DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything but in support of Matt finally having a line (my eyes welled with tears) I have decided to post the continuation of my story 'This One's For You'.
Ch1…
You would think that even the meanest bullies of the world would lay off a girl who had had a very public and dramatic showdown with her boyfriend in front of the entire student body just the day before. Of course you would be wrong.
Rachel stared at herself critically, hair matted and hardening with slushie, her jumper cold and soaking into her skin. Thankfully her reflexes kicked in and she closed her eyes before the raspberry could get her eyes and make her vision blurry for the rest of the day. Sighing loudly she started the by now robotic routine of cleaning herself up, out come the convenient travel size bottles of shampoo and conditioner, she had slipped into the locker room and was making good use of the showers. The hand drier could be twisted to be used as a make shift hair dryer and her gym locker was of course filled with alternate clothes and some make up. She artfully ignored the girls that came into the room, some whispering some just staring and of course the meanest of the bunch openly teasing and laughing at her. Satisfied with her efforts, hair dry, face clean and blouse no longer clinging to her in an awkward and increasingly uncomfortable way. She locked the several different locsk she had equipped her locker with, after the first time she had found her clothes in the toilet it had become a necessity.
"And this denotes a change in the-"
The door of course had to bang shut behind her; she couldn't just slip into the class unnoticed. Mr. Schuester stopped interrupted by the noise and nodded ruefully at Rachel choosing to continue with the lesson rather than embarrass her further. She could feel all the eyes on her as she arranged her desk, pulling out her binder and a selection of pens. She had been going to music theory classes since she was old enough to talk and didn't really need to take notes but it kept her hands and mind busy.
Mr. Schuester waited until the class was distracted by the assigned questions before he really looked at Rachel, her shirt was different to the one she had been wearing this morning when they had met to discuss the 'Cougar Incident' as the club had taken to calling it. He knew what had happened, a slushie facial as the group so bitingly called it. Why Figgins hadn't gotten rid of that damn machine he had no clue.
"Ok so read till the end of chapter 5, tomorrow we will be discussing Chopin's influence on today's music!" He called after the class that was vacating the room at an alarming rate. "Rachel, hang back."
"Sorry I was late Mr. Schuester." She apologized quickly, he raised his hand to quiet her.
"It's fine, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Perching on the desk he waited while Rachel sat opposite him. "I got a call from Regionals just before class, VA are still competing but Ms. Corcoran has been disqualified and they will need to have their set list approved against ours first."
"Fine." Rachel said tightly. "I don't suppose the entire choir were apart of the elaborate scheme to humiliate me. Losing their coach so close to the competition will be difficult enough, good luck to them."
"Good attitude." Mr. Schuester commended her. "I was hoping you could have something to show the club after school, morale is obviously a little low this week. I was thinking we could use a boost, something that says we're not going to let people walk all over us anymore. We need an anthem."
"I'll see what I can do." She told him trying to keep the reluctance from her voice. "Can you write me a pass, I'm going to be late to Algebra."
"Already done." He smiled passing it over. "Don't let it hurt you Rachel, you're better than that."
"Thank you." She replied pasting on the smile she usually reserved for perfecting her post Tony win face, she kept this up all the way down the hall, nodding at people on her way. It was only once she was outside, leaning against the brick wall hidden by the dumpster that she let it fall, along with the tears that had been building up. She didn't go to algebra, or the lesson after that, no one would notice, hell she doubted anyone would even care.
The club was spread across the choir room chatting amongst themselves, Mr. Schuester was still staring at the door, Rachel had never been so much as one minute late to one of their meetings. She was usually fifteen minutes early especially when she was supposed to perform.
"So Mr. Schue are we going to call this meeting to order or what?" Puck yelled out from the back of the room, there was only so much shit that he could listen to before he went crazy and between the conversation about shoes Kurt and Mercedes were having and the gossip session of Santana and Brittany he was past his limit.
"He can't Rachel's not here yet." Tina told him, Kurt of course scoffed.
"Please like little Miss Diva is going to show up today, she's probably sitting Shiva for the remains of her love life and reputation."
Santana snickered at his joke and Quinn couldn't hold back the small smile that pulled at her lips.
"Guys!" Mr. Schuester called out not appreciating the sarcastic little smirks some of his students were now sporting. "This is serious, has anyone seen Rachel since this morning?"
Everybody shook their heads and turned to look at Finn who had been silent.
"What?" He asked shivering under their stares.
"Have any of you spoken to her since yesterday?" Mr. Schuester tried again; again the responses were in the negative. "I thought you guys were friends, none of you thought she might be feeling a little insecure and upset and might need you?"
"Mr. Schuester if I may?" Kurt asked motioning to the floor. "Rachel's our star, we need her if we want to win Regionals but I think you are confusing acceptance of talent with friendship. Nobody is friends with Rachel, she's selfish, abrasive, annoying and critical."
