Clearly, information from Brittany wasn’t ever that reliable. Mr. Schuester was gone, though. They just had to figure out why.
“When did he leave? Did he say when the ‘unicorn tour’ was stopping back in Ohio?” Kurt asked, trying a different approach.
Brittany shook her head. “No, but I decided to run New Directions myself until he gets back. These are all the new members I’ve recruited from the youth music camp! Aren’t they mini?” Brittany looked very pleased with herself. She loved “things that were the wrong size” and often could be seen carrying around doll shoes or a giant ear of corn. Nobody really questioned it.
“You totally should have been a counselor with us last summer. It was so much fun. And now they are all in Glee!” Brittany lowered her voice. “I’ve even hooked up with one of them. One special guy…”
Rachel looked back at the group of dancing gnomes. Brittany was known for hooking up with whoever happened to be nearby whenever the urge hit. But they all looked so… young.
“Are you serious?” Rachel asked in minor disbelief.
Brittany giggled. “Shhh! He’s looking at us right now.” Brittany gave a flirtatious wave to the Justin Bieber standee in the back row. Her blond hair fell around her face coquettishly. “He gets me.”
“Well, Brittany. I’m glad you finally found a man you can hold a conversation with. I’m sure you and cardboard Bieber will be very happy together. Just don’t go swimming.” Kurt patted her on the shoulder. He knew that they weren’t going to get much more information out of her. He decided it was better to just watch the train wreck in fascination.
“Thanks, Kurt. That means a lot. I have to get back to my club now. They really need me.”
They had, indeed, stopped singing. Thank God for that, Rachel thought.
Brittany skipped back to the head of the room. “Okay everyone, let’s move on to ‘Bad Gnomance.’ You ready?” Apparently, she still had some of that old Cheerios-style pep in her. The looks of admiration on their faces implied that the kids in Brittany’s weird Glee Club would do almost anything for her. “Yes, Queen B,” they all said in unison. It was like some bizarre cult.
“And-uh one, and-uh two, and-uh three!” Brittany shouted, dancing around, not realizing that she had just flashed half the room by doing a high kick in her miniskirt. All the boys’ eyes bugged out. Maybe that was the key to her success.
Rachel sighed heavily. It didn’t matter what the reason was. Glee Club had completely fallen apart since they’d left. Not only was Mr. Schuester missing, but everything he had worked so hard to build in the last few years was just gone. It was really sad.
“Come on, Kurt. Let’s go.” Rachel picked up her shoes and padded out into the hallway barefoot. She couldn’t bear to watch “practice” any longer. It was official: McKinley High had gone totally insane without Rachel Berry. Now she just had to find Mr. Schuester and get to the bottom of things. Maybe there was more to the story. Until then, it wouldn’t hurt to see Finn, either. After a day like today, he was just what she needed.
ten
McKinley High gymnasium, later Tuesday afternoon
The McKinley High School gym looked the same as it always had. Rows of worn bleachers were pulled out from the wall lining the basketball court. Handmade posters of various colors and sizes hung on the walls, bearing slogans meant to cheer on the mediocre teams. Sports had never been McKinley’s strong point. The Titans hardly ever won anything until Coach Beiste came along, replacing a heartbroken Coach Tanaka (whose personal life affected his coaching skills a little too much) last season. The baseball team still needed work. Lots of it.
Still, and maybe it was to the credit of the award-winning Cheerios, McKinley High had tons of spirit. This much was evident by the group of students who now stood in the middle of the court, unpacking the traditional end-of-year rally decorations. They began unfurling a bunch of red and white streamers that looked as if they’d been reused for a decade. Rachel wouldn’t be surprised if they actually had. Most of the budget for extracurricular activities was usually funneled straight to the Cheerios. Coach Sylvester had always made sure of that.
