It had been about a week since regionals and the glee club sat in the choir room as Mr.Shue was writing calculations on the board.

"All right. We need $5,000 to pay for our trip to nationals in New York." He informed and Nellie furrowed her brows. Didn't they have money from the Cheerios? Or was she going crazy.

"What happened to the money from the cheerios?" Quinn questioned.

"I guess sue was hiding it in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, and we're having some trouble accessing some of it. Any of it," Mr.Shue held up a candy automatically making Nellie confused again.

"This is salt water taffy."

"I love salt water." Brittany commented.

"When I was a student here, we payed our entire trip to nationals, selling this. Classroom to classroom, door to door, we pushed this stuff like crack. And so will we. So, to make $5,000 at 25 cents apiece, we need to sell 20,000 pieces of taffy."

"I'm sorry?" Matteo asked.

"Wait, do you honestly think that we can sell 20,000 anything's? I mean, we won regionals for the first time since dinosaurs roamed the planet, and I still get a freaking Cherry icee facial." Santana mentioned.

"Yeah, Santanas right. No one cares about us." Quinn added. Suddenly Mike stood up and started grabbing his stuff getting ready to leave.

"I can't listen to this." He mumbled.

"Mike you ok?" Mr.Shue asked.

"No. You guys complain all the time about being mistreated, but you have no idea what it's like to work your butt off for something and have everyone, even your friends, ignore you."

"I am so trying to remember his name right now." Lauren said.

"Artie, Tina, Brittany and I are on the brainiacs."

"Isn't that the academic decathlon team?" Rachel asked.

"Wait. We have one of those?"

"Yes, we do. And the four of us went on The Smartypants Show and beat Carmel High to go to the academic decathlon finals in Detroit next week."

"Wait you guys were on tv? Well, why didn't you tell us?"

"We did!"

"I'm pretty sure I watched you guys on tv actually." The four teens faces lit up at Jays words. "But only because I couldn't find the remote and I was stuck on that channel for over an hour." Their faces slumped.

"Honestly I don't know how you guys didn't know they were on tv." Nellie said.

"Well how did you know they were on tv?" Finn asked.

"Kinda obvious." Nellie shrugged back in reply.

"Wait.....I-I get the three of you being on the team-"

"Is it because two of them of Asian, and Artie wears glasses?"

"Ok, I doubt that's the reason why." Matteo stated.

"No........but Brittany?"

"Liz Schneider was our fourth, but she got rubella." Mike explained.

"Her parents are hippies who don't believe in vaccinations."

"Brittany was the only person we could find on short notice. We bribed her with dots. But Sunshine Corazon that Rachel sent to a crack house was on the other team. Luckily, we have our own secret weapon." Nellie didn't understand how none of her friends knew about the brainiacs. Mike mentioned it to Matteo and Nellie many times but it seemed like Nellie was the only person who was paying attention

"Sadly, we can't afford to go to the finals, so we're gonna have to forfeit."

"Why don't you just have your parents pay for it?" Rachel suggested.

"Because we shouldn't have to. We're a school club. The school should pay for it. It's a matter of pride."

"This school is broke in case you guys haven't noticed. Why do you think we're paying to go nationals when the school should be doing it?" Nellie asked.

"You guys are absolutely right. How much does this trip cost?"

"With gas and motels, if we eat only Funyuns, uh, $250."

"Which means.....we just have to sell more taffy." Nellie groaned and held her head in her hands.

What a nightmare.

🎤🎤🎤
Mr.Shue thought it would be a perfect idea to make the glee club kids sing songs by neglected artists. Nellie had no clue what that meant, seeing as she never heard of an artist that was neglected.

"Can you define what you mean by "neglected artist"?" Rachel questioned.

"Um, someone whose brilliance isn't always appreciated." Mr.Shue responded.

"Oh, so you mean like me."

"Why is it every time I'm starting to like you you say something to automatically make me despise you again?" Nellie snapped. Rachel had no room to talk about being neglected. She had just won glee club MVP for gods sake. And she always gets the solos.

"I mean, like all of us. All right, everyone, next Saturday night, in our auditorium, McKinley Highs first annual "Night of Neglect" fund-raiser benefit is official a go!" Nellie started clapping as the bell rang.

Now she was walking down the hallway along with Tina, Lauren, Mercedes, Mike, and Jay.

"I'm totally doing Lykke Li. She's Bjork meets Florence and the machine, and a promising new talent. What about you Mike? Tina questioned.

