Author's note:

Yep, I'm updating less than a week after the last chapter. And it's the longest chapter yet! It's a miracle!

I have officially started school and in case you wanted to know, it sucks. There's really no glorifying school. I did get into Glee Club though so that's good.

Some things mentioned in this chapter are based on spoilers for the third season and what was seen in the new promo. For those of you who requested more Finchel, you get a romantic/awkward slushie clean-up moment! And there will be some Shell too!

I don't own Glee or any other things referenced in this story *cries*

Rachel

"Rachel! Are you ready?" my mom's voice called upstairs. I sighed and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I was wearing one of my new dresses, a pair of white knee socks, and a black headband held my bangs back. The outfit I'd spent an hour or so picking out the day before. I just hoped I didn't get slushied. It's not like I wasn't used to it(and I'm a pro at getting stains out), I just didn't want my first day of senior year to be ruined by the humiliation of it. "Rachel!" my mom called again. I sighed and yelled back,

"I'm coming!" I went back into my room to get my new backpack before going downstairs. Before I made it to the bottom of the stairs, there was a flash."You've got to be kidding me." I said, slightly annoyed as Shelby prepared to take another picture.

"No I'm not. This is your last first day of school, and the first one I've been here for. Now smile." she directed. I sighed and smiled a less than sincere smile. Shelby took two more pictures.

"Can we go now?" I asked impatiently.

"Not yet. I need a few of you and Beth together. Right on cue, Beth toddled over to me from Shelby's side. She too wore a new outfit for her first day of daycare and Shelby had put her hair into little pigtails. She looked painfully adorable. I picked her up and smiled at Shelby so she could fake the picture. "Beth, honey, smile for Mommy." Shelby directed. Beth must have done so because Shelby took some pictures(me posing a different way each time, of course).

"ok, we can go now." My mom said as she put her camera pack into its pouch. I rolled my eyes and followed my mom out to her car. Mine was still at my dads' house. I planned on having Finn take me there that day to retrieve it. I handed Beth to Shelby so she could put her in her car seat. While Shelby tried to secure her in, Beth kicked and squirmed playfully, making it very hard for my mother to fasten the last buckle. Her behavior reminded me of Noah.

"Elizabeth Bernadette Corcoran, you will be the death of me." Shelby stated after she managed to finish getting Beth into her car seat despite Beth being difficult. Beth didn't seem to mind the grief she caused our mother and continued to smile.

Shelby

I dropped Beth off at her daycare before driving to McKinley. My youngest child had been especially happy all morning until I had to leave her. Then she got teary-eyed. I knew she wouldn't completely understand me but I said to her,

"I love you. I'll come get you as soon as I get off work." and kissed her forehead before handing her over to the waiting caregiver. Beth had gone to daycare before, but she had been with me for three weeks so she wasn't used to being away from me again. It took all I had to turn away from her and walk back to my car, where Rachel was searching through the radio stations to find a good song. She stopped on the classic rock station when she heard the Police classic, Don't Stand So Close To Me. It looked as though she Was about to burst into fit of laughter.

"What's so funny?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Just something that happened in Sophomore year." she vaguely explained. It seemed as though there was probably an interesting story behind that but I didn't press further. Sometimes teenagers do things that to parents are either, stupid or something they shouldn't know. We were both silent the rest of the way to McKinley. The first time Rachel spoke was when I parked in the staff parking lot.

"Uh, I don't think parents are supposed to park here." She said before getting a mortified look on her face when she put the pieces together. "Oh my god! You teach here?" I sighed. I knew she would take it badly.

"I was going to tell you yesterday but you were at your friend's house-" I began to explain why she was just now learning that I was teaching at her school but Rachel cut me off.

"And you didn't ever think to yourself, 'Oh, maybe it would not only humiliate Rachel if I work at her school but also be slightly inconvenient for her?' because you know that I will never hear the end of this from the Cheerios and jocks." Rachel then got out of the car and slammed the door harder than necessary. I sighed and got out of the car to catch up with her.

"Rachel, wait!" I called as I speed-walked up to her. She crossed her arms across her chest.

"Shelby, I really don't want to hear it." Rachel said coldly. It stung to hear her call me by my first name for the first time since she'd moved in with me.

