Rachel Berry let out a sigh as she smoothed out her jean shorts. She was about to go up in front of a whole bunch of girls that still terrorized her to this day. She had no idea why she was even doing this; she knew when Mercedes and Kurt became Cheerios it didn't have positive results. Before she could dwell further on this, she saw Brittany smile at her. The girl may be a little off, but she was nice. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to see Puck standing behind her. "Noah…what are you doing here?" she questioned in surprise.

"I came here to support you," he said with a knowing smirk. After taking a look at her face, he gently placed a hand on her cheek. "You know that you don't have to do this if you aren't comfortable with it," he murmured. She bit her lip; she knew a huge part of her wanted this new image, but was it worth joining Sue Sylvester's group?

"I doubt I'll even make it anyways...Sue would never want me here," Puck rolled his eyes, and rubbed her back.

"Well I believe in you babe," he mumbled. She grinned and found that she was confident in what she was about to do. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his lips. He grinned against her lips before she pulled away. He took a seat on one of the bleacher seats inside the auditorium where she was trying out for the Cheerio Squad. She took a deep breath before confidently walking to the center of the room. In the back of her mind, she knew that she was probably going to get hassled by Mercedes and Kurt for even trying out. She put that to the back of her mind.

From the bleachers, Puck was looking around. There were more people here than he thought there would be. After talking with Santana about the whole she had better not be setting Rachel up for a disaster, he was starting to look into other potential people hurting his girlfriend. He saw Kurt was still in the Cheerios, and he really didn't look happy. The football player crossed his arms; he was going to have to talk with that diva later about his attitude. He wasn't going to throw him in the dumpster; there were other ways to get his point across. When he glanced down at Rachel, she saw him smiling up at him. Puck smiled and waved at her. As soon as she started her routine, he made sure to keep an eye on how she was doing. There wasn't anyone saying anything offensive, so he kept his sights on Rachel. She was able to repeat whatever the Cheerios threw out at her. He was surprised that she was able to do all that after just watching once. He began to wonder why she hadn't tried out beforehand.

Sue Sylvester was shocked to see Rachel Berry trying out to be one of her Cheerios; she half expected that Schuester was trying to get spies into her club to get her funds cut once more. She knew that Rachel would be a great asset to the Cheerios. It was up to Santana Lopez ultimately made the decisions for the squad, she let her Cheerios have bigger reign than most clubs; not as much though. She didn't want another Quinn fiasco about. "Alright Berry, we will get back to you," Rachel nodded her head, and walked out of the auditorium. Puck met her halfway, and wondered if she was alright.

"You did excellent babe," he said, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks Noah," she whispered.

"Are you alright?" he asked, stopping them in the middle of the hall. She nodded her head, and found herself burrowing herself closer to her boyfriend. He knew that she wasn't going to open it up, and decided to let her be in her little world for a little while longer. "You sure you are ok?" he questioned, rubbing her shoulder affectionately as they reached her locker. She bit her lip, and looked over towards the Cheerios.

"I'm not sure if I really want to become a cheerleader," she sighed. Puck smirked, and leaned up against her locker. He chuckled lightly, "What?" she questioned.

"If you don't want to be a cheerleader, then don't be one," he said simply. Rachel had never heard that before. Everything she had tried she had always gone through with. It was how she was raised, her fathers always said that if she tries for something, makes sure she wants it. She just wasn't sure if she would actually like it, but that wasn't what she was worried about. Her dad…at least one of them, would get mad about her straying away from what goals that had set ahead for her.

"I just don't know what I want," she said simply, not wanting to get into a long explanation like she would have done in the past. As soon as the words flew out of her mouth, she realized her big mistake. She was Rachel Berry; ever since she entered high school, everyone knew what she had wanted to be and where she wanted to go. "I mean…" she started to stammer. Puck knew that this was going to lead to a classic Rachel Berry storm out, so he wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her lips.

"Don't sweat it Rache," he said after he pulled away, "No one at our age should be so sure about what they want to do," she was shocked to silence at that moment. She never thought about it that way before; she never had the chance to think about it that way. "Come on…" he said, gently tugging her towards his truck. He had picked her up for her tryout, so she didn't have her car. She was supposed to go to his house for dinner with his Mom anyways.

Quinn Fabray looked around as people filed out of the auditorium. What was Santana Lopez thinking, trying to make Man Hands-Berry a Cheerio? She may not be the Main Bitch of William McKinley High School, and she may have her times, but this was looking bad. "Santana," she called out as the Cheerios started to exit. The Latina cheerleader turned around. Quinn remembered how Mercedes had gotten when she had become a Cheerleader. Rachel Berry would take it to the next level if she took becoming popular this seriously.

"Hey Q," Santana said. A part of her missed having her friend back, but then popularity took over. "Look we are really busy-,"

"I just want to make sure you aren't pulling a Latina stay away from my man thing on the Crazy-,"

"Since when do you care about her? I mean since you and Finnessa broke up, you stopped caring about her anyways," Quinn took a step back, no one had really been that snappy towards her since she really started to show her pregnancy. Santana looked at her, "What?" she questioned, "just because you have a bun in your oven isn't going to make me talk to you any differently," The Latina rolled her eyes, "But if it puts your hormonal rage under control, me and her have just been talking as of lately," That answer didn't seem to satisfy Quinn, but Santana really didn't care. She needed to go home, and make sure her mother wasn't hitting the sauce too hard again. She talked to Brittany about it, but most everything goes over that poor girl's head. If she hadn't slept with Finn, maybe she would talk to the former queen bee. "Gotta go Q," she said, leaving Quinn alone in the auditorium.

When she got to her car, and attempted to turn it on, she let out a groan. "Piece of shit!" she snapped, slamming the steering wheel. There was a knock on her window, and she looked over and saw Mike Chang. She got out of her car, and she was met with a concerned smile from the Asian.

"Everything ok?" he questioned.

"Stupid car won't start," she grunted. She was getting nervous now; normally she would be halfway home.

"I can take a look at if you want..."

"I really just need to go home," she muttered darkly, hoping her mom hadn't hit her emergency flasks already. Mike looked at her strangely, and then shrugged his shoulders. If she needed to be home that badly, he could just take her home before taking a look at her car.

"I can give you a ride," he offered, pulling out his keys. For the first time in a long time, Santana Lopez felt guilty. She had almost made him one of her friends with benefits, but Puck didn't want her to do that to him. She didn't want to lead him on.

"Mike…"

"Really it's no trouble," he promised, "Come on, I'll take a look at your car this weekend," he said with a gentle smile. She just decided to take him on his kind offer.

"Thanks Mike," she said, smiling lightly.

Puckerman Residence

Rachel smiled as she sat down at the Puckerman table, Puck still looked nervous. "Noah…" Rachel mumbled, grabbing his hand under the table. He flashed her a smile, and then shot a look towards his sister. She had been quiet for a while. "Abby…"

"Yes Noah?" she questioned quietly.

"You are kinda quiet," he observed, "you barely said anything to Rachel-,"

"Why should I Puck?" she snapped back harshly. "She is just going to go away like your other girls," Puck felt like he got socked in the stomach. It hurt to see how his family thought of him. Rachel looked towards his sister, and saw guilt clouding her features. "Noah…I'm sorry," she murmured.

"Its fine," he said stiffly, taking his hand away from Rachel's. He remembered when little Abby Puckerman looked up to her big brother. Now all he was dubbed as was the Lima Loser; even in his own house. "I'm going to see if Mom needs help," he grumbled.

"I didn't mean it…" she murmured, playing with some of the silverware in front of her.

"Why don't you go tell him that when he comes back in?" Rachel suggested. "Even though he doesn't talk a lot…" she said, scooting his chair over closer to the younger girl, "I can tell he is really trying…and would love his family's support," Abby nodded her head. Puck heard everything Rachel had said to his sister; and he heard what Abby said. Puck walked back in, his mom trailing behind him. "Thank you for having me over Mrs. Puckerman," she said very respectfully.

"Its no trouble at all dear," she said with a smile. "It's nice to entertain again," she said. "Its about time that I met the girl that Noah won't-," Puck shot his mother a look, and Rachel just laughed at him.

"I'm really glad to be here," she murmured.

"So what do you like to do Rachel?" Rebecca Puckerman questioned.

"Well…as soon as my dads heard me sing, they had me perfect my voice…and further solidified that I was going to become a star…" she frowned at that note; she wasn't even sure if she wanted to go to Broadway anymore.

"Well that sounds great," Rebecca said. The night continued with small talk, and Puck sighed as his mother finally had to go to bed.

"Noah…that wasn't that bad was it?" Rachel questioned, as she slung her jacket back on. Puck rubbed his eyes, and she leaned into him. Puck wrapped his arms around her. They just stood outside of his truck; he didn't want to drive Rachel home just yet. After a few minutes Rachel started to hum a song. It was Lean on Me, and hearing her hum that made him grin.

"I guess it wasn't that bad…I mean my mother could have been less of an interrogator," Puck admitted with chuckle. "But that's my ma for ya," he mumbled, "I guess I should get you home," she shrugged her shoulders. "What's up?" he pressed.

"Nothing," she murmured, giving him a kiss. He rolled his eyes, and pulled away, "What?" she questioned.

"Baby…" he murmured.

"I just don't want to go home right now," she said dodging the issue. Puck just accepted that answer, but figured that a drive would do them both well.

"Come on…lets go take a drive," she nodded her head, and allowed him to lead her to the passenger side of his truck. For the moment she wasn't going to worry about the results of her tryout…that was a worry for tomorrow

Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter ^.^