A/N: Hey people!

Ok, so it's official: this story has become my latest obsession! When I'm not writing it, I'm thinking about what to write. However, I have a few other stories that have been seriously neglected due to the beginning of this one, so it might be a few days before I update again so that I can catch up with the others for a while! I promise to try not to wait too long though haha :)

If anyone's got any song suggestions for Nikki, they are more than welcomed!

Let me know what you all think!

love,

xoloveJBox

Chapter three.

When the members of New Directions walked into the choir room at the end of the day, they were all surprised to see Nikki, sat patiently, waiting for them. It was almost an exact split between the people who were glad to see her there and those who weren't. It wasn't that the others didn't want Nikki there, but they were tired of working so hard and not getting anywhere, and they weren't sure that having Nikki join would help them in any way.

Nikki smiled when they came in, looking braver than she felt. She had spent the majority of her Spanish lesson covertly deciding with Mr Shuester on a song for her to audition with. In the ten minutes or so before the glee club had arrived, Nikki had spent the time going over the song in her head, and while she was sure she knew it well enough, the burst of courage she had felt when agreeing had been short-lived, and now she was terrified. However, Nikki knew that she had told Mr Shuester that she would do it, and she had never been on for backing down, no matter what it was or how much she didn't want to do it.

The first few minutes were spent on introductions. Nikki was amazed at the different varieties of people in the room. She could feel the scrutinising looks from a few of the girls, mostly Rachel and Santana, but she didn't mind. Mr Shuester was more than happy to see them smiling and talking when he came in a few minutes later.

"Alright guys, Nikki has decided that she wants to give auditioning a go." He announced. When the other students began a small round of applause, Nikki could already feel herself blushing.

"Ready Nikki?" Will asked her, an encouraging smile on his face. Nikki couldn't ignore the looks from the other students burning into her skin, but she knew it was now or never.

"Yeah, sure." She lied, taking a deep, slightly shaky breath. Nikki removed her glasses and tucked them into her back pocket, and slid out of her jacket, throwing it over the chair, readying herself slowly in her mind.

"Puck, can you give her a hand on the guitar?" Will asked. Although Nikki had told him that she could play the song herself, he could already see her hands trembling from across the room.

"Sure." Puck replied, getting up and retrieving the guitar. Mr Shuester quietly told him the song and went to sit with the kids to watch. He was pleased with Nikki's song choice, and he wanted Nikki's entire performance to be a surprise, including the song.

"Ready?" Puck asked, prepared to start at any time. Nikki nodded quickly, so Puck began.

Nikki distracted herself from the expectant eyes in the room by counting the beats in her head. She knew when exactly she had to come in, and each second bought it closer and closer.

...three...

Nikki could see nods from the glee members as they recognised the song, one of her personal favourites. They seemed to like it.

...two...

As Nikki felt her heartbeat in her throat, the blood rushing in her ears and heat cascading over her face, she tried to think of all the things that were supposed to help with stage nerves. She tried to imagine everyone in their underwear; that didn't work. She closed her eyes and pretended that they weren't there; that made things worse by feeding her paranoia. She saw herself in her room, alone and singing into her hair brush; that helped, but only a little.

...one...go...

Nikki opened her mouth to begin, but nothing came out. She tried again and still only produced an almost inaudible gasping sound. With each passing second, her cue got further and further away from salvaging. With the hot, sticky feel of embarrassment creeping along her skin, Nikki blinked away pricking tears. She couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to subject herself to such humiliation. She wanted to scream, to cry, to run away or all three.

Will felt a pang of guilt when he looked at the girl. She had told him that she couldn't perform in front of people, but he had fought to convince her anyway. He had put unfair amounts of pressure on Nikki, and now she was the one paying for it. He knew he should have left it alone, listened to Nikki, but he had been so sure that she would be great. He'd just had a feeling.

"Mr Shuester, we're wasting time here." Rachel leaned across to tell him, but Nikki still heard.

"I'm sorry, can we start again?" Nikki asked determinedly, to both Puck and Mr Shuester. Although she was painfully shy, Nikki hated to feel disadvantaged, and she loved to defy people's expectations. Puck glanced uncertainly at Mr Shuester, who nodded his permission. He was curious about what was going to happen.

Puck moved his fingers to the original chords and began playing again.

Nikki took a deep breath, glad that Puck hadn't given her chance to back out again, and waited for her cue, her head held high.

"I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined..."

Nikki loved Natasha Bedingfield's 'Unwritten' because it echoed a lesson that her father taught her from an early age; that you only have one life to live, and that only we can create out futures.

She started out very softly and quietly, singing to the floor, but as she got further and further into the song, after realising that the sky wasn't going to fall because people were watching her, Nikki began getting into it.

"Drench yourself in words unspoken, live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten..."

Nikki was a little surprised when she heard other people joining in with the harmonies she had planned on leaving out, but the way all the voices mingled together so perfectly sounded incredible in her ears. The music pulsed in her veins, and felt as natural to her as breathing.

"The rest is still unwritten; the rest is still unwritten, the rest is still unwritten, oh yeah, yeah..."

When Nikki finished, the whole room was still and silent. Oh God, she thought, horrified, they hated it. With this thought, and many other similar to it reeling through her mind, Nikki just wanted to leave. She had tried, lord knows she had tried, and it obviously hadn't worked. She was ready to evacuate the classroom with her tail between her legs, completely prepared to never show her face again.

However, she was shocked and confused and a whole load of other emotions when the room erupted with applause. She felt it enveloping her for what felt like a very long time before Mr Shuester came and stood next to her.

"How do you feel Nikki?" He asked, beaming at her proudly as the clapping started to die down.

"Nauseated." She admitted, laughing at the same time "but amazing!"

"See! I knew you could do it! So, are you planning on sticking around?"
"That depends: does it feel this good every time?"

"If you're meant to do this, then yes, it will." Will told her honestly, seeing all the agreeing nods from the other students.

"I must warn you; I can't dance." She told them seriously.

"It's ok," Mercedes laughed "if we can teach Finn, anything's possible."

Finn pretended to look hurt, but his face held as big a grin as everyone else's. No one had really been sure what to expect from Nikki. They had known that she must have been good from the fact that Mr Shuester was so determined to make Nikki join, but they had begun to doubt her abilities to perform. If they had known that such a big, strong voice would come out of such an introverted being, they wouldn't have been so reluctant.

"In that case," Nikki concluded happily "where do you want me?"