love like fools ➙ glee

seventeen ; you belong with me.

"You're going to suck at this assignment."

Alicia huffed, spinning to Jesse. They were the only two people left in the choir room, everyone else disbanding. Things were tense today upon the release of the so-called "Glist," which ranked Alicia just above Rachel, who was last. Mr. Schuester had assigned them to find songs with bad reputations and rehabilitate them, and Alicia was nervous.

Bad reputations? What did that mean? She didn't even understand bad reputations!

"I am not," Alicia protested. She probably was. "You're a jerk."

"Is that your catchphrase around me?"

Childishly, she stuck her tongue out at him before flipping through the abundance of sheet music scattered across the piano's surface. They had dropped by the school's mediocre library before returning here, grabbing as much as they could carry. They bickered the entire afternoon and she prided herself on not throwing anything in his face.

Jesse was leaning back in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, legs draped over one in front of him. "Look, how do I put this nicely?"

She laughed. "Are you capable of putting anything nicely?"

"I'm nice enough to pretend you didn't say that. Listen, Hastings, this assignment was practically designed for you to flunk. You have the 'badness' capability of a happy toddler who dreams of being a Disney Princess. Your idea of bitterness is when the cafeteria is out of pudding cups and you're stuck with celery sticks and you make that little kicked-puppy whimpering noise."

She hated when he was right.

"You don't know a thing about me." When he snickered, she spun on the heel of her boot to face him. "You don't! And I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to think of the perfect song and sing it in front of everyone. An actual solo, like the ones you and Rachel always get. And you're going to owe me something. Like -- like free coffee!"

Jesse stared blankly. "That is exactly what I mean. You could get me to do anything, and all you want is for me to spend, like, three bucks. Ridiculous."

Finally losing her patience, Alicia threw the nearest book at him. It wasn't thick, certainly not enough to hurt, but he flinched like he'd been shot. "God! Feisty little firecracker, aren't you? Maybe your reputation does precede you."

"What?" she asked sharply. "What are you talking about?"

"Word on the street is -- and by street, I mean my girlfriend -- you slapped Noah Puckerman. Twice. Once in this very room and once on the bus ride to your pitiful Sectionals. You all really did lack emotional depth, you know, it's a miracle you won." 

Alicia's hand twitched towards another set of sheet music. "That was not my finest moment."

Jesse smirked. "Wasn't it? I think it was kind of badass. Makes me afraid for whatever guy you date."

"Or girl."

"Or girl," he echoed. His tone was nonchalant. When she was in the midst of considering beating him to death with the music of West Side Story, it was easy to forget Jesse was bisexual. It wasn't the same as pansexual, but he did understand her. At least to that extent. "Did you even look at this book you used as a weapon?"

Alicia opened her mouth. No words came out. She actually hadn't, in her haste to damage his pretty face. "Possibly?"

He rolled his eyes. She could feel another one of his Clearly Superior moments approaching and briefly weighed the pros and cons of ditching him. Before she could, he was reading the book's title. "Taylor Swift's Fearless Platinum Edition. You know what's funny about her? She's got a big, bad reputation for only writing love songs."