NEGOTIATION

New Directions sat around impatiently in the choir room waiting for rehearsals to start for the day. They had yet to go to the auditorium as two of their members had yet to show up today. When their missing members did finally show up, it turned out they didn't go anywhere after all. Santana and Karofsky came into practice about ten minutes late carrying their Bully Whips jackets. In their other hands, they used white locker room towels to dry themselves off as they were stained in slushie. Both of course were fuming. Jesse thinks when he finally finishes with Quinn he should talk to them about some anger management courses.

"Whoa."

"Oh my crappers."

"What happened?"

Santana glared. "What do you think, Finnsulin?"

"Someone slushied the Bully Whips?" Tina frowned.

"Isn't that like anarchy?" Artie agreed.

"I can't believe they did this." Karofsky grunted and stomped over to a chair before plopping down. He was pretty damn pissed. The team had been making threats for weeks now, and for some reason today was the day they finally had the audacity to go through with them.

Santana shook her head, just as angry before strutting past Jesse as he leaned against the piano. She pulled his instructor bag over and ripped open a zipper compartment, pulling out a small note pad and pen.

"Excuse you." Jesse said wryly. Santana just ignored him to address the gleeks.

"Yeah so five of you are joining in the next five minutes otherwise we're gonna stop protecting your sorry faces. The Bully Whips are expanding." Santana tossed the pad with the pen stuck in its spiral to Artie in the front row. "I need names."

Most of them looked around nervously as Santana stood waiting.

"Well I'll join." Blaine volunteered. "I'd hate to see the Bully Whips vanish."

"Look, no offense, Bland, but you're the kind of person the Bully Whips was created to protect." Santana spat before slouching in her cheerio-stance and elaborating. "If you joined, you'd get the crap kicked out of you in less than an hour. You're as tall as Berry. You'd have no way of defending yourself, and we don't always work in teams."

"Well can I do it?" Mike offered, and Tina sent him an approving smile.

"That's more like it." Santana approved, and Artie wrote down Mike's name.

"Cool. If I don't have to stay late, I can do it too." Sam stepped in.

Mercedes shrugged next to her boyfriend. "Sure. Why not? It might be fun."

Santana rolled her eyes at the Mercedes addition but allowed it. "Fine. Two more."

"I wanna join." Brittany grinned.

"B, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not sure you're Bully Whips material." Santana told her glee-girlfriend as calmly and politely as she could. "You need to have a certain edge to do it. You kind of have to be mean and bossy."

Brittany just nodded once before putting on a tough face and glaring down at Artie in the row below. "Hey, you in the sweater vest. You can't roll here."

Artie turned back around somewhat shaken at the idea of mean-Brittany and nodded quickly to Santana. "No, yeah, she can do it."

She sighed. Really, she didn't want Brittany involved with the jackasses of this school. "Okay. We'll give it a try."

"Yay." The blonde clapped.

Santana looked out at the rest of the group trying to find a suitable Whip. She narrowed her eyes at the final point of the once cheerio trifecta. Quinn was inspecting her nails and obviously had no interest in any of this. Well too fucking bad. Santana quickly grabbed the pad back from Artie and flung it at Quinn. "Q, you're joining."

Quinn jerked in surprise as she was hit with the book and then glared as she reached to the floor to pick the fallen paper pad back up.

"Oooo, I think this is exciting." Rachel's eyes lit up in support of her obvious –even if you don't believe her– friend. "As someone who's been tormented by you, this could turn into a calling of the high school level." She told Quinn, finishing with a Berry-beam.

Quinn just tilted her head, trying not to question Rachel's sanity any more than she already has in life. "Yeah, no." She passed the book over to the nearest person.

"Finn should do it." Kurt spoke up. "He's already known to the school as a leader. He's quarterback. He could set a good example for the football team to follow."

Finn sank down in his chair as the club all looked to him. "I don't really…I have a lot on my mind right now, and I'm not sure I want to take anything else on. Maybe later."

Santana rolled her eyes and waited for someone else to step up. When no one did she put on her best bitch face. "Are you all kidding me? One more! Just one! And you can't even step up. Do you know how many slushies we keep from making their way down your shirt? Do you even-"

"Oh Jesus, I'll do it." Puck cut off her rant. "God, just hold off on your aneurism. I'll be your fifth whatever whip, but there's no way I'm wearing one of your outfits."

"There is nothing wrong with our outfits."

Lauren turned to her boyfriend. "This is awesome. We get to be bullies without consequences from the faculty. I want one of those hats."

Puck looked back to Santana. "We'll each take hats."

"Whatever." Santana sighed before dragging herself over to go sit next to Brittany and collecting the pad. The blonde took control of the towel and tried to pick slushie chunks out of Santana's hair.

Jesse cared about none of this. "So now that that's taken care of, let's get to rehearsals."

No one moved to follow him.

He sighed. "Why is there always some sort of problem within this group?"

"Right." Sam took a deep breath before continuing. "So we've all been talking about it, and we just were wondering…if maybe we could have a free week?"

"Yes. A week to revisit glee's past. Performances for fun if you will." Kurt added on.

Jesse stood taller, suddenly a little miffed. "I'm sorry, but I seem to recall informing of all you back when I took over that we would not be doing that this year. You can sing all you want just not on my time."

"Yeah, except we always seem to be on your time." Mercedes dared.

"Look Jesse, Sectionals are in a couple of weeks, and we're more than prepared for them." Rachel began slowly, having his full attention. "We understand that practice is important, but we need a break. We can't just continue to perform the same numbers on a loop. Didn't Vocal Adrenaline ever rehearse sets that weren't used in a competition?"

"Well yes, of course, but Vocal Adrenaline was perfect. We didn't need the extra rehearsals."

"Well perhaps you got so good because you had worked with a variety of music."

"No, we got that good because we were that good." He watched Rachel deflate in the argument slightly, but that was the only reaction. She sat stubbornly with the rest of them. His eyes finally landed on Quinn. "Not you too." He grimaced.

"It's just a week." She excused. "God Jesse, do you have any idea how annoying it is to sing the same two songs for two months straight?"

"Probably around as annoying as listening you sing the same songs for two months."

"All the more reason to let us do this."

"So let me guess, this would be the part where I try to shape you all with some ridiculous life lesson that I try to associate to a type of music that I write on the white board? Great, then what shall I have you do this week?"

"We should totally do Disney songs." Brittany voiced before looking to Santana. "We could sing 'The Siamese Cat Song' from Lady and the Tramp."

Jesse shrugged. "That's fine. Butcher Disney."

"Really?" Rachel asked him hopefully. He just rolled his eyes before backing up a few steps to write Disney on the stupid board. Might as well make it official.

"Oh this is amazing." Kurt clapped vigorously once Jesse set down the marker. "There's so much that has to get done."

"Wait a minute. We all really have to sing Disney songs?" Finn shook his head with most of the guys.

Karofsky nodded. "Yeah, I'm not really comfortable with this. I wasn't aware that we were all in elementary school."

"Disney is timeless." Kurt said.

"Yeah, it's also complete bullshit." Rachel and Kurt both gasped at his comment. "Sorry, but it is. Everything's happiness meets fairytale romance."

"Exactly." Rachel smiled. "If you're fortunate enough to have those things in life, then Disney allows you to celebrate them. And if you don't, then it gives you hope for the future."

Quinn frowned, bemused. "Yeah, or it just reminds you that you don't have them."

"But-"

"Rachel, ignore them and their cynical, party-pooping ways." Kurt quickly told his friend before going into crazy drive. "We need to decide roles. Myself and the girls can all take on the role of a Disney Princess. I'll play Belle and-"

"Kurt, you cannot play Belle." Rachel told him. She was to be Belle. Everyone knew that Beauty and the Beast was the best Disney film to date. It was a love story that went unchallenged. That role was hers.

"Well if not Belle, then who?" He countered.

"I always thought you looked like Pinocchio after he became a real boy." Brittany jumped in.

"Yeah, that or Peter Pan." Santana shrugged next to her.

"But I want to honor Belle. She played a crucial role in shaping my sexuality." Kurt explained proudly. "When I was a child, it was her and Dorothy Gale that gave me my first indication that I in fact might be gay. I wanted my very own beast turned prince like Belle had. And well, I also just wanted Dorothy's shoes."

Rachel bit her lip before calmly arguing against him. "Kurt, that's a very nice story, but I think I'd be the better choice for Belle."

"Belle was not Jewish."

"Belle was also not a gay male."

"Hearsay." He waved off and just continued on with his vision. "Blaine can play Prince Eric."

"Then wouldn't that make you Ariel?" She argued further.

"Tina and Mike can represent Mulan and that guy she ends up with whose name escapes me right now."

"Um, Kurt, I'm not really sure I want-" Tina tried, but Kurt was in a zone.

"And Mercedes can be Princess Tiana."

Mercedes snorted. "The only black character Disney has ever created."

