"He's a rotten liar," Tina complained to Mercedes who had graciously accompanied her friend to Biggby Coffee when they got out of school. Biggby's was close enough to walk to, which was good since neither girl owned a car.

Earlier that day, Mercedes had suggested that Tina use one of her childhood hobbies for the speech, since that was what Artie had done. Tina remembered taking tennis lessons when she was younger and, although she'd hated every minute of those lessons, she decided that this topic worked as well as any. Tina knew she would be lying when she told the class she liked playing tennis. But if other people are allowed to lie, I can do it too, she'd decided, bitterly.

"Cut Artie some slack," Mercedes begged, tired of her friend's ranting. She was beginning to wish she hadn't agreed to help Tina with her speech. "And could you forget about Wheels for awhile? I thought we came here because there's Wi-Fi and you can read about tennis. You do have to learn a few things if you want to sound convincing up there. Do you even know the Spanish word for tennis?"

"It's tennis," Tina said, flatly.

"Wrong!" said Mercedes. "Tenis. You don't pronounce it the same way. Come on, girl, quit trippin'!"

"Mercedes, he lied to Puck right in front of us," Tina blurted out, tears now stinging her eyes. Mercedes had opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she realized that Tina was about to cry. "I feel like I don't know him at all. I've never known Artie to lie just to get attention."

"Well, if that's what he did it for, so what?" said Mercedes, gently. "Think about how he feels for a minute and it just might start to make more sense. Did you hear Puck call him by his name? And not just his name, Tina, he called him by his last name. In a guy's language, that's showing major respect. If Artie wants to let Puck think that he got hurt in a skiing accident, so what? He's just trying to gain a little respect."

"This is worse than the time Mike Chang tried to convince Mr. Schuester we were related to get out of singing a ballad with me," Tina moaned. She scowled when Mercedes snickered at this.

"You seem awfully committed to the truth, Tina," Mercedes said, rather pointedly. Tina blushed, thinking she would bring up the stuttering, but Mercedes had another angle. "And yet you're willing to pretend you like playing tennis when I know for a fact you hate it. You told me in gym once, remember?"

"It's a harmless lie," Tina argued. "It's not the same."

"Don't you see?" Mercedes shook her head. "It is the same. Artie's lie is harmless, too! What does it hurt if he says he broke his back in a badass skiing accident to make himself look cooler? I think if it helps Artie get through the day without being picked on, then it's perfectly fine for him to say whatever he wants about it."

"It isn't like him to lie," Tina insisted. "You're missing the point. He never cared about being cool."


Tina decided to use the dreaded tennis speech as a vehicle for getting revenge. If Artie didn't pick up on to the fact that Tina ignored his multiple text messages the night before, he was sure to catch on today in class. Tina waited so that she was the last person to speak.

"M-m-m-mi pasa-pasa-pasa-tiempo pppppppredilecto es.... es... tenis."

She even paired the stutter with a repetitive hand movement to make it even more painful. She caught sight of Mr. Schuester looking bewildered, but avoided looking at anyone else in the room, especially Artie. Imagining the furious look on his face only made her want to stutter even more. She convinced herself that he deserved it. He shouldn't have lied to Puck to make himself look cool.

Tina finished her speech just before the bell. As it rang, she hurried back to her desk to gather up her books, still avoiding eye contact with Artie. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Artie hadn't moved an inch. Tina turned around, intending to run out the door, but was stopped by Mr. Schuester stepping in front of her.

"Tina, could I talk with you for a few minutes?" he asked. "I'll write you a pass to your next class."

"Sure," said Tina, feeling suddenly worried. "Sorry about all that. M-my stuttering has improved a lot thanks to... speech therapy. But it's still pretty bad when I give presentations and stuff, M-Mr. Schuester." She legitimately stuttered over her teacher's name. Artie scoffed, causing Mr. Schuester to look his way.

"Artie, I'm not writing you a pass."

"Fine, but you should know she's faking that stutter!" Artie blurted out, glaring at Tina. "She's not even in speech therapy. She just does that to get out of speeches. And to make people think she's weird. Isn't that right, Tina?"

