I understand that I am the worst person to walk the planet, but hey, Sophomore slump, ya know? That shit is real. But I'm halfway through undergrad now, so I have returned! Mwahahahaahahhaah

"Care to comment on yesterday's fight between Rachel Berry and Santana Lopez?" the afro rearing boy asked, yet again shoving his mic into the personal bubble of an unsuspecting victim.

Closing her compact mirror and swirling around, pigtails slapping the teenage reporter in the face, the girl's face set into a scowl. "I don't know what you're talking about." She replied indignantly.

"Really? My sources say that it happened during yesterday's glee rehearsal. Despite the entirety of the school believing that you don't actually have talent and your daddy paid your way into the club, as far as I know, you're still in it."

Flipping her hair at yet another reference to her daddy's money (she honestly didn't understand why people kept bringing it up. Probably because they're all poor), Sugar gives Jacob her best blank stare.

"So."

"Soo…" the boy began "you were there. Or weren't you?" He starts, head spinning with the prospect of more juicy gossip. "Rumor has it, you and Quinn haven't been able to so much as be in the same room after the breakup. We, of course, understand that the agony of being dumped by the hottest girl at McKinley-"

"I was not dumped!" Sugar cut in.

"-could really make a person want to lay low." Jacob continued uninterrupted. "How does it feel knowing that Rachel and Santana were indeed fighting over your now VERY available ex?"

Looking right in the camera, Sugar stepped closer to the mic, "Seeing as I am very Unavailable, I feel nothing."

"Hear that McKinley? Sugar Motta has declared that Quinn Fabray is officially up for grabs." The speckled boy announced to the camera.

Huffing to herself, Sugar turned to walk away, only to have Jacob shove the microphone at her once more.

"WAIT! One more question: the world wants to know! Hashtag team Quinntana or hashtag team Faberry?"

"One: If you ever touch me again, I'll have my daddy buy you, your house and your parents and have you all working at a sweatshop in Indiana."

Once again intimidated by the wrath of his peers, the boy took a step back, albeit still wielding the mic to her face.

"Two: excuse me?"

"I-It's the pairing of Quinn Fabray with either Santana or Rachel. There's also FoPez and Quachel, but they didn't really stick. We're taking a poll for my blog to see who the people would rather see together."

Hands on her hips, Sugar declared confidently, "Rachel is a drama queen and Santana is a bitch. Quinn would never go for either of them."

"Funny. Most people consider you both of those things." He winced at the glare the rich girl leveled him with.

"I am the best thing that has ever happened to that club, this school, Quinn and now Artie! I have more talent and beauty in my pinky French tip than any of you losers have in your entire body. I was the perfect girlfriend! Beauty, brains, talent and money. And sex. What more could you want?! So I stepped out a bit, big deal. And, hey! Maybe I am dating someone else. Does it matter? No. Quinn couldn't get over me if she wanted to. It's only a matter of time before she comes crawling back to me!"

Jacob could only gape as the spoiled girl finished her tirade.

"Sorry. Asperger's."

"But-you said you dum-"

"Stop talking now, Carrot Top." And with that, Sugar, hitting the boy with her pigtails one last time, strutted down the hall.

Turning back to his cameraman, "Well, there you have it McKinley. The battle for Quinn Fabray's heart races on. And it seems like there might be another player."

Walking into glee rehearsal that afternoon, it was noticeably quieter than Will was used to.

Whether it was the drama that had occurred the day before, or the fact that it was Friday and, as he'd heard through the grapevine, the kids were planning a party, the present members seemed more distracted than usual.

"Guys, I know that everyone is still a bit shaken from yesterday, but we gotta focus so we can gear up for Nationals!" he tried, only to receive several bored looks.

The club was a whole lot less enthusiastic without Rachel.

"It's so weird being in here without Berry yapping about how great her voice is." Puck spoke up, almost in awe of the silence.

"Or Santana telling her how much it sucks." Tina piped in.

"I wouldn't get too used to it." Kurt rolled his eyes, secretly reveling in the rare peace the choir room offered today.

"Kurt's right," Blaine spoke, shooting doughy eyes at his boyfriend, now valentine. "They'll both be back Monday. They just needed a little time to cool down." Leaving his chair, Blaine went to stand next to Mr. Shue. "And Mr. Shue's right. We've gotta focus if we want to take nationals this year."

