A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, again, and just liked I said, I made sure not to make you all wait so long for the next chapter. So, here it is, enjoy.
Puck seemed to keep his promise the next day, for it certainly was the start of, well, something. Whatever that something was, Rachel didn't know yet. She had barely gotten to her locker when Puck came out of nowhere and tapped her shoulder. When she turned around he held up a rubber yellow duck with both of his hands.
She looked at him confusingly before taking it in her own. Before she could ask anything, he left without a word, leaving her there looking very much like a lost and confused puppy. She slowly turned back around to her locker and opened it with one hand. She quickly got her things, and when she closed it Brittany stood there with a childish smile, causing Rachel to jump back in surprise.
"I'm Brittany, you're Rachel and you're hot, is that a duck?" Rachel blinked and nodded. Brittany's face lit up. "Puck said you could give me it."
"Why do you want it?" Brittany frowned and momentarily looked sad, making Rachel regret ever asking her.
"I think Lord Tubbington killed it…I think he's been reading my diary again and got jealous because I talked about how much I like baths with the ducks…"
"Who's Lord Tubbington?"
"Oh, my cat. He's nice, just sneaky and likes reading my diary." Rachel gaped at the girl, who innocently smiled at Rachel, and pointed at the duck. "Can I have her?" Rachel looked at the duck, and nodded, but before she could give it to Brittany, Santana came towards Rachel, looking very angry.
"B, what the hell you doing with Manhands?" Rachel looked at Santana with a hurt expression, which Brittany caught and frowned at Santana.
"You're being mean again, you should apologize." Santana scoffed.
"Why, it's just RuPaul." Santana glared at Rachel, who took an unconscious step towards the lockers. "What are you even doing with her?" Santana asked, looking away from Rachel and to Brittany. Brittany's face lit up again and she pointed to the duck that was still in Rachel's hand.
"She's giving me a new ducky, remember what happened to the last one?" Santana nodded and Brittany looked back at Rachel. "Thanks, Rachy."
"Rachy?" Santana raised an eyebrow at the nickname, and Rachel furrowed her eyebrows together at the new name.
"Yup," Brittany said brightly. "You should thank her too!" Santana's eyes widened and Brittany looked at her brightly, causing Santana to curse whatever made her never able to say no to the dancer. Santana suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu, and felt as though Brittany wasn't the only girl Santana was never able to say no to. As she felt the odd feeling, she turned towards Rachel and nodded.
"Thanks, Manhands…" She mumbled distractedly, and Rachel stood up straight with a smile, making Santana feel the feeling more.
"It's no problem Santana. I would always be more than happy to help either you or Brittany, or Puck, or even anyone in Glee Club. After all, being a helpful person does make things better in the-" Santana suddenly snapped out of her daze and scowled at Rachel.
"Just shut up and give the damn duck." Rachel jumped at the sudden outburst from Santana and slowly lifted her hand up to Santana. Santana rolled her eyes and grabbed the duck, her fingertips lightly grazing Rachel's hand. They both quickly pulled their hands back towards them, causing the rubber duck to fall to the ground.
"Ducky!" Brittany gasped, quickly bending down to collect the duck, though neither girl seemed to notice Brittany, and just stared at each other. Brittany stood back up again and looked between the two, confused, before looking in front of her and waving. "Hi Quinn." Santana whipped her head towards the direction Brittany was waving to and indeed, there was Quinn with another one of her usually smug grins.
"The fuck? How long have you been there?" Santana snapped, and Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"Long enough," Was all she said, causing Santana to panic a little bit. Quinn looked at Rachel for a second before smiling at Brittany. "Hey, Brittany."
"Whatever, I've hung around the midget long enough, let's just go." Santana wrapped her pinkie around Brittany and began turning away when she called back to Quinn. "You coming, Q?"
"I'll catch up." Santana just scoffed and muttered a "whatever" as she walked off with Brittany happily talking about ducks. Quinn watched them go for a few seconds before looking at Rachel, and Rachel looked at the ground.
"You're Quinn Fabray, right?" Quinn stepped directly in front of Rachel, making Rachel slam herself against the locker.
"Listen up," Quinn said, crossing her arms. "Do you know Santana or something?" Rachel bit her lip before shaking her head.
"No…why?"
"Because she's been acting weird around you. And it's not like how she acts around Brittany, it's something different." Rachel looked up at Quinn, wanting to know more.
"What does she do around me?" Quinn shrugged.
"The usual weird stuff?" Rachel frowned in frustration at Quinn's words, but Quinn just sighed and took a step back.
