A/N: Again with the ahmazing reviews! *does spazzy little dance* I seriously love you all! Sorry about the wait, high school is more evil than I remembered! Anyway, you'll have to wait one more chapter before you find out what's up with Rachel, my apologies, it just needed an entire chapter to itself. So enjoy part 2 of Sectionals anyway. Also next update I'm planning on changing the title of this story to 'Splinter' so if you want to alert it so you don't lose it. :)
***
Chapter Seven: Centre of Attention
Due to her dream of one day becoming a Broadway star and finally leaving Lima behind, Rachel chose to stick closely to a very strict and calculating afternoon schedule. Assuming she did not have Glee or dance practice, the majority of her afternoon was spent on homework. Rachel prided herself on her ability to have all her schoolwork finished days before it was due, she needed to have a perfect grade average, just in case Broadway failed – which it wouldn't – and she needed to chose another career path. Any spare time left over was spent heavily on the elliptical – good body tone would help her go far – as well as recording newer MySpace videos – anyone could be watching. While for the rest of the McKinley High population weekends were to be spent getting drunk, stoned and crudely enough, boned, Rachel preferred her weekends to be once of peaceful natures. She would go to her vocal classes and then teaching the younger children at her dance school before heading home where she and her fathers would garden, or as they were at the moment, renovate the house.
But unfortunately even future Broadway stars got sick and for the first time in a very long time, Rachel Berry decided to say screw it to schedules. Miss Pillsbury had dropped her home and fussed over the fact neither of her fathers were home before leaving quite quickly, as though Rachel's 'sick' germs might kill her – Rachel had spotted her sitting in her car outside practically drowning in hand sanitiser.
Mourning the fact that there was no-one home to fret over her and force her into bed-rest and copious amounts of chicken noodle soup, Rachel pulled her baggiest and most unattractive pyjamas on and prepared to overindulge herself in frozen yoghurt, Mills and Boon novels and Nicholas Sparks film-adaptations. Sadly, she never made it that far; instead she gave into her heavy eyelids and an even heavier brain and curled up on the sofa and slept. Not even twenty minutes later, she jumped in shock as the doorbell began to frantically ring.
Sleepily rubbing her eyes Rachel wandered slowly to the door to find a tear-stained Finn hitting his head against the wall.
"Finn?" she mumbled, her eyes still blurry. He turned his head and offered a wet smile, wiping his nose childishly with his sleeve. "Umm...hi." he said and Rachel wearily opened the door wider, allowing him to enter. Gently taking his hand in hers, she lead him back into the living area before curling back into her cocoon of blankets. A light buzzing alerted her to a new message and she hit 'open' while Finn settled himself on the other end of the sofa.
Noah: call me when u wake up. need 2 know ur ok
Smiling lightly she typed a reply then offered the slightly melted tub of frozen yoghurt to Finn.
"No thanks. I kinda feel like if I eat anything I'll have to throw up," he confessed and Rachel gave a slight smile, "Have to agree with you on that," she murmured.
Finn raised his eyebrows and she shook her head, "Never mind. Umm...did you need something? I mean...umm...are you here for a particular reason?"
At her question, Finn's resolve began to crumble and the tears started again.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed as Rachel shifted her way down the end of the sofa, intertwining her fingers in his. "I'm just a mess at the minute. I mean I thought the baby was mine. I thought I was Drizzle's dad," he sobbed and Rachel squeezed his fingers,
"I know you did. We all did. You're allowed be a mess," she soothed and Finn cried harder.
"I wanted her to be mine so badly. I was terrified when she told me, still am actually but I got used to it. And my mom – oh god my mom! What am I going to tell her?" he blathered and Rachel held back her own tears, humming gently,
"I don't know, Finn, I don't know."
"She's so excited. I caught her washing my old baby clothes the other day and Drizzle's not due for another four months. This is going to hurt her so much. I think I hate Quinn right now. How could she do this to me. To us. And how could Puck!" he swore and Rachel stiffened at the mention of Puck.
"Finn...you don't hate Quinn. It might feel like it right now, but if you talk to her. You both obviously care for each other, and this baby. You can get through it. As for Noah. He told me you've been friends since you were four, that's a lot of friendship to just throw away." she murmured and Finn shrugged,
"I've forgiven Puck for a lot of shit in that time and I think he just blew it. As for Quinn, she obviously didn't care enough for me if she just went and slept with my best friend,"
"They were drunk, Finn. And before you say that's not an excuse, remember that's exactly what we did. We got drunk and had sex," Rachel said forcibly and Finn's face flushed a crimson red,
"Yeah but you didn't get pregnant and you didn't lie about it," he whispered and Rachel's face burned, "We told Quinn straight up that we slept together and she spent weeks torturing you for it when she did the exact same thing with Puck."
