The Ways of Badassery (2/?)
Title: The Ways of Badassery (1/?)
Pairing: Rachel/Santana
Length:6,185+
Spoilers: Up to season 3
Summary: Sequel to Bro’s Got Each Other’s Back. When inviting Santana to their bro’s night doesn’t work, Puck decides the one way to help Rachel get Santana is to get her to show her badass side more.
Spending after school in Figgins office was an interesting way to end her day. She sat at the chair, watching Sue yell at him, and him trying to calm her down. Finally, he got Sue to leave and he let out an exhausted breath.
“Miss Berry, I never expected this kind of behavior from you.” He said and Rachel shrugged.
“What can I say, I’m full of surprises.” Rachel said, shrugging.
“Well, you are going to suffer the consequences,” Figgins said. “For everything you did, you’re suspended for a week.”
“A week, seriously?” Rachel asked and he nodded.
“Yes, and I’ve already called your parents to pick you up.” Rachel scoffed and leaned back in her chair. After a few minutes, her father Hiram walked in to Figgins office.
“Rachel,” He said sternly and Rachel sighed. Hiram looked at Figgins and nodded at him. “Thank you, I’ll take her home now.” Rachel stood up and followed Hiram out to his car. Once they were inside, Hiram sighed.
“Sorry.” Rachel said and Hiram shook his head.
“You always got in trouble outside of school, never in school,” Hiram said and Rachel looked away. Rachel had a perfect record at school, but outside was an entirely different story. When school was over, her and Puck would go out and cause trouble, which was always the worst during the summer. “What happened?”
“Maybe I was just being me.” Rachel said softly, looking out the window.
“You getting in trouble is not you, I don’t even know why you do it all the time at home.” Hiram snapped and Rachel stayed silent. They finally got home and Rachel went straight to her room. She slammed the door closed and changed out of the argyle and into more comfortable clothes, jeans and a shirt.
She laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She sighed, wondering what she was going to do now that she didn’t have school for a week. She closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep at least. In the end, she did, and she woke up to the sound of her phone. She grumbled to herself as she turned onto her side and tried to sleep through it. When it kept ringing, she gave up. Sitting up, she grabbed her phone and answered it.
“Hello?” She asked tiredly.
“Bro, is it true you confessed to Coach Sylvester?” She heard Puck ask over the line and Rachel sighed.
“How did you find out?”
“The Cheerios kept talking about it.” Puck said and she nodded, figuring they would. She guessed by the time she went back to school, everyone would know.
“Go figure.”
“Wanna come to my place and talk about it?” Puck asked and Rachel looked at the clock. It wasn’t that late, and it was around the time Puck got out of football practice.
“Sure.” Rachel finally said.
“Cool, I’ll pick you up in a few minutes.” Puck said before hanging up. Rachel put her phone away and got up. She walked downstairs, and all the lights were off except for the one in her father’s study.
She sighed as she looked at it. Despite the fact that he was home the most, he was never away from his work. Even when home, he secluded himself on worked on things outside of his office at work, leaving Rachel alone.
She let out a hug and looked away, not wanting to think about it anymore. She walked outside and sat on the step, waiting for Puck. Finally, she saw his car pull up and she got up. She quickly got inside, grinning at him.
“Hey, bro.” Puck said.
“Hello, Noah,” Puck grinned and started driving to his house. “So, do you think the entire school knows I did it by now?”
“The Cheerios were talking non-stop about it, then the football team found out, and if Jewfro found out then he probably put it on his blog already.” Puck said and Rachel nodded.
“So, basically, the biggest gossips know,” Rachel said and Puck nodded. “Great.” She muttered and they reached Puck’s house. They got out and walked to his room, with Rachel greeting his family along the way. Once they got inside, she jumped onto his bed.
“So why did you confess, you never do that.” Puck said, laying down on the bed next to her.
“When I went to talk to Santana again, I saw how hard Sylvester was working them, because of me,” Rachel said sadly. “So I told her if she left Santana and the Cheerios alone, I’d tell her who did it and when she did what I wanted, I confessed.”
“Dude,” He said. “You must really like her if you took the blame for everything.”
“I told you, I love you,” Rachel said softly. “But she’ll never love me back,” Suddenly, she felt a punch on her shoulder. “Owe, what was that for?” She asked, rubbing her arm.
“You’re giving up on her and you haven’t even tried to get with her yet. So don’t give up yet, she hasn’t seen the real you, the you outside of school.” Puck said.
