Chapter Text
I hate Bradley Igarashi.
Camilla lounged on a bench outside the school, waiting for her friends to arrive. As she did she watched the nearby basketball game going on between some of the jocks. Shirts versus skins, naturally, which already made it hard to look away, but the truth of the matter was that she'd be staring no matter the dress code because one of the players was Bradley.
That's an overstatement. Or maybe an understatement? I hate that I'm still hung up on him. I've had my heart set on him for as long as I can remember and he barely knows that I exist. And all that makes him extremely...
Bradley jumped up and effortlessly tossed the ball into the basket from a distance, his back muscles rippling in the early October sun. It was unseasonably warm, so when he went over to the water bottle sitting in his backpack he didn't drink it but instead poured it over his body to cool off. Camilla bit her lip.
...distracting.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Beth asked as she appeared from behind her.
"Nothing!" Camilla called, trying to leap to her feet but nearly falling off the bench instead. Beth and Aaliyah giggled as she got up. "Oh, laugh it up ladies. You did that on purpose."
"Maybe," Beth admitted, "but sorry you fell. I would too if that was the view." She and the others started walking in the direction of the Community Centre.
Camilla smirked. "Really? I thought you only had eyes for one boy?" she said slyly.
Beth started to turn red. "I - I don't know what you're talking about."
Now it was Camilla's turn to laugh, a hearty cackle. "Aw, you're adorable when you try to play dumb. Beth, we've seen the looks you give Tony in club when you think nobody's looking. You're down bad."
"Ease up on her, Camilla," Aaliyah said. "I'm sure she's looking respectfully."
"Yeah, I am..." Beth trailed off. She spun around and looked at the two while walking backwards. "Okay, fine, I have a little crush. But I'm not gonna do anything until I can figure out if he feels the same, okay? So don't tell anybody."
Aaliyah held her hand up in a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."
"Especially because I'm pretty sure everyone knows," Camilla continued.
"Really?!"
"Yeah."
"Do you think Tony knows?"
Camilla pursed her lips. "Hmm. If my experience with teenage boys is anything to go by then he definitely doesn't. Guys assume every girl is after them except for the ones who actually want them."
"This is why I'm not dating anyone until after high school," Aaliyah declared. "Teenage boys are a pain. They're emotionally immature, they don't know how to dress themselves or anything about hygeine, and they don't watch any good TV shows. It's a bad investment."
"Well I'm fourteen and desperate for love so I think I'll take my chances," Beth replied before turning back around. "Besides, we're in glee club together. It's the perfect opportunity to express my feelings through song should the opportunity arise."
"I look ridiculous."
"Are you kidding? This drip is impeccable."
Julian glared at Tony from under the baseball cap and folded his arms together, causing the neon windbreaker to whistle as it rubbed together. "I look like what an eighty-year-old ad executive thinks teens look like. Can I get out of this now? I'm worried I'm gonna get hives."
Tony sighed dramatically and held his hands out for Julian to toss the clothes back to him. "Sorry. I just thought it would be a cool idea."
"The idea's cool," Luke insisted. "I just think your execution might be a bit lacking. Like, the nineties were back for a little bit but I think they already left again."
"Easy for you to say," Tony said as he gestured to Luke. "The hair, leather jacket, plain T, you already look like you're part of One Direction."
Luke sheepishly adjusted his hair. "You really think so? Thanks. I try."
"You can count me out. Harry Styles might be cool, but he's basically everything I've been trying to get away from by coming here," Reed said.
"Honey, you're gonna have to address your PWSD one day," Julian commented from his seat.
"PWSD?" Reed asked.
"Post-Warbler Stress Disorder."
Mary and Michael walked into the room and Tony immediately dashed over to them. "Michael! Try this on." He popped the hat onto Michael's head before the boy had a chance to react.
He froze for a moment, eyes darting around. "I feel like Eminem," he finally said.
"You look like a Back Street Boy."
