"How are we feeling today? Anyone inspired to sing for us?" Mr. Schue said as he entered.
"I'll go!" I volunteered. I was feeling confident today. I wasn't sure if it was because of what happened last night or if I was just in a good mood today, but I was ready to go first. I gave Brad the sheet music for my song and set a stool in the center of the room right by the piano. The song was pretty emotional and it would be a challenge to sing in front of everyone, but I knew I could do it.
I closed my eyes and I heard the piano start up.
"You're the direction I follow to get home. When I feel like I can't go on, you tell me to go. And it's like I can't feel a thing without you around. Don't mind me if I get weak in the knees cause you have that effect on me, you do."
I took a deep breath before going into the chorus.
"Everything you say, every time we kiss I can't think straight. And I'm okay. And I can't think of anybody else, who I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you."
My eyes were locked with Puck's and his boyish grin filled my stomach with butterflies.
"Months growing strong now, with no goodbye. Unconditional, unoriginal, always by my side. Meant to be together, meant for no one but each other. You love me I love you harder so."
"Everything you say, every time we kiss I can't think straight. And I'm okay. And I can't think of anybody else, who I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you."
"So please, give me your hand. So please, give me a lesson on how to steal. Steal a heart as fast as you stole mine, as you stole mine."
I sang the chorus once more and the song drabbled out. I had kind of forgotten that I was performing in front of the entire Glee club because I don't think I looked away from Noah at all. It was quiet after I finished and I felt embarrassed that I had so blatantly expressed my feelings for him in front of everyone. That wasn't something I normally did. And the song I picked wasn't exactly happy, it was about love and suffering. While I didn't necessarily identify with the pained part of this song, I thought it represented an accurate feeling of love and described what it was like to be in love. I couldn't really speak from experience, but that was my perception of love.
I broke out of my daze when I heard clapping. Brittany was suddenly hugging me and she whispered in my ear, "That was so beautiful." I smiled and walked back to my seat, still a little uneasy from the attention. Once again, I still didn't seem to get the approval from Rachel Berry. I had to say it bothered me a little bit, only because she seemed to have this personal vendetta against me and I wasn't sure what I did to her. I took my seat next to Noah and he just continued to smile at me. I gave him a look and asked, "What?" quietly. He just smiled at me and shook his head, "Nothing, I'm just constantly impressed by you." He took one of my hands between both of his and squeezed it. "And now it's my turn to impress you," he said. He gently rested my hand back on my leg and hopped up to the front of the room.
I saw him pick up the guitar and felt my heart melt just a little. I loved watching him play guitar. He took a spot on the stool where I was just sitting. He started strumming and all eyes were on him, especially mine.
"I could stay awake just to hear your breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while you're far away and dreaming. I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure." He had stood up at this time and was roaming around the room.
"I don't wanna close my eyes. I don't wanna fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you, babe, and I don't wanna miss a thing. 'Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream would never do, I'd miss you baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing."
"Lying close to you, feeling your heart beating. And I'm wondering what your dreaming, wondering if it's me your seeing. Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together. And I just wanna stay with you in this moment forever, forever and ever."
Everyone was waving their lit cell phones in the air and we all joined in for the chorus this time.
"I don't wanna close my eyes. I don't wanna fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you, babe, and I don't wanna miss a thing. 'Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream would never do, I'd miss you baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing."
Puck walked up the to the second row where I was sitting and sat in his seat, right next to me.
"I don't wanna miss one smile; I don't wanna miss one kiss. Well, I just wanna be with you, right here with you, just like this. I just wanna hold you close, I feel your heart so close to mine. And just stay here in this moment for the rest of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
He stayed in this seat for the rest of the song, as everyone sang along during the refrain. He had picked a wonderful song for this week and I couldn't help but feel fuzzy inside. It was fairly obvious that there was chemistry between the two of us now and everyone knew it. I originally thought this was something I wanted hidden but now I felt differently. I didn't care what they thought and I didn't care what Noah's reputation was. I wanted to be with him. As the song ended, he kissed me on the cheek and returned the guitar to the front.
"Wow, this is a dramatic change from the other day. I don't know what got into you guys but this is what I'm talking about. This is love," Mr. Schue announced. It appeared no one else wanted to sing today so the conversation turned toward sectionals.
"Okay guys, sectionals is three weeks away. We need to start thinking about our set list."
"I assume Finn and I will be singing the leads, so I will start brainstorming songs that showcase our voices," Rachel added.
"Actually, I think we're going to have auditions for the leads," Schue suggested. I turned to Noah and smiled at him. We had a chance. Rachel looked pissed but I knew she would be preparing starting tonight. We definitely had our work cut out for us. We were dismissed for the day and we all headed to the halls for our next class. I stopped by my locker as Noah whispered that he'd see me later. I couldn't help but feel giddy when he was around. I grabbed the books I needed and suddenly my locker slammed shut. I jumped and turned to find Santana right next to me.
"Listen up, bitch. Stay away from Puckerman, okay? We're getting back together soon and I don't need you getting in the way of that."
