A New Direction - SYOC CLOSED

by safeDbeginswiths

A second gen syoc! Please read details inside :)

4. Individuality

A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for your patience as I bring you another INCREDIBLY long chapter lol. As usual just a few notes before we start!
The first thing is that I am going to be trying to update with a new chapter every Monday at some point. Even at 20k+ words like this one, it took me sort of just under a week to finish which gave me lots of time to do final edits and adjustments! So as long as things kind of continue progressing as they have been, most Mondays there will be a new chapter! This chapter is also done in one of two formats I will be using for the rest of the story, and explains the glee schedules and that sort of thing!

The second note (and slightly more of a bummer) is though even though this is a passion project of mine, it is incredibly disheartening to spend hours and hours each week writing these chapters and double checking apps to make sure I have details right and to not hear back from some of the people who have sent characters in. While, obviously, I LOVE collaborating with you guys even just a little review or PM to let me know you're still reading helps! As I mentioned a few weeks ago when I started this fic, the people who I hear from and know are reading are essentially going to be the characters who get more central plots just because I know they're reading and I'm able to talk about things with their characters.

On that note! As of this chapter, all of the characters have been introduced! While I do have a handful of ships and friendships already picked out, I would LOVE to hear characters you think your OCs would get along with, have crushes on, etc. Even if we can't solidify anything, it can make for some really interesting plots! And I know that's a little hard when we don't know a TON about these characters, but as always, my PMs are always open and I'm more than happy to give you any information on characters you might have interest in!

I'd also like to note that, obviously, in a group of 50 kids, certain characters get more spotlight in certain chapters. To make things as fair as possible I've used random generators to decide who got solos (other than those to move plots along and that kind of thing) and also to decide who sings what parts in the group numbers featured. I'll continue doing this in the future, just to give everyone an opportunity!

This is also the first chapter where there's been some swear words both in song and spoken lol, I figure most of you are fine with that, but wanted to give a warning just in case!

All of that said, please enjoy this chapter! Same as last time, I've divided the parts into so it's easier to read and digest (since it definitely got longer than I was planning lol) and there's a list of songs used at the bottom of my second author's note! Please enjoy, and don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns!

TUESDAY MORNING

The Chang's were a very tight knit family, something they were all thankful for. And at the start of the weekdays, they all liked to have breakfast together before Tina and Mike left for work and Teddy and Cay headed off to school.

"So, are you guys excited for glee?" Mike questioned his kids knowing today was the first official glee meeting for both of his kids, putting orange juice in front of them before taking his seat at the table next to Tina.

"I guess," Cay shrugged. Most of the students who qualified for the Troubletones got the choice between them or the New Directions. Cay had chosen the Troubletones, while Rey had gone, in all terms of the phrase, a different direction. "It's gonna be weird being there without Rey, but there are some cheerios on the team, and the girls all seem nice."

"I'm still waiting until we have enough boys to qualify," Teddy spoke after taking a sip of his orange juice. "Even with Frank and Bob, we still only have nine."

"I didn't know they joined! That's great! You're making progress." Tina smiled. "Besides, we were always short for students when I was in glee, but we always managed to pull it off for competitions!" She paused for a minute to think about it, "Strange how we were always able to do that. But still!"

"Things were different back then," Cay smiled, "Now New Directions has more kids than any other show choir I know of." She shrugged.

"I can't believe you're both in glee. Regardless of your group, we are so immensely proud of you." Mike smiled at his kids. He told them he was proud of them all the time, but he always meant it.

"Thanks Dad," Cay smiled, as they sat enjoying each other's company and their breakfast for a few long moments.

While they sat they made small talk for a little while after that, discussing glee among other things.

"Oh crap," Teddy muttered, "We've gotta go, Cay." He spoke to his sister before directing his attention to his parents, "It's our turn in the carpool to pick up the Abrams' and Tommy and I have to be there early to meet the new Warblers 'supervisor'," He put the words in air-quotations. While he was happy that there would be some adult supervision, he was also nervous that it could make things so, so much worse.

Grabbing his things, he quickly threw his bag over his shoulder before giving his mother a hug, as Cay did the same thing, the only difference being it was her father that she was hugging.

"Love you, see you later!" Both children called out, on their way to see what the day would hold.

Meanwhile, the new supervisor that Teddy was so worried about was also getting his kids ready for the day. Trent Nixon was clearly the obvious choice for the position. While he was a Warbler alumnus himself, he also offered to volunteer instead of them choosing a certified teacher and needing to compensate them for their time. It also worked out, because his oldest son, Zach, had gotten himself into a lot of trouble at McKinley the year previous, so Trent had sent him to Dalton in hopes to keep him out of mischief, and now he'd be able to keep a closer eye on him.

As Zach walked into the kitchen, Trent greeted him happily. Zach was incredibly tall. He stood slightly taller than his father, and to an extent, towered over his brother, Oscar. Zach had grey eyes, a narrow nose and medium brown hair.

"Look at us! What's better than this, two bros goin' to Dalton?" Zach nudged his father. While he was initially annoyed that he had to change schools, Zach was never great at holding grudges. Life was too short to be mad about stuff like that.

Trent laughed at his son's enthusiasm. "I'm glad you're so excited!" Trent paused for a moment, "I was also thinking, if you'd be okay with it, I could get you to join the Warblers?"

"Glee club is cool," Oscar piped in, walking into the kitchen catching just Trent's question and not the rest of the conversation, but he figured he hadn't missed much.

"Your glee club isn't," Zach teased, "that's why I was never in it." He chuckled.

"You weren't in it because you were too busy wreaking havoc with Bryce," Trent reminded him. "Just think about it? Please?"

"Fine, I'll think about it." Zach spoke, though he knew he would end up joining the Warblers anyways. His dad and his brother had been through enough that the least he could do was go along with what they asked. "Besides, might be fun to compete against this little squirt," Zach laughed, pulling Oscar in for a noogie.

"I'm a year younger than you. Why must you do this to me?" Oscar spoke, his voice dry though he did inevitably laugh.

"Because you're my little brother. So, it's my job to bully you." Zach teased, a grin growing across his face.

"If you two are done," Trent began, waving at them, trying to get them to head out the door, "We're going to be late! C'mon, there are songs to be sung!" He called out, his two sons quickly following behind him.

MCKINLEY HIGH

The glee schedule had gone out – meetings every Tuesday and Thursday. One in the morning before class, and one in the afternoon after school on both days.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the first official New Directions meeting this year!" Will exclaimed happily. They had enough kids to compete, which was a huge help. "This meeting is going to be fairly quick – as will most of our morning meetings. These are more meant to talk about what the lesson for the week will be, plan some numbers together, and see how we're sort of making out overall."

Will took a moment to look at the thirteen kids in the choir room before him. In the back row, far right corner, was Felix Porter, beside him was Kyla Weston, then Oscar Nixon, Finley Jones, Rowan Jones, Simon Jones and Naomi Jones sat on the far end. In the front row was Savannah Lopez-Pierce followed by Lex Anderson-Hummel, Rey Abrams, Sophie Hart, Flora Schuster and Delia Schuster who once again was unwillingly next to a family member.

"Do we have any questions before we begin?" Will asked, glad that of the kids at the audition, these were the ones that he got.

"I've got one!" Finley raised his hand, "you said lesson? What kind of lesson? What's this week's lesson?"

"Great question," Will responded, making his way over to the infamous white board. "Each week I'll give you a lesson – a loose outline of the kinds of songs I'd like you to perform for your peers. Sometimes it will be to get you guys to start thinking about the kind of songs you'd want to do for competitions. Other weeks, like this week," he paused to begin writing the word 'Individuality' on the board, "I'll give you something for us to get to know you. And maybe for you to get to know yourselves. This week, as I'm sure you can see, is individuality. I want you to pick a song that shows us who you are. Maybe show off a skillset you have, a type of music you really like, or a song you feel speaks to you, specifically."

"So," Felix started, "Just to be clear. We can pick any song we like and as long as we can make it fit the theme, it's all good?"

"Within reason, absolutely. I want to see what you guys can come up with. So get thinking about what songs you might like to perform!" Will spoke, still as excitedly as before.

Meanwhile, just a few classes down the hall, Marley had – accidentally – chosen the exact same lesson for the Troubletones. After explaining it more or less the same way Mr. Shue had, the girls looked at each other. There were only three more of them than there had been before. In the back sat Audrey Fabray, Tia McCarthy, Mia McCarthy and Heather Porter. In the front were the new Troubletones – Cay Chang, then Leah Puckerman and Trina Hart.

"So, just any song? That suits us?" Leah clarified.

"Exactly!" Marley confirmed happily. "As long as you're able to relate it back to who you are as a person, then I want to hear it! C'mon, this is fun! Let's get excited!" She tried but was only met by teens looking at their phones. "Does anyone want to give an example?" She tried.

Immediately this caught Tia and Mia's attention. "We might have something." They spoke in unison and smiled at each other, exchanging a glance.

"Then by all means, the floor is yours!" Marley gestured to where she had previously been standing, a bright smile on her face as she made her way over to sit on a chair unaccompanied by anyone on either side.

"Heather? A little help?" Mia asked, knowing her friend would be more than happy to hop on an instrument behind them and accompany them.

Which is exactly what she did – picking up a guitar from a far corner and pulling up a chair and began strumming a few chords of the acoustic version of the song they would be performing.

"It's time for me to take it
I'm a boss right now
Not gonna fake it
Not when you go down
'Cause this is my game
And you better come to play"

Mia sang out the words, her voice clear and distinct, the two girls moving slightly around each side of Heather who had continued to accompany them.

"I used to hold my freak back
Now I'm letting go
I make my own choice
Bitch, I run the show
So leave the lights on
No, you can't make me behave"

Tia took this part of the verse, her voice was more powerful than her sister's, but somewhat less unique. Neither of them were bad singers, but as the song continued and they began to show off that they could dance, it was clear to everyone that dancing was their strength.

"So you say I'm complicated
That I must be outta my mind
But you've had me underrated
Rated, rated"

Tia continued to lead while Mia began harmonizing. The girls were good on their own, but together they were a powerhouse. That was something Marley told herself to remember when it came to competitions.

"What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being
What's wrong with being confident?"

The two girls took the chorus together, letting their voices become somewhat more sensual, continuing to move around the room, earning them a few excited "woo!"s from their peers, as well as Audrey and Trina dancing along to the music in their seats.

"So you say I'm complicated, but you've had me underrated" Mia took the short bridge on her own, showing off once again that her singing voice was surprisingly different from her twin's, and stronger than the other girls had initially assumed.

Going into the last chorus, Mia continued on the main melody, and was surprised but not opposed to when the other Troubletones began singing with her, but more as support than singing over her.

"What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being
What's wrong with being confident?"

Mia continued to sing out the words, while Tia let out a few loud and long but impressive "confident" , "yeah" and "oh"s over her sister still strongly singing the chorus, with the other Troubletones backing her and Heather still playing the guitar behind them.

As the song ended, the girls laughed and cheered, applauding the twins on their work. As the bell rang for them all to head on to class, they all walked out together after saying goodbye to Marley, buzzing about what songs they would sing that afternoon. For the first time, Marley saw them all as a team.

Exiting the classroom, Audrey was immediately stopped by Lex.

"Where were you?" He asked her, clearly very confused.

"Huh?" Was all Audrey could think to respond with as she was still processing that Lex seemed to pop out of nowhere.

"This morning, I didn't see you in glee." Lex explained, trying to hide the fact that he was holding his breath from running to catch up with her when he saw her in the halls.

"That would be," Audrey paused, repressing a laugh, realizing what Lex had thought. Stepping to the side to pull him out of the way of kids trying to get to their first class, "I'm in the Troubletones. Which means we're competition now." She teased, nudging him slightly, a sly smile on her lips.

"The…Troubletones," Lex paused for a minute to process. "Oh. Cool! May the best man – or woman – win then," He forced a small smile. The idea of having a friendly competition between Audrey excited him, but also worried him. Being in two opposing groups was not exactly the best way to get close to someone.

"Don't worry. I will." She grinned again, a small laugh escaping her as she looked at him – a look he thought was pitiful – before speaking up again. "Come on, walk with me to class."

As the two headed off to where they were headed, they walked by Oscar and a boy who quite literally towered over every other student in the hallway. Lex waved to Oscar, who gave him a small wave back. They were in the same grade, old family friends, and now in the same glee club, so Lex figured the least he could do was greet him. Oscar however, was distracted by the conversation at hand with the tall boy before him.

"Bryce, that's a horrible idea," Oscar spoke, shaking his head.

