Chapter Ten, everyone.
P.S. The version of Joey's song was the one done by Ali and A.J. Yay!
The glee club sat in the choir room, waiting for Mr. Schuster, who was running extremely late. Almost twenty minutes had passed since their rehearsal was going to start, and he hadn't even popped his head in to say that he would be there in a few minutes.
"Do you think he's dead?" Puck said after a long time of silence, looking around at the people giving him raised eyebrows. "What?"
Quinn rolled her eyes. "Maybe he got called out because of family problems or something. Doesn't he have, like, the world's craziest wife?" she said, running a hand through her messy hair.
"I bet it was a meeting or something. They called him over the intercom to Principal Figgin's office after school, they're probably arguing about trying to get rid of the glee club, as usual."
"Agreed," Kurt said, carefully fixing his hair, which wasn't even out of place. "On my way here, I saw him in the office. Except there was a strange woman with him who I didn't recognize. But may I say, her outfit was stupendous."
Rachel huffed, annoyed. "People, Mr. Schuster is just late. I'm sure something came up with a solo he's going to give me and is having trouble deciding which one it is. He's just caught up right now."
Everyone groaned and she crossed her arms over her chest, making a high pitched 'Humph' noise. There was silence in the room.
"I still think he's dead."
"He's not dead… I saw him with the crazy blonde drama teacher…" They all looked up at Mike, who was sitting there with his ankles crossed, pretending to stroke a beard.
"What do you mean you 'saw him with the crazy blonde drama teacher'?"
The lanky boy slowly turned his head to look at Puck. "What do you think I mean, dude?" he said, sitting up straight. "I saw him—Mr. Schuster, obviously—in the hallway with the drama teacher, who is crazy and blonde. Ms. Jenson, you know who I mean? Always wears boots and has glasses?"
"Yeah, we know you're talking about but why would he be with her?"
Mike whipped his head to look at Quinn. "Oh, you don't know?" The blonde shook her head slowly. "Rumor mills are churning out some interesting gossip lately, and I'm shocked you haven't heard. Mr. Schuster and Ms. Jenson are having some kind of intimate relationship or something along those lines…"
Quinn snorted. "No… There's no way. Mr. Schuster is practically head over heels for Ms. Pillsbury; he wouldn't go for Ms. Jenson in a million years."
"Wanna bet?" Everyone turned to face him better, and to listen. Mike pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and went of the internet, searching for Jacob Ben Israel's blog. "It's all over the blog-o-sphere." He cleared his throat. "And as for the teacher gossip… 'Looks like guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury, has some competition. Former flame, Will Schuster, was seen with the new drama teacher, Patricia Jenson, at the most recent basketball game of McKinley's shooters, holding hands and sharing a raspberry Slushee…'" With a satisfied look on his face, Mike slid his phone back into his pocket. "And there you have it."
"I still don't believe it. How could be go from one person to another in seconds. Just the other day, I heard him talking to Ms. Pillsbury and it sounded like-"
Suddenly, the glee club heard footsteps in the hallway, and a bunch of shushing. "Be quiet, don't let them hear you," someone whispered, a giggle following. The giggle and the warning were made by two different people, and the club recognized the warning as Mr. Schuster.
"Why can't they hear me? It's not like I'm famous or anything…"
There was some rustling and more shushing. "I know, but I don't want them to see you yet," Mr. Schuster said, silencing the giggles coming from the woman. "Alright, I will… Just, wait here. I'll be back in a second." Than Mr. Schuster came walking into the room. "Sorry I'm late guys…I had to take care of a few things." The glee club looked at him with raised eyebrows, some of them crossing their arms over their chests defiantly. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Why are you late?" Rachel said, arching one of her eyebrows up higher.
"I told you, Rachel, I had to take care of some things."
"Or did you just have to see Ms. Jenson?" Quinn said as she dramatically crossed her legs at the knees.
Mr. Schuster looked at her with a shocked expression. "I… I'm sorry, Quinn, I don't know what you're talking about."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb, Mr. Schue. Come on, we know you were with her…"
"What? Quinn, what are you talking about?"
