"The Aristocats was released to theaters on December 24, 1970. The film is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe and revolves around a family of aristocratic cats and an alley cat acquaintance that helps them after a butler had had kidnapped them to gain his mistress's fortune which was meant to go to them." Mr. Shue introduced the section.
"Our two songs from The Aristocats are Scales and Arpeggios, which will be sung by Rachel, Tina, Mike, and Sam, and Thomas O'Malley, which will be sung by Noah. Do we just want to do them in that order?" Rachel looked up from the notebook to see the nods of agreement.
"Scales and Arpeggios is sung by the cat family while doing their lessons. Marie and Duchess sing, along with Berilioz, who plays piano, and Toulouse joins him on the piano." Mr. Shue walked off the stage and the four students walked on, Mike and Sam sitting down at the piano, angling it so they were both visible. Rachel sat on the top of the piano and Tina stood next to her. With a nod from Rachel, Sam began playing.
"Do mi do mi do so mi do. Every truly cultured music student knows, you must learn your scales and your arpeggios. Bring the music ringing from your chest and not your nose, while you sing your scales and your arpeggios." Rachel began the song, Mike and Tina lightly swaying with the music.
"If your faithful to your daily practicing, you will find you progress is encouraging. Do mi so mi do me so mi fa la so it goes, when you do your scales and your arpeggios." Sam sang. As he sang his last know, he wiggled his eyebrows at Rachel, who rolled her eyes in reponse.
"Do mi so do—" Rachel began to sing but was cut off when Sam and Mike began to play a completely different, fast tune. She glared down at them and when they looked up at her, Sam went back to playing the slower tune by himself.
"Do mi so do do so mi do." Rachel sang, closing her eyes.
"Though it seems at first it doesn't show like a tree ability will bloom and grow. If you're smart you'll learn by heart what every artist knows: You must know your scales and your arpeeee ee eeggioooooooooos!" Tina joined Rachel in singing the last verse of the song while Mike and Sam, also singing, began to play the piano together. The song ended in a short-lived piano duel, ending at Rachel's disapproving glare.
Rachel ran up the front porch of the Puckerman house and flew through the front door. She found Puck in the living room.
"It came, Noah!" she exclaimed, holding up the envelope that may or may not contain a letter telling her that she got accepted into the Music School at NYU.
"I got mine today, too. I'm in!" Puck smiled down at her and continued, "Haven't had the chance to tell ma yet."
"OMG, Noah!" Rachel hugged Puck tightly, extremely happy for her boyfriend.
Before she could say anything else Debbie Puckerman walked into the house, arms full of grocery bags.
"I have something I need to tell you," he said, helping her with the groceries.
"Have you proposed to Rachel yet?" Debbie asked hopefully, looking at the tiny girl in the living room.
"Not yet," Puck laughed, "I got into NYU's Music School."
"OH, NOAH!" Debbie exclaimed, launching herself at her son, "I am so PROUD of you."
Hearing those words made Puck's vision blur. Debbie was a great mom, she always believed in him, but it had been a long time since he had done anything to warrant that, a long time since he had heard those words from anyone but Rachel. He hugged his mom tightly, before pulling back.
"What about you, Rachel? Although we already know the answer to that." Debbie inquired, looking at the brunette.
"I—I haven't opened mine yet. This, this letter contains whether or not I get to achieve my dreams. I've wanted to get into this school my whole life. What if I didn't get in?" Rachel asked, her fear making her voice quiver.
"Rach, you're Rachel Berry. You have talent out the ass. They would be crazy NOT to accept you. You have a way of always getting what you want and you've wanted this since we were three." Puck told her, placing his hands on both of her shoulders. Seeing the doubt still present, he quietly asked, "Do you want me to open it for you?"
She wordlessly nodded and handed him the envelope.
After a minute, Puck looked up at his girlfriend, "I'm sorry… but you're stuck with me in New York City."
Rachel's face split with the size of her grin and she launched herself into his arms. He hugged her tightly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Mrs. Puckerman decided that three minutes was enough for their private celebration and rushed into the living room, already making plans for them getting an apartment their sophomore year that had at least two bed rooms so that one of them could be turned into a nursery.
"Puck will close out this section with Tomas O'Malley. The song is sung by O'Malley the Alley Cat. It causes Duchess to notice him the first time. It also introduces his characters to the viewers." Mr. Shue was replaced by Puck, who was wearing his usual smirk.
