Lawrence Edlund High was crawling with social groups. Not the friendly kind of groups, but the isolated, 'don't-mess-with-us' kind of groups. The groups didn't merge, didn't socialize with each other, and if they did it was only to bully each other. For example: The jocks of the Hunters – the school's football team – often enjoyed throwing the nerds into the trash. The punks switched the cheerleader's make-up with whatever could mess them up. The bible-club trash talked the stoners, and it could continue like this.
Balthazar had seen enough of it. He remembered very well how it was here when he was a student; everybody liked spending time with each other. Even the nerds and the jocks communicated, though it was only so the nerds made the jock's homework of course. But right now, it wasn't right. Even within the groups it seemed like nobody could stand each other, and that was wrong.
Balthazar was sitting in the cafeteria, looking around him, only seeing the individual groups again. It kind of made him feel nauseous, knowing that the world had come to this. Jocks were all laughing and openly flirting with the cheerleaders (because apparently they belonged in the same group). The nerds weren't even talking to each other, all of them reading books and obviously already making tomorrow's homework. The geeks were playing with their consoles, the bible-club was praying before eating. The punks weren't eating at all, just staring at each other as if they would kill to get out of here.
No, this wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Balthazar wanted to make a change, but he didn't know how to do that. At least, full scale would be impossible. A few people of each group could start coming together, and maybe that would make the others come along. And Balthazar knew exactly how he could manage that.
So, that was why, right after lunch, he walked straight to the principal's office, knocking one time before the young and whiny voice of the principal came through. It wasn't that he was young and whiny, just how he acted most of the times. When Balthazar opened the door, he saw principal Archer sitting there with his feet on his desk, a lollipop in his mouth and that same-as-always smirk.
"Well hello there, professor Pierre," principal Archer said, popping the lollipop out of his mouth and sitting up straight. "Balthazar, tell me your worries, please," he then added to Balthazar's annoyance. Principal Archer preferred to talk to each other on first-name-basis, but that just felt too wrong for him.
"Mr. Archer," he began, flinching a little bit at the frustrated look he received. Then he sighed loudly, lowered his shoulders and corrected himself. "Gabriel, I wanted to ask you something."
"Well, Balthie," Gabriel said, pointing his hands at the chair he wanted Balthazar to sit in, and the teacher complied, lowering himself on the seat and not expecting the loud fart that came with it. Gabriel started laughing harder than was possibly healthy, and his desk-chair turned around a few times while he was slapping his leg. Balthazar was a terrible excuse for a teacher for not seeing that one coming. He knew Gabriel, he knew the typical pranks that came with him, and yet he had been caught by surprise just once more.
"Can I start to explain what I wanted to explain?" Balthazar asked, hearing his own voice sounding annoyed. He had to admit that his British accent made it a thousand times more intimidating. Of course, that worked for his students. With Gabriel? Not so much, sadly.
"Yes, yes, please," Gabriel said as soon as he caught his breath. He was gesturing with his hand for him to continue. Balthazar sighed again as he slapped his hands together, tangling his fingers together while raising an eyebrow.
"I would like to start a Glee-club," he then said, voice serious and almost bored. The last bit of excitement left the principals face, and it was now completely replaced by confusion. He sat up straighter again, leaning forward and opening his mouth to talk. When nothing came out, he pressed his lips against each other again and tilted his head, frowning now too.
"Why?" he then finally asked.
"Because, Gabriel, our students are divided in statuses," Balthazar began. "There's no friendship to be seen where-ever I look, and at least this could be the beginning of changing that!"
"But Balth, don't you remember that the Glee-club has always been seen as a joke in this school? You really want to start all that again?" Of course, Gabriel remembered the good old days as well, but as an outsider, he didn't know Balthazar's view of it.
"It wasn't half as bad as you think it was, Gabriel," Balthazar said, dropping his hands on the desk and lifting one eyebrow. "Times have changed, maybe the students have as well."
"You know you'll just be adding another group to the social ladder, don't you?" Gabriel then asked, and Balthazar had to admit he hadn't thought of that.
"Or," he began, "it could be the end of the separation between them all," he said as his final word. He lifted his head up high, looking down at Gabriel. This often worked with him, and just like he suspected Gabriel sighed loudly, throwing his hands in the air and dropping backwards into his desk chair again.
"I can't deny you anything now, can I?" Gabriel said, putting the lollipop back into his mouth. "I'll give you the auditorium for auditions this Friday and next Wednesday, and you'll get the old theater-room for rehearsal. If you get at least five students by the end of next week, I won't call this off immediately."
Only five students? Balthazar thought by himself. Gabriel was making it too easy for him.
Gabriel was making it hard for him.
