CLOUD NINE | GLEE • OC X OC | ON HOLD

•002•

IVORY WALKED INTO THE LOCKER ROOM TO BE MET BY BIANCA COOPER AND HER GIRLFRIEND, KIARA REYES.

"Oh, look who it is." Bianca teased.

"Hey, babe." Kiara smiled, before pressing a kiss to Ivory's cheek.

"Hey, since when did you know Bianca?" Ivory asked, staring at her.

"Oh, you don't know? We met over the summer, and then we hung out all the time." Bianca smirked, before putting her softball bag in her locker.

Ivory looked over at Kiara, who was looking down at the ground.

"Oh, she didn't tell you. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll leave you two to talk." Bianca strutted out of the locker room.

"You told me you were busy with your family, too busy to hang out with me," Ivory said, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry." Kiara sighed, before sitting down. "I need to tell you something."

"You don't want to be with me." Ivory guessed, making Kiara slightly nod. "The least you could've done is do it over the summer because now everyone to going to look at us since we just broke up." Ivory shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to figure myself out first, and Bianca helped with that." Kaira stood up.

"Oh, did she? Did she tell you to not answer my calls or my texts? Did she tell you not to tell me what the hell was going on?" Ivory kicked off the locker she was leaning against. "I'm not mad that you're figuring yourself out, I'm mad that you left me in the dark while doing it."

Ivory went to walk out of the locker room when Coach Reese Blume entered.

"Ivory, can I speak to you for a minute?" She asked, making Kiara leave.

"What's up, Coach?" Ivory asked, not letting the situation with Kiara bother her.

"As you know, Macy graduated, and now we have no team captain. I've already spoken to some of the girls, and they said you for the next captain." Coach Blume smiled.

"Really? Me. Wow." Ivory smiled, "Uh, yeah, sure. I'll take it."

"Awesome, first practice is tomorrow. Congratulations, kid." Coach Blume said, and Ivory walked out of the locker room.

Ivory walked out of the locker room and made her way to the choir room.

She saw William Schuester sitting at the piano with a paper in his hands.

Ivory walked to the back of the class, sitting next to Mike Chang.

"These are comments from Jacob Ben Israel's blog. 'Glee is a giant ball of suck.'" Mr. Schue read off.

"We get it, Mr. Schue. Everyone still hates us. So what? So we're plankton on the high school food chain. The only difference now is that none of us care." Kurt Hummel explained.

"Kurt's right. We're a family. They can bring it all they want. None of it is gonna break us." Mercedes Jones agreed.

"I'm really happy that you guys have all bonded. The problem is that all of this negative stuff is keeping other students from auditioning." Mr. Schue explained.

"Good. Why do we need new members?" Tina Cohen-Chang asked.

"Well, since Matt transferred, we only have twelve members. If we want to go to nationals, if we want to beat Vocal Adrenaline, we have to go from a small rebel force to a giant wall of sound." Mr. Schue explained.

"Yeah, Mr. Schuester's right, you guys. You didn't see Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals. They were epic." Rachel Berry stood up. "We're gonna need more voices to beat them."

"Yeah. I'm with Rachel on this one." Finn Hudson stood up, standing next to Rachel.

"Gross." Brittany Pierce mumbled, making Ivory smirk.

"You're gonna have to trust me on this, guys. Now, here's the plan. Nationals are in New York this year. And we are going." Mr. Schue announced, making everyone sit up in excitement.

It was always a dream for Ivory to go to New York one day, preferably with her boys, Alex, Reggie, and Luke.

The four of them had started a band, Curved Lines, in eighth grade, at first singing covers of songs, but then branching out to writing original pieces.

"Now, let's get out there and show the school how cool it's gonna be, how cool we can be. If they're not gonna come to us, let's go to them. They sing we only sing show tunes and '80s pop, let's show them how down we are. Let's give them the song of the year. New Directions style." Mr. Schue hyped the group up.

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THE NEW DIRECTIONS GOT SET UP IN THE COURTYARD, and Ivory was up with Mercedes and Puck.

[EMPIRE STATE OF MIND • Performed by The New Directions]

Once they finished performing, no one had noticed besides Sam Evans, Sunshine Corazon, and of course Luke, Reggie, and Alex.

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IVORY HAD JOINED ALEX, REGGIE, AND LUKE FOR LUNCH OUTSIDE when she watched as Kiara sat with the cheerleaders.

"That was a cute performance you and the glee club did." Reggie smiled, taking a bite out of a carrot stick.

"Well, I'm glad someone thinks so." Ivory sighed, resting her head on the table. She felt a hand on her back, knowing it was Luke.

"So, Ivy, a little birdie told me that you're the captain of the softball team now." Alex nudged her foot with his.

"Who the hell told you that?" Her head shot up, making Alex laugh.

"So it is true? Your voice gets all squeaky like that when it's true." Alex drummed on the table.

"Yes, it's true. Coach Blume asked me this morning in the locker room." She said, and Luke shook her by her shoulders.

"Dude, that's great!" Luke cheered.

"Yeah, we're proud of you, Ivory." Reggie agreed.

"So, Luke, what song are you gonna sing to audition for the glee club?" Ivory asked, changing the subject.

"It's a surprise. Reg and Alex helped pick it out." Luke smiled.

"Wow, you didn't even let me help? I thought you were better than that." Ivory joked, before glancing over at Kiara.

"Hey, you alright?" Alex was the first to notice the sudden change in mood.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She answered, turning down the looks from her three best friends.

They quickly dropped it, knowing she didn't want to talk about it, and changed the topic once again.

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Songs:
•Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys