A/N: Dedicated to @CamrynLynn19 for being my only significant reader of this fanfic. Thanks :D
Days after the funeral, Ryder found himself walking through the halls during glee club practice, wondering if he should rejoin. Maybe I'm overthinking this, he thought. I mean, I want to rejoin, but I'm still not over the fact that Wade freaking catfished me.
He took a peek inside the choir room and found himself staring at the new girl. Oh, she joined. He saw her go to the front and sing some showtune from a musical, and he was SPEECHLESS. He didn't realize how good she was until that day. He then felt someone bump into him, and he came face-to-face with Rachel Berry and that guy that was at the funeral with her.
"Sorry," he quickly apologized.
"It's fine," Rachel replied. He smiled and turned back to the choir room, seeing the guy stare at him from the corner of his eye when Rachel then asked, "Hey, weren't you Danny?"
"Huh?" he asked, turning his head towards her.
"Grease? The school musical?"
"Oh! Yeah, I was. Ryder Lynn," he said, holding his hand out.
"Rachel." She shook his hand. "Aren't you gonna go in?"
He shrugged. "I kinda quit after Regionals."
"Why?"
"Ask Unique."
He noticed that she was confused, but then came to a realization when he pointed her out. She put her hand on his shoulder and said to him, "I hope everything works out soon," with a smile. "You have a voice that could give the New Directions another Nationals win." Removing her hand, he briefly turned his attention to the guy behind her, who was looking at Ryder with a glimpse of recognition.
"Come on Gabe," Rachel said, giving Ryder a name as she pulled the guy out of his thoughts and inside the choir room.
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Once out of his mental interrogation, Gabe had caught the last of Melissa's performance of Fly, Fly Away and wanted to make a few notes. Before Rachel could stop him, his words were the first of the commentary following the outro. "Catch Me If You Can. Not a bad choice." Taking a seat inside, he added, "But I did notice your voice was slightly shaky during those high notes."
"Oh great, another Jesse St. Omelet," Santana commented, earning an evil glance from Rachel.
"I'm sorry," Melissa asked, not taking the judgement well, "but who are you and what right do you have to make this comment?"
Gabe replied ever so calmly, "I thought commentary was supposed to be a good thing. I mean, everyone always has room to improve. Even for someone like you."
"Excuse me?" Melissa snapped, gaining the attention of the entire room. "Do you even sing?"
"Now, Melissa," Mr. Schue softly spoke, "you just need to calm down."
"I bet he can't even sing," she continued, ignoring Mr. Schue's words. "You're just another pretty face who came here to make this one happy." She pointed at Rachel, then put her hands down and directed her voice toward her. "And what about you? I've heard stuff. I mean, I'm sorry that your friend is dead, but at least he died before he could hear about your Broadway flop. It's a shame. The girl currently playing Fanny Brice is at least ten times better than you will ever be. And while she's out there, winning, you'll be forced to crawl back to Lima and become a nobody." Feeling a sense of victory, Melissa held her head up high and watched as Rachel's tears came back, making her exit the room.
As Mr. Schue got up and scolded her for her attitude, Gabe followed suit and ran out of the room to find Rachel. He heard footsteps behind him as he walked, but they disappeared when he was closer to the auditorium. Opening the door, he saw her sitting on the stage, her head in her hands. He walked over to her and gave her another hug, rubbing her back. "Hey," he said, feeling as her head rested on his chest, "don't let her words get to you. She's just being a bitch."
"But what if she's right?" she asked. "What if I do end up a Lima Loser?"
"You are not going to end up a Lima Loser," he stated. "And you know why?" Rachel shook her head. "Because you have talent. Even if you don't end up back in Funny Girl, other Broadway shows will always find you. They'll be lining up at your door, begging for your voice." He then lifted her head up and wiped her tears away, adding, "And I also happen to know at least two people who will always have your back." Pointing upward first, then back at himself, he finished with, "One of those people is up there, and the other is right here."
Her smile came back, and she wrapped her arms around him as he kissed her forehead. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you both."
"Now, what do you say we walk back in there and show that bitch why we're NYADA kids?"
Rachel laughed at his wording before getting up and wiping off the rest of her tears. She and Gabe then made their way out of the auditorium, where she was nearly attacked with hugs from Kurt and Mercedes. They kept asking if she was okay (which she now was) and if she needed anything (which she didn't). Then Mercedes asked a more important question: "Who the hell is this guy?"
