Rachel's POV:
I was still asleep in my bed when my phone went off and I groaned as I reached over to answer it.
"Hello?" I answered.
"You're still in bed aren't you?" Jesse asked.
"Yes, now why are you bothering me? I was going for a new personal sleep record where I just don't wake up, no matter what." I stated and he sighed.
"Did you forget that we are going to Ms. Corcoran's today and by today I mean in like twenty minutes? I just pulled up outside your house waiting to pick you up." He commented and I shot up.
"Crap, I totally forgot, give me a minute and I will be right there." I stated as I sprung out of bed and pulled my hair back into a pony tail, brushed my teeth, and then grabbed my shoes as I ran out the door not really caring what I looked like.
I quickly made my way to Jesse's car having to run on my toes through the wet grass so I didn't get my feet all nasty. I mean I liked Jesse a lot so there was no way that I was going to look like a complete mess in front of him. Being in my pajamas was bad enough.
"Messy, I guess that can work." Jesse said as he opened the passenger side door for me and I rolled my eyes.
"You were the one who assumed that I would remember that I had something to do today so my outfit is all your fault." I said as I slipped my first shoe on and I worked on tying it.
"Well at least you look half way decent, did you sleep in that?" He asked as he started the car and I nodded.
"I did." I said as I finished putting my shoes on and I quickly sent a text to my aunt to let her know that I would be out of the house for most of the day.
"You know you could have taken like five more minutes and have actually gotten dressed." Jesse stated.
"Five minutes might have gotten me into makeup territory, I would have needed at least half an hour in order to accomplish putting on a decent outfit."
"God you are such a girl." Jesse joked and I smiled.
"Thank you. So tell me again why we are going to Ms. Corcoran's place?" I asked and he sighed.
"You do not listen do you?" He asked and I shrugged.
"You know everyone has been telling me that so apparently not. So why?" I asked again.
"Every few weeks Ms. Corcoran invites a few select students over to go over a bunch of songs and we sing through a couple of them and narrow down a list that we want to perform and work on and she will choose from that list and make the set list for the upcoming competition."
"So why am I going?" I asked.
"Because I invited you and you said you would go. Plus you have to get your stuff for rehearsal tomorrow."
"Stuff?" I asked and he grinned.
"You didn't think that we rehearsed in normal clothes did you?" He asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, that was what you wore last week."
"That was only because we had shorter rehearsals so she didn't want to waste time with changing. Usually we have a set outfit that we have to wear so that she can tell if we are all doing the number right. If you make us all look the same it is easier to tell when someone is off."
"Great so lets add losing all individuality to the list of reasons why I shouldn't have joined." I joked and Jesse smirked as he shook his head.
"I think you are really going to like it." He stated as we pulled into the parking lot for some high end condos in Akron.
I could tell that the place was nice just by walking up to it. Ms. Corcoran was one for privacy which was probably why she had a condo on the top floor away from everyone else. Jesse knocked on the door while I waited silently beside him cursing myself for ever agreeing to this.
"Great you're on time, the music is in the kitchen grab a binder and make yourselves comfortable, but from the looks of it that won't be a problem for one of you." Ms. Corcoran said as she pulled the door open eyeing Jesse and I as we walked inside.
Ms. Corcoran closed the door behind us and then took off in another direction leaving Jesse and I to our own devices.
"Is she always this informal?" I asked as we walked into the kitchen and he shook his head.
"Usually she is all over us with her hovering and crap but I think that is only because Giselle is so damn nosey."
"Wait Giselle as in the girl who butchered all those songs?" I asked as I grabbed a binder and started to flip through the songs.
"Yeah that's the one, she used to be the female lead of VA." Jesse said and I looked up at him.
"Used to be? I was pretty sure she still was."
"She was until yesterday when you told Jesse that you finally decided to join. Sorry for ease dropping I just had to grab my notepad." Ms. Corcoran said as she walked over and sat down next to Jesse.
"Wait I never agreed to be the lead." I stated closing the binder and Jesse and Ms. Corcoran both sighed.
"She really doesn't get how this works does she?" Ms. Corcoran asked and Jesse just looked at me.
"Lead isn't something that you get to choose to be or not to be, Ms. Corcoran just chooses the leads and that is that."
"Well that is great and all but I don't think Ms. Corcoran's choice is going to help Giselle be any less mad at me."
