I Want You to Want Me Chapter 10: Thank You, a glee fanfic

Woops, I almost forgot to post this tonight.

Chapter 10 – Thank You

"One of these days, people are going to cheer when we come in," Kurt said, wistfully.

"Keep dreaming," Sam retorted. "That'll never happen."

"Sam's probably correct," Rachel replied. "I believe it would take a miracle for anyone at this school to care about us winning any competition, even Nationals."

"Out of my way, lumps," Santana said as she came down the hall, ramming her shoulder into Finn.

"I see those two still haven't made up," Kurt commented as he leaned against a locker. "I tried to tell him he should apologize, but I don't think he's going to take my advice."

"I wouldn't if I was him," Sam replied. "I mean, yeah it was a low blow, but she says a lot of crap to everyone and just expects us to take it and not say anything back."

"I do think they are both wrong," Rachel stated. "He should never have outed her like that; yes, we all know about her and Brittany, but I still think it was wrong. And of course I always think Santana is wrong with the way she disparages everyone."

Sam looked at Kurt and frowned. "Wait, since when you do and Finn talk about things?"

"We don't," Kurt replied, picking a bit of lint off his shirt. "Not really, anyway. He and Carole came over for dinner yesterday, so things come up."

"Your parents dating has gotta feel weird," Sam said.

"I'll admit I wasn't very fond of the idea in the beginning," Kurt replied. "I think that was mostly due to the idea of Finn being around; I didn't exactly like the idea of having dinner with someone who has thrown me into dumpsters and stuck my head in a toilet. Carole is nice, though, and I don't think I've ever seen my dad this happy."

"Do you think they will get married?" Rachel asked.

Kurt scrunched his nose. "I really don't want to think about Finn being my stepbrother."

"I can't really—Sam, are you okay?" Rachel said, distracted by the look on her best friend's face.

"Oh my god," Sam said, looking down the hall.

Rachel frowned and looked over her shoulder to see what had Sam's attention. It didn't take her long to spot what it was—or more precisely, who. Quinn was walking down the hall in their direction, but she wasn't dressed in her usual attire. This time, she had on the red, white, and black uniform that generally put fear into Rachel every time she saw it coming her way. Her frown only deepened at the sight of Quinn in the Cheerios uniform and her heart pounded uncomfortably in her chest.

She would be lying if she said Quinn didn't look good in the uniform; she'd never had a thing for any of the cheerleaders of McKinley, but Quinn wore it well. She was just afraid of what might come along with it. She didn't like the idea of Quinn changing because of it; she liked who Quinn was and the thought of her turning into someone like Santana made her queasy.

By the time Rachel realized she was staring at Quinn far too long, the blonde was passing by her. She looked away and then glanced back to find Quinn smiling at her; Rachel smiled back and Quinn walked on. Sam was still staring after the other girl, but Kurt was looking at Rachel with a smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes and looked away, ignoring him.

"Whoa," Sam said, turning to them when Quinn finally rounded the corner, out of sight.

"You see dozens of females in Cheerio outfits every day," Rachel reminded him.

"But it's Quinn," Sam said, smiling crookedly. "She looks amazing."

"Yes, she does," Kurt chimed in. "Don't you think so, Rachel?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes at him and said, "If you'll excuse me, I need to get to class early; I think we're going to have a quiz and I would like to look over my notes."

"Later, Rachel," Sam said.

She felt bad about lying to them, but she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Although she didn't like doing it, sometimes it was the only way she could get out of the situation—especially when Kurt was involved. He had been making quite a few comments and she really didn't appreciate it. She knew Sam was too oblivious to know what Kurt was talking about, but she was afraid someone else would start picking up on it. Luckily, Blaine would often hush him and steer the conversation in a different direction. She was thankful she had him on her side; it was nice to know he was there for her and that she had someone to talk to if she needed it.

Rachel walked into her class and was the only person inside, but she was there incredibly early. She sat down, pulled out her stuff for class, and put her head in her hands. Part of her hoped Quinn would be late, but the other part of her hoped she would be there early, so there would be time for them to talk.

