Be Free, Be You

A few more days passed and school didn’t get any better. Nor did my relationship with Steph or my overall fall into what I assumed was a creeping depression. I didn’t eat, not because I thought I was fat, but because I just wasn’t in any way hungry. I really didn’t talk much, even Coach Sylvester noticed. That conversation basically consisted of her insulting me in a twisted compliment then ending it with, “Just go eat a burger, you’re looking too thin Tattoo Barbie.”

I didn’t. Food didn’t look appetizing. Conversation topics weren’t interesting. Songs weren’t fun to listen or dance to. I just wasn’t in the mood. Artie was concerned, but he always worried about me. I told him not to, but he did anyway. That at least was normal.

I drifted through the school day, hardly caring or paying attention to anything until I came to Glee Club and felt a sudden shift in the air of the room. I looked around and saw Artie and Puckerman himself before me. Puckerman looked beyond awkward and Artie had on the Look when he was about to have a serious talk with me.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, my guard immediately shooting up high.

“They’re singing in the auditorium,” Artie answered. “Look, we need to have a talk. You, me, Puck and Steph. However Steph stormed out already, so just the three of us are going to talk.”

I raised a brow, “And how do you know I’m not going to turn and leave?”

Artie sighed and let an exhausted look cross onto his face, “Because I’m asking you not to.”

I frowned and crossed my arms, “Fine. What the hell do you want Puckerman.” I plopped my bag down on the ground and slumped in a plastic chair.

“This whole fight you’ve got going on is stupid,” Artie shot him a warning glare and Puck groaned. “Look, I’m sorry for what I did.”

This caught my attention, but I wasn’t about to show my interest so I just rolled my eyes and huffed. “Listen to what he has to say Val.” Artie said evenly, though I could see he was a bit annoyed at my childish behavior.

“Your words don’t mean anything to me, asshole.” I shot at him, Artie was about to cut in but I put a hand up. “No, you ruined my life. You got the whole school to bully and torture me! Do you know what that’s like? It fucking sucks Puckerman!” I rose from the chair with such a quick force it knocked backward and clattered onto the floor. “I had to hide it all from Steph because she herself got picked on and needed a shoulder to lean on. So I hid it all from her. Every bit of it. Because I thought I was doing the right thing for her, but obviously I was wrong because now she’s in her little fantasy world. She’s practically in love with you and your a fucking asshole!”

The two of them let me rant and rage and scream. And I did. I screamed and got red in the face as I rambled on about how much of an asshole he was to me and how he was a sick bastard for trying to get with my little sister. My hands were shaking by the time I was finished and I knew I had spit out a couple of times during my little episode, and that I probably didn’t look very pretty at the moment, but no part of me cared about that.

What I cared about was that this bully was targeting my baby sister and she was too blind to see the end of her little story. Him sleeping with her, then leaving her in pieces for me to clean up.

I. Was. Not. Going. To. Let. That. Happen.

Ever.

When I was all angered out and feeling surprisingly exhausted I stood before them with my hands balled into fists and panting. Artie raised his brows, “Feel better?”

I huffed and righted the chair I had knocked over before slumping into it again. “Yes,” I regretfully admitted.

“I’m sorry,” Puckerman said. “I didn’t plan on dating Steph, it just kind of happened. She’s like an awkward version of you, and yeah. I did plan on sleeping with her and moving on, but then I realized...” He stuttered and took a moment to collect his thoughts. He sucked in a big gulp of air and sighed it out before he moved on. “She’s a really cool person. I like her. A lot. And yeah, I know you hate my guts, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop liking her as much as I do.”

Silent tension filled the air for a couple of moments. I held my glare at Puckerman, and Puckerman held is steady look of ‘it is what it is.’ Artie looked uneasily between the two of us and ultimately broke the silence, “Please say something.”

I rose, took my bag in my arm and left.