"She won't be mad, we are having auditions for the new leads tomorrow and she knows that. The only thing that she doesn't know is that you joined..."
"Auditions? I thought you said that Ms. Corcoran just chooses the leads." I said and Jesse looked over at Ms. Corcoran.
"I do, auditions are just a formality for when people say I am playing favorites. Anyway lets just get back to looking through the music." She said and I re-opened the binder that I closed earlier.
"Do you have like every song ever written?" I asked and Ms. Corcoran shook her head.
"No, I only invest in the ones that I like."
"Invest?" I asked.
"The school had to buy the rights to these songs so that we are able to perform them. That being said pick out the ones that you like and move them to the empty binder in the center of the table, and Jesse please pick out something other than what suits your voice." She said as she grabbed a binder for herself and started to flip through the songs.
It was about two and a half hours later that we migrated into Shelby's piano room. Jesse sat down on the piano bench and Shelby stood a few feet away from us as I leaned on the lid of the piano looking at the sheet music.
"Okay so now we narrow down our selections. Jesse would you like to choose the first piece?" She asked and Jesse nodded.
"I think that Rachel should sing Beautiful Disaster to start us off." He said with a smirk.
"If I have to sing that then you have to sing Bohemian Rhapsody right after."
"I don't-"
"That is a great idea." Ms. Corcoran said ending Jesse's rising protest.
"Alright, would you like me to play the piano for you?" Jesse asked and I looked around the room and shook my head.
"No thanks. Ms. Corcoran would you mind if I used your guitar?" I asked and she shook her head.
"Not at all, go ahead." She said as she walked over and grabbed it and handed it to me.
I took my time with the song. I made sure that I put the feeling behind the song that it needed in order to convey the message and when I finished I opened my eyes and saw Jesse and Ms. Corcoran share a smile.
"So what did you think?" I asked as I walked the guitar over to where Ms. Corcoran had gotten it from.
"I think that you are getting a solo at invitationals for sure. Maybe not that song in particular but you will be singing something." Ms. Corcoran said and I smirked as I turned to Jesse.
"Your turn." I stated and Jesse stuck his tongue out as he set his hands on the piano and played a few notes before he started on Bohemian Rhapsody.
Jesse and I continued singing through the different songs for a while before Ms. Corcoran stopped us.
"It's getting late, would you guys like pizza for a late lunch early dinner thing and then pick this up in about an hour or so?" Ms. Corcoran asked and Jesse and I looked at each other before we nodded.
"The only thing is that I am a vegetarian." I stated and Ms. Corcoran smiled.
"That is no problem. Why don't you two head into the living room and I will be there as soon as I order the pizza." Ms. Corcoran said as she stepped out of the room and Jesse and I made our way into her living room.
"Ms. Corcoran is being rather chill." I stated and Jesse smirked.
"Yeah she usually is when she isn't stressing out about everything that needs to get done. Do you want something to drink? I know that I am parched." Jesse said as he shifted on the couch and I shrugged.
"I mean I guess I could go for something to drink." I said and he got up and gestured for me to follow suit.
"Lets go grab something." He said as we made our way into the kitchen.
"Shouldn't we wait for Ms. Corcoran?" I asked and Jesse shook his head.
"She won't care, so what would you like?" He asked as he pulled the door to her fridge open.
"Water." I said as I looked upon her selection of RedBull, water, and wine.
"I guess I have to do the same being as we have a little bit of a bet going on." He said as he grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge.
"And what is this bet?" I heard Ms. Corcoran ask from behind us and Jesse and I quickly turned to face her.
"Rachel and I are trying to see who can last the longest without RedBull." Jesse stated as he handed me the water.
"I see that lasting all of five minutes come tomorrow's rehearsal. Which reminds me I have to grab your stuff Rachel. Jesse can you grab me a water and I will be right back." She said as she quickly walked out of the kitchen and Jesse went back to the fridge and grabbed a third bottle of water.
"She seems a little spaced." I stated as I leaned on the counter and Jesse nodded.
"She hates not being busy, that is part of the reason that she runs us ragged in rehearsals. She has no family so we don't get to see ours. That is also part of the reason that her and I relate so much. I mean I have a family and I guess in a way so does she but we both would rather put our time and energy into our work so we didn't have to deal with them."
"That sounds sad." I stated and Jesse shrugged.
