♪breathe♪

♪human props♪

"nationals. okay, song selection: we'll be kicking off our "vintage" theme with the legendary jim steinman's "paradise by the dashboard light"."

cass looked up from her notebook, "you listened to me?"

"uh huh," mr. schue laughs, continuing in the setlist. "even the solo, rachel will do the solo, "it's all com"-"

rachel gasped, finishing his sentence, ""coming back to me now." one of celine dion's most powerful ballads, inspired by wuthering heights."

"and we'll be working in a new troubletones number, utilizing the talents of our featured performer, porcelina hummel," sue announced, confusing the new directions.

"not gonna happen, dragon lady."

"oh, you'll do as you're told, he/she. we will be performing "what a feeling," from flashdance, and i'm familiar with the choreography, of course, because i was jennifer beals' dance double. and on that note, please look under your seats," sue instructed cueing the eighteen teenagers to pull out the boxes from under their chairs.

brittany gasped at the welding helmet, "space helmets."

"welding helmets and leg warmers?!"

sue nodded at will, "best way to get props is to use props."

sam turned to joe and logan on his left, doing his best james earl jones impression, "luke, i am your father. uh, darth vader."

"is that a movie?" joe cluelessly asked, never having seen that movie franchise.

logan turned to the homeschooled sophomore, personally offended by his lack of star wars knowledge, "okay, i'm gonna have to kill you now."

"a healthy dose of props, and our plucky transsexual porcelina, and you are over the top."

blaine frowned at sue, "aren't props a little cheesy?"

"isn't abusing kurt's sexuality in attempts to quote un quote "level the playing field" a little insensitivite to both kurt and transsexuals?" cass growled at sue, the pit of her stomach burning with anger for the cheerleading coach.

"guys, i've asked for sue's help because she's a winner, and i'm not ashamed to admit this i want to win. but there's not one person in that audience who will think we're anything but underdogs who would be lucky to place in nationals. we didn't even make the top ten last year. we've got one last week to come together and shake things up. if there's anyone here who is not up for trying and working their butts off, you should just get up right now and leave." with that tina arose, shocking the teacher as well as her teammates, "whoa, whoa, tina, where you going?"

"you guys don't need me carry on."

"tina, you don't understand. i need this," rachel pleaded in a self absorbed manner, seemingly unaware of the frustration of her peer as well as the feeling of neglect.

"because you blew an audition? that's not a reason for you to get a solo at nationals. maybe the rest of us would like one, too."

rory agreed with tina, turning to the junior who was his christmas sponsor, "i wouldn't mind another one before i get deported."

"i want one," sugar declared. "even though i can't sing."

"tina, rachel is a senior," mike tried to reason.

"so are you, but you can bet the only thing you'll be doing is a dance break with brittany and logan. other people matter." tina noticed the alliance in cass' eyes, pointing at her, "cass hasn't even had a verse solo."