REVISED VERSION
First of all, I would like to apologize to my fellow readers for the extremely long wait. I think it has been nearly two months, but I was suffering from tests, final exams and writer's block, a deadly combo, but I am pleased to say that I am back. I have a new update for everyone. Thank you for those read and review the previous chapters.
Now, please do enjoy this chapter and read and review. Thank you.
PS: Please forgive me if I left any grammar mistakes. It's my first time writing in like 2 months. Thank you!
Can I Stay for the Night?
It was weird, Rachel thought as she was walking through the hallways the next morning. Everyone was giving her strange looks and they all had the same expression. Rachel felt that with every step she took, she couldn't avoid their gazes. It was if they knew something, causing her to panic. She felt her hands naturally fall toward her stomach.
There was no way, she thought, but then she heard the voices whisper. She thought she heard them say:
Berry
Ugly
Fat
Baby
Pregnant
How could they have known, Rachel wondered? She began to sprint to avoid their constant staring and whispers of ridicule. It didn't even take the first couple of steps before Rachel had to stop due to the exhaustion. The baby inside her was slowing her down. She immediately felt an intense pain in her stomach, a pain so immense that she felt she was going to pass out in any minute. She gazed up to see the students in the hallway, who were looking at every move she was making. Still in pain, she ignored it and began to walk slowly towards her locker. Maybe she was just hearing things, Rachel decided.
As she approached her locker, there was something on it that caught her attention. Her heart sank as soon as she read the words WHORE written in large red paint on her locker. Rachel felt her hands trembled as she tried to ignore the words on her locker. When she opened her locker, a piece of paper fell down. She bent down and picked it up. It was some kind of article from a web blog called The Jewfro. Rachel nearly fainted when she noticed the author of the article to be none other than Jacob Ben Israel.
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The Fall of an Ingénue
By Jacob Ben Israel
It's been nearly a year now without any major scandals in the Lima community since Quinn and the tale of the baby stork, but sources have now confirmed a new Babygate that is about to rock McKinley High and all of Lima, Ohio to its core. Obtaining evidence from an audio source (thanks to Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson), information has pointed towards Babygate 2.0. The culprit: the vivacious and talented Rachel Berry.
For the past few weeks, young Rachel Berry, 17, has been keeping her pregnancy a secret. This is only speculation, but photos released yesterday on The Jewfro confirmed that Rachel Berry, accompanied by the Glee director Will Schuester and Finn Hudson, was seen leaving the office of Dr. Chin, a well-known gynecologist and obstetrician in the area. The conclusion: Rachel Berry is pregnant.
The news of pregnancy will no doubt destroy any chances of a bright Broadway career for the girl. As for the father, a betting pool has been released on the website, but odds are in favor that the father is none other than McKinley High's quarterback and Glee co-captain, Finn Hudson. Finn Hudson is currently in a relationship with the lovely ex-head cheerleader Quinn Fabray, but this news will no doubt make a dent in the already doomed-to-fail relationship. More details will be posted.
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Rachel felt her heart stopped as soon as she finished reading the article. Even though Jacob Ben Israel was an avid blogger in the school, many people in the community are subscribed to his gossip blogs. Rachel was scared the community might know and it might reach her dads, who still have not known about her pregnancy.
"Damn it," Rachel thought, whose hands were still trembling. She didn't want the whole school to know about it, but thanks to Jacob, everyone does.
"You like my article?" Rachel heard a snobby voice asked from behind. It was Jacob.
"Why…why would you do this to me?" Rachel whispered in a choked voice.
"Why else? For another five minute of fame for exposing another scandal. Poor Rachel Berry. Your reputation at the school is now gone," Jacob laughed, "Not like it existed in the first place."
Rachel wanted to hit Jacob while he was standing in front of her, laughing crazily, but as soon as she raised her hand, she felt light-headed and then dizziness overtook her. The last thing Rachel remembered before collapsing to the ground was someone's arms grabbing Jacob by collar and her falling to the ground. She expected it to hurt, but then she felt something gentle before she blacked out.
