Hello, Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited, it means so much to me. I'm sorry it took me so long to update, I was half way through the chapter when my mock exam started and I was snowed under with work. I have a week off so hopefully my next update will be a lot sooner :)
A week after both teams received the news of the dubious partnership, both groups reluctantly joined together for their first rehearsal.
Rachel sat silently in Finn's battered old truck as at the truck wheezed and slowly entered the Carmel parking lot. The atmosphere wasn't uncomfortable but not particularly peaceful. Rachel felt empty; she had everything she could have wanted six months ago. She was dating the quarterback, her fellow members actually liked her and she was about to rehearse for a tour that would take her to New York City.
Rachel shook the trespassing thought out of head and hopped out of the truck. Finn climbed out and slung a heavy arm around her neck, she spotted Kurt's Land rover and waved as he, Mercedes and Tina climbed out. As the headed for the large entrance to Carmel the others caught up quickly jogged towards them.
"You ready Berry" Mercedes smiled, as Rachel was about to respond with a positive comment about their future success she felt the full weight of Finn's arm and a nagging feeling in the back of her head so instead she settled for a smile and shy nod.
Kurt looked at her expectantly and as seconds past his look turned curious and drifted to Finn then quickly back to her with a knowing look before linking his arm through hers and gently tugged her away from Finn.
"I love the bangs" he grinned as they marched down the corridors "If you'd let me update your wardrobe you'd be perfect"
"Like last time" Rachel softly teased.
"Water under the bridge I hope and besides I've decided to give up on converting straight guys, especially my future stepbrother" he shuddered making Rachel Chuckle.
Their laughs quieted down when they entered the auditorium, despite viewing the auditorium several times during their spying stints a few months previously, the sheer enormousness of the room was still astonishing. The stage was probably twice the size of the one at McKinley, which could certainly explain Vocal Adrenaline's apprehension to rehearse at McKinley.
Mr Schuester was on stage talking to a pretty brunette woman who looked to be in her mid thirties. Mr Schue turned and grinned when he saw them.
"Shelby, these are some of my kids. Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and then our captains Rachel and Finn" Rachel smiled and the stranger regarded her with an odd look in her eyes, before she forced a cold look onto her face.
"It's a dance rehearsal today, I presume you've brought dance kit" Shelby barked. They all nodded apprehensively "Good, changing rooms, wing stage right"
They hurried onto the stage hurried to their left except Finn who went to his right. Mr Schue quickly pointed him the right way with an embarrassed nod to the left.
As they entered the girls changing room parting with Finn, no one seemed surprised or uncomfortable when they saw Kurt enter. Evidently Carmel was less prejudiced when it came to homosexuality.
The small crowd quickly changed into their dance clothes, tied their hair up and headed to the door as a crowd of Vocal Adrenaline girls entered.
A stunning brunette spotted Rachel and rushed over grinning. "Hi I'm Andrea, I saw your performance at Sectionals, you were incredible."
"Thank you" she smiled shyly "You guys were really good at Regionals"
"I wasn't there, I was on vocal rest but thanks anyway" the girl laughed awkwardly "Piece of advice though, if your going to wear makeup make it waterproof being sweaty is bad enough, make-up running down your face is just too much, trust me I speak from experience"
"Thank you" Rachel smiled as Kurt began to tug her over to the sinks and mirrors to put the advice into action.
A few minutes later they were sitting comfortably in the audience, the others had finally joined them and were slouched down in their seats chatting loudly. Finn was engaged in a loud, slightly obnoxious conversation about football with Puck and Kurt was talking to Mercedes so Rachel took the chance to take in her surroundings.
Both groups were sitting in the audience with an aisle separating them. Rachel looked across the aisle at Vocal Adrenaline, her eyes scanned over them and she noticed how obviously athletic they were. They wasn't a sign of a disabled or overweight member but she supposed that was to be expected of a dance based group.
