A/N: Sorry for my delay. This should have been up days ago, but me and my only other friend that likes Harry Potter had a movie marathon before going to see the last one on Saturday because we're quirky losers like that. It was all perfect and pretty and then I had to come back to this crap. Going from Harry Potter to Glee is like going from making 250K a year to making 30K a year. So I had to take a couple of days to get out of my I-hate-Glee mood. Anyway, to answer a question I seem to keep getting, this is not a Faberry friendship fic mainly because I have no idea what that silly concept is. It will be Faberry romance eventually, but at the same time it's not some epic love story or whatever. If I wanted to write that type of story, I would have. This is about characters first, friendships second, Jesse's New Directions third, and relationships dead last. Once again, and as always, my advice/warning to quit reading update to update or at all stands because this story will never be entertaining. It's not really supposed to be.

DECLARATION

She had no idea what she was doing here. Really, when Santana Lopez calls you asking (demanding) for a weekend meeting at the Lima Bean, you probably shouldn't go. And when you enter the Lima Bean and find her sitting next to Dave Karofsky, you should probably rethink things and quietly back out of the door without them knowing you were ever there. Nonetheless, it was a Sunday afternoon and Quinn had already been to morning mass and Jesse was busy and she was bored. After some admittedly ambivalent small-talk between the three, Santana finally got to her point.

"So I need you to talk to St. Asshole."

Quinn set down her coffee and briefly wondered if she should defend her friend or not. If she didn't agree with the insult, she probably would have. "About?"

"Well since Jesse's nothing but a dicktator, he's not letting anyone perform anything other than the Sectionals numbers-"

"I never thought you'd be the one to be so upset about this."

"I'm not really. I just…" Santana shrugged, playing with her cup's sleeve. She paused this action and straightened up. "Look, I want to sing something next week, and I don't want him to give me any grief about it, okay?"

Quinn looked away from the glare and went back to inspecting her drink. "Fine. I'll talk to him, but I can't guarantee anything."

She glanced back up, and Santana sat across from her, challenging her to voice her curiosity. Quinn considered if asking would set Santana off or not, but Karofsky interrupted the two's whatever eye-convo out of boredom. He really didn't know why the hell Santana dragged him here for this.

"So can I go now or…?"

Santana broke from Quinn and sent a glare to the boy next to her. "What? No. I did not dismiss you." His subsequent sigh turned into another batch of silence between the three.

"Um…" Quinn gazed around the shop, trying to remain casual. "So what is it you plan on singing?"

"Oh real nice, Q. Do you always have to be so fucking nosey?" Karofsky grunted in amusement, earning an elbow in his side. He then went on to stare into his cup because it was super interesting…all brown and moist.

"Yeah, okay. So then can I go?" Quinn asked the one who made her come here for something that really could've just been handled over the phone.

"You're like the worst friend ever, you know that?" Santana said plainly. "Do you really think I'd willingly spend time with you just to ask you to talk to Rachel's sloppy seconds? Jeez, it's like you don't even care why I need you to talk to him."

"I just asked-"

"I mean this is kind of a big deal. Santana Lopez doesn't sing for just anything. Seriously. You should know everything I do has more than one purpose."

Quinn took a deep breath before trying once again. "Santana, why are you singing next week?"

"Yeah, like I'm going to waste my time telling you now."

"She's singing to Brittany." Karofsky interjected before downing the rest of whatever the hell it was he ordered. He then moved out of the way of another elbow. "What? Don't pretend like you weren't going to tell her."

Quinn just frowned, looking between the two. "Singing to Brittany how exactly?" She looked over Karofsky again, pointedly.

"Relax." Santana rolled her eyes leisurely. "Karofsky knows about me and B. I told him last year."

"Oh." Well color her surprised. Of all the people to tell, Santana chooses Dave Karofsky? The guy who bullied the hell out of Kurt for being gay? Oh well. Maybe it was a gay boy thing. At least their prom campaign together made sense now. Kind of.

"Yeah so, remember a few weeks ago when I told you Brittany didn't want to be with me unless it was out in the open?" Santana refreshed.

"Sure."

