Disclaimer: Sadly I have no claim to Puck, or any of the Glee characters for that matter, I just play with them.
I also have no claim to any of the songs in this chapter, yet again, they all belong to the amazing and wonderful Disney.
I love them though.
"So what kind of mash-up were you thinking about?" Rachel asked as she walked into the choir room on Friday afternoon after school.
"You really know how to get down to business," Angel said with a smile.
"Well I don't really see the point of delaying things," Rachel said, settling herself down in a chair, "You said we should meet up to work on the mash-up, so here I am. You see, I could be doing something else with my time so I'd like to waste as little as possible."
"Like what?" Angel asked, wondering what else this girl could be doing on a Friday afternoon, it didn't really seem like she had friends or anything.
"I could be taping and posting this week's MySpace video for my fans."
"Your fans?" Angel managed to cough out, hopefully covering up her laughter.
"I have a very dedicated fan base," Rachel defended, "And they expect a video every Friday, I wouldn't want to disappoint them."
"Do you have any friends, Rachel?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow at the taller brunette.
"I have my MySpace friends."
"I mean real people, Berry," Angel giggled, shaking her head, sending her brunette waves flying.
"Glee," Rachel said with a nod.
"And do you ever hang out with them besides during school hours?" Angel asked, not meaning to hurt Rachel's feelings, just trying to understand the girl.
"Well, I… they… we all have very busy schedules," Rachel managed to stutter out the excuse.
"You should get out there and hang out with people, Berry," Angel said with another laugh.
"Is that what we're doing right now?" Rachel asked, hope shining in her eyes.
Angel opened her mouth to say no, that they were working on Glee stuff, but then she saw the hopeful look on the girl's face and she nodded, "Yeah, like this, although maybe not at the school next time."
"So we're friends?" Rachel asked, "My dads will be so happy to hear that I have a normal friend."
"Dads?" Angel asked, raising one of her eyebrows.
"I have two gay dads," Rachel said with a shrug as if it were no big deal.
Angel shook her head, "You're something else, Berry."
"That's a good thing right?" Rachel asked.
Angel laughed and sat down next to Rachel, bumping her shoulder, "Definitely."
"Good," Rachel said with a nod, "But we really should get working on the mash-up, I do need to get home and work on my MySpace video."
"I've got an idea," Angel said with a smile, trying to help Rachel become more normal, "Do you happen to have your camera at school?"
"Of course I do," Rachel said with a nod, before seeing the weird look on Angel's face and decided to explain, "I bring it with me every day just in case something video worthy happens at school." She ran to her bag and pulled out a camcorder, "Why?"
"We're going to make your video here," Angel said, standing up and grabbing the camera from Rachel, "Together."
"What song are we going to sing?" Rachel asked excitedly, she could see the potential of posting her first duet, especially with someone as talented as Angel.
"We're going to tape us working on the mash-up, so we'll see where it takes us," Angel explained, "It'll be like a behind the scenes of Rachel Berry's life in Glee."
"Oh I like it!" Rachel gasped, "All the big stars have behind the scenes features! This is a great idea!"
"Right," Angel giggled as she turned the camera on and turned it to face Rachel, "Introduce yourself in three…two… one."
"Hello again," Rachel said with a little bow, "I'm Rachel Berry."
Angel turned the camera around to face her, "What's up players?' she called, flashing an upside down peace sign at the camera, "I'm Angel and you're watching what goes on behind the scenes of Rachel Berry's life in Glee!" She stuck her tongue out at the camera before turning it back around to Rachel.
"I don't know what to say!" Rachel giggled.
"Tell them what we're doing here," Angel said with a laugh, "Come one Rachel Berry is not camera shy, let's get moving, chica!"
"Well we're still at school," Rachel said, gesturing around the choir room, "We're collaborating on what I can only assume is going to be an amazing mash-up of some of our favorite Disney songs."
"Amazing?" Angel asked, turning the camera around to face her again, "Berry's being modest. It's going to be a kick ass mash-up!"
Rachel laughed as Angel turned the camera back on her, "I guess it's going to be kick ass," she said, covering her mouth in embarrassment.
