―

―

A SMALL SMILE FOUND its way onto Martha's face as she focused her camera on Kurt, Tina and Brittany doing the single ladies dance in leotards, happy that she accepted Kurt's request to film them.

Suddenly the music came to a halt and the four teens turned to see Kurt's father - Burt Hummel - gazing at the four of them in confusion.

"Dad!" Kurt pales, "You're home early."

Burt raised an eyebrow, "Deadliest Catch is on. What are you wearing?"

"It's a unitard. Guys wear them to, uh, work out nowadays. Do sports. They wick sweat from the body." Kurt nodded, making Burt put a finger in said unitard, letting it snap back into place.

"F-f-f-football!" Tina blurted out.

"Yeah, all the guys in football wear them," Martha nodded quickly, "They're, like, jock chic, or whatever."

"Totally," Brittany then spoke up, "Kurt's on the football team now. He's the kicker – that's the smallest guy on the field, right?"

The other three stared at her before slowly nodding.

"Yeah. Brit and Tina were just helping me with some conditioning work," Kurt said, "And Martha was taping it so I could rewatch and critique myself."

"Hmm. Really. You know, I played in JC before I busted up my knee, popping wheelies on my third bike." Burt told them, excitement showing through.

"Cool. I guess we'll have something to talk about, then." Kurt chuckled awkwardly.

"So one of you three his girlfriend?" Burt asked, gesturing between the girls.

"Not me." Martha immediately shook her head.

Kurt was taken aback by the question, but he quickly puts his hand around Tina's waist, pulling into him, "But I'm not ready to be exclusive just yet." He said.

"Alright, just keep the music down. I can't hear myself think up there," Burt nodded, starting to walk back upstairs, only to turn back to his son, "And hey, Kurt. Be sure to get me a ticket to your first game."

Kurt nodded feverishly as his father left, his grin disappearing once he realized the mess that he was in.

"This isn't going to end well." Martha muttered, fiddling with her camera.

―

Martha turned to Kurt as Mr. Schuester handed out sheet music.

"Here's the final cut," She said, passing him a USB stick, "Artie did the final editing touches."

Kurt gave the girl a small and strained smile, "Thanks, Mar."

As the club studied the sheet music, Rachel had found a problem.

"Excuse me, this isn't the right key." Rachel said.

"No. It's actually the right key." Mr. Schue told her.

"No, no," Rachel shook her head, "This is the alto part."

"Yep. Tina's doing the solo."

Martha grinned widely at her friend, encasing her in an excited hug.

"I'm sorry, there must be some sort of mix up. I thought I made it very clear that anything from 'West Side Story' goes to me," Rachel continued, aggravating the rest of the club, "Maria is my part!" The short girl exclaimed, "Natalie Wood was a Jew, you know. I've had a very deep, personal connection to this role since the age of one."

"Well, I'm trying to shake things up a bit. Get us out of our boxes." Mr. Schue shrugged.

"You're trying to punish me." Rachel denied.

"I think you're being irrational." Mr. Schue said through gritted teeth.

"I think you're being unfair!" Rachel scoffed.

"I think you're being unfair to Tina, who might have been happy about getting her first solo." Mr. Schue said, gesturing to the said girl.

"Tina knows how much I respect her and I think she would agree with me that she's not ready for such an iconic role as Maria." Rachel said.

"Are these words actually coming out of her moth right now?" Martha muttered.

"Wait... I'm a Jet?" Mercedes then spoke up, as Rachel emotionally stormed out of the room.

"The more times she storms out of rehearsal, the less impact it has." Artie noted.

Mr. Schue sighed, turning to Tina, "Congratulations, Tina. This is going well."

Mercedes, Artie, Kurt and Martha all turned to congratulate their friend.

"You'll be great." Martha nodded in reassurance.

―

Martha let out a sigh as Glee rehearsal came to and packed her bag, everyone else having shot out of the choir room. The girl looped her arms through the straps of her heavy backpack, covering her hands with the sleeve of her hoodie and turned around, jumping when she came face-to-face with a blonde Cheerio.

"Uh. Hi." The younger girl muttered.

"Hi." Brittany grinned.

Martha raised an eyebrow, "W-Why are you talking to me outside of Glee?"

"Because we're friends." Brittany shrugged.

"We are?"

"Duh," Brittany chuckled, "I mean, we hung out at Kurt's last weekend."

Martha cocked her head to the side, "Well, I wouldn't call that hanging out-"

"And I've noticed how sad you've been since the whole Dakota Stanley thing." Brittany continued.

"Sad?"

"Well ever since he made those comments on your looks, you've been more self-conscious than usual." Brittany noted.

"Oh, you noticed?" Martha mumbled.

"Of course. I'm your friend," Brittany nodded, "And as your friend, I'm here to tell you that you're beautiful."

Martha flushed red, "Thanks, Brittany."

"Anytime." The Cheerio nodded with a smile, leaning down and pecking the younger girl on the lips, before skipping out of the choir room.

Martha stood there wide-eyed, "Okay, then." She muttered, before rigidly making her way to class, rather confused.

―

[ tonight, sung by tina ]

Martha grinned from where she stood next to Mr. Schuester, the pair clapping for Tina, despite the girl haven gotten nervous and blowing the last note.

"That was great, Tina. Good job!" Mr. Schue nodded as he and Martha walked over to her.

"So great." Martha nodded.

"You don't have to say that," Tina shook his head, "I was sh-sh-sharp. I c-c-c-can't do this."

"Only because you got nervous." Martha shook her head.

"Hey, hey, look at me," Mr. Schuester said quietly, putting his hands on her arms, "Have you noticed the more confident you are, the less you stutter? Hey... I need you to be great at Regionals. To do that, you've got to know that you can do this."

Tina shook her head, backing away and picking up her backpack, "You have to give this song to Rachel. She's better than me, and you know she'll quit if you don't. I'll have to t-take one for the team."

With that, Tina swiftly turned on her heel and left the auditorium, Martha collecting up her things in a hurry and chasing after the slightly older girl.

"Tina!" Martha cried, running down the school corridor, "Tina!" She repeated, gently grabbing the sad girl's arm and turning her so that they were looking at each other.

"I was awful, Mar." Tina frowned, voice breaking.

Martha rapidly shook her head, her heart breaking, "No. No you weren't. You're just getting in your head, that's all. How about we just go to the cafeteria, get some tater tots and take out minds off of it." The brunette suggested.

Tina nodded with a small sniff, "I'd like that." She smiled, the pair linking arms and making their way to the cafeteria.

"I had my first kiss yesterday." Martha brought up.

"What? Oh my God! How?!"

"It's a super weird story."

―

Martha smiled as she sat in the last Glee club of the week, football players having joined them and fulfilling their team requirements, Mr. Schuester saying, "Let's start today with "Tonight" from West Side Story."

Rachel beamed at the prospect of singing the song, and nodded fervently.

"Tina, show us what you got." Mr. Schue smiled, crushing Rachel's hopes as the girl stood up and moved to the front of the club.

"You've got this!" Martha whispered to her friend, sending a supportive thumbs up as Rachel stormed out of the choir room.