"Well I came up with a compromise." Santana explained. "Since there's no way in hell I'm ever coming out to school or this town, I figured if I maybe come out to glee with her, then we'd get our monogamy on."

"For your sake, I hope it goes well." Karofsky would've grinned if it was his niche.

"Why wouldn't it?" Quinn just earned a couple of looks. "Fine. So there's a lot that could go wrong, but it's not like glee will judge you or throw a slushie in your face. You'll probably just get some lewd comments from Puck." She lifted her cup for a sip. "Besides, it's not like it's a secret anyway."

"Uh no, trust me. You two and probably Artie are the only ones who know." Santana assured. "And you I didn't even tell."

Quinn breezed over getting into an argument about how she only knew because the two girls had no idea what PDA was within a sleepover. "Yeah, no we're not. You should really be more careful with your leering. It's so obvious, it's distracting."

"I don't leer."

"It should be in the school handbook." Karofsky told her. "Under the section of what not to do to distract from the learning environment."

"Oh please, like either of you have any room to talk about this."

Quinn laughed lightly while Karofsky suddenly found his empty cup just as interesting as it was full. "Um, last time I checked, Karofsky and I didn't have any secret gay lovers to leer at."

"Yeah whatever, Q, just let me know when you put ketchup on the burger."

Quinn frowned in honest confusion before deciding it would probably be safer to just backtrack. "What are you singing to her?"

"I don't know yet. Figured I'd go with some Fleetwood Mac. They didn't fail me the last two times."

"This would be why you're with Brittany now? Hey!" Karofsky's ribs rudely got in the way of Santana's arm again. "Look, I'm just saying don't girls like spontaneity or something?"

"Which is why the song is going to be a surprise."

"Yeah but the song selection won't. No one wants to be sung to by the same artist over and over again."

"Well except for Rachel." Quinn pointed out. Karofsky and Santana didn't see the point in this.

Karofsky looked back to his friend. "Go with something different. Just sing 'Sweet Child of Mine' or something."

"Okay, I think Brittany has more than enough people in her life who have told her she's still a child."

"I meant for the eyes of the bluest skies part."

"No."

"Your loss."

"You should do 'The Scientist'."

Santana snapped her attention to the other idiot. "What? No."

"Why not? It fits your relationship thus far."

"I'm not doing something as lame as Coldplay."

"'You Shook Me All Night Long'?" Karofsky suggested.

"'Accidentally In Love'?" Quinn took her turn.

"'I'm a Believer'?"

"'The Way I Am'?"

"'Happy Together'?"

"'I Only Have Eyes For You'?"

"How you two settled on 'Ruby Tuesday' for your boring ass duet I'll never know." Santana tuned out the two losers sitting with her. She knew she should've just done this alone. She was flawless. They weren't. She kept from rolling her eyes at their suggestions (Brittany's been saying that she does this too much) and went back to her sucktastic coffee. She pursed her lips before grabbing a hold onto the next person who walked by their table. She gripped tightly onto some guy's arm, pulling him to a complete stop.

"Hey, I needs two creams. French Vanilla. None of that other stuff, got it?"

"Um…I don't work here." The boy replied, chuckling kindly.

"What's your point?"

Wednesday's rehearsals hit a bit of a snag, as they always do at some point as Jesse is a perfectionist, which thankfully led to a mini break. Jesse, along with Brittany and Mike's assistance, was currently trying to amend the tiny problem he found this time. The three were slowly re-teaching the choreography of a certain part of the group number to Puck, Lauren, and Finn again. So while they were doing that on one side of the stage, Mercedes, Sam, Artie, and Tina were taking a break and conversing on the risers. Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel however were busy doing other things. They were once again watching the odd slash dangerous bunch of Quinn, Santana, and Karofsky sitting down and talking privately to each other in both codes and whispers. It had piqued most of the club's interest over the last couple of days. The three had been quite secretive this week.

"Any ideas yet?" Kurt asked his two companions quietly as the three watched the trio out of the corner of their eyes.

"No, but I really think it'd be better if we didn't find out." Blaine returned.

"And leave ourselves vulnerable for a surprise attack? Blaine, Santana doing anything is cause for concern, but to be teamed up with Quinn and Karofsky…I don't just want to wait around for this to happen."

"Perhaps if we just ask them." Rachel suggested.

Kurt scoffed. "I already tried finding out what they were up to through Brittany, and she had no idea. If Santana and her team of potential super villains haven't told Brittany, they're not telling anyone."

"Super villains?" Blaine asked and tried not to laugh. His boyfriend let his imagination run freely over the oddest things.

"Yes. As I'm sure Sam will confirm, this has high school comic book written all over it."

"I really think if we just ask them-"

"Rachel, they're not going to tell us their secret plan to take over whatever metropolis we're closest to."

"Kurt, Quinn and I are friends now."

"Please not this again."

Rachel crossed her arms and huffed. No one in glee other than Jesse seemed to believe that the two had formed a friendship. And okay, fine. Maybe Quinn didn't ever sit next to her or be the one to broach a topic of conversation. And sure, maybe Quinn didn't entirely like her and told her as much. And yes, the blonde never really seemed comfortable around her even when Jesse was there to break the ice, but they were friends. They just didn't really associate with each other. But Rachel had been trying her hardest to change that ever since she initiated this whole concept a few weeks ago in the astronomy room. And besides, Quinn mildly seemed to be warming up to her. Just the other day she loaned Rachel a pen after her pencil broke in their shared English class, and while Rachel prefers pencils, she accepted it gratefully. It was progress.

"Though it may be one-sided, I'm Quinn's friend, and we're getting closer." Rachel argued. "I'm sure if I asked her politely, she'd tell me. You have to admit, she hasn't been anywhere near as hostile this year as she has been in years past."

"That's because she doesn't care about anything which means she's more than likely to snap."

"Oh hush." Rachel smiled brightly and linked both arms through the boys'. She dragged them over to the secluded corner of the stage and dropped both off before approaching her friend Quinn with the brightest smile she could muster. "Hello, Quinn."

Quinn quickly looked up from the paper she was reading. She immediately turned it over and casted a glance to Santana and Karofsky. They mimicked her actions before they all faced Rachel again. Their waiting eyes made the singer want to rethink some things.

"What do you want?" Quinn asked her.

"Um…well…" She shifted on her feet. "Kurt was just wondering what exactly it was that you three were up to. And if you perhaps needed some help."

"We're not-"

"It's none of your business." Santana interrupted, barking at them.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Go. Away." Santana sat forward, elbows on knees, challenging them.

"Yes, uh, that was rude of us. Sorry." Blaine gave an apologetic grin and pulled the two, crazy divas all the way back to where they were standing before.

"Your friend Quinn, huh?" Kurt questioned her. "And way to throw me under the bus. Now I'm on their radar."

Rachel just rolled her eyes and glanced back over to the super villains. They were watching Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine while talking amongst themselves. Apparently they came to some conclusion and went back to whatever it was they were doing before.

"Come on. Like I said, we just shouldn't look into it." Blaine shrugged and then was leading a resistant Kurt and Rachel to sit in the risers with the rest of New Directions.

The curiosity didn't stop there however. Once Jesse lost his temper and gave up at Finn, Puck, and Lauren's inability to conquer a simple dance step, he called the end to rehearsals for the day. After Jesse left in a huff and Sam left to get home and babysit, the rest of the gleeks watched the villainous trinity pack up and leave together. It was then Tina and Artie decided that they wanted nothing to do with this, Brittany didn't see what the big deal was, and the rest of them headed over to the Lima Bean for the afternoon to spill out theories. (Blaine also didn't want anything to do with this, but Kurt made him go anyway.)

"Have we considered a threesome?" Lauren asked the two tables that had been pushed together.

"No. Trust me. Not the case." Kurt shook his head, taking a sip of his drink in order not to elaborate.

"It's possible."

"Sorry, babe. Kurt's right about this one." Puck grinned slyly at his girlfriend. "Quinn's all about celibacy, and one ultra-hot slip up with me isn't going to result in her having threesomes with Santana."

Mike frowned. "I thought you came up with a theory about how the cheerios have all had sex sleepovers with each other?"

"Oh no, that's totally true, but I can guarantee that's not the case right now." Puck corrected. "They're not cheerios anymore. Different rules apply."

"Whatever." Mercedes set her drink down. "As a former cheerio, I can tell you all that, that ain't nothing but his own perverted fantasies. So how about we come up with something plausible, huh?"

"Yes." Rachel nodded vehemently. "Like perhaps they've teamed up with Miss Sylvester."

Kurt shook his head. "No, she's too busy with her run for Congress. I woke up the other morning, and every house on our block had 'Vote for Sue Sylvester' signs nailed into its grass."

"Maybe Santana and Karofsky asked Quinn to help them with the Bully Whips or something." Blaine tossed out, and they all scrunched up their faces.

"Well that's not interesting." Kurt frowned. "That's just so…boring. Sorry Blaine, you must be mistaken."

"You wanna know what I think?" Finn gained all of their attention as he pushed his cup away from him. "I think being here, talking about this is a waste of time. If they're doing something, then they're doing something. So what? It will just be another thing for our stupid club to deal with."

"Jeez man, it your time of the month or something?" Puck snickered good-heartedly with Lauren. Finn just Finn-frowned and stormed away from the table.

Kurt was just glad the chairs were all safe as he reached over to push in Finn's stool. "You'll have to excuse my lovely step-brother. He's been in a mood lately." He apologized to the table before turning to Rachel. "You might want to go talk to him before a mail box glares at him the wrong way or something."

Rachel nodded and looked over the table. "Excuse me." She hopped down and away from her friends, heading out of the Lima Bean after her boyfriend.

Finn's temper tantrums were becoming a habit as of late. They were becoming what her glee storm-outs used to be. He had been distant and seemingly mad at everything, and worse, he wasn't talking to her about it. She briefly considered if he was maybe angry with her, but Finn wasn't good at being anything other than perfectly clear. If he was mad at her, she would know so because he'd probably tell her as much. Finn never hid his feelings or opinions. How their first kiss took place taught her this. Honestly, she should probably be more concerned at this point.

She found him outside, solemnly resting against the Lima Bean's front bricks. "Finn, are you alright?"

He chose not to look at her and instead continued to watch the cars drive past in front of him. "Fine." He shifted on his feet.

"You know you can talk to me about whatever's bothering you. Even if it's me. Though, I'd prefer it if it weren't. That's not exactly a pleasant prospect for a girlfriend."

Finn took a deep breath and stepped away from the wall. "Do you really think Quinn and them are up to something?"

Rachel frowned briefly at the change of subject. "Not really. It's probably something as miniscule as what Blaine suggested."

"Why not?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why do you trust her? Why have been trying so hard to be her friend?" Seeing as she looked puzzled, he sighed and tried again. "Look, Quinn doesn't always say things she means, but when she tells you things like she doesn't want to be your friend, she means it. She's never liked you just like Santana's never liked you. And Karofsky used to spend every day throwing slushies in your face. Kind of like how Santana and Karofsky have never liked me and how Quinn's still mad at me. They're probably planning something for us. You shouldn't keep hoping for the best, Rachel. Do you ever think you keep getting hurt because you always set yourself up for it?"

In a three second span, Finn was able to witness several emotions cross over his girlfriend's face. They ranged from surprise to hurt back to confusion to worry until they finally landed on defiant. He wondered if it would have looked bad if he took a step back when she took a step forward. Instead, he stood still and was repeatedly poked in the chest. He really hated when his girlfriends did this sort of thing.

"First of all," first poke, "Quinn is no longer mad at you. She and Jesse actually haven't paid any attention to you at all lately, and even when she was mad at you, after giving it extensive thought, I believe she had good reason. In fact, I'm surprised she hasn't seemed angrier with me. As for Dave, well he hasn't been anything but calm and even respectable since joining glee. He's caused absolutely no problems and has done everything that's been asked of him. As for Santana, well I don't have an argument to defend Santana, but she is not plotting with Quinn. New Directions just wants to think otherwise because Jesse has made glee so boring."

