The Wise Listen

Hello any lovelies reading this First chapter fic I've written in awhile and actually decided to post. I figured a story with an update every now and then would be a nice outlet for pent up frustration.

As always, R&R. With this story especially it will be a massive help with motivation.

Mostly it is just going to be an episode by episode view by an OC. Simply because I am not really used to writing anything but essays atm ;) It may be a bit iffy til I get my flow back, bare with.

Each little 'section' of each episode will be seen through 'Nat's' eyes and will most likely skip through time a bit to just the parts of the show. There will be some small inserts in between so that I can give her a bit of backstory. This will likely occur until I get to season 2, in which I have mass plans for her story to come to the front and her to become a much more dominant character.

Disclaimer For Story: I do not own Glee in any way shape or form.

XOXOXOXO

Chapter One: Pilot

Nat walked through the school nervously, glancing now and then at the fading door numbers situated between the sea of lockers. She had already wrestled with her locker and somehow managed to get it open to fit her stuff into it. She'd managed to get dumped in next to the school's cheerleaders; which lead to many frustrating comments about her faded jeans, long sleeved plain top and jacket. Not that she commented of course, why humour them?

The school itself was dreadfully dreary and, apart from the rather annoying series of comments about the new kid, the conversations were practically about who got drunk at what party and who hooked up with whom over the summer. It was obvious these teens thought that the world wasn't any bigger.

Nat had her map clenched in her hand (an unfortunate side-effect of her ever present nervousness) and carefully flattened it out so she could see her class list.

Art

English

Algebra

World History

Latin

Chemistry

Physical Education

Natalie raised an eyebrow as she glanced over it, barely recognising the classes. A few sounded similar to what she did in Australia, but the curriculum in America was vastly different. As it was in every country, she supposed.

She pulled out the highlighted map provided by the school's secretary and leaned against her locker, squinting her eyes in an attempt to decipher the fuzzy lines and illegible writing, with quite a lot of guesswork and fast paced walking, she eventually made it to the correct corridor. Thank god.

As she turned to face the door of her first class, Art. She fished through her bag and brought out her sketch pad, graphite pencil set and small collection of paints and pastels before taking a deep breath and stepping through into her first day of what she would come to know as hell.

XOXOXOXO

Natalie looked up at the bulletin board, covered in ripped and vandalised signup sheets. She glanced casually over the staples of Chess Club and Debating, the threatening boldness of the 'Cheerios' squad (…wasn't that a food? She mused) before her eyes rested upon the sheet seemingly in the centre. Already, a few names were sprawled across the average A4 sheet proclaiming sign ups for New Directions, some type of 'Glee club' (After taking the time to google the ideal, Nat realised it wasn't some weird club where you went if you were happy). Various examples of both hideous and wonderful penmanship illustrated the varied clientele. One name even had a star next it (someone wants attention, Natalie thought to herself). However, the sheet was marred with graffiti and obscene drawings from those that obviously thought themselves better than those signing up.

She adjusted her dark brown, worn messenger bag and reached into the front pocket to grab out one of the pens of her collection rather large stationary collection; a blue, shimmering pen.

With a deep breath and a small frown upon her face, in a rushed, half-cursive scrawl appeared two words.

Natalie Tyler

She placed the pen back in her bag and pursed her lips, a small amount of sadness in her eyes.

Natalie could admit it, it seemed a bit like betrayal. Sure, they didn't have Glee Clubs back in Australia, but it almost seemed as though she was moving on and she certainly wasn't. She tapped on the screen of her Blackberry, bringing up a candid shot of a teenage girl pulling a stupid face. A small smile came to her face as she opened up messaging and sent a familiar message.

Nat: I miss you. So, so much.

XOXOXOXOX

Natalie had never felt so many conflicting emotions at once as she stepped out onto the auditorium stage.

Happiness, contentment, fear, pain, sadness, anger, calm all radiated from her heart, conflicting and almost painful in their simultaneous intensity. She could already feel the need to escape rising. Maybe it really would be better to just go do homework or something…

She could see a few faces in the darkness; obviously just some kids who had auditioned and wanted to see the competition or kids who were auditioning shortly. She smiled at the man sitting behind the piano, Brad, who gave her a small, encouraging smile in return and turned to face the teacher, a Mr. Shoe or something.

'Hi, my name is Natalie Tyer,' she spoke quietly. She could tell the teacher was straining to hear her, but she couldn't…wouldn't speak louder. 'I'll be singing Buses and Trains by Bachelor Girl.'

After singing a few lines so that the teacher could get a feel of her voice, quiet as it sounded, she stopped and waited for the verdict.

'Singing so soft I don't know if you'd get a lead part,' he began before Natalie interrupted.

'I don't particularly want one, sir,' she said quietly, but forcefully, looking up into the auditorium.

'Either way, it'd be a pleasure to have you in the club.'

