A/N- Reviews- thanks for the reviews they mean a lot! To answer some- Jesse will appear in later chapters and you'll see what he's up to, and Luce will have some scenes with him later as well.

Chapter 2

Rachel told Finn everything she overheard Luce say in the girl's toilets. He agreed Vocal Adrenaline was spying on them, but still, they had no proof. Rachel didn't think they should need any; Luce wanting to join the club was so suspicious that Rachel was surprised Mr. Schue had even let her do so. But Mr. Schue was a bleeding heart. Profusely bleeding. She could imagine Luce giving him an innocent look and him feeling like he had to give her a chance. Of course Rachel had thought the same thing, that Luce deserved the benefit of the doubt. But Quinn was right, that was naïve.

Why couldn't Jesse just leave her alone? She never wanted to see him again. Never ever? Yes. That's what she kept telling herself, but annoyingly she kept telling herself that over and over, like she needed to prove it to herself. Which was ridiculous. Jesse was shallow and manipulative, and she had Finn, who was warm and kind.

Sitting in the Glee room a few days after hearing Luce on the phone to Jesse, Rachel glared along with everyone else as Luce finished singing and took her seat. She sat right beside Rachel as usual. She did the same thing in the classes they shared; no one apart from Finn ever sat beside her and he was only in two of her classes, so in three others she was stuck beside Luce. Rachel tried to use this to her advantage and find out what she was up to, but couldn't get anything out of her.

On Monday English class, the class after she had discovered Luce was lying, she had first tried. An upset Luce slid into the seat beside her, in her stained dress that was clinging to her body and likely very sticky and uncomfortable. GOOD. "So what made you want to join New Directions, Luce?" Rachel asked with faked pleasantry, putting her acting skills to use. "Because you weren't in Vocal Adrenaline."

Luce just shrugged and started to try and untangle her slushie stained hair.

Further attempts got similar results. But now, Rachel had an idea. Through her performance, which Rachel thought was flawed on the lower notes, Luce's eyes kept flicking to one place. Where Puck was seated. At first Rachel assumed she was just checking him out as he was starting to grow his mohawk back (NEVER SHAVE IT AGAIN, thought Rachel) and looked rebellious and sexy.

Then something from when Luce first arrived came into Rachel's mind- Luce and Puck had recognized each other from Regional's. What exactly happened she didn't know, but Puck was returning the frequent eye contact. And considering this was Puck, Rachel was wondering if they had done more than just 'see' each other. She decided she would ask Puck to help find out what Luce, and Jesse, were scheming.

The bell rang, and Mr. Schue dismissed the club.

"Rachel."

Rachel turned to Luce as she and Finn stood up. "What?" she said shortly.

"My song, was there something wrong with it?" she asked. "It's just no one clapped."

Rachel grabbed Finn by the arm and left the room with him.

"I'm so sick of her little Miss Innocent act," she said to Finn. "Mr. Schue might believe she's no longer conspiring against us, but I know acting when I see it. And her acting is as mediocre as her singing." It wasn't exactly true about the acting, but Rachel was not about to admit it out loud.

"We just have to ignore her," Finn said for the hundredth time since Rachel told him about Luce. He was right though, Rachel knew if they didn't let her mess with them, there wasn't much she could do to sabotage them. Leak their song list at Regional's maybe, but Rachel already had a plan for that. Two song lists. Double the work, but Rachel thought some of the Glee members could do with the practice.

Rachel stopped at her locker, her face burned and she quickly tore down the piece of paper announcing 'LOSER' taped to the door before Finn could see. She opened the door; the inside was covered with pictures of her and Finn. She spent a lot of time on them, pasting each photo onto a piece of colored cardboard, usually pink or purple, and decorating the borders with glitter and stickers.

Finn leant against the locker next to Rachel's. "You know what this means right? That Jesse is trying to mess with us again? It means we scared him at Regional's. Vocal Adrenaline's always been good, but we're the ones who keep getting better."

Rachel tried to be optimistic but failed. Vocal Adrenaline always won. And Jesse's performance at Regional's? Rachel knew it was amazing. "And what happened last time Jesse messed with us? We lost to him."

Finn pointed to one of the pictures. It was an older one; Rachel recognized it from before they were dating, from their first Sectionals. "Since then we've had Jesse, and we've had to deal with Ms Sylvester, and look how far we've still come. How much better we are. And it was the judges that screwed Regional's up for us, not Jesse. We, you, bounced back from he did. And what can Luce do that he didn't?"

