Emma hurried through the swing doors, watching the other students carefully and keeping well out of their paths. She was not one to enjoy the rough and tumble of a busy school hallway, she much preferred to arrive early and get to her first class before the school was crowded but this was her first day and she had gone to the wrong end of the building only to find that she had to make her way right across the school with all the other students pouring their way in to the corridors. She looked down briefly to check her schedule when she was hit by the cold icy force of a slushie in the face.
Her eyes widened as she looked at the laughing bunch of jocks and cheerleaders enjoying her discomfort and humiliation. Emma never liked to be the centre of attention even when she was being praised in class so being the victim of such a prank was almost the worst thing she could imagine happening on her first day at a new school. Well apart from the dream she'd been having the last week about walking into the classroom dressed in nothing but her mary janes but this came a close second.
Standing there soaked and with the freezing icy crystals running down the front of her cardigan, Emma could feel her chin begin to wobble and her lower lip tremble. She knew that if she didn't get away quickly she would only increase her humiliation further by crying in front of these strangers. But as she looked around she couldn't see any sign of a bathroom or changing room, even a supply closet that could provide some refuge for her to gather herself and get cleaned up and just as her panic reached almost uncontrollable levels a curly haired boy, who was the only one of the group not laughing stepped forward. "Let me help you get cleaned up", he offered.
"Will don't help her!", said one of the cheerleaders plaintively, a pretty girl with long golden hair and longer legs displayed to their advantage in her cheerleaders uniform.
"Terri it's the right thing", the boy said rather defensively and shrugged as she glared back at him.
Will put his hand out and asked "Can I take your things for you? And I'll show you where you can wash up. You're new here right?"
So Emma handed her folders and books to Will, although she didn't normally like anyone else to touch them but he seemed kind and they were already covered in sticky melted slushie so they would need a thorough cleaning anyway. And they walked together away from the sniggering crowd with Emma feeling the greatest of relief and the beginnings of real gratitude to her rescuer.
"Yes, I, um, just moved here", said Emma.
"Well I can tell that you're not from Ohio now", said Will with a grin. "Where's that accent from? Virginia maybe?"
"Oh, um, how did you guess? I mean yes we used to live in Virginia, in a little town called Grundy, it's in the mountains ... well in fact I was born there ... so I mean I've always lived there ... up until now that is ... when we moved here to Lima", Emma trailed off.
Why oh why did she always have to do that? Emma thought to herself. Talk and talk in an endless stream of words whenever she got nervous ... and especially when she talked to cute boys ... and this boy was cute that was for sure. In fact Emma had never met a boy who had such a charming combination of curly hair and a dimpled chin not to mention kind laughing eyes. Was he laughing at her now? Had she said any of that out loud? About his cute dimples maybe? Oh dear the strangest things came out of Emma's mouth whenever she got anxious and half the time she wasn't even sure if she'd said them out loud or just thought them.
But he didn't laugh at her he just look at her with genuine concern and said "Those slushie facials are the worst! I should know I used to get them daily back before I started dating Terri and hanging around with that crowd ... I don't know why they do it or how it started. I guess it's just always been a tradition at McKinley. And you kind of stood out there with your red hair and your whole look ... which is different ...a-a-and nice" he corrected. "I mean I really like it ... how you dress in your own style and all", he said clearly stumbling over his words. "It's just not everyone here likes differences that's all."
And he stopped. Emma wasn't sure what to say back but he pointed towards the door.
Emma turned to look at the girl's bathroom and then down at her shoes which were covered in purple grape slushie. She must have looked utterly defeated by the prospect of getting cleaned up because Will made the most unlikely suggestion, motioning with his hand for her to go on in and then he followed her. Emma didn't quite know what to think - she certainly had not envisaged her first day at this new school starting with time spent in the girl's bathroom in the company of a boy she'd never met before. Or any boy for that matter.
Will put her things down on a shelf in a neat pile, still Emma tried not to think about the germs that must be on it and the last time it would have been disinfected. But try as she might to push those thoughts out of her head, she couldn't fight them and as she watched Will purposefully collect paper towels and damp them down to hand to her, she could feel the tears collecting in her eyes. When he reached out to put the wad of towels in her hand she felt the first tear run down her face and she thought for a moment that he would turn around and leave as fast as he could but he surprised her by pulling up a chair and gently taking her by the shoulders and lowering her down. Emma felt for a moment nearly as terrified as when she'd stood in front of those laughing teenagers even if it was for a whole different reason. But as the boy turned on the tap and gently laid her head back under the running water, she reasoned to herself that the feeling of his hands in her hair couldn't be worse than the ice cold liquid sliding down her face. Never the less, she had to work hard to control her breathing because these sensations were like nothing she had experienced before and she wasn't sure if she wished it would be over quickly or go on forever so that she could stay there in this moment with this boy she didn't know yet but with each passing second had the growing certainty she wanted to know better.
