A New Generation is Born

by A-LionGleek

It's the first official week of glee club sessions for the 13 newest members of the New Directions, and they are more than ready to get the show on the road. But with drama popping up at every turn, the beginning of their time in glee club will be far from easy. Can the 13 brand new gleeks handle it all and show that they have what it takes to be a worthy new generation of gleeks?

1. A Good Feeling

Greetings dear readers and fellow gleeks! It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that I now proudly present the 1st chapter of my newest addition to my collection of Glee-ful literature! Here's to hoping that (even in spite of how long it took for me to finish this chapter and get it posted following the creation and posting of that oneshot I treated you to at the beginning of this month) you all read, review, and enjoy! Because believe me, now that I'm very much back at work in creating stories for the Glee fanfiction community, I VERY MUCH intend to leave you with material that more than makes up for the wait I put you through during my time in the Teen Titans fanfiction community as well as leaves you more than willing to wait again the next time I ever go on Glee FF hiatus. That being said, prepare to be amazed people! Onward! With! The! Fic!

A/N: Wait . . . what's this? OH! Oops! Almost forgot! Quick reminder everyone! I do not own Glee, nor any recognized characters from within the canon of that show! I do, however, own the 13 OCs you all know and love from my original Glee: We are Family story! And I also own a respectable collection of . . . related elements . . . ;) associated with these 13 OCs that get a well deserved introduction in this story. Sound intriguing? I certainly hope so! NOW onward we go with the fic!

Chapter 1:

A Good Feeling

It was a beautiful Monday in late August 2035. To be more precise, it was August 25, 2035. And for one Will Schuester, this Monday was going to be a very important day. He looked out the window of his kitchen, a smile on his face and his green eyes agleam. "Today's gonna be a great day," he thought to himself. "I just know it."

And indeed, he couldn't have possibly been more excited about what would be happening this day then he currently was. He turned his head away from the window and resumed his purposeful, yet careful, dining of his plate of bacon, toast, and eggs. He wanted to be sure that he'd finished his breakfast before he went to work. And if he failed to have his morning coffee here at his house beforehand, he could always get a coffee at his place of business. The place in question that he worked at, was the local high school, William McKinley High, located all the way in the somewhat lame, unmemorable, and hardly exciting, yet also familiar, comforting, and quite homey for many of its natives, town of Lima, Ohio. And today, was the beginning of a new year at McKinley High.

Ok, not entirely true. The actual school year itself had, crazily enough, officially begun the previous Friday. But with this Monday, McKinley High would be undergoing its first full week of school time for the 2035-2036 school year. However, this little tidbit was hardly the true reason behind Will Schuester's current excitement for the day to unfold. Not at all. As proud as he was to still be the proud and hardworking American History teacher at McKinley High, it was his other position amongst the faculty of the school that had him especially excited this day. He was also the equally proud, hardworking, passionate, and loyal instructor and manager of the school's resident glee club, the New Directions. And as of the past Friday, he now had a 100% brand new generation of members to train and teach in this club, starting today.

He sighed as he had this thought. "Part of me still can't believe that this is actually happening . . . again." Sometimes, in his mind, it seemed only yesterday that he'd been doing his usual work alongside the last group of students he'd had in the New Directions. And of course, no matter how many generations of New Directions members came and went, he would never forget Finn and Rachel.

But of course, today was not one of those long-gone days from the past. Finn and Rachel were elsewhere in the world, and so were virtually every other New Directions member he knew . . . except for the 13 brand new members he'd gotten just the previous Friday.

He smiled. "An entire brand new generation of New Directions," he thought to himself. "Thirteen new members. No leftover members from previous years. Thirteen members. Thirteen, 100%, brand new members." He nodded his head. "It's like I've been granted a clean slate after so many other overlapping previous generations of New Directions members." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And by God, I am going to make sure that I allow these 13 new students to become just as much like family to me as all the others to have come before them." He resumed his eating. "Today is the club's first official meetings for the school year. God I'm looking forward to this."

"I see someone's excited."

Will turned his head. Standing at the nearest entrance to the kitchen was his wife Emma. Mr. Schuester smiled, he knew that she hadn't entirely needed to come to the kitchen right now. She and their young son Victor had already finished their own breakfast a good half an hour before him after all. Clearly, she'd come to the kitchen just because she felt like checking up on him, and that always made him happy. "What can I say?" he extended his hands out sideways as if shrugging. "A new day, a new week, a new age." He smiled. "A new generation."

Emma chuckled. "I knew you'd be excited about the new kids."

"Yes you did." He turned his head, sighed in content, and took another few bites of his food. "I will admit. I'm still pleasantly surprised that all 13 of the kids you were so impressed by at that talent show two years ago actually made it into my club this year."

"Clearly, God wanted them in the New Directions just as much as I did."

"I suppose you could say that."

For a few minutes, Mr. Schuester silently ate his food. He eventually ate the last bite, got up from his seat, and cleared the table of his plate and silverware. As he did so, Emma spoke again. "You are aware how much time you could have to get to know them before now has passed you by over the last two years right?"

"I understand that Emma."

"I mean it Will," Emma insisted, strictly to make sure that her husband truly understood what he was getting into rather than out of a necessity for nagging. "The New Directions may consist of 13 entirely brand new members now; but out of all of them, 4 of them are sophomores, 8 of them are juniors, and one of them is a senior. That's not entirely the most ideal amount of time you could have to make your usual impression on them, especially not for the senior."

"I know I've been keeping them waiting over the last 2 years." Will briefly paused in his quick pre-dishwasher rinsing of his dishes. "Well technically 3 years in the case of the senior, but that's not the point." He turned from the sink to face Emma once more. "Look Emma, I know that I've never yet really allowed myself to get to know these kids as well over the last few years as I did for Tess, Riley, and the other members that graduated last year." He lifted his finger as if to emphasize his point. "But I've had so many students in this club already, all of them with varying amounts of years at school in which they were affiliated with me and my club, and I've been able to properly get to know every single one of them. Admittedly, some I've taken my time to get to know considerably longer than with others, but I've still always managed to reach the exact same level of appreciation and respect with them nonetheless."

Will turned around to face the window above the kitchen sink once more, sighing in content and determination. "And starting today, I am going to make damn sure that I get well on the way to achieving the exact same kind of love and respect for these new kids as I have with every single one of their predecessors; and that includes the senior."

He finished his preliminary rinsing of the dishes, loaded them into the nearby dishwasher, and then checked his watch. He smiled. It was 7:15 in the morning. He still had plenty of time. "I'm gonna go make my final preparations," he began as he made his way out of the kitchen. "And then I'll be off to work. I'll see you there later this morning. And if Victor's not finished with his own preparations by the time I've left, tell him I wish him luck."

"Can do."

"Awesome." Will exited the kitchen and made his way upstairs to the bathroom. Today was going to be a busy day. And he still couldn't wait to get it started. And judging by how happy Emma was about just who his club's newest members had turned out to be, he was certain that she'd be just as excited to have a chance at truly getting to know them as well when they ended up having to talk to her about the drama that always seemed to inevitably pop up amongst the members of the New Directions. And speaking of those kids, from their enthusiastic response to the news of them being granted membership after their auditions the previous Friday, he had a good feeling that they were just as excited about today as he was.

. . . . .

At 6:00 in the morning, in a house located in a separate neighborhood from the Schuester family, an Amazon Alexa device started loudly playing Taylor Swift's Our Song. A fair skinned hand extended out from underneath the covers of the bed next to the device's location and pressed the appropriate button, sending the machine into snooze mode.

With the music ended just as abruptly as it had begun, 16-year old Diana Eberhart withdrew her hand from her Alexa and rose into a sitting position, allowing her head, left arm, and her entire upper body to join her right arm outside the covers of her bed. Her eyes still closed, Diana stretched her arms into the year, simultaneously letting out a yawn. She lowered her arms, shook her head side to side slightly, and rubbed her eyes, letting out another yawn. She lowered her hands from her eyes, which finally opened to reveal a pair of still relatively tired looking emerald green orbs.

Diana turned her head to look at the small digital clock located right next to her Alexa, and a small tired smile came on her face as she saw that it was now 6:01 am. Smile still on her face, she reached for the Alexa and pressed the off button, shutting off her still snoozing alarm. On most other school days, especially ones as early in the school year as this one, she would allow herself to sleep in long enough for her alarm to go off a second time. This time, however, she had an especially good reason to make sure that she woke up as early as she could and allowed herself as much time to get ready as possible. "Today's the day," she thought to herself.

Diana proceeded to slide her legs out from under the covers and over the side of the bed, yawning one more time in the process. She shook her head side to side afterwards, trying her best to shake off her lingering tiredness. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and got up from her bed entirely. Despite still being somewhat tired, she wasted no time at all in going to the chest of drawers within her room and changing out of her pajamas and into an appropriate outfit she thought would work for today. Now dressed in some dark blue jeans and a long sleeved yellow shirt, she took a deep breath, and sighed in content. She turned to face her bedroom door. "Here goes nothing," she thought to herself. She departed from her bedroom, ready to start the day.

She made it all the way out of her room and halfway down the stairs leading to the first floor of her house when she finally noticed a very unexpected scent coming from the kitchen. She stopped, and took a deep whiff of the smell. Her eyes widened with surprise, and a delighted smile came on her face as she recognized the scent for what it was. She hurriedly, yet still quietly, proceeded the rest of the way down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

Sure enough, much to her delight, the delightful scent she'd caught while walking down the stairs was the smell of cooking banana pancakes. In fact, she could actually see her mother standing at the stove right now. She stepped forward into the kitchen. "Good morning mom," she said.

Candace Eberhart, a blonde much like her daughter, turned her head, a smile on her face as she noticed Diana now inside the kitchen with her. She nodded her head, blue eyes agleam. "Morning sweetie," she said. "You're up early."

Diana couldn't help but chuckle. She knew her mother wasn't usually this cheerful this early in the morning, let alone awake this early in the morning. She folded her arms across her chest. "I could say the same thing about you right now mom." She gestured towards the stove, delighted smile still on her face. "I notice you're baking banana pancakes. What's the occasion?"

Candace smiled, and shook her head side to side while flipping over another pancake on the stove. "Is it required for there to be a special occasion for me to cook my own daughter's favorite breakfast food?"

"Well no," Diana admitted. "Not really." She gestured towards her mother and the cooking pancakes. "It's just, it so rarely happens any day that isn't a special occasion. Granted, you did buy a pretty large stock of bananas this weekend, but I wasn't expecting . . ."

"Well in a sense, today does sort of have a special occasion attached to it."

Candace smiled upon hearing this newly added voice in the conversation, as she could see the person who'd spoken quite easily thanks to her position. Diana turned her head, surprised at the unexpected additional voice, only for her eyes to widen in delight upon recognizing none other than her father, Bertram Eberhart standing in the exact kitchen entrance that she herself had just used. "Dad," she said, not at all trying to hide her happiness. "You're up early."

"Yes I am." Her father rubbed his hands through his dark hair, an unusually happy smile on his face considering how early in the morning he was currently awake. "And for two very good reasons." He briefly checked his watch. "For starters, today I need to go in to work early; in fact, I need to be there by 7:15 today instead of the usual 8:00 am." He lowered his watch, smile back on his face, and his green eyes agleam as he looked at his daughter. "The other reason," he stepped forward into the kitchen and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Is that today, my baby girl finally gets truly started on the next step to becoming the big-name actress she's dreamed of being."

In that moment, the entire puzzle became clear. She looked at her mother, and then at her father. "All this," she began. "You're celebrating my making it into the glee club last Friday."

Her father smiled. "Right on the money baby girl."

Diana looked over at her mother, who nodded her head, silently adding further confirmation.

