Addicted to the Thrill [2/2]
Title: Addicted to the Thrill
Chapter: 2/2
Warning: Rated R.
Pairing: Puck/Rachel/Finn. Mostly friendship, hints at Puck/Rachel.
Summary: Fictable prompt #18 - Speed. "This, if they can pull it off, is going to be the biggest and best prank in Ohio high school history."
Word Count: 11,750 (total)
Disclaimer: Don't own.
They pull up to McKinley and Rachel takes a breath. This seems like the worst thing they've done all night. She knows it's necessary, however. She's the one who suggested it.
There are three high schools in Lima. West Lima Academy, Carmel High, and McKinley. If two schools were on the receiving end of 'epic' pranks, and one wasn't, it would be fairly obvious which school's students were the culprits. Rachel, wanting to make sure there is no way this could be pinned on them, said they needed to come up with a prank to pull on their own school.
There was a certain feeling she got when Noah looked her right in the eye and called her a badass. It was nice. Nicer than it should have been, she thinks.
"Are we really gonna do this?" Puck asks. He already knows the answer.
Finn nods and opens the door, stepping down. "We are. We have to."
Puck thinks this is awesome. Not only is Rachel a fucking genius for thinking it, but it's just going to be amazing in general. If they couldn't pull this prank here, he would have wanted to pull it somewhere else.
See, there's a reason he bought three fucking boxes of porn from that shady dude he knows who works at the crappy liquor store outside of town. And there's a reason he told Finn to bring his best and sharpest pocket knife. And there's a reason Rachel used her dad's business discount to buy ten rolls of clear packing tape.
Rachel is on edge as Puck grabs the key to the gym he stole from Coach Tanaka when the man was out to lunch one day. (Shows how dedicated the man is to his job; he's a gym teacher and he hasn't noticed his key missing for over a week? How has he not been fired?) She feels Finn's hand at the small of her back and sends him a little smile. When Noah grabs her wrist to pull her through the door, she feels hot all over. He lets her go once she's inside, then bends down to pick up the two boxes again. He almost thinks it's a shame to waste so much porn, but then he remembers the fact that it was someone else's first and he has another reason to be thankful to Rachel for making them wear gloves.
They split up once they're in the main hall. It's dark and creepy and Rachel really, really doesn't want to be on her own, but there is no way she's going to assist in wallpapering Principal Figgins' office with pornography.
She looks over her shoulder and sees that Noah is looking over his shoulder at her. He smiles and she smiles back.
She didn't tell the boys what she had planned as her part of their mission at McKinley. Noah tried to pry it out of her, asking her every chance he got when they were far enough away from other people. He's texted her a couple times. Finn came over one night so she could help him with homework and he tried to get her to spill the beans. Absolutely not. She's far better at keeping secrets from them than they are at keeping secrets from her.
She sets her backpack on the floor near the door and pulls out the spool of practically invisible fishing line (she went to three tackle shops to find the clearest brand) and twirls it on her finger as she looks around Coach Sylvester's office.
She will go down in McKinley history for being the one who managed to prank the lunatic in the track suits. Even if it's anonymously, she'll take that praise.
Coach Sylvester's office is basically a shrine to all things 'Cheerios'. Rachel can admit that the squad's routines aren't always that bad, but generally Rachel, a trained dancer, just sees the routines for what they are; mediocre dance steps done by pretty girls in short skirts. She just doesn't get the hype.
So she goes around the room and turns trophies around, switches them from one shelf to another, tilts them so they aren't all exactly one inch (she's seen Coach Sylvester measure with a ruler) from the edge of the shelf. Once every trophy is out of place, she goes around the room and starts tying bundles of the trophies together with the fishing line. She ties all the trophies on each shelf together, then runs a line from the bottom of each unit to the top, literally connecting all the trophies in the room.
She tests it out and sure enough, when she tries to put one of the trophies back into place, the rest of them follow, sliding across the shelf. She actually lets out a laugh. This is going to drive Coach Sylvester crazy.
But it doesn't seem like enough. So she attaches the stapler to a mug to the phone receiver to the rolodex. She ties all the pens in the pen-holder together. She ties the arm of the desk chair to the handle on one of the desk drawers. Binders get tied together, and she even goes so far as to tie all the hangers in the little coat closet together.
It's nearly impossible to move anything in the office without moving something else at the same time.
