A/N: New story, based off of TGP (The Glee Project), my new obsession! So, I hope you enjoy! (By the way, the lines that I wrote probably wont show up on fanfiction when you read the story, so whenever you see a section of writing based out more, that's where the scene changes). Enjoy guys! (This is for Elyse and Twinzy, BTW. Also for all of you who are deprived of TGP writing.)

I don't own the Glee Project. Or Glee. Why don't I own anything?

Confusion was not hidden on one Damian McGinty's face as he stared up at the large school. In big, white letters formed "William McKinley High School", and underneath was a little banner, hand-made, Damian noticed, which read, "Try Out For The Cheerios! (Unless Your A Fatty)". Finding this highly offensive, Damian scoffed, but then just shrugged it off, assuming this was normal behavior, seeing as no one else was outraged by it. Checking his watch, taking note of the big hand three chimes past the '45' and the small hand just a little off the '11'. The American students were to have been in school for at least...3 hours now? Trying to do the math in his head, he felt his mother tap on his shoulder. "Come along now, Damian, don't want to look weird on your first visit," she said in a sweet tone, but Damian knew the edginess behind that tone and got a move on.

Still glimpsing around, Damian got a first look at the students here, and it wasn't very pretty. In the middle of the campus was a group of large guys in Letterman jackets surrounding a much smaller boy. As the pack of boys started to surround the small boy, the only words Damian could make out were, "Help me!"

Scared out of his mind, Damian's first instinct was to grab his mother's sleeve. Exasperated, his mother heaved a great sigh. "Please Damian, lighten up!"

"B-b-but mum...did you just see that boy? He looked like he was about to be murdered!" Damian cried, his strong Irish accent matching that of his mothers.

"Damian, by panicking, you'll be doing nothing but hurting yourself, so let go of my sleeve now, you're embarrassing us!" Miss. McGinty scolded her son, batting away his arm. Damian sighed. He knew he couldn't expect much encouragement out of his mother.

Walking down the hallowed halls of McKinley, Damian took note again of his surroundings. There were far less people in here, probably all in a class. The ones that were in the hallways, however, didn't look like they were in any hurry to leave though. Turning at corner after corner, the gray lockers that aligned the walls all looked the same, and it felt as if they were going in an endless square around the school. Finally stopping, Damian was relieved, and rubbed his temples to rid of his new headache.

"This is the office, honey," Miss. McGinty smiled just a bit to sweetly for his liking, and all he could do was nod, not being able to find the right words. His mother trailed ahead of him as Damian looked at the walls covered with banners to invite new members to their clubs and artwork illustrated by fellow students. He also noticed a cork board set up to the far right with a bunch of papers sticky tabbed or pinned onto it.

Walking forward, he didn't notice the line of girls in front of him, and he bumped into a tiny brunette girl waiting anxiously for something. She turned to face him, nodded, and turned back to her position in line, the smile creeping back on her face.

"I'm sorry," he apologized halfheartedly, looking up and down the line of excited female teenagers.

"I's fine," the girl slurred, not turning to face him when she talked.

"What is the line for?" he asked.

The girl finally turned to him, her eyes wide and her smile blinding. "Cheerios sign-ups, of course! There's a sign-up sheet posted every semester! Girls always line up to make the list, see?" The girl pointed to a giant pile of paper held by a clip board. Next to the clipboard there was a rope with a pen and pencil attached to it, and right now the rope was being hopelessly tugged by a string of girls waiting impatiently for their turn.

"What are the "Cheerios" exactly?" Damian asked, feeling stupid. These "Cheerios" seemed like a big deal to the school, and Damian never liked the feeling of being left out.

"Only the most superific cheerleading team of, like, all time!" a sarcastic voice said from behind him. Whipping around, Damian noticed another girl standing behind him, glaring over him at the girl in line. "Come on, kid, you don't want to be sucked up into the "magic" that is the Cheerios," she frowned, putting an emphasis on the word "magic".

