I included youtube links to the songs sung in the fic. If you don't know them, feel free to listen first so you have an idea of what they might mean to the characters.
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Chapter One: New faces/Welcome back!
"Hey, have you seen the two new transfer kids yet?" Rachel Berry walked up to Kurt and gave him a questioning look. "Somebody voluntarily chose to go here?"
"Principal Figgins told me to keep an eye on them, make them feel welcome her", she answered, completely ignoring Kurt's snappy remark, "it's nice to finally get some recognition as the rising star of the school. Who else to trust with this important assignment than..."
She didn't get to finish the sentence. BAM. First day of senior year, and already Rachel has received her first slushie facial. "Welcome back, BARBRA" Azimio yelled in passing, the empty slushie cup in his hand raised in triumph.
Looking at Rachel expectantly, Kurt finally took Rachel's hand and led her to the nearest restroom. "I guess us Glee kids are still on top of everything around here. Now let's get you cleaned up and try to make it to class on time."
For anyone who was used to Lima and the people there, the two transfer kids were really hard to miss, and not only because nobody knew them so far. First of all, they had brought this big city flair with them. You could just tell they weren't used to small towns where everybody was all over everyone else's business. Second, one of them was black, bringing the African American count at McKinley High School up to a whopping 6. Now they were standing in front of their future classmates, awkwardly following Will Schuester's invitation to introduce themselves. Lucky for them, he at least didn't make them do it in Spanish.
"Wow, I don't know where to start", the girl began.
She didn't get much further than this. The door opened quietly and Rachel and Kurt entered the class room, flashing some apologetic looks at their teacher. They sat down at the closest desk in order to avoid any further disturbance of the class and for the first time, Rachel got a good look at those new kids, mainly because they were both staring at her silently. Principal Figgins had mentioned to her that the newbies were brother and sister, but having them stand in front of her now, Rachel could hardly believe it. The boy was what you could call tall, dark and handsome. His body was shaped athletically, and Rachel assumed he'd try to make the football team. He looked hip, in a way like Rachel would imagine a male model. The girl, on the other hand...for one thing, she was white. Maybe one of them was adopted? It wasn't that she looked any less cool than him, oh no, Rachel could tell this girl would be somebody in Lima. In her dress that looked like something Marilyn Monroe might have worn in her most seducing moments, she oozed confidence and style. Her ebony hair reached down to slight above her waist and had something very Snow White-esque. It went well with her light (compared to her brother, anyway) skin, not making her appear pale but giving her a healthy complexion. After Rachel and Kurt had settled down enough for silence to return to the class room, the girl went on.
"Well, my name is Tiffany and this is my brother Luke. We moved here from New York ..." - Rachel's eyes began to shine, undoubtedly her thoughts had carried her right back to her Broadway dream -
"... because our Mom's company transferred her to the Lima field office. We're not really happy to be here, but I guess we'll make the best out of it."
"So wait, you guys are related?" somebody asked from the back of the room. It was Quinn, with a confused look on her face. Tiffany and Luke both nodded, both puzzled and annoyed. People always asked the same questions.
"Twins", Luke gave as a lazy one word response.
"But...you're not black", Quinn went on, with her eyes on Tiffany. "Yeah, aren't twins supposed to look the same?", Puck added.
"Okay, look", Tiffany began irritated, "our Mom's black, so's Luke's father, but my father's white. Before you ask, it is rare, but it does happen that fraternal twins are fathered by different men."
"How come you don't look like a zebra?" Tiffany started in disbelief at the girl who, in all seriousness, had asked that question. The rest of the class, suppressing laughter, was not surprised to find it had been Brittany. Before anyone had the chance to comment on that last remark, Mr.. Schuester quickly cut in before hell could break lose. Who knows how the twins might interpret Brittany's well-intentioned question.
"Why don't you two sit down, Luke and Tiffany, and we quickly go over this semester's curriculum." While Mr. Schuester turned around to write an overview on the blackboard, Luke and Tiffany moved into the rows of students, finding a free chair next to Santana and Puck, respectively.
Luke shot a leering glance at Santana before extending his hand to her, asking for her name. Tiffany offered Puck a shy, but nice smile before turning her full attention to Mr. Schuester.
