A/N: Both stories updated in two days, I think this might be a record haha :) I wasn't originally planning on a part 2 to this, but I re-considered after requests from my awesome reviewers. I hope you all enjoy and please review :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

Walking into the classroom Vocal Adrenaline members used for their study hall, Jesse smiled when he saw that not only was Rachel already there, but she was currently deep in conversation with one of their teammates.

"Hi," Rachel greeted with a smile when she saw him approaching.

"Hi," Jesse replied, returning her smile as he slid into the seat next to her. Turning to the teammate she had been talking to, he said, "Hi, Andy."

"Hi, Jesse," Andrea returned. "Have you seen Shelby?"

"Not lately, why?"

"Well, Rachel and I were thinking she could duet with you on one of the songs. We were thinking the first one."

"Works for me," Jesse agreed. "We just have to get Shelby to approve it."

"Maybe we should work on it?" Rachel suggested, pulling out her folder with the sheet music in it. "Split up the parts, figure out which ones we want to sing together."

"I wonder if Shelby would let us use the choir room for this period. I know it's not being used by another class and she's let me use it before."

"Let's go find her and ask."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jesse told her before turning to Andrea. "Are you staying here, Andy?"

"I think I'll tag along, actually. Make sure you two don't cause any trouble…or get sidetracked by each other," Andrea replied, earning an annoyed look from Jesse and a laugh from Rachel.

"Come on, let's go find Shelby," Rachel said, tugging on Jesse's hand.

As she was getting ready to leave her office, Shelby looked up to see three of her students standing in the doorway.

"Is everything okay?" she immediately asked.

"We have a request," Rachel answered. "To answer your question, though, everything is fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

"She's a bit of worrywart, kind of like you," Jesse told her.

Ignoring Jesse's comment, Shelby turned to her daughter.

"What's the request?" she inquired.

"We want to make one of the songs into a duet for Jesse and me."

"Which one?"

In answer, Rachel held out the sheet music for the first song of their Regionals set-list.

"We can give it a shot," Shelby decided a few moments later. "I want to hear it before we present it to the team."

"Can we use the choir room?" Andrea asked.

"Sure, go ahead. Just don't be late to rehearsal," Shelby answered. "Since you're here, Rachel, I was hoping you and I could talk alone for a few minutes."

"Sure," Rachel agreed before turning to Andrea and Jesse. "You two go ahead, I'll be right there."

Once her boyfriend and newest friend had left, Rachel turned back to her mother.

"What questions do you have?" she wondered.

"I just wanted to see how everything was going, if you were adjusting well," Shelby revealed.

"I love it here. I'm excited to possibly sing a duet with Jesse. I'm thrilled to be on a team that acts like a team should. It's a lot more work, both academically and physically, but it's worth it. I feel like I can finally be myself and no one is going to mock me or tear me down for it."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it," Shelby told her with a smile. "I also wanted to know how you'd feel about missing your last class on Friday."

Rachel thought for a moment before she answered.

"I should be okay. I don't think we have any tests. Why?"

"Your friend, Kurt, and his father will be here for a meeting with the guidance counselor and a small tour. I thought Kurt might feel more comfortable if he saw a familiar face."

"Kurt and I…we aren't really friends," Rachel revealed.

"That's not what Jesse tells me, and that's not what I saw last week."

"What do you mean?"

"Jesse said you two hadn't admitted to being friends yet, but you seemed to have a lot of the same interests and if you two could learn to set your rivalry aside, your personalities would mesh well."

"I guess so," Rachel agreed. "We have been rather busy fighting with each other. I guess I never really thought about it. I'll be there if he wants me to be. At the very least, I'm a familiar face, like you said."

"I'll write you a note and talk to your teacher," Shelby told her.

"I have one more question."

"What's that?"

"My dads, Jesse, and I would like to know if you'd like to come to dinner on Saturday night."

"I'd love to," Shelby responded with a smile. "Just let me know what time and I'll be there."

"I'll double check with Daddy tonight and have him call you. He probably has more questions for you, too."

"Have you convinced him to open his own restaurant yet?"

"Not yet, but Dad, Jesse, and I are working on it," Rachel answered with a grin. "I'm sure you'll love his cooking…and then Dad will probably recruit you to help convince Daddy."

"Sounds wonderful," Shelby replied. "I need to go check on the rest of the team, but if you need anything, just call me."

