Chapter 01: Meet Jenna Monroe

Kurt tries to persuade Jenna to join the Glee club yet again. Then she finds out which boy has been getting his attention... just before a new stud catches her eye ;)

“Ohmygosh, that's beautiful, stay like that! No... yeah, like that!” I focus in on him and release the shutter on my Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR camera. The iris closes in to completely surround the aperture for a quick second, making for a great shot. “Awesome... You are so going to love me after you see these!”

 

“But I already love you,” he says while striking another simple pose. “You made me mac-and-cheese this morning!”

 

I carefully capture the scene once more; really starting to groove to I'm Not Your Toy by La Roux playing in the background (Kurt's choice), “You could be a model, you know that?”

 

He seems to mull the idea over shortly, “Maybe I should be... Then I could model my own clothing line while wearing my own fragrance!”

 

“Wow, Kurt,” I laugh, rolling my eyes. He seems to get a kick out of my reaction. I look back down at my camera and go through the last couple of shots I took. “Alright, I think we're done here.”

 

“What? Just because I expressed the kind of big dreams that I have?” he sits, defeated, on his basement couch.

 

“No!” I laugh again. “Because I got all the shots I needed! Besides, I think I'm used to you expressing your big dreams to me by now.”

 

“I know you have them too...” he adds quickly but softly, and immediately looks up at me from the shirt he is folding to catch any reaction I have. His left eyebrow is slightly raised, and I know exactly what he is thinking.

 

“Kurt, I'm not joining Glee,” I chuckle a little.

 

“Oh, come on, Jenna!” he stresses. “You know you have what it takes! You can sing and play guitar!”

 

“Nah B, I told y'all I'm not down with that,” I joke. “But seriously; I'm not really into that... Sorry again.”

 

His eyes widen at once and I can tell he is not conscious of his surroundings.

 

“What is it? Are you okay?” I ask, a little concerned.

 

“Yes, yes, I'm fine...” he looks at me. “You said you needed to get some community service hours for university, right?”

 

“Well, yeah. To get into Ohio University I need to have somewhere around one to two-hundred hours of community service, and a big fat portfolio made up of the best photos I've taken.”

 

A big smile spreads across his face, and he begins to murmur rapidly to himself in a hushed tone, “There are one-hundred and eighty days in the school year, which means roughly forty weeks, and we have Glee on an average of three or four times a week - depending on how busy we are and how large the assignment is... So that's one and a half hours of Glee, times three point five days a week, times forty weeks...” He pulls out his pocket calculator.

 

“Umm, Kurt? I don't think I understand wh-”

 

“Two hundred and ten,” he states proudly, raising his head from the tiny LCD screen in his hand.

 

“Two hundred and ten what?” I ask suspiciously.

 

“Two hundred and ten community hours,” Kurt explains intelligently. “If you come to every single Glee practice and stay for the entire length of each, then by the end of the year you will have obtained two hundred and ten community hours; just ten hours over the maximum amount you need!”

 

I let out a disappointed sigh, and put on a small smile, “That's nice of you to put all the effort into calculating that for me, Kurt, but I already told you many times that I don't want to join Gl-”

 

“But you wouldn't be joining Glee!” he cuts me off, still enthused with his idea. “You said you needed a big fat portfolio of your best pictures. So, you can get that by being our photographer! We need publicity more than anything anyways.”

 

“Damn,” the word escapes from my pursed lips as I softly nod my head. The boy makes a good argument... so good that I don't believe there is any down side to it. I'll get my community hours while creating my portfolio, and I'll get to be with my best friend every time he performs. And man, does he have a voice!

 

“I'll do it,” I grin.

 

“Jenna!” he jumps towards me and hugs me tightly, adding in a quick kiss on the cheek. “You are amazing! Finally!”

 

“Hey, hey, hey - slow it down there, buddy,” I give him a stern look while still smirking a little. “This does not mean I'm actually joining the club, alright?”

 

“I know, but you'll still be with us, and that's what counts,” he says sweetly. He definitely knew that was cheese!

 

“You are terrible,” I tell him. However, my satisfaction of finally finding a way to get those hours gets to the better of me, and I can't help but smile. “Thank you, Kurt.”

 

*

 

My words had become lost in disbelief.

 

“How come you never told me about this?” I finally muster.

 

“It never really seemed that serious,” he responds calmly, lightly shrugging his shoulders. His eyes resume following player number 5 running across the field.

