A/N: I'm getting such a positive response to this story and I love it =] Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, your lovely words make my day. This is a bit of a filler chapter and its a bit shorter but I hope you still enjoy it.

The weeks ticked by and Jesse was sticking to his decision and was only talking to Rachel when he was in character or if he absolutely needed to. Rachel couldn't concentrate, she hated that she couldn't just talk to him. She hated that she had to see him every day but wasn't able to hug him or kiss him or hold his hand. At first she had tried to talk him into changing his mind but he had arrived and left rehearsal with little time to spare. She knew he was doing it on purpose to avoid her. She also saw from his facebook profile that he had been going to every party he could while he was still in Lima.

On the opening night of the show as they were passing each other in the hallway before it started Jesse grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. It was slightly too long to be considered friendly but afterwards he showed no sign of it ever happening. The show was a success and every show had been sold out which surprised everyone involved. Rachel savoured every moment on stage because she knew that the closer it got to the end of their two week run, it got closer to the time that Jesse had to leave.

When it came to their curtain call on their last performance Rachel was in tears. She was terrified that she would never see Jesse again and when they took their bows she gripped his hand tightly refusing to let go. He gripped her hand just as hard and they didn't let go at any point, which confused the rest of the cast who thought that the two of them weren't really that close. After the show she still refused to let go of Jesse's hand and walked to her dressing room and leaving him no choice but to come with her.

She knew her dads would want to congratulate her but she needed to spend some time with Jesse before he left.

She wiped the tears from her eyes but it was a useless act as more fell to replace them. "I couldn't let you go without giving you this." She choked out.

She went over to her dresser and opened the drawer to take out the picture of them that she'd had framed. It was one from their first date. They had set her camera which had been in her purse on timer and moved to the centre of the stage. She was standing in his arms and they were staring into each other's eyes. The dusty theatre provided the perfect backdrop and they looked stunning together. She'd had it printed in black and white so it looked even more professional. She had also planned to get a card but felt that a colourful 'sorry you're leaving' card wouldn't quite express what she was feeling. She doubted that they made 'please don't go I think I'm falling in love with you and can't bear the thought of being without you' cards. So instead she had written a small message at the bottom of the photograph. She held it out for him to take and he did so slowly and looking at the picture a shadow crossed his face.

His face fell as he finally let himself accept the fact that he was leaving. He had focused so much on the show and had pretty much avoided going home but now he would have to face it. He would spend the next few days packing and then he would be headed to California with only a few memories of Rachel Berry. He suddenly regretted not listening to her before and wished that he could have had that time with her. He quickly reminded himself of his reasoning. If it was hard now, he couldn't even imagine how difficult it would have been if he had fallen in love with her.

He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a passionate kiss. He could feel her gripping onto the t-shirt he was wearing and her other hand holding on to his neck. He pulled her in even closer, deepening the kiss. He could feel her tears wetting his cheeks and pulled away leaning his forehead against hers. She stared up into his eyes and he hated himself for the pain that he saw there. He knew that it was unfair to do this to her just before he left but he couldn't stop himself.

"I'm going to miss you." She whispered.

He nodded. "We'll meet again someday, I know it." He promised.

"Will you call?"

She already knew the answer but as he closed his eyes and shook his head she felt the gripping feeling in her stomach deepen. She looked down and he rested his hand on her neck. He kissed her slowly on the forehead, breathing in her scent.

"Goodbye Rachel." His voice was hoarse from unshed tears and he moved quickly from the room not wanting to let her see him cry. He leant back against the wall and looked up to prevent the tears from falling. He looked again at the picture and saw the message at the bottom.

I will never forget the short time we spent together. I think I could have fallen in love with you.
Rachel Berry *

The small star she had drawn at the end of the message made him smile. It was more her than an x would have been. He was sure he could have fallen in love with her too. He was worried that he had already.

As Jesse left the theatre he saw Rachel standing with her fathers. They were smiling widely at her and congratulating her. Jesse ducked his head quickly left the theatre. When he arrived home he ran up to his room and locked the door. He plugged his ipod in and played a playlist he had set up after he ended things with Rachel. He lay on his bed and looked at the picture she had given him. Reaching into his bedside cabinet he pulled out a box. Inside it was a delicate pearl bracelet with a white gold star at the centre. He didn't know how he was going to give in to her. They had said goodbye and he didn't want to do it again. The memory was perfectly heart breaking; anything else would just be painful. He thought about dropping it over the morning that he left, but he also didn't want her to think that he had only gotten her something because she gave him something.

He decided to post it through her letterbox that night so she would get it in the morning. He drove to her house quickly and dropped it off before quickly driving away again.

