Talking

"Yes your right it is about Santana" Rachel snapped back "because have you met her? She likes to make my life difficult as often as she can; she treats me worse than a piece of dog faeces she has walked in and out of everyone in the school who would gladly have slept with you, the quarterback, you chose the one girl you know would rub it in my face. And shocker she has! She has used every opportunity to throw it in my face and make me feel as bad as possible and all you have done is try and put me down for being angry that you lied. That is what you did Finn you looked me in the eye and you lied despite you knowing that the only thing the only thing I wanted was honesty, and yes I am angry that you lied, and yes I am even angrier that it was Santana. There I admitted it, do you feel better now? I hope so because that's all you get from me that is it, us done. So congratulations on being right for the first time in your sad existence just by a work of odds you had to be right one day"

Relishing in the gasp that escaped Finn's mouth Rachel turned on her heel and past her teacher walking in; wrapping her arms around herself she headed for the bathroom quickly tugging out sheets of toilet paper to hold to her eyes before the tears that threatened to fall did.

"You ok?" Puck asked having followed her in, watching her in the mirror as she held the tissues to her eyes to save her makeup, moving up behind her he slipped his arms around her waist to hold her close as she struggled to breathe properly.

"Thank you for sticking up for me" she whispered crushing the tissues in her hand and double checking her makeup before raising her eyes to look at his in the mirror "it really meant a lot to me"

"Anytime, you didn't deserve that" Puck said sincerely flexing his guns as they sat wrapped around her waist "you didn't deserve for your now ex boyfriend to be a complete douche, and you don't deserve for Satan to bitch you out whenever she gets an urge"

"Nice to know someone thinks that" she said sadly before fixing her show face back on "time to win sectionals"

"You deserved a solo" Puck whispered just before she slipped from her arms and straightened her shoulders determined to go out there and show the team that put her down all the time that she was ok.

Flashing him a quick grin Rachel reached out her hand backwards to take his before leading him out to backstage ready to go out and stomp all over their competition and win Sectionals. Tangling their fingers together Puck pulled her close as they walked to the rest of the group his heart thumping erratically in his chest at the simple touch.

Gleeeeeeeeeeee

"Rachel can we talk now?" Finn asked desperately as they gathered together in the choir room after their draw at Sectionals

"There is nothing to talk about" Rachel said circling the piano to stand next to Tina and Mercedes, Puck coming to stand behind her as Mr Schuester came in with the new trophy and Santana mentioned the news about Miss Pillsbury. "I don't feel like a solo right now, I think I should pass it on to some of our unsung heroes of the last few weeks Mercedes and Tina"

Standing at her locker later on that day Rachel opened it finally for the first time looking up at the inside of the door the Rachel and Finn forever mocking her as she looked at it. Feeling the now common presence of Puck behind her she pulled up her hair for his surprisingly nimble fingers to undo to Finn necklace she had put on by habit that morning, closing her eyes at the feeling of his fingers dancing on her skin she sighed as she felt the necklace slip off finally. Reaching up she pulled off the mocking words and crumpled them into balls before throwing them in the bin on the corner of the hallway, Puck gently handing the necklace to her without a word having to bite his lip from not smiling as that ended up in the same place as the poster.

"So do we have plans for tonight?" she asked him slipping her hand through his arm to walk out with him, the question half because she didn't want to sit at home all day and the petty side of her because of Finn glaring at her from his locker.

"Not that I know of" Puck said catching on straight away as Finn glared at them both but also enjoying the feel of Rachel pressed up against him again "we could catch a movie though maybe grab some food at the diner after. When you need to be home?"

"Dad's are away" Rachel said with a shrug and a smile up at her new friend, thinking if one good thing had come from this stupid situation was the friendship she now had with the gorgeous man beside her. Who maybe one day she could see herself being more with one day if he continued to grow as he had recently.

"Awesome then I am staying at yours tonight" Puck said with a leer at her as she laughed and elbowed him in the side following him to his truck and off to the cinema before dinner and then back to Rachel's.