And just when she thought she was sure she didn't want him to ever stop he grinned at her and said "There. All done. You now have 100% slushie free hair. And" he said as he gently dabbed at her face "a fairly slushie free face. Although I'm not sure what we can do about the rest of you" he said glancing down at her purple stained cardigan that had started out the day in a pristine white ruffled state.
"I guess I could see what's around in the locker room ... or maybe I have a clean shirt in my gym bag."
Emma blushed at the thought of wearing his clothes - simultaneously embarrassed and horrified by the thought of wearing clothes of uncertain cleanliness.
"Um, it's okay ... I actually ... well I always ... I have a change of clothes in my bag", said Emma in a nervous rush aware that this was not the norm for every high school student. "I just like to have something clean in case I get into any messes during the day like spilling a drink at lunch ... or... or getting ink on my sleeve", Emma explained feeling increasingly flustered again. She expected him to react to her strangeness but he seemed to accept her explanation as though it were nothing out of the ordinary.
He just gave her that same big smile and said "Well okay then it sounds like you're pretty well prepared for this sort of occurrence. I shall just leave you to it. I don't want to be late for class. But if I can give you a word of advice - use the other entrance. Those guys only ever hang out at this one because it's near their lockers but if you walk the long way they won't bother you. It's that or wear a rain poncho to school!" And with that he gave her a wave and a wink - or at least Emma thought he winked at her - and he left with her still standing there nodding.
Emma went through her bag carefully retrieving the disinfecting wipes and the carefully folded and wrapped cardigan and skirt from her bag. It was times like these Emma was glad to be so well prepared. She cleaned her face and her shoes as well as she could manage and after giving her hands a thorough wash with antibacterial soap she put on her clean fresh clothes. Smoothing down her skirt to make sure there were no creases she wondered if she would see him again. She shook her head as if to get those doubts out of her mind - it had to be when not if because in some strange way she already missed him although when she had left her house that morning she had not known his name or anything about him.
As Emma sat in her first period class, she thought to herself that in fact she didn't know that much about Will at all. She knew that he was kind and sweeter than any of the other high school boys she had met before. But other than the fact that he had adorable curly hair and dimples that made her heart do flip-flops, she really only knew that he was dating a cheerleader named Terri. So she wondered how would she get to see him again. Why hadn't she asked him more about himself instead of rambling on about her own issues? But then she realised with a smile and a sudden lifting of her heart that if all else failed she could just walk through the schools main entrance and get slushied by that group of footballers again and then Will would have to come to her rescue once more. Because even though it was messy and embarrassing and she'd had to walk in to the lesson 10 minutes after it started and explain to the teacher why she was late in front of the whole class, if Emma could have rewound the day and erased the slushie incident she realised she wouldn't have because then she would never have met Will. And that had been the best bit of her day.
It was three days later and Emma sat in her math class surreptitiously doodling on her folder. E's and W's interlinked and with a flurry of hearts all around. She knew it was silly. And pointless. He already had a girlfriend and while Emma hadn't seen Will again since their first meeting she had heard a whole lot more about Terri Del Monaco. For she was the prettiest and most popular of all the girls at William McKinley High School. She was the head cheerleader and all the girls wanted to be like her, to wear their hair like her and do their make up like her's and to be friends with her. And when girl's like Emma walked down the hallway they were expected to step aside to make way for Terri, queen bee of McKinley. In fact she would be crowned homecoming queen soon. It was a foregone conclusion. And that left Emma with her silly little fantasy that a guy like Will could like a girl like her - not a cheerleader but a mathlete. And not just a mathlete, but a mathlete who'd never had a boyfriend before.
Emma knew her peers thought she was prim or prissy, immature and inexperienced. Some of it was true, she was inexperienced, She'd never been kissed, had in fact never even held a boy's hand. But it wasn't that she was stuck up or unfeeling or any of the other worse names she had been called. She just hadn't met a boy whose hand she'd wanted to hold yet. A boy who had made her feel anything to take away from her worries that his hands would be sweaty or covered in germs. And certainly not a boy whose lips could touch hers without making her want to rinse her mouth out for fear of the millions of bacteria that would be shared. Somehow meeting Will for that brief time had made her realise that she could find a boy who could make her feel like that. But what could she do when that boy was already taken? And would never look at her in that way especially when he already had the girlfriend of everyone's dreams?
