Inspired by "Seasons Of Love" from the movie "RENT."
Each character in the club, and then Will and Emma, reflect on how their lives has changed over the last 525, 600 minutes. Takes place a year after "Journey." Each chapter is a new character's POV, there will be 14 chapters total. :) Enjoy! Read, review, suggest!
In 525, 600 minutes, so many things can change.
And for fourteen people, things did.
Rachel
So Mr. Schuester, always trying to feed our "creative minds" came up with a new assignment. Admittedly, it brightened up my dreary Monday, but I knew it was going to be difficult. Kurt had been playing "Seasons Of Love" on his brand new iPod touch and we were all singing along, every single one of us (including Puck) knew the words. To this day, Puck never fails to surprise me.
Mr. Schue walked into the choir room just as Mercedes belted out the last note, Quinn clapping her best friend on the shoulder as she did. We were all sort of harmonizing together, just goofing off, but it sounded good. Of course it needed practice and choreography and costumes and Santana went sharp on a few notes, but it was alright. For just goofing off, that is.
"Hey guys," he said. "That sounded good," he nodded towards the boys, who had been singing with us and Finn tapping out a beat on the drums. "And you just gave me an idea."
One thing you should know is that when Mr. Schuester gets ideas, it can go in one of two directions. But it usually ends up in the same place. It can go really, really well (like our Lady Gaga experience) or it can go horribly awry (like our Mash-Up experience) but no matter what, we usually end up learning some life lesson from it. I guess that's why he's won teacher of the year for six years in a row.
"So what's the idea?" Finn asked, curious, as he set his drum sticks on top of the drum set and took his seat next to me. My heart still beat a little faster every time he took my hand in his own, and I could feel a slight blush creeping onto my cheeks.
"Oh chill," Santana nudged me with her elbow. She'd gotten a lot nicer over our Junior year, but she could still be her old bitchy self sometimes.
"Well," Mr. Schue began as he turned to the white board, blue marker in hand, "In 525, 600 minutes a lot of things can happen and change. 525, 600 minutes ago, we were in the auditorium, crying, and about to lose this club," he held up his left hand, "I didn't have this ring on my finger, and I was quite honestly the most heartbroken I had ever been in my life. The only two things I cared about were going to be gone. And obviously, things have started looking up. We've all had our ups and downs this year, so I want you to figure out how you, as a person, has changed and what's happened to you over the last 525, 600 minutes of your life. And, if you can, find a song that represents your growth to share with us on Friday?"
I grinned- the wheels in my head already spinning. Mr. Schuester was right, so much about me had changed in the last year, and I already knew that this was one of his better ideas. What better way to close out our Junior year than a nice, heartfelt solo from everyone in the room?
Yes, I just said "solo from everyone in the room" and "nice" in the same sentence.
Like I said before, a lot of things have changed in the past year.
X
Junior year, unlike the others, was not clouded by the slushies thrown into my face. I was stronger this year, and totally able to handle them. Well... not totally, but I was far better equipped by the knowledge that A) I had friends, B) I had a loving boyfriend (not to mention gorgeous) and that C) I got tickets to go see Barbara Streisand live in concert for my birthday- love, New Directions.
Finn was over Quinn, he swore it, and he loved me. We hadn't had sex yet, even though we'd been dating for a year now. He said he understood the importance of waiting and understood it better. I was mad when I found out he'd lost the big V to Santana Lopez of all people, but understood that he regretted it so, so much. He said whenever it happened, my first time would be special. And it would certainly be with him.
New Directions took Sectionals and Regionals with tons of hard work over the summer. Mr. Schuester already has our song picked out for Nationals, but we are sworn, sworn, sworn to secrecy. He says it's "Worth Fighting For" by Nine Days. No one else understands why this is so special or secretive, but I do since I was a witness to his "conversation" (though there wasn't much talking- wink wink) with Ms. Pillsbury on the last day of school last year. Sure, it was a great song, but it was special to him, to her, and I guess to me (the awkward third party that according to others, "killed the moment").
My rivalry with Quinn has long ended, and now we're close. Pretty much best friends, which is good since I've never had a real live friend before. Now, though, I've got eleven. If I had a Facebook, it would probably be more, but my intense schedule keeps me too busy for the internet. I deleted my MySpace page. Mr. Schuester said he was proud of me, Santana said she'd lost her main source of entertainment.