"And you all feel this way?" Mr. Schuester asked mentally counting the nods; Kurt, Santana, Quinn being the most emphatic.
"She's hard to get along with Mr. Schue." Tina tried to explain, Artie nodding alongside her.
"Well guys then enlighten me. Tell me what it is exactly that makes Rachel such a bad person. Is it wanting solos like you and Mercedes do Kurt?" He asked pointedly. "Is it wanting New Directions to be the best possible and win? You all want to win don't you?" He looked around the room. "That's what I thought. Come on Finn, don't you have something to add?"
"No." He replied fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. Calm and collected, like Bond. He was Bond.
"Really?" Mr. Schuester pressed, Finn was hiding something he now knew the signs.
"Nope nothing." He smiled nervously and sank back into his chair. Bond wouldn't sweat so much when he was nervous, he had to be Bond.
"You know I really thought you guys were better than this." He pulled open his bag and thrust the sheets he had made back in. "Practice is cancelled, since you all don't want to be better and win I just don't see the point."
He left the room angrily the group shaken by his storm out that reminded them of Rachel. Finn was quick to follow his hands thrust deep in his pockets.
"You guys suck you know that." Puck told them climbing down the small bleachers.
"When Puck thinks we're screwing a girl over I think we all know something must be wrong." Mercedes said shifting in her seat uncomfortably.
"You know if that had happened to any of us she would have been there." Tina admitted sadly. "Like when you had a crush on Kurt. Or when he vacated the closet."
"She gave me a bunch of pamphlets and invited me to meet her dads." Kurt remembered. "She congratulated me on my alternative lifestyle choice and commended my dedication to living life to its fullest. She wanted to start a new club at school called the Guy-Lesb-All. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance."
"She's the product of two dads?" Santana asked giggling. "That explains so much, but not her wardrobe, you'd think her fashion sense would be so much better living the palace of Gay Town."
"Says the girl who wears her Cheerio's uniform to school everyday." Matt commented rolling his eyes.
"You know the girl sometimes makes me want to use a power saw on my head." Puck began shuddering for effect. "But she's my friend." He even managed to say the words without hesitance or vomiting. "You know she helped me with algebra so I didn't get cut from Football or Glee?"
"You let the dictator teach you things?" Kurt asked aghast. "Why would you give her the power?"
"She caught me and Mike up when we first joined the club and since Finn joined his vocabulary is much better. The other day I heard him use masochistic in a sentence and it was right." Matt added backing up Puck.
"So y'all think we're mean bitches just cause we don't like Rachel?" Mercedes summed up. "If you guys were all such good friends why didn't you go over there with ice cream and make her talk about her feelings?"
"Because we have penises?" Puck answered. "We figured that was the girls job well and Kurt's."
"I'd resent that if it wasn't something I would participate in." Kurt sniffed pretending to inspect his sleeve.
"Maybe they're right." Tina admitted her conscience getting the best of her. "I feel terrible right now, Mr. Schuester seemed pretty upset and he's usually right about these things."
"Yes he is." Quinn agreed quietly slowly pulling herself to her feet. "I think we all know there is no love lost between me and Rachel. But even after everything I did to her when she found out about the baby the first thing she did was knit some booties for her."
"I knew you didn't knit gold star booties for the kid!" Puck muttered to himself remembering all too vividly when he found Quinn misty eyed over those damn booties at her locker.
"I'm still a bitch to her now even after I left Finn's place and moved in with Puck and she offered up her house to me." She continued ignoring the football player as she often did. "In a weird way I blame her for this." She gestured to her stomach. "If Finn hadn't joined Glee and fallen for her I wouldn't have gotten drunk on wine coolers and had sex with Puck."
"That's why you hate her so much?" Tina asked almost reverting back to her stutter she was so nervous. Quinn nodded sadly stroking her stomach.
"It's stupid but I needed someone to blame and she was always there you know? When we were kids we took ballet together and she always got the parts that I wanted, she was always so happy and confident in herself and I just wasn't. I hated that."
"Oh god it's like we're in an episode of Degrassi." Santana groaned hanging her head off the back of her chair. "Wow let's all share our feelings! Quinn's really just an insecure little girl! Puck has daddy issues! Kurt's got even bigger daddy issues!" She cheered out each statement with fake enthusiasm. "Guess what? Everyone has problems it was just Berry's turn."
She pushed herself back further into her chair and scowled, this was high school everyone had problems.
"So what now then Quinn?" Kurt asked tiredly, it really was like an after school special. "Do we all get together and sing her a song about how sorry we are and how much we want her back?"
Artie smiled arching his eyebrow. "Well why not? We're a glee club and Mr. Schuester is always trying to get us to use music to express ourselves. Like Eric Clapton when he wrote Tears in Heaven."
"Why would you cry in heaven?" Brittany asked confused.
"It's about how his son crawled out a window and died." Puck told her shocked, didn't everyone know that? Kurt bit back a sob and covered his mouth.
"That's what that song's about?"
