Chapter 2:

Cleopatra: If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

Antony: There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

Cleopatra: I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved.

Antony: Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

Meredith read the four or five line passage over and over again. It was near the beginning, before any real action began, but it was still one of her favorite exchanges in the entire play. For all of their squabbling and all of the mistakes they made, Antony and Cleopatra did manage to get a few things right. This was a perfect example, one of the things that made their actions a little more believable. They loved each other with such passion, it was beyond the comprehension of everyone around them… beyond any words they could say to each other.

Some days when Meredith read it, it was one of the most beautiful things in the world… love so powerful it was beyond words. She quietly wondered what it would feel like, to have something that special and meaningful to call her own. It sounded like so much feeling that it would be painful tying to contain it. Not only that, but it would be excruciating to be away from the other person or for them not to feel it back. Surely this kind of thing existed somewhere, outside of the writing of Shakespeare. The inspiration had to some from somewhere, didn't it?

Then on other days, like this particular Monday, Meredith couldn't help but feel skeptical. Was it even possible for a human to feel like that? Even Antony and Cleopatra, if they had felt it, had a strange way of showing it sometimes. Hadn't Antony went back to Rome, left Cleopatra and married someone else? Hadn't she ordered her ships to retreat, caused Antony to loose the war he was fighting for her, and then sent word to him that she was dead just so he wouldn't be mad at her anymore? But then, hadn't they both died because a life without the other wasn't worth living? Maybe that was what Shakespeare was trying to say. Love wasn't supposed to be simply the high school 'I love you more' contest, but something deeper… something that could withstand arguments and countless mistakes and still exist.

Whatever the answer to the question was, Meredith was out of time to contemplate it. It was only a few more minutes for the bell would ring, the warning that they only had five minutes to get to their next class before they would be counted late. She decided while she was at a stopping point, she might as well re-locate to Mrs. Snow's classroom. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was being late to class (especially when the room was so close.) Meredith slid the play back into her book bag and grabbed her tray. She then stood up and started to make her way back to the front of the cafeteria to dump the remains of another school lunch that no one could ever quite identify. She kept her head tilted slightly down, not making eye contact with anyone as she passed by, and trying not to notice them or to be noticed.

Puck had been watching the chick on the other side of the cafeteria ever since Karofsky had pointed her out to him. He kept his eye on her as he had a few bites of whatever it was the lunch was. Her face almost covered all the way by the Shakespeare book she was reading. She didn't look up from it at all, like she was concentrating on it entirely. It was like him when he was playing Super Mario Brothers. His mom could yell at him from hours and he wouldn't hear her until he stopped playing. He was in the zone. He couldn't imaging a book do that to someone.

Finally, a few minutes before the warning bell rang, he saw the chick come out of the zone. She put the book back in her lime green back like it was breakable or something. Then, she got up and started walking. A smile came wide across Puck's face. This was it, his chance to ask her out. Time to put on his best charm and try to charm her. Show time.

He grabbed up his tray and started walking in the general direction of the trash can and the chick. She wasn't looking in his direction, but that was okay. Once he got close enough to her to see his good side, he got the ball rolling.

"Hey," Puck said.

The chick's brown eyes turn toward him, then to the tables next to them. It was like she had no idea he was talking to her. He met her gaze with one of his own and smiled even bigger. Even with the obvious hints, it still took her a while to realize he had had been talking to her and for her to say something back.

"Hey…" she said. The words 'what do you want' were never spoken, but he could tell that was exactly what she was thinking.

"Are you Meredith Hart?" If there had been any doubt she was confused that he was actually talking to her, the look on her face when he said her same confirmed she was freaked out. It was like no other kid at the school had ever remembered her name.

"Yea," she finally said back.

"Cool," He said nodding. "Look, my name's Puck. I'm in Mrs. Snow's second period. I'm having a little trouble with this whole 'Shakespeare' thing and she said you might have time to help me out."

"I'm not really a tutor." Puck sighed inwardly, but kept smiling. Dang. first setback. From the way she had said it, he wasn't the first one to ask her for help in English and probably not even the only one who had intended to try to use it to get in her pants either.

"That's cool. I just need help on this on paper. Mrs. S wanted me to get help from her best student. It's a really important grade." Puck had decided the kiss-up approach was as good a start as any. But as soon as he had said it, he knew she hadn't bought it. He was losing. Fast. Why was this so hard?

"Look, I don't think I can help you. Maybe you should ask someone else." Meredith started to walk away from him. Him. Puckzilla. What was it with today? He jumped in front of her before she got too far. When she had stopped, he turned on the eyes with a look that was pleading, but not pathetic. A look that tried to convince her she had misjudged him.

"Why? Because I'm a dude? Because I play football?" He paused. A look flashed in her eyes that was like saying 'yea, basically'. "People go around this school and act like they know me. I punch people and I mess stuff up sometimes. They think that's all I can do. People do the same thing to you. They see you read and get good grades. Is that all you can do?"

She looked at him like he had had just swallowed a guitar. That 'in the zone' look came across her face again like it had when she had been reading. That was more like it.

"No." Meredith answered him quietly. Now it was time for the finishing touch.

"Will you at least think about helping me? Let me know later."

Now she looked like she had just missed making the winning touchdown by less than a yard. It took her several seconds before she finally gave him an answer.

"Yea. Okay. I'll think about it."

Bull's-eye. Puck knew he was in at that moment. She wouldn't have said it, maybe she didn't know herself yet, but she wasn't going to be able to resist. All there was left to do was for her to walk away, thinking about what he said and then say yes. Meredith Hart didn't stand a chance against Puckzilla.