Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed or put this story on alert. We should be getting to the drama soon, just stick with me. Just to remind everyone once again, this takes place last season during junior year, after Regionals, but before Nationals.

The Tuesday after her first rehearsal was going surprisingly well for Rachel at school. She wasn't slushied once and the day's only low point came when Santana openly mocked her purple tights in the hallway, telling her that those tights paired with her green polk-a-dot dress made her look like the world's most unappetizing bunch of grapes. Still, the insult only caused her stew for a second or two before she forged on.

Sure, it still hurt when her classmates taunted her, but Rachel Berry was sort of over high school. Perhaps she was getting a little ahead of herself, because landing the role in Mr. Ellis's play certainly didn't guarantee her success in the future, but she was pretty confident that she was currently closer to her goals than anyone else at the school, and that made her feel pretty good. She already knew there was something more waiting for her outside of the walls of McKinley, while most of her peers couldn't see beyond high school or Lima.

The play didn't rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which worked out perfectly for Rachel because Glee met on those days. She entered the choir room and quietly took her seat, but was promptly swarmed by her fellow club members, asking questions about the play and when it would open. Rachel, of course, fielded their inquiries graciously, excited to be the center of attention without prompting.

Mr. Schue was pretty supportive about the whole thing, assuring Rachel he'd be in the audience on opening night. She smiled widely and told him she'd reserve a seat for him in the front row next to her fathers.

Kurt, fresh off his transfer back to McKinley from Dalton Academy, also promised he'd be there on opening night, with Blaine in tow. He informed Rachel that he already had his outfit picked out and asked if the production team needed any help with wardrobe.

Puck asked her if there would be any nudity in the play. Rachel responded with righteous indignation before explaining that there were a couple of "scenes of passion," but if Puck was looking for something salacious, he should stick to Cinemax. Puck just shrugged and said that "scenes of passion" sounded hot enough and that he too would be there.

Tina and Mercedes mentioned possibly going together, and Mike and Sam agreed that it might be cool to check it out.

Finn looked like he wanted to join the conversation, but Quinn's scowl and firm hand on his arm kept him from doing so.

Rachel couldn't help smiling throughout the first fifteen minutes of practice. Her teammates not only seemed happy for her, but were actually interested in seeing her perform.

The group began to discuss Nationals and Rachel was honestly a little surprised because Nationals were still a couple months away and they never started rehearsing for a competition this early.

When Mr. Schue asked if anyone had any ideas for their setlist, Quinn's hand instantly shot up.

"I think Finn and I should sing a duet," she suggested primly, pointedly glaring at Rachel as she she spoke. "Since we're together now I think it would be wise to use our chemistry to our advantage while performing. Plus, we make great spokesmodels for the club. We're both popular and aesthetically pleasing, the judges will love us."

Finn looked kind of embarrassed and squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. He wouldn't mind singing with Quinn, but he didn't think their looks would please the judges all that much.

"A bag of rocks has more chemistry than you guys," Santana snarked, causing the group to laugh appreciatively.

Mr. Schue seemed hesitant about the idea. "Okay, maybe. Did you two have a particular song in mind?"

"Something way better than that god-awful 'Faithfully' mess from last year. This way we might actually win," Quinn replied bitterly.

Rachel considered defending her and Finn's Regional performance from the previous year, but quickly swallowed the urge. She knew she and Finn did an amazing job with the song and their last place finish didn't reflect the quality of their performance, but she also knew there was no use in explaining so to Quinn.

"I thought me and Rachel sounded pretty good together last year," Finn muttered with a shrug. It was evident from the way he nervously shifted his eyes around the room that he was a little afraid to admit such a thing in front of his girlfriend.

"So you would rather sing with that thing again than sing with me?" Quinn snapped harshly.

Finn pulled his hand from his girlfriend's grasp and ran it over his face tiredly. "Of course I want to sing with you, but Rachel and I killed it at Regionals last year."

"We lost, Finn! So you two weren't that great. Or are you so stupid that you forgot?" she shrieked.

Rachel couldn't hold her tongue any longer and rose from her seat to address the blonde. "Don't call him stupid! He's not stupid and that's not a very nice thing to say to your boyfriend."

