Chapter Text
The firing of one Sandy Ryerson could not have come at a better time.
With his wife ignoring him and Emma's utter lack of interest, Will was bored. By bored, I mean his ego was starving. What better way to fix his 'boredom' then to force a bunch of children to listen to him sing.
Oh Joy.
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Rachel Berry was not anything special.
Despite her urge to contradict that statement, she knew it was true. The 'competitive edge' Rachel's fathers had so lovingly tried to give her had left her lacking in many ways. Socially, not in the arts of course.
Rachel felt the need to prove herself constantly, to validate her own skill set. She joined a club for every school day, she was in choir and acting classes, she did theater practically alone for heaven's sake! But her own drive seemed to impress no one, and left Rachel herself feeling burnt out and alone.
Catching Mr. Ryerson hurting Hank felt like Rachel's chance. Not to get the lead, which people kept assuming she wanted for some reason, but to be able to help one of the few friends she had. To be important to someone that wasn't her dads.
Hank was a junior, and he had been one of the only other active performing arts club members since middle school basically. Due to common interest (and lack of options), Hank and Rachel became close friends.
Hank was the only person Rachel told that she liked girls, and she was the only person he told that he was asexual. They protected each other. They cleaned slushy stains off each other. They supported each other.
So Rachel reported the fuck out of that pedo Ryerson.
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Kurt Hummel was tired.
He was tired of being ignored, of being bullied, of having to hide. He wasn't even out yet and people could just feel the gay on him. Which, honestly, what the fuck?
Kurt knew femininity did not equal queerness, and that being gay didn't necessarily have a look. He knew. Kurt also knew that he wasn't overtly feminine, so it must be something else.
Was it his voice? He did have a higher pitch than most, but voice sound doesn't equal queerness either. So Kurt repeats, what the fuck?
He hates the fucking kids in his school. He hated them, and there was no way he was joining any of their fucked up sports teams.
Except, there was that one girl, Rachel. She helped Kurt out when trying to find a club to join after Ms. Pillsbury tattled on him to his dad (once again, what the fuck??). Maybe Kurt could join theater? He had always enjoyed the arts, and the program could definitely use more people.
Maybe Kurt finally found some people.
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Mercedes Jones was tired of being one of the only black girls in school.
It wasn't that Mercedes hated being different. She loved it, she loved sticking out in a crowd. But if one more person touched her hair, asked her if she 'had any fried chicken today'?, or called her one more name, she was going to be fighting more stereotypes than she already was.
Mercedes just wanted one, one person in her shitty school that could relate to her. Was that too much to ask?
Maybe she needed to give the school more of a chance, but Mercedes really, really didn't want to. She knew she would need some friends soon though, or her mom would start asking questions.
Maybe she could join a club. Mercedes wished church choir was enough, but her voice kind of made keeping friends hard.
Maybe Glee club would be different. She highly doubted that.
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Artie Abrams is in love with Tina Cohen-Chang.
Artie knew that 14 might be a little too young to declare that he had met his soulmate, but he didn't care. That was what Tina was.
She didn't treat Artie any differently because he was in a wheelchair, she knew what it was like to be ridiculed for being different, and she was hot. How could Artie not be in love?
He would do anything for Tina, even hang out with her weird goth friends. He didn't really understand their political advocacy, but who cares? He got to sit next to the love of his life every day.
Artie would even do this dumb glee club dare for her.
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Tina Cohen-Chang has decided that Artie Abrams is an Asshole.
Don't get Tina wrong, she loved Artie. He is, without a doubt, one of Tina's best friends. But he is also, without a doubt, an asshole.
Not only has he not had the balls to tell her about his crush, but he also seems to be ignoring the fact that Tina is a giant lesbian.
She doesn't think Artie noticed that she knows that he stares at her boobs constantly, which Tina is still on the fence about seeing as a compliment or not. But that's mostly irrelevant to the actual issues she has with him.
Artie doesn't seem to care. He doesn't try to understand how Tina's anxiety affects her, how it affects her stutter (which seems to be one of the reasons he likes her???), and he definitely doesn't care about Tina's other friends.