"But-"

"No. Whatever it is that has you so upset, I suggest you either talk about it with someone or get over it." She nodded sharply, lifting her chin. "Our friends are going to begin to dread spending time with us or more specifically you. I truly hope you work through this, Finn, and I'd be more than willing to help if that's what you wish. But until you do, I think everyone would appreciate it if you left the attitude at home." She nodded again before heading back inside, silently added a 'good day, sir' because that was how her mind tended to work. Finn was wrong it was as simple as that. He had to be.

What if Finn wasn't wrong? After some more discussion over coffee on the potentially evil triad yesterday, Rachel had given Finn's words some more thought. To be fair, he did bring up some good points, kind of, and New Directions' discussion may have gotten a little more implausible as time wore on. So Rachel had some thoughts in her head. She really didn't have any reason to trust Quinn Fabray other than Jesse St. James. And just look at that sentence. She wanted Finn to be wrong. He was usually wrong. This couldn't be the thing he was finally right about. But Quinn wasn't really doing anything to help her case. Rachel had tried several times today to think of ways to get Quinn to confess to something menacing, but there have been no solid attempts. She figured she'd give it one more try after glee rehearsals before they all presumably went home for the day.

"Quinn." Rachel called out after the girl before she got a chance to leave campus.

Quinn turned around quickly and refrained from stomping her foot like a child. "Rachel." She simply addressed instead.

"I'm sorry. You seem anxious. Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes, actually." She watched Rachel closely for a while, almost making the other girl squirm under her gaze. "You're predictable, you know."

"What?"

"We both know why you're talking to me right now."

"Quinn, I have no idea what you're insinuating. I was merely saying hello to you, my friend."

"Fine. We'll play it your way." She paused. "Rachel, was there something you wanted to ask me?"

Rachel didn't know whether to thank Quinn for playing along or resent her because she wasn't gullible. "What are you doing with Santana?"

"I know this may be a hard concept for you to grasp, but sometimes friends hang out."

"Overlooking the fact that I don't recall you and Dave Karofsky ever being friends, I somehow doubt all you're doing with Santana is 'hanging out.'"

"So what exactly is it you think we're doing?"

"Well I can't actually say that the glee club and I have come up with anything yet, but the general consensus is that you don't have the best intentions at heart. Finn seems to think the three of you are plotting something against me and him, but I'm not necessarily sure if I agree with that theory as of now."

Quinn laughed her empty laugh. The girl was nothing short of unbelievable. "Wow."

Rachel didn't like this response. "I'm sorry, but you've all been quite secretive this week, and it's not like any of your reputations give you a free pass. Frankly, based on everything that has taken place since high school has started, I believe this is the proper response for me to give. You haven't answered any of our questions. What am I supposed to think?"

"How about nothing? This has nothing to do with you." Quinn shrugged and headed to where she was supposed to be heading. Santana was going a little bit crazy this week, and she got pretty mad when Quinn or Karofsky were late.

Rachel just followed after her. "You know none of this would be happening if you would just confide in me."

Quinn came to a stop again. "And why would I ever do that?"

"Because we're friends."

"Oh, God."

"Yes, Quinn. Friends."

"No, Rachel. Nothing."

"You're absolutely incorrigible, Quinn Fabray. What have I done? I've done nothing but be nice to you since meeting you."

"Um, weren't you the girl who went after my boyfriend? Twice?"

"That's neither here nor there as we've put Finn behind us already. Besides, you've never had a problem with Kurt, and he also went after your boyfriend at one time. Furthermore, I've been more than cordial to you over the last few weeks. So as your friend, I see no reason why you won't tell me what you and Santana and Karofsky are up to. I can keep a secret when asked, Quinn, I promise. If you'd like, I'll tell you a secret of my own so we'll be even." Rachel smiled brightly, batting her cartoon eyelashes.

Quinn sighed. She knew that look. That was the look that usually resulted in Quinn propositioning Finn or winding up sitting next to Rachel in a doctor's waiting room. She really needed to find some sort of defense for that. Maybe Jesse had one.

"Quinn."

Both girls looked back at an approaching Dave Karofsky. He went to stand next to the blonde.

"We really need to get going." He told her and sneered down at Rachel. "This means you should leave too."

