Chapter 3

A/N: Man, you all have no idea how wild it is to me that people are reading this and actually liking it. This is my first try at writing fiction, and the fact that I'm not getting bashed is so rad. I really can't explain how stupidly large my smile gets when I read your reviews or see an alert. Seriously, mad love. I'm working on getting my formatting worked out, so don't hate me if its still messed up. I'm anal about line breaks and section separation, so let me assure you I'm trying to get it fixed. Enough of me now, please go and read and review!

xxx

Rachel Berry made eye contact with the recently properly introduced unknown boy, who apparently was named Jesse St. James, and felt her face redden a bit as recognition dawned over him as well.

Of course he would be here she thought viciously of course the one person I unwarrantably verbally abuse in my high school is going to be trying out.

Mr. Schue continued on about Jesse being a part of the well known show choir at his former high school in California, how he wanted to audition for glee tomorrow, and how he would be sitting in on todays session to get a feel for the group. Rachel rolled her eyes as Mr. Schue babbled on and on, and instead focused on getting her stare in just the right spot so that it would look like she was aptly paying attention to the teacher, while in actuality she was studying Jesse St. James in her peripherals.

He was dressed nicely, as she had noticed earlier, wearing a look that she recognized all too well as that of a self-assured (and borderline cocky as all hell) attitude. He had frozen for a minute when their eyes met, but just as quickly as the blush had reddedend her cheeks, his eyes were again on Mr. Schuester and over some of the other glee kids in the room.

She heard Kurt whispering to Mercedes, and caught a few words that sounded suspiciously like "he's total would" and an affirming "Mhm" from Mercedes. Rachel inwardly groaned. Those two were as bad as Puck sometimes. Speaking of the mohawked jock, she shifted slightly to see him staring at Quinn again, as she was busy staring at Jesse as well, the look on her face similar to the one Rachel imagined Kurt to be wearing at that exact second as well. She was hoping the arrival of this St. James character was not going to cause any more love-triangles or emotional turmoil on the group. After Babygate (which was totally justifiable considering how Finn was preparing to spend the rest of his life caring for the child of another father) she honestly did not think that if there was another drama like that Glee would be able to recover. She was doing her part to prevent it, but going into full-diva mode was not the way that others handled things.

"...so any questions before we begin? No? Okay... Rachel?" Mr. Schue's closing statement kicked Rachel out of her zoning and back into reality.

"Yes Mr. Schuester?"

"Would you mind leading warm-ups today? And then after that I think we should run through Hello Goodbye,"

"Of course Mr. Schuester" she replied, bounding up out of her seat, determinedly not looking at the new face following Mr. Schue into his office, discussing the numbers he had been a part of in California. Focus Berry. Channel Celine.

"Alright guys, from the top" the diva said, commandingly taking the helm of the group, unaware of the set of eyes behind her becoming more and more intrigued with her.

xxx

After the rehearsal had ended, Jesse wasn't so sure he wanted to be a part of this group. To say that they were volatile would be a serious contender for understatement of the year. In the three times they ran through an adequate enough version of a Beatles classic, the tall bumbling football player managed to make an awkward routine even awkwarder by stiffening up in what seemed to be fear every time Rachel Berry danced around him. The pregnant girl in the back looked to Jesse like she was about to punch the kid out right there, and the mowhawked guy who followed her around faithfully had been sending Jesse looks throughout the entire rehearsal, apparently as aware of the looks his lady was giving Jesse as Jesse was. He sighed.

As the group finally dissipated one by one, Jesse was left with the awkwardly tall guy, Mr. Schuester, and Rachel Berry, discussing what worked in the number (mainly Rachel, in Jesse's opinion), what didn't (the "trouble some people were having with the dance number"), and how to better address them. Jesse sat and waited as they finished, and Rachel shot out of the room as if on fire, throwing an almost missable second glance at Jesse before she cleared the door. Jesse must have had his thoughts all over his face, because the Frankenteen approached him with a knowing smile.

"So it's Jesse right?" he asked, sticking his hand out. "I'm Finn Hudson, co-captain."

"Nice to meet you Finn," Jesse took his hand and returned the gesture.

"How did you offend Rachel?" Jesse stopped in his tracks, giving Finn a bizarre look "She refused to talk to you. Then she stormed out and back-glanced dramatically. Something happened that she is unhappy with you about"

Jesse was floored. His initial instincts about the dumb jock were turning out to not be accurate. This guy was good.

"I asked her if she was okay. This was directly after a frozen beverage was thrown in her face."

