Chapter 31 - Already Mine
If someone offered to pay Sam to form just one coherent thought at that very moment, he would fail miserably.
Firstly, he wanted to laugh at the fact that the New Directions had just performed an insanely sensual rendition of Toxic with their teacher singing lead. That was all kinds of wrong, Sam thought, and it looked like a few of the Glee kids knew it too, judging by the looks on their faces as they settled into their final poses, waiting for their applause.
Secondly, he wanted the ground to swallow him up because of the raging boner he had just popped seeing that really cute brunette guy shaking his hips and running his hands through his hair. Judging from the way the kid's pants fit, he certainly had a lot to offer. The hat didn't really do a lot for him, but Sam was biased because of how hot he thought his hair was. And he didn't even know the guy's name.
He had seen him first performing out in the courtyard on his first day, wondering what kind of Grease alternate universe he had fallen into where the kids perform musical numbers in front of the whole school like it's no big deal. The sunglasses and hip-hop attire clearly looked out of place on him, but he still managed to rock them. He could have sworn he saw the guy performing in his direction, but he was so stunned by the entire experience that he couldn't really focus on it very much.
He was brought back to the land of the living by a loud screech.
The curly-haired reporter guy was on his feet, cheering, looking very dazed for some reason. And so, too, was the rest of the school. Sam wondered what had happened from week to week, where they were met with a heavy silence after Empire State of Mind (which Sam had actually enjoyed) compared to the rapturous applause they were getting after doing Britney (which Sam had enjoyed even more but for very different reasons).
And then the fire alarm sounded.
Students were running in all kinds of directions trying to get out of the gymnasium, which Sam realised quickly was the exact opposite of what you were supposed to do if there was a fire. He was pretty sure he'd seen the cheerleading coach pull the alarm and then stand absolutely still, so he wasn't taking things too seriously, unlike the rest of the school.
Despite the commotion, Sam managed to stay in his seat. He was pushed and shoved a few times by random students who hadn't realised that the alarm was a fake, but he held his ground and waited for his boner to subside. The chaotic situation really did help actually, as it allowed Sam to think and get some blood back to his brain as opposed to his dick.
The Glee Club just sort of stood there, frozen, wondering what the fuck was happening and Sam really couldn't blame them. Their post-performance high was being wasted on a fire alarm. Sam lost sight of them due to the many students trying to flee the gym in fear of being burned alive (Sam really had to laugh).
Once the gym was cleared of students, they noticed Sam remaining there, and the situation turned a little awkward.
For one, Sam had only spoken to the guys when he had performed Billionaire with them the week prior, and he had yet to speak with the one guy he actually wanted to speak with, let alone learn his name. He wondered why he wasn't included with the other guys when he unofficially auditioned.
"Hey, Sam" Finn greeted coolly. "Mr Schue, this is Sam Evans, the one I was telling you about."
Mr Schuester nodded. "Sam. Since you're our only audience now, what did you think?"
Sam didn't want to outright tell the teacher that he thought it was an inappropriate song to have sung with his students, considering it looked like every one of them knew it apart from the teacher himself, but he didn't know what else to say.
"It certainly got everyone…uh…engaged."
A few of the Glee kids laughed to each other, including the cute boy.
Mr Schuester looked thoroughly concerned. "I'd better go and speak to Figgins."
The teacher took his leave and disappeared from the gym.
Sam stuck his hands in his pockets and didn't quite know what to do, just thankful that his boner had deflated.
"You given any further thought to joining?"
Sam shrugged. "Maybe. It was weird seeing you guys perform and have everyone just kind of sit there, but they really loved you today."
The cute guy stepped forward, smiling. "It gets like that, whenever we perform a song about sex they eat it up. Last year, we went rogue and performed Push It as our first public performance. They loved it."
Yeah, I bet they did, Sam thought, watching the boy's mouth move as he spoke, almost forgetting to respond.
"I bet that went over well with Mr Schuester."
The boy laughed, the sound sounding like heaven to Sam. It was musical and lilting, and Sam wanted nothing but to make him laugh forever. "I think he was just pleased that they liked us."
It was only when Sam started to move forward that he realised that the other members of New Directions had left, leaving him and the boy alone together in the gym. The boy sat on the edge of the stage.
"Whoa, where did everyone else go? I swear they were here just a second ago."
The boy smiled but it didn't meet his eyes. "You too can leave if you'd like. The rest of the school already did."
Sam knew he'd said something wrong, but he couldn't really think of what it was. He stepped closer. "This is the only time I've had a moment of quiet at this school in a week."
The angelic boy nodded, his performance-tousled hair bouncing up and down as he moved. "You're new?"
"Yeah, I moved here from Tennessee in the summer. Listen…don't think this is me telling you to go, but you don't have to sit and talk to me if you want to catch up with your friends."
The boy smiled wryly. "I know I don't have to do anything. I'm here because I want to be. I could say the same thing to you. Why are you still here?"
Sam didn't know how to say that he didn't want to stand up with a raging hard-on, or that he wanted to stick around and check the guy out, so he settled for a shrug.
"You could've been burned alive in the school gym like in Carrie but instead you stayed in your seat."
"I say bring it on." Sam hesitated but moved to sit next to the boy. "So you still being here…does that make you Carrie or Sue?"
The boy shrugged. "If you were to ask everyone else, they'd tell you I'm a prime Carrie White candidate."
