𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐲 | q. fabray

Journey To Regionals

Adalynn walked into the kitchen of Mr. Schuester's apartment and saw Quinn staring longingly out the window, rain droplets trickling down in the dark night.

"Quinn," the younger girl spoke up, pulling the blonde from her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"It's been a long year," the older girl said, picking a stack of paper plates up off the counter.

"Yeah, it has," Adalynn agreed. "Um, d-do you want any help with that?"

"I'm not due for a month, Adalynn," Quinn chuckled. "I think I can handle a stack of plates."

"Then can I help with the napkins?"

"If you insist, sweet girl," the blonde said, smiling softly as she handed the younger girl the stack of yellow napkins. She put a hand on the small of Adalynn's back as they headed to the living room.

Adalynn put the stack of napkins down on the table before siting down between Tina and Mercedes.

"Nobody wants any pizza?" Mr. Schue asked, oblivious to the sad atmosphere in the room. "Alright, well, let's get started. Thank you for coming to the 1st annual New Directions regionals set-list nominations party."

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

"Artie, you don't know that."

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

"Yeah," Brittany mumbled. "She said, 'I'm going to crush Glee Club.'"

"The whole freaking year," Puck scoffed. "All that hard work for nothing."

Tina started crying and Adalynn put a comforting arm around her friend, gently rubbing her back.

"Sorry," Tina sniffled between sobs. "I just really love you guys. Rachel was right. Being part of something special... it made me special. I just can't believe it's going to be over in a week."

"Wait, who says it's gonna be over?" Finn asked.

"Please," said Mercedes. "You think Puck and Santana are even gonna acknowledge my existence once we're not in Glee Club together anymore?"

"She has a point," Puck agreed.

"Mr. Schuester," Rachel sniffled. "Do you think instead of nominating songs, we can just all go around the room and talk about all the things we loved about Glee Club this year?"

****

In Glee Club the next day, Mr. Schue wrote 'journey' on the board. Adalynn and Tina exchanged a look, both wondering if they were going to sing a Journey song at regionals.

"Mr. Schuester, we have something we want to say to you," Rachel said as she walked into the choir room with Finn.

"Me first. Have a seat," said Mr. Schue. "Nine months ago there were seven of you in here. And we sucked. I mean we really sucked. Bad."

Bailey smiled to herself as she remembered their first Glee rehearsal. They were really bad. She looked across the room to where Tina and Adalynn were sitting, and she could tell by the smiles on their faces that they were thinking the same thing.

"One day all of you are gonna be gone," Mr. Schue continued. "And all of this, all of us, will be nothing but a hazy memory. It will take you a second to remember everyone's names. Someone will have to remind you of the songs we sung, the solos you got or didn't get. Life only really has one beginning and one end and the rest is just a whole lot of middle. And I love you guys too much to let you not make the most of it. Now, I was gonna quit once, but you guys brought me back with Don't Stop Believin'. It was a nine, but we are gonna make it a ten."