Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee, or any of the characters.

Thanks so much for the reviews and support, it means a lot! I'll shut up, here's the next chapter.

This was officially the worst day ever. Rachel woke up with a major headache, but she wasn't quite sure why, she was taking her daily vitamins religiously. Maybe it had been the odd chill in her room last night; the AC must have some sort of problem. Then she couldn't find her lucky gold star necklace when she was getting ready this morning. She dumped everything out of her desk drawer, and emptied her pocketbook twice but it was nowhere to be found. But the worst part, the cherry on top of her horrible day, was the surprise waiting for her in the choir room at the start of glee practice.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Rachel squeaked.

"Calm down guys, I know this is a bit of a surprise but Jesse is here to help us prepare for Nationals." Mr. Schuester announced to the rowdy twelve teenagers.

"Oh hell to the nah Mr. Schue, we don't need him, he's just gonna cause trouble like the last time!"

"Mercedes, Jesse has assured me that he's here to help, he has the best intentions for us."

"Mr. Schuester, the fact that I just dislike Jesse as a person and that the smell of his cheap hair gel is making me lightheaded aside; I have to agree with Mercedes, we don't need him here." Kurt said.

"Listen guys, whether you like it or not, Jesse is here and he is going to help us. We all know that Jesse has experience, and we could use that to give us an edge. I need all of you to suck it up, we're a team, and now Jesse is a part of that team. Since he graduated last year he's not your competition anymore, you're going to have to trust him." A chorus of groans echoed around the room while Rachel buried her face in Finn's shoulder. She could feel how tense his muscles were; apparently he hated the idea of Jesse being here just as much as she did.

"Okay, now Jesse thinks it would be a good idea to move ahead with the auditioning. Today won't be the official auditions for solos in the set, but it will give us the chance to put you on the spot and see how you do under pressure. Rachel, why don't you come up and start us off?"

Ugh, of course auditions would start on the horrific day when her throat felt slightly like sandpaper, she had a headache, and she didn't have her lucky star.

"Mr. Schue, as much as I would love to demonstrate for my fellow glee clubbers how to properly perform under pressure, I'm going to have to decline and pass the offer onto someone else."

"Good idea hobbit, it's about time I get to show you how it's done." Santana moved to stand but was halted by Jesse.

"Hold on Santana, Rachel do you realize that in the case of an actual audition you won't be able to say you don't feel like it, or you don't want to perform that day, or that you aren't ready? When the director says that you're up, you're up; and I think that's what Mr. Schuester just told you. If you can't step up and correct yourself now, how would you ever make it in the business?" The kiss up looked towards Mr. Schue, obviously expecting support in his tortuously correct statement. Curse him and his experience.

"He's right Rachel, come on and start us off." He sent Rachel a supportive smile, sitting down next to Jesse in the front row. She ignored the temper tantrum she was throwing in her mind and stood up to take the floor. Rachel turned her back on the death glare Santana was shooting her way, and gave her song selection to the pianist. As the opening notes filled the room she took a deep breath, and proceeded to release a very un-Rachel like sound. Given, it didn't sound as bad as the time that she'd lost her voice, but the scrunched up faces of her fellow members including Finn, let her know it wasn't exactly a pleasure either. Still, she was nothing if not dedicated and pushed her way through to the end of the song. Rachel was met with a very weak applause at the end, mostly from politeness on Mr. Schue's part, duty on Finn's, and sarcasm from Santana. But applause was applause so she bowed and returned to her seat.

"Well, um, who is next? Santana are you ready?"

"Just a second Will, if I can call you Will…"

"I don't think so…"

"We should critique each performance, it will add to the experience, make them push themselves harder." Still ignoring Mr. Schuester, he continued again, "Rachel that was a completely unacceptable performance. There was no passion, and it's obvious that you weren't prepared. Your voice is an instrument that needs to be properly tuned Rachel; you're going to have to get serious and take better care of it if you want to get this solo. Next."

