(A/N: A little longer then the last two chap. But the plot thickens. The part of the story in italic is to show things that happened outside of Rachel's point of view, which is why it jumps to 3rd person. These parts I feel are important to the story and needed to be seen. It will happen a second time, but not for a few more chapters.
Disclaimer: Still don't own it...)
I never expected to go into labor while as school. Of course I had made out several well thought plans as to what I would do if such a thing occurred. My extensive Google search had lead me to believe that the first labor and delivery took several hours. So if I went into labor during school hours, all I had to do was wait it out until the end of class and ditch the rest of the school day. Sounded simple enough, right?
And of course, everything went according to plan. I had noticed light pains throughout the day. Nothing I couldn't handle, and nothing I wasn't completely used to. After all, I was a 17 year old girl with an obviously well working reproductive system. These pains felt like nothing more than the cramps I got nearly every month since the time I had my first period just after my 12th birthday. The only main difference between those cramps and the ones I was experiencing at the moment was the fact that they came and went all day and were getting stronger.
At first I thought they were the faked contractions I read about. It wasn't until I sit down in my seat at the beginning of my American History class that I realized these weren't the fake contraction, they were real. Halfway through my class they were so strong that it took everything I had not to cry out. At one point I gripped onto my pencil so tightly that my thumb caused my pencil to break in half.
"Are you alright?" Tina asked, just as the latest contraction passed. "You look pale."
"Yes" I whispered back. "Just a stomach ache. The left over pasta in my dads' refrigerator must have been past its expiration date."
"Well past by the look on your face." Noah said from my left side. "You sure you're alright, Berry?"
"Yes, Noah, thank you."
I used the clock on the wall to time my contractions. They were now coming every 13 minutes. Trusty Google had informed me that it wasn't until the contractions were 10 minutes apart that I would have to head to a doctor so I wasn't very worried.
I had three more contractions before the class let out and I was able to rush out. 13 minutes apart... Last one 10 minutes ago. That meant I had three minutes to get to my car, wait out the next one and another 13 minutes to get home before another hit. I could do this... I thought to myself.
I hadn't counted on one thing stopping me from my class to my car. A loud mouthed, African American, jock by the name of Azimo with a slushy in his hand. I noticed his hand pull back the second he laid eyes on me. This was not something I wanted to deal with. I had three minutes to get the hell out of that building, not a second could be wasted getting over the shock of being slushied. I could feel tears in my eyes as panic started to creep in. I could NOT have a contraction in the crowed hallway of McKinley High School. If I did, my gig would be up.
Azimo must have seen the look on my face because instantly he dropped his hand, gave me a quick nod. Then, a second later Azimo slushied some poor freshman who was behind me. I couldn't help but waist a few seconds watching Azimo walk away. He gave me a look that said; don't mention it before walking quickly down the hallway out of sight.
I quickly gathered my bearing and raced outside into the student parking lot. I could feel the contraction building in my belly and going straight down my back, concentrating down my back. It felt like someone had a huge vice grip on my tailbone and just kept squeezing and squeezing. The more I tried to walk, the more it hurt. I tried pulling myself to my car using the others around me for support, until I got to the small pathway that separated the parking lot where I parked my car from where the seniors parked theirs. As I tried to cross it, the pain from the contraction got so bad that I fell to my knees and had to wait the latest one out. Once it was over, I stumbled to my feet. That's when I realized my pants were soaked.
I looked at my hand for a moment then realized I probably should get home, as soon as I could without breaking any traffic laws. I rushed as quickly as I could to my car and did just that.
There was something Rachel missed in her panic to get home.
About 30 feet away, the girls' gym class was entering the tennis courts for that day's lesson. It was Santana Lopez who first noticed Rachel Berry stumbling across the senior parking lot to get to her car. Santana gestured to Quinn as Rachel fell to her knees for a moment. They watched as Rachel stood up, shock and confusion were unmistakable on her face. Then she rushed off, got into her car and speed off before either girl could do anything other than stare.
There was one thing that both girls knew about Rachel Berry. Achieving a perfect attendance record was almost as important to Rachel as achieving a solo. Miss Broadway wouldn't skip class unless she was near death. They both knew something was up with her, but neither wanted to admit to the other that they were worried about the midgets health. Santana shrugged it off, as did Quinn and they went back to their gym class. Both Santana and Quinn made plans to themselves to stop by Berry's house later on and see what was going on.
There was one main difference between the two girls. Quinn was more than willing to wait until after school to go by Rachel's house to check on the girl. Santana, always looking for a logical reason to skip, asked to be excused to go to the restroom and left almost immediately. That meant that Santana was only 10 minutes behind Rachel. But the Latina was willing to ignore and break a few traffic rules.
As soon as Rachel got home another contraction had started. Rachel had made it to the front steps of her house and set on the porch to wait it out until it passed. As strong as the ones before it, the worst part of the pain seemed to settle right on Rachel's tail bone. Rachel's hands grasped the front steps and she let her head fall back in with her eyes squeezed shut in agony. This was the fifth contraction that Rachel had since she left school and they weren't getting any lighter, if anything they were getting worse.
Unknown to Rachel, Santana pulled up slowly just in time to see Rachel sit on the porch. Rachel let go of the step and hit her legs with her fists a few times. It was obvious to Santana that Rachel was doing everything that she could to block out a great deal of pain. But, before Santana could get out of her car to offer the other brunette help Rachel stood up and rushed inside the house.
