A/N-This is a retelling of the entirety of glee. But with canon Faberry. aka the way it should have been. The story will be told entirely from either Quinn or Rachel's perspectives. Obviously, the beginning will be more Rachel because of her prominence, and it will follow the show nearly to a tee, with the exception being, like I said, that Rachel and Quinn being canon as they should have been in the first place. Suggestions about certain scenes, or anything anyone would like to add, are greatly appreciated :)
Spoilers: Glee. Glee is the spoiler. If you've ever seen it, then you know basically what is going to happen in this fic, but with some twists and turns, and hopefully better continuity.
Sadly I do not own any of the characters, names, etc, etc. All owned by FOX, Ryan Murphy, and all those people.
"Hi, my name is Rachel Berry, and I'll be singing On My Own, from the seminal Broadway classic, Les Mis."
"Fantastic. Let's hear it."
"On my own, pretending he's beside me..."
You might laugh, because every time I sign my name, I put a gold star after it, but it's a metaphor. And metaphors are important. My gold stars are a metaphor for me being a star.
The cold slushy that struck her moments after signing her name did nothing to deter her audition for New Directions. She was already on the bottom rung of the social ladder, and receiving daily slushy facials at the hands of the head cheerleader, so that just meant there was nothing to stop her. She was destined to become a star, and no jock neanderthal was going to stop that.
The only person who really managed to stay in her way most of the time was herself. She would not have to audition for glee club all over again if it weren't for her getting that closet case Sandy Ryerson fired, though it was entirely deserved he was completely inappropriate and had no real ear for music if he thought anyone but herself was deserving of the lead solo. She was the most obviously talented, and to even consider anyone else was absolutely absurd. It wasn't her fault that the man was touching a student in a most inappropriate manner. She was doing her part to keep creeps like that out of school. She was not homophobic. She had two gay dads, Leroy and Hiram, and was born out of love, she still didn't know who was her real dad, and that was fine with her. She loved them both equally. From age one she was taking dance and vocal lessons, anything to give that extra competitive edge. Her hard work had certainly paid off, she was easily the most talented person in the entirety of McKinley High School.
She was so bust keeping up with her hectic schedule she barely had time to think of anything else other than being a star. Boys were certainly off the list. You might think that all the boys would totally want to tap that, but her myspace schedule kept her way too busy to date. She tried to post a myspace video everyday, just to keep her talent alive and growing, nowadays, being anonymous is worse than being poor. In our culture today, fame is the most important thing. If there was one thing she learned, it was that no one was just going to hand it to you.
Once she was finished uploading her video to myspace, she took a shower, and began her nightly routine. It was rather tedious, but one must make sure to keep themselves healthy and hygienic. She finished showering, and washing and cleansing her face, and sat down to read the comments that she saw had been posted on the video.
She scrolled down to the first one from "Sky Splits"
"If I were your parents, I would sell you back."
"Without him, I feel his arms around me"
"I'm going to scratch my eyes out."
"I love him, but every day I'm learning..."
"Please get sterilized."
"All my life, I've only been pretending...
She bit down on her lip, and held back the tears. If she gave them the satisfaction of crying, even without their knowledge, it would mean they win. She clicked on the next comment, and each after. All of them were from cheerios. She returned to the top of the page, to the very first one, and clicked the icon. She was immediately directed to Quinn Fabray's personal myspace page. It wasn't set to private so she was able to view everything that the head cheerio had posted about herself. There were a few mentions of her religion, and celibacy club, and some things about cheerios and school. She was on honor roll. Apparently she used her intelligence for pure evil.
"Without me his world will go on turning..."
