Chapter 37

Puck POV

"Dude, we gotta cheer our girl up!" I holler as I look up and see Sam coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn in his hands. Rachel has been quiet for three days, and that's just NOT the Rachel Berry I know. Something has got to change.

"Agreed. She's been down for days and I hate seeing her like this."

"I don't understand what that school was thinking. She's got the best voice out of all of us." When Finn told me that Rachel didn't get in, I assumed it was a joke. There was never any doubt that she was going to get into Julliard. So when she didn't, no one believed it.

"So what do we do? It's not like we can drive to Julliard and force them to take her." Sam asks.

"I don't know. I called Finn and told him to come over ASAP." Suddenly the door bursts open and Finn comes rushing through the door.

"What happened? What's wrong?" He shouts out of breath leaning over with his hands on his knees.

Sam and I both look at each other and laugh. "What exactly did you tell him when you said come over ASAP?" Sam asks me.

"I might have just said 'Emergency, get over here ASAP or it's all over." Sam falls over laughing and Finn straightens up and looks really angry.

"What the hell is so funny dude?"

"Sorry, it's not like life or death. Just trying to come up with something to cheer Rachel up." I say as he walks over and punches me in the arm.

"YOU COULD HAVE JUST SAID THAT!" He yells.

"Yeah but then you would have had to put your make up on first and do your hair and it would have taken longer."

"Dick." He yells as he throws himself down on the couch.

"So how is she?" Sam says suddenly serious.

"Sad. Probably angry too but she is refusing to admit that. I know I'm pissed so I don't know how she can't be." He says.

"Well they made a huge mistake. Rachel's fricking amazing!" Sam says throwing a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Well we can't change Julliard's mind, but we can do something to cheer up our girl." I say.

"I appreciate that guys. And I know she would totally feel better if we all did something nice for her."

"Good, well I asked Mike and Artie to come over too and Kurt and Blaine are on their way. I want it to come from her 'boys' and well I didn't want to include the girls cuz that meant telling Quinn and I uh….."

"Yeah thanks, I don't think we need Quinn involved in anything to do with Rachel right now. " Finn says rolling his eyes.

"Yeah what's up with her lately? She's been all over trashing Rachel every chance she gets." Sam says between bites.

"Wait, more than just the choir room the other day?" Finn asks concerned.

"Yeah, I have like 3 classes with Rachel and Quinn's in all of them. She speaks up every time Rachel raises her hand and she's been calling her names under or breath, or she'll say something like 'Well Rachel knows what it's like to fail so maybe we should do the opposite of what she does'. I told her to knock it off, but you know Quinn." Sam responds.

"Son of a bitch. I've had enough of that. I'm going to talk to Quinn." Finn says getting angry.

"Look, let's just worry about Rachel right now." I interject.

There is a knock at the door and Artie and Mike are let in by Sam. Soon after Blaine and Kurt arrive. You can tell Kurt is feeling guilty because he did get in so he's nervous about his involvement.

"I just don't want to rub anything in her face. I'm afraid if I'm involved, it's just not going to work." He says.

"Dude, she loves you. She's not mad at you!" I say to him.

"Yeah, Rachel told me how happy she is for you. No worries Kurt, really." Finn tells him and pats him on the back.

"Well, what are planning then?" Kurt asks.

"Well that is the part I needed all of you for. I kinda suck when it comes to doing nice stuff for girls. It makes me turn into…..Finn or something." I shiver, and Finn tosses popcorn over at me and I shout at him to stop messing up my ma's nice Jewish carpets!

"We gotta do something to remind her of how special she is." Finn says quietly.

"See I told you Finn would have all the girly plans." I laugh.

"Dude this is ridiculous, all we need is some coffee and this is like an episode of Friends!" Artie says from the other side of the room.

"That's IT!" Finn says jumping up! "That's like Rachel's favorite show. She was named after that hot Rachel chick!"

"Um, dude, I'm lost. While I appreciate your choice in comedy, this has nothing to do with the plan at hand."

"Puck, sometimes you need to embrace your chick side!" Finn says.

"In touch with it yes, no one said I had to start taking estrogen and get breast implants!" I joke. Finn looks at me confused.

"Estrogen?…hormones?…never mind, just tell me the plan!"

When he's done speaking, I'm actually impressed. I may pick on him a lot but he really does have the best knowledge of Rachel and what to do to make her happy. We put our plan in motion and everyone leaves knowing what they have to do. It's cheesy but it's completely Rachel.

