PLOT BUNNY STILL ADOPTABLE I'M JUST EXTENDING THE PILOT A LITTLE.

ALSO, CAPSLOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL.

-Phanny

The auditorium at William McKinley High was alive with music. The Glee Club, New Directions, was once again practicing for regionals - the competition that was drawing closer and closer, and so stress levels were up, and tempers were high. With the upcoming competition looming over their heads, the thirteen Glee Club member were beginning to notice everything - the slightest sharp or flat notes, a tiny stumble in choreography, any tiny, insignificant thing that they knew Vocal Adrenaline would never get wrong. Anything that would detract from perfection - and if there was anyone on earth who couldn't handle imperfection, it was Rachel Berry.

"Stop, stop!" Rachel cried, and the accompanying banned stopped playing. Will Schuester sighed from his seat in the audience.

"Something wrong, Rachel?" It wasn't really a question that needed to be asked.

"Everything is wrong!" She sighed, "I just don't think the club is doing this song justice. I mean, the Cell Block Tango is a very dramatic song - where is the passion, here? Where's the drama?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes, "I think I know where all the drama is going."

"Say what you want," Rachel huffed, "this is regionals. There are no deaf schools or halfway houses here - this is Vocal Adrenaline, the top show choir in the district - we need to win. I like to win, Mr. Schue."

Will looked at his students, and, seeing the annoyed expression on their faces, hated what he said next.

"Rachel is right," he said, "this is nothing like sectionals, and I know you all know that but…be honest, you guys are losing it here. We need to get back in the spirit of competition."

"So…what do you have in mind?" Artie asked. Tina, hovering over his shoulder, nodded and echoed his question quietly.

"I'll think of something, guys," Will assured them, "but for now…from the top."

"Wait, what?" Danny Fenton asked, bewildered. He looked at Mr. Lancer curiously.

"You heard me, Mr. Fenton. Today is the day to choose your elective class, and I see you haven't done any of that. We have required every student to have at least one elective class, or you will be assigned one."

Danny cringed. He didn't want an elective class - he needed a free period. He needed something to eliminate the guilt of going ghost hunting during school hours. If he had a free period, he could get some work done, and he wouldn't be slowly slipping past the failure radar with low C's.

"But, uh, none of these classes really…interest me. Is there some way I could get out of this? At all?" He asked blatantly. Mr. Lancer thought for a moment.

"Well, if you were involved in some sort of extracurricular activity or club, I could let it slide. Daniel, we are encouraged by the school board to help students branch out from just core classes - I know you, of all people, would want a little part of school to look forward to."

"But…" Danny's eyes scanned the office, looking at various posters for after school activities. Sports teams were out - taking away two thirds of his options - chess club too, drama club was working on a new play and currently wasn't accepting new members (it was already cast), and that left…

"Uh…" Danny winced and readied himself to lie again, "I'm in the Glee Club already." There. Good lie, Fenton.

"Really now?" Lancer looked at him suspiciously. Working with Danny, he'd learned a way to tell whether or not he was lying. His B.S. meter was going crazy at the moment. "So if I asked Ms. Gardener she'd tell me the same thing?"

Danny's stomach flipped over. Horrible lie, horrible idea. Cover up, cover up, cover up-!

"S-sure," Danny's eye twitched a little when he nodded, "would I lie to you?"

Mr. Lancer could feel a headache coming on.

"You're dismissed, Fenton. I hope you're enjoying the Glee Club."

Danny dashed out of Lancer's office, not even waiting for a pass back to class.

…How was he going to tell Sam and Tucker that he'd somehow joined the Casper High Glee Club in the span of five minutes, and that there was pretty much no way out of it?

Danny decided to tell the both of them at lunch. Sam looked disappointed (most likely in his inability to come up with a more decent excuse), while Tucker just thought the entire thing was the most hilarious event in the history of forever.

"Just go to Ms. Gardener, she's cool," Sam told Danny after Tucker had stopped laughing, "tell her you want to observe a rehearsal or something - if Lancer comes in to investigate, he'll see you there, think you're telling the truth, and be on his way."

"Sam it's never that easy," Danny sighed, "what kind of teacher slash show choir director will let a kid hide out during a rehearsal without asking questions?"

"I'm telling you what I think will work, the rest is up to you, genius," Sam rolled her eyes as she spoke, "you got yourself into this."

"Maybe you should take home ec, D," Tucker snickered, "you could make cupcakes in there."

"Tucker…" Danny groaned, "anyway, Sam, there is no way that whole observation thing will work."

"Observe a rehearsal?" Adrianna Gardener, Choir instructor for Casper High, looked down at young Danny Fenton in curiosity. "Oh, fine. At first I thought you might be here because you wanted a free period and, to get out of selecting an elective class, told Mr. Lancer that you were a member of the Glee Club and couldn't handle any other extracurricular."

Danny's jaw dropped.

"You'd be surprised at how often that sort comes around here," Ms. Gardener told the boy, walking further into her choir room and instructing him to follow, "now, is that why you're here?"

Danny searched around the room, avoiding her green gaze, and eventually sighed.

"I'm sorry," he told her, "I mean, I'm sure Glee Club is really fun and all but, I have…other things that make it so I need a free period so…if you just give me an excuse not to get an elective I'll pay you back somehow, I swear."

Danny wasn't sure he liked the calculating look on Ms. Gardener's face before she turned around at the sound of her phone ringing.

"Excuse me," she said, leaving Danny to sit on one of the choir risers and wait until he heard those dreaded words…

"Mr. Lancer, what can I do for you?"

Oh god no.

"Danny Fenton…?"

Please…

"Yes, he is a member. Would that sweet boy lie to you?"

Yes!

"Good talking to you, sir. Have a nice afternoon."

Danny breathed a sigh of relief when the teacher reappeared.

"Thank you, I really do owe you for that." He said, somehow knowing he would regret those words as soon as she opened her mouth to reply.

"And I know just how you can repay me, Danny," she said. The real Glee members were beginning to enter the room as she spoke, "thank you for joining the Glee Club."

…What?

Don't stop believin'.