A/N: Well hello there! I haven't updated in a long time I know but I found it difficult to think in terms of an AU where Rachel wasn't in New Directions when the canon was being updated every week,but I wanted to try writing a bit more of Karofsky and Rachel interaction so here it is even though it isn't very good!
In the silence of the library, Rachel Berry and Dave Karofsky sat across each other, the former boring holes into his skin with her stare while the latter ignored her blatantly.
"So I hear you slushied Artie."
"Hm."
"And your coach made you join Glee."
"Hm."
"You also made comments with intention to question Noah's sexuality and his masculinity causing an altercation between Glee club and the Football team. And then after going to rehearsals and a wonderful performance you all quit the Football team simply because of a slushy and now the girls of Glee club and Seth are joining the Football team so as to allow the team to compete in the upcoming match with the minimum number of members required."
At this point Dave who had been ignoring her in hopes of getting her to drop the subject looked up at her with a mixture of surprise and exasperation."How do you know all that? Didn't you quit the Glee Club?"
"I check Jacob Ben-Israel's blog on a regular basis so I know if I need to take out a restraining order again."
He mouthed the word again before holding out his hands as if to show that he didn't really want to know. Which was understandable really because when Jacob Ben-Israel came into the picture even the football players were creeped out by the boy's stalker-ish behaviour.
"Okay so all that happened, so what?"
An odd noise escaped Rachel's mouth as her eyebrows pulled together in exasperation. She thought they were making progress. And really they were, Dave hadn't been slushying half as many people since their talk and there had been an almost noticeable lack of people in the dumpsters (although Jacob remained a fixture in them).
"So I thought things were getting better. You were getting closer to achieving self-actualization albeit with still a long way to go and now you're back at the beginning. Do you even realise that you are returning to the modus operandi that got you to have a near breakdown in the library with me as witness?"
Throughout her stern speech he had been shifting more and more in his seat and as she finished her sentence he slammed his hands down on the library table in anger tuning to her with a look on his face that nearly scared Rachel.
"Look the hockey team slushied us all right. What were we supposed to do just sit back and take that?"
"The Glee Club sits back and takes it. Do you know why? It's because they believe in doing what they love regardless of what everyone else thinks."
"Because that has clearly worked out for them."He said sarcastically. She opened her mouth to retort but he interrupted her saying," You know if you're trying to show a football team that you're more than a bunch of pussies singing sappy songs at the drop of the hat then singing "Need you now" is not the way to go."
Having no response to that Rachel proceeded to splutter for a few minutes before settling for a glare which had no effect on him whatsoever.
With a pointed look he turned back to the text he was flipping through with a frown.
"It's not that you know. It's not singing at the drop of a hat. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of hard work to achieve the level of perfection that New Directions strives for. If they sing a sappy song it's because the sappy song is the one they've been practicing."
"Why do you care? You're not even a part of it anymore and it's done great things for you. Did you know you were the one we were going to slushy the way we did him? But since you left your precious New Directions your status is higher and so we slushied the wheelchair kid instead."
"I care because you're ostracizing people for singing! Singing, David! This is music we're talking about, it's everything, this is where people find their God because that's what music is. It's everything and it's for the soul and you're stifling it."
A few moments' silence followed where Rachel actually believed he had understood what she was trying to say, but before the feeling could take over her mind he opened his mouth and ruined everything.
"I don't care what you say, if this Glee Club is a reason for me to be slushied, then there is no way I am ever going to be a part of it."That said he picked up his books and left the library.
.
.
.
It was half time and she could hear the joy in Kurt's voice as he shared that he was informed via text of the reconciliation between the football team and the Glee club barring one David Karofsky. She knew what she had to do then and under the pretence of going to the loo made her way to the boy's locker room where she found Dave alone sitting on a bench, a frown on his face.
"Get up! You're going to play football and you're going to sing and dance to Thriller, albeit not in that sequence."
"I'm not going to -"he was interrupted as Rachel took his arm and dragged him outside to see New Directions start their mash up. He heard the roar of the audience and the looks on the faces of the performers, even his usual partners in slushying seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was all the push he needed, taking a deep breath he walked out and joined them on the field.
Away in the bleachers an amazed Kurt and Rachel were grinning and screaming their approval and Dave knowing that tomorrow everything would be back to normal, couldn't help but wish it wasn't just a once in a lifetime thing.