One could not hear themselves think if they entered the McKinley High School choir room directly after school due to all of the noise. In one corner, there was a squealing cheerleader trying to be discreet with her boyfriend (but not hesitating to make sure everyone knew he was hers). Near the piano on the right side of the room, one would find a brunette sophomore and her friend, the quarterback- or were they more than friends at this point? For that matter, who even cared anymore?- working on their latest solos. Sitting in the chairs near the center of the room, one would find a dark haired, fair-skinned girl shyly flirting with her friend, a boy with a smile and a wheelchair. Next to them, one would see a plus-sized teenager with a plus-sized personality laughing and joking with her flaming best friend. If one looked into the corner of the room nearest to the door, one would find a blonde young woman with a bulging stomach, whispering in hushed tones with a dark skinned cheerleading beauty. Finally, as far away from the door as possible, on the back wall of the room, one would find the only silent person in the room.

Noah Puckerman sat in the corner, staring blankly at the doorway, waiting for who knows what. He didn't know why he was in this stupid club anymore. His reputation was going down the toilet, the ex-cheerleader who was having his baby girl refused to speak to him, much less allow him to be involved in his daughter's life, his best friend wanted him dead, he was losing his power on the football team, and to top it all off, he was beginning to consider these glee club losers his friends- worse yet, he was beginning to consider himself one of them.

God, just give me a sign, he began thinking. If I'm supposed to stay in this hellhole of a club, then give me a sign to prove it to me.

And suddenly, his sign walked straight through the front door of the choir room.


"Hello, Abigail," the thick accent of the school's principal went in one ear and out the other of the frightened young woman sitting in the McKinely High School counseling office. "If you'll just follow me, I can get you situated."

Abigail Berkley followed the the rather interesting looking man into what she assumed to be his office, all too aware of her father's hand resting on her back.

"You'll be fine, beautiful," she heard his voice whisper quietly. "You'll make plenty of new friends, and everyone will love you."

She didn't even bother protesting. Abby knew it was useless at this point. Her father would just start a fight with her, then bring her mother's name into the conversation, and he'd win. He'd already done that three times this morning.

"Your mother would have wanted you in a safer district. Don't you want to make her happy?"

Thanks a lot, Dad, Abigail thought sarcastically. That's exactly what I want. I want to do nothing more than wallow in self-pity over the fact that my mother's been dead since I was 13 and you've always used her to get your way now that she's gone.

She was half paying attention to her new principal informing her about her schedule- couldn't he just give it to her and let her read it? She wasn't that helpless- but when he stopped talking and looked at her as if waiting for an answer, she had no response.

"I'm sorry, what?" The voice that came out didn't even sound like her own. It sounded...scared.

"I asked you what kinds of hobbies you have? I think it would be best if we could get you into some after-school clubs to help you meet new people," the principal- What was his name again? She tried desperately (okay, half-heartedly) to remember. Figgins, that was it! What kind of a name was Figgins anyway, she wondered- explained, looking a bit annoyed.

After-school activities. Just what she needed. Somewhere else for her to feel awkward and left out of the group.

"Well, I really love musical theatre," she began. "Do you guys have anything like that?"

"Actually," Figgins said with an odd look in his eye that Abigail just couldn't quite place, "I think we have just the group."


Glee Club? Abigail hadn't heard of any school with a glee club since the 90's. How far behind was this town, anyway? She walked in step with her father as he led her to meet with the director of, as the group was called, 'New Directions'.

"You'll be fine, just sing for them and they'll love you, beaut." She sighed. That was her father for you. Encouraging by day, but by night-

"Hi, are you Abigail?"

A young teacher in his thirties was standing right in front of Abigail, smiling a genuine "I'm actually glad you're here, and not pretending one bit" smile, and suddenly her day seemed to shift- not entirely, but just a little bit of sun began to peek through her dark day.

"Abby," she responded, holding out her hand and shaking the teacher's as it connected with hers.

"I'm Mr. Schuster. Call me Mr. Schue." Mr. Schust- Schue. Oops- actually seemed genuinely nice. He wasn't like the secretaries at the front desk when they were figuring out her schedule, or the principal when she asked him to repeat herself, or her father, wanting nothing more than to get out of this school.

