love like fools ➙ glee

thirty-two ; need you now.

Alicia admired Mr. Schuester. Whether it came to set lists or weekly assignments, she never hesitated to trust his judgment. When she was older, she hoped that she could be a little like him.

But seriously, the day had come. He finally lost his mind.

There was no way this was happening.

Football players who weren't in glee club, the ones who had just tried to drown Artie in red slushie, were in the choir room. Karofsky was sitting in Kurt's chair. Alicia had not been slushied with Artie, and yet all she saw was red.

Everyone was shouting. Coach Beiste and Mr. Schuester exchanged an uneasy glance. Whatever their intention was over mixing glee club with football was, it was not going as planned. Which, admittedly, they should've seen coming. No one was going to be happy about this. Alicia included.

Finn's voice was the first to carry above the protests from both the New Directions and the other football players as he rose from his chair. "Mr. Schue, are you serious?! These are the guys who made Kurt transfer!"

"And there is no way I'm sharing the choir room with a known homophobe!" Rachel added, gesturing towards Karofsky. Alicia glanced over at him, eyes narrowed. His expression surprised her: completely empty, gaze downcast. It did not lessen her anger.

Alicia was the next to stand. She wasn't as tall as Finn and didn't attract half as much attention, but when she was angry, she had a voice that could carry. "This isn't right that Karofsky gets to sit in Kurt's chair when Kurt had to go to a school two hours away because of him!"

"I don't disagree with you guys." Will's voice was calm. A stark difference to all of the yelling. "But I talked to Coach Beiste about it, and she and I both agreed that the kind of bullying that David does is born out of ignorance."

"It's prejudice!" Alicia protested.

What had Kurt told her a couple of weeks before his transfer, as if repeating a mantra? Prejudice is just ignorance. She knew he was right. But this wasn't fair.

"Having him in here, as difficult as it may be for us," Will continued, "is an opportunity to show him and the rest of the guys that being in glee club is kind of cool. Find some common ground."

"How am I just knock him to the ground?" Alicia muttered to Finn. He seemed to seriously weigh the pros and cons of this. With a sigh, they both returned to their seats (next to each other, per usual). She bumped her ankle against his, and he did the same. Neither acknowledged it.

Coach Beiste turned to her football players. "All of you are gonna be in this glee club for one week. No exceptions."

"She's bluffing," Karofsky scoffed. "Next week is the championship game. Without us, she has no team."

She was, indeed, not bluffing. "With you, I have no team!" 

Arguing continued, though Alicia didn't pay as much attention. She couldn't stop herself from glowering at Karofsky. She had pointedly avoided seeing him around school, and while he had slushied her once before winter break (green, so at least it went with her emerald sweater), she kept her distance. She knew Finn didn't have the same leisure. 

Rachel and Noah took the center of the choir room, apparently putting on a number together. That was . . . interesting. As soon as she recognized the song, she looked over at Finn. His jaw was set, but he didn't appear as bothered as she'd anticipated. She turned to Quinn, who seemed much more bothered.

She doubted it was over Noah.

Rachel's voice traveled, hitting each note perfectly. Watching Rachel perform was always magical. "Picture perfect memories, scattered all around the floor. Reaching for the phone 'cause I can't fight it anymore."