Chapter 1

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Rachel frowned at her reflection and automatically smiled to reverse the wrinkles. It was bad when smiling hurt her face. She looked down and rechecked her skirt and tights, nothing showing that shouldn't be. Her camisole and cardigan were warm and matched her tights; her favorite button down sweater with the monkey clinging to one arm, its brown matched her skirt while her tights matched the green of the sweater. Brown penny loafers completed the look. Typical for her, for school, nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary.

Make up was more difficult, but then she wasn't used to wearing a lot of it until recently. That had changed after she and Jesse had dated for a month or so. He'd commented that she should play up her eyes more, emphasize her mouth, that she didn't have to let her nose take over her entire face regardless of how like Barbra it was. Eventually she'd agreed, buying the makeup and perfecting the art of blending to hide any blemish. Her dads had been teary eyed when she'd come down on a Saturday with her face made up, saying how she was growing up too fast. She'd been proud of her eyes and lipstick; she'd done her best to mimic the look Kurt had shown her once.

Puck had taken one look at her red mouth and rolled his eyes when he'd come over to study that afternoon. He'd stayed around and given Jesse a hard look when the other boy had come to pick her up, but Rachel hadn't thought anything of it. Puck gave every guy a hard look if they came near her, he had grinned afterward and greeted Jesse coolly if politely and told him he was practicing for when his little sister began dating. LeRoy had directed his attention to the game after a moment and Puck had cursed a blue streak. Rachel had just laughed at the three men lounging on the couch and told Puck she'd see him at school.

He'd grinned over his shoulder and told her he'd even study on Sunday if she called to wake him up. Jesse hadn't been thrilled by the idea but once she'd explained that Puck didn't have a father around and that his mother was friends with her dads he'd come around. It had taken some convincing but he'd eventually accepted that Puck had no romantic interest in her; he simply liked hanging out with men who were parental and in a house where he wasn't outnumbered by females.

Rachel touched her lips and wondered if they looked too swollen, she didn't think so. The red was just the right amount of dark and looked good with her coloring. Her eyes were smoky and she'd remembered mascara. She'd even managed to shape her eyebrows. Kurt would be pleased, he'd been ecstatic when she'd shown up at school with her face done up after a day's worth of practice before hand. He'd talked about gilding the lily and how perfect her eyes looked; complimenting her on studying the fashion magazines he'd given her.

But today she looked just as she should, which was a good thing, because today she needed to ask Artie a favor and like every boy, he reacted better if he was looking at someone he deemed pretty.

TBC

Author's Note: So this was inspired by Eminem video and I'd had the idea that Rachel and Puck could play the Dominic and Megan parts and Artie would direct and I thought about using the idea in my Glee fic 'I Don't Mean To Presume' but it didn't seem to fit and I decided I'd use it and make a fic all around it.

It went longer than I thought it would and so it's multi chapter. I'll probably be posting it slowly over the next few weeks if there's enough interest. Bear with me as some chapters went long and some are (obviously) shorter.