AN: I hope you guys are enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it! Please review to let me know what you think!
By the way, its Brielle's half-week on the tumblr so be sure to head over there to get to know her more!
Song list:
How to save a life - the Fray
Hazel saw the slushies being thrown in Kalyani, Stella, Katrina and Brielle's faces, before she felt something cold and liquid hit her in the back of the head and quickly spill down her back. It felt like the exact opposite of a warm shower after a long day. Cheers and cackling echoed off the stairs, and Hazel felt her face grow hot. She saw the same humiliated look on the other girls' faces when they hurried past her up the steps and she followed. Before she turned she saw Dakota and Arcelia look at each other and hurry away, like they were ashamed to even be seen there.
"Can I sit here?" Connor asked the first friendly face he found in the teachers' lounge. A man who probably wasn't much older than Connor sat alone at a table eating what was definitely leftovers of Chinese take-out. "I'm Connor by the way, I'm the new history teacher."
"Hi," the man reached out a hand to Connor. "I'm Everett, I'm the cheerios coach. Well, co-coach."
"Right, I heard about you guys," Connor said, sitting down. "You coach with your sister, right?"
"That's right," Everett replied.
"I think someone said she was training for the Olympics, was that for real?"
"Yes," Everett said, but seemed to withdraw a little from the conversation. Connor didn't see and kept going.
"I'd love to see you guys working sometime," he said, smiling enthusiastically. "I mean, seeing a gymnast who trained for the Olympics would be-"
"I'm afraid that not possible," a woman's sharp voice cut in, and Connor turned to face a woman with piercing blue eyes. It shouldn't have taken him more than a second to see the resemblance between the Elliott siblings, but Lorelei Elliott did not look the way he had expected. He wasn't used to faculty members in red satin tracksuits, or being almost his own age, all other faculty members seemed to be at least in their 40's. He also hadn't expected that Lorelei would be that pretty, most of the faculty members didn't care about how they looked at all and he had figured that would extend to someone who worked out every day. He also hadn't expected that the woman who had trained to be in the Olympics would be in a wheelchair. Her steely gaze revealed that she had registered his surprise. "The qualifier for the 2016 Olympics, on the beam. I miscalculated and landed on the beam, butt-first. The impact fractured my spinal cord and I lost most of the use of my legs. There's a pretty funny gif of it if you care to look."
Behind Lorelei Everett shook his head at Connor in warning. Connor had no idea of what to say, but Lorelei spared him further embarrassment.
"Lorelei Elliott," she smiled stiffly and held her hand out to Connor. "What were you boys talking about?"
"Nothing," Connor and Everett said in unison, looking away guiltily.
"Liars," Lorelei said, but smiled a more genuine smile. "If you want to watch us work you should come with us this weekend."
"Oh yeah," Everett perked up again. "We're taking the team to a hotel for the weekend to practice. We do it every year, its great for the squad to bond."
"And we need another chaperone," Lorelei added, looking at Connor. "I'll text you the address and you can meet us there."
"Oh, uhm, okay," Connor smiled nervously. He had a feeling that he might have gotten more than he bargained for.
Friday night dinners at the Hummel's never stopped being a family tradition even when the family drastically changed. When Burt and Carol got married, Carole and Finn were included in the weekly dinner. After Kurt moved out and Finn died, Burt and Carol made Friday night date night. Then when Carol's nephew Winchester moved in with them, they reinstated their sacred dinner. So of course, whenever Kurt and Blaine came to Lima to visit they had to do Friday night dinner at home. It didn't matter to Burt how late his son came home, they would do their dinner that night. With flights from New York being delayed as often as they were, that usually meant Friday dinner ended up being almost a midnight snack. At least that was what happened when Kurt and Blaine came home to visit Burt and Carol in honour of the anniversary of Finn's death.
"Oh, Carole, really, we're fine," Blaine protested as Carole left to heat up another serving for him and Kurt, but she was already in the kitchen before he could finish. "We ate at LaGuardia."
"Oh, and Kurt?" Carole called from the kitchen, apparently able to talk from there if not listen to Blaine's protests. "Guess who I saw at the mall the other day? You guys' old teacher, Mr. Schuester!"
