Ever since their victory at sectionals, the kids in the glee club were working hard at perfecting their vocals and dancing in preparation for regionals. They knew the competition was going to be tough, and they knew that Vocal Adrenaline, their rivals from Carmel High, would be the toughest of all. It was going to take something special to help them make a decent showing.
The kids were already assembled in the choir room when Will came in. He dropped his bag on the piano and pulled out a stack of sheet music.
"Okay guys," he said as he started to pass out the music. "Regionals is just around the corner and we've really got to up our game since we know what we're up against. I think this song will be our secret weapon if we pull it off right." The kids looked at the music they had in their hands, it was a song they never heard of before, it was called "Believe". Rachel hummed the melody to herself, it was very simple and flowed beautifully throughout. She raised her hand.
"Mr. Schu," she said, "this melody is really beautiful – I think it will make a perfect ballad." Everyone agreed.
"I'm glad you like it, Rachel," Will replied.
"I got to say that whoever wrote this song put his whole heart into it," Kurt added. "May I ask who wrote this?"
"I did," Will confessed, a shy smile crossing his face. "I wrote it a month ago."
The students looked at him with a mixture of surprise and pride, they couldn't believe their teacher did this for them.
"What made you decide to write a song just for us?" Quinn asked.
"I wanted to do something that reminded me of how far we've come together," Will responded, "so I took those reminders and came out with what you're holding in front of you. And besides, I think an original song will go over well with the judges if we mixed it into our regionals set list." Everyone had to agree with what he said, they had come a long way together, and they were certain that they would have the only original song among the competing groups.
"You're right," Finn said. "I don't think even Vocal Adrenaline has something like this. It's definitely worth a shot." As the students talked amongst themselves, Will calmly crossed the room back over to the piano, where he sat down and started to play the melody of the song. A hush fell over the room as the kids listened, but then a lone female voice began to sing the lyrics. It was a shy and hesitant voice at first, but with each word it grew stronger and more confident. Heads turned to find out whose voice it was.
The voice belonged to Tina. Usually the quietest girl in the glee club, Tina Cohen-Chang was singing with an intensity that matched the words Will had written. Finn and Rachel urged her to continue, and soon Tina was standing in front of the others performing the ballad with all the emotion she could force out of her. Kurt and Rachel were moved to tears, Santana, Brittany and Mike were waving their cell phones in the air, Mercedes beamed with pride and Finn felt a chill course through his body. When Tina sang the final notes of the song and the music died away, the rest of the kids gave her a standing ovation. Will walked over and put a gentle hand on Tina's shoulder.
"Tina, you sang that beautifully," he said, his eyes sparkling with pride. "I am so proud of you."
Tina stared shyly at her black-painted fingernails before responding, "Thank you, Mr. Schu" in a quiet voice. Rachel walked over and gave the petite girl a hug.
"I was really impressed, Tina," she said, taking her hands in Tina's. "How were you able to just start singing like that?"
"I don't know," Tina confessed, "it was just when I heard the music playing, something inside me made me want to come out of my shell and start singing." A smile crossed Rachel's face.
"I don't think even I could have sang that song better than what you just did," she said. "You should sing it as a solo at regionals." Everyone agreed, including Will himself.
"Will you sing lead on it, Tina?" he asked her.
Her heart pounding, Tina nodded. "Yes," she said calmly, "I would be honored to."