A/N: Thank you for reading my story! I assume that most of you don't like Rachel interacts with Finn romantically, but I'm afraid to say this; Rachel'll have some emotional ups and downs as long as they are in the same high school and the same glee club.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.
Recruiting new students completely failed. After Puck's mediation in vain, Cheerios double crossed at the last moment (because of Sue, of course) and New Directions ended up coming under tons of slushie facials. How humiliated.
Still, there was a girl named Sugar Motta who ventured to come audition to join the glee club.
She, however, had totally no ear for music. The moment she started singing (nobody knew if you called that 'sing'), all the members of ND and Mr. Schue simply cringed. They should give the Jazz Band credit for decisively playing to the end.
Mr. Schue couldn't decide whether she would be welcomed or not, even though he admitted he'd never seen someone with so little musical talent. New Directions were split into two clear-cut camps on welcoming her or not.
"Mr. Schue, you said the other day that you would do anything to get us to Nationals!" Rachel cried out. "She's going to keep us from winning that elusive crown. If anything, she's going to kill all of our chance!"
Artie and Mercedes nodded affirmatively. Quinn rolled her eyes while Santana examined her manicured fingers being bored. Brittany seemed not interested in anything about Sugar just brushing off some Lord Tubbington's fur away from her shirts. Puck yawned.
"But we need new members." Finn objected. "She could sway in the background. Or she might improve her singing ability by Sectionals if she's trained how to sing." Sam, Tina and Mike seemed to agree with him.
Finn turned his face towards Rachel before continuing to speak. "You should take the initiative in doing it for her, Rach, if you are a co-captain." He challenged, grinning in a meaning manner.
Rachel gasped. How unfair! She turned away from him pouting, folding her arms across her chest.
"I agree with Finn. I know she was… a little rough, but we have always had the policy that everyone who tries out gets in." Will declared. "We're a family, we help each other. Not only Rachel should help her, but all of you should." He looked at Finn before admonishing. "Finn, you too."
Rachel reluctantly nodded at Will's decision, so did Artie and Mercedes.
"Alright. We'll discuss song selections for Sectionals at the next meetings."
"Did you know Shelby was moving to NY?"
That was the first thing Rachel who had waited for her new best friend said as he walked out of the boys shower room.
"Huh?"
"Shelby. My biological mother? Who adopted Beth? She'll move to NY this weekend."
Puck sighed. "Yeah, I know." He just wanted to go home to play Xbox or something since he finally finished his football practice for a long stretch of time. And honestly, he didn't want to continue having this conversation either.
"You knew?" Rachel widened her eyes.
"Wasn't that what I said?" Puck snapped, keeping walking over towards the parking lot. Rachel followed. "How did you know that?" He asked over his shoulder.
Rachel took a deep breath in front of her biological mother's house before ringing the door bell. After approximately thirty seconds, Shelby opened the door.
"Hi, Rachel. Come in." Shelby stepped aside, smiling.
Nervous Rachel just nodded and entered the house.
"Do you like to have something to drink?" Shelby led Rachel into the living room. The cry of a baby came from the back room. "I'm sorry. Could you wait here for a second?"
Rachel nodded with an awkward smile.
Once Shelby walked out of the living room, Rachel scanned over the room. The book shelf was empty. The cardboard boxes were being piled up mountain-high at the corner of the room. Rachel frowned. Had Shelby just moved in… or out?
"Sorry." Shelby reentered the living room, a glass of iced tea in one hand, her adopted daughter in her arm.
Rachel widened her eyes, with a thought how much she looked like Quinn and how fast she was growing up.
"She's begun to walk. She is very keen to experiment with different ways of moving." Shelby said as if she read her mind.
Rachel nodded before clearing her throat to speak. "Um, as I'd told on the phone the other day, I came here to ask you to write a recommendation letter for college." She pulled a file folder out of her backpack. "Actually, I've, I've already written it, so all you would have to do is just sign." She handed out the folder to Shelby. "And my resume's in there as well with the letter, so I thought that, you now, your pedigree as a National Champion show-choir coach would just make some noise with the admissions committee."
Shelby took a look at her letter. "Make sense." She put Beth down on the couch next to her before she signed. She handed the folder back to Rachel. "Here."
"Thank you."
Rachel stuffed the folder back into the backpack as Shelby opened her mouth.
"I'm so proud of you. You are truly a star, Rachel." Shelby held her daughter up in her arms before she looked up at Rachel from the couch. "It's all still out there in front of you. I'm not going to be the first person to be a little jealous of all the amazing things you have lying ahead. I'm just going to be the only one who's also cheering you on."
Rachel blinked. She didn't expect her to say like this. Her nervousness began to thaw. "Maybe you could come to my Broadway debut."
Shelby giggled. "Don't try to stop me."
Rachel looked down bashfully. "M-maybe you could write your own version of the letter." She pulled the folder out of the backpack again before handing it out to Shelby.
