“As you can see, there is something to my left. No, no people—it’s not a LEGO figurine. It’s a person named Rachel Berry. She was one of my former students—you can’t tell by her freakishly tiny frame, but this girl is a ruthless, dream-crushing machine. She doesn’t care about petty things like ‘others’ feelings.’ She has no hesitation about stomping on those around her to reach her lofty goals. I certainly never have, and look at me! That’s right, viewers. You are looking at two of a kind. So, kids, take a tip from Rachel and me here and feel free to beat up anyone who gets in your way. May only the strong survive. And that’s how Sue ‘Cs’ it!” She made a C shape with her hand as she said the last part.
Suddenly, Rachel began to panic. She had been so appalled by what Coach Sylvester was saying about her that she’d completely frozen! Maybe she could still get a word in really fast. “I’d just like to say that—”
Coach Sylvester interrupted her immediately. “Oh, forgot to mention the big end-of-year rally at McKinley High tomorrow. Show up to see a real winner in person,” Coach Sylvester said with a smile. “And Rachel Berry will be there, too,” she added quickly. Classic.
Then the camera light turned off. The segment was over. Rachel had totally blown it. Coach Sylvester’s rant on caring for others had turned her into the poster child for selfishness. This was not going to help her case with any of the ex–Glee members at all. They already thought she was the worst. After watching “Sue’s Corner,” they probably wouldn’t even talk to her again.
Rachel felt like such an idiot for thinking she could exonerate herself during “Sue’s Corner.” Coach Sylvester talked even faster than Rod Remington when she got going on one of her rants. There was no way Rachel was going to get to say anything at all. She stood up angrily and ripped the microphone off her shirt.
On the other side of the room, Rod and Andrea continued on with the news of the day. It mainly consisted of weather and traffic reports, but the main feature was yet another exposé on cow-tipping. It was really sad that there was nothing else going on in Lima besides farmyard shenanigans. Even worse was that Rachel just made a complete fool of herself in a place like that. It would all blow over soon, she hoped.
Rachel charged off the set, heading straight back to the dressing room to get her stuff. Coach Sylvester followed closely behind her. “Hey, not so fast, Polly Pocket. I wanted to say thank you.” Was Coach Sylvester actually trying to be nice? Rachel wasn’t falling for it. Coach Sylvester had just proven that everything she did had some underlying agenda attached to it.
Rachel picked up her leather bag and slung it over her shoulder. “It was nothing. I do much bigger talk shows than this all the time. You know, national ones.” Or so Rachel had been told by Kurt. It didn’t really matter if she didn’t remember them at the present moment. She just wanted to show Coach Sylvester who had more fame and influence.
“No, you dim-witted hobbit. I wanted to thank you for getting that haircut known as Will Schuester gone from McKinley. I feel like I can finally walk down the halls again without running the risk of having my whole day ruined by the sight of an uncoordinated Michael Bublé impersonator who randomly breaks out into mid-nineties rap songs.” She slapped Rachel on the back so hard that it forced her to stumble forward a few steps. “I guess it took the power of two talented ladies. You and me, kid. I should have enlisted you sooner.”
Kurt entered the dressing room with caution. He looked like he was walking into the middle of a knife fight.
“I would have, but I thought you were one of those awful Glee kids through and through. Schuester’s girl. Hah! If only he could see you now.” Coach Sylvester smiled with delight at the thought of this.
“Why can’t he?” Kurt asked, growing worried. “What happened to him? Ever since he left New York…” It sounded like Kurt knew more than he had been letting on.
“Does it matter, Porcelain?” Coach Sylvester put her hands on her hips. “The only thing that matters is that he’s taken his weeds elsewhere to get whacked. I think my vision’s gotten better since I don’t have to look at those atrocious curls every day. Only have to wear one contact lens now.” Coach Sylvester grabbed Kurt’s hand, held it up, and forced him to high-five her. Then she left.
