Chapter 1: Unreal

There was a talent show at McKinley High School today. Rachel Barry, of course, had to be in it to expose herself as a extremely talented singer, but everyone knew all Rachel really wanted was to show-off her singing. Rachel had chosen Finn to sing a duet with her months ago, not only because he was Rachel's boyfriend, but also because Finn's voice was more vocally compatible than any other boy in Glee. Although, since Finn was still upset with Rachel for cheating on him, no on knew exactly how that was going to work out.

Strolling down the hallways in no particular direction, was Noah Puckerman. He was thinking of skipping his last class and just going home. Puck really didn't feel like staying the rest of the day and then having to go to that stupid Talent Show. What was the point? The judges of the Talent Show were all teachers who picked their favorite student who was probably a major suck-up. Last year one of the cheerios, Jessica, he thinks her name was, won just by doing a few kart-wheels and and split. Big deal. That's not talent, but she probably won because Sue Sylvester was a judge last year just like she will be again this year.

He walked down the hallway, and just as Puck was about to push the door open to exit the school, Rachel Barry appeared in front of him out of no where.

"Noah! I need to talk to you. This is a major emergency!" Rachel said with a jitteriness that always bothered Puck.

"Whoa. Calm down, Barry. Jeez." Puck said trying to push past her, not wanting to hear what she wanted.

Rachel caught on that Puck was trying to get past her, "Puck! You can't leave!" She said pushing herself in front of him, "Look. Finn is still mad at me. Even though I insisted we've been practicing this duet for months and that I will refrain from pestering him, he still refused. I need you, Noah, to take over his spot in the duet for the Talent Show."

"Ugh..." Puck groaned. Why does she always come to me when something happens with Finn? Puck thought.

Puck continued, "Listen Barry, I don't want to sing in that stupid talent show. It's rigged, so you probably won't win anyway. What's the point? Besides, it's not like I have anything to gain from singing in front of this ungrateful school. Thanks for the offer Barry, but no thanks." Puck walked past Rachel and pushed the door open.

"Wait! If not for me, do it for Glee to recruit new members!" Rachel yelled, but Puck didn't falter. She started to grow desperate.

"Please..." Rachel pleaded with sadness in her voice.

Before the door shut, Puck heard the hint of sadness. He stopped with his back facing her and one hand still holding the door open, "Ugh... I can't believe I'm doing this." Puck turned around in defeat to see Rachel's eager face.

"What song are we singing?"

Puck had stayed with Rachel to go on stage at the McKinley High Talent Show. Besides the fact that he sang "You and Me" by Lifehouse with Rachel Barry and will probably be ridiculed for it for the rest of high school, it wasn't that bad.

So far, none of the competition striked him as "talent". One girl's talent was jump rope. The sad part was she couldn't even hop over the rope once. Some other kid's talent was making fart noises with not just his armpit, but his nose, too. Puck had to admit, it was impressive, but not talent.

While getting his stuff from the back of the stage, Puck heard the sound of a piano playing. Whoever was playing was playing good. Not just good, amazing. It sounded like something from Mozart, or Chopin, or one of those other really badass classical musicians.

Curiously, Puck peered around the corner to see who was playing. Puck recognized his face. The boy was Puck's age, but he was held back a year. A sophomore. Puck didn't quite remember his name. All he remembered was last year, when he was a bully, he would throw the boy in dumpsters.

The boy had brown shoulder-length hair. He was pale and thin, and looked kind of quirky the way he wore his glasses a little crooked.

As Puck was about to back away from admiring the boy rehearsing the piano, he fell into a drum set. The noise had reached the boy and he had stopped playing the piano immediately and jerked his head around to see what had made the noise.

"Who's there?" He yelled nervously.

Puck got up and brushed himself off, "Uh, sorry man," Puck said walking towards him now, "Didn't mean to interrupt you or anything. You're really talented, dude."

"Why are you talking to me?" The boy seemed to ignore Puck's compliments, "What do you want from me?"

"What? No. I don't want anything. I just heard you playing. I thought you were really good." Puck said.

The boy looked around unsure this wasn't a prank, "You throw me into dumpsters. You give me swirlys. You ruin my life. This must be some sort of trick. What are you planning?"

"No, dude, that was last year. It's probably Azimio and Karofsky, but I'm not with them anymore," Puck defended himself and it grew silent. The boy was staring at Puck waiting for him to say more, so Puck continued, "...and I'm sorry, ya' know... for all that stuff I did to you last year."

The boy was astonished, but still not quite sure that Puck was telling the truth, "...okay. But my name is not 'dude.' It's Simon."