“Like that would make a difference.” Rachel mumbled and Puck sighed.
“You just gotta have confidence in yourself, like when we sneak out and totally vandalize shit.” Puck said and Rachel laughed.
“Those nights are pretty awesome.” Rachel said and Puck grinned.
“Hell yeah they are.”
___________________________________________
Since Rachel was suspended for a week, she had nothing to do. Puck lent her some games and magazines and she spent her days playing video games while Puck was at school. The only times she actually left her room was when Puck’s football practice was over and she would hang out at his house.
Finally, after a week, it was the morning of the day she went back to school, and she was sleeping in bed when her phone went off. She let out a groan and slowly grabbed it.
“Hello?” She said groggily, still not fully awake.
“Hey bro, open your door,” She hard Puck say and she slowly sat up. She hung up the phone and walked to her front door, opening it to show Puck on the side, grinning. “Morning.”
“Not that I’m happy to see you, but what are you doing here so early?” Rachel asked and Puck put his hand on his heart.
“Ouch, that hurts.” Puck said and Rachel shook her head, laughing lightly. She walked back inside and Puck followed her in, and the two walked to her bedroom. Once inside, Puck went to her dresser and started going through her clothes.
“What are you doing?” Rachel asked.
“I figured since everyone knows it’s you now, might as well go through with my plan.” Puck said.
“To show how badass I am?”
“Yup,” Puck said, and turned around and threw clothes in Rachel’s face. “That means you wear you’re cool clothes, not your lame ass ones.” Rachel pulled the clothes off her face and looked at them.
“Might as well.” She walked to the bathroom and changed into ripped jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket. She walked out and Puck looked at her, grinning.
“Hot.” He said and Rachel rolled her eyes but smiled anyway.
“Thank you.” The rest of the morning was spent with Puck and Rachel putting all of Rachel’s old clothes into a bag and throwing it out. When it was time to go, Puck drove the both of them to school and when he parked Rachel took in a deep breath.
“You okay?” Puck asked and Rachel nodded.
“Just nervous, no one but you have seen me like this.” Rachel said, motioning to her body.
“I know, it sucks no one knows how hot you look in that,” Puck said, looking her up and down. Rachel playfully punched him and he laughed. “Sorry, but seriously, you’ll be fine and I got your back.”
“I know you do, and I got yours.” Rachel said with a smile and Puck raised his fist in the air. Rachel grinned and bumped her fist with his before getting out of the car.
Puck followed her out and he walked next to her. As they got closer to the school, he draped his arm over her shoulder. He gave her a comforting squeeze and Rachel held her head high, ready to take whatever the student body was going to throw at her.
Together, they walked through the doors and Rachel grinned as she saw all the students stop and stare at her, shock clearly on their faces. Puck chuckled and turned to her.
“Look at their faces, it’s priceless.” He said and Rachel turned to him.
“Just imagine Glee Club.” Puck’s grin widened and for once in Rachel’s life, everyone jumped out of her way as she walked down the hall. She didn’t know if it was because of the shock, or because they knew she had messed with Sue and lived, but it was something she never thought would happen to her. They finally reached her locker, and as she was going through it, she heard a voice behind her.
“Hey, Berry,” Rachel turned around to see two Cheerios in front of her. She had known them, they were seniors and not that far down from Santana on the pyramid. The Cheerios looked up and down Rachel’s body. “What’s with the clothes, hobbit.”
“Yeah,” The other Cheerio said. “You’re still a loser in those clothes.”
“She’s way more badass than you.” Puck said harshly and the Cheerios glared at him before looking back at Rachel.
“Is it true? That you did all those things to Coach’s office?” The first Cheerio asked and Rachel nodded.
“You were there, so you know it’s true.” Rachel said and the Cheerio rolled her eyes.
“I meant, you sure you didn’t cover for someone else?” She said, eyeing Puck. Rachel laughed, making the Cheerio look back at her.
“Why would I do that? Well, to help a friend I would, but that time it was all me, plus,” Rachel walked closer to the Cheerio, making her take a step back. “It’s more fun when you’re actually the one who did it when you confess.” She turned back around and closed her locker before walking away from the Cheerios.
___________________________________________
As the day went by, she started getting a headache. It seemed like all the Cheerios were going up to her, asking if it was really her who did it and that she wasn’t covering for someone else. On top of that, it seemed like the entire student body was checking her out, which she didn’t really mind, but Jacob Ben Israel as stalking her more than ever and constantly trying to interview her for his blog.