"The Mike Chang Dance Dance Revolution. I'm tired of my dancing being overshadowed by all of you guys' singing."

"You're forgetting about the most neglected artist this glee clubs ever seen—Aretha Franklin." Mercedes stated.

"Neglected? She's like, the queen of soul." Lauren argued.

"See, I auditioned for this club singing "Respect", and she's gotten none since. So I'm doing Aretha."

"I don't exactly know what I'm going to do yet. Maybe I'll just sit this one out." Nellie shrugged.

"Nellie! You can't! We need your voice!" Jay exclaimed.

"Awesome Mercedes, awesome everyone else. Those songs are great appetizers to my main course. Celine Dions "My Heart Will Go On." It's gonna be my finale." Mike imitated tires screeching and Nellie scoffed.

"That's like the biggest song of all time." She stated.

"No. You don't understand. Celine isn't the neglected artist, I am."

"Oh my god." Nellie mumbled. She hated how Rachel always thought she was the victim and that everything had to be about her when in reality it really didn't.

"I was kinda hoping to do the closing number." Mercedes said.

"Better luck next time Rachel." Jay added on.

"Hey, you guys remember Sunshine Corazon?" Finn asked running up to them.

"You mean the girl Rachel sent to a crackhouse because she was that petty and jealous? Gee, how could I forget?"

"Just come on." Finn grabbed nellies arm dragging her over to the auditorium where sure enough Sunshine was. The rest of the glee club soon arrived and Rachel was the first one to speak.

"You are a terrible spy."

"Seriously, with your size, you easily could've stayed in the air ducts for days." Artie added.

"I'm not a spy. I heard about your benefit concert on Facebook, and I wanted to preform. I know what it feels like to be in academic decathlon. No one pays attention to you. No one cares. It's not right. We study so hard."

"Yeah, but you're in vocal adrenaline. How do we know we can trust you?"

"Weren't you the one who auditioned to join this glee club and then stabbed us in the back joining vocal adrenaline? Or was it just me who had that memory?" Nellie asked sarcastically.

"Because I have nothing against you. I have 600 Twitter followers. I can get all of them to come."

"How many tickets have we sold so far?" Finn asked Puck and Matteo.

"Four. No one's interested. It's just sad." Puck replied.

"Please, just let me show you what I can do. I would like to sing the perfect song about neglect, "All by myself". I'm such a better singer than everyone else, so I know how it feels. I'm all alone at the top. Also, I'm really short. So even when I'm in a group with people, it feels like I'm wandering alone in a forest." Sunshine ranted.

"There's no way that she's singing in our auditorium, okay? She's the enemy."

"I say we give her a chance, I mean, you owe her Rachel. You sent her to a frickin' crack house." Puck mentioned. The piano started playing and Nellie smiled knowing Rachel lost the argument.

[All By Myself-Sunshine Corazon]

"So? Can I preform?"

"We'll come back to you." Nellie replied as they started to make their way to the choir room.

"Absolutely not. She's just trying to get on our good sides so she can spy on us." Rachel exclaimed.

"You're one to talk. We told you the same thing about Jesse St.James last year." Quinn snapped.

"And you were right!"

"This whole thing isn't about us. It's about helping the brainiacs."

"Yeah, we need sunshines Twitter followers to come and pay for tickets, or there's no point in having a benefit at all." Puck added.

"Fine! Mercedes, you're okay with being bumped to the decidedly less glamorous middle spot, right?" Nellie gave Rachel a look of disbelief. What the hell kinda question was that? No one wanted to be bumped down like that.

"Uh, sure I guess." Finn, Quinn, and Puck gave her a look so she quickly changed her answer.

"Absolutely."

                           🎤🎤🎤
The night of the event was tonight and Nellie could not be anymore nervous yet excited at the same time. However when she noticed Blaine, Karofsky and Kurt having an argument, anger filled her body. Santana was there also, her eyes also blazing with anger.

"Hey guys, stop!"

"Real brave with your fists, but you're a coward when it comes to the truth."

"Truth about what?" Nellie asked.

"It's none of your business Puckerman." Karofsky spat.

"First of all, anything you did became my business when you decided to toss that slushee up in my grill." Nellie started.

"I think I can take a couple of queers and a girl."

"Okay. See here's what's gonna go down. Two choices. You stay here and I crack one of your nuts—right or left, that's your choice—or you walk away, and live to be a douchebag another day."