Will smiled at his student. Blaine, ever the optimist, was sure to be able to get the kids back in the mood to sing.

"That's the spirit!" he praised. "And I've got the perfect song to get us all back in that spirit. How many of you have heard of Kriss Kross?" He started, turning to write the name on his whiteboard.

A few hands went in the air as others just looked at each around and shrugged.

"Blaine, help me out?" Will asked.

"Lead the way." The chipper boy smiled.

Just as they were about to go into their number, Brittany's hand flew in the air.

"Yes, Brittany?" Will paused.

"My mom always tells me I shouldn't sit crisscross applesauce when I'm wearing a skirt because people can see me underwear."

Will starred at her. As did everyone else.

"Um…Ok?"

"I don't wear underwear, though."

Will blushed as Puck and Finn quietly hi-fived.

"Brittany! Please try to keep your personal business…personal." He scolded, rubbing his forehead.

"And that reminded me that I was supposed to tell you that Quinn's not coming today because her dog had puppies." The blonde finished, paying no mind to Mr. Shue's warning.

"I've been wondering why Quinn ditched." Tina spoke. "Though, I didn't suspect puppies."

"Why does not wearing underwear remind you of Quinn?" Kurt asked perplexed.

"Quinn doesn't have a dog. I would know." Sugar shot in, smugly. Artie looked at her sideways.

"Does to. How else can she go watch puppies be born?" Brittany shot back.

"Everyone settle down!" Will demanded trying to regain control. "Brittany, thank you for the update. Send Quinn's…puppies our well wishes." He nodded to a beaming Brittany.

"Now, back to the song."

Rachel was pissed.

Not only had she been forced to miss a glee practice today, and during pre-nationals of all times, but her dads had also almost banned her from going to the Valentine's party for being suspended for fighting. It had taken quite a bit of "sorrys" "I love yous" and "It was Santana's fault, I was just defending myself" to get them to finally relent. If our baby is fighting in the name of self-defense, then we can't be anything but proud.

The icing on top of the cake, however, was that she was positive Quinn was now privy to her feelings. That was absolutely not how she had planned for that revelation to go, but Santana had just made her so mad. She couldn't help herself. She had to challenge her through song. It was the natural climax of the situation.

In retrospect, she was a little grateful that she wasn't allowed at school today. Facing Quinn so soon was the last thing she wanted to do. She would've been going in completely unprepared.

After having all day to think to herself (and write a small monologue), however, she was prepared to face Quinn about her feelings. It was unfortunate that she had to leave before she could see Quinn's reaction to the song as she still has no idea if Quinn feels anything for her. But, with Santana on the loose, she couldn't afford to wait any longer.

She had been avoiding texting Quinn all day, scared of how the girl may respond. If she responded at all. But, with the party less than a few hours away, and assuming Quinn was still going, she was going to see her sooner rather than later. Might as well not make things more awkward than they needed to be.

Picking up her phone, and ignoring Kurt's text with outfit suggestions for the time being, she quickly typed out a message.

Are you still coming tonight?

Okay, so she chickened out. But, that was the safest thing she could think of to say in the moment.

After 15 minutes without a response, a disheartened Rachel decided that she might as well start getting ready for the party.

Can you come help me get ready? She sent to her partner in crime.

Be over in 10.

"I really need to take you shopping" Kurt admonished, looking through Rachel's closet.

As soon as the boy had arrived, already dressed for the party tonight if all the red he was sporting was anything to go by, he'd dove into her closet.

"Can you for once just go through my closet without criticizing everything?" Rachel huffed from her desk where she was carefully applying curls to her hair.

"Maybe if you threw out everything in it." He mumbled under his breath. "OH!"

"What'd you find?" Rachel asked curiously, peering through the mirror in front of her to see the boy.

Walking out of the closet wielding a skirt, Kurt offered his best friend a raised eyebrow. "Rachel Berry, this is one of the shortest skirts I've ever seen."

"It's not that short," the songstress blushed.

Kurt shrugged "Short enough. For you." Lying the skirt on her bed, he went back to raiding her closet.