With the sound of the bell announcing break time, Luke and Tiffany had intended to get out of the class room as fast as possible, like most other students. Rachel Berry, however, had other plans in mind and put a stop to this. Tagging along Kurt, she planted herself right in front of the twins, a radiant smile on her face, preparing to make the mini-speech she had just memorized in the bathroom specially for this occasion.
"Hey, I'm Rachel Berry. Let me be the first to officially welcome the two of you to McKinley High, a place of inspiration, team spirit and achievement." Her enthusiasm held something scary to Luke and Tiffany, who, whispering among themselves, were trying to decide if they should talk to her and get some useful information about the school or if this association would already sink their reputation deeper than the Titanic, on their first day of school nevertheless. They decided they should rather avoid Rachel for the time being, made an excuse about being late for an urgent appointment and stumbled out of the class room. "Ten bucks says they'll be slushying us by next week."
"That was rude, you know." Tiffany rolled her eyes at her brother. "Way to make new friends." They were walking down the hallways of McKinley to try to get their bearings in this school.
"Come on Tiffy, those two were losers. If you wanna be somebody you can't be seen with the likes of them. You'll be thanking me when they're crowning you for prom queen at the end of the year." Tiffany pondered her brother's word for a couple of seconds.
"Maybe the rules at this school are different."
"Dream on, little one. Have you decided yet what activities you're gonna sign up for?"
"Yes. Or, no. Well, I'm undecided". Luke shot his sister a puzzled look. "Which of the above now?"
"I'm definitely sure I'm gonna be joining the gymnasts. I also wanna try out for the cheerleading team, but I heard the coach here is a total bitch, capital B. It's probably not a good thing I've been here for less than half a day and I've heard four girls saying that. Oh, and there's the Glee club."
"Glee?" Luke stopped to lecture his sister. "When will you ever grow up?"
"What's wrong with Glee? I happen to enjoy singing. Why shouldn't I be doing it as an official activity with others who have the same hobby?"
"If you like singing, do it in front of your mirror in your locked room. Do you think anyone will vote some Glee loser Prom Queen? I'd stick with the cheerleading." After a moment of silence he added "And I've heard you sing, you're not even that great."
"See you at home, asshole."
Artie made his way to the first official Glee club meeting of the new school year. When he entered the room, he saw a lot of familiar faces. Everyone else was already there, sitting around in small circles, undoubtedly sharing stories from their summers. He hadn't seen most of his fellow Glee clubbers all summer, as he'd been away as camp counselor pretty much the entire time. Brittany had stopped by before he left, wishing him a fun summer with lots of rainbows. He'd attempted to ask her about where she and Santana were standing at the moment, but after Brittany got confused and told him she's standing right here in his room and didn't really know where Santana was right now he gave up and decided to wait until after the summer to find out.
Only now did he notice a girl he'd never seen before standing awkwardly a safe distance away from everyone else. Artie joined Tina, Mercedes and Kurt who were waving him over to where they were sitting.
"Who's she" he asked, subtly pointing at the stranger.
"New student, Tiffany something. She's in my Spanish class.", Kurt answered. "Honestly, I'm surprised she decided to show her face here at all."
At that moment, Mr. Schuester motioned to all of them to shut down the small talk and begin the meeting. "I see you've all made it back from summer healthy. Glad to see nobody took the Nationals fiasco too hard." A bit of laughter here and there.
"Which brings us to this year. I don't think I even have to mention we'll be trying for Nationals again, right?" The room cheered.
"That's the spirit. We have no time to lose this year if we want to take the title home this time, so without further ado, I'd like to give you all this week's assignment." He grabbed a pen and wrote down 'summer time' on the white board.
"For this week, I'd like you all to sing a song that describes what your summer was like. Let your imagination run free, I'm curious to hear about what you all did over the past few weeks." Excited chatter brought out. "But before we start with this", Mr. Schuester started, trying to shush everyone to make one last announcement, "I would like to introduce you all to Miss Tiffany Dawson who has asked me to audition for Glee club this year."
Tiffany stepped up to Mr. Schuester and turned around the face the others.
"I'd like to sing 'Diamonds are a Girl's best friends'."
