PROLOGUE

"You cannot possibly be serious, Jacob. Kurt would never do that to me. That's downright preposterous," Rachel Berry seethed at the boy who'd most decidedly blocked her way in the hall with news he called 'of significant value'. Normally she would have stalked right past him, but when he said it was about her reputation as a singer, she'd stopped. And now she seriously wished she hadn't.

"The whole school is talking about it." Jacob pushed his glasses upwards, swaying sideways as he was wont to do when he was in Rachel's presence and his nerves were getting the better of him. "It was apparently very blatant, and even Mister Schuester knew about it."

That's impossible. Mr. Schue would never do that to me...I'm the best. I'm the star. I don't need hand-outs like that from anyone. And he would've said something...he should've...right?

Jacob sneezed right then, which brought her back to reality. She gave him a death glare. "What makes you so sure your purported reliable source is correct in those assumptions?" The reply was almost smarmy as he handed a CD to Rachel. "Here. Watch that." The bell rang, and with that, he slinked away.

Rachel's brain was swimming. She had a free period, so she could actually head right to the nearest computer to watch whatever it was Jacob had given her. What if it was a trap? What if it was something gross, something Jacob just wanted to bait her into seeing? Her mind drifted further, though...what if he was actually telling the truth? What if there was at least a semblance of accuracy in what he'd been saying? After all, he liked Rachel. He wouldn't sabotage her or anything, right?

After a bit more pondering, Rachel decided she would watch the contents of the CD. After all, if they turned out to be anything other than what it was meant to be, she could go straight to Mister Schuester. Besides, she reasoned as she turned to head for the library, it would also serve to clear Kurt's name in all this.

So it was with a bit of an open mind that she settled down at a computer terminal in the library to watch. It was shaky at first, obviously taken from a hidden angle-as far as Rachel could tell, it was from a corner in the choir room where extra chairs were stacked with other things. She made a mental note to tell the glee club that it wasn't safe. Soon, a gaggle of glee club members trailed in: Kurt, Mercedes, Tina. Not far behind them was Brad.

It became apparent that they intended to run scales, or some such. Rachel frowned. There was nothing to this video at all! What was Jacob talking about? Just as she was about to stop the feed, Brad began playing a very familiar melody. Kurt was humming along. Tina had walked to the door, looked out for a moment, and nodded. Okay! she mouthed. Kurt grinned, and began the song from the top.

Three minutes into the song, there was more to the footage-but Rachel had seen enough. Or rather, heard enough.

She fully intended to give Kurt a piece of her mind. First, she reviewed her conversation with Jacob. The McKinley grapevine had been buzzing with the news for awhile, apparently. For a second she thought of confronting Mister Schue, but decided that could wait. First, she needed to find Kurt. A quick check of her cellphone told her she had time. She knew just where to find him.

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel!" she yelled down the crowded hall, seeing him as he walked out of a classroom. "I need to talk to you!" She began stalking towards him, scowling.

From the first ten minutes that the news had begun spreading like wildfire all over McKinley, Kurt knew that it was only a matter of time before Rachel confronted him. It didn't help his case at all that it was that despicable creep Jacob who'd apparently uncovered it and began telling everyone he could. Rachel deserves the truth, he'd said when confronted. And as much as Kurt hated to admit it, that gossip-mongering guy was right.

For the rest of the day Kurt had mulled over what he would do when it happened, and he totally had a plan-although none of it involved the lunchtime rush in the halls. So much for a subtle talk. He took a deep breath and turned towards her, tilting his head with a soft smile.

When she finally reached him, Rachel took a deep breath, clearing her throat before looking Kurt straight in the eyes. "There's been some very disturbing news going around, Kurt. And while I would normally disregard such matters as a smear campaign meant to ravage the glee club's team spirit and camaraderie, certain evidence has come to light that I simply cannot ignore." She crossed her arms. "Just be honest with me, Kurt. Tell it to me straight. I am not one to take kindly to be made a fool of; you of all people should know this." She paused, taking another deep breath and crossing her arms forcefully. "Did you deliberately mess up the last note in Defying Gravity when we had that sing-off?"

The sharp breath Kurt took before even attempting to say anything in response coupled with the look in his eyes confirmed Rachel's suspicions. It was absolutely true. She shook her head, blinking back tears. She wanted to ask why, but words were failing her. She expected the worst from a lot of people, but for some reason, she actually thought she and Kurt had been making progress. Apparently, she was wrong. Finally, Kurt looked up from the floor and reached out to touch her, but she shrugged him off and walked quickly down the rest of the hall. Mr. Schuester was simply going to have to have Glee club without her that day.

