Summer Break

by Sophia Lowell

  “Ummm… buying you tons of amazing clothes and keeping your busy life organized?” Kurt offered with a shrug. He put his bag down and began looking for something inside it.

  “No, the other thing.” Rachel crossed her arms to show that she meant business. “Come on! You’ve been selling my personal photos to J-Fro and Puckerman for extra dough!” She threw her arms up in the air. “How could you? I saw that one from the plane on their website!”

  Kurt’s face showed no signs of remorse whatsoever. “Yeah, I totally did. Your point is?” He shrugged.

  Rachel’s lip quivered. “I thought you were supposed to be my friend! Those are… private.” She was in a very fragile emotional state. It had been a tough week.

  But now it was Kurt’s turn to be mad. After everything they’d been through, Rachel still only thought about herself.

  “Look, Rachel. Those pictures were going to get out anyway. Why shouldn’t I be the one who benefits from them? You pay me practically nothing. You think it’s easy for me to watch you get your dream role on Broadway? I keep hanging around, hoping you’ll help me out with some sort of chance to audition or perform.” His voice started to crack. “But you never do.”

  Kurt picked up his satchel from the floor. “So you think I’m a bad friend? Where do you think I learned this behavior?” he said, clenching his jaw angrily. “That’s right. From you.” He stormed down the hall and out the double doors leading to the entrance.

  Rachel was completely stunned. First Kurt had stolen her pictures. Now he’d stolen her exit. But there was no one left for Rachel Berry to storm out on. She somehow kept finding herself alone.

  fifteen

  Choir room, minutes before the rally, Thursday afternoon

  The students at McKinley were not accustomed to so much excitement at once. Before this week, the most thrilling thing that had happened all year was when one of the science geeks, Stephanie Ruben, had mixed a brand-new flavor of slushie for the cafeteria. The magical lime-kiwi-raspberry creation had been so delicious that kids would get to school early just to buy one. The flavor sold out every morning before nine. It wasn’t long before every student in the entire school was addicted to it. It became a problem. The kids were so wired on sugar that nothing ever got done in class. The Glee kids liked it because no one wanted to waste precious slushie on them, so their clothes remained dry throughout entire school days. It was a first. Then the slushie flavor began causing riots. One morning, it was like the storming of the Bastille, on a much smaller scale. Sadly, this left Figgins no choice but to discontinue the flavor, much to the dismay of the student body and even some teachers.

  If something as small as a frozen beverage could cause riots at McKinley, the sudden onslaught of celebrity appearances was bound to get everyone riled up. All week, people had buzzed over Rachel’s return, and that morning, when Santana had shown up, the kids started going ballistic. Rachel and Kurt didn’t realize that by bringing in her friends from New York, they’d effectively sent a few more innocent victims into the lion’s den that was McKinley High.

  As soon as they entered the choir room, Meredith and Carmine were mobbed by a group of unfortunate-looking teenagers. The stars had been recognized, of course, for their work on prime-time television and in popular music, respectively. It was all going exactly according to Rachel’s plan to get everyone to love her again. But her new friends were not the charming people she’d hoped for. Rachel watched the ridiculous scene from the doorway.

  Meredith and Carmine were looking around at the group of adoring fans. Sure, they were small and covered with zits. Half of them were wearing really unflattering purple costumes. But Meredith regarded them as if they were a pack of zombies trying to eat her brains.

  “Ew! I think that one just touched me!” she screeched, clinging on to Carmine.

  What Rachel didn’t remember was that Meredith Stewart and Carmine Bennett were not used to talking to “normal” people. They were famous. They liked to surround themselves with only other people of importance or people who would tell them that they were important. Meredith and Carmine had only agreed to come to Ohio and perform with Rachel Berry because they were afraid of what would happen if they didn’t. Rachel, as the star of Oklahoma!, had a lot of influence over the producers of the show. They were just her supporting costars. It was a bitter pill to swallow—especially since they had both been in the business much longer than Rachel had. But they knew how to keep their friends close and their enemies closer.