The girl with the wavy, red hair was pulling him towards the office, finally sitting him in a less than comfortable seat. "Wait here," she ordered. "You're Damian, right?" the girl asked, her fiery green eyes staring into his own pair of baby blues. Damian nodded feverishly, scared of this girl. Nodding back, the girl turned back into the office and into a separate room. Not five seconds later, she emerged from the room with his mother, both smiling at him. Both standing in front of Damian, his mother handed him a stack of papers.

"Well Damian, have a good first day, sweetie! Make sure you let me know if you're going anywhere after school, but do it before five, because me and Richard are going out tonight!" Damian rolled his eyes and was now a victim to a death stare. Stopping mid-roll, he looked up at his mother again. "Now, the secretary says that you must be accompanied by someone all day, so we agreed that this nice girl Marissa would show you around the school!" his mother explained in an over sugary voice.

Marissa smiled and stuck out her hand. Damian took it with ease and hesitation, glancing back at his mother and biting his lip. Releasing grip, Damian bid goodbye to his mother and looked back at Marissa.

"Well, why don't we get started?" she suggested, taking his wrist and flinging him out of the chair.

Damian asked the immediate question. "Where are we going?"

"To your first class!" she smiled knowingly. "Luckily I'm just right across the hall, and-"

"You aren't in my class?" He asked, worried. "Who am I supposed to talk to?"

"Relax, relax!" Marissa laughed. "There are some really nice people in Mr. Winship's class! You just have to watch out for Mr. Winship himself, though. He's not exactly the nicest guy around..." Marissa trailed off in the middle of her sentence, as though remembering something, as they climbed the few flights of stairs up to the third floor.

"Why, what did he do?" Damian asked.

Marissa didn't answer, instead pushed open the doors as a couple of jocks were passing by. Hitting one square in the nose, the other glared at Marissa. Marissa didn't cower, though, like Damian was at the moment. Instead she walked right up to him and gave him an icy glare. Almost instantly the jock backed down and started babbling, looking down at his feet.

"Sorry Marissa...won't happen again Marissa..."

"You're right it better not happen again," she said coldly, practically pushing the jock out of the way as her and Damian walked down the halls.

"Wow, that was...incredible," Damian laughed. "How did you do that without getting beaten to death?"

"Easy..." Marissa answered almost instantly. "just become the teacher's pet. Everyone will think you're the school tattletale."

~oOo~

Marissa was right, Damian realized. He really had to watch out for Mr. Winship.

"He seemed friendly at first..." Damian recapped to Marissa later that day in the cafeteria. "but then he pushed me up to the front of the class—yes, pushed me—and told me to introduce myself in front of everyone. I nearly died of embarrassment when one girl told me my accent was cute. I've never been so red before!"

They sat down at an almost full table. Marissa gave Damian a "just-be-quiet-and-listen" look before turning to the people there. "Hey guys, I'd like you all to meet Damian! He's new here from Ireland, but I wont make him tell you guys about himself, he's already had to do that today," she smiled.

Damian turned bright pink and hit Marissa on the shoulder, suddenly shy in front of these new people. Well, mostly new. He recognized some of them from his earlier classes, like the really short boy, the tall, awkward guy with the glasses, and the...large, redheaded girl.

"Don't worry," Marissa whispered so no one could hear. "These are my friends, they wont make fun of you." Turning back to her friends, who were now violently buzzing amongst themselves about the new member, she started talking again. "Damian, right next to you here is Alex." Alex smiled weakly and merely considered that he was there, looking down at his disgusting lunch again.

"And that next to Alex is Ellis, and next to her is Matheus..." Marissa went all the way down the table, naming off the other nine people at the table. After Matheus was McKynleigh, and then following her was Samuel, Hannah, and Cameron. Noticing the empty seat next to her, he asked about it.

Hannah answered with a kind smile. "Oh, that. Lindsay's always at least five minutes late for lunch. Sometimes she doesn't even show up. We all joke that she spends those five minutes pulling off epic proportions with her singing in the bathroom, but none of us can ever catch her. There are also two other people we're friends with, Emily and Bryce, but Bryce is a football playing baboon and Emily's sold her soul to the Devil, Coach Sue Sylvester, and is a Cheerio. They never sit with us losers in public." Damian noticed that Hannah liked to joke a lot.

