Chapter Twenty-seven: Something About Friends.

American Literature was first period and Rachel wanted to burst into song as she made her way towards the classroom. She refrained, well mostly, unable to help herself from humming 'Love Is All Around' a s she obliviously hurried along the bustling corridors and through the open door to where Quinn was already sitting at their desk, doodling.

She shouldn't smile as she approached, this was supposed to be pure torture for them both after all, but on seeing the blonde glance up and then grin down at her notebook she couldn't help the beam that took over her face . . .

"Rach!"

Darn! She stopped in her tracks and turned back to what used to be her desk at the front to see Finn twisted around in his seat.

"I need your help."

' And I need to go and sit next to your girlfriend immediately; so if you'll just excuse me . . .!'

It was her own, inappropriate eagerness that made her feel guilty and take a step back towards him.

"What with, Finn? If its Glee related I'd be happy to come and sit with you at lunch to discuss it."

That was taking a liberty and Rachel knew it, breaking a rule Quinn had been very adamant about, but when else would she get a chance to sit at the cool kids table in the cafeteria?

"No, Quinn'll be there," he glanced at his girlfriend and she must have been looking right back judging by the way he recoiled and lowered his voice. " . . .and I kind of need to talk to you alone."

"Okay, when would you like to talk?"

"Recess? Quinn told me she had to go and see a teacher so we'll be safe."

This was difficult because Rachel was that teacher, but now she desperately wanted to know what Finn needed to speak to her about and why it was so private that he had to have guaranteed safety from the prospect of his girlfriend interrupting.

Her mind was racing with the possibilities and not all of them were ones that she should be so inquisitive about either.

"Okay, Finn, I'll meet you at recess."

"Cool. There's this alcove, behind the gym, you probably don't know it but they keep, like, old equipment and stuff in there."

Alarm bells started ringing, she knew exactly what people used that alcove for and his girlfriend had introduced her to its delights just weeks ago.

"I know it." She was nodding a little more than necessary and tried to stop. "I'll see you there."

"Thanks, Rach."

Smiling at her, he turned back in his chair just as Mr Laxforth came through the door, leaving her to rush to her own or risk another detention.

"What was that about?" Quinn murmured as soon as they were told to work in pairs to discuss the questions on the whiteboard.

"Finn wants to talk to me."

"I'm pretty sure he just did."

Rachel smiled down at her paperback. Finding Quinn's jealousy cute would no doubt cause an argument. Besides, she might have been jealous of her rather than Finn and that was less amusing anyway.

"He wants to talk in private." "And you agreed?"

"Why wouldn't I? More to the point how could I not?, I thought we agreed when we were texting last night to make sure neither of us did anything out of the norm."

Quinn nodded, "So when?"

"At recess."

"But?"

"I know. I tried to get him to make it at lunch time but he insisted he wanted to spend that with you."

Quinn smiled automatically and then rolled her eyes when Rachel frowned just as automatically.

"This is too complicated."

"Too complicated?" she asked, worried their friendship was in jeopardy already. A surge of guilt accompanied the sure knowledge that she would tell Finn in no uncertain terms to forget about their private chat if that was the case.

"No," Quinn sighed, "Just very complicated."

It had been months now since either of them had been the perfect student in American Lit. but they had to at least make some effort and so the next ten minutes was taken up with starting the questions on the board. They were only a couple of chapters away from finishing the book now – although Rachel already had and Quinn claimed to have read it in middle school – which meant each of the six questions required more of an in depth answer that would help them to write their midterm essays.

It was a good mutually beneficial distraction . . . from Finn, but not from each other. Something that was evident whenever their fingers grazed over a particular passage or when their eyes met excitedly because they both had the exact same thought at the exact same time.

Rachel did her best to ignore it, for all she knew all friends felt that same frisson of pleasure when they accidentally touched and everyone fell a little bit in love when their friend not only knew instinctively the point they were trying inarticulately to make but knew it well enough to make it for them.

They probably didn't, but Rachel didn't know that for sure and for once ignorance was bliss.

They'd nearly finished and so had the lesson when Quinn whispered,

"Did he say what it was about?"

Rachel was busy re-reading a couple of pages. The next answer they needed was in there somewhere but she couldn't find it and so just shook her head.

"Where are you meeting him?"

Her eyes faltered on the words for a few seconds, there was no reason to keep it a secret but . . . She forced herself to keep reading as she shrugged.

"You'll tell me? After?"

"It depends what it is," she said without hesitation.

"Rachel!"

"He's my friend, too, Quinn, and he deserves the same level of trust I give you."

"But we're different," was hissed into the small space between their bowed heads.

Using a fingertip to keep her place she turned her head to Quinn.

"Different how? We're just friends now, too, aren't we?"

She didn't mean anything by it. She was just stating what she saw as the truth, but Quinn took it as an attack. Sitting back, she held the book so close to her nose she probably couldn't even focus on the words.

"Well, if that's how you're going to be."

"I didn't say . . ." Rachel started a little louder than she should, because she was frustrated, and forced herself to continue in a whisper,

" . . . that to upset you. You are different to me but if Finn is my friend and tells me something in confidence I'm not going to betray it."