"It's probably nothing, I shouldn't even care so much after all the shit she's put me through. See you around, um…" Quinn furrowed her eyebrows as she thought of the new girl's name. She knew she should know at least a part of the girl's name, considering Rachel was not only in some of her classes, but also in Glee with her.
"Rachel Berry." Quinn nodded.
"Right, see ya." With that, Quinn walked away, finally leaving Rachel to herself. Rachel closed her eyes and sighed, trying to collect herself before walking off to the direction of her first period class. She didn't get far though, because soon enough a slushy hit her and she heard laughing around her.
"Fuck…" She muttered, quickly turning around and heading to the bathroom. Luckily, she brought a spare shirt, and she quickly realized this was something that was going to be a daily occurrence.
The first few classes went by slowly, until it was time for Spanish class at least. Rachel walked in to see Santana in her seat with Brittany, laughing lightly at something she had said. Rachel couldn't help but stare at the Latina, she just looked so beautiful when she wasn't wearing her usual scowl. Santana felt her staring and looked at Rachel, and her small smile quickly turned to a frown. She looked down at the desk and began rolling her pencil back and forth. Brittany looked up and waved happily at Rachel, who returned it with a much smaller one. Rachel walked to Mr. Schuester and cleared her throat, making him look up from his desk.
"Mr. Schue, Brittany is back and obviously has taken back her seat, so where should I sit?" Mr. Schuester grabbed a piece of paper with seating charts and pointed to a seat in the middle.
"There's no one sitting next to Puck, right there at the end." Rachel nodded and walked to the seat, and Puck grinned at her.
"Hey, bro, so how did you like my surprise this morning?"
"I didn't know Brittany was that…fascinated with ducks…" Puck nodded.
"Yup, she loves them, no one knows why. Oh, and be ready for more surprises." Rachel sighed, and quietly paid attention the rest of the period. The rest of the day went without many "suprises" until lunch, when Rachel was sitting at the table with Mercedes, Artie, Kurt, and Tina. Brittany came up and hugged Rachel from behind, causing the small brunette to jump.
"Rachy!" Rachel looked up to see Brittany looking down at her sadly, tears threatening to spill.
"Brittany, what's wrong?" The others at the table looked up in alarm, the blond dancer was usually bright cheery, so to see her cry was a shock.
"Did something happen?" Kurt asked, confused.
"Yeah, hey where's Santana, isn't she usually with you?" Mercedes asked, looking around for the said girl. Brittany just sat down next to Rachel, never letting go.
"S and Q are looking for Ducky…" Everyone except Rachel looked at each other, confused.
"Ducky?" They said in unison. Brittany just nodded, and Rachel instantly looked at Puck, who was making his way over to the table.
"Hey, Brittany, what's wrong, did something happen?" He asked, a slightly worried tone in his voice, and Rachel just had to roll her eyes.
"She just lost the duck, but I'm sure you have no idea where it is, Noah." Puck just gave her a grin before looking around.
"Nope, why don't I look for it."
"Rachy, look for Ducky." Rachel sighed and nodded, getting up with a nearly crying Brittany and began walking down a hall randomly.
"Do you remember where you last to put it?" Brittany looked up in thought before looking at Rachel again.
"Choir Room." Rachel nodded and they walked to the room, where they met up with Santana again. Santana had been looking under the row of chairs and she looked up and automatically groaned.
"Seriously Manhands? I know I'm awesome but you don't have to stalk me." Rachel raised an eyebrow at Santana.
"Actually, Santana, I'm here with Brittany, not stalking you," Rachel shrugged. "Nice to know how bad your ego is, though." Santana would have actually laughed at the reply, if it wasn't Rachel Manhands Berry she was talking to. Santana just rolled her eyes and began looking again.
"Whatever, Smartass, now help me look." Rachel nodded and the two began working together, and Rachel thought it was kind of nice, even if Santana was refusing to talk or look at her. Every time Rachel had tried to strike up small talk, Santana would ignore her, and Brittany was waiting patiently by twirling herself around being oblivious.
Finally, Rachel and Santana looked at each other and shook their heads and looked at Brittany. Santana sighed and walked up to Brittany, who stopped spinning and smiled at her.
"Hey San, did you find Ducky?" Santana shook her head.
"Sorry Britt, we found nothing…" Brittany frowned and nodded. She looked at Rachel and shrugged.
"Okay. Thanks for looking, Rachy." Rachel nodded and Santana left the two out of the room without a word. Rachel walked to one of the chairs, and sat down wordlessly, thinking about all her encounters with Santana she had just that day. She sighed, and jumped when the bell rang, and quickly went to her next class.
