Remember how I warned you guys in the very first chapter that some characters might be VERY different? Well, yeah, I was mostly talking about Shelby. But I'm glad I got some kind of different reaction out of you :) I've barely been at the computer this week, so I can't promise an update that soon, sorry! But here's a whole lot of chapter for you in the meantime!

Jesse felt like he had no reason to live anymore. What point was there in living without Rachel by his side? The world seemed so grey and dull without her. Every smell seemed nauseating and every sound irritated his ears. He was sitting in his room, not doing anything, just staring out his window. Every time Mr. Schuester tried to talk to him he got kicked out. Of course Jesse was being overdramatic about this whole thing but he was still very depressed. Even worse than that he was confused about this whole situation, it all just didn't make sense. But perhaps he was just in denial and didn't want to accept that Rachel really was just using him to eliminate the competition for good.

"Hey, honey. How was work?" Mr. Schue greeted his wife with a kiss as she returned from her 12 hour shift as a nurse at the hospital. She was pretty good with the messy stuff and she loved taking care of people, because she was a very loving person in general.

"Oh, the usual, giving people sponge baths and changing IV's. How's Jesse?" Emma replied as she took her shoes off and threw them in their shoe corner.

"Awful. I've never seen him like this and I don't know what to do. He won't come out and he won't let me talk to him. He blames me for letting him fall for Rachel in the first place, as if there was something I could have done about it."

"Don't you start blaming yourself, everybody knew there was little you could do about it. And besides, this could be good for Jesse – he'll learn from his mistakes. But maybe I should try talking to him? I could at least get him out of his room." Emma said. Although she was only Jesse's step-mother, they still were pretty close and usually, when Will couldn't help Jesse with something, Emma sure could. It was a nice balance.

"I guess it couldn't hurt."

She smiled, put her purse down on the table and headed to Jesse's room. She knocked on the door and opened it.

"Hey, can I come in?"

Jesse didn't even blink. Well, since Emma didn't receive a 'no', she went on it.

"So, how's it going?" Emma tried to make conversation as she sat down on Jesse's bed next to him.

Jesse just gave her a mean look, making her understand that that was about the worst question she had ever asked him.

"Right, right, ok. Bad question. Do you want to talk about it? About Rachel I mean? I know it may not seem like much but sometimes just saying something out loud helps deal with it."

There was a long pause. The silence was extremely uncomfortable and Emma was just about to get up and leave in defeat when Jesse finally spoke.

"I knew there was a reason I never wanted to fall for someone, I knew I would end up getting my heart crushed like the stage floor for the performance of Stomp." He said.

"Well, you know, that's just life. It pains me to see you like this, no one deserves to feel this way, but sometimes you have to go through a tough experience and it ends up making you stronger. If you just give in, you're letting Rachel win."

"I know but I just can't. She was amazing, I felt so alive and free when I was with her. She understood me and I her, we made a perfect team. I just can't believe it was all an act. But if it's true then I'm ashamed I let myself fall for someone who didn't care about me. She never loved me. And why would she..."

"Oh, don't say that. Just because you fell for the wrong girl doesn't mean you should let it reflect poorly on you. Yes, what she did was wrong but perhaps there's more to the story than you realize."

"Nothing matters except the fact that she doesn't love me."

"I disagree. There's a good quote I like, that fits this situation. It goes "Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'" And I think you should think to yourself right now, in five years, do you think you'll still care about a girl who broke your heart back in high school?"

"Yes." Jesse replied seriously, as if insulted that Emma was taking this so lightly.

"Ok, that's it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. This is just what she wants – for you to give up. I suggest you get up and show her what she's missing out on. Put all these emotions into your performance for Regionals and show everyone that nothing can bring you down – you're a star and you will shine no matter what."

Jesse took a moment to think about what Emma had just said. Then an idea hit him.

"You're right. No one messes with Jesse St. James and gets away with it. I may still love her, God knows why, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let her win. Two can play at that game." Jesse said, grabbing his cell phone and dialing Quinn's number.

"That's the spirit." Emma said, feeling proud of herself. Though she wasn't sure this would all go down very well. But at least he was doing something and that was enough for her.

"Hey, Quinn. Are you busy?" Jesse asked over the phone.

"Not really. What's up?"

"I have an idea for Regionals that I very much wish to discuss with you."

"But I thought you weren-"

"I'll explain later. Can I come over?"

"Sure. I'll be waiting."

"Great, see you soon."

