Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews and alerts. This will also be another test trial for this story. If you like it and want it to be continued, please subscribe and review. On a side note, this chapter will incorporate the movie's soundtrack to it for a special added effect, so load up YouTube ahead of time. You don't have to, but I believe the music enhances the story itself. In the story, I will have parentheses where I will tell you to play the song and where to end it. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but it helps. Please enjoy this new chapter. And as always, R&R. Thank you.

Passing Afternoon

"So, you dropped her off at her house and ONLY got a name from her? And I thought I was the only in this family that had a problem with asking someone out on a date," Kurt laughed while sautéing the beef in a steaming pot.

"That's because there's not that many gay people at our school. In fact, I don't think are any at all. Besides, I just met the girl. I can't just go blazing and asking her for a date already," Finn replied. He was chopping (poorly) some pearl onions, garlic, and mushrooms.

"For your information FINN, there happens to be a boy at McKinley who is out and proud like me. His name is Blaine. I just haven't talked to him yet," Kurt replied, pouring some red wine in the simmering pot of beef.

Finn scoffed and said, "Sure, there is. What are you making anyway?"

Finn grabbed a spoon and began to stir the pot. He pulled the spoon out and licked it. It had a sweet and pungent taste that was very delicious.

"That's disgusting…And we're eating beef bourguignon tonight, the Julia Child's recipe," Kurt said, grabbing the spoon from Finn's hand and setting it in the pot. With his other hand, he took a look at Finn's vegetable cutting skills and snorted.

"Is something the matter, bro? Are my vegetable cutting skills not to your liking" Finn asked with a smirk.

"Meh, passable. Now go set out in the dining room," Kurt commanded, waving his hand for Finn to leave the kitchen.

Finn went to the cupboard and grabbed three plates. There was an extra plate in there, causing Finn to frown as he looked back at Kurt, who was still happily preparing dinner. At least, Kurt wasn't thinking too deeply about what happened.

Two years ago, Finn's mom Carol and Kurt's dad Burt married each other. It was a joyous time for Finn and Kurt and they spent every moment they could together as one happy family, but about a year ago, Burt suffered a heart attack. It was supposed to be a minor incident, but one day, they found Burt in his mechanic shop, dead from a sudden cardiac arrest. There wasn't anything anyone could've done. Kurt took the news the hardest because he had lost both his mother and his father. Finn and Carol were all the family in the world Kurt had left and they tried their best to help Kurt get through it. Finn believed that it was working.

"Boys, I'm home," a voice called from the front door. It was Carol, who made her way into the kitchen.

"Hey mama," Kurt greeted, giving Carol a kiss on the cheek, "How was your day?"

"It's great and I'm tired. And what is that smell? I sure hope that's dinner because it smells really good," Carol complimented.

Kurt beamed and replied, "It's beef bourguignon and yes it is for dinner. Why don't you go freshen up while I finish my seasoning and Finn stop staring into the empty pace and finish setting the table?"

Carol smiled brightly and headed upstairs to run a bath in her room. Burt's last gift to the family was a much bigger house that the four of them could live in. Ever since Burt's death, the house just wasn't the same, but they managed to get by, one day at a time. Finn was sure Burt wouldn't want Kurt to dwell on the past. The impact of his death remained in the house, but its impact lessened everyday that Kurt had a smile on his face.

"You said her name was Rachel, right?" Kurt asked casually, pouring the beef into a large bowl.

"Yes. Why are you interested?" Finn asked suspiciously.

"Interested? I should be. A potential girlfriend for my brother is really something. I'm just interested why she's interested in you in the first place. Your first day at McKinley after conquering the hearts of the ladies at Carmel and you're already scouting to conquer the hearts of the ladies in this school."

"Do you know her?"

"Rachel, Rachel, Rachel…I don't think I do. I would've thought you gone for the Ice Princess Quinn Fabray."

"Ice Princess?"

"Yep, she's cold as ice, but she's extremely attractive as hell. Not like I'm the only gay guy who notices it. I saw her earlier when she was introducing you to the school. It looked like she was taking a liking to you."