Shelby nodded with a smile. "Okay."
"Um, are you moving out or…?" Rachel pointed at the piles of cardboard boxes.
Shelby stroked Beth's hair through her fingers. "Yeah, I've got a position as a music teacher in high school in NY. We'll leave this weekend."
"Oh." Rachel's face fell.
Rachel and Kurt had been thinking that they would need a supervisor who could give an opinion in an objective standpoint for the audition and she too was going to ask her to be.
"Don't worry, I'll send my recommendation letter to you before I leave." Shelby assured.
Rachel nodded. "Well, I have to go." She stood up. "I wish you the best of luck in NY."
"Thank you, Rachel. Same to you." Shelby walked her to the front door. "I hope I'll see you in NY."
"Does Quinn know too?" Rachel said panting as she strode to catch up with him.
"Q's avoiding the talk involved 'B' word." Puck opened the door of his car, throwing his baggage into the back seat before he turned to face Rachel. "Look, I don't want to talk about this. Besides, why do you care? It's none of your business."
Rachel frowned. "You always were saying you wanted to involve your daughter despite you didn't live with her. Actually you used to babysit her. She followed his move to get onto his driver's seat with her eyes. "When Shelby moves to NY, you won't see your daughter that much."
"I can take care of myself." Puck dismissed her off with a wave of his hand. "You should take care of yourself, Berry. Look at you, when was the last time you ate properly?" He looked up and down at her, trying to distract her. "Get Hud to take you out for a dinner or something."
"I won't." Rachel glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're over a long time ago."
"I don't think he is. And I don't think you are either." Puck said as he fired up the engine. "Who do you think was listening to his moping around during the summer?"
"You're changing the subject." Rachel huffed. "How about you and Quinn, or…"
"Move. I'm sure you don't want to be run over." Puck cut in. "Bye, Berry." He smirked at her as he waved a hand as he drove off.
What was his problem? Rachel was confused as to why he didn't want to talk about Beth and Quinn. She shook her head before she walked over to her car.
"I cannot possibly believe that she'll be a better singer." Rachel opened her locker to put her books into it. "Whenever she opens her mouth, she excuses 'sorry, Asperger'." She sighed and shook her head. "And where's everybody?"
"You know, you're the only one who had trained professionally, Rachel. They think you are the only reliable on." Finn pointed out, leaning against the locker.
"I don't think so." Rachel turned her head towards Finn. "Are you happy now? You enjoy punishing me?" She folded her arms across her chest.
Ignoring her statement, Finn continued to speak. "You helped me to improve my voice last year."
"It's completely different." Rachel huffed. "You're talented in the first place."
"Altight. Why don't we discuss a training shift having a coffee at Lima Bean or somewhere?" Finn suggested.
Rachel frowned. "Finn, either you or I don't drink coffee."
"Okay, grab a bite then?" Finn insisted.
"I'm sorry I can't." Rachel shut her locker. "We can discuss tomorrow." She was about to walk away.
"Why not?" Finn interrupted.
Rachel took a deep breath. "I don't want your girl to get jealous."
"Huh? Who?" Confused, Finn asked.
"Your girlfriend. I saw you with a girl in the mall last month." Rachel saw him go pale. "It's okay, it's not like we are together. Besides, I met…"
"No!" Finn cut in. "She's nothing like that. Puck dragged me… Never mind." He shook his head before he looked into her eyes. "She's not my girlfriend, Rach. Heck, she's not a friend of mine, either." He grabbed her arms to her surprise. "Rachel, you didn't let me finish what I wanted to say in Central Park."
"Finn, don't." Rachel hissed, fidgeted. "I don't want to make a scene in the hallway." She looked around as she tried to tear herself away from him.
"No, Rach, hear me out this time." Finn dragged her into an empty classroom before her turned to face her "You've never been a rebound girl, Rachel. I want to be with you." He pleaded as he tried to hold her in his arms.
Rachel struggled to escape from his arms. "Finn, stop."
"Why?"
Rachel sighed. "I met someone."
"W-when? Who?" Shocked, Finn stumbled.
"It's none of your business, Finn." Rachel averted her eyes from his.
"Yes, it is!" Finn said irrationally. "I won't give up that easily."
Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. This was all over again. The last time he wanted to get back together was when she met Jesse and was about to move on. And now she finally decided to move on for good, he wanted to be with her again? After all happened? How could she trust him?
She wanted to take it slow about Jason since she didn't want him to feel a rebound. She wanted to take one step at a time with him until she made sure her feelings for him. He really was a nice guy. She really liked him. Unlike Finn or Jesse, Jason wasn't attracted to her voice at first. He seemed simply interested in herself.
She shook her head. "Well, you did."
Rachel turned around before she walked out of the classroom, thinking as to why the universe kept tormenting her, how she ended the things with Finn.
Any thoughts?