Glee 1. Chapter 1

**Hey, so this is my first time writing. I've read a lot of stories on here and thought I'd try it out. I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think. I don't own Glee or any of the characters. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

_-New Beginnings- _

It's a Monday, and I'm making my way to my new locker at my new school. Though I've been coming to this school for the past month and a half I still feel lost. It's different now. During the summer the school was completely empty except for the jocks and marching band kids. Now it's a whole new world in here. As I'm walking through the hall I notice a lot of eyes on me. Another plus of starting at a new school in a small town; everyone knows you're new and thinks it's acceptable to just stare at you.

I finally make it to my locker and open it up when I see something colorful flash in my periphery. I turn my head just in time to see this colorful substance fly right in the face of a boy. A few feet away from the now soaked boy are two big jocks laughing and high fiving each other. While they retreat from their victim I hear one of them say, "Welcome back loser." All I can think is, I hope this doesn't turn out as bad as my other school. When I finally get over the shock of what I just saw and my trip down memory lane I turn back to where the boy was to see if he's OK but he's gone. The only thing left is a puddle of cherry red liquid on the floor.

I turn back to my locker, get the supplies I think I'll need and head off to find my class. As I'm walking I see one of my teammates walking up to a small girl with the same type of cup those other jocks had. I know I have to act quickly so I increase my pace and yell out to him.

"KAROFSKY!" He looks at me confused

"Hey Fabray. What's up?" He asks like everything is normal.

"Not much man, what are you up to?" I arch my eyebrow to tell him I know exactly what he is up to.

"Just welcoming back some of the bottom feeders. You know how it is."

"Not really" I reply stepping between him and the girl and crossing my arms. I can tell he's getting agitated, he's not used to people getting in his way.

"Look Fabray, this is how it works around here, at the start of school all of the people on top go around reminding those on the bottom where there place is. And we keep reminding them through the course of the year. Just so they don't forget. Now if you don't mind I have better things to do, so move."

I don't move, instead I walk closer to him and lower my voice so it's just him that can hear me. "Dave, I know you don't want to do this. I can see it in your eyes. I saw you looking around at your friends to make sure they were watching you. You're only doing this cause they want you to. Because you're scared that if you don't they might figure something out about you." I can see the shock and fear go through his eyes as I say those last few words. There's a lot of emotion I can see running through them. Before He can get too angry I speak up again. "This is what's gonna happen. You're going to give me that." I point to the slushy he's holding (that's what the other boy got hit with). "You're going to go to class, then at lunch you and me are gonna meet up at my locker," I point down the hall to it, "and have a nice chat. Now off you go." I shoo him away. He stares at me for a few seconds then turns and walks away, too shocked to do anything else.

I make sure he's out of sight before I turn around and am faced with the most beautiful girl I have ever met.

I'm not sure how long I've been staring, hopefully not too long. I clear my throat and try and get my brain and mouth to work as one. She hasn't said anything through that whole ordeal. She's just looking at me with those big chocolate brown eyes of hers. "Hi" I squeak out. Damn! Not the first impression I was hoping for. "Um are you ok?" still nothing, just those eyes boring into me, dragging me down. I clear my throat again and try to find my way out of the haze that those eyes put me under. "Here!" I thrust the cup of grape slushy towards her. That seems to bring her back. She blinks a few times looks down at the cup then back up to me.

"Thanks," she says, and I think I may die from her angelic voice. Then she smiles and I know I'm gonna die. Her smile reaches her eyes and I'm blown away.

"Um, yeah… No problem." I look away from her and finally my brain catches up to me. "Just be careful with that." She looks at the cup then back at me confused. "There's a lot of power in that cup. Can I trust you with it?" I smirk at her so she knows I'm joking with her. She chuckles and looks down. I think she might have blushed. My stomach flips at the thought.

"Don't worry, you can trust me" She smiles up at me. "I'm Rachel, Rachel Barbra Berry. You're the new girl in town."

"Yea, Quinn, Fabray. It's nice to meet you." I hold out me hand and when she takes it my body starts tingling. "Well Rachel Barbra Berry can I walk you to class?" I ask nervously. I still have to find my class but I feel like I should bring her to her class first. For protection of course! Not because I want to spend as much time as I can with her. Nope. Not at all.

"That would be great!" That smile is back and I melt. "But I should be the one bringing you to your class. You're the one that is new after all. I would be a terrible person if I let you take me to my class and just let you wander away without a clue where to go only to get lost and then late to your very first day! That would not be expectable at all." Through all this my mouth just hangs open. This girl could not get more adorable.

She sees my face and stops putting her head down, "Sorry, I tend to talk a lot." I chuckle and she looks up at me and sees that I'm not put off by her longwinded rambling.

"It's all good, I don't mind at all. I don't speak much at all so it works out just fine." I smile at her and she smiles back. I can literally see her muscles relax and she lets out a big breath she was holding. "Besides, it reminds me of a show me n my sister used to watch.."

"What?"

I take a second to think if I should tell her. Not only will think I'm a huge loser but she might take it the wrong way. I finally decide that I can't keep anything from her when she's looking at me with those eyes. "Speed Racer." She doesn't say anything, just stares at me. "You've never seen it huh?" She shakes her head. "Gotcha, no worries." The warning bell goes off and we realize that we got off track and should really be getting to class.

"So what class do you have now?" She asks

I look down at my sheet, "Spanish IV with Mr. Shue…."

"Schueste!" She finishes excitedly. "Same as me!"

I smile and internally dance inside. "Well I guess I'll get to walk you to class after all."

"I guess so." I gesture for her to lead the way. While we make our way to class she talks about where things are in the school while sipping on her grape drink happily. When we walk into the room we're still pretty early most of the students aren't here yet or the teacher. Rachel tells me that this teacher is notorious for being late. We pick seats right next to each other and she takes my schedule to see what else we have together. As it turns out, we have a lot of classes together. They're all of my advanced classes, four in total.