"I will. Thanks again!" Rachel said before quickly making her way to the choir room.

Walking into the choir room, Rachel was surprised to see only Jesse there.

"Where's Andrea?" she wondered as she joined Jesse at the piano.

"She went back to study hall. Apparently she forgot she was supposed to work on a group project with Giselle and Chris," Jesse answered. "I started playing around the parts a little bit. I hope you don't mind."

"I figured you would, and no, I don't mind. Let's try it out."

"You just want to sing with me," Jesse teased.

"Is that so wrong?" Rachel retorted. "Don't you want to sing with me?"

"Of course I do. I wouldn't have been willing to turn this into a duet if I didn't."

"Can I have a kiss first?"

"Always," Jesse replied, leaning over to give Rachel a quick kiss before he began to play the opening notes to the song that was about to become another one of their duets.

"Rachel?"

Turning at the sound of Kurt's voice, Rachel smiled and nodded at her former classmate.

"Hi, Kurt," she greeted. "Shelby thought it might be nice for you to have a familiar face during your tour."

"Don't you have rehearsal?" he wondered.

"Not until after school. Contrary to the rumors, or what Jesse tells you, we don't rehearse twenty-four hours a day."

"You look happy."

"I am happy," Rachel assured him. "I love it here. Plus, they have a zero-tolerance policy on bullying and harassment. No slushies in sight."

"How are thing with Jesse?"

"Wonderful. He's great."

"Are you two singing a duet at Regionals?"

"We are," Rachel confirmed. "That's all I can tell you, I'm afraid."

"I understand," Kurt assured her. "As long as it's not Defying Gravity."

"It's not."

"Good. Now, what else can you tell me about this school?"

Before Rachel could answer, she saw another familiar curly-haired boy walking towards her.

"Hi, Blaine," she greeted with a smile.

"Hi, Rachel," Blaine responded, returning her smile. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Kurt. He and I went to McKinley together. He's touring Carmel today."

"Nice to meet you," Blaine said to Kurt with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, too," Kurt responded, unsure what else to say.

Turning back to Rachel, Blaine asked his second question.

"Have you seen Jesse? We were supposed to meet to work on our group project, but he's not where he said he'd be."

"Try the choir room or the auditorium," Rachel suggested. "You know how he loses track of time sometimes."

"I should have thought of that…thanks," Blaine said before he walked away.

"Teammate of yours?" Kurt wondered.

"Yes. He's also Jesse's cousin, so I met him before I started here. I think you two would make a cute couple."

"Maybe."

"We need a female to sing with Finn on Faithfully," Will told his choir, still at eleven members despite his efforts to recruit a twelfth.

"We need a new song is what we need," Puck responded. "Berry laid claim to that song. We can't sing it without her."

"Then we need to get Rachel back because we can't change our set-list now," Finn decided.

"When are you going to get it through your cerebro pequeño?" Santana retorted. "She's not coming back."

"Santana, please," Will said in an attempt to get his team to stop fighting.

"It's the truth!"

Will pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Let's just concentrate on finding a new song, then."

"Puck and I already have one…and yes, it fits with the theme you chose."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Come on, Puckerman, let's show this team how a duet is supposed to sound like."

Puck smiled and nodded as he followed Santana to the front of the choir room so they could begin the duet they had prepared. They had followed Rachel's orders and become the new captains of the team as well, so it was only fitting they would sing their respective lead parts.

"How was the tour?" Jesse asked as he saw Rachel take a seat next to him in the choir room.

"I think New Directions may be out another member soon," Rachel responded. "Kurt said they were looking at another school today, and then he and his dad would discuss their options."

"Well, whatever happens, at least he knows McKinley isn't the only option."

"That's what I told him. He thinks Blaine is cute, too."

"Rach, what did we decide about you playing matchmaker?"

Rachel sighed before answering her boyfriend.

"I'm not playing matchmaker, I promise," she started. At Jesse's pointed look, she added, "I also promise that I will not play matchmaker in the future. Spoilsport."

Jesse laughed as he leaned over to press a kiss to Rachel's cheek.

"I know you mean well, but just because you can't play matchmaker doesn't mean you can't be supportive."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend before sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're so mean," she told him dramatically. "I just want Kurt and Blaine to be happy. What's so bad about that?"

