I don't own Billy Idol, Glee, RENT, Coke, or anything else mentioned in this chapter…bummer.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! For the love of God I'm begging you to stop," she yelled out, her hands on her face.

The stage suddenly went still and the music quit abruptly, making the auditorium silent again. Everyone turned to look at their coach who wore a look of shock and abhorrence. "Are you serious?" She asked, lifting her eyebrows and cuing any of them to speak. They all looked at each other and shrugged, wondering what she was asking. "Good God, you're serious aren't you? Okay, well then, we obviously have a lot to work on…"

"Excuse me, Ms. Corcoran?" A freckled girl with dirty-blond hair raised her hand and walked towards and front of the stage.

"Yes, Nicole?" Shelby replied politely with a patient smile.

The girl's eyes got slightly wider, for she had no idea how Shelby could know her name since she'd never spoken up before, this made Shelby's patient smile turn into a triumphant smirk internally. Outside she stayed the same: cool and collected.

"Um, well, in our defense it's only our first rehearsal back. I mean we're bound to be a little rusty considering we haven't practiced all summer," she said biting her lip and shrugging.

"I realize this, and I understand you're just getting into the swing of things with me as your instructor; however I need to make my expectations known early on. This is a simple routine, yet it's the best you have, which, judging by the fact you make it to Regionals, quite frankly shocks me. Things are going to get much harder from here, and if you can't nail something you've practiced dozens of times, then we're going to have a problem. I'm going to take mercy on you today, it would be ridiculous to expect perfection this early on, but I need to let you know that I'm going to push you to your limits. I'm trying to improve you by correcting you, and if it's too harsh for you, I'm afraid I'm not going to make exceptions. Are we in agreement?"

Nicole nodded, looking slightly nervous, but not petrified. Shelby hated to scare the poor kids, but she demanded respect, and she needed to make that known from day one or else there were going to be issues.

"All right, let's try this again. Back in positions. Cue the music," Shelby snapped as they followed orders, obediently prancing and scurrying back to their positions. 'Mony Mony' by Billy Idol, last year's Regional group routine, blasted and pumped again while they started again.

Seeing no real improvement, Shelby put her palm on her face to cool her forehead, and glanced to her right where Jesse was sitting, seeing as he couldn't partake in a routine he had never learned. He had his hand on his chin and his elbow resting on his leg. He looked bored, but she could see him watching intently, absorbing and soaking everything in, and no doubt critiquing too.

Shelby snapped in front of his face, and he glanced over at her. She straightened her back even more so, over exaggerating the fact she wanted him to do the same. He wrinkled his eyebrows, his head cocking in confusion. She rolled her eyes and over exaggerated even more so, nodding as to ask if he got the message. He narrowed his eyes with a baffled expression.

She sighed and leaned over to him.

"Either fix your posture or find yourself a bell tower, we can't have you dancing hunchback," she snappily whispered.

"Oh," he said, fixing his seating.

She smiled, satisfied, and ran a hand over her skirt as a sign of completion, then braced herself to watch the rest of the presentation. She waited for some progress.

It never came.

Finally, finally, the song was over.

Shelby pulled her hair up with the elastic on her wrist and made her way under the stage lights. She motioned Jesse to follow her.

"All right, I need everyone to take a seat; I need to show you guys something. This," she began to demonstrate, smiling as wide as she could while she sang the first few bars of the song they had just completed, "is a show face. And this," she repeated the same notes with a look of total uninterest and zero enthusiasm, "is what you're giving me. The first and most important thing you need to remember is to always look the part. You can be the world's worst singer and know it, but if you have a decent show face, you'll look confident, and confidence is key."

All of the students gazed intensely, shielding their eyes from the spotlights.

"Stand up straight and tall and have that smile. That smile is the most important part of a performance. You could be singing the phone book, but this face will make it seem like a freaking work of art. That smile is the difference between a loser and a champion. Inexperienced people don't know how to handle screw-ups. And as much as we're going to try and prevent it, there are components, little tiny errors that probably only I and the performers themselves will notice, that will pop up. Sparsely, because in practice, I'll fix these immediately, but when you're on display in a performance, you need to know how to cover your ass when this happens. I don't care how bad you beat yourself up inside, but you must never, ever, under any circumstances, lose your show face. Acknowledging a failure on stage makes you a failure. And I don't coach failures."

