[ The Breakup ]

 

Author’s Notes: Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter. I was afraid I was off track on the messages at the end … Glad you told me I wasn’t 🙂

 

*** Saturday ***

 

Since she was out late with the game and awake half the night thinking about the previous day, Kitty slept in on Saturday. She crawled out of bed around 10:30 and checked her phone. Sure enough, there was a text from Jake:

 

Are we doing anything today?

 

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Still no mention of her birthday. 

 

She set her phone back down on her bedside table and headed for the bathroom for her morning ritual. She’d cried herself to sleep the night before, but she didn’t realize how many tears she’d shed until she saw her bloodshot eyes and swollen face that accompanied the morning sleep residue in the mirror. 

 

She ran cold water on her face and used some cover-up to hide the redness. She really didn’t want any questions, so it was always best to hide the evidence. 

 

She looked at herself again. Much better.

 

She returned to her room and donned her usual skinny jeans and t-shirt, grabbed her phone, and walked into the kitchen to find breakfast. 

 

Her parents were sitting at the table when she got there.  Her mom was eating some French toast, and her dad sat in front of a barely touched plate of it and chatted on his cel phone. From that context of it, he was talking about work. 

 

“Good morning sweetie,” her mom said, giving her her cheek which Kitty kissed as was her custom. “How did you sleep? Would you like some French toast?”

 

“Okay, I guess,” she told her, “and that would be great.”

 

Her mom finished the last few bites of her own breakfast, and moved over to the stove to begin making a fresh plate for Kitty.

 

“Just okay, huh?” Her mom asked. 

 

Kitty noded.

 

“I’m sorry your boyfriend and other friends didn’t remember your birthday,” She said. “It’s probably just so soon after meeting them -“

 

“-No! Mom,” Kitty told her, “I made a point of telling the entire squad last Friday, explaining why I might be a few minutes late for the game, and I mentioned it to Jake and some of the others twice! No they didn’t remember because it wasn’t a priority for them.” Bitterness filled her voice.

 

Mrs Wilde placed the first piece of bread in for batter and put her arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey. I know that must hurt!”

 

Kitty and her mom just stood there for several minutes, and Kitty relished the rare act of physical affection. 

 

“But, look at the bright side,” her mom told her in an attempt to make her feel better. “At least your friend Artie remembered!”

 

“He’s not my friend mom.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“I told you,” Kitty said, “he’s in glee club. There was a brief time when it was possible that we might be friends, but that ended when we slushied the two newest freaks and kicked them out of my lunch crew.”

 

“Why did you do that?” Her mom asked.

 

“What do you mean, Mom? You and dad urged me to sever my ties with the Glee club, remember?”

 

“I meant the slushing.”

 

“It seemed the most dramatic way to make our point, and it’s a longstanding tradition at this school for the jocks to torture the geeks and nerds.”

 

“But you didn’t do this to him.”

 

“No, I didn’t. I had no problem with Artie, specifically,” she told her. “Phil and Bobby actually did it, and only to the trans-sexual and Marley.”

 

“Who is Marley?”

 

“She’s this irritating girl who is trying to steal Jake from me! They are in glee club together.”

 

Just then her dad, who has finished his phone call and begun eating his now cold breakfast, joined the conversation.

 

“Jake’s in glee club?” William, her dad asked, chiming in to the conversation for the first time. 

 

“A situation I am attempting to rectify,” she reassured him.

 

“See that you do,” he told her. “Dating a geek makes you a geek by association.”

 

She gave him a hurt look. “Jake is most definitely NOT a geek.”

 

“Speaking of Jake,” her dad asked. “When are you going to bring him home so we can meet him?”

 

“Soon, Dad,” she assured him. “I promise.”

 

“Well,” her mom said, “something tells me you have a friend whether you want one or not.”

 

“I highly doubt it mom,” she said. “I called him gimpy and insulted his other friends too.”

 

“Then how do you explain the birthday card”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“It’s not going to hurt you to have a friend, Katherine,” she said as she finished the French toast and set it down at the table. “As long as you watch out that you don’t trust him too much, and always maintain the higher social status.”

 

Kitty sat down and began to eat her breakfast. 

 

“That’s not going to be a problem. He’s been in glee club since he was a freshmen, and I highly doubt he will quit, and even if he did, the glasses and the chair have permanently branded his geek status.”