"Nothing, but if they want to be together, it has to be their decision, not yours or mine. I want Blaine to be happy, too, you know that."

"You'd be a horrible cousin if you didn't want that for him."

"Exactly," Jesse agreed, reaching over to uncross Rachel's arms, taking her hands in his. "Now, do you want to hear the good news or not?"

"Shelby approved the duet?" Rachel guessed excitedly.

"Of course she did. We're fabulous duet partners."

"Do you think she'd let us duet at Nationals too?"

"I don't see why not," Jesse answered. "I know I would certainly be all for it."

"You better be."

Seeing Finn look around anxiously, like he was up to something, Santana turned to the friend at her side.

"He's going to go to Carmel," she told them.

"How do you know that?" Quinn wondered.

"You heard him in practice yesterday. He doesn't want to accept the fact that Berry found someone better…that there could be someone better for her. He wants to have a girl follow him around like a puppy."

"What are you going to do?"

"First, I'm going to call St. James. Second, we're going to implement our plan a little sooner than anticipated."

"What plan?"

"Follow me, Fabray," Santana answered, leading her friend into the nearby girls' locker room.

"What's in the bag, Santana? What are you up to?" Quinn demanded.

In answer, Santana took a new cheerleading uniform and held it up for Quinn to see.

"It's time to change our red and white for blue and gold."

"I always did like blue better," Quinn replied with a smile.

"Now we just need to find the other two members of our little group," Santana said as she put the uniforms back in her bag before sliding the strap onto her shoulder and shutting her locker door.

"What about Regionals?"

"We just won't reveal our plan until after our new team kicks our current team's ass. Regionals are next week. It would be silly to blow our cover now. We just need to make sure everyone is still on the same page."

"Where did you get the uniforms?"

"Turns out Carmel's cheerleading captain had to withdraw due to injury. They're currently looking for a new one…or two."

"Co-captains?"

"Of course. Come on, we need to get Puckerman and Hummel," Santana replied, holding the door open for her friend.

"Why is Jesse pacing?" Andrea asked her best friend's girlfriend as she walked into rehearsal.

"Santana called. She said Finn is on his way here to "rescue" me," Rachel answered. "I'm pretty sure he's mostly just mad and frustrated, with a little bit of insecurity mixed in."

"You don't want to go back, do you?"

"Absolutely not. I do, however, want to see the look on Finn's face when he finally comes to grips with the truth. Which he's going to have to. Santana, Quinn, Kurt, and Noah are on their way here, too."

"Does Shelby know?"

"Yes. She said she'd intervene if needed."

"I wouldn't want to cross Shelby. It doesn't end well. Trust me; I've witnessed it a few times over the years."

"Jesse has told me stories, too."

"You should go be with him. He may not show it, but there is a part of him that is afraid you're going to leave him."

"I tried telling him that, and he said he believes me, but I know he's still insecure about it. Truth be told, I'm insecure about him leaving me, too."

"Tell him that. I'll even reclaim captain duties for a little while if it'll help."

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," Rachel decided. "Thanks."

"Any time."

"Come with me," Rachel commanded, taking Jesse's hand and leading him into one of the backstage dressing rooms.

"Rehearsal is about to start," Jesse reminded her as she closed the door.

"I know. I wanted to talk to you…alone."

Unable to stop his brain from jumping to the wrong conclusion, Jesse's face immediately paled. Seeing his reaction, Rachel walked over to him and hugged him tightly.

"I chose you, Jess. I chose us. I don't regret it. I won't regret it when Finn walks into the auditorium and tries to convince me to go back to McKinley. I want to be here. I want to be with you. I want to get to know my mom. I want to get to know my new friends. You and I are going to duet at Regionals whether you like it or not."

Jesse chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Rachel in return, holding her equally as tight.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," Rachel responded.

"You're the only girl I've ever said that to."

"I am?"

"Before you…I wasn't exactly a fan of serious relationships."

"You haven't…" Rachel started, unable to finish the sentence.

"No. There hasn't been anyone but you since we met," Jesse assured her.

"Good. It better stay that way, too."

"It will."

"Even when you're in New York next year?"

"Forever," Jesse replied, taking a small box out of his pocket and handing it to his girlfriend.

Opening the box, Rachel was surprised to find a ring nestled inside. Looking up at her boyfriend, her confusion was written all over her face.

"It's a promise ring."

"You bought me a promise ring?"

