Apia, Samoa. Future.
A/N: Just imagine the audition at the bottom like the performance in season four. Rachel - Giselle - Both
Disclaimer: I don't own any character or song.
The Funny Ones
Rachel lay in her bed at Monday morning staring at her alarm clock twenty minutes before it was supposed to ring. She hadn't slept well.
She had a nervous feeling inside of her chest and for a first she was terrified of something.
Today was the audition for Funny Girl.
At Friday's Vocal Adrenaline Rehearsal Shelby had informed the show choir about the upcoming auditions.
The first audition was supposed to be today. They were looking for Fanny.
On Friday nobody but Giselle had dared to sign up for the audition. Rachel had needed to fight back a sarcastic comment then. Of course nobody would have dared to. It was her role… like in Rachel's.
Rachel turned around again trying to get a little more rest before she had to get up. She couldn't.
Her mind was always on the audition later and she knew she had to compete against Giselle. Compete. Rachel let out a snort. She had already gotten the Vocal Adrenaline lead and Rachel for sure wouldn't let her get Fanny, too.
So Rachel got up, went to the kitchen making herself a morning smoothie and head back to her room. She changed into her gym clothes and started her morning routine. Half an hour later she stepped down the cross trainer again. She took a shower, dried her hair and now she was standing in front of her wardrobe looking for clothes that were eligible enough to go to school with when she is supposed to audition for her dream role (even if it's just a high school production) and that aren't revealing more than they should… to Jesse. Because he still wasn't supposed to know that Rachel was lead for two years.
Rachel decided the black waisted top, the black and white plaid skirt she was wearing, combined with black knee highs and the red ballerina shoes just have to make an eligible impression.
Still twenty minutes ahead of her routine she was heading towards the kitchen again when somebody knocked on her door. Shelby opened it with a little smile on her face.
"I need to show you something."
Rachel nodded, following her to the living room. Shelby turned around blocking Rachel's view and continued.
"I know things have been… different." Nice choice of words, Rachel thought. "And we wanted to surprise you now that the Funny Girl auditions are starting. I know that you haven't seen each other longer and we both decided that it was about time." Shelby moved aside revealing the visitor.
She wore black shoes, a skirt with black and blue stripes and a wide grey shirt that fell off her left shoulder. She was looking at Rachel with the same brown hair and smiled. The same brown eyes were staring back at her and Rachel let out an excited scream.
Rachel was smiling brightly when she took her seat in Math. The rest of her morning had turned out to be great.
"You had a crush on me?" Jesse whispered in her ear. He was seating himself next to Rachel with a grin on his face. Her smile faltered for a second.
Rachel choked. "I beg your pardon?"
Jesse laughed. "Yeah, Quinn already warned me that you would react that way. It's totally fine, though. It's nice to know that even you can't resist me."
"I was fourteen," Rachel huffed. "And you at least could have come up with something smoother than You had a crush on me?"
"She told you?"
"Duh- I was there," she answered with a smile.
"You are in an unlikely good mood today," he said with a wondering look.
Rachel smiled again. "Yeah," she replied. "And even you can't change that today. Sorry to disappoint."
"I haven't really tried…" he answered back.
Rachel threw back her head laughing. "You can try as much as you want."
"Well then…," he replied. "So about that crush…"
Rachel shook her head. "Don't go there."
"But you said I could try as much as I want. So…"
Rachel sighed. "Ok. What do you want to know?"
"How could you be able to forget that you had a crush on me. I mean-" he said pointing up and down himself, "-how was that even possible? Just look at my hair." Rachel did.
"Maybe I was too distracted by your dazzling personality?" she remarked.
"Ouch," Jesse said putting a hand over his heart. "You just hit my weak spot, Berry."
Rachel raised a brow. "Berry?"
Jesse shrugged.
Rachel rolled her eyes.
The school bell rang and Rachel and Katie were heading for the cafeteria when somebody tapped Rachel on the shoulder.
"What do you think you are doing?" Giselle asked.
Rachel turned around her eyebrows knitted. "Excuse me?"
"You signed up for Funny Girl," Giselle explained.
Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "And what if that's so?"
Giselle let out a snort. "But you can't audition. I am the female lead now."
Rachel laughed. "And this has to deal with the musical because…?"
Giselle looked at Rachel with a bewildered expression.
"What's with the need to rest your voice?" she suddenly asked.
"I think I did." She looked at Katie with an amused expression. "How long did you thought I needed to recover? It was laryngitis."
Giselle's face turned darker.
"I overheard your conversation with Jesse. You had a crush on him? Does Brody know about this?"
Rachel titled her head staring at Giselle with squinted eyes. "Are you that desperate? You would really do anything in order to not compete with me, right? That's pathetic."
"So he doesn't know yet," she replied smiling.
"He doesn't. And I don't really know what's the problem about it."
Giselle's smile turned into a smirk. "Well, you've already fallen for him once. Who guarantees your precious little boyfriend that you won't fall for him again?"
Me, Rachel wanted to answer. It was a ridiculous idea after all.
"This isn't an X-Men movie," she said instead.
Giselle was just about to reply when Brody cut it. "What about X-Men?"
Rachel turned around. She didn't know how to save the situation without giving Giselle what she wanted. Rachel wanted to tell Brody herself and she was sure he wouldn't make a big deal out of it. They were talking about the past after all. And Brody knew better.
"We were talking about the new X-Men movie," Katie blurted. "We were thinking of going to the cinema."
Nice save.
"Together?" Brody asked looking back and forth between Rachel and Giselle. Or not.
Rachel exhaled. "Well…"
"Cinema?" another voice asked. Jesse. What a timing.
"Yeah, cinema. We were talking about going into the new X-Men movie. Want to join?" Giselle asked grinning.
