Disclaimer: All characters belong to Ryan Murphy and FOX.

A big thanks to sandra-wfg for beta'ing this story. :)

Quick note: I completely forgot to mention Lauren when I talked about the members reactions to Puck starting a conversation with Rachel. We'll just say that she was in the bathroom and missed the incident.

Chapter Two

After the anxiety attack subsided, Rachel found herself sitting in front of her therapist. Her fathers had called him in for an emergency session but even the therapist couldn't get a word out of her. She merely shrugged her shoulders and said that she didn't want to talk about it.

The next day at school was not any better. When she got to her locker, she noticed a paper sticking out of it. She subtly looked around to see if anyone was staring at her but the hallway was filled with unimportant chatter. She sighed and pulled the paper out. It was folded perfectly and she automatically knew who it was from when she saw that the ink was bright purple.

Rachel,

Stay away from Puck. He's not yours.

-Santana

Rachel shook her head and crumpled the note up. She opened up her locker and threw the note in there while she grabbed one of her text book. The door slammed shut which caused her to yelp in surprise.

"So I see you got my little note," Santana sneered viciously.

Just ignore her and she'll go away, Rachel thought to herself as she turned and left Santana standing at her locker.

"I want to talk to you."

Rachel turned around. Unsurprisingly, Santana stood face to face with her. Rachel could feel her breath on her face.

Rachel glared at her, "What do you want Santana? Last time I checked, you already had everything I wanted!"

Santana rolled her eyes, "Don't play dumb, Berry. I saw the way you were checking Puck out yesterday. I thought you wanted Finn?"

The way Santana purred his name was enough to make Rachel feel nauseous.

"Just leave me alone, Santana."

Santana laughed. "You are so pathetic. I can't believe you even think that Finn would get back with you –"

Ignore her, Rachel. You are better than her in all aspects. She's just a stupid bully.

"- I mean not because you cheated on him. That was bad but whatever. It's because you're just a –"

Take a deep breath and just walk away. Her words can't hurt you.

"- annoying, pathetic, little girl who doesn't deserve a man like Finn. God, he must have been high on something to date you –"

"Shut up!" Rachel finally screamed. She breathed in deeply and faced Santana, "Just for once shut up. What did I do to make you hate me so much?"

Santana, shocked that someone had even raised their voice at her, glared at her. Right when she opened her mouth, someone else decided to speak.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Rachel looked past Santana and saw Finn standing there. She rolled her eyes. Of course he would show up at this particular moment.

"Nothing," she said quietly.

Finn marched over to them. "It didn't look like nothing. You were yelling at my girlfriend, Rachel."

As much as it embarrassed her, Rachel couldn't help but feel pain run throughout her body. She knew the pair was dating – the duets made it obvious enough – but Finn had never admitted it out loud to her.

Rachel breathed in and out before she spoke again. "Well maybe you should ask your girlfriend why she was harassing me in the first place."

"Harassing? Please, I was merely telling you to stay away from certain people," Santana replied while looking up at Finn.

"Really? You don't call leaving notes in my locker, waiting for me by said locker, and then yelling at me 'harassing'?" Rachel retorted angrily.

Finn sighed, "Just leave us alone, Rachel. Haven't you caused enough drama already?"

Rachel felt as if she had been slapped. While she knew Finn was angry at her, she didn't think he could be so cruel as to side with her enemy. She watched the two walk past her as the bell rang. As she hurried to class, she couldn't help but let the pain take over her thoughts.

She remembered a time when she had wanted to mend things with Finn. After the Christmas tree incident, she had called his house everyday for two weeks trying to talk to him. Either Kurt would answer or one of their parents. They made up excuses to the point where Finn answered telling Rachel to stop stalking him. After that burn, she quickly realized nothing she did would ever make him forgive her.

To an extent, she realized how hurt Finn must have been. Having another girlfriend cheat on him with his 'best friend' couldn't have made him a happy camper. She understood that perfectly and it pained her to think of how stupid and foolish she had been to do that. She wouldn't have forgiven him if he had done that with Quinn. Yet, why did he continue to punish her? The slushy attacks from the football team, the abandonment of the entire Glee club, and continual glares weren't enough?

Rachel didn't know how much embarrassment she could handle anymore. She hated going home to her father's and crying because 'life wasn't fair' or 'Santana won't leave me alone'. She didn't want to run away from her problems. Yet, she felt as though staying only fueled the taunting looks and conversations behind her back.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Rachel took different routes to class so she could avoid any member of the football team, cheerleading team, and Glee club. Lunch was frightening as always but today was worse. Puck had the nerve to sit next to Rachel and try to get her to sing the duet with him. She ended up eating lunch in the library.