When the bell rings a man with… I don't know what on his too gelled head. He claps his hands and addresses the class.

"Hola Clase Welcome back! As some of you might know we have a new student," Everyone stares at me. "Why don't you stand up and introduce yourself."

"In English or Spanish?" I ask

He laughs, "In English, I don't expect you to do that in Spanish."

I look at him puzzled for a second. Aren't we in Advanced Spanish? Whatever, easier for me. "Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray. I grew up in a small town in Illinois and lived in California for a while before my Dad got a job here so here I am." I sit down and let out a breath. I know my cheeks are bright red. I've never liked to be the center of attention.

"Welcome Quinn, I know its tuff to be in a new place so if you need anything you let me know." He smiles at me and then claps his hands together and starts going over the syllabus. He seems like a nice enough guy. The bell rings right when he finishes going over what is expected of us. Rachel and I stand up together and head off to another one of our shared classes together, English.

The morning goes by incredibly slow with each teacher making me introduce myself and then going over the syllabus. I feel bad by the third time because I'm repeating myself. Most of the kids are the same in my other classes. I'm happy once lunch rolls around for a break in the monotony. I head to the cafeteria to get some things I need and then head to my locker to meet Karofsky. Rachel did invite me to eat with her and her friends if I wanted but I told her I had prior engagements.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting." I say to the lumbering jock as I reach my locker. It looks like he's a nervous wreck and I have a hunch why. "Where a place we can talk in private?" I ask him. He doesn't say anything just turns and walks off with me following behind. We don't talk till we're all the way to the football bleachers and sitting down. After he thoroughly checked that there was no one else around.

"So what's up?" he asks crossing his arms together trying to look indifferent.

"I know what it's like." He looks at me confused and I continue. "To have to hide, and be so scared every second that someone might find out about you. About what you're hiding. But you're going about this wrong. You don't have to be overly mean, go out of your way and push people around to try and prove to people that you're something your not." I take a minute for my words to sink in. "I know you don't want to hurt people. You hate it. I can see it and I've just started here. It's dragging you down and if you're not careful you'll drown or someone you're trying to bring down to your level will finally have enough and come after you or try and end their pain." You don't want that on you Dave." He stands up and looks at me with fury in his eyes.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST COME IN HERE AND JUST LIKE THAT YOU KNOW ME? WELL GUESS WHAT! YOU DON'T!" He's shaking either from anger or fear. I wait a minute for him to calm down after his rant and take his hand.

"I'd like to." That's all I said and I see him deflate.

"Why?" He asks in a soft voice.

"Because, I like making new friends. And you seem like the perfect friend." He laughs at that. "Besides, people like us gotta stick together." I look at him and see that he knows what I'm talking about. Fear is back in his eyes. "Don't freak out. I don't think anyone else has figured it out and I have excellent gaydar. I won't tell anyone Dave. Ever. Even if you don't want to be friends with me. I won't." I smile encouragingly at him.

After a few minutes of contemplation he finally speaks. "So you're gay huh? I wouldn't have ever guessed. Haha." I arch my eyebrow and give and a "really?" look

"I'm on the football team, how can you not?" At that we both start laughing. I turn to my bag and fish out our lunches. "Okay, so I had to guess what you might like so if it's not right too bad. I decided PB&J would be a smart bet so I got two of those, BBQ and plain chips, cause I'd eat either, and chocolate milk cause I couldn't take the chance of getting a plain and a chocolate and you wanting the chocolate. Sorry, plain milk is just nasty." He laughs but agrees and we start eating. He couldn't decided what kind of chips he wanted so we just split both. We sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of lunch and when the bell rang we went our separate ways with plans to get together later on.

The rest of the day went on just as the morning had. I introduced myself and then the teachers would talk about everything that we were going to do in the year. I only had one class with Rachel in the afternoon so I was forced to branch out and meet new people in the other two. Finally when the last bell rang for the day I followed the mass of student down the halls to my locker. On my way I saw Rachel at hers.

"Hi Rach." I said while I passed. She smiles and waves at me.

When I got to my locker I shoved my stuff in there, as I didn't receive any homework that night, and headed off to the locker room to change for practice. My parents weren't too thrilled with the idea of me being on the football team when I first brought it up but they finally caved. I hadn't even thought about joining until the football coach spotted me playing soccer one day and approached me. She said that I was really fast and would be a great addition to the team. I was skeptical at first but I had always liked to play when my family would get together on holidays. It would be me and all my male cousins out in our grandparents yard getting our nice clothes all dirty. Coach Beast was the one to finally convince my parents and come summer football camp I was on the field with the rest of the team. It took a while for the team to warm up to me and some still haven't but I think we're getting there. Practice was rough. Our first game is next week and we still have a lot to work on. Specifically in the QB department. It's the tall kid that has a great arm but can't run for the life of him. I think his name is Flynn? He's a nice guy but he's slow and too lazy to do anything about it. There's this new kid on the team, Evans, who seems like he could be really good but Flynn's was captain last year and I think coach doesn't want to "rock the boat."

After practice I rinse off and quickly head out to my car to get to soccer practice on time. Yea, I know I'm crazy for doing two sports at once. But I like to stay busy, and none of the practice or game schedules clashed so it works. Plus I was lucky enough to be added to McKinley's' girls soccer team while they're in the off-season. Even if there was a clash Coach Beast would have to deal cause soccer's my main sport, footballs just something fun for me to try.

Once I'm finally done sweating I head for home. When I get there I jump in the shower to get rid of all the grime then go downstairs to talk to my mom and eat dinner. Right when I'm done setting the table my dad comes home and we all site down together to eat. I fill my parents in about my day especially the part where I meet Rachel and talk to Dave. My parents and I are really close. I tell them everything. So when I meet someone like Rachel I know I have to tell them about it.

