Lima Loser - Part Two.

There was a Glee club meeting at lunchtime, but I wasn’t really in the mood to go. I hadn’t seen Blaze or Puck since the big fight they’d gotten into earlier this morning, and I was pretty nervous about what would happen. Would Puck get suspended, or even worse, kicked out of the Glee club? I had no idea how I’d be able to cope without him, and-

“Courtney…” Kurt waved a hand in front of my face. “Courtney!”

I snapped out of it and eyed Kurt and Mercedes sitting across from me at the cafeteria table. They both looked like they’d been trying to get my attention for the past hour. “Oh…sorry,” I apologized.

“Girl, are you still worrying about him?” Mercedes rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he’ll get off with a warning like he always does. That boy just cannot be disciplined.”

“Come on,” Kurt smiled as he stood up. “There’s a Glee meeting in five minutes. We’re starting our new project, and you’re not missing it.”

I slowly stood up and walked over to the trashcan with my barely touched food. I tossed it out and followed Kurt and Mercedes out of the cafeteria and to the music room.

But just before we got there, I decided to stall a little. “Uh, I have to pee.”

“Okay, well, we’ll see you there, then,” Mercedes told me, and then her face became a little more serious. “And don’t even think about skipping.”

“I won’t,” I promised her, and made my way to the nearest bathroom. I walked into a stall and just sat there on the toilet for a few minutes, hoping to pass away some time. This got boring pretty quickly, so I got up and exited the stall, only to find Quinn standing in the bathroom mirror, fixing her makeup.

“Hey,” I smiled at her a little and stood in the mirror next to her. A month ago, I would’ve probably just glared at her and left. It was nice to know that she didn’t hate me anymore.

Quinn looked up from her makeup and saw me there. “Oh, hey,” she gave a small wave. “Is there a Glee meeting today?”

“Yeah,” I told her as I turned on the tap to wash my hands. “I’m on my way there now, actually.”

“Oh. Mind if I walk there with you?”

Okay, I knew Quinn and I were on good terms now, but I was just mind-blown when she’d asked me if she could walk to Glee club with me. It was a little strange, to be honest, but I wasn’t about to say no. The more liked I was, the better, in my opinion.

“Sure,” I nodded enthusiastically. I waited for her to finish her makeup and then we both left the bathroom and made our way to Glee club together.

“So, what happened with you and Puck and Blaze today?” she asked. “I heard about the rumors and that something went on between those two. Also heard that they were both in trouble.”

I just looked at her. “What’d you hear?”

“It’s just going around that they’ve been stuck in the office since recess. And I saw Blaze sitting in the office chair with an ice pack held to his face a little while ago,” she explained. “I know it’s not my business or anything, but I was just wondering…”

I chuckled when she mentioned Blaze with an ice pack. Serves him right, I thought to myself. Especially for messing around with my reputation like that.

“Yeah,” I began. “Blaze was spreading shit around about Puck and I, so Puck beat the crap out of him. That’s basically it.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry I missed that.”

I laughed. “It was pretty awesome.”

We were then at the music room door. We both walked in, and the first thing I heard was Santana say “Oh, look who decided to join us. Slutty and sluttier!”

Quinn rolled her eyes and took a seat, but I shot back at Santana. “Don’t be jealous that I stole your man…again.” The whole class ooh’ed, and she glared at me. “What crawled up your ass?” I continued. “Oh, wait, don’t answer that.”

Everyone laughed, and she looked like she wanted to kill me.

“You didn’t steal my man,” she began. “He’ll come back to me eventually, since you’re a prude and all.”

“Apparently not,” I smirked. “Not according to those rumors that you love to spread so much.”

Her face dropped. “He’ll still get bored of you.”

“You don’t look too confident saying that,” I smiled. “I’ll keep the guy entertained. Don’t even worry about it.”

“Oh, I won’t,” she laughed a bitchy, sarcastic laugh.

“And by the way?” I added, needing to get my two cents in. “Don’t be upset just because you haven’t had sex in ten minutes. I’m sure you’ll find some willing and desperate fuck by the end of lunch.”

