SLUSHIES AND DANCING WITH BRITT!

PENELOPE WAS USED TO BEING SLUSHIED. All throughout her time at Mckinley, she had experienced a frozen slushy to the face almost every time she passed someone who was higher up on the Mckinley hierarchy than she was, which was almost everyone and now she was in the glee club, it was only getting worse.

Today was no exception. Unlike when she first got a slushy to the face, Penny had real friends now. Real friends who would grab her hand and pull her into the nearest bathroom to help her clean up and who she'd do the same for. And now she'd found herself hanging out with Finn and Quinn more than anyone, after shouting angrily at a football player for slushying her, Quinn had pulled her into the bathroom to help her wipe the ice cold cherry slushy from her face.

Stepping outside the bathroom with a smile on her face, Penny caught sight of Finn leant with his back against the notice board and made her way over to stand next to him, with Quinn following behind. Throwing her the same hoodie that he'd leant her the first time, Finn chuckled lightly, "you might as well keep this the amount of times you've had to borrow it."

Rolling her eyes playfully, Penny muttered a thanks as she slipped it over her head, laughing slightly as she realized how long the arms were, "it's not my fault, is it?"

A frown coming to her face, Quinn shook her head over at the slushy left on the floor after it had been tossed into Penny's face, "I do wish they'd stop slushying you. I don't see what you ever did to deserve it. You're not annoying like Berry. You're pretty cool."

Pouting, Penny held a hand over her heart, shrugging her shoulders, "it doesn't bother me too much now, I'm kind of used to it. I think I'm almost immune to the stinging in my eyes now."

"You shouldn't have to be used to it." Finn sighed, "those guys are just assholes."

"Yeah, but at least I have friends now. If you'd told me a couple of months ago that Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson would be helping me clean up after a slushy facial and calling the guys who did it assholes, I'd tell you you were insane." Penny laughed, as Quinn linked her arm in hers as they began to walk down the hall together.

They hadn't gotten far at all down the hall before two hockey players came strutting down the hallway with a slushy in hand. Sighing as she saw them smirk at one another cockily, Penny braced herself for her second slushy of the day, squeezing her eyes tight shut. It came as a complete shock to hear the familiar taunting of after you'd been slushied but she didn't feel cold at all.

In fact, it wasn't even Penelope who had been slushed this time. It was Finn Hudson. Opening one eye slowly, Penny glanced down at the hoodie Finn had leant her, mouth agape as she realised it was still one colour, mouth falling open further in shock as she then looked round to see Finn covered in slushy, pinning Dave Karofsky to the nearest wall, "what the hell Karofsky?!"

"Oh I've wanted to do that ever since fifth grade when you made fun of me for having pubes." Karofsky said, smugly, "now that you've joined lullaby lees and insperminated the queen of the chastity ball and dropped below us hockey guys on the food chain... it's open season."

Stepping forwards, Quinn scowled at him, "screw you Karofsky! You and your Neanderthal puck heads are nothing."

"I'd pipe down if I were you Fabray." Karofsky challenged her with another smug smile, "looks like you're the only one here who we haven't slushied today... yet."

Pushing him harder, Finn was only made more angry by his comments towards his girlfriend, who was stood besides Penny, glaring daggers at Karofsky, "you're gonna pay for this, dude!"

Scoffing through a laugh, Dave shook his head in disagreement, his confidence only growing by the second, "no I'm not. You two don't have the juice anymore. Especially if you keep that lady-loving freak around. Welcome to the new world order." He announced, only smirking more confidently as Penny cowered behind Quinn, embarrassed, before slipping away from the three of them down the hall with an extra spring in his step.

Almost immediately, Quinn had spun round to face Penny with a soft smile, "don't listen to him. We like having you around."

"And you're not a freak!" Finn added on quickly, tilting his head onto the side a little and beaming at her as he thought aloud, "you're a little bit weird but you're still totally almost cool."

Hearing Quinn let out a slightly disappointed sigh from besides her only made Penny laugh harder, "thanks Finn, I might consider helping you get rid of the slushy that's just been tossed in your face now you think I'm only a little bit weird."

"You better." Finn laughed back, "my eyes are burning."

Patting him on the back, Penny gave him a sympathetic smile, "you get used to it, i promise." She told him as they trailed on after Quinn, whispering to one another silently as Quinn was too busy striding ahead brainstorming how to push themselves back to the top spot on the Mckinley hierarchy to even notice they had stopped paying attention.

Making it to the choir room, Finn threw himself down on the drum stool whilst Quinn grabbed hold of the spare towel that she'd kept hold of after helping Penny clean off after her slushy and gently started to wipe the remaining ice off of Finn's face.

Mouths dropping open, the glee club had instantly dropped into shocked whispers at the sight of Finn Hudson, the quarterback covered in grape slushy and were panicking more than ever about their position on the food chain at Mckinley high. Feeling disheartened, Mercedes leant back in her chair and sighed, "if Finn and Quinn got slushied then none of us are safe."