Rounding the corner leading out to the main hall, she bumped right into Santana and Brittany. Rachel sighed inwardly, mumbling an apology and attempting to step away. Santana moved to block her path, Brittany following suit.

"Where are you going in such a huff, dwarf?"

Brittany smiled at her, at least. "Oh hi, Rachel. I didn't see you there."

"Hello, Santana. Brittany," Rachel began, nodding towards the blonde. "I'm going home. I'm simply not feeling well today and I feel it would be entirely unfair for the rest of you to be exposed to what may be something more than the common cold." She took another step, but Santana blocked her again.

"You are such a drama queen," the taller brunette snorted, crossing her arms. "I have a feeling you're just running away because you can't handle the truth. The truth is, Kurt's better than you. You're not a star at all. You're so pathetic people let you win things to shut you up," she cackled.

Rachel barely managed to hold back her tears, shoving past the cheerleaders even as an oblivious Brittany called "Bye, Rachel!" after her. She finally stopped when she reached an isolated area, furiously wiping the tears away. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Or break. Not this time.

It was a very lucky thing, she supposed, that her dads had decided to let her drive now. It was even luckier that they'd lent her the car for the week. Making her way across the parking lot, she started to hum a soft tune to pick herself up. She slid into the car, turned the ignition, turned on the radio...and began to laugh even as tears rolled down her cheeks again.

"Cornflake Girl. Go figure," she muttered, pulling herself together and heading out. She sang along to a few of the lines - this is not really happening/you bet your life it is - but mostly fought to clear her head. There was something particularly different about this incident, really. She was used to being made fun of. Used to all the pain. Used to all the ridicule and not being taken seriously. She'd had slushies thrown at her face consistently. She'd been told her fashion sense was non-existent.

And she'd managed to brush it all aside. Managed to cry for a little while, then pick herself back up. Why, then, was this different?

Halfway home, her phone buzzed; someone was calling her. She glanced at it. Finn Hudson. Of course. She ignored it and the three succeeding calls that came after. And then Mr. Schuester was calling her. She thought about it, but shook her head and slipped the phone into her bag. No, she couldn't deal with any of them. She wouldn't. Not today. Not for awhile.

The Berry household was no mansion, but it wasn't a shanty either. Rachel walked through the ornate wooden doors, humming along to her iPod. "Dad? Daddy? I'm home!" She grabbed a banana and chewed on it thoughtfully as she made her way up to her room.

On the door was a Post-It in her dad's handwriting, telling her that they were going to be out late and could she just order pizza, please? No need to make dinner, they would eat out. She smiled, taking the note and shutting her door. Home alone. That was fine, she wanted to be alone anyway. Just as she'd set her bag down, put her iPod in it's dock and flopped onto her bed, Defying Gravity began to play. She groaned, shaking her head and getting up to change it. Since it was on shuffle, she hit next then made towards her bed again...except she never made it.

It was almost like a cosmic joke. Rachel could've sworn, after all, that she'd deleted the song ages ago. She looked at her iPod in disbelief.

Funny/Did you hear that/Funny/Yeah, the guy said honey/You're a funny girl

Rachel couldn't bring herself to change the song or turn it off. Instead, she found herself singing along. As it went on, she went around her room, almost as if she were in a daze. By the end, she'd walked to her speakers and turned them off.

Instead of crying, she actually felt better.

And she'd figured out what it was that was different.

Rachel Barbra Berry was tired of being the doormat. Tired of having to have extra clothes because of all the slushies that were tossed in her face daily. Tired of taking the so-called higher road. Tired of being taken for granted. Tired of being in an environment where she wasn't allowed to shine at all-when she was, it usually came at a price.

The reality was the world had been cruel to Rachel because she'd allowed it for far too long.

She moved, picking up her phone, dialling a number she knew by heart. As it rang, she said a silent prayer that he would pick up.

One ring. Two rings. Three. And then... "Rachel?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Jesse."

Jesse St. James was actually in the middle of a rather interesting meeting, if it could be called that. He was in Shelby Corcoran's office in Carmel High, surrounded by four redheads who'd suddenly stopped chattering and were hanging onto his every word. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Rachel bit her lip, suddenly apprehensive.

