two girls got up to stand behind her.
The three of them sang I look to you as Mercedes tried to express to Kurt everything she'd been trying to convey to Kurt and, as much as Emily could tell he understood and he was thankful for it, she could also tell he was slightly uncomfortable with the way she had decided to present her feelings to him. When they were done, everyone clapped.
"Thank you, Mercedes." Kurt said, as the three girls moved to take their seats again. "Your voice is stunning, but I don't believe in God."
"Wait, what?" Tina frowned.
"You've all professed your beliefs. I'm just stating mine." Kurt defended himself. "I think God is kind of like Santa Claus for adults. Otherwise, God's kind of a jerk, isn't he? I mean, he makes me gay, and then has his followers going around telling me it's something that I chose as if someone would choose to be mocked every single day of their life. And right now I don't want a heavenly father. I want my real one back."
"But Kurt, how do you know for sure?" Mercedes asked. "I mean, you can't prove that there's no God."
"You can't prove that there isn't a magic teapot floating around on the dark side of the moon with a dwarf inside of it that reads romance novels and shoots lightning out of its boobs but it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?" Kurt argued.
"Is God an evil dwarf?" Brittany whispered, clearly confused.
"We shouldn't be talking like this. It's not right." Quinn shook her head vehemently.
"I'm sorry, Quinn." Kurt told her, sincerely, getting up from his seat. "But you all can believe whatever you want to. But I can't believe something I don't. I appreciate your thoughts but I don't want your prayers."
Kurt left soon after. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Mr. Schue decided to continue with the lesson and as it progressed, Emily could tell Quinn was still annoyed. So as soon as Mr. Schue let them go, she walked toward her best friend, following her as she left the choir room and walking beside her as they started to make their way toward the locker room to get ready for Cheerios practice.
"Hey, Q?" Emily called eventually, as Quinn hummed to let her know she was listening. "You okay?"
"Did you see what Kurt said today? About God?" She asked, her voice high as it usually was when she got angry. "It was so... Disrespectful."
"In a way... I kind of agree, though." She shrugged, as Quinn stopped walking and grabbed Emily by arm to stop her too.
"You are a Christian, though." She said, as Emily shook her head.
"No. My mom is." She argued. "I mean, when was the last time you saw me in church?"
"Wait, so... You don't believe in God?" She asked, as Emily sighed.
"Look, I'm not sure what I believe in, okay? I was brought up Christian. I mean, our moms go to the same church, that's how they met. That's how we met. It's just... I've been having some doubts, okay? And as much as I agree with you that there is no need to be disrespectful to God in any way, I also don't agree with this whole spirituality week because it seems to me we're forcing Kurt to believe in something he doesn't. And isn't glee club supposed to be about how different we are and how that makes us better?" She asked, as Quinn frowned a bit, still slightly angry with the whole situation, but understanding her best friend's point of view. "I'm not saying you shouldn't pray for Burt. If you want to, I think it's absolutely valid, but we should respect Kurt's wishes. And if he doesn't want us to sing spiritual songs for him or for his dad, it is not our place to argue with it."
Quinn sighed, nodding a bit as she tugged Emily by the arm gently so the two of them could continue walking down the hallways toward practice.
"You're right." She said. "I'll talk to Kurt after practice. Wish him well."
Emily nodded at her with a smile.
"Good." She said. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it."
***
"Guys, I'm very sorry, but we cannot do any more spirituality songs." Mr. Schue told them in the next glee club meeting.
"Last week we were too sexy. This week we're too religious. We can't win." Tina said.
"Now I know what Miley feels like." Brittany sighed.
"The real tragedy here is that I found the most perfect spiritual song to sing this week and now it's been torn away from me like Sophie's daughter." Rachel whined.
"Guys, you can still sing whatever songs you like that sum up your feelings about God, about spirit. You just can't do it on school time." Mr. Schue said.
"I hope you're happy, Kurt." Santana snapped as Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Having the week of my life, actually."
"Leave him alone, guys." Emily spoke up as Kurt gave her a small smile knowing one of his friends actually had his back on this after she had told him so during their Spanish class together earlier that day. "He had every right to speak his mind."
At that, Mercedes scoffed.
"Look, Kurt, we're sympathetic to what you're going through but siding with Miss Sylvester isn't gonna do anyone any good." She said.
"It's doing me some good." Kurt snapped. "Now I don't have to sit around listening to all you mental patients talk about how there's a God when I know there isn't one."
***
Emily stood with Quinn, Santana, Brittney and the rest of the Cheerios on the side of the field. They were cheering and waving their pom-poms along with the crowd as the boys huddled together. When they broke apart, though, Emily could hear coach Beiste complaining.
"That's not what I called." She said, causing Emily to frown a bit before cheering again when the boys got in formation and the ball snapped.
