Back Log: Yea or Nay
Who: Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Artie, Tina and Mercedes
When: Thursday, 2nd February
Where: WMHS Spanish Classroom
What: Who Makes The Cut?
Rachel had reorganized the desks in Mr. Schuester’s classroom, grouping three together and creating a larger table to provide maximum visibility and to facilitate discussion. She’d provided everyone with a handout of each of the auditionees with as much information as she could gather: name, gender, height, extra-curricular activities, interests and song selection. The others were gathered around the table and this time, she’d remembered her gavel. Sitting up straight, Rachel tapped the record option on her iPhone and banged the gavel down on the desk twice, gaining the others attention. “I hereby call this meeting to order.” She met a few pairs of eyes briefly before continuing. “In front of each of you is a short dossier on each of those who tried out. I suggest we work through them in order of audition. First up, Sebastian Smythe.”
“He was good.” Finn shrugged, leaning back in his seat some. “A little smirky, but talented.” Though, Finn was honestly a little worried he was going to come for his lead position. Over the last few months, Finn had really gotten into this whole lead thing. He wasn’t excited about the idea of giving it up. And Sebastian stunk of trying to take it away... but Finn couldn’t think of a good reason to say no.
Artie wanted to be lead and Finn was instead because Finn was a lot closer to being the whole package for a leading man so the idea of Sebastian taking Finn’s spot didn’t bother him really. “He was good,” he replied simply. Anyways, Rachel could be arrogant about her talent sometimes and they not only put up with her, but she was their leader. Sebastian being smirky wasn’t a problem for him even if the guy did rub him the wrong way.
“Ya, he was good,” Tina agreed with Artie. She worried a little about possible personality conflicts but talent was talent and they needed members. Unless someone had a good reason for him not being in glee, Sebastian would get her vote.
Mercedes nodded her head in agreement. “He did very well, and I’m sure if he has an attitude issue, it’ll get adjusted really quick when he has the slushie of the week mixing with the smirk on his face.” She was all for getting as much good talent as they could. Maybe with more voices, sharing the lead with others would be more feasible.
Rachel pressed her lips tightly together to stop herself from smiling at Mercedes’ quite accurate comment. She shouldn’t revel in the inevitability Sebastian Smythe would be strutting down the hallway in grape, lime or cherry slushee, but sometimes it was just a little nice knowing you wouldn’t be the only one rushing to a bathroom to quickly change outfits. “His performance was acceptable enough, and I commend him on his stage presence, but I would have liked to have heard more of his range. Otherwise, possible personality clashes aside, he would be a welcome addition,” Rachel said, giving a small nod. She looked over at Kurt, her pen poised above her sheet, ready to place a tick next to Sebastian’s name. “Kurt? Anything you’d like to add before we take the final vote?”
Kurt had been silent for a while. He looked up from his paper as Rachel spoke and shook his head. “No, no I agree that he’s talented... if a little arrogant.” He wasn’t worried that Sebastian would steal his spot. Sebastian wasn’t as talented a soprano as he was, and didn’t have as broad a vocal range.
Finn nodded at everyone’s thoughts. They were much better at this than he was. He would have to pay more attention. “Okay, so, I think it would be alright if we just went with a majority, we don’t all have to agree on everyone completely. So,” He thought it was important they all knew the rules before they voted. That seemed fair. “if that works, let’s go ahead. So, everyone for Sebastian?” Finn raised his hand in agreement of letting him in.
Rachel looked around the room and took note of all the raised hands. Reluctantly, she raised her own. “Okay, Sebastian is in,” Rachel concluded, dropping her hand and moving Sebastian’s sheet to the bottom of the pile. “Next we have Mike Chang. Admittedly, he’s more suited to choreography, as I felt his voice wasn’t as strong as his dance ability, but he was consistently hitting his marks and the energy was certainly there.” Rachel glanced down at her notes on Mike once more, making sure she hadn’t missed anything before looking up at the others, looking for their input.
“He’s a definite keeper.” Mercedes smiled in Tina’s direction. She knew Mike was a good friend of hers, and that made him okay in her book as well. “Having a strong male dancer would help us expand our choreography some too.”
Tina glanced over at Mercedes, returning her smile. Her own vote for Mike was a no-brainer but she hoped everyone would easily agree. “Mike’s brilliant,” she declared, unable to keep the smile from her face. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t really commented about his performance. “I mean, he’s a brilliant dancer. I don’t think anything else really matters.”