"Yeah, she's pretty, but I think Rachel is way cuter."

"I don't know until I've seen her. When can I see her, obviously besides your wedding day?"

"You can see her tomorrow. We have that stupid mandatory gym thing in the morning, right?"

Kurt nodded as he placed some bowtie pastas on each plate.

"Oh, are you going to teach me how to play the piano again tonight?" Kurt asked hopefully.

"I forgot. You're a dorky vocal major. You should've done piano, Kurt. Glee is so lame."

"Glee is not lame. You should try it sometimes."

"We'll see. It depends if you give me seconds. And I honestly don't see why you don't ask mom for lessons. After all, she's the one who taught me everything I know," Finn replied.

"I know, but don't you see how tired she looks every time she comes home? If she was still the music director at our school, I would've taken lessons from her. Ever since she started teaching those special need kids, she doesn't have a lot of free time to teach me. So pretty please. Can you teach me?"

Finn thought for a moment and took a seat in his chair.

"Fine, I'll spend half an hour teaching you…scales," Finn responded with a chuckle.

"Hooray!" Kurt cheered, leaping in the air for joy.

Finn honestly did not mind. He knew his mother was a very busy person. She was the music director at McKinley before Finn was even born. For some reason, she quit 20 years ago. Finn never knew why, but she decided to switch her career to help special education. His mother had a gift of playing the piano as well, training Finn to play since he was only five years old. He felt grateful for her training because he was now considered one of the best pianists in Ohio and in the United States. Finn attended the McKinley School of the Arts, which housed some of the most brilliant minds of the arts, including Jesse St. James, a pianist so talented that people say he had never missed a note on any piece. Finn wondered about challenging him to a piano battle one day. He could use that to impress Rachel.

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"You think that's hard? Try looking for a hay in a needle stack! That's hard!" Coach Sylvester yelled from her megaphone.

Sue Sylvester happened to be the gym teacher of the school. Once a week, all of McKinley students would participate in an hour's worth exercise session with Coach Sylvester, who did nothing but yell and insult the other students.

"She seems like a bitch," Finn whispered to Quinn, who was standing right behind him while doing his jumping jacks.

"She's not," Quinn laughed, "She's a big softie on the inside."

"Quinn Fabray! I did not just hear you say something nice about me!" Sue proclaimed loudly, "Now give me fifty more jumping jacks."

"Yeah," Finn chuckled, "A real snuggle bear."

Finn looked around the courtyard of the school hoping to catch a glimpse of Rachel among the rows of students, but he didn't see her.

"So where's this 'Rachel'?" Kurt asked, approaching Finn from the side.

"She's gotta be around here somewhere," Finn replied, standing on his toes to try to find the short brunette.

"You know, I'm beginning to think you're making this girl up in your mind. Are you really that desperate for a girlfriend? I can introduce you to Quinn," Kurt said, pointing his fingers at Quinn, who blushed immediately and looked away after hearing Kurt say that.

"I'm okay. Thanks Kurt. When I find her, I promise to you. I will bring her to you. Her physical body, ok?" Finn said.

"Whatever, Mr. Finn. I see Mercedes and Tina. I'll talk to you later. Take it easy, Quinn," Kurt said as we walked away, winking at Quinn, who blushed even more.

Finn took a glance back at Quinn, who kept staring at him. He felt flattered that at least one girl in the school likes him, but he had his eyes set on Rachel Berry. If only he could find her…

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The last class was coming to end as Mr. Schuester assigned the class some additional readings on Chopin. It was already the second day of class and it has become clear to Finn that Mr. Schuester was madly in love with the Polish composer. Finn actually liked playing Chopin pieces because not only are they difficult to play, but they sound really amazing when played right and sometimes fast. The only thing that irked Finn was that he did not like reading about the composer's life. It does not compare to the practical side.

