AN: So this is sort of a longer prologue, and very few characters appear in it. If your character is not in this chapter, don't worry, that does not mean they're not accepted. I actually need more submissions, so please, if you have an idea for an OC, send them in! You can submit multiple characters! To see look-alikes and more info head to the tumblr .com

I hope you enjoy this little prologue.

McKinley High school was a place of great mediocracy. The teachers were mediocre. The test scores were mediocre. The food in the cafeteria was mediocre, if you were lucky. Nothing really stood out at McKinley, except maybe the cheerios, but even they had faltered in renown over the last few years. When Everett Elliott had begun his teaching career here four years prior he had hoped to change that. He wanted to give the students of McKinley high something special, something extraordinary. Unfortunately the only extraordinary thing he had brought to McKinley was his abs, and they were strictly off-limits to students.

His days at McKinley consisted of two things; teaching half-asleep students Mrs. Carlton's history lessons and teaching half-starved cheerios his sister's cheering routines. He didn't mind Mrs. Carlton calling him up at 4 pm every Thursday to make sure he was following her curriculum exactly while he subbed for her during her pregnancy, or his sister yelling at him and the cheerleaders with equal ferocity when they tried new moves. Everett had always been used to his parents or siblings telling him what to do and he found that the role of obedient subordinate suited him. Still he remembered how he had wanted to bring the kids some joy. Somehow he didn't think teaching them about everyone who died in all the wars, or showing them how to do a backflip without breaking anything, was bringing them any.

Maybe it was because of all his nights eating takeout food of various origin while binging Queer eye, but he felt like he was missing something. Just parroting Mrs. Carlton or his sister's instructions wasn't bringing him joy in the way some good guacamole or a french tuck seemed to bring the men on the show.

The night before school started up again after summer, Everett sat on his couch eating orange chicken and watching two women decide what dresses to wear to their weddings, Being the only person in the world who still had cable, he figured he didn't have anything better to do than skim through the channels, looking for something more watchable. Skimming through everything from Fixer-upper to the millionth season of the Simpsons he suddenly saw something that stopped him in his tracks. It was a video of a small group of people, 12 to be exact. They were standing on stage in golden dresses, a small brunette leading them in a medley of Journey songs.

"I'm still yours!" The petite girl belted out at the top of her lungs while the other teens "ooh"-ed in the background. Everett felt some of their faces looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place them. What he did recognise was the sheer joy on their faces.

"Now, show choirs or Glee clubs were all the rage in the 80's and 90's, then had a slight revival a few years back, but have now been in recline," said a man's voice that Everett could almost name. He felt his heartbeat pick up, but he didn't really know why. "I have seen the joy that these clubs can bring firsthand and it is a shame that more schools don't see the value of music in teenagers' lives."

As the screen shifted to reveal a man with greying curls and a sweatervest Everett's mind finally caught up and he found himself smiling widely. He hadn't seen that man since high school.

"I can't ask anyone to start a glee club," Will Schuester continued, looking directly at the camera. "But I can encourage anyone who is thinking about it to do so. It is, without a doubt, the most wonderful thing to see the kids discover who they are and what they can be through music."

"Thank you, Will," another familiar voice said as the camera zoomed out to reveal a woman in a red tracksuit sitting next to him. "Like old spongehair squarechin said he can't ask you to do anything, but it would certainly be better for all you fatties to get off your butts and do something productive. And that's how Sue sees it."

Suddenly Everett knew what he was going to use his creative energy on.

When Everett P. Elliott was 6 years old, he fell in love with music.

Sitting sandwiched between his apathetic older brother and his overly-aggressive father, Everett was in no way paying attention to his sister's gymnastics competition. As the girls warmed-up Everett could barely keep his eyes open. He kept yawning and dozing off, not even when some of the better gymnasts began doing their tricks did he pay any attention. It wasn't until the first competitor entered the arena and the entire crowd went silent in anticipation, that something piqued Everett's interest.

Just a small town girl

Livin' in a lonely world

She took the midnight train goin' anywhere

Just a city boy

Born and raised in south Detroit

He took the midnight train goin' anywhere

As the preteen girl jumped around doing splits and somersaults, young Everett could only focus on the beats blasting from the speakers. As his father, brother and mother acted like they were at a football game, in class or at a derby respectively, the youngest Elliott was lost in the music.

A singer in a smoky room

A smell of wine and cheap perfume

For a smile they can share the night

It goes on and on, and on, and on

It was like he had never heard music before. It all sounded brand new.

Strangers waiting

Up and down the boulevard

Their shadows searching in the night

Streetlights, people

Living just to find emotion

Hiding somewhere in the night

When the girl finished her set with a split and a bright smile, Everett didn't even notice, he was too in awe of the music. It wasn't before his dad elbowed him in arm that he realised he should applaud.

Don't stop believin'

Hold on to the feelin'

Streetlights, people

The rest of the day Everett's whole body was abuzz and he wouldn't stop nagging his parents until his mom bought him a Journey CD.

