A/N.: Edit 19/08/2012
Chapter 12 – A firm hand over their heads.
Tina was trembling from head to feet. One thing was singing in front of a crowd. But this? Why she agreed with it again? Oh yeah, extra credits. Well, fuck that, because there was no way she would be able to assert herself in front of that crowd. For the goddess' sake! There were teachers and other staff members there, wanting to take this stupid lesson too.
Wednesday was pretty easy… they just went over the material and the topics they should look over and the methods they should use to teach this to everyone. Sure, doing it under Sue's bored gaze wasn't comfortable at all, but at least it was something easy to be done.
Now she needed to go in front of all the people who applied to this lesson and practically order them around and call them out if they messed something up or simply misbehaved. Hell! Her boyfriend was part of said crowd.
And Rachel was so calm… As if she did things like that all the time.
"I volunteered in a kindergarten back in Nevis… I doubt that some teenagers and adults will be harder to deal with than a bunch of toddlers." Rachel says as if reading Tina's mind.
But she couldn't do that, she was a cat, Tina argued with herself.
"I suppose. Though I'm not so sure about that." The teen sorceress retorted.
"Well, think about it like… hm, You sing, right? In front a really big crowd since you're in a show choir. Right?" Rachel asked and smiles when the Asian girl nods "Did you ever had a solo?" Tina nodded again "In a competition?"
"Well… once. But, usually, Mercedes or Santana have the female solos…" the sorceress shrugged.
"Doesn't matter. When you have a solo you lead, you shine and you assert yourself. You prove your presence in the middle of a whole group who is doing the exact same thing you're doing. If you can do that you can do this. Because, here, not only you're leading them, but you're instructing them too. They follow you, not only because you have what they need, but because you know better than them. They will hear you as long as you speak with as much confidence as you had when you sung your solo." Rachel instructs with a winning smile "Make your presence and authority known and if you ever doubt yourself and falter you have me and Coach Sylvester to support you because we're your choir."
Tina smiled at the girl. She felt a lot better now. She did sing a solo before… and they won that competition. She could do that. She didn't even stutter anymore.
"Thanks… but you know, I'm only assisting you." Tina reminded the other girl.
"It may look like that, yet you have more knowledge in this area than me." Rachel sighed "What with this town? It's so behind in magical development. Did you see from where we needed to order these materials?" Rachel says taking the last package from one of the many boxes in which the materials for the lessons came.
"Well it is a small town… my family may be the only sorcerers around here actually. There was a wizard some time ago, but he got crazy and cursed a bunch of people, even the one he claimed to love." Tina answered. "I think, since people hardly move in or out from Lima, they're still scared and apprehensive when it comes to magic or magical items…"
"Apparently their kids are free of this prejudice, since we got so many people enlisting in this lesson…" Rachel giggled.
Their little chat, however, was interrupted by the sound of the gymnasium door being slammed open and then shut. They looked at the direction of the noise and saw Coach Sylvester stalking her way to them.
"Sabrina and Salem are you two done getting things ready?" the tall said in her usual manner
"I'm a sorceress not a witch." Tina protested "This show was so weird anyway… As if witches are immortal or can actually lose their powers if they tell someone they're a witch."
"It sure was nonsensical… their theories of how a human ruled society would work… They practically just copied ours. Furthermore their cast was really elitist and…"
"Okay, enough, fish breath! It was just a JOKE… Or more like an insult. Anyway next time just take it. Or you're gonna make suicides until you learn how to." The coach said with a stern voice.
"I'm not a cheerio." Tina argued.
"It never stopped me before." Sue immediately retorted "Now, I'll ask again: are you done getting things ready? Soon enough the incompetents that lurk this school will fill my gym with their smelly pubescent bodies." She added with contempt
"We're done." Rachel sighed.
Sure arguing with the woman wouldn't accomplish anything, as she noticed this past week. But even though the woman was very uncooperative and sour there was still something about her that made Rachel kind of admire her. Maybe it was how she was still able to interact with the world even with all her craziness or maybe it was because although being a fluke in this world she still carried herself as she owned it and everyone respected her for that. Everyone was scared of her more precisely.
'Humans sure are dangerous…' Rachel ponders to herself.
They were having this class taught in the gym because of the amount of student interested in it. They thought about dividing it in two classes but Sue was very adamant that she wouldn't have a day of her cheerios' practices being taken away. Each one of them had headset microphones – Sue, of course, was very unpleased to know that she wouldn't be able to use her beloved bullhorn. – and they had a table where the things they ordered were laid.
The materials in question were 72 sets of enchanted garments for the students. With this clothes they would be able to give their first tries without the risk of ending up naked or damaging their actual clothes.
Rachel was sure some of them would refuse to put these clothes on, since they weren't actually pretty and all of them looked the same, but that's why they had Sue there. To coerce everyone into obeying them. Or that's how Rachel liked to see it.
The first ones to appear after the school bell ringed signaling the end of the classes were Quinn, Santana and Brittany.
"Why are you two here?" Tina asks the nymph and the gorgon noticing that their names were in the list of students attending the lesson.
"Well even though we don't really need it I read on-line that it's a good thing to have in your curriculum." Santana shrugged.
"I didn't want to go home alone." Brittany answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "And I can use this lesson… like, when I join myself with a plant."
"You can do that?" Tina asked surprised.
"Sure she can! Don't you take biology?" Santana huffed.
"Okay, enough." Rachel scolds with a stern voice. "Hello to you three, now take these clothes and go change. Use the gym changing room." She instructed pointing to where they should go.
"These things are atrocious! Like hell I'll change into it." The gorgon spat.
