CHAPTER 1

"Shalom blogosphere! Jacob Ben Israel here at McKinley High. Sudden death - big stakes senior year. Who will succeed and who will fail?"

Jacob Ben Israel, like a greedy puppy looking for a bone, strided down the hallways of McKinley High. It was the first day of senior year, the beginning of the final stretch of their seemingly endless high school experience. They had 9 months. 9 months and everything they knew would be ending. There would be no more slushies. No more being tossed in dumpsters. No more being bullied for being nerds. Or being Glee losers. Or looking different. However despite all of this, it would be a lie to say that any of them were 100% happy to be leaving. This place, dingey and decrepit as it had become, was their home, and nobody in the school felt that way more than those in the New Directions.

As Jacob scoured the corridors for someone he could interview without being punched in the face, he eventually came to his first subject. Or rather, his first victim.

"Finn Hudson. Mediocre quarterback. Mediocre Glee Club lead. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

As Finn closed his locker, he was taken aback by the question. He had just come from one of the best summers of his life. It had been nothing more than spending time with Rachel, spending time with Kurt and the family, and spending time with the rest of the New Directions. Burt had even given him a part time job at the tire shop so he had been able to start saving for college. Finn was extremely excited to get back to school for senior year, not only because it would be his final opportunity to win Nationals with the Glee club, or defend their Conference Championship for football. He was looking forward to having one more year in this shelter that they called high school, before he would be well and truly thrown out into the cold. Because the truth was he didn't have a clue what he was doing after high school. At least not yet. While everyone around him seemed to be making their plans, he was, quite frankly, lost. But it was a long year, he told himself, and he'd have time to figure out all of that stuff later.

"I'm really excited about this year. It's going to be a good one." Finn managed to stammer out, before turning around and walking away down the hallway. Jacob then proceeded to walk off and search for more people to interview. It didn't take him long to find some more either. As he made it to the choir room, he saw that there were already two people there.

"Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel. The hottest girl in school and last year's Prom Queen. What do you two have planned for next year?" Jacob asked, not exactly looking Rachel in the eye, and his cameraman following suit.

Unlike Finn, however, Rachel and Kurt did indeed have a plan. It was a plan they had been working on the entire summer, structured almost to the very minute. They needed to do several extra-curricular events both in and outside of school, as well as send in applications to all of the colleges they had decided to apply to together. Both aspired to be on Broadway, and neither would be willing to rest until that dream became a reality.

"I'm glad you asked." Rachel said. "Kurt and I will both be applying to a New York based performing arts school.

"NYADA." Kurt finished his friend's sentence. "Also known as the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts."

"We'll get an eclectic little apartment on the lower east side…" Rachel said.

"Think Bette and Barbara Hershey in Beaches, pre-cardiomyopathy…" Kurt continued.

"I'll originate a role in the new Sondheim musical, Tony by 25…" Rachel added.

"Married by 30, legally!" Kurt piped up.

"Broadway, Lincoln Center, West End, a tasteful HBO miniseries. It's all right here in my planner, you see?" Rachel finished, with every sentence edging closer to Jacob, brandishing her planner in the air. She continued to list out everything she was going to do over the course of her senior year with fortune-teller like certainty, and it took Jacob and his cameraman making a mad dash out of the room for her to finally draw to a halt.

There was one more person that Jacob managed to trap against their locker, a video camera thrusted into their face, before the school bell allowed them to escape. It was Santana Lopez, who was scowling daggers at Jacob. If looks could kill, he would have been eviscerated by the young Latina. There was still a slim likelihood of that happening anyways, depending on how the conversation went.

"Santana Lopez. Backup to Rachel Berry in the Glee club. Backup to Quinn Fabray in the Cheerios. Can we expect anything different from you this year?"