"Santana can be Pocahontas, and Sam can play John Smith. You two have dated so it shouldn't be that awkward."

Santana frowned, disgruntled. "Uh, Pocahontas was Native American. I'm Hispanic."

"Well, what about Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame?"

"No, she was a Gypsy." Rachel corrected.

Kurt shook his head. "No princesses of Latin descent. Only one black princess. Did they even ever have a Jewish character?"

"I don't think so. And they've never represented the gay community either."

"That's not true." Puck interrupted, gaining everyone's attention. "Buzz and Woody were totally gay for each other. And don't even get me started on Thumper and Flower."

A couple of hours after school, Kurt and Rachel had organized a plan to get everyone in glee involved. Everyone was to participate in at least one number, and they would all being doing the "When You Wish Upon a Star" group number at the end of the week. Once a song was chosen, Kurt or Rachel had to be contacted with the request. They may have been a little excited about this. It was Disney. As for everyone else, well they were just happy that Jesse allowed the free week. Right now Blaine was over at Kurt's house along with Brittany and Santana to discuss songs. This had become a common occurrence throughout the last couple of weeks. Kurt, Blaine, and Brittany got along great, and while Santana didn't necessarily like their double dates, it had been decided that she and Brittany would also be girlfriends when in the presence of any of the gleeks so Santana hadn't declined an offer to hang out as couples yet. Honestly, the two girls were ridiculous. Kurt always assumed teenaged lesbians would be angstfully entertaining. So not the case here.

As Kurt left his room to head back downstairs to his guests, he passed Finn's along the way. He swears his step-brother hadn't moved since he got home from football practice. Finn was just laying back on his bed while his feet bent over the end and rested on the floor. And all Finn had been doing was throwing some stupid, mini hand basketball up to the ceiling to catch it and do it all over again. This really couldn't continue to go on.

"Finn?" He came a step into the room. "You know Brittany, Blaine, and Santana are over if you wanted to join us. We're coming up with a plan on who gets to sing what throughout the group."

"No, that's cool." He just kept tossing the ball back up.

Kurt rolled his eyes and entered completely into the room. "Okay, enough with the Holden Caulfield routine." He snatched the ball out of the air above Finn's face.

Finn sat up slowly on the edge of his bed. "Who?"

Kurt ignored the question and took a seat across from the bed at the desk. "Finn, you've been keeping to yourself and moping around for weeks now. I'm concerned with the amount of angst you're emitting off. This can't be healthy. You threw four interferences during last week's game. "

"Interceptions."

"Whatever. My point is that you've been ignoring my snacks, and even our parents have noticed that you haven't been yourself. And when parental units notice something, it's serious. So I have to ask you." He gave a dramatic pause. "Are you pregnant?"

"What? No."

"Well there goes my failed attempt at humor." Kurt clicked his tongue before steering the conversation elsewhere. "Is this about you and Rachel? Is New Directions going to have to deal with another cheating scandal because I'm not sure we can take any more as a whole."

Finn looked away, somewhat guilty, and Kurt waited to see if Finn would continue this or go back to ignoring all things in existence. Thankfully it ended up being the former.

"Have you ever played with a slinky?" Finn finally asked.

Kurt had no idea where he was going with this. "A slinky?"

"Yeah, you know," he paused before singing quietly, "It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun, it's a wonderful toy. It's Slin-"

"No, Finn, I know what a slinky is. I'm just confused by your question."

"Okay, then when you were a kid, did you and someone else ever stretch the slinky as far as it can go?"

"Sure."

"Well it's like me and Rachel are doing that." He finally explained. "I have one end, and she has the other, and it's all stretched out, and I'm afraid she's going to let go and hit me in the face."

"Finn, I don't think that's going to happen."

"Why not?"

"Well because you're taller. Her end couldn't hit you in the face if she aimed for it."

"I was being serious." He Finn-glared before looking away from his step-brother.

"I know, but I couldn't resist. I just don't see what the problem is. Rachel loves you. You love her. The two of you are finally stable. Why ruin it?"

Finn looked back up. "I'm not trying to."

"Well you're certainly not helping the cause."

"It just feels different this year."

"Okay, I'll bite. Different how?"

"Well it's like…Rachel used to only focus on me and her, you know? She was always chasing after me and getting in the middle of my relationship with Quinn, and she always let me know that she was still there. Most of the time it seemed like all she ever wanted was for us to be together. It's not like that anymore. It's confusing."

"I doubt you're all she's ever wanted. Rachel wants everything, and she's dramatic about it. You're her relationship, Finn. You're not her life." He stood up. "Come downstairs with me."

