A/N: Words can't even express how happy I am from all of the alerts and kind reviews- thank you! I used one suggestion about not making Puck swear as much because he really is just a bad-ass because of his actions. I'm very open to suggestions and constructive criticism, I take it well, so thank you for all of the reviews! This is a longer chapter, bear with me.
DISCLAIMER: Not really necessary, but I don't own Glee. Never have, never will.
Eight Days a Gleek
Rachel didn't sleep all night. By the time she got back in her cabin it was almost three in the morning, her eyes growing restless.
At Camp Soul, the required time to wake up and be dressed and ready for breakfast was precisely 8:15, but Rachel was usually a 6 AM girl.
Her alarm began beeping as she grew quickly irritated of the noise. "Urgh," She groaned and quickly pressed the snooze button and fell back into her pillow.
All the thoughts from last night wouldn't allow her to wake up, she couldn't bring herself to get dressed or showered.
"Why am I out here?" Rachel folded her arms in a shiver, it must've neared around forty degrees at night here, and her robe just wasn't cutting it.
"For me," Finn looked down at Rachel and debated whether to wrap his arm around her or not, she looked as if she needed some warming up, "Please?"
Rachel knew if she gave in it'd happen over and over again, "So you can break my heart again?" She lifted up her left hand and glanced at her watch, squinting her eyes, "At one-fifteen in the morning?"
"Rach, I can-"
"Save it." She threw up her hand and headed in the direction towards her cabin.
Finn wouldn't let her get away, taking a few giant steps to be next to her.
"You can what, Finn?" Rachel kicked her bare foot into the dirt without realizing she'd forgotten to slip shoes on, "You can tell me you love me and take it back and accuse me of loving Jesse and you-"
"I'm...sorry?" Finn was emotionless at this point; he was growing restless of the constant nagging.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Finn. You know, I didn't even want to attend this...this camp because of you," Rachel felt her cheeks flush and her eyes swell up, "I figured I'd go because well, the team obviously needs me. And this whole time, Finn, I've been holding it in. All of the anger. The anger I've brought upon myself, the anger you've brought upon me, the anger Jesse has nonchalantly thrown at me, the anger that-"
Finn looked down at her for a long moment. Rachel, confused, stopped her words.
"I love you." He said in a hushed tone as he stroked her upper-cheekbones and pressed his lips against hers.
"I-I don't know what to say." Rachel slowly pulled her lips from his and stared up at him.
"You don't have to say a thing."
The rest of the night was a blur from there. All Rachel could remember was going to the old barn on the campground with Finn and just laying there. What they talked about seemed distant to her, she couldn't remember a single sentence of their conversation. She just remembered one of Finn's large hands in hers, the other stroking her body, which felt chilly even in the barn.
She also remember sneaking back into her cabin around three in the morning, swearing she saw Mercedes' eye twitch but then blaming it on her own tiredness.
It was eight-thirty and she woke up feeling alone. She knew her feeling of isolation was true when she rubbed her eyes and opened them to find an empty room, drawers opened and shoes removed from their usual spots.
"Hm," She shook her head and rested it back on her pillow.
She figured since she had missed breakfast yet again she'd just drift on back to sleep until eleven-thirty. The next activity planned was scheduled for twelve, which would give her enough time to quickly shower and get dressed.
She felt her eyelids growing heavy, about to close, when she heard footsteps approach the door to her cabin.
"Shit," She mumbled and turned the alarm clock towards herself, "What the-?"
"Quinn?" A voice she recgonized almost too well flooded her room, leaving her to sit up without hesitation, in search for a mirror.
"Uh, just a second," Quinn dug around the top of the dresser her and the rest of the girls' shared, not locating a single mirror, "Screw it."
"Quinn? C'mon."
"Morning." She cleared her throat as she felt her chest slowly drop.
"You look-"
"Save it."
"Good." Puck bit his bottom lip as he examined Quinn from top to bottom.
"Please," Quinn sighed in anger, "Shouldn't you be examining Santana?"
Puck reached out his hand and placed it on Quinn's waist, "Hey," He took his hand up and brushed Quinn's hair away from her face, "People talk you know."
Quinn felt her eyebrow raised as she glared at Puck.
"Why were you in here crying yesterday?"
