Saved By The Music
Glee AU Fan Fiction
Chapter 7: Rachel's Makeover

Rachel Berry walked into the choir room, ducking her head at the sight of a fighting Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman.

Ever since the pair had officially gotten together a week ago, they were always fighting. It was a rare occurrence for the couple to ever be seen when not arguing, and it was usually because of Quinn ranting and rambling about something Puck was doing wrong while he tried his best to get her whatever disgusting combination of food the blonde was craving or give her the money she needed for her doctor's bills. Everybody thought that Quinn was asking too much of him, but they all were too afraid of both members of the couple to say anything aloud about Quinn being so high maintenance.

As the days had passed on, Rachel had risen slowly form her place at the bottom of the social pyramid and taken a comfortable spot towards the top, mainly because of her newfound confidence and her makeover, but it also had a lot to do with her two new best friends, Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce who were still begging the pretty brunette to try out for the Cheerio's and take Quinn's vacated spot on the team, since her size would make her an idea flyer and they already knew that she was an excellent dancer and gymnast.

Another thing that had been happening as each day went by was a decrease in Quinn's own popularity and power. She was losing her ability to part the crowded hallways as though they were the read sea and she knew it. That was probably another reason she was always picking fights with Puck. She knew that he would give her whatever she wanted from him, and that meant she had power over somebody, even if it was a boy who pretty much had to be nice to her.

Rachel took a seat in the front row, leaning into her bag to get out her homework. She'd taken to spending all of her study halls in the choir room in an attempt to dodge the hawking eyes of the prying male population of the school who seemed to enjoy her make-over just a little too much for Rachel's comfort zone.

She knew that if Mike was around, they at least attempted to keep the staring to a minimum, but the truth of the matter was that Puck couldn't always be there and the Puckerman dibs did nothing for her now that Puck was in a relationship with Quinn. That meant that to the males at the school, she was fair game and anybody could feel free to stare at her long legs, comment on her chest, slap her ass, or make a vulgar sexual remark when she passed them in the hallways. And then did all of the above on a daily basis.

"Quinn, will you just stop it already? I don't want to fight with you," Puck snapped, pulling at his mohawk in frustration.

"Why?" Quinn asked, narrowing her eyes at him expectantly, sneaking a warning glance across the room at Rachel, who was pretending to mindlessly work on her Trigonometry homework while really eavesdropping and watching the scene from the corner of her eyes. It was clear that Quinn was signaling that Puck should be on best behavior in the presence on Quinn's replacement.

"Because," Puck said through clenched teeth. "I love you," He muttered, the words sounding forced and untrue.

Still, they killed Rachel to hear and the immediately dropped her gaze back to her work, feeling her eyes watering.

"Good," Quinn said harshly, grabbing onto his hand and pulling him from the room. He allowed himself to be dragged, sneaking a longing glance back at the brunette, Jewish teenage trying not to allow her tears to fall.

There was silence in the room, but Rachel knew that Santana and Brittany had entered right after the newest high school couple had left. She knew that they had each taken a seat on either side of her, wrapping their arms loosely around her. She knew that they were trying to be comforting, but all she really wanted was for the entire world to just go away.

She wanted to be left alone to mourn the loss of a boy who was never really hers to begin with. And she didn't want to picture him walking with his arm around the waist of a still slender Quinn Fabray dressed in a strapless white and black flowered dress with a brown belt around the waist, matching brown jacket covering her bare shoulders with a pair of matching flat loafers. A designer back in brown leather was swung over her back with a designer wallet inside as well. Her phone case was just as expensive as the rest of her outfit and she had a hat balanced on her blonde hair. A golden inifnity necklace, something Puck had bought for her to replace the absent cross that her father had taken from her when he'd kicked her out, hung around her neck.

A glance at the doorway showed that the couple hadn't gone all that far. They'd managed to leave the choir room, but they were fighting about something right again, almost directly outside of the door. Rachel was sure they'd still be able to see and hear everything that happened inside of the room.

Rachel shook her hair that was held back by a pink headband, reaching back to free the strands that had gotten caught in her silver Star of David necklace, a sign of something she shared with Noah Puckerman. A pink cardigan covered her white crop top, revealing her dangling black music note belly button ring before her denim mini skirt began. Pink sparkly ankle boots with a high heel added height to her short stature and pink accessories completed her appearance for the day.

