♪breathe♪

♪roll out♪

the blake siblings walked into the choir room later than everyone else. logan ran over to join matt and mike, his two closest friends in the club, leaving blake alone to decide where she was going to sit. quinn and finn were fighting about something in the corner, rachel was watching them, the other two of the unholy trinity were talking to puck and every one else seemed to be in their typical friend group. except artie, who was struggling to tie his shoes. blake jogged over to him, throwing her bag on an empty chair beside him, "hey let me help you with that."

"thanks, blake," he smiled down at her as she looped the laces through each other, double knotting them. "can i ask you something, blake?"

"isn't asking me if you can ask a question, a question in itself?" she responded, still knelt down to be on his level, seeing his eyes fill with confusion. "i'm just messing with you, go ahead artie."

"why don't you have friends or let any of us hang out with you outside of glee? logan makes friends with us," artie asked, catching the brunette for a loop.

she faked a gasp, "wait, i don't have friends? i don't know, artie. i guess it makes things easier, for everyone."

"if you say so," he muttered as mr. schue joined them, handing out sheet music.

"all right, guys. we're doing a new number for sectionals. i know that pop songs have sort of been our signature pieces, but i did a little research on past winners, and it turns out that the judges like songs that are more accessible. stuff they know. uh, standards, broadway."

kurt gasps excitedly, ""defying gravity"? i have an ipod shuffle dedicated exclusively to selections from wicked. this is amazing."

mr. schue smiles at him, glad to have obtained some support as he turns to rachel, "think you can handle it, rachel?

"it's my go-to shower song. it's also my ring tone," she affirmed, crushing kurt's heart. he wanted nothing more than to sing this song.

mercedes didn't even register her friends disappointment, "why do we have to go all vanilla on this song? see, what we need is my chocolate thunder."

"okay, we don't have time to rearrange a song for you, mercedes. rachel is singing it. don't worry, we'll find something for you to dip in chocolate," schue assured her, earning giggles from all but a confused finn. "on to item two. the school won't pay for the special bus we need to take artie and his wheelchair with us to sectionals."

"w-w-what?!" tina gasps, forcing herself to stutter through it.

"that's completely unfair."

mr. schuester agreed with his students, "so we're going to have to raise money to pay for it ourselves. see, when i was in glee club, and we needed new silk cummerbunds for regionals, we held a bake sale."

santana laughed at the suggestion, not wanting any part of it, "you're joking, right? i mean, bake sales are kind of bougie."

"so hip people stopped eating delicious sugary treats?" their teacher countered, using dated slang.

britt shakes her head no, "it's not that? It's most of us? don't know how to bake? i find ... recipes confusing."

rachel agreed, "my family is fully committed to takeout."