"You get used to it."
"I guess so. I've gotten to know that feeling very well in the past few months."
"Okay so Rachel I had to guess on your sizes so please let me know if anything doesn't fit... Why does it feel like I just interrupted something?" Ms. Corcoran asked as she placed a black gym bag on the table.
"Because you did, as usual. Anyway you were saying about the whole guessing her size thing?" Jesse asked.
"Um, yeah the sizes might not be right but other than that you have every outfit that you could possibly need and I am going to need your phone number so that I can text you and let you know what to wear and when. Also I need to go over some paper work with you."
"What kind of paperwork?" I asked.
"Lets move into the living room and we can go over it, and I will take my water now." Ms. Corcoran said as she turned and walked out of the room leaving Jesse and I to follow after her.
Ms. Corcoran took a seat on one end of the couch and I sat next to her while Jesse sat on the arm of the couch for a mere second before he got a phone call and had to excuse himself.
"So what is this paper work that we have to go over Ms. Corcoran?"
"First of all when we aren't in school or in rehearsal you can just call me Shelby, Ms. Corcoran is too formal and I will only have you call me that outside a of school function if you are in trouble. Secondly this is just a standard activity contract stating that you and your parents agree with the terms and conditions that I have laid out. It's fairly simple, I can read through it with you if you want." She offered and I shook my head.
"That's not necessary I will just have them look through it later."
"You also need to sign it just so that you don't fight me on my rules. I have everyone do it. Rachel can I ask you a question?" Shelby asked as she shifted on the couch.
"I guess that would be alright." I said as I brushed a strand of my hair out of my face.
"You don't feel like I am forcing you into this do you? I mean don't get me wrong I want you to join Vocal Adrenaline, but the last thing I want is for you to feel like you don't have a say in this whole thing." Shelby said and I couldn't help but smile a little bit.
"No I don't feel like I am being forced into this whole thing. I mean you and Jesse, well especially Jesse, were very persistent, but I don't feel like I was being forced into this. You don't know me very well yet but give it some time and you will see that I don't do anything that I don't want to do."
"I think you and I are going to get along just fine." Shelby said with a smile.
"So what did I miss?" Jesse asked as he walked back into the room.
"Nothing much. Rachel and I talked and we have decided that she is going to be doing all the solos for the rest of the season." Shelby said with a straight face and I nodded playing along with her game.
"You can't be serious. I have seniority on this team, some new kid can't just sweep in and take my spot, this is ludicrous!" Jesse exclaimed and Shelby just shrugged.
"You know what happens when you leave in the middle of an important discussion." Shelby stated and Jesse looked at me.
"Please tell me that she is joking." Jesse said and I shrugged.
"Technically there are auditions tomorrow but you know I heard those were just a formality." I stated and Shelby started laughing when a look of complete terror crossed Jesse's face.
"Sorry I just couldn't help it, his face was just too terrified to not laugh." Shelby said and Jesse glared at me.
"I can't believe you lied to me!" Jesse said and I shrugged.
"You would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed." I stated and he rolled his eyes.
"Whatever."
Shelby's POV:
Rachel, Jesse, and I talked for a while until the pizza guy got there and then I got up to answer the door. I ended up getting a cheese pizza for us to split along with a salad for myself being as I had been loading up on junk food the last couple of days.
"Alright help yourself to the pizza and I just have to grab a fork for my salad." I said as I set the pizza on the table in the living room and then quickly walked off into the kitchen.
I grabbed a fork and some napkins and returned to find Jesse putting a movie into my DVD player while Rachel carefully ate a piece of her pizza.
"What is going on?" I asked and Jesse looked back at me.
"Oh well Rachel and I thought that maybe we could watch a movie while we ate, I mean as soon as we are done eating we can turn it off..."
"Go ahead." I said as I sat down not really caring what they did while we were eating.
I should have known that as soon as I agreed to letting them watch a movie while we were eating they would end up talking me into letting them finish the movie after we were done. I mean what started out as a day where we were actually getting things done turned into them having a date on my couch.
"I'm going to clean up, please don't procreate on my couches, they're new." I said as I walked out of the room with the empty pizza box and the dirty napkins and other trash.
I was in the middle of cleaning off my counters when Jennifer called and I answered my phone.
"Hey Jen." I said as I clutched the device between my ear and my shoulder so I could continue what I was doing.
