Quinn Fabray. When her "best friend" and everyone else were ripping her apart, the one person that stayed silent was her mortal enemy. The girl who had hated Rachel since the moment she saw her. Any chance she got to hurt Rachel, she took. But when everyone else was in agreement and was doing what the blonde had done for years, she was completely quiet.
"Maybe she only likes to humiliate me when I'm right there, so she can see the hurt on my face." Rachel quietly said to herself while unlocking the door to her house. She decided to wipe any thoughts of Quinn from her mind. She didn't want to think about any of the glee club once she was safe and home. Rachel opened the front door and sighed, breathing in the familiar, loving scent of her home. She was instantly greeted by her pit bull, Avigdor. The brunette smiled as the dog jumped on her, furiously licking her. She sank down to the floor and hugged the dog close. After a belly scratch and many face kisses, Rachel went to the kitchen. She looked for a note from her fathers, since they weren't home much. When she didn't see one, she hummed and began looking through the fridge. As she was fixing herself a veggie burger, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She quietly grabbed a sharp knife and hide in the corner of the kitchen, holding her breath. As she heard the footsteps come inside the kitchen, she quickly turned to face her attacker. Instead, she was met with the scream of her father. A huge grin spread out on her face as she dropped the knife. She ran over to hug her father, who was standing trying to catch his breath.
"Papa! You're home! I missed you and Dad so much. How was New York?" Her father smiled as his daughter rambled on. He'd missed her while he and his husband were away for a business trip for a few weeks.
"We missed you too, Rach. New York was lovely as always. Next time we go, it won't be for business and we'll take you with us. How has school been, honey?" Rachel felt her breath hitch as her father asked this. She loved her fathers to death, but she really didn't want to tell them about what she heard the glee saying.
"Oh, it's been same old, same old. You know how school is, Papa." She flashed a quick smile to try and prove that she was fine. Her father seemed to believe it, ruffling her hair while pulling her in for another hug.
'I'm glad it hasn't been too horrible, Rach. You know, the club seemed to really like you when you had that Regionals party a few weeks ago. Nothing like how you said they were the 1st year." Rachel robotically nodded and gave a tense smile.
"Yes, well, I'm going to take my food up and start on my homework, Papa." He nodded, and she smiled again, grabbed her burger, and dashed upstairs. She took deep breaths while in her room. She hated lying to her fathers. While she took small bites of her burger and looked over her calculus homework, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the glee club. She wouldn't just sit by and keep doing everything, knowing they thought she was being a selfish bitch. Wait, that's exactly what she would do. Well, kind of. She was just going to sit. She wasn't going to sing, talk, or do anything, really.
"This is exactly what the club wants." Rachel laughed bitterly. It'll be hilarious to see them try and accomplish anything without her. She had no heart to care really anymore. She'd tried and tried to make them see that she cared about the entire club with all her heart, but they shut her down and tried to make her look like some spawn of Satan., She was through with it. Sighing, she worked out her calculus homework and then flipping to a new page, she began to write out her exact plan of action.
The next day, Rachel woke up and rubbed her eyes before hopping out of bed. She padded downstairs, kissing her Papa and giving her Dad a sleepy "I missed you" hug, and grabbing some fruit. She smiled to herself as she cut up the fruit into chunks and listened to her parent's morning conversation. Quickly eating her breakfast, she walked back up the stairs and got onto her elliptical. She set her playlist to shuffle and furiously worked to the beat of whatever song came on. Since she was sweating hard, she jumped into the shower, letting the hot water flow down her back as she instantly relaxed with a deep sigh. Today was definitely going to be a game changer. She was not Rachel Berry, pushover extraordinaire, anymore. The glee club had pushed her around for almost 2 years, and she was sick of it. Her best friend had lied to her about their friendship. She was bullied, physically and emotionally, and she had reached her boiling point. Their secret "Let's shit on Rachel while she's not here" meeting was the last straw. The singer quickly dried off, and walked over to her closet.
"Let's make a scene." She thought to herself, as she reached far into her closet and grabbed the clothes she saved for weekends and family events. Rachel slid into a pair of tight leather pants and pulled on a black tank top. She grabbed a flannel and shrugged it on, while tying up her converse. She let her hair hang loose down her shoulders, and smiled at herself in her mirror. They weren't going to know what hit them.
Rachel pulled into a parking spot in front of the school. She mentally prepared herself for the day, reminding herself not to give in to her fellow members, before getting out and slamming the door shut. Hugging her bag tightly, she opened up the doors into the school and immediately felt stares on her. A few random boys looked her up and down, before a girl hit them upside the head. She cocked her head to the left and regained her composure, letting the stares burn into the back of her head. She passed Noah, who raised his eyebrows appreciatively with a smirk, and Tina, whose eyes became as wide as saucers and mouth dropped. She simply ignored them as she felt Kurt walk up next to her.
"Hey Diva. I missed you yesterday! I didn't see you all day. Also, nice wardrobe change. It doesn't really fit your personality, but you look hot." The smile on his face made Rachel want to scream. Instead, she bit her tongue and kept walking forward, not looking at the boy once.
