Author's Notes: Hi guys, here's chapter 5 for this story. I'm hoping that as this story progresses, I could gather more reviews for this story. I'd love to get more feedback and perhaps story ideas for this. I'd love to make this more interactive. Reviews for my other story "Expecting" are also highly appreciated, since they help in the story and so far, I've gotten fabulous ideas for the story from you lovely readers!
I enjoyed writing this chapter, since it slowly opens the story to a whole myriad of possibilities for Tina and Mike. It also opens connecting factors between the two, which I enjoyed. It allowed me to put to test all the Mandarin I learned earlier this year from my stint in Shanghai, China. I've placed Chinese-English translations, just to make things more authentic and real.
I've already written out chapters six to seven, and I'll have those out next week, after my operation. Things are going along quite nicely, and I'm loving it. I hope you are enjoying this story as well.
Happy reading, people!
Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Fox.
"What's that?" Mercedes asked during lunch on Monday, watching Tina pour over papers with foreign markings on them. The group watched as Tina looked from the sheets to her iPhone, to a thick book, before cursing under her breath and sighing.
"Are you trying to decipher the coming of the apocalypse or something?" Artie asked amused, watching her frown at the sheets, her lunch forgotten.
"Huh? What?" Tina looked up, and offered her friends a confused stare.
"Is that the Da Vinci code?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, this?" Tina shuffled the sheets and tried to arrange the mess she made. She frowned when she found a sauce stain on one of the sheets. "These are Chinese songs. My grandmother wants me to sing some songs during the reception,"
Mercedes looked interested as she stared at the Chinese sheet music. "Really? We never heard you sing Chinese, or speak Chinese for that matter?"
"I heard her speak Chinese," piped in Artie. "They sometimes speak Mandarin at home,"
Tina looked at Artie and nodded. "Yeah, we do. Though I'm not really that good," she sighed and looked at the sheets. "There are a couple of traditional Chinese characters that I don't understand. It kind of becomes confusing, so I'm checking with my pocket translator and this dictionary," she pointed at her iPhone and the thick dictionary. "My grandmother really wants to hear Chinese songs, and the old ones she gave me are kind of difficult,"
"Girl, this all looks like a bunch of scribbles to me," Mercedes grinned at her, checking out the sheets.
Tina chuckled and nodded her head in agreement. Chewing thoughtfully on her apple, she looked at the Chinese characters. "Yeah, sometimes I think so too,"
The group fell into an idle conversation about fashion and music as they slowly went through lunch. Occasionally joining the talk, Tina fiddled with her iPhone trying to make sense of some traditional Chinese characters.
"Is it okay if we join you guys?"
The group stopped talking and looked up, surprised to see Mike and Matt standing next to their table with lunch trays in their hands. They looked confused why the two of them were standing there, considering that they usually sat with the other jocks.
Kurt looked confused. "Not to be rude, but, why?"
Matt shrugged and offered a sheepish grin. "Other tables are full," he nodded his head to the popular side of the lunchroom. And true enough, the tables were packed. "Not that we don't want to hang with you guys ordinarily, it's just that…uh,"
"Time to mix it up a little?" Mike grinned in an effort to save Matt.
"Just sit down you two before you embarrass yourselves further," announced Mercedes, moving her tray to make room for the two. Everybody else on the table did the same, with Tina making extra effort with all the sheets of paper settled around her.
"Cool, thanks," The two guys sat down next to Tina and Mercedes.
There was a moment of awkward silence around the table as everybody settled back down and tried to accommodate the new additions to the table. Kurt spared the two guys a glance before turning back to Mercedes and clearing his throat. "So as I was saying. TMZ caught Marc Jacobs wearing a skirt the other night. If Marc Jacobs starts wearing a skirt, it's a sign that men will be wearing skirts soon. I think I can so rock that look,"
Tina looked amused, looking up from her sheet music. "Don't guys wear skirts in Scotland for centuries already? That really didn't catch on anywhere else,"
Kurt frowned at her. "Those are kilts. That's traditional. We're talking about Marc Jacobs here, he's a fashion icon who can easily change society's perception of style,"
"It ought to be nice wearing a kilt," interjected Matt all of the sudden, looking thoughtful. Catching everybody's shocked expression, he quickly explained, sitting up straighter and waiving his arms for emphasis. "You know! It allows more movement, nothing too tight, uh, down there,"
"Oh god, no!" Mercedes watched in a cross of scandalized horror and amusement as Matt grinned and limply hung his hand in the air, and allowed it to sway back and forth.
"Dude!" Artie and Mike both laughed, clearly amused at Matt's antics.
