Chapter Three :D I'm so happy that you all seem to be enjoying this. It's a pleasure to write as it's different to what I usually write, I'm not usually brave enough to concentrate on the cast as a whole, but I'm trying to do that with this story as you'll see as it continues. Hopefully this chapter will give you enough to tide you over until the next update, some progress is being made with our favourite couple :D
I don't own Glee - you already know my reasons ;)
Enjoy x
Puck pulled up in the parking lot of McKinley high and sighed as he stared at the school in front of him, it was bad enough when he had to be here for school but to be spending time here out of choice – that was just plain wrong. He got out of the car and walked into the school, it freaked him out how empty this place was. He was also annoyed with himself at arriving so early, but he had to get out of the house, his sister was driving him insane, and his mum wasn't really helping matters. So that's how he had found himself here so early, he pushed the door open to the auditorium and was surprised to find that he wasn't alone – however he wasn't surprised at who was already inside.
"Oh hello Noah," she smiled, Puck nodded in her direction as he slumped down into one of the chairs. She didn't speak to him again, instead she continued with her warm up exercises. Puck rolled his eyes, but kept his eyes on her as she stretched. She wasn't wearing her usual pleated skirts; instead she was wearing her dance kit, consisting of a pair of leggings and a tight fitting top.
"I know why I'm here early Berry, but why the hell are you here so early?" he suddenly asked, breaking the silence. She jumped up and shrugged as she walked across the stage. He watched as she walked down the steps and approached him.
"Come on Berry, it's summer vacation, and you're here this early," he smirked and Rachel rolled her eyes and sat down next to him.
"I just wanted to get an early start," she mumbled, "Why are you here so early anyway?"
"My sister is driving me mad," he stated bluntly.
"Eden is lovely!" Rachel protested and Puck rolled his eyes. During the brief time that they had dated, his family had loved Rachel. She was so damn perfect; his mother hadn't been too impressed when they had broken up, Rachel and his mother would often catch up when they went to temple, much to Puck's annoyance.
"Whatever Berry," he shrugged, Rachel stared at him and Puck smirked, Rachel nudged him and smiled briefly.
"You're such a child," she grinned, "I really hope Mr Schuster arrives soon, International's aren't that far away, we really need to work on the new songs,"
"Geez Berry, can you not talk about Glee for five minutes," Puck said shaking his head, Rachel rolled her eyes and stood up and walked over to her bag, she bent over and Puck craned his neck to get a better view – the girl was crazy as hell – but her body was crunchy toast tasty. She straightened up slowly and looked over her shoulder, she noticed him staring at her and smirked slightly. Pretending not to notice, she returned to her seat and stretched her legs out in front of her.
"Aren't you excited about going to London, Noah?" Rachel asked quietly, a small smile on her face.
"I can hardly wait Berry," he stated, half bored. Rachel nodded and relaxed in her seat.
"I'm really excited!" she gushed, "I've been doing some research, did you know that London has a theatre district, almost as famous as Broadway?"
"Fascinating," Puck mumbled, only half listening to her now.
"I've heard Buckingham Palace is meant to be beautiful at this time of year, I really hope Mr Schuster makes time in our busy schedules for us to see some of the sights. What do you think, Noah?" Puck rolled his eyes, still amused that his ignorance didn't seem to faze her at all.
"I think..." he paused for a moment as Rachel hung on his every word, "I think you're better when you're quiet," he smirked, Rachel frowned as she nudged him harshly in his side before turning her back on him. The room fell silent again and Puck happily embraced it, it was a rare thing that Rachel actually sat in silence, and he knew that it was only a matter of minutes before she started up again. But it didn't, and that scared him more than her over talking.
The two were pulled out of their separate thoughts as Mr Schuster and Miss Pillsbury walked into the auditorium.
"Mr Schuster, I've been working on possible set lists, I'm sure you'll agree that they will demonstrate New Directions to the best of our abilities," Rachel grinned. Puck rolled his eyes and slouched further down in his seat. Rachel noticed Puck's less than appreciative behaviour and huffed loudly as Mr Schuster shook his head.
