A/N: This is my first and ONLY Glee fic. I don't really watch the show, but I watched the Grease episodes, and my creativity was piqued. My amazing friend Auni, who has seen every episode, has agreed to be my content editor for this piece, so hopefully it won't disappoint any diehard Glee fans out there, unless I'm destroying your ship or something. If I do, sorry. This is for poor sweet Finn who had his heart ripped out of his chest. Just sayin'. Klaine fans won't be disappointed.
-C
Blaine dropped his book-bag so sharply to the ground that Marley jumped with surprise and Finn looked at him, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Something you'd like to share, Blaine?" Finn asked.
"What?" Blaine said, looking up with surprise to find the whole choir room watching him expectantly. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just... Well, my cousin is transferring to McKinley."
"Can she sing?" Tina asked.
"Yeah," Blaine said, kicking his heels against the floor and looking up at the clock for a moment.
"Bit of a weird time of year to transfer, isn't it?" Kitty said, wrinkling her nose. "Why is she changing schools? Did she kill somebody?"
"She broke up with her boyfriend," Blaine muttered, looking down at the floor again.
There was a confused, tense silence in the choir room for a moment before Jake said, "She's changing schools for that?"
"She's changing states, actually," Blaine sighed, scratching his jaw awkwardly. "They're coming here from Virginia."
The awkward stiffness returned as glee club members exchanged confused and surprised looks, and Finn saw that this could get off topic fast if he didn't rein it in, so he turned to Blaine and said, "I'm sure we'll be happy to welcome your cousin to McKinley."
"Kelsie," Blaine muttered. "Her name's Kelsie."
Once they were done for the day, Blaine stayed after to help rearrange the room with Finn.
"It was Cooper's idea," Blaine explained with a sigh. "She has this thing... she keeps dating teachers. Aunt Jennifer has sent her to several expensive therapists, but apparently she just sits there and stares at the wall, won't talk to any of them. Cooper thinks putting her in a different setting will fix whatever's wrong."
"Wait, so this boyfriend she broke up with," Finn said slowly.
"Her psychology teacher, ironically," Blaine said with a nod. "My dad says it's my job to watch out for her, but all I can say is it's a good thing Will's in D.C. because he's just her type."
Finn thought that the glee club could be helpful for Kelsie, as it had been for a lot of other people, but he didn't say anything because Blaine was already under a lot of strain between his failing relationship with Kurt and the obvious pressures put on him by his family to sort out his cousin.
"We'll figure it out," Finn said as they were leaving. "Don't worry. We'll figure it out."
Blaine just nodded numbly, thanking Finn absently and walking away in a daze.
/-/
Finn tossed the wrench back into the tool box and wiped off his sweaty hands just as a tow-truck pulled one of the most impressive cars he'd ever seen into the garage.
It was a fully-restored navy blue Plymouth Barracuda, and the girl that hopped out of the passenger's side of the truck was equally impressive. She hand long, brown hair, sort of like Rachel's, but darker, with knee-high black leather boots over yellow jeans and a cropped leather jacket over a royal blue tank top.
"I need a new transmission," she said forcefully, looking him up and down as he realized had done to her.
Finn blinked, looking back up at her strongly-featured and yet attractive face. It was almost like looking at a rougher, younger version of Rachel.
"I'll take a look," he finally managed to say, glancing at the car.
"I need a new transmission," she said demandingly. "It's a '67, and I want the closest to original parts you can get. I'm willing to wait and even pay extra."
Judging from the amount of real leather she was wearing, he didn't think that paying extra was going to be a problem for her, but he wasn't about to take it on her word that it was the transmission. He needed to do his job.
Twenty minutes later, he was ready to declare that it was a transmission problem and that she did, indeed, need a new transmission.
"I'll have to do some searching for a transmission that meets your requirements," Finn said. "Is there a way I can reach you, Ms...?"
"Anderson," she said firmly. "Call me Kelsie."
"Oh!" Finn said, blinking and looking her up and down again. "You're Blaine's cousin?"
"Oh, you know Blaine?" she said, her voice suddenly much softer, her face lighting up. "Yeah, he's my favorite cousin."
"Yeah, he mentioned you," Finn said, thinking that maybe Cooper had the right idea of putting her with Blaine. She obviously looked up to him. "I'm running the glee club he's in this year."
She looked Finn up and down once more and he got the strange feeling like he was being looked at like a chef looks at a fine piece of steak, trying to decide how best to cook it. He would have taken a step back if he hadn't wanted to offend her.
"Sounds fun," she said casually. "So what's the quickest way to walk to his place from here?"
Finn glanced at the clock.
"Tell you what," he said, "I'll give you a ride. My shift's almost over and you shouldn't have to walk there. Let me go make a note of your work order and I'll be right back."