"Ah." Finn said, recognition dawning. "She doesn't like to be spoken to while shes covered in slushie. It's one of those personality quirks she has"

Jesse gave him an incredulous look "You mean this isn't the first time its happened?"

"Nah man. Rachel used to get slushied every day. Then we sort were dating for like a week, and it stopped, but then..." the tall teen trailed off, giving Jesse some key information about the mystery girl.

She was single.

As they said goodbye to Mr. Schue, Jesse and Finn continued to walk down the hall, still talking.

"So it isn't normally that intense in rehearsal?" Jesse asked, uncertain if he wanted negative or positive confirmation on that question.

"Nah man. The past week has been kind of stressful on everyone. Even winning sectionals hasn't really helped," Finn explained "but hopefully once she gets over her diva fit we'll be back to normal. Normal for us at least"

Jesse laughed. Maybe this Finn Hudson could be useful.

"What kind of songs does your club usually do?" Jesse started, trying to subtly get a taste for the teams preferred performance numbers. He noted that it took Finn a minute to get back to him A real team captain would know that instantly

"Alot of more unknown stuff" he stated, forehead still creased in apparent deep thought. "Mr. Schue is kind of big on Nineties rap" (Jesse almost threw up as Finn said this, horrified at the thought of a serious show choir rap routine) "and of course classic rock. We do a lot of classic rock"

In Ohio apparently thats all they know how to play Jesse thought, inwardly grimacing at the suggestions given to him

"How does Schuester feel about more contemporary rock?" he asked, hoping that Finn would be able to answer it without his head exploding from too much thought.

"He's actually pretty open to whatever. We've done stuff from, like, Broadway and stuff, and the next week done a song by the first American Idol winner"

Jesse nodded, choosing to ignore the slight to the Great White Way by being mentioned in the same breath as American Idol, and began to tick through his iTunes library mentally. Having reached the doors to the school, Finn turned to face him.

"Well dude it was nice to meet you. I hope your audition goes well tomorrow" he stuck his hand out once again, and Jesse shook it.

"It was nice to meet you too. Thanks for the info about the club. I appreciate it."

Finn headed off towards where Jesse presumed was the football field, and he himself passed through the double doors and into the parking lot, his moving guilt-present Range Rover his new destination. Sliding into the black vehicle, he threw his backpack in the back seat and began to flick through the tracks on the stereo. Finally finding the one he wanted, he started the ignition and began to drive, trademark smirk plastered into place as he realized he had the perfect tune for this audition. He officially could not wait to assert his position into that club, and the strong opening song he had will only make that easier.

xxx

Jesse walked to the middle of the stage the next day, the New Directions team sitting in the rows in front of him. He was not nervous. He wasn't.

Except for that foreign feeling he got whenever he saw Rachel Berry, like the adrenaline rush right before he bounded onstage to perform but this time for one specific person in mind to impress. He shook his head slightly to clear away these pesky thoughts. Shes just some diva. He needed to focus.

"Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to prove what I can bring to New Directions," Jesse began, enunciating every word. "Instead of going the conventional Broadway route, I have chosen to follow the advice of one of your own, and pick a song relatively unknown, but an excellent fit to showcase my abilities. The song is done by Thrice, and is titled In Exile"

He glanced behind him at the band, who he had found in his run through earlier were surprisingly very talented for a high school ensemble. He was glad to find that they were familiar with the song he had chosen, considering how it was not widely popular to people who were used to busting out everything but newer alternative music. He caught a break with them, and he knew it.

Nodding at them, they began the intro to the song. The slow meandering guitar was quickly joined by the other, and finally the bass and drums began pounding out the rhythm. Jesse licked his lips and began to sing.

I am in exile, a sojourner

A citizen of some other place

All I've seen is just a glimmer in a shadowy mirror

But I know, one day well see face to face

I am a nomad, a wanderer

I have nowhere to lay my head down

There's no point in putting roots too deep when I'm moving on

Not settling for this unsettling town

Jesse could have laughed if he wasn't belting out the post-hardcore version of a power ballad. This song was what he had listened to nonstop since his flight from L.A. had landed. He felt like he was in exile here in Ohio. All his pent up anger, all his unrevealed inner turmoil that his parents had caused by uprooting him in the middle of his school year, killing his shots for another championship in the western conference, all came spilling out into his performance. It was like his high. He escaped doing this.

