Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any songs mentioned.
Rachel looked at her phone again, frowning slightly. Once more her boyfriend was late, it was a habit she had once found slightly endearing, but today, for some unknown reason, Finn's tardiness was making her angry. Perhaps it was because he was the one who had arranged this meeting. Finn, who had insisted that she was there because he had a surprise planned for her. While she appreciated the gesture, Rachel just wished that Finn could remember how busy her schedule was at the minute; that he could understand that in order for her to be there, she had had to do a lot of last minute reorganising and rescheduling that affected more that just her. Now he wasn't even here on time, so was it really any wonder that she was considering leaving, letting him wait on her for a change?
Her good manners had been the only only thing that had, so far, prevented that from happening. Instead, she first made contact with her dance teacher and her dance partner to reschedule their practice for the next day, and then the people in her study group, apologising for the delay in her joining them, insisting that they begin without her, rather than have any more of their time wasted.
Deciding to give Finn one more minute to either get in touch with her or appear, Rachel was startled by the sound of the stage lights being switched on. From her vantage point she realised that Finn had been busy setting a romantic scene for them, with soft lighting, music and a picnic. "He's recreating our first kiss," she thought to herself, her annoyance starting to melt away at the thoughtful gesture. Closing her eyes, she listened closely to the song Finn had chosen for this romantic interlude, immediately puzzled by his choice. After all it wasn't as if they were short on songs that held a special meaning to them, so why pick something that he had sung with Quinn? The lyrics to 'I Don't Want to Know' raised questions about what exactly Finn was trying to say. It was essentially a break up song, or at the very least a song that spoke of uncertainty about the future of a relationship.
With her head already spinning from all the questions Finn's song choice had raised, Rachel was in no way prepared for what happened on the stage next. She had missed his entrance, missed the arrival of the girl she had thought was her friend, but was unable to tear her eyes away as Finn pulled her one time rival into his arms, before kissing her as if he would never see her again. This had to be some kind of mistake, but as time passed and the couple on the stage below her remained locked in their embrace, Rachel realised that once again she had been betrayed by Finn Hudson.
Refusing to cause a scene, or give her cheating, soon to be ex boyfriend, any hint that she knew about his dalliance, she walked away. Her head was full of questions, wondering how she had missed the signs that her so called friend was keeping such a huge secret from her. It was obvious from how comfortable, how intimate they looked, that this was not the first time they had been in each other's arms.
The pain of the betrayal struck Rachel, causing her breath to catch, followed by an overwhelming sense of sadness. For once it was not just the actions of her boyfriend, rather those of someone she had thought she could trust, someone she had been so certain couldn't, no wouldn't hurt her again. Hadn't she offer the girl in question a shoulder to cry on at length when Sam had left at the start of the summer, who offered the devastated girl words of consolation and encouragement, when, on his return, Sam had decided not to restart their relationship. Rachel was the one who had spent the first few weeks back at school keeping her distracted from the blonde boy who seemed to have stolen her confidence. Finally it had seemed to Rachel as if her words were making a difference, had helped to ease her friend's pain, to the point that the former couple could even sit side by side in glee club without any tension. Rachel remembered watching Sam shyly asking for help with his admissions essay, and although it meant that Rachel saw less of her friend, she had been happy that maybe the couple were, at last finding their way back to one another. Further proof of this theory was when they had sang together for the group, not a love song, but it had given Rachel hope. Now Rachel couldn't help but wonder if her fellow glee clubber had been lying to her all along, using Sam as a smokescreen for her real whereabouts.
Reaching her car, and knowing that she would be unable to fully concentrate on her group project, Rachel sent a brief message to all in her study group, promising that she would work on her part of the assignment at home. She was glad that she had already cancelled her dance class; as much as she hated to miss time in the dance studio, she knew that she was not in the right frame of mind to make the most of the hour there. It would be a small miracle if she could avoid a migraine; already the warning signs were there, if she didn't get home soon it would be too late to take her preventative medication. She was also aware that in spite of her best efforts, it would not take much for her to shed the tears that she was so valiantly fighting to prevent falling. All she wanted was to switch off the world for the night, figure out her plan of action moving forward, and indulge in some comfort food. Then tomorrow she would, hopefully, be able to get through the day with no more surprises, and more importantly without anyone finding out what she had just witnessed.
It was only when she reached her house that Rachel remembered that her parents were enjoying a night out at the movies. Checking her phone, she saw a message from her dad to say that they had decided to go into the city and stay the night there. Even though she would have enjoyed spending some time with her dads, Rachel doubted if she would have been able to hide her emotions from them, and the questions that would surely have followed. If she was being completely honest, there was a small part of her that just wanted to keep ignoring what she had seen earlier, to pretend that nothing was wrong. She was dreading the inevitable conversations she would have to have with the guilty parties, guessing that when the news broke to the school at large, the new couple would have the support of their peer group. Would she be expected to stand aside, wish the lovebirds well? Was Finn, for once, being used by a girl? Perhaps to make Sam jealous? That would only work if Sam discovered the truth, or if Sam cared enough that once again a girl had chosen Finn over him. If that was the case could she, should she, forgive Finn, again? Why did people think that her feelings didn't matter? That she didn't matter?
