CHAPTER 35

"Finn, you need a girlfriend." George announced randomly before Glee rehearsal. Him, George and Harry were chilling out in the choir room, waiting for the rest of the Glee club to show up. Finn was strumming aimlessly on his guitar, singing some nonsense lyrics along with it. Finn sighed at George's comment.

"Yeah, I'm good thank you." He replied.

"Come on!" George begged. "You've gotta date someone! It's senior year of High School! Like, for example, who are you going to take to prom?"

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"OK, first of all, prom is closer to the end of the year than the beginning. And second, not to brag or anything, but I get like 50 Cheerios flirting with me every week. I'm the star quarterback, the Glee club male lead, and I've got a million-dollar face. Who could say no to that?"

George knew that Finn was joking around, and both him and Harry laughed.

"Hahaha." He said, rolling his eyes. "But seriously! I'm with Quinn, Kurt's with Blaine, Mike's with Tina, Santana's with Brittany, Rachel's with Brody, Mercedes is with Sam. You're the only old New Directions member who isn't dating anyone. That has to change."

"He's right, you know." A voice said from behind him. Finn spun around to see Puck standing there.

"Hey man." He said, turning back around.

"Come on, dude!" Puck said. "I can hook you up with literally any Cheerio. They all want to be with you. It's like taking candy from a baby!"

Finn rolled his eyes.

"Thanks but no thanks. I don't want to date some brain-dead cheerleader."

"Hey!" A voice exclaimed from the corner of the room. Finn turned around to see Santana now walking into the room.

"Sorry, San." He said, apologetically. She shrugged.

"I mean you're not wrong. A lot of the Cheerios are of below average intelligence. And I agree with Finn: you shouldn't have to date an idiot cheerleader."

Finn grinned.

"Thank you, Santana." He exclaimed, turning back to the guys.

"But you do have to date someone." She continued. Finn turned to glare at her. "Oh come on, Finn. I know so many girls that want to meet you! And not just Cheerios, others do. I've really talked you up to them."

Finn sighed.

"Again, I'm good. In case you don't remember, my last relationship didn't end too well. You know, with her duping me out of 15,000 dollars."

"Yeah, sorry about that, again."

Finn spun around. Quinn walked through the door at that moment. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? Did you guys plan this or something?" He wondered. George shook his head.

"No, but we all agree. You. Need. To. Date. Someone." Harry exclaimed. Finally, Mr. Schue, along with the rest of the Glee club, walked in.

"Guys, let's get started!"

Finn sighed in relief.

"Thank god. Saved by the bell. I'm gonna run to the bathroom." He muttered into George's ear. George shook his head.

"This conversation is NOT over." He replied and Finn sighed and left the room.

"Guess what guys? We actually have someone else auditioning!" Mr Schue exclaimed.

Everyone looked up in surprise.

"Who? Who is so monumentally stupid that they're actually auditoning for Glee club?" Puck asked out loud. Rachel scowled at him. In her opinion, Glee was the most important thing in the world, after Broadway of course. Mr. Schue smiled.

"I don't know who she is. She's new. She came from Canada as well. She's a junior. Her name is Bella."

"Our luck with Canadian new kids has been pretty good so far. We hit the jackpot with the four guys this year. Hopefully, it'll be the same again." Mike commented. They all nodded and suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Ah, this should be her. Guys, please make her feel welcome. She's new to the city."

Mr. Schue then opened the door, and a girl walked in…

"Hi everyone. My name is Bella Sutton. I came here from Canada. I love singing, and I don't know anyone in Lima so Principal Figgins suggested that I join the Glee club."

Mr. Schue nodded.

"Welcome to the New Directions, Bella. Why doesn't everyone go around and say their name?"

Rachel went first.

"Hey, I'm Rachel. I'm the leader of the Glee club." She said proudly. Mercedes raised an eyebrow.

"Whoa, who made you leader?" She asked.

"Just because it was self-appointed doesn't mean that it's not true." Rachel replied, matter-of-factly.

"Whatever, anyways, I'm Mercedes." She said, waving at Bella. Bella smiled at her.

"I'm Tina." Tina said, standing up.

"I'm Mike." The boy next to her said.

"I'm Puck." The boy with the mohawk said, smirking at her. Bella groaned. She had been hit on by plenty of guys before, and she hated the feeling.

"I'm Sam."

"I'm Kurt."

"I'm Artie."

"I'm Santana."

"I'm Brittany."

"I'm Quinn."

"I'm George."

"I'm Harry."

"I'm Liam."

At that moment, Finn walked back into the room. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Bella. She was quite possibly the most beautiful girl Finn had ever seen. She had dirty blonde hair that was pulled back into a loose ponytail. A few stray strands fell over her face, not enough to cover her eyes though. Her eyes were a gorgeous green-brown color, and she had a cute button nose. Her skin was fair colored, but not too pale that she looked like a vampire. Finn stood up a little straighter, and George noticed and smiled to himself. Finn might actually finally be getting out there.

"Hi… um… not to be rude or anything, but who are you?" Finn asked, confused. She laughed.

"Hi I'm Bella. I'm new to McKinley." She explained. Finn nodded.

"Oh, where did you come from? I'm Finn by the way." He said, shaking her hand. Both Bella and Finn felt sparks when their hands touched.

"Um… Canada." She replied quietly. Finn smiled.

"Really? Whereabouts in Canada?" He asked, curious. Other than George, Liam and Harry, Finn hadn't met anyone else from Canada since he arrived in Lima.

"Montreal. But I lived in Toronto for 2 years."

Finn nodded and sat down. Santana and George grinned at each other. Finn had never shown that much interest in a girl before - not even to Quinn. Despite Finn's attempted protests, Finn had only agreed to date Quinn for the popularity boost. Mr Schue walked to the front of the room.

