The Music In Me
A Glee AU Series
Chapter 4

A/N: So...it's been a while. But I'm back and better than ever-maybe. I don't know, hopefully. I'll try to be. I hope you guys enjoy the newest chapter and enjoy meeting all of my oh-so enjoyably creative characters who are pretty much exactly how they are in the show because I'm not feeling writing characters in ways they don't really act in the show. This is in an AU and it's OOC, but I'd like it to be somewhat realistic to the show. Tell me if I'm doing a good job, alright? You guys are awesome and please keep reviewing. Also, this chapter is for Nerdy-Gurly2 who kept asking me to write another chapter even when I wasn't inspired. You're awesome and this is for you for encouraging me.

"You are a total nerd," Brittany giggled, reaching out and pushing Sam playfully as they stood outside of the building where the Cheerleading meeting would be taking place. "I'm not even kidding, who says stuff like that?" She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the building, raising her eyebrows at him curiously.

"What? All I said was that Harry was getting pretty old to still be going to Hogwarts. I was surprised they never started calling him, like, Harold Potter or something," He said, running a hand through his blonde locks as he laughed at his lame joke that couldn't have been less funny if he had tried.

"You are a total nerd," Brittany repeated.

"I am not a nerd!" Sam insisted.

"You are a nerd and it's weird. Seriously, it's a little creepy. I don't like nerds," She stuck her tongue out at him, twirling her hair around her fingertips playfully.

"You're a nerd too." Sam said, reaching out and grabbing her belly button ring. "I seriously hate these things, but this one just proves that you're a nerd, too. I bought Rachel one just like this and she never even wore it. I should have suspected it, though, when she insulted the game the entire time I tried to teach her how to play," he rolled his eyes, letting go of the dark grey, almost blue charm and shaking his head.

At the mention of Rachel, their moment sobered up and Brittany remembered that Sam was Rachel's best friend and that Rachel was her roommate. She remembered that Sam was in love with Rachel according to everybody on campus. She remembered that Rachel had strict regulations when it came to her friends dating other friends. And with that reminder, they were forced to get over it and stop their flirt session.

And Brittany really didn't want to take the one thing that Sam liked her about her and turn it around to make it Rachel-related, but she couldn't stand the thought of lying to him, or withholding the truth from somebody so sweet. "Actually, this is-"She started but Sam cut her off.

"Hey, listen-I gotta head to my football meeting, okay? I'll catch you later or something, alright? You'll probably be at your dorm when I stop by to bring Rachel dinner-it's kind of our tradition. You want something? I just grab some fast food. I go to about five different places so I'm sure I'll be somewhere where you'll want something from," He offered, reaching behind his head and scratching at his neck awkwardly.

"Um, whatever you get Rachel-actually, whatever you get Kurt should be fine. Thanks," She whispered, biting down on her bottom lip as the moment completely shattered around them, putting them right back to the awkwardness they had shared when their tour had begun, before Sam had started blurting out random Chuck Norris facts and then rambling on about one of the many fandoms he was obsessed with and what he thought was stupid about what he actually appeared to worship, before starting on defending his fandom of choice, causing Brittany to laugh hysterically at his awkwardness.

"The vegan crap ain't for you?" Sam cracked one more joke, turning around and walking away, shooting her one more look over his shoulder as he walked, causing him to walk right into a tree before he shook his head, obviously to clear his head before he started forward, not looking back at her again.

She let out one more giggle before she turned around and entered the building.

"Were you with Sam Evans?" A low-pitched, holier-than-thou voice asked as Brittany felt an arm slide through her own arm. "Because I don't think I've seen him with a girl who wasn't Rapaul since Sandbags left and I've definitely never seen him with a blonde before," the girl went on.

"Rapaul?" Brittany asked, tugging her arm back from the other girl's grasp and staring down at her. "Sandbags?" She studied her.

The newcomer was another blonde, with dark green eyes the color of emeralds, narrow and harsh as she stared at Brittany. She was gorgeous, and already wearing her Cheerio's uniform, hair in a sky-high ponytail that had to be too tight for her.

"Rachel Berry-sorry, forgot, you're a newbie," The girl laughed. "She's this total Glee-nerd. Queen of the Gleeks, you know? She's always up Sam's ass and he's got some kind of infatuation with her that makes him immune to every other hot girl in this school. Like Sandbags, even if her chest was completely fake. She was Rachel's old roommat-Santana Lopez. She was on the squad, too," she explained.