Her head swirled as it filled with more questions and theories until she could no longer hold back her tears. Reassuring herself that the front door was locked behind her, Rachel hurried to her bedroom, curled up on her bed and let the tears flow. Eventually she fell asleep, but it was not a restful sleep. Waking at her usual time the next morning, she was highly tempted to call in sick to school, even if it meant giving up her perfect attendance record, but she had always been determined never to give anyone the satisfaction of making her miss a day of school. If she could survive the endless Slushie facials, the bullying of the cheerleaders, the aftermath of Babygate, then she could get through this. She would not crumble, nor would she waste another day of her senior year worrying about what other people thought of her.
Taking extra care with her outfit choice, as well as her hair and make up, Rachel tried her best to mentally prepared herself for what the day ahead might hold. Her sadness from the previous day had faded, replaced by anger that she found herself in another drama not of her making. Checking her phone, she noticed that it needed to be charged. She also realised that while she had a few messages and two voicemails; both surprisingly from Noah. There had been no communication from Finn. In fact the more she thought about the events of the previous day, the stranger things became.
Why, if he had clearly made plans to meet someone else, had Finn asked Rachel to be at the auditorium at the same time? It had been obvious that he had made an effort to set up the lights, the picnic and everything else that she had seen on the stage. Surely Finn wasn't so cruel that he would let her find out about his cheating that way. He may have been thoughtless and borderline cruel in the past, but this seemed completely out of character. Could he have been hoping for a fight between the two girls, but that seemed so unlikely that Rachel quickly dismissed the idea. So where did that leave her now?
Ignoring the other messages on her phone, Rachel went straight to the last messages that Finn had sent.
"Babe, skipping class to organise a surprise for you. Auditorium after final bell. Sneak in side door so no one sees! ;) X"
There was nothing in the language of the text to suggest that Finn hadn't sent it, or in the messages that followed when Rachel tried to explain that she had prior committments that she would have to reschedule.
"C'mon Babe, you know you want to!"
"A few white lies won't do any harm."
"Please Babe, I miss you 3"
It was this last reply that had convinced Rachel to change her plans, Finn had seemed so sweet, and she had missed spending time with him.
Again there was nothing strange about how the messages were worded, nothing to suggest, even now with the benefit of hindsight, that she was not the intended recipient of the texts. The fact that Finn hadn't been in touch with her again, must mean that he hadn't realised his error. She wouldn't be enlightening him either. Luckily she had no classes with him until after lunch, and since it was a study period she could go to the library to avoid him, while also catching up on the work that she had missed the previous afternoon. Whatever might be happening in her private life, she refused to allow it to interfere with her studies, or the project she was working on with Artie, Brittany and Noah.
Almost like he sensed she had been thinking about him, Rachel's phone began to ring, the caller id proclaimed that "The Puckasorus" wanted to speak with her. In spite of everything Rachel couldn't help smiling at the crazy nickname her friend had given himself.
"Berry, you need a lift to school?"
"Good morning to you too Noah. There's nothing wrong with my car, but I appreciate the offer."
"Your headache gone?" Though his words were sharp, Rachel could hear the genuine concern in his voice.
"I have dance class after school today Noah, so I need my car, but thank you for thinking of me."
"And the headache?" Noah was persistent this morning, Rachel thought.
"Nothing worth mentioning, certainly not worth missing class over, although I might escape to the library for fifth period." For a few seconds there was silence, before Noah spoke again,
"Fair enough Berry, I guess I can set foot in the library without it, or me, bursting into flames." Having made this announcement, Noah, as was sometime his way, ended the call abruptly. Taking a look at the clock, Rachel realised that it was later than she had thought, so she rushed to grab all that she would need for the day ahead, set the house alarm, locked the house and was halfway down the path to her car, when she suddenly remembered something that had happened in glee club the week before. At the time it had seemed like any average day in the choir room, and yet something in the memory made her pause.
She remembered Santana laughing at her, nothing new there, but the girl's next words suggested that the cheerleader knew something.
"I think it's sweet what you're doing, but just between us, it won't work Midget." At Rachel's confused look, Santana continued, "That girl is on a mission, and there is nothing you can do to stop her getting what she wants." The Latino girl had stressed those last words, before walking away.
"Keep your enemies close, right Berry?" Noah had drawled, having heard what Santana had said.
There had been no malice in his voice, at least not directed at her, as far as Rachel could tell. Was it possible that Noah knew? After all, he too had been romantically involved with her friend, no not her friend, that girl. Rachel had to face facts; no real friend would act this way. With the words of both Noah and Santana now ringing in her ears, Rachel knew that if she wanted to end things with Finn, on her terms, and before the gossips started talking, she would need to see him as soon as possible. She had a pretty good idea of where she might find him, and with who, but she wanted to avoid a confrontation if at all possible. Her mind made up she sent Finn a quick text message,
"Choir room ASAP *".
Starting her car, Rachel allowed the scene in the choir room to play again, seeing what she had missed before, or perhaps had not wanted to see.
Finn whispering quietly, but urgently to her fellow diva. Glancing around before taking her hand, and not letting go.
"Whatever. She. Wants. Berry."
The look of victory that swept over Mercedes face, knowing she had hooked her prize.
AN: Thank you for taking the time to read this. All reviews greatly appreciated