Lila Anderson has returned for her sophomore year at McKinley High. After losing regionals, the Glee Club is officially at the bottom of the food chain, but when Lila comes back for the school year with a new look, she gets more than overlooked in t...
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MR. SHUE stood in front of the room, holding up a small slip of paper. "Drumroll, Finn," he said, and I watched as Finn drum on a book. "Because I have in my hand our competition for sectionals next month. First, the a cappella choir from the all-boys school in Westerville, the Dalton Academy Warblers."
The moment the name left his lips, my heart plummeted. I froze, the sound of that name echoing in my mind, louder than anything else in the room. Dalton Academy. The Warblers. My brother. The brother I hadn't spoken to in nearly a year, the one I'd been doing my best to avoid thinking about. And now, we were going to be competing against his choir. I felt a tightness in my chest, panic creeping in. I forced myself to keep a straight face, praying no one would notice how rattled I was.
"Okay, hold up." Santana's voice cut through the fog of anxiety clouding my thoughts. "Like, a million awesome gay jokes just popped into my head."
I snapped back to reality, my voice coming out sharper than I intended. "Santana." She shot me a weird look because normally, I would get a kick out of her sarcastic comments.
I could barely focus on what Mr. Shue was saying as he continued, "And the other team to beat: The Hipsters, a first-year club from the Warren Township continuing education program. They're a glee club composed of elderly people getting their high school GEDs."
Rachel piped up. "Is that even legal?"
"What if one of them has a heart attack on stage?" I muttered, my words feeling empty.
"Win for us, then," Santana said with a smirk.
Mercedes looked unimpressed. "How are we supposed to compete against old people?"
"Are you kidding? Brittle bones. Give one of those old ladies a pat on the rear, and it'll shatter her pelvis." Puck snickered.
"You are so cruel," I shot back sarcastically.
Puck just shrugged. "Weren't you just talking about heart attacks five seconds ago?"
Mr. Shue clapped his hands, trying to get everyone back on track. "Since it seemed to get you guys jazzed about sectionals last year, I wanna make this week our second-annual boys versus girls tournament. Split up into two groups and figure out what songs you're going to sing."
We started to break off into our groups, and I saw Rachel immediately take charge, as always, pulling out her notebook. "I have mashup ideas in my emergency mashup list," she announced.
I tried to focus, tried to be present, but my mind kept drifting back to Dalton Academy. To my brother. To everything we hadn't said to each other. How was I supposed to handle this? Suddenly, my mind was completely off of Sam and his stupid cute grin. Now, my mind was elsewhere.