 

“Amanda,” William Wilde told his wife, “As long as he’s a member of the glee club, he will never be cool, and Katherine can’t be seen socializing with him. It’s a delicate time for her rise in social status, and she has to be very careful what she does and who she socializes with.”

 

“You don’t need to worry,” she told them. “I don’t purposely socialize with Artie, and I’m going to get Jake out of the glee club as soon as I can.”

 

In the back of her head she knew that both of her parents were right; Artie was trying to continue their friendship, and as much as she might like to have that, she could not see a way to make that work without endangering her own social standing, and she could not risk that. She would just have to continue as she had been and hope he would eventually take the hint. 

 

Kitty’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and sure enough she had another message from Jake. 

 

Are you up yet? I need of know if we are getting together today or if I’m free to make other plans.

 

Kitty had a feeling that ‘other plans’ would include Marley Rose. She sighed and texted him back:

 

Meet me at the mall at one o’clock.

 

The reply came back:

 

Okay. Food court?

 

Yes. She responded.

 

She finished her breakfast and got ready to head to the mall to meet Jake.

 

# # #

 

Artie also slept in on Saturday having been awake late thinking about the mystery that was Kitty Wilde. She could be at one time very cold and distant, at other times almost affectionate. She had told him that no one had remembered her birthday at school. That was so sad. They always made a big deal about birthdays in Glee, and it never occurred to him that the cheerleaders would be any different. She seemed so lonely. 

 

Then there was her boyfriend Jake. What kind of boyfriend doesn’t remember his girlfriend’s birthday? He’d made a big deal about Tina’s, and Brittany’s when they were together, and would do the same for Sugar. Between the way he was carrying on with Marley and forgetting her birthday, he didn’t deserve Kitty.

 

Tomorrow afternoon was his horseback riding date with Sugar, so today he had no plans. 

 

He got up that morning and texted Tina and asked her if she wanted to do anything. Things between them had been kind of tense since he’d chosen Blaine as the new “Rachel” a couple weeks before. It hadn’t been personal and deep down she knew that. But at the time she was pretty pissed. Things seemed to be getting better, but he suspected that she could benefit from a little ‘Retail Therapy’. 

 

Sure  enough she was free and the two of them made plans to head to the mall. 

 

# # #

 

Kitty drove to the mall and parked her car near the food court entrance. She was early. It was only about 12:30, but she didn’t have anything better to do so she decided to sit down and wait for Jake to arrive. She sat at a table where she could see most of the food court. Off to one side she could see Artie and Tina ordering lunch from the local pizza place. They didn’t see her and found a place to sit. They had a couple shopping bags with them so they had been there for a while. As she observed their easy back and forth banter, she began to get jealous. 

 

She missed having close friends like that. She hadn’t had any real close friends since transferring schools after her former BFF had betrayed her and turned everyone against her after she had dared to tell the truth. Unfortunately she found that she could no longer afford to let people get close to her. It just wasn’t worth the risk of getting hurt like that again.

 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jake arrive at the entrance, and sure enough he was with Marley! He said something that made her laugh and the two of them hugged. Once again she was filled with rage! She was about to get to her feet and go give them a piece of her mind when she noticed that they headed over toward Artie and Tina. 

 

The four of them started chatting and Kitty watched from afar for several minutes. By the time her phone said it was 1:06 Kitty had seen enough. She rose to her feet and strode over to where for 4 glee clubbers were sitting. 

 

“Well I was wondering what was taking so long for my boyfriend from meeting me on time for our date,” she addressed Jake directly, while sending ice cold glances at Marley.

 

“I thought we were just hanging out,” Jake answered back. 

 

“When you’re dating, hanging out is called going on a date,” she snapped at him. “And I couldn’t help but notice that you arrived with Honey Bo Bo here as well. I thought we talked about that.”

 

“Look Kitty,” he told her, “Marley is just a friend. She needed a ride here to meet Tina and Artie to do some shopping. She called me, and since I was meeting you here, I offered her a ride. Simple as that.”

 

Our of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw Artie shift uneasily in his chair. Clearly this was news to him. 

 

She ignored it and focused her attention on Marley, pointing her finger at her in an accusatory fashion, “My boyfriend is not your taxi service!”

 

Marley, in predictable fashion, reacted by physically jerking backwards. Kitty grinned. 