During the class, Finn kept glancing backwards hoping to see Rachel walk in the classroom, late like last time, but as the class ended, Finn had not seen her the whole day. As he gathered his belonging into his bag, he left the classroom, feeling hurt for some reason. Why was he so interested in her? Maybe it was just that song she was playing that caught his attention.

No, Finn decided. That wasn't it. He had liked her the first time he laid eyes on her. And not seeing her that day really hurt his feelings.

Maybe she was in that old piano room, Finn thought. He needed to practice anyway. He decided that he might as well check out the room.

As he made his way into the piano room, he discovered that there was no one sitting in the chair or on the ladder next to the bookshelf. It was an empty room. Finn sat down on the piano bench and began to play some melodies just to hear the sound.

The old baby grand piano honestly did not sound that terrible. In fact, he actually liked the sound coming from it. It had an oaky feel to it with a touch of longevity on the keys. Both the white and black keys were rusting away though, revealing some light brown patches.

Finn continued to play until he noticed two students walk in. One was a white person with a Mohawk for a hair and the other was an Asian guy. That was the best Finn could say to describe the second guy.

The Mohawk-man whispered to Finn to be quiet and held his finger on his lips as the two of them hid inside a wardrobe closet, sitting on the right side of the room. Finn shrugged his shoulders and continued to play his song until a mean looking coach came in. Finn instantly stopped when he heard the coach roar in a hoarse voice, "Did you see two boys come running in here?"

Finn recalled hearing about the football coach at McKinley being a woman, but this coach and her voice gave her the appearance of being man if Finn did not look closely. Her name was Shannon Beiste and apparently it was French or something, Finn thought.

Finn paused for a moment before shaking his head and replying, "No."

Coach Beiste thanked Finn and stormed away from the room. Finn yelled out that the coach was gone as the two boys clambered out from their hiding place in the dresser.

"Thanks, bro," the Mohawk-man said, "You seem pretty cool. Are you new at this school?"

"Yeah, I am. I just transferred from Carmel. I'm majoring in Piano. The name is Finn by the way," Finn replied.

"I'm Mike," the Asian boy pointed to himself before pointing to Mohawk-man, "And this is Puck. He's a fifth year Senior and captain of the football team."

"I shouldn't even be here," Puck replied tersely, shoving Mike away, "It's just my teachers wouldn't accept alcohol as an acceptable bribe for me to graduate."

Finn chuckled at Puck.

"Let's go, man," Mike called, leaving the room.

"All right. It was nice to meet you, Finn. Come to our game next Friday. We need a bigger audience," Puck invited.

"Will do. Bye," Finn answered as Puck left the room. He could overhear the conversation down the hall of how Coach Beiste was dumb.

Finn glanced at his watch and discovered that he had playing for nearly an hour. It was probably time to go home. He grabbed his bag and left the old piano room. As he was walking out of the courtyard and out of the school, he felt a tap on his shoulders, which he, despite being startled, immediately spun around. It was Rachel Berry, smiling rather cheerfully at him.

"Did I scare you?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, you did scare me. Where were you? I didn't see you in class" Finn replied, happy to see Rachel at last.

"Skipping. I was practicing in the old piano room," Rachel quickly responded.

"No way," Finn exclaimed, "I was just in there. I didn't see you."

Rachel gazed down and hesitated. She then said, "I…took a bathroom break."

"For an hour? I was in there that long," Finn said, eyeing Rachel suspiciously.

"I saw some friends of mine. We caught up," Rachel answered quickly.

"Sure, you did," Finn said skeptically.

"Why, Finn? Did you miss me?" Rachel laughed.

Finn struggled for a second and answered, "Yeah. I missed…your music."

Rachel pouted her mouth and said slowly, "But I missed you..."

Finn stared into her eyes to see if she was serious before she added, "Your music!"

(Author's Note: .com/watch?v=GN7Vp4Pk-lk&feature=related)

"Oh," Finn laughed and nodded his head in embarrassment. He stepped forward and leaned against a column and stared up at the sky. The sun was shining very vividly and there was soft cool breeze flowing through the air.

"The weather is nice today," Finn complimented.

