A.N. Just realized there were some formatting issues. Sorry first fic, still working out the kinks.
Chapter One
Nothing about this particular Thursday afternoon in the Carmel High auditorium stood out in Quinn's memory when she would look back over the next few weeks. She had attended the same classes she did every Thursday earlier in the day.
After the final bell rang she rushed to her locker to ditch her books and grab the duffle bag that held a change of clothes for show choir practice that afternoon. It was a choreography day and the pale yellow dress and ballet flats she had worn all day for classes was not ideal for the high intensity dance routine her coach Jesse St James had them working on for Regionals.
Jesse had taken over Vocal Adrenaline that fall after Shelby left to spend more time with her one year old daughter. Quinn was still a little wary of the new coach and his, so far, unorthodox methods but she was still cast in all of the good solos and therefore couldn't see the benefit in voicing any of those concerns.
The 'bang' of her locker closing when she swung the door a little harder than intended shook Quinn out of her thoughts and she hurried off to the dressing rooms to prepare for rehearsal. Arriving late was not a practice that would keep those solos directed her way. There were at least four other girls that would leap at any false step Quinn made to steal the hard earned spotlight from her.
Rehearsal had been difficult that day, but that was to be expected by anyone on the team. In fact, Quinn took a certain amount of satisfaction in working so hard. It made all of the benefits she reaped from being a lead on a nationally ranked show choir team seem deserved, and at Carmel High those benefits were unsurpassed. Vocal Adrenaline literally ruled the school. They were the top of the social ladder where typically the football players and cheerleaders would be at any other school in Ohio.
Just as Quinn was preparing to leave for the parking lot with her two best friends and teammates, Santana and Brittany, Jesse called her name from his office just outside of the auditorium.
"Uh oh" Brittany whispered in a nervous tone when they all froze. Santana just exhibited her typical reaction to, well anything, and rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion – careful to keep the action out of their coach's sight though – Santana was bitchy but not stupid.
"You guys can go ahead without me. I'm sure I won't be long," Quinn instructed, anticipating the offer that was about to come.
"Alright Q but call and tell us what Baby Stalin wanted. Britts and I will be at my place."
With a final wave Quinn turned on her heal and headed back in the direction of the office, eager to get whatever chat she was headed into over with. It was late; practice didn't typically run this late when they weren't doing final run-throughs for a competition. Fortunately Sectionals had been the weekend before and they wouldn't start 6 hour rehearsals again for another month or so.
She slipped through the open door to Jesse's office.
Without so much as looking up from the open laptop on his desk, Jesse addressed her,
"Shut the door and take a seat Quinn". Sitting meant this was going to take longer than she had hoped but she complied.
"We have a problem" he began, "While we were busy crushing that girl's delinquent school this weekend, I had my scouts out keeping an eye on our competition. It seems that the New Directions isn't quite the joke of a choir as they were last year. Apparently Schuester finally stopped mooning over that doe-eyed guidance counselor long enough to do a little coaching."
Quinn followed along only nodding when appropriate.
"Actually what is more likely is that the team took the coaching responsibilities on themselves since Will couldn't lead a Boy Scout troop across a street. Regardless, we can't risk them harnessing theat underdog persona and using it against us."
With one fluid and precise motion Jesse spun the laptop around to face Quinn and turned up the volume. On the screen was a short brunette in a black and white dress. Despite her small stature the voice that flowed from her lips was powerful enough to make Quinn gasp.
"My thoughts exactly," Jesse continued. "Rachel Berry is the one person in all of Ohio that could derail Vocal Adrenaline from a record 9th national title. And I'm making it your job to make sure that doesn't happen."