"Hey Shel, so what are you doing?" She asked and I sighed.
"Right now, babysitting." I stated and she laughed.
"I thought that Rachel and Jesse were coming over to work on that set list thing that you needed." She said.
"They did come over and we got some work done but right now they are cuddled on my couch watching a movie. Since when did setting up a set list turn into lets have a date on our coaches couch?" I asked.
"You were the one who allowed this to happen." Jennifer remarked.
"I didn't allow anything to happen, it just happened. I mean one moment I offered to order pizza being as it was getting late and now its this."
"Yeah well that is a teenager for you, just think of this as practice."
"Practice for what?" I asked not getting what she was talking about.
"Well for Rachel, or that new kid you are going to adopt when you don't find her."
"You mean if I don't find her." I corrected.
"Yeah, what ever. What time is it anyway, shouldn't they be getting home?" Jennifer asked and I turned and looked at the clock on the microwave.
"It's only like seven."
"Didn't they come over at noon?" She asked.
"Yes, and your point is?"
"Let the kids go home. You had them for seven hours already, no wonder why they wanted to watch a movie, they probably just wanted to get away from you." Jennifer teased.
"Oh whatever."
"Maybe you should get back to them. I mean you have been away from them for like five minutes. In that amount of time they might have created the next generation of Vocal Adrenaline mutants." Jennifer stated.
"I'm hanging up now because you are being stupid not because you are right." I stated and she just laughed.
"I'm sure. Love you sis, call me when you get a chance so we can talk."
"I'll see you tomorrow, love you too." I said as I hung up the phone and walked back into the living room where Rachel was sleeping against Jesse and Jesse was texting someone on his phone.
"Your sister called?" Jesse asked and I nodded.
"She did, when did Rachel crash?" I asked and he looked over at her.
"I didn't know she did, I just thought she wanted to cuddle more." He stated and I rolled my eyes.
"Who are you texting?" I asked and he sighed.
"My mom. Apparently my parents want me home so we can stage an intervention for my brother and his addiction."
"Does that mean you need to leave?" I asked and Jesse nodded.
"Yeah, just let me wake up Rach and then we will be out of your hair." He said as he went to wake the sleeping brunette but I didn't have the heart to let him do it.
"You know what, just let her sleep a little bit more and I will wake her up and take her home when I am done working. I just have to sort through a few things so it will give her some more time to rest." I stated and Jesse shrugged as he slowly moved out from under Rachel.
"Suit yourself. Let her know that I had to do this stupid family thing and that I would have loved to take her home but she crashed. Also let her know that I will be at her house tomorrow morning to take her to school being as her car is in the shop." Jesse stated as he got up and I nodded as I followed him to the front door.
"I will. Let me know how everything goes with your brother and let me know if you need a place to crash this week as he goes through withdraw." I said and Jesse smiled.
"Thank you Shelby for everything and I will let you know if I end up needing a place to stay. Who knows, maybe the third time you go through a withdraw in a year its not as bad." He said and I offered him a gentle smile.
"One can hope." I said as I gave Jesse a hug before he walked out of the condo and I shut the door and headed into the piano room where I had left the notebook with song selections in it.
The first thing that I had to set up was invitationals. I knew that this was going to be a place where I could show off my performers but I didn't want people to see Rachel coming. Everyone already knew about Jesse so using him as to show off wouldn't be that impressive. I mean I loved those two, and together they were so much better, but I couldn't do it. I was going against everything that I believed in. I mean I always centered the entire performance around my leads but that wasn't going to be the case at invitationals. Giselle was going to sing the first song, Rachel and Jesse were just going to have to deal with that. I mean of course I would make it up to them at Sectionals but for now they were going to have to trust me.
With that decision behind me I went ahead and and scrawled out the songs that we needed to put together for invitationals that were a in few weeks and then I narrowed down my options for sectionals. It took me about an hour and when it was done I got up and went to go check on Rachel so that I could take her home being as it was getting late.
Rachel looked so peaceful on the couch and I couldn't help but smile at her appearance. Her hair was fanned out over the throw pillow that she landed on while her hands were tucked delicately under her face.
I bent down next to her head and lightly stroked her hair for a second before I pulled my hand away not wanting her to wake up and be freaked out by me touching her.
"Rachel." I said softly as I shoved her shoulder lightly hoping that she wouldn't be too hard to wake up, but she was proving to be a sound sleeper.