Rachel frantically searched her mind for anything she might have done to make Mr. Schuester leave, but nothing resurfaced. She was about to ask Kurt more about Mr. Schuester’s allegedly having come to New York, but he immediately changed topics.
“That ‘interview’ was awful,” he said. “We really need something to make up for this, otherwise everyone is really going to hate you—even more than they already do.”
Kurt was right. But what could she possibly do to convince people that she wasn’t cut from the same horrible cloth as Sue Sylvester?
“I’ve got it!” Kurt frantically opened his overstuffed organizer and began to flip through it. He located a magazine clipping from Superstar Weekly and passed it to Rachel with a hopeful look on his perfectly moisturized face. “This is what we have to do.”
Rachel was missing something. She searched the picture for clues. It was of her alongside her two Oklahoma! costars, Meredith Stewart and Carmine Bennett. They were all dressed up. The caption below said that the photo was taken at their opening-night bash.
“What? We should throw a big party?” It was what the kids on the football team did when they wanted to be popular. It actually wasn’t too bad of an idea. Of course, there was always the chance that none of her friends would come. It would be like her sixth birthday party all over again.
“No, of course not. There’s no time to plan a really good party anyway.” Kurt waved her idea away with his hand. He was getting impatient. He thought Rachel could be really dense sometimes, even if his suggestion had been really cryptic. “What do you do when you have a task that is too big to do on your own?”
“Still do it on my own?” Rachel said, in all seriousness. She didn’t like asking for help.
“No, you call for reinforcements.” He tapped the picture of Rachel, Meredith, and Carmine. “Let’s have them come and perform with you at the rally! It’s perfect! Everyone loves them. If they saw all three of you together, it would definitely grab their attention and win their hearts.” Maybe that was pushing it. “Or just not be totally mad at you anymore.”
It was an interesting theory. Rachel wasn’t really sure that Kurt’s plan would work, but she didn’t have any other ideas. She was in no position to reject it. At this point, she just wanted her friends back.
“Do it,” Rachel said. “Fly them in.”
Kurt nodded his acknowledgment and immediately began making calls on his cell.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to make amends. If not, at least Rachel would be surrounded by her new friends. Turns out, doing things alone wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
twelve
Chateau Lima, Wednesday night
It had been a long day. After the complete disaster of a television appearance on “Sue’s Corner,” Rachel and Kurt decided to take the afternoon off. They went to grab a nostalgic lunch at Breadstix. Even though there was a signed head shot of her on the wall (immediate points), Rachel regretted the decision upon discovering that Breadstix was still just as gross as it had always been. Kurt’s spaghetti looked worse than her dad Leroy’s (and he was a terrible cook). It was pretty hard to mess up spaghetti. The wilted leaves of the lettuce in her salad seemed like they had come from the same batch as the last salad she remembered eating there. Still gross.
Come to think of it, her last visit to the restaurant had been that night with Finn. They’d had a big fight over something silly—Rachel’s refusal to participate in Mr. Schuester’s music camp. Even though everyone kept talking about it like it was some big turning point, Rachel was still not sure she was convinced. Like teaching some snotty kids to sing had really changed their lives. It was completely absurd.
After lunch, they decided to just head back to the hotel. Kurt
said he had a lot of work to do with coordinating travel arrangements for Meredith and Carmine. He also said something about an appointment, but he didn’t let on about what it was for. He was being a little sketchy. Rachel shrugged it off—mainly because she had a lot of things to get done, too.
They had been so busy this week that she hadn’t practiced her song for Thursday’s show at all. It was very unlike her. She also wanted to look through the yearbook again. So far, it hadn’t really told her much more than what people around school had told her.
The only interesting thing was that Sam Evans appeared to have become leader of the geeks or something. He started a World of Warcraft club and had taken over the Comic Book Enthusiasts Club as well. Rachel knew he had been into weird stuff, like speaking Navi, the alien language from the movie Avatar, last year. Maybe that’s why he and Quinn broke up. They had made such a vanilla couple, anyway. What a difference a year makes.
