Oh... this is the chapter where things get going. Ha ha. Anyways, watch Glee yesterday/whenever you could??? I saw it just now when I finally managed to download it and I loved it! Squee! Best episode EVER! However I can't make it fit in with the fic (damn, 'cause there really were some awesome moments in there.). So anyways... Since I'm going to be gone the weekend and on a Glee high now, I am updating again. Yay! So I hope you enjoy it. Once again, a bit OOC with Quinn... I'm finding her very confusing, can't decide if I like her or not...
Chapter 3 –
Let's Convince Ourselves It's All Under Control
Rachel had now somehow become Quinn's best friend. She was surprised the next day when she was at her locker and Quinn joined her there. She looked happier than the day before and spoke a mile a minute, while all Rachel could do was stare at her. This really seemed uncharacteristic of Quinn and she honestly could not figure out what was going on.
"Quinn, slow down." Rachel said, taking the girl by the arm and then walking towards the bathrooms where they wouldn't be overheard. No one was there and upon entering the bathroom, Quinn stopped talking and sighed.
"I'm sorry Rachel." She said.
"First, tell me what that was all about." Rachel asked the girl. "I know that you don't like me that much and that you are probably regretting what you told me yesterday, but-"
"Actually, I don't." Quinn said, cutting in. "It's just... the Cheerios is the only thing I know and now that is gone, I've only got Glee."
"OK, first off I don't talk that fast." Rachel started and Quinn rolled her eyes. OK, fine, sometimes Rachel did get a bit carried away, but she never spoke that fast. "And being in Glee just means be yourself."
"I know." Quinn said, and then hesitated. "OK, so no one but you knows what I told you and I really don't want anyone to find out."
Rachel paused. Quinn honestly did not trust her if she was still begging her not to tell anyone that Finn wasn't the father of the baby. All she could do was nod her head, watch Quinn smile and with a flourish of blond hair, she was out of the bathroom. Rachel walked towards the basins and looked at her reflection in the mirror. What was the right thing to do? Tell Finn or keep Quinn's secret?
xXxXx
Lunch was a whole other thing. Quinn managed to intercept her before she could sit down by herself and drag her off to a different table. Finn was there and he smiled at Rachel. She couldn't help but smile back, even though he hadn't really spoken to her since the kiss outside of her house two days ago. She had a feeling he was avoiding her, but from that smile all those doubts seemed to disappear.
"Hey." Finn said as Quinn took her place next to him. Rachel then didn't know where to sit, part of her wanted to sit next to Finn while another said she should take her seat next to Quinn. A look from Quinn told her to sit down next to her since she was kind of standing there like a loser.
"Hi." Rachel said as she took a seat next to Quinn. Finn continued to stare at her and Rachel found herself looking down at her tray to avoid his gaze. Thankfully Quinn came to her rescue by averting Finn's attention back to her.
However the topic of the matter was the baby. Rachel wished a hole would just open up underneath her and pull her in, just to avoid this. But Quinn seemed perfectly happy to discuss baby stuff with Rachel in front of Finn. It wasn't things like what are we going to buy for the baby or what they were going to name it, just visits to the doctors that Finn just had to be there. Rachel understood that Quinn wanted Finn to be there for the emotional support and all of it, but should she really put this burden on Finn?
"Well look here." Someone said as they placed their tray across from Quinn's. Rachel turned to see Puck staring at Quinn, an intense look in his eye. "Discussing baby issues?"
"Stop it Puck." Quinn said through gritted teeth. Rachel looked back at Quinn who looked mad at Puck as he took a seat across from her.
"Hey, Finn's my best friend, I should be allowed to know what's going to happen to his kid." For some reason Puck put an emphasis on the word 'his'. Quinn just glared at Puck, picked up her tray and left. Leaving Rachel to deal with Finn and Puck.
'Great.' She thought as she looked over at Finn.
"I think I'll go and get some extra practice in." She said as the two boys were now having some sort of staring contest. Finn broke it when he heard her get up.
"I'll come with you, maybe we can work on our duet together." He offered.
"No, it's fine. I was just going to practice a different song." Rachel said as she got up really fast. Just her and Finn singing that song again was going to lead to them kissing or her spilling the beans on what Quinn told her. She'd come to realize that telling Finn the truth was going to hurt him, so she decided against it and just to go along. Besides, Quinn was the one who should tell Finn, not her.