"Wow she's right." Puck was amazed. "You are culturally retarded."
"So not the issue right now." Mercedes cut them all off, she could practically feel her best friends increase in anger over being called culturally retarded by someone sporting a mo-hawk.
"She's right." Tina agreed. "We shouldn't be fighting we need to work on this. If Rachel were here we'd already have a song and be learning choreography by now."
"It was her idea to sing Lean on Me for you Quinn." Mercedes told her. "Can you think of anything to return the favour?"
"The only song about friendship I know is The Golden Girls theme." Quinn replied rolling her eyes. "Not exactly what you had in mind."
"Oh I don't know." Tina giggled. "You're heart is true you're a pal and a confidant."
"I'm not ashamed to say I hope it always will stay this way." Mike sang back laughing at the looks of disbelief. "What? My grandpa had a thing for Betty White."
"That Blanche was a hall of fame Cougar." Puck said admiringly shoving Matt who snorted at him.
"Moving on." Kurt shuddered seizing his chance to take control. "Does anyone know a song for this occasion? Anyone at all?"
"That Barney song?" Brittany suggested. "I always feel so happy when he tells me he loves me."
"Anything that doesn't involve purple dinosaurs?" Kurt asked again, Barney had always kind of freaked him out.
"Friends?" Tina suggested.
"Yes we want a song that tells her we all want to be friends." Kurt huffed snapping his fingers.
"No friends." Tina emphasized resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "You know So no one told you life was gonna be this way."
Mike and Matt clapped three times quickly and laughed.
"It could work." Mercedes agreed wrinkling her nose. "Rachel told me her parents named her after Jennifer Aniston's character on the show."
"Can we please shy away from TV theme songs?" Kurt shouted exasperated. "This is Rachel, Queen of the Broadway musicals not Brittany."
"Well then what do you suggest?" Tina shot back. "I haven't heard you contribute anything!"
"Oh I don't know can't we just get Finn and her together and say that was our apology?" He suggested carelessly.
"That's not bad." Puck agreed rubbing his palms together. Kurt looked over alarmed.
"No, no it's insane." He corrected him desperately. "As his future step-brother I beg you to reconsider." It was bad enough he had to compete with her at school for solos and Finn but he didn't want to have to compete with her in his own home.
"That was the first helpful suggestion we've had all afternoon. Everybody knows those two are still hot for each other."
"You guys didn't have to hear him sing Jessie's Girl in the shower after practice." Mike complained. "It was cool the first few times but everyday for two months straight? Painful."
"So we know he still wants her but does Rachel still want him?" Mercedes asked looking around the room. "She was pretty upset after he dumped her I think we can all remember Gives You Hell."
"And she practically broke her neck fleeing the stage last week after Tiny Dancer." Tina added chewing on her lip.
"One way to find out." Quinn mused heaving a sigh. "Girls we're going to need Dirty Dancing, cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream, hair curlers, nail polish and SingStar."
Tina nodded swiftly. "Meet at her place at six?" She suggested.
"I'll bring the vodka." Santana begrudgingly offered, it was a part of the girl code you can't not attend a slumber party.
"And don't forget your teddy bear." Brittany added pulling a worn looking teddy from her bag. "I've already got Chewbacca with me."
Chewbacca? Puck mouthed to Quinn who shook her head mouthing back Don't even ask.
"What are you girls doing?" Matt finally asked, he didn't speak fluent female; he doubted even Kurt did.
"Slumber party." The five replied in unison, Santana and Brittany giving them looks that clearly said 'duh'.
"No girls can resist a slumber party." Mercedes explained. "If we're lucky by morning she'll forget Jesse St. Jackass and be back to correcting our pitch."
"Right. Lucky." Kurt mumbled sombrely. He knew this was a necessity but he didn't have to like it. His therapist said he had so many issues with Rachel because she was so like himself, which he was, loathe to admit.
The girls filed out quickly planning out the night between them leaving the boys standing around awkwardly. After a few minutes Mike slowly raised his hand.
"Dude we're not in class you don't have to raise your hand." Puck snapped.
"I've got a question." Mike defended himself. "Shouldn't someone talk to Finn?"
"Don't worry I'll take one for the team." Kurt offered miserably; if you can't beat 'em join 'em or whatever. "Finn's mum and my dad are making us have a family dinner tonight. I'll talk to him then."
"And say what?" Matt asked suspiciously, it was a well known non secret that Kurt had a crush on Finn.
"Find out if he's still into Rachel, how on earth he could be, why he insists on wearing so much plaid and if time permits what his opinion on wall papers are." Kurt replied airily leaving before anyone could tell him otherwise.
So the girls would be surprising Rachel with a sleep over and Finn would be attacked by his soon to be step brother who was still in some kind of weird competition with Rachel because she was pretty much him with boobs and therefore actually had a shot with Finn. Puck grabbed his bag and sighed once more. There was no way anything good could come from all of this but given yesterday it couldn't make anything worse.
