Chapter 10

A story about genetically programmed soulmates.

When Rachel got into bed that night she found herself staring at the ceiling again. She didn't think about Finn, or how settling for him would be okay; she thought about Quinn and how she would be able to live with her soul mate forever. She thought about the heat that was still radiating off her wrist. Unlike the first few times she touched it it felt warm and soft rather than burning her fingertips.

She turned on her side to face the window, still able to see the small marks where the pebbles had hit the window, and it made her laugh to herself. As little as Quinn really knew about relationships, she must have known that throwing pebbles was the most cliche way to get a love interests attention. Right? Probably not. Quinn knew nothing.

Rachel's thoughts were interrupted by a loud buzz on her night stand. She picked up her phone and saw a message from an unknown number, 'This is Quinn. Goodnight, Ray. I can't wait to see you tomorrow :) -Q' Rachel bit her lip trying not to smile. She saved the contact and quickly typed out a quick message before putting her phone on silent and turning back over towards the window. 'Goodnight, Quinn. I can't wait to see you tomorrow either. -R'

She hoped tomorrow would be perfect. She knew that she and Quinn couldn't hold hands or kiss each other before they separated for class, but hopefully they could have heated make-out sessions under the bleachers or something. Not quite romantic, but better than nothing.

Rachel closed her eyes willing the next day to come, but she was too excited to fall asleep. Rachel thought about Quinn, she tried to see the blonde's face behind her eyelids as she lie in her bed. The first thing she saw was her eyes, the gold and green specks freckling her hazel eyes, and the perfect curve of her nose. She saw her blonde hair and her high cheekbones and finally as she drifted off to sleep she saw her smile.

When Rachel woke up the next morning, it took her a moment to remember the events that transpired the night before. At first she thought she had just dreamt it all. Maybe she ate something weird and had a vivid dream, but then she checked the time on her phone and saw a message from Quinn. 'Good morning, Ray. I'm sorry for texting you so early but I have Cheerios practice at five am, every day. Anyway good morning handsome king. Can't wait to see you in...three hours.. :) -Q' Rachel laughed out loud. Quinn was too adorable for words. She never expected an ice queen could turn out to be as cute as she was.

Rachel turned the sound back up on her phone and then responded to Quinn. She walked to her closet and turned on the light. The house had come with a walk-in closet, so naturally Rachel chose that room. Her dads were never here anyway. She was surprised Quinn hadn't gawked at her house yesterday considering the way the girl stared at her car. The Berry residence wasn't exactly a house, it was more like three lots turned into one large work facility that just happened to include many living quarters as well, so technically a mansion. Her fathers made one everywhere they resided for more than three years. They found a street with a few vacant lots in a row and built a new 'house'. One section of the mansion was for teaching their methods, another was for entertaining and the last section was for living in. With the amount of space they had, Rachel basically had a house of her own even when her dads were home.

Her closet was probably about the size of three of her classmates rooms, but she didn't like to brag. She let everyone think she had a closet-sized room. Many of the Mckinley high students did think she was poor. She had heard some girls talking about her in her home ec class. They were discussing her sweater and how atrocious it was. The girls also said, "The fact that she matches her sweaters to her socks is so sad. Where does she even get them from? Family Dollar?" There were two problems with the girls' insult. People who were too poor to afford proper clothing would not match their socks, they would focus on feeding themselves and their loved ones, and the second, the Family Dollar only sold knock-off knee socks that ironically only went up to the middle of one's shins.

Rachel picked out a blue reindeer sweater, a red and blue plaid skirt, and a pair of blue knee highs to wear to school. She topped it all off with a pair of black loafers and a red headband to go along with it. She brought her clothes back into her room and checked the clock on her wall. '6:35' Only an hour and twenty five minutes before she got to see Quinn again. She smiled brightly and walked across the hallway to her workout room. She hopped on her elliptical, did some strength training, and stretched. By the time she was done with all of that, it was already seven-ten. Rachel hopped in the shower, and by the time she was done with that, it was seven-thirty-five. She stood in front of her mirror now wearing the clothes she had picked out and straightened her hair. The last thing she did was put her headband on.

She walked downstairs to the kitchen, where she was greeted by one of the many housekeepers her fathers had hired to keep the house looking tidy for the many people who came and went. "Good morning Miss Berry. I made your shake for you," the man said. Jerry was Rachel's favorite housekeeper. Mostly because he was young and he sang with her whenever she asked him to. He also made her favorite foods, brewed her coffee every morning and blended a protein shake. But those were all just added perks to his perfection. "You really didn't have to do that. And it's, Rachel, you know that. Miss Berry is saved for all of those interviewers on the red carpet," Rachel joked, "But thank you so much." She grabbed the glass off the counter and began to suck it down trying to get through it as quickly as possible. She wanted to get to homeroom before Quinn. She usually was, but she just wanted to be sure.

"What's the rush, Miss Berry?" Jerry asked, amused.

Rachel took a break from her shake to answer him. "I have to beat Quinn to homeroom today." Rachel went back to sucking down her shake and when the straw finally started to gurgle from lack of shake to suck up, she slammed the glass on the counter, grabbed her thermos of coffee, and made a dash for her car. "Who's, Quinn?" Jerry called after her.

"My mate!" Rachel called back running out into the garage; she knew Jerry would be looking for details so, she popped her head back through the doorway. "I'll tell you all about it later. Promise." Jerry simply laughed and told her to have a good day.

As Rachel drove to school, she had to be cautious not to speed, she was prone to a lead foot when she was excited. She kept looking down at the clock in her car - it seemed like the minutes were going by so slowly. Every time she looked down, only a minute had passed; sometimes it was still the same time.

She stopped at the light across from Mckinley and huffed in frustration. This entire morning had felt like she was so close yet so far from Quinn. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to change. When it finally did, she hit the pedal so fast her tires squealed against the pavement. She turned into the lot and parked in the first spot she could find, not caring how far it was from the entrance.

Rachel walked as quickly as she could from her car to her locker. She hurriedly grabbed her things for her first two classes and made a run for homeroom. She made it to the room at eight-o'-seven, which was ten minutes earlier than she usually arrived to class. When she walked through the door she was not expecting to see Quinn sitting in her seat. The blonde was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands folded on top of the desk. "Hey, Ray," she said as Rachel stood stunned at the front of the room.

"Hey..what are you doing here so early? Don't you still have practice?" Quinn shook her head and rose from the desk.

"No, practice actually ends at seven-thirty, I just took a short shower today so I could surprise you. Did I do a good job?" Rachel nodded her head in approval. "Well good, because I have another surprise for you. But..you can't flaunt it or anything okay?"

Rachel tried not to be upset about having to hide something that Quinn gave her, because she knew it was for the best. "I will guard it with my life. I promise."

Quinn laughed and walked back to the desk. "It's not that serious." She pulled out a jacket from her bag. "This is a special jacket that only the head cheerio gets. It's basically only for bragging rights, but it's one of my favorite possessions. My name is embroidered in the side of the right sleeve and 'Head Cheerio' is on the back. I take a lot of pride in it, but I really want you to have it. I think it's appropriate since I can't let you wear my Letterman's jacket. You can at least wear it around your house or something." Quinn held out the jacket for Rachel to take and as soon as the soft fabric touched her fingers Rachel felt the tears begin to sting at her eyes.

"Quinn…." Rachel choked out. "I..thank you." Rachel held the jacket to her chest for a moment, trying to get over how kind the blonde's gesture was. "This is so perfect. I'm going to cherish this forever." Quinn smiled and held her hands together behind her back, she looked down at the ground and bit her lip as a light tint of pink took over her cheeks. "Quinn?" Rachel asked ducking her head down to meet Quinn's eyes, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Quinn cleared her throat, "I just...I wasn't expecting you to actually like it. It's just a stupid jacket. I couldn't think about anything else to do."

Rachel chuckled to herself. "Well it's your stupid jacket that my stupid shoulders get to wear." Quinn laughed and Rachel swore she would never get that sound out of her ears. "Seriously, thank you so much, this means the world to me." Rachel took a step forward and was about to lean in to kiss Quinn on the cheek when she heard a familiar voice.

"Alright, Rachel. It's been a week. Have you decided?" Finn asked, "What are you doing with Quinn's jacket?"

Rachel quickly handed the jacket back over to Quinn. "She was just showing me the beautiful embroidering on the sleeves. I wanted to get one of my favorite sweaters reembroidered. You know how I love those, Finn." Rachel took a step towards the boy and placed a hand on his arm. "I have, but I really think this is a conversation we need to have in private, okay? Let's meet up for lunch." Finn smiled brightly and nodded.

"Yeah! Okay, sounds good, Rach. Can't wait." He took his normal seat next to Rachel and sorted through his backpack, eventually pulling out his phone and playing a game. When Rachel decided that he was fully distracted, she pulled out her phone from her own backpack and texted Quinn. 'I'm so sorry. That was so rude of me. -R'

She heard a ding from behind her and a few moments later her phone vibrated. 'It's okay, Ray, I know. This is going to suck for a long time, but it'll be worth it. I promise. -Q' Rachel smiled down at the text before turning around to see Quinn staring down at her phone waiting for a response. She quickly turned back around and responded. 'I still feel bad though. And I want my jacket back. :( -R'

Quinn quietly chuckled at Rachel's dramatics. 'You'll get it back after school -Q'

'I better. ;) -R'

Their homeroom teacher cleared his throat to take attendance and the girls quickly put their phones away. Homeroom went by slowly; Finn kept looking at Rachel and Quinn kept staring at Finn staring at Rachel. It was very awkward and when the bell rang, Quinn all but ran out of the room. Thankfully Finn was used to her antics by now and didn't give it a second thought.

For the first four periods of the day, Rachel checked her phone every moment she could, checking for a text from Quinn. Almost every time she looked she had one. 'Ray...I'm dying in this class. I just want to sit in homeroom and stare at the back of your beautiful head. -Q'

'There are Cheerios uniforms everywhere and all I see is you in them. But when I blink it's never you. -R'

The text that knocked Rachel off her feet though was the text she received as she was walking towards the cafeteria to speak with Finn. It was longer than all the others but, it was also serious and filled with sadness. 'Rachel. I know you're going to speak with Finn now. I just want you to remember that, yes, he is your other mate, somehow. But I promise you that he will never be able to love you the way that I will someday. We are true mates and I will try and make every single day count. I know I will love you more and more as each day passes and I'm not perfect, but I'll try to be perfect for you. I just..please don't choose Finn. I promise I'll be better. I'm going to prove to you that fate really did chose the right one for you. Me. -Q'

Rachel sat at her lunch table and stared at the text reading it over and over again until she thought she might be able to recite it word for word. She was forced to put her phone away when Finn approached the table with a tray in hand. "Hey Rach! You wanted to talk?"

He sounded excited, which made Rachel dread this conversation even more.

"Yeah. So...I have made a decision." Finn perked up and Rachel continued. "I can't be with you Finn. I'm sorry I made you wait all this time just to hear a no."

Finn put down his fork and folded his hands behind his tray. His face became very stoic, but she could see the disappointment in his eyes. "It's okay. We are young and that is a very big commitment. I will wait for you until you are ready. I won't imprint on anyone until you are ready for me. I promise." Rachel could hear the determination he had to follow through on the promise he was making her,but she couldn't hold him to that. She wasn't his mate and she had no right to make him believe he had a chance.

"That's very sweet, Finn, but you can be free. You can do what you please. Don't wait for me. I don't want you to be weighed down just because of this. Live your life the way you want to. Don't compromise for anyone. Not even me."

Rachel knew what imprinting was. She had finally gotten a moment to ask her dads about the medical processes and tendencies of mates. Being doctors, they had told her much more than she'd originally wanted to know. And when she wanted to know more, she snuck into their lab and took a peek at some of their studies. She was aware of everything that was happening to her at this very moment. The chemical 'PEA' was slowly leaking into her system causing all of the warm fuzzy feelings inside of her every time she saw Quinn.

There were also stages of imprinting. The first stage was the initial contact which initiated the tattooing of the signs. Rachel had never seen her signs before, she had gotten them when she had first bumped into Quinn in the hallway.

The second is acceptance, which is when the pain or negative reaction from the sign stops. Rachel thought it was quite strange that such a pleasant chemical could do so much harm, but the negative reactions were to ensure that people didn't deny their mate. They were supposed to accept the fact that they were soul mates and having to face some unpleasant symptoms was definitely motivation to give their mate a chance.

There were numerous stages in the middle; not specific events, but stages, the initial feelings of love, passion,being in love, etc. These stages varied from person to person. Some lasted longer or shorter than others. However, the very last stage was imprinting. Imprinting was the final stage because it sealed your bond to the other person. There was a difference between sex and imprinting, which was a very confusing concept to Rachel. Sex was contact of the genitals with another person, however imprinting was the movement of love between two people.

Sex was fast and it felt good but had no emotional meaning whatsoever. Imprinting on the other hand was exciting and had many more aspects to it. In some cases the imprint was so profound that you could see the PEA chemicals floating through the air. There would be light reflecting off the particles of the drug on the body of the individuals imprinting and in the air around them. There was also a very obvious smell that would follow them around for a few days. For each person it was different, but a pleasant aroma would linger around them, the length of that symptom was also varied by the individual.

Naturally when Finn said he wouldn't imprint Rachel, knew he wouldn't, because he probably couldn't. Imprinting was only possible with a mate, and no one else. Everyone else was just a sexual encounter with a maximum of thirty seconds of mild PEA reactions. Rachel didn't care what Finn did with his life. All she cared about now was Quinn.

"Do you think we can still be friends though?" Finn asked, Rachel wasn't opposed to a friendly relationship with the boy but she feared for his health when he found out that Rachel was actually his mate. The problem with phenylethylamine (PEA) was that it starts leaking into your system when you are a child. Your body becomes addicted to it because of the constant flow, and when you began to imprint, the flow increased. If that imprint becomes interrupted your source of PEA stops completely.

Rachel's fathers have figured out how to make it into a drug because they have lost their mate or because their mate has died. They often die of PEA overdose or withdrawal. Death can occur within months sometimes weeks if it's bad enough, which is why Rachel was so worried about Finn.

"Of course, Finn we can still be friends. Just no funny business, okay?"

The boy nodded eagerly, "Of course. Don't worry." He picked up his tray and rose from the table. "I should get back to the guys, but thanks for being honest with me, Rach."

That statement dug into her so deep she could literally feel the pain of the knife in her heart. She didn't lie to Finn, but she also hadn't told him the whole truth. In this case it really was for his own good. She tried not to let it weigh on her mind too much, but she knew it would. She rose from the table and threw out her tray, suddenly not hungry anymore. She turned to see Quinn sitting with the two Cheerios who seemed to always be within an arms reach of the blonde, and then looked over at the tall awkward boy sitting with the football team laughing about the two straws sticking out of his nose.

Rachel had a difficult road ahead of her; she had to find a way to be with Quinn, yet still keep Finn from getting seriously hurt. She turned on her heel and walked out of the cafeteria with only one word slipping out of her mouth. "S**t…."