The Music In Me
A Glee AU Fan Fiction
Chapter 3

"Are you thinking about joining any clubs?" Rachel asked the next morning. She was already up, sitting at her desk with her make-up mirror out as she worked on putting on some make-up, her hair twisted into a braid, falling wet down her back, to keep it out of the way, dressed in her bathrobe. As soon as Brittany was rolling over to get out of bed, she started asking questions.

"Between cheerleading and keeping up straight A's, I'm going to have my hands full," Brittany chuckled, walking towards her closet to grab her shower stuff and a change of clothes.

"Oh, come on-you'll have time for one club, right?" She asked, turning around to face Brittany with her eyes sparkling in hope, her mouth turned downwards into a pout.

The expression was all too familiar to Brittany, as her step-brother was infamous for his puppy dog pout. It was the pout that got him any girl he wanted, because they felt like they couldn't say no to a guy who was so adorable. It was the same pout that made even Brittany's super-strict father cave and give him close to free range. And it was the same pout that got Brittany to forgive him every single time he did something to made her angry or annoyed.

She knew that she should be immune to it by now, since Puck had been her step-brother since she was in the third grade, but she had never been able to refuse him of anything once his hazel eyes started to water and his usual arrogant smirk faded away into a sad little pout, no matter how badly she wanted to stay angry at him so he'd have to apologize.

And seeing that face on Rachel, who appeared to be so innocent and pure, was like seeing it on a puppy that was in the pound because its previous owners had abused it. It broke Brittany's heart and forced her to give in.

"What club are you in?" She relented. "I'll think about it," She said with a sigh, giving up on trying to pick out an outfit when she had just woken up and merely taking her robe and her bag with all of her shower stuff.

"I'm in the drama club-our fall musical is Once Upon a Mattress-and I'm in the Glee club. You should join Glee! It doesn't take up much time-just an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's so much fun and we go to competitions and stuff. We're a pretty impressive club, if I do say so myself," Rachel said excitedly, turning back to her mirror.

Brittany probably should have figured that one out. That was exactly what she was thinking as she made her way from her room, shaking her head, walking right into a very solid figure of a very blonde male. A very blonde shirtless male, to be exact.

"Hey, is Rachel up?" Sam asked with a grin aimed down at the tall blonde female, arms on her shoulders to help her regain her balance. "We were supposed to leave for our early morning jog five minutes ago and she never met me," He frowned, reaching up and running a hand through his blonde hair that just looked oh so soft.

"She's awake-she's still getting ready, though," Brittany frowned, biting her bottom lip.

There was something about Sam Evans that made Brittany's heart stop, right before it began to beat just a little bit faster. He was absolutely, one hundred percent, perfect. And he wasn't anything she had ever considered in a guy before.

Sure, he was gorgeous, but Brittany had never thought to see herself with a blonde. Especially one with hair that fell into his eyes the way a golden retriever's might. He was average height and scrawny, despite the obvious muscle he was displaying with how shirtless he was at the moment. Brittany had always figured she would be with a handsome guy, just a few inches taller than herself so that she could wear heels. A guy who was pretty tall, to sum it up. She'd assumed he would have obvious muscles, the way her brother and all of his friends did, with dark hair and even darker eyes, a classy guy who was always well put together.

Yet whatever it was she was feeling towards Sam immediately had her heart melting and beating at a pace that was faster than light. She wanted him more than she'd ever wanted any movie star or singer before. He was the type of guy that she could see herself risking her father's disdain and anger for, because he was just so sweet and appeared to be so clueless. He was goofy, in a way that Brittany wished she could allow herself to be as well.

But, Sam was into Rachel, even if her roommate failed to realize that, or at least admit it aloud. So, Brittany was just going to have to suffer in silence. Besides, for all the blonde knew, she was only feeling something like that for him because he was the most unique person she had ever met in her entire life and he was different from all the other boys she had met before, causing her to feel as if, to properly disband herself from her father and became her own person, rather than the picture-perfect daughter he bragged about her being and the flawless teenager that her brother teased her about being, she needed to go all out and do something completely unlike her old self-she needed to fall for a guy who was different from her in every way, from religion to how strict he was about his religion and even what her type had always been.

"I set my alarm an hour early for her and she slept in thinking I'd be late? Oh, this is gonna be one hilarious reaction-Kurt's gonna be pissed he missed it. You wanna come watch her freak out?" He offered, raising an eyebrow suggestively, tempting her to say yes.