"Rachel's my roommate. I know who she is, and she's actually really nice," Brittany said with a bitter edge to her tone.

"Oh, you poor thing-she's trying to convert you to her and Kurt's little cult! Sweetie, nobody normal is in that thing, except for Sammy and that's only because he went to elementary school with her. I'm Quinn Fabray-head Cheerio. I will tell you all about who is normal here," She said with a cruel type of sweetness to her voice.

"It's Brittany, bitch," Brittany said, rolling her blue eyes before she sped up her strides and moved into the main section.

Rachel and Kurt walked into the music building, entering the choir room for their Glee club meeting arm in arm, giggling with one another about something or other, stopping only when Mr. Shuester, the director, cleared his throat from where he was standing by the white board, marker in hand.

"Nice of you two to join us," He said with a teasing smile-everybody knew that Rachel was his favorite female member, because of her powerful voice and the chemistry it appeared as though she had with his prodigy, Finn Hudson-the male lead who had an obvious crush on Rachel and asked her out every year, multiple times each year. It had just become a part of the routine for all the other members of the Glee club.

Finn had originally been here on a football scholarship. He was a quarterback, the same position as Sam. They showed up at the same time and competed for the starting position. In seventh grade, Sam was awarded the spot as the starting quarterback and Finn quit the team. He needed a way to find another scholarship and he needed one fast. So he tried to get one for music. Luckily for him, the music department needed another male with strong leads. And Finn had fit the bill, earning him the scholarship he needed in order to stay at the school without his mother having to scrounge up the money to pay to keep him in the school he wanted so badly to go through.

"Rachel!" Finn said brightly, a smile to match his tone on his face. "I saved you two a seat!" He said, eagerly from his seat in the back row.

Rachel looked at Kurt, who had always had an open crush on Finn-well, open to Sam and Rachel, at least-and the two shared an eye roll as they opted for their usual seats in the center of the front row.

Unfortunately, that put Rachel right next to Jesse St. James, her dick of an ex-boyfriend. Luckily, next to Kurt was Mercedes Jones who was seated besides Tina Cohen-Chang who was sandwiched between Mercedes and Artie Abrams.

Mercedes, Tina, Kurt, Artie and Rachel were the five members of the New Directions who were probably the closest to one another, as Mercedes and Tina were best friends and Tina had been in a relationship with Artie since freshman year, not that it had been that long, being as they were just sophomores now.

Next to Finn, on the side where the empty seats weren't being reserved for Rachel and Kurt, were the newcomers who were obviously freshman. There were, after all, only seven returning members-besides Sam who would be stopping by later to see what he had missed-and most of them were sophomores, Jesse acting as the only senior and upper class man in the club.

And while that should make him be in charge, Rachel and Kurt, who had started the glee club when they were in the sixth grade, were always voted as the co-captians of the club and that meant they ran the auditions.

"Alright, newbies. Which of you is gonna be first?" Rachel smirked.

"Don't worry-we aren't as scary as the rumors may have hinted," Kurt assured with a wicked grin spreading across his face that reminded Rachel of the Chesire Cat from Alice In Wonderland.

"Here's the list, Rachel," Mr. Shuester said, walking towards the girl and handing the piece of paper with all of the newcomers on it, stars next to those who were already in the club because they were there on a scholarship.

"Alright, now, not all of you have to audition, because some of you are here on a scholarship and that means you already auditioned. I'm still going to call you all up here. If you need to audition, you introduce your piece along with yourself. We do this every year just so everybody can get to know one another. Kurt and I will ask you a few questions, and maybe the others will join in, if need be," Rachel instructed.

"First up, we have Wade Adams," Kurt read from the list. "Sugar Motta,"

A slightly short black boy made his way to the front of the room, followed by a tiny girl with a honey brown colored bob and milk chocolate colored eyes.

"Jacob Puckerman and Marley Rose-wait a second...Puckerman? Are you related to Noah Puckerman?" Rachel whirled around in her seat, turning towards the only other boy sitting back there that she didn't know.

"He's my half-brother," The boy said.

He had a slightly darker complexion than Puck did, but the features were all there as was the hair-minus the hairstyle. The only difference was that Puck had a pair of hazel eyes while Jake's were a dark shade of brown that were surprisingly deep. The girl that followed besides him had long, dark brown hair and eyes a slightly lighter shade with pale skin and such a tiny frame that she seemed fragile, almost breakable.