  Rachel crossed over into the room. She was about to ask her guests if they needed anything when she was startled by Meredith’s shrill voice.

  “Get away from me, you teenaged freak!” Meredith screamed at the red-haired boy—the only one who had been brave enough to ask Meredith to take a picture with him. Meredith wrapped her arms tightly around her body, disgusted. The poor boy, looking extremely hurt, walked back to his friends.

  Carmine wasn’t much better. A tiny girl with glasses and a blond ponytail had come up to him and shyly confessed that the very first concert she’d ever been to was one of his.

  “Is that supposed to impress me?” he replied snottily. He looked to Meredith for backup that this girl was, indeed, an idiot. Meredith laughed.

  Well, they just lost a few fans, Rachel thought as she watched in disbelief. She couldn’t imagine ever being that harsh to anyone, let alone fans.

  And then she remembered her nickname, Scary Berry. All of a sudden, she felt like she’d been hit with a ton of bricks. What if she was actually this horrible to people now, too? Everyone had been implying it nonstop since she’d landed here. Coach Sylvester had said Rachel didn’t care whom she hurt to get what she wanted. Kurt had said she was selfish. Meredith and Carmine were supposedly her best friends now.

  It all added up. Rachel had become a horrible person.

  She felt sick. She had wanted fame but not like this. She wanted to be adored, but for who she was and her talents. She wanted to be Glinda the Good Witch, not the Wicked Witch of the West (even if she was just a misunderstood green girl played by Idina Menzel in one of the best new Broadway shows in recent memory). Rachel had to do something to change her life.

  The crowd rumbled and roared outside, chanting for the rally to start. Meredith and Carmine looked at Rachel expectantly.

  Rachel took a deep breath and steeled herself for her entrance. The show must go on. Even if it meant performing with a couple of evil flying monkeys.

  sixteen

  McKinley High gymnasium, end-of-year rally, Thursday afternoon

  Oh my God,” Rachel said as she peeked out from behind the black curtain that had been set up as a backstage area. Her eyes widened. “There must be over two thousand people out there!”

  She had never seen the gym this packed in her entire time at McKinley. There were several professional television camera crews up front and even a few amateur ones. Students spilled over onto the sides of the court, creating a makeshift amphitheater. Red and white streamers exploded from the ceiling like a gigantic chandelier, and bunches of balloons were tied to the backs of the bleachers.

  The chants of the crowd echoed off the walls and grew louder with each passing moment. “Mc-Kin-ley! Mc-Kin-ley! Mc-Kin-ley!” they shouted. It looked like a scene out of a sports movie, and it was weird because the community had never gotten this excited about any team at the school. It was almost like the gym was being used properly for the first time.

  Rachel closed her eyes and took it all in. There was an amazing energy in the room, and she wanted to remember it forever. Especially since this would probably be her last time in this gym. The thought of it put a lump in her throat. She began to hum it out. Hummmm.

  The crowd roared as the Cheerios ran out onto the court, clad in their trademark red-and-black uniforms. Rachel turned around to look at Brittany. She was curious to see if Brittany was wishing she were out on the court with her old squad. If she was, her face didn’t show it. She just stood there in her
starfish costume, a massive smile plastered on her face like she was having the best time in the world. She probably was. Brittany could be happy in almost any situation. It was an admirable quality.

  Back on the court, Mercedes had picked up the microphone and started pumping up the crowd even more. “Are… You… Ready?” Mercedes yelled over the screams and shouts. “I said—Are! You! Red! E?” Even the moms were getting into it now. It was almost starting to look like the audience of an “Oprah’s Favorite Things” episode, where people practically threw one another across the room every time they were gifted something from the list.

  Rachel could see Mercedes’s mom in the crowd. She was yelling at the top of her lungs, “That’s my baby! That’s my girl!” Rachel thought it was sweet how proud of Mercedes she was. And she should have been. The way Mercedes was working the crowd was amazing. She was a natural born leader, commanding the entire room with ease.