If it was even possible, the scowl grew even larger across Santana's face, as it took every ounce of self-restraint she had not to slap the camera right out of his hands. Though she would never in a million years admit it to anyone, Jewfro had hit her right where it hurt. For the past little while - hell, her entire high school career to be honest - she had been forced to settle for second. She had been forced to feed on scraps while the likes of Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray sat at the head of the table. A few weeks as Head Cheerio and a measly solo at Sectionals last year were the closest Santana had ever come to the top, and she was desperate to make it there again this year, but this time stay there. She despised being second best. She wasn't second best. That simply wasn't who she was. She was a leader. She was a champion. And in her senior year, it was now or never to prove that.

"This year is my year." Santana spat, almost vehemently, into the microphone. "I'm going to the top, where I rightfully belong. No more playing second-in-command to anyone. I'm head Cheerio now that Quinn's… Quinn's not around anymore." Santana's voice trailed off slightly as she said this, hints of sadness evident in her tone. "And in Glee club… well by the time we get to Nationals, no number of Rachel Berry tantrums are going to earn her that solo over me."

Meanwhile, amongst the rest of the Glee club, things were going equally swimmingly. Those who were entering their senior year, at least most of them, had big dreams for the year. It didn't matter: football, cheerleading, music, dance, academics… they all had unique dreams that they wanted to accomplish before they stepped out of the gates of McKinley for the final time. However, they did all have a common goal, something that they would not be able to call their high school experience a success without, and that was to be the 2012 National Show Choir Champions.

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As Mr. Schue stepped into the choir room for the first time in nearly 3 months, he couldn't help but stop for a moment, take a deep breath and smile. Home sweet home. The summer had been amazing for almost everyone in the Glee club, and he was no exception. Things between him and Ms. Pillsbury were finally back on track. No, they weren't just back on track. They were going more incredibly than ever before, to the point where the couple had even moved in together! He was deeply in love, and heavily driven to win Nationals before many of his Glee students graduated… things had never been better.

Walking into the choir room and facing his favorite students again, he was immediately greeted by their cheers. A smile crept onto his face as everyone in the room whooped in celebration. Finn, Rachel, Tina, Kurt, Mercedes, Artie, Santana, Brittany, Mike, Puck, Sam… they were all there. Well, everyone but one person. One major voice who nobody had seen the entire summer. Someone who had disappeared ever since they had returned from New York.

"Hey, hey, hey! Welcome back everybody!" He exclaimed. "I hope you all had amazing summers. Plenty of relaxing, plenty of singing too, I hope."

The group went around and all caught up with one another, something that was supposed to take just a few minutes but ended up taking quite a while. For good reason too. They all had so much to say to one another, so much they were looking forward to in the coming year. Santana had been made Head Cheerio, and was excited to bring back glory to the Cheerios after their Regionals defeat last year. Finn was once again captain of the football team, and he looked forward to defending McKinley's State Championship alongside the rest of his friends. Artie, Tina and Sam were all still Juniors so didn't have the worries of college on their backs yet. There was so much to talk about, but one question almost all of them had was the one that Puck decided to speak up and ask around 15 minutes into rehearsal.

"Mr. Schue, what's with the chairs?" Puck said. The chairs had been organized in a unique way, something Mr. Schue had personally requested that morning. Rather than all sitting at the back of the room facing Mr. Schuester like they always did, they were all sitting in a circle in the center of the room, facing one another.

Mr. Schue smiled.

"I'm glad you asked, Puck." He said. "So I wanted to inspire you all for Nationals, remind you guys what we're fighting for this year, so I was going to put our 12th place trophy in the middle of the circle for you all to look at."

As he said this, Mr. Schue walked over to the side of the room, picking up their trophy and holding it up so they could all see it.

"That's… depressing." Kurt remarked. He was right. The trophy was smaller than his forearm, definitely unrepresentative of the amount of hard work they had put into getting to Nationals last year.

"You know I thought it would grow over the summer. Guess they forgot to water it or something." Brittany commented. Mr. Schue sighed and put the trophy back down on the piano.

