After her first day went well, Rachel was almost looking forward to going back to school on Wednesday afternoon and Shelby too felt much less anxious than she had at the beginning of the week.
She and Rachel had a lazy morning together, Shelby taking Rachel out for brunch before dropping her off at school, Shelby smiling when she saw Noah, Brittany and Santana waiting by the front doors for her, Rachel already over the moon because her friends had all jumped at the chance to come over on Saturday evening.
Today Shelby drove over to Amy's once she'd dropped Rachel off, Max was at school and Lily had started going to preschool, so, for the first time in longer than they cared to remember, the sisters were able to get coffee together and catch up without interruption.
Rachel made it through the first of her two afternoon classes without issue, and, as nervous as she was, she was almost looking forward to joining the glee club with Shelby after the break.
Santana and Quinn were in her final class of the day and they sat either side of her in the second row from the back. She didn't really think twice when a substitute teacher walked into the room. But it soon became clear that the teacher was going to do anything but teach, something that the class took full advantage of.
Rachel tried to stay calm, tried to block out the noise and how boisterous some of her classmates were being but it soon became too much for her, "I need to take a break" she mumbled, taking her pass from her bag and making her way to the teacher's desk.
"Sit down" the substitute didn't even look up from the paper she was marking.
"I need to take a time out" Rachel said nervously, holding out her pass.
The substitute took the pass from Rachel and glanced at it for a moment before rolling her eyes, "you think I'm going to fall for this?" she pointed back to Rachel's seat, "sit down."
Santana looked up, saw the tears forming in Rachel's eyes, saw her shaking and knew she had to do something, she didn't know what was going on in Rachel's head but she knew the classroom was loud and overwhelming and she understood Rachel's desire to leave.
She didn't say anything, just stood from her chair and walked over to Rachel, taking her hand and leading her towards the door. "If you walk out of this room, you'll both be in detention" the substitute once again didn't look up, but as Santana heard Rachel's breath hitch in her throat, as she realised the whole class was watching them, she knew she didn't care and she walked from the room, Rachel's hand firmly in her own so Rachel had no choice but to follow.
"I quite clearly told you not to leave the classroom." Santana rolled her eyes, "so you can both stay behind and…"
"Look lady" Santana spun on her heel.
"What is going on here?" Santana had never been more relieved to hear Sue's voice, knowing the cheer coach would listen to her side of the story without her having to go all Lima Heights adjacent.
She had been on one of her routine prowls around the school, surveying her kingdom and stalking out any trouble makers when she'd heard the substitute yelling and turned the corner to find her with Santana Lopez, fire burning in her eyes and Rachel Berry on the verge of tears.
"I told these two they weren't to leave the classroom, they disobeyed my order so they'll both be in detention tonight."
Sue raised her eyebrow, looking from Rachel, stood against the wall, head bowed and arms wrapped around herself, to Santana, stood with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face that Sue was more than proud of, "Lopez?"
"She wasn't controlling the class" Santana gestured to the room where the class were still running riot. "Rachel asked to leave, but she wouldn't let her. Told her to sit down. Rachel needed a time out, she was about to have a meltdown in front of everyone, so I brought her out."
Sue nodded, she knew Santna, could tell the girl wasn't lying to her. "Do you think this is acceptable?" Sue gestured towards the classroom, "can you tell me they're learning right now?"
"Is everything okay?"
"Ah, a vaguely competent teacher" Sue turned to see Will stood behind her, a wad of papers in his hand, "are you teaching now?"
He shook his head, "I was just going to make some copies of these for the morning" he gestured to the papers in his hand. "Can I…"
"Get in there and shut them up?" Sue rubbed her temples, feeling a headache brewing, she couldn't deal with the stupidity of this substitute.
Will nodded, shutting the classroom door behind him, "That. Is. Enough" he yelled, slamming his hands down on the desk, stunning the class into silence.
"You" Sue pointed to the substitute, letting out a sigh of relief as the class was silenced almost instantly, "get out of my sight, I don't care where you go. In fact, I do. Leave. I don't want to see you again." She waited for the woman to storm off down the corridor mumbling something about 'over privileged teenagers' and Sue turned her attention to Rachel, "do you need to call your Mom?"