My mother, Shelby, is a stranger to me. As sad as it is, she was right. Sort of. She lost her chance with me and now she's keeping her chance with Beth. She never wanted a teenager, and it was wrong of her drag me into her life just to spit me back out again. I never wanted to know, not then, not ever. I put my biological mom on this pedestal, and sure enough, in a moment it came crashing down again. Shelby and me are friends now, and sometimes I come to her with costumes issues or help with my really high notes. She's always free since she stopped coaching Vocal Adrenaline last year, much to the chagrin of Jesse St. James and much to my satisfaction.
Whenever I talk about her in Glee Club though Mr. Schue looks really uncomfortable. He blushes and he tries to act nonchalant. When Mrs. Schue (as of May, formerly Ms. P) sits in on our rehearsals, he asks me please not to mention Shelby. Quinn helped me fill in the lines, and we've gathered that my mother might just have been part of the rather hilarious and infamous faculty lounge outburst last year. It's been long since forgiven (hence the wedding rings) but it will not be forgotten.
F.L.O. (Faculty Lounge Outburst) will forever live in infamy.
And even though it won't be in infamy, the original New Directions will live on forever too. I don't think anyone can forget the last two years, and how since we were all a part of something special, all fourteen of us became special.
I'm counting the Schuesters when I say fourteen just because without them, new Directions would have ended up so far up Crap's Creek that there would have been nothing whatsoever special about it. But they made it special, they made it worth all those slushies, they made it alright.
X
I stood in front of the class on Friday, my heart beating fast the way it does every time I'm about to preform in front of people, and though this audience wasn't very big, it was also full of my best friends and biggest critics. "One year ago," I said, swallowing, "I was still a little girl. I wasn't very mature, I'll admit it," I paused as someone from the jazz band sniggered quietly under their breath. I rolled my eyes at the kid and he shrugged his shoulders like 'What? You said it first, Berry...'
"But now, I'm different. I used to think that getting a solo and being number one, being a star was the most important thing. Now I know better- I know that instead of shining out the brightest among all of you, all of our potential and talents working together makes the brightest star there is. And that's why we won Regionals last week, and that's why we're going to take States this summer and Nationals in September. And, even though everything I've been through, like the slushies and the name calling-" I glared at the jazz band kid again, "and the drama, finding my mother and losing her again, I'm still alright. With all of you guys I've learned a lot, especially my priorities and that I can make it through anything," I looked at Finn now, and smiled. "So that's why I'm going to be singing 'Still Alright,' by Adam Merrin."
"Take it away, Rach," Mr. Schue smiled at me, his eyes almost misting but now really. He was such a sap sometimes it was funny. "Brad," I nodded at the piano player who never really said anything, and I could of sworn he rolled his eyes as he played the first notes.
With a flip of my slightly-shorter-than-before brown curls and a thumbs-up sign from Brittany (she's everyone's best friend) I began to sing.
When everything you have goes away Everything you thought was a big deal When all you have just falls apart You're still alright When everything starts to feel the same You went along with me when things weren't right When all you have just falls apart You're still alright
You realize that nothing means a thing
Now you see it all and what is real
And nothing seems to work out right
And you're trying
And everyone around you seems to change
And when the morning slowly fades to night
And nothing seems to work out right
And you're trying
X
As I finished, the other glee clubbers rose from their plastic seats and gave me a huge hug. I felt a little smother by all eleven pairs of arms wrapped almost suffocatingly around me, but I smiled. I was loved by them, and even though it took me two whole years to learn it, we were all always going to be there for each other.
And no matter what happened, we'd make sure we were all Still Alright.
Finn wrapped his arm lovingly around my waist and guided me back to my seat, placing a chaste kiss on my lips. "Love you," he whispered into my ear, and I giggled like old-Rachel would have.
"You too," I smiled. "Virgin cosmos after school?"
"Definitely."
So I'm going to write a story like this one from the point of views of the rest of the kids in New Directions along with Emma and Will, and the stories will mix with each other. You're going to get a little background on their Junior year and then the song! If you have song suggestions for ANY of the characters PLEASE put them in your review because it's going to be difficult to find songs for all fourteen characters! Also, review or PM with plot lines you might like to have happened to the glee clubbers in the year that has passed- I need them! LOL
Read && Review, dahhlings!
Xoxo,
me