"I'm sorry, ok? I wanted to move back to Lima and this was the only school hiring." I explained the reason why I'd taken the job to the best of my abilities. "and if it makes you feel better, I'm only teaching 9th and 10th grade biology so unless you're really bad at science, you shouldn't be in my class." I added. She pulled open one of the front doors to the school and began walking down one of the hallways(I stayed close to her).

Rachel was about to say something to me when suddenly a tall boy covered in a blue substance and carrying a gym bag staggered around the corner of the hallway. He looked familiar but I couldn't exactly recognize him.

"Oh my god! Finn!" Rachel cried before running up to him. I knew where I had seen him before now. He was friends with Noah and had helped him slash Vocal Adrenaline's tires. He was also the male lead of New Directions(I still can't get over the fact that Will actually named them that)."Mom, we'll talk later." Rachel said to me before grabbing the boy by the arm and pulling him into a nearby girls bathroom. I assumed it was to get him cleaned up. I just hoped Rachel wasn't late to her first class because of it.

Before I could think about it further, I noticed the time and realized I had to get to my classroom. I shot a glance at the closed bathroom door before going to the stairwell that would almost directly lead me to my room.

Rachel

"it had to be blue, didn't it?" I asked rhetorically as I ran some warm water into Finn's hair. "Damn puckhead!" Finn said angrily before wincing from the pain of corn syrup and blue dye in his eyes. I sighed and wiped the slush from his face with a wet paper towel. It killed me whenever this happened to him. Unlike me, Finn had never had to endure things like this when he was younger so that made the bullying us Glee kids have to deal with that much harder on him.

"Don't let them get to you, Finn. Ten years from now, you'll be living your dreams while they live in the South Lima trailer park." I said to him in encouragement. Finn doubted my words and shook his head. Before I could object to his actions, the first bell rang.

"You're late to class." Finn pointed out. I nodded.

"So are you." I retorted before taking his wet, stained letterman jacket off. Finn seemed surprised by lack of panic over missing a class.

"Aren't you worried about it affecting your perfect GPA?" He asked. I shook my head. "Why?"

"Well, it's not like you ever learn anything in the classes on the first day, and it wouldn't matter anyways because my first class is German." I explained in detail. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you care about missing German?" Finn asked. Before I could stop myself I answered him,

"Da bin ich schon fließend in der Sprache, meine Liebe." Finn's eyes widened.

"That was awesome!" he cried. I laughed and got another paper towel to dry him off. "But what does it mean?" he asked. I wiped at his forehead.

"I just told you that I can already speak the language." I loosely translated. He nodded. I'd already gotten most of the slushie off of him but his shirt and jacket were still covered in the stuff. "Do you have a spare shirt on your bag?" I asked as I looked over at Finn's football bag on the floor. He nodded again before putting his head back under the stream of water to help the burning in his eyes. I dug through his football equipment in his bag until I found his grey workout shirt.

When I stood back up, Finn was standing and shirtless. Unlike Puck, who could stand in front of someone completely naked and be nonchalant about it, Finn looked incredibly embarrassed. I had no idea why. Apparently he'd been working out since the Rocky Horror Hallway Incident because he was not "flabby" like Santana claimed. Sure he didn't look like Sam, but he definitely had some abs.

"Uh, if I put my shirt on now, I'll be all sticky." Finn stated. I found my mind screaming at me, THINK PURE THOUGHTS!

"Um, yeah…you should probably wipe yourself off." I said nervously and tossed him the wet paper towel. He then began to rub at his chest with the towel. I was apparently caught in the sexyness of it because Finn broke my thoughts with.

"Uh, Rachel?" I snapped out of my trance.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" I asked him in confusion.

"I was asking how living with your mom's going." Finn repeated himself.

"Horribly." I replied. "She's working here!" Finn looked surprised.

"Oh, so that's why she was with you?" he asked. I nodded. "Well it probably won't be too bad. I mean, Mr. Schue's like a dad to me and it isn't bad having him as a teacher." He added optimistically before throwing the paper towel into the garbage and extending his arm towards me. I tossed him his shirt and said,

"Well, you don't live with Mr. Schue." Finn pulled the shirt on. "This could absolutely ruin my reputation and make school hell for me." I added.

"We're in Glee Club. Our reputations were ruined a while ago." Finn reasoned while fixing his hair into its traditional style with his fingers. "And besides, if anyone tries to mess with you, they'll have to deal with me." I blushed. Before I knew it was happening, Finn leaned down and kissed me lightly on the lips. "Thanks for missing first period to help me clean up." he whispered into my ear.