"You've dreamed of making it on Broadway for so long," Candace began. She looked directly in her daughter's eyes, smiling still. "Two years ago, you were able to make your first big step by taking part in that talent show. But for the two years that followed, progress became so halted. Now, at the very beginning of your junior year, you've finally taken yet another big step towards achieving that goal. You have joined the New Directions, the exact same club that Rachel Berry and so many other modern celebrities have managed to take part in. And if that club could make a star out of Rachel Berry and so many other former students alongside her," she paused long enough to flip another pancake, "then it can make a star out of you just as easily." She turned off the stove, and carefully transferred the pancakes from the pan to a nearby large plate. With the transfer completed, she turned back around and gestured towards the plate. "With such a big milestone, you've more than earned a banana pancake breakfast."

Diana shook her head side to side, her face practically glowing with gratitude and joy. "You really didn't have to do this."

Her mother smiled. "I know. That's what makes us so nice." She picked up the plate of pancakes and carried it over to her daughter. "Here," she said. "Take them and eat them." She nodded her head. "You've earned it."

Diana looked at the plate of pancakes, then at her mom, then at the plate. She nodded her head, and gingerly accepted the plate of pancakes. She set the plate down on the table, noticing happily that someone had already gotten out the syrup and silverware she'd need. She sat down at her chosen spot and prepared to start eating. She looked up at her parents while still cutting her serving of pancakes. "Aren't you gonna join me?"

"We will," said Candace. She nodded her head and gestured at her daughter. "But you don't have to wait for us to prepare our own breakfasts. Not today. You can go ahead and start eating. You've earned it for today. And besides," she looked at her husband. "Your father won't be sticking around to celebrate alongside us this morning as long as he otherwise would."

"Indeed," Bertram agreed. He walked over to the fridge and started digging around in the freezer before eventually drawing out a package of Jimmy Dean sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwiches. "Don't get me wrong. Under any other circumstances, I'd gladly stick around to celebrate with you and your mother. But I'll need to leave by 6:30 today, so I can't stick around to chat and linger as long as I'd like."

Diana nodded her head. "I understand." She looked at her mother. "You're absolutely sure. . ."

"I insist Diana," her mother said firmly, but kindly. "Go ahead and get started. I'll join you when I'm ready."

Diana thought to herself, and then nodded. "If you say so mom." She finished cutting her pancakes, applied the syrup, and started eating. At just the first bite, she closed her eyes and hummed at the delicious taste she knew so well. Already she couldn't wait to get the rest of the day underway. "Today's going to be a great day," she thought to herself as she ate. "I can feel it." Her smile widened as she thought about the other 12 students who'd be in the glee club alongside her. "I sure hope they're looking forward to this as much as I am."

. . . . .

At the exact same time, in the house right next door, another family was already hard at work in eating their own breakfast. All three members of the family in question each had a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and buttered toast. And of the three of them, the young boy about the same age as Diana seemed in an especially good mood as he carefully worked to finish his own serving, his gray eyes agleam. "Today's going to be a great day," he thought to himself. "I can feel it."

The boy's mother soon noticed this detail, and she chuckled, placing her half eaten 2nd slice of toast back on her plate. "You're sure in a good mood this morning Daniel."

Daniel Taymor chuckled, ate another spoonful of egg, and swallowed it after careful chewing. "Yes," he admitted. "I suppose I am." He reached up and brushed his fingers through his black hair. Then he resumed his eating. "I don't know. I guess I just have this instinctive feeling that today's going to be a good day." He smiled. "And the start of a great year to."

"Well its certainly good to see you so optimistic right now."

Daniel's father, Peter, a very well built and strong man with black hair and an equally dark stubble, chuckled at his own comment, and finished off the rest of his eggs. He picked up one of his remaining 3 strips of bacon and consumed half of it in one bite. "If you stay this happy throughout the rest of the year, I'm sure you'll do very well indeed."

Daniel chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "You could say that."

His mother, Wendy, chuckled, tossed her blonde hair side to side once, and then directed a teasing smirk towards her son. "You sure that your current mood doesn't have anything to do with the fact that today's the day that club you joined last Friday has its first official meetings for the school year?"

Daniel almost choked on the bite of toast he had in his mouth. He managed to keep himself from choking, and safely chewed and swallowed the toasted and buttered bread.

"What's this about?"

Wendy looked over at her husband. "Didn't Daniel tell you? He joined the New Directions last Friday."

Her husband raised his eyebrow, a slightly confused, yet also slowly increasing comprehension in his dark eyes. "You mean the glee club?"

His wife nodded. "Correct." She gestured over at Daniel, smiling with pride. "And from what he tells me, Zach and Diana made it into the New Directions with him, and so did a respectably sized bunch of other students that I'm sure could yet prove to be good friends of his over the course of this year."

Daniel let a nervous smile come on his face, though he was internally feeling just as much nervous as he was excited.

His father looked his way. "Is this true?"

Daniel mentally gulped, took a deep breath, and nodded his head. "Yes dad," he responded. "It's true." Admittedly, part of him was feeling glad to have finally told his dad about that little detail and regretting having thought it necessary to tell his mom and keep it hidden from his dad until now. The other part of him, however, was somewhat nervous about how his father would react.

Peter Taymor, rather appropriately considering how well built he was, was one of the highest-ranking mechanics at the local car repair shop Hummel Tires and Lube. More than once over the course of many years, he had expressed some mild hopes of his son eventually following in his footsteps. Admittedly, Daniel had at first been quite willing to consider the idea during his elementary school years. However, over the course of his time in middle school, he had come to strongly idolize the surprisingly famous Lima-born teacher Finn Hudson, and had later found himself developing a surprisingly skilled singing voice. Thus, he'd become quite willing to either become a teacher like his idol or perhaps maybe an actor alongside his close friend Diana, whom he'd recently started to suspect he was beginning to develop romantic feelings for. But despite his newfound confidence in his wanting to pursue this new dream, he had been understandably nervous about telling his dad about it due to how his father had seemed so happy about and invested in the idea of him becoming a mechanic instead. In fact, the only time his father had ever even heard him sing before had been at a talent show two years' prior that had occurred not too long after his middle school graduation.

For what seemed like an eternity, his father stared intently at Daniel, the boy finding himself increasingly nervous and with increasing difficulty at letting it outwardly show. Eventually, his father nodded, a still firm, but now slightly warmer, glow in his eyes. "I see." He picked up his third, and currently only uneaten, slice of toast and took a bite out of it. "Well then, I guess we'd best hope this proves a happy experience for you son."

Daniel gaped at his father in stunned confusion. "Wha . . . you're not . . . upset?"

Peter raised his eyebrow. "Why would I be upset?"

Wendy chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "Boys," she thought to herself.

Daniel looked down at his plate, briefly lost for words. "Well, I'm glad you're not; really I am. It's just that. . ." He sighed. "Well, you've always been talking about someday training me to take your place at the tire shop."

His father thought to himself. "True; but last time I checked, this is a free country." He nodded. "Things change. And people are free to make their own decisions and follow their own paths." He looked back at his son. "Why should the fact that you've joined the glee club make me upset?"

Daniel thought to himself. "Well," he began. "It's just that, you've only ever heard me sing once, and that was two years ago." He shook his head side to side. "I mean, I thought that you believed that singing was just a hobby too me, and that my idolizing Finn Hudson was just a phase." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Not to mention, you also seemed to really have your heart set on me taking your place at the tire shop, and I didn't want to let you down, break your heart, or ruin some big dream you had or something. . ."

"Is this really you talking?" his father asked. "Or is this more of that bull-headed rubbish from that Nelson boy?"

Daniel paused. "Um. . ."

Peter sighed, and nodded his head up and down. "Daniel. I've told you this before, and I'm not afraid to reassure you on it again, but I am not Rick Nelson." He shook his head side to side. "If that man's dead set on having his son follow in his footsteps as a professional hockey player and is vehemently opposed to him pursuing any career but that, then that's his problem." He looked up at his son. "Look Daniel, I'll admit, maybe if this had happened at any time before that talent show two years ago, or sometime in the future with you already having a position at the shop, I perhaps would have been upset about you deciding on something different."

He pointed his finger at Daniel as if to emphasize a point. "But this isn't the time and age where boys were strictly required to always follow in their father's footsteps when it comes to career and how they spend their life. And this family isn't one of those families that still acts as if it is. I may have entertained the idea of you being my direct successor at the tire shop one day while you were in elementary school, but just about anybody around here could become a mechanic at Hummel Tires and Lube. What's more important to me is that you do what makes you happy." He nodded his head. "Tell me Daniel, being in this club, do you think that it will make you happy?"

Daniel thought to himself. Eventually, after careful consideration, he nodded his head up and down. "Yes."

"If you were to become a singer, actor, or anything else that would make you at all like Finn Hudson in the future, do you think you would be happy?"

Daniel thought carefully to himself once more. "Yes," he eventually responded. "I do believe I would."

Peter nodded, his hand making a 'see what I mean' gesture. "Then go ahead," he said. "Be a member of the New Directions and be happy. Like I said, as happy as I'd be to have you take my place at the shop, I'll be far happier if you follow and achieve the dream that in the end makes you happy. And if singing and dancing in a glee club and becoming similar to Finn Hudson in any capacity is what's gonna make you happy, then by God, I'm not gonna be the one heartless enough to try to stop you." He nodded his head. "You're my son Daniel, not my clone. And I love you, and would rather see you as you can possibly be in a job of your own choosing then being only half as happy, if at all happy, in a job that you only thought you'd want because it was what I might have thought you wanted." He extended his hand and placed it over his son's own right hand. "So go on out there with the New Directions and enjoy yourself." He let an almost teasing smile come on his face. "Besides," he then said. "I'm sure Diana will like it much better if you were to make it into New York alongside her then be stuck here in Lima as a lowly mechanic, now won't she?"

This earned a chuckle from Wendy. "You know I could have told him that for you Peter."

Daniel hung his head, his face starting to turn a respectable shade of red from mild embarrassment. "Seriously dad?" he thought to himself. But nonetheless, as he eventually resumed eating the last of his breakfast food, he couldn't help but feel considerably happier then he'd already felt before his mother had broken the news about his joining the glee club to his dad. "That actually went a whole lot better than I thought it would." He nodded his head, still chewing a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "At this rate, today's definitely gonna be a good day." He turned his head to direct his smile towards the glass door behind him. "Heck, at this rate, the entire week will probably be just as great as today's going to be." His smile widened, a confidant gleam now in his gray eyes. "Maybe even the whole year."

. . . . .

Calvin Martenson crunched and gnawed at the breakfast cereal in his mouth, snarling hungrily with delight as he did so. "Today's going to be a fantastic day," he thought to himself, his black eyes agleam with excitement. "I just know it." He swallowed his current mouthful of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, and then hungrily wolfed down another 3. "And the sooner I finish my breakfast, the sooner I can get this fantastic day properly started." He chomped up another mouthful of cereal, practically growling with delight as he gnawed and crunched it up.

"Someone's excited this morning."

Calvin paused in his chewing, his eyes wide with shock. He turned his head, and then promptly swallowed his bite of cereal and let a sheepish grin come on his face upon sight of the half amused and half meaningful look his mother was directing towards him from her seat at the table.

"Sorry mom," said Calvin. He took another bite from his bowl of cereal, this time making carefully sure to eat it in a somewhat more civilized manner then the last few bites. He chewed it up, swallowed, and sighed in content. "I'm just really excited today."

"I noticed." His mother turned her head to look behind her son. "There's hardly any other reason behind moments in which you start eating your food in the same style that Hobbes does."

