Rachel would never admit it, but a lot of the time, she really likes Puck.
He's very vocally talented, has the possibility to be kind, is attractive, Jewish, and though she would never, ever on pain of death admit it, more musically talented than Finn. Finn... needs work (to say it kindly).
And while sometimes he is no less than an utterly terrible person- especially to her- sometimes it feels like maybe he's the only person that's on her side. He is as ambitious as she is, just in a different and slightly more criminal way.
Because when Rachel permits herself to really think about it, this is what she knows: they're both going to make it out of this town, even if they explode spectacularly in trying.