Hi everyone! Thanks as always for your support on the last chapter! The end of Season 2 was one of my favorite times of Glee, so it's definitely fun to go into Finn and Rachel's heads for these episodes! This episode was one of my favorites in S2 (except the Puckleberry and Fuinn - barf), so I enjoyed writing it! Hope you like what I added in and review if you want me to continue!

Chapter 41: Born This Way

Today, Mr. Schuester asked the glee club to meet in the auditorium. "All right, guys. Nationals are just a few weeks away, and it's time to bear down. Now, your singing at Regionals was amazing, but your dancing..." He paused. "It's booty camp time."

Finn knew his dancing wasn't the best, so he was sure that he was one of the people that Mr. Schue had in mind. As the music began, he tried to work on his arm movements to perfect them. "Push yourselves, guys. Vocal Adrenaline takes no prisoners," Mr. Schue said.

Then it felt like Finn's arm had hit something. No, hit someone. He turned around and saw Rachel on the ground, clutching her nose. The person he'd least want to hit. He ran to Rachel's side. "Oh! I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm bleeding," Rachel said.

"Let's get you to a doctor," Mr. Schue said.

"I'll give her a ride," Finn said. He had to think fast. Of course it was his natural instinct to want to take care of Rachel.

"I have my car," Rachel said, still clutching her nose.

"Yeah, but you need to hold your nose," Finn said. "Is there ice anywhere?"

"I'll get some," Tina said, running to the nearby refrigerator and giving Rachel an ice pack.

"Thanks," Finn said. He looked at Rachel. "I'll call your dads, let's go." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Quinn giving him an angry look. He didn't care though. He wanted to make sure Rachel was okay.

Once they were out of the auditorium, Finn put his arm around Rachel as they walked to the parking lot. He called her dads and then unlocked her car. "You're going to be fine."

"It hurts, Finn," Rachel said.

Finn wanted so badly to kiss her, but he knew he couldn't. They'd already kissed once while he was still with Quinn. They couldn't do it again. "I'm sorry, I'm sure it does." He patted her back and turned on the ignition, driving Rachel's car to the doctor. When they arrived at the ER, a doctor could see her, so they went to the examination room. Finn waited outside the examination room while the doctor took an x-ray of Rachel's nose, and then went back in. "Do you think you'll be okay?" Finn asked. He just wished there was more that he could do.

"I'm sure I will," Rachel said. "The pain's already gone down. My dad's will be here in 15 minutes. You don't have to stay, Finn."

Finn sighed. "No, I want to wait and hear what the doctor says. I feel terrible."

"Won't Quinn be mad at you sitting vigil at my bedside?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I'm standing," Finn pointed out. "And she'd understand how awful I feel even if it's not broken." Well, he wasn't so sure about that."

The doctor came back. "It's broken."

Finn felt even worse though. "Well, I knew I was a bad dancer, but I never thought my dancing was dangerous."

"It's a clean break, so I won't have to set it," the doctor said. "Considering your deviated septum, I'd consider this a terrific opportunity for a little vanity adjustment."

What did this mean? Rachel was perfect the way she was!

"Are you suggesting that I get a nose job?" Rachel asked.

No! Rachel couldn't get a nose job. "You're 16, right? That's when I gave my daughters theirs. It's like a right of passage for Jewish girls," the doctor said.

Rachel didn't look convinced. "First of all, I like how I look."

The doctor turned to Finn. "She your girlfriend?"

"No," Finn admitted. How much he wished she was.

"What does your girlfriend look like?" the doctor asked.

Finn could tell Rachel ddin't like that question. "Okay, and second of all, I don't want to do anything that's going to affect my voice. My Broadway career depends on it."

"Yeah, we got a big show choir competition coming up, and Rachel's kind of our best singer," Finn added.

"Doesn't impact the voice," the doctor said. "That's just a myth. The fact is, opening up that septum might allow you to take in more air per breath, which means bigger belts on you high notes."

