It had been two months since Rae had her surgery and six weeks since she had returned to school. Quinn and Brittany had brought her, her school assignments everyday, and any group projects that had been assigned, Rae had been given an independent assignment to complete in place of the group project. She had the air cast removed the week before and was currently wearing a glove that had padding around the knuckles as a precaution, and would continue to wear it for the next month or so. Glee had been uneventful. Surprisingly. Even Schuester had left Rae alone. No one knew what to say to the point guard after Brittany's outburst informing them all that the only reason the club was still around was due to Rae's funding.
Rae had noticed that she had grown a few inches since she went off the suppressants and had gone shopping for clothes. Nothing new at this time as she knew that she was still growing and that she would most likely shoot up a few more inches in the next few months, but Rae still managed to find designer labels at the second hand store. Rae was currently topping out at 5'6". She was finally taller than Santana not by much, but she took pleasure in teasing the fiery cheerleader about it. Rae continued to participate in her martial arts. Her Sensei's had barred her from sparring with anyone until her hand was healed, but had allowed her to continue with her Kata's and exercises overall. Rae had begun to break boards with her left hand, building strength and power in it as she was unable to use her dominate hand. She was currently getting ready to test for her purple belt in Akidio and had received permission to wear the protected glove as it did not give her any type of advantage over the other students that would be testing as well. Her friends and her girlfriend were in the audience watching along with Sue. They had all tried to talk her out of it but Rae was firm on the fact that she wanted to do this. She had been training prior to the fight with Finn and had already been accepted as a testee. She did not want to wait a full year before having the chance to test again.
Rae breezed through her chosen Kata to perform along with the required exercises, at the moment she was waiting for her name to be called for the sparring event. Rae had her headphones in blocking out the noise from the crowd and other fighters and was meditating while she waited.
Fifteen minutes later Rae was tapped on her shoulder. Removing the ear buds, Rae looked up at her Sensei.
"Sylvester. You're up."
Nodding, Rae got up and stretched her body before approaching the ring. Rae bowed before stepping onto the mat and bowed once again towards the judges and her opponent before easing into a relaxed stance waiting for the ref's signal to begin. The fighters had to score three points before the match was over. Whoever got to three first was declared the winner.
"Hajami."
Rae waited for her opponent, a curly haired guy who could have been mistaken for Mr. Schue's son, was almost a foot taller and out weighed her by at least fifty pounds, to make the first move. They guy smirked and opened with a kick to Rae's head, that Rae caught with ease and applied enough pressure to knock him on his ass, easily scoring the first point.
The second point came after Rae had blocked her opponents attack and dropped him to his knees with a wrist lock.
Angry that he had been bested by a girl who was half his size, Rae's opponent charged her with a yell. Rae grabbed the front of his Gi and fell backwards using his momentum to propel him over her head and out of the ring to score the final point. The ref declared Rae the winner by holding her hand up in the air. Sensing movement behind her, Rae ducked the kick that had been aimed at her head, grabbed the leg and popped her attackers knee. Her opponent in a fit of embarrassed shame and rage had tried to attack her from behind.
"Really Jesse? You should have known better. I'm better than you, always have been and always will be. I just proved it as I fought with a handicap. I only have full use of one hand at the moment and still easily handed you your ass and disgraced you in front of the entire Akidio community. Your knee is dislocated and maybe a torn tendon. If I were you I would demand an MRI to make sure."
Rae turned her back on the curly haired teen and bowed to the judges before walking off the mat.
Taking her spot with the rest of her class and waited for the sparring to finish. After it was all over, Rae received her purple belt and was given a black Gi as a mark of honour. The judges had been impressed with her display of strength and ability to have essentially received her belt with only one hand available. Rae had blushed a deep red in color when her name had been called as her girlfriend, aunt and friends had cheered the loudest.
Once the ceremony was over, Rae changed back into her street clothes, and was walking meet everyone in the parking lot of the community center when she was engulfed with an armful of head Cheerio half way to the vehicles.