Puck found this a little odd, but decided to just ignore it, "Okay, Simon... Good luck out there."

"Thank you," Simon said and turned to got back to practicing his piano.

That was weird, Puck thought, but didn't think much of it and left.

Puck was now in the audience watching the rest of the Talent Show. He got himself a seat in the back so he could be the first one to leave. Puck was almost ready to leave, too. All Puck saw was Rachel sitting a few seats ahead with Finn. Rachel was all over Finn. Finn had been watching the Talent Show because he felt like even though he didn't want to sing with Rachel for what she had done, he should support her by being in the audience. It was really dumb logic if you asked Puck. Anyways, Rachel found Finn after the performance and has been apologizing and trying to reconcile with him this whole time. And as usual, Finn was resisting.

This is really getting old, Puck thought to himself, Rachel should just give Finn some time. He'll get over it, but not if she keeps smothering him like he's a freakin' teddy bear. Jeez.

It was Simon's turn now, and sat at the piano set up on stage. The announcer said he was playing "Liebestraum" form Franz Liszt, then he started to play it. The song was amazing, and he had played it perfectly. It started off soft, and began to get stronger. Then at the end, the song started to slow down and it ended with a final note. That was the best performance Puck had seen all night. If anyone should win, it should be him, thought Puck.

People began to clap for Simon, so he stood up in front of the stage and gave a bow. Right as Simon lifted his head up from bowing, something from above the stage had spilt onto him, soaking him entirely of what Puck could only guess to be yellow paint. All of a sudden, feathers fell onto Simon, sticking to his clothes. It was the cruelest thing Puck had ever seen, and he's seen a lot of bad things. Simon was now completely covered with yellow paint and feathers.

Simon just stood there. The expression on his face was undescribable. It looked as though something in him had just snapped. He continued to just stand and stare at the audience who so easily laughed at his expense. They were all laughing. Laughing at him.

Mrs. Pillsbury stood up and shouted, "That is enough!"

Most of the audience had quieted down, and Simon had stormed off the stage.

Puck was furious. Wait 'til he saw those stupid thugs, Azimio and Karofsky. He'd beat the crap out of them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Puck said angrily slamming the locker next to Karofsky.

Azimio and Karofsky just started laughing.

"Man, what's your problem? We were just having a little fun with the freak." Azimio said with a smirk.

"Yeah, why? Is he your new boyfriend or something? Hahaha!" Karofsky bursted out laughing.

Puck grabbed Karofsky by the neck of his shirt and pushed him hard against the locker slightly lifting him up, "You listen to me. If I ever see anything like that happen again to him or any of my friends I will come find you. I won't even care if you didn't do it; I will still beat the shit out of you so hard you'll never want to come back to Lima ever again. You got me?" Puck slammed Karofsky into Azimio and they both went tumbling to the ground, "You got me?" Puck demanded.

"Yeah..." they both mumbled at the same time, and then Puck left the locker room with Azimio and Karofsky still on the floor.

"Man, what was Puckerman's problem?" Azimio asked Karofsky.

"I don't know, he's a freak just like the rest of them now." Karofsky stated.

They were both about to round a corner in the school hallway when the saw Simon cleaning himself off by his locker. Azimio put his hand out and stopped Karofsky in his tracks.

"Hey, I got an idea on how we can get Puckerman back." Azimio whispered.

"How?" Karofsky asked silently.

"Follow my lead." Azimio said silently, "I can believe it! Puckerman pulled it off!" Azimio was yelling now.

"Yeah..." Karofsky said with a confused face, still not knowing what Azimio was talking about.

"Did you see the look on that boy's face when that paint spilled all over him? Man, Puck must of had it out for him." Azimio winked at Karofsky.

Karofsky had finally caught on, "Oh yeah, Puckerman can be real cruel. He's an evil genius. How did he manage to get the paint and feathers on top of the stage all by himself?"

"I don't know, man. Puck is just that good." Azimio emphasized Puck's name.

Simon had heard every word and took the bait. It was Puck, Simon thought. He knew there was no way Puck was being that nice to him for no reason. And he thought, finally someone would treat him like normal human being, but no. That was it. That was the last straw. Something inside Simon had finally snapped.

The talent show had ended, and, of course, the winners were two cheerleaders who pretty much did a routine cheer and some tricks. Its always the cheerios who win.

Puck wasn't surprised, though. Sue Sylvester would make sure her cheerios were number one.

Just as he was leaving, Puck saw Simon in the hall with most of the paint and feathers cleaned off.

"Hey!" Puck shouted to Simon.

