Chapter Text
GLEE: The Lima Story
Chapter 004: The Purple Piano Project - Part Three
By Wilde Abrams
===> Author’s Notes:
And here’s the final piece of material from The Purple Piano Project . It also contains Quinn and Artie’s duet, and Kitty’s long awaited Cheerios tryout. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains a brief reference to a canonical sensual assault.
# # # FRIDAY # # #
===> WMHS Auditorium - Friday Afternoon
The current members of The New Directions were sitting together on the risers in the auditorium discussing the week.
“… and while I’m still not thrilled with it, after discussing it with Shannon,” the teacher addressed the group, “I believe that there are rare exceptions to my ‘everyone gets in’ rule.
“We are a different club than we were two years ago, and now that the precedent has been set for placing in competitions up to the National level, it is my job to put the group in the best position to get there again, and win; and that would cement the club at this school for the foreseeable future, instead of fighting being defunded or outright canceled every year. I have to do what's best for the team, regardless of how much it may tear me up inside personally.
“So, earlier today, I broke the news to Sugar that she needs to work on her singing, before we would be able to reconsider letting her in. I encouraged her to practice, and get some voice lessons, and re-audition in a year. She’s only a sophomore, so she has plenty of time to improve her skills, and become a part of a winning glee club if she is motivated enough to do so.”
“We think you did the right thing, Mr. Schue,” Finn said.
“Maybe so, Finn,” the teacher said. “But I still don’t feel that great about it.”
“Sometimes leaders, and teachers, have to make tough decisions,” Rachel said. “We are confident you made the right one here. You wouldn’t be doing her any favors by shielding her from the reality of how much she sucked.”
The teacher let out a deep sigh, clearly tired of talking about this.
“Alright, Rachel,” Mr Schue said, changing the subject, “I believe you said you had something else you wanted to discuss?”
Rachel stood up and walked up to the front and addressed the group as he stepped aside to give her the floor.
“So,” she began, “Kurt and I attended the prospective NYADA students mixer last night, and we came away from it a little taken aback by some of the competition-“
“-We met a girl who has been acting since she was a literal fetus,” Kurt chimed in. “She was in an ultrasound in an episode of Murder She Wrote, and was the Gerber Baby in some ads when she was a todler.”
“Exactly,” Rachel continued. “There is a lot more talented competition out there than we expected, many of whom have real, outside the high school world credits; and while we are still confident on our ability to get in, we are really going to depend on our competition performances, and starring roles in the school musical to push us over the top-“
Quinn and Artie gazed at each other with concerned expressions.
“-Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” Artie said.
“And after pushing the envelope last year,” Rachel continued, as if she hadn’t heard him. “I strongly believe that we should secure the rights to a, shall we say, less controversial show for our school musical. Wait for it…West Side Story!”
“-Is that the one with the cats?” Brittany asked innocently.
“No, sweetie,” Santana said, patting her arm. “It’s about rival street gang members who fell in love.”
“And,” Rachel continued, “it just so happens to have a lead role that showcases my talents, and essence perfectly: Maria!”
“Isn’t Maria Hispanic?” Mike asked. “You’re a jewish white girl.”
“For which there will be open auditions, right?” Mercedes asked, firmly. “Because Mercedes is feeling extremely pretty this year.”
“A cultural Hispanic played by someone the exact opposite,” Artie mumbled to Quinn, with a sigh, clearly not thrilled with the prospect.
Quinn silently nodded.
“Of course there will be auditions for all roles in whatever we end up choosing,” Mr. Schuester said, nodding to Mercedes before adding, “Kurt, you had something too, right?”
Rachel took a seat, clearly not happy that the group wasn’t all cheering, and onboard with her starring in the fall musical, but gave Kirty the floor.
Kurt stood up.
“I wanted you all to know that Kurt Hummel is wading into McKinley High’s shark-infested political waters and running for senior class president,” He said grinning. “I thank you in advance for your votes.”
“Okay,” Mr Schue said with a big grin on his face. “So many exciting things are going on today. Now, let's continue with our lesson-.”
“-Look at what they did to us, Mr. Schue,” Tina said. “Just like these purple pianos, they ripped out our guts, threw crap all over us and burned us up.”
