Fall was approaching Lima at a rapid pace, with the falling leaves and chilly air being clear evidence. Nellie was never a huge fan of the fall weather, summer and spring being more of her style. That meant she was able to be out in the sun, go to the beach and show off her swimsuits in general. Fall and winter meant covering up and making sure you didn't come down with the flu or the cold. Each and every year Nellie came down with one off the two.

There were a few upsides to the cold weather however, one of them being the Lima Bean. It was the hottest coffee shop in town, and with cheap prices to go along with it. It didn't matter what school you were from or what glee club you sang in, if you wanted a cup of coffee the Lima Bean is where you went. Nellie was seen there practically every day, with Matteo sometimes tagging along (he pretended like he didn't understand any English so that Nellie would order his drink for him, she found it a bit weird to say the least). But nonetheless it was a good hangout spot, and Nellie would be lying if she said she didn't look forward to whenever her friends would invite her out after school.

Speaking of, the members of the glee club all sat in their respective seats at the Lima Bean as they discussed Micheal Jackson, AKA the legend of practically anything really. When Nellie was informed that he was going to be their artist of the week she couldn't help but basically bounce off the walls out of excitement. Ever since she joined the glee club she had been waiting to sing a Micheal Jackson song, and now she was finally going to get the opportunity too. 

"Okay, favorite Micheal Jackson memory. Go." Blaine instructed, looking over at his group of friends.

"When I was one my mom showed me the VHS tape of his Motown special," Artie began. "And when he did the moonwalk across the stage for the first time in history, I uttered my first words. Hot damn."

"I owe the King of Pop a deep debt of gratitude. He's the first one to pull off the sequined military jacket long before one Kurt Hummel made it iconic." Kurt agreed.

Nellie hummed in agreement, leaning forward slightly with a grin spread across her gorgeous features. "One time I had a dream I was in a dance off with Micheal Jackson. It was so awesome. I lost the battle but, right before I woke up he patted my shoulder and told me to dance like no one was watching. To this day I have his smile stuck in my mind."

"Well that explains why you kept kicking me in your sleep," Matteo uttered, earning a small laugh from Nellie. "And I agree with all of you guys. MJ got me through some tough times. Whenever I felt down, I would turn on his music and feel better."

"I have to be honest, I never really got him." Rachel commented causing Nellie to shoot her a bewildered look. Though she wasn't really surprised, for at the end of the day this was Rachel.

"And we are no longer on speaking terms." Artie replied.

"No, I think he's an amazing performer, but I never really just got what he was about."

"Rachel, he was best friends with Liza Minnelli and Liz Taylor." Kurt mentioned.

"No, all I'm saying is that I haven't really connected with him.......the way that I have with Barbara or either of the Stephens." Rachel argued.

Matteo shrugged. "Well that's what this week is all about. Hopefully by the end of it you can get a feel of how legendary MJ truly is."

"Wow, Matteo, that's the nicest thing you've said to me for weeks," Rachel pressed a hand to her heart. "Thank you."

"Don't get used to it."

Nellie laughed once more and sipped on her coffee, watching as everyone else got on Rachel's case for not liking Micheal Jackson. She would've joined in, only she was too focused on his delicious her latte tasted at the moment.

"Okay, but since you guys are so jazzed about him, I think it's a good idea for regionals." Rachel stated causing for Matteo to nod in agreement.

"That might not be the best idea," Sebastien had walked over to the group, Nellie rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. It was as if any and all happiness she had felt previously had been washed away at the sight of the Warbler boy approaching them. "Hey Blaine. Hello everyone else."

"Does he live here or something? Seriously, you are always here?" Kurt exclaimed.

"Why don't you think that's a good idea?" Artie questioned, trying to refer back to what Sebastian had previously said.

"Because we're doing MJ for regionals." Sebastian replied.

Nellie scoffed. "Like hell you are."

"Best believe we are. You see, Warblers drew first position. So as I heard what your plan was, I changed our set list." Sebastian continued to explain.

"I-I'm sorry. How did you hear?" Rachel stammered.

