Disclaimer: All characters belong to Ryan Murphy and FOX. All lyrics belong to their respected owners, as well.

A huge thanks to sandra-wfg for beta'ing this story. Go check out her fic, Eventually, because it's awesome & full of Finchel angst.

Author's Note at the bottom.

Chapter Three

Rachel knew that she would have to face Glee after the confrontation sooner or later. She could either go in today and deal with all the backlash from the locker episode or maybe she could gain a few days if she feigned being sick. She hoped it would be the latter but knew that wasn't possible. She couldn't hide from Finn or Santana for the rest of the year. They still had to perform at Regional's and Mr. Schue had decided that he wanted to put an invitational a couple weeks before Regional's.

Rachel rolled her eyes at the thought of two big performances with the group. She wondered how many times Santana would try and trip her before someone intervened. If they would even intervene.

With pseudo strength, she marched into the room and right to the seat in the back of the room. She took a deep breath and stared ahead – ignoring the stares that followed her every move.

Luckily, Mr. Schue walked in right after her. He re-wrote 'anger' on the white board and turned to the group.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you've all chosen the song you wanted to sing. I know a couple of you have doubled up for duets and that's great. Does anyone, besides Puck, know they will be ready to sing this Friday?" He asked the class.

Rachel quickly snuck a peek at everyone. She saw Noah staring at her and looked away to see Mercedes put her hand up.

"I'll be ready, Mr. Schue."

Mr. Schue grinned, "Great. I can't wait to see what you have planned."

The group laughed. No doubt would Mercedes have some sassy, diva-esque song planned out. Rachel smiled at the thought. No matter what she thought of her, she couldn't deny that Mercedes had talent when it came to singing.

"Anyways," Mr. Schue began speaking again, "I'll give you a half hour to practice your songs. Brad will help with the music but it's first come first serve. You'll have to ask him on your own time to help him if you can't get time during Glee."

With that, the group dispersed to 'practice singing' which meant to gossip about the school day. Rachel stayed in her seat and pulled out her binder dedicated to solos she wanted to sing. She flipped through the categories till she landed on 'anger/angst'. She had Google'd several songs that broke away from her regular Broadway searches.

She had decided after her conversation with Kurt that she would sing a solo. She missed singing for it was the only outlet she had to let her emotions out. She couldn't draw, couldn't write poetry, nor could she play a sport to save her life. Singing was her comfort zone. No one could take that away from her. Well, they couldn't take it away from her anymore…

Flash back

It was a couple weeks after the infamous Christmas tree farm break up. School had started up again after the holiday break and Rachel had just walked into practice. Mr. Schue had told her that he wanted to hear the solo that she wanted to sing for Regional's. Excited that it seemed that Mr. Schue didn't let the teenage gossip get to him, Rachel told him she would have the performance ready by the next day.

It was the first time she felt happy in a while. The daily glares from her peers hadn't affected her and somehow she had dodged seeing Finn.

The next day, Rachel stood in front of the club. She tried to ignore their angry faces and the whispers that came from Brittany and Santana. She turned to Mr. Schue who was smiling encouragingly at her.

She turned back to them and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I've decided to sing 'If Ever I Would Leave You' which was featured in the musical, Camelot," She murmured quietly.

The music started up and Rachel took another deep breath.

You can do this, Rachel. Just sing and they won't say anything about it.

With that, Rachel began singing.

"If ever I would leave you
It wouldn't be in summer.
Seeing you in summer I never would go.
Your hair streaked with sun-light,
Your lips red as flame,
Your face with a lustre
that puts gold to shame!

But if I'd ever leave you,
It couldn't be in autumn.
How I'd leave in autumn I never will know."

Rachel stopped singing. Not because she forgot the lyrics. Not because the song had ended. It was because Finn was leaving. He grabbed his bag and without a word, left the classroom. Rachel turned to Mr. Schue who was looking down at his papers.

"Wow, Man Hands, you sure know how to break a guy's heart a million times, don't you?" Quinn sneered viciously.

Rachel was taken aback. She didn't know that Finn would get the impression that she was singing for him.

Sam nodded along with Quinn, "Yeah. I don't know you that well but that was a low blow, Rachel."

Santana laughed, "I can't believe you all are surprised that shewould be capable of doing this to Finn. She cheated on him with his best friend – this is just another way to add salt to the wound."

The group agreed and whispers crossed the room. Rachel turned back to look at Mr. Schue and he sighed.

"Alright guys, let's move on."

Rachel stared at him shocked. 'Let's move on'? That was all he had to say about what had just occurred? He wasn't going to defend her and tell them to stop freaking out?

"Mr. Schue…" She begged him quietly.

He turned to her and shrugged.

End Flash Back

The tears threatened to spill but Rachel refused to allow it to happen. It was in the past now. She needed to move on.

With a sigh, she quickly flipped past the page that she was on and tried to find a different song.

"Rachel."

She closed her eyes and willed Noah to leave her alone.

"Noah, I really would like to be alone now," She replied shakily. The tears still had yet to leave.

Noah sighed, "You're always alone, Berry. You need a friend."

She opened her eyes and glared at him, "And you qualify as a friend?"

As much as she knew it was wrong to snap at him, Rachel felt good to finally let off some steam. She was tired of people telling her what she apparently needed. She apparently needed a life. She apparently needed to get over Finn. She apparently needed to get over this funk she was in. God, she was so sick and tired of people telling her that.

She was so caught up in her angry thoughts that she failed to see that Noah was still talking to her.

