AN: So this is the second half of the first chapter. There will be a third part. I hope you like it!
Check out the tumblr (anewdirection-ff) to find the look-alikes! And while you're there why don't you shoot me a question?
Enjoy!
There were many things Kalyani Khan knew how to do. She could do an Arabian double front, walk on her hands, and eat an entire jar of nutella in one sitting. She could recite the opening of Avatar (the Nickelodeon show, not the movie), do all the dances from the first high school musical movie, and she could think of a 35 ways of sneaking a ferret into class. What she could not do was open her locker. She'd been standing in front of her locker trying everything to get it to open. She'd tried pulling gently, pushing, yanking, taking the lock off, sweet-talking, telekinesis, nothing worked. The lock opened easily, it was the door that wouldn't move, no matter what she did.
"You gotta hit it," a deep voice chimed in beside her, making her jump. She'd been too absorbed by her locker-problem to notice the absurdly tall boy standing next to her, fumbling with the combination on the locker next to hers. At 5'6" she usually didn't feel short, but this guy had to be well over 6 feet tall. She must have looked at him quizzically because he elaborated the explanation. "If you hit it in the middle it'll open."
Unsurely Kalyani raised her fist and gave the door a timid knock. Nothing happened.
"You need to hit it a little harder than that, here let me-"
"No, I've got it," Kalyani said, waving his hand away. She'd be damned if she needed some tall man to help her open her locker every day. Kallie hit the door of her locker again and to her surprise it sprang open. She turned and gave the tall guy a "not bad"-face before it burst into a smile. "Thank you, I probably would've stood here a long time trying to figure out how that worked."
"I had that locker freshman year," he said, still fumbling with his lock. "I spent probably twenty minutes trying to get it open. Eventually I was so frustrated I banged my head against it."
"Ouch."
"Yeah," the boy grimaced. "That did the trick though. Then I learned to use my hand and I got to change lockers the next semester, so now I'm here to pass my wisdom unto you."
"You're just the yoda of lockers," Kalyani said, stuffing her books into the small locker. The boy laughed, a surprisingly high-pitched sound compared to his speaking-voice. He had finally managed to open his own locker, and was bending slightly to lean into the small space. "I'm Kalyani, by the way."
"Tobias," the boy poked his head back out of his locker and smiled at her. He was very cute when he smiled. Kalyani was about to ask him something about how the cafeteria system worked at McKinley when something cold and blue hit her in the face. It took her about ten seconds to realise what had happened. Someone wearing a red letterman jacket had thrown something from a cup in her face. She had only seen a blue blur flying at her face before her eyes closed on instinct, but the taste on her lips told her slushie, blueberry slushie.
Dizzy with shock and humiliation Kalyani blindly tried to make her way to the nearest bathroom while the cruel sound of laughter followed her.
By lunch every jock and cheerio at McKinley had heard the plan; make Kalyani Khan's life at McKinley miserable. No one really knew why, but as long as no one they knew or cared about was the victim, no one really cared.
After the slushie incident Kalyani had made her way back to her locker, her clothes still sticky with the slushie she couldn't get out all the way. She debated making her way to the lost and found and trying to find something clean to wear, but quickly realised that most things in the lost and found probably weren't clean. Mentally noting that she would need to bring a change of clothes next time, she opened her locker to find a post-it note attached to some white fabric. Ripping the note from the cotton she skimmed the short text written in a messy hand. Someone had left their spare shirt in her locker after she ran off and had even left instructions on how to get slushie stains out of clothes. Kalyani silently blessed whoever had left the note and the shirt, and headed back to the girls' bathroom to change into the grossly over-sized, but beautifully clean shirt.
Then during lunch Kalyani's tray was knocked over a total of three times meaning she had to go back in line each time to try to get more food. Meaning the lunch ladies already disliked her. In addition everyone cut in line ahead of her and ignored her when she tried to give them a piece of her mind. When she finally managed to get to a seat with her food safely, she found herself seated with a group of goth kids who read each other bad poetry.
"This day cannot get any worse," Kalyani mumbled to herself as she picked at her food. Somehow the salad managed to look a week old even though it was the first day of school. She dearly regretted losing the pasta she had managed to get a hold of on her first tray.