 

“So, Jake,” Artie said, apparently eager to change the subject, asked, “So where are you taking Kitty to celebrate her birthday?”

 

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

 

“What?” He asked sheepishly, “I just assumed that as her boyfriend…”

 

“It’s your Birthday?” Jake asked her.

 

“Actually it was yesterday,” she told him. “Not that you seem to care enough to remember!”

 

“You should have told me!” He told her.

 

“I did,” she snapped, “twice!” 

 

“Look, Kitty,” he plead, “I’m sorry…”

 

She turned and walked off, and he followed her, continuing to plead for forgiveness.

 

# # #

 

Artie sat there listening as Jake told Kitty the lie about Marley being there to see them.  They didn’t have any idea that they were going to be there. If was sheer coincidence that they happened to be there, and Artie didn’t like being used in someone else’s lie. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten involved in the Birthday fight, but he didn’t like the fact that Jake disrespected Kitty, and the words were out before he realized it. 

 

As soon as Jake and Kitty walked off, Marley also excused herself, and Artie was once again alone with Tina, who wasted no time questioning her friend, “So you’re keeping track of her birthday too?” 

 

“What?” He took her, “back when we were still hanging out I added it to my Google calendar and got an alert.”

 

That was only part of the reason he remembered, but he left it at that. He didn’t feel like explaining about the apparently lone birthday card because he knew that it would trigger a whole pile of new questions that he didn’t want to answer. 

 

Tina rolled her eyes. 

 

# # # 

 

Kitty walked down the main hall of the mall as Jake followed her pleading forgiveness.

 

“Look, Kitty,” he told her. “I’m sorry! I’m terrible with dates!” 

 

“How hard is if to remember ‘this Friday’ or ‘next Friday’?” She told him. “Do you know how embarrassing it is when none of your friends remember your birthday!?”

 

“Nome of the Cheerios remembered either,” he pointed out.

 

She stopped and turned to face him suddenly, pointing, “you’re supposed to be my boyfriend, Jake, I should be able to hold you to a higher standard than them.” 

 

She turned away from him and sat down on a nearby bench, exhaling deeply in frustration.  She could feel her face begin to flush. No, she wasn’t going to led him see her cry. She placed her hand on her brow, acting as if she was fighting the beginning of a headache, shielding her eyes, shook her head and blinked until the sensation passed. 

 

Jake walked over and sat down next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Look Kitty, I’m sorry.” 

 

She wanted to lean against his body and lay her head on his chest and have him give her comfort. But she couldn’t do it. He couldn’t even be trusted to remember something as simple as a birthday. There was no way she was going to truck him with her body or her heart. 

 

“I don’t get it Jake,” she spoke, almost in a whisper. “Why can’t you make me a priority in your life? 

 

“You are a priority,” he told her.

 

“Then prove it, because you aren’t acting like it,” she said bitterly. “Do you think I don’t hear the people talking in the halls about you and Marley? You spend more time with her than you do with me. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. People think our relationship is just some kind of joke.”

 

“I’m sorry,” he told her, and he sounded like he actually meant it. “We really are just friends. How about I take you to dinner and a movie tonight to celebrate your birthday.”

 

“It’s a start,” she said. “But I pick the movie”

 

“Of course,” he said. 

 

“But if you want my forgiveness, it’s going to take a lot more than that,” she told him. “You’re going to need to change your behavior. I need my boyfriend to make me a priority in his life, not an option, and take a genuine interest in the things I like….”

 

“I can do that,” he told her.

 

“Good.”

 

*** Sunday ***

 

Sunday afternoon Sugar arrived in a limo at Artie’s house around 1:00 to pick him up. She seemed genuinely excited to see him as they rode to the riding club. She cuddled up next to him in the car during the 20 minute ride there. 

 

When they arrived, she wheeled him into the stables and showed them to him.

 

“My dad owns several horses, and I’ve picked out a gentle on for you to since it’s your first time riding,” she told him. “Do you know how of tell the horse what direction to go?”

 

“No,” he told her, taking a look at the horses.

 

“You so if with your legs,” she answered, demonstrating if doe him.

 

He gave her a confused look, “You know I can’t move my legs, right? Just my hips.”

 

An image of being towed popped into his head for a moment. 

