Operation Destroy Luck
Title: Operation Destroy Luck
Verse: Part of the Operation verse
Pairing, Character(s): Noah Puckerman/Rachel Berry, Santana/Rachel Friendship, Puck/Lauren
Rating: Lots of cursing cause it's Puck and Santana but otherwise I'd say PG-13
Word Count: 9474
Spoilers: Up to and including the Promo's for Silly Love Songs
Written for the puckrachel community drabble meme. This is not beta'd so all mistakes are mine. I do not own Glee. This fic is not very Lauren friendly.
Prompt: The only thing Rachel and Santana can agree on is that they hate Puck with Lauren.
Operation Destroy Luck
So sure Puck did that number in Glee but really it’s Puck. It was like a requirement for Puck to “date” every girl in the Glee Club, well except for Tina but Santana was pretty sure Puck hadn’t “dated” Tina just because Mike would go all ninja on his ass if he tried. So really it wasn’t that surprising when Puck sang to Lauren, but seriously what the fuck! It’s been two weeks, two fucking weeks, and Santana was living in the fucking Twilight Zone. Manhands hadn’t been this fucking bad when she was on one of her crazy sprees to get Finn. Puck was fucking chasing Lauren around as if he was her lost puppy. As Puck would say, this shit wasn’t kosher.
Santana had been trying to figure it all out since it became obvious that this thing with Lauren was more then that, a thing. So first she tried to take a page from Mike’s book and go all ninja on Lauren, but lucky for Lauren the fight was broken up before she could cause any real damage to the bitch. As Lauren got that one good shove in and slammed her into the locker, Santana realized that fighting Lauren wouldn’t solve anything anyway; Puck had some weird noble streak when it came to the girls that he dated.
The next phase of break Puck and Lauren up, Santana offered something that Puck had been fantasizing about his entire life. Hell she knew for a fact that it was his dream, and realizing she needed to do something huge she took his dream one step further. Of course Brittany was out thanks to Wheels, but that was okay with Santana. During mass Santana recruited a couple of the girls from the private Catholic school and after borrowing one of their uniforms Santana set her plan in motion. The next day, Santana along with the two girls who she didn’t bother to learn their names, walked through the halls of McKinley in their tiny Catholic school girl uniforms and went straight to Puck’s locker. He didn’t even raise an eyebrow when he say them, when Santana inform him that they were going to the janitor’s closet for a foursome, a fucking foursome, before saying he was late meeting Lauren and taking off.
That was when Santana decided Puck was extremely ill so she called her Dad and demanded to know what illness Puck was suffering from based on what was happening. That was no help, figures, and so Santana went a step further. Puck’s Ma was a nurse at Lima General, the same hospital that her Dad was a surgeon at. So she stole her dad’s scan cards and computer passwords and snuck into the hospital. If Puck had been treated for anything, it would have been at Lima General since his Ma knew all the doctors there and all the details would be in his personal file. All the fucking good that did though, it just confirmed that was lying his ass off about that vasectomy that he supposedly got during the summer break. The worst thing in the file was that Puck had been taking antidepressants for a while this past summer, but shit given the fact that he had to give up the kid he wanted to raise Santana wasn’t surprised.
She had done petty things as well through out the day, like her t-shirt just happened to burst open in the middle of the hallway in front of Puck’s locker, she took a sledge hammer to her car’s engine so Puck would fix it, stole a pair of crutches from the hospital and hobbled around the school for a day trying to balance school books because she “forgot” her backpack. Nothing, not a damn thing would work to get Puck away from Lauren. Santana was at a lost, and it had been two weeks since she’d had a really good fuck and she was getting desperate. There had to be something that she was missing, some weak link in Puck that would drive the wedge between Puck and Lauren for good so Santana could get back to fucking Puck. She just couldn’t figure it out and what pissed her off the most, she knew it was right in front of her she just couldn’t see it for some reason.
Then it happened, Puck’s Jew God smiled down on Santana and she realized what she need all along was an alliance.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rachel didn’t have many friends, she knew this. Kurt and she had formed a wonderful friendship, and because of that she now had Mercedes. That could end at any time however, if Kurt came back to McKinley then he would once again become her biggest competition in Glee and she didn’t know if their friendship had a strong enough foundation to survive that. Mercedes was more her friend because Kurt was her friend and they did have fun outside of school and occasionally while at school, things were really shaking with Mercedes and that friendship could change with an update of a Facebook status. Ever since last year when Glee Club actually started to become something there was only one person she could depend on, Noah.
To say that Noah was her friend was a risk, because they weren’t really friends. They weren’t enemies either however. She knew now it was because there was something there, some sort of connection that she couldn’t describe, but it was there. Noah was the reason the slushies had stopped, at least for her, and while she was still bullied if Noah say it he would put a stop to it in his own brute way even if it was just by sticking up for her. What Rachel did know was if she ever needed anything she could always call Noah.
Now that she finally figured out that she had loved the idea of Finn and not Finn himself and that maybe she had feeling for Noah that were more then their complicated friendship it was to late. She’s not sure how it happened, one minute she is singing with him in Glee and he only has eyes for her and the next he’s singing to Lauren. Instead of sitting with her at lunch like he had been doing since Santana had revealed that Finn had lied to her about his virginity, he might sit with her. If Lauren had wrestling practice or if she hadn’t entered the cafeteria yet. Without fail however by the end of lunch Noah was sitting at Lauren’s table if he even joined her at all.
