A/N: Hey, people, this is the prequel to Telephone. This was written back in 2010 and it sucks pretty bad. Just read it if you want. I don't care.
My name is Kyle, Kyle Cameron Travis; I'm 16 years old and a sophomore at McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. I'm the short, skinny kid everyone ignores; I merely live in the shadows. It's almost the end of the year and I was just wandering around after school when I heard yelling.
I ran through the line of buses to see Rachel Berry, the school drama queen, being egged by a bunch of kids in blue jackets. I immediately recognized Jesse St. James, Vocal Adrenaline's male lead. Vocal Adrenaline is the Glee club at Carmel High School. Here at McKinley, it's New Directions and Rachel's the female lead; Finn Hudson, the first football player to migrate over, is the male lead. I know that Jesse has been attending our school and spending a suspicious amount of time with Rachel; and I'm pretty damn sure he's just here to spy on New Directions. That's right, I'm like their stalker; I can't sing and I totally envy the kids who can.
"Do it, Jesse," I heard a black-haired girl say. Jesse held an egg over Rachel's head and said something I couldn't hear. Before he could finish, I jumped in front of Rachel, taking the egg for her.
"What the...?" Jesse exclaimed, stepping back.
"Who are you?" Rachel asked, tears in her eyes.
"Tell you later," I replied. Then I turned to face Jesse and his Vocal Adrenaline thugs. "Leave her alone," I said, gritting my teeth as the egg yolk oozed down my face.
"Who the hell are you?" Jesse asked; he looked amused by this intimidation by someone much smaller than him. His face was so damn smug; I just wanted to punch him.
"Shove it, jerk, just leave here, now, and no one gets hurt," I snapped. Jesse looked as if he was going to hit me, and then waved his hand. His friends followed him to their Range Rovers and they drove away.
"You alright?" I asked Rachel. She threw her arms around me, sobbing. I patted her on the back and took her inside.
"Thank you so much," Rachel said after she'd calmed down as I led her inside. I sat down next to her on the nurse's bed.
"I know all about you and the others," I told her. "I know about your outstanding performance at Sectionals; in my opinion, you were just as great as Barbra."
Rachel sniffed and smiled. "Thanks, by the way, what's your name?"
"Kyle," I grinned. I brushed a lock of my hair over my ear.
"You were really brave, Kyle, I don't think many people would've stood up for me like that," she admitted.
"Rachel, I know about Jesse and I just knew he was a spy. By the way, what did he say to you after that girl told him to do it?" I asked.
"He said he really did love me," she replied in a low voice.
"If he really loved you, he wouldn't have done that," I scoffed.
"Thanks. Come on, let's go to the music room," she took my hand and led me there.
As Rachel led me into the choir room, I saw all the other Glee kids staring at me. I smiled shyly and sat down next to Rachel. "Guys, this is Kyle," she said. "He took an egg for me."
"What do you mean, Rachel? What happened?" Finn asked.
"Vocal Adrenaline egged me," she replied. The guys stood up angrily and started for the door when Mr. Schuester came in.
"Guys, what's going on?" Mr. Schuester asked.
"I'm gonna rearrange that Jesse kid's face," Noah 'Puck' Puckerman replied, pushing back his chair.
"Rachel's one of us, only we get to humiliate her," Kurt Hummel said. I saw Mike Chang pushing Artie Abrams' wheelchair.
"Guys, stop!" Mr. Schuester yelled as the guys began to leave the room. The guys looked startled by this outburst and sat back down. Rachel got everyone's attention and stood up.
"Everyone, I'm fine," she said, "Jesse was about to egg me too, but Kyle here took it for me." Everyone looked at me and I waved shyly.
"Hi, everybody," I smiled weakly. They all just stared at me. I gathered the courage I knew wasn't in me, but continued. "I know they may seem totally weird, but I've been following you guys," I said.
"Following how?" Kurt asked; a puzzled look on his face. I found him more and more attractive every time I saw him.
