Apologies for any mistakes…my best friend is never home anymore to edit these and I'm terrible at catching my own mistakes.
As always, thank you all for the wonderful reviews.
Chapter 4 – Step By Step
Rachel walked down the hall, receiving curious glances as she went by; she ignored them, though, and made a beeline for Quinn.
"Has Sylvester talked to you yet?" Rachel asked the second she was within earshot.
Quinn looked over to her and looked her up and down. "Wow."
"What?" Rachel self-consciously asked.
Quinn shrugged. "I'm just surprised you did it."
Rachel put her hands on her hips and huffed. "I told you I was going to wear jeans today; did you think I was lying to you?"
"More like I was expecting you to wear a dress over the jeans or something," Quinn said, touching Rachel's sleeve and smiling. "Or at least one of your crazy animal sweaters."
"Is there something wrong with this?" Rachel asked, looking down at her t-shirt.
"No," Quinn said, genuinely smiling at Rachel. "You actually look really good."
Rachel could feel herself blushing at the compliment. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself."
Quinn laughed lightly. "I don't think the dress goes very well with the hair."
"I don't know," Rachel said, shrugging. "I think it goes quite well together. It's cute, actually."
"What were you asking me about Sylvester?" Quinn asked as she turned to her locker and grabbed a book out of it.
"I overhead her speaking to Becky," Rachel replied. "She was telling her how she wants to film you about how Glee Club ruined your life."
"But it didn't ruin my life," Quinn stated.
Rachel sighed. "When had that ever stopped her before? She'll do anything in this ridiculous bid for congress and she'll do anything to destroy us."
"What makes her think I would help her?" Quinn asked, scoffing.
Rachel smiled sadly knowing that she had tried to help her last time. "So she hasn't actually talked to you yet?"
"No," Quinn confirmed.
"What are you going to tell her when she comes to you?" Rachel asked.
Quinn smirked. "I'll tell her where to shove her camera."
"Quinn!" Rachel's eyes widened.
"I was just joking, Berry," Quinn said, laughing. "I'll just tell her I'm not interested."
"Really?" Rachel asked, looking into Quinn's eyes.
Quinn sighed. "You don't believe me?"
"It's not that I don't believe you," Rachel said, looking down.
Quinn shook her head and started walking away. "Yes it is."
"Quinn!" Rachel's hand shot out and grabbed Quinn's elbow. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to suggest that I didn't believe you. I know you've changed from the cheerleader that joined just to destroy Glee and I apologize."
"I'll see you later," Quinn said, gently removing her arm from Rachel's grasp.
Rachel sighed to herself and cursed her ability to always say the wrong thing around Quinn. Their tentative friendship had always left Rachel feeling like she was about to screw everything up when it came to the ex-Cheerio. Somehow it was always one step forward and two steps back with them. Rachel never knew where she stood with Quinn and it was something that had always driven her nuts.
After school, Rachel walked into the choir room; she looked up when someone let out a low whistle and was surprised to find that Santana was the only other person in the room.
"Whoa, Berry, you're dressed like an actual person," Santana said with a smirk firmly planted on her face.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "And what am I normally dressed like?"
"A Hobbit that gets dressed in a toddler's closet?" Santana replied, shrugging.
"Did you just come here to mock me?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.
"Because I have nothing better to do?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow and then sighed. "I apologized to Schue, okay? He told me I could come back."
Rachel smiled. "But I thought you didn't do apologies."
"And there it is." Santana crossed her arms. "I already regret it."
Rachel laughed. "I'm sorry, Santana; I'm very glad you're back."
"You best be glad," Santana replied. "This was your stupid idea."
"San!" Brittany said the moment she bounded into the room. "Rachel got you back!"
"What does that mean?" Santana asked, looking over at Rachel just as Brittany reached her and threw her arms around her.
"Brittany might have asked me to get you back," Rachel said, smiling.
"So you didn't mean anything you said?" Santana asked, actually looking hurt.
"Of course I meant it," Rachel softly said, pulling Santana over to her so Brittany wouldn't hear. "I wanted you back too; we all wanted you back. Brittany just overheard me telling Tina that we had to get you back and she made me promise I would do it. Since I was going to do it anyway, I agreed. Every time she came into the choir room and you weren't here, she looked like someone told her Santa wasn't real." The two looked over to Brittany who suddenly looked like her birthday had come early. "I told you that she loves you."
Santana nodded before walking back over to the blonde. Rachel just smiled and sat down in front of them; Santana leaned down next to Rachel's ear and whispered, "Thanks."
Rachel's smile grew—and then Finn chose that moment to walk in and it wiped the smile off her face.
"Hey, Rach!" he greeted.
"Hello, Finn," she stiffly replied.
She could see a frown start to form on his face, but it quickly disappeared and he smiled at her. She didn't return it, though, and looked to the door just as Tina and Mike walked in, closely followed by Quinn. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to walked over to where Quinn had sat at the end of the room.
"Hey," Rachel timidly greeted.
"What do you want, Berry?" Quinn asked.
"Nothing." Rachel shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to apologize."
Quinn sighed. "You already did that."
"I know," Rachel said, sitting down in the seat next to her. "But I wanted to do it again. I really didn't mean to hurt you earlier."
Quinn scoffed. "What makes you think you can hurt me?"
Rachel watched as the rest of the group and Mr. Schue came in. "You're not invincible, Quinn—you are allowed to have feelings."
Quinn nodded. "So what stupid assignment do you think we'll get this week?"
Rachel smiled to herself and shrugged. "Who knows?"
Mr. Schue started talking and Rachel looked over to her seat next to Finn; her boyfriend was staring back at her, frowning, but Rachel stayed seated.
"Get over here right now!"
"I'm on my way, Kurt," Rachel said into her phone. "Why do you sound like you're panicking?"
"Because I am panicking!" Kurt loudly whispered. "I didn't think letting Brittany help would be so bad, but you have got to see what posters she wants me to use, and anytime I try to turn her ideas down, Santana threatens me!"
"I'm nearly there," Rachel said, trying to calm him.
"Get here quicker!"
"Two minutes," Rachel promised.
She sighed, threw the phone into her bag, and pushed harder on the gas; she knew she needed to get there before Kurt pissed off Brittany or Santana.
After going to the NYADA mixer, Kurt had freaked out just like last time. This time, though, Rachel decided she would do everything she could to get him the class presidency. She didn't know if it would really matter, but she was afraid her meddling with everything would affect things in ways she couldn't predict, and the last thing she wanted was for her or Kurt to not get into NYADA together. Since Brittany hadn't even attended college, she wasn't very worried about any negatives if she took that away from the blonde.
Rachel pulled into the driveway and put the car in park; she grabbed her keys, locked the car, and rushed to the door. She quickly knocked and a few seconds later, she heard hurried footsteps.
The door flew open and before she could say anything, Kurt was yanking her into the house.
"Thank god you're here," Kurt said, looking slightly hysterical. "There's a poster with a rainbow and a unicorn horn on my forehead! My forehead, Rachel!"
"Calm down," Rachel said, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Brittany just wants to help you and you know how she tends to get carried away, but she means well."
"That doesn't help me!" Kurt said. "How am I supposed to tell her no? It's like kicking a puppy. A puppy with a very angry, overprotective owner that's going to rip my head off if I disagree with her!"
Rachel shrugged. "You don't tell her no."
"But—"
"No, listen," Rachel interrupted. "Let her get her ideas out and we'll gently guide her to something a little less—"
"Gay?" Kurt supplied.
"I was going to say extreme," Rachel said, frowning. "Like I said, she's just excited about helping you. And she is trying to help you—just in her own Brittany way."
Kurt took a deep breath. "You have got to get in there."
Rachel nodded. "Stay down here for a bit and catch your breath; I'll go up there and try fixing things."
"Thanks," Kurt said, smiling at her.
Rachel walked up the stairs and opened the door; Brittany was sitting on the bed, looking at Santana, but turned around the second she entered the room.
"Rachel!" The blonde jumped off the bed.
"Hey, Britt," Rachel said, hugging the girl.
"Look at my posters!" Brittany excitedly said, motioning toward the bed. "They're awesome."
"They are very nice," Rachel said, looking at them and seeing what Kurt had meant. "But don't you think they're a bit—"
"A bit what?" Brittany interrupted, her face falling.
