Falling Slowly

Rachel Berry knew she hated Gabrielle Adams the minute she stepped into the Glee Club’s practice room and opened her mouth.

“Mr. Shue,” her voice had been timid and quiet, “I think I’d like to take up your offer on joining Glee.”

“Of course, Gabi!” Mr. Shue nodded in delight. His hands beckoned her into the classroom. “Come in, come in.”

The midget girl tiptoed her way into the room with a shy smile on her face. Rachel tried not to glare, but it was hard. This Gabi girl was petite—no, she was a midget! Rachel wondered how a person could be so tiny. Trying to get past the girl's height, Rachel studied the rest of her features. She had a delicate face that was paired with bright blue eyes. Her face was framed with inexcusably untamed, long, brown hair. She wore a floral romper with a jean jacket and summer sandals. Rachel noticed that her toenails were painted a light pink.

Rachel wanted to snort.

“Everyone, this is Gabrielle Adams. Not only is she new to school, but she is also the newest addition to Glee,” he announced.

Rachel fidgeted in her chair. She raised her hand and again, tried not to glare at Gabi. Everyone turned to look at her. “Excuse me, Mr. Shue?”

“Yes, Rachel?” Mr. Shue sighed. Rachel pretended not to hear it and ignored her teammates’ questioning stares.

“Doesn’t she have to audition first? I mean, what if she can’t even sing?” Rachel knew how uptight and rude she sounded, but she didn’t care. There was no way this dwarf was going to be a part of Glee—it wasn’t happening on her watch. She could tell that Gabi wouldn't fit in with the status quo. She was too tiny, too timid, too unassured of herself to belong to the group of ambitious and determined people.

Strike one.

“Don’t be so rude, Rachel,” said Finn. He looked shocked and confused at Rachel’s outburst.

Rachel watched him shoot Gabi an apologetic look on her behalf and felt outraged. Why should she have to apologize? She just asked a question, and if the new girl was going to be sensitive about it, maybe she should think twice about joining Glee. She then noticed that Gabi looked uncomfortable and felt a pang of remorse. "No offense, Gabrielle," she sighed.

Gabi tried to shrug indifferently. “None taken. I understand that you guys have been working hard for Regionals and don’t want to risk just letting anyone in the club.” She paused. A small smile worked its way onto her face. “Oh, and you can call me Gabi.”

“Sure," Rachel said back, returning with a (fake) smile of her own. She decided that she was going to call the intruding midget Gabrielle just to push her buttons.

“Okay,” said Mr. Shue slowly, trying to get things out of awkward territory, “moving on…Rachel, I understand your concerns, but I've known Gabi since she was three; she’s going to make a wonderful addition to our team. She's a hard worker, very dedicated, and extremely talented. I know many of you probably don't know this, but Gabi was actually recruited to join the Broadway revival of Les Misérables as Cosette, so there's no need to worry about her abilities. She's perfect for the club.”

Rachel felt her face go red. Les Mis was her favorite musical! She would have been at the open calls in New York City, but her fathers' thought it was better if she focused more on passing Algebra instead of castles' on clouds. Rachel pouted and crossed her legs.

Gabi had the audacity to blush.

Strike two.

Rachel wanted to march up to her and smack that stupid, embarrassed looking facial expression she was wearing right off her face. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, “You’ve known her since she was three?”

“Gabi’s parents went to high school with me. We were all in Glee together.”

“Great,” Rachel thought to herself. “Just great. Now I actually have to work to be the favorite.”

“What are you going to sing?” asked Rachel.

“Um, a song called 'One Day I’ll Fly Away',” said Gabi, still looking slightly timid.

“Good luck.” Rachel smiled again. Of course, it was a fake smile, but no one could tell, so what was the point?

Gabi smiled back and began to sing.

"I follow the night,
Can't stand the light.
When will I begin
To live again?"

