It's been exactly one year since I've posted the prologue.
Happy anniversary!

Favors

At the sudden ring of his mobile phone Jesse jumped awake. He blinked a few times trying to decipher the red numbers on his alarm-clock. It was way too early. The kind of early in which you just fell asleep like an hour ago and didn't want to be waked up because you just got home from rehearsal.

Jesse grabbed his phone blindly. He didn't even make an effort to watch the name on screen because he would surely doom everyone who dared to call him at this hour.

"Hello?" He asked groggily.

"Jesse, honey. I just wanted to remind you of grandma's birthday next weekend. You promised to come!"

"Mom?" Jesse groaned.

"As far as I can remember… I may be wrong, though." He heard a small giggle on the other side of the line. He rolled his eyes. "Where are you with your head today?"

Jesse let himself fall back into the pillows. "In bed…"

"Huh?"

He put one over his face hoping he would pass out and get back to sleep again. "Mom: the time-difference?" He sighed in exhaustion.

Jesse heard his mother gasp. "I'm so sorry, Jesse. Seems like I've been traveling around a bit too long now. I forgot."

Jesse hummed an agreement. "I figured." He was going to end the call when his mother spoke up again.

"And?" She pressed.

"And what?"

"The birthday party? You can bring your girlfriend. I'd like to meet her."

At the near mention of the word girlfriend Jesse jumped again. "What girlfriend?"

"Rachel, if I remember correctly. I tried to invite Luke as well but he can't make it. He told me about her. It's a shame through that you haven't told me yourself."

Jesse groaned again. "No. No, no, no, no. Rachel's not my girlfriend. She's Vocal Adrenaline's female lead. You must have confused things."

"Even better," his mother replied in a demanding tone and Jesse knew he couldn't talk Rachel out of this. If his mother wanted something she would get it. No exception.

"Can we please talk about this later? I can't think straight right now."

"I expect you to come."

Jesse nodded and the line went dead.

He turned around trying to get back to his desperately needed sleep but something stopped him. He suddenly remembered his conversation with Rachel the day before and the stupid favor she had asked him for. Her eyes had watered up and she had pouted in an attempt to convince him. He had never seen such a convincible show face in a situation like this before. He had patted her shoulder as a sign of respect before he had nicely told her no.

He reached for his phone and sent a message.

Maybe now she needed to do him a favor herself.

Quinn had already tried to assure Rachel for a week that she was doing fine after her sudden break-up with Sam but Rachel always seemed to question her emotional state of mind.

Only a few hours ago Rachel had talked Quinn into joining her at church service promising that she would stop worrying about her. Right now she was sitting in the main sanctuary of one of Ohio's only synagogues all by herself. Rachel had disappeared a few moments ago after catching sight of an unread text message.

Quinn sighed. She didn't know how she had ended here as a believing Christ but something seemed to have gone wrong. The situation was almost bizarre considering Quinn had been dumped and not Rachel. Ever since Rachel's revelation Quinn had tried to talk with her but Rachel always seemed to be busy with something else. Vocal Adrenaline was working non-stop. And that included hours of rehearsals for either Regionals or Funny Girl.

Quinn almost admired Rachel's persistence to keep it professional. She was always doing something with Jesse. They were paired up for every performance and every school assignment which included working at home until late hours. More than once Quinn had caught a sleeping Rachel in front of the TV leaning against Jesse's shoulder. They were cute. And so damn stupid. Maybe Rachel needed the distraction.

Quinn started thinking about methods to get these two together when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Is this seat taken?"

Quinn looked up to a boy her age. He was wearing a kippah and the sharp lines of his face looked kind of familiar. She couldn't right place him but she shook her head. She had no idea when Rachel would return.

The boy sat down and sighed. "Damn, I thought I'd never find a place to sit."

Quinn furrowed her brows and took a look through the rows of the main sanctuary. She noticed an older couple and a woman not that much older than her. They had just ended their prayer and started to chat quietly. But other than that, the synagogue was empty.

Quinn nodded in agreement. "Because there are so many people here." She clicked her tongue. "It's really crowded."

