They are all trying to get their number into sectionals, but after a small power struggle, Sam Evans announce what he wants them to do. Not everybody is happy about his choices.

Songs in this chapter

Sisters are doin' it for themselves - Eurythmics/Aretha Franklin - M/L: Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart

Do you hear the people sing - from Les Miserables - M: Claude-Michel Schönberg, L: (english) Herbert Kretzmer

Everything is awesome - from The Lego Movie - M/L: Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew, Lisa Harriton, The Lonely Island.

Multiple songs mentioned

Fighting for power

The performance that Dean and Jack gave at their next rehearsal left a bad taste in Ianto's mouth. The two of them acted like they were a couple the way they rubbed their backs against each other on the chorus. Dean looked so handsome with his guitar when he leaned into Jack as they both sang into the same microphone.

They had asked if they could do it in the auditorium, and since it was vacant, Mr Evans had let them.

It was excellent. Ianto had to admit that the two of them together were a real power couple, and it was hard for him to realize that he didn't like it. He did his best to hide his feelings because he was pretty sure that Jack was so out of his league anyway. The guy was flirting left and right, and had a tail of both guys and girls trying to get to him.

It wasn't that he had fallen in love, but Jack had stirred something in him that he would have wanted to explore if he'd only had the guts.

"Now there was a time when they used to say

That behind every great man there had to be a great woman…"

Ianto was totally thrown off his train of thoughts as Jane started singing. It didn't take long before Unique entered the stage as well.

"Now in these times of change, you know that it's no longer true

So we're comin' out of the kitchen

'Cause there's somethin' we forgot to say to you…"

It was obviously a collaboration between the the girls, because when they hit the chorus, Gwen, Jo, Charlie, and Madison joined in. The two lead singers did a spectacular performance, and Ianto knew that Jack and Dean would have competition in their attempt to get their number into sectionals.

In his mind he preferred the Whitesnake song, but he was all for knocking Jack down a few notches.

"I said, 'Sisters are doin' it for themselves'

Standin' on their own two feet

And ringin' on their own bells

Sisters are doin' it for themselves

Sisters are doin' it for themselves…"

The girls received standing ovations, but Ianto could see that Jack and Dean exchanged a worried glance as they cheered along with the rest of the boys.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You want something unexpected." Garth entered the stage after everybody had calmed down. "I have a suggestion for a big choir number that nobody is going to expect. I'm pretty sure most of you know this song already, but I have the lyrics here if you need them."

He handed out a sheet of paper to the few students that were still on stage, and then he urged the rest of them to come up. The band was obviously prepared for what was coming, and the drummer started to hit the beat.

Garth stepped up to the center of the stage. "I know I'm not going to be the lead on this one, but please…" He drew his breath heavily before he started.

"Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!..."

The rest of the Glee-club joined in one by one. Sam Winchester was sitting in the back listening. He was pretty sure that his brother didn't know this song. He had tried to get him to see 'Le Mis', but Dean had not been interested at all.

"...When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!"

He could see that his brother tried to follow, and he managed somewhat. A couple of the others seemed a little unfamiliar with the song as well, while a some of them had tossed the lyrics sheet to the side already as they sang along.

"Will you give all you can give

So that our banner may advance

Some will fall and some will live…"

Sam couldn't imagine that the choir would do this song at sectionals, but it was very nice to listen to them. He could see that their director was rubbing his cheeks, and he didn't look convinced either. There was a little smile tugging his lips though as he used his other hand to hit the beat on his thigh.

"When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes."

Every single one of them sang the last few lines without even looking at the lyrics. Even Dean had lowered his hand, and he seemed very confident at the end.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Can any of you rap?" Sam threw out the question as soon as everybody was seated. Most of the crowd reacted as if he'd asked them to strip or do anything else that was totally off the cuff. Only Garth seemed pleased, and he waved his hand in the air eagerly. There was also a small smile on Charlie's face, and she nodded reluctantly as she peeked from side to side under her lashes.

