Glee 1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary: **At first, Jake and Marley hate each other, but over time, they realize that maybe, just maybe, they're falling for each other. A story about how soulmates will always find their way back to each other and how true love can overcome all obstacles.

**A/N: **Hey everyone! This is my first time writing a Jarley fanfic. I plan on this being a pretty lengthy story, as it follows their relationship not only in high school, but in the future as well. This is an AU story. It does have characters from the show, but the story is completely separate from anything that's happened between Jake and Marley on Glee. Also, this is rated M for future chapters. I will post warnings along with the chapters if they are M-rated.

_Chapter One_

"Marley Rose, you'll be working with Jake Puckerman."

Great. Just when she thought her life couldn't get any worse than it was, she was forced to work on an English project with the one person she hated more than anyone. Maybe hate was a strong word, but Marley couldn't stand Jake. He was a womanizing bad boy who used girls and broke their hearts. Marley was smart and she knew better than to get involved with someone like Jake Puckerman.

Jake groaned when he found out that Little Miss Perfectionist would be his partner for this stupid project. She was a Theater Geek too, making her one of the biggest losers at school. She was quiet, meek, and always seemed to be reading a book whenever he walked past her. She took everything too seriously and he knew that there's no way he would be getting off easy when he decided to slack off with this project like he always did. The very thought of associating with her put him in a bad mood.

"So, what all of you need to do is choose which Shakespeare play you want to recreate a scene from and then you're going to rehearse that scene. In one week, you will be performing that scene in class. Now, I expect all of you to spend a lot of time with each other in order to perfect your scene for this class. I want quality work, people," Miss. Holliday continued to tell her students about their assignment, "Got it? Good. There's five minutes left for this class, so go talk to your partner."

Jake got up from his desk and made his way to where the brunette was sitting. Of course she would be sitting at a desk in the first row. She actually took this whole education thing seriously. He sighed and approached her. She had a book propped open in front of her and seemed to be in her own little world. "Hi, I'm Jake," he said, trying to get her attention, "I'm your partner."

"I know," she told him, looking away from her book and glancing at him with a look of irritation on her face, "Look, I'm sure you're used to just slacking off with these projects and letting your partner do all the work, but don't expect that to happen when you're with me, okay?" She tore a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled something on it, handing it to him. "This is my address. Meet me there after school and we can begin to work on this."

The bell rang, signaling the end of that class period. Jake watched as Marley gathered up her belongings and exited the classroom without saying another word to him. "I hate her already," he mumbled as he walked out of the room. This was going to be a long week. And one he was not looking forward to at all.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

Sometimes Fate was cruel.

Jake Puckerman had come to that conclusion within five seconds of talking to Marley Rose. Not only was she a perfectionist and a loser, but she was bossy as hell and if she thought that he was going to take orders from her, she was dead wrong. No one told Jake Puckerman what to do, especially not someone like Marley. He hated that fate just so happened to work out so that he would have to spend an entire week with this girl, rehearsing a scene from a play that was hundreds of years old and written using language that was nonexistent in today's world.

Nevertheless, he found himself driving to the address the girl had scribbled onto a piece of notebook paper earlier that day. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he came to a stop sign and pressed lightly on the brake, waiting for another car to pass and then continuing to her house. After driving down the road a little bit more, he finally found her house and pulled into the driveway, putting the car in park and pulling the key out of the ignition.

He grabbed his backpack from the passenger's seat, closed the door and very wearily made his way to the front porch of the house, hesitating for a moment before ringing the doorbell. He stood there awkwardly, waiting for someone to open the door. A few seconds later, Marley opened it. "Glad to see you made it," she said, trying to sound like she was happy to see him but failing miserably, "You can come inside." As Jake stepped inside, he noticed something. The house was…quiet. A bit too quiet. Given, it was only 3:00 in the afternoon, but still. He wasn't to such a deafening silence.

"So, where's your mom?" he asked.

"She's working," Marley stated, "She won't be home until five."  
"And your dad?"

"He died two years ago," Jake could hear a hint of sadness in her voice and see the pained expression on her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay. You didn't know," Marley cut him off, "Let's just get started on this project." She brushed off their conversation as if it were nothing and walked up the stairs, Jake following behind her. "So, I was thinking we could maybe do a scene from Romeo & Juliet," she told Jake as she took a seat on her bed. She watched Jake walk over to her desk and sit in the chair in front of it.

