"Hey, hey, guys. Back to the problem." A somewhat irritated Mr. Harris says pointing at the green chalk board with his pen. Mr. Harris is subbing long-term at WMPS due to the fact that the normal math teacher is on maternity leave for the rest of the year. The eleventh grade as a whole only consists of 28 students. They are split into A group and B group for science and math classes. Quinn is in B group, so that she adjust to McKinley steadily. Puck and Finn are in A group together and they're a recipe for disaster.
It's been almost a year since Puck and Quinn met and it's now clear to him that he cares deeply for her. Who Puck doesn't really care for is a short, Indian boy in his class named Deepak. Deepak is very arrogant and more importantly has eyes for Quinn. It's no secret and Puck constantly makes fun of Deepak for it. Unfortunately for Puck and Deepak, she's into Finn.
That specific day, everyone is having troubling focusing, including Mr. Harris. Finn and Puck sit on different sides of the room so they communicate through writing in large letters on loose leaf paper and holding it up behind a binder. The first facetious jab comes from Finn. In his sloppy handwriting the paper says "Puck's a retard." Of course, he has to respond so he comes back with "Finn's gay", which includes a stick-figure doodle Sam and Deepak kissing. Of course he's not gay, but Finn has to retaliate and so does Deepak.
By the end of the third period, there is a wrinkled and folded piece of loose leaf paper in Puck's left pocket. On it is a picture of a female stick figure with orange highlighter for hair, which is supposed to be Quinn, and a small male stick figure holding a slushee, which is supposed to be Deepak. The slushee pokes fun at Deepak for owning so many seven-elevens in the area and the orange hair is aimed at Quinn for her remarkable hair color that has been a target for the Puck, Finn, Karofsky, and Azimio in the past school year. Around the stick figures are comments about Deepak's race and more importantly, the fact that Quinn is Jewish and in some opinion's a "ginger." The drawing repetitively uses the phrase "ginger-jew" which has become a behind-the-back nickname for Quinn.
The image was first drawn by Puck as a jab at Deepak. He did use the phrase "ginger-jew" first, but it's only meant as a slight to Deepak for liking such a girl, to conceal the fact that he too is interested in her. He never means the awful phrase when he says it, but it gets a laugh every time. He uses the nickname one, but that one time is enough to fuel the anti-Quinn fire that Karofsky and Azimio throw gasoline on. He usually doesn't feel that bad but after the high of what the boys refer to as his "masterpiece", he drops and suddenly the guilt sets in.
He's had three periods in a row of not seeing her, but their lockers are right next to her and they're headed to art class. He sits at her table with her, but usually he yells across the room to Finn anyways. After dropping off their books, they walk empty handed to the art room. For some reason, they happen to be the last ones leaving the locker area. He takes his as an opportunity to confess what he's done and apologize, knowing that the constant ridicule over her hair color and faith do truly upset her.
"Hey Quinn, wait up!" He says in a louder voice than usual. They're both short but her stride is a bit longer so he jogs to catch up with her. "Can I talk to you about something?" Puck asks, shoving his hands into his pockets. He rubs the short buzz cut hair on his head nervously. "I need to tell you something." After that, he doesn't remember a word of that hallway conversation. He doesn't even show her the libelous portrait.
In the art room, they argue loudly but he doesn't seem to hear a word. All he sees is her anguish and the fact that he's screwed up. Big time. After noticing the loud conversation, Mrs. Lawrence, the art teacher, intervenes. When she asks what is going on, not that it involved her in any way, he shamefully mutters that "Me, Karofsky, Azimio, and Finn made a drawing making fun of Quinn." He adds in quickly "but we got rid of it."
She says nothing and just returns to demonstrating a painting technique to another student. So Puck returns from the paint shelf with supplies, hoping everything had just blown over. But this was only the beginning.
Quinn won't talk to him, and their mutual friends Mercedes and Brittany are both glaring at him. The three girls and one boy share a table in the art room, so the high tension creates a most awkward ambiance. Puck runs his hands through his thick black hair with frustration. The first time anyone at the table talks to him is when Mercedes tells him that he has a bit of green paint in the front of his spiked black hair. He quietly removes it and then after a long period of silence, they begin to talk.
Later on, the only word he remembers verbatim from their discussion are "but it's not all about popularity". Mercedes is right. Yes, Puck's on the football and basketball team, but he's not popular. Busting on Deepak and Quinn has made him popular among the guys for the day, but it's not enjoyable because he's just stepped on two people. Mercedes knows Puck all too well and she knows that he did it for the popularity.