The boy laughed. "I already guessed that her sarcasm was going to rub off on you."

Quinn raised a brow at the boy beside her. There was only one girl whose sarcasm could have rubbed off on her and this girl had left her alone good 10 minutes ago.

"Rachel?" Quinn replied questioningly.

The boy nodded and smiled at Quinn's clueless expression. He was going to take his kippah off when Rachel suddenly returned.

She shot him an asking look. "Noah?"

Quinn's eyes widened. Shouldn't she have recognized him? Even with the kippah on his head? Something seemed odd at his appearance and as he took of his kippah, Quinn understood. His mohawk was gone.

Rachel's mouth dropped open but before she was able to ask Puck went to explain.

"My mom found a mole on my head when she was washing my hair on Friday. She started crying about sun block and how she's always telling me to wear a hat when I'm cleaning pools. So, she made me go see Dr. Friendlander, the dermatologist. He said he had to shave the head to get a closer look at it." He grimaced.

The girls raised their brows in interest. He laughed dryly.

"It was nothing—they maimed me over a freaking freckle! I feel like that guy that lost all his hair, then lost all his strength. This morning, people actually had the balls to look me in the eye."

Puck sighed deeply. "I need to switch schools."

Rachel couldn't suppress a laugh and the other church attendees threw them disapproving glances.

"You're still Puckasaurus," Rachel explained.

Quinn nodded supportive. "I mean, it's just a Mohawk, right?"

For a short moment Puck's hand wandered to his head. He stopped abruptly.

"Just a Mohawk…" He muttered quietly.

"I think it suits you," Quinn threw in. "I mean, it's not as intimidating, but you are still the same person, right? And it looks really good on you."

Puck titled his head and stared at Rachel's big sister in astonishment.

Rachel cleared her throat. "I think Quinn is right, Noah. You shouldn't worry about you hair that much." She chuckled. "It's a girls' thing to do. And I'm positive that that would be even worse for you."

His eyes widened as he shuddered at the thought.

"Well," Rachel continued. "It was nice seeing you, but Quinn and I have to go."

"Really?" Quinn asked. She had been desperate to leave since she had entered the building but now… She threw an apologetic look at Puck.

He nodded in understanding and took leave with a last glance at the Blonde.

Rachel pulled Quinn by her arm and walked her out of the synagogue. When they stepped over the doorsill Rachel stopped and turned around with a big smile.

"I've got some great news."

"Where are we driving?" Quinn questioned. She watched the landscape as they drove by and wondered if Rachel was driving her back to Lima.

"I bring you home, Quinn."

The girl blinked confused. "And why is that so?"

"You need to change clothes," Rachel explained.

"And I need to change clothes because…?"

Rachel smiled broadly. "I've organized you a date."

"Rachel," Quinn groaned. "Please tell me you're kidding."

Rachel stopped the car at a red traffic light and turned her head to give her sister a serious look. "You told me you were over Sam," Rachel replied reproachfully.

Quinn nodded in annoyance. "I am."

"Great. What a wonderful way of confirming me that by going out on the date. You know, I've been worrying all week."

Quinn noticed the further sound of reproach in Rachel's voice and sighed in defeat. Rachel had really been there for her every single day since the break-up (even if Quinn had repeatedly told her that she didn't need to be taken care of because she was already a big girl).

"Alright," Quinn agreed reluctant.

If the boy was anything like Puck she would surely have a night of fun. She couldn't imagine that one date could really be that bad. And she was going to end Rachel's worry at the end of the night and that was all that she wanted right now.

"So who's the lucky one?"

Quinn was staring at the boy on the other side of the table with a disapproving look. She shook her head in disbelief and made a mental note to never agree to something like this ever again. Rachel couldn't be serious. They definitely needed to talk about this again.

"I can't believe that you actually agreed to this."

"Oh, believe me," Jesse remarked. "This favor won't stay one-sided…"

Quinn quirked a brow. "Well, if you finally decided to make a move on her and try to make her jealous with me I'm fully on board." She wiggled her brows. Maybe this evening was really leading to something.