In an effort to have a few moments to herself, Rachel was sitting at the top of the bleachers. She used to sit here and watch Finn during basketball practice. The hard bench was uncomfortable, but it had suddenly become necessary to hide out from the crowds of students. Word had spread throughout the school that the Broadway star Rachel Berry had returned from the big city. It turned out that she actually had plenty of fans. Granted, most of them were kids who hadn’t known her at all during her days at McKinley. Back then, they had either chosen to ignore her completely or didn’t know she existed. The rest were freshmen who had heard stories of Rachel making her own way to fame and fortune. Either way, it felt pretty good to have fans.
Whenever she walked by clusters of students, Rachel would hear whispers of admiration, sprinkled with the sound of camera phones snapping pictures. It seemed as if everyone wanted to get a shot of the famous Miss Berry. As of now, she was definitely a trending topic on Twitter in the Lima area, if not the whole state of Ohio.
Rachel enjoyed all the attention from the McKinley paparazzi. But it was a little strange how some of the kids were taking pictures of her from such weird angles. One of the junior varsity football players, Jake Lader, had even propped up a ladder by the trophy case. He’d pretended to be polishing the Cheerios championship statues. When Rachel had walked by, he’d quickly snapped some photos from above. She’d be surprised if those shots contained little else than a view down her shirt. What good were those, anyway? Her face was the real moneymaker.
Rachel unearthed the stolen copy of the Thunderclap from her designer handbag. Now that she was alone, she could explore it without Kurt looking over her shoulder. To be honest, she was getting a little sick of his snide comments about everything.
That very morning, he’d chided Rachel about her poor posture. Not only was that ridiculous (Rachel had always prided herself on having perfect posture), but it was also bitchy. When she’d told him to keep it to himself, he just snorted and went back to criticizing her. Rachel was beginning to get the feeling that her closest employee did not enjoy working for her. Unfathomable.
She’d already been in Lima for more than twenty-four hours, but Rachel wasn’t any closer to figuring out what had happened to Mr. Schuester. No one seemed to know anything regarding his whereabouts. The closest she’d gotten to any real information was from Kelly Mahoney. Rachel had accosted her when she’d overheard Kelly mention his name to Spencer Richards by the library.
“Excuse me, but did I just hear you mention Mr. Schuester?” Rachel interrupted. Kelly was not a Rachel Berry fan. It had to do with some incident last year where Rachel had supposedly cut in front of her in line during lunch, saying that she was more important to the school and therefore had authority to do so.
It turned out that Kelly had heard that Mr. Schuester had also gone to New York. That certainly made more sense than Brittany’s unicorn story, but it still seemed unlikely.
Rachel began to flip through the pages of the yearbook, searching for the foreign language section. If Mr. Schuester would appear anywhere, it would be there. Even though running Glee Club had been his real passion, his main occupation had been teaching Spanish at McKinley.
She shifted uncomfortably, trying to get the backs of her thighs to stop sticking to the bench. It was really hot inside the gym, and Rachel felt herself starting to sweat. She should probably get going soon. No one liked a smelly star.
She continued to scan the pages until a commotion down below caught her attention. Coach Sue Sylvester had barged in and started ruthlessly criticizing the lackluster rally decorations.
“You call these decorations? My handicapable sister could do better than this with some toilet paper and a chain saw. I don’t want my Cheerios performing beneath something that makes my eyes bleed.” Coach Sylvester ripped down a dangling red streamer as she
stormed out the gym doors. “Fix it!”
Coach Sylvester was just as awful as ever. Rachel had always thought that her attitude was because of her ongoing bitter rivalry with Mr. Schuester and Glee Club. She was the one who would always try to get him fired and New Directions disbanded. Apparently, she was just a miserable person.
Wait a second—Coach Sylvester was always the one trying to get rid of Mr. Schuester! If he was gone, it was almost guaranteed that she had something to do with it. Rachel slammed the yearbook shut, shoved it in her bag, and stumbled down the steps. She had to catch up with her and demand some answers.
Thankfully, it was much easier to get around in the outfit Kurt had dressed her in this afternoon. He had chosen a menswear-inspired look that was very Annie Hall—a gray pinstripe vest and tie with a khaki miniskirt and black oxford shoes. It looked sort of mannish. It was probably inspired by Kurt’s motto, “Fashion has no gender.” Admittedly, the shoes were an odd choice for summertime, but at least Rachel could walk.
She ran out of the gym after Coach Sylvester, who was powering through the hallways like there was a last-minute sale on her favorite appletini-flavored protein powder.
“Coach Sylvester!” Rachel hollered at the tracksuit-clad figure. “I need to talk to you!” It was a losing battle. Either Coach Sylvester was completely ignoring all of Rachel’s attempts to garner her attention on purpose, or she’d developed terrible hearing in the past year.
Rachel gave up. It wasn’t worth chasing after her like some desperate girl who’d just been cut from the cheerleading squad. Rachel Berry didn’t follow. She led.
She figured it was time to find Kurt to see what was next on the agenda. He’d planned a packed week for Rachel that even included some appearances on local television. Also, Rachel decided she should probably brush up on her routine for the rally. The press was going to be there to broadcast the whole thing. Undoubtedly, there would also be several amateur recordings posted on YouTube by students the next day.
One had to be in top form at all times. The Internet was a brutal place. Rachel had learned that the hard way with her MySpace page. The constant negative comments from various members of the Cheerios were very hurtful. There would be none of that this time around.
Rachel straightened her tie and tried to decide her next move. If you were Kurt, where would you go?
“Rachel, is that you?” Artie Abrams wheeled his chair up to her. He was dressed head to toe in black. It looked like he’d inked a Jolly Roger skull and crossbones on his backpack with Wite-Out. How odd. Since when was Artie Goth? “I’d heard that you were back…. I just didn’t believe it. You look great.” There was sadness in his voice.
“Thanks, Artie…. So do you.” Rachel may have been a professional actress, but it didn’t sound too convincing once the words had left her mouth. In truth, he looked like a mess. Artie was normally clean-cut, favoring sweater-vests and shampoo. She didn’t get close enough to find out, but she was pretty sure he smelled bad.
Artie gestured at his outfit. “Oh, you don’t have to lie. I know I look bad. This is just part of the latest scheme I’ve cooked up.” Artie began to crack his knuckles, which was a nervous habit. His hands often seized up from wheeling himself around, even with the special fingerless leather gloves he wore.
“Scheme? What exactly are you trying to accomplish—being the smelliest McKinley student?” Rachel blurted out. Once again, she felt bad for being so harsh. He did look bummed. “Though I could probably compete with you for that title right now,” she quickly added. She had gotten really sweaty while sitting in the gym.
He finally cracked a smile. “No, you couldn’t. You’re not a McKinley student anymore, remember?” Artie was always such a nice guy. It was strange that she hadn’t thought of what had become of him at all.
“No, I suppose I’m not. Isn’t it weird how everything worked out?” Rachel awkwardly joked.
“If by weird, you mean terrible, then yes.” Artie was stone-faced. “You abandoned us, Rachel. I hate to say it, but you were some sort of crazy glue for Glee Club. As soon as you said no to helping us last summer, everything just fell apart.” His jaw tightened. “You want to know why I’m dressed like this? It’s because I have no other way to get Tina to notice me.” He slumped down in his chair.
Rachel actually began to feel really bad. But she still didn’t see how it was her fault. New Directions had always been sort of fragile and just waiting to crumble at the slightest setback. “I’m sorry, but what does my leaving have to do with you and Tina?” It was a valid question.
“Weren’t you the one who said that being a part of something special is what makes you special?” Artie took off his gloves and began wringing his hands. “That’s what Glee was for me. Everyone else went off and became great at other things. This was all I had.” He still hadn’t really answered Rachel’s question. “Now I’m just left trying to win back my first true love with silly tactics like this instead of songs.” Artie motioned to his black ensemble.
It was hard for Rachel to believe that any girl would swoon for his current look. Even Tina, who rocked a much better version of the style he was going for. Boys were so weird sometimes.
“Oh.” Rachel hadn’t considered that Glee Club was just as important to someone else as it had been to her. “Why didn’t you stay in Brittany’s Glee Club?” She couldn’t think of any other solution.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Artie now looked at her like she was the crazy one. “They’d probably dress me up as a roller skate and use me as one of Brittany’s giant props.”