"What's that about?"  
"Seriously? You don't know what it's about?" Marley sighed, "I know you're not into this whole school thing, but it's one of Shakespeare's most famous works they've even made movies for it."  
"Don't think I've ever seen the movies," Jake said, "Heard of it but never got interested enough to actually find out what happens in it. And since you seem like an expert on this stuff, why don't you just tell me?

"Fine," Marley sighed, "It's about two star-crossed lovers. They're from feuding families. They meet at a dance and they fall in love with each other and have a pastor do a marriage ceremony for them. They both die in the end, though. Romeo drinks poison and Juliet stabs herself with a dagger."  
"That's a depressing ending." Jake stated.

"Well, the play is a tragedy," Marley told him.

"So, what scene were you thinking of having us perform?"  
"The balcony scene. It's the most iconic scene from the play." She got up and walked over to Jake, handing him a copy of the book. "Turn to Act II, Scene II. "  
"Okay…" Jake took the book from her hand flipped through to find the scene. "_But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. _Really? I have to say this? No, thank you. Why don't I get a say in what we do for this assignment?"  
"Because you obviously know nothing about Shakespeare or any of his works."

"So, you're saying I'm stupid?" Jake asked.

"No, not at all," Marley said, "I'm just saying that I'm more familiar with the topic than you. No need to freak out or anything."

"I'm not freaking out," he replied, with obvious harshness in his voice, "I just think that the scene you chose is lame."  
"It's not lame," she told him, "It's beautifully written and romantic."  
"Well, that would explain why you like it," he said. This conversation was getting a bit out of hand now.

"You know what, maybe we should just stop for the day," Marley told him.

"But we haven't even rehearsed it yet."

"That's because we spent so much time arguing over it. My mom's going to be home soon anyways. I have some things I need to do before she gets here. We can continue this tomorrow after school."  
"But…" Jake tried to protest but was cut off by the brunette.

"No buts. We're done for the day," she told him.

"Fine!" he shouted, grabbing his things and storming out of the bedroom. When he got to his car, he pounded on the steering wheel in frustration. "I hate her so much!" If this was how their first day working together had gone, he didn't want to know what the rest of the week would be like.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

"Is it true that you're working with Jake Puckerman on an English project?"

Marley was sitting in the cafeteria, eating lunch with her best friend, Unique. "Yes. But how did you find out? I never mentioned anything about it."

"Girl, you know that information like that spreads like wildfire in this school," Unique told her.

"It's not that big of a deal really," Marley told her, "I mean, I'd obviously prefer to work with someone else but after this week is over, I don't have to deal with him again."

Jake weaved through the tables of the cafeteria, looking for Marley. He spotted her sitting with Unique Adams. The two friends were pretty much inseparable, so he wasn't that surprised. He started making his way over to the table they were sitting at, but slowed down when he overheard their conversation as he approached it.

"Just promise me one thing," Unique said, "Don't fall in love with him."

"There's not a chance that would happen," Marley told her friend, "It's ridiculous to think that I would ever have romantic feelings for someone like Jake Puckerman." The two girls laughed at Marley's statement.

Jake didn't know why, but for some reason, it hurt to hear Marley say that about him. He couldn't be falling for her…could he? No way. That's not possible. She was annoying and bossy. There's not a chance he actually liked this girl. Even if his gut told him that maybe, just maybe he was developing feelings for her, he was going to deny it, especially after what she had said. Jake sighed heavily and walked up to them.

"Speak of the devil," Unique said, glancing at him in disapproval and nudging Marley, who looked up from her tray and stopped pushing her salad around on her plate.  
"What do you want, Jake?" Marley asked, a hint of annoyance in her tone. Jake was the last person she wanted to be talking to at the moment.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go get pizza or something after we work on the project this afternoon," Jake told her.

This caught Marley off guard. She thought that the extent of them being together would be to rehearse the scene they were doing. "Uh…yeah sure. I guess so." She said, doubtful that this would end well.

"Great! I'll see you tonight." Jake then turned to walk off to join his friends. Unique looked at Marley, shaking her head in disapproval.

"What?" Marley asked.  
"That sounds an awful lot like a date to me," Unique said.