"But Barbra..." Rachel began.

"Is great," the doctor said. "She's also one in a million. The fact is, if you really want to be an actress, you might want to consider looking and sounding the best that you can. I got an appointment open next week. Can I sign you up?"

"She's not interested," Finn said. He wasn't going to let Rachel do this.

"Well, maybe it's not a bad idea," Rachel said.

"What?" Finn gasped.

"I do wish I were prettier," Rachel said.

"Nothing wrong with that," the doctor said.

Rachel's dads came in. "Are you okay?" Hiram asked Rachel.

"The doctor wants Rachel to get a nose job," Finn said. He was sure Rachel's dads wouldn't like this.

LeRoy turned to Rachel. "What do you think?"

"Well, it's broken, but it's a clean break," Rachel said. "Why not?"

"Well, if this is something you want..." LeRoy said.

Finn couldn't believe Rachel's dads were going along with this. "Rachel, you don't need a nose job!"

"All the pretty girls at our school have them," Rachel said.

Finn wanted to say that Rachel was the prettiest girl at school, but he knew he couldn't. Hiram turned to him. "Thanks for bringing her here, Finn."

"Oh, anytime," Finn said. He just hoped that Rachel would decide against getting the nose job.

x

Rachel had been surprised her dads had been okay with it, but a nose job might be a good thing. She still didn't have boys at school looking at her. It was true that the only boy she wanted to be with was Finn, but Quinn had taken him. She used to think she was one in a million like Barbra Streisand, but she had to remember: the glee club hadn't even made Nationals last year, even with her leading all three songs at Regionals. When she looked at photos of famous actresses in magazines... their noses weren't as big as hers.

When Rachel went to glee practice the next day, she turned to Mr. Schue. "Can I say something?"

"Of course," Mr. Schue said.

Rachel went to the front of the room. "I know I fell down at practice yesterday, and I'm okay. My nose is broken, but it's a clean break, and I should be fine in time for Nationals. The only thing that might be changing is the way my nose looks. I might have it altered."

Finn was shaking his head and looking annoyed. Quinn looked up at Rachel. "Oh my God, you're getting a nose job."

"I'm considering having a minor procedure to repair my deviated septum," Rachel said.

"So, a nose job," Santana confirmed.

"Look, I'm happy with the way that I look, okay?" Rachel said. "And I've embraced my nose. But let's say I wanted to have a slightly more demure nose." She looked around the room. "Like Quinn's, for example. I would never change my appearance for vanity, but, I mean, the doctor said that it could possibly improve my talent, which would help us all for Nationals."

"Possibly?" Mr. Schue asked. "What about the risks? Your voice is amazing as is, Rachel."

"Hold up," Santana interrupted. "Could we all just get real here for a second? I hear that Rachel's got a bit of a schnoz. I mean, I wouldn't know because, like Medusa, I try to avoid eye contact with her. But can we all just stop lying about how there aren't things that we wouldn't change about ourselves? I mean, I'm sure that Sam's been at the doctor's office and rifled through pamphlets on mouth reduction. I'll bet Artie's thought about getting his legs removed since he's not really using them anyways. And I'm definitely sure that Tina's looked into getting an eye de-slanting."

"That's extraordinarily racist," Tina declared.

"I'm keepin' it real," Santana shot back.

"Sorry, Santana," Tina said. "I'm a beautiful person. I'm in love with myself, and I would never change a thing."

"Is that why you're wearing blue contacts today, Tina?" Mike asked. "Self-hating Asian."

"Not many Asian sex symbols, Mike. I'm just trying to be in fashion and mirror what I see in the magazines," Tina admitted.

"My dancing kind of bothers me and it almost killed Rachel, but I like the way I look," Finn said.

Rachel liked the way Finn looked, too. But Santana didn't seem to. "Oh, please. You have weird, puffy pyramid nipples. They look like they're filled with custard, or you could dust them with powdered sugar and they could pass for some sort of dessert. Look, maybe Rachel's fine with having an enormous beak. Maybe she needs it to crack hard seeds. All I'm saying is that if you look in the mirror and you don't like what you see, you should change it."