Upon hearing this, Calvin turned his head. Sure enough, his very well trained therapy dog, a German shepherd named Hobbes, was right at that very moment still ravenously engorging himself on the generous serving of dog food in his food bowl, snarling and growling in much the same way his currently still 15-year old master had been not too long ago. Calvin chuckled nervously, turned his head to face his cereal once more, and shook his head side to side. "Yeah," he said sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Well regardless of table matters, at least you're in a good mood."

The speaker, Calvin's father Gerald, chuckled, his blue eyes agleam. He took a bite from his toast, and then scratched his head, which, like his son's, was covered in golden yellow blonde hair. Many people had noted how much Calvin looked the way his father had looked when in high school. He had the same fair skin, the same hair, and many other elements that made him a virtual spitting image of his dad from teenage years. Except for the eyes. Those had come from his mother. Gerald Martenson chuckled again, and looked over at his wife. "You've gotta admit Mallory, beastly table manners or not, at least he's happy."

Mallory Martenson, a dark-haired woman with lightly tanned fair skin, rolled her dark eyes in mock annoyance. "Good mood or not, his table manners this morning nonetheless leave room for improvement." She looked back at her son, a now warm smile on her face. "But even so, I am happy just the same to see that you're happy this morning."

Calvin smiled back. "Thanks mom."

He returned his attention to finishing his cereal. Once he was finished, he took his bowl to the sink, rinsed out the small amount of milk that remained in the bowl, and placed it in the nearby dishwasher. He checked his watch. "6:45," he noted. He looked back at his parents. "What time do we leave again mom?"

His mother chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "7:30 sweetie," she responded. "Like always."

"Right," said Calvin, another sheepish look on his face. "Of course. Sorry."

His dad chuckled again. "You must really be looking forward to your first official meetings in the New Directions today if you're this excited about getting the day started."

Calvin let out a sheepish chuckle of his own. "That obvious huh?"

Hobbes, having eaten enough to satisfy his own hunger for breakfast right as Calvin had started rinsing out his cereal bowl, let a clear canine equivalent of a smug smirk come on his face as if silently saying 'you bet'.

Calvin's mother nodded her head. "Calvin, your father and I have been living with you and your Autism for nearly 11 years now. If there's anything about you and your behavior left to surprise us, we haven't seen it yet." She smiled, her dark eyes agleam. "We can tell how you feel without even needing to hear you speak just by seeing what your body's saying. And since today's otherwise an ordinary Monday early in the current school year, it's obvious that whatever you're so excited about has something to do with you, Hobbes, and Susan, attending your first official meetings with the glee club after joining it last Friday."

Calvin thought to himself, and then nodded, shrugging his shoulders in acknowledgement. After all, he'd been diagnosed at age 5 with Autism. And over the course of the 10-11 years that had followed this diagnosis, his life had been understandably difficult. In fact, it was only thanks to his family, Hobbes, and his very close (not to mention only) friend his age, Susan Caraway, that he'd gotten as far as he currently had. "Fair enough," he admitted.

Hobbes snorted, his tone making it seem very much like an attempt at a chuckle.

Gerald ate the last of his toast, stretched his hands in the air, and let out a slight yawn. "Well son," he said. "I'll definitely say this; I hope you and Hobbes have as good of a day today as you currently think it's going to be." He got up from the table and walked towards the entrance to the living room. "But remember, if any situations arise, try not to let Hobbes get too banged up. I've already got enough pets to deal with at the vet's office these days."

Calvin chuckled. "I'll try my best." He looked over at Hobbes with a smug grin on his face. "But just how well I'll do at keeping it is gonna depend just as much on Hobbes as it will on me."

Hobbes directed an irritated canine glare at his master, rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue in a rather petulant manner. Calvin couldn't help but chuckle at the rather puppyish way his dog had just behaved.

"Just make sure you do your part, and whether Hobbes holds his part is up to him."

Calvin's father paused long enough to give his wife a kiss, and then he departed from the kitchen. "See you later honey."

"Bye," said Calvin's mother, a smile on her face, and with a wave of her hand. "Have a good day at the vets'!"

"Tell them Hobbes said hi!" yelled Calvin.

"I'll try," responded Gerald.

The second Gerald was out of sight and earshot, Mallory directed an amused look at her son once more. "You just always have to say that, don't you?"

Calvin chuckled. "You know me mom. That's just how I roll."

Hobbes barked twice in a clear canine means of saying 'here, here'.

Calvin's mother chuckled, and rolled her eyes in mock annoyance once more. She took a final sip of her tea. "So it is." She looked up at the nearby clock. "Well, it's 7:00 now." She turned her head back to her son. "You should still have enough time to give Hobbes a quick walk around the neighborhood."

Calvin smiled. "Sounds like a plan." He looked at Hobbes. "Come on boy!"

Hobbes barked once in apparent happiness, and eagerly followed Calvin as the boy left the kitchen and made his way to the front door of the Martenson household.

"Just make sure you get back with enough time to brush your teeth and do all your other preparations!"

"Don't worry mom!" said Calvin as he and Hobbes walked out the door. "I will. I always do! Come on Hobbes." Hobbes exited the door, and Calvin closed it.

Calvin's mother chuckled, and shook her head side to side, a sentimental sigh escaping her lips. "Indeed you do," she said in agreement with her son. She nodded her head. "Here's me hoping that today is as good of a day as Calvin currently expects it to be." She looked over at a small framed photograph on the wall of herself, Gerald, Calvin, and Hobbes, with the equally happy addition of Susan. She smiled warmly as she gazed at the photo. "And knowing Susan, I'm sure she's just as excited as my sweet little boy."

. . . . .

At the Caraway household, Susan was indeed exactly as excited as her autistic friend from down the street. Fortunately, unlike how Calvin had resorted to briefly engaging in a more animalistic style of eating his Honey Bunches of Oats, she was able to eat the entirety of her bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch in a far calmer manner. But even so, despite how careful she was in eating her cereal, she still showed just enough outward signs of her excitement for the day to allow her parents to catch on.

Her mother Samantha was the first to comment. "You seem rather chipper this morning."

Susan chuckled, picking up her now empty bowl and carrying it over to the kitchen sink. "Hard not to be," she admitted. "Especially considering the club I joined last Friday that's having its first official meetings for the year today."

"I can imagine," said Susan's father, Dominic. "For starters, this is the only club you and Calvin acquired membership of this year that you haven't already participated in before."

Susan turned her head from the bowl she was now rinsing out at the sink. "Really?"

"Yep." Mr. Caraway nodded his head. "For the last two years, you and Calvin were in the animal welfare club. You're in that club again this year. You and Calvin were in the book club for the last two years. You're in that club again this year. But the glee club?" He shook his head. "This is your first year as a member of that club. New waters for you two." He turned his head to properly face his daughter once more. "Anybody would be excited with those kinds of circumstances."

Ms. Caraway chuckled. "You can say that again." She looked back at her daughter. "Not to mention sweetie, I'm sure you and Calvin will find plenty of new friends amongst the other 11 students you say got in alongside you."

Susan chuckled, shook her head side to side, and returned her attention to the bowel she was rinsing. "We'll see mom."

"And it will be especially nice if any of the boys in that club alongside you and Calvin turn out to be just as nice as him," her father added. His eyes then narrowed in a brief flash of anger and annoyance. "God knows how you don't need any more of those dirty self-righteous pigs like Miles Surette and all those other future rapists amongst the McKinley High jocks on your heels."

Susan sighed upon hearing her father mention that one little detail. Admittedly, a tiny part of her was flattered that there were so many boys that seemed to find her attractive. Quite frankly, even she could admit that just by looking in the mirror. But she wasn't like one of those vain and self-obsessed girls that treated their appearance like their life blood and enjoyed being the center of attention for so many fawning and drooling boys. She wasn't even a member of the McKinley High cheerleading squad (or as everyone at McKinley High liked to call them, the Cheerios), and yet her beauty alone had earned her one of the highest-ranking spots on the school's unspoken girl popularity list. This, much to her annoyance, as well as that of Calvin, his therapy dog Hobbes, and her close gal pal Diana, had resulted in a very uncomfortably large number of boys being willing to try their luck at winning her over, with one particularly persistent admirer of hers being a sophomore linebacker on the McKinley High football team named Miles Surette.

"I'm still surprised that you know so much about that little detail," she commented.

"It really shouldn't be a surprise that I know about those morons and what they think and feel about you Susan." Dominic sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance as he thought of another detail. "After all, I'm the one who has to deal with their idiot fathers bragging about it at work." He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and exhaled, trying his best to keep himself calm despite this very annoying detail about his coworkers at the office he worked at. "Really, I'm getting quite sick of hearing them crowing and hooting about how their sons objectify you and act like you're some toy to be played with, or goddess to be worshipped, or prize to be won. . ."

Samantha placed her hand on her husband's. "Now, now Dominic," she said. "It's ok to get annoyed by that. And even so, you don't have to worry too much about all that." She directed a smile towards their daughter. "After all, she can take care of herself pretty well; and she also has Calvin and Hobbes around to keep her safe. And from what we've heard and seen over the last two years, those two have proven quite an effective discouragement against those thugs trying to get too far with her."

Dominic sighed. "I know that honey." He lifted his head. "But Calvin or no Calvin, she's still my daughter. And as her father, it's my unspoken duty to be worried about her safety; and especially in matters of those slimy little. . ."

"Dad."

Dominic and Samantha turned their heads in time to see their daughter, now finished with her rinsing and shaking her head side to side at their little discussion. "I get it dad, Calvin and I are just as annoyed with all those morons fawning over me as you are." She walked back to the table and gave her father a hug. "But trust me dad," she said. "I'll be fine. There's no need to worry."

Her father sighed, a sentimental look in his eyes. "That's when I worry the most," he said wistfully. But nonetheless, he returned his daughter's embrace.

When the father and daughter finally let go of each other, Susan paused just long enough to give her father a kiss on the cheek before she proceeded to rush out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. "I'm just gonna make a few final checks and preparations," she called as she started up the stairs. "I'll be right back down and ready by 7:30."

"I'll be waiting," said her mother.

Once Susan had reached the top of the stairs and left sight and earshot of her parents, Samantha looked over at her husband, who was still looking in the direction of the stairs with a half wistful and half protective look on his face. "She'll be fine Dominic."

Dominic sighed, and shook his head side to side. "I hope so dear." He nodded his head. "I hope so."

Samantha chuckled. "Come on honey, lighten up a little. Calvin already borderline smothers her enough. Besides, out of all the guys we've known to try their luck with her, none of them has ever been one of those guys who's always checking out every pretty girl that moves and gathering up a mass list of sexual activity under his belt. Not even Miles Surette is that kind of boy."

Dominic chuckled nervously upon hearing all this. "Yep," he admitted. "There is that small mercy I guess." He shook his head side to side, mentally shuddering. "God forbid she ever have to deal with one of those."

. . . . .

Anthony Skinner was not in the best of moods. And while he'd received no direct confirmation of any sort just yet, he had a very strong feeling that his son, Zach, was to blame. He lifted his phone to his face, his eyes narrowing in annoyance as he once again checked the messages that he knew, for a fact, should not have been on his phone, yet had inexplicably ended up there anyway the previous night. And judging by how three of them were from Zach and every single one of the others were from numbers he did not recognize at all (but were obviously sent by teenage girls if the dialogue within them was anything to go by), he could already tell exactly what had happened.

He sighed. "Zach," he thought to himself. "What am I going to do with you?"

