Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee.

A/N: This one goes out to the Tina fans. Thanks for the comments, guys. It was fun. Are you ready for the show to be back on tomorrow?

V: Rebel Girl

Will is here to drink, not to listen to music, but when the opening band comes on, he finds himself turning on the barstool to face the stage in the back. In the middle of the set, he actually picks up his Blue Moon and his beer mat and finds a spot in the small crowd where he can hear better. Old habits die hard.

They're a neo-punk – two guitars, driving bass and an overly enthusiastic drummer – not his usual thing, but he admires that all the musicians are young women, and he can detect the sweetness of the lead singer's voice, even when she's screaming out a chorus. She's Asian, with short-cropped hair and ripped stockings and jade bangles stacked all the way up her arms. Her green and black bangs fall into her eyes, and it's only when the song ends and she stops smiling that he recognizes her. She never smiled much, before.

He feels terrible about the ten seconds it takes him to remember her name. She was the quiet one. Then he sees it, in his mind, written out on a ruled piece of notepaper tacked to a bulletin board. Tina. Tina C. He pushes his way to the stage.

"Tina!"

"Mr. Schue! What are you d-doing in Cincinnati?" There's the stutter, but it's better than he remembers it, and she looks good – happy.

"I could ask you the same thing. Isn't it a school night?" She should be a senior this fall, he quickly calculates. Maybe she has open first period. Maybe she's planning to skip.

"I d-dropped out." She's blushing.

"Really?" It's been two years since he left, and most of the kids he taught should still be at McKinley. It's easy to imagine them that way, going about their lives like always even as his has changed so much, with the job and the divorce and the move. Maybe it's naïve of him to think that they're just where he left them.

"Last year. B-best decision I ever made," she says firmly. "I live here now. I'm d-doing something I really love."

He wants to lecture her. If he were still her teacher, he would. But she sang well tonight, and he likes the way she's looking straight at him, her speech confident and sure. He's a chartered accountant now, that's all, and he's not sure what to say.

The lead guitar player, a short black girl with a pierced lip comes over to where Tina's standing at the edge of the stage, putting a casual hand on her waist, the tips of her fingers slipping under the waistband of Tina's skirt. The girl looks curiously down at Will. "What's up, T?"

"This is Mr. Schuster. He was my t-teacher in high school. He taught me to sing." She smiles. "For about t-two weeks. Mr. Schue, this is Shona."

"Hi, Shona," Will says. "You guys rock."

"We know," Shona says like a hardened pro, but next to her, Tina is grinning from ear to ear.

THE END

***

Bonus Thematic Playlist:

Part I: Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar

Part II: Class from the musical Chicago

Part III: Don't Lie by the Black Eyed Peas

Part IV: So Long by Everlast

Part V: Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill