A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.
A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.
A/N 3: WOW guys! You really liked the first chapter! What an overwhelmingly awesome response you gave me! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I think you guys are the reason I had over 33,000 hits last month. That's the most I've ever had, so thank you!
Guidance
Chapter 2: Some Things Never Change…
"Please tell me this isn't happening. Tell me Figgins developed a sense of humor and this is his idea of a funny joke." Puck spit out as he took in the sight of his ex-classmate/ex-girlfriend.
"If anyone's the joke here, it's certainly not me. I've been employed by McKinley for 3 years now." She informed him as she drew herself to her full height. (Which was around 5'5" with the wedges)
He quirked his eyebrow at her. "Aren't you supposed to be prancing around on some Broadway stage right about now?"
An emotion flashed across her face so quickly he wasn't sure if it was real or just his imagination.
"I don't really see how that's any of your business Noah." She shot back as she crossed her arms in front of her.
He stood and strolled around to the front of his desk, resting his muscular form against his filing cabinet.
"So that's how it's going to be?" He challenged, his forest green eyes holding her gaze.
"I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to, Noah, but I pride myself on maintaining, at minimum, a professional relationship with all my fellow co-workers, and I suppose that includes you now." She replied tightly.
He raked his gaze down her small, compact body. She was still nice to look at… Very nice…. Maybe even a little better than he remembered. But that personality was just as abrasive as ever, which sometimes got in the way of her hotness.
"Oh, come off it Berry. I'm over the verbal vomit you like spewing in my direction. When you decide to yank the ruler out of your ass, come talk to me."
She narrowed her chocolate eyes at him. "Let's get one thing straight Puckerman. I run the guidance office and glee. You run the athletic department. I see no reason why our paths should cross, I suggest we keep it that way." She seethed, clearly angry at this point.
He chuckled at her obvious frustration. "We'll see about that sweetheart." He agreed cheekily.
Rachel huffed her protest before she spun on her heel and stormed out, obviously pissed.
She was in Figgins' office in record time.
"How could you hire that man and not tell me! You know we had a turbulent relationship in high school! You were here to witness it! He threw slushies at me! He tormented me! He nearly got us banned from competition on more than one occasion! Does that mean nothing to you!" She rapid fired her questions at the man behind the desk.
"Rachel, have a seat." Figgins suggested once her rant was complete.
She sighed as she dropped unceremoniously into the chair across from his desk.
"I am well aware of your tumultuous past with Mr. Puckerman. I'm also aware that it was nearly 10 years ago since you've dealt with one another. I had hoped you would handle this more maturely then you seem to be. You're both adults. You need to figure out a way to co-exist, especially since several of your male glee members play sports. I don't want to deal with this all school year. You two need to work it out." He informed her, his voice stern and he left no room for argument.
That didn't stop her from trying though. She opened her mouth to spit her argument right back. Instead, he met her gaze and slowly shook his head at what was bound to be a half hour diatribe regarding the repercussions of hiring Noah Puckerman. Frankly, he didn't want to hear it.
Rachel groaned inwardly. She'd forgotten about the members of glee that also partook in sports, specifically football.
This little detail did not bode well with her. No, it didn't bode well at all. Because it meant that she'd have to do more than just co-exist with the Neanderthal, she'd actually have to work with him.
Date: August 20, 2023 11:34 AM
To: Rachel Berry
From: Noah Puckerman
RE: Football Practice Schedule
Berry-
FYI.
Figured you should know I'm going to be changing practice dates for my guys. We'll be practicing Mon-Thurs 3 – 6.
NP
Date: August 20, 2023 12:02 PM
To: Noah Puckerman
From: Rachel Berry
RE: Football Practice Schedule
Noah-
That is completely unreasonable and you know it. I have four boys in my club that play football.
I know what you're doing. You're trying to steal my athletes back.
Might I remind you that as of late, the glee club has been far more successful than our sorry excuse for a football team.
Thus, I'm demanding you return football practices to the previously scheduled days, which were, (in case you weren't informed) Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will continue to run glee practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
That is all.
Rachel B. Berry
Guidance/Glee
William McKinley High School
Date: August 20, 2023 12:19 PM
To: Rachel Berry
From: Noah Puckerman
RE: Football Practice Schedule
Berry-
Blow me.
NP
Rachel's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in disgust.
She quickly moused to the Forward button, clicked it and forwarded the conversation to Figgins.
As soon as it was set, she jumped up and scurried off to the man's office to discuss the horribly offensive suggestion from Noah.
Her mind was too busy coming up with reasons for asking for Noah's resignation that she didn't see the person coming around the corner.
She slammed into him at full speed and succeeded only in falling flat on her ass with a slightly shocked "Ommmffh!"
She shook her head and pushed her hair out of her eyes. That's when the hand came into view.
Rachel glared at the owner of it.
"C'mon Berry, let me at least help you up. After all, if my body wasn't so ridiculously hard, you probably wouldn't have fallen." He smirked as he wiggled his fingers at her.
She offered a "Pffh" noise from the back of her throat, braced her hand on the wall and stood up, only to yelp painfully when she put pressure on her right ankle. It twinged under the weight before it fully gave out, leaving her grappling for the nearest object to hold onto, which sadly, was Noah or the wall.
Her hand closed around his forearm and he grabbed her shoulder to steady her.
The telltale smirk was gone in a flash when he realized she was hurt.
He glanced down and saw her outer ankle was beginning to swell and turn an angry shade of red.
Puck gave a heavy sigh. "Not a good choice of shoes Berry. I mean, they're hot and they look sexy as hell, but they're probably not the safest." He remarked as he gestured to the 4" cork heel of her wedges.
"Obviously." She bit back tartly, doing her best to maintain her composure despite the pain shooting out of her ankle. She was doing her very best to ignore the way his arm felt under her grasp. The 'sexy as hell' comment was definitely not helping matters.
"Can you put any weight on it?" He asked, doing his best to sound gentle, er, well, gentler.
She tentatively set her foot back on the ground and allowed herself to put the tiniest amount of pressure on it, only to jerk it back off the floor, hissing at the pain.
"Ok, so that's a no. I guess we're going to the hospital Berry." He told her while still maintaining his hold.
"I can drive myself." She informed him sternly.
He rolled his eyes. She was so pig headed sometimes.
"Really Berry? Cause I'm pretty sure you need your right foot to drive." He pointed out.
She glowered at him before grunting her reluctant agreement.
"I'll carry you to my car and-" He started he started to shift her in his arms so he could scoop her up.
Instead he was stopped with a slap on the arm and an indignant "NO!" from her mouth.
"There's a wheelchair in the nurse's office. I'll use that. You are most certainly NOT carrying me through the halls like some sort of damsel in distress!" She instructed, bracing herself on the wall.
He briefly considered arguing this one but she was in pain and he figured he could let this one go and do what she wanted, just this once.
"Alright, fine, we'll do this your way. Wait here." He conceded.
She nodded and 15 minutes later, they were hospital bound.
A/N 4: SO THAT'S ALL FOR THIS CHAPTER. NEXT ONE WE'LL JUMP INTO THE SCHOOL YEAR!
I'd love to hear what you guys think!
