Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.
A/N: Set in the first Glee Club meeting of junior year, after Jacob ben Israel had asked about the 'crippling depression'…
"Good afternoon everyone, how was your summer?" Mr Schue asked as soon as he walked into the choir room.
Quinn gave him an incredulous look. "Just peachy, thanks, " she answered sarcastically.
Puck scowled at the teacher. "Yeah, tremendous Mr Schue, it was so much fun," he muttered and again, the sarcasm dripped from every word.
"I'm sorry, both of you," Mr Schue apologised, "but I meant in general, how was everyone's summer in general, and you've got to admit, not everyone had such a hard thing to get over," he explained and then paused for a second. "Are you doing ok?" he asked as he glanced between the two of them. Mr Schue could almost feel the iciness between them, even across the full width of the front row, Puck was sat at one end, Quinn at the other, and everyone who sat in between them looked as though they were slightly uncomfortable.
Everyone else murmured about good vacations and weather and stuff, they were embarrassed for their two friends, and most of them didn't know which camp to be in, Team Quinn or Team Puck. The girls were mostly Team Quinn and the guys were mostly Team Puck, but if push came to shove, they would have swapped allegiance quite happily to keep the status quo.
"Right, moving on," Mr Schue said briskly, "we have a very busy year this year," he informed his team. "We need to attract new members, we need to be able to compete fully with Vocal Adrenaline if we're to have any chance at getting to Nationals," he said with a strength of feeling in his voice that usually came from Rachel Berry when she was trying to force everyone around to her way of thinking. "And we are going to Nationals," he insisted, he looked determined, like nothing was going to stop him. Mr Schue glanced at his class, he knew they were going to like this. "This year," he said and then paused to take a breath, to calm himself and his nerves, "this year, Nationals is in New York," he exclaimed and waited for the excitement to strike. He didn't have to wait long, the words were barely out of his mouth before screams and excited chatter filled the choir room.
"Mr Schue?" Puck asked as he raised his hand. "How are we even going to get through Sectionals and Regionals if we don't have enough singers? Matt left McKinley, we're down to elelven members and that's not enough for a team," he reminded everyone.
"Yes I know," Mr Schue agreed. "We'll hold auditions like we did before and maybe you could do a group performance or something to encourage new blood," he suggested.
"We could do Empire State of Mind at lunchtime one day this week," Mercedes offered her suggestion rather hesitantly.
"Good idea, Miss Jones," Mr Schue praised, he looked around at his class. "Any other suggestions?" he asked, the were a few mumbles and a lot of head shakes, but no other suggestions. "Alright, moving on, does anyone have anything prepared for today?" he asked and then sat down near the piano.
Rachel started to stand up but Puck beat her to it. "I have something," he stated quite firmly. "It's something that definitely needs saying," he muttered as he glared at Quinn.
Puck stood in front of his team mates as the band started playing, he nodded to the beat and waited for his cue, as he did so he placed himself directly in front of Quinn who did her absolute utmost to avoid looking at him.
"I don't need to fall at your feet
Just 'cause you cut me to the bone
And I won't miss the way that you kiss me
We were never carved in stone
If I don't listen to talk of the town
Maybe I can fool myself
I'll get over you I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
Ooh I am the king of wishful thinking," Puck sang, he was really getting into the groove of the song, he'd gone from glaring at Quinn to actually smiling as he sang, he spun away from her and moved back to the centre of the room. Quinn had to duck her head to hide her own smile, she really had missed this, missed him singing to her, she couldn't even think now of why she'd refused to speak to him all summer!
"I refuse to give into my blues
That's not how it's gonna be
And I deny the tears in my eyes
I don't want to let you see
Now that you have made a hole in my heart
And now I've got to fool myself
I'll get over you I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
I'll get over you I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
ooh-ooh
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
yeah ooh
If I ever get a chance I'll get over you
If I don't listen to the talk of the town
Maybe I can fool myself
I'll get over you I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
I am the king of wishful thinking
I'll get over you I know I will
You made a hole in my heart
But I won't shed a tear for you
I'll be the king of wishful thinking
I'll get over you I know I will
I'll pretend my heart's still beating
'Cause I've got no more tears for you
I'm the king of wishful thinking
I'll get over you I know I will
You made a hole in my heart
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking," he sang with happy enthusiasm.
As the music stopped, the group applauded and cheered him, Puck took a mocking bow and returned to his seat. Quinn shook her head, she was still smiling as she too clapped his performance, and as usual, she noticed that she had butterflies in her stomach and her heart fluttered. Puck always managed to make her heart flutter when he sang, it was obvious even to Quinn, she was so not over him.
After class, Puck walked down the hallway with Quinn, it was the closest he'd been to her since the night after school finished for the summer, that was when she'd told him that she needed time to herself, time to sift through her feelings, time to heal. "I get that you're still upset Quinn," Puck said quietly as they walked, his voice held an intensity she had only ever heard when he was trying to convince her that they could make it as a family. "I am too, but you can't keep pushing me away," he insisted. "There's no one else in this whole school who understands like I do," he pointed out quite truthfully, he was doing a good job at building a case for himself. "I'm not saying we have to be in a 'relationship'," Puck said and used his fingers to make air quotes, he pulled a face at how lame he sounded, even to himself! "But I do want to be with you," he announced firmly. "Just let me get to third base a couple of times a week to start with and we'll see how we go," he suggested with a shrug, he really didn't know what more to add, how else to plead his case.
Quinn stopped walking, Puck turned to her, she put her hand on his chest and looked him directly in the eye. "Look, Noah, I do still like you, a lot," she admitted, "but I need to work on me just now," she said – and it wasn't the first time she'd explained that to him! "I'm not saying that we can't be together, but I'm not going to have sex with you," she informed him and watched a mixture of pleasure and pain cross his face. "Yet," she added a little teasingly. "I'm not ready yet to get into that with you and I know that if I'm with you and we're alone near any horizontal surface, you could persuade me so very easily," she muttered and then rolled her eyes at his smug expression. "Will you promise not to pressure me?" she asked faintly.
Puck gathered Quinn into his arms and lowered his head towards her. It had been a long time since he'd kissed her and never before in the hallway at school, it both shocked and surprised her! "Promise," Puck mumbled against her lips and then kissed her hard, in full view of the students passing to go to class.
Quinn squeezed her eyes shut, wrapped her arms round his neck and kissed him back, she had a smile on her well-kissed lips. "My mom is never going to allow us to be alone you know," she warned Puck. "She's probably going to flip," she sighed as she realised one thing for sure, Judy Fabray was not going to be happy. "At least I'm back on the Cheerios so that might distract her for a bit," she muttered quietly as she pondered her mom's possible reaction to the news that her daughter was now dating the boy who had knocked her up!
"I have to agree there, your ass in that skirt is a total distraction," Puck murmured happily as he ran his hands down her back to squeeze said ass.
Quinn, who's arms had been around the back of Puck's neck, let go and slapped at his hands behind her. "Get off," she squealed and glanced around her to make sure no one was watching them. Puck laughed at her efforts and then moved in for another kiss. "Time to get to class," Quinn announced as the bell rang again. "See you at lunch?" she suggested flirtily.
"Yep, lunch," Puck replied after dropping another quick peck on her lips. Puck sighed with undisguised pleasure as Quinn turned and hurried away. He watched, that one-sided little smile on his lips as his eyes were mesmerised by her ass, it was, after all, one of his favourite parts of her body…only one of his favourite parts though, because, to be honest, she had many, starting at the top of her head and ending at the tips of her toes!