Vocal Adrenaline's Coach took to the stage and called out "Hello New Directions, My Name is Shelby Corcoran but that's Miss Corcoran or Coach Corcoran to you. Everyone up on the stage"
Rachel grinned and leapt up and skipped up onto the stage practically dragged her reluctant boyfriend to the stage.
"Right were going to test your dance skills, starting with ballroom" Miss Corcoran called loudly "moving on to Tap, ballet, modern and then street."
Rachel grinned and she heard Finn groan from his spot next to her, he detested dancing with a passion.
"Alright pairs, New Directions with Vocal Adrenaline members. Captains pair up, Jesse and Rachel, Andrea and Finn."
Rachel looked around to find her infamous partner but had no luck, she felt a hand coil itself around her wrist and spin her around.
Jesse P.O.V
Jesse spotted his partner across the stage and gracefully paced across the space separating them and gently turned her around by the wrist.
She wasn't a traditional beauty, she had a nose that was slightly larger than considered traditionally attractive, a rather large mouth and a small chest. However on closer inspection Jesse found several more appealing features, she had large almond shape eyes in a deep brown, plump lips which formed an adorable pout and slim form perfectly suited to being a dancer.
He smiled charmingly at her and watched her assess him herself before her eyes morphed into slits.
"You're the guy who threw eggs at Finn last year" she muttered coldly.
"Jesse" He said coolly. Rachel raised an eyebrow at him.
"He let out the air on my tires, I had to do something" Jesse said unapologetically "Why do you care anyway?"
"He's my boyfriend" Rachel hissed "And I'm a vegan"
"I didn't throw eggs at you. And your pathetic little teenage fantasy, really doesn't interest me. Let me guess you're the outsider, a dance student, you sing lead in glee club, unpopular, you're boyfriend was dating a cheerleader, but had a deep connection with you, so when his girlfriend dumped him-"
"He dumped her." Rachel growled and Jesse smirked condescendingly
"Whatever, so when his girlfriend dumped him, he eventually decided to go out with you, but still flirt with the hot cheerleaders, maybe even sleeping with one of them but he'll stay with you for a while but if he receives any offers from a hot cheerleader then he'd dump you in a heartbeat"
Rachel pursed her lips in irritation "That's an awfully detailed guess."
"I have my spies at McKinley" He smiled at her outraged expression "I saw you at Sectionals and I needed to know more. Your rendition of 'Don't Rain on my Parade was flawed. You totally lacked Barbra's emotion depth. But you're talented"
Rachel stared at him blankly "Do you have some sort of social interaction disorder?" she said coldly.
"No I'm just not a simpering teenage stereotype, if I want to say something, I do"
"You are such an ass" she groaned frustrated.
"Maybe you're just not used to constructive criticism" he chuckled. "We're meant to be practicing" he offered her his hand before sighing and snatching hers out of fresh air and placing it on his shoulder and grasping her spare hand in his "I'm assume you can dance."
Rachel nodded coldly followed his lead to the steady rhythm of a cheesy stereotypical romantic waltz "I don't see how your comments about my love life are constructive," she muttered "To me it just seems cruel."
His calm facade altered slightly and his face became more serious "I'm not cruel, I'm not saying this for no reason, I see a lot of myself in you. I want to help you. You're so naïve you can't see what's right in front of you"
Rachel gasped, offended "That's not true"
"Really, you're boyfriend is clearly flirting with Andrea and has been for minutes and you haven't noticed" he growled in frustration.
Rachel craned her neck to peak around his shoulder to see the smirking quarterback and giggling vocalist.
"I can talk to Andy if you want" Jesse offered "Make her back off. But I wouldn't recommend it"
"And what would you recommend" Rachel sighed
"Make him jealous" Rachel opened her mouth to object but he continued before she had the opportunity "I'm not saying he should walk in on us kissing or even flirting. He's obviously insecure about himself in certain areas, for example dance, if we were to work well together, he would consider me a threat"
"Finn's not like that." Rachel murmured.