"He wanted to tell you," Rachel blurted and Finn looked at her questioningly, "Noah. He wanted to tell you earlier than this. He told me. He wanted you to know he was the baby's dad but Quinn wouldn't let him. She had him jumping through hoops to prove he was good enough for her. He doesn't want to end up like his dad."
Finn's eyes widened a little and he half-crushed Rachel's hand in his own. "Uh...uh...that still doesn't mean anything. He could've still told me earlier! He didn't have to watch me try to deal with all the pressure when he could have helped. I knew there was something going on with them; I just chose to ignore it. I'm such an idiot," he sobbed and tears started to roll down Rachel's own cheeks.
"You're not an idiot, Finn. Quinn played you like she played everyone else. You need to talk to her," she whispered and Finn nodded,
"I know. I'm sorry I complained about Puck to you, I know you guys are like best friends now."
Rachel smiled, "It's alright, he's been there for me a fair bit the last few weeks. You should probably talk to him too, let him explain his side before you take Quinn's word too seriously."
Finn wiped his eyes before squeezing her hand, "Thanks Rachel. For everything. How are you going? I mean with everything that's happened," he asked and Rachel shrugged,
"It's alright. Better than I expected. Noah, Tina and Artie have all been really great to me lately and Britt, Matt and Mike are starting to approach me more than they used to."
"I'm really sorry about that. I mean how Quinn turned almost everyone else against you but she still accepted me back. You didn't deserve it," he said, leaning back into the sofa and curling Rachel in next to him.
"Its okay, Finn. I've recovered. It takes a lot more than that to bring Rachel Berry down."
Finn grinned, "Of course it does. I still want to thank you. You've been amazing to me these past few months. And I know I've screwed up far too many times for you to truly forgive me but I like being here with you, talking like this."
Rachel smiled at his words and wiped away the drying tears from her face. Finn chuckled and used the pad of his thumb on the corner of her eyes where more tears were building. Leaning down he gently pressed his mouth against hers before gauging her reaction.
"Finn..." she whispered and he placed a finger over her lips.
"Shhh," he murmured before kissing her again. Smiling lightly Rachel gave in and kissed him back. Several minutes passed before they broke apart and Rachel frowned.
"Finn...I...I can't. Not with all this baby drama and you and Quinn fighting, and Noah. I can't do this," she babbled and Finn nodded,
"I know. I'm sorry too. I need to talk to Quinn and you and Puck obviously have something. He adores you at the moment," Finn agreed and Rachel's face flushed,
"He doesn't. He's just being a good friend," she denied and Finn raised his eyebrows and smirked,
"Yeah, because good friends totally barge into the girls toilets like a madman because they're scared you'll cry yourself to death."
Rachel glared, "Finn. Shut up."
Finn laughed and hugged her close to his side, "Alright, for now. So what are we watching?"
***
Later that night after she had kicked Finn out before her fathers came home – they still hadn't climbed back aboard the 'we love Finn Hudson' boat – and managed to force some actual food down her throat. Rachel wandered back up to her bedroom planning to have another nap before she went anywhere near her stack of homework. A light beeping from her phone warned her of the multiple missed calls and texts waiting behind. Sighing she rolled over and fumbled for the phone.
Mercedes: Is white-boy still coming to Sectionals? If you scared him off again...
Kurt: Sweetie, I understand that you aren't well but if you dare come to school in sweatpants again I will slushie you.
Mike: m mom totally said britt and i can plan a party for after sectionals. you in?
Noah: how'd things with finn go? u feeling any better?
Laughing slightly, Rachel chose to ignore the messages from Merecedes and Kurt, choosing instead to send Mike a quick reply – Sounds good. I'll ask – before highlight Puck's message again. Sighing she began to type.
Things with Finn are fine. We talked it out.
She hit send and laughed as a reply popped up almost automatically.
good to hear. and u?
I'm fine. Just really tired.
take care of yourself. its not badass of me 2 worry so much
:P I'm fine. My dads have a doctor's appointment for me tomorrow.
good. want me 2 come with u?
No thanks. I'm a big girl Noah, I can do it myself.
just offering. whatd u and finn talk about?
You. And Quinn. And the baby.
sorry if it was awkward. kinda my fault.
It's fine. He said he'll try and talk to you and Quinn soon. He just needs time.
thank u. that was totally ur doing wasnt it?