Two hours after the Glee meeting had ended, Mercedes was still in awe. That girl had killed! Not only did she have a pretty voice, Mercedes had to admit, but her entire act had left everyone speechless. Tiffany had used all her God-given charms to her advantage. And God apparently liked it sexy when he made her. Practically all the guys had been drooling over her during that song, even Kurt, although Mercedes had the suspicion that for him it had more to do with Tiffany's unusually classy outfit and her high-level skills as a temptress. The boys weren't the only ones that had been touched by Tiffany's performance. Mercedes was having coffee with Tina, Rachel, Kurt and Blaine and so far Tiffany had been the only topic. "Did you see the way she nearly shoved her breasts into Mike's face?" Tina asked indignantly, "who does she think she is?"
"And Finn", Rachel added, "don't forget how she nearly gave him a lapelled right there! And Puck!"
"I wasn't there for this, but let me get this straight", Blaine inquired, "she got a little too friendly with all the guys?"
"That's part of her charm!" Kurt jumped in, defending the girl, "Marilyn Monroe would've never been so success with the song if she hadn't been a little flirtatious."
"Would you still say that if it'd been Blaine she'd been hitting on right there?" Rachel retorted. Kurt hesitated for a while before, reassured by a glance from Blaine he stated with certainty: "Of course. Respect the arts, that has always been my motto. We should be happy to have her as a new member. Who knows, she might bring with her the bit of charm we're still lacking to beat Vocal Adrenaline."
"Do you think we should sing a song together?"
After meeting with the girls, Kurt and Blaine, Mercedes had called up Sam to ask if he still wanted to come over to her place for a while. Enjoying each other's company, they'd been relaxing on the bed without saying a word for what could've gone on for eternity. Sam had broken the silence, brining up that one topic they'd happily been in denial about all summer.
"We'd be official." Mercedes answered. "Would that bother you?"
"Of course not. I care deeply for you and I want to show the world." They shared a little kiss. "It's just...I'm not really sure what Quinn and Santana would say if they knew, or your friends from the football team." Mercedes knew the glee kids weren't really a status symbol among the football crowd. As for Quinn and Santana...They had both ended things with Sam on sort of unfinished terms. Now that Quinn and Finn weren't an item anymore who knows what suppressed feelings for her ex could be rekindled. And Santana was open for any guy anyway. Maybe not recently, Mercedes mentally added, things had been weird with Santana ever since she started dating Korofsky.
"If I cared what the football team think I would've never joined Glee", Sam clarified, "and Quinn and Santana are your friends. Okay, they might be ex-cheerleaders, but that doesn't automatically make them vicious monsters that are out to backstab you. I hope."
The next Glee meeting had arrived.
Lauren and Puck went first with the song 'Waking up in Vegas' by Katy Perry. "Nice performance guys!" Mr. Schuester said after they had finished. "What's the story behind this?"
"I used all the money I had made with pool cleaning to get me and Lauren to Vegas. Things were buzzing until we lost everything at poker and somebody confiscated our fake IDs. Worst of all, we were so broke we didn't have the money to come back home. So I decided to be a man and get a job as a male stripper."
"Isn't it illegal to be an underage stripper?" Quinn cut in, "and funny, I heard a different story. Something about your Mom getting notified and having to come down there to pick you up." "You heard wrong", Puck snapped back at her, quickly moving back to his seat with Lauren before anyone could get the chance to further question him about this incident.
Next up was Brittany with here rendition of 'Summer in the City'.
"It was summer, and I spent it in the city" she explained after she was done.
"New York?" Rachel asked hopefully.
"No, Lima" Brittany gave back in confusion.
Rachel then sang 'When Will I be Famous', reflecting her disappointment of not having been discovered while in New York, something that had been bothering her all summer.
Santana sang 'Bad Reputation'. She finished off with a warning to the Glee club members:" I know people have been talking over me for a while now. But guess what, I don't give a damn about my reputation. So stop the talks and don't believe everything you hear or I'll go all Lima Heights Adjacent on you." Santana still hadn't come out, but she was aware that more and more people were suspecting she was a lesbian. If she decided to come out, she would do that on her terms, not on theirs. After all, lesbian or not, she was Santana who ruled the school and she wanted to make sure it stayed that way.
Finn went next with 'Shattered Dreams'. Apparently he had been having some issues with Rachel's and his relationship which resembled a rollercoaster in many ways. Upon Mr. Schuester's inquisitions about the song Finn just looked at the floor and said "for no reason", but everybody was sure that Rachel was damn certainly the source for Finn's shattered dreams.
