A New Day SYOC- Chapter 1
The Teachers' Lounge, McKinley High, 2025
Freddie McCall walked into the teachers' lounge, a huge smile on his young face. Going over to the table where his two best work friends- Spanish teacher Ruby York and drama teacher Lela Thompson, were gossiping.
"Guess who's going to be restarting the New Directions?" Freddie asked excitedly, "Hint: it's me."
"I thought Glee club died a slow death like ten years ago," Ruby commented, filing her nails, "Even Schuester getting principal couldn't even get it revved up."
"I know, but that's exactly why I want to do it!" Freddie continued, "There are so many students in this place with untapped musical potential. Sure they could do choir or theatre, but why not have a go in a real show choir. The kids at this school have no real musical choice and I want them to. New Directions won two national championships; I could make them great again. Principal Schuester was so excited when I told him that I wanted to do this, you can tell he misses Glee club so much. We have the budget; I just need to get some sign ups. I'm sure a few will and get the ball rolling. Yeah we need 12 before sectionals but we can't aim too high right?"
Lela and Ruby exchanged glances.
"Well we'll support you whatever you do," Lela told him, "But I think it might not be a great start. The musical kids are seen as freaks in this school and nobody currently enrolled has ever experienced having a show choir. Kids at this age care about peer pressure, they'll follow the herd and if the herd doesn't walk towards Glee, then you're screwed."
"Maybe a few of the popular kids will join up."
"I doubt that honey," Ruby patted his hand, "I teach the popular kids, hell I teach all the kids. Whether they're a jock or an anime geek, they care more about getting laid and getting drunk than singing."
"Well I feel positive about this," Freddie assured, "Can I rely on your help ladies? Lela, maybe you can talk to all the drama students and push them my way, they tend to perform. Ruby, you're a popular teacher, they'll listen to you. Please?"
Lela sighed, nodding, "Sure, anything for you Freddie."
"Ruby?" he pleaded, looking at the Spanish teacher.
"Ugh fine, but don't expect me to make the horny teenage boys think that I'm interested in them- that I draw a line at."
"Great," Freddie clapped his hands together, "I'm really excited to see the New Directions reform."
"What's this about the New Directions?"
Freddie looked up to see Samantha Coolidge, the Cheerios coach, looking down at him. Though Samantha was nowhere near as evil as Sue Sylvester or Roz Washington, she was still pretty tough and could be meaner than a lot of the Cheerios. Cheerleading was more essential than oxygen to her, she would hate for anyone to take attention from them. Glee club had enjoyed a spell on the top, but sports were back in vogue now. Something told Lela and Ruby that she wouldn't be happy with this news.
"I'm bringing it back together," Freddie informed her, "I was hoping to get some Cheerios to sign up..."
"I'm going to stop you right there, McCall," Samantha put a hand up, "My girls are champions, their entire life is cheerleading. None of them are stupid enough to stoop to the level of the Glee club. I will not be sharing their talents with you. I don't care if you get some circus freaks, but my girls will be staying far away. The New Directions idea is stupid anyway, why you want to teach a bunch of pubescent losers to sing The Greatest Showman songs is beyond me. Mark my words; the Glee club won't even see sectionals."
Freddie shook his head, "You're wrong here Samantha- I can do this. Back in Principal Schue's day, the most popular cheerleaders and jocks signed up, along with an array of other kids. I believe that this school just needs a little bit of glee."
"Whatever McCall, I have diet sheets to give out to my girls," the Cheerio coach stated before heading out of the room.
The trio watched her leave.
"She's a piece of work, isn't she?" Ruby stated.
"I'm sure she's nice once you get to know her," Lela tried to defend her.
"Lela, I know you're a sweetheart and like to see the best in people, but Samantha Coolidge is a grade A bitch."
"Well she's wrong either way," Freddie grinned, "I'm going to do this. McKinley High won't know what hit them. It's gonna be great!"
Welcome to A New Day. I always liked to participate in SYOCs and decided to do my own one as a companion to my other Glee stories (which you can read by the way). It's basically canon, but McKinley never became an arts school and Sam became a teacher somewhere else. Schue became principal, but the New Directions got a loss of interest and eventually shut down.
Teaching Characters:
Freddie McColl- A new English teacher who dreams of getting the New Directions back. He's sweet and kind, but naive to the way high school works. Freddie is torn between Lela and Ruby, with a love triangle soon to progress.
William Schuester- Principal of McKinley High.
Emma Pillsbury- Guidance Counsellor, wife of Mr. Schue.
Lela Thompson- The sweet natured drama teacher, one of the kindest people you will ever meet. Like Freddie she is naive, and is also a people pleaser who tends to be gullible to people's true nature. She has a crush on Freddie.
Ruby York- The beautiful and confident Spanish teacher, popular with the male students and faculty. She is outspoken, witty and strong-minded, but is very stubborn, can be cold and keeps her cards close to her chest. She has feelings for Freddie.
Samantha Coolidge- The 30 something cheer coach. Snooty, ambitious and a tough coach, she loves cheerleading but not her cheerleaders. She hates the idea of the New Directions stealing her glory and will want to stop them. Samantha also doubles as a substitute gym teacher.
Rules/Notes:
Please send the form via PM with the title 'A New Day- Character's Name.'
If you send more than one character, please send them in separate messages.
You may send as many characters as you like, but they won't necessarily all be accepted. Any spares may be made into side characters.
I'd like diversity, not only in things like gender and race, but cliques- Cheerios, jocks, nerds, Goths, anyone is welcome. Don't restrict them to sophomore and juniors, seniors and freshmen will be welcome happily.
I'll send a thank you as notification I have read your message. Characters will be selected and revealed after enough people have been sent in.
Again no Mary Sues or clichés. A Cheerio can be kind, a nerd can be cruel, LGBT characters aren't stereotypes etc.
If your character is explicitly stated as single, I will likely pair them up as the story progresses for characters with a romantic storyline. You can specify what kind of person you think they'd like, that will be taken into consideration.
Please no super dramatic storylines- things like dead parents etc are fine, but I don't want anything soap opera worthy.
Please no relations to existing Glee characters. I'll make an exception for the first submission sent as I did not make it clear in the initial edit of this chapter.
EDIT: I've already been sent 4 LGBT characters. Please send no more in as that is roughly the amount I wanted. Thank you to those who have sent them in, they're amazing characters.
Form for Submission:
Full Character Name:
Name they may go by:
Gender:
Grade:
Sexuality:
Race:
Religion:
Appearance:
Personality:
Background:
Family:
Clique:
School Activities:
Hobbies/Interests:
Talents:
Weaknesses:
Insecurities:
Music they like:
Singers they like:
Audition song (pick 3):
Musical suggestions:
Kind of person they'd be romantically attached to:
Are they in a relationship?:
Popularity:
Songs they could sing (pick 5):
Storylines they could have (3-5):
Anything else essential:
Thanks again and I hope to get the next chapter up by next week x