Title: A New Direction
Pairing/Characters: Puck/Rachel with Rachel/Kurt (friendship) and Kurt/Blaine
Rating/Warnings: Probably T for language, may go up in future chapters.
Summary: Post Special Education, Rachel has a few difficult decisions to make, and finds allies in both Kurt and Puck. Definitely AU after Special Education
Spoilers: Consider anything up to Original Song fair game.
Word Count: 6139
Disclaimer: Glee does not belong to me.
Authors Note: Okay, this is me humbly apologising for leaving it over three freaking months before updating. In my defence, every time I tried to write this chapter, everyone ignored me and my muse stuck her fingers in her ears and sang at the top of her lungs to drown me out.
To everyone who's alerted this story or left me reviews, you guys rock my socks! I love you all! And it gives me so much motivation to keep going.
I'm going to give a special mention here to TawnyC who left me a message that gave me the confidence to get back to this story and keep going, so this chapter is for you!
Also, a fair warning, this is set post the Christmas episode and from then on, I am throwing everything out the window and rewriting it so it fits in with my head-canon. I loved the episodes themselves, and think they are the best they've done in a while, but not everything will fit in with my storyline, so I changed some things and brought some key moments forward, and put moments in there I think were sadly lacking cough*puckleberry*cough.
Chapter Four – Need You Now.
Rachel took a deep breath as she walked through the doors of McKinley. As she stepped inside the building she sighed in relief to get out of the cold. In deference to the weather she was wearing a pair of black jeans, chunky boots and a long teal blue scoop necked sweater. Although coming back to school was usually a time for her to feel extra nervous and worry about what people would say about her. However, right now, her personal confidence was high, and she felt fantastic.
This new confidence was due to spending a lot of time with Kurt and Blaine over the holidays, either going to the movies or the mall. Both boys were the perfect balm for all the taunting she received at school and on her Facebook pages. They were happy and content with who they were and she couldn't help but want to emulate that. It was also increasing obvious, at least to her, that the pair had very strong feelings for each other, but each were oblivious to how the other was feeling. Each insisted they were just friends, there was nothing more to it. It was both lovely and frustrating to observe.
Another good thing that had come out of the whole Sectionals blow-out and the aftermath was that at McKinley, she had someone who was totally unflinchingly in her corner. If someone had told her a year and a half ago that the person she'd be closest to at McKinley High would be Noah, she would have laughed at them. However illogical or random it might seem, over the past few weeks Noah had become a good friend. That didn't mean he didn't annoy her or tease her or call himself and her ridiculous nicknames, it just meant that it was done in fun and with a smile, rather than a sneer.
Christmas had been and gone, and now things were going back to normal. Things with the Glee Club had thawed out slightly, and Rachel had some time to reflect on things. The Plan that Kurt, Noah and herself had come up with was still a go, and things still needed to change, but she was going to try to be less confrontational about it. Try out a less arguing, more talking approach and see how that worked.
She walked down the corridor to her locker, and just as she was opening her locker she got jolted hard from behind and barely caught herself before she slammed face first into her locker. She straightened up, and turned around but could see no-one in the immediate vicinity and everyone seemed to be looking in the other direction. Shrugging it off, she dropped off her bag and pulled out her books for her first class.
Looking at her watch and seeing she had time before first period, she headed toward the choir room, hoping for a few minutes of peace where she could sit and relax. When she walked in, she was surprised to see Noah sat in the seats facing the piano, playing his guitar quietly. She stopped and just watched him. He seemed so peaceful, his head bent down over the guitar, eyes closed and mouth set in a small smile. She was so absorbed in watching him, she jumped when he spoke.
"Are you planning on coming in here, or you just going to stand there and stare at me all day." Flushing she walked forward and into the room, studiously ignoring Noah chuckling under his breath.
"How did you know I was standing there?" Rachel asked curiously as she sat down across from him. Puck shrugged.
"I could smell the shampoo you always wear, besides which, you were humming along with my playing." Rachel frowned and felt herself flush.
"I didn't even notice I was doing it." She looked at Noah and he just shrugged. She walked over and sat down beside him. "Listen, Noah, there's something I would like to discuss. I have a proposal for you." Rachel said, taking a deep breath. "I think we should do a duet. We need to show Mr Schuester that Finn isn't the only boy with vocal talent in Glee Club."