A couple of minutes later, he had a full outfit to present to his friend.

"Kurt! Don't you think that shirt shows just a bit too much cleavage?" Rachel shrieked.

The boy just rolled his eyes at his friend's prudeness. "It was in your closet, Rachel. Besides, I bet Quinn will like it." He winked, making his friend turn even redder. "I've definitely seen her staring at Sugar on more than one occasion. And she wasn't looking at her eyes."

"Kurt, the last thing I want is for Quinn to be staring at my…assets." Rachel couldn't be redder if she had gotten a sunburn.

"You sure?" Kurt asked unconvinced, to which Rachel nodded. "Suit yourself. She could always just stare at Santana's." he shrugged.

Before he could move back to the closet, the shirt was snatched from his hand. "I love it." Rachel smiled before heading into her closet to change.

Kurt just chuckled to himself as he sat at Rachel's now unoccupied desk to fix his own hair.

A beep resounded around the room coming from Rachel's phone just to his left.

"Phone." He announced flatly.

"Could you check it for me? It's probably just Tina asking when we're leaving." Came Rachel's voice from the depths of her closet.

Picking up the phone, Kurt checked to see. "It's Quinn!" he shouted back. "Ohhh, asking her to be your valentine?" he grinned.

Barreling out of the closet, having yet to put on the blouse Kurt had picked out for her, Rachel shushed him as she snatched the phone from his hand.

Wouldn't miss it.

Noticing the smile on his friend's face, Kurt couldn't help but peer at the phone. "What wouldn't she miss?"

"So nosey, Kurt." Again, he could only shrug. "But if you must know, she will still be attending the party tonight."

Great (: See you there!

"Woohoo." Kurt deadpanned. "Wasn't that already established?" he was getting antsy for development in this love triangle, but boy was Rachel being slow about it.

"I wanted to be sure, after yesterday's drama." The brunette defended.

"Pshh" Kurt waived her off.

"As if glee club is ever drama free. Someone's fighting every other day." He dismissed. "Once again, you and Santana are hardly the first to ever fight in Glee. There was that time with Puck and Finn. That other time with Finn and Sam. Once with Santana and Mercedes. Blaine and Karofsky-

"Dave isn't in glee club" Rachel pointed out.

"He was for like a day. Santana and Zizes" Kurt continued to list off.

"I get your point, Kurt." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"What ever happened to Zizes, by the way?" He wondered, more to himself.

"One of McKinley's many mysteries." Rachel answered uninterestedly.

"You're aware you're not wearing a shirt?"

"…yes"

"Little early for that." Kurt snickered. Rachel had the audacity to look scandalized

"KURT!"

Her phone beeping once more caught both their attention.

Rach, we need to talk.

And now Rachel was freaking out.

"Kurt, oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." She freaked, throwing her phone on her bed and flapping her hands around.

"Aren't you Jewish?"

"So not the point right now!"

"Right. Well, this is what you want right?" Kurt asked, trying to calm the girl down. "She wants to talk about it. That's a good sign. She could have just ignored it."

"But what if she rejects me!"

"But what if she doesn't?" Kurt countered.

"I hate all this uncertainty! I don't even know how she felt about the song." She stopped flailing around for a second. "You were there! Kurt, how did she react after I was dragged from the room?"

"I wouldn't say you were dragged."

"Kurt!"

"Kidding. Anyway, I honestly don't know. She didn't really react. After Sugar walked out, she just kind of blanched. No one said anything and then she just got up and left. I haven't seen her since. Glad to know she's alive." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Rachel scrunched her eyebrows. Something was bothering her. "Wait. Why did Sugar leave?"

Kurt's eyes grew to the size of boulders. "Oh my god! That's right! You weren't in school today, so you missed it."

"Missed what?!" Rachel was growing anxious and she didn't appreciate the butterflies attacking her stomach at the moment.

"Here, give me your laptop."

Rachel waited, rather impatiently, while Kurt pulled up something on her laptop.

When he turned it to her, she saw that Jacob Ben Israel's blog was pulled up.

She gave her friend a pitying look, "Kurt. You don't."

"Hey! Some of the stuff he writes about is pretty interesting!" He defended. "Especially today. Scroll down."

