Author's Note: I added on to Chapter Nine, so you might want to reread it before you read this. Sorry, I thought I was done with Rachel's POV, but when I started this chapter, I realized I was wrong. Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments. I can't remember the last time I had more than two people read anything I've written, so I'm awe that over 1,000 folks have read this. Oh and Pixie? Welcome to the dark side. :) Glad I could reel you in.

Puck was standing in the hall after 7th period, talking with some of the guys from the team about their upcoming game when Rachel came bouncing up to him.

"Puck, Hi!" she said cheerfully, "I'm glad I found you!"

Puck looked up and down the nearly empty hallway. "Yeah," he said sarcastically, "must have been real hard." Matt and the other football players laughed as if on cue.

Rachel's smile faltered for a second, but she recovered quickly and plunged ahead. "Oh, well... no, not really. But anyway, can we talk for a second? I've got something for you."

Puck heard the guys snicker, and one of them muttered, "I'll bet she does.." under his breath.

"Not now Berry." Puck said harshly.

"But.. but.. It's really important, and it'll just take a second." She was practically bouncing out of her shoes.

"Ooh.. it's important... better hurry Puck."

Puck glared at his friends and turned back to her, "Later Rach."

"Oooh.. yeah Rach, later..." group chorused in a singsong voice.

Rachel looked from Puck to the group of guys and then back to Puck. The smile fell from her face and she shrank back visibly. "Oh.. um.. yeah, I get it. Sorry... well here, I just.. just wanted you to um, have these." With that, she shoved the papers into his hands and walked quickly in the opposite direction.

Puck didn't even look at the papers, just flipped them into his notebook as he turned back to the guys.

"Oooh Puck man, what's that all about? Slumming with Glee freaks now?" one of the guys teased.

Stealing a glance down the hall, he watched her hasty retreat. "It's nothing, man, nothing."

Matt gestured towards where Rachel stood, "Nothing sure does have a nice ass though." The others nodded in agreement. Puck threw Matt a grateful look, and quickly changed the topic.

Later as he walked to his locker to put his notebook away, he saw the edge of the one of the pages she had given him. Curious, he flipped the notebook open and looked closer. It was staff paper. Blank staff paper. Flipping through, he saw she had carefully written "Composed by Noah Puckerman" at the bottom of each page, followed by a gold star sticker.

Great, just fucking great. Slamming his locker open he shoved the notebook inside.

"You don't like it?"

Puck jumped at the sound of her voice. "Jesus, Rachel..."

"I'm sorry, I just... I wasn't thinking earlier. I didn't mean to embarrass you earlier, I was just really excited."

Slouching against his locker, Puck sighed. "Yeah, about that... Rach..." He saw her face light up when he called her Rach. He had to put a stop to this now. "Berry," he said in a firm voice, "I don't know what you think is going here..."

"Nothing." she said quickly, "nothing is going on, I just wanted to apologize."

"You want to apologize? To me? For what?"

"For.. well.. everything I guess, for last night mostly though. I should never have put you in that position. I forced you into going along with my plan. It was very thoughtless."

Puck laughed, "Berry, you couldn't force me to do anything if you tried. I was bored, and it was worth it to see the looks on their faces."

Rachel looked taken aback, "Oh, okay then... well I'm also sorry that I implied that... well, I'm sorry I seemed so surprised by your talent." Seeing the scowl cloud his face, she rushed on, "I wasn't, you know. I wasn't surprised by your talent. Well I was surprised because I didn't know you could play the guitar, and..."

Puck held up his hand. "Enough Rach, I get it." He looked around uncomfortably, "Look, I get what you're trying to do here, but I wish you'd just forget about it. It's really no big deal."

Rachel looked puzzled, "But it is a big deal. You have an amazing gift, why on earth would you hide from it?"

"I'm not hiding from anything," he said coldly. "I said it before, and I'll say it again, Berry. You don't know me. You don't know anything."

Rachel looked stung. "I'm s..s..sorry. I just thought maybe you'd want me to help you..."

"I don't want your help. I don't want anything from you."

Rachel met his gaze, and said nothing.

Damn, she creeped him out. Anyone else would have run away in tears by now, but she just stood staring him down like she knew his darkest secrets. Well, at least he knew one way to make her go away. "On second thought," he said wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her body firmly against his, "There is one thing I wouldn't mind getting from you."