Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

All night, I tossed and turned, remembering the look on Puck’s face. He really did feel badly about the whole ordeal, and I knew that. So why didn’t I accept his apology? If I saw that he sincerely wished that he hadn’t cheated on me…why couldn’t I take that and move on as a bump in our relationship that we overcame?

The answer didn’t come to me until I stumbled out of bed the next morning, my brain still in a thick fog from lack of sleep.

Because I couldn’t trust him anymore.

After all, once a cheater, always a cheater.

Right?

* * *

“Are you Ellie Prince?” someone voiced from behind me while I was at my locker. Stifling my urge to yawn, I turned toward the guy and raised an eyebrow.

I didn’t recognize him at all, but he was kinda cute. His blonde hair was long and shaggy, and he was probably about as tall as Puck, maybe a smidge taller. His green eyes were pretty nice, too.

“Yeah?” I responded, leaning back against my locker to put a little more space between us. “And you are…?”

“Sam Evans, I’m new here.” When he smiled, I was drawn to how humongous his mouth was. Holy shit.

“Welcome to McKinley High. Treasure your soul while you still have it.” He looked kind of nervous for a second, so I let out a laugh to show him that I was kidding. “So what can I do for you?”

“Principal Figgins told me that you could show me around the school. You owed him for something?”

Ah. Shortening my detention sentence last year. Owe him, I did, indeed. “Sure thing. Does this mean that I get-”

“To miss first period? Yeah.”

“Score…” I trailed off, grinning widely. “Alright, Sam, let’s get started.”

As we made our ways through the hallways, I showed him where different major need-to-know things were, like the locker rooms, bathrooms, the gym, and the cafeteria, along with letting him know what hallways housed which kinds of rooms.

“So,” I started, turning toward Sam with a mischievous look on my face, “can you sing?”

He let out a scoff. “Um, not really.”

“Bummer. I was going to try to convert you to a Glee-Clubber. Maybe you should still try out anyway…? Mike doesn’t have a great voice, and Matt’s was only okay, before he transferred.”

Shaking his head, he replied, “Nah. Doesn’t really sound like my thing.”

“Then what is, may I ask?” Part of me was kind of glad he declined, since I was sounding more and more like Rachel every second, trying to recruit new people the second they walked through the doors. But I just didn’t have her persistence.

“Football.”

Letting out a long groan, I pulled my bag further up on my shoulder. “You’re kidding. We don’t need another one of those.”

“Sorry.” He laughed at my reaction for a second before stopping in front of a classroom. “Well, I should probably go in here, since it’s my first class.”

“I should probably follow you, since that’s my class, too,” I snickered, brushing past him.

I just sat down right in my seat, ignoring the angry glare that my teacher was giving me, while Sam explained what he had been told by Figgins to say before handing over the pass that had both of our names on it.

“Alright,” the teacher sighed, nodding in my direction. “Go ahead and sit next to Ellie, since you guys already know each other.”

Sam did so with a smile on his face as he settled down next to me. After a brief explanation, we were given a worksheet with the directions that we could work in pairs, but not groups.

“Howdy, partner,” Sam expressed in a Southern accent, picking up his desk and putting it down right next to mine.

Laughing briefly, I dug through my pencil case for my neon green mechanical pencil. “What if I had another friend in the class that I wanted to pair up with? Plus, working with the new kid…social suicide.”

He looked worried for a second before I smiled at him. “Don’t worry. I don’t have much of a social status to brag about. Actually, I’m surprised that I haven’t gotten slushied in a while.”

“Slushied?” The look on Sam’s face was slightly horrified.

After filling him in on the whole ritual, I watched as he drew in a deep breath. “Well…sounds like McKinley High is gonna be fun.”

“Welcome to the jungle,” I grinned.

* * *

“Yikes…” I cringed as Sam and I walked down the hallway. He was kind of sticking to me like glue, since he didn’t know anyone else. Not that I minded. Sam was sweet, a breath of fresh air after having to deal with all the Puck drama. Plus, he didn’t know about the Puck ordeal at all, and he made me forget it completely, as if I never even knew Puck.

Did I mention that it was so friggin' refreshing?

“Yikes what?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“We kind of already have a quarterback here…so I don’t think you’ll be getting that position.”

“If I’m not better,” he reminded me. “I’ve heard that the team here wasn’t…that…good?” Toward the end, it was obvious that he was trying to keep from insulting the team. Though we insulted it enough ourselves anyway.

“Oh, you can say it!” I laughed. “Our team sucks. We’re awful.” Under my breath, I added, “Doesn’t help that it’s overrun with assholes either.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.” I walked into the cafeteria and immediately found Kurt and Mercedes at our usual table. “I guess that you’re sitting with me for lunch, then?”

“If you don’t mind… I kind of don’t know anyone else. Unless you want me to eat in the bathrooms or something. Though that could get kind of awkward.”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “Nah, I don’t mind. Come on.”

We settled down at the end of the table, and Kurt immediately started striking up a conversation with Sam.

I liked how I felt around Sam. Already, it seemed like he’d be a good friend for me, a friend that I needed. He was sweet and funny. Plus, he was probably going to achieve some social status, which would make me have social status, which meant NO MORE SLUSHIES!

Well, maybe.

Kurt got up the second I did to throw away his trash, and he whispered to me, glancing back at the table, “Oh my God, he’s cute.”

Oh, right. There was that bit, too.

“Don’t get any ideas,” I warned him, feinting toward messing up his perfect hair.