 

“What's his name?” I ask, observing the notable quarterback for once.

 

“It's Finn.”

 

“Finn... that's pretty hot.”

 

“I know,” Kurt agrees, emptily.

 

“But really?” I persist, still a bit taken aback. “Him? I thought you'd go for the more fashionable type, you know... like maybe someone in my group of friends, or one of the more preppy guys. Either that, or some hunky type like Rafael Verga,” I laugh.

 

He nods in thought, pathetically entranced by the sight of Finn.

 

“That's it,” I finally arrive at a distinct conclusion and give my head a quick nod as well. “I mainly thought you would've liked my type.”

 

“Your type?” he turns to face me for once, slightly raising his left eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, my type. You know, the small-framed guys with lean muscle... They have a sort of toned-down scene style or hipster style, but are still considered indie like me. They'd usually still have that inner-almost-prep that only comes out faintly in some of the clothes that they wear. Oh, and they'll always have sexy hair!” I laugh lightly, imagining the perfect guy for me. But speaking of sexy hair... I spot a very buff player running on to the field from the sidelines; his helmet in hand. His skin is notably tanned, and his hair is shaved into an interesting style of mohawk.

 

“That does sound like your type...” Kurt laughs kindly, pulling my attention back to him. “But no, Finn is it. I like the strong silent ones. The ones that you can tell need someone to mold their path for them, even though they look like they couldn't ever be defeated by someone small like me... I could be there for him. I could be the one that brings upon his change...”

 

“AND GOAL!” the team announcer's voice bellows from the surrounding speakers as the crowd is brought up in euphoria. Sometimes it takes a great team sport like high school football to bring together countless people, and have them unite in loving one thing mutually, no matter how different they are apart.

 

*

 

“It's what Glee is all about, really,” Kurt interprets my idea of high school football after I so poetically illustrated my views on it. “Each of us is unique in ourselves, but singing has brought us together as one. We're all kind of like a family now.”

 

We walk along one of the many cool open hallways of William McKinley High School. It is the day after the first big game of the season, and needless to say, everyone is pretty sluggish from their late nights at the wild after-parties. Even Kurt and I had our own little party last night. My girlfriend Charleigh came over to his place as well, and the three of us had some fun. There's no experience more enjoyable than underage drinking. Kurt even made some specialty mixes for us!

 

“So Kurt,” I cheerfully change the subject, “you never told me who number twenty was on the football team.”

 

He sighs, “I'll say what I said yesterday,” he says as we reach our lockers. “You don't want to get involved with him.”

 

“Oh, why not?” I ask, playfully. “How bad can he really be?”

 

My question answers itself as the guy we were just talking about speeds past us down the hallway with a large slushie in his hand. His target: a fragile little ninth grader. The young boy shivers under the impact of the red icy drink as it is thrown at him, then immediately bolts in the opposite direction of where he was heading.

 

“That's what you get for messin' with my sister last year, Kaufmann!” the football player yells after him, and resumes walking down the hallway.

 

“That bad,” voices Kurt. “He used to be worse, but Glee softened him up a bit I believe.”

 

My eyes become wider, and I bite my lip to stifle the large grin that is rapidly spreading across my face, “He is smokin'!”

 

I go to follow him, but Kurt pulls me back.

 

“Fine, Jenna. If you insist on talking to him, just wait until Glee club,” Kurt advises. “It'll be much less of a hassle that way. And with Mr. Schue there, I don't think he'll try to pull anything too foul.”

 

“You gotta be kidding me... That guy's in the Glee club?”

 

“Yes, Jenna, he is,” Kurt thoughtfully raises his left eyebrow. “Unfortunately, he is quite the singer and guitar player. And surprisingly, he's a decent dancer too.”

 

“Oooh, we already have so much in common!” I giggle in a giddy, childlike manner.

 

Kurt groans and rolls his eyes, “Ugh, why did I have a feeling this day would come?”

 

“Oh, come on,” I playfully hit his shoulder, still laughing. “I'm just fooling with you, Kurt! I'm not that obsessive of a person!”

 

“You better not be...” he fails at stifling his smirk. “Because he's not one to fall for. He'll break anyone's heart.”

 

I look at him disbelievingly and sarcastically.

 

“Now come on,” he strays away from the previous subject. “We'll be late for Français if we don't hurry!”

Author's Note

Read on, my loves, read on.
I like comments; feedback is greatly appreciated! :)
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