Being Apart Of Something Special
Someone Like You
Rachel stood in the smack-dab in the center of her dream city. She spun around, taking in the luminous bright lights of Time Square. With her team sitting behind her on the huge red staircase where numerous movies have been filmed, she felt like the world stopped just for her.
"I made it!" she exclaimed.
"How does it feel?" Kurt approached the starstruck girl.
"I can't even begin to explain how I'm feeling right now!" Rachel grabbed Kurt's arm, twirling him in his place, "How is it that you're so calm? Broadway is your dream just as much as its mine!"
"After seventeen years of living here, it all seems so...blah," Kurt looked around at the city he once called home. It's not that he didn't love it, but he was used to it, "I mean, of course I want to come back. I just want to come back on different terms."
"Different terms?"
"Yeah, like to perform on Broadway, or on tour at Madison Square Garden, or even filming a hit film that'll launch my career as a performer." Kurt's expression became his usual happy-go-lucky one as he explained to Rachel what he wanted for himself.
"Well after we win Nationals, you'll be one step closer to your dream," Rachel threw her arms around the taller boy's neck, embracing him. She couldn't believe she was envious of him before. She realized now that she had been foolish to show an animosity toward him in the first place, "I won't let you give up, Kurt."
"I won't let you give up, either." Kurt said. As Rachel hugged him, he looked over her shoulder. He could see The new girl flaunting her body and being all over Blaine in a flirtatious manner. What was odd is that Blaine didn't seem to notice, or care, for that matter. "Rachel, look." Kurt said, backing off from the hug.
Rachel said nothing to Kurt. She slowly turned away from him to see the girl that Santana so cleverly named "Fat-setto" flirting with Blaine. New York, her dreams, Kurt, and even Barbra Streisand were lost in her mind. The only thing she could see mentally was Falsetto dying in a fire. One could call Rachel the attached and jealous type.
"Blaine!" Rachel shouted, marching her way to the two, "What the hell is going on?"
Blaine turned his head to greet his girlfriend, "Hey, Rachel."
"Don't you hey Rachel me! What are you doing?"
"Nothing, I—Falsetto was just telling me about he she loved Barbra's acting in Funny Girl." Blaine obliviously stated.
"Yeah, Rachel," Falsetto made herself known, "I don't know why you're getting so heated. Blaine and I were just discussing our favorite classic musicals, and-"
"Shut up, you deceiving little vixen!" That was enough for Rachel to snap. Within seconds, she was on top of Falsetto, pulling her hair and screaming a slew of profanities she would never say aloud.
"Rachel!" Kurt called out, running over to the scrap. He and Blaine had to play mom and dad by pulling the two girls apart. Blaine had grabbed Rachel first, leaving Kurt to pull Falsetto away. For two petite girls, they sure put up a fight to break free and continue ripping each other's hair out.
"Rachel, stop it! Calm down!" Blaine shouted, pulling his ferocious girlfriend away.
"Why? Huh? So you can just latch me back onto your leash?" Rachel finally broke free of Blaine's grasp. Only she didn't charge for Falsetto as most of the spectators in the club expected. She kept her eyes on Blaine, burning right through him. "You know, I thought you were different. I thought that the Blaine who was so great to me—the Blaine that helped me through all the bullying was the same throughout all of these months! I can see that you've obviously changed." Rachel whipped her head around, facing Kurt, who was still struggling to keep Falsetto grounded, "And you. I thought the best out of you. But then you went and copied Santana's attitude, and now your idol is my Barbra all of a sudden? Oh, and let me not forget that you're sitting here, trying to steal my boyfriend!"
"Rachel-"
"Blaine, stop it!" she interrupted, "Until you can decide who or what you want, we're done."
In their hotel room, Kurt and Blaine sat across from each other, readying their outfits for the competition. Much to Kurt's distress, they had also been sharing a room with Puck and Finn who, luckily, were busying themselves in the streets of New York at the time being. The boys' outfits were all almost completely similar, except for the fact that Blaine refused to wear a regular tie, because he claimed that the tie he had was too long and it always went past his belt, no matter how he tied it. So he had a bow-tie. All of their outfits had the same black pants, black shoes, black suspenders, and black ties (with an exception to Blaine's bow-tie).