"Well. I have made my decision on what to do for sectionals, but one of the songs has a short rap sequence." He drew his breath. "I'm not sure that will be your biggest problem with this number." He chuckled a little when he panned all the grave faces in front of him. Garth had lowered his hand, but he was now the only one who looked eager to know what Sam had come up with. Charlie's smile had vanished and the rest of them actually seemed a little scared.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you can do it. Garth and Charlie. You two will have to show off your skills before I make the final decision. If the two of you can stay behind after rehearsal today, it would be great."

Charlie and Garth exchanged a quick glance, while the rest of the Glee-club threw a brief look at them before they turned to Sam again. "What are you planning, just tell us please." "Rapping! Seriously!" Unique and John spoke simultaneously. He wasn't surprised that those two reacted first, but Sam waved them both off. "I need to know that the two of them can do it." He nodded towards Garth and Charlie. Then I will tell you."

They all looked a little bummed, but none of them commented on it.

"We will do the Evanescence number, but not with the original cast." He turned to Gwen as he drew his breath. "I'm sorry girl. You have improved a lot, but I have to give your part to somebody else."

Gwen didn't seem surprised. "I know. I understand. I'm just happy that I did it well enough for you to pick it." Sam was happy that she took it so well. "Jane will sing that part along with Jo." Jane hit the air with her fist and Sam could hear a faint 'yeah' from the girl. Jo seemed to hold her breath for a second, but didn't say anything.

"For the male part I want to keep both Ianto and John." The two boy were sitting together in the front, and Sam looked at them both. John nodded slowly and smiled a little while Ianto looked utterly surprised. "Really! I mean. Really?" For a moment he was just staring into the air with his mouth open before he turned to John and smiled widely. Surprisingly enough, John looked a little shy before the two boys hugged it out. "Great. That's great. We did it." John was back to his normal, confident self as he patted Ianto's back after the embrace.

"The number has to be excellent, so the four of you have to find time to rehearse together. Can you do that?" Without even looking at each other, they all nodded. "We can do it at my place." Ianto turned to Jane and Jo.

"I wanted a solo, and I'm sorry girls, but what you gave me last week was not what I asked for." Sam felt really bad. Jane and Unique and the rest of the girls had done a great job on their number. "I asked for a surprise, and Jack and Dean gave me one."

He could see that all the girls slumped their heads down for a second, and he expected that at least one of them would challenge him. It didn't happen, and Sam actually got a little disappointed. "We kind of knew." Jane drew her breath heavily. "And I agree. Sorry girls, but I really liked Jack and Dean's performance. It's… It's… What can I say?."

Jack and Dean was sitting too far apart to even shake hands, but Sam could see that the two guys nodded and smiled to each other. "Can you perfect it? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you can. I want a flawless performance for sectionals, so the two of you have to work with the band to make it happen."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Gwen is planning a party

"We're going to have a party at our house after sectionals." Gwen came over to the table with her tray, and looked at Jo. "Rhiannon and Johnny are going to Wales for a week with the kids, so we'll have room. My aunt and uncle have okayed it." She squeezed herself in between Kevin and Garth. "They even promised to go out and maybe spend the night at a hotel."

Sam Winchester felt slightly overlooked as she addressed the guys from Glee-club. He knew for sure that he wasn't included. He'd sat down with Jo and Kevin at their usual table, but had soon been crowded by a group from Glee. He knew both Charlie and Garth from Computer club, and both of them had occasionally eaten their lunch there, but he'd never had the pleasure of sharing table with Ianto and John.

He knew all of them from being allowed into the choir room on occasions, but he had never really exchanged a word with them.

"I hope it will be to celebrate a win, or else it will be more like a wake." John rolled his eyes and looked at Ianto. "Alcohol is probably out of the question, so when we lose we just have to sit there without any chance of diving into oblivion."

Gwen laughed out loud before she contained herself and leaned over the table. She panned the crowd and lowered her voice significantly. "Don't you worry. I will get stuff." She bobbed her head. "Give me some money, and I'll make sure that we will have something to drown our sorrows in. Or… if everything works out - something to celebrate with."

She was whispering now, and it was kind of unusual. Sam didn't know that Gwen was even capable of keeping her voice down. "In Britain, the drinking age is eighteen, and my cousin promised to help us out."

Everybody looked at Ianto, but he shook his head. "Don't look at me. She is referring to my sister." He chucked a little. "That's Gwen. She can make miracles happen. I wouldn't even have dared to ask.

