𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 | s. lopez

Vitamin D

As Juniper cleaned out her bag, she came across the cigarettes and vodka that April Rhodes had given her. She forgot they were in there. She quietly snuck downstairs. Ms. Stewart was passed out on the couch, loud snores coming out of her mouth. Juniper put the alcohol into the cabinet.

It should blend in perfectly with the rest of those bottles, she thought to herself. She went outside, quietly closing the door behind her.

Ms. Stewart's house just so happened to be right across the street from Puck's, so the brunette crossed over and knocked on his front door. A few seconds later, the womanizer answered the door.

"Hey, Juniper," he said, a small smirk creeping across his lips. "Should've known you'd hit me up eventually."

"Ew, gross, that's not why I'm here, Fuckerman," said Juniper. "You smoke, right?"

"Yeah."

"Here," she handed Puck the pack of cigarettes.

"You don't want 'em?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope. Not my thing," Juniper shook her head. "See you tomorrow."

She turned and walked back across the street, sighing with relief knowing she did the right thing by getting rid of the intoxicating items.

"And where have you been, missy?" asked Ms. Stewart as the brunette came back inside.

"I needed some fresh air to get rid of the pounding in my head from smelling the alcohol on your breath all weekend," she said and headed upstairs to her room.

****

"Okay, split up. Guys on the left side, girls on the right side," said Mr. Schue. "Let's go. Come on."

Everyone split up, boys and girls, but Juniper noticed Kurt coming over to the girls side.

"Uh, Kurt?" said Mr. Schuester. "Boy's team."

Kurt rolled his eyes and moved back over to the boys side.

"Here's the deal," Mr. Schue began. "Two teams. Boys versus girls. One week from today, you will each perform a mash-up of your choice."

"What's a mash-up?" asked Puck.

"Were you born stupid or did you take lessons?" asked Juniper. "It's literally in the name."

"A mash-up is when you take two songs and mash them together to make an even richer explosion of musical expression," Mr. Schue explained. "Boys will perform on Tuesday. Girls the next day. I want you guys to go all out, okay? Costumes, choreography. Whoever wins the competition gets to choose the number that we do for sectionals."

"Wait," Rachel interjected. "Who's gonna be the judge? Your gender makes you biased."

"Ah, there is going to be a celebrity judge."

"Wh-who?" asked Tina.

"You're gonna have to show up to find out."

"We got this in the bag," said Mercedes.

"Totally," Rachel agreed. "I'm gonna start storyboarding our choreography tonight."

****

Juniper was sitting alone in the library, biting her nail as she worked on her homework. Tina came in and sat down next to her.

"Hey, T," mumbled the brunette, not looking up from her paper.

"Is everything okay?" asked Tina. "You've s-seemed kind of d-distracted lately."

Juniper sighed and put her pencil down, leaning back in the chair. She knows she can't lie to Tina.

"I honestly have no idea what I'm doing with my life," said Juniper, running a hand through her hair. "I mean, I walk around taking my anger out on everyone around me. And if I don't stay out of trouble I'm gonna get moved to another foster home for sure. I've finally made friends and I don't want to lose it all because of my bad attitude."

"Ms. Stewart isn't g-going to kick you out," said Tina, lightly brushing a strand of hair out of Juniper's face. "S-she's just saying th-that to scare you."

"I know," mumbled Juniper. "Thanks for being here for me, Tina."

"Us freaks have to stick together, right? Now, c-come on," said Tina, standing up. "Homework can wait. Let's go watch the b-boys make fools of themselves w-with their mash-up."

****

****

"I told you guys," accused Rachel the next day.

"We know," said Santana, rolling her eyes. "You've been berating us for the better part of an hour."

"Were they really that good?" asked Quinn.

"Not really," mumbled Juniper.

"They were, Quinn," said Rachel. "Look, I was fine with arranging, choreographing, and directing this number free of charge. But we underestimated the boys. Their number will go to sectionals, and again I will be humiliated."

"How were we supposed to know they'd rock the house?" asked Mercedes.

"Yeah, they've never been good," added Juniper.

"How did they d-d-do it?" stuttered Tina.

"The real question is, what were they on?" asked Kurt as he entered the room. "Though I've been grouped with the boys, my allegiance still remains with you ladies. They declined my offer to do their hair in cornrows and all my artistic decisions have been derided as too costly because they involve several varieties of exotic bird feathers."

"What's your point?" asked Juniper.

"We all took something."

****

The next day, the girls were in the nurse's office with Mrs. Schuester.

"Everyone gets a dose," said Mrs. Schuester as she handed out cups of water and blue pills. "Oh, except for Quinn. You get folic acid. Get the lead out, Howard. We have patients waiting," she snapped, turning to a man in a Sheets'n'Things uniform.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Rachel asked, exchanging an uneasy look with Juniper.

"It's over the counter. It's safe," said Mrs. Schuester. "You can trust me. I'm a nurse. It's good for you."

Juniper looked down at the bright blue pills in front of her. She saw the others take the pills and she did the same.

****

****

Mr. Schue found out about what everyone did, and he was pretty upset.

"We're really sorry, Mr. Schue," said Finn.

"We didn't mean to get you into trouble," added Rachel.

"I'm really disappointed in you guys," said Mr. Schue crossing his arms. "Glee is supposed to be about what's in your heart, not what's coursing through your veins."

"We know," said Rachel. "And I think I speak for everyone when I say that we'd be happy to move forward and put this episode behind us."

"Well, it's not that simple. Because of this debacle, it's been decided that I'm no longer fit to run Glee Club by myself. We've been assigned a co-director."

"Who?" asked Rachel.

"Hey, kids!" said Sue as she entered the room. Tina and Juniper exchanged a look. "I gotta tell you, I'm just thrilled to be coming on board to co-captain your little showbiz cruise. I can't wait to start singing and dancing and maybe even putting on the Ritz a little bit."

"This club just got a million times worse," Juniper whispered, and Tina nodded in agreement.