Maybe. I do try my best.
i know u do. anything else interesting?
Rachel chewed on her bottom lip. Should she tell him? Taking a deep breath, she finally typed back.
Finn kissed me.
The minute the 'message sent' icon popped up, Rachel regretted it. A long gap of silence swelled with no new message. Clicking new message, preparing to bombard Puck with 'sorry' messages, Rachel began typing only to have another message pop up.
did he now? awful quick of him
It's not like that Noah. I can't see him like that anymore. He's messed up over Quinn.
He needs time and so do I. I'm fine with guys only being my friends right now.
good to hear. gotta go – midget is calling for dinner.
Rachel's face fell as she read his quick brush-off. Rolling over, she hoped to dear god that she hadn't ruin her relationship with one of the most important people in her life right now.
***
Several blocks away, Puck sat half-miserably on the sofa listening to his sister babble on about the book she had read in class that day and his mother gush about how excited she was to hear him sing at Sectionals on Saturday.
Running his hand gently over his cellphone, Puck recalled the stab of jealousy he felt when Rachel mentioned Finn kissing her, despite her exclamations that it meant nothing. He sighed, just like them sleeping together meant nothing.
"Noah? Are you listening to me?" his mother asked and he looked up distractedly, "Wha?"
"Noah, I asked you a question. Have you given any thought to my request of you dating a nice Jewish girl?" she asked and his sister giggled. Shooting her a glare, Puck shook his head,
"Ma, I've been distracted. I'll get on it soon," he replied shortly and his mother raised her eyebrows,
"Distracted by what? Girls? Specifically Jewish ones?" she said and he groaned,
"Ma! Give it a rest. I'll give you Jewish grandkids when I'm thirty, not now."
Puck sighed, his poor mother was getting a grandchild now, just not a Jewish one.
"Noah, do not mock your mother. I did not raise you like that. I just want you to be happy with a single girl who you can bring home to meet your mother and sister, not one of those tarty cheerleaders you enjoy parading around so much. I want you to be in a committed relationship like that lovely Finn Hudson has with that Quinn girl." she continued to lecture him.
Puck rested his head on the back of the sofa. He had met a nice Jewish girl for his mother. She just happened to be in love with the 'lovely Finn Hudson'.
I'm fine with guys only being my friends right now.
He couldn't catch a break these days could he? Not with Quinn and his daughter, and now with Rachel taking some kind of weird anti-dating stance.
Let's just hope Sectionals are a little more successful for him, crazy Jewish mother in the audience and everything.
***
The final days before Sectionals were spent in tense situations. Despite his talk with Rachel, Finn still refused to be in the same room as Quinn and Puck and the chances of him accompanying the club to Sectionals were very slim. Kurt had already had several panic attacks including one when Matt accidently tore a hole in his costume and another when Rachel had left school for her doctor's appointment and never returned, Kurt swearing she had caught some kind of mutant voice-destroying disease that was going to completely destroy their Sectionals chances.
But by the time Saturday morning rolls around, a sense of calm has finally settled over the Glee club. Finn swore to Rachel he would show up, they have Jacob signed up should Finn change his mind, Matt was finally banned from going within two metres of the costume bag (they had an incident with bottle of soda and a can of silly-string during one of their afternoon jam/practice sessions. Kurt was not pleased) and Rachel was finally back to her regular psychotic 'I'm-a-star-and-you-know-it' personality.
Settling on the bus, Puck waved lightly to Rachel as her dad's car pulled up. She smiled softly at him as Miss Pillsbury rushed over to where they stood. Puck raised his eyebrows as she began engaging Mr Berry 1# and Mr Berry #2 in a fast-paced and frantic conversation. Rachel rolled her eyes and wandered over to where Tina and Artie were waiting for the wheelchair elevator to come down. As soon as she climbed on the bus, Rachel made a beeline to where Puck was sitting and squished herself in next to him, stealing one of his earphones.
"Hi." she said cheerfully and Puck laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Hey to you too. What's with Miss P and your dads?" he asked and Rachel shook her head,
"I'm an only child. They worry," she answered and he laughed again before her face turned serious. "Finn's not coming. He texted me this morning."
"What?" Puck mouthed and Rachel pulled out her phone to show him.
Rach i'm sorry. I cant deal with this now. I'm not gunna make it today. Tell everyone I'm sorry.,
"Shit," Puck mumbled as the bus started to rumble into gear. Rachel shot him a look for his language before grinning.
"But you know what this means don't you?" she smirked and he looked at her questioningly, "Mr. Schue said I could have my 'Don't Stop Believing' solo back. Meaning since Finn isn't coming, you as the next best male lead, get to sing with me!"
"Serious?" he said, grinning at the look of pure enjoyment on Rachel's face, and the wide happy smile that spread across her lips...dude! Stop thinking about her lips, he mentally chastised himself.
"Well, I guess I could always ask Artie if you're not badass enough for it..." she said teasingly and Puck shook his head,
"As if! I'll do it with you and we'll blow them out of the park with our awesome badassed good-looking Jewish voices."
Rachel grinned back, "Alright. Now we're listening to my iPod now because you seriously need some cultured music."
"Bullshit babe! I'm not listening to the Wicked soundtrack, no matter what kind of creepy-ass musical crushes you and Kurt have on it."
***
If there was anything that Puck learnt from Sectionals it was number one; if the morning appears great – the afternoon is going to suck. Despite Rachel's exclamations that going last was a good thing, half the group immediately lost their confidence. That mixed with Finn's absence was leading into a spiralling downfall for the group. And it just got worse.
The minute the Jane Adams Girls started belting out 'And I Am Telling You', Puck decided they still had a chance, as he watched Rachel and Kurt comfort Mercedes at the end of their row.
When they rolled out on stage in wheelchairs and started singing 'Proud Mary', Puck got pissed. That was Artie's song. Artie who seriously looked as though he wanted to burst into tears from where he sat with Tina's hand clasped around his. Once intermission was called, Puck stormed out of the theatre ready to beat some juvie girls up (and don't say he can't hit girls because those girls came from juvie, meaning they're almost as badass as Puck is, minus the fact they got caught and Puck never has). Rachel's hand intertwined with his stopped him in his tracks as she pulled him over to everyone else. Miss Pillsbury was almost having a heart-attack as she called Mr. Schue. Artie was ramming himself into the wall while Kurt appeared to be doing yoga and Jacob stood in the corner, his pants a tell-tale wet. Wrinkling his nose, Puck dragged Rachel over to one of the sofas before her eyes lit up.
Pulling her phone out, she hit several buttons and Puck stared at her questioningly. She raised a finger to silence him before frowning.
"Finn Hudson. You had better get your arse down to Sectionals now. I do not care how bad you feel about yourself right now. The Jane Adams Girls stole two of our numbers and unless you show up before we go on with some replacement numbers, I swear I am withdrawing your co-captaincy and kicking you out of Glee before you can even think of apologising....No I don't want to hear any excuses....I don't care that your mom has the car, go borrow Mr. Schue's or something. Just get here!" she half-shouted. Hanging up lightly, Rachel smiled sweetly at them all,
"Finn's on his way. Jacob, if I were you I would go clean myself up and then go home. We don't need you anymore." she ordered and Puck grinned,
"You're scary when you don't get your way. It's kinda hot." he smirked and Rachel rolled her eyes.
***
If he thought he was pissed before, it was nothing compared to how pissed Puck got when the Haverbrook kids started to sing 'Don't Stop Believing'. That was going to be his and Rachel's song! Not caring that the poor deaf kids are kinda disabled, Puck was prepared to kick some ass (and don't give him that, 'but they're deaf kids' lecture because Kurt's gay and Puck still threw him in the garbage, and Artie's in a wheelchair but that didn't stop him from getting locked in a porta-potty). However before Puck could storm out, he spotted Rachel yelling up their row,
"Meeting in green room in five minutes." before storming up the aisle, her phone out as she prepared to verbally abuse Finn until he showed up.
***
Almost ten minutes later, all of New Directions were bustling in the room they had been offered. Rachel, with her phone still plastered to her ear was ordering Kurt around, demanding that he put the curling irons on to heat and to set all their costumes out, before yelling down the phone at Finn again.
Suddenly the door burst open and Finn came flying in, face flushed and a stack of paper clutched in his fist,
"Jesus, Rachel! Stop yelling at me! I showed up didn't I!?" he panted and Rachel grinned wildly,
"That you did. Thank you, Finn. Now what song did you pick out? We're going to do 'Somebody to Love' as one." she chirped as she hugged Finn's side lightly.
Finn flushed, "Mr. Schue gave me the idea. We can do the Rolling Stones' 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'. I though it suited our group," he murmured and Rachel nodded,
"Excellent. Britt, Santana, Matt and Mike. If you aren't at that table planning choreography in the next 20 seconds, I'm going to go all, as Noah calls it, 'creepy stalker, psychotic chick' on you." she ordered and the four shuffled off, Matt and Mike shooting Puck and each other huge grins.
"Everyone else. Get costumed up. Grab a set of sheet music from Finn. Kurt, get in the corner and get your fashionista freak on. I want everyone made up and hair done. Mercedes, have you got anything else in your repertoire? We need a ballad."
Mercedes shook her head, "Yeah, but it's not as good as anything you're gunna sing," she admitted and Rachel frowned,
"No we agreed, the ballad is yours." she said and Kurt and Mercedes shared a look. Puck laughed,
"Rachel? Shut up? It's obviously not getting quite through your head. You're our star. Now you can stop bossing the rest of us and go pull out one of those songs you've been bragging about practising since you were four. Let's go!" he said and Rachel rolled her eyes at him,
"I would slap you right now if you weren't totally telling the truth."
***
If he said so himself, Puck knew they totally rocked Sectionals. Rachel managed to blow their ballad out of the park and as dumb as he normally was, Finn clearly picked a good song for them.
It was just the waiting that sucked.
Finally the judges wandered out of their room and all the show choirs were called to re-enter the stage. Puck spotted Miss Pillsbury shooting them thumbs-ups from where she sat with Jacob and he clearly ignored the section where he knew his mom and sister were sitting.
After what seemed like hours of agonising boredom, the announcer finally came onstage with the three judges. Clearly his throat rather disgustingly into the microphone, the announcer took a deep breath.
"The winner of the 2009, Western Ohio High School Show Choir Sectionals is........"
He paused, obviously having trouble with opening the tiny envelope. Next t him, Rachel dug her nails tightly into Puck's hand, the announcer cleared his throat again,
"...McKinley High's New Directions!"
The uproar that occurred was incredibly loud considering there were only twelve members of New Directions on stage. Brittany, Santana, Matt and Mike started to chant loudly onstage while Tina and Artie went wheeling across in victory. Next to Puck, Rachel gave a slight gasp before turning to him, a huge grin spreading across her face,
"We did it!" she squealed and he laughed,
"No, you did it. If you hadn't bossed us around and then managed to make Barbra Streisand rock, we couldn't have done it."
he whispered back as she threw her arms tightly around his neck. Spinning her lightly, he ignored the feeling that his mother was probably staring daggers into the back of his head. Rachel broke away from him with a grin, choosing to throw her arms around Finn. Puck rolled his eyes and wandered over to Quinn, who was standing by herself, throwing an arm around her.
"What'd you think baby-mama? We do good?" he asked and she looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes as she gently rubbed her stomach,
"Yeah, we did good." she whispered.
***
The wait outside for the bus was definitely not quiet. The whole group was cheerfully singing at the top of their lungs, waving to the Haverbrook kids who had taken their loss quite well, and glaring at the Jane Adams girls who had not. Suddenly Mike started to jump up and down,
"My mom says victory party tomorrow! My place, 12:00. Bring swimmers! Oh and Puck? Don't you dare offer to clean my pool, my mom is not a cougar!" he shouted and Puck laughed. His smile soon faded as he spotted his mom exiting the building,
"Nooooooah!" a shrill shriek echoed around as his sister ran full-pelt towards him. Grinning once more, Puck lumped her small body into his arms as she chattered wildly,
"You were soooo good! Why did you tell me you sang so good? You made mom cry. And the girls you sing with are soooo pretty! Why don't you date them?" she burbled as he broke away from the rest of the group to speak to his mom.
"Hey Ma. What'd you think?" he asked and his mother smiled at him, her eyes still tearstained,
"Oh Noah. You do manage to make your poor mother proud. Congratulations, you are all so talented," she said and he smirked, kissing her cheek.
"Told ya we were."
"But Noah dear. That lovely young girl who sang first. The Barbra Streisand song. I swear I saw her wearing a Star of David. Have you been hiding the fact you have met a Jewish girl? Once who goes to our Temple no less? Why would you hide that?"
Puck rolled his eyes, and the bus behind them beeped its horn loudly. Never in his whole life had Puck been so grateful for the impatience of bus-drivers. They were truly excellent at diverting the attention of crazy Jewish mothers from equally crazy-Jewish glee members.
***
A/N: So, so sorry about the wait. But there should be another chapter up like really, really soon! But care to share thoughts on this one anyway? And I know – I made Rachel save the day rather than Finn. Oh well.
Anyway – importance. Glee is back soooooooon! I'm epically excited. Even though Australia is kinda lame and still hasn't advertised it, so I don't think we get it for another coupla weeks now. :( But promos and pictures and videos make me feel loads more better.
Normally I would write the review replies out here but because I wanted this up really quickly, I might PM the responses instead. Will write up replies here next time.
:P