"Maybe later."

"If you're not down there in twenty minutes to pick a song, I'm bringing them up here." Kurt tossed the ball back to its owner. "Cheer up. It's Disney Week. I'll give you a part in Hakuna Matata."

Finn just shrugged, staring gloomily down at his ball.

Kurt sighed tiredly. "Alright."

Finn listened as Kurt left his room and went down the hall. He simply laid back down and began throwing his awesome, mini hand basketball again. Kurt didn't get it. It was like Finn and Rachel were drifting or something. Except that made no sense because wasn't that supposed to start happening around graduation. It's weird, but their relationship doesn't really seem like one of those romantic comedy relationships anymore. It's no longer the main purpose of their movie. Now it just seems like the side storyline. Kind of like if their movie was more like Harry Potter instead of that vampire thing Tina hates. Except they didn't speak English and stuff…well they did but…never mind.

Finn was right. School sort of did seem to ruin them or at least change them once again this year. It wasn't that Rachel didn't seem to care about their relationship anymore; it's just that now she seemed to be focusing on other things. Like she was never pining after him or asking him to quit football or telling him that he was the best looking guy in school and whatnot. They still hung out all the time, but she was also always busy doing other things like researching what schools she may want to go to next year in New York. When she wasn't doing that, she was coming up with, like, tons of backup plans for other cities. She even tried to get him to start looking at the colleges he might want to go to. But personally, Finn would just rather actually spend time with his girlfriend and worry about all that later. Like when teachers told him what to do.

Plus, the last time he dated Rachel she didn't have friends. And he really didn't realize it over the summer because school wasn't going on and they had more time together, but she actually spends a lot of time with Kurt, Mercedes, Sam, and Blaine. (Puck too sometimes, but he doesn't really like to count that because he doesn't really get how they hang out together. They have, like, nothing in common.) And she's also still trying to be Quinn's friend on top of it. And if she's friends with Quinn, then she's going to start seeing Jesse more because Jesse has no life and is always with Quinn when he's not trying to steal Finn's girlfriend. And really he was still kind of worried for Rachel a little bit. She trusts people too easily, and Quinn could actually be pretty scary. Like he was thinking back on his relationship with her, and now he's pretty sure that he needs to make safer life choices. Of course, Rachel can be pretty insane and controlling too. Seriously. If he doesn't end up with Rachel when they're older and supposed to get married, then he better at least be with a girl who doesn't try to keep changing him into the boyfriend she wants him to be rather than who he is. It's not really fair that he keeps dating girls who do that.

Across town on Dudley Road, Rachel was making her way up the large stairwell in the Fabray home for only the second time in her life. However, unlike the last time, she was hardly nervous. More excited than anything. Everyone in glee seemed to be looking forward to this week and while Quinn wasn't exactly eager earlier, she was Quinn. And as Rachel has come to learn, Quinn is rarely if ever enthusiastic. Which is why she was over here to change this. She wanted Quinn to take some joy in this as well.

When Rachel walked into Quinn's room, the blonde was sitting at her vanity; seemingly studying her reflection.

"Quinn." She disturbed the trance, and Quinn sharply turned in her chair at the surprise interruption.

For about a full minute there they just stared at one another, and Quinn wondered how Rachel got into her room. Really, she considered giving the girl a lecture on what can be deemed as stalking nowadays.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk about this week's glee assignment. I hope it's not too late for me to stop by. Your mother didn't seem to be cooking dinner yet and-"

"My mom's home?" Quinn frowned, eyeing the clock on her nightstand.

"Yes. She let me in." Rachel answered before taking a moment to observe the other girl. "Quinn, are you okay?"

"Is that for the glee assignment?" Quinn gestured to what Rachel had brought with her, looking for a distraction.

Rachel glanced down at the folders she was still holding in her arms before looking back at Quinn brightly. "Oh yes, all the Disney sheet music I could find in my house." She set down the folders on Quinn's bed in order to shed her coat. "May I sit?" She gestured to the bed, and Quinn nodded dumbly as the girl sat down. She didn't get why Rachel asked things like that. "So Kurt, Brittany, and I have taken it upon ourselves to get everyone in glee to participate. We want it to be a bonding experience. Jesse has lacked in creating a strong unity I think. Now I know that you agree with David and do not like Disney and that you-"

"I don't. Agree that is. It's not like I hate Disney, I just…I understood what he meant."

