The way I see it, they won't be able to keep Glee alive without hiring—I mean enrolling—some freshmen. This is my idea for how it should go, with all the big, bad, scary seniors in the club, and one, lonely, timid, new girl. WARNING: Super character favoritism going down here! We only really meet a few people, but almost everyone is mentioned…almost.
Freshman. That was the only thought in her mind. I'm a freshman: Bottom of the totem pole, omega of the pack, a no one. Her mantra had continued in her head like this all day, right up until now, as she stumbled her way through the crowded halls on her way to chess club. Anonymous is safe, nondescript is comfortable…I am a freshman. Suddenly, she found herself having turned down a barren hallway, away from the hustle and bustle of the recently let out school. She followed the map she had been given that day to the best of her abilities, but found herself winding through even emptier and darker halls, until she was completely, one hundred percent sure she was lost…and would be very late to chess.
Almost giving up hope, she rounded a final hallway, and was prepared to call her older brother to come find her when she heard a noise. It was a nice noise, not scary in the least, coming from a classroom at the very end of a hall. A single ceiling light was lit over the doorway. Frantically, she began to jog towards the door, hoping that whoever was in there would have neither the desire to beat her up, or ask too many questions.
As the distance between her and the door grew smaller, it was suddenly very clear that the sound coming room the room was music. She slowed, tilting her head to get a better listen. Someone was playing piano very loudly, and very well. The song, though she couldn't name it, was familiar, and certainly not a song you would have expected to be played on a piano. She inched closer to the door, before leaning on the lockers behind her and relaxing, trying to think of the name of the song, as the mysterious pianist played on. Random lyrics were coming to her, but the name still wouldn't come. That is, until someone said it.
"'All you Need is Love,' Kurt?" the voice of a girl chimed.
"Yes." Kurt replied.
She was taken back by the sound of his voice, it was very high pitched, but after the shock wore off, she found it very pleasant. It continued to protest, as the piano cut off.
"I've taken a liking to the Beatles, recently. What can I say? It speaks to me." There was something about his tone that made her think he was smiling.
So she sat there for a minute, listening to this Kurt person sing in his, high, pretty voice, imagining what the people in the room looked like. When she could not think, she stood and brushed off her pants, and had an idea.
Acting very lost and very helpless she knocked on the door of the music room almost immediately after he finished singing.
"Very nice, Kurt. Let me get this, guys, and I'll be right back. Puck, if you don't mind, you're next," a deep and much older voice said.
Suddenly, she tensed. A teacher was the last thing she had been expecting. When the door opened and a very tall, thin, vested man opened the door, she froze.
"Hi," he said, looking down at her. Never before in her life had she felt this small, this minuscule.
"Um…" she began. "Um, I'm looking for room number…" and as she shifted he books in her hands to reach the note she had been given, they all fell to the ground. Three heavy books, two copies of the school map, three copies of her schedule, and a folder already stuffed with loose papers fell to the floor and went flying down the hall.
She was suddenly very aware that at least ten heads were leaning over to get look through the door around their teacher. Only a few were distinct enough to catch her attention though, as she fumbled to assemble herself: a solid, built guy, probably a senior, with a thick Mohawk had his left eyebrow raised in a way that with even a glance, made her blush; a boy with big, thick rimmed glasses sitting in a wheelchair, glimpsed at her quickly before returning to who she assumed was his girlfriend; a petite girl with sleek curtains of black hair striped with royal blue, gazed curiously at her with eyes caked in matching blue eye shadow; and a guy with a pale face, who at least by appearance seemed much younger than the rest, wearing a black bowtie and off white button up shirt, craned his neck to see around the door frame, almost tipping out of his chair in the process.
In a glance, she gathered this information and held it with her as she scrambled clumsily to pick up her papers, trying to match the voices she had heard before. Alas, before she could draw any conclusions, the curly haired teacher had handed her back a stack of papers.
"Um, thanks," she said, looking down the whole time. But suddenly, a spark of courage forced her to look up, jumping from set of eyes to set of eyes, and back to those of the teacher in front of her. "If you don't mind me asking, what is this? I mean, I know we have a band…and stuff, but what—um—what do—" she stumbled awkwardly over her words. Finally, she just blurt it out.