"I want to congratulate everyone again," Mr. Schue said as he stood in front of the group. "You guys did really well, but we need to be even better if we're going to win Regionals. We were an eight, but we need to be a ten. There were a lot of distractions last week and we barely beat The Warblers because of it. We need to put that all behind us and focus on the next step, so we can make it to Nationals. I know you all can do it; you just need to keep working hard, so we can bring that Nationals trophy home to McKinley."

People clapped and there were a few cheers, but Rachel noticed a lack of excitement. She wondered if everyone was like her and knew they barely beat The Warblers, which meant they needed to be a lot better if they were going to beat their competition at Regionals.

"Okay, for this week's assignment, you are going to be in pairs," Mr. Schue said, walking toward the piano. "I want you to perform a duet together and everyone must participate. You can pick any song from any genre, but I want you and your partner to work together to choose the song. This assignment is all about teamwork, and I really want to see you guys working closely to give an amazing performance.

"Now, I'm going to draw your names randomly; there will be no switching partners, and I don't want to hear any complaints from anyone. Since there are an uneven number of you, one of the groups will be a trio." He shook the hat and then reached in and pulled out two slips of paper. "Tina and Mike. Brittany and Kurt. Puck and Blaine. Mercedes and Finn. Artie and Sam."

Rachel looked around; the only potential partners left for her were Quinn and Santana. Having to do a duet with Santana was her worst nightmare and she was trying to will Mr. Schue into picking Quinn name out of the hat.

"And then final team is—Rachel and Santana," Mr. Schue announced.

Rachel audibly groaned and Santana said, "Watch it, hobbit. I ain't happy about it, either."

"That leaves Quinn," Mr. Schue said. "Since you're the last, I'm going to let you choose which group you would like to be with."

Rachel was determined not to look as Quinn made her decision. She looked at Sam, though, and he was looking over his shoulder with a hopeful expression on his face. She didn't know why he thought Quinn would ever pick him. Despite what he said at Halloween about being able to handle things himself, he still had not made a move. Rachel was pretty sure Quinn barely knew Sam existed, and as far as she knew, the blonde didn't really know Artie either.

"I'll join Rachel and Santana," Quinn finally said.

Sam looked disappointed for a moment, but then he looked at Rachel, gave her a smile, and shrugged. Rachel didn't know how it was going to go; she was a little relieved Quinn picked them because she didn't know how she would deal with being alone with Santana for any extended period of time. At least the other girl had been less hostile toward her recently, but they were still far from friendly with one another.

"Okay, you have the rest of time to get with your partners and start working on your assignment," Mr. Schue said, clapping his hands together.

The groups started breaking off and Rachel stood, walking toward the piano, which was free from the other groups. Quinn quickly joined her, but Santana was still sitting in her seat with her arms crossed. She was clearly unhappy about their assignment, but Rachel wasn't very happy herself. So far she had successfully avoided working with the Cheerio unless it was girls versus boys; this time, however, she was going to have to work with her and attempt to get along. That was easier said than done when Santana was involved.

"Is she ever going to come over here?" Rachel asked Quinn.

"I have never met someone more stubborn," Quinn remarked. "Come on, Santana."

The other girl rolled her eyes and stayed seated for another minute before standing. She slowly made her way over and Rachel frowned; it was very clear that Santana was deliberately being slow.

"Thank you for joining us, Santana," Rachel said when she finally stood next to them.

"Shut it, Berry," Santana replied.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Santana—"

"What?" Santana asked. "Do you expect me to be nice to her? I'd rather eat glass."

"You could at least not insult her," Quinn replied. "We are a group and we need to work together."

Santana scoffed. "Why? It's not like we win anything."

"We will have the knowledge that we are the best, which is a reward in itself," Rachel responded.

