Forever Has to Start Somewhere

Chapter 5: Funk

Jesse was relieved to find the rest of the club already gathered, and Mr. Schue not present, upon his and Rachel's arrival.

"I need to speak to everyone before practice starts," he said, loud enough to break through their small conversations and capture the groups attention. He waited until Rachel had ducked under his arm and seated herself before speaking again. "I know not all of you are familiar with the traditions of show choirs, so I wanted to warn you to travel in pairs this week."

"Why?" Puck questioned. He was sprawled out among several chairs while Quinn sat in the one to his left with his arm around her shoulders.

"Because Vocal Adrenaline are firm believers in funkification," Jesse answered. "And they always strike the week before the competition that way they can focus on their numbers the week of."

"Funkification?" repeated Finn. "What's that?"

"It's supposed to be a friendly prank between competing show choirs, but Vocal Adrenaline has always taken it a bit too far."

Puck leaned forward, clearly intrigued. "How far?"

"My freshmen year we locked the lead singer of a lead competition in a closet until his teammates found him several hours later. He was claustrophobic. I heard he was in therapy for a few months." He let his words sink in for a bit before using their stunned silence to plow ahead. "Now that you fully understand how bad funkification can get, I'd like to propose a plan. I think we should make sure someone is with Quinn and Rachel every time they leave their homes or school. I know it seems excessive, but those are the only times when they'll be able to corner them."

There was another beat of silence before Santana spoke up, "I understand why we have to stay with Quinn, but why the fuck are we protecting man hands?"

"Because she's their target."

"How the fuck do you know that?" Puck questioned.

"Vocal Adrenaline goes for the toughest competitors. When you can shake a show choirs best singer, their whole choir falls apart." He glanced around before adding, "You can deny it all you want, but Rachel and I are far and beyond the most talented singers in this group. They aren't stupid enough to go after me. They're all well aware of how cruel I can be, so Rachel is their only option."

There was silence for a minute before Kurt asked, "If Rachel is the target, then why protect Quinn?"

Jesse didn't hesitate to answer, "Safety precaution. The targets are the leads but that doesn't mean other members aren't occasionally brought into it."

There was a thoughtful silence before the members begun to nod one by one.

"Now that we're all in agreement," Jesse continued, "I'd like to suggest that Mercedes and Puck switch off with Quinn. Mercedes can escort Quinn to her place when Puck has football practice and afterwards Puck can take over."

"That's fine by me," Quinn agreed. "Whose taking care of Rachel?"

"Primarily me, given that the two of us are always together anyway," Jesse answered. He added, "Having me around should also serve to deter them from doing anything."

"When do you need me then?" asked Finn.

"You? Never."

Finn scowled, "After you, I'm the one who cares about Rachel the most in this club."

"You're also the one who has hurt her the most," Jesse snapped back. "And besides that, it took you a week to gather the courage to stick up for Kurt when he was being physically assaulted. I sure as hell don't trust you to protect Rachel."

Before the fight could escalate, Rachel interrupted, "Who did you have in mind, Jesse?"

He glanced at her before grinding his teeth and straightening his back. "I was hoping Mike and Matt could do it."

There was a small pause before Matt echoed, "Mike and me?"

"Yes. Neither of you has verbally or physically assaulted Rachel. Now or in the past," he informed. "Which already puts you leagues ahead of any other member of this club." He turned to meet their eyes, "Unless something comes up, it'll only be on Thursday night. Her tap lessons finish before my ballroom ones. I won't be able to drive her home."

There was a brief pause as the two football players exchanged looks. After a moment, Mike asked, "When do they end?"

"Seven o'clock," Rachel answered. She turned in her chair, giving the two boys a small smile. "Thank you in advance."

"Oh..." Jesse watched Matt with the eyes of a hawk as he rubbed at the back of his neck and gave Rachel a nervous smile. It didn't seem flirty, and lord knew Rachel could use some allies in the club, but Finn had set him on edge. "It's no problem."

Before Jesse could say anything else, Mr. Schue was stepping into the room, "Sorry I'm late guys. Let's get started."

On Wednesday, seniors had a class meeting after school.

When Jesse made his way to the choir room afterwards, he was surprised to find it covered in toilet paper.

"What exactly happened here?" he questioned.

"Vocal Adrenaline," Rachel declared. Jesse's eyebrows rose. "They performed a sub par rendition of Another One Bites the Dust in our auditorium and when we came back the room was like this."

He made a soft sound as he made his way to her side. He reached over her, helping untangled the toilet paper at the top of the windowsill that she couldn't reach. "Everyone should be careful tomorrow."

"What?" Jesse glanced over at Kurt's exclamation. "You mean this wasn't it?"

"I can't be certain, but this is rather tame by their standards and it doesn't directly target Rachel or I. And, if I had to guess I'd say Giselle has taken over as lead and this would be woefully out of character for her."

Silence reigned as they continued cleaning the room.

It was broken by Matt saying, "Mike and I will make sure we get to the dance studio early tomorrow."

Jesse glanced over at him, a little bit surprised. While it was true that he trusted Matt and Mike more then the others, he hadn't necessarily expected them to care about whether or not Vocal Adrenaline got to Rachel. After a moment, he nodded. "I'd appreciate that."

"Oh god, Jesse, I am so sorry. We only left her alone because I couldn't carry all three slushees and we thought it would be fine since we could still see her out of the window and holy shit, I am so sorry."

Jesse's jaw clenched. When he'd seen Matt's name on his caller ID, he'd expected a quick call telling him that they'd gotten Rachel home fine. Not an immediate freak out implying the opposite.

"What happened?" he hissed. "Where is she?"

"She's in the bathroom with Mike," Matt answered.

Momentarily thrown, Jesse's only response was, "What? Why is Mike in the bathroom with her?"

There was a long pause before Matt said, "She needed help getting the egg out of her hair."

Jesse's fingers squeezed around his phone, the grip so tight it ached. "They egged her."

Even though it wasn't a question, Matt confirmed, "They egged her."

He took several deep breaths, trying to calm down. It didn't work.

"Take her home. Do not leave her alone. I'll be there are soon as I can."

His ballroom dance class didn't end for another thirty minutes, but Jesse picked up his bag and hightailed it out of the room.

He didn't knock before entering the Berry household.

Following the sound of the TV, Jesse made his way into the living room.

He stopped in the doorway, taking in the scene.

Mike, Matt, and Rachel were all seated on the floor with their backs against the couch. Rachel sat between the two of them, her hair damp and a tub of ice cream in her hands. Funny Girl played on the screen.

Part of him was glad he'd missed her tears. Part of him wished he'd been there for her.

"Rachel."

She looked up at his call.

"Jesse."

He crossed the room to her, crouching down in front of her. He reached out one palm and cradled her jaw in his hand. "I am so sorry I wasn't there."

"It's okay," she murmured. She turned, pressing her lips to his skin. "I'm fine."

"You're not." He could see it in the tense set of her shoulders and the redness rimming her eyes. "And that's fine. You're a vegan who just got egged." She flinched at his words. He pressed forward, placing a kiss against her forehead in apology.

They sat there in silence for a while before Mike piped in, "Not that I have anything against you guys, but can you sit down please, Jesse? You're in my way and I'm actually trying to watch this movie. It's not all that bad."

Jesse turned his head, watching the other boy for a moment.

He had expected Mike and Matt to leave as soon as he arrived, presuming they didn't want to spend anytime around Rachel.

Lately, he'd been wrong about a lot of things concerning those two.

"Yeah. Sorry."

He pulled Rachel forward a little. She seemed to understand what he wanted, because she came easily and moved so he could slid behind her.

When he was seated with her back against his chest and his arms around her waist, he buried his head against her neck.

He loved Funny Girl just as much as Rachel did, but he loved her infinitely more and every muscle in his body was still coiled tight with anger. He needed her close more then anything.

He took a deep breath, exhaling against her and feeling her shiver as his breath ghosted along her skin.

"I love you," he murmured.

Rachel went stiff for a moment, but then one of her hands reached back and curled into his hair. Her fingers scratched soothingly against his scalp as she whispered, "I love you too."

E/n: Whew okay, rewriting Funk was a bit of a challenge. I wanted to keep the egging and Jesse's first I Love You but not, you know, at the same time. They aren't mentioned, but I did decide in my head that Puck and Finn do still slash VA's tires and the Funk number is still performed. It might not be the type of revenge he wanted, but I think Jesse would be somewhat satisfied with humiliating Vocal Adrenaline with a number they would never be able to perform.

Hopefully you guys like Cherry and Berryford friendship because I'm all about that. I'm pretty fond of PezBerry and Puckleberry friendships as well, but I'm unsure about them right now. It's not possible for Rachel to be friends with Puck currently, given the way it would make Jesse feel after the whole Run, Joey, Run fiasco and I'm unsure if I want to write PezBerry friendship into this.

I'm also unsure about whether I'm going to keep Matt when I transition into the next season, but that's a decision for another day I suppose.

Thank you for reading and a review would be much appreciated!