He didn't know why he'd offered to take the girl to Blaine's house, especially after the way she had looked at him, but he made a note of her work order and grabbed his keys anyway, leading her out to his car and shocking himself by getting the door for her.
/-/
Kelsie pulled out her phone and answered a few messages as Finn, as he introduced himself, pulled out of the garage's parking lot and started on the way to Blaine's house.
"So," he said when she put the phone back in her jacket pocket. "Blaine said you're from Virginia."
"Yeah," she said, looking out the window at the houses they were passing. "Alexandria."
"So by Washington, then," he said, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel as they drove. "Our glee club coach is in Washington fighting for arts programs."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you said you were running the glee club."
"I am, while he's gone," Finn said quickly. "He asked me to take care of it."
Kelsie just nodded, running her finger experimentally along the arm rest on the door of the car. When they pulled into a driveway she hopped out quickly, following Finn do the door where he rang the bell.
Blaine opened it, blinking at them for a moment.
"Um, come in," he said finally. "How-?"
"She brought her car by the garage," Finn explained. "She was going to walk so I offered to drive her instead. Quicker."
"Right," Blaine said slowly. "Did you have something to do, Finn, or do you-?"
"I've got some... some stuff to do," Finn said with a shrug. "I should get going. It was... it was nice meeting you, Kelsie."
"Pleasure," she said, watching him turn and go as Blaine led her into the next room. "Sorry, my transmission died or I would have been here sooner."
"It's fine," Blaine sighed. "Cooper's coming over for dinner, wants to see you before you start at McKinley."
"Yeah, he said something about that," Kelsie said awkwardly, sitting down on the couch. "How's... how's your boyfriend?"
Blaine winced, looking down at the carpet.
"Kurt and I broke up," he muttered. "He's... Well, I sort of screwed up and hooked up with someone else and it was stupid but Kurt's not forgiving me for it and he's in New York anyway and..."
He looked up at her with his big brown eyes full of pain.
"You really love him, don't you?" Kelsie said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder delicately.
"He's my soul mate, Kelsie, I'm sure of it," Blaine sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do without him."
Kelsie bit her tongue.
As much as she'd tried to explain to people that Christopher Parker had been her soul mate, nobody listened. Nobody wanted to see him as anything but her teacher. She didn't see the taboo of her relationship with Christopher as anything different from Blaine's relationship with Kurt was, but nobody else saw it that way, even Blaine.
"I guess we'll have to convince him that you're soul mates, then," she said with a smile. "That way you two can go back to being adorable like you were in all those pictures you sent me."
He gave her a sad smile that didn't exactly inspire confidence.
That night at dinner, Kelsie sat down with Blaine's family and picked at the chicken set in front of her by Cooper.
"How are you doing, porcupine?" he said, sitting down beside her.
Kelsie faked a smile.
"Great," she said.
She nearly threw the chicken at him. Cooper hadn't called her porcupine since she was about seven. It wasn't that she didn't like him calling her that, it was more because he was trying to get her to open up just by bringing up fond childhood memories.
The shrinks had tried that, too.
It hadn't work for them, either.
"So Blaine says you met Finn," Cooper pressed. "You should join the glee club, porcupine. You've got a beautiful voice."
Blaine nodded.
"We could use you for the competition," he said. "We lost some really great seniors and they need replacing properly. Some of these new kids just don't have the chops."
Kelsie sighed.
She knew they were going to try to talk her into joining their glee club when she moved to McKinley. Cooper had used it as a selling point when convincing her parents to move her to Ohio in the first place.
"I'll think about it," she said diplomatically. "Blaine, could you pass the potatoes?"
Her uncle was watching her silently as Cooper went on about his latest commercial, obviously wanting to say something to Kelsie but either not wanting to say it in front of his sons or thinking it wouldn't make a difference. She was hoping for the latter.
Unfortunately, as soon as dinner was cleared and Kelsie was gathering her things, her uncle cornered her.
"Kelsie, we need to talk."
"No, we don't," she said breezily, turning toward the door.
"Your boyfriend sent me an email the other day," he growled.
She froze in her tracks, heart pounding.
"Christopher?" she said softly. "He's... he..."
"I don't know how he got my information," her uncle said, "and I don't want to know, but the fact is I told him very plainly that he was not to contact anyone in this family for any reason or I would personally press charges. Do you understand, Kelsie?"
Her nostrils flared slightly as she fought the urge to scream at him for interfering in her life, but she just nodded stiffly, still turned toward the door.
"Good," he said softly. "I told your mother you'd be walking home. They're just down the street. You know the number?"
She nodded again, walking out the door and turning the direction she assumed her new house would be in. As she walked along, she sang to herself.
Only a fool believes it's better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
So I don't wanna take that fall.
It's a long, long, long way down.
I'm hurt, love struck me down again,
Enticed me in and pulled the pin,
Blew my tender heart sky high.
