Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

“Ugh…” I grumbled, my face buried in my arms as I waited for Puck at the lunch table. This whole plan was not really going how I wanted it to. Callie clearly wanted it to be as difficult for the both of us as possible.

“Tired?” Puck teased as he sat down next to me.

Once more, I popped my head up and searched around for Callie. Of course, she wasn’t anywhere in sight, and I let out a loud, dramatic sigh.

Kurt gave me a funny look from the other side of the table, but I just turned away from him. I loved Kurt, but I really wasn’t in the mood to give him the run-down on everything that had been happening.

“Okay, so I’m going to take a while guess and say that Callie isn’t exactly accepting your help with open arms?” Puck took a giant bite of his sandwich.

After cringing at him for a second, I shook my head. “Nope. She hasn’t talked to me all day. I guess we’ll know for sure if she doesn’t show up to the meeting that I asked about after Glee Club, but I have a feeling that I’m going to have to go to the guidance counselor myself.”

“Nah,” he grumbled through another mouthful of food. “I’ll go with you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “Promising,” I joked. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full?”

“Sure. But I blocked it from my mind.”

Rolling my eyes, I started to eat my lunch. “Wait, aren’t we getting a new assignment in Glee Club today?” Puck asked me.

“Uh…why are we getting an assignment on a Friday…?” I trailed off, raising an eyebrow at him.

“That’s what Mr. Schue said. I think it’s because we’re going to be working in partners again.”

“Oh, good!” I faked enthusiasm, clapping my hands together. “Because working in partners last time was just so great!”

“Maybe we’ll be partners this time.” Puck gave me a look that was clearly trying to be seductive, but it just made me chuckle.

“If you’ll remember the last time we were partners, we were awesome, and then we got angry at each other and blew the whole thing.”

“Oh, yeah…” He twisted his mouth and took a chug from his milk. “Well, that was just because we weren’t together yet. Now we have everything figured out, and we’ll be great.”

“If we get paired up,” I reminded him. “Mr. Schue’s probably going to have us pick out of a hat. Or pair us up randomly.” That made me stop and think for a second. “Do you think that he’d purposely put people together that he knows don’t get along?”

“Nah. I think he hates the drama in Glee Club more than we do.”

“That’s because Glee Club loves a scandal,” I laughed before getting up to throw my trash away…along with most of my lunch. I couldn’t help it! My stomach didn’t want any food, since it was so worried about what was going to happen at Glee Club and with Callie. Poor tummy.

When I got back to my seat, I pouted and put my head on Puck’s shoulder. “Life sucks.”

“You know that you’ll be fine, even if you have to tell the guidance counselor and get Callie’s mom called.”

“I guess that’s true.” My sixth sense was tingling, so I looked over at Kurt, who was grinning at me, clearly thrilled that Puck was off probation. What a creep.

“Kurt,” I called out, scooching down the table so that I was sitting right next to Mercedes. “I vote that we hang out this weekend. You game?”

“Absolutely.” He looked at me for a second before getting a smirk on his face and leaning forward. “What do you think about getting your ears pierced?”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “Uhh…I don’t know about that. Getting a needle shoved through my ear isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”

“It doesn’t even hurt, I swear. Plus, earrings are such a fun way to accessorize an outfit. Like how today, you’re sorely lacking them.”

“I’ll think about it,” I finally agreed. I knew that I was going to end up making the venture, even if I just couldn’t say no to Kurt.

“So which day are we going to hang out?”

“I dunno. Hold on.” I got out of my seat and bent over next to Puck. “What day are we going out?”

“Whenever.”

I gave him a glare. “Just pick a day.”

“Um, tomorrow?”

“How about Sunday?” I called down to Kurt.

He gave me a thumbs-up, and I felt a little happier as I sat back down next to Puck. “Hi,” I greeted.

“Hey. Thanks for ditching me.”

“No problemo. You know, you shouldn’t be so dependent on me.” I winked at him before grabbing my bag and standing up right as the bell rang. “So I guess I’ll see you in Glee Club.”

Puck kissed me for a second before walking away, and I took a deep breath. I only had half a day of school left before the tough stuff came along.

* * *

Of course, the day went by in a flash, and before long, I was sitting down in Glee Club, biting my lip and bouncing my knee up and down.

Puck put his hand down on my knee and sighed. “Stop. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Sorry. I’m just super nervous about who I’m going to get paired up with, for some reason. Like I need another thing to be worried about.”

A couple minutes later, Mr. Schue made his way into the room, top hat in hand. “And time to pick some partners for this week’s assignment!” He turned his back to us and scribbled on the board, BETRAYAL. “Songs of betrayal. We all know them, and we’ve all felt it at one time or another.”

I could have sworn that Puck sat a little stiffer at the mention of that, but I chuckled and squeezed his hand to show him that he could calm himself down.

“The difference is…this week, you guys are going to make music videos.”

The club went up in a frenzy, everybody whispering in excitement. Personally, I was starting to look forward to the assignment way more than I had before.

“Alright, who wants to pick first?”

Like the little overachiever she is, Rachel shot out of her seat and rushed to the front of the room. A little smile on her face, she reached into the hat and pulled out, “Quinn.”

“Awkward,” I snickered, and Puck laughed along with me.

“Ellie? Something to share?” Mr. Schue raised an eyebrow at me.

“Nope. I’m good.”

“Want to pick next, then?”

“Uh, sure.” I felt a little reassurance, knowing that Puck’s name was still there, so I went to the front and held my breath.

Once my hand was in the hat, I mixed up the papers a little bit, just to make sure that there was no way that who I was going to pick would be rigged. Then, once I got a paper that felt like a good bet, I pulled it out.

But once I read the name on the paper, my stomach dropped. “Finn,” I read in a flat voice.

As if I needed something else to worry about.