When Balthazar had put up the sign-up paper for auditions, he had been very disappointed to only see two names on the list. Jessica Moore andAnna Milton. He knew both girls from his literature-class, and was – to be honest – surprised when he read their signatures on the paper. Jessica Moore was a sixteen-year old girl who loved to wear pretty dresses and had beautiful golden curls which she recently had cut short. From what he had heard from his fellow teachers, Jessica did freelance model-work to raise some money, and Balthazar couldn't deny that it fitted her perfectly. If he were her age – and into girls, of course – he would've fallen for her immediately.
The second girl, Anna Milton, was one of the art-types that often had her head in the clouds. She always had just enough points on her tests to pass, and her notes contained more doodles than actual words. From what Balthazar heard, she took after-school art classes , and apparently she was the best of her group. She mostly liked to wear clothes that didn't actually fit together; bright colors, tight pants with random prints on them, sweater vests, and boots. When Balthazar saw her coming on that stage, he recognized her red hair immediately.
Jess had done her audition with something from 'The Phantom of the Opera', that one graveyard song called 'Wishing you were somehow here again', and she had put so much feeling in it that he had almost started crying. Without hesitation he told her she was in, and the girl smiled brightly and thanked him.
Anna was different. She wasn't bad – not at all – but the choice of song that she had made wasn't even in the same genre. He had to admit he didn't recognize the song at all when she introduced it.
"Hello, my name is Anna Milton and I'm going to audition with the song 'That's not my name' from the Ting Tings." Nowp, Balthazar was taken by surprise, but he had to admit that the song, which hadn't much melody in it, was really something that fitted her. Especially the way she danced on it made it clear that she had actually practiced it before coming here.
When she was finished, she had been out of breath, standing there with her arms spread open and head looking up.
"You're in," Balthazar had said as soon as he was brought back to earth. And with that, he already had two participants for his Glee club. He asked the two girls to come together, and then clapped his hands. "Brilliant, girls. But now, the tricky part is for us to find three more members before next week is out. You think we can manage that?" he asked, and the two girls had nodded and smiled at each other. After that, they both left, the beauty-queen and the art-girl both laughing together. His plan was already going well.
With much luck, three more names were added to the next audition, which was today of course. It was only to Balthazar's surprise that the next three names were all boys. He recognized Sam Winchester immediately, seeing the scrawny teenager in his head when reading his name on the list. He hadn't expected him here at all, as he seemed like such a shy boy who wasn't sure yet in which group he fitted. If he could sing, the Glee-club would be perfect for him; he could socialize with everybody.
Especially now that Balthazar saw the name Jimmy Novak on the list as well. Jimmy was a football-player, quite popular, but nobody actually knew much about him. Obviously, as Balthazar hadn't expected him to audition. And while Sam's audition was shy and unsure (but still good enough to pass), Jimmy sang as if he enjoyed nothing else more in this world; he had a strong voice, a stance that made clear he was sure of himself, and his expression while singing 'Your Song' from 'The Moulin Rouge' were enough to earn him a definite role in that movie.
As he told Jimmy that he too had passed his audition, he hadn't rechecked the last name on the list and immediately turned his head back to the stage where… huh, Jimmy was still standing there, only now he was wearing glasses.
"It's okay Jimmy, you can let the next one come," Balthazar reassured him, and Jimmy was actually blushing at his words.
"Eh, I am the next one," he said, and his voice was suddenly much lower than before. When Balthazar looked down, he saw that, indeed, this was Castiel Novak, Jimmy's twin brother. How could he have forgotten about that?
"Oh, sorry Castiel," he said, and at that the boy flushed even more. He had his gaze down, and fumbled with his clothing. "Don't be nervous, just sing and everything will be fine."
And so, Castiel sung. The song he had chosen was a Beatles' song, Blackbird Fly, Balthazar recognized. It was interesting hearing it with the low voice Castiel had, and the boy could really sing in tune. So it wasn't difficult for Balthazar to decide that Castiel too was allowed to join. When he told the boy the news, Castiel's cheeks turned red again, and he nodded, thanking his teacher with a small whisper before fleeing off the stage.
So, that was it. Mission completed. He had five students now, and they were ready to start on singing now.
And the, a small cough made Balthazar look up again. To his utter surprise, one of the punker-girls stood there in front of him; completely dressed in black, covered in chains and spikes, and her eyes were also completely surrounded in black make-up.
"Yes?" Balthazar asked, clicking his pen open again, and getting ready to add another name to the audition-paper.
"Meg Masters, Mr. Archer sent me here," Meg said with a bored voice. She threw her brown hair back and sighed loudly.
"Why?" Balthazar asked, not really sure if he wanted Meg in his little group. She was known as quite the trouble-maker.
"Oh, got caught in stealing money from another kid, and it was this or getting expelled," she said, rolling her eyes. Balthazar felt a little angry that Gabriel practically blackmailed the students into coming here. That was not really what he wanted.
But he had to admit, Meg's voice was pleasant to listen to. Of course, the choice of song was… special. She had chosen for Hey Big Spender, and in her choreography she didn't even seem to mind dancing like the role – which was a hooker. Balthazar had opened his eyes in surprise when she started moving seductively on the stage, pulling up her skirt a little bit and actually shaking her ass. Her eyes never left Balthazar's and the teacher had to admit that he felt a little bit uncomfortable.