"OK, let's get started! Bella, the way Glee normally works is that I set themes and you have to find a song that suits the theme and sing it. It could be a solo, duet or group performance, depending on what I tell you. All of this better prepares us for the National Show Choir Competition. We made it to Nationals and lost last year, so this year, because it's senior year for a lot of them, we want to win. Today, we're going to do our third annual boys vs girls mashup battle."

"You mean how every year, the girls have destroyed the guys?" Mercedes remarked, overconfidently. The boys rolled their eyes. Finn remembered the mash-off last year - it had been a lot of fun even though the girls had ended up winning in both sophomore and junior year. The boys were desperate for retribution and now, with Finn, George, Harry and Liam, they stood a good chance.

Puck then raised a hand.

"What's up, Puck?" He asked.

"Well, given that the boys have somehow lost in sophomore and junior year, there's clearly something wrong with your judging. So can you please bring in Ms. Pillbury and Coach Beiste to help judge so it's fair?"

The girls' faces dropped. They knew that their chance of winning was already slim because of the boys' new additions, and having three judges lessened their chances even more. The guys smiled. They knew that it was their year to win.

"Is there a theme, Mr. Schue?" Finn asked. Last year, the theme had been to sing songs that were traditionally sung by the opposite gender. Mr. Schue nodded.

"Yup. This year's theme is old school classics. That's all I'm going to say. Good luck."

The guys stayed in the choir room and the girls left to rehearse in the dance studio. The guys immediately started to discuss potential song ideas.

"How about Journey?" Harry suggested.

"Nah, we just did them for Regionals last year." Puck replied.

"What about New Kids on the Block?" Mike said. George shook his head.

"Nah, we're not eighty years old." He responded. Finn suddenly had an idea.

"Hold on a second. Mike might be onto something, not with New Kids on the Block, but with the idea of doing boy band songs. What about NSYNC?"

They all smiled.

"YES! And we can pair it with Backstreet Boys!" Artie exclaimed. The boys all cheered, and Mr. Schue watched them from his office. He had a feeling that the girls' reign as mashup champions was coming to an end.

Meanwhile, in the auditorium, the girls were getting to know Bella.

"You grew up in Canada? Wow, that must have been hard with the U.S right around the corner!" Mercedes exclaimed, jokingly. Bella sighed. She was used to Americans making jokes at Canada's expense, but that didn't take away the fact that she was proudly Canadian.

"What can I say? I'm from Montreal, born and raised. And Canada's so much better than the States!" She said. Everyone gasped.

"What are you saying? You guys are weird! You pronounce the word out, oot!"

Bella rolled her eyes.

"You guys are the world's leader in handgun violence, your healthcare system is bankrupt, and your country is deeply divided on almost every important issue."

There was a brief silence as the rest of them were trying to think of a comeback.

"Your cops are called Mounties." Santana said, weakly. Everyone laughed and went back to finding suitable songs for the mashup. Bella felt the urge to ask a question.

"Is Finn dating anyone?" She whispered quietly to Santana, who was sitting next to her. Santana smirked.

"Why? You got a thing for my boy, Finn?"

Bella blushed furiously.

"Oh my god, are you two dating? I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I just…"

"Dude, calm down!" Santana said. "I'm not dating Finn. I'm actually lesbian. I've been with Brittany for going on one year now. Finn's just my best friend. And no, he isn't dating anyone. He had some issues with Quinn last year that line of mentally messed him up, and he hasn't dated since."

Bella raised an eyebrow.

"Issues?" She asked, curiously. Santana sighed.

"Well, the reason that Quinn and Finn started dating is that Quinn got pregnant with Puck's baby, but Quinn didn't think that Puck would be a good father so she didn't tell him or anyone else that she was pregnant. Instead, she started dating Finn, who was new to McKinley, and after they slept together, Quinn told Finn that she was pregnant with HIS baby."

Bella gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

"That's horrible!" She exclaimed. Santana nodded.

"It gets worse." Santana mumbled. "After around 3 months of Quinn's pregnancy, everyone but Rachel and Finn had found out about Quinn's secret. Nobody told Rachel as we knew that she would tell Finn, as she had a thing for him back then. Inevitably, she found out and then told Finn. Finn got super pissed. He quit Glee, understandably, right before Sectionals. We were screwed without him, and we definitely couldn't have won without him. He decided to be the bigger person and carried us to our win during Sectionals. He then quit for like 2 months, and then after Christmas break, he came back."

Bella was horrified.

"And he's still friends with you guys?"

Santana nodded.

"Finn's a very forgiving person. After everything he's been through, he knows better than anyone that life is short."

"Yeah, I mean if I went through that, I don't even know what I'd do." She wondered aloud. Santana chuckled mirthlessly.

"I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to be gossiping Finn's life story, but I am going to say this: what happened with Quinn is just the tip of the iceberg in Finn's miserable backstory. He's by far the strongest person I know. If I went through a fraction of what he's been through, I would actually end my own life."

Both girls fell into an awkward silence.

"But you should definitely date him if he asks you out. He's the nicest guy I know. When my parents kicked me out of the house when I came out to them, I lived at Finn's place for almost 3 months. And he's also the star QB and the male Glee club lead so there's that."

Bella nodded. There was no doubt that Finn was attractive, and from Santana had said, a great guy too. And Bella hadn't felt sparks between her and a guy ever. Her previous boyfriends had all been jerks who only dated her because she was hot. Maybe this time could be different. Maybe this time she could find someone who cared about her as a person.

Rest in Peace Naya Rivera. And of course, Cory Monteith

Please Review. Next chapter should be out today or tomorrow. I love you guys. Your reviews make my day! I know it's sad, but it's true. During Corona times, there really isn't that much to do.