"Oh. At least that means getting you to choose something to sing will be an easier task. Do you have any ideas yourself? Would you prefer a solo or a duet or perhaps a solo with background performers? We already have Brittany and Santana doing 'The Siamese Cat Song' per Brittany's request. Kurt has made it clear that he will be leading in 'Belle,' and there's no room for argument. Apparently, I was the only one arguing." Quinn smiled briefly at this as Rachel opened one of the folders, reading over a list. "Anyway, Blaine has already requested 'One Jump Ahead,' but I don't picture you wanting to sing something sung by Aladdin so that shouldn't be a problem. Tina is doing 'Just Around the River Bend.' I truly hope that you don't have an adoration for Pocahontas, Quinn, but Tina declined singing something from Mulan on account of the fact that she thought it was outdated to sing something just because she is also of Asian descent. Kurt was disappointed that no one wanted to follow his idea and play lookalike with the characters which I find to be quite hypocritical of him considering who he's chosen to play, but I'm also excited because now it gives me an opportunity to sway Mercedes into singing 'Reflection.' Honestly, she should really sing more Xtina." Rachel took a deep breath. "So do you perhaps have your own request yet?"

Quinn smile softly again and slowly shook her head.

"Oh well that's quite alright, Quinn. That's why I've come prepared. I think you'll be fun to choose for. Maybe you should acquiesce to Kurt's idea of performing a role of a Disney Princess. I've always felt that you'd make a good-"

"Do you want to go for a drive?"

Rachel paused with a small frown. "A drive?"

"Yeah."

"A drive to where?"

"To see Jesse." Quinn didn't leave Rachel another option as she stood to quickly grab a jacket out of her closet. "I promise to have you home by whatever your curfew is."

"Um…" She trailed off sheepishly. Well, sheepishly for Rachel. "I don't actually have a curfew. My fathers have never set one. Before New Directions formed, I never spent much time socializing so they never had to give me one. I'm not sure why we haven't sat down to talk about it since. Do you think that's normal?"

"I wouldn't know." They headed out of Quinn's room. "I don't have one either." The Fabrays were never much for timeworn discipline. It was more just commit the wrong actions, suffer the consequences. This law was usually taken to the very extreme.

The ride to see Jesse was a relatively quiet one. It basically consisted of minor arguments over the radio. It probably could have gone worse if it was a longer drive. Since taking over New Directions, Jesse had mostly been staying at his uncle's place just like he did when he actually attended McKinley. It just made more sense and was convenient. His uncle lived about fifteen minutes from the school while his parents were about just under two hours away in the next district over. Personally, Quinn preferred when he was staying at his Uncle Stew's one-story house. Stewart St. James was arguably her favorite of the family mainly because he was actually normal and hadn't done anything to annoy her yet.

It was to be said that if there to be a black sheep within the St. James family, then Stewart St. James was it. There were three elder St. James brothers out in the world right now. The oldest was Jonathan. He was someone who gained immense wealth by starting his own business. Quinn had no idea what it was, but according to Jesse, the man lived in Indiana with his family, and Jesse's cousins were a complete embarrassment. The youngest of the brothers was Jesse's father, Richard St. James, who also did something really boring for a career that Jesse didn't understand, but it was a well-paying job that afforded Jesse to be spoiled. Stewart, however, was pretty much the very definition of a Lima Loser and worked in construction. But he was happier than most people and liked to give Jesse a hard time so it worked out nicely if you ask her.

Plus, at this point it was almost as if she had to like the man. Jesse was a horrible human being who obviously did not understand the concept that sometimes things were none of his business. But as he was dumb, he ignored this type of common courtesy and instead did things like try and set his uncle up with her mother. Granted, she liked that this was getting her mother out of the house more and allowing Judy to socialize with someone other than Jesse, but still. Stew was so not her type which meant her mother had been spending the last couple of weeks giggling like a school girl and probably out doing things that Quinn herself should be doing. It was maddening. And it was making Jesse gloat, damn it.

"Quinn." Stewart St. James answered his door to the familiar guest. "Jesse's in his cave." He welcomed her and the tagalong inside.

"Right."

Stew looked down to the girl Quinn had brought with her. "Hello."

Quinn frowned between the two before remembering she was probably supposed to act in this moment. "Oh, um, this is Rachel."

Rachel held out her hand. "It's a pleasure to-"

"Oh not the Rachel Berry?" Stew laughed, but Rachel didn't care why and instead just smiled. She loved being considered famous even in the smallest of settings.

"The one and only." Quinn confirmed dryly.

"Well in that case, I would like to thank you for making my nephew pretty damn cranky. It makes me like him more."

