New Directions

"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.

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?"

Lillian was bouncing on her toes. Oh, the first day of school was always fun! Getting new books, meeting new teachers, finding out who she'd be in classes with...oh, and Mathletes was going to be a wonderful thing this year! They had a real chance for the Nationals!

She opened her locker to stow her books before lunch, and get out her lunch case. It was a really good thing she avoided sugar save for a few things she had every once in a while...she was hyper enough as it was.

Blake was being a really great friend, but today she just sort of wanted to be alone. Talking to Blake had only reminded her what a big mistake this really was. She wanted to be alone and lost in the music store. Music was her best escape and she was ready to drown herself in it. Plus, she had wanted to dodge the talk that was sure to come her way when her dads saw her. They were always overly concerned when Rachel wasn't her normal self.  They were her parents, after all.  It was a rare occurrence for her to be anything but a force of nature, but when it did happen they sometimes got a little too clingy. They were right to want her to focus -- to remember that she had dreams and things like high school wouldn't matter years from now when she was on the stage.

But, Finn was different for her. He had changed her. And now she had to wonder if he would ever want her back.

She was currently browsing through music that fit her mood. She needed to find something that would help her work though all of these emotions. There was nothing around her that mattered except for the music in her hand. She was in the zone and not likely to come out of it any time soon.

Telling Finn that they needed to take a break was probably one of the harder things that she had done in a long time. In her head, it all made sense. But the more she talked to Blake the more panicked she had become. What if she had mad a mistake?  Part of her knew that she had, but the other part of her knew that she was doing the right thing. Finn clearly was bored with her .. wasn't happy with her. His lack of interest ( or rather what SHE saw as a lack of interest ) was evident. If he wanted to be with her he would have wanted to spend time with her! That made sense, right?

She wanted to be with him! She just wanted to make sure that he wanted to be with her just as much.

Either way, Rachel was feeling even more miserable than she had when she actually told him she wanted a break. Blake had said that Finn loved her and that he was really upset about this. But, he certainly didn't seem that way to her. He didn't fight for her. He just ..accepted it. This whole thing was making her head hurt. She really just needed to practice.

This was why she was so grateful that Blake was going to be coming over. She didn't even stop to think that Finn might be upset about that.

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.

Summer was barely halfway through, but college seemed really near for Artie. As was her custom, his mom was getting an early start on back-to-school shopping, with an emphasis on things that he would need for his dorm room. Having to think about all of that - about preparing to live away from home for the first time in his life - was both exciting and scary. He was still coming home on weekends, but the fact remained that he was leaving. He was going to spend the majority of his time in a completely different world, and sometimes he wondered whether he was going to be able to cope.

The awareness that he was leaving soon made him especially conscious of the town he was soon going to leave behind. This summer, Artie was going around trying to remember every detail about the place he considered home.

That was the reason why, instead of just tagging along patiently after his mom and Lizzie that day, he broke away from them to wander around the mall. There wasn't much to it, but it was one more place that he felt he had to remember when he was away at school.

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...

It being summer meant that the sun rose really early, which was good because it tricked Blake into thinking it was later than it actually was. He'd had no problem getting up early and getting ready to go for a run. Sure, it was a little earlier than he had been going normally but he didn't care. He sat on the steps of the front porch, making sure his shoes were tied up properly before he got up and stretched.

The thought of being questioned by Rachel was kind of terrifying to him, but he figured if she asked him anything he didn't want to answer he could just run away. He sung along with the music blasting through his headphones as he finished stretching, waiting for her to get there.

( 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.

( Making Up Is Hard to Do )

The Glee picnic was at noon that day, the old football field cleared for the day as the large grill that had been ordered was pushed into the enter of the white lines, picnic tables set up and a some coolers put out as Tanner made sure things were all in order. He'd gotten all the meat just an hour before, the cooler stinking of it as he turned the grill on and waited for someone, anyone who actually knew what they were doing to show up.

The past day or two since Puck told Finn the truth had been very...tense. People had sort of been avoiding her, even in Glee.

Quinn supposed they just didn't know what to say to her, and Quinn couldn't blame them. She wouldn't know what to say to them either, if the situations were reversed. Still, it was depressing.

And not to mention that she worried about Finn, too. She really had hated to hurt him, hated this whole situation. She wished everything were black and white again sometimes. But everything was difficult, and in varying shades of gray.

Still...she was glad everything was out in the open. At least there would be no more lying.

"OK, everyone! Sit down and listen up, because we've got a new number to learn!"

Mr. Schuester had been working on the arrangement to this song for a while now--it's definitely much different than any other rock song.

Once everyone is seated, he starts handing out the music to "Bohemian Rhapsody".

"Many thanks to Benjamin Parsons for the idea...I think this could definitely be a memorable song for us."

( True Colors )

( Everybody Wang Chung Tonight! Whatever that means... )

( Pretending He's Beside Me )