DAKOTA STANLEY AND I'M SORRY COOKIES!

A NEW SONG FOR GLEE CLUB CAME WITH NEW CHOREOGRAPHY. Trying her best to keep up, Penelope internally congratulated herself for every step she got right. But even as someone as useless at dancing as her, she knew the choreography just wasn't great.

Throwing her arms down half way through Mr Schue's walkthrough of his choreography, Rachel held her hand up for his attention, "can we stop please?"

Obviously keen to get back to the dancing, Mr Schue waved her off, "you don't have to ask me every time for permission to go to the bathroom, Rachel, you can just go."

"It's not my bladder." Rachel informed him, with a brief glance towards Quinn and Santana to will her on, "it's the choreography."

"What's wrong with the choreography?" Mr Schue asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. From the look on his face, he clearly thought he was a great choreographer.

"It sucks." Rachel told him, bluntly, before explaining herself, "we can't compete with Vocal Adrenaline with these steps. You're a great vocal coach, Mr Schue, but you're not a trained choreographer. That's what we need to be the best, we need Dakota Stanley."

Having no idea who he was, Penny turned to Artie next to her with a shrug of her shoulders, until Quinn stepped forward to explain, "he's the best show choir choreographer in the Midwest. He works with Vocal Adrenaline."

"He was the understudy to the Candelabra in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway." Santana chipped in to try and gain the attention of the original glee members.

Still upset at his choreography being shamed, Mr Schue folded his arms over his chest, "just because he understudied doesn't mean he ever performed."

Taking another step forward, Quinn took control of the situation with her hands planted on her hips, "did you ever perform, Mr Schue?" She questioned, harshly, "after high school, did you even try?"

Exchanging glances with Artie and Tina at the sight of Mr Schue's face falling, they felt enough pity to want to stand up for him. But the three Cheerios stood at the front in an intimidating stance was an easy way to stop them. Luckily, before anyone could say anything that would make Mr Schuester any closer to tears, the bell had rung and the glee club swiftly made their exit.

As Penny pushed Artie out of the choir room, she let out a deep breathe, "that wasn't awkward at all." She said, her voice laced with sarcasm as Artie chuckled in agreement.

                         ♪  ♪  ♪

FEELING EYES ON HER, PENNY LOOKED OVER HER SHOULDER TO SEE BRITTANY THERE. Turning around slowly to greet her, Penelope couldn't help but to be confused as to why one of the most popular girls in school was stood besides her locker.

Figuring that she was looking for someone else, Penny glanced around for any sight of Santana or Quinn and when she realised she couldn't see either, she apprehensively pointed a finger towards her own chest.

Nodding in return, Brittany let out a small laugh, "Hello Penny, I'm Brittany." She smiled, sweetly.

"I-I know." Penny managed to get out slowly, almost alert and ready for a slushy to be tossed in her face by an upcoming football player for even making eye contact with Brittany.

Sensing her nervousness, Brittany smiled softly in her direction, "don't be nervous. This is our first ever conversation, this is a good thing."

Holding her eyes shut for a second to get over her embarrassment, Penelope did a single nod of her head, finally opening her eyes and letting herself relax, "yeah, this is a good thing. What'd you want to talk about?"

"I was watching you in glee club today, you're a really good dancer." She complimented.

Taken aback, Penny frowned, puzzled, "I'm literally worse than Finn." She whispered.

Shrugging her shoulders, Brittany still just smiled at her innocently, "well maybe you're better when you're not moving but i still think you're good. Mr Schue's choreography is awful anyway so you're okay."

"I don't think it's that bad." Penny admitted, beginning to feel more comfortable around Brittany as the looks she was getting for talking so freely to her seemed to go completely over her head, "I mean, at least I can pick up the simple stuff. Dakota Stanley sounds like his choreography will be hard."

"I'll help you." She offered, casually, "I can at least try and get you to Finn level good."

Nodding in agreement, Penny let a smile tug at the corner of her lips and chuckled gently, "thanks Brittany, I'd love that, but I don't think there's enough teaching in the world to make me a good dancer."

"Okay, you may suck at dancing, but I'm sure there's plenty of things you don't suck at." Brittany shrugged with a smile, taking a moment to look the girl in front of her up and down, "you should join the Cheerios so we can hang out more. I can tell you all about Lord Tubbington."

