New Directions

The day of Sectionals had finally come. Three show choirs from mid-state Ohio were gathered to compete for the honor to compete some more! Regionals loomed in their futures, and after that, Nationals. In New York. It was a very big deal, and anyone who doubted that fact had never competed for anything in their lives.

"Okay, kids, the challenge this week is 'Your Favorite Childhood Song'," Will said, once all the kids were gathered in the room. The band and Brad were there, ready to back people up.

"Let's see what you've got."

After the debacle that had been the failed Rocky Horror Show project, Will felt that he and all the kids needed a new challenge, a new thing to work on. Something that would hopefully re-charge their batteries.

And Will needed to get his focus back on Glee and off of Emma. She was dating and happy...he shouldn't interfere with that. And Carl was a nice guy, and he was good for her.

As much as he hated to admit that.

So as he and Brad set up for the new rehearsal, Will had quite a bit on his mind, only a few of those things Glee-related.

The visiting hall in the Allen County Juvenile Treatment & Detention Center is a large room with tables and benches for the residents and their guests. It looked a lot like the cafeteria where they ate their meals, except the tables were shorter and there were more of them so that groups wouldn't have to sit together.

Visiting hours were Wednesdays, 4-8 PM and weekends, 9 AM-5 PM.

Will was excited. He was going to let some people perform first, if anyone had anything they really wanted to share, but he was very excited to hand out their first song of the new school year.

When everyone had gathered, Will called the meeting to order. "Welcome back, everyone, and to our new members, welcome to New Directions. We're going to work very hard this year, but we'll have fun doing so as well."

He sat down on the stool near the piano. "So...first off, does anyone have anything to share with us?"

Burt was in his element.

True, there were only the two of them in the family (at least at the moment), but Burt had always loved to grill. It was the one sort of cooking he did best. And he had an immense grill, he'd had it since he'd gotten married (it was a gift from his mother), and it still looked and worked great.

And it was a beautiful day for a cookout, sunny, breezy and not-too-hot. He couldn't have ordered a better day.

So far so good as the whole moving back to Lima thing went. Charlie was settling back into everything nicely. It helped that she knew where everything was and was comfortable in the town, of course, and she was glad about that. To her, it was more a matter of adjusting to not being in Michigan anymore and making new friends, feeling comfortable at McKinley like she had at her old school. Little things, thankfully and she was grateful to have Finn around as having someone she knew well made her feel a bit better about everything.

Of course, Finn didn't really have a choice because they were cousins but she knew he wasn't being forced to be nice to her. They'd always gotten along really well in fact. It was the whole tomboy thing she had going. She loved sports and video games and was really good at both and seeing as how Finn was a boy and into all the same things, it worked. She didn't think that this Rachel girl knew that her and Finn were related though because she detected a bit of harshness from her. Hopefully Rachel would figured out soon that obviously Charlie had no intention of stealing Finn. Um, hello, COUSINS.

In any case, she was looking forward to catching up with her favorite cousin and hearing all about the drama that happened while she was in Michigan. Apparently there was a lot to tell. So, when Saturday morning arrived, she dragged herself out of bed, dressed comfortably before hopping in her car, yes her car, to grab some coffee, donuts and bagels at the Dunkin Donuts before heading to Finn's. When she got there, she rang the doorbell and waited.

It seemed that it was Finn's lucky night, because as Puck was passing the liquor store on the way to 7-11, he saw that there was someone new working the register. The clueless newbie fell for his fake ID, easy, so Puck didn't have to settle for conning a stranger into buying him a beer, and he made his way to the Hudsons' with a six-pack and a bottle of Cuervo in a plastic bag, hidden under a couple jumbo bags of potato chips.

"Here I come to save the day," he muttered under his breath as he walked up to the Hudsons' front door and rang the bell.

Blake sat on the dock out at the lake, his legs dangling off the edge. His mind was still trying to wrap around everything that had happened the night before with the whole Rachel/Finn show down. Mostly he was trying to figure out how he hadn't realized what had going on. He didn't think he was that clueless, but apparently he was.

He had his guitar resting on his lap and he was just absently playing as his mind went a hundred miles an hour. Blake was just waiting for Finn to find him. And kill him.

Quinn cuddled the baby close as she waited for Finn and Rachel to get there for babysitting. She was terribly nervous for Puck's band, she wanted very much for them to win. They were so good and it would be awesome for Puck to have this succeed.

She looked at her baby. "Are you going to be good for Uncle Finn and Auntie Rachel?" she murmured. Sarah looked back at her Mommy and gurgled. "Remember, Uncle Finn is hurt, so be nice to Auntie Rachel, she's probably not very familiar with babies." She smiled just a little. "But not too nice, because then Auntie Rachel will want a little baby and that's just not good for Auntie Rachel, okay?"

