A Threat to Rachel Berry
Chapter 10

The door slammed behind Jesse as he stormed into Shelby Corcoran's office. She didn't even blink from the work she was doing at her desk. "Jesse, I told you to only come every week. It's only been two days since you went to McKinley. What, did you miss it so much? Well, get over it, I want Rachel on our side, and I want to crush Will Schuester—and his Glee Club," she said.

"Get someone else because I quit," Jesse said sternly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Now, Shelby stopped working and looked up at him. She removed her glasses and stared at him before asking one simple word, "What?"

"I don't want to do this stupid job of yours anymore," Jesse stated.

Shelby feigned deafness, and cleared her ear with her finger, "I'm sorry, I must not be hearing too well—"

"Then read my lips!" Jesse shouted and mouthed with emphasis, "I quit."

Shelby Corcoran's nostrils flared just slightly at this and she breathed in deeply before letting out after 10 seconds. She closed her eyes as she exhaled. She snapped her eyes back open and glared at Jesse with pure anger. "You can't just quit in the middle of this, Superstar."

Jesse crossed his arms defiantly.

Shelby's glare hadn't faltered in the least. Even when she leaned into the back of her chair, her focus was still trained on his face. After what felt like centuries, the tension was cut with Shelby's words, "I won't let you quit on me now, Superstar," she folded her arms over her desk. "I won't give up until I get Rachel on our side as well as bringing the defeat of Will Schuester."

"Why!" Jesse tossed his arms into the air to demonstrate his point. "I don't see the purpose in retrieving Rachel! Yeah, I understand the whole, 'bring down your rival of your past,'" Shelby blushed and tried to cut him off, but a hand stopped her from speaking. "Save it. I already know that you and Mr. Schuester have had a history. And I couldn't care less how you want to tear him down. I'll help you do that at Regional's, but I don't understand how it's necessary to get Rachel on our side!"

Shelby tried to regain control in their banter, "I went over this with you last time. I told you that you're falling—"

"No. That's not it," Jesse's eyes narrowed at her. "There's something else to this."

Shelby attempted to keep her expression indifferent. "I don't know what you're talking about," she turned her chair around and faced her computer screen, hoping to escape the scrutiny she was under. She gasped when Jesse had stalked over and whirled the chair around, preventing any escape by blocking with his body.

"Stop avoiding it." Jesse pressed, trying to get an answer out of Shelby. He was dangerously close and Shelby gulped from the nerves. "Why are you pressing me so much to get Rachel Berry onto Vocal Adrenaline?"

Shelby looked away from Jesse, then focused back and she sighed. "You wanna know the truth? Fine," Shelby shoved him away, and he moved away easily as she stood up from the chair. She pushed him back in the seat in front of her desk as she paced back and forth with her hands folded behind her back. "Rachel Berry is my niece."

Jesse looked perplexed. He hadn't expected that answer. The answer he was expecting was more along the lines of, "I see a great future in Rachel being in Vocal Adrenaline," or "I need someone to replace you once you go to UCLA."

Shelby continued as if she had just read his mind, "Yes, having a replacement for you was another part of it, but the biggest part was a promise that I made with Rachel's mother," she looked reminiscent of an event in her past as her eyes went out of focus.

Jesse sat there silently, waiting for her to elaborate on the promise. "And that promise was…?"

Now, she whirled on him, anger rushing out of her like a torrent of water. "That's none of your business."

Jesse raised his hands as if surrendering. "All right, fine. Good enough for me. I won't push any more out of you since it really isn't my business. Though, now I think I understand the basic gist of why you want Rachel," he stared thoughtfully at the wall before turning back before letting out a sigh, "I'll give it my shot again tomorrow, all right?"

Shelby nodded. "By the way, Jesse, I want results. If I don't have Rachel in Vocal Adrenaline by the time we enter Regional's, I can't enter her into National's with us either. And then there's practicing numbers with everyone else, and gaining acceptance with the other members…" Shelby trailed off as she pulled a calculator out from her desk. She pushed a few numbers and the plus sign and then pointed an accusing finger at Jesse. "Get Rachel on our side in two weeks; and I want you to report after one with good progress."

Jesse gawked. "Two weeks! The only trust I've gained in that Glee Club is that of the gay kid, Kurt Hummel, let alone Rachel's! How am I supposed to convince her to join us in two weeks!" Jesse tried to reason with Shelby.

The words fell on deaf ears as Shelby held up a hand as if it were a wall or obstacle that inhibited conversation. "I don't care. Just do it. Otherwise," Shelby said threateningly, "if your progress isn't satisfactory within a week, I might just send another."

Jesse's teeth clenched. He didn't want to think of another guy trying to latch onto Rachel and dragging her into hell. No, if anyone was going to rip an angel out of heaven and into the pits of fiery hell, it would be Jesse, the devil himself. The devil had been awoken as he smirked with confidence, "Don't worry. I'll get Rachel." I won't let anyone else near her.

Shelby only grinned while still looking at the paperwork in front of her. "See ya in a week, Superstar."

He waved over his shoulder as he shut the door behind him.

Upon exiting the office of Shelby Corcoran, he mounted his bike again, set on going back in the direction of the school. He had left in the middle of Rehearsal, and knowing Rachel, she would probably still be at the school, maybe at the Ballet Club Room, practicing. He remembered her telling him that she would go there when she felt uneasy.

It took twenty minutes to get to the school after running into three red-lights. He slipped his helmet off, shaking his hair out like a dog that had its coat washed. He placed it on his bike, and locked it in place to prevent it from being stolen. He stuffed the keys into his jeans pocket as he stepped into the gates of Hel—William McKinley High. He walked through the halls and came across both Mercedes and Kurt who were walking in the halls, their arms linked and their hips side by side.

