Catholic School Girl

Chapter 6: The "P" in Puck

She drummed her fingers on the desktop.

It was Friday night, and Tina was at home, sitting in front of her computer.

Normally, she would've been at Mercedes' house, or Mercedes would've come to hers. But ever since Mercedes and Sam had become more serious, and were actually calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, Tina found that she was spending more of her evenings alone.

She wasn't angry about it. Mercedes had wasted a lot of time going out with a bunch of different guys who were all wrong for her. Yet it was Sam, the guy who had been in front of her all along, that Mercedes finally honed in on as the right one. Even though it had all been a little too cheesy, romantic comedy for her taste, Tina was happy for her friends.

She would just have to find other ways to fill her time.

"Tina?" came a soft voice through her bedroom door. "Honey, can I come in?"

Her mom.

She sighed heavily, since nothing good ever came from the little heart-to-hearts they had when her mom came in her room. It always turned into a poorly disguised lecture. Shutting her mother out, though, only prolonged the inevitable.

"Yes, mom, of course."

Is it wrong to be envious of your own mother?

She was tall, and perfectly thin. In fact, Tina was sure that at no point in her life had her mother weighed more than she did. Her hair was long, and thick, with just enough wave to make her look ethereal when she laughed. When she was young, she had done and won dozens of talent shows and pageants, which Tina only knew because of the obvious disappointment that her mother showed when Tina took no interest in doing them herself. Tina didn't understand how her mom found no value in the arts, yet she felt that parading around on a stage in an evening gown, answering mindless questions about the perfect date would be, was worthwhile.

They looked nothing alike and none of their interests were the same. Tina often wondered how they could share DNA at all. If it weren't for her father, and their resemblance, she could have sworn she was adopted.

"So," Mrs. Cohen-Chang said as she sat down on the edge of Tina's bed, "No Mercedes tonight?"

"She's out with Sam," was all Tina was willing to offer. With her mom, it was always to give as little information as possible.

"Well, that is nice. That she has a boyfriend now, I mean. Maybe he has some nice friends that they could set you up with?"

"Artie is one of Sam's friends."

Her mom winced a bit, noticing the obvious snipe that Tina was making, though her tone had remained neutral. She tried to cover it by brushing her bangs from her face. "How has school been going?"

"Everything is good at school. P-play try-outs were this week and I think I have a good shot at the lead p-part."

Most mothers would have looked pleased, or maybe even a little proud at this news. Mrs. Cohen-Chang, though, had to force a half smile. "Your father mentioned you were doing another one of those. But he didn't say anything about a main, speaking role. That will be quite the challenge, don't you think?"

Tina knew exactly what her mother was getting at with the word "challenge." She may as well have told Tina that a female lead would be too hard for someone with a stutter like hers. She wanted to glare angrily at her mother, or yell that she knew exactly how "challenging" it would be. That she had thought of that before she decided to audition. That she wasn't the complete idiot that her mother seemed to think she was.

All she could manage, though, was a quiet, "I know."

Before her mom could say anything else, Tina's cellphone rang. She did not recognize the number, but talking to anyone other than her mom at the moment was preferable. "Hello?"

"Hey…Tina?"

Except for maybe Noah Puckerman.

How does he have my number?

Artie. Or Sam. She didn't know whether to be pissed at whichever one it was who had sold her out, or to thank them from possibly saving her from talking to her mom.

"Oh, hi," she said, turning away from her mom's quizzical look.

"So, what's up?" he asked, in a voice that made her think he had no idea why he was calling her.

"Uhm, nothing much. Just sitting here, talking to my mom."

"Harsh," he said, and after a long, awkward silence, "So, listen, do you want to hang out or something?"

Is he feeling alright?

"With you? Right now?" she questioned.

"Yeah. We could go see a movie or something. Or I could just come over and…"

"N-No. Let's just…give me a second okay." She pressed the phone against her chest, and turned back to her mom. "Would it be okay if I went to the movie with Sam and Mercedes?"

She didn't know why she was lying. Her mother wouldn't have said no if she had asked to go to the movies with a boy. She probably would have been over the moon. Tina was in no mood to introduce or explain Noah Puckerman to her mom, especially since she had yet to figure him out for herself.

"Honey, won't you feel like a third wheel on their date?"

"Can I go or n-not?" she snapped.

Her mom took a long moment. "Yes, yes, of course you can go. Just be back by 12, okay?"

Tina nodded, placing the phone to her ear. "Pick me up in ten minutes."

He pulled up alongside the curb, in front of a house that wasn't hers.

He only knew this because when he called her back – she'd hung up on him after she barked at him to come get her – she told him to park a few houses down from hers. He didn't ask why, mostly because he was in no mood to meet anyone's parents. Especially if this wasn't a date. And by his definition of what a date was, this definitely wasn't going to be one.

Why am I doing this?

It wasn't even about the possible rejection at this point. He just wasn't too keen on the idea of it being Friday night and him not getting laid. It was almost like breaking a longstanding tradition.

When he saw her walking toward the car, though, he thought it might be a willingly made sacrifice. It was almost weird seeing her in anything other than the uniform, but he was pleasantly surprised at how good she looked in a pair of jeans. Sam had been right about her legs. Even all covered up, they were amazing. Her whole body was.

"Hi," she said as she sat down in his front passenger's seat.

No comments about her legs or her ass. You want her to like you, remember.

"Hey," he replied, then, "You look good."

She tried to hide how surprised she was that he had said it. "This is what I always where when I'm not in school."

"Oh."

They sat there, in silence, for what seemed like forever.