"If he doesn't consider you working close with another guy a threat, then he's probably not interested in you at all and quit while you're ahead." he grinned in a patronizing way. Rachel sighed but didn't speak "If we were to have any kind of chemistry he would be distraught. Trust me"
Rachel considered him for a second before speaking "How far would we take this?"
"We would just dance and act like friends, make it clear to him that you could be with someone else if he were to make himself unavailable to you."
The song changed to a slow, seductive tango and Jesse beamed. "Perfect, Tangos are perfect for showing chemistry, give me a chance to make him jealous and if it doesn't work, I'll back off"
"Fine" Rachel huffed and allowed him to lead.
Jesse pulled Rachel forward so they were closer than before with less than a centimeter between them. She flushed a deep pink, which Jesse found strangely endearing and looked up at him. He flashed her an arrogant grin before twirling her quickly before pulling her back into position, Rachel kicked forward, her foot landing between his legs and he let her fight back against him before he grabbed a hold of her waist and whispered "Can I drive him mad" he smirked. Rachel looked at him nervously but slowly nodded. He grinned "Now you must look completely calm while I do this" she nodded and he lifted up her leg, bending it at the knee and placed it on his upper leg before dipping her low so her hair was brushing the floor, before raising her up again and reluctantly released her leg.
Rachel saw Finn openly glaring at them before whispering to Jesse "It actually worked" he smiled before turning her again.
A few minutes later Shelby called for them to stop and set in their pairs in the audience.
Now you're all acquainted and you've had some time to practice we're going to see what you can do. You will each come up to the stage and perform what you practiced two pairs at once, to take some of the pressure off." Jesse heard Rachel's breath hitch and her began knee bounced nervously. "Shall we start with our captains?"
Shelby's POV
Shelby watched as Jesse tugged Rachel onto the stage. The other couple were slightly slower. The boy Finn was rather reluctant but eventually after much grumbling allowed himself to be dragged onto the stage.
The pairs got into their starting positions and stayed still for a minute waiting for her approval. Jesse was holding Rachel very close to him, closer than was necessary for a tango but Shelby didn't comment as she moved on to the other couple. They were standing rather far apart, far to much for a tango which was meant to be a very intimate dance, she tutted before placing a thin book between them and pushing their bodies closer together and instructing them to hold it between them with their bodies to reach the correct distance.
She nodded to Mr Schuster who pressed play on the large stereo. A quick but romantic tango began to play. Jesse began to lead Rachel into a neat tango, twirling her a few times and even dipping her theatrically at one point. Finn and Andrea on the other hand were struggling; the tall oaf was shuffling to the musically uncomfortable and crushing Andrea's feet. While he was looking forwards, Shelby could spot his eyes traveling over to Jesse's petit partner with a jealous glare. 'Teenagers!'
The song ended and the pairs scrambled off the stage nervously. Shelby walked onto the stage to give her feedback. "Alright. Jesse and Rachel, very nice, good technique, some nice moves the only thing I can suggest is tidying up your footwork a little but that would go away with practice. Andrea and Finn, You were a mess, you showed barely any technique and your footwork was abysmal."
Finn slumped back in his seat and his partner rubbed his arm in a comforting way. Shelby dismissed the pair as she moved onto the next pair.
Rachel's POV
A while later when everyone was packing up to leave Jesse snatched Rachel's hand and wrote his phone number on it with a breath-taking smile and a chuckle suggesting that she should text him so they could 'scheme together"
When Rachel climbed into Finn's car he stared at the scrawl for a few seconds before huffing and pulling out of the car park.
Rachel popped open her phone and texted Jesse.
Mission Make Finn Jealous is go-R x
Please Review, I cannot express how happy reviews make me. I'm not above begging. Please :) Also a reviewer mentioned wanting a Shelby/Will relationship and while this wasn't my original idea for Shelby romantically I do like the idea so tell me what you think. :)