Bryce Zises, who stood at 6'7" and was a full foot and few inches taller than Oscar, laughed, punching his arm lightly. "C'mon, I'm just kidding…. unless?" He gave him a wide smile. He had pale skin, blue/grey eyes, a long face and a sharp jaw.

"I'm not setting off fireworks with you after school," Oscar shook his head. "Firstly, it's dangerous. Secondly, I have glee."

"Firstly," Bryce began to counter as the two juniors made their way to their English class, "That's why we're doing it outside. Secondly, glee is lame." He spoke nonchalantly.

"Bryce." Oscar paused, turning to face Bryce, lifting his head to look at him in the eyes, "I understand you miss Zach. And since I'm his brother and we've got a lot of the same classes you want me to replace him as your 'at school bestie.' But that's just not me." Oscar was practically pleading at this point.

"You're no fun," Bryce whined.

"Exactly," Oscar responded, "Now you're getting it." As the two turned to enter their classroom.

Close behind them was another junior heading into class, paused only to talk to Mia, and while technically Tia was there, she was preoccupied with something on her phone. While not quite as tall as Bryce, she stood relatively tall for a female and her body was full figured. She had dyed blonde bangs, while the rest of her shoulder length brown hair was down and straightened. She had a pointed upturned nose, pale skin, and light brown eyes that, she was told, would pierce through you if you looked for too long.

"Alright, so we're still on for coffee and manicures this afternoon?" She questioned, though her tone made it sound more like a statement.

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry Zoey," Mia shook her head, "I totally spaced, we have glee this afternoon. Could you wait? Or reschedule?"

"What the hell, Mia?" Zoey was clearly offended. "You're lucky we're cousins. I would cut you off so fast." She sneered.

"So, is that a yes to rescheduling?" Mia tried hopefully.

"Goodbye, McCarthy's." Zoey rolled her eyes walking into her class.

"Sometimes I swear she forgets she's also literally a McCarthy." Tia who had only caught the tail end also rolled her eyes as the two twins made their way down the hall.

DALTON ACADEMY

Despite thinking he was running late, Teddy was both relieved and worried to see that he and Tommy had arrived before all the other Warblers – including the new supervisor.

Teddy immediately took his seat on the council, wanting to appear as presentable for this meeting as he could. Making sure Teddy was sitting down, Tommy quickly sat down next to him laughing.

"First is the worst!" He did a little shimmy, pointing at Teddy, "second is the best!" And then as if on queue, Mack – who had somehow already managed to have his uniform completely wrinkled – walked in. "Third is the one with the hairy chest!"

"I thought third was the one with the treasure chest?" Mack tried, walking up to taking his place as head of the council.

"No, that's silly. Why would you have treasure on your chest? That's where the hair goes," Tommy explained.

"Gentlemen," Teddy spoke up, trying to mentally organize everything that would be happening today, "Please remember we're meeting our new supervisor today. Please be on your best behavior and remember that they will be here to help us."

"This whomps!" Sutton cried out, walking into the room, slugging his backpack behind him, dragging it across the floor. "We don't need a babysitter!" He exclaimed, not realizing that in his exclamation he'd dropped his bag.

"I would beg to differ," Ambrose spoke, barely touching Sutton's backpack – just enough to hand it back to him as he entered closely behind him. "Whether or not we think we need one, we're getting one. And they're not our babysitter, they are our supervisor. And we will refer to them as such."

Though Mack had opened his mouth to respond, he was soon distracted by the two boys who'd just walked into the room. "Hi friends!" Mack called out happily.

Frank and Bob Montgomery didn't audition, but they went through Teddy who decided it would be okay, and the rest of the council trusted Teddy's judgement the odd time they listened to him. It was also helpful that their parents – Wes Montgomery and David Thompson – were Warblers Alumni, as well as generally looked at as Warblers legends, plus they were on the council when they went to Dalton which was a big plus for Teddy.

Frank, the older brother and a junior, stood at 6 feet even, had dark skin, and closely cut dark hair and brown eyes. He was biologically David's child, and it was evident by looking at him. Bob, the younger brother and a sophomore, was biologically Wes' child and you could tell. He had warm beige skin, clean cut but fluffy black hair, and bright brown almond shaped eyes.

"Montgomery's!" Teddy announced happily but professionally as they walked in. "Welcome to your first official Warblers meeting! Please take a seat wherever you'd like."

"Just not up here! This is for councilmen only." Tommy crossed his arms over his chest, a small smirk on his lips.

"Awesome! Thanks for having us! And thanks for letting us in, Teddy!" Frank called out, moving to take a seat.

"Yeah, thanks!" Bob agreed, taking a seat right next to his older brother.

Michael walked in during the thanks, but chose to just wave at his peers, moving to take a seat next to Sutton. Though a few of the Warblers were going to say good morning to him, they were soon cut off.

"Sorry if I'm late!" Eric called out, "But good news! I have another member, if you guys will take him?"

He walked further in, showing that he was holding hands with another boy who went to the school. He was slightly above average height, and stood a decent amount taller than Eric. His eyes were somewhere between a blue and green shade and he had curly brown hair that he let fall over his eyes.

"Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Addison McCarthy!" He announced.

As if preplanned, all of the boys responded "Hi Addison," at different levels of enthusiasm.

"Hi everyone!" Addison spoke up, "I get if you need me to audition or anything but uh, I hope it's okay that I'm here?"

"Absolutely!" Mack responded happily, "The more the merrier!"

Though Teddy was originally going to fight for Addison to audition, he knew it would be best to let it go. Right now they primarily needed boys in the background anyway, and it would certainly be a bit hypocritical if Frank and Bob didn't have to audition, but Addison did.

"Go ahead and take a seat, Addison." Teddy smiled diplomatically. "Now, unless someone else has anything to add-" He was cut off, as he usually was.

"Oh, I might!" A voice from the hallway echoed, as the man who it belonged to walked into the room.

"Oh hey, Trent," Mack spoke nonchalantly. He'd recognized him as immediately as most of the Warblers had kept in touch through the years and so most of those families all grew up together. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the new supervisor!" Trent responded excitedly which had resulted in most of the Warblers exchanging looks. While Mack, Michael, Frank and Bob all recognized Trent as a cool adult they all grew up around, Tommy, Teddy, Sutton, Ambrose, Eric and Addison who had literally just sat down all looked at each other somewhat confusingly.

After a few long moments of silence, Teddy spoke up once more. "Well, welcome to the Warblers, Trent – is it alright that we call you that? Or would you rather refer to us by your last name?"

"Trent is fine! But for the sake of introductions, I'm Trent Nixon." He smiled kindly, making his way into the room. "And I actually used to be in the Warblers! It's a great privilege to be back."

"Oh cool," Tommy responded simply, glad that their supervisor kind of had even a slight idea of what it was like to be at Dalton.

"I also understand," Trent spoke slowly, not wanting to step on anyone's toes, "That you need a few more boys to qualify for competitions?" He looked around the room, not wanting to be wrong, and after counting ten boys, he knew he wasn't.

"That's correct," Tommy spoke slowly, unsure of where Trent was going with this, though he hoped that he had a plan to get more kids interested in joining.

"Well, I know me coming in to be a so-called supervisor is going to shake things up a bit. So, I brought something – someone – who might be able to help you out a bit."

Once again looking around at each other, the Warblers were unsure of what to expect.

"This is my son, Zach Nixon," Trent continued to smile as his son walked in, "And if it's okay with the rest of you, he'll be joining the Warblers."

CARMEL HIGH

There was a clear divide between the returning Vocal Adrenaline students and the newer ones as they sat not just in different rows, but several seats away from each other. Though Kate tried to sit at least somewhat in the middle, Sydney immediately told her that she was not allowed to do that and Kate figured she would just reach out to the new kids later and that it would be best to not start arguing with Sydney so soon – especially since like much like the other glee clubs, today would mark the first official Vocal Adrenaline meeting of the season.

While on the right side sat Sydney, Dana, Kate, Emery and Xavier, the left side of the auditorium was Leslie, followed by Kendall, Anthony, Chloe, Sawyer, and Steven who had tried to sit with his sister, and much like with Kate, told him he was not allowed. That was enough for the rest of the newbies to sit away from her and the old members.

"What the hell is this?" Harmony asked, as she came in, looking at the divide. "So much for looking like a group!"

"Let's not start our day by asking the kids "what the hell"," Unique stepped in, "Though Mrs. Pearce does have a point." Unique paused, taking a quick count of the kids. "And where is Jude?"

"I'm trying to figure the same thing out," Xavier spoke out dramatically, "Trina – my beautiful girlfriend and Jude's sister – told me he left for school before she did?"

"Whatever!" Harmony called out, waving that aside. "Despite it being our first official meeting, Unique has some news she'd like to drop on you."

"Would it have killed you to not have phrased it like that?" Unique questioned, only earning wide eyes and a shrug from Harmony. "That said," she turned to the kids again, "And I know this is a lot so please keep your comments for the end. But I would like to see all of the returning Vocal Adrenaline students audition again."

Immediately there was uproar among the returning students.

"This is so unfair?!" Emery called out

"What the hell?! This is my senior year, I have been carrying this team on my back for three years I should not have to reaudition!" Sydney hissed.

"Mom, can't you do something?!" Xavier tried desperately.

"Don't you think I've tried?!" Harmony called back.

"Alright, alright, calm down. It's not as bad as you all think," Unique raised her hands, waiting for the kids to stop fussing, "Now, all of your spots are still secured. But there is already a clear divide between you returning students and those joining us this year. I'd also like to see what each of you can do individually, so when it comes down to choosing parts in competitions, I know exactly what we're working with."

This changed everyone's tune slightly – both Kate and Sydney saw this as an audition, Xavier seeing it as him having a solo, and Dana was just trying to start the wave but failing miserably.

"Now as you all know practices are every Tuesday and Thursday morning and afternoon. You must do your re-audition during one of those slots. It's first come first serve." Harmony explained, before continuing, "We'll start this afternoon."

As the bell rang for kids to head off to class, the Vocal Adrenaline kids shot off, some running to Harmony to claim their spot, others nonchalantly thinking about what songs they would pick, while some of the new students were happy to be on the other side of auditions this week.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

MCKINLEY HIGH

As the kids filed into the New Directions choir room, a few were chatting about songs they may or may not sing, sitting in the same order they sat in that same morning. Will walked in, first making sure that his lesson was still on the board before making a mental note to check that all of his students were there. After giving them a few long moments to settle in, Will was ready to start the first full glee meeting.

"Alright!" He walked towards the center of the room and was immediately cut off by a familiar voice from the hallway.

"Uh, Mr. Schue? I mean, uh Will?" Sam fumbled his words, remembering that his old glee teacher had asked him to call him by his first name now that they were co-workers. "I've got someone who's looking to join New Directions?"

"Sam, I've already told you. You're too old to be in the glee club." Will spoke, his voice somewhat lowered to not embarrass his old student.

"What? No, not me," Sam shook his head, entering the room and taking a small step to the side.

Behind him stood a girl, she was short and petite. She had medium-dark skin, shoulder length curly dark hair and brown eyes. She appeared timid, but that also could have just been the fact that all eyes were suddenly on her.

"This is my daughter, Hazel," Sam pushed her forward a little bit, as she waved and smiled to the group of teenagers in front of them, both thinking to the conversation they'd had earlier that morning about how Hazel was supposed to be at the auditions with everyone else last week, but ended up catching up with her old friends instead.

"Hey Haze, why didn't you tell us you were joining glee?" Simon asked.

"I guess it just never came up?" She responded somewhat meekly.

"Whatever the reason, we're happy to let you audition. Did you have a song you wanted to sing? Or a song you're comfortable singing?" Will asked, the other students exchanging looks of concern.

"Uh, maybe Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition?'" Hazel asked, both the band and Will agreeing to it. Before she even had time to process, the band had started and she'd made her way to the middle of the room to start singing, facing the students in the chairs.

"Very superstitious, writings on the wall," Her voice was surprisingly cool and smooth, eyes closed as she delivered the next line 'very superstitious, ladders 'bout to fall,"

"Woo!" Naomi called out, her and Simon once again moving in sync to the music, Finley and Rowan soon following their lead.

"Thirteen-months-old baby broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past"

She sang out, getting ready to do her best to deliver the chorus. Meanwhile most of the other glee kids were looking at each other, trying to gauge what everyone else was thinking.

"Not bad," Kyla noted to Oscar, nodding in agreement, "Not bad at all." She finished her thought aloud.

"When you believe in things
That you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way"

Though it was short, Hazel finished up quite strongly, earning her loud applause and support – though it was mainly from her siblings, most of the rest of the New Directions were giving scattered applause as well.

