Author's Note: Apologize for the delays - JUST finished my final exams for the semester today! Yay :) Wanted to get something out today even though I'm exhausted between the 16 hr days I've been pulling for school/work/athletics this past month, so I hope it turned out okay! Wanted to write more but I'm too tired that I think if I tried to continue, it just wouldn't be any good. But bear with me, because I promise to update often while I'm on Winter Break!
As always, a shout-out to one of my lovely reviewers: thank-you so much for the compliments MissMamiee :) Appreciate it so much - and let me tell you, I WISH I was on that writing team for Glee! If only...
As always and as with every author, appreciate the reviews!
They won.
As crazy as everything had been – the girls leaving, the Rachel fiasco, poaching the new Irish kid and dragging Sam back . . . somehow through all of it, New Directions pulled through. Hell yes, thought Puck as he reached towards the trophy along with his fellow teammates, raising it in triumph. The audience soon emptied out of the auditorium while New Directions continued to be lost in their celebration. Under normal circumstances, Noah Puckerman was 'too cool' for such childish antics. But after all they had been through, Puck allowed himself to get caught up in the euphoria of the victory – that is, until he looked to his left to see Shelby and the Troubletones.
He could see the strain in Shelby's face. Sure, she was smiling and from what he could interpret, she was calmly ushering the shocked, defeated girls into the dressing room for what would likely be a post-game-loss pep talk (boy did Puck have his fair share of experience being on the receiving end of those, from being on McKinley's football team and all). But beneath the collected look she was feigning, he could see the same stressed-out Shelby he rushed to the rescue of that day at the hospital.
Shelby was probably freaking out about what to say, how to make the girls feel better, or wait – shit!-what Sugar's dad thought about their loss. What would happen now? Al Motta scouted Shelby because she was the best show choir director money could buy –the best show choir director who had now lost. Would Shelby lose her job? Puck began panicking for her.
"Yo, Puck – we're going!" Finn called, snapping Puck out of his thoughts. Before he even had a chance to reply, Finn had his arm around Puck's shoulders, turning him around and dragging him along with the rest of Glee Club to their celebration at Breadsticks. He turned his head and caught one last glimpse of Shelby and the Troubletones before they disappeared into the opposite wing.
Shelby was exhausted. From spending what felt like hours comforting the devastated Troubletones, to getting home to lull a slightly, feverish Beth to sleep, Shelby was beyond relieved to finally curl up at the end of her couch, watching some mindless infomercial.
She had anticipated the girls' reactions upon hearing their names called for second place. As predicted, Santana stormed off before Shelby even had a chance to say a word, cursing nonsensically in Spanish while dragging a still-clueless Brittany alongside. Sugar too, stormed off but not before obnoxiously blaming Shelby for their loss, claiming that if Shelby had the brains to give her the lead in the first place, they would not have lost. And to top it off, Sugar made sure to emphasize that Shelby would be hearing soon from her father, before the girl stomped off in a fury.
So Shelby gave her speech to those who would listen – Mercedes, and the rest of the Cherios who honestly, she had no idea why they stayed. Santana pretty much threatened the girls to join in the first place and with their leader off unleashing her rage, they really had no reason to be there. Maybe they were being polite? She supposed they were still nice girls.
Nonetheless, Shelby gave her speech about how proud she was of their performance – because she truly was – and at the end of the day, they did their best and they should be proud of it. It sucks to lose but it sucks even more to be a sore loser, or so she tried to convince them. The Cherios left once Shelby finished her speech but it was Mercedes who she had to convince to go home.
It was as if Mercedes wasn't ready to admit defeat – that by staying there, something could happen . . . something would change. Shelby had been there before. She had the same habit of sitting outside the studio of her failed audition, hoping and praying the casting director would see her as he left and realize he had made a mistake for not choosing her. She knew what the poor young girl was feeling and wished she could take those feelings of disappointment and failure away.
Luckily, Mercedes's parents came looking for her and took over, finally giving Shelby a chance to go home to check up on her baby girl. Shelby was relieved to realize that her young baby-sitter had exaggerated a bit over the phone and that upon checking Beth, Shelby was pretty certain Beth only had a minor cold, similar to ones her baby had had before. It took some effort, but by the 18th repetition of 'Itsy, Bitsy Spider', Beth was sound asleep.
So here was Shelby. There were so many things she needed to start worrying about and figuring out. For starters: finding a new job. Between Quinn ready to go to Figgins about her and Puck, to Al Motta now likely out to replace her, Shelby knew her job at McKinley was as good as gone.
And she still had the whole Puck situation to properly resolve. Sure, she could let his angry storming out of her bedroom be the end of everything and pretend it never happened, but that wouldn't be fair to him. As the older, more experienced one in the situation, she felt it was her responsibility to make sure this was resolved properly; she wanted to make sure his feelings were okay, so they could put all of this in the past to maintain a civil, platonic relationship for Beth's sake.
But you don't teach at McKinley anymore.
Or soon she wouldn't be. In her current emotionally and physically exhausted state, the idea of allowing Noah Puckerman to come comfort her didn't seem all that wrong. God, how much she wanted someone to just hold her right now, no words needed. Just some warmth and a heartbeat to lull her to sleep, a pair of strong arms. And right now, she could only think of one person who could give her what she needed. She knew she could call him again and she was pretty sure that despite being angry at her, he would be there . . .
But no Shelby. No, she was not going to let her vulnerable state lead her to more stupid decisions. It wasn't fair of her to lead him on when there was no future for either of them. Not being a teacher at McKinley didn't change the fact that they were in such different places in their lives. Speaking to Quinn made her realize that she was right in telling him to go that day. Puck should be off discovering the world, not tied down to this old woman. Shelby let out a sigh – how she wished to be 18 again, how she would do things over differently . . . and yet, you really only get one shot at being young. This was her life now and he had his.
Shelby suddenly felt a vibration in her pocket – who was texting her at this hour? She slid her finger across her iPhone:
Noah Puckerman: Know you won't see this till the morning but hope the pep-talk with the Troubletones went okay. Is gymnastics still on tomorrow? Would love to see Beth. Hope you're okay too. . .
Shelby starred at the message and instantly felt warmth wash over her. Hope you're okay too. . . It was as if he was there giving her the hug she wanted, no – needed.
Shelby couldn't stop herself – she pressed her thumb down on the touchscreen and dialed his number.
So what did you think? This chapter sort of fills in the Shelby holes from Sectionals, and my next chapters will continue to do that right up to the X-mas episode. And then we'll see from there! Stay tuned to find out how this phone conversation goes :)
(Also if anyone has advice on how to write a phone conversation or a good example, would appreciate that! Never written one before - might stick to the prose I've been writing in so far, but I feel it won't convey the flow of a phone conversation as well as I'd like to. Would appreciate any advice there!)
Happy Holidays everyone!