In classes, even the teachers did a double take and stared at her for a few moments before starting class. Not only that, but it also seem that all the students around her were talking about her, not even bother to hide it.
Still, it seemed like the one student who wasn’t constantly watching or talking about her was Santana. Even in the classes Rachel shared with her, Santana purposely avoided looking in her direction. On the other hand, Brittany and Quinn, who had seen her in the hall, stared at her.
Rachel didn’t care about what anyone thought about her, or that anyone was staring at her, but she felt a little hurt that Santana didn’t show an inkling of interest in her new look. She went through the day, defeated by the lack of response from Santana, to the end of the day. After school she was at her locker, and the hallway her locker was in was empty, when her locker door was suddenly slammed closed.
“What the hell?” Rachel asked and turned around and saw Karofsky in front of her.
“So it was you that put that glitter in my locker?” He asked and Rachel shrugged.
“Yeah, it was me.” Rachel said in a bored tone and he grabbed her jacket, lifting her up towards him.
“At least sound fucking sorry.” He said and Rachel laughed.
“Why? I’m clearly not sorry.” Karofksy became angrier and he tightened his grip on her jacket.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with, do you?” He asked and Rachel grinned.
“Oh, I do,” She said. “I just don’t care.” Karofsky growled and slammed Rachel back against the locker roughly, and she winced at the impact.
“You’ll fucking pay for this.”
“What are you going to do, punch me?” Rachel asked and Karofsky grinned.
“Maybe I will.” He said and started to raise his fist. Rachel stood up straight, ready to dodge it.
“Hey!” The two paused and looked towards the voice. Down the hall, walking up to them, was Santana. Once she reached them, she glared at Karofsky. “Back off.” Karofsky looked at her and scowled.
“Whatever,” He said and dropped his fist. “This isn’t over.” He said, looking at Rachel, before walking away. Once he turned the corner, Santana looked over at Rahcel.
“You okay?” She asked, and looked up and down Rachel’s body. “That’s different.” She said quietly and Rachel blushed a little at the fact the she was finally noticed by Santana.
“Thank you, though I would have handled that fine by myself.” Rachel said and Santana raised an eyebrow at her.
“Oh, really?” She asked and Rachel grinned.
“Really,” Rachel said. She pushed herself off the lockers and walked to Santana, getting closer than Santana would have liked. “In case you haven’t noticed,” Rachel’s said softly as she stared up at Santana. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Rachel winked at Santana and pulled away. With a grin, she turned around and walked away, leaving Santana in the hallway, more confused than ever.
_____________________________________________________________
Puck sat in the choir room, listening to everyone around him as they waited for Mr. Schuester to come in.
“Rachel Berry, our Rachel Berry, dressed like that?” Kurt said after listening to Mike tell everyone about Rachel’s new clothes.
“I can’t be the only one that saw her in the hall today, am I?” Mike asked, looking at Tina who shrugged.
“Me and Brittany saw her,” Quinn said from her seat next to Brittany. “It was pretty weird to see her dressed like that.”
“Yeah, and you can ask Puck, I saw them walking together.” Mike said and everyone turned to Puck. He sighed and stood up and faced them.
“He’s right,” Puck said and everyone started talking at once. “Dudes, seriously,” Said loudly and everyone became quiet again. “It’s nothing new, she’s always been like this.”
“Are we talking about the same Rachel Berry?” Kurt asked and half of the club that didn’t see Rachel nodded.
“I totally am, she’s just never showed you guys the real her.” Puck said.
“How would you know?” Finn said angrily. “I know her more than you.” Puck started laughing, making Finn angrier. Even though he knew no one believed it, he was the one that knew Rachel the best. Out of everyone, Finn was the one that knew the least about Rachel. Before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Schuester came in.
“Alright guys, let’s get to work,” He stopped suddenly and looked around. “Where’s Rachel, I thought she came back today.”
“Oh, she’s here, just not here.” Puck said, pointing at the floor.
“Oh god, first she’s suspended, and now she’s not coming to Glee, something horrible must have happened to her.” Kurt said, wide eyed.
“I doubt it’s anything serious.” Quinn said.
“Yeah, she’s probably just late.” Blain said. Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a familiar voice.
“Sorry I’m late,” Rachel said, waving at everyone with again on her face and Santana walking behind her. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked at the confused and shocked looks from some of the members of Glee club. “What?”
“Told you.” Mike said to Kurt.
“It’s nothing, they’re just getting over their shock of the badass you.” Puck said with a grin.