Jesse smiled as he nodded, taking the box from her and removing the ring from it before he spoke again.

"Yes. We're too young to get married, but the way I feel about you…I've never felt that with anyone else before. I wanted you to have something tangible that you could look at and be reminded about how I feel…especially when I'm not around to say it myself."

Rachel looked at the ring Jesse held in his hand-a simple gold band with two hearts joined together, a diamond in the middle of each heart and two on either side of the band. It was perfect for her, just like the boy holding it.

"I think it will look better on me than it did in that box," she told him.

"I think so, too. Shall we see if our theory is correct?"

"Yes, please."

After sliding the ring onto Rachel's finger, he leaned down to kiss her softly, smiling when he felt her respond.

"I believe our theory was correct," he told her.

Rachel wiggled her fingers to make the ring sparkle before she answered her boyfriend.

"It was," she told him.

Jesse laughed as he slid an arm around Rachel's shoulders and began to walk back into the auditorium with her.

"I guess we should re-relieve Andy of captain duties, huh?"

"I suppose we better if we want to stay on her good side."

Seeing Jesse and Rachel walk back into the auditorium with their arms around each other, Andrea smiled before glancing at her coach. Shelby seemed happy with the outcome as well.

"Ready?" Andrea asked the couple as they approached.

"Almost," Rachel replied, leading Jesse towards the piano. "I think we should rehearse our duet…at least the one Finn will think we're singing."

Jesse grinned as he nodded in agreement.

"I like the way you think," he told her before beginning to play the song they had chosen.

Though they had originally planned on singing a different song together, once they had re-worked this one into a duet, they decided it would work better. Now that Shelby had approved it, they could let the team hear it…after they got rid of a certain problematic football player, that is. For now, they would "rehearse" the song they had originally planned on singing together.

"Remind me again how Mr. Schue isn't going to find out about this," Kurt requested as he followed Santana, Quinn, and Puck into Carmel.

"He is going to find out," Santana explained. "He just won't know the whole story until after Regionals. He will think we simply disguised ourselves to help save our teammate from more humiliation. When we don't show up to school after our Regionals loss, he'll figure it out. He will be informed by our newest teammate."

"We have a twelfth member now?"

"Yes. Her name is Rebecca. She will be joining us for rehearsals on Monday."

"Are you sure she won't tell anyone until we tell her to?"

"She's my cousin," Puck revealed. "She's doing it as a favor to me. She won't blow our cover."

"Are you ready?" Quinn asked her friends as they approached the auditorium doors.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Kurt responded.

"Come on, Hummel, don't you want to see the look on Hudson's face when he realizes that Berry and St. James are for real?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"That's the spirit," Quinn said with a laugh.

Pushing his way into the Carmel High auditorium, Finn stopped in his tracks when he heard first Jesse's voice, then Rachel's. As he approached the stage, he could clearly see the looks they were giving each other. It disgusted him. When they realized he was there, they stopped singing and the rest of the team stopped dancing as their coach turned off the music.

"Finn, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked, walking to the front of the stage.

"It's time to come home, Rachel. Enough of these stupid mind games. We can be together, whatever you want. I'll even follow your crazy cat calendar."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes at her former crush.

"My calendar is not crazy," she told him.

"I bet your perfect so-called boyfriend doesn't use it, either!"

"I don't need to," Jesse replied as he joined Rachel at the front of the stage, the rest of the team assembling behind them.

"You stay out of this!" Finn yelled.

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard the auditorium doors open again and a familiar voice ring out.

"Hudson, what the hell are you doing?" Puck demanded.

"I came to get Rachel, since none of you seem to think she doesn't belong here!" Finn responded angrily, making his way towards the auditorium steps.

"Finn, stop it," Quinn said, rushing forward to grab his wrist.

She knew she didn't have enough strength to do stop him, but she thought she might have enough to delay him or slow him down. She was only half-surprised when he wrenched his wrist away, causing her to fall.

"Are you okay?" Santana asked as she held her friend stand.

"I'm fine, aside from the fact that I'd like to add my name to the list of people who hate Finn Hudson," Quinn replied.

"Fake like he hurt you," Kurt whispered, sliding his arm around Quinn's waist and earning a smile from Santana.

"You really do have a devious side, Hummel. I'm impressed," she told him. "You two stay here, Puckerman and I will take care of Hudson….if St. James doesn't kill him first."

