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

When Puck’s alarm sounded in the morning, I sat straight up and checked every inch of myself for that spider. It could have followed me from my room, after all. Spiders were vicious.

“What are you doing?” Puck groaned, rubbing the top of his head.

“Making sure I’m spider-bite free,” I responded like it was totally sane.

But judging from his dramatic eye roll, I had a feeling that he didn’t really feel the same way. “Do you want to skip today?” he offered.

“Yeah,” I responded. He grinned and turned over to go back to sleep. Laughing, I climbed back into his bed, kneeling behind his back, and whispered, “But I’m not going to. So get up.”

“Ugh… that was just mean.”

“Story of my life,” I smiled before leaving his room, shutting the door behind me. After getting ready quickly, I bounded into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

“Someone’s in a good mood this morning,” Puck’s mom commented, putting a couple pieces of bread into the toaster. “You want an English muffin?”

“Please,” I accepted. Then, I got up and made my lunch. As I was spreading mustard on a slice of bread, it was quiet.

Overcome with the feeling that I should start conversation, I turned to Ms. Puckerman. “I just wanted you to know that it was really nice of you to allow me to stay in your home. You really didn’t have to do that.”

To my surprise, she turned and smiled at me. “To tell you the truth, I like you a lot more than I’ve liked anyone else that Noah’s gone out with, Jewish or not. You don’t seem trashy, and I can’t thank you enough for being pretty wholesome. You have no idea how tiring it was to hear moaning coming from his room all the time.”

My face blushed bright red, and I nearly choked on my own saliva. He didn’t even have the decency to have sex with all those girls when his family wasn’t home? What in the world?!

“Mom,” Puck sighed from the doorway to the kitchen. “I thought you were sleeping when that went on.”

She chuckled. “Honey, it was loud enough for anyone to wake up.”

Oh my lord, how was she okay with that? I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if my mother ever heard me having sex…

But then again, my mom wasn’t the best parent to compare with.

Instead of dwelling on any of the awkwardness that had already happened that morning, I busied myself by putting my sandwich, apple, and water bottle into a paper bag for school.

“Here you go,” Ms. Puckerman smiled as she handed over my English muffin, complete with jelly and butter.

“Thanks,” I granted, but I didn’t really think that I was going to be eating just then.

Eh, what the hell. I took a bite and put it back down on the plate.

“C’mon,” Puck grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the chair. “We’re going to be late.”

“Since when are you Mr. Responsible?” I questioned good-naturedly. “Especially since you wanted to skip just this morning.”

“Shush!” he snapped at me, pulling me out the door without saying good-bye to his mom.

We climbed into his car, and I put my bag at my feet. “So, you going to explain your sudden need to succeed?”

He let out a snort. “Please. That was all a show. We really are skipping.”

My eyes widened. “No way!” I defied, picking up my bag. “You can skip and be a delinquent all you want, but I refuse.”

“Stop being such a goody-two-shoes,” he sighed. “How many days have you been absent this year?”

Clearing my throat, I avoided the question. “I plead the fifth.”

“I’ll pretend I know what that means. Wait…does that mean that you’ve missed five days?”

“No, smarty. It means that I’m not going to say.”

“Which I’m going to take as you haven’t missed any days. Am I right?” I didn’t have to say anything, since he looked over at my blushing face and smiled. “All the more reason to skip.”

“Well, what are we going to do then? Go catch a movie at seven thirty in the morning? Go to the mall?”

“No,” he responded. “I say we go somewhere way cooler.”

* * *

I stared at Puck in shock as we walked through the front doors. Everywhere, there were old-style arcade games of all kinds, some older, some newer. “Are you serious? We’re going to skip school to play video games? Could you stop being a guy for ten seconds?”

“Would you really want me to do that?” he questioned, raising his eyebrow suggestively at me. “Got something to tell me?”

“Ha. You’re funny.” I rolled my eyes. “Really.” Biting my lip, I scanned the place again. It was pretty cool, how it was almost like a time warp walking through the door.

“I think someone’s just nervous that they won’t be able to beat me in Pac-Man,” he taunted, inching his way toward the machine.

That challenge, I wasn’t about to decline. “Try me.”

Puck was better than I thought he would be, making it through the first ten levels without getting caught by a ghost. Maybe I was in over my head.

“So,” I started talking, hoping to distract him a little bit, “your mom told me this morning that she actually liked me. If she finds out that we skipped, then you’re dead. She’ll hate me more than Santana.”

He let out a short laugh, not taking his eyes away from the screen showing the outdated, but classic, graphics. “I don’t think anything, even if you did drugs and skipped school on a regular basis, could make my mom hate you more than Santana.”

“Have I told you that your mom has a good taste of character?” I joked, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.

For some reason, that brought back the memory of having to go over Rachel’s to rehearse, and I let out a groan. “Ugh…speaking of Santana…I have to see her at Rachel’s later. I can skip school, but I can’t skip that.”

“Yeah, you chicks need all the practice you can get. Even then, you’re still not going to win.”

“Let’s just see about that,” I gloated. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but hope with all my might that he wasn’t going to win.

“Fuck,” he hissed, kicking the machine. “I lost.”

“My turn,” I grinned. “What level did you make it to?”

“Twenty.”

“I can beat that,” I shrugged, but my stomach was tingling with anxiousness. The truth was, the only time I had ever played Pac-Man was on my old Gameboy Color.

But I did the best I could, sticking out my tongue and making little sound effects when I felt it was necessary. “Ugh!” I yelled when I lost on the fifth level. “I thought I was doing well!”

“You lost,” Puck pointed out.

I turned around and narrowed my eyes at him. “Thanks for pointing that out, Einstein.”

“No problem. Can I try again?”

“Uh, no.” I looked on the other side of the room and smiled widely. “I bet you twenty bucks that I can beat you in Super Monkey Ball.”

“What the hell is Super Monkey Ball?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Oh, do I have an advantage,” I acknowledged cockily.

We played for a while, and I beat him miserably. The truth was that I was super trained in Super Monkey Ball. Back when I was younger, my father and I used to play it every Saturday, trying to get past all the levels. Though I never made it past all the Expert Levels, I figured that I was good enough to beat a new player like Puck.

“Alright, give me the money,” I grinned, sticking out my hand.

“No. We’re playing again.”

And I won. Again. “Give me the money or I’m going to make you swallow a spider while you’re sleeping.”

“Spiders are your fear, not mine.”

“I’m not afraid of spiders if they’re normal and don’t have super powers,” I informed him, keeping my hand still out, wiggling my fingers. “Twenty bucks, please.”

He gritted his teeth, but he finally put the bill in my hand. “Fine, fine. But you only won because I’d never played the game before.”

“And I’d never played the arcade version of Pac-Man,” I retorted.

A little smile played across his lips. “Come on, let’s go find something else to do.”