Saved By The Music
A Glee Au Fan Fiction
Chapter 2: A New Direction

A/N: I would like to explain my choices for this story a bit. My best guy friend and I both love GLEE with all of our hearts. While watching the episodes one day, we found it strange that Rachel didn't have a single friend at school because it was just so unrealistic. We got the idea that Puck should have been her character's best friend and trying to defend her, but as we are both Puckleberry fans we turned it into yet another cliche with him falling for her, meaning best friends falling in love. And since I knew Puck would fall for Rachel in this story, I decided on another character being her best friend. When sharing the idea with my other GLEE best friend, she suggested I use Mike, as it would be ironic if he didn't want the relationship while the actor who portrays him is a HUGE Puckleberry fan. So, that is how I got the idea to make Mike the best friend who just didn't want Rachel and Puck together. To create how Mike acted, I based him off of my best guy friend who is a bit like a brother to me, but people always accuse us of dating for how we act around one another. And while I am still having Rachel be her typical self about her talent and her vanity, I molded her friendship with Mike into one that is similar between mine and my guy best friend's friendship. And then her interactions with Puck and based loosely on how I acted towards a boy that had a crush on me who my best friend hated. The difference is going to be that Rachel does have feelings for him, so she's not quite as cruel as I allowed myself to be-I'm like a dog, I'm too loyal to my friends, but that's besides the point. Anyways, I just wanted to get that out in the open so people are aware of why my characters act the way I do (And it was fair of me to base the friendship off one of my own as most people in my school call me Rachel Berry because of my attitude) and where I got this plot from, because from my experience on the website, I find it to be very original of myself. But if you happen to know of any stories with a similar plot, please tell me about them, as I would love to read them. If you took the time to read this entire thing, thank you!

As Rachel Berry made her way down the hallway the next day at school, she paused for a second as she spotted the club sign-up bulletin board, spotting the newest sign that had been added there. One for the New Directions-a Glee club, that was to be run by Mr. Shuester, the Spanish teacher at he school, who wasn't that good of a Spanish teacher.

But from the history she had seen about the McKinley High School Glee club, she knew that Mr. Shuester would know what he was talking about when it came to the Glee Club, because he had been in one when he was in high school, and when he had been a member, they had not only been good, but they had gone to competitions and they had actually won, taking home trophy after trophy. So, in a way, Rachel had helped to make the club better, by getting Sandy fired.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked her with a careless chuckle, looking down at her.

They had just entered the school and were walking towards their lockers that were fairly close to one another due to the alphabet. When she had stopped, because he always walked with a careless arm around her shoulder, he had had no choice but to stop as well, unless he was willing to slap her in the back of his head with his strong, muscular arm, and Mike would never do anything to hurt Rachel, whether it be physical or mental or emotion. He cared about his best friend too much for that.

And as they'd stopped, he'd immediately changed his gaze to focus on her, taking in her wide-eyed, completely shocked reaction as she focused on the club bulletin board and the large smile taking over her face.

He loved that look on her face, because it meant she was not only excited and happy, she was about to get a new obsession-and for a girl as ambitious as Rachel, having something to focus all of her energy on was a good thing, and it meant Mike didn't have to listen to her complain non stop about the way Mercedes and Kurt were treating her due to getting Sandy fired-not that he minded listening to her, but sometimes he'd rather have a conversation where he was being talked to rather than talked at, just for a change.

"There's a new Glee club! Oh, Michael-Mr. Shuester is going to run the glee club, and that means they can't be mad at me anymore, especially since now we have a real director who knows what he's talking about!" She squealed in excitement, turning to face him, throwing her arms around his neck in an overly excited hug.

"That's great, Rach," He laughed, returning her hug.

He took that as an opportunity to get her out of the middle of the hallway and next to the wall so she wouldn't get run over by the other people walking around, due to her size and social status.

