The week of prom had passed and everyone was starting off fresh. Nellie sat in the choir room with Matteo as he was playing with his fingers, a nervous gesture he usually did.

"Whats up?" Nellie asked.

"Nothing it's just......my scar just hurts, that's all." Nellie frowned before kissing the scar on his cheek, making him blush.

"Better?"

"Much better."

Mr.Shue stood in front of the room and the glee club kids turned their attention to the man.

"New Directions I would like to introduce you to our new show choir consultant Jesse St.James." Mr.Shue announced and Rachel was the only one who clapped.

"I do hope you know that literally no one is excited about this." Nellie mentioned.

"I don't trust this guy. He's gonna trick us into doing something stupid so his alma malter wins." Finn added.

"I don't need to do much to tricking to get you to do something stupid, Finn." Nellie scoffed and stood up, only to be pulled back down by Matteo.

"Guys, Jesse is just a consultant. I still make the calls. I have all the confidence in the world in you guys. I just think we could use all the help we can get because......this is it. We've been working so hard for two years for his moment, and that moment is finally here. I was talking with Jesse and he agreed we should continue with our successful trend of doing original songs for the competition. I was thinking one group number, one solo number, and one duet." Mr.Shue explained.

"Rachel and I should sing a duet. We killed it last year at regionals with faithfully."

"Yeah. It killed us. We lost." Quinn mumbled.

"Mercedes and I should get a duet." Jay suggested. Mercedes nodded at that.

"I agree that Rachel or Nellie should sing lead, but Finn, I think it's best you sit this one out. The fact is, most of the other guys in here are better singers and Mike Chang, who can't even sing, can at least dance. You kind of sing and dance like a zombie who has to poop." Jesse commented.

"You see what I'm talking about? This guys a jerk!" Finn exclaimed.

"Maybe you're mad because it's true." Jay shrugged.

"Shut up Jay." Finn snapped. Jay just shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Maybe you could be a little gentler with your advice." Mr.Shue suggested.

"Im sorry. I didn't realize we were training for the good try ribbon at nationals. I thought we were in it to win the whole thing, and there's only one way we can do that." Jesse said.

"Poison darts?" Brittany asked.

"Witch craft?"

"The Vocal Adrenaline strategy is simple. Identify your best performer and build the entire performance around them." Jesse explained.

"So what does everyone else do?" Mercedes questioned.

"Plus who would be our star performer?" Matteo added.

"We're gonna have auditions to find out. I'm gonna post a sign-up sheet later this afternoon."

"Mr.Shue don't you think this is kind of not our style?" Finn asked.

"Normally I'd agree with you Finn, but this is the big time. I think we should listen to Jesse." Sam said.

"For once in my life I agree with Mr.Psycho over there. But don't think I'm gonna forget how you gave me a swirlie last year and flushed my meds down the toilet."

"Wait what?" Matteo yelled standing up. The bell rang and Nellie walked out the room glaring at Jesse.

Later that day Nellie stood in front of the sign up sheet with Matteo.

"Should I do it?" She asked the boy.

"Definitely. And I have just the song." Matteo whispered the song in nellies ear and she smirked before writing her name down on the sign up sheet.

"Let's do this thing." The two high fived and Nellie wrapped her arm around Matteo's shoulders bringing him closed to her.

🎤🎤🎤
Nellie had been informed that Coaches sister passed away. Nellie was sad about it, since she knew that Coach cared about her sister more then anything.

So Nellie, Jay, Finn, and Kurt walked inside Coaches office with sympathetic smiles on their faces.

"Coach Sylvester?" Kurt asked once they walked in.

"We brought you some flowers and stuff. We're sorry for your loss." Finn mentioned.

"Put 'em over with the text. There were more arrangements, but I had to throw some out. I'm allergic to pansies.  And I don't mean that as a swipe to the four of you. So....why'd you bother doing this.....buying me flowers, comforting me...after I've actively made your life a living hell and enjoyed it."

"Because you're still a human being like the rest of us. And no one deserves to go through grief alone." Nellie replied.

"Plus we all know what it's like to loose somebody close to us." Kurt added.

"I sort of do. My dad died when I was a baby."