"Santana I don't think his feeble mind comprehended anything you said. So I'll say it like this. Get out of here, or else you won't live to be a douchebag another day!" Karofsky stormed off and Nellie and Santana spun around.

"We could've handled that."

"It was more fun doing it together." Nellie smiled. Santana got a notification on her phone and grabbed nellies wrist dragging her off.

"Hold up, this just in. According to sunshines Twitter, she's not coming, and neither are any of her followers!"

"Are you kidding me? Did we just get scammed?" Jay asked.

"I told you! Shes evil!" Rachel hissed.

"Like you?" Nellie questioned and Rachel glared at her.

"We just went in the auditorium. There's like six people in there!" Puck said walking in along with Matteo.

"I say we blow this off and hit the arcade." Matteo added. Finn stood up and looked ready to give one of his famous speeches.

"No, screw that. These people paid to hear us sing. What's that saying? "The shows gotta go all over the place or something.""

"You mean the show must go on. Finn's right you guys. Okay whether there's six, or 6,000 people, out there, we still have to give it our all. Okay Tina, you're up first."

"Go Tina!" Nellie exclaimed. Within a few minutes she ran back inside the choir room crying.

"It's the worst I've felt in my entire life." She sobbed.

"I didn't think it was possible for people to hate us even more. We're calling this off."

"Guys, I hate to say it, but I think we have to buck up. Tina, I'm sorry you had to go through that, but it's actually a really good lesson for us. I mean, thats a part of show business, guys. Sometimes people can be really mean. Think about what's going to happen if we have an unfriendly crowd at nationals in New York. And I'm sure there's gonna be some vocal adrenaline hecklers there, too. We need to find some strength and barrel through this. I think I may know a way to shut those hecklers up for a number or two."

"And now, please enjoy the dance stylings of Mr.Mike Chang as he busts some dance moves to Jack Johnson's "Bubble Toes.""

[Bubble Toes-Danced by Mike Chang]

"That was all kinds of awesome!" Everyone clapped for Mike when he walked back inside. His performance was really amazing.

"Terrific job Mike! Hey, sounds like the heckling club loved our refreshments." Mr.Shue mentioned.

"Yeah, but we're almost out of taffy. How are we gonna keep them from going after us again after the intermission." Quinn said.

"By being so good they can't heckle us. And I know just the person for the job. W-Where's Mercedes? Shes up." Lauren walked inside the room with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm sorry, Ms.Jones has not appreciated the way she's been treated and is refusing to go on." She said.

"Let me talk to her." Mr.Shue offered.

"Don't bother. Mercedes has left the building."

"Okay, you guys go find Mercedes. I'm gonna go deal with the haters." Rachel walked out and Nellie sat on top of the piano, Matteo following along.

"This is a disaster." She mumbled resting her head on his shoulder. Matteo rubbed up and down her back as he let out a sigh also.

"I know. But we're gonna get Mercedes back and she's gonna preform." Nellie nodded and a little while later Rachel walked back in.

"I tried, but I don't think she's coming. I need to start warming up."

"Lauren, you're her manager. Why don't you do something?" Quinn questioned.

"See, my client, Ms.Jones is not picking up her phone." Nellie saw Mercedes walk in and her face immediately lit up again.

"Ms.Jones is fine."

"Wait. Shouldn't one of us be carrying you in?" Finn asked.

"I have only one more demand. I demand that all of you get your butts out there and watch me sing."

"Yes!" Jay cheered walking up and hugging Mercedes. Mercedes chuckled before hugging the boy back, making the glee club make 'Aw' sounds.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ms.Mercedes Jones."

[Ain't No Way-Mercedes Jones]

Nellie gave a standing ovation and cheered for Mercedes. She stood up and ran to wrap Mercedes in a hug. Jay joined, and it was like a huge group hug.

They walked back inside the choir room and Mr.Ryerson was telling them how he was going to pay for the Braniacs trip.

"Sandy, what are you doing in here?" Mr.Shue demanded.

"I tried to be a hater, but I just couldn't do it. That song and the weed I smoked immediately prior—it gave me a change of heart."

"Mr.Ryerson offered to pay for our trip." Artie explained and they did their weird handshake that Nellie didn't really understand.

"It's drug money, but you know, it's actually a fantastic way to launder it. Goodbye, William. I miss the arts, I really do. You just got poked.
Poked by the dagger." The glee club cheered and the Braniacs kept on chanting Detroit.

Maybe hosting a convention wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Word count:2,552