"My mom said to say hi." Quinn told him and gave Rachel a small tug on the arm before heading to the hall that would take her to Jesse's cave.

"It was nice to finally meet you." Rachel told the man kindly and followed after Quinn. This was exciting. She had never met Jesse's uncle when they were dating as Jesse always insisted on going to her house. She had only met his parents once when they had gotten back from their winter vacation, but that was it.

"Do Jesse and his uncle not get along?" She asked Quinn as they got to the end of the hallway.

"Um…" She paused. How does one explain this household? "Are you familiar with The Odd Couple?"

"Oh."

Quinn opened the door to house's spare bedroom and unsurprisingly found Jesse sitting up against the headboard listening to his iPod. He ripped his headphones out and acknowledged both of his guests with a sigh.

He looked to Quinn. "Remember when I told you that you could always come here if you felt like doing so? Well, I retract that statement."

"Whatever." Quinn overruled and kicked off her shoes in order to sit next to him on the bed, mirroring his position. Rachel stood awkwardly and looked for somewhere to sit. But the room was mostly bare so she took residence at the foot of the bed.

"Rachel, you on the other hand are always welcome."

Rachel smiled. "Thank you, Jesse. Now help me pick a song for Quinn to sing this week." She opened her folder.

Jesse faced the girl on his left. "Oh. Are you joining in the fun?" He smirked as Quinn looked away. Honestly, he was going to have a field day with this if she was only doing it because Rachel told her to.

"Everyone is." Rachel answered for her. "Everyone in glee is going to sing something this week before we close it out on a group number."

So much for the field day. "Quinn should sing 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes' from Cinderella." He sent another smirk Quinn's way. She narrowed her eyes on instinct. "Ironic, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh my goodness, that's perfect." Rachel's eyes lit up. "Kurt will be thrilled. He wanted Quinn to do a Cinderella reprise. He actually went on this long speech about prom last year and…" She trailed off as her phone began ringing in her coat pocket. She pulled it out and read the ID. "It's Sam." She informed. "As glee's co-captain I should probably answer this. Excuse me."

The two left behind watched her go out into the hallway to take the call.

Jesse looked back over at Quinn. "So what's wrong?

"What do you mean?" She returned.

"Well you're here."

"So what does that mean? What, I can't just come spend time with a friend?"

He chuckled. "No."

"Nothing's wrong."

"So we're going to do the avoidance thing today I see. Okay." He shrugged. "Question, though. Not that I mind, but why is Rachel here?"

"She was at my house, and I asked her if she wanted to come with me."

"If you're still trying to prove to me that Rachel is the bane of your existence, you're doing a wonderful job. Top notch really."

"Shut up. Maybe I just like having her around." Quinn shrugged before checking on his reaction. It wasn't exactly what she had been anticipating. All Jesse was doing was shaking his head. "What? I thought you'd be happy about this."

"Do you have any idea how much stress you'd save yourself if just you came into the real world and stopped living in the Land of Denial?"

"I do not live in denial."

"She denied plainly." He smirked. "You know what? I think that's going to be our next step together. I've gotten you to move past Finn, and now I will get you to stop playing pretend. Really, Quinn, that's something that should have ended after childhood."

"I don't like you."

"She denied plainly. Hmm, I'm betting I'll be able to use that phrase to refute everything you say from now on."

"Well then maybe I'll just stop talking. I've always felt actions speak louder than words anyway."

"Fine. I agree."

"Good." She nodded.

As for her first course of action, well, it was to pinch Jesse and his annoying existence on the arm.

"Ow!" He grabbed his arm and stared her down before reciprocating the action.

"Hey! Did you just pinch me?"

"I believe I did."

"You can't do that."

"Why? Because you're a girl. Aren't you the one who's delusional enough to think feminism is a real thing? If that's true, then you honestly have no room to complain in this instance." He sat up straighter. "Your move."

This resulted in a pinch-fest.

"Sam and the boys are going to woo Mercedes." Rachel came back in practically skipping but lost her happy mood and traded it for confusion. "What are you doing?" The pair straightened up primly against the headboard once again.

"Quinn started it." He announced causing Quinn to glare at him. How dare he tattle on her?

"Jesse, I refuse to believe Quinn instigated something so childish." Rachel disagreed, earning a look of disbelief on his part.

Quinn just turned and polite-smiled at him before refocusing on Rachel. "What about Sam?"

Rachel retook her earlier seat on the end of the bed, tucking back her legs. "He's changing the pronouns around in 'I Won't Say I'm in Love' to surprise Mercedes with."

