Disclaimer: See Prologue.
February 2012
He didn't think it would be this difficult. He didn't think, after Juvie, that he'd even get an actual choice in the matter and had resigned himself to living at home for another two years until he could transfer somewhere. Hell, he'd only sent all the various applications out of pure desperation; the idea of the more you throw, the more chance you'll hit something.
Twenty different college applications; his mother had shrugged and said, "Fees be damned. This we can happily afford." (Apparently a child scoring a 1580 on the SATs shocks parents into writing checks) Fifteen had returned so far. Only two had been small envelopes. He wasn't remotely shocked about which two either (even he knew Harvard and Yale had been a stretch with his disciplinary records; it had just been amusing to watch Ms. Pillsbury's face when he told her he was applying).
He figured he should probably get around to opening the fat envelopes soon.
The sound of a body dropping into the chair next to him in the choir room pulled Noah Puckerman out of his silent debate and forced him to pay attention to his, apparently, angry...Finn. He couldn't in good conscience say best friend anymore, not even in his own head. Mostly because he was fairly certain the person who had in the last year claimed the actual title (at least internally for him) of best friend was the cause Finn's obvious anger. And he didn't need to add (not so unfounded) jealousy to said anger.
"What's wrong?"
"Rachel."
"Rachel's...wrong? Well, that's something you don't hear everyday."
"Very funny. Don't be a dick."
"Wasn't trying to be," he muttered back, not really wanting to get sucked into any of the on-going "Finchel" drama. Especially since he knew exactly what it was about.
"She won't even consider going to OSU with me! She laughed at me!"
Puck couldn't help but snort at the exclamation and only rolled his eyes when Finn glared at him. He waited a few seconds for the other boy to elaborate and when he didn't all Puck could do was ask, "Did you really expect her to do something else when you asked?"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
The incredulous look on Finn's face had Puck shaking his head, once again, at the sheer stupidity the other male was displaying. It also made him thankful that no one (no one) knew about the stack of envelopes sitting in his bedroom. As far as the rest of his friends were concerned Puck would be attending OSU's Lima Campus until he told them differently. Mostly because he was pissed that the people he called friends just assumed the same things about him as everyone else.
"No seriously dude," Puck continued. "Why do you expect her to give up New York? She told you when you got back together last year that she wasn't giving up New York. Not even for you. Your whole fucked up relationship had a disclaimer on it from the get go. Don't go acting shocked and annoyed now."
"But, I thought I could change her mind."
"Yea, okay," Puck replied, rolling his eyes right in Finn's face as he spoke. "The girl got a full ride to Julliard, a partial to NYU, a full ride to UCLA and a full ride to Oklahoma City University. And those are only the schools that gave her scholarships. Why the hell should she stay in Ohio?"
"Because I love her."
"Well then, why the hell didn't you apply to somewhere other then OSU? It's not like you're going to be playing football for the Buckeyes. You could have given something up for her for once." When Finn only stared back at him Puck sighed and stood up, letting the other boy stew in his thoughts, mostly thankful that the application deadlines for the fall semester at basically every other college in the US had passed a month earlier. "I'm gonna bounce. Tell Schue I had to head home and couldn't get out of it. I've got some shit to do."
Hours later he was sitting in the same spot on his bedroom floor that he had claimed when he walked in after skipping Glee. He was still surrounded by envelopes, including the all important one that had been waiting in the mailbox when he got home, and he still wasn't any closer to making a decision then he had been that afternoon.
He had to admit he was a little grateful that his waiting until that specific envelope had arrived hadn't caused him to miss any acceptance deadlines.
A quiet knock on his bedroom door finally pulled his attention from the glare he had been sending all the paperwork that surrounded him.
"Come in," he half shouted and wasn't surprised to see Rachel Berry standing in the doorway. "Hey."
