Sorry no review replies... hard enough getting this chapter out with the jackhammer in my head... I've got a damn headache... and I really wanted to write this... sorry if it seems funny, I'm just not feeling myself on account of I can check my pulse by counting the beats in my head...
Little insight into Matt and Mike... by the way, Mike's POV story IS UP... it's... random. And it's set pre-this, but has to do with why Mike is so involved...
And kind of explains why Santana couldn't cross her legs all those chapters ago... ;)
They didn't know that they were as nervous as each other. Didn't know the other was sitting in their car, thinking and rethinking over everything. Both felt ashamed for thinking those things. Thinking that the other one was depending on them to be the strong one.
But what they were doing, it had never been done before.
Well, as far as they knew, it had never been done before.
"You gonna be 'kay with this?" Rachel looked up at Matt who was driving her to school that morning.
We need to play our roles... Rachel thought and after much begging, Matt finally agreed to playing one for her. She thought that the reason why he was so against it was that it meant he would loose popularity points. When she promised him she'd try to reinstate that status, his face fell and he shook his head.
"It's not that Rachel..." he paused and looked over Rachel's shoulder to where Quinn was shifting from side to side, "It's... nothing. I just don't want to do it."
Rachel grabbed his shoulders, getting on her tiptoes, "Please Matt. This one favour and I will be indebted to you. I know what's it's going to look like-"
"I don't care about my popularity Rach!" Matt snapped and then she looked a little shocked. He calmed down for a moment, "Listen, it's not about the popularity, trust me on that one." Actually, I'm looking out for you believe it or not.
"Then why not?" Rachel asked and Matt looked over her shoulder again, watching Finn and Quinn bicker over peanut butter and avocado sandwiches but he knew that in an hour or two, they'd be snuggling together somewhere. Then he saw Puck, his head in his hands, looking stressed out as he tried to pay attention to whatever Artie was teaching him. By the stress vain in Puck's neck, it was maths. Practice was supposed to start soon.
Rachel turned over her shoulder to see what Matt was staring at and Puck felt her gaze upon him in seconds. He looked up and smirked, looking back at the maths with a cocky grin on his face. Rachel looked back around and stared right at Matt with the biggest smile on her face. "Please Matthew?"
Argh... Matt knew she only pulled out his full name when she direly wanted something (like the one day a few weeks back and she had come to him, begging him to teach her some dance move but to keep it completely secret because no one could no she was imperfect. He tried telling her she wasn't, but that failed epically) and he really couldn't resist his full name because of many years where his mother would use his full name to get him to clean his room and such. So he nodded. "Fine. I'll pretend to be your boyfriend."
After school, Matt and Mike were waiting for midnight to meet the others at 7/11 but in the meantime, chatting. "I don't like this." Matt said. "Rachel's awesome and Puck's our best friend but I don't want them to be together."
Mike nodded, leaning back on the hood of his car. "I know man. I just wish I could tell Rachel not to do this and why she shouldn't. It's gonna break her heart if the truth ever comes out."
"What about Finn?"
"Yeah, I know." Mike moved his hand behind his head. "I don't know who to feel sorry for. Puck, cause I figured how much he wants his kid, Finn for not having a clue, Rachel for stumbling into this shit or Quinn for being pregnant and probably really confused."
Matt shook his head, sitting on the edge of the car, "They shouldn't have fucked."
"What's done is done Matt and really, we were at that party. Puck was plastered and Quinn's a freaking lightweight. They were both pissed, figuratively and literally."
"Dude, Puck and Finn are like you and me. You don't do that shit to your best friend."
Mike sighed and sat up. "I know you shouldn't but... Okay, listen up and listen good. If you and Britt ever fucked I... I'd be hurt but like, she's just a girl and if it was because you were madly in love, I wouldn't care perse, but I'd be pissed you didn't tell me you were falling for my girl. But if you were drunk and even if Brittany was sober, cause let's face it. I love her but she ain't bright... I'd forgive you easily cause, you don't really know do you?"
