Hi guys, I am really excited you all seem to like it so far! I hope it continues:)
Disclaimer – Still nothing, Ryan won't answer my calls.
Rachel woke up and instantly knew something was wrong. It was quiet, she reached out and grabbed herself to make sure she was all still there. When she finally made her way up to her hair, she caught something in her hand. She hesitated. Then pulled her hand to her face.
Shaving cream. Her hair was covered in shaving cream.
She sat up a bit and more of it fell from her hair into her lap. The cabin was empty, Rachel reached over to the nightstand and found her cell phone. Still no service, but the clock let her know that it was 9:16am. Rachel was usually up at 6 working out. She couldn't believe that she slept in. And that she slept in more than Santana, Quinn and Brittany. AND that she didn't feel them messing with her. She groaned and climbed out of bed. She really didn't want to make the trek to the bathrooms in fear of everyone seeing her hair. Most likely Santana and Quinn were outside waiting with their cameras for her. Whomever invented cabins, should have thought to add mirrors to them. There is a difference between roughing it and being uncivilized. Rachel remembered that she had brought a small handheld mirror and she decided she would do her best to get as much of the cream out as she could before making her way to the showers.
It was a bit hopeless. But she managed to get most of it out. The rest of her hair she tucked into a hat she had brought at the last second. Thank God! And grabbed her towel and headed out. As she thought, Santana and Quinn were out there. They were making their way back from the showers. So Rachel hadn't slept in too much after all. Santana smirked at the hat.
"Morning dwarf. How'd you sleep? Love the hat." Rachel didn't respond. She just walked on to the bathrooms. Quinn snickered a bit behind her and Rachel was upset. Every time she thought Quinn might be starting to be nice to her, she just reverted back to being a bitch. It was getting frustrating. At least Santana was consistent.
Rachel made her way into the bathrooms and found they were just as uncleanly as they had been the night before. She grimaced and moved over to the shower area. It was just as unpleasant. Rachel kept her sandals on as she stripped off her clothes. Only after she was naked and the water was on did she think that there might be a chance that the girls would come back and take her clothes. She peaked her head around the stall and checked. Her clothes were still there, along with her towel. Thank God. Rachel quickly massaged shampoo into her hair and cleaned out the rest of the shaving cream. She listened intently in case she heard one of the doors open. Hearing nothing, she quickly rinsed her hair, and applied conditioner. Only about four minutes later, Rachel was done. She wanted to move quickly since she had already overslept a bit and didn't want to give Santana and Quinn any more reason to tease her.
Rachel dressed as fast as she could and gathered her things. She practically sprinted back to her cabin and almost barreled down Finn on the way.
"Hey!" He smiled. "I was looking for you!"
"Hello Finn." He stepped in front of her as she tried to move away. "Finn, I really need to get back and get dressed. I'm still in my pjs."
"Right." Finn looked embarrassed and annoyed. "Sorry. Can you meet me in the main cabin after you're done? I want to talk to you." Rachel gave him a slight nod and hurried off.
Rachel changed quickly, happy that Santana, Quinn and Brittany had left while she was in the showers. She reluctantly made her way over to the main lodge to talk to Finn. He jumped up immediately as she walked through the door and ran over to her. She noticed Quinn's eye roll and for once, didn't blame her.
"Hi Rach." She smiled. Want to sit with me? Breakfast's almost ready. Sam, Artie and Mike are cooking. So it might not be all that edible." Rachel gave him another smile. He had been hoping for a laugh. She sat down and he followed. "So, how have you been? I feel like we've barely talked since we kissed in the library. I...I kinda thought we were on the same page. You know like together?" Rachel still didn't say anything. Finn pressed on. "We are together right? A couple? That's what you said! You keep avoiding me. I'm your boyfriend. You have to talk to me."
"I am. I have."