It felt good to finally take control of the situation. Well, to have Kurt take control of the situation for Rachel. His idea to bring her famous costars in from New York was inspired. This way, the students at McKinley would not only associate her with being super-famous, but they would also see that she had great friends, too. Once they got to meet stars like Meredith Stewart and Carmine Bennett, they would stop seeing her as the Rachel Berry who’d abandoned them and begin to see her as the person putting Lima, Ohio, on the map. Which she totally was.
The only other famous person to ever come out of Lima was Phyllis Diller, the actress and comedienne. Rachel doubted that any of her friends even knew who she was, though. In truth, she only actually did because she had researched Phyllis obsessively to figure out how she’d escaped. Similar to Rachel, Phyllis had left her regular high school midway through in order to attend a fancy music conservatory in Chicago. Smart girl, Rachel had always thought. Now she wondered if Phyllis ever regretted leaving her friends behind. Were they jealous of her when she came back to visit them? Rachel made a mental note to get Phyllis Diller’s contact information and see if she had any good advice for another brilliant actress from her humble hometown.
Rachel looked for the plastic key card to her suite. She really must stop carrying such large bags. It was impossible to find anything in them, even if they were trendy.
“Looking for something?” Rachel was startled to see Puck leaning casually against her hotel room door. In his hand was the room key.
“Give that to me, Puckerman!” Rachel snatched it from his hands. “How did you get that? Have you been stealing purses again?” She was not amused.
“No, of course not, babe. That’s my copy. The chick at the front desk was no match for the Puckster’s charms.” He ran his fingers lightly over Rachel’s bare arms. “She’s a major fan of Mohawks. And general sexiness.” Puck smoothed his hair down.
Rachel turned around and shot him a death stare. This guy was unbelievable. She ought to call the police on him for breaking and entering, though, technically, he hadn’t broken anything yet. Or entered.
Rachel let her eyes wander over his tan biceps. “Why do you think you can just go around doing whatever you want all the time?”
“Why not? You do. And no one says anything.”
She hadn’t the slightest idea why he was here in the first place. It couldn’t be for any respectable reason. Now he was insulting her? Rachel’s sassy mode kicked in.
“Look, I don’t know what you want. But I think you need to leave before I call to have you escorted off the premises.”
“Dude, that’s so not cool. I had to hitchhike all the way here from school. Have you ever ridden anywhere with Artie’s mom?” He shook his head. “Unless you want to hear ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA on repeat, don’t.”
Rachel slid the card into the slot on the handle. The light flashed green, and she pushed down to open the door.
“Given our history, you can’t blame me for being even the tiniest bit suspicious of your motives, Noah.” She was starting to remember exactly how she had ended up in compromising situations with him before. Those brown eyes of his really sucked a girl in. She tried not to make eye contact with him. It was hard.
“Aw, come on, Rachel. I just wanted to hang out. I really missed you all year. You were one of my best friends.”
Rachel considered his sad puppy-dog expression before caving. He looked sincere enough. And he had said they were friends. She was running low on those right now.
“Oh, all right. I do need someone to listen to me practice.”
They entered the suite, and Puck took in his new surroundings.
“Dude, seriously sweet pad.” He took a running leap and dove onto Rachel’s bed. The comforter rumpled, and several pillows fell onto the floor. “Nice bed, too. Huge.” He bounced up and down.
“You are so predictable.” Rachel pointed to the door. “Get out!”
“What? Big celebrities can’t take jokes?”
Puck stood up and began shoddily rearranging the areas of the covers he’d messed up. He sucked at it. Puck had clearly never made a bed in his entire life, Rachel thought. Didn’t they do those bed checks in juvie where they bounced a quarter off the bed to see if the sheets were tucked in tight enough? Or was that just military school?
