Quinn stared out the windshield of the car. It was the only way she wouldn’t melt at Puck’s words. She could see her neighbor Mr. Lipanski’s mailbox, and she wondered what would happen if he were to take his Boston terrier, Winston, out for a late walk and see Quinn sitting in the street with a strange guy. Would he say something to her father? Probably not. She sensed that Mr. Lipanski didn’t like her father.
“I can’t go with you.” Her eyes focused on Mr. Lipanski’s front porch light. “You’re going with Santana, remember?”
“I’ll bail on her.” A lock of Quinn’s hair had fallen in front of her face like a curtain, hiding her expression from Puck. With his thumb, he brushed the hair back behind her ear. His hand lingered at her neck.
“She’s my friend. I could never do that to her.” Quinn closed her eyes. Her voice sounded funny, even to her. A Journey song came on the radio next, and neither of them moved to change the station. Puck was running his thumb across her jaw now, and it felt so good that she couldn’t push him away. Not yet. “Or to Finn. He’s a good guy.” He smelled like shaving cream.
“We’ve got to do something,” Puck said, inhaling the scent of Quinn’s hair. “I can’t stand this.”
Quinn found herself reaching for Puck’s hand. Part of her wanted toÉ€ her want³d t ask him to pray with her. That’s what the pastor’s wife taught the girls in the youth group to do when they felt like things were moving too fast. Puck hadn’t even kissed her yet, though. “Can’t stand what?”
Puck touched his nose to her cheek. “Not being with you. It’s driving me crazy.” His voice was throaty and warm in her ear. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
Quinn knew it was time to go back to her room. She needed to get out of the car now, sneak back into the house, pour herself a glass of milk, and go to bed. Forget that all this with Puck had happened. Maybe she could convince herself it was all a dream. It felt like a dream—like one she’d been having since she first started thinking of Puck this way.
She pushed Puck away. “There’s nothing we can do. There’s just no way it can work out.”
Puck rubbed his hands over his eyes wearily. If he had said something—anything—the spell might have been broken. But he just sat there, staring at the car radio, listening to the Journey song. He didn’t move away from Quinn, and she could feel the heat from his body next to hers. Why did guys always give off so much heat? Was it all their testosterone?
She knew it was a mistake before she said it, but she...
And she knew it was a mistake as she was saying it, but she couldn’t make the words stop as they tumbled out of her mouth. It was true that it would never work out with Puck, for a million different reasons. But it was also true that she couldn’t imagine getting out of his car without once again feeling his lips on hers.
“How about one last kiss, for good measure?” she asked, finally meeting his eyes.
Almost before she had finished the sentence, he kissed her. One of his hands slid to the nape of her neck, pulling her toward him. She forgot about what the neighbors might see or what her parents might think or how Finn and Santana would feel if they knew what was going on right then.
Instead, she just thought about Puck. About how his hands and his lips felt against her body, and suddenly, everything else was easy.
twenty-three
McKinley High gym, Friday night, homecoming dance
To no one’s surprise, the McKinley High football team lost to Central Valley at the Friday night homecoming game by a score of 18–6, but it didn’t affect the students’ spirits as they arrived at the gymnasium for the dance. The gym looked beautiful, like a starry wonderland. The lights were turned down low, and giant gold stars dangled from wire lines that stretched across the gym, their glitter sparkling as they turned and swayed, as if they were real stars blinking in the night sky. Music blared from the sound system, where a scruffy DJ presided over the stereo tables. All the students looked their best. The room was filledÛ€oom was f¶ with boys in suits or blazers and girls wearing brightly colored dresses and high heels that clicked against the floor daintily. A few faculty chaperones clustered around the long cafeteria table under the basketball hoop, where punch and cookies were spread out on fancy trays.
Rachel Berry sat perched on the bleachers, waiting anxiously. She was wearing a teal blue strapless dress with a tiered skirt and a black sash around her waist. Her kitten-heeled open-toe black shoes tapped against the wood floor, revealing her nervousness. She’d arrived at the dance the moment it started, anxious to find out if her apology was enough and if the Glee kids would show up. She wanted her scheme to go off without a hitch, but it wasn’t something she could do alone.
