First Day of Senior Year
McKinley High's halls were full with students but even the influx of Freshmen, it appeared, had been informed of the Holy Trinity. Because the crowds just parted like the red sea when the trio headed their way. The blonde leading the way was none other then head cheerleader Quinn Fabray, her second in command flanking her left was the brunette Latina Santana Lopez, and the third member whose pinkie was linked with the Latina was bubbly Brittany S. Pierce. Everyone knew that they were the top of the food chain. Either you wanted to be one of them or you wanted to date one of them.
"S, how come we don't have any classes together?" Brittany demanded when they reached their lockers.
Santana and Quinn shared wide eyes looks at one another, then started loading their lockers with items rather then answer the blonde.
"It isn't fair the only class we have together is P.E. this year." Brittany pouted leaning her back on the lockers.
"It's ok Britt we still have Glee together." Santana kissed her cheek and smiled when Brittany sighed and relaxed into her. The bell warning bell rang and everyone scattered like roaches.
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Rachel Barbra Berry glanced at her reflection and pursed her lips. This senior Berry staring back at her was completely different from junior Berry, In so many ways. She glanced down at her short red skirt, simple white fitted-t, to her Jeremy Scott heeled sport shoes. She applied her lip gloss, smoothed out her long brown hair where it tickled her waist that now sported a pink streak on the left and a purple streak on the right at her temples. Senior year would be different this year. At the sound of the warning bell echoing in the bathroom she headed out.
"Bout time HB!" muttered the mohawked boy who was leaning against the lockers opposite the bathroom she walked out of.
"Worth the wait, Puckerman! " Rachel tossed over her shoulder as she walked past him. The walked together down the hall, Puck clearing the way for the much shorter petite girl.
"Never said you weren't." he laughed watching her as she walked in front of him.
"Stop staring at my ass." she laughed.
"I am only human." he muttered with a quick step to walk along beside. "It was easier this summer when you were wearing jeans and a t-shirt."
"It's the first day, we must put our best foot forward." Rachel mocked and shimmed into her first period of AP English. "You can put my books here." she pointed to the front desk. "I hope you can make it to your next class."
"I'll make it its across the hall… You know I am not sure if this bet that I loss was really a loss for me if I get follow you around with your books for two weeks as long as you wear these type of skirts." he muttered laughing watching how ever eye was on them now including the two Cheerios that walked in the bask door.
"Shut it Puckerman and get to class!" she smirked when he kissed the top of her head
"Don't break anything while I'm gone." he whispered and headed out. Rachel laughed and nodded at their personal joke. Her cell phone vibrated in her shoe.
She looked around the class room nothing had changed from last year the room was still set up like a science lab with large wooden tabled that seated two students per table all lined up in two rows. This class like most AP classes were small. Mr. Kirkland was late as usual and rolling her eyes she reached for her phone, noticing that she has a text
Hey didn't see you in the hall, are you here today? -xo Finn
Rachel rolled her eyes the whole summer had been a Finniaster. Finn, while cute, in the I am a jock and everyone loves me way…was clueless and didn't take no for an answer. They hadn't seen one another the entire Summer as Rachel had gone away to a religious get away with her parents the most of the summer break.
Sitting in class…didn't see you either. I guess I'll see you in Glee. -HB
HB? -xo Finn
Long story….in class talk later…HB
Rachel turned off the phone and cracked her notebook writing the lyrics that were going on in her head.
"R-Rachel?" came a timid voice to her left.
Rachel glanced up and raised a perfectly manicured brow at the waif of a girl next to her.
"You mind if I sit here with you?" she said dropping her books onto the table the girl had short pixie red hair, green eyes, she was tall but very thin.
"Sure, why not." Rachel slid the books Puck dropped on her desk over so that the girl would have room for her stuff.
"So um I haven't seen you since that party this summer." she said inching over in her chair.
"Yeah I laid low most of the Summer."
"That's too bad. It would have been nice for us to hang out."
Rachel looked up from her notebook trying to remember this girl and that party. She hadn't let Puck drag her to too many since she got back because she was avoiding Finn. Nope she was drawing a blank, no clue.
"I bet." she muttered glad when the teacher decided to arrive and start teaching. It was a nice distraction from pixie girl and her not so hidden stares. Rachel took notes and finished writing down the lyrics while the class went at a snail pace. When the class was over , she sat there waiting for Puck turning her cell back on, it bounced all over the table 15 missed messages from Finn, gritting her teeth she mass deleted them without opening them.
"So, um maybe we can hang out sometime." Pixie smiled giving Rachel the once over.
