AN : I'm sick! And apparently that means inspiration. Inspiration that comes from watching romantic films to make myself feel better. I was watching A Walk To Remember last night and I couldn't help but notice how similar Puck and Rachel are to Landon and Jamie. So this little fic sort of wrote itself in my noggin'. It's kind of my favourite bits of the film (without the leukaemia) given a Puckleberry twist.

I do not own Glee, A Walk To Remember, or any of the characters expressed within this story.


He couldn't believe it. Mr Schue must have been crazy, pairing him and Berry together for this duets competition thing. He didn't want or care about the prize, a lame ass gift card to some store he'd never been in. He looked up to see her smiling at him, sure she was ok looking if you liked granny sweaters and knee socks. He sneered at her in return, showing his disinterest before whispering something in to Santana's ear that made her slowly rub her hand down his thigh. Rachel turned away abruptly, just what he was going for. He could at least have a little fun with this after all. Make the most of a bad situation.


She saw him down the hall at his locker, surrounded by his usual bunch of "friends". She hadn't been able to talk to him after Glee about a rehearsal schedule and now seemed like the opportune time to see when he'd be free to meet up and decide on a song. She straightened her skirt before shutting her locker and purposefully walking towards him. As she approached she saw the confused look that appeared on the faces of those surrounding him. She coughed slightly to get his attention before addressing him.

"Hello Noah," she chose to ignore the snickers coming from the football players who thought repeating the name Noah in a girls voice would offend her, "I didn't have a chance to talk to you yesterday about the assignment. We need to decide when you can come to my house..."

"To your house?" Karofsky cut her off, a confused and irritated look crossing his face as he looked between her and Noah. "Why would you be going to Berry's house Puckerman?"

She held his gaze as he answered Karofsky, "The only time I'd be in Berry's house is in her dreams."

The group roared with laughter as she glared at Puck. After a second she broke their staring match and walked back towards her locker to get her books for her next class. As she walked down the hall she could still hear their laughter and the distinctive sound of Santana Lopez saying something terrible about her clothes or hair or something. She didn't want it to effect her, when she was famous and on Broadway they would all regret making fun of her. But that seemed a long way away right now.


He pulled up to the curb outside of her house, he knew it was hers because he had TP'd it last summer when he was drinking with the football guys. He saw her car in the drive so knew she was in there. He sheepishly got out of his truck and made his way to the front door, looking at the flowers that filled their garden and surrounded the porch. It really was a nice house. They had a swing on the porch which was covered in pillows and a book and mug had been left on the small table nearby meaning someone had been sat outside in the not too distant past.

He couldn't explain it but he'd felt something, a lot like guilt, after Berry had walked away from him earlier that day. The way she'd looked at him had done something, it was like she was...disappointed in him. Which was weird because he'd only ever been terrible to her so it wasn't like his behaviour had been some big change from the norm.

He brought his hand up to the bell and rung it a few times before he heard foot steps on the other side of the door. Rachel opened up the door, confusion etched on to her face before she stepped out on to the porch and pulled the door closed behind her. She didn't want him in the house, understandable, she had no idea why he was there. This could have been some kind of trick. Except it wasn't. He felt bad and while he didn't want to apologise to her, he figured doing the duet would be enough.

"Berr-erm-Rachel." He stuttered.

"Noah." She answered in reply, her eyes scanning the path and road behind him. Again, understandable.

"I er, I came over to see about the duet. I know it's important to you to be the best and winning the competition would be a way to show that so I figured we could work on it...now." He was slightly worried by the smile on her face. It was big and slightly psychotic.

"So you want to work on the duet with me, you just don't want anyone to know about it?" He nodded slowly, "So we'd be like secret friends?"

"Exactly." He answered, a smile gracing his face, "It's like you read my mind. So we're cool right?"

She was still smiling when she said, "Why don't you read my mind Noah?" Within a second her smile had changed to a scowl, that if he was honest frightened him slightly. She looked so pissed, he didn't think he'd ever seen her that mad. Suddenly she turned and went back inside, slamming the door in his face. So he figured they wouldn't be working on that duet after all.


Glee started the next day with Mr Schue asking who was ready to perform their duets. Rachel shot her hand up in the air, catching the eye roll Mr Schuester tried to disguise.

