"Puck? Noah?" Puck looked up at the sound of his sister's voice in his doorway. God, she'd grown up so much. She used to run away screaming at Schindler's List, she used to have a gigantic overbite, she used to do her hair in pigtails, she used to be an innocent little kid. And he used to be one too. But he'd grown as well, now a college boy. And she was a high school girl. Now she laughed at some of Schindler's List, had her braces off, had about twenty-five different hair products and tools she used daily. And Puck was 99.99% sure she wasn't so innocent anymore.
"What, Sarah? Bad dream again, like the old days?" Puck smirked. She used to run screaming, shrieking into his room at nightmares, and he'd hug her and tell her everything was okay, that it was just a dream, just a dream, just a figment of the imagination.
"No. God, that was…. That was a long time ago. It's just… you used to be a player, right? One of those guys who didn't care who they had sex with, as long as they had sex?" Sarah sounded so vulnerable, so lonely.
"Unfortunately. But now… now I've got Rachel Berry. God, I love her Sar. She's amazing. I'm so glad she and Finn didn't work out. I mean, I know I'm his friend, but I don't know what I'd do without Rach."
"Oh. So you settled down. You actually love someone? Really?" Sarah was now sitting on his bed, and Puck moved to hold her and hug her, wishing he could tell her that whatever was bothering her was just a dream, but he was almost certain it wasn't.
"Yeah. Listen, what's wrong Sar?"
"Those girls… did you love them? When you were in high school? Did you really like them, despite what you told yourself? Like… like the girls you were in glee with? I mean, there had to be something there. It wasn't all just meaningless. There had to be a reason, an affection. Right?" Tears leaked out of Sarah's eyes, making her mad. She shouldn't have felt this way. It wasn't right. She shouldn't, she shouldn't, she shouldn't.
"Well, some of them I guess. It depends on the girl. Now, who am I beating up?" Puck began to understand what was happening. He would've killed another high school him that was screwing with his sister.
"Well, you can't… you can't beat him up. But… there's this guy, and I really like him Puck. I think I may love him. And we've kind of been dating for the last three months and we've had… you know. And today... today…" The tears came faster and stronger, turning into sobs. She turned to Puck, her older brother, her rock. She buried her face in his chest, and he held her head.
"Aww, Sar. He's an ass. He's an ass if he broke up with you."
"He didn't… he didn't just break up with me. He broke up with me after telling me he'd just been in it for the sex, that he'd never liked me, loved me. He broke up with me after I saw him, naked, kissing a naked girl that's in glee. I went to his house to see him, to talk and ask him about this week's assignment… and there… there they were. Puck, he didn't even stop! He looked up and said, 'crap,' and kept going and I ran out of the room and it was horrible and I want to hate him but I can't and he must've liked me, almost loved me. He had too! He… he had too," she broke. She could no longer speak.
'I wasn't that bad,' Puck thought to himself. How could this have happened to little Sarah? Little, innocent Sarah? He held her as she cried. He let her pour out all of her hurt, and after awhile, her tears turned into angry ones, and those into hiccups and a horrible headache. "Ouch. I think I need some Advil," her voice sounded all stuffy, and Puck could tell that her eyes were completely, totally red and puffy even in the dim lighting.
"I'll get some. I'll be right back," Puck said. Holy… he wanted to kick this guy's ass a thousand times over. No one had the right to make his baby sister feel that way. No one.
Sarah muttered her thanks when he got back to his room, taking the pills and swallowing in seconds. That was new too. She used to make their mom smash the pills and put them in the water. He'd missed a lot at college, this being one of the few times he'd actually come home in his two years. Sarah was a sophomore at high school and he'd probably missed a lot of stuff in her life. He hadn't been able to go to their nationals last year because of school crap, missing her sister's small solo and their win.
"Sooo… what is this week's assignment for Glee? I miss Mr. Shue. I have to go swing by and say hi to him," Puck tried to make Sarah think of something else besides that dick of a guy.
"Um… it's supposed to be a song about those who are most important to us, so Jay and I were gonna sing Lucky by Jason Mraz ft. Colbie Caillat. I don't know what I'm gonna do now, since I have to sing tomorrow. God, this is bad timing," Sarah sighed.
