A Threat to Rachel Berry
Chapter 11

Rachel was blushing tomato red as she stared at Jesse as he had burst through the door. She was in a very compromising position, and judging by Jesse's expression, she had a lot of explaining to do. She looked away from Jesse and stared at the one who was sharing the same position with her. Finn stared back without an ounce of fear in his eyes, unlike hers which looked as if she were a deer in head lights.

Finn hadn't moved away from Rachel, and this was not making Jesse happy. Rachel tried to recount the events and how it had lead to her current situation.

After Jesse had stormed away, Rachel returned to the choir room, slumping in her chair. Indeed, it was pretty much her fault for telling him to leave, but she didn't think he'd comply so easily. She was hoping that she would hear the other response that would make her heart flutter: "I'm not leaving you Rachel. I'll defy any force that keeps us apart."

She frowned. Of course he wouldn't tell her that after she commanded him to leave. Why did she tell him to leave again? Oh, right. She was defending Kurt. At remembering Kurt, she glanced over at him; he was glowing with confidence and happiness. At least someone got something good out of this. She sighed as Kurt absorbed the attention that was given to him by the other members. Mr. Schuester continued speaking with Brad, explaining where he might want to add crescendo and decrescendo as well as ritardo.

Rachel stared at the sheet music. "Can't Help Falling in Love," huh? Why couldn't her love life be that simple? With Finn, he always wanted someone else. With Puck, he only had his heart set on Quinn or one of the other popular, pretty Cheerios. She thought about her other love interests and remembered Jacob. Ew. Why did she think of Jacob. He was out of the question. Then there was her crush on Mr. Schuester. Wow, that was gruesome. But, when she had finally found a soul-mate in Jesse, he had to be her sworn enemy. She remembered the lines of Romeo and Juliet.

My only love, sprung from my only hate.

How that line had matched her so perfectly. Jesse and his talent, along with his confidence, and the chemistry that she definitely felt when she was alongside him had drawn her to him. She wondered if Jesse felt that chemistry too. What if he is just a spy? But he promised. Promises don't last forever. Her mind was racing with these thoughts, when one thought came to favor Jesse, another came to bring about a contradiction.

The school bell had snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up at the clock. Astonishingly, 20 minutes had passed since Jesse left. Everyone was packing their things. As she was about to leave as well, Mr. Schuester beckoned her. "Rachel, can I see you in my office?"

She nodded and followed Mr. Schuester like a duckling follows the mother, in a straight line exactly 3 paces behind. She entered Mr. Schuester's office, which was noticeably smaller than Ms. Sylvester's or Ms. Pillsbury's.

"Close the door, Rachel," he commanded, and she did so wordlessly. He pulled up a chair. "Sit." She followed his orders and smoothed out her skirt before sitting down with her legs crossed.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Schuester?" She tried to feign ignorance as she twiddled with her thumbs. Unfortunately, Mr. Schuester could see straight through her as if she were made of cellophane.

"Rachel, you know what I want to talk to you about," he stated. She stared at him silently. He inhaled and exhaled deeply through his nose. "Why did you decide to give your solo away to Kurt?" he asked as he prepared a tissue box which he was sure would be needed. Rachel tended to get overly dramatic whenever he invited her into his office. There had to be a very dramatic reason why Rachel, the one driven by fame, gave up the spotlight.

Rachel shrugged simply, trying to act as though she were indifferent. Actually, she was very disappointed that she had to give up the solo. She really wanted to sing that song with Jesse. No, that's not right. She was supposed to be angry with him. She mentally slapped herself. She wanted the solo to get a chance to be discovered at Regional's. But there was no way that she could break a promise. Though at times, Rachel may be overbearing, dramatic, and way too driven by her dreams, Rachel also liked to pride herself by being a faithful person. She would never commit acts of an infidel, liar, or a cheater.

Will tried to press the answer with his stare, but Rachel was a wall that wouldn't be penetrated. She stared back blankly. Finally, she broke the silence. "Mr. Schuester, I have no ulterior motive or anything by giving the solo to Kurt. I truly believe that he deserves the spotlight."

"Rachel, you do realize that by doing so, you might have lost Jesse."

Rachel noticed that he said you instead of we. "If Jesse is able to walk out on us so easily, then we don't need him anyway," she said as her voice cracked just slightly. She trembled in her seat as Will began pacing around the room. She hugged her arms in hopes of hiding her tremulous body. It looked like she was crossing her arms, but Will knew.

He knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Rachel, it's okay. Don't cry."

