Disclaimer-I still don't own Glee

Thank you for reviewing everyone

I hope everybody had a good Christmas/New Year or whatever you may or may not celebrate. Now that the holidays are over and inspiration finally returned to my fingertips I am back to writing.

Lyrics are in italics

Songs used are:

'Back for Good' by Take That

'Make me Wanna Die' by The Pretty Reckless

Chapter 29-Written in Brown

Monday

That morning, as Puck strutted through the halls of McKinley High, heads turned to stare at him in shock and wonder, similar to how they had all stared the previous year when he'd shaved his mohawk. A few members of the football team cast Puck looks of contempt but he didn't care. There was a mixed reaction from a group of Cheerio's. A few of them giggled while the rest looked unimpressed and perhaps a little jealous.

As Artie wheeled by him, he too stared at Puck and rolled into a locker as a consequence. Dave looked mildly amused and bumped his fist with Puck's as he passed by with Tina. Santana simply smirked at him while Quinn seemed to be the only person not to spare him a glance at all.

"Damn," Mercedes commented from where she stood with Kurt by his locker. "You gotta check this out, White Boy." She insisted.

"What?" Kurt asked as he sprayed his hair.

"Look at Puck." Mercedes told him taking the can of hairspray from him and spraying her own hair.

With a sigh, Kurt turned round and easily spotted Puck making his way towards them. He noticed the Jewish boy's shirt and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he read the words printed on the white material.

"Hey," Puck greeted as he reached Kurt and Mercedes. "You like it?" He asked gesturing to his top that bore the words 'Kurt's Bitch'.

Kurt was speechless and Mercedes was struggling to contain her laughter when Brittany skipped over to them to say hello.

"Your hair looks good today, Puck." Brittany told him as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about his choice of t-shirt. "'Cedes are you ready to go to class?" She asked. "I need someone to walk with or I'll get lost and end up in that classroom with all the wood and tools again."

"Let's go," Mercedes replied offering her arm to Brittany. "Later, dudes." She offered to Kurt and Puck.

"What do you know? Just you and me, babe." Puck commented stretching his hand out to Kurt's chest and fiddling with the buttons on his form-fitting jacket, an action for which he received a smack round the head.

"Do not wrinkle the Prada jacket." Kurt warned and Puck held his hands up in surrender to show he meant no harm.

"May I escort you to your first class, Mr. Hummel?" Puck asked extending his arm and putting on a posh voice.

"Somehow I think I'll manage to find the way all by myself." Kurt responded. "Besides, your class is on the other side of the building to my class. I wouldn't want you to be late."

"I'm Noah Puckerman, teachers expect me to be late." Puck shrugged.

"Well I'm Kurt Hummel, and I expect you to take your education seriously and put in every effort to attend your lessons on time so that you might achieve your full academic potential." Kurt said.

"Fine," Puck relented. "But at least knock me a little kiss." He begged pointing to his cheek.

"Have you lost the final thread of your sanity?" Kurt asked rhetorically as he scanned the area around them to realise they were the centre of attention. "People are staring at us." He said in a whisper.

"So?" Puck shrugged placing one hand on the locker behind Kurt's head and leaning against the pale boy. "Voyeurism's kind of hot. Let these losers see a little bit of badass boy on boy action."

"People will jump to incorrect conclusions." Kurt pointed out still talking quietly so their spectators would not hear. "They'll assume we're dating and rumours will circulate through the student population, Jacob Ben Israel will post ridiculous and untruthful stories on his blog and I for one do not wish to become the subject of frivolous gossip."

"You're right," Puck nodded leaning away from Kurt and standing upright again with his arms at his sides. "That would suck."

"Thank you for understanding." Kurt said appreciatively.

"No problem." Puck replied. "I'll see you in second period." He said and before Kurt could even register the mischievous smirk creeping onto Puck's face, the mohawked teen had swept in and pressed a quick kiss to his smooth moisturised cheek as well as copping a quick feel through his skin-tight jeans.

"I loathe you." Kurt commented as Puck sauntered away, leaving Kurt to deal with the stares and whispers from their peers.