Matt looked at Mike for a full hard minute then rolled his eyes. "You're such a push-over."
"I resent that."
It was that conversation that got Matt in the car with Rachel that morning. Rachel looked up at him, in the car in the present and smiled, nodding. "Yes, I am. I'm just nervous as to whether or not it is going to work."
"It'll work." Matt said, reaching out and patting Rachel's leg. In the short run...
They arrived in the car park together and as soon as Rachel jumped out of the car, Matt was by her side, wrapping his arm around her waist. Rachel flinched a but at first but after a brief nod, Matt knew she was okay with it.
~*~
Puck was leaning on his locker, inside the school and only let his stomach flip with jealousy once when he saw Matt and Rachel together. He didn't let anyone see him crack a smile but stared at the two intensely. "Could you have taken any longer?" he asked when they were in hearing distance.
Matt moved his arm from around her waist to around her shoulders. "Probably." He said as Rachel leaned into his grip.
Okay, he let his stomach flip with jealousy twice. "Anyway, wanna come for a slushie run?"
Matt shook his head, "Nah I'm good. Walking this one to class." he indicated to Rachel.
Puck just rolled his eyes. "Whipped."
Matt hugged Rachel closer as she said, "See you in class, later Noah." with a small smile.
Puck just growled, one of his eyebrows raised. "It's Puck, Man-hands."
Rachel flinched at his stare and Puck felt his stomach flip again when she did. Not because he was jealous this time but because he scared her. But he just kept walking away, wondering how easy this was going to be to pull off.
He looked around the hall, already seeing whispering and gossiping people. His eye caught Kurt's and Mercedes' and they nodded, showing their phones. They had over fifty-messages, received.
It was slowly working.
~*~
Rachel and Matt sat next to each other in maths class, passing notes about pointless things, just to look more couple like. Eventually, Matt started passing random ones which got Rachel laughing in class and got them both kicked out for the remainder of the lesson. For once, Rachel wasn't too worried about her academic career and was holding onto Matt for support outside of the class as they both laughed.
Even though all their gestures were friendly, people read too much into them and were messaging each other about the new 'couple'.
Kurt had to send out twenty-confirmation messages and Mercedes wove in the back story that after Matt and Rachel started to date, the football team started looking after her and her friends, who were the Gleeks.
But there was still doubt and, thanks to Markus, people were still wondering about the Puck and Rachel relationship. It was at the beginning of lunch did Rachel stop with Matt to talk about this.
They usually ate at separate tables, but as Rachel walked to her normal table which she always sat at alone, Karofsky called her over. "You ain't gonna sit by yourself when your boyfriend is here?" he called out across the cafeteria.
Matt and Puck both looked up at Karofsky with a frown on their faces, wondering what was wrong with him. The whole caff was staring at Rachel expectantly but she was frozen on the spot, wondering if Karofsky knew the whole story. Her eyes flicked at Puck who was staring at her, wondering what to do. He shrugged and then she looked at Matt who just nodded with acceptance.
So, Rachel got up and slowly walked across the cafeteria to where, Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Finn and Mike were, looking with silent shock. No one ever got invited over to their table. Ever. Not unless they were a jock or cheerleader. Even if you happened to be dating one of them, you never got invited over. They had to leave. So when Rachel slid her tray next to Matt's, she looked at Karofsky again who had gone back to talking to one of the other football players who wasn't listening but staring at Rachel.
She looked at Matt who just slid closer to her, straddling so he was facing her sideways. "What's happening?" she whispered, to him carefully focussing on her food.
Matt kissed her cheek and then looked at Puck who was steaming furiously. "No idea." He shrugged his shoulders and adjusted himself so he was sitting properly.
Rachel looked up at the table of people who surrounded her, and apart from Mike and Karofsky's sister, Marcia, she recognised no one. Puck was on the table behind her and Finn, Quinn, Brittany and Santana were on the one just next to hers. "Hi." she said to everybody, feeling like a fish out of water. All the boys on this table, bar Matt and Mike, had at one point slushied her and every girl on the table had spread rumours about her and called her RuPaul. These people had made her life a living hell and she was sitting with them.
Puck made your life a living hell and now you're sticking your tongue down his throat. Rachel glared across the table at Mike, because the voice in her head sounded a lot like him. Mike looked at her confused and slightly offended. "Ugh, guys you all know Rachel." Matt said, making introductions. "She my uh..." he looked uncomfortable for a moment and then looked at Rachel's pleading face and smiled. "She's my girlfriend."
Rachel beamed and ignored the sound behind her that sounded like a plate breaking. "Rach, this is Allan Thompson, Paul Stanford, Amy Lee, Patrice Wiggum and Felix Wistern. You know Mike and Marcia." Both of them waved at her happily and Rachel nodded to each person.
"Hello."
Everyone grumbled out confused replies and then went back to their conversations, ignoring Rachel. She couldn't say that didn't sting, but there was a small part of her that wondered seeing as she was Matt's 'girlfriend' they might accept her.
Apparently not.
She briefly looked back to Puck but he wasn't there. She looked up at Matt who was, instead concentrating on some homework for History. Rachel smiled and leaned over, "That's incorrect." she said, pointing to one of his answers. "The answer isn't Augustus."
Matt looked at her, raising his eyebrow. "Oh really? What is it then?"
"Napoleon." she said with a small chuckle. She then flipped the page over and read what it said on the top. "Write a profile on the 'French Revolution', not 'Roman Society'."
"Oh crap." Matt muttered, then reaching into his bag to grab whiteout. "I've got one of these for Ancient History as well."
Rachel laughed and then produced another sheet of paper. "If we hurry, we can sneak into the copy room and get you a clean sheet."
Matt smirked and nodded, "Yeah okay."
~*~
Puck glared at Karofsky in the locker room. "What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded.
Karofsky looked smug. "Helping your sorry ass out."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Puck yelled, trying not to punch him.
Karofsky crossed his arms over his chest and looked like a child who discovered that his parents didn't check under his bed after he cleaned. "You and Rachel are making out."
Puck's jaw dropped. "What?"
"You heard me. You and Rachel are going out. But you two don't want the school to know. So, you're pulling the biggest stunt ever to confuse them into thinking otherwise. Which is why Matt and Rachel are acting like a lovey-dovey twosome, even though I know he wants Santana bad. So, I'm helping you all out. More those two are seen together, and the more people know the football team have her back, the less shit she's gonna cop. I kind of guessed that's why you're doing this whole thing in the first place. Because of all the crap she copped yesterday 'cause of Markus's true rumour. Am I right?"
Puck glared at him, and wondered how Karofsky got so smart. And then something clicked. "Brittany told Marcia, didn't she?"
Karofsky looked shocked and then frowned, "No."
"Liar." Puck crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, fine. Just warn us next time you're gonna do something like that, okay?"
Karofsky smirked, "So you and Crazy Berry, eh?"
Puck death glared him. "Call her crazy one more time and I'll make sure you never reproduce."
Karofsky chuckled, "You've got it ba-ad."
~*~
Mike, Finn, Quinn and Rachel left the cafeteria together, because Rachel wanted to go to the choir room and practice, Mike needed to go to his locker and Finn and Quinn were going to go to the home ed. room so Quinn could make something absolutely disgusting that she was craving for. Rachel said goodbye to Matt in the cafeteria, pecking him on the right side of his mouth, so everyone to the right side of the cafeteria saw her peck his lips. Everyone to the left saw the peck on the side however.
Luckily for them, there was only the wall they were leaning on to their left.
Quinn and Finn left Rachel and Mike at the first corridor and Rachel walked with Mike to his locker, which was across the hall from Puck's and up the hall from the choir room.
Rachel knew the plan. She created the plan. She colourized the plan. But she forgot that a certain part of the plan was supposed to happen in the corridor, during lunch.
Santana hadn't forgotten however, and was now pressed up against Puck's locker, making out with Puck. People in the hallway were staring, gobsmacked because they were all so convinced he was with Rachel. Rachel was gobsmacked too but simply because, it hurt.
She hadn't thought it would hurt.
She didn't think that seeing Puck make out with another girl, when she KNEW it was acting, would hurt, but it did. More than she could've ever imagined. And it hurt more because Rachel knew it was her plan. She had pushed him to her.
In a moment of complete and utter weakness, she thought that maybe this wasn't an act. Maybe, Santana and Puck were actually going at it again. She froze, not sure of what to do with these thoughts. It wasn't until Mike casually wrapped his arm around her shoulder and jolted her into a casual conversation, did Rachel realise she needed to pretend like it didn't phase her.
It was when they were in the choir room did she allow herself to break down at all. She leaned on Mike because he was the only one there and he wrapped his arms around her. "Rach, it was your idea."
"I know." she said, her voice strained with effort. "I didn't..."
"Yeah, I get it." Mike waited with her to breathe normally again and when Puck walked into the room, he just waited for him to walk close enough to take her out of his arms.
Rachel smiled at Puck. "Hi." she tried not to think about how his lips looked kind of swollen and his gaze sort of hazy.
"I knew I shouldn't have gone along with this crazy-assed scheme." Puck murmured, leaning down and pressing his chin on her head.
"No, no... it's better this way. They won't know and it'll all stop. Hopefully, all of it will stop." Rachel pressed her face against his chest.
"What do you think you are doing?!" Kurt exclaimed from the doorway.
Rachel, Puck and Mike all turned and blinked at him. "Excuse me?" Rachel eventually asked.
"Mercedes is now doing damage control. Everyone saw your 'stare' at Puck and now they're starting to think that you and Matt are going out but they still think you're madly in love with Puck!"
Rachel groaned, leaning against Puck and wrapping her arms around his waist tighter. "So are you telling me everything was for nothing?"
"Apparently you're pregnant with Puck's lovechild." Kurt said seriously. "I'd say nothing is an understatement."
Puck felt sick as Kurt said that, mainly because he already had a girl pregnant with his... well not lovechild. More like drunken-lovechild... he saw Mike looking away from him uncomfortably and wondered what that was about, but said nothing. "I have one last thing we haven't tried yet." Puck spoke up. "It's drastic but it's gonna work."
"Gonna?" Rachel asked, expressing her displeasure for his language more than his scheme.
"Oh yeah babe. It'll work a charm." he winked at her and then walked out of the room, no further explanation.
~*~
It was just after the last class of the day and everyone was going to get their names marked off before heading out for whatever they were doing that afternoon. Football practice, Cheerleading practice, dance classes... everyone was either looking forward to or dreading what was to come next.
Rachel was putting her books away for the last lesson, just having said goodbye to Matt and Finn after History. As she closed her locker, she glimpsed a red letterman jacket to her right and turned to face it. Her face started to smile but then she felt a gasp of freezing cold slushie that made her stagger back and gasp.
It was grape slushie and when Rachel looked up to see who'd done it, she only saw two smirking hazel eyes. "N-Noah?"
Puck narrowed his eyes. "Puck, Man-Hands. It's Puck. And stop lecturing me on who I should and shouldn't fuck. It ain't none of your damn business, even if you are going out with my friend, baby."
Rachel shivered internally at the harsh look in his eyes and for one moment, she saw it falter. Then she hightailed it out of there, straight into the nearest bathroom, Matt running after her to see if she was okay. He witnessed the interaction down the hallway.
He looked around the corridor of people, staring at him in shock. "Move along people, move along."
And they did. As soon as they did however, and Puck was sure they were all gone, he slid into the bathroom after Rachel to find Matt standing in the corridor outside. "Go." Puck said easily, and then walked straight into the girls bathrooms as he did a little over two weeks ago.
He found it hard to believe this unsteady friendship and oddly weird relationship he had going with Rachel had started a little around a month ago. "Rach?" he said, walking in and he looked to see her sitting on the bathroom counter, looking down at the ground, her shirt still covered in purple slushie. "Berry, you alright?"
Rachel looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes and Puck was floored. "I-I didn't mean it... you know that right?"
Rachel nodded stiffly and smiled, hiding something behind her back. "Of course I know that. I wasn't..." she sucked in a breath. "It was just... too familiar, that's all."
Puck took two steps across the bathroom and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her with all his might and grinning as he felt her chuckle. "I'm okay Noah." she mumbled into his mouth.
Puck shook his head, still managing to kiss her. "I don't think you are." He spoke the words over her mouth and Rachel just rubbed the nape of his neck before burying her face into his shoulder and letting him make out with her neck. He was undoing the buttons of her purple-stained shirt and Rachel was having a hard time stopping him. Especially seeing as she had nothing to put over the top of it or anything.
Puck was having a hard time not re-imagining all those things that had gone through his head when she was in here before cleaning off after Markus's slushie to her. He was especially having a hard time seeing as he was in the process of making one of his imaginings a reality.
Rachel smirked and ran her hand over his head before pushing him away. "Noah, you really are shameless." She moved herself off of the counter. "Now before you strip me, I do need something to wear instead." Puck groaned and then walked over to the door. "Everyone's gone. Come here."
Rachel stepped over to where he was and he removed her shirt of her with ease. Rachel gasped but before she could smack him away he pulled his letterman jacket over her. He briefly checked her out before he zipped it up because, hey. He was Puck Puckerman, and then zipped it to a decent level. "Come on, I'll drive you home."
"What if people see us?" she said, pointing out.
"Half-past babe. Everyone's gone, bar football, hockey, basketball and cheerleading. And they're all on the oval or in the gym." Puck looped his fingers through hers. "We're all alone." He said quiet seductively, moving closer and wrapping his arms around her waist. He leaned down, trying to make out with her again but Rachel just stepped out of his grasps with a smile.
"Making out will not always be that easy Noah."
"Come on babe, I just gave you my jacket..."
Rachel smiled and then looked back to the sink where he mobile was. "Oh, almost forgot it." she quickly grabbed the phone and briefly looked back over the message screen.
[Markus]: Dnt think this is ova R... I still want my payback no matter hu ur screwin...
Rachel tried to forget about the message, not wanting to bring it up in front of Puck and just pretended everything was fine.
We have our privacy, we have our friends, we have each other... we don't need anything else.
[*RB*]: You cannot hurt me Markus, anymore than what I've already been hurt. But if you want your 'payback' stop taking it out on my friends. Flicker my house lights on and off, spread rumours about me, send me all the messages you want, but leave Glee out of it. Because, as you have seen, as soon as you involve them, that's when you start getting into trouble. Keep them out of this.
A/N: READ CAUSE 2nd 1/2 IS IMPORTANT...
This ending was supposed to be happier than that, with them giggling and making out in the bathrooms (which they kind of did) but yet again, my fingers wrote without me really knowing what was going on... It's my Muse... it prefer depressing angst to vicarious humor... My brother tells me my muse must've had a sad childhood...
I haven't done any of my homework for tomorrow... or for the day after... or for the day after that... I've had such a pounding headache so I spent the weekend lying in bed writing and watching my Supernatural season 5 recordings...
Argh...
Head...
Hurts...
Reaching five days with the SAME DAMN HEADACHE!!!
Oh, btw... I've been averaging about 23 reviews for every chapter... but some get heaps more, some get heaps less... if I get enough reviews for this chapter I may hit 500... if I do, 500th gets to pick the next POV of the next one-shot...
AND I might start publishing another non-glee fanfiction... only because I have a plot bunny jumping around in my head... it may kill me if I don't write it down...
Next few chapters... A/T Q/F K/OC Mer/OC (remember that senior boy I talked about) and someone gets... interrupted...
Funniest thing: (Puck/Rachel Puck/Quinn Finn/Puck Finn/Rachel) Puckleberry Quick Fuck Finchel... LOL!
I'm so sad... when I figured this out, I was laughing for about ten minutes...