Back-Up Plan - Book 1 - S.E.

Original song

A/N: not sure I like this one to be fair, but Night of Neglect on Thursday has me all excited! Anyway... I hope you enjoy it!

"Guys, I've got some bad news." Mr. Schue said, as soon as he entered the choir room that week. "You know how we decided on Sing by My Chemical Romance for Regionals? Well, I hold in my hand a cease and desist letter from the band. We can't do it."

"Ugh, it was the perfect anthem." Puck complained.

"How much do you wanna bet Coach Sylvester had something to do with this?" Mercedes scoffed.

"One step ahead of you." Mr. Schue agreed. "He said it's payback because I took her Cheerios from her."

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Winnie asked.

"I think... We should write original songs for Regionals." Rachel offered again, only to have everyone roll their eyes at her.

"All those in favor of voting Rachel down a second time?" Santana asked.

Before everyone could raise their hands - again - however, the weirdest thing happened: Quinn Fabray jumped up in Rachel Berry's defence.

"No, I think Rachel's right." The blonde said, as Winnie stopped for a second and turned around in her chair to stare at her friend, as if she had just grown a second head. "This team works best when we push ourselves and do something a little different."

"Well, that's true but if all the other teams are doing amazing songs, we're not gonna be so good." Mercedes argued.

"You're right, we're not gonna be as good. We're gonna be better." Quinn said, a smile on her lips, as Winnie and Santana exchanged gobsmacked expressions. "We won't be using other peoples' words or music. It'll be our own. Our own heart, soul, not just our voices. We have a really talented songwriter in our midst. Rachel? I was thinking maybe you and I could write a song together."

"I'm with Quinn and Rachel." Finn was quick to intervene, as Rachel sent Quinn a grateful smile. "I mean, if these two can agree on something it's probably an idea worth considering."

"W-wait, wait." Santana interrupted. "So, suddenly you two are writing the music for Regionals? No way. I think that everyone should get a chance to write a song."

"Santana's right, we can do this." Sam nodded.

At that, there was a second of silence, as everyone considered their options before Mercedes turned around to look at their teacher.

"What do you think, Mr. Schue?" She asked, as Mr. Schue smiled.

"I think we're doing original songs for Regionals."

***

"All right guys, let's hear it for our first songwriting seminar." Mr. Schue announced as he started to hand over some books for the kids. "While Quinn and Rachel are hard at work, we are gonna try and write an anthem of our own. Now, these are rhyming dictionaries for all of you."

"Hum, Mr. Schue?" Santana raised her hand causing everyone to turn and look at her. "Tina and I have been already working on a song that I wrote."

"Really?" Mr. Schue asked, impressed, as Winnie and Mike turned to Tina, surprised as the girl just shrugged with a small smile. "That's amazing. Can we hear it?"

And with that, Santana and Tina stood up. As Santana stood there in front of the other kids, Tina moved to sit by the piano. Leaning back in her chair so she could talk better with Mike who was sitting behind her, Winnie tapped him on the knee so he could lean forward toward her.

"Did you know about this?" She asked, as Mike shook his head.

"No." He said. "I should've though, considering Tina had suddenly started to hang out with Santana quite a bit.