It was December 29 and Jesse St James was practicing piano. His phone buzzed beside him on the bench and he snatched it up, answering without knowing who it was, still playing a melody with one hand. 5 minutes later he had a meeting at a mall within the hour. New Years shopping with a Vocal Adrenaline mate.

He wrapped himself up with scarves and gloves, showing up and spotting her in the front of the main doors. It was still chilly out and he was surprised he had even left his piano to meet her of all people.

"Hey!" Sunshine greeted Jesse with a great smile.

"Hi" he answered, unsure how to react, even though he had shown up.

"I'm on your side" she began and explained to him how horrible it was what had happened and how he did the best thing. She believe him, she sided with him. She somehow approved of him becoming her enemy. Perhaps, he thought, she didn't know how well he really sung, but he had remedied that, or had he been off key on his good bye revenge song? He rammed the thought out of his head. He was perfection, a stunning, horrifying perfection that they were all missing. He tuned back in to her sympathetic speech.

"Look, I would've stayed at Mckinley but they bought us a new house..." she finished and he nodded.

"They're intense" Jesse agreed and she smiled. "Glad I have one person on my side" he added, giving a small smile before overgesturing his shiver. They headed through the doors and the topic changed. Perhaps his singing had really intimidated her after all, he thought. He had no idea.

"I need help with shopping. I cant cook to save my life but our church is having a potluck tomorrow and I promised I'd make something, come on" she offered and he followed her past shop windows, striking up conversation about holidays, food and everything but singing.

The bell rang. Almost instantly the choir room was filled with voices, people scraping into chairs, practicing riffs or just chatting about their holiday season. It was the start of January and New Directions was ready for the new year.

"Guess who we saw over the break" Mike announced, getting up in the front of class with Tina by his side.

"Madonna?" Britney asked absent mindedly.

"Who cares?" Rachel interjected "I for one had a very productive Holiday season, nothing like practice to get us win this year"

"This is important!" Tina stressed back. They had the attention of the glee club once again.

"We were shopping at Asian mall-"

"-you guys have your own mall? Sweet" Finn commented and Tina nodded.

"It's full of speciality foods and stuff" Tina continued

"Anyway, we saw Sunshine" Mike cut across

"As in the person. She was with-" Tina got cut off mid sentence as Mr Shu walked in.

"Sorry guys, if you'd sit down, we have an important announcment"

"But we were just going to tell them that Jesse is still here!" Tina announced, wanting to get it out before Shu rambled into glee assignments and motivational speeches.

"WHAT?" Rachel snapped, but Shu kept talking.

"He's one step of ahead of you, guys I think you're familiar with..." his introduction stopped and Jesse St James stepped into the choir room. He was not well greeted. He was impecibly well dressed though. Shirt, sleeves rolled and dress pants.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel was the first to speak, and it was a shrill, angry and demanding voice.

"Rachel" Shu begged and she shook her head, clearly cross. She opened her mouth to speak, but someone spoke up before she could.

"Mr Shu, If you think we're letting him back in after what he did to Rachel, there's no way" oddly enough it was Puck who spoke up.

"He's right, we're a team" Mercedes added.

"Aren't you supposed to be at UCLA?" Rachel attacked and Jesse smiled weakly.

"We can't let him in, he'll just betray us again. He's a traitor" Finn attacked.

"Enough!" Shu yelled "I said I'd give him 5 minutes. He doesn't necessarily have the right to explain, but if we don't hear him out, we're no better."

"Thanks" Jesse interjected, though clearly not even Shu liked him.

Jesse shouted in response. "And I never betrayed you. I never stole your songs, I never was a spy"

"You broke my heart! Weakened me before the competition!" Rachel accused.

"Please!" Jesse spat out before he could stop himself. "I didn't have your heart to break. You were in love with Finn, even when we were together" Jesse responded bitterly and she looked at him stern faced.

"But he's still a traitor" Artie confirmed. "Even if only to one of us!"

"Vocal Adreline betrayed me!"

"Oh poor thing, they take away your car?" Rachel asked

So Jesse explained his sabotage, stressing the right parts dramatically, but he could see he was getting no solicitude from anyone. Least of all Rachel.

