Coming of Age in Lima: Chapter 14
Chapter 14. In which this turns into a song-fic, Mr Schue gets a clue, and nothing ends neatly.
I’ll admit, Puck’s suggestion of just skipping out on the whole thing was tempting. The audience was packed. I don’t care what Rachel said, you could see a hell of a lot more than four rows from where I was standing. And then the drums kicked off, and I didn’t have my own heart beat any more, just the vibrations of the bass drum thudding through me. And then Artie came in on guitar, just the right sound all thick and angry, and I thought ‘How often am I ever going to get the chance to be a rock star?’ I let out a little yell, just like Joan would, and then I stepped forwards, my left leg stamping the beat, and I jumped right in.
“Midnight, gettin' uptight. Where are you?
You said you'd meet me, now it's quarter to two
I know I'm hangin' but I'm still wantin' you.”
Then Santana stepped up beside me, and if I thought I was a rock star I was dead wrong. Her movements were sharp, and angry, and her voice had that little edge of danger to it.
“Hey, Jack, It's a fact they're talkin' in town.
I turn my back and you're messin' around.
I'm not really jealous, don't like lookin' like a clown.
I think of you ev'ry night and day.”
And then we leaned in together, out voices blending as we sang -
“ You took my heart, then you took my pride away.”
- turning the notes and pulling ours lips back until our teeth showed.
Then we peeled away from each other, stepping back and giving Kurt the stage. His voice was clear, singing in his usual range.
“I've been lonely,
I've been waiting for you.
I'm pretending, and that's all I can do.
The love I'm sending
Ain't making it through to your heart.”
We’d had to speed up to make it fit with ‘I Hate Myself’, but that didn’t keep Kurt from putting his all into it, moving his hands as he stretched a note, turning his head into the spotlight like he was a cat trying to rub against sunlight.
Quinn stepped into place beside him, and her voice was a touch lower than his, low and moody. I don’t know how to describe her voice, it’s like it arches, like she’s giving you that look that lets you know that you’re just not good enough.
“You've been hiding, never letting it show,
Always trying to keep it under control.
You got it down and you're well
On the way to the top.
But there's something that you forgot.”
Santana and I kicked back in, backed up with the guys, our voices loud and cranky, taking up space with sound just like we took over the stage with our bodies.
“I hate myself for loving you .
Can't break free from the, the things that you do.
I wanna walk but I run back to you, that's why
I hate myself for loving you .”
Puck had the next few lines, and to give him credit, he could move when he wanted to, smooth and slow across the stage. He was always good at anything that involved his body.
“Daylight, spent the night without you.
But I've been dreamin' 'bout the lovin' you do.
I won't be as angry 'bout the hell you put me through.”
I cut in there, taking over the lines and pointing at him, pushing him across the stage as I sang.
“Hey, man, bet you can treat me right.
You just don't know what you was missin' last night.
I wanna see your face and say forget it just from spite.”
He grinned at me, but I just didn’t have the time to think about it, about what was going on with us, because my body had started buzzing and nothing was going to get between me and this performance.
I almost missed Artie’s lined completely, too caught up in dancing and singing to focus on anything outside of my own body, and how good this felt.
“I can't tell you what you're feeling inside.
I can't sell you what you don't want to buy.
Something's missing and you got to
Look back on your life.
You know something here just ain't right.
That was the cue, the cue for us to fold away into two different groups, half of us singing the chorus for ‘I Hate Myself’, yelling it and chanting it out over the audience.
“I hate myself for loving you .
Can't break free from the, the things that you do.
I wanna walk but I run back to you, that's why
I hate myself for loving you.”
The other half stood at an angle, so they were singing at us but their voices carried out into the auditorium, belting out a fast version of ‘What About Love’s chorus, winding up and around and through our anger, getting right in deep and grabbing at our chests.
“What about love
Don't you want someone to care about you
What about love
Don't let it slip away
What about love
I only want to share it with you.”
And then we repeated, and we built, right up until we hit just the right sound, and then we stopped, frozen still in our struts and out posturing, and the music died down around us.