"Trust me, it's not a date," the brunette tried to convince her friend, "It's just two people hanging out with each other."  
"And may I ask you what play you two are using for your project?"  
"Romeo & Juliet. It's not like it means anything, though."  
"Sure it doesn't mean anything," Unique stated, the sarcasm clear in her voice.

"I'm not going to let myself fall for him," Marley tried to convince her friend, "I know not to get involved with someone like him."

"Good," Unique said, "So, you know that musical auditions are next Friday, right?"  
"Of course I do," Marley replied, "They're doing Footloose this year."  
"Are you auditioning for it?"  
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Marley told her friend. Everyone who knew Marley knew that she was very passionate about performing arts – singing, dancing, and acting – she loved all of it. She hoped to go to a performing arts college once she graduated high school.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Jake slumped into his seat at his regular lunch table. He looked up just in time to see Kitty Wilde walking over to him. "You wanna hang out tonight?" Kitty asked him, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, "We'll have a lot of fun. I can guarantee that." She leaned in closer to him.  
"Sorry Kitty," Jake said, "As much as I'd love to fool around with you, I have a project to work on for English."  
"Since when do you actually care about school?" Kitty asked, "Don't tell me that the loser you're working with talked some sense into you."  
"It's just a project," Jake told her.

"Then why are you acting like it's so important? Unless you're actually starting to like her."  
"What makes you think that?"  
"Because Jake Puckerman never has school work as his number one priority," Kitty pointed out.

"Me? Like Marley? Slim chance that will ever happen."  
"You can deny it as much as you want, but I think you have a soft spot for her. I doubt you'll actually admit it though. Look, you can rehearse sappy romantic scenes with her all you want, but when you're looking for a good time, call me." With that, Kitty got up and went to re-join her cheerleader friends.

Jake sat there for a few minutes taking in what she said. Was she actually right? Was he starting to actually like Marley? He shrugged it off. They were just working on this silly English project together. Nothing more than that.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hey everyone! I'm glad you all love this so far. This chapter is a little different, as I start with what happens at the end, flash back to the other things that happen, and end up back where I started. The italicized part is the flashback to earlier that night.

_Chapter Four_

There were a bunch of things Marley Rose never expected would happen. Jake Puckerman kissing her would be one of them.

Marley stood on her porch shocked, unable to move as she watched Jake walk away. She watched as he got into his car and backed out of the driveway. She stayed frozen for a few more minutes before she shook it off and walked into her house.

Jake had kissed her.

She walked up to her bedroom in a daze, replaying the night's events in her head.

_Jake held the door open for Marley as they walked into the pizza parlor. "Thank you," she said, entering the building. This was strange. Jake had been acting…different today. First, he asked her to go to dinner with him after they worked on their project, then he did a really convincing performance while they read through the scene. Perhaps a bit too convincing._

_And now he was being a complete gentleman to her. This is definitely not the Jake Puckerman Marley had come to know over the years, but she liked it._

_They slid into a booth in the corner of the parlor, taking seats across from each other. The waitress came over to take their order. "Hi, I'm Tina," she said, "I'll be your waitress tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?"_

_"I'll have water with lemon," Marley told her._

_"I'll have a coke," Jake said. The waitress wrote down their orders and walked away. "I think this project is going really well," he said, looking at Marley._

_"Yeah, it is," Marley nodded in agreement, "I'm impressed with you. Two days ago, you were completely opposed to even doing a scene from Romeo & Juliet and now you're basically a pro at this. What gives?"  
"Nothing. I just figured I'd give my best effort this time around since you won't let me slack off."  
"Because slacking off gets you nowhere," Marley pointed out, "But I think we'll really impress everyone when we perform it in class on Monday."  
"I totally agree," Jake said. Tina came back over and set their drinks down on the table.  
"Are you ready to order?" she asked._

