DISCLAIMER: THY NAME IS NOT RYAN MURPHY…STILL WAITING FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF NAME CHANGE.
Ch8…
3FINCHEL3
He was surprised he hadn't lost his voice with all the rehearsals Rachel had scheduled for them. Of course that could be because of the teas and home throat soothers that she insured they drank every day. School had been the same as usual; people still stared at the Gleeks like they were something that they had stood on. Although the slushie facials had been dramatically reduced after Karofsky had thrown one on Rachel and he and Puck had taken the machine and emptied it on him.
"What are you thinking about?"
Finn jumped slightly just barely missing whacking his head on the back of his bed; he thought Kurt and Rachel were still sleeping but apparently not. Holding a finger to his lips he motioned to the lone sleeping body in the room, he had learnt the hard way not to wake him up. Rachel nodded and cocked an eyebrow at his bed, taking a minute to understand he lifted up his blanket and she crept over careful not to hit anything on her way. Lying on their sides facing each other they could talk without risking Kurt's wrath.
"How are you doing?" He whispered; it was only a week ago today that the debacle occurred. Rachel tugged on the covers and burrowed them under her chin biting down on her lip.
"Guilty, angry and a little hungry." Rachel answered honestly. Finn looked at her quizzically and she bit back a sigh. "I feel guilty because even though I want to perform amateur throat surgery on Jesse for what he did to me, I'm not more upset about our relationship ending."
"I guess I don't have to ask about the angry part." He muttered, propping up his head with his hand he pushed back the hair that had fallen in Rachel's face. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Rachel shook her head. "I don't think I need to." She paused picking over her words carefully. "The last couple of weeks before the whole debacle I'd started doubting the relationship. I guess hindsight really is twenty, twenty." She mused.
"Hindsight?"
"It's like foresight but without a future." She quoted, her dad's had gone through a very serious Kevin Kline phase and Life As A House had been her favourite. "It means that you can look back and realize things that were obvious but you hadn't noticed before, it's like understanding everything but only after it's happened."
"What kind of things?" He asked tickling her feet with his own, her legs were so short compared to his it wasn't a fair fight.
"Like I should have listen to Daddy when he said Jesse wasn't good enough for me and I was just dating him so I wouldn't dwell on how much you hurt me." Rachel held back a giggle. "He really didn't like him at all, and Daddy likes everyone. That should have been my second clue."
"What should have been the first?" Finn held his breath, he didn't really know if this was something he wanted to hear.
"He transferred to McKinley just to go out with me." She scoffed. "My life isn't some stupid teen soap on the CW, that kind of massive change really only means one thing."
"That he's psychotic?" He joked pretending to gasp in pain when Rachel nudged him in the stomach.
"I just wish I'd listened to my heart instead of my stupid pride. I knew something wasn't right with him but I was too determined to prove to everyone that I was fine with everything that I ignored it." She pulled her hair around her finger twirling it carefully.
"Don't beat yourself up Rachel, he took advantage of you. You see the best in people even when, no especially when you shouldn't, that's not stupid, it just means you're a good person. Better than most." He threw his arm around her pulling her closer to his chest. "It's one of the things I like most about you."
So far she had managed to avoid the question of just what they were to each other. Finn had been nothing if not clear about his feelings and intentions towards her, he'd even come to her house with slightly burnt sugar cookies and talked to both of her fathers apologizing for his behaviour towards Rachel earlier. Probably another reason why they disliked Jesse, he would never apologize about anything much less bake cookies.
"I like you too Finn." She said quietly, it was the only way she would be able to say what was needed. "You have a good heart, that's what I like most about you."
"So it's not my dancing that swept you off your feet?"
"More like permanently bruised them." She retorted swatting at his hands. He grabbed them, cradling them in his own lacing their fingers and marvelling at the fit. "Finn?"
Her breath hitched and she forced herself to look up and into his eyes, those stupid eyes that could never lie. He had innocence in his eyes that gave him away whenever he tried to be tough. She half expected Kurt to wake up, or his alarm to go off or someone to come banging down the stairs anything to interrupt this movie moment. Finn seemed frozen, almost hypnotized by her lips just staring at them almost in wonder.