Quinn caught the way Finn's lips twitched into a smile at Rachel's words and shot out of her seat to point threateningly at Rachel. "Listen, you ugly little freak, don't think you're going to get your grubby man-hands on my guy again!"

"Hey! That's enough!" Mr. Schue shouted over his students, hoping to diffuse the situation before it escalated. "Quinn, Rachel, please sit down. I'm very disappointed with the shouting and name calling I'm hearing in this room. You guys are supposed to be a team."

"Ugh, I'm so over this Rachel, Finn and Quinn drama," Santana said with a sigh. "Can we please get off this relationship merry-go-round because I'm getting seriously nauseous."

"There's no drama," Rachel answered. "Finn and Quinn are together and that's that. I'm not sure why I was attacked today," she continued with an annoyed glance in Quinn's direction, "but I think it'd be best if we simply moved on."

"Yes. Thank you, Rachel. Let's move on now," Mr. Schue said trying to reign in his students. "So does everyone agree that we should perform a duet at Nationals?"

There was a chorus of nodding and mumbled verbal agreements.

"But I don't think Finn and Quinn should get it just because they're dating, or doing whatever it is people call not having sex with each other," Puck called out. "I mean who says whoever duets has to be romantically involved? Can't we just pick the two people who will perform together the best?"

"Yeah," Mercedes agreed readily. "I'd love to duet with my man Kurt."

"You two would sound amazing together!" Rachel gushed, earning herself a smile from both Kurt and Mercedes.

Mr. Schue considered Puck's proposal. "Okay. Maybe we can hold some auditions. I'd like to decide who will do the duet first, and then we can set the leads for the group piece accordingly," he told the kids. "We know Finn and Quinn will be trying out, and I take it I can add Mercedes and Kurt to the list as well?"

Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a wink and a carefully practiced handshake before nodding their consent at their teacher.

"Anyone else?" Mr. Schue wondered as he wrote the four students' names on the white board.

Puck cleared his throat and straightened up in his seat. "I'd like a crack at it."

"You want to sing lead at a competition?" Mike pipped up.

Puck shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest menacingly. "Yeah, imagine how badass our duet will be with me on lead male vocals," he replied smugly.

"I don't do duets, Puckerman," Lauren interjected. "I admit Glee club hasn't been the total suckfest I thought it would be, but I ain't getting up in front of all those people and singing a sappy love song with you."

"Rach, how about you sing with me?" Puck asked leaning forward and looking down at her from his seat on the top riser.

"Um," Rachel began hesitantly. "I would love to, Noah, but," she trailed off glancing towards Mercedes and Kurt, "I got my chance to shine at Regionals and others deserve their shot now."

"Come on, Rachel. Just go for it," Kurt urged. "Everyone who wants to audition should get the chance, and you know you want to."

"Yeah," Mercedes agreed. "And we don't need you to bow out on our behalf. Kurt and I are gonna bring it and we'll win this thing fair and square," she said with a grin.

Rachel laughed and chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. Of course she would love to sing lead at Nationals, but she had a lot of opportunities that some of the others didn't and maybe it wouldn't be fair to take another.

"We should go with whichever pair is the best, and if that includes Rachel then who cares if she got to sing at Regionals? I just want to win," Sam added.

"Ok," Rachel conceded softly. "I would be honored to audition with you, Noah."

Puck clapped his hands together loudly. "You're going down, Hudson," he taunted from behind his friend.

Most of the group paired off to discuss auditioning for the coveted duet at Nationals. Mike and Brittany decided to bow out, leaving Tina and Artie to audition together. Santana cajoled Sam into auditioning with her, going on about how he was the only one left and how she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to beat both Rachel and Quinn at something just because all the normal-mouth-sized people were taken.

"You sure Lauren won't mind that you're singing with me?" Rachel asked when Puck came down to join her in the front row.

"Nah, she's cool. She's not the jealous type." Puck turned to wink at his girl, who was too busy playing Tiny Wings on her phone to respond.

Rachel smiled. "So did you have any ideas for our duet?"