"I know you. Something's wrong. You're going to have to tell me, or I can't help you as much as I'd like to."

"It's just...I'm done."

"Done?"

"I'm done with being taken advantage of. Done with being their scapegoat. Done with being underappreciated. I'm done!" Rachel practically shrieked before collapsing on her bed.

A pause. "Do you want me to come over?"

This time, she didn't hesitate. "Yes, please. The sooner the better."

"Alright." Jesse hung up, extricating himself from the gaggle of redheads who were staring after him. "Sorry, Belles. Something serious just came up."

"But Jesse!" they all whined in unison. "The line-up!"

The curly-headed miva simply smiled, leaning to kiss each blushing redhead on the cheek. "Ladies, ladies. There's time for that. Right now, I have to tend to my heart. Don't forget your showfaces! They need to be in sync! It's barely enough that you're identical."

With an exaggerated bow, he left, making his way out to the parking lot.

Three rooms away from Shelby's office was the massive IT hub of Carmel. In the farthest corner of the room was a partition that was higher than the rest. The terminal was bigger, too; it housed two extra monitors and a CPU unlike anything anyone had ever seen. The space seemed like a room in itself.

Seated at that terminal, in a plush crimson chair, was the owner of the system. Atari Chung pushed her glasses back, chewing on a Mars bar, glancing at a spot on one screen curiously. Jesse was supposed to be in a meeting with the Sawyer sisters in the coach's office. She reached for her mouse, clicking on a spot; the quadruplets were all still there, and it was apparent that Jesse had just walked out. For a minute she thought there'd been a disagreement, but closer inspection led her to figure out what had happened. Or, in this case, who.

Rachel Berry.

Atari had never met Rachel but she knew all about her. More than Rachel probably knew about herself. It was Atari that knew exactly what Jesse had been doing for Shelby and why. It was Atari that had found Rachel for Shelby to begin with, although not entirely by accident. That, though, was a long story in itself.

For now she needed to figure out what was going on. A few keystrokes told her Rachel had called Jesse. A few more keystrokes-and the Twitter account of one Jacob Ben Israel-told her what had gone down in McKinley earlier in the day. No wonder she called Jesse.

The brunette leaned back, reviewing her options. The light from her screens bounced off of her glasses. Eventually, she reached for her phone, calling Shelby.

It didn't take more than one ring for her to pick up. "Atari?"

"Jesse's on his way to Rachel. Seems Rachel was massively embarrased by something or other today."

"Alright. And?"

"I think Rachel's reached a breaking point. Her MySpace account is gone."

"... Does Jesse know you're calling me?"

"No."

"Keep an eye on them."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good girl."

Atari hung up, exhaling loudly. On another screen her avatar was being pounded by a smaller character because she'd left it idling; she chuckled, deciding to let the other person have fun for a bit more. She found that Rachel was at home, so she simply switched to yet another frame on her screen, glancing at her clock. 3:14PM.

This was going to be an interesting afternoon.

William Schuester knew he wasn't pefect. In fact, he was rather far from it, and had no illusions towards anything else. He did, however, pride himself on doing the best for his kids. And by kids, of course, he meant New Directions. So when Kurt walked into his office flanked by Tina without knocking, he instantly knew something was wrong.

"She knows," Kurt sighed, slumping onto a chair.

Will blinked, turning to Tina. "You know what?"

Tina shook her head. "No, Mr. Schue. Rachel. Rachel knows."

"Knows what?" he replied, even more confused.

"Rachel knows I threw the note during the Defying Gravity sing-off. She found out. Seems Jacob Ben Israel has a hidden camera in the choir room. Or had one, anyway, since we couldn't find it," Kurt replied. "She confronted me earlier then stormed out. Apparently she went home, because she's not in the nurse's office. She's not answering anyone's calls."

Knowing how sensitive Rachel was, Will exhaled loudly before grabbing his phone. He tried calling Rachel twice, to no avail. "Don't worry, Kurt. It's Rachel. She'll be fine."

"That's not all Jacob found out," Tina piped up, patting Kurt's shoulder. "There's pretty serious stuff going on, Mr. Schue."

Will frowned. "Alright, get everyone to the choir room. Let's figure this out."

"What about you, Mr. Schue?" Tina asked as Kurt silently got to his feet.

"I'm going to find Jacob," Will replied, moving towards the door.