"Blaine told me this morning. I just called for a tip on how to get red wine out of my blazer piping, and he would not stop going on about it."

While everyone else turned to glare at Blaine, Nellie narrowed her eyes at Sebastian.

"How often do you talk?" Kurt scoffed.

Sebastian had turned to look towards Kurt for the first time since he arrived. "Oh my god. Hey, Kurt. I didn't recognize you. You were wearing boy clothes for once."

"All right twink, I think it's time I show you a little Lima Heights hospitality." Santana had gotten up from her seat, Matteo following suit a few moments later and cracking his knuckles. Nellie didn't even attempt to calm the both of them down, for she knew Sebastien deserved everything that was coming to him.

"Unless you wanna join your relatives in prison, that's probably not the best idea. You see my dad is what you would call a states attorney. But if you had a piñata you wanted delivered, I bet he could make sure it got to them," Sebastian snarked. "So here's what you guys should know. I am Captain of the Warblers, and I'm tired of playing nice."

"You have got to be kidding me." Nellie uttered, running a hand over her face.

*********
The next day at glee club everyone was still furious by the events that had taken place at the Lima Bean, Nellie included. Every time she imagined Sebastian and his group of Warblers singing MJ at Regionals she had the urge to bang her head against the wall. But instead she walked inside of the classroom, her arms crossed over her chest and jaw clenched out of anger. Matteo pulled her down to sit at her usual sit, the two frowning when they realized that Jay wasn't present. Mercedes had informed them the other day that he had caught a super bad cold.

"There has to be some sort of chow choir competition committee we can complain to!" Tina exclaimed as she walked inside the room with Mike, Quinn, and Blaine following behind.

"I know it sucks, guys, but it's not the end of the world," Blaine assured causing Nellie to roll her eyes. "Heck, you had your set list stolen the day of competition at sectionals.......and you pulled that one off, right?"

"Well they can have our Journey and our Dreamgirls, but pilfering my Micheal, mm—mmm. That's another level of not ok." Artie stated.

"I'm not exactly comfortable having this conversation with Blaine in the room," Puck mentioned. "Clearly once a Warbler always a Warbler."

"Uh, what?" Blaine replied.

"I'm with Puck," Nellie agreed with a nod of her head. "Seriously, we've been talking about doing MJ forever and when we finally have it in the bag you gotta go tell the Warblers about it? Not cool dude. Not cool at all. You're on notice as far as I'm concerned."

"We should all be on notice," Finn stated, Matteo huffing as he realized that Finn was about to give one of his infamous speeches. "Next to Vocal Adrenaline, the Warblers are the best glee club in the state. And for a lot of us, this is our last shot at a championship, so we should stop complaining about the Warblers and figure out how to beat them."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Finn," Mr.Shue spoke, walking inside of the room. "I'm less worried about our set list right now.....and more interested in getting us in the right mind set to crush those guys. Which is why our lesson for the week is—-What would Micheal Jackson do?"

"He'd fight back. He'd say regionals is ours. MJ is ours. And if they want it, they can pry it from our sequined-gloved hand." Finn replied.

"Straight up," Artie nodded. "In 1983, MTV said they wouldn't air his "Billie Jean" video. What'd he do? He fought back. They aired it. And the Thriller album sold an additional ten million copies."

"That's right."

"I know what Micheal would do. I think he would take it to the streets."

When the bell rang, Nellie and Matteo made their way out of the classroom hand in hand.

"I should totally have a MJ dance battle with Sebastian," Nellie mentioned, opening up her locker and placing her books inside. "I could mop the floor with him."

"You think moonwalking is gonna solve our problem?" Matteo raised a brow.

"As a matter a fact I do. Or you could go as a Warbler in disguise, and trash their entire school."

"The fact that you can imagine me wearing their disgusting rich prep boy uniforms is gonna make me vomit all over this floor."

Nellie scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Yeah well, maybe don't do that please. I'm not cleaning it up."