As a joke, Gabe bowed down to her and replied, "Only someone blessed with your presence, Ms. Hudson." Smiling, he came right back up and said, "But I'm assuming you go by a different name?"
"Mercedes," she said before giving a thumbs up to Rachel.
"Mercedes," he repeated. "Fitting name for someone like you. And Kurt, you look even better in person."
"Let's just get back to the choir room," Kurt replied, trying to hide his flustered face. "Mr. Schue will probably be worried."
When the foursome were back in the choir room, they saw Santana already up and about to walk out. She sighed in relief and hugged Rachel. "Thank God you're back," she said, pulling away and lowering her voice. "I was about to look for you guys so Schuester could get off my back. Also, who's the blonde?"
"Gabe," Rachel responded. "He's new at NYADA."
Whilst more introductions were being made and Melissa was being silenced, Gabe had asked Brad the pianist to play something. He had brought a satchel full of music from which he pulled out a thin, black binder, turning to a certain song and putting it on the stand. "Can you play it?"
Brad turned a few pages and scanned the music before responding positively while adding, "Finally. Someone who brings sheet music." His face then turned in confusion, and he asked, "I'm assuming this is at a quicker tempo?"
Gabe nodded. "And the key is a half-step lower than the original."
"Nice arrangement."
"Thank you," Gabe said before calling Rachel over. Once everyone was seated and he had explained to Mr. Schue exactly what he was doing, he made one simple statement to Melissa as the intro played: "Karma's about to bite you in the back very painfully."
Stepping to the side, he allowed Rachel to steal the spotlight as she sang the opening lines. "I'm just a Broadway baby, working off my tired feet, pounding 42nd St. to be in a show."
"Broadway Baby," Gabe responded as she gestured for him to sing, "learning how to sing and dance, waiting for that one big chance to be in a show!"
As the song progressed, Melissa pretended to not pay attention to it to spite them, even though she loved the tempo change to the Follies song. She always thought it was too slow. So while everyone around her was moving along to the faster beat, she forced herself to sit still. Yet she couldn't help but tap her foot along to the music.
Once it ended, she ended up clapping for the duo. Frankly, she thought they were pretty good. Though her claps were drowned among the applause, it didn't go unnoticed. Kitty moved next to her and asked, "So you did enjoy it."
"Please," Melissa scoffed, "I only clapped so no one else would notice that I didn't like it." After a long glare from the blonder blonde, she sighed. "Okay, it was actually really good." Then her phone beeped, indicating a new message. Unlocking the screen, she rolled her eyes at the sight of her sister's texts, asking for fashion advice. I'm crap at choosing clothes and you know that, the actual text read. Help a sister choose? :)
"Okay, okay!" Mr. Schue yelled, trying to calm everyone else down as this was going on. "Let's all settle down and welcome the newest aid to the New Directions...I never got your name," Mr. Schue said.
"Gabe," he responded. "It's Gabe."
"Well then," Mr. Schue exclaimed. "Let's all welcome Gabe to the family!"
"AND welcome back our star, Rachel Berry!" Kurt added, causing everyone to cheer louder.
Amidst the loud cheers, Kitty didn't pay attention to the fact that the person on Melissa's phone saved as Sis with the poop emoji was Anna Kendrick from Pitch Perfect. She instead pointed to the second outfit, commenting that it better fitted her skin tone and hair color. "Plus, it's hella gorgeous on her," she added. Melissa noticed that she hadn't said anything about her sister, which was odd. In response to this, she said, "I don't care if your great-aunt fifteen times removed happens to be Beyoncé. You seem like a cool girl to hang out with, and I want to know about you. Not your sister."
Melissa smiled in response. "Can you just not let this get out? There's already enough people from my last school who contact me to send nudes of Anna to them. I don't want to have to move schools again."
"I won't," Kitty truthfully said, smiling.
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SHOUT-OUT TO THE CREATORS OF HAIRSPRAY FOR MAKING THE MUSICAL FOR CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Too bad it's not on Broadway anymore :( Personally, I'd choose Aaron's Frank Abagnale, Jr. over Leo DiCaprio's ANY day. Sorry not sorry.
And another shout-out to @hotteas for making the AWESOME movie poster on the side. Oh, if only this really could be a movie...
Till next time.
~Rosie :)
[Song(s) used: Broadway Baby from FOLLIES (Glee Cast Version, but I'm putting Aaron Tveit's version on the side because it's hella seductively sexy)]
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