A/N: The revisions for this story have already begun! Two plot holes have been filled. The last scene in the previous chapter has been updated with more dialogue thanks to a reminder from the anonymous reviewer Daki. The second chapter will be updated tomorrow with some more dialogue between Rachel and Jessica because I can't plan for shit. I've also stuck a quick scene into this chapter to close the plot hole for those who don't want to reread. This notice will be deleted with the next update.

Speaking of planning, quite a few suggestions I've received are already planned for this story. There are a few that I may or may not use depending on how much I want to whore myself out to my readership. Although, if Glee has taught me anything, it's that whoring yourself out is a great way to boost your audience. So, I may just do it. We'll see.

As always, thanks for reading and reviewing.

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that this was a movie.

This scene would open with the camera tight in on Rachel's white – well, it was mostly grayish now – monkey as it tumbled through the air in slow motion. All four of its limbs would be flopping around like a ragdoll as it slowly rotated around each of its three axes. The camera would then zoom out slightly, showing more of the out-of-focus background, and then quickly rotate left around the monkey's z-axis, making it seem as though the little stuffed animal was headed straight toward the viewer.

From there, the camera would quickly bring the background into focus and we would see that the monkey was on a relatively flat parabolic arc originating from Rachel's outstretched right hand. She'd be curled up in the recliner to the right of the sofa clad in Finn's light blue dress shirt and the pair of shorts which had quickly become her pajamas of choice during her stay in Lima. Another camera rotation, this time 180 degrees around the x-axis, and we would be following directly behind the monkey as it made its way toward the target: Finn Hudson's face.

"Did you really just say that all of that out loud before throwing this at me?" Finn said as he held up the monkey after it had hit him on the side of the face.

Rachel threw up her hands. "I'm bored! There's nothing else to do!"

"You could go – On your left – sing in your room again. You love doing that," he said before glancing at the monkey in his right hand then stuffing it between his back and the couch.

"Hey! You're gonna squish him!"

"He'll be fine. I bet he's tougher – Yea, I see them – than he looks," Finn said as he returned to his attention to the video game in front of him.

Rachel shot out of her seat and smacked Finn's arm over and over again, ignoring the "ow" he muttered, until he leaned forward letting her retrieve her monkey. She flopped down next to him on the couch before she said, "And you know I can't sing in my room. Your neighbors have complained that I've been singing too loud for too many days, which I still don't understand."

"Jeez, you are freakishly strong and yea, I have no idea why they minded you singing at the top of your lungs for a few hours every day for the past three days."

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated."

Finn killed a few on-screen zombies. "Got 'em. Well, you could always sing in the basement."

"I could, but I'd much rather sing where people have the chance to appreciate my vocal abilities," she turned to look at him, "You could always come down with me and listen to me!"

He shook his head. "No way, killing zombies."

"But I'm bored!"

"I told you – Dude, behind you – to make plans with Quinn and Santana."

Rachel let out a breath. "I'm pretty sure they don't want to hang out with me."

"Give them some time," Finn said as he jabbed a few buttons on the controller, "They didn't seem that angry with you last night at the bar."

"And they haven't talked with you about me at all?"

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about it… Although, they're both pretty scary when they're not talking, usually means they're planning something really evil…"

"You- You're no help at all!"

"What about Sam, Mike, and Artie. You seemed to get along with them fine."

"I would rather not be the only female with them. They're so… geeky when they're together."

Finn chuckled and shook his head. "You could go hang out with Puck?"

She smacked his arm again. "I don't want to hang out with that crude animal!"

He glanced at her. "He says he doesn't want to hang out with someone who has a stick up their ass."

A punch was thrown at his arm.

"Hey! His words, not mine!"

"Tell Noah that his childish and crude insults have no effect on me. And tell Noah that I didn't appreciate the strong drinks he kept serving me yesterday. I'm not the sort of woman who will sleep with anyone because of a few drinks."

"Use your bomb. Did you hear what she said? Dude, use your bomb. What? Hell no. There's no way I'm saying that to her," Rachel watched as Finn's on-screen character was swarmed by zombies, "Use your bomb!"

Finn's character spun around faster and faster, trying to delay the inevitable before it died from the hordes of zombies.

"Dude, where was the bomb?" Finn shook his head at the response Puck gave, "Whatever, wanna go again? We could probably get Artie and Sam to play," his controller was flung onto the sofa and his headset followed after he said, "Alright, later dude."

The television was changed to ESPN and Finn became engrossed in the highlights until Rachel could stand it no longer.

"So, what are our plans for the weekend? You can't tell me that you intend to spend all weekend on the sofa watching TV."

"Uh, I've got some plans this weekend that don't include you."

"What?"

"Yea, why'd you think I kept telling you to make plans with someone this weekend?"

"Because you hate spending time with me?"

Finn's head bobbed back and forth as he considered her statement. "Well, that was the other reason."

His arm was smacked again.

"So…" she turned to face him, "What are you doing this weekend?"

"None of your business."

"Can I come with you?"

"No."

"Can I come with you?"

"No."

"Can I come with you?"

"No."

Before Rachel could ask her question again, Finn started poking her on the side of her head.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to figure out which button to push to turn off repeat. But, I guess the power button would work too."

"Very clever. And why can't I come with you?"

"Because it's none of your business."

"But I'm bored!"

"Not my problem."

She stared at him for a few moments. "Can I come with you?"

Finn sighed. "You'd be bored there too."

"At least you'd be there to annoy."

He turned his head to look at her. "Yea, that's a real good reason for me to bring you."

"At least I'd be out of the house…?"

"Could've gone with my parents to volunteer at the church to do that."

"And do more work? No thank you. So… can I come with you?'

"No."

She pursed her lips and said, "You know, I could just get in your truck when you leave."

He shook his head. "Jesus, if you want to come with me that badly then be my guest. Just don't blame me when you're bored to death there."

She grinned at him. "I knew I'd be able to convince you."

"Whatever. Be ready to go in an hour or I'm leaving you here."

She flashed him another bright smile and started to head upstairs to get ready.

"Oh," she turned around at his interruption, "don't wear heels."

"Are we there yet?"

"We'll get there when we get there."

"I'm just curious as to where we're going and when we'll get there." Rachel said as she fiddled with the stereo system.

"Yea, I figured and I don't know why you're in a rush to get there. You're just gonna be bored," Finn smacked her hand, "and stop messing with the music. I'm driving so it's my choice."

"Be that as it may," she reached for the stereo again, "your music selection this afternoon is terrible and I refuse to listen to another second of whatever this is."

"This is uh," he slapped her hand away again, "dubstep I think."

"Well, whatever it is, it's terrible. I can't believe people actually listen to these mindless beats that seem to go on forever."

"Yea," he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't get why people like this stuff either."

"What?" Her eyes narrowed, "If you don't like this, then why are we listening to it?"

"I figured this stuff would bother you, since you seem to like stuff with lyrics, especially if they're sappy."

Her jaw fell. "You… you… I hate you."

The hated crooked grin made another appearance.

She continued to try to change the music. "Why do you have a whistle around your neck?"

He continued to stop her. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

"I can't help my inquisitive nature."

"Well, you'll see when we get there."

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the whistle. "That isn't my rape whistle is it?"

He scoffed. "No, I didn't need to rummage through your things for a whistle."

"Good. I don't like to share my things."

"Really. You don't like to share. I would've never guessed that."

She smacked his arm a few times and when he tried to stop her from continuing, she reached around and finally succeeded in changing the music. "Ha! Got it!"

"Doesn't matter. We're here," Finn said as he pulled into a driveway.

"William McKinley High School?"

"Yea. Welcome to my old high school."

Finn parked his truck and grabbed a messenger bag from the middle seat before getting out. Rachel followed suit and trailed him as he headed towards the field behind the school.

"So, what are we doing here?"

"Football practice."

"Are you purposely trying to annoy me again?"

"Nope, take a look," Finn said as he waved an arm towards the field.

