"We're going to win" said Rachel, tying her hair in a pony tail. "I never lose."

"Not even your virginity, Berry!" added Santana. She and Quinn rolled with laughter.

Rachel proudly raised her head, and grabbed Kurt's hand. His body was shaking.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Rach" he whispered looking down at his green fluorescent pants. Why the hell did he put them on? He was never going to look like Mika!

"Kurt, relax!" said Rachel, surprised. "I've never seen you like this before.. you're always excited before a performance, but in a good way! What scares you so much?"

"I don't know.." he was sincere. He really had no idea why he was so upset. It couldn't just be because of the weird clothes.. he used to dress even queerer, when he wanted. And he didn't even give much thought to what Finn would have said if he had sung with his girlfriend, because he had already done this with Rachel.. yes, they had sung Happy days are here again, by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. Kurt remembered that day; he was very sad because no one had teamed up with him for the duet competition, and he had lost, despite his amazing interpretation of Le jazz hot. And Rachel had told him that, even if he felt lonely, he wasn't alone, and she had offered to sing with him. Kurt hadn't liked her much until then, but since that day they had been good friends, and now that they had to sing together again he was acting like a shy little boy terribly stage frightened.

"Look at me" said Rachel, fierce and proud as a girl dressed in a fake-slices-of-pizza-dress could be, "I didn't write the most awesome mash up ever to let you throw this, ok? We've practiced a lot, we're ready, I also agreed on wearing this stupid dress you designed for me!"

"Nothing attracts people as much as pizza does" replied Kurt with a tiny smile. "And it's unisex."

"Right" said Rachel, nodding. "So, are you giving up now?"

Kurt took a deep breath and said: "No. Let's do this"

Rachel's mouth widened in a big smile. "Mr Sue, we're ready to start!"

The music began to play, and the two teens danced and sang perfectly. They caught the attention of everyone in the room, and also Sue was watching them from the door in the hallway (of course her intention was to spy on them, but Kurt had sewed Rachel's dress with plastic slices of pizza, so that Sue couldn't have objected accusing them of wasting food).

When the song was over, Kurt's fear was completely gone, and he found himself smiling at Rachel and holding her hands, just like the week before in his bedroom. She was peacefully beautiful, and her small hands were imprisoned in his, but she didn't seem to dislike it. A moment of silence before the claps started. It was hard for Kurt to stop looking into Rachel's eyes, after singing that song with her, but he took all his strength and turned around and looked at his friends. Rachel was instead facing the ground, like if she had just noticed her shoes.

"Amazing, guys, well done!" exclaimed Will, truly impressed. "I really liked the way you mashed these two songs up, and the costumes are great"

"Thank you" said Kurt with a huge smile, bowing a little.

"Yes, thank you" repeated Rachel, more in a whisper. She kept looking at the ground.

They sat down and waited for the next Glee Club member to audition. After them, Mercedes sang My heart will go on, by Celine Dion; she was amazing. Tina and Mike performed Make them laugh; she had rearranged the song in her key, and Mike danced around her all the time. Brittany and Artie sang My first kiss, by 3OH!3 and Ke§ha. Rachel was getting anxious, since there were only left Quinn, Sam (who would have probably sung together), Puck, Lauren (same thing), Santana and Finn. Since Rachel had sung with Kurt, Finn might have felt free to pick another partner, and Santana was the only girl available. She was known for being a slut, and Rachel wouldn't have liked her fooling around with her boyfriend. Anyway, Finn auditioned on his own, and Rachel's doubts got lost.

"I'm singing BB good, by the Jonas Brothers" he said with a shrug.

"Dude, how gay!" exclaimed Puck, while Lauren laughed out loud.

"Quiet, please!" Mr Shuester sat down with the kids and said: "Go on, Finn"

The music started, and Finn began to sing. He hadn't worked much on that: it wasn't neither original, nor a mash up, and he didn't even change the key because it was fine with him. You could tell that he had worked on his own; when he worked with Rachel, everything was perfect and sort of personalized. But sadly, thought Kurt, Finn had a remarkable voice. And it was so obvious that he was singing to Rachel that when the lyrics went "I don't wanna hurt you, I wanna kiss you!", she stood up, kissed his cheek and clapped her hands following the rhythm.

"Sweet" whispered Rachel to Finn's ear, once that the song was over.

"Fight over?" asked Finn with puppy eyes. Rachel hesitated for a moment; she looked at Kurt, who was faking indifference checking out his nails. Then she looked back at Finn, smiled and said:

"Sure. I'm very sorry for letting you do this awful performance on your own. Next time, we'll work together. I promise." And then she hugged him. Finn was obviously confused, but he hugged her back.

Kurt was burning up inside. How could she forget him, just like that? He wasn't the one who had sang with her that mash up which everyone in the room loved! He wasn't the one who had danced with her dressed up like a multicolored freak! He wasn't the one who spent over 6 hours sewing her fake-pizza-dress not to get her scolded by Coach Sylvester! He didn't even had blue eyes!

While Kurt's mind was going through this storm, Rachel and Finn sat back down, and Mr Shuester called Quinn and Sam, who had prepared a mash up of Don't touch, by Tata Young, and Only the good die young, by Billy Joel.