“Oh, okay.” Rachel shrugged and sat down next to Puck, who bumped fists with her.
“What happened to you?” Kurt asked and Rachel turned around in her seat.
“Nothing happened, I’ve always dressed like this, just not at school,” Rachel said before turning around and looking at Puck. “By the way, did they get the food coloring out of the pool?”
“Yup.” Puck said and Rachel pouted.
“Awe, we had so much fun doing that,” She looked over at Santana for a second, who was sitting next to Quinn and looking at the ground, before looking back at Puck. “Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.”
“Um, guys,” Mr. Schuester said, making everyone look at him. “So, Rachel, um, welcome back,” He said warily, still looking at Rachel confused from her new look. “Just…don’t get into trouble again,” Rachel shrugged at him, knowing now that she wasn’t hiding behind the mask she put up at school, she couldn’t promise anything. “Let’s get to work, guys.”
For the most part, nothing got done. Everyone was either too busy staring at Rachel or kept asking her questions, especially Kurt and Mercedes. By the time it was over, Rachel practically ran out of the room. She headed down the hall and hid in the library for a few minutes before going back to her locker. When she did, she saw Santana standing by it and looking down at the ground, and she walked over to her, grinning.
“Santana, are you here for another night with me?” Santana looked up at her and scowled.
“Oh please, I don’t like you enough to be anywhere with you.” Santana said and Rachel’s grinned widened.
“Really? Because I didn’t get that impression when you were with me that night I vandalized the school, and you’re here by my locker now.” Rachel said.
“Listen, hobbit, that night I don’t know what I was thinking but,” Santana took a threatening step towards Rachel, but the smaller girl didn’t back down. “Don’t expect me to do something like that again. Oh, and don’t talk to me again, either.” Santana walked past Rachel, pushing her shoulder harshly.
Rachel frowned and looked back at Santana’s retreating form. She let out a sigh and walked out of the school. She walked home and walked to the kitchen, pulling out the beer she hid in the back and walked up to her room.
_______________________________________________________
Puck was done with football practice and was sitting in his car relaxing when he felt his phone go off. He quickly dug into his pocket and pulled it out.
“Hello?” He asked and he heard Rachel on the other side.
“Noah!” She slurred out his name and he frowned.
“Bro, you okay?” He asked and he heard Rachel giggle.
“Of course, Noah, I’m great! You’re idea was great too, by the way! Noah, you’re just great.” She was slurring her words badly and he could tell she was drinking.
“Bro, you’re drunk.” He sighed.
“No,” Rachel said, but couldn’t help but giggle again. “Maybe. Noah, stay with me!”
“Where are you?”
“My room.” Puck sighed, at least she wasn’t causing trouble in public.
“Hold on, I’m on my way.” He said as he started his car. He hung up and quickly headed over to her house. Once he made it, he parked the car and instead of going through the front door, he walked to the backyard. He climbed her tree and stopped just in front of her window and looked inside. She was sitting on her bed, looking at a page on the yearbook.
He tapped on the window and her head shot up. She grinned at him and got out of bed. She stumbled to the window, and opened it to let Puck in. After he climbed inside, he closed the window and led her to the bed.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked. Rachel only ever really got drunk when she and Puck had nothing to do, or if she was dealing with something.
“Noah,” Rachel said. “She doesn’t love me.” Puck looked over at the open yearbook, and sighed when he saw the page she was turned on. It was of the first year they were at Glee, and they hadn’t won first place at nationals, but at least they had a trophy. They were all around it, and Puck saw Santana in her Cheerio outfit and next to her was Rachel with a wide smile. He looked down at their arms, to their joined hands in the picture.
He closed the book, ignoring Rachel’s whimpers at not seeing Santana’s face anymore. He put it onto her desk and carefully laid Rachel down.
“Don’t give up on her yet.” Puck said as he moved the covers on top of her.
“But she told me to forget about the bro’s night, and that we weren’t going to talk, and-”
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay.” Puck said, cutting her off from her rant because, honestly, she was starting to slur her words more and he could see she was getting more tired.
“Not,” Rachel said and yawned. “I wanna talk, and smell. She smells like vanilla,” Rachel said as her eyes started to close. “I like vanilla. I could be the berry on top of vanilla…” Puck watched as Rachel fell asleep and his lips quirked upward at her words.
“Vanilla, huh?” He said to himself. He shook his head and tucked Rachel in before getting up and walking to her window. He looked back and smiled sadly. “Don’t worry, bro, you’ll get your girl, don’t worry.” He whispered before climbing out of her window and to his own house.
