I PICK PENNY AND MOM
GOSSIP!

MR SCHUE WAS CERTAIN ON HIS ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK IN GLEE CLUB. Strutting into the choir room, he immediately picked up the board marker and spelled out the word 'ballad' before harshly dotting the full stop and spinning round on his heels with a rather loud and enthusiastic clap that caused Penny to spring awake from where she was slowly falling asleep against Finn's shoulder.

Silencing the glee club quickly with the start of the lesson, Mr Schue pointed to the board as he began, "ballad. From the Middle English 'balade.' Who knows what that means?"

As both Kurt and Rachel's hands shot up, Brittany intercepted, shouting out her answer in a proud voice, "a male duck."

"Close." Penny whispered over her shoulder towards Brittany in full support of the girl so her smile wouldn't falter any more than if already had.

Taking his chance once again as Rachel's hand stayed firmly in the air, Kurt held his hand up more casually, grinning smugly as Mr Schue picked him to speak over Rachel for once, "a ballad is a love song."

"Sometimes." Mr Schue agreed before elaborating, "but they don't always express love. A ballad is a story set to music which is why they are the perfect form of self-expression. Stories and music are the way we express feelings we can't get out any other way. Okay, now Sectionals are in a few weeks and there's a new rule this year... we have to perform a ballad."

Gasping dramatically, Rachel clutched Puck's arm besides her out of pure excitement, making him jump, "looks like my weekly letter to the Ohio Show Choir Committee finally paid off!"

Whilst most of the room was filled with eye rolls, Mr Schue moved swiftly onto the weekly assignment, "I'm gonna pair you off and I want you to sing a ballad to your partner. Look them right in the eye, find the emotion you want to express and make them feel it."

Instantly, Finn threw his hand down onto Quinn's thigh, smiling at her, "I pick Quinn." He stated, wanting to make his choice of partner clear before anyone else could interfere.

Frowning, Quinn reached round Finn and placed a hand on Penelope's shoulder, "but i wanted to pick Penny."

When Finn's mouth dropped open in betrayal, Penny gave Quinn's hand a squeeze, "I choose you too, Quinn."

Putting an end to their partner choosing as most of the glee club alongside these three naturally glided into pairs, Mr Schue had a plan up his sleeve that he knew they wouldn't necessarily like, "no, no, no. That'd be way too easy. Your partners will be chosen by fate." Spinning round on his heels to pick up his hat, he let out a smug chuckle at the sound of their peaked interest, "I put all of your names in this hat and whoever you choose is your partner."

Looking around with furrowed eyebrows, Rachel's hand shot up, "Mr Schuester, there's an odd number of us."

Unfazed by this, Mr Schue just shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I'll just have to put name in the hat then."

The name picking started with Mercedes who, much to her dismay, picked Puck. Once she was done, others began to follow until it was Penny's turn. With an encouraging pat on the back from Finn, Penny jumped out of her seat and took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut tight as she wished and hoped that she wouldn't pick Mr Schue or Rachel. Eventually choosing the slip of paper she wanted, Penny opened her eyes and beamed as she saw Brittany's name written on it, "Brittany!"

Gasping excitedly, Brittany clapped her hands and rushed forward to throw herself into Penny's arms out of pure joy.

Sitting back in her seat, Santana pursed her lips as she watched the interaction through narrowed eyes, suspicious of Brittany's new friend and secretly jealous of the good times they were spending together, without her. As Brittany threw herself back in her seat besides her with the widest smile on her face, Santana broke away from her slight glare on the back of Penelope's head and smiled back at her, keeping her thoughts to herself. In the meanwhile, Rachel had insisted that she and her new partner, Mr Schue, did a demonstration of 'Endless Love' for the glee club and almost instantly had fallen in love with him, which was enough to take her mind off it all.

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FINN'S MOM FOUND OUT ABOUT QUINN'S PREGNANCY AFTER WALKING IN ON HIM SINGING TO A SONOGRAM. The idea of Kurt's had been a good one at first, helping Finn to both come to terms with his feelings and get them out in the open however now they were too far out on the open.

Stood back, a few members of glee club were watching worriedly as Finn and Quinn were arguing, Quinn clearly winning. Sighing deeply as they all kept their eyes locked on the arguing couple, Tina scrunched up her nose, "I feel bad for them, having to go through this on their own."

"Me too." Penny agreed, "they're both under so much pressure and it's getting to them." She sighed sadly, after getting to know both Finn and Quinn quite well she knew herself how much they were both struggling individually from listening to them rant out their feelings to her.

Watching sympathetically as Quinn stormed off down the hall, leaving Finn to throw his back against the lockers behind him, Mercedes gave Penelope a pat on the arm, "go talk to him, Penny, make sure he's alright. He'll talk to you out of all of us."

Sudden feelings taking over, Kurt quickly threw his name into the equation, "or I could go... you know, let me see what I could do."

Turning to Mercedes with furrowed eyebrows, Penny shrugged her shoulders as she mentally questioned what to say in reply, "Do you think he'll want to talk to me? I don't want him to feel like I'm invading his space you know?"