"Well, if that applause is any indication," Will paused to laugh slightly, motioning to the group of kids before him, "we would be more than happy to have you. And thank you, Sam. For bringing your daughter to us."

"Take good care of her, Schue." Sam laughed for a moment before realizing he was supposed to be blowing up footballs, so he quickly said goodbye to his kids and scurried off.

Hazel moved to take the empty seat next to Savannah who did, admittedly, give her a slight side eye glance, but was able to refrain from saying anything.

"Alright," Will clasped his hands together, "now that that's all settled and we've got a brand-new member," he gestured to Hazel, "let's move on with this week's assignment. This morning I asked you to start thinking about some songs that express who you are as a person. I know it's only been a few hours, but did anyone come up with any songs they'd like to share?" He asked, hoping someone would step up to the plate.

While a few of the kids had raised their hands, one caught Mr. Schue's eye. "Rey," he called out, "why don't you come up here and show us what you've got?" He smiled kindly, "And hey, all the props to you for being the first new member of New Directions to volunteer."

While she was not initially expecting to be picked, Rey got up to the center of the room looking at the 13 sets of eyes staring back at her with anticipation.

"Well, I was thinking a lot today about the kind of person I am?" Rey began, unsure if she was even doing any of this right, "and I got to thinking – I'm always told that I have 'youthful energy', and while I was never really sure what that means, and I used to hate it, I started thinking maybe that's not a bad thing. And then I got thinking about this song, and thought maybe it would fit?"

"That sounds great," the glee teacher moved to take a seat, preparing to watch the first true performance that year.

As the band started to play the song behind her, Rey took a deep breath in, immediately going into her higher register.

"Sweet disposition, never too soon," she began signing, holding her hands in front of her, nervously looking at the reactions from the rest of the glee club – which at the moment seemed to be blank stares. "Oh, reckless abandon, like no one's watching you," she finished the line.

Looking once again, her peers seemed to be warming up to her performance. While most of the Jones' were nodding along encouragingly to the music, Delia was watching her precisely – but with interest, not confusion or distaste like Rey had been expecting from most of the club.

"A moment, a love
a dream, a laugh
A kiss, a cry
Our rights, our wrongs"

Her voice went back down to a more comfortable, but still very pretty range as the song began to pick up.

"A moment, a love
a dream, a laugh
A moment, a love
a dream, a laugh"

She looked at her audience once again and immediately noticed Lex very casually dancing along to the music, Savannah tapping her foot and Oscar nodding his head to the music.

"Stay there 'cause I'll be coming over," the sudden shift in the power Rey had managed to manifest for this line did surprise some of her peers, but while she had power, she did still somewhat lack control, which Mr. Schue noted, knowing it was something he could help her with.

"While our blood's still young
It's so young, it runs
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop to surrender"

Rey wrapped up her song nicely, earning her applause from her peers, Simon and Finley calling out, "Yeah!", Naomi and Rowan standing up to clap to show their support, and Lex calling out "yes Baby Abrams!" While Rey did know that they were all likely being so supportive just because they knew her through her parents, she still appreciated it.

"Thanks!" Rey smiled widely and proudly.

"Great job, Rey! And I think that song delivered exactly the point you had mentioned earlier. So really, really well done, especially for your first time standing up here." Will chuckled, "Now I know there's some of you who are probably really eager to come up here too, but let's take the next little while and talk about what individuality means to you guys – maybe come up with some cool and unique arrangements for the songs you want to do."

Per usual, Will was only met with annoyed groans, eye rolls, and general unhappiness from the kids.

Over at the Troubletones, however, things were going a bit more smoothly. The girls had filed in, surprisingly together, as Marley was anxiously moving some things around just for something to do. Once they'd all taken their seats, Marley walked up to where they'd all been sitting, clasping her hands together.

"Alright!" She smiled, looking at the seven girls before her. "So, I'm not sure of exactly how your last teacher did all this, but uh, did anyone have any points they would want to bring up before we start with seeing your individuality songs?"

"I would like to bring up the fact that Heather still hasn't sung a single word since she got into the group," Audrey remarked. At this point she was unsure whether the fact that she hadn't auditioned was what really bothered her, or if it was the fact that Heather just didn't seem to care – about the group or anything else.

"First of all," Heather turned to point a finger at Audrey, "why are you so obsessed with me? Secondly, who the hell cares? Also, in case you have somehow already managed to forget, I played guitar for Tia and Mia this morning. That's more than we've seen you done so far. So put up or shut up." Heather responded, though her tone was cool and collected, she was getting annoyed that Audrey would not just let her be.

Leah and Marley had exchanged a small look of concern as they were both somewhat unsure what to do.

"Maybe if I'd been given the chance to, I would have gotten up there and sang. But you and the Shining twins over there jumped up before anyone else had a chance." Audrey snapped back.

"That invitation was open to everyone. Maybe if you got off your high horse and looked at all us little folks, you'd recognize that we're all here for the same reason," Heather now stood up, clearly frustrated that Audrey kept pushing, and got especially mad when she tried to bring Tia and Mia into it.

"Clearly we're not, because I'm here to sing. Which, again, we still haven't seen you do." Audrey's tone was dangerously cold, as she too stood up.

"And again," Heather mocked Audrey's voice and moved in front of the seats, as Audrey did the same, the two getting closer and closer, "Neither have you! And I, personally, am getting sick of being treated like you think you're better than me when we are in the same boat. Tia and Mia are the only other people who have heard you sing, so tough shit, princess."

While the last word uttered out of Heather's mouth made Audrey's face turn hot, and right as she was about to respond, Marley finally stepped in.

"ENOUGH!" She screamed at the two girls, everyone else in the room taken aback by not only the fight, but also by Marley's sudden outburst. Both girls who had previously been arguing took a step back, reclaiming their seats.

"Glee is supposed to be fun!" Marley cried out, "I understand that I can't just expect you all to get along right away. But for the sake of the group can you please stop the senseless arguing?"

"It's not senseless! I'm right!" Heather called out, still worked up.

"Seriously, Heather. Please." Mia spoke for the rest of the group as she looked to her friend.

"Fine. But not for any of you. And especially not for you," She turned to look at Audrey. "I'm doing it because Mia's innocence needs to be protected."

"My…what?" Mia blinked, visibly confused.

"Regardless," Marley breathed out, exasperated. "All of you will sing at some point. But I'd like to get through this week without any more arguments or fights. I don't know if you've noticed but we still need girls to come join us. New Directions got so many of the kids who auditioned last week. The last thing we need is the members we do have to not like being in the same room as each other."

"Alright, fine. It's done." Audrey put her hands up, "You've got a point, Marley."

"Thank you," Marley sighed out, "Now, all that aside. Does anyone have a song they want to try to do?"

Trina, who most of the girls had almost forgotten was there due to the scene that unraveled before them, raised her hand. "I have one, Marley." She spoke cautiously but confidently.

"Please! Come take the stage," Marley laughed lightly, essentially switching places with Trina, just trying to move on as quickly as possible.

Moving to the front of the room, Trina waved her hand politely, "Hi fellow Troubletones! For Individuality week I have decided to sing a song called 'The Way I Am'. I know we don't have access to a band yet, so I found my own instrumental, if that's okay?"

"That is totally and completely fine, Trina. Whenever you're ready!" Marley encouraged her, turning her head slightly to look at the other girls. Cay and Tia were both on their phones, Audrey had her arms crossed over her chest, Mia was trying to console Heather who looked as though she had smoke blowing out of her ears, and Leah was the only one who was trying to be supportive of Trina. Partially because she knew her through Jude, and partially because she wanted this to be as easy for her mother as it could be.

Pressing play on her music and gently swaying to the beginning instrumentals, Trinas finally began to sing.

"If you were falling, then I would catch you.
If you need a light, I'd find a match
'Cause I love the way you say 'good morning'
And you take me the way I am"

Her voice was sweet and still as controlled as it was in her audition, and while Marley sort of half swayed along, she was a bit confused as to where this was going.

"If you are chilly, here take my sweater," Trina continued to sing along, blissfully unaware of the fact that Leah was starting to realize that she was singing this song about the relationship between her and her boyfriend, "If your head is aching, I'll make it better," Trina continued on.

Suddenly exchanging looks, Tia and Mia were also coming to the realization that this was an interesting choice for 'individuality' week.

"'Cause I love the way you call me 'baby', and you take me the way I am," Trina sounded wonderful, but Marley was now also starting to wonder if she understood the assignment.

Looking at Leah who had only mouthed the word 'Xavier' to her mother, Marley tried to remain optimistic, hoping that Trina would have a good explanation when the song was over.

"And I'll buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair.
And sew on patches to all you tear.
'Cause I love you more than I could ever promise
And you take me the way I am
You take me the way I am.
You take me the way I am"

Trina wrapped up the song and got some slow, but confused applause to her song.

"That was…lovely, Trina. And you sounded fantastic! But I just have to wonder…why that song in particular?" Marley asked, secretly hoping there would be a verse, or a line or even a word that Trina thought represented her as a person.

"Oh! Easy! This song reminds me of my relationship with my boyfriend, Xavier," Trina cooed, "He goes to a different school and is technically our competition and I miss him." She concluded with a nod.

"With all due respect," Leah began cautiously, not wanting to stir up any more drama, "My boyfriend also goes to Carmel. I just think we were all hoping to hear a bit more about you as an individual," She tried, hoping she would be able to get her point across.

"Are you trying to insinuate that I don't have a life outside of Xavier?" Trina replied, her tone suddenly sharp.

"Not at all!" Leah shook her head. Before she had a chance to explain further, another voice piped up.

"Even if she were insinuating that," Cay spoke only half paying attention, "Would she be wrong? The assignment was to learn about you. Not your Vocal Adrenaline boyfriend."

Trina's jaw dropped, but Marley, this time, was quick to jump in.

"Alright! Well, that's enough of that!" She stood up suddenly. "How about we take the rest of the afternoon and really focus on what we want to do for the rest of the week?"

DALTON ACADEMY

The Warblers were beginning their first full, official meeting. They were gaining more people than they were initially anticipating, with the additions of Frank, Bob, Addison and Zach, the group was now up to eleven boys, meaning they were just one shy of having enough for competitions.

Just before all the other boys arrived, the Warblers council and Trent were having a small, quick meeting to establish how they would work together, and try to not step on each other's toes.

"In all honesty," Trent explained to the council before him, "I'm really just here to keep things from getting too out of hand. When I was in The Warblers there were only a few instances of things going…badly. And those things could have been prevented by a supervisor. But otherwise, I'm more than happy to let you just do whatever you do, and I'll be here to, well, supervise. I'll be here for moral support and to keep things from going awry, but otherwise, this is still your group."

While Mack was partially listening, he was mostly fussing with the collar of his shirt and Tommy was not much more help as he was counting all the lights on the ceiling. So once again, it came down to Teddy.

"I think that sounds incredibly fair. And if the head of the council," he spoke slowly, looking in Mack's direction, thankfully, getting his attention, "Agrees to all of that, I think we could work quite well together."

"Yeah, that all sounds good!" Mack agreed happily, though he was not entirely sure what exactly it was that he had just agreed to.

"Well, I look forward to working closely with you gentlemen," Trent spoke professionally, noticing the rest of the Warblers starting to come in.

"Likewise," Teddy spoke agreeably, happy that he and Trent seemed to be on the same page, even if he and the rest of the council weren't always.

"What's up besties?!" Sutton, as always, made his presence known from the moment he entered the room. Behind him followed, the rest of the Warblers.

"Hey besties!" Tommy yelled out, some would argue obnoxiously, from behind the desk where he, Teddy and Mack all sat.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. Mack?" Teddy spoke, directing his attention to Mack as Trent took a few steps back, just wanting to see what an average afternoon for these boys would look like. "I believe you had something you wanted to discuss?"

"I did!" Mack spoke happily, all eyes turning to him, "But then I forgot."

"I know!" Tommy called out, almost speaking over Mack, "Let's talk about song suggestions."

"Oh right! I had an idea for that!" Mack nodded happily.

"With all due respect, Mack," Ambrose started, "We didn't do 'Fireflies' last year, and we won't be doing it this year."

"Fine." Mack practically pouted.

"Who else has any ideas?" Teddy tried, as usual, trying to push them along. "Or does anyone have anything that could maybe come in handy?"

"Ooh!" Zach excitedly stood up. "I can rap. Like REAL well." He nodded excitedly.

"That's actually pretty useful," Michael spoke up.

"No way! That's awesome!" Eric shouted out excitedly.

"Can we see?!" Addison matched his boyfriend's enthusiasm.

"Do you have a song?" Tommy questioned, not opposed to the idea.

