The Olympian Of McKinley High

Chapter 23: Beth

"By mom. See you later". Percy waved goodbye as he and Quinn left for school. Quinn's good mood had been infectious and Percy couldn't help but smile with her. A comfortable silence had fallen between them as she started the car. Percy enjoyed the fact that he didn't have to entertain her with pointless stories and conversations. He could tell that Quinn felt the same about him. 

However the closer they got to the school, the more he sensed that Quinn had something she wanted to say. She was gripping the steering wheel tightly and had started chewing on her bottom lip. 

"I had a baby with Puck last year." She finally said aloud without looking in Percy's direction. 

To say Percy was shocked would be an extreme understatement. He had no idea how Quinn expected him to react and he felt disappointed in himself when all he could come up with was a surprised "Oh." 

Quinn finally chanced a look in his direction and saw that Percy was waiting for more information. "It was the end of sophomore year and she was adopted by Rachel's birth mother. I figured you should know more about me. I want us to be friends." 

Percy finally started piecing all of the information together. It suddenly made sense why Puck seemed so protective of her and why he had been so interested in Percy and Quinn's close relationship in the beginning. 

Quinn parked the car in the school lot and started to open her door. She looked back at Percy and smiled happily again. "Her name is Beth, and I am going to get her back." 

Quinn Left Percy behind in the car and headed towards the school. Percy had all this new information about a girl he thought he had been starting to understand, but he had no idea what he was expected to do with it.

***

"Brittany we can't survive any more defections, and I know you don't want to leave."

Percy's ears perked as he stood at his locker and heard Finn's voice float down the hallway. He sneaked a glance in their direction and found Finn facing Santana and Brittany. This was the second time he had heard Finn use the term and it made him all the more curious. Percy pretended to root through his binders as he strained to listen to more of their conversation.

"No, I know. It's just that Santana made a wish on Rory the leprechaun..." Brittany tried to explain but was immediately cut off by Finn who seemed to be growing more impatient by the second.

"Brittany there is no such thing as leprechauns! All that stuff about Santa being real last year was cute but this leprechaun crap? I mean at some point you just gotta grow up and stop being such an idiot." Percy flinched at Finn's suddenly very loud voice, and noticed that other students had stopped to overhear the conversation as well. He suddenly grew very angry at Finn. It was not his place to squash the girl's dreams and imagination. 

"What did you just call me?" Brittany's voice was quiet but Percy could hear it quite clearly. She had changed her demeanor from defensive to confrontational in an instant and appeared to be ready to start a fight with the taller boy that stared dumbly back at her. Santana stood smiling wickedly between the two of them.

"I.. I didn't mean it.. like that.." Finn blundered in an attempted to defuse the bomb he had just activated. It was too late. The countdown had already begun. 

"Yeah. All the guys in Glee Club call me that. And you're the leader, so that makes you the worst of them all. You cannot call your future president an Idiot. It's mean, it's bullying, and I won't accept it." Brittany left no room for discussion as she turned and walked away from the group. Santana smiled one last time before following her down the hall. Finn was left staring after them with shock and guilt written all over his face.

Percy was tempted to approach Finn but decided against it. It wasn't his job to insert himself into other people's drama. He was left curious about Brittany running for president. He had seen Kurt's posters hung on the walls but had forgotten to ask him about it. 

Percy was brought back to reality when someone slammed his locker closed in front of him.

"Hey Sea Monkey. What kind of name is Perseus anyway? Do you think you're some kind of Roman God?" The cheer coach Sylvester leaned against his locker and stared menacingly at him. 

"It's Greek actually." Percy shrugged off her rude tone and glanced around the halls for a way to escape her.

"Hmm. Well, I noticed you have been hanging around with the Glee turds and I wanted to warn you that there is a serious case of the herps going around. Rumor has it that those special little nobodies are ground zero." She gave him a warm smile but Percy knew she did not have good intentions. "You seem semi-capable of making a sound decision so I just wanted to recommend that you stick with the swim team and avoid the New Directions."

Percy didn't understand how she knew so much about him and it made him shiver slightly. "Thank you for the suggestion but I have decided to do both. I have already joined the glee club."

"That's too bad. I kind of liked you." Sue squinted her eyes as she examined Percy again. "I'll be watching you Aqua Man."

She left quickly before Percy could say anything else. He felt slightly dazed and extremely confused. People in Lima, Ohio sure did like to make a dramatic exit. He was so distracted that he didn't notice Puck until he was right next to him. 

"Hey man." Puck said as he started to open the locker beside Percy's. 

"Hey." Percy was reminded of his last conversation with Quinn and immediately had numerous questions he wanted to ask the mohaked man. "So... I had an interesting talk with Quinn today." His slow approach of starting a conversation caught Puck's full attention. Percy figured it would be best if he got straight to the point. "She told me about Beth."

Puck smiled and immediately whipped out his phone. "She is so cute dude. I've got to show you a picture." Puck scrolled through countless photos of a little blonde girl Percy could only assume was Beth. "Shelby has been letting me come by her apartment to spend time with her."

"That's awesome! She's super cute." Percy wasn't really sure what to say but it was clear that Puck was happy to talk about her. Percy found himself looking at the other man in a new light. 

A bell rang throughout the halls and both boys started towards the choir room for Glee practice. 

***

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