She clicked to view her photos, and began surfing through them all. It was very hard to deny how pretty Quinn was. She was tall, and athletic, and her hair was gorgeous. A close up of her and another cheerio showed her eyes, and they were a beautiful hazel. It was difficult to not become envious of her beauty. When she clicked on pictures of Quinn from her church she was shocked. A soft smile graced her lips in almost every photo. Quinn was wearing pastel or white sundresses in nearly all of them, almost always paired with ballet flats. She looked as if she could be the sweetest person. You would never know she dressed that way, or could smile like that from the persona she had inside the confines of their high school. In school she always seemed cold and hardhearted, cruel even. The few, unfortunate, times they had made eye contact, Quinn's eyes had immediately hardened, and she would sneer at her with pure disdain. It was disconcerting to see this sweet girl in the pictures, and she immediately closed the tab, and then her laptop. She walked over to wall to shut off her lights, and then crawled into bed, pulling the blanket up to her chin.
"A world that's full of happiness, that I have never known..."
What bothered her the most was how easily Quinn did exactly the same thing as her every single day. She never wanted to let on to her dads how hard she had it in school, she hated seeing them upset, and this was her burden to bear, not theirs. Quinn appeared to be doing the same thing. The face she put on at home, sweet, innocent, possibly even loving, was a far cry from the ruthless head cheerleader she was at McKinley.
There was nothing she wanted less than to be like Quinn Fabray.
"I love him, I love him, I love him, but only on my own"
"Very nice Rachel."
She smiled back brightly, "When do we start rehearsals?"
Mr. Schuester told her that rehearsals would start the next day in the choir room, and she smiled up at him, and told him she would be there. This was finally her chance. The next day when she arrived, she was the first one there, and so began warming up by the piano. She had been going through her warm ups for fifteen minutes before the first person walked in, and she recognized Tina Cohen-Chang, and Artie Abrams. She was almost positive she had never even heard Tina speak, and as Artie was confined to a wheelchair she wondered how easily they would pull of choreography. She mentally chastised herself immediately, and smiled at them both as they walked in.
"Hello, I'm Rachel Berry." She stuck out her hand for Tina, who took it warily, and then Artie who did the same.
Once she released their hands, she immediately sat back down at the piano to continue her warm ups before their teacher arrived. She didn't notice the two people behind her exchange confused glances, and merely awaited the arrival of her fellow team mates.
The next person to arrive was a shorter, very well coiffed, young man who was carrying a messenger bag, and wearing a blue jacket, black pants, and what appeared to be high heeled boots. He strode into the choir room, and looked around at the three of them sitting there. Before she could introduce herself, he turned to her.
"Rachel Berry, am I correct?"
She was only taken aback for a short second, before she responded, "Yes. And you are?"
"Kurt Hummel. Nice to meet you." They shook hands before he walked over to the other two, and introduced himself to them as well. She eyed Kurt momentarily before returning once again to the piano. So far he seemed the only person that she would consider competition. Granted, she had never heard him sing, but his confidence just in entering the room showed he was there to compete as well.
Finally, Mr. Schuester arrived, followed closely by a black girl, with curly hair, pushed back by an orange bandana. She was wearing an orange jersey, with a white shirt beneath it, and camouflage pants, with gold sneakers. Rachel stared openly at the girl's wardrobe choice, before finally realizing how rude she was being, and closing her mouth quickly. The girl seemed to have noticed, but let it go, and looked around the room at the four people currently occupying it.
"Hi y'all, I'm Mercedes Jones."
They all greeted her, and seated themselves in down in the available chairs. Mr. Schuester looked around at them all, clapped his hands together, and began speaking, "So welcome to the first meeting of New Directions! It's great to have you guys here, and we're a little behind, but I've already got a song and some choreography planned for us to work on today, which we will get started on right now."
"I'm sorry Mr. Schue, but is anyone else going to be joining us?" Rachel asked.
"Ah, no Rachel, this is all we have so far. We're going to work with what we have, and gain members, by showing them how great glee can be. Now, the song I have picked out for us to perform today, is Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat, let's start on the choreography..."
She knew it was bad the second they began. Their steps were off, and they were not performing at par at all. Once they finished the first run through of it, she couldn't take it.
"We suck."