"That was Ms. Jenson outside the door, wasn't it? We all know that there's something going on between you two. Jacob Ben Israel's blog confirms it."
He laughed once. "Quinn, that wasn't Ms. Jenson outside." They all nodded slowly. "No, it wasn't." Some of the students rolled their eyes and other scoffed. "I'm telling you the truth, guys, it wasn't Ms. Jenson."
"Then who was it?"
The teacher looked to Mercedes. "If you really must know…" He turned toward the door. "Alright, you can come in now. They've guessed too much," he called, smiling when a woman walked in and stood by his side. She looked young, maybe barely past twenty. She was wearing a white sundress with a jean jacket over it and knee high boots on her feet. She accessorized in gold jewelry and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that bounced around when she wrapped her arms around his middle. "Guys, this is my baby sister…"
All the jaws dropped of the teenagers, the glee club looking at them with shocked looks on their faces. "Hey," she said in a friendly voice, waggling her fingers at the teenagers.
"But… You look nothing alike," Finn said, pointing between the two of them subtly.
The two of them smiled. "I'm, um, I'm adopted." Jaws dropped farther. "I'm one of those really rare kids who was adopted from inside the united states…" They all stared at her. "I'm Maeve."
"How old are you?" Santana said, giving the girl a slight look of disgust.
The brunette woman smiled. "Nineteen." While the girls silently groaned, the boys nodded approvingly. "So, it's, uh, nice to meet you and stuff…"
Mr. Schuster smiled. "Yeah, it's nice to meet my sister, not the drama teacher," he said, annunciating the words and giving them looks that said 'What where you guys even thinking?'
"So… What's your fine ass doing here?" Puck said, leaning his elbows on his knees.
Maeve looked at him. "I'm unfortunately staying with Will while my boyfriend and I transfer to Ohio State University, but I know it's going to suck staying with my older brother Way to protective. But it's nice being back home for a while…"
Quinn's eyes widened. "Why would you ever want to transfer here? It's awful and depressing. There's, like, a fifteen people population in Ohio."
Will's sister laughed. "Well, he got an early job at a dentist office. They're only having him be an intern, since he's only a junior, but they're thinking of having him be the orthodontist there."
"You're boyfriend's a dentist?" She nodded at Puck. "Maybe you should leave him. I'm a football player. Must more impressive."
"And much more likely to not go anywhere in life," she shot back, smiling when Quinn hit Puck on the shoulder. "You must be Puck…" He nodded, pouting his lips in an attempt to be seductive. "Yeah, Will's told me all about you. This is your girlfriend, right? The one you impregnated on the first try?" she said, pointing to Quinn, who was sitting there, tapping her fingers on her arm and sitting there with a very pissed off look on her face.
In the corner, Finn cracked his knuckles, clearly bothered as he looked at the couple in front of him. But, Puck just nodded proudly, running his fingers through Quinn's hair once and leaning over to kiss her temple. "Then, maybe you should refrain from hitting on me when she's in the room, okay?" Puck smirked at the nineteen year old, but scooted his chair closer to Quinn, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "And, who else… You're Rachel, that one's easy…" The lead female vocalist beamed. "Let's see… Mercedes and Kurt, obviously… Then, Mike, Matt, and Finn… You two must me Santana and Brittany, and you're Artie, I know that. But… Wasn't there another?"
Mr. Schuster nodded. "Yeah, Jesse St. James. He's suspiciously gone missing the past couple days."
"I told you, he's sick," Rachel said, straightening her skirt as if it was common knowledge that Jesse was sick. "He came down with the stomach bug that's going around or something like that. All I know is when he finally answered my call to say he didn't want to speak to me, he sounded very sick."
Everyone's eyebrows rose and Rachel suddenly blushed, looking at the floor as if she hadn't said anything. "Alrighty, then," Maeve said, clapping her hands once. "Well, I can sense a lot of tension in this room, and I'm guessing it's all from me, so I'm gonna take off. Besides, I'm meeting Austin for dinner at BreadstiX…"
She and Mr. Schuster hugged then she waved at the glee club before walking out the door. "Order the Four Cheese Parmesan!" Mike shouted out suddenly and Maeve popped her head back in for a second to salute him before disappearing once again. The glee club looked up at Mike with their eyebrows raised and he just shrugged. "What? It had to be said…"
~*~
That day after glee club, Puck, Quinn and Josephine marched into the Qwik Mart, armed with a shopping cart, a food list, tote bags and Shoshana's spare credit card. With Joey placed in the seat of the carriage and Puck clutching the food list, Quinn had a feeling this was going to be an interesting shopping trip.