She's seen the judgement that practically rolls off of Artie every time her friends discuss their interests, and accidental or not he constantly misgenders at least one of them.
Tina has no idea what she is going to do, and the stress of her upcoming glee audition is not helping.
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Finn Hudson was horny.
Well, maybe horny is the wrong word. It's just, everyone else on the football team was having sex and he was still a virgin. He didn't know exactly what he was missing out on but he knew he was missing something good.
He thought dating Quinn Fabray would get him to lose his virginity, but she ended up being a hyper Jesus loving celibate cheerleader. Probably the only one ever to exist.
Finn knew he was pretty popular. Being the starting quarterback as a sophomore would do that to you. He also knew that being with Quinn offered him an even higher status than what he had. An extra layer of protection, in a way.
He could drop the football team, as long as he was dating star cheerleader Quinn. He knew breaking up with her would mean not even being on the football team would save him. It would be total social suicide.
He would stay a virgin forever if it meant staying with Quinn (and staying popular).
This was going to be the best year, and not even failing Spanish could ruin it.
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Quinn Fabray was strategic.
Her outfits, her instagram, her Cheerio position, even dating Finn Hudson, was all strategic.
Fucking Noah Puckerman was not.
Quinn has no defense for herself. Her boyfriend's best friend. She genuinely has no idea why she was doing this. It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that every time Finn tried to be more intimate with her, she had to picture someone else to feel something. And it definitely had nothing to do with the fact that she always pictured a girl.
Fucking Puckerman was just a drunken mistake. One she would never have to deal with again.
Except her period is late.
Fuck.
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Santana Lopez is not a cheater.
Sure, most people would count sleeping with someone else as cheating, but Santana likes to think of it as outsourcing her interests.
And sleeping with your best friend doesn't count. That's like a practice run. A free shot. Sleeping with Britany meant nothing, and even if Puck and her were dating, which they barely were, she is allowed to fuck Britany as much as she wants and it would never be cheating.
Right?
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Britany S. Pierce is in love with Santa Lopez.
To be fair, Britany is a little in love with everyone. She just feels so connected to them! Why feel close to only one when she can care about them all.
But Santana was different. Santana cared about Britany back. Maybe Santana didn't say she felt the same way Britany did, but Britany could feel it.
Santana didn't know it, but they were gonna be together forever
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Noah Puckerman is not a wimp.
He is not a wimp, sucker, nerd, coward, or geek. And he definitely isn't a piece of shit like his so-called dad.
Sleeping with Quinn made him doubt that last part.
Only a little.
In his defense, he wasn't really thinking about Finn when it happened. All he could think about was sex. He didn't realize the betrayal Finn might feel until after it had happened.
His best friend. One of his only real friends. Someone he just screwed over royally.
But he isn't a bad person. He just likes to sleep around. Finn knew that. He'd understand.
Right?
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Mike Chang hates high school.
He's pretty sure nobody knows who he is (outside of Matt). Actually, he knows nobody knows who he is. Everyone calling him 'Asian' confirmed that.
Mike doesn't mean them calling him Asian as in like, "Oh yeah, Mike is Asian" way. He means they call him Asian in replacement of his name. Even Coach Tanaka.
Which, Mike sort of gets. He is, quite literally, the only Asian student outside of that one weird goth freshman. But it's still annoying. He has a name. The school can fucking learn to use it.
Outside of nobody knowing his name, people also constantly forget he is on the football team. Mike is slushied with the consistency of the theater kids, which is ridiculous. He is literally the only other Asian student, and people on his own team slushy him.
He might as well quit football at this point.
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Matt Rutherford is gay.
He is also forgettable, which has worked largely in his favor. Outside of Mike, his best friend and longtime crush, people tend to let him blend into the background.
Which is great, because unfortunately Matt has made many a mistake. He has come out to the football team, admitted his love for Gray's Anatomy, and confessed to hating the Mission Impossible movies. All of which people forget about within the day.
Well, everyone but Mike. Mike remembered everything Matt said or did. It was great. Well, mostly.
At least he hasn't admitted his crush.
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