The rest of the day went by uneventful, even the only other class Rachel had with Santana went by without any disturbance. Santana didn't look at her at all, and Rachel went immediately went to her seat. As soon as the bell rang, Santana quickly walked out again, and again, Quinn walked behind lazily. Rachel sighed and got up and went to her locker. As she went through her book, she felt someone walk up to her and looked up to see Finn.
"Hey Rachel." He said with the usual dopey grin.
"Hello, Finn, is there something you want?" Rachel asked, going back to her books.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you want to walk to Glee Club together." Rachel contemplated it, since she knew what the boy was trying to do. He wasn't exactly being subtle her first day when he kept talking to her, but walking with him would just be something innocent, something she could o with anyone. Finally, she looked up and nodded as she closed her locker, and he grinned. The two began walking to school and Rachel was suddenly self-conscious on how close Finn was.
"So, um, how's football?" Rachel really didn't care about the sport, but she hoped making small talk would get the uncomfortable feeling away. But Finn grinned again and walked closer to her.
"It's good. Hey, what do you think Mr. Schue is doing for Glee today? If it's duets I hope I get paired with you, we'd be awesome." Rachel saw the always open door and sighed in relief. Once they reached the doors she stopped outside them and turned around to look at Finn.
"Finn, I think we should just be friends, and nothing else." Finn looked down confused and was silent for a moment before speaking up again.
"But we are friends." Rachel nodded.
"Yes, but that's all we could be." Finn still looked confused and Rachel cursed in her head, thinking she couldn't be more clearer. Finn opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.
"That means she doesn't want you in her pants, Frankenteen." They turned their heads to see Santana glaring at both of them with a still sad Brittany behind her. "Now movie it, and take your stupid soap drama somewhere else."
"Don't talk to Rachel like that." Finn said, putting his large hand on her shoulder. Santana scowled up at him.
"I'm talking to you. I already had enough talking to Manhands, now move it." When Finn didn't move, Santana started to push her way between them, but Finn backed off before Santana could touch him. Rachel, however, stayed and felt Santana brush up against her, and they both shivered. Santana led Brittany to a far seat, and they wordlessly sat down. Rachel sighed and stepped in the room as well, with Finn following behind her. Rachel sat at the other end of the room, with Finn sitting next to her, glaring at Santana. Soon the rest of Glee Club walked in and then came Mr. Schuester, late as usual. As he came in he held a piece of paper and turned to everyone.
"Well, I have an assignment for you guys," Everyone became quiet as they waited for him to explain. He clapped his hands together with a smile. "Duets."
"Do we get to pick our partners?" Finn asked, and Rachel just knew what he was thinking.
"Nope," Mr. Schuester said and turned looked at the paper. "Everyone's pairing is here. I'll put it down on the piano. I'll just let you guys think of something with your partner, so that's really all we're doing today." With that he said his goodbye and left the room, saying something about needing to grade late homework and tests. Finn was the first to get up and check the paper, and frowned.
"Man, I don't have Rachel…" He turned around and looked at Rachel, who was slowly getting up with everyone else. "Maybe I can talk to Mr. Schue for us." Rachel sighed.
"It's fine, Finn. I'll just deal with whatever partner Mr. Schuester gave us, as you should do the same." Finn frowned and muttered a "fine" unhappily as he walked to Tina. Rachel ignored him and when she looked at the paper, her eyes widened. Next to her, she heard a soft laugh and looked up at Puck, who was looking all too happy with the outcome.
"Damn, I wonder how that happened."
"Yeah, I wonder." Rachel said sarcastically, and she heard Santana on the other side of the piano.
"Oh, hells no." Santana looked up at Rachel and glared at her.
"But Santana, we can't do anything about the partners," Puck said. "Sucks, huh?" Santana raised an eyebrow at him.
"What the fuck you smiling at?" Puck just shrugged, his grin never falling.
"Nothing." Was all he said before looking at the paper and walking towards his partner. Santana walked around everyone and grabbed Rachel's arm, dragging her to the corner of the room before talking to her quietly.
"Here's the deal, we're just sticking around for the damn song. That's all. Got it?" Rachel nodded and Santana continued. "Great, tomorrow we'll work on it, after Glee." With that, she took Brittany, who was talking with Artie, and they walked out of the room, leaving a confused Artie.
Since Santana was gone, and everyone else was leaving as well, Rachel decided to go home. When she got into her car, a huge grin spread across her face.
Things were going better than she thought.