Finn POV
I was up by 6, which might be some sort of record for a Monday. I was just too worried to sleep. I had to figure out how I was going to confront Rach, without sounding like a douchebag who was just pissed off that she has gotten another boyfriend. Every time I tried a way out in my head, it either sounded whiny or douchy.
But I have to. Kurt only gave me 24 hours, and I know that he meant it. I also know that he's pissed off that he had to give me even that. But you know what? He's not the boss of everyone. Actually, Kurt and Rachel are a lot alike. They like huge, dramatic gestures and confrontations. They also both like getting their way all of the time and don't think that they should have to follow the same rules as everyone else.
By the way? I totally know better then to say that out loud. Because I said something like that to Rachel and I thought she was going to laser me to death with her eyes, like that guy on X-men. And Kurt's way, way, scarier then Rachel is.
So Rachel, this guy you're dating? The one that's smarter and cuter and a better singer then I am? You should dump him because he's the enemy and that never ends well. Then things will go back to the way they used to be.
Wrong. I didn't even need Quinn-voice to chime in and tell me that. Not only did it sound whiny and douchy, but it made it sound like I wanted to get back with Rachel, and that wasn't fair. I didn't want some Vocal Adrenaline asshole creeping around and learning all of our routines, but I also didn't want to lie and give Rachel false hope.
It's not that I don't like her, either, because I think she's awesome. But…she's too much for me. Too enthusiastic, too obsessive, too everything. Rachel's going to be a start some day. A real one, one where everyone knows her name and all the plays she's been in. She's going to be the one who signs autographs, and has outfits worth more then some people make in a year, and everyone will love her.
I'm not going to have that. I have a pretty good voice, for a guy in high school, and I can catch a pass, but let's be realistic here. I'm not in her league. For some girls, that wouldn't matter, but I know it will to her. Not now, because she doesn't know any better, but once she gets to college and realizes how many other dudes are out there and a better match for her then I am, that's going to be it.
Really, I'm not even that sad about it. I don't want to end up that loser guy who's wife does all the work while he takes care of the yappy little dogs with dresses and bows in their hair while my she tells me everything I'm doing wrong. No, thanks, I got enough of being wrong all the time with Quinn.
Kurt's going to do bigger things then Lima, Ohio, too, but I know that they'll still be space for me in his new life. He hasn't come out and said it like that, but I can feel it. Things are cool like that with Kurt.
Back when we were dating, Rachel made me memorize her school schedule, so I could find her in case I wanted to sneak of to the choir room or auditorium together. Yeah, it's not as cool as it sounds. Even when I got her alone, she usually just wanted to sing about stuff. At least Kurt wants to make out in the janitors closet. Well, most of the time. Sometimes he just looks at me like I'm crazy.
But I could use that memorized schedule to my advantage. She has third period free, and I have study hall with the rest of the basketball team, so I can trap her then. I'm not sure why I have to go to team study hall, when I'm not playing right now (I wanted to, but after the first practice my arm hurt so badly that I couldn't raise it up the next morning, but this would totally work. Puck can sign me in, since Coach Tanaka never bothers to check in on us. He spends most of his time in the teachers lounge, nursing his broken heart by eating a ton of junk food. There are times when I feel bad for the dude, and times when he's kind of my hero.
Since I need to get some major suck up points with Kurt, I made sure that I showered and made myself look nice. I even put of one of the expensive sweaters he had given me, even thought it was cream colored and I just knew I was going to spill ketchup on it. Did I mention the dumb this is dry clean only? But it did look really good on me, and I couldn't help but preen myself in front of the mirror like a giant peacock.
I might not want Rachel back, but I do want her to see exactly what she had given up. Does that make me an asshole?
Yes.
Kurt was trying to still be upset when he pulled up, but I could tell that the sweater earned me some points. He ran his hands over my body, smoothing any wrinkles from the fabric. "You look wonderful, Finn."
"You do, too. But you always look awesome, because you're great with fashion and stuff. But you look special awesome today, like, awesomer." Why did being around Kurt turn me into a babbling idiot?"
