Carry Me Home Tonight – 1
Rachel Berry walked through the corridors of Mckinley High feeling unstoppable. Her long brunette hair was in a high pony and she smoothed out her red and white cheerios outfit as she went on her way to the lunch hall.
Even though she had been on the cheerios for over a year, it still didn't feel real. It was like a dream and she was afraid that at any moment, she would wake up. School had been a rough start on her for the first few years, she had never quite seemed to fit in. It didn't help that she had made the mistake of joining the Glee club. It had been social suicide and she was getting slushied in the face every single day. Even though she loved to sing, she had soon come to her senses and left the sinking ship that was the New Directions, ditched the knee-high socks and animal sweaters, and eventually, joined the cheerleading team.
Now she had friends, she had guys chasing her , she was getting top marks in every lesson and she was on top. It felt good.
She grabbed a bottle of water and an apple, then smiled as she spotted her friends at their usual table. She hurried over to join them, sitting herself in between Quinn and Brittany.
"Hey girls. Am I the only one who can't even walk properly after that brutal workout with Coach Sue this morning? Anyone would think we are cheering on the Dallas Cowboys tonight rather than the high school football team, it's ridiculous."
Everyone around her laughed as she bit into her apple.
"It was an extreme session. But we are all recovering with heaps of pasta and you are tucking into an apple. It's hardly going to fill you up Rachel, you need to eat more than that to get your energy back after the work out."
She sighed as everyone stared at her and nodded in agreement with Quinn. She was fed up of this. Every lunch time she had the same lecture from the girls. It wasn't easy for her. She couldn't eat plates full of pasta and stay as slim as them. She would never be as stunning as Quinn or as flexible as Brittany or even as bad ass as Santana, so she had to work at the things she could control.
"Quit it girls, I am not explaining myself again. Besides, I had a big breakfast this morning."
Santana scoffed.
"Let me guess, one grape?"
Rachel rolled her eyes at Santana, choosing to ignore her.
"Anyway, speaking of our little high school football team, have you all heard the latest gossip?"
Brittany had a sneaky smile on her face as she spoke, the type of smile that said she knew they would all want to hear what she had to say.
"Don't keep us in suspense, tell us. Has Puck nearly got another girl pregnant again or something?"
Rachel tried to stifle her giggles at Santana's words, deliberately avoiding looking at Quinn. Last year , she had dated Puck, the most popular guy at the school, and there had been a pregnancy scare. It was funny to look back on now because it all turned into nothing, but at the time it was this huge drama. Quinn however, didn't find the topic funny at all.
Britt leaned forward, eager to share the story.
"Well, you know that dorky little Glee club that Rachel was in when she first started the school?"
Everyone nodded, apart from Rachel, who looked at her bottle of water. Even though she had left the club, she hated people bad mouthing it.
"The guy who's in a wheelchair … that Archie kid."
"You mean Artie." Rachel put Brittany straight, she was offended on his behalf. Artie had always been very nice to her. The least people could do was remember his name. She hoped that the girls weren't about to say something mean about him. Brittany carried on.
"Yeah, that's what I meant… Artie. Well anyway, Puck and some others thought it would be funny to lock him in one of those portable toilets they have on the football grounds, and it sounded hilarious."
Rachel squirmed, feeling uncomfortable in the conversation subject. As much as she loved being a cheerleader and being popular, she never participated in the ridicule of others. She hated it when the girls around her seemed to thrive on the less popular kids misfortunes . It wasn't right.
"Then Sam Evans came along after five minutes and rescued Artie. The whole football team are mad at him now because of it."
Rachel raised an eyebrow , interested in the story. Sam Evans was the quarterback of the football team, and he had always seemed different to the likes of Puck. Sam didn't seem to care about the status football gave him, and even though he had girls throwing themselves at him, he hadn't had a girlfriend since he arrived at the school. But he was still popular, despite his lack of respect for such a social standing. The girls loved him, he was a teachers pet, and the guys all looked up to him. Or at least… they did. From what Brittany had just said, he didn't sound like he was in anyone's good books right now.