"My mom left when I was twelve." Jay added.

"My dad ditched me too." Nellie finished.

"So how do you think you can help me? Are you here to tell me how to deal work this?" Sue asked the teens.

"No, we're not." Jay replied.

"Cause if I was honest with you guys, I don't know how to deal with this. I can't go back to that nursing home and start sorting through Jeans things. And I won't plan a funeral."

"We understand." Nellie nodded.

"Have you told your mother yet?" Kurt questioned.

"As far as I'm concerned, she said her good-byes to us years ago. If you three would really like to help me you might start by explaining why it was her time and not mine. She's the sweetest person I ever met. And as you guys can attest, I'm probably the meanest. So how come I'm the one still standing here talking to you?" Nellie didn't have an answer so she did the only thing she thought would help at the moment. She walked over and hugged Sue, rubbing her back. Sue hesitated before hugging Nellie back, and the group of four left the room.

Back on the choir room Nellie and the group stood in front of the choir room explaining how they needed to help Sue.

"We need to help her. She's overwhelmed, and she needs us to help her." Finn mentioned.

"Seriously? I'd like to put the "fun" back in funereal as much as the next girl. But why would the glee club help Coach Sylvester plan a service?" Santana asked.

"We're not doing it for Sue. We're doing it for her sister." Kurt replied.

"Jean is like the text of us, guys. She's been an outsider and underdog all of her life. We, of all people should celebrate that."

"Finns right. Loosing someone isn't easy, you guys. We need all hands on deck for this." Matteo said making Nellie nod and shoot a thumbs up.

"Can I say something? When someone dies, yes, it's a tragedy. But it's also a part of life, and you can't let death put your life on hold. Now, I don't mean to be blunt, but I don't think yo I should be planning a funeral the same week you should be focusing on the set list for nationals." Nellie scoffed.

"Seriously? Y-You're serious?" Finn asked in disbelief.

"Actually, yes, I am up. Do you know what Vocal Adrenaline is doing right now? They're in their third week of 24-hour-a-day rehearsals. They're on a I.V. drip. That's how hard they're working. Do you know what happens in Vocal Adrenaline is someone dies during a number? They use them as a prop, like weekend at Bernie's."

"Do you have any clue how insensitive and rude you sound right now? Someone just died and all you care about is competition. I'm sorry we're not like Vocal Adrenaline, but you have no right to come here and push their stupid rules on us. So what I'm telling you to do, is put up or shut up." Nellie ranted.

"Couldn't have said it any better Nel. So thanks for your input Jesse, but we're helping Sue with the service for her sister. Rachel, you said I needed to be more of a leader of this club. Well, here goes. I'm making the call. We're doing this." Finn said and Nellie smirked high fiving the boy.

A couple hours later Nellie stood in the auditorium staring down at the ground. It was time for her audition and she couldn't be anymore nervous yet excited at the same time.

"We're ready when you are Nellie." Mr.Shue said. Matteo was in the audience and imitated someone taking a deep breath, trying to get the girl to do the same. Nellie nodded and took a deep breath, suddenly feeling much better.

"Hi I'm Nellie Puckerman and I'll be singing Shontelle's Impossible." Nellie looked at Matteo who was grinning at her and giving her a thumbs up.

[Impossible-Nellie Puckerman]

Nellie gasped when the song was over and looked to see that Matteo was giving her a standing ovation.

"That's my girl!" Matteo shouted.

"Wooo! Go Nellie!" Kurt cheered as well.

"Wow Nellie, that was amazing." Jessie complemented.

"What he said." Matteo added.

"Out of respect to you all I'm going to take a couple days and consider all the results. Now, I will let you know by Friday. Great job, everyone," Nellie jumped down from the stage and ran into Matteo's arms.

"My heart was racing the entire time. I felt like I was going to faint, Teo."

"But you didn't. And you have this win in the bag."

                             🎤🎤🎤
Today was Jean Sylvester's funeral. Nellie felt a pain in her heart when she walked inside the church, since it was a funeral they were talking about. Nellie and the group decided to make it a Willy Wonks and the Chocolate Factory theme, since it was Jeans favorite movie. The glee club was waiting for Sue to arrive and once they did the four stood up from where they were sitting to greet her. Nellie smoothed out her black dress (image above) and walked over to the woman.

