CHAPTER 20
"OK, listen up, guys. I've got a fun assignment for you guys this week." Mr. Schue said, and then walked over to the board and wrote a single word:
BALLADS
"As you all know, Vocal Adrenaline is going to take no prisoners at Regionals so we're going to have to pull out all the stops to be able to finally beat them. This is, for most of you, your third and final year in the New Directions so I know you want to win just as much as I do. Which means Regionals preparation is going to start right from now. So, as usual, we are going to open our set with a ballad. Can anyone tell me what a ballad means?"
Rachel jumped to her feet and raised a hand.
"Yes, Rachel?" Mr. Schue said.
"A ballad is a song that tells a story, whether it be love, heartbreak or another aspect of life." She recited as if reading straight from a textbook.
"Nerd." Emily coughed discreetly into her arm so only Finn could hear her. He tried so hard to fight back a laugh, to the extent that his face started turning red. Rachel noticed and scowled at him.
"Something funny, Finn?" She snapped. Finn shook his head.
"Sorry. Just trying to hold in a coughing fit." He muttered in excuse. He then glared at Emily, who was silently giggling at his expense.
"Anyways…" Mr. Schue said, bringing the conversation back to relevance. "You guys might remember from past competitions but the opening ballad can make or break our performance, and can be the difference between coming back to Lima as losers 3 years straight, or be the lucky charm that gets us to New York for Nationals."
"Mr. Schue…" Rachel said. "I would be honored to solo for Regionals. As the only person with experience soloing in Regionals having solo'd last year and the year before, I'm the obvious choice."
Emily raised a hand.
"Um… Rachel? With all due respect, how many of those Regionals did you win?" Emily asked. Everyone gasped at the roast and Rachel stared daggers at the new girl. If looks could kill, Emily would not only be dead, but she would probably be vaporised. Everyone snickered quietly at the look on Rachel's face.
"Mr. Schue, don't listen to her! She's new! She doesn't know what she's talking about!" Rachel cried, desperately. "You know I'm the best singer in the Glee club. If we want to make it to Nationals, we can't afford to have one of our… weaker voices soloing."
At this point, Mercedes, Kurt and Santana all stood up.
"How dare you?!" Mercedes shouted.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Kurt yelled.
"Listen, puta, you say that you're the best singer one more time and I swear to God Imma go full Lima Heights on your ass!" Santana spat. Mr. Schue raised a hand to stop them.
"Guys, enough! Rachel, shut up!" Mr. Schue shouted. Everyone immediately stopped talking after Mr. Schue's outburst. "Rachel, I'm sorry to say this but I'm not going to blindly give you another solo. There are so many amazing talents in the Glee club, and it would be a shame for them to all go to waste. Which is why I'm having open auditions. Anyone who wants to audition can. I'll pick the two best auditions and I'll have them perform again as like a final showdown. The rest of the New Directions will vote for their favourite and that person will be soloing in Regionals. And who knows? If they do a good job and we make it to Nationals, maybe I'll have them solo again. Does that make sense?"
Everyone nodded in understanding and they smiled at the fair way of deciding on solos. For too long, Mr. Schue had just blindly given Rachel solos because she shouted the loudest, not necessarily because she had the best voice.
"Good. Now, for those of you auditioning, you probably should start preparing ASAP because I'll be hearing performances at the end of the week." Mr. Schue declared. "Dismissed."
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"So, what song do you think you're going to sing?" Emily asked. Finn had just given Emily a full tour of the school - not that there was much to see - and they were now just sitting in an empty auditorium. Finn shrugged.
"I have no idea. I don't know if I'm even going to audition." Finn said. Emily raised an eyebrow.
"Why? You're a great singer." She said. Finn shook his head.
"I'm average, and that's the problem. I don't really have much talent so I rely on hard work. But I don't have time to spend hours practising one solo. I want to spend all my free time on the race track. That's my top priority. Not some dumb singing competition."
"Woah, woah, woah! Lower your voice! If Rachel hears you calling Glee club dumb, you're going to wake up in a dumpster with a knife in your stomach." She joked. Finn chuckled.
"You know, I can honestly see her doing that. And it also reflects how much she cares about this competition. I really don't. Do you know why I joined this club in the first place?" He asked. Emily shook her head.
"Why?"
"I was forced to! I was blackmailed into it! It was either that or being expelled so it's not like I had a choice. So I feel like people like Rachel, Mercedes and Kurt, who really care about Glee, deserve to solo. They're the ones who put in the most work, they're the ones who actually want to study music after high school, so they are the ones who should solo."
Emily raised an eyebrow.
"So are you telling me that you have never raced against drivers who have put in more work than you?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, but…" Finn started but was cut off by Emily.
"Look, Finn, you've gotta grow up. The hardest workers don't always win. It's a fact of life. You still need talent to be able to succeed."
"Are you telling me that Rachel and Mercedes don't have talent?" Finn remarked.
"No, they're definitely talented. But I know you very well and I know how talented you are. Annoyingly so. You don't have to put in hours of work. You can just pull something out of the bag last minute and I guarantee it will be good. So you should sign up to audition. You don't have to prepare for it. Nothing to lose, right?"
