I Just Wanna Be Happy, a glee fanfic

THIS IS MY FIRST GLEE FANFIC AND IT DEFINETLY WON'T BE MY LAST! IT'S AN IDEA THAT'S BEEN JUMPING AROUND IN MY BRAIN SINCE A FEW WEEKS AGO BECAUSE I'VE NOTICED THAT THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF MINOR HINTS AT PUCKLEBERRY ON THE SHOW; PUCK AND RACHEL WERE STANDING REALLY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER DURING "ONE", HE SUGGESTED TO TINA DRESS LIKE A CATHOLIC SCHOOL GIRL (RACHEL DRESSES LIKE ONE), TOOK THE GLIST OFF HER LOCKER SO SHE WOULDN'T HAVE TO SEE IT, HE WAS THE FIRST TO NOTICE HER ABSENCE AND WAS WORRIED WHEN HE THOUGHT SHE WOULD SWITCH OVER TO VOCAL ADRENALINE, HE WAS MAD WHEN JESSE WENT BACK TO VA AND HELPED SLASH THEIR TIRES, HE WAS THE FIRST TO SUGGEST BEATING UP JESSE WHEN HE EGGED RACHEL, AND IT'S NOW OBVIOU THAT HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY LIKE QUINN BUT ONLY TRIED DATING HER BECAUSE OF BETH. YES, I KNOW THAT FINN AND RACHEL KISS IN NEXT WEEKS EPISODE BUT I'M GOING TO HOPE THAT IT'S A MISTAKE OR SOMETHING.

ANYWHO, ON WITH THE STORY! IT'S SET AFTER "FUNK".

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE, IF I DID THAT MARK SALLING WOULD BE THE ONE WITH ALL THE LEADS AND PUCKLEBERRY WOULD BE IN EVER EPISODE.

Rachel Berry never let anybody see her cry, she even had a system to ensure that no one ever saw her tears. She would cry only at night, when her fathers were sleeping or at work, in the safety of her room with the comfort of Ben and Jerry Cheesecake Brownie ice cream and her old beat up copy of Romeo and Juliet. Rachel knew that if she ever broke this system and cried in front of others she would be picked on even worse then she already was, and she didn't think she could handle that.

Ever since Jesse left her to go back to Vocal Adrenaline Rachel has been crying every night. Singing that "funk" song to him and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline had felt good at the time and she thought that it would be enough to allow her to get over him, but it only made her feel worse after it was all over. She knew she shouldn't feel bad after everything he did to her, but she still missed him and really had thought that she was falling in love with him.

Taking a deep breath, she held her head high and walked down the hallway, unaware of the five hockey players coming her way with large slushies in hand. The jocks nodded at each other and simultaneously throw their cold beverages at her face and body. She was covered from head to foot in blue, red, and purple slush. The boys high-fived each other and laughed, walking right past her and bumping into her shoulders, and the other students in the hall pointed and laughed.

Rachel ran to her locker and quickly opened its door. Hanging from a hook was one of her signature "school girl" outfits, ready for quick access in a situation like this. She grabbed it and took off on a run to the nearest girls' bathroom, trying to ignore all the laughs and stares that she was receiving. Once she reached the bathroom she locked her self in the farthest stall and began to carefully remove her sticky, now colorful clothing. She was drying herself off with the gold towel that she carried around in her bag when the door opened and three Cheerios walked in.

"Did you see Manhands out there?" the first girl, a short redhead, giggled. Rachel bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut at the mean nickname.

The second girl, a tall blonde, nodded and laughed. "Yes! Five slushies, that's like a new record!"

The third girl, an average height brunette, snorted and said. "She totally deserves it, she's such a freak," she set the lip gloss that she had been reapplying down on the sink and turned to the other two girls. "I heard that Jesse finally got smart and left her, for good." Rachel bit back a sob at the mention of her ex-boyfriend.

The redhead giggled again. "I heard it too! He told my cousins' friends' sister's boyfriend's brother that he was only pretending to go out with her so that he could get information about their glee club or something, which is like really stupid because it's glee club and is for losers."

"I know, but it must suck for her. I mean, she couldn't even hold on to a loser like him," the blonde said, feeling slightly sympathetic towards the small starlet.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Oh please, she's use to this by now. She should know that the only guy who will ever willing date her is either desperate or using her."

The bell rang and the three girls quickly strutted out of the room, leaving Rachel alone. Holding back her tears, Rachel finished getting redressed and opened the stall. She walked over to the sink and turned it on, washing the slushy out of her hair.

Once she was completely ready she left the bathroom, carrying her wet clothes in a plastic bag in one hand and her towel in the other. She returned the clothes to her locker and walked down the empty hallway to where she had been slushied. Kneeling down, she used her towel to clean up the colorful mess on the floor, knowing that it wouldn't get cleaned up for at least a week unless she did it herself.

She looked up and around the empty hallway and wondered silently to herself why everyone always had to pick on her? She never did anything to them, so why did they choose her out of every other student at McKinley High to terrorize and humiliate? Sighing, she stood up and walked back to her locker and put away her towel, now an odd looking color from the dyes of the slushies it had mopped up that day. She pulled out her phone to check the time and realized that she had already missed the first half of her third period. Oh well, it couldn't hurt to skip one class for one day, she thought to herself and headed for the auditorium.

Rachel opened the doors and smiled slightly as she walked up and onto the stage. This was her domain; the place where she was the shining star, no matter who called her "Manhands" or "RuPal" or any other offensive nickname.

She walked over to center stage and stared up at the top balcony of the auditorium. Taking a deep breath she began to sing a song that conveyed everything that she had been feeling.

"Someone once told me that you have to choose
What you win or lose
You can't have everything
Don't you take chances
Might feel the pain
Don't you love in vain
Cause love won't set you free
I can't stand by the side
And watch this life pass me by
So unhappy
But safe as could be

So what if it hurts me?
So what if I break down?
So what if this world just throws me off the edge
My feet run out of ground
I gotta find my place
I wanna hear my sound
Don't care about all the pain in front of me
Cause I'm just trying to be happy, yeah
Just wanna be happy, yeah

Holding on tightly
Just can't let it go
Just trying to play my role
Slowly disappear, ohh
But all these days, they feel like they're the same
Just different faces, different names
Get me out of here
I can't stand by your side, ohh no
And watch this life pass me by, pass me by

So any turns that I can't see,
like I'm a stranger on this road
But don't say victim
Don't say anything

So what if it hurts me?
So what if I break down?
So what if this world just throws me off the edge

My feet run out of ground
I gotta find my place
I wanna hear my sound
Don't care about all the pain in front of me

I just wanna be happy
Ohh, yeah, happy, ohh, happy
I just wanna be, ohh
I just wanna be happy
Ohh, happy"

Tears that had been forming in her eyes since she heard the girls in the bathroom finally released and she sat down on the stage and cried softly to herself, thinking of everything that had gone wrong in her life. She was so absorbed in her crying and self-pity that she didn't noticed the now-shaved headed boy walk up onto the stage.

Noah Puckerman cleared his throat, catching Rachel's attention, and walked over to her. "What St. James did to you was really low."

She quickly wiped her eyes and looked away from him. "I appreciate your sympathy, Noah, but I really can't handle you're teasing right now."

For some reason her response angered him and he sat down in front of her, placing his hand under her chin and forcing her to look at him. "Don't you see it Berry? I haven't teased you in months! I've been standing up for you! I pulled the Glist down from your locker because I knew it would make you mad, I slashed those Vocal Morons tires because I knew that they hurt you, I wanted to beat the shit out of Jesse for throwing those eggs at you because I didn't like seeing you upset and hurt like that. I like you, Berry, even if you are crazy."

Rachel stared at him, shocked. It may have not been the most romantic thing she had ever heard but coming from Puck it was just about the sweetest thing. Then she remembered what the girls in the bathroom said and shook her head out of his grasp. "You're lying. No one likes me."

Puck shook his own head in return and pulled her close to him, ignoring her slight struggle. "No, I'm not. If I didn't like you do you really think that I would be sitting here, talking to you? Listening to you sing? No, I'm a hot Jew, I could be off with some Cheerio or hot mom, but I'm not. I'm here with you."

She took a deep breath and leaned against him. She had to admit that that brief relationship they had was the best one she'd ever been in. He hadn't been afraid to let everyone know they were dating, like Finn, and he didn't use her, like Jesse. She decided that she was going to go out on a whim again and follow her heart, even if it had led her to this heartbreak and many other awful situations. Rachel smiled up at Puck and leaned up and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Thank you, Noah."

Puck smiled at her and chuckled. "Don't worry babe, I'm just trying to be happy…"

Rachel laughed at his horribly off-key singing and no longer felt horrible like she did earlier that day. Maybe now is her time to truly be, happy.

THERE IT IS! JUST A FLUFFLY ONE-SHOT THAT'S BEEN BOUNCING AROUND IN MY HEAD FOREVER! HOPE YOU LIKED IT. ALSO, I DO NOT OWN THE SONG USED IN THIS, IT'S "HAPPY" BY LEONA LEWIS.

REVIEW!

~dimitri'srealrose