"Good afternoon," Rachel greeted cheerfully as she stepped into the music room, Puck following closely behind her.
It felt like stepping onto the set of a poorly planned and produced after school special. Whether it was about bullying, dealing with romantic rejection, or getting along with your teacher, Rachel wasn't sure. Perhaps that spoke to the poorly planned aspect of it all. The only thing she knew with absolute certainty is that within moments she found Quinn's eyes. For that brief moment, all the stress from the encounter with Finn slipped away. Quinn was there and she was looking at her, even in a room full of people. It was spectacular. Unfortunately, reality broke in soon after.
"And here comes the queen," Mercedes scoffed.
Kurt brushed invisible lint off his shoulder. "Perhaps she'll go the way of Marie Antoinette."
Rachel could feel the glare Mercedes was sending her way like a physical thing. She was sitting next to Quinn and looked like she was itching for a chance to knock Rachel down, metaphorically speaking. After surviving the summer with Quinn, Mercedes wasn't even the least bit terrifying. Kurt looked as uninterested as a cat with a twitching tail, ready to leap and unsheath his claws at a moment's notice. Rachel knew she was the proverbial mouse. It was easy to pick on her. Puck had physical strength and a reputation. Few people would be brave enough to say something to his face. However, it was socially acceptable and everyone in Glee, Mr. Schue included, had picked on or insulted her before. She knew she wasn't perfect, she could be rude and blunt especially when she was completely focused on the music. Last year, she'd made more of her fair share of mistakes and sometimes selfish choices, but at least she was always striving to be a better version of herself.
Brittany and Santana were at Quinn's side as always, occupying the other seats next to her. Santana seemed to be seething and Rachel wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Brittany was drinking yet another juice box. She wasn't the only one looking sullen. Artie looked particularly morose, glowering at Mike who was sitting by Tina's side. Frankly, Rachel didn't think he had a right to look as if he'd been wronged when he had been the one to treat Tina poorly, but with an example like Mr. Schue it wasn't that surprising.
Speaking of, Mr. Schue was at the front with a variety of boxes while wearing a thick golden chain with a pocket watch on it and a backwards ballcap. Dear Barbra, she hoped he didn't try to rap again and if he began to even say the words Flavor or Vanilla that Santana would verbally eviscerate him or perhaps pull out her razor blades. That might be a good gift to give Santana in the future, razor blades with something fancy etched on them.
"'Sup music nerds," Puck greeted the room.
Mr. Schue looked up from his boxes. "Rachel, Puck, glad you could join us. Have either of you seen Finn? Does he know about the performance?"
"¿No es ese tu trabajo?" Puck asked with a smirk.
Mr. Schue blinked. "Ah, I'll take that as a no?"
As much as the sheer look of awkward terror on Mr. Schue's satisfied Rachel, she could only condone so much pettiness. "He was in the gym just before classes were let out. We had a brief conversation and he acknowledged that he knew about it."
Rachel felt Quinn's sudden, intense gaze on her in an instant. It was nearly as bad as when Quinn was watching her and Puck practice. She half expected Quinn to rush forward and start inspecting her.
"We can wait a little longer before we start," Mr. Schue announced.
Resignation filled Rachel. The longer they waited, the more time the other students had time to gather food, beverages, and trash to pelt them with. Especially since Karofsky and Azimio tended to instigate things and the chances of them being disgruntled about football was high. Rachel had no problem facing challenges and persevering against the odds, but there was a reason it was recommended to work smarter not harder whenever possible.
Puck made his way towards the seat next to Mike, and Rachel began to follow him since her first choice of seat was taken. Curse Mercedes for taking the spot and curse Finn for making her run later than usual.
"Rach!" Brittany waved enthusiastically.
Rachel couldn't help but smile. "Brittany, good afternoon! I see you're enjoying another refreshing beverage."
"Oh yeah. Becky traded me three more boxes for my stash of emoji bandaids."