Puck looked at Rachel who was looking down at her lap, twisting her hands and clearly nervous. Annoyed, he huffed out a breath. "Why are you so nervous? Its not like I'm going to say no. I mean, a duet sounds good." Rachel's head snapped up and Puck smiled at the look of happiness on her face. " Of course, we will need plenty of time to practice, and if, while practising, we happen to make out a time or two, well I'm down for that too." As Rachel gaped at him, her face going red, Puck dropped his head back and let out the laughter he'd been holding in.
"Noah Puckerman," Rachel huffed, fighting to hold her smile back. "Is that all you ever think about?"
Puck leant forward and lowered his voice, not wanting to be overheard by any random tool on their way to home room. "No, course not. I think about how much I love dip, and what a pain in the ass my sister is and how its not fair I can't take part in my fight club any more, since that breaks the terms of my probation. I think about the fact that for a group who's supposed to be all happy, and singing about Glee and shit, I've never met an angrier, bitchier group in my life. As well as, y'know, hoping my mom doesn't find my porn stash, and wanting to punch Finn every second time I see him."
Rachel could feel her face going bright red and knew from the smirk on his face she was gaping at him. She checked her watch and stood up, pulling Puck after her. "We're going to be late for home room if we don't hurry. And Noah?" he looked down at her and smiled.
"Yeah Berry?" She looked at him and shook her head.
"You're a good friend, but from now on, I think I'd rather not know about your thought processes. Its terrifying." With a laugh she turned and walked off, leaving him staring after her with a smile on his face, before he hurried in the opposite direction.
Her good mood lasted for most of the day, but by the time her last period of the day came around, Rachel's good mood and optimism had all but evaporated and she was verging on doing something she'd never done before, just standing up and walking out of a class. Not for the first time, Rachel cursed the fate that had seen it fit to put her in the same English class as Finn, Quinn and Santana. They were sat talking and completely ignoring Rachel who was sat the row behind them. That hadn't been a personal choice, but necessity due to it being the only desk free when she got there.
It would have been fine except every now and then Santana would turn around, say something insulting to Rachel, and turn back while the other two laughed. She'd be lying if she said that Finn laughing at something hurtful Santana had said didn't sting slightly, but he'd done the same when they were together, so she wasn't altogether that surprised.
Rachel heard her name being called and looked up and right into Santana's smirking face. "I know your secret." Rachel raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else just looked back down at her work, ignoring the other girl. "I'm serious." Santana continued.
Rachel sighed and looked up. "I don't have any secrets. So I seriously doubt that."
The other girl scoffed. "You and Puck are totally getting it on. That's the only reason he'd be willing to spend so much time with a freak like you. Besides which, I have witnesses." Santana glanced to her left and making an obvious assumption Rachel took a deep breath and looked at Finn.
"You saw me kissing Noah, and automatically jumped from there to us sleeping together?" She didn't wait for him to answer and turned back to Santana, quickly checking the time, she had two minutes before the bell would ring, and she could get out of there and go home.
"Sorry, Finn must have his ex-girlfriends mixed up, I wasn't the one who slept with Noah while dating Finn. As for why we're spending time together that is none of your business."
Rachel looked to Finn and then back at Santana including them both in her next statement. "If you must know, Noah and I are friends, and friends only." She sighed when Finn scoffed. "Yes we kissed once, but that was it. And, for future reference, if you want to know why he's spending time with me, ask him directly, leave me out of it." With that the bell rang and grabbed her stuff and walked out, heading for her locker.
Rachel had started walking down the corridor to head to her locker, when she was grabbed by the shoulder and spun around to face an angry Quinn. "How dare you talk about me? I don't need freaks like you casting judgements and innuendo about me. You know nothing."
Rachel raised her chin, feeling her temper rising, she was so sick of being constantly harassed. "I wasn't casting innuendo or being judgemental. I was stating facts, Quinn. You slept with Noah when you and Finn were together. That I know. You got pregnant. That I know. My birth mother adopted your daughter, and they both now live in New York. THAT I know." Rachel said quietly, as Quinn went white.
Most people had gone by this point, but Rachel still didn't want this conversation being overheard. She hadn't mentioned Shelby and Beth to be cruel, she had been trying to think of a way to bring it up with the other girl, but when Quinn had started pretending like the last year hadn't happened, she'd decided not to bother.
Already regretting bringing up the baby and without bothering to say anything else, she turned to walk away only for Quinn to grab her arm and spin her round and the hallway echoed with the slap and Rachel felt her head snap back under the impact. She shook her head and met Quinn's angry tear filled eyes.
