"Hallelujah"
A/N: I can tell you right now that I never planned on tackling Glee fanfic - so let's see how I do! The M rating will be...appropriate, soon enough. Oh, smut!
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Awful, isn't it?
There was just no way she could keep her mouth shut any longer.
It wasn't that she wanted to hurt Finn's feelings, even though she knew any criticism from her would, it was just that this song was NOT suited for him. He didn't even realize that, he was so blinded by the idea of singing it for her, and no one else was saying anything, and Mr. Schuester didn't look like he was going to intervene and the idea of Finn even attempting to sing the next verse knowing the bridge was far beyond his vocal range made her almost nauseas, she just couldn't-
"Mr. Schuester if I may say something quickly?" Rachel blurted out, having the decency at least to blush immediately after speaking. She had chosen the most opportune moment to interrupt, she'd give herself that at least. Finn had only begun to open his mouth to begin the next part.
The club collectively slumped further into their seats and even standing, Finn seemed to collapse a little.
"Rachel, you couldn't wait until Finn was finished?" Mr. Schuester stood and walked over to Finn, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder that earned a crooked smile from the boy.
Rachel sighed. "I'm sorry Finn, but I was having the hardest time listening to your performance. I'm not sure why you chose this song to sing for this weeks assignment."
Finn opened his mouth again looking like he wanted to explain himself, but Rachel cut him off before he had the chance.
"As you learned in the brief time we spent together that 'Hallelujah' is a very dear song to me, and I understand that you singing it now is probably a sweet, but futile attempt at trying to win my affection back- the issue for me presently is merely that you lack the emotional depth and vocal ability that Jeff Buckley possessed, and your performance started out mediocre, which I thought was going to be tolerable, but-"
"You sucked, dude," Puck interrupted from the far side of the room. "Is what she's TRYING to say".
Rachel, again, felt herself turning red. Finn had deflated before her eyes, jerking himself away from Mr. Schuester to drag himself back to his chair next to Tina and Artie, who whispered brief words of encouragement before leaving him be.
"I-I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings, Finn, I just…" Rachel's voice trailed off as Mr. Schuster sighed heavily, leaning against the piano, shaking his head.
Finn spoke quickly to get a word in. "I just wanted to sing something I knew you'd like."
"And I appreciate that, I do, but that song just wasn't for you. Your voice hasn't matured nearly to the point of being able to-"
"Does it always have to be so technical with you? I just wanted to sing something for you! Don't analyze every single thing about my performance for once…please."
Rachel straightened up and crossed her arms, aggravated. "Finn, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, but if you were trying to 'touch' me or connect with me in some way through music as a desperate attempt to win me back you should know by now that won't be possible, if I must say it again, after having confirmed that you lied to me about sleeping with-"
"God, please don't bring that up again," Santana groaned, dropping her head to her hands in disgust.
Mr. Schuster had enough at this point and pushed himself off of the piano, stepping forward to join the bandwagon, and interrupt. "Let's call it a day everyone, shall we? We'll try this assignment again next week." He motioned to Finn. "Hang back for one second, I'd like to talk to you."
The club gathered their things and tried to break the tension and awkwardness of another Rachel-Finn, post Rachel finding out that Finn lied about losing his virginity to Santana, moment. This was the fifth outburst so far since getting back from Regionals and starting the new school year, and not a single person believed for a second that Rachel had said what she said about Finn's rendition of the song without intending to push his buttons and knocking him down a peg or two. She wasn't a malicious person, but she was hurting. And she definitely had a way with words when she wanted to express that pain.
Finn remained in his seat, looking anywhere but where Rachel was. She sighed and stood to leave, grabbing her bag as she turned towards the door. She stopped before leaving with everyone else, looking back at Finn and thought for a moment that she should go and genuinely try to apologize (even though she meant absolutely everything she said), but a gentle wave from Mr. Schue indicated that he was going to talk to Finn about it.
"Let's go girl, you need to clear your head a little," Mercedes said quietly, holding the door open for her. "I know you're pissed and you've got every right to be, but that was rough". The two girls walked down the hallway, leaving Kurt at his locker calling goodbye's over their shoulders.
Rachel shook her head, shifting her books in her arms. "I know, I shouldn't have said anything. I think I was justifying it beforehand in my mind as being one of my usual outbursts of border-line insulting, but ultimately constructive criticism." They reached the front steps and walked down, stopping before going their separate ways to their cars. "I was so frustrated that he thought to try something like that in front of everyone, again, and I thought shutting him down would make a point...now I just feel I was being unnecessarily mean."
