One Perfect Year at Stevenson High

Chapter 20

For the first time since the club's inception, Vocal Rebellion was performing at sectionals. Up until this year, Stevenson High's glee club always fell short of having enough members to officially qualify for any legitimate competitions. But the new roster sat at twelve students—the bare minimum needed—and that changed everything.

"This performance needs to be flawless," Glimmer said during rehearsal. She was pacing back and forth across the band room floor, her expression tight and focused. Sectionals were only a week away, and her nerves were starting to show. "We'll be the only team there who hasn't competed before, so we're the underdogs by default."

"Which isn't necessarily a bad thing," Bow reminded her. "We can lure them into a false sense of security, and then blow them away. Right, Adora?"

Adora let out a weak laugh. "Yeah, exactly."

He had deferred to her because the strategy had been her idea in the first place. In fact, almost everything about their routine for sectionals had been Adora's doing and, at least in theory, she had covered all her bases. Adora spent countless hours watching videos of winning show choir performances from around the world and taking meticulous notes about what she saw. From this, she devised a set list — a carefully curated act of three separate performances that perfectly balanced songs that would best showcase the team's vocal talents while also energizing the crowd. She even came up with the idea to build the setlist around a theme, which was how they wound up with an entire routine built around songs about fighting and perseverance: the perfect way to introduce Vocal Rebellion to the world.

After that miserable confrontation with Catra and the Valkyries on the bleachers, Adora welcomed the challenge — after all, developing winning strategies was kind of her specialty. She was glad that preparations left little room in her life for anything else. Adora didn't want to think about being shut-out by the people she once considered her friends, and she definitely didn't want to dwell on the drama festering between her and Catra.

While Bow worked on the vocal arrangements and Glimmer, Mermista, and Sea Hawk dedicated themselves to cultivating the perfect wardrobe for the team, Adora developed their choreography. She put her years of cheer to good use and trained the team until they moved in perfect synchronicity. She taught them how to add energy to their moves so that even the most basic steps looked impressive, and she always reminded them to smile. When Perfuma mentioned she had a friend in the school band who could help them with their musical arrangement, Adora inserted herself into that process too. It didn't matter that she didn't have any experience writing music or playing instruments — she still spent long nights going back and forth with them until Vocal Rebellion had a perfect score to perform to.

Yes, thanks to Adora's obsessive attention to detail and championship experience, Vocal Rebellion looked and sounded better than they ever had. They were totally ready for their first sectionals competition, save for one tiny detail.

"Don't worry, Adora," Glimmer said, giving her the most reassuring smile she could. "I know you'll remember the words when it really matters."

Groaning, Adora dropped her head into her hands to hide her burning humiliation.

Vocal Rebellion's big finishing number had been Adora's favorite part of the whole performance. It had taken some creative tweaking to match the tempos, but by leveraging the distinctive use of electric guitar in both songs, Adora had created an amazing mash-up of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and Pat Benetar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Sure, they were old songs, but if her plethora of research had taught her anything it was that the best show choir performances drew on a nostalgia factor to win over audiences. She and Bow had worked it out so that the performance would look like an on-stage song battle; a sing-off between two rival gangs. Sea Hawk would be leading "Eye Of The Tiger", but it had been Glimmer's idea to let Adora lead "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". At first, Adora resisted — she was a decent singer, but she had nothing on Mermista or Netossa, both of whom would be soloing throughout the routine. Besides, as much as Adora was looking forward to the performance, she wasn't looking to be center stage. But Glimmer had insisted, claiming Adora had earned it after all the work she'd put in.