5:08PM

Rachel Berry sat on the steps of McKinley High School and waited for her fathers to pick her up. She had been the first one to dart out of the library following Mister Schuester's dismissal, as she was fully prepared for the utopian society that had developed during the day's activities to transform back to the social caste system the moment freedom was regained. She just wasn't ready for everyone to hate her again.

The sun hung low in the sky, and there were only a few cars left in the parking lot all collected near the athletics' field where people were enjoying the last few weekends of summer. Rachel checked her watch for the time and frowned. Her fathers were never late.

The doors burst open and Kurt was the first to appear. His messenger bag hanging delicately from his shoulder as he typed furiously on his cell phone. "Have a nice night," he said to Rachel as he made his way towards the parking lot. Pausing for a moment he turned on his heels. "What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?"

Rachel perched her lips watching the Way We Were in my PJs while eating junk food with my dads? She shook her head. "Nothing."

"Good," he said. "Mercedes and I were going to go to the mall to help reinvent her wardrobe." He shivered just at the thought of it. "You should come. It will be fun."

She grinned brightly, "I'd love to!"

As she watched Kurt make his way towards his Range Rover, she didn't hear the next figure approach her.

"Hey," Puck said plainly. He looked out at the horizon and had to squint at the bright light. "I was thinking about what happened between me and Kurt and it got me thinking about what you said before. You know about having two iPods and being a loser or whatever." He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "I'm going to try to be a good person, you know beat people up less. When Kurt hit me it was humiliating!" He realized he was drifting off the point he was making. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I ruined your stuff… and you know hit you in the face with those slushies all those times."

She frowned. "I forgive you." Placing her hands in her laps she carefully inspected each fingernail. "Why do you do it? What are you trying to prove?"

"Sometimes it's easier to scare the crap out of someone than to get them to like you," he shrugged. "It's just the way it is. Besides some people can just be really annoying sometimes."

She lifted her gaze to look at him. "You should join glee club, Noah. I think it'd be good for you."

He laughed and began to make his way towards the parking lot. "Right," he scoffed. "Ask me again after the lobotomy."

Just then Kurt's Range Rover pulled out of the parking lot and he slowed to offer Rachel a wave.

"Kurt, wait!" Puck chased after him. "Give me a ride; I'm on your way."

Against his better judgment, Kurt brought the car to a halt. "I don't know why I'm doing this," he muttered as Puck climbed in.

Rachel watched wistfully as the truck drive off. Behind her back, a pair of footsteps approached and passed right by her. "Goodbye, Santana," she called after the girl as she strut off causing her Cheerios skirt to bounce in step.

She stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "Bye, Rachel." She turned to leave again but instead pivoted back towards her. "Look, Berry, just so you know, I don't have a problem with you." She placed a hand on her hip. "I mean we'll probably never be friends or anything, but we're cool, okay? I'll try to cut the name calling and the teasing and whatever, but…" she sighed heavily, "I'll try to be nicer."

Rachel stood to her feet to approach her. "You shouldn't try to be nice," she said. "You should try to be yourself."

Santana arched a curious brow. "Okay," she said, turning back to the parking lot. She paused again and reached into her purse. "Here," she said extending a tube of lip gloss. "It looks better on you anyway."

"Thank you," she said, watching the cheerleader disappear into her car. Rachel opened up the lip gloss and applied it to her lips, startled when the door opened again and Finn appeared. "Hey," she said brightly.

"Hey," he replied with a half grin.

"Are you waiting to get picked up too?" She asked.

"Nah," he said slipping his hands into his pockets. "I'm just gonna walk, I don't live too far."

"Oh," she said.

"I can wait with you if you want?"

She sank back onto the steps and shook her head. "That's okay; I'll just see you on Monday."

He sank down beside her anyway and bounced his foot impatiently.

After a long moment of silence she finally spoke. "Can I ask you something?"

His leg froze and he turned his gaze to her carefully. "Like what?"

She could already feel the blush form in her cheeks and had to bow her head. "When you were… the reason you got detention…" she paused and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Was it because of me?"

Finn's eyes widened as they usual did when he was pushed into a corner. Rocking his head back and forth he pursed his lips as if carefully calculating his next move. "Kind of."

She looked away. "It's just you ran away so quickly, I thought I did something wrong."

"No," he said quickly. "It was me, I just… I really like you Rachel, I do. I like you too much, that's the problem."

"Why is it?"

"Ever since I joined glee," he explained. "I'm not sure what I want anymore. I used to think that all I wanted in high school was to be popular. To be the quarterback and to date the super hot cheerleader, but now there's you and glee and…" he flinched. "Not that I don't think you're super hot," he corrected with an uncomfortable chuckle. "I'm sorry; I just always say the wrong thing."

She smiled bashfully. Nobody had ever called her hot before.

"I think I just need to figure out who I am, you know?" He shrugged. "On my own."

"I think that's admirable, Finn," she said trying to hide the hint of disappointment form her voice. Her father's black Volvo rolled up to rescue her and she stood quickly. "I hope you find him soon," she said gathering her things. "Because I think he's a really great guy." Marching towards the car she threw one last glance at Finn sitting on the steps staring at his hands thoughtfully, and couldn't help but smile.

Don't you forget about me. She thought, slipping into the front seat.

END

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Just want to thank everyone who reviewed and stuck with the story. I had a lot of fun with parts of it and I'm glad you liked it too. You would not believe how encouraging it is to hear what other people think of your little day dreams. Thanks again for reading!