Chapter 14
Realization
They got out of the car and went to ring the doorbell, but the door had already opened.
"Oh my god! Michelle, what are you doing here?" Brittney asked, running out and grabbing her friend.
"Well, I saw a shooting star and wished that I could see you guys again. Now I am here."
"I am so glad to see you. I thought I might never see you again. Now get away from me."
"Fine," Michelle said taking two steps back.
They always had a love-hate relationship. It was like yelling at each other made them that much closer.
"Where are you going to stay?" Brittney asked curiously.
"Well, I don't know yet. It is full here from what I understand, and Alyssa and Naomi are at Mercedes', so I guess I have to stay at Rachel's."
Brittney shuddered at he mention of her name, "Oh hell no. We will find you somewhere else," she pulled out her phone and called Naomi.
"Hey, is there any more room at your guys' place for Michelle?"
"No, but I think I am going to move out," Naomi responded, "I want to go live with Quinn, so if she wants she can take my bed."
"What? Why do you want to go live with Quinn?"
"Well, I think we can relate a little bit, since we are both pretty."
"That is totally something you would do Naomi."
"Are you mad at me?"
"Well, Mercedes' mom just paid for you to get a manicure and now you're moving out."
"I already asked and she said it would be okay. I told her thank you and that I would pay her back."
"Whatever Naomi," and Brittney hung up before she could even say goodbye, "Naomi is moving in with Quinn, and Michelle can go stay with Mercedes and Alyssa."
"Why Quinn?" Jeff asked.
"I don't know. Something about the two of them being relatable and pretty."
"Well, we should get going. I am sure Michelle would like some time to relax, and Burt, Kurt and Finn's dad, wants us to join them for a family dinner."
They said goodbye and returned to the car for the last time, dropped Michelle off, and returned to the house, where dinner awaited them. It was oven roasted Turkey baked to a golden brown, mashed potatoes and some stuffing.
"So, you guys have your first football game on Monday," Burt said in an attempt to spark up a conversation. Jeff was shocked by this statement, because after all that had had happened the last thing that would be on his mind was football.
"Yeah," Finn answered shoving a spoon full of stuffing in his mouth.
"You're mom, Kurt, and I will all be there to root you on."
"Blaine is coming too," Kurt added while cutting his piece of turkey.
"Cool, thanks," Jeff replied as he poured some gravy on his mashed potatoes.
"I still can't believe that you are going through with the game," Ivan Flores said to Jeff, which confused everyone else at the table that had no clue that Jeff despised sports.
"Nonsense Ivan Flores. I would never miss our first game. Remember back home when I scored the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter of our school's championship game?"
"Gee, I must have forgotten. Maybe I missed it."
"Well, maybe with you we can win a game for once," Finn added in order to break the tension.
Jeff had finished everything on his plate, and asked if he could be excused to go to the bathroom.
'I can't believe I am going through with this football thing. I am surprised I remembered that football had quarters and not periods,' he thought as he splashed his face with water from the sink, 'It is okay, if I worry about it something bad might happen, like getting my first broken arm or leg.' He shook his head furiously trying to remove the thoughts from his mind as he returned to the table where everyone else had just finished and began to help them with the dishes.
"I think I am going to go to bed early," Jeff said after putting the last plate in the dishwasher.
"Okay, see you tomorrow then," Ivan Flores called out as he went to join everyone on the couch by the TV.
"Hey, what did you mean earlier?" Finn asked, "When you asked him about going through with football."
"Oh, it is nothing," Ivan Flores tried to shrug of the question, but Finn could see the deceit in his voice.
"He never played football before did he?" Finn asked which made everyone turn and look at Ivan Flores.
"Well… Umm… I…"
"We won't tell him you told us," Kurt added, looking quite interested.
"He doesn't like sports. He hates them with a passion and won't watch much less play them. He only tried out as an attempt to impress Quinn."
A look of shock became apparent across everyone's faces.
"He must be terrified," Carole, Finn's mom, implored.
"I don't know. He is hard to read sometimes and I can't tell if he is scared or not."
"I hope his nerves don't get in the way during the game," Finn added, "He is actually quite good, but if he fumbles the ball, I am sure Puck won't let him leave without a few bruises."
"Finn, I expect you to stick up for him. He is your brother now, just like Kurt and consider this your make up for what happened to Kurt last year," Burt said.
"I'll try," Finn said.
"He has a strong will, but I think that Puck is really getting to him. I don't know if he can persevere through anything else from him," Ivan Flores added, "Well I should head to bed too."
"Okay, thanks for telling us, and good night," Burt said and Ivan Flores could still hear them mumbling to each other as he went downstairs.
The next day was rather uneventful. No one called down to wake them up, so they slept in until noon. Then everyone was tired of going to the mall, so this was to be a lazy day of eating and watching TV. However, Jeff couldn't shake the thoughts of tomorrow's big game and what could possibly happen to him. Before he knew it, it was time for bed again and they were asleep and dreaming.
He woke up just before the alarm in the morning and shut it off. After waking Ivan Flores up, he went upstairs got changed and grabbed some breakfast.
"Jeff, are you okay?" Ivan Flores asked, waving his hand in front of Jeff's face.
"Oh, yeah, never better."
"Well, come on, Finn and Kurt are outside."
They went out and got into the car and went to the school. Michelle managed to get the same schedule as Brittney and by the time lunch got around, Jeff was too sick to eat. His stomach had been churning all day, most likely due to his nervousness. After school, they had one hour until the big game and Jeff was curled up by a locker outside the locker-room.
