New Directions

"Okay, kids, the challenge this week is 'Your Favorite Childhood Song'," Will said, once all the kids were gathered in the room. The band and Brad were there, ready to back people up.

"Let's see what you've got."

After the debacle that had been the failed Rocky Horror Show project, Will felt that he and all the kids needed a new challenge, a new thing to work on. Something that would hopefully re-charge their batteries.

And Will needed to get his focus back on Glee and off of Emma. She was dating and happy...he shouldn't interfere with that. And Carl was a nice guy, and he was good for her.

As much as he hated to admit that.

So as he and Brad set up for the new rehearsal, Will had quite a bit on his mind, only a few of those things Glee-related.

Will was excited. He was going to let some people perform first, if anyone had anything they really wanted to share, but he was very excited to hand out their first song of the new school year.

When everyone had gathered, Will called the meeting to order. "Welcome back, everyone, and to our new members, welcome to New Directions. We're going to work very hard this year, but we'll have fun doing so as well."

He sat down on the stool near the piano. "So...first off, does anyone have anything to share with us?"

[ooc: people who want to be supportive also invited!]

Mr. Schuester and Brad were set up in the auditorium, ready for the new group (and old group) of Glee participants.

When everyone was gathered who had signed up, Mr. Schuester stood up and called the group to attention.

"It's great to see everyone here, and since we have so much interest this year, I'm very glad everyone is on time. It's good to see so many new faces. Now, I want everyone who signed up, even the old members, to get up and sing something for everyone. I think it's important to show everyone what you can do, and how you might have grown over the summer. It doesn't have to be much, just a little tune. Now...who's first?"

He was laying odds it would be Rachel, but it would be whoever got up fast enough.

The camp has definitely seen better days. There is no air conditioning in the main lodge, which can be unfortunate or not a problem, depending on the weather. The bus carrying all the students pulled up to the front of the main lodge, which is grey and weather beaten with age. The roof doesn't leak, so at least there's that. And the woods in which it is located is very pretty.

Will is already in the main lodge with Brad, who has been working on tuning the ancient upright piano for most of the day. Will has set up the chairs in much the same arrangement that they have in the choir room at McKinley, and has passed out sheet music for several pieces of music. Clearly, not all of them will be used at Sectionals, but it's good to do a wide variety of music to see what works.

Will is very excited to see the kids and get started on their Glee Camp adventure!

Dear Will,

I've heard that you are having a camp for your show choir. As you may have heard, I've resigned as the director of Vocal Adrenaline. Apparently, I was not what those kids needed.

Your group should have placed at Regionals. I have no idea why you guys didn't. But you have real talent in your corner. Having been in show choir competitions for quite some time, I'd like to volunteer my services to your camp--and in turn, maybe I could gain some direction for myself.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Shelby Corcoran

Hello! I hope your summer is going nicely!

We've got some pretty exciting things for New Directions coming up quickly! In the next week, I would like to meet with you and hear you sing, to get an idea of where you will fit in our group.

Please e-mail me back with the best day and time to meet and we'll make arrangements!

Hope to see you soon,

William Schuester


[ooc: if your character is not in Glee yet and would like to be, please respond to his e-mail. We can either do an 'audition thread' or not, depending on what you'd like.]

Brad was seated at his piano, the jazz band was to the side, and Will was seated in the audience, ready to hear everyone's "Legacy" songs.

"Okay! Who's going first?"

Mr. Schuester was busily organizing music. Tina's group performing '21 Guns' was amazing and he thought he should expand it for the entire group. So now he was placing copies of music on everyone's chair.

And he thought that he was getting a little soft with these kids.

They needed a new assignment.

Usually, he had one picked out far before the actual rehearsal...but today, he wasn't quite sure what he'd do.

Well, life was uncertain...

And you never could predict, sometimes, what the best course of action would be.

He'd have to let it come to him.

How was it that he could be in his thirties and still feel like a stupid teenager, screwing up all the time? He didn't know how Emma had found out about Shelby and April...but he should never have been near those women in the first place. Not when he was trying to create something with Emma, who was the sweetest, most caring person he'd ever met.

Maybe he was the one who needed counseling. Will pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. He hadn't slept well this weekend, and he could barely concentrate on anything.

He had to figure out finals, he had to do some more arranging for Regionals, and he had to grade more papers. He was worried about Finn flunking his class. He had to meet with Terri to discuss some things about the divorce and he had to actually meet with his lawyer.


Too much on his plate. Way too much.

She'd been dragging all day long.

Quinn barely got through her first few periods, barely got through lunch, barely ate anything at all, and near the end of lunch, she nearly felt as if she was going to die. She was tired. But she couldn't go home, not when there were so many things yet to do, time was flying, and there was still a Spanish test to take.

But now it was becoming unbearable. After lunch, she'd had an extra-long bathroom break (she didn't think she'd drunk that much orange juice), and now she was running late. On her way to Spanish, she was dragging so much she could barely move. Her back hurt, her sides hurt, and she had to stop and lean against the wall for a moment.

Halfway through it, she realized that this wasn't a Braxton-Hicks contraction. This was real.

And she'd had the same feeling right before she'd left lunch, right before she'd gone to the bathroom.

Her eyes widened and she looked around, spotting Kurt a few feet away.

