Win It
Title: Win It
Rating: PG-13 (swearing)
Pairing, Characters: Jesse, Rachel
WC: ~2370
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of Funk
Summary: "You need to win at Regionals" A reworking of the final St.Berry scene of Funk.
Jesse’s stomach drops out when he sees her running towards him a bright smile on her face. He mimics the smile because he so badly wants everyone standing in the parking lot to disappear, but as she gets closer her dark hair waving behind her his smile fades and bile rises in his throat. Panic fills his eyes and signal to Rachel that something is about to go wrong.
When the first egg explodes at the back of her head Jesse’s whole body reacts as if he’d been hit too. Each subsequent hit causes the same reaction. Every crack and splatter forces his body to jerk and forces him to keep his mouth shut, preventing the vomit that threatens to spill out from guilt.
The sound of the eggs stop, but he knows that everyone still has more ammo. Rachel looks up at him defiantly; she’s willing the tears not to fall. His face is contorted in pain, guilt and the feeling in his chest is a tightening that no one else has ever made him feel. And he knows he loves her.
Jesse hears his teammates taunting her, but his focus is on Rachel. The yellow dripping onto the pavement, the white shells trapped in her hair and a look of disappointment on her face and in that moment everything changes. To the right he hears the female lead tell him to “Do it.” He looks down at the egg in his hand and then up at Rachel who now looks pained and heartbroken.
Jesse walks towards Rachel, she can feel the heat radiating off his body and even though he just allowed this to happen she wants to curl up in his arms. She brushes off the thought and looks deep into his guilt ridden eyes and says,
“Do it, break it like you broke my heart.”
Jesse looks at Rachel and she sees something in his eyes other than guilt but she doesn’t want to acknowledge the look, not after what just happened.
He whispers so only she can hear these words, “I love you.”
Rachel’s too stunned to close her eyes, but shuts them tightly as she watches Jesse’s arm rise. She hears the cracking of a shell, but doesn’t feel the drip of yoke down her face. She pulls her eyes apart and sees Jesse pressing the shell, white and yoke into his dark curls.
Rachel opens her mouth to say, she doesn’t know what she wants to say, but before a sound can even come out Jesse’s blue jacket is covering her and she can feel him spin so that her front is pressed against his back.
“So this is your choice St. James?” A male voice asks. “A poor excuse for a show choir?”
“No. She’s my choice. She’s worth losing what would have been a perfect nationals record. Hell she’s worth staying in Ohio for another two years.”
Jesse knows that Shelby will forgive him for abandoning the team, especially when she learns of what the team just did to her daughter. He knows that Shelby won’t let Jesse’s future go to waste; she has worked to hard with him to let this be the end of everything they have worked for.
When Rachel heard these words from Jesse she tightened her grip on his waist. He really does love her and these words prove it. Jesse can feel her smiling against his back.
“So be it, St. James.” The lead female voice says and she gives the nod to the rest of the team.
Under Jesse’s jacket Rachel can hear the sound of more eggs breaking. A few hit her back, most hit just over her head and break against Jesse. She feels Jesse pull her tighter to his back, as if this action would keep her from being hit. She knows that he is now being pelted for her and she winds her hand to grab his, he squeezes back tightly.
Jesse stands stoically as the onslaught starts. The eggs hit his chest and back, but this time he doesn’t flinch. The only movement he makes is to draw Rachel in and then squeeze her hand when her warm palm finds his. It’s not until he feels an egg smash on the side of his face does he jerk and only because the force of the hit. He feels the shards of the shell scratch just around his left eye; he knows that Vocal Adrenalin has just drawn blood. The next egg hits the right side of his jaw, in fact the next three eggs all land on his face and all leave scratches and what is sure to be bruises.
The eggs stop but Jesse doesn’t open his eyes. He hears the splattering of paint filled balloons on a car, the starting of engines and cars driving off but he doesn’t move. He thinks that if he does move he will be back standing with the egg in his hand having to make the decision all over again. His eyes are still closed and he feels a tear trickle out of his eye.
Rachel pulls away from Jesse. When he doesn’t grip her to stay she pulls the Jacket down uncovering her head and warily looks around the parking lot, Vocal Adrenalin is gone. She looks up Jesse’s back and sees the egg in his hair, matching her own. She slips the blue jacket on as she walks around the perfectly still boy. She makes an audible gasp when she sees his face, hands covering her mouth and tears springing to her eyes. She sees the pain stuck on his features, like the yoke and shells, she notes the blood dripping out of a cut on his forehead and sees the swelling on his jaw and other parts of his face.