Rolling her eyes, Mercedes grabbed her by the shoulders and began pushing her gently out towards Finn, "don't be stupid, trust me girl, if he didn't want you in his space he's stop making excuses to hang out with you. He clearly wants to be your new bestie so just go and tell us everything."

Trusting her word, Penny picked up her speed and saluted back at them playfully, "I'll report back if there's anything you need to know." 

Heading over towards Finn, Penny had barely leant against the lockers besides him before he started looking relieved at her presence and ranting his feelings to her. Running his hands over his face, he shook his head dramatically, "Penelope help me I'm so stressed."

All the other possible responses that she'd mentally planned out in the short walk between her little group and Finn Hudson flying out of her mind, Penny's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish for a moment, just blinking, before replying with, "okay. Uh, how do you want me to help?"

"I dunno just talk to me." He replied.

"I know you're both under a lot of stress right now but if it'll help I'll take you both out for ice cream after school. I know ice cream helps me when I'm stressed." Penny suggested, searching for a solution that could put a smile on his face.

A smile breaking out on his face, Finn seemed on board until he remembered one significant factor, "unless Quinn's still mad at me, then I'll probably just cry. The pregnancy hormones are making her kinda nuts and I think they're rubbing off on me because I keep crying."

Shrugging her shoulders, Penny could definitely see both sides but after a moment of consideration thought to stand up for Quinn in this situation, "I mean, she can't exactly help the pregnancy hormones and she's under a lot of stress. But so are you. What did you even do to make her so mad?"

"My mom caught me singing to the sonogram and found out. Quinn's scared she's gonna tell other moms, but my mom doesn't talk to other moms... well... apart from yours now." A moment of panic taking over, Finn whipped round to face her with eyes widened in fear, "and she wouldn't tell anyone would she?"

Scrunching up her face to try not to laugh at the thought, Penny shook her head to reassure him, "no she wouldn't. My mom doesn't talk to many moms either, just the original glee clubs moms and Matt's mom and she wouldn't tell any of them. My mom just listens in on all the mom gossip and tells me everything. It's brilliant."

Unable to hold back a laugh, Finn shook his head out of amusement at Penny's wide smile, "of course you love the mom gossip you big dork."

"It's interesting!" Penny defended herself, holding her hands up in surrender as Finn just laughed at her, "I'll fill you in on it sometime and you'll get what I mean."

"As long as it's not about Quinn, I'd love to hear it all." Finn agreed, running his hand through his hair, "I don't want her getting any more annoyed with me, I think we'd both explode."

"You're both under a lot of pressure, you're bound to get frustrated with each other." Penny tried to reassure him, calmly, hoping that his fighting with Quinn wasn't getting either of them down as much as it looked as though it was. Deciding to focus on Finn with him being the one there, Penny hoped to take his mind off things, diverting the conversation straight onto ice cream.

                         ♪  ♪  ♪   

AFTER SCHOOL, BRITTANY AND PENELOPE HAD GOTTEN LUCKY THAT THE CHOIR ROOM WAS FREE TO PRACTICE IN. Setting down her backpack by the piano, Penny rummaged inside for her sheet music whilst Brittany kept her ever-dreamy look on her face and sat down on the chair opposite, crossing her legs to get comfortable.

After finally getting the pages in the right order, Penny stood forward with a shy smile, "I've chosen my ballad, do you wanna sing or shall I go first?"

"Well I don't have mine yet. I still don't really know what a ballad is." Brittany admitted, though not at all worried by her confession, "I was too busy trying to forget having to watch Mr Schue and Rachel sing together that I forgot everything from that day."

With a chuckle, Penny shook her head with amusement, "I wish I could forget it. She's now obsessed with him, but at least she's not obsessed with Finn anymore... well, for the moment anyway."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Brittany thought for a moment that she'd missed out on some key information in her friends life, "do you like Finn then?"

"No! I definitely don't. I like girls actually." Penny smiled back at her a little awkwardly, slightly taken aback, "so Finn's definitely not an option."

"Oh that's cool!" Brittany beamed, "guess that's good anyway since Quinn's pregnant."

"Which is why I'm kinda glad Rachel's distracted with a romance with Mr Schue. Even if it is one-sided... or I freaking hope it's one-sided." Penny thought aloud, scrunching her face up in disgust as pictures came to her mind that she never wanted to see and never wanted to see ever again. Shuddering, she quickly wanted to change the subject before her mind could wander off further, "uh shall I sing my ballad then?"

Nodding, Brittany jumped up from her seat and leant her head on Penelope's shoulder to read the title of the song she was singing. Face lighting up, she turned to her with shining eyes, "I love this song! Maybe I could sing it with you, so we'll have both done our ballad."

"Yeah I love that idea. You're a genius, Britt." Penny grinned, grabbing a music stand and placing all her music on top of it so they could both see it as Brittany lit up with pride, absolutely delighted with a compliment that she never seemed to get very often at all. Pressing play on the CD player, Penny and Brittany exchanged one last smile before the music caught up with them ready to sing.