"Sure, Sure"
"I'll give you my number, and you can call me I'm free this weekend." Pixie handed her a piece of paper with her name and number on it.
"ok Lori, I'll give you a call." Rachel tucked the sheet of paper in her English book and nodded watching the girl blush as she skipped out of the room.
Quinn and Santana sat in the back of AP English class that they shared and watched the play go down in the front of the room.
"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Quinn questioned still not sure she was seeing.
"You mean Man Hands getting a phone number from the red head on the swim team? What the hell is she wearing? Is this the same RuPaul?"
"That's what I would like to know." the cheerleaders stared at one another again when Puck entered the room , picked up Rachel's books and waited for her to leave with him. "OK what is going on. Are they dating? I thought she was with Finn."
Santana picked up her phone and sent a quick text to Brittany
Hey B! Have you seen Rachel today? - xo S
Hey S! She is smoking hot, yeah I saw her- ox B
Santana flashed the phone to Quinn, they both rolled their eyes.
Can you round up the Gleeks and meet us in the back staircase? -xo S
Sure ! Meet you there in 10 minutes-ox B
The few Glee members huddled behind the stair case all looking at one another, Mercedes, Kurt and Tina leaned up against the wall chatting amongst themselves. Brittany kept looking over her shoulder as she sat in Artie's lap playing with the lights that were attached to his wheelchair waiting for Santana and Quinn.
"OK so who knows what is going on?" Santana demanded pulling Brittany out of Artie's lap while she glared at him.
Quinn nodded crossing her arms over her Cheerio uniform, looking at everyone to make sure they were listening.
"what do you mean exactly?" Kurt questioned looking cautiously at the Cheerio's.
"Listen Lady Face you know damn well what I am talking about." Santana leaned over towards him, but Brittany held her tight.
"What's up with Rachel looking all hot." Brittany asked smiling as she brushed Santana's hair from her face, calming the brunette in her arms instantly.
Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina all shared a look of knowing, but not wanting to tell. Quinn saw it, and she pursed her lips she didn't like people not listening to her demands.
"We want answers!" Quinn demanded placing her hands on her hips in Quinn HBIC Fabray fashion.
"Well your not going to force them out of them." Rachel said swinging in front of her three glee friends. She looked evenly with Quinn and Santana straight in the eyes thanks to her heels. "I thought that we were past this."
"Who …. What…" Santana fumbled with words.
"See this is what happens when you have been dropped from the pyramid one too many times." Rachel shook her head in mock sadness. "Lucky for you your pretty."
"A matar a su!" Santana tried to pull away from Brittany to no avail. "let me go!"
"Oh please." Rachel laughed causing everything to go really quiet in the back stairwell. "This is how it is going to go. You leave them alone. You want to run the school and be popular fine do it, none of us care. But you leave them alone period. That means no slushie facials, no name calling, no harassment at all or you will deal with me."
Quinn and Santana started to laugh when Rachel cut them off. "Listen Lima adjacent…I am not kidding you leave them alone, or I will end you. You like being at the top fun bags? Remember how it was on the bottom of the pyramid? Imagine not having a pyramid. And you Tubbers remember when you had no friends at all? Yeah not fun. The bottom isn't so great, but push me and I promise you'll be finding it out first hand." she turned to the shocked expressions from the Gleeks nodded her head motioned for Puck to come closer. "Make sure they get to class."
Puck laughed carrying her books still. "Yes Mistress!." Rachel waited for the five of them to leave, before she rounded on the Cheerio's in front of her again. "Now is there anything else? I am not going to have any problems with you am I ?" too shocked to answer , they just stood there and watched Rachel walk away.
"So hot!" Brittany finally said breaking the silence as she shivered. Santana nodded in agreement, watching as Quinn just slanted down the wall in shock.
"What just happened?" she muttered, looking at her friends for answers,
"We just had our asses handed to us by the midget." Santana muttered sliding down the wall matching Quinn's slumped appearance.
"It was hot!"
"We get it Britt!" they muttered in unison.
Quinn leaned her head on Santana's shoulder. "I thought we were all getting along? What happened?"
"I don't know." Santana muttered. "But she can't take us down we are on the top, and Man Hands can't touch us."
Brittany looked down at her friends. "Well I don't know about you two, but I am not finding out. I would rather be Rachel's friend, then be her enemy. Plus you know she's hot."
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By Lunch time everyone has heard that Rachel had cornered the holy trinity. The cheerleaders couldn't walk down the hall without people giggling and laughing behind their hands. Quinn didn't show it but she was sick to her stomach. She couldn't live with being on the bottom again. She wasn't about to let Little Berry Sunshine take that away from her. She just needed to figure out how to turn the tables.