But, she needed to get ready if she wasn't going to miss her tour of the campus and her cheerleading meeting. They had tours throughout the day, but her meeting was supposed to take up the rest of the day after it started and if she went after the meeting she would be too tired to remember a thing. So she had about an hour to get ready if she wanted to learn her way around the campus that would-hopefully-be her home for the next three years.

"I have to get ready. I have a tour in a little while," Brittany frowned.

"What? My best friend's roommate is taking a scheduled tour? No, I can't allow that. I'd be completely embarrassed. Listen, Rachel and I are going to go for a jog and that'll take us about an hour. So, you get all dressed up and prettied up and when we get back here and Rachel runs off to smell good and head off to her drama club meeting with Kurt to talk about final plans for the musical or whatever it is they do, I'll take you for a tour and it'll be the best damn tour you've ever had because you'll learn the shortcuts those kiss-asses who give the tours don't tell you about," Sam winked.

"Well, my tour was supposed to start in an hour...but I'm not gonna have a crazy amount of time. I have a cheerleading meeting at four," She bit her bottom lip.

"I promise I'll have you to your meeting on time. I have a football meeting at that time anyways," Sam assured her, giving her a nod as he opened the door to her room and walked inside. Brittany could hear Rachel exclaim in surprise before the door shut behind him again.

All she could do was smile as she made her way towards the showers. Maybe it wasn't a date, but it was the closest she'd ever come to one before, and she was going to enjoy every last second of it, especially since it was with a certain blonde haired cutie she couldn't wait to get to know just a little bit better. And some time with him without Rachel that he was offering meant he wanted to be her friend for reasons outside of Rachel. And that gave her hope-more hope than it should have, but she didn't want to dwell on that fact too much. She was too busy planning what she was going to wear for her not-date with Sam Evans.

"You're early!" She accused Sam as he walked into the room and towards her bed, plopping down on top of it.

"Actually, you're late," He corrected, rolling his eyes at her freshly made up face and her sky high ponytail. She might appear ready from her neck up, but she was still wearing her bathrobe and slippers. "We were supposed to meet about ten minutes ago," He replied.

"Yeah, well, you'er always late so I told you I wanted to go half an hour before I really wanted to, assuming you wouldn't be ready until then anyways. Clearly you have became a much more punctual person since the last time we had these early morning jogs. My mistake and I'll remember that in the future." She said, ending her statement with heavy sarcasm dripping her voice as she undid her robe, allowing it to fall to the floor.

Normally, Sam would look away from her nearly naked body-a pair of Victoria's Secret yoga-short underwear and a sports bra-but he couldn't bring himself to pretend to be shy around her when she wasn't modest around him. If she hadn't realized his feelings by now, he was going to further her belief that he didn't like her as more than a friend. And if she knew how he really felt and was still choosing to strip down to her underwear in front of him on a daily basis, well, he was going to take that as a sign that he was more than welcome to stare. Besides, if he and Kurt could change in front of one another, why couldn't Rachel do the same?

And by the way she was slowly shimmering into her pink cotton shorts and babbling on about something he should probably be paying more attention to as she walked around the room without a shirt on, grabbing her deodorant and putting that on, applying lotion to her legs, putting on her socks and her sneakers, tying the laces, she clearly didn't care that he was paying her any attention instead of looking away from her. This wasn't the first time she had changed in front of him, after all, and she clearly didn't seem to notice anything different from this time around from all of the other times. He wasn't going to make a big deal about it, he decided, as she pulled on her cut-off tank top, which had once been a tee-shirt that was just a little too familiar to him.

"Is that my shirt?" Sam asked, eyes widening in horror as he took in the sight in front of him. Not only was one of his favorite tee shirts-which had been a gift from Rachel in the first place-now cut into a tank top without any sides for Rachel's pleasure, but it was cut across the hem as well so that it showed just enough of her stomach. And as if that wasn't bad enough, she had applied glitter to the shirt as well. And it had always been a very masculine shirt. Now, it looked like it had never been meant for a male to be wearing-at least, not if the male was a guy like Sam, rather than a guy like Kurt. It was sparkly and small and absolutely destroyed. And he should probably be used to that by now from how she treated all of his shirts she stole. "What did you do to it?" He gaped.

