2. Master class

"Class dismissed," Will Schuester announced after the bell rang. A long class, though Kurt and Rachel came in the middle of it. And an awkward class. Very awkward class. Rachel couldn't stop looking at Marley. Marley couldn't stop holding hands with her "special friend," Blaine couldn't stop feeling guilty for not telling Rachel about it, and it was incredibly funny for the rest of the people in the room.

The two New Yorkers were supposed to give a master class of 'How to get into NYADA and not die trying' after Glee, but… somehow they weren't feeling like it. So they just stayed there, one next to the other, not moving, not talking, and even barely breathing. Until the silence was broken. "Did you know about this?" Rachel asked.

Kurt shook his head. "You really think I would keep something like that from you?" He turned to look at Rachel's face. "Are you… really… upset?"

Rachel felt the frown that Kurt was making without even seeing it. She took a deep breath and smiled. "I am. But not because I… you know, not from a romantic perspective. You know?"

"Because he's your friend and he didn't trust you his secret? Been there, sister." Kurt held the diva's hand.

Then she recalled the whole Fall Debacle. The kiss with Blaine, the secret, the face-off when Kurt found out, the struggle to finally let Blaine go… the tears, the sing-your-heart-outs… the choice. And Finn's face at the end of the tunnel.

"We have some lost boys to enlighten with our success, don't we?" Rachel stood, tugging down her skirt and fighting against her yearning to crying.


Blaine and Marley walked to the exit door, holding hands and swinging their arms with every step they made. "Why don't you stay? You might learn a few things from Kurt and Rachel," the boy said as he stopped their march.

Marley looked into her man's eyes tenderly. "Because this is about you, your friends, your future…"

They kissed before the girl said goodbye and left the school. When he turned around to head to the auditorium, but he got ambushed on his way.

"Blaine Warbler, we need to talk."

Brittany was standing in the middle of the hallway with her hands on her hips and a face that kind of showed anger and a need to pee.

"Okay…" Blaine answered, doubtful.

"I knew this day would come, so I'm like a prophet, and you better listen to me very carefully." Her eyes were open to a point where it had to be really painful for the blonde girl. "Do not play with the natural order of Cosmos, Blaine Warbler. Do not alter the peaceful state of Nature. You know the consequences. And this is 2012. Do not take any chances."

Blaine burst into laughter as he resumed his way. "Brittany, you have to stop listening to Santana's apocalyptic vision of the world. And this is 2013. May 2013. The whole 2012 thing is kind of out of order."

"Santana's apocalyptic vision of your relationship with Rachel." The girl followed suit. It was easy, considering Blaine's not particularly long legs.

"I am with Marley."

"With whom Rachel doesn't share any resemblance at all."

Blaine froze. Then he was the one with his eyeballs about to fall to the dirty floor of the McKinley High School. "Where did you learn sarcasm?"

"Santana says that I can't graduate without knowing the ancient art of being a bitch, because I am too sweet, lovely and adorable to go out on the harsh, cold and evil world not being able to defend myself. At least verbally. I still have my riffle in case of a bear attack or Lord Tubbington's rebellion."

"Okay, even though you're carrying a gun, I'll say that you don't need to go all Bitchtana on me, because I… like Marley, I am happy with her, and the flames of my romance with Rachel are totally cold. Eskimo cold."

Brittany smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that. She told me to call her the minute I saw the equilibrium of the country endangered. So… she's on her way."


Tina and Blaine sat in the front row, the two of them being the only attendants to Kurt and Rachel's master class. The boy, with a notebook in his hands; and the girl, chewing gum, with no visible interest at all.

"Hello everyone," Rachel started, standing on the center of the stage, getting warmer at the caress of the spotlights on her face.

The other girl chuckled. "'Everyone' says…" The pun echoed in the empty auditorium.

"Hello, Blaine. Hello, coarse imitation of myself. Looks like Chinese manufactures didn't have enough with clothes and toys so they started trying to copy people."

"Racist!" Tina yelled, outraged and standing from her seat.

"You deserved it." Rachel shrugged, sticking to the graphic representation of 'not giving a shit.'

The girl sat back down, making a face and laughing. "Actually I did."