Rachel just perked her little head up. "You don't scare me any longer, David. It's clear you've changed and are no longer willing to harm me in any way. In fact, just yesterday I found myself defending you."

He charged a half-step forward causing Rachel to jerk, but other than that, she kept her composure.

Rachel looked back at Quinn. "I'm disappointed that you don't trust me."

Quinn frowned as Santana's servants watched Rachel walk away from them. Quinn thought Rachel got it backwards. If anyone didn't trust anyone, it was Rachel. "You didn't have to do that." She told Karofsky.

"No, but it was fun." He turned, and they began walking to meet Santana. "This is probably gonna sound terrible, but I miss when this school was afraid of me."

That didn't sound terrible at all. It sounded more relatable than anything. But Quinn wasn't about to tell him this. "I thought the school being afraid of you and Santana is what made the Bully Whips work."

"Yeah, but since I joined glee, that's not really the case anymore. The guys on the team are still giving me hell." He complained. He really thought they would've stopped a while ago. They were his actual friends on the football team unlike the rest of the roster.

"You did the same thing to Finn. And Puck. And Artie. And Sam. And-"

"I get it, thanks." He glared as purposefully as he could but got no response. Quinn didn't flinch away because by comparison to some others, including her own, Karofsky's glare was malleable.

"You're the one who joined glee. Really, what did you expect?"

He grunted. "Whatever." They walked the rest of the hallway in silence. Karofsky spoke again once they turned the corner. "Do you really think this will work?"

She frowned. "You mean will Santana and Brittany get together?"

"Yeah, but…" He hesitated. "Do you really think glee won't care? Someone always cares."

Quinn thought about her answer for a while before finally responding. "I think two years ago, Finn used to spend every morning watching Puck throw Kurt into a dumpster while me, Santana, and even Brittany when she was pressured would throw catty comments at anyone who wasn't deemed socially acceptable. As far as glee goes now, I think the only person anyone would have to worry about is you. But clearly Santana's not, so no. I don't think glee will care. As for the rest of the school, well that's a different story isn't it?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

By lunch on Friday, Rachel hadn't spoken to Quinn once. This, of course, wasn't normal. On average, the girl usually found about a dozen of pointless things to tell Quinn about throughout the day. Apparently, Rachel was that unreasonably suspicious.

Jesse set his lunch down followed by himself. He frowned as he looked to the empty seat on his left. "Where's Rachel?" Rachel was usually the first one at what has become their table. There was never any reason to be anything other than prompt or something.

Quinn didn't look up from her lunch to respond. "Rachel, most likely won't be joining us today."

He observed her tense posture and tone. "Why? What did you do?"

"Nothing. All I did was keep my friend's secret, and because Rachel's such a paranoid mess, she thinks me, Santana, and Karofsky are plotting something sinister."

"Hmm. So why are you so upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Yes you are. Your spine becomes metallic when you're upset. The question is why."

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the girl is insane. You know, she's the one who wanted to be friends. If that's really the case, then there's no excuse for her to have trust issues."

"I thought you didn't want to be friends with her?"

"I don't."

"Could've fooled me." Quinn set down her plastic silverware and glared at him. "What? Either you're upset about her not trusting you or her not eating lunch with you or both. I'm right, you're wrong. That's not anything new so let's move on, shall we?"

"I don't care if Rachel doesn't eat lunch here. In fact, I'm happy about it. Her food smells."

"Ugh, you're fixated."

"I am not. You're the one who brought it up."

"Yes, ten years ago now and since then, I've already offered a change in subject."

"Fine. Then what is it you'd like to talk about then, Jesse?"

"Nothing." He sighed. There were days when he wished he never taught Quinn how to open up. "I can still see that you're stuck on Rachel, and if you don't finish this now, then nothing else will be accomplished."

"I'm not– We can talk about something else."

Jesse paused and thought if he should turn this into one of his therapy sessions. If he wasn't so tired of Quinn's non-complaints on Rachel, he might have considered it. "Is Santana prepared for this afternoon?" He asked instead. "She's stealing my rehearsal time, and I'd rather not have to sit through a tone-deaf performance."

