School started August 17th. Quinn had spent most of the summer at the Cheerios training camp, leading the squad to the perfection she strived for. Grace, however, spent her summer reading through the classics, even the ones the school hadn't assigned and was rereading the summer reading book when Quinn walked downstairs, rolling her eyes.
"You seriously aren't still wasting your last few minutes of summer on some lame book," Quinn said with a roll in her voice as Grace looked up.
"I'm not wasting my summer on anything, I'm just refreshing my memory of our summer reading, you know the book that the school assigned us to read over the summer instead of spending every night at parties," Grace shot back at her sister, who rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, I read the book Grace. I'm not some irresponsible jock who probably didn't even crack open the first page," Quinn snapped at her sister, clearly upset by the assumption that she didn't do her work "I'm just not some nerd who has to have the book memorized before we even know what the assignment is."
"Typical," Grace said, rolling her eyes as Quinn shot her look.
"Well at least I have a life, what did you do other than ogle books all summer," Quinn asked, leadingly.
"For your information, I attended theater camp, too," Grace said.
"Like that isn't any less lame," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.
"Well it means something to me. I know you worked hard at cheer camp but that doesn't mean you had to play harder at every single party Santana Lopez hosted," Grace said seriously.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Quinn said simply.
"Oh please Q, you came home wasted on more than one occasion and who had to cover for you with mom and dad? Me. That's who," Grace said annoyed.
"Well no one asked you to do that," Quinn said, annoyed.
"And ruin you little miss perfect act with them? Please. You and I both know you'd somehow blame me if I didn't cover for you," Grace said before sighing "We're sisters, I know we've grown apart and you don't want to acknowledge that you care in school, but I know deep down you still do."
Quinn looked up at her sister, getting slightly emotional, knowing Grace might be the only person she could open up to about her mistakes of the summer, but she wasn't ready to, not yet at least. "You're right...thank you for helping me," Quinn said quietly.
"You're welcome," Grace smiled softly as the twins then finished up their breakfast.
"Are you ready to go?" Quinn asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be to go back to that place," Grace sighed, she truly hated high school, she didn't hate the work, that was easy but it was the social hierarchy of the school she could've done without.
"Come on," Quinn said, tugging her sister along slightly as they headed into Quinn's Red Volkswagen Bug to head to school.
Grace sat in the backseat, knowing as always Quinn would want to sit in the front with her boyfriend, Finn, who she picked up for school everyday. Quinn drove them to Finn's, picking him up as he was waiting outside. "Hi baby," Quinn smiled, kissing him softly as she greeted him.
"Hey babe," Finn said, kissing her back before turning around "...and Grace."
"Hi," Grace said, not looking up from her book which she continued to read on the way to school, not wanting to be a part of the Quinn/Finn lovefest up front.
"How was your summer?" Finn asked Grace, trying to be polite as Quinn tried to get him to pay attention to her.
"Fine. I'd ask how yours was but you were over at our place almost every day," Grace said nonchalantly.
"Yeah...it was nice spending the summer with Quinn," Finn grinned at Quinn who finally got his attention.
"I bet," Grace said unenthusiastically as she continued to read her book as Finn kissed Quinn's cheek as they soon arrived at McKinley High.
"We better get to practice," Quinn told Finn, seriously grabbing her Cheerios bag.
"I'll be right there," Finn assured her as Quinn shot him a look "I have to meet the guys at Puck's dumpster."
"Again?" Quinn said, slightly annoyed.
"It's tradition," Finn frowned.
"Fine...don't be late," Quinn said, annoyed as she put her bag on storming off as Finn exhaled loudly.
"Look, Finn, I know Puck's somehow your best friend, but do you really want to start off this year tossing kids into dumpsters?" Grace asked, arching her eyebrow.
"You scarily look like Quinn when you do that and it terrifies me when she does the eyebrow thing too," Finn said nervously as Grace chuckled a bit, weirdly complimented. Finn sighed. "No...I guess I don't but what choice do I have? The guys on the team will make fun of me if I don't help out," he frowned.
"I get the pressure can be tough but I just thought you were better than that," Grace shrugged grabbing her backpack as she took off, leaving Finn with a lot to think about.