"I applied some glitter to the lettering in DIE, because it was from Disney World. Sammy, I bought you this shirt and you made fun of it for being girly because the D resembled the one in Disney. When I slept over during the summer and needed to borrow a shirt to sleep in, you offered it to me and when I said I would return it, you told me not to worry about it. I thought that meant I could keep it. So, I made a few adjustments so that it wouldn't drown me if I ever had an occasion to wear it other than your bedroom, Kurt's bedroom or my own bedroom," She rolled her eyes, hands planted firmly on her hips.

"You are such an Indian Giver," He rolled his eyes, chuckling under his breath as he stood up. "Come on-let's go. I told Brittany I'd give her a tour of the school after our jog, and we both have meetings at four," He insisted, heading towards the door, holding it open for her to exit before him. What? He was a gentleman-and her walking in front of him allowed for an excellent view of her ass, while making him seem as if he were super polite.

"Oh? You and Britt are gonna hang out without me there? Does somebody have a crush?" She teased as they started to walk, nudging him slightly with her shoulder. "You never tell me anything anymore," She tease-pouted at him.

"Oh, get over yourself. I don't have a crush," He insisted. It was only a partial lie, but since she wasn't asking about herself, it wasn't a lie at all.

"Whatever-did you at least tell Kurt that we were going for a jog this time?" Rachel asked as they stepped on the elevator.

"I haven't seen him all morning. When I left to take a shower, he was still asleep and when I got back to the room, he was gone already, probably to make breakfast. When I went to make breakfast he wasn't there and the second time I got to the room, he still wasn't there." Sam shrugged.

"If he shows up at my room banging on the door for the entire hour that we are jogging, asking where the hell you vanished to, again, I am going to kill you. You really should start leaving him a note or something so he doesn't start sending out 911 worthy search parties for us after he calls in for an Amber Alert." Rachel glared at him. "And I still don't see why you can't invite him along on these jogs," She replied.

"You over estimate him," Sam rolled his eyes. "His search parties are not worthy of the police, because they are one man search parties that consist of himself banging on the room to your dorm for an hour when he knows you would answer on the first knock, unless you were asleep. And he's too stupid to call our cell phones to see if we would even give him an answer, so the Amber Alerts would be completely senseless, especially when all he'd have to do was ask somebody in the dorm or the dorm security guard on duty if they saw us and where we went," Sam explained to her. "Besides, after the fifth time, he should catch on."

"Sam! I thought you and Kurt got over that petty jealousy back in the fourth grade when I insisted that you both had cooties so you might as well be one another's best friend because I couldn't be friends with either of you if you were going to contaminate me with your cooties and force me to endure hours of you bickering back and forth over who my best friend really was while you both let out every single secret I ever told either of you, which made me wonder if I should ever trust you the same way again. Because if we're going back to that, I will stop hanging out with the both of you and either high tail it back to Lima or start hanging out with Brittany and only Brittany. I won't deal with it again," Rachel assured him with a scolding look to her face that told him she was serious.

"We're not fighting over you. I invited him the first three times we went and he said no because he didn't have the proper workout wardrobe. I mean, all he had to do was slip on some shorts and a tee shirt, but no! He has to look like he's walking a runway or something for everything that he does, even taking a god damn run around campus. When I offered to let him borrow something, he laughed in my face and said he wouldn't wear my clothes because it would ruin the entire reputation he took him years to build with just one outfit. Can you believe the nerve of him?" Sam asked in outrage, before changing his tune after a warning glance from Rachel. "And could you picture Kurt jogging with us, let along trying to keep up with us?" Sam asked her with a teasing smile on his face which she returned as they exited the dorm.

"RACHEL! RACHEL! RACHEL!" Kurt was screaming when Brittany found him after her shower, banging on the girls' dorm room door with a determined look on his face, despite the panic in his eyes as he shouted for the girl he thought was within.

"Kurt!" Brittany said, reaching out and grabbing his arm, stopping him in his steps. "What are you doing? Rachel isn't even in there. She and Sam went for a jog a little while ago," She said slowly as Kurt lowered his arm and his expression turned from worried to angry. She took that as a good sign and unlocked her door, twisting the knob open and walking inside, only a little bit surprised when Kurt walked in with her.

"That bastard-he does this every time and he never lets me know so I come back and find him missing!" Kurt muttered as he sat down on Rachel's bed. "Do you care if I wait here for her to come back? We have plans and I don't feel like returning to my room just to come back in a few minutes," Kurt sighed.