But Rachel's eyes went immediately back to Noah's brother and she wondered if there was any way she could be expecting to see him walk through the door to the choir room any time soon, even though something told her it was highly unlikely for him to ever enter the music building, yet along sign up for the Glee Club.

"Rachel, you okay?" Kurt whispered into her ear, leaning close to her.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine," She shook her head. "And Mr. Shuester-my roommate is thinking about coming to audition. Her name's Brittany Pierce," Rachel spoke up, suddenly remembering that she had priorities that were much more important than worrying about Noah Puckerman, especially when she could feel Jesse's eyes staring at her bare legs with hunger and feel the burn of Finn's longing gaze at the back of head head. She had too many guys to deal with. She didn't need to concern herself with another.

"She's in the Glee club," Mike explained as Puck entered the boys' sports building with him. "She's pretty awesome, too. I mean, if you're into all that singing stuff," He shrugged as they made their way towards the football locker room.

"She can sing? She got a good set of pipes on her?" Puck raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile stretching at the corners of his mouth.

"Damn, dude, you're a perv," Mike shook his head, reaching out and punching him in the shoulder. "She's got a pretty good set of pipes, though. And, yeah, I know what they say about that," Mike laughed at Puck's pervertedness.

"I'm just saying-if I wanna pop Berry's Cherry, I'm gonna have to know what's going on with her and what assets of hers I can use," Puck shrugged as they entered the locker room and made their way towards one of the empty benches to take a seat for their meeting. "And knowing if a girl has good lung capacity is a pretty good thing to know. She got a gag reflex? 'Cause that'd be even better," He smirked.

As he sat down besides Mike, he felt a harsh shove in the back and turned around the find the blonde haired surfer-looking kid sitting behind him with an angry scowl stretched out across his large mouth, usually warm eyes narrowed into harsh slits as he was crossing his arms over his chest. And the thing that shocked Puck was the anger that the blonde was holding was directed right at him, which was something he couldn't figure out.

"Don't talk about Rachel like that. I'm not kidding. You're new, so you don't know the rules. But Mike? You know how it is. Guys that disrespect my girl have to answer to me and you can ask Jesse St. James about what that's like. So, do yourself a favor and back off and don't even think about getting an answer to any of those questions, because if I find out you're even thinking about it, I'll make sure you aren't able to use that part of your body anymore. And you'll be easier to kick the crap out of than Jesse was, because she won't be around to stop me and she won't care about you half as much," Sam said darkly in a tone that told Puck he shouldn't question the threats, because Sam would be more than willing to prove that he meant what he was saying.

"I told you he was an over protective son of a bitch," Mike muttered into Puck's ear, grabbing his arm and forcing him to turn around.

Puck shook his head, trying to figure out what was going on at this school that Sam Evans-a god damn quarterback-was the toughest guy around and the one they were all afraid to mess with. There was something wrong when Puck was supposed to act as though he were afraid of a guy who was half the size of him when it came to muscle mass and was only an inch taller than him, if not the same height. It wasn't normal for Puck to not be the toughest guy on campus.

"He's the team captain-he could get your ass kicked out of here without a second though, and something tells me you like football a little too much for that to happen," Mike hissed in his ear, obviously sensing the puzzlement behind Puck's hazel eyes.

And that did cause Puck to pause for a moment, because he did love football and he wanted to be able to play. He didn't want to be told he couldn't play the sport he loved anymore because he was disrespecting some girl he'd met for five minutes who was also his sister's roommate. Maybe he should back off of Rachel, just for the sake of the sport he loved?

But, then Puck remembered that he never backed down from a challenge, and Rachel was becoming a bigger challenge every day. He wasn't going to give up any time soon.

"Let's see how much longer that lasts," Puck told Mike softly. "After all-none of you losers have seen me play yet, and a good running back is every bit as important as a good quarterback," He shrugged.

Kurt Hummel knew that something was up with Rachel.

He could tell from the fact that she didn't freak out when that Marley Rose girl-who wasn't even supposed to sing an audition piece as she was on a scholarship-sang a Barbra Streisand song and referred to it as a Billy Joel song, and the fact that she was good.

