Yet another story from my request thing... There's still one one-shot left, if anyone wants their ideas written, but don't want to write it themselves!

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. Ryan Murphy does, and he uses it to break the hearts of Jesse St. James fangirls everywhere!

Rachel Berry woke up with her trademark bright smile on her face. However, it was brighter than usual; it was the first day of her summer job at the local music store, Soundwaves, 'Lima, Ohio's number one music superstore'. The best part was that her fellow Glee clubbers, Quinn Fabray, Tina Cohen-Chang, Mercedes Jones, Kurt Hummel, and (best of all) her boyfriend, Finn Hudson, had also gotten jobs at Soundwaves, so she wouldn't be completely bored at work.

Rachel's smile widened at the thought of seeing Finn working, wearing the bright yellow apron that workers had to wear. Just the thought made her giggle like a little school girl. Sure, they wouldn't always work together, but they would sometimes, and at least her job wouldn't completely get in the way of the two spending time together.

As if on cue, Rachel received a text, her phone making its way across the table as it buzzed loudly. She quickly placed her hand over it to keep it from skidding off the edge, smiling as she saw it was from Finn.

hey rach. cant wait to c u work 2day

"How sweet," she whispered to herself, smiling slightly. "Though his grammar needs improvement." She placed her phone in her bag before walking into her bathroom, stripping and stepping into the shower, letting the hot water soothe the muscles of her back. She took her time, glad the water unknotted the muscles in her back. About an hour later she climbed out, wrapping a towel tightly around herself as the water clinging to her skin cooled, chilling her slightly. She quickly dressed in a yellow t-shirt and a bright blue skirt with bronze buttons running down the front (The skirt from The Rhodes Not Taken, when she went bowling). After she was dressed she quickly walked back into the bathroom, grabbing her hair dryer and letting it blast her hair against the side of her head, overheating her cheeks and neck slightly. Once she was done blow-drying her hair, she immediately started curling it; she could not go to her first day of work with a jew-fro. Jacob Ben Israel had that job covered.

Once her hair and make-up was done to perfection, Rachel pulled her phone out of her bag and texted Finn, informing him that she was ready to be picked up. Six minutes later, Kurt Hummel's SUV pulled up at the curb in front of her house. Kurt was obviously behind the wheel, because the car emitted a loud honk. Rachel slung her bag over her shoulder and sprinted out the door, climbing into the car, and giving Finn a kiss on the cheek before sitting in the seat right behind him.

"Hello, Finn, Kurt," she said happily, buckling up as Kurt pulled away from the curb. Kurt, as usual, ignored her completely, but Finn grinned adorably at her, craning his neck to see over the passenger seat, which he was currently sitting in.

"Morning, Rach!" he said, though it was slightly muffled behind the seat. Rachel giggled, blushing a little as she noticed Finn checking her out. Her smile fell a little, so she quickly looked out the window, avoiding Finn's eye. She noticed him doing things like that all the time; giving her a once-over, getting a lusty look in his eyes. He would tell her she was hot, never beautiful, never gorgeous, and it kind of annoyed her at times.

'Jesse would have told me I look stunning,' Rachel thought, though she immediately cursed herself for even thinking about him.

Stupid Jesse St. James.

We has a rude, lying heart-breaker. He used girls as hump-n-dumps, telling them he loved them, then leaving them the next day. He was smarmy, over-confident, and he just had to make Rachel fall in love with him.

'Damn him to hell,' she thought, scowling as she watched the stores outside her window pass by in a blur. Her stomach churned uneasily as she played with her fingers, turning to watch her cuticles as though they were engrossing her completely.

"Hey, girl!" Kurt said to Quinn as she climbed into the car. Rachel looked up in shock, not having noticed the car had come to a stop. Rachel immediately scooted to the other seat in their row, not wanting the awkwardness of being climbed over to occur. Quinn smiled slightly at her and sat down, buckling up quickly. She looked up at Kurt and smiled.

"Hey, Kurt. You're sure in a good mood this morning," she noted, smirking slightly at him. Kurt chuckled, pulling out of the drive.

"You know it. I have a job, my friends work there too, and I look fabulous this morning. How could I not be in a good mood?" he laughed as he entered the freeway. Rachel looked at the cars passing by, a slight frown on her face; why did Kurt love everybody but her? It seemed that she was the most disliked person in school.

'People liked me more when Jesse was in New Directions,' she remembered, smiling at the memory of how everyone had backed of slightly after noticing Jesse's fierce protectiveness toward Rachel. She immediately shook thoughts of him from her head, trying to instead focus on the way Finn had a slight lisp as he talked animatedly to Kurt about how awesome the car was. She smiled and shook her head, chuckling at her boyfriend.

"So, Rachel, are you excited to work at the store?"

Rachel turned to face Quinn, a little more than surprised that the ex-Cheerio was even talking to her. She smiled warily and shrugged, trying to seem casual about it, though she was anything but indifferent.