Rachel glanced at Santana and caught her eye twitching. Rachel, quickly and wisely, looked away from her. "I do hope you enjoy yourself, but remember to take care of yourself. Too much juice at a time can give you a stomachache." Hopefully that would reduce Santana's stress somewhat.
Brittany nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah. Selfcare not shellfish."
"Selfish, not shellfish, Britt," Santana reminded.
"Right, no shrimps or lobsters. Rachel can't have those."
Santana's eyebrow jumped up to her hairline and Rachel feared that she might turn her fearsome blades onto her instead of their teacher.
"Brittany," Quinn's amused voice brought Rachel out of her panic fueled musings, "What does Rachel have to do with your selfcare?"
"My hands are feeling wander-y. So Rach," Brittany beamed, "You can totes sit on my lap if I can play with your hair. I'm super good at not pulling unless you want."
"Why would you even want to touch her hair?" Kurt asked, clearly unimpressed.
"Because Rachel will fit on my lap and I want to touch her hair." Brittany pulled out her sunglasses again and put them back on. "Abracadbra bitches."
Rachel was suddenly reminded of Kindergarten Brittany asking for nap time cuddles with complete and utter confidence that she and Puck would give them to her. They'd never let her down. How could you deny any request when someone with a heart made of rainbows and glitter asked you something? They were in high school now, sure, but what did it matter? Frankly, Rachel could use a hug, Brittany was sitting next to Quinn which meant Rachel could sit next to Quinn, and, as nervous as she was about someone touching her hair, she knew it was something that Brittany would treat gently.
"Who am I to argue in the face of such excellent reasoning?" She acquiesced.
Heart pounding for multiple reasons, not the least of which were Quinn and Santana's jealous streaks, Rachel walked back to the front row and sat delicately on a grinning Brittany's lap. The taller girl gave a pleased little squeak and immediately wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.
"You're the best!"
Santana audibly growled. Quinn did not, but her eyes were glinting dangerously again and the look she sent them promised retribution of some kind.
"Berry." "Britt." Santana and Quinn spoke at the same time.
Rachel braced for a tongue lashing, but Finn chose that moment to grace them all with his presence. Mr. Schue's entire being seemed to light up. Frankly, it was a little disturbing if she thought about it.
"Finn, great timing. Grab a seat and we'll start. It's time to wow the crowd and recruit some new members!"
Rachel settled into listening mode as Brittany began carefully petting her hair. It felt surprisingly good and distracted Rachel from the tension that tried to take hold of her from being in Finn's presence so soon after their altercation and having to listen to Mr. Schue. If Brittany did this to Santana, she could see why the Latina was so angry. These were quite excellent head pats she was missing out on.
"Sure thing, Mr. Schue," Finn agreed with his signature dopey smile.
As he moved toward the seats, his gaze cut across the room, his eyes narrowing briefly when he paused at Puck, though confusion overtook it. Rachel guessed it was because she wasn't in the seat next to him. Finn seemed to flounder, until he finally looked into the front row and then he stopped, his mouth hanging open.
"What's going on? Since when are you two so friendly?" he demanded as he stared at Rachel and Brittany.
Brittany continued to separate her curls. "Since Kindergarten, duh," she replied as if it was completely average and expected for Rachel to be on her lap.
It warmed Rachel that Brittany did expect it so quickly after their friendship was rekindled. Finn sputtered. Rachel held his gaze, face neutral. She didn't feel the need to channel anyone considering the pure menace that was beginning to radiate from Santana and, to a slightly lesser degree, Quinn. Frankly, Rachel had no intention to look at either of them anytime soon, especially since she didn't know if it was Finn's existence or the fact that Brittany was petting her that was riling them up.
"Find your seat, Frankenteen," Santana snapped, "You're holding everything up."
Finn opened his mouth to speak then obviously thought better of it, instead taking up the seat next to Artie.
