the glee project.

Summary: a new glee club is in town…

POV: third person… but kinda alternating characters.

Author's Notes: okay, since I crackship almost all the time, Santana's not a lesbi in this one, and Artie and Brittany got back together at prom. (I am still a firm believer that Santana is not a lesbian, but is pansexual) Oh, and I still don't know how to make write Samcedes stuff, so I'm just gonna separate them. (Is Sam really leaving? Say it ain't so!)

Chapter 1

Rachel Berry was at the grocery store, buying all the things necessary in preparation for Nationals next year. Indeed, the girl dreams big. In her pushcart were fresh organic fruits and veggies to keep her in shape: carrots for sparkly eyes, soy for protein, and some oranges for glowing skin, a special request from Kurt Hummel. For her vocal chords, she grabbed boxes of herbal tea, and a couple of packs of soothing ginger candy, for when on the go (and the real organic ones at that; not the synthetic kind). She bought everything by bulk, so her teammates may be prepped up as well. Just because the others were only singing back-up doesn't mean they had to look and sound bad, she thought.

Passing aisle after aisle of junk food and cold drinks, she pushed her cart to the dry goods section. One of her fathers had just bought her a new pair of silver flats, and she wanted to buy a headband to match. She even wore them that day for that specific reason. As Rachel arrived at the accessories section of the grocery store, she quickly scanned the displays for an ideal headband.

She saw the perfect one. How lucky, she thought. She hadn't expected on finding just the right headband, since she was after all in a grocery store, but lo and behold there it was. And it was cheap, too. Now she didn't have to go to the mall afterwards. Goody! She grabbed the headband and tried it on.

"Oh! That's a cute headband," Rachel heard a voice from behind her. Spinning around, she was instantly drawn to the blue eyes that met hers. "It goes well with your shoes," the other girl commented again.

"Thank you very much," Rachel smiled, her eyes immediately going over the girl. The paleness of her skin laid contrast with her dark hair, making her bright blue eyes pop even more. Rachel was then drawn to the other girl's lips, which were painted red. She had to admit, the girl looked like Snow White.

She snapped back to reality when those red lips smiled at her. "Do I know you from somewhere?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself. Silly me," the other girl shook her head slightly. She extended her hand and said, "My name's Lindsay. I'm new in town."

"Rachel," she took her hand and shook it.

"I really like those shoes," Lindsay pointed at Rachel's flats. "Thanks. My dad gave them to me last week as a surprise from a trip he went on. I was super excited when I got them, and when I tried them on it was just so perfect. My dad just knows me so well. It's magical."

"That's cool. You know, it kind of reminds me of the Broadway musical Wicked. When Nessarose got the shoes from their father Rex?" Lindsay began. Rachel brightened up as she saw another Wicked fangirl like her. She was about to say something when Lindsay continued, "Especially since it's silver. I'm a huge fan, and of course I read the book, and the shoes are originally silver with a tinge of gold, but in the movie version of Wizard of Oz the shoes were red, since it was easier to spot in the screen. And I know it is a scientific fact that red is the easiest to spot since it has the longest wavelength compared to any other color. But I mean come on, I don't think they had to change the color of the shoes. It was intended to be silver in the first place. What I'm saying is, why change it?"

They suddenly heard a phone beep. "Ooh, I better take this call. It's nice meeting you, Rachel!" Lindsay waved before running to the exit, leaving Rachel speechless for the first time. Her left eye twitched involuntarily.

"Ugh… why are we here again?" Santana Lopez drawled from the coach as she lazily filed her nails.

"I'm not even sure. As far as I remember, this is my least favorite part of the house," sighed Kurt, pressing some keys from the piano halfheartedly. He glared at Blaine Anderson, who just shrugged at him. Standing up from the corner of the homemade stage, he approached his boyfriend and said, "For the nth time, I'm sorry Kurt! I told you, I was drunk that time."

