Be Free, Be You

Don’t go to Glee Club. And don’t worry about Mr. Shue. Artie took care of it.

I stared at the text Valarie sent me and sighed. I should have figured that she’d give up helping me. It’s not like I’d been the best sister ever. Or even a good one.

“Stephanie!” Mrs. Brown scolded sharply.

In my shock, I jumped, losing my grip on my phone, sending it clattering to the floor as loudly as humanly possible. Some kids around me snickered, others gasped and winced.

“Uh, yeah?” I asked, my face filling with a ferocious blush.

“Please don’t read your texts in my class. I’ve never caught you with a phone before, so I’ll let it slide this time, but if I see it out again, I’m going to take it away and give you an office detention. Do you hear me?”

All the kids in my history class turned to look at me.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied in a quiet voice.

She shook her head before starting to teach again, listing off a variety of battles in the Revolutionary War. As sneakily as I could, I dragged my phone over with my foot and picked it up before slipping it into the front pocket of my backpack.

* * *

“I heard you got chewed out by Brown earlier today,” Puck started as he slipped into the seat across from me at the lunch table. Before I could answer, he shoved half of a slice of pizza into his mouth, making him unable to close his mouth completely as he chewed.

I blinked at him. “Why are you sitting with me?” I asked in a quiet voice. “Shouldn’t you be with the football players?”

He shrugged as he answered around his food. “I explained the situation to them, and they understood. It’s fine.”

“What situation?” I asked, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

As he stuffed another massive portion of pizza into his mouth, he smirked at me and garbled, “Don’t change the subject. What about Brown?”

I stared down at my peanut butter sandwich and sighed. “I was looking at a text from Valarie telling me not to go to Glee Club, and she caught me.”

Puck shook his head. “You’re too innocent. If you’re going to check you phone, you have to be sneaky about it.”

“I’ll remember that next time,” I replied with an eye roll.

“Wait, did you say Valarie told you not to go to Glee Club?”

“Yeah,” I replied simply. “Why?”

“Are you not going to go?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what, exactly, he was trying to infer. “Uh…no. I’m not going. If she told me not to, why would I go against her?”

“Uh, maybe because she’s your sister, not your mom? I say you should still go. Don’t let her boss you around. You’re your own person, you know?”

I thought about that for a second as he stuffed the rest of the pizza in his mouth. God, sometimes I wondered why I found him ridiculously attractive. “That sounds good in theory,” I finally expressed as I took a dainty sip of water, trying to some reason to keep up appearances in front of him, “but if she told me not to go, there must be a reason. She might be sick. I can’t ignore that.”

Puck let out a long, irritated sigh. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll drive you, if you want. ‘Cause Val isn’t in school, right?”

“I guess not. But you don’t have to drive me. It’s okay; I can walk.”

“No, it’s not. You’re not walking. I’ll drive you.” He took a long gulp of milk before smiling at me.

“You know,” I pointed out as I finally started eating my food, “that much dairy in one meal really can’t be good for you.”

“What?” he shot back, completely confused.

“Um…never mind.”

* * *

“Thanks for the ride,” I granted as we pulled into the driveway, turning to face Puck a little better to make good eye contact, just so he felt how much I really appreciated the ride.

Without saying a word, he leaned over and pressed his lips against mine. “No problem. It was my pleasure.”

Before I could pluck up the courage to ask what, exactly, our relationship was turning into, I hopped out of the truck and slammed the door shut behind me. Puck was long gone by the time I reached the door.

When I walked inside, everything was quiet and dead. For a minute, I figured that Valarie just texted me to make me miserable, that she wasn’t even home.

But when I reached the bedroom hallway, I saw that her door was open, the light on, the sound of clacking keys puncturing the otherwise silent atmosphere.

Without announcing myself, I just waltzed into her room, plopping down on top of her neatly-made bed. “Hi,” I greeted.

She turned around, not looking the least bit surprised as she replied, “Hey.”

There was a short pause before she sighed. “Look, I’m sure you’re wondering why I told you not to go to Glee Club.”

“Kind of,” I agreed. “And why the hell Artie was the one that sent the text to Mr. Shue.”

Val let out a long sigh out of her nose as she crossed her legs, giving off an even more responsible and mature aura than she had been before. I felt so much like a child, sitting cross-legged on her bed.

“Okay, I’m just going to come out and say this. And I swear to God, if you say even one judgmental thing, I’m going to freak out.”

I nodded. “I swear, I have an open mind.”

She let out a short breath before rushing her words. “Here’s the deal: I’m going to quit Cheerios and join Glee Club, I think. And I’m kind of involved with Artie Abrams, but we haven’t really put a label on it or anything yet. I slept over his house last night, and we fooled around a little bit. And, I hate to say it, but I really like him.”

I blinked a couple of times. “Wait, you’re joining Glee Club?! Then what am I going to do?! Val, you know that I can’t sing. The whole reason this scheme worked out is because you weren’t a part of the club.”

“Relax, baby sister,” Val soothed. “I have a plan.”

When she didn’t elaborate right away, I urged her on with a few desperate nods of my head. “And this brilliant plan is?”

“Artie and I are going to give you some fast voice lessons and get your voice to where it needs to be.”

Oh, God.