This was how it was supposed to feel, stomach clenching fear, but the good kind. Ever so gently she fluttered her lips across his, it was a fairy's touch barely more than her breath on his lips. The heat seared through him and pooled in his groin, his arms wrapped around the petite slice of a girl pulling her flush against his body as he pressed his lips to hers hoping at least some of the heat he was feeling would seep into it.
She bit down gently on his bottom lip and sucked it into her mouth humming lightly, that afternoon spent researching sexual turn on's and assorted things for their Push It number was definitely proving to be beneficial. Calling on her ballet training she swung them around so that Finn was on top and she could hook her legs around his waist, she needed to release the pressure she was feeling, increase the friction. Finn gulped in a breath at Rachel's movements, he was seconds away from Cinco De Mayo.
She felt him start to pull away but she locked her legs around him tight crossing her ankles and pressing their lower bodies together more fully, small little moans bubbling in her throat. Delicately she ran her hand down his bare back, she loved that he slept shirtless, it was just a raking of her nails, but that combined with her mouth sucking on his collarbone caused Finn to go over the edge. She could feel the sticky wetness through the thin material of his PJ bottoms but it didn't bother her, if anything she was proud that she could illicit that kind of response in him.
"Sorry." He started to apologize thoroughly embarrassed.
"What for? I take it as a compliment." She told him brushing his hair away form his forehead and tracing a finger down his cheek. "But you should probably clean up before Kurt commandeers the bathroom."
Well his brother wouldn't have to worry about him wasting all the hot water; he definitely needed a cold shower after that.
3FINCHEL3
Rachel had turned off her phone fifteen minutes after she had entered school, she couldn't handle another message from Mercedes or Tina demanding she tell them everything. Kurt was definitely going to keep his crown as the Gossip King of McKinley; they'd only admitted their feelings to each other that morning! Coming to a stop at her locker she found out the hard way that it wasn't just her friends that were interested in her relationship status. Her whole body went slack and her books clattered to the ground, she glanced up and down the hallway trying to spy the artist, the paint was still wet but no one seemed to scream 'jerk!'
"Hey Rach!"
Perfect, there was no way she would be able to distract Finn enough to not notice her newly decorated locker. His smile vanished when he saw the sadness in her eyes coupled with the blaring red paint that stretched across the ugly metal the words 'Hudson's Whore' staring back at them. The words she could live with, she'd learnt long ago to ignore the name-calling that was a daily occurrence for her. She'd even managed to get past the pornographic pictures that were sketched out on the bathroom walls. But this was different. This was a photo of her, obviously taken in the girls' locker room, in the process of getting changed.
Finn ripped the photo down quickly shooting poisonous glances to everyone near them targeting anyone with a smile on their face. He ripped it up turning the paper into confetti, Rachel cracked at the exact same moment the paper started to fall. She didn't dissolve into tears, she didn't collapse and begin to howl, she felt a white heat build within her and seep into her skin. Reaching upward she pulled Finn's face down to hers and pressed their lips together.
Catcalls and wolf whistles sounded out around them but Rachel ignored them all, pulling away slowly she licked her lips. Finn stared at her in confusion; he was not prepared for that reaction from her.
"Rach?" He whispered their faces still just millimetres apart.
"Just pretend." She told him quietly. "Don't let them think it bothers us."
"We can't just let them get away with this! They took photos of you!"
"Whoever 'they' are will get exactly what's coming to them." She set her mouth in a firm line. "And I can hazard a guess as to whom our wannabe Anne Liebowitz is."
Pulling away from Finn, Rachel knelt down and collected her books not paying her locker any attention, shoving them in her bag she turned back to her almost boyfriend and wanted to smile at his adorably clueless expression.
"I need to talk to Miss Pillsbury, will you come with me?"
Unable to do much more than nod he grabbed her bag and threw his free arm around her shoulder glaring at anyone who came into his eye line. Always. He would always go with her.