Sarah smiled and gurgled. Quinn grinned back. Sometimes, she swore that Sarah could understand every word she said...

( No Day, But Today )

Mr. Schuester was busily organizing music. Tina's group performing '21 Guns' was amazing and he thought he should expand it for the entire group. So now he was placing copies of music on everyone's chair.

And he thought that he was getting a little soft with these kids.

They needed a new assignment.

Usually, he had one picked out far before the actual rehearsal...but today, he wasn't quite sure what he'd do.

Well, life was uncertain...

And you never could predict, sometimes, what the best course of action would be.

He'd have to let it come to him.

She'd been dragging all day long.

Quinn barely got through her first few periods, barely got through lunch, barely ate anything at all, and near the end of lunch, she nearly felt as if she was going to die. She was tired. But she couldn't go home, not when there were so many things yet to do, time was flying, and there was still a Spanish test to take.

But now it was becoming unbearable. After lunch, she'd had an extra-long bathroom break (she didn't think she'd drunk that much orange juice), and now she was running late. On her way to Spanish, she was dragging so much she could barely move. Her back hurt, her sides hurt, and she had to stop and lean against the wall for a moment.

Halfway through it, she realized that this wasn't a Braxton-Hicks contraction. This was real.

And she'd had the same feeling right before she'd left lunch, right before she'd gone to the bathroom.

Her eyes widened and she looked around, spotting Kurt a few feet away.

"Kurt! Kurt, wait up!" She hurried after him, once she could move away from the wall.

Practice had been a little rough. Between basketball, Glee, the protests, school, and college looming over his head, Matt was stressed. He was embarrassed he let him affect him during practice--he was a bit off. First Finn, now another team member? The guys couldn't have been happy. At least in Matt's case, though, there were experienced players in his position--and it only affected one practice. He could excuse it more easily.

The boy took a seat on one of the locker room benches. He took a long drink from his water bottle before letting it dangle from his grasp. Matt propped his elbows on his knees. Tomorrow, he thought to himself, I WILL do better.

Will had to admit, he was feeling pretty down. He was getting divorced, he'd betrayed Emma by kissing the coach for Vocal Adrenaline, and now he and Emma were...well, not together.

And he was alone, for the first time since he was fifteen. He wasn't at all sure how to deal with it. The apartment was so quiet.

But right now, he had to concentrate on getting his Glee club in a good place for Regionals. The kids were working hard but there were a lot of distractions. Quinn was getting huge, the RENT production, and of course, various personal problems with the kids. Being a teenager, after all, was difficult, and there were still slushie facials to contend with...

Suffice it to say, Will was worried about the Glee club's chances. But he'd try his hardest...and the kids were working hard.

He clapped his hands to bring the kids to attention. "Okay! So, it's the last call for practice solos, duets, any sort of talent you want to show us...after today, we'll be working flat out on the pieces for Regionals and polished performances. So...let's have fun before we get to work. Show me what you've got!"

[ooc: I'll be in and out all day, just start posting away and I'll answer any tags to Will later! Have fun with this!]

( Making Up Is Hard to Do )

Puck wasn't playing any sports this semester, but working out sort of helped clear his head. Besides, just because it was the off-season didn't mean the Guns of Puckarone had to get rusty.

Had it really been just a month since everything came out in the open? It felt like it should be longer, even though Puck felt like he was more or less getting used to not speaking to Finn. It still hurt to think about it, but he knew he deserved to lose his best friend after what he'd done with Quinn. At least Finn had Rachel to talk to, and Puck had Quinn and the coming baby to think about.

He was still getting the occasional weird "are you really the babydaddy?" look, but no one, not even the hockey losers also working out that day, dared give him one while he was holding a set of dumbbells. That, he reflected, was probably why another reason why the weight room was a good place to hang out.

Puck did get a couple of dirty looks from the basketball team, but it wasn't his fault Nate Backus tore his ACL and had to be replaced by Finn. As he started a set of tricep extensions, he reminded himself that he really had to talk to Marcus about that.

( Sometimes I feel I want to, uh uh, get away )

( When you're by yourself and there's no one else... )

Okay, this is it, Quinn thought. She held Puck's hand until he pulled away to go and talk to Finn, and then she followed along behind him a little ways. She knew he'd be angry, and she was worried about...well, everything.

She put her hands over her belly. She was getting so big now. She sighed.

At least it would be over and the truth would be out after today. She just hoped it wouldn't make things worse.