Unlikely Star

New Directions

I was finally getting out of this hell-hole. Graduation had finally arrived, sending all the seniors into a spiral of tears, joy, and fear. I was mainly excited to get a move on with the rest of my life, but there was still something in the back of my mind telling me I was going to miss McKinley. Every so often, walking by a classroom or the football field, it would remind me of an actual good memory I made at this school.

My mother was in hysterics all week. I learned my lesson already to try on my graduation gowns in a room with a closed door, because as soon as I turned around in the mirror, my mother burst into my room, crying about how grown up I am. It took a good ten minutes for my dad to calm her down.

I was still struggling on what I wanted to say in my valedictorian speech. I had an outline of the points I wanted to hit, but once I sat down to write it, no thoughts came to my head. I didn't want to give the same, boring, stereotypical speech about all the amazing memories we've made here, and how we'll all be friends to the end of time. But if I couldn't come up with something soon, then I might be forced to resort to that.

The seniors had been tasked with cleaning out the choir room first, which was something I was not excited with. How come we had to do it? Why not stick this with the returning alumni who don't have to do anything? Or all the newbies in the Glee Club since they've been here the shortest?

Our main task, which I did not realize we had to do, was clean out the hundreds of lilies that had been set up inside. Who they were brought in by, or who they were for beats me. But all I knew was that whoever set them up was lucky that I didn't know who they were, because if I did, I'm pretty sure I would try to beat them up.

I was separating out the lilies that had been spoiled and those that had not when Tina stormed into the choir room. "My life is literally over."

"Where the hell did all these flowers come from?"

"What's wrong Tina?"

"Nothing. Just the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life in Lima because I'm not Jewish enough. I didn't get into Mitzvah, so I guess I'm the only one in this room that's not going to New York."

"I'm not going to New York, Tina," I reminded her.

"Fine, then I'm the only one in this room who doesn't have a plan for their life, and will most likely end up stuck here, not fulfilling their dreams."

"Why? You don't need a college acceptance letter to get over that bridge."

"I can't just go there without some kind of plan."

"Well, Kurt did, and I think he's doing pretty great. It's an adventure."

"Not for me. You don't understand. Without some kind of direction, I just feel like a giant, free-floating loser."

"Yeah, like me." Sam looked over towards the three of us, winking for some kind of support. At first, I had no idea what he was trying to reference, but then after a quick look back at Glee Club, and a minor tap from Artie, I realized what he was trying to get us to lead to.

"And me."

"And me."

"And me," I said, walking over towards Tina to take her hands. I pulled her out of her chair and towards the piano as Sam began strumming away on the guitar.

~Loser Like Me (sung by Sam Evans, Blaine Anderson, Mallory Schultz, Artie Abrams, and Tina Cohen-Chang)~

***

One of the last things I had to do before graduation was return my prized possession; my Cheerios uniform. I didn't realize how sad I would be about returning it until I took it off for the last time. Cheerios was the first group at McKinley that really brought me in as one of their own. Although I seem to have a much better time with the New Directions, Cheerios taught me more about grit and ambition, which I never thought I had.