Rachel was alone on the Carmel auditorium stage, belting out "On My Own" before practice. Singing was her way of coping, and she needed to try and get over this Jesse thing. Once she was done she just stood there, alone. She had never felt this bad on stage, so lonely, so unfulfilled.

"Rachel!" Giselle waved, as she came in the back door and was making her way up to the stage with a couple of other Adreninites.

"Hi, guys." Rachel replied, trying to put a smile on her face.

"You look awful," Giselle said, "is everything alright?"

"Of course. I'm just a little stressed and I didn't get much sleep last night." Oh, boy, was that true. She had spent almost the whole night crying but she knew what she had done was for the best. Jesse would forgive and forget her, eventually. And she just kept hoping she would be able to forget him, too. Her mother had reminded her about what was most important and she needed to get back to that track if she was to get anywhere in life.

"Does that have anything to do with the geek you've been secretly dating from McKinley High?" Paul Newman blurted out in front of the whole team.

"What geek?" Giselle asked.

"Not that it's anyone's business but I was technically seeing someone, he was their male lead. But it was all just a scam to distract their glee club from Regionals. And it seems to be working, I hear that he's left and they have no chance without him. Not that they even had a chance to begin with."

"That's what I call devotion." Shelby said as she entered from the back of the stage. "You should all learn from Rachel and take matters into your own hands if you want to win. I hope you understand what I mean."

"Funkification." Paul nodded and said. They knew exactly what she meant.

"I'm thinking…Hit them with GaGa." Shelby ordered.

Everyone let out a cheer in excitement, except for Rachel. She was definitely not looking forward to this.

As the rest of the team left, Rachel stayed behind to speak with her mom.

"Mom? Can I sit this one out? I'm really not up for it."

"Oh, darling. I know this might be hard but trust me – it'll do you good. The satisfaction of winning will be worth it at the end. Now go get your costume and be on your way."

As Vocal Adrenaline was sneaking in the back of the McKinley High auditorium, Rachel glanced over at the parking lot, only to see Jesse getting out of his car. He then went over to the passenger's side and opened the door for no one else but Quinn Fabray. She knew it was Quinn because she had checked out her Facebook page, but she was even more gorgeous in person. Rachel suddenly felt a bit jealous. But why? She had broken up with Jesse and he was bound to move on eventually. Though it had only been 3 days! Rachel's narcissism kicked in when she was outraged at how quickly he could forget about her. But she couldn't help it – it hurt seeing that.

Giselle saw the way Rachel's face sunk at the sight of this. She wasn't really sure what was going on but she figured that was Jesse and for some reason seeing him upset Rachel.

"Rach, are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I just need a minute."

Rachel rushed into the auditorium and ran backstage by herself. There she saw a mirror and walked up to it, looking at herself in her costume from head to toe. She looked awesome, anyone would agree. She was a star, what could possibly bring her down? Show business was her life, her passion, her dream. This was the year that she was going to win Nationals, opening so many doors and offering so many opportunities. Any college would love to have her. But what would it all mean if she didn't have anyone would loves her beside her? She loved Jesse but she was sure he didn't love her anymore, once he thought it was just an act. How would she find the strength to face him now, especially with Quinn by his side? No, no, no. Everybody loved her, she's a show stopper. She didn't need anything else but the love of the audience she performed in front of. Even if this McKinley audience wasn't going to show her some love, Regionals sure would.

"Snap out of this. It's lonely at the top, you know that! What's that song about overcoming professional and personal disappointments? Oh, yeah… "When you're smiling, when you're smiling the whole world smiles with you…" She took one last look at herself and nodded. Her team was depending on her. She could do this.

"Thank you for coming." Rachel said, as she stood on the McKinley High stage, facing New Directions, which she had invited to the auditorium. She was in a ridiculous yet ferociously fierce black and white outfit, and it was obvious they were about to do Lady Gaga. The rest of the group was also dressed in incredible outfits, no way could New Directions even dream about having the budget for something like that. They all felt intimidated already. Jesse wasn't sure whether he was ready to see Rachel yet but he didn't have much of a choice, he had to do this, and he had to face her and them. The look he gave Rachel as she stood there could break even the toughest person's heart. Rachel had come this far, she couldn't back out now. Besides, Quinn was right there next to him, why the long face? The anger (which was really jealousy but she liked to think of it as anger) she was feeling was almost starting to shoot out of her eyes.