"Rachel." I repeated but louder this time and I saw her eyes flutter open slowly.
"What happened?" She asked as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"You fell asleep." I said with a smile as she looked at me and yawned.
"Where is Jesse?" She asked.
"He had to head home about an hour ago but he didn't want to wake you." I said and she nodded.
"I'm sorry that I fell asleep, I usually can stay awake during movies." She said standing up and fixing her hair a little bit.
"It's not a big deal. Trust me this is not the first time that I have had a student crash on my couch before and I doubt that it's the last. Come on it's getting late, you probably need to get home." I said as I guided her into the kitchen where I grabbed my keys and my wallet.
"You don't have to take me home, I can walk, it's not too far." Rachel said and I shook my head.
"It's late and dark out, you aren't walking." I said and she let out a sigh.
"Honestly I can walk..."
"You aren't walking, now lets go." I said as I opened the front door and she didn't argue anymore, she just grabbed the bag that I gave her earlier and walked out of my condo and waited for me to lock the door.
When we got to my car I unlocked the doors and Rachel got in and put on her seatbelt as she waited for me to start the car.
"So you were talking about me taking vocal lessons again." Rachel said and I nodded.
"I mentioned it." I replied and she looked over at me as I pulled out of my parking spot and drove out of the parking lot.
"Would you know someone I can take lessons with? I think that would be something that I would like to do." She said and I smiled at how she seemed to really be getting into singing again.
"I know a few people who give lessons but I don't know if they would be right for you." I said and she sighed.
"That was the problem that I was having before I quit all together." She said.
"When do you have your free period?" I asked.
"Right before lunch, why?" She asked.
"Well I happen to have one of my planning periods during that time and if you wanted I could tentatively give you vocal lessons. I mean you wouldn't pay for them and I would work your ass off but if you were dedicated I would be willing to do that for you." I said and she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment.
"Could we meet tomorrow so that we can go over the song that I want to do for my audition?" She asked and I nodded.
"Of course. Although you might want to bring a few options just to be sure that you pick the right song." I said and she shook her head.
"That won't be necessary, I know that the song I want to do is the perfect song." She said with a great air of confidence.
"Where am I going?" I asked and she pointed to the right.
"Thank you for this." She said and I shrugged.
"It's not a problem. The only thing that I was working on was the set lists so it wasn't like I was doing something that I couldn't stop and take you home." I said as she relaxed into the seat.
"Take a left at the next light. So how long have you been coaching? I mean I googled you earlier this week and it talked about a lot of your wins and stuff but the dates aren't there." She said and I sighed.
"I started coaching VA about, oh god what is it now, I think that this is my fifth year. The first year I was only an assistant coach. Prior to that I did private vocal lessons while I put myself through school and before that I tried broadway for a few years but that didn't exactly work out." I said and there was a small smile that crossed her face as she stared out the window.
"That's cool that you wanted to be on broadway, at one point I thought I wanted to be on broadway as well." She said and I nodded.
"You are good enough that you could make it." I said and she shook her head.
"It doesn't have to do with if I am good enough of not, it's more of the fact that I am not sure if that is what I want to do anymore. Its the third house on the right after the next stop sign." She said and I nodded as I followed her directions and came to a stop in front of her house.
"Again thanks for the ride." She said as she took off her seatbelt and grabbed her bag.
"No problem, and Jesse said that he will be here tomorrow morning to take you to school." I said and she nodded.
"Alright I will see you tomorrow I guess." She said.
"That you will, and don't forget to get your parents to sign those forms for me and you need to look over them as well." I said and she quickly nodded.
"Right, bye." She said as she got out of the car and walked up to the front door as I idled in front of her house.
I waited until she was inside before I put my car in drive and took off down her street with just one thing on my mind. Things with Rachel seemed so easy, almost natural. I needed to remind myself that things with Rachel had to remain professional, she was my student not anything else. Rachel Berry was my daughter, Rachel Anderson was just an illusion of what I would want my daughter to be. I knew in that moment that I needed to find Rachel Berry because if I didn't Rachel Anderson might just drive me over the edge.
A/n: So I'm going to be nice and post this now instead of waiting until I finish what I am writing to post this! Who knows maybe I will be really nice and put another chapter up tomorrow? But who knows...
-Katie