Easy Come, Easy Go

Adelaine St. James moved with practiced ease on the stage. The words were natural to her by now, the moves second nature. She had been practicing this song alone for months. Two years ago her brother had taken Regionals with this song. Now it was her turn to blow the judges away.

Vocal Adrenaline had a theme this year. Take all of their winning songs from previous years, make them even better, and perform them.

Bohemian Rhapsody was their opening number for the upcoming invitational.

Adelaine had the lead in this song. There had been some problems when she'd first been chosen for it, since it was generally sung by a guy, but now nobody contested it. She had her brother's talent, no doubt about it. Two years ago, just a young sophomore living in her brother's shadow it hadn't been obvious.

But ever since her brother left for UCLA, Adelaine had broken out of her shell. She'd auditioned for and gotten into Vocal Adrenaline at the beginning of last year.

And now it was the beginning of her senior year and she was shining like a star. People noticed her. People liked her.

And she loved it.

No longer was she the shy girl whom nobody really knew. She was popular, she was talented. She was Adelaine St. James.

Jesse was supposed to be visiting. He had a few days off, and had promised to come see her perform tonight. It would make a welcome change. Her parents certainly had never come.

The VA kids were popular enough that they pretty much had their run of the school. The coach, Dustin Goolsby, had even talked the principal into getting them half a day off for rehearsal on days they performed.

Like today, for instance. Which was why, right now, she was in rehearsal when the rest of the school was in class.

There were a couple more hours to the performance. Right now they had a short break. Adelaine stood backstage, in the room where they all did their makeup and whatnot.

"Hey little sister."

Adelaine turned, hearing her older brother's familiar voice. Smiling, she ran towards him, forgetting her newer, cooler self for a moment, and hugged him.

True, they had been on the outs for a few months. When she found out what he and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline had done to his ex-girlfriend, Rachel Berry, she'd been furious.

Adelaine hadn't been part of the group then. But she knew Rachel, they'd met twice. Not as often as they might have, had he been living at home and not with their uncle they might have met more often.

However, both times they had met Rachel had been perfectly kind to her. Sure, he claimed she had all sorts of faults too. But it didn't excuse what he had done and they both knew it.

Still, he had always been supportive of her. Constantly, unfailingly supportive, even though their parents only supported him. And she loved him for it. He was still her brother, after all.

“You look great Laine. You’ve really changed. You used to be so shy.”

“Thanks.” Adelaine smiled. “You look…well, pretty much the same.”

Jesse shrugged. “What can I say? So, how’s life? Other than this, I mean. Any boyfriends IO should be beating up?”

Adelaine thought about this. She’d just broken up with her most recent boyfriend, but she’d been through a lot of guys in the past two years. The guys never lasted long.

“Nah.” She shrugged.

She bit her lip, and before he could continue the subject—she really didn’t want to talk about it—she moved back towards the stage. “Well, I have to back to rehearsal. I’ll see you later tonight, you’re coming to the performance, right?”

“Yes, of course.” He replied.

She nodded, then returned to the rest of the group on the stage.