Crossroads (Glee Project enters third season)

[inkbender]

The first thing McKynleigh spotted upon walking into the cafeteria was the awkward purple piano sitting in the corner; she was pretty sure it hadn’t been there when she came in for a quick pre-school snack this morning. Eyebrow raised, she took a moment to inspect at the colorful instrument—a bright lavender stand up that looked to be in relatively good condition. Glancing around surreptitiously and confirming that there were not very many students yet to cast (probably negative) judgment on her, she slunk over to the piano and tested a note.

Clear and beautiful. She glanced around another time, and, satisfied that most people were lining up on the other side of the lunch room in front of the food bar and thus probably wouldn’t heckle her from such a distance, seated herself on the purple piano bench. Her fingers rested lightly on the keyboard, growing accustomed to the feel of the piano—

“Miki! What are you doing? Where did that piano come from?”

McKynleigh jumped and whirled around; Marissa stood at the entrance of the lunch room, her lithe figure squeezed into a spanking-new Cheerio outfit, one hand digging around in her messenger bag.

“Get in line with me,” Marissa said quickly without waiting for an answer, victoriously pulling her school ID card out of her bag. As McKynleigh sprang to her feet and slipped with Marissa into the ever-growing lunch line, the redhead posed her questions again. “Was that piano there this morning?”

“I don’t think so,” McKynleigh finally replied, glancing back at the purple piano. “Some teacher must have snuck it in during classes.” She gestured excitedly at Marissa’s outfit. “You got into the Cheerios!”

Marissa’s eyes lit up. “Just barely,” she said modestly. “One of the current Cheerios got in the right place at the wrong time. Another girl landed on her—boom. Two open spots.”

McKynleigh’s mouth dropped open. “No way.”

Marissa nodded solemnly, grabbing an empty lunch tray. “Coach Sylvester was so furious, she picked two random girls just to spite the ones who messed up. Lucky me.”

McKynleigh placed a plate of curiously wobbly spaghetti on her lunch tray and followed Marissa to the salad and fruit bar. “That’s awesome!” she exclaimed. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when Marissa took only a couple slices of cucumber, some leaves of spinach, two carrot sticks, and an apple. “Aren’t you going to eat more?”

“I’m not really hungry,” Marissa said dismissively.

McKynleigh shrugged, drizzling ranch dressing all over her salad and following her friend out towards the rows and rows of tables. “When do you start practice?”

Marissa gave her an apologetic look. “Today. Right after school. And… uh, McKynleigh?”

McKynleigh’s heart dropped. Marissa didn’t really use her real name unless something serious was coming up. That hint, plus Marissa’s new uniform… “Uh, actually Mars, I think I’ll go sit with Cameron today. He’s looking a bit lonelier than usual.”

Cameron was usually fine chilling by himself, but Marissa didn’t need to know that.

Marissa looked quite relieved. “Oh, alright,” she said hurriedly. “I… I’ll see you after sch—I mean, I’ll see you after practice.” And with that, she walked quickly towards the table full of Cheerios and football jocks. McKynleigh watched her go a little wistfully, then turned towards the table closest to the food bar (and thus under the closest school surveillance—no bullies here) and began walking over slowly.

Which is when the music began.

-x-

Cameron was jolted from his short nap with a sudden blast of music—heavy drums and electric guitar quickly followed by a brunette belting lyrics about having a beat or something.

It’s only then that Cameron realized that two people were sitting next to him.

“Whoa. Hi, Miki. And Lindsay,” Cameron greeted, yawning halfway through the blonde’s name. “What happened to sitting under the stairs?”

“Ugh… I hate cottage cheese,” Lindsay groaned, completely ignoring his question. “I don’t get why my mom thinks putting pineapple and red food coloring into it makes it taste any better.”

McKynleigh eyed the lumpy dessert in the small Tupperware suspiciously. “Shouldn’t it be a little more… solid? It looks awfully runny.”

Lindsay tipped the plastic container to the side, watching the pink semi-liquid slosh around inside. She then shoved it away and made a face, instead abruptly declaring, “I’m thinking about dyeing my hair. What do you think about black?”

Cameron raised an eyebrow. “Really? You know She would hate it.”