  Finally, Mercedes took her spot in formation. The crowd hushed for a moment.

  The speakers began to blast a beat, and the Cheerios sprang into action. Mercedes spun around, dancing the routine like she’d choreographed it herself. From what Rachel had heard, she probably had. The song morphed into “Dynamite,” by Taio Cruz. Mercedes began to belt it out, and the squad moved in perfect time behind her. Rachel found herself dancing and clapping her hands in time to the beat along with everyone else.

  By the time the routine ended a few minutes later, Rachel was feeling really pumped up. So was the entire gym. The Cheerios had always been incredible, but under Mercedes’s reign, they had rocketed themselves to unreal status. It made Rachel wonder what other innovative routines she hadn’t gotten to see at various events throughout the school year. If they had been anything like this one had been, she’d seriously missed out. Maybe she had underestimated Mercedes back in their Glee days. Rachel knew it was too late for regrets, but if she could go back, she would let Mercedes have a lot more solos. The girl deserved them.

  But apparently, Mercedes knew that. The success as head Cheerio had gone straight to her head. As she exited the court, a nerdy freshman girl came up to Mercedes. Rachel knew the type—desperate to join the Cheerios, to be popular, but not quite talented or pretty enough to get in. It was like watching a silent movie from across the gym. Mercedes totally snubbed the girl and went off to go sit with her uniform-clad posse. The cycle was complete. Mercedes used to be so nice. It was a shame to have lost her to the dark depths of high school popularity.

  Even over the loud rumble of the crowd, Meredith’s distinctive cackle rang out. Rachel had completely forgotten that Meredith and Carmine were with her.

  Meredith chewed on a piece of her ginger-colored hair and stared lovingly at Carmine, who continued to tap away at the touch screen on his phone.

  “So, are you guys having fun?” Rachel asked, knowing full well that they were miserable.

  “This is like watching Grease,” Carmine said.

  It was a much nicer comment than Rachel had expected. “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. There’s horrible dancing, and the music makes my ears bleed,” he responded in a deadpan voice. Meredith laughed. She was either easily amused or totally crushing. The comment wasn’t even that funny.

  The New New Directions were up next. Brittany led her band of purple-clad starfish out onto the floor. There was a little cheering from the audience and a lot of confused whispers.

  “Should we bother with this one, Paul?” a WOHN television guy asked his coworker quite loudly.

  “No,” Paul answered.

  Once everyone was in position, Brittany freed the microphone from the stand. “Hey, everyone,” she said in her quiet voice. It was a stark contrast to Mercedes’s booming tone. “This song is dedicated to all the endangered starfish in the glitter region of the rainbow sea. It’s a bad situation down there right now, people. Don’t be blind.” The entire gym had fallen silent out of pure confusion rather than respect. “Thank you.” Brittany took her place.

  After a weird yet peppy rendition of “Baby, I’m a Star” by Prince—in which star had been cleverly changed to starfish—the Glee Club kids ran off the stage, dodging empty cups and jeers from the large audience. Seemed like it was still hard to be a Glee kid. At least they looked like they were having fun. Rachel remembered banding together with her club in solidarity, too. It was nice.

  “What is this—amateur hour?” Meredith whined loudly before making a big show of employing a pair of neon-green earplugs. “My ears are too precious to listen to any more of this garbage.”

  The residual good feelings from watching the show vanished as Rachel realized it was almost time to go out there herself. Her feet throbbed in pain as she began to pace in a circle. She was nervous. Really nervous. This was her hometown. These were her peers. Who could be harsher judges than them? It was still a mystery to Rachel why she’d decided to come back here in the first place. But then again, a lot of things about her new life were mysterious.

  Rachel, Meredith, and Carmine were supposed to go on next. After Figgins announced them and the crowd had a few moments to go wild, she would go out there and sing her heart out. And then everything would be fine. All of Lima would see that Rachel Berry did actually possess genuine talent, as well as humility. She had not forgotten where she’d come from, even if she’d left it for greener pastures. Or taller skyscrapers.

