Chapter 37
Jesse's relationship and mine had strengthened through the events of yesterday that was for sure. My parents nearly had heart attacks when they heard what happened but were just as grateful to Jesse as I was. Fuller obviously was suspended again with a warning of one more outburst and he would get expelled. In my opinion he should have gotten expelled after the first time. Thanks to him, I now was extremely wary when I was alone in the hallways and was ordered to have counseling sessions with Ms. Pillsbury twice a week for who knows how long. Just what I wanted. Sure I liked Ms. Pillsbury and all but I already saw her enough in celibacy club. Besides, I didn't need counseling. I was fine. Just a little shaken at times is all. Before the start of school the next day word of what happened went around to everyone. People were flocking to me like flies wondering if I was ok, or if I needed a friend to confide in, etc. I wished Jesse was with me but he was let out of school on a 'medical leave' as he put it. I would see him after school and dance class but him being here would make this a little easier.
After Spanish I stood in front of my locker collecting my bearings when I heard it.
"Savannah Mason get in my office. NOW!" The loud speaker blasted the voice of Coach Sue Sylvester. I froze in shock as everyone looked at me with wide eyes. Why was she calling me? I didn't do anything wrong. Maybe she was just giving her apologies for what happened. Most of the teachers did that today anyway. I could only hope. As I passed by almost all of the kids waved at me like I wasn't going to be seen again. It was true, Sue Sylvester was that bad. I walked to her office and knocked on the door to have it opened by Coach Sylvester's assistant Becky.
"This way." The tiny girl said motioning for me to follow her. I took a couple of wary steps and saw Coach Sylvester at her desk writing something in a book. I cleared my throat slightly but still she didn't look up.
"You wanted to see me Coach?" I asked a little nervously. She finally looked up and removed her glasses giving me a 'I'm a winner and you are fat' look.
"As a matter of fact I did. Sit down." She ordered and I complied immediately. One thing every kid knew was to not mess with Coach Sylvester. Ever.
The reason your butt is now on my chair is because I know your precious little secret." Sue spoke getting right to the point. My eyes widened for a moment and I started to turn cold. What? Another one? You know God, when I asked how many others would know, I didn't really mean I wanted others to know.
"Secret?" I asked acting confused. She couldn't know I was scared out of my mind.
"Yes your secret. Don't play dumb with me young missy. I know you sing. I even saw you doing that little number in the auditorium a while back. All of this makes me wonder why you aren't part of that glee club." Coach Sylvester sneered at the word glee. I was screwed. How did she see me? No one was there. Well, obviously someone was.
"H….how." I breathed out still in shock. I knew there was no way out of this now.
"Because I have eyes and ears all over this place. That's how." Sylvester leaned back in her chair triumphantly.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked hoping the tears wouldn't fall from my eyes. I was done. My secret was going to get out to the whole school.
"Oh don't blubber doll face. According to some people it makes you look old and ugly quicker. I have a proposition for you. I won't let your little secret out if you do one thing." Coach said crossing her fingers like she was the God-Father. I looked up with a cautious gaze.
"And what might that be?" I asked more than a tad suspicious. Her expression didn't change once, which scared me.
"You become one of my cheerios and your secret is safe. When I first saw you sing, I found it quite annoying. But now that I see how popular you are getting I realized I could use this for the benefit of the cheerios. No one in this school will be popular without being a cheerio. I won't allow it. Besides, I'm in need of some new faces that Fabray girl and 'Sandbags' are getting a little old. And in a strange teenie bobberish way, you're pretty. Not to mention the cheerios look to you. What's your answer? You say yes, and everything will be normal. You refuse and your secret will be front page for weeks. Everyone and I mean everyone will know what you are." Coach Sylvester snickered and now she had the classic 'I win' expression. My eyes narrowed. I hated the cheerios more than anything. Well, after Fuller I did. This would be bad. There were things I was willing to lower myself down to, but becoming a cheerio? The more I sat and thought about it the more I realized… I had no choice. I had to accept. As much as I didn't like being toyed with, no matter who it was I saw no way out of it yet.
"You're blackmailing me." I stated blankly still rummaging through any possible out I could think of. So far, nothing would work.
"Oh don't give me that look. Of course I am blackmailing you. That is the only way you get what you want in life. Now give me your answer toot sweet." She said getting a little animated. I thought for a moment. I really didn't have a choice. Until I thought of another way at least.
"Fine. I'll be your cheerio. But I promise you, the moment I find a way out I'm taking it without a second thought. Goodbye." I replied standing and walking towards the door.
"What a minute Mason. You forgot something." Sue said following my example only walking to a table and tossing me a red duffle bag.
