𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 - 𝐬𝐚𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐬

NEW YORK

After a crazy year of ups and downs, the most important week for the New Directions had arrived. Nationals.

Initially bursting with excitement and enthusiasm, the group were definitely disappointed when Mr Schue told them they had to stay in and write songs while he left them to go...god knows where. Scattered across the hotel room, the atmosphere of frustration wasn't hard to sense.

Focused on an intense game of naughts and crosses with Sam, Alicia was sat crossed legged on the bed beside him. With the whirlwind of Nationals, the pair hadn't spoken about Sam's near confession at Prom and continued on as friends, the boy too nervous to broach the subject.

Snapping everyone out of their daze, Brittany and Artie announced they had a song to play. Puck grabbed his guitar and began strumming, everyone watching on in anticipation.

[MY CUP - Artie and Brittany]

It's safe to say the group had a very mixed range of reactions to My Cup, some jamming along while others simply sat in confusion. Alicia couldn't help but dance along to the beat, clapping along with Brittany in encouragement. Maybe a cup wasn't the most conventional subject for a Nationals song, but it was their best option so far. Or more accurately, their only option so far.

"Hold on, are you singing about a cup?" Tina questioned.

"Yeah, totally." Brittany smiles proudly, reaching out for a high five with Alicia.

Quinn, however, didn't seem so enthralled as she rose to her feet and grabbed her coat. "We gotta get out of here."

"Wait. No, no, no. Mr Schue gave us explicit instructions..." Rachel began, leaning forward and shaking her head assertively.

"...to write a song. And our problem is that our only inspiration are mattresses
and bathroom cups." Quinn argued, slipping on her orange coat before handing out the other jackets in the pile to persuade everyone.

"Quinn's right. We're in the artist capital of the world. Poets, musicians, actors, playwrights." Puck followed suit, shrugging off his guitar as he spoke. "Every dreamer that's ever lived has passed through this city. If we want our dreams to come true, we need to be out there with them, not stuck in here."

Pretty convinced by their points, Sam nudged Alicia to gauge her opinion on the situation. She answered him with a willing expression and a shrug, giving him reason to stand up and grab both of their jackets from the pile.

"Guys, I don't think this is a good idea." Finn stood up from the bed cautiously. "I mean, we still got those songs to write. If we don't write them, we're gonna lose."

"No! They're right. Can't you hear the city calling to you?" Lauren gestured our towards the window, where the famous New York skyline and bustling streets could be seen. They desperatelyneeded to be out there, not stuck inside.

"We don't need to write songs for nationals. New York's gonna write them for us." Quinn smiled hopefully, inspiring everyone to ditch their notebooks and experience what New York really had to offer.

ꕤ  ꕤ  ꕤ

The boys sat around in their hotel room, their minds hard at work on songwriting. A newly single Finn tried to focus, but found himself chewing on his pen with something else on his mind.

"Hey, can I try something out on you guys? I think that one of our songs should be a duet with me and Rachel."

"I just want to win. We all know that you two doing a duet is our best shot at that." Mike shrugged half heartedly, more concerned with the paper airplane that he'd crafted and proceeded to throw in Finn's direction.