Lima Loser.

“The song really suited your voice,” Mr. Schuester kept going on about the performance. The audience looked pretty stoked as well, which made me super stoked.

I noticed that Puck was making his way towards me, but Mercedes kind of beat him to the punch. “That was so much fun!”

“I know! The backup was pure epicness!” I exclaimed, and then looked over at Tina and Quinn. “That goes for you guys, too. I’ve never heard a better ‘do’ in my entire life.”

All three of the girls beamed, and left the stage. It was just Puck, Mr. Schue and I.

Mr. Schue took over the mic. “Thanks so much for that, kids. Woo! That was great. Anyway, I want everyone to head back to the music room. We still have forty-five minutes of rehearsal left.”

Everybody in the audience followed Mr. Schue’s instructions and left the auditorium.

He turned to Puck and I. “That was so…I’m really blown away. I’m psyched that you joined Glee club, and I’ve believed in you ever since you joined.”

“Aw! Thanks, Mr. Schue,” I hugged him. When I let go, he smiled and began to make his way off of the stage.

“We’ll be there in a second, okay?” I told him. “We’re going to gather our stuff.”

“No problem,” Schue gave us both a thumbs-up, and was gone.

As soon as Puck noticed that we were alone, he came up to me with his guitar case in his hand.

“Hey,” he smiled.

“Hey,” I nodded, trying to avoid his eyes.

“I knew you could do it,” he remarked. “Sure, that song is really hard to sing, but I knew you’d have some tricks up your sleeve. That’s how your voice works. You could be singing Elvis one minute, and Taylor Swift the next.”

I chuckled. “Thanks, but those aren’t exactly the people I want to be compared to.”

He also laughed. “I know. Why do you think I did it?”

I looked up at him and poked his chest. “You’re silly.”

“Agreed. Anyway, now that we’re alone, I want to talk to you about something,” Puck began.

“Yeah?” Please don’t bring up Friday night, please don’t bring up Friday night, please don’t bring up Friday night.

“So…about Friday night…” he tried to sound as casual as possible, and I was dying of embarrassment inside.

“Yeah, what about it?” I shrugged, not wanting to make a huge deal out of it, although it was kind of a huge deal.

“Well, I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry, and I really don’t want things to be awkward between us,” he apologized.

“Honestly, it’s fine,” I gave him a small smile. “I actually didn’t mind it at all. It’s just that…I’m not sure if I’m ready for this. We’re going a bit too quickly.”

“I agree completely,” Puck nodded. “I like you a lot, but I know you just transferred here a week ago, so I’m not going to try anything else.”

I pushed the stool over to the other side of the stage. “Trust me, I don’t have a problem with you kissing me, but let’s take it easy, okay? I just transferred here, and I don’t want to be known as the school whore.”

“Santana’s already claimed that title,” he chuckled. “But yeah, I understand. So, we’re cool?”

“Definitely cool,” I smiled. “And who knows what could happen?”

“Exactly. Friends could develop into something more, right?” he sounded hopeful.

“It’s always a possibility,” I told him. “So, are you still taking me to the dance next week?”

“Obviously!” he gave me the strangest look. “I’ve been counting down to the minute, for fuck sakes.”

I laughed. “Can’t wait.”