He knew that there was something wrong with her from that fact that when that Jake Puckerman kid, who was related to Noah Puckerman, went up and started on about himself-he was on a scholarship, partial, but still scholarship-she asked him questions mainly about his brother, which caused him to look at her as if he were weirded out by her, and that caused Finn to turn his longing glances into hardened glares that normally only came from Jesse.

Besides that, she didn't seem annoyed by the glares she was getting from Jesse or the longing looks that she was getting from Finn the way that she normally did when the two boys acted that way. And when Mercedes muttered something sarcastic under her breath-because while the girls were sort-of-friends, Mercedes was still jealous-about Rachel being a diva towards the end of rehearsal when Rachel told Mr. Shuester about some song ideas she had for their competitions, she didn't get that sad little, injured puppy dog look on her face the way that she normally got when Mercedes went into diva mode.

Oh, and then there was the fact that she didn't get all excited when Wade started to introduce himself as Unique and sang a song where he had a voice that was almost as high as Kurt's own, rocking the female power ballad that was normally in the repertoire of Rachel, and occasionally Mercedes. She didn't even seem to notice the fact that Sugar Motta couldn't even carry a tune and had the personality of a brick wall. She didn't notice Tina and Artie flirting all through rehearsal and she wasn't getting annoyed with them for doing so the way she normally got annoyed whenever a member of the club wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. And when the meeting was finally over, she wasn't even aware that everybody was gone and she was still sitting there.

"Rach, you ready to go? The meeting's over," Kurt said, reaching out and tapping her shoulder.

"What?" She jumped, startled by the sudden contact as she turned her head to face him, looking up at him in shock as her eyes widened and her lips parted to create a tiny little O of surprise, as if she'd thought she were actually alone in the room.

"We're done for today. We can head back to our dorms and put on some comfortable clothes and relax, you know? The usual stuff we do before school actually starts for the semester? Besides, you might want to hurry because I know two particular males that you don't want to see and I'm sure they're waiting to see you, because they adore you," Kurt said, a teasing smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He usually teased her when she got like this-zoning out from the rest of the world as she entered her own little universe. He hated it when she disappeared like that on him, but she did it most of the time and it was something she did was Sam as well, so he didn't take it too personally. Besides, he had been known to zone out when he was hard in thought before as well, so why shouldn't he allow his best friend the same privileges? He wasn't a hypocritical type of friend who only wanted his friends to be there for him. He wanted to offer Rachel the same respect she had always offered him.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts-he knew that habit of hers very well and he had the same of his own, as did Sam-before she stood up, running a hand through her dark mane of hair. She slipped her arm through his offered arm and he led her from the room, shooting a warning glance at a concerned looking Finn Hudson who was standing by the door, obviously unsure about if he should go and try to talk to Rachel or just walk away. When they exited the music building, Kurt quickened his pace-he knew that Jesse was not only unconcerned about Rachel's condition, but he merely wouldn't care about whether or not she was distraught. If he was going to try and win her back, he was going to do it whenever he felt like it, because Jesse did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

Sam Evans wasn't sure what was going on in his life at the moment.

He had been going after Rachel for as long as he could remember. He wanted to date her-he wanted to be able to hold her hand without it being questioned by those around him. He wanted to put his arms around her without rumors flying about the two of them.

He wanted to be with Rachel in every sense of the word, because he positive that he loved her. He was sure of it, because no other girl had ever attracted him since he had realized that he wanted to be with her and only her. Sure, he'd had other girlfriends, but they had never lasted long and they had never been serious. Besides, he was constantly turning girls down because they had nothing on Rachel. It was only when Rachel tried to set him up with somebody that he went and decided to give it a chance.

Santana Lopez had been the hottest girl that had ever walked the ground of Presidential Academy, but when she had made a move on Sam, he had turned her down and told her that he just wasn't interested before explaining that he didn't want to ruin their friendship, because it meant a lot to him. Of course, he knew as well as she did that the real reason he was turning her down was because he was interested in Rachel. Just like the entire school knew that when he told Quinn he just wasn't interested in her because she wasn't really his type, it was actually because he was interested in Rachel.

So, long story short?

The entire school knew it. Sam Evans was in love with Rachel and he would keep turning down the hot and popular females in an effort to be with her, even if she would never consider him a possibility because she valued his friendship and was constantly referring to him as her big brother.