Santana rolled her eyes but didn't respond. Rachel gave Quinn a grateful smile for saying something to the other girl and Quinn smiled back. Santana looked between the two of them and rolled her eyes again.

"If you two are done, I'd like to get this over with," Santana remarked.

"Okay, I propose—"

"No," Santana said, interrupted Rachel.

Rachel pouted. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

"It doesn't matter," Santana replied. "The answer would still be no."

Rachel huffed. "So what it your idea since you refuse to listen to mine?"

Santana shrugged. "Who said I have one? I just don't want to sing some Streisand song."

"Okay, I don't only sing Streisand songs," Rachel replied. "And Barbra Streisand is an amaz—"

"Don't want to hear it, dward," Santana interrupted, holding up her hand.

"How about this," Quinn said, interrupting their bickering. "One of us is in charge of song selection, one is in charge of choreography, and the other is in charge of wardrobe."

"I would be agreeable to that," Rachel replied.

"How do we pick?" Santana asked.

"We don't," Quinn replied. "We pull it out of something just like Mr. Schue."

"Whatever," Santana said with a shrug.

Rachel smiled. "I think we have a plan."

"Wanna come over?" Sam asked as they walked out of the choir room.

"I can't," Rachel said, grabbing her bag. "I have to choose a song for this week's assignment, so I can let Quinn know in the morning."

While she was happy she was lucky enough to choose the song they would be singing, she was a little afraid of what they would be wearing. Santana would be the one in charge of wardrobe, and even though they set some ground rules—everyone had to be dressed in a similar fashion—she was afraid the Cheerio would find a way to humiliate her.

"That's too bad," Sam replied. "Stevie wants to make those pizza things again and you're so much better at it than I am."

"Maybe next ti—"

Rachel gasped when the icy substance came in contact with her face. No matter how many times she got hit with a slushy, it was never something she would get used to. The humiliation of getting hit—not to mention the actual pain it caused—was one of the worst things she'd ever experienced, and it happened repeatedly to her.

"Later, loser," she heard Karofsky say.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and wiped away some of the red substance from her eyes to find Sam standing next to her looking angry. He looked as if he was going to go after the football player, so Rachel put her hand over his to stop him. She didn't want him getting hurt on her account.

"Come one," Kurt said, walking toward her with Tina by his side. "Let's get you cleaned up."

She looked at Sam and he looked torn. "I would help, but—"

"Go," Rachel said, trying to give him a smile. "Your parents need you."

Sam sighed and said, "I'll call you later."

Rachel nodded as Tina and Kurt began leading her to the nearest bathroom, but she stopped and looked down the hall. "I need my bag."

"I'll get it for you," Tina replied. "What's your combination?"

"32-8-14," Rachel answered.

"Let's go before you start dripping on my shoes," Kurt said, pulling her toward the bathroom while Tina ran off down the hall.

"Wait."

Rachel looked up to find Quinn coming their way; she didn't even know the other girl was still around.

"Why are we waiting?" Kurt asked, sounding annoyed.

"Go home," Quinn commanded. "I'll help her."

Kurt seemed to hesitate, so Rachel said, "It's okay, Kurt."

The boy nodded and released Rachel, making a disgusted face when he looked at his hand. He shook it around like it was going to get off some of the sticky substance.

"Come on," Quinn said softly as she touched Rachel's arm and led her to the bathroom.

Once inside, Quinn took Rachel to the sink and walked over to grab a handful of paper towels from the dispenser. Wordlessly, she walked back to Rachel and began gently wiping her face. Rachel was watching her closely; the blonde looked slightly angry with her brows furrowed together, and Rachel wondered if she was angry with her.

"Did I do something wrong?" Rachel whispered.

"What?" Quinn asked, looking at her confusedly.

"You look angry," Rachel stated.

Quinn tilted her head. "Why would you think I'm angry with you?"

"I don't know," Rachel said, looking down.

"I'm angry with the guy that did this to you," Quinn said, continuing to wipe the slushy substance off of Rachel.