She yelled and jumped as she watched Sam run across the field, but he didn't get too far because, soon enough, he was tackled to the ground. Hard. Emily gasped, but she only properly started to worry when coach Beiste and a medic ran to him.
She watched in horror as they kneeled beside Sam as the rest of the team stood nearby. She bit her lip in worry when a stretch was carried toward him and, from the distance, she could hear coach Beiste yelling at Finn.
"Congratulations. You're the quarterback again." She said, throwing the ball at Finn, who seemed a bit stunned with the whole situation. Looking around for a second, she finally found the person she was looking for. "Marshall, get in here!"
Nodding at the football coach, Emily gave her pom-poms to one of her Cheerios friends before turning to Quinn.
"I'll be back soon, okay?" She said, as the blonde nodded. "You keep the girls in check."
"You got it." She said, as Emily took off running toward the coach. "Yes, coach Beiste?"
"You're friends with Evans over there, right?" She asked, nodding at the boy as he was lifted up in the stretch. Emily nodded. "Good. Go with him then and make sure his parents are notified."
Emily nodded again, approaching the medics and following them closely as they took Sam to the nurse office. As she walked beside them, she took a look at Sam, noticing how his face seemed to contort in pain every time he moved. She sighed a bit before speaking up.
"Your parents are here?" She asked, as Sam shook his head.
"Dad's working." He answered with a small groan when he turned his head to look at Emily. "Mom's at home with my siblings."
"Right, well, I need to call one of them. Can I call your mom?" She asked. He nodded, grunting in pain again when the medics moved him from the stretch and to the bed in the nurse's office. "Okay. Where's your phone?"
"My bag in the locker room." He answered.
After receiving his locker's number and combination from Sam, Emily ran off to the locker room, trying not to look around too much inside Sam's locker since she didn't want to invade his privacy or whatever. Fishing his phone from his bag, Emily quickly zipped the bag back up before closing his locker and running back into the nurse's office.
When she got there, though, she was met with a vision she never thought she'd have: Sam was shirtless, without his protective gear. Sure, his shoulder was looking kind of weird, but damn did the boy look good under his clothes. Shaking her head a bit, Emily approached him slowly, silent asking for his password so she could actually call his mom.
"It's 0105." He told her, as Emily rolled her eyes.
"Please tell me that's not your birthday." She giggled, as he smiled sheepishly.
"Well..." He tried shrugging, but ended up wincing from the pain. Emily frowned, rather worried for the boy before quickly looking for the word mom in his contact numbers. Once she found it, she quickly pressed it. "Her name's Mary, by the way."
She nodded, bringing the phone to her ear as it called. Sam yelled when the medics popped his shoulder back in place and Emily winced while she talked to Mrs. Evans, introducing herself and letting her know her son had been hurt in the football field. As soon as the medics had finished up a bandage on Sam's shoulder and gave him some light painkillers, they left the room. Emily smiled slightly at Sam as she gave him his phone back and stood beside his bed, her arms crossed over her chest as she tried with all her might to keep her eyes on his face despite the fact that his whole upper body was in full display for her.
"Your mom's coming." She told him. "Your dad was already home so he's staying with your siblings while your mom takes you to the hospital."
"Thank you." Sam gave her a sad smile as Emily sighed.
"I'm sorry." She told him. "I know how excited you were for the quarterback position."
"Yeah. Maybe it wasn't for me." He tried shrugging again, wincing at the movement. Emily frowned at him. "Finn was the one to propose we changed the play."
"Oh..."
"I should've listened to my guts. I knew changing the play was not a good idea. It's just... Finn is still so important to the team and he did win last year as quarterback. And the year before so I just..."
"Listen, it happens, okay." Emily offered gently, interrupting his rant. "But I'm sure your shoulder will be fine and you'll be back on the team in no time. Even back as quarterback. I mean, you're very good. And coach Beiste knows it. She wouldn't make the new guy the quarterback for nothing, right?"
"I guess." He smiled at the girl, noticing how she was still standing beside his bed rather awkwardly. Scooting a bit to the side, he invited her to sit in the free space beside him and after a moment of hesitation, she did so. "It's not that I don't appreciate it, but I mean... Why did you come with me?"
"Coach Beiste must have seen us talking some time these past few days, because she knew I was your friend." She explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "She told me to make sure your parents were warned."
"Well, they are."
"Do you want me to leave?" She raised an eyebrow at him as he widened his eyes.
"No! I just meant... I just meant you don't need to stay here." He explained.
"Maybe I want to." She said. "Besides, your mom said you live nearby so she should be here any minute. I won't leave you here alone. I'll wait for you mom with you, if you don't mind."
"Sure." He smiled a bit. "I actually enjoy the company, really."
"Good." She smiled right back, before throwing her ponytail over one shoulder and looking at Sam. "Tell me about yourself, new kid."