"Does anyone have a song?" Teddy pressed, hoping to go back to what they originally had wanted to talk about.

"I might have one, if it's okay with you guys for me to start? I know I'm new here, but-" Addison started, and was cut off by Mack.

"Go for it! We'd love to see it!" The head of the council smiled, "I'm sure we can all jump in if we know it."

Addison looked around before standing up, knowing he'd be singing acapella, taking a deep breath in and just going for it.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now"

He started, his voice was pretty but had some edge to it, as he looked around the other Warblers were getting into it, all standing up, trying to figure out how they could jump in.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?" Virtually everyone in the room was surprised when Michael jumped in with harmonies, but they undoubtedly sounded incredible together as they continued to sing, "I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now,"

Hoping to get all of the Warblers involved, Tommy and Mack began singing a few small notes to create the background music, as Teddy started on the percussion parts, beatboxing in rhythm with Mack and Tommy.

"Yeah, I could use a dream or a Genie or a wish
To go back to a place much simpler than this
'Cause after all the partyin' and smashin' and crashin'
And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion
And all the pandemonium and all the madness
There comes a time where you fade to the blackness
And when you're starin' at that phone in your lap
And you're hopin' but them people never call you back"

Zach jumped in perfectly talk-rapping through the first part of the verse as Sutton, Ambrose, Eric, and Frank joined in with the background noise with Mack and Tommy, while Bob surprised Teddy by jumping on the percussion parts with him.

"But that's just how the story unfolds
You get another hand soon after you fold
And when your plans unravel in the sand
What would you wish for if you had one chance?
So airplane, airplane, sorry I'm late
I'm on my way so don't close that gate
If I don't make that then I'll switch my flight
And I'll be right back at it by the end of the night"

Zach wrapped up the verse, all of the Warblers now in a sort of group, all loosely following Tommy's movements. As they jumped to the chorus, Sutton dropped the instrumental, taking the high harmony of the chorus, Michael staying on the low harmony and Addison following the main melody.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now
Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now"

There was no denying they sounded incredible, and as they wrapped up the song with Eric singing out a few pretty sounding "Oh-oh's" and Ambrose repeating, "I could really use a wish right now," the song came to a natural conclusion as all of them Warblers temporarily froze, realizing they had, accidentally sounded amazing together.

"That was incredible!" Trent let out a loud gasp, "Zachy, I'm so proud of you! And the way you all jumped in to back Addison up? That reminded me of the good old days of the Warblers. That was so incredibly impressive!" Trent continued to gas them all up.

The Warblers were, rightfully, proud of themselves for that makeshift performance. Tommy and Mack high-fived, as did Frank and Bob, Eric and Addison shared a long, loving hug, while Sutton jumped up for joy, trying to high five Ambrose who did not notice, as he was congratulating Zach on how impressive it was that he jumped in like that. Meanwhile, Michael had smiled to himself, proud of the performance, and Teddy took a step back, looking at the group before him, smiling for a moment, then looking to Trent as the two shared a knowing look and a smile.

CARMEL HIGH

While the morning meeting had surprised many of the Vocal Adrenaline return students, Sydney had instructed them all to pick a song to show off both their skill and who they are as people – she was determined to have all the people who had been here the last few years to get the most parts in competitions and she figured this would be the best way to do it. While not everyone agreed that they should be the only people who got to sing at competitions, they couldn't argue that this would be a good chance to showcase themselves – especially since they normally did not pay much attention to what the other members were doing, and at this point really had no gauge of their talent.

"Good afternoon!" Unique called out, glad to see that most of the members of Vocal Adrenaline were at least mixed in together now, all sat within two rows. On the back right sat Steven Smythe, followed by his sister Sydney who had told him to not sit next to her. Beside Sydney was Anthony St. James, Sawyer Jackson, and Dana Abrams. In the front row right side sat Leslie Adams, then Kendall Holliday, Chloe Pearce, Xavier Pearce, and next to Xavier was Jude Hart who was pretending to listen to the boy beside him, catching him up on what he'd missed that morning.

"Are you done?" Jude suddenly snapped, catching Xavier off guard.

"I mean, I wasn't…" Xavier spoke, still surprised by Jude's tone.

"Why aren't you down Kate's throat huh? Or Emery? I don't see either of them here." Jude snapped once more.

"Great question, Mr. Hart." Unique spoke loudly, regaining the attention of the group, as they were previously watching the conversation between Jude and Xavier. "And if you had been listening to your friend here, you would know that we're re-auditioning all of the returning members of Vocal Adrenaline, two at a time. Including you. So if I were you I'd pay attention."

"Whatever," Jude rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What crawled up your butt anyways? Have another fight with Leah?" Sydney smirked, doing her best to get a rise out of him.

"Mind your business," Jude warned.

"ENOUGH!" Harmony called out. "I don't give a crap what's going on with any of you," she paused, "Other than Chloe and Xavier of course," she gave a small wave to her children before continuing, "So sit down, shut up, and watch your teammates perform for you."

"Jeez, you guys are a mess, huh?" Anthony spoke up, laughing slightly.

"Shut up, newbie." Sydney rolled her eyes, just as Kate had walked out onto stage.

"Hello, everyone. As most of you know, my name is Kate Karofsky, I'm in my senior year, and this is a song called How Far I'll Go," She grinned pleasantly, waiting for the band to start.

"Disney is kind of her thing," Xavier explained to Chloe, and any other new student who was listening.

"How fun!" Sawyer replied from behind Xavier, even though because he'd known Kate from drama, he also knew this to be true.

"I've been staring at the edge of the water, long as I can remember, never really knowing why," Kate began singing. The song was practically meant for her voice, she sang it with ease and it sounded great as she continued with the verse, "I wish I could be the perfect daughter, but I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try"

"Oh, she's actually kinda good," Sydney murmured to herself, admittedly, not having paid any attention to any of the other members' voices as she was sure hers was the best.

"She's really good," Steven agreed enthusiastically, only getting an eye roll from Sydney in return.

"See the light as it shines on the sea
It's blinding
But no one knows, how deep it goes"

Kate sang out confidently, impressing most of the rest of her team.

"And it seems like it's calling out to me, so come find me
And let me know
What's beyond that line, will I cross that line?"

"Yes Kate!" Xavier called out enthusiastically. Though Jude was annoyed with his enthusiasm, he did give a slight smile at Kate's performance, nodding his head in time with the music.

"See the line where the sky meets the sea
It calls me
And no one knows, how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I'll know
How far I'll go"

Kate went up in pitch slightly at the end as she belted the last note, impressing her audience.

"Woooooo!" Dana got up and began moving their arms back and forth in a flossing motion to support their friend.

"Good control on her voice," Anthony thought out loud, though nobody seemed to have anything to respond to him.

"Nice," Chloe nodded lazily, following the crowds general reaction.

"Thank you all very much!" Kate called out happily, glad that her peers seemed to enjoy her performance.

Walking backstage and changing places with Emery, Kate called out a quick "good luck!"

"Uh, thanks," Emery responded. They were never close with Kate, but Kate always seemed to have a good word to say about everyone and always supported everyone around her. It was something Emery both appreciated and was a little jealous of.

Walking out onto the stage, Emery waved half-heartedly to her peers. "Uh hi, I'm Emery. Meeks. Most of you know that," they fumbled with their too-long sweater sleeves for a moment, "I'm a Junior and this is Hungry Heart?" They phrased it like a question but took a step back and let the band start.

"Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going"

Emery's voice was deeper than their speaking voice, which took most people aback. It was soulful with a sort of rock edge to it, reminiscent of her father, Roderick.

"Go bestie!" Xavier called out, earning him a look from some of the newer kids, while on his left, Jude shook his head at the outburst, but kept his eyes on Emery, and on his right, Chloe followed Xavier's lead and lazily applauded, not entirely understanding that she wasn't meant to do that halfway through the song

"Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a hungry heart"

"Incredible voice, but the stage presence leaves something to be desired," Anthony noted out loud.

"Literally nobody asked you," Sydney spoke back, her tone dry – less in defence of Emery, more that she didn't want any sort of newbie comments.

"Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don't make no difference what nobody says
Ain't nobody like to be alone"

"Such a unique voice," Leslie thought, just loud enough to be heard by Kendall who nodded, pretending to listen, but was really looking around to see how everybody else was reacting – which she had also done for the performance prior.

"Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a hungry heart"

Emery finished out the song on about the same note they'd started it – vocals impressive, but as Anthony had so kindly noted – not necessarily the most fun performance to watch just in terms of stage presence.

"You did amazing Emery!" Xavier called out enthusiastically, clapping loudly, clearly their biggest fan in the audience.

"Thanks, Xavier." Emery smirked, not bothering to thank anyone else as she walked backstage, meeting Kate, the two walking back down to where everyone else was sitting.

"Well done, you two!" Unique encouraged them both, "and thank you for volunteering to go first."

"It's my pleasure!" Kate smiled diplomatically while Emery simply shrugged.

"And thank all of you for coming." Harmony got up and turned to the students, "Tomorrow morning we'll see Jude and Xavier, and then tomorrow afternoon Sydney and Dana."

"Wait, what? I didn't sign up for that." Jude spoke up for the first time since the auditions started.

"Well since you missed the meeting this morning, it was the only spot left." Harmony spoke, the look on her face was kind, but her words felt venomous. "So, try not to miss tomorrow's. If you miss your audition, you're off the team."

THURSDAY MORNING

MCKINLEY HIGH

"Are you sure you don't want to come? It's going to be fun!" Bryce tried to convince Oscar as the pair was walking down the halls together.

"No, and in all honesty I'm not even sure what we're talking about because I didn't want to hear what you're doing, because I don't want to be an accomplice." Oscar replied, shaking his head.

"First glee, now this?" Bryce practically whined.

"I was in glee long before you started talking to me," Oscar replied, pausing before speaking again, as he knew what Bryce was going to say, "this year. Without Zach. Speaking of glee, by the way, I gotta go."

"Gross. Have fun. Say hi to Zach for me, though, okay?" Bryce tried.

"Sure thing, bud," Oscar reached up – very high – to place a pat on his back.

"What was that all about?" Kyla questioned Oscar, as she met him just as they were turning to go into the classroom.

"Zach transferred this year, I think Bryce is lonely," Oscar shrugged nonchalantly, "Hey Delia," he greeted the only other person in the room as he made his way to take a seat between her and Kyla, who sat next to him.

"Good morning, Oscar, Kyla." Delia pleasantly greeted her teammates. "Have either of you prepared a song for the theme this week?" She questioned them.

"Nah, I figured I would leave that to the new kids. Or kids who actually, y'know, have something to say. My time will come." Oscar shrugged.

"Same here," Kyla replied nonchalantly.

"My god you're both patient," Delia shook her head, "Though I don't think I'll be doing one either."

"Oh, come on," Will spoke, entering the classroom and taking the bag off his shoulder, "Show some team spirit, Delia."

"I fear my talent will go unnoticed as it always does, so I'd rather save it for when I can actually shine." She responded simply, though her father had already moved on.

"Flora! Welcome back, there's a seat there, behind your sister." Will gestured, "or there beside Kyla," He did his best to make sure Flora felt comfortable and at ease.

"Typical," Delia rolled her eyes as Flora took the seat behind Delia.

"Did I miss something?" Flora questioned.

"Just your sister being annoyed with your dad. Nothing new here in New Directions," Naomi spoke casually, walking into the room.

"Huh?" Rowan questioned, following their sister into the room.

"You get used to it, don't worry too much about it." Naomi waved them off, taking a seat next to Kyla, Rowan taking the next seat over.

"And that's why you can do whatever you want, as long as you go to confession afterwards. God is very forgiving," Sophie spoke casually to Rey who she'd walked in with and also had not even asked and was unsure of how they'd gotten onto that topic.

"Oh. Well, uh, good to know?" Rey tried, going along with whatever Sophie said, as she knew it would be good to make some more friends in her grade.

"Oh, it's great to know. Saves a lot of guilt. Hey Flora," Sophie turned her attention to the girl who she was about to take a seat next to, "Wasn't that math lesson yesterday so strange? It's only the second week, we shouldn't be doing that much work already."

"I didn't think it was too much, if you were having trouble with it, I could maybe help you?" Flora offered.

"If you're offering, I know I could really use the help," Rey, who'd taken a seat next to Sophie, admitted, "Math is the one thing I just can't wrap my head around."

"Study group?!" Sophie exclaimed the exact second the idea came into her head, "I'll bring snacks!"

"Did someone say snacks?" Lex laughed as he entered the room with Savannah.

"Are you really thinking about snacks at 8 AM? I just watched you annihilate a bagel," Savannah smirked.

