Rachel Berry hurried to Glee rehearsal, clutching a letter to her chest tightly. She had big news that she wanted to share with the rest of the club and could hardly wait. But the three Cheerios were nowhere to be seen when she entered the choir room. So, she sat in her chair and waited, bouncing excitedly.
"Is everything okay, Rach?" Kurt asked her after watching her for a few moments.
"Oh, yes. I just have some exciting news for everyone." Rachel assured him. She checked her watch and saw that the Cheerios were due to arrive any minute now so she got up and stood by the piano to warm up her voice.
"And Berry's already at the piano as usual." Santana's voice reached her and she grinned.
"Nice to see you too, Santana." The latina rolled her eyes and sat beside Brittany and Quinn.
"I understand you have something to share with us, Rachel?" Mr Schue prompted her and she nodded.
"Yes. As you all know, we made it to the top fifteen at Nationals last year. A few weeks ago, I received a letter from the board saying that the top fifteen show choirs are offered the chance to perform at various places around the country. They gave me a list of place we could choose from and it was a tough decision but I finally decided on one that I think we'll all enjoy."
"Get to the point, Berry." Quinn called out and Rachel glared at her.
"I'm getting there, Quinn. Anyway, I wrote back, telling them where I'd chosen and yesterday, they replied and told me we've been given the opportunity to perform aboard the SS Tipton when it docks in New York next month. We will do an opening performance in New York and then spend a week aboard the boat as we sail over to Boston, doing shows each night. And the best bit is, thanks to a sponsor from Wilfred Tipton himself, it's all expenses paid." She paused and watched as the faces of her friends froze in shock.
"Are you sure there's no catch?" Mr Schue asked.
"Yes. Mr Tipton was actually at the competition and enjoyed our performance so much he personally offered to do anything to get us on his boat. I have been assured that other than getting permission from our parents, we are good to go." The room broke into cheers and they spent the rest of the meeting chattering excitedly about the trip. They began to talk about songs they could rehearse to perform while aboard the ship.
Meanwhile, aboard the SS Tipton, a very excited London was chatting to her father on the phone.
"Yes...yes, I saw it...you what?...here? Aboard the SS Tipton?...oh, daddy!...oh thank you daddy...okay, bye daddy." She hung up the phone and looked at the four people staring at her.
"Well? What did your dad say?" Zack broke the silence.
"Do you remember watching that Show Choir competition last year?"
"Yes, there were some great performances in it, especially that group with the black dresses and original songs." Bailey said.
"Well, daddy has organised for them to come aboard when we dock in New York in a month. They're going to stay for a week, performing each night and leave when we get to Boston."
"No!" Cody's cry made Bailey flinch as she was sitting on his lap so he shouted right by her ear.
"Are you serious?" Woody was excited.
"Does Moseby know?" Everyone looked at each other, wondering what the man would say if he knew that a group of musically-talented teenagers was going to be aboard the SS Tipton for a week.
"YOU WHAT!?" A shriek from the other side of the Skydeck told the five of them that Moseby had just found out. They began to laugh as they watched Moseby panic about hosting the group of teenagers for a month.