Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and Fox, not me.
"Morning, guys," Finn said.
"Morning," Blaine yawned, his head dropping to Kurt's shoulder as they waited in line for breakfast.
"G'morning, Finn," Lucy echoed, her head on Kurt's other side.
"Hi," Rachel said sharply.
Finn frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You're all…whoa, I didn't know your eyebrows could do that."
"Someone's still upset that she didn't get the part of Laurey in the Oklahoma scene," Kurt explained. "She's going through the stages of grief. Right now we're in stage two: anger."
"At least she isn't crying into our shoulders anymore," Lucy said.
"But…isn't that one of your dream roles?" Finn said, frowning. "Why didn't you get it?"
"I don't know," Rachel said sharply. She crossed her arms over her chest; today she was wearing a tank top with a cartoon rabbit on it. "I've been studying that role for as long as I can remember. I'm perfect for it."
"You still got a solo part," Blaine pointed out sleepily. "You're one of the Campbell sisters for the Brigadoon scene, and you got Maria's solo parts for 'Do Ro Mi'."
"Don't remind us," Lucy said, pouting. "Kurt and I have to play two of her children." Blaine snickered.
"This isn't funny," Rachel said. "You don't understand. I was born to play this part. I don't know why I didn't get it." Her scowl deepened. "I think Jesse's doing this on purpose."
"Who's Jesse and why-"
"Long story, I'll explain later," Kurt whispered to Blaine and Lucy.
Finn glared across the dining hall at Jesse, who was laughing with the other musical theater counselors at their table. "I hate Jesse St. James," he mumbled.
"I'm going to go ask my mother about this," Rachel said. "She might be able to talk them into giving me the part."
"Ah, and we have now reached stage three: bargaining," Kurt said.
Rachel stormed out of the line and marched over to Shelby, who sat by herself at the vocal performance table, skimming a script while she ate a bowl of cereal. She glanced up and smiled. "Good morning, Rachel, how-"
"I didn't get the part," Rachel blurted out.
Shelby looked puzzled, but she sat up and closed her script. "Okay, hon, sit down and take a breath," she said.
Rachel plopped down across from her. "I auditioned for the Laurey scene from Oklahoma, and I didn't get it," she said. "I think Jesse purposefully didn't give it to me because he's still angry that I kissed Finn at Nationals. You need to talk to him and tell him he has to give me the part."
Shelby blinked and set down her spoon. "All right, so some of this I'm just going to ask about later," she said. "But honestly, Rach, I'm not surprised you didn't get the part."
For a second Rachel wondered if she'd been kicked in the stomach, dropped in the Twilight Zone, or was in the middle of a nightmare. It certainly felt like it. "I…you…what?" she stammered.
"Honey, Laurey is a high soprano role," Shelby said. "I know you love the part, but you're just not a high soprano. Your voice isn't meant to sing lyrical soprano parts."
"But…but…I've sung it before," Rachel sputtered. "My voice teacher said it was perfect. And I've sung high soprano parts in glee."
"In glee club?" Shelby repeated. "Honey, your competition consisted of half a dozen girls who didn't have any interest in singing classic Broadway ingénue roles. No wonder you always got them. Look around." She gestured broadly. "For the first time, you're surrounded by girls who are just as talented as you, who have the same drive, the same dreams. They want what you want, and some of them are going to be better suited for certain parts than you are."
Tears pricked behind Rachel's eyes. "But…but I'm the most talented girl at McKinley," she whispered.
"And I bet that every single girl here is the most talented girl at their school too," Shelby said gently. "Baby, if you want this, you can't just coast by on talent. You have to work to compete against these girls." Rachel swallowed a sniffle and rubbed at her eyes. Shelby quietly handed her a napkin. "If this is what you want, Rachel, you're going to have to work your little ass off. When you go to college, when you go to New York, this is going to be your life. You'll face a lot worse rejection out there than you will here."
Rachel nodded, hiding her face behind her napkin. Shelby reached over and rubbed her shoulder sympathetically.
"I'm so excited!" Teddy chirped. "Team building! My big brother told me that team building is awesome!"
Sam watched the overexcited twelve-year-old bounce up and down. "Okay, who let Teddy near the soda machine?" he asked.
Teddy hopped around the bigger kids in excitement, his curls shining in the sun. "So what are we doing? What are we doing?" he asked.
