9-The Rhodes Not Taken

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We were in the middle of practicing when Quinn just rushed out of practice with her hand over mouth "Quinn, you okay?" Mr. Schuester asked as she ran out "I think she just had a bad breakfast burrito." Finn informed the club.

I just shrugged "Can we please talk about the giant elephant in the room?" Kurt begged "Your sexuality?" Santana teasingly snarked from where she stood by him.

He barely spared her a glance before continuing "Rachel." he clarified "We can't do it without her." he explained.

"That's not true. We may have to layer Santana, Mercedes, over Quinn's solo but we'll be fine." Mr. Schuester not so convincingly tried to convince us with that statement.

I yawned over the boredom of this conversation "Maybe for the invitationals, but not for the sectionals, and certainly not the regionals." Artie reasoned "Wheelchair kids right. That Rachel chick makes me want to light myself on fire, but she can sing." Puck agreed.

Mr. Schuester was obviously getting annoyed by the conversation "Rachel left, guys. She's gone." he argued "If we're gonna make this thing work, we can't look back. Alright, take five minutes." he sighed.

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I was sitting on my bed when I got a call. I checked the name and groaned. Not pausing the game I answered the phone and placed it to my ear "Hello?" I asked "Hey, chill with all that. What's going on?" I asked "No, you said what you said so no I didn't show up." I said, starting to get annoyed.

"No, because that's your own fault. I'm not coming all the way back down there when you said what you wanted to say pretty clearly that the whole united states could hear you almost." I argued. "I'm done with this conversation. Goodbye." I said hanging up the phone.

I paused my game flopping back on my bed and groaning in annoyance.

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"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to someone special. This is April Rhodes. She's our newest member." Mr. Schuester said with a smile as the woman clicked her tounge and pointed finger guns at the club.

I looked at Finn with my lip turned upward "Wait, so old people can join glee club now?" we asked in unison. "Old, huh? You guys look like the world's worst Benetton ad." she retorted at our comment.

Mr. Schuester sent the club a reassuring smile "Mr. Schuester, this seems like a terrible idea." Artie spoke up. "April is a great singer and she never graduated." he reasoned.

I sat up in my seat and leaned forward "Look, we appreciate what you're trying to do, but she's no Rachel." I spoke up. This wan looks like trouble. Oh my goodness she's smirking at Puck they're silently flirting. "Who's Rachel?" she asked confused.

"Sh-She's kind of our star." Tina shrugged "Your star, eh?" she asked "Well where is she now?" she commented "She left. To be the lead in Caberet." I responded

The woman chuckled softly before taking off her jacket and dropping it on the ground "Hey, Tinkles, give me "Maybe This Time" in B flat and don't let me catch you snoozing." she said.

As the song came to an end it was silent as everyone sat in shock "Stick that in your pipe and smoke it." she quirked. I nodded in amazement.

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Suddenly April jogged up to me. "Come with me." she whispered dragging me along with her into an empty bathroom. She got down on her knees and my eyes widened.

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"Putting in my good trustworthy word of steel and might and taking back all my previous reprimanding and snarky remarks. April can stay. Yay." I nodded to the man standing in front of me.

"Yay?" he asked "Yay!" I said enthusiastically before patting his back and skipping down the hall.

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I was sitting on the bleachers contemplating on a couple of things. When someone walked up to me. I looked up to see Quinn "Hey." she said softly, taking a seat next to me on the bleachers staring out onto the empty field.

"Sup." I replied back as I clutched the mini football in my hand "What's that?" she asked pointing to the football "The only thing I have left of my dad. He knew I was gonna be his little football player so he gave it to me when I was born." I explained.

She nodded in understanding "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be hanging out with the Cheerios?" I asked. She chuckled lightly. "Normally I come out here to think but I saw you out here so I decided to say hi." she explained.

I gently nodded before turning to look at her. I almost immediately fell into the pool of her mossy green eyes. I turned away and stared at the field, biting my cheek as a guilty feeling swarmed my stomach.

I just wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole. "So, how's things with you and Finn going?" I awkwardly asked "Uh fine. Has he uh told you anything?" she asked worriedly "Told me what?" I responded.

She shook her head with a light chuckle "N- Nothing. I- I got Finn mixed up with uh Santana, yeah, I told her about it." she clarified "About what?" I asked "Nothing important it's just uh-" her sentence was cut short when someone cleared their throat from behind us.

I looked behind me to see Rayna "Ray. Hi." I said with a genuine smile "Hey, Griff." she smiled back "Fabray." she turned back to Quinn with a glare. "I think I'll see myself out." Quinn said with an awkward smile "I'll see you around Hudson #2." she joked before walking down the bleachers.

Rayna took her previous spot next to me "What did she want?" she asked in annoyance "Nothing important." I responded with a reassuring nod. She looked at me skeptically begging for me to cave in before she gave up and rested her head on my shoulder.

I wrapped my arm around her waist pulling her closer into me, placing a soft kiss on her head.

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