Chapter 3

Finn woke up to the sun streaming in through the window. He looked at his alarm clock. 7:55.

"Dammit." He cursed under his breath. He had exactly five minutes to take a shower, get dressed, and get to class.

He jumped out of bed and looked around the room. There was a note on the coffee table. It was from Troy.

Hey man. Umm… Chad and I went to go shoot some hoops because we have class tonight. Come and join us after you get out. We are in the gym.

See ya later.

-Troy

He crumpled up the note and threw it in the trash. He jumped in the shower, put on some clothes, and ran out with his backpack. He was halfway to his class when he actually stopped to feel the weight of the bag. It felt extremely light. He opened it and all there was was a notebook. He had left his books in the dorm room. Could this day get any worse?, he thought.

He went to his dorm after class to drop off his things and change into a t-shirt and basketball shorts. He was taking his shirt off of the hanger when there was a knock on the door. He threw his shirt on the bed and went to open the door.

"Hi Finn." Rachel smiled up at him.

"Hey Rach. What's up?" She didn't answer. She was to busy looking at his attire.

"Your not wearing that are you?"

"Well yeah, I'm going to go play basketball with Chad and Troy."

"Finn did you not get my text message?"

"No." They entered the dorm room and he went to his backpack. He pulled out his phone. Sure enough there was a text message from Rachel. God. Why could he not do anything right today?

"Well?"

"I was in class sorry." He read the text.

Hey FinnJ ,

There is a play for these little kids that are taking summer classes at the local community college for drama. I'll come by when you get out of class to get you. Wear some jeans and a nice shirt.

Love you,

-Rachel.

Crap.

He turned around to face Rachel who was in a nice summer dress.

"Go change and we'll go." She said.

"Rach I can't I told Troy and Chad that I was going to play basketball with them. And I didn't get your text. I didn't hear it." Her smile dropped from her face but he could tell that she was totally pissed at him.

"Listen Finn. I sent you the text message, it doesn't matter if you heard it or not, you can always play basketball with Troy and Chad. This is a once in a lifetime chance to see kids living their dreams."

"Rach it is a community production. Why don't you go and tape it for me and I'll watch it later."

"Ok I'll be outside in the lobby for five minutes. If your not down there by then then you go and find yourself some slutty girl on the basketball court to fill my place in your life." With that she stormed out of the room. Finn let out a groan.

"I think I am going to shoot myself before I get out of college." He mumbled to himself. He went to his closet and picked out a pair of jeans and a button down shirt. Damn Rachel.

He picked up his phone and called Troy.

"Hello?"

"Troy sorry man but I'm going to have to skip basketball today. Rachel is making me go to this community play thing."

"It's ok. Have fun. Tell Rachel I said hi."

"Ok. Bye."

"See ya."

Rachel led him into the theatre and they found seats in the second row. Before he could blink as he sat down the play started. It was the Wizard of Oz.

A ten-year-old girl appeared on stage in the same gingham dress the original Dorothy had. The only problem was it was way to long for her. She had brown hair which was not correct. Yet the thing he couldn't stop staring at was her lazy eye and buck teeth. As she said her first line walking across the stage she tripped over her dress. He had one arm over the back of Rachel's chair. He got comfortable; this was going to be a long play.

As the first appearance of Toto was made he thought his mouth would drop to the floor. There on the stage on all fours was a four year boy. Oh My God you have got to be kidding me, He thought. But it can only get better right?

Wrong.

As Dorothy walked down the yellow brick road and met the scarecrow he thought he was going to yell at someone when he saw it was a dog in a scarecrow costume. A Chihuahua. God he hated Chihuahuas.

The rest of the actors were also dogs. As Dorothy, the tin man, the scarecrow and the lion all gathered in a line on the stage Dorothy tripped over her dress making her fall over and land on the tin man dog. He sighed eternally. He gave up a day of playing basketball for this? The dogs started barking and the lion ran off the stage.

The four year old boy must have had a short attention span because he got out of the basket Dorothy had set down and ran down the stairs to his mom in the crowd. Could this play get any worse?

His question was answered as one of the teachers came on stage to get the scarecrow off of Dorothy who was biting her. Dorothy was yelling at the dog to stop biting her but it didn't seem to help much.

