"Who in the hell is Jesse St. James?"

Rachel took in a deep breath and finished shoveling her books into her locker. Closing it and calmly facing Santana, Rachel smiled, "Santana. Come to walk me to Glee practice?" Santana scoffed and Rachel looked behind the taller girl, "Where's Brittany?"

"She's at oboe practice in the band room."

A beat of silence between them before, "She plays the oboe…?" Rachel asked slowly.

"No, she doesn't even own one. Don't tell her that though, you'll make her cry. Back to my question."

Rachel took a breath and pulled her backpack close, eyeing the emptying halls as the stragglers from the final bell ringing finally made their way out of the school. "Jesse St. James," she started slowly, "is the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline. Andmyboyfriend." She rushed out that last part so quickly that Santana almost didn't hear it. Except that she did.

Not by any means were Santana and Rachel Berry friends, but ever since Santana took it upon herself to protect Rachel from Finn, (mostly because she loved the way Brittany looked at her for doing it) she was at a tolerant level with the diva. Except for right now. She backed the shorter girl up against the lockers in one fluid motion and ground out, "You've got to be shitting me, Berry. Aren't they like, our main competition?"

Rachel's eyebrows shot up in distress as she desperately blurted out, "No! Santana it's not like that, he's not like that. This is different. It's so Romeo and Juliet-esque and everyone is just so mad about it. So I just told everyone that we broke up, mainly because Finn was so enraged…"

Santana shook her head but didn't back away from Rachel, "Are you just doing this because he's not Finn and you need some sick sort of comfort in knowing that you like, can be loved and that you're not some statistical girl that gets beaten and is too broken to love?"

Rachel's mouth hung open in anger as she bit out, "You have no right to talk to me like that Santana Lopez. I found love and it's real. And I don't need you or anyone-"

"Does he know about what happened with Finn?"

"Well, no… but-"

"Rachel, it was a month ago. That's not a long time, and now you're going after some Jesse person? You're acting more pathetic than I thought you were."

Rachel bit her lip and fought back tears but Santana's eyes didn't soften, "Look, I don't want to be your friend. And this isn't me caring about you. I do care about Glee though," she says through a gag, "And I'm not going to just sit back and let you ruin it because you're heartbroken."

"Too late."

"Too late, what?"

"You're already my friend, Santana. Even if I'm not yours." This time, Santana's eyes actually softened and she took a step back from Rachel. She gruffly pulled her Cheerio varsity jacket closer around herself as she sighed.

"Hypothetically speaking, if we were friends, I suppose it would be the friendly thing for me to do to tell you… Rachel, he's playing you."

"But what if she isn't?" she empathetically asked.

"Who isn't doing what?" Brittany's voice rang through the halls as she and Quinn came bounding towards them. Santana's face lit up when she saw Brittany's and Quinn's dropped when she saw Rachel. Rachel sighed; guess that's the end of that conversation. Brittany raced up and hugged Santana while Quinn stopped just short of the trio.

"I did so well in obo practice!" Brittany practically shouted at Santana. Rachel gave a snort in laughter but quickly muffled it when she earned a glare from Santana and Quinn.

Raising her hands up in defeat, Rachel rolled her eyes and shrugged, "I'll just see you guys in Glee then." Santana glared urgently at Quinn over Brittany's shoulder and Quinn glared back, shaking her head furiously, mouthing "No".

Ten seconds later, Quinn caught up to Rachel in the hall. "Hey, uhm, I didn't want to be stuck back there with those two. Talk about awkward."

Rachel had a confused look while slowing down to match Quinn's pace, "And you pretending to be friendly to me isn't awkward?"

Quinn scrunched her face up in disgust, "God, man-handled, excuse me for trying to be nice."

Rachel rolled her head on her shoulders and sighed, "I'm sorry, Quinn. It's just - you're never nice. Not without some sort of motive. But forgive me, people change, right? And with your pregnancy and everything you have sort of changed, become a better person, I think. Which is good, I mean, since we're on the same team and all and team companionship is so very-"

Quinn jerked the door to the practice room open, I've never been so glad to be somewhere in my entire life.

"Adam Lambert? Isn't this that gay dude?" Puck asked incredulously, holding the sheet music away from him as if he could catch the gay.

Kurt rolled his eyes at the stud as he shoulder nudged Mercedes, winking. Mercedes gave a small smile back but cleared her throat, "Uh, Mr. Schue, not that I don't love this song, but since when do we do music like this?"