She has one last thing to do before going back to meet the boys. She pulls a DVD out of her bag and climbs up onto a chair, inserting it into the DVD player. She takes the DVD that's usually playing - a continual loop of Cheerios practices and performances - and tucks it into a random textbook she's sure Miss Sylvester will never even open.
Howard The Duck will now play in the office when that television is turned on. Rachel chose the most terrible movie in her collection, knowing it will most likely personally offend the teacher somehow.
She gathers her things, dropping the fishing line back into her bag and making sure she hasn't left anything behind. As she looks around the room, she notices the figurines on the desk. Three little cheerleaders in their little skirts with their hands raised mid-cheer.
She walks over and grabs them, tucking them into the pocket of her sweatshirt.
No one said they couldn't keep souvenirs.
She heads back down the hall, careful to keep her footsteps light, though she knows she is one of only three people in the entire building right now. She can hear them as she draws closer. They're laughing together, and it makes her smile. She's really happy the two of them have gotten their friendship back, and that she played a part in all of it.
She's scared of the images that are going to greet her when she walks into the office. When she gets to the doorway, she sees that a little over half the office is done. Finn is using his knife to cut the spines off the magazine so the pages are loose in one fell swoop, and Noah has a roll of tape around his wrist and is tacking these incredibly offensive pages onto the walls, glass windows, the front of the desk, the cupboards. The entire office is going to be plastered with these pages.
It's disgusting.
But they are going for shock value.
"You done?" Noah asks as he tacks up a photo of a couple in a very compromising position. He smirks at her when he notices she's looking at the page.
"Yes. I'm finished," she says.
Finn tosses a roll of tape at her. "Help," he says simply, smiling at her. Both guys laugh at the incredulous look on her face. "Come on, Rach. We'll get out of here sooner. Less chance of getting caught."
She narrows her eyes at the both of them, drops her bag and slips the roll of tape onto her wrist. "You're both awful, awful boys for making me do this."
Puck stands next to her and they each grab a few pages and walk over to the wall that's still not finished as Finn cuts open a couple more magazines.
"The awful boys are always the most fun," Puck says, leaning down to speak in Rachel's ear.
He chuckles when he sees the blush creep up on her cheeks. He doesn't know if it's from his words or the lesbian porn in her hands. Probably both. Whatever. It's cute. (And there is nothing wrong with her holding onto some lesbian porn.)
They work quickly and quietly, because they're all getting really damn tired. It's nearing four in the morning, and they do have to come to school in only a matter of hours. Of course they do. There's no way they're going to miss out on everyone's reactions to their work. No way.
Puck looks over at one point as Rachel holds a piece of glossy paper to the wall. It's pretty much a close up of some lady business, and Rachel's hand is splayed across it. He raises his brow and stares until Rachel looks at him. He quickly glances over his shoulder to see that Finn is in his own little world, lining the inside of Figgins' desk drawers (awesome, and one of Finn's better ideas).
"What I wouldn't give to see that in the flesh," Puck says quietly to Rachel. She looks confused for a second until she figures out what he's talking about, then she drops the page quickly, letting it flutter to the floor.
"Stop that!" she hisses. "You're being crass."
"Babe, we've got enough porn here to last a lifetime and you're worried about a little innuendo?" he asks with a laugh.
"I'd just like to get this done," she says. She picks the paper up off the floor, eyes locked with his as she tapes it to the wall. "Happy?"
"Fuck yeah," he says, watching as she grabs another page. She laughs and shakes her head. He finds a particularly nasty photo (cum shot, anyone?) and hands it to her. "Here. Thought you might like this."
Her jaw drops (he somehow stops himself from making a comment about that expression) and she shoves at his chest. "Can you please focus? My god, you're a disgusting, vile man."
He watches her as she walks over to the book shelf and starts tucking magazine pages into random spots in the books.
She really is a genius. So now even when Figgins thinks all the nastiness is gone, it'll keep coming (ha!) long after.
When the room is completely plastered, the three of them stand there together and look around. When they catch one anothers' eyes, they all start laughing.
"This is ridiculous," Finn manages. "Porn everywhere."
"This is so fucking awesome," Puck says. Rachel checks her watch. "We have a lot of magazines left."
"We'll burn them," Rachel says. She grabs her backpack and pulls it on. "We have to get out of here. It's going to be light out soon and we need at least some sleep."
They leave the office with Finn carrying the leftover box and Puck carrying three backpacks. They try to convince Rachel to show them what she did in Sylvester's office, but she refuses. She says they're on a time crunch (they are) and they'll probably hear all about it tomorrow. When they get back to the truck, Rachel leans back and drops all their garbage, everything they need to burn, into the box with the dirty magazines. She's even planned out where they need to go to burn this stuff without getting caught, and they need to get there before the sun starts coming up.