“You look enchanting this evening.” Jacob stood in front of Rachel. He was wearing a navy blue blazer and a pair of brown pressed pants that were an inch too short. A brown-and-pink paisley necktie was knotted too tight around his neck, and the pattern made Rachel think of the drawings of sperm in her health textbook.
“Thank you for the compliment, Jacob, but I’m not dancing with you again.” She had agreed to dance with him at last year’s holiday ball, just because no one else had asked her, and Jacob’s hands kept straying a little too far from the acceptable positions. “Last time you groped me in the middle of the dance floor.” He’d also left sweaty palm prints on her dress, but she felt it would be a low blow to mention that.
“What if I promise to keep my hands above the equator this time?” Sweat beads were starting to form on his forehead.
“No,” Rachel insisted. There was some sort of commotion at the door, and Rachel tried to see what was happening. The crowd parted, and Finn Hudson stepped through the doorway with Quinn Fabray on his arm. Rachel felt her breath catch in her throat. Finn was wearing a navy blue suit and a pale blue button-down. His tie had dark blue and yellow diagonal stripes. He looked incredibly handsome, all dressed up, and only slightly uncomfortable. Quinn, at his side, looked like a fairy princess in a pale, buttery yellow dress that matched Finn’s tie. That tiny detail almost broke Rachel’s heart. Quinn’s blond hair fell around her shoulders in loose curls—perfect for placing a tiara on.
“If you’ve been following my blog, you’ve seen that exit polls practically confirmed that Finn Hudson and Quinn Fabray will be crowned king and queen tonight.” Jacob pushed his glasses up on his nose.
Rachel didn’t need Jacob’s stupid blog to tell her that. It was apparent from the way everyone stared at the golden couple, with envy in their eyes as Quinn tugged Finn by the hand and pulled him to the middle of the dance floor. Quinn had a Miss America–caliber smile plastered on her face, and she positively glowed from all the attention. Finn couldn’t possibly truly like Quinn, could he? She did look amazing, but she was so bitchy and bossy.
Finn was so much deeper than that—or, at least, Rachel thought he was. Hoped he was.
While Rachel was watching Finn and Quinn dance, Artie and Tina came through the doorway, to much less fanfare. Artie’s father had picked Tina up in his handicapped-accessible van and driven the two of them to school, but she wasn’t totally sure whether this qualified as a date. Artie had told her she looked pretty when she got into © sh hisn Fnto © sthe car, but his dad was there, so it wasn’t exactly romantic. She’d borrowed a dress from her sister—a black minidress with sheer, fluttery black sleeves—and had polished her knee-high Doc Martens until they shone.
“You did this?” Artie asked, staring up in awe at the field of stars over their heads. “This looks totally amazing, like something out of a movie.”
Tina looked at all the stars. She’d made some small and medium-size ones and hung them randomly on the lines so that it looked like a bunch of stars had tumbled down to Earth. “You really like it?”
“Are you kidding? You could be a set designer or something.” Artie straightened his tie. He felt a little funny in his black suit, as if he were going to a funeral. His mother had bought him a new Ralp
h Lauren royal blue dress shirt from the mall, where he never liked to go because people always looked at him like he was in the way. “It’s… magical.”
Tina flushed. She was really proud of how the gym had turned out, and it was nice to hear Artie’s sweet words. She was about to say something—she’d forgotten to tell him that he looked nice, too, all dressed up—when Rachel rushed toward them, ruining the moment.
“Tina, the decorations are superb.” Rachel beamed at Artie and Tina. She was just so glad to see them here. “I’m flattered and honored that you chose my signature gold star to be the inspiration for the incredible job that you did.” She stopped talking abruptly. “I mean, at least maybe in some part.”
Artie and Tina glanced at each other. It was impossible to stay angry with Rachel when she was just so clueless. “Rachel, we agreed to forgive you, but don’t push your luck,” Artie said.