He really did look great. He had on this tight vest thing that was dark green, and a white shirt underneath, and a really cool hat. I'm not sure how he gets away with wearing hats in school, when no one else is allowed to, but that's just another thing that's on the list of how awesome Kurt is. I gave him a quick kiss, and blew lightly into his face. "See? No poptart breath this morning."
That was only because I had made sure to brush my teeth twice, but Mom says that every relationship needs a little mystery in it. Kurt smiled and kissed me back. "Excellent. Do you want coffee?"
He didn't bring Rachel and her boyfriend up, and I didn't do it either. We both knew the score, and there was no point in getting into another argument about it. He gave me one last quick kiss as we pulled into the parking lot. "I have to go meet with Coach Sylvester before school. See you at practice?"
Even though we have the auditorium back for practice, Mr. Shuester doesn't trust that it will last. After another big argument, he convinced Figgins to let us have practice during fourth period. Since that's Coach Sylvester's office hours, she can't do anything about it.
Yet.
Yeah, yet. That woman is scary smart, and I'm sure that we haven't heard the last of this. But, for now, it's really neat to be able to get practice out of the way during the day, so we can focus on special stuff after school It also gets rid of the fight between the sports coaches and Mr. Shue, so that helps a lot. Especially now that Coach Tanaka got dumped by Ms. Pillsbury, so he's kind of on the rampage again.
This all was going perfectly! If I could talk to Rachel during third period, then we could get it all sorted out and fixed by fourth period, which was when we had practice. See? Sometimes things do work out for the best. I pulled out my phone and shot off a quick text. MEET ME 3RD IN AUDITORIUM?
The resulting text only took a few minutes. SURE. C U.
Great. And I still had two periods to figure out what to say to her. See, things are going perfect.
By them time it actually came time for that, though, things didn't feel perfect at all. I got a D on my math test, even though I tried really hard. Then Mr. Addler kept me after second period to try and get me to confess to cheating on my homework, since that's always good. Really? If I was going to cheat, I would do it on the test instead of stupid old homework. I didn't confess, since I didn't cheat, but it still kind of ruined my day. He knew that I had study hall, so I couldn't even escape him by claiming I needed to be in class.
The period was like three quarters over by the time I made it to the auditorium, but Rachel was still waiting for me. She leaned forward like she wanted to give me a hug, but then she pulled back. That was kind of weird. She always hugged me, whether we were together or not. It always made Quinn mad, but I like hugs, so I did it anyway. Oh, maybe that was the problem. Maybe Jesse didn't like her hugging her ex-boyfriend. Yeah, I guess I can see that. I wouldn't want Kurt to be hugging some guy he had made out with, if a guy like that existed. "Hi, Finn, what did you want to talk about?"
It was now or never. "Jesse."
"What about him?" Her voice was level, but her eyes kind of twitched to the side. She knew exactly what I meant.
"Rach, don't play dumb with me. I know that he's from Vocal Adrenaline. Why are you screwing with the enemy?" My voice was a calm as hers, which was really good progress for me. Usually Rachel can reduce me to s screaming moron without barely trying.
"First of all, I am not 'screwing with the enemy' as you so elegantly put it. Second of all, why do you care? You left me, Finn. You have Kurt now, and the two of you are happy together. My love life is no longer any of you concern"
She always does this to me. She talks fast and she doesn't let me get a word in, and she makes the issues about something other then what it is. Right now she thinks that if she makes this about Kurt, that I'll start trying to defend myself, when she should be the one doing that. I crossed my arms over my chest. "I didn't leave you, because we were never really dating. And this isn't about Kurt. Rachel, we've already had someone leak our set lists to another team. We barely won Sectionals after that. What keeps this Jesse guy from bringing all of our best stuff right back to the rest of Vocal Adrenaline?"
"You know, Finn, if you were concerned about that, you could have just started with it. I was saving this for practice, so everyone could hear it at once, but, since you had to come in here all worked up, I guess I can tell you now. Jesse would never betray New Directions, because he's now a part of it. He transferred schools for me, and today is his first day as a student of McKinley High." She gave me a brilliant smile.
People always tell me that I'm stupid, and I get that I've made some pretty dumb choices in my life. I've lied, I've believed the wrong people, I've acted like a bully. But I've never, ever been as stupid as Rachel was being right now. "What?"