The night ends with my dad going to bed early to be fresh for another early workday and my mom and I watching some discovery channel. When I finally crawl into my bed immediately fall asleep to thoughts of seeing Rachel again tomorrow at school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_-Today Is Going To Be Different-_

**RPOV**

I wake at 6:00am sharp and immediately jump on my elliptical to start my morning workout. It's imperative to start every morning by getting your heart pumping. I will leave you fresh and invigorated for the rest of the day. And I need all the energy I can get for today. Today is the first day of my junior year of high school and I know things are going to be different. It has to be.

"Honey." Dad knocks on my bedroom door before poking his head in. "breakfast is ready. Better get a move on. Big day today!"

I hop of the elliptical and hustle to the shower to get ready. Once I am happy with my appearance I head downstairs to my fathers. As soon as I get into the kitchen I am blinded by a camera flash.

"Daddy!" I whine. After all these years I should be used to it by now but he always seems to catch me off guard.

My daddy just chuckles and kisses my forehead lovingly before departing for work. "Have a great day at school pumpkin." He says while he walks out of the house.

I finish eating and head to school to start another year at McKinley High. I finally get my overstuffed duffle bag to fit in my locker and start to get my supplies in order. I made sure to pack extra clothes in my slushy kit just incase people were feeling ambitious today. Since we've been gone for a few months people might have to catch up on their quotas. I just shut my locker when I hear someone shout.

"KAROFSKY!" I turn around and see David Karosky just a few feet away from me holding a very large slushy. I stare past him and see the most angelic creature I have ever laid eyes on. She's taller than me, which isn't a surprise, with blond hair and the most intense hazel eyes. I'm sure you can learn a lot about her by just looking at her eyes. Right now for example they're saying, _I am so pissed at you!_ I'm really happy she's not directing them at me. David speaks and it pulls me from my thoughts.

"Hey Fabray. What's up?" She still looks pissed but it's definitely a lot less than before.

"Not much man, what are you up to?" Her eyebrow arches and I think I might die at how perfect she is even when she's angry. Not only angry, but angry for me! Me! The loser of McKinley! I'm in shock right now.

"Just welcoming back some of the bottom feeders. You know how it is." Right when he says that something else shows up in her eyes, but it's gone before I have a chance to really look at it.

"Not really" She steps between me and David blocking him from me. Protecting me! Who is this girl? I can see that David is taken back at her boldness but continues his explanation for her.

"Look Fabray, this is how it works around here, at the start of school all of the people on top go around reminding those on the bottom where there place is. And we keep reminding them through the course of the year. Just so they don't forget. Now if you don't mind I have better things to do, so move." At this I'm sure he's going to push her out of the way or she's going to finally give up and let him have me. But instead she steps closer to him. I can't hear their conversation anymore but by the look in David's eyes its quite significant.

After about a minute of the angel talking quietly with David she takes the slushy from him and shoos him away. At first instincts kick in and I think that all that was just so she could show the school how tough she is and slushy the biggest loser of all. I prepare myself but she just watches David walk down the hall and out of sight and then turns to me with those magical eyes and I lose any train of thought I had and lose myself in her.

After a while of both of us just staring she speaks. I don't catch the first part of what she's saying. All I can do is stare. At her eye, her nose, her mouth, and yea I gotta snap out of it!

"Here!" She hands me something and I take it blindly. When I feel that its cold I look down at the slushy she just took from David that is now in my hand. Then I look back to her and force myself to say something.

"Thanks," I say still trying to come up with something intelligent to say to this amazingly attractive girl.

"Um, yeah… No problem." She looks away from me and I finally have a chance to breath and think about what is happening. "Just be careful with that." I'm confused but she continues. "There's a lot of power in that cup. Can I trust you with it?" She smirks and I think I just had a heart attack

"Don't worry, you can trust me," I say smiling up at her and laughing, "I'm Rachel, Rachel Barbra Berry. You're the new girl in town." It's not a question. Everyone knows there's a new girl in town and obviously this amazing beauty is it.

"Yea, Quinn, Fabray. It's nice to meet you." I take her hand and think about how perfect it feels in mine. It's so soft and warm, and not at all awkward. Like it is with Finn. My boyfriend, who I have completely forgot about! Oh my gosh! What is this girl doing to me! "Well Rachel Barbra Berry can I walk you to class?" My stomach slips flips when she asks me that.

"That would be great!" I say getting so excited I can't control what comes out of my mouth next. "But I should be the one bringing you to your class. You're the one that is new after all. I would be a terrible person if I let you take me to my class and just let you wander away without a clue where to go only to get lost and then late to your very first day! That would not be expectable at all." I can see her mouth drop open and I have to scream to myself internally to stop rambling and look down at my feet embarrassed and mad at myself for blowing my chance to get to know Quinn Fabray. She surely will not to talk to me after she finds out I'm a motor mouth.

"Sorry, I tend to talk a lot." I say but my head shoots up when I hear her chuckle. I think that it's probably one of the best sounds I have ever heard. And I should know, I have perfect pitch. She starts speaking again so I turn of my inner monologue to put all my attention towards her.

"It's all good, I don't mind at all. I don't speak much at all so it works out just fine." She's smiling so that's a good sign. I relax not even realizing how tense I became and she continues. "Besides, it reminds me of a show me n my sister used to watch.."

"What?" I have to know everything about her.

Her response is delayed and I'd be on the edge of my seat if I actually was sitting. "Speed Racer." I've never heard of it so I'm not sure what to say. I decide to wait for her to continue. "You've never seen it huh?" I shake my head. "Gotcha, no worries." The warning bell goes off and suddenly I notice that there are in fact others moving around us and we should probably get to class. I really don't want to get her in trouble on her first day for being late.

"So what class do you have now?" I ask

"Spanish IV with Mr. Shue…."

"Schueste!" I interrupt her because I am so excited that I still get to see her. "Same as me!"

"Well I guess I'll get to walk you to class after all." She says with a shy smile and my knees go weak.

"I guess so."