"Any time." I said back to him as the two of us left the bathroom together.

Shelby

By the time the bell for lunch rang, I was more than ready for a break. It had been a few years since I'd taught and actual class(being the coach of Vocal Adrenaline was my only job at Carmel) but nothing had changed. Teenagers simply don't care about school on the first day. For them, it's all about seeing their friends and being depressed because summer's over. Therefore, they never really listen when teachers talk about their kids or what they'll be teaching for the next nine months. So basically, after repeating an hour long speech three times, to three classes who don't give a damn, it nice to talk to adults.

By the time I got to the teacher's lounge, Will was already sitting at one of the tables with a redhead with big eyes and a soft voice. Due to my nature, I instantly became jealous.

"Hi, Will." I greeted him as I sat next to him. He smiled at me.

"Hey, Shelby. We were just talking about you." Will said. "Emma, this is Shelby Corcoran. Shelby, this is Emma Pillsbury. She's the school's guidance counselor." Will introduced the redhead(named Emma) and I.

"It's nice to meet you." I said to her politely as I unpacked my lunch from its paper bag. Emma opened a small Tupperware container full of grapes.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too." She replied. I could detect some animosity in her tone. Will could detect the awkwardness between us and broke in.

"So how was your classes, Shelby?" he asked as he too unpacked his lunch.

"Pretty much what was to be expected on the first day of school." I replied before opening my can of diet soda and taking a drink. Will nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much the same with mine. Luckily, I'm sure the Glee club will be a bit more enthusiastic about the new school year. You can join us this afternoon if you want, Shelby." Will offered.

"I would, but Rachel's not too happy with me right now so I think it would be best if I give her some space." I politely declined Will's offer. He nodded in agreement. Even though I'm her mother, Rachel has been around Will more so he knows her better. "And besides, I have to work on drama club preparation." I added.

"I wasn't aware the school had a drama club." Emma stated.

"It didn't. But Figgins decided that expanding the arts programs could get the school more academic funding." I explained to Emma(Will already knew this). While I was explaining the reasons for the revival of the drama club, a tall woman with short blonde hair and wearing a blue tracksuit sat at the table next to us. When Will saw her, he groaned in annoyance.

"Good God, the school has another bleeding heart, arts freak." The woman said angrily. I knew she was talking about me.

"Sue, what is your problem? Your Cheerios budget wasn't even affected this year!" Will said to her. The woman must have been Sue Sylvester, the woman Will had told me hilarious stories about.

"My problem, William, is that the more of you there are, the more singing metrosexuals this school will produce!" Sue all but screamed before standing up again and storming out of the teachers lounge. There was a few minutes of awkward silence before I broke it with,

"So is she an angry person or simply insane?" Both Emma and Will laughed.

"My guess is insane." Emma said. "You should've seen what she did to Figgins' office after he refused to let her shoot one of the cheerleaders out of a cannon." She added. My eyes widened.

"A cannon?" I asked in disbelief. They both nodded. Emma then looked at her watch.

"Sorry, I have to leave now. I have to finish some things with a boy who's transferring next week." Emma explained as she packed her lunch back into its bag.

"Ok. See you later, Emma." Will said to her. She smiled at him before leaving Will and I alone. In a way I was glad. For some reason, Emma didn't really like me, and besides, it gave me a chance to actually talk to Will.

"So Rachel doesn't like that we're dating?" Will asked before biting into a green apple. I got a guilty look on my face.

"Uh, she doesn't exactly know about that yet. She's mad about me working here." Will sighed.

"Shelby, you said you would tell her."

"I know. But she's taking living with me worse than I thought and I figured she shouldn't have to deal with everything at once." explained to him.

"So when are you planning on telling her?" He asked.

"I don't know yet. But when the time is right, I will." I said. He smiled and put his hand over mine.

"And are we still on for dinner, Wednesday?" he asked.

"Well, you aren't married, dating someone else, or both, are you?" I asked. Will smiled and shook his head. "Then absolutely."

Author's note:

For those of you who want to know, the correct English translation to what Rachel said to Finn in German was, "Since I'm already fluent in the language, my love."

I'm planning on having the drama club(with Glee kids in it of course) perform a musical. I already have one in mind(and it's a secret so don't ask what it is) but I'd like to hear some suggestions from you guys.

Reviews are gratefully accepted and feel free to ask any questions you have about the story. I'll get back to you as soon as possible with answers.