  But when Rachel looked up, Figgins wasn’t standing on the court at all. Finn was.

  He tapped on the microphone gently a few times before bringing it to his mouth. This caused it to peak, and the whole speaker system screeched for a terrible second.

  “Sorry. Oh, um, hey, everybody! Uhh… so… I just wanted to know if I could have just a moment of your attention before continuing on with the show.” He shifted back and forth on his feet.

  What was he doing? Rachel thought. Was he going to… break out in song?

  Finn removed the microphone from its stand. “So. There’s a really special girl here today….”

  Rachel held her breath. Finn was going to declare his love for her! In front of everyone. She took a small step forward. Maybe everything was going to be all right, after all. Finn could get his tattoo removed and come with her to New York, and they would live happily—

  “Her name is Quinn Fabray.”

  Rachel’s stomach dropped.

  Everyone else began to cheer. Quinn stood up from where she was sitting on the floor and sheepishly waved at the crowd. Her blond curls glowed in the yellow-tinted light.

  “Now… I’m not a man of many words. So, uh… I’ll just get down to it.” Finn reached for something in his pocket. “I love you, Quinn Fabray.” He kneeled. “Will you marry me?” He held out a little velvet box. Rachel could see the inside of it sparkling all the way across the gym.

  The crowd held its breath in anticipation.

  After what seemed like an eternity—but was probably only really about five seconds—Quinn skipped over to Finn and gave him a huge kiss. He then scooped her up into his arms and spun her around in a circle. He held the microphone up to her mouth.

  She giggled as she clarified, “Yes. I said yes.” Finn made a big show of sliding the ring onto her finger. It was all tragically unoriginal.

  The applause was deafening as Finn carried Quinn off the court, bride-style. Rachel couldn’t bring herself to clap or anything. It was too painful. She was secretly embarrassed for thinking Finn might have decided he loved her instead. The thought alone made her cheeks hot.

  Like Meredith had said earlier, it was time to get on with the show and get out. The past five minutes had been a game changer, and Rachel just wanted to bolt.

  Principal Figgins treaded out to the center of the floor. He fumbled with the microphone and dropped it on the ground.

  “What an exciting day!” he finally announced in the robotic voice he reserved especially for public speaking. “Okay, okay. Settle down. As you know, I’m Principal Figgins. I am the principal here at
William McKinley High School. We have had a great school year and hope to have many more to come.” He cleared his throat loudly. It sounded phlegmy. “Now it is my pleasure to introduce a special guest—McKinley’s own Rachel Berry!” There was a sparse round of applause and a few cheers. “Joining her are her costars from Broadway, Miss Meredith Stewart and Mr. Carmen, excuse me—Carmine Bennett!” His name elicited squeals of girly delight from the Cheerios section.

  Rachel stepped out in front of the gigantic crowd. It was surreal. It was the audience she’d always envisioned performing for when she’d gone to school here. Hundreds of people cheering, just waiting to hear her belt out a song of her choosing at the top of her lungs. Rachel used to joke with Finn that she needed applause to live. Maybe it was true. She felt slightly rejuvenated in the face of the crowd.

  She looked to her left and right, fully expecting to see Meredith and Carmine beside her. But she was alone. This was beginning to become a theme.

  A few moments later, the tardy twins scampered out onto the court. They instantly transformed from the horrible, whiny brats they were into glittering stars. Their smiles directed at the sea of people and cameras seemed completely genuine. Hundreds of cameras flashed in their direction. Meredith was working it. Rachel tried to remember the angles Kurt had taught her. Kurt. She felt a pang in her gut at the thought of him.

  Now was not the time, though.

  “It’s so great to be back here at McKinley,” Rachel said into the microphone. “I never realized how much I missed you all until I came back.” It was really true. Seeing everyone and how they’d changed had started to make her realize just what she’d missed while she was living in New York. “This one is for my all my old friends from New Directions.”