“Yeah, we got hit pretty hard,” the teacher admitted. “But,” he depressed a few piano keys on one of the destroyed pianos which actually still sounded good, “these pianos are still making music, and so are we.”
“Mr. Schue,” Rachel said, as she stood up and began walking back towards the center of the stage as if she owned it, subconsciously nudging him aside, “as always, you and I are on the exact same page-.”
“Hold up, Rachel,” Quinn, who was unable to keep silent any longer, said while standing up and walking towards the diva who subconsciously backed away. “You haven’t heard anything people have said here today. Once again you are acting like you are in charge of things, and like you are automatically going to get the competition solo, and the lead in the school musical.
“But, we are putting you on notice that after what happened last year at Nationals, you are going to have some serious competition this year; and we aren’t going to put up with you getting everything you want by default.”
Mercedes, and most of the rest of the group, nodded in agreement.
“Quinn,” Rachel responded in her condescending tone, “We want to get to nationals again this year, and actually win this time. Who exactly do you think has a better chance at getting us there than Finn and myself?”
“Me,” Quin responded firmly.
Rachel got a shocked expression on her face.
“And Me,” Artie added, wheeling himself forward so he was next to Quinn. The two of them had met a third time the night before and put the finishing touches on their song.
Rachel turned to look at Artie, and gave him a betrayed expression.
“We are going to make you fight tooth and nail for every solo, and every role this year,” he told her.
“With that in mind,” Quinn told the group. “Artie and I have something prepared to show you what we can do!”
Just then the band walked out, and took their places and Brad sat down at the piano.
“Hit it,” Artie said.
The band began to play ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’, by Savage Garden , and Artie and Quinn began to sing.
[ ARTIE: ]
I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy
I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, be everything that you need
I love you more with every breath truly, madly, deeply do
I will be strong, I will be faithful 'cause I'm counting on
[ ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing ]
A new beginnin'
[ QUINN: ]
A reason for livin'
[ ARTIE: (ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing]
A deeper meaning, (yeah)
[ ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing ]
I wanna stand with you on a mountain
[ ARTIE (ARTIE & QUINN) ]
I wanna (bathe with you in the sea)
[ ARTIE: ]
I wanna lay like this forever
[ ARTIE (ARTIE & QUINN) ]
Until the (sky falls down on me)
[ QUINN: ]
And when the stars are shining brightly in the velvet sky
I'll make a wish, send it to heaven and make you want to cry
The tears of joy for all the pleasure and the certainty
That we're surrounded by the comfort and protection
[ ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing ]
Of the highest powers
[ QUINN: ]
In lonely hours
[ ARTIE: ]
The tears devour you
[ ARTIE (ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing) ]
An' I wanna (stand with you on a mountain)
[ QUINN (QUINN & ARTIE, Harmonizing) ]
I wanna (bathe with you in the sea)
[ ARTIE: (ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing) ]
I wanna (lay like this forever)
[ QUINN (QUINN & ARTIE, Harmonizing) ]
Until the (sky falls down on me)
[ QUINN: ]
Oh, can you see it, baby?
You don't have to close your eyes
It's standin' right before you
All that you need will surely come
[ ARTIE: ]
Ooh, yeah
[ QUINN: ]
I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy
[ ARTIE: ]
I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, be everything that you need
[ QUINN: ]
I'll love you more with every breath truly, madly, deeply do
[ ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing ]
I wanna stand with you on a mountain
[ ARTIE (ARTIE & QUINN) ]
I wanna (bathe with you in the sea)
[ ARTIE: ]
I wanna lay like this forever
[ ARTIE (ARTIE & QUINN) ]
Until the (sky falls down on me)
[ ARTIE (ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing) ]
I wanna (stand with you on a mountain)
[ QUINN (QUINN & ARTIE, Harmonizing) ]
I wanna (bathe with you in the sea)
[ ARTIE: (ARTIE & QUINN, Harmonizing) ]
I wanna (lay like this forever)
[ QUINN (QUINN & ARTIE, Harmonizing) ]
Until the (sky falls down on me)
The performance is much more dynamic than we have ever seen from them before, especially Quinn who really got into the song, dancing around, looking Artie in the eye, and touching him on the shoulder and face in some places. They’d definitely taken it up a few notches. The duo behaved as if they were actually in love with each other, and the rest of the group really started to take notice, and get into the performance, moving to the music; including their teacher. At one point Quinn was sitting in Artie’s lap giving him the ‘you’re about to get lucky’ look making Tina, Finn, and Puck noticeably uncomfortable.