Mercedes rose an eye brow at their formal enemy. There were no words exchanged since Jesse was not supposed to speak to anyone in the Glee Club for another two days. However, Kurt was not satisfied with a simple glance in his direction. He grabbed Jesse's elbow and prevented him from going any further down the halls. "Hey, Jesse. You wanna go shopping with me and Mercedes?"

Jesse looked almost disgusted at the word, 'shopping.' Don't misunderstand. Jesse is very interested in image, so he would occasionally visit a clothing store to make sure that he was in-style, prepared for any "fashion police," that he would soon run into on the red carpet. However, shopping with Mercedes and Kurt hadn't seemed the least bit appealing to him. Yeah, maybe he'd go with Rachel; he'd probably steer her away from the Disney Store, so that she wouldn't try and get any T-shirts with Miley Cyrus or Demi Lovato.

Jesse politely turned them down with a fake smile, shaking his head, as he eased himself out of Kurt's grip and headed down the hall again.

Kurt was going to insist, but Mercedes stopped him. "Forget it, Kurt. Let's just go." And so they did, headed toward the gates to board Kurt's new car.

Jesse's venture to find Rachel wasn't going to be inhibited so easily. However, the next people he ran into were the two cheerio's, a girl in a baby doll dress, and the jocks whose names were escaping his mind at the moment. He remembered that two of them started with an M, while the one with a Mohawk… Jesse drew a blank. Their Vocals weren't very strong; their voices mostly faded in the back like any other Baritoners. Tenors like he and Finn were usually the lead vocals and naturally were stronger among the men.

He tried to just go around them, but the girl in a cheerio uniform caught him the same way Kurt had. "Hey, Jesse, right?" Santana feigned ignorance of his name.

Jesse rolled his eyes at this, which was unnoticed by all except for Puck. If you're going to pretend, you've got to sell it way better than that.

She grinned even though he didn't answer. "What do you say to going on a little excursion with us? You see, I think we're lacking in numbers for a triple date," Santana made eyes at Jesse that resembled the persuading eyes of a goddess.

Jesse tried the same approach he had done with both Kurt and Mercedes and fake-smiled while shaking his head politely. He tried to escape, however this girl's grip was much firmer than Kurt's.

"C'mon. What's the big deal? Think of it this way, if you come with us, I'll convince everyone else in the Glee Club that you're here as a friend, not a spy," Santana was very persuasive as she chose her words. "Unless… you are a spy, and…"

Jesse broke out of her grip forcefully and stalked down the hall before Santana could call after him. They glared at his back as he turned, disappearing. Santana huffed and flipped her hair. "Forget him. Let's go, Matt," she linked arms with Matt as they too started down the hall, heading to the restaurant, Breadsticks.

Jesse glared over his shoulder and rolled his eyes in annoyance. As if I want your trust. I don't need yours, I need Rachel's. Jesse thought to himself as he once again saw other Glee Club members. They didn't seem to care that he was walking past them though. He guessed that they didn't find a greeting was necessary. Jesse smiled that there wouldn't be any more inhibition from the two—

His elbow was caught suddenly. Jesse couldn't help but whisper a swear angrily to himself. He turned around with an irritated fake smile and was met with Artie's terrified face with Tina's confused expression behind Artie, guiding his wheel chair. "I-I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!" Artie rose his hands up defensively as Tina began to feel protective of her friend.

She stepped in front of Artie and held up her hands in fists. "I'm a black belt in Judo, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Aikido. Don't mess with Artie." She glared at Jesse with pure hatred.

Jesse rose his hands up defensively. He didn't think his expression was that venomous. He was just irritated. He softened his expression. The only comeback he could give back was probably something along the lines of "I've mastered ballet, jazz, tap dance, gymnastics, and various other dances." Yeah, like that'll help him against Tina.

Tina noticed that Jesse held no hostility and stepped away, returning to her position behind Artie's wheel chair. "Artie, it's okay, I don't think he'll hurt you," she laughed as Artie moved his defensive arms away from his face. "Oh, okay. Sorry, I see Puck have that same expression whenever he's going to beat me up…" Artie trailed off, and then shook his head. "Never mind. That wasn't what I wanted to tell you. I was going to tell you that Rachel's not at Ballet. She's still in the club room."

Jesse blinked at the kind gesture. He nodded to show his gratitude as he headed over to the Choir room. He waved at them as Tina guided Artie down the halls. Maybe not all of the Glee Club members are irritating. His face paled slightly. But, I definitely don't want to mess with that girl who knows Martial Arts. Jesse was approaching the Choir Room and he began thinking of the other members again. Wait, I've run into that Kurt kid and his friend, those two jocks, cheerio's, blondie, Mohawk, Artie, and Martial Arts girl. That's… 10 members. There are thirteen members in the Glee Club including me now, so with Rachel and I, that's 12 members. His eyes narrowed. Someone else is still with Rachel.

He slammed the door open and announced his presence, "Rachel!"

The sight that greeted Jesse made his eyes narrow and his mind explode with jealousy and anger.

"J-Jesse!"

Cliffhanger? Oh, yes. (By the way, I don't know if Tina really does those things, but she's Asian, so she's had to have been forced into getting talented in other stuff too. It's inevitable as an Asian! ... Even for me)

This was a REALLY late update, but I had a good reason!

I was lazy.

Just kidding! (Not really) But, I still have a lot of Finals to study for, so… Yeah. Who else is excited for Summer Vacation? Unless you have a job, then… that sucks. :P