"What do you think, Coach Sylvester?" Finn asked.

"You told us that Willy Wonka was Jeans favorite movie." Kurt added.

"The way you described Jean made her sound so special so we wanted her funeral to be special too." Nellie said.

"Something to express the joy of her life rather than the sadness of her death." Jay added.

"It's lovely."

"Let's sit." The group of five sat down and the listened to the priest who was now talking.

"Welcome to the most unusual funeral that I have ever attended. Which makes sense, because Jean was the most unusual person that I have ever had the pleasure to spend ever Sunday for the last 30 years with. I think that Jeans sister Sue would like to say a few words." The priest said.

"I miss my sister. Every night, at 10:00 or so....she used to call me on the phone....and when I asked her....she'd tell me her body told her.....she wanted to hear my voice." Sue tried to continue her speech but started crying. Mr.Shue walked up to read her speech and comfort her.

"I miss my sister. The smell of her shampoo, the way she could always convince me to read her another book. When you love someone like I loved her they're a part of you. It's like you're attached by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away you are you can always feel them. And now, every time I reach for that tether I know there's no one on the other end, and I feel like I'm falling into nothingness. Then I remember Jean. I remember a life led with no enemies, no resentments, no regrets and I'm inspired to get out of bed and go on. I miss my sister so much. It feels like a piece of me has been ripped off. Just one more time I want to hold her. Ten more seconds. Is that too much to ask? For ten more seconds to hold her? But I can't and I won't and the only thing keeping me from being swallowed whole by sadness is that Jean would kill me if I did. So for now I'm just gonna miss her. I love you, Jeanie. Rest in price." By the end of the speech Nellie had tears coming out of her eyes and bit her lip trying to hold back a sob. She turned to see Matteo was rubbing his eyes as well, trying to hide the fact he was crying as well.

But now the glee club walked to the front of the church and line up as Sam and Mike grab the tv.

"This was Jeans favorite song." Jay mentioned.

"Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three." Tina added.

[Pure Imagination-Kurt Hummel, Finn Hudson, Tina Cohen-Chang, Jay Parker, Nellie Puckerman plus the New Directions]

🎤🎤🎤

A few days after the fun regal Nellie, Kurt, Mercedes and Santana were looking at the lift with confused faces.

"This doesn't make any sense." Santana commented. Jesse and Rachel walked over to the group with smug looks on their faces.

"Guys, it was a tough decision, but it's for the good of the club." Jesse mentioned.

"Although this is deeply personal, try not to take it personally."

"Hey losers, you might wanna take a look at the list." Nellie snapped.

"What? Wh-Why?" Nellie headed over to the choir room to see what Mr.Shue had to say about the list that was posted.

"Oh, Mr.Schue, thank for you're here to put these trolls out of their misery. Can you just announce my win so that I can get on with teasing the losers?" Santana asked.

"I heard your performance Santana. This is mine, and you know it."

"Oh please. You're both delusional. Mr.Shue, I suggest letting them down slowly when you announce I won this competition." Nellie mentioned.

"See, Jesse? This is the kind of infighting and "me first" attitudes I wanted to avoid." Mr.Shue said.

"What you call infighting, I call motivation. And this is just the beginning. Once we get to nationals, I'll have them willing to kill each other for that solo." Jesse explained.

"Listen to me you-" Nellie was cut off by Mr.Shue.

"No. I changed my mind. We're going back to what got us here—original songs sung by the entire club. We're a team, and we're best when we work as one." Mr.Shue said making Nellie nod.

"You're going to lose." Jesse commented.

"Whatever we do, we're gonna do it together."

"Actually Santana you sounded pretty good "

"Thanks. You guys were all pretty dope too. Even Rachel."

"I wish I could sound like you do, Santana. How do you get the raspiness?"

"So nice. I smoke cigars."

"Nel you sounded amazing out there."

"Says you Mercedes. You all sounded amazing."

"Time to get to work. I want to hit two songs by the time the wheels touch down at JFK." Mr.Shue instructed.

Word count:2,533

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!