The door opened and Tina walked in with Rachel's emergency bag. "Sorry it took so long; I had to find a different way to get to your locker. For some reason Karofsky was sitting in the middle of the hallway and I was afraid he had another cup. Here."

Quinn grabbed the bag from Tina. "Thanks."

"Do you want me to help?" Tina asked.

"I've got it" Quinn said, running a bit of water over some paper towels.

"Okay," Tina said, giving Rachel a sad smile.

"I wonder why Karofsky was sitting in the hallway," Rachel remarked when Tina left.

"Probably because I kicked him," Quinn replied.

Rachel's mouth dropped. "You what?"

"He'll definitely think twice before doing it again," Quinn said, smirking slightly.

"Quinn!" Rachel said, gasping.

"What?" Quinn asked. "He deserved it."

"That's—" Rachel opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to figure out what to say. "I'm not worth getting in trouble over."

"Okay, first off, he isn't going to tell anyone," Quinn replied. "If he did, he would have to admit that a girl hurt him and he'd never risk the rest of the football team finding out. And second—yes, you are."

Rachel blushed. "While I abhor violence of any kind—thank you."

Quinn smiled. "You're welcome."

Rachel nervously tapped her fingers against her thigh; she didn't know why she was nervous, but there was just something about being trapped inside such a confined space with Quinn. She had been hesitant to get a ride home from Quinn—the blonde had already done a lot for her—but it seemed ridiculous to call one of her fathers to pick her up. So, they sat in silence except for the times Rachel needed to direct Quinn on where to turn.

"Turn left at the stop sign." Rachel instructed.

Quinn followed Rachel's direction, turning onto the street Rachel's house was on. The blonde glanced at Rachel before looking back at the road, and Rachel stilled her hands, wondering if it was bugging the other girl.

Quinn cleared her throat. "Are you—doing anything Friday?"

"I am," Rachel replied. "My fathers want to have a game night and Sam is supposed to join us since he doesn't have to babysit his brother and sister."

"Okay," Quinn said, tapping her fingers against the wheel. "What about Saturday?"

"I believe I am free Saturday," Rachel replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you would want to do something," Quinn stated. "Maybe go to a movie and dinner."

Rachel froze; that sounded very much like a date to her. Her first instinct was to say no, but Quinn already knew she didn't have plans and lying to Quinn felt wrong. Ever since Blaine had said what he said, she wondered if he was right. She kept thinking of every little thing Quinn had said or done and it made sense. At the same time, it didn't make any sense, though. Quinn was smart and beautiful and popular, and Rachel didn't understand what she would ever see in her.

"Okay," Rachel said, slightly unsure. "Yes."

Quinn smiled. "Tomorrow, I'll let you know what time."

"That sounds good." Rachel took a deep breath; surely it wasn't a date, but that didn't stop her heart from racing. "My house is right there."

Quinn nodded and slowed, pulling into Rachel's driveway. When she came to a complete stop, Rachel sat there awkwardly for a moment.

"Thank you for your help today," she finally said. "It's not very easy to clean up after a slushy hit, so I really appreciate your help."

"I was glad I could help," Quinn replied. "It's never happened to me, but I can imagine how it must feel. Just—don't ever let them get to you. I know some of the things they say to you, but they're wrong and one of these days they're going to see it."

"I—thank you," Rachel said, ducking her head.

Quinn smiled softly at her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Rachel nodded as she opened the door. "I will have a song chosen by tomorrow and let you know, so you can begin working on the choreography. And if you need any help with the choreography, let me know, and I will be glad to help in any way you need."

"I might take you up on that," Quinn replied.

Rachel stepped out of the car and bent down. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night," Quinn said, giving her a smile.

Rachel shut the door and turned away; as she walked down the driveway, she looked over her shoulder. Quinn was just pulling out of the drive and gave her a wave, so Rachel waved back. She didn't know if Quinn had just asked her out on a date, but part of her hoped she had.

"I can't believe I'm wearing this," Rachel said, looking down at herself.