"Naturally I was outraged" he addressed the glee club, but none of them seemed sympathetic. "And i cant go to university until next year"

"Oh boo fucking ho" Puck commented.

"Puck" Shu reacted at the cuss word and then nodded to Jesse to continue.

"But later I found out that I didn't fail, my math teacher was paid off by the coach. Well anyway, he's a maniac, He took away a year of my life!" Jesse stressed and when none of them seemed to understand the sheer importance of his claim, Rachel spoke up with an explanation, much to Jesse's shock.

"That's like 5 years for a star" Rachel interjected and Jesse resisted the urge to smile at her comment.

"Well, that's why I'm here" Jesse concluded.

"You're here for revenge?" Sam's voice added to the mix.

"The guy sacrificed my university for a national win for a highschool"

"Is that all?" Rachel asked from the front row cynically.

"Well no, but I wanted to speak to you elsewhere"

"I'm with Finn" she said automatically.

"No you're not, we broke up during the holidays" Finn clarified.

"And you think I'm mean?" Jesse added sniply. Finn glared back at him, about to speak up against him, but he bit his tongue, holding the insults in. He was so used to hating the guy, he had to censor himself. There was no use attacking Jesse if he wasn't still with Rachel.

"He can't be in the club!" Artie combatted "Look Mr Shu I get that everyone who joins gets accepted, but we-"

"-we need another member guys. Lauren is off searching for that twilight film set and frankly, we could use a voice like Jesse's"

"And what you moved in with your uncle because your parents winter in Jamaica this year?" Rachel attacked.

"No." he clarified, almost getting annoyed with the constant onslaught. "They never came back from Bali. Well they will, but they haven't yet" he let on and then shut up, not wanting to say more. Not wanting to lose the aura he usually conveyed so easily.

"Look we might not be pleased with this, but the truth is, we could use Jesse's talent" Shu reasoned, coming to the front again.

"He's just filling the spot of that twilight obsessed girl" Tina interjected.

"Guys, he's right" Rachel turned around to face the people behind her. "Vocal Adrenaline, though I hate to say it was EPIC last year, they did Queen, you didn't see them-" Quinn cut her off, brash.

"-because they were all being a team. In the hospital waiting room. While I was giving birth and you were the only one who stayed." Quinn finished and the club went silent.

"Someone had to!" Rachel countered but then stopped. "I guess I should apologize for that" Rachel added meekly and Quinn just nodded with a haughty smile.

"Well, We should get started. Welcome back, Jesse" Shu broke the silence.

"Oh and when I left, they were working on Thriller" Jesse added before taking his seat in the last row, he would provide anything to ruin Vocal Adrenaline.

"Noted" Shu nodded, diving right into his lesson plan for the day. They had spent more time than expected on the Jesse matter. He hadn't expected it to be easy, but at least he thought they could try to accept him.

"Alright, this week's assignment. I want you guys to sing about what's important to you. What you are missing, nostalgia. Tap into who you used to be to understand the changes that have happened."

Jesse took a seat at the back and tried not to think of Rachel the whole lesson, but that proved harder than anything. His mind flashed to memories of December, when he had found out about Vocal Adrenaline's Betrayel.

"Hey" he approached Rachel, jumping up out of his seat in the back row. She looked shocked at the interaction.

"What is it Noah?" she asked, aware that Jesse's eyes were on her.

"I can be your body guard, if you want" he offered with a wry smile. "I feel bad about the Finn thing and you gotta keep Jesse away right. No better way than the strength of the guns" he held up a clenched arm., "the fear helps too" he added with a devilish smile. She laughed lightly, linking arms with him.

"Thanks" she muttered and they headed out of the club before Jesse could chase after her.

