1, 2 Cha-Cha-Cha

"Good," Blaine said once they stopped. "Now, I just need your foot," he said looking down, "to do this." He demonstrated how her foot should be pointed and looked back up at her. She looked completely lost. "You think you're doing it, but you're not, believe me." He let go of her and took a few steps back. "Show me what position you're supposed to be in."

Rachel was so stressed out and it was only Day 2. "I'm in the position I'm supposed to be in."

"No you're not," Blaine said almost immediately. He mirrored her. "This is the position you think you're supposed to be in." Then he corrected himself. "This is the position you're supposed to be in." What exactly had he done? Well he'd straighten his posture and put his shoulders back, straightening one leg and pointed his toes out. "This is going to help you to spin when we switch sides." Blaine put his hands back on her shoulders and positioned hers with his elbows up above him. "So, put your shoulders back. Straighten up."

She was short as it was, though he wasn't much taller, and that didn't make it very easy. Rachel did what she was told and Blaine positioned her himself when he didn't seem satisfied. "It hurts," she said.

Blaine said, "It's supposed to. You have to push through the pain. No pain, no gain." He put himself back in position. "And 5, 6, 7, 8-" He spun her around and out and she let go of his hand like she was supposed to, posing in her next position. "Good, now put that together with the next section. 1, 2, Cha-Cha-Cha. 3, 4, Cha-Cha-Cha." He clapped as he spoke the rhythm. "Ready: 1, 2, Cha-Cha-Cha. 3, 4, Cha-Cha-Cha. 1, 2, Cha-Cha-Cha. 3, 4 Cha-Cha-Cha. That's. Not. How You Do It." He stopped clapping. "Okay, stop."

"I'm doing it," she said.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not." Blaine started to dance and spoke out the rhythm. "1, 2 Cha-Cha-Cha. 3, 4 Cha-Cha-Cha." Then he stopped and just stared at her as she looked at him like a lost puppy. "We have time to work on it, but these are the most basic moves for the Cha-Cha-Cha. You have a long way to go if you can't do these steps, and I know you're a dancer, Rachel. This might not be in your comfort zone, but you have the dance experience. You're used to chroeography. This isn't any different. Your energy level is, and that's what you need to work on in order to make this work. It's faster paced, it's high energy, and it's rigorous. I learned this dance when I was 10. It took a lot of hard work, but it's what eventually won me my first title when I was 16."

Rachel looked away and felt a tear forming in the corner of her eye, followed by one in the other. She didn't want Blaine to see her crying. Not this early in the competition anyways. Hell, the competition hadn't even begun yet. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice cracking, which was the last thing she wanted.

Blaine came over to her. "Hey, why are you crying?" he asked and wrapped his arms around her.

She buried her face in his chest as she started to cry. "I don't handle criticism well," she mummbled into him. "I just don't." Rachel had been through criticism her entire life. People telling her she wasn't tall enough; wasn't pretty enough; needed a nose job because hers was huge.

"Criticism is part of this competition. It's actually part of ballroom dancing in general." Blaine let go of her and said, "Look at me. Okay, everything I say to you, is to make you a stronger dancer, and to make you nail this routine. I'm the teacher, you're the student, and you have to listen to what I'm telling you."

She nodded rapidly many times, wiping the tears off of her face and from the brims of her eyes. She was already sore in places she didn't even know were possible and it was unbearable.

"Come here," he said and hugged her again. This time, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back.

...

The intensity only got worse. Day after day, Rachel rehearsed and she felt like she was stuck in a rut that she couldn't get out of anymore. The first three weeks passed and there were three more of prep to go. But it was that fourth week when ABC announced to the world who the new cast of Dancing with the Stars was. During The Bachelor they were all brought out and had a Q & A session. The cast was really strong this year. A-list starlet Quinn Fabray, whom she'd admired for a long time, but it turned out the girl was a complete bitch behind the scenes; R&B singer Mercedes Jones, who had an amazing voice and Rachel owned every one of her albums; San Diego Charger's quarterback Finn Hudson; teen actress and starlet Brittany S. Pierce; ABC news reporter Tina Cohen-Chang, who had interviewed Rachel a couple times for her work on Broadway; reality star Lauren Zizes; talk show host Emma Pillsbury; Bollywood actor P. Figgins; 90210 star Matt Lanter; football player and reality star Hank Baskett, whose wife, Kendra Wilkinson, had competed on the show before; The Vampire Diaries' Ian Somerhalder; Disney Channel hunk Sterling Knight, and soap stud Darin Brooks.

Rachel knew the competition would be fierce but not at this extent.

Backstage after the Q&A, Rachel found Blaine waiting for her with a cup of coffee. Holding it out to her, he said, "You okay? You looked a little nervous out there."

"It's just a new experience."

"You want to go home?"

"No. I want to keep rehearsing."

He said, "That's the kind of attitude you should have throughout this competition."

"Blaine!" a voice called from behind them. Blaine turned around. He seemed stoked to see the blonde haired man walking up behind him.

"Oh my God, Sam Evans!" The two men shared a quick hug. "How are you buddy?"

Sam smiled, "Oh, you know, same ol' same ol'. Nothing ever changes for me. Emotions, situations."

"Except this, apparently."

"Yeah, definitely." Sam looked to Rachel. "This your partner?" The question was obviously meant for Blaine.

Blaine put his arm around Rachel and hugged her close. "This is Rachel Berry, my amazing partner. Rachel, this is Sam Evans. We've been dancing together since our diaper days."

"Yeah, who knew we would end up being ballroom professionals?" The two guys laughed. "I'll introduce you to my partner." He looked around. "Hey, Quinn!"

So he was partnered with Quinn Fabray. Rachel watched as she came walking over. She was a beauty queen, that was for damn sure. "Hello," she said. Rachel could tell just how fake she was being, but she was damn good at it.

"Guys, this is Quinn Fabray, my partner. Quinn, this is my friend, Blaine Anderson, and his partner, Rachel Berry."

"Hello," Blaine said, holding out his hand and Quinn shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she replied.

"Well, we should be going," Blaine said. "We're getting back to rehearsals."

Sam laughed. "Same ol' Blaine. Practicing 24/7."

"Hey, watch it. All that practicing has earned me 3 international championships."

His friend held up his hands in defense smiling. "Hey man, it was either you or me."

"It was nice to meet you," Rachel said as she turned out of Blaine's hold to head for the exit. Blaine followed her after hugging Sam one last time. "I think they're going to be our biggest competition," she said quietly to him on their way out to the van.

"Yeah, Sam and I have always been friendly rivals. The last championship I won, I was actually up against him with my partner. Speaking of, you will get to meet her one day. Her name's Lyla and she's 18. I've been dancing with her since I was 14 and she's the best professional partner I've ever had. Maybe I'll bring her in one week to help you out."

"Maybe she could compete for me," Rachel joked as Blaine held the door open for her. He laughed as they got inside. It was back to the studio for more rehearsals. Show day was less than three weeks away. The pressure was on...

...

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