After School Special
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or anything associated with the show.
Chapter 8: Back in the Saddle Again
APRIL 2011
As time went on Rachel felt better and more like herself. It was still a little weird to go into school and act like nothing was wrong. Most of the teachers including Stephanie O'Malley were treating her as if nothing was wrong. However, some of the teachers in the school, teachers that Rachel didn't even have or know, were seen whispering quietly amongst themselves when they saw Rachel in the hallway. It had been a little more than a month since Rachel had returned to school, and things were starting to feel almost normal. It was nice that none of the students knew what was going on; Rachel knew that if Karofosky or Azimio found out what happened they would find some way to corner her and throw it in her face. The two bullies took her week off, as a sign that her and Quinn broke up. She didn't understand why they thought her and Quinn were broken up because they were always together holding hand, cuddling, or kissing.
Rachel was walking down the hall on her way to Glee, when she felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist.
"Hey cutie," Quinn whispered into her ear, before trailing a few kisses down her neck.
"Hey, how are you doing, you were late this morning and then Sue had the Cheerio's meeting during homeroom."
"Yea I know. I was late because my car is in the shop for inspection and an oil change, so I had to get a ride with my mom. You know how she can be in the morning.
Rachel giggled; she knew how Judy could be in the morning. The normally well put together and organized woman was completely different in the morning. Rachel remembered her many mornings in the Fabray house where Judy could easily take an hour to wake up after getting out of bed, and be able to actually, function. It was always funny to Rachel because she grew up being a morning person. It only took her about five minutes after waking up to get on her elliptical.
"I see, well I guess I can forgive you this one time," Rachel smiled.
"I am so lucky to have an understanding girlfriend," Quinn said, taking Rachel's hand. "Were you okay this morning without me were Karofosky or Azimio giving you trouble, because if they were…"
Quinn was stopped by Rachel's index finger, which was pressed lightly against her lips. "They were about to say something but Kurt got to me first."
"Kurt" Quinn asked, with wide eyes.
"Yea, I was talking with him about songs for Glee, and he saw them coming and pulled me into a classroom, before they could do anything. He has changed a lot since he started dating Blaine, I think it is good for him, especially since Blaine is so different from him, they are actually kind of like us in a lot of ways." Rachel explained.
"I know what you mean, the diva falling for the most popular kid in school," Quinn laughed, before opening the door to the choir room and letting Rachel in.
Even though Rachel and Quinn had taken their time to get to the choir room, they were still the first two people in the room.
"How is it that we, take our time to get here, and we are still the first ones? I don't understand it, do you have some type of mind controlling ability that makes you the first person to Glee?" Quinn asked seriously.
"It may have something to do with the fact that third period isn't over. We just took a test in Pre-Cal remember and we were able to leave early," Rachel supplied as her answer.
"Oh, right have I mentioned that Math makes my brain go to mush and, that after that class I only have enough strength to put together sentences. I believe it is called, Mathitis; you know like Laryngitis, but instead of losing your voice you lose the ability to use your brain."
"Oh, I have heard of that. You know they say that the best way t cure Mathitis, is to make out with your girlfriend in the back of a classroom, preferably a choir room," Rachel said with a certain smile.
"Really I haven't heard of that cure before!" Quinn forged shock.
"Yes, all the recent studies are proving it, I mean there are whole are who articles dedicated to the topic on the internet, just type it into a search engine"
"Really, Well I will have to try that when I get home. Do you by any chance know the person who discovered this; I would like to do some research on him or her?"
"I do actually know who discovered it. Her name is Rachel Barbra Berry, they said that the reason she discovered it, was because she missed her girlfriends kiss so much, that she immediately looked for a cure to Mathitis."
"I see," Quinn, giggled. "Well I guess we should give it a try, I mean if there is so much research on the topic we may as well try it."
"I was hoping you would say that," Rachel smiled. She took Quinn's hand and led her to a secluded corner in the back of the choir room and then the two began to make-out.
After about five minutes, Quinn broke apart.
"I think someone should find this Rachel Berry, and give her a Nobel Prize for Medicine or something, because I feel so much better."
"She already got her reward, and she was very happy with it," Rachel said cheekily.
Quinn turned to look at Rachel, and laughed at the smile in her small girlfriends face. "You are such a dork."
