Will and Rachel stared at each other, unflinching. The rest of Glee watched on, somewhat interested in the goings on.
"Well?" Rachel said.
"Well, what, Rachel?" Will asked. "My decision stands. Tina gets the lead."
Rachel's lips tightened. "Then I'm gone." She gathered her bookbag and sweater and headed towards the door.
Will sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Guys, do a few run throughs. I'll be back."
He followed Rachel and caught her in the hallway. "My office. Now."
"Mr. Shue, it's not fair," Rachel protested.
"I said, now," Will snapped and Rachel blinked.
"All right," she said, surprised, and followed him.
Will closed the office door behind them. "We've been here before, Rachel."
"I know, Mr. Shue," Rachel said. "It's because you keep giving my parts away!"
"They are not your parts, Rachel," Will said. "This is the glee club. Not Rachel's club, not Rachel's band. You are a group. I thought you had accepted that."
"I have," Rachel protested. "I know it is. But I am the star of-"
"There is no star, Rachel!" Will said. "It's is a group. Twelve very talented high school students who all deserve a chance to shine."
"Yes, I know, but I can do that song better than Tina can," Rachel said.
"You are an excellent singer, but so is Tina," Will said firmly. "And she will only get better by taking lead more often."
"You see, she needs to get better," Rachel said triumphantly.
"Yeah, she does," Will said. "And so do you. You are sixteen. You have years of training and experiences to go through and you will never stop learning."
"Oh, that is just," Rachel sputtered. "Stop lying, Mr. Shue. You're still just trying to punish me by giving the good songs to the others. You don't like me. You're jealous of me."
"Oh, Rachel," Will sighed. "I am not trying to punish you. I do like you. I am not jealous of you. And I'm sick and tired of you quitting the club every time something doesn't go your way. That's life, Rachel. You don't get everything and you need to learn how to deal with that without resorting to spoiled brat behavior!"
"I am not acting spoiled," Rachel shouted. "I am very emotionally mature for my age!"
"No, you're not," Will said, sounding incredulous. "You're acting like a five year old who's about to stomp her foot and pout. Can't have it your way? You're taking your toys and going home. Well, you know what, maybe that's a good idea. Maybe Glee isn't the place for you. You've left so many times, you're clearly not happy here. Fine. You're out."
"What?" Rachel asked, shocked.
"You heard me. You've quit Glee for the last time," Will said, spreading his arms. "I'm out of ideas, Rachel. We'll find a replacement for you and the group will be stable. It'll be best for all of us."
"Not me!" Rachel said. "Glee is my chance to shine!"
"I guess it's not," Will said.
Rachel glared at him. "You're just punishing me again! You take my songs, you take my spot. Why won't you let me be a star?"
"Rachel, stop that. It is not a punishment. This," he whirled her around and landed a sharp smack on her bottom, "is a punishment."
Rachel gasped and her hands flew to her backside. "You wouldn't dare. My dads-"
"Your dads love you very much, but were quite disappointed to hear that you still haven't learned the difference between Glee and a solo role," Will said. "That was important to Leroy, especially, right?"
Rachel slowly nodded.
"I didn't even call them the last time this happened. I knew how they expected it to be handled, but I was determined to treat you like a mature young woman, able to make her own decisions. Clearly, I was wrong," Will said. "You're not mature and you're not capable of making your own decisions. So I've made it for you - no more Glee."
"No, please, Mr. Shue," Rachel said. "Maybe I was a little hasty."
"This cannot continue, Rachel," he said. "It's not fair to me or to the group, never knowing when we'll have our full group ready to perform."
Rachel's eyes filled with tears. "No."
"No what?" Will asked. "No, it's not unfair?"
"No, it is, I guess," Rachel said. "I just want to be good."
"You are good," Will said. "You just want to be the only good one, and that's not the way a team works." He sighed. "I'll see you in Spanish tomorrow."
"No, wait, please," Rachel said, teary. "I-I don't want to leave Glee. I'm sick at the idea of leaving Glee. Please don't make me."
"I'm not making you," Will said. "I am agreeing with your final decision and supporting it."
"Isn't there any..." she trailed off. "Please let me stay with the group."
"I would love to, Rachel, but I can't trust you to stay with it," Will said. "I need to be able to trust everyone in the group to be responsible."
"Please," Rachel repeated. "I got mad and I didn't mean it. Can we work something out?"
"Rachel," Will began.
"Oh, please, Mr. Shue," Rachel said, pleadingly. "I promise, I'll be good. I want to sing with Glee. I'll be a team player, really, I will. If I'm not," she took a deep breath, "you can spank me like my dad said."
"Rachel, I really don't want to put either of us in that position," Will said, hesitating.
"It's okay, you won't have to, because I'm going to be a team player," Rachel said, brightening as she saw him weaken. "It's supposed to be a deterrent, right? It worked for my ballet teacher and I was much more stubborn then."
Will stared at her. "I-okay, fine. But we are agreed, this is it. You are going to start considering the consequences of your actions, right? You're going to listen to me and be a team player."
"Right!" Rachel said, beaming, and bounced out of the room.
Will scrubbed his hand through his hair and sighed. Nothing he had said or done this year had made an impact, so maybe this threat really was what she needed. Here was hoping, anyway.
***
By the time he got back to the choir room, Rachel had already started trying to convince the group that Tina's lead was her idea. He just raised an eyebrow at her and she scuttled into place, smiling angelically.
Of course, it couldn't last. Why had he even thought it would?
It was two weeks later, at the end of the rehearsal. This time, at least, it wasn't about singing parts, but choreography.
