Redemption
Chapter 7: Justice
Hitting girls? Definitely wrong.
But when he watched Quinn practically floating down the hall, pretending to hang onto Finn's every word – Puck recognized that blank look from the all the times he'd tried to explain the epic that was Super Mario Brothers to her – it took every bit of strength Puck had not to lunge at her. He wished Lauren was there to do it for him. Girls hitting other girls? Totally fine. And totally hot in Lauren's case. Watching her kick some ass was a total turn on.
Don't get ahead of yourself, he thought. Lauren was just this side of liking him again, and he knew there was a long way to go before he got them back to where they were before. If he could, anyway. The thought of her not being able to get past this only made him rage more, and he continued to glare murderously at Quinn.
Sam came up next to him, following his line of sight. "You alright?" he asked.
"No," Puck growled, slamming his locker door with a loud clang. "Look at her! She's bucking for prom queen and walking around like she didn't fuck up someone's life."
Sam was quiet, and Puck knew why. When he'd told Puck what Quinn had said, Sam had gone on and on about how sorry she seemed and how she had gone through a lot and it was partly because of Puck. It was pretty obvious that Sam still had a serious soft spot for Quinn, even though she'd basically Buffied his sweet, little Eagle Scout heart. And even though listening to him had been incredibly annoying, Puck gave Sam a lot of credit for actually telling him at all.
"Maybe you should tell someone, like Mr. Schue, instead of getting all worked up and doing something stupid," Sam suggested.
Puck shot him a sideways glance. He hated it when Sam tried to reason with him. He hated it more when it kind of made sense. "Fine, whatever. But if he doesn't do anything, I'm handling it my way."
Lauren had passed by Mr. Schue's office earlier, but hadn't gone in when she'd seen Puck and Sam sitting in there talking to him. She wasn't going to read too much into it, but something had fluttered in her chest a bit at the thought of Puck taking care of business, and doing something about this whole mess.
Now, sitting in glee club, she wondered what had been said, and what Mr. Schue was going to do about it.
She looked down at the back of Quinn's head. It was almost too tempting. All Lauren had to do was give her perfect blond hair a yank, or roughly kick the back of her chair so that she would fall forward, smacking her perfectly pretty face hard against the floor. When Quinn laughed, the sound of it made Lauren's whole body tense and she had to scoot her chair back, putting Quinn out of her reach.
She hated that this was getting the best of her, that something so stupid was making her this petty. Normally, she was above it, and she'd spent the last 24 hours trying to reason with her rage, reminding herself that she hadn't been Quinn's intended target. But the fact was that Quinn had done this to her too. And no matter how angry Quinn had been at Puck – an emotion that Lauren understood better than most – Lauren hadn't done anything to deserve what she got.
It just had to be dealt with. And by the look on Mr. Schue's face when he came into the room, it was about to be.
"Guys, I have some…personal business that I need to take care of so I am calling practice off today. Feel free to stay if you like, but, like I said, I have to go take care of some things."
He was subtle, barely touching Quinn as he stopped her before she exited the room. Lauren saw it, but everyone else was too busy shuffling around, and chatting to notice. After he said something to Quinn in hushed voice, he looked up at Lauren, and waved for her to follow him. Or, at least, that's what she figured he meant.
Lauren glanced quickly at Puck, who was sitting three seats over. Smart move on his part, she thought. Giving him another chance was one thing. But him being all up in her space all the time would have just been frustrating. Still, she kind of wanted him to be there when whatever was going down went down. She could handle herself, no doubt about that, but – and she would never say so out loud, or give him the satisfaction of knowing – it was just a lot easier having him back her.
Luckily for her, Puck tailed her, Quinn, and Mr. Schue to his office, and leaned against the file cabinet on the wall nearest Lauren.
From behind his desk, Mr. Schue looked…well, he looked like Lauren hadn't seen him look before. Normally he was obnoxiously upbeat. She'd seen him angry once or twice, like in the green room at Sectionals. Now, though, he looked like one of those old timey school marms or Mrs. Pearson, McKinley's crankiest librarian. Like he was sick of dealing with kids, especially the ones who just didn't know how to behave.
"I'm going to cut to the chase," he said, looking directly at Quinn. "Did you put the tape that Puck and Lauren made online?"
Quinn stared at him fiercely, never blinking once. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh c'mon!" Puck shouted. "Sam heard you say it, and Lauren heard you tell him!
"Puck," said Mr. Schue, looking at Lauren. "Tell me what you heard Quinn say."
Lauren's eyes flicked in Quinn's direction. She was in no mood to be fair, but was willing to try if Quinn looked even a little bit sorry. Quinn didn't even flinch, though, which just pissed Lauren off more than she already was. "I heard her tell Sam that putting the tape online was Puckerman's payback for knocking her up. That he deserved to feel bad like she had, and something about being drunk and angry when she did it. What I didn't hear her say was what the fuck I ever did to her that made take her little temper tantrum out on me."