"Hi Noah," she greeted him and walked into the room, closing the door behind her. When she didn't say anything else he looked up in confusion and almost laughed at the expression that was on her face. It was a cross between confused and ridiculously happy. "What's all of this?"
"Apparently I'm smart," he responded in a self-deprecating tone and gestured towards the rows of various sized envelopes. "College acceptances."
"Oh Noah!" she squealed with jumping; then for a half second he was afraid she was going to throw herself across the room to hug him and mess up his, half-assed, organization. "Why didn't you tell me? I've been asking where you were planning on going for the last two weeks since everyone started getting word from schools."
"I dunno," he admitted quietly, chuckling when she started carefully picking her away across the room until she could sit beside him on the floor. "Everyone just assumed I was going to OSU Lima and I guess I figured I'd let them."
"Well, that's just stupid of them," she replied, looking incredibly put out for him. So, explain this please since apparently you've failed to be completely truthful with me for a while now."
"Alright," he began, refusing to acknowledge what he knew was a very unmanly pout on his face. "So, thing is? I'm not really as dumb as everyone thinks."
"I know that! You've been on independent study for math for every single year of high school," she interrupted immediately, punching him lightly on the arm and leaving him to roll his eyes at her. "Wait...do they all really think you just skip? How does someone skip a class every single day for four years and ever pass?" she continued and then seemed to catch his slight glare. "Right, shutting up."
"I really only had a problem with my grades during the beginning of Junior Year when I was dealing with all the emotional shit with Beth and Juvie and stuff," he continued, smirking when she only nodded along because he knew she wanted to interject something and was forcing herself to keep quiet. "Well, by second semester of Junior Year things were back on track and I've kept it up. I also, may have, sort of, gotten a 1580 on my SAT's," he finished quickly and avoided the gobsmacked look on her face.
"You...Noah that's almost a perfect score!"
"Yea, I know. I knew I was, ya know, technically smart and shit but that's sort of ridiculous," he replied with a slight laugh. "I kinda wanna know what I got wrong. It was probably on the English section. My mom says I've got a math and science brain."
"NOAH!" she squealed and that's when he got the ecstatic hug he had been expecting from his best friend. "Oh my goodness. This is amazing!"
"Thanks Rach," he whispered quietly into her ear. He slowly pulled back and then groaned as he saw the envelopes again, "Now I just need to decide where I'm going. I only just opened them."
He almost laughed when Rachel immediately paled and began babbling, "You only just opened them? Noah that's irresponsible. What if you've missed deadlines. That would limit your choices substantially."
"Whoa there, slow your roll midget," he immediately cut in, waving his hands in front of her face. "I'm covered. I just checked. I also only heard from sixteen of the twenty schools I applied to."
"Alright," Rachel responded, quieting now that he had told her that no deadlines had been missed. "So, where do you want to go?"
Therein lay his dilemma. The response he had been waiting for had been from NYU. He had not only gotten in but had received a partial scholarship that would cover a quarter of his yearly tuition for four years. He wanted to go to NYU. He was fairly certain that Rachel would be going to NYU as well; and if not, she'd be in New York (she had told him earlier in the week that it was either NYU or Julliard for certain now that she had heard back from all of her schools). The problem was that the University of Arizona and OSU had offered him full rides and Texas A&M had offered him more money than NYU had (which he really thought just boiled down to it being cheaper to live anywhere in Texas then in Manhattan). No one else had offered scholarships (so they were out), which wasn't a surprise - that one semester hadn't totally fucked him, but it hadn't done him any massive favors either.
"Where do I want to go or where should I be smart and accept?"
"Where do you want to go?" she repeated decisively.
"New York," he told her honestly, but kept it vague. "I got into NYU, Hunter College and Fordham. I also got into Hofstra, but that's on Long Island and I checked the commute to Manhattan and it's like Lima to Columbus, even if their train system makes it super easy."
"Alright, so what's the problem?"
