Chapter Two
Kurt walked in to glee club and slumped down in his seat, ready for the last part of school to be over before the best part of his day could start: Blaine time. It seemed to take an eternity for everyone to sit down and for Mr. Schuester to even show up.
"Okay everyone, it's time to get down to work for Sectionals." Mr. Schuester started, putting his messenger bag down on a chair. "We really have to get our set list done. It's coming down to crunch time for-" He was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. He turned with mild surprise to see who was at the door, expecting to find Becky delivering a message from Sue, but as it turned out, it was a student he had never seen before. Everyone else turned to look as well, making Kurt gasp. It was the fashion victim standing in the doorway looking as if she would rather be anywhere but where she was. He immediately grabbed Mercedes' arm and started whispering fervently.
"I meant to tell you about her earlier! I saw her in the hallway and I nearly died when I saw what she was wearing! Look at her she's a train wreck!" He continued whispering.
"Can I help you?" Mr. Schuester asked, trying to coax her out of the doorway.
"Nice sweater!" Santana teased, making the girls face turn beat red. She almost turned to leave on the spot, but she cleared her throat quietly.
"I…I just transferred here and well, I was wondering if I could join glee club? Please?" Her voice was barely audible. Mr. Schuester bit his lip.
"What's your name?" He asked her, stalling for time so he could figure out the most gentle way to break it to her.
"Jennifer Steel." She mumbled, nervously pulling her sleeves down over her hands and pushing her glasses further up her nose. Kurt's head snapped up.
"Jenny?" He stared in disbelief, now he could see the resemblance. "Get out of here! Seriously? Jenny, where the hell have you been since fifth grade?" He jumped out of his seat and ran to hug her. She seemed taken aback. Mercedes raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure what was going on, but Kurt was acting like they were best friends, and that was her department.
"Kurt? I didn't know you went to McKinley." She hugged him back, surprised and relieved to have a very familiar face in a sea of nameless faces. Kurt turned to Mr. Schuester.
"Mr. Schue, please can she be in the glee club?" Kurt pleaded. Mr. Schuester put on the face he always reserved for breaking bad news.
"Kurt, we are too close to sectionals to add anyone new. I'm sorry Jennifer. We don't even know if you can sing." Kurt interrupted.
"I know she can sing! She used to come over everyday after school and we would sing show tunes all night. This girl has pipes like an organ played by Liza Minelli! She just transferred Mr. Schue, she didn't get the chance to audition with the rest of us. Please just give her a chance. I will work extra hard to make sure she is up to speed with the rest of us." Kurt was holding onto her hand as if she would disappear out of his life again at any moment. After a minute of thinking, Mr. Schuester sat down in a chair with the other students.
"Okay, Jennifer, consider this your audition."
"W-What? Now?" She stammered, turning a bright shade of red once again. Kurt flared up again.
"That's not fair! She hasn't had any time to prepare!" Then Rachel piped up.
"A true Broadway Diva is always prepared with a song from her vast repertoire. She never knows when she might have an audition. Well let me just say that I have a piece prepared so I will take it upon myself to fill in the awkward embarrassment of others showing up to an audition unprepared. One can never be too gracious. It's good for the public image." She stood and walked primly to the centre of the room.
"Sit down Rachel. No one wants to hear you sing but yourself." Santana cracked. Mr. Schuester broke it up and told Rachel to go sit down.
"Okay Jennifer, how about you go home and prepare something and come back tomorrow?" Jennifer nodded.
"I'm sorry I interrupted." She smiled shyly and backed towards the door. "Bye Kurt." She squeezed his hand before letting go and leaving, making no plans to go back tomorrow. That was too humiliating.
Not wanting to go home just yet, Jennifer grabbed some books from her locker and went outside to sit on the grass and do some studying, trying to catch up on everything she missed and completing the homework she received that day. No matter how hard she tried to think of anything but glee club, that was the only thing that stuck in her head. She missed singing. It had been a long time. She just didn't have the confidence anymore. The only reason she wanted to join was because she didn't want to go home.
'Maybe,' She thought to herself 'Maybe I should just join the chess club or something.' She sighed, trying once again to concentrate on her homework. A nice looking car pulled up in front of the school and parked. She barely noticed, she was too much inside her own thoughts.
"Jenny!" She heard her name being called from somewhere behind her. She looked up and turned slightly to see Kurt running towards her. "Jenny I thought you must have left already! Why don't you come for coffee? We have so much to catch up on." He smiled, kneeling down beside her. The man inside the car got out and stood, staring at them and for the first time Jennifer noticed him, he was holding two paper cups of Starbucks.
"Oh, no it's okay. I was about to get going anyway." She tried to excuse herself.
"Oh come on, we could work on what song you are going to sing! Remember all those Disney songs we used to sing?" He gasped, almost beside himself with glee. "We could do a duet!" His eyes sparkled. Jennifer smiled, remembering all those good times.
"I would love that, but I think you have someone waiting for you." She pointed to the man standing at the car. Kurt turned to look.
"Oh right! I almost forgot!" He waved and turned back to Jennifer. "Okay well, how about tomorrow? We could do something after glee tomorrow." He had already forgotten about his plans with Mercedes. "And besides, I have oodles of things I need to tell you!" He angled his head back to indicate Blaine standing in the background. She smiled.
"I bet you do! We will see about tomorrow. We will definitely have to get together. I want to hear about that dastardly handsome man waiting for you." They said their goodbyes and hugged before Kurt half ran, half walked the rest of the way to the car.
"Hi!" Kurt smiled, taking the latte from Blaine.
"What was that all about?" He opened the car door for him and held it open. "Do you know her? She doesn't seem to be dressed like one of your acquaintances would dress." He eyed her again before going around to his side and getting in.
"Oh don't worry that will all change. I will make sure she looks as beautiful as I know she is. Blaine you will never believe it. She has been my best friend since pre-school. We were completely inseparable! And then one day she just disappeared. I had no idea what happened to her. Then today out of the blue, she showed up in glee club. She just transferred here! I am so excited! And she has an audition with the glee club tomorrow! Although I am still puzzled about her serious wardrobe malfunction. I mean, she never dressed as fashionably as me, then again no one does, but she was never this bad. There is just so much we need to catch up on and do together." Kurt finally took a breath. Blaine just smiled.
"Do you want to reschedual our date?" He asked. At the word date, Kurt's stomach flipped over and he remembered why he wanted the day to go by so quickly.
"No. I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Blaine started driving as Kurt nervously picked at the sleeve on his paper cup. When he didn't get anything further, Blaine tried to help him along.
"You wanted to talk to me about what?" He turned a corner and continued driving, sneaking a glance at him. Kurt opened his mouth, closed it, and then swallowed, trying again.
"About the date thing." He waited a beat. "Are we on a date?" He stared out the windshield, afraid to look at Blaine's reaction in case it was the wrong one.
"Well that depends. Do you want this to be a date?" He looked over at Kurt again. He seemed to be thinking.
"I want this to be whatever you want it to be." He replied carefully. "I don't want to make more out of this then there is." Kurt continued to play with the sleeve on his latte. Blaine smiled. He pulled off to a side street and parked.
"Let's go for a walk."
A/N: I hope this chapter was a little more interesting for you all. It had a bit more in it. I know Mercedes isn't coming off as very nice, but things will change. Let me know what you think! I appreciate everything helpful. Also, there is a poll on my profile that involves the story. If you would like to have a say in how things go, please vote.