Rachel looked towards the field and finally noticed that the dozen or so people already there. Three of them were throwing footballs as the others ran across the field catching them. Off to the side, overseeing them all was a large man with his arms crossed and a whistle around his neck. He barked out a few suggestions as Finn and Rachel slowly made their way over.

"Why did you bring me to football practice? Don't you realize how bored I'll be here?"

He looked at her in disbelief. "You're the one who wanted to come along and for the hundredth time, I told you to make plans this weekend," he looked away before she could respond and shouted, "Hey Coach Beast!"

The man turned to return Finn's greeting and that was when Rachel realized that the man wasn't a man at all, just a very masculine looking woman.

"Finn, glad you could finally join us."

Finn jerked his head towards Rachel. "She took too long getting ready, as usual."

"Hey! I didn't take that long!"

Finn ignored her comment. "Coach Beast this is Rachel, she's a uh, family friend. Rachel, this is my old coach, Shannon Beiste."

The football coach nodded at Rachel. "Nice to meet you Rachel. Although, I don't know why Finn dragged you all the way out here just to watch a football practice."

Rachel returned the nod with a serious expression. "Yes, I don't understand why he did either."

"Huh? That's not what-"

"Alright, enough chatter. Go run some drills Hudson."

Finn sighed and said, "Yes ma'am," before heading over to where the players were passing footballs around.

"Hey Mike," Finn nodded at his old teammate before addressing the other players. "Alright guys, Coach Beast do warm ups already?"

"Yea Finn," said Troy, the starting QB, as all the other players gathered around Finn.

"Okay then, three-step drop drill. Let's go," Finn clapped his hands as everyone began to move.

"Whoa whoa, this is our first practice man. No need to rush," Troy waved everyone to a stop. "Let's talk about that hot chick you came with."

"She's not hot."

One of the other guys spoke up. "Looks pretty hot in that dress from where I'm standing."

Finn looked behind him and saw that Rachel was laughing along with Coach Beast. Her laughter barely tickled his ears from that distance but he would've known it was her even without turning around. There was a musical quality about it that he'd never heard before in a laugh and it sounded nice. Then again, anything would sound nice compared to the endless babbling that usually came out of her mouth.

"Yea okay, she's hot when she's not talking which is never," Finn pointed towards a spot near the middle of the field and blew his whistle to emphasize his order. "Enough talking, three-step drop drills. Now."

A few more musical notes of laughter reached his ears and he wondered what could possibly be so funny. Coach Beast wouldn't tell her that story… would she?

"So, that's when Finn looks up and sees the entire team before they burst out laughing."

"Oh my God. I can't believe he fell for that," Rachel said in between her roaring laughter.

"It gets better. After the team stops laughing at him, he says, 'I didn't know this stuff burned so much.'"

This caused Rachel to laugh even harder, so hard that a few undignified snorts escaped her mouth. Coach Beastie only chuckled when Rachel looked up with an embarrassed expression.

"That was a hilarious anecdote. I could definitely see him doing something like that."

Coach Beastie considered the thought for a moment. "Guess he doesn't show that side of himself to too many people anymore."

"Really? He doesn't seem too different around other people."

Coach Beastie turned her head to look at Rachel. "How long have you known Finn? I've met almost all of his family's friends but I don't remember you."

"I actually only just meet him a few weeks ago."

"Huh…"

They both watched as Finn led the high school players through a few drills as he and Mike gave them advice and suggestions when needed. Finn and Mike even demonstrated what they wanted to be done a few times. From what Rachel could tell, they seemed to be highly competent football players. Of course, it wasn't as if she could actually tell if they were competent or not, but it appeared as though that everyone thought they were since they paid attention to their advice. Every once in a while, Coach Beastie would whistle then bark out her own suggestions and advice.

"It's nice of you to let Finn and Mike help out with your team."

"Nice? Are you kidding me? I'm thankful every day that I have two stud football players to help me out at practice in the summer. And of course one is with me the entire year, not that I'd ever be happy with that though."

"Surely you don't need their help. You were their coach after all."