Will shrugged from the front of the classroom, "After you guys performed My Life Would Suck Without You for me, I realized that we should broaden our horizons to songs that you guys may actually like."

Rachel sat by herself in front of the Cheerios and Quinn, across the room from Finn who was sitting in front of Puck and the jock boys. Rachel eyed the paper in her hand as everyone waited for her to realize that she didn't have the solo. Or even a lead part, for that matter.

Mr. Schue eyed Rachel and cleared his throat, "Since, uhm, our two lead vocalists haven't been able to sing… at all, lately, I decided to give the two leads to Kurt and Mercedes for this one." Mercedes and Kurt raised their eyebrows sassily towards Rachel, expecting the blow up. When Rachel just smiled with her mouth closed towards them and nodded her head slowly, the room deflated and Kurt almost looked disappointed.

They all spent the next hour rehearsing Whadda Ya Want From Me? It was the first time in weeks that Rachel actually sang with her heart, and everyone sort of started trying again when they heard her. Everyone but Quinn, who was too focused on glaring at Santana, who in turn was focused on making sure Rachel was kept at a safe distance from Finn.

After practice was over, Rachel meekly approached Santana as she packed hers and Brittany's bags. "San?"

Santana stiffened, still hunched over her backpack, "I told you not to call me that, Berry."

Rachel, through self-esteem practices, was finally able to hold her head up high again, and so she did, "Fine. Lopez."

Santana slowly turned around, eyebrows up, a snarky reply on her tongue as she spotted Finn standing by the piano, backpack slung over his shoulder, waiting for Rachel. His eyebrows scrunched together as he silently pleaded for Santana to not keep Rachel away from him again. Santana snapped her mouth shut, "I prefer you just don't call me anything. What did you need?"

"A ride home."

Brittany bounded up to the couple as Santana was trying to figure out how to get out of the school with Rachel and not have anyone see. "S, are we giving Rachel a ride? It's cold outside…" Brittany pouted, Rachel gave that weird half smile that she'd been doing since she doesn't show her teeth anymore or something, and Finn was creeping in the back of the room. It's enough to drive a person to acknowledge human emotions, Santana thought with a scowl.

"Fine, sure. Just, walk next to Brittany, and don't make eye contact with anyone on our way out."

Rachel shifted her backpack to her other shoulder and subconsciously ran her finger down the scar under her eye, "Santana, I'm not a pariah."

Santana raised her eyebrow, but then Brittany took her hand and any rude comment left her as she storms towards the door in a huff, Brittany and Rachel in tow.

Finn watched them leave and let out a string of profanities. He moved to make his way out of the practice room, seeing as everyone else had left, when he spots her by the door. Holding her hands around her stomach almost unknowingly, Quinn stares him down. Finn threw her a few questioning looks but approached her anyway. "Quinn? You aren't going to yell at me are you because-"

"Who is Jesse?"

Finn's eyes squinted in confusion, "You mean, Jesse St. James?"

A perfect blond eyebrow cocks in judgment, St. James? I'll have a field day with the insults for that one. "Okay, Jesse St. James, who is he and what does he have to do with Rachel?"

Finn shrugged nonchalantly, because it really was nothing to worry about anymore, "He's the guy Rachel dated for like, two weeks but then they broke up because most of us in Glee pressured her to end it. He was just using her anyway," he finished with another shrug. Quinn's confused look urged him to continue, "No one told you about it…? Well, he's a senior and the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline."

Quinn barely managed to keep her gasp in as her heart clenched in her chest, "She's aware that he's just using her, right?"

Finn focused on a spot on the wall for a second before "Well, that's what we all told her. That's why we had her break it-"

"They aren't broken up."

Silence. "What?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and pushed off from the wall, "Look, don't believe me, I don't care. I'm just pissed that no one told me sooner. I'm a part of this club too."

Finn, albeit still confused from Quinn's revelation, shook his head and managed "Why would anyone tell you? It's not like you care about anyone in Glee, not even Santana or Brittany anymore."

Quinn's glare shot daggers through Finn as she stormed out of the room, tossing a "You're wrong," over her shoulder as Finn was finally left alone.

Quinn walked into Brittany's room without knocking, her gaze on her Spanish book, flipping through pages as she voiced the question, "Hey guys, have you done this Spanish homework yet? I can't remember what page Schue told us to do."

