"Guys, Regionals are in less than two weeks and we still only have one song written! I'm giving you a week to write one more song, or it's a toss-up between Hell to the No and Trouty Mouth," Mr Schuester exclaimed.

"I'm a lyrical genius," Santana muttered under her breath before speaking loudly, "it was Berry's idea, so why hasn't she come up with something yet?"

Rachel bristled at her tone, Santana was correct in saying it was her idea to write original songs, she just hadn't expected it to be this damn difficult!

"I'm just waiting for the inspiration I need, Santana," she replied, tidying up the mounds of paper that surrounded her. Mike and Tina were working across from her, Tina was trying, without much luck, to write a song, and Mike was going over the choreography for Loser Like Me. A waded up piece of paper fell close to Rachel, and she looked up, wanting to know if it was worth her opening it. Finn caught her eye and nodded slightly, so she quickly grabbed the paper before anyone else could get their hands on it.

"My offer still stands. You know we work well together and we both want to win Regionals."

Rachel frowned at the sight of Finn's messy scrawl. She did want New Directions to win Regionals more than anything, but was it worth her spending time with Finn? Sighing, she decided that one afternoon with Finn wouldn't hurt, especially if a song came out of the session.

"Well?" Rachel flinched at Finn's demanding tone, but nonetheless she turned to face him. The choir room had slowly emptied, leaving just the pair of them in the room.

"I've reached the decision that it would most likely be worth our time to work together," she announced. Finn smiled at her reply; maybe his plan would actually work this time!

"Great, let's get started!" his voice came out far louder than necessary, Rachel noted, had he always spoken at that level when they were together?

Unfortunately for Rachel, their afternoon wasn't as productive as she would have liked. They arranged to meet again the following afternoon, even though Rachel had originally planned to go over to Thad's and start Jenny and Dani's singing lessons, she figured she could just push it back an hour. She felt bad spending time with Finn, even though it was completely in the interests of her Glee club. And she was sure that Thad would understand that.

"I swear, if Wes bangs his gavel once more during practice, I'm going to shove it in some place that it shouldn't be shoved," Thad groaned, collapsing onto his bed as he spoke to Rachel. Trent looked up in amusement before focusing his attention back onto his homework.

"I'm sure he's not that bad!" Rachel replied, her laugh instantly putting a smile onto Thad's face.

"Believe me, he is," Thad confirmed. "Are you looking forward to teaching the twin terrors
tomorrow?"

"I am actually. Although I need to push it back an hour, we've had an emergency Glee practice scheduled tomorrow, it was the only day the rest of the club could do," Rachel winced as she spoke, hoping her little white lie wouldn't come back and bite her on the butt in the future.

"Oh, that's fine. Did you want me to come and get you?" Thad questioned, a little annoyed at the sudden change in plans, but there wasn't really anything he could really do about it. It'd give him more time to grab a coffee before going to pick his sisters up and drive them back home.

"Oh, no. It'll be far easier if I just meet you at your house."

Much to Rachel's disgust, school finished far quicker than she wanted it to, meaning that she had to spend time with Finn. On the Brightside, it meant that she would be spending time with Thad and his sisters a lot sooner, especially if they finished this song that they had started. Finn seemed to have other ideas though, and spent a good ten minutes badgering Rachel with questions until she finally snapped and told him to work on the song.

Thad checked his watch for what felt like the hundredth time in the past five minutes. He was pleased that Rachel had pushed back everything by an hour; the way the line at the Lima Bean was moving, he'd be lucky to actually get his coffee and leave here on time. Finally, they all shuffled forward slightly, and the person who had been occupying the Barista's time headed towards the door. Thad was all set for glaring at the offending person, but his dirty look quickly faded away as he recognised the person to be Noah Puckerman. Puck noticed Thad and nodded to him, pausing to say hi.

"Has practice finished early?" Thad queried, panicking that he would be late in meeting Rachel at his house. Confusion crept onto Puck's face before he answered.

"We didn't have practice today, man. Not unless Schue called one and no-one told me." Thad nodded at his words, and Puck clapped him on the shoulder before heading out of the door. Thad frowned, deeply confused over why Rachel had lied to him. He shook it off, deciding to ask her about it later after she'd given her lesson to the twins.

"I think we're gonna need another session," Finn announced, "or maybe we should go get some coffee and continue this at the Lima Bean?"

"I don't think so!" Rachel replied, jumping up and grabbing her bag. "We can just finish it in Glee tomorrow. I have places to be."

"With Thad?" Finn questioned, a mocking edge to his voice.

"Yes, with Thad. He makes me so incredibly happy Finn." Rachel walked out of the room as soon as she finished speaking, leaving Finn alone with her words echoing around him.

"You guys have incredible voices!" Rachel couldn't help but beam at the twins. Their voices were amazing; it was easy for her to tell that they had received a very musical background growing up. She wondered if that was all Sharon's doing, and made a mental note to ask Thad at some point. The twins grinned back, already talking at top speed about how excited they were for next week. Rachel slipped out of the music room and headed towards Thad's, hoping that the bad mood he had been in earlier was gone.

"Hi," she said, strolling into the room. She stood awkwardly by the door, unsure of where to sit, especially after the look she had just received.

"I thought you had glee practice after school?" even Thad winced at the harsh tone he had used. Rachel's eyes widened, and he saw her take a few deep breaths before answering.

"I, I did!" she stammered.

"Then why did I see Puck in the coffee shop when you should have been practicing?" Thad demanded, still keeping his voice at a reasonable level. "He told me you didn't have practice."

"I was with Finn," Rachel whispered, "it was to help prepare for Regionals and I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to get mad!"

"Well, it didn't work Rach. If you'd have told me the truth in the first place I wouldn't be this frustrated. I'm not pissed that you were working with him, not really. I'm pissed that you blew off my sisters for an hour so you could do so."

"I'm sorry!" Rachel replied, trying her hardest to not cry.

"So am I," Thad said, before turning his back on her. Rachel took that as her cue to leave and fled out of the house as quickly as she could. She managed to make it all the way back to her room before the tears began to fall. She knew she shouldn't have lied. She knew she should have told Thad the truth. But she didn't. And now she was going to have to deal with the consequences. Thad hadn't broken up with her, but she knew that it was going to inevitably happen.

"What have I done?" she whispered to herself, staring at the ceiling. Then, all at once, the inspiration she'd been looking for hit her, and through her tears she grabbed her notebook and began pouring her heart out onto paper.