"So you like him as a friend more than me, is that what you're saying?" Quinn's voice, already low, was muffled further by the thick book.

There were many ways she could answer, most of which were perfectly valid but would probably lead to an argument it would take them a week to get over, and so she settled for a simple, "No, I don't."

"I'm not sure I believe you," there was a petulant tone to Quinn's voice this time that let her know that she had indeed successfully avoided trouble.

Rachel dropped her hand under the desk just long enough to give a skirt-clad thigh a quick, comforting squeeze. "I think you believe me."

"I really hate you." Dropping her book back to the desk, Quinn propped her head up on her hand.

"So did you find the answer to question six yet or are you completely incompetent?"

"Just give me a sec," she insisted, frowning as she moved her finger down the page to the pace of her reading.

"If it was something you really thought I should know . . .?"

Rachel tilted to meet her eyes, "I'd tell Finn to tell you immediately, and if he refused, I would inform him that I was going to. You have my word."

Quinn gave her a small smile only to have it startled off of her face by Rachel sitting up and stabbing a finger down at the book, "Aha! I knew it was there."

Mr. Laxforth was calling the lesson to a close and she and Quinn were making a show of ignoring each other while packing up their books when she heard a muttered,

"So, recess is a bust. Plan B?"

She nodded, "Plan B."

They went their separate ways without so much as another look but it was okay because they had Plan B and Rachel was already looking forward to it more than she was recess.

Quinn was guiltily planning on following either Rachel or Finn to see where they went and, if

possible, eavesdrop on their conversation. She had every right, after all, it was her boyfriend and her . . . friend ; who her boyfriend just happened to have an obvious crush on and . . .

And actually why was she even trying to be sneaky about this? She should be storming in there and demanding to know why they were hiding in corners together.

Except that she didn't share second period with either of them and she had no idea which corner they were hiding in.

She was stalking the halls, peering through the windows of every classroom door in hope of flushing them out, when Santana and Brittany caught an arm each and frog-marched her outside to get a few minutes of fresh air.

"So, Breadstix this afternoon," Santana didn't really make it an invitation so much as a direct order as they sat down at one of the tables in the Quad.

"I can't, I have something to do." Quinn pulled her coat closer around her. It wasn't really designed for sitting around in the cold and she wished she had a scarf with her to make up the difference.

"Like what?"

She shrugged, "Stuff."

"Berry stuff?"

"Of course not," she scoffed, thinking a scarf would be useful to hide any out of place smiles too.

"Do you two know what song you're going to sing yet?" Brittany asked.

"No. We'll probably sing separately. It's hard to practice a duet over the phone."

"I know exactly what Berry will sing," Santana cackled and then launched into an impression, complete with love-sick puppy dog eyes.

" Every step you take, every move you make, every single day, every word you say, I'll be watching yoooou! " she finished, dramatically c lutching her heart with both hands.

Laughing, she pushed Santana back down on the bench. "I wouldn't put it past her. What do you think my retaliation should be?"

As her two friends sat back to give it some thought, Quinn hoped they would come up with something, because she had no ideas. She and Rachel hadn't even discussed what they were going to do about the assignment yet.

"Oh, American Idiot, by Green Day. It's perfect, 'cause Rachel's like an idiot and she's American." Quinn nodded slowly, "True, but I'm not sure I could pull that particular song off, Britt. Thanks though, it's a good suggestion."

Brittany smiled, "I know."

"You need something that's going to send a message she can't mistake. Come to Breadstix after school and we'll figure it out."

"I told you, I have a thing."

"With your parents? If it's a church thing tell them you're sick and sneak out with us."

"It's not that," she said, and then wished she hadn't because that actually would have been the perfect excuse to get out of it.

"If you're blowing us off for a date with Finn, Q, you can just say so," Brittany said, "We won't be that offended."

"It's not . . ." she began, but she was running out of things it could be and this was the lesser of many evils. "Yeah, okay. We just need to spend some time together."

"So bring him with you," Santana offered. "We can sit him in the corner and make him pay for our meals."

"No, I mean we really need to spend some time together alone." Brittany frowned, "Why would you want to spend time alone with Finn?"

Quinn bristled but kept it in check. She knew that even though Finn was, or had been anyway, the most popular guy in school, her best friends had never rated him that highly.

"He's my boyfriend, Brittany, but . . ." Oh boy, could you go to hell for doing something really wrong even if you were just telling the truth?

". . . I think he might be sniffing around Berry."

"No way!" Santana was for once every bit the supportive best friend.

"Why would anyone want to sniff around that?"

Ouch.

"I just get this vibe. I mean, shouldn't he be pissed off with her for liking me? But he still wants to be her friend and spend time with her."

"So you need to spend time with him and let him know what he'll be losing if he strays," Brittany said earnestly.

Bingo!

"Exactly. I intend to this afternoon." Switch Finn's name for Rachel's and she'd actually be telling the honest truth.

Rachel entered the dim, walled in space behind the gym cautiously to find Finn sitting on a stack of split and mildew-y gymnastics mats.

He jumped up as soon as he saw her enter. "Hey, Rach! Thanks for doing this."