"Is that any way to treat your girlfriend, who just cured you?"
"It is if said girl friend is you," Quinn smirked.
The two continued to banter back and forth for a few minutes before the bell rang, telling them that they only had about a minute and half before more Glee kids and Mr. Schue would start showing up.
"Maybe, if we lock the door, they will think there is no Glee and Leave us alone," Quinn suggested.
"Well, as lovely as that sounds, I think it will only work for a little while. I mean, when Mr. Schue comes to the classroom he will use his magical keys to open up the door, and let everyone in; then he will yell at us for locking the door," Rachel replied.
"It was worth a shot." Quinn said. Quinn got up and brought her and Rachel's bags over to their chairs, as Puck, Santana, and Brittany came into the room.
"There is something wrong, we are the second people here, well Rachel and Quinn were here before us, so I guess the world isn't completely off its' axis." Santana remarked.
"It is nice to see you too Santana." Rachel commented
Pretty soon, the rest of the Glee, kids came into the classroom, and right as the bell rang to start class, Mr. Schue came in and closed the door.
"Okay, so we only have three more assignments before we start rehearsals for Regionals, so I want you guys to work really hard on these songs and performances. Also, while I am on the topic your last assignment of the year, will be "What I Learned."
"Umm… Mr. Schue, we are in school, don't we learn in school," Brittany asked, confused.
Mr. Schue, tried to answer Brittany's question, but realized that there really was no point, because it was Brittany, and anyway Santana, Quinn, or Rachel would explain the assignment to her later.
"Right… Well the point of the assignment, is for you to look back at yourself in September, and look at yourself now, or rather in May and June. You will have to find a song that tells us, one way that you have changed; it can be personally, academically, or any other way that you can think of. After finding the song, you will need to write a paper about how you think the song describes how you changed. Before, any of you start complaining, the paper only has to be a page, but feel free to right more," He said looking at Rachel. "The song, the performance, and the paper will act as your final exam grade for this class. That being said, I want you to go all out with costumes and hair, do not just make it a regular weekly assignment or it will reflect in your grade. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Are we allowed to do a mash-up?" Finn, asked.
"I would prefer if you didn't. I want you to think more about why you picked the song, than actually working on the song." Mr. Schue answered.
"Can we do a duet?" Santana questioned, she preferred duets it was less work.
"No, you can have background voices, and if you want to add choreography to your song, you may use dancers, but if you add dancers you must dance too. Do not feel that you need to have dancing in your song, it will not help your grade any."
"Mr. Schue, that isn't fair to make. I mean he can sing well but, he is definitely more comfortable dancing," Rachel told the teacher.
"Mike and I already talked about this assignment and h will be doing something slightly different." Mr. Schue said. "Okay, now that, the last assignment is out of the way, we can focus on this week's assignment." The class groaned. " I know I know, okay for this week I want you to pair up with a person that you have not worked with either in a long time or at all this year, you need to find a song that you think suits your partner and perform it for us. You are allowed to ask your partners questions and ask their friend questions; but there is a trick, you are not allowed to ask your partner, for any song ideas, your partner cannot give you any ideas, and the first time your partner will hear the song will be when you sing it in front of the class," he finished.
"Mr. Schue, how are you going to know if we did all of those things, it's not like you will be able to prove any of it," Puck asked.
"I am just going to have to trust you guys. I think I know all of you well enough to be able to judge if out picked the song or if someone else picked it for you. I also get final say in who works together, and if you pick an offensive song in anyway what-so-ever you will receive a failing mark for this assignment."
The rest of the period was spent picking partners and getting to know your partner better. Mr. Schue was a little nervous about this assignment, he was afraid that the kids would put up a fight about not being able to work with their friends, but it turned out well in the end. He picked this assignment intentionally for close to the end of the year, because he wanted the kids to understand what it was like for their teammates and classmates. He knew that all of the kids were not close friends, but her needed them to be able to work together as one group in order to win at Regionals; he knew that the only way to make this happen was to get the kids to work with people that they were not use to working with. As the end of class drew closer, he grabbed the kid attention and told them to start getting ready to leave. As soon as everybody was finished getting all of their things together the bell rang, and they began to leave the classroom and head towards the café for lunch.
"Rachel can you stay back for a few seconds I want to ask you a question," Mr. Schue said to the girl.