"Whoa, guys. I'm really shocked at what I'm hearing here. It goes against everything the Glee club stands for. I'm telling you, the thing you would most like to change about yourself is the most interesting part of you," Mr. Schue said.

"Well, maybe, but at this school, the thing that makes you different is the thing people use to crush your spirit," Mercedes said.

Mercedes was right. "So, if any of you have any kind of experience with this, I'd appreciate any advice," Rachel said. "Let's get back to preparing for Nationals." She went back to her seat.

x

After glee practice, Quinn came up to Rachel. "Hey, about your nose?"

Rachel looked at Quinn. "Yeah?" She was afraid of what Quinn might say after their last one-on-one confrontation.

"I wanted to tell you that you should do it, I mean if you want to," Quinn said. "We're going through a time where there's so much pressure, and you should be as comfortable as possible."

"That's how I feel," Rachel said. "I was looking online at photos of famous actresses and their noses and trying to decide whose I should get."

"Well, the doctor won't have a 3D view of theirs for you," Quinn pointed out.

"That's true," Rachel said. She looked at the girl across from her. "You actually have a pretty nice nose."

"Thank you," Quinn said. "You know, the doctor could probably give it to you if we took some photos."

"You'd do that for me?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said. "I know that last year I gave you all sorts of crap, but you were always nice to me."

"I do have an appointment next week," Rachel said. "Maybe you could come along and we could take some photos or something?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Quinn said. "Don't let anyone make you feel bad about this, Rachel."

x

A week later, Rachel and Quinn were on their way to the doctor's office. Mr. Schue had announced this week's lesson: singing a song about being "born this way." Rachel had a feeling that her and her nose were the reason this lesson had been chosen. As the girls drove to the doctor, Rachel turned to Quinn. "Do you think this week's lesson has something to do with my nose?"

"Probably," Quinn said. "When you said that stuff about wanting to change it and Santana and I agreed with you, Mr. Schue didn't seem to like it. But like I told you earlier, you should look however you feel is right."

"Thank you," Rachel said. "I don't know what song I'm going to do for the assignment."

"Would you like to do something together?" Quinn asked.

"Sure," Rachel said. Ever since she and Finn broke up, it wasn't often that someone wanted to do the assignment of the week with her. "Maybe when we get home we could look into some things?"

"That sounds good," Quinn said. The girls arrived at the doctor's office and sat down, waiting for the doctor to come out. "Thanks for doing this," Rachel told Quinn.

"I'm surprised more girls haven't asked me. My nose is awesome. I can totally count on your vote, right?" Quinn asked.

Rachel wasn't so sure about that. She didn't want to see Finn win a status symbol with another girl. "Yeah. Totally. So, what's it like? Looking like you look?"

"I pretty much have a warped sense of the world. Being a hot seventeen-year-old, you can get away with or do anything you want, so I kind of always assume that people are always nice and accommodating," Quinn said.

That sounded like the type of life Rachel would like. Then the doctor came out. "Okay, ready to pull the trigger?"

"Not quite yet," Rachel admitted. "I was kind of hoping that I could get an idea of what I might look like after the procedure. This is my friend Quinn."

The doctor looked at Quinn. "Nice nose."

"Thank you," Quinn said.

"Very nice," the doctor said.

"Yeah, well, Rachel wants it," Quinn said.

"No problem," the doctor said. "So I'll click some pics, make up some photo composites. We'll be ready to rock and roll."

x

The next day, Finn was in glee and he was sure he'd have his performance ready tomorrow. He'd asked Mike to help him put together a dance number to show that even though Finn was a bad dancer, he was willing to accept himself. Then Rachel and Quinn arrived and announced that they'd prepared a song to sing together. Rachel and Quinn singing together? Something about this didn't feel right. The girls took their seats and began singing.

