A/N: I know that in this chapter, that wasn't exactly what, happened. I'm just writing my own thing, so hopefully this is good. Oh and I don't really know what the competition is called so I hope that Lima's Show Choir Sectionals is alright haha. Thanks so much for all the positive reviews. I'm so happy you guys love the story!
Rachel woke up the next morning in Puck's arms. That was the only place she felt so safe in. The rain had finally let up, but it was still drizzling lightly outside. She looked up at him and saw that he was still asleep. She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.
"I love you," she gently whispered. She thought he wouldn't hear it, but he did. He smiled a little smile when he felt her head fall back into his arms. Little did Puck know that Rachel was doing the exact same thing. She'd heard him say something last night that made her heart burst with happiness.
Once Rachel had fallen asleep Puck planted a kiss on her forehead.
"I love you," he said softly so she wouldn't hear. He cuddled up closer to Rachel and fell back asleep. Rachel grinned from ear to ear. She suddenly had butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. She always wondered how it would feel when a guy had said those words to her and now that she knew, she didn't want that feeling to ever go away.
Puck woke up to the taste of Rachel's bubblegum lip gloss on his lips.
"Hey," he said stretching.
"Well good morning," she said waking him up with a kiss.
"You seem happy?" He said already knowing why. It was the same reason he was happy.
"Yeah well, life is good. How could I not be happy waking up to this?" she lightly poked his arm.
"Well I'm pretty happy myself," he said sitting up.
"Is that so?" she smirked.
"Definitely," he said kissing her forehead again.
"I'm gonna go get changed; meet you back down here for breakfast." She nuzzled her nose against his and then bounced up the stairs. Seeing Rachel that happy made him happy. He knew she was in love with him; he could feel it. He knew right there that he would tell her he loved her. He didn't want it to just come out of the blue, he wanted it to be a special moment. That's when he had an idea. He would do it after sectionals. That's when he came up with a plan. He'd take her to Burgundy's restaurant the night of sectionals and disguise it as a celebration for their win. Even if they lost (which he doubted) Rachel could use some cheering up. He'd give her the ring that his grandmother told him to hold onto and he'd tell her that he loves her. That's perfect, he thought. He quickly hid the smile that was forming on his face when Rachel came back downstairs. He didn't want her to know about the plan until it happened. She pulled him up off the floor and they went into the kitchen.
Monday at school everything was going good. It was the day of sectionals and everyone was happy and excited. Everyone except Quinn and Finn (they weren't there which Rachel thought was weird since they never missed a practice), but she was sure they'd show up soon. They'd never let their team down.
"Hey girl," Mercedes walked over to Rachel who was sitting on the risers in the choir room. "How was your weekend?"
"It was," she started, "good."
"What's with the goofy smile on your face?" Kurt walked over to join them.
"Nothing, I just had a really good weekend." She tried her hardest to not to smile, but she couldn't help it. It was as if her face was frozen in that expression.
"Someone's in love," Mercedes sing-songed.
"What, pfft no I'm not," Rachel denied.
"Whatever girl, I know that look; you're glowing and everything."
"It's true," chimed in Kurt. Rachel just rolled her eyes at them. But they were right, she was in love with Noah Puckerman and she couldn't have been happier.
The bus ride to sectionals was a very cheery atmosphere. Everyone sang songs and was in a very good mood. They were a little worried that neither Finn or Quinn still weren't there, but they figured they were just running a little late. Since Mr. Schuster had some personal problems, he was disqualified from sectionals, which meant that Ms. Pillsbury would be their chaperone. No one minded since they all loved Ms. Pillsbury.
"Okay guys, we're all signed in. Why don't you go take your seats and I'll meet you there in a minute," said Ms. Pillsbury. Rachel took her seat next to Puck in the auditorium. He put his arm around her shoulder and they waited as the Jane Adams Girls Reform School took the stage.
"What happens if they don't show up? We can't perform with only 10 kids?" Ms. Pillsbury was pacing back and forth as she talked to Mr. Schuster outside.
"Emma, they'll show up. Finn and Quinn know how important this is to their teammates; it's important to them too, just keep the kids calm." As Ms. Pillsbury walked into the auditorium, she noticed a familiar tune.
And you and you and you,
You're gonna love me
"The Jane Adams girls are singing 'And I'm Telling You,'" she said freaking out.
"Okay, Em, calm down. It's just a coincidence," he said calmly.
"Yeah, you're probably right." She relaxed a little more now. Next, it was time for the Harverbrook School for the deaf. As if it wasn't bad enough, they sung New Directions closing song.
Don't stop believing
Hold on to that feeling
Street lights, people
"This is terrible! Meeting in the green room; 5 minutes," said Rachel storming out of the auditorium. A few minutes later, New Directions was in the green room discussing their situation.
