A/N: Sorry for the long wait but this story kinda takes a backseat to my other one. Not to mention the chapters are a lot longer and its harder to write. I'll try not to make the updates this far in between anymore though. A month is kind of pushing it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of the non-OC's mentioned.

"Hello?" Rachel called out as she closed the door behind her, setting her book bag against the wall. She was hoping she had beat her father home or else…

"Hey sweetheart how was…" Leroy trailed off as he walked into the foyer, his smile turning to a frown. Rachel spun around and looked up at him nervously, biting her bottom lip. She knew what was coming before he even opened his mouth.

"H-hi Daddy."

"Rachel Barbra! What did I tell you about drying your hair completely before you walk outside? I've told you a thousand times, there's a reason you take a blow dryer to school when you have to swim." the man said sighing as he reached over and pulled out her hair tie, running his fingers through the damp strands.

"I know but… I had to talk to a friend and I didn't want to miss him so I rushed out of the locker room." Rachel tried to reason with a smile, looking up at her father. He was so much taller than her so her head was practically all the way tilted back.

"I towel dried it?" she tried to offer with a grin, earning a head-shake in response.

"Go upstairs and dry your hair Rach and change out of this dress then you can come down then tell me all about this friend you have." Leroy said running his hand over the collar of her dress that was soaked from her hair. Rachel grinned and quickly grabbed her book bag, hurrying up the stairs.

Two hours later Rachel walked back downstairs wearing a tank top and a pair of sleep shorts.

"Well you look comfortable, what took so long?" Leroy asked as she walked over and took a seat on the couch next to him. He reached over and rang his hand over his hair, nodding in approval when he felt it was dry.

"I took another shower." Rachel said with a smile, tucking her legs underneath her and curling into his side. "What time does Dad get home tonight?"

"He called earlier and said he'd be home late." Leroy said wrapping an arm around his daughter and putting the TV on mute, giving her his full attention. "Okay tell me about this friend, you said 'he' earlier?"

"Yes daddy it's a boy. His name is Elijah, he just transferred to McKinley."

"And you met him in one of your classes?"

"Well I do have 2 classes with him but actually I met him in Glee club, he joined today and while his song choice was less than mediocre, he does have a nice voice."

"I thought the Glee club wasn't that popular at your school."

Rachel winced a little. "It's not."

"Wow he must be pretty brave to try out for a club that could be, what it called… reputation suicide? You said it was his first day as well?"

"Yes. Well his cousin is already in Glee club so I'm sure she told him about it before he decided to join.""He has a cousin in Glee club? That's fortunate, who is it?" Leroy asked and Rachel bit the inside of her cheek. Her father knew about her past with the cheerios, especially Quinn. You can only come home in a completely different outfit so many times with the excuse, 'I spilled something on myself at lunch', before someone gets suspicious. Unfortunately for Rachel it had only taken 3 times before Leroy cornered her and demanded to know what was going on.

"Quinn Fabray." Rachel mumbled but she knew he had heard her when she felt him tense. "But he's nothing like his cousin daddy! He's actually really sweet!"

"Rachel I don't know, Quinn has not been the nicest person to you since high school began."

"Middle school." Rachel mumbled but fortunately, this time Leroy didn't seem to hear her.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, you know what they say about birds of a feather, flocking together. How do you know this isn't some sort of set-up to humiliate you even more?"

"I don't." Rachel said sighing as she moved away from her father. Leroy frowned and turned to his daughter.

"Sweetheart I just don't want you to get hurt. You've had a rough couple of years, first with Jesse, then Finn. I don't want you to fall under this boy's trap just to be hurt again." Leroy said leaning over to kiss her head. He and his husband had been trying to talk Rachel into transferring since they first found out about the slushy attacks but she had refused. She didn't want to just run away and while most of the time his daughter's persistence was a good thing, he wasn't so sure this time.

"Daddy I'm fine. Elijah and I are just friends, if we're even that yet. I just met him so I'm not going to do something stupid again. I learned my lesson from Jesse, right now he's the only one at school that's nice to me without caring who sees." Rachel argued and Leroy deflated a little. He knew how much Rachel wanted a friend but he couldn't help being a little worried. Not only was this boy the cousin of her mutual enemy, he also knew his daughter well. He knew it didn't take much for Rachel to fall for boys and get hurt. He figured it had a lot to do with her wanting to be wanted but there wasn't anything he could do. He and his husband told Rachel every day how beautiful she was, inside and out, he just wished others could see it.