It was in that brief moment that stretched forever as the song ended that I finally spotted Mr Schue in the audience. He had a smile on his face, like he couldn’t believe that we had done this to him again. My eyes travelled to the side. He was sitting between Miss Pillsbury, and a blond guy who slouched next to him, looking bored. If he wasn’t Bryan the crack-head Ryan, he must have been a stunt double.
Then we were moving and shuffling and reorganising ourselves. That hard part for most of us was over, we had time to catch our breath, keeping to simple harmonies and the occasional shift in unison of bodies as Mercedes stood front and centre, and sang her fucking massive heart out.
“ I'm gettin' tired of your shit.
You don't never buy me nothin'.”
I watched Mr Schue as she sang
“I think ya better call Tyrone
And Tell him come on,
Help you get your Shit.”
We chimed in, singing, “Come On, Come on.”
“You need to Call Tyrone
And tell him I said come on.
Now every time I ask you for a little cash,
You say no and turn right around and ask me for some-”
Judging by the way Mr Schue and Miss Pillsbury raised their eyebrows, they could pick the word we’d cut out. But hey, we weren’t interested in going back to celibacy club anytime soon.
“Oh, Well hold up.
Listen partner,
I ain't no cheap thrill.
Cause Mercedes is always comin' for real,
And you know the deal.”
Mercedes was amazing, and just... it was like she stretched, filling up the space with her warm voice and just a hint of sass. She cut loose at the end, ripping out some runs before her last lyric, because you just couldn’t hold Mercedes back like that.
And the audience loved that. She got cheers and stomping, and while she later attributed that to her brothers and their friends, it was still pretty fucking good.
And then Mercedes stepped back, shuffling into line next to Kurt, and I moved to the back between Mike and Puck. Rachel had been very specific about what order we should stand in. It was like that scene in Sister Act. And then Rachel stepped forwards, her hands clasped in front of her, as one note was played over and over again on the piano. I could tell by the way she held her head that she was giving the audience her ‘I’m very sweet and a little shy’, smile, the one she used when she wanted to knock someone off their feet later. And then she put her shoulders back, and lifted her head, and opened her mouth.
“ Some say love, it is a river,
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor,
that leaves your soul to bleed.”
My mom sang that song, usually when she was vacuuming. I tried to find her in the audience and couldn’t. She was probably up the back somewhere. Then I turned back to Mr Schue, who was sitting nice and neatly in the fourth row. Did he know about Rachel’s theory of how far you could see from the stage?
“It's the heart afraid of breaking,
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking,
that never takes the chance.”
He had his hand over his mouth, his eyes travelling over us as we sang. We sounded good, I knew it. Rachel had made sure of it. I saw Miss Pillsbury shift, and it looked like perhaps she had reached over and taken his hand.
“When the night has been too lonely,
and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only,
for the lucky and the strong,”
He got it. I knew he got it by the way his eyes slid closed, that line that appeared between his eyebrows. I knew it by the way Miss Pillsbury looked at us with those big eyes of hers, them shining even more than usual.
“ Just remember in the winter,
far beneath the bitter snows,
lies the seed,
that with the sun's love,
in the spring,
becomes the rose.”
The audience clapped, and for the first time I actually looked out at them, looked at the faces of people I didn’t know. They were smiling, and Miss Pillsbury had even gotten to her feet and was giving us a very sweet standing ovation. Mr Schue sat there, staring at us with his hand over his mouth, and his boyfriend had his head lolled back, staring at the ceiling and looking like he had fallen asleep, or maybe died.
Rachel took her bow, and then turned and gestured us forwards. We had been ordered to stand and wait for it. Mercedes stood next to her, and got her recognition, and then we all stepped into line, bowing just like Rachel had taught us. We filed off stage, and into the warm darkness of the wings.
*
“You guys,” Mr Schue said, standing in the doorway with his stern face on, “suck at keeping promises.” We all froze for a moment, wondering how much trouble we were in. And then his face split into a grin. “But you were fabulous! Oh my god, I couldn’t believe it.”
We let out sighs of relief, and congratulated each other, ranging from slaps on the back to hugging and squealing. Rachel gave Mr Schue a hug, and he lifted her up off the ground, making her laugh. Then I hugged him, and lifted him up and spun him around, making him laugh and sound a little giddy.