"Hey you're the one wanting to have this lesson." The kitty girl called her out. "Think of it as a uniform." She smirked pointing at the ugly gray garments in each girl's hand.
And like she previously thought almost everyone complained about the 'uniform' for this lesson. Even the teachers that were attending to it. After everyone stopped complaining and finally changed themselves into the uniforms she was able to start their lesson.
"Hello everyone, I bet you already know, but I'm Rachel Berry and these are Tina Cohen-Chang and Coach Sue Sylvester. I and Tina will do the teaching whereas Coach will supervise us and help us in the case of insubordination and/or uncooperative behavior." The kitty girl said with a sweet smile that scared half of the room. "So, as they say… behave yourselves, these lesson are for your own interest."
"What about these ugly clothes?" a kid in the crowd asked.
"The-they're enchanted." Tina answered. "We got them so you don't damage your real clothes while you still learning how to do this magic."
"The uniform is obligatory and the ones not wearing it on future lessons won't be permitted to attend." Rachel added dryly.
She was small, so people tended to try and walk all over her, thinking she couldn't stand for herself but she was showing them. She was demanding respect and hell if she wouldn't have it. Sue was slightly impressed with the way the girl was acting.
"There are rules you all will have to follow, because it's magic therefore it can be dangerous." Rachel continued her introduction to the lesson. "When I learned how to do this my teacher, at the time, said it was a simple magic of will. This means that you need to want it. Don't do it halfhearted or there will be consequences."
"Unpleasant ones…" Tina added cryptically finally starting to relax.
"First we will see who needs it, like me, for example, and who are here just for credit, like Santana." The kitty girl started walking in the group's direction.
The lesson went on very nicely. The only problem they had was with a jock. A troll, more specifically. He didn't accept very well that the lessons wouldn't help in his case.
"Rather than not damaging you clothes you will just end up naked." Rachel argued
"This magic works this way: It's not that it makes the clothes fit you whatever your size or shape. It makes the clothes part of yourself making her change with you, if you're a shape shifter. If you're an elemental, or a species of the type, it makes the clothes immune to their element… because they are." Tina added.
"You, as a troll, simply have your body enlarged and while your clothes would grow with you, because they're not made to expand they would end up 'making part' of you." Rachel continued "What you need is not to learn this magic, but to buy enchanted clothes like this uniform you're wearing now. They're enchanted to grow and shape with you but without becoming a part of you. It means that it doesn't 'disappear' like mine do when I transform."
He left the gymnasium very pissed and scared when he noticed Sue's glare in his direction. He wasn't very polite when asking why the lesson wouldn't work for him. But really other than that everything went okay.
Tina was delighted, she told them the background of the magic and people seemed very interested in it. She even gave them homework and had to hide her chuckles when everyone groaned. Even the teachers taking the class tried to protest, but she insisted. For safety reasons. That was her explanation in why this homework was needed.
Rachel taught them more about the practical side of the magic. Like how to actually do it. Nobody was able to do it yet, but it was okay since it was the first day. Rachel suspected it would take a month, if everyone practiced regularly, for all of them to learn how to do it perfectly.
After the class Tina went directly to her boyfriend and jumped in his arm squealing when he twirled with her. Rachel was so distracted looking at them that she didn't even notice Sam stopping beside her after the room emptied.
"You make a very strict teacher." The boy said finally getting her attention.
She smiled at him just finishing putting everything they used away and grabbing her bag.
"I guess it's genetic." She chuckled leaving the gym with Sam at her side. "My mom is a teacher. She is pretty strict too. Or so I heard."
"Oh, really? She stayed back in Minnesota?" The boy asked.
"She was never from there. Like I said I'm from around here…" Rachel started to explain "She actually teaches in Carmel. She was a little disappointed that I didn't go there for school. She also coaches their choir group. Vocal Adrenaline I think…"
"I heard of them. They're good." Sam chirped "They're, like, our biggest rival! Or so Kurt and Mercedes say… apparently we lost to them last year in one of the competitions."
"Yeah… since mom started coaching them they kept on the top five in the Nationals and being consecutively the champions for the last three years." Rachel said, prideful of her mom's accomplishment.
"You two are close?" the lizard boy asked. They're were already by his car.
"Hum… in a way, we didn't see much of each other personally, I visited once or twice, mostly she would come visit us, but we talked a lot over the phone.. I bet I'll see more of her now." Rachel beamed "We look like each other a lot!"
They were so distracted with each other that they didn't even notice that they were being eavesdropped, nor did they notice the figure going away from them.
"Are you getting a lift with Quinn or do you need a ride?" Sam offered.
Rachel took a look around the park lot and noticed that Quinn's car was still there. She smiled at him thanking him for the offer, but refused and went to wait for the blonde by her car. It didn't take long for the girl to make her appearance.
"You're a very strict teacher." The lion girl commented.
"You're not the first one to say that." Rachel replied rolling her eyes "But I'm very small. I need to make people respect me." She added defending herself.
"I think it's cute you being all bossy." Quinn chuckled "And you may be strict but you're also a good teacher."
Rachel smiled at the compliment getting closer to the taller girl. Then, without getting on the tips of her toes and with her hands behind her back, she kissed Quinn's chin, her tail swaying in anticipation, just waiting for the other girl to react.
Quinn stood quiet for some moment, recovering from the shock. Yes, they almost kissed early this week, but they also were sharing a moment at the time. This little kiss right now caught her by surprise. She wasn't expecting it at all.
Rachel was starting to put some space between them thinking that maybe she had forced herself a little bit too much when Quinn grabbed her by the hip and pulled her close, joining their lips in a kiss that both of them longed for.