"I may be a fine high school football coach but those two go to one of the biggest and best college football programs in the country. They have multiple coaches for every position, a weight and nutrition staff, a video room just for film study, and tutors to help out with their regular class work. They take their football seriously there," Coach Beastie chuckled. "Meanwhile, I'm lucky that I have two part-time assistants during the school year. One of whom doesn't help out during the summer. So, having two kids who've breathed, eaten, and slept football for years is really helpful."

"Really? I didn't know that…"

"Don't know much about Finn's college career do you?"

Rachel shrugged. "I know that his injury prevented him from playing again. But aside from that, no I do not know much about his career."

"Well let me tell you about Finn Hudson the football player then," she pointed at Finn. "That kid over there was one of the best college quarterbacks in the country and as fans liked to call him: the most recent savior of Buckeye football."

"I find it hard to believe that Finn was their savior."

The coach chuckled. "Well, football fans around here can be a little obsessed, but they had a point. After Tressel resigned the program went downhill. Fans in this state expect to win all the time and a few years of mediocre win totals weren't helping the new coach make any fans in the state," she let out a breath. "Then it looked like things were about to get even worse when his starting QB got hurt and all he had was this freshman no one knew about."

"I assume that the freshman was Finn?"

"Yea, he was the freshman that no one knew about and he got off to a rough start: lost his first two games. But, his third game he led the team to a big comeback win and then he reeled off nine straight wins, including a bowl game."

"That sounds very impressive."

The coach nodded. "You bet it was. You don't see true freshman come in off the bench and lead their team to a ten and three season. Course, it didn't hurt that Mike was turning out to be one of the best wide-outs in football either. They got even better their sophomore year and started the season 10 and 0. Mike was gonna win the Biletnikoff and Finn had a pretty good chance to win the Heisman, which is almost never given to a sophomore."

"What are those?"

"Oh, the Biletnikoff is given to the best wide-out in football and the Heisman is given to the best player in football."

"So, they're like the Tony Awards for college football?"

"What're the Tony Awards?"

"They're like the Oscars or Grammys but for Broadway."

"Then yea, I guess the Biletnikoff is like one of Best Supporting Actor awards given out and the Heisman is like Album of the Year."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Finn was that good?"

"Sure was. It's a damn shame he got hurt so young," Coach Beastie said as she shook her head.

They watched as Finn demonstrated what he wanted done for the next drill.

Rachel crossed her arms and pointed her chin towards Finn. "I don't understand why Finn can't play anymore. He seems to be able to move very well."

"It's not that he can't move. It's that his leg can't stand up to the number of reps he'd have to go through to play," she looked over and saw that Rachel hadn't understood at all. "His broken bones didn't heal properly so they're not strong enough for him to play," another look showed her that the words still hadn't explained it to Rachel. "See, at that level football players practice hours every day and he has to go full speed pretty much every practice and when he's not doing on-field work, he'd be doing weight training. All those repetitions put a lot of stress on his legs. Stress that his bones just can't handle."

"Is it really that bad? It doesn't look like he puts too much stress on his legs."

"Look closer," the coach pointed at Troy who was imitating Finn's actions. "See how Troy plants himself? Throwing power doesn't all come from the upper body. A lot of it comes from the legs and how they provide a base for the entire body to rotate around. Watch how Finn limits his follow-through while Troy can really put everything behind a throw."

Rachel's eyes darted back and forth between the two throwers. "There doesn't seem to be that great of a difference."

"Yea, everyone thought that he was fine but he started to get pain in his leg as he started practicing again and x-rays showed he had stress fractures. Docs did some tests and that was that. His career was over before it had really got started."

"That's awful…"

"All he ever wanted was to make it out of here and football was his ticket. Now he's stuck here trying to help other kids get out of Lima with football."

Rachel watched as Finn threw another ball to Mike who speeding downfield. "That's tragically ironic, but I suppose things haven't turned out too badly for you."

Coach Beastie pursed her lips. "You know, I would give back every win I had if it meant Finn wasn't around to help me in the fall," she started to walk off towards the players. "It was nice meeting you but they're starting to goof off and I need to crack the whip."