"Well let's get rocking shall we?" Angel asked, sticking her tongue out at the camera again.
- - - - - - - -
After three hours the girls had written the mash-up. They hadn't performed it for the camera, but they had shared what songs might be on it.
Rachel decided that she would edit the video to about ten minutes, "This will be difficult as there is so much material," she explained to Angel.
Angel nodded, "Sounds like fun," she muttered.
"It will be," Rachel said with a smile, "Thanks so much for helping me with this! This was a lot of fun."
Angel returned the smile, "It was actually."
"Do you need a ride home?" she asked, almost hopefully.
"Nah," Angel said, glancing out the window in the hallway as they made their way out of the school, "It's still pretty light out, and I don't live that far away."
"You sure?" Rachel asked, feeling like she needed to look out for her new friend.
"I'm sure," Angel said with a grin, "Go edit your video girl. You can't keep those fans waiting."
Rachel nodded with a smile and then did something that surprised both of them when she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Angel's shoulders, "Thank you so much for doing this with me!" she gushed, "I'll see you on Monday!"
"Have a good weekend, Berry!" Angel yelled after the brunette as she ran out of the school.
After ten minutes of walking she wished she had taken Rachel up on her offer of a ride home. Sure, it was still light outside but the wind was picking up and it was honestly getting pretty chilly.
She wrapped her arms around her chest and started to walk faster when her phone rang, she looked at the id before she answered it, "Hey Mikey," she said with a giggle.
"Ang," was Mike's laughing reply, "What's up?"
"Walking back from school," she said with a shrug that he couldn't see, "Berry and I just finished our mash-up, it's going to be pretty amazing, just so you know."
"How was that?" Mike asked, worry tinting his tone, "Berry didn't scare you out of being in Glee did she? She can be pretty intense."
"Yeah, she can be intense," Angel admitted, "But it was honestly kind of fun."
"Kind of fun?" Mike asked, "This is Berry we're talking about…"
"And if people gave her more credit and actually took the time to get to know her they'd realize she's really not as bad as most people think, just a little socially awkward."
"I'll take your word for it," Mike said, Angel could hear the laughter in his voice.
"So why'd you call, Mike?" Angel asked.
"Matt and I were wondering if maybe you wanted to work on choreography tomorrow afternoon."
"Choreography on a weekend?" Angel asked, raising her eyebrows, "I would expect that from Berry, but not from the two football jocks."
"We have to have something to show them on Monday before Shue and Rachel start in with all of their lame reaching out to someone else moves," Mike exclaimed.
Angel heard someone else, she could only assume it was Matt yell, "They're so over the top and over dramatic."
She laughed, "Dramatic is the point of show choir, right?"
Matt sighed, "Yeah, but there are other ways to be dramatic. Think about how dramatic dance moves like yours would look like on stage."
"Because I could definitely teach all thirteen of you how to salsa in a month," Angel said sarcastically with an eye roll as she let herself into her house, not bothering to announce that she was there.
"Not the really advanced moves," Mike said, letting her know that he had already thought this phone call through and was prepared for anything, "But some of the simpler ones so we look like we sort of know what we're doing."
"I'm not going to choreograph all eighteen songs," Angel said finally caving just like Mike had known that she would, "Maybe like three at most."
"Five," was Mike's response.
"Don't push it," Angel warned although her tone was playful, "Or I won't do any of them."
"We'll be over at your house tomorrow afternoon… Matt says one," Mike replied, ignoring her last comment, "Be ready."
And then before she could argue he hung up the phone. Angel shook her head, sometimes she was convinced that Mike was the best friend in the world, other times it seemed like he was hell bent on being the worst friend in the world.
"Tomorrow will be fun," she muttered to herself.
"What's going on tomorrow?" Brad asked, sticking his head in her room to look at her.
"Ever heard of knocking?" she asked, throwing one of the stuffed animals on her bed at him and hitting him in the face.
"Ever heard of not talking to yourself?" he asked, throwing the animal back but purposefully missing her face.
She giggled, "Whatever loser."
"I'm the loser?" he asked, "You're the one that spends every afternoon hanging out with your teachers."