"Page thirty four."

"Oh okay, thanks Rachel," Quinn said, turning to leave. Then stopping. Slowly turning around, Quinn's eyebrows scrunched together as she saw Rachel sitting on Brittany's bed as Brittany labored away with her makeup kit. "What is she painting on your face, Berry?"

Santana, sitting in the chair in front of Brittany's desk with her arms folded and a scowl on her face, mumbled, "She's trying to show Rachel how to cover the scar under her eye. Somehow they talked me into bringing travesty here instead of to her own house."

Rachel's hesitant gaze flickered to Santana as she dropped her head. Brittany giggled and lifted her face up, "Ignore S, Rach, she's just cranky 'cause we can't make out." This did nothing to help the blush spreading across Rachel's face, so Quinn decided to step in. Literally.

She approached the two girls on the bed and bent down, coming within a foot of Rachel's face as she inspected the damage. Brittany gleamed up at her, "You can't see it, huh Q?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow but smiled slightly, "Nope, it's almost non-existent. Now if you could do something with the rest of her face, I'd call you the next Picasso."

Rachel rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Don't you have Spanish homework to do?"

"Aren't you late for your sex change?"

"Remember how this ended last time?"

All eyes on the room were now on Quinn, and Quinn seethed when she saw Rachel smirk, how does that thing even know how to smirk? What a jackass. Quinn straightened up and rolled her eyes, "Low blow, Berry. You'd know all about those though, I'd assume."

Brittany was abruptly pulled off the bed by Santana and pulled towards the bedroom door, "You two perras locas can have this room to be idiots in; I'm taking Brit into the guest room." The door slammed behind them and Rachel's brows furrowed. Quinn sighed.

"What's wrong?"

Rachel shrugged, picking up the mirror that Brittany had left on her bed, "She didn't finish."

Quinn shrugged and sat in the now vacant chair, "It was a lost cause anyway. I have a question."

Rachel didn't answer, but she stared at Quinn evenly while sitting Indian-style on the bed and putting down the mirror.

"Why are you dating Jesse? I mean, I know the club has told you all about how he's using you and I know you know that's true but-"

"It's not true."

"Yeah, it is. Why would anyone-"

"Date me?"

Quinn paused, was that what I wanted to say? Her hazel eyes pierced Rachel evenly, no expression on her face before she shrugged, "If you say so."

Rachel huffed, "I'm not a leper Quinn, and some people actually find me enjoyable to be around." Quinn half laughed at that but let Rachel continue. "They do. And you'd know that if you weren't so completely fixated on what little reputation you have left and the irrational hatred that you're harboring for me. One would think now that I'm not after Finn anymore that this stupid fight between us would be completely irrelevant now."

Quinn glared at Rachel, "My reputation is still intact. And even if I had absolutely nothing left, I still wouldn't stop hating you."

Rachel nodded slowly, her gaze dropped to her fidgeting hands in her lap, and Quinn cringed because Oh God, she's crying. I made her cry. "Rachel…"

Rachel shook her head, "You know, I need to go anyway. I should go. I'm not even welcome here anyway. I shouldn't have come." She jumped up and grabbed her backpack, heading for the door before-

"Damnet Rachel, do you have to storm out of everything?" The voice was too close and Rachel whirled around to find Quinn standing before her, excessively far into her personal space. Rachel caught her breath and wiped a tear away.

"I storm out to avoid any more insults, Quinn."

"Coward."

That was it, the last straw. Rachel slammed her backpack onto the floor at her feet and made herself as tall as she possibly could compared to Quinn. "What am I, Quinn? Besides the object of your torture, the school pariah, the target for every damn hate crime in this loser town! I know I'm nothing, I know that I'm absolutely nothing to anyone in this town except for my fathers, and Jesse. This amazing boy who might actually see me and who kisses me and makes me feel like I'm not something that can just be thrown around and beaten. He sings with me and he appreciates my constructive criticism, my overwhelming drive for my dreams, and my voice. So I dove head first into his love and that may be naïve and inept but I just don't care. I never expected to find love, Quinn. And some nights? Some nights the insults and the torture get to be too much, so I have to storm out. I have to leave. Some nights I'm so afraid that I've been so reduced to nothing that I need to run away to find myself again. So if that makes me a coward Quinn Fabray, why don't you take a good look in the mirror and see what doing that to me makes you?" Rachel took one huge breath, closed her eyes and picked up her backpack with shaking hands. She didn't turn to see if Quinn was pissed or angry, she didn't care.