Matteo furrowed his brows. "Who said you have to? Anyway, we're gonna find a way to get MJ back. I will literally go to his grave and resurrect him so that he can kick Sebastian's ass for even thinking that it's a good idea to steal our idea for regionals."

"Do you even know where's he's buried?" Nellie questioned, letting out a small giggle soon afterwards. Matteo simply shrugged his shoulders, wrapping his arm around Nellies shoulders and leading her down the hallway.

***********
Later on that evening, the glee club had come up with a plan to get MJ for Regionals. Like Blaine had said, they were going to take it to the streets. Nellie stood beside both Santana and Blaine, waiting for the Warblers to arrive.

"Well, we're here." Sebastian spoke, his group of Warblers standing behind him.

"We got something to settle. Both of us wanna use MJ, but only one can." Blaine stated.

"We're having a Jackson—off, Nick at Nite. Winner gets the king of pop for regionals." Santana added.

"What, us against the three of you?" Sebastian raised a brow. "You really think you're that bad? Is that what they teach you at that little public school of yours?"

Nellie took a daring step forward causing the Warblers to throw their hands up in surrender and step back. "I can show you what they teach us at public school, but it'll most likely end up with you being sent to the ER."

Santana snickered at that before snapping her fingers, causing the rest of the members of glee club to make their presence known. Sebastian glanced at each of them, a grin on his face.

[Bad-Artie Abrams, Blaine Anderson, Nellie Puckerman And the New Directions + Warblers]

When the song ended, Nellie gasped in complete shock and horror when a slushee was thrown at Blaine, causing him to collapse to the ground and groan in pain. Matteo wasted no time before sending a punch directly to Sebastian's face, the boy holding his nose in pain before running off. Nellie on the other hand pulled her phone out of her pocket, beginning to dial 911.

*********
The next day, everyone was still on edge after what had happened in the parking lot. Matteo had an ice pack on is knuckles to stop the swelling while Nellie paced back and forth, trying to find a million and one ways to get back at the Warblers for hurting one of their own.

"How is he? Is he ok?" Matteo asked once Kurt had walked inside of the room.

"Uh, the doctor says.....that his cornea is deeply scratched and he needs to have surgery." Kurt replied.

"Jesus." Nellie whispered, shaking her head.

"In all my years as a teacher and a student, I have never known a slushee to do that kind of damage." Mr.Shue mentioned.

Matteo rolled his eyes. "That wasn't any normal slushee. Sebastian put something in it. We gotta do something!"

"Well, unless you have proof that he tampered with the slushee, the police aren't interested in getting involved."

"Sebastian is evil! He needs to be expelled!" Kurt exclaimed.

"Look, Figgins and I spoke to Daltons headmaster. They're opening up an investigation," Mr.Shue replied. So, guys. I'm telling you, please, let the system handle this one."

"No. Daltons old school, Mr.Shue. They're not gonna turn their back on one of their own. We need payback." Artie stated.

"An eye for an eye." Mike agreed.

"No! I have a zero-tolerance policy for violence of any kind. That's not how we do things."

"No, we sing, and that's all we do!" Artie replied.

"Do you wanna get disqualified from regionals?"

"I don't give a damn about regionals!" Artie exclaimed, Nellies eyes widening at the tone of his voice. "What do you expect from us? We're people. I know the rest of the world may not see us like that, but when they tease us and throw stuff at us and toss us in dumpsters.......and tell us that we're nothing but losers with stupid dreams. It freakin' hurts, and we're supposed to turn the other cheek....and be the bigger man by telling ourselves that those dreams.....and how hard we work make us better than them? But it gets pretty damn hard to feel that way when they always get to win."

"I get how upsetting this is for you—" Mr.Shue attempted to say before Artie had cut him off once more.

"No! You don't! And don't give me any of that "it gets better" crap, because I'm not interested in it getting better. I want it to be better, like right now. I wanna hurt them like they hurt us. No worse—I want them to feel my pain, because frankly, that's all I have left to give."

"Artie, take a break. We'll be here when you get back." Mr.Shue softly said, causing Artie to roll out of the room without another word.