“Is there even any point in me telling you not to do that again? I’m going to have to put little shock collars on you all.” We were wild and playful and so damn glad - no one had booed, no one had thrown fruit. We were all so thrilled that at first we didn’t notice Mr Schue reaching into his jacket, and pulling out that damn mobile.
“Mr Schue,” I said, reaching out and grabbing it from his hands. “Please don’t take this the wrong way.” I meant to just turn it off, have him just to ourselves for a while.
But then Puck snatched it from my hand, and dropped it into a glass of water. “No mobiles during class,” he said. We all stared at Mr Schue’s mobile, still vibrating in the water as little bubbles of air escaped from its casing. That struck us as painfully funny, and we couldn’t help laughing. Mr Schue didn’t even seem that mad.
“I expect you to get me a new one,” he said.
“Maybe I’ll get you one that isn’t a million years old,” Puck replied. “I know a guy who can get you an almost genuine Rolex, too.”
Then parents started coming in, hugging and kissing. Kurt’s dad told me that I was great, and mom gave me a crushing hug and told me how proud she was of me before going over and doing the exact same thing to Quinn. Quinn put a hand on mom’s shoulder, and held her there for just a little while. I wondered if her own mom had come to watch.
“You were really good out there,” Puck said, punching me in the arm.
“You were almost good yourself,” I replied, grinning and peeling my gloves off. My hair was sticking up with sweat now, as well as the four different kinds of gel Kurt had put in there.
“I mean it,” Puck said, looking me in the eye. “You’re amazing.”
I stared at him. We were best friends, had been best friends since we were practically embryos. I think that was the first time that he had ever said something that nice to me that wasn’t hidden in an insult, or coupled with a noogie. And as I stared at him, he leaned up and kissed me.
Just a neat press of his lips to mine, his mouth a little off centre. It was completely unlike the kisses I’d seen him trading with Santana that were all tongues and grinding. He pulled away, and then turned and yelled something across the room to Mercedes, and then he was back in the crowd, laughing and shoving and teasing.
Sometimes it was like he was two different people. And I wondered why I’d only noticed that recently.
*
I wish I could say that everything changed after that, but nothing is ever that simple.
Mr Schue did break up with his boyfriend, though I think it had less to do with our epic song list of romantic inspiration, and more to do with them getting into a fight at the Shop And Save and Bryan taking a swing at him. I’ve heard that he’s been seen turning up to school with Miss Pillsbury a few times, but then Puck says that he’s sleeping on Coach Tanaka’s couch. I don’t think it matters; he looks a lot happier now, and I think he’s showering us with new songs and routines as a kind of punishment for the stunt we pulled.
Coach Sylvester did find out about Quinn being pregnant. Quinn told her herself after Invitationals, told her that she’d been kicked out of home, and that with the changes her body was going through she wouldn’t be able to stay on the team. She didn’t want to hurt their chances at Nationals. Coach had stared at her for a long time, and then told her that she wished that more of her Cheerios had the mindset of putting the team first. Quinn is still on the squad, until she starts showing, and then she’ll take over some off the field duties, be assistant coach (apparently that mainly involves doing laundry, and applying massive amounts of first aid to people). Apparently Coach already has a fitness regime worked out to help her get rid of her baby body.
I’ve got no idea if it’s related or not, but a day later Puck was suspended from the football team. Something to do with his bad grades, and his disruptive nature, and rumours that he’d been associating with drug dealers. He was pissed as hell, ready to tear Figgins a new one. But Mr Schue held him back, and told him to calm down, and not make things worse. So Puck has a lot more free time now. He even spends some of it studying, so he can get back on the squad. He’s still in Glee, which is good. I think he really likes it, though he’ll never admit it. And he spends a lot of his free time with me, just hanging out like we used to.
As for me... I don’t think about Mr Schue so much. I mean, he’s still my favourite teacher, and I still like Spanish the best. But I just think, my life is so crazy right now (Quinn’s started throwing up on a regular basis, Miss Pillsbury is talking to me about college, Kurt wants me to wear skirts...). And Mr Schue was a pretty crazy guy to fall for. Like Mercedes said, anything that involved a crack-head boyfriend was going to get messy. Anyway, who would honestly think that anything would happen between a teacher and his student? Deluded people, that’s who.