"Believe it or not, Finn, I've thought about all of these things, long before you did. I told Jesse that I didn't want a relationship as long as we were on opposite sides of the Show Choir divide. That was when he decided to transfer to McKinley. It's romance beyond what you can conceive of."
This was why I would rather date Kurt then Rachel. They're both way smarter then me, but at least Kurt is nice enough not to make me feel like a moron. Rachel is sneakier about it then Quinn, since she never actually uses the words, but they both tell me that I'm an idiot about 10 times a day. "I think that this is a bad idea."
"You can think whatever you want, but you don't have the right to tell me what to do, Finn. You never did." She laid a hand on my arm, and my muscles twitched away. "I don't want us to fight about this, and I don't want you spreading rumors. I'm going to introduce Jesse to everyone next period anyway. Please, Finn, let me do this." She was begging me now, her eyes pleading, and I remembered why I had fallen for her in the first place. I liked having someone to take care of, and sometimes Rachel needed it.
But she was right. It wasn't my place to take care of her now. It was my place to take care of Kurt, and I was determined to do a good job. "I won't tell anyone, not even Kurt."
"Thank you, Finn. I appreciate the faith you still have in me." Her smile was brilliant, which only made me feel like a douche.
I do have faith in Rachel most of the time, but not now. But if I stood here and nodded dumbly, I would be making her and Kurt both happy. She would be happy because I kept my promise and didn't tell anyone about Jesse. He would be happy because I had confronted her about her new boyfriend. Really, though? I hadn't done much and I certainly hadn't solved any problems.
Luckily, the bell rang before I either had to lie or blurt out the truth. Rachel patted my arm one last time. "I have to go get Jesse, but I'll meet you in the Choir Room in a few minutes."
"Ok." Kurt's third period is right by the Choir Room, so if I hurry, I can usually catch him before everyone else gets there. "I'll see you in a few."
Today, was apparently not going to be one of my good days, though, because I could hear Kurt and a bunch of girls giggling as soon as I went through the door. Kurt was hunched over a laptop, and I wondered what was so funny.
Being 6'3 does come with some advantages, and I was able to get behind Kurt and look over the top of his head. I stroked the nape of his neck while I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. It was like some creepy aerobics video, like the ones Mom used to work out to when I was a little kid. Why was it so funny that-no way.
My mouth dropped open. That weird skinny lady in the video was none other then Sue Sylvester herself. This was like a gift straight from God. "Where did you get this?"
Kurt giggled again. "I certainly didn't find it in her locked office cabinets after she send me to go get her hormone replacement shot."
Have I mentioned how hot it is when Kurt does something naughty like that? You would never, ever think that he would do something like break into a cabinet and steal, especially from the scariest woman in the school.
Then an idea formed in the back of my brain. A mean, mean idea, but one that made me feel like dancing. I reached over Kurt's shoulder and grabbed his laptop. "This is going to Youtube."
Really, Finn? You're better then this and you know it. Quinn voice sounded really disappointed in me.
I might have gone along with that voice, but real Quinn had a different opinion. "Do it, Finn."
I think that that's the most she's said to me since the truth came out about the baby. I don't hate her any more, because it's kind of tiring to keep up hating someone for so long, but I don't like her either, and I sure don't trust her.
Kurt didn't say yes or no, but he was still giggling about the whole thing. I pulled up YouTube and started adding the video. Why did I suddenly feel so guilty? She had hurt me on purpose, when I had never done anything to her. Doing it back to her would be karma.
No it won't. What she did to you was cruel, no one is disputing that. But at least she had the grace to do it in private. She didn't put you humiliation up for the entire world to see.
I wasn't going to listen to her. All Quinn voice did was make me feel bad. Maybe I should feel bad this time, but I wasn't going to let myself. I popped the enter button and there it was, the Sue Sylvester experience. I forced a grin I didn't really feel. "I'll bet this goes viral by lunch."
The problem was, being an asshole never makes me feel as good as I think it should. I handed Kurt his laptop back and sat down next to him. Santana had cued the video up to play again, and everyone was busy watching. "Was that a really bad thing to do?"