 

“Oh,” she said showing no sign of disappoint. “Then I guess you’ll have to ride with me me so I can control the horse.”

 

They both smiled. 

 

# # #

 

Sunday morning Kitty awoke early and we went to church as usual,  but she had a hard time getting into the service because she’d still been distracted by the events of the previous day. 

 

Despite his assurance that things were going to change Jake seemed distracted during their date and just as he was during for football games and Cheerleading performances, he seemed to be faking an interest in the dinner conversation and movie, the latest Nicholas Sparks book adaptation. He was also checking it his phone every few minutes. Then to top it off, he tried to feel her up in the car afterwards, for which she slapped his hand and gave him a good tongue lashing, which he seemed genuinely surprised about. Hasn’t the boy ever been told no before?

 

When she got home she checked her phone she had another message from Artie:

 

I’m sorry I got involved in your relationship and started that fight today, and hope I didn’t stir things up too much between you and Jake. He was lieing to you and  I just don’t like people I care about being lied to or being pulled into other peoples business. Tina and I had no idea they were going to be there, and as soon as you and Jake left, Marley excused herself as well. Being pulled into that lie really pissed me off and I said what I said before I knew it. ~Artie

 

She sighed, so she was right. She supposed she really should respond with a snarky comment or two, reminding him that they were not friends, but he knew that already. He meant well and was just so sweet. Lashing out would be like kicking Tiny Tim’s crutch. 

 

She thought for a moment and composed her reply:

 

It’s okay, Artie, I already knew it was a lie. He’s not very good at it. As for your comment, I know you meant well, so I wasn’t mad at you. I was going to bring it up anyway. We just got back from a birthday dinner and movie so hopefully things will get better.  I really appreciate the fact that you care 🙂 ~Kitty

 

Her social and love lives were getting complicated and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Despite what she’d told Artie, she was not really convinced that things were going to get better with Jake, and Artie seemed intent on maintaining their secret friendship or sorts. At least he had the sense to keep it discreet. But if they weren’t careful someone would notice and that could be embarrassing to her. 

 

Her parents were asking why she was so distracted, but she didn’t feel like explaining. She needed to be alone to relax and think, so after lunch she headed off of to for riding club her family belonged to. Riding her horse had always brought her inner peace ever since she was a little girl.

 

# # # 

 

After some trial and error, Sugar and the riding club staff managed to get Artie on for horse and balanced so that they could go riding.  Artie was taller (something that wasn’t immediately apparent because he was always in the wheelchair) so he sat behind her so she could see, with his hands around her waist so he didn’t fall off. 

 

Then as they began to move around the odd center of gravity threw their balance off and the horse began to walk crooked and they almost fell off twice before getting the hang of things. Generally a rider could easily adjust themselves to the movements of the horses, but in his case this was nearly impossible because he lacked the fine motor control in his legs.

 

Eventually they got the hang of it and the two of them began to ride down one of the trails, smiling and laughing.

 

# # # 

 

Kitty arrived at the riding club around two in the afternoon and began to take a slow ride down her favorite riding trail. It was one of the longer ones and had very few hazards so it was a nice casual ride.

 

It was a beautiful fall day, and Kitty enjoyed the natural scenery as she rode. It had been far too long since the last time she’s done this. She didn’t understand why things were starting to get messy. She’d started the school year with a clear plan: Become a cheerleader. (Check). Scheme her way to becoming head Cheerio. (Check). Take the initiative and Invite the “popular” kids to be part of her social circle. (Check). Find a hot trophy boyfriend. (Check). She’d accomplished all of those in less than a month of the beginning of the school year. So why wasn’t she happy? 

 

She sighed and resigned herself to the fact that she probably wasn’t going to figure this out today. It was at times like these that she wished she had a girlfriend or two to talk things like this over with, but knowing her luck the girl would use her trust to steal Jake away from her. 

 

Kitty glanced up ahead on the trail. There was a horse that was having a hard time walking straight …. It seemed to be staggering back and forth almost as if it were drunk. Her forehead scrunched in confusion wondering what was going on. As she got closed she saw that there was two people on the horse, and the passenger was having a hard time balancing and the rider was trying to help, shifting their weight, making everything worse. Kitty increased her speed and got close enough to recognize the rider as Sugar Motta, and as she got closer she realized that the passenger was Artie! 

 

What the hell was she thinking? She thought.