After a few moments of asking Damian questions about what his old life was like (which he usually tried not to think about too often), a pretty girl ran in, her hair a mess and her pale blue eyes searching for something, or someone, as she ran over to them, slamming her lunch bag down on the table. No one batted an eye at her but Damian, who was all but unaware of the girl just showing up.

"Hi Lindsay..." everyone mumbled, not breaking eye contact from the people they were talking to.

Out of breath, Lindsay greeted everyone with a smile and sat down next to Marissa, taking her Pepsi out of her bag and nearly draining it.

"Quenched are we much?" Hannah joked as Lindsay finally set the can down with a tiny clink. Lindsay, still out of breath, nodded as everyone was looking at her now.

"Maybe a little," she giggled, finally flickering her eyes over to the new boy, who sat with his mouth opened wide at her. "Hello..." she said, sounding disturbed. "Can I...help you with something...?" she asked.

Damian snapped back into reality from staring at her so long. A pretty girl with long, frazzled, dark brown hair, and pale blue eyes, she had nearly knocked the wind out of Damian. Most of the girls he came across in Ireland weren't nearly as pretty as she was, or any of these girls for that matter. Except for...

"Sorry, I'm Damian McGinty, I'm new 'ere," he stuck out his hand, but pulled it away as soon as he finished talking. "Damn Irish accent!"

Lindsay giggled again, this time more nervously. "It's alright, I think your accent's cute!" Blushing way harder than he had before, Damian looked down at his feet. After looking down, Lindsay spoke again, but this time it sounded like her mouth was full. "I'm Lindsay Pearce, and I've been in Lima nearly my entire life. This school is a riot though! There are bullies at every corner! Do you know how many times we've been slushied, Damian?" Lindsay babbled when she talked, and when she stopped, Damian turned to the rest.

"Slushied?"

~oOo~

Since Cameron and Hannah were mostly in Damian's classes, they decided to show him around when they all had free period during their last period before after school clubs started.

"This here is the library," Hannah gestured.

"But it's empty," Damian pointed out.

Hannah and Cameron laughed. "Yeah, no one ever goes in there," Cameron scratched behind his ear awkwardly. "Unless you need a book for class, it's deserted. Except for the people in detention and the people who really need to study."

"Marissa's trying to get more people to actually visit the library by starting a Reading Club," Hannah said, rolling her eyes as they walked past the gymnasium. "I swear, she's a busy bee, that Marissa."

Damian met Hannah's eyes. "I think she's helpful," he said in a meaner tone than he meant.

Hannah's eyes widened. "Oh, she is, definitely, you took me the wrong way, honest!"

When Damian's eyes sparkled, Cameron laughed and draped one of his his long arms around Hannah's shoulders. "He's just kidding, Han, look at him," he smiled. Hannah didn't smile back, but nodded in his direction.

When the bell rang, they had only shown Damian around three quarters of the school. "Well can't you just show me around the rest after school?" he asked, following Hannah and Cameron to their lockers.

"We would, really, but we have Glee practice," Hannah assured, grabbing her fall jacket.

"Glee?" Damian asked, again, feeling like a moron.

"It's a singing group," Cameron explained, trying to shove a large pile of books into a tiny backpack. "You could come with us if you want."

"Well sure, I don't have anything to do anyways," Damian lied, knowing that his mother was sure to have chores for him to do at home. If he didn't have anything after school...

Noticing Hannah and Cameron were already halfway down the hallway, he had to run to catch up with them as they all piled into the tiny choir room.

Instruments were pushed up against the walls. A large piano stood in the middle of the room where a man in his late 40's sat correcting papers. The trio were the first ones there. Cameron and Hannah plopped their stuff down on their chairs and sat down, saying hello to their teacher, who Damian recognized as the Spanish II teacher.

"Hey Mr. Schue," they chorused.

Mr. Schuester looked up as if just noticing they were there. "Oh, hey guys." Turning around, he spotted Damian. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Damian McGinty, sir. He's new here and we wanted him to come to Glee with us," Cameron explained, gesturing towards Damian, who stood with the most uncomfortable look on his face.

