f o r t y - f i v e

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When the boys finished, the silence was tense. The girls clapped lightly, Sam speaking to break the silence. "Well, the love on the stage is obvious. You two bros need to just hug it out."

"I'm in. What do you say, Mr. Shue?" Finn smiled lightly, stepping closer to Mr. Schue.

HE hesitated, sighing. "I-I want to, Finn. I-I really do, I just... I can't."

It only seemed to get more tense, but Finn brushed it off. "Fine. Cool. There's nothing I can do or say to win back your trust. I get it. For whatever it's worth, thanks. For everything." He walked off stage, leaving everyone standing there in the auditorium.

"I can't believe you, Mr. Schue." Arabella scoffed, "First you kick Marina out. Then you do this with Finn- you made him the man he is. You were the one who changed his life with this club. And anyway, with a near-wife with OCD I'd assume you knew kissing is one hell of a good grounding technique for when someone has a panic attack." She walked off, Kara, Jamie, and Marina following her. Hunter, Sebastian, Thad, Jeff, Trent, and Nick moved off the stage to follow the four.

"How did it go in New York?" Hunter quietly asked Marina as they all sat in the choir room, Sue and Becky there too looking like Nicki Minaj. Trent was sending her glares for her shameful attempt to look like Nicki. Hunter pressed kisses to Marina's knuckles, the brunette giggling.

"It went well. Kicked musical ass and I magically managed to get a video." Marina grinned in response, quickly adding it to the ten's group chat.

"Now I'm intrigued." Hunter smiled.

From where Sebastian sat with Thad, he nodded. "This looks interesting."

Thad agreed. "You and Santana are one hell of a duo, too."

"Can't top any of our duos though." Arabella added with a secure nod.

Blaine stood at the centre of the choir room, the music beginning. 

Blaine danced slightly as he sang, a determined expression on his face as he glared at Sue. He continued to sing and dance, everyone dancing along in their seats. Eventually, Becky stood and moved to whisper something to the band as everybody began to sing along with Blaine.

And then it changed to Super Bass. Trent crossed his arms with a pout on his face, Jamie nudging him to attempt to make him actually tolerate Sue's performance. She strutted forward, pushing Blaine out of the way as Cheerios were coming into the room with the dual-coloured wigs, dancing along with Sue as she sang.

Most members of the New Directions grinned, dancing along. However, some of the group were more surprised at her performance, some even horrified at the way she was performing. "My eyes are scarred." Nick muttered in horror, Jeff nodding in agreement.

"She's better than I thought." Trent admitted.

"That she is." Thad agreed.

As Sue began to sing the chorus, Kara winced. "It's worse than what I thought it could be." Arabella agreed with a sigh.

"At least it's on tune." Marina mumbled.

Everyone was having the time of their lives, enjoying the song, except for a few. Blaine, Marina, Arabella, Kara, Nick, Jeff, Hunter, and Sebastian were all watching in horror and distaste. Then Becky turned the lights off, revealing the ultraviolet lights and paint. Blaine weakly tried to defend himself, singing once more. It was a fruitless attempt, Sue's performance blowing everything out of the water.

"It's a good performance but I'm still voting Blaine." Sebastian told them.

"Me too." Hunter agreed. The Cheerios began to throw feathers everywhere, Sue riding a bike around the choir room. When they finished, everyone clapped and cheered.

Sue then spoke arrogantly. "And that, ladies, gays, and in-betweeners, and hag for life, is how it's done."

"Impressive, Sue, both of you." Mr. Schue responded, gesturing to Sue and Blaine.

Blaine made a noise in protest. "But Coach Sylvester used like, feathers and a black light, and she brought in the Cheerios." Blaine exclaimed, gesturing to each thing as he spoke.

"Yeah, that's not fair." Tina agreed, pointing over to the scene.

"Yes, but nobody ever said life is fair, Tina." Sue stated, looking to Tina. She then turned to Mr. Schue. "So, William, though it's shockingly clear who the winner is, would you do the honours, and unlike that interminably long voting montage at the end of Lincoln, let's make this fast." Sue smirked.

"Show of hands for Blaine as Mariah." Mr. Schue said to the group. Tina, Marina, Arabella, Kara, Hunter, Sebastian, Nick, Jeff, and Thad all raised their hands.

"Thank you, Tina, you guys." Blaine smiled weakly. "Come on."

Sue nodded. "Noted."

"All in favour of Sue as Nicki?" Mr. Schue continued. Everyone else raised their hands, outnumbering the students who voted for Blaine.

Sue smirked once again. "Well, I hope you're ready for some form-fitting polyester, gay Clark Kent from season one of Smallville, because it looks like you're going to be the bottom of my Cheerios pyramid after all."

After clearing the choir room, Marina, Arabella, Kara, and Jamie stood in very familiar outfits. Jamie stood further away from the trio, all four of them grinning wide. The six Warblers were looking on in pride, having already seen the quartet practising. Marina was dressed in red, Arabella yellow, Kara green, and Jamie blue. The band began to play the music, Marina singing lead.

Everybody immediately cheered, singing along and dancing in their seats as the four performed the well-known scene to perfection. When they finished, everyone clapped and cheered loudly. "To celebrate the end of feud week, we decided to perform a feud-ish number." Marina explained.

They then changed into their pervious outfits, everyone travelling to the auditorium to do their weekly group number.

• MARINA • Hunter Clarington-BOOK TWO✔Where stories live. Discover now