Unlike most boys, Zach had liked girls all the way in elementary school, a time where most other boys would be in the 'cooties paranoia' phase. And over time, that attraction, combined with his outward appearance, had developed to the point that he'd started to become what seemed to be quite the ladies' man as early as Freshman year in high school. This detail, in and of itself, was not necessarily a bad thing. What was a bad thing, however, was just how far Zach was taking the status and how relatively little responsibility he was applying to his behavior. And as a result of this irresponsibility, he was going so far as to spend ungodly amounts of time out partying at night, screw and pursue just about any attractive girl that moved, and get himself and whatever female companions had caught his fancy for a night so drunk as to drunkenly send inappropriate texts to sometimes hilariously and sometimes very horridly not so hilariously to unintended targets. And in this case, as he'd found very glaringly clear on his phone, such an incident had happened again the previous night.

He sighed, and rolled his eyes up to Heaven. "All the guys in my class, and I'm the one who got the teenage nightmare for a son." He sighed again. "God help me."

"Hey dad!"

Anthony turned his head and stared blankly at the sight of none other than Zach himself standing in the nearby entrance from the living room to the kitchen. "Good morning."

Zach chuckled, and shook his head side to side with a cheeky grin still on his face. "Come on dad," said Zach as he entered the kitchen and started digging around in some nearby cabinets. "No need to be dull in the morning at this kind of time. Let yourself a loose a little."

His father was not amused, and he extended his arm out so that Zach could get a good look at his phone. "Hard to do when this is what greets me when I wake up."

Zach looked over in his father's direction, his face briefly falling upon catching sight of what was on the screen of his dad's phone, and then shrugged. "No big deal. Probably some drunk loon dialing the wrong number. It happens."

"Indeed," his father admitted. "But not usually 100 or more times in a row to the same person."

Zach paused, clearly aware of the point his dad had brought up. "An odd and very suspicious coincidence."

"Three of them came from you."

Zach's pause after this comment was noticeably longer. After a full three minutes of no response from Zach, his father shook his head, sighing in fatigue. "Son," he began. "Listen. I know you enjoy having a good bit of free time every now and then. But stuff like this? Surely you understand how concerned I am about how you will be able to live a decent and socially acceptable life if you keep behaving so irresponsibly with all these parties, drinks, fights, and girls."

Zach sighed. "Look dad, I get it. Last night? That was stupid, and could have been avoided. . ."

"You think?"

Anthony put down his phone and pointed his finger at Zach. "I'd already had a feeling you weren't telling the truth last night when you said you would be hanging out with Daniel. But even that wasn't enough to prepare me for getting all these drunken texts from you and your myriad partners from last night; and if you think that I didn't hear the noises you made when you came back home last night while your mother and I were asleep, and 10 minutes past midnight curfew to boot, you are sadly mistaken."

Zach sighed. "Look dad, I get that you're upset. And I'm sorry." He looked away from his dad, reached back into the cabinet he'd been rummaging through, and drew out a box of Pop tarts. He removed one of the pop tarts from the box, put the box away, and unwrapped it. He took a bite and started chewing. "One day or another, I'm sure to get my act together."

"I shudder to think of how long it will take and what you'll do in the remaining time to unfold before that moment occurs."

Anthony directed a meaningful look at the pop tart his son was eating. "Do you really think that's the best choice of food for breakfast this morning?"

"Dad," Zach explained calmly. "Basketball practices don't start for another week or two, and the games are likewise a good bit of time away. I can afford to eat just one pop tart this morning."

His dad raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."

Zach chuckled, and took another bite of his pop tart. "Besides," he continued. "As irresponsible as I am, I'm not nearly as bad as I could be."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," said Zach. "I've never gotten too drunk, just drunk enough to feel the effects without losing myself entirely. I've experimented too determine the exact moment I can safely drink."

His father sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"And furthermore," Zack continued. "Regardless of whether I'm drunk at the time or not, I've always treated every girl with the utmost respect. And in the event that we do the deed, it's always done with mutual consent on both sides. And I've always made sure to be extra careful when doing it all to. I've certainly never gotten anyone pregnant yet; that's for sure."

Anthony sighed. "Yes; keyword being yet."

"And besides," Zack continued. "Irresponsible or not, at least I've got good grades and a promising looking GPA to keep me afloat."

"Yes, that is true," his father admitted. "Though how you're able to keep that and balance it between your basketball and other . . . activities . . . is a mystery I'd very much love to solve."

Zach just chuckled in response to this. "Like I said, everything's fine."

"It's gonna take a lot more than your say so to convince me of that son."

Anthony sighed. "Look, I know things could be worse in your regard right now. I'll admit that." He shook his head. "But the way you're currently behaving? That's got to stop. I didn't raise you to be this irresponsible, and as much of a fan you currently are of Noah and Jacob Puckerman, I don't want to see you become too much like them; and especially not too much like the former."

"Come on dad," said Zach. "Don't be such a worry wort. Like I said, I've never gotten anyone pregnant. I've also never gone to juvie, and I have a decent academic standing. And besides," he chuckled, "you were actually a lot like me as I currently am when you were my age."

"Not entirely true."

"Enlighten me."

"Well for starters," Anthony began. "I wasn't going around screwing just about every attractive girl that moved, I wasn't going out of my way to pick a fight with every guy willing to do battle with me, I never got myself wasted on alcohol, never partied as late in the night as you do, and I specifically waited until I was both 16 and had a steady girlfriend before I ever considered giving away my virginity to someone, and that girl turned out to be your mother. And when that moment occurred, we were both willing and careful."

"All of my sexual encounters have been consensual," Zach responded. His dad rolled his eyes to Heaven, and Zach winced. "Sorry," he said.

"The point is," Anthony responded with a now noticeably tight voice. "As much of a ladies' man as I was when I was your age, I at least was able to be properly responsible about it. And with how wildly different from me and irresponsibly you're currently behaving, I'm worried about how you'll turn out to be in life." He picked his newspaper back up and waved it in the air to emphasize a point. "Even today, I still wake up every morning fearing that I'll someday wake up to learn that you killed or raped somebody and that an article describing that very news will be right on the front page of my morning paper."

Zach thought to himself, sighed, finished his pop tart, and took a seat in front of his father. "Dad," he began. "I understand you're worried. Honest, I do. But please just trust me on this. I'll be fine. Sooner or later, I'll get my act together. And I will never kill or rape anybody. As irresponsible as I am, I'll never go that far down. Never. Not even close."

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes dad, I am."

"And if I turn out to be right?"

Zach sighed, but conceded the point anyway. "Then I'll admit that I was wrong, that you told me so, and accept whatever punishment you and mom see fit."

Anthony continued to direct a meaningful look at his son for a while, but then eventually sighed and nodded his head. "If you say so."

"Thank you."

"Did I miss anything?"

Zach smiled, and turned his head. "Not at all mom. Dad and I were just having a little chat."

Anthony sighed, and looked over in the direction of his wife. "You could say that," he admitted.

Cleo Skinner, an African American much like her husband and son, smiled and chuckled, shaking her head side to side. "Well that's a relief. It's very rare these days for you two to start the day without some sort of discussion of worry over the quote on quote irresponsibility Zach demonstrates these days."

Both Zach and Anthony nervously chuckled upon hearing this. "Oh you missed it by that much," they both thought to themselves.

. . . . .

Horace Thornton, much like Anthony Skinner, was not entirely in the best of moods that morning. And just like how Anthony's mood that morning had been the result of his son's behavior, Horace's current mood was very much a result of the behavior of his eldest daughter, Charlotte. He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth behind his newspaper at the thought. "She was just as sweet as Tammie when she was younger," he thought to himself wistfully. He shook his head. "What happened to that sweet girl I used to know?"

"You're awfully quiet today daddio."

Horace gritted his teeth once more and lifted his eyes up to Heaven upon hearing this. As his luck would have it, the very person responsible for his current mood was also at the table, and was seated right in front of him. He directed a glaring eye towards Charlotte, who was at that very moment dining happily on the first of three Pillsbury strudels she had on her plate with a happy smile on her face and a likewise happy gleam in her blue eyes that quite elegantly matched with her long ash blonde hair.

Horace took a deep breath, and quietly exhaled, trying his best to keep calm. After all, his other daughter, Tamara, now 12 years old, was also at the table. And he did not want to make a scene in front of her. He lowered his newspaper, a blank look on his face and dark eyes. "I apologize for my silence. I didn't want to interrupt your breakfast and simultaneous thoughts about your newest efforts at getting that poor Taymor boy wrapped around your finger."

Charlotte's face took on a clear look of annoyance at the sound of the last few words, and she lowered her still ¾ eaten strudel. "Dad, do we really need to have this discussion again?" She pointed at her younger sister, who was still peacefully eating her serving of Fruit Loops cereal, seemingly quite oblivious to the conversation going on between her father and sister. "Tamara's right at the table with us."

Tamara lifted her head upon hearing her name. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," said Horace, waving his hand. "This is between me and your sis."

"Ok daddy."

Tamara resumed her eating, and Horace looked back at Charlotte. "Why do you think I'm being so calm right now?"

Charlotte sighed, gobbled up the last of her first strudel, and started work on eating her 2nd one. "Dad please," she began with her mouth still full. "You don't need to get so worried and uptight over this matter. Everything's fine."

"I've received numerous complaints from the boy's parents, and from their neighbors the Eberharts, that say otherwise."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "They'll come around."

"You said that last year," her father responded bluntly. "And the year before that to."

Charlotte groaned, took another large bite of her 2nd strudel, and took the time to chew and swallow it before she responded. "Look dad, I get that you're worried. But really, you're being paranoid."

"So you're not still trying to find ways to sink your hooks into that poor boy?"

Charlotte was about to respond, but then paused, having just realized what her father had said seconds before she was about to give her response.

The pause lasted just long enough, and Horace shook his head side to side. "Just let it go Charlotte. You've put the poor boy through enough; and with how long you've been at this and all the complaints I've received, I'd say he's made it quite clear that he doesn't feel that way for you, and quite frankly never will."

Charlotte sighed. "Dad please," she began patiently. "Everything will be fine. I'm sure of it. Daniel just needs a push in the right direction."

"You keep saying that," said her father. "You've been trying everything you could think of so far to give him that push, and nothing's worked." He shook his head. "And not only have none of your attempts worked, but I'm quite certain that, assuming he's even still single right now, he'd probably be far more likely to choose the Eberhart girl over you."

Charlotte briefly clenched her fists. It took all her willpower to remain calm upon hearing her father mention the other girl that had become an obvious rival for her affections. "Like I said; Daniel just needs a push in the right direction." She looked down at her strudel, exhaled, and finished her second strudel. "I'm not giving up just because he's proven this dense and has another girl in his sights. I'm bound to think of something that will work at some point or other."

"That's another thing." Horace sighed, shaking his head side to side. "All the stuff you've done that hasn't worked? Look, I'll admit, your earlier ideas were perfectly natural and socially acceptable. But the ideas you've come up with over the last few months and years that have followed those earlier attempts? Color me suspicious, but don't you think you're starting to get a little too extreme?"

Charlotte lowered her now half eaten 3rd strudel. "Please," she said. "There's no such thing."

"I beg to differ."

Charlotte sighed. "Come on dad, can't you at least give me points for dedication?"

"There's a big difference between showing dedication and being a stalker." Horace shook his head, sighing once more. "And quite frankly, I'd say your current behavior in regard to the Taymor boy is far more associable with the latter. Honestly, if your genders were reversed, I'm sure that the Taymor boy would have already filed a restraining order against you by now. And I'm not entirely confident that his family won't do that eventually if you don't stop going after their son like this."

Charlotte took a 3rd bite of her remaining strudel, leaving only about ¼ of it uneaten. "Don't be such a worry wort dad, things couldn't possibly get that bad." She turned her head to face Tamara, a happy smile on her face. "Right sis?"

Tamara lifted her head from her now nearly empty cereal bowl, a smile of her own on her face. "Right."