"Thank you for today" Rachel said smiling at him as he dropped her off despite his earlier words "in fact thank you for the last few weeks it has really meant a lot to me"

"Any time Rach, like I said have to be nicer to Jews now I promised God" he leant over and gave her a quick hug "now make sure that you lock the door behind yourself and I'll see you tomorrow"

"Good night Noah" Rachel said with a smile closing her door and locking and bolting her door closed peaking out the window to see Puck finally leave after he had heard the click of the lock. Smiling to herself despite the hard week Rachel retreated to bed cuddling her pillow close as she fell asleep with a smile, the scent of his Irish spring soap lingering days after their makeup session.

Watching Finn quickly move on in the next few days to Santana certainly stung the young girl but didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, just the normal sting an ex feels when the other moves on quickly, even though she was pretty much dating Puck.

"You alright babe?" Puck questioned her as he leant against the locker next to hers watching Finn and Santana through the choir room door decorating the tree, wanting more than dating but knowing that Rachel couldn't handle anymore yet.

"Yes" Rachel promised him turning her back on her ex "though can I tell you something?"

"Anything"

"All this Christmas music, I am finding it very disrespectful to our own religion"

"Yeah I know!" Puck agreed offering his arm to her again "it's like 'hello! Me and Rach are Jewish', like how many times do we have to tell you that?"

"I know!" Rachel vented babbling his ear off about Hanukah as they walked to their next class together, meeting Artie as he rolled down the hallway with Brit towards geometry.

"Hey guys" Artie said with a smile at his new best friend his sharp eyes watching how Puck pulled Rachel closer as they passed other jocks whose eyes followed Rachel, and how he actually listened to Rachel talking about the Jewish holiday he already knew about.

"Oh hello Artie" Rachel said stiffly to the two other glee members, finding it difficult to hang around the rest of the club since their agreeing with Santana at Sectionals.

Knowing what she was thinking Puck pulled her even close r and slid his arm around her shoulders dropping a kiss onto her head "I like you" he whispered "remember that"

"I do" Rachel replied slipping her arm around his waist as he held her close "it means everything to me"

Puck grinned at her again and ushered her into math which he actually listened to before another glee practise full of Christmas songs that meant little to the two Jewish teenagers.

"Nice of you to remember that we are Jewish Mr Schue" Puck said as they packed up at the end of the practise "you do realise that none of these songs mean anything to me and Rach?"

"Oh well...but..." Will stammered, having completely forgotten that Rachel and Puck were Jewish "but don't you celebrate Christmas anyway?"

"Uh no" Puck said with a slightly disgusted look "in fact our holiday started three days ago"

"Never mind Noah" Rachel said slipping her hand into his "we can just sing at home before the blessings this evening"

"Sounds like a plan" Puck said with a smirk tangling their fingers together laughing as Santana glared at him "we can go for our date first"

"You're dating Puck?" Finn suddenly said with a screech coming up to thrust his face into Rachel's who recoiled sharply.

"Yes" she said firmly "not that I know why it is has anything to do with you"

"We broke up a week ago!"

"And you have been sleeping with Santana ever since" Brit said innocently studying her hands from where she sat next to her boyfriend, not seeing the ripple of shock that her words created across the room.

"Point made" Rachel said stiffly dragging Puck away and out of the classroom before he could punch Finn in the face for his ridiculous behaviour "I'm sorry" she said suddenly turning to him as he followed her down the hallway.

"What do you mean babe?" Puck said slipping his hands around Rachel's waist as she stood still in front of him "you haven't done anything wrong"

"I've been holding you at arm's length for the last week because I didn't want to move on too quickly and have everyone talk about me but to find out that there was no need to worry about it because of Finn's actions. I never should have let peoples opinion have an effect on us when I knew there was a connection here and especially when I wanted to cultivate it, I mean there is a connection here right? Because we sort of have been dating recently, but if you think we are just hanging around then that is ok as well and we could just ignore everything I just said. But then again if you are agreeing with me then we could perhaps..."

Shaking his head at her rambling Puck dipped down and sealed her mouth closed with his own "you talk too much Rach" he mumbled against her lips before moving his own insistently again, no more words needed.