13. Joe

"Have you ever felt so out of place that you don't even know where you are or what you're doing?"

Joe's first week and a half had been… how to explain it? Gray. Everybody there was having their ups and downs, their lights and their shadows, their new romances and the stinky corpses of their walking-dead past relationships. But what about Joe? His only friend was his first crush, and she was almost 600 miles away.

Nothing ever happened, just a duet and a few verses looking into each other's eyes. But it wasn't enough for a boy whose romantic/sexual/social experience was limited to the pajama parties he had thrown with his stuffed animals and biblical action figures when he was five. Actually, they kept going on until Joe grew his pubic hair, but that's something nobody needs to know, for his reputation's sake.

Spending the summer in a Christian camp didn't help him either. Last year he didn't made so many friends, and being totally isolated from the real world made him even more lonely that September.

"Excuse me, what did you say?"

Joe had resorted to Emma. He needed some serious guidance. His adaptation to studying in a public school wasn't too bad. He wasn't bullied, his grades didn't go down… his one and only problem was his social department.

"I asked you if you have ever felt so out of place that…" he repeated.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry," Emma interrupted him. Her head wasn't too focused. Her wedding was in two weeks and she, as usual, needed to have everything under control, which wasn't the case. At all. "Well… who hasn't at some time?"

She started going through her pamphlets, handing Joe a few. "'Newbie boy misses his toy'? In case you need help with your transition from the homeschooling…"

Joe shook his head in response. "Already over that."

"'Proud of who I am'?"

"Mrs. Pillsbury… I am not… gay."

"Oh." Emma was running out of ideas. "Any food disorder?"

He was starting to get tired of not being listened even by someone who was paid for it. "I don't have friends."

Emma smiled and put out the right pamphlet. "This is it: 'Loner detox – 12 easy steps'. I got the alcohol, the cocaine, the Blackberry and the Facebook edition, in case you need it."

"Mrs. Pillsbury, I don't need a handbook, I need… references. Don't public schools have some kind of students catalogue?"

"John, this is not an adoption agency. You have to go out there and find your BFF. It's not that complicated." Emma smiled widely, trying to get rid of a boy whose name she didn't even know.

Joe picked up his dignity from the floor and walked away. "Yeah, thank you so much, Mrs. Pillsbury."

He was going through his bag on his way to the choir room when he bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry, I was minding…" Then he looked up and found… "Quinn!"

Quinn wrapped his arms around Joe's neck, kissing him hello on his cheek. "What did I tell you about not paying attention while walking?" She chuckled. "It's okay, just tell me how you're doing."

Joe laughed foolishly, he couldn't be happier with Quinn's visit. "I talked to you yesterday. What… what are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me that you were coming?!"

"Because," Quinn started as she held Joe's hand to take him to the choir room, "my dear friend, that's what surprises are about."

When Joe and Quinn came into the classroom with their fingers intertwined everybody muttered.

"What the biggest fuck?!" Artie's words echoed in the silent room.

They quickly let go of each other's hands.. "Oh, no, no, no." Quinn laughed as she held her arms out.

Sam and Rachel went and hugged her. She hugged them back. "And you two should have called me more often. Actually, call me at all." She smiled while pulling back. "Anyway, how are you doing?"

"Here we go again," Tina said as she hugged Quinn hello.

"Yes, here we go again," Rachel spitted. "I was in New York, but then Finn and I…"

Quinn interrupted her with a light chuckle. "I know, silly." She stuck her tongue out. "It was just a polite question. Anyway, sit down, there's something I need to tell all of you."

"Go to the bathroom," Blaine whispered in Rachel's ear when she sat next to him.

"What?" she answered.

"You don't want to be here when everything happens."

"Blaine, just tell what's happening and stop talking like in an end-of -days movie."

The former Warbler was having a hunch, but it was too late. Finn walked into the choir room welcomed with cheers and ovations. Every single person in the room joined the group hug started off by Rory, except for Quinn, Sebastian, Blaine, Rachel, Brittany and Santana. That last one turned to talk to Rachel. "You should really teach your boy to talk lower or obey him like I'm sure you do in bed. That's the only way you two have fun. M," she sang/quoted Rihanna's song.

Rachel frowned until it hurt. "What are you talking about?" She was figuring out where they were aiming at. And when she saw Quinn's evil look, everything made sense. "Quinn… is everything alright?" she asked as she walked closer to her… friend?

"Okay, okay, sit down and look under your chairs," Finn said as he tried to catch his breath after the tight, tight and long hug.

The whole gang sat and brought pearl-color envelopes from under their seats.

"Why is there a nude picture of me with a peanut on my crotch?" Sebastian asked when he opened the card.

"It's not a peanut, it's your dick and it has already been retweeted 1563 times." Finn looked down at his phone. "1564. Congrats."

"Classy revenge, love it," he replied back.

"Again. What the biggest even bigger than the one before FUCK?!" Artie exclaimed.

Ten pairs of eyes staring at Finn and Quinn who were wrapping their arms around each other's waists with great and shiny smiles on their faces.

[Killing me softly with his song – Roberta Flack]

Rachel:
Strumming my pain with his fingers.

Joe and Rachel:
Singing my life with his words.

Joe and Rachel with New Directions backing up:
Killing me softly with his song.
Killing me softly with his song.
Telling my whole life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.

Rachel's eyes got filled with truly painful tears. A few fell on her pleated skirt, another bunch of them burned her eyes from the inside out. Joe just couldn't react. His happiest day since he got back to school turned into the day when his heart got trampled on the floor.