"Rachel? Hello? Anyone in there?" He raised his eyebrows amusedly. Rachel just turned the corner to her locker, and spun the combination. Kurt pursed his lips as the girl looked at her locker, not once making eye contact with him.
"Rachel? Seriously, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Rachel put her AP Economics book into her locker, and traded it for her Calculus book before closing the door and turning sharply, leaving Kurt alone at her locker, confused at what had just happened.
Rachel sat through Calculus, ignoring the burning eyes of Santana, who sat behind her. The bell rang, and Rachel packed up her stuff. When everyone was out of the room, Rachel was just about to walk out, until she was pushed into a wall.
"What's with the new look, Hobbit? I mean, you look hot, but why? Are you trying to impress Finn again? Because I think he's thirsty for Q right now. Anyway, why the fuck aren't you talking, Berry? You're a blabber mouth, but according to Kurt, you haven't said one word all day. You know what, whatever, I don't really care. Just save your big mouth for Glee Club ideas." Santana let go of Rachel, swiftly picked up her bag, and strode out the room. Rachel let out a deep breath as soon as the girl left. She didn't realize how hard it would actually be not talking. But this is exactly what the club wanted. They all said so. Their wish is her command. The brunette grabbed her bag, and set out for the cafeteria.
Normally, Rachel would sit with Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and whoever else was at their table. But today when they saw her and waved her over, she gave them one look and then turned to walk towards the auditorium. At their table, Kurt sighed.
"Has Rachel been ignoring all of you too?" He questioned the rest of the members. The girl had not made contact with him all day, and he was really worried. They all nodded their heads, and he groaned, pressing his fingers into his temples.
"C'mon Kurt, don't worry, she's probably just in one of her moods. You know how Rachel can get."Mercedes reassured her friend sympathetically. The rest of the group nodded, assuring him that Rachel was fine. Kurt smiled and nodded. They were probably right. Rachel was fine.
Rachel sat cross legged on the stage, pulling her thermos out of her bag. She spooned some tomato and lentil soup into her mouth and began to think about how the day had gone. She'd been doing well, she hadn't spoken once. The teachers looked at her once and saw the rigid look on her face and didn't dare to call on her. She laughed to herself as she realized how ironic it was that Santana was the only one who asked her directly why she wasn't talk to anyone. Glee club was next and she was both looking forward to it and not. She wanted to see how the club would crash and burn without her, but she wasn't as excited for the verbal attacks she would be getting. Letting her shoulders fall, she reassured herself.
"Rachel, you can do this. This isn't stuff they haven't said to you before. This is all their fault anyway. You are only standing up for yourself." She continued to eat soup as she watched an episode of Say Yes to the Dress on Netflix. If the club thought she was whiny, they really needed to watch this show. Finally, the lunch bell rang and Rachel packed up her things before walking to the choir room. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep, before walking in. Almost everyone was already seated. She took a seat far away from the rest of the members. They all slightly shook their heads and went back to their conversations. Quinn was the last one to walk in. She took the empty seat next to Rachel, and gave the girl a small nod when Rachel gave her a confused look. Rachel decided to ignore the girl, and focused on Mr. Schue when he walked in.
"All right guys! We have lots to do today. First, I'd like to commend everyone who took part in Night of Neglect. It was refreshing to hear the often unheard voices for once." His eyes quickly darted towards Rachel for a millisecond, while everyone clapped. Rachel rolled her eyes at the teacher. "Okay, next, our topic for the week is Stripped. No, we are not going to be doing stripper themed songs. This week is all about using your voice to express the feelings inside you. No instruments, no dancing, just you singing." Everyone waited for Rachel to begin blurting out her ideas. She stayed silent. They all stared at her expectantly. The brunette just picked at her nails.
"Rachel? Is there something you want to sing?" The teacher looked at her, his eyes boring into her. She simply looked up, made eye contact with him, leaned back in her seat, and crossed her arms.
"Mr. Schue, Rachel is in another one of her moods today." Mercedes rolled her eyes, while Mr. Schue nodded knowingly. Rachel had a look of disgust on her face, and when she glanced next to her for less than a second, Quinn wore a similar expression.
"Alright, Rachel, you can have a day, but tomorrow we really need you to come prepared." He turned his attention towards the other members. "Does anyone want to sing today?" Finn raised his hand, and went to the middle of the floor. He stood and sang an awkward version of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" by the Ramones, making heart eyes at Quinn who looked like she wanted to vomit. Mike attempted to sing some love song to Tina, who looked like she was about to drown in her tears. Mr. Schue clapped for them before announcing that class was over. Everyone left while Rachel was still packing up. As soon as bent down to grab her bag and came up, she was met with the hazel eyes of Quinn Fabray.
"Why aren't you talking, Berry? Normally, even when you are in a so called mood, you still at least talk during Glee." Quinn sighed as the short girl simply stayed silent. "Fine. If you want to actually talk, here." Quinn grabbed Rachel's arm, scribbling down her number before mumbling a goodbye and walking out, leaving Rachel staring at the messy numbers as if her arm had been burned.