"Okay Rachel. If you say you're just friends then I'll back off, just be careful okay?" Leroy asked with pleading eyes. Rachel smiled and nodded as she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"I promise daddy. Now I have some homework to do then we can watch a movie?" Rachel asked. Leroy nodded and she smiled and stood up, heading back upstairs.

Elijah was sitting on the floor in the living room, his back against the wall as he did his homework, which didn't take much effort on his part. As he had said before, he was supposed to be in honors class so finding the radius and diameters of circles were a piece of cake for him. He had just moved on to his French homework when there was knock on his door. He sighed and stood up, walking over to the door. It could only be one of two people. He glanced out of the peephole, confirming his guess, before pulling open the door.

"What are you doing here?" Elijah asked, unconsciously crossing his hands over his chest, covering himself.

"I need help with my art homework." Quinn said with a smile. Elijah rolled his eyes and turned around to walk away.

"Liar." he threw over his shoulder as Quinn walked inside and shut the door behind her, turning the lock. She watched awkwardly as he grabbed a hoodie from the corner and slipped it over his head. She had to admit, seeing him with breasts was a little weird after seeing so many pictures, and him in person as a guy.

"You don't know that." Quinn argued once the hoodie was in place, once again masking the chest that looked so unfamiliar as she watched him retake his seat on the floor. There wasn't any furniture in the room yet so it's not like she had much of a choice.

"You need help drawing samples of lines? You forget that I'm your cousin and I know you're an excellent artist?"

"It's been awhile." she offered.

"Not long enough. Come on and sit down since you're obviously not going to leave anytime soon." Elijah said with a smirk, laughing as the other blonde grinned and hurried over to take a seat next to him, pulling her books from her bag.

"Did you finish the rest of your homework?" Quinn asked watching as he copied another question from his French book.

"I still have Literature." Elijah said barely glancing over. "What do you have to do?"

"Art." Quinn said with a smile, that turned into a giggle as Elijah rolled his eyes. Elijah was about half way through his French homework when his phone vibrated on the other side of Quinn.

"Can you hand me that?" Elijah asked pointing to the phone. Quinn looked up from her homework and reached over to grab the blackberry. Unable to help herself Quinn glanced at the phone and frowned.

"Rachel? Manhands Rachel? Why is she texting you?" Quinn asked looking at her cousin as if he had two heads. Elijah rolled his eyes and reached to take his phone from her but she moved it out of her grip.

"Give me my phone Quinn."

"Why is she texting you? Better yet why does she have your number?"

"You sound like a jealous girlfriend right now. Give. Me. My. Phone." Elijah demanded with a glare. Quinn stared back at him for a few seconds, as if she was trying to read his emotions before slowly moving the phone into his reach. He quickly snatched it from her hand and scooted away from her to open the message.

Hello Elijah! I hate to bother you seeing as you told me you were busy after school with settling in and everything but I was wondering did you begin your Literature homework yet? -RBB

Elijah couldn't help but laugh a little at how proper she sounded, even through a text message.

"What did she say?" Quinn asked moving closer to lean over him so she could see the phone. He quickly pulled the phone away from her vision.

"Why are you so concerned? I thought you didn't even like her."

"I don't. I just want to know why she is texting my cousin. We're family so I have to look out for you, make sure you stick with the right people."

"You make Rach sound like some criminal."

"Rach? What you guys are on to nicknames now?" Quinn asked gaping. Elijah chose to ignore her as he quickly sent a text back to the brunette in question.

Actually I havent. Im just finishing up French right now. I should be starting Literature within the next 5 mins though. Y do u need help with a quest or somethin? -Eli

Elijah shook his head as he pushed Quinn away from him again. "If you must know, she's just asking me about homework. Geez Q its not like we're getting married or anything."

"If you married Stubbles I would disown you. There's no way I would ever call that munchkin family."

"And you say she's the dramatic one right?" Elijah asked with a smirk. Quinn rolled her eyes and moved back to her original spot to finish her homework just as his phone vibrated again.

Oh no! I was just looking it over and realized that a few questions are from A Raisin In The Sun. We just finished reading it and I didn't think it was fair since you are new and might not have had the chance-

-to read it. I was offering you any help you might need. :) -RBB

Elijah laughed again, ignoring the glare that Quinn sent his way.

Nah Im fine. I read it at my last school last year. I also saw the movie but thnks though. U can let me know if u need any help though. See u 2morrow. -Eli

"Stop grinning or I'm going to assume the worst." Quinn said frowning. Elijah looked at her and widened his grin until he looked like the joker, earning a groan and shove in the shoulder from Quinn. "You're such a loser."

"A loser that you miss and love. Even if I am… how do you say it? Fraternizing with the enemy?" Elijah said in a creepy voice waving his hands in mock horror. Quinn sighed and shoved him again as Elijah laughed.