Finn spent the next 20 minutes of Glee zoning out while Quinn railed at him for not supporting her earlier and accused him of still being into Rachel. He couldn't really deny it because he was starting to think that maybe he was still into Rachel. He hated that Quinn called her ugly in front of everyone because he knew how insecure Rachel was about her looks, and he hated that he didn't defend Rachel against Quinn the way Rachel defended him when Quinn called him stupid. But Quinn was his girlfriend and she could be seriously scary when she was pissed off. Maybe he should text Rachel an apology or something.

He glanced over at Rachel, who was chatting animately with Puck on the other end of the choir room. She had her pink binder in her lap and was writing and gesturing frantically while Puck alternatively nodded and rolled his eyes. Finn wondered what they would sing, if it would be a love song, and if they would stare longingly into each other's eyes as they performed. Rachel had the most expressive eyes he'd ever seen. Sure, Rachel had assured him that she wasn't interested in Puck romantically, and that her little dalliance with him before Sectionals was done out of pain and spite, plus Puck had Lauren now, but part of him was a little worried that they'd fall for each other while practicing some cheesy romantic ballad.

Finn felt guilty for having these thoughts, he shouldn't be worrying about who Rachel was rehearsing plays with or practicing love songs with. He was with Quinn now and she deserved his undivided attention, but he definitely was worried. He didn't want Rachel falling for some other guy again and he knew how easily Rachel fell. When he broke up with Rachel, officially broke up with her at the Christmas tree lot, he was so angry and hurt that he really thought he'd never want to be with her again, but the pain was starting to fade. Rachel made a mistake, but so had he. And maybe he rushed back into things with Quinn because he thought it'd help him get closure, he thought he'd be able to find out how things would have played out last year if there had been no baby drama, but he was starting to realize that it wasn't just Quinn's cheating with Puck and lying about Beth that broke them apart, they just didn't work together. He wasn't happy with Quinn, and from the way Quinn was currently yelling at him he had a feeling she wasn't happy with him either.

Quinn's voice pierced through his thoughts sharply. "So what do you think? Finn? Finn! Are you even listening to me? Finn!"

Finn looked at his girlfriend dumbly for a moment. "What?"

"I said we should do that Taylor Swift song as our duet. What do you think?" Quinn asked, annoyance detectable in her voice.

"I think we should break up."

Quinn froze. "What?"

"I, uh, no," Finn sputtered, waving his hands and turning in his stupid plastic chair that was too small for him to focus on his girlfriend. "I didn't mean that." Except he absolutely meant it, he just didn't mean to say it out loud in front of the entire Glee club at that precise moment. And he definitely didn't mean to say it so loud that the rest of the club would hear and stare at them intently.

"You didn't mean to break up with me in front of a room full of people? You didn't mean to embarrass me?" Quinn asked scornfully. "It's that goddamn tranny, isn't it?" she demanded, drawing Rachel's attention from across the room. "She's been throwing herself at you since you dumped her and you fell for it. I can't believe this is happening again!"

Finn tried to calm down Quinn as the rest of the group looked on hungrily, the couple was putting on quite the show and they were a rapt audience. He tried to explain that he thought they'd both be happier apart, and then apologized for breaking up with her in the worst possible way, but Quinn continued to rant and blame Rachel for his decision. Finn knew she was just upset, but he really wished Quinn would stop calling Rachel a troll and a transvestite because that wasn't cool.

Mr. Schue dismissed the club, but everyone stayed in their seats listening to Quinn berate Finn, except Rachel, who slipped out of the room somewhere between the third and fourth insult Quinn hurled at her.

Rachel was looking forward to Wednesday's play rehearsal. School had been tense all day as Quinn shot her withering glares and Finn did his best to corner her into a conversation she wasn't yet ready to have. She had escaped the worst of Quinn's wrath and successfully managed to avoid Finn all day, but she was physically and emotionally drained. Jesse pulling up into McKinley's parking lot at 3:00 o'clock sharp was a welcomed sight.

"Long day?" Jesse asked when she slumped down into the passenger seat and closed her eyes.

