"Can someone turn the light off?"
Santana looked at Rachel with incredulity. "What are you, like seven? It's only ten o'clock!"
Brittany giggled at Santana's words while Rachel tried to look surprised. "Oh, sorry, I thought it was much later than that. You know, some much more acceptable hour for sleeping."
"Yeah, sure you did." She watched Rachel's face crumple for a split second, and instantly regretted it. She was supposed to be the new and improved Santana Lopez, yet she'd just as easily reverted back to her old, bitchy ways. She'd packed her letters, one for each of the glee club, but she had yet to give them out; she wasn't sure she actually had the guts to go through with it. In an attempt to be somewhat nice (she had little experience), she instead decided to engage Rachel in conversation.
"Santana, is something wrong?" frowned Rachel. "You've been staring at me for a while..."
Santana laughed in her humourless way that sounded mocking and cruel rather than elated. "No, I wasn't. So, you and Finn; you slept together yet?"
Mercedes, Tina and Quinn had been talking amongst themselves, but at Santana's question they were silent, turning their attention to a suddenly flustered Rachel. What should she say? Of course they hadn't done it yet, but if she said no, would that seem uncool?
"I don't see how it's any of your business-" she began.
"That means no," whispered Brittany, though everyone could hear her (and Quinn found herself laughing despite knowing that Rachel was probably a better person than she was).
"I really don't get the obsession with sex! Yes, it's one of the experiences of growing up, but how is such a basic human act supposed to define a character?" Rachel could feel the colour of her cheeks rising, but she needed to get this off her chest. "Love isn't just about doing 'it' because everyone else is. It's about the relationship itself! It's about being able to say that your partner is totally devoted to you, and you to them! It's about-"
"Chill Berry, I'm not stupid. It's called making conversation." See? This is what happened when you tried to do good deeds; you had to listen to a bunch of crap you didn't give a damn about. Rachel huffed to herself as she crossed her arms.
"Soooo, how about a game of something?" suggested Mercedes.
Quinn laughed with a dramatic sigh. "Oh please, next you're going to suggest playing truth or dare, or something just as cliché."
Brittany clapped her hands with a cheer. "Oh, I love truth or dare! Can I start?" Everyone else looked a little embarrassed. It was such a lame game in a 'we should totally play it' sort of way, but they were sixteen; was that too old to play?
"Okay Brittany, truth or dare?" asked Tina, as if confirming that they were going go through with it.
Brittany bit her lip as she squirmed on the spot. "Ummm... dare!" The rest of the girls looked at each other for guidance, wondering what they could possibly do for a dare.
"I dare you to..." Quinn began, only to feel an evil smile spread across her features. "I dare you to go and tell Mr Schue that you've wet the bed." Mercedes burst into a fit of hysterics, tears rolling down her face; Tina looked completely shocked, unable to imagine doing such a thing; Santana simply nodded in approval.
"Brittany, you don't have to do that, it's really cruel," said Rachel, putting emphasis on her words. She'd never played this game before, but it sounded unnecessarily mean.
"That's nothing. Linda from Cheerios once dared me to eat a whole cactus."
Rachel winced. "Please tell me you didn't!"
Brittany shrugged like it was the most normal thing in the world. "I ate as much as I could. It was really spiky." Tina shook her head in disbelief; it could only happen to Brittany.
"How do we know you've asked?" asked Mercedes.
"Good question. Keep the door open and speak extra loud, okay?" said Quinn. Rachel wanted to cover her head with her pillow so that she couldn't hear what was coming. How degrading.
"Wish me luck!" whispered Brittany with a grin. She jumped out of bed, opened the door as wide as it would go, then skipped the short distance to Mr Schue's room before knocking loudly.
"Brittany, is everything okay?" he asked warily as he glanced over her shoulder.
"Mr Schue, I wet the bed. Do you have any spare sheets?" Inside the girls' room, everyone (apart from Rachel) was trying their best not to laugh too loud.
"I uh, how did, you w-wet the bed?"
"I drank too much. It's okay, I can just sleep on the mattress. Thanks Mr Schue!" Brittany skipped back into the room to receive four enthusiastic high fives (Rachel refused to praise her childish behaviour).
