"So, uh Evanescence and Veronica sure match huh?" Calvin said right after said girl left the room. A few people agreed with tiny nods, but none more so than Sam.
"Should we do something up her alley? It's only fair to give her a solo."
"And since Evanescence started gaining popularity since the late 90's, a song by them would be the perfect choice." Jenny said matter-of-factly. Many agreed to her statement but some were still hesitant to the choice.
Glee club ended with people tossing out a couple of ideas for sectionals. They still haven't made a precise decision on what they were going to perform, but they had certain songs that were ready to be narrowed down. Blaine turned his phone off, not really wanting to break the school's rules by having it on. There were some students that recently brought this up. "If students can't use phones, teachers shouldn't too."
Blaine entered the teacher's lounge with his bag of food in hand. He had been staying with Kurt all week and the man certainly made him feel at home throughout this terrible time in his life. Kurt just managed to calm him down when he needed it, and he knew that somehow someway, Kurt also cared for Alice. About a day ago, they got a call from Detective Cooper, saying that they had somewhat of a lead following Julia's whereabouts, frankly, Blaine didn't care about Julia at all. He used to feel sorry for the woman considering the state she was in but now, no act of surreal kindness would ever return any if at all respect he had for her. He was willing to allow her visitations, in fact he did, but since she went and kidnapped his baby girl, no more.
Apparently the book Kurt had told a story of a broken family and how fate was trying to bring them back together. With the paper that was left behind inside it, they got at idea about where Julia might be taking Alice, but since it was highly unreliable, the detectives wouldn't go. It would be a waste of resources since they would have to travel further down state, all the way to the tip of Ohio. So they decided to call the local police and have them do the job, in case Julia did go there.
After getting the call, Blaine sat in Kurt's couch, unable to move. It was Wednesday and Kurt wasn't in a great mood that day, but he threw it away for Blaine. He prepared him some soup and a glass of ice tea. Kurt sat next to Blaine throughout the rest of that day comforting him. Blaine fell asleep sometime during the rubbing on Kurt's shoulder, humming Alice's favorite Disney song, the extended version of Lea Salonga's Reflection.
Karen waved at him as he entered the teacher's lounge. He managed to surface a suppressed smile, but Karen was too smart for that. She immediately saw through the ruse and her smile turned into a frown as well. "Hey, what's wrong?" Karen asked as Blaine sat across her.
"Nothing," Blaine replied, instantly being slapped lightly by Karen. "hey!" Blaine said out loud. It wasn't painful, but the gesture was.
"Don't you hey me." She said matter-of-factly, looking through Blaine's bag for the usual thing Blaine brought her, a small cup of pudding. "Hey! Where's my pudding?" she asked, after rummaging through Blaine's bag. "And whoa! what do we have here?" She said, pulling out a Tupperware filled with chicken fettuccini alfredo. "Since when are you so fancy?"
Blaine stammered at the question, saying "I" multiple times but never getting the answer out. He didn't want to say that he was with Kurt for a while, but what else could he say? "I learned how to cook?"
Karen gave an 'are you kidding me?' look. Her eyebrow raised and her head tilted at the unlikeliness of Blaine's response. "Seriously Blaine? Do you expect me to believe that?" The man looked away, knowing that his lie was terribly insufficient. "Fried Chicken, I believe, egg dishes I believe, microwaveables yes, but you can not cook anything like this… Ever." She said looking intently at the tupperware on eye level. "We've only known each other for one year, yeah that wasn't enough time for me to know you can't cook." She said sarcastically, putting the container back down on the table. "So, are you really gonna tell me who made this, cuz I'm sure it wasn't Alice."
Blaine dropped his head at the mention of his daughter's name, loudly at the table. The sound could probably be heard through the walls if the person on the other side listened hard enough. Karen was surprised, Blaine wasn't like this at all.
"Come on, get up." She held his shoulders and tried to lift him up from across the table, reaching out, and horribly doing so. Blaine plopped up, his forehead looking red. "What's wrong?"
"Alice was kidnapped. And I couldn't bear living in my apartment, so I've been staying with a uh" Blaine didn't really know what Kurt was to him. They have obviously passed strangers, but could they be considered "friend. And he's the one that cooked whatever this is."
"Wait… he?" Karen asked with a slight glimmer in her eye.
"Yeah, he."
"Is Alice okay? What happened?"
"Julia took her days after the divorce was finalized. We still don't know anything. The police said that they had an idea where she might be, but they're still not sure."
"I'm so sorry, Blaine."
"Thanks, I just want Alice back."
"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine. The police'll find her. Don't worry." Karen didn't really know what else to say. She didn't know how Blaine felt, and she could only offer him her words of comfort. She didn't want to overstep any boundaries, but if he wanted this to be secret, even from her, he set up gigantic walls around himself. They'd gotten to be good friends, but if he wasn't ready until now to tell her, she wouldn't dare go that way. But a good thing came from this, he found another friend. Someone he was willing to allow enter his walls. Sometime, he'd like to visit this person, only if Blaine would allow her to.
The two ate their lunch, Karen sneaking a few tastes of Blaine's pasta. It was quite good because soon enough, she found herself taking a few more bites. Blaine smiled at her failed subtleness and just offered the pasta to be shared, putting it in the middle of the table.
The rest of his classes that day went fine. He was slightly focused, glad that the substitute covered some stuff while he was gone. He didn't really feel like lecturing the whole day so a little quiz to test if the students listened to the substitute was in order. Many students groaned, probably not expecting the quiz, but there were a couple that didn't seem to mind. Now Blaine knew which ones were the ones who he would pay more attention to.
As soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of his last class, he took his grading book, his lesson plan and the pile of quizzes, putting them neatly into his folder, then into his bag. He went through his mind, wondering if he had forgotten something. When he finally decided that there was nothing else, he headed out the room and into the parking lot. He put the key in his car, opening the door, dropping his bag on to the passenger seat, ready to leave.
He drove mindlessly home, since it was his first day after Alice was kidnapped, he wasn't surprised to see that he was going to Staton out of habit. He opted to turn and go back home, but he couldn't. Something was pulling him to Staton, and he didn't want to oppose it. Parents were already waiting for their kids in the grounds of the elementary school. They stood there, looking bored as they awaited their children to be let out. Blaine simply sat in his car, looking at the happy sight in front of him as the children started pouring out, hugging their guardians as the walked off to the playground or their homes. He smiled a little bit, trying to remind himself that he should let Alice play on the playground after school someday.
A sparkle caught Blaine's eye when he saw Kurt's class finally leave the building. He waved at the teacher, catching his attention. The man's reaction surprised Blaine, because now, he was moving through the chaos that was little kids and parents trying to get to Blaine's car. Blaine exited his vehicle and promptly closed the door. When Kurt finally got to him, he panted out words that sent his heart flying. "They found her."