Her first instinct had been to do something about it, to make problems for Noah to fix but then she decided against it. She figured that if she wanted to be with Noah, really be with Noah, she didn’t need to play games like she had done with Finn. Besides, Noah would call her out on it and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to. So, Rachel would just wait while the Lauren thing slowly unfolded, figuring it would last a week at the most, and then she would make her move. A week however turned into two weeks and Rachel was starting to wonder if she had seriously miscalculated the whole Puck and Laruen situation.
As tempted as she was however, Rachel held her ground. She didn’t do anything, when she would call Noah at night to talk and he wouldn’t answer, Rachel didn’t even bother to leave a message. She didn’t not want to appear to be desperate, and just because Noah would have answered her call before the whole Lauren thing did not mean that he had completely abandoned her. He would still talk to her in the halls and still stuck up for her whenever he heard someone insult her. It was just he wasn’t around as much anymore and the school knew it so the insults came more often. At least the threats that she knew he had given about giving her a slushy facial were still holding, for now but Rachel had started to keep a change of clothes in her locker again because she had a feeling that the longer Puck and Lauren lasted there was a higher chance that Puck’s threats concerning Rachel wouldn’t hold.
It was two weeks and three days exactly into Puck and Lauren when Rachel realized that she could no longer depend on Puck’s protection like she had for so long. Rachel had been late getting out of her English class; she had some detailed questions she needed to ask Mrs. Knight about the research essay they were currently working on, so it was well into the lunch hour when Rachel had started to walk towards her locker before going to the cafeteria. She stopped in her tracks however when she came into view of her locker and fought to control the tears that were threatening.
There in black marker for everyone to see was an explicit drawing of her, something that had also stopped with Puck’s threats of cutting off the Cheerio’s from having sex with him, she hears things in the halls, but apparently it was starting again. Rachel took a deep breath and ignored the snickers from the other people in the hall as Rachel walked to her locker. She quickly enter the combination and swung the locker open, placed her books in their proper place then reached up to the top shelve that she couldn’t see and began to try and feel around for the cleaning supplies she kept up there just for this purpose.
“Sup Shorty,” Noah spoke from behind her causing her to jump and turn around.
“Hello Noah,” Rachel greeted, “I’m surprised to see you here.”
Noah shrugged, “Lauren had an emergency wrestling meeting during lunch today, when you didn’t show up in the caf I came looking for you.”
Rachel tried to pretend that his explanation didn’t hurt, but it did. On top of the picture that was now on the front of her locker door Rachel had to quickly turn away to keep her show face on. She began reaching on the top shelf again, trying to feel for the cleaning supplies but feared that they had been pushed to the back of her locker during the time she had not needed to use them and it would take a miracle to reach them on her own.
Noah didn’t say anything, but Rachel could feel his eyes on her back and she tried to ignore it as she stretched higher in the hopes of reaching the spray bottle. Just as her fingers grazed the bottle, which was just out of reach, she heard Noah sigh from behind her.
“Berry, what’s wrong?” Noah inquired and Rachel placed a smile on her face before turning around to face him again.
“Nothing is wrong Noah, I’m fine,” Rachel replied causing Noah to arch his eyebrow.
“Don’t bullshit me Berry,” Noah responded, “I’ve known you since for fucking ever and I know when you’re lying your ass off.”
“Don’t curse Noah, it makes you seem less intelligent then you are,” Rachel automatically responded before sighing, “I don’t want to trouble you with my problems Noah.”
“It’s not troubling me with your problems when I fucking asked Berry,” Noah responded, “Now what’s happened?”
Rachel sighed before turning back to her locker and closing the door so Noah could see the picture that had been drawn, “I can’t reach my cleaning supplies,” Rachel told him quietly as Noah gapped at the drawing before letting out a string of curse words.
“When this shit start up again Berry?” Noah demanded and Rachel sighed. She couldn’t tell him that she knew that he was the reason the slushies and drawings had stopped and she couldn’t tell him that it was because he was with Lauren that it was starting up again.
“This is the first one in a year,” Rachel informed him instead.
Noah gently pushed Rachel to the side as he pulled her locker open again and quickly pulling the cleaning supplies that Rachel couldn’t reach out. He slammed the locker door closed, causing Rachel to jump in surprise, before setting the spray bottle and towel on the floor and turning back to Rachel.
He looked like he was going to say something, what Rachel would never know because just then Lauren came strolling down the hallway.
“Puckerman,” Lauren exclaimed as she came to a stop next to him ignoring Rachel completely but noticing the drawing on Rachel’s locker, “Nice work.”
“I didn’t do it,” Noah snapped before looking between Lauren who only shrugged and Rachel who had put her show face back on.
“Whatever,” Lauren responded before grabbing his arm and giving it a slight tug, “I’m hungry.”
Noah glanced between them again looking torn and Rachel made her smile even bigger as if she would be okay, “I’ll talk to you later Noah.”
He looked back at the locker and at Rachel again giving her a questioning look and Rachel nodded her head for him to go. Lauren meanwhile appeared to be bored and started to walk away without waiting for Noah, and so he nodded once to Rachel before leaning in and telling her, “I’ll take care of this shit,” then hurried down the hall towards Lauren.
Rachel watched Noah who caught up to Lauren until he was gone from sight and turned to pick up the bottle and towel Noah had sat on the floor. As Noah would say, that was when shit got interesting.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Santana happened to come out of the girls bathroom that was near Manhands locker and watched the entire scene take place. Of course, she should had figured it out sooner, but Santana blamed it on the fact that she was no longer on the Cheerios so she hadn’t heard yet that the threat of Puck cutting anyone who drew pictures of Rachel off. Fuck, she should had seen that shit coming but this was the fucking alliance she needed. She had seen the looks Rachel was giving Puck, watching him as he disappeared, and she knew in that moment Rachel wanted Puck. Like wanted their Rabbi to marry them so she could have his Jewish babies want him.