"I'm so proud of you baby." Quinn murmured against Rae's lips.
"Thank you love."
Rae felt Quinn smile just before the Cheerio short circuited her brain with a searing kiss. Moaning low in her throat, Rae dropped her bag and hoisted her girlfriend up, forcing her to wrap her legs around Rae's waist as the kiss was deepened. Quinn broke the kiss gasping for air before giggling as Rae spun them around in a circle.
"Berry, Fabray, stop making out in the parking lot. I gots to gets my eats on."
"The name is Sylvester, Satan. If you call me Berry again so help me god I will ends you." Rae growled out. As she set Quinn back down on her feet.
"I'm sorry Rae. It's a force of habit." Santana apologized in a small voice.
Looking over at the fiery Latina, Rae nodded indicating that she had accepted her apology. She was still sensitive about being called by her previous name. She hated the men whom she had called her fathers and still had a lot of rage towards the two men and sometimes it bled out onto others. Rae closed her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly letting it out.
"I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have snapped like that at you. I'm still sensitive and so angry at them."
"I understand Tiny. I do. I don't take it personally. You just frightened me for a moment. I have never seen you so filled with rage."
"I'm starting therapy next week to work on the rage. Its not really anger management, but kinda is at the same time. I'm hoping that football will help as well." Rae gave a small smile before continuing. "Anyway I thought we were going to dinner? I for one am starving after humiliating Jesse."
Santana laughed as did everyone else. Everyone got into the vehicles and left to go to dinner. Once they were all seated and had their drinks Sue turned towards her niece and asked what as on everyone's mind.
"So baby Rae, what was that about with the curly haired kid who could pass for Schuester's son?"
"Jesse? He is a spoiled self centered ass and, the lead vocalist for Vocal Adrenaline. He's older by a year or so, but at the same class level or at least he was. We have crossed paths during tournaments and testings. I have beaten him every time we have sparred during the tourneys, before he was in a higher weight class anyway. As you can see, during the testing it doesn't matter what weight class you are as the skills you are mastering are not about strength, how hard you can hit and all that. It's about balance and counter balance, the fluidity of movement leverage and how to stop your opponent. Jesse was used to being the best at everything and when he started showing up at the tournaments he was cocky as he was the best in his division at his dojo, his first few matches he won easily gaining trophies and what not, then the round robin started. We both had easily defeated our opponents and were slotted against each other in the final round. Of course my being smaller than him, Jesse thought it would be an easy win. He hadn't been paying attention during my matches, had been busy showing off his trophies and bragging about his wins, but because I was much smaller than him he thought he would easily win. He soon discovered that after I had thrown him out of the ring and dropped him to his knees with in the first minute and a half of the match that I wasn't an easy win. He managed to score a point before I scored my final point against him, winning the round robin. As you can imagine he wasn't a graceful loser. He tried to accuse me of using illegal holds and moves. His accusations were unfounded and had no merit. H was given a warning and advised that if he made unfounded accusations again during a tournament he would be stripped of his wins and possibly his belt. After a few tourneys and him losing to me every time, he stopped attending the ones I would participate in, until he went up in weight almost a year after my first win against him. Once he was in a different weight class he started coming to all the tournaments again. He no longer had to worry about getting his ass handed to him by the 'Lima Freak'. We never faced off against one another during testing until tonight, where once again, I handed him his ass."
The waiter had come back with everyone's order and they began to eat as Rae finished answering her God Mother.
"However after tonight's display of poor sportsmanship I'm sure that they will bust him down a belt level if his dojo doesn't kick him out entirely. The martial arts community is tight nit and doesn't want or need people like Jesse who are only in it to win and possibly hurt people. The whole point of learning these arts is to learn discipline and how to defend yourself. I got into Karate for that very reason. I was tired of being picked on physically. I never actually wanted to hurt anyone I just wanted to not feel like a victim anymore. I started learning Akidio two years after I began Karate. I wanted to learn how to stop someone with out having to use my fists. I have had to use it a few times when I was alone at night when a couple of the hockey and rugby players, different occasions, cornered me coming home from the library. Needless to say they leave me alone now. The first time I have had to put my Karate skills to use outside the dojo or a tournament was when those morons slushied Becky."