Natalie had a feeling that it wasn't as much a pleasure as a 'I don't have enough' kind of thing.

XOXOXOXOXO

After heading out of the auditorium, Natalie headed out to her red, heavily tinted RX-8 and dumped her bag haphazardly into the back. She paused a moment before flicking on the car, once again taking time to be sure she knew were everything was and remembering the strange notion of clutch. Manuals never were her confidence point. Making her way out of the car park slightly faster than normal, she tried to escape the zoo that was this school and not for the last time wished she was back home.

The 30-40minute drive back out to the house her parents had brought was annoying. It was halfway between Lima and Westerville. She would never know why they needed to get this house. She assumed it was to keep her occupied, or to at least placate her. It never worked. Natalie pulled into the underground garage with a gentle purr and jumped out of the car, hanging her keys on the available key rack alongside about 4 others and shucked off her shoes next to the mat.

'Ah, Miss Tyler, welcome home,' greeted Riley, her family's butler as he reached over and took her jacket. He and his wife Terese had worked for their family for years, since Natalie was a baby and Terese worked as the housekeeper/nanny. They moved with the family, having none of their own, when her mum and dad offered them the continued work. They were more family to her than her parents ever were.

'Hey, Riley. Mum and Dad called out again?' she softly questioned in a noticeably fake-interested tone which made Riley's eyes soften.

'Your mother and father apologise, but they were called to Las Vegas for an urgent conference. They should be back within the week.'

Natalie sent a sad half-smile toward Riley who sighed, 'Terese has chocolate icecream and your favourite sandwich set out?'

'See, Terese knows what I need,' she whispered with a small grin, giving Riley a quick hug and running up the stairs to the ground floor and the kitchen. She flew straight into a hug with the graying woman.

Terese let out a soft chuckle, bringing her arms around the teen, 'Hello, mon cher. And how was your first day of highschool in America?' She asked in her warm, accented tone.

Natalie continued to speak softly, 'I swear that place is like a zoo, Terese,' she pouted softly, 'I don't like it at all.'

Terese smiled gently at Natalie as she pulled away. 'It will get better, ma chérie. Maybe if…you spoke up a bit? You never used to be this quiet and I haven't heard you sing for at least 2 months now…'

Natalie bit her lip and became even quieter, 'I can't.'

'Honey, I know its hard bu-'

'It's fine, Terese. It's j- ….look, I'm fine, ok?' Natalie bit her lip before grabbing the bowl of icecream, spoon and sandwich. I'm going to my room.'

Nat rushed through the wings and corridors of the house before pulling into her large gray, black and red themed room. She placed her food on the small glass coffee table near the couch and moved over to her desk, sitting on the black leather computer chair.

The desk was filled with pen pots with pens littering almost every spare surface. A new, top of the line computer sat on one side of it, a small graphics tablet well within reach. On the other side a series of notebooks were lined up with lined paper begging to be used.

Nat let a sad smile come to her face before beginning to pen her letter.

Dearest Ben,

I certainly doesn't feel like a month…or is it two? I don't really remember and I don't suppose I care to. I hope you're ok, though.

My parents have once again filled the house and my trust with money and expensive gadgets and furniture. With all this room, you'd think we had 50 people living here. Their wing, my wing and a guest wing? As well as communal living areas? They just like showing off their money, its kinda sickening.

The school is a zoo, complete with skanks, head skanks and Neanderthals. It's amazing how crossing an ocean can take you back several thousand years of evolution.

I hear everybody back in Aus is doing ok, if a bit rattled. We all were, I suppose. But knowing you, you're looking after them anyway. I probably have nothing to worry about, huh?

I love and miss you, sweetie. Life isn't the same without you.

Lots of Love, forever,

Nat.

She let out a long breath before reaching over and grabbing some more stationary.

Dearest Callie,

It's going on a month now, and I still wake up thinking I'll see you. I know it's silly, but I'm always still disappointed when I don't.

I miss you so, so much. It's my fault what happened. I'm torn between wanting your forgiveness and wanting you to hate me forever.

But no matter what, you'll always be my best friend, and I love you.

Nat

PS I signed up for Glee Club today, a kind of show choir. I know that you would want me to. I still barely talk and I certainly sing even less, but it's a step in the right direction, I suppose.

Carefully, Nat closed folded the expensive pieces of paper and placed Callie's into a beautifully patterned envelope, sealing it, and then placing the sealed letter into a small box she then put beneath her bed. She pushed Ben's into a more elegant envelope and put on a stamp ready to drop in the mailbox before heading to the couch and pulling her legs beneath her and switching on the TV to some reality show she had never watched and grabbing at her icecream.

Another day down.

Another couple of thousand left to go.

XOXOXOXO

The first rehearsal was…a disaster. Of epic proportions.

The song choice was horrid, the dancing even worse. Natalie cringed internally as she continued to sing quietly and dance with a definite lack of enthusiasm.