For this day's meeting, Mike and Tina went last. They sung 'Bacardi Feeling', that is, Tina sung it, while Mike put on some soft dance moves to go with Tina's performance.
"Mike's aunt in Florida invited us over for the summer", Tina let them all know, "we had the best time at the beach. And it was a nice change of pace from Asian camp every year."
"Nice work today, everyone", Mr. Schuester concluded the meeting. "Next time we'll be hearing more of your summer time songs. Oh, and I almost forgot, Ms. Pillsbury will be joining us next time. She'll be helping us prepare for all of our competitions this year."
"Have you picked a song yet?" Kurt had followed Tiffany out of the class room in an attempt to finally get a chance to talk to her, maybe discuss the latest fashion trends or icons of the 20th century.
"Huh?" Tiffany turned around, checking who had torn her out of the dream world she tended to disappear in whenever she was alone. "Sort of, I'm not sure yet. Something to express the annoyance that was moving to Lima. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"It's Kurt Hummel. And I must say, I really enjoyed your song selection the other day. You have class."
Tiffany gave him a polite smile. "Thank you, it's always nice to be appreciated for your performances. And I had the feeling not everyone was too happy with my Glee debut. That Rachel girl looked like she wanted to slaughter me."
"You have to understand her, and the other girls for that matter. Us Glee kids, we're more like one big family. We're at the bottom of the food chain at this school, so we got to stick together. For some it's hard to have somebody new intrude on our family and especially Rachel has taken this hard in the past."
"People have warned me not to join the Glee club, you know that?" Kurt gave her a questioning look. "Who?"
"My brother, my cheerleading coach..."
"Wait", Kurt interrupted her, "you're also a Cheerio now?" She nodded.
"That Sue Sylvester is ruthless and vicious, you should know", he warned her, "being a Cheerio might come with a lot of fame at this school, but there's a price to pay. That woman has broken down some of the best."
"This school is like one giant soap opera," Tiffany shook her head, "everybody hates each other and goes around backstabbing and trash talking. Next up, my lost triplet will probably turn up or something. Makes me miss the gang violence at my old school." Like that she separated from Kurt towards the entrance door, pushed it open and disappeared in the bright sunlight.
"She's special."
Bored to death, Santana was sitting through Spanish class. The only reason she was taking this snorefest was because Spanish had always been a guaranteed A+ for her, as a native speaker.
Ever since that Luke boy was sitting next to her, things had been even worse. He'd been making passes at her every 5 minutes and didn't seem to get the subtle hints she was sending out to him. On the other hand, she wasn't ready to completely shut him up just yet. New hottie at the school, how would she look like rejecting him without giving him a test ride first? Play acting oblivious to any advances it was.
"Did I tell you I made the football team?" he asked her from the side. No response, just a micro nod almost not visible to the naked eye. "I heard you used to be a cheerleader; I bet you were good. Why'd you quit?"
"Glee club" Santana said without even looking up.
"Wait, you're in the Glee? But you're so..."
"This sentence better have a good ending!"
"...stunnigly hot!" He gave her a look of earnesty. Santana felt a bit bad for all the hard work he'd been putting in flattering her and decided to give him a mercy date. After all, letting him take her out somewhere with free food would serve her self-interest just as well as his. "Breadstix, tomorrow at 9."
"You guys are our closest friends. There's something we want to tell you first before everyone else will know." Mercedes and Sam had finally decided to make the first step towards acknowledging their relationship. They had called in a meeting with Kurt, Blaine and Rachel and Mercedes was just making the first move in letting her friends know about what she and Sam had been going through during summer.
"Sam and I are dating." Nobody moved. Rachel's jaw slowly dropped.
"Okay now would be a good time to comment..." Sam said in an attempt to get over the apparent awkwardness. Was it the initial shock of him and Mercedes pairing up or were they insulted they'd been kept in the dark for so long?
"Wha- since when...HOW?" Rachel didn't even seem capable to finish a sentence in the light of the news, Mercedes noted.
"It happened after prom. We're sorry we didn't tell you you right away. It's just we didn't wanna jinx it. You know I'd never really had a boyfriend before -"
"and you know my recent dating history, the whole disaster with Quinn and Santana...", Sam cut in.
"- we were scared what others would say and how that'd affect us."
"But...we're your best friends. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Kurt's tone sounded accusingly.