"How is he?" Kurt asked excitedly, turning in his chair towards the kitchen. "And how's his baby, Daniel?"
"Just adorable," Carole cooed from the kitchen as the microwave beeped to let her know the food was heated.
"Not really a baby anymore though," Burt added, a fond smile on his face. "He's four, isn't he, Carole? Kurt, when you were the age you were already the best tea party hostess and wedding planner on the block."
"Host, dad," Kurt rolled his eyes fondly. "It's host, because I'm a guy. But yes, I was."
Kurt proudly beamed at Blaine who took his hand and kissed the back of it, playfully rolling his eyes at his husband. Winchester, who was usually pretty quiet during these dinners taking everyone in, looked between Burt and Kurt. To him they had always seemed like the perfect father-son pair, always so comfortable with each other. They seemed to bring out the best in each other and their playful banter always kept Friday dinners entertaining.
"And he's a big brother now, they had their twins," Carole added as she came back in with two hot plates of lasagna, setting one down in front of Kurt and the other in front of Blaine, who politely, albeit a bit stiffly thanked her. "They were at home with Emma, but they're both healthy boys."
"Emma's still the guidance counsellor at McKinley, right?" Blaine asked Winchester, always the one to try to pull Chessie into the conversation.
"I just started classes, so I don't know," Chessie replied, a lopsided grin on his face.
"That's another thing!" Carole seemed to only just remember some new, vital information. "Will said someone at McKinley has started the Glee club back up again!"
"What? That's fantastic!" Kurt exclaimed, his voice climbing into a new octave.
"That's amazing!" Blaine added, just as excited, but not as high-pitched. "Have you auditioned yet, Chessie?"
All of a sudden everyone's eyes were on Winchester, who felt very self-conscious. Burt and Blaine looked mildly interested, Carole had that maternal expectancy, while Kurt looked positively ecstatic.
"No, I haven't," Winchester said, being met with a storm of exclamations from everyone else at the table.
"But you will?"
"Of course he will!"
"Only if he wants to."
"Of course, he wants to!"
"Don't you, Chessie?"
Again all turned to Winchester with attentive eyes.
"I don't know," Chessie replied, looking down so he wouldn't have to see the disappointment on Kurt's face.
"That's fine, honey," Carole smiled, masking her disappointment pretty well. "More lasagna, Blaine?"
Foster's hotel and resort was a surprisingly large and elaborate building. With both an indoor and an outdoor pool, as well as a tennis court and gym, it was quite the affair for Ohio. Iris was also sure there was a spa somewhere, judging by all the white people in bathrobes she saw wondering around, but she had never found it. That might be more because she had never stayed at the Foster's, and not so much because the spa was some hidden bonus room you only found if you passed three tests. Spa or not, Iris was content to spend her Friday night with Brielle.
Sitting together on the windowsill eating frozen yogurt from the kids' bar, they could look down at the outdoor pool. The room really had one of the best views in the entire hotel, if people watching swimmers was your thing. At 10 PM in September, you normally wouldn't see anyone swimming in the outdoor pool. This Friday however, you might be in for a treat. A group of teenagers lined the edge of the pool, all facing it. Some were in swimsuits, others wore workout clothes. A woman in a wheelchair was rolling behind them, facing the line. Occasionally she would push one of the teens into the pool, and said teen would frantically swim to the other side to get out.
"Oh, I think black baywatch is going down," Brielle said, pointing to a girl in a revealing red swimsuit. Sure enough, as Coach Elliott wheeled by she pushed the tall girl into the pool.
"Damn it, I was so sure Barbie would go down first," Iris said, shoving another spoonful of key lime frozen yogurt in her mouth. Watching the cheerleaders being pushed into the pool had become a bit of a tradition for them, and they'd started betting on who would be pushed in first and who would be the last person standing. So far Brielle was winning.
"Her name is Stella, by the way," Brielle added, looking down at the line-up of cheerleaders, now consisting of only six girls. Brielle noted with some smugness that the head cheerleader was among them. "She's in my glee club."