“I don’t disagree that Mike would be an asset to our club. With he and Brittany, who no doubt will be voted in as well, at the helm of our choreography, we’ll be the most creative and spectacular glee club out there. We’ll be the ones to beat,” Rachel commented. “But... are we certain that with Mike’s multitude of extra-curricular activities - Brainiacs, Asian Club, Sports - that he’ll find the time to really be dedicated to Glee?” She didn’t necessarily like finding fault with each glee club hopeful, but she needed to be realistic and the others needed to consider that their collective future as a club rest on the shoulders of the new recruits.
Artie shrugged, “I do a lot of extra stuff too, both in and out of school, are you really going to go there?” It was no secret that Artie had to work harder than anyone else to keep up with the choreography. “If he wants to do it, let him join. If he doesn’t like it or can’t keep up, he’ll drop and we’ll rework it. It’s no big deal, but we could use a dancer like him.”
“We need Mike. And anyway, Rach, aren’t you in like, every club in school?” Finn pointed out. “And I’m in sports and Brittany is on Cheerios. We’re all doing other stuff, but we’re committed. If it becomes a problem, we can deal with it. But until then... we don’t want to not let someone in cause they might do something. That seems like, unfair.”
“It’s not going to be a problem. Mike wouldn’t...” Tina stopped, realizing that she didn’t really need to defend Mike. Finn had already said what needed to be said. “It would be unfair to not let someone join because of their extracurriculars. Unless we know that they’re in like the destroy the glee club club or something.”
“I wasn’t - ” Rachel began in protest, before pausing mid-sentence and frowning down at Mike’s sheet in front of her. She took a deep calming breath, trying not to get frustrated with the group, and especially Finn. She was well-aware of everyone’s extra-curricular activities, she was just carrying out her captaincy duties and making it known that some of these new recruits wouldn’t necessarily think Glee Club as important as the Brainiacs and thus, their dedication wouldn’t be up to par with the rest of the group. Other than that, she hoped Mike would be voted in, there was only so much she could teach Finn about dancing and considering Mike was a lot taller and ganglier than herself, he could probably offer Finn some useful tips. “I assume the vote is unanimous?” She asked, glancing around the room, her pen already half way through ticking Mike Chang’s name.
“I’d say so. Who else do we have?” Mercedes asked, part of wondering why they were bothering going through this since it wasn’t like people were signing up left and right to get in the club.
“Santana,” Artie spoke up. “I vote... no,” he said reluctantly. “It’s personal. But she hates me with a flaming, fiery Hispanic passion and that’s not something to fool around with. And I’d rather not die.” Yeah, took the selfish, chickenshit road out.
Eyebrows almost disappearing into her hairline, Rachel looked up in surprise. That had been entirely unexpected. She struggled incredibly hard not to badger Artie for more information. “I see...” was all Rachel could respond with. She quickly made a note of Artie’s objection, making sure not to make it obvious the objection had come from him, lest her private notes be found. She looked around at the others. “Any other objections or votes?”
“I’m going to vote no, too.” Tina decided easily, taking her cue from Artie. “I’m not sure she’s...the right fit. She didn’t even really look like she wanted to audition.”
Mercedes looked at Artie and then looked at Tina. Something was definitely up. “I admit her audition did not knock me over vocally, but I think she wasn’t really putting in much effort either, if that makes sense? If she’s coming in with her phaser already set to kill Artie, then that is not going to be a good idea at all.” Fuck, did she just use Star Trek terms out loud? “But yeah, I’m going to vote with Artie and Tina on this one.”
Huh. Finn was a little confused on all the nos. Was she really that mean to Artie? Though, it kinda made sense. Santana was a bitch. “Well, I guess she was good. But I don’t want to vote her in just cause.” He turned to Rachel, rubbing the back of his neck some. “What do you think, Rach?”
Pursing her lips together, Rachel took a few seconds to tap the end of her pen against the table top and stare down at Santana’s dossier, complete with the Latina’s smirking face peering up at her. “I’m going to agree with Mercedes,” she began slowly. “I wasn’t bowled over by her performance, and in fact, I felt that her dedication wasn’t what I would expect from someone hoping to join.” She sighed as she lifted her head and looked around the table. “There wasn’t any theatricality or some kind of attempt to show her vocal range. I can only assume it had to do with Brittany somehow, but we need her to be dedicated.” The table was silent as Rachel hummed softly to herself, contemplating her decision. “I understand Artie, and by extension Tina, have a personal issue with her joining. I am willing to take that into consideration, but I’m still concerned about our numbers. Vocally, I think she could be an asset, and you all should realize how hard that is for me to admit. I think she should be required to re-audition.”
