And Here's What You Missed on...GLEE

The next morning, around eleven, I woke up to a scream in my ear. “ELLIE!”

Annoyed, I opened my eyes slowly to find my mother in front of me, holding Grayson. “What the hell? And put Gray down. You should have nothing to do with him.”

“There’s someone here to see you,” Mom snuffed, putting Grayson down before disappearing out of the room. From the hallway, I heard her say, “Go in, if you’re sure that you want to talk to her,” before her footsteps retreated down the stairs.

I sighed and glanced in the mirror for a second. There was no way that my visitor was anyone but Kurt, and I knew that he was going to hate me for the fact that I wasn’t dressed and my hair was a mess. Not that it really mattered to me at that point.

Grayson ran out of the room and squealed at whoever it was. My eyebrows drew together as I started go after him, figuring that he found Boobah. That poor toddler didn’t know how vicious that chubby cat could be.

“Gray, come back,” I called after him. When I looked up at my visitor, I was shocked at first, accentuated even more by the fact that he was holding Grayson in his arms, smiling at him. What happened to Grayson being smart and hating him as much as I did?

“What do you want?” My arms crossed in front of me in annoyance as I waited for his answer.

“Hey,” Puck replied with submission. “I’m not here to fight, alright? I just want to let you know, for sure, that it wasn’t me that started the rumor. Trust me, if it was me,” he gave me a cocky grin, “I’d take credit for it.”

“Good to know. At least I know that while you’re a jackass, you’re an honest one.”

“Not all the time, but if I came up with a good lie about someone, I’d want everyone to know that it was me who started it.”

Instead of answering, I just gave him an eye roll and took Grayson from him. Grayson made a beeline for the stairs to start climbing and sliding down them, so I nodded toward my room. My parents had heard enough of this conversation.

After closing the door behind me, I looked at Puck. Taking in every aspect of his face, I realized that I actually did believe him. He hadn’t made up the rumor. The fact that he’d seen me walk out of the boys’ bathroom was just a coincidence that added to his incrimination in my eyes.

“Okay,” I finally admitted. “I believe you. Sorry for shoving you into a locker and screaming at you.”

“That was so not cool. Brennan thinks that I’m a total wimp now. I’m going to have to beat his ass on Monday now.”

I shrugged. “Sucks to be you.” Then, after thinking for a few seconds, I added, “So if you didn’t start it, then who did?”

“How should I know? I didn’t even hear about the rumor until you told me.”

The wheels in my head started turning, as I grabbed Puck’s arm. “C’mon.”

“Where are we going?” he questioned, giving me a weird look. As we passed Grayson on the stairs, I picked him up into my arms and continued walking, not missing a beat.

“Finn’s house,” I responded matter-of-factly. He was the only one that could tell me how the rumor started, and if he couldn’t…

Then I was in deep trouble.

* * *

“Hi,” I smiled as an older woman greeted the door, bouncing Grayson a little so that he would settle down. The unfamiliar territory was making him shake a little, as if he thought that I was going to be handing him off to a stranger for him to be taken care of. “Is Finn here?”

The woman who I assumed was Finn’s mother nodded. She had dark hair, curly and short, and blue eyes. Her skin was slightly wrinkled with age and stress, and she was a little overweight. “Come on in.”

As I stepped past her into the house, I noticed that she gave Grayson a questioning look. “He’s my cousin,” I explained quickly.

She let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, alright. Finn! You have guests!”

A few seconds later, he emerged, his hair wet. He must have just gotten out of the shower. “Um…hi?” he greeted, looking between Puck and me with confusion.

His mom shuffled off someplace, giving us privacy.

“Who told you that rumor yesterday?” I demanded right off the bat.

“No one,” Finn mumbled. He walked over to me and smiled. “Who’s this?”

“My cousin Grayson. I know he’s adorable, but this is kind of important. Who told you that stupid lie?”

“I can’t tell you, alright? I promised I wouldn’t say anything, and I already kind of broke the rules by telling you what the rumor was.”

“Grow a pair,” Puck snapped at him. “We know it was a girl, so you might as well tell us. Unless you’re scared of a chick.”

Finn and Puck stared down for a second before he sighed. “Quinn told me.”

That didn’t make any sense. Sure, Quinn snapped at me about tapping my pencil on my notebook during class, but that definitely wasn’t rumor-starting-worthy. I didn’t really have anything against Quinn, and I hoped that she felt the same.

Then it clicked. Santana. Santana was best friends with Quinn, right? So they concocted a scheme to make my life hell. All to sabotage the not-relationship I had with Puck. Smart, but oh, so stupid.

“Quinn started it?” Puck sounded out slowly. I slapped him on the arm for being an idiot.

“I figured it out. Thanks for the help, Finn. Don’t worry, your name will remain anonymous.”

Shooting him one last grin, I turned and made my way from the house. After buckling Grayson in the backseat, I climbed in the front and seethed for a few seconds before Puck asked me what I figured out.

“Quinn didn’t start the rumor,” I informed him. “There’s nothing between us. However, Santana…”

“Wanted to get in between us. Not that there’s an us,” he covered quickly. “But she thinks there is.”

“Exactly. Only, it kind of backfired because you didn’t even hear about the rumor, and you wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Well…”

“Are you serious?” I half-snapped, half-laughed. His stupidity was kind of unbelievable.

“I don’t know…kind of. It’s not like I’ve seen anything, since you won’t let me, so…” he shrugged, as if this made an acceptable end of a horrifying statement.

“I’m not even going to comment on that.” For a few minutes, I stared out the window as I debated the whole thing. Why was Santana such a bitch? Shouldn’t she have at least bothered to find out that there was nothing between Puck and me first? Shouldn’t she have kind of figured that out herself after the horrible performance that Puck and I did?

Maybe she was just as stupid as Puck.

“Santana is going to be so sorry that she ever said anything on Monday,” I promised.

Puck glanced at me for a second. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t. I’m just giving her what she deserves.” My mouth slowly evolved into a smirk, plans forming themselves in my brain.