Bettering The Bruises

Emma smiled at me through the school bus window as its’ wheels drove down the road. The November air was actually really nice today, so I didn’t need more than a sweatshirt to keep warm. Of course I was wearing pants as well, I was never much of a shorts person anyway.

I grabbed my things inside the house, and awaited patiently for Mercedes. After hearing the honk of her horn just six minutes later, I walked outside once again. Then, into her medium-sized jeep.

“Look at you, you look hot, Jen,” Mercedes complimented me.

“Thanks. You look damn good yourself,” I smiled.

“Girl, I know! It took me forty five minutes to pick something out this morning. But, the weave was behaving at least,” she giggled.

“This took me about five minutes, and that’s only because I was so tired that I couldn’t tell the difference between what was pants and what was shirts,” I shrugged.

“Oh, I really need to get you into the world of fashion, and fast,” she added.

“Well, we can go shopping this weekend. Emma has a birthday party, so I won’t be busy,” I suggested.

“That sounds perfect! We’ll be doing that,” she nodded in agreement.

The rest of the car ride was filled with talking and giggles. As her car pulled into an empty spot, I saw something I wasn’t expecting. There was Puck alright, he looked just the same as yesterday. Football jacket with his jeans, and Mohawk. But, the sight I saw was everything I didn’t expect, he was throwing some guy in a dumpster.

“Oh hell no, they are not doing that to my man Kurt,” Mercedes quickly ran out of the car and to the dumpsters. At first, it startled me by how mad she was, but she has talked about Kurt before. They were really close, and Mercedes is strong, she could kick those guys’ asses if she wanted too.

Just as they were about to throw him in, Mercedes started speaking, “Get your hands off of him Puckerman and Fitz, don’t even try to do that. Because I will in fact kick your ass.”

“Damn girl, take a chill pill. We do this every morning, you’ll just have to get used to it,” Tucker Fitz said.

“No, I’m not going to get used to anything, just put him down. Then, we can get along with our day, thank you very much,” she rolled her eyes.

“Whatever, since you’re a girl, I’ll let you off with a warning,” Puck smirked. “Ever do that again, I will make your life living hell.”

“I don’t need a damn warning from you lover boy,” she stated firmly.

Puck rolled his eyes and let the boy go. He quickly wiped off his shirt and spoke, “You’ll all be cleaning my septic tank some day anyway.”

I gave Puck a dirty look, while I walked arm in arm with Mercedes to the building.

“Thanks Mercedes,” he smiled at her.

“It’s not a problem. I hate those damn football players, they think they are all that. When in reality, they’re the biggest Lima Losers in this town,” she huffed.

“Oh, hey Jenna,” Kurt looked at me.

“Hey,” I gave a soft smile.

“Ugh, you tell me if they start messing with you again,” she paused. “You know I’ll be there in a hot second.”

“Eh, it’s okay,” he hesitated. “I can handle the bone heads.”

“Does Puck do that to you most of the time? Or is it usually other boys?” I blurted out.

“It’s usually Puck, yes,” he gave me a curious look. “Why do you ask?”

“He just seems,” I trailed off. “Like somebody who is much nicer than that.”

Kurt scoffed, “He’s the worst of the bunch. He’s the one that is there everyday to throw me in that disgusting mass of trash, or slushy me straight in the face.”

Pure anger filled me, this wasn’t fair to him. What happened to the sweet guy from yesterday? The one who punched a guy straight in the face for me? The one who sang along to Train lyrics? The one who was protective of girls? I really needed to talk to him now.

“The next time he throws a slushy in your face, please let me know. Can you do that for me?” I asked politely.

“Sure, if you’d like me too. That’s fine,” he answered.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Mercedes stopped as we got to my locker.

“Of course not, I tell you everything,” I lied.

“Okay, if you say so,” she kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

I smiled, as Kurt and her walked away from me. I wanted to think about this. How different is Puck from the one I thought I knew? He didn’t even both to say hi to me.

“Hey, Jenna,” a perky male voice was behind me.

I turned around to realize it was Finn, “Hey, Finn!”

“How you doing today? Have you talked to Jake?” He asked.

“I actually haven’t talked to Jake at all. I think I’m going to break up with him actually,” I shrugged.

“I don’t think anybody will be breaking up with me,” Jake’s intimidating voice was heard to the side of me.

I jumped back from surprise, “Oh, hey Jake.”

“Don’t you have something to say to him, Jenna,” Finn looked at me strictly.

“Oh yeah, I do Jake,” I trailed off.

“I’d love to hear what pretty boy over here told you to do,” he gave Finn a death glare.

“I thought about this without Finn’s help actually,” I said harshly.

“Fine, spit it out then!” he yelled.

“Jake I think we need to break up,” I shut my eyes, waiting for impact.

Jake’s face went from nothing to angry within seconds. The color of his skin even changed, “What the hell Jenna? Now you’re just doing everything Finn is telling you?”

“Yesterday made me realize that we weren’t really working. You hitting me in front of everybody was the last straw,” I slammed my locker shut, because I had finally gotten all of my things.

Jake punched the locker next to mine hard, “Fine! Whatever the hell you want. I just hope this asshole over here is enough for you!”

He then stormed off to his first hour class. That was actually a lot better than I ever would’ve dreamed it would be. I’m officially done with Jake, no more hitting, no more anything. I actually felt…. relief.

“You okay?” Finn questioned.

“Perfect actually, thanks for being here,” I paused. “If you wouldn’t of been, it could’ve ended really ugly.”

“Well what class do you have next, I’ll walk you there,” Finn smiled.

“Oh, I have Social Studies,” I paused for a moment. Oh shit, this was really not good. I should’ve waited until later that day to talk to Jake.

“Anyone important in that one?” He asked, as we started to walk.

I gulped, “Just Jake.”