All I can say as I put up this chapter is FINALLY! I don't know why it was so hard for me to get this done! Ugh! It came out okay, I guess. It's not my best. I hope to have something more up by Friday night at the latest.

When she arrived at the Bean the next day, Connor, who had been pacing out front, helped Lori and her cast-wrapped leg out of her mom's car and into the café.

This time they took a table in the back.

"What's up?" Lori asked, curious. "What happened to 'nothing to hide'?"

Connor hemmed and hawed momentarily before getting up with a quick, "I'll get us some drinks."

When he sat back down, his eyes were full of anxiety. He looked tired, unwell.

"Um…" he stuttered. "I-I have something to tell you that not a lot of people outside of my family knows…And, hey, it really doesn't concern anyone outside of my family…except for my closer friends." He paused. "And that's definitely you."

Lori could feel herself blush.

"Um…my dad was—is an investor. And he's a really good investor, too. Good enough that my mom could stay home in our nice house, and I could go to Dalton." He swallowed hard. "My dad's company just went bankrupt. Half of their employees just got fired. Even long-standing, devoted, good investors. Including my dad."

Then Lori noticed that Connor hadn't bought himself a drink.

"I'm so sorry." Lori put a hand on Connor's arm. "If you met me here to tell me that we can't come here anymore, that's fine! We can sit in my living room! Sure, it may not smell the same, and the tea might not be as good, but that's fine."

"No! No, that's not it at all! Of course we can still come here! Actually, it's not where I can't go that I wanted to tell you about. It's where I have to go."

"You're being vague, and I don't like it." Lori tried to laugh.

"Um…well, this happened about a week ago. My parents have been scrambling through their finances, and they've come to a conclusion."

If Connor took anymore pauses, Lori would have smacked the sentence out of him.

"I…I can't go to Dalton anymore." The pain in his eyes was unmistakable, and Lori felt for him.

"It's okay. You're a great person. Where ever you go, I'm sure you'll find friends. I'm sure they'll be somewhere for you to sing…and I bet they'll be a whole lot less brutal than the Warblers."

Connor laughed a weak, stricken, laugh.

"You don't get it do you?"

Lori was almost insulted.

"Would you stop being so freakin' mysterious? Obviously, something is up and I hate that you won't tell me! Are we friends are not?"

"We're friends."

"Do you trust me?"

"Definitely."

"What are you hiding?"

"Lori…I'm coming to McKinley."

She was frozen. Could it be true? Would she be able to see both of her best friends every day at school?

"When?"

"At the end of the semester. Which is like, three weeks."

"That's—well it's not great. I mean, you'll be leaving all of your old friends, but at least you'll know someone! Two someone's actually! You like Kurt!"

"Yeah…two someone's." He looked at Lori oddly. "You know, you're kinda the first girl I've ever had a friend in. In fact, you're probably the first girl my age that I've ever had a legit conversation with."

They were quiet.

"That was random," Lori laughed.

"Not in my mind. I was thinking about the differences between our schools. The biggest one I guess is the fact that I have to interact with girls I really don't know." He smirked. "That and the blazers."

"Yeah… Hey, it's a good thing you'll be coming to New Directions. I was beginning to worry how Mr. Shue was going to deal with a one person glee club."

"Hmm…"

"You don't seem too thrilled about it."

"Well, you know. The whole performing thing is still there."

"Yeah! I've been meaning to ask you about that. How did it go? I mean, I know you guys didn't win—and I'm really sorry—but how did your whole thing go?"

"Actually, after your incident, there was no one to distract me during Blaine's lectures. I think they actually worked. He kept saying over and over, 'the audience is stupid' and stuff like that. Apparently, they won't know if you fudge the whole thing. As long as you stay confident in what you're doing, no one will know." He laughed at himself. "Or something to that effect."

"So…?"

"So I absolutely botched the whole thing, of course."

Lori winced.

"But I did it with a smile on my face!"

"You're so weird!" Lori laughed.

"Don't call me weird! It's Blaine's advice! Call him weird!"

"Okay, Blaine's weird!"

"Why am I weird, now?"

Lori jumped when the unexpected voice chimed in. She turned around quick and came face to Styrofoam cup with Kurt and Blaine.

"Oh my God!" Lori panted. "Thanks for the heart attack!"

"No problem." Blaine pulled up a chair and sat at the table. "Now, why am I weird?"

"I was telling her about the absolutely fascinating lectures that she's missed."

"They weren't weird!" Kurt said.

"'The audience is stupid'?" Connor tried to imitate Blaine.

"Yeah, okay they're weird."

"Hey!" Blaine turned to him with a look of mock irritation, poorly masking his amusement.

"Oh, it's okay. Weird is cute."

