A New Beginning

I walked out of the gym after my tryout with my bag slung over my shoulder, a slight smile pulling at the corner of my mouth. Once I reached the hallway in front of the boys’ locker room, I only had to wait a couple moments for Puck to appear.

“How’d it go?” he asked. I could see the hope sparking in his eyes. What a pervert.

“You’re looking at the newest addition to the Cheerios,” I told him, posing. “Santana’s gonna be pissed.”

“I thought that was a good thing.”

“It is a good thing.” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help from laughing a little. “The only down part about this whole thing is that I have to wear this dumb uniform every day. Why don’t I just wear a flashing neon sign that says ‘CHEERIO’ on it?” I stopped to think for a second. “Then again, that might be a little subtler.”

Puck snickered. “Every Cheerio does it. You do realize that you’re going to have to dance your ass off every day now, though, right?”

I sighed. “I know, I know. It sucks, but hopefully, it’ll be worth it. That’s what I’m hoping, at least.”

“You want a ride home?”

I blinked a couple of times from the rapid switch of subjects. Instinctively, I turned around to see where Finn was, since he usually drove me home. Of course, he wasn’t behind us, so I turned to face Puck again.

“Uh, sure.”

We walked the rest of the way to the car in slightly awkward silence.

When we reached the car, I climbed in the passenger’s seat, throwing my bag on the floor. Right when Puck turned the car on, I put my hands over the heating vents, needing their heat. Ohio was freaking freezing. Maybe I was slightly biased, being from Texas, but still.

Of course, I was an idiot and didn’t realize that cars do not just get warm because I want them to. The air blowing out of the vents was still cold, so it just made the whole situation worse.

“I hate your truck,” I told Puck, narrowing my eyes as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

He actually looked deeply offended. “What did it do to you?”

“It’s not warm. And it’s cold outside. Therefore, hate-worthy.”

Puck rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how much experience you have with cars, but heating systems don’t work that way in any car.”

I put my hands up in surrender and replied, “You don’t have to take it so personally that I made a passive joke about your truck. It’s not like I insulted your mother.”

“I wouldn’t even care if you insulted my mother.”

Although I tried to hold it in, I let out a snort of laughter. “I guess that just shows how much of a stand-up guy you are.”

He shot me a glare, which I ignored. “Uh, you just missed my street,” I informed him, turning around in my seat and watching the street sign getting smaller and smaller.

“Shit! This is why you shouldn’t rag on my truck.”

I let out a long, dramatic sigh as Puck pulled into a random person’s driveway to turn around. “Seriously!” Puck continued, like this jab (if one could even call it that. It was a joke, for God’s sake) was truly questioning his integrity. “I don’t make fun of the fact that you were stupid enough to fall for that dumb thing your neighbor said to abduct you, so you really have no right to say anything about my truck.”

My stomach clenched, and I thought I was going to puke. Or punch him. Probably both. Instead of freaking out as I had when I first moved here, I just took a couple of deep breaths. “You’re a total jackass. You know that, right? It wasn’t dumb. My mother was a drug addict, and she’d OD’d about a million times before, so it was valid that she could have done it again. I’m really sorry that I ever told you.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’d know anyway, remember?”

I swallowed the hatred that was welling up in my throat. “I really hate you. Just when I think you’re kind of okay, you make a dick statement like that.”

“Don’t make fun of my truck then.”

“I wasn’t making fun of your fucking truck!” We pulled into my driveway, so I pulled the car door open. “I don’t know if you know the concept of a ‘joke’, but I really suggest looking it up in the dictionary tonight and getting acquainted with it.”

With that, I smashed the door shut so hard I was surprised the glass in the window didn’t shatter. Really, the two of us fought over the stupidest things ever. It was obvious that our personalities went together just as well as oil and water. How the hell had people bought that we were going out?

Santana was sitting at the kitchen table when I walked in, looking like she could rip someone’s head off. The second she turned her head toward me, I know that I was the victim who would soon be decapitated.

“Coach Sylvester called to spread the good news,” Santana said through clenched teeth. “How wonderful it was that now she has two star Lopezes on the Cheerios. Maybe we can co-captain senior year.”

“I am not a Lopez.” Yup. That was what I got out of that whole anger rant.

“It doesn’t even matter. Give me your uniform.”

“What? So you can torch it? I don’t think so. I earned this uniform fair and square.”

“Oh, please.” Santana finally stood up and put her hands on her hips. “You do not have what it takes to be a Cheerio. It’s a commitment. Instead of lunch, you drink shakes that make you puke. You have to treat people like shit all the time because you have to remind them that you’re at the top of the high school food chain.”

“Santana, treating people like shit is kind of in your nature.”

“That’s why I’m good at it.” She rolled her eyes like I was just too idiotic to have in her presence. “You know what? Coach Sylvester’s going to find out that you’re not the Cheerio type soon enough anyway. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, joining everything that I’m in, but stop. Seriously. I’ll get Dad’s lawyer.”

“I’m pretty sure that Aunt Marisol and Uncle John won’t let you sue me…” I trailed off. “But it was nice of you to think of me.”

Shooting her a smug look, I ran up the stairs to my room and slammed the door behind me. After throwing my bag on the floor, I rummaged through it to find the crisp, clean uniform.

I held it in front of myself as I stared into the mirror. It was the total opposite of who I was, Santana was right about that.

What she didn’t know what that I could be an excellent actress if I put my mind to it. It didn’t hurt that I had connections to the two biggest jerks in the school, so I could learn from example.

Smirking a little, I laid the uniform out on my bureau so I could remember to wear it the next day before collapsing into my bed and starting my homework.