The Gleeful Return [Q. F.]

- 5 - Duets and Auditions

Recap: McKinley will be doing Wicked as a musical this year. Quinn and Sam run for Homecoming Queen and King, respectively. Evan asks Juliet to go to Homecoming with him, to which she accepts. We still see a rift between Quinn and Juliet.

A/N: Apologies for the delay. This chapter is a little longer than normal, so enjoy that. Some of the songs and dates from the original series don't line up, but don't read too much into that. 

I walk into school Monday morning careful to do two things. I'm careful to avoid Quinn because she's been on me for the past couple weeks, and I'm careful to avoid Evan because I have no idea where we stand. The football game was fine. As expected, it was a little chilly out and we lost. I'm no football expert, but I do know enough about the game to understand what's happening. Evan's in the same boat, probably because Sam plays.

The night was fine overall. Evan and I went to the game together. We watched the game together. We went our separate ways after. The next day was Homecoming, the main event if you will. Since neither of us can drive yet, our parents dropped us off to meet up for dinner. Evan told me that his parents asked him if him and Sam wanted to have dinner together with me and Quinn. I guess neither of them knew that Quinn practically hates me now, so we did. It was a Homecoming dinner double date. When I met Evan and saw Sam and Quinn there as well, I panicked internally.

The dinner was a little awkward. Quinn was a girl of few words and didn't say much to me at all. She talked with Sam, I talked with Evan, Sam and Evan talked to each other, and that was about it. After dinner, we went to school and hung out in the gym with every other student there. Uncomfortable in large social gatherings like this, I hung close to Evan for the night. He didn't seem to mind, in fact I think he liked me by his side. We found some other Glee kids and talked with them for a while, but it was really just me and Evan for the night.

About halfway through, Figgins announced that the Homecoming King and Queen would be crowned. Quinn and Sam made their way up to the stage with the other nominees. It wasn't a surprise when he announced Quinn's name, not like anyone else ever had a chance. Even though she's part of the lamest club in school, she still made Homecoming Queen. The crown fell on Sam's head, allowing their victory plan to succeed.

So when Quinn walked into school this week, she had a new pep in her step from her Homecoming Queen title, and I was extra careful to avoid her because of this.

Me and everyone else in the group walked into the choir room per usual. Well, I guess it wasn't really per usual because Wicked auditions were this week. Mr. Schuester made sure to remind us with his daily greeting.

"Happy Monday! Homecoming went well last week, don't you think? I hope those of you who are planning to audition for Wicked have been practicing and are ready to do so later today. For our lesson this week, I'd like to do some duets. I'll let you all pick your partner and start thinking about what song you'd like to sing. Let's be prepared to perform on Thursday." He paused, ready to let us go, before quickly speaking again. "Oh, and whichever duet is voted the winner will sing again at Sectionals."

I've always hated picking partners, especially here at a new school. With the added pressure on the duets now, I was a bit nervous. I saw Rachel and Finn quickly pair up. Same with Mike and Tina, Artie and Brittany, and Quinn and Sam. Mercedes teamed up with Santana. Evan asked to sing with me. I said yes. With Puck out in juvie, Kurt was left with Sugar.

"What would you like to sing? Any ideas?"

"Um," I started. "I don't really know. What about you?" I struggled to answer because I still don't really know what we are. Like, are we a couple now? Are we just casual friends? Are we more than friends but not dating?