Here's another chapter. I hope you're all enjoying this story.

I own nothing used in this story. Enjoy!

Rachel awoke precisely at 6:00 am the next morning. She spent a moment lying in her bed thinking about the performance they would be putting on that very day. She found herself nervous for the first time about a performance. Deciding she just needed to distract herself she threw back her pink comforter and rolled out of bed. She spent twenty minutes on her treadmill and focused on the new motivational paper that Noah had put up the night before. She had been slightly shocked when he put up a single piece of paper that simply said 'Be yourself B. Everyone will love you. Just the way you are.'

She found herself wiping away a tear, but assured herself that it was in fact just perspiration. She had pushed herself this morning in her cardio routine. Rachel grabbed a quick shower and picked out two separate outfits for the day. She chose a red skirt and her favourite owl sweater. Noah told her to be herself, and she figured that meant going back to basics. She put her costume into a duffel bag and hurried downstairs for a quick breakfast before Noah picked her up for school.

She opened the fridge and selected two muffins that she had baked two days before. She assumed that Noah would not have eaten any breakfast and sustenance in the morning was so incredibly important for two growing teenagers. She also grabbed some juice boxes and put them in a paper bag along with the muffins as the doorbell rang. Rachel ran from the kitchen and opened the door to find Noah standing on her porch.

"Hey shorty. Better get a move on. If we don't hurry up you won't be two hours early. Oh the horror!" He greeted her sarcastically.

"Good morning Noah. I'm going to ignore your tone of sarcasm." She slipped her feet into her boots, grabbed her coat from the closet and followed him out the door. She locked the front door and walked to the truck where Noah was standing with her door open for her.

"How gentlemanly." She thought with some amusement.

She fiddled with the radio and was singing along to 'What the Hell' by the time Noah made his way into the truck. He snorted with amusement at her choice of music and started the car. Wordlessly she passed him his breakfast and tried not to laugh as he moaned with appreciation. She decided not to mention that they were a vegan recipe.

The rest of the trip passed in a comfortable silence interrupted only by the two of them singing or humming along with the radio. They pulled into McKinley High and Puck found a parking space close to the doors.

"I guess that's one good thing about getting here a year early. No one in the parking lot to fight for prime parking. However will I choose a parking space?" Rachel rolled her eyes and got out of the truck.

"Did you remember to bring your costume for our glee performance today?" She asked him as she waited for him to grab his bag.

"Yeah I got it little one. I knew I'd never hear the end of it if I forgot."

They made their way into the school and walked together to Rachel's locker. He leaned against the locker next to hers and watched her open her locker. She looked regretful for a moment and Puck took a look inside her locker and noticed that she had forgotten to take down all of the Finchel photos inside. He watched as she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She opened her duffel bag and took out a shoebox. She took down all of the photos and Finchel reminders and placed them in the shoebox along with what looked like everything Finn had ever given her.

"This was why I wanted to come early you see. I had actually forgotten about cleaning out my locker but I decided that I wanted to give Finn all of his things back with as small an audience as possible. These things can be very awkward and I didn't want people to be around to see it." She said quietly.

She looked up at Noah and he just nodded thoughtfully.

"Did you want me to stick around B?" He asked after a moment.

She decided that she very much wanted him to stick around but thought it would only make things more complicated than necessary. Finn had made his dislike of their friendship clear. She shook her head and he seemed to understand. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead.

"Remember B. Just the way you are."

She watched him walk away and tried to focus on the task at hand. She decided she needed to mentally prepare herself for this. She found her courage wavering and knew the only way to fix it. She hurried to the auditorium and marched onto the stage. She smiled at Brad who was sitting at the piano as if he had just been waiting for her. How convenient.

Hush, just stop
There's nothing you can do or say, baby
I've had enough
I'm not your property as from today, baby
You might think that I won't make it on my own
But now I'm

Stronger, than yesterday
Now it's nothing but my way
My loneliness ain't killing me no more
I, I'm stronger

Than I ever thought that I could be, baby
I used to go with the flow
Didn't really care 'bout me
You might think that I can't take it, but you're wrong
'Cause now I'm

Stronger, than yesterday
Now it's nothing but my way
My loneliness ain't killing me no more
I, I'm stronger

Come on, now
Oh, yeah

Here I go, on my own
I don't need nobody, better off alone
Here I go, on my own now
I don't need nobody, not anybody
Here I go, here I go, here I go
Alright
Here I go, here I go, here I go

Stronger, than yesterday
It's nothing but my way
My loneliness ain't killing me no more
I'm stronger, than yesterday
Now it's nothing but my way
My loneliness ain't killing me no more
Now I'm stronger, than yesterday
Now it's nothing but my way
My loneliness ain't killing me no more
I'm stronger!

She finished the song and took a long over at Brad. He smiled at her, nodded and walked offstage. She sat down on the edge of the stage for a moment to catch her breath. Feeling much better she walked down the steps and out of the auditorium.

Songs used:

What the hell - Avril Lavigne

Stronger - Britney Spears

Let me know what you think.