• MARINA • Hunter Clarington-BOOK TWO✔

f o r t y - t h r e e

Finn had called everyone to the choir room, claiming it was an emergency. "To be fair, this really is an emergency." Jeff said to the group once Finn had explained they would be following Mr. Schue to Emma, who had been staying at her sister's house. Everyone who was in a relationship (or had been) nodded, having a feeling about how Mr. Schue was coping.

"Well, let's go." Finn stated, "Everyone pile into either mine, Sam's, or Blaine's cars, you ten go in your minivan." He ordered. Everyone put their coats on and prepared for the cold, piling into one of the three cars (or the minivan).

When they arrived, they softly sang along to the song Mr. Schue had begun to sing, one-by-one joining him in the driveway of Emma's sister's house. The woman eventually opened the window, Blaine handing him a boombox as they all sang.

They all swayed, continuing to sing as the girls sang their own lines, Unique singing backup vocals for Mr. Schue. When the song finished, Emma stared down at Will with a smile on her face. "Will, are you crazy?" The woman questioned.

"Crazy for you." Mr. Schuester immediately replied, chuckling, "But that's Vision Quest, and Matthew Modine skipping rope isn't nearly as romantic as John Cusack holding a boom box. Please, get down here so I can tell you how much I love you, and how I'm never gonna let you go." Hunter and Marina joined hands, smiling softly as they all watched the scene between Emma and Mr. Schue.

Mr. Schue turned to the large group that stood behind him. "Guys," He said quietly, "You can take off now."

"Oh, yeah." Many of them gasped, beginning to leave.

"You can take off now." Mr. Schue muttered.

"Oh, can I get my..." Blaine said quietly, moving to grab his boombox as everyone moved away, going into one of the cars to take them back to McKinley high.

Trent and Jamie sat in the front of the van, the former driving as the others sat in the back, the ten talking about the events of the wedding the previous week. "You guys, do you think they'll ever get married?" Jeff asked, his voice hopeful.

"Oh, absolutely," Marina and Arabella chorused. "We were there for the proposal. We sang and danced in a pool- there was no way she could say no." Arabella added.

"Marina?" Thad asked, his voice curious. Marina turned to him. "Have you guys talked with Finn and Mr. Schue about Regionals?"

"No." Marina said weakly, "Mr. Schue's been busy and distracted and we just haven't had the time, I guess."

"Well, we have time now, right?" Kara grinned, leaning towards Arabella with a knowing smile. Anyone close to the windows rolled them down as Jamie turned on the radio.

Gasps were heard throughout the car as the music began, each one of them loudly joining in, shouting the lyrics to the song as Trent drove back to Dalton. It was a symphony of voices and laughter, the ten elbowing each other as they sang. When they finished, they grinned, Jamie immediately repeating the song.

The next day, they were back in McKinley's choir room, waiting to see who would be the winner of the boys vs girls mashup competition. Marina shared a competitive look with Hunter, the boy nudging Sebastian. They crossed their arms arrogantly, Marina doing the same. No words were spoken, but the surrounding students only sighed- this was all too common.

"Girls rule, as usual." Tina smirked.

"And we should win for these sweet glasses alone." Sam stated, the glasses from the performance on his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for the announcement of this year's mash-off winner." Mr. Schue stated with a grin.

"Who of course, will be starring in my senior film project... Hollywood Hootenanny, a tribute to dance on film." Artie added.

"And the winner is... everyone."

Tina spoke first, an edge to her voice. "What?"

"Why do you always do this?" Blaine groaned.

Marina, Hunter, and Sebastian sighed, "I wanted to win." They chorused, pouts on their faces.

"That's insane." Jeff mumbled.

"This is a sham." Unique pointed sassily to Mr. Schue. "Why don't you just send Maria Shriver in to give us all hugs?" Kitty asked blandly.

"You offend us, Schuester." Trent scoffed.

"In reality, what you're saying is, we're all losers." Sugar accused.

"Why did we bother having a competition in the first place?" Ryder questioned.

"Calm down, y'all. Calm down. After exhaustive storyboarding and pre-production, I realized that I needed a lot of talented bodies to make this film great. So, choosing one winner was just simply impossible." Artie spoke up, silencing the group.

Mr. Schue nodded in agreement. "That is exactly right. Uh, Finn, can I talk to you in the hallway for a sec?"

As Finn nervously stood, Nick and Thad jokingly leaned towards the male. "Ooh!"

Artie nodded, beginning to explain. "Everybody's gonna be in it." People curiously asked who would play the lead, but Artie shook his head, "There is no lead..." Everyone only continued to talk over each other in excitement.

Mr. Schue came back into the room, Finn not following. "Come on guys, to the auditorium!" They all began to follow, changing into the all-black outfits before running into position.

"Mr. Schue, we should have done this last year." Marina said before the music began, "You know Mike loves Footloose." Mr. Schue only rolled his eyes jokingly, Thad running and grabbing Marina.

"Come on, Mari!"