A/N: Happy Holidays! I should have the next ch. up soon. Thanks again and hope you enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think!
Looking directly into the eyes of a smirking giant can be a frightening ordeal at the best of times, so Rachel tried to stay calm as she pointed her gaze straight ahead, instead of above her
"What's up runt, I mean Rachel?" The wrestler asked.
Rachel lets out a long sigh, but doesn't look up. "I'm ok Lauren. How are you?"
"I'm doing great actually! I just beat the crap out of Ronnie Smith for talkin smack! And that jerkoff never even seen me coming! Haha!" She continued.
Rachel finally looked at Lauren Zizes for seemingly the first time since she's met her. An idea was forming but she needed more information from the wrestler first.
"Lauren, how did you manage to "beat the crap" out of Ronnie Smith? Isn't he like twice even your size?" Rachel asked.
"What do you mean twice "even my size" pipsqueak." Zizes raises her eyebrows in challenge, completely forgetting about the original question.
"I'm sorry Lauren if I offended you. I was not implying anything about your size in a negative way, believe me. I was merely trying to ascertain how you managed to beat up the biggest boy in our school, who I might add is a terrible bully." Rachel stated patiently, and looked at Zizes for her answer.
The wrestler just shrugged, and replied, "He just underestimated me that's all. But I guarantee he'll never do that again. Hehehe."
The smaller girl just sat there and looked at Lauren, mouth agape. She momentarily forgot that she had a purpose for continuing this line of questioning. She hated violence, and yet here she was, for the second time in one day, contemplating acts of violence. What would her idol, Barbara Streisand, think if she knew?
She quickly shook these thoughts away and asked, "So, Lauren, what will happen when Principal Figgins finds out about you hurting Ronnie?"
"That idiot's not hurt, maybe stunned and embarrassed haha! But I didn't do too much damage to him. And Figgins, me and him have a special understanding, hehe, it's called don't ask, don't tell, cause I got all kinds of dirt on him!"
"I'm not the president of the AV club for no reason pipsqueak!" Zizes bragged.
"And why are you asking all these questions anyway?" The wrestler says, narrowing her eyes at Rachel suspiciously.
"I apologize Lauren if it seems as though I might be prying into your business. I assure you I don't want to know what dirt you have on Figgins, even if I am a bit intrigued." Rachel stated, with hands raised.
She decided to play to the wrestler's ego. "Obviously, you are one of the strongest people, boy or girl at this school, as proved by your fighting, er wrestling abilities."
"You are clearly also one of the smartest people at this school, as shown in your ability to successfully run the AV club, not to mention gathering whatever salacious intel you have on our principal." The shorter girl continues, while looking directly at Zizez now.
"I'm also rather fond of your..."
"Quit your babbling pipsqueak!" Zizez interrupts her.
"Just say what the hell you want Berry before I lose my mind!" She huffs out. She crosses her arms again, and looks expectantly at Rachel.
Rachel looks down again. She gathers her courage, before she looks back up and blurts out, "Would I be able to persuade you to be my personal bodyguard?!"
Lauren Zizez has rarely, if ever been lost for words. She stares down at the girl sitting on that locker room bench in front of her like she was a spaceship that had just landed right in front of her eyes.
When Zizez finally recovers her senses, she simply says "no" and starts walking away.
Rachel, undeterred, gets up and starts to follow her further into the girls locker room.
"Please Lauren, I will pay you! I-I mean it won't be much, but I really need your help! I'm being bullied, and harassed, and slushied everyday!" Rachel warily continues.
"It's the Cheerios, and jocks, like Dave Karovski! I've been slushied everyday by one of these people since my freshmen year of high school." Rachel continues quietly. She is on the verge of tears now, and Luaren Zizes has stopped trying to get away, but not yet turned to face her.
"I found out last year that it was Quinn Fabray, the Head Cheerio, who had ordered for me to be slushied everyday since freshman year. That's approximately 490 slushies so far and we've only just begun our senior year." The tears had started falling at this point, but the small girl continued.
"I didn't even know who Quinn was before I came to McKinley. I don't even know what I could have done to make her hate me so much." She sniffles.
Zizes at this point has turned to face Rachel, and is just watching her, head twisting to get a better look at her.
"Out of everyone who harasses me, Santana Lopez is the worst, and for some reason, she takes the hatred she has for me to another level. Even when we went to grade school she was never nice to me, but it seems that now, it's far worse than before. She's become very good at tormenting me." Rachel states, tears flowing freely.
"I used to tell myself that they're jealous because I'm better than they are, you know, more talented," she continued.
"When I thought about singing on Broadway, it would help me not to hurt so much when they would throw slushies on me, and call me those horrible names. But the truth is, my talent hasn't helped me gain one single friend at this school.
"And I know that even the other kids in glee only tolerate me. Haha! Lauren, I'm even aware that you didn't like me much, while you were in glee."
"Touché Berry, Touché!" The wrestler chimes in.
"Look," she walks closer to Zizes. "I'm not asking for you to be my friend, or even like me, but I really need your help! Please Lauren! I don't think I can handle being harassed everyday for one more year." She adds softly.
Rachel is looking at the bigger girl in earnest now. She was sad and upset. She was also embarressed that she had lost control and cried like that to Zizes, who for all she knew, probably hates her as much as Quinn and Santana do.
Lauren Zizes was just standing in the middle of the girls locker room staring at Rachel. She had her arms crossed and looked unconvinced. During her worst days in glee club, the little diva could not remember the bigger girl looking more intimidating, and she shivered involuntarily.
