The next day at school, Puck knocked on Mr. Schuester's door. "Mr. Schue? Can I come in?"
Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrows. "Sure, but don't you have class now?" he asked.
Puck sat down on the chair across from him and shrugged. "It's math," he said, by way of explanation.
Mr. Schuester rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. He was curious about what his student came to talk to him about.
"I spoke to Rachel" Puck began. "She admitted that it's that Stanley douche who is hurting her, but she won't do anything about it because she has a recital in six weeks and there are going to be Broadway scouts there, and she doesn't want the other dancers mad at her. I don't like it, but she promised me that she'll leave him once the show is over, and unfortunately that's about as much as I can get from her."
Mr. Schuester nodded at him. "Good work Noah. I don't think anyone could get her to talk about it, let alone convince her to leave him after the show. You have done a great thing for her" he said, praising his student.
Puck blushed and gave a slight smile. "Thanks, Mr. Schue, but I also have a favor to ask you.
"Okay shoot" Mr. Schuester said, leaning back in his chair.
"Her competition's coming up soon, and I don't want Rachel to be too stressed out right now in case it ruins her focus, and gives Stanley any more excuses to hurt her. So, instead of doing a big choreography number, could we maybe do duets? And have Rachel and me as partners? I'm not saying to slack off in Glee or anything – Rachel would kill me if she thought I was trying to do that – but maybe hold off on the big numbers where she has to learn more choreography and have to deal with a lot of lifts and twirling and stuff. And if she's with me, we can do it so we'll do a song she already knows and easy choreography so she won't get hurt or overwork herself."
Mr. Schuester blinked at Puck. "You know, I should give you more credit. You really are a smart guy, that's a great idea. And don't worry, I'll give the assignment so it doesn't seem too obvious."
Puck smiled widely, happy that Mr. Schuester agreed and that he'll get to do a song with Rachel. Mr. Schuester saw the look on his face and the corner of his mouth lifted. Puck, seeing this, stood up, saying that it was time for his afternoon nap. Just as he was about to leave, Mr. Schuester called out to him.
"Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that you want to do a song with Rachel."
Puck blushed and walked out the door.
True to his word, Mr. Schuester walked into Glee rehearsal with a list in his hands. "Okay guys, new assignment. I want to do another duets project. But it'll be different this time. I'm going to choose partners, based on who I think could be compatible. I have the partners already picked out. Sam and Artie. Tina and Mercedes. Puck and Rachel…"
Puck smiled to himself. He liked how Mr. Schuester didn't put him and Rachel in the beginning or at the end of the list, so there would be less attention to their pairing. Rachel, who was sitting right in front of him, beamed widely at him. He winked back and saw that her cheeks turned a little pink before facing front again.
Mr. Schuester continued. "There's also one more aspect to this assignment. I want you to do a song that expresses yourselves as partners. You can do any song you want, but I want you to go all out on this, costumes and everything. You have two weeks. Good luck."
Puck was a little surprised about that last part, but figured that he had to do something different to this assignment than the other duets competitions to make the group not suspicious.
Rachel stood up and faced him. "Noah, we should get working on this right away. Come to my house tomorrow after school so we can try to find a song. I'll go through my music collection tonight to narrow down the list" she said, and grabbed her trolley and left the room. Puck knew she had a dance rehearsal soon, and she didn't want to risk being late. Lateness meant a slap on the head to remind them to look at a clock and remember when and where they were supposed to be. He knew that the second Rachel got home, she would get working on their song (he liked the sound of that) right away. But Puck wasn't going to make her do all the work. He was going to try and find a song for them to sing.