This story is set in late S2, right after Night of Neglect. Slightly AU.
"She needs to realize that she's not 'trying to help us'; she's the selfish brat she always is." Rachel furrows her brow as she hears the hushed voices inside the choir room. She waited outside the door, trying to hear more.
"Every time she raises her hand, I am just waiting for yet another day of 'What solos can I give me?' When will she learn that she's not the only one in here?" Rachel recognized the obviously high voice of Kurt.
"She is so confident in herself that she has to use it all to bring us down." Rachel shut her eyes as she heard the voice of Tina. She'd really thought her and the other girl had been getting closer. Everyone mutters their agreements and she quietly listened as everyone says their thoughts on her, ranging from "Someone needs to burn those clothes, with or without them on her" to "I'm so tempted to just walk up and put duct tape on her mouth all the time." Rachel knew the club had their thoughts about her, but she didn't know it was this bad. Maybe this "family" wasn't as special as she thought it was. The brunette dug her nails into her palms as she tried to not cry. If she cried now, she wouldn't stop and the other members would know she heard. She wouldn't give them the chance to stumble and try and act like they weren't just talking about her. At least not now. If they wanted her to stop talking, then that's what she'll do. She took a deep gulp, and turned on her heel.
Walking to her car, Rachel took long ragged breaths, trying to keep her emotions in check. She got into her tiny Prius, and hit her head against the back of the seat. She tried to recognize who said what about her.
"She needs to realize that she's not 'trying to help us'; she's the selfish brat she always is." That was obviously Mercedes. While the two were always dueling for solos, Mercedes never prepared and Rachel always did. She had numbers prepared for every member of the group, and then narrowed down which ones would sound best together, and would please the crowd most at competitions. Rachel's voice fit many of the songs she had picked for their emotional depth and/or lively music. Still, she tried to keep it equal, even if it seemed as though she only catered to herself. Most of the time, her ideas involved songs for others, but she was cut off and told to stop being so vain. Still, even with this, Rachel never thought Mercedes hated her this much. The two had been acting like friends ever since the Night of Neglect concert. Apparently, the girl's feelings for Rachel had stayed the same.
"Every time she raises her hand, I am just waiting for yet another day of 'What solos can I give me?' When will she learn that she's not the only one in here?" Kurt. Her supposed best friend. The two bonded over their shared love of New York and dreams of being on Broadway. Weekly sleepovers were held at each other's houses, and they laughed and gossiped about boys. No matter what, she'd never treated Kurt differently because of his sexuality. She never underestimated him. Just yesterday, she had been telling him about a song she thought he would sound perfect singing. Rachel felt tears well up in her eyes. Was their friendship a lie? Did Kurt only pretend to like her like everyone else?
"She is so confident in herself that she has to use it all to bring us down." The way Tina's voice filled with disgust as she said this made Rachel want to vomit. The two were never on that bad of terms. Rachel felt bad that Tina didn't get very many singing opportunities. But, the girl had never worked for it. If she had tried harder, she'd be in Rachel's position. Rachel even gave Tina advice on breath control, and how to hold notes longer.
"Someone needs to burn those clothes, with or without them on her" Santana had clearly said this. Rachel noticed that the girl never commented on Rachel's singing, but instead on her appearance. Maybe because she couldn't deny Rachel's voice, but could tear her apart on her choice of clothing. Rachel was comfortable in her outfits, and they weren't nice enough to matter if they were stained by slushy. Rachel had never made fun of Santana for her breast augmentation. She made one offhand comment about her being a stripper, but she regretted it immediately.
"I'm so tempted to just walk up and put duct tape on her mouth all the time." Rachel was surprised that it was Brittany that said this. Brittany was prided on being nice to everyone and never speaking bad. Was Rachel really that bad that she irritated the nicest girl in school?
"I can't believe I dated her for as long as I did. She never did anything but whine." Pangs in her chest were apparent to the girl as she heard Finn say this. Finn was her first love. He'd seen the bad in her and accepted it. She had loved the boy with all her heart, and he seemed to have felt the same. She'd supported him through everything, even when she really didn't want to. He knew what he was getting into with her.
"She's crazy annoying, but she's hot though." She supposed she couldn't be too angry at Noah since he had already said this many times before. She had, however, thought they were better friends than that.
"I wish she would stop singing so that I could dance for once." Mike had never made it apparent to Rachel that he had wanted to dance more. They'd taken some classes together, but he never told her that he wanted to have more opportunities in class.
"Rachel just always has to be the star; I wish she would just be quiet for once." She really really had thought Sam was her friend. The two were on good terms since he came to McKinley, but apparently Samuel had to go with everyone else and talk about how egotistical she was.
"For real though, Rachel seriously needs to hold up and let others sing. This isn't Rachel Berry and the Back Ups." Artie and Rachel were never very close, but he had complimented her voice and she had told him how good he sounded on numerous occasions.
But, even with them all talking about her, she was thinking more about the one voice that hadn't said anything.
Hello all. I'm trying to figure out which direction to take this story in. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
1. Should Rachel's fathers be absent from her life mostly or heavily involved?
2. Would you prefer to Rachel stay silent for a while towards the members or should she just angrily burst out at them?