Resisting the urge to punch his fist in the air in the iconic Bender-pose, Everett triumphantly walked out of the his sister's office. Convincing the principal to let him start up the glee club had been surprisingly easy. Apparently the principal had been a part of McKinley's Glee club back in their high school days. Convincing his sister Lorelei that the glee club wouldn't distract him from his duties as co-coach of the Cheerios, had been a harder battle. It was only after granting her first choice of dinner and movie for their weekly dinners until Christmas that she gave him her blessing.

"Then we went for gelato in the Piazza San Marco," a latina cheerio told the blonde leaning against the wall next to her as Everett closed the door behind him. "Then we made out in one of the gondolas."

"How very Call me by your name, Celia" the blonde smirked. "Must have been just peachy."

"Hey, girls," Everett greeted his two students. "Have a good summer?"

"Hi, Coach Elliott," the girls replied in almost creepy unison. Lorelei was very strict about the girls ending every sentence to her and Everett with "coach". Mostly cheerleaders only called Everett coach during practice or whenever Lorelei was within earshot.

"I'm certainly ready to start my year as captain," the blonde said, standing tall and giving her head a slight shake to send her ponytail bouncing. He suddenly remembered her name was Emilia and that she'd been vying for the position for years and Lorelei had finally given it to her for her senior year. "I'm sure that's what Coach Elliott wants to talk to us about now. Don't you think?"

If Everett hadn't gotten so used to working with teenage girls by now he would have been very uncomfortable with the way the cheerio looked up at him through her lashes. Fortunately he was accustomed to it by now and knew it was just the way teen girls knew how to get their way.

"I can't say for sure, you know Lorelei's the brain and I'm just the brawn," Everett smiled and tried to ignore the disappointed look in the cheerio's brown eyes. "But she does like to give, eh, pep talks to the new captain each year."

Everett still tried to block out the pep talk he got from his sister before the beginning of each new school year. It was always some variation of him needing to do better and the cheerios needing to be less whiny.

"But girls, before I forget," Everett quickly fumbled through his bag looking for one of the sign-up sheets he had spent all night making, and handed it to the dark-haired one. "Could you hang this in the girls' locker room for me?"

"Will do, coach," Celia smiled sweetly as she and Emilia headed into Lorelei's office. As he headed towards the bulletin board to hang a couple of sign-up sheets, he made a note to remember to ask students to audition and not just hang up sheets next time.

"Ah, Betty and Veronica, sit," coach Lorelei Elliott called in the two girls. At this point Emilia had kind of accepted that she would never hear the coach actually say her name. But from what Emmy had heard about the previously cheerleading coach, a certain Sue Sylvester, coach Elliott's names were harmless in comparison. "I've brought you here because I have a job for you."

Next to Emilia Arcelia sat up a little straighter, and Emilia knew without looking at her friend that she too was putting on her best neutral face. Over the years coach Elliott had asked them for some weird favours and they were doing their best to prepare for a strange request. Every time coach Elliott brought them into her bright office where every surface was either gilded or marbled,the best they could hope for was to be yelled at for not performing well enough or to be told to go get a varied assortment of objects for performances.

The barely older woman slid a red folder over to the two other girls and glancing at the dark-haired girl next to her Emilia saw that Celia was as worried about the contents of the folder as she was. What would you put in a folder like that except crime scene photos?

"Open the folder," the coach told them, her blue eyes glittering with something Emmy couldn't quite place. Whatever it was it was not a look anyone should have before making someone look at photos of murder victims. Always the quicker to react, Celia had already opened the folder when Emilia looked down again. Glancing down Emilia was relieved to find a picture of a girl, a very pretty Indian girl in a leotard with a serious, but mild expression on her face. Her long dark hair was tied back in a braid and she had her hands on her hips like she was some sort of superhero. In combination with her red leotard there were definitely some strong Wonder Woman vibes going on.

"Who is this, coach Elliott?" Emilia asked, when she looked up and saw the expectant look in the coach's eyes. As soon as she asked the coach's smile faltered and she looked endlessly disappointed.

"That, is your job," the brunette replied, returning to business. "I need you to recruit her for the cheerios."

"Why?"

"You let me worry about why," the coach's icy blue eyes flashed at Celia, who looked back down at the folder. "Her name is Kalyani Khan, she is meeting the principal right now and I want her on the cheerios, that's all you need to know."

Emilia nodded and awaited further instructions.

"What are you waiting for, clueless, go!" Lorelei rolled her eyes at Emilia who practically jumped out of her seat. Shooting a snickering Celia a dirty look, the blonde pushed past her co-cheerio who was halfway out of her own seat.

"Not you, Selena. You stay for a second," the coach called, but Emmy didn't hear what it was about, she was already halfway out the door on her way to the principal's office.