Rachel places a hand on his cheek and Jesse tilts his head into the warm palm. He opens his eyes and Rachel is staring at him with an unreadable expression, but he sees no hate in her eyes and he takes that as a good sign.
“Rachel I’m sorry.” Jesse’s voice breaks at the last word and the tears in Rachel’s eyes spill down onto her cheeks.
“Why?”
“Because I hurt you, because I am pathetic, because I thought that helping Shelby meet you would make both of you happy, because I was willing for a while to give up something that great just to win. For all that I’m sorry.” Jesse takes in a deep breath. “I know you don’t or won’t want my help or want to see me again, but go in my trunk there is a gym bag that has a sweater and a pair of shorts that should be ok for you to change into.”
Rachel nods; she doesn’t know what to say. She wants to yell and scream and kick at him, but she loves him and she knows now that he does love her. When she doesn’t give him a response Jesse knows that she will never trust him or even love him again.
She goes into his trunk and pulls out the black bag with the Carmel emblem. She sees a towel and a water bottle in the back and takes those too. She turns and sees Jesse looking at his paint splattered car and she knows how much he just gave up protecting her.
Jesse turns when he hears water splash on the pavement. He sees Rachel soaking his towel and he goes to sit on the ledge of his car, in the shade of the open trunk. Rachel comes over to him and goes to wipe some of the drying egg off his face. He flinches from pain and shame.
“Leave it.” He says sadly.
“But you need to clean it off, you’re bleeding.” Rachel says concern for Jesse evident in her voice.
“I deserve it,” He says and Rachel thinks for a moment that he did, but now not so much. “I deserve it for everything, it’s probably less than I deserve.”
“Jesse,”
“Rachel please, just go in and change. You’ll feel better.” He says, taking the wet towel from her hands and pushing her ever so slightly away from him.
Rachel looks once again into Jesse’s eyes. The remorse is there and the acceptance that getting egged is only partially absolving him from what he did, she can see that he is still planning to torment and hurt himself even more. Rachel turns from him and heads back into the school.
Her thoughts and emotions are warring with each other as she briskly walks through the somewhat empty halls, she’s thankful everyone is in class. She makes it to her locker and pulls out her travel shampoo, her brush and her own change of clothes. She realizes she still has Jesse’s bag, she’ll return it when she’s done so that he will have something clean to put on.
Her hair is mostly clean, she doubts that she got all the egg shells out with the lack of water pressure from the shower, but she feels better now that she’s not covered in crusty yoke. The thought of those baby chicks almost forces her to turn and puke into the nearest garbage can. She’s turning the corner out of the girls changing room when she nearly collides with Finn and Puck
“What the fuck happened Berry?” Puck asks the venom in his voice returning as he sees the egg covered clothing in her hands.
Rachel doesn’t answer because Finn knows.
“It was those assholes of Vocal Adrenalin. They egged Rachel, probably on the command of their leader St. James.”
“Fuck that, no one messes with Berry unless it’s us.” Puck says, and Rachel is both pleased and a little angry at this comment.
“Right,” Finn says, “Well no one is allowed to do that to Rachel.” Finn amends.
“Come on let’s go,” Puck says already taking off down the hall.
“We’ll get them back for this Rachel.” Finn says to her before taking off behind Puck.
Rachel bites her lip, she wants to tell them to stop, but she’s rooted to the ground. She knows that Jesse is out there and she doesn’t want him hurt, but she knows that she’ll never make it back out to him before Finn and Puck do. Instead she runs to her locker pulls out her emergency first aid kit (a gift from her dads), Jesse’s gym bag and a new water bottle before taking off towards the parking lot doors.
Finn and Puck burst through the doors at the back of the school. They don’t see a line up of black Range Rovers; they see a single black Range Rover covered in blue paint. They look at each other and know whose it is.
Jesse hears heavy footsteps approach and he looks up to see Finn and Puck marching towards him. He stands, feeling the egg crust off his black shirt, if he’s going to get beat up, he’s going to go down swinging.