"Is there another party?" Brittany Pierce asked. Everybody turned to Noah Puckerman. "Don't look at me; I didn't bring any mini-kegs."

"Brittany! Remember the rules, no sitting on anything!" Rachel called from the stairs. Everyone rolled their eyes as Brittany jumped down from the washing machine and approached Artie Abrams to sit on his lap instead.

Rachel descended the steps with Finn Hudson, who was carrying a tray of Chinese herbal tea for all the members of the New Directions. "Oh no, not again," Mike Chang and Tina Cohen-Chang grumbled simultaneously as the whiff of the tea filled the Berry family basement. Recent forced trips to Dim Sum have taken its toll.

As Rachel handed all of them a cup, each stared curiously at the green tea. "Looks like I should've brought that mini-keg…" Puck mumbled.

"It soothes your vocal chords, which will make you sing better," Rachel assured them. The moment she turned her back at them, Tina furiously shook her head, and Mike Chang made slicing movements on his neck with his hands.

After Sam Evans took the last cup from the tray, they all looked at each other, waiting for someone to drink it first. "Uhm… so… cheers?" Finn raised his cup. They ignored him. Rachel, on the other hand, quickly drank hers; the rest just stared at her. When she finished, she gazed at them expectedly with wide eyes. "Well? Drink up before it gets cold."

As Mercedes Jones smelled hers first, the two Asians reluctantly drank theirs, cup in between their two hands. Kurt and Blaine, on the other hand, quietly took a sip. "Do you really have to have your pinky up, Princess Dolphin?" Santana teased.

Sam drank up his tea all in one go out of courtesy, but the look on his face afterwards suggests he regretted that decision. Puck and Lauren Zizes just stared at their cup, with Puck soon starting to play with his and sprinkling some of it onto Lauren.

"This ain't dope," Artie shook his head.

"So is this why you called all of us here?" Quinn FaBray asked Rachel, annoyed. "So you can host some Chinese tea party?"

"Actually, no…" Rachel answered her. "I just bought a lot of the tea and wanted to share with you guys." "Why, did you hate the taste so you're trying to get rid of it as soon as possible?" Lauren smirked. Rachel rolled her eyes and continued, "We're just waiting for Mr. Schuester."

As if right on cue, they heard the doorbell ring. "Ooh, that must be him right now!" Rachel quickly went up the stairs to let their coach in. Once she was out of sight, the leftover tea went to the sink (in Puck and Lauren's case, all of it). "Oh come on guys. Be nice," Finn told them.

They heard footsteps coming from the stairs; Mr. Schuester greeted them with a smile. "Hi guys! How's your summer vacation?"

"It's alright," Artie shrugged. "I mean, it's pretty boring, but I do get to catch up on my Halo."

"Since we didn't be going to Asian Camp this summer, all we do is stay at home," Tina sighed. "That's not entirely true. Sometimes we go on dates," Mike Chang told her. "Besides our dates, my summer's uneventful." Tina pursed her lips. Mike suddenly brightened up. "Want to go to the mall tomorrow afternoon? I want to beat my top score in Dance Dance Revolution."

"I swear, I've been to the mall so many times, I practically work there already," Santana groused. "I've been to the pet store so many times I've already named all the cats," Brittany told them.

"Then it looks like I have good news for you guys," Mr. Schue rubbed her hands together. "Actually it's bad news."

Everyone looked at him intently. Mr. Schue cleared his throat and announced, "Mr. Figgins informed me yesterday that our glee club is in danger of not being funded next school year."

"What? Why? But we reached Nationals. Does he not see the potential that we have?" Rachel argued exasperatedly.

"Figgins told me that there's another glee club next year, coached by Sue Sylvester," Mr. Schue slowly said, shocked at the news himself.

"That's not fair, Mr. Schue!" Finn shook his head. The room grew louder as the members panicked, several were angry, but most of them were filled with hopelessness. "What's gonna happen when we go back to school next month?" Mercedes asked worriedly. "I thought you said you had good news? How can this possibly be good news?" Quinn asked, frustrated.