"Yeah, Berry, a bit what?" Santana asked, scowling at her.
"I'm not saying they're not great, because they are," Rachel hurriedly said. "But you know how everyone at school has been about Kurt and I just don't know if people will want to vote him if we use these. There are a lot of bigots at school and I think we might want to tone it down a bit—for Kurt's sake."
Brittany frowned. "But his poster is so boring."
"How about a compromise," Rachel suggested. "We can do something between your idea and his. You're right about his being boring; that won't catch anyone's eye."
Brittany smiled a bit at her, but Santana was still glaring in her direction. Rachel could see where Kurt was going with his poster, but Brittany was right—it really was boring. As it was, she didn't think he would win with either poster.
"I still think we should use mine," Brittany said.
"Kurt is downstairs trying to find snacks for us," Rachel lied. "Why don't you go help him, Britt?"
"Sure," Brittany said, smiling, and bounding out of the room.
Rachel quickly grabbed her phone and shot off a quick text to tell Kurt to keep Brittany downstairs until she gave the all clear. When she looked up, Santana was staring at her with an unreadable expression.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"Not that I care, but what the hell is going on with you?" Santana asked.
Rachel shrugged. "What do you mean?"
"You're different," Santana stated. "School's been in for nearly a month and you haven't subjected us to one of your ridiculous diva storm outs yet. I haven't even seen you in your toddler wear, which is surely a sign of an impending apocalypse. Plus you've been blowing off Frankenteen, which I wholeheartedly approve of, but it's so not like you. Usually you're disgustingly making out in the halls, with his ginormous paws all over you."
"It's nothing," Rachel replied, grabbing one of Brittany's posters. "We do need to talk about this, though. You know Kurt will never get elected if we use these."
"Britt's proud of them," Santana said, taking a few steps forward.
"I know she is and I don't want to hurt her feelings," Rachel replied. "I simply want to guide her in a different direction that's a little more—understated. It can still be colorful, but the whole unicorn thing is a bit much and it is going to get Kurt beat up again. Kurt is the best person for the job; we just have to make the rest of the school see that."
Santana sighed. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Are you actually offering your help?" Rachel asked, smiling.
"And there you go," Santana said, shaking her head. "You're already making me regret it. That must be some kind of record."
Rachel laughed. "Sorry, I'll stop."
"Thank you." Santana rolled her eyes. "Now are you going to tell me what you want me to do or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"
"You don't really have to do anything," Rachel replied. "Just don't disagree with us and stop looking at Kurt like you're going to kill him. And if you could find it in yourself to actually agree with us on some points, that would be wonderful."
"I might be able to do that," Santana said, crossing her arms.
"Thank you," Rachel said as she grabbed her phone again to let Kurt know it was safe to come up. "So—how is it going with you and Brittany?"
"You wouldn't answer my questions, so why would I answer yours," Santana replied.
"What question?" Rachel asked. "If you're talking about my relationship with Finn, I told you it's nothing."
"You're a shitty liar, Berry," Santana said, cocking her eyebrow.
Rachel gave her a small smile as Kurt and Brittany walked in. Kurt looked even more frazzled than he did downstairs, and Rachel could only wonder what Brittany had been saying to him.
"Here," Brittany said, tossing a bag of gummy worms to Santana.
Santana smiled. "Thanks, Britt."
"I was telling Kurt how we should make life size cutouts of him riding a unicorn and put them around school," Brittany said, smiling
That would explain it.
"I was actually thinking about what we could do as well," Rachel replied. "I propose a photo shoot; Kurt can dress more like himself and we can make it nice and colorful."
"Can I be the one to take the pictures?" Brittany excitedly asked.
"Uhh—" Kurt and Rachel simultaneously said.
"She's actually good at photography," Santana interrupted.
"Really?" Rachel asked, surprised.
Santana and Brittany both nodded and Brittany announced, "My mom got me a camera last Christmas; I mostly take pictures of Lord Tubbington, but he doesn't like to sit still."
"She's taken pictures of me, too," Santana said. "She'll do a good job with Kurt."
"How about tomorrow in the choir room?" Rachel suggested. "Do you have Cheerios practice in the morning?"
Brittany shook her head. "Nope!"