"I was at Invitationals and Sectionals," I explained. "I saw 'Push It', which, mind you, was totally awesome. Rachel's 'Don't Rain on My Parade', as I told her, was just as great as Barbra. And I will be there, this weekend, at Regionals."
Mercedes Jones raised her hand and said, "So you've been stalking us?"
"You could call it stalking," I shrugged. "I mean, yeah, I know the songs you sang, all the drama up in here, how Coach Sylvester gave your Sectionals set list to the other schools and how she's a Regionals judge, everything. I even have the "Jump" commercial you did; it's saved on my uTouch."
"Mr. Schue," Rachel ran over to him and whispered something in his ear.
"Rachel, that's a good idea," Mr. Schuester agreed and stood up. "I think Kyle here should be our manager, since he knows all about the club and how he's always there when we are. Who says he should?" Everyone raised their hand. "Well, welcome to New Directions, Kyle," Mr. Schue said.
"Hey, Kyle, why didn't you audition for the Glee club?" Tina Cohen-Chang asked.
"I can't sing, I always envied you guys, that's why I follow you, it makes me feel like one of you guys," I replied.
"Now you are one of us," Quinn Fabray said. I smiled.
"So, now that I'm manager, what songs should we do at Regionals?" I asked. Artie raised his hand, I nodded.
"We can do 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life', you know, the Monty Python song?" he said.
I nodded and said, "That would work, we should do something upbeat. Anyone else?" I wrote down the song in my notebook.
"Something R&B," Mercedes said as she high-fived Artie. "Like Lupe Fiasco's 'Superstar'." I was thinking, I do like that song, as I wrote it down. Mr. Schuester put his hand on my shoulder as he stood up.
"Everybody, we can do this later; I just got an idea...," Mr. Schuester didn't even finish that sentence as Coach Sylvester came into the room, followed by three Cheerio boys.
"Just put the trophy over there," she said, pointing at the left wall. The boys placed the trophy up against the wall.
"Sue, what are you doing?" Mr. Schue asked.
"Oh, hey, William, I was distracted by the wafting scent of the crap you put in your hair," she sneered. "A couple of my Cheerios are installing one of my trophies into the new trophy case over there." She pointed at this massive wooden trophy case; I had just noticed that too.
"Sue, can I see your trophy?" Mr. Schue asked. Coach Sylvester handed him one of her trophies. He threw it against the wall, breaking it and startling all of us; we all backed up.
"You dropped your trophy, Sue," he said. I saw her face twitch a little as she heard her trophy smash, but it was still intact as she faced Mr. Schue.
"You know, Will, for me, trophies are like herpes," she said, with a smirk. "You try to get rid of them, but they just keep coming. You know why? Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, bitchy, highly contagious talent. Enjoy your last few days here. This room is mine." She walked out, the three Cheerio guys following her.
The next day, Vocal Adrenaline was back at McKinley and in the auditorium when I walked in. Jesse and the black-haired girl shot me dirty looks as I passed; I smirked and ran backstage where New Directions was warming up. The club was going to do a funk number, something we all knew Vocal Adrenaline couldn't do, due to their machine-esque ways.
"You guys ready?" I asked, excitement just etched all over my face. Everyone nodded.
"Excellent," I said.
Rachel went onstage and talked about something and I wasn't really listening. When she walked backstage, everyone poised behind a green screen. I went to sit in the audience. Kurt opened the number.
"Dig if you will the picture
Of you and I engaged in a kiss
The sweat of your body covers me
Can you, my darling?
Can you picture this?"
Puck took the next verse:
"Dream if you can a courtyard
An ocean of violets in bloom
Animals strike curious poses
They feel the heat
The heat between me and you"
The whole group came together:
"How can you just leave me standing?
Alone in a world that's so cold? (So cold)
Maybe I'm just too demanding
Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold
Maybe you're just like my mother
She's never satisfied (She's never satisfied)
Why do we scream at each other?
This is what it sounds like
When doves cry"
When they were done, I heard Jesse say, "They did a funk number. We've never been able to pull off a funk number."
"Well, that's because we're soulless automatons," the girl replied.
