Wow. It has been forever since I last updated this story! The last update came out in January! I'm so sorry for such a delay. I started working on other stories and forgot about this one, and by the time I remembered it, I wasn't really feeling it. But I knew I'd want to continue it, so I instead put it on a brief hiatus. Then today, I was looking for 'The Only Hope for Me is You', as I had been debating starting Chapter 8 on that story, and found this one instead. Curious to see what I had last written, I pulled up the last two chapters I had written and suddenly found myself wanting to continue. So I started Chapter 3, and in the same day, completed it! Now I'm posting it on Fanfiction for all of my lovely readers to enjoy! I hope it was worth the wait. I promise you I won't make you wait on an update this long again. Enjoy! This chapter is entitled 'Dating Has a Catch'.

She couldn't get Finn's voice out of her mind. The melodic tone to it brought peace to her and swept her somewhere else entirely. She found herself daydreaming constantly, and in all of her daydreams, she found herself in the McKinley High auditorium. The sparks that flew between her and Finn always seemed to work their way into the vision much more vividly then the preceding time. They would be singing and then meet in the center of the stage. He'd grab one of her hands and the music would fade. He'd brush a strand of hair from her eyes and lean down and…

"Rachel!" Jesse exclaimed. Startled, Rachel jumped up from her bed and fell into Jesse's open embrace. Cheeks turning bright red, she backed away and mumbled her thanks. Jesse chuckled and took a seat on her bed. She took a seat beside him, suddenly feeling obligated to do so. "What were you thinking about?"

"Huh?" Rachel asked, tipping her head to the side, feigning confusion. God, if Jesse found out she had been thinking about the male lead for a competing team in a romantic way, she'd be dead.

"You seemed really deep in thought. Lost in it, actually." Jesse smiled, leaning against the headboard. Rachel followed his lead and lie next to him.

"It was nothing." Rachel mumbled. Suddenly, she felt his hand on hers. Shocked, she brought her eyes to his.

"I find you interesting, Rachel. I want to get to know everything about you." His eyes dropped to her lips. Growing nervous, she bit her bottom lip.

"Are you going to kiss me?" She whispered.

"I'm debating it." He replied honestly.

"Let me know when you've made up your mind." She said breathlessly. All thoughts of Finn were forgotten and she focused solely on Jesse and his perfect features. His eyes reminded her of hot chocolate on a cold winter day. His hair, also that dreamy brown color, was so curly it looked as though it was made of springs. His smile made her want to melt into his arms.

"I've made up my mind." Jesse said, once again interrupting her from her thoughts.

"And the jury says—" Before she could finish, his lips were on hers. She gasped and kissed back with more passion then she had the first time. Jesse grunted and raised one of his hands to cup her face. They exchanged several heated kisses before Rachel decided she'd take the simple kisses to another level. Thankfully, the thought was on Jesse's mind as well. His tongue slipped into her mouth and then their innocent kisses turned into one of the most heated make-out sessions Rachel had ever been involved in. We aren't even dating! A voice in Rachel's exclaimed. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind. After all, he mom was always telling her to live in the present.

This was her acting on that.

-glee!-

Moments after the make-out session, Rachel found herself standing at her mirror, attempting to brush her hair. It had become a tangled mess after rolling around on the bed with Jesse. Her cheeks turned bright red at the memory, still fully aware that Jesse was sitting at the edge of her bed watching her.

"Your hair looked fine before." Jesse said. She could detect some humor in his voice. This made her cheeks turn even redder. She decided to ignore Jesse and focused solely on her hair. It worked brilliantly, for she soon forgot that Jesse was there. So when she finally finished brushing her hair and turned around, she took herself by surprise by falling straight into his arms.

"That's the second time that's happened today." Jesse chuckled.

"Sorry." Rachel mumbled, growing embarrassed.

"Don't be." Jesse scoffed. A playful smile appeared on his face. "Besides, I like having you in my arms." Without warning, he swept her off her feet and placed her back on the bed. He took a seat next to her and let his eyes drop to her lips once more.

"Jesse…" Rachel began slowly.

"Mhm-hm?" His eyes didn't leave her lips.

"Are we…are we dating?" She asked. There was a pause.

"I don't want to put a label on what we have." Jesse said, meeting Rachel's eyes.

"Why?" She dared to ask.

"Relationships with me always go foul. Maybe if we just keep it casual, the universe will overlook this and let us stay together." Jesse explained.

"Jesse, that's stupid. You're a catch; I want to be dating you." The words left her mouth before she could stop them.

"I really lo-, I mean, like you, Rachel. I don't want you to get hurt…" Jesse warned. Rachel smiled coyly before loosely draping her arm over his shoulders.

"I'm not going to get hurt." She promised.

"So are you asking me out?" He smiled jokingly. Finn's advice came rushing back to her, and she nodded her head. Jesse grinned. "Then I'll have to say yes."

"So…we're dating now?" Rachel asked.

"Most definitely, girlfriend." He winked at her before leaping to his feet. "I've gotta head home now. Catch ya later, hot stuff." He pressed his lips to her forehead before exiting her room. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him leave.

She couldn't believe it; Finn's advice had worked. She was now dating the most popular guy in school: Jesse St. James!

She'd have to stop by McKinley later this week to thank Finn.

-glee!-

"I will never get used to this auditorium." Rachel muttered ungraciously as she stepped inside the McKinley auditorium. She hadn't found the glee club in the choir room, so she assumed they would be here. Sure enough, she found them on stage. She tipped her head to the side. The club had grown; there were now three more girls. In fact, they were the three cheerleaders she had seen at the Lima Freeze the day Puck and Jesse had gotten into a fight.

She began mouthing the numbers as she counted the members. There was Mercedes, Finn, the three plastic cheerleaders, the wheelchair kid, the goth Asian girl, and the very feminine-looking guy. They still didn't have enough members to qualify for competition. But if the cheerleaders had joined…that had to mean that they were slowly working their way up.

"We're going to become even bigger fools if we do this disco song." The well-dressed boy said ungratefully as he tossed his copy of sheet music into the air. Rachel wrinkled her nose; disco? Was their teacher insane? At least she knew if they made it to competition, they would never win based on their song choice.

"I agree." The pretty blond cheerleader said, lifting her chin. She wrapped her arm around Finn's, who remained silent. Seeing her press herself against Finn's body made something inside of Rachel snap. It took every fiber of her being to not say anything. If she said anything, she'd blow her cover. Then she'd be in some serious shit.

"I can't believe he expects us to sing this in front of the entire school!" Mercedes exclaimed.

"We'll destroy our name." The Latino cheerleader said with a simple flip of her dark ponytail. She smiled at the other blond cheerleader standing next to her and linked her pinky with hers.

"Wh-wh-what name? We're the u-underdogs at this sch-sch-school." The Asian girl stuttered, glaring at the cheerleaders.

"Some of us actually have a reputation." The blond cheerleader said, twining her fingers with Finn's. Still, he hadn't said anything.

"What do you suggest we do about it?" The wheelchair kid asked, pushing his glasses farther up his nose.

"We have to choose a new song." Finn finally spoke up.

"Ooh, that's a perfect idea!" The blond cheerleader exclaimed, clapping her hands. "You're so smart, Finn!"

"Aye, shut up, Quinn!" The feminine-looking boy groaned. Rachel wrinkled her nose. Their names rhymed? Ew. She was thankful that her name didn't rhyme with Jesse. It sounded too much like something Dr. Seuss had written.

"Kurt, inside voices…" The quieter blond cheerleader whispered, pressing her index finger to her lips.

"Can we please get back to the topic of this disco catastrophe?" The wheelchair kid begged.

"Right." Finn frowned. "We've gotta do another song instead."

"Have fun convincing Mr. Schue to do that." Mercedes muttered.

"We don't have to tell him. We can rehearse it secretly. Like, practice the disco with him, but when he's not around, we can practice this other song and perform it at the assembly." Finn suggested. Rachel found herself nodding in agreement. It was a good idea. Now she wondered what song they would do in place of the disco song.

"A-a-a-and wh-what song will we d-d-do instead?" The Asian asked.

"Something cooler." The Hispanic cheerleader answered.

"Obviously." Kurt scoffed. They remained silent as they thought. Rachel rolled her eyes and without thinking, stepped out of her hiding place. No one noticed her at first. They didn't see her until she began talking. But she couldn't help it; they were a poor, suffering glee club and she decided to offer them some generous advice from her many years of experience.

"What do high school kids want more then anything?" Rachel asked. They all spun around to face her. Everyone's face hardened into a glare except for Finn's. His eyes lit up at the sight of Rachel.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked ungratefully.

"Were you spying on us?" Mercedes asked disbelievingly.

"Isn't that a little low for someone who's from Vocal Adrenaline?" The wheelchair kid asked, frowning.

"I wasn't spying." Rachel insisted. "There's nothing here for me to spy on except your disco song." They all winced at the mention of it. Just like that, Rachel had gained complete control over the small glee club. "Now, getting back to what I was saying…"

"Who said you were welcome here?" The Hispanic cheerleader asked snidely.

"Are you turning down my help?" Rachel asked, eyes widening. "Are you forgetting that I'm from Vocal Adrenaline, the state's best show choir?"

"We can't forget after the little stunt you pulled last week." Mercedes said, glaring at Rachel. She remembered the sing-off in the choir room clearly and winced.

"Guys, let her talk." Finn said, nodding his head for Rachel to continue. She grinned and lifted her chin.

"What do high school kids want more then anything?" She repeated. They were quiet for a moment before throwing answers in her direction.

"To fit in." Kurt said.

"Popularity." Quinn smiled, placing a quick kiss on Finn's cheek. Rachel pretended she hadn't seen that.

"A sexy body." The Hispanic cheerleader grinned seductively.

"A pony." The quiet blond suggested. Everyone turned to look at her in confusion.

"No…more then all those things…" Rachel said lightly.

"Sex." Finn breathed, his gaze right on Rachel. She blushed and nodded her head.

"You want us to sell sex at out assembly?" Kurt asked disbelievingly.

"That's highly immoral!" Quinn exclaimed.

"It'll boost your popularity." Rachel offered.

"Is that what Vocal Adrenaline does?" The wheelchair kid asked. Rachel grinned teasingly.

"Maybe…" She saw Finn lick his lips and giggled.

"What sexy song do you have in mind?" Mercedes asked warily. Rachel smiled and lifted her chin. She had the perfect song in mind.

-glee!-

"Why are we here?" Jesse hissed. "This wasn't my idea of a first date." They climbed up the bleachers of the McKinley High gym. It was the day of the assembly.

"You'll see." Rachel said, smiling.

"What did you do?" Jesse asked warily as they took a seat in the very back. He draped his arm over shoulders and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

"I may have given them an idea for a song."

"Why would you do that?" Jesse exclaimed. "You're only going to empower them!"

"Okay, first of all, they only have eight kids. You need twelve to compete. Second of all, their teacher doesn't know they're doing this song. He's had them working on disco these past few weeks." Rachel explained.

"Disco? That's a crime in itself." Jesse muttered. "So what song did you suggest?"

"'Push It'."

"No way!" Jesse exclaimed.

"Seeing that the teacher has no control over his students, the principal will fire him and the club will be left without a director. They will disband and New Directions will become No Directions." Rachel grinned as the plan unfolded before her.

"You're a genius." Jesse whispered in her ear. "That's why I like you." She smiled and shuddered.

"Let's watch." Rachel said quietly as the principal took his stand.

This was going to be fun to watch.

But in the back of Rachel's mind, she knew her true intention was not to destroy New Directions.

No, it was to see Finn again.

-glee!-

They hadn't even bothered to continue with the assembly after the glee club performed their horrendous song. They weren't that bad, considering there were only eight of them and they didn't have the privileges Rachel and Jesse did. In fact, they were pretty decent. Finn still had to get the hang of dancing and singing at the same time, but otherwise, the performance was a good one. They had the other kids watching them with eager eyes and cheering loudly for more. This didn't surprise Rachel at all; their reactions were similar to the ones she got when Vocal Adrenaline performed their sexy songs.

"You did it." Jesse whispered, bringing his arms around her waist and pulling her body close to his. Rachel's heart began to race as Jesse leaned forward to place a kiss on her lips. She wasn't aware that Finn was watching her with Quinn on his arm until afterwards. The kiss started out sweet and simple, but soon grew heated and passionate. Finn watched on longingly and confusedly.

"I can't believe it!" Quinn exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "We let her help us actually believing she was giving us genuine advice!"

"What are you talking about?" Finn asked, still distracted by Rachel and Jesse kissing.

"That there is Jesse St. James, the male lead of Vocal Adrenaline. He's a senior, meaning he's been their star for four years. All four of those years they've won national titles. Now he and Rachel are shoving each other's tongues down their throats. It's obvious that she was plotting against us the whole time!" Quinn explained.

"Rachel wouldn't do that." Finn murmured.

"Open your eyes, Finn! Look at them! They were planning for us to fall right into their trap. Now that Figgins and Coach Sylvester have seen us perform, they'll be convinced that Mr. Schuester isn't fit to be an educator, which means we have no director which means no more glee club."