Quinn: I wish I could tie you up in my shoes
Make you feel unpretty too
I was told I was beautiful
But what does that mean to you?
Look into the mirror who's inside there
The one with the long hair
Same old me again today, hey
Rachel: My outsides are cool
My insides are blue
Every time I think I'm through
It's because of you
I've tried different ways
But it's all the same
At the end of the day
I have myself to blame
I'm just trippin'
Quinn and Rachel: You can buy your hair if it won't grow
Quinn: You can fix your nose if he says so (Rachel: Ahh ahh)
Quinn and Rachel: You can buy all the make up
That M.A.C. can make
But if, you can't look inside you
Quinn: Find out who am I to (Rachel: Ahh ahh)
Quinn and Rachel: Be in a position to make me feel so
Rachel: Damn unpretty
Quinn: I feel pretty
Rachel: Oh, so pretty
Quinn (with Rachel): I feel (pretty and witty and bright) and I pity
Rachel: Any girl who isn't me tonight
Rachel: I feel pretty (Quinn: You can buy your hair if it won't grow)
Oh, so pretty (Quinn: You can fix your nose if he says so)
I feel pretty and witty and bright (Quinn: You can buy all the make up that M.A.C. can make, but if)
Quinn and Rachel: You can't look inside you
Quinn: Find out who am I to
Quinn and Rachel: Be in a position to make me feel so
Rachel: Damn unpretty
Quinn: I feel pretty
Quinn and Rachel: But unpretty...

For once Finn had an excuse to stare at Rachel while she was singing. But he couldn't help but wonder - why had she sung with Quinn?

x

"Rachel, you can't get a nose job!" Finn heard Kurt say as he walked in from practicing his song for Glee at Mike's.

Rachel was at Finn's house? And she hadn't told him? Finn went to Kurt's room. "Hi Rachel."

"Hi Finn," Rachel said.

"Finn, back me up!" Kurt said. "Rachel can't get a nose job!"

"I've been saying that, but it falls moot," Finn said.

"She even has one picked out!" Kurt said. "She got Quinn to go with her to a doctor and they took photos as to how Rachel would look with Quinn's nose."

Now it was making sense. THAT was why Rachel and Quinn had been hanging out and singing together. "Rachel!" Finn gasped.

"Why shouldn't I look the best I can?" Rachel asked.

"Because you already do," Finn said.

"You're beautiful, Rachel," Kurt said. "Beautiful the way you are."

"Not many people think that," Rachel said. "My dads think it's okay."

That surprised Finn. He looked at Kurt, as if asking him what to say.

Rachel got up. "I should go now." She gave Kurt a hug and smiled at Finn before leaving.

When Rachel was gone, Finn turned to Kurt. "What else did she say?"

"She showed me some photos the doctor gave her," Kurt said. "I didn't expect this from Rachel."

"Ever since we broke up, she just... she's had her confidence shaken," Finn said. "I was hoping winning Regionals would snap her back into things but..." Finn noticed Kurt's look of disappoint. He shouldn't bring up Regionals around Kurt. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kurt said. "You guys deserved to win."

"We miss you in glee, you know," Finn told his brother.

"I want to go back to McKinley, Finn," Kurt said. "I miss you guys every day, but I don't want to be slushied and shoved into lockers and..."

"And?" Finn asked.

"Please don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," Kurt said.

"I won't," Finn said.

"Karofsky hate kissed me," Kurt said quietly. "A few weeks before our parents' wedding, I cornered him in the locker room and he kissed me."

Finn felt sick to his stomach and shocked at the same time. "Oh my God... so you think he bullied you because..."

"Yeah," Kurt said. "I just wish he'd switch schools so I could come back."

"We can try to figure something out," Finn said.

"Yeah, it sucks," Finn said. "Seeing your brother and all your friends get ready for Nationals in the most amazing city on Earth and I'm stuck here, wearing a uniform every day and performing at nursing homes."