"I'm so depressed," Jesse countered.
As we came back to the music room, cheering, I discovered something was wrong; Kurt was gone. I looked around and I didn't see him. I heard a screech from outside. I ran outside to find two of McKinley's varsity jocks, Karofsky and Azimio, about to throw Kurt in the dumpster. I've seen the jocks do this to Kurt before, I could've helped before, but now I'm not scared of anything.
"Let him go!" I demanded, running over to them.
"Kyle, don't," Kurt muttered.
"Beat it, loser," Karofsky snarled, lifting Kurt up. I pushed Karofsky backwards and he released Kurt. "What do you want, freak? Why are you protecting this homo?" Karofsky asked.
"He's a friend of mine," I said.
"He's a friend of all of us," I heard Rachel's voice. I turned to see everyone crowded together. "It's like he said, 'only we get to humiliate each other'," she smiled in that smug way of hers.
"I didn't say it like that," Kurt put in.
"You meant it like that," Rachel quipped.
"Well, we brought back-up this time," Karofsky smiled nastily. A bunch of hockey players came out and surrounded us.
"Well, so did we," Finn said. The football and basketball players surrounded the hockey players.
"Let's get out of here," Kurt said quietly.
"Yeah," I agreed, and as the three teams collided physically, the club and I squeezed out and parted our ways home.
A week later, we were all gathered at Mr. Schue's apartment. "What are we gonna do?" Artie asked. "Coach Sylvester's a judge, she'll crush us."
"Guys, how do we know that?" Mr. Schue asked.
"Because she told us at Cheerios practice," Santana said.
"Yeah, she said she's gonna crush Glee club," Brittany added.
"Mr. Schue," Rachel asked, I saw tears filling up her eyes, "can we just go around and talk about we liked best about Glee club this year?"
Tina went first. "You know, I had only two Facebook friends before joining Glee club: my parents," she said.
"I wasn't honest with who I was," Kurt said.
"I wouldn't be a cheerleader, but I'd never have had such a good time," Quinn said.
"I would still be getting Slusheed," Rachel said.
"I wouldn't have a dad...someone I could look up to, follow in his footsteps," Finn said.
"I was the closeted diva," Mercedes said.
"I hated everyone in this club," Santana said.
"Me too," Brittany added.
"I was just another football player," Matt said.
"I was afraid to show my dance moves outside my room," Mike said.
"I wouldn't have had my first kiss," Artie said, looking at Tina.
"I was throwing kids in the dumpster," Puck said.
"I never would have had someone to envy, to look up to, you guys. A group of people who would listen to me," I said.
On Saturday, we prepared for Regionals. "Guys, just remember, no matter what happens, we're the real winners," Mr. Schue said.
I had everything sorted out: make sure Aural Intensity goes last (Those suck-ups; I know they're doing a mash-up of Josh Groban and Olivia Newton-John, who are two of the judges), Vocal Adrenaline goes second, and we go first, with our rendition of "Live to Tell". Mercedes took center stage.
"I have a tale to tell
Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well
I was not ready for the fall
Too blind to see the writing on the wall"
The rest of the girls joined Mercedes:
"A man can tell a thousand lies
I've learned my lesson well
Hope I live to tell
The secret I have learned, 'til then
It will burn inside of me
"I know where beauty lives
I've seen it once; I know the warm she gives
The light that you could never see
It shines inside; you can't take that from me"
The audience cheered; we grinned at each other, I gave them a thumbs-up and they launched into the next song. Rachel, Santana, and the girls started to sing:
"My grades are down from A's to D's
I'm way behind in History
I've lost myself in fantasies
Of you and me together
I don't know why-iy-iy
But dreamin's all I do-do
I won't get by-iy-iy on mere imagination
"Upside down, bouncin' off the ceiling
Inside out, stranger to this feelin'
Got no clue what I should do
I'll go crazy if I can't get next to you (to you)"
Finn, Artie, and the boys took the next verses:
"My teach, she says to concentrate
So what his name was peter the great
And kings and queens will have to wait
Cuz I don't have forever
I wish that I-iy-iy could walk right up to you-you
Each time I try-iy-iy the same old hesitation
"Upside down, bouncin' off the ceiling
Inside out, stranger to this feelin'
Got no clue what I should do
I'll go crazy if I can't get next to you (to you)"
We rushed backstage cheering. "We're gonna win this thing!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Hell yeah," Artie said; I was pushing his wheelchair.