"Ah, it'll get there. We just need to keep rehearsing," Mr. Schuester said, with a fairly enthusiastic tone.
"Mr. Schuester, do you have any idea, how ridiculous it is to give the lead solo in Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat, to a boy in a wheelchair?"
"I think Mr. Schue is using irony to enhance the performance," Artie cut in.
Mr. Schuester nodded along to Artie's statement, as Rachel rounded on Artie, "There is nothing ironic about show choir."
Then she performed her very first New Directions storm out.
"You're sloppy! Sloppy babies!"
She made her way out to the bleachers, and found a spot watching the cheerios practice. Coach Sylvester was screaming at them through a bull horn, at once seemed to her to be a perfect performance. Quinn was being held up by some of her team mates. Rachel had spotted her immediately. She was hard to miss. The girl exuded confidence, and even amongst a sea of red, black, and white, she stood out. She was watching the head cheerio, and every move she made seemed so poised and graceful. She knew that even though Sue Sylvester was screaming through a bull horn that none of her horrific insults could have possibly been directed at Quinn. As much as she held resentment towards the other girl it was difficult to not pay attention to her. There was something about Quinn that Rachel couldn't quite place, and it drove her insane. She considered herself to have a sort of sixth sense about people and things, and yet here was Quinn Fabray, enigmatic as ever.
She was so consumed in her thoughts of the blonde, that she almost didn't see Mr. Schuester walking up to her until it was too late, she tried not to meet his eye, knowing what he was here for, trying to convince her to come back to a club that would be taking her nowhere, and merely wasting her talent and her time.
He sat down behind her and said, "You changed out of your costume."
"I'm tired of being laughed at." She responded without turning around.
She heard him take a deep breath and shuffle his feet around slightly, "You're the best kid in there Rachel. It comes with a price-"
"Look I know I'm just a sophomore but I can feel the clock ticking away, and I don't wanna leave high school with nothing to show for it," she could feel her voice starting to crack and was thankful, for once, that Mr. Schuester interrupted her rant, letting her take a moment to compose herself.
"You get great grades, you're a fantastic singer-"
"Everybody hates me."
Mr. Schuester looked at her with something akin to pity, "You think glee club is going to change that?"
She shifted her body to face him better, and with renewed confidence started again, "Being great at something is going to change it," she stated, hoping he would understand her desperation, "Being a part of something special, makes you special, right?" He looked away from her, not answering, and so she continued on.
"I need a male lead who can keep up with me vocally."
"Maybe I can coach Artie every day-"
"Look Mr. Schue, I really appreciate what you're trying to do, but if you can't give me what I need, then I'm sorry. I'm not gonna make a fool out of myself. I can't keep wasting my time with glee."
She looked out onto the field just in time to see Quinn sore into the air, and land in the arms of her fellow cheerios.
"It hurts too much."
Mr. Schuester asked her to return to their next rehearsal, saying he thought he had found someone that could meet her expectations. She was beyond skeptical, but decided that if he could give the glee club a second chance, then so could she. She arrived in the auditorium, first once again, and began her warm ups as usual. As the others started filing in, they all looked at her apprehensively as if she was going to spontaneously start biting their heads off one by one. Finally Mr. Schue arrived, and had in tow, Finn Hudson. The quarterback of the football team. She could not possibly believe her eyes, and could not believe this was who Mr. Schuester believed to be a suitable choice for male lead. Yes, he was handsome, and he had all the physical qualities of a male lead, but surely, anyone who played on the football team was too thickheaded to understand the importance of show choir. Before she had a chance to protest however, their teacher was handing them all sheet music and they were lining up to sing.
"I got chills, they're multiplying and I'm losing control..."
Her eyes widened in shock slightly, before her lips turned up in a small, and surprised smile. He was actually good. Mr. Schuester actually found a male lead for her.
"Cause the power you're supplying, it's electrifying!"
She immediately was prepared to continue the song. Finn was actually going to be able to keep up with her, albeit with some more vocal training of course. Her hopes and dreams weren't going to crash down around her after all.