"And what about it? I'm a growing boy." Lex shrugged, causing Savannah to shake her head, but laugh as the two took a seat beside Rowan. "And a growing boy needs snacks!"

"Did someone say snacks?" Felix repeated, asking the question in the exact same tone as Lex had previously as he walked into the room, fussing with the zipper on his hoodie.

"I did! Because I also thought I heard someone say snacks," Lex explained, nonchalantly as Felix took a seat next to him.

"Who's got snacks?" Simon asked, walking into the room alongside Hazel and Finley.

"Oh, good call, I'm starving." Finley agreed.

"No snacks in the choir room," Mr. Schue called out, finally listening to the conversations going on among his students.

"Wait, when did that become a rule? We definitely had snacks in here last year." Naomi pointed out, turning back to look at her three siblings who had just sat behind her.

"That's exactly why we have the rule. Got too messy," Will responded, somewhat dryly, "but moving on from snacks! Does anyone have a song they'd like to sing?"

"I've actually got something – if that's okay?" Simon spoke up.

"Of course, Simon. Please, the floor is yours." Will let Simon stand up and take his place, while the other Jones' looked at each other, trying to figure out if any of them knew that Simon was preparing something.

"So, this is just sort of a song about how I sort of see the world and certain aspects of it? At least at this point in my life," He shrugged, a small smile on his face.

Turning to the band and nodding, the music began just moments before Simon took on his first solo.

"If love is a feeling then I don't want it, you'll take it and make it into more," He began, much more confident than in his audition, the smoothness in his voice really coming through, "But if you want something that really means something, I'll show you what love is really for,"

While Naomi and Rowan were dancing along in the front row, it eventually spread to Savannah, Lex, and Felix who soon also were moving along to the music.

"And if you want me to say
You don't have to change
I've been waiting patiently
Well love can wait for me
Love can wait for me"

Gaining more confidence, Simon began moving around the choir room slightly, singing to his teammates, who were now all getting into the spirit, some jumping in to harmonize and make "oooh"s in the background, while others continued to just move in their seats.

"Well you don't know where love is," Simon moved back to the center of the room as the song slowed slightly, sounding the best he had yet, "My heart is losing all it's faith"

"He's pretty good," Sophie spoke up, Rey and Flora nodding in agreement.

"But there's this sound in my head
It's just sayin'
Won't you wait for me
Will you wait for me"

As Simon held the last night for a few long moments, he surprised most of the New Directions simply because they didn't know he was capable of that.

"And if you want me to say
You don't have to change
I've been waiting patiently
Well, love can wait for me
Love can wait for me"

He put his all into the ending, impressing the group around him.

"Woo! Yes Simon!" Naomi cheered him on as Lex and Finley both stood up to give him a standing ovation.

"Very impressive, Mr. Jones!" Will cheered, "And thank you for sharing such an intimate part of yourself with us."

Nodding, Simon simply smiled as the bell rang, letting all the kids know it was time to start heading to their next class.

Meanwhile over at the Troubletones, Marley was still desperately trying to get just one day to go smoothly, especially nervous thinking about the last meeting.

Walking into the room first was Audrey, greeting her niece kindly, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Marley…I uh," Audrey started somewhat awkwardly, "Just wanted to apologize for yesterday. Things got a little out of hand with Heather and they shouldn't have." She nodded as she concluded.

"Thank you for saying that, really. And obviously I accept the apology," Marley made her way over to give Audrey a quick hug. She could tell Audrey had a hard time swallowing her pride and so even the smallest apology meant the world to her.

"Of course," Audrey nodded, and smiled making her way over to take a seat, just as Heather made her way into the room.

"If we're apologizing, I guess I'm sorry too. While I still believe in my point – and I'm sure Audrey believes in hers – you were right, Marley. If we want to kick ass at sectionals we need to be a team." She offered a half smile in conclusion.

"And that's why Sophie thinks you can do whatever you want as long as you go to confession after," Trina was explaining to Leah as the two walked into the Troubletones room together.

While Leah was going to respond, they both noticed it was just Heather, Audrey and Marley in the room, so they dropped their conversation, entering cautiously.

"Good morning!" Trina greeted them both happily.

"Good morning girls!" Marley greeted "And before you ask, both Heather and Audrey have decided to let bygones be bygones, meaning we can move on."

"Good," Cay responded as she entered the room, "if I wanted to see a bunch of weirdos debating things that literally don't matter, I'd hang out with the Abrams. Or the Warblers." She shrugged.

"Which reminds me!" Marley called out loud, "While the official list doesn't come out for another two weeks of who we'll be competing against at sectionals, as an all girl group, the Warblers – an all boy group – is who the show choir blogs are saying will be our biggest competition."

"You read show choir blogs?" Leah asked her mom, quizzically.

"You don't?" Mia walked in with Tia close behind.

"Just in time girls! We were just talking about sectionals." Marley responded excitedly.

"Already? I thought we were still on individuality?" Tia furrowed her eyebrows.

"Exactly," Marley spoke, earning her confused looks from the teenagers in front of her, "Let me explain. I know we need more girls for the competition given that we're five short right now. However, if we can get some cheerios," she looked towards Tia, Mia and Cay who were all in their cheerios uniforms, "or maybe some girls from the dance team," she looked at Audrey this time, "that way we know we have good dancers but you girls can do all the singing and show off your…." She waited to see if any of the girls would fill in the blank. They didn't. "Individuality!"

Though the Troubletones took a few long moments where they all just looked at each other but eventually they smiled, all in agreement.

"So we'll each get a part?" Cay questioned, just making sure she understood what Marley was saying.

"Everybody gets a standout moment, yes. Which is why I need you girls to get in touch with your individuality!" Marley responded, still excitedly just as the bell was ringing, "so think about what songs you'd like to do and come back to me with them this afternoon!"

DALTON ACADEMY

Oliver Puckerman was still adjusting to being at Dalton. He hadn't even finished two weeks and had already managed to get caught vaping in the bathrooms by one of the English teachers. What he wasn't expecting was to be brought into a meeting with that teacher, as well as another member of staff he didn't recognize.

"What we're saying, Mr. Puckerman," the English teacher spoke up, "is that under normal circumstances, vaping or smoking while on school property normally would result in suspension or expulsion depending on past records. And while this is your first year here at Dalton, your records came with you and they're…not great."

"Mr. Sterling, right?" Oliver responded to the English teacher, trying to make sure he got his name right.

"You can call me Jeff," he smiled pleasantly, momentarily forgetting why they were there.

"I…" Oliver paused for a moment. Normally he wouldn't care much about getting suspended or even expelled. But it was his grad year, and he got into enough trouble outside of school and wanted to try to be a better influence on Nikki. "I'd rather….not be expelled."

"We figured as much," Jeff smiled, nodding, "That's why my friend Mr. Nixon is here."

"You can just call me Trent," He introduced himself with a small smile.

"I'm…. confused." Oliver spoke, still not fully understanding what was going on.

"I run The Warblers-" Trent spoke but was immediately cut off.

"The glee club?" Oliver scoffed, realizing now that Trent's name sounded familiar because of Sutton talking about glee while Oliver desperately tried to tune him out, "What does that have to do with me?"

"If you were to say, join the glee club, we wouldn't have to put this on your record," Trent responded blatantly.

"Isn't this blackmail?" Oliver questioned.

"No, actually. Dalton has a rule that if you have something against you – within reason - , you can do something to help another group, team or individual and it can be written off," Trent explained, thinking about how Sebastian was able to stay on the Warblers for all the years that he had.

"I don't get how this is helping anyone." Oliver shook his head.

"To phrase it blatantly, Mr. Puckerman, we are one person short from being able to compete at competitions. You wouldn't have to even do anything, really. Just show up for practices and stand in the back." Trent did his best to explain.

"That's it? And the vaping is off my record?" Oliver asked for clarification.

"As long as you don't do anything worse, or equally as against the Dalton rules, then yes." Trent smiled.

"Looks like we've all come to an agreement?" Jeff questioned.

"When do we start rehearsals?" Oliver sighed out.

CARMEL HIGH

The Vocal Adrenaline kids were once again sitting and waiting to see two of their peers perform. While there were, of course, whispers about whether Jude would show up, he did, and was backstage with Xavier waiting for their separate cues, while the rest of the team waited for the coaches.

"Wouldn't it be funny if someone ended up not getting accepted back in?" Kendall laughed to herself, as she thought out loud.

"Unique already said our spots are secured." Sydney rolled her eyes at the female sitting next to her.

"Yeah, but it would still be funny. Who do you think it would be?" Kendall pushed further.

"Depending on the song they audition with, my bet would be on Dana. No offence, buddy." Emery looked over to Dana, offering an apologetic smile.

"None taken!" Dana responded happily, desperately trying to get their fingers stuck in a finger trap.

"Don't be too harsh, Dana's just got different strengths and weaknesses than the rest of us." Kate defended Dana, who she was sitting next to.

"Everybody's got different strengths and weaknesses, that's what makes us all great," Sawyer spoke up, sitting on the other side of Kate.

"Speak for yourselves, I'm a powerhouse," Anthony scoffed.

"Just like you, right, Syd?" Steven, who had somehow managed to weasel his way into sitting next to Sydney turned and asked her.

"I told you not to call me that," Sydney practically whined.

"Stop the small talk!" Harmony demanded as she entered the auditorium, Unique right behind her. "We've only got a few minutes and two auditions to go through."

"Which is why instead of yelling at the students we're going to start them now," Unique spoke, trying to make her voice as kind as possible while still getting things on track. "Jude Hart? You're up first." The two coaches, per usual, took two seats in the front row.

"I know most of you know who I am. But I'm Jude. This is my song," He shrugged slightly, pulling up a chair as he sat with his guitar in hand, strumming a few chords before beginning.

"Why do all the monsters come out at night?
Why do we sleep where we want to hide?
Why do I run back to you, like I don't mind if you fuck up my life?"

His voice was different from most of the other Vocal Adrenaline students, much more suited for punk or rock music than anything else, but it was emotive as was evident as he sang.

"Another day, another headache in this hangover hotel," Jude's voice suddenly grew softer, and the words came out clearer, "I'm gettin' used to the rhythm, yeah, I know this beat too well,"

"Interesting song choice," Anthony thought out loud, "certainly not what I would have picked for an audition."

"That's kind of his thing though," Kate spoke softly, as not to interrupt the performance, "he's got a unique voice, this song suits him." She shrugged.

"Tunnel visions got me feeling, you're the only one I see
But I know what's missing, when I'm swimmin'
In my lonely luxury"

He let his voice become more controlled, using just a bit of its power, before coming back down to the gentler side of it again.

"You're doing great Jude! Go off King!" Xavier called out from backstage in support, while Jude partially scowled between words at the outburst, causing Emery to cover her mouth in fear of laughing out loud as she watched it unfold.

"I'm wondering why, do all the monsters come out at night," Jude continued, despite the outburst that had almost thrown him off his rhythm, "Why do we sleep where we want to hide, why do I run back to you, like I don't mind if you fuck up my life?"

"Why am I a sucker for all your lies?
Strung out like laundry on every line
Why do I come back to you, like I don't mind if you fuck up my life?"

While he had, arguably, started stronger than he'd finished, most everyone had chalked it up to Xavier distracting him and throwing him off his game.

"Very shaky," Anthony spoke out loud again.

"He's good though," Leslie responded without much thinking, shrugging slightly.

"Great job!" Xavier continued to cheer Jude on, not realizing what had just happened.

"Thanks," Jude simply shrugged, knowing that Xavier's heart was probably in the right place, and his frustration wouldn't do him any good.

"Really, that was great!" Xavier continued, even as he swapped places with Jude, now heading onto the stage himself.

"Hello friends!" He called out happily.

"Hi, Xavier," Emery responded blandly, knowing it would make him happy if at least someone said it back.

"Hi Emery! Hi Mom! Hi Chloe!" He gave shoutouts for just a second before remembering what he was meant to be doing, clearing his throat slightly. "My name is Xavier Pearce, I'm in grade 11, and I will be singing Don't Go Breaking My Heart." He smiled contently.

"By yourself?" Kendall asked for clarification.

"Correct!" Xavier responded as though it was nothing.

"Is he always this…chipper? This early in the morning?" Leslie questioned tentatively.

"Yep! He sure is!" Dana, who at some point during the last audition got their fingers stuck like they'd wanted, waved the finger trap with their two fingers inside around.

As the band started playing the music, Xavier, who was already dancing around, made sure to make eye contact with everyone in the audience.

"Don't go breaking my heart," He began just slightly below his average range, before going distinctively up several octaves and also slightly in tone, "I couldn't if I tried,"

Emery, once again, put a hand over their mouth to refrain from laughing, Anthony's jaw dropped, and Dana continued wagging their trapped fingers.