Mr. Schue lifted an eyebrow at Lauren, probably objecting to her f-bomb, but she didn't care. She hadn't gone after Quinn in the hallways, or in front of glee club. She was going to say what she wanted to now. "So what did I do to you, princess? Hmm? I stole your boyfriend, is that it? Because, last I checked? You didn't want him. Or was it just the pretty, popular cheerleader putting the big girl in her place? I'm really curious, so tell me." She turned squarely, in her chair, gripping the arm so hard she could have snapped it in half. "C'mon, Fabray, don't be shy now. Tell me what I did to you! Tell me why you did this!" Lauren jumped up, leaned over, and practically screamed in Quinn's face. "JUST TELL ME!
Puck grabbed Lauren by the elbow, pulling her back as Quinn rose to her feet too, tears streaking like violent lightening through a layer of foundation and blush. "I didn't think about you, OKAY? Is that what you want to hear? I didn't think about you just like nobody thought about me when they called me names in the hall or ignored me!" She threw a finger harshly in Puck's direction. "He sure didn't think of me when he didn't use protection! I was…just…ANGRY! Alright? Stupid and angry!"
Mr. Schue was around his desk now, putting himself in between the girls before they could exchange blows.
"That doesn't make it okay! Do you know what you've done?" Now tears started to pool in the corner's of Lauren's eyes. "My parents have a hard time even looking at me now! And my little brother's are getting teased at school because of this! They've had to quit their after school stuff, and they might have to be homeschooled! When you didn't think about me, you didn't think about any of them either."
Quinn had no response, except to collapse back into her chair, her tiny body shaking.
Lauren reeled back too, straight into Puck's arms. For a split second, she forgot she what was happening between them and she buried her face in his shoulder, letting him cradle her.
"Guys, everyone just needs to calm down," Mr Schue said, a little lamely, like even he knew that he was a little late with that. "Let's just talk about what's going to happen now."
Snapping back to her senses, Lauren practically pushed Puck away as she made her way back to her chair and waited for Schue to dole out the final verdict. She didn't much care if Quinn got in any kind of trouble, since the damage had already been done. Lauren just wanted it all to be over. Or, as over as it could be.
Mr. Schue sat on the front edge of his desk, arms crossed in front of him. "Obviously, I have to take this to Principal Figgins, which will probably result in him telling your mother, Quinn."
Quinn wiped her eyes, making the black smear under them worse. "Will I be suspended?"
"I'll talk to him so that doesn't happen and I will try to keep you in glee club too. But I doubt you'll be allowed to run for prom queen. And you are really going to have to convince him that you are sorry."
"That's if she is sorry," Lauren scoffed. "I heard no apology come out of her mouth."
"Lauren…"
"No, she's right, Mr. Schuester," Quinn said. "I didn't say it. But I am now." She turned towards Lauren. "I'm sorry. For hurting you, and hurting people you care about. You don't have to believe me, but I mean it."
Even though she couldn't deny that Quinn had sounded, and looked, pretty sincere, Lauren didn't want to accept the apology. Like forgiveness was that easy. But she also didn't want to look like the jerk in the room. If she wanted to get past the petty she'd been suffering from, she had to suck it up. "Fine. You're sorry. I get it."
Mr. Schuester nodded. "I think it would be in your favor, Quinn, if you did something like volunteering to show that you truly are remorseful. Maybe do a Big Sister program, or work with a group that helps young girls with self-esteem. I'll see if maybe Miss Pilsbury can help you with that."
Quinn nodded. "Can I go then?"
"First, I want you all to agree that this stays between us."
"Please, Mr. Schue. If one person in glee club knows then everyone will," said Quinn.
"And half of the club knows already," said Puck. "Artie, Sam, and Mike were helping me with this."
"Can't you just tell them not to tell anyone?" asked Mr. Schue. "You all have gotten pretty good at keeping secrets in the last year."
Puck rolled his head around a bit. "Yeah, I guess. That's if they haven't told the girls yet."
"Let's just hope they haven't," he said with a sigh. "And I'll go speak to Principal Figgins right away."
He ushered them out of his office, Quinn taking an immediate right, probably too anxious to be in Lauren's vicinity any longer.
Puck stood for a moment, waiting for Lauren to say something. When she didn't, all he could think to offer was, "Pretty crazy."
"Yup," Lauren said, looking at him after Quinn had finally disappeared. "Thanks, I guess, for taking care of this. And for being in there. You didn't have to do it."
"Yeah. I kind of did. I was laying in bed last night, thinking about how none of this had ever happened if I hadn't been so stupid. If I had thought with my head for once and not my dick."
Lauren said nothing, because she really did not want to be thinking about his lower anatomy. Everything was difficult enough without that on her mind too.
"So, is stuff really still that bad with your family?" Puck asked.
"Watch it, Puckerman. Your concern is showing."
He rolled his eyes at her, not being able to stop himself. "Whatever, Zizes. You know I care about you. Even if you don't like me a whole lot right now."
And there it was. That thing about him that made her so damn…girly. So damn weak to him all the time. He was irresistible. And the worst part was, he knew it. But now…he wasn't riding on it. He was actually going to put the effort forth. It wasn't going to be like it was before, though. Nope. This time, it was going to be more because it had to be. And she couldn't help but smirk a little at the idea of how much better it would be this time around.
"Well, you just keep right on caring, and who knows? Maybe you'll change my mind about you. Doubt it. But anything is possible."
He grinned. "Walk you to your car?"
"Not yet." She began walking up the hallway, but turned back for just a moment. "But maybe someday soon."
That was more enough for him.