Rachel did as she was told and her jaw dropped when she saw the headline.

"THE BATTLE FOR QUINN FABRAY'S HEART"

"Wh-who-how does Jacob know about this?!" Rachel asked incredulously. "It literally happened yesterday!"

"News travels fast?' Kurt tried. "To be honest, though, I've got my money on Tina. That girl couldn't withhold information if you paid her to."

Rachel rubbed her temples, and crossed her fingers that Quinn wasn't also a secret Jacob fan and surfed the boy's blog.

Turing her attention back to the screen, she noticed a poll to the side, asking her to vote either team Quinntana or team Faberry. She almost did it. Almost.

"Wait, this still doesn't answer my question about Sugar."

"Keep reading."

Doing as she was told, she was surprised to see that Jacob had managed to get an interview with Sugar about the situation. She huffed indignantly at Sugar's declaration that she was better than her. "Are you telling me that Sugar wants Quinn back?"

"That's what it sounds like." Kurt responded, closing the laptop and putting it back.

"Are you freaking kidding me? She broke up with Quinn!"

"You miss a lot when you get suspended" Kurt joked. "People always want what they see other people want. Seeing you and Santana fight over Quinn probably awoke some jealousy in her or something. How's the saying go? You never know what you had until it's gone" He philosophized.

"Has Artie seen this?" Rachel continued berating him, irritated.

"Beats me. I do wonder if Santana has seen it though."

Rachel closed her eyes and took deep breathes. This was just perfect. Just what she needed. Santana AND Sugar pinning after Quinn.

After a few calming breathes, she collected herself. "You know what, its fine. Game on." Determined to let neither Santana nor Sugar get in her way, she picked up her phone from her bed.

Just tell me the time and place.

Placing her phone back on her desk, she went back to her closet to finish getting dressed. Kurt watched in silence as Rachel got noticeably more determined before disappearing into her closet.

Having accidently left her phone unlocked, silencing the notification beep, Kurt noticed a message come in.

Perfect (: See you at the party.

Because he loved Rachel and was absolutely rooting for her, but knowing she would never decide to make a move on Quinn before it was too late, in that moment he decided to embrace his best friend duties.

Picking up the girl's phone and making sure she wasn't lurking behind him, he typed out a new message.

Save me a dance ;)

It was weird for Santana to get ready for a party by herself. Brittany told her earlier that she was having Mike over for pre-party festivities. She had extended the invite, but Santana had quickly objected.

And Quinn…

Well, Quinn was the reason she was a mess of nerves at the moment.

Despite what had went down the day before, she had still fully expected that the blonde would come over to get ready as she said she would. However, a couple of hours prior when Santana texted asking for her ETA, the girl had completely flipped the script on her.

I have a few things to take care of first, sorry. But I'll see you at 'Cedes/We need to talk.

Santana had wanted to call her out for being flaky, but realized that she was probably the reason her friend was avoiding her.

That thought had made her heart sink. And the "we need to talk" tacked onto the end made it sink even lower.

Now she was scared that she had not only blown her shot at being with Quinn, but had also lost her best friend in the process. The thought troubled her so much that she almost called Mercedes to let her know she would be skipping the party.

But, as soon as she picked up her phone, she got a message.

Dibs on the big couch!

The follow-up message that Quinn had sent had made her heart soar with hope. Any other day she would have been expecting this kind of message as Mercedes was never too keen on sharing her bed so they were usually subject to the couches in her living room when they slept over, Santana usually taking the larger one and forcing Quinn on the smaller one despite the blonde being the taller of the two.

You wish, Fabray.

She wasn't sure if it was weird to be texting the object of her affections so casually after said object had front row seats to her unintentionally spilling out her feelings.

It unnerved her because it was almost as if they were pretending it didn't happen. Despite how much she wish she could take back that face/off with Berry, she wouldn't be able to stand it if Quinn was just brushing off her feelings.

But she knows Quinn. It's Quinn. Her Quinn would never disregard her feelings like that, despite how adamant she is about the fact that she doesn't actually have any.

But, then there was the fact of Berry's feelings as well. There's no way that Quinn would be able to outright reject the hobbit's (hopefully unrequited) feelings for her.

