#my actual take is a slightly less overconfident version of the words I put in Lisa's mouth

[julienschuester]

THE THEME IS RICH BITCH Y2K (FT. JULIEN & IVY)

WHO: @ivystjamess​ & @julienschuester​ (mentions of @darcyclarington​) WHERE: crawford county academy  WHEN: friday, october 2nd WHAT: Julien and Ivy go to the Crawford Canaries invitational to scope out their show choir competition. 

JULIEN: For once, Julien was not pressed about the competition in the show choir circuit. With Link and Trace gone from the Warblers, he knew the private school boys didn’t stand a chance. As for the Canaries and Vocal Adrenaline? He wasn’t pressed about them either…not with their current leadership. As far as he was concerned, the New Directions were a shoo-in for first place at sectionals. Maybe he was overconfident because he was still riding out the high of beating the Trouble Tones, but alas. Despite his certainty in the talent of their team, he and Ivy still decided it would be smart to go to the Crawford County and Carmel High Invitational performances…just in case. It was never a bad idea to scope out the competition. When they arrived at Crawford, they did their best to keep a low profile and shuffle into whatever seats they could find in the back of the auditorium. “I always forget but this school is like…way nicer than ours,” Julien whispered to Ivy once they were situated, slumping into his seat as he carefully looked around for any familiar faces. “Is it bad that I’m not worried?” he added quietly into Ivy’s ear, sitting up and casually putting an arm around the back of her seat, “like…I just have a good feeling about this year. There’s no way we’re not going to go all the way to Nationals.” When he finished rambling for the sake of rambling, he pressed a kiss to his girlfriend’s cheek right as the red curtains on stage were drawn and the Canaries took the stage in perfect formation. Julien almost cartoonishly gulped when the girls started singing an acapella version of ‘Fancy’ by Doja Cat in perfect harmony. Crap. They were good.

IVY: Unlike Julien, Ivy always anticipated competition to be tough. It was a strategy to push herself to be better and ensure a win by potentially over working. Though to the untrained eye she may look arrogant, there was always a little bit more to it than that.  Sure, she fronted with an ego the size of Texas, and while there was some truth behind that, but above all else Ivy St.James was a serious competitor. She knew she could handle anything thrown her way, but that came from years of harsh training with a team of her parents, vocal instructors, and dance teachers. The same couldn't be said for her fellow glee clubbers. She didn't play around when it came to competing. If she couldn't close out her high school career with two national titles, what was the point in even staying in New Directions? As much as she cared for Julien, he was a Schuester through and through. For him it was about the journey and the teamwork and making everyone feel good. While her Mom had a little bit of that in her, Ivy was purely her Father's Daughter when it came to a competitive standpoint. It was nice to spend some time one on one with Julien as a couple even if they approached their captaincy differently. Holding hands and stealing pecks as a public item was foreign, but entirely welcome. It made her feel warm and good and almost entirely distracted from the task at hand. Almost. Tucked away in the back, Ivy laughed softly at Julien's comment, "Well duh it's nicer than our school. It's a private school for rich girls. My parents almost sent Eli and I here. Or Carmel. Thank god even back in middle school I was like the ultimate charmer." the playful rambling was cut short as Ivy cast a serious look in Julien's direction while he spoke about nationals, "Listen, Jules, I'm like really loving this optimism. Just don't let it let us get sloppy." she advised, though instantly softened as his lips pressed against her cheek. Soon enough, the Canaries set had begun. It passed in a flash of perfect harmonies, innovative choreography, and an overall clean performance. It was stunning. Despite being entirely rattled, Ivy tried not to make that apparent during the performance when her and Julien exchanged looks. He'd get discouraged way easier than she would. There was no way the New Directions were at that level technically yet. So while Ivy would proceed with a little more force than before, she wasn't going to freak and psych out her co-captain. As the lights came up, Ivy shifted, trying to seem casual as she looked at her boyfriend "So, like, what did you think?"