XXX

Sitting in her centre seat in the front row of the classroom, Rachel Berry's hand was flying across the page as she studiously copied the notes down from the board, ignoring the chaos that was going on behind her. The jocks in the classroom were throwing paper airplanes as well as flicking elastic bands at Jacob Ben Israel. Most of the Cheerio's in the room were texting or applying their make-up. One girl in the back of the classroom even had her hair straightners plugged in to do her hair. Just a handful of students were following Rachel's example of paying attention to the teacher who had long given up on trying to gain a semblance of order in the classroom.

Two rows behind Rachel, Finn was occasionally copying answers from Becky's notebook as he shared a bag of chips with her. However, most of his attention was fixated on staring at Rachel. He had made a few attempts to talk to her but she had opted to ignore him.

Three rows behind Finn and two seats to the left was Quinn. She was sat beside a fellow Cheerio, both of them copying down notes as best as they could but finding it difficult to concentrate. The brunette Cheerio beside Quinn, a girl named Tanya who was also a member of Quinn's church, kept getting distracted by the surrounding jocks who were engaging in arm wrestles and making too much noise. As for Quinn, her concentration on the lesson kept being broken by her innate need to glare daggers at the back of Finn's head as he gazed longingly at Rachel.

"Q, are you ok?" Tanya asked her in concern.

"Do I look ok?" Quinn huffed.

"Forget about Finn," Tanya told her. "He's just a boy, you don't need him. The only man a girl needs in her life is Jesus."

"Well unless Jesus is available to take me to the prom I am never going to be crowned prom queen." Quinn replied bitterly.

"It's only a plastic crown, Q; it shouldn't matter to you so much." Tanya said.

"Well it does." Quinn responded in agitation. "I don't care if it's just a plastic crown, I don't even care if it's a crown made out of paper, I still want it. If I'm crowned prom queen, then in years to come I can look back at my yearbook and say that my high school years were the best days of my life, that I was popular and pretty… that I was loved. And when other people look back through the yearbook, they'll remember me. Quinn Fabray, the prom queen." She closed her eyes and a serene smile formed on her features as she envisioned herself standing on stage with a sparkling tiara perched elegantly on her head as the students of McKinley gazed upon her adoringly as they applauded. "I want to be remembered Tanya, for something good. I don't want to be the girl who had it all and then lost it because she made one stupid mistake. I can't be remembered as the girl in high school who cheated on her boyfriend, got pregnant and then gave the baby up for adoption. I have to be prom queen."

"You can be remembered for other things." Tanya pointed out. "You're on the Cheerio's and you're in Glee."

"That isn't enough." Quinn said shooting another dark glare at the back of Finn's head. "When people think of cheerleaders they think of bitchy dumb girls who sleep with anyone wearing a letterman jacket, and when people think of show choir they think of misfit losers. I don't want to be remembered for that. I want to be remembered as the prom queen."

"But if you're not with Finn, who are you going to campaign with?" Tanya asked her quietly.

"I don't know." Quinn answered scowling at Finn again. "I'm done with Finn. I need a guy who only wants to be with me, not one who can't make up his mind. Puck doesn't love me anymore, I don't think he ever really did, I think he only really loved… her." She said quietly as one hand fell to her stomach to rub at her flat tummy that had once been home to baby Beth. "Even if Puck did really love me, I missed my opportunity. I was too concerned with my reputation to give him a proper chance and now he's…"

"Playing for the other team." Tanya sighed in disappointment and Quinn offered a weak smile as she nodded.

"And of course I totally ruined things with Sam." Quinn continued. "With him, I didn't even really need to win a crown because he already made me feel like a queen. I just didn't realise what a good thing I had until I threw it all away. Now he's with Mercedes." She commented sounding somewhat envious.

"You're much prettier than her." Tanya said in an attempt to make Quinn feel better. "And thin, very, very thin."

"Mercedes is beautiful too." Quinn replied. "And she won't mess it up like I did. She won't hurt Sam."

"Do you still love him?" Tanya asked.

"I don't know," Quinn answered honestly. "Sometimes I think I do. But I also feel that way about Puck. And I hate to say it, but maybe I'm like Finn and only want what I can't have."

"When the time is right, you'll find someone." Tanya told her confidently. "Until then, just be happy being Quinn Fabray, the prettiest girl at McKinley High. Feel better?" She asked.

"A little." Quinn shrugged. "But I still want that prom queen crown."