"Yes. But, considering the extenuating circumstances, I'll give you a pass on this one." He turned towards me, but didn't kiss me. For some reason, Kurt thinks that I would be ashamed to kiss him in front of other people. Dude, not true. So I leaned forward and pressed my mouth to his. A little chorus of 'awwww' sprung up from the girls.
Kurt jumped, so I knew that it still surprised him when I did that. Puck wolf-whistled through his teeth. "Kurtina, Finnessa quit getting your gay on in front of everybody! Keep it in the bedroom and the janitor's closet."
My boyfriend pulled back in horror. "People know about the janitor's closet! Finn!"
Puck stepped in to save me. "Hummel, you were the one that we could hear. I seriously doubt that Finny's voice goes that high. Don't worry, though, I totally covered for you both."
Kurt mostly trusts Puck now, but he still has this knee jerk reaction where he's scared Puck will do something mean to him. I get it, since I have the same thing when Quinn starts bitching. Then he smirked at Puck and kissed me again, way dirtier then I had kissed him. "Take this Puckerman."
That was when I heard a confused voice from the doorway. "So, is that your ex-boyfriend making out with another guy? What sort of club is this?"
He didn't sound evil, but I knew that this had to be Jesse. Too bad I was too busy sucking face with Kurt to get a good look at him. He'd still be there in a few minutes.
Unfortunately.
A pair of hands pushed Kurt and I apart and I found myself staring into Santana's eyes. "Do I need to spray you two with a hose? I've seen cats in heat that are less obvious."
She's been really bitchy to me lately. Sometimes I think it's because I turned both her and Brit down when they wanted to go out with me, but that may just be my ego talking.
"Yes, that's Finn. He's had a bit of a sexual awakening since I he and I were together." I kind of had to give her credit for not saying anything nasty.
She clapped her hands. "Guys, I have someone I want to introduce to you!"
Of course, no one listened. There are times when I wish that they would, because I get sick of having to get their attention when I need it, and when she needs it, too. Plus, it was seriously cutting into my make out time. Since Kurt had the best seat, I picked him up and put him in my lap. "Hey! Everyone listen to Rachel!"
I have a big voice, even when I'm not being very loud, and everyone settled down and looked over at Rachel, noticing our guest for the first time. Mercedes looked him up and down. "Who's that?"
"This is Jesse, the Glee club's newest member and my new boyfriend." I noticed that she didn't mention where he had been a member of the Glee club before.
"Are you going to make him gay, too? Because you did it to Finn." Brittany was looking at them like it was the most important question in the universe.
I took a minute to check Jesse out myself. He was…pretty ordinary. The only really nice part about him were his eyes, which reminded me of Kurt's for some reason. Kurt leaned back and whispered. "You're way cuter."
"You, too." Not that that had ever been in doubt.
"Where did you find this one Man-hands? He's a little out of your league." Is it just me, or has Quinn gotten a lot nastier lately?
Rachel is really smart, and she's really talented, but she can't lie to save her life. Her cheeks flushed bright red and she mumbled. "Jesse is a recent transfer student. Today is his very first day, so I would appreciate you guys making him feel welcome."
Wrong move. Her blush was like dropping blood in the water in front of a million sharks. Santana pounced. "Transferred from where? Because, let me tell you, Jesse, this is the most uncool club in school. The chess and debate teams rank higher then we do. Or are you Mr. Shuester's long lost son? I kind of see a hair resemblance."
Burn. Santana's been spending too much time listening to Coach Sylvester, but it's kind of funny anyway. Since Kurt doesn't like Mr. Shue as much as I do, he had no problems snickering into my shoulder.
Jesse faltered, which was another bad mistake. "I transferred from a few counties over."
There's nothing more exciting to Santana then thinking she has someone on the run. Like a lion, she zeroed in for the kill. "Which county? Just where did you go to school?"
"I transferred from Carmel High." Once he knew that he was caught, there was no point in trying to lie and Jesse knew it.
He presented it in such a calm, logical, manner, that it took a few seconds for anyone to make the connection. When they did, though, the room exploded.
Quinn started screaming first, followed closely by Santana and Mercedes. Then Brittany started, and pretty soon the only ones who were quiet were Me, Kurt, Mike, and Matt. But Mike and Matt are always quiet, which is why it's so awesome to hang around them most of the time. Of course Kurt and I were quiet because we already knew what was happening, so we weren't surprised.