"And we should care about this why exactly?" Jesse questioned.

"Because glee is supposed to be fun. It's glee club not glum club."

"No. Actually it's neither. It's show choir."

"I don't know whether to ask if it's Quinn who makes you miserable or if it's the other way around. Honestly, do either of you get excited about anything anymore? It's Disney."

"I am appalled that you think I'm as miserable as Quinn is."

"I'm right here." Quinn muttered and went entirely ignored.

"I have never been more insulted." Jesse continued. "Has it occurred to you that perhaps I simply have no desire to see the members of New Directions outside yourself sing anything?"

"No, because the Jesse St. James I know enjoys every kind of performance." She said with principle. "If it's bad, he gets to critique it, and if it's good, he gets to be moved by it. Jesse, when did that change?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. That has not changed, and I'm a happy person. I'm not a Quinn."

While Quinn rolled her eyes, Rachel took the time to think about Jesse's obvious frustration. "Jesse, when was the last time you sang?" She asked.

"I'm not sure anymore. Why?"

"Oh this explains so much. Why you've been so temperamental. Why you've been completely intolerable." Rachel explicated. "Jesse, you need to sing. It's like breathing for people like us. This can't go on any longer. You're getting a song this week in glee. It doesn't even matter that instructors joining in is out of place and steals the spotlight from the actual club, and oh my god, we should do a duet!" Her eyes widened at the thought.

Jesse also immediately perked up at this idea. "We should pick a song and allow it to be spontaneous the day of."

"We do always excel in those types of performances together."

"I don't picture that going over well." Quinn informed.

Jesse turned his head to face her. "I'm sorry, have you ever even heard Rachel and I perform together? And 'Run, Joey, Run' doesn't count because it had two bleak performances coexisting with ours."

"It's true. We're like stage soul mates."

"Astaire and Rogers esque."

"Uh, not exactly what I was referring to." Quinn clarified. "In case you're both forgetting, where there's a Finn there's a fit to be thrown or a chair to be kicked."

Jesse grinned. "That makes it better."

"You're right." Rachel sighed. "I don't imagine it sitting well with Finn if I sing a duet with you." She looked back at Jesse.

"Oh so what?" He challenged. "What is going to happen when you start your future career as an actress and have to perform opposite a male that isn't Finn? Frankly, I think you should just dump him now before it gets to that point. Finn could never understand the performing arts like we do. He is neither an artist nor a performer." Quinn watched as Jesse used his skills as an emotional manipulator. She had no idea how Rachel was falling for this, but the other girl clearly was. "Besides, we can choose one of the duets from Beauty and the Beast. Every other Disney film falls flat in comparison."

"Well it would be just one song, and Finn really should prepare himself for these sorts of situations. And it's not like we're sure he'll mind. We might be blowing everything out of proportion."

"Exactly."

Quinn continued to watch the both of them plot it all out eagerly. They were blind, and this was going to be a disaster.

Okay, so it wasn't entirely a disaster. In fact most of the week was nothing but fun. The first day was really Mercedes and Sam's day. Brittany and Santana also performed their duet, and Tina also sang her solo, but it was really the couple's day. After Rachel spent more than enough time texting and calling Mercedes, she finally agreed to do "Reflection." It wasn't really rehearsed, but it was outstanding none the less. Sam closed the day out with his surprise performance with all the guys. Jesse supposes it was romantic enough, but he also seriously wanted to trip Sam every time the boy danced near his chair in the choir room. Really, the song lyrically somewhat insulted Quinn (and also Santana, but who cares), and since Jesse was Team Quinn in life, he didn't like it even if it was founded and Sam probably had no intention of offending anyone. He probably would've said something about the boy's lack of tact had Quinn not seemed to enjoy it. Quinn and all the girls just seemed super happy for Mercedes because for some reason everyone liked Mercedes.

The rest of the week divided up into a nice variety. Quinn listened to Jesse and went with his Cinderella idea, and yes, Kurt was thrilled. They got Karofsky to participate by Santana forcing him to. He sang "The Bare Necessities" along with Brittany who took on the brief part of Mowgli. Puck, Mike, and Finn went with "Hakuna Matata." Puck sang Pumbaa's parts while Mike sang Timon's, and Finn enjoyed being Simba. Blaine also made a fine Aladdin with several of the gleeks joining in on the minor roles in the song. However, it was probably Kurt's performance of the week that had most people questioning what in the hell it was. He took the auditorium stage with a few of the gleeks and several spare cheerios, and really, no one knew how he kept getting the cheerios to help him out in these situations. It was a fine albeit odd performance particularly because it was made clear that out of the group of gleeks up there only Kurt belonged on the stage. Also, everyone was just scratching their heads at Puck volunteering to play Gaston in the song.