Pairing: Rachel/Santana
Length:6,185+
Spoilers: Up to season 3
Summary: Sequel to Bro’s Got Each Other’s Back. When inviting Santana to their bro’s night doesn’t work, Puck decides the one way to help Rachel get Santana is to get her to show her badass side more.
Spending after school in Figgins office was an interesting way to end her day. She sat at the chair, watching Sue yell at him, and him trying to calm her down. Finally, he got Sue to leave and he let out an exhausted breath.
“Miss Berry, I never expected this kind of behavior from you.” He said and Rachel shrugged.
“What can I say, I’m full of surprises.” Rachel said, shrugging.
“Well, you are going to suffer the consequences,” Figgins said. “For everything you did, you’re suspended for a week.”
“A week, seriously?” Rachel asked and he nodded.
“Yes, and I’ve already called your parents to pick you up.” Rachel scoffed and leaned back in her chair. After a few minutes, her father Hiram walked in to Figgins office.
“Rachel,” He said sternly and Rachel sighed. Hiram looked at Figgins and nodded at him. “Thank you, I’ll take her home now.” Rachel stood up and followed Hiram out to his car. Once they were inside, Hiram sighed.
“Sorry.” Rachel said and Hiram shook his head.
“You always got in trouble outside of school, never in school,” Hiram said and Rachel looked away. Rachel had a perfect record at school, but outside was an entirely different story. When school was over, her and Puck would go out and cause trouble, which was always the worst during the summer. “What happened?”
“Maybe I was just being me.” Rachel said softly, looking out the window.
“You getting in trouble is not you, I don’t even know why you do it all the time at home.” Hiram snapped and Rachel stayed silent. They finally got home and Rachel went straight to her room. She slammed the door closed and changed out of the argyle and into more comfortable clothes, jeans and a shirt.
She laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She sighed, wondering what she was going to do now that she didn’t have school for a week. She closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep at least. In the end, she did, and she woke up to the sound of her phone. She grumbled to herself as she turned onto her side and tried to sleep through it. When it kept ringing, she gave up. Sitting up, she grabbed her phone and answered it.
“Hello?” She asked tiredly.
“Bro, is it true you confessed to Coach Sylvester?” She heard Puck ask over the line and Rachel sighed.
“How did you find out?”
“The Cheerios kept talking about it.” Puck said and she nodded, figuring they would. She guessed by the time she went back to school, everyone would know.
“Go figure.”
“Wanna come to my place and talk about it?” Puck asked and Rachel looked at the clock. It wasn’t that late, and it was around the time Puck got out of football practice.
“Sure.” Rachel finally said.
“Cool, I’ll pick you up in a few minutes.” Puck said before hanging up. Rachel put her phone away and got up. She walked downstairs, and all the lights were off except for the one in her father’s study.
She sighed as she looked at it. Despite the fact that he was home the most, he was never away from his work. Even when home, he secluded himself on worked on things outside of his office at work, leaving Rachel alone.
She let out a hug and looked away, not wanting to think about it anymore. She walked outside and sat on the step, waiting for Puck. Finally, she saw his car pull up and she got up. She quickly got inside, grinning at him.
“Hey, bro.” Puck said.
“Hello, Noah,” Puck grinned and started driving to his house. “So, do you think the entire school knows I did it by now?”
“The Cheerios were talking non-stop about it, then the football team found out, and if Jewfro found out then he probably put it on his blog already.” Puck said and Rachel nodded.
“So, basically, the biggest gossips know,” Rachel said and Puck nodded. “Great.” She muttered and they reached Puck’s house. They got out and walked to his room, with Rachel greeting his family along the way. Once they got inside, she jumped onto his bed.
“So why did you confess, you never do that.” Puck said, laying down on the bed next to her.
“When I went to talk to Santana again, I saw how hard Sylvester was working them, because of me,” Rachel said sadly. “So I told her if she left Santana and the Cheerios alone, I’d tell her who did it and when she did what I wanted, I confessed.”
“Dude,” He said. “You must really like her if you took the blame for everything.”
“I told you, I love you,” Rachel said softly. “But she’ll never love me back,” Suddenly, she felt a punch on her shoulder. “Owe, what was that for?” She asked, rubbing her arm.
“You’re giving up on her and you haven’t even tried to get with her yet. So don’t give up yet, she hasn’t seen the real you, the you outside of school.” Puck said.
“Like that would make a difference.” Rachel mumbled and Puck sighed.
