Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter took forever for me to get out, but I'm pretty happy with how it finally did. Sorry for the wait, I can't express to you how awesome it feels knowing that people are actually excited to find out what happens next. That being said, here you go! Please let me know what you think!

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The sun was shining down in the spring Ohio skies above Jesse St. James as he strutted into McKinley High. Passing by Santana and Brittany holding court with a group of Cheerios who all watched him go by with wanton smiles, he winked at the lot of them and continued on his way through the double doors. Passing by Karofsky and Azimio he got respectful nods in his direction, and slapped a high five with Mike Chang as he was passing by him. This had been almost too easy.

After getting into glee (unanimously, he might add pointedly), the beginning of his takeover of McKinley High had gone exactly to plan. According to the rest of the club, New Directions were at the bottom of the social heap, with a few of their members being independently accepted outside the group. Jesse St. James was an exception. He would not have been able to take a slushie facial and remain a star, and so the first time a frozen bomb wielding assailant approached with Jesse in his sights, he quickly accessed the Stallone role he secretly adored and verbally berated the jock into confusion and retreat. In the middle of the hallway. During a passing period. In the animal kingdom, that would be called asserting dominance over his territory. Needless to say, that had staved off any further assault on him from the herd of athletes, and had given him a repatriate as someone not to be screwed with.

Glee itself was already his as well. The girls seemed infatuated with him (and who could blame them, really) and the leader of the guys had surprisingly taken to him. He and Finn got on well, beside the fact that Jesse really could not hold on to a real conversation with the freakishly tall teen for more then ten minutes without wanting to beat him with a broadway encyclopedia to see if that educated him on the world that spawned his club.

But all was good. He loved and was loved by McKinley high school. Jesse St. James was on his way back up.

The only problem was Rachel Berry.

The girl could belt out a song, that was not the issue. If he looked objectively, she was the one in the group who had the most potential (aside from himself of course) and she was certainly a hard worker. Borderline obsessive if he were to use plebeian terms. In thespian terms, she was just another normal, wildly ambitious hopeful. Lima Ohio was not the place to nurture that dream though, and it showed when she would admonish the others for various show choir offenses, and visibly let her frustration sneak onto her face.

The fact that she wouldn't even give him the time of day kind of drove him nuts. Sort of. A lot.

She fascinated him, that was undeniable. Someone with Jesse St. James' talent wanted to be around other people who had talent almost as much as his. And in Los Angeles, he had been literally surrounded with people like him. In Lima, there was only Rachel. He was intrigued by her, and knew so little.

But unlike the rest of the club (and the school at this point) she hadn't welcomed Jesse with open arms. After their brief reintroduction in the auditorium, she hadn't spoken to him. It was like she was purposefully avoiding any contact outside of group numbers, and that went for the whole group, not simply him. The rest of the club had explained that it was unnatural behavior for her, normally she was in everybody's business all the time. Starting the day Jesse had been a witness to her talent singing "Gives You Hell" and his interest had been piqued, she had withdrawn from her regular persona and become the pod-version of Rachel Berry which was the only one Jesse knew. He knew that they knew more but if he pushed then they would begin to get suspicious. Professional curiosity can only carry an investigation so far. So he devoted himself to studying her at any chance he could during rehearsal, in the only environment where the only view of her wasn't one of her scurrying away from him.

It was after one particularly trying rehearsal that she finally cracked, and ended up shouting at Finn, Mr. Schuester, Puck, and Jesse over the boys' vocal arrangements.