"Then… I realized that I didn't need to. Because some flimsy, plastic trophy is not what we're fighting for." Mr. Schue said. "I want you to look around the circle right now. Look at the person on your left. Look at the person on your right. They might be your friend. Boyfriend. Girlfriend. These are the people we're fighting for this year. For many here, it's their final chance. So at any point this year, if any of you start to lose sight of what we're fighting for, I don't want you to remember the trophy or the title we're trying to win. I want you to remember each other, the people who would walk through fire for you. We are going to win Nationals this year for each other. Because we all love each other and would do anything for each other."

"That was very well put, Mr. Schue." Rachel said, beaming widely. Quite possibly nobody in Lima - heck, nobody in the country - was happier to be back in school that September than her. This was her senior year, her final lap, and she was truly going to conquer the arts at McKinley High. But more than that… she was ecstatic to be back in that familiar choir room with her amazing friends again. It was like a family reunited again, with all of them picking up right where they left off. "You know, I had some ideas that I thought we could try out for Sectionals, and…"

Mr. Schue held up a hand to cut her off.

"Before we start on all of that, Rachel, I think all of you guys have noticed that there's one seat missing."

Every eye in the room flickered over to the chair on the far side of the circle, the chair that their blonde friend should have been sitting in. But she wasn't. Everyone's shoulders slumped slightly at the thought of Quinn, and Mr. Schue noticed. He sighed.

"Look, I know you guys all miss Quinn. I miss her too." Mr. Schue admitted. "And if any of you want to try to convince her to come back, please let her know that she'd be welcomed back with open arms."

"She's not coming back." Santana said, echoing the thoughts of almost everyone in the room. The latina knew better than anyone just how scarred, just how angry Quinn had been after everything that had happened in the past few years.

Mr. Schue shrugged.

"Maybe she will. But in case she doesn't, we still need to find someone else for Glee club. We have 11 people in the room right now and in case you guys don't remember, that is one less than we need to compete in Sectionals."

"Who in God's name wants to join us?" Sam remarked.

"Yeah, Mr. Schue, ever since New York, we're even more of a joke to the school. Nobody wants to join us." Tina said.

"Yeah, and those who might actually want to will just get bullied and slushied out of it." Mercedes added. She wasn't wrong. Things at McKinley, particularly between the Glee club and the jocks, were more toxic than ever. There was no chance that anyone would join them, especially knowing what was in store for them at the hands of the football players if they did.

"Well I guess we just have to put our heads down and think." Mr. Schue replied. "This isn't an option. We need to find at least one more person or we can forget about Nationals from now. New Directions, we have some recruiting to do…"

There had to be someone out there. Someone in Lima. Someone in Ohio. Someone anywhere within the country, who was willing to join the New Directions Glee Club. There had to be…

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"I'm not doing this for another year! I'm not! I quit!" That afternoon, Santana ranted loudly to Brittany - and the rest of the Lima Bean cafe who could hear her bellowing voice - about that morning's Glee rehearsal. It had been not even a few minutes into rehearsal, and Rachel had already taken it upon herself to hijack rehearsal with her plans for Sectionals. One thing was clear: Rachel had no intention of ever letting go of the stranglehold her and Finn had over solos in the Glee club, and Santana was already sick of it. The worst part… Mr. Schue was just letting her take over! Had he already forgotten who had cost them Nationals last year?! Needless to say, Santana was fuming. She was livid, positively spitting with rage.

"Come on, San. You don't mean that. You're just being dramatic. Look on the bright side… the Glee club's back together. Remember sophomore year, when we thought we were shut down by Coach Sue? Now it's our senior year. It's going to be a great year." Brittany tried to cheer her friend up, but to no avail.

"How, Britt?! Because I'm telling you from now, I don't think I can last the first semester without punching Rachel in the face!" Santana exclaimed. Brittany shrugged.

"Beat her then. Demand solos and take them from her." Brittany encouraged her.

"That's just it… I could demand every solo in the world and not get even 1, because at the end of the day, Mr. Schuester is definitely in Rachel's pocket. He has to be! Look at Hummel. Look at Mercedes. They've tried, and they haven't gotten a single solo from Rachel."