When we get to Glee the next day everyone looks around at each other and nods. Mr. Schue comes in and starts writing 'Nationals' on the white board. Is this like the dudes only job now?

"So, we need to choose songs for Nationals. It's coming up on us quick and this year I want us to have the music planned well before the day of the event." When he's done speaking I raise my hand. "Puck do you have a song suggestion?"

"Actually, a few of us planned a song, and we were wondering if we could go to the auditorium to sing it?" He looks confused but as always when we suggest singing, all other lesson plans are out the window for the day.

"Sure, why don't we head over there?" We all file into the auditorium and when Rachel gets in, Finn ushers her to the front row and then leaves her there looking confused. The guys all head to the stage and Artie flips on the stage lights.

On the stage is a couch and a couple of chairs. Next to the couch is a coffee machine that I jacked from the teachers' lounge. Kurt made an awesome sign that we hung from the rafters that says 'New York Central Perk'

All the guys file on stage and Rachel is surprised to see Blaine there. "Mr. Schue if you don't mind we have a little something we would like to perform and then we are going to sing our song. This is dedicated to someone very special to us who is feeling a bit down." I walk to the back of the stage and wait for the show.

Blaine and Kurt on seated in the chairs and are talking back and forth. "So have you seen her show yet?" Kurt says.

"No I'm going tonight. I hear it's amazing!" Blaine says excitedly.

Sam walks over and sits next to Blaine. "What's amazing?" He asks.

"That new Broadway show she is in. I went to see it last night. She's amazing." Kurt says waving his arms around.

Artie and Mike enter from the right. "Girl was all kinds of hot. And a voice like an angel." Artie says to Mike.

"She really does know how to sing." Mike says sitting down on the couch.

"Preach." Artie shouts.

Sam grabs his guitar and starts humming the chorus to 'Smelly cat' and I hear Rachel's loud cackle fill the auditorium. I enter from the back. "YO! How you doin?" I shout. Rachel starts clapping loudly.

"PUCK!" They all yell toward me.

I sit on the arm of the couch. And Finn comes running in behind me.

"Hey is she here yet?" He asks us.

"Not yet. I'm sure she's tired from being so damn hot and talented." I say winking at Rachel.

"Dude that's my girlfriend you are talking about." Finn says smacking me in the back of the head.

"Woah! Chill man! Can't we all just appreciate her?" I shout playfully back.

"Well, she is all kinds of awesome. And super talented and one of the best singers I know." Finn says his lines as he walks over to the edge of the stage looking down at Rachel. She has tears in her eyes already.

"Well we always knew Rachel would be a Broadway star." Sam says standing up with his guitar and the rest of the band starts to play.

Finn runs back toward me as Artie and Mike push forward to sing the first lines. 'So no one told you life was gonna be this way.' We all start clapping and she giggles. 'Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA'

Blaine and Kurt point toward Rachel and sing 'It's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year'

Everyone joins in for the chorus as we stand at the front of the stage. ''ll be there for you. When the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you. Like I've been there before. I'll be there for you. 'Cuz you're there for me too...'

I sing my line directly to her as she smiles at me with tears in her eyes. 'You're still in bed at ten and work began at eight. You've burned your breakfast so far... things are goin' great' I hold up a photo of her at the cabin covered in spaghetti noodles and she throws her hands to her face giggling.

'Your father warned you there'd be days like these. Oh but they didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees that...' Sam sings falling to his knees.

We all sing the chorus and then step back for Finn to sing. "No one could ever know me. No one could ever see me. Seems you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me. Someone to face the day with. Make it through all the rest with. Someone I'll always laugh with even at my worst I'm best with you, yeah."

When the song finishes, Rachel is laughing through her tears and jumps up out of her seat and runs over to the stage looking up at us. Finn leans over says "You are my star Rachel. And I will always be there for you, no matter what comes our way." He pulls her up onto the stage with us and lifts her off the ground in a hug.

She runs over and hugs each one of us with tears running down her face.

"Never give up Rachel." I tell her as she walks over to me. "It's going to happen. And one day, when you are a huge star, I expect you to hook me up with all the hot hunnies in your show!" She giggles and reaches up and hugs me as she kisses my cheek.

"I love you guys so much. This was so special. You have no idea how happy it made me."

Sam walks over and picks her up. He shouts out to the girls in the auditorium who are all on their feet cheering, except for Quinn. "Don't forget the name Rachel Berry. Star in the making!"

Yeah that's our Rachel. She never gave up on any of us. And we'll never give up on her.