Be Free, Be You

The following morning I left early without bothering to get Steph. If she wanted to date that bastard and hate me for trying to protect her, she could walk to school. It was like talking to a donkey, all Steph did was act like an ass and insult me. It wasn’t like I just didn’t think Puckerman wasn’t a good match for her or something stupid like that. It was that I knew for a fact that Noah Manwhore Puckerman was a piece of trash not worth a second glance. He was so low not even worms would want him, yet my naive, desperate-for-true-love, sister wanted him.

It. Made. Me. Sick.

I pulled into the lot of school and got a hold of myself just enough so that I could pass off for just being extra bitchy today rather than the murderous siren that I really wanted to be. God, if Puckerman didn’t lay off my sister I was going to ruin him. I had already warned him
several times to lay off, but he just scoffed and told me not to wet my skirt. Damned bastard. He seriously got under my skin. By third period even Girl Asian had noticed my mood and cornered me with Midget Berry.

“What’s wrong? You’re acting like Super Bitch today.” Girl Asian said with a sideways glance, almost like she was afraid to talk to me in public. Not that I had given her permission to anyway.

“I’m fine.” I said with a bit of snap in my voice.

Rachel raised one of her brows on her pale forehead and sighed, “You’re scaring everybody. After yesterday...” She lowered her voice into a jealous whisper. “That song was really good, and you looked so peaceful.”

Girl Asian cut her off, “So why are you acting like an Ice Queen today?”

I crossed my arms and cocked a hip. “None of your business. Why do you even care anyway?” They looked between each other then turned back to face me. “What?”

“Did you and Artie get in a fight?” Berry whispered.

I couldn’t help but laugh, “No, Artie and I are fine.”

They both sighed, “Oh good.” Girl Asian said, geez I needed to learn her real name... They began to walk away but I touched Berry’s arm lightly, and quick enough that I’m sure no one saw.

“Wait, what made you think Artie and I are fighting?” I asked, my interest having been tickled.

“You’re both in a bad mood today, we just assumed it was connected.” Berry said.

I raised my brows, I’d have to see what was wrong during study hall. I waved good bye to them as the warning bell rang. When study hall finally rolled around I found Artie at his desk angrily flipping the pages of a textbook. I smiled at the teacher, letting her know I was present and sat in the desk next to him.

“What’d that poor textbook to do you?” I said with a slight grin, I couldn’t help but smile when I was around him, even if I was still in a bad mood because of Stephanie and Puckerman. He opened his mouth to say something snippy back, but saw that it was me. I saw his shoulders relax and then tense up again. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, “I spoke to Puck.”

My heart dropped.

“You what?”

Artie ran a gloved hand through his hair and let loose an angry sigh. “I thought you might have been exaggerating, but you weren’t.”

I ignored the fact that he thought I had just been being overdramatic. “What did you say?” I whispered.

“I told him to apologize, he said that you didn’t deserve it and that you should make up with Stephanie.” I bristled but he laid a hand on my own and continued. “I told him to stay out of it and away from the both of you if he’s going to continue to act the way he is, and he just walked away.”

I sighed and kissed his knuckles, “Well thanks for sticking up for me I guess.”

He gave a pitiful laugh, “Yeah no problem. I didn’t do much though.”

I shrugged and motioned to his textbook, “So what were you angrily working on before I strolled on in?” He laughed and shook his head.

“Nothing, I just needed to do something. I heard that you’re in a mad mood today too, did something else happen?”

I shook my head, “No, not since I called you last night.” He nodded and I sighed, “So glee club is today right, what do you guys do everyday?”

He laughed, “Sing songs to each other mostly, and prepare for sectionals.”

“Sectionals?” I got myself comfortable in the cheap classroom chairs.

“It’s a singing competition for glee clubs, we want to win nationals.” Artie said it simply but my worst fears flooded into my head.

“I-is it in front of people?” I asked with wide, terrified eyes.

He took my hands in his own and squeezed them in a comforting way. “We need to do something about that stage fright.”

I regained my composure and scoffed, “It’s not stage fright, I only joined because you and Stephanie had asked me to. I didn’t know I’d signed up for a singing competition too.”

“Don’t quit,” he said quickly. “You’re not allowed to quit. You’ve got such a gift, but f you really don’t want to have any solos just tell Mr. Schue.”

I nodded but didn’t look at him. I had a feeling this was going to get really complitacted, really fast... and I didn’t like it. At. All.