"How did they find out what songs we were singing? Did someone give Sue the set list?" asked Rachel pacing around the room.
"Obviously it was Santana or Brittany," said Kurt rubbing his temples.
"I didn't get Sue the set list. I don't care what you think nobody's forcing me to be here. If you ever tell anybody this, I'll deny it, but I like Glee. It's the best part of my day alright, and I'm not going to mess that up. Did you give Sue the set list Brit?" Santana asked Brittany.
"Well, I did, but I didn't know what she was going to do with it," Brittany said sheepishly.
"Puck, Rachel, do you guys have any other duets that you could do?" asked Ms. Pillsbury.
"I won't be able to come up with something that quick," said a disappointed Puck. "Rachel's going to have to do her solo.
"But we were supposed to do our duet," she said walking towards Puck.
"Nothing's working out right. We have to come up with all new routines in less than an hour and our last two members aren't even here," cried Rachel. Just then Finn walked in followed by Quinn. They both walked in looking sad and they automatically went to opposite corners of the room.
"Glad you could make it," said Ms. Pillsbury.
"What's going on?" asked Finn.
"S-S-Sue gave the other schools our s-s-set list, so n-n-now we have no routines," stuttered Tina.
"And Noah and I were supposed to do our duet, but that's not happening either." When Rachel said Puck's name she noticed the look Finn gave him. She wondered what was making him act so strange. She didn't have time to think about that though; they needed 3 new routines and fast.
"What about No Air?" suggested Finn, "We could pull that together in no time."
"That could work!" said an excited Rachel. She pulled Finn over to the side and they got to work on the duet. Puck was the opposite of excited. He didn't like the idea of Finn being the one to save the day. That might make Rachel fall in love with him again and that was the last thing Puck wanted.
"We could do true colors too," Artie suggested.
"Great, now we just need one more song," spoke Ms. Pillsbury.
"I found some sheet music online and made copies on the Cheerios copier, then I trashed the thing. Santana, Mike, Matt, Brittany, you guys are our best dancers. Maybe you could come up with something quickly?" He just has one great idea after another, Puck thought to himself. So while Finn and Rachel were onstage, the two cheerios and football players came up with a routine. They got it done with pretty quickly and taught it to everyone backstage. While the rest of the Glee club was watching Finn and Rachel onstage, Puck decided to see what was wrong with Quinn.
"Are you okay? Things seem weird between you and Finn."
"Yeah, that's because I told him." Puck was just about to ask "told him what?" until it sunk in. She finally told him the truth. That meant that he could tell Rachel. That made him happy and freaked out all at the same time.
"I'm guessing he didn't take it well," Puck reiterated.
"Obviously not," said Quinn snidely.
"How did it happen?"
"We were having dinner with my parents. Finn decided to tell them that we're having a baby; well he sung it to them actually." Puck looked at her in confusion. "in the form of the song 'You're Having My Baby.' My parents kicked me out, so I spent the night at Finn's house. In the morning he told me how much he loved me and that he was going to do everything he could to be a good father and boyfriend. So then, he proposed." Puck's eyes grew wide with shock. "Yeah, so I told him. I couldn't let him marry me thinking it was his kid. I couldn't do it anymore. He blew up at me and we broke up. So congrats, at least now you get to tell Rachel," Quinn said annoyed.
"I'm sorry Quinn," Puck said in a comforting tone.
"I bet you are." With that, she huffed away.
What the hell did I do now? I try to be supportive and she yells at me. I don't know what to do anymore. Whatever, at least now I can tell Rachel. As much as Puck wanted to perform today, he couldn't wait until sectionals were over so he could finally tell Rachel about how much he loved her and about Quinn & the baby.
Once they were finished with their performance, Finn and Rachel walked offstage. Before they got backstage where their teammates were, Finn pulled Rachel aside.
"I just wanted to let you know that your boyfriend's not who you think he is." It seemed that Finn turned off his happiness and was suddenly upset.
"What are you talking about?" Rachel was confused by Finn's statement.
"Puck's the father of Quinn's baby."
"What, no, you must have heard wrong. If that was true, Noah would have told me."
"Quinn told me this morning," said a hurt Finn. Rachel saw pain in his eyes. He wouldn't be this upset about something that wasn't true.
"No, I can't, I don't…" Finn stopped her short.
"Look Rachel, I wouldn't lie to you, alright? I just don't want to see you get hurt." It was too late. She was already hurt. She didn't know what else to say. She hid her head in her hands and remained like that for a few minutes before walking back to the greenroom with Finn.
"That was great guys!" said Ms. Pillsbury. Rachel quickly wiped the tear that fell from her eyes to receive their accolades.
"Thank you," they both said dimly.
"Alright everyone, true colors is next. Go get set up on stage. Good luck!" Ms. Pillsbury went to take her seat in the auditorium. Before they went onstage Puck noticed how Rachel was. She seemed a little distant towards him. I'm sure it's nothing; she's probably just freaking out about the performances. Yeah, that's it, he assured himself.
They went onstage and blew the crowd away with their rendition of 'True Colors.' Tina sang lead and instead of a big dance number they all sat on stools. It was an acoustic stripped down version of the song, and the crowd loved it. No later than 10 minutes after they got offstage, they had to change and get back onstage for 'You Can't Always Get What You Want.' As expected, the crowd loved that too. They got everyone up and dancing and singing along with them. Clearly, they were the fan favorite to win. But were they the judges' favorite? They took an hour lunch break and then they'd find out who won. New Directions gathered in the greenroom again and they ate their brown bag lunches. Puck noticed that neither Rachel nor Finn was with them. He went to go find them.
"Are you sure?" asked a disappointed Rachel.
"Why would Quinn lie about it? She wouldn't go through all that trouble if it wasn't true." Finn seemed to be calmer now.
"I can't believe this. Why didn't he tell me? He should have just told me." She wasn't just hurt; she was disappointed, angry, and sad. She felt a pang in her heart, but it wasn't the good kind. A whole mix of emotions was running through her. She had let her guard down and allowed herself to fall in love with him. She allowed herself to lose her virginity to him; which only made her angrier. I was right about him all along; I shouldn't have trusted him. He didn't want me, he didn't care about me, I was probably just a consolation prize to him. He pretended to make me feel special, he said all the right things, I just can't believe I let myself be fooled by him. Another tear trickled down Rachel's face and this time Finn saw it.
"Don't cry. I know how you feel, but he's not worth your tears. If he's willing to lie to you, then he obviously doesn't deserve you." Finn ran his thumb along Rachel's cheek to dry her tears.
"Thanks Finn," she said sniffling.
Puck looked all over, but couldn't seem to find Rachel or Finn anywhere. He knew it wasn't good that they would be alone together. Finn could tell Rachel before he got the chance to and then he'd be screwed. He walked into the auditorium to find Finn and Rachel sitting on the stage; kissing. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. So that's why Rachel was acting weird. It wasn't because she was upset about him having a baby with Quinn, it was because she was still in love with Finn. I should've known better than to open up my heart to someone. I shouldn't have fallen in love with her; I knew something like this was going to happen. He left the auditorium making sure to be quiet. He didn't want Rachel to know he'd been there; that he saw them kissing. He wanted her to tell him herself. She couldn't be mad at him for keeping a secret, when she did the exact same thing.
"I'm sorry," said Finn, "that wasn't supposed to happen."
"It's okay. I wish I could say I felt something just then, but I didn't. I'd always imagined what it would be like when I kissed you. The first two times gave me such a good feeling, but when you kissed me this time…"
"Nothing," said Finn finishing her sentence. Rachel just shook her head yes.
"I know. Is it so terrible if I say that I'm still in love with Quinn and I want to be with her?" He asked knowing what she'd say.
"No, if it's not so terrible that I feel the same way about Noah."
"You really love him don't you?"
"So much," Rachel finally admitted.
New Directions piled back into the auditorium an hour later, with Rachel and Puck sitting on opposite sides as well as Finn and Quinn.
"Every single one of our Glee clubs were great, but only one of you can win," said the announcer. "Let's get to it then. The winner of Lima's Show Choir Sectionals is…" Everyone in New Directions was holding hands with the person sitting next to them. "McKinley High's New Directions." It took them a few minutes to process what just happened before they all started jumping up and down and hugging each other. They ran to the stage to accept their trophy.
As soon as sectionals was over, Puck went straight home and didn't even bother to say a word to his mother or Stacy.
"Noah, are you okay?" asked his mom.
"Not right now mom, I just want to be alone." He actually had tears in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away. He didn't want anyone to know he'd just been crying; especially over Rachel Berry. He couldn't believe he was being such a baby about this. He was actually crying over a broken heart. Love sucks. And to think, he was going to give Rachel his grandmother's ring. If the whole day didn't get screwed up, he'd be at dinner with her right now telling her how much he loved her and she'd hopefully say the same. He made a pact with himself. I'll never fall in love again.
"What's wrong Rach?" asked Bill as Rachel made her way through the door.
"You won, you should be happy!" Tim and Bill tried to cheer their daughter up, but nothing was working.
"It's about a boy isn't it? Is it that Finn boy or Puckerman?" They were pretty sure it was Noah, but with teenage girls you just never know. Rachel still gave them no reply. As they all sat there in silence, Rachel started crying. It wasn't just a few tears either. It came out of her like a waterfall. Once it started, she couldn't stop it.
"I loved him Daddy," were the only words she uttered.
"It's alright sweetie." Her dads comforted her.
I'll never fall in love again, she thought.