Tony pumped his fist. "Yes! That's what I was aiming for." Mary raised an eyebrow, and Tony continued. "I was brainstorming ideas for other numbers we could do last night and I was struck by inspiration."
"Anthony! Can you grab my drill from the garage?"
"Sure thing dad!"
Tony entered the garage and looked around. "Where does he even keep his drills?" he asked himself. He poked around the highly cluttered area, trying to find some hint. He finally spotted a drill with a cord, still plugged into the wall. He tugged the cord, but it was caught, so he pulled harder and after a few tugs managed to free it - but whatever it was snagged on fell over, causing a domino effect of things getting knocked over. A stool hit a fan hit a bike suspended from the ceiling, which swung over and hit one of his old skateboards, rolling to the end of a shelf and knocking over a box of magazines. They spilled out at Tony's feet and he was suddenly face to face with Nick Carter, Jonathan Knight, Joey Fatone, and the Lacheys.
Tony could almost hear an angelic chorus behind him as he snapped his head up and gasped with realization.
"And you didn't even clean the magazines up?" Aaliyah called, walking in at the end of the story. "See, this is what I'm talking about."
"The point," Tony stressed, now that all his teammates were here, "is that boy bands used to rule the world - and still do, kinda. All the girls wanted them back in the day, and that's how we'll get more members."
Rachel came in around then. "Okay, everybody take your seats." She was staring intently at her phone and sighed deeply before putting it away and looking up at her students with a smile. "Okay, how is everyone today?"
"Tony thinks he can use boy bands to lure girls into the club," Julian snarked.
Tony grimaced. "Can you not say 'lure'? It makes it sound skeezier than it is. I just think that appealing to their musical tastes would encourage them to join."
"I wouldn't mind having more ladies around," Reed said with a grin, causing Camilla to sneer.
"Sure, let's go recruit a bunch of moms to our teen show choir." She looked to her coach. "Mrs. Berry, the best way for us to get new members is to win the favour of the popular cliques in Carmel - that aren't Vocal Adrenaline. I suggest we corner the cheerleaders."
"How is that different from what I wanna do?" Tony asked.
"Because I won't be trying to seduce them," Camilla shot back. "Instead I'll appeal to their love of competition and convince them that joining us can elevate their athletic capabilities."
Aaliyah held a hand up. "Um, wasn't that what I tried to do a few weeks ago?" she asked her friend.
"Your scheme was diplomacy," Camilla replied, "mine is infiltration."
Aaliyah frowned. "Okay, I'm just saying that last time we encountered them you wanted to start a fight with the head cheerleader because she's your self-proclaimed nemesis and stole your boyfriend."
Julian looked at the two with delight. "Ooh! Tea?"
"No tea!" Rachel called out. "This is Glee Club, not Tea Club. You can gossip later." Rachel held up three fingers. "We still need twelve members by the end of the month for Invitationals, and a good performance there will get us officially ratified as a competitive show choir. It's our first step towards beating Vocal Adrenaline, so we gotta stay sharp." She looked to her kids. "Camilla, if you think getting involved with the cheerleaders could help membership then you're welcome to try, though I do implore you to be careful. Cheerleaders are tricky, I know from experience. And Tony, your idea sounds great too. Honestly, any idea on getting new people sounds good. In fact -" she turned and started going through the nearest stack of sheet music. "I grabbed this the other day trying to find some more modern music for you kids. I'm pretty sure they count as a boy band, even though I initially thought they were a salad dressing. Aha!" She grabbed the papers and presented them to Tony.
"Hey, Big Time Rush! Yeah, this will definitely help, thanks!"
Rachel gestured to the box. "And Camilla, you're welcome to anything we have for whatever your plan entails."
Camilla jumped up and went over to it as quick as she could. "Oh, I already know what I want. Come to mama, Miss Janet."
Rachel clapped her hands. "Great! And as for our Invitationals number we can't go wrong with ABBA, so let's take our places and get started!"