Glee 1. New Head Cheerio

**I have a bit of time on my hands, so I thought I'd devote it to Yummy!, give it a revamp, in the hope of sending you all a message. What is with this low viewership people?! I'm over here in Oz, waiting to be able to access these episodes online, and you have it there, on your screen (the U.S.) and you aren't taking it! Let's get those numbers up, otherwise it won't be good for Glee.**

Rachel's POV

I can't believe it, we had won. After everything we'd gone through during the year, the whole Baby Gate drama, it was a big shock when we managed to pull through in the end. And add to that the fact that we'd already been at school for an hour and a half and Santana had yet to come up to me and play Satan or send anyone to throw a slushy at me, life was looking pretty good. Maybe me siding with her at Sectionals really did help things, I thought as I closed my locker and went off to third period.

"Hey Rachel, wait up," I heard a voice cry out from somewhere behind me. I recognised the voice but it had never shouted that before.

"Yes Santana," I said wearily as I turned to face her, seeing Brit by her side as usual, though Quinn was nowhere in sight.

"What would you say if I could end the bullying that your toned, performing butt puts up with every day?" she asked me, looking rushed.

I was admittedly confused. "I would ask why you would do such a thing, followed by why you would compliment me in such a surprising, albeit truthful, fashion, seeing as you typically-" Santana cut me off before I could finish.

"Then come with me!" she said.

"But I must go to class," I said as she pulled me by the arm.

"Coach Sylvester has excused you for this double period," Brittany told me, practically skipping along with excitement. I didn't get to say anything else because we just got to Coach Sylvester's office.

"Berry," she barked when we all sat down, "I need a new Cheerio after Q got herself knocked up. Even though you are a Glee loser, as far as I can tell you are the only one in the school talented enough to take her place. I have been thus far unimpressed with the leadership shown by Lopez and Pierce, so you're it. Welcome to the squad Ray. Now, get your uniform on and get to practise before I puke," she said, reverting back to her usual snarky demeanour.

I was dragged back out of her office and towards the gym when I finally found my voice, which up until then had been otherwise occupied, something extremely unusual for me.

"Explain to me why I am Head Cheerio. Actually, explain to me why I am a Cheerio at all," I said to Santana."

"Look Ray," Santana said in a huff as we reached the doors to the gym, "I wanted to be Head Cheerio, but Sylvester is right. We don't want to deal with the bureaucratic bullshit. But we still needed to find a new Cheerio to replace Q so I mentioned you, Sylvester liked you amazingly, and you were in."

"Plus, we are both really sorry about everything we did to you before Sectionals," Brit said to me, suddenly shy and not excited, "we were really mean to you and you still stuck up for us. So thank you B," she squealed, smiling hopefully at me.

"It was no trouble Britt," I said to her, grinning as she giggled and grinned back.

"It was B. And I want you to know that you have us now. You stuck by us, so now we're going to stick by you and be friends," Santana said, smiling _warmly_ at me, dare I say it.

"OK," I said slowly, hoping already bubbling up inside me that I finally had friends, "so what happens now?"

Santana grinned, obviously relieved that I hadn't thrown a diva-fit and fought against her. "Now B, we get you changed, go to practise, work our buts off and then go out again for takeout like we always do after practises," she said to me.

"But all those carbohydrates cannot be healthy for you," I argued.

"Chill Rach," Santana said to me, opening the door to the empty locker room.

"Yeah Ray," Britt said to me, still looking excited, "we only have practise twice a week after school. Then there's two before school and one during the day."

"And plus we need to refuel after all the work we do," Santana said, handing me a packaged uniform.

While I changed into my uniform Santana and Britt chatted away to me about all the cheers they did and I quickly memorized them, not wanting to fall behind the extremely proficient Cheerios. Despite what everyone may think about cheerleading as a sport, they were currently the only National-winning team at the school.

"Today we won't stress you out with a full on session, it'll just be a meet and greet," Santana said to me as I finished tying a shoelace, "then next time you can take charge. Usually we practise the same thing unless Coach or the Head Cheerio says we have to do a new routine. We once practised one of our winning National routines for six weeks."

I was visibly stunned by that. "Maybe that's what we need to do for Glee," I said contemplatively, "we certainly do not spend enough time on each song."

"well you're our captain. Persuade Shue," Santana said to me, "now let's go," she said leading me out into the gym and to all the awaiting Cheerios. My new charges.

**This is changed from my old version, I hope you like it :) Now, let's keep watching glee!**


	2. New Housemate

**Thank you to my readers, and thank you to the new review-ers, who took the time out to write to me. This one is for seacat03, unlockedmusic, Stephanie and **

**A couple of AU things to note: Quinn has a key to Rachel's house, because they've been close since the start of her pregnancy, and Rachel is NOT a vegan, but a vegetarian. The latter is more for authenticity, since I don't want to offend anyone with my ignorance about veganism and its ins and outs.**

Rachel's POV

I looked at the group of girls in front of me, centering myself before I spoke. I was a little surprised that there weren't any males, and made a mental note to look into recruiting some, so as to really hit choreography. Beside me, Santana cleared her throat, nudging me forward a little. I shrugged, as if asking, "where do I begin?" Santana seemed to get the message though, as she rolled her eyes and spoke first.

"Now Cheerios, as we all know our last captain got herself knocked up. So Coach decided we needed some new blood, someone to lead us to Nationals," Santana explained in an overly philosophical voice. I wondered briefly why she was going this route when, from personal experience, I had come to realize Santana always took the more, direct, approach.

"Rachel Berry is our new Head Cheerio." Ah, that was the Santana I had been around for the last year.

"What?"

"No way!"

"She's a Glee loser!"

"No way am I listening to Man-Hands!"

Santana opened her mouth, but I placed a hand on her arm, stopping her, before I faced my peers. "Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. This is a team, and we are all working towards the same goal. Regardless of your personal opinions of me, or how I spend _my_ free time, you will give this team your all. Quite frankly, I have very little concern over what you do in your spare time, and outside of cheerleading you never have to see me. But when we are together, practising, you _will_ focus and listen to me. Any questions?"

When they stood there in stunned silence, I smirked in a satisfactory manner. I turned to Santana, who was grinning. "Santana, is there an routine you can show me how to do. Today is really only for practise, to get off the training wheels."

We went through some basic stunts and a few technical moves, which I surprisingly picked up very quickly. I likened them to the dancing classes I had been taking. Half an hour later we were done with the basic stuff, plans were made for our next training, and everyone except Santanaand Brit left the gym quietly.

"Go Rach," Santana cheered, "you've already got them under your thumb!"

"They aren't "under my thumb" as you put it San, but they do respect the hierarchical setting out of our team." Brittany was looking a little clueless so I put it in layman's terms. "They know who's in charge around here."

As I found my locker in the shower room, I decided that we needed a new routine, because frankly all their existing ones screamed Sue Sylvester, and were slightly unoriginal. They needed to grab the judges attention, not put them to sleep. We were heading out of the gym to my car when I explained my thoughts to Santana and Britt. Neither one was happy that I was going to be making a "better" (harder in their words) routine but both agreed to help me.

~RBJSJ~

I dropped Santana and Britt off before heading home myself. We had just spent three hours shopping and getting to know each other. I learnt that Brittany's aunt is friends with Christina Aguilera, which is how she was introduced to song and dance, and Santana lived with her brother and his family because her parents had been killed as a baby. It's amazing how she put on such an exterior when she was practically torn apart on the inside. I promised myself that I would help fix her. Santana deserved to live her life to the fullest.

As I pulled in to my garage and weaved through the other cars and into the house I sighed. Nobody was home, I could tell. And they said they'd be home today, and that this was the last time they'd leave me alone for so long. I laughed bitterly. Yeah, they were gonna come home. When Hell froze over.

I placed my bags on the stairs so I could take them to my room when I returned before walking into the kitchen to grab a drink. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and turned to leave the room when I saw a light flashing on our machine, indicating that we had a message. I pressed the button and I heard the beginnings of a message from my fathers (I had stopped calling them Dad and Daddy a while ago).

"Rachel, we have decided after considering our happiness and priorities that it would be best if we stay here. We will not give you our address or our new number. We realised we have made a mistake and we do not want a child. You may keep the house, we have already signed the deeds in your name, and there isn't a mortgage to pay. Goodbye Rachel. Have a pleasant life." The message ended abruptly and I sunk to the floor, my breathing becoming shallow and my heart racing. II vaguely recall the sound of a glass breaking as it hit the tiles, but my mind was whizzing so quickly I didn't know what to focus on. I fumbled in my pocket for my phone and speed dialled the only person who could help me.

"_Hello," _I heard a melodic voice say on the other end of the line.

"Quinn," I said tearfully, "I need you."

I barely heard a quick _"I'll be there in a sec,"_ before the line went dead and I dropped the phone, tears beginning to make their way down my cheeks.

~RBJSJ~

I heard Quinn coming in, using the key I had given her when she first fell pregnant. She came into the room, quickly rushing over to me, gently stepping through the shattered glass until she reached me. I immediately put my arms around her, sobbing into her chest, as she rocked me, gently running her hand through my hair.

"They weren't here often, but they were all I had," I said, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

"I know honey, I know, but you have me, and the Puckermans, and Glee club," she said.

I snorted. "I'm not silly, I know they only tolerate me, at least most of them."

Quinn pulled back. "Hey, why don't you get changed into your PJs, and I'll clean up this mess and meet you up in your room soon. Have you eaten?" I weakly shook my head. "Alright, I'm going to order some Chinese, because I know you love their fried rice, and you're going to prepare yourself for an epic sleepover."

I smiled at her thankfully as I made my way towards my room. I still found it funny that Quinn was my go to person when something was wrong. It happened when she found out she was pregnant. I happened to be walking into the bathroom when I encountered a very scared looking Quinn holding a pregnancy test. I had immediately gone to her, offering her a place to stay and unending support, and we had bonded from there. Not too many people knew of our friendship, but we were just fine with that. We didn't need that kind of attention, and this way Quinn and I had gotten to know each other away from the vicious stereotypes.

Forty minutes later we were sitting in our pyjamas (Quinn had borrowed a pair of my larger pants), eating chinese take out on my bed, watching romantic comedies. Quinn then broached the silence with a question.

"What are you going to do for money Rach?"

"It's OK. My fathers didn't actually pay for anything. After the last time they were away for mroe than four months, Aunt Lexi visited and I ended up telling her how they were never here and from then on out she'd payed for me like I was her own daughter. I felt like I was a burden but she assured me I wasn't and that she doesn't have children so she doesn't have any other costs. In hindsight, I realise that she's a movie director so it isn't like she is short of money."

Quinn nodded, before her face took on a strange look. "You know, it's funny that you called, because I was just about to dial you. I have something to ask," she said hesitantly.

"What do you need?" I asked. I would give her anything I could. She was my best friend now. I'd even go as far as to call her my sister.

"I need somewhere to live," she said hurriedly, "I moved out of Puck's house."

"Why?" I asked, sitting up abruptly. I knew her and Noah weren't the best of buddies exactly but I thought that they had reached an understanding after Baby Gate, as the Glee club had so fondly named it.

"Because his Mom doesn't like me because I'm not Jewish and he doesn't want a relationship which is making everything awkward. But you don't need to put me up, I just thought I'd ask, ya know?" And she smiled vaguely, keeping her breathing purposely steady.

"Quinny," using the name her Mom had made up so I'd get her attention, "of course you can move in. I can't live in this house by myself, now can I? Besides, you'll need loving support and care now that Baby Doll is almost here," I said, gesturing to her protruding stomach and calling my future niece by a name Kurt and I had concocted.

"Are you sure Rach? I don't want to pressure you," she stressed.

"Quinny, it's fine," I grinned, "we sisters gotta stick together. Besides, there's no way I'm letting my niece learn to sing from anyone else but me."


End file.

Glee, Romance, Supernatural