Lindsay only leveled him with a flat glare. Behind her, McKynleigh slid two fingers across her throat and shook her head frantically.

Cameron promptly turned to McKynleigh and tried to act as nonchalant as possible. “So Miki… where’d your friend go? Melissa?”

“Marissa,” McKynleigh corrected. “And she became a Cheerio today.” She jerked her head over to the cheerleader’s table, and Cameron’s heart sank as he spotted the pretty redhead sitting in a crowd of white and red uniforms.

“Oh,” Cameron said. “I guess that means she won’t be sitting with us anymore?” It had been only three days since school started (com’on, the first couple days of high school were supposed to be terrifying, right?) and he’d been working up the courage to talk to her… though it seemed as if he was too late now.

McKynleigh inspected him shrewdly; he broke eye contact and pretended to busy himself with his lunch. “No, I don’t think so,” McKynleigh responded, and she sounded just as glum as Cameron felt.

The High School Musical army drew back to the purple piano, signifying the end of the song. Having been at the front of the cafeteria, farthest away from the singing group and their shenanigans, Cameron hadn’t really noticed the other teenagers dancing on top of the tables, or the football quarterback playing the drums, or the Cheerios who also appeared to be in the singing group.

Or the fuzzy haired, bespectacled journalist recording the entire thing with a camcorder who broke the concluding deathly I’m-totally-judging-you silence with the awful words: “FOOD FIGHT!”

McKynleigh screamed, sliding her lunch tray from underneath her plate of half-eaten spaghetti to shield her face. Lindsay screamed as well, but for an entirely different reason; gleefully, she seized her tub of cottage cheese dessert and lobbed it into the panicking crowd of high schoolers and a teacher or two, showering shrieking Cheerios with tiny pink lumps of nastiness. Cameron leapt to his feet as well, right in time for a rock-hard apple to nail him between the eyes.

Darkness.

[Willow Weasley]

Emily sat, laughing like a maniac, under the table as she watched her best friend Samuel participate in the food fight. She thought it was crazy that the student body had erupted in a food fight just because the glee club started singing in the Caterina.
The kids who had song some song she had never heard of before weren't bad. They actually sounded pretty good. But this was high school in America, not in Venezuela.
Emily was still adapting to her new life in America. She and her family had moved from Venezuela to nowhere, Ohio because her mother got a great job offer as a doctor at the local hospital. Needless to say, Emily wasn't too happy about moving to a new country where she hardly spoke the same language.
"Come on, Em. Come have some fun." Samuel called through his laughter. He knelt down in front of her and offered her a handful of spaghetti.
"No. I am wearing silk. I'm not risking it." she said, running her hand down the side of her black corset.
"Suit yourself." he said, standing back up.
The rowdiness in the cafeteria instantly died down as a skinny, blonde haired boy fell to the ground.
Emily crawled out from under the table, careful not to get any of the mess that was on the floor on her white jeans. She hid behind Samuel, to avoid any stray food that might be thrown, and looked over at the boy on the floor.
He looked familiar. She probably had a class or two with him. Two girls were kneeling over him.
"I'm gonna go see if I can help." Samuel said, heading over to them.
Most of the student body began quickly filing out of the cafeteria, not wanting to be blamed for the mess.
Emily followed Samuel as quickly as her high heels would let her.
"Is he gonna be okay?" the blonde girl asked.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." Samuel said, kneeling down next to him.
"NOBODY MOVE!!" Couch Sue yelled, bursting through the cafeteria doors.

[Mary in the Stars]

From her hideout under the Cheerios' table, Marissa examined the bright pink cottage cheese splatters on her uniform. Dead, she was dead! Making a note to give Lindsay a piece of her mind later, she looked around for help. Most of the Cheerios had booked it out of the cafeteria as soon as they heard the battle cry. First tryouts, now this...were the first days of high school usually this intense?

And now, topping it all off, Cameron was actually unconscious on the floor of the cafeteria. Marissa's eyes widened in horror. She didn't really know Cameron, but he was Miki's friend and she was a pretty good judge of character. He wasn't exactly vocal, but hey, neither was Marissa. Making sure her path was clear, she started to crawl out from under the table –

“NOBODY MOVE!”