"I told you in the first place that I wasn't ready. I take excellent care of my voice, but I woke up with a bit of a head cold this morning. It was completely out of my control and I don't appreciate being misjudged because of…"

"Still unacceptable, better luck next time. Next."


Rachel bit the inside of her tongue through the rest of glee, though it made her feel slightly better that she wasn't the only one who got a rude chewing out by Jesse, it still outraged her that he could come into their space and demean them so easily. Only Blaine and Santana received high remarks from him, part of her wondered if he complimented Santana just to push her buttons, but that was silly. She knew how professional Jesse was, even though she hated it, and he was going about it in a terribly rude and infuriating way, he was pushing them. That wouldn't keep her from complaining though.

"God can you believe the audacity of him?! Who does he think he is? He has no idea how hard I've worked, how many vitamins I take a day, and the vocal exercises I've been perfecting since Regionals!"

"I know babe, I know…" Finn answered automatically, eyes roaming the hall not even looking at her.

"Hey, why aren't you participating? We're supposed to rant together and compare notes on how we want him to be eaten by a family of lions, or plot to shave his hair off in his sleep." She whined, pulling his hand to capture his attention.

"I'm sorry babe, he was a jerk to you, but we both know that you'll make him eat his words as soon as you start to feel better. I was more concerned with the fact that he couldn't take his eyes off of you in there, looks like you still get under his skin too." He finally turned his full attention to her.

"Don't be ridiculous Finn; there are no more feelings between Jesse and I. Our relationship is strictly professional, aside from the wishing heinous things on him part."

His face pulled up into the half smile that she loves so much and she knew she had just avoided that near problem, "I know, I'm sorry...but I need to get to practice, Beiste is making me do extra laps today. I'm gonna be beat by the time it's over, so I'll just see you in the morning okay?"

"Oh, okay that's fine, but we really need to practice again soon. Our instruments do need tuning." She rolled her eyes, imagining a grand pink piano falling on top of Jesse.

"Right, don't forget to take your vitamins, we'll know if you don't." he taunted, stooping down to give her a gentle kiss before taking off towards the gym.

Though she would be mortified if she were caught, she couldn't help but ogle Finn's retreating form. She told him once that he was the hottest guy in school and even though he didn't seem to believe it, it was the truth. Never in her life would Rachel Berry, the weird, neurotic theater girl, have thought she'd snag the gorgeous, quarterback type. She didn't look like Quinn, and she didn't have Santana's sex appeal, but by some miracle she had gotten him. As if his looks weren't enough, his body was more. He wasn't overly muscular, and he wasn't scrawny and lanky. He was just the right build to give her a sense of security, and to be the best cuddler in the history of cuddlers. Not that she had much to compare to, but the feeling of being in his arms was unlike anything else. Finally bringing herself out of her thoughts Rachel realized she was now standing alone in the hallway.

She also realized that distracted by her fit of anger she had completely forgotten to ask Kurt or Mercedes for a ride home. Well this was unfortunate. Her first instinct was to follow in the direction that Finn had gone, but he had just missed one practice for her and was going to be penalized for it, she couldn't bother him. Her dads were out of town again, so she couldn't call them. Finally she decided to walk out to the front parking lot, maybe one of her friends would still be around and she could tag along with them.

Spotting a couple of the guys from the hockey team who looked like they were holding slushees, Rachel ducked into the girl's bathroom. Once the hall sounded empty, she re-emerged thankful for her quick reflexes; slushee facial and a head-cold were not a good combination. The hallway was so empty, so quiet; she immediately started to feel anxious and she started to walk a little faster toward the front of the school. The familiar anxiety caused another realization to hit. In all the drama of the day, she hadn't even realized that she had not received another note. Well, there was one good thing about today after all; they must have been getting bored. Debating to herself whether or not she should be offended by that, she walked right into someone, shocking herself and nearly falling backwards before being caught by the elbow.

"Jesse?"

Gasp! Is this good, or bad? Reviews are greatly appreciated!