“You just gotta have confidence in yourself, like when we sneak out and totally vandalize shit.” Puck said and Rachel laughed.
“Those nights are pretty awesome.” Rachel said and Puck grinned.
“Hell yeah they are.”
___________________________________________
Since Rachel was suspended for a week, she had nothing to do. Puck lent her some games and magazines and she spent her days playing video games while Puck was at school. The only times she actually left her room was when Puck’s football practice was over and she would hang out at his house.
Finally, after a week, it was the morning of the day she went back to school, and she was sleeping in bed when her phone went off. She let out a groan and slowly grabbed it.
“Hello?” She said groggily, still not fully awake.
“Hey bro, open your door,” She hard Puck say and she slowly sat up. She hung up the phone and walked to her front door, opening it to show Puck on the side, grinning. “Morning.”
“Not that I’m happy to see you, but what are you doing here so early?” Rachel asked and Puck put his hand on his heart.
“Ouch, that hurts.” Puck said and Rachel shook her head, laughing lightly. She walked back inside and Puck followed her in, and the two walked to her bedroom. Once inside, Puck went to her dresser and started going through her clothes.
“What are you doing?” Rachel asked.
“I figured since everyone knows it’s you now, might as well go through with my plan.” Puck said.
“To show how badass I am?”
“Yup,” Puck said, and turned around and threw clothes in Rachel’s face. “That means you wear you’re cool clothes, not your lame ass ones.” Rachel pulled the clothes off her face and looked at them.
“Might as well.” She walked to the bathroom and changed into ripped jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket. She walked out and Puck looked at her, grinning.
“Hot.” He said and Rachel rolled her eyes but smiled anyway.
“Thank you.” The rest of the morning was spent with Puck and Rachel putting all of Rachel’s old clothes into a bag and throwing it out. When it was time to go, Puck drove the both of them to school and when he parked Rachel took in a deep breath.
“You okay?” Puck asked and Rachel nodded.
“Just nervous, no one but you have seen me like this.” Rachel said, motioning to her body.
“I know, it sucks no one knows how hot you look in that,” Puck said, looking her up and down. Rachel playfully punched him and he laughed. “Sorry, but seriously, you’ll be fine and I got your back.”
“I know you do, and I got yours.” Rachel said with a smile and Puck raised his fist in the air. Rachel grinned and bumped her fist with his before getting out of the car.
Puck followed her out and he walked next to her. As they got closer to the school, he draped his arm over her shoulder. He gave her a comforting squeeze and Rachel held her head high, ready to take whatever the student body was going to throw at her.
Together, they walked through the doors and Rachel grinned as she saw all the students stop and stare at her, shock clearly on their faces. Puck chuckled and turned to her.
“Look at their faces, it’s priceless.” He said and Rachel turned to him.
“Just imagine Glee Club.” Puck’s grin widened and for once in Rachel’s life, everyone jumped out of her way as she walked down the hall. She didn’t know if it was because of the shock, or because they knew she had messed with Sue and lived, but it was something she never thought would happen to her. They finally reached her locker, and as she was going through it, she heard a voice behind her.
“Hey, Berry,” Rachel turned around to see two Cheerios in front of her. She had known them, they were seniors and not that far down from Santana on the pyramid. The Cheerios looked up and down Rachel’s body. “What’s with the clothes, hobbit.”
“Yeah,” The other Cheerio said. “You’re still a loser in those clothes.”
“She’s way more badass than you.” Puck said harshly and the Cheerios glared at him before looking back at Rachel.
“Is it true? That you did all those things to Coach’s office?” The first Cheerio asked and Rachel nodded.
“You were there, so you know it’s true.” Rachel said and the Cheerio rolled her eyes.
“I meant, you sure you didn’t cover for someone else?” She said, eyeing Puck. Rachel laughed, making the Cheerio look back at her.
“Why would I do that? Well, to help a friend I would, but that time it was all me, plus,” Rachel walked closer to the Cheerio, making her take a step back. “It’s more fun when you’re actually the one who did it when you confess.” She turned back around and closed her locker before walking away from the Cheerios.
___________________________________________
As the day went by, she started getting a headache. It seemed like all the Cheerios were going up to her, asking if it was really her who did it and that she wasn’t covering for someone else. On top of that, it seemed like the entire student body was checking her out, which she didn’t really mind, but Jacob Ben Israel as stalking her more than ever and constantly trying to interview her for his blog.
