Cheerio

I barely noticed how the eyes followed me all day, since I was growing so accustomed to them. The only eyes I actually felt burn through my soul was Kurt’s glare. Although I didn’t dare look over at him, I could tell that he was hostile.

I felt so badly about what had happened, but I knew there was nothing I could do to fix it. I certainly wasn’t one to apologize or admit I was wrong. I just didn’t have enough good character inside of me.

The school day was pretty much okay. The kids in Glee Club basically just ignored my existence, which was perfectly okay with me. I didn’t need the constant, nagging reminder that everyone hated me.

It was when I had to walk into Glee Club that I started to get sweaty palms and twitchy fingers. My stomach tied itself into knots as I stood outside the door, trying to will myself to gain the courage to enter.

Groups of Glee kids walked right past me, not glancing for even a second in my direction. It was like I didn’t exist anymore. I didn’t know what was worse: having someone scream in my face or everyone pretending I was nothing more than a particle of dust.

Finally, I took a deep breath and stepped into the choir room, hoping to God that none of them could hear my racing heart that was threatening to burst through my chest.

The entire room went so quiet that I swear it was possible to hear a pin drop. Without making eye contact with anyone, I sat in an isolated seat, making sure that I didn’t offend anyone by being too close to them.

When Mr. Schue finally entered, he hesitated, noticing that there was clearly zero conversation. “What’s going on?” he questioned, looking around at all of us. Once his eyes landed on me, a wave of realization washed over him. “Well, Evie, it’s nice to have you back.”

“Speak for yourself,” Santana muttered under her breath.

“Mr. Schue,” Berry spoke up, getting to her feet to stand in front of the entire club, “I make a movement to make it possible for the Glee Club to vote out a particular member if the feelings are unanimous.”

“Rachel, I’m pretty sure that’s bullying,” Mr. Schue sighed, closing his eyes for a second as if to contain his frustration.

“No, Mr. Schue. Rachel is actually making sense,” Quinn seconded. “It’s very clear that a grand total of none of us want Evie in this club anymore. She was forced to join, and she’s making it obvious that she doesn’t want to stay.”

“Wait, are you guys blaming me for those flyers?” I questioned, feigning complete shock.

Everyone turned to bore holes through my skin with their eyeballs.

“Quit the act, Evie,” Finn snapped. “Everyone knows it was you.”

“You have no proof,” I huffed, crossing my arms, coining a very popular Coach Sylvester phrase. She always said it when she obviously did something that hundreds were witness to.

“Are you denying it?” Berry pressured.

“No.”

“That’s just as good as admitting it,” Quinn concluded. “Now, do we get to vote Evie off the island yet?”

“Guys, you cannot kick someone out of Glee Club!” Mr. Schue borderline shouted. “Everyone, take a seat. We’re going to do a new partner assignment.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Berry voiced again. God, she was starting to get on my nerves. And by start, I meant that there was never a time when she wasn’t on my nerves. “No one’s going to want to be partnered with Evie.”

“ENOUGH!” Mr. Schue screamed, his face immediately turning a nice shade of red. “You guys are not acting like a team at all. You can’t all turn against each other. I understand that you all have a vendetta against Evie, and I can’t say I blame you. But you have to start acting like the teenagers you are and work out your problems instead of holding grudges and bickering like five-year-olds!”

The entire club stayed in a stunned silence, staring at Mr. Schue with saucer eyes. “Great. Now that we’re done with that, I’m going to start pulling names from the hat. Whoever gets paired with Evie has to work with her, no exceptions.”

“I’m not going to want to work with Berry if I get paired with her, either. Does that mean I get to switch her?” Santana asked with her mean tone.

“No. No switching partners. No exceptions.” Mr. Schue pulled out a top hat and drew a slip from the hat. “Tina.” Then another. “Finn.”

“Rachel. Artie.”

“Mike. Santana.”

“Quinn. Kurt.”

“Matt. Brittany.”

“Puck. Evie.”

I shot a look at Puck, but he wasn’t even glancing in my direction. After all the times he hit on me when I was a Cheerio and I rejected him, there was absolutely no way that the pairing was going to be a good idea. Plus, there was the part that he definitely hated my guts, so I had a feeling we wouldn’t be hanging much outside of school.

“Mercedes,” Mr. Schue’s voice ripped through my thoughts, “you’re the last one, so you can either work alone or pick one of the groups.”

“Depends on what our assignment is,” she replied, sitting back in her seat and smiling like she had some sort of advantage over the rest of us.

“The assignment this time is pretty much open-ended. Everyone has to perform a song by someone who’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

“My cat’s on the Wall of Fame at the vet,” Brittany spoke up in her soft, dumb tone. “The doctor’s say it’s a miracle he can walk when he’s so fat and he smokes so much.”

We all stared at her for a second before Mr. Schue started to talk again. “Okay, then. I think everyone gets the idea. You guys pair up and start talking about your assignment with your partner.”

Everyone scurried, eager to discuss ideas. Except for, it seemed, Puck. He sauntered over with just as much confidence as ever, not at all in a rush. Finally, he plopped down in the seat next to me, dropping his backpack on the floor next to him. “Alright, so, what do you want to do, Brato?”

“…Brato?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you know. The dude that stabbed Julius Caesar or whatever?”

“You mean Brutus?” God, this guy was as dumb as a brick. I almost wanted to give up and tell Mr. Schue that I wanted to switch partners.

“Oh, whatever. I was close. Pretty good, since I’ve never gone to history before.”

I rolled my eyes, trying my hardest not to sigh loudly. “Okay, anyway…do you have any ideas?”

“Nope. Do you?”

“Not really. You’re the one who’s supposed to be good at this.”

“I don’t know who’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” he whined. “I have an idea. Why don’t you look it up tonight, bring in a list tomorrow, and we can go over it at my house?”

“Uh…doesn’t that mean you don’t have to do anything?”

“I’ll help you pick the final one when you come to my house.”

“Alright, guys,” Mr. Schue projected loudly. “Everyone can head home now.”

“See you tomorrow, Eves,” Puck winked, standing up and throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

I gritted my teeth together, even though I consciously knew that I deserved to be forced to do all the work after how shitty I was to Rachel, Quinn, and Finn.

So I guess I’d just have to grin and bear it. Something that I should have perfected by then.