"Kurt?"
"Yeah, Blaine?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Kurt stopped ironing his pants to look up at the puppy-eyed boy.
"What was wrong with Rachel earlier?" Blaine looked to the corner of the room, recalling the events that took place just a few hours ago, "I don't think I was doing anything wrong by talking to Falsetto."
"Rachel's just... Rachel." He didn't know how else to describe the girl he had gotten so close to in such a short amount of time. "She usually see's the dramatic side of any situation, and exaggerates it. So maybe when she saw you talking to Falsetto, she actually saw you making advances."
"That's insane." Blaine chuckled.
"That's Rachel."
Both boys laughed, exchanging small glances at one another.
"But," Kurt said once more, "Don't take this too lightly. Try to make amends with her. Even if you don't know what for, try to apologize. Girls like Rachel just want the spotlight to be on them 24/7."
"And now all the way from Lima, Ohio, please give a warm welcome to the McKinley High New Directions!"
Backstage, Kurt and Rachel awaited their amazing performance. Kurt could see the hurt on her face, so he bothered her with the all-too cliché question, "Are you okay?"
"No, Kurt," she replied, "But the show must go on."
The two walked onto the stage alone. Rachel had her long brunette hair in curls, and she wore a frilly white dress that stopped right above her knees. She wore black heels and a sash around her waist to match.
Kurt was decked out in the clothes he had been ironing earlier when he had that little chat with Blaine. Something to notice was that his hair was messier than usual. It annoyed him at first, but he slowly grew to like some of the strands of his light brown his in his face due to all of the attention he received from Crescendo.
"Good evening everyone," Rachel introduced, "I'm Rachel Berry, and this is Kurt Hummel. We are the New Directions." After she spoke, the rest of the glee clubbers walked out onto the stage. The girls all matched Rachel, and the boys matched Kurt.
The piano keys immediately played once everyone had been in their positions.
"I'm limited.
Just look at me.
I'm limited.
And just look at you.
You can do all I couldn't do.
Glinda...
So now it's up to you,
For both of us.
Now it's up to you..."
Rachel sang softly, smiling at the friend she had made within Kurt. Nearing the last few words, she looked to him as if she was signaling him to begin his part—in which he did.
"...I've heard it said,
That people come into our lives,
For a reason.
Bringing something we must learn.
And we are lead to those,
Who help us most to grow if we let them.
And we help them in return.
Well I don't know if I believe that's true.
But I know I'm who I am today,
Because I knew you..."
Kurt took a few steps closer to Rachel, grabbing her hands once he got face to face. They both exchanged smiles, turning to the audience.
"...Like a comet pulled from orbit,
As it passes a sun.
Like a stream that meets a boulder,
Halfway through the wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better,
But because I knew you,
I have been changed for good..."
Rachel began once more,
"...It well may be,
That we will never meet again,
In this lifetime.
So let me say before we part,
So much of me,
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me,
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you'll have rewritten mine,
By being my friend.
Like a ship blown from it's mooring,
By a wind off the sea.
Like a sea dropped by a sky bird,
In a distant wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better,
But because I knew you..."
She looked to Kurt as if she needed a savior, in which he responded with the lyric,
"Because I knew you..."
Then, the two sang together,
"...I have been changed for good..."
Kurt and Rachel continued singing with sincerity until the song's end. What started as them simply singing their favorite song turned into something more. Both needed a friend, and they got that out of the performance. The two received a standing ovation from the audience, and their immediate response was to hug it out. Once it died out, however, they blended back into the group towards the back of the stage and the lights went dark.
"Kurt, I just realized something." Rachel whispered.
"Hm?"
"Mr. Schue never told us who'd sing the solo!" She whisper-shouted in reply. Rachel had an internal panic attack. The numerous Broadway showstoppers in her repertoire rushed through her head so fast that they all seemed to blend together. Nothing seemed right for the moment, which made her panic even more.