She felt her stomach drop in embarassment. How the hell would he know, she thought to herself as her face grew redder.
"Don't be embarassed," Puck signaled for her to walk inside and she did, as he followed, "We all cry sometimes."
"Not you." Quinn said coldly.
"Not true," Puck mocked her, making her laugh, "Ask me the last time I cried."
"When's the last time you-"
"Yesterday."
Quinn had a feeling she knew why Puck had been crying. She suddenly remembered the group activity and how brave everyone thought Santana had been. She remembered Puck's comforting words to her after she had told her story, "Santana, right?"
But Puck shook his head, "You."
"Me?" Quinn asked in confusion.
"Seeing you cry after all of those stories really got to me," Puck looked down, almost as if he was embarassed, "You seemed like, touched."
Quinn felt more tears form as she bit her lip, "Glad to know I still have that effect on you."
"And you always will."
"Will," He felt a small hand touch his right shoulder as he leaned up, "Hi."
"Em," Will was surprised, yet happy at the same time, "What's up?"
"D-do you want to run the activity today? Or should I do it? Because if you-"
"We'll both do it." He said with a smile as he focused on his newspaper and his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Y-you have peanut butter on your-"
Will lifted his face up to Emma, "Get that for me?"
Emma, without hesitation, ran her finger across Will's upper lip, scooping off the bit of peanut butter with her index finger, "D-do you have a wipe?"
She didn't know if what she was hearing was a real cry, but she figured she'd go into the bathroom and try to help anyway. Afterall, her late-night talk with Finn had put her in a good enough mood that the fact that she only slept around two hours was quickly forgotten.
"Just open," Rachel sat at the door, her hand gripping the knob, which was clearly locked, "Kurt, I want to talk to you, that's all."
She sat there for twenty minutes, doubting the door would open now.
"Finn?" She quickly sat up and fixed the bottom of her skirt as she noticed him walk by the bathroom stalls, "Hey."
"Rachel," Finn walked faster towards her, interlocking his fingers into hers and swinging them, "W-who's in there?"
"That's just Kurt, but he won't open it and I've been trying for around thirty minutes now but I can't seem to get a response and-"
"Be right back," Finn pulled his hand out of Rachel's and shuffled towards the bathroom stall, "Open up! It's Finn."
Will started the activity, he figured Emma was just running late and didn't bother to sweat over it.
"Kurt," Will's eye twitched when he noticed the boy quietly sneak in to the cabin with Finn following, "You alright?"
A sniffle was given off from Kurt as Finn gave a thumbs-up. Rachel bit her lip as she watched Finn sit in a chair that was the farthest away from her. He didn't even bother to look her way.
"Okay, today we're just going to partner you up and-"
"Partners?" Mercedes seemed to glare over at Kurt and then back.
"Partners," Mr. Schuester swallowed and then continued, "Like I said, we'll pair you up with partners and then you'll get to-"
"Sorry," Emma walked in the room with a box piled high with stuff no one could make out, hitting the door on the way in, "Sorry, 'scuse me. Sorry."
"Alright, we'll let Ms. Pillsbury settle and then I'll partner you up."
"No," Puck's jaw cringed and he received a look from Will, "I wanna pick my own."
"Noah," Emma stepped in, "They've already been picked." She pulled out a sheet of paper that had looked overly-crumbled and cleared her throat, "Will, wanna read the-"
"Kurt and Puck," He started, Puck's eyes bulging.
Quinn gulped at the fact that she wasn't with Puck, "Quinn and Santana. Rachel and Brittany. Mercedes and Artie. Tina and Matt. Mike and Finn."
Sighs and moans were heard throughout.
"This is exactly why we need this camp," Mr. Schuester sighed and watched all of the kids' reactions. His pairings were completely intentional and he felt good right now.
"Mr. Schuester's right," Rachel got up from her chair and stood in front of everyone, "If we spend time arguing about our partners and disagreeing with Mr. Schue's choices, which were very wise and sneaky, props to you," She clapped her hands together and grinned at Will who was also smiling, "Now let's get to know our partners! Mr. Schue, the assignment?"
"Right, the-" Mr. Schuester was interrupted.
"You may be crazy and all, but you've got a point Berry. C'mon, Kurt," Puck, in everyone's surprise raised from his chair, "Let's do this."