Sophomore Year...

"Okay, guys," Mr. Schuester said with a clap of his hands. Even as he bounced up from the piano, not a single over-moused curl moved from its assigned position on his head. "We've got a new auditioner. Everyone please give Danielle… I'm sorry, Dani, your complete attention." The correction was made when the young brunette lifted her eyebrows, her mouth opening to make her own. "That means you, Santana," he amended, forcing the girl to look up from the nail file, her eyes finding Schue's moments before landing on Dani's. Her lips pursed forward, masking the small smile that twitched at her lips before looking back down to closely inspect her nails, only vaguely recognizing the "San… She's pretty," whisper coming from her best friend. Brittany had absolutely no confirmation on her suspicions, but she was Brittany, the person who would eventually become the FBI's human lie detector.

Dani's eyes skipped from the brunette to the two blondes on either side of the woman who must be Santana, to their obvious cheerleading uniforms. With that realization, Dani shook her head with a small laugh before grabbing the guitar from the top of the piano. "Well… yeah. I'm Dani. I wrote this. It's a personal thing, so, quite frankly, don't critique the song, I don't want to hear it," she said with a small shrug, causing the eyebrows of Quinn and Santana to raise in unison. They exchanged a shared look. "One of us," was said with their eyes, confirmed with a nod. Their attention was drawn back to Dani as she started singing. Well. The three sets of eyes in the back row widened, Brittany smiling and rocking back and forth as Quinn and Santana schooled their reactions back to bored and stoic, each whipping out a nail file.

The song came to a close and everyone erupted in applause, Quinn and Santana's much more reserved than the third member of their clique. Or anyone else in the room. Out of the corner of her eye, Santana watched Quinn make eye contact with the newest member of Glee club, her eyebrows raising in praise before looking to the seat next to her, a silent offer few ever received that weren't clad in a red and white uniform. Much to the surprise of the three cheerleaders, however, they weren't returned with a giddy thanks and an eager-to-please newbie. Dani's response was another snort of amusement before studying the crowd again, deciding to sit next to Rachel Berry in the front row, the only one in the room who didn't want the new girl's company. She carried far too much competition for the diva's liking.

Santana glanced at Quinn, both shrugging before looking back up to the front where Schue was taking the floor again, still clapping regardless of the fact that everyone else had stopped. "Welcome, Dani!" he said, his voice much louder than necessary. "Wow. That was great. Good to have you aboard. You're coming in at the perfect time. Because…" he said, grinning due to his less than stellar lead up. Quinn and Santana had resumed their quiet conversation, tuning him out until he walked to the board, writing 'duets' in big, messy handwriting on the board, as though simply saying it wouldn't allow it to stick in their minds. Santana, however, smirked and returned Brittany's offered high-five, their hands coming back down to rest between them, pinkies locked together. Puckerman was already scooting over from the other side of the back row to sit next to Quinn, while everyone else looked around awkwardly to find a friend for the assignment, Dani looking especially lost. "Not so fast, ladies," Schue said from the front as he the three girls who both looked back at him incredulously, wondering how much they could intimidate a grown man. "Since the last few times we've tried this exercise, you all end up with the same people. That gets boring guys, no offense," he said, noticing the appalled look on Rachel's face, Finn's matching a few moments later as he caught up. He grabbed a hat and shook it after adding a piece of paper with Dani's name scrawled on it. "We'll pick names. If you get someone you've worked with too many times before, you put it back in and try again," he said, eliciting a chuckle from Puckerman at the innuendo. Schue shook his head, not understanding, and continued. "For example, Rachel and Finn. You two won't sing together. Neither will Santana and Brittany, Quinn and Sam, or Quinn and Finn. This is about expanding your horizons. Dani. You're the newest member, why don't you pick first," he said, offering the hat to Dani after making a show of mixing up the names.

Dani looked at him in disbelief but went along with it, sticking her hand in the hat and pulling out a paper. She opened the paper and her eyes flittered to the back row, remaining neutral. "Santana," she said, reading off the name with a hint of distaste laced in her voice. What could she say? Every cheerleader she met was stupid, annoying, and lacking in real talent. Schuester made some sort of encouraging comment before moving onto the next person, the eye contact between the two girls lingering only momentarily before Santana turned her attention to Quinn. The blonde gave her a familiar look. "Recruit her."

It only took about twenty more minutes for the selection process to finish. The director's flawless system hitting glitches with every person. Finn drew Quinn twice, then Rachel, then himself before finally getting Sam, and then felt it necessary to say something like "no homo, man," after saying they were partners. This continued until the bell rang, everyone reluctantly splitting off to their unusual partners to discuss.

"Hey," Dani said once they got to their corner.

"I don't gots time for pleasantries. If Q, B, and I are late one more time, Sylvester will reenact the French Revolution of our high ponies. I gots to go afores she finds her costume. I don't sing back up, and you'd be wise to pick something I can belt," she said as she started to rummage through the bag on her shoulder. Santana pulled out a notebook and quickly scrawled her number and name to the page, tore it off, and put it in Dani's hand. "Here's my number. Text me. And not the night before we perform. I wants those stix." She gave her a stern look before starting towards her friends. Perhaps the harshness was the wrong approach for Dani, but Quinn had always been adamant that, if you can't recruit someone, make them afraid of you. She'd just have to cover both bases. As the two blondes disappeared into the hallway, Santana cast one last, much softer, look to Dani, which caught the other woman slightly off guard.

"Ignore her, honey," a voice said next to her. Dani looked to the side, having to stop her eyebrows from raising at the flamboyancy of the boy next to her. "She's always like that to just about everyone but Quinn and Brittany. I'm Kurt Elizabeth Hummel. It's nice to meet you," he said, his hand sticking out. Dani took it and shook his hand with a smile. "I certainly hope the rumors you will most definitely hear about me won't impede a possible friendship, however I am fully understanding of the fact that status is just about everything in high school."

The shock on Dani's face couldn't be hidden this time. "I'm going to guess the rumors have something to do with homosexuality?" she asked with a chuckle, Kurt simply nodded with a small blush. "Don't worry, Kurt. I'm a lot of things, but I'm no hypocrite." Kurt glanced at her, slightly more confused. "I'm gay, as well. You've got yourself an ally. A real ally," she amended.

Kurt's eyebrows raised, a true smile breaking over his impeccably cared for face. "Really? That's so great. I've been so sick of being the only one. Care to get a cup of coffee? I'm meeting my boyfriend, Blaine, but we'd love for you to join us."

"You don't mind? I'd love to…"

Kurt's only response was to loop his arm through Dani's, escorting her out of the building and to the car.