I own nothing. Enjoy

Rachel walked down the empty hallway and stopped in a patch of sunlight to gaze out the window. Spring had quickly overtaken winter and senior year was suddenly hurtling to an end. The sun was shining outside and the world appeared warmer than Rachel knew it was. She yawned suddenly as she blinked against the bright sun. The last month had been hectic and Regionals seemed like a distant memory. Their win had been sweet but they hadn't been able to enjoy the victory for long. The team had learned from their brutal Nationals defeat the year before and had been practicing almost daily. Between Glee club, her AP year-end course load, dance and vocal lessons and her preparations for her NYADA audition, Rachel had been very busy indeed. Her crazy schedule never managed to sync up with Sebastian's own calendar of Lacrosse championship finals, Warbler community events, AP classes and college applications.

She really missed her boyfriend. Their nightly phone calls and weekends together had quickly diminished. They texted often and called each other a few times a week but it had been 12 days since she'd last seen him.

Rachel sent Sebastian a quick text asking about his day as she headed to the auditorium to practice her audition piece. She climbed up the steps and took a deep breath. It was moments like this, alone in the silent theatre, that she felt the busyness was worth it. She could look out from the great stage into the empty crowd and imagine her dreams coming true. She was Elphaba on the Gershwin, Wendla on the Eugene O'Neill or Fanny Brice at the Majestic. She could sing out to the empty seats and picture the screaming fans, tears streaming down awed faces as she serenaded them nightly. She imagined the encores the crowd would demand and how she'd graciously acquiesce to their profound joy.

Her NYADA audition was in three days and she couldn't help but wonder what Kurt had decided to sing. She figured he'd want to make a production out of it all; glitter, costumes and flare. Sebastian had quickly shot down her idea to do something similar.

"Rach, you don't need anything extra to make you special. You could stand in front of them in a potato sac and sing the National anthem and they'd still want you. Just feel the song Baby. Everything else will fall into place."

He was right of course. He hadn't however helped her decide on which song to sing. He'd only insisted that she pick a song that meant something to her. He had also suggested she not sing a Barbra song and explained hastily (before she could shank him with the heel of her shoe) that she needed to be Rachel, not Barbra 2.0.

She ran through her next selection automatically, still lost in her thoughts. April would quickly bleed into May and then June would bring graduation. She no longer felt the stab of fear that had accompanied her plans earlier in the year. Her future had been so wrapped up in Finn and conquering New York with Kurt that she hadn't been able to picture it. She couldn't reconcile the two things together with her dreams.

She knew better than to think that everything would be unicorns and rainbows when she made it to New York this summer. She would certainly face hardship and difficulty. In Lima, Rachel was a big fish in a coy pond. In New York there would be a hundred girls from similar situations and she'd have to fight her way to the top of the pack. She knew however that she wouldn't have to do it alone. Noah and Santana had both announced their intention of joining her in New York come fall and Quinn and Sam had announced that they'd be in Boston. Blaine had put in for early graduation and would hopefully join them in New York by Christmas.

Sebastian had been surprisingly quiet about his plans for the fall but he'd promised that he was applying for schools up the eastern coast. Noah had explained that he was probably hoping to be scouted by a College Lacrosse team and hadn't wanted to jinx it. He seemed to understand the paranoia better than she did, but Rachel realised that athletes had a much different mindset than her own.

Her phone chirped as she drank from her bottle of water. A smile lit up her features as she read his amusing anecdotes from his day at Dalton. She sat on the edge of the stage as she replied to his text. Her legs kicked lazily over the side as she hummed a tune.

She missed her boyfriend but he hadn't really gone anywhere. Obviously she'd prefer being tangled in bed with him or spending hours together but she knew he was only an hour away if she really needed him. The happiness of being his girlfriend hadn't worn off and she wondered if it ever would.

Sebastian ran at a steady pace around the track, listening to the new playlist Blaine had sent him the other night. One perk of having so many musically inclined friends was the vast amount of music he'd acquired over the past two months. He and Rachel hadn't been able to see each other as much as they'd like but he'd spent quite a bit of time with their friends. He still did fight club with the guys during Rachel's ballet and jazz classes.

Santana and Brittany had become regulars around the Dalton campus and hung out with him when they weren't ensconced in Thad's room. He wasn't entirely sure what the deal with the three of them was but Rachel assured him that all of them seemed perfectly happy with whatever the arrangement was. He had noticed that the two of them tended to show up whenever Thad posted something particularly hilarious on the blog; which would explain the frequency of his updates. The latest blog post had included some photo-shopped and frankly hilarious pictures of Finn wearing women's underwear and heels.

He had spent the last three hours working on a history term paper that was due in two days. He planned on handing it in tomorrow so he could blow off class the next day to catch Rachel's audition. He hadn't told her his plan but he knew it was a good idea. Quinn called him a week before and explained that Rachel was secretly panicking about the audition. She'd promised to keep her sane until he could sweep in and calm her nerves before the audition.

He hadn't seen her in 13 days and he was thinking he might spontaneously combust if he didn't touch her soon. He knew just how to calm her down. She'd nail the audition; of that he was totally sure.

Thanks for reading. I've got the next few chapters done so hopefully I'll have time to post them.