Chapter 21
Puck sat next to me on the sofa, I had the blanket wrapped around me and looked up at him
"Puck, are you ok?" I asked quietly
He looked at me and nodded.
"Something's wrong" I said, I could sense it
"You flinch" He said simply
I looked at him confused
"Everytime my hand goes near you, or my body touches you, you flinch" He said slightly upset
I felt tears begin to roll down my cheeks
"It's not you" I said.
"i'm just jumpy" I replied
I turned on the seat to face him and reached my hand out to him, I lifted his hand and pressed my palm to his
"it's not you, not your touch, its just at the moment, when i'm not expecting the touch... I remember last night" I said tearfully.
Puck entwined his fingers with mine
"i would never hurt you Addy" He said
"i know" I replied
"and I don't mean to flinch" I said softly
Puck nodded
"if you tell me, I might not flinch" I said softly
Puck smiled weakly
"I know you went through a lot Addy, and I really want you to know I would never ever hurt you, but I also want you to know that I will wait till you're ready, because I really care about you" Puck said
It surprised me. And I smiled
"I care about you too Puck" I said.
Our hands were still pressed together, he squeezed my hand then gently let go of one of them. I pulled the other up over my shoulder and rested against him.
It was days before I felt I could show my face in public again, the bruises had gone down now, but I still hated the feeling of seeing everyone at school, knowing that they had all heard a form of what had happened. Puck visited every day and I was getting more and more used to not flinching from him, but we hadn't kissed, maybe on the cheek, but nothing like that first, amazing, sensational kiss. Either he felt he couldn't because he was worried I wasn't ready after the attack, or I was giving off some vibe, that I wasn't ready to, after the attack. They probably were both the right reasons to be honest.
I held tightly onto Pucks hand as we walked through the halls of Mckinley, I kept my head down, but still noticed the whispers and little points from the other students
"I think she lied about the whole thing" I heard one girl whisper to her friend.
I pulled closer to Puck, I held him tense up from what he heard
"Ignore them" I whispered
Puck gently squeezed my hand
"I hate that they think you're lying" He whispered back
"I wish I was" I whispered back
"You still having the nightmares?" He asked, stopping at our lockers and lifting my head up
"sometimes" I replied
I really did wish that maybe my mind had made up the whole thing, rather than still feels his hands on my body whenever I saw his face, when ever I heard his name, or whenever I shut my eyes.
Puck pulled me in for a hug
"I'm sorry" He whispered
"Puck, its not your fault, infact, if you hadn't of come in when you did, if you hadn't of been there. The nightmares would be worse" I whispered
"My Mom says its normal, and with both you and her, i'm getting there, I promise. I mean i'm here aren't I?" I smiled weakly
Puck pulled back and stroked my cheek. I smiled and lent forwards slightly, wanting his lips on mine again, it seemed like a whole other lifetime since we kissed. I was thinking he was just about to lean in to, when he stopped
"We should get ready for our first class" He said.
He turned to open his locker and I closed my eyes and sighed quietly.
I opened my locker and placed my bag inside, pulling out the book I needed for my first class
"Oi California" Just the nickname reminded me of him, and once again I felt those cold hands all over.
Puck slammed his locker shut
"Leave off Karofsky" He spat out.
I slowly closed my locker and turned around
"Look you mess with one of us, you mess with us all" Karofsky said
He and about 4 other football players held slushies
"And we'll seeing as you have, we think its time to officially welcome you to the glee club, loser" He said.
He went to toss the slushie, as did the others and Puck Wrapped his arms over me, shielding me from the ice cold drink. Karofsky laughed as Puck got covered. Puck continued to hold me as he stood up straight as the football players started to walk away
"Oi Karofsky, you want to know the truth?" Puck yelled, getting angry
"Hey, you all might as well listen to it" He shouted, standing in the middle of the corridor, addressing all the students
"Your buddy, Keller, he attacked Addy ok, when I ran into that bathroom, she was on the floor, cowering, bruised and bloodied, where he had hit her, because she tried to get away. He was ontop of her, trying to force himself on her" Puck shouted.
I looked at Puck terrified, I didn't want the whole school knowing what happened, it was bad enough they all thought they knew their own version
"Puck please stop" I begged, tears coming down my cheeks.
Puck looked at me and instantly he changed, his face softened and he looked concerned. I shook my head, and buried it into my hands as I slid down the locker and onto the floor.
"Addy" He said. He came back over to me and knelt beside me
"Go on, all of you, nothing to see here" I heard a few familiar voices say, trying to disperse the crowd
"Addy, i'm sorry" He whispered, lifting my chin
"Its just the last few days all i've heard are the rumours, the lies, the nasty comments about you, I just.. I just" He started
"Puck, maybe you should go wash off" Finn said, placing his hand on his shoulder
Pucks eyes searched my face, his eyes pleading for forgiveness
"Puck, Finn is right, i'll look after Addy" Tina said settling down beside me
"Addy?" Puck asked.
I looked up at the small crowd around me, which consisted of Artie, Finn, Mike, Sam, Quinn, Rachel and of course Tina, who gently stroked my head. I looked back at Puck and nodded. I couldn't hate, there was no way I could. I touched his hand to let him know I was ok.
"Come on" Finn said trying to get him to go wash the slushie off, as it began to drip down his face and over the floor.
I nodded and Puck and he wiped the tears from my cheeks
"I'm so sorry" He said softly
"I know" I replied
Puck stood up and Finn and Sam followed him to the nearest bathroom. Puck looked over his shoulder at me and Mike slid down the locker the other side of me, and Quinn in front
"You ok?" Quinn asked
I nodded and began to stand
"I think I came back too early" I said
"Do you want to go back home?" Tina asked
I shook my head, I couldn't do that to Puck. I know he felt bad for shouting about it in front of everyone
"I just think I need to be somewhere quiet" I said
"I'll talk to Mr Schu, maybe you can sit in his office in the glee room" Rachel suggested
"And we can stay with you, if you need us to" She added
Quinn looked at her slightly shocked, and I looked at her alittle surprised
"Thank you Rachel" I said softly
She smiled and quickly headed off to find Mr Schuester
"He means well" Quinn said
"He's been really controlled the last few days, even though every body has been talking about it" She added
"I guess he didn't want you to have to face it all, and he just cracked" Tina said, backing up Quinn
"I know" I said softly
Mike sat in silence, not sure what to say. But he pulled his bag round and grabbed a small bar of chocolate and handed it to me. I laughed softly, knowing this was a big gesture from him
"thanks Mike" I whispered.
He smiled and nodded and Tina smiled at him and stroked his arm
"Addy?" Mr Schu said appearing suddenly down the hall, Rachel following behind.
Quinn moved out the way and Mr Schu bent down infront of me
"Come on, Rachel told me what happened, you can stay in my office till you need to" He said. He helped me up, along with Tina and Mike and we slowly walked to the glee room
"stay here s long as you need ok?" He said
I nodded and sat in a seat, bringing my legs to my chest and hugging them
"Do you want us to stay?" Rachel asked
Again Quinn looked shocked
"Um.." I began
"We could take it in shifts" Rachel suggested
"So you don't feel bad about pulling us out of classes, I'm sure Mr Schu can warn the other teachers" She added
I nodded slowly
"I'll take first Shift" Quinn said, taking a seat opposite me and placing her hand on my knee
"Could someone tell Puck" Quinn then said
"Let him know Addy is ok" She said, looking at Rachel, who nodded
Mr Schu squeezed my arm
"I'll check on you in abit" He said quietly
"Thank you" I smiled weakly
"All of you" I added