She finished her speech. "Does everyone now understand the importance of a smile brighter than the bulbs you're under?" The generally consensus nodded. "Good, now let's put it into play. Everyone stand up, back straight, feet slightly apart, and flash that smile, let's go people I don't have all day," she said clapping.

She walked along the rows making comments as she went, "too natural, you need more theatricality, you're being too subtle with your talents. Really bright, brilliantly, Brianna, come on. Oh, Jonathon, honey, that's much too fake. Relax, your mouth, dear, relax the muscles."

She continued, "See, now that's too genuine Jacob," she said pausing a bit at his ice blue eyes, a trait he inherited from his father obviously. But there weren't hard like his fathers had been, weren't bitter or rejecting, they were just normal, and for that she breathed a silent sigh of relief, "If it's too genuine you'll never be able to uphold it when you're up there for real with all of the elements. Antony, please, that's a little too over the top. It's borderline creepy like you're a clown in a horror movie. I'd be very afraid to meet you in a dark alley on Halloween with that. That's it, you're getting it, take a little more pressure off the jaw."

"St. James," she stopped directly in front of Jesse and examined him, looking for fault, taunting him to see how long he could uphold it. It was like a stare down, "well done. Can everyone please come over here and look at Jesse?" All the students wandered over to the freshman, some obviously not happy at the prospect of him getting all of the attention. "That," she said pointing, "is a show face, guys."

She glanced at her watch. "Okay, well it's about seven. That'll be it for now. We're doing…fine, I suppose," she left it at that. "Be back in an hour. I need Eberle, Brianna, Nicole, Michael, and Joseph to stay," the others raced out the door while a few of the names she called scowled, their faces distorting in displeasure. "Let's head out," Shelby said gathering up her various clipboards with random scribbling and books with multicolored post-its sticking out the edge and leading them to the cafeteria for the next sixty minutes.

"But Ms. Corcoran, we didn't even bring dinner," Michael whined.

"Speak for youself," Eberle said lifting up a pink lunchbox.

"There's food in the cafeteria preparation area, the lunch people were kind enough to give us permission to use it. Michael, you knew your grades from the start so I don't know why we're having this conversation. And way to come prepared Eberle, I applaud that."

Eberle smiled slightly, blushing a bit.

"I told you about the rules, guys. Most of you aren't off by the 3.0 mark by too much, and if you do well on your next few assignments, you can probably bring them back up within the next week. Plus, it's only an hour; I'll think you'll survive."

"Exactly, and since I'm not off by a lot, I don't think I should have to be here. I'm in all of the honors courses, I have it rough," Michael complained.

"So do I and half the grade, Michael," Joseph said.

"Seriously, dude, give me a break," Nicole chimed in.

"All I'm saying is that I think this is totally rigged. I have to work my butt off in these ridiculous courses, and Eberle gets it easy, and yet she can't even take advantage of it and do well. Unlike Eberle, I actually try; meanwhile over there you have her who can't even get a passing grade in the discrete courses."

"Hey, don't insult Eberle unless you want a fist in your face!" Joseph glared and took a step towards Michael.

"I'm not insulting her, I'm stating a fact. It's not my fault she sucks at school."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about, you know that? You mess with Eberle, you mess with us. So I suggest you shut you mouth," Nicole said, joining in, stopping next to Joseph and crossing her arms.

"Enough!" Shelby said, exasperated, flipping around. She hoped they could just quit bickering themselves without her interruption. "All of you, calm down, chill out. Geez, you're acting like a bunch of second graders. Grow up. Michael, you're being rude. Joseph, don't threaten with violence. Ever. I believe I expressed that on the first day. Nicole, watch the language. Now can everyone please just find a seat and start on your homework? I'll be around to make sure you stay on task, and for your sake I'd better find you trying. Break up if you need to, we have practically the whole place," she said, peering around the cafeteria, only a few dozen kids sat in there already either studying or gossiping. "Go, now, we don't have time for procrastination," she said snapping.