"Well then, tomorrow morning in the choir room," Rachel stated.
"Can I pick out the decorations?" Brittany asked.
Rachel looked to Santana, who gave a slight nod. "Sure."
Kurt looked like he wanted to protest, so Rachel nudged him in the ribs to shut him up.
"Great!" Brittany hugged Rachel and then Kurt before grabbing Santana's hand to pull her out of the room.
"Can you wait in the car; I'll be just a second," Santana said to Brittany.
Brittany kissed her cheek. "Sure."
Santana made sure the blonde was at the bottom of the stairs before turning to Kurt and Rachel. "I'll go with her to get the decorations and make sure she doesn't go crazy with them."
Kurt frowned in confusion. "Why are you helping me?"
Santana looked at Rachel for a split second and then turned to the door. "Because someone recently helped me, and as much as it pains me to say it, I owe them. So this is me making things even."
Santana walked out the door and Rachel called after her, "You don't owe me anything, Santana."
This time, Kurt elbowed Rachel in the ribs. "Shh! She's actually helping!"
Rachel was up so late talking with Kurt that her alarm was going off for twenty minutes before she emerged from the covers and finally heard it buzzing. She hurried got ready, but she was still running late to meet Kurt, Brittany, and Santana at the school. Her phone sat in her bag and had rung twice; she imagined it was Kurt freaking out so she didn't bother looking to see who it was.
When she pulled into the parking lot, only a few other cars were there. She quickly got out of her car and made her way into the school; as soon as she got close enough to the choir room, she could hear Kurt's high pitched voice and Santana threatening him in Spanish.
"Where the hell have you been?" Kurt and Santana turned to ask at the same time.
Rachel stopped mid stride and looked at them; Kurt's eyes were wide and Santana was slightly red. "I'm sorry; I overslept, but I got here as fast as I could."
"Not quick enough," Kurt snapped.
"Okay, you need to calm down!" Rachel pointed a finger in his face before turning, putting her hand on Santana's shoulder, and walking her back a few steps. "And you need to calm down, too. What is going on? And where is Brittany; I thought she was supposed to be the photographer here."
"We haven't taken one damn picture yet because this diva keeps whining about every little thing," Santana said, glaring at Kurt. "Brittany is trying to help you and you've been nothing but a jackass to her!"
"Okay, everyone just take a deep breath," Rachel said, holding her hands out between the two fuming people.
Santana rolled her eyes. "You take a damn breath, I'm fine the way I am."
"Come with me," Rachel said, grabbing Kurt by his jacket collar, and pulling him out of the room.
"Why are you making Santana mad?" Rachel asked. "Can't you play nice?"
Kurt scoffed. "Since when do you take her side on things; you two aren't even friends."
"It's complicated," Rachel said, shaking her head.
"No it's not!" Kurt replied. "She hates you and has done nothing but treat you terribly and suddenly you're in collusion with her? I know you've been acting weird, but this is whole new level."
Rachel sighed. "If I didn't give people a second chance because they treated me badly then I would have a single friend—not even you if you recall. Santana and I have an understanding and it would be wonderful if you would stop upsetting Brittany."
"But we don't need her help," Kurt said.
"You're right, we probably don't," Rachel replied. "But do you know what could happen if you reject her? You can use her popularity to your advantage, but if you tell her you don't want her help, she may decide to run herself or get Santana to and then you'll have a tough time winning this thing. You need this to get into NYADA; you still want that, don't you?"
Kurt sighed. "Of course."
"Then let Brittany take your picture," Rachel said. "What were you even arguing with her about?"
"She wants a rainbow background," Kurt answered.
"So let her do it," Rachel stated.
"But—"
"No buts," Rachel interrupted. "If you want a chance of winning this, just go along with it. I mean, is having a rainbow really that bad? At least she's dropped the unicorn. It'll be colorful and get people's attention, which is the purpose of a campaign poster."
Kurt sighed. "Fine."
"Can you go find Brittany and apologize to her?" Rachel requested. "I'll let Santana know she can retract her claws."
Rachel walked back into the choir room as Kurt went wherever Brittany was.
"He's off to apologize," Rachel said whenever she entered.
"If he says one more thing to upset her—"
"He won't," Rachel promised. "So—you and Brittany?"