She nodded, looking around at the cluttered space. It had to breach several health and safety laws just stepping into the place and she was glad that it had been too dark for her too look around and see the multitude of accidents waiting to happen the night Quinn had dragged her in here.

"What am I doing exactly, here?" She may have been talking partly to herself.

"I need to talk to you."

"About?"

"Quinn."

"What about her?"

She could feel herself starting to panic. Getting into a conversation about Quinn with her boyfriend was a bad idea especially when Finn knew she had feelings for his girlfriend! She looked around the enclosed space, the walls were closing in and the doorway seemed to be shrinking. What if he'd asked her here for a confrontation, the duel Santana had so blithely mentioned a couple of weeks ago?

There were no witnesses! Why hadn't she told Quinn where Finn had wanted to meet? Now her body might not be found for weeks!

"She told me you gave her some kind of info pack on the baby, like what to expect and when and stuff."

She'd seen his lips move but the words hadn't registered. "I'm so sorry, Finn, I didn't mean to!"

He seemed startled by her reaction and took a step back. "No, it's okay, I'm glad you did"

Huh? His unexpected reaction to her infidelity gave her pause. "You are?"

"Yeah. I was hoping you could do the same for me."

Okay, she'd be lying if she said this wasn't one of the possibilities that had floated through her mind earlier but now she was faced with it she knew there was no way she could do it.

"I'm sorry, Finn. I really do like you, but I'm not comfortable with that."

His face fell, "Why not?"

"Because you're with Quinn."

"Yeah, I know, that's why I need it."

Oh, Barbra, It? This was worse than she'd thought.

"Look, Finn, I know Quinn can be a little . . . shy, shall we say, when it comes to this kind of thing, but

I don't think coming to me is an appropriate way of dealing with it."

"No, it's not like that. I'm sure she'd give it to me, but I want to learn on my own, or with you, you know? So I can surprise her with how good at this stuff I am," he smiled proudly and she got the impression he was waiting for her to praise him!

"But, Finn, I'm . . . and you two have already . . . and this is just . . ." Talk about 'too' and 'very' complicated.

She could see he was getting annoyed with her now which hardly seemed fair. "Rachel, I don't get what the big deal is!"

"The big deal?" She stepped up and poked a finger at his chest. "The big deal is you wanting to have sex with me so you can better pleasure your girlfriend, Finn Hudson!"

His jaw dropped and then he gave a small shocked chuckle and then he fell back on the disgusting mats laughing so hard he had to clutch his stomach. "Oh my God, Rachel!" he howled between fits of laughter.

She walked close enough to punch his knee. "I find nothing about this funny, Finn!"

He calmed down enough to sit back up although he was still chuckling, "What the hell made you think I wanted sex?"

"You invited me here and then you started talking about me giving it to you." Her eyes narrowed. "That wasn't what you were talking about?"

" No, of course not! I want you to tutor me on the pregnancy stuff the same way you did Quinn. So I'm not a complete idiot at this stuff and I can help her out more."

"Oh."

"She's pissed at me, like, all the time right now and it's exhausting. I need to do something to get her to cut me some slack, you know? I thought getting a job would help but it turns out what I'm gonna make in a week won't even cover half of the last doctor's bill and she's seriously freaking out on my ass about it in case they call the house and her parents find out."

Rachel regarded him silently for a moment. "I will give you exactly the same information I gave Quinn and I'll answer any questions you have, if I can, but I need to know, Finn: Are you doing this for Quinn or to make your life easier?"

He stared at her and the look in his eyes let her know she'd said the wrong thing.

"Do you think anything could make my life easier right now? I'm about to be a Dad at sixteen, Rachel. I do not know what I'm doing. Quinn shouts at me so much I'm starting to think she hates me or something. I'm working with dead people to earn a wage that doesn't even help and my two best friends both keep taking my girlfriend's side because they're in love with her!"

"You know about Noah?" was all she could think to say.

He looked away, picking at one of the gaping holes in the top mat.

"He liked her even before I did but he was too gutless to ask her out because she thinks he's an idiot."

"Oh," she said again and then pulled herself together. "I'll help you, Finn. I'll print out another of my information booklets tonight. There's a really good week by week guide that will keep you up to speed and, well, Quinn's in her fourteenth week now, which means your baby's fingers are no longer webbed and she's starting to rise up past the pelvic bone. You can actually feel the wall of Quinn's uterus if you put your hand right here." She demonstrated on herself.

"It's pretty amazing . . ." Oops! ". . . I imagine."

He didn't notice her slip. "My baby has webbed fingers?"

"Um, not any . . ."

"That would make her like . . . Aquagirl."

Rachel rolled her eyes just the bell rang faintly signalling the end of recess. "I'll bring it in for you tomorrow."

He shook himself out of his Superbaby fantasy and nodded,

"Thanks, Rach."

She was about to leave but she had to clear something up first and turned to find him standing right behind her.

"You won't tell Quinn about my mistake will you? About me thinking that you wanted to . . ."

He grinned, "Not a chance. Like I'm going to put even the faintest idea of you and me doing that in her head. She'd murder us both."

He was probably right about that.