"But Mr. Shue," Rachel protested. "I'm a classically trained dancer. Why would I be in the middle of the pack, where people can't see me dance? If I start over here," she moved to the back and far left, pushing Mike to the side, "that would balance so much better. Because Brittany is anchoring the other side and we're both very good dancers."
"Mike is also a very good dancer, so please, again, give him his spot back," Will said, tired.
"But that's not right, Mr. Shue," she protested. "I should be over here!" She looked at him, arms crossed.
"No, you should be back in your spot," Will said. "By the count of three. One." He met her eyes.
"Mr. Shue," she said, wheedling. "Just think about it."
"Two." He raised his eyebrow.
"Come on," she exclaimed. "You know I'm right. This is what's best for the team."
"Three." He walked over to her and gently pushed her back to her spot. "These are the final placements, guys. We'll pick back up from here next time." He kept his hand on Rachel's arm. "Rachel, stay a few minutes, please."
Rachel stood there as the rest of the group gathered their things and filed out. Kurt, the last one, looked back with a smirk on his face. She glowered at him as he shut the door behind him.
"Rachel." Will sat on the piano bench and gestured for her to take the chair next to it. "Didn't we have a discussion about this not so long ago?"
"I was totally being a team player, " she protested. "My suggestion was for the good of the group. That is team work."
"Do you think that I don't have the team in mind?" he asked.
"No, of course you do," Rachel said. "But sometimes you make mistakes. It happens to everyone."
"You expressed your opinion, and I listened," Will said. "I listen to all of you, even if I don't agree. But you didn't stop there. You disparaged another team mate."
"I complimented Brittany!" Rachel protested.
"And Mike?" Will raised his eyebrow. "You implied that he was not a good dancer and literally shoved him out of your way. And then when I asked you to move back to your spot, you refused. Do you see the problems here?"
"But-" Rachel began.
"Yes or no, Rachel?"
Rachel studied her hands.
"Yeah," Will sighed. "Rachel, I am in charge here, not you. I make the decisions. I know you don't agree with them all, but I need you and every person on this team to respect my choices. You once again decided that you knew best and that what was best for you was the best for everyone. Neither of those things is true. You were going to consider the consequences of your actions, right? What do you think the consequences of rudeness and insubordination are?"
"I really thought it would be better," Rachel said quietly.
"I know," Will said, touching her hand. "But do you understand how you actually hurt the team by belittling Mike, disregarding my authority and forcing us to end early because you wouldn't accept that your way is not always the right way?"
Rachel nodded. "I'm sorry, Mr. Shue. I didn't...you're right. I got so caught up that I didn't consider all of that."
"So you know what we're doing next, right?" Will said.
Rachel took a deep breath. "I do. And I'm sorry. I know you said you didn't want to do this and I promised."
"I don't," Will admitted. "I never thought I'd ever have to do this. But we both gave our words and I am not going to back down from mine."
Rachel nodded again and Will reached over to guide her down over his lap.
Rachel wound one hand around his ankle and braced herself on the floor with the other. Will laid a hand on her back. "We're doing this now, Rachel, but I fully expect that you will never put either of us here again. Understood?"
"Yes, sir, " Rachel said, hoarsely.
Will lifted his hand and brought it down on her backside with a snap. He breathed a sigh of relief to have gotten over the hurdle of starting the punishment - he'd never spanked anyone before, although he was no stranger to the practice. He had to hope that it wasn't going to be hard to figure out.
He started to spank in earnest, a heavy smacks alternating each side of her bottom.
"Ah," Rachel cried, starting to wiggling around and he wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her steady. "Ow, Mr. Shue!" She groaned, "that hu-URTS!"
Will kept up the even spanks as she started wiggling in earnest and kicking her feet. "Rachel, this has been a problem all year with you and I will not tolerate it any longer. Do you understand?" he asked, firmly.
"Yes," she cried out, as a particularly stingy slap followed his question. "Yes, yes, I am so sorry!"
Her kicks started to make the hem of her short skirt flutter madly and get caught in his hand. He grabbed the plaid fabric and held it back with the hand around her waist. He landed a loud smack on the seat of her underwear and Rachel jumped. "Oh!"
The skin around her panties was pinkening up and he didn't want to take it much further. He increased the speed of his spanks, the *thwack thwack thwack * nearly echoing around the empty room.
"Sorry for what, Rachel?" he asked, continuing to cover her bottom.
"I'm sorry for, ow!, being rude and, ah!, taking over," Rachel cried.
"And?" Will asked, sternly, not letting up.
"For disobeying you!" Rachel wailed. "Ah, ah, ow! I'll try harder. I won't do it again!"
"Good girl," Will said and finished off with a few last, hard smacks. He rubbed Rachel's back as she cried. "It's all right, Rachel. We're done."
Rachel lay there a moment longer before sliding off his lap and throwing herself into his arms, much to his surprise. "I am so sorry, Mr. Shue. I really am," she hiccupped.
"I know you are, honey," he said, hugging her. "You're a smart, talented girl. You're going to learn so much about working and getting along with people here at Glee if you just let me teach you. I won't let you down."
"I won't let you down, either," Rachel said, still sniffling. "I really won't. I'm going to try so hard."
"Good," Will said, giving her one last squeeze before she stood up and started rubbing at the fire in her bottom. "Let's hope we don't have to repeat this, huh?" He grinned at her and she smiled shakily back. "Now get your stuff together. We'll start over again tomorrow, fresh slate."
"Okay," she said, carefully walking over to her things. "And Mr. Shue?"
"Yeah?" he asked, digging for his car keys.
"Thanks." She smiled at him again and headed out the door.
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