"The Mistaken M. Jones"

26. When It Was

March 2012 – Lima, Ohio

She'd been so careful all day, but all it took was one moment of inattention and then she'd slipped.

Brittany had been paired with Artie on a Glee Club assignment, and they were discussing potential songs they might do as they walked from the choir room to her locker. They'd gotten turned around at some point and ended up passing in front of the principal's office, and when she'd seen the secretary sitting there at her desk, Brittany had chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?" Artie asked, confused. Brittany had opened her mouth to speak, and then somewhere inside her a voice had shouted for her not to reply, which had the result of leaving her there, mouth open, uncertain of where to go on from there. "Britt? What's wrong?"

"Nothing?" she frowned.

"You don't sound sure," he pointed out.

"Nothing," she pressed on the word so it wouldn't sound like a question. That was a red flag if he'd ever seen one.

"Brittany, what did you do?" Artie asked, wheeling in front of her so she'd stop.

"I didn't do anything, I just had to distract her," she nodded, and then she knew she'd said too much.

"Distract who from what?"

X

Puck was already having a crappy day before Artie came up to him. He knew he wasn't exactly the most attentive of students, but he had honestly tried this time, studied before the test, and when it had been handed to him, he'd found he had failed… again.

"Puck!" He turned when he heard his name and found Artie barreling down the hall, which was blissfully empty.

"Hey, you gotta help me with this, dude, I'm never getting out of here if I don't…"

"What do you think you're doing?" Artie cut in, and Puck frowned.

"Trying to graduate, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"I'm not talking about your test. Brittany told me what you two did. You broke into the secretary's…"

"Hey, mind keeping your voice down, I don't think Figgins heard you," Puck glared at him.

"You broke into her office to get Gemma's address?" he continued, only barely managing to lower his voice.

"First off, we didn't break in, the door wasn't locked, we just kind of lured her away," he specified.

"Yes, because I'm sure that'll make a big difference."

"Second off, so what if we did?"

"You know very well why," Artie maintained. Puck didn't need this, not on top of everything else.

"No, I don't think I do. What I'm thinking is it used to be the two of us on this, and it was sort of weird at first, but we were actually getting somewhere, or at least we would try to get somewhere, then this one came on, and then that one, and right now they're way more into this than you are, all you do is try and keep us away from her, almost like…"

Artie had been becoming friends with Puck, more so since this had started, but still before, too, in Glee Club, and he'd almost forgotten how scary the guy could be, because he hadn't been incurring that wrath himself. Now though, he was just a little bit nervous, especially with where the conversation was turning to. He didn't want Puck to say the next words, because he was just about sure he was headed in the right direction, but there was no stopping him.

"Hold on," Puck frowned. "I know what this is about now," he nodded, sure of himself. Artie still held to the hope that Puck would be completely off the mark and everything would be alright. If he should have been so lucky…

"Puck…"

"You talked to her, didn't you? She knows we're on to her."

"Puck…"

"Did she tell you to throw us off?" He wanted to be a better liar than this. He thought he had been, all this time. But now, once he was faced with the accusation, he deflated in an instant.

"It's not what you think…"

"Please, tell me where I got it wrong," Puck dared him. Artie took a breath, choosing his words.

"She… She called me into her class one day, and she… told me she was really Gemma," he revealed. Puck looked like he might have punched him in the face if he wasn't in a wheelchair, and Artie wondered if there were any port-o-potties in the area. "All she said was to try and keep the talk to a minimum. She doesn't want the truth to get out, that's all."

"Did she tell you why she's really here?" Puck asked.

"No, I promise, that's the truth," Artie looked him straight on, so he'd know he wasn't lying. "She told me that eventually she would be able to tell me, tell us, but until then, the less people knew, the better, which… well, we haven't done too good on that," he frowned to himself. They were quiet for a moment, and Artie almost didn't want to look back at Puck and see what he was thinking, but he made himself do it anyway. The other boy was hard to read at the moment. "Look, I know you want to know what's going on, and I do, too. But please, whatever you're thinking of doing, don't…"

"You don't have to be a part of it if you don't want to, I won't force you. But it's time we got some answers, so me and Britt, we'll take care of it, and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't go and tell your little friend about it. I really can't afford to get arrested right now, and Brittany would never make it if she got locked up."

With that, Puck had left him there, and Artie had let him go, deciding it was not the best idea to follow him at the moment. Still, now he was left with a dilemma, whether to keep Puck and Brittany's secret, or to tell Gemma about it. If he told, he could pretty much wave goodbye to any of his friends telling him anything again, but if he kept quiet, if something happened and they got mixed up in something they shouldn't be, or if they got caught… There really was no right way of doing this, and knowing that, it only left him that much more lost.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)