"Charlotte," said Horace. "Tamara will agree with you on anything, regardless of whether its good or bad." He waved his hand in a non-indicative fashion. "Honestly, you could say that blacks are evolutionarily hardwired to be literally brainless idiots who don't have the intelligence needed to even be able to breath, and she'd agree with you."

Charlotte, who had just been about to finish off her last strudel, lowered it back down to her plate, an annoyed glare on her face. "Really dad? You know I don't think that."

Horace's shoulders slumped, and he glared right back at his eldest daughter. "That's not the point. Come on Charlotte, what's it going to take to get you to stop this senseless crusade?"

At that moment, none other than Horace's wife, and Charlotte and Tamara's mother, Cassandra Thornton, entered the kitchen, a proud smile on her face. "Her dead body, that's what."

Charlotte turned her head, a happy grin on her face showing all her teeth. "Why thank you mother. Your support is most appreciated."

Tamara lifted her head with a happy look of her own. "Hi mommy."

Horace turned his head to face his wife, an understandably aggrieved look on his own face. "Don't encourage her Cassie."

Cassandra, a blonde much like her daughters, chuckled, her blue eyes agleam, and walked on over to the fridge. "Why not? Lord knows how hard she's been working to win that dashing piece of eye candy over."

"I know, right?" Charlotte asked.

Horace groaned, clenching his right hand around his short brown hair, trying his best not to lose his cool and tear his hair right off his scalp. "Honey, I am perfectly well aware of how hard she's been working, and that very factor is what's got me so worried right now."

Cassandra chuckled once more, and closed the fridge, a bag of bagels in her hands. "Don't listen to him sweetie," she said to Charlotte. "He's just jealous that you're no longer that sweet little elementary school girl he used to have all the attention from."

Horace lowered his hand from his hair, his eyes narrowed at his wife in annoyance. "That is not true. And you know it."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that dad."

Charlotte finished her strudel, dusted her hands, and took her empty plate to the sink. She turned from the sink and walked right behind her mother as she exited the kitchen and started going back upstairs to finish her preparations for school. "I'll be out of the house by 7:30 mom."

"Good to know sweetie," said Cassandra, who was now busy watching the toaster for when her bagel popped out.

At that moment, Tamara, having finished her own breakfast, walked up to the sink, rinsed it out, and placed it in the sink alongside her sister's plate. She walked over to her mother and gave her a hug around her waist. Cassandra smiled, and returned her younger daughter's embrace.

"Love you mommy."

"Love you to sweetheart," said Cassandra.

The young girl and her mother let go of each other. Then Tamara ran off in the same direction her sister had taken. "I'll be ready to go by 7:30 mom."

"I'll be waiting," said Cassandra as she watched her other daughter go. Smile still on her face, she turned to face her husband, who still looked mildly annoyed. She chuckled. "Come on Horace. You know you can't shelter them under your wings forever."

Horace sighed. "I know that honey." He gestured off in the direction of the stairs. "But seriously Cassie, are you not at all worried about the lengths Charlotte's going to? Considering what you were like when we were her age, and what all the other blood related women in your family have been like, don't you think that boy has suffered enough?"

Cassandra chuckled, and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "You worry too much."

"And you don't worry enough."

Cassandra chuckled again. At that moment, her bagel popped out of the toaster. She put it on her plate, spread cream cheese on it, and joined her husband at the table, positioning herself on the very chair their eldest daughter had been sitting at before. "Come on Horace," she said. "There's really no need to be so worried about her." She directed another look of pride towards the staircase. "Like mother, like daughter."

Horace sighed. "You're a special case dear."

"Oh please," said Cassandra. Admittedly, she did feel somewhat flattered by the statement, but that was hardly the point right now. "She'll be fine Horace. And besides, you know what I was like back then better than anyone. Trust me, things couldn't possibly get too bad where she's concerned. They didn't get that far with me, and all the other women of my family have never gotten nearly as extreme as you make them out to be."

Horace directed a half annoyed and half amused glare at his wife. "Honey," he stated. "You know that's not 100% true."

"Mom!" Charlotte yelled from upstairs. "Have you seen my hair dryer?"

"Coming Charlotte!"

Cassandra directed another meaningful, but warm, look at her still concerned looking husband. "Trust me Horace, everything will be fine." She got up from her chair, leaving her still uneaten bagel at her place for when she returned from helping Charlotte find her hairdryer. "Honestly, you should be proud of her." She turned around and left the kitchen to go upstairs and assist Charlotte. "She's got the Lothar blood flowing through her veins just as strongly as her mother." She reached the bottom of the stairs and ascended them.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, almost immediately after his wife reached the top of the stairs and left his sight, Horace sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of," he said softly to himself. He sighed. "What did I do to deserve this?" he asked half to himself and half to what he hoped to be God listening in Heaven from above. "Here I am, one of the nicest guys amongst the jocks in my class." He directed his eyes towards the ceiling in an annoyed glare. "Heck, I was one of the nicest guys in my class, period." He shook his head side to side. "And I'm the one who got a teenage nightmare for a daughter." He hung his head, sighing once more at both what Charlotte had turned out to be and the fact that Tamara herself had the potential to be very similar when she reached Charlotte's current age. "Why me?"

. . . . .

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, another family that was having breakfast consisted of all its members being in a good mood. The most excited of the three, however, was the young son in the family, an albino boy who was currently quite heartily eating one of two bagels topped with strawberry cream cheese. He chewed hungrily, his red eyes agleam with anticipation. "This is only my first full week of my sophomore year, and I'm excited already." He finished the first half of his first bagel, and set to work on the 2nd half. "This is gonna be the best year ever."

"Nice to see you in such a good mood this morning son."

The boy chuckled, and took another bite from his bagel. "You can say that again mom."

"No kidding." The speaker, the boy's dad, chuckled. "I told you that the presence of that McCrimmon boy in the same school as him would improve things for him, didn't I Steph?"

Stephanie Carmichael chuckled, and tossed her dark hair over her shoulder, dark eyes agleam. "You sure did Jackson." She looked over at their albino son, who was still in the midst of eating his bagels. "Something tells me though that Darren's still being in the same school as him for sophomore year isn't the only reason for the current mood. Isn't that right Dunlap?"

Dunlap Carmichael smiled, and swallowed the last bite of his 1st bagel. "You've got that right mom." He picked up the 1st half of his 2nd bagel and took a bite out of it. "Today's my first official day in the New Directions. I'm excited already."

"Be surprised if you weren't son." Jackson Carmichael chuckled, and took another bite out of his Jimmy Dean egg and cheese sausage biscuit. "You're in a club. You've got your three closest friends in there with you. There's about 9 or so other students in there who could yet become equally good friends of you lot. You've now got an opportunity to showcase your fantastic singing ability from the talent show two years ago once again. And it's only your sophomore year. Who wouldn't be excited in your shoes?"

"Now that's a good question."

Dunlap finished the 1st half of his 2nd bagel, and proceeded to start eating the 2nd half. "Can't wait."

"No kidding."

Jackson finished his breakfast, smoothed out the creases on the front of his suit, and got up from his chair. "Best hurry up and make the last of my preparations. Don't want to miss the bus this morning."

Stephanie smiled. "Busy day at the firm today huh?"

"You can say that." And indeed, it would be a busy day. In fact, it usually often was every day considering Jackson Carmichael's occupation. To elaborate, he was a powerful and heavily acclaimed lawyer who spoke for the rights of the social outcasts and the disabled. With his son having been born an albino and had his legs amputated and replaced with metallic prosthetics at age 10, it was quite understandable just how capable of properly defending and supporting his cases. Jackson departed from the kitchen, the light from the ceiling lamps gleaming off his golden hair. "I'll be right back down," he said as he proceeded up the stairs.

Stephanie chuckled, shaking her head side to side. She looked over at Dunlap, who was now very close to finishing his own breakfast. "You ready son?"

Dunlap chuckled, and took another bite out of what remained of his breakfast. "Is the pope catholic?"

"That answers that." Stephanie sighed, and brushed her fingers through her hair. "You think Naomi, Darren, and Amber are anywhere near as excited as you are?"

"Need you ask?" Dunlap placed the last of his bagel in his mouth, chewed on it, and swallowed it. "I know, for a fact, that they most definitely are."

. . . . .

Much as Dunlap had predicted, Naomi Bright was indeed excited for what was to happen that day. She could barely keep herself contained as she carefully dined on her butter topped English muffin as excitedly as her eyesight would allow. She had been born blind, and had spent the entirety of her life since struggling to make do with her life as best as she could. She unconsciously reached behind her chair and absent mindedly stroked the long red handled white cane leaning up against the back of the chair near her shoulder. She'd first started using a cane to walk in 1st grade. Admittedly, the cane from 1st grade had been much smaller, and she had graduated to longer and taller canes as she'd grown progressively older and bigger herself. She took a deep breath, and exhaled in content. She valued that cane with her life, and she would never willingly go anywhere without it. And with her condition, who could blame her?

"You ok sweetie?"

Naomi looked up in the direction she'd heard this voice, and felt a small smile come on her face as she saw a familiar blur standing nearby that she recognized as her mother. "I'm ok mom," replied Naomi. She nodded her head. "It's just the beginning of my first official week of school this term. You know how that feels."

Madison Bright nodded her head, walked over to the table, and sat down right next to her daughter. She sighed, stroked her daughter comfortingly on the head, noting with pride once more how they shared the same coppery red hair. "Look Naomi," she said. "I know you're still nervous about being at the same school as Aaron Blonsky."

Naomi shuddered. "Please mom," she said. "Don't say his name."

Madison sighed. "I know it's painful to think of sweetie." She nodded her head. "Believe me, if I had any idea where that monster lived, I'd have so given him what for by now."

"You'd have to get in line dear."

Madison and Naomi turned their heads, and saw a tall and athletic man with blonde hair, a slight stubble of the same color, and the same blue eyes as Naomi; albeit, his eyes were much less opaque in shade. This man was Joseph Bright, Madison's husband, and Naomi's father. He interlocked his fingers together and flexed his hands outward, clearly indicating that he meant business. "If that bastard hadn't been smart enough to have never taken you to his own house and allowed you to figure out his home address, I'd have personally introduced myself to him." He clenched and lifted his right fist, his teeth gritted in a snarl. "With my fists."

Madison sighed, and shook her head side to side. Her husband just loved to solve problems with his fists. Granted, she couldn't entirely criticize him for that. After all, when she and Joseph had been students at McKinley High themselves, he had been the undisputed and undefeatable champion in the McKinley High boxing club from Freshman year all the way to graduation day. In fact, due to how much prowess he'd proven himself to have over the course of his entire high school years lasting boxing career, he'd come to be nicknamed 'Joseph the Juggernaut'. In fact, he still had just the right build for boxing, and in fact even looked like he could be a very convincing biker. Of course, nowadays he was a banker rather than a boxer or biker. But even so, his boxing days had left the lasting knowledge that sometimes the easiest and most satisfying way to solve a problem was to use your fists, and often felt uncomfortable and out of his depth whenever he encountered a problem that he couldn't solve in this fashion. And she knew how much it pained him to not have the information he felt that he so desperately needed to know.

Naomi still slightly in a daze over the bringing up of the boy her mother had brought up, shuddered once more. The boy in question, Aaron Blonsky, had spent three months of her freshman year, his sophomore year, as her boyfriend. To be fair, he'd at first seemed like the nicest and sweetest of guys who wouldn't hurt a fly. But of course, that's how all such boys seemed to be in the stories that she knew of similar experiences. And besides, considering his position on the McKinley High hockey team, it probably would have been too much to ask for him to be anything but a 100% harmless nice guy. And as it had turned out, about a month after they'd become a couple, with some influence from his friend and fellow hockey player, Marcus Wayland, Blonsky had eventually cast aside his façade and shown his true colors to horrific effect.