"I don't know what to say." Sam admitted. He and Mercedes looked honestly gutted about keeping their friends in the dark for so long. Then, to the newly outed couple's surprise, their friends all started to smile.
"Nah, we're just messing with you," Kurt started to explain, "we've known for weeks. And you have our blessing."
"How did you find out?" Mercedes was eager to know at what point they had slipped up. Hadn't they been so careful to seem nonchalant towards each other whenever other people were around?
"Are you joking?" Blaine had to suppress laughter. "The looks, how you kept 'running into each other' and you really shouldn't be holding hands in public if you want to keep a relationship secret, not even when you think nobody's looking."
"Everybody from Glee noticed, half the school probably.", Rachel supplemented. "And we're all happy for you."
"I see double dates in the future!" Kurt took another sip from his grand nonfat mocha and smiled enthusiastically at Sam and Mercedes.
Quinn picked up her cell phone and started browsing through her contact list. She stopped at the entry she had been looking for and pressed dial. While she was waiting for the call to connect she sat down at her desk and began fidgeting with a pen that had been lying there.
"Hello?" Puck's voice answered.
"Hey, it's Quinn. Now that we're all back in town I was wondering if you're interested in meeting up some time." A moment of silence.
"What'd you have in mind?"
Just as Quinn was about to make a suggestion she heard her Mom call her down for dinner.
"I gottta ago, but let me get back to you later." She hung up, stood up, yelled "Coming" at her Mom and went downstairs.
'I will remember you' was not the song Brittany had expected Artie to sing. Did he like camp so much he couldn't let go? Then he revealed he'd met a girl at camp, a counselor, just like him, and she began to understand. Did she mind? She knew she was happy when Artie was happy.
Quinn sang Madonna's 'Holiday'. Her self-sufficient smile never once left her face during the song.
"I had the best summer", she laid open, "no baby weight to get rid off this summer. And party's non-stop." She really hoped nobody would ask for a more detailed description of her summer.
Tiffany surprised everyone with her chaste and tame rendition of the song 'I miss you' by Aaliyah, which clashed with her short dress that revealed more of her legs than it covered.
"Aaliyah was a true New York girl who's being greatly missed by everyone. I really miss my New York friends right now and that's what gave me the inspiration for the song."
"That must be really hard for you.", Finn stated seemingly empathic to Tiffany's sorrow. "Thank you for your concern.", Tiffany said with a sweet smile, well aware of the lusting looks Finn and the other guys were scanning her with. Two seats away from Finn, Rachel was trying to suppress the jealousy rising within her.
Kurt sang 'Flashdance...what a feeling' and told everyone of the dance lessons he and Blaine had been taking over the summer.
Last up were Sam and Mercedes, who got up nervously to address a few words to their fellow Glee club members.
"As we found out, you've all heard about Sam and me." Friendly giggles all around. "we picked a song to describe the express the feelings between us."
They sang the Beatles' song 'Here Comes the Sun'. After they finished, the Glee club broke out into applause and everybody got up for a group hug.
Mr. Schuester congratulated everyone on a great start of the new school year and let Ms. Pillsbury have a few concluding remarks about what to expect this year.
"This year, we want to bring home the trophy, right? Mr. Schuester and I talked and decided the best way to get some more experience in performing before a crowd. So this year, you'll be performing at more school events, the mall, maybe even the annual carnival. And I'll be helping you with your costumes. In addition, I'll of course still be available to you as counselor. Let's make this year count!"
List of songs used:
Diamonds are a girl's best friends: .com/watch?v=8ZRs_rmYMc Waking up in Vegas: .com/watch?v=BppuSbxnnfU Summer in the City: .com/watch?v=s1_8909dNJ0&feature=related When Will I be famous: .com/watch?v=xgC6Ctoi3M8 Bad Reputation: .com/watch?v=m_gVkCQqlq0 Shattered Dreams: .com/watch?v=mxr-4kCKp9w Bacardi Feeling: .com/watch?v=2BzIivBDsCQ I Will Remember You: .com/watch?v=t8_RIqY49dM Holiday: .com/watch?v=q7XKWZdruFs I Miss You: .com/watch?v=bsEhB0CcVvk Flashdance...What a Feeling: .com/watch?v=o4VSdGzxSTw Here Comes the Sun: .com/watch?v=hsv34Ng_Rik
