A/N: Ok, so apparently I forgot to mention that I don't own Glee. If I did, I wouldnt be going to law school and wouldnt be buried in debt until im probably 50. Also, I know that this chapter is titled Chapter 3 while the document has this being chapter 2...yes, I screwed up on that. The first two chapters can be found on the first page while chapter 3 starts on this one. Sorry for the confusion.
Additionally, I realize that there is some choice language in here and I only have the rating set for 'T' when it maybe should be 'M'. However, the story will get to be an 'M' at some point... but until then, I feel its ok at a 'T'. If you can find me a teenage boy who doesn't drop the 'F-Bomb' quite often, I'll bump it up to an "M" for language purposes. Oh, and thanks for the reviews :)
Chapter 3
Second week of February – Senior Year
Come Monday morning, Puck walked though the doors at McKinley High School feeling like a new man. The previous Friday he had paid a visit to his recruiter's office and filled out all of the necessary paper work and signed where he needed to along the dotted line and he was officially enlisted in the U.S. Army… pending his graduation from high school that is. He knew he was graduating, and while he didn't have the best grades, he was convinced Figgins would do anything to make sure he got Puck the hell out of there so he would stop causing so much trouble.
As soon as he made it to his locker, his buddy Finn joins him. "Puck, where have you been all weekend? And why are you looking so damned happy this week? Shouldn't you be skulking like the rest of the male population the week before Valentine's Day?"
"First of all Hudson, you probably wouldn't care what I was doing this weekend since Rachel keeps such a short leash on you. I would be surprised if she even lets you out of her sight on weekends." Puck grabs his books he'll need for his next class and turns to start walking down the hall with Finn, "And besides, I could give a damn about Valentine's Day. Fucking Hallmark conspiracy."
"Then why do you look so, I don't know, happy? Excited even? These past few weeks you've been like Captain Doom and Gloom and all of a sudden you're back to normal. Everything alright?" Finn asks, looking genuinely interested.
"Everything is fine, Finny. In fact, everything is great!" Puck explains, smirking at Finn as the taller boy looks at him, brows furrowed with confusion.
"Would you mind explaining, cuz I sure as hell could use a little of whatever you're on right now. Besides Rachel, and don't even think of giving me that look," Finn says, looking at Puck who does his best to hide the grimace appearing on his face at the mention of Rachel, "I don't have a lot going for me right now. All the schools that have been looking at me to come play QB for them are all either super-small private schools where the scholarship barely covers books, or they have dropped me completely after seeing my grades." After speaking to a few coaches in the past few weeks, Finn has come to the conclusion that grades do matter to college coaches, and that good looks and a cannon for an arm only go so far before other qualities are needed to get him into the schools he was looking at.
"Dude, I'm sorry. Those schools are all tools who don't know what they're missing out on. But I will say that I'm not on anything right now. My future employer would frown upon that." Puck states with a smirk as he throws a look over his shoulder at Finn who had stopped in the middle of the hallway at the words "future employer."
Finn practically runs to catch up to Puck, glancing over at him before saying "Future employer? You got a job already? Where and do they have any openings?"
Puck stops in front of the door leading into Mr. Schue's Spanish class. He glances at Finn briefly before smiling to himself and answering "Of course they have openings. They always have openings." Finn looks like an excited puppy at this before Puck continues, "Finn, I made a big decision this past week. I decided to get the hell out of Lima, and after looking into it quite a bit, I decided to join the Army." With that, Puck turns on his heel and causally walks into the classroom, leaving his confession to Finn hanging in the air as Finn is left stunned out in the hallway.
After the minor shock wears off, Finn follows Puck into the classroom, taking a seat next to him. "Are you serious Puck? The Army?"
"Dead serious man. In fact, I signed all of my papers and everything last Friday. I spent the weekend going through all the information and crap the recruiter gave me about reporting to boot-camp and everything. Not gonna lie Finn, I'm kinda excited." Puck states, looking over at his friend before turning his focus back up to Mr. Schue.
"Wait, when did you do this? You can't be serious Puck? You already signed up and everything?" The questions come spewing out of Finn's mouth, barely making sense. "Why? Wait, when do you leave?"
Puck leans over towards Finn before answering in hushed tones. "First of all Hudson, calm the fuck down. My mom took this better than you are. And second, I got the idea from this old dude at the post office when I was there one day. I looked into it a lot over the past month and it will help me get out of here and see the world. It's a pretty badass job." Puck sneaks a glance over at Quinn sitting in the second row before continuing "I want to be able to do something that matters with my life. I refuse to be a Lima Loser."
"Oh, now wait a second! For the love of God, please tell me you're not just doing this to impress Quinn. This is a big decision! You can't just rush into something like this over a girl!" Finn exclaims, causing a few people around them to turn and stare.
"Gentlemen" Mr. Schue exclaims, looking over at them, "If you would please be so kind as to step out in the hall and finish your discussion before you come back into class, we would all appreciate the lack of disruption." He signals for the boys to exit the room. They both stand and grab their books before heading out into the hallway.
"As much as I don't mind ditching," Puck begins "thanks for making us look like jackasses in front of the whole class."