Tina dropped her mouth and watched the hand swinging motion in amusement, letting out a small bark of laughter. Kurt on the other hand looked scandalized and stabbed his baked potato with conviction. "That is no way to talk about Marc Jacobs,"
Tina grinned widely, leaning over the table to look at Kurt. "I heard that in Scotland some guys don't wear underwear under their kilts,"
"Ah, a nice and refreshing breeze," Matt said with a fake Scottish accent and once again swung his hand in the air.
The table erupted into laughter, and Kurt looked outraged though slowly allowing a small smile to form on his lips. Shifting in his seat after the laughter slowly settled down, a smug smile played on his lips. He offered Mike, Matt and Artie a knowing smile. "I shall revel in the day when skirts become an in thing for men and laugh at your foolishness for today,"
"As long as we wear underwear," Mike grinned.
"Please," Kurt rolled his eyes and went back to his lunch. Shaking her head in amusement, Tina dropped her half eaten apple onto her tray and went back to her sheet music. The sooner she got through it all, the sooner she could start memorizing the song.
"Hey, that's Chinese," commented Mike, leaning into her and looking at the familiar characters. "Cool,"
"Yeah, my grandmother wants me to sing a few Chinese songs for my sister's wedding reception," Tina made a face. "There are some characters that I don't understand. My character recognition skills are horrible. Dad really wasn't all too happy about that,"
Mike perked up and looked at the sheets. "Hah," he grinned, picking up a sheet and looking at it in amusement. "I know this song,"
Tina looked at him with interest. "You do?" She snatched the sheet music and looked at the title. "Yue liang dai biao wo de xin (The moon represents my heart). You actually know this song?"
Mike shrugged. "My mom loves that song," His face scrunched up. "She and my dad play it sometimes in the living room, and then they just dance to it,"
She laughed. "Good," She laid the paper in between them. Looking at him in amusement, she grinned. "You're going to help me figure out some of these characters."
Mike laughed and took her pen. "Ah, ni kan bu dong hanzi ma?" He grinned at her cheekily. ("You don't understand Chinese characters?")
Tina looked indignant and frowned at him playfully. "Are you mocking me?"
"Shenme?" ("What?")
Tina laughed. "You are!" Squinting her eyes, she offered him her game face and grabbed her pen from his hands and pocked his shoulder with it. "Wo hui shuo hanyu. Keshi you ci wo kan bu dong hanzi, yinwei hanzi hen nan. Wode nanqing de shihou wo xueguo hanyu danshi wo changchang wangle hanzi," ("I can speak Mandarin. But there are times that I don't understand the Chinese characters because they are so difficult to remember. When I was still a kid, I studied Mandarin, but I just keep forgetting most of the Chinese characters,")
"Are you guys speaking in code or something?" asked Matt, as the rest of the group stared at the duo with an incredulous expression.
"Oh you're good!" Mike laughed. He took the pen out of her hands, and started underlining some of the traditional Chinese characters. "My grandparents made me study the traditional characters, so you're in luck that I didn't forget them. Unlike you,"
Tina made a face at him. "It's hard memorizing all of these characters,"
"See, this one is 'men'. You can tell by these characters that are like a door, and it looks just a little bit like the modern 'men' character," Mike scribbled under the Chinese character with Tina watching him closely.
The rest of the table watched in fascination as the two Asians suddenly fell into a deep conversation, teaching each other Chinese words. Mercedes shared a look with Kurt, both bearing a worried expression on their faces, before quickly glancing at Artie who looked at Mike and Tina intently.
"What is going on?" asked Mercedes, turning back to Mike and Tina, who laughed at something Mike said.
"I have no idea," Kurt breathed. "I have no idea,"
Mike and Tina's Chinese session led well into the afternoon when they sat together in their advance Algebra and biology classes. By the time school was over, Mike had successfully helped Tina through the entire song.
"Thanks, Mike," Tina smiled at him as she shut her locker and hoisted her bag over her shoulder. "My grandmother would absolutely love you,"
Mike chuckled and nodded her head. "Anytime," He watched her stuff some sheet music into her bag. "If you need any more help, I'm your guy,"
Looking up, staring at him through a curtain of black hair, Tina smiled and nodded her head in agreement. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind,"
Mike watched her and tentatively reached out and very carefully brushed the curtain of hair away from her face. Swallowing, he smiled shyly at her and tucked the hair behind her ear. "Good,"
Tina felt her breath catch in her throat as his hand brushed against the side of her face. Blushing, she swallowed and stared at him with bated breath. "Hmm,"
Mike blushed, cleared his throat, and straightened. "Err," he breathed, shifting his gaze to the row of lockers across of them. "Right, I think it's time to go home. Homework, Spanish, Algebra,"
Tina let out a nervous chuckle and nodded at him. "Right, homework," While heading out the doors, Tina smiled to herself. Turning her head, she caught Mike staring at her, and they both shared a small smile. All seemed good.
A/N: Please review and share your thoughts! I'd love to read what you think.