Hi guys. Sorry it took me so long to update. As I told you last time, one of my best friends got married last weekend and I was one of her bridesmaids, so that took up a lot of time. Because of the wedding, I missed a lot of work, so this week I was catching up with work, as well as having orientation for school (yeah, going back after two and a half years...). Anyway, I hope those of you who are still around enjoy this chapter and review if I should keep going!
Chapter 29: College, Take Two
The last few weeks of summer had been nice for Finn. Rachel had taken him to lots of fun places around New York and he'd gone to Yankees and Mets games with the guys. He'd also gotten tickets to the home openers for the Jets and the Giants. He'd also enjoyed showing his parents around when they came to New York and had gone down to DC to spend time with them while they were there for Congress.
Of course, there was something hanging over his head that he was a bit nervous about - returning to school. He'd been talking about it with his therapist, who was telling him that it was normal, but he still couldn't help but feel nervous about going back to school. He was probably always going to associate college with what happened to him while he was at University of Lima. His therapist reminded him that this was a completely different college and that the people who'd done that to him were in jail, but he was still worried he'd be reminded of what happened when he went to classes.
The first day of classes came all too soon. Burt and Carole had talked to the college administration and security about what happened, but asked them not to talk to Finn about it in front of other students. Campus security would be keeping a close eye on Finn, which eased his fears somewhat.
At the same time, he didn't want his fears to overcome him. He wanted to get the most he could out of his year at the community college and hopefully transfer to a four-year college here in New York to finish his teaching degree. He loved New York and now he saw why Rachel and Kurt had always wanted to come here.
Finn pulled himself out of the bed and into his wheelchair before wheeling into the living room. He was the last in the apartment to get started in classes. Artie had moved into his dorm two weeks ago and started classes at Brooklyn Film Academy. NYADA had started last week for Rachel, Kurt and Blaine. Santana and Brittany were both at the diner more, and Sam had already started getting male modeling gigs.
"Look who's here!" Rachel said as Finn wheeled into the kitchen. "Ready for your first day of classes?"
"I think so," Finn said.
"You'll like this college," Kurt said. "You know I looked at it before I got into NYADA."
"I hope," Finn said. He looked at Rachel. "You'll walk me there this morning, right?"
"Yeah, of course I will," Rachel said. "Maybe we could meet up for lunch."
"I'd like that," Finn said. Before he had a chance to say anything else, his phone started ringing. He looked at it and saw that it was his mom. He was sure his mom was worrying about him today, so he picked up the phone. "Hi Mom."
"Hi honey," Carole said. "Are you ready for today?"
"I think so," Finn said. "Going back to a college campus just might remind me of everything that happened..."
"I know it will," Carole said. "But remember, this is a completely different campus. And you want to get your teaching degree, right?"
"Yeah, of course I do," Finn said.
"Remember, we talked to the campus security and your academic advisor," Carole reminded Finn. "No one's going to talk about what happened to you in front of other students."
"Yeah," Finn admitted. "Do you think people will think I'm weird because I'm in a wheelchair?"
"Finn!" Carole said. "One of your best friends is in a wheelchair. That hasn't stopped you two from being friends."
"That's true," Finn said.
"Community colleges are designed for people who need a step back from four-year colleges, remember that," Carole said.
"I know," Finn said. "I'm sure I'll be okay."
"You will be okay," Carole said. "Call me tonight, okay?"
"I will," Finn promised before saying goodbye to his mom.
"Your mom?" Rachel asked as Finn hung up the phone.
"Yeah," Finn said. "You know how she gets, she's really protective of me."
"I don't blame her after what happened," Kurt said.
"Yeah, but I do want a normal life," Finn continued. "I don't feel completely normal again yet, but I'm going to get there some day... I hope."
"You are normal," Kurt said.
"I try to be," Finn said. "I hope at school I can be treated like I'm normal."
"You will be," Rachel said. "No one there will know what happened."
x
Finn wheeled into his first class. Rachel had dropped him off, and he felt himself getting nervous when she was gone. Then he thought about his conversation that morning. He wanted to feel normal. One step toward feeling normal would be going to school and trying his hardest not to appear nervous.
As Finn took his seat in the classroom, he looked around at the other students. Other students began filing in. "Are you okay?" one of the boys asked, sitting at Finn's table.
Finn didn't know what to say. Did this guy somehow know who he was? Did Finn look nervous? "Yeah, why do you think I'm not?"
"Well, you're in a wheelchair," the boy began.
Well, at least that didn't sound like he knew what happened. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just in a car accident." Hopefully no one who knew the truth would come in. He'd told his therapist that would be the story he was telling other students and his therapist didn't seem to have a trouble with it.
