THE NEW directions were purposefully slacking when it came to glee rehearsal. After their successful night that was the Invitationals, their confidence had shot up an immense amount. They knew that they had Sectionals in the bag, and so they simply stopped trying.
Mr Schuester wasn't too impressed with Kurt watching vines during rehearsal, or Violet and Artie sending each other memes, and he certainly didn't appreciate the lack of effort in the dance routines.
He turned to the guidance counsellor, Emma Pilsbury, for help with his students. After that failed, he took advice from Sue Sylvester. He was going to pit his students against each other, and get them motivated.
Everyone was gathered in the choir room, staring tiredly back up at their teacher. He was stood in front of the white board, sticking up reference photos for his upcoming planned monologue.
"Competition." Mr Schuester smiled. "Everyone of these people or elements, was a champion in their own rights — but they use competing with each other to make themselves even better." He explained.
Kurt crossed his arms over his chest, and pursed his lips. "I don't understand how lightening is in competition with an above ground swimming pool."
Mr Schuester shook his head, and waved him off. "Just go with it." He sighed. He moved closer to his students, placing his hands on his hips.
"You guys have become complacent. You were great at the Invitationals, but you've gotta up your game if you wanna get through Sectionals."
Finn yawned, causing Violet to mirror him, and yawn too. Quinn frowned at both of them, and gave Violet a light elbow to get her to focus.
"Alright, split up. Guys on the left side, girls on the right side." He instructed, but no one moved— not until he repeated himself.
They slothfully done as they were told, their long faces looking back at Mr Schue. "Here's the deal. Two teams—boys versus girls. One week from today, you will each perform a mash up of your choice."
Puck pondered it for a moment, scratching his head in confusion. "What's a mash up?" He wondered.
Violet threw her head back. "I'm gonna take a guess and say it's mashing up two songs together." She sarcastically remarked. Puck simply rolled his eyes back at her, and looked to his teacher.
"That's right, Violet." Mr Schuester confirmed.
"I knew it." She muttered under her breath. Tina smiled at her, whilst shaking her head.
"Boys will perform on Tuesday, girls the next day." He continued to lay out the rules. "I want you to go all out, okay?—costumes, choreography. Whoever wins the competition gets to choose the number that we do for Sectionals."
Rachel slightly raised her hand. "Wait, who's going to be the judge? Your gender makes you biased."
She was right. Mr Schuester had a tendency to pick and choose his favourites—and although Rachel was one of them, he clearly favoured Finn over them all.
He thought about it momentarily, and clasped his hands together. "Ahh, there is going to be a celebrity judge." He circled the two groups. "You're gonna have to show up to find out who."
Mercedes scoffed, throwing an arm around both Tina and Violet—who was holding onto Rachels arm. "Pfft, we've got this in the bag."
"Totally." Violet mused.
♫
Violet was slouched at her kitchen table—choosing comfort over posture was a daily occurrence. She was scoffing down a bowl of pasta, while mumbling about her day to her mother. Elizabeth couldn't really understand much of what she was saying, the food in her mouth pretty much muffling her words.