XXX

"Mercedes, I've been thinking," Tina said avoiding the other girl's eye-contact and looking somewhat displeased. "And I think we should abandon the bet."

"Because you know you're gonna lose right?" Mercedes asked in amusement as she fixed her hair in the bathroom mirror and readjusted some of her jewellery. "Well bad luck, T, but your skinny Asian ass still owes me dinner at Breadsticks to celebrate my win."

"You haven't actually won." Tina pointed out. "The deal was that if you got Kurt to go on a date with Puck then I'd buy us dinner at Breadsticks, and if I got Kurt to go on a date with Dave then you'd pay. So far, neither of us has managed to do it."

"Give me a little more time and I guarantee that with my help, Puck will work his charms and have Kurt swooning as he agrees to a date." Mercedes said confidently.

"I still want out of the bet." Tina insisted. "I can't even convince Dave to at least try and win Kurt over, it's not fair."

"Hey, it's not my problem that you bet on the wrong guy to woo our Kurt." Mercedes replied.

"Whatever, you, me, Mike and Sam can go on a double date to Breadsticks and I'll pay your share," Tina offered. "But I've given up trying to get Dave with Kurt and I want you to leave Kurt and Puck alone. Let them get together on their own."

"But where's the fun in that?" Mercedes asked and Tina just frowned at her. "Ok, ok, the bet's off." She agreed. "So… what are we gonna do to entertain ourselves now?"

"Actually, I was thinking we'd try and help Dave repair his friendship with Azimio." Tina answered.

"Why would we do that?" Mercedes questioned. "Azimio's a complete douche. Dave's better off without him."

"But Dave misses him." Tina said. "And he might not let it show but Azimio misses Dave too."

"I don't know," Mercedes replied uncertainly. "Meddling with those two jocks could blow up in our faces."

"Well I'm gonna do what I can for them." Tina said. "Are you gonna help me or not?"

"Oh, I'm in." Mercedes decided. "Maybe we can try and get Dave a boyfriend too, but we're seriously lacking openly gay students at this school."

"There is Blaine." Tina suggested. "Last period, Dave mentioned his name a total of twenty-one times."

"That's a total crush sign." Mercedes declared leading the way out of the bathroom. "Maybe this double date thing should be a triple date. We can drag Dave and Blaine along too."

"Great," Tina smiled. "How about tomorrow night? Mike's mum has a pottery class so it'd be just the six of us."

"I'll let Sam know." Mercedes replied taking out her phone to call up her boyfriend who happened to answer just as he fell in to step beside the two girls.

XXX

At lunch time, Dave was walking alongside Brittany and Rachel carrying his tray when number 43 from the football team barged into him, knocking his food to the floor. Predictably, laughter rang from the throats of those who had witnessed the action.

"So childish." Rachel tutted.

"It's ok Davey, you can share my lunch." Brittany told him just as a meatball was aimed at Dave's head, only missing him by the slimmest of inches.

"We'd better sit down." Rachel advised leading the way to their table which unfortunately involved walking between four tables filled with jocks.

A few insults were sent Rachel's way and a number of jocks stuck their legs out to trip Dave up but Brittany passed through unscathed. Reaching the relative safety of their seats with their fellow Gleeks, Dave turned to look over his shoulder back at his former friends. Many of them were pointing over and laughing, obviously making fun of him. He briefly caught Azimio's eye and though he wasn't joining in with the others, he wasn't rising to his defence either.

"Don't let it get to you." Kurt advised leaning over Rachel to talk to Dave. "You're better and braver than all of them."

"Thanks." Dave smiled weakly as he shared Brittany's fries.

"Why isn't Quinn sitting with us?" Brittany wondered aloud and they all turned to observe Quinn sitting along with a group of Cheerio's.

"She's in one of her moods again." Finn shrugged. "I think it's her time of the month you know." He added, earning himself annoyed stares from the girls and various pieces of food being thrown at him by Santana, Mercedes and Tina.

"Let me be the first to officially announce that Finn and Quinn are no longer a couple." Kurt said and Finn looked to Rachel with a crooked smile but she averted her gaze and stared down at her plate of macaroni.

"So how was the break up?" Mercedes asked nosily.

"Hudson was a douche." Puck answered clapping the taller teen on the shoulder. He and Kurt knew what had happened as Finn had told them as well as Burt and Carole over dinner the previous evening. "So just try and be nice to Quinn." He asked of the others.