Trying to drown out the awful poetry being recited by a pasty white boy all in black, Kalyani looked around the cafeteria. She could easily tell the different cliques apart. The annoying blonde from earlier held court at one of the tables by the windows, a crowd of adoring freshman and cheerios surrounding her. It looked like the coming-of-age chick-flick version of Da Vinci's The Last Supper. Even from her spot in the back of the cafeteria Kalyani could hear their giggling, it was almost as annoying as the poetry that was still being dramatically read next to her.
"And he had this tattoo on his arm, of a sparrow," Celia confided in the other girls at the table, all lost in envy of her Italian adventure. The younger girls, the sophomores sitting with them and the freshmen crowding around to listen, were especially in awe of Celia's great summer romance. "He was so sweet, a true principe azzuro."
The younger girls were sighing longingly, dreaming of their own principe azzuro, or principessa affascinante, no judgement. Regardless of sexual orientation they were all lost in their fantasies or jealousies, except Emilia, the head cheerleader was distracted by her phone.
"Anything exciting happening, Em?" Celia asked, a little bitter that her friend wasn't more invested in her love life. "Kim K post a new meme? I mean, selfie?"
"No, just scheduling some tutoring," Emilia looked up from her phone with a gentle smile. "Besides you've already told me all about your hot summer."
At the table next to the cheerleaders' were the jocks, a group primarily composed of beefy guys in letterman jackets. Kalyani was surprised to find the tall guy she'd talked to earlier sitting with them, laughing at something a smaller blond guy had said.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" An African-American girl in a very expensive-looking polka-dotted skirt. She had a very pleasant face, heart-shaped with prominent cheekbones. Before Kalyani said anything the girl had squeezed in at the end of the bench opposite Kalyani. In her bright yellow crop top she looked extremely out of place next to the goth kids in all black. "I'm Brielle."
"Kalyani," she answered, a little confused as to why this girl was talking to her.
"Oh, that's beautiful!" Brielle smiled, and dug into her plate of fish sticks. "Do you want one? They're so good!"
"Oh, I can't, I'm vegetarian," Kalyani smiled. "So I'm stuck with my salad, it's the only vegetarian option now that the pasta is gone."
Kalyani stabbed her fork into the salad and lifted it to her mouth as she spoke, but before she could take a bite a long arm leaned over her head and poured something red into her salad. Something sticky, red and smelling like strawberries.
"Welcome to McKinley, new kid," the guy who had poured the slushie smirked, giving Kalyani a wink before he moved on, a posse of other jocks at his heels. Kalyani was already on her feet ready to jump at him, but a strong hand around her wrist held her back. She could feel the anger flashing in her eyes as she glared at Brielle who still held unto her wrist.
"Don't, he's not worth it," Brielle hissed, but Kalyani saw her shooting daggers at the guy with her eyes. "Not when there are people around."
Feeling anger and despair fighting in the pit of her stomach, Kalyani sat down again. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria on her and struggled to keep her composure. No way was she giving them the satisfaction of seeing her crumble. Among the many snickering faces in the cafeteria Kalyani picked out one smug blonde cheerio and felt her humiliation-fuelled rage seething.
The rest of lunch Kalyani spent half-listening to Brielle talking about Mckinley and didn't realise until later that she had agreed to let the other girl show her around the school. While enjoying her single fork of salad, Kalyani was planning how to get back at Emilia and the cheerios.
"Did you sign up for glee club?" A strong arm slammed against the locker above Dakota's head. Dakota finished untying his shoelaces and pulled off his shoe before he looked up at the taller boy standing next to him. Dakota wasn't a particularly short guy, but next to a giant like Tobias Blake it was hard not to feel small. In addition to being well over six feet tall, Tobias had a habit of leaning over people he was talking to. It made him look even bigger and either made you feel safe and protected, or like you'd be squished like a bug depending on the look on Tobias' face. This time Dakota felt prepared to be squished.
"Yes, Bai, I did," Dakota answered, looking up at the other boy steadily.
"Why would you do that?" Bai asked, still leaning.