"It wasn't Mr. Schuester's fault." Finn protested, dragging his gaze from Rachel to Quinn. Since when had Quinn cared so much about glee? Before, all she talked about was homecoming and how they had to win homecoming king and queen.

"It's a lose-lose. Mr. Schuester could get fired for having us perform something as vile as that and he could get fired for not know what we were up to because both points prove that he isn't fit to be an educator." Quinn lifted her chin and crossed her arms. "I knew nothing good would come of this."

"Since when did you start caring so much about glee?" The words flew out of Finn's mouth before he could stop them. He watched Quinn's face fall.

"Since I realized it was the only thing that was keeping us together." She reached out and squeezed his hand. "I love you, Finn, and if being in this sinking ship known as glee club is what makes you happy, then I'll put up with it."

"I love you, too." Finn said quietly, his gazing fleeting back to Rachel for a moment. He wondered if maybe Quinn had been right. After all, she and Jesse had plotted to humiliate them once. It could have been very likely that she was doing it again.

He hoped that wasn't the case.

-glee!-

She was back in the auditorium again. She didn't know why she had come, but she hoped that she would be the only one this time. The guilt from her latest trick, even if it was unintentional, had been eating away at her and she felt that she had to apologize. But she couldn't face the whole club. There was one person she wanted to apologize to in particular, knowing he would've been one of the most hurt by the stunt she pulled.

She managed to convince Jesse that she was going out to buy a new CD she had been dying to get since the day she knew it was being released. He believed her and kissed her goodbye and told her he'd see her later that night. Dating Jesse St. James was one of the best things that had ever happened to her. Her feelings of interest had begun to blossom into feelings of love. She was falling in love with Jesse.

And her feelings for Finn, if they even qualified as 'feelings', were nothing more then friend feelings. That's what she had decided. But why had she envisioned herself kissing Finn? Was she really so desperate for love that she would have kissed the enemy team's male lead? Was she that delusional? She was glad to have Jesse now; the daydreams consisting of Finn had subsided. Instead, they were replaced with vivid visions of her and Jesse taking their relationship to the next level.

They had been dating for a total of two weeks now and were already crazy about each other. The whole school knew about their blossoming romance now. Even her mom knew; she didn't care. Of course, Rachel had to leave the door open now when Jesse came over, but her mom approved of Jesse. She thought he was a perfect match for Rachel. They were caught making out a few times in the hallways by various members of the staff or other students, but because of their popularity at Carmel, they let it slide.

"Rachel?" The disbelief colored his voice. Rachel spun around and sure enough (thankfully), Finn was standing behind her. The skepticism soon turned into a mix of wariness and betrayal. She winced; she didn't understand why it bothered her to see Finn upset with her like he was, but it did.

"I came to apologize." Rachel admitted, glancing at her feet.

"So you did plan for this to happen." Finn clarified, his voice growing tight with shock and anger. She flinched.

"Not at first." Rachel replied honestly. "I was truly helping you at first, but afterwards, I realized there was a plan in itself unfolding right before my very eyes. I didn't do anything to stop it, though. That's what I've come to apologize for."

"Do you know what you've done?" Finn asked.

"Was your teacher fired?"

"No. But Figgins doesn't trust him anymore. He gave him a list of pre-approved songs. We're only allowed to perform songs from that list." He handed Rachel a piece of paper. She took it from his hand and read over the song names. She wrinkled her nose in distaste before handing the piece of paper back to Finn.

"I'm so sorry, Finn." Rachel whispered. She saw Finn flinch visibly and wondered if maybe she had some sort of power over him.

"It's alright, I guess. Maybe if we prove to Figgins that we're sorry for what we did, we'll be able to do something cool at sectionals." He flashed a crooked smile in Rachel's direction, causing her to blush.

"You need to recruit four more members in order to compete." Rachel pointed out.

"No sweat." Finn snorted. "After the stunt we pulled, thanks to you, we'll have at least four more people joining glee club. Hopefully there will be some more guys, 'cause I think Artie's getting tired of carrying out the male part. I know I am." Rachel giggled, assuming Artie was the kid in the wheelchair, as he was the only other guy besides Kurt.

"I'm sure you guys will do great at sectionals." Rachel said softly. Finn stepped onto the stage and slowly took a few steps in her direction, causing Rachel's heartbeat to quicken its pace.