"Really Mr. Schuester, having the guys sing the verses and negating the women to chorus is not only borderline sexist, but aural abuse" She insisted, annoyed

"Rachel-" the exhausted sounding teacher said, trying to stem the flow. She barreled right through that and continued admonishing them

"Finn and Puck seem too busy trying to keep up with the choreography to stay in time, and every time Jesse opens his mouth he is singing over everyone else, and I for one-"

"I somewhat resent that" Jesse cut in, knowing his annoyance at being judged too talented was all over his face. He had never seen his talent turned into a negative and it bothered him

She turned her attention on him (at least fighting with her gets her to look at me he couldn't help but thinking)

"We shouldn't even be having this discussion" Rachel spat towards Jesse "this song choice is awful. We might as well have a background that advertises iTunes top singles chart. We need classics Mr. Schuester" she let her eyes rest back on the now resigned looking instructor "Something the judges find more accessible. If not Broadway, then at least more classic rock. California Gurls? It reeks of classlessness"

She has Schuester there Jesse thought. Katy Perry had captured his opinion on California girls perfectly in a mix of mindlessly enjoyable pop, but it was certainly not competition worthy.

Fight with her genius. That'll get her attention Jesse thought, watching the teacher, Rachel, and Finn continue to battle it out The whole purpose is to get her to like me. Wait, what? I'm losing my mind he inwardly groaned. This girl was making him think like a teenage boy. He was Jesse St. James, not an easily manipulatable guy. This is not good

xxx

As she stopped talking for a millisecond to catch her breath, Rachel noticed what she thought was an interesting development in this particular battle. Puck had wandered off, ego bruised and pissy about being called out for his sub-par tone. Finn looked furious and stood like a petulant child. Mr. Schue was looking at her, but his eyes were blanker than her interest at any form of organized sports. Jesse however was gazing aptly at her, a look on his face that seemed almost supportive despite her tongue lashing a few moments ago.

The butterflies in her stomach briefly made an appearance and then were put back in their place as she refocused on Finn who was attempting to insult her.

"It doesn't matter that you think that the song is being sexist Rachel" he was saying, giving her as much attitude as she was giving him "We're doing this track. Get over it."

She felt the blood rush to her face. He was asking for a full on diva fit, mixed in with some personal rage. And she was just the scorned girl to give it to him.

"Mr. Schuester, if I may?" Jesse cut in, quickly stepping in between Finn and Rachel, the former of whom looked like she was about to explode from anger.

"I think Rachel has a point," he started, taking her aback "while California Gurls may be a crowd pleaser for a younger audience, the judges at Regionals are sure to be more conservative leaning than in California, and I'm positive that if anyone performed that even there, they wouldn't place."

"I appreciate your input Jesse, but I think it's important to stick to a song and perfect it rather than jumping around from track to track every week" Mr. Schue said, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, obviously exhausted. "We already have the choreography laid down for this one-"

"I'm sorry Mr. Schuester, but this number will lose us regionals. It's terrible." Jesse's words rang through the now silent choir room, the entire club now paying attention to the potentially epic confrontation now unfolding. The only person to defy Schue on setlists was Rachel, and that had almost ended with the club being disbanded.

Rachel herself hadn't even been that blunt, she had tried to soften the blow to him with an emotional appeal, but Jesse was just going for it. She had to say she was somewhat impressed.

Having an ally in glee was a foreign experience. Rachel knew she was difficult to get along with professionally, but that was because she was (almost) always right. And that same ally being Jesse St. James? She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she would certainly take the help. Mr. Schuester had a soft spot for Finn and she knew that he knew it. He had used it to his advantage before.

"Jesse it isn't your decision to pick the setlist" Mr. Schue said, now visibly agitated with the new member.

"No offense man but you just joined. You haven't earned the right to make any decisions yet" Finn added, sidling nearer to him, obviously utilizing his height to try to intimidate the two.

"Finn, please, you had to be coerced into the role of co-captain. Jesse's shown more interest in the first week of being here than you did in the first three months" Rachel said, tossing in her two cents. Finn gave her a withering look. She returned it in full, hands firmly on her hips, diva assault in full swing.

"No offense man, but your knowledge of Broadway is limited to whatever Hollywood adaptation is playing on television this weekend" Jesse said, stepping closer to Finn to block off Rachel.