"Because I wanted to," Dakota stated, turning away from the dark-haired boy to pull his shirt over his head. Tobias was already changed into workout clothes for the tryouts, but Dakota's last class had lasted a little longer than expected so he was running a little late. They had been picked to help with the tryouts for the football team and while they weren't thrilled about it, they were happy they got to do it together.
"Do you also want to invade Russia this winter?" Bai asked. "What is wrong with you? Do you want everyone to laugh at you?"
"No," Dakota yanked his jersey on and turned to face Tobias. "I just thought it would be fun."
While Dakota did think of Tobias as a brother, that came with both pros and cons. The pros were obvious, Tobias was funny and protective and popular. The cons were Tobias constantly telling Dakota what not to do. The older boy rarely told him what to do, only ever what he should refrain from doing.
"Are you going to think its fun when you get a slushie in the face every day?" Tobias asked. "Because that's what's gonna happen if you join glee club."
"Not if I tell them I was forced to join," Dakota replied, a sly smile on his face. He had planned out exactly what to say if anyone asked. He might be a little reckless, but he wasn't stupid. "I'll say my parents made me join because arts will look good on my college application. Anyone who's met my parents know how much they care about college."
"Anyone who's met your parents knows they wouldn't ever think music was the way to college," Tobias shot back, cracking what Dakota had thought was a foolproof excuse. Maybe Tobias was right. His parents caring about college and glee being good for college were both valid facts, but now that Tobias had mentioned it, Dakota realised that there was no way his parents would see glee club as a way of getting into college. "Your parents are the most blue-collar people I've ever met."
Dakota crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the locker, a serious expression on his face. Even if he had to find some other excuse for why he was in the show choir he was going to that audition. He imagined himself as someone who stood up for what he believed in, the valiant underdog taking a slushie to the face every day for the sake of his art. It was a good concept.
"I'm joining the club, whether you like it or not," Dakota said, squaring his jaw and looking up at Tobias who gave in after a few seconds and raised both hands in surrender. Satisfied with his victory the blond leaned down to tie his football shoes. "How did you find out I was joining anyway?"
"The sign-up sheet," Tobias answered, sounding almost tired. "We were writing joke names on the lame sheets. You're lucky I did the Glee one, if Todd had found out we'd be looking to replace you on the team today. I covered for you, said I wrote your name to mess with you."
"Thank you," Dakota said, barely loud enough for Tobias to hear.
"Whatever," Tobias mumbled in reply and headed out towards the field for football tryouts. Dakota finished tying his shoes and hurried after just as the first new recruits shuffled into the locker room.
When Brielle made her way into the classroom usually reserved for tutoring for the extra tutoring session she had asked for with Emilia, she was glad to find it empty except for a certain blonde cheerio. Brielle really enjoyed tutoring, it made her feel like she was doing something to help other people and if she was honest it could be a nice ego-boost to see others struggling with concepts she had already mastered. She'd been doing it for a couple of semesters now and felt she had really found her footing. So whenever Emilia asked for extra tutoring sessions, Brielle was happy to oblige. That being said, whenever she found herself alone in one of the tutoring rooms with the cheerio, she was more than happy to spend a half-hour kissing her instead. Brielle did enjoy tutoring, but she enjoyed kissing more.
They were always careful, making sure to sit in the corner the furthest away from the door where they couldn't be seen. Locking the door of a classroom was too risky, but as long as they made sure to listen carefully for anyone trying to open the door, they felt safe enough. They always set up their textbooks and notebooks beforehand, so if anyone walked in on them they could throw themselves over the books and pretend to be studying. It wasn't a foolproof system, but it hadn't failed them so far.
"I think we should join the glee club," Brielle managed to sneak in between kisses. She was sitting on one of the chairs, leaning over to kiss Emilia who sat sideways on her chair, leaning against the wall. Brielle had meant to ask Emilia about glee club when she first came in, but Emilia was wearing her cheerios uniform again. Brielle hadn't realised how much she had missed seeing Emilia in that uniform. She felt like such a cliché teenage boy, but if that was the price of dating the head cheerleader, she'd take it.
"Glee club?" Emilia pulled her head back to look Brielle in the eye, breaking their kiss. Brielle pulled away a little, and noticed she was breathing a little heavily. She also noticed her lipgloss had smeared around Emilia's mouth. "Are you insane?"