“You guys are the best. And you both look really nice, too.” Rachel beamed again and glanced over her shoulder toward the stage. “And I’m really glad you showed up, because I have a plan to make up for what happened at the assembly.”
“A p-p-plan?” Tina stuttered, suddenly nervous again. She was happy to be here at the big dance and watch everyone as they walked through the door and admired her stars. She didn’t need anything more. Why did Rachel have to have so many plans?
“Yes.” Rachel recoiled slightly when a football player carrying a cup of punch walked toward her. It wasn’t a slushie, but Rachel still didn’t want it all over her dress. Fortunately, the guy handed the cup to his date instead of hurling it at Rachel. “We are going to sing tonight, right here, for the whole student body.”
“Here?” Artie asked. He glanced around the crowded gym. “How are we going to manage that?”
“I’ve figured it all out,” Rachel said. She pointed to the DJ booth. “We just have to momentarily mess with the sound system and grab a few microphones.”
“I don’t know if that’s a great idea,” Tina said slowly. She liked to deliberate things carefully before making a decision, and this just seemed rushed. Like a disaster waiting to happen. What if this was yet another huge mistake? “Haven’t we m-m-mortified ourselves enough already?”
“Yes, and now it’s our chance to make up for it.” Rachel’s body hummed with exciteme†with exc»temnt. She knew this plan would work. They should have done something like this in the first place, instead of trying to sing an old Broadway song that didn’t really suit them. “Tina, it’s your night tonight. Your decorations look amazing, and the Cheerios all know that the only reason the dance looks nice at all is because of you.”
“That’s true,” Artie agreed, turning to Tina. “You do already have one victory over the Cheerios under your belt.”
“This is your chance.” Rachel glanced over her shoulder at Finn. Quinn’s hand was on his shoulder, and her pink nails looked like talons to Rachel.
“I don’t know.” Tina nodded toward the doorway. “Let’s see what they think.” Kurt and Mercedes had just walked in, looking fabulous. Kurt was wearing his new dark gray single-breasted Tom Ford suit with a white shirt and a thin black tie. He walked into the gym with the confidence of someone who knew he was the best-dressed person in the room. Curvy Mercedes knew she had to look extra good next to Kurt, so she’d borrowed her father’s credit card and splurged on a dark purple bustier top, which highlighted her best features, and a slim black tulip skirt. A sparkling rhinestone headband held back her hair.
Rachel smiled to herself as she waved to Kurt and Mercedes. The two of them were divas, and she couldn’t imagine them turning down the chance to perform again, especially when they were dressed to the nines. Things were definitely starting to come together for her.
Not everyone was so happy. Across the gym, Quinn Fabray was having a hard time keeping a smile on her face. Brittany lived just a few blocks from the school, and she had invited Quinn and Santana to get ready for the dance at her house after the game. Quinn had spent a torturous hour listening to Santana prattle on about how hot Puck was and how she didn’t know if she’d be able to control herself around him. Quinn had wanted to puke.
She hadn’t been able to think about anything but Puck. She’d hoped the other night would be the breaking point of the fever, and afterward she could go back to normal, but it hadn’t worked out that way. She’d seen him in school on Friday, of course, but they didn’t have a chance to say anything; they just shared charged little smiles.
But after watching Santana pour her thin, lithe body into a red backless minidress from Express, Quinn couldn’t help hoping that Puck just wouldn’t show up at the dance. No luck. When she and her sidekicks walked in the door, Puck, Finn, and the other football guys were already there, having showered and dressed in the locker room.
“You look hot,” Puck had managed to whisper in Quinn’s ear when Finn was getting her a plastic cup of punch, but she hadn’t seen him and Santana since then. Santana was probably itching for the chance to lure Puck away from the crowd and jump on him, but she couldn’t have done that already, could she? They were nowhere to be seen. Quinn tried not to imagine them in his car, fogging up the windows.
“Are you okay?” Finn asked, touching Quinn’s bare arm. “You look nervous.”