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Present Day 2020
Puck sat down in an uncomfortable lounge chair in the coffee place. To his dismay, Will apparently liked to drink coffee in the same store that Puck went to earlier in the morning. This was the very same place where he had argued for a free coffee from a disgruntled barista, who happened to still be working behind the counter and glaring rather menacingly at him.
"I got my eyes on you punk," Puck thought out loud, hoping that the barista might catch a hint in case the barista wanted to violate his drink somehow.
Puck also observed Will even more closely as Will grabbed two cups of coffee and walked back to where Puck was sitting. As Will passed the counter, a woman besides him accidently dropped a canister of sugar. As it was falling down, Puck was half-expecting it to make a huge spill and possibly a loud noise, but to Puck's surprise, even with two coffees in his hand, Will Schuester, with some kind of cat-like reflexes, placed the coffee on the counter, swung down, and grabbed the sugar before it fell to the ground.
"Sweet mother of Jesus," Puck whispered to himself as Will handed the grateful woman the canister, "How the hell did he do that?"
But then again, Puck decided, it shouldn't even be that peculiar. Will had done it before and that was day was pretty memorable for Puck.
Puck had to admit though…it was a catchy song.
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Flashback 2011
Rachel realized that she must've passed out. Somewhere in her subconscious or whatever it was informed her of that. She was conscious that she had woken up and she could've opened her eyes at any time, yet she kept them closed. She didn't exactly know where she was (probably the clinic), but she knew she didn't want to open them ever again. Rachel thought if she just kept her eyes closed, maybe people would think she was dead. Then she wouldn't have to face any consequences of her actions and the jeering of the school. Quinn lost all of her reputation when she was pregnant. Rachel knew she didn't have much reputation to begin with, but with this pregnancy, she would gain a whole lot of notoriety in the school and a bad reputation.
Rachel did, however, felt the presence of someone in the room with her. Her mind immediately thought that maybe it was her dads. She knew she would have a tough time explaining to them about the situation since they assume Rachel was their precious little angel. She still is, Rachel reasoned, but it was because of one stupid mistake that caused her to arrive in her current predicament.
"Yep," Rachel thought, "This is better than being awake."
The thought of being a mother terrified her. She thought back to her real mom, Shelby Corcoran. Shelby was never able to be there for her daughter. Rachel thought deeply as to what would happen if Rachel were to become a mother. Could she actually do it? Be an actual mom to a child. Would she give it for adoption like Quinn did? Or would she give that child a hopeful future with a mother and a father? The answer was extremely complicated, but Rachel knew one thing. She would have to be a much better mother than her real mother.
Rachel must've been moving a lot because she then someone ask:
"Rachel, are you awake?"
A hand began to nudge her, causing her to instantly freeze to assess who the voice belonged to. Then her mind came to only one person.
"It can't be…" Rachel thought.
Her suspicions were confirmed as soon as Rachel slowly opened her eyes to meet the beautiful eyes and face that she had always envied.
"Quinn?" Rachel said, not even noticing that her voice was shaking.
"Rachel, you're awake. Thank God," Quinn exasperated, patting Rachel's arm.
That's strange, Rachel thought. Was that concern behind Quinn's voice? Why would Quinn be concerned? There's no way Quinn still hasn't found out about the pregnancy.
"Listen, Quinn. I can explain…" Rachel started to say frantically.
"You were out for an hour," Quinn interrupted. Rachel took that as a sign that Quinn did not want to talk about it.
"Um," Rachel said, a bit confused with Quinn, but Quinn continued on.
"You should've seen what happened. Finn knew what was going on, but he was too chicken to do anything when that Jacob kid started harassing you. The moment you fainted was when Puck actually stepped in and started whaling on Jacob," Quinn recounted.
"Is Puck all right?" Rachel asked, knowing that Puck was caught one more time fighting in school, he would be expelled.
"Don't worry," Quinn replied with a mischievous smile, "Puck got away before Principal Figgins and Coach Sylvester came. I wouldn't say the same for Jacob. Puck will tell you later."
Rachel felt relieved at hearing that news, but there was still something she wanted to ask.
"But Quinn," Rachel started casually, "I felt someone catch me. Who was it? Finn? Puck?"
