So I randomly came up with the idea for this in the middle of class. I didn't want to do my school work so I just plotted for this instead and wrote the first chapter! I hope you like it, let me know what you think at the end. Please review!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee. Trust me, if I did, Idina Menzel would be in every episode.
Rachel Berry lied in her bed. It was a Sunday evening and dusk had just approached. Though it was a little earlier than her usual bedtime, she figured she should probably try to go to bed a little earlier than usual so she could be perfectly alert tomorrow. It, being her first day of high school, had to be perfect and her normal eight hour sleep requirement wouldn't cut it.
She tossed and turned for a few minutes, but couldn't contain her excitement, so she sat up and grabbed the laptop that was on the table beside of her bed. She opened the computer up and went to YouTube and searched "Vocal Adrenaline" into the search bar. As she watched the video, she couldn't help but smile in admiration. They were perfect. From their dance moves to their vocals, it was absolute perfection. No wonder they had won so many national titles. It was everything she wanted to be a part of. That was why she begged her fathers to allow her to go to Carmel High instead of McKinley. McKinley High School's arts programs were terrible. She needed to think of her future career, plus she believed that she would be more appreciated at Carmel. Her middle school years consisted of constant taunts and she figured she could make a new name for herself at Carmel. It would be good for her.
She watched a few more videos and went to sleep with a smile on her face. She honestly could not wait to be a part of Vocal Adrenaline. She'd prepared for the audition since summer started, therefore everything was ready. It was only a matter of time.
Her dads dropped her off at school. She entered the school to find a huge commons area. There were so many people there that it was beyond difficult to weave her way through the unfamiliar faces. A voice came on the P.A. system. "All freshman report to the auditorium," it said. A mob of students left the commons, and entered the auditorium. There were so many people. Rachel grabbed a seat towards the front where there were less people. For once, she didn't want to be the center of attention.
A man who looked to be in his fifties stepped on stage and grabbed a microphone. He was obviously the principal of the school. "When I call your name, please come up here and get your schedule. When you get it, please leave for your first class. Thank you," he said. Rachel was glad her last name started with "B" which meant she would be one of the first they called. She didn't want to wait forever.
Once she got her schedule, she headed off to her first period where she basically just sat there. People were still walking into the room from the auditorium so it would have been pointless to start on anything with people coming in at different times. The next two periods were just as boring. The teachers just went over simple, self explanatory classroom rules. As the bell rang for fourth period to start, her heart jumped. It was music class with Miss Corcoran who is the coach of Vocal Adrenaline. She had to make a good impression with her if she wanted to be in her show choir. She quickly mentally prepared herself, and then made her way to the music room.
She walked into the huge room. The back consisted of nothing but mirror, obviously to use when teaching choreography. There was a desk in the right corner. The left side of the room had three grand pianos. This school obviously had good funding just by the looks of the room. In the middle of the room, there were chairs. The bell rang and the class filled with only seventeen students sat down.
Miss Corcoran hadn't shown up for class yet, so everyone assumed she was in her office. Everyone started talking amongst themselves. Rachel was deep in thought, going over her audition in her head, as she did any free second she ever got. Perfection was obviously important to her, and she wanted nothing less. Suddenly a voice beside her spoke. "Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I can't say I've seen you before. Did you go to Carmel middle?"
Rachel woke from her trance. "I'm Rachel, and no I didn't. I actually went to McKinley middle."
"Oh, I see." Elizabeth said. "So you don't know anyone here, do you? Wow. I couldn't imagine how hard that must be on you."
"It's not really that bad. Middle school wasn't…the best for me. So I'm really glad to be here. I'm especially excited for this class. I really want to join Vocal Adrenaline." Rachel stopped talking when Elizabeth's eyes widened. "What?"
"It's just that…you want to join Vocal Adrenaline? You do know that Miss Corcoran is a total slave driver, right?"
"So I've heard. But she's a good coach. I read online that she was even on some off-Broadway stuff. I'm dying to hear her sing. People say her voice will give you chills the second she opens her mouth to sing."
"My cousin's in Vocal Adrenaline and he said that she sings all the time to demonstrate how to do stuff. She apparently has the voice of an angel," Elizabeth added. "I'm not going to lie though, I'm rather intimidated. She's tough, and if you get on her bad side, you're done for."
Just then, a door opened. A woman with dark brown locks that held loose curls walked in. Rachel could already tell that she was going to admire her from the second she walked into the room. She pranced with such grace and poise with a hint of theatricality. "Hello, everyone. Sorry I'm late. Let's hurry up and get started. As you should already know, I'm Miss Corcoran. I'm going to go ahead and say that if you're just in here to fill your schedule and you're not really serious about music, get out. I don't have time to deal with slackers who don't care. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let me call roll and we'll begin."