When she reached the Lunch room she noticed the difference immediately. The Cheerio's and the Jocks still held the corner tables in the back , the drama geeks and the band kids held the tables to the left, to the right was the math, science, and computer nerds. But in the middle where the outcasts normally all sat well there sat Berry and not really a outcast in sight. All the baby Cheerios, a handful of football , hockey, basketball players. The entire female swim team. And most of the glee club members where sitting in the 5 tables in the middle of the cafeteria surrounding Berry. Berry sat there doodling in her notebook, as she munched on her lunch, sitting across from Puck sandwiched between Brittany (that traitor) and the red headed pixie.
Quinn felt Santana slide up next to her. "Do you see this? This all happened in three hours. Even Brittany and of all people Karofsky is sitting with treasure trail."
"I can see that San, this is like some weird ass dream."
Rachel sat munching on her lunch trying to ignore the fact that there were two hands on her thighs. Brittany was feeling up her left while Lori was feeling up the right. Puck was sitting across from her kicking her shoe trying to get her attention.
"HB!" he muttered loudly to be heard everyone that was flanking around them. "Stop ignoring me and try to notice that you have the HBIC at 2 o'clock and Finn at 6 o'clock."
"Noah I am well aware of the current environment that I am in. I have exceptional situation awareness." She reached down and gently removed first Brittany's then Lori's hand from her thighs. "I am propitious that in all this confusion that Finn forsake me, as I would prefer to avoid that impending social debacle."
"Hey Rach!" Finn said happily over her shoulder, leaning from one foot to the other.
"Too Late." Puck muttered under his breath, crossing his legs and leaning against the post behind him with his arms crossed, looking forward to the show. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the top two cheerleaders as they left the food line and headed to their table.
"Hello Finn.' Rachel but down her pen and closed her notebook. She wasn't able to turn around as both girls were leaning in on her again as they glared at one another.
"Your table is kinda full Rach! Why don't we go sit together at another table."
"Rachel is happy where she is." Brittany said over her shoulder at Finn.
"Britt, I can handle this." Rachel raised an eye brown and Brittany smiled and shrugged her shoulders,
"Finn, this isn't the time to go over this again. There are a lot of people around and I don't want to embarrass you on top of hurting your feelings. If you insist on talking to me, we can talk after Glee today."
Finn's face was flushed even though only a handful of people heard what she said. Really only the girls flanking her and Puck heard, but it was enough for him to be angry. "Fine!" he nodded his head to try to down play his anger and moved to the jock table as if there wasn't a care in the world.
Brittany leaned in and kissed Rachel's ear. "Hot! Me and you Saturday night. I'll pick you up at 8."
Rachel smiled as genuinely as possible. "Brittany I don't think us dating would be a good idea. It would hurt Santana and I don't want her to be upset with you."
Brittany pouted, but nodded in agreement. "But we can make out right? Kissing isn't cheating." she smiled and full on kissed Rachel on the mouth, slipping Rachel a little tongue when Rachel was caught off guard. If Rachel was being honest with herself then she had to admit that though she thought it was a very bad idea to kiss Brittany, she certainly didn't stop her and then she got really into it. There was just something about soft experienced lips that did it to her every time. She was totally into kissing the tall blonde who was by all intense purposes a trained professional when it came to kissing. When they finally broke free coming up from air, Rachel became of three things very quickly. Puck was kicking her, the red head was pulling her away from Brittany and Santana was screeching at her in a dead run. One minute she was sitting at the table as the two girls were trying a tug of war then she wasn't in that tug of war but yanked back and was standing face to face with a crazy Santana.
"Puta! Bretana es mi chica! Usted mantener las manos malditas a ti mismo o te terminan Berry!" she pulled her hand back to throw a punch with all her body weight, but might as well have been tossing a pillow the way that Berry caught the fist held it and pulled it behind the Latina's back twisting it just enough for it to shoot waves of pain down her arm.
Rachel leaned in and whispered into her hair. "Listen I don't want to embarrass you not in front of the whole school but I will if you force my hand. Your girl kissed me, yes I kissed her back after she reminded me of your logic of kissing isn't cheating." Rachel brushed a few locks of hair that came loose from the cheerleaders ponytail stroking the girl ear softly. "I don't want your girl, I don't want to break up your relationship. You two love one another and I don't want to be a hateful person." she rubbed her lips against Santana's ear and felt the girls goose bumps on the arms she was twisting. "we seem to have a misunderstanding, I don't want to hurt you Santana" Rachel purred in her ear. "I'm a lover not a fighter, but I will not hesitate if you come at me again. Ok?"