"Zoom zoom in under my skin,

gotta slow down now to begin,

baby, don't rush..

you can look but don't touch"

Quinn's voice really reminded Kurt of Tata Young's, and he would have made Rachel notice that, if she hadn't been busy making out with Finn. Dammit.

"Come out, Virginia,

don't let me wait,

you Catholic girls

start much too late.."

Sam was singing and dancing around Quinn, exactly like Finn's fingers were wandering through Rachel's hair.. Kurt didn't miss a single move.

"You wanna get somewhere,

then boy don't touch me there..

just get up close and personal.."

"But that never hurt no one..

So come on, Virginia!"

Kurt was in totally agreement with Quinn; that Billy Joel might have been a womanizer, but Finn needed to get his hands off Rachel right now. Meanwhile Sam was singing..:

"The stained glass curtain

you're hiding behind

never lets in the sun.."

"Zoom zoom in, to my head,

gotta want me and not my bed.."

"Darling, only the good die young!"

"Boy, prove your love.."

"Yes, Finn, prove your love!" thought Kurt, angry. "Where were you when Rachel needed you?"

"Your hands are all over the place,

I barely know your name..

you're trying to score but it's not a game!" Quinn was singing very well that day.

"I'd rather laugh with the sinners

than cry with the saints.." and so was Sam. They were both great. Too bad Kurt wasn't paying attention at all. Rachel was trying to listen, but Finn kept kissing her neck without any regard.

"The sinners are much more fun.."

"Boy, get a clue, spend the time,

pay your dues, following the rules,

if you want me to want to be with you.."

"Come out, come out, come out,

Virginia, don't let me wait!

You Catholic girls start much too late!"

Rachel was trying to push Finn away, amused but also kind of pissed because she wanted to hear the song.

"Set to know me, boy, don't rush,

if you want me, boy, don't touch"

"Sooner or later it comes down to fate,

and I might as well will be the one.."

"Stop it, Finn.." whispered Rachel. Kurt didn't miss that either. He widened his eyes.. Quinn kept singing:

"Don't you dare touch me there,

if you want to get somewhere!"

Sam was about to sing: "You know that only the good die young", but Kurt had stood up and jumped on Finn.

"What are you doing?" yelled Rachel, standing up as well.

Kurt, who was punching Finn's face, stopped and looked at her; he didn't know what to say.

"Geez, Kurt!" said Finn pressing his hand to his bleeding nose, "You could have told me that you couldn't see the performance, we would have moved somewhere else!"

Kurt's heart started beating faster, as he finally got an excuse. "Yes, sorry about that" he mumbled. He turned around and looked at Quinn and Sam. "It's just that.. I really liked your mash up" he added.

Quinn raised an eyebrow, but a smile appeared on Sam's face, as he said: "Thanks a lot, Kurt!"

Kurt weakly smiled back, while he raised from ground and flattened his hair. When Mr Shuester had called them to order and thanked Sam and Quinn, it was Santana's turn to sing. And then Puck and Lauren's.

Almost everyone had forgotten about Kurt's moment of madness, but not Rachel. She was sitting next to Finn, who was holding her hand but nothing less innocent than that, and she was staring at Kurt with a perplexed expression. She found it slightly credible that Kurt wanted to see Quinn and Sam's performance so bad that he had to jump on Finn, when he could have simply asked him to move aside.

"Not like it would have worked" she thought; "Finn was so busy at the time that even my complaints couldn't stop him.." Then she realized one thing she hadn't thought about before: she did want him to stop touching her. Why? She should have been in seventh heaven for making peace with her boyfriend. Yes, he hadn't sung the mash up she had written because he was afraid of what people would have said, but he had dedicated BB good to her. That was sweet. And if he hadn't refused to do the mash up, she wouldn't have worked with Kurt, and the song would have been a disaster.. and Rachel wanted to win. Then she thought that, besides how sweet BB good had been, Finn would have never won the audition, so, if Rachel had got the lead singer part, they wouldn't have sung together anyway. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that Kurt was staring at her with his arms crossed on his chest. He had a lot to think about too: what had just happened to him? Why did he jump on Finn like that? He obviously didn't care much about Quinn and Sam, since he was sure he and Rachel were going to win the audition. So what had really bothered him? Retracing the events, he remembered that he hadn't liked much when Rachel had kissed Finn's cheek, and even less when they had made out right under his eyes. He massaged his temple; maybe he was lying to himself and he still had feelings for Finn. He had liked him for over one year, after all, as Rachel had said. Kurt looked down at Finn, who was staring at Santana's butt, while she was shaking right it in front of him. He was almost drooling. Kurt shook his head. No way he had feelings for such a moron. Then his eyes followed Finn's arm, down, till his hand was intertwined with Rachel's. Kurt gazed at their hands for a few seconds, then he looked up at her arm, her shoulder, her face.. her face? Shouldn't he see her hair, since he was setting behind her? Instead, he found himself lost into her beautiful brown eyes, again. Rachel was looking at him too, and this made Kurt's heart race. She hesitated for a moment, and then smiled to him.

Kurt was gladder than ever to see her smile, because it meant that she wasn't angry for hitting her boyfriend. And it was a perfectly beautiful smile. He smiled back, cursing himself when he felt his cheek redding. Why did have to blush right now? Rachel didn't seem to notice anyway, because she smiled a little bit longer and then she turned her head and looked at Santana. As her hair fell back on her shoulders, Kurt loudly sighed.