"It would be fun," Brielle tried to convince the other girl. Emilia did not look convinced. Brielle couldn't help the sting of disappointment she felt. It wasn't surprising that Emilia would feel reluctant to join the glee club, show choirs didn't exactly have a cool reputation. Brielle leaned back into her and kissed her on the cheek before whispering seductively in her ear. "It would look great on your college application."
Emilia laughed and pushed the other girl off, but Brielle saw the flash of interest in her eyes.
"And we could spend more time together," Brielle added, giving Emilia a flash of her puppy dog eyes. Those eyes had yet to fail and from the intensity on the other girl's face that they were about to score again. "It'd be nice to be seen with you in public."
Brielle knew that was going too far. She saw shame written plainly on the pale girl's face and immediately regretted her words. It was true that she wanted nothing more than to be able to walk down the halls of McKinley holding Emilia's hand, or giving her a peck on the cheek when she saw her in the morning. She also understood that that wasn't an option just yet.
"I'm sorry," Brielle said, taking Emilia's hand in hers and kissing her knuckles. Emilia gave a small nod and even smaller smile. "Just think about it, okay?"
"Okay," Emilia turned around in her chair to face her homework. Somehow it was the first day and she already felt like she was about to fall behind. Looking at her textbook she didn't see Brielle's face fall a little more.
"There's actually one more thing," Brielle started carefully. "That new girl, Kalyani, why did Todd Cameron slushie her salad? What did she do to invoke the wrath of the entire football team? And your cheerios?"
"Coach Elliott wants her on the team," Emilia shrugged. Brielle didn't need to ask which Coach Elliott had wanted the new girl. "We're going good cop, bad cop."
"Slushying her salad is good cop? I thought Celia usually did the bad cop," Brielle didn't really approve of her girlfriend's schemes, but she knew what battles to pick and that was not the one on the agenda.
"Well, due to some misunderstanding, I'm doing bad cop," Emilia stated matter-of-factly, but she turned back towards Brielle and took her hands in hers. "Look, babe, I know you don't approve, but it's all so I can keep my spot as head cheerleader. As soon as the new girl joins the cheerios I'm calling it off."
"Promise?"
"Promise," looking over her shoulder at the door, Emilia leaned in to gently kiss Brielle on the lips.
Everett couldn't say he was surprised to find so few students waiting in the auditorium when he headed in that Thursday afternoon. Three girls huddled awkwardly by the stage, they'd clearly been there for a while and they clearly didn't know one another. He called out to them and was met with three relieved smiles. He only recognised the girl from the Muckraker he'd convinced to write the article for the club, the other two, a blonde and a brunette, he was sure were new. At least he hoped they were new, if not he might need to reevaluate his dedication to his students.
"Hi, I'm so glad you girls could make it!" Everett didn't feel like his enthusiasm was met by the three awkwardly smiling teens, but at least they were smiling and not sleeping. That was an improvement from his history class that morning. "Harper and I are just going to set up a table on the stage and then we'll begin. Okay?"
Everett fought to keep the energy and enthusiasm up, but when two nervous teenagers were getting ready to sing in front of strangers he probably couldn't expect them too be to zealous. Even without the help of the journalist Everett had the table up in about a minute and got the audition list out. He had collected all the sign-up sheets around the school and had transcribed the names he figured were legit unto another sheet of paper. There were a few more names on his list than there were students in the room, but he figured some of the names, like Herbie Hind, Getta Room and Seymour Butz, were made-up after all.
"So, who would like to go first?" Everett smiled, still desperately trying to keep the energy up though it was still falling flat. Looking between the short brunette who bit her lip and looked away, and the tall, smiling blonde. After a few painful moments the blonde stepped forward and volunteered. The brunette immediately headed down into the audience and grabbed a seat. Everett was about to tell her to sit closer, but let it go.
"Hello, my name is Stella Barrington," the girl said, surprising Everett with an English accent. He hadn't caught it when she volunteered, but Everett had realised long ago that he wasn't the most observant. Considering how many of his students he struggled to name he was surprised none of them had really called him out on it yet. "I'll be singing Me & the rhythm by Selena Gomez."