Sitting herself down besides her, Penny kept quiet but nodded in agreement, feeling as glum as the rest of them at the thought of the taunting getting any worse than it already was. She hated the freezing burning sensation of the slushies than she let on.

Breaking them all away from their pouting, Mr Schue came waltzing into the choir room, later than everyone as usual and full of his usual enthusiasm, "okay guys, we're a little bit behind for Sectionals thanks to our Sue Sylvester detour, but you guys seem to really enjoy doing mashups and I'm gonna keep you guys fired up. Plus, there's an important lesson to be learnt with mashups. Some things are so different that they don't feel like they go together, but the big difference between them is what makes them great... like... chocolate and bacon."

Scrunching her nose up in disgust, Penny was glad to glance around and see she wasn't the only one who still thought that this didn't sound great.

"Like glee club and football." Finn pitched in, the frustration of being slushied evident in his tone.

Spinning round on his heels and pointing straight back at him, Mr Schue clearly hadn't picked up on his irritation or the fact that he was covered in slushy, "exactly! But you've proved that it can be a great combination." He grinned, beginning to hand out some sheet music to the glee club, he explained the assignment, "this is my personal favourite song and your homework for the week is to find an unexpected mashup to go with it."

"Bust a move?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrows skeptically as he looked up from the sheet music to see Mr Schue nodding eagerly.

"Yeah this song's old school." Mercedes chipped in, struggling not to laugh out loud at the thought of the glee club having to sing this.

Ignoring the clear opposition to 'Bust a Move' in the room, Mr Schue was having trouble to get anyone eager enough to lead the glee club in song. Unfortunately for them, he clearly loved the song enough to throw his vest to the side and sing it himself.

For Penny, the best part of the song itself was when Brittany jumped up from her seat and ran over her way, immediately grabbing onto her hands and pulling her out of her chair, spinning her underneath her arm and encouraging her to dance along with her. Going red from embarrassment at first, Penny managed to meet Brittany's eyes shining back at her happily before letting out a carefree laugh and letting herself dance round the choir room with her like it was just the two of them. So at this point, she was as oblivious to the looks of bewilderment as she managed to trip across a chair and almost fall flat on her face, arms flailing about as Brittany watched. Her smiles were so infectious that she almost forgot that Mr Schue was singing 'Bust a Move' in the choir room.

Penny loved being around Brittany.

[BUST A MOVE — SANG BY WILL SCHUESTER]

                        ♪  ♪  ♪

COACH TANAKA HAD FORCED THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FOOTBALL AND GLEE CLUB. Naturally, the remaining members of glee club hadn't much hope for anyone choosing glee when the clock turned three thirty but they were still all huddled round together gazing up at the clock just waiting for it to prove them right.

Stood between Quinn and Brittany, Penny chewed onto her bottom lip nervously. Out of all of the guys, she hoped most that Finn would walk through the door because as time had gone on, she'd found herself spending most of her time by his side. She'd first really talked to Matt and Mike the previous week but she'd enjoyed their company, they were a bit more reserved at first, but once you'd gotten to know them, they were pretty cool, like herself. Puck was the only one who she wasn't necessarily bothered about coming back, but he thought they were besties so he might as well, she thought.

The second they heard the clock hit three thirty, the glee club all whipped round immediately, and waited for a moment for anyone to walk through the doors. After a moment of silence, everyone's shoulders slumped.

Letting out a sigh, Mr Schue knew that this was bad news, "I guess they're not coming. I'm really sorry guys."

"I can't believe this." Mercedes breathed out, upset, "I thought they were our friends, how can they just abandon us?"

A moment later, footsteps could be heard approaching the door and Matt and Mike walked through, both of them grinning at the group who had caught sight of them and were now beaming with joy.

Being closest to them, Santana and Brittany rushed forward, pulling them both into a hug before bringing them back into the group of welcoming arms.

Standing between Penny and Brittany, Mike wrapped an arm around each of them, feeling on top of the world, "I don't think anyone's ever been this happy to see us."

Looking up at him, Penny chuckled, "We're always happy to see you. Well, I am."

"Someone's gotta match up to your dancing ability, Penny." Mike teased.

Leaning his arm over, Matt was quick to add to the teasing, brushing onto her shoulder, "yeah! Can't have you taking the dance lead all by yourself!"

Rolling her eyes playfully, Penny shook her head, "okay you can go back to football now."

Taking her by surprise, Mike wrapped his other arm around her, dramatically exclaiming, "never!" Only making her laugh harder and feel more relieved that they had come back to glee club, distracting her for a moment from her nerves.

Noah Puckerman was also full of surprises week. First, deciding to date Rachel Berry and now walking through the choir room door to a chorus of shocked gasps from the group. Beaming, Rachel was as pleasantly surprised as anyone else, walking forward to meet him at the door.