At first, the change in behavior had become with scary (albeit, relatively harmless) pranks and a few insensitive jokes and similar comments. Then, over time, things had gotten infinitely worse. Blonsky had gone so far as to become increasingly cruel, mean spirited, and just plain despicable. To elaborate, he'd gone so far as to start placing nails and shards of broken glass on areas where her hands would hopefully, leaving skateboards and other objects on the floor that she could easily slip on or trip over, spilling water, oil, and other slippery liquids and substances onto areas she'd walk through in unavoidably large puddles to make her slip, shining a spotlight in her face at maximum brightness every time she entered a room with him after returning from doing something else, and one time even tripping her into falling down an entire considerably large flight of stairs.

His worst action of all, however, that had finally ended their relationship for good, had been one so inhumanly vile that Naomi, her parents, and her friends all viewed it quite frankly to be a miracle that the boy hadn't yet been punished in some way at all by his own family. It had all started with her accompanying him to a party being held at the house of the hockey captain, Becket Nelson. Despite all that she'd endured before that one horrible night, she'd been fooled into thinking that perhaps today things wouldn't be so bad by what she should have known to be an unnervingly uncharacteristic spate of kind and nice behavior before the party had started. But then, one full hour after she and Aaron had arrived at the party, Blonsky had done an action so appallingly cruel and heinous that it had taken her weeks afterward to recover from the horror and psychological trauma that had ensued.

At the time, she had been at a counter (that was thankfully free of nails, broken glass, and similar sharp objects) helping herself to some doughnuts available, and had happened to let go of her cane and leave it leaning next to her by the counter for about a minute or two. But when she'd finished her doughnuts and reached for her cane, she had discovered to great horror that it had somehow vanished from the position it had been in when she'd let go of it. Blonsky had snatched it away while she'd been busy eating and had taken the time to hide it somewhere.

No sooner had she discovered that her cane was missing, when she'd found herself forced to blindly start wandering around in terror, scrambling and likewise desperately trying to find it, all while under the nonexistent mercy of Blonsky and a vast number of his hockey team mates. Thankfully, none of them had hit her or similarly subjected her to physical pain. However, they had all instead resorted to calling her horrific, demeaning, and just plain dehumanizing names that made it quite frankly a miracle that she'd been able to keep herself from bursting out crying, or worse, curling into a ball and resigning herself to being subjected to the horrific torture. After about three hours of this, she had finally managed to find her cane. At that point, Blonsky and his friends had clearly not been expecting her to find it, as she had managed to then use it like a sword or club and take them all out with her cane before then running out of the house and as far away from it as she could. After about an hour sitting in a local park near her house and far, far away from Becket's, she'd finally managed to shakily dig her cell phone out of her pants pocket and call Dunlap Carmichael, an especially good friend of hers, and inform him of her plight and what had happened. And the rest, from that point onward, had been history. And as a seemingly minor detail, she even now refused to even touch a doughnut, let alone eat one.

Needless to say, Joseph 'the Juggernaut' Bright was even now still in terrible pain from suffering the agony of knowing just what Aaron Blonsky had done and yet being unable to do anything about it due to not even knowing where the slimy miscreant even lived. Joseph sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose. "God I wish I could do something to make that filthy son of a bitch pay for all that unspeakable horror he put you through Naomi."

"Dad, it's fine."

"No it's not." Joseph sighed. "I know you're still afraid of him Naomi, I know that Amber's still giving you good support because of her own experiences with the Wayland bastard, and I know that Dunlap and Darren are doing an especially good job at keeping those two punks off your tails. But it's been months since you broke things off with him, and his family and the legal system still haven't done squat."

"These things take time dear," said Madison.

"Not this long." Joseph sighed. "Even I know that the legal system doesn't take this long to handle a case like this. Clearly, either they don't care, or word of his actions still hasn't spread to his family and the law." He turned his head, growled, and abruptly punched the door of a nearby cabinet, leaving a respectably sized hole in it where his fist struck. "God curse me, why is that punk still breathing free air?!" He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and exhaled, clearly fighting to calm himself back down. He sighed. "Look, I get it. I know I'm getting overly stressed out about all this, but surely you understand the problems I'm dealing with here."

Naomi and Madison nodded, their faces clearly showing how they both understood all too well in their own way. Joseph sighed. "Naomi, just promise me at least that you'll try to both maintain good friendships with Dunlap, Amber, and Darren, and see if you and them can find any additional good friends amongst the other members of that club you joined. Ok?"

Naomi smiled. This was something she knew that she could do for her dad. After all, considering the club's reputation and how many celebrities had turned out to be among its members over its entire existence, how hard would it be for her and her companions to find new friends amongst fellow members? "Don't you worry daddy," said the blind ginger haired girl. "I promise."

. . . . .

Darren McCrimmon was hard at work in heartily devouring his serving of French toast. The tasty breakfast dish, which he had applied a generous serving of syrup upon, was not faring well against him at all. In fact, if he'd been eating it any more quickly, the syrup would likely have splattered all over his mouth like blood.

"Goodness gracious Darren, I'm not sure if I've ever seen you eat French toast this quickly before. And considering it's your favorite breakfast dish, that's saying something."

Darren turned his head to his right, a slight sheepish expression coming on his face as he saw his mother sitting at the table alongside him shaking her head side to side with an amused look on her face. He chuckled nervously and scratched his fingers through his matted ginger hair. "Sorry mom."

Natasha McCrimmon, a redhead much like her son, chuckled, and shook her head side to side once more. "I must admit," she said. "The closest I've ever seen you behave like this was your first day of Freshman year."

Darren chuckled back and shook his own head side to side. "History just loves to repeat itself I guess."

"Well it would certainly make sense for it to do such this time," said a voice from outside the kitchen that had a clear Scottish accent to it. Darren and his mother looked in the direction the voice came from, and they both smiled at the sight of a familiar man with dark hair and blue eyes. This man, Aaron McCrimmon, was Natasha's husband, and Darren's father. He chuckled. "After all, considering how our son's now in that jolly little glee club alongside Dunlap, the two lasses, and 9 other lads and lasses that could yet become good comrades of his, why should he not be excited?"

Darren chuckled, his eyes agleam with agreement and pride. These same eyes were blue like his father's. Of course, at first glance, absolutely no one would have guessed as such. At the same time though, people would have almost certainly figured that they would be either that color or some other natural human eye color. After all, despite how there had been some real-life people who had been seen to have natural gold toned eyes, no known human alive had ever had yellow eyes, let alone in the almost cat-like shade that Darren's eyes appeared to be.

While most young children would have found it very unnerving to see someone with yellow eyes, Darren had been very intrigued by the way such eyes looked since he was 7-years old. Thus, at around what should have been his 5th grade year in school, he had taken to wearing amber yellow contact lenses virtually all the time. In fact, the only times he ever took them off and allowed his natural blue eyes to show were when he washed up, showered, slept, or likewise deemed it necessary to take them out. And even with them on, he could see perfectly fine.

Of course, acquiring them had proven one of multiple difficulties to befall his family at that time. His father, as indicated by his accent, was of Scottish descent. In fact, he was actually an immigrant. He'd immigrated from Scotland to America alongside his immediate family when he was 19. During his early years of life as an American, he'd met Natasha at 21-years of age. They'd dated four years after first meeting before marrying at age 25, and their son Darren had come into the picture a full year after that.

Unfortunately, when Darren was six, and about halfway through his 1st grade year, Aaron had lost his job. And as if God himself had been out to make sure that their lives got as epically screwed up as they could possibly get, a small downward spiral had occurred that had resulted in the entire family ending up in a situation none too different than one that the famous movie star Sam Evans had suffered alongside his family during his sophomore year of high school. Throughout that time, things had been quite difficult for the family, with Aaron and Natasha struggling to make ends meet and being forced to homeschool Darren.

But over time, they had slowly managed to work things out, make progress at rebuilding their lives, and had finally regained steady employment in the summer immediately following what the McCrimmon family officially counted as Darren's 8th grade year, just in time for them to afford the tuition needed to send him to high school alongside his close childhood friends Dunlap Carmichael, Naomi Bright, and Amber Lawson. And seemingly just for the cosmic hilarity, the high school the four had ended up in together was William McKinley High School, the exact same school that Sam Evans himself had attended from his sophomore to senior years of high school. And of course, as of the previous Friday, which just happened to have been the first official day of the school year, Darren, his three friends, and 9 other students had successfully earned themselves positions as members of the school's local show choir club, the New Directions.

Darren nodded his head, and took another few bites of his French toast. "I'll admit," Darren began, a faint Scottish accent now starting to show in his own voice. "When you put it that way dad, I can certainly see what you mean."

"Indeed." Aaron chuckled. "Ah, it feels so wonderful to have my son taking part in such a fantastic element of American culture." He pointed his finger at Darren, a proud smile on his face. "I'm sure that if your voice is still anywhere near as good as it was at that talent show 2 years ago, you'll be in absolute perfect harmony alongside their band's bagpipes."

Darren chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "Dad," he said patiently. "Hate to burst your bubble, but I highly doubt they'll have bagpipes."

"Oh you get my point, I'm sure." Aaron chuckled. "Nonetheless. I'm sure you'll leave a plenty good mark with what you've got to offer for this merry band. And any blokes out there who say nay to that," he made a dismissive gesture at the thin air to his left. "Their loss."

Darren chuckled. "If you say so."

"Well nonetheless," said Natasha. She looked over at the clock in the kitchen, and then back at her son and husband. "I do believe we'd best be finishing up in the kitchen real soon."

Darren and Aaron looked at the clock, and silently gulped as they realized it was 7:10. The boy and his father looked each other in the eyes nervously. At exactly 7:30, Aaron would need to be ready to depart for work, and Darren would need to be ready for Natasha to drop him off at school before she went to her own job; and they both knew better then to risk her wrath by causing them all to be late without good reason. Darren hurriedly finished up his French toast while Aaron hurriedly warmed up some ordinary toast to eat for a hasty breakfast of his own. After all, they most certainly did not want to endure Natasha McCrimmon's anger that would unfold if they were late for work and school. For as Aaron put it, she was, despite being born in America, 'every bit as much of a fiery tempered Scot' as he was when angry, and Darren had come to associate his mother while angry to being chased by the most nightmarish and terrifying of the nuckelavee of Scottish myth. And for people who had brains, the nuckelavee image he'd come to mentally associate with his mother while she was angry was not something that they wanted to see. And Darren knew, for a fact, that he was amongst the people with brains.

. . . . .

At around 7:00 in the morning, Amber Lawson had already finished eating her serving of waffles and was rinsing the plate she'd used in the sink to prepare it for placement in the dishwasher. Much like her three childhood friends, she was very much excited to get the day started and attend the first official meetings of the New Directions for the current school year. "Today is going to be a fabulous day," she thought to herself, a clear smile on her face and her black eyes agleam with anticipation. "I can feel it."

"You sure seem to be in a good mood this morning."

Amber smiled, and turned her head. Sure enough, her mother, Alicia, a blonde much like her daughter, was still at her spot at the table, sipping her coffee and finishing up her own plate of waffles. "What gave it away mom?" she asked in mock annoyance, and with a clear smile still on her face.

Her mother chuckled, shook her head side to side, and took another sip of her coffee. "Well I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. After all, today is your first school day as an official member of the New Directions."

Amber chuckled. "You got that right mom."

"Indeed." This speaker was Amber's father, Hal, a man with mousy brown hair who was currently helping himself to his own serving of coffee in the living room, having finished his own breakfast a good few minutes before his wife and daughter. He took a sip of his coffee. "And by God am I hoping that none of the guys in that club that your mother and I don't already know personally turn out to be like that Wayland bastard."