_"Yeah, we are," Jake turned to speak to her, "We'll have a large pepperoni pizza."  
"Anything else?"  
"That's it," he told her. Tina nodded, collected their menus and walked off again. Jake watched as Marley took the lemon that was placed on the rim of her glass and squeezed it so that the lemon juice went into the water. "So, I know this is probably a touchy subject for you, but the first day we worked together, you mentioned that your dad died two years ago. How did it happen? If you don't want to answer, you don't have to. I'm just curious."  
"No, it's okay. I'll tell you," Marley took a deep breath, "It was opening night of the musical two years ago. I had gotten a small supporting role in it. My parents came to see me in it that night. Well, we were driving home after the musical and as we went through one of the intersections, another driver lost control of their car and hit ours in a head-on collision. I got out of it relatively unharmed. I had a few broken ribs, but since I was in the back seat, I avoided most of the damage caused on impact. My mom survived too. They had to keep her in the hospital overnight, but she ended up being fine. But…my dad wasn't so lucky. The driver's side got the most damage. The impact caused a lot of internal bleeding and the airbag crushed his lungs. Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe and he was never able to pull through it."_

_Marley's face was solemn after that and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. It was always painful to relive that memory and tell people what happened to her father, but for some reason, she felt completely okay telling Jake about it._

_"I can't imagine going through something like that," Jake said, "I'm sorry."  
"Don't be. It's been two years since it happened. I don't need people's sympathy anymore. It's just…a part of my life that I try not to think about a lot. Obviously, I'll always have the memory of him, but I like to push what happened that night to the back of my mind because it's too painful to relive." _

_Before Jake could say anything in response to it, Tina came over with their pizza and set it on the table. "Enjoy your meal!" she exclaimed before going to attend to one of the other customers. Each of them took a slice of pizza and put it on their plate._

_"This pizza is very good," Marley said after taking a bite of her slice._

_"It is," Jake agreed._

_The pair of them continued to eat their pizza in silence, but it was a comfortable silence._

_Marley glanced over at Jake. So, maybe he wasn't as bad as she thought. He was actually a really nice guy despite having the womanizer reputation at school. He seemed to really care what she thought. And he wasn't being a jerk like her was the first time they had gotten together for this project. And she maybe, kinda, sorta grew to like him over the course of the night. Jake caught her looking at him, and she quickly flashed him a smile._

_After they finished eating and Tina brought the bill over to them, Jake insisted that he pay. "Marley, let me pay," he told her.  
"No, I got it," she said._

_"It wouldn't be right to make you pay on a date."  
"But this isn't a date."  
"Whatever you say," he said, "But I still think it's a date." He placed some dollar bills on the table before Marley could protest anymore. Tina came back over and Jake handed her the bill and the money.  
"Do you need any change?" Tina asked.  
"No. Keep it," Jake told her._

_Jake and Marley walked out of the restaurant and over to where Jake's car was parked. He opened the passenger side door for her. "Thank you," she said, stepping into the car. Jake walked around to the driver's side, got in and turned on the ignition._

_Jake turned up the volume on the radio. He went to change the channel when he heard a Taylor Swift song playing. "I love this song," Marley said as she stared out the window. Jake pulled his hand away from the knob used to change the channel and Marley began to sing along with it._

My mind forgets to remind me

You're a bad idea

You touch me once and it's really something

You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be

_Jake glanced at Marley as he came to a set of stoplights. She had a really pretty voice. As the light turned green and he continued to drive towards her house, the song ended. "You're a great singer," he told her._

_"Thanks." Marley blushed at the compliment, but it was too dark for Jake to notice._

_A few minutes later, they arrived at her house. Marley got out of the car and turned around to say something, but Jake was already out of the car to. "Let me walk you to your house."  
"You don't have to."  
"But I want to." He walked alongside her as they walked up the sidewalk and the stairs onto the porch. Marley turned to face Jake.  
"I had fun tonight," she said._

_"Me too."  
"Thanks for taking me out."_

_"You're welcome." Jake stared at Marley a little bit. He had never noticed how pretty she was before; maybe because he was too busy judging her for what little he actually knew about her. The way the porch light hit her made her look even prettier._

_Before he knew what he was doing, Jake leaned in and kissed her. It was a soft, sweet kiss but it felt right. As he pulled away, he caught the stunned expression on Marley's face. "Jake…" was all she was able to say._

_"Goodnight Marley," he said and then walked away, leaving the brunette standing there, very confused about what had just happened._

Marley smiled as she changed into her pajamas and got under her covers. She didn't quite know what to make of the kiss and why it had happened, but she liked it. She really, really liked it. She couldn't be falling for him…but yet, she couldn't get him out of her mind. There were so many conflicting thoughts going through her head. But, as she drifted into sleep that night, there was a smile still on her face.


End file.

Glee, Angst, Romance