"Everything you need is in there. Be at the gym at 2:00 tomorrow. And if try to threaten me when you put on that uniform I'll make you regret it." Sue Sylvester crossed her arms and watched me stare disgusted at the bag. I glared at her.
"Don't worry about that, I already regret it." I huffed rushing out the door feeling the tears welling up and starting to pour out. I ran down the hall not caring who saw me. I found myself sitting on the stair well sobbing and thankfully no one was around to see me. I didn't just cry about what Sue Sylvester was doing to me. I cried because of what happened with Fuller, the fact that Jesse was home in pain because of me but I cried about Puck too. The fact that I loved him but couldn't have him. The fact that I was bound to Jesse now after what he did to me. My conscience wouldn't allow me to do anything else. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't even be me without a problem. Life was sucking at the moment. My tears kept flooding but thankfully I was calming down enough to hear a familiar voice only cracked and saddened.
"I'm not a fugitive. I just wanted to be free." I was curious to see what was going so I wiped my eyes and descended to the next flight of stairs to see no one other than Puck holding his head and slumped forward like someone just shot his dog.
"Puck?" I questioned sitting down next to him. He looked at me with even more pain in his eyes than before.
"Oh, Savannah. Hey." He spoke looking away from me. Was he crying?
"What's wrong?" I asked forgetting my own problems.
"Going through some probation issues. They don't believe I'm a good guy. No one cares about me. All they want is to get stuff from me. I can't take it all." He said hanging his head again. I was a little surprised he was so open at first but then I remembered how well he and I had been able to share our feelings with each other. Jesse and I weren't quite that close and I doubted we ever would be. I knew he was referring to me as part of that group, which was completely untrue.
"People care about you Puck. Your mom, your sister and my family all love you." He looked like he really was depressed apparently this wasn't working and before I could catch myself from doing another stupid thing I blurted out:
"I love you." I regretted it instantly. Of course I had to go and reopen my old wounds and now he knows he still has a part of me. I could see the shock on his face as he turned to me.
"I thought…" He trailed off just looking at me in the eyes. How many times did I find myself in this position? How many times would I put myself in this position? Puck's hand slowly reached out and brushed some of the hair out of my face and to my displeasure my skin tingled at his touch. Cautiously Puck started to move closer to me inch by inch getting closer to my lips. My mind was so blurred by what was going on I didn't even think twice about it.
"Who did something to you?" Puck was immediately up and arms and my mind got whiplash from such a dramatic turn of moods.
"What?" I asked confused.
"You're crying. I swear I'll kill whoever it was." Puck balled both hands into fists ready for a fight. I figured he saw the redness around my eyes from the tears.
"Relax. No one needs to die today. Coach Sylvester is blackmailing me because she found out my secret." I winced at the memory and Puck got a wary look.
"What is she making you do? Better yet, how did she find out?" By the tone in his voice I sensed he was about as confused and upset as I was.
"See for yourself." I sighed and motioned to the red duffle bag sitting behind me. Puck looked from me to it for a moment before curiously reaching over and pulling it to him. Quickly he unzipped the bag and gazed inside.
"She's making you a cheerio?" Puck exclaimed in shock. "If you weren't popular before, this will definitely do the trick." I nodded blankly. I was still kind of in half shock half dread of the whole thing.
"Yea, this sucks. I don't want to be a cheerio. I hate cheerleading. You know I do. Always have, and there is no way to get out of it I can see." It was my turn to hold my head in frustration.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm here." Puck said rubbing my back. Despite Puck's comforting me he and I both knew that there was nothing to be done.
"Thank you Puck. I guess it goes with the famous saying." I said leaning on his shoulder while he rubbed my arm.
"Which is?"
"High school sucks." We both chuckled with a quick shake of our heads.
"You know you could always join glee club. We would accept you." Puck suggested and red flairs set off in my head.
"Dude, have you seen what happened to Quinn, Brittany and… Santana." I hadn't mentioned her name since 'the incident' last year and I could see it struck the same bad chord with Puck too.
"Well, we'll think of something." Puck encouraged me continuing to rub my back. That's when it hit me. Why did I have to become a cheerio? Why did I have to be who I wasn't? Why did I have to live with the painful memory of what Fuller nearly did to me? I didn't and I wouldn't.
"Puck, let's go." I said sitting up suddenly grabbing his hand and pulling him with me. He seemed a little confused at first.
"Go where?" He asked as I pulled him through the now empty hallways because everyone was in class.
"Away! I don't care where. No one will find us. Just you and me." My mind was running a mile a minute. When I was like this no rational thoughts came to me. I looked back at Puck who was wearing a huge smile and now willingly following me. We ran together down the halls and for some reason I started to sing.