Rachel Berry however was Puck’s weakness and if she could get crazy-Berry’s ass on board this together they could finish Puck and Lauren. The only problem, as far as Santana knew Rachel wasn’t being her normal batshit crazy self and trying to get Puck. She also knew that Puck totally wanted Rachel, or at least he did before the whole Lauren mess, and that would royally fuck with her plans to fuck Puck, but given the two she could admit she would rather see Puck with Rachel instead of Lauren. At least he was still his badass self when he was with Rachel. It would take time but she could always train up some other guy, Finn would be good with practice after all, so Santana made her decision.
Santana crossed the hall and came to a stop next to Rachel’s locker and smirked when Rachel tensed in the middle of scrubbing at the picture.
“If you are here to gloat I’m not in the mood,” Rachel remarked and Santana laughed.
“Relax,” Santana told her as she picked up the spray bottle and spray some more cleaner on Rachel’s locker, “I come in piece and all that shit. Honestly I need your help and you need mine.”
Rachel continued to scrub not looking at Santana when she responded, “And what would that help be?”
“Puck,” Santana stated as she sprayed some more cleaner for Rachel, “You don’t like the fact that Puck is with Lauren anymore then I do, but what I can’t figure out is why you are not trying to break it up. You did all you could to break up Finn and Quinn back in the day.”
Rachel sighed as she scrubbed a little harder at the locker, “For your information, I have decided that I would wait for Noah’s relationship with Lauren to dissolve on its own before I pursued him. If you are trying to get me to help you break up Noah and Lauren so you can sleep with him you can forget it Santana.”
Santana snorted and sprayed the bottle again at the locker, “So I have needs and sure I was originally trying to do just that but now I’ve changed my game plan. I would rather see Puck with you; at least he is himself and not this weird alien creature that he is now when he is with you. I got a new plan for my next conquest, and it doesn’t involve Puck promise.”
“I don’t understand,” Rachel finally replied after a few moments of silence causing Santana to sigh and take the towel away from Rachel.
“I want Puck and Lauren broken up. You want Puck and Lauren broken up. I’m saying we form an alliance and go after them with Puck’s weakness, you. I am no longer planning on fucking Puck anymore, I’m going to find someone who I can train to meet my needs,” Santana informed Rachel as she opened Rachel’s locker and tossed the bottle and towel inside before slamming the locker shut.
Rachel gapped at Santana, “The picture is still there.”
Santana smirked, “Leave it. If you want to get Puck and Lauren broken up we need to utilize his weakness.”
“Which you claim is me,” Rachel responded still confused, “But how does leaving this horrible picture do that.”
Santana stared at Rachel for a while before shaking her head, “What do you know about the slushy facials and drawings when it comes to you?”
Rachel shrugged, “I heard in the halls Noah had made some threats to get them to stop.”
“Remember the Glist? There was one on your locker every day, I know cause I put it there, but I bet you never saw it,” Santana informed Rachel causing her to gasp, “Because Puck would move it away from your locker before you ever saw it. Puck’s been in love with you forever, rather he’ll admit it or not, and was buying his time for you to get over Finn. In the mean time Puck did everything in his power to make sure that the bullying towards you was minimized.”
“But,” Rachel began and Santana cut her off.
“Yeah I know it still happens but think, after you and Puck dated it did go down right? Especially when Puck was around,” Santana inquired and Rachel slowly nodded, “Now that Puck isn’t such a badass anymore and chasing Lauren around like a lost puppy the threats are starting to mean shit. Let me guess you heard that he would cut off the Cheerios; well there was a lot more to that threat then just cutting them off. He was going to spread word around town that we all had STD’s so no one would sleep with us so that way you’d still be protected even if he was with you. But now that he’s acting all pussy whipped over Lauren the threats are shit.”
Rachel was thinking about it and Santana could tell. She stood by the locker and watched Rachel for ten minute before Rachel finally spoke, “So if we leave the picture…”
“It’s there for Puck to see. Puck was ready to kick some ass before you told him to go chase down Lauren,” Santana informed her then smirked, “Which is the plan is going to work you need to not do that anymore.”
“What do you have in mind?” Rachel inquired and Santana smiled before grabbing Rachel’s hand and dragging her towards the cafeteria.
“I promise it won’t be for long, but if you’re willing, it will be ten times worse then before the jocks and Cheerios joined Glee,” Santana informed her causing Rachel to gasp, “Trust me though, I’ll always make sure Puck is there to witness it, or I’ll be there to make sure it doesn’t get to much out of hand. In fact after school we’ll go use my emergency credit card to buy a replacement wardrobe for you because you might need it.”
“Okay, I’m in,” Rachel replied and smiled, “Are you sure this will work?”
“Positive,” Santana informed her, “And first things first, just follow my lead.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rachel could not believe she was putting her trust in Santana, but she was and she hoped she wasn’t wrong in doing so. But she was getting desperate and she did want Noah so at the moment it seemed like a good idea. Santana lead her to the cafeteria, stopping outside the doors to make sure Noah was inside before pulling Rachel off to the side. She looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before telling Rachel her plan. It was simple really, and nothing Rachel had never experienced before but she was still worried. What if Noah didn’t come to her defense, what if Noah sat there with Lauren and just watched the whole thing unfold.