As much as Artie wanted to say that no, it was either him or Santana, he wasn’t going to go that far. Firstly, he would most likely lose in that sort of situation. His voice was good, but he wasn’t really their lead, that was Finn even if he did help to vocally boost the other guy. He had absolutely no reason to think that anyone would go to bat for him in that sort of situation. Tina and Mercedes might for a moment, true, but he doubted they would ultimately stop him or oppose Santana that strongly. Secondly, he wasn’t that petty or demanding of a person. Keeping his mouth shut, he shrugged, noncommittal. Maybe Santana would do horribly on her second audition?
“Uhmm, okay.” Mercedes shrugged. “I don’t have anything against the girl, I don’t know her personally. I do know this though, if she manages to get in the club, and she starts some mess with Artie, then I’m not going to be cool with that. We aren’t all going to be the best of friends, but I respect each and every one of you as people and for the talents you have. None of us should stand for someone coming in and ripping our group members apart. We have to deal with crap outside of glee as it is, we shouldn’t have to deal with it inside our safety net.” She didn’t mean to come off preachy, but it was something she had a real concern with as the group grew.
“I don’t like her, but I think we should consider that we need the talent.” Kurt looked around at the other people. “We should face it... glee club’s performances are pathetic as it is.” He rested his left elbow on his right hand, stroking a silk ribbon that hung down from the hat he was wearing today. He looked out into thin air distantly. He wasn´t really in the mood for this. Hence the silence.
“So, we should have her re-audition?” Finn said slowly, looking at Rachel. Chewing his bottom lip, he thought that over. Well, that seemed kinda fair. “Can we let her know, like, we won’t accept any kind of bullying in glee? And if she makes Artie feel uncomfortable, like, that’s not cool.” He didn’t want to say she would be kicked out, cause they needed her. But he also didn’t want Artie to quit.
Nodding slowly, Rachel shifted in her seat. “I’m willing to approach her about the audition on my own, and I do agree that she needs to tone down the insults and general personality traits she possess,” she paused and took a deep breath, “I’ll discuss it with Mr. Schuester, though and see what he suggests.”
Tina wanted to protest but she knew everyone else was right, they really did need the numbers. “If you want to take that bullet Rachel and talk to her, I think we’d all be grateful.” She crossed her arms. “But if Santana gets in and she messes with Artie in any way, shit’s gonna hit the fan. This is our club. In here, it’s not supposed to be like it is out there for us.” She pointed in the general direction of the door, indicating the hallway.
“Alright,” Artie agreed, though grudgingly. “Reaudition. And have Mr. Schue talk to her or whatever too,” not that he thought that would do much good. Santana didn’t really respect adults sometimes. He wasn’t happy about this, but it was a very reasonable compromise. If it got really bad, well...he could always quit, as much as he didn’t want to.
“Fine by me.. “ Kurt looked towards the others. “Though I’d be surprised if she had gotten worse, or suddenly become all goody-two-shoes.” It might be a good idea to somehow make sure that she wasn´t gonna hurt anyone, but the latina temperament he had experienced from her didn’t seem promising. Apart from that, she didn’t seem to really respect anyone but herself and the cheerio honor. If Mr. Schue, of all people, could get her to calm down and turn into a nice girl, he’d be surprised.
Rachel looked toward Tina, addressing her comments first. “As Captain, it’s only right that I be the one to tell her, and the re-audition is my idea.” She nodded her head slightly and offered Tina a small smile. A small part of her understood Tina’s concerns, even if she wasn’t entirely aware of any history between Santana and Artie, but it irked her a little. It was unsettling to hear Tina talk about the club as if it were a safe haven for them, when perhaps it was that for the majority, but it didn’t necessarily feel like that for Rachel as often as she’d like. She chased those thoughts away and set her shoulders back. “Honestly, with me in the club, I hardly think she’s going to over-look such an easy target to get to Artie, but all your concerns are duly noted and I will mark her behavior down as a major concern.” When everyone seemed mollified by her reassurances, Rachel moved the meeting along.