Santana rolled her eyes. "So—you and Finn?"
Rachel sighed and crossed her arms. "Never mind."
"That's what I thought," Santana said, smirking.
"Torturing someone else now?" Kurt joked when he came in and saw the look on Santana's face. "Can I talk to you a second, Rach?"
They walked to the side of the room and Rachel looked at Kurt. "What is it?"
"I wanted to ask for your permission to sing Barbra for my audition tomorrow," Kurt replied. "I know how sacred she is to you and I wanted to get your full approval."
"While I have no problem with you singing her song, don't you think you should choose something a little more—manly?" Rachel asked.
Kurt frowned. "What are you saying?"
"Tony is more of a guy's guy and I don't know if you'll get the part singing a song intended for a woman," Rachel replied.
"I'm not going to pretend that I'm something I'm not," Kurt said, shaking his head.
She knew he was never going to get the part; he didn't last time and he wouldn't this time either. He might stand a chance if you chose a different song and performance, but she wasn't going to risk insulting him. Getting him to go along with Brittany's plan was one thing, but outright telling him he needed to act like someone else was an entirely different matter and she wasn't going to do it.
"Okay," Rachel replied. "You have my full blessing, then."
"I thought I told you I was going to drive myself to school today," Rachel said, looking at Finn from the stop of the stairs.
"I know, but I thought I'd take you anyway!"
He was smiling up at her and she sighed; this was really going to have to end soon, but he didn't seem any closer to breaking up with her. The more she pulled away, the more he hung on.
"I actually wanted to talk to you about something," he said, extending his hand for her to take. "So I thought we could talk on the way to school."
Rachel nodded, ignored his hand, and walked past him; he was frowning behind her, but didn't say anything. She was wondering how much more of this he could take, but then she always reminded herself that he did date Quinn Fabray, so clearly he could take a lot of bitchiness.
"What did you want to talk about?" she asked as soon as she settled into his truck.
"Can we get together this weekend?" he asked. "It seems like you're always busy and I haven't seen much of you lately. And I was thinking of auditioning for West Side Story! I know it's going to be taking up a lot of your time and I'll probably see even less of you, but if I'm in the play then we can spend that time together. I thought maybe you can help me this weekend with my audition since I don't really know what song I should sing and you're good at that kind of stuff."
"I can't, Finn," Rachel replied. "Kurt asked me to help him on his campaign this weekend and I already said I would."
She was going to have to find Kurt as soon as she got to school and tell him he was coming over to her house this weekend.
"But I need your help," Finn said, frowning.
Rachel shrugged. "So does Kurt; he needs this for his NYADA transcript."
"But what about me?" Finn said. "You're never around anymore and whenever we are together, you run off."
"I'm sorry, Finn," Rachel replied. "I have other things going on in my life."
Finn clinched his jaw and gripped the wheel tighter while Rachel sent a text to Kurt informing him of their weekend plans. She thought about adding in to not tell Finn about them not previously having the get-together, but thought it might actually help things alone if he knew she'd lied.
Yeah—she was feeling like a bitch right now, but she ignored the feeling.
When Finn got out, he slammed his door and looked at Rachel. "Are you coming?"
"I'll be in after a bit," Rachel said. "I need to go talk to someone."
Finn sighed. "Whatever."
Rachel bypassed the school building and walked to the bleachers, hoping to find Quinn there. Sure enough, she saw Quinn's pink hair as she approached them, but this time she was sitting on top of them instead of under.
The metal bleachers clanged as soon as she stepped foot on them and Quinn looked over in her direction.
"Hey, Rachel," Quinn said, turning back to look at the field.
Rachel smiled. "You actually called me Rachel; you never do that."
"Sorry, Berry," Quinn said, smirking.
"It was good while it lasted," Rachel joked, shrugging her shoulders. "We're okay, right?"
Quinn looked over at her as she sat down. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"We haven't really spoken since Monday," Rachel replied.
Quinn nodded. "We're okay."
"Good because I really didn't mean to insult you," Rachel replied.
"It's fine," Quinn said, shaking her head. "After everything I've done to Glee and to you, I really couldn't blame you if you didn't trust me."
Rachel sighed. "I do trust you, Quinn."
"Well you shouldn't," Quinn replied.