Finn and Puck stop just before they reach Jesse. They see the mess of eggs on the ground and then the mess of yellow across Jesse’s chest. They see the swelling and cuts on his face from the eggs and they know what he did. He chose the girl over winning, he stood up for her. Though both Puck and Finn want nothing more than to slam him into the ground and launch their own assault of eggs and maybe feet and fists, they know that what he has done for Rachel is probably more than enough punishment. They know that Vocal Adrenalin won’t let him get off that easy and they are satisfied that his own team will take care of it.
When Finn and Puck don’t come any closer to Jesse, he turns his head questioningly. All he gets in response is a nod from Puck that clearly says
“Your team will cause you more pain than we ever could and don’t think about coming back around here.”
Jesse responds with a nod of his own, telling the two boys “I’m sorry, I won’t hurt her and good luck at regionals because even with out me VA is a powerhouse.”
With that Finn and Puck go back inside, both discussing how they can get the rest of the team without breaking the law. Jesse slumps back into the car and closes his eyes. He opens them when he hears foot steps across the broken shells.
Rachel is back, wearing her own clothes and carrying his bag over her shoulder. Her face looks relieved, it is. She’s happy that Finn and Puck didn’t actually touch Jesse.
“Rachel?”
“I couldn’t just leave. I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for ever having met you, but I can’t because I love you.” Rachel admits before re-soaking a towel and starting to wipe off Jesse’s face. This time he lets her.
“I don’t know how or why, but even as I was pelted with those first few eggs I couldn’t force my love for you away. It’s like it’s attached itself me.”
Jesse is speechless; he only makes a hissing sound as Rachel drags the wet towel across the scratches near his eye.
“Is it true? What you said before, that I was worth giving up everything for?” Rachel asks her voice soft.
Jesse stills her hand and forces her to look in his eyes.
“Yes, you are worth that and more. I tried to get rid of my love too, but I can’t. You branded yourself on me and I don’t want the burn of that love to fade.”
“I love you Jesse, but I don’t think things can go back like they were.”
“That’s fine. We’ll take it one day at a time; we’ll do it right this time. Just promise me one thing.” Rachel nods for Jesse to continue. “I need you to win at regionals. You need to win it, to prove to VA and to everyone that you are more than worth it, something I already know.”
Rachel leans her head against Jesse’s and the two teens know that even though it’s going to be hard they are both worth it.
Rating: PG-13 (swearing)
Pairing, Characters: Jesse, Rachel
WC: ~2370
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of Funk
Summary: "You need to win at Regionals" A reworking of the final St.Berry scene of Funk.
Jesse’s stomach drops out when he sees her running towards him a bright smile on her face. He mimics the smile because he so badly wants everyone standing in the parking lot to disappear, but as she gets closer her dark hair waving behind her his smile fades and bile rises in his throat. Panic fills his eyes and signal to Rachel that something is about to go wrong.
When the first egg explodes at the back of her head Jesse’s whole body reacts as if he’d been hit too. Each subsequent hit causes the same reaction. Every crack and splatter forces his body to jerk and forces him to keep his mouth shut, preventing the vomit that threatens to spill out from guilt.
The sound of the eggs stop, but he knows that everyone still has more ammo. Rachel looks up at him defiantly; she’s willing the tears not to fall. His face is contorted in pain, guilt and the feeling in his chest is a tightening that no one else has ever made him feel. And he knows he loves her.
Jesse hears his teammates taunting her, but his focus is on Rachel. The yellow dripping onto the pavement, the white shells trapped in her hair and a look of disappointment on her face and in that moment everything changes. To the right he hears the female lead tell him to “Do it.” He looks down at the egg in his hand and then up at Rachel who now looks pained and heartbroken.
Jesse walks towards Rachel, she can feel the heat radiating off his body and even though he just allowed this to happen she wants to curl up in his arms. She brushes off the thought and looks deep into his guilt ridden eyes and says,
“Do it, break it like you broke my heart.”
Jesse looks at Rachel and she sees something in his eyes other than guilt but she doesn’t want to acknowledge the look, not after what just happened.
He whispers so only she can hear these words, “I love you.”
Rachel’s too stunned to close her eyes, but shuts them tightly as she watches Jesse’s arm rise. She hears the cracking of a shell, but doesn’t feel the drip of yoke down her face. She pulls her eyes apart and sees Jesse pressing the shell, white and yoke into his dark curls.
Rachel opens her mouth to say, she doesn’t know what she wants to say, but before a sound can even come out Jesse’s blue jacket is covering her and she can feel him spin so that her front is pressed against his back.