"Getting into NYADA is all about confidence and showing off what you've got. And, very important, do not forget the lyrics of your song, you have to sing it by heart." The only thing Kurt received for that hurtful pun was another (of the already many) cold hard look from Mrs. Berry, who jumped off the stage with two microphones in her hands.

Each one of the mentees took their mic and climbed up to stand next to Kurt. "Okay, show us what you've got, and let's see if you are fit to follow Mr. Hummel's road to the almost-made-it success," Rachel struck back.

She and Kurt sat on the still warm seats, adopting a judge-alike position. "This feels really… Americanidolic, don't you think?" Both of them chuckled as they took little notebooks and pens full of feathers and glitter out of their bags. Attempt at glamour results in tackiness.

"So you just want us to sing and…?" Blaine asked shyly.

"Oh, please, like it would be like putting you through a hard time," Tina replied, incensed. "Hit it!"

Everything remained silent for ten awkward seconds. "There's no band," Rachel finally pointed out.

Tina climbed down, brought her iPod out of her jacket and attached it to the speaker that was on the top of the piano. She chose the song, hit play and 'Gangnam Style' filled the auditorium and the perplexed ears of the present therein.

"What the h…" the other three teenagers said at the same time.

Eventually, Tina managed to find the track she was looking for. But not after being an object of long and frowny judgemental looks along with comments about the allegedly technology skills of Asian population.

[Come what may – Moulin Rouge Cast]

"Showtune," Rachel noted as she wrote it down.

"Incredibly wise choice," Kurt added.

Blaine:
Never knew I could feel like this.
Like I´ve never seen the sky before.

Rachel sighed, looking up at the boy on stage and letting her flashy pen drop to the floor with a smile full of pride and joy.

Blaine:
I want to vanish inside your kiss.
Every day I love more and more.

Kurt turned his head to his friend and no words were needed to comprehend what was going through their heads. "Hell, I missed this sound," he thought.

Tina:
Listen to my heart. Can you hear? It sings
telling me to give you everything.
Seasons may change, winter to spring.

The mentors nodded, surprised about Tina's vocal improvement. Rachel tried to note it down on her notebook, but she didn't find her pen. Blaine chuckled at the clumsy girl from the stage, right before his eyes got on the way of Kurt's.

Tina:
But I love you until the end of time.

Blaine and Tina:
Come what may.
Come what may.
I will love you until my dying day.

Kurt and Rachel threw their notebooks away and stood up, walking onto the stage.

Rachel:
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place.

Kurt:
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace.

Kurt and Rachel:
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste.

Kurt:
But our world revolves around you.

Blaine held Rachel's hand as she got near him.

Blaine and Rachel:
And there's no mountain too high.

Kurt and Tina:
No river too wide.

Blaine and Rachel:
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side.

Kurt and Tina:
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide.

Kurt wrapped his arm around Tina's waist, smiling and transmitting his confidence to his mentee.

Blaine:
But I love you.

Tina:
I love you.

Blaine and Tina:
Until the end of time.

Blaine, Kurt, Rachel and Tina:
Come what may.
Come what may.
I will love you until my dying day.

Oh, come what may.
Come what may.
I will love you.

Tina:
I will love you.

Rachel and Tina:
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place.

Blaine, Kurt, Rachel and Tina:
Come what may.
Come what may.
I will love you until my dying day.

"You! Rachel Barbra Berry for God's sake get off that stage right now! Frodo! Ten steps back. Now!" Santana burst into the auditorium, kicking the door open Chuck Norris style. "Out! Out! I said out! Oh God, this is not going to happen again. 'Come What May'?! Seriously?!" She kept cursing on her way to the stage, running down the stairs, almost falling and rolling down due to her impressively high heels. "Come on! What are you waiting for? Do I need to bring a police siren too? Out of that stage! Now!"

Everybody was totally freaked out by Santana's entrance. Blaine quickly let go of Rachel's hand as she walked down the stage, slowly and exponentially more calmed down than her best friend. "What are you doing here?" Rachel asked with a chuckle.

"Preventing another hell on Earth." Santana pointed an accusatory finger at the short male leader of New Directions. "And I said ten steps back. Do you want me to set your head on fire? Because I'm pretty sure that that hair of yours is more than inflammable. And you!" She moved her finger full of rage to Kurt. "What kind of God-given reason led you to let her sing the goddamned 'Come What May' with Little Mister Bowties?"