"Okay, I deserved that. I shouldn't have brought up Shelby or Beth." Rachel took a step forward, so that her and Quinn were practically nose to nose. "I will apologise as that last comment was out of line. Now, having said that, I want you to understand something. That was your free shot. You ever lay a hand on me again and I will personally put you on your ass. I'm through being everyone's punching bag. Leave me alone, and I'll do likewise."
With that Rachel walked down the corridor in the opposite direction from everyone else. She had just rounded the corner when she jumped and screamed when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom. Looking up she met Noah's eyes, he looked really angry. He put his hand under her chin, tilting her face toward the light.
"Man, Q really packs a punch huh?" He said with a scowl. "She is such a bitch, I mean I was at the opposite end of the corridor and even I heard that slap." He let go of her chin and went over to the sink and damped down a paper towel and brought it over and laid it gently on her cheek putting her hand over it to hold it place. Rachel looked at Noah, who was staring out the window, his back now to her.
"Noah?" She said tentatively. As he turned around, she took a deep breath. "How much of our altercation did you hear?" Puck shrugged.
"I didn't hear the argument, just the end result. What were you fighting about anyway?" Rachel took a deep breath, and bit her lip, feeling apprehensive.
"Santana was being a bitch and apparently Finn told her we were sleeping together, so I just said I thought Finn was mixing up his ex-girlfriends." She stopped when Noah flinched, and she touched his arm, with an apologetic smile and he shrugged.
"S'okay. Its the truth. Sucks that it happened, but I can't erase it." Rachel took a step back and sat on the edge of the nearest desk, absently rubbing her cheek, which was still stinging.
"Then Quinn insulted me and said I didn't know what I was talking about, so I mentioned a few things I knew for a fact were true, she took offence to what I was saying and voilà, one slap."
Puck looked at Rachel and saw the guilty look on her face and sighed. "First of all, don't feel guilty. If Quinn is being a bitch, you should definitely fight back. I'm going to guess that Shelby was mentioned and Quinn flipped her shit. Again." Rachel nodded, then frowned.
"What do you mean again?" Puck looked at her.
"Rach, Beth was born almost a year ago. You don't think I haven't tried to talk about her with Quinn before now? Every time I tried to bring it up, Quinn would start shouting and throwing stuff at me, so after the forth or fifth time, I just decided that it wasn't worth it and we haven't spoken since."
Rachel looked at Noah. "Can I ask you something? I know we're friends, but I don't want to upset or offend you or bring back painful memories." Noah just shrugged.
"Don't worry so much Rachel. If I don't want to answer, I won't. You won't offend me. If its about Beth, go ahead. You have as much right as me to talk about her." Rachel shook her head.
"Okay, I just wondered. Do you regret giving her up? And why Shelby?" At Rachel's question Puck sat down across from her, his head dropping forward shielding his face from her sight. He let out a sigh, and rubbed his neck and Rachel felt her stomach churn waiting for him to answer. As much as she wanted to know, she had been telling the truth when she'd said she didn't want to bring up painful memories.
"Do I regret giving Beth up? That's a complicated question. The logical part of me knows that Quinn and I aren't ready to be parents. That in doing what we did, we gave her the best start in life, and a chance at a real future." He looked up at Rachel and she felt her heart squeeze at the vulnerability on Noah's face as he spoke about his daughter. "I know people think I'm just a dumb jock, who lives to beat people up and get laid, and while that might have been true six months ago, I'm trying to change. Growing up I guess. Now, do I regret giving her up?"
Noah looked at Rachel, and sighed. "Every damn day. I didn't want to give her up at the time, but Q talked me into it. It kills me to know that my little girl is never going to know me as daddy. Hopefully someday she'll know me as Noah, but that's not the same."
Suddenly uncomfortable, he stood up and jammed his hands in his pockets. "As for Shelby, we met her at the nursery in the hospital, and her and Quinn got talking, and it ended with us in the social workers office, signing our parental rights away. I don't know when they left the hospital or where they went. I only got to hold Beth once, but it was for about fifteen minutes not long after she was born. I've got a picture of her, not that I needed it. I wouldn't and couldn't forget her even if I tried. As for Shelby, I couldn't tell you what she was doing there."
Rachel gasped as realisation hit her, and she laughed and even to herself it sounded hollow.
