Glee: To the Next Level (the second book in the Glee series)

Chapter 27: Generosity

Christmas lights glistened all over the Lima neighborhoods—with the exception of a few not-so-nice places, such as Lima Heights Adjacent. At McKinley, on the last week before winter break, the school was already flooded with decorations.

"What's all this?" asked Will as he skated through the hallway. He was tired from having to get up countless times to comfort a crying baby Daniel, so he hadn't noticed the decorations until he entered his classroom.

"Principal Sylvester said something about making changes as the semester nears to a close," said Dan, shrugging as he and Amity took their seats for first period History. "Apparently one of them is making the school more festive."

Mr. Schue began his lesson with confusion. That made absolutely no sense. Sue was the exact person who had been a Grinch to every Christmas he'd spent since being at McKinley.

"Well, William, that was when I was cheerleading coach," she said later that day when he questioned her in the teacher's lounge. "Now I'm Principal and I have to do things that are in the school's best interest, not mine."

Mr. Schue took these words and suddenly came up with an idea for glee club. He had been back for less than two weeks, since going to New York for Rachel's opening night weekend, and now he was back home, awaiting the return of his old students for the holidays and trying to find a way to send off his current students into theirs.

"Generosity," he said as he wrote the word on the board. Bree immediately rolled her eyes and Kitty pursed her lips.

"That's the assignment," asked Rachel from the doorway. "That's the best you could do, Schuester?" Will turned to the door at the sound of her voice and rushed over to hug her.

"Rachel!" he exclaimed. "So lovely to have you back in this room again." He turned to everyone else and said, "Miss Rachel Berry, everybody, star of Broadway's Funny Girl."

The room filled with applause. Julie, who was the most enthusiastic Broadway fan in the room—everyone else was much more into the Hollywood and radio music of the west coast than New York's charming musical theatre—clapped the loudest as her mentor blushed at the positive feedback she was getting from the glee club.

"I'm just going to go sit down and pretend I'm still a member of the club," she said as she went over to sit down. She got to the Rachel chair, which was currently occupied by Shana, and was thrilled when, without needing to be told, Shana stood and gave up the chair. Julie, who was sitting next to Rachel now, beamed with excitement and the latter gave her a quick side hug. While in reality Julie was not very similar to Rachel, her mentor liked to think that she was breeding a mini-me in her, and was thankful for any opportunity to continue to coach her.

"Okay, so generosity," Mr. Schue went on. "It's Christmas in about a week. And what's Christmas about, from a non-religious view?"

"Gifts!" Sugar exclaimed. 

"I was actually thinking about giving," Mr. Schue said as he looked at her. To everyone else he said, "So what are you guys willing to give this week? What cause will you fight for during this holiday break? We're used to Christmas cheeriness and singing songs to each other and calling it a day, but if there was something the alumni taught me is that the holidays are best spent giving back. In fact, it was Rory and Sam who made that lesson clear two years ago, when they insisted on appreciating the sadness in Christmas as well as the merriness... And along with Quinn and a few others convinced the club to help out around the community."

"So what?" asked Kitty, confused. "You want us to go volunteer at a homeless shelter or something?"

"Sure," said Mr. Schue. "Or maybe at a soup kitchen. Or with a neighbor. Or someone in this room in need of help. It doesn't matter how big you go. It's the effort you put into making someone else's Christmas, with no selfish motive whatsoever, a great Christmas that will in turn make Christmas worthwhile. That is the assignment."