AN/ Thanks so much to everyone who has added this story to their alerts or favorites. And thanks so much to izzabella11 & PurpleSharpie98795 for reviewing! I am now giving you both a virtual cookie! But hope you like this chapter!

She suppose she knew deep inside that it wouldn't last, that it would only be a matter of time before he broke down and hit her, but it didn't mean she was any less shocked when she found herself in her bathroom look at the emerging bruise on her cheek. She thanked god for makeup as she reached for her bag and went to work, wincing as she rubbed concealer on.

It was all her fault. If she hadn't shown up late for their date he wouldn't have started yelling. She tried explaining that her car had gotten a flat tire on the way over to his house and she had had to change it by herself, but he wouldn't listen. He yelled and screamed that she didn't care about them anymore, that he was always the one who carried the relationship, and that she should put a little more effort in or they were over. Rachel couldn't help it and started crying. She did try, she wanted them to work out, how could he not see that? The tears only made him angrier.

She hadn't seen it coming, but the next thing she knew his fist had connected with her face. She stumbled backward and nearly fell over. Her cheek was stinging and she couldn't breath. Her eyes were wide as she started at him, a sob escaping from her chest.

A moment of shocked silence passed and then he had his arms around her, whispering that her was sorry, that it would never happen again, and that he loved her. It was the first time he ever actually said the words "I love you" to her. She forgave him. It was her fault after all. If she hadn't been late he wouldn't have gotten mad. She returned his "I love you" and Finn exhaled a sigh of relief jumping on the topic of glee and regionals. Rachel couldn't keep a sick nauseous feeling out of her stomach.

As soon as she returned home for the night she was sick. She hadn't even had the time to greet her fathers before bolting upstairs to her bathroom. So much for no gag reflex she thought as the contents of her stomach left her. And now she was desperately trying to cover up the quickly darkening bruise on her cheek as she heard her fathers standing outside the door, asking if she was ok. It got disguised well, no one would be the wiser.

That night she cried herself to sleep. She couldn't say why, but as soon as she assured her fathers that she was ok ("Really, it was just a bad taco or something at school. I feel fine now, honest. No need too worry.) she crawled under the comforter and just cried, feeling worthless.

The morning came all to fast and when Rachel's alarm went off at 6:00am sharp, she groaned and grudgingly got up. Standing made the nauseous feeling return to her stomach. Walking to the bathroom she felt like she might be sick again. She turned to face the mirror and gasped. The light purple and blue colors that had been present on her cheek yesterday were gone, replaced with dark purple and black. She knew just looking at it that no amount of makeup would be able to cover it up. That thought sent her over the edge and she found herself again vomiting in the toilet.

She arrived at school later than she normally would. Her plan was to barley make the bell so she wouldn't have to stand in the hall and attract stares. Rachel didn't look as bad as she had this morning, but it was far from flawless. The concealer had dimmed down some of the harsh purple and black to make it look less serve, though it was still painful. When her fathers questioned her about it, she simply stated that she had accidentally run into a wall at Finn the night before. They laughed and told her she should be more careful of where she was going.

When the clock in her car read 8:05 she figured it was safe to enter the school. She had to sprint to make it to first hour, but that had been the plan all along. Her butt had just touched her seat in Mr. O'Reilly's Geography and History of the World class when the 8:10 bell rang to start class. It wasn't until halfway through Mr. O's lecture on South Africa that she felt a light tap on her shoulder. "What'd ya do Berry, tackle a mailbox with your face?"

Rachel spun around in her seat. Puck sat in the seat directly behind her and had his usual smirk in place as his eyes lingered on her cheek. "What?" she said, panic starting to bubble in her stomach.

Surprisingly he chuckled quietly "When I was twelve I accidentally ran into a mailbox playing football with Finn and some other guys. I had a bruise that looked exactly like that, same place, only a lot worse. It was totally badass!"

"It was nothing Noah I simply wasn't paying attention to my path and ran into a wall."

Puck's expression changed slightly, he looked skeptical. "Right, now you're gonna tell me what really happened. There is no way a wall did that! I've ran into one of those too! No way you're telling the truth!"

"That's really what happened Noah, I am not lying. And how many injuries to the head have you had exactly?" She was trying desperately to brush him off. The last thing she needed was for Puck to get involved, when it reality it wasn't a big deal. Finn had apologized, promised it would never happen again, and told her that he loved her. There was absolutely nothing he could do because there wasn't anything to fix. They would be fine now.

"That's not the point Berry!" Puck said pulling her back into reality. "You can tell me." His hazel eyes were looking straight into hers "And I promise if it's funny I'll only laugh a little." He had his cocky grim back on by the time he was done speaking, but Rachel was never one to fall for his charm.

Drawing on her years of highly tuned acting skills Rachel looked Puck straight in the eye and said "I am telling you the truth, if you don't believe me then fine, but if you don't mind I would like to get back to listening to Mr. O'Reilly as I need to maintain my GPA so that I will be looked at in consideration for many fine colleges when I graduate." With a flip of her hair she was facing the front of the room again.

The whole period she could feel Puck's eyes on her. When the bell rang signaling the end of class she sprang out of her seat and into the hallway like a bat outta hell, giving Puck no chance to question her further.

Everyone besides Puck who asked her about 'the bruise' that day believed her lie. Most of them laughed and told Rachel she needed to pay more attention when she was walking, or as Santana so nicely put it "God Man Hands, what happened? Found out you could walk and talk at the same time?" to which Brittany replied "Don't worry Rachel, it took me years to get it down."

The final bell of the day rang at 3:15 dismissing the student from class. Rachel rushed to the choir room for glee practice (it was always good to be early) and took her usual seat front and center.

She hadn't talked to Finn all day. They didn't have any classes or lunch together, but he usually found her in the hallways, but not today. When he entered the choir room with Mike and Matt, he took one look at Rachel and rolled his eyes. Coming over to her he was clearly pissed. "What's wrong?" she squeaked out was he sat down next to her eyeing the clothes she had on.

"Not now." he practically snarled as Mr. Shuster walked in to start rehearsal. The entire time they were learned the newest dance moves and harmonies for regionals Rachel could feel Puck's eyes on her.

****GLEE****

Finn wouldn't talk to Rachel during glee. When practice ended all he said was that they needed to talk. He drove her to his house in silence, his face stony and cold. It scared Rachel. The sick feeling was back.

After what felt like a lifetime they pulled up to Finn's house and got out of his car. When they were settled in the living room Finn broke the silence. "What did I say about the animal sweaters?" His stare was icy and Rachel flinched at the harshness etched into the words. "I told you not to wear them! They make you look like a fucking joke!"

"I like them Finn." she said timidly "What does it matter what anyone else thinks?"

"It matters what I think!"

"So now I can't even wear what I want anymore?"

His hand flew out, but instead of hitting her like she expected he grabbed onto the back of her head, pulling her hair. "DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" he screamed, his fingernails digging into the back of her head.

Rachel was gasing, trying to draw in breath when her lungs weren't working. "Please just let me go." she breathed, barley any sound coming out, but the terror evident in her voice.

"LOOK AT YOU! YOUR PATHETIC!" His grip tightened and she cried out in pain.

"Please, just let me go." she looked into his eyes, so different from the ones she used to know. "I'll do it ok! I'll stop wearing the sweater!"

His hand relaxed and let go of her. She immediately took several steps back, distancing herself incase he lashed out again. "Now was that so hard?" He plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote. Rachel regretted not driving her own car to his house. She just stood there until he sighed "Rachel, come over here." he patted the seat nest to him. His voice was softer, not hard and icy, but comforting, it was her Finn.

She slowly came over and sat in the seat he had indicated. "Look Rach, I know that I'm hard on you sometimes, but I'm just going through a lot right now. The whole baby gate drama and everything. I guess I'm just not really over it yet." He looked into her brown eyes. "I love you Rachel. You know that?"

She couldn't help a small (but sad) smile from appearing on her face. "I understand Finn." He beamed at he as she continued "What Quinn did to you was wrong and perverse, and I promise never to put you through anything like that."

"Thanks Rach." He sighed again "And I'm sorry I blew up at you."

"It's ok." Rachel said hurriedly, hoping they could just make up and get over this quickly. "It's my fault anyway. I didn't listen to you and I should have. I'm sorry,"

"It's fine Rach, I forgive you."

"I love you Finn."

"Love you too babe."

Ta-da! Chapter 2 complete! And don't worry next chapter will contain lots and lots of Puckleberry goodness! The teacher Mr. O'Reilly is my actaul Geography teacher. He's crazy! Like seriously crazy, but fun at the same time! I wrote this in his class so I decided to put him in it. And when Puck said he ran into a mailbox and got a giant bruise, yeah that happen to me when I was like 8 years old. Not fun, let me tell you! haha but thanks for reading and please review cause they are like crack to me! I have a seriously problem! =D