Santana's gaze shifted to the blond across the aisle. Brittany Pierce looked as disinterested as ever, slouching in her desk, her feet on the back of the chair in front of her. She was wearing a pink floral button-down tied at the waist, light wash torn jeans, and peachy colored low-tops. Her platinum hair was sleek and strait, falling down onto the edge of the desk behind her. She was chewing on the end of a bright green gel pen.

Ho-ly crap.

Santana took one last look at her ex-best friend before she tore a piece of lined paper out of her notebook.

You look really hot right now.

She folded the paper into an airplane and launched it into Brittany's lap. The other girl was startled out of her daydream and then smiled in Santana's direction. She read the note, then wrote her response.

I thought you didn't like me anymore.

Brittany tossed the paper back in a ball, bouncing it off the back of Noah Puckerman's head. He woke with a start, but the girls ignored him.

I lied. I never got over, I was just angry that you were happy with Artie instead of me. I couldn't imagine myself with anybody else- definitely not Sam. I broke up with him.

Santana threw the paper back and tried to listen to Mr. Schuester's Spanish monotone while Brittany replied. The note returned.

But you're dating that Asian Warbler nerd now.

Santana bit her lip.

I'd dump him in a second if I could be with you.

Brittany smiled sadly when she read what Santana had written. She began to scrawl her answer, but Mr. Shue walked up and took the note away. Considering he was their glee coach, he thought the girls would have more respect for him. On the other hand, his girlfriend, Holly, was close to Santana and Brittany, so he knew they were confused with their feelings for each other. He decided he was just happy to know they were on speaking terms again.

The bell rang, and the two girls fell in to step together. They wordlessly made their way to the library, where they were always able to talk.

"So what are we going to do now?" Brittany asked. She linked her pinky through Santana's once they were alone.

"We obviously still can't be together," Santana sighed, making Brittany frown. "I'm with Wes, and you're with Artie. To break up with them would just make people talk."

Brittany looked confused. "In a bad way?" Santana nodded. "But how can it be bad if they're right?"

Santana opened her mouth to say how obvious it was that talk was bad, but she changed her mind.

Oh, God. Brittany was right.

The next morning, the glee club gathered before class started. This was the usual routine for Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, because Mr. Shue was paranoid that they would always forget what they learned over the weekends. Needless to say, Rachel was the only one who looked awake on these days.

Rachel, Mercedes, Kurt and Tina strode into the choir room at seven A.M. that Friday morning. The first thing they saw was Holly Holiday sitting on top of the piano, wearing black skinny jeans, flip flops, and a Guns N' Roses tee shirt.

"What's up, guys?" she asked cheerily, hopping off her perch on the baby grand.

"Not much, Miss H.," Mercedes said slowly. He gaze flashed to Mr. Shue, who was just filing through papers, as if her presence was normal there. The weirdest thing was that everybody knew that Holly and Will broke up two weeks ago, during their Night of Neglect benefit concert.

Holly was grinning excitedly, looking at each of their faces. Her eyes fell on Kurt. "Hey, man!" She said overenthusiastically, throwing her hands in the air happily. "You're back! Did you realize that it really is better here?"

"Well, I loved my time with the Warblers," Kurt said. "But I just missed my friends here too much."

"Yeah, 'cause we're awesome," Puck drawled, sauntering into the room with Finn and Sam.

"Kurt seemed to really enjoy his time away, though," Tina teased. "He got a boyfriend."

Holly smirked.

"I would just like to say that I haven't officially approved of Blaine yet, Kurt," Finn announced.

Kurt turned to face his brother, glowering. "Who I date is not up to you. It's up to me…" he turned back to his girlfriends and lowered his voice… "and my dad." The girls giggled.

Finn paused, having heard everything Kurt had said. "Wait- Blaine hasn't met Burt yet?"

"Of course they've met. Dad just doesn't know we're dating. He had thought we were, but I set him straight… He seemed relieved, so I don't know how he'll take it now that things have changed."

Mr. Schuester was only half-listening, sorting through music. "Wait, Kurt, you have a boyfriend now?"

Everybody chuckled- including Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Artie and Mike, who had just walked in. "Yes," said Kurt, drawing the word out. "I'm dating Blaine, my friend from Dalton."

"Isn't he the boy who sings all the solos there?"

Kurt sighed. "Yes." It was obvious- Mr. Shue and Blaine had met many times since Sectionals.

"Oh that guy," Santana said. "The attention whore… just like Rachel." She earned glares from both Kurt and Rachel.

"Well congratulations," Mr. Shue said half-heartedly. This caused the whole class to laugh again.

Mr. Shue called Sam over to talk to him about his bad Spanish grade. He walked over, standing next to Kurt and the girls surrounding the piano. Rachel inched closer to him, making sure Santana, Quinn, and Finn were in sight.

When Sam was finished being lectured, Rachel turned to him. "Have you thought about my offer?" she asked flirtatiously.