Now in my pain I'm asking why as I'm crying.
Should I give it my last try, or say goodbye?
Love is a killer, a homicidal fiend.
Love is a killer, it'll be the death of me.
I've got a target on my back for a Cupid dressed in black.
Love is a killer. It's killing me.
Love, so sweetly beckoning,
I've seen your face, called your name.
I've tasted tears you've cried.
Lived in shadows in my mind, frozen here inside.
Don't leave me here to die.
Love is a killer, a homicidal fiend.
Love is a killer, it'll be the death of me.
I've got a target on my back for a Cupid dressed in black.
Love is a killer. It's killing me.
You fascinate yet frustrate,
Demand so much of me, yeah.
I've had enough.
It's tearing me up inside.
Cross my heart, hope to survive.
You got a smoking gun.
Well, don't choke me up.
No, oh, woah.
Love is a killer, a homicidal fiend.
Love is a killer, it'll be the death of me.
I've got a target on my back for a Cupid dressed in black.
Love is a killer. It's killing me.
Love is a killer, no - oh,
Love is a killer, no - oh,
No.
Love is a killer, it's killing me.
She sighed, walking the driveway of a cute little house with the right number on it, ringing the doorbell and leaning against the blue-painted wood of the house while she waited for her mother to answer the door.
"Kelsie!" Jennifer Anderson said, greeting her daughter. "Cooper called, said your car broke down."
Kelsie knew that it had been her uncle, not Cooper, who had called, but she knew that her mother wasn't fond of her brother-in-law and preferred to talk about her nephews instead.
"Needs a new transmission," she said with a shrug. "It's in a garage. I can ride with Blaine to school."
"I suppose that's true," her mother said judiciously.
"Is dad home?" she asked. "I need to talk with him about paying for the transmission when the garage gets one in."
"I'll talk to him, dear," Jennifer said. "He didn't know when to expect him back. How was dinner?"
"The chicken was dry!" Kelsie snapped, annoyed that the conversation was continuing. "Third door on the left?"
"Yes!" her mother called after her as she ran up the stairs, finding her room and sitting down on the bed her mother must have made while she was out driving.
Kelsie sighed, unzipping her boots and tossing them toward the closet in the front corner of the room. She pulled off her jacket and then threw it on top of some of the boxes stacked between her bed and the desk in the corner. She was cold then, so she found the heater and turned it up a bit, flinging herself back onto her bed.
She wanted to call Christopher, but she didn't think her uncle was kidding about legal action.
And anyway, Christopher hadn't as much as texted her since she was dragged out of Alexandria in the middle of the night to take her away from him.
They had sat her down and tried to tell her that he was dangerous, that he had left some scary messages on the answering machine, that he had threatened her father...
But Kelsie didn't believe it.
Why would he leave evidence, if he was doing illegal things like that, and if he had really done such things, where was their evidence now? Why wouldn't they play it back for her to hear?
No, they were just looking for an excuse to break up her relationship.
She was a bit tired of it, really, which was why she was holding on so tightly to Christopher. They'd broken up her relationships in the past with lesser reasoning, but she was nearly an adult now and she wasn't going to be told who she could or couldn't be with. It really wasn't fair.
Blaine should understand. He had to understand.
If there was one thing Kelsie had always been sure of, it was that she and Blaine would always understand each other perfectly, no matter what the world though.
But that was before she started keeping secrets, and how could she tell him everything anymore? How could she tell him... that?
Kelsie got up to peel off her clothes, tossing them onto the floor to be dealt with in the morning. She turned off the light and climbed into bed, snuggling the teddy bear Cooper had gotten her for her fourth birthday. She had been sleeping with it ever since, any time she climbed into her own bed.
There was a lot of expectation on her now, between the issues with her love life (if you could really call them issues) and the hopes for her new life in Ohio, and of course, this ridiculous suggestion that she join glee club.
But then, Cooper usually gave great advice, and Blaine seemed to want her to join, too. It would be nice to have something to focus on, something to pour her energy and angst into that wouldn't turn into her actually physically hurting herself or someone else.
And she did sing, although she'd never been a dancer. She'd spent what felt like her whole life in voice lessons, but she'd never had any desire to do anything that involved dancing.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She shot off a quick text to Blaine that she would audition for the glee club the next day, and then she curled up once more, readjusting her covers and holding her teddy bear tightly and drifting off to sleep while trying to decide what to wear in the morning.
/-/
Finn sat down on his bed, flexing his hands against the edge of the bed and looking at the picture of him and Rachel just a few weeks before graduation. She was smiling up at him with that beautiful Rachel Berry smile and he realized he didn't want to look at it anymore.
With determination he put the picture in a drawer and turned away from the empty bedside table, rolling under the covers and turning the lamp off without a second look at the space where the picture used to be.
A/N: Lyrics are from Vixen's Love is a Killer.