At this, both Amber and Alicia sighed and rolled their eyes. "Must you keep bringing him up?" Alicia asked.

Hal winced, silently cursing himself for saying that name. "Sorry," he admitted. "Don't know why I keep doing that."

"It's fine dad," said Amber. She nodded her head. "Really, considering what he did, I'd be worried if you weren't feeling protective and concerned about me and any other guys I might hang around that aren't Dunlap and Darren."

Alicia raised her eyebrow. "Considering exactly how far he very nearly got while still dating you, you're acting very worryingly nonchalant."

Amber sighed. "It's better I act like this then the alternative."

And indeed it was better that she act the way she currently was. Without her current bubbly and relatively nonchalant behavior regarding the experience her father had just referred to, she had a bad feeling that she'd flat out panic, or worse. The previous school year, for about the exact same amount of time that Naomi had been romantically linked with Aaron Blonsky, Amber herself had been likewise involved with Blonsky's best friend and fellow hockey player, Marcus Wayland. And of course, much like Blonsky, Wayland had turned out to be a less then pleasant catch. Granted, Wayland had never casually subjected her to potentially suffering physical harm or gone to any of the extreme lengths that Blonsky had resorted to. He had, however, come to make it unnervingly clear that he seemed to love her really more in a fashion of viewing her as an objectified sex toy, and had come to often try to pressure her into giving up her all-important v-card with him. Eventually, after one refusal too many in Wayland's book, the boy had very angrily and nightmarishly attempted to rape her, only for her to just barely fight him off and escape. But of course, no one else had been present in the area the incident had occurred, and Amber knew all too well how Wayland was a smooth enough liar that his own parents would be easily fooled into siding with him if there weren't sufficient proof. Thus, the knowledge even now remained strictly with her, her parents, her friends and their families, and of course Wayland and Blonsky. But even so, she was confident that things would eventually change in that regard. After all, she had a plan.

"You do realize that with you and Naomi having effectively reported their crimes, I could go ahead and launch an investigation against those two punks and potentially have them arrested." And indeed, Alicia Lawson could do such things. In fact, she was one of the best cops in the Lima Police Department. And on a very similar note, while Hal was currently employed as a clinical psychologist, his skill at his work had been good enough for him to be considered at one point for working in the department's BAU division, only for Hal himself to turn it down as he didn't want to deal with that level of stress.

Nonetheless, Amber's mother had made a good point, and she nodded her head. "I understand that mom, really I do." She lifted her head and gazed her mother in the eyes. "But right now, call me crazy, but I'm still not yet entirely certain that such an effort would go anywhere at the current moment. Yes, we know where and the Blonsky boy live, but we don't have enough proof. You and dad know as well as I do how good of a liar Marcus is. And judging by how the Blonsky family hasn't shown any signs of knowing about what Aaron did, odds are he's been able to keep his own activities against Naomi sufficiently covered up from them as well."

She nodded her head. "But this year, hopefully that will change." She quickly checked her watch. "As of last Friday, I'm now a member of the New Directions, and so are Darren, Naomi, and Dunlap. If we're lucky, the four of us will almost certainly befriend a pretty large number of the other 9 students who joined alongside us, not to mention get Mr. Schuester as a close ally as well. And with their help, Naomi and I will almost certainly be able to spread the knowledge to them. And from that point onward, if we all work hard enough, we could yet find a way to make sure there's absolutely no way that their guilt can't be denied and that no one can be fooled into thinking otherwise." She smiled at her mother. "And believe me mom, wouldn't that be satisfying?"

Alicia couldn't help but let out a proud chuckle. "I'll certainly admit that it would." She then directed a firm, but kind, look at her daughter. "But even so, please do be careful."

"What she said," said Hal.

Amber chuckled. "No need to worry," she said. "I will."

. . . . .

Cody Nakamura smiled confidently to himself as he combed his dark black hair while looking in the mirror of the bathroom located next to his bedroom. "Today's going to be a great day," he thought to himself. He lowered his comb, smiling now at the result. "And by God am I going to make sure I look the part for such a good day." He picked up a pair of glasses that were lying nearby the sink and cleaned them meticulously. He placed them back on his face, and smiled. "Vision looks better already," he thought to himself.

"Are you done up there Cody?"

Cody mentally winced, realizing that he'd been somewhat idling around over the course of his recent activities. "Almost mom," he responded. "Just give me a second."

"Well try not to take too long," said the voice of his father, Mark. "You need to be ready to leave within the next 10 minutes."

Cody hurriedly checked his watch, mentally wincing again as he saw that it was now 7:20, and thus indeed 10 minutes away from his ideal departure time for school. "Understood," he yelled just loud enough for his parents to hear him without making himself erroneously sound like he was angry. "I'll be down in a moment. I promise."

"I'll be holding you to that."

Cody sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Come on mom," he thought to himself. Then he shook his head again more rapidly to clear his thoughts. "Stop messing around," he thought to himself. He hurriedly checked the area, mentally noting all that he'd done for his preparations. Then he smiled, for indeed he was ready now. He left the bathroom, reclaimed his backpack full of school supplies from his bedroom, and made his way downstairs where his parents were in fact already waiting for him in the living room.

At first glance, both of his parents were commonly mistaken as Chinese American. In reality, they were Korean American, and so was Cody. Cody's mother, Johanna, shook her head, a slightly amused smile on her face as she lifted her watch. As was indicated by the time currently shown on it, it had only taken about a minute for Cody to finish upstairs and come down after their little 'talk'. "You certainly came down quickly," she noted aloud.

Cody chuckled. "So I did."

Mark snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. And here I was thinking I'd have to bring up the matter of that club you joined last Friday to get you back downstairs."

Cody chuckled again, shaking his head side to side. "Yes indeed," he said almost completely to himself. "Today's a big day. As of last Friday, me, Bailey, and Raj are in the New Directions together."

"Well I certainly wasn't expecting you to be so excited for Raj to be amongst the membership alongside you," Johanna noted. She shook her head slowly. "Especially considering the current beef you've still got between you two."

Cody sighed, his happy face almost instantly melting into a weary frown. "I'll admit, that part I'm not entirely excited about." He shook his head side to side. "But if being in the glee club together is what it's going to take for this matter over Bailey to be resolved and for that beef between us to go away, then I guess Raj being a member alongside us is just a price I'll have to pay."

"That wording doesn't make it sound very hopeful."

Cody sighed, and turned around to face his father. "You get my point dad."

Mark spread his hands out to his sides as if to say 'don't blame me'. "I'm just saying son, if this rivalry between you is already starting to get this serious after only 2-3 months, then surely you understand why your mother and I are starting to get worried about it all."

"Not to mention Raj's family," Johanna added. "And Bailey's."

Cody sighed again, and shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. Admittedly, his parents' words weren't entirely without a point. On New Year's Eve of his freshman year, which had also been both the freshman year for his close friend, Bailey Kellogg, and sophomore year for his other close friend, Raj Patel, Bailey and Raj had become a couple. Over the course of the remainder of that school year, and almost the entirety of the following school year, this relationship had seemed to function quite smoothly. And Cody himself, despite having developed romantic feelings of his own for Bailey, had still been perfectly willing (though not without a good bit of reluctance) to let Bailey be happy with Raj.

But then, exactly one month away from the last day of Cody and Bailey's sophomore year and Raj's junior year, Cody and Bailey had been walking through the hallways of McKinley High having a pleasant chat as friends after school had ended for the day, only to at one point manage to turn and enter another hallway just in time to find none other than Raj right there in said hallway . . . and he was both kissing and seemingly making out with another girl.

As it turned out, the girl in question, a Korean American the same age as Raj, was none other than a low-ranking member of the McKinley High cheerleading squad, Kimberly Chung. This same girl, as it turned out, was another close friend of Raj that he'd known even longer then he'd known Bailey and Cody. And to add insult to injury, Kimberly herself had developed romantic feelings of her own for Raj that she'd finally developed the courage to confess to him about three weeks prior. And as a result of this revelation, Raj, through a mixture of flattery, guilt, and newfound confusion, had chosen to experiment with Kimberly, and had done so for the last 3 weeks prior to the current discovery by Cody and Bailey. And as it turned out, he had chosen to keep the matter hidden from Bailey and Cody in an effort to try to find a way to soften the blow and let her down gently in the event that he found himself deciding that he perhaps felt stronger for Kimberly.

Needless to say, the events that had unfolded after Bailey and Cody's discovery of Raj's infidelity had not been pleasant. Jilted and outraged, Bailey had broken up with Raj. And in the days and months that had followed since, Cody had worked patiently and carefully to try to win Bailey over into giving him a chance, Raj had set to work on trying to get himself back in Bailey's good graces and attempt to win her back over himself and try to allow things between them and Kimberly to work out better than they'd now unfolded, and Kimberly had been left to wait patiently for Raj, Bailey, and Cody to work things out and for Raj to give her a proper answer and resolution as to where she stood in the whole mess.

Mark nodded his head, clearly aware of how Cody's silence was somewhat an acknowledgement of how he and his wife had a valid point. "Look Cody," he explained. "I understand that it's gonna be difficult, and how strongly you feel for Bailey." He shook his head side to side. "But as much as I'd be pleased with the idea of you dating her and her potentially becoming my daughter in law, I don't think it will be worth your friendship with Raj being destroyed if that's what it takes for you to end up with her in that way."

"Dad. . ."

"I'm serious." Mark sighed. "Before all this drama happened, you and Raj were practically brothers in all but name." He looked up. "But now? How much that bond has deteriorated? And in only 2-3 months? That scares me."

Cody sighed. "I know dad, and I'm sorry about that. Really, I am. And trust me, I'm trying my best not to let things get too out of hand in regards to our rivalry."

"I certainly hope you are," said Mark. "Believe me, I do. Raheem and I once had a feud over Johanna just like the current one between you and Raj over Bailey when we were your age. And quite honestly, with all that happened between us during those times, it quite honestly wasn't until you and Raj became such good friends yourselves that the two of us were finally able to patch things back up. And believe me, I don't want the same kind of thing happening between you and Raj and ending up repeating itself again and again for your children and grandchildren. And I especially wouldn't want it to happen to you two and end up leaving your friendship permanently destroyed either. A bond like the kind you and Raj had before now? That's not something that you should take the loss of lightly, and it really should be treasured and held onto tightly."

Cody hung his head, knowing full well that his father was telling the truth, but still not entirely certain yet how he and Raj were to full-on resolve their current conflict just yet. "If you say so," he eventually managed to respond.

Johanna placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, a sympathetic look on her face. Then she looked at the clock. "It's 7:28," she noted. She looked back at her son. "We can talk about this some more at dinner," she said. Cody nodded. He was more than willing to wait until after he'd attended his first meetings as a member of the New Directions before further discussion with his parents about the current shaky ground between him and Raj.

. . . . .

At exactly 7:35, a car had departed from a house a couple blocks away from the Nakamura family's house five minutes after Johanna had departed with Cody, and was now firmly on the way to the intended destination of its occupants. The occupants, one of them a man in his late 30s to early 40s, a woman about the same age, and a 16-year old girl were all in a good mood. The girl, however, was in an especially good mood. She smiled excitedly, her dark face agleam with happiness as she looked out the window next to her in clear anticipation of what was to come this day. "Get ready McKinley High," she thought to herself with a toothy grin on her face. "Starting today, your future big star begins her glorious career." She chuckled quite loudly. "And boy is she going to enjoy every second of it."

"Ain't you in a good mood this morning," her father, Oscar Kellogg, whistled.

Bailey Kellogg chuckled, and turned her head back towards her parents. "You can bet your bottom boots I am, dad." She chuckled again. "Proud of it to."