"You didn't answer my question." Finn states before staring Puck down. "Tell me this has nothing to do with Quinn."
"Holy shit Finn, no it doesn't ok? It has nothing to do with her, really. Although I'm hoping the uniform and muscles may persuade her to give Puckasaurus Rex another go." He says with a smirk before deciding to get serious "I got to thinking about how everyone else was doing stuff after we left school and it got to me that pretty much everyone else was going on to college, yes including Quinn, and that I would be left here. Stuck in Lima. I want more from life than this town. Why can't you just be my friend and fucking support me instead of grilling me about my decision-making."
Finn looks down at his shoes before responding "Yeah, you're right. I get where you're coming from and I wanted to get out too, but I don't know if that's going to happen for me now."
"You know, a wise bitch named Santana once told me that your future doesn't have to be that way, so instead of moping about it, do something to change it." Puck looks at him before throwing his arm around his buddy's shoulders and starting down the hallway. "So I know you're dad was in the service, but have you ever given the Army a thought?"
Finn looks back over at his friend before answering "No, not really. I figured I'd just play football forever."
Puck laughs and responds "Let me tell you something, the Army lets you be a badass and blow stuff up…and they pay you for it!" before he removes his arm and lightly punches his friend in the arm.
The two boys spend the next three class periods in the library of all places, looking stuff about the Army up online while Puck explains all of the other benefits and incentives the Army offered him. After skipping classes for the past few hours, Finn tells Puck that he should get going and maybe attend a few classes that day or else Rachel will freak. Puck shakes his friend's hand before asking him to keep Puck's news to himself just for a little while longer. He wants to be the one to figure out a way to tell people of his decision.
The day flew by and it was time for glee practice. Puck was always the last one to walk through the door, but today he was surprised he beat Mr. Schue, as the teacher was nowhere in sight. Puck chuckled to himself, hoping he was off somewhere helping Ms. Pillsbury with her "intimacy issues." He gave Mr. Schue a mental high-five for that one.
As he walked toward the risers, he was met by a very angry Rachel Berry, who proceeded to slap him across the face. "How dare you get my boyfriend to skip all of his morning classes with you so you could fill his head with all of these scary ideas of joining the Army!" Rachel practically screamed at him, which got the attention of the rest of the glee-clubbers. They all knew she was overdramatic but the last 3 words caught all of their attention.
Puck looked around the room at all of their stares until he found the sheepish looking Finn staring back at him with an apologetic look on his face. "Geeze, thanks a lot Hudson. I thought I asked you to keep it to yourself for a while."
"Sorry man, I just got to thinking about it and it kinda just came out over lunch today." Finn explained.
Puck looked back at Rachel, who was still fuming, but before he could say anything to her she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "If you get sent to war, please don't die. I don't think I could handle that." Puck patted her lightly on the back before peeling her off of him and telling her he would be too busy kicking ass and taking names to die before hearing an all too familiar voice speak out.
"Wait! Sent to war? What is going on here?" Quinn exclaimed, her eyes boring into Puck.
Mr. Schue chooses that moment to walk in, breaking the tension in the air. "Woah there. Why does everyone look so serious? I've got a feeling I just walked in on something." Puck decides this time is as good as any to tell everyone as the cat is practically out of the bag at this point.
He steps to the middle of the room, clasping his hands in front of himself before looking up at Mr. Schue. "I have something to say to everyone if that's ok?" Mr. Schue nods and tells him to go ahead.
Puck glances at his shoes before straightening up and looking at everyone while he speaks. "I know most, if not all of you are planning on heading to college next year and what not, and pretty much everyone knew I wasn't. I was probably going to stay here and work somewhere and maybe go to community college if I got around to it. Well, I decided to do something a bit different. I want to make a difference and do something I can be proud of. So last week I joined the U.S. Army."
Puck could hear a collective gasp in the room and was met with a few confused looks before Mr. Schue came up to him and patted him on the back. "Noah, I'm really proud of you and I wish you the best with your future. That is quite the decision and I want you to keep yourself safe, you hear me?" Puck nods at the man before shaking his hand.
A few other members of the glee club come up to him and offer him their congratulations and best wishes while asking him when he was leaving and what he would be doing. Santana pats him on the back and tells him to try not to shoot his own foot off. He knows that's her form of congratulations, but he can't help tease her and tell her he would rather shoot himself in the foot than hang out with her anymore. She smirks at him and walks off to take her seat. He looks around at the people coming up and talking to him when he notices someone is missing. He looks over Mike's shoulder and sees Quinn standing by the drums staring at him, completely unmoved from the spot she was when he delivered his news.
He begins to move away from the crowd toward her when Mr. Schue clears his throat and tells them that while they're all excited for Puck, it is time for rehearsal so they all need to take their seats. They go to sit down and Puck looks over to where Quinn took a seat. She stares straight ahead, never once looking back at him.
At the end of rehearsal, he grabs his bag and turns to where she sitting only to find an empty chair. He looks around the room for her then hustles out the door and down the hallway, looking for her and wanting to find her to see what's going on with her. He throws open the doors leading out to the parking lot just in time to see Quinn's little red VW Bug pulling out of her parking space and tearing off down the street.