She started to call out names of the kids in the classroom. When Miss Corcoran got to Rachel's name, Rachel could have sworn she paused for a second. Rachel shrugged off the thought, assuming she was just being paranoid. They spent the rest of the period going over what they would be doing for the remainder of the week. They were going to be going over the different musical eras, starting with the Renaissance, and ending with the 20th century.
The bell rang and everyone stood up. "Hey Rachel, do you have lunch now?" Elizabeth asked. Rachel nodded. "Me too. You should sit with me and some of my friends."
Rachel smiled. "Okay, thanks! I'm going to talk to Miss Corcoran about audition for her show choir before I go though. I'll come find you afterwards!"
"Good luck! I'll save you a seat." And with that, Elizabeth walked out of the room. Rachel and Miss Corcoran were the only ones in the room.
"Excuse me, Miss Corcoran?"
Miss Corcoran raised her head up to see who was speaking to her. Her face looked annoyed at first but when she saw who it was, it softened to Rachel's confusion. "Yes?"
"I was wondering if I could maybe possibly audition for a spot on Vocal Adrenaline. I've heard all about your work and you seem to be absolutely brilliant and it would be a total dream come true for me, though I do understand that you have been practicing all summer so if the answer is no, I totally understand." Rachel stopped her rambling at that. She knew if she kept going, she wouldn't be able to stop. It was kind of a problem for her, but she was working on it.
Miss Corcoran just stared at her for a second, which made Rachel apprehensive. Finally, Shelby spoke up. "Um…I don't usually let people join late in the season, but it seems you really did your research. Sing for me."
"Now?" Rachel asked, stunned though being able to belt a song out on demand before proper warm-ups was one of her many talents. Besides, she had gone over her audition so many times that she could do it in her sleep.
When Miss Corcoran nodded at Rachel's question, Rachel began to sing. The song was "On My Own" from the Broadway classic Les Mis. Anyone who knows anything about the musical world knew that song so Rachel believed it to be the perfect audition selection. Rachel sang the whole song through. She had expected Miss Corcoran to stop her in the middle or something, but she actually looked kind of into the song to Rachel's utter surprise. When the song was over, Miss Corcoran looked to be in a trance. "Was this normal?" Rachel thought to herself.
Miss Corcoran snapped out of it a couple of seconds later. "You're in."
"I am?" Rachel beamed, obviously not being able to contain her excitement.
Miss Corcoran smiled back. "Practice starts tomorrow, directly after school until six."
"Thank you so, so, so much Miss Corcoran! Really, this means so much to me." And with that, Rachel skipped out of the music room and into the cafeteria to find Elizabeth. She found her at the same time Elizabeth spotted her, and Elizabeth patted the empty seat next to her. Rachel walked to the circular table, sat down and pulled her vegan lunch out of her purse that consisted of grapes, strawberries, and carrot sticks.
"Hey guys, this is Rachel! She went to McKinley for middle school so she's new to Carmel. Rachel, these are my friends Justin, Rebecca, Taylor, Katie, Mike, and my cousin Jesse. Jesse's the one I told you about that's in Vocal Adrenaline. Speaking of which, did Miss Corcoran say you could audition?"
"I actually did just now and she said I was in." Everyone looked at her with confused looks on their faces. "What?"
"She let you in? Just like that? Wow…" Taylor said, still with a completely shocked expression on her face that matched everyone else's.
"Does she not normally…?" Rachel asked, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Are you kidding? She usually makes you go through you-know-where and back for a spot just so she knows you're going to be dedicated. People are lucky to even make it through the tryout." Jesse responded.
"Really? She just made me sing."
"Well you were definitely really lucky." Katie laughed. "I didn't make it through my tryout. Neither did Mike or Rebecca. Taylor and Jesse did, somehow. I do think she went a little easy on Jesse though just because he's kind of the best one there, or he's going to be by the time his senior year comes. He's the lead, which is rare because he's only a junior. Taylor's a senior and the lead soprano so she basically gets all the solos."
"I don't even care about solos, I'm just happy to be in. Your group is so talented," Rachel said, directing her words towards Taylor and Jesse.
"Thank you," Taylor said. "So I guess we'll see you at practice tomorrow?"
"That you will."
Rachel finished lunch and the rest of her class periods. She figured she might actually like it here at Carmel.
"How was your first day at school?" Toby, Rachel's African American father asked later on that night when he and his husband Chris got home from work.
"It was incredible, daddy. Guess what? The music teacher let me in their show choir! Can you believe it? I'm in the best show choir in the state!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Did you even doubt for a second that you wouldn't make it in? You're the best singer around," said Chris.
"You know I can't argue with that statement, but the people I met today and ate lunch with said that it's almost impossible to get a spot on there and all the director did was make me sing. She seems to be really nice."
"Well that's great Rachel," Toby said sincerely, glad his daughter was connecting so well with her new school.
So, what do you think so far? I hope you like it, please review. I want to get at least five reviews before I put up the next chapter. Also, constructive criticism is HIGHLY appreciated.