"My relationship with Puck is none of your business. You're delusional if you think he wants to be with you." I walked away after that. I realized that might've been a little harsh but I didn't like that she just thought she could get me to back off like that.
"You just made a very powerful enemy!" She shouted behind me. I rolled my eyes. I didn't care what she could do to me. I had other things to worry about.
I nearly leapt out of bed when my alarm went off. Today was the day! Puck and I were going on our first real date. I mean, I had to get through a day of classes, but that was nothing. I quickly got dressed and ready for the morning, made a cup of coffee, and drove myself to school. I wanted to get through the day as quickly as possible, and I could already tell things were going to move slowly. I looked for Noah this morning but didn't see him, which was strange. He had a tendency to skip class and come in late, but recently I'd seen him every morning before class. I shrugged it off and continued to class. Just then, I ran into Sam!
"Hey, how are you adjusting to McKinley?" I asked him.
He shrugged and didn't seem too thrilled. "You okay?" I asked him.
"Didn't you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Coach Tanaka just left. So football season is over."
"Oh no…" I breathed. I tried to look at the positives and cheer him up. "Well I'm sure we'll have a coach for next season. Sue will make sure the cheerios have some place to practice for their competitions."
"Yeah but it's not the football thing that's bothering me. I know this is going to sound stupid, but I was just hoping I could make some friends on the team. Being the new kid is tough." I nodded, understanding his feeling exactly.
"Look, I don't know if this would be of any interest to you, but you should consider joining glee club. Even if you don't really sing, everyone is pretty welcoming. I never thought I'd end up in glee club and I never even thought I could sing. But it ended up being the best move I made."
"I don't know, Kate…"
"Don't make any decisions now. Just consider it," I said as I walked away. He looked unsure so I decided to mention something to Finn. He was sort of our unofficial leader and I'm sure he would support some more guys in the club. I took a seat next to Quinn in Spanish and we talked briefly before class.
"So Kate, what's going on with you and Puck?"
I tried to hide my smile but I failed to do so. "There's something going on there, not sure exactly what. We have a date tonight so we'll see."
"You guys have crazy chemistry. When you were singing together the other night, I could practically see the sparks between you. Just be careful."
"I know, I know. But I genuinely think he's taking this seriously. I know you said he had a bad reputation, but I think he wants to change."
"Oh, that I can tell. I'm talking about Santana. She has this idea in her head that her and Puck are meant to be together. And she won't let anyone get in the way of that."
"She approached me the other day and I kind of shook it off. You really think this is something to take seriously?"
Quinn nodded, "At least until she comes to terms with it. She'll back down but she'll put in some effort first. I can try and talk to her, but I doubt she'll listen to me." I felt worried, I didn't know what she had planned and I wasn't prepared for any sabotage. The bell rang and we shifted our attention to Mr. Schue for his lecture on verb conjugations.
During glee club today, we were given free time to work on songs for our auditions for next week. I was excited to hopefully prepare a duet with Noah for the audition but he didn't show up to glee club. Something seemed a little bit off. I texted him to make sure everything was okay. But didn't get an immediate response. I just started to brainstorm potential songs we could sing that would showcase our voices when I received a text back.
Everything's fine, just taking care of some things. I'll see you later!
Talk about cryptic. The song finding process didn't seem to be escalating so I stopped and just starting working on some homework.
"You're not working on a song?" Rachel asked, as she took a seat next to me.
"Not at the moment…Puck and I were going to arrange something but he's not here so."
"Oh, I see. Do you really want to sing at sectionals?"
"Yeah, I do. I know I don't have the experience on stage that you do, but I think Noah and I will bring something different that the judges won't be expecting. You're super talented Rachel, but don't you think we should do something different than we usually do?"
"I understand, but it's just hard for me to give up the spotlight."
"Well I guess you better get back to work then," I added, perhaps with a little too much attitude. It seemed like she was trying to be nice, but I was in an off mood.
"For what it's worth, I think you are really talented Kate," she said as she walked away. I wasn't sure how to take that. She seemed genuine but I had my guard up, worried she was planning to sabotage me in some way, shape or form. I continued doing homework and with about five minutes left of class, Noah sauntered in.
"Hey babe," he said as he took a seat next to me.
"Hey, where've you been?" I asked.
He hesitated, "It's really not important." I looked at him skeptically, wondering what he wasn't telling me. But I trusted him. If it was something important, he would tell me. "Any good ideas for our audition next week?"
"Nothing yet. I'll keep thinking and we can work on something this weekend, yeah?"
"It almost doesn't even matter what song we do. We're gonna crush it." The bell rang and we walked out of the room to the hallway.
"Are you excited for tonight?" he asked.
"I am excited, but I have to say I'm curious. You're being so mysterious about this."
"I just want to surprise you."
"Okay but give me some sort of clue because I have no idea how I should dress."
"Wear something nice," he said. Could he be any more vague? I just smiled and shook my head, as he kissed me on the cheek and wished me goodbye.