"Oh, honey if I get restless, baby you're not that kind" He continued on, once again switching between voices.

"Don't go breaking my heart
You take the weight off of me
Oh, honey when you knock on my door
Ooh, I gave you my key"

"Atta boy, Xavier," Chloe smirked, watching her brother – the first expression any of the team had really seen her shown.

"This is actually…impressive. Really impressive." Kate let out a small half laugh as the team continued watching him bounce around the stage.

"And so much fun!" Steven agreed, dancing a bit in his seat, of course, earning an eye roll from Sydney.

"Ooh, nobody knows it!" Despite the obvious entertaining parts of the performance, Xavier was actually an incredibly talented singer, and showed he at least had some control over his body and knew how to move it.

"When I was down
I was your clown"
Ooh, nobody knows it
Right from the start
I gave you my heart
Oh, I gave you my heart"

He paused dramatically for a short moment, most of his team clapping along to the music or swaying in one way or another, his vocals somehow getting stronger and more clear with each line.

"Woo!" Sawyer called out loudly, enjoying the performance to their fullest.

"Yee yee!" Dana called out almost directly after, following Sawyer's lead.

"So don't go breaking my heart
I won't go breaking your heart
Don't go breaking my heart"

He finished earning himself not just loud applause, but a standing ovation from most of Vocal Adrenaline.

"Yeah!" Emery called out, proud of their friend.

"That's my boy!" Harmony called out almost aggressively, cheering and clapping louder than everyone else.

As Jude and Xavier both made their way from backstage to the front where everyone else was sitting, Unique stood up to speak to them.

"Thank you both very much for your songs today," She spoke kindly, turning to the rest of the kids, pointing a finger at all of them, "And we will see you all back here this afternoon, yes?"

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

MCKINLEY HIGH

"I can't believe you're in glee too," Zoey McCarthy rolled her eyes while speaking to an old family friend of hers – Felix Porter.

"C'mooon," Felix whined, "all the cool kids are doing it." He paused to laugh, "I'm here, Heather, Mia and Tia are all in that girl group, even your twin brother is in his glee club at that fancy pants private school."

"Leave Addison out of this," Zoey stuck up her nose in what could only be described as disgust at the mention of her twin brother.

"You'll join sooner or later. I'm psychic," Felix grinned, laughing as he was about to turn into the choir room.

"Unlikely. To both things." Zoey sneered, turning and walking the other way.

"You're late, Felix," Mr. Schue called out, turning away from the papers he was filing through.

"How do you know everybody else wasn't just early?" He shrugged, taking the first available seat, which was next to Hazel.

"Because we all know how to read a clock," Savannah rolled her eyes, looking at her nails.

"Alright, alright, enough." Will, spoke out, somewhat exasperated.

"You know that every time you say that things get more out of control, right?" Delia called him out.

"Seriously. Enough. I'm tired of the negativity – especially you, Delia. What kind of influence is that for Flora?" Her father responded, his tone controlled but firm.

"Oh, I don't mind-" Flora tried to interject but was cut off by her dad.

"Alright. We have time for a few more individuality performances before we head on to rehearsals for the group number." The glee teacher once again directed his attention to the teenagers who sat before him.

"Group number?" Kyla questioned, "For individuality week?"

"Correct." Mr. Schue began to pace around the room, "Even if it's not right for sectionals, we need to start thinking about being a group. Individuality is great – and I can't wait to see what else you guys have been prepared for today - but it's time to see how you each, individually, work in a group and what we can do to make you all stand out." He explained.

While there were some exchanged looks and slight murmurs, nobody seemed to be opposed to this idea.

"Alright – so who'd like to come up and do a solo individuality performance first?" Will asked the kids, earning him and enthusiastic hands up from Sophie.

"Alright, Sophie! Way to go, whenever you're ready, go ahead and do your thing!" He encouraged her, taking a seat beside the rest of the New Directions.

"So, the song I'm singing is one from a movie that my sister, my mom and I used to watch when we were younger! And I always sort of just kind of identified with the words of it!" Sophie explained, cheerfully, as the band began to play. "Oh! And I got some friends to help me – Rey, Flora?" She called on her friends who ran up just as the words began to play.

"You may find me just a little strange, I like dancin' barefoot in the pourin' rain," Sophie began signing the words, going directly into choreography as the two girls behind her followed each other's basic moves that went along with the song and with Sophie as she continued to sing, "My mind is racin' at the speed of light, I'll dance around you like a satellite"

Moving between her two friends as she sang and danced her way through the words, she got some mixed reactions. Naomi had told Simon that she was 'living' for the performance and once again, Lex was doing his own moves in his seat. Meanwhile, Oscar was somewhat confused about the dancers behind her and was almost overwhelmed with the performance but tried his best to not let it show.

"I'm reckless
You're speechless
Scream shout I love it loud
I feel the need to stand out in the crowd
Nothing's wrong with me"

Sophie sang out the words confidently, the two girls behind her picking up their dancing to match the pace of the song – it was obvious neither of them were as seasoned at dancing as Sophie was, but they were both certainly trying and were having a good time as they repeated the words, "nothing's wrong with me,"

"Freak out and stand my ground
Nothing in the world is gonna keep me down
Nothing's wrong with me"

Finishing the song in a pose as though she was sticking a landing, Sophie breathed out heavily for a moment, slightly laughing and bowing, before taking the other two girls in for a group hug.

"Wow, that was incredible!" Mr. Schue laughed, clapping as the rest of the New Directions clapped along. "Well done – all three of you!"

Thanking their teacher, the three girls went back to take their seats, Mr. Schue looking around if anyone else had anything they wanted to perform.

"I might have something," Savannah stood up without having to be asked to, taking center stage and adjusting her skirt. "While I hadn't realized we were doing full performances," she directed her glare for just a second to the three freshman girls, "I did have this song planned. Not only do I think it fits me well, it's also the song my parents performed before getting engaged," She explained professionally, though a playful smile stayed on her lips as the music began to play.

"I'm broke, but I'm happy
I'm poor, but I'm kind
I'm short, but I'm healthy, yeah"

Savannah sang the words confidently, and while her body moved to the music it wasn't anything too much, it was clear she believed in the words she was singing.

"I love this song," Kyla muttered to Delia who was sitting next to her, not getting much of a reaction from the other girl.

"I'm high, but I'm grounded
I'm sane, but I'm overwhelmed
I'm lost, but I'm hopeful, baby"

Savannah elongated the last note for dramatics, looking at the group that sat before her. Most people seemed to be at least tapping their foot in rhythm and she noticed Hazel mouthing along with the words.

"And what it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be fine, fine, fine
'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is givin' a high five"

She continued singing out confidently, her talent undisputable as she leaned over to give Lex, who had his hand up, a high five, as Finley and Rowan did the same thing.

"I'm free, but I'm focused
I'm green, but I'm wise
I'm hard, but I'm friendly, baby
I'm sad, but I'm laughing
I'm brave, but I'm chicken shit
I'm sick, but I'm pretty, baby"

She raised her hands as she sang strongly, beginning to make her way around the room, singing to each person individually as she came around to her last chorus.

"And what it all boils down to
Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet
Well, I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is playin' a piano"

She moved around to the piano, mimicking playing it at the line, earning a few laughs from around the room.

"And what it all comes down to my friends, yeah," She moved back to the center of the room to finish off the song.

"Is that everything is just fine, fine, fine
'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is hailin' a taxi cab"

Finishing somehow even more confidently than she started, she took a small bow as her peers cheered and clapped.

"Thank you so much for that Savannah – and thank you for the beautiful story before that." Mr. Schue congratulated her on a job well done, before clapping his hands together, looking to the group before him. "Now who's ready to learn that group number?"

Over in the Troubletones, Marley was about to start the lesson. All seven girls were sat in a row – First was Cay, then Trina, Leah, Audrey, Tia, Mia and finally ending with Heather.

"Alright, so!" Marley began but was abruptly and rudely interrupted.

"Wow, this is pitiful. Seven girls?" Nikki's voice echoed from the hallways.

"What are you doing here?" Leah pressed, as Audrey's curiosity peaked – she didn't know much about the Puckerman's lives but was always closer with Leah as kids, so she was interested to see where this was going.

"I'm joining your incredibly sad looking band, I guess." Nikki shrugged.

"If you're looking to join a much less sad band," Heather spoke up, her interest suddenly piqued, "do I have the opportunity for you!"

As usual, everyone had opted to ignore Heather's comments about her band, as Marley moved closer to her youngest daughter to speak, also ignoring the negative comments she'd made about it.

"Really, Nikki? What changed your mind?" Marley asked, genuinely confused.

"Turns out Oliver somehow got roped into joining that boyband over at his stupid uniform school. And while at first I thought about disowning him as my favorite member of the family it got me to thinking," the youngest Puckerman paused, just long enough for her mother to speak up.

"What?!" She questioned concerningly.

Looking around the room, noticing most everyone's looks of confusion, Nikki continued on, "He's actually not bad. Which means they could win whatever weird little competitions you guys do. Sutton is also on that team. And while I dislike Leah, I dislike Sutton more and want to see his demise." She finished with a nonchalant shrug.

"Thank…you?" Leah spoke up, eyes furrowed in confusion.

"First of all, please do not speak about your siblings in that way," Marley whined before straightening up and processing the point Nikki was trying to get at, "Does that mean you're joining?"

"I guess so?" was Nikki's only response.

"With no audition? Are we just letting anyone in now?" Heather asked, earning her a nudge from Mia and a stifled laugh from Tia who kind of wanted to see the drama unfold, "Sorry, bad joke." Heather put her hands up in defeat.

"Well, do you feel like singing?" Marley asked Nikki who only responded with a head shake, "Oh," Marley spoke clearly defeated as her youngest took a seat next to Cay. "Anyone else want to give it a shot?"

"I actually think I have something, Marley," Audrey stood up confidently, making her way to the front of the room, "I kind of debated using this song, but I think it's important to understand every part of ourselves. Especially if it's going to help us win sectionals." She laughed for a moment. "And I uh, actually got someone else to help me – if that's okay?"

"Oh, sure! Where are they?" Marley looked around the room.

"Right here!" Heather stood up, smiling cheekily as she grabbed the same guitar she'd used earlier in the week, surprising most of the rest of the Troubletones.

Both girls taking a stool, Heather began strumming on the guitar, Audrey singing soon after.

"I stare at my reflection in the mirror, 'Why am I doing this to myself?'" Audrey's voice wasn't necessarily the most powerful, but it was pretty and she made it look very easy – it reminded Marley a lot of Quinn.

"Losing my mind on a tiny error,
I nearly left the real me on the shelf.
No, no, no, no, no,"

She paused gauging the room for reactions, as Heather bought her some time, still strumming away. While Trina was happily watching, Tia looked at her phone, Mia nodded along to the music, both Nikki and Cay weren't paying any attention, but Leah smiled and nodded at her cousin, understanding the words she was singing and how Audrey must have felt.

"Don't lose who you are in the blur of the stars
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,
It's okay not to be okay"

Audrey sang out as powerfully as she could, earning a kind and empathetic smile from Marley, both proud of her niece, but also moved and somewhat sad that this was the song she chose.

"Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart.
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,
Just be true to who you are
Yeah, yeah, yeah"

Finishing the song, Audrey swallowed hard, laughing as Heather put her hand up for a high five, somewhat surprised when Audrey gave her one.

"Thank you so much for that, Audrey." Marley spoke genuinely, "You have a beautiful voice and that was incredibly moving. Thank you for sharing that vulnerability with us." She smiled kindly.

"And thank you to both of you for not killing each other while you put that together," Cay spoke, not looking up from her phone.

"Hey," Heather stood up, putting an arm around Audrey, "anything for my girlfriend."

This earned surprised and even shocked looks from everyone in the room – including Audrey.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," Heather laughed, "could you imagine though? You should've seen your faces."

"You got me good," Mia laughed along with Heather, as the purple haired girl let go of Audrey, and they made their way back to their seats.

"Hey, that was really cool," Leah spoke quietly to Audrey as she sat down, "I know it's just a song, but it was pretty brave of you to pick that one instead of some fluff piece, you know?"

"Thanks," Audrey was genuinely thankful, "That means a lot, really. I really appreciate it."

"Alright!" Marley spoke up loudly, "I think now it's time to start brainstorming some group numbers where you all shine!"

DALTON ACADEMY

"Welcome aboard!" Tommy greeted Oliver as he walked into the room.

Trent had just moments ago explained the situation (sparing as much detail as possible, though he knew word would eventually get around) and the Warblers were generally very excited that they finally had 12 people. All but one person.

