"I just got here! Where are u? :)"
"I'm on my way! Wait for me near your locker, ok?"
"Fine, see you princess :)" Kurt texted Rachel back and put his phone back into his pocket before walking up the stairs and getting into the school. He looked at his watch: half past 7. No wonder she wasn't there yet; he was too early, as usual. He slowly walked along the hallway, which was almost empty, and reached his locker. He sat down on the floor, his back pressed against the cold iron, and he waited. After what seemed like hours, he peeked his watch again: 7:31?
"What the hell?" thought Kurt, annoyed. "Only 1 minute? It must be broken.."
It was possible, since he had forgotten to take it off before getting under the shower with Rachel the night before. Bored but amused at the same time, Kurt grabbed his phone again.
"You broke my watch, princess" he wrote it and sent it to Rachel.
"Whaaat? :O" she replied after a few seconds.
"You distracted me and I took it with me under the shower!"
"You're an idiot, that's not my fault :P"
"Whatever. Where are you now?" texted Kurt, wrinkling his nose.
"I'm getting in my dads' car now"
"What? Hurry up, I'm bored!"
"You should've slept over so we'd be going to school together now! :)"
"Whatever" wrote Kurt again, "hurry, please" and without waiting for her to reply, he put his phone back into his pocket and stood up. He was too bored to just sit there alone, so he wondered around the school. He was approaching the front door when he saw the most irritating guy in the world: Jesse St. James.
"Hey!" exclaimed Kurt while Jesse got in and closed the door behind his back. "What are you doing here?"
"Good morning to you too" said Jesse, sarcastic.
"I.. good morning" replied Kurt with a shrug; he didn't want to be unpolite, but he didn't want to seem happy to see him either.
"How's life?" asked Jesse looking around, without even pretending he cared.
"Fine, thanks, yours?"
"I'm actually doing great"
"What are you doing here?" repeated Kurt serious.
"After flunking out of University" explained Jesse, haughty. "I decided to begin my own business in training show choirs for competitions"
"Really?" asked Kurt, widening his eyes. "And you.. want to start with the New Directions?"
"Exactly. You see, I honestly think you're the less talented glee club in the world, but I haven't forgotten about Rachel"
"What about Rachel?"
"Rachel is the best singer of the New Directions, obviously" answered Jesse raising an eyebrow, "and the way I treated her was.."
"Terrible" irrupted Kurt, irritated, "you were a real jerk"
"I know, I'm sorry about that"
"You don't seem sorry at all"
"Well, I am" insisted Jesse, "that's why I'm here. I want to apologize to her"
"So you don't care about the New Directions?" asked Kurt, furiously.
"Just a little bit.. I really want you to win Nationals, so Rachel will be happy and she'll accept my apologies"
"Even if she did, she won't get back with you"
"Why are you so sure about that?"
"She has a boyfriend" replied Kurt, proud.
"Really?" said Jesse, surprised. "Who?"
"Me"
"You? But I thought you're.."
"Yeah, well, I'm her boyfriend now" hissed Kurt, "we've been together for 3 months and we're not planning on breaking up, and the New Directions are doing a wonderful job, so you're useless here"
"Wait until I talk to Mr Shuester" said Jesse, frowning. "I think he'll like my idea"
"I don't care about your show business. Just stay away from Rachel"
"I can't promise you that" Jesse gave him a malicious smile, then he walked away. Kurt held still for awhile, shaking with rage.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" he thought. "He comes back after treating her like crap and he expects her to fall for him all over again? He's nothing but a jerk.."
"Kurt!" exclaimed Rachel, getting into the school. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean?" he asked confused. He looked around and he noticed the hallways were crowded now, so he must have stood there for several minutes.
"Weren't we supposed to meet at your locker?" said Rachel kissing him on the cheek. "Well, never mind, let's go.. I have to take some books"
"From the library?"
"From my locker, Kurt.. are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine" Kurt hesitated; she had to know.. "Actually I'm not"
"What's wrong?" asked Rachel, worried.
"I saw Jesse" answered Kurt, putting his hands on her shoulders, "he's here, he's back for you"
"Are.. are you sure?"
"Yes, he told me so. He dropped out of school and decided to be a glee club trainer.. he wants to help us win Nationals so you'll forgive him and get back with him.."
"What an idiot!" blurted Rachel, indignant. "Who the hell does he think he is?"