"Oh, come on, stop overreacting, it was just a double duet. Not like I let them alone in the broom closet," Kurt answered.

Santana grabbed Rachel by the wrist and tried to take her out of the auditorium. "We're going. Hell we are going!"

Tina laughed at the show. "Oh my, could you be even more ridiculous? You have a guardian? Rachel, you were huge once. Once," she stressed.

Rachel stopped moving, pushing Santana away. "Are you serious? Are you really trying to guard me against… against what?" Confusion was not enough to describe how weird that situation was for the diva.

"It got serious when I had to take a plane and come back here. That's serious," Santana answered.

Blaine climbed down the stage, walking towards the New Yorkers. "The question is: how did you get here so soon if Brittany told me that she was going to tell you like… thirty minutes ago?"

"Do you really think that I'd let Rachel come to see you without Hudson's supervision and stay don't-know-how-many miles away waiting for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to ride down Park Avenue?" Santana took her left shoe off slowly. "I took the first flight after Glinda and Elphaba's and just waited patiently for my lady to ring the warning bells." She held the shoe by the middle of it and raised it in the air. "And, if you don't go ten fucking steps back, I swear to God that I'll finish Sebastian's work on that eye of yours."

"Oh my God, I've been sleeping at Rachel's once a month since you left to New York! Santana, you're out of your mind!" Blaine replied.

"Please, you don't have the balls to make a move on Berry under Finny Flubber's roof. But now she's in your field, with nothing but a negligent gay who you can take down by licking his face to keep an eye on her." Santana started walking towards Blaine. At least they got Tina to record everything, because Santana walking in only one five-inch-high shoe while threatening Little Blaine with the other heel was definitely priceless.

Rachel stormed out of the auditorium. She had had the most amazing months of her life in New York and she was back in her hometown just because she wanted to help her friends, not to put up with more old and dry shit. "It's over. So over. Overest," she kept repeating to herself as she practically ran her way out of the school.

"Are you being robbed? Is there a fire? Couldn't you dismantle the bomb Rory set under the school? I'm pretty sure he's an undercover terrorist in our country sent to bring the end of the Capitalism days," Brittany said as she walked out of the bathroom and found Rachel leaving the building. "I've been studying a lot. I say it because, even though you're such a rude person and don't even bother asking how I'm doing, I am more than a support character in this play we call life."

Ten steps ahead of the blonde by, Rachel had no other option but to stop, turn around and get closer to Brittany. "Okay, Brittany, I promise we'll have a catch-up later, although you and I never had a really close relationship, but if you really need that, I'm willing to sacrifice myself to make you happy, because that's what idols are for."

"I've witnessed every single emotional reversal you have gone through for the last four years. And especially this last one, during which you've hoarded my girlfriend, turning her into some kind of slave of your sentimental becoming. And I've complained zero. She is my best friend, and somehow you turned her into yours. But I respect it, because you two share city, world and landlord. The least you could do is to pay some respect to me."

Brittany's face didn't show anger, madness or despair. Just her usual inexpressive face, given the fact that thinking all those words probably required almost the full performance of her brain activity, just setting aside a minimum quantity of energy to keep breathing. Rachel realized that the not-so-dummy had a point. Everybody spent her whole academic life neglecting Tina, or at least saying so. And the truly neglected, the girl that was never kept in mind was Brittany. Poor poor Brittany S. Pierce.

"Can you teach me how to storm out?" Brittany asked with puppy eyes after a long silence, throughout which Rachel processed the girl's statement.

Berry chuckled and got closer. "Okay. You have to open your eyes as much as you can, until they hurt. And you look at the other person like you want to shoot them at him/her/me in this case. Then you take a deep and dramatic breath, turn around with a hair flip, look for the closest exit, go through the door and slam it as if you were trying to decapitate a person with it. I know the example is kind of macabre, but if you picture the other person's neck between the door and the frame, the slam is way harder." Rachel chuckled before turning her face into an open-eyed mad expression as the one she described before. "TM and registered."

Brittany and Rachel left the building together, enjoying each other's company, under the watchful eye of Kurt and Santana. The roommates stood in the middle of the hallway. "From one to the Olsen Twins, how fucked up do you think this is going to get?" Kurt asked slowly, with his eyes almost closed.

"Lindsay Lohan." Santana sighed.