"Well… I gotta drop by to say hi to Shue anyway, and I'd say you're pretty darn important to me and I'm important to you, so… we could whip something together," Puck's plan formed. He'd come, sing, find this 'Jay' dude, whip his ass, and then go home feeling accomplished.
"Really? Puck, I absolutely, positively love you right now. But… you do realize we'll be up all night practicing?"
"You think I, your slacker of a brother, haven't pulled a lot of all nighters? I'll go start making coffee and you can use my Mac and your sheet music from your room to try to figure out what song we're gonna sing. You like your coffee with…?" Puck trailed off, realizing he didn't know how his sister liked coffee, let alone if she even liked coffee.
"Milk and a lot of sugar. But not too much. Like, two packs of sugar in the raw is what I use when I get stuff from Starbuck's."
Puck nodded and head down the stairs, letting Sarah get to work.
The next few hours were spent bickering about guitar chords and notes and parts. "No, you have to play this chord," or "No, this part is better for you, and you can just move it down however many octaves." They practiced and whisper-shouted at each other, each wondering how the hell the other had musical talent at all. They remembered how much they had loved each other, how much they had missed each other. Neither of them wanted to admit it, but they had missed having someone to go to no mater what, someone who wouldn't judge them on anything, someone who could give advice objectively. And they had missed singing together. A lot.
The morning brought Sarah an extremely long time in the bathroom, trying to somehow hide the puffiness and other telltale signs that she'd been crying. She gave up after twenty minutes and hurried down the stairs to quickly eat some honey nut cheerios with milk. She ran upstairs to grab Puck's guitar. They had agreed that Puck was more likely to forget his guitar when he came in, so she got to bring it in. She'd leave it safely in her locker the entire day. "Shit!" She cried when she saw the bus pass by their house, leaving her stranded.
"Sar, I can give you a ride. Don't trust you little hooligans with my guitar anyways. You have glee 4th still, right? I can hang out and say hi to other people the first three periods," Puck caught his sister's distress.
"Noah Puckerman, wanting to actually go to school? I never thought I'd see the day. You gonna say hi to the seniors and juniors? Or do you actually want to go for the teachers?" Sarah chuckled. Her brother had skipped so many classes; it was so strange that he wanted to go see people in the school now. It had been a miracle that he'd gotten into college, but he'd gotten a football scholarship.
"A little bit of both. Let's go," and with that, they both raced to the car, arguing and screaming at each other playfully, each wanting to drive.
Sarah ran to her locker to grab Puck's guitar when someone put their hands over her eyes and said, "Guess who?" in the worst British accent she'd ever heard.
"Puck!" She cried, and turned around, "Oh. Jay. Go away," She turned back around to put her unnecessary books back in the locker and closed it. "I told you to leave," she said in a monotone when she turned around and Jason was still there.
"Babe, you know that yesterday was a mistake. It was a mistake; I didn't mean to say yes to her. I really do love you, I'm sorry I said I didn't," Jason pouted, and for a second, Sarah believed him. For a second, she believed the bastard.
"No, you don't. And, not to quote Taylor Swift, but you should've said no. And I know it wasn't a one-time thing. I have sources, I have people who've been telling me what a jerk you were since the beginning," she walked away, ignoring Jason's voice behind her. The damned football playing, singing cheater could go to hell in her mind.
When she got to the glee room, most of the club was already there, including Puck. He was talking to Mr. Shue, who was already laughing and smiling at Puck and his… his Puckness, or, as Puck would say, his badassness. "Puck!" she yelled, running to her brother. "Here's your guitar. You need to warm up or anything?" she smirked, already knowing his response.
"Me, the Puckster, need to warm up? Very funny, Sar," Puck chuckled, being his conceited self.
"Oh, you two are singing together? I'd assumed that you and Jason would sing together again since you've done every duet possible for the last three months together…" He trailed off when the look on Puck's face went from teasing to 'dude, don't go there,' and Sarah started looking down and playing with the buttons on her shirt. "Nevermind. You guys want to go first?" He said over the bell, quickly going over the club members to check that they were all there.
"Sure, we're game," Puck said, wrapping his arm around his little sister.
"Alright," Shue started off, then said to the whole club, "Guys! We'll do the assignments and then I'll pass out this week's group song and we'll work on that after school. First off, Sarah is going to go. Her older brother, Puck is here. Puck was on the first New Directions when I revived it, and he was also on the first New Directions that won nationals. How many years did you do glee, Puck?" Mr. Shue asked.