“You know what to do right?” Santana finished and Rachel nodded, “Wait five minutes then go in there like everything is normal. Remember, take your normal table in the back but make sure you are facing Puck. We need the eye contact when it happens.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Rachel muttered and Santana shook her head.
“None of that, remember the goal is to get Puck and Lauren broken up and make Puckleberry happen,” Santana assured her, “This will work it will just take some time and no better time to start then now when the picture on your locker is still fresh. Now, five minutes then come inside.”
Rachel nodded and watched as Santana walked into the cafeteria and headed straight for the hockey team. Rachel pulled out her phone and watched as the minutes slowly went by then at exactly five minutes Rachel entered the cafeteria. She joined the lunch line, got a couple of items that were vegan and she could eat, and then made her way towards the table at the back of the room. She could feel Noah’s eyes on her and she ignored them as she sat her lunch tray down on the table and sat against the wall so she could clearly see Noah. After opening her bottle of water, Rachel finally looked up only to see Noah looking right at her. She gave him a small smile before turning her attention to her lunch and waiting for what was about to happen.
A full ten minutes passed before she saw the hockey team stand up from their table, sodas in hand, out of the corner of her eye and she used every acting class she had ever taken to not react to it. She knew if anything else Santana was nearby and would step in if need be, but it was Noah they were baiting. She felt guilty as the hockey team came closer to her table, but she had already made her decision. Santana was right Noah and Lauren were not breaking up anytime soon and it was time for her to do something about it. She picked up some grapes and ate them just as the hockey team surrounded her table and it was not hard for her to pretend to be terrified, she was.
“Can I help you?” Rachel inquired and the hockey team just laughed.
“I heard you’re fair game now,” One of them remarked as the rest of them smirked, “You have a lot of slushies to make up for but since we don’t have any on hand guess this will work for now.”
As if that was the cue, each one of them dumped their soda on Rachel and she gasped as the liquid hit her. Some of it was tossed at her continually, hitting in spurts while three of them were poured directly over her head. She had her eyes closed tightly and sat perfectly still as she waited for the assault to be over. She heard the cans and bottles hit the floor and she slowly brought a hand up to wipe the soda away from her eyes so she could open them. Once she thought it was safe she slowly opened her eyes and looked up to where she knew Noah was. She could see the rage in his eyes, and Lauren laughing from beside him, but it was Noah she focused on.
At the advice of Santana and against her own personal way of handling these situations, Rachel let the tears begin to fall. She watched as Noah stood up from his chair and jumped over the table and shoved one of the hockey guys.
“What the fuck!” Noah exclaimed as he went to take a swing, which was Rachel’s next cue. She couldn’t have him go back to juvie over this.
“Noah,” Rachel stated softly but loud enough for him to hear. She saw him pause and she stood up and ran to him, “Noah, you can’t do that.”
“Rachel,” Noah replied looking down at her, “Get out of the way.”
“No,” Rachel replied firmly as she grabbed his arm, “You’re still on probation.”
“Yeah just run away Puck,” one of the hockey guys taunted causing Noah to try and go after them only to have Rachel step in between.
“This is over assholes,” Noah shouted before grabbing Rachel’s arm and leading her out of the cafeteria and Rachel could help but smile as he didn’t even look at Lauren when they left.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rachel sat in the bathroom on the metal folding chair as she waited for Noah to return. He went to get the change of clothes from her locker and it was taking him a lot longer then it should which was making Rachel nervous that he was going to leave her here. Finally the door to the bathroom opened and Rachel relaxed only to get nervous again when she saw that it was Santana and not Noah.
“Don’t talk, I only have a couple of minutes,” Santana explained, “I stole the clothes from your locker, I’ll give them back later, and Puck went to the locker room to get one of his shirts that he keeps there. I also just so happened to be near your locker when he went looking for your clothes and after a promise of Breadstix gave him a pair of jeans I had in my locker for you to wear. I just wanted to say make sure you insist that you had clothes in your locker.”
“How did you,” Rachel began but Santana cut her off.
“I don’t have time. We’ll talk later but I just wanted to say later at Glee make sure you make a big production out of Puck letting you borrow his shirt. Same with my jeans, just I don’t mean what I say when you do it,” Santana added then smirked, “Lauren wasn’t to happy about the fact that Puck just took off like that, so we need to rub it in some.”
With that Santana disappeared from the bathroom before Rachel could respond and Rachel leaned back against the chair and sighed. She felt really guilty about all of this, but at the same time…
“Rachel?” Noah asked as he walked into the bathroom and Rachel quickly gathered her thoughts, “Sorry it took so long, had to go find some shit for you to wear. You sure you had clothes in your locker?”
Rachel frowned, “Positive, they must have been stolen.”
“Why was that picture still there?” Noah inquired as he handed her a towel, pair of jeans and his football championship shirt. She smiled at the shirt, thinking of the game and the same shirt that she had also received for playing in the first half.
Rachel looked up at Noah and frowned again then shrugged, “I figured I would finish taking it off after lunch. Thank you for the clothes Noah, but whose jeans are these?”
Noah smirked, “Santana’s, had to promise her a trip to Breadstix to get her to give them to me. Don’t worry bout that picture, I got Santana’s ass working on taking it off right now, which cost another trip to Breadstix.”
“Thank you again Noah,” Rachel stated then fought back the tears, “I just wished I knew why all of this was happening again.”
“No Rachel, you don’t worry about this. It won’t happen again,” Noah informed her as he grabbed her shoulders and looked down at her, “I’ll make sure of that.”