When we get to class I check her schedule and see that we have three other classes together. All of my honors classes. Not only is she beautiful, and caring but smart too. Once Mr. Schue arrives she is told to introduce herself and I learn that she grew up in Illinois and lived in California for a bit. That's probably where she got that great tan. After Spanish we head to our next shared class. I feel bad for her by the time we're in our third shared class. She's had to the same thing in all her classes and I'm sure she'll have to do it for the rest of them. What's worse is that most of the kids in our first hour class share our same honors classes so she has to tell the same people the same thing four time today.

When lunch rolls around I invite Quinn to eat with me and my fellow Gleeks but she politely declines with prior plans. I head to my designated table where it is all abuzz.

As soon as I sit down I get bombarded with questions. Apparently Quinn's gallant act has spread like wildfire throughout the school. And of course some of the biggest gossips in school are sitting at my table.

Kurt is the first to ask, of course. "Okay diva, spill. What's up with the new girl? How did you get her to fight off Karosky for you? Did she really give him a black eye?

"I heard she kicked him in the junk the head butted him leaving him passed out on the floor." That was Tina.

"Where'd she stash the brass knuckles she used to punch his teeth out?" Mercedes

"Okay!" I say a little louder so they stop talking and I can wrap my head around how over the top the rumors had gotten. I can't help feeling a little giddy about the fact that the rumors about her being protected instead of some of the more ridiculous hurtful ones that have been passed around school about her. "Now, I understand that is very exciting to have a new student and that there was a confrontation this early into the school year but I can assu.."

That's as far as I get until I get cut off by all of them cutting me off. "Get to the facts Rachel!" They say in unison. I huff out a breath and then continue what I was saying before they rudely interrupted me.

"As I was saying." I glare at them then and they seem to know to keep their mouths shut this time. "Yes Quinn, the new girl, did come to my aid this morning and talked David out of slushying me but there was no violence physical or verbal I can assure you." They didn't like my news and told me to tell them everything that happened. So I start right where she calls out to Karofsky and try to be as accurate as possible with what I remember. I know one wrong piece of information to these three and Quinn saved the world from the Apocalypse. Although she did save my favorite animal sweater from the trashcan. So that's pretty close.

After lunch I have my final class that I share with Quinn and my stomach jumps when I see her walk in and walk straight to me and sits down right next to me. After class Quinn and I part ways and my day seems to drag a lot more without her in my other classes.

When the final bell rings I go to my locker to put away my things. When I open it I see my duffle full of unused clothes and smile. Though I was saved from one slushy I was sure that more people would be up to give me a welcome back slushy or that Karofsky would come back more furious than before. But nothing happened. I was pulled out of my thoughts by her voice.

"Hey Rach." That was all she said and I'm completely beside myself. All I can do is smile and wave. I'm afraid of what might happen if I open my mouth because she called me Rach. Rach! She gave me a nickname! When I calmed myself down I took off towards the choir room to practice and get out some of the extra energy I seem to have collected throughout the day.

I was just finishing up when Finn came up from behind me and wrapped his sweaty arms around me.

"Finn" I yelled jumping away from him. "You just finished with football practice and are sweating profusely! You need to shower! Now!" I don't know why I have to keep reminding him of good hygiene. I made him sit through a power point on it. Twice! Yet still he does this.

"Aww come on babe, I haven't seen you all day and I just wanted to come see you. I missed you." He smiles and I can't stay mad at him. But I'm still grossed out.

"I missed you too. But you need to go get clean before I will hug you. Now hurry up I have to get home soon."

"Are your dads gonna be home tonight?" he asks wiggling his eyebrows and leans down towards me trying to be seductive. To me it just looks like he might eat me, which makes me nervous.

I roll my eyes at him because I know what he wants to do. "Yes Finn they will be. And you can't come over tonight because my fathers want a family dinner." I finish feeling a little guilty that I lied about that last part. I just wasn't interested in having to push him off of me when he tried going to far or having to hear him mutter mailman and then later us getting into a fight because I don't like him enough.

"Rachel" He wines and I stop him right there.

"I'm sorry Finn but there's nothing I can do. Now I do have a little time before I have to get home so if you hurry and shower me might have some alone time." This gets him moving. "And actually clean with soap Finn, don't just rinse off!" I call to his retreating form. I sigh and put away the music I had been using and go out to meet Finn. Hopefully He uses soap like I told him to. I guess we'll see.

He doesn't use soap, or at least it seams like he didn't. I end up cutting our make out session short cause he gets too grabby and go home to my fathers. Some people might feel sorry for me or look down on me for having to gay dads I think it's the greatest thing in the world. They love me unconditionally and provide me anything I might need. dad, Leroy is a doctor and daddy Herum is a lawyer. They're the best and my closest confidants.

When I get home I drop my bag by the door with my shoes and head to the kitchen, dads sanctuary. He is an amazing at cooking, especially my vegan meals. As I push through the swinging door of the kitchen I see dad just starting dinner. Dad works the night shift so he gets up when I get home from school to spend time with me and cook us dinner and then head to work. When he gets home he has breakfast with me and daddy then heads to bed.

"Hi dad" I greet him with a kiss to his cheek that he has to bend over to receive.

"Hey baby girl" He wraps his arm around me. "How was your first day back?" I'm about to answer when daddy walks in from work and I greet him and then set down to fill my fathers in on the new exciting events that happened today.

I'm exhausted when I get up to my room and finally finish my nightly routine. I spent a lot of time talking to dad and daddy about Quinn. By the end of it my dads had me promise to bring Quinn around for dinner sometime. Even though I was tired my mind was still racing from today. I know something huge happened today. And I'm not sure if it's all good. There's change coming to McKinley and not everyone is going to like it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_-Better Than That-_

**QPOV**

I wake up bright and early for morning football practice. I guess every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, (when we don't have a game); we have morning practice so students can participate in school clubs. I think it's pretty sweet. I'm not in any of the clubs, but it's nice to have some down time in my busy schedule.

When I walk into the kitchen my mom greets me with breakfast. "Morning Quinnie." She kissed my cheek as I start to shovel in as much bacon as I can.