The rest of the group gave them a rousing round of applause, and most of them stood up for a standing ovation. When the song was over Rachel and Finn just sat there stunned as the others congratulated Artie and Quinn on their performance.
Off to the side, a tiny blond girl watched all this with a confused expression on her face, from one of the side balconies where she was watching all of this with interest.
===> The Wilde Home Gym & Exercise Room, Friday Evening .
Kitty was standing in the middle of the room practicing her freestyle audition routine, and trying to process what she'd seen in the auditorium earlier, when her parents James and Amanda Wilde walked in.
“Are you ready for your big Cheerios tryout tomorrow?” James asked her.
“Absolutely,” Kitty assured him. “Even though I can do it in my sleep at this point, I’m just running through my freestyle a few more times, tweaking some things.”
“It looks amazing,” Amanda told her daughter, a rare complement.
“Just make sure not to neglect the rest of the tryout,” Janes cautioned her. “I don’t need to remind you how crucial getting into the cheerleading squad is to your future here.”
“I am well aware of how important it is, daddy,” she told him. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ve watched every recording of a Cheerios performance from the last three years that I’ve been able to find on YouTube, studying them for clues for things they may have me to do. I’ve also mastered all of the common cheerleading moves a flier can be expected to perform. I’m ready.”
“Just be sure you are,” James reiterated.
“-James,” Amanda, scolded her husband.
“-She can't afford even the smallest screw up,” James reminded his wife. “It’s absolutely vital that she get in with the popular group, as soon as possible, to cement her position in the school hierarchy, and to prevent a repeat of what happened in sixth grade!”
“I am well aware of how important that is daddy,” she told him icily. “I can assure you that I am doing everything in my power to prevent that from happening.”
“See that you do,” he reminded her as he turned and walked out of the room.
“Honey,” Amanda addressed her daughter sympathetically.
“Mom,” Kitty responded, “It’s fine. I know he’s looking out for my best interest.”
Amanda placed her hand on Kitty’s shoulder sympathetically for a moment before reluctantly leaving the room.
Kitty exhaled deeply in frustration before starting her routing over again.
===> The Wilde Home, Kitty’s Bathroom - Half an Hour Later
After two more run-throughs, Kitty headed to the bathroom inside her bedroom to take a shower. She turned on the water and adjusted the temperature.
She looked at herself in the mirror, inspecting herself for the beginnings of any acne as she stripped down and threw her sweat drenched clothing into her hamper before testing the temperature to make sure it was right, and stepping into her shower.
She quickly washed herself off from head to toe, and then stood there in the shower as she considered her situation, and her father’s words. The more she thought about it the more her face fell.
As confident as Kitty seemed on the surface, deep down she was more than a little bit worried she wouldn’t make the squad, and terrified about what could happen if she didn’t.
Her parents had instilled in her from a young age that it was very important to be popular, and at the top of any social pyramid if you wanted success in life; and she had always honored their wishes by doing everything possible to be on top.
All through elementary school she had been one of the two most popular girls in her class until a horrible incident in sixth grade which had changed everything. She’d dared to tell the truth about what had happened to her, and everyone, including her best friend, had turned on her, making her a social pariah, and the victim of bullying. It had gotten so bad that she had been forced to transfer schools and start over.
It had been nearly two and a half years since then, and she had turned things around quickly, becoming one of the most popular members of her middle school, and the star of her cheerleading squad.
Despite all of her efforts to put that horrible night, and the things that happened later, behind her, her dad persisted in reminding her of it every time things looked like they might not go as they wanted, and expected; bringing the whole thing back, forcing her to relive it all over and over again in her mind.
Kitty stood there in the shower trying not to think about it; about what he’d done to her and how she’d felt way back then. Her knees collapsed and she sat down on the shower floor, holding her knees against her chest with her arms, and sobbed until the water cooled.
