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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WE needed $5,000 for our trip to Nationals, and of course, it turned out the money we thought we had was nowhere to be found. Mr. Shue stood in front of the board, marker in hand, looking way too optimistic for someone about to tell us we were broke. Apparently, Sue Sylvester had stashed the funds in some offshore account like we were dealing with a full-blown financial scandal.
"Wait, what?" I blurted out. "You mean to tell me we had the money, but now it's just... gone?"
He held up a box, pulled out a handful of pastel-colored candies. "Saltwater taffy!" Then, before I could fully process how ridiculous this was, he started tossing pieces into the crowd like we were at some sort of carnival.
Brittany caught one and gasped like she had just been given a rare gemstone. "I love saltwater."
Santana, arms crossed, scoffed. "Wait, do you honestly think we can sell 20,000 anythings? We won Regionals for the first time since dinosaurs roamed the planet, and I still got a freaking cherry ICEE facial."
Quinn nodded. "Yeah, Santana's right. Nobody cares about us."
"And even if they did," I added, rubbing my temples, "who has the time for this? We still have to rehearse."
Before Mr. Shue could respond, a chair scraped against the floor as Mike abruptly stood up. His jaw was tight, his hands clenched into fists.
"I can't listen to this," he muttered, shaking his head before walking out of the room.
Mr. Shue called after him. "Mike, you okay?"
Mike stopped in the doorway, turned, and let out a sharp breath. "No. You guys complain all the time about being mistreated, but you have no idea what it's like to work for something and have everyone—even your friends—ignore you."
The room fell silent.
Lauren muttered, "I'm so trying to remember his name right now."
Mike ignored her, "Artie, Tina, Britt and I are on the Brainiacs."
Rachel frowned, tilting her head. "Isn't that the Academic Decathlon team?"
Finn blinked. "Wait, we have one of those?"
Artie let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Yes, we do. And the four of us went on the Smarty Pants Show and beat Carmel High to go to the Academic Decathlon finals next week."
Sam's jaw dropped. "You guys were on TV? Why didn't you tell us about it?"
The four of them exchanged looks before responding, in eerie unison, "We did."
"Wait. I get the three of you being on the team."
Puck smirked. "Because two of them are Asian and Artie wears glasses?"
