A GIRL LIKE YOU. sam evans

v. MY ONLY HOPE

"WHY IS MR. SCHUE ALWAYS LATE?" Aria frowned beside Sam as the group waited for their teacher.

"Maybe if you clap your hands three times he appears." Sam joked, watching as Aria clapped her hands.

"Great news guys! I've had a little inspiration." Mr. Schuester announced, entering the room, "This week's musical lesson isn't really a lesson. It's a musical."

Aria turned to Sam with wide eyes before looking down at her hands.

"Please be Evita. Please be Evita. Please be Evita." Rachel whispered while looking up, as if she were praying.

"Rocky Horror!"

"I've never seen it." Finn said, causing Aria to glance at him.

"Mr. Schue?" Both Rachel and Aria asked.

"Um, Aria first. Go." Will nodded.

"Did Coach Beiste accidentally hit you in the head with a football? You usually never let us do something this awesome." she grinned.

Rachel stared at the redhead in shock, expecting her to say something different, "Uh, Mr. Schue?" she looked back at the older man, "While I admire your choice of a groundbreaking 70's musical, aren't you worried that the adult themes might be a point of controversy?"

"Seriously, a school in Texas couldn't even do Rent. It caused an outrage and they had to cancel the show." Kurt said.

"Isn't that the whole point of the arts? Pushing boundaries? Doing things people say you can't do for the sake of self-expression?" Will countered.

Artie and Brittany nodded vigorously as Aria frowned.

"Look, I figured it all out. I cut out some of the more risqué sections and I'm sending home permission slips to all your parents to make sure they're okay with it." he continued, passing out permission slips.

"And we're going to charge admission and use the proceeds to help pay for transportation to nations in New York!" he added, "Okay, let's talk about casting."

"Oh! Finn and I will play Brad and Janet." Rachel exclaimed.

"Actually, Rachel, I was thinking of changing things up a bit. I'm giving the lead to Aria," the said girl widened her eyes at the thought, "Is that okay?" he asked Aria.

Rachel huffed stubbornly, "Mr. Schuester, I don't think Aria is ready for something as big as a lead. And I'm sure she thinks so as well."

Aria sent Kurt a confused look as he rolled his eyes at the shorter girl.

"We're not talking about this Rachel. It's decided." Will said. Aria hid a small smile from Rachel as Sam gave her a congratulatory pat on the knee.

•••

STANDING IN THE AUDITORIUM WITH FINN LATER THAT DAY, the pair rehearsed their lines.

"So, then after the Time Warp, Riff Raff, AKA Kurt, takes us to Frankenfurter's lab." Aria said.

"I have no idea what's going on in this script and it's not in a cool Inception kind of way." Finn told her honestly.

"Just try, okay?" she told him before moving on, "Okay, so then they take off our wet clothes and we do the rest of the scene in our underwear."

"Wait, so I'm in my tighty-whities?" Finn questioned, a nervous expression appeared on his face.

"Yeah." she nodded, "But it'll be okay since I'll be right beside you in my underwear as well."