If Finn closed his eyes he could almost imagine himself playing back at the Shoe: the smell of fresh cut grass and newly painted chalk lines, the feel of the springy grass under his feet, the rough texture of a football in his hands, and the voices of the players around him. But there were differences that stood out: the sneakers on his feet would never have the same grip as a pair of spikes, a different set of calluses that made it hard to get a good feel of the ball, he couldn't hear the dull roar of the crowd, and he could never bring himself to fully trust his left leg again.

Still, there was a reason Finn was one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks his senior year of high school. His eyes popped open and quickly found Mike streaking down the sideline about 30 yards away. Just two years ago he'd be able to wait until Mike was 50 yards away and still be able to hit him in stride. Now, the best he could safely do was hit something 40 yards away and with the way Mike ate up the field at full stride he'd be further away than Finn's range in no time at all.

He planted his feet and brought the ball back by cocking his arm. His left foot was pointed in the direction of where he wanted the ball to go, which was just ahead of where Mike was. His hips rotated slightly to the right before quickly springing back to the left. This increased the torque of his arm as it quickly uncoiled itself from behind his head. He released the ball a little earlier than usual to give it more hang time so Mike could run under the ball and catch it in stride. Of course, he remembered not to completely follow through to reduce the stress that his left leg had to bear.

Finn laughed as Mike goofed off and high-stepped it into the end zone, something he'd never do in a real game but loved to do in practice. He then stepped aside to let Coach Beast install some of the basic plays of her offense. It was pretty early in the summer and most of the players had been on the team last year, but Finn was sure that every coach thought it was never too early to start practicing for the next season.

Finn turned around and spotted another difference as he headed towards the sideline. His houseguest was looking completely bored as she swung her right foot back and forth, barely grazing the grass. Her dress fluttered higher and higher around her legs as she swung faster and higher, as though she was doing some sort of exercise. All Finn could do while he walked towards her was be hypnotized by her leg as it swung back and forth, higher and higher. That is, until she spotted him coming and stopped swinging her leg which caused his eyes to dart up to meet hers.

The slack, bored expression had turned into a smirk as he approached her. "Finished yet?"

"Why? Are you bored?" Finn said as he stepped past her to grab one of the bottles of water sitting on the bench.

"No, this has been quite entertaining to watch."

Finn took a long drink. "Really?"

"Yes."

He glanced at her. "Really?"

She glared at him. "Really."

"Good cause we're not done yet."

Her eyebrows shot up. "What?"

Another glance was shot her way. "I thought you were being entertained."

"Why the hell would I be entertained!" she threw her arms up in the air. "I'm being bored to death here!"

"So you were lying to me just now."

"Of course I was lying to you! I've never found football to be interesting!"

Finn looked over her and thought that there was something missing from the picture. "Where's your phone?"

"I left it at home because you were rushing me. This is all your fault!"

"My fault? You're the one who wanted to come in the first place!"

"Only because you wouldn't tell me what you were doing!"

"I said you'd be bored here," he took another drink. "Maybe you should listen to me every once in a while."

Finn looked over when he didn't hear a response and saw that she was blowing air from the side of her mouth trying to move a strand of hair away from her face. "You must really be bored if that's how you're trying to entertain yourself."

She blew at her hair one more time. "So why do come assist your old coach?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"What's the point? There's nothing to gain from doing it."

He glanced over at her while taking another drink of water. "Not much of a team player are you."

She shrugged. "I am when I need to be, but I don't really like it."

Finn chuckled and shook his head. "I figured a New Yorker like you might say something like that."

"And what's wrong with my philosophy?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. It's just… Don't you feel kinda special when you're with a group of people all working together?"

Rachel scoffed. "No, the only people who should feel special are the talented ones. Everyone else should feel grateful to have the opportunity to work with them."

It was Finn's turn to scoff. "Those are the kind of people everyone on a team hates."

He would've sworn she looked sad for a moment as she looked down before she pursed her lips and said, "Well it doesn't matter as long as they have the most talent."