Rachel thought that it might've been Finn or Puck since they were the closest to her, but Quinn shook her head.
"You were lucky, Rachel," Quinn replied, "Mr. Schuester was also coming by and he saw you fall to the ground. I think he must have some kind of superpower because he moved very fast to catch you. It even caught Puck, Finn, and me by surprise. He carried you to the clinic and then he left. I stayed behind for you."
"Will, really?" Rachel thought with a touched smile on her face.
There are other times to ponder about Will's quick reflexes, Rachel thought, because there is a much bigger problem Rachel needed to address. While it was admirable that Will was the one to catch her, Rachel knew that there was an underlying tension between her and Quinn. Quinn must've known by now that Finn was confirmed to be the baby's "daddy".
"Listen, Quinn," Rachel said to start her apology, "I am so sorry."
When Rachel said that, she turned her face away from Quinn to avoid looking at Quinn.
"For what, silly?" Quinn answered flatly, pretending she didn't know what Rachel was apologizing for.
"For Finn…for the baby," Rachel said, feeling the sting of her tears. She played around with her fingers to try to distract her from crying, but it didn't work. Darn those pregnancy hormones.
Rachel turned to look at Quinn and noticed Quinn taking a deep breath. She took Rachel's hand and gripped it. Quinn turned to look at Rachel and smiled gently at her.
"You know, when I was pregnant," Quinn started, "I felt so lost and so alone and so distant from everybody. I lied to Finn about the baby being his and it killed me on the inside. Because of these…these conflicting feelings, I took my anger out on others, especially on you, Rachel. But Rachel, I don't know why you remained so stubborn. You wouldn't lash out at me for the things I've done to you in the past, even after finding out that I was kicked off the Cheerios. I remembered telling you if the roles were reversed, I would've tortured you, but now the roles are reversed. What am I going to do? Continue to be a bitch like in the past? No, Rachel. You deserve more than that. After all, you got me through last year. And I swear to you that I'm gonna support you."
"But what about Finn?" Rachel asked, wiping a tear away from her eyes.
"I talked to Finn already. This happened before he and I were a couple. Don't worry about it, Rachel. Finn knows he has my support, but the priority right now is getting you and him together again, so you can brave through this."
"Thanks, Quinn," Rachel said, feeling a whole lot better. She pulled herself up to give Quinn a hug.
Quinn stood up and replied, "You're welcome. Now, why don't you lay down for a little bit and come to the auditorium in about ten minutes? The glee club has a surprise for you."
With that, Quinn nodded her head and walked out of the clinic as Rachel laid her head back on the pillow. This situation could've been worse, Rachel thought, but thank goodness, it wasn't. For some reason, Rachel didn't feel as guilty as before. Everything was going according to plan.
As soon as Quinn appeared in the hallway, Finn walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulder, which caused Quinn to spin around quickly.
"Ow, Finn. Why'd you do that?" Quinn gasped from the wincing pain.
"How could you lie to her like that, Quinn?" Finn demanded.
"What do you mean, Finn?" Quinn asked back, her voice trembling and on the verge of tears.
"You know that you and I were a couple before Rachel got pregnant. I overheard you guys in the clinic. Why would you lie to her like that? Don't you know I still love you? Huh! What does your first love mean to you?" Finn spat out in anger.
Quinn's face scrunched up as she began to weep silently in the hallway.
"That night," Quinn sobbed, "was a mistake, Finn. Don't you get it?"
She turned her heel and ran away, but Finn caught her by the hand. With tears falling from his eyes, he pulled her in and held her in his arms.
"It wasn't a mistake to me, Quinn," Finn replied, replaying that night again in his mind.
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Flashback 2010
Searching for Rachel
Finn had to pull over because the rain clouded his windshield wipers. The phone fumbled in Finn's hand as he was trying to pick it up.
"Hello," Finn responded. It was Will and he was telling Finn that he had found Rachel.
"Really? That's great. Where is she?" Finn asked. Will informed Finn that he was taking Rachel to her house.
"Thanks. I'll go see her right now!" Finn hung up the phone.
