Rachel had to rush out the door in the morning. She had never been late a day in her life and she wasn't going to start now. Her alarm hadn't gone off which would have given her plenty of time to figure out the perfect outfit to wear for her first day at McKinley high. She didn't have the time to fix her normal shake in the morning either, so she had skipped breakfast altogether. She had dashed out the door after checking in on Beth and making sure that her daddy would have time to take care of her before he had to be at work in a few more hours. Hiram had told her that he would be fine with Beth until he had to leave and that if she didn't want to be late for school she best hurry out the door. In her panic not to be late for school she forgot about the slushie to her face and the fact that she needed to grab an extra set of clothes, until she was standing in the middle of the hallway with grape slushie running down her face.
"I'm sorry, but it was the lesser of two evils," Puck told her, slipping into the girls bathroom locking the door behind him. She really didn't see the point in telling him this was the ladies room, because this was Noah 'Puck' Puckerman she was talking to.
"I completely understand Noah. I asked if you could do this for me," she stated, glancing at him in the mirror. "Before the ice and corn syrup hit my face, I saw the look of uneasiness in your eyes and that you regretted doing it the second it happened. I'm not mad. It's just under a few horrible circumstances this morning, I have seemed to have left my spare set of clothes at home," Rachel explained, slipping her white top over head leaving her in her black mini skirt and her white bra. It was nothing Noah hadn't seen so she felt at ease without her shirt on. She got busy washing the sticky substance off herself.
Without saying a word, Puck rushed from the room going straight to his locker and grabbed the clean football jersey that he had brought with him. "It's not much, but it's something," he told her with a shrug. Rachel carefully took the jersey.
"Are you sure?" Rachel questioned, fingering part of the 2 that formed the number 20. "Wouldn't this pretty much be saying that I'm yours?" She asked, her eyes locked on the white numbers, afraid to look at him.
"Yep," he stated, stepping closer to her. Cupping her face, he brought her face up to lock his hazel eyes with her brown orbs. "I want to claim you as mine," he husked out, bending down to kiss her soft and slow. Rachel melted into the kiss, dropping the jersey to the floor, wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers playing in his 'hawk.
"I should be appalled with your behavior as claiming me as yours, but I find it rather flattering," she blushed, bending to pick the jersey up and tugging it over her head.
"You should be," he winked, holding his arm out for her. Rachel smiled, slipping her arm through his. He walked her to the main office. He kissed her quickly before running along to his own class.
He had hated the summer agreement they had made. He wanted to be with her, not just during the summer but the whole year. He was ready to commit to her that first summer they started to date. Long distance would be hard, but he was ready to fight for her. In the end he had agreed with her because he don't want to fight about it with her and make her any more upset than she already was about heading back to New York. It took him a few months before he was back into his cougar chasing ways, but it just wasn't the same. Now was his chance to show Rachel that he could be more than some Lima Loser that this whole town knew he would be; the only exception was his mom and now Rachel. Going to class was part of showing Rachel that he was serious about her.
Rachel stepped out of the office with her class schedule in hand. She was surprised to see Santana and Brittany waiting for her. They slipped their arms through hers, walking to Rachel's locker. "What are you girls doing?" Rachel asked, spinning the combination on her lock.
"We're going to show you around the school," Santana shrugged, like it was no big deal.
"We didn't want you to be lonely," Brittany replied. "Now you won't be," the blond clapped. Rachel smiled at her friends and put things away.
"Other than wearing his jersey you should get Puck back for that slushie before school," Santana told her coolly, working to fix the jersey so Rachel didn't look like she was drowning in it. Instead Santana had made it so Rachel was showing off a little bit of her toned stomach.
"How?" Rachel asked, shutting her locker after getting the books she would need out. "He gave me his jersey to claim me as his," Rachel told them, walking down the halls once more, using Puck's words from not even an hour ago. Santana raised an eyebrow.
"So he did have the balls to go through with it," she smirked.
"San we knew that Puck has balls. You used to do that thing he really liked," Brittany stated, looking at the Latina. Rachel held back the jealousy that was coursing through her veins. She knew that Puck had hooked up with Santana and Brittany. It was something he had told her while he was drunk and he kept saying he was sorry for doing it and hurting her in such a way. Rachel had shrugged it off like that admission hadn't hurt her one bit. Even if it had crushed her to learn that Puck and Santana hooked up a lot during the school day, before anything had went on between them.
"Anyway, I'm going to get to class now," Rachel told them, slipping past her friends.
She handed the teacher the piece of paper. She blushed lightly taking the only open seat left next to Puck in the back of the classroom. He smirked, tossing his arm around the back of her chair, "Smokin'," Puck whispered in her ear, pulling on a strand of brown locks, causing the blush Rachel was sporting to deepen to a cherry color.
"Hush," she hissed under her breath, smacking his chest lightly. Puck chuckled, sitting up. He moved his chair closer to Rachel's, his arm remaining on the back of her chair all throughout class. He was going to make the statement that she was his and that the rest of the school needed to back off.
After being given their work to do, Rachel turned to look at Puck who was still staring intently at her. She raised her eyebrows but he shook his head. Rachel licked her lips, turning back to the textbook in front of her. Not that she could focus on the words that were written in black. "What?" Puck asked, leaning closer to her.
"Nothing," she replied in a hushed tone. "Actually, San and Britt think that I should get you back for the slushie facial this morning," Rachel told him, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.
"Satan makes a point. After lunch there will be a slushie in your locker, toss it on me if you want, or drink it. Don't matter to me," he smirked, leaning back in his chair. Rachel turned to eye him up.
"You're being serious, aren't you?" She asked.
"Yep," he replied, closing his book as the bell rang. "It's totally up to you, baby," he whispered, walking out of the room to leave Rachel in her thoughts. She gathered her things and went to see the teacher to see what she was going to need to catch up with where the rest of the students were at since she had missed a few days into the new school year.
The first part of her day was the same. After first period she found out that she had no classes with Noah. Brittany and few of the other gleeks were in a few different classes with her, but she hadn't talked to them other than Brittany. Just like they had said, Brittany and Santana were there to show her around.
"Noah is going to let me throw a slushie on him. I'm not sure I want to do that to him," Rachel told Santana as they were in the lunch line.
"Why the hell not?" Santana asked, "It's showing the people at this school that you're not one to be messed with."
"But I'm wearing his jersey. That's not going to say you don't mess with me. That's saying I'm being a jerk to my boyfriend," she explained.
"Boyfriend?" Quinn snorted from her spot in line. "That's not a word I would use to describe Puck," Quinn hauntingly laughed. "Puck isn't very loyal," Quinn snickered, sauntering off.
"Don't let her get to you, B. She's jealous. She lost out when it came to Puck after Beth was born. You're the only one he wants. I should know," Santana told her dead serious with a slight eye roll. Rachel nodded, chewing on her lip.
She didn't like how she let Quinn get under her skin so easily when it came to Noah. She could already see that no one in this school knew the difference between Puck and Noah. She got Noah, the sweet and caring one. The boy that was lost when his father walked out on him when he was a little boy. Puck was the jerk and proclaimed badass that he put on to mask how he really felt.
"I trust Noah. I just," she sighed, "this isn't just a fling anymore. It's a real relationship that's going to be longer than 3 months. No breaks that last months in between where all we have is a phone to communicate with each other."
"Rachel, he knows that. I saw how messed up and miserable he was when you left. It hurt him. He wants this. Now go throw a damn slushie in your man's face and make the fuck up with him in the bathroom," Santana told her with a shove. "Just don't tell him that I told you he was a love sick puppy after you left." Rachel nodded, heading out of the lunch room without having a bite to eat.
Sitting in her locker was a cherry slushie. Sitting next to it was a vegan friendly sandwich. A smile appeared on her face as she gripped the cold beverage in her hand. He knew her and that made this decision that much harder. Did she really want to throw this in Noah's face? It would be sweet revenge, not that it would solve anything.
It wasn't long and the halls were filling up with students and Noah was right in front of her. Without thinking about what she was doing, the cup in her hand was empty as the contents were all over Noah's face. Instantly Rachel felt guilty for even thinking about what she had done, let alone going through with it. The students around them stood silent waiting to see what was going to happen.
"Hot," Puck murmured, heading off to clean the red slush from his face. Shutting her locker and tossing the empty cup in the trash, Rachel followed behind Noah to help him clean the slushie off.
"I understand if you no longer want to be with me after this," Rachel told him, running her fingers through the strip of hair on his head. Puck chuckled, pulling Rachel down to sit on his lap.
"You're kidding right?" Puck asked, his hand resting on her thigh. His thumb rubbing a small circle on her smooth and tan flesh, sending goosebumps across her skin. Rachel bit her lip giving him a small shrug. "I was the one that told you too, right after Satan. It's only fair, Rach."
"I guess," she told him softly, getting up.
Leaving the bathroom on Noah's arm left Rachel with a bright smile. They both had a free period and they were going to the auditorium so they could work on a song for glee.