"Morning hun, have a good day," dad is just finishing his coffee before he heads out to work.

Once I've had my fill I kiss my mom goodbye and drive off to practice. While I'm changing into my football gear the cheerleaders, or Cheerios as their referred to here, and getting their things together for their practice. I greet some of them and just think how glad I am that I never got into cheerleading. Their coach is nuts. She'll start practice having them run around the track just like us but she makes them keep a really fast pace and even when we finish our run they still run for another twenty minutes. I won't even talk about what else she has them do before they even start practicing their routines. It's like she's training them for the Marines.

Practice was all right. I mostly ran patterns, and plays. Sam would work with me and Puck, another receiver while Coach Beast would work with Flynn on his footwork. I'm really hoping coach realizes that there's someone on the team that has the skills already and puts Flynn as second string, maybe third.

While were walking back in Dave catches up to me, "Hey Fabray good work out there." He says smiling.

"Thanks" I say "You too. It's gonna be tuff for the other teams to get passed your line. You guys are a wall."

"Yea, although we need some work on the blitz attacks. If we can't read them quick enough we're done for. Finn gets too flustered and ends up throwing it away or falling over his feet."

Finn! That's his name. I knew Flynn was wrong.

"Yea I'm hoping he either becomes this phenomenal player by next week or Coach gives Evens a chance. He's really good." Dave nods his head. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today after school since we don't practice?"

"Sure, sounds good. But don't you have soccer practice?"

"No Monday, Wednesdays we have practice. Sometimes Saturdays. So I'm all free." I smile up at him.

By now we're at our locker room entrances. "Alright cool, I'll meet you at your locker after school" Dave says as he enters the boy's locker. I nod and head into the girls locker room. I'm glad that the cheerios practice goes longer so I have time to shower and get ready in peace. I'm not ashamed of my body at all. I'm just not comfortable with people I don't even know seeing me naked. Plus I'm sure once they find out I'm gay they won't be too comfortable with me being in their space anyways.

Once I'm all clean and fresh I head to my first hour class with Rachel. Just thinking about her makes my stomach flip. As I enter the room I see she's already there and I plop down next to her. "Hey Rach." I smile and look down so I don't get sucked into her gaze like yesterday. I actually want to stay cognizant of what I say around her so I don't make a total fool of myself.

"Hey Quinn! How are you doing today? How are you finding McKinley so far?" She gives me her mega-watt smile and I melt.

"I'm doing great and I really like McKinley so far. How was your night?"

"It was excellent. I spent time with my fathers before my dad had to go to work. He's a surgeon at the hospital in town and works the night shift. So we had a nice dinner and talked about our days. That reminds me they wanted me to invite you over for dinner one night when you're available. They want to meet my savior" She smiles shyly at me.

There was a lot of information in her adorable rambling so I take a minute to process it all. "Sorry," she says again. "Like I said, I talk a lot, so if you ever get overwhelmed or annoyed by if feel free to stop me at any time."

I can tell she's worried that she's said too much again. I can literally see her berating herself in her head. "No, Rach. Don't worry about it. Like I said yesterday I don't mind at all. In fact I think it's cute" My eyes widen at the realization that I just told her she's cute. I can see her blush. I don't want it to get awkward so I keep going. "Now back to what you said before, I would love to come over for dinner sometime. Thank them for the offer. And I really am not your savior. Just a girl trying to protect her friend." When I finish her mega-watt smile is back.

"I'm your friend?" She says with such awe that I can tell she's not used to people wanting to be around her.

"Of course! If you'll have me Miss Berry?" she blushes and nods vigorously. "Well that's settled then."

Her eyes change and I know she's struggling about something. She's wringing her hands and it's too much so I place my hand over hers. "What's wrong?" I ask.

I see her take in a breath getting ready to tell me something huge. Once she lets it out she begins. "I'm not sure if you caught what I said earlier but I feel like I should tell you…. Before we get too attached and then you find out and don't approve. Then I'll be sad and I'm sure you'll be sad or upset. And I really like you and really want to be your friend…" I'm not sure where she's going but from where I'm sitting she's about to go into a tailspin down to the classroom floor if she doesn't stop for air soon. I squeeze her hand to stop her. When she finally looks at me with worried Bambi eyes my heart breaks.

"Rachel, just breath. Whatever it is just say it. I promise we'll still be friends afterwards." I smile trying to reassure her. She looks apprehensive at first but I think she sees my words are genuine.

"I have two dads… As in they're gay, together." I chuckle and am instantly relieved to find out that homophobia is what she's worried about. Although now that I think of it, I shouldn't have laughed. But it seems to have put her at ease.

"I'm sorry I laughed. I did catch that but wasn't positive I heard you right so I decided to address the other topics you brought up and figured I'd find the other one out later." I shrug and she seems surprised by my response.

"You're okay with that?"

"Sure, I know I come from a small town, smaller than this, and I haven't met many gay couples but I'm totally okay with you having two dads. As long as they love you it's all that matters. And I'd be a pretty big hypocrite if I wasn't okay with it." I can tell she wasn't expecting me to say that and can see all the questions forming, ready to burst out, but before she can ask anything Mr. Schue walks in ending our discussion for the time being. I smile at her one last time before turning towards the front of the class.

I'm speechless right now. I've been sitting in Spanish for about thirty minutes and I'm starting to think I was put in the wrong class.

I turn to Rachel and whisper, "Is this Spanish IV?" She smiles at me and I can tell she's trying not to laugh.

"Too advanced for you?" she asks, which I can tell has a joking tone to it. "You're in the right class, Mr. Schue's a bit behind on the content he should be teaching our class. I think he might just follow the same lesson plan for all his classes."

I look at her then sit back in my chair. Well this is gonna be a great year. I wonder how much a box set of Dora The Explorer is, cause honestly, she can teach us more than what we're gonna get from Mr. Shue. He's been talking in English the whole period. Finally the bell rings and we head off to our other classes to learn something.

