It was the lead up to nationals and everyone in glee was getting really nervous. In a few weeks they would be flying out to New York to perform on stage and compete for the winning title. They had all worked so hard to get to where they were now and nobody was going to screw anything up for them, not even Sue. They had just finished putting together the last finishing touches to their set list, a lot of care and carefully planning and thought had gone into picking the right songs to showcase everyone's talent. Mike and Brittany had worked together to choreograph some kick ass routines and were working hard to make sure everyone knew the steps and turns. They were all practicing nonstop, in the auditorium, the choir room, round each others houses and even the dance studio. They were all putting every ounce of their being into making sure they won the title. The pressure was mounting. Everyone was being pushed to their limits.
The whole glee club had been practicing in the choir room for the best part of three hours on Wednesday after school. Rachel had demanded that they rehearse a particular tricky song for a solid hour until they all felt comfortable with it and Mr. Shu had then instructed that the boys were to go over the choreography for their second song choice with Mike, until Finn had picked it up. He was still as clumsy as ever when it came to dancing, much to everyone's annoyance. It was at the end of the third hour, after having then gone through the whole set list of songs in a run through when Noah needed to sit down for a bit, which was very unlike him. He was young lad who played football for the school team, who could run circles round any of the teachers and shag his was through the entire female population of the high school, without feeling the need to 'just sit down for a bit.'
The young Jock could feel a horrible headache brewing behind his temples and he knew if didn't sit down and chill out for a few moments it would only come on more quickly with more force as well. He rubbed his temples with his index and middles fingers as he set hunched over in his plastic chair, willing his head ache to pass. He didn't have any Tylenol him to help ease the ache in his skull, so he couldn't take any. He was baby sitting his little sister tonight and a headache was the last thing he needed when Sarah was around. He loved her to pieces but there was only so much he could take of her running around the house singing "do you want to build a snowman?" at the top of her voice. Ever since she had watched the new Disney movie Frozen with her best friend the other week in the cinema that was all she would sing. If he was in store for a night of the same five lines of a song being sung again and again by en eight year old, he really didn't want a headache to help him suffer more.
"Right okay guys, I think we will leave it there for today." Mr. Shu announced, placing his notes on top of the piano. "I will let you know in a few days time which hotel we will all be staying at once I've booked, now that I have all of your permission slips in." He looked towards Puck. The teen had only just handed his permission slip in to Mr. Shu that day. His mother had only just agreed to sign it the previous night. After the whole Juvie stint and Beth, she didn't really trust him to pop outside and take the trash out let alone let him stay in a hotel in another state for a few nights, in the busiest city. She swore that trouble followed him around and he was easily lead astray. It was true, he couldn't argue with that.
Grateful for choir practice to finally be over, Noah grabbed his bag and guitar and headed towards the door. He would head by 7/11 on his way home and grab himself an ice cold slushie, to help soothe the ache in his head. He wasn't needed to babysit until 7, so had a good hour to kill. Finn caught him at his locker, looking a little down and defeated. Mike had still been struggling to teach the lanky teen how to do a couple of steps, even after going through the same steps for a good hour. He stilled kept getting his long legs into a tangle.
"Hey Puck, do you think tonight you could come over and help to go over a few steps?" Finn asked. They were both long over the whole baby mama situation and back to being best friends. True, it had been a long difficult road to get down before they could finally put it all behind them. It had taken a lot of work on Puck's behalf to earn back the trust of his childhood friend. "It's just I don't want Mike to lose his patients with me and I know you've got them down."
"Sorry I can't tonight. I've got to babysit all night. My ma has got to do a night shift." Puck told him, apologetically.
"Oh okay, no worries man, maybe some other time?" Finn said, clapping Noah on the back as he walked off to no doubt find Rachel.
Noah grabbed a couple of books out of his locker the he needed that night to finish an essay. Homework was never something that he did, not before Juvie anyway. But since his stint in Juvie someone was always on his back to keep his grades up and if he wanted to keep on the football he needed to make sure he didn't fail a single class. English was soon to be a class that he was going to be failing. He wasn't into poems and Edgar Allan Poe, so he had skipped a few classes a couple of weeks back when this hot cheerleader chick had taken an interest in him. He was still the same Noah Puckerman. So now he had a few papers to turn in before the end of the week, no big deal.
He closed his locker after stuffing the books into his bag and headed out to his truck. He would never take his truck for granted again. After returning from Juvie, his mother had taken his keys and banned him from driving his truck for a few weeks, threatening to have it sold and make him take the bus too school until he graduated. However it turned out to be too much of an inconvenience for everyone when he couldn't drive. He couldn't pick Sarah up from school and he had to rely on his friends for lifts home after school from glee or football practice and his ma couldn't send him to the shops when they were out of milk or low on washing powder. When his ma handed the keys back to him it was under the condition that he behaved himself and didn't get into any more trouble. He frequently received texts and calls from his mother wanting to know exactly where he was and what he was up to and she would even give him a curfew. Since getting out of Juvie and after Beth, his mother had taken on a firmer approach when it came to parenting and he was too damn scared of her to argue. She was small but she was a very scary Jewish woman, who could cut you up with just words.