"Are we going to stop this?" Kurt was pressed against me, watching the fight closely. He looked he was studying a bunch of monkeys or something.
I really didn't want to get in the middle of this, especially since I had had to do it once today already, but I kind of had to. "Guys! Can we not act like a bunch of animals in front of company!"
Puck shot me an evil look. At the beginning of the year, that would have backed me down, but I'm not as scared of Puck as I used to be. I glared right back. "Dude, he's the enemy! Do you want our routines leaked all over the place again?"
Even though I had just said the exact same thing to Rachel just a few minutes ago, I wanted to stand up for her now, for some weird reason. Maybe I just wanted to argue with Puck. We never used to fight before everything happened with Drizzle. Mostly he just told me what to, and I went alone with it, whether I really wanted to or not. Even though I'm not as mad about the whole thing as I used to be, my feelings are still really hurt, and sometimes I just felt like being contrary with him. I made myself sound calm and adult. "That's not Jesse's fault. It was Coach Sylvester's fault. If Jesse's transferred schools, then we should be nice and let him join our club. It's not like you don't all know what it's like to be picked on. Except for you, Puck."
He shrugged. "I'm badass, what can I say? No one would dare pick on the Puckadon."
It wasn't that long ago that I would have said the same thing, but I know that that's not true. You can be on top one minute, and totally on bottom the next.
Hee-hee. Just like last night
Ok, I laughed a little at that, but only in my head. People think that you're kind of weird if you just start randomly laughing, especially since everyone else was fighting. I looked around at everyone, trying to get a read on the situation. Santana, Quinn, Mercedes, and Puck were definitely pissed. Oh, and Kurt. I couldn't see his face, but I remembered from last night that he was not happy. Mike, Matt, Artie, me, and funny enough, Brittany were taking it better.
"How do we even know that he can sing?" Mercedes had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes narrow.
I wasn't really worried about that. Rachel be with a guy who couldn't sing? Never in a million years.
"I think we should give him a c-chance." I had forgotten all about Tina, which made me feel big time bad, because I think that everyone tends to forget about Tina. She's so quiet, and for some reason she's really nervous around me, but that's not really an excuse. I should be kind of looking out for everyone.
Everyone looked over at her, and she shrank down. "I mean…."
"Go on, T." Kurt was trying to encourage her. "Everyone else be quiet and let her talk."
"This school is mean. But that doesn't mean we have to be. This club has already taken cheaters, and bullies, and egomaniacs, and freaks, and jocks, and outcasts, and we somehow make it work. You can't prove that Jesse's worse then that. You can't prove that he's anything. We've all been accused of being something that we're not. Are we really going to do the same thing to someone else?"
Maybe we should listen to Tina a little more often, because she was really, really good. Guilt plays. I know, because Mom and Quinn and Rach are really, really, good at using it on me.
Sure enough, everyone was softening. Santana sighed heavily. "Fine, he can stay." Then she turned to Jesse and glared evilly. "Let me tell you something, Benedict Arnold. You fuck us over, I will Fuck. You. Up. Do not ever question that."
He had the sense to pull back a little. Smart guy. Santana glared for a minute longer, then turned back to the rest of the club. "Benedict can stay. Keep your burying shovels ready, though, just in case."
Jesse's eyes were huge, and I had to feel a little bad for the guy. It was hard for me to get in with the original five people, so I can kind of feel for him trying to get in with 12.
It might have been a kind of sweet moment, with an official welcome and everything except the door flew open so hard that it slammed into the wall. We all jumped, staring at Mr. Shue. He was bright red, and he looked pissed.
"Sit down, all of you. We need to have a serious talk."
Something told me that this wasn't about Jesse. Actually, he didn't even seem to have noticed Jesse. We all shuffled over to the chairs and sat down, trying to look small. Mr. Shuester doesn't get mad often, but when he does, it's kind of ugly.
"Who wants to explain this?" He held up a piece of paper, acting like it was some sort of bomb or something.
Kurt leaned forward, staring curiously, and asked the question that was on all of our minds. "What's a Glist?"