Mr. Shue had given me permission to use the stage for last minute practice on my dance for the showcase. That's how I got into this position. Everyone staring me down waiting, looking expectantly; he put me on the spot because he was being berated by Rachel because she wanted him to just give her the solo for our mash up in our showcase in the coming weeks. She kept complaining about how no one could sing the song as well as her. So being Mr. Shue went ahead and nominated me to audition her. Only because he had heard me sing the song not two days earlier, when I thought I was alone.

"I think Rachel is perfect for it! Plus I have that dance thingy I'm supposed to be doing. So yeah." I responded slowly. Rachel immediately turned looking at expectantly.

"Well?" She said. I was hoping he would just drop this.

"No, Rae is going to audition." He said. I huffed really loudly and ran out. I didn't want to audition. I didn't want to deal with any of this.

I ran down the hallway weaving in and out of people who were mucking around. I was headed to my car when someone stepped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.

"Woah slow your roll sparky." I looked up at the owner of the voice. It was Blaine. I noticed a handful of other Warblers standing behind him as well. "Where you off to in such a hurry? We wanted to have a friendly competition!"

"Uhh.. I have previous engagements and I have to go sorry." I said quickly, but Blaine caught the shakiness of my voice and he was to smart to think it was because I was out of breath.

"What's going on Rae?" He gave me a look of concern as he said this. I sighed and gave in.

"Mr. Shue wants me to audition for a solo against Rachel and he sort of put me on the spot in the middle of rehearsal and I freaked." I said quickly. "Now Puck is following me trying to convince me to do it and I really don't want to."

I spoke to soon as Puck rounded the corner coming to a screeching holt as he saw me.

"Rae!" I tried to run but Blaine held me in place. "Damn, you can run."

"I'm not on the soccer team because I'm slow Puckerman." I said sarcastically, while shooting Blaine a death glare. He only smiled in return.

"Look just come back. Please?" He said trying to give me puppy eyes.

"No. Not today Puck. I have other stuff to do and it does not involve auditioning against Rachel for a solo I don't want." I pushed Blaine off me and I began to walk out.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, unless you want everyone to know about your little fuck buddy." The way he said made my skin crawl. I stopped dead in my tracks. There was no possible way he could know.

"I don't know what you're talking about Puckerman, but nice try anyways." I said challenging him to continue. That was my mistake, challenging Noah Puckerman.

"Oh really? How about those hickeys on your neck and the one on your hip bone? Thought I missed that one? There always fresh every Friday and Monday. Trust me I think I would know. Not to add to the fact that I caught you in the locker room at the gym two weeks ago. Some late night work out you were doing." I couldn't believe he was doing this. I was the only friend he had left in Glee club and he was throwing it all away because he wanted me to audition for some stupid solo. " I really don't think you want everyone to know your sleeping with the competition."

"Why does it matter Kurt's dating Blaine. No one seems to care about that." I said with a sly smile I still had one up on him.

"True, but I know for a fact that they don't talk about what songs they are going to do a regional's or help each other out with the dance moves and vocals. Yeah I saw that too. Bet you thought you wouldn't get caught didn't you. Sneaking around here late at night." He winked at me as he finished. He had won. I wasn't one step ahead like I thought I was.

"You win." I said softly. I shook my head at him and gave a sad smile to Blaine and the rest of the Warblers my eyes lingering on a certain one. I watched as they turned to leave, no one was in the mood for competition after that. We walked back in silence. I stopped once we got close to the class room and faced Puck. "I hope you understand that you just lost the only friend you had left in Glee club."

With that I walked back in and sat down next to Mike, I felt him give me a pat on the shoulder for reassurance. I didn't look at or talk to anyone. I just pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head on them. I could feel their eyes on me, I didn't care I was to pissed off.

"She'll do it." I heard Puck say.

"Are you sure Rae?" said. I looked at him and nodded and then put my head back down on my knees. "Well then, next Tuesday in the auditorium at 3, good luck to both of you."

Everyone went about their business as usual for the rest of class. I just thought about the events that had just occurred. I knew that the Warblers would be questioning each other to see if it was someone in their group, but there are two other schools we're up against and that leaves room for them to doubt its someone in their group I'm sleeping with. I felt someone sit down next to me. I didn't say anything I only looked over. Kurt gave me a sad smile which I returned.

"How did he do it?" he asked turning to face me. I put my feet back on the floor and turned around to look at him.

"Blackmail." I said. I watched as Kurt's eyes widened in interest. "He knows. I don't know how, well yes I do, he caught us, anyways he used it against me. Not to mention he pulled it all out in front of Blaine and the rest of the Warblers, who had come for a friendly competition but after that display they left."

"That's such a low blow." He said. Kurt was the only other person who knew. "Blaine knows too by the way. I told him. I'm sorry; it's just to be safe you know?"

"I know. I don't mind I just hope the council doesn't find out. They would kick him out no doubt about it." I said. "I really don't understand why Puck would do this to me. It's just a damn solo."

"Puck is Puck." He said nonchalantly. "They would kick him out for sure. They only reason they haven't kicked Blaine out is because we both agreed not to talk about regionals and all the stuff that went with it. We both decided that when the time came for the competition we will both dedicate all of our time to our respective clubs. Its kind of harsh but it works." Kurt continued to explain and I listened to every word. It sounded as if this rivalry kept a little mystery in their relationship and it seemed to work for them.

"Kurt, they can't find out. That choir is all he has; the scholarship is the only thing keeping him at Dalton. I can't let him lose that." I said while resting my head on his shoulder.

"It seems to me like you care for him more than you let on. I don't want either of you to get hurt. Both of you deserve a lot of happiness, and trust me when I say you both are a lot happier when you're in each others lives." I smiled at him as he spoke.

"Sometimes I think he is the only person who really knows me. We agreed no strings attached. We have too much to deal with, I guess instead of fuck buddies were more of friends with benefits. He is one of the best friends I have, but now I'm starting to have feelings for him." Neither of us said anything for a while. We just sat there thinking about the situation.

"I have it on good authority that he likes you too." Kurt smiled and walked out as Mr. Shue announced it was time to go. I walked to my locker smiling like a clown, the thought of Jeff liking me back was all that was on my mind. When I got to my locker I checked my phone and seeing that I had a text from him made me jump for joy on the inside.

I'm so sorry about what happened today. – Jeff

Its fine. Puck is a jerk, but maybe doing this could be good for me. – Rae

I think you will be great. You can sing just as well as Rachel. –Jeff

Thank you :) We still on for tonight? – Rae

Defiantly :) - Jeff

Great! –Rae

I shut my phone and walked to my car. As I got closer I saw Puck waiting for me.

"What now?" I said angrily

"Stop seeing him. It's going to end up screwing us all over." He said in a low voice.

"Only if you tell. I like him a lot and I am not going to give it up because of you." I said. I opened my door but he slammed it shut before I could get in.

"Look, you are like a sister to me and I don't want you to get hurt. I also don't want your bad decision making skills to ruin our chances of winning this year. Rachel and Kurt deserve to go back to nationals this year and get the recognition they have earned." He said taking a breath at the end.

"You're lying. There is always something in it for you." I said annoyed. I still couldn't wrap my head around why he was doing this.

"If it gets around that I knew about this and I didn't tell anyone I could get in as much trouble as you not to mention I lose my street cred for being the lead gossip aside from Santana and Rachel." I laughed as he stumbled through his reasoning. Puck has never been a good liar.

Nice try. You and I both know that we won't get into all that much trouble for this. Jeff on the other hand could get kicked out of school for this. I don't know why you are are doing this Puck it's a stupid solo. What is your real reason for doing this to me? Please tell me, cause from where I'm standing your just trying to ruin my chance at being genuinely happy with my life." I looked him dead in the eye as I said the last part. "Can you please just let me be happy Puck? Please just drop this. Please."

I turned to get into my car when I heard him speak.

"I might get a scholarship to this school in New York. They liked me when they saw us at nationals and said I had a lot of potential and that they were interested in me. That's why I am doing this. Because I need to do well at regionals and get to national's and do well there I can't screw this up it's my only shot of getting out of this shit town." He said with a sigh at the end. "And the reason I am blackmailing you is because you need to sing that song Rae. I was with Mr. Shue that night. I heard you and you were ten times better then Rachel. If you sing that then we can win."

"You didn't need to blackmail me Puck. If you had told me the truth from the beginning I would have done it with out hesitation. This whole thing with Jeff and I will not effect you in anyway. I can promise you that." I said lifting his chin to look at him. He had a shameful look on his face. He knew he was wrong.

"I'm sorry. I promise I won't tell anyone. I wasn't going to anyways I would never do that to you." He said with a sad smile. I hugged him and we stayed like that for a while. "I'm just scared that if people find out about you and Jeff he could get kicked off and then you will feel bad and leave Glee club to make it fair or that The Warblers will try and get us kicked out of the competition for cheating or something."

"That won't happen. I promise. I will sing and you will get your scholarship. You will get out of here Puck whether you get that scholarship or I drag you out myself." I said. He gave me a big squeeze and let me go. He smiled and began to walk to his car. I got in mine and drove off. I was so confused. I knew that I liked Jeff but I knew that Puck was right in that what we were doing could have negative consequences for everyone. I went to soccer practice like this, I was so distracted that I pissed of my coach to the point that she told me to leave. She said to come back when I was ready to focus. I told her that is might be a while and she seemed to understand what I meant so she gave me a few days off, still thinking. I parked in the driveway and sat there. My mom was gone on a business trip so there was no need to rush in for dinner. When I was finally ready I slowly got out of my car and walked into my house. As I laid my stuff by the stairs I heard the screen door in my kitchen open. I walked into the hallway and leaned against the wall and watched as Jeff walked in. I smiled when he looked up at me and forgot everything about my day when he smiled back. It wasn't till about 3 hours and 4 rounds later that we started having a real conversation. This was how is usually worked anyways.

I was lying on his chest drawing patterns on his shoulder while he played with my hair. I could tell that we were both stressed about the events of the day.

"Puck isn't blackmailing me anymore." I said softly

"Really?"

I told him about the conversation I had with Puck and he seemed to understand where Puck was coming from so it didn't bother him all that much. Then I went into how I had been thinking about how what we were doing could end up with negative consequences for everyone.

"They don't seem to suspect a thing." He said in response. "I mean Blaine knows but he wont say anything and I think I have got Nick believing that I'm just visiting my sister and going to private vocal lessons."

"Maybe you should tell Nick. He's your best friend and you guys are kind of roommates I think he might start to suspect after a while."

"Maybe but in the back of my mind I know that he would pick them over me. The Warblers are his life. He cares to much about them to let it get ruined." I felt the sadness in his voice. I knew as well that there was a high chance of Nick telling. I felt his hand untangle from my hair as he brought both to his face and covered it. I heard him sigh. I sat up and grabbed his hands and held them in my own. I could tell by the sad look on his face that he was weighing the consequences.

"Maybe wait till after regional's then? It might not be as big a blow to him then because it will already be over." I suggested half heartedly.

"If we lose then he will think that you told the New Directions everything." He said. "I don't know how we can keep doing this."

"We just keep it a secret like we've been doing. I mean whether we keep doing it or not it's still going to have the same consequences no matter what." I replied quickly. My voice was really shaky and he could tell. I didn't want to lose this; he was the only thing keeping me sane. "I mean who tells people who their fucking anyways. That's a private thing."

"That's the problem." He sat up and looked me dead in the eyes. "I don't want to be just fuck buddies or friends with benefits anymore. I like you too much. I don't want to keep it a secret. I want you to be my girlfriend."

I smiled at his words.

"I like you a lot too." I said giving him a quick peck and leaning my forehead against his. "I want you to be my boyfriend, I want to be able to go out in public and hold your hand, but I don't want you to lose this scholarship. Dalton is your home and The Warblers are your life, your brothers."

We both stayed quiet for a while. Mulling over the confessions that were just made and the decisions that had to be made. I wanted to be with him, he knew more about me then I knew about myself sometimes and I knew everything about him, even the bad things. He was my best friend.

"I want to be with you." I said softly. "We just have to keep it a secret. We have been doing it for a while now the only difference is the title and that I will get to see you more and it won't just be sneaking in and out of my house all the time. I mean if we wanna go out were going to have to do it out of town some place where no one will see us. We just have to be really carful."

"Deal. I just have to figure out how to sneak out more often without Nick and they guys noticing." He said. We gave each other sad smiles; we knew it was going to be really hard to keep this up.

"We'll figure it out tomorrow. Let's go to sleep." I said. He laid back down and pulled me with him. He pulled the comforter over us and I snuggled closer to him.

"Goodnight boyfriend."

"Goodnight girlfriend."