"You've carried on so strong, you couldn't stop if you tried it..."
Rachel stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, humming quietly under her breath before spotting her phone flashing on her bedside table.
She picked it up, punching in her password and smiling slightly when she realised she had a new message from Sam.
Good Morning, beautiful
She sat down on the bed, typing a reply. They had officially been dating for two weeks and to her surprise, she found herself beginning to like him more and more.
As for Finn Hudson, Rachel had barely said two words to him since her first date with Sam. He had barely showed up to any classes they had together and whenever Rachel was over at his dorm, he was no-where to be found.
Another ping from her phone told her that Sam had replied and she glanced down at it, frowning slightly.
Do you want to hang out with me and the two guys later? We've got something planned and it's going to be awesome
Rachel knew that this surely wasn't going to be anything good. In fact, if her time here had taught her anything so far, it was that they really were bad news.
She had yet to see Sam step out of line but Finn and Noah were uncontrollable. She was pretty sure that the pair had turned up high to their biology lesson the previous week.
Still, they were Sam's friends and due to her years of reading and watching movies, she knew it was important to be on good terms with your boyfriend's friends.
Ignoring her gut feeling, she quickly typed out a quick 'Sure, I'll meet you at six', before heading over to the dressing table and drying her hair roughly before plugging in her hairdryer.
She was drying the last layer when the door opened and Santana strolled in, face set in a victorious smirk as she sunk down onto her bed.
"You'll never guess what I've just heard." She said as soon as Rachel switched off the hairdryer and began to straighten her hair.
"You should know better than to listen to rumours in this place, San." Rachel told her, rolling her eyes.
"Oh no." Santana pulled herself up into a sitting position, "This one is definitely true."
Rachel sighed and glanced at Santana in the mirror. "Go on then, tell me. I know you're dying to."
"Right, you know Quinn Fabray?" Santana asked and Rachel thought for a few seconds.
"Is she the pretty blonde girl in my algebra class?" Rachel asked, beginning to style her fringe.
Santana rolled her eyes at Rachel's description before answering. "That's the one. She's only gone and got herself knocked up."
Rachel gasped dramatically causing the straightener to make contact with her forehead.
"Ow." She hissed, clutching the affected area as she spun in her chair to face Santana. "No. But isn't she the girl who reads the bible between classes?"
Santana nodded and Rachel could see how much pleasure she was getting from this new piece of gossip. "Exactly. She's absolutely devastated. God knows what her daddy is going to do. That's probably the reason he sent his little princess here, so that she wouldn't end up in a situation like this."
Rachel turned back round to the mirror to continue her hair. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Quinn was feeling. To be a teenage mum in this generation…
"Does anybody know who the father is?" Rachel asked, not missing the way that Santana bit her lip and hesitated. "What?"
Santana shifted uncomfortably before catching eyes with Rachel in the reflection. "Well, according to the rumour mill, it's one of the golden trio."
Rachel had heard Santana use the phrase much too often to not understand who she was referring to and she tried to ease the unsteady feeling in her stomach.
"Which one?" She asked, unsurprised that her voice was only just above a whisper.
"Well no-one is sure. But Rachel, you have to bear in mind that this was over four weeks ago, before you even came to this school. If the father is Sam, then you don't really have a right to be mad. But, I don't think it is. As far as I know, he's never even been near her." Santana rambled but Rachel's unease still wasn't eased. What if…
"So, who are the rumours hinting towards?" She asked.
"Well, whilst no one has seen Sam anywhere near her, the same can't be said about the other two. Apparently she hooked up with both Finn and Puck. Who knew Quinn Fabray was such a slut?"
Rachel felt her heart sink. Of course Quinn Fabray would be the type of girl that Finn would be into.
"Oh. Well, I don't really see how it's any of our business." Rachel stood, putting an end to the situation whilst seeing Santana giving her a funny look.
Rachel walked over to her wardrobe before picking out a skirt and blouse and laying it on her bed.
"Where are you off to, then?" Santana asked, standing.
"Sam wants me to go somewhere with him and his friends tonight." Rachel answered vaguely, trying to decide what shoes she should wear. To her surprise, she heard Santana let out a very un-lady like snort before laughing.
"Trust me, if you're going out with them three, you're going to want something you're going to be able to run in." Santana told her and Rachel furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, my guess is you're going to see them cause some trouble tonight. So I'd wear some tracksuit bottoms or something." Santana winked before heading to the bathroom.
"Don't be silly, Sam would never invite me to something like that." Rachel called after her, but Santana had already shut the door.
