Abandon | GLEE [ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

twenty | funk

A/N: Just as a forewarning to you– my readers– in this chapter, Christian has some slightly dark and suicidal thoughts. So, if you're not into reading that, then I suggest that you don't read the fifth scene of this chapter and completely skip that one. Happy reading.

While the five of them made their way down the hallway, Mercedes asked, "Is it just me or does it feel like we have a real shot at Regionals next month?"

As he was being pushed down the hallway by Tina, Artie said, "The Ohio Show Choir chat rooms have all been buzzing about how Vocal Adrenaline has lost a step."

With a tilt of her head, Morgan said, "And not just that, but Vocal Adrenaline doesn't have their male lead vocal– Jesse– anymore. And with both him and Christian on our team, then that means that we have to win, right?"

In turn, Kurt said, "I agree. The judges know all their tricks. And adding onto Morgan's point, now that we have Jesse, they've lost their best performer."

It was then that Rachel came to a quick halt in front of them and told them, "You guys have to come to the auditorium. It's an emergency."

* * *

The moment that the five of them were led into the auditorium by Rachel Berry, Morgan was the only one to see the look on Christian's face.

And instead of seeing him be angry about the fact that Vocal Adrenaline was standing up on their stage and at least half of them were staring directly at Christian, the only thing Morgan could see was just how hurt Christian was.

Morgan didn't quite understand why it was that Christian looked like he was hurt by something until she heard Rachel ask, "Jesse? What are you doing up there with them?"

And while Morgan silently took note of the way that both Mike and Matt were looking at Christian, Jesse said, "I've transferred back to Carmel High, Rachel. I'm sorry that it's coming to this, but you guys were awful to me. You never accepted me. You never listened to my clearly superior ideas."

With a silent gulp, Christian couldn't help but to think to himself, "I should've known better than to think that Jesse would really want us to start over. It should've been obvious that he'd want nothing to do with me and was just using this as some opportunity to hurt me all over again. So, why did I have to accept him– for once in my life– and open myself up to the chance of getting hurt by him again? Why did I have to believe him when he told me that he wanted us to have the chance to start over and actually be brothers for each other? I mean, obviously he'd want nothing to do with me. Why would he? I'm just the black sheep of the family that can't do anything right, no matter how hard I try."

And while Christian continued to mentally beat himself up for not seeing what he believed was Jesse's wish to hurt him some more, Morgan let out a scoff before she asked Jesse, "Are you frickin' kidding me? We never accepted you? Did it ever occur to you that maybe there was at least one person in this club– other than Rachel– that actually accepted you and was trying to make this brotherly bond between you and Christian actually work? Like– I don't know– maybe me, for instance? Or what about Christian? Can you seriously not see how your choice of returning to Carmel High and Vocal Adrenaline– the very same people that harassed him day in and day out when he was still going to your damn school– is hurting him? I mean, really, Jesse. Are you really that frickin' stupid?"