"They found her. They found Rachel," Finn told Quinn with glee. He was beginning to turn around to head back towards Rachel's house when he noticed a road block up ahead. There were several police officers directing traffic. Finn and Quinn noticed cars up ahead turning around after a chat with one of the officers.
As Finn pulled up to one of the cops, he rolled down his window. "What seems to be the problem, officer?"
The officer responded, "There's been a major accident ahead caused by several large trees collapsing all over the road. I'm afraid the road's been blocked for tonight."
"Wait, is there any other way? There's only one road leading back to Central Lima." Finn asked, looking clearly distraught.
"'Fraid not son. The other drivers were pretty angry about this too, but we're working as hard as we can. Is there a friend's house on the skirts of Lima you can go to?"
Finn knew one person's house, but he didn't want to answer the question. Quinn looked at the officer, "Yes, he does. Thank you officer"
"Finn, you remember where my house is, right?" Quinn asked and Finn nodded. Finn honestly didn't have any choice. None of his friends lived on the skirts of Lima, where all the wealthy people lived. Though he wanted to go to Rachel at the moment, he knew there was no other way to get to her. With an exasperated sigh, he drove his car around and headed towards Quinn's house.
It was an uneasy feeling. He had only been to Quinn's house once or twice in his life. The first time he went, he made the mistake of interrupting her prayer while they were making out. Because of that, Quinn felt that having Finn in her home would definitely lead her to even more "temptation", so he couldn't come anymore. The last time he went was when he revealed to Quinn's father Russell that Quinn was pregnant. It didn't really turn out the way he thought it would. Quinn was kicked out of the house and he and Quinn would later break up when he found that Quinn lied to him about him being the father.
Even though he and Rachel had just broken up after Rachel "cheated" on him with Puck, Finn still wasn't sure about his previous decision. It wasn't the decision of breaking up the relationship between him and Rachel, but the relationship between him and Quinn because he still had strong feelings for Quinn. And this night with Quinn without Rachel was really going to test that.
The next couple of moments became a blur to Finn. He remembered pulling into the Fabray's drive-through and finding out that Mrs. (or rather Ms.) Fabray wasn't home. He remembered Quinn receiving a call from her mother that the storm isolated her at a friend's house. The most peculiar thing that Finn remembered, however, was Quinn not telling her mother that Finn was staying over. Maybe it was from that shock that his memory of what was happening became a blur.
"How about it?" Quinn asked, snapping Finn from his thoughts.
"Huh, about what?" Finn replied.
"Some chicken noodle soup. I know it's your favorite," Quinn said, holding a can of soup.
Finn shook his head in order to wake himself up and replied half-heartedly, "Sounds great."
Quinn flashed him a quick smile and said, "Why don't you pop a movie in? It'll be done in about 10 minutes."
Finn paused for a moment and thought of the situation he found himself in. First she is making him his favorite food to eat during cold weather. Then she told him to pop in a movie, which means there might be snuggling, which also might lead him to even further temptation. Finn knew he should've refused her at the moment, but he nodded his head and agreed.
Finn found himself walking slowly to the living room. Despite the enormous television screen and the wide varieties of movies in the cabinet, Finn felt extremely nervous. He just broke up with Rachel and now, he suddenly felt certain strange feelings toward Quinn. It's too soon, Finn thought.
As his eyes wandered the movie selections, it soon found itself on Finn's favorite movie and coincidentally, Quinn's favorite movie: Forrest Gump. Maybe it was because Finn identified himself a lot with the character. Finn wasn't retarded; he was just a bit slow like Forrest was, but Forrest Gump was a simple minded character who Finn could relate with. Finn wished he could view life as simple as Forrest did, but being a high school junior, life was never simple. It had too many ups and downs. It never occurred to Finn why this was Quinn's favorite movie though as he placed the DVD into the player.
As soon as the movie started, Quinn walked out of the kitchen with two steaming bowls of chicken noodle soup. Finn's mouth started watering as he soon as he laid eyes on his bowl. He grabbed his spoon eagerly and was about to take his first sip when Quinn tapped his hand, nearly knocking the spoon out.
"Shall we say grace?" Quinn asked.