When: Thursday, 2nd February
Where: WMHS Spanish Classroom
What: Who Makes The Cut?
Rachel had reorganized the desks in Mr. Schuester’s classroom, grouping three together and creating a larger table to provide maximum visibility and to facilitate discussion. She’d provided everyone with a handout of each of the auditionees with as much information as she could gather: name, gender, height, extra-curricular activities, interests and song selection. The others were gathered around the table and this time, she’d remembered her gavel. Sitting up straight, Rachel tapped the record option on her iPhone and banged the gavel down on the desk twice, gaining the others attention. “I hereby call this meeting to order.” She met a few pairs of eyes briefly before continuing. “In front of each of you is a short dossier on each of those who tried out. I suggest we work through them in order of audition. First up, Sebastian Smythe.”
“He was good.” Finn shrugged, leaning back in his seat some. “A little smirky, but talented.” Though, Finn was honestly a little worried he was going to come for his lead position. Over the last few months, Finn had really gotten into this whole lead thing. He wasn’t excited about the idea of giving it up. And Sebastian stunk of trying to take it away... but Finn couldn’t think of a good reason to say no.
Artie wanted to be lead and Finn was instead because Finn was a lot closer to being the whole package for a leading man so the idea of Sebastian taking Finn’s spot didn’t bother him really. “He was good,” he replied simply. Anyways, Rachel could be arrogant about her talent sometimes and they not only put up with her, but she was their leader. Sebastian being smirky wasn’t a problem for him even if the guy did rub him the wrong way.
“Ya, he was good,” Tina agreed with Artie. She worried a little about possible personality conflicts but talent was talent and they needed members. Unless someone had a good reason for him not being in glee, Sebastian would get her vote.
Mercedes nodded her head in agreement. “He did very well, and I’m sure if he has an attitude issue, it’ll get adjusted really quick when he has the slushie of the week mixing with the smirk on his face.” She was all for getting as much good talent as they could. Maybe with more voices, sharing the lead with others would be more feasible.
Rachel pressed her lips tightly together to stop herself from smiling at Mercedes’ quite accurate comment. She shouldn’t revel in the inevitability Sebastian Smythe would be strutting down the hallway in grape, lime or cherry slushee, but sometimes it was just a little nice knowing you wouldn’t be the only one rushing to a bathroom to quickly change outfits. “His performance was acceptable enough, and I commend him on his stage presence, but I would have liked to have heard more of his range. Otherwise, possible personality clashes aside, he would be a welcome addition,” Rachel said, giving a small nod. She looked over at Kurt, her pen poised above her sheet, ready to place a tick next to Sebastian’s name. “Kurt? Anything you’d like to add before we take the final vote?”
Kurt had been silent for a while. He looked up from his paper as Rachel spoke and shook his head. “No, no I agree that he’s talented... if a little arrogant.” He wasn’t worried that Sebastian would steal his spot. Sebastian wasn’t as talented a soprano as he was, and didn’t have as broad a vocal range.
Finn nodded at everyone’s thoughts. They were much better at this than he was. He would have to pay more attention. “Okay, so, I think it would be alright if we just went with a majority, we don’t all have to agree on everyone completely. So,” He thought it was important they all knew the rules before they voted. That seemed fair. “if that works, let’s go ahead. So, everyone for Sebastian?” Finn raised his hand in agreement of letting him in.
Rachel looked around the room and took note of all the raised hands. Reluctantly, she raised her own. “Okay, Sebastian is in,” Rachel concluded, dropping her hand and moving Sebastian’s sheet to the bottom of the pile. “Next we have Mike Chang. Admittedly, he’s more suited to choreography, as I felt his voice wasn’t as strong as his dance ability, but he was consistently hitting his marks and the energy was certainly there.” Rachel glanced down at her notes on Mike once more, making sure she hadn’t missed anything before looking up at the others, looking for their input.
“He’s a definite keeper.” Mercedes smiled in Tina’s direction. She knew Mike was a good friend of hers, and that made him okay in her book as well. “Having a strong male dancer would help us expand our choreography some too.”
Tina glanced over at Mercedes, returning her smile. Her own vote for Mike was a no-brainer but she hoped everyone would easily agree. “Mike’s brilliant,” she declared, unable to keep the smile from her face. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t really commented about his performance. “I mean, he’s a brilliant dancer. I don’t think anything else really matters.”
