To see Puckerman walk into the choir room with a still lit cigarette in his hand was a shock, to say the least. Not the smoking part-I introduced him to that in when I first met him, almost eight years ago now, when we were fourteen. But he'd always kept it off school grounds. Then again, he'd always been smart enough not to steal an ATM before.
What an idiot. He'd put us all in jeopardy-Quinn, Britts and I had spent weeks freaking out that out cover was blown. How he thought that taking an ATM would benefit us was beyond us, but t after all, he was expendable. Merely a pawn. But apparently pawns can be dangerous.
Puck had called us, from the police station. Told us he was in trouble. What kind of trouble? We'd asked frantically. I stole an ATM.
'What?'
'I told you. I stole an ATM. With that car you guys got me.'
'That car was stolen, you demented fuck!'
'Well, dust to dust I guess-'
'Even I wouldn't do that.'
'Yeah, even Brit wouldn't do that. Is your head screwed on straight?'
'Look, Satan, I've only got one minute of calls left. I need your help.'
'We can't help you. We're just teenagers, remember?'
'Can't you bust me out? Isn't that what you do?'
'Not if we want to stick around here for longer. And we do. We need to graduate.'
'Fuck you all.'
'Haven't you already?'
'Girls,' he takes the seat next to us, clenched jaw. 'How are we today?' Quinn purses her lips and I give him the bitch glare. Britney just folds her arms and stays silent, as instructed. 'Fine,' he huffs. 'But I saved your asses in juvi. Do you know how many kids in there asked me about you? You're famous in the drugs rings around here. Some of them knew your real names. If this is how you're going to thank me-'
'Thank you?' Quinn hisses. 'Why the hell would we thank you? You could've ruined everything! You covered for your own fucking mistake. We owe you nothing.' Puck opens his mouth, then closes it.
'Look, you said you were short on money, so-'
'We appreciate the gesture, Puckerman,' I force out scathingly. 'But thanks to you, we had to lay low on the shippings for a while, leaving us with less bucks than before. So please, don't try to help us unless we tell you to. It'll keep us all safe.'