Disclaimer: Neither Glee nor the songs mentioned in this chapter are mine :)

A/N: I'm shifting the point of view from recollecting what happened in various episodes to a present tense viewpoint. This makes sense as I'm now adding various scenes and I find writing in present tense will help this more. This chapter takes place during Laryngitis. I'd love to hear what you think about this chapter :)

They don't break up this time, because they aren't dating.

She's been sitting on the same swing for the last twenty minutes watching her foot trace circles in the dirt. All around her parents are gathering their children and heading home as the sun prepares to set. She really had no particular reason to be in the park, except that when the heroines in movies have had their hearts stamped upon, they usually retreat to a swing to try and mend the shattered pieces. While she has no particular patience for others who languish in their sorrows, she feels she deserves this time to wallow.

What she is not expecting is for Noah Puckerman to show up with his sister. His sister is complaining about getting to the park too late to have much playtime before the sun completely sets. She hears Puck tell her it's not his fault practice went long and he had other errands to run and to shut up and play. She feels a little sorry for the female Puckerman, but she's too involved in her own wallowing to feel any real empathy. So instead she sits and waits for him to notice her, while pretending to be oblivious towards his very noisy presence.

She refuses to look at him and keeps staring at her foot, which is still tracing circles in the dirt. They're not even very nice circles at that. If she were feeling up to her usual perfectionist self, she would make sure they were even and aesthetically pleasing. But she's not, and is instead trying to ignore the person she can literally feel walking towards her, all the while running through her vast mental repertory of songs for one that perfectly captures her melancholy.

"'Sup Berry?" She feels him sit on the vacant swing next to her, and supposes that it's only polite to greet him in return.

"Noah."

It's only then that she notices his hair, or lack thereof, and is momentarily surprised from her morose actions. "Your hair is different…"

He immediately runs a hand over his shaved head, "Yeah, mom freaked out about a mole and made me go to some doctor. Apparently he had to shave my head to determine it was just a fucking freckle."

She raises her eyebrows at his language, "Do you miss it?"

He snorts in response, "Whatever. I'm still a badass."

Though she doesn't believe his flippancy, she can't help a small smile, "I like it. It looks nice." Then she remembers she's wallowing, and returns to her dirt circles.

"So what's your problem?"

Apparently Puck was in a mood for conversation. She, however, was trying to determine if she was feeling more like Gino Vanelli's Living Inside Myself or Feist's Almost Lover.

"Seriously Berry, we both know you're dying to tell me why you're sitting on a swing by yourself. So spill before I have to take the brat home."

"Jesse's in San Diego for spring break. He didn't even say goodbye." She looks up at him and there are tears in her eyes, though she'd never admit that she was responsible for their placement simply due to her ability to cry on command. She knows there should be tears, but somehow, they're not coming naturally.

When Puck doesn't respond, she adds, "I'm almost positive he's broken my heart and is now done with me."

She tries not to be too indignant when Puck snorts, "Whatever Berry. You are such a crazy drama queen."

Instead of leaving at that remark, she stays put and the two continue to talk while his sister amuses herself on the various pieces of playground equipment. She asks him again if he's happy with his hair and he tells her to stop making such a big deal out of a fucking haircut, she's certain he misses his mohawk, but he declares the chicks will still put out for the Puckersaurus with or without his 'hawk. She then hits him for being a pig. He tells her she's just craving a break-up make out with him, and she begs him not to tell anyone (read: Finn) that she and Jesse are more or less over. She then asks him which is the better break up song and has to sing him both songs (quietly though because he threatens to leave if she belts out break up songs in the park), and he says neither song is good enough. She feels a bit warm and fuzzy at this remark, until he says she should use Alanis Morisette's You Outta Know, and she's a bit surprised he knows about that song. She asks him why, and he replies that that the chick in that song is just as crazy as she is.

She glares at him, but he can't see it because the sun has set, and there aren't really a lot of lights in the playground.

And then, for some reason unknown to her, she kisses him. He seems surprised, but he starts to kiss back, and it's when she feels his tongue in her mouth that she pulls away. She's not sure if this kiss means anything, she's pretty sure it doesn't. So she stands up and looks at her cell phone, partly to see the time, and partly to check and see if she missed a call from Jesse. Its past 10:30 and she has school in the morning, and she's pretty sure his sister is asleep on the slide. She thanks him for talking to her and walks away, and is certain she hears him mutter something about her being a damn crazy Jew.

The next morning she wakes up with a hint of a sore throat that she's certain is a product of her late night in the night air. So she loads up on vitamins and sings her heart out in glee club that afternoon. But her vocal chords are tired, and she complains to Mr. Schuester about the current lack of support from her fellow glee members. To her surprise, he actually agrees with her for once and challenges the others to sing more.

But apparently it's a case of 'too little too late,' as her vocal chords have been strained to the max and she faces laryngitis. She glares at Puck, but he's not paying attention to her, apparently she was right and he does miss his hair. But she has no sympathy for him at the moment. His hair will grow back – her laryngitis could potentially ruin her future.

Finn's been lavishing her with attention however, even volunteering to take her to the doctor. She smiles at him, but her smile is sad – the smile of someone in danger of losing their life's dream. In her mind Evita's Lament is playing, the perfect song about someone's star burning out much too quickly – but she'd probably never again get the chance to sing it.

The doctor confirms laryngitis and her fears are confirmed. And however much he may push it, she is not letting someone mess with her throat. She's in the middle of pondering a music-less future when Finn gets a text from Matt saying Puck was dumpstered, and she's glad when she hears it. After all, this is her future he potentially ruined by keeping her out in the damp.

But the next day when he sings (and he won't even look at her!) to Mercedes she has the decency to maintain a heartbroken smile. But everyone assumes it's because of her vocal trauma, and she doesn't correct them.

She ups the drama two days later, showing up in the worst sweater she can find, and walking around like a forgotten diva. She misses the Puck she talked with in the park – even if she is mad at him for ruining her life – the Puck who called her on her crazy, but never made her feel judged for it. But he's following his new girlfriend around and enjoying his regained popularity, and is too preoccupied with all the attention from Mercedes and Santana fighting over him to even spare her a sympathetic glance. She thinks, not for the first time, that she misses Jesse – he would sympathize with her plight. Instead she gets Finn who tells her to suck it up makes her feel like a whining brat.

Finn takes her to visit with Sean, who manages to put everything in perspective for her.

Her voice returns and visits him again by herself – to thank him for helping her put her vocal talents in perspective. And also to help relieve some of the guilt she is feeling. Her voice returned, but he's paralyzed for life.

She finds out later that Puck and Mercedes have broken up, but she doesn't care much. After all, she's learned that there are more important things to be worried about.