Hello everyone! Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Dinner was just as Rachel expected. Everyone was eyeing her as she picked over the food on her plate. It was torture. She knew this would happen but part of her hoped that everything would go back to normal. It was stupid of her to believe that it would

After dinner was finished, Rachel tried to ignore the fact that her dads were keeping an eye out to make sure she wouldn't go to the bathroom and throw it back up. When she noticed Sam preparing to leave, she felt relieved and immediately changed into some regular clothes before following behind him.

"Where are you two heading?" Leroy asked.

"I thought Rachel and I could go hang out with some friends for a bit since she's home now."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hiram asked, raising an eyebrow. "Rachel shouldn't be overwhelmed, it's only her first night back."

"I can handle it," she replied. "Please Dads?"

The two men looked at each other before finally giving in and nodding as Leroy spoke. "Be back by midnight and be safe."

"Always," Sam told him. As they went upstairs, he looked at Rachel. "Are you sure you want to come? I know the racing thing isn't really your scene."

"I told you I want to come. I just need something that will distract me from dinner and…you know."

Understanding what she meant, he nodded. "Okay let's go."

As Sam drove, Rachel stayed silent as she tried to figure out what was on his mind. Sam normally talked to her about anything that was bothering him but she assumed that wasn't the case anymore. Not after everything that's happened.

When they got to the site, they got out and went over to everyone. As they approached, Rachel felt her stomach turn. Everyone knew about what happened to her and she knew they'd be surprised to see her home. She just hoped they wouldn't be as weird to her as her family.

When Quinn saw her, she immediately smiled and went to hug her. "Oh my God, you're back. Sam didn't tell us you were coming home."

"He didn't?" Rachel asked, looking at her brother.

He shrugged. "I didn't think it was information worth mentioning since you don't really like hanging out here."

Seeing the hurt across Rachel's face, Quinn shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What matters is you're finally back and I finally have some better company. Being stuck with these guys hasn't been all that fun."

Appreciating Quinn's effort to make her feel better, Rachel smiled. "I'm sure they got pretty boring sometimes."

Before Quinn could respond, a car pulled up and Puck got out of the driver's side. "Okay who's ready to lose?"

Everyone laughed as he walked over to them. Rachel looked at Sam. "Noah's racing tonight? Against who?"

"Rick Nelson so this should be interesting," he smirked.

Puck walked over to them and froze when he saw Rachel. "Rachel. You're here."

"I am," she replied and looked down, nervously. Puck may have been Sam's best friend since middle school but that didn't mean that she and him were close. If anything, Puck always shunned her because of how much she protested against the street racing scene. She expected him to make a sarcastic remark about her being there but when it didn't come, she was shocked.

Instead, he nodded. "Cool. You can watch me win this."

As he walked away, Quinn looked at Rachel. "Are you okay? You seem like you're in shock."

"I am. Why would Noah be okay with me being here?" When Quinn hesitated, she frowned. "Quinn tell me."

"Well for starters, he was there when you…you know. Then when you went into treatment Sam kind of took it really hard so Puck took it upon himself to be there for him to keep him from doing something stupid. I guess Sam shared with him some of the stuff that happened that led up to it so he kind of has a soft spot for you now. He even stood up for you when Santana and some of the other cheerleaders were making fun of you."

"Wow that's…different."

"Who knows, maybe you got yourself another bodyguard. As if Sam wasn't enough," she joked as everyone started gathering for the race.

As Puck and Rick prepared to drive, Rachel couldn't get Quinn's words out of her head. Sam took her going away really hard. Probably harder than he'd let on. No wonder he didn't want to talk about any of it.

A girl went and stood in front of the cars and raised her arms. As soon as they dropped, tires squealed and exhaust filled the air. As she watched the race, Rachel was surprised about how invested in it she was. While she wasn't sure how the entire thing goes, she had to admit it was exciting.

"Go Puck!" she heard Sam yell, bringing her out of her thoughts. "He won."

As Puck drove up and got out, Rick got out of his car fuming. "You cheated."

"Or I just have incredibly great racing skills and you can't handle it," he smirked.

"There's no way that piece of junk could've beaten me. Typical Puck, always looking for the easy way out instead of actually earning it. Just like your lowlife father."

Puck's smirk was wiped off his face as he grabbed Rick and threw him against the car. Sam pushed Rachel and Quinn back as Puck's fist connected with Rick's nose. Rick's head snapped back on impact and as blood sprayed, Rachel felt her stomach drop. She wasn't used to seeing Puck so angry and it wasn't something she enjoyed seeing.

Finally, one of the guys broke it up and pulled Puck off of Rick. As he backed away, Rick wiped his nose and glared at him.

"Tell you what. Last day of school, we race again. Longer distance but different location. Then we'll see who's better. Winner gets three hundred bucks."

Liking the sound of it, Puck nodded. "Piece of cake."

"One more thing: I win, you spend the summer being the janitor at the country club. It'll be fun seeing you in your future job."

"Too bad that won't be happening. I look forward to kicking your ass again."

"Don't count on it," Rick replied before walking away.

Sam walked over to Puck. "Hey are you sure you want to do this race? I mean I know you won tonight but you have to admit, your car is lagging a bit."

"It'll be fine by the time the race happens. I just have to get in some races and make some money to fix it up in the meantime. I'll figure it out."

"You always do. I'll help you with whatever you need."

"Great." As Sam started talking to Quinn, Puck walked over to Rachel. "So what do you think of your first night out here?"

For a moment, she forgot how to speak and was unsure if Puck was even talking to her. When she noticed his eyes on her, Rachel cleared her throat. "I think you're going to need some ice on that hand."

Looking down at his bruised hand, he nodded and grinned. "You're right. Care to be my nurse?"

Her eyes widened in shock and felt her throat go dry. If she was unsure of what to say before, she was definitely stumped now. "Um, I-"

"Sam," Puck said, getting his attention. "I'll take Rachel home if you want."

"Rachel are you okay with that?" Sam aske his sister.

Finally finding her voice, she hesitantly nodded. "Yeah sure. I'll cover for you with Dads if they're up."

He nodded and went back to talking with Quinn as Puck started walking towards his car. Rachel followed him and as they left, she couldn't help but feel tense. Even though she's known Puck for years now, she hasn't ever really been alone with him until now.

"So what'd you really think of the race?" he asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"I think you could've gone without the fighting."

"Other than that part."

She shrugged. "I thought it was pretty cool I guess. You're pretty good."

"Thanks." He hesitated before speaking again. "So, uh, how are you?"

By the tone in his voice, Rachel knew he didn't mean it in a casual way. "I'm home which is what I've been wanting so I guess I'm good. Look, I know Sam took it hard when everything happened so I want to say thank you for helping him and looking out for him."

"Hey I just wanted to make sure he didn't do something stupid that would get him sent away too," he replied. When he noticed Rachel frown and look away, he sighed. "I didn't mean it like that-"

"It's fine. What I did was stupid and pretty humiliating."

"Don't think of it like that. You were sick and now you're better."

She stared at him in confusion. "I don't understand, why are you being so nice? This is the most we've ever really spoken."

"Which is kind of sad don't you think? I mean you're my best friend's sister. I've known you for years and we never really talked. Maybe we should change that."

Rachel thought about this. She hadn't thought about having much of a social life when she came home but she knew it was part of recovery so she nodded. "Maybe we should."

As Puck pulled up in front of her house, he looked at her. "So I guess I'll see you around."

"Will you be okay?" she asked, motioning to his hand.

"Yeah I'll be fine. I'll give you a pass on being my nurse for the night but if I ever need one again, you'll be the first one I call," he winked.

Rachel felt her face redden as she got out of the car. As she got inside and heard Puck drive off, she couldn't get over the tone of Puck's voice. Like he was flirting with her. But he couldn't be. Who would be interested in her with all of her baggage?

Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)