Rachel walked up and stood right beside Finn, leaning on the other column. She also looked up at the sky and reciprocated, "It is beautiful."

Finn glanced over at Rachel, who was still looking at the sky with a smile on her face and the soft wind blowing her hair away to reveal the beautiful complexions underneath. She is beautiful, Finn thought, even more so than the weather, but he feel as if he would never have the chance to tell her because she wouldn't allow him into her heart, but he didn't for the moment. He just stood there, admiring her gentleness and the way that she enjoyed the scenery. It was a simplistic view, but he treasured every seconds of it. He couldn't help but smile as she closed her eyes to experience her senses even further.

(Author's Note: End song)

"Get out of here, retard. I don't even know why the school hired you here in the first place," a voice yelled in the distance, causing Rachel to open her eyes and observe what was going on. A pack of freshmen students were picking on a handicapped person holding a broom as the man was sweeping the leaves in the courtyard.

It was only the second day of school, but Finn knew who that handicapped person was. He was the school's janitor, Mr. Jay. Finn did not his full name, but he was interested as to why the school would hire a mentally handicapped person as a janitor. It turned out, as Finn discovered, that he had worked for the school for over twenty years now and he was born normal, but while working at the school, he was exposed to a massive amount of lead and mercury. There was nothing that could've been done. It damaged his brain cells, causing his disability. To avoid a lawsuit from the family of Mr. Jay, the school kept him as its janitor. He still retained the use of his skills as a janitor, but he had a speech impediment and his body would shake a lot when he moved, like he was suffering a mini seizure, which a lot of cruel students would use to tease him with.

"Can't you help him?" Rachel asked, her voice broken. Finn was surprised to see tears develop in her eyes.

Finn nodded his head and ran over to where the pack of students and Mr. Jay was. Mr. Jay was still holding onto his broom and sweeping diligently, despite being made fun of by the students.

"Leave the guy alone!" Finn roared at the freshmen. Finn was a freakishly tall person and he had a commanding presence. Plus the fact that he was at least a head taller than the freshmen there caused the students to run away scared.

"Thank…Thank…Thank you," Mr. Jay said. Finn nodded his head.

"No problem, Mr. Jay. I'll let you keep on working," Finn saluted, walking away from him and towards Rachel.

"Thank you," Rachel said with a sad tone.

"Why are you crying?" Finn asked.

"It's nothing," Rachel responded, wiping a tear away from her eyes, "I'm just an emotional person."

"Why don't I cheer you up? Wanna go for a walk and maybe some ice cream afterwards?" Finn suggested.

Rachel beamed at once as she nodded her head in excitement.

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(Author's Note: .com/watch?v=TqLg1A8K1L4&feature=related )

Finn had not been to the lake in a long time, but as the sun was slowly setting in the distance, he couldn't think of a better place to be at. The scenery was especially beautiful at the time and it was the perfect place to try to get to know Rachel Berry more.

Finn was happy that Rachel had accepted his invitation. As he pushed his bike forward, Rachel was walking silently right beside Finn. It was only a few minutes into their walk and they still have not exchanged any words, so Finn decided to be the one to break the silence.

"So, how many people in your family?" Finn asked.

"Just me and my dad. My other dad died when I was twelve," Rachel replied.

"Other dad?" Finn asked surprisingly.

"My dads are gay, if you haven't figured it out," Rachel laughed, "I hope that's okay with you."

"Why wouldn't it be? My stepbrother Kurt is the most flaming of all kids at our school. I don't know if you've seen him yet."

Rachel laughed for a moment and then asked, "So I take it that your mom or your dad married someone else?"

"Yeah, my mom did. It was Kurt's dad, but he died a year ago from cardiac arrest. My real dad died when I was really young during Operation Desert Storm."

"Desert Storm? What's that?" Rachel asked with a quizzical look on her face.

"Wow, I guess you don't read much history," Finn laughed, "America fought a war against Iraq when Iraq invaded Kuwait."

"Oh! You mean the Gulf War," Rachel said.