# # # SATURDAY # # #
===> WMHS Gymnasium, 9:00 AM
The Cheerios were getting ready for Cheerleading tryouts. A table had been set up along the side of the gym in front of the bleachers where Coach Sylvester sat with Quinn, Santana, and Brittany on her left and Becky Jackson and Julia, the cheerleader who had broken her leg and was now using crutches on her right. Behind them in the bleachers sat the remainder of the Cheerios, all required to attend the tryouts, auspiciously to give input to the girls trying out; but realistically to intimidate, and put pressure on the prospective new Cheerios. All of the Cheerios were dressed in full fall uniforms, and Coach Sylvester was dressed in one of her fanciest red with white stripes tracksuits.
Kitty and the other two girls invited to try out were lined up outside the door dressed in red shorts with white stripes, and white WMHS Athletic Department T-shirts over white sports bras, as instructed. Kitty had gone to the extra step of placing her hair in the Cheerios trademark “high pony.”
“Ladies,” Coach Sylvester addressed her squad, ”the key to successful Cheerios try-outs is in brutal honesty. Well actually, maybe just brutality, as I have no intention of bringing more than one girl in. I just basically wanna see the other two cry. Let’s get this over with!”
The three girls had drawn straws to determine what order they were trying out in. Becky walked over and escorted the first girl in.
They were specifically looking for a flier, so all the ones invited to try out were petite, and light enough to be thrown into the air.
The first girl was an African American sophomore who had weighed only about 110 lbs and flew quite high, unfortunately she was sloppy in her dismounts and back tucks. It only took them less than five minutes of her triout to see that she hadn’t really improved her back tuck in the last three months, as she almost landed on her ass more than once.
“Terrible!” Becky shouted.
“What’s wrong with you?” Santana asked. “We told you exactly what to work on last spring, and you actually got worse!”
Quin just shook her head.
“Next!” Coach Sylvester yelled.
Kitty had drawn the middle spot, and confidently marched out into the gymnasium.
Santana, who was still annoyed by her attitude a few days before, spoke first.
“Okay, before we start,” Santana addressed her. “I’m afraid we're gonna need to make sure you can do a standing back tuck. One of our most basic moves. You understand.” The move was far from basic.
Without even flinching, she responded, “Standing back handspring back tuck okay?”
When Coach Sylvester nodded, Kitty backed up to the center of the gymnasium and executed the requested moves flawlessly.
Quinn was impressed. “Alright, try this…Front handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, full twisting layout.”
Once again, Kitty positioned herself in the center of the room and executed the requested moves flawlessly, and seemingly without effort.
Kitty was very good, and she knew it. “I can do this all day if you want,” she told them. “But did you want to try something that required some actual effort on my part?“
“Ohhh!” Some of the cheerleaders on the bleachers called out.
“Quiet or you’re cut!” Coach Sylvester admonished them before turning to address Kitty.
“Alright, Ms. Wilde,” Coach Sylvester told her. “Quinn is going to demonstrate a short routine, and we are going to see how long it takes you to duplicate it.”
Quinn rose to her feet and walked over next to Kitty. She faced the girl, and executed a series of moves that they had used in their nationals performance the year before.
Kitty stood there and watched closely as Quinn demonstrated the moves. Quinn nodded approvingly at the attention that the girl was giving her. She repeated the moves the second time, and this time Kitty began to repeat the steps that Quinn had demonstrated a half step behind her.
“Are you ready?” Quinn asked. “Or do you need to see it again?”
Kitty hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
Quinn stepped off to the side and gave Kitty space to execute the moves on her own. This was one of the most complex routines that Quinn had ever done with the Cheerios, and questioned whether or not it was even fair to expect someone trying out to be able to duplicate it. But they were looking for someone who was joining an existing nationally ranked competition squad, after cheer camp, and this person would need exceptional pickup skills.
Nonetheless, the first time Kitty executed it she only made one significant mistake. The second time she corrected her mistake, and got the routine almost exactly with only a couple minor imperfections. The third time‘s the charm, and she executed the moves almost perfectly, and better than some of the girls who are actually on the squad had been able to do. She then repeated it just to demonstrate that it hadn't been a fluke.
Quinn smiled, and even Santana was reluctantly impressed.