“So this is your choice St. James?” A male voice asks. “A poor excuse for a show choir?”
“No. She’s my choice. She’s worth losing what would have been a perfect nationals record. Hell she’s worth staying in Ohio for another two years.”
Jesse knows that Shelby will forgive him for abandoning the team, especially when she learns of what the team just did to her daughter. He knows that Shelby won’t let Jesse’s future go to waste; she has worked to hard with him to let this be the end of everything they have worked for.
When Rachel heard these words from Jesse she tightened her grip on his waist. He really does love her and these words prove it. Jesse can feel her smiling against his back.
“So be it, St. James.” The lead female voice says and she gives the nod to the rest of the team.
Under Jesse’s jacket Rachel can hear the sound of more eggs breaking. A few hit her back, most hit just over her head and break against Jesse. She feels Jesse pull her tighter to his back, as if this action would keep her from being hit. She knows that he is now being pelted for her and she winds her hand to grab his, he squeezes back tightly.
Jesse stands stoically as the onslaught starts. The eggs hit his chest and back, but this time he doesn’t flinch. The only movement he makes is to draw Rachel in and then squeeze her hand when her warm palm finds his. It’s not until he feels an egg smash on the side of his face does he jerk and only because the force of the hit. He feels the shards of the shell scratch just around his left eye; he knows that Vocal Adrenalin has just drawn blood. The next egg hits the right side of his jaw, in fact the next three eggs all land on his face and all leave scratches and what is sure to be bruises.
The eggs stop but Jesse doesn’t open his eyes. He hears the splattering of paint filled balloons on a car, the starting of engines and cars driving off but he doesn’t move. He thinks that if he does move he will be back standing with the egg in his hand having to make the decision all over again. His eyes are still closed and he feels a tear trickle out of his eye.
Rachel pulls away from Jesse. When he doesn’t grip her to stay she pulls the Jacket down uncovering her head and warily looks around the parking lot, Vocal Adrenalin is gone. She looks up Jesse’s back and sees the egg in his hair, matching her own. She slips the blue jacket on as she walks around the perfectly still boy. She makes an audible gasp when she sees his face, hands covering her mouth and tears springing to her eyes. She sees the pain stuck on his features, like the yoke and shells, she notes the blood dripping out of a cut on his forehead and sees the swelling on his jaw and other parts of his face.
Rachel places a hand on his cheek and Jesse tilts his head into the warm palm. He opens his eyes and Rachel is staring at him with an unreadable expression, but he sees no hate in her eyes and he takes that as a good sign.
“Rachel I’m sorry.” Jesse’s voice breaks at the last word and the tears in Rachel’s eyes spill down onto her cheeks.
“Why?”
“Because I hurt you, because I am pathetic, because I thought that helping Shelby meet you would make both of you happy, because I was willing for a while to give up something that great just to win. For all that I’m sorry.” Jesse takes in a deep breath. “I know you don’t or won’t want my help or want to see me again, but go in my trunk there is a gym bag that has a sweater and a pair of shorts that should be ok for you to change into.”
Rachel nods; she doesn’t know what to say. She wants to yell and scream and kick at him, but she loves him and she knows now that he does love her. When she doesn’t give him a response Jesse knows that she will never trust him or even love him again.
She goes into his trunk and pulls out the black bag with the Carmel emblem. She sees a towel and a water bottle in the back and takes those too. She turns and sees Jesse looking at his paint splattered car and she knows how much he just gave up protecting her.
Jesse turns when he hears water splash on the pavement. He sees Rachel soaking his towel and he goes to sit on the ledge of his car, in the shade of the open trunk. Rachel comes over to him and goes to wipe some of the drying egg off his face. He flinches from pain and shame.
“Leave it.” He says sadly.
“But you need to clean it off, you’re bleeding.” Rachel says concern for Jesse evident in her voice.
“I deserve it,” He says and Rachel thinks for a moment that he did, but now not so much. “I deserve it for everything, it’s probably less than I deserve.”
“Jesse,”
“Rachel please, just go in and change. You’ll feel better.” He says, taking the wet towel from her hands and pushing her ever so slightly away from him.
Rachel looks once again into Jesse’s eyes. The remorse is there and the acceptance that getting egged is only partially absolving him from what he did, she can see that he is still planning to torment and hurt himself even more. Rachel turns from him and heads back into the school.