"Urgh," Finn mumbled in disappointment.
"Do you want to say it?" Quinn offered.
There was something in that tone of voice that made Finn complied with her request, but when Finn agreed, he realized he made a huge mistake. He didn't know the first thing about praying. He only prayed once and that was to a grilled cheese sandwich with a picture of Jesus on it. So, he decided that maybe it was the same thing.
"Dear grilled, I mean, God…thank you for keeping Quinn and me safe during this stormy weather. No doubt it was all part of your weather pattern. Anyway, please keep Rachel safe wherever she is because we found out today she decided to off herself, but she's okay now, so thank you for that. And thanks for the delicious chicken noodle soup we're about to have. Umm…"
Finn paused at that moment. He forgot what else he was supposed to say. He could feel Quinn staring at him for some reason, even though his eyes were closed, so he decided to close with:
"And lead us not into temptation. Amen."
As soon as Finn opened his eyes, he found Quinn silently giggling at him, which caused him to smile back and asked, "What? Did I do something wrong?"
Quinn shook her head and answered, "No. You're just adorable. Let's eat."
After the uncomfortable silence that fell between them during dinner, Quinn took their bowls and went into the kitchen to wash. Meanwhile, Finn kicked off his shoes and laid his head on the comfortable pillow. He was joined by Quinn moments later who decided to change into a different outfit, something a bit more revealing, Finn noted.
Finn felt his eyes twitched as it wandered throughout Quinn's silky lavender sleepwear. All of her features happened to be accentuated by the very thin layer.
"Damn," Finn thought, "I mean, uh-oh. This isn't looking good."
Finn felt himself become even sweatier than usual as Quinn sat right beside him on the couch. He couldn't bear to look at her or her flirtatiously sexy smile that she was giving him.
"So what did I miss?" Quinn asked, pulling herself closer to Finn.
"Um, the guy," Finn stammered out, wiping off his sweat, "Forrest. He, uh, did something. Actually, I'm kinda lost, right now."
Quinn chuckled quietly to herself and said, "Why don't we just watch the movie?"
All the while, Quinn kept wondering why Finn was acting all jittery around her. She had seen Forrest Gump a hundred times with Finn before and like the previous times, she would always cuddle up on Finn's shoulder. And like hundreds of time before, she would cry on Finn's shoulder every time she saw the scene after Jenny, Forrest's first and only love, died. This time was no exception. Maybe the reason he's acting so jittery is because he still likes you, Quinn reasoned.
As the movie came to a close, Quinn was still in tears at the beautiful ending. Finn merely smiled at it and wrapped his arms around Quinn even tighter to tell her to stop crying. Finn didn't realize how comfortable he was with Quinn until the end of the movie and by then, it (being uncomfortable) came back, but for some reason, Finn decided to ignore it.
The hell with it, Finn thought.
"I've always wondered one thing, Quinn," Finn said as Quinn wiped her eyes with a Kleenex.
"What's that?" Quinn replied, giving Finn a mopey smile.
"Why do you cry at the end of the movie?"
Quinn paused at first, but then replied, "Do you really want to know?" to which Finn answered with a nod.
"Well," Quinn started, "I guess I'm just into the sappy love story between Forrest and Jenny. She was his first love and he never really got to spend time with her before she died. Kinda makes you think about things."
"What kind of things do you think about?" Finn asked casually, moving his hand away from Quinn. Quinn looked away from Finn in silence.
"Tell me, Quinn…what does your first love mean to you?" Finn asked, trying to keep a straight face. Quinn gasped at Finn's question.
"I…I…" Quinn stammered out, but Finn answered her response by pulling her into his arms and crashing his rough lips into her soft lips.
After what seemed to be eternity, Finn tenderly pulled back and said, "That's my answer. So what's yours?"
Quinn could've lied at this moment. She knew she was still in a relationship with Sam. Cheating on Sam with Finn would kill her on the inside, but Finn was right. First love does mean everything, especially to a woman. She could not deny her feelings for Finn at the moment. Her conscience was clean. She nodded her head gently as she led Finn upstairs into her bedroom. Whether it was going to be a night of regret, Quinn did not know, but everything just felt right.
