someone else | j st. james [on hold]

11 | regionals

The vibes in Mr. Schuester's apartment were less than good. Regionals was days away, and the teacher decided it would be best to have a party and figure out the official setlist to use. But the room was silent, and not a single person reached for a piece of pizza to enjoy.

"No one wants any pizza?" he asked. He had expected it to be devoured, especially with all the football players there. "All right, well, uh, let's get started. Thank you for coming to the first annual New Directions' Regionals' setlist nominations party."

"What's the point, Mr. Schue? Coach Sylvester's one of the judges. She's gonna crush us," Artie said glumly.

"Artie, you don't know that," Will told him, trying to look on the bright side.

"Yes, we do," Santana said flatly. "She told us at Cheerios practice."

"Yeah, she said, "I'm going to crush Glee Club," Brittany quoted.

"She's determined to get her trophy room," Dan added. Coach Sylvester had somehow swooped in and became a judge at Regionals last minute, taking away everyone's hopes of winning.

"A whole freaking year," Puck said, scoffing. "All that hard work for nothing."

They all heard sniffling and looked at Tina, who was crying softly. "I'm sorry. I just really love you guys. You know how many Facebook friends I had before I joined Glee Club? Two. My parents. Rachel was right. Being a part of something special– it made me special. I just can't believe it's going to be over in a week."

"Wait," Finn said. "Who says it's going to be over?"

"Please. You think Puck and Santana are going to even acknowledge my existence once we're not in Glee Club together anymore?" Mercedes asked. "Dan's already told us she's quitting after this week, win or lose."

"She has a point," Puck admitted, shrugging.

"I mean, I'll still talk to Kurt," Dan stated.

"I'm your brother," he said, rolling his eyes. But he did lean his head on her shoulder, glad to have her in the club for at least another week.

"Mr. Schuester?" Rachel asked, growing teary-eyed herself. "Do you think instead of nominating songs, we can just... all go around the room and talk about things that we loved about Glee Club this year?"

Will sighed, knowing that he couldn't deny them the chance to reminisce. "Of course."

And so they did, some claiming their favorite performances or costumes. They recalled bonding over helping each other clean slushies off of each other.

"Dan. You haven't gone," Finn stated, and they all looked at the girl that had been fairly silent. "I know you're big talk about quitting, but we know it wasn't all bad."

Dan bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at the half-eaten slice of pizza on her plate. A lot of her favorite moments had involved Jesse — helping him after his first slushie attack, the skating rink, her first time singing a duet with him.