Gleeboot (Season 1)

1. From The Top

William McKinley High School was just an insignificant place in insignificant Lima, Ohio. But for the students of McKinley, the school was the center of the universe. Friends, grades, sports, cliques, love, hate, and everything in between... It all went down at McKinley.

Sam Evans knew this to be true. It was one of the reasons he almost hadn't taken a job there. However, despite the fear that dramatic and hormonal teenagers would be too much to handle, he had followed his dreams to New York City and they had all led him back to the glee club.

The glee club. It'd been seven years since he'd graduated and much of high school was a blur, but he still had vivid memories of being part of the New Directions. After his old mentor, Mr. Schuester, left the job to take a position with the school district, Sam found himself taking his place. 

In the five years that he'd taught the glee club, they'd won Nationals twice. Nationals were like the Grammys for show choir and Principal Sue Sylvester stayed out of their way so long as they kept bringing in trophies. 

But everything had shifted last year, when a series of unfortunate events landed them in tenth place. It was almost a disqualification. And for a team that had spent a decade climbing up to the top of the pyramid and consistently placing in the top three, it was a huge hit.

"It doesn't help that half of my kids either graduated or left," Sam complained as he sat in the office of his most trusted colleague. Santana Lopez, cheerleading coach and Sam's best friend, sat behind her desk with her arms crossed. 

"Kids flow in and out of clubs all the time," she shrugged. "You'll just find a new batch of kids to replace the ones you lost."

"It's not always about getting the numbers," said Sam. "It's about getting the talent. I remember when your class graduated. We lost you, we lost Rachel, we lost Mercedes, we lost Kurt... It was a huge hit to the club and it took some time to recover. Don't you worry about not finding skilled students to join the Cheerios?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "I mean, it's only been two years of me doing this," she said. "But honestly, no. There's never a low supply of girls hungry to become cheerleaders. You just have to be smart about recruiting. And I don't mean hop in the boys' showers like Schuester or Finn."

Sam made a face. That was the way he'd ended up in glee club. The means weren't great but the ends always seemed to justify it back then.

"You're right," said Sam, rising from his chair. "I've gotta go hard on recruiting. This is our year." As he walked out of her office, he shouted once more, "Our year!"

***

"What do you mean 'the program was cut?'" asked Lola. She sat in the principal's office at McKinley High on her very first day at the school. The principal, Sue Sylvester, sat across from her pensively.

"I mean exactly what I said," she told her. "After Coach Carter left, there was no one to take over the gymnastics team."

"But one of the reasons I transferred here is that the gymnastics team was supposed to be really good," Lola insisted. "Isn't there a way to start the team up?"

"No can do," answered Sue with a nonchalant shake of her head. "The budget's been swallowed up by the Cheerios.

"The Cheerios?" Lola raised an eyebrow. "Like, the cereal?"

"Like the nationally recognized cheerleading team," answered Sue. "They took all of the equipment, too. There wouldn't be any money or gear to start up another gymnastics team."