I’m actually pretty busy now. Basketball is starting up soon, so I have pre-season training once a week. And Coach Tanaka is trying to push Figgins to make the school team co-ed this year. He says that since there are less co-ed teams in the area, we’ll have less competition, and that any all-male teams we play might go a bit soft when it comes to shoving a chick over. Plus, he says that I’ve shown more aggression in the halls than half of the football team do on the field. And Rachel still drags me off at least once a week for a singing lesson. She’s a good teacher, because she doesn’t let me hold back. I don’t know when exactly we became cool again, but it happened. She gave me all of these pamphlets of safe sex and ‘The Healthy Guide to Knowing Your Body’. She’s worse than my mom sometimes.
And as for me and Puck... In the end I talked to my mom about it. I mean, I’d never even thought about Puck that way, and now he was damn well making sure that I did. And he was my best friend and he got Quinn pregnant, and hell, maybe of the two of them Mr Schue was the least messed up option, and that was saying something. She said,
“Fiona, honey, you’re going to make mistakes in your life. But the biggest mistake is always going to be not taking the risk in the first place. Do what feels right. Also, be sure to let Puck know that if he knocks up a second girl under my roof, I’m going to tie him to the hood of my car, and give him a vasectomy by driving through rose bushes.”
My mom? Totally awesome.
So that’s where we’re up to. Puck and I are maybe trying something. Quinn is keeping her baby. Artie and Tina are dating, though they think they’re keeping it secret. And Kurt is walking around like he’s in mourning, because his dad cut his clothing allowance after his grades started sliding. We’re going to try for Sectionals, though I have no idea how we’re going to go. Rachel wants us to win, and win by a long shot. But I think the rest of us are just happy the way we are. We’ve had a crazy few months, but we’re all the better for it. We’re friends, we’re stronger than we used to be.
And people have finally stopped trying to make me wear lip gloss.
The End.
Master Post
I’ll admit, Puck’s suggestion of just skipping out on the whole thing was tempting. The audience was packed. I don’t care what Rachel said, you could see a hell of a lot more than four rows from where I was standing. And then the drums kicked off, and I didn’t have my own heart beat any more, just the vibrations of the bass drum thudding through me. And then Artie came in on guitar, just the right sound all thick and angry, and I thought ‘How often am I ever going to get the chance to be a rock star?’ I let out a little yell, just like Joan would, and then I stepped forwards, my left leg stamping the beat, and I jumped right in.
“Midnight, gettin' uptight. Where are you?
You said you'd meet me, now it's quarter to two
I know I'm hangin' but I'm still wantin' you.”
Then Santana stepped up beside me, and if I thought I was a rock star I was dead wrong. Her movements were sharp, and angry, and her voice had that little edge of danger to it.
“Hey, Jack, It's a fact they're talkin' in town.
I turn my back and you're messin' around.
I'm not really jealous, don't like lookin' like a clown.
I think of you ev'ry night and day.”
And then we leaned in together, out voices blending as we sang -
“ You took my heart, then you took my pride away.”
- turning the notes and pulling ours lips back until our teeth showed.
Then we peeled away from each other, stepping back and giving Kurt the stage. His voice was clear, singing in his usual range.
“I've been lonely,
I've been waiting for you.
I'm pretending, and that's all I can do.
The love I'm sending
Ain't making it through to your heart.”
We’d had to speed up to make it fit with ‘I Hate Myself’, but that didn’t keep Kurt from putting his all into it, moving his hands as he stretched a note, turning his head into the spotlight like he was a cat trying to rub against sunlight.
Quinn stepped into place beside him, and her voice was a touch lower than his, low and moody. I don’t know how to describe her voice, it’s like it arches, like she’s giving you that look that lets you know that you’re just not good enough.
“You've been hiding, never letting it show,
Always trying to keep it under control.
You got it down and you're well
On the way to the top.
But there's something that you forgot.”