"Very," Rachel answered simply before reaching out and turning the radio volume up. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the long ride to Columbus.

The next couple of days passed in a blur. Rachel was still avoiding Finn, which was clearly confusing the boy, while throwing herself fully into play rehearsal. She spent the majority of Thursday's Glee practice working with Noah on their audition piece so that she wouldn't have to respond to Finn's pleading looks.

"What's with you and Hudson?" Puck asked as he tuned his guitar. "It's like you two are never on the same page when it comes to being into each other."

Rachel shook her head regretfully. She wasn't even sure what her problem was now, all she knew was that she had finally gotten to a pretty good place without Finn. She had the play, and a few new friends, and she didn't want to go back to feeling like she did before all that came along. And if things with Finn didn't work out again, she'd definitely be back to being the sad hopelessly love-sick girl she was before she landed the role of Emily. She wanted to be with Finn again so badly, but she absolutely hated being that girl. Maybe with a little more time she'd be strong enough to take another chance with Finn.

"Can we just work on the song, Noah?" Rachel asked tiredly.

Puck smirked at her over his guitar. "Sure thing, Princess."

But time was apparently not on her side because the very next day Finn blocked her path into their third period History class.

"What's going on with you? I thought you wanted to get back together?" he asked, his large frame easily filling the doorframe.

Rachel gazed under his arm to see Mrs. Handley still seated at her desk, the day's lesson yet to begin. "We have class, Finn," she said as she tried to squeeze past him.

"No, we're talking about this now. We're way more important than some stupid history class," he declared.

Rachel let herself be led away from the classroom door by Finn's strong hand on her elbow. "I did want to get back together. I still do," she admitted quietly once they found themselves in a near empty corridor.

"So why are you avoiding me like I have some sort of community disease?" the boy implored.

"Communicable," Rachel corrected. "And I just need some time. I'm confused, Finn," she answered truthfully.

Finn furrowed his brow. "Confused about what? About us? What's there to be confused about?"

With a quick glance around the clearing hallway, Rachel sighed, "These last few months. You and Quinn. Everything. I'm so tired of fighting for a boy who doesn't want me."

"I want you!" he cried earnestly. "These last few months were a mistake. I should have never gotten back together with Quinn. I was upset, ok? You know what it's like to do something stupid when you're upset, don't you?" he finished, his voice growing more cutting in tone.

Rachel frowned at his allusion to her brief indiscretion with Puck. "Yes. And I also know what it's like to not be forgiven for doing something stupid when you're upset," she replied coldly. "I have a lot going on right now, Finn. I can't just drop everything and come running back to you because you decided you want to give it another go!"

"I'm not asking you to drop everything!" Finn said exasperatedly. "I just realized how miserable I was without you and how much better everything is when you're around. I tried so hard to get over you, but I couldn't, and why should I get over you when I could have you? When we could have each other?"

"Finn," Rachel started warily. She had wanted this for so long, she had spent hours imagining Finn coming to this very realization in dramatic fashion and rushing to find her so that he could deliver some over the top romantic speech about how much he loved her, and now he doing just that, but she wasn't overcome with the need to throw herself into his arms like she did in her daydreams. Instead she was afraid of what would happen this time around and kind of pissed about what had happened last time. "You just broke up with Quinn," she reminded him. "I won't be the other girl."

"You're not the other girl!" Finn insisted. "You're the girl. The only girl I want. The only girl I'm ever going to want."

Rachel could feel her resolve faltering. She wanted to smile, or cry, or just kiss Finn right then. He was so cute when he was determined, and she really did want this just as much as he seemed to. "Let's just give it some time, Finn. We keep jumping into things and then we wonder what went wrong. I know I hurt you and I feel terrible about it, but I've been hurt too. So take some time to get over Quinn and then we'll talk. You focus on yourself for a bit and I'll focus on me. Ok?"

"I am over Quinn! I was never even under Quinn!" he argued, his eyes widening comically when he realized what he'd said. "I didn't mean it like that!" he added quickly. "I mean, it's true we never... I never was under her in any sense…I mean we did stuff, but she's still into that celibacy thing, well back into it I guess after the whole baby mess, which is cool because I know you're into it too, but not because of religious stuff like Quinn, but just because you are, and I'm totally fine with waiting for-"

"Finn," Rachel cut off. "Stop talking."

