Chapter 29

Nothing In This World


As soon as dinner was over, Ashley called Kurt first and explained in detail why she decided to leave and how sorry she was that she didn't give him a heads up. Kurt hysterically bitched about the whole thing before Ashley spoke, and in between her explanation, and after she concluded. But, they ended, of course, in good terms.

She called Mercedes next. Then, Tina. Then, Quinn. Then, Matt. Well, she didn't really call Matt; he called her asking about why she left glee, so she explained it all to him as well. She pondered on whether she should call Puck, but immediately decided against it. For one, he didn't really ask (not even through text); also, she'll see him tomorrow—if not at the halls in between periods, for sure at the bleachers during Cheerios practice (she genuinely trusted Puck to keep his word).

The next day, Artie and Ashley were greeted in the parking lot by the usual crew: Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Mike and Matt.

"Matt told me," Mike said as he went and hugged Ashley.

"Did he tell you I was dying?" Ashley asked, looking at the others as she did. They were giggling.

"Oh god! Are you?" He hugged her tighter.

"Okay, that's too much!" Ashley exclaimed as she slapped his back, laughing.

Mike released her. "Oops. Sorry," he said with a grin.

"I think my ribs are broken." Ashley held her side. "Seriously unnecessary, man!"

Tina playfully pushed Mike hard against his right arm, causing him to lose balance and stumble a few feet away from the huddle. It was at that exact moment when Finn, hand in hand with Rachel, walked by.

Finn saw them and, without warning, pulled Rachel to the group. She had panic on her face as she was overpowered by her athlete boyfriend. She had no choice but to follow.

"Hey, Ash, what happened?" Finn asked as he got closer.

"Hey, Finn, Rach," Ashley greeted.

Rachel looked at Ashley and the girl had the usual friendly smile on her face. "Hey," Rachel greeted back, a little bit quieter, but no one really noticed.

"Coach Sylvester asked me back. What can I say? She needs me."

"Aw, but you can do both," Finn said. "I do both sports and glee."

"I'm just not glee club material. It was a fun week, but I don't think I can keep up with all of you at this."

"That's really too bad. I hope you change your mind though."

"She will," Kurt said. "We'll annoy her with it."

Ashley laughed.

After a few minutes, the group dispersed with Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie and Ashley walking into the school, Matt and Mike going to the gym lockers, and Finn and Rachel falling behind the two jocks.

"I—need to tell you something," Rachel began.

"What?"

Rachel gripped his hand tighter. "I think I'm the reason why she quit."

"That's ridiculous," he said after immediately realizing that Rachel meant Ashley. "She just said it's 'cause she's back with the Cheerios."

Rachel shook her head. "She just said that. I really think it's because of me."

Finn looked at Rachel, who was looking at her feet. He turned ahead to see his teammates disappear in the corner; and then, stopped walking to focus his attention on his girl.

"Why would you think that?" he asked.

"I screamed at her the other day."

"What? Rachel, why?"

"I don't know," she huffed. "I was upset. It just happened. I scream at you guys all the time, right? It shouldn't have been a big deal."

"What did you say?" Finn was trying to hold back any hysterics, seeing as Rachel was already hysterical herself.

"I—I told her that she stole… that she stole our duet."

Finn's shoulders fell. "Rachel…"

"I know. I know she didn't and that it was Mr. Schue who wanted to try it. I know."

Finn sighed.

"And," Rachel continued.

"And?" Finn arched an eyebrow.

Rachel nodded. "And, I told her that she can't steal you away from me because you love me."

"What?" he exclaimed.

"I'm sorry! It was stupid, I know!"

"Rachel, she never even talked to me about anything other than glee! And, only during glee rehearsals!"

"I know," she said remorseful.

"I don't think she's given you any reason to think that."

"I know! I said I was sorry, okay?"

"God!" Finn exclaimed as he gripped his hair with both hands.

Rachel watched as her boyfriend tried to regain composure.

"All right," Finn began. "Everything seems okay. I mean, she obviously hadn't said anything to the others. No one looked like they were gonna murder you. So, it's okay. We're okay."

Rachel's eyebrows met in between when she heard this. He was right. They didn't seem to know about her and Ashley's confrontation. Ashley didn't tell them.