Finn is practically falling asleep next to her, and all that's on the radio is late night talk shows and smooth jazz or whatever, and Rachel is far too tired to mess around to find something better to listen to.
Puck leans over and bumps her shoulder with his as he steers them towards the empty field she showed him the other night. "Tired?"
"I'm exhausted," she admits. "I didn't know juvenile delinquency could be so draining."
He laughs a little bit. "Yeah. Takes a lot out of you." She leans forward, stretching her arms out on the dash. He somehow resists the urge to run his hand down her back. "You want me to just drop you off at home? Finn and I can take care of the rest."
She actually looks offended.
"Absolutely not," she says seriously. "We're in this until the end, Noah. I'm seeing this through. And I thought we'd decided you two would sleep at my house, since dad and daddy are away?"
"Yeah, but..."
"No but," she insists. That stops him from arguing her on it any further.
They pull up to the field and Puck parks behind the little barn he and Rachel scoped out. Rachel wakes Finn up and they all get out of the truck. Finn is basically dragging his feet. They're all definitely in need of a bed. A few beds. (Two. Puck will take one for the team and share with Rachel. You know, if need be.)
There's a little gravel parking spot next to the barn, and Finn drops the box. Puck grabs the book of matches from his back pocket and lights the whole thing on fire with a flick of his fingers (awesome party trick), then drops it onto the box. The three of them stand there as the papers catch fire, the cardboard starts to smolder. They have a few jugs of water in the back of the truck to put out the fire when the evidence is disposed of.
Rachel is kind of leaning against Finn as they all stand there watching the flames flicker and snap. Puck isn't sure if he's pissed about the fact that they're burning all this perfectly good porn, or the fact that Finn's arm is around Rachel right now.
He pulls Finn away from the girl so he can help put the last of the fire out. Rachel kicks some of the gravel around after so it looks less like someone had a bonfire here. After all, it is someone's property, which they are clearly trespassing on.
They're just about to leave when they hear the rumble of tires on the road, the roar of an old engine. Rachel grabs onto Finn's arm and Puck hooks his arm around her waist. He pulls them into the darkest little area, presses them right up against the barn. He's glad he actually cut the engine of his truck (he usually doesn't when he's doing shit like this) and parked it as out of the way as possible.
"I thought you said there was no one around here!" Finn says frantically.
"There isn't!" Puck insists.
"Shhh!" Rachel hisses.
She's standing right between the two boys, Noah pressed against her back and Finn's back against her front. Her hand is curled into the fabric of Finn's sweatshirt at his side and it's like they're all trying to hold their breath until they're sure the coast is clear. She can feel Noah's hand on her waist, palm hot against her skin beneath her sweater again. His breath is hitting her neck, and when he leans forward and kisses her just behind the ear, she stifles a gasp and leans back against him. His hand slides over her skin to rest on her stomach. She does not know what he's doing, and she should not want him to do more of it. Especially not when there's another boy standing right there with them.
"I think they're gone," Finn whispers.
He pulls away, walks to the edge of the barn and peers around, but Puck stays right there, holding Rachel close to him.
"We have to go," she says quietly.
He grabs her a little tighter, as if that'll somehow tell her something he can't really put into words at the moment. It might. He doesn't know.
"Yeah."
They pile back into the truck, then collectively let out breaths of relief. Puck starts up the ignition and he's got to admit, he's pretty proud of these two people. They're kind of the most crack team of midnight caper-doers (is that an actual thing? he doesn't know; he's fucking exhausted), but it's basically worked out perfectly. He doesn't think any of this would have worked without any one of them. They certainly couldn't have gotten it all done in one night. He's happy they could, but he's totally ready to crash right now. You know, sleep. Not crash the truck.
When he pulls onto the main road, he notices a truck coming in their direction. He doesn't know why it makes him nervous.
He realizes, after he's turned onto the road back to town, that the truck is now following them.
"Fuck," he mutters. "That truck has been tailing us since we left the barn."
"Really?" Finn asks, turning around to look out the back window. The truck is pretty far behind them.
"Noah?" Rachel says, relatively calmly. "You may want to speed up."
He smirks over at her and accelerates, and they're all laughing again.