"Guys! Thats it!" Mr. Schue yelled, throwing his hands up between the two boys and Rachel. "I will not have you fighting over this!" He pushed his way in between the two boys who were still glaring at each other, and Rachel who was standing a bit back, feeling somewhat frightened.

They went from discussion to almost physical blows quickly she thought, chewing nervously on her bottom lip as Mr. Schuester forced the grudgingly accepting boys to shake hands and get over it Finn has never seemed this volatile, and Jesse was unexpectedly enthusiastic in his defense of my position. What is going on with everyone?

"I think we should do two numbers that are classic Broadway and contemporary. Like your Sectionals set" Jesse said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that now descended upon the choir room. The other glee kids were all still watching, but now seemingly disappointed that there was no more excitement.

"I'm not making any decisions today. Everyone needs to cool off." Mr. Schuester said, gathering up his notes and books from the piano and then turning to face them all again. "The assignment for this week is to find a song that isn't on any top selling charts and find a way to make it Regionals-worthy. Be it Broadway or not, it can't be well-known. Be prepared on Friday. Thats it for today." He stalked out of the room, evidently unhappy about the lack of positive reception his idea had gotten.

"Does he mean just no current chart songs, or is the ban all-encompassing, because if I can't sing any Whitney Houston, I might have to shave someones head" Kurt stated, looking somewhat disturbed as he pondered actually being banned from Whitney

"Shut up" Santana said, rolling her eyes at his dramatics. "California Gurls was the best number we've gotten and now its been cancelled" she looked accusingly at Rachel "Way to go mouth breather"

"I don't know about the chart business, but what I do know is that I'm glad we don't have to sing that white girl crap anymore" Mercedes said, walking with Kurt, Tina, and Artie to the door. She looked at Rachel and Jesse and smiled "You guys know whats up. Good job."

Santana rolled her eyes and followed them, Brittany walking behind her apparently unaware of what was going on considering how she kept asking why Mr. Schue wanted songs nobody liked. Puck and Quinn had been long gone by this point, and Mike and Matt were talking in low voices with Finn across the room from Jesse and Rachel.

"Lets get out of here" Jesse said suddenly, striding across the room to grab his and Rachel's book bags. Handing hers over, he slung his over his shoulder and started towards the door, pausing as she hurried to follow him, still somewhat confused as to what was going on.

"Hey Jesse!" Finn called out, leaving his fellow football players conversation and jogging up to him. Rachel hovered outside in the hall as Jesse whispered "One sec?" and she nodded, watching him slowly make his way back in the room.

As much as she strained, she couldn't make out what Finn was saying to Jesse. All she saw was how Jesse nodded at him and muttered something back. They nodded at each other and Jesse came back out and gestured to her. They began walking down the hall, silence settling between the two.

"Thank you for backing me up in there" she started, unwilling to allow awkwardness to dominate Rachel Berry. "It's not often I have a fellow Broadway lover to side with me on song choices"

He smiled at her, holding the doors open and following her towards the parking lot. "It isn't like its a bad song. Only ill-fitted for a competition of this level. I wanted to talk to you about that though, how would you feel about maybe working on something together? You obviously have good taste..." he stopped walking when they were about to step off the curb onto the pavement between the sidewalk and parking lot "where did you park?"

Rachel flushed with semi-embarrassment. She had yet to get her license, but usually her one of her dad's picked her up promptly after practice. Of course today would be the day they both had to attend a dinner for one of their work events. She was planning on hoofing it but didn't want to admit that to the new cute boy who seemed genuinely interested in talking to her.

What the hell she thought might as well look like a loser sooner rather than later

"I actually don't have a car," she started, looking anywhere but him "my fathers usually pick me up but tonight..." she trailed off, fumbling with her cellphone to occupy her hands and gaze.

