Chapter 1: Changes
"It's only a matter of time..."
Cora's POV
Summer comes and goes, friends leave, you grow older, you forget. But if there was one thing I knew would never change it was the friendship I shared with the two most important people in my life.
Finn Hudson. The goofy kid who always made me laugh, who cheered me up when no else could. The one who I could trust with anything. He knew just the right things to say, he cared. You didn't have to wonder what kind of person he was. You just knew. He didn't hide things, and he felt more deeply for other people than anyone I knew.
Noah Puckerman. The one who would fight to protect you no matter what it cost him. He stood up to kids twice his size and didn't flinch. He never second guessed himself. He was confident, strong, seemed to know exactly who he was and what he wanted. He'd challenge you at times, he'd annoy me, tease me mercilessly until Finn made him back off. But despite how he presented himself, Noah Puckerman had a soft side, a side he didn't let anyone see. But over the years I had chipped away at the facade he always played, and I got to really know him, and underneath it all, I discovered he was the strongest person I knew.
Cora stood in the middle of the two ninth graders. This was it. They had made it to High School. Cora's eyes were opened wide as she looked at McKinley High. The building was enormous, so much different than McKinley Middle School where the three of them had been just months ago. It's not like it was whole new school, but it was already feeling a lot different to her.
Puck elbowed her and Cora was snapped out of her daze. "What was that for?" she demanded.
"We just gonna stand here all day?" Puck replies. He gestures towards the building. "It's not gonna get any smaller guys."
Finn leans towards me, bending down to reach my ear. "You think it's too late to go back?"
"I'll go if you go" Cora replies.
"Hey, no one's going anywhere" Puck says. He strides over to us and wraps his arms around us, pulling us towards the building. "Time for us to face this thing head on. We stick together and we'll be fine."
Cora smiles a little, feeling a little bit better. He was right. The three of them could face anything high school had to throw at them. "Thanks Puck that makes me feel a lot…." Cora stopped short as she realized Puck was suddenly gone. "What… where'd he…" Cora glanced across the courtyard to see Puck already talking up some girl. No. Not some girl. Quinn Fabray. Cora felt her blood begin to boil. Finn seemed to sense it instantly and stepped in front of her, blocking her view.
"Hey" Finn says. "Fresh start remember?"
She thought back to the long conversation she'd had with Finn just a few days before the end of summer vacation. Puck had no idea of the history between the two girls, despite how close he and Cora were. She'd told Finn, but never Puck. No, if she told Puck he would have looked at her different. And that was the last thing she wanted. If there was one thing that would make Puck instantly uninterested from a girl it was them being some emotionally unstable, insecure wreck. No she needed to keep putting on a brave face, pretending like everything was fine. That she was just as confident as he was. That was the only way she would ever get him interested in her. Of course Finn had no idea. She had kept her crush for Puck secret for a long time. She'd have to, she didn't want to ruin their little group, but at the same time, there was part of her that hoped that one day Puck would see her different.
"Let's just go" Cora says. Let Puck be Puck.
It was nearing lunch time when Puck finally met up with them again. By this point Cora was seething, but she took it out on her food, not wanting to engage with Puck. She expected him to skip class, that was normal, but she didn't expect him to barely acknowledge her when they passed in the halls.
"There you guys are" Puck said as he slid into the seat. "Is this place great or what?"
"Dude it's only the first day" Finn scoffed.
She doesn't say a word, just continues to murder her spaghetti.
"Is it really that bad?" Puck questions as he glances over at her.
"It's fine" Cora replies bitterly.
"Is there something I'm missing here?" Puck asks as he looks between the two of them. Finn shrugs and Cora scoots her plate away.
"Just not all that hungry" Cora answers. She didn't want to seem upset, not yet at least. It was only the first day, maybe she was wrong, it would take a week tops before Puck got bored with seeing all the same faces and came back to their little group.
"I'll take it" Puck says quickly as he takes the tray and begins to wolf down the food. Halfway through he stops chewing and swallows hard. "I was wrong. This sucks." He pushes it back across the table.
Cora smirks a little at that. That's right, it does suck. Things aren't as great as you think they are at first huh Puck? It's only a matter a time. She repeats this to herself over and over until the bell signaling the end of lunch rings.
End of chapter 1! Please comment your thoughts! Much more to come! Just warming up!