FINN HUDSON — MENTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE!

BLAINE WAS STILL SAD. Unlike most members of the glee club, he was more focused on the recent break up with Kurt than the school musical. Throwing himself against the wall besides them, he continued to pout as Tessa and Sam signed up their names on the sign up sheet for a part in Grease.

Finishing up writing his name down, Sam turned to the pair with furrowed eyebrows, "as President and Vice President and First Lady, we can pretty much decree whatever parts we want, right?"

"I'm not sure that's quite how it works honey." Tessa chuckled lightly, watching him drop the pen back down besides her with a soft smile.

Still looking forwards, Blaine still had a sad look on his face, not wanting to take any notice of the sign up sheet besides Tessa, "I'm not sure I'm gonna do the musical this year. I'm not in the right headspace to do a project like Grease." He told them solemnly, "since Kurt and I broke up I haven't slept, I've lost my appetite, I don't even gel on weekends."

"Oh dear." Tessa whispered, concerned, exchanging a worried glance with Sam before turning back to Blaine and rubbing a hand across his arm, "maybe the musical could be a good distraction though? I know that's how Finn's feeling at the moment."

"Kurt was my soulmate." Blaine shook his head through a deep sigh, "we talked about spending the rest of our lives together. About retiring in Provincetown and buying a lighthouse and starting an artists colony and now he won't even return my calls. He won't text me. And that Gilmore Girls box set i sent him was returned to me, unopened. He's gone. Maybe forever."

"Well Kurt's hurt too." Tessa said carefully, not wanting to upset Blaine further, "just give him time and he'll talk to you again, I'm sure of it. He's just hurting right now, you meant a lot to him too."

Watching as Blaine went silent once again, Sam stood in with a reassuring smile, "look dude, we get it. Except the lighthouse part. We've all been there at some point. But you'll get through it. You know, I thought I'd never get a proper chance with Tess once I was in Kentucky and bam! Look at us now. Love always finds a way." Giving him one last poke in the chest Sam waited for the corners of Blaine's mouth to twitch upwards out of his pout before spinning on his heels and walking down the hall.

Letting out a dreamy sigh, Tessa just shook her head out of amusement as she took hold of Blaine's hand and beckoned for him to tag along with her, allowing him to lean against her side, just a little less pouty than before.

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AFTER FOUR YEARS, TESSA WONDERED IF SHE'D EVER GET USED TO BEING SLUSHIED. Pulling herself up, she'd perched on the edge of the sinks as she tried to wipe off the blue slushy from her face, hair and clothes. At this point as she stared down at her stained Cheerios uniform, Tessa cursed loudly and groaned as she realised that she'd have to spend the day with a blue stain across her chest.

Not expecting anyone else to be around, Unique Adams had made her way into the girls bathrooms. Peering inside and catching sight of the Cheerios uniform, she was struck with fear for a moment until the girl looked up to see her stood in the doorway to reveal it was Tessa with a large grin on her ice covered face. Feeling a weight being lifted off her shoulders, Unique came all the way into the bathrooms.

Taking sympathy for Tessa as she watched her try to scrub the stains away from her face, Unique offered her a smile, "you want a hand?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Tessa nodded eagerly in reply, "that would be awesome, thanks."

Carefully taking the towel from her hands, Unique began brushing the ice away from her forehead. Growing curious, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "aren't you Head Cheerleader?" Seeing her nod of reply, "I thought the Head Cheerleader didn't get slushied."

Shrugging her shoulders, Tessa let a small chuckle escape her lips, "just because I'm Head Cheerleader doesn't mean that all the popular kids like me. Some of them aren't great." Mouth forming a quick oh shape, Unique began to move on with the conversation as she rummaged in her backpack for her makeup bag ready to help Tessa with her makeup. Swinging her legs lightly as she had her makeup done, it was Tessa's turn to ask the questions, "how do you think your audition went? Finn said you and Marley were incredible."

"My audition was amazing." Unique admitted through a small sigh, "but Coach Sylvester told my parents that I auditioned for Rizzo and they pulled me out of the musical. The part's yours."

A frown instantly coming to her face, Tessa pursed her lips, "that's totally not fair. You would've killed it as Rizzo. Do you want me to talk to anyone about it? Try and get you the part?"

Shaking her head, Unique replied with a sad smile, "I've already tried... and Finn. My parents are just trying to keep me safe but it gets me down. I don't feel right in the men's locker rooms but i can't go into the girls, and I don't feel right in men's clothing but i can't wear dresses everyday. It sucks to never know your place."

"I get it... well... I don't really. I'll never understand what you're going through right now but I'm here for you, okay?" Tessa told her softly, reaching out and taking hold of her hand, giving it a squeeze, "and I know you really wanted to play Rizzo, but there's more than one night of performances, how about we sneak you on one or two nights when Coach Sylvester and your parents won't find out? You deserve a chance to play her at least."

Eyes widening in wonder, a smile pulled at the corner of Unique's lips, "you think we could pull something like that off?"

"I think we could." Tessa replied after a moment thinking it through, "the whole glee club are behind you and will help us. What do you think?"

"I'd really love that. As long as you're okay with sharing the part."

Waving off her concern with a wide grin, Tessa shot finger guns her way, "part sharing is part of the fun!" She exclaimed, excitedly, "we can practice 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do' together!"

Hearing Tessa speak about how willing the glee club would be to help her get the role she'd been dreaming of in the school musical, Unique was unable to hold back a smile, feeling as though she'd found a place where she felt like she belonged just the way she is, "thank you. This means a lot."

