25. Jesse
"Guys! Guys, calm down!" Will tried to make his students shut up, but their yelling at each other was too loud for his voice even to be heard. Brittany was trying to pick her cat up after her girlfriend threw it at Jesse's face. Jesse sat on the piano, smiling while Santana insulted him in Spanish. Tina lost her mind one more time and kept accusing Rachel of orchestrating her ex-boyfriend's comeback (actually, accusations served with hair pulling, lots of hair pulling). Blaine was standing on his chair, trying not to get run over by Artie. Sam recorded the scene for his Senior Year Greatest Hits, a YouTube playlist he started with Rachel's drunken speech at Finn and Quinn's wedding. And Sugar felt excited by all the chaos and tried to make up with Joe, which didn't work because of his Christian chastity, so she had to straddle Rory and French-kiss him so she could satisfy her sexual yearning.
After ten minutes, the only thing that could be heard in the room was Santana's cursing. "I only got three things: that you wanna rip my head off, that if I don't come back to my house you'll punch my guts out and that my mother is some kind of a filthy entrepreneur, right?" Jesse interrupted her. "And you know what's my answer? You're welcome."
Blaine stopped Santana right after she made a fist, lifting her off the floor while she kicked in the air. "Let me go, Frodo or I'll shove you too up this motherfucker's Eye of Sauron!"
"I never thought of Santana as a Ringer," Sam frowned as he remembered the girl's references to The Lord of the Rings.
The little former Warbler put Santana down. "Oh, no, let me do the honors," he answered his friend on his way to strangle Jesse.
The historic leader of Vocal Adrenaline pushed Blaine before he even got to touch his face. "Why don't we solve your problem like civilized stars and social wastes?"
"Mr. Shue, if you're up to this, I'm out," Blaine said to the teacher. Then he headed to the door.
"If you can outsing me, I'll share my solo," Jesse added before the boy walked out of the class.
A big "Oh" drew on each person in the classroom's face. Except on Rachel's. "My first diva-off as a spectator."
"Hot, right?" Sebastian asked Rachel.
The girl covered Sebastian's mouth with her hand. "You don't get to judge JBI." Though he had spent the last four years grossing her out, Rachel kind of liked the way he fed her ego.
Artie raised his hand slowly. "I was supposed to get a solo in the boys' number…"
Jesse held one finger out so that Artie would shut up. "I'll pretend that you haven't said anything, because my morals forbid me to crush handicapped kids. It's cruel and I think I could go to jail. Too many witnesses, sorry." He walked with a cocky air a few steps towards Blaine. "So… what is it gonna be, little Warbler?"
Just two spotlights on the stage of the auditorium. "On the left, Blaine Anderson, leader of the Dalton Academy Warblers for two years, another one as William McKinley's official solo hoarder and current co-captain of the New Directions!" Sam announced as it was a boxing match. "And on the right, Jesse St. James, four consecutive years as male leader of Vocal Adrenaline, four consecutive years being national champion, show choir consultant and coach of the Carmel group of losers that we beat last year in Chicago!"
"You win the most boring National Championship ever and you think you rule the world? A bunch of epileptic girls slaughtering one of Gaga's anthems and Finn Floppy Feet Hudson urinating on Meatloaf's legacy while singing what you all thought were notes on tune." Jesse rolled his eyes. "And, please, does anybody remember the judges? That MVP had 'Rachel Berry' written all over it."
"If that's how you defend your own choir, I don't know what you're capable of saying about us," Blaine said.
"Oh, come on, we all know that Vocal Adrenaline isn't what it used to be since I left." Jesse had to finish his speech because of a shoe that hit his face. "Who did it?!"
Everybody looked at Santana. "If I wanted to throw anything else at this dick it wouldn't be a stone or a piece of dignity."
The boys let the contestants begin with the song, without knowing who the author of such an opportune action was. Except for Artie, who high-fived Will when he noticed his bare left foot.
[Who wants to live forever – Queen]
Blaine:
There's no time for us.
There's no place for us.
What is this thing that builds our dreams
yet slips away from us?
Who wants to live forever?
Blaine with New Directions:
Who wants to live forever?
Blaine:
Oh.
Jesse:
There's no chance for us.
It's all decided for us.
This world has only one sweet moment
set aside for us.
Who wants to live forever?
Jesse with New Directions:
Who wants to live forever?
Oh.
Blaine and Jesse with New Directions:
Who dares to love forever?
Oh!
Jesse:
When love must die.
Blaine felt himself blushing when he couldn't hold the note as long as his opponent. He knew that he had lost the solo, but before jumping off the stage, he found every single pair of eyes in the audience watching him. Supporting him. Even the ones who tried to mutilate his feet.
Blaine and Jesse:
But touch my tears with your lips.
Blaine:
Touch my world with your fingertips.
Blaine and Jesse:
And we can have forever.
Jesse:
And we can love forever.
Blaine and Jesse:
Forever is our today.