"Yeah, about that. I really don't think-" He stopped. Rachel had put her hand on his. Kurt had paused his conversation with Mercedes and Tina to glance proudly at Rachel from the corner of his eye.

At the same second, Quinn seemed to notice the gesture. Sam's eyes widened, realizing Rachel had been right.

"So?" Rachel prompted, a smile tugging at her face.

"I'm in. I'll see you at prom," Sam replied excitedly.

Finn Hudson waited in the driver's seat of his pick-up truck after the last glee rehearsal of the week. He stepped out of the '99 Ford F150 to wave Kurt over once the other boy walked out of the building.

"Sorry," Kurt called across the parking lot. "Blaine's here. He's picking me up."

"Dude!" Finn exclaimed, annoyed.

Kurt just laughed. "Race you there!" he shouted before getting into Blaine's BMW. The black car looped around the row and Kurt stuck his tongue out at Finn as they zoomed away.

A minute later, Rachel and Sam exited the school, holding hands and giggling at a joke Sam had cracked. Rachel broke away reluctantly to get in her own car. She met Finn's gaze, but just smiled in that super-sad-and-painful way she had since the break-up, when she wanted to make it look like she wasn't hurting anymore. Finn met Sam's gaze and waved him over.

"'Sup, dude?" Sam droned.

"What's the deal with you and Rachel?"

The color drained from Sam's face. He knew it wouldn't be easy to make this go smoothly. "Uh, I asked her to prom, and she said yes," he lied nervously.

"Why her?" Finn asked emotionlessly.

"I don't know. We just liked each other." Finn raised his eyebrows doubtfully. "Look man: I've had two girlfriends since I've come here, and they've both cheated on me. Santana with Wes; Quinn with you."

"Okay, first- Santana didn't cheat on you! And second, if you want a loyal girlfriend, you shouldn't pick Rachel. She made out with Puck when she was with me, remember?"

"You're just mad that she's over you," Sam growled, his lies becoming more and more believable. He turned and started to head to his car, but Finn chased him.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Oh, you know what that means." Sam stopped and glared at his first friend from McKinley. "You don't even have to like Rachel to know you're killing her. You keep leading her on, even though you're with Quinn, and when she decides to find somebody better than you, you get pissed off. You're just a frickin' hypocrite, that's what you are."

Finn opened his mouth, but then snapped it shut.

Sam nodded stiffly. "Mm-hm. See you later," he muttered, his tone not nearly as friendly as the words he spoke.

Finn cursed as he got into his truck. He pulled quickly out of the parking space and onto the main road, trying not to admit that Sam knew what he was saying.

"Hombre."

"Er… man?"

"Yes," Kurt responded. "Aguila."

"Eagle," Blaine said, obviously bored out of his mind as he played with the buttons on his Dalton blazer. They were lounging on the Hummels' couch, doing homework, eating popcorn, and watching Mary Poppins at the same time.

"Tigre." When Kurt learned that Blaine didn't know a word of Spanish, he had to laugh. Blaine claimed he had always taken French (which Kurt didn't mind, because Blaine's voice was even sexier when he sang in French), so transitioning to Spanish this semester hard been hard.

"I don't know," Blaine fibbed, whining. "I don't want to do this anymore!" He leaned forward to watch Miss Poppins sing "A Spoon Full of Sugar."

"Stop acting like a baby, Blaine, this is the easiest word on the list." Kurt's boyfriend threw a handful of popcorn at his face. He smiled deviously and shipped one back.

"Oh my God!" Blaine exclaimed, covering the whole right side of face. "You got salt in my eye!"

"Here, maybe this will help." Blaine grinned and leaned forward, expecting a kiss, but instead Kurt threw another piece of popcorn at him. "You're such a drama queen."

"Look who's talking," Blaine huffed, trying to hide his smile.

Carole walked into the living room, drying her hands on a dish towel. "You two better stop getting popcorn on my couch. You know that the pieces fall in and then Finn eats them." She beamed. "How was school today, boys?"

"Fine," Kurt replied.

"Hard," Blaine sighed. Kurt knew how he felt- Dalton Academy gave unfair amounts of homework.

That second, Finn walked in from the garage. "Hi honey," Carole called. Finn ignored her; he just stomped past them and up the stairs. "What's wrong?" she asked, turning to Kurt.

"Rachel, probably." Kurt rolled his eyes , as if it were no big deal. Finn slammed his bedroom door in response.

Carole sighed. "Well… your dad's on his way home, and dinner's almost ready." She waved he finger at the mess they had made. "Clean all this up and try to get Finn to come out of his room. Okay? Okay."

She walked back to the kitchen. Blaine started to scoop up the popcorn pieces, but Kurt was frozen in his spot. Blaine looked at his boyfriend's terrified expression and chuckled.

"Nervous?" he teased.

"Oh, no, of course not," Kurt snapped, the sarcasm in his voice thick. "Telling my dad that you're my boyfriend is going to be a breeze."