"Whenever you're ready," Everett smiled reassuringly as Stella found her backing track on her phone. Everett was surprised at how good the sound on her phone was when a steady guitar beat blasted out from it. He didn't really notice that he began bobbing his head along with the beat.
Oh, the rhythm takes you over
Takes you to a different place
A different space
Oh, the smoke is getting closer
I can feel our young blood race
Through cityscapes
Stella's voice was very soft and she sounded a little unsure, but she definitely had talent. She stood a little stiffly with her eyes closed, but as she sang Everett saw her foot begin tapping. While he did notice her moving, he didn't notice that his own head bobbing had moved and he was shaking his shoulder in time with music until he heard Hazel snicker from behind her notebook.
And everybody wants to be touched
Everybody wants to get some
But don't you play a song about love
When I move my body
I don't have to talk about none
Let the camera go do its stuff
Till the energy's too much
Hazel's snicker had caused Stella to look up and see Everett's dancing, making her laugh too. She kept singing though and she really loosened up. When she let go her voice became stronger, though it quivered a little. The joy Everett saw spreading over her face was exactly what he had been looking for when he decided to start the club.
Yeah all I need
Is the rhythm, me & the rhythm
Nothing between
Yeah the rhythm, me & the rhythm
Letting his little bobbing and shaking evolve into full-blown chair dancing he even started a little body wave and sent it to the girl next to him, who attempted one herself and sent it to Stella. The British girl took the impromptu dancing well and let the wave go through her body before sending it up into the air on the last line.
And I know, I know, I know
I can't fight it
I won't, I won't, I won't
Deny it
Oh no, oh no, oh no
I'd be lying
If I said I didn't need
Yeah the rhythm, me & the rhythm
Oh I start to feel it now
Everett and all three girls burst into laughter as soon as Stella finished, three of them clapping as they laughed.
"That was amazing, Stella!" Everett grinned his goofiest grin and high-faved the pretty blonde who gave a curtsy before heading down to sit in the auditorium to watch the next girl audition.
"I'm Katrina," the brunette jumped onto the stage, smiling brightly. Everett wondered where that energy had come from all of a sudden, but it was here now and that was all that really mattered. "I'm gonna sing Who you are, by Jesse J."
"Go ahead," Everett smiled, still a little giddy from the last audition. Katrina sat down by the piano and placed her fingers on the keys, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She felt her heart beating hard in her chest and her mouth felt dry, but closing her eyes and focusing on the task in front of her she gently pressed her fingers down and began to play.
I stare at my reflection in the mirror
Why am I doing this to myself?
Losing my mind on a tiny error,
I nearly left the real me on the shelf
No, no, no, no
Katrina felt the emotion of the song washing over her and let herself be pulled into it. She had practiced as much as she could without a piano. Her fingers stumbled a couple of times, but she kept her focus on singing and tried not to let the little mistakes get in the way. She was glad the piano wasn't facing the other people in the room, because while Katrina loved to sing, it wasn't something she did in front of other people a lot.
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
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
Hazel leaned back and just listened to the other girl singing, her eyes stinging a little. She took deep breaths and tried to suppress the emotions that were brewing in the pit of her stomach. When it didn't help and she felt a tear in the corner of her eye, she very discreetly used middle finger to wipe it away, making it look like the corner of her eye was itchy.
Brushing my hair, do I look perfect?
I forgot what to do to fit the mold, yeah
The more I try the less it's working, yeah,
'Cause everything inside me screams, no, no, no, no, yeah
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
Just as Katrina was about to start the refrain again a loud bang tore away her concentration and her fingers missed all the keys they were supposed to hit, resulting in a jarring mix of notes. Hazel found herself shaken out of her reverie by the sharp sound, and quickly found the source of the bang. A blond boy in a letterman jacket and shorts stood in the doorway, a playfully apologetic look on his face.
"Oops, sorry guys," he said as he stepped into the auditorium, smiling apologetically and breathing a little heavily. He was quite cute, Katrina thought, in a breathless and sweaty jock kind of way. "Sorry, I'm late, too. Football tryouts lasted longer than we expected."