Santana was sure she was driving herself mad with all the brainpower she was putting into the situation.

Glancing at her clock, she noted that it was almost nine. Usually, she would arrive fashionably late when everyone is already drunk and she barely has to socialize, but she doesn't want to run the risk of Berry getting there before she does and getting to Quinn first. Knowing Berry, she probably showed up an hour ago.

Santana rolled her eyes at the thought.

Thinking on her feet, she pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Mercedes.

Can I finish getting ready in your room?

Mercedes was always a quick texter, seeming to be glued to her phone at all times so she wasn't surprised when she got a response literally seconds later.

Santana, the party starts in like 15 minutes -_- How are you not ready?

Have you EVER known me to be on time? Santana shot back.

Touché.

Be over in 10.

"So why not just arrive late from your place?" Mercedes inquired as she watched Santana straighten her hair. "It's still weird every time I see without a ponytail."

"They hurt like a bitch, too." Santana responded, never taking her eyes off her own reflection. "And just in case the hobbit shows up before I do, and we both know she will, I need to be able to regulate." She finished.

Mercedes chuckled at her fiery friend. "Regulate what? I hope y'all aren't planning on finishing what you started yesterday in my living room."

"Of course not." The cheerleader swore, "Tonight's all about drinking all our problems away and making sure we spend all of tomorrow with a wicked hangover." Mercedes rolled her eyes at that.

And of course, making sure the bridge troll stays one-hundred feet away from my girl at all times."

"I don't think that's going to be your problem." Mercedes declared.

"Meaning?" Santana questioned, focusing really hard on trying to get the few pieces of hair in the front to stay down.

"Meaning you should be more concerned with keeping Rachel away from a drunk Quinn." Mercedes stated. "We both know how that girl gets when she's a little bit past tipsy."

It was true.

The last time Quinn had gotten wasted at a party, the girl had been all over the place. More specifically, all over Brittany.

Brittany, being just as hammered as her blonde comrade, didn't seem to mind the extra attention (and Santana doubted she would have even if she were sober). The two had looked to be having a blast as they grinded all over each other on the dance floor. And, though her eyes may have been deceiving her, she could have sworn she saw Quinn cop a feel while they were dancing. Mercedes swearing she saw the same thing made her all the more suspicious.

It wasn't the dancing that had Santana's heart skipping a beat, though. It wasn't even the subtle-but not very subtle- ass grabbing. It was when both blondes had disappeared together while they're respective partners were still on the dance floor.

It wasn't like either of them knew of Santana's feelings at the time, but the thought of the two of them together had made her heart hurt just a bit.

She thanked every god above when she found them in the bathroom, Brittany with her head in the toilet as Quinn rubbed her back.

She remembers being so relieved, that is, until Sugar showed up and whisked a still fairly drunk Quinn away. Taking over where Quinn had left off, she couldn't turn away fast enough to avoid seeing Quinn glue her mouth to her girlfriend's before loudly announcing to the other partygoers how she was going to go "do" her girlfriend.

The assholes had even cheered for her.

"Okay, she can get a little…excited." Santana agreed. "No biggie. Berry won't be within ten feet of her anyways. Brittany on the other hand…"

"And Sugar?"

"What about her? She'll be all over wheels all night." Santana declared as the bell rang from downstairs.

"It's probably Puck and Sam with the drinks. They said they'd come early to setup." Mercedes explained. "I trust you know what you're doing Santana." She added as she moved to go answer the door. "I'm rooting for you."

"Me too." The brunette said, more to herself.

A while later, she was finished getting ready as the tell-tale sound of loud bass began reverberating around the room as more voices began spilling into the house.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

OMW.

Smiling to herself, she couldn't help but overhear the indistinguishable voice of Rachel Berry announcing her presence downstairs.

"Game time."

Soooo...obviously before a tornado there has to be a storm ;) (and by that, I mean there's has to be buildup otherwise you're just kind of laying there, you get me?) Anyway, I WAS going to add the next part to this chapter, but it just got sooo long. It'll be up sometime tomorrow, promise. I know we all hate filler but hey sometimes a donut taste better with jelly inside. (I wouldn't know, because I don't eat them. xp).

Let me know how you like your donuts in your reviews!