Marissa froze. Then, taking another look at the poor guy lying on the linoleum tiles, she figured she could slip out unnoticed and get him an ice pack from the nurse.

But before she got further than a few inches, someone grabbed her, sharp nails digging into her wrist, and forcibly jerked Marissa back under the table. “When Coach says 'don't move,' you. Do. Not. Move,” hissed a Cheerio. Marissa hadn't even noticed her there, but now she recognized her as one of the co-captains, Santana, a powerful senior practically coming out of her uniform top. “Try not to scream 'freshman' so much,” she continued with a hint of a Hispanic accent, looking Marissa up and down. “Or you won't last long.”

Another Cheerio, the blonde who had thrown herself over the table as part of the failed flash mob, joined them in hiding from Coach Sue's tirade.

“Britt, what took you so long?” Santana snapped.

“I tried to help New Directions but I just got spaghetti in my ponytail,” Brittany whispered. Then, noticing Marissa, she said very seriously, “Are you lost?”

Marissa was about to answer, but was interrupted by Coach Sue. “WHERE ARE THE CHEERIOS CAPTAINS?!”

Santana rolled her eyes. “That's my cue. Stay put,” she said firmly. Marissa watched her crawl out from under the table and join Becky in front of the coach.

“Becky. Lady Ta-Ta. What started this abomination?” Sue said calmly.

“It was the Glee Club, Coach!” Becky answered immediately.

“Santana, were you a part of this?”

“She sang a solo!”

“Becky, you'll stay here and help me get this under control. Jugs the Clown, get out of my sight and figure out where your allegiance lies. Everybody else,” Sue called through her megaphone, “GET TO WORK!”

The student body began to disperse, grabbing cleaning supplies from the lunch ladies or trying to get to class out the back door. Cameron looked like he was well taken care of, with at least four kids hanging over him. Marissa turned her attention back to her stained uniform. Maybe she could find a kindhearted janitor with a Tide To-Go...

“My friend Rachel can help you with that,” Brittany said, examining Marissa's outfit. “She brings cleaning stuff every day for when she gets Slushied.”

“So this is a normal thing here?”

“So much to learn, Ranga.” Santana stepped quickly in between Marissa and Brittany, playing with the blonde's ponytail.

“Let's take her to the Choir Room, Santana,” Brittany pleaded. “We have to help her!”

“Like hell, we do.”

“But she's been separated from her parents!”

Marissa raised an eyebrow. “Um, what?”

“Ms. Pillsbury and Mr. Schue.”

“Oh, no, I'm not–”

“Stop talking,” Santana snapped, jabbing an elbow into Marissa's side. She looked at the blonde with a mix of blank confusion and good-natured pity. “Brittany, there is no possible way for Ms. Pillsbury to have a daughter.”

“But Marissa has their hair combination! It's curly and red!”

Santana rubbed her temples. “No, Britt, Ms. Pillsbury cannot possibly have a daughter because – actually, we'll revisit this another day when we have more time. Let's get you cleaned up.” She started out the cafeteria.

Brittany stayed put, wrapping her arms around Marissa's waist. “But you wouldn't leave Orphan Annie alone and covered in cheese, would you?”

A stormy look crossed the Latina's face – jealousy? – but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

Instead of calling her out on it, Marissa just gently unwrapped herself from Brittany's hug and fingered the drying food on her uniform.

Santana let out a tired, exaggerated sigh. “Alright, what's your next class, Gingersnap?”

Marissa smiled slightly and unfolded her schedule from her messenger bag, practically immune to “ginger” comments. “Algebra.”

Brittany poked her nose over Marissa's shoulder, and the redhead flinched slightly at the sudden close contact. “You can miss that,” Britt stated simply. Puck hasn't gone to a math class in three years. We're skipping class anyway. Come with us.” She grabbed Marissa's hand.

Marissa looked around for any teachers of coaches who could hear them. “Oh, I don't want you guys to skip...”

The Latina raised her eyebrows in a Really? expression. “Yeah, well...we have Sex Ed, and it's a little late for us. Look, you want your uniform clean or not?”

“Yes.”

“Then let's go.”