"Not really though. Jesus, you used to tell me everything. You're acting like Quinn." Rachel looked up at him and then over to Quinn. Finn had begun to yell a bit, and Quinn had clearly heard him. She looked royally pissed. Rachel smoothed over her sweater, she had chosen to wear jeans since she figured Mr. Schue would be making them walk in the woods at some point. She stood up and looked back at Finn.
"I'm going to eat breakfast with Tina and Mercedes. I'll see you later Finn." She turned and sat down at the other table. Leaving an angry Finn alone. Kurt, came bursting into the cabin and planted himself down at Rachel's right. Finn moved over to sit with Puck and glared at Rachel. She didn't notice, but from the next table Quinn smiled to herself. Mike and Sam came out of the kitchen area at last with Artie close behind. The glee club cheered. They were all hungry. As the kids ate, Mr. Schue and Miss. Pillsbury were busy making plans for the day. Two more chaperones were due to arrive before breakfast was over. The kids knew this, but didn't know who the chaperones were. Will hadn't actually approved of one of them, but it wasn't really his decision to make.
A one Sue Sylvester slammed open the doors to an idiotically named Cockram lodge and caused every glee club kid to jump. Puck had a bite of scrabbled eggs about to be put in his mouth, Artie spit out his orange juice all over Tina's face, and Brittany screamed and hid under the table. Will stood up to great her.
"Sue." He nodded.
"William." She nodded back. "I was told that I would be fed." He moved to show her the breakfast table but she shoved him away and moved over to the second table. She reached down and picked up Rachel's jelly toast and bite into it. She moved to protest, but Quinn quickly grabbed her hand and pinched her before she could. "I am not eating this repugnant crap." Sue said as she dropped the last bite of the toast back onto Rachel's plate. Instead, she grabbed a handful of scrabbled eggs from Santana's plate. "This is even worse." She said with her mouth full. She was about to spit it back out at Santana when Will stepped in.
"Sue, there is more food over here."
"William. I possess eyeballs." She moved away from the kids and they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Will turned to address Coach Beiste who had made it a point to stay away from Sue.
"Hey Will."
"Shannon." He said with a smile, then turned to the kids. "Alright guys! Are you ready for a day full of fun?"
"Mr. Schue, you know that we are all above the age of six right?" Santana scoffed. Will looked down for a second, but wouldn't let her ruin his good mood. "Santana, thank you. Okay guys, what we are going to do today is go on a hike until lunch, and then we'll be doing a sort of skit and singing activity after lunch. So, we're going to be split up by cabins for the hike, but don't worry, we're going to switch around a lot this week, you will be with different people at some point. So, the Eagle's Nest boys cooked this morning, Lakeside ladies, you can start cleaning up while I explain the rules, as long as you keep it quiet. North Star boys, you will be responsible for cooking lunch today, and you will be with Coach Beiste. So why don't you head out with her, and she has instructions for you."
Finn, Puck and Kurt stood up and followed Beiste outside of the lodge. Everyone else was worried that they would end up with Sue.
"Okay, Artie, Sam and Mike? You guys are with Emma. Head out. Also, feel free to use first names on this trip. And this trip only." The second group headed out and the girls realized they were stuck with Sue. "Sleepy Hallow girls, you are with Sue..." They all started to groan, until they saw Sue's face and instantly silenced. Sue motioned for them to get up with her finger and walked out without giving them a second look. "Have fun." Will smiled. "The rest of you, once were done cleaning are with me."
Rachel was sure that this had to be some cosmic joke. She was about to head out into the woods with Santana Lopez, Quinn Fabray and Sue Sylvester. There is no way she could count on Brittany to keep her alive. This was a horror movie waiting to happen.
Quinn was having the same thought, only she didn't count herself in the group as out to kill Rachel. She knew Rachel would, but she had a bad feeling about what Santana and Coach Sylvester would do to the small girl. Sue and Santana were crazy at school, with hundreds of witnesses and people in charge of them, out in the middle of nowhere in the woods, could not end well. Quinn sighed as she realized it was going to fall to her to keep RuPaul alive. She hurried ahead and casually walked closer to Berry, placing herself in between Rachel and Santana. Sue was up ahead in her bright red tracksuit whacking random plants with a large stick she found. If it were up to her, there would be no nature left. Brittany thought it was quite funny and found a stick of her own, joining in on the fun. Santana laughed at her best friend. Loving how she could easily be happy by the smallest things. Santana had never been able to do that. Mostly she was just pissed all the time. Maybe this trip could change that. Or let her loosen up a bit for the week at least.
"Coach what are we going to do on this hike?" Quinn asked.
"William left me these instructions, read them, so you can tell him what we did later." Sue said handing the paper to Quinn.
"Hike to the creek by the Big Dipper trail, sit down and do these bonding exercises:
Number 1: Go around the group and share one thing you learned this year.
Number 2: Each share your favorite moment of the year.
Number 3: Each share your worst moment of the year.
Number 4: Tell the group one thing you are afraid off.
Number 5: Tell the group one of your dreams for the future.
Number 6: Each say one positive thing about each other."
"Seriously? Schue wants us to do that?" Santana asked sarcastically as Quinn finished reading.
"William is a moron." Sue said as she sat down.
"We're not at a lake." Rachel pointed out. "Where supposed to walk to the lake."
"Berry, do you want to keep hiking?" Rachel shook her head. "Fabray? Lopez? Pierce? No? We're all in agreement then. Sit and shut up."
The girls complied and all sat in silence for a few minutes before all becoming bored. Santana pinched Brittany and told her to tell Sue so. Sue made a face and told them to shut up, but she was clearly bored as well. After a few more minutes she had had enough.
"Give me that damn paper." Quinn handed it over. "Alright, number 1, what did you idiots learn?" They girls all waited a moment to be sure she was serious, and for anyone else to answer first. When none of them answered, Sue got annoyed. "Fabray! Answer."
Quinn sighed, but was bored enough to comply. "I learned that you can't count on anyone but yourself. Everyone else will let you down."
"Idiot, I've known that since birth. Pierce?" Sue asked. Brittany looked up from the picture she was drawing on the rock she was sitting on.
"I know the alphabet. A, B, C, R, T, Q,..."
"NO. Shut up. Berry?" Rachel looked up. She had been sitting upright on a rock with her hands folded neatly in her hands.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Number 1, Berry. Now!"
"Umm..."
"BERRY!"
"I'm thinking." Sue threw the paper in annoyance. She had only agreed to be on this trip out of a moment of sheer boredom and a chance to ruin Will's life. It was coming back to bite her in the ass. "I learned that I don't need people's approval like I thought I did. That I know what I want, and I am going to do everything I can to get it. And that some people aren't worth it, and letting them go helps you." Quinn had been hanging onto Rachel's every word. She was jealous. Rachel was always so sure of herself, even saying something very similar to what Quinn had, she didn't seem upset or worried that she might be alone, Quinn was. Sue nodded in approval, then turned to Santana.
"I didn't learn anything." Brittany looked at her with a sad face. Before she could protest Santana spoke again. "Nope that's a lie, I learned that bonding is bullshit."
"I conquer. Number 2." Sue said wanting to move this along as quickly as possible. "Fabray?" Quinn thought about it for a minute. She honestly couldn't think of one moment that had been special all year. Not really, everything had turned out so differently than she had planned at the beginning of this year. It was supposed to be about getting back to the way things were.
"I guess the New York trip, even though we lost." She wasn't about to offer up anymore information. "Rachel?" She asked.
"Umm...singing with Kurt at the Gershwin and meeting Patti LuPone on the New York Trip."
"Seriously? Nothing with Frankenteen?" Santana asked. Rachel shook her head. Quinn hid the fact that she was smiling.
"Whatever. B? Go." Sue asked.