Santana and I kicked back in, backed up with the guys, our voices loud and cranky, taking up space with sound just like we took over the stage with our bodies.
“I hate myself for loving you .
Can't break free from the, the things that you do.
I wanna walk but I run back to you, that's why
I hate myself for loving you .”
Puck had the next few lines, and to give him credit, he could move when he wanted to, smooth and slow across the stage. He was always good at anything that involved his body.
“Daylight, spent the night without you.
But I've been dreamin' 'bout the lovin' you do.
I won't be as angry 'bout the hell you put me through.”
I cut in there, taking over the lines and pointing at him, pushing him across the stage as I sang.
“Hey, man, bet you can treat me right.
You just don't know what you was missin' last night.
I wanna see your face and say forget it just from spite.”
He grinned at me, but I just didn’t have the time to think about it, about what was going on with us, because my body had started buzzing and nothing was going to get between me and this performance.
I almost missed Artie’s lined completely, too caught up in dancing and singing to focus on anything outside of my own body, and how good this felt.
“I can't tell you what you're feeling inside.
I can't sell you what you don't want to buy.
Something's missing and you got to
Look back on your life.
You know something here just ain't right.
That was the cue, the cue for us to fold away into two different groups, half of us singing the chorus for ‘I Hate Myself’, yelling it and chanting it out over the audience.
“I hate myself for loving you .
Can't break free from the, the things that you do.
I wanna walk but I run back to you, that's why
I hate myself for loving you.”
The other half stood at an angle, so they were singing at us but their voices carried out into the auditorium, belting out a fast version of ‘What About Love’s chorus, winding up and around and through our anger, getting right in deep and grabbing at our chests.
“What about love
Don't you want someone to care about you
What about love
Don't let it slip away
What about love
I only want to share it with you.”
And then we repeated, and we built, right up until we hit just the right sound, and then we stopped, frozen still in our struts and out posturing, and the music died down around us.
It was in that brief moment that stretched forever as the song ended that I finally spotted Mr Schue in the audience. He had a smile on his face, like he couldn’t believe that we had done this to him again. My eyes travelled to the side. He was sitting between Miss Pillsbury, and a blond guy who slouched next to him, looking bored. If he wasn’t Bryan the crack-head Ryan, he must have been a stunt double.
Then we were moving and shuffling and reorganising ourselves. That hard part for most of us was over, we had time to catch our breath, keeping to simple harmonies and the occasional shift in unison of bodies as Mercedes stood front and centre, and sang her fucking massive heart out.
“ I'm gettin' tired of your shit.
You don't never buy me nothin'.”
I watched Mr Schue as she sang
“I think ya better call Tyrone
And Tell him come on,
Help you get your Shit.”
We chimed in, singing, “Come On, Come on.”
“You need to Call Tyrone
And tell him I said come on.
Now every time I ask you for a little cash,
You say no and turn right around and ask me for some-”
Judging by the way Mr Schue and Miss Pillsbury raised their eyebrows, they could pick the word we’d cut out. But hey, we weren’t interested in going back to celibacy club anytime soon.
“Oh, Well hold up.
Listen partner,
I ain't no cheap thrill.
Cause Mercedes is always comin' for real,
And you know the deal.”
Mercedes was amazing, and just... it was like she stretched, filling up the space with her warm voice and just a hint of sass. She cut loose at the end, ripping out some runs before her last lyric, because you just couldn’t hold Mercedes back like that.
And the audience loved that. She got cheers and stomping, and while she later attributed that to her brothers and their friends, it was still pretty fucking good.
And then Mercedes stepped back, shuffling into line next to Kurt, and I moved to the back between Mike and Puck. Rachel had been very specific about what order we should stand in. It was like that scene in Sister Act. And then Rachel stepped forwards, her hands clasped in front of her, as one note was played over and over again on the piano. I could tell by the way she held her head that she was giving the audience her ‘I’m very sweet and a little shy’, smile, the one she used when she wanted to knock someone off their feet later. And then she put her shoulders back, and lifted her head, and opened her mouth.
“ Some say love, it is a river,
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor,
that leaves your soul to bleed.”
