New Directions

The McKinley High gym has been nicely decorated for the evening, the Valentine's Day committee having spent the intervening hours between school and the start of the dance wielding streamers and balloons and setting up tables. The very center of the gym has been cleared out for the dance floor, and circular tables surround that for people to sit at, eat and talk between dances. A long table at the back of the gym has been set up for the DJ, and one other table to the side is for the basketball team's fund raising table, selling roses and other Valentine's Day goodies. The usual gym concession stand is now stocked with punch and snacks.

The teachers who have been enlisted to serve as chaperons are keeping a watchful eye on the activities on the dance floor...though they're not really keeping a close eye on the doors leading into the rest of the school. They might want to keep an eye on that.

There is a red carpet leading from the outside into the dance...let's get this party started!

Something was definitely up with Karofsky. Puck wasn't completely sure because the other boy hadn't been on the football team last year, but he had been getting worse all semester.

Anyway, even if he was like this all the time, it had to stop. Not only was Karofsky terrorizing Kurt (which was totally Puck's job), he was picking on the other Glee guys, too. Now that Sam T. had mentioned it, Puck noticed that Karofsky was bugging him as well, and just a while ago, the stocky boy had pushed Mike Chang into a bank of lockers.

Puck wondered whether he should wait for Karofsky to start picking on him and then just rip the other guy's arm off.

Nah.

He threw down his pads and, catching the other Glee guys' eyes, strode over to where Karofsky was accusing Mike of being a "homo, just like Hummel, here." "Hey," he said, tapping Karofsky hard on the shoulder. "Lay off of him, and lay off of Kurt and the others, too. What did they ever do to you?"

"What did they do to me?" the other boy repeated, snorting. "They're wrecking this school, that's what. Everywhere you look, there's a homo. Even the football team isn't safe, and you Glee kids are the worst. No wonder McKinley sucks so bad at everything."

"Maybe McKinley sucks because no one cares," Puck retorted. "It's not their fault you're a lousy football player."

He wasn't no 98-pound weakling, but Karofsky was bigger, so the hard shove that Puck received sent him sprawling against the guy who had been standing behind him.

Quinn padded over to Tanner's room in her nightgown sometime on Sunday. She was lonely, and she was not ready to face her mother or father yet, and she just wanted someone to listen to her.

She wasn't sure she'd done the right thing. Should she have stayed for Sarah's sake? Maybe she should just have tried harder, maybe she should have just ignored the sick feeling in her stomach about him and her mother's friends.

But that wouldn't have been her. Apparently, she was only good enough to hurt her.

She knocked on her brother's door. "Tanner?" she whispered hoarsely.

With her hands on her hips and her legs planted like tree trunks, Coach Shannon Beiste surveyed the McKinley football field like a warrior queen looking over her domain.

It looked like her predecessor's pathetic reputation was well-deserved, she thought with a sneer. She had never seen a sorrier bunch of recruits gathered in her presence - half of them looked like they would blow over in a strong wind, and the other half would trip over the goal line.

But then of course she had always coached winners.

Well, Panther, she thought to herself, think of this as a challenge to your coaching abilities. You can do anything, including turn this ragtag bunch of losers into the well-oiled destroying machine that everyone has come to expect of you.

Mr. Schuester and Brad were all set for the kids to start performing. He knew there were some strong personalities paired up, and he just hoped that the kids would put aside their differences to do the assignment.

They had a lot to cover, so as soon as all the kids were assembled, he got their attention in order to start. "Okay, kids...what pair of you wants to go first?"

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.

Kurt sat on the bed of the hotel room, squinting at himself in the lighted mirror he'd brought for the occasion. Putting the finishing touches on the large silver star he'd drawn over one eye, he glanced over at Tanner stretched out on the other bed. "You're sure you don't want makeup? I could make you really pretty, Tanner..." He knew the answer already, but he still had to ask. And he was still going to get eyeliner on his boyfriend, even if it killed them both.

"If she pulls us on stage or something, we have to look like we should be there, you know? I may kiss her, just a warning." He had it all planned out in his head: Gaga would pull him on stage, they would make out, and then she would decide to keep him and he'd be part of the Haus of Gaga and she would simply call him "K" and everything would be perfect. "I think I'm going with the mesh...could you grab the electrical tape from my bag, please?"

Lillian had never really read comics before, but Ethan seemed to like them and she wanted to see what he found so interesting about them. At least she knew someone who worked here. She could ask him what she should read to catch up a little bit.

She'd never been in a comic book store, and she felt...a little like an alien.

Take me to your leader, Lillian thought, and looked around for Tanner. She really hoped he was working today.

Kurt had finished his third bag of Oreos in as many days (supplementing them with gummy bears, just to switch things up) and had been taking full advantage of the horrible programming on TLC. He'd even watched Kate Plus 8, and he hated Kate Gosselin so much that there weren't even words for it.

He felt mopey and vaguely nauseated at this point and even the horror of Extreme Poodles couldn't distract him from the hopelessness of life. Finally, he flopped over dejectedly onto his side and tapped out a text to Tanner: 'plz shoot me now'

( 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.

( I see their knavery... )

OOC: This is rated R.

Quinn had been breastfeeding Sarah when Tanner had come back home. Even though she was sort of dozing off, she could tell that Tanner was upset. So after Sarah had finished feeding, Quinn gave her to Puck to take care of (she always got a lovely feeling when she put Sarah in his arms--she couldn't help feeling terribly lucky that he loved her so much), and ventured up to Tanner's room.

She could hear him crying, and her brow furrowed. "Tanner?" she asked, knocking on the door, then pushing it open slowly. Her brother was sitting on the bed, crying, and holding his cat. Very tightly.

"Tanner, what's happened?" She came in and sat down on the bed beside him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Kurt was nervous. Now that he'd asked Tanner over to see the surprise, he was kind of scared to show it to him. He'd been working very hard, after all, and what if it didn't look as nice as he thought it did? What if he was kidding himself about all of it? What then? Oh God. What had he been thinking?

He threw a sheet over the thing and curled up on his couch to wait. Then he got up and uncovered it...then he covered it again. Oh God.

He turned the music on...then off...then on again. Then he curled up again. He was losing his damn mind, he was sure of it.

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!]

Somehow, they'd found out that the kids were having a RENT rehearsal today. And so, they came out en masse, with signs in hand, and a rather poorly-thought up chant that fell apart every so often.

A group of about 20 protesters with signs are picketing the Gentlemen's Club, mostly women and men but some teens, as well. Most notably, the teens from the Chastity Club are there, yelling with as much venom as they could muster.

Which, for supposedly devoted Christians, is quite a bit.

The kids wanted to garner attention...they've got it.


[ooc: Feel free to use the gleeklub account to interact with the protesters. NO VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS! period, end of sentence. The protesters know the law. And no one wants to be arrested.]

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.