He scoffed again. "Yea it does. They're called team sports for a reason. Even the most talented players in history wouldn't have won without their teammates," he pointed at Mike. "Take Mike, that guy is the most talented wide-out on his team but he knows that he can't be the primary target of every play. So he doesn't complain when he isn't the first option. He still plays hard even though he knows he won't get the ball because it helps the team and he doesn't complain about it. I've played with guys who complain about not getting the ball enough and half-assing it when they don't and no one liked them; no matter how much talent they had."

"Well, what if that player complains but does his job and works hard all the time?"

Finn sighed. "That's better but they better not expect to hang out with the most of the team; the stuck up people usually hang out with each other. Until you know, they start to hate each other because they think they're better than everyone else."

Rachel's eyes widened before her eyebrows furrowed. "Okay fine, you're a nice guy who enjoys helping out," she swept her arm towards the field. "But what about Troy? Why is he helping out players that are trying to take his job?"

He gave her a look of disbelief. "You're kidding right?"

"No, I am not."

He shook his head. "What part of team sport don't you understand? What'd you want Troy to do?" she opened her mouth to respond but Finn kept talking. "Ignore his backups?" she tried again but he wouldn't let her. "What if he gets hurt and the backup QB has to play? And he's a senior, so he's gone after this season and he wants his team to be good next year and the year after that and the year after that. Players want their teams to win and to do that you need the strongest team possible. You can't have that if no one helps anyone else!"

He shook his head again before draining his water. "Anyway, we shouldn't be here too much longer, first practice and all."

Rachel flopped down onto her bed after dinner, replaying the conversation she had with Finn earlier in the day. Without knowing it, he had said things that were eerily fitting in regards to her life back in New York. She wasn't delusional. She knew that the people she worked with didn't particularly enjoy it thanks to her pretentious attitude. And yes, she almost always hung out with people who had the same attitude as her which always led to backstabbing just as Finn said.

It was just how she always thought people with talent were supposed to act. But, Finn was talented, maybe as talented as her, and everyone seemed to love him. He even had a group of good friends. It just made no sense to Rachel. Talent was something to be put on a pedestal to be admired by the ones who had none. Not a thing to be spread among the masses. Rachel really disliked having her worldview disrupted.

Her cell phone interrupted her musings.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's me."

"Jessica! Am I finally being let out of my prison?"

Jessica laughed. "No, I was just checking in since I haven't been getting dozens of texts each day begging me to let you leave for a few days now."

"I've been busy…"

"Busy? Thought you said there was nothing to do there?"

"There isn't. The people I'm staying with have a son and he's been dragging me around town, boring me to death."

"Is this son cute? Wait, he's not jailbait is he? I don't feel like coming back there to bail you out."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, he's not jailbait and he's gorgeous. That is, until he opens his mouth, then he's gorgeously annoying and difficult to deal with."

Rachel could hear the grin in Jessica's voice as she said, "Sounds like a winner to me."

"Whatever. Please tell me I'll be finished with whatever this is soon."

"You'll be finished when your dads and I think you're finished."

Rachel groaned. "When is that going to be? I've already been here three weeks!"

"You'll be done when you're done," Rachel sighed. "Oh, one more thing. He called and asked how you were doing."

Rachel shot up and began pacing around her room. "He called you to ask about me? That idiotic imbecile. How dare he not have the courage to ask me himself. I hope you didn't tell him anything."

Jessica scoffed. "Of course not, who do you think I am? I told him to call you and with that reaction I'm guessing he hasn't."

Rachel sighed and flopped back down onto her bed. "No, he hasn't."

"Can I give you some advice?"

"As long as you don't expect me to listen to it."

"I never do. But, you need to forget about him, you're too good for that stuck up, pretentious, asshole."

"We've been over this Jessica."

"I know, I know. You think you two are great together because you're so alike, but I know deep down inside you're nothing like him."

"So you keep repeating."

"Because I know it's true."

Rachel sighed, yet again. "Is that all?"

"You're remembering to keep a low profile right?"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeesssssss."

"Then that's all. Night Rachel."

"Goodnight Jessica."

A/N2: Shorter update because I didn't want to go a month and a half between updates and what would've been the second part to this chapter is giving me trouble. So, I hope this bit is strong enough to stand on its own.

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