Genius.

Quinn isn’t too sure what exactly Jesse said to get her into this situation, but she thinks it might have had something to do with Rachel. Yeah, definitely Rachel. Quinn isn’t sure why she’s thinking about Rachel while kissing her ex-boyfriend in the choir room, but it’s happening.

It started only a few minutes before. Quinn had come to school early, really early, to practice a song for Glee. Regionals were coming up, and she and Rachel were sharing the female solo for the opening song. Despite Rachel’s many protests, Mr. Schuester had said that they were going to give more people a chance to sing solos, which had led to Finn and Puck sharing the male lead, and Rachel and Quinn sharing the female lead. Quinn knew she didn’t want to be shown up by Berry, so she had decided to put some work into this song.

She had found a recording of the music for the song, and burned it onto a CD. She put the CD into the CD player, and stood in the middle of the room, her back to the door and her face towards the empty seats. She waited for her cue to join in, and began singing, her delicate voice floating around the room. When her part of the solo was finished, she exhaled, rubbing her forehead. As much as she hated to admit it, Rachel was going to blow her out of the water if she didn’t figure out how to fill the large space.

“You lack technique.” Quinn jumped, whirling around to see Jesse St. James leaning against the doorway, a cocky smirk on his face.

“What are you doing here? Rachel isn’t around.” Quinn said, folding her arms across her chest as she stared at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in California?”

Jesse shrugged, stepping into the room. “I was offered the job as Vocal Adrenaline coach. They pay well, and I can always go back to UCLA whenever I want.” He said, walking to the piano.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Quinn said, watching him warily.

“You’re Quinn Fabray, right?” Jesse said, not looking up at her. He sat at the piano, his fingers brushing along the top of the keys.

“Yes. Why?”

“Rachel spoke about you. She gave you less credit than you deserve.” He glanced up at her. “Although you do have a lot of work to do.” Quinn frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t fill the space. You’re sharp in most places and flat in others. You have emotional depth, but I can’t get past your little voice to see it.” Jesse said, listing her problems on his fingers.

“You have no right to come in here and critique me.” Quinn said coldly, her gaze turned icy. “You should probably go.” Jesse gave a light laugh, turning his attention back to the piano.

“You’re not going to be noticed once Rachel starts singing. You really should take my advice.” Quinn felt herself getting frustrated. She hated being compared to Rachel.

“Why do you keep talking about her?” Quinn asked, her tone flat. Jesse laughed again.

“Jealous?”

“No!” Quinn replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. Jesse glanced up at her, a knowing smirk planted on his face.

“Sure you’re not.”

“I’m not.” Quinn protested. Why am I even having this conversation? She thought, shaking her head. He needs to leave.

“Not that I blame you. She’s very talented. Not to mention she managed to take your boyfriend from you.” He said it so casually Quinn almost didn’t register his words.

“She didn’t ‘take my boyfriend’ from me. We had already broken up when they started dating.”

“You broke up because of her, though, didn’t you?” Jesse asked. His tone gave away the fact that he knew the answer, but Quinn replied anyway.

“Yes. She told Finn about the baby’s father.” She said, gritting her teeth slightly. She still harbored a bit of anger about that. Everything would have been fine if Rachel had just kept her mouth shut.

“And she managed to take him from you.” Jesse said, his fingers moving over the keys again, pressing lightly against a few of them. Quinn rolled her eyes.

“Sure.” Maybe if I just let him talk, he’ll leave.

“I’m surprised you never tried getting back at her.”

“Dating Finn again was not at the top of my list of things to do. Especially not when Rachel needed to be able to sing for Regionals.” Quinn said, examining her nails, sending him a silent message. Please leave. Please leave, please leave, please leave.

“I didn’t mean Finn.” Quinn looked up from her nails, confusion apparent on her face. She watched as Jesse stood up from the piano bench and slowly walked over to where she was standing. Her first instinct was to take a step back, but he had already taken a light grip on her arm by the time her brain tried sending the message to her legs. She looked up at him, her heart racing. What is he doing!?

“Wh-ho did you mean?” Quinn mentally kicked herself for stuttering.

“Me.” Quinn blinked twice, his words taking a few seconds to sink in.

“You?”

Jesse nodded. “Yeah. Me.”

“I don’t think that’s-”

Quinn’s protest was cut off by Jesse’s lips. She was startled and didn’t respond for a few seconds, but that didn’t stop Jesse. He continued to kiss her, waiting until she finally began to kiss him back, hesitantly. His arm moved from her arm to her waist, pulling her closer to him. Quinn’s eyes fluttered shut and she began kissing him back more confidently.
Jesse kept his eyes open, his eyes leaving Quinn and moving towards the door. He smirked slightly when he heard Rachel’s voice from down the hall. Perfect. He thought, continuing to kiss Quinn. It only had to last a few more seconds…

Rachel tugged Finn down the hallway, chattering excitedly. She was glad he had agreed to come to school early to work on their part of the song. She had confessed to him last night that she was afraid she was going to be shown up by Quinn, and she wanted to make sure that she and Finn were going to be perfect. He had agreed, despite having to wake up earlier than usual. It was worth it to make Rachel happy.

“I think we should ask Mr. Schuester to help us with choreography today, so we can start practicing that as well.” Rachel said, her attention all on Finn. She looked at him as she walked into the Glee room, and frowned when she saw his face turn into shock.

“It’s not a bad idea, Finn, you know we could always use the extra help.” She said, a bit offended he had taken her suggestion wrong. Finn shook his head and motioned towards the piano. Rachel frowned deeper and turned, her eyes widening when she saw Quinn and Jesse. Her hand flew to her mouth, mixed emotions flying through her. There was anger that Jesse and Quinn were kissing, and jealousy too, and confusion as to why Jesse was here and not in California, and the tiniest bit of joy to just see him again.

Quinn jumped when she heard Rachel, pulling away from Jesse and looking over at Finn and Rachel, slightly breathless.

“Hello, Rachel.” Jesse said, keeping his arm lazily around Quinn’s waist.

“What are you doing here?” Rachel demanded, taking a step towards him. Finn stayed close to her, his glare firmly set on Jesse.

“What does it look like?” Jesse replied, his trademark smirk firmly on his lips. Quinn suddenly felt shame flush her cheeks and she kept her gaze on the floor.

“I don’t understand.” It was apparent to everyone in the room the hurt in Rachel’s voice, and Finn stepped in front of her, protectively.

“You need to leave.” He growled, glaring at Jesse. Jesse smirked confidently, letting go of Quinn and moving towards the door. He passed Rachel, giving her a wink before leaving the room. Rachel stood, stunned, as she watched Jesse leave, hating him and herself for that bit of joy.

“What were you doing with that creep?” Finn asked with his gaze on Quinn now. Quinn looked up, fully prepared to defend herself. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, not sure what to say.

“I don’t know. It just kind of…happened.” She said helplessly, feeling guilty now that it was all over. She glanced at Rachel, whose bottom lip was quivering. Crap. Finn followed her gaze and looked at Rachel with concern and worry.

“Rach?” He asked softly, reaching towards her. She shook her head.

“I’ll be fine. I just need a moment.” She closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. She opened her eyes again, and looked at Quinn, keeping direct eye contact.

“I thought we were friends.” She said. Her voice was small, but it carried across the room. In her words was a silent accusation. Was keeping Finn from me and taking Puck away not enough for you? You had to take Jesse too?

Rachel turned on her heel and stormed out the door, her sobs echoing down the hall. Finn spared one last glance at Quinn before turning, running after Rachel. Quinn sank into a nearby seat, her face falling into her hands. What just happened?

Jesse walked through the parking lot with confidence and pride, knowing that his plan had gone perfectly. He knew that Rachel would be so upset at Quinn that their singing together would be forced, and he had seen how she looked at him. That would definitely throw a wrench into Rachel and Finn’s relationship, practically guaranteeing Vocal Adrenaline Regionals. He chuckled slightly to himself as he got into his car, looking at himself in the mirror.

Jesse St. James, you are a genius.