Rachel nodded before heading into one of the stalls so she could change. The shirt was huge on her so she tied a knot in the back of it and that helped some. Once she had her wet soda stained clothes in a puddle on the floor and the clean ones on, Rachel opened the stall door, picked up the clothes and through them in the trash can.
“I won’t ever be able to get the soda stains out,” Rachel commented as she turned around, “I’ll be okay from here Noah. You should get to class.”
Noah smirked, “When have I ever gone to class.” Then he stuck his hands in his pockets like he always did when he was nervous and stared at the floor, “Sides, Lauren’s not to happy right now and we share this class.”
“It’s because of me isn’t it,” Rachel stated horrified as she grabbed Noah’s lovely arms, “I’m so sorry.”
“S’not your fault,” Noah replied then looked up and smiled, “You should get to class though the bell rang a while ago and I know you don’t wanna miss that boring ass shit.”
“Thank you again Noah,” Rachel stated as she gave him a hug, “I’ll see you in Glee?”
Noah nodded and Rachel left the bathroom, rushing to her locker where she found Santana scrubbing the last of the drawing off. When she got closer, Santana looked up and smirked, “Lookin good Berry.”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Rachel stated, “I want him and Lauren to break up but I feel so guilty.”
Santana scrubbed the last of the picture off the locker and shook her head, “No, don’t feel guilty. Remember the goal, I want the normal Puck back, minus the fucking, and you want your precious but badass Noah. We stick to the plan and no guilt because I can tell you right now Lauren was laughing her ass off during the soda attack. She’s also pissed because Puck jumped in like that, from what I’ve found out she likes to keep him on as short of a leash as possible and that does not include rescuing you.”
Rachel nodded and watched as Santana opened her locker and threw the cleaning supplies back in, “We need to get away from the school and make a plan,” Santana inform her then smirked, “We’re ditching and don’t worry my dad’s a doctor. I keep a stack of his doctor’s notes in my locker, you can use one so it doesn’t make a bad mark on your attendance.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Santana made sure that she followed Puck and Lauren into the choir room for Glee later that day and purposely took one of the seats behind them so she would be in perfect hearing distance of the argument they were having. Sure she missed the shit in the hallway but from what she guessed it was just a lead up to this. Lauren was bitching because of what Puck did, which she didn’t understand because Rachel totally got what she deserved. Santana smirked because if the football and hockey team weren’t scared to death of her she would be getting a slushy in the face all the time. Puck was pissed because Lauren had been laughing when it happened and some shit about them all being teammates when Santana saw Rachel in the hallway and leaned over to begin the next phase of Operation Destroy Luck, totally her idea for the name.
“Trouble in paradise?” Santana sneered causing both Lauren and Puck to turn to her.
“Shut it Lopez,” Puck warned and Santana smirked.
“Fine, just wanted to say that I want me some Breadstix tonight,” Santana commented before smiling at Lauren, “After all you do owe me two trips for helping you out with Treasure Trail.”
“You’re not going to Breadstix with her,” Lauren stated before looking Santana in the eye, “Don’t make me throw you against the lockers again Lopez.”
Santana rolled her eyes, “Bitch please you’re just lucky that shit got broken up before I could beat your ass. Puck’s taking me to Breadstix or I’m ripping those jeans off of Manhands and putting an even better drawing up on her locker to replace the one I scrubbed off.”
Right on cue Rachel entered the room and flashed a bright smile at Puck as she took the empty chair next to him, “Noah I just wanted to tell you again how grateful I am that you would defend me like you did at lunch even though you put yourself at risk of violating your probation. I’m also extremely grateful that you loaned me the shirt since someone stole my clothes from my locker, and I just want you to know my Daddy is a lawyer so if you do have any problems with your probation officer…”
“Shut it Berry,” Lauren growled as she shot her a nasty look that caused Santana to celebrate on the inside.
“That was really uncalled for Lauren, I was just trying to thank Noah and don’t wish for him to get in trouble especially if my Daddy can help him get out of said trouble since it was caused by defending me,” Rachel began again smiling then turning to Santana.
“Don’t even think about it Manhands,” Santana sneered, “Keep the jeans, I don’t want them back, the only way I think of to sterilize them would ruin them. I only did it so I could get me some Breadstix,” Santana added before laying a hand on Puck’s shoulder, “Remember I want me some Breadstix tonight or you know what will happen. Be there at seven.”
Just then Mr. Schue walked into the room and everyone’s attention went to him and whatever stupid assignment he had for us to do that week.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rachel braced herself as she entered the school the next morning, the second morning of Operation Destroy Luck; Santana’s name not hers, and walked slowly to her locker. She smiled when she saw Noah leaning up against it and he smiled back as he stepped aside so she could open it up. Rachel opened up her backpack and placed a spare set of clothes in her locker, making sure that Noah could see her do so, before handing the freshly washed football shirt back to Noah. He took it and thanked her but didn’t say anything else as she grabbed the books she would need for her first class.
“Thank you again for yesterday Noah,” Rachel finally said to break the silence and he just shrugged, “How are you doing today?”
“Okay,” Noah responded as Rachel closed her locker door and they began to walk down the hall, “Well, mostly okay I’m trying to find a fucking McRibb sandwich for Lauren but the shit hole Mickey D’s in this town isn’t selling them so I gotta figure out how to get some for her to ya know make up for yesterday.”
“I’m sorry that I caused problems for you Noah,” Rachel stated as she laid a hand on Noah’s arm and he looked down at her, his hazel eyes warm and friendly.
“Don’t start that shit again Rach,” Noah told her then he smirked, “S’not your fault, I’m the one who bribed Satan with Breadstix and jumped up to save you. She’s just insecure or some shit.”