Finn chucked nervously because Rachel was sort of smiling and didn't seem all that angry about his case of verbal diarrhea. "I can't believe Rachel Berry is telling me to stop talking," he joked.

"I'm a little shocked myself," she agreed with a smile, "but you were sort of embarrassing yourself."

His eyes darkened and he reached for her hand. "I'm serious, Rachel. I don't need time. I just need to be your boyfriend again."

Rachel reached up to turn the collar on his plaid shirt down with a small smile. "I can't do it again, Finn," she said softly. "Losing you broke my heart, and I'm a completely different person when my heart is broken. I can't become that person again."

Finn seemed to realize that this was something Rachel needed. "Okay, I'll give it some time. We don't have to rush back into anything, we can be friends for now, but Rachel, I'm not giving up on us being together. Really being together. So do whatever you need to do and I'll be here when you decide you're ready," he said firmly, his trademark lopsided smile in place.

On Sunday, after the whole cast had rehearsed for six hours, Mr. Ellis dismissed everyone except for Rachel and Jesse. The director said he wanted some alone time with his lead actors.

Rachel didn't think anything of the extra rehearsal time because she and Jesse had a lot of scenes together and it only made sense that as the leads they put more time into the production.

After running through two different scenes under Mr. Ellis's watchful eye, the older man joined his young actors on stage.

"Not bad," he said circling the pair thoughtfully. "But Jesse, I want you to be angrier in the kitchen scene. More forceful. Your girl just betrayed you. You're pissed! And Rachel, more desperation, more hunger. Emily has screwed up and is now throwing herself at Jake in hopes he'll stay. You need to convince him staying in Ohio is worth it. Can you do that?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes, I'll try."

"Don't try, just do it!" Mr. Ellis snapped, startling the girl. "Let's do it again."

Rachel and Jesse did the scene three more times. It wasn't the only time the script called for the duo to kiss, but it was definitely the most passionate of the kisses they were to share. Despite their history, or maybe because of it, Rachel thought her chemistry with Jesse was rather palpable and was surprised to hear Mr. Ellis critique the scene as forced and rigid.

"Maybe you're just too young to get it," Mr. Ellis sighed after Rachel pulled away from Jesse's embrace.

Rachel straightened as if she'd just been slapped. "What? No! I'm not! We'll do it again, we'll keep doing it till we get it right," she insisted.

Mr. Ellis walked the length of the stage a couple of times as if he was contemplating something. Jesse looked at Rachel and shrugged, if he was anywhere near as upset at their director's criticism as Rachel, he wasn't showing it.

"I'm hungry," Mr. Ellis announced out suddenly.

Rachel wondered if it was a requirement for all directors to be slightly crazy, like maybe their creativity came at the cost of their sanity. Mr. Ellis wasn't outright insane, but he was definitely a little odd.

"Should we take a break? It is getting late." Jesse suggested. It was after seven o'clock and he wouldn't mind some dinner.

"You should. And go get me an eggplant panini from Gino's. I need to work with our young starlet here," Mr. Ellis said dryly. "Maybe she'll understand what passion means by the time you get back."

Jesse gave Rachel a sympathetic smile. He had done a couple of plays at UCLA and knew what it was like to work with a difficult director, although most difficult directors didn't send him to Italian restaurants on the other side of town to get eggplant. "I'll bring you back a salad," he told her before leaving the stage.

Rachel bit her lip nervously. Was her performance really bad enough to require one-on-one attention from Mr. Ellis? She didn't want to question her director, but she thought he was being a bit hard on her.

"Would you like me to read the lines again?" Rachel asked hesitantly. She had initially appreciated Mr. Ellis's intensity and passion for his project, but she had to admit he could be a bit scary when he got worked up.

Mr. Ellis rested his hands on the back of one of the wooden prop chairs that was meant to serve as Emily and Jake's kitchen furniture. "Sit down, Rachel."

Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think.