Tina was sitting in the choir room. It was the first day of Figgins' no scary makeup rule and she was incredibly depressed. As much as she hated calling herself depressed because it made her feel disrespectful to people who really were depressed. She was wearing skinny jeans, converse, and a hoodie. Her hair was up in a ponytail. And it had reminded her of a person she used to be. Pre-stutter Tina.
Many people look back at themselves as children and think, 'Damn, I was way cooler as a sixth grader.' this is in fact the case for Tina. In Sixth grade, she kinda ruled the school.
With the help of Noah Puckerman, at any rate. They had been inseperable as children. No one could really understand why, as they didn't seem to have anything in common. Maybe that was why they were so close, their mothers observed with a shrug and a smile.
They were just friends growing up, in Sixth Grade they would hold hands while walking down the halls. Sixth Grade at William McKinley High School was basically hell. It was also when the social pyramid began to form. Coincidence? I think not.
To be popular, boys needed to be in a sport. Well, football. Boys needed to play football. Girls needed to be on the cheer team. And then there was Noah and Tina. The unspoken badasses of WMHS. They didn't get harassed, and while there weren't cheerleaders and jocks throwing themselves at their feet..the unlikely pair was quite aware of their admirers.
Tina had sort of assumed this was sort of a business arrangement, in order for Noah to get girls. Which is why it came as a surprise when he kissed her.
Then, near the end of Sixth Grade, Puck ran off. Nobody knew where he went, nobody knew when he was coming back. Tina never really found out where he went. What she did know was that somehow without Puck her bad ass-ness wasn't the same. So, when it came around time for the public speaking exam, she developed a plan.
Tina found herself back as a high schooler, sitting in the choir room, her legs stuck out in front of her, slouching in her chair. Puck had walked in, and his footsteps had somehow awakened her form her thoughts. They stared at each other for a long time. What he did next Tina tried to justify with the fact that Santana and Brittany were sitting over in the chairs across the room in a rather suspicious manner, and Puck was probably trying to make them jealous by kissing her. Why would he kiss her otherwise?
The next day she exchanged her form-hiding hoodie for a white crop top with a peek through pink bra. Her mother had forced her to wear it, and once she put it on, she couldn't deny that she felt like a badass.
And, when she got to school, she realized that Puck wasn't just trying to impress Santana and Brittany, he was trying to get back the Tina he'd been looking for since he left in sixth grade.