you belong with me

chapter 5

Rachel froze in the hallway, her face scrunching up in disgust. She never thought she'd see him this way, and she wasn't sure how she felt about everything. One minute he was all for her, promising a future together and letting her give him a birthday kiss on his front porch, and the next minute he was team Quinn, sucking face with her against the school lockers.

Rachel watched as his hand moved around to Quinn's back, moving lower and lower. Quinn's own hand reached behind her and slapped his hand away, breaking the kiss for a moment to scold him for his actions. To end her rant, Finn attached his lips to hers once more, silencing her, as their kisses grew more frequent.

Rachel wasn't sure why she couldn't take her eyes off the couple. She was only hurting herself by watching, and she knew that. She was just so ashamed for Finn Hudson. She missed Finn Hudson. She wanted the Finn Hudson that was goofy, loveable, and didn't really give a damn about what people thought of him. She craved the Finn that came to her rescue on the playground and helped her to the nurse's office.

Dave Karofsky separated Finn and Quinn's fused lips, and patted Finn on the back. Quinn laughed at something Karofsky said, and Finn received a high-five from the terrifying boy. The three engaged in a conversation, laughing along together without a care in the world, and Rachel felt tears brimming in her eyes. He wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to come out gold, wanting to be with her, not Quinn.

Rachel finally turned her face away form the group and walked the other way down the hall, keeping her eyes fixated on the floor beneath her. She hugged her arms around her body and walked away towards her first class.

Though all signs pointed towards the answer Rachel feared the most, she still had high hopes for Finn Hudson. She had one piece of evidence that was in her favor. If the Finn she knew were really gone, he would have thrown that slushie in a heart beat, but he didn't. He protected her, and Rachel knew Finn was still there.

Rachel maneuvered through the packed school cafeteria towards the lunch table she shared with Puck and Santana. She noticed that Puck and Santana were already occupying the table when it came into her view and she rushed over to join them.

Once Rachel reached her destination, she placed her lunch box on the table and sat down in her usual seat. Before she could say anything, Santana sprang to life, beginning to talk animatedly.

"Great, you're here! I can finally tell you guys my story," Santana began, looking between Puck and Rachel frantically.

"She's been excited to tell us something all day long and she refused to tell me until you and I were both here," Puck explained to Rachel before giving Santana his undivided attention.

"It's a good story and I didn't want to have to tell it twice," Santana told him. "Anyway, I went over to my girlfriend Brittany's house last night. It started off like any other night when I go over there, but everything changed when we got to her bedroom."

"What happened?" Rachel asked her curiously, hoping that this wasn't going to be some R rated detailed story.

"She had a ton of rose petals spread out on her bed spelling the word 'homecoming,'" Santana told them. "It was the most adorable thing ever!"

"Aww," Rachel replied, placing a hand over her heart, "That is so cute." She nudged Puck with her elbow, "Isn't that cute?"

"Adorable," Puck replied with an eye roll. He looked at Santana, "That's the big news you made me wait all morning for?"

"It's fantastic news," Santana shot at him. "How did you ask whichever lonely, low self-esteem cheerleader you're taking?"

Puck raised his shoulders, "I haven't asked anyone yet."

"What?" Santana asked, her eyes widening. "You, the guy who had a total of three dates last year, don't have a date?"

Puck shrugged his shoulders once more, "I haven't gotten around to it yet."

Santana shook her head, "I can't believe this." She turned towards Rachel, "Have you gotten any offers yet?"

"Nope," Rachel told her, shaking her head. "I just moved back here, no one really knows who I am yet. I'll probably just go alone."

"I'm sure you'll get asked," Santana said, "but if you don't, you can always come with Britts and I."

"Really?" Rachel questioned, a little surprised that Santana would offer to do that. "That'd be great. I'll be sure to get back to you on that."

They continued on with their lunch as Santana kept asking Puck about his homecoming date situation. Puck seemed to be getting a little offended by Santana's constant accusations, but Rachel didn't invest in it too much. She sat back and enjoyed her lunch, laughing at the bickering going on between the two friends.

(A/N: If I accidentally write prom instead of homecoming, just pretend like it says homecoming. I've caught myself accidentally doing it a few times, so just take no notice to the error.)

Rachel headed over to her Calculus class after lunch with Puck by her side. It was becoming their usual routine since their afternoon classes were right next to each other. Rachel was laughing along with Puck about some jokes they shared from their childhood as they walked along the hallway.

Being friends with Puck again made Rachel happy because it did remind her of her amazing childhood. Puck was one of the best friends she ever had, and she was absolutely thrilled to have him back in her life again. Even if she couldn't have Finn at the moment, she was happy to have a part of her childhood back.

They stopped outside of the classroom and said their goodbyes.

"Have fun in math," Puck told Rachel, leaning against the wall outside of the Calculus room.

"Thanks, you have fun in your class too," Rachel replied.

Puck surprised her by suddenly giving her a hug goodbye. Rachel returned the gesture, but was very shocked by the action. Even as children, Puck was never the hugger, that job always belonged to Finn. Rachel still hugged her friend back anyway, enjoying the fact that she and Puck were such close friends again.

"All right," Puck said, pulling away from the hug. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Rachel said, slipping into the Calculus room. She took her seat next to Kurt and said a friendly hello to him.

"I saw what happened out there," Kurt suddenly said. "I thought you said that you and Puckerman were just friends."

"We are," Rachel assured him. "Friends hug."

"It seemed like it meant a little more than a friendly hug," Kurt said.

Rachel rolled her eyes; "I've been best friends with him since I was 6. It's not like we haven't hugged before."

"What ever you say," Kurt replied. He organized the materials on his desk before he turned to Rachel again. "Do you have any crazy plans for the weekend?"

Rachel shook her head, "Nope, no wild parties scheduled for this weekend. What about you?"

"I was just planning to watching all the Broadway classics I have on DVD tomorrow night," Kurt told her.

"Really? I love Broadway! My favorite is definitely Funny Girl," Rachel informed him.

"I love that one!" Kurt exclaimed. "I don't suppose you'd like to come over this weekend and join me in my movie marathon?"

"I'd love to!" Rachel replied. "What time is your marathon starting?"

Kurt thought for a moment. "Why don't you come over around 3:00 so we can get a ton of movies in."

"I'll be there," Rachel promised.

The teacher stepped in the classroom then and started the lesson, beginning to talk about codes in matrices. Rachel noticed that Kurt had slipped her a piece of paper. She took the piece of paper and unfolded it to read what Kurt wrote her. He had written his address down, and Rachel knew that address. As she read the words on the paper Rachel froze in her seat. It was the same address of the house Finn grew up in. Rachel remembered that Kurt and Finn were step brothers.

Rachel's eyes widened.

She was going to Finn's house.