"I'm sorry," Finn told Kurt. "I really am."

x

The next day at school, Finn went up to Quinn at her locker. "So, I know what you and Rachel are up to."

"I'm doing something good for someone else," Quinn said.

"What you're doing is terrible," Finn said.

"I have a nice nose. Rachel asked me for help, and I'm giving it to her. And once again, we are fighting about Rachel. I'm your girlfriend," Quinn snapped.

Finn knew Quinn was upset about the Rachel aspect of it all. "Look, this isn't about who's my girlfriend. Mr. Schue is trying to get us to accept ourselves for who we are, and you're helping Rachel do the exact opposite. That's not cool."

Quinn started to walk away. "Yeah, well, maybe I'm not down with this week's lesson."

Finn closed his locker. "I love this lesson." He continued on to glee, and the glee meeting began with him and Mike performing their dance number. Finn couldn't keep up with Mike in the dancing, but he had worked hard on both the dance and the song.

Finn: Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I've gotta be me, I've gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am
I want to live, not merely survive
And I won't give up this dream of life that keeps me alive
I've gotta be me, I've gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am
That faraway prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
I won't settle down, won't settle for less
As long as there's a chance that I can have it all
I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else if I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I've gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die, I've gotta be me

"All right, Finn! Perfect!" Mr. Schue said at the end of the song. "See, guys, someone who's not afraid to point out something they're really bad at."

"But I'm getting better, right?" Finn asked.

Mr. Schue didn't say anything. He did however, answer when Rachel asked him something. "Mr. Schuester? May I have the floor, please?"

"It's yours," Mr. Schue told Rachel.

Rachel came to the front of the room. "So, as all of you know, I've had a few consultations with a doctor who specializes in rhinoplasty."

"Yes, we know," Tina said. "That's all any of us have been talking about. And we think it's a terrible idea."

"Okay. Blue eyes, you're such a hypocrite," Rachel said.

"I admit, yes, I don't like my eyes sometimes, the shape, the color, but your self-hatred, Rachel, has helped me see the light," Tina said.

"I love myself," Rachel said.

"Not enough, clearly," Tina said. "When you get a nose job, when you change your eyes, when you bleach your freckles, you're just announcing to the world, 'I don't like myself very much.' The drams of this week have made me realize, if I don't have many Asian sex symbols to look up to, I have an obligation to maybe become one myself. My new mantra is 'be the change you want to see in the world.'"

"I love you so much right now," Mike said as he and Tina began making out.

"Okay, besides Tina's abrupt personal transformation, the compositions came back from the doctor, showing what my nose would look like slightly altered, and I have to say, I'm really happy with the results. They're less Hebraic, and more Fabrayic." Rachel began passing around the photos.

"That doesn't really look like you," Mr. schue said.

"Every year, girls show up to my temple after their 16th birthday, looking suddenly slightly different," Puck said. "And you know what? Even though it's easier to make out with them without getting constantly stabbed in the eye, they're not as hot."

"Well, this isn't about being hot. It's about conquering your destiny, and finding something in yourself that you want to change and change it. Plus, they said that it could improve my voice," Rachel said. "Look, if you guys aren't willing to support my decision, then I'm pretty accustomed to making it on my own."

Finn couldn't hold it in anymore. "Rachel, please don't do this. You're beautiful."

Rachel looked touched for a moment. "This isn't a discussion. I have made up my mind. Rachel Berry is getting a nose job."

x

In glee club the next day, there wasn't much talk about Rachel's nose job. Principal Figgins arrived in the choir room with Santana and Karofsky. Everyone erupted when Karofsky came in. "Okay, listen, I'm all... That's all I'm asking for. Let me finish. Quiet, okay?" Principal Figgins said.

"Now, I know David has had some issues in the past, but I have great respect for what he's doing right now, and I ask you to hear him out. Thank you," Principal Figgins said.

"How about we punch his face?" Sam asked.

"Okay, that's enough, guys," Mr. Schue said.