"Shelby was at the hospital because I told her you were there. After our performance, I went to talk to her." She shrugged at Noah's surprised look. "She asked where everyone was so I told her what had happened, that you and Quinn had a healthy beautiful baby girl. Apparently that was all she needed to hear. No sooner had she finished telling me she couldn't be my mom, that she needed to start again, she went and found the exact thing she was looking for. Completely disregarding the fact I was here, ready and able to call her mom. Start again and never mind her biological daughter who only wanted, for once, someone to want her back."
Rachel stood up and distantly she realised she was crying. She felt sick and she was so angry she was shaking. This was the reason she didn't mention Shelby, ever. It brought up too many issues she hadn't dealt with, and to be honest, that she wasn't ready to deal with. She went to grab her bag, but Noah got there first, pulling her into his arms. She held herself stiff, still fighting to stop crying, and she felt more than heard him sigh.
"Rachel you need to relax, if you don't let some of this out, you're going to shatter. Trust me on this. I ended up in juvie because I couldn't handle my emotions. Just let go, its okay." As he spoke he gently rocked her back and forward and Rachel turned her face into his chest as her shoulders shook with the force of her crying.
Shifting her closer, Puck slowly ran his hand up and down her back, mentally kicking himself in the ass for not realising what talking about Shelby was going to do to her. She'd mentioned before that she didn't talk about what happened at the end of last year much, and he was guessing he was beginning to see why. After a couple of minutes, Rachel had calmed down and Puck let her go. "C'mon. Lets go the choir room, it should be empty, we can work on duet ideas."
Sitting in the choir room after school the next day, Rachel was in a world of her own. She had deliberately come into the choir room knowing that glee wasn't scheduled for another half hour so she could have some time to herself. She picked up the guitar that was laying there and without thinking started plucking out one of her favourite songs to play on guitar. If anyone had known she played guitar, they'd probably have said it would have been show tunes that she loved playing but it wasn't.
No-one knew she could play the guitar, as it wasn't something she advertised. She'd learnt it when she was a freshman, more out of boredom than anything else, and she loved it. But she would only play if no-one else was around. She began to sing, choosing to do just doing her favourite part of the song, knowing the likelihood of being interrupted was sky high.
Please understand
That its not that I don't care
But right now these walls are closing in on me
I love you more than I love life itself
But I need to find a place were I can breathe
I can breathe
Rachel took a deep breath and concentrated on her breathing, never expecting singing this song to hit her so hard but right now it felt like this song was expressing how she really felt about her life in McKinley. She felt trapped here. Never truly able to be herself. At times when she was feeling down or lonely, she just wanted to go to somewhere where she could be free to be who she was without the constant drama that seemed to be her life right now.
Now more than ever she was determined to follow through with what she had told Mr Schuester earlier in the year. If it didn't start getting better, she was quitting Glee after regionals, which were in a couple of months. She knew she had a problem when the thought of quitting Glee didn't make her sad, just determined.
I wanna go to a place where I can hold the intangible
And let go of the pain with all my might
I wanna go to a place where I'm suspended on ecstasy
Somewhere between dark and light
Where wrong becomes right
I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Mmmmmmm... beautiful...
Kurt Hummel stood in the corridor of his old high school, feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. The fact he was only here for a brief visit didn't calm down the fear that he was going to bump into his own personal nemesis. Having Blaine here helped, though. He patted Blaine's arm. "Its just up here. Normally its quite.." He trailed off as he heard singing coming from the choir room.
He paused outside the room, out of eyesight of anyone in the room and looked at Blaine who was stood with his eyebrows raised. "Is that Rachel?" Blaine asked quietly and Kurt nodded. He'd stopped them from going in because there was an odd note in Rachel's voice and it made Kurt uneasy. As she continued singing about going somewhere else, that note made sense.
Suddenly Kurt felt a huge wave of guilt hit him at being one of the people who convinced Rachel not to transfer to another school. Maybe he should have just told her to go. One thing was for sure, she wasn't happy. He walked into the choir room just as the music ended and not wanting to scare her he lightly clapped. She jumped up and out of her seat and whirled around but when she saw the two boys standing there, a bright smile bloomed across her face and she hurried over and pulled them into a hug. As the hug lasted a few moments beyond what was normal, Kurt met Blaine's eyes and the other boy frowned, obviously concerned.
After a couple of minutes, Rachel let go and stepped back, sitting down. Kurt sat down on one side of her and Blaine on the other. "Rachel, sweetie, are you okay?" Kurt frowned when Rachel didn't say anything, just sat and looked at her feet. She let out a small laugh, and Kurt was shocked by how hollow it sounded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Everything is fine. Things are okay. Noah has been a really good friend this past couple of days, its helping." Kurt reached over and put his hand under Rachel's chin and pulled her chin up and toward him, making her meet his eyes.
"That's good for Puck, but what about the ten other members of the Glee Club?" Rachel shook her head.
"Cliff note version? Finn told Santana I was sleeping with Noah and she believed him. Quinn, Finn, Santana, Brittany and Mercedes are official members of the we hate Rachel club. Artie, Tina, Mike, Sam and Lauren are in the 'she's okay, but we're not getting involved' camp. The only person I have in my corner in McKinley is Noah. Oh, and yesterday I got into a verbal altercation with Quinn and she slapped me." Kurt was gaping at Rachel and internally he was seething with anger. He'd known things were bad, but he hadn't known it was that bad. He was brought out of his musings by Rachel talking to him.
"So what brings you to McKinley, even though school is out, there is still a chance Karofsky is around here somewhere." Kurt grimaced at the mention of the other boy.
"I need to talk to Coach Sylvester about something. Believe me, I'm aware of the fact he lurks around the school just waiting for opportunities to be creepy. Anyway, I'm also here because I wanted to check up on my favourite diva. You sounded so sad on the phone last night." Rachel shrugged.
"I'm fine Kurt. You know me, I have a thick skin. Nothing gets me down for long." Kurt sat forward and went to speak but Blaine, who up until now had been sat in silence, beat him to it.
"Rachel, I don't mean to be rude, but that is complete bullshit. You are miserable. I know it, Kurt knows it and Noah knows it. He was the one who called and asked us to stop in and see you." Rachel was red in the face, and Kurt was staring in fascination at the other boy, he'd never seen this side of Blaine. "I know you guys have a plan sketched out, but if in the meantime you are completely miserable, so I ask, what the fuck is the point?" There was clapping from the door, and Kurt looked at Rachel seeing her shake her head as Noah walked in.
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Anderson." He looked at Rachel. "I know you really want to teach that bunch of idiots a lesson, but being miserable all the time isn't good for anyone. So, if you want to quit Glee and get away from that miserable bunch of fuckers, I'm with you."
Kurt took his attention away from the petite brunette in front of him to focus on Puck. He narrowed his eyes, his inspection going completely unnoticed by the other boy, since all his attention was on Rachel. Puck squatted down in front of Rachel, meeting her eye and Kurt looked at Blaine and waggled his eyebrows and Blaine grinned. They had been talking about the two teenagers the day before, both certain that they were a lot closer than either were willing to acknowledge. Kurt looked at Puck.
"Why are you here so early, I thought you'd be in the gym, working on the gun show." Puck shrugged.
"I got bored in the gym, decided to come down to the choir room to bug Rach, who I knew would be here. Heard her singing then saw you come in and decided to lurk and eavesdrop and here we are." Puck said with a smirk. Rachel's head snapped up and she she shook her head and sighed.
Before she could say anything, the door swung open and the rest of the glee club started arriving. Kurt and Blaine stood up and walked over to Mr Schuesters office, letting them get settled. Kurt deliberately kept his back on the room, knowing his temper was uncertain as it was. Even though he couldn't see her, he could feel Mercedes staring at him. They hadn't spoken for a while, and while Kurt felt bad, he had other things to worry about right now.
Mr Schuester walked into the room and went to speak when he spotted Kurt. Kurt walked up to Mr Schuester and gave him a small smile. "Hey Mr Schuester, I didn't realise there was a meeting, I'll be out your way in a minute, as I'm sure you don't want me or Blaine in your way right now. If its okay with you, I'd like a quick word with the guys." When Mr Schue nodded, Kurt walked up in front of the group.
He took a deep breath. "You know, I know I'm not officially a member of New Directions any more, but I have always considered you friends. And you were so understanding and helpful when it came to light how badly I was being bullied and for that I thank you." He paused, while everyone nodded or smiled and then as he continued, his voice started getting louder almost against his will, driven by temper. "Which is why I am absolutely appalled at the way you've all been treating Rachel. Its ridiculous. You are all old enough to understand what bullying can do to someone but as long as it's Rachel, its okay? You are alienating arguably the most talented performer you have, and I'm embarrassed and I'm ashamed of all of you."
Kurt paused and smiled at Puck, who was sat in the seat he had been in earlier, with his arm around Rachel, who had her face buried in his shoulder. "With a couple of exceptions. If it continues, I swear to god, I'm going to Rachel's dads and I'm going to try to get them to transfer her out of here. No-one should have to put up with this from their so-called friends. I want to ask you something. Do you remember what we said the start of the year? That we were a family, tighter than tight. Glee was the one place we were supposed to be safe from all the slushies, and the name calling that happened out there. Now, if Rachel is getting it from outside and from in here, let me ask you. Exactly where is she supposed to feel safe, and feel like she belongs?"
By the time he had finished his tirade, Rachel was in tears, Kurt's face was flushed with temper and none of the Glee Club were looking at him. Kurt looked over at Blaine and he just looked fascinated. As he stepped back Santana stood up.
"Don't you think you're being more than a little hypocritical here? I mean, for months you've been the main critic of Rachel, then you leave to go to Dalton and suddenly you're her best friend?" Kurt looked at Santana and shook his head.
"Actually, no. I'm not being even remotely hypocritical because not long after I left here, I found Rachel and I apologised and after I did that, she forgave me and I moved on and changed the way I treated her. I now consider her one of my best friends, and before any of you think about blaming this on her, she had no idea I was going to be here, or say any of this."
Kurt turned and walked over and stood in front of Rachel, pulling her up and out of her seat and out of Puck's arms. Kurt tilted her chin up and met her tear filled eyes. "I know you're probably mad at me for this, but Rachel, it had to be done. You're not happy, every day I see you, your less and less like yourself." Rachel shook her head.
"I'm not mad, I think your insane, and way too overprotective, but I'm not mad." With that Rachel sat back down and Kurt and Blaine exchanged glances. "Right, we'd better let you get on, Rachel we'll see you later, usual time and place?" Rachel looked up with a smile and nodded blowing both boys a kiss.
After the two boys had left an uncomfortable silence fell over the group and Mr Schuester walked in front of the group and stood there, a frown on his face. "Everything that Kurt said had merit. I want you all to think about that for a minute. All you guys have is each other, and this isn't going to work if you are constantly cutting each other down." He gave them all what Rachel always called his 'I'm so disappointed in you right now' soulful look, and then sighed.
"My assignment for this week is to find a song that you think expresses how you feel right now. You can work by yourself, or in pairs or groups, its up to you." He stepped back and as everyone started talking amongst themselves, Rachel met Pucks eyes. He raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Hmm, lucky us. A chance for a duet. What kind of songs did you have in mind?" Rachel frowned.
"I'm not sure yet. I definitely want to do something different that what everyone is expecting. Maybe a Lady Antebellum song, or a Pink song, I don't know." She looked over at Noah with a smile. "Do you have any preferences for what you would like to sing?" Noah shrugged.
"I'm not that bothered to be honest. No show tunes and we'll be fine." Rachel smiled and as she pulled out her iPod and gave Noah one side of her headphones. She looked up at met his eyes and as he smiled, she felt her heart skip a beat. There was no doubt that they had a definite chemistry, but getting involved intimately with Noah would be a bad idea. He had become a good friend to her in the past few weeks, and she wasn't willing to risk losing him as a friend. It might sound childish, but if everything went bad, then she would be completely alone, and she'd been there, done that and wasn't willing to go back, no matter how tempting it would be to give into whatever this thing was between herself and Noah.
She looked up when she heard her name being mentioned and Santana stood up, facing Sam. "And what is that supposed to mean?" She snapped facing the other boy.
"Its simple." Sam said, staying calm in the face of Santana's temper. "I said, leave Rachel alone. I'm so sick of hearing you run her down and criticise her, especially when she isn't hear to defend herself. Stop being such a bitch, its really unattractive." Santana looked the boy up and down, then sat down without looking at the other boy again, turning her back on him. Sam made a face at her back and then walked over to where Puck and Rachel were sat. "Rachel, I'm sorry I haven't said anything before. I'm so sick of just sitting there when people run you down for no reason. For the record, I think you're a cool person, and I just wanted you to know that." Rachel flushed and smiled, gesturing for Sam to sit down beside her and Noah.
"Thank you, but you know you didn't have to do that. I mean, I appreciate it, believe me, but I don't want to make things awkward for you." Sam looked at her and shook his head, with a smile.
"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. We cool?" Rachel nodded and Puck bumped fists with Sam, and with a smile he went back to his seat. Rachel sat back in her seat with a smile. Turns out maybe she had more friends than Noah after all.
Authors Note: I was going to keep going but I just realised, this chapter is about six thousand words, which is double my usual length, so think of it as a bonus and an apology for keeping you waiting so damn long!