"Yes, and stop throwing it back in my face that we're stealing your precious rehearsal time. This is important. Besides, you're being too judgmental in rehearsals anyway. We're fine. The numbers' choreography looks fine."

"Yes, but fine, Quinn, isn't good enough. We need-"

"Stop it. Everyone knows the numbers. We were hardly prepared the last two years, and we won each Sectionals so just stop. New Directions is never going to be perfect."

"No, but I can get it to be close to perfection, and it all starts with Sectionals."

"Jesse, you're going to alienate everyone from glee club. Honestly, you should be thanking Santana for giving everyone a day off."

"I'll decide that after I hear her sing."

Honestly, Jesse had not been looking forward to Santana's whatever thing later. It was cutting into his own time, and he knew it probably wasn't going to be anything special. Still, it was worth it to see the quizzical faces of New Directions later in the choir room. It was true: For every one genius there were about nine fools. He was pretty sure someone famous or something said that before. He vaguely recalled learning about it in a class once.

Jesse took the choir room floor to address his unfortunate club. "Today we're going to do something a little different. Get comfortable because we're staying here today."

"Why? Did someone die in the auditorium?"

"I thought it smelled funny when I walked past there earlier."

"Was it Bertha the lunch lady? She was absent today."

"Perhaps we should sing at her memorial as well."

"You know, after we graduate, we should really start a business."

"Totally. Choruses for Corpses."

"No one died." Jesse interrupted them. "Though looking at all of you right now, I'm beginning to wish otherwise. There's a scheduled performance today and-"

"We can do that?"

"Awesome."

"Can I go next Tuesday?"

"No, you cannot go-" Jesse sighed. "Look, this is a onetime deal. I'm told it was important, and besides, Quinn asked me."

"Oh. So if we ask Quinn to ask you, then we can perform?"

The room of occupants slowly turned to look at said blonde. She just glared at her friend. "I hate you."

Jesse just smirked, self-satisfied. "Can we just get on with the show please?"

He strolled over to take a seat in the first row of chairs as the trio of possible evil mutants descended the steps to the floor.

Rachel frowned, watching Quinn. "Wait, that's what you're doing? You're singing a song?" Curse Jesse for taking away that plausible possibility from her mind.

"No. I am." Santana corrected her.

Karofsky pulled out three of the room's black stools and set them up in a row in the middle of the floor. He sat in one of the outer ones while Quinn took place on the other one. The middle one was presumably left for Santana.

Santana addressed the entire room. "Look, so before we start, I just want it clear that this song or anything that goes with it doesn't leave this room, okay?" She waited and when there were collective nods, she headed forward.

She surprised a few of glee's oblivions by going up to the third row and stopping in front of Brittany. She held her hand out, and Brittany frowned, having no idea what Santana was doing. But she trusted her, so she allowed Santana to lead her down to the front row. Once there, she sat Brittany down in the empty seat in the middle of the row and looked to who was now sitting in the space next to her.

"Move." She directed, and Jesse grunted but still scooted a seat over.

Santana sat down in the vacated chair and focused on the girl next to her. "So I know that you said we couldn't be together in secret, but I really don't want to wait all the way until graduation to be your girlfriend."

"Huh. And for once glee is unpredictable." Jesse quietly spoke to who was sitting on the other side of him. Artie frowned while Quinn sent him a look. He sat back silently while Santana just continued on next to him.

"I can't come out to the school with you, but I can be honest here. In glee. So I guess this is me asking you to be with me."

"San-"

"No. Don't answer until you hear the song, okay?" Brittany closed her mouth and nodded. "We spent a long time trying to find the right song which is why I'm letting the two losers join me. I'm pretty sure they'd throw a fit if I didn't include them." Quinn and Karofsky just shared a glance from their stools before shaking their heads. Santana had been a controlling mess this week. Neither of them actually wanted to sing. "Plus, I'm not sure I could actually ever do this in front of people without a third party." She shrugged and headed over to her stool.

Santana took her seat and waited for the song to begin while keeping her tears at bay. Stupid tears. She hated that feeling. It really made no sense why she always seemed to be the one crying. Puckerman can complain all he wants, but everyone knew who the real badass was. She just happened to be a weepy one.

