𝚃𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴 𝙾𝙵 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙽 ➭ 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝗇 𝗁𝗎𝖽𝗌𝗈𝗇

sixty-five; nationals

Arriving in Chicago, Winona was optimistic and confident that they wouldn't have a repeat of last years Nationals. No running off, no dumping Finn, no failure.

Maybe things were looking up.

At least, that's what Winona thought, until Mercedes got food poisoning. Lydia felt terrible for suggesting that they stop at Chipotle for lunch.

"How bad is it?" Asked Mr. Schue

Winona checked the thermometer, "Her temperature's 101 degrees."

"Given the fact that Weezy's complaining about an upset stomach, it's either Amazonian dengue fever or the H1N1 super virus," Claimed Sue.

"Or I have food poisoning," Mercedes butted in.

"We all wanted burritos for lunch, so we went to Chipotle but Mercedes tried some dive called Señora Salsation," Explained Santana, frowning.

"Will, word, please." As Sue stood up to go talk to him, Winona checked the girl's temperature for a fifth time, sitting beside Quinn as they examined the number with worry. After a minute or two of discussion between the glee club's co-coaches, Mr. Schue turned to the girls that surrounded Mercedes with a plan.

"So here's what's gonna happen," He began, "Mercedes, you're on bed rest, Quinn, you're stepping in."

"No, no, no, I can't dance that number. I can't sing it, either, not like—"

Schuester cut off Quinn's protests, "The Trouble Tones need you."

"And you're better than you think you are."

"For sure!" Lydia agreed

"Tina, Lydia, you guys too. You're in the Trouble Tones."

"Mr. Shue, this is my last competition," Mercedes breathed out, forcing herself to sit up, "I don't want to miss it."

"Amen, to that, sister. That's why I'm putting you on a vitamin B-12 drip. We're flushing your system with Pedialyte, and I'm gonna fill that bathtub with ice and see if we can't get your ambient body temperature back down to normal," Sue rambled as she fiddled with the zipper on her tracksuit. Seeing the confused reaction from everyone in the room, she continued.

"Worked in Jacob's Ladder."

"All right, we all have our marching orders," He announced, "Let's do it."

Excluding Mercedes, the girls left the hotel room to go rehearse with the rest of their team. Though, when they arrived, chaos— that had nothing to do with them, erupted.

No one was really sure how it started, Sam picked a fight with Puck, Kurt was stressing about Unique, and Brittany's pillow and blanket fell into the pool.

Disaster.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Chanted Sugar as Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste pulled apart the boys.

Winona didn't want to hear any of this, plucking her fingers into her ears and sighing. This was not the fun day in Chicago that she was hoping for.

After an angry peptalk from Santana, Winona finally zoned back in. Mr. Schue looked at his students disappointedly.

"Listen to yourselves!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I always go to the yelling place," Santana replied, frowning, "I have rage."

"No, it's a good thing. A great thing," Countered Schuester, "There is so much passion in this room Even all your arguing, it's about the work. You guys really want this. So let's take a half-hour break, and then we'll run it from the top."