They finish out their rehearsal, which after Mercedes's outburst went by rather undramatically, and she walked away, believing that they might actually be able to pull this off.
They all arrived at Carmel High School fairly early, and she managed to stand next to Finn in line. She had not had a chance to properly speak to him, and make sure he understood the implications of being the male lead opposite her. It was a demanding job and she wanted to make sure he was up to it. He seemed very sweet, more so than the other football players, and he was a good singer. He lacked the proper training, but time would help that. He was everything she was looking for. In a male lead that is. It's not as if she had a crush on him or anything like that. She just enjoyed his singing voice, and his potential. Yes, that's it. His potential.
They stood in line together, rather awkwardly, for a few minutes before she finally broke the silence, "You're very talented."
"Really?" He seemed surprised by her statement, as if he hadn't expected anyone to compliment his singing at all.
"Yeah. I would know, I'm very talented too," she stated, "I think the rest of the team expects us to become an item. You, the hot male lead, and me, the stunning, young ingenue that everyone roots for."
He stays quiet for a moment, and then says, "Well, I, uh, I have a girlfriend."
She tries to feign her disappointment at that, and looks up with what she hopes is a friendly interest, "Really? Who?"
"Quinn Fabray."
Her head whips to face him immediately, her eyes widening in disbelief. She can't believe her ears. She's seen Quinn all over the school, not that she was watching her or anything like that, she just likes to have some sort of heads up if an insult will be thrown her way, or a slushy.
"Cheerleader, Quinn Fabray, the president of the Celibacy Club?" She hopes her voice sounds casual. She wants it to seem as if she's just mentioning a girl who's name she's heard before, and who's face she has obviously seen. The taller boy doesn't seem to notice her initial reaction, which calms her slightly, and carries on with their conversation.
He looks lost in a memory of who knows what for a few moments, and then slowly nods his head, "We're almost four months now. She's cool... Hmm, I wonder if they have sour patch kids."
With that she's left to wonder how on earth Quinn Fabray will react to her boyfriend being in a club on the lowest social rung. From what she's learned of Quinn, it won't be nice. Her popularity is more important to her than nearly everything. She thinks that Finn deserves better than that, deserves someone who probably isn't using him for his quarterback status, but it would be rude of her to say that to someone she barely knows. Especially about his girlfriend, someone whom she knows even less about.
Carmel High School, to put it simply, is the shit. She doesn't normally like to use such terms, but Mercedes put it quite well when she stated it earlier. They were phenomenal and she had no idea how their little club was going to possibly stack up to their performance. It was daunting, and with just 6 members, they didn't even have half the team that Vocal Adrenaline did. Even their name was intense. They had won four consecutive national championships, and she was more than a little concerned about their chances at a championship.
She had seen Mr. Schuester earlier in the day, and he had told her that there would be a special meeting that afternoon in the auditorium and that attendance was mandatory. She started to reprimand him for calling together a meeting that was apparently important at such short notice, but he quickly cut her off stating that he needed to find the others to inform them of the meeting. She told him she would let anyone know if she saw them throughout the day, and then gave a hasty goodbye as the bell began to ring.
She met Finn at the doors to the auditorium, and he held them open for her as she smiled and thanked him for his politeness.
"So," he began, "Any idea what this meeting is about?"
"I have no idea actually. Mr. Schuester cornered me in the hallway and informed me that we had to meet, he didn't give any details beyond that."
The others were already in seats, and Mr. Schuester was waiting with them, once she and Finn were seated as well, he looked around at all of them and began.
"I'm not going to be coaching glee anymore."
They all sat silently staring up at their teacher in disbelief before Artie finally broke the silence, "You're leaving us? When?"
"I'm giving my two weeks notice, but I promise I'm going to find you guys a great replacement before I go."
"Is this because those Carmel kids were so good?" Mercedes asked shrugging her shoulders, "Because we can work harder."