Emma was in gym class. She hated getting sweaty but it was compulsory and she'd used up all her excuses so today she was running around the track as slowly as she could possibly get away without looking as though she wasn't actually running. She was smaller than her classmates and young looking for her years with eyes that were big and childlike. At least that's how Emma thought of them.
As she half-ran/half-walked around the edge of the track she looked across at the cheerleaders practising. Terri was at the top of the pyramid looking like the golden goddess that everyone thought she was. It's not that Emma didn't think she was pretty, she did. Too pretty in fact and with a figure that Emma wished with a passion she could swap for her own slender barely there curves. Still thought Emma being so slight she could almost go unnoticed which was good because she didn't want to attract attention. She much preferred to just watch after all attention could often be of the wrong kind.
She watched the footballers out of the corner of her eyes, busy with their training. Emma didn't want her interest in them to be obvious but she couldn't help looking out for Will again. Surely he was only friends with that group of footballers because he was on the team too? And if he was why wasn't he at practice? Gym class wouldn't be nearly as bad if she got to watch him train while she fake ran. Just as Emma was thinking this and clearly focusing a little too closely on the football team and not on where she was going, she ran into something. Or rather someone.
His laugh was the first thing she heard. And it was melodic and somehow matched him so perfectly that she knew it was him even before she looked up from the position she'd found herself in almost tucked under his chin and half fallen against him.
"So nice to bump into you again", he said with genuine warmth. And despite that or because of it Emma could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and silently cursed for what seemed like the millionth time in her life her pale skin and her inability to hide her feelings.
She mumbled something. Really it was just a strangled sound and her arms and legs seemed to have lost the little coordination she'd possessed. Will put one strong hand on each of her shoulders and righted her. She was almost disappointed not to spend longer pressed against his muscular chest but she fought to compose herself, searching her mind for something appropriate to say. Why hadn't she prepared something for this as she prepared for everything else in her life?
"I see you haven't been slushied again. At least not recently", said Will before she could say anything.
"No, I, um, haven't been slushied." Say something interesting thought Emma, quickly before he leaves. And so she said "Did you hear on the local news that there's an infestation of rare African tree eating beetles in western Ohio?"
"Omg! Why oh why of all things did I say that?" thought Emma as he looked at her curiously. Why did she have to reveal her local news obsession? When he probably already thought she was quite enough of a freak with her spare clothes and tearful outbursts.
But Will replied "No I didn't know that. That's interesting though. So is biology a special interest of yours?"
Emma flushed again "I guess so" she responded with the half truth because although unwilling to lie she didn't want him to think her any stranger.
"So what are you interested in?" she asked, somewhat recovering her composure.
"Music. I'm in Glee club. That's my real passion I guess." As he said this his face lit up and Emma could see that he was really letting her see inside him to the thing that made him tick. She almost felt bad for not being as honest with him.
"And football?", she prompted.
"Nope, I play soccer. It's the best sport. So much more skilful than football. It's not just brute force."
"Oh" said Emma waving her hands in the general direction of the players on the field. "But you're friends with those footballers."
"Sure but they're more the group Terri hangs out with. If we weren't dating I don't think they'd want me around. I mean glee club is pretty low on the totem pole around here and soccer isn't that much higher", he laughed.
"But you could be on the football team if you wanted", said Emma, eyeing his broad shoulders.
"I used to play but then I figured why do something just to make everyone else happy when it's not making you happy. So I quit. And now I do Glee club and soccer because that's what I care about."
"Oh" said Emma again, aware that she was in danger of repeating herself or looking like a goldfish. But she was just so impressed. He was so sure of who he was and not concerned by what other's thought of him and Emma wished she had that strength.
"So what do you do? When you're not running I mean?", he asked
"Uh, I'm, uh, a mathlete", said Emma knowing that she should feel every bit of proud of this as if she were on the cheerleading squad or a member of the football team. But despite Will's admirable decisions for his own pursuits, Emma was a little afraid to let him know in case he realised what a gulf there was between the little mathlete standing in front of him and his goddess of a girlfriend standing atop the literal and figurative pyramid.
Emma didn't see any change in how he looked at her though and his reply was simply "Cool! Well if you want to add another activity you can always join glee club. We always need more members."
"Uh-huh", managed Emma as he backed away smiling at her.
"We have practice Thursdays after school. You should come along."
Emma was still watching his back as he began his warm up jogging around the track, wondering if he had really meant that she Emma Pillsbury should join glee club, where people stood up and took centre stage and sang, in front of an audience! And Emma didn't know whether the idea was thrilling or terrifying or what she was prepared to do to spend time in the same room as Will Schuester.