JULIEN: Julien stared at Ivy dotingly as she spoke, scrunching up his nose at the thought of Ivy being a Canary or god forbid a member of Vocal Adrenaline. “That would’ve been so weird,” he responded with a chuckle, making a mental note to thank her parents one day for not sending her to either of those schools. Before he could say more, the mood between them shifted as Ivy’s tone became more serious. He nodded along with what she was saying. “I know,” he said matter-of-factly, “have I ever let us get sloppy?” The answer was...probably? Even though Julien had been doing musical theater his entire life didn’t mean the rest of the New Directions had and sometimes it showed. More often than not though, Julien wanted to have fun. Of course the end result mattered, he wanted to win like...really badly. But he wasn’t a performance robot. He just loved to perform. And at their best, the New Directions felt like a family. That was the part of it that he liked even more than winning. Julien smiled at Ivy after he kissed her cheek, holding her gaze for a moment as that welcome warmth spread through his chest. This was nice. He was so distracted by just looking at her that he almost forgot what they were at Crawford for—and then the music started. Julien watched the performance from start to finish with his jaws dropped. Darcy and her teammates sounded perfect, they hit every beat with the choreo, and the entire performance was creative and overall fun. When the performance was over and the lights came up, Julien sunk into his seat and pressed his fingers into his cheeks as he shook his head. “What’d I think?” he retorted, letting out a deep sigh as he finally looked up at Ivy, “they had money guns. We had...bedazzled cowboy hats?” He sat up straight and leaned closer to her, returning to the hushed tone he’d been using earlier, “they were like...way better than I thought they were going to be. That setlist had Darcy written all over it. We...” he shrugged defeatedly, “we have to step up our game big time huh...”

IVY: Ivy continued rubbing her lips against one another in less of a nervous motion, but more of a 'i'm biting my tongue.' ordeal. Julien was endlessly sweet, which was one of the many things she absolutely adored about him, but kindness only went so far when it came to the very serious matter that was show choir. Usually Ivy's first instinct was to be brutally honest-borderline mean for the sake of bettering the team or at least clarifying where she stood. That wasn't the case with Julien though. Rather than give him a list of times his cheery disposition had lent to some New Directions sloppiness, she let the question pass as she brushed the back of her hand again against his cheek. She knew well enough they'd probably never see eye to eye about certain things when it came to running the New Directions, but seeing as he was her boyfriend she wasn't exactly looking to get into an argument with him about it. If Julien was the one to be all gushy with the team, and Ivy was the one to whip them into shape, then that would be the new routine. As much as she wanted to forget why they had come to Crawford and just enjoy being alone with Julien, the performance beginning on stage made that kind of difficult. Ivy may outwardly deny the talent of her rivals like Darcy and Rory alike, but she wouldn't be willfully ignorant about what she saw in front of her. The props weren't a problem she could tackle as long as Mckinley had a budget the size of her pinky nail, but if they didn't want to get blown away and swept out of the competition completely, Ivy had already settled with the fact she'd have to buckle down. Her current task at hand was to keep Julien from panicking completely. Even if she was slightly panicked, she couldn't let him see that, "Look, Julien it'll like, be fine." she told him, though didn't seem entirely convinced of her own words. "If we can't get props we'll just like, have a more clear direction, train harder, it'll all work itself out." Ivy attempted to assure him further by holding out her pinky to indicate how serious her promise was, "At least, like, as long as I'm your Co-Captain."

JULIEN: Julien never clung to any opinion steadfastly and it was easy to sway him in a different direction when it came to most things. He was also bad at saying no, and when he did say no (rarely), all it took to get him to say yes was asking him twice. So despite his initial fear after seeing the Crawford Canaries give a near-perfect performance, hearing Ivy’s words of assurance soothed him drastically…even if they weren’t actually all that comforting. “You’re right,” he said with a nod, glancing up at the stage in time to watch the Canaries disappear behind the curtains, “we’ll be fine.” He took a deep breath and sighed, clapping his hands down on to his knees as a way to punctuate the statement. “We’ll be fine,” he said again, doing his best to convince himself, “we just…gotta try harder, like you said. We probably like…need a plan or something. You’re way better at coming up with that stuff than me but…I’ll back you up.” Ivy was more cutthroat than him and he knew that. Even though he didn’t always think that was what the New Directions needed, he knew it was effective. That was why they made a good team, in his eyes. They balanced each other out. “Come on,” Julien said after a moment, standing up and taking Ivy’s hands to pull her up as well, “let’s get out of here. I’m all show choired out for the day.” He quickly kissed her before leading them out of the Crawford auditorium, leaving his glee club woes behind him and looking forward to spending the day with Ivy not as co-captains, but as a couple.

AND SCENE.