Their counselor grinned at them. "Trust falls," Brandon said. "You guys are going to get on this platform one by one and fall backwards into the waiting arms of your teammates."
Annabel, the blond pianist, glared at Brandon. "No," she said flatly.
"No, no, everyone gets a turn," Brandon said cheerfully. He ran his hand through his artfully tousled hair. "All right, who wants to get up there first?"
"Me!" Teddy cheered, raising his hand high in the air. "Ooh, ooh, me!"
"All right, Teddy, get on up there," Brandon said. "Everybody get in front to catch him." He frowned. "Noah? You all right, bud?"
Puck blinked. "Huh?" he said. "Oh, yeah, dude, I'm fine. Sorry."
He shuffled into place with everyone else as Brandon explained the exercise further. Finn nudged him lightly. "What's going on?" he whispered. "You've been acting weird since yesterday."
Puck looked down at the ground and gritted his teeth. "Shelby Corcoran's here," he finally confessed.
"What? The old Vocal Adrenaline coach?" Finn whispered.
"Guys, focus," Brandon warned.
Puck gritted his teeth so hard he nearly cracked a molar. "Beth's new mom," he said bitterly.
"Oh," Finn said. "Oh…oh." He shifted his weight awkwardly. "Are you and Quinn going to try to see her?"
"I dunno, man," Puck said. "Me and Quinn…we haven't talked since…since the day she was born. I think…she wants to forget she ever had a kid."
"She never said anything about Beth when we were dating," Finn said. "But maybe that's why she's always acting so weird, you know? Maybe she just misses her baby and doesn't want to think about it."
Puck glanced up. "You think I should talk to her about it?" he asked.
"Can't hurt," Finn said. "Well, you know. Can't hurt that much. Quinn might get pissed or something."
"Hey!" Teddy said, flapping his arms as Brandon tightened the blindfold on him. "Y'all gonna catch me?"
"We got you, buddy," Sam said.
"Whee!" Teddy said, flopping backwards.
Blaine tapped the door to the tech shop open. "Hello?" he called into the cool dimness. "I'm supposed to have a fitting for my costume…"
Jeff popped up from behind a rack of military uniforms. "Hey, Blaine!" he said, slinging a tape measure around his neck.
"Are you doing fittings?" Blaine asked warily.
"No, Lauren doesn't allow me near the sharp objects," Jeff said. "Flint and Knickey are in the back, though." He held up a large light fixture. "I gotta run this up to the theater for Lauren and Artie. See ya!"
Blaine shook his head and headed towards the back room. Several Z-racks lined the walls, hung with costume pieces tagged with names and scene references. He rounded the corner and grinned. "Well, look who else is here," he said.
Kurt glanced over his shoulder and smiled at him. "Hi, Blaine," he said.
Blaine pecked him on the lips, then stepped back to look him up and down. "Very nice," he appraised. "You should wear pinstriped pants more often."
"Hold still," Flint scolded, raising Kurt's arms again as he moved to measure his chest.
"It's my Guys and Dolls costume," Kurt said, glancing down at his black striped pants and pale pink button-up. "Wait till you see the whole ensemble. It's actually not bad."
"Stop moving!" Flint said. He glanced back at Blaine. "Your costume's on the silver rack with your name on it. I think Lucy's just about out of the dressing room."
"No, no, I'm out," she said. She walked out in a full blue dress with a plaid drape around the waist and a navy laced bodice. "What do you think? Is it very Bonnie Jean?"
"You're very…Scottish," Blaine offered.
"You're very short," Knickey said flatly, following Lucy with a seam gauge and a pincushion. "God, we're gonna have to hem this by like seven inches."
"It's not my fault I'm so short," Lucy grumbled.
Knickey knelt down on the floor and folded back Lucy's hem experimentally. "At least your Sound of Music costume fits pretty well," she said.
Kurt paled. "Oh, god, those are put away, right?" he said. "Blaine can't see that one."
"Why not?" Blaine asked as he rifled through the Silver Snakes rack for his costume.
"Okay, so we're playing Von Trapp children for 'Do Re Mi', right?" Lucy said. "Yeah. We're wearing-"
"Don't tell him!" Kurt said.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "He's going to see it anyway," she said.