Why had this seemed like a good idea at the time?

Artie, a boy in a wheelchair, was a nice enough kid. He was a bit of a nerd, and certainly dressed like one, but he was really into Urban and all kinds of new age music. He hung around his friend, Tina. She was quiet and spoke with a stutter, but seemed to be a fairly nice girl.

Mercedes and Kurt were…divas. It was scary actually. They looked at everyone like they were better than them all, whilst complaining about everyone's apparent lack of fashion. Nat had looked over her clothes choice for the day, a pair of comfy jeans, boots and a block t-shirt, and felt slightly offended. Seriously, they were designer, just not something overly out there…

That Rachael Berry, however? Was something else. Nat couldn't help but want to punch the girl in the face. She viewed everyone as beneath her and only stepping stones to her apparently approaching fame. To tell the truth, it would be amazing if a casting director could afford to be in the same bloody room as her for longer than 5minutes.

'We suck.' Rachael said succinctly.

Nat couldn't help but agree, but instead of voicing her opinion, went to sit quietly next to Brad, their piano man and thanked him with a small smile before beginning to quietly play Heart and Soul with him, their hands jumping across the keys as Nat let out a small giggle.

Then Rachael stormed out, effectively ending the rehearsal as Mr. Shuester moved to other kids filtered out fast, eager to go elsewhere but Nat remained in place.

'Quieter than them.' Brad said in his rarely used deep voice.

'Yes, well, our past experiences shape us all,' Nat spoke just above a whisper, texting the same number as the other day about the inherent failure of the club before glancing back over to him with a smile.

'Know anything else?' he spoke before resuming his well-known silence as Nat moved slightly over to better reach the higher registers and began to play River Flows in You.

XOXOXOXO

Nat collapsed facedown on to her bed, her school bag falling to the ground with a noisy clatter, her treasured pens rolling out onto the floor.

'Ma chérie!' Terese yelled from a few rooms down, 'That better not have been your bag hitting that freshly cleaned floor!'

Nat just groaned before groping blindly off the edge of the bed and dragging her bag up on to the bed and grabbing the handful of pens that had escaped.

With a resigned sigh, she opened up her world history textbook and began the readings. School itself wasn't hard, just tedious. As her parents had travelled when she was young, she had gathered more and more tutors to keep her up with the various systems. She was already well ahead of her classes in the majority of subjects such as math, latin and chemistry however what was needed to have a knowledge of 'history' differed broadly from country to country.

It was almost like school wanted to give her something to do.

XOXOXOXO

Standing in a line listening to Finn the footy boy (who had obviously been dropped on the head multiple times, and not just as a child) and Rachael the primadonna bitch murdered 'You're the one that I want', was painful. Almost enough to want to make Nat burst her own eardrums. And the way Rachel tried to use 'sex appeal' was enough to make her nauseous.

But Kurt was right, it was better than they had sounded originally.

Then again, Mercedes was also right. Nat really hoped the loud and proud diva was going to get a solo soon, or Rachael might be a bit too dead to continue being Mr. Shue's go to.

Nat shared a look with Brad, one that clearly said, 'Please kill me.'

Brad hit a smile with great difficulty.

Later, when he played so softly her overly soft voice was able to be heard singing a quiet Hallelujah over the top, she sent him a grin so wide it lit up the room.

XOXOXO

Watching Camel high was like returning to the glory days. Every move synchronised, every harmony a purpose, all words perfect diction with a pitch perfect clarity.

New Directions didn't have that.

Compared to Vocal Adrenaline? New Directions was a baby speaking babble for the first time, or a piece of programming still working through Alpha tests. Vocal Adrenaline was a well-oiled, perfectly functioning machine. Not faults. Nat didn't think their mentality could handle a fault.

So when the rest of the New Directions just sat there just sat there with their mouths hanging open, Nat stood up, smoothing out the crinkles in her dress, before clapping enthusiastically for awhile before grabbing her bag and leaving quietly.

XOXOXOXO

Nat smiled to herself as she continued her letter to Callie:

Mr. Shue (the Glee Director) totally has a thing for the guidance councillor, by the way. Despite the fact he has a wife, I get the feeling he has something massive with her, at least feeling wise.

You always did love those kinda forbidden love scenarios.

XOXOXOXO

Mr. Shue left, and what do you know, Finn grew balls and ACTUALLY kept the club together.

Who'd have thought, right?

When they broke out in that Journey number, Nat had to admit she felt something she hadn't in a while. During the simplistic but effective moves, she glanced over at Brad, who seemed to know exactly what she was feeling.

The music was growing in her again. Sure, she wasn't going to forget what happened, but maybe she could let herself enjoy this a little more.

And Nat wouldn't admit it out loud, but Mr. Shue clapping them afterwards? That was one of the best things she'd felt in quite the while.