"Shocker," her mother, Angie, stated in an amused sarcasm laden tone, without losing any focus on her driving or the road.

Bailey chuckled again. "You got that right," she said without missing a beat.

"Ain't that the truth," Bailey's father agreed. He turned his head to look out his window. "It certainly took you long enough to get into that glee club; that's for sure."

"Don't you worry dad," said Bailey. She stared ahead confidently. "If I'm still anywhere near as talented as I was back at that talent show two years ago, I'm bound to get myself well on the way to stardom over the course of my last two years at McKinley High now that I'm in the New Directions." Her smile widened. "And if I'm especially lucky, Raj and Cody will have just enough time to get well on the way to their own special futures that happen to await them over the course of their membership as well."

"Even though Raj is a senior this year?" her mother asked.

"Damn straight even though Raj is a senior."

"Well that's gonna depend a Hell of a lot on how soon they resolve that little war they've got between them right now over you."

Bailey sighed. As had been the case the past weekend, the previous Friday, and virtually every day that had unfolded over the past 2-3 months following that one fateful day in her final month of sophomore year, she still was quite uncomfortable with thinking too much about all the drama that had now come into existence between her and her two close male friends, Cody Nakamura and Raj Patel. These same two close friends had become heavily involved in her love life because of first Raj becoming her boyfriend, then an epic breakup shed initiated after she and Cody had caught Raj cheating on her with another girl his age named Kimberly Chung, and the current continuing duel efforts by Raj and Cody to win her over. In fact, she had initially only tried out for the glee club in the first place under the hope that membership in it would allow her to get away from Raj. And as much as she was willing to consider the idea of just maybe dating Cody, she wanted to be able to have the situation resolved in a way that would allow all three of them to remain the close friends they'd been before all the drama. But of course, as was only logical for situations like this, the 2-3 months that had followed the fateful day all the way to the current moment even now proved insufficient time for her to think up the ideal solution that would allow for such an outcome.

Angie noticed her daughter's silence. "You do realize that this situation may not entirely be capable of being resolved the way you hope it will be, right?"

Bailey sighed. "I know that mom." She looked out the window to her right. "But I'm not giving up hope that it will be resolved the way I want it to. I can't give it up. I won't."

"We're not saying you should," Oscar stated calmly and patiently. He lowered his head, sighed, and shook his head. He looked back at Bailey. "Believe me, considering how close you and those two bozos were all these years before that one bad day last May, your mother and I are just as hopeful as you are that your friendship doesn't get damaged beyond any hope of repair by the time this situation is resolved."

Angie nodded. "We just want you to also be careful and try not to get your hopes up too high." She lifted one hand from the driver's wheel to forestall Bailey from making an interjecting remark. "I'm not saying that you should give up entirely. I just want you to be ready in the unlikely event that such a negative outcome actually does occur."

Oscar nodded. "It's better to be cautious and prepared for a potential negative outcome just as much as you are for a positive one then to be crushed and brokenhearted over a negative outcome occurring that you didn't allow yourself to be prepared for."

Bailey paused, thought to herself, and then seemed to mentally struggle to think of just what to say. Then she sighed, and nodded her head. "If you say so."

Her parents noticed their daughter's very somber tone that had entered her latest response to them, and they looked at each other, silently stating in unison that something needed to be done to change the current atmosphere.

"But never mind that," said Oscar as he turned on the radio. By sheer luck, the song that ended up blasting out of the radio was one of Bailey's favorite songs by the famed African American recording artist (and McKinley High alumna) Mercedes Jones Evans. "Today's a big day! We need to celebrate!"

"Damn straight," said Angie.

Bailey chuckled, and nodded her head in agreement, smile already back on her face. "You got that right," she agreed.

. . . . .

At 7:50, a 17-year old Indian American boy was standing right next to the driver's side front door of a red Hyundai. The car in question was parked in the parking lot of McKinley High. The boy flipped the keys over in his hand, sighed, and locked the car. The boy, Raj Patel, was not entirely sure what to think at the current moment.

Admittedly, he himself was quite excited to be attending his first official meetings as a member of the New Directions glee club. He'd have been a fool not to be. And he was also happy that Bailey had made it into the club alongside him. However, he was not entirely as happy about Cody making it into the club as he was about Bailey's membership. And under different circumstances, he would probably have been exactly as happy for Cody's membership as he was about Bailey's. He sighed, hung his head, and shook it side to side. "All three of us used to be such good friends," he thought to himself. "Oh where did it all go wrong?" This question, of course, was rhetorical. He knew all too well where it had all gone wrong. And he was not at all blameless in what had gone down.

He sighed again. Truth be told, he was just as worried as Bailey and Cody about just how much his friendship with any of them could potentially be damaged if the current drama going on between them lasted long enough, and especially depending on just how the whole mess got resolved. And the fact that his and Cody's rivalry had progressed to its current level over the course of only 2-3 months was indeed something he found quite troubling. But at the same time, he still could not yet think of a good way to resolve the matter peacefully without great difficulty.

A conversation that he'd had with his parents before departure for school had hardly proven any more helpful in easing his mind. He sighed once more as he remembered the conversation in question. The day had started out pleasantly enough with him waking up from bed perfectly on time, having a delicious breakfast, and taking care of all the necessary preparations for when he left for school just in time to have half an hour to spare before departure.

In the conversation that had unfolded between him and his parents, Raheem and Rani, his mother (Rani) had begun by noting how rather excited Raj had to have been to be as excited and prepared for the day as early as he'd now turned out to be. Raheem had agreed, and made note of how today was Raj's first day as an official member of the New Directions glee club. He'd even gone so far as to make note of how very proud his brother, Raj's uncle Ravi, would be of the news.

But then matters had switched to his current dilemma between Cody and Bailey, and things had gotten quite somber from that point onward. Raj sighed again. He could still hear the entire conversation clear as day. And quite honestly, he couldn't help but agree with his parents. Before the fateful day where all the drama had first been born, and in fact before he had even started dating Bailey, he and Cody had been practically brothers. Now, over the course of the 2-3 months that had unfolded following Raj getting caught affectively cheating on Bailey with his other close friend, and fellow senior, Kimberly Chung, by none other than Bailey and Cody, his bond with Cody had eroded to the point that they might as well have been eternally sworn enemies since birth.

Raj hung his head. Truth be told, he hated how much drama and tension now existed between him, Cody, and Bailey just as much as his parents did; and as he was almost certain his two junior-year friends hated the matter as well. After all, there was even now a small part of his mind that said that if he'd truly loved Bailey as much as he thought, he would either have never started seeing Kimberly on the sly behind Bailey's back; or at the very least would have handled the matter of breaking the news about his romantic confusion in a much better fashion then the one he'd chosen. He also knew perfectly well that Cody both had feelings of his own for Bailey and that he'd love Bailey and treat her right. And finally, there was the matter of Kimberly herself. Raj sighed, his eyes now closed with regret. Even with how little he'd interacted with Kimberly, or even their ally amongst the sophomores, Sid Webber, he had a very strong feeling that his current behavior and ongoing drama was hurting her nonetheless. And she didn't deserve that.

Yet at the same time, Raj very genuinely didn't know what to do. Quite honestly, he still didn't yet have any idea whether he truly loved anyone romantically, let alone whether he felt that love more strongly towards either Bailey or Kimberly. He didn't want Bailey forever thinking of him as an untrustworthy cheater; but his current efforts at still attempting to win her back in competition against Cody hardly seemed to be helping his case. He didn't want to leave Kimberly feeling as if she'd been lead on, and left heartbroken at the idea that he didn't truly care for her at all even in the face of the practically earthshaking confession she'd given him not too long before the incident; but at the same time, he didn't want her to feel as if he was only choosing her over Bailey out of pity and viewed her as little more than a silver medal either. Neither of the two girls deserved such a fate. Yet how was he supposed to properly figure out his feelings when he even now had no way of properly exploring them without leaving either Bailey or Kimberly shafted in the process?

Then there was Cody to consider. Where did he currently stand regarding this issue? Was Cody still capable of being reasonable and allowing him to fully explain and help him understand his necessity behind continuing to hang out with Bailey to help him have better chances of getting his feelings in order and properly determine whether he truly loved her or Kimberly more? Or would Cody just presume such explanations as a sign to interpret him as a two-timing ladies' man who hoped to just make a threesome for his own selfish gain? For that matter, just how far had he and Cody progressed in their little rivalry? Was there still any chance at all of them being able to reconcile? Or had they already gone too far for any hope of such an outcome? Or even more infuriatingly, had the drama between even lasted long enough for a resolution to occur at this point to seem even remotely genuine and allow for neither of them to appear to be just giving up and get accused of cowardice? Raj sighed, and hung his head once more. What was he going to do?

Raj lifted his head. "This is my last year," he thought to himself. He shook his head side to side. "Next year, I'll be in college; and here I am now with all this drama between me, Cody, and Bailey?" He sighed. "My senior year can't unfold and end like this. It can't." He took a deep breath, and then sighed. "Well, hopefully things will yet work out later in the school year."

He checked his watch. By some miracle, only 5 minutes had passed. He silently whistled. "Well at least I still have plenty of time to get inside the school and reach my 1st class for the day." He nodded his head. "And even better, since Bailey and Cody don't share the same first class as me on Mondays, I should have plenty of time to allow myself to at least be civil and be able to speak and interact with them without going too far."

He turned his head to face his car, locked it with the appropriate button on his keys, and turned to face the nearby school entrance. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. He directed a calm and determined look at the school. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. Mind made up, and confidence and determination at the ready, he dutifully marched off to the doors near the parking lot that would allow him entry into the school. At that moment, as dramatic and tension laden his relationship with two of his closest friends currently was, he was ready to undergo whatever this day had to throw at him. He was ready to get his first full week of school for his senior year underway. He was ready for his first official full day as an official member of the New Directions.

And there you have it people! My first chapter for my newest multi-chapter work in the GWAFU (Glee: We Are Family Universe). Here's to hoping you all find it a good, proper, and enjoyable way to get the ball rolling for what's to come! ^_^ I'm sure you'll be quite glad indeed to see how some brief nods to the 'A Generation Packed With Potential' oneshot were made in this chapter. I also hope very much that you enjoyed all the segments devoted to my 13 OC New Directions Members from GWAF that you all got to know and love back in my original first story for this community, not to mention how you all FINALLY got introduced to their parents! ^_^ Believe me, I had so much fun in finally putting an end to their status as 'the Ghost' type characters and giving them a proper physical character introduction into the GWAFU ^_^. Here's me hoping you had just as much fun reading this chapter (and experiencing those elements) as I did in writing them! And for one last little detail, here's a little 411 on just where the events of this story occur. As of this current point, the events of this chapter take place after the events of Chapter 4 in GWAF, but before the events of Chapter 5 in GWAF. The rest of this story, will unfold over the course of the NND's first full week as members of the ND (and a tiny bit of time after said first week as well). With that in mind, the events of this entire story that are still to unfold will occur at a time that will allow them to overlap with the events of GWAF chapter 5, somewhat occur at the same time as the events of Chapters 6-15 in GWAF and LONG BEFORE the events of GWAF chapter 16. You got that? Here's me hoping that it won't be too overwhelming for you to try to keep all this continuity and timeline stuff in order (and feel free to look back over GWAF and AGPWP for necessary information). That being said, once again, I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of this Glee-ful brand new story! And please, do leave a respectable amount of feedback. For that matter, I shall require a MINIMUM of 3 reviews for this first chapter in order to post the 2nd chapter (upon its completion). And remember, Flames are forbidden in the review section of this story (just like with all my stories). Again, hoping you had fun, and looking forward to your feedback! ^_^