On the way to the cafeteria I see another colorful frozen projectile fly across my line of vision. I turn my follow the streak of cherry red to its target. A kid in a wheel chair. My mouth drops open. "Really!?" Oops I said that out loud. I look to the owner of the cup and see Azimo High fiving some other guys on the football team including Dave. I walk up to the kid in the chair to see if he's okay. He's trying to clean off his glasses as best he can at the moment.

"Hey, you okay?" That was a stupid question, but I didn't know what to say.

"Yeah," he replies sighing as he starts wheeling himself away to the nearest bathroom.

I turn and look at the posse of jocks. Dave catches my eye and looks down at his feet.

"What is wrong with you guys? You're really that insecure about yourselves that you have to pick on people littler than you? Nice" With that I walk away following the slushy trail to the men's restroom. I take a deep breath knowing that this will be last fresh air I'll get until I leave the bathroom and push the door open.

I see the kid at the corner sink trying to get as much slushy as he can out of his hair. I take some paper towels and head over to him.

"Mind if I help? Clean up seems like a two person job." He stares at me for a moment and then just nods. I get to work on his hair while he works on the rest of himself.

"Thanks," He says when we're finally done.

"No problem, I'm just sorry it happened. It happens a lot doesn't it?" I don't really need an answer. I could tell by his lack of reaction when it happened.

"Yea, but I don't get is as bad as some people." He gives me a small smile and we head out of the bathroom. "I'm Artie by the way."

"Quinn," I say offering my hand as we trek to the cafeteria.

"The new girl." He states. "Well, welcome to McKinley."

"Thanks. You getting lunch too or did you bring something?"

"I'm buying."

"Mind if I accompany you?"

"Sure!" We get in line and get our lunch. I go to pay but he says it's on him for helping earlier."

"Thanks!," I say and I take his tray for him and we make our way to his table which just so happens to be Rachel's as well!

"Hey Quinn! I thought you might have gotten lost. I was ready to send a search party!" She jokes. I laugh.

"No I was just meeting new people." I turn and smile at Artie, which he returns.

"Yea, in the men's room. Haha" I laugh with him and shrug at Rachel when she gives me a quizzical look. "I got slushied on the way here and Quinn saw and helped with the cleanup." Everyone turns to me and I blush at the scrutinizing looks.

"Are you trying to get on their hit list?" A smaller boy with fair skin and perfect hair asks.

"Hit list?"

"Yea, you know they're on top and have to keep the "bottom feeders" in line." An Asian girl replies.

"And by the way to stopped Karofsky yesterday and helped Artie today I'd say you're probably on it now. You sitting here with is isn't helping either." The porcelain boy adds.

"Hmm. We'll see I guess. I'm Quinn, I don't think I've met you guys yet. Besides Rachel and Artie."

"Oh I'm sorry Quinn, How rude of me," Rachel states. I can see other kids at the table rolling their eyes at her. I'm guessing they're not fans of how verbose Rachel is. "This is Kurt Hummel (the porcelain boy), Mercedes Jones (a girl with dark skin and long black hair), Tina Cohen-Chang (the Asian girl with black clothes and black hair), Mike Chang (an Asian boy with spiky hair), and you already know Artie Abrams and myself."

"Nice to meet you guys." I say and they say the same before launching into a bunch of questions.

"Where'd you come from? Why would you pick Lima? Where do you live? What kind of skin car do you use? Your skin is flawless. What do you like to? Are you dating anyone? Guys!" Rachel Finally interjects.

"One at a time."

I laugh, thinking about her rapid-fire questions. "Thanks Rach. Um I grew up in Illinois in a small town, smaller than this place. Then I was in Cali for a while. My dad got promoted and the position was here so we moved. I live on Elm? I think, I'm not familiar with the place so I just go by landmarks. I don't do anything particular for my skin just wash it, and thanks. I like a lot of things so you might have to narrow that down or we'll be here all day and no I'm not dating anyone at the moment… I think that was all the questions, right?"

They nod a little shocked I was able to remember all their questions. I smile and start eating my lunch. I know I don't have a lot of time before the end of the period.

"I like you," Mercedes states and they all nod and go back to eating.

The end of the day comes and I head to my locker. As I approach it I see Dave waiting for me. I raise my eyebrow at him but say nothing to him.

"Hey, Do you still want to hang out?"

Once I have all that I'll need I close my locker and turn to him. "I don't know, is there anybody you need to see first? More shlushies to hand out with your buddies?" He looks down at the ground ashamed and I start to walk away when he grabs my hand.

"I'm sorry," He says and I can tell he means it.

"I'm not the one you need to say that too. But I'm not going to make you apologize either. Cause it won't mean as much if you are just doing what you're told." I sigh and continue. "Come on, we can talk more about this when we get to my house." He's a little surprised that we're still gonna hang out so I tug on him to get his feet moving on our way to our cars.

We decide that Dave will follow me to my house so we don't have to come back for his car later. I turn left at the little store then at the third stop sign take a right and down the street to my house. When Dave and I walk in we're greeted by the smell of freshly baked cookies. We head straight to the kitchen where my mom is just taking out the last batch of her famous chocolate chip cookies. Obviously she's trying to impress Dave. I texted her earlier to let her know we would have company coming over after school.

"Hi mom," I walk over and kiss her cheek as I snag a cookie off the tray.

"Hey Quinnie," She slaps my hand away while I was trying to go for another cookie. "Offer your friend some Quinnie before you eat them all."

I pass the tray to Dave and he picks one up.

"Mom this is David Karofsky, Dave this is my mom Judy Fabray."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Fabray." Dave shakes my mom's hand with his cookie free one.

"Nice to meet you Dave, and please, call me Judy." Dave nods and chomps down on his cookie.

"Theses are delicious Mrs. Fa.. I mean Judy!" My mom beams and I chuckle. The mission to impress Quinn's friend is complete.

