(Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them. If you guys keep reviewing, I promise I'll keep writing. I know a lot of people added this story on Story Alert and Favorites so please, please review! Special shout-out to twilightangel61090 for the review - I'm glad you're feeling a bit better about the OC. Don't worry, she won't interfere too much!

So everyone, as promised, here's the next chapter. It's a bit awkward, I think, but it was what came out so yeah, I'll leave it as it is. If any of you feel like suggesting something, please do and I'll try to work it in. Thanks again!)

Chapter 5

"How's Diana doing?" Rachel asked Quinn as they entered Quinn's room.

A soft smile appeared on Quinn's face as her eyes were drawn towards the picture she kept on her bedside table. After the news about her pregnancy had spread around the whole school and she'd gone from being kicked out, to living with Finn, to living with Puck, Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury (who were now living together) had kindly offered her a place to stay until she gave birth.

In an even greater turn of circumstance, Mr. Schuester had officially adopted baby Diana, which meant that Quinn and Puck got to see their daughter a lot and have a hand in her growing up.

"She's out with Ms. Pills- Emma now. But Rach, she's such a darling baby – she rarely ever cries and she manages to sleep through the night now." Quinn gushed, her eyes soft at the thought of her adorable daughter.

Rachel smiled and reached out to squeeze Quinn's hand. "I can't wait to see her again."

Quinn shook her head and turned her gaze onto Rachel. "You should drop by again and babysit…"

"I will, I promise." Rachel grinned before she let go of Quinn's hand.

"How are you doing Rach?" Quinn asked quietly, locking gazes with Rachel.

"I've been much better." Rachel admitted, grinning ruefully.

Quinn smiled. "Finn's a jerk, isn't he?"

Rachel's eyes instantly pooled with unshed tears. Even now, nearly two months later, Finn's betrayal still kind of stung.

"I still don't understand what he sees in her."

"Santana just has this, well, way around her. She used it on Puck and Matt and well, now Finn." Quinn said gently, laying a hand on Rachel's arm.

"But I always thought that Finn-"

"Didn't we always think that Finn was a sweetie?" Quinn cut her off, grinning in complete camaraderie.

"He's really just a jerk, isn't he." Rachel stated sadly. It was the same conclusion she came to every single time they had this conversation.

"I think he just got his head turned." Quinn said softly, her smile a bit strained.

Both girls sat there for a moment in silence thinking of the boy that they had both loved.

(Correction: Rachel had thought she had been in love with Finn. And his betrayal hurt her but somehow, it wasn't as awful as she thought it would be. Quinn, on the other hand, had dealt with the blow to her heart as best she could but she couldn't deny that she sometimes thought about Finn and cried about their broken relationship.)

"Anyway…" Rachel broke the uncomfortable silence but was interrupted by the pounding of footsteps outside the door to Quinn's room before it flew open.

"What did we miss?" Mercedes demanded as she flounced in, followed closely by Kurt, who slammed the door shut behind him.

"Nothing." Quinn piped up, sharing a secret smile with Rachel.

"Whatever. Can we please move on to the most important gossip of the day – that new girl, Alexa? The same girl that we saw hanging out with Puck at the arcade? The girl that Puck –" Kurt paused dramatically, meeting each girl's eyes before he continued, "our resident heartbreaker seems to be just friends with?"

"It was hella surprising to see Puck act… normal." Mercedes put in, a frown on her face.

Quinn merely shrugged and looked over at Rachel, who shrugged back.

When Quinn turned away from her, Rachel began toying nervously with the edge of Quinn's coverlet. She had been hoping that they wouldn't talk about Puck anymore but it was just her luck that it was Kurt and Mercedes' juiciest gossip for the day. And it wasn't even supposed to affect her anyway – she and Puck were merely friends. Hell, they weren't even really friends – they were just co-members of the glee club. So why can't I stop feeling flustered whenever I think about him?

"-don't you think, Rachel?"

She snapped out of her annoyingly deep thoughts about Noah Puckerman to find three faces staring at her expectantly. Panicked, she said the first thing she could think of.

"-um… yes?"

It was apparently the correct answer because the three went back to the conversation they were having about Alexa. Rachel attempted to listen to the discussion, managing to stop thinking about Puck long enough to hear some of their theories about Alexa and Puck's relationship (Alexa was Puck's long lost sister? Alexa and Puck had already been in a relationship previously and were each other's first loves that still remained faithful till today? Alexa had secret ninja skills that made it possible for her to beat up Puck and thus be effectively more badass than him? Alexa had parents who were rich and intimidated Puck by setting bodyguards around her?).

But it wasn't very long before she found herself drifting off and thinking about the Puck she'd seen this morning with Cleo. Had it only been this morning when she'd abruptly run into him at the park?

Since their brief weeklong fling and the fiasco that had been the Run Joey Run video, she hadn't given much thought to Puck, apart from apologizing from the fact that she had used him. They weren't exactly the best of friends but they weren't enemies either. So why is it that I can't seem to stop thinking about him?

Noah Puckerman was a certified badass who made tossing dweebs into the dumpster and giving slushie facials a hobby. Although she had briefly glimpsed a more vulnerable part of Puck when they had been together, she had never thought to pursue the matter further (because their hot makeout sessions pretty much covered all the time they spent together). It made her feel oddly jealous to see how at ease he'd been with Alexa and how he seemed a whole lot more Noah lately, with his sensitive starting to show (as it had been ever since the dweebs had tossed him in the dumpster and he'd briefly dated Mercedes).

Plus, she mused, it helps that he is still attractive. She found it surprisingly easy to call to mind an image of him as she'd seen him earlier this morning. His body was impeccably toned from all the sports and the gym sessions and he had felt warm and solid when they had been in a, well, comprising position earlier in the day. With his signature Mohawk gone, he seemed less intimidating but, in a way, Rachel missed it because the Mohawk was just so Puck.

She found herself feeling surprisingly warm while she thought of him and she realized that her cheeks were turning pink. As she tried to calm herself down, she remembered how close they had been and her cheeks immediately flamed red. Shaking away her unusual thoughts about Puck, she tried to focus on the conversation the other three were having.

"-seems pretty great though." Quinn said calmly, an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, I think, personally, that it's cool that she wants to join glee club. But I don't know what to say about her yet since I haven't met her." Mercedes deadpanned.

"Well, we're going to have to make it our mission to. She's got to be the single most interesting thing that happened to me in a while and plus –", Kurt paused, "we have to keep an eye on the competition."

"What competition?" Rachel suddenly chimed in, realizing that she really hadn't been listening to whatever they had been discussing.

All three swiveled their heads around to look at her.

"Well finally, Rach, you join us in the land of the living." Kurt sniffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What do you mean?"

"Diva, you were so out of it for the last fifteen minutes." Mercedes chided gently.

"What were you thinking about anyway?" Kurt asked curiously.

Quinn, who had been silent, suddenly glared at Kurt. Rachel was initially surprised but then realized that Quinn thought she had been thinking about Finn and decided to play along with it.

"Just Finn and.."

It was like Finn was the magic word. Mercedes turned instantly sympathetic and Kurt even managed to look slightly apologetic.

"I'm sorry Ra-"

"It's okay. Can we just please forget about it and talk about something that doesn't involve any guys or relationships or whatever?" And no Puck, she added silently in her head.

Rachel relaxed when the conversation turned to the topic of music. Mercedes was gushing about some new artist named Jason something who had this amazing song that she wanted glee to do; Rachel found herself tuning them out and, immediately, Puck's head popped into mind.

What the (excuse the blasphemy) hell is going on?

"Why did your parents decide to move back to the district?" Puck asked Alexa as casually as he could manage.

They had returned home only to find that his mom and Sara had gone out. Cleo had jumped up, immediately begging to be taken out for the second time that day so the three of them were currently walking around the park.

"I don't know what the real deciding factor was. But I have my suspicions that mom didn't want to have to move and readjust somewhere different again." Alexa shrugged off his question easily.

They walked in amicable silence for a while, watching Cleo as she explored her surroundings.

"I'm glad you're back Lexi." Puck broke the silence, flashing her a mischievous grin.

"It's good to be back Puck. And to see that you're basically still the same." She shot back.

They shared a smile before they continued walking again, focusing on the path ahead of them and getting lost in their own thoughts.

"Lexi…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to tell you something you might not necessarily like." Puck said nervously, rubbing a hand against the back of his head.

"You can tell me anything Puck. You know that." Alexa said softly, reaching out to squeeze his arm encouragingly.

He shot her a sidelong glance, trying to work up the courage to explain what he wanted to tell her.

"This isn't like the time I told you that Santa Claus wasn't real you know. I don't know how you'll react exactly."

Alexa stopped walking and turned to face Puck, who stopped as well. She frowned at him.

"I don't care what the fuck you're going to tell me Puckerman. You're my best friend."

Puck laughed when she tossed in the swear word. "You have a point."

His expression turned sober and he avoided her gaze, "I'm not exactly the best guy at school."

"You were always a bit of a jerk Puck." Alexa said dismissively.

"No, no, Lexi. I'm more of a jerk than I would normally be willing to admit – I toss dweebs into the dumpster and I started the slushie facials trend. I'm the resident school badass and I'm known as the go-to guy for sex. I've been trying to be a lot nicer lately and I guess in some ways, its working but I'm still not any fucking stellar example of niceness."

Alexa just gave him an incredulous face as she listened to his explanation.

"And your point?" She asked when he said nothing more.

"I'm not exactly the nice guy that you're acquainted with at McKinley." Puck said uncomfortably, bracing himself for any lectures about to come his way.

He wasn't expecting her loud shout of laughter. His head shot up to find her giggling next to him. He shot her a look that clearly said what the hell is so fucking funny.

"I'm-" Alexa gasped, "I'm sorry Puck, it's just- I know you. You may act like a jerk sometimes and all badass and whatever the fuck you think is cool; but you're still the nice guy I know and my best friend."

"And-" She paused to slap him smartly on the arm, "I cannot believe you would think so little of me as to think that I would react badly to that announcement."

"Hey, you're still a girl!" Puck retorted, although he could finally look her in the eyes.

"And you're always going to be the softest badass I know." She replied, grinning saucily.

"Take that back." He puts up a face of mock annoyance, even as they begin to walk again.

"Never. It's the truth." Alexa laughs, keeping apace with him.

They continued on walking until they reached the big open expanse where the fountain and the children's play area are spread.

"Lexi?"

"Yeah Puck?"

"Thanks for not being weirded out. By, you know, what I had to say." Puck shoved his hands into his pocket after saying this, studiously avoiding glancing at his best friend.

"Is this really Noah Puckerman going all soft on me?" Alexa spoke, although her smile told him she was teasing.

"Not a chance Alexandra." He immediately retorted, mischievously grinning.

"You're welcome." She said by way of reply before she slipped her arm through his.

And just as suddenly as the fear of his badass reputation being ruined had appeared, it was gone. Why the hell should he care what everyone in school thought? He was Noah Puckerman and he was fucking badass.

Confident in his badassness once again, Puck slipped an arm around Alexa's shoulders before tugging on Cleo's leash and guiding them all home.