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

Right when I got home, I stormed up to my room and slammed the door shut behind me. I threw my clothes in my hamper before throwing myself on my bed, feeling it bounce slightly underneath me.

It felt weird, knowing that I couldn’t walk down the hall and say howdy to Puck before getting a bottle of water from the fridge. That I wouldn’t be able to run to his room if there was some sort of man-eating spider in my room.

Sighing, I turned on the TV and flicked the channel to watch Dr. Phil. After a while, my phone went off, and my stomach gave a little flutter.

hey

I stared at my phone for a second. Hey? That was all he had to say after everything that went on earlier? Just…hey?

Hi. What’s up?

nuthin much just watchin tv. hows ur mom

You still want my mom? Well, she’s kind of awful. Called me a whore when we were leaving your house. Gotta love how sweet she is.

…she called u of all people a whore and no i dont want ur mom at all. not anymore

Yup. I hate that woman. I swear, I’m leaving this house the second I turn eighteen. And I’m going to ignore that last part.

maybe i should talk 2 mom about u staying here again 4 real

I stared at my phone for a second before typing my reply.

That’s nice of you, but please don’t. Your mom can’t really do much if my mother wants me at my house. Not unless I get legally emancipated.

lol i dont no wat that is

I’m not really surprised…

…r u gonna tell me what it is

Nahhh. Look it up.

Snickering a little, I laughed at how mean I was to him. Poor Puck with his zero brains.

“Ellie?” Mom called. “Can you put out the trash?”

“Um…can’t you?” I shook my head. Why did I have to take out that trash bag? I didn’t contribute to anything that was in there. Maybe I sounded a bit like a spoiled brat, but I didn’t care. I wished that I wasn’t at my house, wasn’t anywhere near my mother.

“I’m not kidding. Come downstairs and put out that trash.”

Rolling my eyes, I got up and did as I was told. Mom tried to make a bit of small talk, trying to ask me what it was like at Puck’s, how school was, but I blatantly ignored her. She didn’t deserve my attention at all. More than anything, she deserved my undying hatred.

“Will you stop having an attitude? I’m starting to realize why I kicked you out,” Mom grumbled passively as she went to wash her hands with our smelly mango soap that I hated.

“Then why don’t you just do it again, Mom? I’m clearly just too much of a bother for you to handle. It’s not like you actually want me around here, anyway. You just need me because when Grayson’s over, you don’t want to have anything to do with him. You like to force him off on me. Not that I mind; I love Gray, but you gotta step up and be a mom sometime.”

After my little rant, I was breathing a little heavily from all the emotion I put behind it. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling it fall gently against my face, and watched for Mom’s reaction.

It didn’t shock me how she didn’t deny my accusation that she just needed me for taking care of Gray, or how she didn’t say that she wanted me there because I was her daughter and she loved me. I just felt numb inside.

“That’s exactly what I thought,” I sighed. “Look, Mom, I’ll stay here, but don’t try to talk to me. Don’t try to be a part of my life. You can just get your returns on your taxes for having me, as much of a mistake that was, but…you’re not my mom anymore. Not in my eyes.”

Passing by her, I put a new bag in the trash, washed my hands, trying to ignore the smell, and ran upstairs to my room, shutting the door behind me.

Checking my phone, I noticed that Puck never texted me back, so I just settled in my bed, letting the hum of the voices on the TV lull me to sleep.

* * *

“ELLIE,” a voice screamed in my ear loudly. Jumping, I smacked my head against something hard and winced, rubbing the area of impact.

“Ow,” I mumbled. My vision was still blurry, and it took me a second to realize that I’d smacked my head into Puck’s forehead. “Couldn’t you have called to make sure that I was awake first?”

“Sure I could have. But I didn’t. I didn’t think you’d care. It’s not like I haven’t seen you sleeping before.” He settled down on my bed and pulled out his cell phone. “Plus, it’s almost noon.”

“What?” A quick check of the clock confirmed what he said, so I leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a second. “I can’t believe that I just slept for more than twelve hours.”

“Lazy butt,” he commented before standing, pulling me to my feet. “So get dressed. We’re going out.”

“We are?”

“Yeah. So get dressed.”

I climbed out of bed and grabbed the first pair of jeans and shirt that I could find, along with underwear, and scampered into the bathroom so Puck didn’t have to stand outside and risk facing my mother.

When I walked back into the room, throwing my clothes into my hamper, I started to brush my hair, but Puck was impatient.

“It looks fine. Let’s go.”

“Where are we even going?” I laughed, tripping along so that my arm didn’t get ripped out of the socket. I cringed a little at the thought, since that was one of the things in the world that freaked me out most.

“I’m not telling you,” he smirked before I climbed into his car. “So just shut up.”

“No, wait, I gotta tell you what happened with my mom last night.”

Surprisingly, he listened pretty intently while I told him the whole story, his brow furrowing over his beautiful brown eyes.

“Have I said before that your mom’s a fucking bitch?”

“Once or twice,” I nodded, sighing. “I just hate to know that she just…she’s only using me because she knows that I’m a pushover when it comes to Gray. It sucks.”

“Yeah. I wish that you could have just stayed in the guest room.”

Rolling my eyes, I slapped a hand to my chest. “But, Puck! That’s what whores do! Even though, according to my mom, I am one.”

“I wish you were a whore,” Puck sighed, pulling into a parking lot.

“No you don’t,” I snickered, climbing out of the car and laughing. “Why couldn’t you have just told me where we’re going?”