"I'm really sorry if I interrupted, but this looks a whole lot better than the chess club meeting I was supposed to be at twenty minutes ago."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw many of the faces looking at her smile, and heard the one with a mohawk laugh, "Pfft, freshman."
"I'm Mr. Shue," the teacher said, offering a hand to shake. "I teach Spanish, and…uh, supervise the glee club."
"And that would be us," piped up the guy in the bowtie, giving a curious kind of half wave as he clung to the back of a chair.
So he had been the singer. Even as she tried not to judge too quickly, she couldn't help but admit to herself that it certainly fit.
"Glee club? Like, show choir, singing, dancing, glee club? We have a glee club?" She pried, intimidation drowned out by curiosity. Mohawk snorted once again and put his hands behind his head. "Definitely freshman."
"Yeah," Mr. Shue said.
Suddenly, she was filled with a rush of excitement.
"When are auditions?" she practically screamed.
"Well, I'll put the sing up sheet on the board next week, and usually I have them within a week or two of that, depending on how many—" and he was cut off by bowtie-guy.
"C'mon, Mr. Shue, most of us are seniors already and it's not like graduation is getting any farther away. We need to recruit new members now if there's even the slightest chance that glee is going to survive after we're gone." He crossed one leg over the other in his chair and linked his fingers around his knee. "Audition her now. Maybe she has musically inclined friends, too. It can't hurt."
The once appreciation towards bowtie-guy had faded into resentfulness. As much as he had tried to help, she hadn't sung out loud in weeks, and never for more than three people. After a minute of awkward silence, he must have decided that he blank stare was going nowhere, and tried to shake her from her fog.
"Kurt Hummel, by the way," he said kindly.
"I know," she said quickly. She corrected herself when she was met with a puzzled look. "I mean I heard." When his face didn't change, she tried to explain. "In the hall...I was lost and I heard you guys talking...and you singing...and stuff." She cleared her throat. "You're really good, by the way."
At the same time, they both flushed a light pink. Kurt turned to the two girls behind him.
"I like her. She's got a good ear." He smiled a blindingly white smile. "The one thing she doesn't have is a name." He looked at her intently, one eyebrow raised.
"Oh! My name is Lori." And she forced a smile through he nerves.
"Well, Lori, if you'd like to audition now, you can." Mr. Shue suddenly reappeared. "But you'll have to pick from one of these songs." He dropped a pile of papers on the piano, making the bespectacled man on the bench jump. "These are ones that Brad can whip up now without too much prep. Choose wisely, they've all been done at least once in here, so you could definitely get on someone's good side today."
She felt very much like a small mammal being stalked by some kind of carnivorous beast as she fumbled through the stack. Suddenly, the title of her favorite song caught her eye, and she handed the packet to the pianist. He smiled as he cracked his knuckles and rolled up his sleeves. She got the feeling that this 'Brad' was a man if few words. Then he started to play.
The second the very first chord sprang from the keys, an appraising smile spread across Kurt's face. Next to him, the chin of a short girl with long brown hair and plain clothes, dropped. Trying to ignore their reactions, she sang the first verse of the song, focusing only on the memory in her head of the last time she has heard it live.
"Something has changed within me, something us not the same. I'm through if playing by the rules of someone else's game... "
Not focusing to hard on the words, she let her eyes explore the room, resting on a number of interesting things: two trophies, one very small, and one very large, sat next to each other by the window; the unpolished and well-loved top of the piano that looked like it had been through hell (she thought she saw a footprint); and the strange look on Kurt's face.
Admittedly, there were a number of strange things to notice about Kurt, beginning with clothes and ending with his hair (which were both far too nice to belong on a high school guy), but the way he was staring at her, portrayed to her an unmistakable air of something like wisdom. Maybe it wasn't wisdom, per say, she thought, but just an overall knowing. That was it. There was a way his blue eyes—very, very blue eyes—bore through her that made her feel like she knew him.
Feeling more and more like a creeper with every observation, she ripped her gaze away from the guy sitting in front if her and made mental notes on everyone else in the room. She noted the diversity of the room, and she saw a few familiar faces. He brother's basketball team had suffered through a terrible season a few years ago, when the tall and muscular guy in the back had been on the team. A small blonde to his left was recognizable from the yearbooks her brother brought home. She was obviously a cheerleader. Everyone else was nondescript, blending into the walls and blurring together.