Joe:
I heard she sang a good song.
I heard she had a style.
And so I came to see her.

To listen for a while
And there she was this young girl.
A stranger to my eyes.

Joe and Rachel:
Strumming my pain with his fingers.
Singing my life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.
Killing me softly with his song.
Telling my whole life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.

Rachel:
I felt all flushed with fever
embarrassed by the crowd.
I felt he found my letters
and read each one out loud.
I prayed that he would finish,
but he just kept right on.

Joe and Rachel:
Strumming my pain with his fingers.
Singing my life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.
Killing me softly with his song.
Telling my whole life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.

Rachel:
He sang as if he knew me
in all my dark despair.
And then he looked right through me
as if I wasn't there.
And he just kept on singing,
singing clear and strong.

Joe and Rachel with New Directions:
Strumming my pain with his fingers.
Singing my life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.
Killing me softly with his song.
Telling my whole life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.

Rachel:
Oh.

Joe and Rachel:
La la la la la la.
Oh.
La la la.
Na-ah-ah-ah.

Strumming my pain with his fingers.
Singing my life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.
Killing me softly with his song.
Telling my whole life with his words.
Killing me…

Joe with New Directions:
She was strumming my pain.

Rachel with New Directions:
Yeah, he was singing my life.

Joe and Rachel with New Directions:
Killing me softly with his song.
Killing me softly with his song.
Telling my whole life with his words.
Killing me softly with his song.

Joe found himself staring at a crowd of students kissing and hugging the merry couple. His feelings were far away from happiness. A hole of emptiness away, to be more accurate. What were all those nights up on the phone about? It was all in his head or she just used him?

Finn looked for Rachel's eyes between the congratulations and the dudes-I-can't-believe-its. Everybody tossing his hair and all he could think about was the broken girl crying her heart out on her way out of the classroom. Finn could get rid of his friends and followed Rachel, who was already being followed by Blaine. Anyway Finn had to hurry up if he didn't want Quinn to find out about her absence. He didn't need her following him. Too conga-like for a sad/happy moment, depending on the beholder.

"Can you leave me alone with her for a moment, buddy?" Finn asked Blaine when he reached the short boy.

"Of course not." Blaine stood up in front of someone much taller than him, making him feel incredibly small and weak, but he grew a pair and faced him. "I left once, but I won't do it twice. You've fucked her enough, Finn."

"Who the hell do you think you are, Blaine?" Finn pushed him. "Get the fuck out of here. This is none of your business."

Blaine didn't push back. He stood there, looking into Finn's eyes. What was going on? "When did you start pushing people away to get what you aren't supposed to have?" He stepped forward, his head as high as his neck allowed him.

"Get out of my way, Kevin Costner. I'm not kidding."

"Come on, big boy. You've been waiting for this moment since last year. You and me, face to face. Break my nose; beat the shit out of me."

Things were getting a little reckless when Rachel walked out of the bathroom. "If you lay a hand on him you're dead to me, Finn Hudson," she warned with trembling voice.


Meanwhile in the choir room, everybody kept celebrating. When the kids finally calmed down, Quinn looked around and didn't find his fiancé. "You see? You've scared Finn away!" she laughed along with her friends. "In the meantime," Quinn sat on a stool, "I need some bridesmaids, and I've been told that I can find them here." She took another glance at the choir room, where all the girls were raising her hands. "Where's… where's Rachel?" Her eyes half closed, her heart raced and she started cursing deep down in her mind.

The moment Quinn began to head to the door, Santana stopped her, fully aware of what was about to happen. "Let me go find her while you tell these people every single detail, okay?" She pushed Quinn back to the middle of the choir room and ran angling for Finn and Rachel.

What she wasn't expecting to find was the scene she found: Blaine and Finn yelling at each other while Rachel cried standing still in the middle of the hallway. "What the fuck is going on here?" She didn't let them reply. "I don't care. You two," she pointed to the boys, "do you know what it's like to have your house on fire? I know, it happens too often in Lima Heights. But that's not my point. Get your lame asses back to the choir room as if it was on fire and you had to take your broke and sad family out of it. And if Quinn asks, you, Chubbers, were comforting McGellyGelly Bowties because he's very emotional after Kurt's visit and the whole wedding things is very touching."

"I'm not gonna cover this motherfuc…" Blaine tried to reply.

Santana put his lips back together. "If LucyFer finds out that his amorphous boyfriend is still chasing Berry, she's gonna eat your tiny lover's head, you get it, eyebrows?"

Both Finn and Blaine walked to the choir room without saying another word to each other.

"And you…" Santana walked towards Rachel. When she looked up and revealed her tomato-red eyes, the former head-of-bitches couldn't do anything but hug her. "Can you be a little bit more obvious? Because you are so close to breaking Tina's record of tears per square mile."

Rachel leaned into the hug. "Thank you," she whispered, her head on Santana's shoulder. "I… I…" She couldn't say a word. How could she when she couldn't even breathe?

Santana stepped back and dried Rachel's tears from her face. "You are going to chin up and not let Quinn know that you are totally shitted, okay?"

"You don't have to do this, Santana," Rachel said while she fixed her make-up.

"I have the feeling that if, and only if you and that dungeon troll come back together the natural order of human life and space will be restored. Call me crazy, call me romantic, call me maybe, whatever, but we know how this damn mess began."

Rachel smiled weakly. "And how are we supposed to accomplish that heroic duty?"

"Lima Heights style."

"I'm not good at physical confrontation, Santana."

"Lima Heights is not all about violence and extreme survival, it's about low-budget love too."