As he made his way onto the stage, Finn was angered even more when he saw the other members of Vocal Adrenaline surround Jesse and Rachel.

"I'm not afraid of any of you," he told them. "I'm not leaving here without you, Rachel."

"You're going to have to," Andrea retorted. "You're going to be escorted out and you're never going to come back. The next time we see each other will be at Regionals, when we kick your ass."

"You can't make me leave."

"Hudson, let's go, now," Puck said, grabbing Finn's arm. "Don't disappoint Mr. Schue by making a fool of yourself."

"Mr. Schue expects me to bring Rachel back. I'll be disappointing him if I don't."

"He'll be disappointed if he ever sees video proof of this little confrontation," Santana told him.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Santana pointed to a nearby camera.

"It's recording everything," Shelby explained as she walked onto the stage. "I record every rehearsal."

"Let's go," Puck tried again, tugging on his friend's arm.

"Chris, Jesse, Sam, would you mind helping Mr. Puckerman with escorting his friend outside?" Shelby requested.

"Gladly," Chris replied as he grabbed Finn's other arm, with Sam leading the way out of the auditorium and Jesse walking behind them to make sure Finn didn't try any other stupid moves.

"Stay away from my girlfriend, Hudson," Jesse commanded once he and the other guys were outside.

"What are you going to do, challenge me to another pathetic sing-off?" Finn snarled in return.

"I kicked your ass and you're still bitter about it. Not only that, but I also got the girl. She chose me just like I chose her. I didn't settle for her because the popular girls wouldn't give me the time of day."

"You're just playing her. You don't really have feelings for her."

"If that's what you need to tell yourself. I don't have to prove anything to do."

"Dude, if you couldn't tell by the way Berry and St. James were looking at each other, I think we need to get your eyes checked," Puck added.

"Why the hell are you all dressed like you go to school here, anyway?" Finn demanded, realizing he wasn't going to leave with Rachel.

"Disguises," Puck answered. "We had to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, but we were too late for that. Now you get to explain to Mr. Schue why Quinn might not be able to dance at Regionals. Come on, I'm driving you home."

"Like hell you will, you traitor!"

In response, Puck held up Finn's keys.

"I think I will, actually."

"Fine, let's go. I'll just get Mr. Schue to come talk some sense into Rachel."

As he led Finn away, Puck exchanged a look with Jesse-reassuring him he and the others would take care of everything.

"Are you okay?" Shelby asked Quinn as she and Rachel walked over to the trio standing near the bottom of the stage steps.

"I'm fine, I swear," Quinn replied, standing on her own again. "I just did it to make Finn feel bad."

"Are you going to be okay, Kurt?" Rachel wondered. "You can stay with me tonight if you don't feel comfortable going home."

"I told my dad everything," Kurt revealed. "He assured me I would be okay, but thank you for the offer."

"Maybe you could come over for dinner sometime?"

Kurt smiled and nodded.

"I'd like that."

"Good," Rachel told him, returning his smile as she hugged him. "Be safe, Kurt."

"We'll take care of him," Santana told her. "See you all next weekend."

Once her friends had left, Rachel turned to her mother.

"I'm sorry for causing so much drama," she said softly.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Shelby responded. "It's that boy who has things to apologize for. You did what was best for you. Sometimes you need to be selfish."

"Now that trouble has left, can we hear Rachel and Jesse's new duet?" Andrea asked from her spot on the stage.

"I'll go get Jesse," Rachel volunteered.

"Go ahead," Shelby told her.

Walking outside, Rachel saw Jesse and the other two boys watching Finn's car leave the parking lot.

"Hey," Jesse said when he turned his head and saw Rachel standing there. "Everything okay?"

"It is now," Rachel replied as she walked over to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his waist. "The team wants to hear our new duet."

"We should probably get inside before Shelby has our heads," Sam agreed.

"You mean you finished checking out the blonde-haired girl," Chris teased.

"She's cute."

Rachel smiled at the good-natured bickering as she and the boys walked back inside. When she felt Jesse pull her closer, she looked up at him and grinned as she shook her head. She knew the look he gave her-it was the one that told her he knew what she was thinking.

"I just want to sing with you," she reminded him. "I promise."

"Then sing together we shall," Jesse replied.

Translation:

cerebro pequeño = small brain

A/N 2: So...part 3, anyone?