"The blogs and chat rooms say that we're finished and you guys are ripe to topple us. We just wanted to show you a little something we came up with, to see if you agree with that assessment." Rachel put on her sunglasses and got in position for their number. The lights dimmed before going all wild and crazy and dazzling New Directions. Fake smoke started to come up, making it look like they were walking in the clouds.

Mum mum mum mah!
Mum mum mum mah!

There is little one can do to get ready for the awesomeness that is a Vocal Adrenaline performance but nothing could get you ready for this - this was like watching Gaga herself, it was incredible, from the very first second. If this was what they had now, what did they have prepared for Regionals? Right now they were doing "Poker face" with Rachel as lead. How ironic. New Directions didn't even know their auditorium had such lights but Vocal Adrenaline was pushing it to the max, it looked like a laser show or something.

I wanna hold em' like they do in Texas Plays`
Fold em' let em' hit me raise it baby stay with me
(I love it)
Love game intuition play the cards with Spades to start
And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart.

Jesse was seeing Rachel Berry in a completely different light, figuratively and literally. First of all, never in a million years could he imagine her pulling off Gaga, yet she was amazingly convincing. Every word she sang was like a slap in the face, couldn't they have chosen a song that would hurt even more? Not that that was even possible. But who was this person in front of him? It was as if she had turned into a fame monster herself. Was she really capable of such deceit just to win a competition? His mind told put everything together and said that she was an awful person who didn't have a heart and was just a great actress but his heart just wouldn't accept this, he truly believed he had seen the real Rachel and she couldn't do this. But right now his mind was winning. Once the pain had sunk in, Jesse felt full of anger. The nerve she had, coming here after breaking his heart and now flaunting how amazing she was in front of everyone. If this was supposed to get him even more depressed than they were failing miserably – now he was more determined than ever to beat them at Regionals, no matter what it would take.

Oh, oh oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
Oh, oh oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got

Vocal Adrenaline were busting out moves that the rest of the guys had no idea were even physically possible. They even had managed to have pyrotechnics on the McKinley stage. That was pretty embarrassing, having another team use your stage better than you yourself. Jesse took a look at his teammates – to say they look terrified was an understatement.

Can't read my, can't read my
No, he can't read-a my poker face
(she's got to love nobody)
Can't read my, can't read my
No, he can't read-a my poker face
(she's got to love nobody)

As Rachel was singing the words she hoped to hell that she was pulling it off and Jesse couldn't read her poker face. If telling him she was playing him was the hardest thing she'd ever done, than this was the second hardest thing. Every second of this performance was painful for her. Especially the "she's got to love nobody" part, which was sadly becoming the story of her life. Gosh, why was this so hard? As much as she tried to space out and just perform, she couldn't. Not when Jesse was sitting right in front of her. But she was pretty sure that if this wouldn't convince Jesse, than nothing would.

P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)

This was unlike anything anyone in New Directions had ever seen before. Except Tina, who had gone to a Lady Gaga concert and even she was impressed with Vocal Adrenaline. They all were thinking they should just retreat and not even go to Regionals after seeing that. But they knew that wasn't really an option. No one could say anything, they needed a moment to absorb what they had just watched.

"Thanks for letting us use your auditorium, guys. It's quaint." Giselle sniggered, as they made their way off and out.

Rachel took a final look at Jesse, who now had put on a poker face of his own. But she couldn't take it, this whirlwind of emotions was getting a bit too hard to handle, so she turned around and left without a word.

"I'm guessing that was your girlfriend?" Santana asked Jesse.

"Didn't look much like a girlfriend to me." Kurt said.

"Guys, come on, we've got some serious work to do." Jesse said.

As they were making their way back to the choir room they were all talking about how amazing Vocal Adrenaline was and how they stood no chance at Regionals, they didn't have to budget for such costumes and they couldn't dance like that if their lives depended on it. Once they had reached the choir room and taken their seats Jesse stood in front of everyone.

"Stop talking like that! We can't let them get the best of us. I know I made a mistake with Rachel but if we give up now then she won. I still don't completely get it, or even believe it, but it doesn't matter. We are going to Regionals and we need to at least place, if not beat Vocal Adrenaline."

This didn't seem to convince anybody. Then Quinn got up and stood next to Jesse.

"I'm with Jesse. I won't say it's not of personal interest to take that little bitch down but I still don't think we should just sit back and do nothing. Jesse and I have come up with a few good ideas, so come on, let's get to it!" she said.