"Mr. Figgins decided that on the first day of school, there will be an assembly where the two glee clubs will perform a presentation, and the student body will decide who will get the funding."

The room was suddenly filled with worried silence. Some still couldn't believe the news, while others were already stressing out on how they will do the performance. "We still have a chance. Now we really have to brainstorm for an apt song," Mr. Schue continued. "And we have to find a place big enough where we can all practice."

"Can't we practice at McKinley?" Mercedes suggested. Mr. Schue shook his head. "The school is officially closed for the summer." Everyone groaned. "Everything just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Quinn said sarcastically.

Amongst the angst, Blaine whispered to Kurt, "Are you sure I'm even allowed to be here? I mean, I'm not even part of the New Directions." Kurt chuckled at him. "'Course you are, silly."

Mr. Schue heard them and said, "Yes, Blaine. You're very welcome here. We shall respect your suggestions. After all, we need all the help we can get."

Finn was looking through the stacks of CDs in the music store. Rachel had left him momentarily to go to the ladies room. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, but he continued to look anyway, hoping that the perfect song will just present itself to him.

"Looking for something in particular?"

Finn looked up and saw a girl smiling at him. "I was just scanning," he replied politely. He exhaled, realizing how long he had already been there. He stopped, and considered asking the girl for help. Cautiously, Finn said to her, "Uhm, yeah, actually, I was kind of looking for a song that… expressed… "

"Expressed what?" the girl asked, looking at him encouragingly.

"Sort of… like… underdogs win?" Finn said unsure, his forehead wrinkling.

"You're probably looking for Kris Allen. I watched American Idol Season 6 last last year, and he was already labeled as the underdog at the beginning. People didn't really expect that he would go far in the competition, but in the end he won. I was rooting for him, actually. Good thing he won, too. I don't like the other guy."

Finn nodded politely again. "Wait here while I go get it." The girl looked for the CD and after a short while she handed it over to him. He thanked her and walked to the cashier.

When his girlfriend arrived from the ladies room, Finn had already bought the CD. "Did you find anything?" Rachel asked, seeing the plastic bag he was holding. He nodded at her. Grinning at the girl, Finn said, "Yes. She helped me."

Suddenly, Rachel yelped, "Oh, hi Lindsay!"

"Hi Rachel!" the girl greeted back.

To Finn's surprise, the two girls shared a hug. "You guys know each other?" he scratched the back of his head, confused.

"Yes. Well, kind of. We met last week in the grocery store," Rachel answered him. Lindsay nodded at Finn. "I'm Lindsay. I complimented her for her shoes," she smiled. "Excuse me for asking, but what's the song for, anyway?"

"We have an assignment for glee club," Rachel replied while checking to see the CD Finn bought. "Hmm, this is good, maybe we could do 'No Boundaries'…" she mumbled to herself.

"So you two go to the same school together?" Lindsay asked, to which Finn nodded. "We go to McKinley High," he replied.

Lindsay clapped his hands. "Oh, that's cool! I'm going to McKinley next school year, too!"

Rachel started jumping excitedly. "You have a great taste in music. Maybe you can join our glee club there. I mean, you're probably just going to be singing background, but still, it's pretty fun."

Lindsay chuckled. "Oh, I don't think I can join your glee club." Pointing at the two of them, she asked, "So are you two dating or something?" They both smiled. Blushing, Rachel said, "Yes. We are."

"Oh. I never would have guessed that. Good for you, Rachel!"

Silence followed. Noticing Rachel's lack of response, "Uhm… Thanks," Finn finally replied.

Sorry for the long wait. I've been pretty busy lately with school and stuff… Oh, and yeah, the chapter was quite Rachel-centric. I didn't intend it to be like that (I'm all for equal exposure times for all the characters, especially the underappreciated ones in the show). Probably in the next chapters. :D Especially Sam Evans. Is he really leaving?