Rachel shook her head, "it's almost the end of the day, I'll wait."
"Okay. I'm going to call her and tell her about this though, she'll want to know, but I'll tell her you'll be okay here til the end of the day." She turned to Santana, "can you get Rachel's things please?" She waited until Santana had stepped back into the classroom, the students now working in silence under Will's supervision. "Did you get homework in your last class?" Rachel nodded, "so how about we get you settled in a quiet corner of the library?" Sue suggested, guessing Rachel wouldn't want to go back into the class.
Rachel nodded without looking up, "thank you."
Once Santana came back with Rachel's bag, and the time out pass that Will had handed her, giving Rachel an unexpected hug, Sue walked her to the library, making sure she was settled before making her way back to her office, calling first Shelby and then the agency that the substitute worked for.
Shelby was understandably furious, but she soon realised that Sue was equally as angry and trusted her to do the right thing, she was about to leave to pick Rachel up anyway, so she accepted the fact that Rachel would be okay in the library until the end of the day and told Sue she'd speak to her about the situation when she arrived at the school.
"Where is she?" Shelby asked as soon as she walked into Sue's office.
"Still in the library, I asked her to meet us here after the final bell." Sue gestured to the chair opposite her, waiting for Shelby to take a seat, "I've already spoken to the agency and made a formal complaint" she told Shelby, once again reassuring the worried mother that she wasn't going to stand for that sort of thing any more. "If I'm honest, I'd already called them once, other staff members had complained about her not controlling her classes, but I thought it would be easier to just try and make it through the day with her. I'd specifically mentioned Rachel to her this morning, I told her she was on a phased return, that she was to be allowed to leave if she needed to. If I had any idea that she'd do this then I'd have asked her to leave this morning."
"I know" Shelby had no reason to doubt Sue, "and thank you for calling me."
"I asked Rachel if she wanted to speak to you" Sue told her, "but she said she was okay."
"I suppose that's a good thing" Shelby sighed, "I just hope it doesn't set her back."
"She wanted to stay and finish the day" Sue told her, "that's got to be good. Yes it's disappointing that this happened, especially so soon, but Rachel's strong, she'll get through this."
Shelby nodded, unable to stop the voice in her head telling her that Rachel had already been through so much. She just wanted her girl to catch a break.
"If it makes you feel any better, when I found Rachel in the corridor, one of her classmates was with her, and I have no doubt the girl would have fought, physically if necessary, for Rachel."
Shelby smiled, "she asked to have some friends over this weekend, it's a big step for her."
"It is" Sue agreed, "and having supportive friends will make coming back easier for her."
"I hope so" Shelby nodded, "I really do."
"Mom?" Rachel whispered when she saw Shelby sat in the office.
"Hey baby" Shelby smiled softly, not wanting Rachel to think she was angry with her, "how are you doing?"
"I'm okay" Rachel sat beside her mother after Sue gestured to the seat, "really, I was a little worked up earlier but spending some time in the library helped."
"I'm glad to hear it" Sheby smiled.
"Now" Sue turned her attention to Rachel, "I've dealt with the substitute, but I want to make it clear. If any member of staff tries to stop you leaving class when you need to, you have my authority to walk out. Ask permission first, but if that permission is denied, leave anyway, come here or go to Miss Pilsbury and we'll make sure there are no repercussions for your actions. Although I sincerely hope nothing like this happens again."
Rachel nodded, not sure she'd have the confidence to just leave her classroom without permission but appreciating the words all the same, "thank you."
"Just doing my job" Sue waved her hand dismisively, "Is there anything else either of you would like to say on the matter?" Shelby and Rachel both shook their heads, Shelby confident that Sue had the situation under control, "right" Sue stood to see them both out of the office, "we'll see you on Friday?" she asked Rachel, her tone letting the girl know she had a choice.
"Yeah, I'll be here."
Shelby smiled and put her arm around Rachel's waist, Sue patting the teen on the back and winking at her, "atta girl, we'll have you back full time and on my cheer team before you know it."
Shelby turned as they left the office, one eyebrow raised as she told Sue, "I don't know...she might be too busy with glee to cheer."
"Fighting talk" Sue smirked as Rachel and Shelby left the office, "I like it."