"You're better than them." Brittany replied bluntly. "You're better than everyone in the Glee club. I've heard you sing. You're so good! You deserve every solo this year, in Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals. And I know that if Quinn was here, she'd agree with me too."

The two girls immediately trailed off into silence, tension building ever so slightly, as they both thought about the exact same thing. The familiar blonde who they had spent their entire high school career joined to the hip with, was nowhere to be found. She had disappeared for months without a trace, and wasn't even there for their first day of school earlier today.

"It feels weird to be here without her, doesn't it?" Santana remarked, echoing what both girls were thinking. And by 'here', Santana didn't necessarily mean Lima Bean cafe. She meant here, as in their senior year. Their victory lap. Together, they had gone through thick and thin, good and bad, and now was their chance to celebrate all of that. This was supposed to be the year they won both Cheerios and Glee Nationals together. It was supposed to be the year they graduated and moved on to greater things outside of Lima. It was time to claim the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and it didn't feel the same without the third prong of their fearsome trident. "Have you heard from her at all?"

"Not since we got back from New York." Brittany sighed, staring downwards at her coffee cup as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. However, she did notice the scowl returning on the face of the Latina opposite her, as Santana gritted her teeth and sharply sucked in air.

"Right… New York." Santana muttered, venom threatening to seep into her tone. Brittany sighed.

"I can see you're still mad." Brittany murmured. Santana laughed mirthlessly.

"No! Why would I still be mad?" Santana asked sarcastically. "Because Rachel and Finn threw an entire year's work down the toilet for something they could've literally done the moment they stepped off stage? Because they threw away what could be our only chance to win Nationals?! Because they're now being rewarded for it with another entire year of solos!"

"Well first of all, it's not our only chance. We're going to Nationals and we're going to win it this year." Brittany told her. "And second… you need to let it go. They did it for love. Can you imagine being so in love with someone that you're willing to kiss them on stage in front of thousands of people?"

A peculiar expression briefly flashed across Santana's face, but thankfully it went unnoticed by Brittany, due to the sudden ding of a notification on the blonde's phone. Brittany looked down at it and immediately, her face lit up.

"What is it? Did you hear from Quinn?" Santana asked, almost hopefully. Brittany shook her head.

"No! Lord Tubbington's new tuxedo has arrived! I've got to go." Brittany said, quickly standing up. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

With that, Brittany turned around and walked away, leaving Santana sitting at the Lima Bean table, alone. Though Brittany left, her words continued to ring through Santana's ears for a long while:

Can you imagine being so in love with someone that you're willing to kiss them on stage in front of thousands of people?

Santana deeply pondered these words, her eyes following Brittany's retreating figure for a tad too long, before she forced herself to shake those feelings out of her head and think about another thing Brittany had said.

Beat her then. Demand solos and take them from her.

Defeating Rachel Berry and taking her place as leader of the Glee club. A few years ago, Santana never could've imagined caring even slightly about such a thing. After all, her first days as a member of the New Directions had been spent as Quinn's second-in-command, sent deep undercover to spy on the New Directions and report back to Sue. It had only been when she truly started to care about the Glee club - truly started enjoying herself - that she started to feel unrest about letting Rachel have full control.

Rachel was a bitch. Santana knew that she was no saint herself, particularly when Auntie Snixx came out to play, but she was nothing like that controlling, self-centered diva. However, shockingly, that wasn't even why Santana wanted to beat her. She didn't want to beat Rachel as much as she wanted to prove herself as the best singer in the Glee club. Although Santana's sophomore year self would've screamed at her now if she admitted it, Santana truly loved every member of the New Directions. They had sided with her without fail for the past few years in a way that nobody else ever had. She had found friends and family in that choir room, and wanted to repay them for everything they'd done by being a central cog to help them win Nationals.

It wasn't going to be easy though. She knew that Rachel would fight tooth and nail to keep her self-proclaimed spot as "best singer in the Glee club". Rachel needed to be the best - one thing Santana actually respected about her - so she wouldn't be surprised if the diva pushed herself harder than ever from the moment Santana challenged her. Santana would have to give it absolutely everything to beat her.