Rae began to eat her meal, a nice t-bone steak and mashed potatoes, that she had let cool down during her explanation.
"Rae does your hand still hurt?" Quinn asked.
"No. Why?" Rae asked confused.
"Because you are still eating with your left hand JewBro."
Looking down, Rae sees that she is in fact holding her fork with her left hand. Huh.
"I guess it has just become second nature now. I didn't even think about it when I grabbed my utensils."
The rest of the meal was spent with. everyone joking and talking about the upcoming football try outs and how Rae was going to be a shoo-in.
"What about Sam though? I mean he was quarterback for his school in Tennessee." Quinn asked.
"Yeah but he is a sophomore and this is for the varsity team. If he wanted to be first string then he should have tried out for the JV team and he would have easily been Quarter Back but as he wanted to go for varsity he now can only be second string." Puck answered.
"Unless I don't make the team."
"You'll make it Rae."
"I still don't understand why Beiste is holding tryouts in the winter."
"Because she's crazy? I dunno Rae but what ever her reasons she has lead previous teams to state titles."
"Its her way of testing athletes under pressure and, what way to add pressure then snow and cold. Besides the rest of her practices will be held indoors and you will be playing two hand touch until the spring thaw." Sue answered.
"That sounds more like what you would do Auntie." Rae teased with a cheeky grin.
"Apparently it's against code to make my Cheerios practice outside during the winter." Sue replied nonchalantly.
Rae and Puck laughed as the three cheerleaders shuddered at Sue's words. A few minutes later the lead singer of the house band made an announcement.
"Good evening y'all. It seems we have a few of McKinley's finest in the house. A big congratulations goes out to Rae Sylvester who just received her Purple belt tonight in Akidio. Lets give her a round of applause." The grill erupted into cheers, whistles and applause. Once the crowd quieted down the singer continued. "Rae, c'mon up here girl. You and Puck owe us a song now."
Getting up from their table the two friends made their way to the stage. After speaking with the band briefly, the two take their places and wait for their cue as the music starts.
Puck/ Rae/Both
Wanna tell you a story,
About the house-man blues
I come home one Friday,
Had to tell the landlady I'd-a lost my job
She said that don't confront me,
Long as I get my money next Friday
Now next Friday come I didn't get the rent,
And out the door I went
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer
Well I ain't seen my baby since I don't know when,
I've been drinking bourbon, whiskey, scotch and gin
Gonna get high man I'm gonna get loose,
Need me a triple shot of that juice
Gonna get drunk don't you have no fear
I want one bourbon, one scotch and one beer
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer
I ain't seen my baby since the night before last,
Gotta get a drink man I'm gonna get gassed
Gonna get high man I ain't had enough,
Need me a triple shot of that stuff
Gonna get drunk won't you listen right here,
I want one bourbon, one shot and one beer
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer
No I ain't seen my baby since a nigh' and a week,
Gotta get drunk man till I can't even speak
Gonna get high man listen to me,
One drink ain't enough Jack you better make it three
I wanna get drunk I'm gonna make it real clear,
I want one bourbon, one scotch and one beer
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer
Half way through the first verse Brittany had gotten up and dragged Quinn and Santana up with her to join the line dance on the floor. Once the song was over the three cheerleaders were the loudest of all the cheers.
Making their way back to the table they sit back down and finish the rest of their dinner. Sue had paid the bill while everyone was up. The group stayed for a few more songs before they left. It was still a school night after all. Sue had cancelled the following mornings practice morning so she could attend Rae's testing.
The three cheerleaders went home and Rae and Puck drove back to Rae's place. The duo watched a couple of movies before crashing for the night.