She watched the five spread out around the table groups, Michael having a stare against Nicole and Joseph's glares they sent across the room briefly before taking out their books. She turned around to see Jesse standing next to her.

"Oh, Jesse, what are you doing here? You're grades are fine, and as far as I know no behavior issues…" she said, glancing at the list to make sure this wasn't a rare occasion she'd made a mistake.

"Oh I know, but I can't really go anywhere…"

"No car?" She asked sympathetically.

"I'm only a freshman…"

"Right. Well, I'm sure one of the upperclassman would be happy to give you a ride or hang out with you."

"Somehow I doubt that," he said, not bitterly, just like an average comment he would say on a daily basis.

"Oh. Well I would offer, but I can't really-" Shelby started, feeling slightly bad for making him stay because of the lack of transportation. Damn, it was only the first day and she already felt empathetic? She'd have to nip that in the bud immediately. She didn't go soft…

"It's fine, Ms. Corcoran, really. I hang out here every day anyway waiting for my brother's football practice to be out so he can take me home. It's kind of routine by now."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I am," he said, walking over to another table where a girl greeted him. She eyed the table for a beat before tearing her gaze away and finding her own table in the back and took out her binder for some song ideas. The wheels were already turning about something they could do. They needed something exciting and original, something that hadn't been done before at Sectionals or even in recent glee competition. They needed something edgy and creative and fun. She got antsy when she thought about it. Almost got the jitters. Oh the power music had on Shelby Corcoran. It seduced her more than any man ever could and gave her more warmth than a pair of fuzzy socks and a scented candle.

She alternating tapping, clicking, and chewing on her pen, flipping through the organized songs, artists and genres, racking through her brain. She wanted something fresh and new, but also classic and relatable. She pondered over for about fifteen minutes before she slammed it shut and glanced up at the clock. She figured it was probably time to check on the kids. Her kids right now. It was strange saying that, even in the broadest term of the phrase.

She loped and laced herself through the adjoined tables and benches, strutting her way over to Michael, who was doodling in a notebook. Surprised that he didn't even try to cover the fact he wasn't giving an effort, she tapped him on the back. He slowly turned around, realizing by now by the jabbing of the perfectly rounded nail who it was, and the fact that he was in pretty deep shit.

"All finished?" She smiled sweetly.

"Mhm," he replied unconvincingly.

"Great job, may I check it?" She said, praising him, knowing her sugary sweetness would make him feel guilty.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked, obviously trying to buy time.

"I say may I check it?" She asked, keeping up her clueless façade.

"Um…" He muffled something through his lips.

"Look, just because you mumble incoherent doesn't mean I don't know you're lying. Come on, start working, I've given you ample warnings by now in addition to your rudeness. If I have to tell you one more time there's going to be consequences that I can guarantee you aren't going to like. Begin," she said, giving him a look that left no room for interpretation, waiting for him to slump down and unzip his backpack and take out a hardcover book and opening it before making her next stop.

"Nicole, Joseph, how's it coming over here?"

"Eh," Joseph replied tapping his pencil on the desk.

"Good," said Nicole.

"It would be well," Shelby reinforced.

"Thus exhibiting the fact that I'm getting a D in English," Nicole groaned.

Shelby grinned a little. "What are you reading right now?"

She held up her book, "Julius Caesar," she said, scrunching up her nose.

"Shakespeare, huh? I take it he's not treating you too kindly?" Shelby asked.

"Shakespeare is the unkindest cut of all," Joseph said, not looking up from his math book.

Shelby smiled at the pun.

"I just don't get why I have to do this. I want to be a singer, not a history or an English teacher…" Nicole said.

"Believe it or not, Shakespeare can help you with your singing," Shelby replied.

"How?" Nicole replied skeptically.

"Well for starters, understanding the rhythm can help you when you're working on a melody. It has a beat to it within the words. Practicing interpreting things can help challenge you to interpret or write your own songs. And all the vocabulary can help you on the SAT's which will help you get into a good college."

"I guess…but it's still hard."

"Just try and dissect it, you'll get it eventually," Shelby encouraged. "Let me know if you have a really hard time."

"Will do," Nicole said sighing and gazing intently at the page, twirling a highlighter in her hand.