"No worries,"Everett told the boy before turning back to Katrina. "That was beautiful, Katrina."
"Thank you," Katrina smiled while the others chimed in with praise of her performance.
"Looks like you're last," Everett said to the boy who immediately ran up the steps to the stage, all happy puppy-energy.
"Hi, I'm Dakota," the blond said, raising his hand in greeting. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he spent a second finding the song. Once again Everett was impressed by the quality of sound. Maybe he needed a new phone. "This is Give it all, by Train."
When I think about my problems
And I truly understand in a world like this
Being a white man
I'm ashamed that I complained
I'm not sure that I'm no pain, but I know this
I'd give it all for one more night with you
I'd give it all for one more night with you
Everett wasn't really familiar with the song, but the boy had a surprisingly resonant voice. He hadn't expected the jock to have such control. There was still work to be done for sure, but it was clear that Dakota had sung a song or two in his lifetime. When the boy hit the high notes, Everett's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't expected that.
I see faces everyday, they're looking at me in ways as if the same
If you'd only knew, you wouldn't last a day in my shoes
And I suppose that's true
I have a lot, maybe too much, but
I'd give it all for one more night with you
I'd give it all for one more night with you
But go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on
Be free
Sure the top notes were a little shakier than he had been lower down in his register, but it was the confidence to go high that got Everett excited. He had not had the confidence to even consider going into his falsetto when he was that age. Maybe this kid's voice had changed a little earlier than Everett's had, so the fear of his voice breaking wasn't as fresh. Or Dakota was simply more confident.
I worked hard at what I do
It's the work that gets me through
But I'm starting to forget
But what I want is to remember, what I want is to remember
What I want, do you remember me?
I'd give it all all all all
I'd give it all all all all
I'd give it all for one more night with you
I'd give it all for one more night with you
Confidence was one thing this kid had in spades. He was smiling and looking the audience in the eye. Everett figured it probably wasn't Dakota's voice changing earlier that made him hit the high notes.
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, be free
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, be free
Don't worry about me
Don't worry about me
The small audience burst into applause when the song finished, Dakota nodded a little sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck.
"Thank you all so much for coming, guys," Everett turned in his chair to face the two girls in the auditorium, occasionally looking over at Dakota who still stood on stage. "I know there's not a lot of you yet, but trust me guys, once people start seeing how much fun we're having they're going to be lining up to join. I'll send you all an email with rehearsal times and-"
"Coach Elliott?" Hazel's soft voice interrupted his speech, and he turned to find Hazel standing hesitantly on the stage next to Dakota. "I'd like to audition too."
"Really? Harper, that's awesome!" Everett turned back in his chair, and waited for Hazel to find the song on her phone. Dakota gave her a wink as he jogged off the stage and fell into one of the auditorium seats next the Katrina. Up close he smelled a little musky, but if he had just come from football tryouts that shouldn't be a surprise.
"I'll sing Mindy Gledhill's I do adore," Hazel finally said, putting her phone on the piano and sitting down on the bench, facing her audience. "And uh, my name is Hazel."
Everett wanted to sink into the earth and disappear.
Everything you do it sends me
Higher than the moon with every
Twinkle in your eye
You strike a match that lights my heart on fire
When you're near, I hide my blushing face
And trip on my shoelaces
Grace just isn't my forte
But it brings me to my knees when you say
Hazel's voice was very child-like, high and breathy. She was smiling and leaning into the music. Her voice was unique, and maybe not the strongest, but it sweet and clear.
Hello, how are you, my darling today?
I fall into a pile on the floor
Puppy love is hard to ignore
When every little thing you do, I do adore
We're as different as can be
I've noticed you're remarkably relaxed
And I'm overly uptight
We balance out each other nicely
Looking down into the auditorium and seeing the three smiling faces there, and feeling pride and joy building in his chest, Everett couldn't help but feel excited for what was to come.
You wear sandals in the snow
In mid-July, I still feel cold
We're opposites in every way
But I can't resist it when you say
Hello, how are you, my darling today?
I fall into a pile on the floor
Puppy love is hard to ignore
When every little thing you do, I do adore
AN: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a review! I'd love to know what you guys think so far!