Rachel retrieved her Spanish books and looked up at Finn. He was looking down at her, his brown eyes so soft and his adorable lopsided grin making her feel better. This time Rachel was optimistic, and she believed what Finn said because he sounded like he believed it himself. "Nothing," she answered. "Luce isn't better than a single one of us, let alone all eleven. Singer or person."

They headed to Spanish together, Finn talking about the football match tonight, his first one since rejoining the team. They passed Santana with a group of Cheerios who smiled at Finn and smirked to each other when they saw Rachel. "How do you even reach his mouth to kiss him, midget?" Santana said in her ear as she passed.

"So I'll pick you up at seven for the game? Rachel?"

Rachel shook herself. "Sure Finn." She stood on her toes to kiss him, but he still had to lean down a little. Screw the Cheerios and Jesse and his brat sister, she thought. She had talent, Jesse couldn't change that. And she loved Finn and he loved her, the jealous Cheerios weren't going to ruin that for her.

Quinn collapsed onto the bleachers after another brutal Cheerios practice and took a long drink from her water bottle. Coach Sylvester knew she wanted to be captain again, and was making her work for it. She was determined to get the captaincy back though, and was working her hardest to impress Coach Sylvester and her ridiculously high standards.

Santana dropped down beside her, panting heavily as well. "You look exhausted Quinn, still a little out of shape?"

"Having a baby does that to you," replied Quinn. "But Coach Sylvester knows I can handle it. I did last year."

She couldn't see, but knew Santana would be rolling her eyes and scowling. She didn't like the competition Quinn being back on the team was creating for her.

Across the football field she watched Puck tackling Finn in their football practice. They were sweaty and red faced, but it was still hot.

"God I'd love to be in between those two," said Santana.

Keep dreaming, thought Quinn. Puck was with her now.

Getting up from his 'wrestle' with Finn as their coach ended the practice, Puck started to chat with the Cheerios still on the field. Quinn hopped up and made her way over to him. Her jaw clenched as she saw he was flirting with them. Puck was supposed to be with her. Even if they gave it up, they still had a baby together. He was even there at the birth. The few weeks after the birth he had been like Puck 2.0, responsible and making Quinn feel wanted, but lately he was slipping back to the old Puck, flirting with other girls and seeming bored by just having Quinn.

"Puck," said Quinn, him not noticing her standing there.

He turned to her and smiled, the same smile he was giving the other girls. Wasn't he supposed to smile differently when he looked at her? "Oh hey babe. Ready to cheer me on tonight? I'm gonna totally pound those Green Lake High players." He flexed his tanned arm and looked to the group of Cheerios for their reaction. They giggled and smiled at Puck. "Gotta hit the showers, see ya babe. Let's go Finn." He gave her- and the other Cheerios- a wave and headed back to the school.

The other Cheerios dispersed, but Finn hesitated. "I, uh, saw you practicing," he said. "You want to be head Cheerio again, huh?"

"Much to Santana's irritation. Kind of makes it more fun, really."

Finn nodded awkwardly. He was always awkward- why a guy as hot as Finn was so unconfident she had never known- and when they were dating it used to annoy her that he wasn't more self assured. Now that she was with someone who was self assured to the limit though, she kind of missed it.

"Uh, you were good," said Finn. He looked behind him to where the Cheerios and Puck were entering the school building. "You can do better."

Quinn nodded. "I'm almost as good as I used to be. It's just my stomach muscles that get tired the most."

Finn looked back to her. "Huh?"

"I said I'm almost as good as I used to be," repeated Quinn.

Finn shook himself. "Yeah, of course. See you tonight." He turned and made his way off the field.

Quinn shook her head. Finn was sweet, but kind of dorky. Although he was right that she could do better. If she was Captain of the Cheerios once, she could be again. She headed for the showers. As she got the entrance to the girl's locker room, she saw Puck a little way down the corridor, at the entrance to the boy's locker rooms. He had his back to her, leaning against the wall, and was talking to a girl in a black dress that was sluttier than the Cheerios outfits- he was chatting with Luce of all people. She gritted her teeth. She had asked Puck why he recognized her from Regional's and his answer of 'we just bumped into each other' wasn't very believable.

You can do better. Finn had been talking about cheerleading, right?

Rachel stood in front of her mirror, getting ready for Finn's first football game since he rejoined. It was bittersweet, Finn being back on the team. It made him happy, but it made Rachel feel insecure. Finn was her first boyfriend, and he was again the most popular guy in school. She was the least popular girl. It was just so unbalanced, and Rachel always felt embarrassed and pathetic every time people teased her in front of Finn. She didn't want him to feel sorry for her.