"Umm… three. Yeah, three. By the end, we weren't being slusheed anymore, huh, Mr. Shue?" Puck joked. Sarah remembered all the days she'd done laundry, using extra bleach and detergent on Puck's corn syrup clothes that were always different flavors.
"You certainly weren't," he chuckled at the current freshman and sophomores' confusion. "The 'uncool' kids had slushees thrown at them everyday. One day, the club was actually drinking the slushees and I said I'd never had one thrown at me…"
"Aww, dude, that was awesome! We creamed you, Shue!" Puck laughed, remembering the look on his face.
"You certainly did. Now, does Brad need to play, or is the guitar enough?"
"Umm, here. This is the sheet music for him. The tempo is a little slower, so just match Puck's. You know the song?" Sarah handed over her music, starting to be a little nervous.
Brad, staying true to his silent ways, just nodded and looked over the music quickly. Sarah nodded to Puck and he and Brad began playing.
(Italics- Sarah. Bold- Puck. Bold Italics- Both)
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
Because I knew you
I have been changed for good
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
And because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good...
At first, there was silence. Then the gleeks started clapping and cheering. Mr. Shue was even impressed. "Wow guys, that was amazing. Puck, your voice really has improved. Sarah, I didn't realize you could sing soprano. Good job."
The two hugged, and went to sit in the seats. Puck wanted to wait to beat up this Jay kid.
"Alright… Jay, how about you? You wanna go?" Mr. Shue wondered what had happened between Sarah and Jason. They had been such a good couple.
"Yeah… sure," he mumbled. He got to Brad and handed him some music before saying, "Umm, this isn't just for the person who means the most to me. It's also me asking their forgiveness," he said, before starting to sing "Your Anything" by Taylor Swift several octaves lower than the original song.
"Please tell me you're not actually thinking of taking that jerk back," Puck muttered to Sarah, realizing he wouldn't be able to beat up the guy if they were a couple again.
"No. He's such a jerk. I… I may love him, but I know that it would just end up badly again," she whispered, fiddling with her shirt.
Puck nodded and they waited out the rest of the period, occasionally whispering and joking to each other, but mostly, they listened to everyone's songs. Mr. Shue hurriedly gave out the piece to the gleeks before the bell rang, reminding them they had practice from 3:30-5:30 that night as they all left.
Puck followed Jason to his locker and then walked behind him, "Hey, dick. Let's go to the field."
"Umm… I was going to skip class anyways…" He squeaked, realizing who was behind him. Noah Puckerman had quite a reputation. He'd been an amazing football player who had beat up quite a few kids, including Jason's older brother, Azimio. He remembered how Azimio had come home with bruises all over and had later gotten x-rays on his wrist when he realized how screwed up it was. Azimio hadn't been able to play football at all after that.
Puck's fist met Jason's face as soon as they got out to the field, and after about ten minutes, Jason was on the ground, whimpering. "Think about that next time you want to cheat on an amazing girl that you don't deserve. My sister is freaking off limits."
"Puck?" Sarah asked that night, once again at his doorway.
"Yeah, Sar?" Puck asked, wondering if something was wrong now.
"Well… everyone's talking about how Jay was totally killed fifth period… right after glee. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Sarah smirked, already knowing what had happened. She wondered if Puck thought she would be mad.
"Maybe. The Puckster may have been in that field with a certain jerk," he commented. Sarah had already gotten to the bed and was sitting next to him.
"Well… if you happen to see the guy who did it, can you tell him that I say thanks and I love him and I've missed him?" Sarah smiled and leaned into Puck, who merely nodded.
They stayed that way the rest of the night, falling asleep together, brother and sister, once again together, the way they would stay forever.
AN: Hey guys! This is my first glee fic, so comment away! For now it's going to stay a one-shot, but if you guys have any ideas, I'd be happy to try to make it into something more. For anyone here that reads my Twilight fics, I'm sorry I haven't updated. It's just that those are kind of dark and moody and I'm in a really light, carefree mood these days.
I have a few more ideas for some Glee fics, but those are about Rachel and Mr. Shue bonding as lead singer, director. I just find it strange that we don't really get to see a lot of them as we see Finn and Shue or some of the others who talk to Mr. Shue.
Reviews are greatly appreciated!