𝚃𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴 𝙾𝙵 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙽 ➭ 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝗇 𝗁𝗎𝖽𝗌𝗈𝗇

ninety-nine; city of angels

Winona woke up in a great mood, knowing today was the day she'd fly out to Los Angeles for nationals. Despite not competing, and being away from them for a few months— She still considered herself their co-leader.

She had a plan to meet Mercedes in LA, and then head to the hotel to make a grand and fancy entrance. And so she woke up far earlier than usual, send Andrew a reminder that she would be away for a week, and was off.

Before long, she and Mercedes wore their hottest outfits, strutting into the hotel in what felt like badass slow motion. Winona tossed her hair over her shoulder, before taking off her sunglasses and approaching the New Directions— who were still trying to check in.

"Don't look now, but I think someone famous just came in!" One of the kids stated in awe, Winona's money was on Tina.

"Even better!" The blonde called, "It's Mercedes Jones!"

"And Winona Watts!" Mercedes finished for her.

The show choir tackled their friends in hugs, basking in their greatness.

"I can't believe you guys came!" Sam exclaimed, Hugging Winona tight after letting go of Mercedes. The pair went around, hugging all of them, before Mercedes started explaining how she got a record contract.

"Hold up," Artie cut in, pointing to the stuffed animals the girls were holding, "Is that dog alive?"

Mercedes shrugged casually, "Oh, it's a faux-huahua. A fake Chihuahua."

While Winona initially approached Mr. Schue to say hi, she also ended up trying to clear his name— Seeing as Sue called the Hotel beforehand to sabotage the kids once again by claiming Will kidnapped them. When she came back to the group of kids, a tall, threatening man stood before them with what she assumed was his show choir team. She cut past Jake and Ryder, situating herself near the front of the pile, right next to Blaine and Sam.

"Who is that?" She whispered as he sent an incredulous look their way.

"Do you seriously have no idea who that is? Don't you read the show choir blogs?"

Winona deadpanned, "No, Blaine, I don't. None of us read the show choir blogs. Just you."

"That's Throat Explosion. And that's their leader, Jean-Baptiste," He explained, "Jean-Baptiste was born in Quebec to acrobatic parents. He trained with Cirque du Soleil before emigrating to Ft. Wayne where he used his French-Canadian circus stylings to turn the entire show choir world upside down."

"What does that even mea—" Blaine cut her off by nudging her in the side right as Jean-Baptiste himself approached.

"Bonjour! You must be the New Directions— And you... must be Blaine."

His intimidating behaviour made the hair-gelled boy tense, "How did you know my name?"

"Show choir blogs," He shrugged.

"I'm, you know, I'm Sam Evans," The blond stepped forwards, trying to take a Finn-like role, "and I'm the leader of the New Directions. And, you know, I know you guys are all really good and stuff, but that's just gonna get us out of our comfort zones and send us over the top."

Winona narrowed her eyes in confusion at his limp speech, clearly seeing Jean hold back a tiny laugh.

"Well, it was really great to meet you, Sam. Best of luck, New Directions. We really can't wait to see your set. And crush you like a bug."

The flat expression he wore was replaced with a mock enthusiastic one, as he prepared to head to his hotel room, "Bye!"

"That was tense," Commented Tina, and Mercedes put a head on her friend's shoulder.