"First, I just want to say how sorry I am for what I did to Kurt and for what I've done to a lot of you. I think I've slushied every one of you. I treated Kurt the worst, and I'm really ashamed of who I am and what I did," Karosky said.

"Why should we believe you?" Puck asked. And Finn didn't.

"You don't have to," Karofsky said. "I know I'll need to earn your trust. All I can say is that Santana has really helped me to see the light. She showed me all these stories online about kids jumping off of bridges and hanging themselves because they were being bullied so bad. I couldn't believe someone could make another person feel that awful, but she helped me accept that I was one of those bad people, and I don't want to be anymore."

"Wait. Santana?" Quinn asked.

"This Glee Club is not complete. Not without Kurt. So I've taken it upon myself to try to rehabilitate Dave to see if maybe Kurt would consider coming back and help us win nationals. I did this for us, and then something funny happened. Something... called love," Santana said.

Santana and Karofsky were dating?

"I want Kurt to feel safe to come back, which is why Santana and I have started a new club: The Bully Whips," Karofsky said.

"The name was my idea. We're going to be like guardian angels," Santana said.

"I have deputized David and Santana and the rest of their club to roam the halls, identifying bullying and stopping it in its tracks," Principal Figgins said.

x

Finn wasn't sure if he believed that Karofsky really wanted to change who he was. Either way, if this was what it took to have Kurt back at McKinley, he was going to make sure Kurt was okay. Right now Kurt was in the principal's office talking to Karofsky, and Finn went to stand outside the office, where Burt was standing. Burt turned to Finn. "Just keep an eye on your brother."

"One step ahead of you," Finn said.

x

Rachel stood in the bathroom, looking at her nose in the mirror, when Puck came up behind her. "You can't be in here, Noah."

"It's cool," Puck said. "I checked through the peep hole I drilled last year to make sure no one was going."

Rachel looked at Puck. "What can I help you with today?"

"I just want to talk to you, one hot Jew to another," Puck said.

Rachel groaned. "Oh, God. Look, it's my nose, okay? I am tired of the lectures."

"Hear me out," Puck said. "Why are you getting Quinn's nose? If you want to breathe better, why don't you have him give you Karl Malden's nose? Your nose has been passed down from generation to generation as a birthright. It's a sign of the survival of our people."

Why was Puck so obsessed with the fact that they were both Jewish? "This has nothing to do with our religion."

"I need one hour of your time tomorrow. Just one hour. Give me that, and I'll never bug you again," Puck said before leaving.

Rachel had begun to second guess whether not the nose job was a good idea. Her best friend and the boy she loved both thought it was a bad idea. And the main person who'd been encouraging her in it wasn't necessarily someone she looked up to.

x

After being in the principal's office, Finn went to the courtyard to wait for Kurt to arrive back to McKinley.

"Well, my fellow Glee Clubbers, it's noon, which means: it's official," Mercedes said.

"What's official?" Sam asked.

Kurt went up to the glee club as they hugged him. "My transfer! Kurt Hummel's back at McKinley!"

"Let's get ready for Nationals!" Kurt declared.

"Not yet. See, there's a reason we're meeting here today. There's some people that wanted to say good-bye to you, Kurt," Mercedes said.

Blaine led the Warblers over. "Kurt, Dalton's going to miss you. You were a great addition to the Warblers, and you made us a better team. I'm sad to see you go, but we all know this is something that you really want. And I'll still have you after school and on the weekends, but these guys won't, so they wanted to say goodbye."

"And thank you, Kurt," Wes said.

Now that Kurt was back, the glee club really did feel complete.

x

Puck took Rachel to the mall after school the next day. Rachel had no idea why he was bringing her here. "Why did you bring me here? Is there a sale at Claire's?"

"I brought you here to knock some sense into you. You won't listen to me, you won't listen to Finn," Puck said.

Kurt came over. "But you will listen to Barbra Streisand. Thanks, Puck. I'll take it from here. Nice effort. But only I can lead this Barbravention."

