Rachel placed her books in her locker, as per her usual routine since she hated carrying them around during lunch, and sighed softly as she eyed the corsage she had pinned to the inside of her locker. Sure, she and Mercedes had made their corsages, but Jesse had been sweet enough to make a show of giving it to her, just as Sam had done for Mercedes. All things considered, their prom on a budget had worked out magically once Jesse had been added to the equation. Until he and Finn had decided to try to ruin everything by duking it out in the middle of the dance floor. And during a song that Blaine had been absolutely killing! Talk about rude! They could have at least waited until his brilliant performance had been over out of respect for him, since they clearly had none for her or Quinn.

Sure, she knew that Finn was the one that started it, though she had no idea why. She refused to believe Quinn's explanation from the bathroom: that he would rather be with her than with Quinn. That was so obviously not the case since he had spent the past few months with Quinn. He still blamed Jesse for their loss at Regionals. Easy to do when you didn't actually see Vocal Adrenaline perform. No, she knew that Finn started it and could guess as to why, but what disappointed her is that Jesse continued it when he could have walked away. They could have finished their dance. He could have walked her to her door, and kissed her at the end of the night...

She sighed again, gently closing her locker and starting when Jesse's face was revealed to be behind it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly. "I should have announced my presence but I was enjoying listening to your quiet sighs and wondering what sort of inner monologue you were having."

She tried not to show how accurate his view of her was, instead opting for a hoity look. "Just wondering why boys have to be so stupid and ruin a perfectly wonderful evening."

Now it was his turn to sigh, a hint of aggravation in his breath. "I get why you're upset that your oaf of an exboyfriend got your prom date kicked out, but I'm not sure I understand why you are upset with me, Rachel. He attacked me, remember?"

She lifted her shoulder, disappointment showing on her face. "And you fought back when you could have walked away. With me. I just thought being with me at prom meant more to you than fighting with Finn."

He caught her hand as she started to turn away, pulling her back. "It did, Rachel. And I plan on proving that to you. But believe me when I say that I will fight for you. I told you that once, and I mean it more now than ever. If that means I have to fight a hundred Finns, I will."

"How do you plan on proving it to me?" she asked with curiosity.

"You'll see," he offered with a confident smirk. "Now, is Mr. Schue's office still in the same place as it was last year?"

She nodded. "Yes, but he might be in the teacher's lounge since it's lunch."

"I'll find him," he said with assurance as she offered him a small smile. "Does that mean you forgive me?"

She tried to suppress a grin but failed. "I'll reserve my judgment for after you've made it up to me."

Rachel arrived to the choir room early, as usual, and was not surprised to find Finn there waiting for her. He had spent the rest of prom weekend and every day since trying to talk to her, whether it was waiting for her on her way to class (which she avoided by taking a different route) or sending her texts that she ignored. It had been a week, so she pretty much expected him to corner her at some point during glee club.

"Finn," she said curtly as she seated herself at the piano to start warming up.

He walked over to the bench, standing awkwardly over her. "Hey, can we talk?"

"What about?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets, his face turning slightly pink. "You know what about. I've been sending you text messages all week."

"I know," she said simply.

"Look," he said as he took a seat next to her on the piano bench. "I'm sorry about what happened at prom, okay? I just can't stand seeing him with you when I know how bad he hurt you last year. I want to see you happy."

"I was happy, Finn," she responded gently. "I was having a great time until you ruined it all."

"You didn't let me finish." He couldn't help but notice how they both shifted their bodies to where they were facing each other. "I want to see you happy and see you stay that way. And I just don't think you will with him. Forget the fact that seeing you with him does make me crazy jealous because you picked him over me last year. I'll admit to that. And maybe that's part of the reason why I acted the way I did at prom. But what really matters is that, as your friend, I'm telling you that I really think he is going to hurt you. And I really don't want to see that happen. I was just being protective of a friend. But I know I stepped out of line and for that I really am sorry."

She stared into his eyes, believing the sincerity she saw reflected in them. "I believe you. And I made him apologize too. Not just you."

The corner of his mouth pulled into a half smile. "Really?"

"Well, I might have made you work harder for it, but you did start it."

He gave her a full on grin. "Yea, I was kinda an ass. But you forgive me?"

She smiled, ducking her head slightly at the vulnerability she could see in his face. "Yes, I forgive you. I hope Quinn has done the same."

He grimaced. "We haven't really talked about it. It's kinda weird. I expected her to give me hell about it, but she's just been acting like everything is fine."

Rachel frowned, agreeing with the oddity of it since she had seen just how upset and insecure the whole thing had made Quinn. "Maybe she doesn't think there's anything to talk about. The votes were already in for Prom Queen and King by then, so I doubt she blamed you for losing. And I think everyone was a little too overwhelmed by what happened to Kurt to worry about all of that."

He watched as her frown deepened at the thought of this. He automatically took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She shook her head as she stared at their hands on the piano bench. "I guess I just feel so petty thinking about how my prom was nearly ruined when I think about what was done to Kurt."

Finn scooted forward slightly, lifting her chin with his finger. "Hey, don't beat yourself up over that. What happened to Kurt was awful, but it doesn't mean you don't have a right to your own feelings. Prom is a special night for everyone."

Rachel glanced up, meeting Finn's eyes. "You didn't act like you thought it was special. You said the whole thing was stupid."

His mouth hung open, hanging on the words that he realized he wanted to say-that prom would've been much better with her. He watched as her eyes snapped to the doorway behind him and her face lit up into a brilliant smile.

"Jesse! What are you doing here?" she asked as she leapt up and rushed over to greet him.

Jesse reached over and placed a hand on her arm, pulling her slightly closer with a smile. "I told you I had a plan to make amends to you. Did you think prom was it?"

She couldn't help but grin as the rest of the team filed in, ignoring the distrustful glances they were giving Jesse. "What are you going to do?"

He gave her a wink. "You'll see." He nodded for her to take a seat, watching her as she did and letting his gaze slide back to Finn, who was sitting behind her and glaring at him. He merely lifted his brows as if he thought Finn's posturing was humorous, then gave a smile to Quinn as she took her seat next to her joke of a boyfriend.

"Good seeing you again, Jesse," Sam greeted with a pat on the arm as he passed by his perch by the piano.

Jesse nodded back, noticing how Rachel was beaming proudly at his newfound friendship with Sam. He gave her a wink, loving how it made her dip her head and blush, before turning his attention to Mr. Schuester as he came to stand beside him.

"Okay everyone, let's get started." Mr. Schuester gave Jesse a glance before he turned back to his students to continue. "New Directions, I would like for you to meet our new...Show Choir Consultant!"