Rachel only nodded and they walked in silence down the hall only for Rachel to be surprised when Noah walked into the classroom with her, “You’re going to class?”
Noah shrugged, “Nothing better to do.” Then he tossed his backpack onto the desk next to the one Rachel normally sat in and sat down, “You gonna just stare all day?”
Rachel shook her head and took her seat, smiling to herself as class began. Once it was over, Noah waited for her to talk to Mr. Jackson before walking with her to her locker so she could change out her books.
“You don’t need to be my body guard Noah,” Rachel stated as she pulled out her Math book.
Noah rolled his eyes, “I’m not being your bodyguard Berry. I told you I’m bored but if you don’t wanna hang out it’s cool I’ll go take a nap. See ya Berry.”
With that Noah left her locker and Rachel watched as he walked down the hallway towards the nurses office. Rachel closed her locker and headed in the same direction, staying within earshot of Noah the entire way so he could hear…
“AWWWWWW!” Rachel screamed as the slushy hit her in the face. Azimo smirked as he dropped the cup and took off running in the opposite direction when he heard Noah’s curse and Rachel got slushy in her eyes when she opened them so she would be able to grab Noah as he ran past.
“Noah, please just help me clean up,” Rachel begged and he nodded.
“I’m kicking his ass later though Rach,” Noah spit out as he lead her towards the girls bathroom.
Rachel once again sat on the metal chair as Noah helped wash the slushy out of her hair and let the tears fall down her cheeks. They didn’t say anything, and all though Rachel knew all of this was a set up it still hurt to have it happen. It was bringing back all of her worst memories of freshman year when Noah was the one who would throw the slushy in her face.
“I’m going to go get your clothes,” Noah softly stated as he turned off the hot water and threw the paper towel he had used on her face away, “Wait here.”
Rachel nodded and watched as Noah left the bathroom, only to have Santana enter shortly afterwards.
“It’s working!” Santana exclaimed, “Lauren just confronted Puck in front of your locker and he just found out your clothes are missing. Again. I think he blamed it on Lauren but I ducked in here to tell you, that even though I have to do Azimo’s English essay it will be so worth it. Are you okay?”
Rachel nodded and Santana smiled, “Good, now I gotta go. You’re gonna need another pair of jeans to wear and I want me another night of Breadstix. It was entertaining as hell listening to Puck go on and on about how he didn’t understand why the attacks on you had started all over again. Remember, you need to be in the parking lot right after school, I’ll have the slashed tires on your car and your regular tires safely at my house but you need to be out there when Puck and Lauren leave school today.”
Rachel nodded again then Santana ducked out of the bathroom as Rachel leaned against the metal chair, the guilt wasn’t so bad this time.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Lopez!” Puck shouted causing Santana to turn in the hallway and smirk.
“Decide you wanna go to the janitor’s closet after all?” Santana remarked as she arched an eyebrow and Puck snorted in disgust causing her to frown.
“Look someone stole Berry’s clothes from her locker again,” Puck began, “Please tell me you have spare jeans today.”
“For another day of Breadstix, hell yeah I do,” Santana sneered, “What the fuck is happening Puck, what happened to all your threats?”
“No fucking clue,” Puck mumbled as he glared at a freshman that walked by and dared to look at him, “Fine another night of Breadstix just I need those jeans now.”
“Chillax, their in my locker,” Santana retorted as she started to make her way towards her locker with Puck trailing behind.
Santana opened her locker and tossed the jeans at Puck then smirked, “Tell Manhands that I don’t want these ones back either.”
Puck caught the jeans and sighed, “I need your help Santana.”
Santana arched her eyebrow, hoping it would go in favor of Operation Destroy Luck, “What?”
“See what you can find out about these attacks?” Puck inquired, “And could you please at least pretend to be Rachel’s friend? It might help stop them.”
Santana thought about it for a while, it could go in their favor. She would have to sneak around to get a message to Rachel and she could in a few days tell Puck that he’s being with Lauren has knocked down his fear level at least where Rachel was concerned. Santana smiled and looked up at Puck, “I want Breadstix every night for the next week.”
“Lopez,” Puck warned but Santana shook her head.
“Those are the terms. Breadstix with you every night this week and I’ll find out what’s going on and I’ll be Berry’s best fucking friend. I’ll even circulate a couple threats of my own and see if that helps stop this,” Santana informed Puck crossing her arms, “Can I ask you something though?”
“What?” Puck snapped causing Santana to smirk.
“Why do you care about what happens to Berry? Thought you were with Lauren, you haven’t been with Berry in for fucking ever so I’m just curious,” Santana stated watching the look on Puck’s face.
“Breadstix for a week,” Puck finally told her, “And it’s none of your fucking business.”
Santana shrugged, “Fine, but I think you’re wasting your time with Lauren if you’re going through all this trouble and spending all this money to protect Rachel Berry. Not that I care, but Berry’s the better choice.”
“None of your fucking business,” Puck snapped again as he turned down the hall towards his own locker a few feet away.
Santana saw Lauren in the hall then and so she took the opportunity to shout, “Seven every night or all deals are off and I’ll make her life a living hell.”
With that Santana closed her locker door and walked towards Spanish class. This was going better then planned.
At lunch Santana walked into the cafeteria and looked around and grinned when she saw Puck and Lauren sitting at their usual table but just glaring at each other, with both of them occasionally looking over at Rachel with a different expression. Puck’s was worry, Lauren was evil and Santana was eating this shit up. So maybe she was spending a small fortune for each plan just to make sure it didn’t get to out of hand but it was worth it. Especially now that she was gonna be eating Breadstix every night for the next week. It was time to bring out the wheelbarrow.