"Oh," Iris said, looking down at the blonde just as she was pushed into the pool. "She was in the song you did, right? She's cute."
Iris looked innocently at Brielle, keeping her blue spoon in her mouth. Brielle rolled her eyes at her friend's unsubtle remark.
"Then why don't you date her?" Brielle asked playfully.
"I would," Iris replied. "If I weren't so painfully straight."
"Ah, the great tragedy of your existence," Brielle lifted a dramatic hand to her forehead.
"Besides, if I swung that way just a little bit," Iris smiled at her friend. "I'd be dating you."
"Would I want to date you though?" Brielle frowned jokingly at the Asian girl. "You're a little short for me, and you're like, super controlling, and-"
"I'm not that short!" Iris protested, but both girls were already laughing.
"Fine, if we can't date, you should at least join Glee club," Brielle said when their laughter had died down. "It's fun, and I know you love singing."
"You don't know that," Iris protested.
"I do, you always sing along to our ballet music with the kids," Brielle argued, pointing at Iris with her spoon. "And you can dance to songs that aren't aimed at children or from three centuries ago."
"I like our ballet music," Iris said, but rolled her eyes in defeat when Brielle sent her a pointed look.
"Come on, I'll be there," Brielle flashed her showsmile and shimmied her shoulders playfully. "And you can get some more friends that are almost as fabulous as I am."
"You should join, Izzie," Iris' mom had materialised from the bathroom at some point during their conversation. While Iris loved her mom and the job at Foster's was a lot better than other jobs her mother had had, the maid uniform did make her an overgrown trick-or-treat-er. The fact that she sometimes worked night cleaning up the especially messy rooms did not help. "You should get more friends."
"I have plenty of friends," Iris said, but was met with two sceptical faces.
"You have one friend," her mom replied, pointing to Brielle who smiled and wiggled her fingers at Iris. "Glee would be good for you."
"But mom," Iris began, but was cut off before she could finish her sentence.
"No buts," her mother said, seemingly going into strict parent-mode for the first time in Iris' life. "On monday, you're joining glee club."
"Fine," Iris huffed and turned back to look at the line of cheerios, where only a girl with short black hair was left standing.
Stella still wasn't sure how the school paid for the cheerios to have a weekend away at a hotel just for practice, but somehow she found herself at foster's hotel and resorts in West Lima. She also had no idea how rooms were assigned, but seeing Emilia's face when she was set to room with Kalyani told her that the head cheerleader didn't have anything to do with it. Her own surprised face when she was told she'd be sharing a room with Arcelia probably told the others that she didn't have anything to do with it either.
After the humiliating affair by the pool, Stella and Arcelia went back to their room and Arcelia went in the shower first. Stella didn't mind, but covered up in a towel and sat down on the bed. The rooms at the hotel were surprisingly nice, all clean lines and modern interior. Stella's family had always been well-off so she'd stayed at nice hotels before, but she hadn't expected to find one in Lima, Ohio. It was barely 11 pm, but Stella felt herself grow drowsy as she waited for Arcelia to finish so she could take a shower and wash the chlorine out of her hair. Despite the heaviness in her body something in her felt restless, untethered.
"That thing you said in Glee club," Stella began timidly, as Arcelia stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a bathrobe and with a towel on her head. Without her high ponytail, make-up and uniform, Arcelia looked younger than Stella had ever seen. "About me not having any sex appeal. Is it true?"
"Okay look, Blondie Spice" Celia sat down on her own bed and finished securing the towel on her head. "I'm going to be real with you. You're about as sexy as Polly Pocket."
Stella turned her head away and was about to get off the bed and head to the shower, when the other girl kept going.
"But that doesn't mean you don't have sex appeal," Celia said causing Stella to turn back to her with a furrowed brow. "Some people think the whole English Rose vibe is hot. The patriarchy has warped us into thinking that the sexy virgin isn't an oxymoron, but an ideal. So if you want to get laid you just have to pick a guy and go for it."
"Just pick a guy?" Stella exclaimed. "What if I get pregnant? Shouldn't it be someone I trust?"