Rachel glanced around the lawn looking for Sam, before spotting him waving at her on a bench, whilst Finn and Noah stood up beside him.
She walked over and slid onto his lap before placing a quick peck on his mouth.
"You ok, darling?" He asked and she nodded, smiling slightly.
"So what's the plan of action for tonight?" She asked, she was determined to show Santana that not everything these boys did was bad.
"You're just going to have to wait and see, Princess." Noah smirked, putting out his cigarette on a tree trunk before throwing it to the ground and breathing out the last of the smoke.
"And why's that?" She asked, glaring slightly, oblivious to Finn chuckling beside her.
"Because we can't have you go running to tell someone." He told her.
"Running to tell someone what?" She asked, this was beginning to look like a bad idea.
"Why don't we just go?" Sam put an end to the conversation as he stood up and threw his arm around her shoulder. "Come on."
As they all walked, Noah slightly ahead with Finn trailing behind, Rachel asked Sam the question she had been dying to since her talk with Santana earlier.
"Sam, have you ever been with Quinn Fabray?" She asked in a low voice, determined not to let the others hear her.
"And y been with you mean.." He trailed off and glanced down at her before understanding dawned after the very pointed look she gave him. "Oh. No, I haven't. How comes you ask?"
Rachel tried to feel some sort of relief at his confirmation but all she felt was more unease. That meant that there was a fifty percent chance that Finn was the one that had gotten Quinn pregnant, and she knew full well that it shouldn't bother her as much as it did.
"Don't worry about it." She told him brushing the hair out of her eyes before noticing Noah had stopped in front of her.
"Urm…what are we doing outside Mr Bromley's apartment?" She asked, confused. She knew the teachers pretty much boarded here as well and as Mr Bromley was the head of the Science department, it was common knowledge which apartment – as such – was his.
"Mr Bromley decided to stick his nose in where he shouldn't have." Noah told her, opening his bag and pulling out a can of diesel.
"What- what do you mean?" She asked, panicking slightly as Noah started to unscrew the cap.
"He decided to go to the head of the school and say that the three of us needed help." Finn explained as he stepped round her and pulled out a lighter. "Not only did he do that, but no he tried to get us to talk to a professional about our problems."
Finn handed the lighter to Noah as he stood back, beside Sam and Rachel.
"So what? You're setting fire to his apartment because he tried to help you all? Are you insane?" Rachel stepped forward but Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her back to his side.
"Relax, Rachel. We're not doing any harm, ok? We're simply going to set fire to that shed as a warning." Sam gestured with his head to shed beside the apartment that even from where she was standing, could see was filled with junk.
"And you don't think that's still slightly worrying?" Rachel hissed but Sam didn't answer her, as he began to laugh as Finn broke the lock on the shed before Noah stepped inside and covered the floor with diesel.
"Are you aware how quickly fires can travel?" She screeched in a desperate attempt to stop them. People were right – they really were crazy.
"Rachel, calm down. No-one is going to get hurt. Mr Bromley is inside his apartment and will be able to stop the fire as soon as we start it, ok." She could tell Sam was trying to comfort her but she could do nothing but watch in horror as Noah flicked a lit match into the shed before it burst into flames.
She screamed but the sound was soon muffled by Sam's hand as he covered her mouth and grabbed her arm pulling her into the cover of the trees.
When they were far enough not to be heard the three guys all collapsed onto the ground in hysterics but Rachel could do nothing but look down at them in pure shock.
She shook her head and crossed her arms before turning around and walking away from them, determined to go back home and try and calm her pounding heart.
"Where are you going?" Sam called after her and Rachel spun on her heel, shocked to realise that she was fuming.
"Are you all insane? Are you even aware how dangerous something like that could be? No wonder everyone in this school is terrified of you all."
"Rachel, it was a bit of fun ok. There's no need to have a panic attack about it." Sam reasoned with her, standing up as Finn and Noah watched on.
"A bit of fun? Why did you even invite me, Sam. Did you really think I would want to be a part of something like that?" She could hear the tears creeping into her throat but wasn't sure if it was because of fear of being caught of anger.
"Ok, inviting you was stupid but it wasn't that that I wanted you to be a part of." Sam told her and Rachel looked up with a question in her eyes. "We're going to a local club and I thought maybe you would like to come along. A change of scenery."
Rachel snorted as she ran a hand through her hair. So first they were setting fire to things and now they were sneaking off campus?
"I'm not particularly sure I want to be in your company at this precise moment." She told him snootily, as Finn laughed.