Quinn can't believe what she just heard before glee practice. Was he really joining the Army? I think that's what he said. What if he leaves and never comes back? What if he gets sent to war and is taken as a prisoner or worse, killed? She was barely able to make it through practice without looking at him, and once it was over she needed to get out of there. She practically ran out of the building and managed to get into her car and take off before the tears that had been pricking at her eyes all afternoon threatened to spill and reveal how she really felt about his decision. She had only managed to pull out of her parking spot and drive out of the lot before she succumbed to waves of emotion going through her at that moment. And for the entire 15 minute ride home and after, while she sat in her room, the tears flowed.
Puck knew something was up with Quinn but he figured he would wait it out for a while before checking to see what was going on with her. She left so abruptly after practice and practically peeled out of the lot, so he wanted to make sure she was ok. He wasn't sure if it was something he said or did, but he couldn't shake the icy look she had given him when he looked over at her after delivering his news this afternoon. He decided to wait until later that evening, when he knew she had some time to calm down.
-x-x-x-x-x-
He wasn't sure exactly what to say to her, and after mulling it over in his head for a while, her reaction to him joining started to make him somewhat angry. She should be even semi-happy for me, he thought. At least pretend like she was happy for him. He had always tried to be supportive of her, through the pregnancy and with Beth, and even behind the scenes when she didn't know about it, like threatening all of the other football and hockey players with extreme pain if they hassled his baby mama. She was such a mystery to him and her emotions and attitude toward him lately has practically been a roller-coaster ride, leaving him stuck as to what to say to her.
He finally decided on what to text her, and after typing in "What the hell is going on with you, Q? What's up?" in his message, he was moving his finger toward the send key when a new incoming message came through. It was from Quinn.
"The Army, Puck? Really? Like you're thinking of joining?"
Puck stared at the screen before typing in his response. "Yes the Army, and no I'm not still thinking of joining… already signed my life away ;)"
It took all of twenty seconds for Quinn to respond "Why?" Puck simply responded "Why not?" He didn't want to get into the specifics of why with her. The list was long and she couldn't actually be interested…could she?
Quinn text him back "No, seriously why?" Puck was getting a bit frustrated with this as he had already explained his reasoning to the glee club so he wrote her back "I already told everyone. I'm not going to college, I wanna get outta here, and this is one of the only options I see. I can do good. Just be happy for me." He threw that last line in there hoping to get a reaction out of her.
Instead, she wrote back "Do you get to finish the year at least?" He responded "Ya, I leave for boot-camp mid-July. I'm there til December."
"Where is boot-camp at? Ohio somewhere? There's the training base up north near Lake Erie." Wow, he was surprised she knew that Camp Perry was up north. He was secretly hoping that was where he would get sent for Explosives Ordnance School once he was through with basic training but he knew the chances were small. He wrote back "Nah, Ft. Benning, Georgia for basic training. Then hopefully technical school in Ohio or Virginia. I hope they accept me into the Rangers though and that's in like 3 different states, so we'll see where I end up."
Quinn responds back almost immediately "Ranger school? That's like really dangerous. What if they send you overseas and you have to go to war?" He thought the answer was obvious but he went ahead and wrote her back "Then I have to go to war, Q. It's my duty and my job. It's a tough life but somebody's gotta do it. Might as well be me."
He is confused by all of the questions she has all of a sudden, as she practically ran away from him today at school before he could speak to her. So he quickly typed another message to her before she could respond. "Why the 20 questions all of a sudden, Q? You could have asked me this afternoon. Instead, you ran."
Puck held his breath, waiting for her reply. After what seemed like forever, she finally responded: "Because I do care about you. I'm scared for you."
All he could think of for the rest of the night was how she admitted she cared for him, and right now, that's all he needed.
In a pink and purple bedroom across town, Quinn finished typing her message to Puck before gently setting her phone down on her nightstand and sliding under the covers. She was still stunned by his revelation but after she had cried as much as she possibly could, she had to know why he was doing this, why he was leaving her. She knew he wanted something else for himself and she was happy he was finally doing something he seemed to be excited about that was actually legal, but she couldn't help the twisting in her stomach she felt when she thought about him in the military.
She knew she still cared about him, and she went ahead and swallowed her pride and told him so just now. Who knows if he still cared about her though, they both had messed up in the past and she was scared she had ruined whatever it was they had after the way she acted last year. She couldn't figure out why his decision had made her feel this… hurt or uncomfortable. It was a strange feeling but she just couldn't make it go away.
She just cared about him so damn much and she was so scared she was losing him. She knew she probably wouldn't see him after this summer once they all graduated and he went on to be a soldier. She was scared for him and worried what the future might bring for him but she knew she would always worry about him and whether he was safe, and it was killing her that she may never know where he was or how he was doing after this year.
She felt him slipping away slowly and knew she was being selfish by secretly wishing he would stay here in Ohio and wait for her while she was at school, but she knows that dream just wasn't in the cards anymore. While she wasn't able to admit to him that she still loved him and needed him just yet, she knew she would do anything or give anything to make him see she still cared and wanted him to be with her.