Sam was listening to the conversation, knowing that he was not included and it bothered him more than he liked to admit.

"But none of us are eighteen." John dared to say the words, and he got disgruntled stares from the others. Gwen cocked her head as she looked at him. "I know, but I kind of told them that most of the guests are eighteen or close to eighteen, so you better lie out of your teeth if you meet them."

Sam was done eating. He gathered his things and was about to withdraw from the scene. This had nothing to do with him, and he felt sad for not being a part of it. He gave Jo a quick smile and nudged Kevin a little to alert him that he was leaving. There was no point sitting there anymore.

"Can we invite other people?" Kevin grabbed a hold of Sam's sleeve. "Sorry, but Sam is kind of part of the group. He has been there, in the choir room, and he is Dean's brother." After a short hesitation he continued. "And he is my best friend."

Gwen looked up and cocked her head as she stared at Sam for a moment. "Sam, is it? The same as our director's name." She shook her head as she chuckled. "The more the merrier. You are officially invited."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sectionals

They were unable to get a bus to take them to sectionals. Mr Evans took the blame, because he had failed to book it. They would have to go there on a regular bus, but there would be no bus to take them back. The school they were going to had offered to provide accommodations for those students who couldn't make it home, but the McKinley kids decided to take matters into their own hands.

"We have to get back. There's a party waiting for us." Gwen took the lead, and did her best to scrape together enough drivers. "Dean will fill up his car, and Jack will do the same." She was standing in the choir room pointing at the two boys. "Who else has a car we can use? We do not want to involve any parents in this, they have to believe that we are stuck." For some of the students, it wouldn't be a problem, but they all knew that a few of them were never going to get permission from their parents to attend the party.

Unique, Mason and John lifted their hands. "That's more than enough. We just have to find out who rides with who." Gwen and Ianto had to be back first, and they all decided that the two of them would sneak out with Dean and leave as soon as possible after the competition was over. "If we win, there will probably be some delays; pictures and stuff, but the rest of you have to cover for us."

Jack promised to leave last and make sure that nobody got left behind. "Check in with me when you go, I need to know." He and Gwen had obviously talked about this before, and the two of them took charge as they discussed the departure. They decided to meet up at the bus-station in Lima, and not tell their parents or their chaperones about this until the last minute.

"So it's settled then." Gwen exhaled audibly. "Thank you guys. We will get back to Lima after this show, and we will party till the early morning hours." She punched the air with her fist just as Mr Evans walked through the door. "What? Is there a party somewhere? I don't think I'm invited."

Gwen looked a little embarrassed, but composed herself quickly. They didn't know how much he'd heard, but Gwen was quick with a white lie. "Yes, well. We are going to have a little get-together on sunday. We kind of want to celebrate us winning, er, sir." Then she looked down for a second before she met Mr Evans' eyes again. "Or mourn our loss."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

All the parents had gotten a letter explaining that the Glee-club would have to stay over night. After Gwen had organized drivers to take them back, Castiel decided not to tell his parents. It was better if they thought he was bunking with his friends in a classroom two and a half hours away instead of knowing that he'd be at party in Lima.

They did offer to come pick him up after sectionals, but he'd insisted that he wanted to stay with the choir. "It will be like a bonding thing. It'll be nice to hang out together. Win or lose, I want to stay with them after the performance."

The pastor was about to say something, but Cas lifted his hand to stop him. "Before you ask. There will be chaperones. We will sleep at the school, so we can't really do anything more bad than to stay up half the night talking and singing."

His family had not been too thrilled when they eventually learned that he was in Glee-club, but they had reluctantly accepted it when Castiel had showed that what he learned there made him an asset to the church choir. The actual vocal training was so-so, but he was more courageous and dared to do a solo ever so often. Everybody knew that he was good enough, but he'd always been a little too shy to take center stage.

"You can call Mr Evans or principal Schuester if you need confirmation." Castiel was pretty sure that the two of them didn't know anything about the carpool, so if his dad wanted to call, it would probably be okay.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The Crawford private school for girls had a small auditorium compared to that at McKinley. The stage was fairly big, but didn't have much room backstage. When one choir performed the next in line had to either sit among the audience or be stuck in a sort of 'green-room' a floor down. With fourteen students, a band, and their three chaperones it would be way too crowded, so the New Directions opted to stay in their seats until it was their turn.