"What gives?!" Sutton called out dramatically, the back of his hand placed to his forehead, as he went into a very obviously fake, very thick Shakespearean sort of accent, "Why did thou come to my sanctuary?"

"Huh?" Was all Mack could say, barely understanding what Sutton could say through the weird voice he was using.

"Gentlemen, maybe we should drop it," Teddy tried, though nobody listened to him.

"Just cause," Oliver shrugged, not loving how many eyes were on him as he blatantly ignored Teddy.

"Did Nikki put you up to this?! She's always had it out for me," Sutton brought his hands down balling them into fists, looking away dramatically.

"Seriously guys, I think we need to focus on song selections," Teddy tried speaking up, but was once more ignored by everyone as Oliver spoke up.

"Dude, calm down. Nikki had nothing to do with it. I just thought, I dunno, I should get involved with some extracurriculars." Oliver lied straight to his brother's face, knowing if he found out he would immediately run and tell their parents.

"You used to make fun of me for being in glee!" Sutton called out, somehow more dramatically than everything else he'd yelled at his brother.

"SHUT UP!" Tommy called out before turning to Teddy, "The floor is yours, buddy."

"In future," Trent, who was standing behind the councilmen sitting at their table, "maybe we should refrain from asking them to 'shut up'."

"It worked, didn't it?" Tommy shrugged, looking around as all nine other sets of eyes were on the council.

"Gentlemen," Teddy spoke loudly, trying to regain some sort of control over the room, "While we know this is a bit of a shake up, now that we've got 12 members, we can really focus on what is going to matter – seeing how we can work as a team and what everybody can bring to the table on their own."

"A bit of a shake up?! My life is over!" Sutton crashed dramatically onto a couch.

"Aw, don't say that! You've got at least a few good years left!" Mack did his best to try and cheer him up.

"I can rap!" Zach called out referring to Teddy's question.

"Zach honey, we know, you did it two days ago." Trent reminded his son.

Sighing out deeply, Teddy was practically defeated. "If no one else has anything else to add, we may as well adjourn this meeting and stop wasting everybody's time."

"It's not a waste of time! It's a brotherhood!" Tommy called out defensively.

"No, he has a point," Trent shook his head, "I understand we're all still adjusting to…everything. New members, a supervisor, it's all…. very new. But the other clubs are already thinking about sectionals. It's still six-ish weeks away, but it's never too early to start thinking about it. Especially since we're going to need all the practice we can get."

Trent looked at Teddy and smiled, who smiled in turn, nodding his head slightly, glad he had someone on his side.

"If I may," Ambrose stood up, looking around the room, "Do we have any song suggestions? Or any ideas?"

"I know I'm biased 'cause I sang last time," Addison spoke up, sitting up from where he'd been slouching into Eric, "But when we all just sort of started singing and vibing together…that was pretty rad." He shrugged.

"Which brings us back to Ambrose's question – any songs?" Teddy called out, as Mack put his hand up, causing Teddy to speak up once more, "Do we have any song suggestions that aren't by Owl City and haven't been requested every week of every year since Mack's first day in the Warblers?" Mack put his hand down slowly.

Suddenly, Sutton sat up again. "I have one!" He called out.

"Well, uh, go ahead? We'll all jump in, I think." Mack nodded, suddenly remembering that as the head of the council he had authority.

Sutton threw himself off the couch, and looked at all the other Warblers, his voice smoothly singing the first few lines of the song with no back up.

"Her name is Noelle, I have a dream about her," he began, many of the Warblers recognizing the song immediately, "She rings my bell, I got gym class in half an hour,"

Sutton immediately noticed Tommy and Mack, coming up behind him, each placing a hand on his shoulder as they began doing the backup for him, soon after, Teddy and Ambrose and Michael joined him. While Ambrose and Michael followed Tommy and Mack's lead, Teddy jumped into the percussion sounds.

"Oh, how she rocks, in Keds and tube socks," Addison popped up, hand in hand with Eric as he took the second part of the verse, Eric aiding in the music backup, "But she doesn't know who I am and she doesn't give a damn about me,"

Standing up with his brother, Frank took the main part of the chorus, as Bob did the high harmonies,

"'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby," they started, pleasantly surprised when Zach jumped in on the lower harmonies, "yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby, listen to Iron Maiden maybe with me"

"Oh, yeah, dirtbag," Eric sang out, happily, and just generally enjoying himself

"No, she doesn't know what she's missin'" Addison came up, hugging Eric from behind as he continued the line.

"Oh, yeah, dirtbag," Mack sang, full of energy as he did so,

"No, she doesn't know what she's missin'," Tommy came up, finishing his best friend's line, wrapping an arm over his shoulders.

"Man, I feel like mold
It's prom night and I am lonely
Lo and behold
She's walking over to me"

Ambrose sang out the words beautifully, as always, not a single word even a tiny bit out of tune.

"This must be fake
My lip starts to shake
How does she know who I am?
And why does she give a damn about me?"

Michael continued the verse, his smooth and soulful voice sounding incredible on his lines. Jumping out in front of everyone, Sutton knew he was about to absolutely nail the next part, already preparing to go into an unnecessarily high and nasally voice as he sang out the next few lines,

"I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby
Come with me Friday, don't say 'maybe'
I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby, like you"

What happened next surprised everyone – while he had been sitting on the couch, Oliver got up suddenly to sing out the next part of the song.

"Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missin'" He sang out, surprising the Warblers in that not only was his voice decent – it was actually pretty good and suited the song perfectly.

Nobody was more surprised than Sutton, as his older brother was now standing directly to him, the both of them singing out the very last line of the song together.

"Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missin'"

Finishing the song all 13 men in the room laughed, clapped, and cheered. Not only was it the first time that all 12 Warblers had performed together, it was also the first time Sutton could ever remember having something in common with his brother.

CARMEL HIGH

"I'm so glad nobody's been cut yet!" Dana spoke happily to Kate and Sawyer who they'd walked into the auditorium with, the first three of the team to get there.

"By Mrs. Pearce from the team? Or by Sydney for a solo?" Kate responded, half joking.

"Either!" Dana replied just as happily.

"She did say nobody was going to get cut from the auditions, right?" Sawyer offered, choosing to ignore the mention of Sydney out of fear.

"In fairness though, we haven't had a real practice yet. When that happens, I wouldn't be surprised if someone gets cut." Kate replied, glad she had at least one close friend – and also Dana.

"By Mrs. Pearce or….Sydney?" Sawyer furrowed their eyebrows, still somewhat afraid to ask, but knowing they should.

"Either," Dana and Kate replied in sync, each with a shrug – while Kate's was short and just an average shrug, Dana's was manic and continued to move their shoulders up and down as they made their way to their seats.

"Sydney?!" Steven overheard and couldn't stop himself from jumping in, "I love her!"

Kate and Sawyer shared a somewhat concerned look before Kate, respectfully, responded with, "Oh! We didn't know you two were so close."

"We're not," Sydney responded, slowly but surely following her younger brother into the rows of seats, though made sure to pick the row behind him and the other three.

"She's so funny," Steven waved a hand dismissing the contradicting words from Sydney.

"The theatre is no place for funny. Unless it's some sort of ironic comedy. But this is shower choir. And there is nothing ironic about show choir," Anthony made his presence known immediately.

"Huh?" Sawyer was the only person to respond, confused as he'd only been halfway paying attention.

"Oh, no, yeah she totally did that," Kendall spoke in hushed tones to Leslie who was simply nodding and listening politely. At this point she didn't even know who they were talking about, but despite the needless gossiping, Kendall seemed nice and Leslie was in need of a friend.

"Who did what?" Anthony turned his head as he took a seat next to Sydney, interested in hearing whatever was going on.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kendall smirked, herself and Leslie moving into that same row.

Following them was Xavier who seemed to be speaking absolute gibberish to Emery, who surprisingly understood what he'd said and answered back in similar sounding gibberish.

"What the hell was that?" Sydney questioned, both confused and frustrated that she couldn't eavesdrop on them.

"It's an alien language club thing, you wouldn't understand," Emery shrugged as she and Xavier then did their secret handshake, which again, involved them saying more, what was apparently, alien gibberish at the end.

Sitting in their own row, they continued speaking in their strange alien language, just as Jude walked in, rolling his eyes immediately as he heard it.

"Not alien language club again," He shook his head, sitting in the same row as them, but as far away from them as possible.

"You knew about alien language club?" Kendall shook her head in confusion.

"Xav's dating my sister. He's always over and trying to teach it to her." Jude shook his head in what could only be described as disappointment.

"Oh, speaking of sisters!" Xavier went back to speaking English as he spotted Chloe in the far distance, "Hey bestie!" He called out excitedly.

Chloe simply lazily gave him a sup nod, walking down the stairs at approximately the same speed as molasses going uphill.

"Chloe, for god's sake can you please pick up the pace?" Her mother entered the room, on the same side as Chloe.

"Hi Mommy!" Xavier called out, before turning and noticing Emery moving a few seats down from him. Though he spoke to them in their alien language, Emery responded in English.

"No, you lost that privilege when you made the conscious decision to say the word 'mommy' out loud," They responded firmly, causing Xavier to pout.

"Honey, pouting causes wrinkles," Harmony spoke directly to him as she made her way to the front, looking up just in time to see her co-director walk in.

"Oh, I know you are not starting without Unique," She spoke, her voice and words loud and clear.

"Nope, we were just waiting," Harmony responded, her voice clearly forced to be sugary sweet.

Making her way to stand next to Harmony, she noticed Chloe finally down and taking a seat with her teammates.

"Alright! First audition of the afternoon! Sydney Smythe, you're up! Dana, go wait backstage as you'll be going after Sydney." Unique directed and both students obliged.

After a few long moments of Kendall contemplating talking about Sydney when she wouldn't be able to hear and Jude crossing his arms over his chest and nearly falling asleep on his chair, Sydney finally got up on the stage.

"Yay Sydney! Go Sydney!" Steven called out so loudly that both Kate and Sawyer tilted their bodies away from him at the shock of the volume.

Rolling her eyes, Sydney forced a smile, putting on their best show face. "Good afternoon, Vocal Adrenaline, my name is Sydney Smythe, I'm a senior and I'm in my fourth year of glee, which means I am simply superior to all of you. Especially the newbies."

"Absolutely not true," Harmony spoke up, barely paying attention as she had been Sydney's glee teacher for the last two full years and knew her all too well.

Ignoring Harmony's words, Sydney double checked she was center stage as the band began playing a moderately slow beat, getting herself prepared.

"My name is Sydney Smythe," she sang, already changing the words to fit her more directly, "and I am a massive deal,"

"So modest," Anthony rolled his eyes.

"Can't deny the talent though," Leslie shook her head, somewhat intimidated by the singer before her.

In fairness, she was right. Syndey was incredibly talented – it's what bothered most of Vocal Adrenaline about her. They could deal with her if she was mean or rude but untalented. But she was incredibly talented – easily one of the best performers in the group, if not the absolute best. Which meant they couldn't get rid of her.

"I will grind you to sand
Beneath my Louboutin heel"

Sydney stood, and while she wasn't moving, she still demanded the audience pay attention to her just by her stage presence and incredible voice, that at the moment, was not even close to the full power it held.

"I wanna watch the world burn, I got the gasoline," she began slow, bringing her voice down slightly, before continuing, "I wanna watch the world burn and everyone get mean"

"I wanna watch the world burn
I got the gasoline
I wanna watch the world burn
And everyone get mean"

She repeated, letting her voice travel up and down in octaves, though every pitch change was intentional and incredibly calculated. She had never made a mistake while singing and was not about to start now.

"Holy crap," Sawyer muttered at the sheer control Sydney had over her voice.

"She's good, right?" Kate raised her eyebrows.

"And you can quote this," Sydney paused dramatically before continuing, letting out an almost too powerful, "Oh, woah, oh, oh" She continued to hold the note as most of the group either looked at each other with mildly impressed and/or shocked faces, while the rest of the group was openly impressed, Steven, Sawyer, and Xavier all cheering.

"I wanna watch the world burn
I got the gasoline
I wanna watch the world burn
And everyone turn
Mean, mean, mean"

Sydney made her way around the stage, once again demanding attention as she made eye contact, her voice going up higher than they knew it could go and the note held longer than anything she could do the year previous.

"I wanna watch the world burn
I wanna make the world turn
So mean
I wanna watch the world burn"

She finished the song with an even stronger, more powerful note than she'd done beforehand, holding the note for several long moments until she literally could feel herself not able to do it anymore.

Most of the looks she saw in the audience were that of shock and even somewhat terror – which is exactly what she wanted.