"Okay, San, it's your turn! Truth or dare?" Santana gazed around at the five people who were giving her such different looks. Rachel was half glaring, half smiling, which Santana expected was down to disapproval and fear; Mercedes looked hesitant, probably because of the whole Puck thing (she hadn't really apologised for that yet); Tina looked excited since the two of them had never really had the chance for a cat fight (but that could soon be arranged); Quinn looked silently confident, which Santana took to mean 'I'm going to give you a great dare'; Brittany just looked smiley and clueless as usual.
"Truth," Santana said with a trademark shimmy of her head.
"Who gets to ask it?" queried Tina. Quinn gave a half shrug as if uninterested.
"Whoever has something to ask."
"Have you ever had genuine feelings for anyone?" It was Mercedes who plucked up the courage, though her words were sceptical and a little cold.
"That's the best you got?" laughed Santana, again in such a humourless way that she might as well have never laughed at all. "Yes." Mercedes was about to protest until Santana shimmied her head once more. "Don't start. You didn't ask for a specific someone." Santana took Mercedes' eye roll in her stride. "You, Rachel, truth or dare?"
Rachel shook her head quickly. "I refuse to be involved in such a demeaning and-"
"Come on Rachel, it's only a game," insisted Tina. Rachel bit her lip in thought. She should have been trying to build bridges with the girls, not burn them, and heck, Tina was going to have a go, so why couldn't Rachel?
"I'm going to regret this, I know I am... Dare." She scrunched her eyes up tightly in what could potentially be the worst mistake of her young life.
"Ooh, let's think of something really fun!" said Brittany.
"Wait outside a minute," said Santana.
Rachel looked confused. "Are you talking to me?"
"Who else? Hurry up, we're not playing this thing all night."
Rachel hung her dressing gown over her shoulders as she was exiled from the bedroom. It was hard, knowing that Finn was under the same roof, especially since Rachel was already hating their living arrangements.
Not sure how long they were going to be, she tried to put her spare time to good use. What kind of song would best represent Mike? Well, it would help if she knew the tiniest bit about him. He seemed popular enough in glee, but Rachel was the girl everyone avoided, so she'd never had the pleasure of being in his company. He'd mentioned his dancing skills a few times; she could definitely work with that. Still, that wasn't exactly pushing the boat out. No, Rachel was determined to reveal a side of Mike Chang that no one else had seen... Or at least that was the plan. She glanced towards the kitchen, very tempted to make herself some hot chocolate (she'd had a craving ever since slowly adapting to her non-vegan routine again), but her longing was cut short as Santana's smug head appeared from the bedroom.
"Come on Berry, this is going to be hilarious."
Rachel felt like throwing up on the spot, but somehow found the energy to walk towards the cheerleader, whose face seemed to be glowing proudly. "Let me guess... You were the one who thought of it?" asked Rachel pitifully. Brittany giggled, which meant that yes, it had been Santana after all.
"You can't back out now Rachel. Besides, we could have thought of way harsher things."
Rachel glared at Quinn, who shrugged. "We're all going to get a turn."
Rachel looked down at her feet, which were currently hidden by a pair of pink, fluffy bed socks (one of many gifts her dads had given her before she'd left).
"Okay, let's just get it over with," she muttered.
"We dare you to go to the boys' room, go inside, then sit silently on Kurt's bed."
Rachel risked a confused frown at Santana. "I just have to go in there and be quiet?" she asked, hoping she'd actually been blessed with a bearable dare.
"You have to stay in there until someone guesses why you're there, and you're not allowed to talk, or write anything down." Rachel felt her jaw hang slack. They'd never guess that she was there as part of a dare! Then again, she could easily whisper to Finn or something-
"Oh, and no cheating. I'll be questioning Puck tomorrow, and believe me, I can get him to spill if you've been bending the rules," added Quinn with a tight twist of the mouth.
"This is ridiculous, I don't think I-" Rachel looked towards Mercedes and Tina for support.
Mercedes pulled a sympathetic face while Tina gave a quick shrug. "It won't be too hard, and I'm sure that Kurt or Artie will guess right?"
Rachel sighed inwardly. This was going to be hell. "Fine, I'm going, I'm going. I'll see you tomorrow morning." With the vindictive giggling of Santana and Brittney ringing in her ears, Rachel marched herself to the boys' bedroom. It could have been worse; what would Mr Schue have done if she'd entered and refused to talk to him? She lifted a clammy hand to the bedroom door and knocked quietly a few times, worried that Miss Pillsbury might catch her (then again, if she did find her trying to get in, she'd probably send her back to her own bedroom...).