"Thank you dear. Now I'm off to church for Women's forum. I'll be back later, There's money on the counter for takeout. It was nice to meet you Dave, don't be a stranger. Have fun you two." She kisses my forehead and squeezes Dave's shoulder warmly and then she's out the door.

"You're mom is awesome!" Dave exclaims.

"Agreed" I reply while I take out the milk and two glasses and fill them up. I hand Dave the cookies, then grab our milk glasses and head downstairs to the game room.

When we get downstairs I put the milks on the coffee table and commence the search for the remotes. It's always a challenge to find them. One time I found the TV remote in the fridge. I blame dad. He's always so tired after watching TV n he tends to take them on trips. "Make yourself at home." I find the Wii remote behind a cushion on the couch and the TV remote on right by the stairs.

When I look back at Dave he's still standing taking everything in. That was one of the pluses moving here. My dad n I got to make an awesome game room. We got a huge 65" TV, a Wii, Xbox, and Playstation 3 all hooked up to it. The pool table was custom designed; dark brown wood on the outside with red felt and the Chicago Blackhawks logo in the middle of the table. Next to it is an air hockey table with, you guessed it, the Blackhawks logo in the middle. A Star Wars pinball and Pac Man machine are along one wall and a bar along another with working fountain drink machine.

I take the cookies from Dave and place them on the table with the milks and then pull him into the other room downstairs. His mouth drops open when he sees the home movie theater we have set up. At there front there is a large screen with red velvet curtains that open and close with the touch of a button. There are squishy leather recliners and love seats all along the room and on the back wall there's a touch screen control panel that works everything and has a digital library of all the movies we have. That took a while to load all those in there. It's also hooked up to Blockbuster so we can watch all the new movies that come out. The last thing, and most important in my opinion is the popcorn maker.

"Holy crap!" I laugh

"Yea, it's pretty sweet. My dad and I built the downstairs. This was our project when we moved here. I'm really happy how it turned out."

"Yeah, I would be too! This is awesome Quinn! You and your dad should come over to my place!"

"Pshh, you know how long this took? I think I'm good for a while. Come on, let's have some cookies. Maybe we'll watch a movie later." I walk back out to the TV and start snacking on cookies.

"So what was up today?" I ask referring to the slushy incident.

"I was walking to lunch with some of the guys when Azimo tells up to follow him, when we catch up to him he's pouring slushy on Artie. I didn't know he was gonna do that." He looks down at his hands.

"Well why did you high five him?" He just shrugs.

"Look, I know it's hard to stand up to people, especially your friends but you know what's going on at school is wrong. How would you feel if they did that to you?" He doesn't say anything. "You don't have to do a complete 180 but maybe just not be apart of it. Tell them that you don't like it or something. Why did you even start doing it in the first place if you hate it so much?" He sighs.

"I used to not do it. Other people would and they would tell me to and I would refuse and walk away. But then one day when I started to walk away Azimo said something like ,"Are you too big of a fag to do it? Is that why you won't? Because you like the fairy?" and I snapped I took the slushy from his hand and threw it at the kid they were picking on, Kurt. I felt so bad about it but all my friends were laughing and high fiving each other. Kurt ran off and all I wanted to do is run after him and apologize but I can't because they would have found out then. And I just couldn't do it. I know I'm a coward but I just couldn't let them find out. I see everything that Kurt has to go through. And I just… I wouldn't be able to handle it." By this time he's in tears and he puts his head in his hands to try and hide. "I'm sorry, I know you hate me now and I understand that you don't want to be friends with me, but please don't tell anyone. Please!" He looks up at me with pleading eyes and I pull him into me for a hug that he really needs and seems long over due.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to tell anyone. I would never do that. And I don't hate you. Yeah I was disappointed about what I saw earlier but I know how bad peer pressure is. I'd still like to be friends with you but I need to know if you're still going to bully kids. Because if that's the case we need to part ways after tonight. I've had more than my share of bullies and just won't be associated with anyone that thinks it's okay to treat people like they're lower than them or to hurt people to make themselves feel better. You're better than that Dave."

We sit in silence for a while with me just holding Dave and rubbing his back.

"I won't bully people again, or be apart of it. I promise. I'll even talk to the people I bullied and apologize to them." He sniffles and looks up. I get up and get him some tissues and start flipping through the stations. I'm not sure what Dave likes so I head to my go to station Discovery Channel. After a while Dave speaks up again.

"So do your parents know? About you?"

"That I'm gay?" He nods. "Yeah, I told them freshmen year. I started coming out to some of my friends at school and figured it'd be best if I told them before anyone else did. So I sat them down one night and told them."

"How'd it go? What did they say? What did you say?"

"It went a lot better then expected. I was terrified. Deep down I knew they were going to be okay with it. But I've heard and read about all these horror stories form other people. Their parents kicked them out or sent them to a straight camp. I was so scared I started crying.

"_Mom, dad, can I talk to you guys."_

_They look up from what they're reading. "Sure Quinnie, what is it?"_

_I have no idea how to start this. All that time reading those coming out packets online are not helping me at this moment._

"_I…I have to tell you guys something but I don't want you guys to hate me." I just finish the sentence and start balling. My dad gets up from the couch hugs me and brings me to the couch sandwiching me between them._

"_We could never hate you baby. You're our daughter. No matter what it is we will always love you." My dad reassures me. _

"_I'm gay." I surprise myself that I got it out louder than a whisper. I can't look at them so I look down at my hands and wait._

"_Are you sure?" my mom asks. I just nod my head. "Quinnie look at me." I look up to my mother and see… warmth, caring, love. LOVE! I let out a breath I was holding._

"_Yes mom, I'm sure. I've known for a while. I'm sorry I can't help it._

"_Quinn," I turn and look at my dad. "You don't need to be sorry for something you can't help. If you're sure then we support you. Nothing has changed." I'm so relieved I break out into sobs and my parents bring me into a group hug. I've been so worried for so long. Wondering if I've been leaving hints, making sure I clear the search history if I look at anything related to homosexuality, talking about how hot some male celebrity is. Now it's all over. No more hiding. Well, no more hiding at home._

"_I was worried you were going to tell up you're pregnant." My dad jokes. _

"_Oh me too. I was designing a nursery in my head." My mom adds._

"_Haha very funny guys." I hug them harder. "I love you guys."_

"_We love you too."_

"That's so great that they were cool with it."

