The Music In Me
A Glee AU Series
Chapter 5

A/N: I would just like to let it be known that I've changed the original plot line of this series. Instead of Mike being in on the Rachel-love, he's going to, just, not be interested because that would be too weird to write with how I've started it. Instead, it's going to start off with Finn 'in love' with Rachel, the same way he was in season 1, minus the girlfriend. He wants her because in his mind, dating her would be easy and he wouldn't have to worry about her breaking up with him or asking too much of him (that's my personal opinion on what first attracted Rachel to Finn, because Quinn was popular and controlling while Rachel wasn't.) Sam will like Rachel, but is slowly starting to question if he's in love with her or just loves her, because there's a difference. Puck is the one who truly likes Rachel, even if at the moment he just wants her for sex. And Jesse is not interested in her. He's her ex-boyfriend (more to that story later) who broke up with her and crushed her (that too). And, just like Jesse in the show, he likes messing with her and playing mind games because she makes it easy for him to get to her. I just wanted to address that after an anonymous reviewer said that they weren't fond of how I always have guys liking Rachel in my series. In the show, she had Puck trying to make out with her, Finn trying to date her and was dating Jesse, so honestly, if you like the TV show I'm not noticing a large difference from what I'm writing. I really don't like reviews I can't personally respond to because than I have to do something like this to acknowledge that makes it seem like it was a bigger deal to me than it really was. Anyways, please keep reviewing and enjoy my story.
A/N2: And Lea Michele at the Teen Choice Awards had be crying. Her speech about Cory was just so heartbreaking and it was enough to make me miserable over his death all over again. I'm starting to question if I'll be able to watch Glee when it comes back on. It hurts listening to the music, especially when it's Cory singing. I might not have known Cory, but Glee got me through a rough time in my life and it has helped me through countless other hard times in my life as well, and whenever I'm having a bad day, I knew that a scene with Cory would be enough to make me laugh. He was an inspiration, just as the rest of the cast is and I hate that one of my role models is now gone from my life and I can't wait week to week for the next episode with his newest song or his next funny line that will make me laugh my head off. Lea is one of the strongest people I know just for getting up on that stage tonight. That was just another reason that she is my role model-my number one role model and the person I look up to the most.

"What was up with you today? Was it seeing Jesse again?" Kurt wondered from his perch on Rachel's bed.

He was leaning back on his elbows, legs dangling over the edge as he looked up at her with a concerned look on his face. Rachel stood by the closet, in the process of changing out of her clothes for the day and into something a little more comfortable-they had already stopped by Kurt's room to allow him to do the same.

"Oh, yeah, that must have been it," Rachel shook her head, tugging on her yoga shorts as she stood there in just her sports bra. Her hair was twisted into a low ponytail and she was slipping on a pair of TOMs when she noticed something strange about Kurt's wardrobe. "Are those Sam's shorts?" She asked suspiciously.

"He gave them to me!" Kurt defended himself. "Besides, I'm always offering him full access to my closet and it's only fair that he return the-"he cut himself off as the door to Rachel's room was thrown open and Noah Puckerman himself came running inside, Brittany giggling on his back as an awkward looking Mike Chang hung out by the door, holding a Cheerio's uniform uncomfortably.

And then, as Kurt turned to Rachel with a wide-eyed look and she, in a panic, went to find a shirt to throw on-Mike and Puck turned their attention to the shirtless female on the other side of the room.

"Well, if today isn't my lucky day," Puck smirked.

Rachel rolled her eyes, grabbing a white and pink tank top. She pulled it on over her head and fell face down onto the bed besides Kurt, ignoring his comments. Kurt shot him a disgusted look and Brittany looked appalled at what had just happened before her own eyes.

There was a silence in the room that was only broken when Sam came walking through the door with his hands full of bags from various fast food restaurants, that usual goofy and carefree grin on his face that only faded away when he noticed the tension in the room, his sparkling eyes looking from a frazzled Brittany to an arrogant Puck to a humiliated Rachel to a shocked Kurt and back again repeatedly.

"What'd I miss?" He asked.

"Rachel was giving away some free shows," Puck smirked directly at the blonde, and Kurt got the impression that there was more to that particular story-he would be bugging Sam to give him all the juicy details as soon as they were back in the privacy of their dorm.

"They walked in on my when I was changing," Rachel muttered, rolling over onto her back and using her elbows to prop her into a sitting position. "Oh, hey-you brought me food! You are the best, Sammy-absolutely the best!" She said cheerfully as she smiled at him.

Sam didn't take his eyes off of Puck, gaze narrowed into a hardened glare that just increased the already existent tension in the room. Kurt was pretty sure he would have been able to cut the tension with one of those plastic knives that Sam was bound to have about fifty of in those take-out bags. The only question was why Puck was the only one getting the full extent of the glare, because it wasn't merely for the fact that he'd been the one to speak. Sam had to have some other reason to dislike this guy being around Rachel. And Kurt would be getting to the bottom of it.

"My brother and his friend will be going now," Brittany said, standing up and walking towards Mike Chang, taking her uniform and glaring at her brother as she made her way towards her closet to hang it up.

Even she had noticed the tension in the room, but she was the only one doing anything to stop it.

"Dude, I just don't get it," a tall kid was complaining as he pushed a boy in a wheelchair across the common room of the dormitory a few hours later-Mike and Puck had gone to sit there, rather than lock themselves away in their room once Brittany had kicked them out of her own room. "Why isn't Rachel into me? I mean, before, it was because of Jesse-but the guy cheated on her and broke her heart. Shouldn't she be giving me a chance by now?" He wondered, removing one hand from the handles of the chair and reaching up to run the hand through his thick head of dark brown hair.

Puck's ears perked up at the mention of Rachel's name and Mike leaned back on the couch, his head tilted back as he put his hands over his face. He had just gotten his roommate to shut up about how good Rachel had looked without a shirt on a few moments ago, and this wasn't going to help keep her name out of their conversation any time soon. In fact, it was just going to spark up another conversation about the girl that Mike had never even thought twice about before.

"Finn, you're my roommate and I love you like a brother and all, but seriously? Rachel Berry? Dude, I don't understand girls as it is and you're asking me to decode Rachel's feelings? That girl's more complex than any character she could ever play in a musical and you know it as well as me," The wheel-chair clad kid shook his head.

"It's just stupid-am I that bad looking that I can't even attract the Queen of the Gleeks? Did quitting the football team seriously damage my reputation that much?" the kid-Finn-asked in distress.

"Are you seriously asking me something about popularity?" the other boy asked him.

"Right, sorry," Finn shook his head.

"I could be offended that you knew what I meant right away, but I'll choose to be grateful you're starting to get smarter," the boy in the wheel chair said simply, removing his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt.

"This whole thing sucks. I've been into her since the seventh grade and she hasn't given me the time of day. And every time I kiss her, she goes and tells Sam and he comes and threatens me about how I need to learn that no means no or whatever, as if I were going to rape her," Finn ranted on. "Give me some advice, Artie!" He begged.

"I'm lucky I have Tina, Finn. I seriously don't know what you want me to say. But, Rachel not being interested probably has something to do with Sam. You know as well as I do that she doesn't involve herself with any guy that Sam doesn't like and if that kid has a reason to dislike anybody in this school, it's you. If he gets hurt, you're going to get called to replace him and he'll lose his scholarship and have to head back to wherever the hell they're from," Artie reminded him.

"You really think this all stems back to that stupid contest Sam and I had in sixth grade to see who the starter would be? Sam won-they wouldn't offer me his spot indefinitely and he knows that. As much as I hate to admit it, the kid's got a good arm and he's better than me. Especially when it comes to coming up with plays and figuring out what plays he needs to use during a game," Finn replied. "I think there's something more to it, and I'm going to figure out what it is. After all, I had..."His voice began to fade away as he and Artie passed Mike and Puck and neared the elevators.

"You want to know who those guys were, don't you?" Mike sighed, picking his head up and looking at Puck with a tired expression on his face, dropping his hands back to his sides.

"If you would," Puck smirked, knowing that Mike was going to give him the answer.

"The tall guy was Finn Hudson. He was here on a football scholarship but he quit at the end of sixth grade when they gave Sam the starting position-they were both quarterbacks. To stay, he joined the glee club and got a music scholarship," Mike explained.

Puck nodded, taking in this new information with a determined look on his face-he was going to get Rachel and this data-collecting session was important to his plans.

"Anyways, as soon as he was in the club, he only had eyes for Rachel, but everybody's pretty sure it's just because she's a safe choice for him-he won't have to worry about her picking somebody else, because most guys think she's weird," he shrugged.

