love like fools ➙ glee

thirty-six ; landslide.

cover of "creep" by radiohead inspired by kina grannis's cover. (sorry, rachel and brody, but it was a necessary sacrifice. no one liked you two together, anyway.)

. . . 

"You know, Miss Holliday has a fantastic point."

Everyone's attention shifted towards Jesse. It had been less than a minute since Mr. Schuester guided Ms. Holliday out of the choir room after her particularly . . . scandalous performance. Alicia had joined in on Rachel and Quinn's silent protest against the song, but unlike them, she had not allowed herself to get lured into the excitement of the song. She sat firmly in her chair, reminding herself of Kurt during Gives You Hell.

Jesse had been the opposite. In fact, he'd sung Miss Holliday's backup vocals.

"Does she?" Finn's voice was tight.

Either Jesse didn't notice how tense Finn was, or he didn't care. Alicia was betting on the latter. "Of course she does. It's the perfect strategy for defeating our enemies at Regionals. Honestly, I should have thought of it."

Alicia blinked in rapid succession. "Um, I don't know if I would consider Kurt and Blaine our enemies--"

Santana snorted. "Yes, Ankle Biter, trust me when I say that we all know about your interest in constantly fraternizing with the enemy." Her gaze, somewhat snakelike, slid over to Jesse, standing in the center of the choir room. "Some more than others."

Alicia flushed crimson, but Jesse clapped his hands together once. Loudly. He couldn't stand losing the spotlight for a minute, could he? "Listen. This is the only opportunity for us to get the edge we need at Regionals. Do you guys wanna win, or do you want to lose your place at this school for the second time?"

Annoyance washed over Alicia. This was one thing she had never particularly liked about Jesse. Everything was always black and white with him. To Jesse, Kurt and Blaine were the "enemies," despite Kurt being a former member of the New Directions and Blaine being one of the kindest people in Ohio. 

Judging by the way Finn was scowling, he must agree with her.

"Jesse's right," Rachel said, surprising approximately the entire population of the town. Including Jesse. His eyes briefly widened, before he quickly recovered, lips twitching into a smirk that only set Alicia's nerves no edge. "Don't we want to be winners? Maybe . . . maybe taking Ms. Holliday's advice isn't completely stupid."

"Aren't you supposed to be apart of Celibacy Club?" snapped Quinn.

Rachel's cheeks tinted, before she lifted her chin in silent protest. Well. Protest. Nothing about Rachel was ever silent. "That is a separate part of my life. I'm willing to divide my endeavors in a timely and professional manner."

Quinn stared blankly, before rolling her eyes with an indignant huff, looking away.

There was still something going on between those two, Alicia knew. She had been trying to keep track of it for over a year, but it was more than a little difficult when she wasn't exactly friends with either of them. She had some good moments with each of them individually (such as serenading Kurt with Quinn prior to his transfer, and being there for Rachel after Jesse's treacherous betrayal). But it didn't mean either trusted her, especially not withthat.

It seemed like they didn't even trust themselves with . . . whatever that was.

"If we need to be a little more . . . sexually provocative for some attention at Regionals, well, so be it." Rachel gave a firm nod, leaping off her chair and coming to stand besides Jesse in the center of the room. Alicia set her jaw. "This is no different from when we performed Push It last year!"