"Is she here?" Rachel asked.

"No," Kurt said. "This is a mall in Ohio. Look, Rachel, here's the deal. Do you want to disappoint her?"

"Who?" Rachel asked.

"Barbra," Kurt said as if stating the obvious.

"Of course not, Kurt. She's my idol," Rachel said.

"Okay, if you get a nose job, then you will be spitting on her legacy," Kurt said. "Barbra refused to believe that beauty could only be defined by the blonde, chiseled faces of Hitchcock's beauties, so she redefined what beauty was and became the biggest female star in the world."

"But what if I can't be like her? Isn't she one in a billion?" Rachel asked.

"So are you, Rachel," Kurt said. "And if you let one misguided societal pressure make you change the way you look, then you won't just be letting Barbra down, you'll be letting down all the little girls who are going to look at your beautiful face one day and see themselves. You'll be taking away their inspiration, too. I thought you'd be hesitant, which is why I brought you here. Perhaps, if my words don't inspire you, song will. Go."

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked.

Kurt turned on the radio and a song called "Barbra Streisand was playing. Every time Barbra's name was mentioned, Kurt pointed at Rachel. Eventually the other glee club members showed up, one by one, and joined in. Shoppers at the mall joined in eventually as well. It made Rachel feel good. People really liked the way she looked and saw potential in her?

x

Posters were all over the school, but not the kind Quinn wanted.

Someone had come across Quinn's middle school photos and posted them all over the school. Now it was making sense to Finn. This was why Quinn never wanted to talk about her past. She wasn't really the perfect girl she projected herself to be. Back in middle school, she was heavy and she'd gotten a nose job.

So maybe this was why she'd been so supportive of Rachel in getting a nose job. But Finn didn't understand why Quinn had felt the need to do this. Why couldn't she just be herself? He went up to Quinn at her locker. "Hey."

"Well, it's over," Quinn said.

"What?" Finn asked.

"My campaign. I'll never get elected prom queen now," Quinn said.

Finn still didn't understand why Quinn was so into the prom queen thing. "Can I show you something?" He held up one of the photos. "It's my girlfriend. I used to have another photo, but... I like this one better."

"Why?" Quinn asked. "She looks terrible."

"You think so?" Finn asked. "Cause I think it's the first one where you can really see her."

Quinn kissed Finn. "Thank you."

"I'll see you in Glee rehearsal, okay?" Finn asked. Then Rachel came up to him. "Hey."

"Hey," Finn said.

"I wanted you to be the first one I told," Rachel said. "I'm not getting the nose job."

"You're not?" Finn asked. At least Rachel was sticking with her real self.

"No," Rachel said. "I didn't want to say this in front of everyone, but even before what happened at the mall yesterday, I was leaning toward not getting it, and I really have you to thank."

"Me?" Finn asked.

"Yeah," Rachel said. "From the beginning, you were always encouraging me to be myself, and I appreciated that so much."

"I'm glad you came around," Finn said. He had a feeling she would. Rachel wasn't the type to cave to pressure.

"Well, thanks again," Rachel said.

"See you at rehearsal!" Finn said as he watched Rachel walk away. He was glad she decided against the nose job. Her nose was part of her.

x

Rachel was pretty sure she'd made the right choice. And as she arrived to glee practice for their big number, she could tell by everyone's shirts that they were embracing themselves, too.

"Is everyone here?" Rachel heard Mr. Schue say.

Rachel went on to the stage. "Not everyone. I wanted to thank you guys for my Barbravention. And I have an announcement to make. I went to my doctor and... I canceled my appointment. And then I went home and I made this." She opened her sweater to reveal her shirt, which said "Nose." "So, unfortunately I can't join in on today's dance number. My doctor said I have to stay away from vigorous choreography while my nose heals. So thanks for being patient. And, Finn, next time, watch out for the schnoz."

Finn did a drumroll and gave her one of those half smiles, one of the ones he seemed to reserve for her.

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