The Closest thing

Rachel couldn't even recall how she'd let her obsession get to this point.

It started out like any other normal Monday.

Mondays were good to Rachel. Everyone would always speak ill of Mondays, but never Rachel. Weekends were once again rough for her, especially after her break up with Finn. She'd at least had places to go when she was dating the love of her life. She used that term loosely now, considering Jesse was also the love of her life at one point in time. She'd gotten swarms of text messages about weekend plans right after the breakup, but she always politely declined. She just couldn't bare to see the babyfaced boy that broke her heart, which in turned caused her to break his.

Things would never be the same between them. The trust was gone and so were her feelings. She couldn't look him in the eyes without seeing Santana's reflection staring back at her. She couldn't have a conversation with him without hearing Noah's smooth talking in her ear. She couldn't love him no matter how hard she tried.

Especially now. Especially because there was someone out there that could set her body on fire without making any effort, could make her forget to breathe and lose track of time, could make her want to love again.

It was just like any other Monday. Except, different.

Mr. Schuester was getting better at controlling his temper around the club and had allowed them to leave early from their afternoon practice. Rachel was mortified with the lack of drive that the club was exhibiting. Sure, they'd just tied for Sectionals and the club was finally in a good place after both of their captains worked through their issues, but slacking off would simply not do. Groans and eye rolls were what met the brunette when she suggested they go over some more songs choices for the upcoming Regional's competition. Sunshine was a strong singer and Rachel had to admit, if anyone could beat her in vocal range, it was the new foreign exchange student at Carmel High. With that mindset and stubbornness to always be better, Rachel decided to do what she did after every glee rehearsal, and that was to continue practicing.

She got lost in the music as she tended to do when playing the piano. There wasn't really anything that she wasn't good at in the musical field. She'd put in the time all her life and she didn't mind every once in a while enjoying how truly rewarding her hard work was. She could appreciate it, even if no one else ever did.

Rachel didn't hate her life, she was quite fond of it as a matter of fact. She just wished that someone would come along and sweep her off her feet. Jesse was the closest she'd ever gotten to something like that, and if the boy's intentions weren't to ruin her life and psych her out before Regionals then she just might have fallen in love with him. But he was evil and she found that out soon enough, and naturally it was accompanied by her fellow glee member's I told you so's.

She wished that people would appreciate her more because she knew that if people gave her a chance, she'd change their minds about her. She'd done it with Finn, and while she was still working at it, she could tell that people were aggravated by her mere presence alone. How do you work harder at not existing? Rachel had far too much pride and frankly was too selfish to stop existing in the world she loved despite everything. The glee members would come around soon enough. She really wasn't as big of a diva as everyone made her out to be, it was just convenient to write her off that way and it often upset the brunette. She just wanted a chance.

Her cell phone vibrated on top of the piano and she noted that it was time to get home for dinner. Her fathers didn't necessarily love the idea of her being in the school all by herself after hours and she understood entirely. There were a few creepy janitors that roamed the hallways at night. One time she saw Mr. Schuester and that had completely freaked her out.