At lunch, Finn, Puck, Azimio, and Karofsky sit with the cheerleaders as usual but today is very different. All four boys are terrified because Quinn's not at lunch. Rumor has it she's in the headmaster's office, telling on them. They never meant it to come to this and Puck is shattered inside. Finn is interested in Quinn, but only as a fling. Puck truly loves her and he's never felt more ashamed in his life.
Nervously, Puck approaches the table where Mercedes, Brittany, and Santana sit. There's an obvious empty seat. Quinn's seat. Before he can even utter a word, Santana spits hateful words his way in Quinn's defence. "Go the fuck away, Puckerman." He does so, but only because Santana is quite scary when she's angry and he's in a deep heap.
After lunch, Puck and Finn have history class together. Quinn is in their class and she sits diagonal from Puck. He scribbles a sincere and lengthy apology to her on a piece of notebook paper. As he rips it out, Brittany glares at him. He passes it to Quinn but she doesn't even bother to look at it. She simply gets up, and throws into the nearest trash can. He's heartbroken, but the pain turns to fear as his teacher receives a call from the office. Dr. Wilson, the headmaster, has requested his presence in her office. The walk to her office feels like the walk to the tip of a pirate ship plank.
Finn's already there with Karofsky and Azimio when he gets there. Finn's crying. The three blonde boys are then joined by the fourth culprit. The headmaster, the boys, and the assistant head of school are all in the room. The air is tense. Finn is close to tears, which later begin to roll down his cheeks.
After a long discussion, many things are admitted by Finn and Puck. Finn, being a very honest person in times of emergency, tells Dr. Wilson of the time he refused to make room at their table for Quinn, Mercedes, Brittany, and Santana. Puck, being the great friend that he is too Finn, vouches for him, saying "Dr. Wilson, Finn wasn't involved with this drawing. He was just teasing. And all of us were just joking." Of course, Puck is telling the truth but he later lies when he only admits to drawing the stick figures at a caption that says "drawn by Deepak" that was put there to avoid being found out. He doesn't reveal the he was the first to use Quinn's nickname and he completely understand the punishment of lunch detention the next day and having to write apology letters to both Deepak and Quinn. Dr. Wilson graciously agreed to not put the incident on their permanent records, as long as they did not have another similar incident again.
After their little trip to the headmaster's office, Puck and Finn go to English class. Normally Quinn sits next to Puck, but in light of today's events, she decides to switch seats with Brittany. Finn's still a bit stuffy from crying but Puck knows that Quinn will forgive him, considering she makes no attempt to hide her obvious feelings for him. So he sits there in anguish, hoping that the day will end as quickly as possible.
Of course, when he gets home, Puck's father is waiting for him in his bedroom. The young man hands the mail to his father awkwardly. Of course, the older of the two men asks him about the call he'd received about the incident, to which Puck replies that he got blamed but didn't actually do anything. This is a lie, but he's in denial. He's so ashamed that he simply can't admit to what he's done. Not verbally at least.
Using the old "I've got homework" excuse, he escapes to his room. He sits at the computer for at least two hours, just scrolling through meaningless webpages. He's almost as scared of his mother as he is of Dr. Wilson. He texts Finn, who replies that he got off easily at home. This gives Puck hope. He retells his lie from earlier and is let off the hook by his parents. But the same can't be said for his conscience.
At night, he lays in bed, in a t-shirt and sweatpants. He comes his hands through his thick black hair many times. It's sort of a habit for him when he's stressed. And trust me, he's beyond stressed. He's always been sort of witty and the type of guy to make fun of people, but he's never been this hardcore about it. He feels worthless. In his mind, he's begging for death. He can only imagine the tears that Quinn cried in Dr. Wilson's office. He can only imagine her having to recount the story to her mother, step-father, and biological father. Several different moments will stay in his head forever. Moments like Mrs. Waters, the assistant head of school, saying "well, you understand why she's cutting you off now, right?" when he told her about the thrown-away apology or when Brittany came up to him after lunch and told him to his face her true opinion.
"You are the lowest of the low." She'd said. Those words really cut like a knife. Not so much a knife, but a battle-axe or a machete. He didn't sleep well that night. He barely slept at all. He cried himself to sleep that night, imagining that Quinn was doing the same. There were only two things he wanted. One if he couldn't have the other. Quinn's forgiveness - or - death.
Note from the author: Will Quinn forgive Puck? Will Puck get over her? Will Puck screw up again? Will the boys be mad at Puck for telling Quinn about the drawing? Add to your story alert to find out!