Finn smiled at his friend.
"Thanks, Em. You know, I might audition. Are you going to?"
"Are you kidding? I actually like singing, so yeah!" She exclaimed. Finn nodded. The two of them lapsed into silence for a moment before Emily spoke up. "Hey, Finn?"
"Yeah?"
"This might seem like a random question but… are you married?"
Finn choked on the sip of water he had just taken. He cracked up laughing.
"Am I married? What kind of a question is that? Of course I'm not married! Why would you ask me that?"
"Your ring." Emily pointed. Finn looked down at his left hand, where he wore a black tungsten ring. Finn chuckled.
"Yeah, I'm not married. The ring is special to me. It was actually a part from the very first go kart I drove competitively. It kind of symbolizes the start of my racing career. After I graduated to Formula 3, I had it cleaned up, polished and made into a ring."
Emily nodded.
"Oh, that makes a bit more sense." She said.
"Yeah, I don't have a girlfriend but I'm married at age 18." Finn remarked, sarcastically. Emily giggled.
"Sorry, I just had to ask. With all the time we've spent together, it would've been quite a weird thing to leave out."
Finn nodded.
"Yeah, wouldn't it? Anyways, can we stop talking about how sad my love life is, please?" Finn asked. Emily laughed.
"Sure." She replied, still laughing quietly. They made small talk for a couple more minutes before Finn stood up.
"OK, as much as I love chatting with you, I've gotta go. I just signed a driving deal with an F3 team last night and I feel like they won't be too happy if I'm late on my first training session in a year."
Emily stood up and hugged him.
"That's amazing! I'm so happy for you! Just don't kill yourself on your first day, okay? I really don't want to be going to your funeral."
Finn laughed.
"Yes, ma'am."
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Finn arrived at the racetrack in Columbus nearly two hours later. He was extremely lucky that the F3 team he was training with - Global Racing Group - was based in Columbus, and to make it even better, Global Racing Group was the biggest F3 team in the States so had the best facilities. In the racing complex, there was a karting track, an F2/F3 track, a gym where the drivers did their physical training, as well as a whole room of electronic simulators equipped with everything a normal car would. The point of the simulators were to familiarise the drivers with the tracks they were about to race on without physically travelling to the circuit.
When Finn walked into the complex, he was immediately met by one of his fellow drivers - a young, 16 year old.
"Hey, bro. How's it going?" He asked. Finn smiled.
"Not too bad. Yourself?"
"Pretty good. Pretty good. I'm Josh by the way. Josh Richardson."
"Finn Hudson. Nice to meet you, man."
"Yeah, likewise. So how long have you been driving for GRG?" Finn asked.
"Um… almost a year now."
"Oh, that's cool. Any podiums?" Finn smirked. Josh blushed.
"None yet." He replied. "I'm getting there. P5 in the last race of last season. First race is in less than a month and I'm gunning for the podium. How about you? I heard you did a bit of racing abroad."
Finn nodded.
"Yeah, I did. In Dubai of all places. I competed in the F3 Asian Championship for the past two years. Last year my season was cut short because of injury though. I got hit about halfway through the season and just finished physical therapy a week or so ago."
"Wow, man. That sucks." Josh said, sympathetically. Finn shrugged.
"It's fine. I'm back now. And anyways, I won the Asian F3 Championship two years ago in my rookie year so I'm not that bad."
Josh wolf whistled.
"Damn. So you're pretty good then, huh?"
"You could say that." Finn smirked. Before they could say anything else, the whole GRG crew walked towards them. Each driver had their own crew, consisting of the various car mechanics who were in charge of making sure the car was in good shape during the races, as well as to help switching tyres during pit stops. In addition, each driver had their own race engineer, who would be in their ear during the race to communicate everything that the driver needed to know. After meeting his new team, Finn and Josh finally made it onto the track for the first practise of the season.
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"Hey, Finn. Radio Check. Radio Check. Come in."
Finn was out on the track, getting the feel of his new car. The feeling of slicing through the air in the snake-like vehicle for the first time in a year felt just incredible. The whole afternoon would be spent adjusting every setting of the car to Finn's liking, so that it would be ready for the race.
"WHOOOO! IT'S FRIDAY THEN… SATURDAY, SUNDAY WHAT? IT'S FRIDAY THEN… SATURDAY, SUNDAY WHAT?"
Finn sang the stupid song into the radio. He could hear his race engineer, Dalton Graves, laughing on the other end.
"I take it, it works."
"Like a charm. Is everything okay with the car, on your end?" Finn asked.
"Yeah, everything looks good. Now, let's try party mode."
"Party mode? Are you sure?" Finn asked, astonished. He was familiar with all of the racing strategies from his time in F3 a year ago and party mode was the fastest the car could go. It was pushing the car to the gears' very limit.
"Yes. Are you okay with that?" Dalton asked. Finn smiled to himself.
"Hell, yeah!" Finn exclaimed. "YEE HAW!" He shouted as he floored the acceleration on the straight part of the track. He was absolutely flying on his very first session, much faster than Josh, the more experienced driver. Being back on the track was a feeling like no other. He ended up driving home that night, happier than he had been in ages. He was officially back in the game!