Chapter 2

Charlie was standing in front of the bulletin board. Maybe a school club would have been a great occasion to make friends, and perhaps she wouldn't have to move again very soon! There were clubs of any kind: club of the Latin lovers, of the chess champions, the Drama Club, the Cooking Club, basketball and football teams... But how would she be accepted by someone, if she was hiding again? She has dressed up as a boy once again, but this time, it hadn't been easy at all: at least, the last time the school had given her a uniform to wear, and she had shorter hair, which she didn't have to hide under a cap. This time, she had 'borrowed' her elder brother's clothes, that were really too big for her! Definitely, someone would have unmasked her sooner or later, and God knows what would have happened! Her mother would have gotten really mad at her, and they would have to move again, God knows where, and Charlie would have continued her life moving from one place to another, never binding with anyone.
"Hey, hello!"
A voice shook her from her thoughts. She turned around, and saw that the voice belonged to a tall boy ― a very tall boy! ― she noticed during the Spanish class. What if he had discovered her secret identity? Or worse, what if he had recognized her because he was her classmate a year before?
"You're new here, aren't you?" the boy continued.
Good, maybe she was safe, and her world tour wouldn't have had to begin again the following day.
"Erm... yes, I just moved here from Seattle," Charlie answered, disguising her voice so that it would sound like a boy's voice.
"And... You don't know anyone here?"
Charlie thought of the boys she had meet a year before: it was absolutely impossible to meet someone of them in that school!
"No, I don't know anyone!" she answered.
"I am Finn Hudson," the boy told her, holding out his hand to her.
"Charlie St. Claire," she said, shaking Finn's hand.
"Were you looking for some extracurricular activities to do?"
"Yeah, I thought it could be an occasion to meet someone!"
"Well... Would you like to sing?"
"Sorry, what?"
She hadn't been singing for months. Usually she did that because her younger brother liked it very much, but since her last almost-boyfriend she sang no more.
"Never heard of the Glee Club?" Finn asked her.
"Yeah, I've been there, in another school, but I didn't know they had one here too!" Charlie answered.
"Never went to Sectional or Regional Championships?"
"No, I've stayed in that school for too little time..."
"Why don't you join ours, then? Professor Schuester is looking for new members! The others will certainly be happy to meet you!"
He brought her to the choir room, as all the club members called it. It was a big room, with several musical instruments, a band, and many chairs. Sitting on the chairs, there were people Charlie wasn't sure she'd ever be friends with.
"Guys, he's Charlie!" Finn began. "He's new, and he'd like to join the Glee Club!"
"Great!" said the professor. The other club members too were happy that a new boy just joined them.
"You can sing, can't you, Charlie?" he asked, then.
"Sure, even if I haven't sung for a while..." answered Charlie.
"Why don't you sing us something, then?"
Charlie told the band the title of the first song she had thought of. She didn't know exactly why she chose right that song, but, thinking about its words, it seemed to describe perfectly her life in that moment.

"I'm not surprised not everything lasts:
I've broken my heart so many times I've stopped keepin' track.
Talk myself in, I talk myself out,
I get all worked up than I let myself down."

It had always been difficult for her to sing disguising her voice. The year before, she had managed to sing with that voice for months, without anyone knowing.
While she was singing, she was looking at the other guys staring at her trying to understand what kind of person she was: a boy with glasses on a wheelchair (who painfully reminded her of her younger brother), a black girl who almost certainly was the homecoming queen (since it seemed impossible that someone could walk over her), some cheerleaders, a boy with a mohawk who had tried to mess up with her that very morning...

"And I know someday that it'll all turn up
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid that I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet."

She was singing a song about the fact that she was still sure that one day she would find the love of her life, and, 'studying' the people she had there in front of herself, she hoped he would appear, out of the blue.

"I might have to wait
I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life
And I know that we can be so amazing
And baby your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility…"

She had always asked herself, how much she would have to wait, before she would meet the right person for her. Suddenly, she thought she had just found him. She was sure she had already met him many times in the past, but this time she felt she was right: he was the right person for her, she was absolutely sure of it. Blue eyes, brown hair, and the sight of one who wasn't absolutely judging her in any way: what if he would have been the first, after a long series of idiots, who would have treated her the way she deserved?

"Oh you know that will all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid... to give so much more than I get
Yeah I just haven't met you yet! "

She tried not to forget that everyone thought she was a boy. What if they had seen her staring at that boy, as if she had been madly in love with him?
She finished the song thinking that finally she had found what she was looking for. The music ended, and everyone ran toward her to hug her, or to give their compliments to her, for the beautiful song she had just sung, and for her wonderful voice (which, disguised in that way, she didn't like at all).
Some other guys too had the chance to sing in front of everyone else, until the bell rang.

Charlie was putting away her books in her locker. She hadn't done anything to customize it yet: she had stopped doing that, because she understood it was useless, knowing that in a few weeks she would have moved again, God knows where. She hoped she wouldn't have to move again too soon, that time.
She was still deep in thought, when she noticed the boy standing next to her.
"Hi!" he said to her.
It was the boy she had noticed while she was singing. How long had she been staring at him? Maybe someone had begun to suspect she was not who she had claimed to be?
"Hi..." she answered.
"You know, I didn't manage to tell you before..." the boy went on. "But that song was amazing!"
"Well... thanks! I never met anyone else who liked it, or who knew it!"
"Actually, I just listened to Nyaga's version: it's wonderful!"
"Are you a fan of hers?" Charlie asked, astonished. "I never met another Nyaga fan, maybe because I used to move too often..."
"Yeah, she's great... I'm Kurt Hummel, by the way."
"And I'm Charlie, but I guess you already know..."
The boy laughed.
"Look, would you like to go out for a coffee... let's say... Wednesday afternoon?" Kurt asked her. "I know a place where they make really good coffee!"
"You mean... go out as friends, don't you?" asked Charlie.
"Of course! I thought that, as you just arrived, you wanted to see the city!"
"Alright, then!"
"Fine, see you around... Charlie!" Kurt waved her off, and then he went to class.

Hi! I hope you liked this chapter!
I just wanted to make you notice some things. First, I wanted to remind you that Charlie, the protagonist, is a girl who is temporarily dressed up as a boy, but since she is described through the eyes of the other characters (who think she is actually a boy), the pronouns I use referring to her might be a little confusing.
Then, I would like to warn you that in many chapters, like in this one, I will be putting some musical lyrics (since Glee is a musical... I hope you haven't already forgotten that!). In this chapter, the lyrics belong to the song "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Bublé (and if you don't know it, go listen to it immediately!).
Thirdly, in case you're wondering who the heck this "Nyaga" is, just know that she is a singer I completely made up, because in the next chapters you will see song lyrics from existing songs, but also lyrics that were written by me (I'm not a singer/songwriter or anything, I'm just someone who likes writing musicless song lyrics, because I'm not a musician).
This said, I hope you're enjoying this story, and that you'll keep reading it! :)