"Yes, I suppose so. I'm glad I got a job at a music store if anything, at least. I wouldn't be able to handle working at say... Breadsticks, or the movie theater, could you?"

"Oh, definitely not. Too messy," Quinn laughed, and Rachel joined in. It quickly died out, however, leaving an awkward silence between the two girls that was quickly broken by Mercedes climbing into the car.

"Hey guys," she said happily, smiling her usual sassy smile. Rachel grinned back politely, feeling a little relieved when Mercedes nodded at her. At least she was acknowledging her existence, unlike another person in the car. Mercedes got into the last row of seats, right behind Rachel.

"So, y'all excited to get workin'? I can't believe they had jobs for all of us!" she exclaimed, still grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Soundwaves is the size of a football field, and it has two stories. I would be surprised if they rejected anyone's application," Kurt chuckled, grinning at his best friend.

"It is pretty huge..." Finn's brow furrowed. "I hope I don't get lost..."

The entire car chuckled at Finn's legitamite concern, and as the laughter finally subsided, Kurt stopped in front of Tina's house, smiling at the goth girl as she stepped into the car, plopping down next to Mercedes in the back row. She smiled shyly at everyone, but didn't say a word; she instead contented herself in whipping out her phone and texting her boyfriend, Artie. Soon, they were pulling into the Soundwaves parking lot, ready for their first day of work. They all fought to get out of the car, practically racing inside the store.

"Rach, slow down," Finn whispered, grabbing her hand and halting her mad pace. Rachel stopped and turned to face Finn, tilting her head to the side when she noticed a concerned look on his face. He took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder, though he cupped her cheek to keep her from turning her head.

"What is it, Finn?" she asked, gently placing her hand over his. He frowned slightly, glancing over her shoulder once more.

"I'm glad I noticed before you, so you could get a warning and stuff, cause I know how proud you are..." he paused and thought hard, which looked difficult for him. "He's in there. And he's wearing a worker's apron."

Rachel gasped and placed a hand on her chest, wincing at the way her heart panged at hearing his name. She morphed her expression into a cool mask and turned to stare through the glass doors, and sure enough, there he was.

Jesse St. James sat on the other side of the glass door, staring at Rachel and looking as though he had seen the ghost of Freddie Mercury. Her stomach clenched and her throat closed up as she tried her best to remain calm. Rachel swallowed hard before turning back to Finn and putting on her best showface.

"Thank you for the warning, Finn, I appreciate it. Let's go in, shall we? We don't want to be late on our first day of work!" Her voice was cheery, but there was a tone of sadness that could be heard. She gave Finn's hand a squeeze and pulled him into the store after her. She marched right past Jesse and over to the man she assumed was in charge; he was wearing a blue apron and holding a clipboard.

"Hello, I'm Rachel Berry and this is Finn Hudson, reporting for duty!" she said brightly to the man. He raised his eyebrows at her, obviously surprised by her shining personality. He shook it off and smiled down at her before checking his clipboard. His name tag, labeled 'Don', revealed he was the assistant manager.

"Let's see... Well, Finn Hudson, you're assigned to register five, next to Kurt Hummel... And Rachel Berry... you are..." Don flipped to the next page. "Ah, you will be on the second floor, very back, working on instrument sales with..." He flipped the page again. "Jesse St. James. He's the one right there." Don pointed at Jesse and smiled proudly. "This is his second day, he can show you where to go."

"I don't think that pairing me with him is the best idea!" Rachel realized this man probably didn't care that she disliked Jesse, so she quickly thought of a good excuse as to why she should work somewhere else. "I mean, I know almost nothing about instruments! Maybe you should place me near the CDs? I have an extensive knowledge of a variety of music styles, and it would be much more strategic to place me there."

"I would," Don said slowly, "but I can't. The manager approved this list, so therefore it's law. Maybe you can take this opportunity to learn more about instruments." He looked over at Jesse, catching his eye and gesturing him over to where they were standing. Jesse smiled and jogged over, giving Rachel a very intense look before facing Don.

"Yeah, Donny?" he asked, a small smile on his face. Rachel had to fight from rolling her eyes.

"I need you to take Miss Rachel Berry up to the instrument department, show her the ropes. You two will be working together today."

Rachel watched as Jesse's smile widened so much it looked painful. He turned to Rachel, extending his arm in a very gentlemanly gesture. Rachel ignored it, turning to Don pleadingly.

"I really think I should work somewhere else, where my knowledge of music would be more at use-"

"Sorry, Rachel, but as I told you before, the list is law. You can bring it up with the manager when he arrives later, but for now, please follow Jesse to the second floor."

Rachel sighed and reluctantly turned to Jesse, frowning at how un-affected he was by her obvious glare.

"Come on, Rach, let's get to work!"

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