I saw Quinn stop to talk to someone, I just kept going.
Next thing I knew, everyone was rushing to the hospital; Quinn's water broke. Rachel and I stayed back to watch the other performances. Vocal Adrenaline's performance opened with Jesse:
"Flip on the switch
And everything's fine
No more lips
No more tongue
No more ears
No more eyes
The naked blue angel
Appears through the blinds
Appears in the blue
Of mirror-blue night
There's nowhere to hide
From these bones from my mind
It's broken inside
I'm a man and a child
I'm home with a ghost
Who got left in the cold?
Who knocks at my peace?
With the keys to my soul
"And the whispers I hear
The chill of the spine
Looks your way too
With the flick of the light
The minute you do it
The fingers so blind
Remove every bit
Of blue from your mind
"I don't know where to hide
From the ghost in my mind
And the cold from these bones
I'm a man and a child
And there's no one who knows
And there's nowhere to go
And there's no one to see
Who can see to my soul?"
As the audience applauded, they began something totally unfit for show choir, but then again it was catchy. Damn them, I thought.
"We're comin' up like killin' machines
Our big gun's gonna shatter your scene
It's pandemonium on the floor
'Cause everyone wants a little more
"They wanna ride on our rocket ship
Right 'round the moon for a velvet kiss
'Cause all the girls and boys wanna know
How fast this bad wild child's gonna go
"We are the sure fire winners
Uh huh, yeah, the big time hitters
We are the sure fire winners
Uh huh, yeah, the big time hitters
Bringing the heat
And the word is out
Giving you something to shout about
We are, we are, we are the sure fire winners
"Flip the switch and the missile will fire
I'm a heart-seeker and I'm full of desire
You're all drawn to the heat of the flame
'Cause you want to be a star in our ball of fame
"I was born with glitter on my face
My baby clothes were made of leather and lace
All the girls in the club wanna know
Where did all their pretty boys go?
"We are the sure fire winners
Uh huh, yeah, the big time hitters
We are the sure fire winners
Uh huh, yeah, the big time hitters
Bringing the heat
And the word is out
Giving you something to shout about
We are, we are, we are the sure fire winners"
Rachel and I just stared at each other in astonishment as the audience applauded. "Aw, damn," I said. "This is ridiculous! And it's so conceited, I swear to God!"
"I can't believe this," Rachel said. "I gotta call the others." She pulled out her phone and called Finn. "Finn, speaker, now," she said into the phone. "Guys, they did Adam Lambert." I could hear everyone's moans from over the phone.
As Aural Intensity finished their mash-up of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" and Olivia Newton-John's "Magic", we were all formed backstage.
"Do you think we won?" Kurt asked.
"I'm pretty sure we did," I replied, clutching hands with him and Mercedes. He looked at me and I winked; he squeezed my hand in response.
"All the teams onstage now," Josh Groban stuck his head behind the curtain.
I saw Jesse look over at us and I gave Jesse the finger. "You're gonna get it," he mouthed. I rolled my eyes and looked ahead. The curtain rose to have us and Vocal Adrenaline on opposite ends of Aural Intensity.
"Now for the 2010 Midwest Show Choir Regionals runner-up," Coach Sylvester announced, "the not at all stupidly-named Aural Intensity!" The group cheered as Josh Groban handed their coach a trophy.
"And now, your 2010 Midwest Show Choir Regionals champions," Josh Groban opened the envelope and read: "New Directions!" We jumped and screeched with joy as I saw Jesse and the black-haired girl embrace before hugging the rest of their teammates. Olivia Newton-John handed me, Finn, and Rachel the enormous trophy.