Turning to Quinn, Penny saw her let out a deep sigh at the sight of everyone except Finn walk through the door to meet them. Making eye contact with Mike, Penny sighed as well as he shook his head discreetly, knowing exactly that he knew that Finn Hudson wasn't gonna be the final surprise waltzing into the choir room. Reaching out, she took Quinn's hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

                        ♪  ♪  ♪

FINN HUDSON WAS BACK ON TOP WHICH ONLY LED TO EVEN MORE SLUSHIES. At her locker, Penny kept the hood of her raincoat right up over her head to try and protect herself from the insane amount of slushies that the glee club had received that week.

Pulling her head out from her locker as she heard Tina and Artie come up behind her, she smiled at them, also with their raincoats wrapped around themselves tightly before her smile faltered at the sight of Finn Hudson heading their way with a slushy in hand and a guilt covered his face.

As each member of the glee club caught sight of this, they immediately gathered around Penny's locker alongside her, waiting to watch what was about to go down, hoping they'd only assumed the worst.

"I really don't want to, honestly." He told her, the second he got to her locker, glancing guiltily between her eyes and the purple slushy in his hand, "we're like good friends now and I don't want you to hate me."

"But you've been getting so much pressure from those assholes on the football team." Penelope finished for him, biting the inside of her cheek, "Who's the quarterback hanging out with a loser, right? But wasn't it you who was calling those guys assholes for slushying me the other day?"

Going silent for a moment, the only thing that could be heard was Artie whispering proud words of encouragement under his breathe whilst Finn was wishing that the ground would swallow him whole. Looking down at the slushy once more, he wanted to show that he still cared, "I got grape slushy. I-I know that it's your favourite flavour and it's the easiest to clean out of your hair."

Stepping forward, Mercedes pointed a finger right at him, "you are not gonna slushy on my girl Penny."

Before Finn could even open his mouth, Rachel was speaking up, bitterly, "why wouldn't he? He's made his choice. He doesn't care about us losers anymore."

"No that's not true." Finn shook his head, "it's just that if I don't do it, the guys are gonna kick the crap out of me."

Rolling his eyes, Kurt was next to take Penny's defense, crossing his arms over his chest, "so you're just gonna slushy the crap out of your friends?"

Fed up of the waiting for the ice to be tossed into her face, Penny took in a deep breath, reaching out and taking the slushy from Finn's hands and holding it in front of her face. Face filled with confusion, Finn furrowed his eyebrows, "what are you doing?"

Meeting his eyes, she gave him a smile, "it's called taking one for the team." She told him before throwing the slushy into her own face, causing a bunch of gasps to echo around the group.

Instantly putting an arm round her, Kurt looked up to Finn's shocked face, "now get out of here." He snapped, "and take some time to think about whether any of your friends on the football team would've done that for you."

Wiping her eyes harshly, Penny blinked a few times to see Finn slowly walking away from them, looking back over his shoulder at them almost every two seconds, shaken up by what happened. Patting her proudly on the back, Kurt rounded up the group to lead her into the bathroom, "come on, let's get you to a day-spa, stat!"

                         ♪  ♪  ♪

STILL FEELING GUILTY FOR SLUSHYING HIS FRIEND, FINN APPROACHED PENNY AT HER LOCKER AGAIN. Nervous, he knocked on the back of her locker door, peering round, "uh...hi."

Meeting his eyes, Penny sent him a quick smile but pulled her raincoat further around herself and the hood on top of her head, "uh...hi."

After an awkward moment of silence between them, Finn let out a breath he was holding and scratched the back of his neck, "just wanted to say I'm sorry for slushying you... well I didn't... you slushied yourself." Furrowing his eyebrows, Finn was now full of confusion. Shaking it off, he tried to pull himself back onto his original track, "anyways, I just wanted you to know I really didn't want to. And that I'm coming back to glee club."

Pulling her hood down, Penny let the smile tug at the corner of her lips, "you're coming back to glee?"

"Yeah, I persuaded Coach Tanaka to let us all do both." He stated, a proud smirk coming to his lips as he stood up straighter, "I talked about being a leader and Terminator and stuff and it must've worked I guess."

"Genius." Penny breathed out, appreciatively, giggling lightly to herself, "should've known that would work."

Seeing the grin creep back onto her lips, Finn's grew as a result, "so we're still friends, yeah?"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Penny nodded immediately, "of course, a little bit of slushy isn't gonna change that." She laughed and Finn let out a sigh of relief. Pointing a finger his way, she gave him a playful glare, "but I'm gonna get you back."

Holding his hands up in surrender, Finn found himself becoming grateful that this was the only thing coming for him after the way he'd left glee club and given in to their peer pressure and tried to slushy his newest friend, "that's fair I guess. Walk to glee with me?"

"Only if you don't slushy me again." Penelope laughed, shutting her locker door and slinging her bag over one shoulder, picking up a small run to catch up with him as Finn began slowly making his way towards the choir room.