Author's Note: After a lot of thinking I finally managed to write chapter 25, and like I mentioned last week there's a little twist towards the end, because I was feeling this fic was becoming a little monothematic. Hope it keeps you hooked until the next update.

Special thanks to BadassMotherShucker94 because you even manage to fix your Internet so I could have this ready for today. If it weren't for her I wouldn't be updating today!

Chapter XXV

Noah was hugging Shelby tightly by her waist; he was even lifting her a little bit from the floor, which caused her to giggle like a schoolgirl. Rachel was standing not too far from them with Beth, watching their little goodbye moment in awe. She knelt down next to her little sister and smiled:

"You have to be a brave girl and not cry when your daddy says goodbye to you, okay little star? If you start crying your mommy and daddy will get really sad."

Shelby gave Noah one last look, trying to ignore how much she wanted to cry, but she had to kept her promise and say goodbye to Noah with the best smile she could, because like he said to her it wasn't going to be forever. Puck chuckled as he rubbed Shelby's right cheek with his hand, trying to memorize the sensation of her skin against his fingertips.

"What's so funny?" she asked upset.

"You make sad look beautiful Shelby," he stated smiling sadly.

She smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up," she smiled. She looked at Rachel and gestured for her to join them.

Rachel and Shelby said their goodbyes, while Puck spent one last private moment with his little girl. He kissed her temple and whispered in her ear how much he loved her.

Finally the teenagers were left standing alone at the gate. Rachel gave Noah a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Do you want to grab something to eat?" she asked smiling.

He nodded eagerly at the offer. "I always do."

As the days passed Noah started to feel more and more excited about his summer plans with all his friends. They were organizing a few hiking trips, movie marathons, barbeques and so many other things. He wanted this last summer to count, because after they all started college in the fall, nothing was ever going to be the same. He wasn't going to have Finn or Santana just a few minutes from his house, they were going to be in very different places, and deep inside that was something that scared Noah; he just hope he wasn't the only one feeling insecure.

One afternoon he was jogging around a small park in Lima. He was going to meet up with Finn, but he realized he had arrived at the basketball court a lot earlier than they had arranged.

In school he and Finn were known for playing football, but they had always liked to play basketball too, mostly because they didn't always need another player to join them; they could play alone, or just the two of them but what they enjoyed most was how they always began to share their thoughts, fears and dreams between each bounce of the ball. Without noticing Puck found himself playing alone, running and throwing the ball at the hoop.

"Mind if I join you?" asked a voice behind him.

He laughed and turned to face his best friend. "You think you can finally beat me at H-O-R-S-E?"

Finn snorted. "You're the one who should be worrying, you're kind of short and without the Mohawk you look ever shorter."

And for the first time in a long time they played in silence. They decided to play like that because it felt right, because as weird as it seemed they didn't need to talk to understand what the other was thinking. Rachel, Shelby, Beth, the army and San Jose state didn't matter. They just focused on playing and having fun.

Eventually they had to stop, the sun was starting to go down and the light wasn't the best for playing anymore. They walked to Finn's house and sat down in the front porch.

"You remember it was at the basketball court where we first met?" recalled Finn.

Puck nodded. "Yeah, I asked you if I could play basketball with you because I was tired of watching out for Hannah," he smiled at the memory. "And ever since then we've been bros."

Finn became serious all of the sudden. "I think I'm going to break up with Rachel."

"You're what?" asked Noah, shocked. "You're not going to try long distance?"

"We want to, but honestly, I don't want to be a distraction for her, she's going to be worried, but if she's not my girlfriend she won't have to feel obligated to be worried about me. Does that make sense?" explained Finn.

"It makes perfect sense," stated Puck.

Carole stepped outside and watched the two friends talking, and for a brief instant she was looking at the two little boys who had played so many times in the backyard of her house. It made her smile with joy, but also with sadness. "Noah," she exclaimed. "Would you like to stay over for dinner?"

He smiled at her invitation. "Of course I would!"

"I brought some empty boxes," said Deborah as she dropped them on top of Noah's bed.