Got it all figured out inside of my head
There's a bag packed up at the foot of my bed
You say the word, baby I'm all set
We'll cover our tracks
Tell a couple white lies
Make sure we got a good alibi
And by the time they catch on
We'll be outta there sight
Long gone baby
Let's get out of this town tonight
Nothing but dust in the shadows
Gone by morning light
Somewhere we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Baby, let's just get out of this town
Don't need directions
Don't need a map
If we get lost I'll be good with that
Yeah, we'll find a way to make the time pass
Windows rolled down with the heat on high
Stars all aligned in a runaway sky
Holding my hand as the miles roll by
Long gone baby
Let's get out of this town tonight
Nothing but dust in the shadows
Gone by morning light
Somewhere we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Baby, let's just get out of this town
If we leave tonight and drive fast enough
All our troubles will be just like us
Long gone baby
Let's get out of this town tonight
Nothing but dust in the shadows
Gone by morning light
Somewhere we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Yeah let's get out of this town tonight
Let's get out of this town tonight
We won't ever get caught, ever be found
Baby, let's just get out of this town
As I sang Puck's expression told me he was on cloud 9 as we jogged out the front doors towards his truck. All I wanted was to get away from everything. With Puck of course. He and I both needed to get away from our problems. When I finished we just got to his car and I went to open the cab door to climb in when Puck rested a hand on my shoulder.
"Savannah, wait." I looked over at him and my smile faded seeing his serious expression. "We can't run away like this." He said with a sigh.
"Why the heck not?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows.
"Because. What about your family? What will they think when they hear you and I ran away? What about… Jesse? Trust me Savannah, as soon as you collect your thoughts you would regret it. You'd torture yourself for the rest of your life and you know it. We both know how you get when you are distressed. And as much as I don't care about running off with other dudes girl friends I know you would be horrified with yourself. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Puck put his hands in his pockets giving me a sad look. Jesse. I had forgotten about him, and my family. Puck was right I would have regretted it more than anything. I couldn't just run away from my problems. That wasn't how I was raised.
"You're right. I can't just leave." I looked at him straight in the eyes. "No matter how much I want to." I purposely said it with a double meaning but I doubted he caught it. I quietly shut the door to the cab with a heavy sigh.
"I guess I better get back to class. I'll see you later Puck. And… thank you." I half smiled at him and walked back to school. He was completely right. When I got emotional like this I was out of it and couldn't think two clear thoughts. I guess I really do need counseling. I glanced back to Puck one more time and saw him leaning his head against his truck looking up at the sky. I silently made a note on how mature and honest he was. Thank God for Puck.
"You're going to be a cheerio?" Jesse's jaw nearly dropped the floor when I told him.
"It's horrible isn't it?" I breathed out sitting beside him on his bed.
"It's bad only if you want to see it as so. To be honest, I think you'll look hot in a cheerleading uniform." Jesse admitted and I kind of laughed at the odd sound to his voice thanks to his broken nose.
"Well thanks for that but it doesn't really help. I hate cheerleading." I replied sadly looking at him and brushing some of his loose hair out of his face.
"Hey, for all you know you could end up liking it. You get to dance, rule the entire school-" I cut him off by muttering,
"Act like a slut." He laughed lightly and reached up to stroke my arm.
"Ok ok. You win. Don't worry, we'll figure something out." He spoke and my mind immediately drifted to Puck who said the exact same thing.
"Yea, we will. But don't worry about me. I want you to get better. That is the main thing for us right now." I bent over and kissed his forehead and took his hand in mine but my mind was still on how wonderfully compassionate Puck was even though he and I were over.
"Thanks baby. I'll try. For the good news. The doc says I'll be able to go back to school in about two days. Apparently I bruised my ribs in the fight so if I look like I'm in pain. I am." Jesse smiled but I frowned.
"Not nice." I made a pouty face feeling horrible again.
"Savvy. How many times do I have to tell you. I was only doing my job as your boyfriend. This isn't your fault." Jesse rolled his eyes at me but couldn't help but smile.
"I know, I know. But it doesn't mean I can't feel bad. Anyway, I've got to head home. My mom will wonder where I am. I love you." I leaned in one last time and kissed him lightly.
"I'll miss you." Jesse waved to me as I picked up my bag and headed for the door. I blew him a final kiss and opened the door.
"I'll miss you too. Get better soon." And with that I left.
As I pulled out of the driveway to the James' house my mind went over everything that had happened between the last two days. 1. I nearly got raped by the worst guy in school and Jesse got hurt through it. Not to mention the counseling I would have to take. And 2. I had to become my worst nightmare. A cheerio. Now you can't tell me you don't want to be me right now.
A/N: Didn't see that coming did ya? lol