For Puck, this was always so much easier when the girls weren't actually people. When they meant nothing, there was no chance that he could screw it up. He could go for what he wanted without feeling like a jackass, because those girls didn't care. They just liked to be saying they had a turn with him.

He hadn't thought about it much, but when he did, it bothered him a little. Everyone said that he used these girls and then threw them away. That he was a "bad guy." But weren't a lot of these girls using him too, especially when they turned around and bragged about it to their friends?

"So…what d-do you want to d-do?" Tina asked. "Because, I'm n-not in the mood for a movie."

"Me either," said Puck. "Are you hungry? We could go get something to eat."

"I just ate d-dinner awhile ago, but if you want to eat, we can."

"Not really hungry myself."

Again, awkward silence. This time, though, it didn't last as long.

"Wait. I have the perfect idea," Puck blurted out as he put the car in drive.

Tina did not ask where they were going until the hit a dirt road that was at least 20 minutes outside of Lima.

"Okay, this is going to sound totally lame. But…there's this farm out here that does hayrides. Some of them are haunted and some are just plain hayrides. I figure, we can do that, and then get some warm apple cider after."

She didn't think it was lame at all. In fact, she thought it was kind of cool. She had never been on a hayride before. "We should do the haunted one."

When he glanced over at her, she was smiling. He couldn't help but do the same. "Cool."

"Need a hand?" Puck asked, offering her his as she attempted to climb onto the hay-covered wagon bed. She could have done it on her own but his hand was already out.

The ride was filling up, so everyone had to squeeze together closely. When she felt his thigh touch hers and his arm slip behind, but not entirely around, her, she wondered if he had known about this place because he had brought girls here before. Having a jam-packed wagon, and barely any room to spread out, was the perfect opportunity for him to get close enough to a girl to…do whatever he wanted to do. Especially on the haunted ride that they were about to go on. Girls probably used the being scared by some fake zombies jumping out of trees to jump onto Puck.

It had all sounded so innocent in the car, and now she felt a little naïve for playing into it.

As the wagon lurched forward, her body jostled right into him.

"Sorry," she mumbled, though just smiled as if to say, "no big deal." In fact, he seemed to like it, which was no surprise to Tina. What was a surprise was how much she liked being close to him. And even though she was a little afraid of what could happen, the possibility of him being closer gave her an unexpected thrill.

"You cold?" he asked.

"A little. I d-din't think to bring a…SWEET JESUS!"

What looked like a corpse – her blood red lips and bruised eyes emphasized only by her porcelain pale skin – had launched out from behind a tree and nearly sent Tina reeling into the people sitting behind her.

"Whoa, babe. Just relax," Puck said as the arm he'd had behind her braced her backward tumble. He called her babe out of reflex, since that was what he called most girls, and it somehow didn't sound right to him. "Alright?"

"N-not really. I d-don't d-do well with scary stuff like this." She could still feel the anxiety rolling through her, and she noticed that his arm had not drawn away from her yet.

"Why did you want to come on the haunted ride then? We could've done the other one."

"I guess I d-didn't want to be a baby about it."

Instead, I just embarrass myself in front of you. That's all.

Almost as if he could read her thoughts, he snaked his arm around her shoulders. "It's cool. Everybody is afraid of something."

"What are you afraid of then," she asked, as she leaned into him slightly. She figured the contact would soften her words a bit, persuading him to answer.

He was torn, because honesty and girls were two things he tried not to mix. The less they knew, the better. And usually, girls accepted the standard "Puckzilla's not afraid of anything" answer most girls eat up the tough guy routine. Some girls even said it made him sexier, which he definitely never disagreed with. When he looked down at her though, still looking shaken from the first jolt, he felt a pang of what he guessed was his conscience. "Those creepy statues in your school kind of freak me out. Not like pissing my pants scared. But..I dunno. The eyes just feel like they're following you."

She didn't react immediately, because her first reaction was to laugh. But he hadn't laughed at her fear. She couldn't do that to him. "They are on the creepy side," she agreed, slipping her arm around the middle of his back.

He didn't know why, but of all the hayrides he'd been on, this was the best by far.

"How d-did you know Edelwiess?" Tina asked as she sipped on the cup of cider that was warming her hands.

Normally, this whole "talking" and "truth telling" thing would have worn on him pretty quick. But he had to fill up all the time that he would normally spend hooking up. That really had no chance of happening. And…he kind of liked telling Tina things about himself. Not just because she seemed to like listening, but also because he didn't have to worry about whether or not people would believe her if she told. He knew that, Even though she'd never promised not to, he knew that she wasn't going to tell anyone what he told her.

"My little sister loves that movie. I've seen it a million times with her. One day, she asked me if I could learn that song on my guitar. So I did."

Not at all what she expected. "You're a good big brother for doing that," she said quietly.

"Nah. Chicks just dig the guitar, that's all." He slowed the car as they came upon the same house he had parked in front of earlier. The one 3 doors down from her own.

"So…" she said, rolling the cup in her palms.

"So."

"Well, I guess I'll see you Wednesday. They'll have the play roster p-posted by then."

He frowned. He wanted to see her before that. Or at least talk to her. He also didn't want to seem desperate. Even though he kind of felt that way. "Alright," was all he could say.

"Okay," she said, disappointed that he didn't want to talk to her sooner than that. "I guess this is good n-night then," she said as she opened her door and climbed out. "Bye…Puck."

He followed behind her slowly as she walked to the door. She may not have wanted him to come near her house, but he wasn't about to let her walk even a hundred feet alone in the dark.

As drove the rest of the way home, his own name ring in his ears.

Puck. Puck.

She hadn't even tripped over the "P," like she always did.

It has to mean something good.