"Quit bitching," Santana replied, rolling her eyes.

"But it's just so tight," Rachel complained, pulling at her tank top.

She was wearing a black tank top and leather pants, which she did not approve of, but Quinn and Santana were wearing similar clothing, so it didn't go against the rules. Upon seeing Santana's choice in wardrobe, she began trying to convince her to choose something else, but the other girl wouldn't budge.

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Quinn whispered into her ear, sending chills down Rachel's spine. "You look really good like that."

Rachel tried not to blush as she said, "Thank you."

"Do you two ever stop doing that?" Santana asked.

Rachel frowned. "Stop doing what?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Like you don't know."

"I assure you, Santana, I have no idea what you are referring to," Rachel replied.

"Guys, I think we're on," Quinn said, interrupting them.

Rachel looked down at her outfit and sighed; there was no getting out of this now. She was just going to have to put her game face on and do her best. She prided herself on always putting on a better performance than everyone else and today was going to be no exception.

"You'll be fine," Quinn said, smiling at her.

"I know," Rachel said and then looked at Quinn and smiled back.

She heard the band play the opening to the song and took a deep breath, readying herself. As soon as she heard her cue, she entered the choir room.

"I hate the world today
You're so good to me
I know but I can't change
Tried to tell you
But you look at me like maybe
I'm an angel underneath
Innocent and sweet"

Quinn entered after her, taking over the second half of the verse while Rachel put her microphone in one of the stands that were waiting on them

"Yesterday I cried
Must have been relieved to see
The softer side
I can understand how you'd be so confused
I don't envy you
I'm a little bit of everything
All rolled into one"

Together, the two sung the chorus while Santana remained in the hallways. Rachel looked at the audience and smiled at Sam's happy face.

"I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way"

Santana slinked into the room, singing her part of the song. Rachel had to admit that the girl knew how to work the room. Brittany was on her feet, cheering the moment her girlfriend walked into the room and Santana threw her a wink.

"So take me as I am
This may mean
You'll have to be a stronger man
Rest assured that
When I start to make you nervous
And I'm going to extremes
Tomorrow I will change
And today won't mean a thing"

They sang the chorus again and Rachel looked to the side at Quinn. She looked confident and happy, and Rachel almost thought their outfits were worth it because the blonde looked amazing in hers.

They ended the song together, singing the final verse as they walked onto the riser, working the audience. Rachel ruffled Sam's hair and he looked up at her, giving her a thumbs up.

"I'm a bitch, I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
When you hurt, when you suffer
I'm your angel undercover
I've been numb, I'm revived
Can't say I'm not alive
You know I wouldn't want it any other way"

When the song ended, everyone cheered and Rachel couldn't help but beam at them. It was one of the most enthusiastic reactions she had ever gotten from her fellow Glee members. She knew a lot of it was thanks to Quinn and Santana, but it still felt good. She was just glad she picked the song; she mostly did it to show Santana that she didn't just know Barbra Streisand songs, but it seemed to be a hit. Even Santana had seemed impressed by her choice; of course she didn't say anything, but she didn't complain, either, like she did about everything else.

"Girls, that was awesome!" Mr. Schue said. "That's what I'm talking about when I say teamwork. You three clearly worked together and you were able to bring us an amazing performance because of it. This is what we need if we're going to win Nationals this year."

"See, that wasn't so bad," Quinn whispered.

"You're right," Rachel agreed.

Quinn reached out and squeezed her hand before walking to her seat. Rachel smiled to herself at the gesture and followed her to the risers, sitting down next to Sam.

"That was really cool," Sam said, leaning toward her.

"Thank you," Rachel replied.

She had gone through a lot for that performance—as she expected, Santana was a pain to work with—but it was worth it. She had been focusing on it all week, but now that it was over, her mind was fully on the next day. She had been trying to forget about it, but now that she had nothing else to distract her, all she could think about was that she had a possible date with Quinn Fabray.

The song was Bitch by Meredith Brooks.