Respect

Chapter 2

I OWN NOTHING!


"Well, that was…an epic way to get rid of the eyesore." Kurt commented, turning back to his locker. Mercedes was next to him.

"Eyesore?" She didn't particularly like Rachel, and the girl's clothing was atrocious, but what had just happened seemed over the top cruel to her. "I think that was less epic and just cruel."

Kurt sighed. "It's just Rachel, she'll get over it." He replied. "She always does."

Mercedes wasn't entirely certain where it was coming from, but Kurt's blatant disregard for their teammate (who, she admitted, neither of them actually more than tolerated) was annoying her. Rachel would have been one of the first people following Kurt to help him clean up even if her help was mostly unwanted. She still cared and she still bothered to show she did.

"Really, how does someone get over being egged and slushied in the same five minute time span?" Mercedes asked, tapping her foot in annoyance.

"Who got egged and slushied?" Tina asked, coming up beside them with Artie beside her.

"Just Rachel," Kurt replied. "She's already run off to the bathroom."

"We'll see her in glee then," Artie shrugged it off. "She'll probably have a rant about it waiting for us."

Tina looked down at her boyfriend, wondering how he could be so uncaring. Rachel had been one of the first to apologize to him for not agreeing that they should raise the money for the special bus they needed for Artie to ride with them to their competitions and glee-trips. In fact, she had gone so far as to apologize for not thinking of it before hand. Tina had done the same, the not agreeing one at least, but she'd done that because she was Artie's girlfriend. Rachel hadn't needed to say a word about it. None of the others had.

"They did both?" Tina asked, remembering that Rachel was vegetarian, bordering on vegan. "Wasn't she already slushied once today?"

Both boys just shrugged. Rachel was always getting slushied at school, sometimes more than once.

"You know what, I'm outta here," Mercedes told them. Someone had to go check on Rachel, to get her things so she could clean up at least.

"So am I," Tina followed after her. "You know," she turned to look at the two boys, "if that had been either of you, Rachel would have been the first to defend you. We might not like her, but that doesn't mean we have to be so mean to her all the time."

Both girls stopped at the puddle of slushy and slime, gathering the things Rachel had left there. Tina had History with her next period, she recognized the binder Rachel had for the class for note taking. Her pencil case and a paperback were also sitting there, more or less ruined. Tina resolved then to let Rachel copy her notes, or try to get Quinn, who Tina knew was just as meticulous with notes as Rachel was, to share hers.

"Oh no," Mercedes recognized the book Tina had picked up between two fingers.

"What?" Tina looked the book over. It was a very worn, well-read copy of Peter Pan.

"That's her favorite book," Mercedes told her. She'd been paired with Rachel in English class at the beginning of the year when the teacher had handed over a 'get to know a classmate' packet and paired them up. That had been one of the questions. Rachel had gushed over it, telling Mercedes that it was her go-to book when she wanted to read something to cheer her up, just like Funny Girl was her go-to movie.

"I don't think we can save it," Tina said sorrowfully.

"What is that?" Santana sneered, her and Brittany coming up behind them. "Did somebody melt man-hands?" She glowered at the purple-black puddle of icy slime.

"What do you care?" Mercedes bit out. "You probably ordered the hit."

"What happened?" Brittany asked. "Did somebody melt Rachel?" The blonde dancer was having images of Rachel melting like the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz. "I thought that was just a movie San, you said it couldn't actually happen."

"It can't," Santana assured her. "What happened?" She demanded, hating that she had to show she cared enough to ask. It was upsetting Brittany and no one and nothing was allowed to do that.

"Azimio and some of the other jocks slushied Rachel," Mercedes told them, "then they egged her."

"But they already did that," Brittany cocked her head in confusion. "Karofsky threw a blue one at her this morning, she went to change. She's wearing her favorite sweater." She'd been in the bathroom that morning when Rachel had come in to clean up. Brittany had liked the pale, baby pink sweater with the little gold stars sprinkled over the front.

"Which means she probably doesn't have another change of clothes," Tina supplied for them.

"Why do we care?" Santana asked, annoyed. Her mind supplied Rachel's I believe you from Sectionals. "Do any of us actually like her?"

"I like her S," Brittany told her friend with a pout. "She's always nice to me even if she usually says things that make my head hurt." She crouched and felt tears prick her eyes. "All her stars are ruined." She held up the drenched sheet of gold stars that weren't really gold or stickers any more. Several slid off to float on or sink into the puddle.

Oh no, Santana looked at the tears in her best friends eyes. This was going to be bad. Anything that made the tall blonde cry had to be fixed. If Brittany was thinking about what Santana thought she was, the Latina had a feeling that she was going to end up Rachel Berry's new best friend.

"So where'd Berry disappear off to then?" Santana asked reluctantly.

"Bathroom to get cleaned up," Mercedes stated, tossing the ruined objects into the nearest trash can.

"What the closest bathroom to here?"

"There're three," Brittany replied, "or are we counting the boys' and the locker room to?"

"We should check all of them," Tina suggested. "Maybe some of the guys would help?"

"Let's not ask Kurt and Artie," Mercedes muttered.

"Finn's at the nurse's office," Brittany told them.

"Why is Finnocence there?" Santana snarked, wondering just what else Brittany had seen today that she hadn't.

"Rachel kicked him in the nuts," Brittany said, smiling while the other girls stared at her.

"Why?" Tina and Mercedes asked at the same time, aghast to hear such a thing. Last they knew, Rachel was in love with the boy.

"He…" she frowned, trying to remember how Rachel had said it. "He asked her to have sex with him so that they'd be popular, or that he'd be popular because he laid a girl Puck couldn't."

"Oh hell no," Mercedes shook her head.

"In the hallway, in front of people?" Tina asked, knowing Brittany didn't lie. Well, not unless Santana told her to, but the Latina looked about as shocked as they probably did.

Brittany nodded. Then she scowled. "He called S a slut and Rachel told him not to speak to her again until he could do it nicely."

Santana scowled, pissed. She knew she slept around, but she didn't sleep with just anyone. She had some morals and standards. She'd hate herself if she passed anything on to Brittany by being sloppy. She'd known she'd regret sleeping with the boy. Wait…

"Berry stood up for me?" Why would the girl do that? Santana couldn't remember a single time when she'd been even remotely nice to the shorter girl yet Rachel had defended her twice.

Brittany nodded, smiling widely. "Yep! Rachel's nice to just about everybody."

"We need to find her," Tina brought them back to focus. "Whose clothes would be the closet in fit to Rachel?"

"T," Santana figured now wouldn't be the best time to be tossing around insulting nicknames, "you and B take care of finding clothes for Berry. M, you go that way," she pointed down on of the halls. "Call when you find her."

They split up. Cursing to herself, Santana wondered just how blind the teachers actually were. That was more than a giant cup or two, that was multiple giant cups and, judging from the bits of shell, at least a dozen or so eggs. She may not like the girl, but she didn't hate her. Berry simply made the easiest target out of anyone else at McKinley.