"I'm like a chee-chee-chee-chee-rony like they make at home, or a healthy fish with a big backbone. I'm Abraham De Lacy Guiseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley, O'Malley the alley cat." Puck nodded at the audience.
"I've got that wanderlust, gotta walk the scene; gotta kick up highway dust, feel the grass that's green; gotta strut them city streets, showin' off my e-clat, yeah. Tellin' my friends of the social elite, or some cute cat I happen to meet that I'm Abraham De Lacy Guiseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley, O'Malley the alley cat." Puck continued, practically skipping to the tune of the song.
"I'm King of the Highway, Prince of the Boulevard, Duke of the Avant-Garde, the world is my backyard. So if you're goin' my way, that's the road you wanna seek, Calcutta to Rome or home, sweet home, in Paris, magnifique, you all!" Puck spun quickly.
"I only got myself, and this big old world but I sip that cup of life with my fingers curled. I don't worry what road to take, I don't have to think of that. Whatever I take is the road I make. It's the road of life make no mistake for me, yeah, Abraham De Lacy Guiseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley, O'Malley the alley cat. That's right, and I'm very proud of that, yeah!" Puck ended the song with a nod and a smirk before heading offstage.
As Rachel walked through the hall to her locker, she tried hard to ignore the comments. Normally, they would just roll off her back but today they seemed to affect her more; she was tired of being treated like she was inferior.
Opening her locker, she smiled softly at the pictures. One was of her and Puck in Times Square from Nationals the previous year. Santana had taken it. Puck was kneeling down to tie his shoe and was smiling up at her and she was returning the smile, giving the appearance that he was proposing to her. Another was of her and Puck at the NYU Campus Visit they had done shortly after coming home from Nationals. His mom had taken it. Puck and Rachel were sitting on a bench under a tree, talking about what they would have to do that coming year to make sure they got in. The last of the most recent one. It was of her and Puck holding their acceptance letters, taken by Mrs. Puckerman. A rough push, sending her into the locker wall, brought her back to reality. She glared after Karofsky before grabbing her Spanish book and notebook before grabbing a pen and putting her backpack into the locker and heading to Mr. Shuester's room.
"Only a few more months." Rachel muttered, trying to keep from lashing out as a Cheerio began mocking her.
"Hey, Rach." Quinn greeted, turning in her chair to face Rachel.
"Hey, Q." Rachel smiled back.
"What's wrong?" Tina asked, walking over to the two.
"Nothing, why?"
"Rachel, you're fidgeting." Mike stated.
"You never fidget." Puck added.
"Did someone on do something to you?" Santana demanded.
"Guys, I'm fine!" Rachel snapped.
"No you're not!" The other five replied.
Before Rachel had the time to respond, Mr. Shuester started class. Shortly after Azimio began to throw paper balls at Rachel's head. She tried to ignore it, clenching her pen tighter and tighter with each hit. But when the tenth paper ball hit her, she slammed the pen down, causing the members of New Directions that sat around her to give her concerned looks. That's when another ball hit her.
"That's It!" Rachel exclaimed, pushing her chair out and standing up, "I've had enough!"
Rachel stormed out of the room, leaving her stuff behind. Around the room, students whispered about how she really was crazy. The five glee clubbers looked at Mr. Shue, silently asking permission to follow her. Shue nodded and Puck gathered his things, along with Rachel's, and lead the group out of the room. They immediately went to the auditorium and found her sitting on the edge of the stage.
"Hey, babe," Puck greeted as they walked into the theater and gathering around her; Puck and Quinn on either side of her, Santana, Mike, and Tina standing in front of her.
"Time to come clean," Santana stated, looking Rachel straight in the eyes, "Something's been bothering you today."
"I-I'm just sick of this town and the people in it. I'm sick of the fact that because I KNOW I'm getting out, and I have known I'm getting out since I was two, that makes me some freak. Why? What have I ever done to deserve any of this?" Rachel broke down for the first time in a while.
"You don't deserve any of it and I am so sorry we ever did all that stuff to you." Santana said, also wrapping her arms around Rachel.
"Me too." Quinn added as she and Tina joined the hug.
"And I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop it." Mike put in, also joining the hug.
"Thanks guys." Rachel laughed softly.