In classes, even the teachers did a double take and stared at her for a few moments before starting class. Not only that, but it also seem that all the students around her were talking about her, not even bother to hide it.
Still, it seemed like the one student who wasn’t constantly watching or talking about her was Santana. Even in the classes Rachel shared with her, Santana purposely avoided looking in her direction. On the other hand, Brittany and Quinn, who had seen her in the hall, stared at her.
Rachel didn’t care about what anyone thought about her, or that anyone was staring at her, but she felt a little hurt that Santana didn’t show an inkling of interest in her new look. She went through the day, defeated by the lack of response from Santana, to the end of the day. After school she was at her locker, and the hallway her locker was in was empty, when her locker door was suddenly slammed closed.
“What the hell?” Rachel asked and turned around and saw Karofsky in front of her.
“So it was you that put that glitter in my locker?” He asked and Rachel shrugged.
“Yeah, it was me.” Rachel said in a bored tone and he grabbed her jacket, lifting her up towards him.
“At least sound fucking sorry.” He said and Rachel laughed.
“Why? I’m clearly not sorry.” Karofksy became angrier and he tightened his grip on her jacket.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with, do you?” He asked and Rachel grinned.
“Oh, I do,” She said. “I just don’t care.” Karofsky growled and slammed Rachel back against the locker roughly, and she winced at the impact.
“You’ll fucking pay for this.”
“What are you going to do, punch me?” Rachel asked and Karofsky grinned.
“Maybe I will.” He said and started to raise his fist. Rachel stood up straight, ready to dodge it.
“Hey!” The two paused and looked towards the voice. Down the hall, walking up to them, was Santana. Once she reached them, she glared at Karofsky. “Back off.” Karofsky looked at her and scowled.
“Whatever,” He said and dropped his fist. “This isn’t over.” He said, looking at Rachel, before walking away. Once he turned the corner, Santana looked over at Rahcel.
“You okay?” She asked, and looked up and down Rachel’s body. “That’s different.” She said quietly and Rachel blushed a little at the fact the she was finally noticed by Santana.
“Thank you, though I would have handled that fine by myself.” Rachel said and Santana raised an eyebrow at her.
“Oh, really?” She asked and Rachel grinned.
“Really,” Rachel said. She pushed herself off the lockers and walked to Santana, getting closer than Santana would have liked. “In case you haven’t noticed,” Rachel’s said softly as she stared up at Santana. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Rachel winked at Santana and pulled away. With a grin, she turned around and walked away, leaving Santana in the hallway, more confused than ever.
_____________________________________________________________
Puck sat in the choir room, listening to everyone around him as they waited for Mr. Schuester to come in.
“Rachel Berry, our Rachel Berry, dressed like that?” Kurt said after listening to Mike tell everyone about Rachel’s new clothes.
“I can’t be the only one that saw her in the hall today, am I?” Mike asked, looking at Tina who shrugged.
“Me and Brittany saw her,” Quinn said from her seat next to Brittany. “It was pretty weird to see her dressed like that.”
“Yeah, and you can ask Puck, I saw them walking together.” Mike said and everyone turned to Puck. He sighed and stood up and faced them.
“He’s right,” Puck said and everyone started talking at once. “Dudes, seriously,” Said loudly and everyone became quiet again. “It’s nothing new, she’s always been like this.”
“Are we talking about the same Rachel Berry?” Kurt asked and half of the club that didn’t see Rachel nodded.
“I totally am, she’s just never showed you guys the real her.” Puck said.
“How would you know?” Finn said angrily. “I know her more than you.” Puck started laughing, making Finn angrier. Even though he knew no one believed it, he was the one that knew Rachel the best. Out of everyone, Finn was the one that knew the least about Rachel. Before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Schuester came in.
“Alright guys, let’s get to work,” He stopped suddenly and looked around. “Where’s Rachel, I thought she came back today.”
“Oh, she’s here, just not here.” Puck said, pointing at the floor.
“Oh god, first she’s suspended, and now she’s not coming to Glee, something horrible must have happened to her.” Kurt said, wide eyed.
“I doubt it’s anything serious.” Quinn said.
“Yeah, she’s probably just late.” Blain said. Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a familiar voice.
“Sorry I’m late,” Rachel said, waving at everyone with again on her face and Santana walking behind her. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked at the confused and shocked looks from some of the members of Glee club. “What?”
“Told you.” Mike said to Kurt.
“It’s nothing, they’re just getting over their shock of the badass you.” Puck said with a grin.
“Oh, okay.” Rachel shrugged and sat down next to Puck, who bumped fists with her.