My heart is filled with songs of forever

The city that endures when all is made new

I know I don't belong here, I'll never

Call this place my home, I'm just passing through

I am a pilgrim, a voyager

I wont rest until my lips touch the shore

Of the land that I've been longing for as long as I've lived

Where they'll be no pain or tears anymore

My heart is filled with songs of forever

The city that endures when all is made new

I know I don't belong here, I'll never

Call this place my home, I'm just passing through

He knew he was sweating at this point. The final swelling of his voice, the strong clear calling of his higher notes being hit strained his talent, but he had won enough competitions to know when he was nailing a solo. And Jesse St. James was in the middle of nailing a solo.

Ohhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhh ohhhh ohhhhhh

ohhhhhhh ohhhh ohhhhhhhhhhh

The last notes of the music finished before his voice did, the echoing of it filling the auditorium impressively. His breath finally exhaled in an exuberant aural display, he opened his eyes.

xxx

Rachel was floored. By someone other than herself, which made it all the more astonishing.

She had somewhat expected him to be impressive, his demeanor was certainly that of a miva, and Rachel Barbara Berry herself being a diva understood that you only obtained that level of self-assuredness once you've earned it. But his singing actually stunned her. Every note, every swell of the music was nothing but background noise to her, a distracting irritant from not hearing his voice exclusively.

She looked immediately at Mr. Schue who was sporting the mirror look of herself. As was everyone in the room. Except Jesse. He just looked pleased with himself.

She decided in that second she did not need to think about it, all she knew was that if she and Jesse St. James were put in the same song together, her shot at fleeing this cow town was just that much closer.

"I would like to call a vote" she said, her voice ringing loudly and clearly to her fellow clubbers, all in some variation of revered silence of the performance they just witnessed. "All in favor of admitting Jesse St. James into New Directions?"

Thirteen hands shot up simultaneously. If possible, Jesse's smirk got more pronounced.

Rachel looked pointedly at Mr. Schuester, who hadn't realized that his glee club had just unanimously agreed to something for the first time ever. He stood up and addressed the young man onstage.

"I guess the tribe has spoken. Welcome to New Directions Jesse."

The kids began to clap, and Jesse came down from the stage to join his new team. Shaking hands with Mr. Schuester and hugging the other members, Rachel stood off to the side, and approached him as the rest of the club made their way out, all jubilantly shouting about how Vocal Adrenaline wasn't going to know what hit them.

He looked at her with an air of suspicion, that she couldn't blame him for. She had been rather awful to him for no reason.

"I'm Rachel Berry" she said, sticking her hand out to his "I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

He took it a little bemusedly, and returned the professional introduction.

"I'm Jesse St. James, and now we have," he said, grinning genuinely at her instead of the smirk.

They both stood there for a moment in silence, not knowing what to say. Rachel finally broke it.

"I apologize for our initial meeting," she began, a little awkwardly, her professional demeanor not as present "It was completely rude and I apologize profusely." Profusely? Really Berry? Oh dear God.

He smiled. "No worries. I was hoping it wouldn't affect my nomination into the club. Anything less than unanimous might as well be a loss in my opinion." His eyes were a sparkling blue, and mischievous under the stray curl or two across his forehead from his performance. Very cute stray curls, as a matter of fact.

"Excellent. I'm happy to put this behind us for a fresh start." driving any thoughts of curls (cute or otherwise) from her mind, she quickly moved into efficiency mode "Since you're now a member, I'll need to get your contact information and give you a copy of the rehearsal schedule. You'll also need to speak with Mr. Schuester about your range, considering how you can hit notes Finn is highly unlikely to without an assist from God, so you might be quickly moving into a few lead spots in some numbers. Sound okay?"

He smirked again at her mention of Finn's (lack of) abilities, and she took that as a non-verbal "okay" from him.

"Excellent. We practice again tomorrow at 3:30, and you'll need to see your counselor to get you switched into Mr. Schuesters music period which is the academic part to New Directions" She said this all very quickly, and stuck out her hand again to him. "Welcome to the team Jesse St. James."

"Thank you Rachel Berry." he returned, grasping her hand again. She let go quickly and began to walk away, a quick "see you tomorrow" thrown over her shoulder.

She didn't dare do a parting glance at himthis time, instead just focused on getting herself out of the April Rhodes Civic Pavilion as quickly as her feet would carry her. If she had, she would've seen the self-assured boy watching her go with a look that indicated a little more than just curiosity for the firecracker that was Rachel Berry.

xxx

A/N 2: If any of you are interested, the song Jesse chose can be heard in it's original version by one of my favorite band's (Thrice) right here. .com/watch?v=RDrTkd1618Q Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!