“Don’t get your pretty panties in a twist over it, dude.” Puck always called everyone “dude,” even when referring to their panties. It was weird.
She walked over and pulled the other side of the fluffy white comforter down taut.
“The only thing that’s twisted is you, Puckerman.” There was something extremely plush about all-white bedding. Total luxury. Too bad Puck had just gotten a dirty mark from his shoe on the bottom of the comforter. Now she was going to have to call down to the main desk to have them switch it out before bedtime. It was crazy how Puck managed to create trouble with even the smallest of actions.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “So it’s totally crazy how you became all famous and stuff. I mean, I gotta admit—all those times you were saying stuff like that in Glee Club, I thought you were full of crap.”
This didn’t really surprise Rachel. No one had ever really understood her.
“What’s it like, living like a baller?” Puck asked as he wandered into the jewelry box of a living room.
His amazement at their surroundings made Rachel realize just how quickly she’d acclimated to her new life of luxury. It was bizarre that Rachel had grown so used to the fancy furnishings that she hardly even noticed them anymore. Maybe this stuff didn’t matter as much as she’d thought it would. Or maybe it was impossible for her to be happy with whatever she had at the present moment. Even if it was pretty.
Puck wandered around, probably calculating the cost of each item and what he could get for it on craigslist. His bad-boy looks created an interesting juxtaposition in the classy room, like a smoldering rock star who was about to trash the place. It was actually hot. Rachel tried to act casual but began to experience a weird nervousness bubbling up inside of her.
“It’s enjoyable, I suppose….” she said, restlessly pacing among the various pieces of furniture.
Puck lay down on the chaise lounge like a therapy patient who was about to spill his heart out.
In an attempt to occupy her hands, Rachel picked up a shiny gold pillow from the couch and began to nervously fiddle with one of the corner tassels.
“But to be honest, lately I’ve been having trouble recalling much about my life in New York. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m just nervous being back here.” She looked down at him. Puck’s shirt was coming up a little, revealing his perfect abs. Rachel quickly diverted her eyes. “You know, old feelings getting drummed up and all that.” It was probably better to change the subject. “Do you ever talk to Mr. Schuester?”
“Naw. Haven’t seen the dude since the beginning of the year. I heard he left to, like, go hook up with you. Is that true?” Puck bolted upright. “Are you and Mr. Schu dating?” His eyes widened in disbelief.
“Of course not!” Rachel threw the gold pillow at Puck’s face. It hit him right in the nose. Rachel couldn’t help but laugh.
“Oh, you did not just do that.” A devious smile began to form on Puck’s face. “You are going down, Berry!” He grabbed a teal sequined pillow and started to chase her around the room with it held high above his head. She squealed in mock protest. He caught up with her and threw the pillow at her face. It felt as if it were the first time Rachel had laughed in days.
The next thing she knew, there were throw pillows everywhere, and the two of them were full-on making out on the couch. Things had escalated so fast! But this wasn’t the first time she’d ever kissed Puck. Rachel decided to not overthink it for once and just have fun. Besides, he was extremely skilled.
He rubbed her back seductively, and Rachel shivered. Wow.
So he’d had an agenda. Big deal. It wasn’t exactly hidden. And some part of Rachel must have wanted this to happen if she’d allowed him to come into the suite. A girl didn’t just invite Puck into her room if she didn’t want to get hit on. It was practically a given.
Click! Click! That was a weird noise. It was probably just a text message from Kurt. Rachel continued to kiss Puck, letting her mind go blissfully blank.
Click! Rachel opened an eye long enough to see Puck holding up a digital camera, snapping off a series of photos. Click! She couldn’t believe it. He was documenting their make-out session!
“What do you think you are doing?” Rachel screamed as she shoved his burly frame off of her. Rachel snatched the camera out of his hand. “I can’t believe you were taking pictures of me… and you… while we were…” Rachel readjusted her shirt, which was now almost completely twisted around backward.
Summer Break Page 11
