It just occurred to me that my timeline doesn't make that much sense. Oh well. Too late. I'm not really that good at editing my stories once I published them, because of my computer, if I make any changes I have to republish them all over again, which gives people extra alerts and I get hate mail and less subscriptions. So to save people from that, I'm just going to tell you now not to try and make sense of my timeline. You won't be able to.

Also, I'm sorry this was late, but this chapter was SO HARD for me to write. Going into it I was positive I was going to add something in at the end, and I was not at all prepared for the big dramatic scene I was going to write, so the entire way through I was freaking out about the last couple scenes. But I just could not do it. Angst storm is now officially delayed. *whew*

Disclaimer: If I owned Glee I would twist it so much that nobody else would like it but me. *sigh*


Chapter Seven: Don't Expect Too Much

Two days later…

"Now they fight. All the time. And I have no idea what they're even fighting about and when I try to ask them they just send me up to my room." Puck listened quietly as Rachel told him her problems. "I'm just so… worried, Noah, I don't understand." He nodded to himself and slowly removed one hand from the wheel, and took her hand in his.

She tried not to gasp out loud, or anything of the sort. Never once had he held her hand, not even when they had dated. He said it was a chick-type thing to do, and he was to badass for it. Sure, he walked arm in arm with her down the hall, but this was different. It felt, comforting, soft. It was a whole new level of intimacy that she wasn't aware Puck was able to show.

Her eyes drifted from their intertwined hands to his face, where she saw him staring at her. There was warmth in his gaze, and when the corners of her mouth turned up slowly, he flashed her a lazy grin.

Then all the sudden there was a loud honking from outside the car and Noah's head snapped back on the road. "Shit!" Rachel watched bewildered as her swerved far to the right in order to avoid hitting the car to the left of him. He got back in the center lane and gave the largest sigh of relief she'd ever heard.

She then promptly burst into a fit of hysterics. He looked at her like she was on some type of illegal drug, and between laughs she managed to say, "The look on your face!" He rolled his eyes and turned back to the road. But out of the corner of her eye she saw his lips curl up ever so slightly, because he was just happy she was laughing.


Santana patted the seat next to her when Rachel walked through the door with Puck. She smiled happily and gladly took the seat next to her. Santana smirked in Puck's direction, which he just shrugged off and went to sit in the back by Mike. Santana's head whipped around.

"Is something going down with you and Puck?"

"You're a really terrible whisperer." Santana's eyes widened at the lack of denial, and Rachel quickly realized her mistake. "I mean no! He just gives me rides because my cars in the shop."

Santana nodded believingly. "Okay. So if your cars in the shop, what did we drive to the mall yesterday?" Opps. She had forgotten about that.

"Carpooling." She spit out. "It's… good for the environment, and it saves polar bears." Santana didn't skip a beat.

"Bullshit." Brittany's face fell from next to Santana.

"Aww, San, I like polar bears. They're cute." Santana's face softened as she turned over to Brittany.

"I do too, B. Remember I got you a stuffed one for your birthday?" Brittany nodded excitedly.

"That was really cool. It had a card on it that confused me though. I said something about polar bears really being black. But hello? Their fur is white. The people who wrote that must be really stupid." Santana smiled and nodded, and Brittany's attention was quickly caught by Kurt, who was flashing his shiny new watch in her direction.

Santana leaned in as discretely as possible. "I know I was the one who convinced you to move on, but we were heads over heels for Hudson and he broke your heart. Shouldn't you recover first?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Please. He did not break my heart." Not really. "He just disappointed me. Not only by cheating on me, but by his actions that followed. I'm just thankful nothing more happened. I know he and Quinn have history, so at least he kissed her instead of sleeping with her." Santana's eyes widen guiltily. "Not that it matters, it's still cheating." Santana gave a nervous nod, her face looking conflicted. "What is it San?" Before Santana could reply she was cut off by Mr. Schuester.

"Alright guys, before we get started, Finn wants to sing something for us today." Every eye turned to the back row. "Come on up." Finn smiled widely as he walked up to the front of the room and signaled the band to start playing. As the familiar tune rang in her head, Rachel tried not to gape, or acknowledge to ten people staring holes into her, because they knew too.

Tell me do you think it'd be alright

If I could just crash here tonight,

As you see I'm in no shape for drivin'

And any way I've got no place to go

The song really had no relevance to their situation. Like, absolutely none. In fact, it seemed like he was just singing it because she had brought it up a couple days ago. She wasn't sure how to feel.

And you know it might not be that bad

You were the best I ever had

I hadn't blown the whole thing years ago

I might not be alone

Alright, maybe there was a little relevance, she admitted to herself. Finn didn't strut up to where she was sitting, or sing on her ear like he did when he sang Jessie's Girl, he was smart enough to know not to.

Tomorrow we can drive around this town

And let the cops chase us around

The past is gone but something might be found to take its place

She bit her lip. She was always a sucker for a guy who would sing. But she couldn't give in this pathetic attempt. She had sworn to herself she was done with this. But he just looked so sincere.

Listen to my heart,

There's only one thing I couldn't start…


After the bell for after school activities rang, she abandoned Santana and leapt nimbly out of the door to avoid being intercepted by Puck. She ran and ran, all the way to the girls' bathroom. She took a long look in the mirror, trying to reason with herself. She sighed cupped her hands together a took a deep sip of water, something she always did when she was sad or nervous. She re-exited the bathroom and made her way down the hall to Finn's locker.

She tried to convince herself that she wasn't giving in. No, she was just going to talk to him. It would be simple, easy. If only she knew what she was going to say.

Rachel took a deep breath and turned the corner, nearly running now. She stopped at the fork in the hall, once she took this left turn there was no going back. She knew he'd be waiting for her.

Then she heard a quiet sniffling coming from the right. She peered down and saw Brittany alone at her locker, a single tear going down her face. Rachel was instantly at her side. "What's wrong Brittany?" Brittany sniffled again.

"Mr. Waddles is being mean today. He bit me!" Rachel wasn't sure if she heard her correctly at first. But Brittany continued to whimper until Rachel finally had to ask.

"Who's Mr. Waddles?" Brittany pointed a finger at her locker before drawing her hand back again to nurse her bite. Rachel peered in Brittany's dark locker, poking her nose in slightly, before she heard a loud snapping sound and pulled her head back. Inside her locked there was a dark green, almost black shell with a horned head poking out.

Mr. Waddles was a turtle. A very dried out, angry looking turtle at that.

Brittany cried. "I can't believe he bit me. I've been so nice to him, I gave him food, a bath, a home, and he bit me!" Rachel placed a pitying hand on the girl.

"That's because he's a snapping turtle Brit. It's in his nature." Brittany's heartbroken expression was replaced with a look of confusion.

"So he's a musician? He's not very good. No wonder he's so grumpy."Rachel had to try and stop herself from laughing at loud at the blonde girl's confusion. She racked her brain to find a simple way to explain it to her.

"Well Brittany, he's very grateful of your hospitality, but he's homesick and he misses his family." Brittany nodded sadly, finally understanding. Rachel smiled in relief. "Why don't we get Principal Figgins and he'll take the turtle back home." Brittany looked horrified.

"No! I have to at least say goodbye! Then I promised I'll bring him home! Rachel please let me do it!"

Rachel sighed. "Alright, but you have to put him straight back after you said goodbye." Brittany grinned again.

"Thanks Rachel, you're the best. Finn's really stupid for being mean to you. San says guys do that when they know they're not good enough." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't really know what she was talking about, but then she said he was really bad in bed, so I guess that's what she meant."

Rachel laughed. "And where'd she get that idea?" Brittany looked confused, so she elobrated. "Finn and Santana never had sex. They only went on like one date." Brittany's lips went into an 'o'.

"Oh well, Coach wanted us to be more like Madonna and she told us to date a younger man, so Santana went for Finn and took his virginity. It was a really Madonna move, she totally wrote a song about it." Rachel blinked several times and stood in shock. Inside the locker Mr. Waddles snapped a few more times, drawing Brittany's attention. "Oh, I should probably take Mr. Waddles' back now." Rachel watched silently as Brittany coaxed the animal into her backpack then took off down the hallway, waving her hand behind her.

Rachel didn't wave back.


Rachel was ready to burst into tears. Puck had already left, her cell phone was dead and it looked like it was going to rain soon. But she walked all the way home anyway, sitting on the biggest cloud of disappointment sense Finn had cheated on her. It seemed ironic she was here again.

He lied to her. So had she. That's not what she was angry about. But it seemed like just as she was actually considering forgiving him she finds out, from Brittany. It just wasn't fair. It was like fate wanted them to fail miserably. And Santana? Santana had lied too. Her first real friend in the world was to selfish to tell her that what she had done.

Of course, it was Santana too. What attractive guy hadn't that girl slept with? But it was just too much. As soon as she gets a friend, in her hour of need, of course she gets let down again.

She supposes she should have known. But she feels surprised anyway.

Rachel took a moment to enter the supermarket, purchasing a tube of her favorite ice cream and prepared for a long day of recovery. The man at the counter rung her up as there was a clap of thunder for outside.

"Lovely weather huh?" She pretended to smile, tapping her foot impatiently as he swiped her credit card. "I hate days like this, when you know it's going to storm but it just refuses to start raining. You should start heading home before it does." Rachel nodded before snatching the card and bag out of his hands and nearly bolting out the door.

She ran all the way home, the ice cream hitting her side repeatedly. She panted on her doorstep, pulling the door open slowly to reveal her two fathers, sitting calmly on the sofa, waiting for her. Her eyebrows arched in confusion as she set the ice cream on the table. He father looked her up and down, eyeing the bag before sighing and motioning for her to sit down. "We need to talk."

Right at that moment, the rain started to pour.


A/N: Not really much to say hear. Again, the next chapter might be late, because it will be undoubtedly hard to write. I will be plunging headfirst into the Angst storm, so wish me good luck,.

-xoxo SIL xoxo