"Oh." Finn said, sitting back down. Rachel looked at Puck who just smiled knowingly at her as she ran past him and out of the cafeteria. Once outside, she sighed with relief and made her way to the music room. No one was there because they were still having lunch. Rachel walked over to the piano and started playing a melody. It was David Archuleta's song 'Crush', which she thought fit what was happening with her an Finn. She didn't sing the song, just played it until it was finished.
Rachel then rested her head against the piano. Why did everything have to be so hard?
xXxXx
Glee rehearsal was a disaster, to say the least. Quinn was MIA again, but Finn was there and his mind was on Quinn so his performance wasn't the best. Mr. Shue suggested that Finn and Rachel not practice their duet and for once in her life Rachel was grateful of this. Instead they were doing a group performance to 'All Star' by Smash mouth. It was not really a vocally challenging song and Rachel did not offer to take on the solo parts nor protest when they weren't given to her. This seemed to surprise everyone, but no one protested.
Finn noticed it and found it a bit out of character for Rachel to do something like this. Also he'd noticed she was avoiding him, even looking at him. I mean, he'd always catch her staring at him during practices and then look away when he noticed. He did the same, unless she smiled at him and he smiled back. But now she wouldn't look at him at all, or speak to him. He tried to talk to her after practice, but she didn't acknowledge his presence and carried on walking.
"Hey man, are you coming to practice or what?" He heard Puck say. Finn turned to his best friend and forced a smile, nodding while he followed him to football practice. Once again Ken seemed to be MIA and so the guys were fooling around and not really practicing. Finn and Puck, however, broke off from the rest and started throwing the football to each other.
"Something's bothering you." Puck said as he caught the ball.
"How'd you tell?" Finn asked and then missed the football as Puck threw it back.
"I know our team is crap, but you never miss a catch." Puck said, looking pointedly at Finn.
"I'm just thinking about things." Finn told his friend as he picked up the ball and then threw it back.
"Baby things?" Puck asked and then threw the ball a little harder than he intended.
"No... well, yeah. But it's mostly Quinn and Rachel."
"You like both the girls, don't you?"
"Well, yeah. I mean I can't get either of them out of my head, if I'm not thinking about Quinn and the baby, it's Rachel." Finn admitted and shrugged. Puck couldn't stop laughing at this.
"Man, you're whipped." He said, shaking his head. He then looked over at Finn who looked confused, yet mad at the same time. Puck sighed and walked over to his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I think your problem is you think Rachel's hot. And you need to get her out of your system."
Finn frowned. "And what do you mean by that?"
"Depends. Fool around with her. Sleep with her." Puck said, shrugging. "Then maybe you'll get over her and only think about Quinn."
"But what if it does the opposite?"
"You'd never leave Quinn because of the baby." For some reason, Puck's eyes seemed darker as he said this.
"I still don't know man." Finn said, shaking his head. "That's cheating on Quinn and then I'll feel guilty. And it'll hurt Rachel."
"Then my friend, prepare to live a life of longing for a girl you'll never have." Puck said, patting Finn on the shoulder before walking away. Of course he had ulterior motives with persuading Finn to pursue Rachel. That was he'd be preoccupied, leaving Puck to deal with a heartbroken Quinn. Or whatever state she would be in. Then he could step up, be the man and be the loving father of the baby.
When he found out Quinn had told Finn he was the father, he was pissed. His best friend was being blamed for a mistake he'd made. Puck wasn't going to make it out of this hell hole, once high school was over he'd go to a community college and end up working at some gas station or something. He wasn't going to be somebody big, but Finn had this chance. Puck had given up competing with his friend a long time ago and now that competitiveness was coming back.
He could see by the way Rachel looked at Finn how much she cared and admired him for stepping up and helping Quinn out. He could see how that hurt her and took advantage of it, he really didn't care for her as much as he kept telling her. Somehow Quinn was the one who managed to occupy his mind and like Rachel, he was using her as a substitute. But now he wanted to show the world that he too could up his game and be the man when the time called.
First phase was to get Finn out of the picture, by blowing the whole thing up in Quinn's face. He knew it was going to hurt both people, but Finn deserved to know the truth. And in the meanwhile if he hooked up with Rachel and cheated on Quinn, then it wouldn't seem so bad, would it? Both cheated on the other and Finn wouldn't be too mad at Quinn when he found out he wasn't the baby's daddy.
Of course, he couldn't say the same for himself as his friend would probably react in a violent way, but they'd been friends for years and Finn would eventually forgive him. Puck turned around to look at Finn who was standing in the middle of the field, looking confused. Yes, this is going to be tricky, but Puck has it all under control.