Santana grabbed a lunch tray and deciding to let Puck know she wouldn’t back out of her deal, went and sat next to Rachel.
“What’s going on?” Rachel asked and Santana quickly hissed at her.
“Act more worried. I’ve been recruited to befriend you and Puck will get suspicious if you’re too friendly at first.”
“If you’re here to humiliate me, I’m afraid you’re too late,” Rachel stated loudly and Santana laughed.
“Chillax, I’m just feeling sorry for you Berry,” Santana replied, “No one deserves the shit you’ve been getting the last couple of days. Hear that bitches, now you have to get through me.”
The cafeteria had gone quiet for a second before resuming the normal chatter and Rachel relaxed, “Noah asked you to befriend me?”
Santana smiled, “Yup, and it is costing him a week of Breadstix. Lauren isn’t happy at all, if you can’t see for yourself. From what I heard she’s making Puck find some weird foreign food to make up for it or some dumb shit.”
Rachel chuckled before looking over at Noah who gave her an encouraging nod and smile. She started to eat her food when Brittany came up to the table looking confused with Artie beside her.
“We’re friends with Rachel now?” Brittany asked and Santana nodded.
“Ever since Puck started paying me with a week of Breadstix we are,” Santana replied as Brittany sat down and Artie rolled up to a spot next to her, “Or at least for this week. It’ll cost him another week of Breadstix for another week of friendship.” This last part was said loud enough for Puck and Lauren to hear who were two tables away and to Santana it looked like Lauren might had bent her the fork she was holding.
Brittany smiled at Rachel, “Okay, so Artie bought me a new hat do you like it?”
“It’s lovely Brittany,” Rachel replied and Santana sent her a wink when she was sure no one was looking. Whatever, so Berry might be growing on her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After school Rachel made it out to the parking lot as quickly as possible and smiled in relief when she saw that Puck’s truck was still parked three spots away from her car. She walked more slowly towards her car, appearing as if nothing was wrong, and once she reached it she let the tears begin to fall as she saw her “slashed” tires. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Puck and Lauren just entering the parking lot so she let the tears become loud sobs and mumbled “I don’t know what I’ve done” over and over until she felt Noah’s arms around her.
“Fuck!” Noah exclaimed as Rachel saw him look at her tires before burying her head in his chest, “Shit, don’t cry Rach.”
“Puckerman!” Lauren shouted from Puck’s truck, “Let’s go.”
“In a minute Lauren!” Noah shouted back as he ran a hand up Rachel’s back, “Someone slashed Berry’s tires.”
Rachel was positive she could hear Lauren roll her eyes, “Whatever I’ll find a different ride!”
“Fine!” Noah shouted in return before turning all of his attention to Rachel, “I’ll give you a ride home Rachel then I’ll go get Burt’s tow truck and take your car over to his shop. He’ll be able to get new tires on it for you.”
Rachel sniffed and held onto Noah tighter, “I don’t know why this is happening, what did I do Noah?”
“Nothing!” Noah exclaimed, “You didn’t do anything Rach, these fuckers are just jealous cause one day you’re going to be famous while the rest of us are stuck in Lima forever and then they’ll wish they had been nicer to you so they could say they had been your friend back when.”
Rachel shook her head, “You’ll get out of Lima also Noah, I know you will.”
“Probably not,” Noah responded then sighed, “Let’s get you home.”
“I have dance class right after school,” Rachel informed him, “And my Dads are out of town.”
Rachel heard Noah sigh before backing away and starting to lead her to his beat up old Ford, “I’ll give you a ride then while you’re in class I’ll take you’re car to Burt’s shop. You’re staying at my place tonight, I don’t want you alone.”
“Don’t you have to take Santana to Breadstix?” Rachel asked with a sniff as she ran a hand over her eyes and Puck smirked.
“They have vegan shit there don’t they?”
Later when Rachel left the dance studio she smiled when she saw that Noah was already parked outside and leaning against his truck. His back was to her and so he hadn’t seen her yet but Rachel could tell he was on the phone and arguing with someone. She snuck up close so she could hear and smiled wider when she heard Noah’s side of the conversation.
“I don’t give a shit anymore Lauren! Get your own damn make up food,” Noah shouted as Rachel paused on the sidewalk, “Rachel’s not staying at her house by herself, and our families know each other from temple so she’s staying with us.”
There was a pause and Noah let out a curse, “Oh yeah, well according to what Santana has found out the reason this shit is happening is cause I’m with you. I had that school to scared to do more then talk about Rachel before we started dating and now it’s like fucking free range with Rachel.”
Another pause and Rachel kept her breathes controlled so Noah wouldn’t hear her and turn around; she really wanted to hear the rest of this conversation. “Fuck Lauren, she’s going places that’s why I care. I’m not about to let this fucking school break her fucking spirit to pieces so that she ends up stuck in this shitty ass town. Why are you getting so fucking pissed about all this, it’s not like you’re that popular. I downgraded when I started dating you.”
Noah paused again and Rachel smiled even brighter, a real smile not a show face one that she had been wearing since her and Santana had started the plan a couple of days ago. “Fuck it, I’m done Lauren. You’re not even putting out I’m fucking sex shark, I have needs…..Is that what you wanna hear? Make you feel better then fine I fucking love Rachel, I’ve loved Rachel since before baby gate broke out. Happy?….Fuck you and if you get so much as near Rachel I’ll tear you to fucking pieces…..We don’t need you in Glee Lauren, you were only supposed to be an extra body on stage and decided to stick around.”