"Rachel? What are you doing here?" Rachel felt her heart catch in her throat as her giant of a boyfriend stared down at her, confusion and excitement written all over his face. "You know you're not supposed to be here, right?" Rachel resisted the incredible urge to press her lips against Finn's as his mouth smiled crookedly (he wasn't allowed to be so adorable in a situation like this!). Instead, she forced a nod and a half hearted smile. "Rach... are you okay?" She nodded again, which made Finn frown. "Are you like, coming in or something? Puck's only in his vest and underwear though..."
Rachel cringed. If she went in now, would it look like she was interested in seeing Noah almost naked? No, Finn knew perfectly well that the Puckerman ship had sailed long, long ago (and even then, 90% of her thoughts had revolved around Finn).
With a deep breath, Rachel stepped around Finn, and almost burnt up with utter embarrassment. It wasn't just Puck who was ready for bed, but Matt and Mike too. She didn't harbour secret feelings for any of them, but wow, had they always been so toned and, for lack of a better word, hot?
"Berry, what the hell do you think you're doing?" barked Puck, who had previously been staring at something on Matt's iPod. Rachel didn't respond, though she wanted nothing more than to dart back to her own room (especially since she'd only just realised that she was wearing bright yellow pyjamas, adorned with happy chickens). Ignoring Puck's rude question, she instead walked over to Kurt, who looked completely terrified, before sitting down on the edge of his bed, staring once again at her fluffy socks.
"Earth to Rachel, is anyone there? Is something wrong with her?"
"I dunno, she didn't say anything when she knocked..."
"Rachel?" Rachel looked up meekly at Artie, whose head was cocked as if analysing her expression. "Is there something wrong with your voice?" Rachel thought quickly; she wasn't allowed to talk or write, but the girls hadn't mentioned anything about hand signals. She raised one hand slowly and nervously, looked Artie in the eye, then rocked it back and forth to try and communicate 'sort of'. Artie laughed until he realised it wasn't a joke. "Erm, okay, you can't say anything at all?"
Rachel shook her head sadly.
"Is Santana a closet witch who put some kind of silencing spell on you?" Rachel turned her head to face Kurt with a smile before repeating her hand gesture; she was glad that Kurt's lips twitched slightly in response.
"Does that mean she really is a witch?" whispered Finn anxiously, which resulted in a playful punch from Puck. "Ow man, that one hurt!" Finn ignored Puck's roar of a laugh. Instead, he focused his attention on helping Rachel, despite the throbbing pain in his arm. "Has someone told you to do this?" Rachel's face lit up as a bright smile spread across her face whilst she nodded vigorously. Her hand seemed to beckon him forward, which Finn deduced to mean that she wanted him to carry on, or you know, something like that. "Erm..."
"Did you lose a bet?" ventured Mike, who was overwhelmed by the passion in Rachel's smile. She shook her hand backwards and forwards again, but it meant that they were getting close.
"Did you win a game of Cluedo with Mercedes? She's a bad loser," attempted Kurt, though Rachel shook her head, still keeping her gaze on Finn (she was certain that he'd get it after all).
"Did they kick you out for being such a pain in the ass?" Puck's question was met by Finn's fist, which collided with his shoulders. "You bitch, I didn't even hit you that hard!"
"Shut the hell up, we're trying to help Rachel here." Rachel ignored Noah's muttering and cursing because she was sure that her heart was glowing with the determination in Finn's voice. She smiled again at him, which in turn made him smile back automatically.
"So you're playing some type of game, right?" asked Matt. Rachel nodded, still keeping her eye on Finn. Then, Rachel was sure that she had witnessed the most beautiful thing in the world. Finn frowned as he was thinking, yet slowly, realisation spread across his face, meeting his lips so that he smiled in confident victory.
"Is it truth or dare? Did someone dare you to do it?"
Rachel jumped off of Kurt's bed and straight into Finn's unsuspecting arms with a squeal. "I knew you'd get it Finn! That was absolutely excruciating, and I really thought that I'd be here all night, or that you'd throw me out and break up with me for not having the courage to tell you what was going on, but if I'd have failed then-"
"Rach, you need to slow down 'cause I'm still trying to work out what excruciating means."
Rachel kissed Finn's lips hungrily, though didn't linger; she wasn't really into strong public displays of affection. "I love you Finn. See you in the morning." She pulled herself away from Finn's reluctant grip and turned to the other boys. "Thanks for helping! Now I'm going to go dare Quinn to run outside naked." Puck's head snapped up in disbelief and anticipation, only to be met with an annoying perky wink from Rachel. "Only joking. Night guys!" And then she skipped out of the room.