"Kurt! Kurt, wait up!" She hurried after him, once she could move away from the wall.

Will had to admit, he was feeling pretty down. He was getting divorced, he'd betrayed Emma by kissing the coach for Vocal Adrenaline, and now he and Emma were...well, not together.

And he was alone, for the first time since he was fifteen. He wasn't at all sure how to deal with it. The apartment was so quiet.

But right now, he had to concentrate on getting his Glee club in a good place for Regionals. The kids were working hard but there were a lot of distractions. Quinn was getting huge, the RENT production, and of course, various personal problems with the kids. Being a teenager, after all, was difficult, and there were still slushie facials to contend with...

Suffice it to say, Will was worried about the Glee club's chances. But he'd try his hardest...and the kids were working hard.

He clapped his hands to bring the kids to attention. "Okay! So, it's the last call for practice solos, duets, any sort of talent you want to show us...after today, we'll be working flat out on the pieces for Regionals and polished performances. So...let's have fun before we get to work. Show me what you've got!"

[ooc: I'll be in and out all day, just start posting away and I'll answer any tags to Will later! Have fun with this!]

Maggie had promised Will Schuester long ago that she would help with the non-musical aspects of the Glee Club, but admittedly had not been very active in that respect. Since she had not been contacted to assist with anything, she assumed that everything was still in the planning stages and her services was not yet needed.

She had, however, kept tabs on the club's doings through her students that were members of the club, and knew from what they had told her that the Glee Club was getting up a production of RENT. She had even known about the TV commercial, and dutifully watched it with a mixture of amusement over their obvious excitement about the production, and wonder at how much kids seemed to be able to accomplish nowadays.

Maggie was not surprised that certain parties in the community would have a strong reaction to the idea. She was also curious as to how the club was dealing with it.

To that end, she sought out Will in the staff lounge the very next day. Spying him sitting by himself at a table, she approached, the newspaper with the offending letter in her hand.

"Will, may I have a word?"

The Glee picnic was at noon that day, the old football field cleared for the day as the large grill that had been ordered was pushed into the enter of the white lines, picnic tables set up and a some coolers put out as Tanner made sure things were all in order. He'd gotten all the meat just an hour before, the cooler stinking of it as he turned the grill on and waited for someone, anyone who actually knew what they were doing to show up.

Will was excited, and he hoped that the rest of the kids would be too.

Once all the kids were seated and paying attention, he said, "Hey guys, we've got a new member. This is Brooke, and she recently transferred here from the Haverbrook School for the Deaf. I hope you'll all make her feel welcome!"

He clapped his hands together and continued, "Now, since we've got a lot of work to catch our newest members up to speed, let's get to work!"

And so the rehearsal began...

[ooc: go ahead and thread anything, just specify whether it's during or after rehearsal!]

"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, Mr. Schuester."

It was Melissa, the sister/interpreter, who spoke but she was speaking on behalf of Brooke, who stood in the center of the stage looking more confident now than she had all day. She even smiled a real smile now as her hands moved fluidly.

"As you probably guessed, I won't be giving you a conventional audition today. I'm not able to sing with my voice, but I can follow the music with my hands. I can't hear every word, but I find cues in the music I do hear and use those to dance and mouth the words. From what I've seen of your choir, it looks like you give a fair audition to all members. I'd like to show you what I can do."

For once, Will wasn't thinking about Glee.

Well, okay, he wasn't thinking about Glee much.

But his first order of business was to get these Spanish essays graded...and if the kids thought writing them was hard...correcting them was even harder. Right now, it was threatening to turn his brain to mush.

He'd sharpened his red pencil several times by now. At least he could count on Quinn's essay being nearly perfect. He kept pushing it farther into the pile because at least he could grade that nearer to the end and give his brain a rest.

Brad came into the choir room and set down his bag of music, the bag making an audible thunk as it hit the floor by the piano. It was early so the only one who was there at the moment was Will.

"Hey, Brad," Will greeted him, and Brad just nodded pleasantly.

The two of them had worked long enough to understand that Brad was a man of Very Few Words, and he didn't speak unless it was necessary, most of the time. And so Brad warmed up, while Will sometimes discussed the arrangement of the music with him, and in the back of his mind, Brad wondered if April would come to rehearsal today.

"OK, everyone! Sit down and listen up, because we've got a new number to learn!"

Mr. Schuester had been working on the arrangement to this song for a while now--it's definitely much different than any other rock song.

Once everyone is seated, he starts handing out the music to "Bohemian Rhapsody".

"Many thanks to Benjamin Parsons for the idea...I think this could definitely be a memorable song for us."

Things had been weird in rehearsals. It was getting a little better as time went on, but it was still weird. And Kurt was fairly certain that it was his fault. He'd given up saying that it was his fault, because he didn't want to listen to people tell him that, no it wasn't his fault at all. And...he also didn't want to hear anybody say 'Why yes, Kurt, it is indeed your fault. You're an awful person.' So yes, he had given up saying that it was his fault and left it at that.

But still...things were weird. And he felt bad for it.

So after rehearsal, as everyone was filing out, he'd stuck around, to talk to Mr. Shue. To apologize maybe? He didn't know.

"Uh..." And that was all that came out. Fantastic.