The Way We Were

The Way We Lose

"Santana, calm down!" Mr. Shue hid Rachel behind him.

Puck and Mike had a hard time holding Santana back. She still was sprouting angry Spanish.

"It's her fault we lost!" Brittany was upset, too.

"We can't blame Rachel." Mr. Shue tried to placate the team.

"That's because it was also Finn's." Puck moved out of the way of Santana's flailing hands.

"Mr. Shue!" Rachel clutched him tightly when Santana lurched forward.

Mr. Shue sighed and dropped his head. He lifted his head when he heard soft sniffles. He looked behind him but Rachel was just scared. He sought out the tears and found it to be Marcy. "Marcy, what's wrong?"

Mercedes and Quinn immediately were at her side. "Marcy, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean what's wrong? We've worked for two years to get here and she blew it for us. This might not have meant anything to her but some of us put a lot into this competition." Marcy wiped at her eyes.

"I do care about the competition!" Rachel didn't dare move from behind their faculty advisor.

"You obviously don't! Bringing your personal BS into your music is whatever in the choir room but this is a national competition! This was the big leagues where we were going to prove to the whole school that we weren't just wasting our time! But no! You had to go and wreck it by kissing Finn! And Finn, you just let her! You did what you wanted to do, damn the rest of us!

We didn't hurt you! We didn't cheat on you! Why are you punishing the rest of us?!"

"I'm sorry." Finn looked miserable.

"Sorry isn't going to get us on that list, is it? It's not going to stop us from getting teased, is it? It's not going to shut up the other teams that made it, including Vocal Adrenaline, is it?"

Finn felt lower than a snake. "All I can say is I'm sorry."

"Got that right." Quinn sniffed.

Finn rubbed the back of his neck.

"Okay, guys. Let's just calm down." Mr. Shue put out a hand. "Maybe we just need to do some bonding?"

"I'm not bonding with her." These were the first English words Santana had spoken in half an hour.

"We all need to bond together. As a team."

"Yeah but the team didn't cost us Nationals." Mercedes pointed out.

"I just want to go back to our room. I want to lie down." Marcy wiped away more tears.

"Are you sure?" Mr. Shue didn't want her alone.

"Yeah. I need to think over if I still want to be in glee."

"Marcy, you can't quit over a little setback." He panicked.

"It's more than a little setback. We already don't get heard behind your selective music and the Wonder Twins but this was our chance and she blew it. I bet she only feels bad because we're making a fuss. I'm done with all this." She tried to get up on her own but her sisters helped her to her feet.

"Marcy, you can't mean that."

"She has a good point. Several actually." Kurt crossed his arms.

"It's not fair, Mr. Shue." Tina spoke up. "We only hear from Rachel and Finn and we all have voices, too."

"Hell, I'd like a lead." Puck groused.

"Okay, okay. I hear you." Mr. Shue tried to diffuse the situation.

"Do you?" Marcy waddled out.

The other kids trailed after her with only Finn and Rachel in the green room with him.

Mr. Shue sighed. This was a messed up situation.