"Days Of Future Past," Rachel added shooting Giselle a murderous look. "Even if the past isn't affecting the future like it probably does in the movie. Because it's over. The past."
Jesse watched the exchange with a little smile on his lips. Whatever happened between the two was just interesting to watch. Giselle's something, Rachel had said and now Jesse understood what she had really referred to. The two couldn't stand each other. For whatever reason. But he decided to get along with it. It was such a rare sensation of… bonding. He didn't want to miss any of it.
"Sure," he said.
Rachel was sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria her anger rising. What Giselle had pulled off was such- an annoyance. She already looked forward to their cinema visit. Not that she didn't want to watch the movie… The conditions were the things that were bothering her. With Jesse and Giselle. Could it get any worse?
So Rachel was sitting there at lunch poking at her salad staring into space. She was ready to kill.
"Don't give me that look," Dani said. "Not since I'm here."
Rachel's head snapped around. She looked at her cousin the reality dawning on her again. Right. Dani.
She was visiting to support Rachel with her Funny Girl audition. She hadn't been in New York at Brody's audition and Rachel had been disappointed when she wasn't able to meet her cousin.
She had graduated the year Rachel had transferred to Carmel and now she was studying at NYU.
Rachel gave her a small smile. She remembered why she had been so enthusiastic this morning. Even Jesse hadn't been able to spoil her mood earlier. Only Giselle had been able to… Rachel squinted her eyes for a moment trying to get rid of her teammates sneering face. She shook her head. She couldn't deal with that yet. Auditions were up.
Rachel focused on Dani again and smiled.
"Of course." Rachel grinned.
Dani laughed. "I see you've grown out of the bangs."
Rachel played with a strand of her hair. "It was about time. Sometimes I still think of getting bangs again but I'm fine with what my hair looks at the moment."
Dani nodded. "Me too. But I thought it was really cute when you got yourself bangs shortly after I cut my hair."
Rachel smiled. "You were my hero. You know that."
Brody and Katie exchanged a worried look.
Dani gave her a weak smile. "I didn't do anything."
"That's not true." Dani waved it off. She knew it was a sensitive subject to talk about and that Rachel still had times where it was difficult for her to deal with it.
She decided to change the topic.
"Doesn't matter. I'm here for your Funny Girl audition. How are you feeling?"
"I guess I'm fine. A little nervous though."
Brody let out a snort. "A little?" He turned to Dani. "She was worrying about it half of the weekend. She wasn't able to talk about anything else. And don't let me start with her practice. It's a wonder she still has a voice."
Katie nodded eagerly. "Same with me. She was… annoying. Not that she isn't annoying on common behavior," she shrugged her shoulders, "but that reached a whole new level."
Rachel shot her friends a glare. "I'm glad to have such supporting friends."
The other three laughed.
"Same old Rachel," Dani said.
"WHAT?!" Giselle and Rachel said in union.
"I'm sorry to say this but we are short in time. Either you are going to audition together or we are forced to search for another Fanny."
The former Broadway star April Rhodes was looking at the girls giving a shrug.
She was deciding whose students were getting which roles along with Shelby.
Rachel started panicking. There had been a reason why she had practiced that much. She knew that she would be able to win against Giselle without a doubt but there was still something about her voice that made her unsure of her talent for a moment. They had never had to sing a song together. Until now.
"We are going to practice a little choreography before and as you can see," she said pointing towards the back of the stage," we have already built the setting on stage. Your names are on the doors."
Rachel spotted Dani right next to Shelby sitting and the side of the stage and she nodded encouraging.
Twenty minutes later the two girls made her way to the changing room both getting a moment to prepare the song.
Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you
Rachel changed her clothes. If she had to audition together with Giselle she at least wanted to look like herself and since the audition was closed there wasn't any problem about it.
She looked into the mirror wearing a loose grey shirt above a black top, black leggings and dancing shoes.
When she left the room she came face to face with Giselle. She was wearing tight-fitting clothes, a black shirt that was half-transparent, a leggings and dancing shoes just like herself. Giselle gave her a knowing look and made her way to the stage beneath. Rachel followed her.
Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you
Dakota Stanley was giving them last instructions when she arrived and Giselle joined them.
Oh can't you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
The audition started.
Rachel took a step forward and started to dance like she had been told.
Every move you make
Giselle repeated the moves.
And every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you
Giselle was dancing on stage with the background dancers when Rachel was singing the next line
Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace
and they were switching places every few seconds both watching the other with careful eyes.
I dream at night, I can only see your face
I look around but it's you I can't replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby please…
Ooo, Ooo, Ooo, Ooo,
They moved back to the first floor of the setting, Giselle following Rachel, working down their choreography,
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
closing doors, moving and singing.
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
Giselle made her way to the second floor where she continued the exact same choreography that Rachel was showing.
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
I'll be watching
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
The audition ended with both girls standing at the stage again singing the last line.
I'll be watching
You!
Rachel folded her arms when Giselle turned around looking for her and left the stage two seconds later.
Jesse was leaning against the wall next to the auditorium's door. He was breathing a little heavily not believing what he just got to witness. He pulled out his phone hitting speed dial. When the phone was taken off Jesse said: "You will not believe what I just saw."
Songs:
The Police "Every Breath You Take"
Congratualtion to both Germany and the USA for moving to the round of 16. #WorldCup2014
Even through we won I have to admire the defensive play of the USA; that was such a smart move by Klinsmann.
And even though some Americans got a bit racist (Nazis? really?) the USA played very well.
Even I pitied Howard when Müller shot the goal because he just held Mertesacker's shoot.
It was a nice goal but I still understand the disappointment.
Well, still good luck for the Eighth Final.
June 26 (27), 2014.