"Do you often think about murdering your classmates at a school function?"
His lips quivered. "It's crossed my mind once or twice." He sighed. "You're new here so I'll give you a little heads up if you didn't already know. Being different is not celebrated here. This school makes me understand how Carrie felt. You'll do fine though, I imagine, being the quarterback and all."
Sam stared at him curiously. "You know who I am?"
"The guy who replaced Finn as quarterback? Sure I do."
Sam shrunk into himself. "I bet everyone hates me for that."
The boy shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. Beiste made a lot of changes to the team and it's not your fault at all. And if you're worried about Finn, he's too mellow to hold grudges. Your friendship should be fine should you join Glee."
Sam fidgeted. "I don't know whether I should."
"I say do whatever the hell you want, Sam," he replied. "I can't fully recommend joining Glee and being slushied on the regular, but—."
"Slushied? Is that what I think it means?"
"An ice-cold frozen drink getting thrown at your face and clothes? Yes, yes it is."
Sam gritted his teeth. "And that happens to you a lot?"
"Often enough that I keep a second set of clothes in my locker at all times lest I have to borrow from the gym store, which…the less said about that the better."
Sam clenched his fist. He knew that kids were mean, of course, he did he grew up in the South, but he had no idea they were so into humiliation like that. And that this beautiful, kind, witty boy just shrugged and talked about as though it was nothing…Sam couldn't believe it.
"Sam? Are you okay? You haven't said anything for like a minute."
Sam huffed. "How are you so calm about all this?"
The boy clicked his tongue. "This has been happening to me since the first day of freshman year. I think I've been slushied more days than not. If not that, it's locker shoves, dumpster dives, patriotic wedgies, I've even had my messenger bag straps cut off."
Sam wanted to cry. He had been through so much, that much was obvious, and Sam wondered who had stepped up and actually done something about it. Had Finn? Any of the other Glee Club members? Mr Schuester? Figgins? Sam wanted to punch a lot of things. "That's not fair."
"That's high school for you."
Sam swallowed heavily. "What's your name?"
"Kurt Hummel," Kurt replied swiftly, turning to face Sam with his body.
"Well, Kurt Hummel, you're not really selling the whole Glee idea to me. What are some good things?"
Kurt Hummel's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and that was when Sam truly started to fall in love.
"We're a real family in there, you know? A very confused, incestuous family, but a family nonetheless. We all love singing and dancing, but we love each other more. I'll be upfront with you, there's a lot of drama. But if you just keep to yourself and trust in us, you'll be fine. And I'll have your back. The jocks love to mess with me, but Glee Club respect me and listen to me. I'm like The Godfather in there."
Sam grinned. "How many more '70s movie references have you got up your sleeve?"
"Tons," Kurt smiled. "I have a killer DVD collection and do weekly Glee movie nights at my house. You're more than welcome to join."
"I'm not in Glee Club."
Kurt smirked. "Not yet you're not, but I've come to know when someone's watching me, Sam Evans and you didn't take your eyes off me for a second during that performance."
Sam blushed, not realising he'd been caught. "You must think I'm so weird."
"Would I have invited you to my house if I thought you were weird? I think you're cute and unless I'm reading this extremely wrong, we may play for the same team."
Sam did a little happy dance in his mind at Kurt calling him cute and shuffled the tiniest fraction closer to the boy. "I bat for both."
Kurt dipped his head. "Duly noted. I haven't done this before and I'm only going off what I see in movies…I want to ask you out but if you're about to say no then I'm about to burst into flames and then you will actually have to pull the fire alarm for real…"
Sam put a gentle hand on Kurt's arm. "Kurt…stop."
Kurt's happiness deflated a little.
"You're right, I was watching you every second of that performance. You weren't even singing lead and I was so drawn to you. You looked hot up there. Whoever said "I want to be that hat" during the song was so right. I wanted to be the hat too."
Kurt chuckled. "I'm so glad I was on the right page."
"Right page, right sentence, you were right about everything. I'd love to go out with you, Kurt Hummel. And I'll join Glee Club, or audition even though technically I already did that, just not officially."
Kurt beamed. "I can't wait to hear you sing. You play guitar too, don't you?"
"Did Finn tell you that?"
Kurt shrugged. "No, I just know a guitar player when I see one. As for our date, there's a screening of Lenny at the Lima Playhouse and we could get dinner after? No, that's not a first date movie, is it? I really should—."
"Kurt!" Sam interrupted before Kurt sent himself into another tailspin. "I'd love to go see Lenny with you. Honestly, I'm just happy you're interested."
"Well, how could I not be? Look at you. I think about kissing you and I just…"
"So why don't you?"
Kurt swallowed heavily. "Because…well, I've…never…you know."
Sam blushed. "I've never kissed anyone either."
"But you're a stud."
"Um, thanks, I'm also usually shy as hell. But I've been trying to reinvent myself here. Step out of my own mind and all that."
"Did you make that change to match your new hair colour?"
Sam frowned. "I don't follow."
"Your…new hair colour."
"I don't dye my hair, dude."
"Yes, you do. That's not natural. I just can't understand how it even got that colour…"
Sam smirked. "Tell you what. If I have a good time on our date, I'll tell you all about it. If you teach me some of those Toxic steps."
Kurt's hand slipped into Sam's. "Oh, it's a deal."