“I don’t disagree that Mike would be an asset to our club. With he and Brittany, who no doubt will be voted in as well, at the helm of our choreography, we’ll be the most creative and spectacular glee club out there. We’ll be the ones to beat,” Rachel commented. “But... are we certain that with Mike’s multitude of extra-curricular activities - Brainiacs, Asian Club, Sports - that he’ll find the time to really be dedicated to Glee?” She didn’t necessarily like finding fault with each glee club hopeful, but she needed to be realistic and the others needed to consider that their collective future as a club rest on the shoulders of the new recruits.
Artie shrugged, “I do a lot of extra stuff too, both in and out of school, are you really going to go there?” It was no secret that Artie had to work harder than anyone else to keep up with the choreography. “If he wants to do it, let him join. If he doesn’t like it or can’t keep up, he’ll drop and we’ll rework it. It’s no big deal, but we could use a dancer like him.”
“We need Mike. And anyway, Rach, aren’t you in like, every club in school?” Finn pointed out. “And I’m in sports and Brittany is on Cheerios. We’re all doing other stuff, but we’re committed. If it becomes a problem, we can deal with it. But until then... we don’t want to not let someone in cause they might do something. That seems like, unfair.”
“It’s not going to be a problem. Mike wouldn’t...” Tina stopped, realizing that she didn’t really need to defend Mike. Finn had already said what needed to be said. “It would be unfair to not let someone join because of their extracurriculars. Unless we know that they’re in like the destroy the glee club club or something.”
“I wasn’t - ” Rachel began in protest, before pausing mid-sentence and frowning down at Mike’s sheet in front of her. She took a deep calming breath, trying not to get frustrated with the group, and especially Finn. She was well-aware of everyone’s extra-curricular activities, she was just carrying out her captaincy duties and making it known that some of these new recruits wouldn’t necessarily think Glee Club as important as the Brainiacs and thus, their dedication wouldn’t be up to par with the rest of the group. Other than that, she hoped Mike would be voted in, there was only so much she could teach Finn about dancing and considering Mike was a lot taller and ganglier than herself, he could probably offer Finn some useful tips. “I assume the vote is unanimous?” She asked, glancing around the room, her pen already half way through ticking Mike Chang’s name.
“I’d say so. Who else do we have?” Mercedes asked, part of wondering why they were bothering going through this since it wasn’t like people were signing up left and right to get in the club.
“Santana,” Artie spoke up. “I vote... no,” he said reluctantly. “It’s personal. But she hates me with a flaming, fiery Hispanic passion and that’s not something to fool around with. And I’d rather not die.” Yeah, took the selfish, chickenshit road out.
Eyebrows almost disappearing into her hairline, Rachel looked up in surprise. That had been entirely unexpected. She struggled incredibly hard not to badger Artie for more information. “I see...” was all Rachel could respond with. She quickly made a note of Artie’s objection, making sure not to make it obvious the objection had come from him, lest her private notes be found. She looked around at the others. “Any other objections or votes?”
“I’m going to vote no, too.” Tina decided easily, taking her cue from Artie. “I’m not sure she’s...the right fit. She didn’t even really look like she wanted to audition.”
Mercedes looked at Artie and then looked at Tina. Something was definitely up. “I admit her audition did not knock me over vocally, but I think she wasn’t really putting in much effort either, if that makes sense? If she’s coming in with her phaser already set to kill Artie, then that is not going to be a good idea at all.” Fuck, did she just use Star Trek terms out loud? “But yeah, I’m going to vote with Artie and Tina on this one.”
Huh. Finn was a little confused on all the nos. Was she really that mean to Artie? Though, it kinda made sense. Santana was a bitch. “Well, I guess she was good. But I don’t want to vote her in just cause.” He turned to Rachel, rubbing the back of his neck some. “What do you think, Rach?”
Pursing her lips together, Rachel took a few seconds to tap the end of her pen against the table top and stare down at Santana’s dossier, complete with the Latina’s smirking face peering up at her. “I’m going to agree with Mercedes,” she began slowly. “I wasn’t bowled over by her performance, and in fact, I felt that her dedication wasn’t what I would expect from someone hoping to join.” She sighed as she lifted her head and looked around the table. “There wasn’t any theatricality or some kind of attempt to show her vocal range. I can only assume it had to do with Brittany somehow, but we need her to be dedicated.” The table was silent as Rachel hummed softly to herself, contemplating her decision. “I understand Artie, and by extension Tina, have a personal issue with her joining. I am willing to take that into consideration, but I’m still concerned about our numbers. Vocally, I think she could be an asset, and you all should realize how hard that is for me to admit. I think she should be required to re-audition.”