It wasn't until Thursday that things took a turn for the worse. Rachel and Jesse like the geniuses they are, settled on "Something There" from Beauty and the Beast as their duet. Quinn, Kurt, and Blaine got stuck tagging along and singing the parts of Mrs. Potts, Lumiére, and Cogsworth toward the end of the song. What caused the problem was that Rachel thought it would be a good idea not to tell Finn that she was singing with Jesse. She thought it would be better this way for some reason. Kurt did not agree, Blaine was staying out of it, and Quinn had to stop herself more than a few times from telling Finn what was going on. There was absolutely no way Finn finding out in the choir room in front of everyone else was the better option. Rachel wasn't doing this to protect Finn's feelings, she was doing this for herself because if she went to Finn he'd pout, yell, be possessive, or act like a child. This was ultimately why Quinn never went to Finn. Either way he was going to be a baby about it, and really, why should he have any say over what Rachel chooses to sing? Like Quinn predicted it was going to be a disaster, and it was never going to be anything else.

Rachel and Jesse sang back and forth, both wearing smiles in nothing but a friendly manner like everyone else had all week long. All the gleeks watching in the choir room were being pleasantly entertained. Kurt admitted to himself only that Rachel was the better Belle. Quinn watched Jesse be a person and noted that she should either thank or compliment Rachel's idea on getting him to sing. The only one who had any problem at all was Finn. Seriously, the world was always out to get Finn, and people pretty much seemed to keep hurting him on purpose. Like all the time. How could Rachel do this? She was singing a love song with her ex-boyfriend happily right in front of him without telling him. Oh crap. What if this was like her way of breaking up with him for Jesse. She was dramatic and liked to sing. It made sense that she'd do it like this. He just never actually thought Rachel would break up with him. No one ever breaks up with him. So maybe that's not what she was doing. But still. She was singing a love song with her ex-boyfriend. Just, what the hell?

"What the hell?" Finn asked once the song and applause died down. "Was this supposed to be some type of surprise because it kinda sucks."

"Would this be the part where I say I told you so?" Kurt joked from behind Rachel.

Rachel ignored him and focused on Finn. "It was just a song."

"It's a love song with your ex-boyfriend." He retorted.

"Yes, but it doesn't mean anything. Not everything I sing needs to be relevant to my life. If I wanted it to mean something, then I would have picked a song or characters that define my former relationship with Jesse. Jesse is hardly my beast turned prince. If anyone I've been linked to romantically were to be my beast, I suppose it would be Noah, but even that would be a stretch."

"How do you not see that this was kind of a horrible thing for you to do?"

Rachel frowned. "It was a song. As a performer, I enjoy singing with Jesse along with several other people who aren't my boyfriend. Jesse and I are just friends. We've had this conversation several times now. I knew you weren't going to be comfortable with the notion of me singing with him which is why I didn't tell you, but I do believe you're currently overreacting. It truly was just a song."

"That's such crap, Rachel." He frowned in anger. "If I sang something like that with Quinn, you would have a heart attack, and you know it. Especially if I didn't tell you first."

Rachel deflated against the double standard he was presenting her with.

"Didn't they kinda do that to Q last year?" Brittany whispered over to Santana from her seat.

"Mmm-hmm." Santana responded with nothing but disinterest. "God, this is boring."

"I know." Lauren agreed from beside her. "It's like watching your parents fight except not funny."

"Do you think they'd noticed if we left?" Puck asked.

"They're ruining Disney Week." Brittany pouted, and that was when Santana had enough.

"Hey, clichéd romance." Santana gained the couple's attention. "Either break up or make up 'cause no one actually wants to listen to this."

Rachel addressed her first. "You're right. I'm sorry, Santana. This isn't the time or place. Finn and I apologize."

Finn just slumped in his chair. "Whatever."

"Does that mean me, Puckerman, and our man Artie can sing our song now?" Lauren stood up, and Jesse decided to end the moment by telling her, Puck, and Artie to take the floor.

Everyone else took their seats and hoped the song would kill the mood. Thankfully, they picked one of the more ridiculous songs Disney had to offer and chose to sing "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" for the week. The choir room once again became a happy, dancing place. The only ones who stayed in a bubble of suck were Finn and Rachel.