Grace headed to her locker getting ready for her first day of sophomore year, something she wasn't really looking forward to as Rachel Berry, the self-proclaimed leader of the Singsations made her way over to her. "Grace, I took it upon myself to make the schedule for the Singsations for the year," Rachel said, handing Grace a paper as Grace looked over it.
"Looks like you have us practicing everyday after school," Grace said uneasily.
"Precisely, I mean lack of rehearsals is part of why we lost Sectionals last year, not to mention the majority of the group is tone deaf," Rachel said upset.
"Look, Rachel I do think we need more rehearsals but everyone has other obligations after school, I have dance class on Wednesdays," Grace said pointing it out.
"You can reschedule for the weekend can't you?" Rachel huffed.
"No. I babysit on weekends and some weeknights," Grace said as Rachel scoffed.
"How can you put babysitting and dancing over being a national champion?" Rachel asked, annoyed.
"Because as you pointed out, our group is nowhere near ready to perform on a National level," Grace said simply placing the schedule in her binder "Look, I know you're a great singer, so are Mercedes and Kurt but the 4 of us can't carry the Glee Club."
"You're right! I'll just have to find new members!" Rachel said excitedly.
"That's not what I..." Grace began.
"Thanks Grace," Rachel grinned as she quickly walked off in a determined fashion.
"...meant," Grace said shaking her head, knowing all this would get Rachel at best was teased and at worst a slushie facial, she hoped it was the latter.
Meanwhile, Quinn was helping Sue diligently run Cheerios practice as the team was performing a routine to a mashup of 'You Can Do It' by Ice Cube and 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' by The Supremes. Quinn tried to lead them in the number to impress Sue but Sue continued to look unimpressed by the Cheerios as they finished the routine.
"You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded, that's hard," Sue said into her megaphone unimpressed.
"Let's run it again." Quinn exhaled loudly, knowing it was going to be a long year of trying to impress Sue.
School went by fairly quickly that day with the twins ending the day in Mr. Schuester's Spanish class. "Great," Quinn muttered seeing Grace arrive as Grace rolled her eyes.
"Oh my God no way! The Fabray clones are in my class," Brittany said excitedly.
"Brittany for the millionth time we are not clones, we're twins, big difference," Quinn scoffed at her friend as Brittany pouted.
"Yeah clones are way cooler," Brittany whispered as Grace giggled a bit.
"You're right Britt, it would be cooler if we were clones," Grace said as she headed off to her seat.
"See? Grace agrees with me," Brittany protested.
"Grace also thinks books are her friends. Now let's just take our seats Britt," Quinn said simply as she sat beside Brittany.
Kurt soon entered as he took the seat beside Grace, who smiled happy to see her close friend. "Hey Kurt, how have you been?" she asked.
"I've been better. I spent the morning being tossed into the dumpster," Kurt said, upset as Grace frowned.
"Again?" she asked as he nodded.
"Don't worry, those neanderthals won't get to me," Kurt assured her as Grace sighed, hating that her friend was being harassed. As the class was about to start Finn rushed in at the last minute.
"Sorry...I got lost," Finn admitted as Quinn scoffed at him rolling her eyes.
"It's okay, why don't you take a seat," Mr. Schuester said as he gestured towards the empty seat ahead of Quinn but beside Kurt. Finn nodded, taking the seat as Kurt's eyes lit up that he got to sit by Finn. Grace bit her lip knowing this probably wasn't going to end well.
Mr. Schuester took attendance as he soon learned everyone's name. "Alright guys, welcome to Spanish 2, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Mr. Schuester, but you can also call me Mr. Schue. I know I've had some of you in Spanish 1, but I wanted to welcome you all to Spanish 2. Now, Spanish 2 is going to be a lot more difficult than your first year..." Mr. Schue began as Grace and Quinn started to take diligent notes. Kurt, however, seemed lost looking at Finn which clearly concerned Grace who had looked up from her notes.
"Pssst," Grace whispered to Kurt who looked over "Are you crazy? Going after Finn?"
"What? I'm not going after Finn," Kurt whispered back.
"Please...I could see it the minute he sat beside you. Look, it's okay if you like him, Kurt but if the jocks found out or worse my sister..." Grace whispered worriedly.