"First of all," Arcelia held up a hand to quiet Stella's panic. "Do you not have condoms in England? They're 98% secure so if you get on the pill too, you're golden. Second, I didn't say to have sex with any scumbag who can get it up, I said pick a guy. Ask around, find a good one and get to it."
"Okay," Stella said timidly, looking back down at her hands.
"My advice," Arcelia laid down on the bed, looking coyly at Stella who felt roses creep into her cheeks. "Is Bai Blake."
"I don't know who that is," Stella said, genuinely confused. Stella had expected Arcelia to tell her to wait if she wasn't ready, or to starting dating someone and then get a feel. She should have known that wasn't the dark-eyed girl's style.
"Tobias Blake? He's on the football team, stupidly tall, kind of Asian-looking," as Arcelia described the boy Stella seemed to sort of remember him.
"Oh, he's Dakota's friend, right?"
"That's the one," Arcelia confirmed. "He's like the go-to guy for losing your virginity, but he's not creepy or weird about it after. You can ask pretty much anyone on the team, most of the cheerios have had sex with him."
"Have you?" Stella asked, not knowing how to feel about joining a line-up of girls who had slept with the same guy.
"No," Celia replied and shrugged. "Emilia used to date him so it would feel a little weird. Not that she cares, but you know, sisters before misters."
With that Arcelia pulled her phone out of her bag, clearly done with the conversation. Stella headed to the bathroom with a lot on her mind.
Later that night Winchester was laying out his clothes for the next day, placing his carefully folded outfit on his dresser. His clothes from that day were already placed in his laundry hamper, all sorted and ready to be washed. Just as Chessie was about to climb into bed someone knocked on his door.
"Hi, Chess," Blaine said as he carefully entered the room. "You're not sleeping, right?"
"No," Winchester replied, a little confused about why Blaine was coming into his bedroom late at night. To be fair, Kurt and Blaine often spent time talking with him in his room when they visited, but they usually did it as a pair, or it was just Kurt alone. Blaine often seemed to take the backseat in those conversations.
"Good," Blaine said as he sat down on the footend of Chessie's bed. His room had belonged to Finn before and he could always tell when someone who had known Finn came in that they were remembering when it used to be Finn's room. Blaine had been there before, but he always seemed to take the room in, to look for signs of Finn. There weren't many to find. Where Finn had been a typical messy teen, Chessie was incredibly neat. Everything was folded and organised, there was very little clutter. It almost looked like a shopping catalogue's idea of what a dorm room looks like. "I just wanted to talk to you about glee club."
"I don't really know if that's my thing," Chessie said, trying to avoid being pushed into it.
"That's fine," Blaine said, surprising Chessie. "I know Kurt can be adamant about these things, but I just wanted to make sure you felt like you have a choice. You don't have to join the glee club if you don't want to."
"Oh, okay," Chessie said, relieved that Blaine was being so understanding. To his surprise he almost felt a little disappointed as well.
"I think Kurt is so caught up in how much the New Directions meant to him, that he's forgetting how it's not that special to everyone," Blaine explained softly. "I mean, it is very special to me, it's how I met Kurt."
Winchester just sat listening to Blaine talk. It was comforting having someone just talk about these things without there being any pressure.
"Either way, you should know that it's your choice if you join or not," Blaine smiled at Chester, that easy, warm smile of his. "I think Finn would be proud of you either way."
With those words Blaine got up and told Chessie goodnight.
That night Winchester hardly slept, his mind was swimming with images of Finn. Finn loudly playing the drums when Carole and Chessie's mom were talking. Finn showing him how to play football. Finn trying, and hilariously failing, to teach him how to dance. Finn hugging him goodbye when Chessie was moving away to live with his father.
"I figured I'd find you here," Arcelia smirked as Connor opened the door to his hotel room. She was wearing a red satin slip Connor immediately recognised from Italy.
"It's my room," Connor answered plainly, not getting that that had been the girl's point until she raised her eyebrows at him. "You shouldn't be here."
"I'm not allowed to come see the chaperone if I have a problem?" Arcelia's infuriatingly innocent face was unbearable.