Shelby nodded and glided over to where Eberle was sitting, staring at her Chemistry book so hard Shelby wondered if she was trying to move it with her mind.

"How's it going over here?" She asked, towering about the strawberry blonde, resting her hand on some table space beside her.

"Decently I suppose," Eberle replied, breaking concentration to offer Shelby a resemblance of a happy face.

"Do you need help on something?" Shelby offered, not willing to leave her when she was obviously struggling.

"Nothing in particular. Actually everything. Everything in particular. And that's the problem. I can get the tiny pieces, but the concept as a whole has me puzzled. All of it together is just so overwhelming," she slumped.

Shelby felt slightly empathetic towards her from Michaels' comments earlier. She was at least trying, and seeing the effort the words were even more uncalled for, mixed with the fact he wasn't trying at all made her seethe.

"It's all right, don't stress yourself out, it gives you pimples. Let's see if I can help," she said, taking a seat and glancing at the book. She read over it for a few minutes. "Okay, what don't you understand?"

Eberle went on to explain her trouble spots and Shelby walked her through one, Eberle doing fine when presented with the information orally. "Does that make more sense?"

"Yeah," Eberle nodded.

"Good, now try one on your own," she instructed, sitting back and waiting, confused to see her straining and erasing quite a bit. "It's just like the other one," she said and Eberle nodded with a deep breath, deep in concentration. "Eberle, what's wrong? We just did one of these." She asked a little exasperated.

"Yeah, out loud," she said, turning to talk to Shelby this time.

"What difference does that make?"

"I choke when I have to write them down."

"Why?"

"Dyslexia tends to do that to a person," Eberle said, equal parts snappy, embarrassed, and upset. She put a hand on her face and sighed. "I'm not stupid, you know."

"I never said you were-"

"But other people do," she said looking into her eyes. "And I'm not, I'm not an idiot. They have no idea what it's like to live in a world where everything is mixed up-"

"Well why don't you tell them?"

"They already know. Some of them anyway. Nicole, Joseph, Michael-"

"Michael knows and he was that insensitive?" Shelby asked, surprised.

"He's known since fourth grade. He doesn't believe me. Says it a crock, a made up disease to breeze through and get special treatment, but he has no idea. He has no idea and it's not fair-"

"You're right. It's not fair. But neither is life," she said. Eberle looked hurt, her eyes saddened by her quick comment that came off sharp-tongued. That not being her intention, Shelby breathed out and put her hand on Eberle's to offer some small gesture of apology and sincerity in her suffering. "Everyone has different troubles in life, and while I know this must completely suck, and I am sorry, you have to remember that you have it pretty good. You have Nicole and Joseph and others friends that stick up for you, I'm sure. From what I can tell you're an okay kid, and I think that's a Coach purse next to you if I'm not mistaken. You have your health for the most part; it's just a little bump in the road. It's your little suffering in life, and you can either take it with optimism, or let it turn you into a pessimist."

"But what if this stops me in life? What if I can't graduate high school or never end up getting a job because I can't read it or crunch numbers or even type without trouble? What if it wipes out all of my dreams?"

"Well I guess you're just going to have to work twice as hard. If it's a dream worth having to you, if you really want it with every fiber of your being, you'll find a way. Look, Eberle, tons of successful people have learning disabilities. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You don't have to hide it. Just ask for help if you need it, I'm sure tons of people would be happy to help or accommodate you. Not me, obviously, since music doesn't rely on those skills, but still. If you need help otherwise, you can ask."

What is with this sudden urge to reach out? Shelby's insides screamed. Maybe it was because she reminded her of herself. Ambitious, scared, but still bubbly. Determined, fiery, and willing to work. Or maybe it was just something she'd want to say to her daughter if she only could only get a chance to meet her.

"Maybe that's why I love it so much," Eberle's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked over at Eberle, and she could see she had her eyes closed, melting into the topic. "You can just use your ears and voice and that's all that matters. It takes all the pressure off. It's a different part of your brain, you know? That part where you can connect with something using a tone. Something you interpret takes on a different meaning for everyone, and no one can tell you you're wrong. It's like magic," she said, looking over at Shelby. "I'm sorry, that was a little over-the-top," she said shaking her head and picking up her pencil again.