Santana felt her whole body betray her. She was beyond turned on before the purring and the rubbing of the lips. She didn't care that she was basically publicly topped she just wanted to find a private place so that Berry could finish what she started, she was only able to nod her head with her eyes still closed, she didn't even care if people saw her appearing to be weak if it meant a few alone minutes with Berry. "good now go get your girl and have her take care of you, it won't take long at this rate." she nipped the ear with her teeth and kissed the back of the girls neck.
Rachel let go of Santana's arm holding onto her gently as she was unsteady on her feet and tapped Brittany on the shoulder as it seemed they were both lost in space. "Britt take Santana." when Brittany took her Rachel pulled the much taller girl down and whispered what she wanted her to do for Santana, after her nod in agreement Rachel turned back to the table to see that life had been put on pause and everyone was staring at her. Puck was drooling, the red head was slumped over the person to her left and the rest of the caferteria was just staring in stoned silence. Refusing not to blush she raised an eyebrow in defiance to their staring and all of a sudden the tension was broken it was back to normal.
Snatching up her fruit that she no longer wanted and her notebook she headed to the door, pausing only long enough to toss out the little bit of food she hadn't eaten. She hated to waste food, before she reached the door Puck was there holding it open for her, taking her notebook. "Another one bites the dust HB!"
Quinn shifted in her seat as she watched Berry and Puck leave. She wasn't sure what the issue was that she couldn't get comfortable. But she was even now more worried then ever about Berry. Having just publicly and officially topping not only Brittany but also Santana, Berry was making her life at the top seem very short lived. IF she could take Santana down without a fight, then Quinn who was the pacifist of the two was in trouble, It seemed that Berry was playing with a loaded deck. And Quinn didn't think she knew how to play this game.
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Rachel managed to avoid making a scene for the rest of the day. Puck met her at the end of every class escorting her to the next, as was his punishment for stupidly taking a bet against her, she really had tried to warn him. She avoided the wave of baby cheerios that followed her around and managed to convince Lori that she wasn't interested in being followed around all day. She still caught the girl watching her from different locations but at least it was from a distance. She hadn't seen Santana of Brittany, for that matter either. Leaving Quinn alone for the other 3 classes they seemed to all (Quinn, Santana and Rachel)share. But she had been left alone which was all Rachel wanted at this point. She didn't want to be on top, but she wasn't going to let someone pick on her friends. This was their senior year and she was done with putting up with everyone's crap.
"Ready for the Glee for all?" Puck muttered sliding up next to her in her last period before Glee.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Rachel muttered handing him her books and heading to her locker. It was the second time that day , because She didn't have all her books yet and because Puck was carrying everything most of the day.
"My little bad ass has created such an uproar. I love being your wingman. I am getting chicks just by association. I have my weekends filled up for the next month." he laughed and fist pounded the pint sized brunette.
Rachel smiled and laughed genuinely twirling the lock on her locker. "Any time Puckerman, you helped me out this summer, helped me be who I wanted to be…." she was cut off when she opened her locker and flooded the floor with pieces of paper.
"Holy Shit! Are those all phone numbers?" Puck glanced down at the 30 or so papers that littered the girls feet. "He reached down and started piling them up. "I count 34! 34 number in one day! That is solid HB…just solid!" Puck just kept looking them over seeming to make a yes and no pile while Rachel took her books from him and replaced them with a few musical score books, she slammed the locker closed and headed in the direction of Glee. "HB what are you gonna do with these."
Rachel raised an eyebrow at him over her shoulder as he quickly followed after her. "I thought you were my social secretary seeing as you are going through them."
Puck groaned. "Does that fall under the bet?" somehow knowing already that it did. Lesson learned never make a bet with the HB unless you liked to lose.
"Yes Noah that falls under the bet." she rolled her eyes, smirking walked into the choir room. Scanning the room she noticed Finn sitting near the drums on the far left of the room. Mercedes and Kurt were huddled together with Blain and Sam in the middle. In front of them where Mike and Tina and Artie to the right at the top of the platform was Quinn and in front of her was Santana and Brittany who it appeared where attempting to wave her over. No way in hell was she sitting next to the PDA twins. That left down in front in the middle of the front row. She pushed her chair to sit further from the trio and motioned for Puck to take the seat next to her to further separate them.
"looks like we are going to have to get a calendar for you, if I am going to have to do this there is no way I can keep both of our dates straight if I don't."
"that is a great idea. We can pick one up on the way to my house."
Puck nodded leafing through the numbers again. "hey 6 of these are from guys."
Rachel made a face "toss them, no use from them." she muttered with a snide smirk.
