Back-Up Plan - Book 3 - S.E.

The New Rachel

A/N: So I have returned and the first chapter of the new book is here! I have to admit, this season starts a little slow, but I have great plans for the future, so keep an eye for those. For now, I hope you enjoy this one! As always, let me know your thoughts!

"What's up, blogosphere? Jacob Ben Israel here, back on the street with an exclusive look at McKinley's newest celebrities, the New Directions!"

Winnie rolled her eyes, already annoyed and it was only ten in the morning of her first day of school. She could hear JBI's voice down the hallway and she was sure he was coming her way, but she couldn't tell for sure if she was annoyed at him or at Tina, who walked beside her with Dottie, a freshman she had, somehow convinced to follow her around all day everyday.

Now, Winnie had kept her promise. When Mike left, she had stuck by Tina. The two of them had helped each other, working together through missing the boy, but, as soon as the last week of summer rolled around, Tina started to change. She started to become self-obsessed and she suddenly turned into a bigger diva than Rachel Berry herself, always talking about the solos she wanted to have at glee or how much her voice had improved with the years. Winnie was about 90% sure all of this was just some weird copying mechanism Tina had created to deal with Mike's absence, but it drove Winnie insane. Still, she stuck by Tina anyway, more out of habit than anything else, but with Mike gone and Tina's new attitude, Winnie wasn't sure how much more of this she'd be willing to take.

Maybe she would need some new friends.

"I never thought I'd have a freshman for a personal assistant." Tina commented, with a smile on her face as Winnie rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it..." She mumbled, watching as Dottie offered Tina a little snack.

"This isn't organic." Tina scowled, throwing the snack back at Dottie, who frowned.

Winnie sighed, sending Dottie a small smile and grabbing Tina's not-organic-snack to eat it herself after thanking Dottie quietly.

"Wow. C You Next Tina." JBI said, as he approached the girls and shoved his microphone in Tina's face. Winnie rolled her eyes yet again, but Tina seemed happy with the attention. That is, until JBI shot her his question. "Is it true you broke up with Mike Chang a week after tattooing Mike Chang 4ever on your hip because the long-distance thing would be too hard?"

Winnie frowned then, turning to Tina as the girl blushed. Had she really made that tattoo for Mike? She wasn't aware of that fact, but judging by the way Tina fumbled with her words a little, Winnie could only assume it to be true.

"Hum... Yeah..." She admitted, her smile faltering at the mention of her ex-boyfriend. "I still love him, and we're still friends, and I changed the tattoo to Make Change 4ever. Change is good."

"Well, sometimes..." Winnie mumbled, only to have Tina glare at her and JBI turning his attention to her instead.

"Winnie Archer." JBI said, as Winnie sighed. "Rumor has it you have been heartbroken over the fact that last year's exchange student who I never bothered learning the name of has returned home to England after a fleeting little fling with you."

"Rory is actually Irish." Winnie corrected. "And I'm not heartbroken. We both knew it wouldn't last."

"So does that mean..."

"No, it doesn't." Winnie stopped him before JBI could even think about finish his question. "Now, if you excuse me, I have places to go, thank you very much."

***

"Glee!" Mr. Schue cheered as he walked into the choir room for the first time that year. "We are coming off of a National Championship, but it's time to look forward, and thanks to Glee now being the coolest club in the school, this shouldn't be a problem. All right. Yes, we've lost some big voices. But we still have some huge ones in here. And I promise to do everything I can to replace the ones that we lost. And on that note, I'd like to introduce you to our newest member: The MVP of last year's nationals, Wade Unique Adams."