[TALKING TO THE MOON BY BRUNO MARS — SANG BY PENELOPE CRAWFORD AND BRITTANY PIERCE]

♪ ♪ ♪

THANKS TO A SONG, QUINN'S PARENTS NOW KNEW HER SECRET. Now being forced to live with Finn after being kicked out by her own parents, Quinn was more down than ever and it was a horrible sight to see.

At lunch the next day, Mercedes, Kurt, Artie, Tina and Penny were joined by Mike and Matt at their lunch table, nobody really filling the quietness as they all glanced over towards where Quinn had chosen to sit on her own, poking around with the food on her plate. Biting the inside of her cheek, Mercedes finally broke the silence, "I feel so awful for her. I mean look at us, none of us can properly sing our ballads because we're so worried about how they're feeling."

Glancing over her shoulder, Penny felt the same, the terrified phone call she had gotten from Finn last night after everything happened coming back to her suddenly as the thought of what the two were going through came back into conversation, "this is the last thing Quinn wanted to happen." Penny added on, quietly, "she knew her parents would react how they did."

A wave of silence came over the table. Putting her head on her hands, Tina let out a long sigh, "I wish there was something we could do. You know, to at least take their minds off it all."

After thinking for a moment, Mike had thought he'd come up with the perfect idea. Throwing a grape into Matt's mouth, he put forward his suggestion, "we could make them a cake? Finn loves cake."

Shuddering at the thought, Artie was practically scarred from the bake sale they'd had a few weeks back to try and raise money for a bus to Sectionals for him, "the glee club and baking doesn't ever seem to work. We don't want to poison them or the baby."

"The problem is that we don't really know what they'd like." Kurt pointed out, the voice of reason as ever within the group.

Instantly, all eyes had locked on the two popular kids who had fancied drifting over to the glee club table a while away from where the other football players were sitting. Noticing after a moment, Matt and Mike glanced between one another with wide eyes, holding their hands up in surrender, "don't ask us." Matt protested, "we may be kinda popular but that doesn't mean we know anything."

"You're help." Penny teased, causing Matt to gasp in mock offense and Mike to throw a grape at her. After fighting off the attacks, she shrugged her shoulders as a train of thought came to her, "how about we sing for them?" She suggested, making the groups heads turn, "I know it sounds very 'glee clubby' but we could sing them a ballad just to show them that we've got their backs." Growing shy at the looks she was receiving, Penny could feel her cheeks start to heat up and instinctively pulled her jumper cuffs around her hands, "...maybe?"

"Lean On Me." Mercedes suggested, the idea coming to get instantly, snapping her fingers as her eyes lit up with inspiration.

"That's perfect." Tina beamed, feeling as though everything was coming together.

"I totally agree dude." Penny nodded, her grin only faltering for a moment as she noticed Quinn once again out of the corner of her eye. Furrowing her eyebrows, she made up her mind, "but maybe first we should just ask her if she wants to sit with us."

All looking towards Quinn and then back towards each other, a unanimous decision was made almost instantly across the table as all of their eyes met. Reaching over, Matt pulled a new chair up besides his as Penelope got out of her seat to move towards Quinn.

Weaving through the tables, Penny finally reached the girl and pointed to the seat besides her, "is this seat taken?" She asked, slightly nervously.

A small smile coming to her lips, Quinn shook her head, "no."

Leaving a moment of silence between them for her to get used to her presence, Penny decided just to go for it, internally hoping that she had made the right decision, "we were wondering if you'd like to come sit with us. Over there, where Kurt is, you can see his outfit from a mile away." She let out a small chuckle as she directed Quinn's eyes over to the table who were back to laughing together in the wait for Penelope to return with their friend.

Observing the table carefully, the usually confident Quinn Fabray retreated into her seat, chewing on her lip, unsure. She grew nervous and despite knowing the lovely natures of the group sat together, couldn't help but feel anxious at the thought. Noticing how quiet she was, Penny frowned for a second, leaning round to try and catch a better view of her face without invading her privacy, "Quinn? You don't have to, nobody minds if you do or not, it was just so know that you don't have to sit alone."

With these few words, Quinn slowly was starting to feel more sure, "I want to. I would love to. It's just..." she trailed off, with a shrug of her shoulders.

"No one at that table is judging you for anything that's going on." Penny reassured her, "or for what happened last night, no one there is judging you, I promise. We all just want to be there for you. And we may not be anywhere near as cool as the friends you're used to but but we promise that we'll be friends that care for you."

Nodding, Quinn reached over and took Penny's hand in hers, "thank you." She whispered, before picking up her bag and standing from her seat with Penny following closely. Taking a deep breath, she managed to hold her head high as she moved away from the isolated table.

Almost to her surprise, as she got right up to the table, Quinn was met with bright smiles and Matt patting the seat besides him for her to sit, making her feel at home at the table already, deep down feeling grateful that they'd thought of her and