He had a point. Rachel had a feeling that Artie wasn’t completely over Brittany, either. The two of them had dated last year when Glee Club was at the peak of its popularity. It wasn’t a very high peak. Rachel looked down at Artie. Were those tears forming in his eyes? Oh no. She hoped not—she wouldn’t know how to handle that. Tears of joy at the sight of her were okay; tears of any other kind… not so much. Artie sniffled but managed to hold it together.
“What are you even doing here right now?” Rachel asked, starting to wonder the same thing about herself.
Artie rolled back and forth, which was totally the wheelchair equivalent of nervous pacing. “I’m waiting.” Rachel raised her eyebrows at him. “For Tina to get out of her AP art final. She has to paint a self-portrait while Ms. Kowalski watches.”
“Artie! You can’t just sit around and stalk her. For people who aren’t celebrities like me, that really freaks them out. Anyway, isn’t she still with Mike Chang?” Rachel was actually surprised that she’d remembered this little detail about someone else’s life. See? She wasn’t totally selfish.
“Yeah, but a guy can dream, right?”
He really was pathetic. Rachel had never seen him so dejected. Maybe Glee Club had really made a difference in his confidence level. After all, not everyone possessed Rachel’s natural charisma and high self-esteem. She was trying to think of something else to say that could possibly comfort him when Finn and Quinn came strolling down the hall.
It was like a flashback to sophomore year. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. They were holding hands, and Quinn had that smug look on her face like she owned the whole world. Rachel knew it well, though that look normally accompanied a Cheerios uniform, which was almost the same as owning the world—at least at McKinley High.
But today Quinn was wearing a simple blue dress. It may have been plain, but it looked expensive. It seemed as if Quinn Fabray was still her family’s little princess, even after the whole teen-pregnancy thing. Around her neck was her trademark diamond cross necklace. She had that whole virginal innocence thing down. Which was ironic, given the circumstances.
Finn didn’t look that different, either. Except maybe more tan. He was wearing his favorite dark gray T-shirt (the one Rachel used to love snuggling up to because it was so soft) and his adorable crooked smile. His chocolate-colored hair was at the perfect length—he’d probably gotten it cut ab
out three weeks ago. Not too short, not too long. Rachel’s heart thumped in her chest. How did the sight of Finn still manage to do that to her?
Finn leaned down and kissed Quinn on the forehead. The forehead? That was the sweetest spot to kiss anyone, Rachel had always thought. Whenever Finn kissed her there, she had felt so loved and safe. In truth, he was so tall (and she was so short) that it was just easier to kiss her there if they were standing up. But still. That was her spot! The nerve!
“Not so easy to get over someone, is it?” Artie said, snapping Rachel out of her current state. “Yeah, I bet you never thought that they would get back together, huh?”
There was no way she was admitting to still being in love with Finn—but she wanted to know more. “Well, no, but they, um, look happy. How long has this been going on for?”
Artie smirked at her. He was no fool. “Quite a while.”
What a vague answer! That could be any length of time. Rachel had to know how long Finn had waited after she’d left before he started dating around again. Had she meant nothing to him? There should have been at least an eight-month-long grief period from the moment she left Lima. It would take at least that long for her star presence to wear off. Maybe more.
“Honestly, they started hooking up again during the youth music camp last summer. Something about realizing that they never gave their relationship a real chance after all that baby drama.” Artie shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m pretty sure that once you were finally out of the picture, there were no distractions left keeping them from trying it out again. And having all those adorable children around to take care of helped. It was like they were playing house or something.” Artie paused, then added, “It was kinda gross watching them, actually. They are, like, the perfect couple now.”
They did look like something out of the L.L.Bean catalog. Quinn dropped something on the ground, and Finn bent down to get it for her. While he was kneeling, he took the opportunity to kiss her hand as if she were a medieval maiden. She blushed and pulled him back up to her, giggling. Rachel felt sick.
Summer Break Page 9