With that Noah snapped his phone shut and ran a hand down his Mohawk. Rachel waited a couple of seconds before backing up then walking forward again loudly causing Noah to turn around and smile at her. “Ready?” He asked and Rachel nodded, “Got your car to Burt’s and Santana actually brought over some tires for it. Breadstix?”
“Thank you Noah,” Rachel replied and let him help her up into his truck. Rachel watched as he walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in, smiling bigger then she had in a long time. Noah loved her, and now that she had known for how long she felt bad. She was suffering through three weeks now of him dating Lauren when Noah had to wait over a year for her to get over Finn.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Santana was bursting as she waited for Puck and Rachel to arrive. Her phone had been buzzing none stop with the news that Puck had dumped Lauren and she was dieing to hear the details. If they took any longer she would literally fall over and die right there on top of her wheelbarrow full of breadsticks. Puckleberry was so close to fucking happening that she could smell it and oddly enough it made her happy. Puck deserved happy, so did Rachel especially since Rachel had grown on her during the past couple of days. That bitch would be untouchable between Puck and herself, and fuck if Santana wasn’t going to claim Maid of Honor at their fucking wedding. Shit they should name their first born after her, little Santana Puckerman, Santana could feel the fear that name would bring.
So maybe she had started this whole thing trying to get with Puck, but whatever. Puck and Rachel were right for each other; she knew that and probably had always known that. It was probably why she was so ready to tear Finn and Rachel apart. And yeah, she’ll have to find a new fuck buddy but whatever. She was legit going to have kids named after her. It was going to be fucking awesome.
Santana saw Puck and Rachel walk into the restaurant, about damn time, and she literally jumped out of her seat and ran to Puck.
“Is it true?” Santana demanded, and Puck smirked at her while Rachel looked confused. She’ll have to figure that out later.
“What true?” Puck retorted and Santana had an urge to punch him in the eye.
“My phone has been going on nonstop, did you dump Lauren’s stupid ass,” Santana demanded watching both Puck and Rachel carefully for their reactions. Puck shrugged and smirked again as Rachel’s face took on shock.
“Whatever,” Puck stated at the same time Rachel exclaimed, “You and Lauren broke up when did this happen?”
Puck smiled at Rachel and glared at Santana, “I’m starving. You two can stand here but I’m going to go sit down and start eating the stix out of Santana’s wheelbarrow.”
“Get your own damn stix!” Santana shouted at Puck as he walked past her towards the table she had gotten for them. Santana gave Rachel another look and she smiled before mouthing that she overheard the whole thing and that he didn’t know she had done so. From the smile radiating from Rachel this shit was going to be good so Santana hurried after Puck and sat down guarding her wheelbarrow.
Puck waited until Rachel was sitting next to him and he had the beer he got with his fake id before he spoke, “It was during your dance class, just got sick of all of her bullshit over this shit that is happening with Rachel. S’okay though, the attacks should stop now Rachel.”
Santana rolled her eyes, “I need details! That’s bullshit if that’s all that was said.”
“To bad, that’s it,” Puck retorted as Santana caught Rachel’s eye and Rachel gave a very slight shake of her head. Goody, she’ll find out all the details later then. Now these two better get together cause they were costing her a fortune.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rachel sat on the edge of Noah’s bed wearing one of his sweatshirts and watching as he strummed his guitar. She was trying to figure out a way to bring up the conversation she had overheard, and fight down the guilt that she was feeling for teaming up with Santana for Operation Destroy Luck. Every now and then Noah would look up and her and grin and she would return it before he would turn his attention back to his guitar.
She had to do this, she had to tell him. It was only fair and she could not bring herself to try and get him into a relationship unless she told him the truth. “Noah?”
Noah stopped playing and looked up at her, “Yeah?”
“I need to tell you something,” Rachel confessed, “I haven’t been totally honest with you the past few days and I feel really guilty about it.”
Noah arched an eyebrow and Rachel took a deep breath and told him everything. How after the drawing went up on her locker, the only real thing about this week, Santana had formed an alliance with her and they had gone about to destroy his relationship with Lauren. She told him all the plans, how through it all she had started to consider Santana a friend and how she was truly sorry for destroying his relationship and that she would understand if he wanted her to leave and never talk to her again.
He sat quietly watching her, and it made Rachel talk even more before she didn’t know how else she could apologize unless it was in a different language. When she had finally paused to consider if she should say it all in French, Noah sat his guitar to the side and moved closer to her.
“So, you and Santana were already friends I’ve been making all those deals with her with Breadstix,” Noah asked and Rachel nodded her head, “That bitch owes me.”
At that Rachel began to cry and Noah pulled her into his arms, “Why are you crying Rach?”
“I feel so bad,” Rachel sniffed and she could feel Noah shake her head.
“Don’t it would had ended anyway, let’s just say you helped speed it along,” Noah replied, “I’m not mad at you, Satan however…”
Rachel pulled away and wiped at her eyes as she look at down at Noah’s floor, “There’s something else. I overheard your break up with Lauren.”
Noah’s eyes widened and Rachel took a breath, “I’m sorry I should had made myself known but I was curious….”
“What did you hear?” Noah finally asked as he brushed a piece of hair back behind Rachel’s ear.
“That you love me,” Rachel stated softly and was caught by surprise when Noah leaned in and kissed her.
When they broke apart for air several minutes later Noah smiled and whispered in her ear, “Damn straight and I’ve fucking waited long enough to make you my girl.”