After School Special

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or anything associated with the show.

Chapter 7: The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most

MARCH 2011

The idea of having to go back to school was something that terrified Rachel Barbra Berry to the core. The week off that her dads made her take, was very good for her; it gave her time to relax and begin process what had actually happened to her. It was a very hard week and she was very grateful that she had the help and support of all her friends and family and obviously Quinn. She spent a lot of the week dealing with all her emotions and figuring out what she was going to do when she had to go back to school. Her mornings were full of schoolwork that her tutor would bring for her every morning, but once the tutor left at 12 o'clock, Rachel was left to her thoughts until 3 o'clock when Quinn, Brittany, Santana and the rest of the Glee Club would come over to keep her mind occupied. Granted she was never completely alone during the day there were a plethora of adults willing to stay with home her on different days, so that she was never completely alone. As much as she appreciated having them stay with her in the morning, she found it hard to talk to them because they always wanted to know how she felt. However, with the Glee Club, that was not the case, Rachel learned from Brittany that Santana threatened to cut anyone who asked how she was feeling and also that Noah backed her up. Rachel loved the protective side of Santana, it was odd to see the fierce Latina defend someone that was not Brittany and it warmed Rachel's heart that Santana felt the need to protect her.

Rachel also loved what Quinn was doing with her too. Rachel knew that, this week was hard for Quinn because normally she was very touchy feely with her girlfriend but, now she had a hard time being comfortable touching anybody for more than a few minutes. The only time Rachel did not mind being cuddled and snuggled was when she was sleeping. In fact, sometimes she needed it to make her feel safe and protected, as long as she was awake when the person started to cuddle with her. Quinn was being amazing throughout the whole ordeal; she would stay with Rachel whenever she could and would leave Rachel alone whenever she wanted time with her dads or Shelby. She also was being good with the nightmares that plagued her sleep, and Rachel knew that was the hardest part for Quinn, because there have been a few nights, when Quinn could not comfort her on her own and she would have to get one of her dads or Shelby to help her. Rachel didn't know what she would do without Quinn by her side all of time.

In reality Rachel knew she had to thank everybody for what they have done for her this week and what they would continue to do for her between when she stated school on Monday and when the trial. The trial was something that she was terrified of. Being the daughter of a judge, she knew that the best thing she could do would be to testify and tell her story; even if the court didn't see things her way, people would still know that Mr. Wilde did something he should not have done and, that fact alone was enough to make his life a little bit harder. But, the fact that they could still find him not guilty was not something she was sure she could cope with. Sighing Rachel shook her head to get the thoughts out of her head, when she heard her name being called. Shelby figured that it would be good for her to get out of the house and use to being around people before she went back to school on Monday.

"I will be down in a minute Mom, I'm just looking for a pair of shoes," she shouted down the stairs.

"Okay, but let's get a move on Santana and Brittany are already here."

Right as Shelby was finishing she heard Rachel's door open then close and a few seconds later she saw her daughter come down the stairs.

"And her highness graces us with her presence," Santana remarked. "Would you like someone to carry your bag for you too, your highness?"

"Well, Santana if you are offering; here you go," Rachel said handing over her bag to the Latina.

"Your funny Berry, I don't carry anyone's bag."

"That's not true Santana; you carry my bag, because last time I left it in the ball-pit at The Discovery Zone." Brittany remarked

Everyone looked at Brittany before Shelby proceeded to push everyone out of the front door.

They spent the day walking around Lima and going to the mall. Shelby was happy to see that Rachel was able to relax and have a good time with other people. She was afraid that being in a crowd would make her daughter nervous and make her have a panic attack.

"So what do you girls want to do for lunch," Shelby asked.

"Um why don't we go to the diner; they have the best variety for everyone; and they have vegetarian and vegan options for Quinn and Rachel," Santana answered.

It was a nice day out for the girls and it gave Rachel a chance to get out of the house before returning to school.

Since it was a Saturday night, all the girls decided to spend the night at Rachel's house. Rachel was happy that her dads let all three girls spend the night, they had been afraid to have so many people stay the night after everything and this was the first time they felt comfortable enough to allow more than just Quinn spend the night. Once all the girls were upstairs, Jackson and Eli took Shelby into the kitchen so they could talk.

"So how was she," Jackson asked impatiently.

"She was really good, I mean granted one of us was with her at all times, so I don't really know how she will be if she is alone or even with someone else, but she didn't mind being around other people and she seemed to have a good time," Shelby finished.

"Well, that's good," Eli, said as he started to prep dinner. "At least we know she can be surrounded by people and not have a panic attack."

"I talked to the school board and they said that they found a new Biology teacher. She is actually the old Biology teacher from Carmel. They said she wanted to leave because the commute was too far for her and she had two young kids at home." Jackson told Eli and Shelby

"Oh Stephanie, yea she is great and the kids love her. Her husband is a professor at OSU. She is actually one of the few teachers I allowed to hold Vocal Adrenalin kids after class if they did something stupid… Yes, I realize that sentence just made me sound like Sue," Shelby laughed.

"I just hope that this works out well for Rachel, I really don't want her to feel comfortable, I just feel so bad for her," Elias said.

Upstairs the girls were having a good time just being with each other and being able to talk without the looming feeling of someone watching them.

"So do you think you are ready to go back to school sweetie," Quinn asked, while French-braiding Rachel's hair.

"Honestly, I think it will be good for me to get out of the house, I mean it felt amazing to be out of the house today, but I don't know what school is going to be like. Especially Biology class, I mean no one form Glee, much less the three of you share the class with me. I have a few friends in the class, but I really don't know how I will feel without anyone from Glee, my dads, my mom, or any of your parents around me."

"Well, I'm sure Figgins won't mind if you want to skip Bio on Monday, and if he gives you any trouble just go to Sue, she fixes everything," Santana said to Rachel.

"Yea, my mom said, if you ever need a break, you can just go to her office. Though, I don't know why she would let you break her office she likes it a lot." Brittany said.

"Britt she means if I want to skip a class I can sit in her office, but yea I am really grateful to have her on my side in this, it has actually made me feel better.

"That's a first," Quinn laughed. Everyone looked at her as if she had two head, "Sue making someone that isn't Brittany feeling better."

When Monday morning came around Rachel was a little nervous. She had prepared herself for today, but still there were one million butterflies flying around stomach. She went about her regular morning schedule; with her elliptical, shower, washed her face, and brushed her teeth; before she was ready to get dressed. She dressed in a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and a grey and turquoise long-sleeved tunic shirt; she grabbed a grey sweater in case she got cold, before heading down-stairs for breakfast. Her dads and mom were already in the kitchen preparing vegan chocolate chip waffles, fresh fruit salad, and coffee. She smiled at all of them and pressed a kiss on each of their heads; before getting some water to drink. She sat down at the breakfast bar with Shelby and let her dads serve her breakfast. It was nice to have everyone in the house together; it made her smile because it was a nice way to start the day.

"So are you ready to get back into the swing baby-girl," Jackson asked his daughter.

"Yea, I think it will be good for me. I mean I can't sit home forever; and to be honest I was actually getting a little stir crazy being home all day, I am looking forward to having my time accounted for, but ask me again in the afternoon and I have all the homework," she smiled.

"Well at least, you have people that you can talk to, and go to if you need a break," Elias said.

"And your new Bio teacher, is a friend of mine from Carmel Stephanie O'Malley, I talked to her a little bit last night, she has already been there for a week and has met Sue so she knows what is going on," Shelby said taking a sip of her coffee.

Rachel was happy that the new Biology teacher was a woman, but it actually made her feel relieved to know that she knew Shelby, at least than she would not be a total stranger. She continued on with her breakfast, when her Jackson said something that really surprised her.

"Also Sue, said that no one besides the herself, Principal Figgins, Will, and the rest of the faculty know what is going on. Sue made sure that no word about what happened was uttered; everyone thinks that he left because he got a new job, so you don't have to worry about the students being different."

Rachel was terrified that students would have found out about what happened to her; one of her nightmares the first few nights was about finding a blog post with video from Jacob Ben Israel. However, that dream was easy to shake off because Jacob and is family moved to Montana last summer. It was comforting to know that the students would not be looking at her any differently, a

Shelby was taking her to school today, after breakfast the two finished getting ready, said goodbye, and left the house.

Once at school Rachel met with Quinn, Brittany, and Santana before entering the school. When she walked into the school, it truly felt like nothing has changed. She was there earlier than most people were; in fact, she was there earlier than she normally would have been. She needed to give in her assignments from last week and talk with Miss. Pillsbury before she went classes. She met with all of her teachers who welcomed her back, Rachel was a student they liked having in class, because when all else failed they could call on her to answer questions. Her talk with Emma had gone well too. Emma just told her about the new Biology teacher and told Rachel that for the next month she would need to talk to her at least once a week; something that Rachel knew was coming but was not looking forward to. It is not that she did not like Emma, but Rachel always wondered how someone with OCD got a job as a guidance councilor, but then again it was McKinley High School so it sort of did make sense.

After talking with Emma, Rachel went to go meet Mrs. O'Malley. She met with Quinn before going to the classroom, she wanted Quinn to come with her for moral support and Quinn said yes in heartbeat, it also helped that Quinn had Bio first period. When they got to the door Rachel took a deep soothing breath, knocked on the already opened door, and walk into the classroom. The first thing Rachel noticed was that Mrs. O'Malley had rearranged the classroom, so it looked nothing like it did two weeks ago. She also saw that there were no poster and decorations all around the classroom. All of the desks were pushed together into groups instead of rows. Everything about the new look made the classroom feel more homey and open instead of like a boring classroom.