"At least I don't lie to make people think I'm cool," she shot back, tears brimming in her eyes again. When will I ever be able to get mad at Artie without crying like a baby? Tina was so annoyed with herself as her chin quivered. Mr. Schuester looked back and forth between the two, shocked to see Artie and Tina arguing.

"Once again, Artie. Not writing you a pass. You can go."

"Fine," said Artie again, grabbing his wheels and giving them a furious push. He glanced at Tina once more before turning the corner and getting out of the room. Tina looked away just in time to hide the fact that tears were rolling down her cheeks now. As she choked back sobs, Mr. Schuester hurried across the room.

"Calm down, Tina," he said, retrieving a tissue for her. "I was just going to tell you that I was proud of you for getting through that speech, that's all. I know how difficult it can be with your stutter. Even though, I have to admit, that's the first time I've heard you stutter in a long time."

"Mr. Schue," Tina said, dabbing at her eyes. She took a deep breath because what she was about to say was difficult. But she already regretted what she had just done. "Artie's right. I never really stuttered in the first place. I started doing it a long time ago to get out of giving speeches and stuff. So... if you have to fail me, I understand."

Mr. Schuester handed her another tissue as she continued blubbering. Tina felt like an idiot, but Mr. Schue just smiled kindly at her. "Tina, this is Spanish class, not speech class," he began. "I only grade on whether or not your Spanish is correct. Your speech was just fine. You've earned an A for your grade. Does... does that make you feel any better?"

Tina paused, then shook her head. "No," she admitted. "I mean... thank you for not counting that against me. But I don't feel much better. I faked stuttering again because I wanted to make Artie mad. To get back at him, I guess."

"Yes, I caught on to that," said Mr. Schuester. "Anything you want to talk about? This is my conference period." He sat down on top his desk and folded his hands attentively. "Or, of course, you can talk to Ms. Pillsbury but since you and Artie are both in glee club, maybe I can be of some help?"

Tina knew she was going to have to start at the beginning for this one. The only consolation was that it would get her out of gym class. Tina's whole reason for being angry about Artie's lie was based on principle. Mr. Schuester listened carefully as Tina explained everything, starting with the wheelchair date during which Tina had revealed her own fraudulence. She explained how Artie had forgiven her for that, but things still hadn't seemed the same ever since. Then she explained Artie's deception.

"The worst part is that he looked at me right before he lied to Puck," she concluded. "I might be the only person he ever talked about the car accident with, I don't know. But now someone starts a silly rumor that he hurt himself skiing, and he doesn't think twice about allowing everybody to think it's true. Do you think I'm overreacting?"

"No," said Mr. Schuester. He arose from his desk to give Tina a gentle hug around her shoulders. Tina covered her face and mutttered her thanks as he passed her another tissue. "But I do think it would be good for you to talk to your friend, Tina. Find out what's really going on with him."

Tina thanked her teacher one last time before trudging out of the room. As she walked down the empty hallway, she heard the familiar clicking of a wheelchair trailing behind her. She spun around to find herself looking down at a very sheepish Artie.

"Eavesdropping?" Tina approached his chair, hovering over him in an attempt to be intimidating. "How dare you listen to a private conversation! Not to mention, since when do you cut class? Is hanging out with Noah Puckerman rubbing off on you?"

"I'm not hanging out with Puck," Artie replied, disdainfully. He did feel guilty about eavesdropping, but he'd been dying to hear what Tina had to say to Mr. Schuester. In spite of how furious she looked now, he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about doing it. It was worth it to find out her true feelings.

"Hear anything interesting?" Tina asked, turning away from Artie. She realized that they were now in the middle of the very same hallway where they'd had their first fight, where she'd revealed the truth about her stuttering. She could just hear him saying it. "And that's not something I can fake." Apparently, there were some things Artie knew how to fake.

Artie sighed. "Tina, I have to tell you something." Why did that sound so familiar?

Tina put her hands on her hips. "What, Artie? What could you possibly say now?"

"I- I didn't lie to Puck," he whispered, feeling sick. At the same time, it was strangely liberating to finally make this confession. "I... lied to you. I lied the first time you asked me how it happened. There was no car accident. My mom wasn't even there when it happened. I was eight years old... skiing with my family in Colorado."


Author's Note: You guessed it! (Darn it, you guys are good!)