Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, Rachel Berry, Jesse St. James, etc. etc.

Summary: AU. What if Rachel had initially been a part of Vocal Adrenaline? Junior year, her and her Dad's move to McKinley's school district and now she must come to terms with no longer being a part of the best of the best.

Author's Note: For convenience sake, I made Jesse and Rachel the same age.

Prologue

Rachel Berry was not used to many injustices in this world. As someone who was a.) immensely talented, b.) more than passably pretty, and because of those first two things, c.) extremely popular, there was very little that couldn't or wouldn't happen for her. That was, until the other night. She wasn't even a week into her Junior Year at Carmel High, when her fathers had sat her down and explained to her, too excitedly she thought, that they had found their dream house. Six months earlier, her father, Leroy, had gotten transferred and promoted to the Lima, Ohio office. Which was gross, but since he commuted it did not affect Rachel personally. However, now it did because her fathers had found their perfect, beautiful house in Lima, Ohio. The sister in law of Leroy's boss had just put it on the market, which is how he had heard of it. Apparently her fathers, the betrayers, had checked out the house, without her, and had fallen in love.

It was so unfair, and no matter how prettily she pouted, they would not budge. She brought up her dreams, and what a detriment it would be to go to McKinley High School, where the Glee club has so embarrassed themselves horribly the previous year at their Sectionals, rather than Carmel High School, where she had already twice been a national champion thanks to Vocal Adrenaline. They had countered with saying that they had always supported, encouraged and financed her dreams and it was time for some of their own to come true. Not only that, but with her lessons, her talent, and her involvement in community theatre that there was no way she wasn't stepping off the plane from Ohio and stepping right onto the Great White Way, no matter what high school she went to.

This argument had gone on for a while. It would have gone on longer, but Rachel knew the importance of vocal preservation and could not argue or scream or cry for as long as she'd like to. She had brought up the fact that her and Jesse St. James were in competition and if he were at Carmel while she was stuck in some third world Glee club, he would win despite the fact that she had far more talent than him. This caused her fathers to exchange a look that she didn't necessarily like. Finally, she stated that Shelby would never stand for her transfer, causing a dark look to pass over her fathers' faces and they said flatly that Shelby would just have to deal.

And deal with it, Shelby had. Remarkably well. It was rather insulting, if Rachel did say so. She was, without a doubt, their strongest female vocalist and Shelby acted as though she was losing a clumsy alternate. She was co-captain of Vocal Adrenaline and she mattered, damn it. Jesse, of course, had stuck his hand out, shaken hers, and said it had been a pleasure performing with her all these years but he could no longer acknowledge her existence now that she would soon be an enemy. She still wasn't entirely convinced that he hadn't been serious.

Despite the fact that Jesse lived to torture, tease and torment her, he was probably the closest thing to a best friend she had. It didn't sound pretty, but it meant the world to her. Of course they were competitive, they were both brilliant. No one understood each other better than the two of them did. She equally enjoyed baiting him, there would probably be no one at McKinley that was worth challenging or could challenge her as Jesse St. James could.

The only problem with Jesse St. James was that he was Shelby's favorite. It wasn't the nature of their competitive friendship where she was trying to push off any losses she may have suffered on the excuse of Jesse being the coach's pet, but it was in the obvious way. Shelby adored Jesse. Rarely did a criticism come out of her mouth and in his direction. Jesse was the one they were all to emulate, look to in matters of performance, singing, and anything else on the table. In comparison she was overly harsh towards Rachel. Nothing was ever good enough, emotive enough, etc etc. She still gave Rachel solos, but she felt she had to earn them whereas Jesse was simply handed them. Sometimes Rachel liked to think it was because she had the most potential, and so Shelby drove her to better herself so she could shine the brightest. However Shelby's seemingly calm acceptance of the changing of Rachel's school district seemed to bring reality back to the surface.

Rachel had tried. Shelby wasn't the most ethical person in the world, you didn't win as many times and as well as she did without getting dirty. She had talked to Shelby, begged and pleaded with her to make up a fake relative for her to have residence with in the district so she could remain at Carmel and in Vocal Adrenaline. Shelby had sighed and told her that she could not do that and to respect her fathers' plans.

She had turned to Jesse for help. At the very least, Jesse's desire to win would make him want to keep her around. She knew who was next in line after her, and Rachel was far superior. Jesse, however, was unhelpful. Instead, he kept her updated on the failings and follies of McKinley's Glee club. He would sit next to her in the cafeteria, in class, anywhere else that she could sit, he would sit next to and whisper horror stories of how the lead male vocalist couldn't dance and if there was a prize for most awkward show choir performance, they would win it every time. How their coach believed in equality of all things and if she joined them, she would have to share solos with less talented girls. Sure, she had to fight for her top spot in Vocal Adrenaline, and every day had been a well fought battle but it was a challenge and she loved it and it made her strive to be a better performer. To have to fight for a top spot because the person in charge believed that everyone should be given their own turn out of fairness? Unimaginable.

In the end, though, she was a professional. It was only expected to be that she would be faced with obstacles to overcome. No one liked a riches to riches story, rather they'd thrive in a little suffering on the way to the top. This was her suffering, and she would overcome it gracefully. Later, when she would be on Broadway and being interviewed she could reflect on this time and talk about how it made her a stronger person, a more driven person. Or so she kept telling herself. She also told herself that Jesse was just psyching her out. That's what they did in Vocal Adrenaline. They were just nervous that she would join this little Glee club and kick their ass.

As it happened, it turned out that everything Jesse had told her about McKinley was an understatement and she was not at all prepared for the reality that faced her when she first stepped foot into that school.