And so, the two of them fell into conversation with Sam even showing off some of his impressions and pulling a laugh from Emily. That was actually how Mrs. Evans found the two teens about ten minutes later when she finally got to the school. Her worried expression suddenly melted into a softer one when she noticed her son wasn't as bad as she had expected him to be and, as much as she didn't want to, she knew she still had to take Sam to the hospital, so, clearing her throat, she made herself known in the room.
Mrs. Evans laughed when Emily jumped up from her place in Sam's bed and stood beside him, smoothing down her skirt as she looked down at the ground.
"You seem pretty fine to me, honey." She said, as she approached the bed from the side Emily wasn't in and brushed a few strands of hair from his face.
"Hurts a bit, actually." Sam told her. "But Emily was distracting me just fine."
"So you must be Emily Marshall, right?" She asked, recalling the name of the girl from their phone conversation from earlier and extending a hand toward her over Sam's body. "Thank you for the call."
"It was no problem, Mrs. Evans." She said, shaking the woman's hand with a smile.
"Call me Mary, sweetie." She smiled as Emily did the same back at her, before looking down at Sam.
"So, you're in good hands now, right?" She asked, as Sam nodded with a smile. "Good. I need to go back to the cheer squad, then."
"Sure." Sam agreed quickly. "Thanks for the help, Em."
"My pleasure." She shook her head. "I hope your shoulder heals soon, Sam. A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Evans."
"Mary." The woman laughed as Emily blushed a bit.
"Mary." She repeated, before nodding at them both and turning to leave.
As soon as she was out of the room, Mary turned to her son with raised eyebrows.
"So... This Emily girl..."
"Don't even start, mom." Sam rolled his eyes knowing full well what his mother was hinting at. "She's a friend. The first one I've made here. So, please, don't scare her away?"
"Scare her? I could never scare her." She said, sighing when Sam gave her a look. She fixed her purse in her shoulder before gently helping her son sit back down on the bed. "Fine then. Let's just take you to the doctors, then."
***
"I know things have been pretty morose around here this past week but I want to celebrate some good news for our little family." Mr. Schue said during their next glee meeting. "Let's hear it for Finn, on getting back his quarterback job and leading the Titans to a win in their second game of the season."
Everyone cheered a bit, but Finn seemed rather uncomfortable with the situation. Emily clapped slowly, giving Finn a side eye. After her talk to Sam, she wasn't entirely sure if that had been really an accident or not. But she wasn't about to say anything. After all, she didn't understand the first thing about football and the guy that tackled Sam was actually on steroids so...
"Too bad that Sam kid had to have his arm basically ripped off for it to happen but it's good to have you back in the saddle, brother." Puck clasped Finn on the back with a smile.
"Mr. Schue, if I may?" Kurt interrupted the little party as everyone went to grab a seat.
"Yeah."
"Um, I wanted to thank everyone for your kind emails and queries about my dad but for your information, his condition remains the same." Kurt said standing in the middle of the room solemnly, as everyone grew quiet. "I need to express myself so with your permission, Mr. Schue I've prepared a number for the occasion."
"Of course, Kurt."
"On the day of my mom's funeral when they were lowering her body into the ground, I was crying. I mean, that was it. It was the last time I was ever going to see her and I remember I looked up at my dad and I-I just wanted him to say something... Just something to make me feel like my whole world wasn't over. And he just took my hand and squeezed it and just knowing that those hands were there to take care of me... That was enough. This is for my dad."
And after he was done singing I want to hold your hand, Emily wiped her tears away and clapped slowly along with everyone else, sighing as she watched Kurt being so vulnerable in front of her while unable to do much else for him.
***
"I thought we couldn't sing songs about religion." Tina frowned once Finn was done with his rendition of Losing my religion during the last glee meeting of the week.
"Evidently, we can't sing about faith but we can sing about losing faith." Mercedes added, sarcastically.
"That's sort of what I want to talk about today." Mr. Schue said. "Earlier in the week, Finn, it seemed like you felt differently."
"I used to think God was up there looking over me." Finn admitted, as everyone frowned at him. "Now I'm not so sure."
Before he could expand, however, the bell ringed and they all left. Emily wasn't sure what had happened to Finn exactly that week, but she sort of understood the feeling... Not knowing where her faith was, really. Was God really out there looking out for us or was that just what people told themselves so they would feel less alone? She didn't know and, honestly, she didn't want to dwell too much on it. After all, she didn't need to come up with an answer to such an existential question just now after just a week of reflecting upon it. She was just in high school and she had other things to worry about, most of the time.
But when, later that day, she received a message from Kurt saying that his dad had woken up finally and she saw Sam standing by his locker and sending her a wave, clearly back in his feet again after spending a day in bed rest in his house after his shoulder was dislocated, she decided that, whether God was looking out for her or not, it wasn't that important, because her life right now seemed to be going in the right direction.