In the back of the classroom, Stephanie heard footsteps enter her new classroom. She saved the quiz she had on the computer before shutting down the word document and turning around to see two students in her classroom. She recognized the tall blonde immediately; she then looked at the shorter brunette girl and saw that she was a carbon copy of her mother.

"Hi, you must be Rachel," she stood up and went to shake Rachel's hand

"Yea, I… just came here to give you my work from last week, I need to go and get to class, I will see you later I guess."

Rachel left the Biology classroom and was on her way to Spanish. Being in that classroom was not as bad as she thought it would be, but she still wanted to get out of the classroom; even with Quinn, there the classroom was still too empty. She was about halfway to the Spanish classroom when she saw Karofosky approaching her with an extra large slushie in his hands. She froze she knew she should have predicted this, she was prepping herself for the icy blast when suddenly, Santana was next to her linking their arms together. Santana stared Karofosky down, daring him to attempt anything; he passed the two girls clearly disappointed and upset.

"Thanks for that," Rachel mumbled.

"Don't worry about it. Actually, it was more for my benefit than yours. If I got to him, I would kill him then I would go to jail and Brittany would be sad." She said abruptly.

"Yea but, you were going to stop him from throwing a slushie at ME, so really it was for me," Rachel reasoned.

"Shut up, Berry, I need to feel better about myself."

Rachel hugged Santana.

"What the hell?"

"I messed the meanish Santana, you being mean to me, made this day so much better."

"Well, I am glad I was able to help," she laughed

The girls were talking and giggling all the way to the Spanish room.

The rest of the day went on and Rachel went about her business as if she had been is school all of last week. She was at lunch talking and laughing with Brittany, Quinn and Santana; when the bell rang telling her, that her next class was Biology.

"You will be fine," Quinn whispered. "She is really nice and funny. She is also an awesome teacher. You will like her."

With one passionate kiss from her girlfriend, Rachel was ready to head off to class.

"I just have to rip the band-aid off right," she smiled and let go of Quinn's hand. The two girls then headed in two different directions.

When she got to the Biology classroom, Mrs. O'Malley subtly pointed out her seat to her and Rachel moved to sit in it. As the class went on, she began to see what Quinn was talking about. She really was a fun and interesting teacher. She taught at a faster pace than the class was use to, but it was nice for Rachel, because she still was working on the AP leveled work. She also saw why Shelby liked her a lot too, she was not a pushover like a lot of fun teachers were. She actually reminded her, a lot of Shelby in her teaching techniques. Shelby often helped Rachel with English and Writing assignments, and Rachel relay appreciated how Shelby's teaching techniques were more akin to that of a college professor than a high school teacher.

The sound of the bell ringing, startled Rachel, and made her jump slightly out of her seat. She had not realized that the class was over. She got all of her stuff together and was about to leave the classroom when, Mrs. O'Malley asked her to stay behind.

"Don't worry Rachel you are not in trouble," Stephanie said. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. Sue Sylvester, told me about what happened and threatened my life if I mentioned it, or did anything that would in any way hurt you. However, I found that oddly charming," she laughed.

"Yea, Sue is like that, but I am doing okay actually coming back was not as hard as I thought it would be, but I have a lot of people who are willing to help me out," Rachel answered. Suddenly something occurred to her, "You know my mom right?"

"Yes, she is very sweet and an amazing teacher, she actually is who I learned a lot of my techniques from."

"I hope not the Vocal Adrenalin ones, as much as I love my mom and think she is an amazing English teacher, Coach Corcoran still terrifies me," Rachel laughed.

"Ah yes, put her in that auditorium or choir room and she becomes a completely different person."

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over to dinner this weekend. I know that you have young kids and everything, but since my mom can't see you every day I am sure she would appreciate to get to spend time with you?"

"Let me get back to you. My niece is our normal babysitter; if she is free, I would love too. It is hard being the new teacher; it is like being the new kid. The only person I really know is Will… or I hues Mr. Shuester."

"Well, if you will probably get to know Sue a little better. Especially if she decides she likes you, which she probably has, considering she hasn't come looking for me yet," Rachel thought

"You are a Cheerio?"

"Oh, God no, but I have my free now and normally I go and help Mr. Schue with Glee stuff, but I was told I had to go see her during my free, I think she knows I had this class right before it." Rachel said.

"I see, well I do not want to end up on her bad side, so I will let you go." Mrs. O'Malley said walking Rachel towards the door.

Sue in fact did like Stephanie O'Malley and thought she was the best teacher to take over the Biology position, or at least that is what she told Rachel when she got to her office. Sue and Rachel talked about how Rachel's first day went, before Sue told her that she needed to work on new routines.

When it was time to go home Rachel met up with Quinn and the two of them headed to the Fabray household to do homework together.

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