The popular kids, the football players and the cheerleaders-even the hockey platers...well, they were the students that people walked around when they stopped to talk in the hallway. If they were standing around the way Rachel had been, people would either turn and walk in the other direction or hug the wall to avoid bumping into them. When they would make their way down the hallway, crowds would part like the Red Sea, because nobody wanted to be disrespectful to high school royalty. People might go out of their way to avoid hitting Mike, but they would probably go out of they way to insure that they hit Rachel.

"Michael...do you think you'd want to sign up with me?" She asked him casually as he unwrapped her from the hug.

"Oh, don't do this Rach-I can't sing, you know that. You make fun of me every single time I try to sing along to the radio with you. Why would you want me in Glee club?" He asked, that goofy grin on his face.

"You're not bad, you just need some help. I would work with you to help you reach your full potential. Besides, you are an excellent dancer, and don't even try to deny you. Honestly, I don't see why you ever quit your classes. You're an excellent dancer, Michael, and you shouldn't pass that talent up. You'd get more scholarships for that than you would for playing football. Anybody can toss a football down the field or catch it while running backwards. Even I can do that and I'm the least athletic person we know. Dancing is something that's hard, and you're really good!" Rachel insisted.

"I'm busy with football, Rach, and you know how my parents get about my grades. I just can't add something else to my schedule and add in extra time working with you on top of that. Remember the last time I got an Asian F? My parents were about to ground me until they found out it was because I was up all night with you when you were crying about the first time Puck threw a slushy at you," Mike reminded her, shaking his head. "You sign up, and I'll be at every show, I promise," He assured her.

"Fine," She sighed, turning on her heel and approaching the sign, grabbing the pen that was attached to the sheet and scribbling her name across the line at the first open slot-which was actually the first slot there was. After she signed her name, she searched through her bag for her sheet of stickers and added a gold star to her name. She smirked at the finished product and the reminder that she was a star-because that was what the Gold Stars were for. They were a metaphor, and metaphors were important. They were a metaphor for her, being a star. When she turned to walk back to Mike, a cherry slushy hit her right in the face.

Before Rachel was even fully aware of who had tossed the slushy in her face, Mike was in motion, lunging at the football player and pushing him against the wall, using one arm to hold him in place, pressing the muscles against his throat as he glared at Noah Puckerman, eyes narrowed into slits as lifted his fist and brought it to Puck's cheek.

"What the hell did I tell you? Didn't I give you and every single other guy on the football team a long speech on the proper way to speak a girl, especially when the girl happened to be Rachel? Didn't I tell you to stop acting like such a dick and not slushy her anymore or make anymore inappropriate comments to her?" Mike asked in a low voice, his face contorted in rage as he albeit growled at the much brawnier male who was supposed to be his teammate.

"Michael, just let it go," Rachel said, making her way towards the two and placing a gentle hand on his arm, trying to calm him down.

"No, not this time Rachel," Mike said. "And take your hand off of me because you know that I'm going to calm down if you're touching me," He said, turning towards her slightly.

"Michael!" Rachel insisted.

"Rachel, I'm not letting him get away with this anymore. He's not going to treat you like a piece of shit any longer, because I'm not a fan of it. He needs to stop and he's going to learn a lesson."

"And you're going to teach it to him? Michael, if you get into a fight you are going to get suspended and then your grades are going to slip so that is two reasons why your parents will get upset with you, and they already threatened to make you quit football and you love playing. You are not giving that up for my honor, do you understand me?" She asked him, grabbing his forearm and yanking him back from Puck, not even sparing a glance at him.

"Shit, Rach, you're wearing fucking white. Come on, let's go get you cleaned up." Mike finally glanced down at her, shaking his head in disgust at her drenched hair and her now transparent shirt. He slipped out of his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders, placing a hand on the small of her back as she slipped her arms through the holes, guiding her towards the nearest bathroom.

As they walked away, Puck took a breath, slowing his breathing to calm himself down.

He had never seen Mike Chang that angry before, and that got him thinking-something that he rarely ever did.

After all, there was only one reason that Mike Chang would be defending Rachel Berry, wasn't there?

Sure, people could say it was because they were best friends and Mike didn't want his best friend getting hurt, but it was pretty obvious there was something more there that got him angry enough that he had tried to fight Puck. And it didn't take long for Puck to figure it out. Mike was in love with Rachel and he had a crush on her.

Well, that wasn't going to fly with Puck, because he had the same type of feelings towards the girl.

He walked towards the sign that Rachel had been at before he'd tossed the slushy in her face-god, sometimes he was an idiot-and rolled his eyes. A fucking glee club? A stupid show choir? How was he supposed to use that to help get him closer to Rachel?

God, he was turning into such a pussy.

Rachel Berry? He was thinking of ways to impress her and win her over?

It shouldn't be that hard for a guy like him-a popular, good looking, hot football player-to get a girl like Rachel, despite how hot she might be. Girls in high school were all worried about popularity, no matter what they said on the contrary.

Yet here he was, trying to think of a good way to help impress her so that they could bond over something. He was acting as if his only goal in life was to get with Rachel, and while it was pretty important for him to get a date with her, his major concern was to get the hell out of Lima, because he couldn't stand being there for another second.

Maybe that was his attraction to Rachel? Maybe, because he knew she was going to be getting out of Lima and that it wouldn't be that long before she forgot about her entire high school experience, except for the main highlights, he wanted to be with her because it would motivate him to get himself out of that town so he could keep her. Because losing a girl like Rachel would look ridiculous for a guy like him, but he had to realize that Rachel was actually too good for him and every other guy in Lima.

He sighed, tempted to actually turn back and sign up for the club-he actually did love music-but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. There was something in him that was telling him he would be a loser if he joined, and if there was one thing Noah Puckerman wasn't, it was a loser.

Well, maybe he was a Lima Loser, but he was going to prove everybody wrong about that particular detail.

Still, he wasn't going to go and join the glee club. He would be a joke-a complete and total laughing stock, and Puck didn't do that. He had never been a loser and he wasn't going to start being unpopular now. His popularity might only be made because of the fear factor he had, but he wasn't so sure it was enough to keep him popular if he was in the Glee Club.

When Rachel Berry stormed out of Glee club and demanded a male vocalist who could keep up with her talent, Will Shuester had known that all hope for the Glee club was screwed if he couldn't find somebody, because Rachel was the most talented high school student he had ever seen in his entire life. He needed her to be his star and he needed to have a male lead who was able to keep up with vocally.

The only problem was that he didn't know what he was supposed to do. He didn't know who he could turn to.

Which would explain why Noah Puckerman was sitting in the locker room with the rest of the football team while Mr. Shuester went on and on about how much fun Glee club was and how he would love for any of them to take the opportunity to join.

And for a second, when Puck and his best buddy Finn shared a glance, he had thought everything would be okay and they could join the club and maintain their popularity while being on the football team as well.

But then Mike Chang had stood up and told Mr. Shuester that he could dance and then went on to show that he actually could dance and the jokes had begun. So, while Mike had been able to shake off the teasing from his teammates, Mike had rolled his eyes and said he didn't care, he was joining the club because it was just going to be another way to help him get into a good college, and since everybody knew that Mike's parents were all about college, they shut up and figured he was doing it just to please him.

But Finn and Puck? They couldn't figure out a way for them to join the club and make it look cool. They couldn't figure out a way to join the club and make it appear as though they didn't really care about the club and were merely doing it to make their parents happy because neither of their mother's had the main priority of college and what they'd need to do to get into a good school.

So, when Mr. Shuester was gone and the rest of the club cleared out after writing insulting and rude fake names on his sign up list, Puck took his post-shower practice, and he allowed himself to sing a song he'd been working on for his Music Theory class, in an effort to try and calm his thoughts down-because Mike, his only competition for Rachel, was now going to be in the club with Rachel and get to spend even more alone time with her than he already was spending with her.

"It makes no difference where you come from/I don't care if you need my love/You know I'll be there/I swear I want to sing to the world/No need to keep a secret/You are the one, the only-my musical soulmate," he sang out to his original song that he needed to compose for one of his many music electives, which happened to be some of the only classes he always made sure to go to-and it wasn't just because Rachel was in those classes. He went because he enjoyed every second that he was in there and there was nothing anybody could say that would make him feel otherwise about it-not that he let people know he took the classes.

He was vaguely aware of a door opening and closing, but he paid it no mind.

After all, nobody was saying anything to him and he had heard all of those losers singing in the shower before, so they couldn't make fun of him for something like that. Any anyways, if they really wanted to talk shit about him, he would just turn it around to why they would sit around and listen to him sing while he was taking a god damn shower. Because the rumors something like that would spark about what that idiot had done would immediately cover up the oh-so-interesting story about Puck singing in the shower like a normal teenager did. It didn't mean shit, so what did he care if he was overheard?

The only thing that made him start to worry was the next day when he was called to Mr. Shuester's office.

"What is he doing here?" Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes as she sat in the front row of chairs in choir room with Mike by her side, arm casually slung over the back of her chair in his typical fashion.

About four chairs away was Tina Cohen-Chang who was sitting besides Artie who had added an extra seat to the row, due to his chair, while Kurt and Mercedes were leaning forward from their own chairs in the second row, whispering with their other two friends as they giggled, pausing only when Rachel's outburst cut into their gossip.

"He's joining the Glee club," Mr. Shuester said casually, not even bothering to turn from where he was shuffling through sheet music at the piano, his back to the rest of the group as he tried to figure out an appropriate song for Rachel to sing with their newest member for his first day in the club. All he knew for sure was that it had to be good because it had to convince Rachel that he had made the right move in selecting him to play her leading man, because her opinion would determine the club's fate.

"Oh, hell to the no-white boy gives us all slushy facials on a daily basis. Do you seriously think any of us want him in the club?" Mercedes Jones asked with her eyes narrowed.

Standing at the doorway with a backpack swung over one shoulder and his head hung low, was Noah Puckerman.

"Can he even sing?" Tina Cohen-Chang blurted out.

For a while, Tina had lied about having a stutter, but after meeting Artie and seeing somebody with a real handicap, she hadn't been able to keep up the lie anymore. It had just hurt too much to know that she was pretending to have a problem when Artie really did have one and wished he could get rid of it.

"I can sing," Puck said, narrowing his eyes as he walked into the room, throwing his bag onto a chair and turning towards the director. "Give me a song to sing, and I'll prove it to them," He insisted.

"You want to sing a solo?" Mr. Shuester asked in surprise as he turned to look at Puck in shock.

"Why not? Give me anything you got," Puck shrugged, hands stuffed in the pockets of his letterman jacket.

"Um...alright-here, this seems your style," Mr. Shuester said, grabbing a piece of sheet music at random and walking across the room, handing him the paper.

"Wait-hold up a second-you guys don't just sing a bunch of show tunes and Broadway?"

"What do you think we do in here? Seriously, why are you even here, because I'm pretty sure that you bully each and every one us-except for Michael-because we're in this club. If you don't even know what it is, why would you want to be a part of something you consider to be so lame and uncool?" Rachel snapped at him, crossing her arms as she glared at him.

He didn't answer her, instead he just handed a piece of sheet music back to Mr. Shuester and walked towards one of the locker's in the room that the band students used to store their instruments, pulling one open and pulling out a guitar.

"Woah-calm down there, killer," Mike laughed, reaching out and pulling her towards him with one arm, messing her hair up with the free hand as her head was pulled against his chest.

Puck watched on enviously as he set up his guitar and nodded to the rest of the band to start playing the music.

And when the introduction was over, he began to sing.

"Her name is Noel, I have a dream about her/She rings my bell, I got gym class in half an hour/Oh, how she rocks in keds and tube socks/But she doesn't know who I am, and she doesn't give a damn about me/'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby, yeah I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby/Listen to iron maiden maybe with me," His strong, tenor voice starting to sing out, lowering down as the chorus began to show off his wide range of notes.

Rachel's eyes widened and she bit on her lip to keep her jaw from dropping as she crossed her arms tighter around her chest. She was not going to let him know that she was impressed by his voice, because that would give him some sort of power over her and he didn't deserve to have any power over her other than the one he already had. Nobody deserved to have that much power over her.

"Her boyfriend's a dick, he brings a gun to school/And he'd simply kick my ass if he knew the truth/He lives on my block and drives an iroc/But he doesn't know who I am/And he doesn't give a damn about me/Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby/Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby/Listen to Iron Maiden maybe with me," Puck went on singing.

Mike couldn't bring himself to look down at Rachel because he already knew what her reaction was going to be, and he didn't want to watch as she fell even more in love with her tormentor. That wasn't even how real life was supposed to work. The good guy was supposed to get the girl, not the jerk.

"Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missing/Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missing."

Every single member of the Glee club had their eyes focused on Rachel, with the exception of Mike, who refused to look at Puck, and Rachel who wouldn't give him the satisfaction. The fact of the matter was, he was actually good and that was a shock to most of the people around them, especially since he always seemed to bully people with talent or a passion for anything.

"Man, I feel like mold/It's prom night and I am lonely/Low and behold, she's walking over to me/This must be fake, my lips start to shake/How does she know who I am/And why does she give a damn about me?" Puck went on singing.

Rachel finally gave in and looked at him, shocked to see that he was watching her as he sang the lyrics, and something gave her the impression that he hadn't just casually looked over at her at that convenient moment. Something told her that he had been focused on her for a majority of the time.

"I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby/Come with Friday, don't say maybe/I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby, like you/Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missing/Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missing," His voice changed into a shockingly high pitch before it lowered for the last two lines of the song.

As he strummed the final chords, he flashed a wink in Rachel's direction.

"Well?" Puck asked, releasing his grasp on his guitar. "Was that good enough for you, or are you worried you wouldn't be able to keep up?" he asked, but his eyes were still locked on Rachel as he spoke.

Mike's arm found its way around Rachel's shoulders, tugging so that she was pulled closer to him.

Puck snarled as he walked towards his guitar case and carefully began putting it away, trying not to look up and away from his precious guitar until he was sure he would have something other than Mike and Rachel to focus his attention on.

"He's amazing," Tina blurted out.

With the stutter gone, she had taken to blurting things out non-stop as if she just couldn't help it, which her three best friends were fairly certain she wasn't able to do, as she had been doing it for a very long time.

"White boy's got some skill," Mercedes nodded her agreement on the matter.

"I suppose having another male with strong vocals could come in handy," Kurt sighed, looking down at his hands as if he had to check on his manicure, which Puck wouldn't be surprised to find out was true, with his many feminine habits-not that Puck minded Kurt's sexuality, because it just meant he had one less dude to worry about trying to steal Rachel from him.

"I might have somebody to rap with..."Artie said thoughtfully and Puck looked up at the dorky boy in shock, sharing an admiring smile with the happy looking wheel-chair clad boy.

"I guess it would be nice for a male lead who's able to keep up with vocally," Rachel replied, clearly back into her refusal to admit his talent now that Mike was able to whisper into her ear and hold her closer without Puck's voice or gaze as a distraction.

"I'm singing with the princess over there?" Puck asked, closing his guitar case and turning back towards Mr. Shuester.

"We prefer calling her a diva," Kurt spoke up, raising a hand in the air as if waiting to be called on.

"Mr. Shuester," Rachel spoke up. "We need twelve members to compete and right now we have seven. That means we are in desperate need of at least five more members." She said, obviously trying to get off of the topic of insulting her.

"Isn't being a diva a good thing?" Puck asked Kurt, obviously ignoring the fact that Rachel had even spoken.

"Not when you're a psycho diva who would rather have solos than friends and who's only concern is her career and getting famous, rather than being nice and enjoying her teenage years," Mercedes replied with an eye roll.

"News flash? Most guys find ambition pretty sexy," Puck said, turning back towards Rachel and winking.

That shut the four original members right up, and it caused Mike to tighten his grip on Rachel.

"We'll figure out how to get the five new members tomorrow. We'll call it a day and we can brainstorm ideas for getting some new members, tonight and share tomorrow," Mr. Shuester said with that typical smile on his face.

Rachel sighed, standing up and reaching for her bag, only to be intercepted by Mike who reached out and took it from her, swinging it over his shoulder with his own bag, swinging his arm around her waist for comfort purposes, and probably just to annoy Puck a little bit, because when it came to Rachel, it was more than just strong feelings of love and lust and a crush.

It was a war between the two of them.

"I can't believe the nerve of Mr. Shuester! I know that I told him I needed a male vocalist who could keep up with my talent, but I didn't think he would actually go and pick Noah Puckerman! He knows how Noah's been running around giving us all slushy facials since the beginning of the existence of Glee club! Can you even imagine me having to sing a duet with him? I seriously hope that when we fill up all those open slots we end up with somebody with a little more class than him and more talent so that I have somebody else to sing lead with," Rachel was ranting as they entered Breadstix two hours later.

Mike had raced to football practice and was only half an hour late and as soon as it was over, he had taken a quick shower in the locker room and changed as fast as he could so Rachel wasn't waiting too long before he had surprised her with a trip to her favorite restaurant so they could have dinner together-it was something they typically did, whenever one of them had had a bad day, but he knew Rachel hadn't been expecting him to follow through with the tradition now that he had so many extra things on his plate. Clearly she had been wrong and shouldn't underestimate Mike's commitment to their relationship.

"Rach, I love you and all, but please just stop ranting and raving about how upset you are by his very presence in the choir room and focus on the fact that I'm your best friend, I'm in the Glee club like you asked me to be, and I'm treating you to those vegan meatballs you love so much. Can you do that for me?" He asked her with that half smile on his face he gave to her whenever he was messing with her but there was a twinge of seriousness to what he was saying.

"I'm sorry, Michael-I know I'm being very unfair to you," She sighed as they followed the hostess over towards a booth. "It's just that-ugh, seriously? Does he really have to be here right now, especially with that bitch of a girlfriend?" She sighed as they passed by Puck and Santana sitting at a booth together. Clearly Rachel was too upset with him to stop calling him by his first name, that he hated anybody calling him, or to be jealous at the sight of him on a date with another girl.

"Do you want to leave?" Mike asked as they slid into their own booth, which was only a few tables away from where Puck was sitting. "Because we can leave and I'll take you somewhere else. I just really don't want to listen to you rant on and on about how annoyed you are that he's in the club when it's clear you have a crush on him." Mike said bitterly.

Rachel studied him, hurt written across her face as she took in what he had just accused her of, and as he took in her reaction, he realized what he had said and instantly regretted it. He brought a hand up to cover his mouth and shook his head, immediately apologizing to her for his words and actions. She didn't deserve that.

"I don't have a crush on him. Do I believe it would be a lovely change of pace if he fell for me and do I secretly hope that it might happen, just to end the bullying? Yes, I most certainly do. But I do not have a crush on him," Rachel said.

"I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I just get tired of hearing about him all the time as if he's some great attribute to society when he really isn't. And I hate the way he makes you feel about yourself," Mike sighed.

"I do, too, Michael, and that's why I could never have a crush on him," Rachel said.

And while he knew she was lying, he allowed her words to reassure him.