This news shocked Puck and he wasn't afraid to make that known. After all-Rachel was hot, and in his experience, a hot body beat out an annoying personality any day. And if a girl looked like Rachel, she couldn't be weird enough to pass up a date with. But, clearly the guys at this new school had other ideas on that matter. It didn't matter-less competition for himself when it came to her.

"And then the kid in the wheel chair was Artie Abrams. He's not on a scholarship-his parents are pretty loaded and they got even more money after the accident that got him in that chair. He joined the club to impress the girl he had a thing for," Mike went on.

"Did it work?" Puck raised an eyebrow.

"They're dating now," Mike shrugged.

"Well, maybe I should take a page out of the cripple's book, then. After all-I'm a big enough stud and a tough enough bad ass that my reputation can withstand joining something as girly as Glee club," Puck smirked.

"You're going to join the glee club so you can impress Rachel Berry?" Puck nodded. "Dude, Kitty has slept with the entire football team and you're next on her list. And Quinn Fabray dubbed you as the newest god on campus. You don't need Rachel. You've got options," Mike protested, shaking his head in disbelief.

"But that's the thing-I have options, sure. And they're all going to throw themselves at my feet because they know girls like Quinn and Kitty want me-those are the two blondes we saw Brittany with, right?" He stopped there, looking at Mike for a moment. When he nodded, he went on. "I want a little bit of a challenge. And Rachel Berry? She's not going to be very easy to win over," He determined, crossing his arms and leaning against the couch.

His mind was made up, and there was nothing that Mike was going to say to change his mind.

He wanted Rachel, and that was where his sights were set. If anybody had a problem with that, well, they could come and take it up with him. Besides-it wasn't like he wanted a relationship with Rachel.

He wanted to have sex with the girl and then move onto a girl that would be all too willing for a chance with him. He was only starting with Rachel because he knew it would do wonders for his reputation.

At least, that's what he was going to keep telling everybody.

And maybe, just maybe, if he said it enough times aloud and enough times in his head, he would start to believe it himself. And maybe, if he started to believe that lie, it would eventually become the truth and whatever feelings he was starting to develop towards Rachel would just go away and be forgotten about forever.

"You called Quinn Fabray a bitch because she called me Rapaul?" Rachel raised her eyebrows, giggling as she munched on her bean-burrito that Sam had brought for her. "And then told her and Kitty-what's her last name?" She asked, turning towards Sam who was sitting on the bed besides her, stuffing his face with burgers and snack wraps from McDonald's as if they weren't fattening and the opposite of healthy.

Brittany and Kurt were sitting on her bed, across the room from there. Sam was still in his clothes for the day while Brittany had changed into sweats a few moments after kicking her brother from the room.

Her bright yellow shorts were the first thing Sam had noticed when she'd entered the room again and he had hated the way he hadn't been able to tear his eyes from her long, bare, muscular legs that were only covered up to the ankle with her yellow and green socks. Her arms were bare as was her stomach due to her cut-out ARMY tank top and her hair was in a funky type of side braid, held together by a black, super-thick ponytail holder.

"I don't think she has one. I think she thinks that going by just her first name makes her hotter, like Madonna or something. She's wrong, because she's scary," Sam said through a mouthful of fries.

"Chew, swallow, speak," Kurt scolded him. "And her last name is Wilde-total stripper name," He muttered.

"You don't like my see-food diet?" Sam asked, opening his mouth wide and leaning towards Kurt who was sitting cross legged on Brittany's bed, the blonde sitting with her legs folded beneath her besides him.

"You're disgusting!" Brittany shrieked, covering her eyes to block the sight of the half-chewed food.

"Anyways, you did all that because they were calling me names?" Rachel asked, eyeing Brittany with interest.

"You're my roommate and you were nice to me before you found out I was a cheerleader. And I haven't heard you say a bad thing about anybody since I got here," Brittany shrugged as if it were obvious.

"Well, Barbie is a bit of a vindictive harpie," Rachel said thoughtfully.

Brittany frowned at her in confusion.

"Barbie is our code name for Quinn, because she pretty much asked me if I wanted to be her Ken," Sam explained, pausing from stuffing his face to take a large gulp of his milkshake.

"She didn't ask you to be her Ken," Kurt shook his head. "She just asked you if you wanted to go out because you two were obviously meant to be together due to your blonde hair and tanned skin hat clearly made you genetically compatible and capable of producing some flawless, symmetrically perfect offsprings," He said.

"She didn't ask that either!" Rachel insisted. "She just said that it only made sense that they went out because they were clearly meant to be a package deal," She told Brittany.