"Do you know what you're doing, because I sure as hell don't…" Puck whispered, leaning close to her with a scared look on his face.
Quinn laughed once. "You look at the food list and get what you need."
His eyes widened. "How do you know where everything is though?"
"You look at the signs above the aisles." Puck looked up and his face took on an expression of surprise at the labels on the food aisles. "Haven't you ever been food shopping before? You're seventeen…" Puck shook his head 'No' and Quinn leaned on the railing of the cart to look at Joey. "Your brother is a sheltered child."
Joey nodded slowly, finishing the juice in her juice box before speaking. "He doesn't know who Justin Bieber is either," she said, handing the box to her brother, who was standing there, looking over the list. "It's very sad."
"I know who Justin Bieber is, Jo. I'm not that sheltered. I know music," he said defensively, smirking at her when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Can we just get this over with? This place is freaking me out?"
Quinn nodded and tucked some stray hair behind her ears. "What's first on the list?"
Puck looked at the list again. "Um, milk."
"Milk it is, then."
The three of them started going through the store, grabbing the essentials as well as some extra things, such as cookies, cans of soda, packets of Ramen, and, secretly, a box of Princess gummy snacks for Joey.
When the cart was nearly full, they stopped in the juice aisle, grabbing juice boxes for Joey for school.
"What kind do you want, sweetie?" Quinn said, letting the little girl survey the different kinds before pointing to Motts apple juice. "Good decision."
They started onward again, but then Joey's face lit up and she looked at Quinn. "Can we get Kool-Aid?" she asked, pulling on the sleeve to Quinn's dress. Quinn looked at Puck for the okay, but he shook his head, crossing a few things off the list. The blonde looked back to the little girl in the shopping cart and did the same. "Please!? Please, please, please, please, please, please, please?" she repeated, pulling on Quinn's dress each time.
"Joey, I said no," Puck said, walking up to her and flicking her nose lightly. "We're running out of room in the cart anyway… So, it's either you walk and we get the Kool-Aid or you stay in the cart and nice and relaxed and we don't get the Kool-Aid." The five year old made a face, crossing her arms over her chest unhappily. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
Quinn, who was watching this whole transaction, began to push the cart forward again, leaning close to Joey. "Don't worry. We'll go shopping again later next week and I'll get you the Kool-Aid then," she whispered to the little girl, earning a smile.
"Hey, Quinn, watch where you're going!" Puck said suddenly, but not quick enough before the cart crashed into another one.
"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, I-"
Quinn looked up and froze, her eyes widening and her face drained of color. A terrified look took over her face and Joey looked confused when Puck wrapped his arm around her waist protectively.
"Quinn?" the woman said in a shocked voice, her face slightly lighting up.
The teenage girl felt like she was going to throw up. "Hi, Mom…"
The toddler's jaw dropped and Puck slowly reached up, pushing it closed. "Uh… Oh…" the girl said quietly, shifting in her seat to look at Quinn's mother.
"Quinn, it's so nice to see you. How have you been, dear?"
She nodded slowly. "I've been fine. This is Puck, and his little sister, Joey. We're just shopping for food, being responsible and stuff. I'm still pregnant, and you know, still on the rebound from being kicking out of my own home, but other than that, I suppose you could say that I'm dandy," she said in a sarcastic voice, gripping the railing to the shopping cart tighter. "And how have you been?"
Judy Fabray sighed. "Well, I've been fine. I'm just getting some things because your fa- Because Russell and I are having a small get together with the Kramers… But, there was one very strange thing that did happen a few days ago." She laughed once, covering her mouth with her hand. "In the afternoon, I had these two people come to my door. They were from the League of Awesome Hispanics or something strange like that. In fact, they looked a lot like your man here and his little… sister… Aren't you two the ones who-"
"Nope," Puck said, not letting her finish.