He scratched the back of his neck. "Summer is just starting, I'm not leaving yet mom," he reminded her.

"I know but it won't kill us to get rid of some of the trash you have in here," explained Deborah.

Noah chuckled. "Are you going to be okay without me around?" he asked concerned.

She sat down on the bed and nodded at him to take a sit next to her. "Don't be worried about me, I still have Hannah," she said as rubbed his right cheek. "Of course I'm going to miss my boy, but I'm glad you're leaving for college."

Deborah looked at him, and noticed a glimpse of sadness in his eyes. "You miss them don't you kiddo?" she asked knowingly.

"Yeah," he admitted, "I'm not going to see them until thanksgiving, I know I can still call them and stuff but I'm nervous about what's going to happen once I start to get busy with classes and games…"

Deborah left the room for a few minutes, and returned with a card in her hands. "This is for you, consider it a graduation gift from me and Hannah."

He opened the present and found 700 dollars inside; his eyes widened in shock. "I can't take this."

"You deserve it Noah," stated his mother. "Take a week out of your summer and go spend it with Shelby and Beth."

Noah smiled and hugged his mom tightly. "Thank you, not only for this, but for always believing in me, even when I got in trouble."

A few days later Noah was helping Santana to organize some things in her house; she had decided to throw a party that weekend and Puck was cleaning the pool.

"Remind me again, why I'm doing this now and not after the party?" Puck asked.

She removed her eyes from the magazine she was reading. "Oh you're cleaning the pool after the party too. I'm sure someone is going to throw up in there."

He swallowed hard and cringed. "Great," he muttered.

"Puck do you remember when we pulled that prank on Mrs. Allen in third grade?" Santana asked with a smirk on her face.

"How could I forget?" He laughed. "We put a frog in her desk. How about that time we replaced your big brother's shampoo with ink?"

"I was grounded for a week, which is pretty much the whole of eternity when you are nine. It was totally worth it though, seeing my brother walking around with blue hair was priceless." She pursued her lips for a moment. "Puck?"

He stopped picking up dry leaves from the water and looked at her. "Yeah?"

Santana quivered her lips into a devilish smile. "The school is still open, right?"

Noah immediately understood the reason behind that question. "Yeah, the other kids still have to go in for one more week. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked, grinning.

"We have our diplomas, we won't return to that place, we might as well do something they will remember, what do you say? One more prank? For the old times?"

Noah stopped working and sat down next to her. "Go inside and bring some paper and a pen, we have a plan to organize!"

They arrived at McKinley around midnight; they didn't have any problems entering, since Santana still had her copy of the school keys that Sue had given her when she had made her captain of the Cheerios. "Thank you Coach Sylvester," said Noah was they made their way inside.

He grabbed a couple of duffle bags and put them on his shoulders, while Santana picked up a box. "I'll be in the cafeteria, you take care of the pool, and we'll meet here in about an hour."

Santana nodded. "If anybody enters, text me, hide and we'll meet an hour later at the backdoor of the cafeteria."

They did a high five and went their separate ways.

The following morning, they drove to the school in Mrs. Lopez's car, since they didn't want anyone to suspect something. They parked a few blocks away from the building and walked to the bleachers, making sure they'd have the best seats for the show that was about to start.

"How can you be sure that the thing in the cafeteria is going to work?" Santana asked.

Puck flashed his friend a smile. "Jewfro."

She started to laugh. "I should have known." She glanced at her watch, "Three, two one!"

Almost immediately, they began to hear some screaming coming from the cafeteria. Puck had placed a large amount of buckets with water balloons filled with slime in the refrigerator and with Jacob's help a group of students started a battle. Meanwhile Santana had sabotaged the swimming pool by filling it with grape Je-llo, and now some students were actually trying to eat directly from the pool, while others started to throw the je-llo over the other students.

Puck and Santana were laughing like little kids, and Santana almost lost it completely when she heard Sue having some sort of rage crisis over the microphone while Becky played the xylophone in the back round. Noah grabbed a walkie-talkie he had in his back pocket and looked at his partner in crime. "Ready for the finale?"

She nodded excitedly and pressed a button. "Release the goat!" they ordered at the same time.

In the middle of the chaos, a goat was let loose and began to cross the main entrance of the school. It was wearing two signs, one on the neck saying "senior prank 2012" while the one on its tale said, "So long suckers!"

Santana and Puck clicked a pair of wine coolers together and sat back, feeling proud of themselves. "That's it, goodbye McKinley," said Noah before taking a gulp from his drink.

"We had fun!" finished Santana, she look at her watch for a second time. "C'mon, we need to leave if we don't want to get caught."

"I almost wish we could walk back into the school to receive the standing ovation we deserve," said Puck as he frowned.

"Me too," agreed Santana with a smirk on her face. She started to walk outside the school grounds as she made a phone call.

"Who are you calling?" asked Puck now walking next to her.

"Animal Control, I'm going to tell them where the goat is. Our friend has probably reported it missing by now," she explained.

It was Friday night and Puck was getting ready for Santana's party; he was going to go early because she needed help to get the grill ready for the barbeque they were going to make. He was almost outside his bedroom when Finn called him on his cellphone.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Could you pick me up before you go to Santana's?" asked Finn.

Puck raised his eyebrows confused. "Are you not going with Rachel?"

"Nope, we kinda broke up," he explained sadly.

"Oh, I understand don't worry bro, I'll pick you up after I finish some stuff over there cause I imagine you don't want to arrive early."

Finn laughed, "Yeah, you know me."

"I'll see you in a bit," he said before hanging up. He glanced at his phone screen and smiled as he looked at the picture he had set as his wallpaper. It was him with Shelby and Beth the day of his graduation, but the picture had been taken at the restaurant. They were both looking at the little girl who was sitting in Noah's lap with her face buried in his chest. The cutest thing about the picture was that he and Shelby hadn't notice when Rachel took it; they were to busy looking at Beth and smiling.

Noah chuckled and called Shelby, unfortunately she didn't pick answer, but he decided to leave her a voicemail:

"Damn it, I wanted to hear your voice. You must be really busy, what is it called it again, Tech? Anyway my mom and Han gave me some money so I could visit you guys for a week! I'll call you tomorrow so we can decide when is the best time to come over. I love you!"

He ran outside and drove to the Lopez's house.

Santana watched with a disgusted face how Puck seasoned the meat. "Seriously, I'm starting to understand why Berry is a vegan."

He laughed and put a steak near her face, which caused her to gag and shut her eyes firmly. "San stop! It's not that gross, it's not like it's a penis," he teased.

She got up from her seat and started to punch him on the shoulders. "Smartass." She calmed herself and sat down by the edge of the pool with her ankles in the water. "I'm gonna miss this you know? Hanging out and stuff."

"Promise you won't find another bro in Columbia," he said sincerely.

Santana laughed, "I won't, promise you won't break to many hearts in California, I really want to receive an invitation for your wedding with Miss. C!" she teased.

Puck started to cough up his soda. "You all need to stop that!"

"Don't worry we will," she assured him. "As soon as someone does something funnier than that!"

When Brittany and Quinn arrived Puck decided to go for Finn. "I'll be back in a few, I'm going to pick up Finn."

"He's not coming with Berry?" asked Santana.

"You didn't hear?" Quinn asked her. "They broke up."

Brittany grabbed one of her girlfriend's hands. "It's not that exciting, but we'll give you the details before they come back."

Noah rolled his eyes and laughed as he made his way to the front door. He arrived at Finn's house and found his best friend waiting for him siting down on the front porch. Puck climbed outside his truck and sat down next to him.

"How you doing man?" he asked, worried.

Finn shrugged. "Okay I guess, we ended it on good terms, we both agreed we wanted the best for each other, no matter what that was."

Puck nodded and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I know how you feel."

"Thanks man," smiled Finn.

"You're going to be okay at the party? If you don't want to go we can stay here and play some Halo, or watch Star Wars," Puck suggested, understanding that Finn may feel uncomfortable in the same place as Rachel.

"Don't worry I'll be fine, we said we're going to act as normal as possible around the others, besides missing our last summer with all our friends just for a break up is stupid," acknowledged Finn.

"You're both right about that," agreed Puck. He picked up his phone which had just started to buzz. "It's Quinn, she's asking if we can stop by a pizza place and buy a couple of vegan pizzas for Rachel, because she's been complaining for ten minutes of how the only thing she has to eat is chips."

Finn laughed. "Tell her we'll buy them, and let's go."

Once they were both inside the truck, Puck started the engine. "Finn? I know I'm your best bud and stuff, but why did you ask me to pick you up of you could go with Kurt and Blaine?"

Finn sighed. "Don't tell anybody this but I really hate going with them in the car, I don't like the music they put on."

Noah laughed hysterically. "I'm serious man, if I have to listen to another Pink or Katy Perry song or to another Broadway show tune I'll go crazy."

Puck grabbed the iPod Shelby had given him for his graduation and plugged it into the radio. "Lucky for you, I just finished the summer of 2012 official playlist, inspired by the one and only Barney Stinson!" He hit the play button and the two of them grinned.

"Shot through the heart and you're to blame. Darling you give love a bad name!" They sang together as Puck hit the road.

What they didn't know was that they weren't going to make it to the party.

That wasn't suppose to happen, they should be having fun; after all it was their last summer together. They shouldn't been at Lima hospital waiting to hear about their friends' condition. Deborah was sitting on a chair crying while Mrs. Lopez hugged her; next to her was Hannah with her face buried in Quinn's right shoulder. Burt was standing up holding his wife, who just had stopped crying; she felt she didn't have any more tears left.

The rest of the kids were sitting down with Will and Emma, some of them were crying, others like Santana just sat frozen, like they were just waiting to wake up at any minute. Everything seemed like a bad dream.

Jesse ran through the door, but as soon as he saw the looks on everybody's face he stopped himself and walked quietly to Rachel. "Hey," he whispered.

The girl immediately hugged him and sobbed, he wanted to know what had happened, but at that moment comforting Rachel was more important.

After what felt like hours of silence somebody spoke:

"I really hate to be the one who brings this up, but somebody should call Shelby," said Sam

"What time is it? I lost track of time as soon as we got the news," whimpered Rachel.

Will glanced at his watch. "It's a little pass 1 am."

"She's not going to pick up," stated Rachel.

Jesse shook his head. "She's in Tech, she's probably working right now, and she'll have her cellphone with her since Beth is probably with a sitter, or with Shelby's family." He grabbed one of Rachel's hands, "you think you'll be able to call her?"

She shook her head firmly. "Don't worry I'll call her," he assured her before getting up from his seat.

Shelby saw the screen of her phone flashing, and when she saw Jesse's face appearing, she decided to ignore it; but after the third call she knew she had to call him back. "Derek I'll be right back," she whispered, and she received an approving nod in response.

Once outside she dialed the familiar number. "Shelby," answered Jesse trying to keep himself together.

As soon as she sensed his tone, she understood she had to sit down. "Something's happened," he started.

She ran her hands through her hair nervously. "Is Rachel okay?" she asked, her daughter being her first concern.

He nodded. "She's perfect, but there was a car accident," he paused, "And Puck was driving."

"Where's Shelby I need her now! Damn it! Tom go out and find her!" ordered Derek

"Get a soul" whispered Tom as he grunted and went outside, where he found Shelby with her face buried in her hands sobbing. He ran to her and hugged her by the shoulders. "Shelb? What is it? What happened?"

I need a little help for next chapter, if you want leave name of songs you would like Shelby to sing for Puck! I will listen to them and I'll pick one for the next chapter.

Hope you have liked the funny parts of this chapter! I know is hard to remember that when a twist like this appears at the end, but I didn't want to do something like Shelby is pregnant because there's already a fic about that. Besides I like dramatic twists, I blame J.K. Rowling.

Take care and have an excellent week.