"Are you guys going to be there?" He asked hopefully.

"No; our sectionals competition isn't the same as yours. But I'll see you at regionals…if you win." She winked. Finn chuckled.

"What makes you think you guys will win?"

"We're Vocal Adrenaline!" Rachel exclaimed, throwing her hands above her head. Finn laughed and smiled at her.

"You're adorable." He said softly. She blushed and turned towards a small picnic basket she had brought along with her.

"I brought us something to drink. Virgin cosmos." She grinned.

"What made you think I'd show up here?" Finn asked, frowning.

"Lucky guess." Rachel winked before taking a seat on the stage. Finn followed her lead and watched as she poured two small glasses, handing one to Finn.

"The glasses are like the airplane ones." Finn pointed out nervously. Rachel smiled coyly; was she making Finn nervous?

"Cheers!" She exclaimed.

"Cheers." He repeated, smiling as their glasses touched. "So…are you, like, dating Jesse now?" Rachel grinned and nodded her head.

"That's also why I came here! I wanted to thank you; you're the reason we're dating now." She smiled.

"Me?" Finn asked, wondering how he got them together when that was one of the last things he wanted.

"The advice you gave me when I came to McKinley that one day really helped. I confronted Jesse and asked him if we were dating. He said we weren't at the moment, but that he liked me. So I asked him out, and he said yes!" Rachel squealed.

"Yay." Finn said with fake enthusiasm. Shit; his advice was supposed to drive Jesse away from Rachel, not to her. None of the guys he knew would say yes to a girl, even if he wanted to be dating her. It was just against the law for the girl to ask the guy.

"And…um…are you and Quinn dating?" Rachel asked casually, taking a sip of her drink.

"Yeah. Going on four months." He smiled. "She's awesome, really."

"I'm sure." Rachel grinned. Finn smiled at her before leaning forward.

"You've got a bit of cosmos right…there." He drew his thumb over her bottom lip and watched as her cheeks turned bright red. His gaze dropped to her lips and he imagined kissing them. Yes, he loved Quinn, but he couldn't but feel the attraction he felt for Rachel. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw her gaze drop to his lips as well.

"You can kiss me if you want to." She breathed, instantly regretting the words that left her mouth. She was dating Jesse, and he was dating Quinn. If either of their significant others found out about their time in the auditorium, they would be killed for sure. But she couldn't stop the words from leaving her mouth.

"I want to." Finn whispered. He leaned even closer and pressed his lips to hers, gently lying her down on the floor. Both of them expected it to be just another kiss, like they had experienced with Quinn and Finn. But sparks were flying the moment their lips met. It was like an explosion of fireworks. Rachel wasn't ready for such a strong sensation; it took her by surprise and made her want more. It made her forget for a split second that she was dating Jesse. Of course, Finn had forgotten several times that he was dating Quinn the moment he first met Rachel. Shit! Quinn would kill him if she ever found out about this! Abruptly, Finn pulled away and leapt to his feet.

"Finn-?" Rachel sat up, eyes growing wide with anguish and confusion.

"I've gotta go. Please…don't tell anyone about this." And with that, Finn reluctantly darted out of the auditorium. Rachel watched him leave, and she couldn't help herself.

She cried. But as she cried, she realized that not only was her brief make-out session with Finn never to be mentioned to anyone as long as she lived, but that her heart did not belong to Finn Hudson.

It did, in fact, belong to Jesse St. James.

She would never return to McKinley no matter what.

Ooh. So I'm still trying to follow the basic storyline of the episodes to some extent. I know that Quinn, Santana, and Brittany weren't members of glee club before the assembly, but I needed to change that in order to make the glee club a little less nonexistent. Because honestly, that club was nothing without Rachel when there was barely anyone there. What did you think of the St. Berry relationship? And the budding Finchel relationship? Obviously Rachel is going to have to return to McKinley at some point, so do not despair! I'm not entirely sure what should happen in the next chapter. I know that instead of Rachel going to McKinley, Finn and a couple others come to Carmel to ask to hire Dakota Stanley. And that's how Finn and Rachel will be reunited. Should Jesse start to get a little jealous, or should that come later on? Tell me what you think XD! Read my other stories, like my Facebook page, and most importantly…REVIEW! Expect an update on 'The Only Hope for Me is You' and 'How Does it Feel' by the end of this week! After that, I will not update any other story until my double update of 'In the End, It's Right' is posted, I promise. Okay, that's it. Don't forget to review!