"So, in other words-she was Barbie and I was Ken and we shouldn't be sold separately," Sam shrugged, taking another large bite of what was probably his third or fourth burger.

"And Kitty is a Jesus-Loving-Devil who pretty much hates me because I'm Jewish. But, seriously, she's like a living Pretty Little Liar," Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Why do cheerleaders suck?" Brittany frowned.

"Cheerleaders do not suck. Kitty and Quinn suck because they can't deal with rejection and they know that Sam only rejected them because of Rachel-"Kurt cut himself off at Sam's warning look and Rachel's confusion. "Meaning, he hated that they bullied his best friend and refused to date anybody who treated one of his close friends that way, you know?" He said quickly, using his usual cover up for his Sam's Crush-slip ups in front of Rachel.

"You rejected them?" Brittany asked.

"We happen to be three of the rarest types of people you will find on this campus. We happen to be virgins, thank you very much, and we enjoy our lovely little virginity protection program. As far as we know, we're three of the only members, but whether that's because people lie about doing it or just don't let it known as well as we do, we aren't sure," Sam said proudly, reaching out to wrap Rachel in a one armed hug.

"Some of us are even lip-virgins," Kurt mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he pouted.

"Hey!" Sam said in outrage.

"You don't count, Sam. You kissed me because you felt bad for me when Finn Hudson rudely denied my affections by saying that he was straight and he wasn't going to become gay anytime soon and made sure that it was announced very publicly in front of the entire school in the cafeteria last year at lunch." Kurt insisted.

"I never got a kiss from Sammy," Rachel pouted.

"You want one?" Sam asked, turning towards her and puckering her lips.

Rachel squealed as she pushed him away, kicking at him to keep him at a safe distance. Her freak-out resulted in laughter from Kurt and Brittany, until Rachel fell backwards off of the bed in an awkward type of summersault.

"I love being friends with you losers," Brittany giggled.

"Okay, since you clearly aren't giving up on winning Rachel over, I'm going to help you," Mike said.

"You are?" Puck asked in amazement.

They had just entered their dorm room and were getting ready for bed, the rest of the dorm quiet as most people had retired to their own rooms long ago, most ready for bed as the first day of classes was the following day.

"The first thing you need to know-and it's the most important thing a person could ever need to know about Rachel is that she loves being recognized for her talent. She's like fucking Tinkerbelle or something. She needs applause to live," he rolled his eyes.

"So if I pay attention to her and praise her, she's going to like me?" Puck asked. "She's like a dog or something."

"Dude, it's way more complicated. She likes musicians. That's why she won't go after Finn and that's why the only guy she's ever dated at this school was Jesse St. James." Mike shook his head.

"Who the hell is this Jesse kid I keep hearing about?" Puck snapped.

"He's a senior."

"Rachel dated an older guy?" Puck asked, eyes growing wide as he learned just another thing about Rachel that made her even hotter than he had originally thought she was.

"That's irrelevant. He's going to some top of the line performing arts school or whatever next year-or, at least, he's applying to get into one. He already got an early acceptance letter to UCLA. But, anyways, he's all about the music. He's what the girls in the music department call a triple threat-he can act, sing and dance. And he worshipped the ground that Rachel walked on, because he likes girls who are a challenge, and Rachel was the only person who could ever out-do him in a performance. And not in a sexual way," Mike said, cutting off whatever perverted joke Puck might have made before he could even come up with one.

"They sound fucking perfect for one another. What happened?" Puck grumbled.

"He cheated on her with Santana Lopez, her old roommate and her old best friend."

"She made a girl switch rooms because she stole her boyfriend?" Puck asked, eyebrows raising in shock.

Could it be possible that Rachel Berry might be a bit of a bad ass?

"What? No," Mike rolled his eyes. "Santana told Rachel she was leaving for some new school she got into or something like that. She wanted Rachel to go but something happened that got them into a huge fight. She told Rachel about how she slept with Jesse as she took the last of her stuff from their room. Rachel was crushed after Santana left, and not just because she slept with Rachel's boyfriend. Rachel went and freaked out on Jesse and he didn't even try to deny it. Then-get this-he broke up with her," Mike said.

"He cheated and broke up with Rachel?"

"He said that if Rachel was expecting him to change for her, she was crazy because he wasn't the type of guy to settle down and she was lucky he was dating her in the first place. Sam got a few good punches in before Rachel made Kurt drag him off," Mike nodded.