Rachel broke in then, "This isn't fair Mr. Schuester. We can't do this without you."
From behind her she heard Finn speak up as well, "So does that mean that I don't have to be in the glee club anymore? Or..."
They all turned their heads to look at him. Rachel glared silently at him before turning back around to face Mr. Schuester when he started speaking again.
"This isn't about you guys. Being an adult is about having to make difficult choices. It's not like high school, and sometimes you have to... give up the things that you love."
Rachel stared up at him sadly as he continued on with his speech.
"One day you guys are going to grow up, and understand that. I have loved being your teacher."
They all watched silently as he turned and left the auditorium, turning his back on them and leaving behind his dreams for good. It was quite some time before they all stood up and left the auditorium. Silently, they each followed one another out of the large room, and went there separate ways.
As Rachel walked away from the rest of the group, she decided that she wasn't going to let her dreams fall by the wayside. Unlike Mr. Schuester, she was going to make her dream happen, and she was going to do what she loved, and nothing was going to stand in her way.
She was going to take over glee club.
Her first meeting without Mr. Schuester could have gone better. The others didn't really want to listen to her ideas about a full Barbra setlist for Sectionals, though Kurt did seem rather excited about the prospect, and they all eventually disbanded with the agreement to come up with plans for a new director, and performances alike. Finn not showing really put a damper on the meeting, as he was their male lead, and as a quarterback would have brought quite a bit of leadership to the others.
She found him at his locker later in the day, and confronted him about his no show status at the glee club meeting.
"I didn't see you at glee club today."
He looked at her with a slightly confused expression, "Is that still happening?"
"I've taken over."
He nodded his head, as she continued on, "I'm interim director, but I expect the position will become permanent."
It only takes those few moments in life where you regret letting your guard down. Normally she was constantly aware of every cheerio within a ten foot radius of herself. She needed to be prepared for an insult, or a frozen drink from a convenient store being thrust into her face. Finn seemed to be the kink in her defenses though, because she certainly hadn't been aware of Quinn Fabray and Santana Lopez until they were right upon her.
Where Quinn was elegant and graceful, and wore a cold mask every day, Santana Lopez was the opposite. She was fiery, and quick with a sarcastic or hurtful comment. Quinn was the one who would stab you in the back, but Santana was the one who would twist for good measure just to make sure it stuck.
Quinn turned her head to look at them both before looking to Finn, "Hi Finn," and then Rachel, "RuPaul."
Finn smiled as his girlfriend, seemingly unaware of the consequences of his actions. He apparently was unaware that Rachel was an unmentionable to Quinn. He shouldn't even be seen glancing at her, unless it was to laugh at her misfortune, let alone be seen talking to her in the hallway.
"What are you doing talking to her?" she asked him harshly.
He stumbled looking for an answer, before looking down at Rachel, trying to form an answer that would appease his girlfriend.
Rachel beat him to the punch before he could say the wrong thing, "Science project. We're partners."
Finn smiled and Rachel, and then turned to Quinn, glad that the brunette had given him an out, and hoping Quinn would buy it.
Quinn didn't acknowledge the excuse, or Rachel, and continued on with Finn as if the shorter girl hadn't even spoken, "Christ Crusaders tonight at five. My house."
Finn smiled down at the blonde, "Sounds great."
Quinn and Santana turned away to go to class, but not before Quinn turned to give Rachel a cold glare.
Once they were gone, Finn let out a breath, and continued on with Rachel, "Look, I should go. I can't do glee anymore. It conflicts with-"
"Your reputation?" she asked him angrily. Did he not understand? He was a wonderful singer, and they needed him. He was being selfish. There was an entire team here to think about, and yet his popularity was more important than helping his glee team mates.
"You've really got something Finn, and you're throwing it away."
He looked down at his feet, and then back up, not quite meeting her eyes before speaking again, "I-I'm gonna be late."
She continued on as if he hadn't interrupted at all, "You can't keep worrying about what people think Finn," she shrugged her shoulders and smiled up at him, "You're better than all of them."