Mercedes shrugged. "He deserves a little pay back in my opinion, but next time just let him finish the damn song first or something and it won't seem so mean! Think of it as embarrassing him a little longer, you know?" The sassy diva winked at Rachel before turning to go to her car.
Rachel let herself smile for a moment. It was nice to know that Mercedes remained on her side of the whole situation, most of the club did. Though she and Finn seemed to be perfect and destined to be together after Regionals, finding out about Santana had hurt deeply. It wasn't that he slept with her, sex was sex, but what he had said about it before…"I guess I'm just waiting for the right person". Rachel had every intention of giving herself to him completely. Now, she was grateful she hadn't rushed into it.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and took Mercedes' suggestion to heart. She really did need to clear her head a little, and going home to stew in her thoughts any more wasn't worth her time or energy.
Walking to her car she noticed she'd parked right next to Quinn that morning. The blonde cheerleader was leaning against her car, seemingly waiting for her. She smiled a little when she saw Rachel coming towards her.
"I'm surprised you made it through the first two verses without saying anything to him," Quinn said, shifting a little to allow Rachel some room to lean against her car next to her.
Rachel groaned. "I can't think about this anymore, I feel like the meanest person in the world."
"Santana would be furious if she knew you just tried to take away her one claim to fame." Quinn almost kicked herself when she saw Rachel flinch at Santana's name. She softened her tone. "And we don't have to talk about it, I just wanted to give you something before you left today." She reached into her bag and pulled out a CD.
"What's this?" Rachel asked, curious as to why the blonde was giving her anything. Though the two had become friendlier since Regionals, and since the breakup with Finn - considering Quinn had been the one to let her in on the secret everyone else seemed to know - she was still top dog. Rejoining the Cheerios and no longer being pregnant put her right back where she used to be on the social totem pole, only with a soft spot for her and the glee kids.
Quinn shrugged, pushing herself off of her car and moving around to the drivers side to get in. "Something I think you'll like, it's not a big deal." She unlocked her car and Rachel moved toward hers, still staring at the CD as if trying to make sense of it right then and there.
"Let me know what you think," Quinn called out of her window, before starting the car and driving away.
Rachel got in her car and started it, taking out the Mary Poppins soundtrack that was already in her CD player and put in this new mystery one, hitting play before cutting across the parking lot and leaving the school campus. She heard a piano, some familiar chords, and her face broke out into a huge smile when she recognized it as a different version of 'Hallelujah', one she hadn't heard before. The woman singing was older, with a deep and powerful voice she recognized, but couldn't quit place. At the first red light she got out her phone and sent a text to Quinn.
"This is great. Who is it?"
The response came within seconds.
"Kd lang. You like?"
"I love. It's beautiful."
"I think so too"
"I've never heard a woman sing this song before"
"Add this to the list of things women do better than men"
Rachel blushed at where her mind took her instantly after reading that message, and put her phone down as the light turned green. She scolded herself for having such a dirty mind, and focused on enjoying the rest of the song, giggling a little at her rare display of understanding sexual innuendo- when she was usually the one hearing "that's what she said" behind her in class, after she made a comment contributing to whatever the topic of discussion was that day.
A few more minutes went by and Rachel was pulling into her driveway, when her phone vibrated with a new message from Quinn. She flipped it open.
"Have you sang this song before?"
She smiled. "Not outside of my car, no"
"I wanna hear you sing this"
Rachel's eyebrows shot straight up. She stayed in her car, unsure of why Quinn was suddenly talking to her like they were actually friends or why she suddenly felt nervous. She hadn't felt nervous around the popular girl for a while now, but she attributed it to the sudden turn in their relationship. If Quinn Fabray wanted to text her and ask her to sing, she wasn't going to turn that offer down. Rachel Berry loved attention, after all, especially when it wasn't slushie-driven name calling attention.
She grabbed her things and got out of her car, closing the door as she one-handedly texted back.
"Ok sure. Why? Just because?"
"I think it's going to be one of many things you'll do better than Finn"
Everything spilled out of Rachel's arms onto her front porch once she read that last text. "God," she muttered to herself, embarrassed, bending down to pick everything up. So much for clearing her head tonight. "I must really be desperate if everything is now suddenly an allusion to sex for me." Once she had everything in her arms she opened her front door with some difficulty and ran upstairs to drop it on her bed.
She replied to Quinn after sitting down. "What does THAT mean?" There's no way that Quinn meant it how it sounded to Rachel, no possible way. So what way did she mean it? Rachel was sure she was missing something.
Ten minutes later and no new message received, Rachel realized Quinn probably wasn't going to respond, and that she definitely wasn't going to be clearing her head tonight.
Of course reviews are appreciated! I'm working on the next few chapters right now, please keep me motivated! This is so much better than working..