 

Just then the balance tipped again and Artie, started to slip again. Sugar once again tried to help him, but this time she was too late, and he slipped all the way off and fell crashing to the ground.

 

Kitty’s heart began beating rapidly as she increased her speed to traverse the remaining distance faster.  

 

“What are you doing?,” she asked accusingly as she reached the. “This isn’t safe for him. He can’t use his leg muscles.”

 

She dismounted her horse and knelt next to Artie. “Are you okay?” She asked. “Is anything broken?”

 

“Just my pride,” he said, straightening his glasses. 

 

“I’m so sorry, Artie!” Sugar said to him.

 

“It’s okay,” Artie said to both girls.  But from the look on his face, Kitty could clearly tell that he was more shaken than he wanted to let on. 

 

“Where is his wheelchair?” Kitty asked. 

 

“Back at for the stables,” sugar answered, gesturing the direction they had come from. About 2 miles, Kitty guessed. 

 

“Well what are you waiting for?” Kitty asked angrily. “Go get it!” 

 

Sugar recovered from her shock, got back on her horse and headed back to the stables. 

 

“Are you really okay?” She asked with a genuinely concerned look. “She should have known better than to to try that.” 

 

“I’m fine, Kitty, really,” he reassured her. “But do me a favor and don’t tell anyone about this.”

 

“You don’t need to worry about ME saying anything,” she reassured him. She didn’t want her peers to know about it either because it would damage her rep. “You might have to tell her that though,” she added. 

 

He signed. “Somehow I knew it was too good to be true that I might get through this day without being towed.”

 

“You’re not going to get towed,” she reassured him. “I’ll push you and walk my horse behind us.” 

 

“You don’t need to do that,” he told her with a surprised look on his face.

 

“I know,” she said. But didn’t elaborate. 

 

# # #

 

About 15 minutes later sugar arrived with the wheelchair. Just as she’s promised Kitty pushed Artie to the staples where the where Sugar’s car was parked and walked her horse behind them. She stayed long enough to make sure that he really was okay, and that he was buckled into the limousine safely before getting back on her own horse and going back to the other stables. 

 

Her heart wasn’t in it any longer and so she put her horse back in its stall and drove home. The whole ride back she considered the day. She still didn’t have any answers about the Jake situation, but hoped that she would after sleeping on it some more. She’d always known that sugar was kind of dumb, but she still couldn’t believe that she had placed Artie in such danger.  He was so sweet and too trusting sometimes. 

 

*** Monday ***

 

Unfortunately, the night’s sleep didn’t help matters for Kitty, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it the following morning as she got ready for school. It was going to be a big day for her and she pushed her relationship problems to the side.

 

Kitty had been an Evangelical Christian all of her life and had attended Bible Camp through most of her childhood. She believed it was her mission to “save” people by any means necessary, and in that vein she started a club called The Left Behind Club, teaching her fellow students that they needed to get ready for the approaching rapture. The previous Christian club having disappeared after Quinn Fabray and some of the other seniors graduated, so there was definitely a niche to be filled. 

 

She also saw an opportunity to mess with the head of Marley Rose, so Monday at school she extended her a personal invitation.

 

“Hi boobless,” she said approaching Marley at her locker. “It is my duty as a Soldier of The Lord to invite you to McKinley’s newest and most important club.” She handed her a flier. “The Left Behind Club.” with the message “REPENT NOW!”

 

“Kitty thinks the end of times is coming,” Jake, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, interjected.

 

“It’s a fact that the Book of Revelations predicted Twitter. It’s one of the seven signs of the apocalypse, along with porn, unexplainable weather anomalies, Martian rovers, Barney Frank, the Middle East, and MSNBC.  The Left Behind Club accepts everyone, even losers and lezzies, so your whole Glee Club’s invited. Well you’re welcome to join us as long as you’re not a Muslim. Like Kirk Cameron said, it’s never too late… until it’s too late.”

 

# # #

 

That evening at the meeting, Kitty stood up in front of the group. She’d made it a point to wear Jake’s jacket to send a message to Marley that he was hers. As she looked out at the room full of assembled people, she noted that she’d had a good turn out. It was a wide cross section of the student body. 

 

She suppressed a momentary pang of disappointment when she noticed that while some glee club members were present, Artie wasn’t one of them. She made a note to extend a personal invitation to him as well next time. She thought he was sweet and she wanted to make sure he survived The Rapture. 

