⤷ the one in which the quiet girl and the dorky new guy fall for each other and sing more than a few times along the way.
♫ [s2-s6] [sam evans] ♫
published: 09.18.2020
completed: 05.21.2023
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⋮♫⋮
Defying all odds, the New Directions had taken their club all the way to Nationals and won. No one had expected the club to come back from being disbanded and take the big title, least of all the New Directions themselves.
When the school year had come to an end, the school district had not seen the improvements they were hoping for in Coach Sylvester's reign as principal. She had claimed that eliminating the arts program would drastically improve test scores. Instead, the district saw that test scores had not improved at all at McKinley or at any other schools who had cut their arts program. Thus, given the success of the New Directions, the district had chosen to transition McKinley High to a performing arts school with William Schuester at the helm as principal.
Naia had decided to stay at McKinley for the next three years to study dance. Her parents were hesitant at first, because they wanted their daughter to still receive a well-rounded education and not spend her entire high school experience only studying dance. However, Mr. Shue had informed families there would still be a heavy emphasis on "traditional" school subjects such as history and math, it had cemented her parents' decision to let Naia stay at McKinley.
Naia had left the New Directions, claiming she wanted to give her spot to someone who could actually sing and deserved it more than her. But, she was seriously considering joining the TroubleTones, especially given Madison's pleading. Naia would never admit this aloud to Keilani, but she had secretly grown a love for performing in show choir, and she didn't want to give it up just yet.
The shift in the McKinley High curriculum, however, meant that Sam was no longer working as the assistant football coach. Keilani had tried to comfort Sam over the loss of his job, but he hadn't seemed as concerned as she thought he would be. She knew he was already searching for a new job and looking at McKinley, but as far as she knew, there wasn't any updates.
Sam had taken on a lot of the responsibility of getting all the football equipment ready to sell or put into storage. Keilani was helping him with the last of the clean up, meaning her and Sam had spent most of the morning deflating the remaining footballs left at McKinley.
When Keilani noticed Sam slip two of the now-deflated footballs into his backpack, she raised an eyebrow. Sam noticed her look and informed her, "Coach Bieste did say he would look the other way if I took one or two home with me."
"Well that's good. I would hope you wouldn't steal from your former place of employment."
Sam let out an awkward laugh. When Keilani looked at him strangely, Sam took a deep breath and said, "I have something big I want to talk to you about."
Keilani sat up a little straighter and set the half-inflated football on the bench so she could focus her full attention on Sam. "You know how Mr. Shue's been needing someone to run the show choir because he's so busy as principal?" He began. "Well...I interviewed for the role, and Mr. Shue's asked me to take over the show choir program."