"University of Arizona and OSU offered me full rides and Texas A&M offered me more money then NYU did. Those are the only colleges that even offered any money, so the rest are out anyway."
"Well, I don't want to influence your decision at all."
"Surreee you don't."
"No Noah," she said in one of the most serious tones he'd ever heard her use with him. "I really don't want to influence your decision. This is something you have to talk to your mother about. But, I will tell you that I sent in my acceptance to NYU in this morning's mail."
"Not Julliard?"
"Nope, and if you tell anyone else this I will deny until I'm blue in the face, Julliard is far focused on the performing arts. I want to go to college and learn something realistic...just in case."
"I get it," he replied nodding. He really did. "I really want New York Rach," he added quietly, leaning back against his bed frame and frowning.
"Talk to your mother," she insisted. "There are loans and various forms of financial aid available."
"I should be responsible," he muttered and picked up the two envelopes that had full four year scholarships in them.
"You should be happy," Rachel replied quietly and leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. "And I'll miss you. You're my best friend Noah."
"I thought you didn't want to influence my decision?"
"I thought you didn't believe me?"
A week after the conversation in his bedroom Puck found himself strutting into McKinley High with a genuine smile on his face for one of the first times ever as he searched out the tiny form of his best friend. He found her a few minutes later, at her locker with a few of the other Gleeks, and immediately scooped her up and swung her around.
"Noah Puckerman put me down this instant!"
"Sure Rach," he replied, depositing her on her feet. "Just get used to it. Cause next year that's how I'm going to say hi every day."
He almost laughed at the confused looks on the others faces but instead focused on Rachel and watched as she processed what he said. He spotted the exact second it clicked and opened his arms to accept the armful of girl that jumped on his squealing happily.
"Really?" she asked, leaning back to stare into his face.
"Really. My Mom said I deserved to go where I'd be happiest. She figured if I was miserable I'd fuck up and blow my scholarships anyway," he explained, still ignoring the confused looks (and now stormy expression on Finn). "She's probably right," he admitted a second later, before placing Rachel back on the ground.
"We're going to make New York City our bitch Noah," Rachel stated firmly with an abrupt nod.
"Hell yea we are."
"But don't think I'm going to let you slack off now buster," she added and he just barely managed to contain his groan of disbelief. He should have seen that coming a mile away. He was smart and could do advanced math in his head; don't mistake that for actually liking school.
"Would someone please explain what the hell is going on?" Finn finally snapped out and Puck almost felt bad when Rachel turned to glare at her boyfriend; however, before whatever argument the two were going to get into ruined his good mood he quickly excused himself and headed to his, elective, first period physics class.
He'd made the decision a long time ago to let people assume whatever they wanted about him and give them the badass image they expected; if they were too stupid to take a look at what classes he took (kinetic energy, electrons and calculus just made more sense to him then, say, Shakespeare) and how teachers seemed to let him get away with murder and still advance him then that was not his fault.
Noah Puckerman didn't need to explain himself to anyone.
A/N: Sorry this took so long. In my defense, I said it'd take a while to update.
Here we have our first flashback. This was meant to explain how Rachel and Puck wound up in NYC at school together. Note about Puck - I doubt (highly doubt) Ryan Murphy and Co. intend on his character to be the way I see him but I don't really care. I keep his attitude and I keep his bluster...but to be honest, the boy strikes me as FAR more intelligent then the writers seem to give him credit for. I always keep this intelligence in my stories for a few reasons - mostly because he reminds me of this kid I went to HS with. He was a jock, he hated school and he could calculate Pi to 20 digits in his head. It also made music come ridiculously easy to him (due to the correlation between math and music I assume). Also, logically, Puck's daily naps during Math class should basically have him be failing out of school by default...logic isn't always Ryan Murphy's friend but it does tend to play well with me. *shrug*
Hope you enjoyed this. Not positive what will happen in the next part but it will go back to the present tense. It could either be the wedding itself...or very soon after the wedding. Any preferences?