"Lover's spat."
"Shut up, Hudson. Look, Rachel. You said last week that you wanted to do something fun right? Well come with us and the second you ask me to, I'll take you home."
Rachel knew that she should say no. That she should end things with Sam and turn around and walk back to her dorm, but something inside of her was telling her to be reckless for once. And curiosity wanted to know what else they usually got up to.
She found herself nodding and Sam beamed as her before taking her hand and pulling her further into the woods.
"Come on then guys. Let's go have some fun."
Rachel didn't know it would be so loud. She was seated at the bar as Sam downed yet another drink, watching Finn grind against yet another girl.
"You ok?" Sam asked her, swaying slightly his feet and Rachel nodded wrapping her arms around herself. Truthfully, she wanted to go home but she wasn't exactly sure how Sam would get her back there.
"Evans."
Rachel turned at the same time Sam did and when she did, she noticed another man – probably one of two years older than herself – clap Sam on the shoulder.
"Where are your friends, tonight?" He asked and Rachel had the feeling that he wasn't someone she was going to like.
"They're around, Weston. So I wouldn't try and cause trouble." Sam replied through gritted teeth and Rachel wondered what the problem was between the pair.
"And who's this lovely young lady?" He asked, eyes landing on Rachel before looking her up and down.
"She's with me." Sam warned, coming over to stand in front of Rachel.
"I haven't seen her around before, she must be new."
"No, Weston. She's just not a whore like all your other chicks." Finn had arrived and was currently glaring at the unwanted visitor before glancing down at Rachel for any signs of uncomfort.
"Ah Hudson. Long time, no see." The man grinned and Finn shook his head.
"Pity, I wish it could have been longer." Finn replied, reaching over Rachel and grabbing Sam's drink before raising it to his mouth.
"Ah. So tell me, how's little Ella?" Finn's head snapped up before he made to lunge at the guy but before he had the chance, Noah appeared and smacked the guy's head down on the table.
"You dare, even speak her name and I will make sure it's the last thing you do." He hissed in Weston's ear and Rachel began to feel slightly terrified. She had never seen Noah like this and she could see Finn fighting against Sam's hold to join Noah.
"Like you would even dare." The guy spat into Noah's face and before Rachel could even blink the guy was on the ground and Noah was pounding his fist hard into his face.
"You think I'm scared of you, Brody? Well think again." His fist hit flesh with even more force and Rachel began to feel slightly sick as Brody's lip split and blood began drip out.
Sam jumped forward and pulled Noah off of Brody and dragged him towards the back of the club, where Rachel knew there was an exit.
"Finn, will you please take Rachel home." Sam called over his shoulder before disappearing from sight.
Finn took one last look at Brody clutching his face before grabbing Rachel's arm and pulling her towards the same exit.
"We can't just leave him there." She protested, trying to pull her arm out of Finn's grip but his hand only tightened.
"Trust me, we can."
She didn't say anymore as he led her back to campus, her own head spinning with questions. Who was that guy? Who was this Ella and why had both Finn and Noah reacted so strongly to her name being mentioned.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she failed to notice they were back at the school until Finn was pulling her into the girl's dorm and leading her towards her own.
She pulled her key out of her pocket with shaking hands and Finn took it from her before placing it in the lock and letting them both inside.
"Where is everyone?" He asked in a quiet voice, taking in the two empty but made beds.
"Kurt's gone home for the weekend and Santana is staying over at a friend's tonight."
Finn nodded before making to go back out of the door before turning back to face her. "Are you going to be ok on your own? I bet it's been quite an eventful night for you."
"You could say that." She gave a shaky laugh before taking a deep breath. "Do you think you could stay with me? Just for a little while?"
She could almost see the conflict in Finn's eyes before he shut the door behind him and sat on her bed.
"Of course I can."
She smiled at him, thankfully before going into the bedroom and changing into her pyjamas as quickly as she could. When she came back out, he was propped up against her headboard, laughing slightly at what was on the TV.
Feeling daring, she slipped in beside him and under the covers, shocked when he didn't even say a word.
She wasn't sure what time she fell asleep but whenever, it was, she had her head on Finn's chest with his soft laugher in his ear.
A/N: I told you they were insane...this chapter kind of ran away with itself but the next chapter will have a large development with Finn/Rachel.
Sorry if there were any mistakes, I didn't have time to reread it and if I had, it would have meant this update would be a day later.
Who do you think Ella is? Leave your guesses in the reviews.
Review :)