"Hi Jeff."
He hadn't noticed that Naomi came around the corner, but something was different about her. She was dressed in a red and white cheerleading uniform with the letters WMHS across her chest.
"What the? You're a cheerio now?"
"Yeah, I always wanted to be one, and that was the real reason I wanted to move in with Quinn. I thought she would be able to give me some pointers."
"I didn't know that you liked cheerleading."
"I didn't know that you liked football."
Jeff laughed, "Well, I don't."
"I do like cheerleading though, and my tryout was amazing."
"Really? I can't believe that Sue would let another Glee Clubber in her cheerios."
"It actually helped me. Ever since Mercedes and Kurt quit, she wanted another person who could sing, and she said I could and I was pretty to boot."
"Well, I am happy for you."
"Thanks, now let's go. You don't want to miss your big game do you?" she stretched out her hand and helped him up.
"Right."
They parted ways and Jeff went into the locker-room and got into his uniform.
"JENNI!" Coach Beiste yelled from outside, "YOU'RE IN THE STARTING LINE UP! GET OUT HERE!"
He ran out and got onto the field. He was probably the scrawniest one out there, besides Mike, who was on the bench. The other team was full of huge players that looked like they ate boys like him for breakfast.
"Jeff, it will be okay. Just do like you did in tryouts," Finn said encouragingly as they broke and went to their places.
"DOWN… SET… HIKE!"
The yell echoed through his ears as Jeff squeezed between the defense and ran for the goal while facing forward to make sure that Finn could see that he was open. The ball flew towards him and almost fell through his fingers before he tucked it in and ran as fast as possible for the goal.
"TOUCH DOWN!" the announcer yelled, and the whole crowd was standing cheering for him.
The game continued on, and he never got a break. He managed to pull off another touchdown, which brought the score to 13-7. There was one minute left to the fourth quarter, and he was panting from exhaustion.
"DOWN… SET… HIKE!"
Jeff mad one last run for it and turned around to catch the ball. Just after he had it, he tripped over a clump of dirt and the ball fell from his hand as one of the opposing team's members landed on top of him, crushing him like a cockroach.
"TOUCHDOWN!" the announcer yelled, and Jeff tried to look in hopes that it was his teammate that had reclaimed the ball, but alas it wasn't. They kicked the field goal, which brought the score to 14-13 with only ten seconds left. It was done, and it was all his fault that they lost.
"Hey, it is okay dude," Finn tried to reassure him, "We all make mistakes. We will be out at the car okay, meet us there?"
"Yeah," Finn left thinking that everyone had already gone home, but he was wrong. Puck was waiting outside the door for Finn to leave before he went back in.
"Sorry, I took so long. I am coming okay," Jeff yelled over his shoulder.
"I'm not Hudson, Jenni."
Jeff started to shake when he heard the voice. It was not the person he wanted to see after what had just happened.
"Puckerman, What do you want now?"
"It is your fault that we lost the game. Did you honestly think I would let you leave here all fine and dandy?"
"So, are you going to beat me up again? Throw me in a dumpster?"
"No," he grabbed Jeff and pushed him into a stall. He shoved his head into the toilet, which was clogged with yellow stained toilet paper and flushed it five times. The cold water and sheer force knocked his glasses off and forced them down the drain.
"NO! I don't have another pair. I can't see without those."
Puck was laughing when he left the room with Jeff soaked in dirty toilet water and possibly blind. Jeff couldn't move, he sat on the bench and tears poured down his cheeks.
"Jeff, are you okay?" Blaine's voice echoed through the locker room and Jeff could hear the footsteps rushing to him, "Oh my god, what happened to you?" he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and shoved it into Jeff's shaking hands. Jeff wiped his face and blew his nose and tried to gather his feelings together before speaking.
"I… I don't think… I can take this anymore," he couldn't help it, he was bawling again and couldn't speak. Blaine helped him up and let him lean on him as they walked to the car.
"JEFF!" Naomi yelled when she could see the two boys at the entrance of the school, "What happened?"
He didn't answer, because it hurt too much to think about it. He also knew that his germaphobia would kick in when he thought of how dirty the toilet was and he would throw up.
"I'm so sorry Jeff," Finn started, "Burt told me to look after you. I should have never left you alone."
"I am not going to take this anymore!" Jeff yelled, "I am not spending one more day at this school with Puckerman. Starting tomorrow I am transferring to Dalton Academy. I am going to go and buy a car tonight so I can get there myself."
The crowd was swept with shock and awe at the suddenness of this decision.
"Jeff, I thought you were stronger than this," Alyssa stated.
"I thought I was too, but I can't live my life like this. I will not change my decision."
"Well, we will miss you," Bella added.
"Yeah, you are a major portion to our family Jeff. It won't feel the same without you," Alegandra consoled.
"Like I said, this is my decision, and I will not change it. I love you all, but I can't do this anymore."
They said their tearful goodbyes as Finn drove him to a car shop where he purchased a Silver Scion xB in cash, that no one knew he had saved up from a tutoring service he did back in their universe and here.
"How did you get all that money?" Ivan Flores asked curiously.
"I have been saving my money from various jobs I have had over the years in case of an emergency, and obviously I can not get credit in a world where I don't exist."
"I guess."
He got in his new car and followed Finn back to the house where he attempted to get good night's sleep.