The door opened as she reached for the handle and Rachel was face-to-face with one pissed off Santana. Santana stared over Rachel's head at Quinn, her expression unreadable. "S-Santana?"

"Brittany has the car started, and it's snowing I think, so take this so you don't freeze. I don't want to hear you whining," Santana snapped, handing Rachel her Cheerio jacket.

Rachel eyed it, "I don't understand…"

Rolling her eyes, Santana grabbed Rachel's backpack and tossed the jacket onto Rachel, "Put. It. On." She put it on. "You look like a midget in it. Your arms are too short. All right, let's get to the car; I don't want to make Brittany wait." With that, Rachel followed Santana to the car without a backward glance at Quinn. Me, Rachel Berry, wearing Santana Lopez's Cheerio jacket while she carries my backpack… I wonder if someone drugged me…

She made it home in one piece, still wearing Santana's jacket, as she sat in her computer chair while Googling "drug tests to do at home".

The next day, Jesse St. James joined McKinley High. And New Directions.

"What the hell? It seems like now everybody's doing things just to hurt my feelings!" Rachel glanced at Finn, but her confusion was too overwhelming right then to focus on Finn's feelings.

"I thought you all would take this news a little better, I'm a star." Quinn gagged. Santana seethed. "You can learn from me."

Brittany glanced at Santana with wide eyes, and Santana, being the hbic of this pansy ass group... I better step in. "He's a spy Mr. Schue, I would know."

Quinn kept her eyes, peripherals only, on Rachel; I wouldn't want to be caught dead staring/caring about man-hands. Even if she won't talk to me now, or even look at me… Rachel's eyebrows were bunched together, still in confusion, as she eyed Jesse warily.

I understand my fellow teammates anger, of course it's completely justified. But am I the only one who's confused?

"Brittany."

"Mr. Schue, is he your son?" Rachel didn't take her eyes off Jesse, but she could just picture Brittany's genuine concern over this issue. Apparently, I'm not the only confused one here.

"I don't understand why you're doing this," Rachel finally asked Jesse, puzzlement and wary playing across her face so thoroughly that it actually hurt Quinn and Rachel's words from the other night came back to her like a slap in the face.

"Because when you love something you gotta go for it. You would never be with me completely if I were on the opposing team." Quinn openly looked at Rachel now, up and down, a small smile on her face because if she's buying this I'll personally slap her myself. She's too smart to buy this guy's bullshit. "And I care about you more than winning another national title. So I left Vocal Adrenaline. For you." Quinn's stare would've burned Jesse St. James to hell and back if he'd been able to pry his eyes off Rachel.

Rachel's expression was torn somewhere between awestruck and disbelief. Quinn's eyes dropped to the side. Santana's chest tightened and not even Brittany's hand in hers could calm her anger. It was in this moment that Quinn realized, no matter what the cost, I'm not letting this priss ruin this club. Or Rachel. God, these pregnancy hormones are going to ruin me.

When everyone gathered to rehearse Like A Prayer in the auditorium, Quinn sat by herself backstage with a look that radiated warning signals. Kurt, however, didn't care. "What's wrong with you? Baby hormones got you pissy again?"

Quinn ripped open the bag of Doritos she had on her lap and glared at Kurt, "Maybe I just hate the world right now Kurt, ever think about that?"

Kurt cocked a perfect eyebrow, "Well miss thang, it seems I'm not the only one whose mood was shot to hell when Mr. St. James joined the ranks. Although, I can't help but wonder what your reasons would be, since I'm assuming they aren't the same as Mercedes' and mine."

Quinn glared daggers at Kurt, "I think you better watch yourself, Hummel."

Kurt openly laughed at Quinn, "Why would I do that, when it's so much more fun to watch you, watching them, Quinn Fabray." With that, Kurt turned and strode off to gossip about who knows what with Mercedes. What the hell does he know anyway? So I people watch, and it's not a crime. He just always talks in code, like I'm supposed to understand code! I don't speak gay diva boy. Her thoughts were broken off, however, as Jesse and Rachel strode by hand-in-hand and Mr. Schue called "From the top!"

Their performance brought tears to Quinn's eyes for reasons that not even she could blame on the baby hormones.