"Why? She's hardly ever nice to us." Mercedes replied. "When things get tough we've all been there for her but she's never once shown that she appreciates it. I say we stop fussing over her and let her deal with her own problems."

"Oh just be nice to her." Santana interjected and the others stared at her in surprise for coming to Quinn's defence. "What? I can be understanding and sympathetic if I want to." She said glaring at them all, though her eyes softened as she shared a glance with Brittany.

XXX

That afternoon, before attending Glee Club, Tina approached Azimio.

"Don't you have a house to haunt or summat?" Azimio asked as he saw her walking towards him. "Or a graveyard shift maybe?" He said laughing at his own joke.

"I want you to sit with Dave at lunch time tomorrow." Tina told him, her dark rimmed eyes boring into him.

"I can't." Azimio responded.

"Of course you can, you just won't because you're a coward." Tina replied.

"Whoa, chick or not, nobody calls me a coward." Azimio growled out.

"Coward," Tina repeated in a sing-song voice. "Coward, coward, coward."

"Shut up." Azimio huffed storming away from her and she jogged after him.

"He's still your best friend." Tina said. "You miss him. You're miserable without him."

"Go back to your coffin, Ching-Chang." Azimio retorted.

"It's Cohen-Chang." Tina corrected. "And is it really too much to ask you to just sit with your friend at lunch time."

"You're a loser; you don't get how things work for us popular dudes." Azimio told her. "Jocks do not hang around with gay boys; it's against the school code."

"To hell with the school code." Tina scoffed. "Rather than being just another dumb jock why don't you behave like a real man and be friends with who you want to be. Being yourself is way cooler than following the trend and copying everyone else. All I'm asking is for you to sit with him."

"No way, I'd get my ass kicked." Azimio replied. "Now why don't you run along back to the bat cave?"

"I'm really disappointed in you." Tina remarked before turning and walking away.

"I'm really disappointed in you." Azimio mimicked before stalking on in the opposite direction.

XXX

In the choir room, there seemed to be a tense atmosphere. Puck was blatantly flirting with Kurt and whispering crude things in his ear that made the china-skinned boy blush and shift awkwardly in his seat. Artie was playing his guitar and Brittany was dancing for him, Santana looking on with her arms crossed over her chest and a mutinous look of envy in her eyes. Then there was Quinn sitting alone on the back row glaring at Finn who was seated in the middle row and gazing longingly at Rachel who was perched on the edge of her seat in the front row refusing to make eye-contact with him.

It was an oblivious Mr. Schue who bounced into the choir room as enthusiastic as ever, completely unaware of the awkwardness suffocating the majority of his students.

"Mr. Schue?" Finn asked raising his hand in the air. "I'd like to sing something."

"Of course, Finn, let's hear it." Mr. Schue replied taking a seat and leaving Finn to step into the performance area.

"Um, this isn't really my kinda music." Finn explained, hands in his pockets. "It's actually kinda lame but it really describes what I'm feeling and says what I want to say. You see the thing is, I'm an idiot."

"Even I knew that." Brittany said in a loud whisper.

"I keep messing things up," Finn continued as if there had been no interruption. "Hurting people I care about." He said and Quinn lifted her eyes hopefully only to be disappointed when she realised Finn was still looking at Rachel and obviously referring to her. "And I wanna say that I'm sorry for that and I hope we can still work things out and that's what my song's about."

"That's great, take it away, Finn." Mr. Schue told him and Finn nodded to Brad and the band who seemed to instinctively know what song to play.

"I guess now it's time for me to give up, I feel it's time." Finn sang looking directly at Rachel. "Got a picture of you beside me, got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup, oh yeah. Got a fist of pure emotion…"

"So gay." Puck muttered under his breath, one arm draped across Kurt's shoulders.

"Got a head of shattered dreams, gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind now." Finn continued before singing the chorus. "Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it. I just want you back for good."

"Want you back, want you back." Artie and Mike sang as back up.

"I want you back for good." Finn sang. "Whenever I'm wrong, just tell me the song and I'll sing it, you'll be right and understood."

"Want you back, want you back." Santana and Brittany sang, the two girls catching eyes, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Artie.