The next morning Rachel went down to breakfast and saw a jewellery box on the table. She looked at her fathers. "What's this for?"

"We don't know, it's not from us. It was put through the letterbox." Hiram told her, watching carefully as she slowly opened the box. She had told them what had happened between her and Jesse and while they sympathised with her they did seem to think that Jesse was right.

She took the bracelet out of the box and looked at it closely.

"It's beautiful." She heard Leroy comment and she nodded absentmindedly. She turned the star over and saw the letters J+R engraved on the back. She smiled sadly.

"I think I'm feeling a movie marathon." Hiram said and Rachel saw him raising his eyebrows and widening his eyes at Leroy to get him to agree. She knew what they were trying to do and appreciated it. She would need to forget about Jesse St. James and get on with living her life. After that day Jesse was never brought up in their house. Rachel never mentioned him and her fathers didn't want to upset her when she seemed to be getting over him.

Jesse left for California on the 27th of August and Rachel took that day to feel sad. She knew that he had left that day because she saw it on facebook. They may not have been planning to keep in touch but neither of them made the step to delete each other from their friends but Rachel did take him off of her news feed.

When Rachel went back to school that September she was sure that it was going to be exactly the same as every other year, but she was wrong. She finally managed to get Sandy Ryerson fired, not just as glee club director but from the school entirely. She supposed that she should feel guilty but she didn't tell the principle anything that wasn't true and Mr Ryerson was a terrible teacher anyway. After that, Mr Schuester, the Spanish teacher took over the glee club. At times, Rachel felt like he was out to destroy her life but she could see what he was doing for the glee club and so most of the time toned down her extreme drama queen tendencies.

When Mr Schue took over he held auditions. They didn't get many people and Rachel thought that maybe it didn't matter who was in charge, glee would always be for losers. Then, Mr Schue somehow got Finn Hudson, the school quarterback to join. Rachel had to admit he had a nice voice and she did think he was kind of cute. She had already decided her crush on him before he told her that he had a girlfriend but she didn't really care about that. He was something she could focus on and she was something that would keep her mind off of Jesse. The first song that she sang with him was 'You're the one that I want' from Grease. She threw herself into the song to avoid thinking about singing it with Jesse and then comparing Jesse to Finn. If she was honest with herself she knew that Finn suited Quinn much better than her and she suited Jesse much better than she did Finn, but Jesse wasn't there.

After Finn joined, Quinn, Brittany and Santana joined. Rachel was suspicious of their motives but they needed the numbers. After that a few guys from the football team joined and they now had enough members to make up a full competitive glee club, albeit a small one. Rachel was ecstatic and threw herself into it. There were a few set-backs; she quit to do the school production but quickly returned, missing the feel of a team. She was surprised at how much she enjoyed being a part of the team. She would always be disappointed when she didn't get a solo and on a particularly bad day that might result in a storm out but for the most part she enjoyed every part of glee club.

Finn and Quinn were still going strong despite the fact that Finn had kissed Rachel a couple of times and had used her to try and get a scholarship. Rachel also briefly dated Puck and they became quasi-friends and he promised to stop slushying her. Rachel also found herself developing a crush on Will Schuster but Susie Pepper of all people brought her to her senses. But Susie Pepper didn't know what she was talking about. It wasn't her self-esteem issues that drew her towards guys she could never truly have, it was that she had found the one that she wanted but he lived in another state and didn't want to talk to her. However, she did see that Mr Schuester wasn't a healthy option. He told her she would find the guy who would love her for all her flaws and it made her cry because she was sure that she had already found him.

As they were gearing up for sectionals it came out that Quinn had cheated on Finn with Puck. Finn angrily quit the glee club but saved the day when they lost their entire set list. They ended up winning and Rachel began a tentative relationship with him. She could tell that he wasn't completely invested in it. She kept pushing, hoping that he would break up with her but it had hurt more than she expected to when he did. It was mostly because she knew that he still thought of her as a loser despite everything and that hurt. She hoped that once people actually got to know her they would actually like her.

Their hello assignment had made her think of Jesse and so she put all her energy into the anger she was feeling at Finn and she also refused to do a hello song. Mr Schue wasn't happy with her rendition of 'Gives you hell' but it didn't particularly bother her. She thought that their rendition of 'Hello Goodbye' was passable but didn't want to do it at regionals.

A few days later all the glee girls were sitting in the choir room and Tina told them how Artie had been treating her. Later that day in glee club, Mr Schuester told them that they were doing a Madonna assignment and berated the boys for their attitude. Just as Rachel was about to get up and demonstrate the door to the choir room opened.

A/N: I wonder who that could be? hmmm... ;] And just in case it isn't clear, Quinn is not pregnant in this story.