"Just, come in," Connor pulled her inside, checking to see if anyone saw them. When he closed the door behind him and turned to Celia she was already lying on her side in his bed.
"Draw me like one of your French girls?" Celia smirked coyly at Connor who nervously adjusted his tie. In effort to keep away from her he went to the windows to draw all the curtains closed. He hoped she didn't find it encouraging, but he was painfully aware that they were all alone in a hotel room where the most significant piece of furniture was a kingsize bed. A kingsize bed with a beautiful girl in lingerie. Connor went over the the desk and leaned against it, his hands holding onto the edges of it.
"Look, Connor, I just need to talk to you," Celia sat up again on the edge of the bed, facing him head-on. Her hooded eyes had always been unreadable to him, only occasionally did he catch glimpses of her emotions in them. In Italy he had loved those moments of intimacy, when all her walls were down and she freely showed her feelings. Seeing how vulnerable she looked in her thin dress, Connor wished her eyes were unreadable to him again.
"Fine, talk," Connor sighed, but stayed put on the desk.
"I want you," Celia said simply, looking Connor in the eye. "I know that it'll be tough, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes."
Without meaning to Connor found he had crossed the room and was sitting next to her on the bed. Maybe it had something to do with the tears in her eyes. Maybe it had something to do with the ache he felt in his bones. Either way he found his hand cupping her cheek and thumbing away a stray tear.
"I want you too," Connor whispered, letting the statement linger between them, seeing the hope in Celia's eyes. "But I'm still your teacher, it doesn't matter what I feel."
"I could transfer to another class," Celia insisted. "I'll apply to take one of the senior classes, I'll tell them your class isn't challenging enough for me."
"I'm sure it isn't," Connor laughed a little. Looking at her he felt like he had never left Italy, like they had been together ever since and nothing had changed. If he just kept looking at her, maybe he could keep believing it. "If we do this, we need to be careful."
"Aren't I always?" Celia leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on Connor's lips. Before she had fully pulled away Connor crashed back into her and let himself forget all about the changes. In that hotel room, they were all that mattered and nothing had changed.
Monday afternoon Winchester went to the choir room, luckily finding it occupied by the Glee club. They seemed weirdly ecstatic for him to audition. Chessie figured the 12 member rule might have something to do with it.
"Hi, I'm Chessie Sylvers," Winchester introduced himself, polite smile in place. "I'll be singing How to save a life by the Fray."
Step one, you say, "We need to talk."
He walks, you say, "Sit down. It's just a talk."
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came
Winchester stood completely still, a soldier at attention. Despite Kurt coaching him all weekend for the audition, Chessie felt he hadn't heard a word. It wasn't that he was nervous, he just couldn't find any other way to behave that felt natural. He focused instead on the words and on telling the story to the audience.
Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let him know that you know best
'Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
Pray to God, he hears you
And I pray to God, he hears you
Back at the Hudson-Hummel house Kurt was getting ready to leave for New York. Blaine was waiting for him downstairs, but Kurt was taking a last moment in his old room. It was a ritual of his whenever he was home. He would stand by his mother's old dresser, the one he still swore smelled like her perfume. When they had moved in with Finn and Carole Kurt had persuaded Burt to let him have the dresser. The dresser was empty, except for the top two drawers where he kept some of his most precious memorabilia.
And where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came
Winchester eased into the song as it progressed, smiling over his shoulder at the band. He could see smiling faces in the audience, and maybe a few tears, he couldn't be sure.
Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
How to save a life
Kurt gently opened the top left drawer, as he always did, and took out the worn football he kept there. Gently stroking the leather Kurt breathed in the smell of it mixing with the mild scent of his mother's perfume. He considered the ritual his way of saying goodbye to them after visiting. The first few times he had felt a little silly, but he felt such comfort and relief when he spent those few moments with his loved ones that he didn't care anymore.
"Chessie is auditioning for Glee today, Finn," Kurt whispered, feeling a little self-conscious again, but pushing through it. "You'd be really proud of him."
How to save a life
Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
How to save a life
How to save a life
AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review to let me know if you did!