Yes or no - The prequel

The Rhodes not taken

With Rachel gone, the solo of the duet had gone to Quinn, so everyone was reunited in the choir room as Quinn and Finn took the lead, singing Don't stop believing. Everything was going great. That was until Quinn suddenly stopped moving, widening her eyes a bit.

"Quinn, you okay?" Mr. Schuester asked, only to have Quinn run out of the room, holding a hand to her mouth.

Looking down slightly as everyone frowned confused, Emily debated whether she should go after Quinn or not. Before she could make her decision, however, Finn spoke up.

"I think she just had a bad breakfast burrito." He said.

"Can we please talk about the giant elephant in the room?" Kurt asked then, rolling his eyes, luckily changing the subject.

"Your sexuality?" Santana raised an eyebrow as Kurt sighing, choosing to ignore the girl.

"Rachel." He said. "We can't do it without her."

"That's not true." Mr. Schuester shook his head as Emily rolled her eyes at the negative attitude in the room. "We may have to layer Santana and Mercedes over Quinn's solo, but... We'll be fine."

"Maybe for the Invitationals, but not for the Sectionals and certainly not the Regionals." Artie said.

"The wheelchair kid's right." Puck said. "That Rachel chick wants me wanna light myself on fire, but she can sing."

"You guys are unbelievable..." Emily scoffed with a roll of her eyes as everyone turned to her, surprised. "You complain all the time about the dwarf getting all the solos and when she's gone you whine about her not having them anymore? Quinn was doing just fine."

"Yeah, until she decided to barf." Brittany snickered.

"She had a bad breakfast." Emily defended her friend, confirming Finn's lie from earlier. "But she'll be back. And if you all weren't such whiny babies we could actually figure out how to work as a team and use the talent we do have in the room. From the people who are actually here."

At that, everyone grew silent, unsure on how to respond. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence after Emily Marshall had decided to drop a truth bomb on all of them, Mr. Schuester spoke up.

"Rachel left, guys. She's gone." He said. "If we want to make this thing work, we can't look back. Alright, take five minutes."

***

The kids were sitting in their chairs while Mr. Schuester stood in front of them with blonde woman around his age standing beside him with a smile in her face as she looked at them.

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to someone very special." Mr. Schuester began, before pointing at the woman beside him. "This is April Rhodes. She's our newest member. April is very enthusiastic."

"Wait, so old people can join Glee Club now?" Finn asked causing April to raise an eyebrow.

"Old, huh?" She scoffed. "You guys look like the world's worst Benetton ad."

After a second of uncomfortable silence then, Artie slowly raised his hand.

"Mr Schuester, this seems like a terrible idea." He said.

"April is a great singer." Mr. Schuester argued. "And she never graduated."

"We appreciate what you're trying to do, but she's no Rachel." Mercedes spoke up, causing Emily to roll her eyes.

"Who's Rachel?" April asked.

"Sh... She's kind of our star." Tina explained.

"Unbelievable..." Emily sat back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest.