Chapter Three: It's Hard Not To Feel Optimistic
Kurt stared at his computer screen, watching Cabaret, wishing he had a young Michael York to himself. He didn't understand Sally Bowles. He was going to marry her and raise a kid with her, and she goes and ruins it by having an abortion. He didn't understand why people threw things away like that. Why would someone throw away a life with Michael York? Why would someone cheat on Finn? Or quit the Cheerios?
He had been feeling extremely glum ever since Finn and Rachel left for Paris. He had been in denial that Finn would actually end up going until he actually left. He didn't understand it at all. He had been there for Finn when he needed him the most, he let Finn borrow his Dad. He was cute, funny, smart, well-dressed, popular and he was a great singer. What more could a guy want? After everything he did to try and make Finn his, getting their parents together, dressing Rachel up like a hooker, helping him tell Quinn's parents about the baby, singing "I Honestly Love You." And now Finn was in one of the most romantic cities in the world with a diva who dressed like a Mormon Sunday School teacher and managed to be more obnoxious than those annoying teenagers in Slasher movies you keep hoping will die a gruesome death.
He thought he had gotten over the fact that Finn and Rachel were officially an item and that Finn didn't want him. But this Paris trip was too much. And since Finn's Mom now lived with them, he was hearing about it daily. Finn kept sending post-cards and pictures and e-mails. He was having a wonderful time, of course. They'd seen a bunch of shows and movies and concerts, seen all the sights. Then they had headed to the Riviera and went to the beach during the day and at night went to parties. The worst was Finn sending Ms. Hudson a picture of him and Rachel that a photographer took at one of these big parties. They were standing on steps like the ones from Titanic. It was a masked ball and Rachel was wearing an uncharacteristically gorgeous green dress with a peacock feather mask that Kurt wished he could wear without feeling weird. Finn was in a tux, cape, and had the Phantom of the Opera mask. It was just too much.
He wanted to be happy for them, he really, really did. He wanted to e mature, move on, and be glad that they were happy. But he was still a teenager, damn it, and when you're the lone gay kid going through high school you had enough to deal with without trying to be mature. He hated that he was still hung up on Finn, because the more he thought about it, the more he realized it wouldn't have worked even if Finn had been willing to date him. Even if they had gotten together, Finn would have hidden it from anyone, and Kurt never liked to hide a good thing, it would have been weird since they were practically step-brothers, and the fact was they had little in common. Finn didn't know anything about musicals, fashion, classic films, interior design, social activism or any of the things Kurt was interested in. What things could they do together that they both liked. While Kurt liked playing football, he really didn't have any interest in it beyond that. He had no interest in following the NFL teams or watching games. Watching sports on TV was insanely boring to him. He had grown out of video games when he was twelve, had no interest in basketball whatsoever, was freaked out by porn, found Westerns boring, and really wasn't all that into mainstream rock. What would they have to talk about besides school, football and glee? Besides, while Kurt found Finn's slow wits charming, he had no doubt that he would eventually find it annoying. It just wouldn't have worked out, even if Finn wasn't straight.
It did mystify him, though, that he was so happy with Rachel. What did they have to talk about? Glee and school, yes, but they couldn't talk about football because Rachel didn't know jack shit about it. Kurt at least knew the game, being on the team. Rachel didn't know anything. She did have more of an interest in mainstream rock, that was true, and she did support his athletic pursuits even though she didn't know the first thing about them. Observing them, Kurt was actually shocked at how much Rachel resisted talking about herself when they were together. Even though they seemed very happy together, there was just something about their relationship that Kurt found painful.
Kurt was so pissed at Jesse for being such a prick and ruining his relationship with Rachel. When he and Rachel got together, Kurt thought they were a match made in heaven and that Rachel was finally out of the picture. He thought Rachel had finally found someone as self-centered, vain, narcissistic, obsessed with musical theater, divalicious and, yes, talented, as she herself was and that she would be done with Finn. After all, Jesse was insanely good-looking. Finn was cute too, but Jesse was drop dead gorgeous.
Kurt might have been attracted to Jesse if he wasn't so openly self-obsessed and arrogant, didn't sing for Vocal Adrenaline, and didn't steal his solos. He definitely understood why Rachel fell for him, though. An insanely gorgeous popular straight guy who liked to sing and talk about musicals and divas as much as she did? But some time after Jesse transferred to McKinley, Kurt start to realize that their relationship might end badly. He had thought when he met Jesse that he was just as self-centered, vain, narcissistic, obsessed with musical theater, divalicious and, yes, talented, as Rachel. But after a while he realized he was wrong. Jesse was as talented and obsessed with musical theater as Rachel, but he wasn't as self-centered, vain, narcissistic and divalicious as she was. He was a hundred times worse, he just managed to get away with it because he could be charming. Rachel at her most self-centered would never introduce herself by saying, "I'm a star, you can learn from me." She at least waited to see what you could do before trying to "teach" you anything. Besides, Kurt was pretty sure that her whole attitude had more to do with being a defense mechanism than pure ego. She didn't realize half the time how annoying she was and was only purposely condescending when she was mad or if the person was mean to her. It took Kurt a while to realize it, but most of the time, Rachel was actually just sincerely trying to give advice. And she definitely did what she could for things she cared about, and you could tell she cared about things and people. Even with obsession with being in the spotlight, there were other things she cared about and she could be very forgiving. Jesse, on the other hand, you never got that impression with him. Unlike Rachel, he was condescending twenty-four/seven and acted like everyone should go out of their way to try and impress him. He didn't do anything to try and make friends with the other kids in glee, he just cosied up to Rachel all the time and used her as his connection. Even Rachel complimented her team mates, but he never bothered. At first Kurt thought he was just trying to get into Rachel's pants for some reason, maybe to break her heart and mess up their morale, but it turned out he didn't even need to sleep with her to do that. Rachel's problem was that she was obnoxious and over-compensated for the ridicule she was dealt by being a narcissist. She definitely did not deserve what Jesse did to her.
And if Jesse had just not been a gigantic douchebag, Kurt wouldn't be in the funk he was in now.
His phone rang and he saw, to his surprise, that it was Finn. Finn only ever called him during emergencies. But what could the emergency be? Kurt felt a swell of anticipation. Obviously, he was the only one Finn could trust if he was calling him.
"Hello?" Kurt said.
"Hey, Kurt? It's Finn, Rachel's here too. We're on speakerphone."
Kurt rolled his eyes but kept his tone sunny. "Great! How's France?"
"Dude, it's mind-blowing. You'd love it. But you've probably heard all about it from my Mom. Sorry I haven't called you sooner, but you seemed kind of bummed out that we left, and I didn't want you to feel like we were rubbing it in your face. But we got some news for you we thought would definitely cheer you up."
"Oh? And what is that?"
"Well, the first piece of news we were going to surprise you with when we got back," Rachel said, "But then we got the second piece and decided we couldn't wait anymore. You remember what happened at Nationals with Vocal Adrenaline, right?"
"How could I forget?" Kurt said, bored, "So far it's been the highlight of my summer. The video of it has gone viral."
"Well, apparently, what happened caused Carmel High to be investigated. It turns out Vocal Adrenaline has been doing all sort of haenous stuff not just to win, but to other students. Well, it turns out that Carmel was so humiliated, that they finally looked at Jesse and Andrea's grades, which have been awful, and failed them. They have to repeat senior year and they lost their scholarships!"
That definitely cheered him up. "No way." Kurt said. "So no Los Angeles for Jesse then, eh?"
"Nope," Rachel said giggling. "But that's not all. Finn, you tell him, you're the right person to tell him."
"Well, we met a couple of former Carmel students on the plane over here who have transferred to McKinley basically because Vocal Adrenaline did something completely awful to them. Anyways, they're twins, a guy and a girl, they're in a band and are joining Glee Club. They're really great. But the best part concerns you personally, because you're no longer going to be the only dude at McKinley who likes other dudes."
Kurt almost dropped his phone. "Rachel, I demand that you tell me this instant whether or not he's cute."
"He's cute. In fact… are you at your computer?"
"Yeah."
"Do a GIS for 'The Little Twins, Carmel.'"
Kurt did this. He scanned the pictures for a few seconds. "Rachel, please tell me he's the bassist with the dark curly hair."
"That's him!" Rachel said, giggling. "His name is Sam and he likes wise-ass guys who dress well and sing. Sound like someone you know?"
Kurt was officially out of his funk. "Yes."
"Interested?"
"Rachel please don't play coy, you suck at it."
"Good, because we showed him the Glee photo and he thinks you're adorable and can't wait to meet you."
"He's a cool dude too," Finn said, "He's smarter than me, but I guess that's not saying much, but he's really funny, runs track, can play pretty much any instrument in existence, likes those classic movies you like, and he's a lot of fun. So yeah, you two should get along."
"We better." Kurt said. "You guys have seriously cheered me up. When can I meet him?"
"Well, we're returning in three days, and the twins come back two days later. How about a week from Saturday? That's when they're moving into their brother's house and we promised them we'd get some of our friends to help," Finn said.
"Perfect." Kurt said.
"We actually have to go soon, we're going to dinner with some people we met." Finn said.
"Alright, just one more thing, Finn." Kurt said.
"What, man?"
"I'm officially over you. But that doesn't mean I don't still love you."
Finn laughed. "Alright man, cool. See you soon."
They hung up and Kurt spent the next hour gazing blissfully at Sam's picture. He was definitely cuter than Finn.
~0~0~
"You need some help with that?"
Kurt almost jumped at the sound of Sam's voice. He had been struggling with an extremely heavy box which he normally would never have attempted to carry, but he had been hoping to impress Sam, who was even cuter in person than he was in his picture.
"Maybe?" Kurt said weakly, hating the fact that he was sweating.
Sam picked up the other end. "I think this has some of our amps in there. Thankfully we only have to carry this into the garage."
Kurt laughed. "Thankfully."
Sam's eyes were a gorgeous and rather ridiculous shade of dark blue. He had dark curly hair, was rather short, and dressed in a sort of indie-hipster style: jeans, chucks, band t-shirt. He also had a terrific smile.
"So Rachel told me you're the star kicker on the football team?" Sam asked.
Thank you, Rachel. Kurt blushed. "Well, I helped them win their first game."
"That's great. Our football team is abysmal. And they're all beefy dudes with no necks. I'm pretty sure they're incapable of walking and talking at the same time. Nice to see the clubs at your school are a bit more diverse."
They set the box down in a corner. Kurt couldn't stop smiling.
"Finn told me you like classic films," he said.
"Oh yeah," Sam said as they walked back to the car. "My sister and I idolized Gene Kelly, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey, Astaire. Basically all the people Madonna name-drops in Vogue. Back then a moronic hack like Michael Bay would never have had a career and bad horror films were kept to limited release."
Sam handed him a box and grabbed one for himself. "Both of these go in my room."
They walked upstairs.
"So you like Madonna?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah, her music is cool, even if as a person she's completely ridiculous. I haven't seen a more pathetic mid-life crisis than Newt Gingrich's last two marriages."
Kurt snorted. "Well, yeah, but she's an icon."
"Definitely. But that doesn't make her any less of a weirdo. But then again, most great icons are usually weirdoes anyway. I mean, look at Liza."
And after hearing that last sentence, Kurt knew he was in love.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Jesse St. James looked out at his Uncle's driveway. Last time he had moved, he had had scores of friends helping him. About twelve people had showed up loading boxes into the house, all knowing full well that the move was simply temporary. Now? It was him, his Dad, his Mom, his Uncle and three day-laborers they had hired. It was taking even longer because since he was actually moving for the whole school year, he was bringing about ten times the stuff he had before. It was humiliating.
An old, run-down crappy used car drove up to his Uncle's house and to Jesse's surprise, it parked at the curb right in front of his Uncle's house. To Jesse's shock, Mr. Schu emerged from it, dressed in a grey University of Toledo T-shirt, Addidas basketball shorts and running shoes.
Jesse ran out of the house and over to the Glee coach. "Mr. Schuester? What are you doing here?"
"Jesse?" His mother asked. "Who's your friend?"
Will Schuester smiled, walked over to Jesse's mother and shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. St. James, my name is Will Schuester, I'm the Spanish teacher and Glee coach over at McKinley High. We spoke over the phone last year when your son transferred to our school temporarily?"
Anna St. James smiled. "Oh yes, I remember. Frank? Greg?"
Jesse's Uncle and father walked over, looking at Mr. Schu curiously.
"This is Jesse's new teacher, Will Schuester," Anna said, "He directs the Glee Club and teaches Spanish. Mr. Schuester, this is my husband Frank, Jesse's father, and my brother Greg."
"Pleasure," Will said, shaking their hands.
"If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Schuester," Mr. St. James said, "What brings you here?"
"Well, I heard Jesse was moving, so I thought maybe you could use some help moving him in," replied Will, "I was concerned he might not have that much help and I thought it might be a good opportunity for us to become better acquainted."
"Well, isn't that kind of you!" Anna said appreciatively, "We certainly could use an extra set of hands, I still can't believe the amount of stuff my son owns."
"Don't mention it. Just give me a box and point me in the right direction," said Will, smiling.
Jesse couldn't help but stare as the McKinley Glee coach started carrying boxes of his stuff into his Uncle's house. Jesse followed Mr. Schu up to his new room and cornered him.
"Mr. Schu, I don't get it," Jesse said, "Why are you doing this? I thought you hated me."
Will looked at him sadly. "No, Jesse, I don't hate you. I'm very worried about you. You've had a great deal of pandemonium take place in your life recently and you're about to jump into a pit of sharks. You need someone on your side over at McKinley. That's why I'm here. I want to help you."
"But why?" Jesse asked, "After what I did-"
"We can discuss this later on," Mr. Schu said, "But now is not the time. Just be happy I'm willing to help you out and don't try to figure it out for the time being. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Lying on her bed the night before school started, Rachel Berry started calling every member of New Directions, informing them of the one piece of news she had neglected to give them: Jesse St. James was coming to McKinley. She had saved this for last, as a sort of special surprise. She had just finished spreading the news when Finn called her to say good night. Turning out the light, she kept a smile on her face. She had a good feeling about this year already.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Jesse took his time trying to find a parking spot, hoping that if he got in late enough, he could avoid the stares. When he could find no more excuses not to park, he did. He had been playing Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", which usually had an invigorating affect on him, but it hadn't worked. He pulled the key out of the ignition, then checked himself in the mirror. He was perfectly groomed, of course, bt he scanned him face and hair for some flaw to fix. There were none and for once Jesse was cursing his good looks. He took several deep breaths.
"Look," he said to his reflection, "You're entering a hostile environment, yes. But you're made up of strong stuff. You're Jesse St. James, Nationally acclaimed singer and former star of Vocal Adrenaline. You're still you. You can do this. Just take it one day at a time."
He grabbed his things and got out of the car. He had walked three yards when someone called his name.
"St. James!"
Jesse turned. To his dismay, it was Puck with Matt and Mike and two huge guys on the football team who Jesse thought might be called Zemio and Korovsky. They were all smirking and Korovsky cracked his knuckles. They were coming toward him, looking like they were about to pounce.
"When Rachel told me you were going to be here, I couldn't believe it, I had to see it with my own two eyes," Puck said. "But here you are, as promised."
Jesse started backing away. "I don't want any trouble."
The five of them laughed.
"You don't want any trouble," Puck repeated, "Well maybe you should have thought about that before messing with us."
They started circling him. Jesse kept backing up until he backed into something. He looked behind him. To his horror, it was a dumpster.
Jesse might have been able to take Mike, Matt or Puck one-on-one maybe, but the three of them together, plus the two Neanderthals? No chance. Puck's eyes glinted.
"I've been wanting to do this for a long, long time." Puck said. "Zemio? Korovsky?"
They both grabbed Jesse while Matt and Mike opened the dumpster.
"Wait! Please!" Jesse cried out.
"Sorry." Puck said sarcastically.
Zemio and Korovsky lifted Jesse up and threw him—hard—into the dumpster. Before Jesse could even move, the top was slammed down over him.
Jesse gasped and gagged at the smell. He had landed in a mound of trash. He couldn't see a thing, but he started screaming when he felt something sticky and gooey in his hands. His Dolce shirt was definitely not going to survive this. He kept screaming when he felt something leaking onto his hair. It was an utter nightmare. The smell was so awful he couldn't take it and he freaked, his eyes stinging from the odor. It took him several minutes before he finally took hold of his senses and was able to stand up, lift up the cover of the dumpsters, and climb out, wiping the trash off himself with his hands, which he could now see had maple syrup on them. He looked himself over and pulled off a spoiled tuna sandwich off the back o his pants where it was stuck. He then quickly ran for the nearest bathroom, hoping not to cry in front of everyone.
To his complete misfortune, he ran into said bathroom to find Finn Hudson washing his hands at the sink. Finn looked up and his face split into a horrible grin.
"I see Puck and the others got to you," he said, looking like the cat who ate the canary, "Too bad I couldn't be there."
Jesse glared at Finn. "I have no doubt you're enjoying this, Hudson, but I have nothing to say to you."
"You will soon enough, I promise," Finn said. He left without another word.
Relieved, Jesse looked in the mirror at his hair, which was now matted down. He washed his hands as thoroughly as he could, then prodded his hair with his fingers and sniffing them. It was apple juice. Jesse bent down and put his head in the sink, running the water through his hair several times until he was sure it was all out. He dried it with some paper towels, added some gel and then combed it before attacking his clothes with a damp towel. When he was finally satisfied, he threw the towels away, took out his assignment paper, and went to find his locker, ignoring all the strange looks he got as he walked the halls.
He kept his head down for the rest of the day, thoroughly humiliated.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Rachel Berry pulled into the school parking lot, feeling excited. She was usually excited on first days of school, but this one especially. This year was a new start with a whole new Rachel Berry. This year she was going to keep her tendency to talk about herself too much in check, start being less selfish, share the spotlight (but not too much), finally win a community theater part, help Finn with his schoolwork so they had a chance at going to the same college, increase her social status, read more, resist the charms of pretty boys with bad intentions, work toward becoming Valedictorian, not let petty things like rude cheerleaders and being passed over for solos get to her, be a better friend to her team mates, remember all the witty comebacks she had come up with and written down over the summer for whenever she was insulted, host great parties, come up with amazing dance routines for the Glee Club and wow everyone with what an interesting, graceful, charming and sophisticated woman she had become. She would also work to help Mercedes find a boyfriend so all the girls in the Glee Club could talk about their boys. Most of all, though, she would maintain a mature, equal and loving relationship with Finn and lead New Directions to victory.
She checked her makeup in the mirror one last time, took a deep breath, and got out of her car. She walked with her head held high, but didn't have her nose in the air. She felt confident, but not the way she used to. She used to walked around with her head held high to send the message that she was too good to let people get to her, in the knowledge that she was someday going to be the biggest star Broadway had ever seen, and as a defense mechanism. Now she held her head high simply because she knew she didn't have to prove anything, that she was happy and excited about herself and this new year. Over the summer she had re-read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and for the first time really read it with an open mind and interest, rather than just because it was required by the school. She had decided that like Elizabeth Bennett, she was not going to let rude and nasty people get the better of her or get to her. She was going to laugh at herself and everything ridiculous instead of letting herself be hurt or humiliated by it. If someone tried to bully her, hold her back and belittle her, she was going to stand up for herself but stay composed, just like Elizabeth did when Lady Catherine came to threaten her against getting engaged to Mr. Darcy. She was going to be fiercely loyal and protective of her friends and team mates, just like Elizabeth was of Jane. Most of all, she wouldn't let naiveté get the better of her. But unlike Elizabeth, instead of growing dissatisfied with the world the more she saw of it, she would think of ways to make it better. Not that she blamed Elizabeth for this, after all, the book took place in the late 1700s, back then a woman didn't really have the means to change the world for the better. But this was the modern world, and Rachel could do something.
Rachel didn't know what it was that had made her feel so empowered. But it had happened over the summer. It sort of came in steps. Part of it was finally having a sweet, cute, talented boyfriend who loved and respected her for who she was. Unlike a lot of girls' boyfriends she knew of, he actually included her in things. He had her help learn to build a shelf and taught her how to use tools because he said she had the hands for it. He taught her to throw a football and shoot a basket and the rules of both sports so that she wouldn't be bored at his games. To her surprise, she actually liked it. He also let her show him some dance moves, which she hadn't expected at all. He even sang the songs she wanted with her and watched all those old musicals. Even if he did fall asleep half-way through An American in Paris, it was the thought that counted. And he was honest with her, too. When they started getting serious, he came clean about what happened with Santana. She was shocked, not just about what happened, but that he was willing to tell her. She realized that he was really ready to be open and honest, so she told him about Jesse. After that, talking together became much, much easier. She would have been happy enough if he had just pretended to listen, but he gradually started to really listen to her more and more. Rachel knew he was really listening because later on he'd bring up something she had talked about and then offered some new input on it, and how could he remember those things if he wasn't really listening?
For a while Rachel was worried that she had fallen into the trap of letting her self-esteem be determined by a man. But after a while she realized it wasn't so much that Finn was her boyfriend, it was that Finn was her friend. The fact was, she had never really had a close friendship like she had with him. Just having a friend was what was truly empowering. She had had a boyfriend before, and Jesse had never made her feel this way. Being with Finn actually made her want to improve herself, such as trying not to be so self-centered. Not that Finn had complained, but she just wanted to do it for herself.
Another thing was simply now having great friends who had her back. She had become much closer to Tina, Mercedes, Kurt, Artie, and even Brittany. Rachel no longer even felt the urge to talk that often because she truly enjoyed listening to them. Until recently, she hadn't appreciated how funny Kurt and Mercedes were, how smart Tina and Artie were, and how unintentionally hilarious Brittany was. And Gypsy and Sam were just really interesting people. She also found out she and Kurt had tons in common. She felt less alone now.
There was, of course, what happened at Nationals, were had renewed her belief in a just world. That helped.
There was also a couple of things that happened in France. One was having sex with Finn. She couldn't understand why society seemed to believe that if a girl had sex it meant she had no self respect or lost it, or that it hurt her emotionally or somehow sullied her. Sleeping with Finn actually made her feel the opposite. Hearing him moan and call out her name actually made her feel really powerful and proud of her body. And having an orgasm was just fantastic. She didn't feel like she was completely changed by having sex, in fact, she was surprised about how different she didn't feel. She still felt like herself, but she felt very satisfied.
Rachel supposed she was lucky. After all, she had done it completely of her own will, not at all pressured. She had done it with someone she cared about and trusted. She had been responsible, and hadn't done it under any dishonest or impure terms. It had all been done on her own terms. She had a feeling the majority of other girls didn't get to say the same thing, which was probably why it got such a bad rep.
