𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 | r. berry

Journey To Regionals

rachel ⭐💖

> You still haven't
given me an answer.

i need a little more time <
i promise i'll give you one <
before the year is over

Autumn put her phone down in her lap and rested her head on Santana's shoulder as Quinn and Mr. Schue came into the living room.

"No one wants any pizza?" the teacher asked, unaware of the melancholy atmosphere. "Alright, well, let's get started. Thank you for coming to the first annual New Directions regionals set list nominations party."

"What's the point, Mr. Schue?" Artie asked. "Coach Sylvester's 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," Autumn mumbled.

"Yeah, she said, 'I'm going to crush Glee Club,'" Brittany added before turning to Autumn beside her and giving her a pack of pretzels from her bag. "You need to eat something, Auttie."

"I'm too depressed to eat," the brunette whined, hiding her face in the crook of Santana's neck.

"Eat it, Autumn," Santana said in a stern, yet gentle, voice.

"Okay," Autumn sighed, sitting up and taking the pack of pretzels from Brittany.

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

Tina started crying, and everyone looked over at her.

"I'm sorry," the goth sniffled. "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 spoke up. "Who says it's going to be over?"

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

"She has a point," Puck agreed.

"Mr. Schuester?" Rachel sniffled, her voice breaking. "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?"

****

The next day after school, Autumn rushed up to Rachel as she headed down the stairs.

"Hey! We need to talk," the cheerleader said as she walked around the diva to stand on the step below her, which only added to the slight height difference. "We had a chance of keeping it together at Mr. Schue's until you decided to bail. You're our leader, Rachel. The way you're on everyone all the time is annoying, but it's also what keeps the club motivated. You and I are going to fix this. We're going to regionals, and we're going to win this thing."

Rachel placed her hands on Autumn's shoulders and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips, catching the shorter girl by surprise.

"I know you said you needed more time," Rachel said as she pulled away. "But we both know what your answer is."

****

"Mr. Schuester, Autumn and I have something we want to say to you," Rachel said as they entered the choir room.

"Me first. Have a seat," said Mr. Schue. "Nine months ago, there were five of you in here. And we sucked. I mean, we really sucked. Bad. One day, all of you are going to be gone. And all of this, all of us will be nothing but a hazy memory. It will take you a second to remember everyone's name. 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 going to quit once, but you guys brought me back with Don't Stop Believing. It was a nine, but we are going to make it a ten."