Rachel jumped, when she heard her name, but nodded in response to what Mr. Schue had asked her. She was a little confused because she had not done anything wrong, and there really shouldn't be anything he had to talk about with her.
"I just wanted to make sure that you are okay with the end of the year assignment. I want you to know that what happened had no influence in why I chose that assignment. I have planned on using this particular project since September, as a reflection piece for everyone." He explained.
"I understand Mr. Schue, and I am not bothered by it. I mean it will definitely be a contributing factor into the song I choose, but honestly how could it not. Besides, it will be good for me; my therapist has been making me keep a journal, specifically for what happened, she says that keeping it bottled up will make me go crazy. Writing about it is not as hard as I thought it would be, but it isn't easy either. Maybe finding a song will be a good way for me to deal with it, after all singing and music is how I figure everything else out in my life," Rachel answered.
"Well, that is good; if you need any help just let me know. You are free to go," Mr. Schue said, heading towards his office.
"Okay, thanks Mr. Schue I may take you up on that. Enjoy your lunch, and tell my mom I said Hi," Rachel said knowing that the two were most likely meeting up for a lunch date.
Rachel went straight to the café, knowing that Quinn already got her lunch and her books for her afternoon classes, as well as put away her books for her morning class. When she got to the crowed room, she set about looking for the table that Quinn, Brittany, and Santana were sitting. She spent a good three minutes looking for them when she saw Brittany stand up, to do something; she had never been for grateful the height of the sweet blonde Cheerio.
"Hey," she said as she sat down
"Hey, what did Mr. Schue want?" Quinn asked.
"He wanted to make sure that the final assignment was not going to bother me," Rachel answered taking her lunch from Quinn.
When the last bell rang, Rachel left her last class, and headed for her locker. Since it was Friday, Rachel was going to spend the weekend at Quinn's house. Both of her dads had to go out of town for work, and Shelby, who would normally take Rachel in, was also busy, she had to go out of town for some type of Glee coach convention thing. Judy did not like the idea of Rachel being home all alone for the weekend, and allowed Rachel to stay with her and Quinn for the weekend. As soon as Rachel had everything she needed for the weekend, she went to Quinn's locker to wait for her.
Rachel was very grateful to Judy, for insisting that she spend the weekend with her and Quinn. If Rachel had to stay in her house for the weekend, it would be the first time since the attack that she would be alone over night and she knew she was not ready for that. Quinn offered to stay with Rachel at her own hose, but Rachel knew that Judy would not stand for that and her dads probably wouldn't like the idea either. Rachel loved staying at Quinn's house, no matter what the two always managed to have fun even if Brittany and Santana were not with them. Judy also always made sure that the hose was stock with all types of vegan snacks for Rachel, so that she would always have something to eat. But, perhaps the thing Rachel liked most about staying with Quinn and Judy, was the fact that she never felt like a guest. Judy was not afraid to parent Rachel if she felt she needed to, and Rachel liked the Judy felt comfortable enough to do that to her.
At dinner that night Judy was talking to the girls about school and how things were going with the new Biology teacher, she also asked about Glee and if they, decided on what they would be doing for Regionals. After dinner, they all decided to watch the Harry Potter movie marathon that was airing for the weekend. Rachel was obsessed with harry potter and somehow managed to convince Judy and Quinn to watch it with her. The three of them enjoyed watching the movies together, and Judy and Quinn loved when Rachel would get upset because of how they did something in the movie and how it wasn't done that way on the book.
By midnight, Rachel had fallen asleep on the recliner chair, curled up in Quinn's lap. Judy noticed that Quinn's eyes were getting heavier and heavier by the second, and as much as she didn't want to, she knew she has to wake up the girls, or they would be in a world of pain coming morning time when they woke up. She quietly walked over to them and shook them both awake, before kissing them both goodnight and leading them towards the staircase. Judy watched as the couple stumbled up the stairs half-asleep, and then made their way towards Quinn's bedroom door. She watched the girls until Quinn closed her bedroom door. She knew that the girls would be going straight to bed, so she didn't mind that they ignored her open door policy, something she knew she would have a problem with the next night. Judy, tidy up the down stairs before making sure that all the lights were off, and that all the doors and windows were closed and locked before; she went to bed herself.