"My point exactly" said Kurt, glad that she thought the same as him. "Look, you don't have to worry, Mr Shue will never let him train us, so it's alright"
"I hate him so much!"
"I know.."
"He threw eggs at me!" yelled Rachel, walking through the hallway with Kurt behind her. "He was a real jerk to me! Nobody, not even Puck had ever been such a terrible boyfriend!"
"This is not a problem anymore" replied Kurt, following her, "he's going to leave and we'll never see him again.."
"Come on, do you really think that?" asked Rachel with an hysterical laughter. "He has experience, Kurt. We've never even won a fair competition yet, and Mr Shuester knows that"
"We won Regionals on our first year.."
"We won against a bunch of deaf guys!"
"Not this year!" said Kurt with a frown. "We won against the Warblers and.."
"..and some 80 years old" concluded Rachel. "Face it, we lost Nationals last year and we were great. Do you honestly believe we could do any better than that?"
"I hope we can do it without Jesse's help"
"I do too, but I'm afraid we need him"
"But why?" murmured Kurt, sad. "I mean, yeah, he's sort of good, but you're so much better!"
"That's really sweet" said Rachel caressing him on the cheek, "but I am one"
"Mercedes and Finn.."
"Are good singers. We need great singers.. like you"
"Me?" said Kurt in a really high pitched voice.
"You have a gift!" exclaimed Rachel with a huge smile. "Mercedes and I have a beautiful voice, but we sound like all those good singers on the radio.. you have the best vocal range I have ever heard! Really! Do you remember when we sang 'Give up the funk'? Your voice was so low pitched.. that was amazing"
"Thank you" said Kurt, happy, "it's probably the nicest thing anybody has ever said about my voice"
"Well, it's true.. I've had a lot of those instead"
"Your voice is so powerful that compliments are owed, I guess"
"That's not just about being good" replied Rachel fussy. "You know, you wonder around singing all day, they just have to compliment you.. because they know you won't stop otherwise"
"It's not true" said Kurt hugging her, "they all like your voice, really.."
"And it'd be one thing they like in me.."
"Come on, what's with all this sadness?"
"I don't know.. listen" Rachel took one step backwards to look right into his eyes, "I need to win Nationals this year. I need it for my curricula because I want to go to New York and study dramatic arts"
"Okay" Kurt nodded, a little confused, "I didn't know that's what you wanted, but I support you.. I actually want to come with you"
"You do?"
"No matter where it's going to be, I'd love being part of your future"
"I want you to be" whispered Rachel, pressing her lips against his.
After school, there was glee club rehearsal that day, and neither Kurt nor Rachel found it too weird when Jesse followed Mr Shuester into the room, but the other guys were surprised, and some of them were simply furious.
"What the hell is he doing here?" asked Santana, frowning.
"What's wrong?" asked Brittany with a shrug. "Mr Shue took his son to work again. Hi, Jimmy"
"It's Jesse" corrected Mercedes, "and he's not Mr Shue's son"
"Then why is he here?" said Brittany, confused.
"I think that's what we all want to know" answered Finn, looking at Rachel. "Do you have anything to do with this?"
"I didn't do anything!" replied Rachel, offended. "I didn't call him or something, he just.. he.."
"He's here to train you, guys" explained Mr Shuester, "to help us be very prepared for winning Nationals"
"More than winning Nationals" said Jesse with a little smile, "I will turn you into stars"
"Wow, he's even more egocentric than I remembered" commented Santana, "how come you broke up with him, Berry? Couldn't share the spotlight, uh?"
"They weren't a good couple, that's all" replied Kurt, putting his arm around Rachel's shoulder.
"Well, Jesse and I talked about it a lot" said Mr Shuester, "and we agreed on making auditions to decide who's going to lead sing at Nationals.."
"Who's going to be the judge?" asked Mercedes.
"The two of us" answered Mr Shuester, pointing at himself and Jesse, "you guys will simply have to choose a song. Is that okay for you?"
"Yes" said everyone in unison.
"Excuse me" Santana raised her hand, "do we have to audition alone?"
"I think.." muttered Mr Shuester, looking at Jesse, "well, I don't know if duets are.."
"They're accepted" said Jesse, "but I suggest you not to do them. Singing solo is always more appreciated"
"That's a shame" commented Santana, "I wished to sing with Kurt"