Blaine laughed. "Don't worry. I've got this covered."

"How?" asked Kurt. "Last time you talked to him, he was angry with you."

"When?"

Kurt blushed. "Two weeks before we started to go out, and you went to talk to my dad about… about…" He trailed off and tried to hide his face.

"Sex?" Blaine guessed, trying hard not to laugh.

Kurt turned even redder. "Uh… yeah. Don't say that word."

Blaine grinned again. "Okay. I promise."

Kurt returned to their previous subject. "So wait… what makes you so confident?"

Blaine sat up straight, looking smug. "Because I've never met anyone who didn't end up loving me."

"Karofsky didn't seem to love you," Kurt mumbled, thinking back to the Night of Neglect, when Santana had to break up a fight between Blaine and Dave Karofsky.

"I mean people that matter," Blaine scoffed.

Kurt blanched when he heard the big garage door open outside. Blaine took a deep breath and stood. He took Kurt's hands and pulled him up.

Carole hurried out of the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs. "Finn!" Of course, he didn't hear her, because he had "Faithfully" by Journey blasting on his stereo. The song used to remind him of Carole's ex-boyfriend, who had taught him hoe to sing, but now it just made him think of Rachel. "Finn!"

"I'll get him." Kurt climbed the stairs. Anything to get his mind off the chaos Burt would make the next hour.

Kurt banged Finn's door.

"I don't want to talk right now," Finn called, his voice rising defiantly.

"You need to. Friday Night Dinner, remember?"

Finn didn't answer- instead he started slamming on the drums, along with the song.

"Finn!" Kurt repeated.

"I can't hear you!" Finn replied tauntingly. He began to sing.

"Oh, oh o-oh, Faithfully! I'm still yours…"

"You leave me no choice!" Blaine, who had followed Kurt upstairs, looked extremely amused. Kurt strode into his own room and grabbed a bobby pin from on top of his vanity table. He kept them in case Rachel of Mercedes ever felt like they wanted a new do. He hurried back to the hall, expertly twisted the pin and stuck it into Finn's lock hole. Kurt rotated the pin, and the door clicked open.

"Hey!" Finn cried as Kurt burst in.

"You should have just opened your door," Kurt retorted, grabbing Finn's arm and pulling him out of the room.

"I'm home!" Burt Hummel announced as the boys came down the stairs.

"Hi, Dad," Kurt said calmly, sauntering past him with his hand still clamped on Finn's elbow. Finn did not look happy at all.

"Hi Kurt. Hi Finn."

"Hello, Mr. Hummel," Blaine said politely.

Burt widened his eyes, as if he hadn't noticed his son's best friend there the whole time. "Why, hello, Blaine!" He gave a tight smile.

"Dinner is served!" Carole said proudly, gesturing for the boys to head into the kitchen.

"How was work, Honey?" she asked, sitting down at the table.

"Good. Miller's annoying, though."

"The new guy?" Finn confirmed with a mouth full of food.

"Uh-huh. He's too eager to please, which isn't bad, but he keeps tripping over his own feet out of excitement and messing things up."

Finn saw a chance at revenge for being dragged out to dinner and brightened. "So Kurt," he began, turning to his brother. Kurt sank down in his seat, away from Finn's maniac expression. "You and Blaine were amazing at Regionals. What was that song you two performed?"

"'Candles' by Hey Monday," Kurt answered softly.

"You and Blaine had a duet at Regionals?" Carole exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It must have never slipped out," Finn said, shrugging. "It was really good, though. Such an emotional song. The chemistry between you two was unreal. How were you able to fake that? He propped his chin in his hand in curiosity.

Blaine quickly caught on to what Finn was trying to do. "Well, we are best friends," he said smoothly.

"But it's a love song," Finn pressed, clearly trying to torture Kurt.

"Technically it's a break-up song," Kurt said, biting his lip and sinking even lower in his chair.

"Still," Finn continued. "There was a ton of emotion in it, and it seemed like you two were in love."

"You sound like you're quoting Rachel," Kurt snapped.

Burt looked suspicious, "What are you trying to say, Finn?"

Finn grinned triumphantly. He was almost there. "What I'm trying to say is-"

"I'm dating Blaine," Kurt interrupted. He figured this would go a little better if he made the announcement instead of Finn.

"I know," Burt said expressionlessly.

"Really?"

"Yup." Burt set his fork down. "You always act so surprised that I know these things, but you shouldn't. I'm your dad, Kurt, and you aren't very good at keeping secrets this big.

"I guess so." Kurt looked up. "Am I in trouble?"

Carole laughed. "Why would you be in trouble? We don't mind if you have a boyfriend- especially Blaine; he's practically already family.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hummel," Blaine said, beaming.

"Oh, please, dear, call me Carole." She gave him a sweet smile.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the family went back to talking about their week. Kurt didn't follow, along, because he was too busy being in a happy daze. He leaned over to whisper to Blaine.

"That went much better than I thought it would."

END OF PART 3