Quinn smiled up at him, trying to clear her head. She was here with Finn, not Puck, and she needed to focus on that. This was supposed to be her night. She was going to be crowned homecoming queen, and when Principal Figgins placed the crown on Ö th Finwas on Ö ther head, everyone would clap and whisper about how pretty she was. “I guess I’m just hoping we’ll win king and queen.”
“Oh.” A glazed look passed over Finn’s face. He was glad to be here with Quinn and all, and she looked really pretty with her hair down. But he couldn’t make himself care about something as meaningless as winning homecoming king. He barely even cared about losing the football game, and that was more important to him. If he couldn’t get a football scholarship, what was he supposed to do with his life? He looked down at Quinn, whose lips were glistening in the low lighting. It was kind of strange that she’d brought up the hot-tub thing the other day, but she hadn’t mentioned it since then, so he didn’t know whether the offer was for real.
“We should really mingle more,” Quinn said, grabbing Finn’s arm. If she was going to be here with Finn, the least she could do was enjoy being the belle of the ball. Finn was one of the most popular guys in school, and she knew all the Cheerios were dying with jealousy that Quinn had snared him.
Besides, if she could focus on playing the part, maybe...
“Let’s go talk to Kirsten and her boyfriend. He’s in college.”
Finn let himself get dragged away. His eyes started to glaze over, and he wished he were at home playing Halo. Then he caught sight of a girl in a greenish blue dress. Was that Rachel Berry? She had the sides of her long dark hair pulled back in one of those twist things that girls did, and she looked really pretty. He felt the urge to walk over to her and say something. He was really sorry the Cheerios had managed to pull off their stupid prank, and he felt bad that his warning hadn’t been enough to protect her. He wasn’t sure why he cared, but he felt like there was something more to Rachel than what everyone else saw.
“Hello?” Quinn tapped him on the arm. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” he said. Rachel had disappeared into the crowd, and he felt a kind of funny feeling in his chest, like he’d just missed out on something.
twenty-four
McKinley High gym, homecoming dance, later
As Rachel had suspected, Mercedes and Kurt didn’t need much coaxing to agree to her plan. “Since my breakout performance left something to be desired, the idea of getting a second chance is rather appealing,” Kurt said, stroking the lapels of his jacket. “Besides, how often do I look this good?”
“You always look good.” Mercedes patted his arm. She was in an incredible mood. She loved going to a social function with a date, f
or once. The gym looked really awesome, thanks to Tina. Mercedes was wearing new clothes, a pair of sexy purple platform shoes, and some serious bling—a giant rhinestone M pendant hanging around her neck, new gold hoop earrings, and a giant sparkling ring from Claire’s boutique that Kurt told her looked “smashing.” She felt like a rock star. And now she was going to get to perform? It was almost too good to be true. “When do we get our chance?”
“Soon. Maybe after they do the boring coronation thing.” Rachel felt alive with excitement. This was it. She could feel it coming. “I’ve got to scope out the DJ booth.” Her heels clicked against the floor as she made her way through the couples swaying to a Coldplay song. When she was halfway to the DJ booth, the song ended.
Everyone turned slightly toward the stage. People nudged each other as they watched Brittany totter up the steps in her silver stilettos. In her tight-fitting hot-pink-and-black mini and her hair pulled back into an upsweep, she looked like a Barbie doll.
Brittany approached the microphone. After a brief squeal of feedback, she started talking in a superfast voice that was almost impossible to understand. “It’s now time for the part of the evening you’ve all been waiting for, the crowning of the king and queen of the homecoming dance,” she read from an index card without taking a breath.
The room buzzed with excitement. As Rachel inched toward the DJ booth, she heard people whispering about Quinn and Finn and how they had to win. As she skirted the edge of the crowd, she passed Coach Sylvester talking to the mousy-looking economics teacher. “It was a worthwhile investment,” Rachel overheard Coach Sylvester say. “I was more than happy to pay for votes out of the school’s arts program funding in order to maintain the delicate social structure that teenagers need to separate the weak from the strong.”
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