"No, I get it. I really do. And I can make your voice be the ticket out of here. I can make it so your dreams become a reality and curse those doubts you have. But before you submit with those dreams, you have to get through this first. And it's not going to be easy, but nothing is easy. Not if it's worth fighting for," she said, giving her hand one last pat and walking away, leaving her with only those little tokens of wisdom and walking over to where Brianna was originally at, furrowing her eyebrows when she didn't see the girl there.

The mystery was solved in an instant when she heard a thump and turned to see Brianna over by a soda machine. She walked over to examine the situation.

"Stupid freaking thing, can't even give me the correct drink even though I pressed the damn buttons," Brianna said angrily to herself.

"It gave you a Coke, Bri," Jesse chimed in, seeing as his seat was over by the vending machines.

"I know it gave me a Coke, but I pushed the button for a Diet Coke," Brianna stated like that was obvious, visibly frustrated and rolling her eyes.

"Why can you only drink Diet Coke?" the girl sitting by Jesse asked. She gasped, her face lighting up in supposed recognition, and covered her mouth in shock "are you from Cyberland?"

Shelby stifled a laugh, not wanting to be caught spying, noticing the reference right away.

"Really, Bri, it's okay. Just try it," Jesse relayed.

"Leap of fate, leap of fate!" the girl said back immediately, theatrically.

"I can't even understand what you're saying," Brianna said in confusion.

"Just jump!" Jesse said, urgently.

"What?" Brianna asked, nervous by the urgency in his voice.

"The only thing to do is jump over the moon!" the girl exclaimed.

"Okay, this is ridiculous. I'm done trying to decode your freakishness."

"So I guess this would be a bad time warn you that you're about to be pushed over a cliff by a suicidal Mickey Mouse?" Jesse asked.

"It's like your speaking in tongs or something."

"The expression is 'speaking in tongues,'" the younger girl said.

"Whatever," she said, walking away, taking the red can with her.

"Moo," the younger girl whispered quietly, waiting until Brianna was out of ear range before turning to Jesse and cracking up.

Shelby's intention was to go check on Bri, but her curiosity got the best of her, and she found herself subconsciously being pulled towards Jesse and this mysterious chick.

"Hello Jesse," Shelby said.

"Oh, hey," he said, going back to his book.

She cleared her throat.

"What?" Jesse asked.

"You going to introduce me?" She asked, making a nodding gesture toward the brunette beside him.

"Oh, right. Shelby, this is Mary. Mary, this is Shelby," he said casually.

"Oh please, call me Ms. Corcoran," she said, gritting her teeth in his direction and the latter part of the sentence.

Mary didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, hello," she said, sticking her hand out confidently.

"Hi. What grade are you in?" Shelby asked, sparking up some conversation. The girl looked much younger up close, and her height didn't help her.

"Eighth, but I take a few freshman courses. And I'm only twelve. I skipped kindergarten, so I'm really young for my grade as is," she explained.

"Impressive. Well I look forward to seeing you next year. I'm assuming you'll try out for glee club considering your obvious interest in musicals."

"Oh, that," she said giggling a little. "Jesse kind of got me hooked."

"And now she knows more than me," Jesse said nudging her.

"Are you guys good friends?" Shelby asked.

"We sort of have to be," Mary said, prompting another nudge from Jesse. Our siblings date each other, and have been on and off since about third grade. They're both seniors this year, so we sort of grew up together."

Jesse nodded in agreement.

"Interesting. Well, it's almost time to start rehearsal again, so, Jesse, time to pack up. Pleasure to meet you; hope to see you again soon, Mary."

"Same to you," she said with a smile.

"Oh, and Mary? Thank you. You've given me an idea. And what a glorious idea it is," she said happily.

She rubbed her fingers together before sticking them in her mouth, producing a shrill, loud whistle that everyone heeded to. "Vocal Adrenaline, let's get going," she announced.

Oh yeah, she still had it.

If you were with Brianna on this one and were completely confused about what in the world they were talking about, those lines are from 'Over the Moon' from RENT, performed by the lovely Idina Menzel. RENT references…you got to love them. I love reviews too! So, review. Please. Thanks. =)