it makes everything else seem so small.. [open]

[Rachel Berry]

There was a certain eeriness to the choir room, when it was empty. It wasn't something Rachel could honestly complain about. It was more of a lingering eeriness, a sort of twisted nostalgia. It was almost romantic, something out of the finest of literature (as even well produced musicals fall short of the original script, it seems).

Rachel tugged down the hem of her sweater, glancing around the room. Even with the lights off she could make out the forms of almost everything in the room (possibly from memory, more likely due to the fact a generous amount of both sunlight and hall-lights were shining in). She could imagine the Glee kids each sitting in their seats, Mr. Schuester standing in front of all of them..

A scowl made it's way onto Rachel's face. Every star had their start somewhere, whether it be in their mom's garage or in their school's Glee club. Either way, they moved on to bigger and better things (however, in some cases "bigger and better things" was winning American Idol).

The brunette felt her stomach turn, something along the lines of a scowl working it's way onto her face. She shook her head once or twice, not that it did much to clear her thoughts. She wouldn't let this get to her now.

Letting out a shaky breath, Rachel walked to the front of the room and waited. She'd rather tell the Glee Club she was leaving in person. It'd be more polite, if anything. She folded her hands in front of herself, humming a quiet note.

She had a bad feeling about all this.

[Finn Hudson]

Time for glee club! Finn had to admit this was one of his favorite parts to his day, every single day he came to school. Singing was such fun to him, and hey, he was really good at it. Why not flaunt it? Plus, it made him feel pretty awesome about himself. Maybe some particular attitudes did happen to rub off on him.

As he walked to the choir room, he noticed the door was open. Well, okay. Someone had to be in here, then. Finn walked closer to the room and realized the lights weren't even on. As he reached to flip them on, he noticed a very familiar figure.

"Rachel? What's going on?" His eyebrows furrowed as he asked. He could tell something was bothering her, and he knew technically he wasn't supposed to care, but he also knew that if he didn't ask it'd be the end of him... in every way possible.

[Rachel Berry]

Rachel blinked a few times at the sound of a voice, an even more awful feeling growing in her stomach. She wasn't entirely sure if she could credit this unfortunate plot twist to karma or not. This entire situation was ridiculous, Rachel quickly decided. Finn had absolutely no right to ask her what was wrong, and--

A scowl momentarily graced her face, but faded just as quickly. Why didn't he have the right to? He had every right to, in all honesty. Finally shifting her gaze toward him, Rachel put a small smile on her face.

"Nothing. Only a small announcement, and then Glee will continue on as usual," she hummed. It wasn't a complete lie, nothing for karma to get her back for this time.

[Finn Hudson]

Finn studied her as she spoke. Silently, yet diligently. He could tell she didn't like that he'd asked her what was wrong. Imagine, though, what would have happened if he just waltzed in there without a single word. It would've been so, so much worse.

"If it was a small announcement... you wouldn't be so uneasy, but if you don't wanna tell me it's fine." He went and looked through some things, to make it seem like he wasn't there to kill time -- which he was, but he didn't want to let her know that.

After all, after what happened between them, this couldn't have been more awkward. But, nonetheless, Finn isn't the smoothest of gentlemen. He just so happened to knock a stack of sheet music down. Awesome.

He kneeled down and started to pick them up while putting them back in order at the same time. He had to be blushing right now. His whole face felt like it was on fire.

[Rachel Berry]

The scowl from earlier made it's way back onto her face, now almost completely assured Finn wasn't watching. Uneasy? What part of her seemed uneasy? ..And who was he to point it out? She wasn't uneasy, was? Thinking for through for a moment or two, Rachel came to the conclusion that maybe she was. However, she most definitely wasn't showing it. Finn was just... assuming things. Yeah. Something like that.

Rachel soon found herself drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of papers rustling, turning to face Finn. Looking over the scene, a sigh escaped her lips. Well, that was awfully graceful of him. Frowning at the scattered papers, Rachel shuffled over and knelt down to pick some up. She hummed the first two notes on the paper, quickly deciding they weren't anything particularly special and nothing of interest.

She picked up a few more pages, organizing them as best she could, considering some pages were missing(karma was having a field day, it seemed).

[Finn Hudson]

At the sound of the sigh, Finn frowned softly. He didn't mean to knock over the papers... Ah, shake it off, Hudson. He continued to put them back in order and his glance shifted to Rachel and then hesitantly back to the papers.

Finn stood and put the ones he'd already re-done back where they came from and then bent down to get some more. "You don't have to help me." He muttered and continued rustling through them to find the ones that went with the song he was reassembling next. He peaked over at what Rachel had, and it was the same song, so he laid the sheet on top of hers (to help) and stood. That was the last of them.

He basically decided to sit in the middle of the room where he couldn't touch anything and be in solitude, but then backed out. He'd look like a moron. So he sat in his chair, the one he'd always sat in, and looked at the ground patiently. Seeing Rachel wasn't doing him much good at all. He wished he had something to punch or... maybe kick. Hey, a wall! But not in the presence of Rachel. That would be even more awkward.

[Rachel Berry]

The frown on Rachel's face grew slightly. "I know that," she muttered, putting the papers back in their proper place. After she straightened them out(making sure they were properly centred and lined up with the things around them), she scuffed to the door and stuck her head out. There was no sign of Mr. Schuester, nor any other Glee kids yet.

Rachel walked back to the front of the room, crossing her arms when she got there. Honestly, this wait was ridiculous... and being alone in the same room as Finn did not help at all.

Maybe talking to the Glee club in person wasn't such a great idea. She didn't need to hear their feedback anyway. Spinning on her heel, Rachel shuffled over to the whiteboard in the room, glancing around for a marker. Finally spotting one, she began to write out her message, taking time to focus on her handwriting. If she wasn't going to talk to everyone in person, she was at least going to make her note look pretty.

[Finn Hudson]

Finn watched Rachel go around the room. What was this, anyway? It was starting to get to him that she wasn't gonna just tell him. Then again, he wasn't supposed to care. They weren't even talking to one another on a regular basis. It... actually made him kinda sad.

He narrowed his eyes as he watched her write. He just waited for her message to be out in the open. This wait was killing him as well as he knew it was killing her; he just wanted this to be over. Second-thoughting everything he'd been sure about previously was annoying already. Being in the same room with the topic of the thoughts in general made him want to run out of that room right then, but he knew he'd just have to come back anyway.

[Rachel Berry]

Rachel stepped away from her message momentarily, reading it over. Spotting a spelling error, she leant forward to erase it with her thumb, then rewrote the word. Okay, now it was.. as perfect as something like this could be, she guessed.

Dear McKinley Glee Club,
I have speeches prepared for many things, and letters prepared for some others. This is one the cases where I'm going to be writing a letter, and one of the few cases where I won't actually be there in person to read it.
To keep this to the point, I'm leaving Glee club. In certain cases it'd be best to give a two weeks notice, but I'll be leaving immediately. It's not about any of you(even if we aren't on the most favourable of terms).
Actually, I have to thank all of you. There's lots of things I want to thank you all for, but this board is much too small.
It's been great.
Love, Rachel B. Berry

She read it through again, then another time, just to confirm that yes, this was happening. Rachel shifted her gaze away from the board, setting the marker down.

[Finn Hudson]

Finn read the message and then furrowed his eyebrows, "Rachel, you're leaving? Why?" He stood from his chair and went over to her, but not directly next to her. Maybe a foot away. "You can't leave." Truth be told, he actually didn't know what he was going to do without her. She'd always been in Glee club with him. If she wasn't going to be there... He stopped thinking about it and focused on her. She couldn't leave.

[Rachel Berry]

Rachel frowned, taking a step back and away from him. An eyebrow went up, and she crossed her arms. "And why can't I? Last time I checked, it was my decision whether or not I want to leave."

Her stare faltered a little, so she shifted it away from him.

[Finn Hudson]

Finn shook his head a tad frantically and looked at her, "Why do you want to leave, then? Huh, is it-" He looked down and looked back up at her, "Is it me? I mean-" He sighed and ran his hands over his face. He couldn't let her know the real reason he didn't want her to leave.

[Rachel Berry]

"It.. it has nothing to do with you, or anyone else in Glee club. It's my own decision," Rachel said, glancing at the floor. She waited a moment before looking back up at him, trying to keep her expression as blank as possible(though she could tell she was failing).

"Everyone has to start somewhere, and.. Glee club was sort of my start, I guess," she.. only somewhat confessed. It was true, but.. Rachel didn't dwell on it.

[Finn Hudson]

Finn arched an eyebrow as she talked. "We both know encrypted messages were never my thing. Why really are you leaving?" He sounded genuinely concerned. Contrary to popular belief, Finn did care about Rachel. A lot. He just overreacted at times, and he knew that. But he wasn't about to admit it.

It was so hard for him to keep a straight face.

[Rachel Berry]

Rachel shook her head a few times, "It's my own decision to leave, Finn. I don't need to explain it to you.. or anyone else." ..It almost hurt saying that. She was entirely sure why, but it did. She wasn't supposed to feel guilty. She was supposed to be angry, wasn't she? ..Even so, she couldn't bring herself to feel angry.

She really wanted out of here.