―

―

"YOU KNOW, YOU DON'T have to wheel me to school, right?" Artie Abrams blushed as his sister pushed him down the sidewalk.

"What kind of big sister would I be if I didn't wheel my little brother to school on our first day of freshman year?" Martha Abrams smirked.

"Older by thirteen minutes." Artie sulked, crossing his arms.

Martha let out a laugh, rolling her eyes as they entered the school parking lot, "Stop being a baby."

"I am not a baby!" Artie disagreed.

"Your big sister is pushing you to school."

"That wasn't my choice!"

―

Martha raised an eyebrow at her younger brother as they stood by his locker, "You want to join Glee Club?"

"Why not?" Artie shrugged, "Singing's cool."

"I'm not disagreeing with you there," Martha shook her head, "The part where I'm disagreeing with you is where you want me to join, too."

"Please," Artie begged, "It'll be fun. Something for us to do together."

"I guess." Martha sighed.

"Besides, you don't have much of a choice, because Tina and I signed you up to audition with me."

The brunette girl's eyebrows shot up, "What?"

"Yeah, so come on, we gotta get to the auditorium." Artie nodded, beginning to wheel away.

"This is happening now?" Martha asked, rushing after the boy.

"Yep." Artie nodded.

"W-Well, what're we going to sing?"

"Oh, come on, Mar," Artie grinned up at her, "We're twins. Use that twin telepathy."

A grin slowly appeared onto the girl's face, "True Colours." She chuckled.

"An Abrams twins classic," Artie smiled, "Lez go."

[ true colours, performed by martha and artie ]

―

"Sorry I'm late." Martha sighed, taking a seat with her two best friends at the lunch table in the cafeteria.

"Hm?" Addie Harliss asked, looking up from her book.

"I said sorry I'm late." Martha repeated, taking the paper bag that had her lunch in it out of her backpack.

"You're late?" Addie raised an eyebrow, "I didn't even notice." She shrugged, going back to her book.

"What a great friend you are." Hallie Carvey chuckled.

"Well it's not my fault that the great A. A. Milne is so amazing with words." Addie defended herself.

Martha raised an eyebrow, "You're reading Winnie the Pooh?"

"No," Addie rolled her eyes, "The Red House Mystery."

"Oh," Martha nodded, "That makes more sense. Although, Winnie the Pooh is a work of literary genius."

Hallie chuckled, picking at her chocolate muffin, "So, why were you late, Mar?"

"Artie and I were auditioning for Glee Club." Martha shrugged.

"Glee Club?" Addie asked, looking up from her book.

"Yeah, Artie wanted us to join together." Martha nodded.

"I thought you wanted to join that creative writing club." Hallie said.

"Oh, I have joined that," Martha nodded, "I'm just lucky that the schedules don't overlap."

"And you're joining book club." Addie told her.

"And there's that."

Looking at Hallie, Addie declared, "You're joining book club, too."

"But I'm trying out for the girl's soccer team this afternoon." Hallie frowned.

"The schedules don't overlap." Martha shook her head, taking a bite out of her tuna sandwich.

"Well, I guess that settles it." Hallie chuckled.

―

[ sit down you're rocking the boat, 'performed' by the new directions ]

The club's smiles and jazz hands dropped.

"We suck." Rachel Berry deadpanned.

"We could've been worse." Martha shrugged, Tina Cohen-Chang agreeing.

Mr. Schuester sighed, "Uh, it... It'll get there. We-we just need to keep rehearsing."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Mr. Schuester, do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to give the lead solo in 'Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat' to a boy in a wheelchair?"

"Leave Artie alone." Martha defended her brother in a soft tone.

"I think Mr. Schue is using irony to enhance the performance." Artie shrugged, his sister putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"There is nothing ironic about show choir!" Rachel sulked, before walking out of the room in a strop.

"Rachel... Rachel!" Mr. Schue called after the girl.

Martha turned to the rest of the club, "Wanna go to the vending machines."

"Hell yes." Mercedes Jones nodded, the girls starting to leave the choir room.

"Get me some skittles." Kurt Hummel called after the pair, earning a thumbs up in return.

―

The next day, the Glee Club were rehearsing with their new member - Finn Hudson - the captain of the football team, watching disturbed as Rachel dramatically made her way over to the tall boy.

[ you're the one that i want, sung by finn and rachel with the new directions ]

"Oh, hell to the no!" Mercedes cried, breaking up the lead singers and stopping the music, "Look, I'm not down with this background singing nonsense. I'm Beyoncé. I ain't no Kelly Rowland."

"Okay, look, Mercedes, it's just one song." Mr. Schue sighed.

"And it's the first time we've been kind of good." Kurt shrugged meekly.

Mercedes turned to the football player, "Okay, you're good, white boy. I'll give you that. But you better bring it. Let's run it again."

"All right, let's do it. From the top." Mr. Schue nodded with a clap.

