A/N: Sorry if I get the football details wrong. I know as much about football as the actual Glee writers. /sarcasm, lol!
I do not own Glee.
Finn could not believe he was getting ready for football practice right now. It was the first day back from winter break, he was tired and cranky. Rachel had spent the whole day avoiding him. And Glee was canceled because the football players and Cheerios had emergency practices. Usually he'd be in basketball season by now, but McKinley High football had actually had an awesome season and they were playing a school from Columbus for the football championships. Coach Sylvester had insisted that the Cheerios be allowed to install some kind of retractable, spring-y floor for their half time routine before the game. Since she had been the principal and the Columbus school didn't have their own field, she had managed to delay their game all the way to the second week of January. He was not looking forward to playing football in this weather.
Coach Beiste came in to the locker room and he was surprised to see she had Mr. Schue with her.
"Alright, boys, listen up. It's been brought to my attention that some of you have been bullying your peers, particularly, the members of the Glee Club. Now I don't know how things have been in the past, but the men who play for the Beiste, don't bully." Coach glared at everyone. Man, she was scary. "So here's how it's going to go down. Schuester here needs some guys for the halftime show. And those guys are going to be you." She doesn't mention that she and Schuester are determined to have a better halftime performance than the Cheerios, as she points fiercely towards Karofsky and friends. The locker room filled with groans and complaints.
"I don't want to hear it! Are you football players or whiny babies? Glee Club practice is tomorrow at 3. Anyone who doesn't show up, will not be playing the Championship game. Now get out there. Last one on the field does 20 laps. GO!"
*Glee*
He hadn't heard from Rachel since New Years. That was only 4 days, but still. He was tired of only catching glimpses of her as she ran away from him. They had lockers right by each other and she was never there. They had first period and Spanish together and she came in right before the bell and ran out as soon as it rang. He really hoped he could talk to her in Glee today. Except when he walked into the classroom it was complete chaos. Sam was yelling at Mr. Schue and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. There were only two football players in the classroom, aside from the regular glee club members. Crap. This was not going to be good. He sat down in the nearest chair, trying to figure out how they were going to win a Championship game with 7 players.
"Just sit down, Sam!" Mr. Schue finally shouted. "We'll figure all of that out later. I have to talk to Coach Beiste." Sam stomped over and sat beside Quinn, glaring at Finn. "You should be the one figuring all this out, Captain." he said angrily. Finn just slouched further down in his seat. Sam was right, but he didn't see how yelling at Mr. Schue would solve the problem.
"Ok, guys, we were going to practice our mash up for the halftime show, but it looks like that plan is on hold for now. So instead, I'm going to draw names out of this hat and you're going to work on a ballad for Regionals together." Mr. Schue reached into that hat and announced, "Rachel...and...Puck." Finn couldn't even think after that. He just stood up and walked out. He heard footsteps behind him and hoped that it might be Rachel. But it wasn't.
"Hey, man!" Sam shouted. "Wait up, I'm your partner for the ballad thing...but we need to go find Coach and see if she'll change her mind about letting the guys play."
Finn sighed. The last thing he cared about right now was a stupid game. But he followed Sam anyway. The day couldn't get any worse.
*Glee*
There are a lot of things that no one knows about Noah Puckerman. His bad ass act is to keep people away. No one relies on him and he relies on no one. And he likes it that way. He likes being called Noah though, it reminds him there's a real person underneath his act. He likes country music. He hates seeing girls cry. And he's a sucker for Rachel Berry's eyes. No, really. The first time he slushied her was because she looked him straight in the eye and he could just tell she knew he'd thrown Kurt in the dumpster that morning and he'd just cheated on his math test. He was turning around to go apologize to Kurt when he remembered he was PUCK and he never apologizes! He threw the slushie so she'd quit looking inside his head. Since then, he was pretty sure he'd do anything if she stared at him long enough. And it's not like he likes her, because he doesn't! She's annoying and loud and crazy and bossy, and he can remember all of that as long as she's not looking at him.
So when Mr. Schuester announced that he had to work on a song with her, he knew he had to act first. Otherwise, she'd have him tap dancing to show tunes in sequins before he could blink. He walked over and sat beside her. He risked a glance her way, but she was still staring forlornly out the door. He still didn't know why she had told Finn about their kiss. They were barely into it before they both knew it felt wrong. He took a deep breath.
"I have a plan. I'm going to send you a link on Facebook later. You sing, I'll play. Be ready tomorrow." And then he walked away before she could complain.