Finn is really happy he's gotten to do these crazy things with these crazy people. It's weird, but they work well, balance each other out. Puck? Well, right now, he's basically just thinking of how awesome Rachel is and how great it is to have his best friend back. He's going to enjoy the latter until the former fucks up his friendship.
Rachel just thinks this has been the best night of her entire life.
... ...
The boys are in the den of her house, each sprawled out on a sofa of their own. She walks in with blankets and pillows, chattering on about waking them up when they have to go to school. They collectively groan. Tomorrow is going to be terrible.
"I may have stolen us something," she admits, reaching into the pockets of her sweater.
Puck raises his brow. Stole something? She's never been sexier. "Yeah?" he asks.
She nods and walks over, handing them each one of those little cheerleader figurines as she holds hers in her palm. "From Miss Sylvester's office."
Finn's jaw drops. Puck's eyes go wide.
"You stole from her?" Finn asks, trying not to laugh. "That's seriously hardcore."
She shrugs he shoulder. "I don't think she'll notice for a while," she says slyly.
"What did you do?" Puck asks again.
She just shrugs her shoulder coyly, smiles at them one last time, and says a goodnight over her shoulder and heads for the stairs.
"This is awesome," Finn says, staring at his little cheerleader.
"Right?" Puck says appreciatively. "Something to remember the night by."
"I don't think any of us will forget it," Finn mumbles sleepily as he pulls a blanket over himself.
No, Puck thinks, we definitely won't.
... ...
She's walking down the hall Friday morning, approaching the main office, and there's a crowd of people taking photos with cell phone cameras. She pushes her way to the front and finds herself standing next to Noah, who has his arms crossed and a smirk (always) on his face. He glances at her quickly, then back to the office, where Principal Figgins is working with one of the school's receptionists to take down the photos all over his office.
She can hear the murmurs, people wondering who could have done this and when. She hears one student saying how amazing this prank is, that whoever did it should get some kind of award for awesomeness. Rachel wants to show Noah something, though, so she makes sure she brushes against him as she starts walking away, and he follows her.
They can hear Coach Sylvester shouting as they approach her office, and when there's a loud crash, they hear a collective gasp. Puck looks at Rachel. What the hell did she do in there?
When they get to the door and peer inside through the crowd of students, they can see Coach Sylvester holding a string of trophies all tied together as she seethes. She's not saying anything, just has an insane look on her face, and Puck is trying really, really fucking hard not to laugh. He notices that her entire office is fucked up, things out of place. There's a pile of trophies sitting on the floor next to her desk. He can't believe Rachel thought of that prank all on her own. Brilliant. Rachel touches his arm and they walk away just as Coach Sylvester bursts out of her office, pushing students out of her way and against lockers as she heads for Figgins' office.
"Was that Howard the Duck?" Puck asks as he laughs.
... ...
Figgins decides to close school for the day after second period. Sylvester is losing her shit and basically terrifying everyone, and somehow, the porn has ended up scattered through the halls all over the school.
Puck and Finn are talking by Finn's locker when Rachel comes towards them. They don't say anything to one another, Puck just jerks his head towards the exit and Rachel follows the guys. They spill into Puck's truck laughing their asses off, because this shit is so hilarious. Rachel starts going on and on about how terrible it is that they have to lose an entire day of school because Figgins isn't smart enough to use a paper shredder instead of a recycling bin, and Coach Sylvester is clearly mentally unstable.
They drive past Carmel and see the pool and surrounding areas covered in soap suds. Rachel can see the crowd around the chain link fence. The doors of the pool house are completely missing. Obviously they've been knocked down somehow.
Jesse's parking spot is empty.
They don't bother going to West Lima Academy. Puck reminds them that there'll definitely be photos in the paper, along with all sorts of 'reaction' from the community. It would raise a red flag if they showed up there and wandered around campus in the middle of the school day.
"You realize we just pulled off the most amazing pranks in this town's history," Puck says after they've driven around for a while. He doesn't know where they're going. He's just driving. "We're legends."
"Totally legends," Finn adds.
Rachel laughs and shakes her head. "I still can't believe I let you two talk me into doing all that."
"You loved it," Puck says with confidence.
She bites her lip and tries not to smile too wide. "We should do it again next year."
They're all quiet for a minute, then Finn and Puck start laughing (what have they turned her into?) and Rachel can't help but join in.
They speed past the town limits sign, on their way to where, she isn't sure, and Rachel realizes she's holding both their hands, one in each of hers. Her head is resting on Noah's shoulder and he slides the pad of his thumb over her knuckles.
Definitely the best night of her life.