Chapter 1:
"Not so fast, Mr. Puckerman, I need to talk to you for a minute."
Puck had almost made it safely out of the door before his English teacher, Mrs. Snow, had caught him. Now he was stuck, getting sucked back into the classroom to hear her get on his case about something. He was already trying to think back to the pranks he had pulled in her class in the past week. There had been the usual tripping some nerd on his way up to do a presentation and the one time that he had drew a mustache on the face of a chick in one of the play posters next to his desk. That thing had been asking for it.
All and all, it had been a pretty cool week for Mrs. Snow. Puck honestly had no idea what her problem could be with him right now. It wasn't like he had destroyed anything recently. Never the less, he braced himself. Even though Mrs. Snow was old... like ancient old... she was still a girl and he knew they could get pretty scary when they got mad. He put on his best 'I didn't do it, but I so totally did' face before turning around and taking a step or two back in the classroom.
"Yes, Mrs. S?" He said, his voice sounding innocent like he had no idea what she wanted... Which he found was a lot easier to pull off when he actually didn't.
"I was looking through my grade book last night and I see that I don't have anything written down for your Shakespeare paper."
"That's because it was so good, there wasn't a grade high enough for you to give it." Puck tried to sound completely serious. After all, she was old... forgetful...right? He told himself he actually stood a chance at her buying it...
"Don't play cute with me. I know you haven't turned in a paper." He could tell then that he was busted.
"Oh that paper. Don't worry, Mrs. S, I'm on it." Puck thought this new lie would be a little more believable.
"That paper was due two weeks ago." Mrs. Snow said, her tone rising to show she was getting more angry and he was getting more and more deep into trouble. "I expect that paper and soon or you can forget passing English this year."
"But Mrs.S! That's not fair! If I don't pass, I can't play football next year!"
"You sliding by teacher after teacher because they would rather pass you than deal with you again is what's not fair, Mr. Puckerman, to the students at this school who are making a conscious effort to pass their classes. I expect 3000 words analyzing the Shakespearean tragedy of your choice soon or else I will fail you."
"Can't I read something else? This old stuff is like in a different language." Puck protested. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew there had to be a good reason why no one talked that way anymore. All of the weird words like 'thee' and 'thou' made everything that much harder to understand. Couldn't people back whenever it was just have said what they meant without taking a year to say it?
"Shakespeare is a universal language that united people of every walk of life in its time, Mr. Puckerman. Anything with that much power through the ages is surly worth a little of our time today." Mrs. Snow said, as if she were actually going to convince him that this was something he was going to need outside of high school. "If your interested in getting help with this assignment, there is a senior in my Advanced Placement class that may could find the time to tutor you. Meredith Hart. Her paper was one of the best I've read in years, but I'm warning you, I would know if you tried to plagiarize."
Puck had zoned out of the conversation at the part where she had mentioned a tutor. The last thing he needed was some nerd on his case everyday, talking about how fun reading plays written by people that had been dead for hundreds of years was. His reputation was already taking enough crap from being in the glee club. He'd be sure to get a slushy in the face everyday until he graduated if he did anything like that. Never the less, he didn't think telling Mrs. Snow that had a reputation to protect was going to get him any closer to her good side either whichever that one was. So, he decided to just flash her another of his full-proof smiles and agree with her. Telling a chick what she wanted to hear was always the safe way to go.
"Sure thing, Mrs. S. I'll get right on it." He said as he re-positioned his book bag on his shoulder and turned away from the teacher. She seemed satisfied… for now. Anyway, she didn't stop him from leaving the classroom again.
Once he was safely out of the teacher's sight, Puck headed to the cafeteria. Thanks to her and her stupid paper, he was going to have even less time for lunch than usual. Luckily, he still had some status as a football player even with the glee club threatening his spot on the McKinley food chain. He passed the nerds, geeks, and underclassmen easily. Before he knew it, he was in front of the line and a large spoonful of tots were bring dumped on his tray. It was good to be feared in times like these.
He got the rest of his lunch and took his rightful seat at the table with the rest of the football players. All of them started to looked at him as he sat down, like he had gum in his Mohawk. He knew they were all wondering why he was late.
"Whatzup, Puckerman?" One of them said. "You missed one of the geeks over there falling over their own shoelace. We didn't even have to trip him. It was hilarious."
"I had some stuff I had to take care of." He answered. "A dude's work is never done around here." He had hoped they would leave it at that and assume he had been making out with Santana or some other hot chick, but it was turning out not to be his day.
"Yea, right." came Karofsky's voice, sounding like he wanted to start something. "The only chick you get anywhere with is Santana and she's been over there the whole time."
"How do you know I wasn't spreading the love around, Karofsky? I haven't seen you sucking face with anyone new this year either." He tried to make the words to come out smooth like usual, but somehow, he knew they weren't buying it this time.
"I don't claim to be some sex god either." He retorted. "Face it, Puckerman, easy chicks like Santana and those moms that are like desperate you get over the summer are the best you can do."
"Yea." There was a sound of unison coming from the table. What was this? Why did people suddenly think they could gang up on him like was he wasn't one of them? Maybe singing had hurt his bad boy, sexy image more than he had realized.
"That's so not true." He argued. It was time for some serious damage control for his reputation. "The Puck-mister can have his pick of any chick at this school."
"Bet you can't!" Karofsky challenged.
"You're on." He grinned to himself. Karofsky had taken the bate just like he had wanted him to. Getting back his image was going to be easy. All he had to do was win the bet. "Name the chick. I'll have her saying my name by Friday."
"Over there. At the nerd table. The chick with the green scarf." Puck turned to see the girl Karofsky was talking about. Dark hair. Brown eyes. Not a bad body from all he could tell, though she was showing way too little skin for his taste. She would be easy prey for Puckzilla. "I hear she's one of the smartest girls in the school. Senior. Total know it all."
"Older, smarter chick. I can dig that." Puck said. To him, it was no big deal. She wouldn't be able to resist. He'd have her away from the books and with him soon enough.
"Good luck." Karofsky mocked as he got up from the table to dump his tray. "Hope your singing turns her own, Puckerman."
He ignored him and turned his attention back to the girl. He was trying to get a good look at her face, but she was bent over a book and wouldn't move it. He squinted his eyes momentarily to try to make out what she was reading. Just barely, he could see the title: Antony and Cleopatra and the name of the author: William Shakespeare. The grin widened on his face. It was his lucky day after all. If he played his cards right, by the end of the week he could not only have a new girlfriend and a way to such up Karofsky but also way to write Mrs. Snow's paper and stay on top of the high school food chain.