When everyone was off the stage and the crappy play was completely over Finn just stared wide eyed at the closed red curtain. No parent could tell their child that they did great. Would someone really lie to their child?

"Wasn't that amazing?" His thoughts were interrupted by Rachel's voice.

He thought of the right answer. "Yeah it was awesome."

"I'm glad you liked it because there is another one next September."

"Great." He said as he faked a smile.

"Gabs I'm positive." Taylor told Gabriella as they sat on her bed.

"And your sure it was Troy."

"Yes."

"But why would he be kissing another girl?"

"I don't know but there's only one way to find out."

She knocked on the door two times. And eventually it opened to reveal Finn.

"Hey Gabi. Why are you here?" He asked her.

"I'm here to see Troy where is he?"

"On his bed. I'm going to go find Rachel." He said as he stepped out of the room and Gabriella closed the door behind him. She wasn't going to talk. All she was going to use was sign language. Fierce sign language.

She walked into the room and sure enough found Troy with his laptop on his lap sitting on his bed. He looked up as he heard her footsteps.

"Oh hey Gabs. What are you doing here?" He pushed his laptop to the side and got up from the bed. Though he saw her looking around the room for something instead of at his lips. So he knew she didn't hear him. He tapped her shoulder and she looked at his face. Her eyes were not focused on his, they were focused on his mouth. So he began to speak.

"I asked what you were doing here Gabs. What's up?"

"Do you have something you need to tell me Troy?" She signed.

"No do you have something you need to tell me?" He signed back as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"What did you do today?"

"I went to class. I came back to the dorm to change then went to the basketball court. Then I came back to take a shower and here you are."

"Troy did you meet anyone at the park?" She saw Troy's usually calm face turn worried.

"Yes. She was my girlfriend freshman year of high school. We bumped into each other. And we decided to go get some ice cream and catch up. Then she kissed me. I told her that I had a girlfriend but she didn't seem to notice what I had said."

"When were you planning on telling me this?"

"Never. You were never supposed to know. How did you find out?"

"It doesn't matter how I found out. What matters is that you kissed another girl that isn't me."

"I'm sorry but I tried to stop it."

"Apparently you didn't try hard enough."

"I know your mad Gabi but you have to understand that-"

"That what?"

"I don't know. I am trying to explain why it happened but I can't Gabriella."

"Maybe you can figure it out better alone."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We are broken up. That's what it means." And with that Gabriella walked out of his dorm.

"Finn guess what?" Rachel told him as they walked along the river.

"You are the best signer in the class."

"No. The teacher said I was good and is giving me an audition on Broadway. Broadway! Can you believe it Finn. I'll get to live out my dream."

"I can believe it Rach. I have always believed it."

This was the day. The day Rachel Berry was going to be a star. She was auditioning. And she was ready. Finn was going to meet her in the park after she knew if she got the role. Which she already knew she would.

They called her name, she sang her heart out, and now she was just waiting for the callback list. After what seemed like forever a short grey haired man walked out with a piece of paper and posted it on the bulletin board.

Rachel was the first to approach it.

Called Back:

Margret Anderson

Pamela Jackson

Sarah Duke

Alyssa Baxter

She reread the list five times. There had to be some mistake. One of the people she auditioned for walked out of a door. Rachel ran up to him.

"Sir I auditioned a minute ago and it seems there has been a mistake."

"What seems to be the mistake?"

"Well my name is not on that list."

"What is your name?"

"Rachel Berry."

The man looked down at a piece of paper in his hands then looked back up at Rachel.

"That is no mistake Miss. You did not get called back." At that he walked out of the building with his piece of paper. The piece of paper that had confirmed her failure.

She sat at the bench in the park. She looked at the sky and made shapes out of the clouds. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

"Hey how did it go?" Finn immediately regretted his words as he saw tears form in Rachel's eyes.

"It went horrible. I didn't make it. I thought it was a mistake Finn, but it wasn't, they were serious. I am a failure as a signer."

"Rach your going to have another shot. Your going to make it the next time you audition."

She smiled up at him and hugged him tight.

"Thanks Finn."

"I love you Rachel."

"I love you to Finn." And with that she kissed him.