Rachel had absolutely no idea what had made her agree to go to the party.

It was too loud, too hot and too full of uncouth, inebriated football players and scantily clad cheerio's. She would much rather have been at home watching Broadway musicals whilst keeping herself fit and healthy on her exercise bike. Some people might say that was an incredibly sad way to spend a Friday night, but personally she felt it was not only invigorating, but educational.

Sighing, she decided that it must have been due to a momentary lapse in rationality brought about by too many stressful glee rehearsals and late nights. On principle, she did not remain in a room where there was such a blatant disregard for morals and personal space, but seeing as Kurt was her ride home and he seemed to have disappeared upstairs, she had no choice but to put up with it. As a can of beer soared over her head to the accompaniment of woops and cheers she shuddered and mentally compared the male students of McKinley High – not for the first time – to a troop of Apes.

"Hey Rach!"

Surprised that someone actually seemed to be addressing her and at the same time slightly panicked as to who it might be, she looked up warily. To her relief she saw Mike battling his away across the crowded room towards her, grinning.

"Hi Mike" she said brightly, happy to see a friendly face.

"What you doing here?" Mike asked as he reached her. "I thought you must have been permanently grounded or something. I never see you at parties."

Rachel found it endearing how Mike didn't seem to judge her and assumed that she didn't go to parties because of her Dads rather than out of choice.

"I don't generally have much time" she said diplomatically, aware that the screaming, dancing, drunken, unconscious, giggling – and to her extreme distaste openly making out – people around her were his friends.

"Oh. Well it's cool you're here now."

"Thanks" she smiled.

"Who are you with?" he asked, his brow furrowing as he noticed that she was perched awkwardly on the arm of a sofa, being ignored by everyone around her.

"Kurt" she told him. "But he seems to be entertained elsewhere."

Mike chuckled. "You could say that. I saw him dragging a very drunk Nate Lawson into a bedroom."

"Oh dear" said Rachel in concern. "I hope neither of them does something they'll regret."

"Nah, don't worry bout it" said Mike, metaphorically swatting away the whole issue with his hand. "Nate always gets with Kurt at parties then denies it at school."

"I see" said Rachel, frowning.

"So, you wanna hang out with me?" asked Mike, offering Rachel his hand.

"I'd like that Mike" she smiled, taking it and allowing him to lead her out the room and into the garden.

"We're out by the hot tub" he told her over his shoulder, as he manoeuvred them past a drunken game of beer pong.

"We?" Rachel asked, hoping that a certain Mohawked person wouldn't be present.

"Matt, Puck, Santana… just the whole group part from Finn" Mike shrugged.

She groaned inwardly. Great. She could now spend the entire night being insulted.

"Why isn't Finn present?" she asked out loud.

"He had to stay home and help his mom clean out the garage" Mike grinned. "That boy is so under the thumb."

"I think it's very commendable that he's doing housework" said Rachel approvingly. "And not enough young people these days see the value of spending time with their family."

Mike gave her a fond look. "You sure come out with a load of funny stuff, Rach."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment Mike."

"Cool."

They reached the hot tub and Rachel fell silent, wondering for the billionth time why on earth she'd come to a party full of people she never normally spent time with apart from when they were forced to tolerate each other's presence during glee. She barely talked to most of them, unless arguing counted as conversation (this was mainly directed at Puck) and in light of that, she decided she might as well just be grateful that there weren't any slushies around.

"Hey guys" said Mike, letting go of Rachel's hand and vaulting over the side of the hot tub. He landed with a huge splash in the water causing the girls to scream and hit him.

"Mike, my hair!" Quinn protested.

"I'm, like, all wet now!" Brittany grumbled.

Puck, who was wrapped extremely closely around Santana, raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, you're in a hot tub."

Rachel couldn't help laughing at how completely his sarcasm was wasted on the blonde. However this caused Puck to turn his attention to her and immediately she stopped, not wanting to provoke an attack.

"Berry?" he asked incredulously.

"Good evening Noah" she said tightly.

His look of surprise was replaced by a smirk. "What? Did they run out of musicals to rent from the library?" he asked her.

Rachel blushed at how unerringly true his suggestion was.

"Give her a break man" said Mike, jumping to her defensive before she was forced to reply. She smiled at him appreciatively.

"How adorable. Looks like you've found yourself a boyfriend, manhands" said Santana in a saccharine sweet voice, pressing herself even closer to Puck – if that was even physically possibly, thought Rachel sourly. The cheerio was obviously still angry about her and Noah's entrance to registration that morning.

"Mike and I are just friends" said Rachel firmly, looking away as Santana claimed all of Puck's attention in a steamy kiss. It wasn't like she was jealous or anything. It was simply that over zealous public displays of affection between jocks and girls wearing next to nothing just wasn't appealing to her.

"So" said Matt, who was sitting on the other side of Quinn. "You coming in?"

He splashed her playfully and Quinn raised an eyebrow. Evidently she was finding it hard to accept that Matt and Mike seemed to consider her their friend.

"Err, I don't think that's such a good –" Rachel began, but Mike cut her off.

"Come on Rach, there's plenty of room."

"I don't have a bathing suit" she said, playing on the safe side. She didn't want to antagonise the entire cheerleading squad in one day.

"We can fix that for you" said Quinn unexpectedly, tapping Santana on the shoulder so that the brunette broke away from Puck.

"What?" she asked, sounding annoyed and breathless. Puck smirked at the effect he seemed to have had on her.

"Come on. We're going to find Rachel a bikini" Quinn told her, exchanging a meaningful look with the other Cheerio.

"Awesome" said Mike, completely missing out on this. "Can you get us some beer while you're in the house?"

"Sure" said Quinn brightly. "Let's go."

Her and Santana got up and climbed out of the hot tub, Puck slapping Santana on the butt as she passed. Much to Rachel's disgust, the brunette giggled and winked back.

Mike grinned and gave her a thumbs up as Rachel began to follow the two girls across the garden and she smiled faintly at him in return. It was all very well him being sweet and naïve, but at moments like this she found it less endearing and more frustrating. Did he not realise Quinn and Santana hated her amazing singing voice and leading lady star quality? In all probability they were about to do something incredibly evil and this caused her to begin panicking all over again.

"Yo Berry!" Puck called after her.

Half hoping that he might be coming to her rescue, she turned back to face him.

"Yes Noah?"

Puck's trademark smirk was firmly in place as he answered her. "How bout you skinny dip instead?"

Groaning to herself, Rachel refused to deign him with a response and continued after Quinn into the house. Over her shoulder she heard a splash and a distinctly Puck like "oof" – evidently Mike coming to her defence once again. She smiled to herself.

All happy feelings were wiped away however as Quinn and Santana lead her upstairs and into a bedroom, where a guy in a McKinley high jacket and pretty red head were making out on the bed.

"Get out" said Quinn casually, her tone full of the kind of confidence you only get from having years of people doing whatever you tell them. The guy broke off the kiss and looked up, ready to tell her where to stick it. That was until he realised who it was speaking to him.

His eyes widened. "Sure" he said, dragging the girl off the bed and after him to the door, shooting Quinn a nervous smile on his way out. Quinn didn't return the favour.

"It's one of the perks of being popular" she told Rachel, nodding her head in the retreating couple's direction. "They all do exactly what I say because of my "it" girl status."

Dating the star quarterback of a football team of Neanderthals who'll beat up anyone who gets in their way kind of helps too, thought Rachel sarcastically. She was pretty sure it was the Fear factor that had most guys scurrying after Quinn's every whim.

"Yes" she said out loud. "How nice for you."

Quinn's eyes narrowed. "How long have you and Mike been… friends?" she asked.

Rachel didn't miss the emphasis on the word "friends" and realised this was the Cheerio asking if there was anything going on between her and Mike.

"Since he began participating in glee" she said shortly. Her love life was not up for discussion.

Quinn evidently thought otherwise. "Are you dating?" she asked.

Rachel felt a flare of anger. "No" she said after a moment. "Not that it's any of your business."

Santana raised an eyebrow. "So Mike invited you here just because you're friends?"

"Yes. Well, he didn't invite me, Kurt did. But for the sake of the point you're trying to make let's just say that it was Mike."

Quinn and Santana exchanged looks.

"No offense Rachel" said Quinn, in a fake sweet voice that told Rachel she was about to be offended. "But why would Mike take any interest in you whatsoever if you weren't putting out?"

"Because he enjoys my company?" And because he recognises my potential as a star, she thought silently. But she decided not to mention that at this precise moment.

Santana sneered. "I highly doubt that."

"You can believe what you like" said Rachel calmly.

"Ok man hands" said Quinn, tossing her blonde hair over one shoulder and advancing on her. "I'm going to break this down for you. One – you do not fit in with us. Two – Mike is under a serious delusion if he thinks you're even remotely pretty and Three – if you don't leave right now, some ugly shit is going to go down."

"Excuse me?" Rachel didn't know whether to laugh or not. Quinn couldn't genuinely be serious, could she? Of course, she wasn't at all surprised that the Cheerio didn't want her befriending Mike. They were so exclusive and hated new people joining their group – not that she wanted to be involved with people who considered popularity to be more important than talent. But actually forcing her to leave?

"You heard me" Quinn threatened. "Get out, or we'll make you."

"Fine. I'll leave." She had no desire to be beaten up and it seemed that Quinn was intent on banishing her from the party. Of course, in the future she'd have bodyguards to deal with this sort of thing, but for now she had to protect her looks from any unwanted damage. As she was heading for the door, Santana called out a departing insult.

"And don't think Puck is even remotely interested in you, manhands. The only reason he talks to you at all is because he's trying to make your life hell."

"Really?" muttered Rachel under her breath, "because I thought that was your job."

As she headed downstairs, very much hoping that Kurt had finished doing whatever it was he was doing to Nate Lawson so they could go home, she bumped into Puck on the landing.

"Two times in one day" he grinned, placing a steadying hand on her waist so she didn't fall over. "Didn't know you liked me this much Berry."

She bristled, half infuriated by his arrogant smirk and half worried what Santana would do if she came out of the bedroom and saw them talking together. "I don't. And I still haven't forgiven you for what happened this morning in registration."

"Whatever. You so enjoyed it."

She sighed. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go." Moving his hand away from her waist, she tried to step past him.

"You leaving already?" he asked, a frown creasing his brow.

"Yes. And if you see Kurt anyway, I'd appreciate it if you told him I'll be waiting by his car."

Rachel walked away, thinking that this whole evening had entirely justified her reasons for never agreeing to anything Kurt suggested.

Puck watched her go, wondering how the hell she managed to look hot in knee socks.

A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. I'd love to know what you think! :)