*********
Despite Mr.Shue telling everyone to let law enforcement handle the situation at hand, Nellie could no longer stand by and watch as Sebastian got away with what he did.

"Well well well, if it isn't the infamous Nellie Puckerman. Thought I would see you around here someday." Sebastian grinned, Nellie rolling her eyes and making her way over to the group.

"Don't know if any of you morons were aware, but Blaine may loose an eye," Nellie spoke. "The same Blaine who was just besties with most of you....not four months ago."

"Wait seriously. Is he gonna be ok?" Trent questioned, growing concerned for his friend.

Nellie shrugged. "Don't know, Trent. I wouldn't even be standing here talking to you guys if you weren't a bunch of backstabbing cowards."

"Bummer about Blaine. He was pretty. He shouldn't have gotten in the way though. That slushee was meant for Kurt." Sebastian nonchalantly stated.

"To be completely Frank with you, Sean, I'm being nice here. I could just slam your head against the wall until I see your brains spill out, but instead I'm here, talking to you. Woman to man." Nellie seethed.

"It's Sebastian." The boy corrected, letting out a small laugh.

"It's ugly. Like your god awful personality. What the hell did you put in that slushee, Smythe? Speak now or I will not hesitate to pull a Johnny Lawrence and push you down the nearest hill."

"Red dye No.6."

"You're a liar and a damn cheat."

Sebastian looked back at his friends before looking at Nellie who was glaring at him with pure hatred. "She questioned my honor. I demand satisfaction. Chello guys, hang back. Everyone else, clear out. I don't want you to see me make a girl cry."

"Let's do this Sean." Was Nellies only reply before the music began to play.

[Smooth Criminal-Sebastian Smythe, Nellie Puckerman]

"That was actually kinda fun," Sebastian commented once the song had handed. "We should do that some other time."

"I'd rather drop dead than sing another song with you. Let this be the last time we meet, Sean."

"Later Nellie! And tell that sexy blonde to hit me up. Jay, was it?"

Nellie scoffed loudly, throwing open the door and walking out.

                       **********
Much to Nellies dismay, the Warblers had been invited to her school for one last final performance. Matteo shared the same facial expression as her, the both of them counting down the minutes until whatever was going on is over.

"Is this gonna take long? I can't stand the stench of public schools." Sebastien commented, the sound of his voice making Nellie want to jump down from the stage and punch him directly across the nose once more.

"It won't take long, and all you have to do is sit and listen." Quinn replied.

"We're not doing MJ for regionals." Artie announced.

"I didn't think you would surrender that easily." Sebastian shrugged.

Kurt nodded. "We're tied of the fighting and the backstabbing. We're show choirs. We're supposed to be supportive of each other."

"This is what we call, "taking the high road" which I was shocked to find out has nothing to do with marijuana." Puck agreed.

"Just because you're doing Micheal doesn't mean you understand Micheal."

"And you do?"

"Yes. And we're about to show you."

[Black or White—Artie Abrams, Nellie Puckerman, Santana Lopez, Kurt Hummel and the New Directions + Warblers]

When the song was over, Nellie crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sebastian who was sarcastically clapping.

"Very moving."

"Come on Sebastian, give it up." Nick pleaded.

"That is the kind of attitude that lost us regionals last year."

"Aw, that's cute," Nellie spoke. "But I could call the cops and get you kicked out of school or even arrested......for assaulting Blaine with that slushee."

"All of this would be awfully terrifying.....if you had any proof whatsoever." Sebastian replied. Nellie didn't say anything, she only pulled out the tape that she was hiding in her Cheerios pocket.

"But you know what? It just wouldn't be as fun winning regionals.....if you weren't there to suffer through the agony of defeat." Kurt had thrown the tape back over to Sebastian who had caught it with ease.

"At least now all your teammates get to know exactly what kind of guy you are."

"Get the hell out of here." Matteo ordered. Sebastian glanced over at Nellie one last time before walking out of the auditorium with a small laugh escaping his lips.

Word count:3,259

hey lol

see you in another five months 💀💀