She rolled her eyes, and didn’t respond. I assumed it was from not being able to come up with a witty remark to throw back at me. Feeling proud, I smiled to myself just before Mr. Schuester rushed into the room, slapping a few papers down on top of his piano. Miss Pillsberry gracefully came in behind him.

“Sorry I’m late, guys!” he told us, out of breath. “We’re a little short on time due to my tardiness, so I’ll just hurry up and explain our next project.”

He waited for someone (Rachel) to object and bring up something totally irrelevant about herself, and when she didn’t, he took a look around the room and noticed that something was different. He raised an eyebrow.

“Uh…where’s Blaze and Puck?”

“Office,” everyone chanted.

“Ah,” Mr. Schue nodded. “Not even gonna ask. Anyway, our next project is based upon one of my personal favorite genres. This week, we’re focusing on a sweet era I like to refer to as…the 80’s.”

I heard cheers throughout pretty much the whole room, me being one of them, although I already knew the assignment topic.

“There’s a little more to the assignment than just that, however,” he continued, and then walked over to the whiteboard. He wrote the word “guest vocals” on it, and then looked back at us. “Does anyone know what this means?”

Finn raised his hand. “It’s basically means what it says, right? It’s like when a song features someone.”

“Yes, that’s pretty much it,” Mr. Schue nodded. “Your assignment for the week is to come up with an 80’s song that features someone else as a guest vocalist. Everyone will be performing two songs: the one they come up with, and the one they’ll be featured in.”

The chatter started back up again, and people immediately began to pick their partners, but after Miss Pillsberry whispered something in his ear, Mr. Schuester cut everyone off.

“Oh, and like last time, I’ll be choosing your partners,” he stated.

Groans fell throughout the room, but I didn’t let it distract me. I was extremely stoked to be doing an 80’s song, and as long as I wasn’t paired up with Blaze or Santana, I’d be perfectly fine.

“Is there a particular type of 80’s song you want us to do, Mr. Schue?” Rachel asked.

“Nope, it can be any song from the 80’s, as long as it’s appropriate,” Mr. Schue said. He probably would have put more emphasis on the word “appropriate” if Puck was in the room. “I have a great example up my sleeve, though.” He took off his jacket and threw it on top of the piano, and then looked out at us. “You guys ready for this?”

We nodded, and he looked over at the band, who immediately began to play a song I knew pretty well and enjoyed. Mr. Schue took Miss P’s hand and began to seductively sing the lyrics to her.

Mr. Schue: “Sometimes I feel I've got to…
Run away.
I've got to…
Get away,
From the pain you drive into the heart of me.
The love we share…
Seems to go nowhere.
And I've lost my light,
For I toss and turn, I can't sleep at night!”

Mr. Schue: “Once I ran to you.”
Miss Pillsberry: “(I ran.)”
Mr. Schue: “Now I'll run from you.
This tainted love you've given.
I give you all a boy could give you.
Take my tears and that's not nearly all!
Oh...tainted love…
Tainted love.”

Mr. Schue: “Now I know I've got to…
Run away.
I've got to…
Get away.
You don't really want any more from me.
To make things right,
You need someone to hold you tight.
And you think love is to pray.
But I'm sorry, I don't pray that way!”

Mr. Schue: “Once I ran to you.”
Miss Pillsberry: “(I ran.)”
Mr. Schue: “Now I'll run from you.
This tainted love you've given.
I give you all a boy could give you.
Take my tears and that's not nearly all!
Oh...tainted love…
Tainted love.”

Miss Pillsberry: “Don't touch me, please!
I cannot stand the way you tease!
I love you, though you hurt me so.
Now, I'm going to pack my things and go!”

Mr. Schue: “Tainted love, tainted love.
Tainted love, tainted love.
Touch me, baby, tainted love.
Touch me, baby, tainted love.
Tainted love.
Tainted love!
Tainted love!”

The song ended and the whole room stood up in applause. I’d never heard Miss Pillsberry sing before, but her voice was actually pretty decent and she could hit some serious high notes. I also thought the song went extremely well with Mr. Schuester’s voice. Their performance together really got me motivated to do mine.

“Thank you, thank you!” he bowed, laughing. He then pointed to Miss P, and we all clapped even louder for her.