"Awesome, I'll give you a ride then. We can keep talking about the assignment" he flashed a smile at her and gestured towards the black Range Rover in the third row. Rachel returned the mega-watt grin with a shy one of her own and they made their way to the car, her thoughts racing as this mysterious boy kept surprising her more and more.

xxx

"This is me" Rachel said, pointing to the two story with the bright red mailbox sporting a bold "BERRY" on the side in gold letters. Jesse pulled into the drive and shut the car off, unlatching his seatbelt and turning to face Rachel completely. She sat with her hands folded, seemingly shy, looking anywhere but him. The drive had been mostly Jesse talking, but with Rachel piping up more and more as she got more comfortable with him. He swore he even saw a genuine smile for a moment.

"So you live here with your just your dads?" Jesse prompted "No brothers or sisters?"

"No, just us three" she returned, her gaze now on the house "they didn't want to have a big family, since they had both come from large ones. They had always wanted only one so that they could be completely committed and have no distractions"

"That's really an interesting take on it. Most people from large families want that, but their reasoning is totally understandable. I don't have any siblings either. I got so much talent that my parents decided having another would be too cruel to the younger one. I don't blame them" he said, smirking as she rolled her eyes at his showboating.

He leaned back in his seat and took her in. She was rather beautiful, in a completely fresh way. Here he was, used to blonde bitchy and boring. She was completely the opposite, and it fascinated him. She looked back at him from her seat. Her question caught him by surprise.

"Why are you being so persistent in talking to me Jesse?" she asked, clearly holding back was not one of her strong suits. "Most boys I know either ignore me or slushie me"

He was offended at being grouped in with those animals. But from what he had heard about her, she had a right to be suspicious. From what he had seen the first time they spoke, to what Finn had just mentioned to him before he left, Rachel was continually getting the short end of the stick when it came to relationships with the opposite sex. As much as he felt like a sentimental fool admitting it, he ached to be the variable in that pattern. He didn't know her but he wanted to.

"Your initial contact was off-putting," he began slowly. Don't screw this up St. James. "But when I walked into the first glee practice and saw you performing – not just singing but performing, I could recognize someone who is an artistic equal. And the fact that you love the Great White Way apparently as much as I do makes me want to befriend you even more." Befriend? Befriend! First time ever that anyone has put themselves in the friend zone before the girl does. Fantastic.

"You didn't see you strutting around in there Rachel Berry. You actually made me like the All American Rejects. That was a previously unattainable feat."

She smiled at that, blushing slightly. He watched as she unclicked her seatbelt, gathered her things, and turned back to him.

"I'm glad that you transferred Jesse St. James," she opened the door and stepped out of the car, turning around to lean on the open window the keep talking "I think Hello 12 would be perfect for the assignment"

He nodded his agreement, secretly thrilled that she okayed the idea of them doing a duet together. Their voices would mesh, he just knew it.

"Thanks for the ride" she continued, unaware of the mental celebration that was going on in the tousle-haired boys mind at her agreement. "I'm glad we're getting to know each other. It's nice to have potential with someone again."

With that she urned briskly onto the walk leading to her porch steps. Waiting until she got the door open, Jesse started up his engine and back out of the drive. When she turned and waved at him, he felt his face break into another huge smile and returned the gesture. Her door now closed, he sped away, high on the feeling that he got usually after every competition. The fact that she had said she was down for doing a duet with him was only the smallest part of his joy. Her last words rang through his mind It's nice to have potential with someone again made his stomach flip in a completely un-Jesse St. James type flip. She was something else.

He pulled into his own driveway ten minutes later and let the engine die again. Grabbing his bag from the backseat, he made his way into his house and into his room. Flopping onto his bed, he grabbed his phone. Noticing a new text message from an unfamiliar number, he opened it and his grin threatened to split his face in half.

Thanks again for the ride... You're mine and my heels' hero today. Have a good night. Rachel*

Saving her number with an asterisk star next to her name, Jesse set his phone down and kicked his shoes off.

He loved McKinley high school.

xxx

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