"Oh, but you must be because-"
"No, ma'am."
The older woman narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure. I could have sworn-"
But they were interrupted when an older man came walking up to them, tossing a container of cheese spread into their cart. "Judy, they didn't have the wine you wanted, but we can go back and-" He stopped when he noticed Quinn and Puck standing there, Joey still in the cart. "Oh, Quinn," he said in a dead voice, his eyes suddenly becoming dark. "Hello."
"Hi, Daddy."
"You can call me Russell," he said in a professional voice, bringing up his posture to tower over her slightly. "What are you doing here?"
Quinn bit the insides of her cheeks for a moment. "We're shopping for food… Russell," she said, swallowing the lump in her throat and ignoring how difficult it was to call her father by his name. "This is Puck, the baby's father, and this is Joey, his little sister."
"But, I thought Finn was the father?" her mother said in a confused voice.
She shook her head and her father nodded. "Of course Finn isn't the father." He turned to his wife. "Judy, we had better go. The Kramers are coming at seven and you haven't even started dinner yet."
"Oh, goodness, you're right, I haven't." They looked at Quinn. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Puck, and nice to see you Quinn," she said in a bright voice, giving them a smile before they walked off, chattering about which wine they should have instead.
When they were completely gone, Puck looked at Quinn, biting his lip nervously. Quinn just looked down at the list in her hands. "We need to get eggs," she said, the paper shaking in her hands. "And we also need snacks for Joey and school and some lunch meat for your football practice food as well as mayonnaise and ketchup, since we're all out of that. You didn't put it on the list, even after I told you to so it's lucky I remembered, but-"
She was talking a mile a minute but soon, her breath started to catch and she began to cry, falling into Puck's chest and holding his shirt in her hands. She sobbed into his shoulder, her tears soaking his shirt but he ignored it as he stroked her hair, shushing in her ear. "Shh, it's okay, Quinn, just take a deep breath, it's okay…"
"'It was nice to see you, Quinn'? 'You can call me Russell'? Who do they think I am, a stranger?" she said, her words muffled, but Puck could understand them. "They weren't even treating me like I was their daughter who they kicked out. It was like I was the child of a family friend who they hadn't seen in years!" she sobbed loudly, moving closer to Puck. "Who do they think they are?'
"Assholes is what they are, Quinn," he said in a frank voice, pulling away from her to look her in the eyes. "Look. Your parents are asses. They kicked you out of their house and treat you like this because they don't see how amazing you are. They also just lack common sense and don't see that they're being literally the words worst parents."
She nodded. "But they weren't even treating me like dirt. That I could have dealt with. But, being polite and acting like they didn't know me?" She shook her head. "Not dealing with it at all…"
"I'll say it again. They're assholes." Quinn smiled. "I'll shout it in you want me to…"
"No, no, no!" she said, but it was too late.
"They're assholes!" Puck shouted at the top of his lungs, getting some stares from passersby and Quinn covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. When he looked back at her, he was completely serious. Puck pulled her close resting his forehead against hers. "They're stupid, Quinn. They don't see how amazing you are and they can't see what they've lost because they blinded by stupidity."
After a moment, Quinn smiled and tilted her chin forward, pressing her lips against Puck's. He kissed her back, pulling her as close as he could to himself, tangling one of his hands in her hair. Just as Quinn slipped her arms around his neck, there was a scream from Joey. "Yuck!" she said, pulling roughly at Quinn's dress to pull them apart. "I don't wanna see you two kissing." With a smirk, Puck grabbed a Ritz crackers box, holding it in front of his and Quinn's faces so she couldn't see them. "I still know you're doing it!"
The two teens pulled away from each other, going to either side of the car, their hands placed on the metal sides. They bent down so they were at Joey's height and gave each other smirks. The toddler looked at Puck, then at Quinn before looking ahead. "Uh-oh," she said, just before they dove forward, planting a sloppy kiss on both of her cheeks. She scrunched up her face, her eyes squeezed shut and her hands clenched into fists.
"Ee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ew!"
And then Puck and Quinn burst into laughter.
Alright, tell me what you think. Review, review, review. :)