My mom sang that song, usually when she was vacuuming. I tried to find her in the audience and couldn’t. She was probably up the back somewhere. Then I turned back to Mr Schue, who was sitting nice and neatly in the fourth row. Did he know about Rachel’s theory of how far you could see from the stage?
“It's the heart afraid of breaking,
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking,
that never takes the chance.”
He had his hand over his mouth, his eyes travelling over us as we sang. We sounded good, I knew it. Rachel had made sure of it. I saw Miss Pillsbury shift, and it looked like perhaps she had reached over and taken his hand.
“When the night has been too lonely,
and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only,
for the lucky and the strong,”
He got it. I knew he got it by the way his eyes slid closed, that line that appeared between his eyebrows. I knew it by the way Miss Pillsbury looked at us with those big eyes of hers, them shining even more than usual.
“ Just remember in the winter,
far beneath the bitter snows,
lies the seed,
that with the sun's love,
in the spring,
becomes the rose.”
The audience clapped, and for the first time I actually looked out at them, looked at the faces of people I didn’t know. They were smiling, and Miss Pillsbury had even gotten to her feet and was giving us a very sweet standing ovation. Mr Schue sat there, staring at us with his hand over his mouth, and his boyfriend had his head lolled back, staring at the ceiling and looking like he had fallen asleep, or maybe died.
Rachel took her bow, and then turned and gestured us forwards. We had been ordered to stand and wait for it. Mercedes stood next to her, and got her recognition, and then we all stepped into line, bowing just like Rachel had taught us. We filed off stage, and into the warm darkness of the wings.
*
“You guys,” Mr Schue said, standing in the doorway with his stern face on, “suck at keeping promises.” We all froze for a moment, wondering how much trouble we were in. And then his face split into a grin. “But you were fabulous! Oh my god, I couldn’t believe it.”
We let out sighs of relief, and congratulated each other, ranging from slaps on the back to hugging and squealing. Rachel gave Mr Schue a hug, and he lifted her up off the ground, making her laugh. Then I hugged him, and lifted him up and spun him around, making him laugh and sound a little giddy.
“Is there even any point in me telling you not to do that again? I’m going to have to put little shock collars on you all.” We were wild and playful and so damn glad - no one had booed, no one had thrown fruit. We were all so thrilled that at first we didn’t notice Mr Schue reaching into his jacket, and pulling out that damn mobile.
“Mr Schue,” I said, reaching out and grabbing it from his hands. “Please don’t take this the wrong way.” I meant to just turn it off, have him just to ourselves for a while.
But then Puck snatched it from my hand, and dropped it into a glass of water. “No mobiles during class,” he said. We all stared at Mr Schue’s mobile, still vibrating in the water as little bubbles of air escaped from its casing. That struck us as painfully funny, and we couldn’t help laughing. Mr Schue didn’t even seem that mad.
“I expect you to get me a new one,” he said.
“Maybe I’ll get you one that isn’t a million years old,” Puck replied. “I know a guy who can get you an almost genuine Rolex, too.”
Then parents started coming in, hugging and kissing. Kurt’s dad told me that I was great, and mom gave me a crushing hug and told me how proud she was of me before going over and doing the exact same thing to Quinn. Quinn put a hand on mom’s shoulder, and held her there for just a little while. I wondered if her own mom had come to watch.
“You were really good out there,” Puck said, punching me in the arm.
“You were almost good yourself,” I replied, grinning and peeling my gloves off. My hair was sticking up with sweat now, as well as the four different kinds of gel Kurt had put in there.
“I mean it,” Puck said, looking me in the eye. “You’re amazing.”
I stared at him. We were best friends, had been best friends since we were practically embryos. I think that was the first time that he had ever said something that nice to me that wasn’t hidden in an insult, or coupled with a noogie. And as I stared at him, he leaned up and kissed me.
Just a neat press of his lips to mine, his mouth a little off centre. It was completely unlike the kisses I’d seen him trading with Santana that were all tongues and grinding. He pulled away, and then turned and yelled something across the room to Mercedes, and then he was back in the crowd, laughing and shoving and teasing.