She put on a pale blue dress and a dark blue jumper, and put a dark blue headband in her hair. Blue was Finn's favorite color, thought she tried not to wear it seven days a week or it would get weird, like a time when she covered the outside of her locker with photo's of them together.

The doorbell rang and Rachel finished her hair and hurried downstairs. Finn stood at the door, gorgeous in dark blue jeans and a green shirt. He never wore Rachel's favorite color, even though she got him a lovely pink shirt for his birthday. She said bye to her Dad and Daddy who were inappropriately checking out Finn.

"You know I haven't been to a game since you left the team?" said Rachel as Finn drove to the school.

"Neither have I. I heard they've somehow gotten suckier though. Quinn told me Coach Tanaka actually cried at the last game. He was begging the Cheerios to swap places with the team. Good thing they replaced him."

"So," Rachel said after a moment of silence. "This is Quinn's first game as well? Since she rejoined the Cheerios?"

Finn nodded. "Yeah, she wants it all back. You know, all the stuff she had before the whole, uh, baby thing. The cheerleading, the popularity, the…" He trailed off.

Rachel knew why. Quinn used to have Finn. Finn stayed quiet. There's no need to worry if Quinn wants Finn, Rachel told herself. He'd never want her again anyway. Same way she never wanted Jesse again. An insecure part of her, the part that dealt with boys and not singing and performing, made her ask a stupid question. "She'd never get you back right?" It didn't sound casual at all, it sounded needy and unsure. Rachel buried her head in her hands as soon as she said it.

"Of course not," he reassured her quickly. "She's my friend, nothing more. Are you worried about something happening? You know nothing ever will."

She felt his arm go over her shoulders, and she took her face out from her hands. Two hands on the wheel Finn, she thought but resisted saying. Instead she smiled brightly at him. "Sorry, just me worrying too much."

He smiled crookedly back at her. The rest of the drive was silent, the comfortable kind. Rachel knew she had no real reason to think Quinn would ever get Finn back.

Rachel didn't really like football, but with Finn on the team she enjoyed the game immensely. McKinley won, just; the new Coach was clearly a vast improvement over Tanaka.

After congratulating Finn with a kiss before he took a shower, Rachel called out to Puck and made her way over to him. "Good game," she congratulated him.

"Thanks. First win in…well ages. Feels good to be back on top again." He grinned at her.

Rachel ignored the innuendo, she had something to ask him. "I need a favor. Not that kind of favor," she said as he smirked. "Luce is trying to mess with our chances at Regional's; I overheard her talking to Jesse about me. And you recognized Luce from the last Regional's right? I don't want details on why, but she's always looking at you, she seems to like you."

His smirk suddenly dropped. "Well of course she does," he said, not sounding his usual cocky self. He smirked again, but something about it seemed a little forced. Rachel just guessed he couldn't stand Luce either.

"So, you need to find out what she's up to, okay? I can't get anything out of her."

Puck nodded jerkily. "Sure. I'll get it out of her, the little spy."

After she finished the after match cheer, Quinn ignored Santana as she congratulated them for a good performance. Her little speech was almost identical to the ones Quinn used to give. Looking around, she saw Puck talking to Rachel further down the bleachers. Why would he want to talk to that loser? As he turned away from Rachel, Quinn saw he looked a little worried about something- maybe he was worried about being spotted talking to Rachel? But he smirked as he saw her watching him and came jogging over.

"What did she want?" Quinn asked him, nodding to Rachel.

Puck shrugged. "Just congratulating me. Are you going to congratulate me?" He leant closer.

"Eugh, maybe after you shower?" Quinn said, laughing as she leant away from him. "You stink."

He got a glint in his eye. She knew what he was about to do, she remembered last game when she had told him was all sweaty and smelly, he had wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. It was gross, but she had laughed. But then the glint seemed to disappear and he nodded. "Sure, I guess I do," he said, and waved to her before heading to the showers.

She watched as he caught up to Finn. Finn looked around at her, his brown eyes meeting her hazel ones. He gave her a smile and a wave before disappearing into the school building with Puck. Quinn would be lying to herself if she said she was completely over Finn. But it was over between them, she hurt him and now he had moved on. Finn's just be friendly, she told herself. He's a good guy.

A/N- Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you thought! The next chapter is almost done it'll be up soon. It's mainly from Puck's POV and also Finn's.