"Thank you," She curtsied, walking backstage, and ignoring Dana who'd tried to congratulate her on a good performance and give her a high five, which she continued to ignore, walking directly back to her seat, not waiting for Dana to finish their audition first as everyone else auditioning beforehand did.

Moving out on to the stage, Dana grinned wildly at their friends, only seeing return waves from Kate, Sawyer, and Steven.

"Hi friends! I'm Dana Abrams! I'll be singing my favourite song!"

While the band exchanged looks with each other, they began playing the song, while Dana began rapidly moving around the stage waving their hips around as the music played.

Most of the students recognized the music but couldn't quite place it. It was Kendall who had first recognized it, immediately putting a hand over her mouth to laugh, uttering the words, "No freaking way,"

It wasn't until they'd heard Kendall's response, but as soon as they did both Xavier and Emery (who just moments ago had sat back down directly next to him), looked at each other with mouths open, clearly excited for the song.

Like a domino effect, Kate, Jude, Chloe and Anthony all realized what it was at once.

Almost a minute had passed, and it was still just music playing, causing both Harmony and Unique to look at each other with a confused expression. For the first time since they started coaching together, they both shared a thought. The thought may have been "what the hell?", but it was a shared thought, nonetheless.

But up onstage, Dana who'd changed from hip shimmies to doing the Bernie, paused mid movement to speak in a deep almost growly voice "Tequila," In tune with the music.

Sydney and Leslie both had their jaws dropped as they could not believe this was Dana's audition and Sawyer and Steven began simply dancing along to the music. On stage, Dana had switched from the Bernie to doing the can opener, pausing mid move again, repeating the same word, "Tequila,"

As the song continued Dana got onto the ground and began doing the worm for the remainder of the song until the last few notes, when he, along with Kate, Sawyer, Steven, Kendall, Emery, Xavier, Jude and even Chloe all shouted, "Tequila!"

"Thank you very much, Dana," Unique spoke after a few moments of being in pure shock, as was Harmony who then stood up and told all of the kids to just take the rest of the afternoon off because there was nothing left that she had wanted or needed to see.

Just as the kids were gathering their stuff and getting ready to leave, they paused, looking to the boy who had just appeared from the entrance.

"Are, uh, are auditions still happening?" He stood somewhat awkwardly at the top of the stairs. He was just about average height with a slim build, pale skin, curly red hair cut relatively short, bright green eyes, and freckles scattered around his nose and cheekbones.

"No, and this is a closed rehearsal." Harmony responded, barely paying him any mind.

"If your student can do…whatever that just was," Unique spoke, referring to Dana's riveting performance of Tequila, "We can see one more audition."

"Thirteen is an unlucky number," Harmony spoke, while the students in the glee club exchanged looks and the boy who was still waiting to see what would happen watched curiously.

"Thirteen is a baker's dozen. If one of our kids gets sick, we still have twelve. We've also already had an absence from the first real meeting of this year," Unique shot a look at Jude.

"Fine," Harmony gave in, turning to face the boy once more, "Come down here, then. What's your name?"

"Isaac." He responded nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders as he made his way towards the stage, "Sterling, if you need the last name."

"Well, Isaac Sterling, why don't you get on that stage and show us what you've got?" Unique encouraged him.

Following directions, he made his way up the stairs. For a moment he thought about just turning around and leaving. But his dads had told him he needed to get more involved in after school activities, and his brother, Mack, was at the head of his glee club. So he figured the least he could do was be a part of the glee club at his school.

"What grade are you in and what song will you be performing?" Harmony questioned impatiently from the moment he stepped on stage.

"Uh, grade 10. I'm going to sing a song called Left the Light on?" He paused momentarily, "Can I use that?" He pointed to the piano on the side of the stage.

"Go ahead," Unique smiled, hoping he'd be at least somewhat decent.

Beginning playing a few chords on the piano for the intro of a song that was normally played on acoustic guitar, he impressed himself with the ease in which he got into it.

"Where do I begin? What do I say, what do I say?" He began, his voice was pretty though not quite as strong as some of the others, but most of the audience tended to ignore that as he was great on the piano and was able to carry a tune, "Every time I give you something I wither away, wither away,"

He continued to sing, Sawyer and Kate exchanging looks of approval, while Sydney sat with her arms crossed, but tapped her foot along.

"You can find me by the meadow picking my grave, picking my grave
There's a nice spot by the willow, maybe I'll stay, maybe I'll stay"

Jude had cracked a small smile as he recognized the song, while Dana, Steven, Xavier and Emery all swayed along to the music.

"I left the light on in my room.
I left my jacket on the hook above your shoes.
I left my ribcage on the bed
Next to a couple empty packs of cigarettes,"

"He's got a real pretty voice," Leslie noted.

"It's alright," Anthony shrugged.

"I know you'll never be the same," He began closing out his audition, going up just a little bit higher in pitch, though it sounded just as good as before, "since the moment you found out I went away."

"Isaac Sterling," Unique stood up without talking with her co-director, "Welcome to Vocal Adrenaline."

THURSDAY EVENING

Tina and Mike had just finished up cooking and were setting up the table for the weekly dinner they had with their kids. They'd just called them down, and in succession came Teddy and Cay. While both kids were a part of several extracurriculars, both parents had jobs that kept them busy, especially throughout the week. So at least once a week, when they knew everyone would be home, they'd sit down and get caught up. Especially now they all had one big, important thing in common.

"Glee was today, right?" Tina asked her kids sitting down with them after handing out the plates, "How was it? Have you gotten any more kids to join the Warblers, Teddy?"

"Yeah, actually," Teddy nodded after taking a sip of water, "We got a few on Tuesday, and then this afternoon, Oliver Puckerman was the one who joined and rounded us off to twelve."

"Oh, like Leah Puckerman? She's the girl you have your study group with, right?" Mike asked before taking a bite of the food in front of him.

"Jake and Marley's daughter," Tina nodded, adding to Mike's point.

"Yeah, he's the oldest. His brother Sutton is in our group too." Teddy explained.

"Oh!" Cay spoke out loud, "That's why Nikki joined today. Leah was already in the Troubletones with me, but her sister joined today too. Same grade as me." She spoke up before taking a sip of water.

"That's so nice!" Tina cooed, "I'm sure you two will get along nicely."

"I doubt it," Cay admitted, "She's only in glee because she has some sort of vendetta against Sutton."

"Going to be hard to take down the Warblers when you've only got eight girls," Teddy teased, smiling slightly.

"That's big words for someone who has to answer to Tommy Abrams," Cay snarked back in good spirit.

Meanwhile, over at the Nixon's, Trent was similarly putting dinner in front of his kids, the difference being they were sitting at the counter, and were far less polite with each other.

"I'm gonna kick your ass at sectionals," Zach taunted his brother.

"Can we not do this while I'm trying to eat?" Oscar groaned. While at first he was glad Zach had joined glee at his new school, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take a full year of this.

"Oh, come on, it's just a little friendly competition," Trent smiled from the other side of the counter, "Besides the sectionals list doesn't come out for at least a few more weeks,"

"Easy for you to say now that you're coaching him," Oscar smirked.

"Well, all the blogs say you guys are the team to beat. You're also the only person in this room who has a national win." Trent spoke kindly, as he was always trying to make sure that neither of his kids ever felt left out.

"He's got a point, Os," Zach agreed, "But that all ends this year. Warblers' supremacy!"

"Zach two days ago you said glee was lame," Oscar couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"That's before they saw my sweet rapping skills. Now you're going down," Zach smiled, doing his best to get a rise out of his brother.

"Now we know you're going to rap, way to give all your secrets away," Oscar laughed, bringing his plate over to the sink where he washed it off before placing it in the dishwasher, "Bryce says hi by the way. I think he's probably lonely without you."

"Aw, man. I miss the old lug. Do you think I could convince him to come to Dalton?" Zach mused.

"No!" Both Trent and Oscar spoke out in fear before Oscar turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Zach questioned.

"Mr. Schue's got us doing a group number tomorrow. I gotta make sure I know all the queues." He explained with a shrug before going up to his room.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

The New Directions kids were gathered in the Finn Hudson memorial auditorium, waiting for Mr. Schue to give them their queue to go on.

"Now, remember, this is just to see how we work as a group, but I think you guys are going to sound and look great here!"

While the band started playing the song, the New Directions started coming in, split in two and walking onto the stage from both sides. Starting the song, Oscar and Felix made their way to the front of the stage, each ready to perform their parts.

"Counting all different ideas drifting away
Past and present they don't matter
Now the future's sorted out"

Oscar sang out, his voice was soft and almost feminine, but powerful and suited the song. As the rest of the New Directions continued to slowly make their way out on stage, Felix took his stand out lines.

"Watch her moving in elliptical patterns
Think it's not what you say
What you say is way too complicated"

His edgier voice was different to Oscar's but as they took the next line together, their voices complimented each other well.

"For a minute thought I couldn't tell how to fall out" The two boys high-fived, moving back to where the rest of their team were dancing, allowing Hazel and Kyla to come out and take the next part.

"It's twenty seconds 'til the last call
Going hey hey hey hey hey hey"

Hazel rang out, her voice sounding pretty and smooth as Kyla harmonized, the two sliding towards each other, changing spots as Kyla took the main melody, Hazel now harmonizing.

"Lie down you know it's easy
Like we did it over summer long"

Kyla had a powerful voice and sounded beautifully as her voice meshed with Hazel's harmonies. Both girls stepping to the side, Delia and Simon took their places, circling around each other, Delia started on lead, her voice strong and theatrical, as Simon harmonized with her.

"And I'll be anything you ask and more
Going hey hey hey hey hey hey hey"

Pausing to look at the empty audience, Simon took over the lead, Delia stepping back and now harmonizing with Simon, the two sounding surprisingly good with each other.

"It's not a miracle we needed
And no I wouldn't let you think so"

As they moved back, falling in time with the other New Directions, Rowan and Flora stepping up, Rowan taking the first part of the refrain

"Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold it," stepping aside just slightly, to let Flora have her moment to sing as she sang out.

"Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold it," She sang out beautifully, the two running off to the same side, just in time for Sophie and Finley to step out together.

"Girlfriend, oh your girlfriend is drifting away
Past and present 1855-1901"

Sophie sang, her voice following the melody with ease, as she danced around the stage, and also around Finley, just as he began to sing out his part.

"Watch them built up a material tower
Think it's not gonna stay anyway
I think it's overrated"

Finley sang, his somewhat deeper voice complimenting the song nicely.

"For a minute thought I couldn't tell how to fall out," They sang together, harmonizing, and much like the pairs before them, surprisingly sounded great together.

"It's twenty seconds 'til the last call
Going hey hey hey hey hey hey"

Savannah ran out to the front of stage, singing seemingly to Rey as she harmonized before Rey took the lead, and Savannah matched her harmonies.

"Lie down you know it's easy
Like we did it over summer long"

They sang out, Rey's pretty, gentle voice, working well with Savannah's more powerful vocals.

"And I'll be anything you ask and more
Going hey hey hey hey hey hey hey"

Naomi sang out confidently walking out to the front, arms linked with Lex, who harmonized with her, both of them incredibly comfortable as they'd been friends since before they could remember, doing a small spin as Naomi started harmonizing and Lex took the main melody.

"It's not a miracle we needed
And no I wouldn't let you think so"

They smiled running back to the rest of their friends, everyone staying with their pairs.

Oscar and Felix were doing a sort of swaying movement, while next to them, Hazel and Kyla were hip bumping, followed by Delia and Simon who were doing the twist, Rowan and Flora jumping up and down, Sophie and Finley shimmied in sync, Savannah and Rey each had a hand on the others shoulders still singing to each other, and Naomi and Lex had managed to come up with full choreography, both following it to a t.

The whole group looked at each other, smiling, as all 14 members finished the song out together.

"Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold it
Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold it
Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold it
Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold it"

A/N: If you got this far, thank you! As promised, below you can find the list of songs, and as always please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other songs you'd like to use! I also have every lesson from now until sectionals planned out, so if you ever want to know what the next lesson will be to come up with a song or two for options for your character, please, by all means, just ask! Thanks again for reading guys!

Confident - Demi Lovato
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson
Airplanes - B.o.B and Hayley Williams
How Far I'll Go - from Moana
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
Love Can Wait - Cameron Mitchell
Monsters - All Time Low
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee
Nothing's Wrong With Me - from Pixel Perfect
Hand In My Pocket - Alanis Morissette
Who You Are - Jessie J
Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus
World Burn - from Mean Girls the Musical
Tequila - the Champs
Left the Light On - saywecanfly
1901 - Pheonix