It was only supposed to be a bet. Finn Hudson, the most popular guy in school, bet that he could make any girl popular. So now he only has a few weeks to take the biggest loser in school, Rachel Berry, and turn her into the Prom Queen. Sounds simple enough. Yeah...right. Loosely based on She's All That.

Disclaimer: Glee does not belong to me. I just like to borrow the characters from time to time. :)


Chapter Seven - Strikes and Strike Outs

she's blood, flesh and bone
no tucks or silicone
she's touch, smell, sight, taste and sound
but somehow i can't believe that anything should happen
i know where i belong and nothing's gonna happen
She's So High - Tal Bachman

Rachel sucked at bowling. Like, really sucked. Of course she'd never been good at any sport. Sure she was an amazing dancer, but that was something that just came natural and with years and years of practice. Bowling was another one of those sports like basketball and badminton that she just sucked at. Even though she was sucking it up on the lanes, she was still having a pretty awesome time. Something she was reluctant to admit.

Currently she was sitting in a booth away from the lanes, having decided to take a break to eat. The booth, which was a circular booth, was cozy and put off in the corner. So she and Finn had plenty of privacy.

"This pizza is really good." She said happily, taking the pepperonis off and laying them down on her plate.

"If it's so good then why are you dismembering it?" Finn asked, reaching across the table to snatch a pepperoni off her plate to eat.

"I'm not a big fan of processed meat, which pepperoni is." Rachel said shrugging her shoulders like it wasn't that big of a deal, which it wasn't to her.

"So you're a health nut?" Finn asked as he reached over and scooped up the remainder of the pepperonis on her plate.

"Caring about what I put into my body doesn't make me a nut. In fact, I would argue that it makes me quite the opposite." Rachel said quickly. "Plus, we can't all be gifted with an iron stomach."

Finn laughed at that, throwing his head back and really letting go. "It's a gift, I'll give you that." He said once he had calmed down enough to speak. "One time Puck and I got into a competition to see who could eat the most hot sauce before chickening out. I beat that punk like the little bitch he is."

"I bet you still had to pay for that later though." Rachel said, her face turning into a grimace as she imagined the intense heartburn that would have to accompany all that hot sauce.

Finn laughed again and patted his stomach. "Nope. Iron stomach, remember?"

Rachel had to laugh at that.

"Well, well look what we have here!" A strangely familiar voice came from over Rachel's shoulder. She turned to see who it was and groaned; Finn's friends, with Puck in the front of the group. Her eyes immediately flew to his hands to check for a slushie; they were empty. She'd known that this was too good to be true. Did Finn just invite her out to humiliate her in a new way? She looked back at Finn and the thought flew out of her mind, he didn't look happy to see them either.

"Crap." Finn said quietly before leaning in close to Rachel. "Well, if we're going to be friends, we're going to have to deal with them sooner or later." As soon as he was done talking though, Puck and the rest of Finn's friends were already next to the booth.

"This looks cozy." Puck said, shoving his way into the booth next to Finn, causing Finn to move further towards the middle of the booth. Rachel did the same, allowing room for the rest of the group to sit down since they'd already clearly invited themselves into the booth. It was a tight fit, but they all fit in. Puck, Quinn, and Sam were next to Finn, while Mike, Brittany and Sugar were sitting next to Rachel.

"What are you doing here, Puck? This isn't really your scene." Finn asked, his voice calm, but his eyes were shooting daggers at his friend.

"A little birdie told me you were bowling today, so I thought I'd come and see my best friend." Puck said, a smug grin clear on his face. "I'm hurt that you didn't invite me. Then again, this almost looks like a date."

Rachel, who had been taking a drink of water, nearly choked at that statement.

"You should be careful, I almost drowned in a glass of water once." Brittany said quickly.

Rachel tried to see if the girl was being serious or not, but then decided that she was. "Uh, thanks. I'll be more careful next time."

Brittany gave her a bright smile. "You're welcome. I always get such a rush when I save a life."

Rachel wasn't sure what to say, so she just decided to give the blonde a smile instead. She turned her attention back to Puck, who had decided to turn his attention to whatever was left of their pizza. She felt a nudge on her left though and turned her attention to Finn.

"Sorry for Puck. He's kind of a douche." He whispered into her ear.

That was the understatement of the year. She wondered if Finn knew that out of all the jocks in the school, that Puck was the one who had slushied the most, and that when he did slushie her, he always aimed for her chest and not her face. She thought about whispering something back to Finn, but then thought better of it.

"So are you guys interested in another game?" Sam asked from the edge of the booth.

"I think we were going to play one more game before we called it a day. I think Rachel's hoping to finally break 40." Finn laughed, once more nudging her in the arm.

Rachel had to laugh at the joke. It was true; so far she'd only barely gotten over a 35.

"Do you care if we join you?" Sam asked again.

Rachel was impressed, he was being very polite. Of course for some reason Sam never seemed to fit in with the rest of the group. Although it seemed like Puck was the only person in the entire group who had ever slushied her.

"It's fine with me, if it's fine with you." Finn said, turning to look at Rachel.

She was on the spot. If she said no then she'd be a bitch, so of course she had to say yes. "Yeah, it's fine."


Thirty minutes later the game was over and, of course, Finn had won. Rachel had been pleasantly surprised though to find that she didn't have the lowest score. That honor went to Sugar, with a score of 34.

"Finn, I will never understand how you play so well." Mike said as they all made their way to the parking lot.

"It's just talent, buddy. Pure talent." Finn laughed, puffing up his chest as he spoke. Rachel had to force herself not to roll her eyes.

"So are you guys coming to Mike's party tonight?" Quinn asked, looking to Rachel.

"I don't know about Finn, but it's not really my kind of scene." Rachel said, confused as to why Quinn would have asked her in the first place.

"Are you kidding?" Quinn asked, putting an arm around Rachel's shoulders. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah, you should totally come." Puck said quickly, shooting Finn a look that Rachel couldn't figure out. "Get to know us a little better."

Rachel almost laughed, she was pretty sure she knew them well enough as it was. Still, she knew that she'd never be able to get them off her back if she didn't give them the answer they wanted to hear.

"Okay, I'll come." She said quickly, putting on her best acting smile.

"Excellent." Puck said as they finally made their way into the parking lot. "I'll see you guys later then." He said as everyone parted ways to their cars.


Finn drove Rachel back to her house in silence. She wasn't entirely sure what to say, especially since she had to tell Finn that she wasn't going to be able to make it to the party that night. It only took five minutes to make it back to her house though, so she hadn't had much time to come up with any good excuses.

"I had fun today." Rachel said, opening her door and getting out of Finn's truck. "I guess I'll see you on Monday." She turned around then and made her way to the front door, thinking if she just made it inside before he figured out that she wasn't going to the party she'd be free and clear.

"Hold on!" Finn was quicker than she'd given him credit for.

Groaning and turning around on the porch, Rachel came face to face with Finn who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Did I forget something?" She decided to play dumb.

"Do you want me to pick you up for the party tonight?" Finn asked.

"Oh yeah, the party." Rachel said, stalling as much as she could. "I forgot I have to clean the house. My dads are out of town, and the place is a pig sty." She lied, she lied big. It wasn't too hard though, especially since she was a world-class actress.

"You have to clean the house?" Finn clearly didn't believe her.

"Yeah, it's nearly unlivable in there. I'm behind on my chores." Rachel said, wishing that Finn would just get the hint.

"Oh, well, I could help you clean if you like." Finn said, making as though he were going to climb the stairs.

Rachel panicked. "No!" She said loudly, putting her hands out to stop him. Taking a breath she continued, "It's my mess, I'll do it. I'll see you on Monday though for Glee." And without any further words she quickly unlocked her door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.


a/n: Okay, so I took a little from She's All That to help with Rachel's excuse for not going to the party. Also, Finn, Puck, Sam and Mike are the only ones who know about the bet. Quinn is dating Sam, also Quinn, Brittany and Sugar are Santana's "minions". Next chapter you can expect a little Kurt, Rachel and Blaine interaction. Please don't forget to review... :)