"I want you back for good." Finn continued and Quinn chose that moment to grab her things and exit the choir room.

XXX

After rushing out of the choir room, Quinn ran through the school corridors and launched herself into the auditorium. She raced up to the stage and pictured Finn sitting in the middle of the front row. Hands on hips, she fixed her eyes on the imaginary Finn and stomped out the beginnings of a beat with a foot as some of the Cheerio's conveniently stepped out of the wings to join her on stage.

"Take me, I'm alive," Quinn sang as the Cheerio's began to dance around her. "Never was a girl with a wicked mind, but everything looks better, when the sun goes down." The lights in the auditorium dimmed leaving the theatre in semi-darkness.

"I had everything," Quinn sang thinking of how her life was before Finn left her for Rachel the first time, before Glee Club, before her pregnancy. "Opportunities for eternity, and I could belong to the night." She curled her fingers around the microphone, her other hand gripping the microphone stand as she continued to perform to the imaginary version of Finn. "Your eyes, your eyes, I can see in your eyes, your eyes… You make me wanna die. I'll never be good enough, you make me wanna die, and everytime you love, will burn up in the light, everytime I look inside your eyes… you make me wanna die."

She joined in with the elaborate dance routine, all of the Cheerio's in a punked up version of their Cheerio uniforms and Quinn with dyed hair and a nose ring. Rather than sing the next verse and chorus, Quinn continued to rock out with the other Cheerio's to the instrumental of the song. Jumping off the stage, she straddled the imaginary Finn and sang the next words into his ear as she clutched at his hair.

"I would die for you… my love, my love." Quinn sang, nibbling on imaginary Finn's ear before singing the next line. "I would lie for you… my love, my love."

"Make me wanna die." The Cheerio's sang as they danced with their black coloured pom-poms.

"And I would steal for you… my love, my love." Quinn sang.

"Make me wanna die." The Cheerio's sang.

"And I would die for you… my love, my love." Quinn sang before the Cheerio's seized hold of her and dragged her back onto the stage. "Will burn up in the light, every time I look inside your eyes."

"I'm running in the light." The Cheerio's sang.

"Look inside your eyes." Quinn sang as her eyes burned into Finn's.

"I'm running in the light." The Cheerio's sang.

"Look inside your eyes, you make me wanna die." Quinn finished.

Opening her eyes, she looked about the empty stage. Not a Cheerio or microphone was in sight, Finn was not in the audience and she breathed a sigh of relief that her nose was un-pierced and her hair still blonde.

XXX

"Hey Kurt, wait up, babe!" Puck called out hurrying through the parking lot in his 'Kurt's Bitch' emblazoned t-shirt to reach the other boy before he could drive away.

"I'm not in the mood to be flirted with, ogled or groped, Noah." Kurt responded standing beside the driver's door of his car, one hand resting on his hip as he waited for Puck to catch up to him.

"Relax, just wanted to give you this." Puck grinned handing over a haphazardly folded sheet of paper. "You said you wanted to write to one another as ourselves, so here."

"This isn't quite what I had in mind." Kurt commented as he opened the paper and looked down at the repeated sentence 'please come on a date with me' written in brown ink. "And for now the answer is no."

"Fine, it doesn't have to be a date." Puck compromised taking hold of one of Kurt's hands. "We could just hang out as friends, you and me."

"Friends don't usually hold hands." Kurt pointed out.

"Some friends do." Puck argued.

"Nevertheless, my answer is still no and I need to get going." Kurt replied, feeling a pinch in his chest at the wounded look of disappointment on Puck's face. "I promised my dad I'd help him out in the garage for a couple of hours after school." Kurt explained. "But I suppose we could engage in some form of friendship activity another time… if you still wanted." He added a little unsurely.

"Yeah, that'll be cool." Puck nodded. "You free tomorrow?" He asked eagerly and Kurt nervously said that he was as he noticed the mischievous look in Puck's eyes. "Great, then tomorrow after school I know exactly what we're doing. And don't worry; it's totally not a date, just two friends hanging out. I'll see ya." He said landing a playful slap to Kurt's bottom before scampering off.

"Oh for the love of Gucci, what have I agreed to?" Kurt asked himself suddenly dreading what tomorrow would bring.

To Be Continued

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Love and Hugs, IceQueenRia xxx