Author's Note: I promised a sequel, and here it is. The format of this story is going to be different than the last - shorter chapters for one (obviously - the length of the chapters of the other story was about 3,000 words per chapter but this first chapter is only ~900 - the word count might per chapter may increase as the story progresses). It will also mostly be in Rachel's POV as the last story was mostly in Puck's POV. The song that will be in the back of my mind for this story is Bobby's Girl by Marcie Blaine (in the last one it was Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield). That song does not fit Rachel's personality, I don't think. However, I explained what Rachel related to, from the song, and what she didn't. It will also be delved into in further chapters. Sheesh, sorry for the long author's note - it's getting to be the length of the story! So, without further delay, here's the story (and don't forget to review!!!)

Puck's Girl

The Truth

A new year meant a new start.

Smoothing out the first page of her brand new journal, Rachel Berry picked up her pink pen, which was filled with pink ink, and began to write her goals for the upcoming rest of the school year. Her list mostly contained words such as "excel," "thrive," and "succeed" but near the bottom she wrote a sentence without thinking about it. It flowed from her pen, from out of the subconscious of her mind.

And this year, I'd like to be Puck's girl.

Her thought processes came to an immediate halt as her eyes skimmed the words she had just written.

Puck's girl? After he had left her in the middle of that field, alone? Had left her to contemplate how stupid she was to have even believed that there was anything beyond animosity between them?

No, she hadn't felt anything when he kissed.

Not a stirring of the heart or a yearning for another kiss.

Nothing like that.

For the thousandth time since their complex relationship had formed, back when Mr. Schuester had given her the seemingly innocent task of coaching Puck that he might become a better singer, she compared Puck to Finn.

Where Finn was open to discuss his feelings, Puck was not. Finn hated to see her cry but Puck liked to make her cry. Finn knew how to be gentle and sweet…and Puck did too, occasionally. She believed she was one of the rare few to have actually seen that side of him.

Sighing, Rachel grasped her pen once more, pressing it's tip to the lined paper of her journal.

The truth, she wrote, is that it doesn't matter how many times I stand Puck and Finn side by side to see who's better or more compatible for me, Finn comes out ahead. Every time, Finn has more Pros than Puck and less Cons than Puck. But in my heart, I know he's not the one I want. I thought, for a brief instant, that he could be the perfect high school boyfriend. And while that's probably still true, maybe that's not what I truly desire.

Puck…no, Noah is the one who, for reasons I don't quite understand, has captured my heart. I did feel something when we kissed. But I hurt him because of my inability to let Finn go. Well, now I have. Completely. I just don't know if I'll ever be able to convince Noah of that.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to convince him that I want to be Noah's girl.

- - - - - -

The song was playing for the thirteenth time when Mercedes, Kurt and Tina walked in, weird expressions on their faces.

"What on earth are you listening to?" Kurt asked, placing one had on his hip and arching an eyebrow.

"Isn't this song, like, way old?" Mercedes added.

Tina nodded, agreeing with her friends silently, as she often did.

"Yes," Rachel sighed, flopping on her back, so that her head was reclining on the pillow of her bed. "It's called Bobby's Girl and it's from the 50's or 60's. I've been listening to it all night in preparation for my performance when school starts."

"You're going to sing this song?"

Frowning, Rachel sat up and slid off her bed, hitting the pause button on her stereo before answering Kurt's question. "What's wrong with this song?"

The three of them looked at each other before Tina stuttered, "It j-just doesn't seem like your st-style."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Rachel contemplated telling them about how she had spent the last few days searching the internet intent on finding of the perfect song and had decided on this one only because she could relate, somewhat, to the lyrics of the song. Those lyrics described a desperate girl whose one ambition in life was to date Bobby, whoever he was (most likely a loser, since he kept the poor girl waiting at home while he was off with some trollop), which was nothing like Rachel (being the self-driven and determined soul that she was), but she did understand not being a kid anymore and the hope that one day the guy she had fallen for would stop being such an idiot. That he would open up his eyes and realize that she wasn't a kid but a woman who had intense emotions whirling around inside of her, most of which centered upon him. That he wouldn't be so fearful (because she was sure he was afraid of getting hurt, after he had already been hurt so much).

And when that day came, when he realized all that she wanted him to, she would be a very faithful and thankful girl (not a doormat, as Rachel was convinced the girl singing would become once she actually saw her goal of being Bobby's girl come to fruition).

The one part of the song that bothered her was that Bobby (that loser) had a 'someone else,' which reminded her of how Puck had been, recently, hanging out a lot with Brittany.

Closing her eyes, she pretended that didn't cause her any pain.

Pretending was hard.

"Uh, earth to Rachel," snapped Mercedes, waving a hand in front of Rachel's face. Drifting away from her thoughts, Rachel tried to smile. "What were you thinking about?"

Staring at all of them, Rachel wondered if she could trust them. She hadn't had real friends in so long she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. Finally, she summoned some courage, spilling the whole tale of Puck and Rachel. When she was through, they all regarded her with wide eyes and open mouths.

At long last, Tina stammered, "You're k-kidding, r-right?"