Yes, I know Quantum Leap was set around 1999, and Sam couldn't leap past that date, but creative license works! Project Quantum Leap is now dated around 2025. The Quantum Leap part is set anywhere during the series, the Glee part during 2x08, Furt. Thanks to Beth for her thoughts, and to Heather for beta reading, and being all round awesome.
He never got used to it. The first moment when he entered someone else's life, potentially changing it forever. The disorientation of suddenly being there, generally followed by some inevitable embarrassing situation that the disorientation caused, the anxious wait for Al to turn up, trying to figure out just what his mission was, do what he had to do, put right what once went wrong...
Easy. If you were Superman, that is.
Which, Sam was sorry to say, he wasn't. Again. He stumbled as he leapt into the new body, a sudden change of balance as he put one foot in front of another in what he estimated to be 'dancing' momentarily confusing him, and he ended up flat on the floor.
He looked up at the girl (sixteenish? High school. Nice... legs under that uniform) who was standing over him, her hands on her hips, giving him a disdainful look. "What the hell, Puckerman?" she sneered at him, as everyone else in the room snickered. He propped himself up, looking around, noting a few things.
One: the jeans he was wearing were definitely cut to fit a male – good, that took out one part of the immediate confusion. He could cope with being male this time.
Two: Everyone was staring at him. There were twelve kids, all paired off for dancing. Though when he looked closer, some of those pairings might have been a little more. The Asian pair, for instance, seemed to be a little closer than you might expect for dancers.
Three: fashions. Not too outdated to what he was used to, so hopefully he wasn't back in the 1970s or some such date. Just as well, having to cope with teenage lingo was generally hard enough. For once this could be easy.
Fourth: While looking around the room he was getting a massive sense of déjà vu. This in itself wasn't unusual, but this time it was worse than normal. He couldn't figure out why though, as his attention was taken by the girl standing over him who nudged him in the side with her foot.
"You're just going to lie there?" she asked, her whole demeanour yelling 'bored and angry'. "Urgh, you're worse than normal, Puck. Not only do you suddenly dance worse than Finn..." Sam took note of where the noise of protest came from, assuming it was the afor-mentioned Finn, "but you are way less hot than normal."
"Ouch," was the muttered comment heard to go round the room.
"It's worse than when he shaved the 'hawk," a black girl whispered to the girl standing next to her, prompting giggles from those who heard.
Where the hell is Al? Sam thought to himself, looking around desperately. How was he supposed to react? What was he supposed to do?
He was interrupted by the sound of hands clapping. He turned to look at a tall boy, baby faced, dressed far more fashionably than the others (he thought, anyway – it had been a while since he'd really had to think about fashion) and speaking in a surprising high, effete voice. "People. I know you'd rather be doing anything other than this. Picking floss out of your bellybuttons. Killing things in whatever pathetic video game you choose to play. But my father and Finn's mother are getting married in three days. Can we please focus?" He threw up his hands in the air. "Take five. But please concentrate when we start again. And Puck – please try to remember the choreography..." The kid walked away, talking to a blond in what appeared to be some kind of cheerleading uniform and the black girl, throwing his hands in the air and muttering.
Five minutes? To remember choreography he didn't know?
"Oh boy..."