𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 | s. lopez

The Purple Piano Project

July

Juniper was having a blast. She sat around a table doing shots and downing glass after glass of vodka.

"Juniper, try this," said Puck, holding a cup out to the brunette. "It's a mixture of scotch and Coke with a little bit of Red Bull."

Juniper raised the cup to her lips and downed the thing in less than 10 seconds.

"Good huh?"

"That is the best thing I've ever had in my entire life," said the younger girl.

On the other side of the room, Rachel and Santana watched Juniper with worried looks on their faces. Rachel knew that she'd had problems in the past with alcohol, but she thought she'd helped her. That is... until that party at her place a few months ago. Ever since then, she'd been turning to alcohol more and more.

"I'm worried about her," said Santana.

"This is my fault," mumbled Rachel. "I never should have thrown that party. That's what started all of this."

"Rachel, it's not your- oh my god!" Santana gasped and ran over to Juniper, who had just passed out. "Juni! Juni! Juniper this isn't funny, wake the fuck up! Juni!"

"Juni? Juniper!"

The sound of Santana's voice shook the brunette out of her daze.

"Juni, are you okay?" asked the Latina, furrowing her brows.

"What happened that night? After I passed out?" asked the younger girl. "I don't remember what happened."

"Um... well, I pretty much violently shook you until Puck poured a bucket of ice water on you," said the Latina.

"So that's why I woke up soaking wet."

The bell rang and Juniper got up to go to first period, but Santana grabbed her wrist, turning her around to face her.

"Wait, Juni, I wanted to talk to you about something," said the raven haired girl.

"I swear I'm not gonna go get drunk again if that's what you're worried about."

"No, it's not that, but noted," said Santana. "Look, Juni... I don't just want to hook up anymore. I want to be with you. For real. And I know you want to be with me too."

"Yeah," Juniper smiled. "Yeah, I do."

****

"Mr. Schue, why are all of our trophies in the middle of the room?" asked Tina as Juniper and Santana walked into the choir room.

"I was sure that our nationals trophy would grow over the summer," said Brittany.

"I don't think it works like that, Britt Britt," said Juniper as she sat down in the back row next to Santana.

"I want this image burned into your mind," said Mr. Schue. "This is what the difference between first and 12th place looks like. It's also what it feels like."

"Are you planning on bumming us out all year long?" asked Puck.

"No. I'm planning on pushing you harder than you've ever been pushed," said Mr. Schue. "We made it to nationals last year. This year, I'm not gonna let anything or anyone stop us from winning it all."

"We would have won if Finn and Rachel didn't decide to make out on stage," mumbled Juniper.

"Juni has a point," said Kurt. "Finn and Rachel's 'the kiss that missed' already has 20,000 views on YouTube, and the comment section is just full of pith banter."