"Evil Vile woman you!" Puck teased as he took the numbers and put them in his pocket.
"psssssst !"
Rachel tried to ignore the loud sound that Brittany was making in her attempts of getting her attention. Thankfully Mr. Schue choose that moment to walk in.
"so glad to see you all back this year." she smiled looking at everyone, he took a step back when he noticed Rachel, but recovered well . "Looks like everyone is ready to start the new year." everyone nodded and he continued on. He kept glancing at Rachel from time to time as he was asking everyone about their summer vacation was. "To gear us up for sectionals I figured we would start out right away with an assignment. I want everyone to group up in groups of 3 and to come up with a song that sums up your summer."
"How do we pick the groups?" Mike asked looking at the room around him.
"you decided ok group up!" Mr. Schue barley got the words out of his mouth before half of the Glee club headed over to Rachel.
Rachel annoyed that once again failed to see his error rolled her eyes. "Mr. Shue, If I may correct your over sight." she said as she tried to get away from Santana and Brittany's touchy feely hands. He nodded "Well I would just like to bring it to your attention that there are 13 of us, that will not be an equal group, with that being said I would like to opt out of being in a group and do the assignment on my own." she watched him do a quick head count and do the math in his head blushing he nodded.
"Ok Rachel, you can be your own group." he nodded as if that was what he planned from the beginning, There were a few annoyed moans from the rest of the glee club as they grouped up. Of course the cheerleaders grouped up, Mercedes, Kurt and Blain . Tina, mike and Puck grouped up and that left Sam, Finn and Artie as the final group. "Very good! Ok so now get together and work on your summer song selection." he nodded heading to black board writing the names of the groups and the assignment.
Rachel went up to the board and cleared her throat. "Mr. Schue I would be more then willing to perform my summer song as I had an inkling that would be our first assignment, I am fully prepared to perform."
"Of Course you are." he smiled through his sarcasm. "If you would like to, that will get the ball rolling for everyone."he turned back to the rest of the club and clapped his hands. "it appears in true Rachel Berry form , Rachel has already has a piece prepared and would like to do the assignment now, if we could all pause in your assignment and give Rachel your full attention."
Rachel nodded handed her sheet music to the piano man that was always surprising available as well as the band in the corner. She noticed that everyone was actually interested in her performance, she tried not to let that go to her head too much. I mean she had matured and grown out of being a completely needy individual, but she still lived for applause it was in her DNA after all. "Right so this is my contribute to my summer."
Ah, now I don't hardly know herBut I think I could love herCrimson and clover
Both Santana and Brittany were holding tightly onto one another swaying with the guitar rifts. Staring deeply at Rachel as she rocked her hips in her short red leather skirt to the beat of the song.Ah when she comes walking overNow I've been waitin' to show herCrimson and clover over and overYeah, my, my such a sweet thingI wanna do everythingWhat a beautiful feelingCrimson and clover over and over
At this point the tension in the room was at a very high velocity. Rachel confirming for everyone what had been only rumored all down the halls and all but put on display in the cafeteria.
Crimson and clover over and over
With each repeat chores she rocked her hips to the rifts. Puck was again rocking his smirk of 13 yr old mentality. The guys were all shifting in their seats earning smacks from Tina (mike) and Mercedes (sam).
Crimson and clover over and over
Crimson and clover over and over
Quinn looked on in disgust as Brittany and Santana where each individually recording the performance with their phones. While Mr. Schue who had sat heavily down in his chair in shock as the performance came to a grinding end.
Crimson and clover over and over
Rachel smiled when most everyone was standing and clapping at the end of the performance. She did a quick curtsy and then went to sit back in her chair, but was quickly pulled out of her chair and pulled into Brittany's lap.
"The seats are cold Rach and your skirt is short." Brittany said quickly to avoid Rachel from escaping and then she locked her arms tightly around her so that it would be difficult for the diva to escape.
"OK but no inappropriate touching. And just so you know all the things your thinking are inappropriate." Rachel clarified quickly when Brittany looked like she was going to say something.
"Ok." Brittany agreed, leaning in and sniffing Rachel's hair, "You smell really good Rachel"
Rachel attempted to ignore both Santana and Brittany as they played and sniffed her hair, but was relieved when Puck came over and rescued her. "we have a bit of scheduling to do, if you will excuse us ladies." he tugged the diva off the blonde's lad and headed for he door.
"Where are you going? There is still 15 minutes left in class." Mr. Schue stood following them to the door.
Rachel smiled her Full on Diva Berry Mega watt smile and waved as she walked out of the room. "I am done for the day, see you on Wednesday at practice." and she walked out Puckerman in tow caring her things.