flirt - noah puckerman

Chapter 5

chapter five - ballad, pt. 1

Erin's POV

The bell rings as Mr. Schue walks up to the white board to write down our assignment for the week.

"Ballad," he says, stepping away from the board. "From Middle English, balade. Who knows what this word means?"

"It's a male duck," Brittany says.

"A ballad is a love song," Kurt corrects her.

"Sometimes, but they don't always express love. Ballads are stories set to music which is why they're the perfect storm of self-expression. Stories and music are the way we express feeling that we can't get out any other way. This year at sectionals we have to perform a ballad."

"Looks like my weekly letter to the Ohio Show Choir Committee finally paid off," Rachel grins.

"This week I'm pairing you guys off at random, and your task is to sing a ballad to your partner. Look them right in the eye, find the emotion you want to express, and make them feel it," Mr. Schue says before walking over to the piano. "I put all your names in this hat. Whoever you choose is your partner."

"I bet the duck is in the hat," Brittany leans over and whispers to Santana and I.

"Who's up first?" Mr. Schue smiles. Puck shrugs and walks up to the piano, picking a piece of paper out of the hat. I see a grin creep across his face as he reads the name.

"Erin," he smirks at me, making me roll my eyes playfully at him. I watch as Rachel looks intently at Finn who goes up to choose a name.

"Kurt," Finn reads aloud, furrowing his eyebrows at the paper, as Kurt's face lights up. Santana walks up to the piano next.

"Brittany," she grins. Mercedes then chose Matt, Tina chose Mike, and Artie chose Quinn, leaving Rachel with Mr. Schue. The rest of us watch as Rachel and Mr. Schue performed a strangely romantic rendition of "Endless Love".

After the bell rings, I grab my backpack and head to my locker. I hear Puck following close behind me.

"Hi, Noah," I laugh at him as he smirks, leaning against the lockers beside mine.

"Even fate couldn't keep us apart, baby," he winks, making me roll my eyes as I grab my Spanish textbook. "I'll walk you to class," he grins, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"We're going to the same class, Puckerman," I laugh, taking his arm from around my shoulder and moving it to rest back at his side. 

"Yeah, but usually I show up fifteen minutes late because I'm finding a kid to throw in the dumpster. I'm skipping that for you. I'm going to have to move around my whole schedule. It's chivalrous, really," he defends, making me laugh. He holds the door to the classroom open for me. I take a seat in my usual spot towards the back of the class next to a guy named Cameron. I watch as Puck stands over his desk with a frown and gestures for him to move, which he quickly does. "Crazy how this seat right beside you just casually opened up," Puck grins and sits down beside me.

"Are you going to chalk that up to fate too?" I laugh at him.

"So, I was thinking after practice today I could come over so we can work on our ballad assignment," he smirks, leaning back in his chair. "Your mom's still out of town right?"

"Yeah, but I'm going with Quinn and Finn for another sonogram," I respond, and he frowns at me. "Here, you can just take my key and meet me there.  I won't be any later than six," I rummage through my backpack to find my key.