"That sucks," the boy said. "Are you okay other than this?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Finn said. "I'm hopefully going to be out of the wheelchair soon, so it's temporary."
"At least it's not permanent," the boy said. "I'm Cory, by the way."
"I'm Finn," Finn said. "Nice to meet you." He tried to get the discussion off his wheelchair. "What are you majoring in?"
"I don't know," Cory admitted. "That's why I'm starting off at community college."
"I took some time off after high school and am just starting now," Finn said. That wasn't a complete lie. He hadn't even finished half the semester at University of Lima. "I actually just moved to New York."
Three boys sat at the table behind Finn and Cory. "I can't believe my parents are making me go here," one of the boys complained.
"Why don't you want to be here?" Finn asked.
"I wanted to go to NYU, but my parents are making me start at community college," the boy complained.
"Well, I didn't think I was quite ready for a four-year school," Cory said.
"Me either," Finn said. This was easier than he thought it would be. "I'm Finn, and this is Cory."
"I'm Brian," one of the other boys who sat at the table said. "This is George and Anthony. We went to high school together."
"In New York?" Finn asked.
"Yeah, aren't you from New York?" Anthony asked.
"He's from Ohio," Cory told the boys. "He just moved here."
"It feels like I've been here forever though," Finn said. He noticed the guys looking at his wheelchair. "I was in a car accident over the summer, so that's why I'm in a wheelchair. It kind of made me want to take charge of my life and move here to New York with my brother and my girlfriend and some of my friends who've moved here."
x
The rest of the day at school went fine. Finn had continued with the car accident alibi, and it wasn't questioned. By the time classes were over, he would be going to physical therapy. Kurt came to the campus to take him there, and they'd be meeting up with Rachel.
"How was your first day of classes?" Kurt asked.
"It was good," Finn told his brother. "I made some friends in some of my classes."
"That's good," Kurt said. "No one knew about what happened?"
"No," Finn said. "That was nice. In Lima everyone knew about it, so I couldn't go anywhere without people looking at me. Here in New York, I can just be me."
"See, you can be living a normal life," Kurt said.
Finn smiled. "Yeah, and it feels pretty good."
"You just told people you were in a car accident?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah, and no one suspected anything," Finn said.
"That's good," Kurt said as they arrived at physical therapy, where Rachel was waiting.
Rachel came over and gave Finn a hug. "How was your first day?"
"It was good," Finn said. "I don't think my classes will be too hard, and I made some friends. No one made me feel weird about my wheelchair."
"See, we all told you you'd be okay," Rachel said.
"You were right," Finn said as his therapist came in. After doing some stretches, Finn held on to the railings to practice his walking. Before his therapist told him to, Finn decided to let go for a moment. However, he stumbled and had to hold the railing again.
"I see you felt like jumping the gun," his therapist told him.
"I just really was hoping I could walk again," Finn sighed.
"We needed to wait for you to get enough balance first," the therapist said.
Maybe Finn had been letting things get to his head. "I'm sorry. I just started school today and it felt good to feel normal..."
"I never said you weren't going to walk again," the therapist interrupted. "And you will walk on your own. Just be patient."
Finn nodded as he held on to the railing and took a few more steps. Finally, the therapist asked him to let go, and he was able to take the most steps on his own he'd taken so far before needing to hold the railing again.
"That was great!" Rachel said, running over to hug Finn.
Finn gave Rachel a kiss. "Thanks." Then something came to his mind - he'd have to be at school longer tomorrow. Today he could leave his braces off the whole time he was at school, but tomorrow they'd need to be on all day. "What about my braces?"
"What about them?" the doctor asked.
"Tomorrow I have school... and I really don't want to wear them..." Finn began.
"Finn, it's not at the point where you can have them off longer," the therapist said. "You'll need to wear your braces to school."
Finn gulped. He'd felt pretty normal today, but what would people think of him wearing braces?
"It'll be okay," Kurt said.
"It's just... I don't want them to know what happened..." Finn began.
"What do you mean?" the therapist asked.
"I told people I was in a wheelchair because I was in a car accident," Finn said. "I don't want them to know about what happened with the kidnapping..."
"Finn, did you talk to anyone before saying that?" the therapist asked.
"Finn doesn't like talking about what happened," Rachel said. "He talked to me and his family and our other friends, and his therapist, and they all thought it was fine..."
The physical therapist looked at Finn. "I can see why you don't want to talk about it. But it is possible that people will find out... and you might want to tell people before they find out for themselves."
Finn didn't know what to say. He wanted to move on from what happened. But was his therapist right? Should he not have used the car accident alibi?