"So what do we do? Just skip to the group number, or-"
"I heard that you're settled down
That you found a girl and you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you..."
A soft tenor voice was heard. The spotlight zoomed across the stage, looking for its source, but it didn't find any.
"...Old friend, why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light..."
The voice sang once more, only this time, the spotlight finally found where it was coming from. The double-doors leading out to the lobby were blocked by one emotional curly-haired Blaine Anderson.
"...I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over..."
He made his way down the aisle, singing the familiar Adele song, blatantly aiming his emotions toward Rachel.
"...Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said,
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead..."
Blaine continued to sing, moving the audience with his voice. Tears streamed down his face, and he was trapped in a glass case of emotion. Rachel, too, was in her very own case. She was compelled to walk exit stage left once Blaine stepped foot on it. She just couldn't handle Blaine singing to her.
Once the song was finished, and the audience was in a full-blown applause, Brittany made herself noticed by stepping out of the background, and walking into Blaine's spotlight. "Hi, I'm Brittany S. Pierce and we're going to be singing the Cheetah Girls now. So Blaine, please stop crying." The audience couldn't help but chuckle at her obliviousness.
On the plane ride home, the New Directions were all staring in awe at their second place trophy. It wasn't as big and glamorous as first place, but it still meant that they sort of won at Nationals. Ironically, a group from New Jersey won first place with Don't Stop Believin' being their showstopping number. Apparently they had more heart than the New Directions in their performances. Mr. Schue never shut up about how he believed in them, and how he always knew that they could do it. It was flattering, but annoying at the same time annoyingly overwhelming.
For the remaining few weeks of school, things at McKinley were pretty calm. It was the longest period of time that went by without any of the glee club members getting slushied. To them, that was probably the biggest accomplishment that any of them could ever hope to achieve in their high school lives. For once, everything was pretty normal. That is, until a familiar face showed up at the last glee club meeting of the year.
"Mercedes!" Kurt exclaimed, as he interrupted Mr. Schue's lecture once the dark-skinned girl walked into the choir room. He ran to her as a bride would run to her groom on their honeymoon.
"I knew you'd be back, Aretha." Santana said, being the second to get up from her seat to follow Kurt in embracing Mercedes. Soon, everyone else were out of their seats and embracing her in the biggest group hug they'd ever given. Minus Falsetto and Crescendo, of course, who were completely oblivious as to who this girl was.
"What brings you around these parts?" Tina asked, as the hug broke apart.
Mercedes peered over her shoulder, taking in their Nationals trophy, and said, "First, I wanted to congratulate you guys on placing at Nationals. I also wanted to say how much I've missed each and every one of you. And I'm transferring back here once summer is over." She couldn't get rid of her Cheshire Cat smile the entire time she spoke.
"That's great and everything," Falsetto stood from her seat, cross-armed with attitude, "But who are you? You look kind of like a bag of walking skittles."
Mercedes quickly put on her oh no you didn't face. She parted her friends like the red sea, and was in Falsetto's face in an instant, "I'm Mercedes Jones, and if you want to keep that pretty little smirk, you best stay out of my way. Understand?" Falsetto nodded in fear. "Good. Because I won't hesitate to cut you."
"Mercedes, Rachel started, "I can honestly say that I miss you, your impeccable style, your talent, and of course, your-"She stopped talking ever so suddenly. Holding a hand over her mouth, she darted out of the choir room, making a beeline for the nearest bathroom. Mercedes and Kurt followed, making sure she was alright.
"Rachel?" Kurt asked as he naturally walked into the girls' restroom with Mercedes by his side.
"She's in here!" Mercedes said, opening the stall where she could see Rachel's feet sticking out from under the door.
"Are you alright?" Kurt asked.
"No," She coughed, "I think that I might be-" She was cut off by more of her breakfast making its way back up.
"No, you can't be!" Kurt exclaimed, saying it as if it were impossible.
"Oh Jesus Christ, don't you dare!" Mercedes added.
"Pregnant."