 

She also noticed that, for some reason Jake had chosen to sit with Marley instead of up front by her. Clearly nothing she’d said had sunk in. That could mean trouble. He’d been spending entirely too much time with her, and it had to stop, but she didn’t have time to worry about it just then.

 

Kitty addressed the membership, “Okay, everybody, listen up! Y’all are sinners, and you better get right with God toute de suite, because Jesus just logged onto Orbitz and booked himself a plane ticket back to Earth. See, he’s got an awesome dad named God who’s throwing him a bitchin’ party called Armageddon, where he’s gonna get to kick off his sandals, dance a little bit, judge the crap out of everybody.”

 

Santana, Lopez one of the graduated Glee Club members and former Cheerio that Kitty had met briefly at spring tryouts, who was visiting her girlfriend Brittney, interrupted. “Hi, I have a question. What the hell are you talking about?”

 

“Um, The Rapture. When the end comes, the true believers in Christ will be lifted up body and soul into heaven, leaving everyone else to duke it out,” Kitty answered matter of factly.  

 

“What about those of us who are still on the fence about all this?” Dottie Kazatori asked. She was a freshman who was apparently serving as a personal assistant to Tina, one of the senior Glee Club members.

 

“I don’t know what there is to be on the fence about Dottie. The Rapture is very real. But if you choose not to believe then you will just have to take your chances.”

 

The girl continued to rattle off questions about the God, Jesus, and The Rapture.  Clearly she was trouble, and if she continued the way she was going, she was going to derail the meeting. So Kitty decided a little demonstration to prove her point was in order.

 

“Hey,” Kitty told Dottie, “I just heard there is an elderly Japanese woman who fell down in the bathroom. She doesn’t speak english and she needs your help.”  

 

Gullible as she was, Dottie scampered off.

 

Once Dottie was out of the room, Kitty had them spring into action. “Okay everybody let’s go. Move it, move it, move it!”  Everyone in the room rose to their feet, laying their possessions along with some empty clothing on the chairs and tables where they had been sitting and left the room. Then they disappeared into the next room or behind some furniture.

 

Moment’s later Dottie came back into the room, “I can’t find any Japanese ladies. Hello? Where’d everyone go?” Looking around she saw nobody “Oh my God! We’ve been left behind? We’ve been left behind! We’ve been left Behind!!!.”  Then she started screaming.

 

Kitty jumped out from behind some furniture and pointed at Dottie. “That’s what it feels like to be left behind, Dottie Kazatori!” 

 

Dottie sank to her knees in panic, whimpering and mumbling.

 

“Kitty!,” Jake interrupted. “This has gone way too far, okay?” He looked at Dottie. “Dottie seems… pretty damaged.”

 

With that, Marley excused herself, and Jake tried to stop her, “Please don’t go,” he pleaded.

 

Marley lowered her voice and responded, “I just really don’t like that Kitty girl. And… I can’t believe you do.” and with that she was gone.

 

All in all, Kitty thought it was a very successful meeting.

 

*** Tuesday ***

 

Artie rolled into the choir room the next day no worse for wear. As he entered he saw none other than his old friend Finn standing there talking to Blaine and Sam. Sugar smiled and sat down next to him.

 

“Finn Hudson in the house, yo!” He said with a big smile, rolling over to see his old friend, giving him a high five. 

 

Several other glee club members looked on in surprise wondering who he was. 

 

Brittany came up and gave him a big hug as Sam did the introductions. 

 

“Listen up!  For all of you guys who don’t know, this is Finn Hudson right here.”

 

“I thought you joined the army!” Tina said as she walked into the room coming over to take her turn hugging him.. 

 

“I-I did, but-” he stammered.

 

“-But things don’t always work out the way you planned them,” Mr. Schue finished for him as he walked in, taking him off the proverbial hot seat. “And I said to Finn the same thing I say to everyone who comes through this club. We’re a family, and you’re always welcome here. Even if you just need to take a break and think things through. 

 

“In any case,” he said, addressing the rest of the group, “we have a lot to do today. First order of business – deciding what the fall musical’s gonna be.”

 

“Whoo-hoo! ” they cheered 

 

“Alright!”

 

“So I’m passing out a list of possibilities”

 

“Peter Pan?” He heard Sam say.