Angel smiled at the fact that her brother still thought that she was meeting teachers after school, "And I'm also the one that's going to get out of this God forsaken place after graduation."
"And you're saying I won't?" her brother gasped with a laugh, "I've got the same grades as you."
Angel rolled her eyes, "Just get out of here, don't you have a date tonight or something?"
"Maybe," Brad said with a smile and a wink as he walked out of her room and continued his way to his room.
"Make sure she doesn't kiss you!" Angel yelled after him, "I'd hate for her to get infected with whatever kind of STDs you've got hanging out in your mouth!"
"I don't have any STDs!" Brad yelled back, "Just because you've never kissed anyone doesn't mean that those of us that have all have diseases."
"You should still get tested!" Angel said with a giggle as her brother slammed his bedroom door, upset that his jab at the fact that she had never been kissed hadn't gotten to her.
But it had, Angel was just better at hiding how she was feeling than her brother was.
Much better.
- - - - - - - -
Angel sighed and hit her forehead, "I should have known that working on choreography with you two jocks was going to be a pain in the ass," she muttered to herself.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked with a smile, thinking that he had actually managed to copy the move that she had just shown them.
"You're doing it wrong," Mike pointed out, "That's why she's upset."
"You weren't doing much better," Angel pointed out, "So don't feel too high and mighty. Now both of you watch carefully, no more goofing off."
The boys nodded and watched carefully as she repeated the move, "Got it?" she asked, spinning around to glare at them.
"Think so," Matt said as he tried the move.
"Good job," Angel breathed as the boys both did the move, not perfectly, but a lot better than they had been doing. "Now do you guys see why I said I'd only choreograph three of the numbers? It's taken us four hours and we're only half way through the third song."
"It's not our fault we're slow," Mike muttered through gritted teeth.
"But I'm pretty sure it is," Angel laughed, "Now pay attention, from that move we go straight into this," and she demonstrated another move.
"You know," Matt panted out when Angel had finally decided that they were done, "As cheesy and dramatic as Rachel's moves are they don't take as much out of you."
"That's because this is real dancing," Mike pointed out.
"Hey!" Angel defended her new friend, "Rachel knows how to dance."
"Yeah, but all the moves she does on the stage are pretty much just running around and twirling and reaching for Finn's hand," Matt said as he and Mike demonstrated one of the typical Finn and Rachel stage reaches.
"Is there something going on between the two of them?" Angel asked, she had picked up on the tension at practice already.
Mike shrugged, "Last year he was dating Quinn, and then the whole babygate thing happened and they broke up. He dated Rachel for like a week and then he broke up with her and she started dating this other guy, I forgot his name."
"Jesse St. James," Matt provided for him.
"Yeah, him," Mike said with a nod, "But we made her break up with him and then Finn wanted her back, but she wouldn't take him back. Then I'm pretty sure that he and Santana had sex even though he told Rachel he hadn't been able to go through with it."
"No he didn't!" Matt said, looking slightly distressed.
One of Angel's eyebrows rose, "You dating Santana or something?" she asked Matt.
"Or something," he said, scratching the back of his neck and blushing slightly.
"Well you're going to have to get over that," Angel said with no sympathy, "I transferred here a semester ago and even I know that the Santana train gets around… and quite often."
Matt groaned but didn't argue, just threw himself down on the couch and glared at his foot, probably regretting that he had admitted that he and Santana had something going on.
"But Finn's pretty much stopped talking about who he's interested in," Mike said, changing the subject, "We're all pretty sure that there's still something with Quinn and definitely something with Rachel. But Finn's all over the place so there's no real way to tell."
"As long as there's no drama," Angel said, falling onto the couch between Mike and Matt, "I did not join a Glee club just to watch it go up in smoke because no one could keep it in their pants."
"Speaking of keeping it in their pants," Mike said turning to look at Angel with raised eyebrows.
"Yes?" Angel asked, honestly not knowing what Mike was alluding to.
"You and Puck?" he asked
"There is no me and Puck," Angel said, quoting Mike, "Where are you getting this from? Haven't you learned by now that you can't just pull things out of your ass?"
"I'm not pulling this out of my ass," Mike defended, "I saw the way you smiled at him when he decided that a Disney themed concert could be fun."