Rachel couldn’t believe it. There was no way; it was impossible. She stared at the tiny girl who was belting out the first few notes of Randy Crawford’s One Day I’ll Fly Away. Her voice was smoother than Randy’s ever was, and held a whole hell of a lot more emotion than Nicole Kidman’s pitiful rendition in Moulin Rouge! ever did. She also didn’t go flat on almost every other note the way Nicole did. Suddenly, Rachel felt very threatened.

"One day I'll fly away,
Leave all this to yesterday.
What more could your love do for me?
When will love be through with me?"

No, no, no, no! Absolutely not! This was ludicrous! Surely this was just a really bad dream—no, a nightmare, and she would be waking up soon. Yes, a nightmare! That made sense. Rachel pinched herself.

Okay, so it wasn’t a nightmare. But still, it was impossible.

"Why live life from dream to dream?
And dread the day when dreaming ends?"

Rachel began squirming in her chair.

Okay, so the midget girl can sing, she thought. And sure, maybe she can sing wonderfully acapella and has a flawless vibrato, but that doesn’t mean anything. I’m still the best. I’m Rachel Berry, for God’s sake.

Finn nudged her.

Her eyes snapped up at him. “What?” she mouthed.

“What’s wrong with you?” he mouthed back.

“Nothing. Just pay attention to the midget—I mean Gabi—sing.”

"One day I'll fly away,
Leave all this to yesterday.
Why live life from dream to dream?
And dread the day when dreaming ends?"

Rachel looked back over at Finn and couldn't help but gape. Finn had actually listened to what she said; he was paying attention to Gabi! But it was a different type of attention, Rachel could tell. He had a funny, but familiar, look on his face, and his eyes were glazed over in awe. He looked starstruck; he looked like Gabi was the only person in the room. Rachel tried recalling why the face was so familiar, and when it finally hit her, she wanted to jump up and scream.

No! This was NOT happening to her! That was the look Finn got in his eyes when she sang! Finn was supposed to look her with awe, not some new, midget girl! Finn was supposed to think that she was incredible—wait, Finn? Rachel’s eyes widened. She shouldn’t care about who Finn looked at because she had Jesse. Jesse. Right. Her boyfriend—at least, Rachel thought he was. She hoped he still was. After the whole 'Run Joey Run' fiasco, Rachel wasn’t sure if he felt the same way. He had abruptly left on a Spring Break trip with some of his Vocal Adrenaline friends, and refused to return her phone calls.

Rachel decided to believe that he was just really busy and that he wasn’t screening his phone calls. Maybe she was in denial, maybe she wasn't. It wasn't her place to decide.

She looked over at Puck since looking at Finn was no longer an option. Again, she dropped her mouth. Puck was staring at the dwarf like he was looking at a really big piece of steak. There was a predatory glint in his eyes and he looked like he was a tiger, ready to pounce on a gazelle. Or maybe it was lions that ate gazelles? Rachel didn't really care at the moment because she knew that knew that Noah wasn’t even paying attention to Gabi’s voice, no, he was just staring at her.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! This was all so very wrong!

"One day I'll fly away.
Fly, fly away."

Everyone began to applaud once Gabi finished. Rachel just sat there, looking shocked.

It was impossible. Rachel Berry had real competition. Sure, Mercedes had a great voice, but really, could anyone ever really picture her singing a crowd-pleasing ballad the same way Rachel had? Of course not, that was a stupid question.

“After watching your performance, I've decided that we need you,” announced Kurt. “Not only is your voice absolute perfection, but you have impeccable taste. Rompers are very in right now, as is floral, so kudos to you for the outfit. Also, that jean jacket you’ve paired it with is to die for. Lastly, those sandals give you a very summery feel. Your makeup completes the look with a certain—je ne sais quoi.”

“Tone it down a little Kurt, won’t you?” chuckled Mercedes.

“How tall are you?” asked Brittany.

“You’re hot,” said Puck.

“I agree,” seconded Finn.

Mr. Shue only looked on with a proud smile on his face.

“Thank you all so much,” said Gabi. “I really appreciate it.”

Rachel wanted to explode. This was so not happening to her.

Strike three.