"Well, I have to get dressed...Sam's giving me a tour of the school," She frowned.

"Ooh! Somebody has a crush," Kurt said, eyes focused on her face and Brittany bit her lip, already knowing that she hadn't been able to hold in the blush she'd felt coming. "It's okay-I won't tell anybody. This is exactly what Sam needs right now! Can I pick out your outfit?" He asked excitedly, already on his way to her closet.

Brittany figured from there she didn't really have a chance to argue with him, so she just let him go. Besides, judging from his own style, the guy clearly knew what he was talking about in terms of fashion. So far be it for Brittany to stand in the way of him attempting to make her look the absolute best that she could ever look.

"I'll even pick out your make-up and tell you how to do that and your hair. I do this for Rachel all the time," Kurt assured her as he searched through her clothes.

Brittany was beginning to like this guy.

"Well, the outfit and the hair and the make-up are all perfect. I love every bit of it," Kurt beamed at his masterpiece, beginning to give Brittany a once over of her blue crop top and gingham blue and white skirt, pausing at her bare belly button. "Fuck, you do have it pierced," He swore.

"What's wrong with-Sam hates piercings," Brittany bit her bottom lip.

"He has a crush on Rachel and has for years. Clearly he doesn't mind them that much. He thinks that girls with them are sluts, so he doesn't like that the girls he's overprotective about have them, because he believes it gives other guys the wrong ideas. Do you have any dorky ones? Probably not, you strike me as a very religious and very girly type of person, whether it's by choice or not. Let me check-Sam might have gotten Rachel one when I forced him to buy her a couple when she first got it done." He sighed, making his way to Rachel's side of the room and searching through her jewelry box.

"Are you sure she's going to be okay with me borrowing her stuff?" Brittany wondered.

"Of course she is-she's never even worn any of the ones that Sam bought her-she said they were too nerdy for her. Besides, Rachel's all about sharing with her friends," Kurt rolled his eyes as he walked back with a grayish blue circular charm with HALO written in black print. He handed it to her, still on its cardboard backboard. "Sam loves video games-his macbook has a detail of Mario on it," Kurt let her known as if it were some big secret.

"Why are you helping me like this? Wouldn't you want Sam and Rachel together?" Brittany asked, accepting the charm and putting it through her belly button. "They are your best friends, after all."

"I want them both to be happy and if Rachel settles for Sam, who isn't her type at all, she's never going to be happy. And if Sam spends the rest of his life hoping that she's going to return his feelings one day, he's never going to be happy because he will never get a chance at love." Kurt shrugged his shoulders, reaching out to adjust her head wrap that looked just a little too adorable with her outfit. Kurt was a big fan of head wraps. "Besides, I love playing match maker and the two of you would be the perfect couple." Kurt shrugged his shoulders.

"What is Rachel's type?" Brittany asked cautiously and Kurt got the impression that there was a reason for the question, but he wasn't going to pry-not yet, anyways.

"She likes guys who are into music and who treat their girl like a princess. She's really into the 1980's stereotype of a relationship-the type of guy who seems like the exact opposite of the girl on the exterior, but when it comes to their likes and dislikes, they're like clones. And she loves when the girl's entire life is spent trying to impress her and prove that he deserves her, even though everybody always figured they'd be together all along," Kurt said, his tone implying that Rachel's taste bored him to no end.

Brittany let out the breath she had been holding on relief, grateful that, according to Kurt, Rachel would never go for Puck. And, since Rachel had never given Sam a chance because he wasn't her type, Puck wouldn't be able to win her over the way he did every other girl. Soon enough, he'd get bored and give up, meaning Brittany wouldn't have to worry about losing her newest best friend and the friends that would come with Rachel-or the potential boyfriend.

"Oh, and then there's her weird fetus about guys who drive pick-up trucks or motorcycles. She's also a sucker for green eyes," Kurt added on carelessly as the door opened and Brittany's eyes grew wide with panic.

Puck had hazel eyes, which weren't true green, but tended to look greener than most hazel eyes, especially when he wore that color. Besides that, he drove a Chevy pick-up truck in a deep shade of rust-red and he had a motorcycle that he lived for riding whenever the family took a trip up to camp for the weekend. It wasn't much, but it was enough to cause Brittany to panic.

"Kurt, I'm not changing my outfit again. This is fine," Rachel rolled her eyes as she fell back onto her bed as if she were exhausted.