Mr. Schue clapped his hands together. "Alright, everyone! It's time to show this school what Glee's about. We're an up and coming club with the chance to go to New York this year. What kid in Ohio doesn't want to go to New York? We'll pull them in with our mad skills and cool duds. Finn, if you could encourage some of the members of the football team to join and Quinn…"
Rachel chanced a brief glance at Quinn and had to fight against the instinctual urge to begin apologizing and assuring her, because the last time she saw that level of murder in Quinn's eyes was when Karofsky tackled her and Brittany and Santana had to hold her back.
Mr. Schue quickly moved on, but Rachel continued to focus on Quinn. She hadn't really looked properly at her today for more than a few moments at a time. Actually, had she ever looked at Quinn so little in a day before? She didn't think so. Whether it was to be aware of her location in order to dodge slushies or staring at her longingly as she tried to break her and Finn up, she'd always looked at Quinn, yet now that they were dating Rachel was nearly afraid to look at her. Rachel Berry was good at many things, but hiding the emotions on her face was not one of them. Quinn didn't want to be outloud out, more of a whispery out, and Rachel was not a quiet individual. It was her Dad's fault. She was going to give him a stern talking to when she went home about passing on certain character traits. Especially ones that made it harder for her to watch Quinn unrepentantly.
Rachel returned to watching the chaos unfolding around her from her comfy perch on Brittany's lap. Mr Shue was up front, babbling about their goals, which were really mostly his goals. There was, of course, nothing wrong with him having goals, but it would be nice if they were purely for Glee and didn't also involve either getting into Miss Pillsbury's skirts or getting one over on Sue, and, now, also Coach Beiste. Rachel sighed, perhaps she was still a little overly irritated about the whole lunchtime performance.
"Juice?" Brittany offered, holding up a juice box in front of Rachel's face.
Rachel took a delicate sniff and was relieved to find that the straw did not smell like Brittany's fruity lip gloss. Santana would certainly kill her if that were the case.
"Yes, please. And thank you. I will replenish your stash tomorrow."
Rachel felt a distinctive prickling feeling coming from both her left and right. She glanced over to her right, her eyes locking with Quinn's again. Quinn's eyebrow raised ever so slightly and Rachel knew she was definitely in for a talk. If she was lucky, it might also involve being kissed in a dark corner. At least there was some amusement in Quinn's gaze, but frustration was more prominent. Certainly, Rachel could feel pure loathing from her left side where Santna was sitting. Rachel could imagine the cheerleader wreathed in fire , her brow darkened, and eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
Not that those were the only eyes. Kurt and Mercedes kept sending her sly glances while Finn was staring at her with all the emotion of a puppy demanding, and being denied, a treat. Rachel didn't mind being considered a snack but she certainly wasn't his. Besides belonging to herself of course, Quinn currently had a lifetime lease. Quinn who was still giving her that eyebrow and whom she hadn't yet had a proper conversation with. She wanted to stroke that eyebrow, perhaps while sitting on her blonde's lap. But Rachel found that, despite all their planning, she and her girlfriend had never talked about how their first meeting should go and it felt as if there was some irreversible invisible wall between them in close quarters. But now, sitting on Brittany's lap, Rachel felt she could push through it. Not at this exact moment as Mr. Schue was nattering on, but soon. Rachel faced forward and took a fortifying sip of her juice box.
As team captain, she wanted to lead her team to New York, but this was not the way she would go about it. Mr. Schue's exuberance filled her with unease. Had she really once thought she had a crush on him? What an appalling misstep. Even for an object of teacher worship, he wasn't really that impressive. Oh what maturity a year brought. Or perhaps it was because she didn't feel so desperately lonely and unseen anymore. She had support at school now– Quinn, Puck, Brittany, and even Santana, if only for Brittany's sake. It was inspiring. Which was the exact opposite of the plan Mr. Schue had prepared, but frankly, there wasn't time to change it, and most of the others seemed excited for it. As much as she hated to admit it, sometimes, a captain had to acquiesce to the teams' demands and give them exactly what they wanted, even if it was going to be to their detriment. And, as much as she didn't want to be included in the consequences, well, a good captain went down with her ship. Which is why when Mr. Schue started passing out hats and shirts, she slipped off Brittany's lap and took it with a smile. Barbra save them.