Elijah threw his book bag over his shoulder and he got out the car and locked it behind him. Although he didn't mind the walk from his duplex to the school it was nice to actually be able to drive. He pocketed his keys and surveyed his outfit one last time before heading towards the school. He had decided to go back to his original style since his first day of classes were over. Everyone hopefully were done sizing him up and studying him so skinny jeans and a fitted-tee would hopefully be okay. He loved wearing these kind of clothes but he hated wrapping his bandage tighter than was necessary to hide his chest. He could barely breathe.

Elijah checked his phone as he pushed open the doors to the school and made his way to his locker. There was about an hour to go before the first bell rang but he had gotten bored at home. His last school started much earlier and he was used to waking up at 6 to be at school by 8. WMHS didn't start until 9. Figuring he had nothing better to do he stuffed his book bag in his locker and turned around to make his way out the back door, heading towards the football field. He knew the cheerio's would be practicing since Q had been complaining about it last night before she left.

He smiled when he walked up the bleachers from the back and spotted the cheerio's practicing in the middle of the field. He spotted Quinn immediately, standing in front of the girls, screaming out directions with her hands on his hip. He took a seat on the 4th row bleacher and leaned back to watch the practice when he heard someone call out to him.

"Eli? Dude is that you?" Elijah turned his head and glanced over, smiling when he saw Sam jogging towards him from the other side of the field.

"Hey Sam what's up?" Elijah greeted as she stood up to meet him at the front of the bleachers. Sam smiled and reached up to shake his hand since they were on extremely different levels.

"Nothing man. Coach gave us a 5 minute break from practice. I was going to go say hi to Quinn but I didn't want to interrupt. She's a little scary when she's in head cheerio mode." Sam admitted, turning to look over at his girlfriend who was pointing and saying something to a freshman cheerio.

"Very true." Elijah said with a smile as he leaned over the railing and looked over at the cheerleaders. They watched the girls in silence for a few minutes before Sam turned back to him.

"So you thinking about joining any sports? Football? Basketball maybe?" Sam asked and Elijah frowned. He had never thought about it. He knew from Quinn that the football coach was a woman so she would probably understand his situation.

"I don't know. I never really played any sports before. Do you just play football?" Elijah asked the other blonde.

"Football and Baseball. I think every guy in Glee, except Kurt and Artie play two sports. Artie's on the football team and I heard Kurt was too for a minute last year."

"You don't remember?"

"Oh no. I'm new here too. I just came at the beginning of school." Sam said smiling. Elijah nodded and returned it with a small one. It was nice to know he wasn't the only new one at the school.

"Nice to know man."

"Yeah so you should definitely talk to coach about-"

"Evans! Coach said you got 10 seconds to get back to practice or you're running 200 suicides at the end." A guy yelled jogging towards them.

"Gotta go. See you later!" Sam yelled already halfway across the field. Elijah waved and turned back to the cheerios. It wasn't long before he spotted them all jogging towards him. He watched as most of them gathered their things and took drinks from their water bottles before heading back towards the locker room.

"Enjoying the view Fabray?" Elijah looked over and smiled as Santana walked towards him with her hands on her hips until she was directly below him.

"Nothing wrong with looking right?" Elijah offered with a smirk. Santana grinned and nodded.

"So I was thinking. You probably don't know the school all that well seeing has it's only you're second day. Why don't I… you know show you around?" Santana offered with a lift of her eyebrow. Elijah stared at her for a few seconds in awe. He'd be lying if he didn't say she was hot, hell she was smoking. One of the hottest girls he had seen in this school so far, but he could also tell she had ulterior motives, ones he definitely weren't ready for and was sure she wasn't either.

"S. Go away." Quinn said walking up behind her with her hands on her hips. Elijah watched as Santana turned around with a scowl. Before she could say anything Brittany bounced up beside her.

"San come on! The boy's practice is almost over and I told Artie I would meet him" the blonde said bouncing on her heels. Santana rolled her eyes but turned back to Elijah with a wink.

"See you later cutie." Elijah smirked back as he watched her turn to Quinn. "and you're lucky I have to go with B to get Wheels or else I'd-"

"You'd what?" Quinn asked stepping up to Santana. Elijah watched in interest as they sized each other up. He was sure one of them were going to swing when Brittany grabbed Santana's arm and pulled her away.

"I wish you two would stop fighting so much. Come on S!" Brittany whined. Santana looked the other blonde up and down one more time before following her bubbly best friend across the field. Quinn rolled her eyes and turned back to Elijah who was grinning.