Lori noticed then, that they were holding hands, and as they stared into each other's eyes, the familiar smile that Kurt had worn when she had seen him receive that first text months ago, was mirrored on Blaine's face.

"You two are disgustingly adorable. You know that, right?"

Blaine blushed, but all Kurt did was cock his head and mutter a small, "Yeah, I know."

Then Connor coughed.

"Sorry!" Lori looked to him. His eyebrows were raised in an expression halfway between awkward and entertained. "I kinda don't mind being a third wheel with these two. It's kinda my daily dose of bliss."

Connor chuckled.

"What were we talking about before—" But her phone rang. "Sorry, guys. My mom is a little hesitant to let me come here these days."
They all gave her confused looks.

"I know," she groaned. "She's convinced I'm secretly dating all of you."

Kurt choked on his coffee.

"Doesn't she know that we're…?" Blaine trialed off, a finger pointing back and forth between him and Kurt.

"Yeah, but he's not." She nodded her towards a wide-eyed Connor.

"Sorry 'bout that," he finally said, shrugging.

Her phone rang again and she could see her mom's car pulling impatiently into a spot.

"See ya." As she struggled to get up, Connor stood.

"I should probably go, too. Here." And he held her up by the elbow, and helped her to the door.

GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE

Later that night, Lori heard the phone ring, and her mom appeared in her doorway.

"It's Blaine," she said, one hand over the receiver. "Is he one I have to worry about?"

"No, Mom. Can I please have the phone before you scare away all my friends?"

"I'm just checking…Yes, here she is…" And Lori took the phone.

"Hi, Blaine…I'm not going to lie, this is kinda weird." Lori sat on the edge of her bed.

"It's both of us actually," Lori heard Kurt say. "My phone's dead—again, and I don't know your number off the top of my head. So we did something drastic."

"And what would that be?"

"Used the phonebook," Blaine said flatly.

"I see. What's up, guys?" Lori laid flat, her legs hanging off the edge of her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"It' Connor," Kurt said.

"What about him?"

"What did he say he was going to do after he helped you to the door?" Blaine prodded.

"He was going home, wasn't he? That's the only reason he was even getting up anyway."

"Yeah. Sure," Kurt said, and she could almost feel him roll his eyes through the phone. "He came back after you left and sat at the table, staring into space for almost a half hour."

"That's weird." Lori sat up.

"Oh my God, she's blind as a bat when it comes to these things, isn't she?" Kurt's voice was muffled and she knew he had his hand over the receiver.

"I can hear you!"

"Look, Lori, we asked him what was up, and he told us about how he's leaving Dalton," Blaine said, a twinge of sadness in his voice. "But once he got started talking about how he'd be going to McKinley, he wouldn't stop."

"I still don't get why this was important enough for you to call my house and get my mom all worried. She's still skeptical about you two."

"We're getting there!" Kurt snapped.

"Well, get to it!"

"Every single thing he said about going to a new school was about you." Kurt paused and Lori knew this was where he had expected a reaction, but she didn't know what to make of the situation.

"He's my friend!" she finally sighed.

"Yeah. Tell him that." Blaine's voice had an attitude she would have never expected from him…one very much like Kurt's.

"It's true! You guys are my friends! Mercedes is my friend! …Uh…Rachel—"

"Oh, shut up! You know perfectly well that this is different!" Kurt was almost squealing.

"It is not different! We drink tea and talk about glee and movies and music and—"

"And it is so obvious that he likes you that even I can see it," Blaine was suddenly very serious.

"Yeah. And he's not a whole lot better than you are."

After a minute of tense silence, Lori finally said, "Fine. Whatever you say. But this changes nothing. Alright? Connor is still just a very good friend to me."

The other end of the phone was abuzz with unconvinced "right"s and "uh-huh"s.

"Just promise us that whatever you do, you will never say no to a meeting with him." Kurt's voice was firm, commanding.

"FINE! Jeez…" she began to mumble. "Don't know why guys have to be so complicated…"

"Tell me about it," Kurt sighed.

"Shut up!" Blaine laughed.

"Well…this has been nothing short of bizarre. See you later, guys." And after quick, 'bye's from the boys, she hung up the phone.

Well, that was cute. I told you I'd be putting in some Klaine for fun—just because I really, really like writing it. So Connor's got a thing for Lori? (Duh.) AND he's going to McKinley, (Duh-er.) I'm sorry if this is getting predictable, but I promise excitement will happen soon enough.

Thank you, Number1KurtHummelFan for your information on FanFic terms.

As I have previously stated, I think I'm almost coming to a wrap up here. I know how it's going to end (with a teeny bit of FutureFic), but I don't know how we're going to get there.

As always, PLEASE REVIEW!

~C.C.

"I'm a poem in a prose world: I may be confusing at first, but once you understand me and my style, I'm a thing of beauty."