Jesse watched this with, well, no interest to be truthful. Since being introduced to New Directions two years ago, Santana and her blunt comments was always someone he mildly respected in this club. Watching her turn into a blubbering mess over her girlfriend was losing her a substantial amount of points. And now he was going to have to undoubtedly listen to some sappy, lesbian anthem. As it turned out it wasn't an expected lesbian anthem after all. It wasn't even his second guess of Madonna's version of women empowerment. It took him a few moments to place the opening guitar as it was a cover version, and thus had small differences, but Santana was definitely covering a cover version of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses."

He had to admit that for her vocals and personality he never pictured Santana doing something so acoustic, so it was nice. She hit all of her notes, and Quinn and Karofsky backed her nicely during the chorus, but for a love declaration it was fairly boring. Nothing compared to him transferring for Rachel. Of course, then again, nothing ever matched his standards. But he supposed it wasn't the worst thing in the world to be subjected to. Brittany seemed happy, and he liked Brittany. She was the only one who understood his business model for a future recording studio that also operated as a psychologist's office. It'll be a psychologist's studio. The first of many like it.

When the song was over with, the room seemed to be a collective mess of tears, pride, and confusion. Jesse broke their unnecessary and awkward silence by starting the soft applause. When it died down, Santana went back over to Brittany, and Karofsky began to put the stools back away again.

"So?"

Brittany reached over to grab Santana by the wrist and pull her back down into the seat next to her. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend." Brittany grinned, and Santana sighed out in relief before smiling herself. "But if you only want glee to know, then I think it's fair that we're only girlfriend-girlfriends in glee."

"That's sounds perfect for right now." Santana smiled again before grabbing Brittany's hand and linking their fingers.

Quinn shook her head at this deal as she retook her seat. It almost guaranteed someone was going to walk into the choir room and find them having sex. Kurt just squealed and bounced down over to them. Something about finally having another gay couple around.

"So. Now that we're done with that," Jesse earned some glares as he retook the floor, "how about we go back to rehearsing, yes?"

"We're not doing anything today. You agreed." Quinn reminded.

"Yes, but I agreed to a song, and that's done."

"I'm sure someone else here wouldn't mind taking up your time by singing a song."

"Wait. Seriously?" Blaine grinned. "Because as fun as it is, I'm getting tired of just singing for Kurt at home. I miss an audience."

"I think we all do." Mercedes nodded along.

Jesse lost the challenge and broke away from Quinn with an eye-roll. "Fine. If you all want to sit around with the work ethic of middle-aged employees and lose Sectionals, at least I'll know who to blame."

"Yeah, I ain't got no problem with that." This earned some chuckles.

"And we're back to being predictable. Thank you, Mercedes, for bringing us full circle." He smiled spitefully and went to go sit at the piano, doing whatever it is a show choir whisperer does. The rest of the room began discussing who would sing today, Brittany and Santana, and Jesse's unlikable traits.

Rachel ignored Jesse's unmatched skill of offending the room and made her way through the seats, stopping in front of the secluded blonde in the room. "I owe you an apology." She played with her hands. "I shouldn't have jumped to such conclusions. My only excuse is that I tend to be somewhat dramatic from time to time." She joked. Quinn didn't seem to find it funny and remained stoic.

"It's fine. If anything, I think it only helps prove that I'm right and you're wrong. We're not suited for friendship."

"Well I think that this only proves that we're better suited. We have faced adversity and have come through it smelling like roses. It's a testament really."

"You're nuts."

Rachel shrugged before smoothing down her skirt and sitting down next to Quinn. They sat in silence and watched as Kurt continues to talk excitedly to Brittany and Santana. "Still think that all the relationships in glee are nothing?"

Quinn smirked slowly. "I think yours is."

Rachel smiled before crossing her arms to prove a point. "I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree, Quinn. My relationship with Finn is hardly nothing."

"You're right. It's pretty hilarious, and that is something."

Rachel shook her head as Quinn skipped down the risers and walked over to Jesse. She did the shoulder trick and tapped Jesse on the left shoulder while standing on his right. Finn and Rachel were not hilarious. The girl was unbelievable.