She had gotten many compliments from the male population on her appearance that day, but she didn't care about those compliments. She just wanted the hazel eyes that belonged to a mohawked Jewish boy to settle on her just a little bit longer than they did on the blonde haired girl. And she wanted to not feel guilty when she got the first desire to become a reality.

Of course, she knew that she would never feel anything but guilty when it came to Noah Puckerman, at least until the baby he was having with Quinn was no longer his responsibility and he was free of her suffocating grasp.

And there was no guarantee that he would still want her after that.

"Nope, this is not happening right now. We're going to be in a better mood, immediately, and if it means I have to sing a song from some stupid movie-made-musical, so be it," Santana declared, nodding towards the band who seemed to never leave the room. They seemed to understand her desire just from her tone of voice and an all too familiar beat started to play.

Standing in the front of the room with her long, glossy black hair falling down her back with a golden bow head wrap containing the thick mane, she was definitely one of the most beautiful girls at school, a fact that was only made more obvious by her form fitting, black and white stripped cut-out dress with black ankle booties with a sky-high heel. Her black purse sat on the floor by her abandoned chair, the black and gold wallet peaking out and her black and gold covered phone case vibrating inside of the bag. All golden jewelry only accented her plain, dull colored wardrobe, somehow brightening the whole ensemble.

"Can I help?" Brittany Pierce asked brightly, jumping to her feet and bouncing towards the nodding Latina.

Dressed in a pair of skin tight jeans that looked as though they were painted on her with a hot pink bandeau top peaking out from underneath a black baggy tank top that said something about unicorns, her color-blocked backpack left forgotten on her seat with her black phone case announcing something about unicorns peaking from the front pocket. Her pink sneakers add a good three inches to her already tall frame, making Rachel wonder if that was really fair.

A chubby unicorn necklace hung from around her neck with her pink bow and cupcake earrings dangling in a short manner form her ears. She looked like her usual, childish shelf and it brought a smile to Rachel's face to see her that way.

"Honey whatcha cryin' at? You're not losing him to that/Both her hair and shoes are flat/And why is she rude?" Santana sang out, rolling her eyes as she gestured towards the door where Quinn was yelling at Puck about something in a stage whisper, her voice overpowered by the music and Santana's strong vocals.

"Wipe your tears, it's no big thing/You were meant to wear his ring/Cheer up, chin-up/It's time to bring," Brittany sang out, reaching out and pulling Rachel to her feet.

"A happy attitude!" the two cheerleaders sang out together, bright smiles on their faces.

"Keep it positive, as you slap her to the floor," Brittany sang with a devious wink.

"Keep it positive," their voices blended together.

"As you pull her hair and call her a whore/You can take her in a fight," Santana made a fist, blowing on her nails as she smirked.

"You and he will reunite," Brittany joined in happily.

"You know we're right," The popular cheerleaders booty bumped their newfound friend from either side, pushing Rachel forward. "Kill her!" The girls giggle-sang as they turned on their heels and made a move towards Quinn.

"Girls! Girls!" Rachel sang out, giggling as she played along with their childish antics. "What if she's a violent nut? She might stab me in the gut/With the stick that's up her butt/Who's got a plan B?" Rachel wondered through song as the girls turned back around to face her, defeated looks on their faces.

"Me! Look at her, she's like a nun/Show him you are way more fun/Bust out the lap dance and you won/You're off the hizzle, gee!" Santana said brightly, striking a seductive pose at the end.

"What?" Rachel wondered.

"Keep it positive!" The cheerleaders sang together, dancing around the room seductively.

"Yeah! Let out your inner freak!" Brittany sang out, twerking in her spot.

"Keep it positive" The girls sang together as they grinded against one another, back to back.

"Miss prissy pants won't last a week," Santana gas-pedaled towards Rachel.

"You will wet his appetite," Santana reached out and placed a hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"You and he will reunite," Brittany spun Rachel around.

"You know we're right! We're positive-we're positive-we're positive-we're posi-"

"Oh my god, you're making me sick!" Rachel burst out, holding a hand up to stop her friends from forcing her into their MTV-worthy dance routine that she couldn't believe she was suddenly apart of.

At those words, Quinn turned around, a devious smirk on her face as she raised her eyebrow, suddenly aware of the scene behind her.

"Are we? Puck, let's take this somewhere private," She winked suggestively.

"Hey-hey-hey-We're positive that he loves you and not her/You're hotter and I bet ya smarter/She don't know the real him/You feel him, so don't let her steal him/Wake him up like sleeping beauty/Turn his head with your red hot booty/You bring the noise if we bring the funk/It's positively time to shake your junk/Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake-WHOO" Brittany and Santana resumed their dance routine that consisted of shaking their butts, shimmying to show off their cleavage and shashaying their hips.

And finally, Rachel caved in and joined them in on their dancing.

"Girls? how is this helping? He's not even here," Rachel asked as she stopped mid-spin, realizing that their two person audience was gone. "He left while we were shaking junk! Wait," She paused, taking on a thoughtful expression for a second before changing from her playful tone.

"Girls I'm positive, that we've taken this too far/No, I'm positive this is High school not a stripper bar/All this trashy carrying on/That's the reason that he's gone/I need a salon," Rachel held up her hands to stop them from cutting her off and showing the urgency.

"Whoo!" They lifted their fists in the air, sure that their favorite past time when it came to getting over a guy was one that they shared with their newest best friend.

"Girls I'm-"

"Positive"

"Try not to get upset, but I'm-"

"Positive"

"That's time for me to be like Quinn," Rachel finished.

"What?" The girls squealed in shock.

"Being talented and hot/That got me exactly squat/Gotta show him I've got more options/No I'm positive (positive) I'm positive (positive) I'm positive (positive, positive) Positive," Rachel finished the song, being joined by her friends for the final note.

"Please tell me that by being like Quinn, you mean joining the Cheerio's," Santana pleaded as soon as the song was over.

"Of course," Rachel rolled her eyes. "I'm not cheating on my boyfriend with his best friend and getting knocked up at sixteen when I'm a sophomore in high school. Tenth grade is far too early to throw my life away," Rachel replied as she hooked her arms through her friends.

"Thank god, I was getting confused," Brittany told the girls as if it were a new occurrence.

Sharing a look, Santana and Rachel burst out laughing, being joined a second later by Brittany herself, who most likely didn't get the joke but just wanted to be a part of the fun with her friends. Rachel couldn't have asked for better friends if she'd tried.

Rachel Berry entered school on Tuesday morning in a pleated, short red and white cheerleading skirt. As she walked, the pleats flapped against her red, short, spandex boy shorts that stretched out across her perky ass, teasing the male population of the school with a hint of getting to see something a little more. Her tight, form fitting red and white shell to her uniform stretched out across her chest, arms left bare as this was the fall-spring version of the uniform.

In her black and red Nike cheerleading bag were her silver-white-red pompoms with her varsity jacket, as well as her black and silver Victoria's Secret back pack with her turquoise and black phone case that matched Santana's and Brittany's own phone cases tucked neatly inside. On her feet were white, dainty cheerleading sneakers. Her dark, glossy hair was pulled back into a sky high, pin straight ponytail and her silver, spiral belly button ring could just barely be seen peaking out from beneath her top, that left a thin strip of skin revealed between the bottom of that and the top of her skirt.

To her left was a long legged Latina with tanned, muscular legs that pulled the attention of every male, right before they turned their attention back to the shocking sight of Rachel in a cheerleading uniform.

And to the right of Rachel was Brittany Pierce, yapping on about something that neither girl was really all that interested in. The classically beautiful girl was being her usual, quirky self and causing the other two girls to burst out laughing, pulling the attention of every single person who wasn't already looking on at them in shock.

After all, they were just getting used to the fact that Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce were not only in the Glee Club, but now best friends with Rachel Berry. They had finally adjusted to the fact that the Queen of the Gleeks was slowly rising to the top and taking the place of the impregnated, ex-head cheerleader that was Quinn Fabray.

And now?

Now they had to add on the fact that Rachel Berry was a cheerleader.

"Since when are you a cheerleader?"

Rachel glanced up from the sheet music she was looking over in the choir room to find Noah Puckerman glaring down at her with a scowl etched across his face. She rolled her eyes, looking back down at the music with a sly smile on her face. The fact of the matter was that she loved the fact that this seemed to be bothering Puck.

"I wasn't aware that it was any of your business, actually," She said softly, turning to the next page of her sheet music book. "But if you must know, I became a cheerleader yesterday due to finally caving under the peer pressure from Santana and Brittany who seem to think that the final step of my make-over was me becoming a cheerleader to gain some popularity of my own rather than just borrowing from Santana and Brittany's own hefty supply." She said, lifting her eyes up to spare him a glance without lifting her face from her music. He didn't need to know the joy this was bringing her.

"Why do you need to be popular? I thought you were better than one of those people who thought they needed popularity to get through high school. Where is this coming from?" Puck asked.

Rachel heard a soft creak and she was well aware of him sitting down in the chair besides her. Still, she didn't spare him another glance. That would only give him the satisfaction of seeing her amused, gleeful smile. That would let him know that she enjoyed seeing him hurt from her newfound wardrobe choices, and the fact that she was now becoming popular enough to earn the attention of other members of the male population, even if none of them interested her.

It wasn't that Rachel felt as though she needed to be popular, but she had this desire to show him that she wasn't going to sit around and remain exactly the same as she waited for him. He had slept with Quinn while Quinn was dating Finn, his supposed best friend. Now, Quinn was pregnant with his child. He'd made his decision, even if he hadn't realized it at the time.

Besides, no matter what feelings Rachel had for Puck or what feelings he claimed to have for her, he had still slept with Quinn while apparently being interested in Rachel. That just showed that he was a fickle type of male. And if he wasn't actually interested in Quinn, it showed that all he really cared about was his own popularity. After all, why else would he want to hook up with the popular, head cheerleader who just so happened to be dating his best friend?

It only made sense that he wanted to be the one going around, telling everybody that he had been the one to deflower the Celibacy queen that was the flawless, perfectly blonde head cheerleader named Quinn Fabray.

Rachel was only doing all that she was doing to stop getting a daily slushy facial. She didn't want to end up as a loser without a single positive thing to remember when she thought back on high school. And it wasn't as though she were changing who she was. All she was doing was wearing something different than what her previous style had been, and it was just a more modern and fashionable take on matters. And now she had started to play a sport, regardless of what it was.

She hadn't suddenly started skipping classes. She wasn't doing drugs or attending parties until two in the morning. She wasn't drinking uncontrollably or at all, really. She hadn't become a slut and she wasn't a raging bitch. She was the same old Rachel, with two new friends instead of only Mike Chang, and she was a cheerleader with a sense of fashion. But she was still Queen of the Gleeks with the voice of an angel and a passion for Broadway, where she knew she would end up one day.

"This isn't you, Rachel," He said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "You're better than all of this. I just wish that you could see that. The only reason anybody says anything negative towards you is because they know that you're already so far ahead of them. You're better than they are, and they know it. That's why they try to make you feel small, so they can build themselves up. I just wish you'd open your eyes and realize that. The more and more like Santana and Brittany you become, the less they have to be jealous of. Don't start to conform to fit in here. You're too good for Lima," He stood up and walked out of the room.

"Stop it."

Santana Lopez raised her eyes as she slammed her locker shut, twirling around so that her back was leaning against the metal, crossing her arms across her chest as she gave him a cold, condescending once over with an arrogant smirk etched across her plump lips. Standing in front of her was Noah Puckerman, arms crossed over his broad chest as he glared down at her with an angry, bitter scowl on his face. His developed, defined muscles pulsed beneath his letterman jacket.

"Stop what?" Santana asked in a teasing, mocking tone of voice.

Of course she knew exactly what he was talking about. She knew that he was angry at what was unfolding with Rachel. And she also knew that he had most definitely heard other people, particularly the males at the school, talking about the changes that had happened to one particular Rachel Berry.

And those comments had been some very dirty, inappropriate things that Santana was sure would make Puck punch out anybody and everybody who was heard saying them and then everybody who looked at her for a second too long.

"Cut the crap, Santana. You know exactly what I'm talking about right now and I'd appreciate you not being a bitch about it. I get that I dumped you for Rachel, but do you really have to do everything in your power to make sure she and I never get together? You're not being fair to me and you're not being fair to her. It's not cool to pretend to be her friend just so that you can get back at me for ending things and get back at her for being the girl that I honestly wanted to have a chance-"He was cut off by a low growl coming from Santana as she clenched her jaw, arms dropping to the side as her hands wound into tight fists.

"I'm not pretending to be friends with her! I actually happen to like Rachel, alright? She and I are friends and I'm only doing all of this because she wants me to help her try and get over you because you hurt her when you went and knocked up Quinn Fabray!" Santana snapped at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, hardening his glare.

"Do you honestly think that I'd have ever slept with Quinn if I'd ever thought I had a chance with Rachel? I only did that because I was drunk and I didn't know what I was supposed to do when she can come on to me, okay? Can you stop making me feel like a complete and total dick about every single mistake that I've ever made in my life?" He growled at her.

She narrowed her eyes into even smaller slits than his had become, taking a step closer to him as she rose up on her tiptoes to try and make better eye contact with him, getting as close to him as possible with their faces close enough that she could feel his breath on her own and he could most likely feel her breath on his own face. She let him take in just how angry she was with him for what he was saying and how he was acting before she dropped to her feet again and started to speak in anger, her voice and tone low and bitter.

"Stay away from Berry, understand? She's a good girl and she really likes you. But she's not going to get hurt by you. You can't change, Puckerman. You've never once proven to anybody that you're capable of changing who you are. So stop trying to get with her, because it's not going to happen until you can prove to me that you're willing to change and that you're capable of changing, understand? As long as I'm her friend, you are not going to stand a chance with her because I won't let her get hurt the same way she did when she found out you knocked up Quinn Fabray when she finally started to believe she meant something to you," Santana said, twirling on her heel.

Her ponytail slapped him in the face as she did so, the pleats of her cheerleading skirt swinging as she moved and slapping against her upper thighs before they started to sway with each and every step that she made as she walked away from him, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"FUCK!" He screamed, slamming his fist into the locker besides Santana's. "Fuck!" He repeated, slamming in one more punch before he stormed down the hallway in the opposite direction of where Santana had been.

"She's a slave driver!" Rachel complained as she exited the locker room with Santana and Brittany after her first cheerleading practice. "I don't think I've ever worked that hard in my entire life!" She said in shock as she reached up, tightening her high ponytail so that her hair tugged at her roots.

"And then you wonder why we're all a bunch of bitches?" Santana giggled, adjusting the strap of her cheerleading bag as she made her way towards the exit of the school. "She works all of the happiness and joy out of us," She teased.

"Soon, you're going to be as bad as Quinn," Brittany said sadly, adjusting her white and red CHEERIO'S wife beater so that it covered up the red and black belly button ring that she'd been illegally wearing to practice, before she rolled the waistband of her red short shorts with the white print that read CHEERIO'S on the butt in a girly, cursive-y print, so that they covered even less of her long, mostly bare pale legs to broadcast her bold, defined muscles.

"As if!" Santana rolled her eyes. "Quinn never had a sweet bone in her body. Rachel might be the one to stand a chance of remaining kind and pure," she pushed open the door to the school and walked out into the bright sunlight of the warm fall evening.

Rachel and Brittany followed her outside, breaking out into a sprint as they raced towards Santana's car after sharing a smile. Brittany and Santana were always racing for who would be getting the shot gun seat of the convertible.

"You two are such losers," Santana rolled her eyes as she approached the vehicle a few moments after the other two, only to find Rachel leaning against the door as she tried to catch her breath, Brittany doing the same as she pouted, sitting on the trunk of the car with her chin in her hands, frown already in place.

"You shouldn't call your friends losers, San," Rachel replied, pushing away from the car as Santana unlocked it, climbing inside. "You never know when you're going to get knocked up and need to rely on them to catch you as you fall from grace. Who knows what would have happened if Quinn had actually been a good friend," Rachel giggled as she slammed the door shut behind her.

"Can you respect the car, please?" Santana whined as she started the car.

"Brittany was on the trunk!" Rachel protested.

"Brittany is special. She still believes in Santa," Santana confided as she leaned across her seat to whisper the end of her statement into Rachel's ear. "Anyways, you're right about the whole Quinn thing," She raised her volume back to normal as she moved away from Rachel's ear, starting to back out of her parking spot.

"I think that we need to have a party for Rachel," Brittany spoke up.

"A party?"

"Britt, my birthday isn't for another month," Rachel rolled her eyes.

"A party to celebrate your popularity. What if we had one after the next football game? San, your parents are out of town. Wouldn't it be an amazing coming out party for Rachel?" Brittany asked innocently, eyes sparkling in excitement due to her idea.

"Oh, what the hell?" Santana relented.

"I guess," Rachel said nervously.

After all, Rachel was new to the entire popularity thing. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react, and as confident as she was when it came to her talent, when it came to being the center of attention for something as vain as popularity, she wasn't so sure she was ready for it. After all, she was still certain that most of her popularity was coming from her friendships with Santana, Brittany and Mike. She didn't think that her make-over or her cheerleading position were doing all that much to make her popular on her own.

She didn't think she was ready to find out just how true those thoughts were just yet either. She was more than a little nervous about the outcome if her friends were wrong about just how popular she was on her own.