"Man, did that really just happen?"
Finn looked over at Matt. "You mean, did my girlfriend just kiss me?"
Matt rolled his eyes. "No, I mean, did Rachel just come in here because the other girls dared her to?"
Finn wondered if Matt was like a fish or something, because he'd never known anyone with such a bad memory. "Yeah, they're playing-"
"Matt's trying to take in the image of the girls playing games like that," helped Artie.
"Maybe they're playing spin the bottle!"
Finn scrunched up his nose in the same was as Kurt did whilst Puck and Matt high fived. He'd never understood the lesbian thing. He'd double dated Santana and Brittany because he was flattered by the attention, but if they'd made out while he was watching, he probably would have looked away out of politeness. Therefore, the idea of girls kissing each other and stuff didn't really do it for him; when he tried to imagine Rachel kissing Quinn, he only made himself jealous, and he decided it was probably a good time to change the subject.
"So, why don't we play a game or something?" The room went silent as everyone stared at Finn in disbelief.
"Dude, it's hot when girls play shit like that, but it's just gay when us guys do." Puck looked over his shoulder at Kurt. "No offence Hummel."
"None taken," replied Kurt with the bored tone he usually reserved for Rachel.
"Well then, why don't we, uh, like talk and stuff? We could tell each other a secret, or... yeah?" Again, the room was deathly quiet (Artie wouldn't have been surprised if a tumbleweed had blown past).
"Shut the hell up Hudson! You sound like some kind of-" Kurt cleared his throat in anticipation, which caused Puck to bite his tongue. "We don't talk about secrets because hey, if you haven't already noticed, we're guys." Finn could see Mike frowning out of the corner of his eye. Did that mean that he wasn't the only one who disagreed with Puck?
"If you haven't already noticed, we're not all exactly the best of friends," said Finn in frustration. "Mr Schue's right when he said... well, whatever he said. It's good that we're pairing up with girls we don't know enough, but there's still people in here that I don't talk to much." Finn paused to try and think ahead, but was interrupted by Artie.
"My favourite flavour of pie is cherry, because my mom used to make her own before the accident." All eyes, reluctant or otherwise, were focused on Artie, but it didn't stop his confession. "After the whole ordeal, she never made another pie because I used to help wash the cherries. I can't reach the kitchen sink anymore." Finn felt like an intruder on Artie's secret, but the smile on the bespectacled kid suggested that he was happy to share the information."I want to pluck up the courage to ask her to make more, but I'm worried it'll bring back some bad memories for her." Artie pushed his glasses on further. "Anyway, now you know something more about me, just in case you want to gift me with pies now and again."
Finn resisted giving him a thumbs up because while he thought it would be cool, he was pretty sure that it only happened in lame movies.
"My dad threatened to throw me out of the house when I told him about glee," said Mike, though his voice was a little wobbly. "He'd tried to get me to learn piano so many times, and when I told him that I wanted to sing rather than play, he gave me the night to pack my things. My mom managed to talk him out of it, but I can't mention glee to him at all without watching him blow up." Mike smiled to himself. "He thinks I'm staying at Matt's for the week."
Puck was feeling really uncomfortable. He appreciated that the guys were being so honest, but he had nothing he wanted to share, especially not anything emotional. He didn't want to be pitied, and the last he needed was people feeling sorry for him because of some messed up daddy issues. He was tempted to make some shit up, but he wasn't so good at improvising, and he was pretty sure that Finn would know he was lying.
"I own an animal sweater," admitted Kurt.
Finn snorted with laughter. "Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to l-l-laugh." He wasn't sure if Kurt heard him because he was too busy cracking up.
"Thanks Mr Sensitive. Anyway, it was a guilty impulse buy that I've only ever had the courage to wear in my room... with the lights out." He ignored the way Finn's face turned red as he tried to hold back another laugh. "I know I can rock anything, but Rachel has seriously put me off for a while." Mike reached over to pat Kurt sympathetically on the shoulder.
"I really like listening to the chick from High School Musical," admitted Matt. Mike nodded with a smile (he'd often heard about Matt's weird obsession) while Puck looked like he was about to hurl abuse. "Don't get me wrong, the movies are really cheesy, but man, have you heard her sing?" Finn was almost sure he heard a dreamy sigh escape Matt's lips.
"You have got to be kidding me," snorted Puck.