But that wasn't all. In fact, that was probably going to be the easy part, as that was the part that was actually in Santana's control. The other, larger part that Santana was worried about, the only reason why she hadn't actively called out Rachel that day, was about chemistry. Mr. Schue, they all knew, loved duets. Seldom would one soloist take to the stage and perform all by themselves. It was always a duet or a group number, and for that, Santana would need chemistry with another singer in the club. She had chemistry with Brittany and Quinn, but only as a backup to Quinn. And whatever chemistry she had with other singers in the club didn't compare to Rachel and Finn. At least not in Mr. Schue's eyes. Mr. Schue had a weird fetish for seeing Rachel and Finn on stage together. Maybe it was the fact that they were a couple.

Whatever it was, Santana knew that if she wanted to take over the Glee club, she would need someone else on her side to do that. It was going to be tough. The list of people in the Glee club who tolerated her was short, and the list of people she tolerated was even shorter. And in terms of people she could even have a semblance of romantic chemistry with… that list was just a single name, and it wasn't exactly someone she was ready to face the judgmental eyes of Lima with.

As she finished her cup of coffee, she sighed. Trouble for another day, she told herself, as she stood up, threw the coffee cup away and walked out of the cafe.

A/N

Good evening. Hope you all are doing well. A few things to know about this story before you start reading, in case it prompts you to turn away now rather than later (no hard feelings if you do, don't worry!)

- A bit of the first part of the story will be reminiscent to the last story I had uploaded called Broken Beyond Repair. I have since deleted that story, as there are quite a few things I wanted to rework and change

- As you've probably noticed, the story takes place during the characters' senior years. This means that nothing from 3x01 onwards in the actual show takes place. Some storylines will be taken, or at least inspired by the show's Season 3, but many of them will be unique

- The main character in this story is a male ORIGINAL character. I know there are some people who prefer when stories don't have OCs as they prefer the story to be centered around the existing characters. While other characters will still play large roles in the story, the main character is equivocally an original character with a unique backstory. He is the character who most of the storylines will be based around. He's going to be a very fleshed out character so if you are into stories with an O.C, I highly recommend continuing. However, to those who would prefer to just read about the show's existing characters, I'd say maybe this story isn't for you. No hard feelings if you click away now!

- Santana is bi in this story, and is paired with the MALE original character as her final pairing in this story. I want to make that clear from now. I don't mean to be spoiling anything, and I won't spoil too much else apart from this. I just want to make sure the readers understand where I'm coming from. I know that Santana on the show is Lesbian. However, in this story, she does have strong feelings for Brittany, but she also has feelings for Theo (a straight guy). Having Santana and Theo being together at some point isn't supposed to be homophobic in any way. It is simply what works best for the storylines of this story: sexuality is not a main theme in the story, but instead recovery from trauma and grief is the main theme. I did some research. There are indeed other stories on this site where Santana is paired with a male character, or straight characters are paired with other straight characters of the same gender. This story is no different. And according to different social media sites I read about this topic, as long as I give fair warning before the story, it's fine. SO HERE'S THE WARNING. If you don't want to read a story where Santana is paired with a male character, please I urge you to turn away now. If you don't mind, I promise I will try my best to write the best story I can.

- The Marley Rose in this story is not the same Marley Rose as in the show. The Marley Rose in this story is very very minor (in fact, she will never have any scenes in person for a reason shown very quickly), but all mentions of her are of an OC Marley. This Marley is the same age as the rest of the main teenagers.

- Something to note about Brittany's character: I know that for most of the first few seasons of Glee, Brittany was portrayed as an absolute idiot, mainly for comedy reasons. While she isn't going to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier in this story, I have made the decision not to make her as dumb as she was in the show. I just feel like there's more that can be done with the character if she's just a little bit smarter.

Anyways, that's all I have to say. If you're still here reading after this, I really appreciate it. I will try my best not to let you down with the story! I hope you enjoy it!