METANOIA. glee.

9. "wheels"

i wheel artie through the halls with tina walking beside us. "what do we expect today?" i ask the two. "rachel gets a solo, then someone complains about it." artie says, and tina smirks. "and m-mr. schue will i-ignore it." tina adds on. "one day, we will get justice." i say playfully. we all walk into the choir room and sit down. artie seems to be struggling with something. i look down and see one of his shoes is untied. "oh, artie. let me help." i say quietly, he looks up at me and sadly smiles. "thanks ivy." he says as i tie his shoe. "no problem artie." i finish lacing them up and we fist bump. i take a seat beside him as mr. schue enters the room happily.

"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." mr. schue says as he hands out the song. "'defying gravity'? i have an ipod shuffle dedicated exclusively to selections from wicked. this is amazing." kurt says happily. i nudge him playfully. i'm sure he's been praying for this since glee started. mr. schue smiles at kurt, then turns to rachel.

"think you can handle it, rachel?" he says as rachel's face brightens "it's my go-to shower song. it's also my ring tone." kurt seems disappointed. "why do we have to go all vanilla on this song? see, what we need is my chocolate thunder." mercedes says. "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." we all laugh.

"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." mr. schue says, and i frown. "w-w-what?!" tina yells out.

"that's completely unfair." i say, rolling my eyes. "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." i can't help but laugh at his comment.

"you're joking, right? i mean, bake sales are kind of bougie." santana says. "so hip people stopped eating delicious sugary treats?" mr. schue says "it's not that? it's most of us don't know how to bake. i find ... recipes confusing." brittany mumbles out. "my family is fully committed to takeout." rachel says. i actually cook a lot for my mom and i. we don't really get takeout that much.

"yeah, mr. schue, kids are busier than when you went here. we've got homework and football and teen pregnancy and..lunch." finn murmurs. "can't artie's dad just take him?" mercedes shrugs. "i can't believe how insensitive you're all being. are you a team?" mr. schue says. "of course. but artie understands, don't you, artie?" quinn says innocently, shrugging towards artie.

"oh... of course. i-it's cool. anything that takes away our time from rehearsing doesn't serve the team." artie mumbles dismissively. i put a hand on his shoulder guilty. as mr. schue continues talking, i turn to him. "hey, if it means anything, i'll ride with you and your dad if you'd like?" i mumble, trying to make him feel better. i can't even imagine how he feels day to day. "it's ok ivy. thanks though." he says back. i look down, wondering what i can do.