She turned and walked away before he could respond.
She couldn't really believe it at first. She was positive that she was having a mirage or some kind of hallucination. There was no way that her boyfriend was standing there talking to that self obsessed freak, right in the middle of the hallway. She stood glaring at them from her locker for a few minutes, before Santana came up behind her.
"What the hell is Finn doing talking to that?"
"I have no idea. But I'm about to find out."
She had to give Rachel Berry credit. She was quick on her feet. She knew there was no way that Finn and Rachel were science partners, Rachel was in AP classes with her, and Finn took all the basics he could, but she decided to let it go just once, feeling gracious that day. She did her best to barely acknowledge the smaller girl, hearing her speak the one sentence was enough. She reminded Finn about Christ Crusaders, and then she and Santana were off to find Brittany.
"You don't really believe that BS about them being science partners do you? Berry's in our AP History class, there's no way she's taking science with your oaf of a boyfriend."
Quinn glared at her best friend, "Don't call him that, and of course I don't believe it. I've decided I'm going to let this one go, and chalk it up to Finn being to stupidly nice. If it happens again, he and I will just have to have a little chat." She finished, smiling at Santana.
Santana smiled back at her, before they finally found Brittany at her locker. She immediately hugged them both, and then linked pinkies with Santana as they continued down the hall.
As they walked, the other two girls talked about something that happened in Brittany's class with a bird and she started to zone out. She couldn't stop thinking about why Finn would be talking to her. Of all the people in the school, why would he even bother. She was loud, and obnoxious. She couldn't dress herself at all, and she was self obsessed, and overbearing. The few classes they shared were Quinn's most dreaded ones, as the shorter girl constantly raised her hand to answer every question with the most long winded answer she could possibly dream of.
What on earth was Finn thinking? There was no way that he would be paired up with her for science, so what could it be?
She stopped dead in her tracks when it hit her. Santana and Brittany didn't notice for a few seconds, but finally realized she wasn't with them after taking about ten steps. They turned to look at her. She knew her face looked shocked, her eyes wide with her new found realization. She knew Finn liked to sing, he did in the car all the time. His voice wasn't half bad, but there was absolutely no way that he would ever think about joining that stupid club.
There was nothing else though. There was no other explanation for why Finn Hudson, high school quarterback, would be hanging out with Rachel Berry, high school reject.
Santana and Brittany were looking at her questioningly before Brittany finally tugged on her arm, "Q? Are you okay?"
She shook herself out of her daze, and gazed up at the taller blonde and smiled, "Yeah Britt, I'm fine, I just thought for a second I didn't turn my curler off this morning when I left, but I remember doing it now, so it's all good."
The other two accepted the answer easily, and they all continued on their way, Brittany's class was before theirs so they waved goodbye to her and continued on. She listened to Santana ramble on about Puck, and all the issues they were having, all the while thinking of how Berry had managed to trick Finn into joining glee.
And how in the hell she was going to end it.
Rachel was doing her best to conduct the glee club, and she was also doing her best to be patient with the others. They lacked the years of training she had, and so they were, of course, not as good as she was, but she didn't expect them to be completely lacking in direction.
"Look guys, these steps are not hard. I've been doing them since preschool!" She reprimanded them.
Kurt spoke up first, "I'm sorry, did I miss the election for queen? Because I didn't vote for you."
"I know what I'm talking about! I won my first dance competition when I was 3 months old!"
Tina stared at her, as Kurt looked over her shoulder and said, "This is a closed rehearsal."
She whipped around, and saw Finn pushing Artie's wheelchair out on to the stage. She stared at the pair, wondering what on earth Finn was doing there, especially in his sweaty and smelly football practice clothes.
"Look, I owe you guys an apology," Finn said as he let go of Artie's wheelchair and moved to stand in front of the group, "I never should have quit. I don't wanna be the guy that just drives around throwing eggs at people."