"Come here," Finn said, breaking Rachel's thoughts. He didn't wait for her to come; he stepped closer to her and took her in his arms. "I'm sorry I overreacted."

Rachel hugged him back. "It's okay."


"Hey, don't forget after glee," Ashley said as she was about to cross paths with Puck on the stairs on her way to the second floor hall.

"Yeah. No, I won't," he replied. He was on his way down.

"See you later, then." Ashley waved.

They already passed each other when Puck turned to catch up with Ashley. "Hey, hey, hey," he said as he climbed two steps at a time.

Ashley was already at the top of the stairs when she heard him. She stopped and waited.

"Matt told me why you left glee," Puck said as soon as he was on the same level as she. "I don't believe it."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, and after a heartbeat, shrugged. "Not my problem."

"So what's the real reason?"

"I already said the real reason."

"It's Rachel, isn't it?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. Why would you assume that me leaving has anything to do with Rachel? And, it's not just you. Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn and Artie asked me the same thing too!"

"Because I know for a fact that Rachel is over-protective of glee and of her status in the club. I told you before that you could easily beat her in a diva-off, remember? She knows that now. I think she's threatened. What did she do to you?"

"Yeah, nice try. She didn't do anything. Look, it's got nothing to do with Rachel. I just want to focus on the Cheerios right now. We're cooking up something awesome." Ashley ended with a smile that hinted of a secret.

"For the talent show?"

"Wha—how'd you know?"

He grinned. "Brittany told me."

"Thanks for the info. Now I know who's gonna get a good spanking later this afternoon."

Puck's eyes widened. "Can I come watch?"

Ashley grinned. "I knew you'd like that." She hit him on the arm before she turned to walk away. "And no, you can't come watch," she called.

Puck smiled as she saw her enter a classroom. He shook his head and climbed down the stairs as soon as the bell for third period rang.


Glee rehearsals that afternoon proceeded as usual, as if Ashley had never been part of the club. It was like it had always been before. Nobody discussed Ashley's departure because they were all busy doing choreography for the week's assignment. When the hour was over, Santana and Brittany left the choir room without saying goodbye to the others, who still lingered there.

"Dude, we're going over to Justin's. His parents are out of town," Mike said to Puck. "Free beer, baby!"

"Cool. I'll meet you guys there," Puck said. "I have to take care of something first."

"Alright, man."

Puck was almost at the door when Finn called his name. He turned to see the big guy walking towards him.

"I left the playbook in the shower room lockers. Can you get it and just take it home? Coach will kill me if I lose it," Finn said.

"Yeah. No problem, man."

"Awesome. Thanks." Finn gave Puck a quick tap on the shoulder before turning his back from him.

For a moment there, Puck saw Rachel looking at him. She looked sad. He wasn't sure though if what he saw really was sadness because he immediately turned away and walked towards the field where he promised to meet Ashley.

He got to the field and saw a bunch of girls in cheerleading uniforms doing stretches. He went up to the bleachers, which he found empty. He sat and watched the girls in red and white.

His eyes focused on Santana, in a huddle with Brittany, Jane and Reyna. Soon enough, the huddle adjourned and Santana called everyone to a half circle facing her. Santana looked up unintentionally at the bleachers and saw a single person seated. She froze for a moment, until Puck raised a hand as a sign of acknowledgment and she nodded in response before returning to her team.

"Hey!"

Puck turned to his left. Ashley was walking towards him. She ultimately seated next to him, with only about a foot away of space between them.

"I didn't know you had practice. Why aren't you down there with them?" he asked.

"There's no practice really. They're just gonna do a run of their new routine before Santana and I meet up for our entry in the talent show."

"So what am I doing here?"

Ashley turned her bright face to him. "I want you to watch them."

They both returned their attention to the field, where Santana was checking the girls' formation. When she turned to face the bleachers, Puck noticed that she was wearing a headset. He looked at Brittany. She wore a headset too; and so do the two other girls standing behind her.

"I actually chose this song for this routine," Ashley informed him, not tearing her gaze from the field. Puck turned to her, and she turned to him with a smile. "Listen carefully to what it's saying, okay?"

He nodded.

As soon as the speakers blasted beats from the song, Puck and Ashley focused back to the Cheerios. They were shaking their pompoms in front of them while their hips moved in synchrony as soon as the first lyrics were sang:

Da-da da-da duh-rah-rah

Da-da da-da duh-rah-rah

As the girls moved to different positions, Santana remained in place and sang the first verse.

So I was thinking to myself

When you passed me by

'Here's what I like'

And you were with somebody else

But you can't deny

That's me in your eye

Brittany settled on her place at the right side of Santana, and joined her in singing:

Do you know what's like

When it's wrong but it feels so right

Jane and Reyna took to their places beside the leads, bordering Brittany and Santana. All four girls sang the chorus in harmony.

Nothing in this world

Can stop us tonight

I can do what she can do

So much better

Although every girl in the field danced the same steps, it was unmistakable that the four was a distinct unit, and thus, properly highlighted in the set.

Nothing in this world

Could turn out the light

I'm gonna make you feel alright

Tonight

Puck turned to Ashley. She looked at him, too; her usual smile painted on her face. She pointed to one ear as she mouthed, "Listen". She then pointed to the girls on the field and mouthed, "Watch". He did.

He thought Ashley seemed excited. He stared on the field as he pondered on why he really was there at that very moment. The red and white dancing cheerleaders blurred in his vision. The lyrics of the song entered his ears, though. It was blasting in the otherwise empty field after all. It was hard to ignore.

I gotta tell you somethin'

It's somethin' that you just might like

No, it's not the same thing

Yeah, you'll learn I'm not too shy

You and I, we can do this thing toni—ght

As the chorus repeated, Puck saw the Cheerios again—from a mere blotch of dual colored blending in a palette to individuals that moved perfectly together. There no longer existed a distinct unit of four. There was now a filled rectangle formation of cheerleaders, except that Brittany and Santana were specifically picked out from the group. The two were on the front of the formation, as if leading the whole group.

The girls made a wave-like movement that ended up absorbing Brittany into the group and leaving Santana on the spotlight. Eventually, though, Santana was absorbed into the group as well. During the conclusion of the song, the Cheerios danced in their usual perfection. And, at Santana's final Tonight, the Cheerios made their always-sexy poses.

Puck realized that the girls were actually waiting for something. The next thing he knew was that the girl at his side was already standing up and shouting, "It was perfect!" Only then did the ensemble on the field relax.

He stood up as soon as Ashley turned to face him.

"Did you listen?" she asked.

With pressed lips, he nodded.

"What did you think?"

"Santana… was… she was good."

Ashley's eyebrows furrowed. "Just good?"

"She was great."

Ashley beamed upon hearing this. "You know, I'm glad I was up here with you today."

Somehow it felt automatic for his lips to curl up. "Me too."

"Hey, I'll talk to you later, okay?" Ashley said. She didn't wait for him to respond. She immediately turned around and walked off the bleachers to meet Santana.

Puck quietly watched her walk away. Before she completely disappeared, he turned and exited on the other side to proceed to the shower room and get the playbook from Finn's locker.


A/N: The song featured here is "Nothing in this World" by Paris Hilton. I know I said this story is going to be 50 chapters tops, but to be honest with you all, I don't know if I could do that. I feel like this is gonna be longer than that. Is that a bad thing in fanfics? Anyway, I feel like if I rush the story to fit everything in 50 chapters, I'd be compromising my very own artistic freedom to express myself through writing (you know, stuff like that).

But since you're still all here, reading, I'm very much grateful. :)

VoiceInMyHead - That's good news. I'm glad to hear you still have the energy to continue reading this super long fic. :D

courixoxo – And, I love you! Thanks so very much. You have no idea how good it feels to see comments like yours. They inspire me. Thank you for that.

MissMattSmith – hahahaha! I never thought anyone would think Ashley has MPD. I mean, she's kinda two-faced… but MPD never crossed my mind at all. That's actually a good point you have there. And, thank you, I like my Santana too. I hope you'll like her more as we progress… cos I'm showing just how important her role in this story is… soon enough.

Much love to sailingchick16, Brit . Brat1992 and, my official ray of sunshine, xx-cristieee-xx.

Next Chapter: Later