Kurt's cheeks had gone pink. "It's embarrassing," he mumbled.
"Hummel! What part of 'don't move' is too difficult for you to understand?" Flint asked, exasperated.
Lucy shrugged. "It could be a lot worse," she said. "You don't have to wear a big-ass bow in your hair."
"True," Kurt admitted.
Flint stuck one last pin in the hem of Kurt's trousers and sighed. "This would have been easier if you had held still, but oh well," he said. "Go change, and then Blaine can get ready."
"Oh, we can share the dressing room," Kurt said.
Blaine grinned. "Oh, yes," he said. "Kurt, let me help you get undressed…"
Kurt flushed red briefly, then turned around and beckoned to Blaine. "Come on, then," he teased.
"Don't do naughty things while we're still here," Lucy warned. "I'll tell Finn and Francey on you. Just imagine what they'd do to you."
"Oh my god, it's melting!" Tina shrieked, hopping back from the bonfire. "It's melting and it's bursting into flames! What do I do?"
Nathaniel calmly pulled her wire hanger out of the fire. "That's why you don't let your marshmallow burn," he said.
The campers gathered around the giant bonfire assembling their s'mores. Santana held three sticks in front of the fire, turning around every so often to glare at Brittany and Francey. "I don't see why I have to make these for all of us," she said.
"You lost rock paper scissors," Francey shrugged.
"Yeah, well, I picked scissors because Brittany always chooses paper," Santana said, rolling her eyes.
Brittany licked chocolate off her fingers. "Francey told me to pick rock," she said. Santana huffed.
Blaine took a bite of his s'more and marshmallow oozed over his chin. Kurt laughed. "Classy," he said, rubbing the creamy ooze off with his thumb.
"Hey, isn't that hot?" Blaine teased.
Kurt stuck his thumb in his mouth to lick off the melted marshmallow and immediately pulled it back out. "Oh, god, yes," he said. "Too hot."
Rachel took her marshmallow stick out of the fire and fumbled to sandwich it. The top graham cracker slid off and fell to the ground. "Of course that would happen," she said irritably. "This is just the worst day."
"I'll get you another one," Finn offered.
She looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you, Finn," she said. "That's very kind of you."
Finn grinned affably at her before dodging through the crowd towards the table laden with s'mores supplies. He reached to grab a graham cracker and bumped into another hand. "Oh, sorry, I…"
His voice trailed off. Dave Karofsky glared at him. "Take it," he said gruffly.
"Thanks, I will," Finn said. He leaned in. "You know, you've got some nerve coming around here. You made our lives a living hell at McKinley, you tortured my brother so bad that he had to transfer schools…now you just show up here."
Karofsky just stared at him, then turned and marched away to sit on the edge of the bonfire with a tiny brunette in a Red Jaguars tee shirt. Finn didn't realize he'd clenched his fists until he realized he was holding a handful of graham crumbs instead of a cracker.
Author's Notes:
Another short vignette-y type chapter! It's actually sort of fun to bounce from scene to scene when I write. And writing from POVs other than Kurt or Blaine...
But yeah! A new chapter! Yay! The next one will be up on Friday.
I'm really wondering what you guys think of Rachel and Shelby's conversation. I've been in theater since I was pottytrained, and trust me, I grew up surrounded by Rachels. I even had some Rachel tendencies before I got to college and wised up a bit. I'm really excited to explore Rachel's thought process.
Also, feel free to suggest things you want to see- characters, pairings, songs, musicals, plays, anything. Understand that I can't use everything, but I'm writing this story so we don't go bonkers during the hiatus- I might as well write things that people besides me like! Although I'm going to kick off some plotlines that I'm very, very excited about (FIZZY. DARLING BETA. YOU SHOULD EMAIL ME ABOUT SAID PLOTLINES. :D)
So...tell me what you think, tell me what you want to see! Or just, you know, tell me how your day was. Apparently everyone went to the dentist yesterday.
BUT...WILL PUCK AND QUINN ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR MYSTERIOUSLY FORGOTTEN BABY? WILL RACHEL ACTUALLY LIVE WITHOUT BEING THE LEAD? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE STOP GIVING TEDDY CAFFEINE? AND WHAT THE HELL ARE KURT AND LUCY WEARING FOR THE SOUND OF MUSIC SCENE?
Find out on Friday! :D