Simon just kept his head faced toward his open locker.

Puck walked over to Simon, "Hey, Simon. You were badass tonight dude. You got some skills."

Simon was still quiet. His hand was in his locker and he still hadn't made eye contact with Puck.

"...And, dude, if those guys ever give you anymore problems, just come get me. Don't worry, I got your back." Puck said with as much sincerety as he could muster up.

"Y-you stabbed me in the back." Simon looked up from his locker now to face Puck, but his hand was still in his locker.

"What?" Puck said confused.

"You set the whole thing up." Simon said wide-eyed and furious.

"Simon, c'mon, dude. I defended you!" Puck said, but was cut off by Simon pulling the gun slightly out of his locker just enough so Puck could see the handle.

Everything went silent. Puck just stared at the gun Simon was holding.

"...Is that real?"

"You were just pretending to be nice to me. I knew you hadn't changed," Simon said pulling the gun completely out of his locker. Puck started to back away from Simon's outstretched arm holding the gun.

"You made me do this," Simon pointed the gun toward Puck, and Simon had closed his eyes and looked away with his finger on the trigger. Puck was scared now. He could die.

Puck turned around and tried to run, but then...

BANG!

Puck screamed. There was a sharp searing pain that pierced through the lower right-side of his back. It was the worst pain imaginable, even though he only felt it for a moment. He fell to his knees for a second until everything went dark and he collapsed on the floor. Then, there was silence.

Puck was now unconsious in a pool of his own blood, as the few people left in the hallway dashed out of the school as quickly as they could after witnessing the shooting.

The talent show was decent, Finn thought. He didn't like how Rachel, out of all the people to replace him, chose Puck. Didn't she ever realize that that might be a bad idea. Oh well. They did do a good job, though. Finn was cool with Puck now, kind of. Really, It's just he couldn't trust Rachel anymore than he could Quinn or Puck. Finn was glad to get rid of her for the night, though. Man, could she get clingy.

All of a sudden Finn snapped out of his deep thought when he heard a loud noise coming from the connecting hall. It sounded like... no that's impossible, he thought.

Finn saw people running away in the opposite direction. One of the people ran into him, but they didn't care and just kept running. Finn was starting to think maybe he should be running with them, but he was just to curious and wanted to see what all the comotion was about.

He stepped forward into the connecting hall, and something caught his eye. Finn stopped dead in his tracks.

"Oh my God." Finn was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. No way. This couldn't be happening. No no no no no. This isn't real.

"P-Puck?" Finn stuttered. Finn was breathing like he was having an anxiety attack. This can't be happening. This can not be happening.

Finn saw Puck in the adjacent hall laying unconsious on his stomach with a bullet hole through his lower back. There was blood everywhere.

Already, Finn could hear the ambulence and police on their way to the school. One of the people that heard the gun shot must have called. This was so not happening. Things like... this. This doesn't happen at McKinley High, no, this doesn't happen in Lima, Ohio. Oh my God Puck is bleeding a lot, Finn thought.

Finn snapped out of his shock dropped to his knees next to Puck. He didn't know what to do. He thought maybe he should put pressure on the wound, but he was afraid he would hurt Puck. Finn tried to shake Puck a little to get him to wake up, but he didn't even budge. He just lied there.

There is too much blood, Finn thought. He decided he needed to put pressure on the wound or Puck might die of blood-loss, even though that was probably the least of his worries.

"Don't worry, man. You're gonna be okay." Finn kept saying; more to comfort himself than for Puck.

Finn saw the medical team coming through the doorway down the hall, but Finn stayed next to Puck putting pressure on the wound.

They started to pull Finn away from Puck, then the medics started to put Puck on a gurney and bring him to the ambulance in a rush. Finn just watched. Who would do this? His eyes felt hot and his fists were clenched. He was trying to keep himself together, but he couldn't. His eyes felt watery and he was taking deep breathes trying to hold in his tears.

"Hey, kid!" One of the medics yelled, "You coming? One person can ride with him."

Finn snapped his head toward the medic, "Yeah." Finn was thankful for the distraction.

"Well then hurry up!" The medic yelled.

Well this is my take on a school-shooting in Glee, but it's based mostly off the Degrassi episode, "Time Stands Still, Pt.2" I think I'm gonna have one more chapter. I might do another school shooting fic, but more Puck/Quinn centered. I think I like them better as a couple and I really don't like how the Glee writers did not put any Puck/Quinn interaction at all this season.

And by the way, if anyone else would like to take up doing a fic like this, please do. I would love to read someone else's take on a school shooting at McKinley. I'm weird like that.