As much as Artie wanted to say that no, it was either him or Santana, he wasn’t going to go that far. Firstly, he would most likely lose in that sort of situation. His voice was good, but he wasn’t really their lead, that was Finn even if he did help to vocally boost the other guy. He had absolutely no reason to think that anyone would go to bat for him in that sort of situation. Tina and Mercedes might for a moment, true, but he doubted they would ultimately stop him or oppose Santana that strongly. Secondly, he wasn’t that petty or demanding of a person. Keeping his mouth shut, he shrugged, noncommittal. Maybe Santana would do horribly on her second audition?
“Uhmm, okay.” Mercedes shrugged. “I don’t have anything against the girl, I don’t know her personally. I do know this though, if she manages to get in the club, and she starts some mess with Artie, then I’m not going to be cool with that. We aren’t all going to be the best of friends, but I respect each and every one of you as people and for the talents you have. None of us should stand for someone coming in and ripping our group members apart. We have to deal with crap outside of glee as it is, we shouldn’t have to deal with it inside our safety net.” She didn’t mean to come off preachy, but it was something she had a real concern with as the group grew.
“I don’t like her, but I think we should consider that we need the talent.” Kurt looked around at the other people. “We should face it... glee club’s performances are pathetic as it is.” He rested his left elbow on his right hand, stroking a silk ribbon that hung down from the hat he was wearing today. He looked out into thin air distantly. He wasn´t really in the mood for this. Hence the silence.
“So, we should have her re-audition?” Finn said slowly, looking at Rachel. Chewing his bottom lip, he thought that over. Well, that seemed kinda fair. “Can we let her know, like, we won’t accept any kind of bullying in glee? And if she makes Artie feel uncomfortable, like, that’s not cool.” He didn’t want to say she would be kicked out, cause they needed her. But he also didn’t want Artie to quit.
Nodding slowly, Rachel shifted in her seat. “I’m willing to approach her about the audition on my own, and I do agree that she needs to tone down the insults and general personality traits she possess,” she paused and took a deep breath, “I’ll discuss it with Mr. Schuester, though and see what he suggests.”
Tina wanted to protest but she knew everyone else was right, they really did need the numbers. “If you want to take that bullet Rachel and talk to her, I think we’d all be grateful.” She crossed her arms. “But if Santana gets in and she messes with Artie in any way, shit’s gonna hit the fan. This is our club. In here, it’s not supposed to be like it is out there for us.” She pointed in the general direction of the door, indicating the hallway.
“Alright,” Artie agreed, though grudgingly. “Reaudition. And have Mr. Schue talk to her or whatever too,” not that he thought that would do much good. Santana didn’t really respect adults sometimes. He wasn’t happy about this, but it was a very reasonable compromise. If it got really bad, well...he could always quit, as much as he didn’t want to.
“Fine by me.. “ Kurt looked towards the others. “Though I’d be surprised if she had gotten worse, or suddenly become all goody-two-shoes.” It might be a good idea to somehow make sure that she wasn´t gonna hurt anyone, but the latina temperament he had experienced from her didn’t seem promising. Apart from that, she didn’t seem to really respect anyone but herself and the cheerio honor. If Mr. Schue, of all people, could get her to calm down and turn into a nice girl, he’d be surprised.
Rachel looked toward Tina, addressing her comments first. “As Captain, it’s only right that I be the one to tell her, and the re-audition is my idea.” She nodded her head slightly and offered Tina a small smile. A small part of her understood Tina’s concerns, even if she wasn’t entirely aware of any history between Santana and Artie, but it irked her a little. It was unsettling to hear Tina talk about the club as if it were a safe haven for them, when perhaps it was that for the majority, but it didn’t necessarily feel like that for Rachel as often as she’d like. She chased those thoughts away and set her shoulders back. “Honestly, with me in the club, I hardly think she’s going to over-look such an easy target to get to Artie, but all your concerns are duly noted and I will mark her behavior down as a major concern.” When everyone seemed mollified by her reassurances, Rachel moved the meeting along.