"We all saw that," Matt said with a chuckle, "It was like you saw him in a whole new light or something like that."
"Don't be so gay," Angel laughed giving Matt a small shove.
"And then I happened to be walking past the choir room when the two of you were singing Hakunnah Matata," Mike admitted with a sheepish grin, "You could have cut that chemistry with a knife."
"A butter knife," Matt added.
"A blunt butter knife," Mike elaborated.
"Shut up," Angel growled, "Both of you," she added as she reached up and shoved both of their faces into the couch cushions, "There is nothing going on between me and Puck."
"I do believe that the lady doth protest too much," Matt said with a fake British accent.
"I've hardly protested at all," Angel pointed out.
"Still too much."
"Okay," Angel laughed, grabbing both of them by their ears, "It's time for you two to get the hell out of my house. See you in school on Monday!" she said with a happy wave as she slammed the door in their faces.
About five minutes after the boys had left the doorbell rang, thinking it was the boys again Angel opened the door while rolling her eyes, "What do you want?" she growled, all happiness leaving her face when she saw that it was her mother standing on the front steps.
"That is no way to answer the door, Angela," her mother muttered.
"Well excuse me for not being happy to see the woman who abandoned me when I needed her most on my front step."
"I'm not here for a pleasant visit," her mother said sternly, stepping into the house even though she hadn't been invited.
"You never are," Angel muttered under her breath.
"I'm here for business," her mother said, either not hearing or choosing to ignore Angel's last comment.
"And what kind of business do you have with me?" Angel asked, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at her mother although she had a feeling that she knew what her mother was there for.
"It has come to my attention that you have joined the Glee Club at William McKinley," her mother said sternly.
"I knew that's what this was about," Angel growled, starting to walk away from her mother, but she didn't get too far away.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, Angela," her mother yelled.
- - - - - - - -
After her mother left an hour and a half later Angel decided that she needed to go for a walk. She slowly made her way to a playground just outside of her neighborhood and sat down gingerly on the swing.
This was the other reason why she hated her mother. Her job kept her wound pretty tight and she had anger management problems to begin with and Angel was usually the easiest target to take her feelings out on.
"Angel?" someone called uncertainly.
Angel looked up to see Finn walking toward her, "Hey Finn," she called softly.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as he sat down on the swing next to her.
"Just needed to get away from home for a bit, you know?" she asked, hoping he'd understand that she didn't want to talk about it.
"Me too," Finn said with a nod, "I come here to think a lot."
"You think?" Angel asked with a giggle, letting him know that she was joking.
"Yes I think," Finn said with a smile, "Sometimes."
"This is a good place to think," Angel admitted, pushing herself on the swing.
"What are those?" Finn asked, pointing to her arm.
Angel cursed her stupidity, it was still pretty light outside and the hand shaped bruises that were blossoming on her arm were pretty obvious.
"Umm, I'm part of a fight club," Angel said, hoping that Finn would believe her.
"Doesn't seem like you're any good," Finn said giving no indication that he didn't buy her excuse.
"Yeah, I need to work on that," Angel admitted.
"Puck used to be part of a fight club," Finn muttered, "We haven't talked in a while, so I don't know if he's still doing it, but you could ask him for some help."
Angel sighed, "Of course it would be Puck."
"What?" Finn asked, not sure if he had heard what she had said.
"Nothing," Angel said, shaking her head, "Nothing to worry about."
"Do you want to think alone?" Finn asked, getting off his swing, "I can leave?"
Angel reached out and grabbed his arm, "No, Finn, wait."
"What?" he asked, turning around.
"Can you stay?" Angel asked, pleading with her eyes, "I just really need a friend right now."
Finn nodded and sat down on the swing next to her, "I'm really good at being a good friend."
Angel smiled, Finn could be pretty simple sometimes, but other times he knew exactly what to say, "Thanks Finn," she whispered.
"Anytime."
Hey guys!
I hope you liked this chapter!
Please, please, please, please take the time to review!
It's nice to know when my work is appreciated.
I'll hopefully get a new chapter up soon.
Until then... Happy Reading!
xoxo,
Brook