"When Santana sang to me, and every time I danced." Santana quickly slapped her for mentioning anything about their private moments.
"Lopez?"
"I dunno. This is stupid Coach. Can't we just go back and sleep or something?"
"No. What's number 3?" She found the paper. "Worst moment. B go."
"When Artie called me stupid." Santana gave her a small smile.
"Fabray?"
"Losing prom queen. And Nationals."
"Berry."
"Losing Nationals."
"Which was your fault." Santana yelled.
"No it wasn't!" Rachel protested.
"Finn is the one who kissed Rachel." Brittany reminded everyone.
"She kissed him back." Santana argued. "She could have stopped him."
"That would have made it worse!" Rachel yelled back.
"All of you shut up. I do not care. Lopez, worst moment."
"When Rachel kissed Finn and lost Nationals for us."
"I didn't!..."
"Don't care! Number 4, one thing you're afraid of. B?"
"The man in the moon." Everyone looked at Brittany in confusion. "He is always watching you. What if he shoots lazars and kills us in our sleep? Or cheese. He's made of cheese, he could kill us that way." No one said anything for a good few minutes, Sue just looked away from Brittany.
"Q? Something you're afraid of."
"Life after high school."
"Idiotic, Berry?"
"That I won't be a Broadway star and I'll be alone. Also spiders."
"Stupid. Lopez?"
Brittany looked at Santana and waited, Santana ignored her and rather than say what she should have only responded with, "Berry's face."
"Great, number 5, dreams and hopes for the future. None of which will come true. Berry, we all know yours."
"To be a huge Broadway star!"
"I said we know. Lopez?"
"That Berry doesn't become a Broadway star."
"Jesus you are all idiots. B?"
"To dance and for Santana to be happy..." Santana slapped her again before she could say anymore.
"I have got to get out of here. Q?"
"To be happy."
"God, finally, number 6, say something nice about each other. B, go."
"Quinn, you are pretty and I love your new haircut. Rachel you are a really good singer and I think I can fit you in my pocket, Santana..." She was pinched again. "You're awesome and I believe in you." Santana smiled, as did Quinn and Rachel. "Coach, you have great fashion sense."
"Not about me. I am not part of this. Lopez, go."
"Britt, you're the best person I know. Q, the new haircut rocks. Berry, you can sing."
"Short, simple and to the point. Lopez, that's why I like you. Berry, go so we can get out of here. For the love of God keep it short."
"Brittany, you are a fantastic dancer, Santana, you have a very good voice with a raspy quality that I admire, you also have a very commanding presence. Quinn, I agree with Brittany that you are very pretty, but I think behind that you are a good person. Smart, and funny, and I don't think you need to be afraid of anything." Rachel said all of this to her hands rather than look any of them in the eye.
"Q, bring er' home so we can leave."
Quinn was sort of taken aback at what Rachel had just said to her, Santana seemed to be a little bit as well. It took Quinn a moment to think about what she wanted to say, much to Sue's annoyance.
"Okay, think while we walk." Sue stood up and the rest of the girls followed her. Quinn still thinking about what she should say.
"Britt, Rachel is right, you're an amazing dancer but you are also really sweet to everyone and a great friend." Brittany smiled and jumped over to give Quinn a hug. She continued to walk with their arms linked together. "San, you are totally sure of yourself and brave. You can do anything." Santana smiled, but hung her head down, knowing that at the moment, that was a lie. Quinn had moved to look at Rachel, so she hadn't noticed, but Brittany did, and she held Santana's hand. "Rachel, everyone knows that you are a fantastic singer, and you are, but the best thing about you is that you know what you want, you know how to get it, and you have confidence in yourself." Rachel looked up and Quinn gave her a sincere smile. Rachel gave her one back.
"Jesus, enough of this crap, go to your cabin until lunch. And leave me alone." With that Sue was off and the girls were left alone to make their way back to their cabin.
