I knew that I would never be the same after everything I had been through between Finn and Jesse...and now Brody as well. But the troubles with them were all in the past, and it was my time to shine whether Cassie wanted me to or not. I may not have gotten one role, but I was up for another already, and I had more than prepared myself for my audition. Kurt had helped me with this part as well as realizing that I needed to move on from the past and keep my head up for my future and my ambitions. Not that I had allowed myself to stray from those thoughts and ambitions; I had merely just taken a detour on my journey. But now it was time for me to go back to the typical and usual Rachel Berry that everyone knew and loved. I wanted to be able to go back to Lima for Christmas and say that I was finally making it somewhere other than making my hands sink into my dance teacher's slender throat. I was running around, gathering my necessary items for my audition, and I suppose that I may have been running around a bit too frantically since Kurt suddenly grabbed my arms out of no where with a smile on his face.

"Rachel, honey, slow down. You're going to give yourself a breakdown before you even get to the auditions. You know this part front and back, you've got the songs nailed down, and they'd be crazy to not pick you. Just...just realize that there may be more talented young women there going for the same part, so don't be discouraged if you don't get it. Just give it your complete, Rachel Berry all with whatever inferior male lead they put you with."

I stopped the racing thoughts in my head and smiled at the words of encouragement from my very best friend. Of course I knew that he was right, but it didn't make me feel any less confident in my simply exquisite singing and acting abilities. I closed my eyes and took a moment to take a deep breath, regaining who I was which got a smile from Kurt. He knew that with everything that had been going on in my life, things had been quite hectic and hard for me to deal with...although his help did seem to make things a lot easier in some senses. I knew that I was ready to be the star that I was born to be, and without a word to Kurt and a tight yet simple hug, I picked up my small duffle bag and made my way out of our temporary home and onto the streets of New York. Now normally I wouldn't take a subway, but since it was a bit of a journey, I decided to overcome my normality and took one anyone. At least with earbuds placed ever so eliquently in my ears, I knew I'd be able to ignore the day to day crowd and focus on staying in the mindset that I needed to be in. Despite my managing to keep the mind that I needed to on my journey to my audition, I had a strange ache in my chest that wouldn't seem to go away. Something seemed a bit off about the day, but I pushed the feelings to the side and took a deep breath in order to regain myself.

"My stop should be soon...ah, here it is! Time to go and dazzle everyone!"

I jumped up as soon as the train stopped, truthfully before it stopped due to my excitement. It didn't take me long to find the theater that I knew was going to bring me my big break. It was just as Kurt had said, they'd be crazy not to cast such talent as what filled my very soul and being. I took a moment outside the door and composed myself yet again before putting on my 1,000-watt Rachel Berry smile and making my way through the doors, breathin in the oh so familiar smells of the theater. Little did I know the surprise that would await me inside those hallowed halls of music and art. I took my place backstage while I waited for my audition to come up, and of course I had let someone know that greatness had arrived. Now it was just more of a wait and see deal for them to be truly amazed by my skills. I was there long before I was told it was my turn, and as usual, as I took the stage, my 1,000-watt smile was still placed upon my face as I took my spot center stage and looked down at the director and spoke in my spunky voice.

"Good morning, my name is Rachel Berry, and I'm auditioning for the lead of Alessandra for your simply delightful play. I'm excited for this opportunity and can't thank you enough for the chance to help bring your theatrical geniuse to the eyes and hearts of everyone. I'm prepared to both sing and read for the part of Alessandra, whichever you would prefer me to do or whichever you want me to do first."

"Thank you for coming Ms. Berry. I think I'll shake things up a bit by having you read and sing with our lead male to see if the two of you have chemistry. As I'm sure you've been taught at NYADA, chemistry is needed otherwise the audience will be able to tell that you're acting and won't be enthralled by the story. Now then, Jesse, could you please come out here?"

I nodded lightly at the director, being all too in agreeance with him. I knew that chemistry would be needed for the theater before I ever stepped foot in NYADA, but what I wasn't expecting was the chemistry that was going to come out of this audition. When he called out for a young man named Jesse, I allowed myself to think nothing of the name. There could be thousands of Jesse's in the world and no tell how many in New York, so what was the chance that it would be my Jesse? Well...not really my Jesse...not anymore, and he hadn't been for years. It was amazing that he had even been civil to Finn and I back in Chicago, but seeing him even then had brought up all of my surpressed feelings about him, and for him. I took a breath to steady myself and looked down at the stage, closing my eyes to regain control of my thoughts.