New Directions: Senior Year

Chapter 1:

William McKinley High had had a lonely summer. No one wanted to visit the place they worked or learned at for the entirety of a year; everyone had spent their summers getting a tan, going to summer camp or doing odd jobs for some extra money. Yet the peace of the school was soon to be destroyed; September was here.

All of a sudden the pack of noisy students descended on the school. They burst through the main entrance, bringing a babble of chatter along with them. Pushing, shoving, yet McKinley High was happy to have its halls filling once again.

At the front of the pack was Rachel Berry. She had her winning smile bright on her face as she walked up the hall, her thick black pleated skirt swinging around her legs, her knee high navy blue socks just below her knee caps and a blue sweater with an owl on it embraced her upper half. Her eyes glowed with excitement as she approached the sign up board.

The usual sheets were up; gardening club, the debating team, self defence, the Cheerios (which already had a queue forming in front of it full of girls who had rather obviously spent their summer in tanning salons and on the elliptical) and, last but not least, the empty Glee club sheet. Rachel frowned slightly. Why was Glee club so unpopular? It had everything, including Miss Rachel Berry herself. What more could anyone want?

Suddenly, interrupting her daydream, Rachel felt a pair of strong arms wrap round her waist, instantaneously taking her breath away. "Hey, Rach."

A real smile spread across her face. "Hey Finn." She spun round to see her boyfriend. His boyish hair and his chocolate brown eyes made her melt. He grinned goofily.

"You signing up for anything?" He looked up at the clusters of sheets across the board.

Rachel nodded decidedly. "Yes. I am."

Without a second thought she pulled out of his arms and cut to the front of the Cheerios queue. A few of the girls behind her scowled and Finn just raised his eyebrows as Rachel signed her name on the sheet.

"Move it, hobbit." Santana whipped the pen out of Rachel's hand and pushed her aside. "You know I'm actually glad you're going to join the Cheerios." She tilted her head as she signed hers and Brittany's names under Rachel's.

A look of surprise crossed Rachel's face. "Err... Why?"

"Because you'll make an excellent landing matt for when I do my backwards flip of the top of the Pyramid." Santana smirked before turning away and grabbing Brittany's arm. Together they began up the hall.

"Oops, sorry, Santana..." Artie cringed as his wheel lightly rolled over her foot.

Santana quickly pulled her foot away. "Watch it, wheels!" She scowled at him and pulled Brittany in the direction of their lockers, but Brittany was reluctant.

Instead, she smiled sweetly at Artie. "Hi Artie. Did you have a good summer?"

"What are you doing?" Santana hissed at her, still tugging at her best friend's arm.

Deciding it best not to stay and cause Brittany any trouble, Artie briefly smiled and carried on rolling up the hall. He was just minding his own business when he heard a voice from behind him. It had a brittle, nasal quality to it. Artie stopped, so the girl could catch up with him. She wore a thick, pink, turtle neck sweater and a short black skirt with huge boots that reached her knees and had large gold buckles on them. Her hair was a cross between Ginger and mousy brown.

"Hi Sugar." Artie said nervously. Sugar hadn't spoken to him before; he thought it was because she thought she was better that him. Not that that could possibly have changed over the summer.

Yet, she smiled. "Hi Artie. I was wondering... You're on the football team, right?" She tapped her left boot heel on the ground in a completely random beat.

Artie adjusted his glasses. "I... I don't know. I'm not sure if I'll try out this year."

Sugars face exuded worry. "That won't do." She said thoughtfully. "That won't do..."

"Good morning Artie!" Mercedes seemed uncharacteristically enthusiastic for a lousy September morning.

Sugar folded her arms across her chest as she spun round to see Mercedes. "Shut it, Aretha. I'm trying to talk to four eyes." She smirked. "Sorry, Aspergers."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She then leaned so she could see past Sugar and waved at Artie. "I'll talk to you later. I can see you're... Busy." She looked Sugar up and down once before turning on her heel. Mercedes walked up the buzzing hall alone, but not for long.

"Hola my hot cocoa girl." A tall guy in a football jacket appeared at her side.

Mercedes grinned. "Hey Shane."

Sam watched them talk animatedly as he leaned against his locker, although he was pretending to fiddle with his phone. He sighed, realising it was just hurting him more and more to watch them. Sam dragged himself away from the lockers, memories of the summer he had had with Mercedes; the best summer of his life.

"Sam?" A short blonde haired girl appeared in front of him, interrupting his daydream.

Snapping back into life, Sam ran a hand through his hair and looked at Quinn with sleepy eyes. "Hi Quinn."

Quinn put a hand on her hip, and actually looked a little nervous. "I just... Wanted to say that I'm sorry." She began to bite her lip furiously.

"For what?" Sam stared at her blankly, confused. He rubbed his eyes, wanting to just go home and sleep rather than having to Shane and Mercedes together for a whole day of school.

"For messing you around last year. I had no right." Quinn said decidedly after a moment. To avoid eye contact with him she watched other students push their way to their classes. She hated what she did to Sam last year and basically spent her summer thinking of ways to apologise. Well, her then was her time.

Sam's expression softened slightly. "Er... Thank you, Quinn. It's nice of you to apologise."

Quinn nodded and a sweet smile began to form on her face. She rocked back and forwards on her heel playfully. "So I heard you spent the summer with Mercedes."

Sam rubbed his forehead frustrated. "I don't want to talk about it." He said firmly.

Quinn simply shrugged. "Whatever." The sound of the school bell briefly rang through the halls and there was only a couple of people left trying to get to class. "I'd better go. Talk to you later." Quinn spun around and strode away before rushing into a classroom.

Sam sighed. He knew this was going to be a long year. He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed reluctantly to his class.

The halls of McKinley were quiet again, apart from some late risers who were slowly making their way towards the first lesson.