Mr. Schuester examined him for a moment before looking back at the other two. "Is he thinking of auditioning?"

It was Hannah and Cameron's turn to examine Damian, looking at him with a pleading look. Damian thought it over. Sure, he loved to sing, but did he really want to do it in front of people? He was nervous enough at this school as it was, and he didn't need the "jocks" and the "Cheerios" to find another reason to bring him down other than him being new.

He remembered Marissa earlier though. The way she could stand up to the jocks and make it look like easy work. Gulping down any urge he had to scream, he finally answered

"Sure. I would like to join your glee club."

~oOo~

Signing up didn't seem like easy work, Damian noticed. Once everyone arrived (including Lindsay and Marissa) Mr. Schuester introduced Damian, their new member to the group. Everyone clapped questioningly, eying Damian carefully, picking him to bits. The people in Glee were literally everyone Damian had met at lunch, including two other people, who Damian could only assume were Emily and Bryce, who looked like they were being forced here against their will. Which, maybe they were, this looked like a horribly scary school.

Damian had literally begged not to have to audition in front of everyone yet. He was already getting over the utter embarrassment of having to sing in front of Cameron and Hannah (who applauded him with much force), but he couldn't stand singing a solo in front of everyone just yet, especially Lindsay, who hadn't taken her eyes off him since the moment she saw him in here.

"Alright guys, now that Damian's here, we have 12 people in the Glee club! That means we have enough for Sectionals, unlike last year," Mr. Schuester stood up at the front of the room, looking down at everyone. Damian gulped under the pressure.

"Yeah, if I ever come across Carianne Pesterbone again, I will personally introduce her face to my fist," Emily sneered, her head buried in Bryce's shoulder.

"Oh come on guys, she moved for a reason, you know," Marissa reminded everyone. They all shuddered simultaneously and dropped the conversation.

"Anyways, now that we have an even amount of students, I think this is the perfect time to introduce to you guys our new theme for the day..." Everyone was silent as they watched Mr. Schuester at the whiteboard, scribbling away furiously. Turning around, the word "Duets" was written on it in glossy purple marker.

People mentally added their partner in their head, and Damian was worried. What if nobody picked him? What if he was forced to sing a duet with Mr. Schuester? Or worse...

Himself?

"Now, don't go picking partners just yet. I've devised a plan that will help choose your partner for you!" Mr. Schuester exclaimed. Everyone looked miserable about this idea but Damian.

He grabbed a bowler hat from the corner of the piano and added a sheet of paper to it. Everyone was just as confused as Damian was, eying the bowler hat. What was he going to make them do?

"I'd like you each to come up and pick a name from the hat. The person who's name is on it will determine who your duet partner will be. There's no switching partners! Who wants to go first?"

To no ones surprise, Marissa's hand was the first in the air. With nearly everyone rolling their eyes, Marissa drew a name. Peeking from where her eyes hid behind her hand, she bit the inside of her cheek. "Samuel." Samuel looked less than pleased as Marissa came to sit next to him.

"I'll go next, Mr. Schue," Lindsay offered when everyone went silent. Walking up to the room, Damian couldn't help but sneak a glance at her body. Approving, Damian looked back up when she spoke. "Cameron." she smiled. Cameron gave a weak smile as Hannah moved over to give Lindsay some space. Damian had to admit, he was feeling a bit jealous.

Next came Alex. "Hannah!" he practically squealed, almost jumping into the girls lap.

Next went Ellis, who drew Emily from the hat. Then Bryce, who drew McKynleigh. Finally, Matheus drew Damian, who both gave each other an awkward smile.

"Now that you have your duet partners, why don't you guys get to work on your song selection!" Mr. Schue suggested, finding any excuse to get back to grading his papers, the gray in his hair nearly screaming from the stress. Ignoring Matheus' song suggestions, he watched as Lindsay took Cameron's hand as the ran out of the room.

Feeling a little adventurous, Damian grabbed Matheus' sleeve. "Come with me."