Still, the male population knew better than to say anything vulgar about her. They didn't disrespect Rachel because they knew how Sam would react. The only problems Sam had ever had with a guy disrespecting Rachel had been back when Jesse St. James had broken her heart by breaking up with her a week after Santana had packed her bags and moved out. And when Finn Hudson kept kissing her whenever he was alone with her, getting a little too carried away.

But, after spending the day with Brittany and seeing the way their conversation flowed effortlessly-once the awkwardness had faded away, he was starting to question that. After all, they had an easy humor among them and clearly they had things in common, if her HALO belly button ring said anything. And, while he normally hated piercings that weren't on the ears in the required location, because he thought it made a girl look trashy, it had a different look on Brittany. The girl was so sweet and innocent-and she dressed like such a pure young girl, having a piercing through her stomach made her seem a little rebellious. It was sort of a turn on for him.

Not that he'd ever say that aloud-he knew how Rachel felt when it came to her friends dating her roommates and he was well aware of how Rachel felt about her roommates going after her boys, as she lovingly dubbed Sam and Kurt.

Of course, the concern mainly went for Sam, because Rachel would never have to worry about a roommate going after Kurt-because he wasn't one of those gay guys that made girls believe that every hot guy in the world was gay.

The thing that was really confusing Sam, though, was the fact that he usually got more jealous than he did protective when it came to Rachel.

But when he heard Puck and Mike talking about Rachel and what she might be like in bed, he couldn't bring himself to feel jealous. Instead, he merely felt as though he needed to step in to protect the girl that was his best friend and whose virtue meant the world to him, because he appreciated her friendship and he respected her as a female. He wanted everybody to respect Rachel the same exact way that he did.

Brittany was pretty sure that she was going to pay for what she had said to Quinn.

She had figured that much out from the way Sue Sylvester acted as though Quinn was her best friend and her own daughter, proudly bragging about all of her accomplishments through her years on the cheerleading team.

And her belief had been furthered when she saw Quinn sit down next to another blonde haired girl and begin whispering in her ear, looking back at Brittany with a pointed look that had ended up with the other blonde girl-Brittany learned that her name was Kitty something or other-turned around to shoot a glare at her, shaking her head in distaste before the meeting had even started.

But, what did it matter what Quinn had to say?

She was a rude, insulting girl who called Rachel mean names.

That made her a bully and Brittany was not a fan of bullying. She absolutely hated bullying, especially when it came to her friends. So, hearing it from Quinn about a girl as lovely as Rachel, she knew that something had to be done. So, she had stepped in and she had said the words that were running through her head without a second thought.

She sighed as she stood up, her new Cheerio's uniform draped over her arm as she made her way from the locker room.

Unfortunately, Quinn and her friend Kitty were walking right in front of her, arms linked as they giggled and whispered with one another.

"Have you seen that hottie new guy? He's got a mohawk and he is absolutely delicious," Quinn was telling Kitty as they made their way out of the Cheerios' locker room and started making their way down the hallways of the girls' sports building.

"Puck? It's such a stupid name, but he's hot enough that he makes it work. And he's on the football team which means he needs to usual initiation-even if Trouty Mouth keeps turning me down and making the tradition follow suit for everybody but himself," Kitty huffed.

"Oh, you are bad. Don't worry-Trouty Mouth is going to go after you. I promise you. I mean, how long can he keep fighting for the attention of a girl like Man Hands? He's the total package and he has a six pack. With that blonde hair and those tall genes he's got? He's much too hot to act as though he were desperate for attention and some love," Quinn giggled. "And as for Puck? You can have him when I'm finished. He looks like fun to blue ball," Quinn giggled, examining her purity ring that sat on her ring finger lovingly, as it sparkled in the sunlight.

Brittany got a feeling that they were referring to Sam when they used that particular nickname.

"Noah Puckerman?" Brittany said as she pushed her way through them, causing them to break apart and no longer be arm in arm with one another. "He won't be going after either of you. He's my brother, and he's got his eyes on somebody else," She called over her shoulder, shooting a smirk in their direction as she spotted her brother leaving his own building with a very attractive looking Asian boy.

She took in the shocked reactions that the two blonde shared before she started off towards her brother.

"PUCK!" She called out, sprinting over to him and tossing her uniform at the Asian boy, jumping onto her brother's back, giggling as he reached out to pull her into a tight hug.

AS much as she hated her brother, she loved the moments she got with him when he acted like that-like a sweet type of guy who could actually be lovable and sweet. The type of guy that she was sure Sam was like with Rachel.