Next Kitty was instructed to perform the freestyle routine that they had each been instructed to prepare, and Kitty executed hers with just the right combination of precision and grace. Quin could tell the girl had danced and gymnastics backgrounds, definite pluses for competitive cheerleading. Brittany grinned at the girl, and even Santana seemed impressed.
Because they were looking for a flier, The final part of the audition consisted of Kitty and a group of girls from the squad executing a simple pyramid with flying dismount.
Kitty listened as the girls explained and demonstrated what was required while the senior Cheerios watched. Kitty had done this many times before, and didn’t really need instruction, but she followed along and humored them.
When it was time to actually execute the pyramid, Kitty did exactly as they had shown her. Then they executed the pyramid at full speed, and Kitty was able to perform it perfectly, including a perfect dismount.
Britney and several of the other girls applauded her enthusiastically.
“Very good, Kitty,” Quinn told her
But coach Sylvester was decidedly more reserved. “Thank you, Ms Wilde. Please wait outside with the others while we evaluate the third candidate, and make our decision.”
Kitty nodded with a big grin on her face. She knew that she had done well, and had managed to impress them.
“Of course,” she said and joined the first girl in the hallway and toweled herself off.
“You’re up,” she told the third girl.
The third candidate, a skinny brunette with a bit of a southern accent took her place at the center of the gymnasium. She’d seen Kitty’s confidence and the first girl’s obvious despair, so she was a little nervous, and it showed.
Unlike the first girl, they had her go through the entire routine. Her back tuck was decent, but not as tight as Kitty’s, but that was the highlight of her tryout. The remainder of her moves were mostly sloppy, and after almost ten attempts she still wasn’t able to duplicate the routine Quinn demonstrated for her, even after Quinn showed it to her a third and fourth time. Finally they told her to move on. Her mount and dismount from the pyramid were passable, but would definitely require a lot of extra practice to get right.
Quinn tried to be positive, and encouraging, but was losing patience. Santana, Becky, Julia, and Coach Sylvester nitpick every Little thing she did, and with each passing round, she began to make more and more amateurish mistakes. By the end, Coach Sylvester got her wish of seeing one of the girls cry as she left the gymnasium.
Once they were alone, Quinn turned to the others. “Do we ever need to discuss and vote on this? Kitty was the obvious choice.”
Brittany grinned and nodded excitedly. Most of the other girls nodded.
“She wasn’t horrible,” Becky said.
Even Santana reluctantly nodded. “Just keep her out of my face.”
“Bring them in,” Coach Sylvester said, and Becky went over and did just that.
All three girls filed in, and took their places lined up in front of the table, standing at attention, as if this would do anything to influence the results. The first one had calmed down somewhat, and the third one had stopped crying, but her makeup was still smeared.
“Alright,” Coach Sylvester said as she stood up and addressed the girls. “As I’m sure absolutely no one is surprised to find out, the newest member of the McKinley High School Cheerios is Kitty Wilde.”
Kitty grinned.
“You other two, get out of my sight so I can begin the process of scrubbing the memory of your horrible performances from my mind,” Coach Sylvester commanded. When neither of them moved right away because they were stunned by her bluntness, she added, “get out!”
And with that the other two girls burst into tears, and quickly left the gymnasium.
After they were gone Coach Sylvester approached Kitty and said, “Congratulations… don’t disappoint me …”
“I won’t,” Kitty responded confidently.
Brittany went over and hugged her again, and put her arm around her shoulder. Santa gave her a dirty look.
Kitty wasn’t really paying attention to what the hyper girl was telling her when they led her down the hall to the girls locker room and Coach Sylvester’s office. On the surface she was all cool and collected, but inside she was ecstatic. She’d done it. She’d made the legendary Cheerios her first try. Her parents would be so proud!
When they reached the office, Coach Sylvester issued her first uniform, and told her to wear it on Monday. They would take her measurements before her first practice, and have custom ones made before their first pep rally and game.
Quinn congratulated her again and invited her to eat lunch with them on Monday so they could introduce her around, and give her the skinny on the new school.
Kitty enthusiastically took her up on it. She was well on her way to being one of the most popular girls in school.
===> Author’s Endnotes:
Alright, you know the drill by now. Let me know when you think with your wonderful reviews, subscriptions, and favorites.