The Prince in the Dress ¥ Klaine

Ballad

"Ballad," Mr. Schueter spoke, writing the word on the whiteboard in the choir room, underlining it and turning to face them. "From Middle English, balade. Who knows what this word means?"

"It's a male duck," answered Brittany with a smile, not bothering to raise her hand like Kurt and Rachel did.

Mr. Schue shook his head and pointed to another student. "Kurt."

"A ballad is a love song." Kurt said dreamily, sighing with a smile looking towards Ollie who caught his stare and smiled at him softly

"Sometimes," Mr. Schuester nodded,agreeing with him. "But they don't always express love. Ballads are stories set to music-which is why they're the perfect storm of self-expression. Stories and music are the way we express feelings that we can't get out any other way. Okay,

now, sectionals are in a few weeks and there's a new rule this year- we have to perform..." he gestured to the board behind him, "A ballad."

"Looks like my weekly letter to the Ohio Show Choir Committee finally paid off!" Rachel said excitedly, grinning at Puck, who just gave her a Sarcastic smile in return.

"Okay. So here's our assignment for the week: I'm going to pair you off, and I want you to pick a ballad to sing to your partner. Look them right in the eye, find the emotion you want to express, and make them feel it." Mr.Shue said passionately, and Ollie had never been happier that he didn't really participate in the club

"l pick Quinn," Finn said quickly, making Ollie chuckle

"No, no, no," Mr. Schue declared, wiggling his finger. "Too easy. Your partners will be chosen by fate."

"Ooh!" The group cooed mockingly.

"Ooh, yeah. I put all your names in this hat. Whoever you choose is your partner." Will gestured to the hat on the piano

"I bet the duck's in the hat." Brittany said, causing Santana to give her friend a weird look before turning to their Spanish teacher.

"There's an odd number of us." Santana reminded him, not seeing how he couldn't remember something so crucial

Mr. Schuester faltered, seeing that she was right. "Uhm, right. I guess I'll just have to put my name in the hat for now. Who's up first?"

"Wait, I think we'd all be more comfortable with potentially having Ollie as a partner than you Mr.Shue," Artie pointed out, causing many to nod while Ollie froze

"Yeah, well Ollie's not a part of the club," Will said quickly, giving Artie a look to drop it and everyone took the hint,"So who's first?" he asked once more

Everyone did a drumroll on their knees as Puck made his way to the piano to take a piece of paper from the hat. "Mercedes.!"

"All right." Mr. Schue clapped, writing their names down on a piece of paper.

Artie rolled forward, smiling as he read the piece of paper. "Quinn."

The former head cheerleader looked surprised, but didn't object while Finn's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Kurt." Finn announced, his eyes going wide. The rest of the club laughed as Finn looked panicked "Mr. Schue, I don't know if l can do this with another guy."

"I could always go with Ollie," Kurt suggested, earning wide eyes from Ollie and a slight glare from Will who shook his head at the two teens

"Sorry but the fates have spoken guys" Will declared, irritated that Ollie had been mentioned again

As Finn sat down in disbelief Tina made her way forward, sighing as she read the paper. "Other Asian."

Santana sauntered up to the piano and picked up a piece of paper,grinning when she saw the name."Brittany."