"Already sorted Rachel," he pulled a pile of sheet music out of his bag and held it up for her to see.
"Well Internationals are only a few weeks away Mr Schuster, we need to be prepared," Rachel stated in a matter of fact manner before the rest of New Directions began walking into the auditorium. Rachel smiled when she noticed Blaine and Kurt approaching her and taking the two seats next to her. The rest of the group sat down and started talking quietly before Will managed to quieten the group. He cleared his throat and stood up in front of them all.
"Okay guys, as you know, we've got a lot of work to do in a short space of time." There were some murmurs of agreement from everyone, but Rachel rolled her eyes and continued to listen. "Now, here are a copy of the rules for this competition for each of you," he smiled as Emma began to frantically hand each of them their own copy. Rachel began to quickly read through them, before pausing when she came to page about set lists.
"We've got to learn another six numbers?" was Kurt's response, he glanced at Mercedes and Blaine before rolling his eyes, Will smiled at the kids and nodded.
"I know it's going to be a lot of hard work, but I've got every faith in you kids, you work best when you're under pressure." Rachel smiled proudly at everyone; Blaine was the only one to return the smile, as usual.
"So we need to perform 2 perform ballads, a duet and a solo," he turned to face Rachel and handed her a piece of music, "Rachel you're going to take the solo," she nodded eagerly and glanced at the page relatively pleased with his suggestion, Blaine reached across her and picked up, giving her a nod of approval.
"Mr Schue?" there was a pause as all eyes turned to face Finn, "I think Rachel and I should do the duet, we all know it'll be our best chance of winning," Rachel rolled her eyes and Blaine squeezed her hand gently, trying to keep her calm.
"In case you've forgotten Finn, I've been singing with Blaine all year and we've just won Nationals, I think we'll be fine," Blaine laughed as Rachel finished her rant. Finn frowned and sunk further down into his seat. Ever since Blaine transferred to McKinley Finn had certainly felt pushed to the side, as far as leading man material went. Blaine, coming from being the lead vocalist of The Warblers, was the only male willing to fight Finn for the lead, of course Kurt was thrilled for his boyfriend to take over the lead, but surprisingly the other members of New Directions agreed to listen to how Blaine and Rachel sounded together, and after an unanimous vote Blaine won and had been singing lead with Rachel ever since. Will glanced at Finn and smiled at him before focussing his attention on Puck and Rachel who were sitting on the front the row.
"I actually had something different in mind this time," he smiled, "I was really impressed with the way that you two co operated with each other at Nationals, I know that I took a risk pairing you both together, but it worked," Will nodded and Rachel gave him a look that clearly said concern, causing Puck to sit up straight in his chair, he knew him dancing with Rachel was only going to cause him problems. The only reason Puck and Rachel had been forced together in the first place was because Rachel couldn't stand to be anywhere within touching distance of Finn, so at the last minute Puck swapped to dance with Rachel and Lauren swapped to dance with Finn.
"I want you two to perform the duet,"
"What?" Puck snapped, Will sighed and sat down staring at the two teens.
"Mr Schuster, I've been singing with Blaine all year, it's too risky to change things now," Rachel stated, Will nodded and smiled.
"Like I said Rachel, I'm mixing things up a little, I saw the chemistry you two had at Nationals when you were dancing together," Puck frowned as Rachel opened her mouth, but found herself speechless. Puck smirked as his attention flicked to her for a moment – Rachel Berry was actually speechless, it had never happened before.
"This is the song I want you two to sing," he handed each of them a piece of sheet music and a CD. Rachel read the title and frowned slightly.
"Mr Schuster, I've never heard this song before,"
"This is an classic English ballad, it's usually performed by a boy band, but I thought we could mix it up a little and use it as our duet," Rachel frowned as she stared at the paper in front of her, she usually relished the spot light on her, but she'd never heard of this song before and her music taste was incredible. Maybe Mr Schuster had finally lost it; he'd come close before, maybe the stress had finally gotten to him?
"Maybe you should give the duet to Blaine Mr Schue, like Berry said, he's used to doing them." Puck sighed, glancing between Rachel and the piece of paper in his hand; he acted as if the latter was burning into his skin. Blaine glanced across to Puck and shrugged, clearly surprised by the Will's decision, but supportive of him regardless. Will shook his head and smiled.
"The duet is yours Puck, now you two are going to have to work extra hard together, what with the group numbers as well, but I'm sure you can do it." Puck groaned inwardly, even though he and Rachel had dated one upon a time, it was only a means of convenience; there was nothing in it. The thought of spending all that time alone with her, it terrified him senselessly, she always delved deep into competition mode and only snapped out of it once the competition had been declared over, she was a competition monster. Puck was badass, but he was definitely no match for Rachel Berry when she was in full competition mode. Rachel on the other hand was distraught, she loved performing with Blaine, they had a really great chemistry on stage that no other club had been able to replicate yet. She knew him so well, she knew how he worked, how he prepared for a competition. Then there was Puck – Noah – she also knew how his mind worked, and it definitely didn't fit into her game plan for competition warm up. This could only spell disaster. Will watched the two teens anxiously, they could barely look at each other. He smiled at Emma who was already having doubts about his choices,
"Okay guys, let's start with the group number," Will announced before walking to the centre of the stage. The rest of New Directions began to move and Rachel let out a quiet sigh, Blaine noticed and gave her an encouraging smile.
"So...I'll draw up a rehearsal schedule for you," Rachel mumbled, turning to face Puck for the first time since they had been given the news. Puck rolled his eyes again, something that infuriated Rachel to no end.
"Can't you just call me like a normal person?" he snapped quickly before getting to his feet and joining the others on the stage. Rachel rolled her eyes and followed him, catching up with Blaine and Kurt.
The atmosphere between everyone was full of excitement as rehearsals got underway, Mr Schuster had given them their set list and a copy of the competition rules, and after a few heated words from Mercedes and Kurt about his selections for the solo and duet, they were well and truly on their way. As Will divided the kids into groups, girls on one side, boys on the other, he decided to work on the smaller numbers before starting on the big group numbers. As the boy's rehearsal got underway, Emma assisted the girls in selecting their costumes for each respective number. They'd come on a lot since their first performance, they'd grown as a group and it made discussions like this a lot easier than it ever had been before.
"Maybe we should wait for Kurt, you know he likes to be included in the costume choices," Mercedes stated as she flicked through a selection of catalogues that Emma had brought with her. The girls exchanged glances and Quinn shook her head.
"We'll consult him later, we need to make a start," Mercedes nodded and the girls huddled around, working through each number until they were satisfied with their choices.
"I think for our number we should each wear bright colours," Quinn grinned, Santana rolled her eyes and Brittany clapped her hands.
"Well, it would definitely make a change from wearing black all the time,"
"Think about it, we're performing a Katy Perry song, she's always wearing something colourful, and 'Hot 'n' Cold is such a fun song, we'd look awesome!" The girls nodded as Emma jotted down the girls suggestions, wincing as the girls tore pages out of her perfectly kept catalogues. As time wore on, the girls had decided to resurrect some of their old costumes, as to save some money from their budget, and also selected a range of new costumes to enable to stand out from the other clubs. The boys would be wearing their leathers from their first mash up, the girls agreed that it was a good look for their performance of 'Don't Stop Me Now.' As for the group numbers, they had decided to resurrect their costumes from 'Hello, Goodbye', they figured that as they were sticking with the original choreography then using their old costumes wouldn't really hurt either. It was the other group number that was causing them problems; each of them had their own ideas. They were performing 'I've Got a Feeling', Santana and Brittany wanted to wear something sassy and sexy, whereas Rachel and Tina wanted something a little more understated. Eventually they decided on the boys wearing jeans and black shirt, and the girls wearing outfits inspired by their funk number that they used against Vocal Adrenaline during their first year of Glee – bright colours and short skirts or shorts. Emma knew that giving the girls a free reign on this number could cause trouble, as they each had different taste, some willing to show more flesh than others. But she held her breath and kept her thoughts to herself for the time being.
Will called the kids together again later that day, and congratulated them on their first day of rehearsals. Overall he was pleased with where they were heading, he listened as the girls discussed their costume choices, and then watched as Kurt felt the need to criticise some of their choices and add a little of his own flare into the mixture.
"Great rehearsal today everyone, I mean it," he grinned as everyone began gathering their belongings. "Tomorrow morning I'm going to work on the girls number, boys you'll be working on your own, then tomorrow afternoon I want to run through the group numbers,"
Everyone nodded and made their way out of the auditorium, as Puck slung his back over his shoulder, Rachel hurried to catch up with him. She tapped him gently on his shoulder and paused as she waited for him to face her.
"What do you want Berry?" he asked his tone full of boredom already.
"My dads are out tonight," she smiled, he arched his eyebrow at her and smirked, she rolled her eyes at him and shook her head.
"It's nothing like that, as you well know!" she stated angrily, "I was simply saying that my dad's were out tonight and we could use my basement to rehearse,"
Puck nodded and turned on his heel, Rachel sighed loudly. She had a lot of work to do to whip him into shape, she was damned if she was going to arrive at the competition at anything less than her best.
Later that evening, Puck was sat in Rachel's lounge, after running through the song no less than 10 times that evening. Rachel passed him a cool glass of lemonade and she sat down next to him.
"I can't believe we actually have to sing this song, it's so lame!" he complained, Rachel rolled her eyes, he'd done nothing else since he had arrived earlier that evening. She was aware that Noah had an edgier music taste, and the thought of singing a ballad, especially a ballad as loving as this one, didn't really do much for his badass reputation. Rachel, however had done her research, she'd taken the time out of her busy schedule to look for the song on YouTube and had been pleasantly surprised to find out that their ballad, as well the band's back catalogue had been made into a very successful stage show in the UK. She knew that if they managed to sing it with the conviction and the passion that she'd seen in the stage version, then they'd be perfectly fine in competition.
"You're doing fine Noah, it's going to take some time getting used to the lead vocals," she explained, he nodded and rested his head on the back of the sofa.
"I know I'm pushing you a lot, but it'll be worth it in the end," she smiled, Puck sat up and stared at her, she shrank back into her seat when his attention shifted onto her.
"You really care about this don't you?" he asked quietly, she nodded and took a sip from her glass.
"It probably sounds ridiculous to the likes of you, but being on the stage is the only place that I have ever felt as if I truly belong," she admitted slowly, he nodded and smiled at her, before rethinking his actions and placing his glass on the table in front of him. He shook his head and smirked at her, as he stretched back into his seat.
"So how do I compare to Anderson, I know you were gutted that you got landed with me instead of him." He tried to hide the bitterness in his voice, a little stunned at where that tone came from. She frowned at him and shook her head.
"It's not like that Noah, you're a wonderful performer, it's just Blaine has the experience that is needed at one of these competitions, it's a lot to take in, especially for your first time,"
"Whatever Berry,"
So it continued, New Directions rehearsed all day everyday for the next week and a half, with Puck and Rachel meeting up every evening to rehearse their duet. Rachel also had the added pressure of working on her solo whenever she had any free time. Gradually the pair were becoming accustomed to each other's company again. Rachel was thrilled that Puck seemed to be taking a back seat again and Noah was coming to the forefront and that was the side of him that she didn't seem to mind spending time with. Will had arranged a final dress rehearsal two days before they were due to fly out to England, and he was thrilled with what he had seen. As he watched them perform, he knew at that very moment that he could not be more proud of them if he tried. He was filled with a mix of emotions as the kids said their goodbyes after their final rehearsal, knowing that the next time he would see them would be at the airport.
"Will, are you okay?" Emma asked quietly when they were finally left alone, he smiled and nodded – Emma had been brilliant over the last week or so, she had worked tirelessly making sure that everyone had the correct costumes, and that they were sticking to the schedule. Will had no doubt that he had made the right decision in asking her to come with them.
"Couldn't be happier Emma," he smiled.