"Kurt Hummel broke up a fight?"

"Kurt's pretty strong. He was on the football team for a little while. He was a kicker, but still-he worked out with us at practice and he was lifting some pretty heavy shit for a tiny guy," Mike shrugged.

Puck shook his head, trying to make sense of all of the new information that he was being told. And he was having a hard time believing that any of it was true-especially the part about Kurt Hummel not only playing football, but being surprisingly strong. That much just didn't make any sense at all.

"You guys sleeping over?" Rachel asked, tossing the last of their garbage into her and Brittany's tiny trash can with an eye roll-it was already full and they'd only been in the room for one full day.

"Is that allowed?" Brittany asked, biting down on her bottom lip.

"We have sleepovers all the time. They used to be in our room, because we had a pull out bed and Santana insisted on having her own bed, but they've always been easier to have at Rachel's, because, well, it's just always been easier that way because it's what we were always used to back at Lima-she had the biggest house and the most space for us to all camp out," Sam explained with a shrug.

"Do you care if they stay?" Rachel frowned.

"No-not at all. I just don't want to get into any trouble." Brittany insisted.

"It's fine-don't worry. We do this all the time. How do you want the arrangements? Newbies always get to pick," Kurt said, flashing her a re-assuring grin.

"I just refuse to room with Kurt-I'll kiss the guy, I'll room with him and I'll change in front of him, but I will not sleep with him and it's not because he's gay. He's one violent moth-"

"Samuel!" Rachel shrieked. "Watch your language," She insisted.

"I'll sleep with Kurt, if that's okay with him. I throw a pretty mean punch in my sleep-or so I've been told," Brittany said deviously.

"Oh, I really like this girl," Kurt squealed in excitement.

"I think you've been replaced," Sam whispered into Rachel's ear as she sat back down on her own bed. "Kurt seems to have found a new girl to try and corrupt," He teased her.

"I heard that!" Kurt sing-songed. "And nobody can replace my diva, even my new fashion-forward best friend," He said and the sound a raspberry could be heard from across the now dark bedroom.

"Okay, seriously? We have classes in the morning and Glee club officially starts tomorrow. Therefore, I need my voice to be perfect and flawless. And a lack of sleep because I stayed up too late and woke up too early? That would be like drinking nothing but dairy and eating nothing but dairy for a week before a big audition," Rachel said, pushing Sam off of the bed as she pulled the covers down and curled up into a ball.

"I forget-is that bad or good?" Sam wondered playfully as he crawled into bed besides her, pulling the blankets over the both of them.

"I hate you and you are a lousy friend for not paying us any attention when we are preparing for an audition. I'm not even kidding, you are a horrible person and you will be replaced as soon as we find another attractive, nerdy straight male who doesn't mind spending time with a drama-queen diva and a flamboyant teen gay," Kurt grumbled from where he was in bed with Brittany, his back to the blonde and his face to the wall.

"Can you all just shut up so we can sleep?" Brittany insisted.

"Seriously, we're going to have to kick you out if you don't stop talking," Rachel said seriously.

"You wouldn't dare," Sam protested.

"You wouldn't even try," Kurt shook his head.

"Oh, you sure about that? You two don't know Brittany all that way just yet," Rachel smirked from where she was locked tightly in Sam's arms, face pressed against his chest.

"You wanna try me?" Brittany challenged.

And there was nothing but complete and utter silence after that.

"So, if I prove that I've got talent when it comes to music and I praise her for being the most talented person I've ever met, I'm doing something right?" Puck asked across the dark bedroom he was saying with Mike.

"Yes," Mike groaned.

"Are you sure that's all I need to do? Because that seems way too easy and Rachel strikes me as the type of girl who would take a lot more to win over. Having talent and realizing that she has talent doesn't seem like it would be enough to impress her," Puck worried, running a hand through his mohawk in frustration.

"I haven't actually tried to win her over before, you know. I'm just giving you advice based on the one guy who actually stood a change with her, and that's how Jesse was. Besides, you're Jewish and every time she's turned a guy down who had a love of music and realized that she had any form of talent, it was because they would never fully understand what it meant to be a Jew, the way that she does," Mike explained in an obviously annoyed tone.

"She's Jewish?"

"You couldn't tell by looking at her?"

"I had my suspicions, but now that I'm sure? She just got that much hotter," Puck grinned.

"Awesome, now shut up and go to sleep or I will smother you with your pillow and you'll never get a chance with her," Mike threatened.