Sometimes it was like he was two different people. And I wondered why I’d only noticed that recently.
*
I wish I could say that everything changed after that, but nothing is ever that simple.
Mr Schue did break up with his boyfriend, though I think it had less to do with our epic song list of romantic inspiration, and more to do with them getting into a fight at the Shop And Save and Bryan taking a swing at him. I’ve heard that he’s been seen turning up to school with Miss Pillsbury a few times, but then Puck says that he’s sleeping on Coach Tanaka’s couch. I don’t think it matters; he looks a lot happier now, and I think he’s showering us with new songs and routines as a kind of punishment for the stunt we pulled.
Coach Sylvester did find out about Quinn being pregnant. Quinn told her herself after Invitationals, told her that she’d been kicked out of home, and that with the changes her body was going through she wouldn’t be able to stay on the team. She didn’t want to hurt their chances at Nationals. Coach had stared at her for a long time, and then told her that she wished that more of her Cheerios had the mindset of putting the team first. Quinn is still on the squad, until she starts showing, and then she’ll take over some off the field duties, be assistant coach (apparently that mainly involves doing laundry, and applying massive amounts of first aid to people). Apparently Coach already has a fitness regime worked out to help her get rid of her baby body.
I’ve got no idea if it’s related or not, but a day later Puck was suspended from the football team. Something to do with his bad grades, and his disruptive nature, and rumours that he’d been associating with drug dealers. He was pissed as hell, ready to tear Figgins a new one. But Mr Schue held him back, and told him to calm down, and not make things worse. So Puck has a lot more free time now. He even spends some of it studying, so he can get back on the squad. He’s still in Glee, which is good. I think he really likes it, though he’ll never admit it. And he spends a lot of his free time with me, just hanging out like we used to.
As for me... I don’t think about Mr Schue so much. I mean, he’s still my favourite teacher, and I still like Spanish the best. But I just think, my life is so crazy right now (Quinn’s started throwing up on a regular basis, Miss Pillsbury is talking to me about college, Kurt wants me to wear skirts...). And Mr Schue was a pretty crazy guy to fall for. Like Mercedes said, anything that involved a crack-head boyfriend was going to get messy. Anyway, who would honestly think that anything would happen between a teacher and his student? Deluded people, that’s who.
I’m actually pretty busy now. Basketball is starting up soon, so I have pre-season training once a week. And Coach Tanaka is trying to push Figgins to make the school team co-ed this year. He says that since there are less co-ed teams in the area, we’ll have less competition, and that any all-male teams we play might go a bit soft when it comes to shoving a chick over. Plus, he says that I’ve shown more aggression in the halls than half of the football team do on the field. And Rachel still drags me off at least once a week for a singing lesson. She’s a good teacher, because she doesn’t let me hold back. I don’t know when exactly we became cool again, but it happened. She gave me all of these pamphlets of safe sex and ‘The Healthy Guide to Knowing Your Body’. She’s worse than my mom sometimes.
And as for me and Puck... In the end I talked to my mom about it. I mean, I’d never even thought about Puck that way, and now he was damn well making sure that I did. And he was my best friend and he got Quinn pregnant, and hell, maybe of the two of them Mr Schue was the least messed up option, and that was saying something. She said,
“Fiona, honey, you’re going to make mistakes in your life. But the biggest mistake is always going to be not taking the risk in the first place. Do what feels right. Also, be sure to let Puck know that if he knocks up a second girl under my roof, I’m going to tie him to the hood of my car, and give him a vasectomy by driving through rose bushes.”
My mom? Totally awesome.
So that’s where we’re up to. Puck and I are maybe trying something. Quinn is keeping her baby. Artie and Tina are dating, though they think they’re keeping it secret. And Kurt is walking around like he’s in mourning, because his dad cut his clothing allowance after his grades started sliding. We’re going to try for Sectionals, though I have no idea how we’re going to go. Rachel wants us to win, and win by a long shot. But I think the rest of us are just happy the way we are. We’ve had a crazy few months, but we’re all the better for it. We’re friends, we’re stronger than we used to be.
And people have finally stopped trying to make me wear lip gloss.
The End.
Master Post