Rachel looked at him, the memory of eggs hitting her side, and her head coming back in full clarity, "That was you?"
"You and your friends threw pee balloons at me," Kurt said.
"I know-"
"You nailed all my lawn furniture to my roof," he continued, cutting Finn off.
"I wasn't actually there for that, but I'm really sorry. Look, that isn't who I am, and I'm tired of it. This is what I want to be doing. With you guys. I used to think this was like the lamest thing on earth, and maybe it is, but we're all here for the same reason, because we wanna be good at something."
Rachel was smiling by the end of Finn's speech. She had already mentally accepted his apology for abandoning the club, even if he failed to apologize for throwing eggs at her, but he seemed genuinely apologetic to Kurt, even for something he hadn't done. He truly wanted to be a part of glee, and make it work. He was showing the leadership that she had desired from him, and it made her fall even a bit harder for him.
"Artie you play guitar, right?" Finn asked. When Artie nodded his head, he continued, "Think you could recruit the jazz band?"
Artie nodded once again, "I do have pull there."
"Alright! Mercedes, we need costumes, and they have got to be cool, can you do that?"
Mercedes smiled at him, "Damn! Don't you see what I got on?"
Finn turned to her, and she smiled shyly at him, "Rachel, you can do choreography."
Finally he turned to Tina, "Tina, what are you good at?"
"I-I-I-" she stuttered.
"We'll figure something out for you."
"And what are you bringing to the table, Justin Timberlake?" Mercedes asked him.
"I've got the music."
"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train, going anywhere..."
"Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit, he took the midnight train, going anywhere..."
They sounded good. They were all moving together well, and not stepping on the choreography. Finn's voice sounded so good paired with hers, and the others' voices were complimenting them even more. They sounded good. It was such a far cry from their first performance that she could barely contain the emotion in her voice as they sang.
They were going to do this. They were going to make this club work.
"Don't stop believing, hold onto that feeling..."
As they continued the song, or smile became wider, and even more genuine. They sounded amazing, and when they hit the final note of the song, and the music stopped, her head whipped up at the sound of clapping.
"Good guys. It's a nine. We need a ten," Mr. Schuester was there, and he was clapping for them, "Rachel you need to hit the ones and the fives. Finn, I think if we worked on it, you could hit a high B."
Finn nodded, and looked at their teacher, "So does this mean you're staying?"
Mr. Schuester smiled back up at him, "It would kill me to see you win at nationals without me." He finished with a smile.
They all smiled back at him, and Rachel finally felt the overwhelming joy of being surrounded by people who could actually help her make her way to the top. Her teacher was back, she had a leading man who could actually keep up with her, and a group of people who, she may not call them friends quite yet, but soon enough she hoped that, finally, she would be able to say that too.
"From the top."
She was on her way back from cheerios practice when she heard it. There was music coming from the auditorium and she was sure she heard people singing as well. She was supposed to be meeting Santana and Coach Sylvester to go over all of the things they could be doing better, but she couldn't help herself. She had to find out what it was.
When she let herself into the auditorium she made her way up to the rafters. She stood there as she watched her boyfriend sing and dance with the schools biggest group of losers. She knew his voice wasn't bad, but it was definitely strange hearing him sing on stage like that.
That's when Berry started singing. She had heard the girl sing on those idiotic myspace videos she posted all the time, but never in real life. It was completely different. She could always just try and tell herself that Berry made her voice sound good on camera, using some kind of audio technique or something, but here, in her presence, actually hearing her voice, it was unreal. She hated what it was doing to her. Her whole body had goosebumps at the first sound of the girl's voice. She would never admit it out loud, but it was beautiful.
She hated her for this. Hated her for not just giving in, hated the fact that she never once let on that the insults and the slushies got to her. If she could just stop acting so high and mighty for five minutes Quinn might be able to tolerate her, but no, she never backed down, never stopped.
As Coach Sylvester and Santana came up behind her, she tried to squash down the thought of how much she wanted to hate her for all of those things.
