♪breathe♪

♪from the heart♪

"ballad. from middle english, balade. who knows what this word means?"

mr. schue saw that kurt and rachel both had their hands up but he knew that they would know the answer. brittany raised her hand, exclaiming, "it's a male duck."

"that's a mallard," logan explained to the blonde, seeing the look of confusion and amusement sweep across the faces of the new directions.

she breathed out a soft, "oh" as mr. schue called on kurt, "a ballad is a love song."

"sometimes, 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... a ballad," the curly haired teacher announced, pleasing one miss rachel berry.

she squealed turning to puck, "looks like my weekly letter to the ohio show choir committee finally paid off!"

"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."

finn looked to his right before quickly yelling, "i pick quinn."

"no, no, no. too easy. your partners will be chosen by fate. ooh, yeah. i put all your names in this hat. whoever you choose is your partner," he explained, mixing up the hat.

brittany leaned into santana's ear, whispering, "i bet the duck's in the hat."

santana couldn't help but laugh at the ditsy blonde next to her, "but matt's out sick today. he had to go to the hospital, 'cause they found a spider in his ear."

"um... i guess i'll just have to put my name in the hat for now. who's up first?" he asks drumming on the piano with his hands.

puck goes first, upon reading the messy scrawl he frowned, "mercedes."

logan went next, praying to whatever divine being was out there that he had someone easy like blake instead of getting put with rachel or santana. he reached his left hand into the hat, fishing out a piece of paper, "blake."

"you got lucky," artie laughed to blake, as he rolled up to the piano. logan stayed to pull down the hat for him, "quinn."

then it was finn's turn, "kurt. mr. schue, i don't know if i can do this with another guy."

mr. schue simply shrugged, not feeling any sympathy for the young man, "the fates have spoken, finn."

"other asian," tina read aloud, shocked that mike's name wasn't on the paper.

blake looked over at the teacher, "you know he has a name right?"

santana went up and let out a relieved gasp, "brittany."

"looks like i get you, mr. schue," rachel informed him, flattening out her skirt as she got up.

mr. schue looked extremely uncomfortable, regretting his decision, "uh... you know what? maybe we should just wait until matt gets back."