"What?"

"I told you that you act like a jealous girlfriend." he teased. Quinn rolled her eyes as she shouldered her bag.

"Whatever. Why are you here so early anyway? In fact how long have you been here?" Quinn asked as she waited for Elijah to walk down the stairs towards her.

"About 45 minutes. I got bored at home. You guys start school late and my body clock is used to me waking up at 6am." he explained as they walked towards the school.

"Yeah well we used to start at 8 but Coach Sylvester got mad because that would mean our practice would have had to start at 6:30 and something about it being against school rules if you have kids getting up before 5am then having to spend an entire day in school."

"Wow" Elijah said with a shake of his head. "So she like… runs things around here?"

Quinn snorted. " That's an understatement. I think she has something over Principal Figgins or something.

Elijah stopped as the reached the locker room and Quinn pushed the door open. "I'll see you later."

"What are you going to do for the next 10 minutes?"

"I don't know. Something." Elijah said shrugging before walking away before Quinn could say anything else.

"Brad would you mind going back to the first verse? I wasn't particularly happy with that." Rachel asked standing in front of the piano. Brad, ever the energetic talker, nodded and began the song again. Rachel counted silently in her head before taking a deep breath.

When you asked me

Who I am

What is my vision

And do I have a plan

Where is my strength

Have I nothing to say

I hear the words in my head

But I push them away

Because I Stand for the power to change

I live for the perfect day

I love until it hurts like crazy

I hope for a hero to save me

I stand for the strange and lonely

I believe there's a better place

I don't know if the sky is heaven

But I pray anyway

Rachel gasped and turned around when she heard the door shut. Elijah smiled and waved as he walked towards her. Rachel smiled and waved back before turning to Brad. Without her saying anything Brad simply nodded and stood up, walking out of the room.

"Does he ever talk?" Elijah asked looking at the back of the piano player as he disappeared around the corner.

"Oh yes! He's usually quite the chatterbox." Rachel said smiling as Elijah walked over to her. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?"

"No." Rachel said simply before bursting into a fit of giggles. Elijah rolled his eyes playfully and laughed along with her.

"What are you doing here? Well I know you're singing but why are you at school so early?" Elijah asked taking a seat in one of the chairs in the first row.

"I always come to school early to get in some extra practice."

"Practice in singing?"

"Yes of course, what else?" Rachel asked taking a seat on the piano bench, crossing her legs at the ankle.

"You play guitar right? You don't practice that?" Elijah asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Not here, no one knows…that I play." Rachel admitted with a shrug. Elijah frowned.

"Really? Why not? I think that's pretty cool."

"Thanks. Well no one really asked, they all just assume that singing is all and the only thing I can do. Besides we already have 3 guitar players in the group. Noah is usually the first person Mr. Schue goes to when he needs guitar, followed by Artie then Sam."

"Who knows, he might give you a chance if he actually knew you could play." Elijah offered. Rachel shook her head.

"No he wouldn't. I'm happy to admit that I'm the first person he seeks out for female leads but that's where it stops. Besides I don't think I'm anywhere on the level that the boys are." Rachel admitted. Elijah frowned and stood up as he walked across the room and picked up one of the acoustic guitars.

"Well then lets see." he said walking towards her with the guitar and a pick, holding it out to her. He smirked as Rachel's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"No, no that's okay. I've never played in front of anyone before. "

"No one? Well how do you know if you're good or not?"

"I know I'm not and no, no one. Not even my dads. I'm pretty sure they think my pink guitar at home is just collecting dust."

"Well come on then, let me hear. I know you aren't stage… well performance shy are you? Quinn told me you love singing in front of Glee."

"That's different. I know that I'm a great singer."

"Well lets find out if you're a great guitarist as well." he offered. Rachel opened her mouth to reply but the sound of the first bell rang through the school.

"Sorry. I have to go." Rachel said quickly and standing up, practically running out of the choir room. She could hear Elijah chuckling behind her but she couldn't bring herself to be really upset by it. It didn't seem like he was making fun of her or anything, he was just curious. But then again he was Quinn's cousin. Maybe he just wanted to hear her play so he could make fun of her. She knew he couldn't really say much about her voice being horrible, seeing as even Quinn and Santana had admitted to her that she was an amazing singer, but her guitars skills were different. There was a reason she didn't let anyone hear her play.

"Treasure Trail!" Rachel winced and closed her eyes as she gripped her locker tighter. She hadn't heard that name, or any variation of it all day. She should have known it was only a matter of time. She took a deep breath and turned around with a bright smile as the blonde cheerio stood before her, hands crossed over her chest.