Jesse raised his view from the menu and furrowed his brows. "What?"

Quinn sighed. "Nothing."

Jesse nodded and turned his attention back to the menu again. "Why is that place called Breadstix again?"

Quinn pointed to a glass with breadsticks in it.

"Ah. Very creative."

Quinn rolled her eyes. If the evening was going to continue like that she would have rather stayed home to watch a movie or something. She still couldn't believe that Rachel had tricked her into this. What was wrong with her?

"So…" Quinn started. She hadn't pegged Jesse for the quiet kind because he always seemed to have something to talk about when he was with Rachel. Maybe there was the problem, Quinn realized for a second time this day. "Since I'm only a favor for you," Quinn continued theatricality, "I want to know what all that's about."

Jesse shrugged.

"Really?"

He laid the menu aside and looked at Quinn with a small twitch on his mouth.

"I got a phone call this morning," Jesse went to explain. "My dear mother called me to remind me of my grandmother's birthday next weekend and that I promised to come."

Quinn nodded eagerly for him to continue. He laughed quietly.

"And Luke had the brilliant idea of telling her about Rachel."

Quinn grinned widely. If she had thought that this evening was going to get boring she had thought wrong. If this was going to lead in the kind of direction she had hoped she would have the funniest night of her life.

"My mom wants to meet her. She had always taken an interest to the leading ladies in my life… Don't ask why."

"Leading lady?" Quinn asked insinuatingly.

Jesse sighed. "Please don't you start with that, too."

Quinn titled her head. She wondered if Jesse could actually be as blind as he pretended to be when she watched something in his eyes struggle.

"There is something going on between you," Quinn stated. She wanted to know if his reaction would be any comparable to Rachel's but he covered it with a smirk.

"Quinn…"

"I really don't get why you are acting like this. Both of you. And you are way worse than Rachel. I at least got a reaction out of her."

He raised a brow. "Really?"

"Oh, no. Don't you act like that. I'm not going to tell you."

"She surely declared her undying love for me, right?"

Quinn's mouth dropped open. "You have no right to make fun of this. You're clearly perfect for each other!"

"Quinn," Jesse repeated patiently. "We are just friends," he explained with a shrug.

Quinn gave a disbelieving nod at his implausible explanation.

"I'm not going to talk about this with you. It's complicated."

Quinn raised her finger in the air. "Aha. So you do admit that there's something?"

"I'm not. And this conversation is official over."

"One last question," Quinn pleaded.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes?"

"Where will you take her for the birthday?"

Quinn entered the house later than expected. She tried to sneak through the corridor on her toes when she heard the sound of the TV in the living room.

She stuck her head through the door and spotted Rachel's sleeping figure on the couch. She walked quietly over to her and listened to her steady breaths. Her left arm hung down the couch with the remote in her hand. Quinn turned off the TV and covered Rachel with a blanket.

Rachel opened her eyes and blinked. She took a look at the clock on the door and rubbed her eyes.

"It's pretty late," she stated emotionless. "Didn't think you two would take so long."

Quinn could tell that it hurt Rachel's unresolved feelings that she had actually gone out with Jesse and that it had taken so long. But it had been Rachel's idea in the first place. Quinn needed to do something about it.

"Yeah," Quinn replied dreamingly. "It was a great date, Rachel. Thanks for setting it up."

Rachel blinked again. She knew that Quinn knew about her feelings but she hadn't thought that Quinn was going to ignore them so cruely.

"That's great," Rachel answered bitter.

"And now I know why you didn't want to share him with Giselle. He is an amazing kisser."

Rachel gulped.

"You two haven't kissed, yet," Quinn concluded.

Rachel turned around facing the backrest of the couch and pulling the blanket over her head.

Quinn was staring at her sister in regret. She had thought that they were at least acting as a couple on stage- as Nick and Fanny- and that they had already loosened some of their sexual tension there.

"We didn't kiss," Quinn whispered.

"He was only talking about you all night."

March 28, 2015.