When we all settled down, Mr. Schue looked at us. “Okay, I’m going to put you into your groups now.”

He studied us for a few moments, whispered back and forth to Miss Pillsberry like we were being judged or something.

“Mike, your guest vocalist is Rachel,” Mr. Schue told him. Mike would’ve shot Rachel a nasty look if he didn’t know she had a great voice. “And Rachel, yours is Santana.”

“Ugh! Kill me now,” Santana said loud and clear.

“Gladly!” I said a little too quickly and enthusiastically.

“Santana, your guest vocalist is Tina. And Tina’s is Brittany,” Mr. Schue continued, ignoring our immaturity. Tina didn’t really know what to think. She was paired up with both Cheerios, and both of those Cheerios were best friends, so I’m sure they’d find a way to make Tina’s time spent on the assignment unpleasant.

“Brittany, your guest vocalist is Courtney, and Courtney, yours is Mercedes.” I grinned over at Mercedes and didn’t even glance at Brittany. I knew Mercedes would make whatever song I’d picked amazing, and I hated to say, but I’d probably make Brittany’s a whole lot better, too.

“Mercedes, your guest vocalist is Quinn, and Quinn’s guest vocalist is Kurt.” Mercedes gave Quinn a small smile, and Quinn returned it before high-fiving Kurt. I didn’t think they’d have any problems with their songs.

“Kurt, your guest vocalist is Artie, and Artie’s will be Puck.” Artie gave Kurt a thumbs-up, and then Mr. Schue looked around to see who Puck’s guest vocalist could be. There weren’t many options.

“Since we don’t know what’s going on with Puck and Blaze right now, I’m going to make Blaze a guest vocalist for Puck’s song. And Mike, you can guest vocal on Blaze’s song.”

My mouth dropped when Mr. Schue mentioned Blaze and Puck working together. I honestly didn’t know how either of them would react to that, but I knew it wouldn’t be pretty.

“Finn, your guest vocalist is gonna be Matt for this assignment. And Matt’s is going to be Finn.” Finn threw Matt a nod that said “We’re gonna kill this”, and Matt smiled in agreement.

“I think that’s it!” Mr. Schuester looked around the room. “Does anyone not have a guest vocalist yet?”

Nobody raised their hand, so Mr. Schue went on. “Alrighty then! Get into your groups and discuss song selection!”

The bell rang, however, so we didn’t get to discuss anything. I decided that I’d message Mercedes and Brittany on Facebook later, though, and talk about things then.

“If you guys can be ready by Wednesday’s meeting, that’d be great. If not, the deadline is Thursday afternoon,” Mr. Schuester told us as we were leaving the room.

I was on my way back to my locker, feeling all happy and whatnot, when I saw Puck come out of the office, and Blaze follow behind him. They both still looked just as pissed as they did that morning, but when Puck saw me, he looked a little more delighted.

“Hey,” he leaned down and kissed me when I approached him.

“Hey. What’s going on?” I asked, worried about the consequences of what he did to Blaze.

“In-school suspension for the rest of the week, and I have to pay for Blaze’s cell phone and broken nose.”

I had to hold back a laugh for the broken nose part. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “What did Blaze get?”

“In-school suspension, like me, and he has to apologize to us for starting that rumor,” Puck told me. “He already apologized to me, and I accepted it but only because Figgins was there. I also had to apologize to him. Had my fingers crossed the whole fuckin’ time.”

“Are you gonna actually pay for his cell phone and nose?” It sounded weird saying that.

“Well, I have to. If I don’t, he can sue anyway,” Puck shrugged. “It’s gonna come to at least five hundred bucks, and I only have about a hundred and twenty from pool cleaning this summer. So, looks like I’m gonna have to get a job.”

I gave him a sorry look and was about to say something else before a cell phone rang. A Billy Joel song blasted out of it, so I knew it was Puck’s. He took a look at it before saying “That’s my mom. She’s in the parking lot. The school is sending both of us home for the afternoon, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

I nodded a little, trying not to look too sad. He kissed me again, and then turned the other way, leaving me standing alone in the hallway. I trudged back to my locker to get my books, and then went to my next two classes, feeling like the entire situation was my fault. And it was, in a way.