"- Screwed up to Finn but he deserved it. You were the best thing that ever happened to him. He treated you wrongly, Berry. I know I'm a douche but I admit that and embrace it wholeheartedly. Finn is just an undercover one. He pretends to be the all American guy who sticks up for the nerds and treat girls the way they should be treated but he isn't."

Rachel stopped Noah as he took a deep breath.

"Look, Noah. I appreciate that you seem to be taking my side on this break up but I don't need you to bash Finn. He had every right to break up with me," She admitted with a quieter tone.

Noah shook his head, "Okay so maybe he did but he shouldn't treat you like you're the anti-Christ. He has made so many mistakes and you just forgive him in an instant."

"No, I don't!" Rachel defended weakly.

"Yes, you do. If he came up to you right now and apologized for how he's been treating you, you would forgive him without a fight," he replied angrily.

Rachel shook her head but didn't reply. She knew he was right and he knew she knew that. It was embarrassing and pathetic and made her feel weaker than she had ever imagined.

"I'm such a stupid girl," She whispered forlornly.

Noah sighed and sat next to her. He grabbed her hands and held them in hers. At this point, Rachel couldn't have cared less about who was glaring at them. She could only think of how her self esteem had been destroyed.

"Rachel, talk to me. I know I can be rude and hurt your feelings but I really want to be there for you."

She looked up at him and searched his face. She tried to find the hint of the bad boy that Noah always acted to be. Of course, she knew deep down that he had a soft spot for people he cared for.

With a sharp intake of air, she realized she had wormed herself unknowingly into that spot. She was comforted yet terrified by it. She knew he held no romantic feelings towards her but still…

"I, um, I have to go…do something," she finally mumbled lamely.

He sighed and let go of her hands. "I'm not letting you be alone anymore. And I'm definitely not going to stand around and watch the guys slushee you or Santana be a bitch to you. I apologize for not standing up for you before. It was wrong."

Rachel smiled softly. It had been a while that someone had apologized to her and not vice versa.

"Thanks, Noah. I really appreciate that."

He scratched the back of his head, "so about that duet?"

And there goes the good mood I was in, Rachel thought bitterly.

"I really would rather not sing with you or anyone for that matter," She told him honestly.

Before he could interrupt, she kept speaking, "I get that our voices sound great together. They always have. I'm just not into singing anymore –"

"You're in Glee club. How can you not be into singing –"

"Because I'll sing in the back. It works best for all of us. I'm not into singing solos or duets anymore." More attention that I can't garner, she thought quietly.

Noah was persistent though. "Whatever. I'll get you to sing with me by Friday no matter what it takes."

With that, he got up and walked over to Mike and Tina. She sighed and shook her head. Looking to the other side, she saw that practice was basically over. She began gathering her stuff and quietly left the room without anyone noticing.

She was halfway down the hallway when she realized she had forgotten her English textbook. With a couple of slipped curse words, she made another turn and walked towards her locker.

When she got there, she opened her locker and took a deep breath. Even though it had been a month or so since the break up, seeing the empty locker still shocked her. Besides the fact that there was no memorabilia of Finn and her, there was no gold stars or pictures of a Tony award. It was just empty – only holding textbooks and crumpled assignments that she didn't bother to store in her binder.

Rachel grabbed her textbook and locked up the locker. She turned to see Mercedes standing right beside her. They both held a deer in headlights expression.

"Did you need something?" Rachel asked and wanted to slap herself when she heard the fright lace her words.

Mercedes looked around. "I just wanted to say that I'm, er, that I'm really sorry for what I did," she finally spilled.

Rachel was shocked, to say the least.

"What in the world are you apologizing for?" She asked dumbfounded.

Mercedes glanced around the hallways again and Rachel followed her. No one was here. No one was here to watch the exchange. A certain no one wasn't here to watch Mercedes actually apologize to Rachel.

"Look, I talked to Kurt last night," Mercedes spoke quietly, "He made me think about the way everyone has been treating you. I realized that what we've been doing has been really wrong…and I apologize for the way I've acted towards you."

Even though she knew she was only getting this apology because Finn wasn't here to witness it, Rachel still accepted it. Maybe it was pathetic of her to do so but like she had told Puck, she was sick and tired of always apologizing to people.

Rachel brushed some hair out of her face and smiled awkwardly at Mercedes. "Thanks Mercedes. You don't know how much that means to me."Of course it would mean a lot more to be if you had done it in front of Finn but I'll take what I can get, she thought bitterly.

Mercedes nodded, turned around and walked off without another word.

Kurt talked to Mercedes? Rachel wanted to climb into a hole and stay there. She would have to call him tonight and interrogate him. A part of her felt embarrassed because he shouldn't be fighting her problems while another part of her felt protected - finally some one had defended her. Rachel took a deep breath and walked towards the parking lot. She knew her dad was probably waiting for her and she didn't want to dwell on what had just happened.

Once she was safely in the car, she looked out the window to see Finn staring at her. She couldn't read his facial expression so she flickered one last glance at him before turning back to her father.

A/N: Once again, a huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed (hope you all enjoyed the teaser!), favorited this story, or put this story on alert. It means so much to me. I'll be sending out a teaser for next chapter as well for everyone who reviews.

And on that note, I leave you with confused!Rachel and protective!Puck.

Link to sandra-wfg's fic, Eventually: http: / / www . fanfiction . net / s / 6542239 / 1 / Eventually (without all the spaces)