Jesse had 7 songs prepared to serenade Rachel. But he wanted to get the rest of the club into his good graces, it would be too embaressing to lose to Vocal Adrenaline after his dramatic storm out. He had to share his winning ideas. He was finally inspired again. He was communicating a little with Sunshine, but more so Shelby after their reconecction. Each time he spotted Rachel he wanted to hand her a note advising her to come to the auditorium, but she was always with him. He had forgotten her body guard's name, but the big guy scared Jesse. He looked like he just got out of jail or was a bouncer for a club. Jesse stayed out of their way and contemplated how to get into the good graces of the club. He wondered where the fashionable kid had gone, but had no one to ask. He had gone from a club and friends to no one. Just invisible and hated in a club where he was used to being the star, just isolated. He was not used to that and he was beginning to realize he loathed it, possibly even more than his old coach.

Perhaps he should have transferred to that all guys school, he thought to himself. He walked into glee club that day, wondering if he had made the right choice. He sat down at the front, prepared with his song for that week's assignment. He wouldn't sing to Rachel, not in front of the club. He wasn't like Finn, not an embarrassing rendition of Jesse's Girl to be belted from his lips. If he wanted Rachel Berry back he knew he would have to do more than that. A lot more. She deserved a lot more, after all.

Quinn sang a rendition of Doris Day's Que Sera, but after the last verse went quiet and looked almost upset. She held onto Sam and watched as Mercedes performed. Rachel performed After Sam and Puck with a song from West Side Story, which she fell in love with at age 3: "I Feel Pretty". Somehow Shu's first intent for the assignment got lost and he watched kid after kid perform disney, or songs that had gotten them through their young years. He didn't want to waste time in pointing out that isn't what he had meant when he gave the assignment, they needed to focus on their upcoming performance to the school. Shu also spent all his time contemplating how on earth they were going to beat a Vocal Adrenaline version of Thriller.

Jesse came on after Finn, who had sung a song that had gotten him through his childhood, he had said. A classic rock piece, naturally appealing to Shu. Jesse hadn't meant to go after Finn, but he was the last. He hadn't leapt up at the beginging, still feeling like he didn't belong and somehow that had gotten him last place, right after Finn.

Anyone in comparison would've sounded good, he thought, though he was partial to hate Finn. He also believed that Finn had no tone. It also seemed that Finn's head was too large for his ears to properly help him sing, but naturally, Jesse didn't share these views with anyone. He also knew he couldn't skimp on talent, not in this song. He wanted Mackinley's New Directions to win. He did have to keep reminding himself though, he had spent four (and a reluctant half) giving his soul (if he had one) to Vocal Adrenaline.

"I grew up with The Beatles and broadway" He explained, contrasting to mostly disney and lullaby like songs. Apart from Finn's Classic Rock, Mercedes had sung from Beauty and the Beast, Santana's had a piece from Little Mermaid and Sam's was from Hercules.

He dove right into "Happiness is a Warm Gun" changing almost effortlessly as the song changed from low slow pace to an alternative high pitched tone. It was similar to the version from the film Across the Universe and he wanted to think it sounded better from his voice. The complex song seemed to be nothing and he finsihed with a half smile, proud of himself, but almost feeling like he would be scolded for doing so well.

"Holy Crap" Sam spoke first from the middle row. A few heads turned to the blonde's reaction.

"I mean" Sam cleared his throat.

"It almost makes up for you being a total ass to our team is what he means" Puck paraphrased. Rachel gave him a half smile at the comment and Jesse felt the floor spin out of control under his feet. Was he feeling emotion? He wondered how long it had been since he had been envious of anyone. He felt silly at wishing he could have a half smile from Rachel Berry. He needed to focus on Revenge after all.

"Thanks" he muttered, when he came out of his thoughts. He was sure he had been staring at Rachel. He was not one to get side tracked, he told himself it would not happen again.

"Almost" Rachel stressed, a glint in her eye. He felt cocoons explode in his stomach, butterflies soaring instantly. He made his way to his seat and mulled over his feelings. He knew one thing for certain, and he knew it was going to plague him: he needed Rachel Berry back. Jesse St James was the kind of person to do anything to get what he wanted. Anything.

Thanks for reading! More coming soon!

Got any song suggestions for St. Berry or another glee member? Let me know and I can try to encorporate them!

If you enjoyed this, please check out my other St. Berry story: Regions Of My Heart.