“What happened to you?” Kurt asked and Rachel turned around in her seat.
“Nothing happened, I’ve always dressed like this, just not at school,” Rachel said before turning around and looking at Puck. “By the way, did they get the food coloring out of the pool?”
“Yup.” Puck said and Rachel pouted.
“Awe, we had so much fun doing that,” She looked over at Santana for a second, who was sitting next to Quinn and looking at the ground, before looking back at Puck. “Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.”
“Um, guys,” Mr. Schuester said, making everyone look at him. “So, Rachel, um, welcome back,” He said warily, still looking at Rachel confused from her new look. “Just…don’t get into trouble again,” Rachel shrugged at him, knowing now that she wasn’t hiding behind the mask she put up at school, she couldn’t promise anything. “Let’s get to work, guys.”
For the most part, nothing got done. Everyone was either too busy staring at Rachel or kept asking her questions, especially Kurt and Mercedes. By the time it was over, Rachel practically ran out of the room. She headed down the hall and hid in the library for a few minutes before going back to her locker. When she did, she saw Santana standing by it and looking down at the ground, and she walked over to her, grinning.
“Santana, are you here for another night with me?” Santana looked up at her and scowled.
“Oh please, I don’t like you enough to be anywhere with you.” Santana said and Rachel’s grinned widened.
“Really? Because I didn’t get that impression when you were with me that night I vandalized the school, and you’re here by my locker now.” Rachel said.
“Listen, hobbit, that night I don’t know what I was thinking but,” Santana took a threatening step towards Rachel, but the smaller girl didn’t back down. “Don’t expect me to do something like that again. Oh, and don’t talk to me again, either.” Santana walked past Rachel, pushing her shoulder harshly.
Rachel frowned and looked back at Santana’s retreating form. She let out a sigh and walked out of the school. She walked home and walked to the kitchen, pulling out the beer she hid in the back and walked up to her room.
_______________________________________________________
Puck was done with football practice and was sitting in his car relaxing when he felt his phone go off. He quickly dug into his pocket and pulled it out.
“Hello?” He asked and he heard Rachel on the other side.
“Noah!” She slurred out his name and he frowned.
“Bro, you okay?” He asked and he heard Rachel giggle.
“Of course, Noah, I’m great! You’re idea was great too, by the way! Noah, you’re just great.” She was slurring her words badly and he could tell she was drinking.
“Bro, you’re drunk.” He sighed.
“No,” Rachel said, but couldn’t help but giggle again. “Maybe. Noah, stay with me!”
“Where are you?”
“My room.” Puck sighed, at least she wasn’t causing trouble in public.
“Hold on, I’m on my way.” He said as he started his car. He hung up and quickly headed over to her house. Once he made it, he parked the car and instead of going through the front door, he walked to the backyard. He climbed her tree and stopped just in front of her window and looked inside. She was sitting on her bed, looking at a page on the yearbook.
He tapped on the window and her head shot up. She grinned at him and got out of bed. She stumbled to the window, and opened it to let Puck in. After he climbed inside, he closed the window and led her to the bed.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked. Rachel only ever really got drunk when she and Puck had nothing to do, or if she was dealing with something.
“Noah,” Rachel said. “She doesn’t love me.” Puck looked over at the open yearbook, and sighed when he saw the page she was turned on. It was of the first year they were at Glee, and they hadn’t won first place at nationals, but at least they had a trophy. They were all around it, and Puck saw Santana in her Cheerio outfit and next to her was Rachel with a wide smile. He looked down at their arms, to their joined hands in the picture.
He closed the book, ignoring Rachel’s whimpers at not seeing Santana’s face anymore. He put it onto her desk and carefully laid Rachel down.
“Don’t give up on her yet.” Puck said as he moved the covers on top of her.
“But she told me to forget about the bro’s night, and that we weren’t going to talk, and-”
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay.” Puck said, cutting her off from her rant because, honestly, she was starting to slur her words more and he could see she was getting more tired.
“Not,” Rachel said and yawned. “I wanna talk, and smell. She smells like vanilla,” Rachel said as her eyes started to close. “I like vanilla. I could be the berry on top of vanilla…” Puck watched as Rachel fell asleep and his lips quirked upward at her words.
“Vanilla, huh?” He said to himself. He shook his head and tucked Rachel in before getting up and walking to her window. He looked back and smiled sadly. “Don’t worry, bro, you’ll get your girl, don’t worry.” He whispered before climbing out of her window and to his own house.