Artie sighed and shook his head. He had been going through the same geometry problem with Puck for at least twenty minutes. When he had offered to help Puck achieve at least a B in the class he hadn't realized how little focus and determination the recently freed from incarceration teenager had.
"Try it again," Artie told him, "All you have to do is find the intersection of the line and the circle if y equals two x minus two. We did something similar last week. Don't you remember?"
Puck looked at Artie as if he was an idiot. "You think I remember squat from last week? As soon as I'm out of math class I forget out to count to four."
Artie smirked at Puck's comment, but then rolled his eyes out of frustration. "You have to learn how to do this," He reminded, "We have a math test in two days."
Puck shrugged his shoulders and slammed shut his math textbook. "What do I care," He asked with an edge in his voice, "I'll fail. Wouldn't want to break my streak or anything."
Artie shook his head. "No, I'm not letting that happen. I told you I was going to get you a B. I stick to my promises."
Puck stood up and picked up his backpack. "I told you Artie, I don't want to do this! It's pointless! I'm never going to need to know how to find some stupid intersection. It's garbage!"
Puck walked towards the door of the classroom to leave. As he took a step out he heard Artie call out to him, "It'll impress her if you get a B. You know that, right?"
Puck turned around hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to continue on with the conversation, suspecting where it was heading. He looked at Artie and tried to play dumb as his gut reaction was to always look defensive.
"Who are you talking about?"
Artie rolled his eyes. He wasn't buying into Puck's act. He knew that the kid was aware of the girl he was talking about. He smiled. "No one. Just a certain blonde cheerleader who's in Glee Club with us."
Puck smirked and said cocky as ever, "I don't need to get a B for Brittany to sleep with me. Plus, I'd never take your girl from you Artie. We're boys now."
Artie put his pencil down and lowered his voice as he was sure Puck didn't want what he was going to say to be said in the first place. "I'm not talking about -"
Puck interrupted Artie before he could finish his sentence. "I know."
The boy awkwardly took his hands out of his pockets and sat back down at the table. He picked up a pencil and looked at his recently found friend. "Fine… I'll give it one more shot. I mean, Finn's managing to pass this class so why shouldn't I?"
Artie smiled, knowing that he had gotten through to Puck for reasons other than the less than intelligent quarterback's average. He explained the question to Puck step by step. He went through it three times until Puck was able to understand completely.
An interesting fact is that Puck managed to get an 81% on his next test. Artie noticed that he had decided to bring it up to him during Glee Club, just loud enough so that the head cheerleader who was sitting behind them could hear. Also, after Glee Club was over and Artie made his way to his locker he had overheard her asking her blonde boyfriend what he had gotten on his test. Artie heard him reluctantly tell her he had failed with a 47%, and he saw the girl's face sink.
"You're not going to pass the eleventh grade Sam, do you know how embarrassing that's going to be for me?"
Sam had shrugged his shoulders. "I'll pick up my socks closer to the end of the year. It's routine for me. Don't worry about it babe."
Artie wheeled himself away so he couldn't hear anymore of the lover's quarrel, but he smiled that his friend's chances at regaining Quinn's love was not as far fetched as it once appeared.
Hey so I managed to actually write something! I was inspired, don't you all love the Puck/Artie friendship as much as I do? It's so cute.
However, I'm sure you all hate the complete lack of Quick this season as I do. It makes me extremely frustrated. However, it's a good thing we're such loyal followers and have so many amazing writers and vidders to make our wait a little less agitating!
Also, if you have the time I would really appreciate if you could review this story! :) Writers live for feedback and I'd really appreciate it!
Until next time,
Happy Reading :)