Rachel glanced at Quinn to see her reaction to the story. Last year , Quinn had asked Sam to a school dance with her, and he had politely turned her down. It was unheard of. Every boy in school wanted to date Quinn Fabray, so the fact that Sam had blown her off was huge news. She didn't get over the embarrassment of it for months.
Rachel couldn't blame Quinn for trying her luck. Sam was popular with the girls for a reason. He was tall, blonde, blue eyed and had a body to die for. Somebody had managed to snap a topless picture of him once and it went through the school like wild fire.
And his smile was like a dream. One time, when he had been in her English class, she couldn't stop staring at his dimples as he laughed with his friends.
So she could definitely see the attraction in a guy like Sam. But she had never tried anything with him. She wasn't into dating anyone at the moment. She was just enjoying her popularity while she still could, she would concentrate on dating when she was older.
"Why would Sam help Artie out? He's a complete loser!"
Brittany and Santana laughed at Quinn's words, while Rachel sat there picking the label on her bottle, ready to produce a fake smile in case any of them looked at her. Luckily, they ignored her as Britt started talking again.
"And that's not all. After Sam helped Artie out and yelled at Puck for picking on people, he went and joined the Glee club."
It wasn't just Rachel's mouth that fell open in shock at this news.
"Wait…. Sam Evans…. Quarterback of the football team…. Is now in the Glee club?"
Brittany nodded with a grin on her face, still looking delighted to share such a juicy bit of gossip with the gang. Rachel sat back on her chair, trying to take it in. It was unheard of for anyone popular to even talk to the New Directions, let alone join them.
Her heart sunk a little as she remembered the joy she felt performing a song in the choir room. She used to jump at the chance when Mr Schuester , the kind Glee club teacher, offered solo's around. Even though she was unpopular with the rest of the school for being in the club, the people in that choir room had treated her like she was one of them. She seemed to have fit in with them , even if she didn't fit in anywhere else.
She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. It didn't matter. She was much happier now.
The bell rang for lunch and the girls all went off in separate ways for their afternoon lessons . Rachel couldn't stop thinking all afternoon about Sam joining the Glee club. It was a brave thing for him to do. He could lose his whole reputation over it. But maybe he didn't care. When she thought about it, she noticed that whenever Puck and the rest of the jocks were picking on people and throwing them in the garbage, Sam was never around. He obviously felt as uncomfortable as she did when it came to tormenting others.
Curiosity got the better of her as the end of the day bell rang, and she automatically headed for the choir room. She knew the Glee club practiced three times a week, and that today was one of those days. She wanted to see with her own eyes that Sam Evans had joined the club.
She came to the door way and tried to poke her head round without being seen. She frowned as she struggled to see everyone who was in there. All she could see were the people who had been in it for years. Artie, Tina, Mercedes, Mike Chang and Kurt…. But no sign of Sam. She craned her neck to get a better angle.
"Thinking about re-joining the club you abandoned are you?"
She gasped as she spun around to find Sam had been standing behind her. She didn't know how long he had been there. She knew her cheeks were turning pink at being caught out. She shrugged, and self-consciously patted her cheerios uniform down.
"I didn't abandon anything. And no I'm not re-joining."
Sam didn't say anything. He just narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. Right now, he was wearing his football jersey, and she could see the bulge of his biceps underneath the material. She gazed up at him, trying not to be intimidated by his height or his looks.
She kept waiting for him to say something , and when she realised he wasn't going to speak, she spoke again.
"I hear you are the new member of the Glee club. Can you even sing?"
He smiled, and ran a hand through his floppy blonde hair.
"Why don't you come in and find out?"
She shook her head, glancing at the choir room in horror.
"No. Just answer the question."
He shrugged, studying her with an amused look on his face.
"No."
She frowned at him.
"No what? No you can't sing or no you're not answering my question?"
He reached out to touch her, and for a second, Rachel thought he was making a move. She sighed in relief as she realised he was just brushing a bit of fluff from her uniform. He smiled again, and rested a hand lightly on her shoulder. Her breath caught as her skin tingled beneath his touch.
"No I'm not answering your question. Come in and see for yourself."