"Rachel!"
The red headed guidance counsellor jumped, the petite brunette was in her intense mode and had stalked right in barely knocking, Finn pulled the door shut behind them standing protectively behind Rachel's chair, he was going to be by her side at all times from now on.
"Hi, I'm sorry to just barge in but this situation is of the upmost importance." Rachel breathed deeply to calm herself employing yoga techniques that she had relied on before.
"Is there a problem with your friends still?" She asked hoping her answer was no, she had been teary watching the kids apology to the girl.
"No it's something else." Emma inwardly sighed with relief. "I've always been raised to be kind to others, to never be cruel and to turn the other cheek but the miscreants at this school have left me unable to turn anymore. Someone defaced my locker with words I refuse to repeat and pasted a picture of me half naked on there as well. This person has disrespected me as a fellow student and human being as well as violated my privacy."
"Oh my."
"The photo was taken in the girls locker room, I feel so degraded, and who knows how many people have seen this!"
Finn's blood boiled at her words, he would personally see to it that every person who had seen it would forget, he was sure Puck and the guys would have no problems helping him.
"Do you know who did it?" Emma asked, her mind was already reeling with the possible repercussion of this, all of them not good.
"The amateur photographer is probably Jacob Ben Israel, he has a crush on me and has made his desire known to me in several unsavoury ways." She answered shuddering lightly.
"The graffiti was probably put there by Karofsky or Azimio. They make it a point to terrorise the glee club." Finn added completely certain of their involvement. "And uh they've called Rachel what was written on her locker before."
It had been in the locker room after gym; it had been during that short time they had dated when he was so messed up. He had been a funk but no so down that he hadn't taken the time to give Karofsky a black eye and Azimio a busted lip. He'd managed to walk away clean since he had been taken over by the spirit of Rocky or something, Matt had pulled him off before he had done serious damage, Mike had said it was the sickest thing he had ever seen, he thought Finn had been possessed. He hadn't told Rachel, he didn't want to see her cry.
"Well our next step would obviously be to talk to Principal Figgins." She started though doubting what good it would do, he wasn't exactly the scariest of people.
"My father's are well acquainted with the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and I know that graffiti of that kind can be considered libel in our justice system, the photo was taken without my knowledge or consent and in a girls locker room which is against school rules."
"Are you saying that you are going to file harassment charges against these boys?" Emma asked feeling equal parts terror, shock and pride. It wasn't very often that students actually stood up against bullying and she knew from her talks with Will that Rachel had suffered more than most.
"I haven't decided that yet." She answered honestly. "If appropriate action is taken by Principal Figgins I should have no reason to. I also know that if I were to build a case for harassment I would not be the only person who would be involved. I'm not the first person in this school that has been targeted by those Neanderthals and if someone doesn't stand up to them I won't be the last."
"Okay Rachel." Emma breathed out slowly. "You two should go to class, I'll speak with Principal Figgins, just so you know it will be my recommendation for the people involved to be expelled."
"Thank you."
Finn nodded, mouthing his own thanks to the mild mannered guidance counsellor that he knew Mr. Schuester was gaga over. The hallways were empty; one look at his phone and he realized that they had already missed the first twenty minutes of class.
"Do you want to practice our song in the auditorium?" He suggested, he could feel Rachel putting up the bricks, building the wall she used to hide her real emotions; to pretend like everything that happened didn't effect her.
She smiled gratefully at him laying her head against his side as they walked, that was exactly what she needed. When she was in her element, belting out a song with Finn where in that moment it was only the two of them.
"Yes."
He wasn't the smartest kid in his class, and he wasn't the dumbest he at least knew the square root of four wasn't rainbows. But he could make Rachel smile, that was worth more to him than an A, he'd need to know how to make her happy in the real world and he was almost certain he'd never need to know algebra to get by in life.
3FINCHEL3
So how do you like it? Just who was behind Rachel's locker attack? And how will the Glee Club respond? Only 2 chapters left!