Squeezing her hand once again, Tessa hopped down from the counter and began to smile as she looked at her makeup in the mirror, "anytime, okay? And if anyone gives you any more trouble I'm not afraid to wheel them over with Artie's wheelchair or beat them up with the lunch trays or both."

Unique had let out a small chuckle until she saw the complete seriousness on Tessa's face, "thanks, it's nice to feel like I have people who have my back."

"We've definitely got your back." Tessa smiled, doing up her Cheerios jacket to hide any remaining slushy before offering her arm, "come on, we've got glee in a bit. Oh! And you're coming to Breadstix with me, Marley and Sam tonight."

Grinning from ear to ear, Unique gladly linked her arm in hers as the two made their way towards the choir room in the hopes of telling Finn Hudson their plan and getting him, Mr Schue and the glee club on board.

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ARTIE HAD PUT FINN AND TESSA IN CHARGE OF JUKEBOXES. Watching him wheel out of the auditorium, slapping a high five to Tessa's hand, Finn turned back to the jukeboxes with a small smile, hoping with the help of his two friends that he'd managed to make the correct decision for the musical.

Staring down the jukeboxes for a moment, Finn spun round and gave Tessa his best puppy dog eyes, "are you sure you and Sam won't go for Sandy and Danny? It would make my life so much easier."

"No can do, sorry dude." Tessa shrugged, sitting down on the stage and waiting for him to throw himself down next to her, "Sam's wants Kenickie — that role is his destiny. He's been knocked out by a car door once already and he can recreate it very accurately. I've seen him do it myself... he's amazing. So I've gone for Rizzo... as you know. Besides, I wouldn't be a great Sandy anyways, she's not really my style."

Nodding along, Finn had slowly crouched down to the floor to plop down besides her, taking some Grease sheet music from her as she began to sort through it to help out, "I get it. It's really cool what you're doing by the way."

Shrugging it off, Tessa smiled, "I'd do it for anyone. Unique deserves as much of a chance as I do to play Rizzo and if others can't see that then that's their problem."

A fond smile coming to his lips, Finn gave her a proud nudge in the side, "hey, you're impressing me, you know. You're becoming a bit of a leader in that choir room. I've seen it ever since I've been back here."

"Me? A leader?" Tessa scoffed, waving him off immediately out of her own disbelief, "I'm no Finn Hudson. I'm not a leader."

"You might surprise yourself." Finn told her with a genuine grin, wishing that she could see herself the way that he saw her and wishing that she could find the same belief in herself that he had in her and has-had in her from the start. Catching sight of her skeptical looks, he knitted his eyebrows together and pointed an accusing finger her way, "don't look at me like that dude, I'm mentoring you!"

Making a dramatic face, Tessa gasped and threw her hand across her heart with an over-exaggerated pout before letting out a soft laugh and punching him on the arm, "I'm kidding, you've always been a great mentor, giving the best pep talks type of thing. The show must go all over the place... or something, right?"

Leaning into her side lightly, Finn looked down and shook his head with amusement, "you're making me regret coming back to see you."

"You're not staying forever?" Tessa pouted, "you could use your expert mentoring skills and help the glee club win Nationals again. You're already doing an awesome job directing the musical with Artie."

Truth be told, Finn wanted to stay in Lima forever. He felt as though it was his speed and being surrounded by his people definitely helped so that even when he was at his most down over Rachel or the opportunities he may've missed, he knew he had someone right there to turn to for a laugh. Seeing the glimmer of hope in Tessa's eyes only spurred this feeling on, "I'll think about it. I don't think I'll be going anywhere anytime soon though, so you're stuck with me for the long haul pretty much."

"I can't wait." Tessa grinned, wiggling her eyebrows and jumping up from her spot on the floor and pulling Finn up after her, both of them spinning round to face Ryder Lynn as he cautiously snuck his way out onto the stage.

Slapping a smile onto her face, Tessa looked up at Finn and caught onto his giddy grin and guessed that he'd brought in this football player to audition for Danny, "auditions aren't til four but —"

Cutting her off before she could even think about finishing her sentence, Ryder made eye contact directly with Finn as he explained his reasoning behind finding his way onto the stage, "I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to make my grades and if I'm dumb then so be it but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything."

His grin growing with every word from Ryder, Finn jumped forward eagerly to pull him into the auditions, "great!" Spinning on his heels, he pointed a finger straight at Tessa, "this is Tess by the way."

"Yeah, I know, she ran over me with her scooter."

"Actually it was Jake's scooter." Tessa mumbled in reply, scratching the back of her neck.

Waving the awkwardness away with a frantic swatting of his hands, Finn was keen to get straight into the audition process before Ryder could back out, "so you want to audition then?"

"As long as I don't have to sing." Ryder bargained, obliviously.

Moving towards the jukeboxes, Finn had come up with an idea, "you know, I used to be just like you, I didn't think that I could do it either. But then I just did it, no thinking, I just started singing and it just started coming out of me and it felt awesome... like a really good poop." Watching Ryder let out a chuckle and Tessa throw him a double thumbs up of encouragement, Finn's confidence grew and he examined the songs on the jukebox, "bet you're a classic rock kinda guy, right?"

Walking and peering over his shoulder, Tessa caught sight of Finn's song choice and instantly followed on with his ideas, "first time singing together in four months." She breathed out, "big moment... and lucky you're right here to help us out." She pointed over to Ryder before pressing the button on the jukebox so that the opening chords of Jukebox Hero began to blare out meaning Finn and Tessa managed to get an audition out of Ryder whilst goofing off together at the same time.