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Flashback 2011
Rachel felt much happier as she made her way into the auditorium where she found her friends on the stage. Kurt and Blaine had a guilty look on their faces since they discovered that Jacob Ben Israel found out about Rachel's pregnancy by bugging them, but Rachel came up on that stage and hugged the both of them.
"It wasn't your fault," she told them, "Don't worry about it. It was only a matter of time."
Puck approached Rachel next and said, "I took care of that Jacob kid. He'll be retracting that story in no time after I gave his sorry ass a bunch of swirlies."
"Thanks, Noah," Rachel replied, giving him a hug, "And thank you for not telling you-know-who."
"Voldemort?" Blaine asked, widening his eyes, which made Rachel laugh.
Puck nodded his head at Rachel and walked back to Santana. Rachel looked around, but Finn and Quinn were nowhere in sight.
She turned her attention to her friends and asked, "So what's the big surprise?"
"Your friends," Will said, coming from the entrance of the auditorium, "decided to cheer you up. Finn was supposed to be the lead, but since he's not here, I guess I'll have to. I have to say. Bublé is my one of my favorites. So on behalf of Finn…"
"Will, I mean, Mr. Schuester!" Rachel giggled loudly as Will took her hands and led her to the middle of the stage. As her friends surrounded her, he instructed the band to start playing the song.
I'm not surprised, not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times I stopped keeping track
Talk myself in, I talk myself out
I get all worked up then I let myself down
I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility
And I know some day that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid that I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet
I might have to wait, I'll never give up
I guess it's half timin and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come outta nowhere and into my life
And I know that we can be so amazin
And baby your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility
Somehow I know that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And promise you kid I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet
They say all's fair in love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and we'll be united
And I know that we can be so amazin
And bein in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility
And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you kid I'll give more than I get
Oh you know it'll all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And promise you kid to give so much more than I get yeah
I just haven't met you yet
I just haven't met you yet
Oh promise you kid to give so much more than I get
I said love love love love love love love
I just haven't met you yet
By the end of song, Rachel forgot about all her troubles. She hugged all of her friends once again, but when she turned to look for Will, he had already left the auditorium. The song really meant a lot to her, but Will wasn't there for her to thank him.
"Thank you, Will," Rachel said, silently to herself. Maybe another time…
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As soon as Will got home, he took off his vest, undid his tie, and went straight to the fridge to grab a beer. As he opened the bottle of beer, he stopped and stared for a moment at the sonogram picture that Rachel gave him. He had made multiple copies and placed one on his refrigerator. He smiled gently as he went straight into his living room and slumped onto the couch.
Even though Rachel was giving him all these signs and clues, he still had not heard the actual words from her mouth that he was the actual father of her unborn child. It killed Will on the inside, but maybe it was for the best that he didn't know the truth. National was coming up next week in New York, the place where it all began. Will didn't know whether or not he should be looking forward to spending more time with Rachel.
As Will was sitting in contemplation, he heard a small rap at the door. Leaving his beer on the coffee table, he proceeded towards the door. When he opened it, to his surprise, he found himself looking at Rachel crying with some bags of clothes in her arms.
"Rachel," Will stated, flabbergasted at the sight, "What happened?"
Rachel sobbed, taking a step forward and fell into Will's arms, and cried, "Can I stay for the night?"
Even without a clear explanation from Rachel, Will, without hesitation or a single word, nodded his head, as he gripped his arms around Rachel's body.
The writing is not as good as it used to be (Darn writer's block), but I had to get the chapter out for you guys. I hope you like the update. I know that I am way behind the current schedule of Glee on television, but I think it'll be okay. So, Rachel is staying with Will for the night. And also the Finn and Quinn chaos. I think this is like a chaotic love square with Will and Rachel (Do you like it?). I think Nationals in New York might be two parts because there's oh so many ways I can stretch it. And then there's summer. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do for that. So if you have an idea for what Rachel could be doing for the summer, please offer suggestions. It'll all lead up the BIG scene that you read in the first chapter of Let Me Go. Downhill from here guys, I think. Anyway, review please. Thanks for reading!