"Why not?" Rachel asked.
Quinn laughed. "Are you forgetting the last few years?"
"Are you telling me you haven't changed?" Rachel asked. "Because as far as I can tell, you're not that same person anymore and I believe in giving people a second chance."
"I think I'm on my fourth or fifth chance by now, then," Quinn said, smiling.
Rachel shrugged. "Maybe." She watched a few jocks run around the track before turning her head back to Quinn. "So why do you sit out here?"
"The same reason I go to the park," Quinn answered. "I almost always go to the park in the morning and then come here for a while." Quinn shrugged. "I would just stay at the park, but I'd never want to leave. At least when I'm here, it's a quick walk into the school so I won't be too late."
"The park definitely has a much better view," Rachel commented.
Quinn laughed. "What, you don't enjoy watching sweaty men run around a track?"
"Not particularly," Rachel said, scrunching her face.
"I heard Kurt's audition didn't go very well," Quinn said, turning to the brunette.
"No, it didn't. They don't really think he's manly enough for the role, which I tried to tell him to pick a different song, but he didn't want to and I didn't want to hurt his feelings." Rachel sighed. "And now Finn just told me he wants to audition for Tony so he can spend more time with me."
"And you don't want that?" Quinn asked.
Rachel shook her head. "I've been trying to get some space and if he's there—it's just going to make things worse. He doesn't seem to know how to take a hint."
"Been there." Quinn laughed. "You're just going to have to tell him what you want because he will never get it. Guys normally don't get subtle hints and Finn is worse than most guys."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Rachel replied.
"When is your audition," Quinn wondered.
"Week after next," Rachel answered. "Coach Beiste is going to be busy with the Homecoming game next week so it's going to be after that before they go on with the rest of the auditions. Speaking of which, are you going to try out?"
"I don't know," Quinn replied. "I hadn't really thought about it."
Rachel smiled. "I think you should."
"Of course you think so," Quinn said, laughing.
Rachel shrugged. "It'll look good on your transcript for when you apply to college."
"Who says I'm applying to college?"
Rachel looked at her in surprise. "Of course you are; you're one of the smartest people at McKinley and you're going to be one of the few that get out of this town. It would be a complete waste for you to be stuck in Lima for the rest of your life."
Quinn's eyebrows knitted together. "You really think I'm going to get out of here."
"Absolutely," Rachel replied. "You're going to get into a wonderful school as long as you don't let this phase of yours interfere with your grades and extracurriculars."
"Phase of mine?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Can you honestly tell me that this is the real you? This pink hair and—hey!"
Quinn frowned. "What?"
"You're wearing a dress!" Rachel said, noticing for the first time that Quinn was dressed in her normal attire.
"You just now noticed that?" Quinn asked.
"Yes," Rachel said, frowning.
"You have excellent observational skills," Quinn joked.
The bell rang off in the distance and the two girls looked toward the school, but neither made a move to get up. Rachel was enjoying sitting here, having a conversation with Quinn, and she didn't want to have to go. It was something she wanted throughout high school, but rarely ever happened. While they became civil to each other and even friendly, they still didn't have many conversations with one another. It had always been more an acquaintanceship than a friendship.
"So does this mean you're back to your old self—just with pink hair?" Rachel finally asked.
Quinn shrugged. "I haven't really decided yet. I just felt like wearing a dress today, so I did. Besides, I believe someone told me I look cute when I'm wearing a dress with my pink hair."
Rachel blushed. "That person was obviously very intelligent."
Quinn smiled and stood up. "We're going to be late for school."
"Yeah, I know." Rachel sighed. "I just—really like it out here and really don't want to go in there. Sometimes I feel like skipping altogether."
Quinn fake gasped. "Rachel Berry skipping school? Never!"
"Very funny," Rachel said, nudging her shoulder into Quinn's.
"Let's get you into the building before you run off and people start thinking you're some kind of delinquent," Quinn said, offering Rachel her arm.
"You're hilarious, Fabray," Rachel said, glaring at the other girl, but still linking their arms together.
Quinn guided them to the building and Rachel couldn't help but smile. This was a side of Quinn she'd so rarely seen; Quinn was almost never playful and Rachel found herself very much enjoying it.
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