AN: AN- Recently, a friend told me Rachel shouldn't have told Finn about the baby. I was appalled...and inspired. How would Rachel defend her role in Babygate? Eventually, this will be Puckleberry, as I find them irresistible.

At Freaktonight's helpful suggestion, I've heavily revised Chapter 1! Enjoy.

I was simultaneously covered in three flavors of slushie: blue raspberry, cherry and grape. It was, perhaps, the most slushie that had ever hit me at one time.

"Jeeze, Berry!" I heard Puck say. I hadn't opened my eyes yet, as I knew there was too much corn syrup: it would just get in my eyes and sting. "Come on," he said, leading me by the arm. He took me into the girl's bathroom, and I heard him grab the folding chair I kept under the sinks. I could hear him run water, and then a soft cloth gently wiped the sticky ice from my face.

I'd been expecting him to use paper towels, as I hadn't heard him unzip my bag for my Slushie Clean-up Kit. I opened my eyes and saw that Noah had washed my face with a white t-shirt. Now he was just wearing a flannel shirt. He'd only bothered to button a couple of buttons when he put his shirt back on. I could see flashes of his lovely abs as he moved on to rinsing my hair.

"Noah, thank you for your help!" I said.

He shook his head. "Whatever, Berry. You got this?"

I realized he was asking if I could handle the situation from that point on. "Of course, Noah. Thank you, again." He nodded and left the bathroom.

The Sunday before, Mercedes had posted the link to Jacob Ben-Israel's blog on my MySpace page. Normally, I wouldn't have deigned to read such a thing, but I had realized that dealing with tabloid journalism was a skill I needed to acquire if I'm to be a star on Broadway. Poor Idina has to deal with the rumors they spread about what Taye is doing while he's filming Private Practice in L.A. and she's she's starring in a new play in New York.

Jacob had posted a picture of Puck, Finn, Quinn and me that he had apparently snapped at sectionals, despite the fact that cameras were prohibited. At least it was a flattering picture. Then I took a deep breath, preparing to read the stories.

A Berry Big Weekend!

"Naughty schoolgirl Rachel Berry had a busy weekend. First, she split up uber-couple Finn & Quinn by revealing the real baby-daddy: Rachel's Neanderthal ex, Noah Puckerman! Finn tried to flatten Puck's face and quit Glee. In her moment of need, Rachel called me to save the day at Sectionals, and I was happy to help the luscious lady. At the contest, we discovered that Cheerios Coach Sue Sylvester leaked our set list to the other schools, who stole our songs. Rachel rallied the troops to create a new routine. Frankenteen Finn returned at the last second with a Rolling Stones classic in hand, so I returned to the audience just in time for Rachel to serenade me. McKinley's New Directions brought home the gold! Now, will Berry manage to snag McKinley's newly-single Golden Boy?"

He reads too much Perez Hilton. Then I looked at the preceding story's headline: "Chastity Queen Quinn Got Pucked! Finn Hudson, you are NOT the father."

I had read that one, too, and sighed. I had been looking forward to the week to come, ruling the school as champions, but grew to fear that our celebrity status was not going to be as glamorous as I'd hoped.

Now, with my triple-slushie-shower, my sixth sense had clearly proved accurate yet again. Being a McKinley High celebrity was unpleasant at best. People all over school blamed me for what they're calling "Babygate." It's not fair!

No one who's actually involved in "Babygate" is mad at me! Quinn said I was brave enough to say what she couldn't. Finn told me he was glad he could trust me, and that someone finally told him the truth. Noah…well, Noah hasn't said anything, but in the hall after Finn and Noah had that terrible fight, he gave me a very intense look, and came to my rescue, literally giving me the shirt of his back. I think he might even be glad that I told Finn the truth about the baby's parentage.

Nonetheless, now, in addition to the usual taunts, people are saying that I'm a scheming home-wrecker. On Jacob Ben-Israel's blog, they're having ongoing debates on whether Noah and I dated for spite, whether Noah told me the truth while we were dating, and whether I told Finn on Noah's behalf, or because I was so desperate to have Finn for myself.

The kids in Glee are nice to my face. They're grateful that my ballad and my leads on "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Somebody to Love" helped us clinch Sectionals. They know they need me if they want to do well at Regionals and, God willing, Nationals. Also, we've formed a tentative rapport. The entire ensemble enjoyed arranging, choreographing and performing "My Life Would Suck Without You" for Mr. Shue. Even so, the other singers get quiet when I walk into a room. Yesterday when I walked in to rehearsal, I swear I heard someone call me "troutmouth." I wanted to stomp my foot and storm out, but preparation for Regional competition is more important.

Also, I realize that they are partially correct. I can be overly loquacious, and the things I say sometimes have unintended effects. I even admitted to Quinn that I had hoped she and Finn would break up. That wasn't the only reason I told him, of course. When I first suspected the true parentage of Quinn's baby, I'd made an outline weighing the pros and cons of telling the truth. From studying the list, I had decided to talk to Noah and Quinn, asking them to set the record straight.

Then Finn and I were talking in the hall. He told me how bad things had been, and gave me this beautiful smile. He said he felt like things might finally be good for a while. I couldn't stand it: the hopeful look on his face, the fact that he had been so unhappy for so long, and that he was smiling that smile at me while Quinn lied to him, lived in his house and probably slept in his bed.

I have no idea what I said. The next thing I knew, he ran into the choir room and tackled Noah. I winced every time his fists connected with Noah's face. I almost screamed at the top of my lungs, but a tiny part of me knew that causing that kind of damage to my vocal cords this close to competition was out of the question. The guys managed to stop Finn from driving his fists into Noah's face. Then everyone blamed me for telling. I tried to deny it, but Finn told everyone it was me. I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.

Why would he tell everyone that? Didn't he know how they would react, how they would treat me? Don't they hate me enough as it is? I realized that Finn wasn't thinking about me at all. He hadn't taken a millisecond to think about what his words would do to me. Be fair, I thought. He's going through major trauma. Cut Finn some slack.

But then, time passed, and he didn't show up for the bus to sectionals. Finn had abandoned us again. He knew what this competition meant to all of us, and to me. He knew it would bring me one step closer to my lifelong dream of Broadway, but all he cared about was himself. Yes, he showed up at the last second with the perfect song, but when I looked in his eyes, I knew: Finn Hudson had not come back for me.

AN- I adore comments, so please leave one. I'm also taking requests: who would you like to hear from: Finn, Quinn, Mr. Shue, more Rachel, Puck, another Gleek, or an omniscient narrator? Let me know.