"The Muckraker, huh?" Everett remarked as a tiny girl with chestnut-colored hair strode up next to him to pin her own sign-up sheet next to Everett's on the board. He would've sworn she was a freshman from her short stature, but she was probably at least a sophomore if she was involved in the school newspaper. "When I was in school they used to only print gossip, just lies, all of it, but you guys are changing that, aren't you? I read a couple of your articles last year, the one about, eh, racism on the cheerios?"

"Oh, The cheerio myth: Beauty and diversity in high school," the girl smiled with her lips closed. "Thank you, that was my best work last year."

"Wait, you actually wrote that! Wow," Everett flashed her a bright smile. "It really made me think about who we accept into the cheerios."

Everett could tell he was embarrassing her by the pink-hue her tawny cheeks had taken on. He was about to walk away when an idea hit him.

"Would you be interested in writing an article about the glee club?" Everett asked, a goofy grin spreading across his face. He had always had one of those faces that don't hide a single emotion, something Lorelei constantly teased him about. "I'm just starting it up again and we could really use a little bit of publicity."

"All right," the girl smiled again, that small close-lipped smile. Everett's smile was the exact opposite, toothy and goofy.

"Great! I'm Everett Elliott, by the way," Everett held out his hand to the girl. Standing at over six feet tall he towered over the petite student and noticed how tiny her hand was when she shook his hand.

"I know," she said. "I'm Hazel, I'm in your history class this semester."

Still grinning his unbearably goofy grin Everett told Hazel when and where to meet for the audition and headed towards the boys' locker room to hang more sign-up sheets, still feeling the need for a good air-punch.

As Emilia sat outside the principal's office with a blonde guy in a red flannel, she planned how she would win over the new girl. From the girl's expression, and if she was honest, her ethnicity, Emilia figured that the sweet and welcoming act would do. If there was one thing she knew about new girls the one thing the girl would want was to feel like she belonged, and where better to belong than among the most popular girls in school? Smoothing down her golden hair and pulling her top down a little Emmy prepared her sweetest smile and most welcoming attitude.

The girl that came out of the principal's office a few minutes later was in no way what Emilia had expected. First of all her long braid was gone, cut into a choppy bob. Gone was the glistening red leotard, replaced by a leather jacket and strappy top that might just be a bralette. That mild, but serious expression was also missing, instead the girl sported a moody, borderline agitated expression. For a split second Emilia was too surprised to move.

"Hi, you're Kalyani Khan, right? New girl?" Emilia quickly slid up next to Kalyani as the brown girl was passing her. The blank expression she was met with would've scared off the more easily intimidated, but Emilia knew how to stand her ground, and pushed on with her most winning smile. "I'm Emilia Delaney, welcome to McKinley!"

"You done?" The new girl hardly even said the words before she kept walking. Emmy took a deep breath before following her target. She was not used to being overlooked, especially not by non-cheerios.

"I was sent by coach Elliott to invite you to audition for the cheerios,-"

"Yeah, I'm not interested," Kalyani said, not even looking at Emilia. Emilia was pretty sure this was the first time in McKinley-history anyone had turned down a spot on the cheerios. She did not want to think about what coach Elliott would say if she failed.

"Look, new girl," Emilia said as she grabbed the other girl's arm and pulled her over to side of the hallway. She enjoyed the surprise that flashed in the other girl's eyes. "Coach wants you, I don't know why, but if you know what's best for you, you'll be at the audition and then we'll see if you're worth your spot."

"Don't touch me," Kalyani said through gritted teeth, wrenching her arm free from Emilia's grip. Kalyani was surprisingly strong, Emilia had not seen it coming. "And I don't want to be part of the honey nuts, or whatever your name is. Okay?"

Emilia met the other girl's steely gaze with a cold look of her own. If the new girl thought she could just arrive at McKinley and ignore the social hierarchy without consequences, she had another thing coming. She noticed to her great satisfaction that she was about an inch taller than the new girl, and made sure to stand as tall as she could to fully enjoy that small victory. Kalyani was clearly also a master of eye contact, and neither girl looked away or blinked for painstakingly tense seconds. When Kalyani raised one eyebrow though, Emilia had to seriously hold back her eyeroll.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have class," Kalyani said at last, tearing her eyes away from Emilia's and turning on her heel to head down the hall. Emilia had to take a deep breath to calm herself and not go running after the other girl. Cracking her neck, adjusting her ponytail and pulling down her top once more, Emilia was about ready to keep going when a sly voice came from her side.

"I think you might want to rethink your strategy, Em," Celia said as she leaned back against the locker next to where Emilia was standing. Emilia rolled her eyes at the shorter girl.

"Just a minor setback," she mumbled, crossing her arms and glaring at the corner Kalyani had just turned.

"Minor? There was major tension from what I saw," Celia quipped. "But to be honest I didn't know if you wanted to punch her or kiss her, so-"

"Shut up, Celia," Emilia shot the other cheerleader a dirty look, but a smirk quirked up the corners of her mouth as she found her new strategy. "Spread the word, it's open season on the new girl. She'll come begging to be on the cheerios within the week."