Her face was indifferent even as the tear fell from her left eye. It dripped down to her chin, but she acted as if she was perfectly fine. "I'm fine. I don't know what you're talking about," she gulped and cleared her throat when her voice cracked again. Her voice hitched and she grabbed a tissue off of Mr. Schuester's desk. She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose into the tissue. Finally she showed how she was really feeling. She felt broken, unhappy, and disappointed. "I don't want to say goodbye to him…!" She blew her nose into the tissue.

Will rubbed Rachel's shoulder reassuringly. To Will, all of his Glee students felt like his own children. He shushed her as he passed her another tissue, pulling the trash can closer.

Unbeknownst to the two, Finn was waiting outside Mr. Schuester's office, staring at the ground with his arms crossed and leaning against the wall. "Jesse St. James, you have no idea how much Rachel cares about you."

After about 10 more minutes full of reassuring rubs and about 16 tissues, Rachel exited Mr. Schuester's office, clutching the tissue box and her book bag. She thought about what Mr. Schuester had said after her episode about Jesse. "I think it would be best if we didn't have Jesse sing that song. If you could, can you ask Finn to sing with Kurt? I think he likes Kurt the most of all the guys."

Rachel giggled at that statement. It was more like the other way around. Mr. Schuester had gone out the other door, heading to what seemed to be the direction of Ms. Pillsbury's office. She looked behind her as she stuffed the sheet music into her bag. She was greeted by Finn and she surprisingly smiled and waved before approaching him.

"Hi, Finn. What are you still doing here?" she asked quizzically. She quickly hid the tissue box behind her back, but he gave her a knowing look. Rachel sighed before placing the tissue box on top of the piano.

"What did Mr. Schuester say?" Finn asked her with a small smile as if to show that Rachel could trust him with divulging the conversation. He led her to one of the chairs as he stood pulled another one up in front of Rachel, sitting while leaning against the back of the chair.

Rachel gulped. Finn was rather close, but she chose to try and ignore this. "He asked me to request that you sing the ensemble with Kurt. It seems that Mr. Schuester would prefer not to take away Kurt's limelight."

Finn nodded, understanding. "Okay. Sure."

Rachel blinked. She hadn't expected Finn's easy compliance. "R-really? So easily?" Finn had never agreed to any of her requests so easily before. Her mind recalled the Glee photo opportunity and many similar events.

Finn smiled as if he had known she would be surprised by his response. "Of course," Finn lifted one of her hands with both of his. He enveloped her whole hand with his significantly larger and calloused one. "Unlike some people," Finn referenced some other love interests of Rachel, "I'll do anything for you."

Rachel felt herself melting and she resisted rubbing her cheek against Finn's hands. She wondered if her relationship with Finn would be more equal now that he was courting her. She had tried too hard, and he had tried to stay away. Maybe, now that they were almost equal, she could go with Finn. When he smiled at her like that, it was so hard not to fall in love with him. She once again felt herself entering a dream land as she lost herself in his brown eyes.

Finn took advantage of her daze and leaned forward, their noses brushing against each other. Rachel lost her breath and her heart skipped a beat. He whispered, "I won't kiss you, unless you really want me to," he leaned forward even more, "Just say, 'yes.'"

Rachel gulped and her eyes were half-lidded. "Ye—" she was cut off by the door slamming open.

"Rachel!" Jesse was at the door, with a frantic expression. She snapped her gaze to him and she saw his face immediately twist in anger. She gulped.

And this is how she had ended up with an awkward situation with Jesse at the door with a fierce gaze along with Finn's nose still touching hers with their lips just about to touch. Unfortunately, Rachel couldn't really move because Finn had threaded his fingers into her hair.

Jesse stalked over to them and ripped Finn away from Rachel and right out of his chair. He pulled Rachel to her feet and led her out the door, not even sparing Finn a glance-back. Rachel on the other hand looked over her shoulder at Finn as he stared right back at her. Her eyebrows knit together. Why isn't he chasing after me?

She refocused on Jesse who had a very firm grip on her wrist which wasn't letting up at all. She extended her hand toward Finn as she was pulled to the door. Finn could only watch painfully as Rachel was pulled away and out the door which slammed loudly.

"Jesse, what are you doing?" Rachel finally regained her composure and voiced her disapproval of the situation. Her brain worked, trying to think of reasons to be angry with him. She clenched her teeth as she growled, "I believe I told you not to interfere with matters between Finn and—" She was cut off when she was shoved against the school lockers. One of the locks had pushed into her back and she gasped in pain. "Ow! Jesse—"

He slammed his fist against the locker nowhere near her. She was frozen stiff at the sound as it echoed throughout the hallway. "Jesse," she whispered with fear in her voice. She trembled while his hands were clenched in fists on either side of her head. His head was resting on her shoulder, his hair tickling her neck. From what she could tell, Jesse was trembling as well. Whether he was shaking from anger, or fear like her, she couldn't tell. She remained motionless, her palms of her hands against the lockers.