Her thoughts and emotions are warring with each other as she briskly walks through the somewhat empty halls, she’s thankful everyone is in class. She makes it to her locker and pulls out her travel shampoo, her brush and her own change of clothes. She realizes she still has Jesse’s bag, she’ll return it when she’s done so that he will have something clean to put on.
Her hair is mostly clean, she doubts that she got all the egg shells out with the lack of water pressure from the shower, but she feels better now that she’s not covered in crusty yoke. The thought of those baby chicks almost forces her to turn and puke into the nearest garbage can. She’s turning the corner out of the girls changing room when she nearly collides with Finn and Puck
“What the fuck happened Berry?” Puck asks the venom in his voice returning as he sees the egg covered clothing in her hands.
Rachel doesn’t answer because Finn knows.
“It was those assholes of Vocal Adrenalin. They egged Rachel, probably on the command of their leader St. James.”
“Fuck that, no one messes with Berry unless it’s us.” Puck says, and Rachel is both pleased and a little angry at this comment.
“Right,” Finn says, “Well no one is allowed to do that to Rachel.” Finn amends.
“Come on let’s go,” Puck says already taking off down the hall.
“We’ll get them back for this Rachel.” Finn says to her before taking off behind Puck.
Rachel bites her lip, she wants to tell them to stop, but she’s rooted to the ground. She knows that Jesse is out there and she doesn’t want him hurt, but she knows that she’ll never make it back out to him before Finn and Puck do. Instead she runs to her locker pulls out her emergency first aid kit (a gift from her dads), Jesse’s gym bag and a new water bottle before taking off towards the parking lot doors.
Finn and Puck burst through the doors at the back of the school. They don’t see a line up of black Range Rovers; they see a single black Range Rover covered in blue paint. They look at each other and know whose it is.
Jesse hears heavy footsteps approach and he looks up to see Finn and Puck marching towards him. He stands, feeling the egg crust off his black shirt, if he’s going to get beat up, he’s going to go down swinging.
Finn and Puck stop just before they reach Jesse. They see the mess of eggs on the ground and then the mess of yellow across Jesse’s chest. They see the swelling and cuts on his face from the eggs and they know what he did. He chose the girl over winning, he stood up for her. Though both Puck and Finn want nothing more than to slam him into the ground and launch their own assault of eggs and maybe feet and fists, they know that what he has done for Rachel is probably more than enough punishment. They know that Vocal Adrenalin won’t let him get off that easy and they are satisfied that his own team will take care of it.
When Finn and Puck don’t come any closer to Jesse, he turns his head questioningly. All he gets in response is a nod from Puck that clearly says
“Your team will cause you more pain than we ever could and don’t think about coming back around here.”
Jesse responds with a nod of his own, telling the two boys “I’m sorry, I won’t hurt her and good luck at regionals because even with out me VA is a powerhouse.”
With that Finn and Puck go back inside, both discussing how they can get the rest of the team without breaking the law. Jesse slumps back into the car and closes his eyes. He opens them when he hears foot steps across the broken shells.
Rachel is back, wearing her own clothes and carrying his bag over her shoulder. Her face looks relieved, it is. She’s happy that Finn and Puck didn’t actually touch Jesse.
“Rachel?”
“I couldn’t just leave. I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for ever having met you, but I can’t because I love you.” Rachel admits before re-soaking a towel and starting to wipe off Jesse’s face. This time he lets her.
“I don’t know how or why, but even as I was pelted with those first few eggs I couldn’t force my love for you away. It’s like it’s attached itself me.”
Jesse is speechless; he only makes a hissing sound as Rachel drags the wet towel across the scratches near his eye.
“Is it true? What you said before, that I was worth giving up everything for?” Rachel asks her voice soft.
Jesse stills her hand and forces her to look in his eyes.
“Yes, you are worth that and more. I tried to get rid of my love too, but I can’t. You branded yourself on me and I don’t want the burn of that love to fade.”
“I love you Jesse, but I don’t think things can go back like they were.”
“That’s fine. We’ll take it one day at a time; we’ll do it right this time. Just promise me one thing.” Rachel nods for Jesse to continue. “I need you to win at regionals. You need to win it, to prove to VA and to everyone that you are more than worth it, something I already know.”
Rachel leans her head against Jesse’s and the two teens know that even though it’s going to be hard they are both worth it.