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As soon as he walked in to his home, he ditched his keys in the bowl by the front door on the side table and headed straight upstairs to his bedroom to ditch his bag and then to the bathroom. He could hear his ma and sister in their mother's room as the older woman got ready for work. Sarah would often sit on her bed with one of her dolls, watching as their mum got ready and talking about what she got up to at school that day. It was nice. It was often that their ma had to work night shifts, it was only the past year that she had started to work them. Night shifts meant more money and after paying Noah's lawyer fees they needed the extra cash. They daren't tell their Nana Connie about his stay in Juvie. She would soon help them with any financial difficulties, but she would also kill Noah when she knew about what he had done. She was a tough old woman. She would insist on sending Noah to military school to straighten him out or have him live with her.
Noah rummaged around in the bathroom cabinet and found some forgotten about Tylenol at the very back, popping the correct dosage in his mouth before cupping a handful of water in his hand and scooping it up towards his mouth. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and walked across the hall to his bedroom. He flopped down on top of his bead and closed his eyes, planning to take a nice little nap before his phone went off in his pocket.
It was Santana wanting to know if he was heading over to this party across town. He didn't even know the girl who was throwing the party. She was new in town and on the cheerleading team, trying to make a name for herself. He sent the Latina girl a quick and short text back saying "No thanks, baby sitting tonight" and switched his phone off. Even if he wasn't baby sitting that night, he wouldn't be going to the party. He hadn't been feeling right for a few days now. He couldn't quite describe what he was feeling. It wasn't sitting right, he didn't feel right and what made it worse was that he couldn't put his finger on it. It didn't feel like he was coming down with the flu or he was getting over a hangover. He dare not tell anyone incase they thought he was being weird. So he kept the weird, unsettling feeling to himself and hoped it would pass.
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An hour later Puck had woken from his light nap, feeling no better and still had a headache. He could hear Sarah downstairs, playing super Mario Kart on the Xbox, so he trudged downstairs to check up on her. She was sat on the sofa, with her legs crossed as she made her princess peach zoom past all the other players and chuck bananas out into their paths. Satisfied that she was okay, he went into the kitchen to put some dinner on for himself. Their ma had cooked Sarah and herself dinner before she left for work, so it was one less thing for him to worry about. He found a Pizza in the freezer and stuck onto a tray before whacking in the oven and setting the timer. He noticed that his mother had left him a note on the kitchen table.
Noah,
I've left some cheesecake in the fridge if you want some.
Please make sure Sarah finishes her Math homework
and gets started on her science project. She must be in
bed BEFORE 10PM as well! I know you let her stay up late
some nights!
Love you lots
- Ma xx
Great, cheesecake for dessert, Noah thought as he grabbed himself a plate out of the cupboard to put his Pizza on when it was finished in the oven. He then went into the fridge and pulled out the cheesecake his ma had left him and grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the door.
Fifteen minutes later, he was sat in the living room with his little sister, eating pizza and cheesecake while she played super Mario kart. It wasn't until he had finished eating and tidied his plates away did he get Sarah's bag from the kitchen and brought it into the living room, telling her to pause her game.
"But Noooah!" Sarah whined, realizing what Puck intended for her to do.
"No buts Sarah, mom told me to make sure you done your homework." Puck said, opening the bag and pulling out her homework and pencil case. "The quicker you do it, the quicker you can get back to playing your game."
"Fine." She huffed, pausing the game and jumping off the sofa. She took her stuff over to the coffee table and began to make herself comfortable.
"I'll even see if I can find some sweets if you can make a good start on your science project too." Noah promised her.
"Promise?" The little girl exclaimed.
"Of course." Noah smiled. "I'm just going upstairs to grab my stuff, I've got a few pieces of homework to do myself."
"Okay." Sarah said as she began to fill in boxes on her homework sheet with great concentration.
It wasn't until he left the living room and began ascending the stairs did the strange feeling he had been aware of for a few days began to increase. He could feel it beginning to overwhelm him, starting from toes and rising up through his body. He didn't like how it was making him feel. Once inside his bedroom, he closed his door and pressed his forehead against the back with his hands splayed out against the wood of the door. His eyes closed when a wave of light headedness crashed over him and threatened to take him down. He clung on desperately, stepping back from the door towards his bed, hoping he would reach it in time. He could feel something at his left arm, looking down he realized nothing was tugging at his arm. It was himself; his arm was involuntary twitching at his side. He tried so hard to make it stop, willed it to stop, but it wouldn't. He knew something was seriously wrong. Before he could shout down to Sarah to call their Ma, he crashed to the floor, dragged under by the sudden loss of consciousness, unable to do anything.
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Sarah looked up from her homework and trained her hearing to listen carefully to what was going on upstairs. She had sworn she had heard something crash upstairs, followed by a constant rhythmic thumping on the floor above her head. She carried on listening for a minute more, waiting to see if it carried on but it didn't. She shrugged her shoulders and carried on with her homework. No doubt Puck had knocked something over upstairs whilst practicing a few dance steps for glee. He often taught her a few of the dance routines if she was lucky.