Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

McKinley High lost the football game 32-0. Everyone in the stands looked like they had deflated with defeat, but I just snickered at all of them. I wasn’t even sure why the entire school got so revved up about the games. It wasn’t like they won, like, ever. Well, there was that one time last year, when I heard that they danced to Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) in the middle of the field.

Don’t even get me started about how pissed I was when I found out I missed that little goody.

After the game, I waited for Puck outside the boys’ locker room, deciding whether to put my hair up into a ponytail or not. On one hand, I was starting to get really hot, since the inside of the school was like an oven compared to the freezing temperature outside. But on the other, ponytails were not as cute as if I left my hair down, and I kind of did want to look cute for Puck, since we just made up and everything.

Finally, looking good overrode the fact that I was almost at the point of sweating.

“Hi,” Puck greeted when he walked out of the locker room, a gym bag thrown over his shoulder.

“Hey,” I responded. “Why did you want me to wait for you?”

He gave me a look like he thought I was an idiot, which was saying something, since he was pretty dumb himself. Cutely dumb, of course. “Because I want to hang out with you. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, smiling before wrapping my arm around his waist. “Where are we going?”

“How about my place?” He got this devious look on his face. “Ariella is at a friend’s house, Mom’s at the hairdresser…”

“Sounds good,” I reassured him, pushing the door open for the two of us. Biting my lip, I tried to figure out what to say in order to fill the silence.

But, of course, I came up blank, so the silence lingered until we got to Puck’s truck, where he finally broke it. “I can’t believe you sang in front of so many people.”

“Neither can I,” I admitted. “I just kind of tried to block the idea that there were a million people watching me when I actually performed.”

“You were great, though.” He smirked at me before pulling out of his parking space. “I have to say, though, I almost walked away when I realized that you were going to be singing to me.”

“So glad you didn’t,” I laughed. “I would have been mortified.”

It was quiet again, so I cleared my throat and sat up a little straighter. “Hey…um, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but do you have something to say to me?”

Puck stared at me, his eyes slightly narrowed, for a second. “I don’t think so…?” Of course he wouldn’t commit to it, since he knew that wasn’t the answer that I was looking for.

“You don’t want to say anything about how you jumped to conclusions and didn’t trust me?” I raised my eyebrows, signaling very clearly about how he was supposed to respond to that.

He let out a small sigh. “Ellie, I’m very sorry about how I jumped to conclusions and didn’t trust you. And said that you did stuff that I’m sure you didn’t.”

“Thank you,” I accepted. “You are forgiven.” Smiling slightly, I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Finally, we got back to Puck’s house. When we stepped inside, Puck pushed the door closed behind us and immediately put his lips against mine, cornering me against the wall.

We kissed for a few minutes before Puck’s hand started to sneak under my shirt. It took me a second in my totally scattered state of mind to realize that he was trying to take it off.

“No,” I whispered, taking his hands and putting them in front of him. “I’m sorry, but I just…I don’t want to.”

“Why not? We’ve already done it once. I thought I was done with waiting.”

I sighed. “Just because we’ve had sex once doesn’t mean that we’re going to do it all the time. I’m not Santana.”

“But we just made up from an argument.” His voice was verging on a whine, which made me laugh.

“Sorry,” I teased, getting up on my tip-toes to kiss him again. “But not tonight.”

* * *

Monday at school, I took a deep breath. It was finally time to go to the guidance counselor and tell her everything that was happening with Callie, what I found out.

“You coming with me?” I asked Puck when he approached me at my locker. For some reason, I kept glancing back and forth down the hallway, making sure that Callie wasn’t going to sneak up on me.

“To do…?”

“Come on.” I shoved his shoulder lightly. “You know what I’m talking about.”

His mouth made an ‘o’. “Right. Wait, you haven’t done that yet? You’re mean.”

“What? I’m not trying to be mean,” I mumbled, slamming my locker door shut.

“Well, she probably thinks that she’s safe now. That you were just bluffing and weren’t planning on doing anything real. So just when she feels totally safe with her secret, BAM!” His yell was so loud that a couple people looked over at us, scared out of their minds. Puck gave them menacing looks, and they turned away, trying to look innocent. “She gets called down to the guidance counselor and put on the spot.”

“I guess I am mean.” We stopped outside the office and I took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”

“I’m not nervous,” Puck laughed mockingly. “You should calm down. You’re acting like you’re the one with bulimia.”

“Not so loud,” I hissed, shooting him cut-eye. “Okay, here we go…”

Opening the door, I found Mr. Schue standing in front of Miss Pillsbury’s desk, and they seemed to be arguing about something or another. Blocking my ears with my mind so I couldn’t hear anything, I cleared my throat loudly. I would have blocked them with my hands, but part of me thought that'd be a little embarrassing, not to mention immature.

“Oh, Ellie. Puck,” Mr. Schue greeted, his voice slightly cold. Whatever they had been fighting about must have been pretty bad. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“It’s okay,” I mumbled, feeling thoroughly uncomfortable.

“So I’ll talk to you later,” Ms. Pillsbury dismissed, clasping her hands together on top of her desk and sitting up a little straighter.

Mr. Schuester shot her a venomous look before stomping away. Puck and I exchanged a look, but we both had enough tact to know that asking what had happened was not our place.

“Can I help you kids?” Ms. Pillsbury asked, putting back on her sugary-sweet persona.

Puck looked kind of confused, so I sat down and took a deep breath. “Well, see, I know this girl who I think…well, I know…she has an eating disorder.”

“Oh, well.” She squirmed a little in her seat. “Are you sure? That’s kind of…that’s, um, a big statement there.”

“I’ve seen her, a few days, eating her lunch as quickly as possible and puking in the bathroom. She lied to me and said that she was pregnant, but I confronted her about it, and she said she was just trying to get me out of her business,” I rambled. “I just…I figured that you could call her mom or something and get her some help?”

“Couldn’t you, um, call her mother on your own? Tell her what’s going on?”

“Not really. I don’t know her that well, and I don’t know her mom at all.”

Ms. Pillsbury nodded. “Okay, well, I’m going to need a name if we’re going to sort this out.”

I gave her Callie’s name before standing up. “Thank you, Ms. Pillsbury.” Smiling, I turned around and walked out of the office.

“Good job,” Puck congratulated, kissing the top of my head. “You just told her everything without beating around the bush.”

“Thanks.” Looking around, I saw Callie coming out of the girls’ room. Our eyes met for a second, and we had an understanding.