Honestly, her-fifth-outfit was perfectly fine. A pair of denim jeans with a floral pattern on the front and a pale pink crop top paired with pink sandals with the slightest wedge and one of her favorite Dooney and Bourke purses completed the look while a rose-pink head wrap held her curly locks into place.

"Will you at least put on this belly button ring. I am deeply insulted that you have never worn it," Kurt replied with a teasing hint to his voice as he held out the silver bunny-shaped charm to her.

The brunette girl got up, rising into a sitting position as she accepted the charm from her best friend. She made a face as she accepted it and switched it out from her previous ring.

"I can't believe you got my a Playboy Bunny ring and want me to wear it, just because Jesse is going to be at the meeting. Seriously, we broke up and that's all there is to it," Rachel rolled her eyes again, rising to her full height. "How'd you even know this was in there and that I never wore it? I was hoping you would have forgotten you bought it for me," She sighed.

Kurt smirked at her, flashing her a knowing look before ducking down and searching through his messenger bag from something.

"I was going through your box for one to let Brittany borrow-she's got a thing for Sam and she's got it bad. I thought if I let her borrow one of those nerdy ones he got you that you refuse to wear, it would be a step in the right direction. She happens to like me picking out her clothes," He stuck his tongue out, pulling a perfectly wrapped gold star-patterned box from his bag.

Rachel's eyes lit up at the sight of the package and her hands were immediately forward, silently begging for the package. Kurt rolled his eyes as he slipped it into her hands and she tore into it, eagerly opening it. When she could see what had been inside, her eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, racing towards Kurt and wrapping him in a tight hug.

For he had just purchased her a walkman-styled phone case in her favorite color. She had been searching for a walkman forever, as she loved the retro music device, and Kurt and Sam were constantly buying her walkman inspired merchandise. This was the best, as it resembled the player the closest.

Rachel loved the 80's in general. They were her favorite decade without a doubt. The movies, the music, the crazy fashion and the technology? The only era that she had loved more were the 50's because there was something about drive in movies with a drive in dinner date to match that made her heart melt. It also explained why her favorite movie was Grease, no matter how amazing all the other movies she preferred watching on repeat were.

"Now, we're doing all this so that Jesse can see he didn't knock you done and his removal from your life has only made you stronger. Nobody dumps my girl for another girl that's neither as pretty or as talented and gets away with it from only a punch in the face from Sam. I need to have my part in hurting him as well, and since I am no threat to him physically and I am not stooping to his level of a sing-off, because even I'm not that gay, I will merely have to rely on fashion to do my bidding for me," He beamed as he hooked his arm through her own and they made their way from the dorm room.

When Puck saw Rachel enter the music building on his way to his football meeting, he knew there was something to that, and he should remember to ask Mike about it later, because now that Mike knew he wanted to get with her to 'pop Berry's cherry' he was much more eager to discuss the petite brunette.

Knowing what interested Rachel had and acting as if Puck shared them with her would definitely be a step in the right direction. Whenever he was trying to get with a particularly disinterested girl who knew about his reputation and didn't seem eager to become another notch on his belt, he would prove that he had something in common with them and wanted much more than sex-even if he most definitely didn't want anything other than sex from them, because they were boring as hell to talk to and way too demanding to be in an actual relationship with.

He was aware from the few moments he had spent with Rachel that she was not boring and there was no way she would be a demanding or clingy girlfriend, but he still wasn't the type of guy to settle down.

Besides, there were so many other fine pieces of ass around the campus that he wasn't going to spend any longer on getting with Rachel than he necessarily had to. He was a new guy here, and nobody knew about his bad reputation. That was good for him, because it meant he could pretty much get away with it all. And it made everything that much easier when it came to getting girls. Maybe he'd even change things up a little bit with his reputation?

Then again...

As he bumped into a red-haired, scrawny freshman who was obviously checking out Rachel's ass as he walked, he remembered why he had that bad-boy exterior with the bad-ass-rebel-without-a-cause label. He seriously hated people.

And bumping into that kid had just felt so good, he'd probably do it again.

Besides, it wasn't like it had been an accident. He'd known what he was doing and he knew why he was doing it-even if he would never admit he had only done it because he didn't like the way the kid was staring at Rachel as though she were a piece of meat and that bothered him for some reason, because admitting that would be horrible for his rep.