"I'm really scared of Coach Sylvester." Penelope laughed, lowly, "but I'd love to hear about Lord Tubbington."

Brittany's smile lit up at her answer, but before she could continue, Santana had made her way down the halls and held out a pinkie for her to put in hers, giving Penny a forced smile before gesturing for Brittany to follow after. Eagerly locking pinkies with Santana, Brittany gave Penny a wave, "we should hang out some time! See you in glee club!"

Waving back at her, Penelope nodded as she watched them walk away down the hall together before spinning round to face her locker once again, full of smiles. Shaking her head in amusement, she realised how fun Brittany was to be around.

♪ ♪ ♪

AFTER STARTING THE ACAFELLAS, THE GLEE CLUB HAD BECOME LESS OF A PRIORITY TO MR SCHUE. With him missing yet another rehearsal, the glee club sat quietly minding their own business in the choir room.

Sat at the piano, Penny let Tina paint her nails whilst Finn sat next to her facing the opposite direction, playing a couple of notes on the piano in front of him.

The hushed conversations in the room were silenced when Rachel came through the door with a plate of pink cookies in her hands. As everyone turned to look at her, she broke the news, "he's not coming."

Standing up from his seat, Finn looked most concerned, "what happened?"

Slamming the cookies down on the top of the piano, Rachel began to tell them about the conversation she'd just had with Mr Schue. Getting the okay from Tina, Penny flashed a guilty look Rachel's way before reaching over and snatching the plate of cookies, taking one herself before offering them to Tina, Mercedes, Kurt and Artie.

Rolling his eyes, Finn was quick to throw the blame at Rachel, standing up for his teacher, "of course he wants nothing to do with us after you kicked him in the nads."

"Then why did he thank me." Rachel sassed, putting her hands firmly on her hips.

"The goal is to win." Santana spoke up, confidently over the stand off between Finn and Rachel, "and now that Mr Schuester's agreed to let us hire Dakota Stanley, we can."

Frowning, Finn was still insistent on talking them out of it, "but he doesn't want to. He just doesn't have to confidence to coach us any more. Guys are real sensitive when it comes to this stuff." He finished quietly, with a pout dancing on his face.

"And that's my fault?" Rachel challenged, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Do you see anyone else here with a plate of 'I'm sorry' cookies? No, just you." Finn shot back, sighing deeply in disappointment as he took his seat once again and hastily took a cookie off the plate Penelope was holding out for him, shoving it into his mouth.

After a short moment of silence, Quinn stood and straightened out her skirt before crossing her arms over her chest with pursed lips, "I'm bored." She announced, "all those in favour of hiring Dakota Stanley?"

As hands started to slowly go up under the influence of Quinn, Santana and Brittany, Penny knew she had to think fast. Feeling a hard nudge against her leg as the last of the glee club seemed to have their hand up, Penny locked eyes with Finn, seeing his pleading expression before deciding to keep her hand down.

The decision had been made by majority as the bell rang. Collecting up their things, Finn gave Penny a grateful smile, "thanks for sticking with me."

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Penelope grinned back at him, "what are friends for?" She laughed before rushing out the choir room door after Mercedes and Tina.

♪ ♪ ♪

A CAR WASH MEANT THAT THE GLEE CLUB COULD AFFORD TO HIRE DAKOTA STANLEY. Having them stand in a line in the choir room, Dakota had handed them each a sheet of paper with their personalised menus on, which had the glee club looking round at each other with frowns on their faces.

"Um mine just says coffee?" Mercedes questioned, growing even more confused as Dakota Stanley continued to nod.

Looking at her diet of simply salad, Penny let out a deep sigh, figuring that she wouldn't be sneaking anymore cookies whilst Dakota was around, but she felt slightly better when Rachel spoke up with hers, "what's smelt?"

"A pungent, low-carb, freshwater fish." Dakota told her, pacing to the end of the line and pointing right at Artie, "okay, let's start with today's lesson. Artie, you're cut, you're not trying hard enough."

Exchanging a wide eyes glance with Mercedes and Tina as Artie's mouth hung open in disappointment and shock, they were left speechless until Artie tried to reason with him, "at what?"