"I'm teach 'New Directions'," he explained, and suddenly Abigail's day seemed a lot more interesting. "I hear you're hoping to be our latest member?" She nodded. "Well, if you'll follow me, we can head out to the stage and you can audition. Unless you'd rather prepare something for a few days?" He added as an afterthought, remembering all of the new stress she was under.

Abigail shook her head. "I'll just audition today, if that's okay with you." Mr. Schuster nodded and gestured for her to follow him down the hallway. Her father cleared his throat.

"I think I'm gonna leave, gorgeous. I'll see you at home, okay? Have fun, and be careful," her father watched Mr. Schuster as he spoke to his daughter. She nodded and he leaned in, kissing her on the forehead- her wincing as he did so- and turned around, beginning to walk in the opposite direction.

There was a moment of comfortable silence as the teacher and student walked down the deserted hallways. It was 20 minutes after the last bus had left the school, and all of the after-school groups were gathered in different rooms, leaving the hallways bare and empty.

"So," Mr. Schuster began a light conversation. "Tell me about your old school."


It wasn't until she was standing on the stage in that goddamn spotlight that Abby realized she had just agreed to an on-the-spot audition. Great.

"Whenever you're ready," Mr. Schuster's voice echoed from the auditorium.

Deep breath, in and out. Once, twice, you've got this.

Piece of cake.

Abigail Berkley stepped on to the McKinley High School stage and began to sing, and it was at that moment that William Schuster's jaw fell on to the ground.

Standing on the stage in front of him was a tiny little freshman, singing a'capella to an empty audience, and yet the glee club director had goosebumps up and down his arms . As this young girl- No, woman, he thought, You can't be a little girl with a voice like that- began belting out Dreamgirls' "One Night Only", William Schuster found himself speechless. When he finally found his voice again, he suspected it sounded a bit like this- "Asklksjfewfiefjaw!", because all he got from Abigail was a confused look wondering exactly what he just said.

"That was honestly amazing," the teacher finally found the words to say. Abby's face broke out into a timid smile and an outstanding blush as she ducked her head and muttered her gracious thanks.

"We have rehearsals every day after school. How would you like to start with 'New Directions' today?" she thought she heard him ask, but wasn't quite sure because she could never understand anything after she'd just sung. Her mind shorted out and she was in her own little world, but she felt herself nodding and suddenly her feet started walking off of the stage towards a choir room full of unsuspecting classmates- namely one brunette soloist- about to be knocked off of their feet.


The door swung open and whacked against the wall with a SLAM!, causing all of the students in the room to look up. The glee students were expecting to see their director, William Schuster, walk through the door, but they were not expecting him to be walking in front of a red-faced freshman.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Abby, our newest member of 'New Directions'."

As Abby looked around the room, she saw a mixed bag of emotions:

Already silently judging, from a brunette in a cheer uniform and the blonde girl- was she pregnant, or was that just a baggy top?- sitting next to her. Nervous, from the short and beautiful brunette who had been singing when she opened the door to the choir room. Welcoming, from the boy who looked like a bit of a diva, the African-American girl sitting next to him, the boy in the wheelchair- He's in a wheelchair, in glee club? Now that's dedication- and the girl with the streaks in her hair sitting next to him. That one expression that could only be described as "Oh, cool, a new kid," on the faces of nearly everyone else in the room, save for one expression that stood out from all of the rest.

A boy with tan skin and a black mohawk sat in the corner, staring at her with an expression that was almost impossible to describe- it was a mixture of so many different emotions, the most dominant two being pensive and shocked- and she couldn't help but feel drawn in.

This could be an interesting year, she thought to herself.


A/N- I can guarantee you, I have written more than this, and this story is much better once we actually get into the plot. I was trying to give you a bit of background on Abby, but I'm not really sure if that happened. As you can tell from the summary, there's something severely wrong with Abby (and no, she's not a witch, or a wolf, or any of that crap, it's actually a real problem, and a serious one at that), and I feel as though I left some major hints at what the problem is. Looking up the title of the story to figure out the problem is cheating :P