Suddenly she realized the song had finished, and she stood awkwardly, wringing her hands, next to the piano. No one said anything. For a minute she felt like running, never returning to that room again, but then Mr. Shue spoke.
"As apposed I still am to impromptu auctions—and I don't want the becoming a habit, guys—that was...really good Lori. Welcome to the glee club."
She smiled nervously.
"Take a seat on the risers, Lori...Alright, Puck, you're up. What did you fix for us over the summer...?"
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She watched the new girl like a hawk, as she nervously took her seat on the other side of the choir room. When she had first walked in, she had posed no threat, seemed like just a passer by, but when Mr. Shue offered her an audition—and she took it—an alarm had gone off in her head. Try as she might, there was an instinct in her to fight for attention that she could not suppress.
"You were uncharacteristically quiet, Rachel." Kurt whispered over Puck's absolutely rousing acoustics.
"There was nothing to say." Rachel crossed her arms and turned her head.
"Scared, huh?" He pressed on. "She sang your song, and she sang it well."
Rachel refused to look at him.
"You'll have a legacy, Rachel, don't worry."
She turned her head a little, scowling skeptically at him.
"But the future is now." He pointed a finger at Lori in the corner. "You've got your life ahead of you...she's got high school."
Rachel sighed begrudgingly.
"I'm not happy about it," she said. "But you've got a point. Besides, look at her," and she pointed over to Lori, hugging a notebook, staring at Puck. "She's obviously helpless."
"You can say that again—" But Kurt was cut off.
"She needs guidance."
"You bet your—"
"I can take her under my wing!" Rachel said, just a little too loudly.
"No way! You sat there like a lump when she came in, no doubt plotting how to get rid of her! She's mine."
"That is, if she even wants our help." Rachel poked him hard in the shoulder.
"Please, take another look." And once again, he pointed over to the corner, where Lori sat wide-eyed as Finn stumbled his way through a song he had very obviously thought up on the spot. "She'll die out there without me…or worse, actually go to that chess club meeting."
Rachel sighed, fully aware of the harsh realities being a loner would inflict upon anyone.
"Fine," she said. "If you feel the need to do this, by all means, go right ahead." She rolled her eyes as Lori clapped enthusiastically, her frizzy hair bouncing. "But I'm warning you, I think you scared her a little."
"Fear? Reverence? It's all the same to me."
"Good luck with that policy," Rachel said as she made her way to the front.
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As she left, Mr. Shue had told her that they meet every other day, and that she should invite friends to come, and that being in glee was the thing to do.
"Thanks, Mr. Sh—" And she was cut off when an arm wrapped around her shoulder.
"Hey, there," Kurt said. "You know, two years ago, I sang "Defying Gravity" for glee."
"But there's a high—!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, long story, might tell you someday—Anyway!—seeing as we have such similar tastes, I thought it would be only appropriate to practice together some time!"
She stood there, stunned.
"Unless you have some kind of crazy, jam packed social calendar…?" But before he could even finish the sentence, she was shaking her head.
"I'm not exactly the kind of person who has a lot of activities…or friends…" She hung her head as they walked down the hall.
"Then you'll fit in great here." When they came to a main hallway, he turned left and she continued right. "Look for me on Facebook; we'll set something up!" he called down the hall.
"Okay!" she called back. She took a few more steps towards the front of the building before turning back and calling, "Thanks!" But he had disappeared down another hall.
GlEeGlEe~GlEeGlEe~GlEeGlEe~GlEeGlEe~GlEeGlEe~GlEeGlEe~GlEeGlEe~GlEe
I know, shameless favoritism, but hey, what can I say? Possible Klaine stuff in the future…definitely several little girlie crushes (Hmm, I wonder who that could be?)…possibility for Rachel bashing, just because I really am not very fond of her…definitely territorial kind of drama…I've been thinking of stuff for Brad to—gasp—say! I have good stuff coming up. I hope you enjoyed it!
P.S. Every time you review, my heart grows a little bit…And Blaine gets a little closer to making an appearance. (PLEASE REVIEW!)
