Pucker Up
Puck looked around at the other members of Glee Club, and tried for the hundredth time to remember how he had gotten himself into this mess.
In one corner, Kurt was fixing his hair while offering Mercedes and Tina tips on how to apply make-up..."For a smoky eye ladies, you want to use a dark color and extend it past the lash line. Don't be afraid to be daring, but don't go too overboard or you'll end up looking like a fierce raccoon…"
Puck tried to shake that image out of his head. On the other side of the choir room, the football players were discussing the upcoming home-game. Finn was sitting in the back looking exhausted, and that weird girl, Rachel Berry, had her nose in some sheet music. She was attacking the paper with a pink highlighter, probably marking her multitude of solo parts Puck thought. Rachel was wearing a crisp, white shirt with a grey skirt that hit above the knee. Puck noted quickly that a blue slushie would contrast nicely with that blouse.
Scanning his eyes to the front of the room, Puck took note of where the Cheerios stood. Two of the three girls were giggling about something, while the third faked a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Quinn Fabray, she was the real reason why Puck was in this singing, dancing, and sometimes bedazzled (thanks to Kurt) hellhole. He wanted to be near her, but she wanted nothing to do with him.
Puck often wondered how his best buddy, Finn, could be so clueless about Quinn's situation. Puck wanted to recommend that Finn pay more attention in Biology class. Then he might know that you need some actual physical contact, (skin-to-skin, not bathing suit-to-bathing suit), to knock-up a girl. Even at this moment, Puck wanted to run over to Finn and shout in his best Maury Povich voice, "You are not the father," and then add a smug, "Because I am."
Puck resisted the urge because he didn't want to hurt Quinn any more than he already had.
"Good afternoon everyone," Mr. Schuester said as he entered the room and broke up Puck's line of thinking.
"As you know, we still have a lot of work to do if we want to be prepared for sectionals. Let's warm up our voices."
The glee members formed two sloppy lines in front of the piano and began to sing some scales.
After they were warmed up, Mr. Schu broke the class into three smaller groups with four members. All Puck heard was, "I want Rachel, Finn, Quinn, and Puck to form a group over there…"
Ugh, Puck groaned. He would rather be on the bottom of a pile-up on the football field then stuck in a group with the two solo-hogs and his icy-tempered baby mama.
Mr. Schu's instructions were simple, he wanted each group to pick a duet from a movie or musical and have two people sing the leads, while the other two sang back-up.
"You all get a half hour to practice. Your songs aren't going to be perfect, but I want you to really listen to each other. Find the best way to balance and blend your voices, while also trying to maximize your sound acoustically."
Puck took his time walking over to his group mates. Finn and Quinn were standing close to each other while Rachel was facing opposite them. Puck stood next to Rachel and kept his eyes glued to the floor. He knew this was going to be torture.
When no one spoke up, Rachel cleared her throat and said, "I think it would be spectacular if we picked a song from Les Miserables or Miss Saigon or West Side Story…you know one of the classics. I could be one of the leads of course, since I have pretty much every song memorized, my repertoire is very extensive…"
Puck saw Rachel's mouth continue to move, but he no longer comprehended the words. He just wondered how anyone had the capacity to speak so quickly.
"….and I think Finn's voice would be perfect for Tony, and I could play Maria" Rachel continued. In the very brief moment that she stopped talking to take in air, Puck jumped in. "We only have a little while to pick a song and rehearse. I think we should pick something that everyone knows."
Rachel seemed a bit shocked, "You guys don't know any of the songs from those musicals?" Her inquiry was met with blank stares. "Well, what movies or musical numbers helped form your youth?"
Finn rubbed some of the sleepiness from his eyes and said, "I liked to watch Disney movies. I have a lot of those songs memorized."
"Disney movies? You're kidding right?"
He wasn't kidding.
Half an hour later, their group was singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.
Rachel and Finn took the lead parts of course, while Quinn and Puck oohed and aahed in the background.
Puck noticed during their song that Rachel and Finn did not take their eyes off each other. Finn emphasized the word Princess in the line, "Now tell me Princess" almost as if he actually viewed Rachel as royalty.
Puck was disgusted by their blatant display. Finn should not be looking at Rachel that way when he was going to be a father. Okay, Puck mentally conceded that Finn wasn't actually going to be a father, but he didn't know that slight detail yet.
When they were finished, Mr. Schu praised the genuine feeling that was conveyed during the lead parts. Puck thought that the only genuine feeling he could detect from Finn was a hardening in his pants when he looked at Rachel. Puck almost felt sorry for the guy, since he knew that his best bud wasn't getting any from the ice queen.
Almost.
As they were packing up to leave, Puck noticed that Quinn had one hand to her stomach and she was holding very still. Since Finn was talking to Mr. Schu about some trouble he was having with choreography (like his inability to control his two left feet), Puck figured it was safe to walk over.
He whispered, "You okay."
Quinn refused to meet his eyes, but answered back, "Yeah, I'm just a little nauseated."
"You're not gonna toss your cookies right here are you?"
Quinn's head snapped up. "How sensitive of you. No, I think it'll pass."
Puck wanted to help so he said, "When I had stomachaches as a kid, my mom would give me flat ginger ale and saltine crackers. It usually made the nausea go away."
"Yeah well, thanks to you, my problem isn't going to go away for another seven months. And then eighteen years after that."
Puck didn't know how to respond, and he didn't get a chance to. Finn walked over and said, "Quinn babe, you okay?"
She gestured to her stomach, "You know, just the usual."
Finn reached for her arm, "Come on. I'll buy you a soda to help settle your stomach."
Quinn linked her arm in his, "Thanks Finn, you're so sweet." Quinn glanced over her shoulder and warned Puck with her eyes to keep his mouth shut.
Puck silently watched them leave. Intellectually, he knew why Quinn preferred being with Finn. She had pretty much told him why herself. She thought Puck was an irresponsible loser who wasn't going anywhere in life. Hell, half of the time he agreed with her, but that didn't make her comments hurt any less.
He may not be scholarship material, but Puck thought he did okay for himself. He had his pool cleaning business, he always paid his bills on time, and he went to school most days. Plus, he had a lot of skills he could teach to a kid, like playing guitar or football: skills that he had to learn for himself because his dad wasn't around.
While Puck wasn't necessarily ready to be a father, he was afraid that one day his kid would find out about the lie and hate him for it. Puck didn't want his kid to hate him. The only way to prevent that from happening was to get Quinn to tell the truth. It had to come from her; Puck needed her to acknowledge him in that way.
With resolve, Puck walked to his car and stashed his bag in the backseat. He had to come up with a way to convince Quinn that Finn was not the knight in shining armor that she thought he was.
While starting the engine, Puck saw Rachel Berry walk out the school doors. She was singing some song to herself, oblivious to the rest of the world. So oblivious that she walked in front of several moving vehicles which beeped at her to get out of the way.
An idea was beginning to form in Puck's head. He suddenly knew of a way to tarnish Finn in Quinn's eyes. His plan might be difficult, but he was determined to get Quinn to see that a knight in shining armor could come in a variety of different packages. Why, said knight could even be sporting a mohawk. Now somewhat relieved, Puck brushed one hand through the bristley patch of hair down the middle of his head and drove out of the lot.