 

“Fiorello? What the heck?” Artie said.

 

“Unique wants to do Hedwig.”

 

“Uh, Tina wants to do Pacific Overtures, Miss. Saigon, and Flower Drum Song.”

 

“The Challenge,” Mr Shue said, “is picking something that plays to our collective strengths, and that won’t set off a firestorm in the community like Rocky Horror did.”

 

“You should do Grease,” Finn said

 

“Grease?” Mr. Schue asked.

 

“I know it ‘cuz the song I auditioned for glee club was from Greece remember?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Guys like it. girls like it. People like my mom like it. It’s about high school and growing up…. and…..being true to yourself. Plus the songs rock.”

 

“The wisdom of Solomon,” Artie said.

 

The room was clearly on board with the idea. 

 

“Alright,” Mr Shue said, sitting on the piano, “Grease is the word!”

 

“Yeah!” 

 

“Yeah!”

 

“Finn’s back!” Artie said as they all applauded. 

 

Mr. Schue and Finn shared a smile

 

# # #

 

That afternoon Kitty was walking down the hall in Jake’s jacket, and came across Jake and Marley having a heated discussion, obviously about her. She was sick of her boyfriend spending so much time with another girl and decided it was time to put an end to it here and now.

 

“What’s happening here? You coveting my man, Itty-Bitty?”

 

“Kitty, come on, ease up,” Jake told her.

 

Why the hell was he defending her? Kitty thought angrily.

 

“I heard they’re opening up a new Ronald McDonald House in Lima just for you and your finger-licking, lard-loving, Gilbert-Grape-looking mama,” Kitty told Marley. She wasn’t going to stop until her rival ran off in tears.

 

“Hey,” Jake interrupted. “Thats enough!”

 

“I’m sorry, or what?” Kitty asked, turning to face Jake, angrily.

 

“Or I’m breaking up with you.”

 

Kitty was flabbergasted by this, exhaling deeply. “You do not want to break up with me, okay? I am like a bad Carrie Underwood song once I get going.”

 

“Yeah, well. I’ll take my chances…. We’re done,” he told her simply.

 

What had just happened? He had called her bluff. No one called her bluff. She was Kitty Wilde, the meanest, toughest birch at McKinney!

 

Jake looked at Markey and Kitty turned her attention to her as well.

 

“You did this,” she told Marley, angrily. 

 

“Well you’re both gonna regret this turn of events,” she said removing his jacket, “because I will tell you one more thing.” She shoved the jacket at him.

 

She then continued speaking slowly, deliberately to him,  “Obama’s gonna loose!” 

 

And with that she left them, storming off, shoving some random freshman girl into a locker “UH!”

 

This meant war. She wasn’t going to stop until she completely destroyed the girl. 

 

# # #

 

That night Kitty went home and was unusually quiet. Her parents asked what was wrong, but she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet, so she tried to act as though nothing was wrong. She knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, but she didn’t care. 

 

After dinner she retired to her bedroom. She decides that she could use a shower and began getting ready. She pulled out her phone and saw that she had a message. Maybe Jake was having second thoughts. No it was another message from Artie:

 

Kitty, I heard about your breakup with Jake.  I’m sure it hurts, but you are better off without him. The way he was carrying on with Marley, he doesn’t deserve you. If you want to talk let me know. I’m no stranger to begin dumped. It will get better. ~Artie

 

She signed. She didn’t need or want his pity or council, and knew he meant well. But this wasn’t his concern.

 

She wrote a snarky response, but deleted it and instead sent:

 

Thank you for your concern, Artie. But I’d appreciate you keeping your opinions on the guys I date to yourself, and I’ll do the same about the girls you date. ~Kitty 

 

Then:

 

And I don’t know who you’ve been talking to or where they got their information from, but for the record, I dumped him. ~Kitty 

 

She went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. She stepped into the hot steam and the sound of the water masked the sound as she balled her eyes out or a good 20 minutes.  

 

When she was finished, she returned to her room. She checked her phone and had no new messages. She crawled into bed went to bed smothering her remaining whimpers into her pillow and began plotting her revenge on Marley and her plan to get Jake back. At this point it wasn’t even really about Jake anymore. Artie was right. he didn’t deserve her the way he was acting. It was about hurting Marley by stealing Jake back from her.

 

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