Blaine and Jesse with New Directions:
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Blaine and Jesse:
Forever is our today.
Who waits forever anyway?
The group gave them a standing ovation, but it was only one name what they were chanting. And it wasn't Jesse's, of course. He just turned to shake Blaine's hand. And the boy didn't let him hanging. "We have an opening number," Jesse said before walking down the stage. "Rachel, why don't we start working on our duet? Choir room in five, I have to tweet that I've nailed another Queen song and my phone broke again. Damn my musical magnetism, always messing with the devices around me."
"The solo is mine?" Blaine asked astounded from the stage.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. As long as Mr. Schuester approves it. Wait, no, I am the one who makes the calls in here. You can go home, William," Jesse said right before he left the auditorium.
Will rolled his eyes right before Tina intervened, "you know we love you, Mr. Shue, but you kinda deserve this."
"It was your assignment this week to recruit the last member, Tina," the teacher answered. "This is the best thing I could do if you want to go on stage this Saturday."
Rachel stood up. "Let me deal with this, okay? Bring me my emergency helmet and I'll make him come to his senses."
When Rachel Berry came into the choir room, she found Jesse St. James sitting on the piano, playing a very familiar melody. "Hello? Is it me you're looking for?" he sang softly.
She sat on one of the chairs in front of the piano. Her eyes fixed on Jesse's hands as he pressed his fingers against the keys. "I thought we were okay," she said.
Jesse turned to look at Rachel. "And we are. You and I are so okay."
"Then why are you doing this to us?" she asked calmly.
The boy stood up and walked towards his ex-girlfriend. "Because I've been asked to win you guys this championship, and if I lose, there's no lead on a Broadway show for me. You win, I win. What's the best chance we have to win? Me. And you. So? My solo, your solo and our duet, the one we should start rehearsing right now. Not that we need to rehearse anything, we are masters of impromptu performances, but… let's use our valuable time giving this mucky walls some high quality music."
Rachel shook her head. "No, Jesse, I'm not gonna sing a duet with you," she replied sourly.
"Your solo, then?"
"No."
Jesse sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Since when do you reject solos?! Who are you and what did you do to Rachel Berry?"
Rachel bit her bottom lip and looked into her once man's eyes. "That's the difference between us, Jesse. We know we are these people's best chance of winning. In fact, we are their golden tickets to Nationals, Internationals or Galactics if needed, but this is not the way we roll anymore." She kept shaking her head, refusing to agree with Jesse. "They want to win by themselves. And… let's face it, our time is over."
"What do you mean?" He frowned, surprised by Rachel's consistency. "Our time? Over? Please, Rachel, stars never die."
"They just implode and turn into black holes. Black and needy holes of attention. We both had our moments and won our championships. Let them win theirs."
Jesse burst into laughter. "Oh, God, Rachel, please. Then what are you doing here if your choir days have already passed by?"
Rachel's face turned darker. Her expression was bluer, giving off some sort of sorrow that Jesse wasn't used to seeing in that girl. "This is the only place in the world I'd like to be in until I come back to New York. This is my house, Jesse, and you're breaking in just for your selfish purposes. They're my friends, and they have dreams. The same dreams you and I had."
"Don't tell me this gang of half-deaf kids wants to audition for NYADA."
Rachel nodded. "And they could get in, if you don't steal their credits from their résumés."
Jesse sat next to her. "Can I be honest? You wanna know the thing that bums me out the most about you? That you don't appreciate the things you have."
Rachel stood and shouted, "Jesse! I told you! I'm not gonna take a part on your ego charade."
"I was the one who got you into NYADA. I talked to Carmen Tibideaux herself and I practically sold my soul for you. I didn't made it by myself, you neither, and they? You can give them ten hundred solos, but that's not going to change the fact that what you're doing is putting their hopes and dreams under the fire ten hundred times."
That was it. Rachel saw Jesse's pain for the first time since they had met. She could see everything clearly now. "Really? You did that for me? Even when you couldn't do anything for yourself?"
"You were outstanding in Chicago, but that wasn't your best song, you could have done something much more spectacular." He grinned, trying to hide his feelings again behind his thick veil of sarcasm and superiority complex.
Rachel sat back down and held Jesse's hands. "I really didn't know it."
"Why would you? The only thing I regret is not stopping you from leaving." He made a pause and gave Rachel a disappointment face. "Seriously, Rach? Leaving NYADA for… Ohio?"
"I didn't leave; it's just a gap year. I'll be there next September and I'll crush them all while you're the next it-boy on Broadway. So what you did for me is not going to be wasted, though you'll wish that you had never done it the day that Hurricane Berry hits Broadway."
They both laughed. It was all coming back to them. All the moments of gold and all the flashes of light. They were a mythical couple. They could have been so big, so amazing together. But they didn't. And they knew it as their own names. And when they looked into each other's eyes and read… it all definitely came back at Jesse's kiss.