"What difference does it make? Vanessa is stunning, and she just... Yeah, alright, I know it's a little sad." When Matt began to laugh at himself, everyone else decided it was okay to join in, though now the focus of attention was on Puck and Finn, who had yet to divulge any secrets.
"I'm not as badass as I used to be." Artie covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "I mean, hell, everyone feared and respected me at school, but since knocking up Quinn and joining glee, I've become a... a..." Puck winced. "I've become a geek, and not in a good way."
"Is there ever a good type of geek?" whispered Kurt, which Artie responded to with a shrug.
"Then, to make the whole situation worse, I'm never gonna have a mohawk again."
Mike gasped dramatically. "Why?"
Puck clenched his jaw. "Quinn likes me better without one."
Finn shook his head with a snigger. "Man, you are so whipped!"
"Oh yeah? Tell me Princess Finn, is it true that you sat through a whole day watching a crap load of romcom movies just to please your girl?"
Finn's ears began to burn as he stuttered at the accusation. "I didn't... w-what made... How do you k-know about that?"
"It's called MySpace you loser. Berry said that she'd had," Puck held up his fingers and wiggled them to emphasise a quote, "'a really good time educating Finn in the finer details of romantic comedies'." Matt and Mike sniggered to each other while Kurt directed his attention to his bag of toiletries (he needed to moisturise before bed).
"Why were you on Rachel's page, and why the hell did you memorise that?" snapped Finn.
Puck shrugged with an air of nonchalance. "I like searching for ways to torment you, and obviously it worked."
Finn looked like he was about to punch Puck right on the nose, and though he'd never admit it, Artie wasn't exactly a fan of blood, so he decided to intervene. "Hey guys, let's just chill shall we? Anyway Finn, it's your turn to tell us a secret."
Finn closed his eyes whilst taking a deep breath. What could he possibly tell them without getting ridiculed? "I wanted to call Quinn's baby Drizzle." He opened one eye to take in Puck's expression.
"That doesn't count because I already knew that," he said, rolling his eyes.
Mike cleared his throat awkwardly. "Actually, so did I..."
Finn was aghast. Quinn had told them all about that? "What about you Kurt?"
Kurt looked mortified because Finn's voice was filled with such malice. "As a matter of fact, I didn't." Kurt pressed his lips together to stop himself from admitting that he'd been told the baby would be called Thunder.
"Fine, whatever, it was a stupid name anyway."
Finn turned his attention to the ceiling so that he didn't end up slamming his fist into Puck's face. It was weird, but even though they'd been friends for ages, Finn hadn't wanted to fight with Puck so much. Yeah, they often had small shuffles over Mario games and stuff, but recently, all he wanted to do was beat the crap out of him. Maybe it was just that, until the baby disaster, Finn had never noticed how goddamn annoying Puck really was, because now, everything that came out of his mouth was an insult to someone.
"Dude, you still have to tell us something," insisted Matt.
Finn clenched his jaw. This whole thing had had been a total waste of time. "Glee has been the best thing to ever happen to me," he finally said. His voice was small because he was expecting Puck to laugh in his face or something, but surprisingly, he saw him nod out of the corner of his eye.
"Same here," Puck croaked as he turned around to get himself comfy in bed.
Artie's eyes glistened behind his glasses. "And here," he whispered.
Mike and Matt knuckle bumped.
"And here," Mike smiled.
"And here," said Matt.
"And just to break the combo, I agree with you totally Finn. I don't know where I'd be without glee." Finn gave an honest, heartfelt smile to his housemate/almost brother/friend. Then, as if Finn's words had been a cue for sleep, everyone began to get ready to hit the sack, knowing just a little bit more about each other.
A/N: I lied D: I didn't mean for this to be a standalone chapter, but since it went on for so long, I didn't want the spotlight to be taken away from the winning couple... Rachel and Mike! They got the most votes, followed closesly by Santana and Kurt, so for all those who voted for them, I hope I can do the characters justice. Thank you everyone who took the time to vote! The new chapter should be up tomorrow since I don't mean to make you guys wait ages for it, and hopefully, everything will run smoothly from there :)
As always, big hugs and thank yous to everyone who has alerted, favourited (is that a word?) and reviewed this story. Oh, and one last note; for those who review anonymously, you should totatlly make an account just so I can reply and say thank you properly, because I appreciate your reviews just as much as everyone else's.
Next chapter: Rachel and Mike :D