Quinn Fabray: My Story

Chapter 44 - Nationals

Authors Note: Ahh with this chapter we finished Season 2 and I could not be more excited! I changed a few things around within this chapter such as a storyline where Quinn's 'Big Plans' in New York were to not only see Beth again but to convince Shelby to come back to Lima. I really hope you guys enjoy my take on the Season 2 finale and I look forward to writing Season 3 really soon!

The next week was all about preparing for Nationals. Mr. Schue entered the choir room to deliver some news about who was going to be helping direct us to take Nationals. "New Directions I would like to introduce you to our new show choir consultant Jesse St.James," Mr. Schue said as Rachel was the only one to clap excitedly for Jesse. "I don't trust this guy. He's gonna trick us into doing something stupid so his alma mater wins," Finn said defensively. "I don't need to do much tricking to get you to do something stupid, Finn," Jesse smirked.

"Guys, Jesse is just a consultant. I still make all the calls. I have all the confidence in the world in you guys. I just think we could use all the help we can get because," Mr. Schue said as he pointed to the board which he wrote 'NATIONALS' on the board. "This is it. We've been working so hard for two years for this moment, and that moment is finally here. I was talking with Jesse and he agreed we should continue with our successful trend of doing original songs for the competition. I was thinking of doing one group number and one duet," Mr. Schue said. "Rachel and I should sing a duet.We killed it last year at regionals with "Faithfully"," Finn said enthusiastically "Yeah. It killed us. We lost," I said sarcastically.

"May I?" Jesse asked as he raised his hand "Uh, yeah," Mr. Schue nodded. "I agree that Rachel should sing lead, but, Finn, I think it's best if you sit this one out. The fact is, most of the other guys in here are better singers and Mike Chang, who can't even sing, can at least dance. You kind of sing and dance like a zombie who has to poop," Jesse shrugged. "You see what I'm talking about? This guy's a jerk!" Finn said annoyed "Maybe you could be a little gentler with your advice," Mr. Schue said. "Gentle?" Jesse said in disbelief "Yes," Mr. Schue said. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were training for the "Good Try" ribbon at nationals. I thought we were in it to win the whole thing, and there's only one way we can do that," Jesse said. "Poison darts?" Brittany asked "The Vocal Adrenaline strategy is simple. Identify your best performer and build the entire performance around them," Jesse said.

"So what does everyone else do?" Mercedes asked "And who's our star performer?" Puck asked "We're gonna have auditions to find out. I'm gonna post a sign-up sheet later this afternoon," Mr. Schue said as most of the members looked enthusiastic about it, I however knew I didn't have much of a chance. Especially since Jesse was into Rachel. I figured why even try out. "Mr. Schue, don't you think this is kinda not our style?" Finn asked. "Normally I'd agree with you Finn, but this is the big time. I think we should listen to Jesse," Sam said as Jesse smirked a bit. Finn made a face of disbelief. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Finn. He had worked so hard to do better in Glee Club. In my opinion Jesse was only saying those things about him just because Finn was his competition for Rachel.

That week had a sad ending to it as well. Coach Sylvester's sister Jean had passed away and we were to perform at her funeral. Kurt and Finn had found out her favorite movie was "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" which was how we came to work on 'Pure Imagination' as our song to sing at the funeral. Tina, Kurt, Artie, and Finn were on the lead throughout the song as the rest of us in New Directions sang the chorus. "If you wanna view paradise simply look around and view it. Anything you want to do it. Want to change the world?" we sang as we soon finished the song. Coach Sylvester thanked us for our performance which was nice to hear.

Later that afternoon Mr. Schue called an emergency club meeting about what was going on with who won the solo competition. Santana, Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel had all auditioned. My money was on Rachel winning since she always seemed to get everything. "Mr. Schue, thank God you're here to put these trolls out of their misery. Can you just announce my win so that I can get on with teasing the losers?" Santana smirked. "I heard your performance, Santana. This is mine, and you know it," Kurt said. "See, Jesse? This is the kind of infighting and "me first" attitudes I wanted to avoid," Mr. Schue said. "What you call infighting, I call motivation. And this is just the beginning. Once we get to nationals, I'll have them willing to kill each other for that solo," Jesse said excitedly.