Note: I've been out of the fic game for awhile, and this is my first stab at Glee. Admittedly, it was hard to really find the voices of these characters and I don't know how far I'll go with this fic because of it. All I can hope is that subsequent chapters will be easier, and better, than this one.
As always, I don't own anything other than the words written on the page. Characters, places, etc. belong to the writers of Glee.
Catholic School Girl
Chapter 1: Cursory Glance
She looked so different now than she once had.
He remembered dark pigtails that fell just behind her ears, mostly because he had spent so much of his time tearing at them during Sabbath school. Clunky framed glasses had unbalanced her tiny face, the thick lenses leaving her looking perpetually stunned. The knees that peaked from beneath the hems of awkward, homemade skirts had been covered in scrapes and scabs and all of the kids had called her Tina Knobby Knees – a name that Puck had thought himself quite clever for coining at the tender age of 5.
While the skirts – no longer enforced by her mother but by her school's dress code – had stayed the same, the rest had changed so much that it drew his gaze from across the manicured green separating their schools.
She sat alone at a picnic table, her dark hair – now long, and unbraided – lapping at the wind. Her legs were twisted, one over the other, but her posture had missed ladylike just enough to drive Puck's thoughts into a familiar place. A place that he knew a girl like her was unaware she could inspire.
Imagining the soft feel of that bit of exposed thigh under his fingers, however, twisted his insides into an uncomfortable knot.
I can't think she's hot.
Almost as if she could sense his thoughts, her brown eyes flicked up to meet his green ones. Though the glasses were gone, the eyes were still doe-like and full of bashful surprise when she realized that her glance was caught in his. She looked down as a reflex.
"Scopin' a little Asain delight for Friday night, Puckerman?"
Puck turned to see Azimio, cocky in his swagger, followed by Dave Karofsky and Finn Hudson, both big and loping, coming his way. The grin spanning Azimio's face caused Puck to cringe internally. Azimio was one of those guys who assumed that because they played the same sports, and the same girls, that they were somehow the same, which meant that he thought he knew exactly what Puck was thinking as he looked at Tina.
Had Puck not needed the distraction, he would have ignored the comment all together. "Dunno what you're talking about," he replied, as Finn sat down next to him on the stone steps and the others hovered behind him.
"C'mon, man. I'm almost embarrassed for you the way you're practically panting over that weird looking Asian chick. Why not just run over there, hump her leg, and be done with it?"
Puck shot him a cool look in an attempt to distract himself from looking over at her again. "At least she'd let me get that close, dude. She'd probably Jackie Chan your sack if you tried."
Azimio rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed by the satisfied smirk on Puck's face. Puck knew it was not the insult that had him twisted, but the fact that Puck was right. Even in an all boys school, full of choices for the neighboring girls, Puck was still the king stud. If he wanted, he could walk across the grass and, in less than five minutes, find himself half-naked in the auditorium balcony with one or more of them.
So why was he trying not to stare at her?
He glanced to Finn, then back around to Azimio and Karofsky, and noticed that he was not the only one fixated on the forms moving just across the lawn.
Tall, black socks cutting just below the knee. Form fitting white blouses that revealed unmentionables worth more than mentioning. The spacious cardigans spent more time tied neatly around the slight curve of hips. Pony tails, pigtails. And, god, those skirts.
What wasn't hot about a chick in a Catholic school uniform?
He found momentary relief in the idea that the fantasy appealed to him, not the individual girl. Any one of the other girls swarming around, the decency of their skirts being compromised by the onslaught of a gusty fall day, were just as tempting, if not more so.
"We should probably get to practice," Finn said dazedly, his eyes still focusing on…whoever they were.
With a playful backhand to his best friend's chest, Puck rose to lead, each of the others following suit.
Hot Catholic school girls…that's all it is…