"Yes Rachel?" He asked before walking over to the piano and sitting on his stool.

"Actually Mr Schuester," Rachel began, "Due to artistic differences I will have to regretfully remove myself from the competition. I just thought I would make you aware."

The shocked looks on the all the faces around her were unexpected, she had thought there would be smiles, cheering even, but not astonishment.

"A-Are you sure?" Mr Schuester stumbled over the question, in quite a bit of shock himself.

"Unfortunately yes I am." She leaned back in to her seat, trying to ignore the feeling of the whole room staring at her. It couldn't have been that much of a surprise that she'd take herself out of a competition could it?

She didn't have much time to dwell on this idea though, as the distinct voice of one Noah Puckerman brought her out of her reverie.

"Erm Mr Schuester, I've been working on something. Unfortunately I lost my partner but I'd still like to perform if that's ok?"

Everyone in the room but her turned their attention to Puck, she didn't think the Glee Club could survive any more surprises. He moved to the front of the room, picking up his guitar and began to sing. She tried to look anywhere but at him, but the feeling of his eyes on her was too much to ignore. She slowly met his gaze across the room and couldn't help but return the smile she found gracing his face. It was as if everyone else in the room had disappeared and there was just the two of them there. She should hate him, he'd only ever been terrible to her, but there was something about the way he was looking at her, and the words he was singing to her that changed all of that. Maybe he wasn't the bad guy he portrayed to the rest of the school. Maybe there was something there she hadn't noticed before.


Finn approached him as he threw his bags in to the bed of his truck. He nodded an acknowledgement, waiting for his friend to spit out whatever it was he wanted to ask. He could tell Quinn had forced him to come over, he had that look of fear and awkwardness written all over his face. The way he kept looking over at her across the car park kind of made it obvious as well.

"Just spit it out Finn, Christ! I haven't got all night." His outburst shocked the other boy who turned his full attention on Puck.

"Look man, I like Glee and everything so what you did today was cool. But you've got Santana worried that that song was for Berry and she's pretty pissed about it."

Puck leant against the truck door before answering, "And how exactly is any of that your concern?" He might have been in a bad mood, he'd looked for Rachel after Glee but she was no where to be found. He just wanted to talk to her.

"Erm, well, it's not I guess. But Quinn sent me over to talk to you, to...'remind you what being popular at this school means'. I'm not entirely sure what she meant by that..."

Puck chuckled slightly at his friend's confusion. "Look man, maybe I'm just over all this shit. All the popularity and the pressure. I don't know. All I know is I wanted to sing that song for Rachel."

He could tell Finn was struggling to understand what that meant, so he opened the door and hopped in to the seat. Before pulling away he shouted a "see you" to Finn. He didn't think he'd see his friend much after today if Quinn and Santana had anything to do with it.


She was in the kitchen getting some water and trying to decide what song to sing for her myspace video when there was a light knocking on the door. She put her glass down and wandered over slowly, she wasn't expecting anyone and she always worried about answering the door when her fathers's were out.

"Who is it?" She called through the wood, just to be safe.

"It's Puck." the mysterious visitor replied. She knew it was him, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about that voice since Glee that afternoon.

She slowly opened the door, peering out to make sure he was alone before standing straighter and opening the door fully.

"What are you doing here Noah?" she asked, he went from avoiding her completely to being everywhere she turned and it was starting to unnerve her.

"Can I come in?" He had one arm, one lovely arm, leaning against the door frame, the other was rubbing the back of his neck slightly. Was he nervous?

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea..." she began before he was pushing his way in to the house. "Live a little Rachel" was all the response she got as she gathered her thoughts and followed him towards the kitchen.

"Nice place you've got here," he shot at her as he made his way around the kitchen, looking in cupboards and pulling things from shelves.

She followed him, closing the doors he left opened before slamming the last one, causing him to turn to face her. "What are you doing here?" she tried again, hoping for better luck in the answer department this time.

"You didn't tell me what you thought of my song." He replied, moving around the island to take a seat on one of the surrounding bar stools. She stayed on the opposite side, watching him and trying to figure out why he was here, really.

"It was very well done. I enjoyed it. I'm sure you would have won the competition if you'd have asked someone to be your partner." She wanted to move, wanted to take a drink from her glass or offer him something but she couldn't pull herself away from his gaze. His eyes were like magnets.

"I don't care about that. I didn't want to win without you." She tilted her head slightly, examining him from across the counter. "Look, Rachel, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the way you looked at me the other day. I don't know why, but I feel like I need to be close to you or something."

She shook her head in disbelief, this had to be a joke right? She'd say she was sorry and that she liked him and then he'd laugh in her face and tell her she was an idiot. But the way he stood slowly and made his way over to her, the way his eyes were watching her, trying to hear her thoughts, made her question her instincts.

"Noah, this is a bad..." He was closer to her now, she could feel his breathe on her face, and before she realised what she was doing, she reached up and their lips pressed together. His hand made it's way in to her hair, the other pulling her closer to him. She melted against his body, giving in to the kiss. He was forceful and gentle at the same time, it left her skin tingling and her heart pounding. He pulled back slightly and looked at her and all she could do was smile and kiss him again. She definitely didn't expect that to happen when she woke up that morning.


He was pulling books from his locker when a dark shadow fell behind him.

"Tell me I was tripping this morning when I saw you and Berry walking in to school together?" Karofsky questioned as a few of the other people with him chuckled.

Puck turned to face them, "Not tripping dude. I brought Rachel to school. That's what boyfriends do right?"

He watched as the faces of those around him fell. "She's you...you're her..." Karofsky began before gaping at him some more. Puck slowly nodded his head before closing his locker and pushing his way through the crowd towards Rachel.

She watched as he walked over and leant against the lockers next to hers. He could tell she was nervous, she kept pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and he's sure it shouldn't be as sexy as it was.

"What did they want?" She motioned towards them with her head before turning back towards her locker to find her things.

Puck glanced over his shoulder at the crowd that were still by his locker, staring back at them with a mixed look of confusion and anger.

"Just wanted to know what was going on between us." He answered, focusing on the girl in front of his once more.

"What did you tell them?" she asked, avoiding his gaze by focusing on the dark in front of her.

"I told them I was your boyfriend." he said, as if it were obvious what he would tell them. Her head shot around to look at him and he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. She hit his chest lightly with her fist and even though it didn't hurt he still let out a "hey". She just giggled softly and smiled at him.

"You're my boyfriend?" He nodded his head, smiling back at her.

"Yep." He leant towards her, placing a kiss on her cheek and then taking her fingers between his. They stood there for a minute before Rachel pulled away as Santana and Quinn passed them. He didn't miss the look they gave the couple on their way towards the group he'd left earlier.

"Come on," he announced, "Lets get to class. I wouldn't want to make you late." And with that he grabbed her hand once more and pulled her behind him towards the history class he knew she had first thing.


She didn't make a habit of frequenting the girls bathroom between classes, knowing that the cheerleaders often occupied them, but she couldn't help it. Noah was taking her out after school and she wanted to make sure her face/hair/breathe were perfect. From the corner of the mirror she saw the door open and Satana and Quinn enter the small area. She turned slowly when she saw they were stood glaring at her in the mirror.

"Can I help you?" She asked. She really didn't want to get in to a fight with them but she knew not acknowledging them would be worse.

"Listen up Man-Hands," Santana started, "I don't know what you think you and Puck 'share' but it's over. Got that?" She moved towards her, trying to intimidate Rachel. And while yes, she was rather intimidated, she was never one to back down.

"Oh really?" she replied, "And what exactly has mine and Noah's relationship got to do with either of you?"

It was now Quinn's turn to speak, "Listen here Treasure Trail, we don't take kindly to nerds trying to gain a place in our circle. You're not one of us, you never will be. Face it and move on. We're the top, and you are...well something else entirely." Both girls laughed at that.

"I know it might be hard to understand, but not everyone wants to be like you. I couldn't think of anything worse actually." Rachel retaliated. She moved to walk out of the bathroom when Santana grabbed her arm tightly and turned her to face them once more.

"You'll regret saying that." She sneered at Rachel then. Anger changing to something Rachel couldn't place. "Check the bulletin boards on your way to class Berry. Who knew you had such...potential?" Both girls erupted in to laughter and Rachel ran from the bathroom and towards the nearest bulletin board. She knew everyone was staring at her, some people pointing while others simply whispered. When she reached the board she couldn't believe her eyes. On it she found a poster of a bikini clad model, breasts and ass out for all to see, with her face photo shopped over the top of the model's.

Tears clouded her vision as she pulled the poster down and turned to run to the next board. She was met by a hard body, who wrapped her tightly in his arms. She wrapped her own around his waist as she sobbed in to his chest. She could feel his fingers running through her hair and his voice was soft in her ear trying to get her to calm down.

"This isn't about you," he whispered, "This is about me. Ok baby?" He moved her back to look in her face and she simply nodded at his statement. "Wait here for me." He ordered before walking down the hall way to where Karofsky and the other football players were stood laughing.

From her position she heard Karofsky question Noah about Rachel, saying something about sharing her, and within a second Noah's fist had made contact with Karofsky's face. He stood up quickly and moved towards Noah, breaking free of the other boys who tried to hold him back. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity to her, before Noah moved away and walked back towards her. She could hear Karofksy shouting after them as Noah picked up his bag and ushered towards the door.

"We're through Puckerman!" The words echoed in her head as she was lead towards Noah's truck, his arm safely around her shoulders, pulling her along with him.


They'd been sat in his living room for about half an hour now and she was still silent. She'd said she didn't want to go home so he'd taken her to his house, she'd never been before and it seemed a shame that the first time she'd come over would be after such humiliation. But it was her choice. And so they found themselves here, sat on the couch, her snuggled in to his side staring blankly at the game show he'd put on TV. He really just wanted her to do something, her lack of response was really freaking him out.

After what felt like forever, she moved away from him slightly, sitting up straighter next to him. He watched her, waiting for her to break down or punch him or anything. What he didn't expect was for her to turn and lean in towards him, brushing her lips over his softly before smiling a small smile. "You're so much better than them." she said as she curled back next to him, her hand resting along his stomach and fisting his t-shirt every now and then.

"Thankyou" he whispered, kissing the top of her head and running his hand up and down her back soothingly.

She'd fallen asleep shortly after, leaving him to contemplate everything that had happened that day. He couldn't believe that the people he used to call "friends" would be so against them. And to take it out on Rachel like that was just cruel. He knew then that he could live without being popular because he had a girl who believed in him, and trusted him, and thought he was better than he ever thought he could be.

He shifted back in to the couch softly and closed his eyes, he might as well take the opportunity to get some sleep as well. He enjoyed the way she felt pressed against his side, her breathing coming out slow and deep. The last thing he remembered was the way she had said his name softly in her sleep before his world turned dark as well.


It was the end of the day and she couldn't wait to get home. She was meeting Noah at her locker and then they were going to have a movie night. She had told him to pick the movies, so she knew she was probably going to hate them, but she loved spending time with him and that made the worst action films completely worth it. As she approached her locker she passed Karofsy and his group, hearing a few sneers but she chose to ignore them when she saw him stood waiting for her. A smile across his face which she was happy to reciprocate. When she was closer to him he held out his hand to her, which she took, before he pulled her to him and kissed her softly. She could live on kisses like that. The other kisses, they were great too, but these always seemed so gentle and sincere that she was becoming slowly addicted to them.

"How was class?" He asked when they separated and she opened her locker. She noticed he was watching the people in the distance but chose to ignore them herself.

"It was very interesting. And thankfully I got no homework assignment so that eases up my pile for this week." She turned from her locker and looked at him, he was still staring in to the distance. She turned and met the stares as well. "Do you regret being with me?" She asked quietly, hating how insecure she sounded. His hand curled around her arm and she focused her attention back on him.

"I could never regret being with you. I just wish they understood." He revealed before looking down and then back towards her. The mood changed instantly as he took her books from her and motioned towards the door. She closed her locker and fell in to step with him.

"So I was thinking we could watch the Bourne Trilogy tonight..." He said as she let out a small groan. He laughed loudly and she found she couldn't not laugh with him. He swung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him, kissing her temple before starting on about Matt Damon and his ability to be a "BAMF". All she could think was how happy she was to be with him and how much better he was than those people he used to call friends. All the insecurity left her body when his hand found the ends of her hair and starting twirling it between his fingers. She couldn't help feeling as though they were both exactly where they were supposed to be.