Though the smaller girl had wiped her eyes dry, the occasional tear still escaped. She gave Zizes one final glance, and then decided that she would no longer stand here and further humiliate herself, so she turned to leave.
Before Rachel made it out the locker room door, she heard the wrestler say "I'll do it."
She squealed and ran back into the locker room and jumped at Zizes, attempting to wrap her up in a hug, but she couldn't quite fit her arms around the bigger girl. After Zizes pushed the small girl an arms length away, she straightened herself to full height.
"Ok there are some ground rules Berry!"
"Yes Lauren, please tell me what they are so that I will not violate the terms." Rachel said, as she took out a pen and notepad from her bag.
"Rule number one: No more hugs!" Zizes emphasized while pointing a finger at the small girl.
"Rule number two: I'm not rejoining your glee club, so don't try asking!"
"Rule number three: I will walk you to and from classes, and lunch, and glee in school but once the day is over, you're on your own."
"Rule number four: I won't be with you 24/7 because of my own obligations, so if I tell you not to go into a certain area of the school, I expect you to listen."
"Rule number five: If a situation breaks out, you stay quiet and let me handle it!"
"Ok Luaren." Rachel was scribbling furiously in her notebook to get everything the wrestler said down on paper.
"Rule number six: I get paid $100 per week, and bonuses for anything extra!"
"Rule number seven: You will pay me every Friday before school ends."
"Rule number eight: We start tomorrow. I'll meet you at the front doors first thing in the morning.
When she didn't hear anymore rules, Rachel looked up from her notebook. Zizes was looking straight ahead with her thumb and forefinger on her chin in contemplation.
"Ok, that's all I got for now Berry, but I reserve my right to add more rules later if I need to!"
"Completely understood Lauren! Thank you so much for helping me with this! And, if it's alright with you, I'm going to have to run this by my fathers so that I can ask for an increase in my weekly allowance." The smaller girl stated with a big smile on her face.
"Whatever Berry, as long as I get paid on time." Zizes shrugged her shoulders while looking down at the little diva.
And with that, the wrestler was about to leave. So as Zizes was preparing to walk out the door, Rachel called out to her.
"Lauren, can I ask you one last question?"
"What is it Berry? I gotta go!"
"Why did you decide to help me with this?"
Lauren Zizes turned around, looked the diva directly in the eyes and said, "I fuckin hate those Cheerio bitches too, especially Santana!" And then, she strode out the locker room door.
The rest of that day got noticeably better for Rachel, because her remaining classes were easy, and she hadn't run into any jocks or Cheerios thus far. She was looking forward to glee because it was her favorite part of the day and also the close of a very long and trying day.
As she made her way to glee, she walked through the nearly empty hallways towards the choir room. She decided to stop in the girls restroom to freshen up before glee. As soon as she walked in, she could hear voices. One was sniffling and the other appeared to be trying to comfort her. She knew right away who those voices coming from the furthest stall belonged to and they stopped her in her tracks.
"Please B! I'm sorry!" Santana was pleading.
"No San! You can't just say sorry and think I forgive you! Brittany raised her voice slightly.
"I tried apologizing to the hobbit, B honest!"
"Well, you didn't try hard enough!" The blond hissed. "She told me everything you said today, and it was still mean San!"
"Why do I need to apologize to Manhands anyway! It's not like she deserves it."
"Santana you promised me that you were gonna say sorry to her." Rachel could hear the genuine sadness in Brttany's voice.
Santana just huffed and said, "So you're really not gonna give me any of your special lady kisses Baby?"
"No." Britt replied simply. And though Rachel couldn't see her, she imagined Britt with her arms crossed over chest.
"Come on Baby." Santana lowered her voice seductively. "You know you can't resist my sweet kisses."
Soon, the exchange of lips on body parts could be heard through out the restroom, and Rachel stood stock still in the middle of the room. "So much for Brittany standing firm." Rachel thought, as their kissing quickly went from lip smacking to moaning. Rachel decided she'd heard enough, and turns to head toward the door, just as it bangs open.
"Berry! What are you doing in here just standing there?" Quinn said as she moved into the restroom, looking confused at Rachel.
In the blink of an eye, Santana banged the door of their stall open, and was flying out of said stall toward Rachel. The tall blond trailed right behind her.
"Santana no, stop!" Brit grabbed her from behind.
"You little bitch, I'm gonna fucking strangle you! How dare you!" The angry Latina spat, reaching out for Rachel, who jumped back.
Lucky for Rachel, who seemed rooted to he spot, Britt was holding Santana tightly, but her grip was slipping.
"Quinn! Help me!" Britt shouted at the Head Cheerio.
"Rachel get outta hear now!" Quinn shouted at Rachel, who only seemed to just realize her life was in peril.
The little brunette didn't need to be told twice to get out of there, so Rachel fled through the door and into the hallway. She just ran, and didn't stop to go to glee practice. She didn't stop until she reached her car. She got in and drove herself home. She didn't stop shaking until late that evening, after the tears had completely dried.
She finished her nightly routine early and settled onto her bed. She looked on her nightstand to check her phone and saw a text from Kurt.
Kurt: Rachel I'm worried about you.
Kurt: It's not like you to miss glee. Are you ok?
Kurt: We need to talk first thing tomorrow.
She didn't want him worrying any more, so she quickly sent him a reply.
Rachel: Kurt I'm fine. We will talk tomorrow and I will explain everything.
She promptly turned off her phone and laid down on her bed and snuggled under the blanket. Just before Rachel finally drifted off to sleep, she hoped tomorrow would be the start of better things to come.