"Yeah, but we usually call it Operation Desert Storm."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Do you regret not spending time with him?"

"It's okay. In a way, I guess I'm a little glad because I never really got to know him personally. I think it would've hurt a hell lot worse if I actually knew him like you knew your dad. Did it hurt when he died?"

"Very much so. It took me awhile, but I finally came to terms with his death. I'm pretty happy now."

"Let's stop talking about the past and all the sad death stuff. Let's focus on getting some ice cream, ok," Finn said with a bright smile.

He poked her gently in the face and quickly sped up ahead. Rachel smiled brightly before running after him.

(Author's Note: End song)

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"Hey, why don't you wait outside by the bench while I get our ice cream?" Finn told Rachel as they approached the ice cream shop.

Rachel gazed up at him and nodded her head, taking a seat on the empty bench right across from the ice cream shop.

"Can I help you?" the cashier asked.

"Hey. Can I get one cone with chocolate and the other with vanilla?" Finn replied. Finn handed the cashier the money and waited next to the line for his ice cream.

"You're Finn Hudson, right?" a voice behind him asked. It turned out to be Jesse St. James.

"Yes. And you're Jesse St. James," Finn said.

"Guilty as charged. I've been meaning to talk to you, but I haven't had the opportunity to."

"About what?"

For some reason, Finn did not like Jesse. Maybe it was his hair, but Jesse had a bragging attitude.

"Just a friendly talk. I was going to invite you for a friendly competition in auditorium sometimes," Jesse replied.

"You mean like dueling pianos?" Finn asked, raising his eyebrows dubiously.

"Well," Jesse said before hesitating, "I wouldn't call it that. Just some friendly playing. To be frank, I know how well you play, Hudson. I don't know if you heard of me or my reputation, but I'm the best in the school. And I intend to keep it that way."

"Is that right?" Finn asked sarcastically, "Fine, you can be the king or queen of this school for all I care. I don't need to play against you to prove that."

"I didn't realize that one of the most talented pianists in the nation is actually a coward."

"Not a coward, St. James. I'm just better than you," Finn said, grabbing his ice cream and beginning to walk out.

"Don't go hiding behind your mommy now. If you don't want to go against me, why don't you just say so?" Jesse said coldly as Finn approached the door.

"You know what," Finn said, turning around, "I think you have me beat on one thing. That's your ego, but playing the piano? You are not better than me. And you want me to prove it? Fine. Tomorrow noon in the auditorium. Be there!"

Finn stormed out of the ice cream shop in a huff. He walked across the street and handed Rachel her ice cream.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked, taking the cone gingerly, "I noticed you were having some kind of a row with that kid with the funny looking hair."

Finn laughed and replied, "Yeah. That's Jesse St. James and he is supposedly the best pianist at McKinley right now. He was just challenging me to a piano battle."

"Well, are you going to do it?" Rachel said, slurping her ice cream.

"Will you go out with me if I win?" Finn asked back, turning to Rachel for her response.

Rachel smiled and asked, "Isn't this a date?"

"Are you serious?" Finn asked, lowering his tone. He nearly dropped his ice cream when she said that.

Rachel laughed and replied, "You tell me."

"Fine," Finn said, "If I win, will you go on a real date with me?"

Rachel thought for a moment before saying, "I will…if you win."

"Then that's what I'll do. Come to the auditorium room to see me kick Jesse St. James' ass."

Rachel nodded her head as she gripped Finn's hands tightly.

"Try not to lose then."

Likes/Dislikes/Concerns/Theories

Did you enjoy it? I hope this chapter gave a bit more background to the characters. Next chapter, if readers demand it, will be the epic piano showdown between Finn Hudson and Jesse St. James. Finn and Rachel will spend time together inside the old piano room and there will be a "moment" between the both of them.

I hope you are keeping up with the tiny details within this story. Yes, Chopin is also significant in the story, though I won't explain why. Every little thing is significant, so by the time the story ends, you will understand completely if you keep up. Tune in for the next update. Thank you for your time and please subscribe and review!