"...They won't," Kurt cut her off, sighing "Look can we not talk about this now."
"Fine...but at least try to listen to Mr. Schue," Grace whispered, turning back to her notes as she couldn't help but worry that things could get far worse for her friend than being tossed into the dumpster if word got out that he liked Finn.
She didn't have any issue if Kurt was gay, not in the least, but she knew what McKinley High was like. She knew most of the students wouldn't treat him kindly at all. They already had assumed it about him but if he tried to hit on the quarterback, she knew the torment he went through would only get worse.
The bell soon rang as the students began to gather their things as Mr. Schue reminded them of their homework for the night. "Some first day, I'm booked up with homework," Finn complained to Quinn.
"Tell me about it. Don't they even care about our social lives?" Quinn said upset as Grace tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at them.
"What did they expect this is high school, emphasis on the school part," Grace whispered to Kurt who chuckled.
"My thoughts exactly, Grace. Shall we head to the dreaded Singstations practice?" Kurt asked.
"We shall," Grace giggled as they linked arms walking towards the auditorium where the Singstations were going to be practicing 'One' from A Chorus Line.
"One, singular sensation every little step she takes," the Singstations sang only practicing the song but the stools were nearby, they had become known as a stool choir and frequently used stools in their performances but since it was only the first day, they were only singing.
"Eyebrows! Teeth!" Mr. Ryerson directed them.
"One, thrilling combination every move that she makes," the Singstations sang as Mr. Ryerson stopped the music.
"Stop, stop. No you're doing it all wrong I think it's time we break out the stools and teach you choreography," Mr. Ryerson said as Grace exhaled, she was a strong dancer but was frequently held back by Mr. Ryerson's so-called choreography, but she obliged by grabbing a stool. He began to show them what to do with most of the Singstations not getting it at all.
"Stop. This is horrible," Mr. Ryerson said, shaking his head "Grace, why don't you demonstrate." Rachel seemed to be fuming that someone else was called forward.
"Okay Mr. Ryerson," Grace said timidly as she did the choreography perfectly in time to the music that was played by Brad, the piano player.
"You see, that is what I'm looking for. Grace, why don't you teach everyone, I need a latte break," Mr. Ryerson said dramatically as Grace sighed, hating to once again have to teach everyone, everything in the number.
"Alright guys...let's just take it slow and work it up to speed okay?" Grace said seriously as she began to count it out as she demonstrated more slowly this time. Rachel was still fuming.
"I think those of us who can keep up shouldn't have to do it," Rachel argued.
"Fine. You can help me make sure the rest of the club gets it," Grace exhaled, knowing Rachel was going to demand taking it over anyway.
"Fantastic," Rachel beamed, glad at least someone understood her leadership skills.
"Okay 5-6-7-8," Grace called out as the club seemed to do the moves more slowly as Grace counted them to the beat. Rachel walked around making sure everyone got it perfect.
It took about an hour to get everything down but the Singstations were doing the number on time by the end of the rehearsal. Mr. Ryerson, however, had once again disappeared. "Alright guys, we had a really good effort today. I'm sure you all got Rachel's schedule so we need to meet back here tomorrow after school," Grace said as some of the Singsations groaned.
"But I have a really intense football practice tomorrow," Hank Saunders, a senior, groaned.
"I know Hank and I'm sorry, I know not all of us can make every practice but anyone who can, please try to come," Grace said as Rachel scoffed.
"Absolutely not. All of these practices are mandatory," Rachel exclaimed upset as most of the Singstations shot her a look. "Guys we need all the practice we can get if we want to win Sectionals this year," Rachel exclaimed.
"Let's face it Rachel, we have no shot in hell of even placing at Sectionals, let alone winning so give it up and let these people have their afternoons okay?" Mercedes said simply as the other Singsations seemed to murmur in agreement.
"Fine, if you want to be failures all of your lives, be my guest," Rachel said simply as she stormed off, annoyed that no one seemed to be taking the club as seriously as she was. Grace exhaled loudly watching her leave, knowing that Rachel wouldn't give up so easily on making the Singstations great but the real question was, could they ever be great?