Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

“SAM!” I called down the hallway, running toward him. He stared at me like I had lost my mind, but I didn’t allow myself to pay much attention to that. “Sam. Hi.”

“Uh, hi.” He laughed a little in spite of himself. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah. So what song are you planning to sing for the bubblegum pop assignment?”

“I was thinking Invisible Man by 98 Degrees. Why?”

“Because I’m trying to prove to Puck that guys can take the assignment seriously. I mean, he’s saying that he’d rather just not do the assignment, which pisses me off. I think he’s just afraid that everyone will make fun of him and question his masculinity.”

It took a second for this to settle in, and Sam just stared at me. “How does that even make sense…?” he asked slowly, pulling his eyebrows together in confusion. “Every other guy will be doing the assignment, too.”

“Exactly! But he’s too much of a baby to realize that. Or maybe he just wants to feel better than everyone, and he won’t have that edge over them if he actually sings the song.”

“Probably. So…what are you gonna do?”

I sighed loudly before letting out a small laugh. “I was hoping that you’d give me some ideas.”

“Oh.” His face dropped. “Um. I…I have no idea. I haven’t dealt with this sort of thing before.”

“No duh. I figured that you always had issues with your boyfriends trying to be too masculine.” I rolled my eyes dramatically, pushing my purse further up on my shoulder. “Oh, well. I figure something out to make him sing. I just really want to hear him belt out a Britney tune.”

“Maybe that’s why he doesn’t want to sing it?” Sam suggested. “Because you’re making him sing Britney Spears?”

“Well, maybe. But I also suggested Bieber, and that wasn’t a taker, either.”

“Bieber’s worse,” Sam reminded me. “Alright, I have to go meet Quinn before first period, so good luck with your little Puck dilemma.”

“Oh, thanks.” Sam shot me a smile before turning and walking down the hallway, where Quinn was putting a couple of books into her locker.

I stood in the middle of the hallway, which got me some shoves and swears yelled at me, trying to figure out the next step in my plan.

Lord knows how long I was standing there, since the next thing I knew, the bell rang loudly, snapping me out of my trance. Looking around, I realized that there was not another soul in the corridor besides me. Whoops.

Smirking a little at my total space-out, I raced to my class, hoping that my teacher wouldn’t lop my head off with a yardstick.

* * *

“Alright,” I voiced at lunch as Puck settled in next to me, automatically taking half of my sandwich without even so much of a resemblance of a question, “so I was thinking…”

“Well, that’s not good,” he intervened, smiling widely at me.

I shoved his shoulder before continuing my statement. “I don’t care what you say because you’re going to sing a Britney song, and you’re going to like it.”

“Wait,” Callie spoke up, sitting on my other side, “do you mean Britney as in Britney Spears?”

“Yeah,” I replied.

Callie took a good look at Puck before bursting into hysterics. “Oh, God. When he sings it, make sure you tape it because I sure as hell want a copy.”

He shot her a death look before turning back to me. “I’m not singing Britney, and it doesn’t really matter what you demand I do because, in the end, I have control over what I end up singing. It’s not like you can make me sing something.”

Huh. Point. “Why won’t you just sing it?” I pouted. Pouting was totally not my thing, but if it worked, then it would be worth it.

Puck looked over me at Callie, who was still kind of laughing at the idea of him singing something as poppy as I was trying to make him do. “That’s why,” he replied, pointing to her.

“What?” Callie looked slightly offended. “I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who’s afraid of what people think.”

“Exactly!” I threw my hands up in the air. Then, turning back to Puck, I questioned, “Since when do you care what everyone thinks of you, anyway?”

“Since…Ugh. Forget it, Ellie, okay?” His voice turned snappy as he stood up, shoving the rest of the half of my sandwich into his mouth, and started walking away.

“Well,” I cleared my throat. “That didn’t go exactly as I figured it would.”

“Did you expect him to rush to sing Britney Spears?” Callie snickered.

“Nope. Just didn’t expect him to get angry.” I stared after him, biting my lip. “Maybe I should just drop the whole idea altogether. It’s clearly pissing him off.”

“Smart idea,” Callie seconded. “You don’t want him to get really angry and do something stupid…like throwing your cell phone against a wall to smash it into a million pieces.”

“Yeah…That would definitely suck.”

“Plus, then you’d be without your cell phone and then you could get kidnapped and murdered.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “What? It happens.”

“In Lima, Ohio?”

“The places where you expect crime to happen least is where it’s bound to happen most, just to move everyone to desperation.”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded, gathering together the remnants of my lunch. “You’re right.”

She smiled, proud of herself, before turning back to her food.

* * *

“Hey,” Puck greeted at Glee Club, acting like he hadn’t had a mini-freakout at lunch, as he slid into the chair next to me. “What’s up?”

“Um…nothing much? You’re talking to me?”

“Yeah…why wouldn’t I be?”

“I dunno. You kind of stormed away from the table at lunch.”

He waved off my concern and smiled. “Oh, that. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Oooooookay… Let’s pretend that wasn’t completely weird. “Alright.”

During the meeting, Rachel sang Wannabe by the Spice Girls, which was fun, and Sam sang Invisible Man, which was just overall great.

“See? Pop can be good,” I whispered to Puck, elbowing him in the side.

He just shot me a look, signaling that it was a perfect time to shut my mouth and keep my thoughts to myself. Although I wanted to drill him right then and there on why he felt so strongly against singing pop music, I figured that it wasn’t the best time. I would, eventually.

“Can I sing Friday by Rebecca Black?!” Mike called from the back of the room with a loud laugh.

I turned around, giving him the worst death glare that I could manage, while a few other people did the same.

“Technically, yes,” Mr. Schue allowed hesitantly.

“But if you do, I’m going to shoot you,” I warned.

Mike looked over at me, seeing that I was dead serious, and coughed, “Maybe not, then.”

“Smart thinking.” I turned around to face the front again, where Mr. Schue was giving me a funny look that I couldn’t decipher. Maybe that was because he couldn’t figure out whether I was seriously threatening to kill Mike or not.

“Vicious,” Puck mumbled in my ear, followed by a little throaty laugh.

I shot him a smile as Mr. Schue announced in the background, “Alright, guys. Go on home. Santana, Ellie, and Finn, you guys go tomorrow.”