Rachel smiled at everyone in the room, Mercedes, Kurt, Puck, Matt, "Other Asian", Tina, Brittany, Arite, Santana and finally, Finn. She was going to speak, until she noticed everyone was glaring at her. PROPERLY glaring at her.

"Hello, everyone." Rachel said. "Before we start, I would just like to say that I...hope we have a very productive year. And..."

"Someone doesn't mess up our chances of winning Regionals?" Kurt cut in, sharply.

"Or you don't embarrass us in front of pretty much the whole of Ohio?" Mercedes asked, cutting again.

Rachel looked to Finn, in moments like this he normally defended her, but when she looked at him, he just turned away.

Suddenly, Mr. Schuester told everyone to be quiet.

"Rachel," he said. "Now, let's get one thing clear, you are our best singer, the one that I thought we could have relied on in a crisis. Obviously, I was wrong. Now, if you would please sit down. Now, as I'm sure you'll all know, Quinn is going to off for quite a while. Now, I've had a source from the Principal that two new students are coming into the school today. According to their transitioning papers, they were the top performers in various private schools in LA and New York. Now, we've got to grab this opportunity by the hand. And I mean latch onto it and don't let it go! Now, are we all clear? Find these two new students and just...direct them to me. OK? Right, everybody, let's get to class!"

And the bell rang. As everyone walked out, Rachel noticed no one even glanced at her.

Oh well, she thought to herself. Here we are again. The bottom of the social ladder. But..as long as I've got talent...nothing else matters!

It was first period and Rachel was going to the toilet. English wasn't a distraction enough from her problems. The morning so far had been terrible. Everyone whispering about her and her dud note. She had so far avoided the Slushies, but she couldn't keep it up for much longer.

As she was on her way to class, then she saw it. The black limousine pulling up outside. Rachel felt a knot in her stomach. It was the two new kids.

The doors to the limousine opened and two figures emerged from it. One was a girl, tall and thin. Her glossy black hair shone to the middle of her back, she was dressed in the most sparkly clothes Rachel had ever seen; silver sparkly top, skirt, boots and peaked cap. The boy was less recogniseable. He was dressed in all black. Black leather jacket, top, jeans, converse, dark spiked hair and dark eyeliner. While the girl strolled with her held high, the boy looked down, as if he was scanning every detail of his surroundings.

Rachel gasped slilently to herself. It was them. The one's Mr. Schuester had wanted.

"Ahem!" She said loudly. The two's eyes were immediatley on her. "Welcome to McKinley." she said warmly-although she didn't feel like being warm. "My name's Rachel Berry and-"

"Rachel Berry" the girl cut in sharply. "Finally! I get to meet the girl who royally cocked up at Regionals!" Rachel tried to control her emotions but she had a funny feeling her face was now bright purple. The girl managed a small laugh. "My name's Lexi Starlight and this is my brother, Nate."

"N-nice to meet you..." Rachel was amazed she had even managed to say that without launching into a four letter triade. "If you would like to follow me..."