She shook her head again, and he dropped his hand from her shoulder. He looked disappointed now. It was funny really, this was the first conversation she had ever had with Sam Evans, and here they were talking about the high school Glee club as if it were important.
"Look, Rachel…. I know who you are. The whole school knows. You used to be the geeky little girl who loved to sing and got slushied in the face every day. Then you started dressing in clothes more appropriate for a nightclub than school, and started getting the attention you craved. You dropped out of the one club that made you happy and then you really thought you had hit the jackpot and joined the cheerleading team . Now you starve yourself to fit in and keep all your passions locked inside. Here you are today. The perfect example of a girl too scared of her ranking at a dumb high school than doing something she loves. I think it's sad. I think you're sad."
For a moment, Rachel was too stunned to speak. Who the hell did he think he was? His blue eyes never left her face as she struggled to find the right words.
"You…. you…. what? You can't just say things like that. You have no clue what you are talking about. No clue. I don't even know you."
He shrugged again, lazily.
"But I know you. And like I said, it's sad."
She was furious now. He had no right to say things he knew nothing about.
"You are full of bullshit." He raised an eyebrow as she cursed at him, she ignored it and carried on. "You can't say things like that. You are hardly one to talk. If you don't care about social standing then why are you on the football team?"
He chuckled softly.
"Because I love football Rachel. It's my passion. I'm not in the team so I can be popular. I'm in the team because I like it. And you don't look like a girl who loves cheerleading."
She opened her mouth again to say something, but she didn't know what. It made her feel uneasy just how much he knew about her. How could he see right through her when nobody else could?
"Fine, you love football. I get that. But if you are so crazy about doing the things you love , then how come it's taken you this many years to join the Glee club? We are in our last year Sam, you could have joined Glee club when you started at this school if it means so much to you."
He raised an eyebrow again, his gaze was still making her feel uncomfortable. She had never had anyone look at her like that before. It was like he could see inside her soul or something.
"Because I didn't really know if I could sing or not. It was only after I saved Artie from hours of being stuck in a toilet the other day and he begged me to join the Glee club because they are a man down that I really considered it. It turns out, I really enjoyed the first session I went to. Mr Schu said I was really good. He might just say that to everyone , I don't know."
She shook her head almost too quickly, smiling in reassurance despite her anger.
"No, Mr Schu is honest. If he thought you needed work, he would tell you. If he thinks you are good, then you must be good."
He grinned at this, his dimples managing to distract her from the annoyance she still felt at Sam's words. He really was very cute, but a bit of a douche to be talking to her like that. Or maybe he had just touched a raw nerve, she thought to herself.
"Well… I better get in there." He pointed at the choir room. "I don't want to be late when I've only just joined the club. I guess I will see you tonight at the game. I will look out for the group of mean cheerleaders waving their pompoms around and my eyes will immediately be drawn to you. Because you will be the one looking like you would rather be anywhere else in the world."
She shook her head and glared at him, her anger had been steadily rising throughout the conversation, and now she felt like she was about to explode.
"You think you know me, but you don't. You shouldn't just judge people Sam."
For a moment, he looked guilty. He bit his lip in thought, which was just as distracting as his dimples, because he had really nice lips. They were big and full. She bet he would be the best kisser. He looked like the type of guy who really knew how to kiss, not like the other boys at this school who thought it was acceptable to slobber all over girls like a fish.
"Why don't you prove me wrong then?" He gestured to the choir room. "Those people in there would accept you back just like that. No questions asked. I want you to prove me wrong. I don't want to be right about you."
Her mouth felt dry as she gazed into the room. She wanted to walk in, she really did. But she found her feet were glued to the spot she was standing in. She couldn't risk losing everything she had built up at this school. She looked away from him and shook her head.
"I …. I can't."
He sighed, and she looked up at him, wincing at the disappointment on his face.
"You're living a lie Rachel. See you around."
He pushed past her and walked into the choir room.
As she made her way home from school, she couldn't help thinking that everything Sam had said was right.
And she hated him for it.
A/N - THANKS SO MUCH IF YOU ARE STOPPING BY TO READ THIS!