She moved to push him away so that she could see his face, but she chose not to when he spoke. It was quiet, and there was just a small quaver as his voice shrank away, "Please… don't mention Finn Hudson. Not now… Not after I just saw that…"

Rachel shivered from his breath against her skin, but most of all, she shuddered from his tone. Never before, had she heard a tone that contained so much pain from him, not even when he sang "My Immortal" by Evanescence at one of the competitions. And, for Jesse to show more emotion than in one of his performances was close to impossible. Vocal Adrenaline members were self-proclaimed emotionless automatons. Rachel sniffled as a tear ran down her cheek again. She moved her arms and rested her hands on his shoulder blades as she tried to give him comfort. She moved them to his face to both his cheeks and she raised his head away from her shoulder.

Jesse's tear-stained face almost made her break down in front of him. Her lip quivered as she caressed his cheek. He closed his eyes as he moved his head into her hand, seeming to revel in her touch. He opened his eyes and brought his hand up, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb. She gulped as she closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Upon hearing her apology, Jesse realized just why Rachel didn't forgive him so easily. I never apologized to her for saying that. He finally understood why she had always looked at him expectantly when they would be speaking to each other. She was waiting for me to apologize. I feel like such a fool. His eyebrows furrowed as he again buried his head into her shoulder. "No. I'm the one who should be apologizing… If I hadn't said that, then this whole thing—"

"No, don't… What I did was much worse," Rachel tried to comfort Jesse.

"No… it wasn't. Nothing happened between you and Finn Hudson," Jesse stated as he rubbed his forehead into her shoulder.

"Something could have though. And if you hadn't come in, I would've welcomed it…" Rachel reasoned as she threaded her fingers into his hair, her command to Jesse long forgotten. She tried to reassure him so that he would look at her. "Jesse, stop hiding from me," she sighed. "Jesse, I-I forgive you for what you said at the auditorium."

"No!" Jesse shouted out, "Don't forgive me! I'm your enemy! I only bring destruction and pain to you!" Though he said that, he found himself pulling her away from the locker slightly to wrap his arms around her. Though his words might have tried to convince her that he didn't want forgiveness, his eyes were windows to his true feelings, and Rachel could see them so clearly.

"Jesse," Rachel gulped before continuing, "I… will pretend that it never happened. Everything after you drove me home the first time… I'll completely put it behind me."

Jesse pulled away from her and turned his back, "That's it? So easily?" Jesse took two steps away from her. "I say something as unforgiveable as that, and you're willing to just 'put it behind you?'" he asked incredulously as he clenched his teeth and his knuckles turned white.

Rachel's soft and understanding expression was starting to deteriorate. It was slowly replaced with one that threatened to cry from any hurtful words. "Are you saying you don't want me?" her voice turned shallow. Why are you surprised? Finn didn't want you; Puck didn't want you; Mr. Schuester didn't want you. Why do you think Jesse wants you? She gulped as she bowed her head down, as if thinking that would hide her eyes before tears ran down. She hiccupped and she was crushed in a suffocating hug. "J-Jesse!"

"Don't ever say I don't want you," Jesse whispered as he tightened his arms around her.

Rachel gulped back her tears before burying her face into his shirt. She returned the hug by only behind her elbows and resting her hands on his back since Jesse had rendered humerus immobile.

Elsewhere…

"Report."

"They seem to have reconciled and Rachel Berry is allowing him back in."

"Are you serious? Man, he works fast."

"Yes, but the reconciliation seemed too…"

"Too what?"

"Too… real; it seemed as if he was being sincere. I don't think he was acting."

"That kid is in Vocal Adrenaline, a legion of teens who were born for the stage."

"He definitely seemed genuine to me. I think you should make sure he knows what he's supposed to be doing."

"Hmph. Fine. I suppose I can mobilize you. Here, forms for registration at William McKinley. Don't disappoint me."

"Never, Ms. Corcoran."

I think I'm still heart-broken that Jesse and Rachel are "over." Yeah, I like Finn/Rachel, but I was kind of hoping that Jesse WOULDN'T be a plot device for them. Everyone in the freaking series is. There isn't a single character that ISN'T a plot device to get Rachel and Finn together.

Oh, well. Hopefully, there'll be a return of St. Berry in season 2, otherwise I'll lose like… 40 percent of the reason I watch Glee.

Inconsistent updating~ :P