"Yes, Meg, you have proven that you can sing," he began, interrupting the song when it got too bad and swallowing loudly as he lowered his eyes back to the paper. "You can join, but please, keep it clean next time, okay?"
"Whatever you say, teach," she said, actually winking at him before walking off the stage again.
The first rehearsal wasn't really a rehearsal at all. They all just sat in a circle, each one of them introducing themselves and explaining what made them decide to join the Glee-club. For Jess it was because she loved singing and she liked doing it with others. Anna said she just joined because she could. She liked to do a lot of things, and the idea of a Glee-club sounded very interesting. Sam had blushed when Balthazar had asked him why he joined, and though he said that he enjoyed music, the teacher couldn't miss that little look he shot Jessica while saying it. So, the little Winchester had a crush on the model. How cute.
Jimmy had just sat back, looked relaxed as he explained that music was an important part for him, and that he always loved the idea of a group like this one.
Castiel had blushed as well, looked at his hands as he started muttering things Balthazar didn't recognized. After a while, Jimmy took over, saying "Cassie here came with me because I asked him to." Castiel had frowned, looked at his brother with an angry expression, and then pressed his lips against each other. Meg just shrugged.
"Y'know why I'm here," she mumbled, throwing her hands in the air. "So when is it showtime?"
Balthazar shook his head but actually smiled. They seemed enthusiastic enough for him, and he could work with this group.
"No singing this week just yet. I wanted to ask you guys for a favor, actually," Balthazar said, standing up and walking to the blackboard. "As you can see, there are just six of you and I think that could be much more." Balthazar started writing on the board, and the others just watched him. "So your assignment will be to bring a friend along to next session, which will be next Monday."
Meg groaned, but nodded. Jessica and Anna looked at each other with a frown, but eventually agreed to it as well.
"I think Sam and I were planning on bringing the same person along," Jimmy said, looking at Sam who was agreeing. "If we say that this guy will bevery difficult to convince, will that count as two?"
"Ah, well, I think that'll be fine," Balthazar said, shrugging. "You won't get grades for this, and I will not throw you out if you fail to bring someone along. I just think we will be able to do more with more students."
After that, the students left, and Balthazar really looked forward to Monday.
It appeared that Jimmy and Sam had failed to convince the guy to join.
Jessica had brought a girl called Cassie. Anna brought Rachel – one of Balthazar's best students. Castiel came with Samandriel and Meg brought – and at that realization Balthazar had sighed – Ruby. They were all sitting in a circle again, watching Jimmy and Sam as they started explaining that they did their best, but he just wouldn't come along.
"That's alright, boys,' Balthazar had said, holding out his hands to calm them down. The two students shut up after that, and sat up straight again. After the introduction of the new members, Balthazar wrote down the new assignment on the blackboard, and then put a few papers in two boxes. These papers had the names of the current members written on them, and he held them out.
"Okay, a few of you will pick out a paper from one of these boxes, and on it you will see who you'll have to do a duet with," Balthazar said. "This box will have our ladies names, and this one the boys," he added, holding up first the left box and then the right one. "One of you girls will be paired up with me as we are one man short – not your fault guys." That last part was added when Jimmy and Sam both flinched at his explanation.
The pairs were not really special. Anna was paired up with Castiel's friend Samandriel. Sam had the bad luck to have Ruby as partner. Jess's friend Cassie was picked out by Jimmy. Castiel pulled out Meg's name (and he literally frowned at that). That meant that Jess got paired up with him. She didn't seem to mind though, and when they all sat apart to decide what song to sing together, they actually had no problem talking together. His members were all so friendly and social, and Balthazar only wished that these sessions lasted longer than they did.
At the end of the hour, Balthazar told them that they still had tomorrow's session to practice, and this Wednesday they would perform in front of the group. They were all able to use the room whenever they wanted, though.
Before Sam and Jimmy could leave, Balthazar held them back, asking if they would stay for another minute. The two did, and stood there next to the door; ready to leave then they were dismissed.
"So, who was this kid that was impossible to convince?" he asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant.
"Dean," they both said at the same time, and Sam continued. "Dean always sings when he's home. Doesn't shut up actually."
"And he sings in the showers when he thinks he's alone," Jimmy added, turning his head to see if no-one was listening. We have practice now; in one hour and a half we will be finished, you can get some proof if you want?"
"Yes, I think I'll just get that," Balthazar said, actually surprised that Dean Winchester loved music. He knew Dean. Everybody knew Dean. He was this popular boy on school, one that belongs to the jocks but who is practically adored by every female around. Balthazar had to admit that if he were his age, he would have fallen for him as well.
Ah well, he could go and try to listen to this Dean-guy later on. The showers were connected to the locker rooms, so he could easily come in and pretend that he was searching for the coach if they found him there.