She crossed the parking lot and entered the school, keeping an eye out for her friends. But apparently, someone spotted her first.
"RACHEL? Is that YOU?"
Kurt Hummel marched up to her, looking shocked and awed as he scanned her from head to toe. Rachel felt a sense of satisfaction at impressing Kurt Hummel.
"Yes, Kurt, it's me." She said, smiling.
"But…. You're dressed well. Really well. What happened? Where are the Kindergarten sweaters and Sunday School dresses?"
Rachel looked down and grinned. "You like it? I got a makeover in France."
Whilst in Paris, she had gone to visit her cool French Aunt Charlotte. Aunt Charlotte was the closest thing Rachel had ever had to a Mother Figure, a rich woman who was an executive editor at Vogue France. Charlotte took one look at her and asked her why she was dressed like a little girl. Rachel thought Charlotte was going to berate her, but instead, she simply called up a bunch of stylists and designers and set them loose on her niece. First, though, she made sure Rachel told them what she didn't like. Two days later, her team had come up with an entirely new wardrobe for her, including clothes, make-up, shoes, accessories, hair products, and a list of outfit tips. To Rachel's surprise, she actually felt comfortable in her new clothing.
They had decided that the best thing to do was for her to go vintage-chic. Gone were the sweaters with sailboats and animals, the pleated skirts, knee-socks, jumpers and ruffled, floral-patterned dresses. Instead, she was outfitted with vintage frocks and dresses, stylish flats, flattering blouses, dress pants, wide-necked tops, tailored blazers, cardigans, stockings, silk scarves and simple, low, form-fitting rompers, comfortable heels. All of it tailored to fit her like a glove. At first, Rachel had been worried Finn wouldn't like it. While the clothes were not very tight, they were form-fitting and certainly much tighter than her old clothes. A lot of the tops and dresses had sweet-heart necklines, which she worried looked too provocative. Normally she wouldn't have had these worries: the clothes were never insanely sexy or provocative, but compared to her old clothes… well, they were definitely much more fitted, to say the least. Finn had told her he like the way she usually dressed, and she didn't want to have another embarrassing makeover debacle.
But Finn liked it. He thought it was cute, and that it looked like her (she still got to keep her old hair and head-bands, and her make-up barely changed).
"The secret to be sexy but not vampish, Sweetie," her aunt told her, "Is you show off one or the other, never both. You can display your legs to a certain degree and cover your chest, or enhance your chest and cover your legs. But never both at the same time. With make-up you can accentuate your eyes or your lips but never both. Never wear a dress that is both tight in the bodice and the skirt. Have it fit your upper torso, cinch at the waist, and then expand. Never wear a skirt that goes more than an inch above the knee unless you're wearing a long-sleeved top with a high, wide neckline. Keep things simple. Less is more."
She had wanted to surprise everyone, so she had worn her old clothes when hanging out with her friends before school started. She wanted to surprise them. Today she was wearing a sleeveless red frock with a sweetheart neckline, ¾ inch straps, black trim and a loose skirt that stopped just below the knee with black flats, purse, and black head-band. She definitely didn't look like the other girls, but she didn't look like a little girl anymore either. She still had that sort of conservative-but-young air to her look.
"You look like Betty Draper," Kurt said, amazed. "Like a brunette Betty Draper."
She smiled. "Thank you. Coming from you, that means a lot."
Mercedes walked up and gave her friend an appraising look. "Girl, I gotta hand it to you, you look good. Major upgrade."
Rachel blushed. "Yeah, well, I have an Aunt who works for Vogue France and she sort of set her people on me. I wasn't really sure how it would turn out."
"Trust me, it turned out well. And this weekend we are going to ritualistically burn your old wardrobe." Kurt replied.
Rachel laughed. "Okay, it's a date. I'll see you guys later, I've got to stock my new locker."
"See you."