They wouldn't get a chance to have a last minute pep-talk, but Mr Evans' confidence in them helped a lot.

The hosting school was up first. It was an all girl choir, and they were going for an all girl theme this year.

Everybody from McKinley sighed in unison when the girls started. Their rendition of 'Sisters are doing it for themselves' was way better than the one they had done. They followed up with a daring number from Pussycat Dolls. 'I don't need a man', had six of the girls in skimpy outfits doing suggestional movements as they sang.

There was a cat call or two from some of the male audience, but they quieted down when the choir's director stood up and stared at them.

They ended their performance with 'Stronger' by Britney Spears. The choir arrangement of the song was well done, and the thirteen girls gave it their best.

The New Warblers were up next. Sam Evans had told them what had happened with the choir at their school, and he wasn't too concerned about the competition from them. "They are all new. Most of them are freshmen or sophomores."

"We are new too." Jo whispered a little nervously as the guys entered the stage. "They can still be better than us." There wasn't much time for Mr Evans to reply before the music started. "We have a couple of aces up our sleeve." He didn't explain, but for the kids in New Directions it was kind of comforting.

That was until the whole choir was standing in front of them. There was at least twenty five students up there, and when they started to sing their voices filled the auditorium on a different scale than the girl choir managed to do. "Freshmen and sophomores? I think not." Jo's voice was barely audible, but Mr Evans obviously picked up on it. "My bad. I didn't do my research properly."

Their 'Just a gigolo/I ain't got nobody' number was excellently delivered. They followed up with 'Somebody to love' by Queen, and ended their performance with a soft ballad from Robbie Williams, 'She's the one'.

Thurston High school had nothing. Their director came up and explained that the choir at their school started rehearsing two weeks ago, and that they entered the competition just to learn. They sang only two songs, and in spite of the poor rendition of 'Let it go' from Frozen, and an even worse 'The prayer', they got massive applause from the audience.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He didn't know if it was a good thing going last. He didn't know if it was a good thing going after the tragic performance of the Glee-club from Thurston. John was extremely nervous as they gathered together back stage only minutes before they had to get on.

Mr Evans didn't seem half as confident as he was before the whole thing started, and it was quite disconcerting. The New Warblers had raised the bar significantly, and everybody knew that they had to do their very best to match them.

The Evanescence number got a very good reception, although John had been beside himself through the whole thing. He did his part practically on autopilot, and he was happy that he and Ianto had been so thorough when they rehearsed it together for the fiftieth time last night.

Dean and Jack didn't look nervous at all. Well, there was a small problem with the cord to Dean's guitar, and it made the guy a little flustered for a second, but the two of them did their song flawlessly as soon as it was sorted.

They had all worked together building the props for their final number. Blocks of colored styrofoam were cut and shaped into oversized Legos. John had been so against doing this song, but he had been outvoted when the decision was made. The rest of his team had found it hilarious, and they looked forward to dance around with those colorful thingies.

The twins were doing the lead vocals; something John also found disturbing. They had singers that were better than them, but he didn't complain as long as he could be in the background.

"Everything is Awesome,

Everything is cool when you're part of a team

Everything is Awesome when you're living out a dreams…"

He felt like a complete idiot standing between the guitarist and the bassist waving with a big blue piece of styrofoam. Dean had put his own block down, and was pretending to sit on it as he sang.

The lyrics were kind of cool, but John couldn't understand why they needed the props. Even if the song was from the Lego movie they could still have found a better way to show it off.

"I just heard the news

Everyone's talking: Life is good!

'Cause everything's awesome

Awesome jobs and new opportunity…"

Garth and Charlie did their part very well, but it didn't take away John's discomfort. Those Warblers had been too good, and no matter what, New Directions wouldn't stand a chance. He was pretty sure about that. Getting wasted tonight at Gwen and Ianto's party was probably the only thing to look forward to.

"Everything is Awesome,

Everything is cool when you're part of a team

Everything is Awesome when you're living out a dreams."

It was kind of cool that the audience joined in on the last few lines, but it didn't calm John down completely.