After the school bell rang, she went over to her locker only to find drawing taped on it. It was of herself. Her nose had been drawn significantly larger and her eyebrows had formed a uni brow. Red pen marked her pimples and her mouth was opening containing buck teeth. Above her read: Rachel Hairy.

Rachel skipped practice that day making an excuse that she said had a doctor's appointment.

Once Rachel was safely confided in her home, she quickly took her anxiety meds with a cup of water and ran up to her room. After swallowing, she grabbed her phone and dialed the number to her only friend: Kurt.

He picked up after the first ring. "Well hello there, Berry. How may I help you?"

She sighed, "I have something to tell you. But you can't tell anyone – especially Finn."

Rachel could almost see him roll his eyes, "You're transferring schools to be in Vocal Adrenaline?"

She laughed quietly. "Absolutely not! I would be hated there just as much as I'm hated here at McKinley."

Kurt grumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Rachel asked.

He sighed, "My step-brother's an ass."

"Kurt…," She started to feel uneasy. She was in a good mood since the medicine helped calm her down and didn't want to stress out over the thought of Finn.

"No, Rachel. He really is! I can't believe he hasn't gotten over what you did. I get it, that was really messed up for you to cheat but he isn't a saint! He cheated on Quinn with you when the club first started out –"

Rachel cut him off, "How in the world did you find out about that!"

He laughed, "I overheard him and Carole talking about it a couple of months ago."

Rachel sighed.

"Anyways," Kurt started talking again, "He is acting immature. It's embarrassing, really. You would think because I was the diva in this household that no one could top my tantrums but he's definitely giving me a run for the money. All he does is walk around the house with a grimace on his face and when anyone mentions anything about his mood, he snaps at them and leaves for a 'drive' or whatever."

"What do you mean by 'leaves for a drive'?" She asked quietly.

Kurt exhaled, "I don't really know. He just leaves the house saying that he'll be back in a bit then he gets into his car and just goes. One day I followed him with Blaine but we lost him after he made a quick turn and merged with the traffic."

She closed her eyes and stretched out on her bed. "I'm sorry, Kurt. If I could take back everything I did, I would."

"It's not your fault. Well, okay maybe it is but he's acting like a big baby. I can't believe he got the Gleeks to turn on you."

Rachel let out a surprised laugh. "Really, Kurt? Are you so surprised by that? I'm sure they were just dying for the moment where they finally had a real reason to hate me."

"I am surprised…I mean, the cheerios and footballers make sense because they're popular so they'll hate on anybody. But Artie, Tina, and Mercedes? They know what it feels like to be ignored. They shouldn't act that way to you."

"It's fine, Kurt. I mean you would have hated me too if we didn't have that epiphany that maybe we were better off as friends than enemies," she laughed softly.

"I suppose you're right…" there was a knock on the door and Rachel's breath hitched as she heard the voice talking to Kurt.

"Your dad wants you in the kitchen," she heard Finn grumble.

"Okay, tell him I'm on the phone and I'll be there in a second."

Finn groaned, "Can't you take a break from talking to Blaine? It's annoying."

"Look, Finn. Just because you're my step-brother doesn't give you the right to interfere with my social life. Besides, I'm not talking to Blaine," Kurt replied with a twinge of annoyance.

"Who are you talking to, then?" Finn asked sounding surprised. Rachel made a mental note to stop complaining about her life so she could talk to Kurt about Blaine.

"None of your business," Kurt replied immediately.

Rachel decided to intervene so she wouldn't get him into trouble. "Hey Kurt, I'll just call you back, okay?"

Kurt sighed, "Fine. Call me tomorrow, though."

She smiled softly, "Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She hung up the phone and put it on her night stand. She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep – tired from today's events and her phone call with Kurt.

A/N: Thank you all so much for the alerts and reviews. Sorry I couldn't reply to them. I'll definitely do it this time. (Maybe even throw in a little teaser for the third chapter.)

I know a lot of you probably really hate Finn right now. I know I do - both in this fic & on the show - but I promise that he'll start to mature. It won't be an overnight thing but by the end of this story I hope that he'll would have won your hearts back.

Until then, I leave you with a FML!Rachel and a emo!Finn.