"Hello Quinn. What, may I ask, can I do for you?" Rachel responded politely, but as usual Quinn's demeanor didn't change.

"What you can do for me is stay away from my cousin." she demanded and the smile fell from Rachel's face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why do you have such a keen interest in my cousin Rupaul? Are you trying to date him? Was stealing Finn and Puck away from me not enough? Do you have to have every guy around me?"

"Okay first of all I didn't steal Noah away from you, seeing as we only dated that one time, in which you were with Finn. I didn't even know he was the father of your child then. Second, I didn't steal Finn away from you either, you lied to him and he broke up with you in which you then began dating Noah, and third, I'm not trying to steal your cousin." Rachel finished and turned back around to face her locker to take out her chemistry book.

"Like hell you aren't. You were all over him yesterday, he even defended you. Then you texted him last night like you guys were the best of friends and this morning you guys were in the choir room doing only God knows what."

Rachel slammed her locked closed and turned around to face Quinn with a frown. "I'm sorry. I didn't think I needed your permission to be friends with someone."

"You do when that someone is my cousin." Quinn stated. Rachel rolled her eyes and turned to walk towards her class but Quinn followed. "Look Manhands, I don't care who you want to be friends with, just not my cousin. I know what you do to guys."

Rachel stopped abruptly, almost causing Quinn to run into her, and spun around to face the blonde. "And what exactly is it that I do to boys?"

"You get your grubby little paws on them and become swim fan crazy over them. Why do you think Finn refused to give you the time of day until after he broke up with me? He had feelings for you, anyone with a brain could see that, but he stayed with me."

"I'm pretty sure the fact that he thought you were carrying his child also played a role in that, regardless if it was a lie." Rachel snapped back and headed towards her class again, once again Quinn followed. "And would you stop following me?"

"Fine!" Quinn stated and stopped but grabbed Rachel's arm to spin her around to face her. "But like I said, stay the hell away from my cousin, I'm warning you. He's not like the rest of the idiots in this school and he doesn't need to be bringing his social status down because you won't leave him alone."

Rachel ignored her as she turned around and headed to class. Quinn was insane if she thought Rachel was really going to stop talking to Elijah just because she 'warned' her. He was the first person at the school who talked to her and listened to what she had to say because he was interested, not for ulterior motives, whatever they may be. She wouldn't stop talking to him unless he stopped talking to her first.

Rachel walked into the cafeteria and frowned as she glanced around. She hardly ever ate in here during lunch, choosing to stay in the choir room and practice instead. She had been on her way to the choir room when Elijah sent her a text and told her to meet him in the cafeteria.

"Rach! Over here!" Rachel turned around and spotted Elijah sitting at a table with Mike, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt. She hesitantly made her way over to him, ignoring the glares and whispering from Mercedes and Kurt. It wasn't really a secret that the two didn't really like her.

"Hello Tina, Michael, Mercedes and Kurt." she greeted. Mike and Tina smiled and waved as Kurt and Mercedes nodded. She acknowledged them then turned her attention back to the blonde-haired boy.

"Come on and sit down." Elijah said motioning to the seat next to him. Rachel smiled and took the seat, doing her best to ignore the awkwardness.

"Eli I was on my way to the choir room to practice."

"I know. I told you that you don't need to practice your singing. Instead you should be practicing your gu-"

"ELI!" Rachel squeaked, causing Tina and Kurt to jump. Elijah just smirked as Mercedes frowned.

"Practicing your what? You don't do anything but sing." Mercedes said shrugging.

"And dance…. Then again you're not really too good at that." Kurt added as he and Mercedes exchanged a smirk. Elijah frowned and Rachel cleared her throat.

"Yes well… I'm going to head back to the choir room to practice. I'll see you all later at Glee." Rachel said moving pass Elijah. She heard him call to her but she ignored it. She had almost made it to the doors when someone appeared in front of her. Rachel looked up and frowned at Azimio who was smiling at her.

"Hey Berry."

"Hello Azimio how may I-" before she could finish she was covered in cherry flavored ice. She gasped at the chill it sent down her spine and closed her eyes. It only took a few seconds before the cafeteria erupted in laughter. Rachel wiped the slushie from her eyes and glanced over, making eye contact with the blonde cheerio that she knew was the cause of this. Quinn simply grinned at her and raised her eyebrow in challenge.

"Rach? Oh my god." Elijah's voice came from behind her. She looked over her shoulder at him but before he could reach her she pushed pass a laughing Azimio and out the door. She knew Quinn was giving her a warning. If she didn't leave Elijah alone she was sure to make the brunette's life a living hell.