"At walking." Dakota said bluntly, causing outrage from Artie's friends, "we can't be wheeling you around in every number. It throws off the whole dynamic and it's depressing."

"So you're kicking him out?" Mercedes protested, narrowing her eyes at him.

Looking her up and down, Dakota Stanley's harshness didn't stop there, "Also you, you's got to go too Effie."

"She literally has the voice of an angel what are you doing?" Penny mumbled through her irritation, realizing that she maybe spoken up too loud and hiding herself away from Dakota's glare.

"You can't just kick people out of glee club because you don't like the way they look." Kurt continued to stand up for his friends, getting nods of agreement.

"Um why don't you shut your face gash and stay away from aerosol cans because you could burst into flames at any moment." Dakota hit back before moving onto Penelope with a grimace, "why is your forehead so big? You look like you could fit a whole other face on top of that. You really need to sort that out."

Making a face of disgust, he seemed eager to move onto the three Cheerios, "you three — you're great, you're perfect, seriously, don't change a thing." He complimented before giving Rachel the same look of disgust he'd given Penny, "you — ew, nose job."

"Now just hold on a second." Finn jumped to Rachel's defence.

"What? What was that Frankenteen? Why don't you wipe the dopey look off your face and get some lotion for those knuckles you've been dragging around?"

At this point, Finn and everyone except the Cheerios were fed up, "what's wrong with you?"

Scoffing, Dakota Stanley was quick to turn it on them, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me is that you're freakishly tall. I feel like a woodland Creature. Um, am I hurting your feelings? Did I say something wrong? Because I thought you wanted somebody who respected you enough to tell you the truth. But maybe you don't have the confidence to hear it, hmm? Maybe you need somebody who's going to lie to you and tell you things like, 'you got what it takes.' But you know what? As far as I can see, you don't. So, why don't you just take a little second, take a breather, And ask yourself, 'Do I want to be a winner or not?'"

"Screw this. I quit." Finn announced, going to storm out the choir room with everyone except Rachel and the Cheerios following after.

"Me t-t-too." Tina said, linking her arm in Penelope's.

"If I wanted someone to point out all my insecurities I'd just look in a mirror." Penelope added spitefully, going slightly red with embarrassment as she realised how depressing that made her sound and Artie reached up to give her a sympathetic rub on the arm.

As the small group began to pick up their things and leave whilst Dakota waved them off unbothered, Rachel had to quickly form a plan in her mind, calling out, "wait! Barbara Streisand. When she was a young ingenue, everyone told her that in order to be a star, she'd have to get a nose job. Thankfully she refused."

The only person who seemed confused by Rachel's outburst was Dakota Stanley, "where's this going Yentl?"

"Where it's going is that we don't need you." Rachel said confidently, "let's face it, we're never gonna be as good dancers as Vocal Adrenaline, especially with Finn and Penelope on the team." With her attempt at a light joke, she continued, "we're gonna win because we're different and that's what makes us special."

"They told J-Lo her booty was too big." Mercedes piped up in agreement with Rachel, taking a step forward with her hands on her hips.

"Curtis Mayfield was actually more successful after he began paralysed." Artie added on, rolling next to Mercedes.

"Jim Abbot." Finn contributed to which Kurt gave him a confused look and whispered, "I have no idea who that is."

"He was a one armed pitched for the Yankee's. Pitched a no hitter." Finn explained. Looking to each other with a shrug, Penny and Kurt didn't understand still, but smiled along anyways.

Scoffing loudly, Dakota Stanley was eager to push their spirits back down, "okay, so, yeah, misfits and cripples can make it too, that's great. What's your point?" He asked, full of sarcasm.

"Our point is that you're fired." Rachel told him, smirking victoriously, taking a step towards him with her hands firmly on her hips, "and I'm taller than you."

"Barely." Dakota grumbled, spinning on his heels and storming out of the choir room.

"Take that woodland creature!" Penny shouted out after him, holding her hands out for high fives from everyone. Talking up over the celebrations, she furrowed her eyebrows, "Wait are we gonna get our money back?"

Shrugging their shoulders, this seemed to be the least of the glee clubbers worries, with the only thing left to do was convince Mr Schuester to come back.