A/N: For all of you that read Between the lines that divide, don't panic! This fic is merely a two-shot that i had to get out of my system. This is a story that chronicles multiple years, so don't get frustrated by puck and rachel not being together right away. Also, all mistakes are mine. I'm also aware that NYU probably doesn't have an early decision option but let's pretend for the purposes of this story that they do.
I should add that the whole premise of this story is based on real life events and inspired by one of my best friends. I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If i did...well many things would be different.
On Rachel Berry's first day of 7th grade, she immediately regrets getting the haircut she begged her dads for 2 days before.
For most of her life she's had long, flowing brown hair, but she figures that since she's going to a completely new school she needs to start fresh and that includes a new hairstyle. What she doesn't anticipate is the short style making her face look awkward and accentuate her nose even more.
This is not the impression she wants to make on the first day.
Despite this, when she arrives she ignores most of the stares from all of the other kids who clearly know she's new.
In homeroom she sits right in the front, with all of her notebooks neatly organized according to the order of her classes and all of her folders are color coded and marked. She sits quietly and doesn't say much to anyone.
It's not until Social Studies that she makes an actual friend.
Her name is Tina Cohen-Chang and Rachel is a little confused as to where the Cohen comes from but she decides not to ask. She's an Asian girl about the same height as her with a shy demeanor and stutter. But she's incredibly nice and enjoys the musical West Side Story so Rachel knows she can at least have some sort of friendship with the girl.
At lunch the two of them are eating quietly while Tina tells her about some of the ins and outs of Lima Middle School. Apparently she should be careful when cross paths with Quinn Fabray, one of the most popular girls in 7th grade. While she could be nice at times, the minute she didn't get her way the claws came out.
She looks away from Tina for a moment to look around the cafeteria and observe her classmates.
That's when her eyes lay on him.
He's sitting with a bunch of boys and for all intensive purposes he's kind of scrawny and young looking. But his curly brown hair and mischievious eyes as he snickers and whispers with his friends intrigue her. Just as she's about to look away, he looks in her direction and they lock eyes. He looks over her and gives her a nice smile and a nod.
She feels a small stir in her chest but chocks it up to her food and continues her conversation with Tina.
The boy ends up being in her math class and they're seated next to each other. His name is Noah Puckerman and he seems to be quite the troublemaker as he flicks little balls at everyone in the room except for her. Instead of terrorizing her in any way, he asks her about where she used to live and why she would move to a crappy town like Lima.
"We lived in Cleveland, but my fathers got a job here because it was closer to my grandparents and paid better. Lima doesn't seem so bad so far."
"Wait…dads? You have 2 dads?" he asks with wide eyes.
She nods. "My dads are gay and decided to have me through a surrogate." She looks at him a little self-conscious. "I bet you think that's a little weird. Everyone usually does.
Noah scoffs quietly. "No that's actually cool. That's two more dads than I have anyway."
They continue talking the rest of the period considering the teacher doesn't have much she wants to teach at the moment. By the time the bell rings the two pre-teens are walking side by side down the hall laughing together like they've known each other their entire lives.
It's how they both feel honestly.
Noah makes her go to the winter dance.
She and Tina had planned to have a sleepover and watch movies all night, mostly because they didn't want to have to deal with being the losers in the corner with hardly anyone to talk to. Since starting at Lima Middle, Rachel had managed not to really anger anyone and stay under the radar. This was pretty contrary to her nature but she went to her classes, ate lunch with Tina and sometimes Puck and his friend Finn, and stayed out of the popular cliques way.
Either way, she found herself at the dance on a Friday night.
She's wearing a pink dress with black polka dots and has her hair in an updo because it's the only style that didn't make her look completely hideous with her hair growing out. She and Tina are drinking punch and watching everyone else dance and this is exactly what she thought it would be. She doesn't know why Noah wanted her come.
Dreading this exact moment, a slow song comes on and everyone begins to pair up, even the people standing around like losers. Except for Tina and Rachel. The two girls look on glumly as Quinn Fabray dances with Sam Evans. It figures that the two of them look like the picture perfect fairytale couple.
But out of the crowd she finally sees Noah and Finn walking towards them. They're dressed in white shirts and khakis with different color ties. It's completely awkward but wonderful at the same time. They get to the girls and each ask them to dance. Tina and Rachel smile at each other before following the boys out to the dance floor.
Rachel wraps her arms around Puck's neck and feels a jolt as his hand lightly hold her hips. They look at each other shyly, not knowing how to move until they start a steady back and forth.
The move slowly in silence looking around the room at their classmates. What's interesting to Rachel from these events is that she can tell what new couples are going to be the talk of the school by Monday. Santana Lopez and Mike Chang have been pretty close all night but Santana's best friend Brittany Pierce seems pretty peeved about it and walked off the dance floor in a huff. Consequently the 2 girls have been arguing in the corner with Quinn as the mediator for the better part of the night.
Rachel's thoughts are interrupted by Noah talking to her.
"Are you having fun?" he asks quietly.
Rachel looks up at him and smiles. "I guess so," she says with a shrug. "These events are certainly an interesting look to how our classmates interact outside the school zone."
Noah laughs. "You could just say this is a great place to get all the gossip Berry."
Rachel blushes. "I'm sorry. I forget I talk like a 30 year old woman sometimes."
"Whatever. At least you're smart and stuff. You're smarter than most of the girls around here."
Rachel feels her face heat up again, but for different reasons this time. She looks down and tries to breathe steadily so that her heart doesn't pound out of her chest.
"I'm glad you came tonight Rach. It wouldn't have been as fun," she hears him tell her quietly.
She doesn't look up, because she knows if she does he'll be able to see how in love with him she is all over her face.
Tina thinks she's ridiculous and should just ask him out already.
"He clearly likes you!" she exclaims. "He hardly talks to any of the other girls in school. You're the only one. And sometimes me but that's only because I'm friends with you."
Rachel sighs and falls back onto her yellow bedspread dramatically. "How am I even supposed to ask out a boy? That's not even my job! Tina, I'm a traditional girl and I deserve to be courted in the manner of Maria. Maria didn't ask out Tony so why should I!"
Tina shakes her head and stops writing in her math notebook in order to look at Rachel. "Well it's time to get modern Rachel. It's obvious Noah doesn't know how to ask you out so you're going to have to do it yourself. Sometimes you have to go get the things you want. Like the Tony award you want when you're 25? That's not going to just come out of thin air. You have to go for it! You're Rachel Berry after all."
Rachel looks up at her star studded ceiling and takes in Tina's words.
She's probably right. What's the worst that could happen by asking Noah out herself?
Rachel realizes after the fact that the worst thing that could happen is Noah saying no…which he does.
Granted, he's really quite nice about it. Which is surprising because he's blushing very hard and looks like he wants the world to swallow him up.
"You're awesome Rach but…I just don't really want a girlfriend or anything right now. Middle school is all dramatic and stuff…and you're my friend…I don't wanna ruin that."
She's too afraid to actually say anything and instead nods and watches him walk off to join Finn and some other guys for some tackle football.
She walks home and ignores the text messages from Tina asking her how it went, only because she doesn't want to fight with her since this is all her fault.
As soon as she walks in the house she feels her eyes water. Her daddy is in the living room and she immediately snuggles up to him on the couch and lets herself wail and cry out the sorrow of her rejection. Her daddy listens to her story and strokes her hair comfortingly.
"It's ok baby girl. I'm sure he'll regret the chance he didn't have with you."
Despite her rejection, Rachel manages to keep being friends with Noah.
Summer comes and they don't see each other as much. He's decided to join a junior league football team with Finn that takes up most of their time. Rachel and Tina meanwhile keep themselves busy by joining the community theater's production of Cinderella.
Occasionally the 4 of them get together to swim in Rachel's pool and hang out. On the 4th of July they go to the towns parade and watch the fireworks together with both of their families. Oddly enough her dads love Noah's mom and his little sister is adorable. The Puckermans and Berrys forge a pretty great friendship after that.
In the end, Rachel pretty much forgets she ever asked Noah out because it never became a hinderance in their friendship. They still sing and listen to music together, he comes to see her in the Cinderella production, and she plays football catch with him so he can practice a bit.
Forgetting about her previous mistake is probably why she makes it again twice in 8th grade.
To be fair, she asks Noah out again two more times for a couple reasons.
First, his popularity shot up a bit. Playing football coupled with a growth spurt made him look like he was already in high school. He wasn't so scrawny anymore.
Naturally the female population notices. Particularly Santana and Quinn.
It's not so much that she hates those 2 girls. She likes them just fine and they don't give her any trouble, mostly because she doesn't say much to them. The thing is, she knows how catty and snotty they can be. If one of them gets their claws into Noah their friendship is as good as over. They wouldn't be too keen on him being such good friends with another girl.
In essence, she's trying to save their friendship.
Secondly, this summer showed her how compatible they actually are. She's never felt as comfortable with a boy as she does with Noah.
Unfortunately both times she attempts to ask him out, he doesn't see it the way she does.
Much like the first time, he's very nice about it and basically cites the same reason he used before. He doesn't want a girlfriend. At least this means he won't go out with Santana or Quinn, no matter how much they suck up to him and flirt.
8th grade passes over without many major events and their friendship still continues to grow. They go to the 8th grade dance together and he wears a ridiculous white suit that she begs him not to but he thinks it'll be funny. She wears a pretty black gown and they have the best time dancing, laughing at Jacob Ben Israel, and eating at the diner afterwards with Tina, Finn, and a few other friends.
Sometime before graduation her fathers bring up a proposition.
"How do you feel about private school honey?" her dad asks as they sit down to dinner.
She raises an eyebrow. "Which private school?"
"Pine Tree Academy. They have an excellent academic education, but they also have a great performing arts program, which I know is important to you. We just figured you wouldn't want to go to William McKinley and this seems to be a great opportunity for you."
She looks down at her plate of pasta and thinks for a moment. If she's going to be honest she doesn't really want to go to McKinley. She's heard a lot about the bullying, Figgins being a terrible principle, and the show choir no one cares about. She would hate to leave Tina, Noah, and Finn but she wouldn't be leaving them completely.
She knows what she wants to do with her life. She wants to sing, dance, and act on a big stage and she wants to do whatever she can to put her on that path. McKinley certainly won't do it. She has to do it somewhere else.
"It sounds like a great idea actually," she tells them with a bright smile. "I'll do it."
She finds it strange one day during the summer when Finn calls her and asks if she wants to go out for ice cream.
When she meets him at the ice cream parlor, there's no sign of Tina and Noah joining them. It's just them.
She likes Finn…she really does. He's incredibly goofy and funny and always makes her smile with his jokes. Sure, he's a little dimwitted but he means well. He and Noah are always such a comedy duo for her on her worst days. The thing is they don't spend time together alone really. They had one class together during 8th grade but other than that there isn't much to say.
Finn talks most of the time about football and how everything is going to change once he gets to McKinley. She listens attentively while eating her chocolate chip cookie dough but zones out every once in awhile.
"What about you? Are you nervous about going to Pine Tree?" he asks her.
She shrugs. "I'm kind of used to being the new kid. And it's always kind of nice in some ways. It's a fresh start."
Finn frowns a bit and leans closer into the table. "Well…you know we're gonna miss you and stuff right? High school won't be the same without you. I know I'll miss you."
Her eyes soften at his confession. "I'll miss you guys too Finn. We could have had a lot of fun together at McKinley I'm sure."
He stares at her for a moment and she can't help but feel a little uncomfortable at his gaze. She looks away and focuses again on her ice cream.
"You're probably wondering why I called you huh?"
"Um…kind of. It's not like the two of us hang out all the time."
"Well…I think we should hang out more. Cause you probably don't know this but I really like you Rachel. I just never said anything before because it was always you and Noah being best friends and stuff but I figured I would take my chance. So I was wondering if you wanted to like…go out with me again or something?"
Rachel's eyes widen. She's extremely surprised by the gesture and she wants to say no. She really does. But she looks at Finn's puppy dog eyes and doesn't have the heart to do it.
She could deal. She knows she could. It's not like she has any other prospects going for her. Noah flashes through her mind for a brief moment but she wills it away immediately. He obviously doesn't want her if he rejected her 3 times. She might as well move on, and Finn might be the best way to do it.
The silence between them has lasted too long for Finn's comfort and she sees that's he's fidgeting and getting nervous. She puts on a smile and reaches for his hand.
"That's very sweet of you Finn. I'd love to go out with you again."
She doesn't say anything about reciprocating his feelings of "like". She's really not sure she even could.
When Rachel starts at Pine Tree she's significantly less nervous than she was starting at Lima Middle. This time she doesn't have a ridiculous haircut that makes her look awkward. Her hair is back to its long length and she's thankful and never cutting it again. She's not wearing any clothes that make her stand out considering the school has a uniform of a white polo and navy skirt.
She immediately makes friends with a few people in the performing arts circuit named Blaine Anderson, Kurt Hummel, and Artie Abrams. It comforts her to know that she's found her Tina, Noah, and Finn but just in a different place.
Throughout the day she gets texts from Tina asking how the new school is and if it sucks. Finn texts her asking if he can come over that night to hang out. She huffs in frustration at that question, because she's beginning to think it's weird that they never go to Finn's house. He always makes excuses and they go everywhere but there.
Plus he just wants to make out half the time.
She thought dating Finn would be a lot more innocent and fun since he was a good friend before they started dating, but it doesn't seem like that's the case. Her dads like him well enough and she knows they won't mind if he does come over, so she tells him yes.
As for Noah, she hasn't heard from him in a couple days. She knows he's been pretty busy but she already misses him and his ability to distract her from all the things stressing her out.
Later that night, as she's sitting on the couch with Finn watching, he mentions something that makes her stiffen up.
"So no one at school knows we're dating you know," Finn mentions nonchalantly.
She turns to him confused. "Did you not tell anyone or something?"
"Well it's not like we were out a lot publicly during the summer so no one caught wind of it. Plus you don't go to McKinley. So no one knows."
She doesn't understand why he's bringing this up or why it even matters. "Do you want people to know?"
He shrugs. "I don't know. Is it any of their business? I mean if people ask me if I have a girlfriend I'll say yes but I'm not gonna advertise it. That'd be weird."
She thinks harder about his statement and why it seems so strange to her, but before she can contemplate it more his lips cover hers and pull her into a make out session.
As things at Pine Tree get better, things with Finn just get downright strange.
First, he states that his mom isn't too fond of her, but doesn't cite any reasons why. He uses this as his excuse for never having her over. He also cuts down their time together because "His mom is so strict and will hardly let him out of the house, especially if it has to do with you."
She goes 3 weeks without seeing him at one point.
They send each other text messages, and occasionally talk online, and sometimes he even sends her notes through Tina, who thinks the whole situation is stranger than anything she's ever seen.
"He doesn't act any differently in school when I see him," Tina ponders. "I do know that no one knows you two are dating, although I don't understand why. Then again none of the girls have been hitting on him or anything so I don't think he's cheating on you."
Rachel nods solemnly, not letting any of her emotions show to her best friend. Maybe he's not cheating on her, but she feels like a dirty little secret and she doesn't understand why.
It's not until she goes to one of his football games with Tina that things start to make sense to her.
The two girls are sitting in the stands, drinking hot chocolates and cheering on the JV team that both Finn and Noah are apart of. They're winning with a pretty big lead and it doesn't seem like the other team will be able to catch up when there's only 3 minutes left in the game.
When the final whistle is blown and victory is declared, the girls head over to the locker room to wait for the boys. They weren't aware that Tina would be bringing Rachel with her so it'll be a surprise. They say hello to various people that Rachel knew from Lima Middle while they wait, and finally Noah emerges from the locker room first. He only sees Tina at first and gives her a nod, but when he lays his eyes on Rachel his face lights up. He pulls into a bear hug and she laughs and tries to ignore the pang in her heart that comes around everytime she even thinks of Noah.
"Berry I didn't even know you were coming!" he exclaims.
She tries to wipe the bright smile off her face but it just doesn't go away when she's around him these days. The time they spend together is rare, and most of the time it's at temple when they both happen to be at the same service.
"Yeah I wanted to surprise you…and Finn," she adds quickly at the last minute. At the mention of Finn, Noah's smile dims a little and he backs away slightly from Rachel. "Yeah, he's still in the locker room. I'm sure you guys will want to hang out or something. It was good to see you though."
Before she can stop him, he gives both of the girls a wave and walks off quickly. Tina and Rachel look at each other confused but before they can discuss what happened, Finn walks out of the locker room.
He stops when he sees Rachel, and instead of being excited to see her he looks…nervous. She looks at Tina who shrugs and tells the couple she'll see them later now that she knows Rachel will get home safe with Finn. She walks off and Rachel suddenly wants her best friend back with her, because she can feel that there's something wrong with this whole picture.
Finn puts on a small smile and engulfs Rachel in a hug. She wraps her arms around him and breathes in his scent, which still has that hint of grass and sweat. He leads them down the hall, and around the corner to another hallway that's pretty secluded and dark. She leans against the locker, looking up at him until he surrounds her with his arms at either side of her.
"You should have told me you were coming," he murmurs while playing with her hair.
"I wanted to surprise you," she responds.
He sighs. "It's just…I'm supposed to go to this after party or something with the upperclassmen. They really wanted me to come.
"Oh…well maybe I could just go with you? Get to know your teammates?"
He shakes his head. "That's probably not a good idea babe. It's not really your scene. Maybe you can catch up with Tina or something?"
She simply nods and looks down so he doesn't see her confused and disappointed face. "Yeah I better go so she doesn't leave without me."
Finn's warmth leaves her as he backs away from the locker, but before he walks off he tilts Rachel's face upward to lay a soft kiss on her lips. She closes her eyes and leans in to try and deepen it, but before she can Finn has already pulled away with a quiet goodbye and walks off. She opens her eyes to his back walking off without her.
That night as she lays in her bed, she tears up thinking about how alone she feels even though she has a boyfriend. She doesn't understand what's wrong with them, why he doesn't feel like the same Finn she was friends with for 2 years.
Remembering their encounter in a dark hallway, with soft voices and a fleeting kiss, she feels a little like a dirty little secret. They could have had that conversation outside the locker room, but it wasn't until they were alone that he showed her any affection. She doesn't know why…but maybe Finn is ashamed of her.
She slowly falls asleep with a few dry tears on her cheeks.
She breaks up with Finn 3 days later.
After a long talk with Tina, who always seems to be her voice of reason, she realizes this just isn't going to work. She knows what she deserves, and that's a boy that will actually take the time to be with her and not be ashamed of her. She's Rachel Berry after all. She deserves the best.
Life goes on as it did before and Rachel throws herself into establishing herself at Pine Tree. She makes more time to hang out with Blaine, Kurt, and Artie and has them over her house a few times. It should be weird that her 3 good friends at school are boys but Blaine and Kurt are gay and Artie is more like a brother.
One of the things she finds hilarious about Kurt is his aversion to her wardrobe. They never had this problem until they started hanging out more outside of school. Once he saw her outside of school and out of her uniform in her button downs and animal sweaters, he declared unsuitable for public viewing. One Friday night was spent at the mall with him and Tina as he tried to get her to buy more suitable clothes for a 14 year old girl.
"Just because you go to a private school with schoolgirl uniforms doesn't mean you have to look the part 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Rachel," he reasons.
She ends up adding more jeans and nice tops to her wardrobe. Usually she can remain strong, but Kurt's version of peer pressure would be good enough for CIA interrogations.
Halfway through freshman year Noah gets a haircut.
By being on the high school football team, he's become more built and tan through playing in the strong sun that they had all through fall. Even the winter hasn't been able to shake off how bronze his skin is suddenly looking. Any baby fat he may have had on his face is gone and left with a more defined jaw.
She wants to say the haircut is a little ridiculous, because it's a Mohawk, but as he explains to her at temple "It's badass." She has to agree with him.
Their families go out to lunch after temple one afternoon and Noah and Rachel sit at the end of the table so they can catch up.
"So everyone on the football team has been calling me Puck lately…cause of my last name. It's kind of cool. Fits more with the Mohawk than Noah does so I'll probably stick with it."
Rachel grimaces. "Puck? You mean like the fairy or the repulsive guy from the Real World?"
"Huh. I didn't even think of that. Whatever it still makes sense. So now everyone should call me Puck."
"Yeah no," Rachel scoffs. "I think I'm going to stick with Noah honestly."
He shrugs with a "suit yourself" before digging into his burger and fries. Rachel watches him in amusement, kind of missing the moments where she could wonder how he stuffs all that food in his mouth so quickly.
"So I'm sure you know me and Finn broke up," she mentions while picking at her salad.
Noah swallows down his burger thickly before answering her. "Yeah Finn mentioned it. He kind of moved on already though. He and Quinn Fabray are dating or something. I don't know. The girl is kind of a bitch so I don't know how he can stand her."
Rachel raises her eyebrow in surprise. "Really? Quinn Fabray? That's…interesting."
She ponders that strange match up for a moment before looking at Noah again. She always wonders when she's going to hear he's dating some girl and the thought of it makes her hands clench a little. There's a part of her that will always wish he'd said yes to her during one of the 3 times she asked him out.
But no matter. He'll just be missing out.
Freshman year passes over quickly and the summer seems like a blur. She spends most of her 3 months of free time doing community theater with Tina, Artie, Blaine, and Kurt. Occasionally she sees Noah and they hang out at the lake with a few of her friends. He and Artie get along really well oddly enough. She's glad she can bring together two of her worlds in some way.
Sophomore year comes along and she throws herself into debate team and glee club. She's determined for them to dominate sectionals and therefore regionals this year. The club is great, and they have some great talent. She and Blaine make for excellent leads and Artie is able to get a lot of help from the jazz band for some of their numbers.
Being so busy, she doesn't really expect to meet a guy this year…which is why Jesse St. James ends up being a surprise.
She meets Jesse at one of the mixers Pine Tree has in conjunction with the all boys school Dalton Academy. They're held in a big gym with lots of music and lots of people. Generally she walks out of them completely soaked in sweat because it's so incredibly hot. But they're fun. She dances around with Kurt and they make up ridiculous dance moves while checking out some of the guys.
They're doing just that at this particular mixer when she feels a tap on her shoulder and turns around to see Blaine and a boy with unruly hair and a small smirk.
"Rachel, this is my friend Jesse. He goes to Dalton. Jesse this is Rachel," Blaine explains.
She shakes hands with him and feels a jolt to her system when their hands touch. She looks at him surprised and smiles when he raises an eyebrow at her.
"Do you want to dance?" he yells over the music.
She nods and follows him out to the dance floor, looking over her shoulder at Kurt and Blaine's excited faces.
The two of them dance closely and Rachel is overwhelmed with the sensations she feels as they move together. Their conversation is limited thanks to the loud music, but he manages to tell her that he's a sophomore and knows Blaine through the show choir circuit.
By the end of the night she and Jesse are joined at the hip and have exchanged numbers. He promises to call her so they can go out sometime. As he says goodbye with a hug and walks away, Rachel stares after him dreamily and hopes he keeps the promise.
A week later, Jesse officially asks her to be his girlfriend.
Rachel never understood the term whirlwind romance until she met Jesse. He insisted on taking her out almost every other night, even if it was a school night. They sat in the corner of a coffee shop talking for hours about god knows what. They went to the movies and probably spent more than half of the movie making out. In essence, Rachel feels like a normal teenager.
She knows Jesse isn't ashamed of her and that her fears from her previous relationship with Finn should never be a factor in this one with Jesse. He treats her wonderfully, gives her advice on her music when she practices for him, and picks her up from school sometimes.
The only downside is that being so busy with Jesse has left less time for friends like Tina and Noah. Granted, Tina likes Jesse just fine and thinks they're great together. When Rachel described the night she and Jesse met, Tina was hanging on every word.
As for Noah, she sees him occasionally at temple. It doesn't seem like he cares too much about her new relationship. He simply shrugs when she mentions it.
"That's cool. But if he's a douche and does something stupid then let me know."
She rolls her eyes at his lack of caring. In the back of her mind, she wants him to care more. She wants him to have a response.
Tina mentions right after winter break that Noah and Brittany Pierce are dating.
Rachel stops what she's writing and looks at Tina confused.
"…Brittany Pierce?"
Tina shrugs. "She's actually pretty nice. A little dimwitted but nice. I have geometry with her and Noah and they've been talking and stuff. Plus she's a cheerleader and he's a football player. I don't know. I guess it makes sense. They're kind of cute though. She always knows how to make him laugh."
Rachel smiles a bit despite herself. A part of her heart aches as she thinks about Noah happy with some other girl. She has Jesse, and she actually really likes Jesse…but she won't deny that there will always be something about Noah Puckerman.
She doesn't see or talk to Noah for about a month after finding out about his new relationship status. They never end up at the same temple services and she hasn't thought much about him. She's so busy with Jesse, school, glee club, and debate team that she doesn't have a lot of time to think about anything.
Tina tells her that McKinley has formed their own glee club that she, Noah, Brittany, and Finn joined. They don't have that many people yet, but they're trying to put themselves out there by having a mini concert on Friday night. Before Tina can even ask, Rachel tells her she'll be there.
She sits in the back for the performance, and sees that Quinn Fabray and Santana Lopez are part of the group as well. In addition there's Mike Chang who is actually a great dancer. So is Brittany. She wants to be mad at that but she can't deny raw talent, even if it's coming from Noah's girlfriend.
Noah has a solo at one point during the night. He's playing his guitar, crooning around the stage, and basically making the crowd adore him. He's singing Billy Joel and she can't be surprised since he has an affinity for Jewish artists. She claps along with the rest of the crowd and smiles brightly at his voice-she always knew he could sing but his voice is lovelier than she remembers.
The rest of the concert goes off without a hitch, ending with Tina singing True Colors. Rachel woops the loudest out of everyone, proud of her friends for putting together something like this when they don't have that many people. Maybe they won't qualify for competitions this year, but if people are smart they'll join and get better, making them a group to worry about for next years circuit.
She greets Tina with a bear hug when she comes from backstage and tells her how great she sounded. They talk for a few minutes until Rachel sees Mrs. Puckerman and decides to say hi to her.
The woman gushes over her, saying how great she looks and how much she misses seeing her around in her house and at temple.
"Tell Noah I said hi will you," Rachel asks Mrs. Puckerman.
The woman raises an eyebrow. "You could tell him yourself you know. He'll probably come out with Brittany in a minute."
"I know it's just…I'm in a hurry and I have to go. So just tell him I said hi and everything."
She leaves Mrs. Puckerman with a hug and hurries out of the auditorium with Tina in tow.
When she gets home that night, Jesse calls her and asks about her day. Instead of saying she went to go see Noah and Tina in a concert, she tells him she spent her time watching movies with her dads.
Life goes on, and when spring comes new sports start at McKinley. Tina mentions that Noah and Finn are on the baseball team.
She doesn't know why she decides to go to one of the games one sunny afternoon, but she finds herself sitting on the bleachers in the very back, and she doesn't know how she got there.
She keeps herself out of everyone's line of sight and watches the game. True to his nature, Noah is the shortstop. She ignores how good he looks in the uniform and instead pays attention to how the game is going.
At one point she looks over to the other side of the bleachers and sees Brittany sitting with Santana. She's smiling brightly as she cheers Noah on.
Instead she's calling him Puck.
Something within her smiles at the fact that she's probably the only one who calls him Noah anymore. It's his given name, it's what she called him when she first met him, so it will be the name she calls him…forever. Besides…Puck implies he's some tough badass bully. Except he's not like that. Especially not with Rachel.
The innings change and McKinley is up to bat. Brittany walks over to the dugout quickly. Rachel can see Noah through the fence and he lights up when he sees Brittany coming towards him. They talk for a few minutes with the barrier between them, she sees him laugh and smile.
She knows when Noah is faking…he's not with her. He's comfortable, he's at ease, and he genuinely likes Brittany.
Rachel looks around the field, finally asking herself what she's even doing here. She has a boyfriend and a life she's happy with. She might even love Jesse.
She takes one last look at Noah and Brittany before getting up from the bleachers and making her way out of the game without being noticed.
Sophomore year passes over and junior year comes along without many events. She and Jesse are still going strong and she's genuinely fallen in love with him.
At the end of the summer, her fathers take Rachel, Jesse, Tina, and Kurt to the family lake house and it's the best week of her life thus far. The 4 of them swim in the lake, go into town and eat tons of food they probably shouldn't, and generally have a great time.
It's one night sitting under the tree that she and Jesse first say they love each other.
She doesn't think of Noah at all in that moment. She hasn't thought of Noah that much at all.
Halfway through junior year, Rachel is sure she's going to school in either New York or Chicago. She wants to be in a city and loves that kind of life. She also knows that if she wants to be on stage for the rest of her life, the best place to do that is not in Ohio.
She and Tina talk about it one day and surprisingly enough, Tina is also set on going to school in Chicago or New York…for art. Over the past few years at McKinley her interest in painting has grown and she's actually very very good. Rachel has been to a few of her exhibitions and is amazed at the talent she didn't know her best friend had.
She doesn't mention her hopes or dreams to Jesse. She doesn't want to talk to him only to have her perfect bubble ruined in some way.
Prom comes along and Rachel is set on getting a great dress. She has to go to 2 proms-one for Pine Tree and another for Dalton. She ends up getting a red strapless that makes her look incredibly sexy with the approval from Kurt. For once she'd like to deviate from her usual cute, prim and proper look.
Jesse approves. He approves so much that she loses her virginity to him that night.
The first time is extremely awkward. She's uncomfortable, Jesse is nervous and afraid of hurting her, and the sheets of the bed in their hotel make her feel a little itchy. But she loves Jesse for trying, she does. There are candles illuminating the room and he ordered them ice cream after they were done to make her feel better.
Luckily the times after that are much better.
Tina quit glee club at the beginning of junior year in order to focus more on her art.
Rachel still goes to see their performances. She doesn't tell anyone.
During the summer before senior year, she and her fathers take a trip to see colleges.
They go to Chicago and New York per Rachel's request. By the end of their college tour she is absolutely certain, without a doubt that she wants to go to NYU.
Walking on the campus, she already felt like she was one of them. She can imagine herself sitting in one of these coffee shops, looking over a script for a theater workshop. She knows this is where she needs to be.
So she does something a little ballsy…something her guidance counselor advises her explicitly not to do.
She applies to NYU early decision but doesn't send out any applications anywhere else. If she happens to not get in, which she'll find out in December, she'll scrounge up applications to other places. But she's really sure about this. She can feel it.
Thankfully her stupidity pays off.
She checks the decision website in early December to find that she got in. Her dads are waiting downstairs while she gets on the computer in her room, and when she comes down with tears pouring down her face she can tell they're holding their breaths.
"I did it. I got in," she sobs out.
Her dads scoop her up and the three of them are crying for probably 10 straight minutes before they all separate to make phone calls and tell everyone the news. She calls Tina and Kurt and their screams would have made her deaf and annoyed if she wasn't so excited.
She calls Jesse who proposes them going out to dinner to celebrate. He takes her to her favorite restaurant and they end the night with celebration sex in the back of his car.
Somewhere in all of that, she thinks of Noah for a moment and wonders how excited he would be for her.
Jesse applies to NYU and doesn't get in.
Instead he gets accepted to UCLA and Rachel is genuinely excited for him. It's a great school and there's lots of opportunities in LA. The only question is whether they'll break up.
She certainly doesn't want to. If she puts her mind to something she can make it work and succeed. There's email, phone calls, facebook, skype, and every other mode of communication ever created. They'll be fine. And he agrees.
They agree to stay together.
Tina gets into a great art school in Philadelphia, and Rachel's excited that her best friend will still be so close to her. The two of them look up the best ways to get to each other and it seems the Bolt and Mega buses will become her best friend over the next 4 years.
Tina also happens to mention a bombshell…
Noah got into NYU too.
"I didn't think he would want to go to school in NY," Rachel says shocked.
"Yeah he actually does. He wants to do music and songwriting. I don't even know anymore…but he doesn't want to be in Ohio," Tina tells her as if it's no big deal."
"Well…that's really great. Where is Brittany going?" she asks while trying not to sound too eager.
"I think she's going to school somewhere in Pennsylvania or something so she and Puck won't be too far from each other. She mentioned to me that they're staying together."
Rachel sighs and tries to sound normal as she continues to talk to Tina.
It's a big campus. Actually, it's a big city. Maybe she won't even see him.
It's high time she makes a facebook.
Before she didn't care about things like this, but now that she's been accepted to college she figures she should get into the whole social networking thing. Tina has one so she helps her set it up and add a few people.
She adds Noah and Brittany, reasoning within herself that she has no ulterior motives for doing so.
She also joins a group for students who've been accepted to NYU. She looks through the discusiion boards, interested to see the type of people she'll be going to school with. One board in particular has her combing through pages and pages of material.
Roommate surveys.
People fill out surveys with simple questions about themselves, in hopes that maybe they'll find someone they might want to room with. She has the ability to pick her roommate if she chooses, but she doesn't see anyone that she would want to take a chance on.
She's about to exit out when one girl catches her eye.
Her name is Mercedes Jones, and she's from Cleveland, Ohio. She loves music, Chinese food, and wants to explore New York as much as she can. She wants to major in music but also double major in psychology. She says herself that she can be a diva sometimes. For some reason all of this information catches Rachel's eye.
She adds the girl on Facebook and sends her a message saying how great of an artist she thinks Alicia Keys is since she mentioned that in the survey. She also adds how great it is to see another Ohio kid in the mix of cool NYU people.
Before she knows it, she and Mercedes are becoming fast friends through facebook messaging. They want the same things in regards to dorm rooms. After a lot of research they've found the perfect building to apply to with a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. They happily agree to be roommates.
She still hasn't seen or talked to Noah. Life hasn't had them cross paths lately and she doesn't really know what to say to him through facebook so she just leaves it alone.
Graduation comes and goes with celebration. She takes tons of pictures with her parents and Kurt, Blaine, and Artie. She doesn't feel nostalgic or sad about leaving Pine Tree. She made a lot of great friends but besides those 3 boys she doesn't see herself being best friends for life with these people.
A few days after graduation, she and Mercedes find out they got into the dorm they wanted. Rachel immediately starts thinking of color patterns for the living room and looking up dishes for the kitchen.
She also gets a post on her wall from Noah.
"Yo Berry. It's been awhile! I heard you're going to be at NYU. Ohio is taking over."
She freezes in her seat and stares at her computer screen for awhile. She wants to just ignore the post and pretend she doesn't even see it but what's the harm in responding back? Noah was one of her best friends at one point. She thinks of Jesse for a moment, wondering if he'll notice and ask questions, but he doesn't know anything about Noah. So she responds.
"Noah, it has been awhile. Congratulations on getting into NYU! It seems we will be classmates again. Did you get your housing assignment this week?"
He responds fairly quickly, and she almost falls off her seat when she sees his response.
"Hayden Hall. What about you?"
"Wow what a coincidence! That's where I am too. I'm living in 501 with another girl, where are you?"
"Wait Berry are you shitting me? Playing a joke or something? Because I'm in 502. I think that makes us across the hall from each other."
Rachel stares at the computer screen for a few minutes, completely speechless with nothing to say.
God is playing a cruel joke on her.