"And this time, Rachel would you please not caress me?" Martha requested, "It makes me really uncomfortable."

―

Martha sat in her seat in the Carmel High auditorium, scribbling rapidly in her leather-bound notebook, as the rest of the club, Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury were still in the foyer, getting snacks.

"What you writing?" A voice asked, making Martha look up with a gasp, snapping her book shut.

"N-Nothing." She shook her head.

Finn chuckled at the girl, "You sure about that?"

"It-It's private." Martha muttered, stuffing the book back into her backpack.

"Do you always stutter?" Finn wondered, "Like Tina."

"I've said a total of three words to you and was stuttering because you caught me off guard," Martha told him, "That doesn't mean I have a stutter."

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Martha nodded, "I'm sorry. I'm not great with talking to new people."

"It's okay," Finn repeated what she said, "We've got plenty of time to work on that."

That made Martha smile at the older boy as the rest of the Glee Club and the two teachers took their seats and the lights dimmed.

Mr. Schue leaned over to the club, "Hey, guys, so this is supposed to be our competition, but, uh, I honestly don't think that they've got the talent that we've got. But let's be a good audience, all right? Give 'em some of that old McKinley High respect."

"Please give a warm Buckeye State welcome to last year's regional champions, Vocal Adrenaline!"

[ rehab, performed by vocal adrenaline ]

The club and teachers sat, stunned.

"We're d-d-doomed." Tina stuttered, Finn and Martha sharing a wide-eyed look.

―

Martha frowned, Artie holding her hand as Mr. Schue stood in front of the Glee Club, breaking the bad news to them.

"You're leaving us?" Artie spoke up, "When?"

Mr. Schue sighed, "Well, I've given my two weeks' notice, but I promise I'm gonna find you guys a great replacement before I go."

"Is this 'cause those Carmel kids were so good?" Mercedes asked, "Because we can work harder."

"This isn't fair, Mr. Schuester," Rachel frowned, "We can't do this without you."

"So does that mean that I don't have to be in the club anymore or...?" Finn inappropriately spoke up, making Martha elbow the boy in the ribs.

"This isn't about you guys," The man shook his head, "Being an adult is about having to make difficult choices. It's not like high school. Sometimes you have to give up the things that you love. One day you guys are going to grow up and understand that. I have loved being your teacher."

―

Martha let out a sigh as Rachel yelled at the Glee Club - minus Artie and Finn - as she sat on a chair, writing in her book.

"Look, you guys, these steps are not hard. I've been doing them since preschool." Rachel exclaimed.

Kurt rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, did I miss the election for queen? Because I didn't vote for you."

"I know what I'm talking about. I won my first dance competition when I was three months old," Rachel glared at him, "And Martha what are you doing?"

"I know the steps," The younger girl shrugged, her eyes glued onto her page, "I'm taking a break."

Finn then entered the stage, pushing a grubby looking Artie.

"This is a closed rehearsal." Kurt glared at him.

"Artie," Martha jumped up, going to hug her brother, but took a step back, "What is that smell?"

"I got porta pottied." The boy frowned, Martha wrapping her arm around his shoulders, grimacing at the smell.

"Look, I owe you guys an apology," Finn told them, "I never should have quit. I don't want to be the guy that just drives around throwing eggs at people."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "That was you?"

"You and your friends threw pee balloons at me." Kurt told him.

"I know." Finn nodded.

"You nailed all my lawn furniture to my roof." Kurt added.

"And ours." Martha nodded, gesturing between her and her brother.

"I wasn't actually there for that, but I'm really sorry," Finn told them, "Look, that isn't who I am, and I'm tired of it. This is what I want to be doing, with you guys. I used to think that this was like, the lamest thing on Earth, and maybe it is, but... we're all here for the same reason–'cause we want to be good at something. Artie, you play guitar, right? And Martha, you play piano? Think you guys could recruit the jazz band?"

"We do have pull there." Artie nodded, high-fiving his sister.

"All right," The Quarterback grinned, "Mercedes, we need new costumes, and they have to be cool. Can you do that?"

"Damn, don't you see what I got on?" The girl smirked.

"Rachel, you can do choreography. Tina, what are you good at?"

"I-I-"

"We'll figure something out for you." Finn decided.

"And what are you bringing to the table, Justin Timberlake?" Mercedes raised an eyebrow at Finn.

"I've got the music." Finn declared.

[ don't stop believing, performed by finn and rachel with the new directions ]

The group all let out small pants at the end of their performance, the sound of clapping making them look up to see Mr. Schue smiling proudly at the club.

"Good, guys," He nodded, "It's a nine. We need a ten. Rachel, you need to hit the ones and the fives. Finn, I think if we worked on it, you could hit a high B."

"So does this mean you're staying?" Finn asked hopefully, making Martha perk up, rocking back and forth on her feet, nervoulsy playing the bottom of her hoodie.

Mr. Schue smiled at the teenagers, "It would kill me to see you win nationals without me. From the top."