The thing about having hopes and dreams was that when they didn't happen you got hurt. Noah Puckerman had learned that lesson quite young. When people had no expectations of you, it was easier to pretend like you didn't care about anything.

He became Puck, mohawked badass of McKinley. Stud extraordinaire, football player and all-around cool dude. Guys both envied and feared him and girls wanted him.

When he didn't think too hard, it was cool. The problem was when he actually thought about things.

Yeah, thinking sorta ruined the illusion.

Every time he tried for something, someone good, he just wound up hurt and angry.

People expected him to be a Lima loser, even his friends. Well, most of them.

Artie and Mike were his boys. They knew he'd applied and been accepted to a couple of colleges.

Even before nationals, Puck knew he'd be back in New York soon. NYU, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, Music Theory & Composition.

Okay, so he didn't really blame people for thinking he was a screw up. He was. And he'd worked hard to cultivate the image that he was a typical jock idiot. This was backed up by how often he skipped classes.

The teachers at McKinley were awesome in that they really didn't care. As long as you passed tests, they didn't give a flying fuck if you showed up for any other classes.

And he always passed with pretty good grades. Sure, there had been a rough patch at the beginning of junior year, but he'd snapped out of it. Quinn had, after snapping out of her sociopathic baby snatching planning period, told him to write about the ordeal for his admissions essay. When she wasn't being evil-crazy or just plain mean, she could be okay.

Cuz he was cool with regular crazy and kinda bitchy. Lauren said he was drawn to women who could verbally smack him around because his mom, which was really creepy but he could kind of see her point. So he decided no more dating girls who were mean as a default. They could be awesome friends like Santana and Lauren, but not girlfriends.

He hadn't done much better with pursuing Shelby, as that was screwed up in a totally different way. When she'd found out, Lauren had cornered him one day and smacked him upside the head hard enough to make him see stars.

It wasn't entirely unexpected that only Mike and Artie had noticed his focus shift from chasing girls and getting into fights to glee and school. The only time people ever noticed was when he screwed up, so whatever.

But, defying his expectations, Nationals had been a success.

To be honest, he really didn't know how to deal with that, or the offer made by the Broadway people….He'd been overwhelmed.

Flashback

"Noah?"

Rachel's voice surprised him and he turned to face her. "What are you doing up here?"

He'd come up to the roof to get away from the party in the rooms. Everyone, even Finn, who'd been a gigantic douche since yesterday, was planning to head out to a restaurant soon, but he'd snuck off for air and solitude.

"I was looking for you," Rachel replied, joining him by the ledge. "The view is lovely, but I don't think we're supposed to be up here."

"Then why was the door unlocked?"

She didn't seem to have a response for that, so she changed the topic. "I called Ms. Cole and set up an appointment to see her tomorrow before we leave. Daddy said he'd come with us."

Mr. Berry, one of them anyway, was a lawyer. It was probably a good idea to have him come with them if they were going to sign any contracts.

Before he could even process what was going to happen tomorrow, Rachel continued, "Look at the city. New York, Noah! We made it!"

How many people actually got to say that? Somehow, Rachel's enthusiasm made him feel better about everything. "Everybody getting ready to leave soon?"

"Yes," Rachel said with a laugh. "Santana appears to be planning an evening of…well, I'm honestly not sure what, but even I consider the skirt she's wearing to be scandalously short. This will be fun!"

"Let's go then."

It had been fun, and no one even went to jail.

Mr. Berry took them to see Naomi Cole and they both signed contracts with her and to appear in American Idiot. Rehearsals begin in mid-June, which would give them time to move to New York City after graduation. When they'd boarded the bus home with the rest of the club, they were professional performers.

How weird was that.

Now, he just had to break the news to his mom.

"Ma," he called as he entered the house. Rachel's dad's had dropped him off and he'd seen her car in the driveway, so he knew she was home.

"Noah!" Sarah came hurtling down the stairs to greet him. "Can I see your trophy!"

The club got a big trophy and they each received little copies. "Yeah, here," he replied, handing her the trophy has his mother entered from the kitchen. "Hi, Ma. We won."

Ravi Puckerman smiled tiredly at her son. "That's wonderful Noah. Sarah followed the competition online. We heard about Rachel and Finn. Very exciting."

"What? How'd you hear they broke up?"

His mother gave him a funny look. "No, I was talking about the talent scouts at your performance."

"Yeah!" Sarah said happily. "I read that two people from your group were recruited to star in a Broadway musical."

Oh. Of course. They assumed it was Rachel and Finn.

"Can we sit? I need to tell you something."

"Oh no Noah," his mother said, pressing a hand to her brow. "Is it another girl? Please tell me you didn't…."

Okay, he could've phrased that better, especially given his history. "No! No, nothing bad, Ma."

Since Sarah refused to leave, the three of them gathered in the living room.

Clearing his throat, he began, "I know you thought I'd be staying around here, maybe working at McDonald's or something, but I'm not." He pulled out the acceptance letter he'd gotten from NYU, which he'd taken to carrying in his pocket, and passed it to his mother.

As she read it, she let out a gasp. "Noah, I didn't know you'd even applied?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to make a big deal about it," he said. "But that's only part of what I wanted to talk to you about. I was the one offered a contract, not Finn. Mr. Berry said that everything was legit and rehearsals start in June. So, I'm going to New York."

He spoke rapidly, without pausing to take a breath and he thought Rachel would have been proud of his lung capacity.

When his mother and sister began to yell happily, they proved equally able to make a lot of noise. Clearly, it was a trait passed down from mom.

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