"Yea, I was so relieved. It took them time to adjust to the idea and they still might be but they just want me happy. And for a long time I wasn't. I was so worried about people finding out. And I felt alone. Even when I was in a gym full of people I still felt isolated and it was just getting to be too much. Like I could never be myself around people. I had come out. And once I did I felt a hundred times better. Each time I told someone it felt like a weight had been lifted off me. How'd you feel when you found out I knew but was okay with it?"

"I was scared shitless at first but after you said that you were and that you were fine with it…. Yeah I felt good. Great actually." He smiles at me. "So how long have you known?

"Since junior high. I started noticing girls but not even giving a second glance to guys. When I look back I could say that I always knew. I just never had a name for how I was feeling. How bout you?"

"During freshmen year I started noticing that I was attracted to guys. It was Kurt actually that caught my attention. There was just something about him, his confidence maybe. The fact that he is who he is and he's not ashamed of that. That's when I realized. But like you said looking back I've always felt like this. I've never been interested in girls." I nodded my head and my stomach growled.

"Alright enough of the heavy stuff. Lets order some pizza n watch a movie."

"Sound good to me." We head back upstairs to order. The rest of the night was filled with laughter and light conversation. When my dad got home from work he came downstairs to watch some movies with us. Dave left with bag of cookies for his parents and little sister feeling a lot light than when he came in. Tomorrow is gonna be different.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_-What Does That Mean?-_

**RPOV**

I woke up early today eager to get to school. Wow I'm not usually excited for class. In fact I usually cringe at the thought of school and hope that the day goes fast and without too many obstacles. Now however I want to get there as fast as I can to get to know Quinn more and to invite her over sometime as my dads said last night.

I hustle through my morning routine, shower, get dressed and before I know it I'm at my locker getting my books for my first set of classes. Finn has practice this morning so there's no need to stand out in the open. Where anyone could attack. I head off to first period to wait for Quinn.

It seems like it takes her forever but she finally appears through the door.

"Hey Quinn! How are you doing today? How are you finding McKinley so far?" I blurt out before my mind has a chance to catch my mouth. She smiles at me.

"I'm doing great and I really like McKinley so far. How was your night?"

"It was excellent. I spent time with my fathers before my dad had to go to work. He's a surgeon at the hospital in town and works the night shift. So we had a nice dinner and talked about our days. That reminds me they wanted me to invite you over for dinner one night when you're available. They want to meet my savior" I smile at her and grimace. I did it again!

"Sorry," she says again. "Like I said, I talk a lot, so if you ever get overwhelmed or annoyed by if feel free to stop me at any time."

"No, Rach. Don't worry about it. Like I said yesterday I don't mind at all. In fact I think it's cute" I can feel myself blush. This gorgeous girl just called me cute! My mind is going crazy right now. Oh wait she's talking again! "Now back to what you said before, I would love to come over for dinner sometime. Thank them for the offer. And I really am not your savior. Just a girl trying to protect her friend."

"I'm your friend?" I can't help the huge smile now gracing my face.

"Of course! If you'll have me Miss Berry?" I nod, not trusting my voice right now. "Well that's settled then."

My smile turns to a frown when I remember something I said and she didn't say anything about it.

"What's wrong?" She noticed, of course she noticed my change of mood.

I take a breath. I better just tell her now and get it over with. That way if she's not okay with it at least we haven't gotten too attached to each other yet. "I'm not sure if you caught what I said earlier but I feel like I should tell you…. Before we get too attached and then you find out and don't approve. Then I'll be sad and I'm sure you'll be sad or upset. And I really like you and really want to be your friend…" I know I'm rambling again but I can't help it. I ramble when I get nervous, or excited. And I'm both right now so you can just imagine how long this could go on.

She seems to know that I'm going off the deep end I feel her take my hand and squeeze it. I look up and meet her eyes. "Rachel, just breath. Whatever it is just say it. I promise we'll still be friends afterwards."

"I have two dads… As in they're gay, together." I blurt out and I feel a whole lot better now. And I hear her chuckle. Okay so laughing is a good sign right? She must see my apprehension. Man she's good at reading me.

"I'm sorry I laughed. I did catch that but wasn't positive I heard you right so I decided to address the other topics you brought up and figured I'd find the other one out later."

"You're okay with that?" I ask surprised but happy at her openness.

"Sure, I know I come from a small town, smaller than this, and I haven't met many gay couples but I'm totally okay with you having two dads. As long as they love you it's all that matters. And I'd be a pretty big hypocrite if I wasn't okay with it."

Well I wasn't expecting her to say that. What does that even mean? Are her parents gay? Is she? Or maybe a family member? Just as I'm about to ask her what she means Mr. Schues decided that five minutes after the late bell rings is the perfect moment to come to class and start teaching. Now I have to sit on this new piece of the puzzle that is Quinn and find its proper place later.

I feel Quinn lean in towards me and whisper, "Is this Spanish IV?" I smile and fight off the laughter that is begging to be released.

"Too advanced for you?" I ask in a sarcastic tone. "You're in the right class, Mr. Schue's a bit behind on the content he should be teaching our class. I think he might just follow the same lesson plan for all his classes." I see her sit back in her seat. And I'm guessing she's zoning out just like everyone else in this class. I think we would get more out of all of us just having a free period. Maybe I can talk to Schue about this. Maybe suggest that everyone can only talk in Spanish during the free period or something. That would give him a lot more time to daydream about Ms. Pillsbury.

My thoughts travel back to the last comment Quinn said before Mr. Schue came clapping in. I'm pretty sure it's either her parents are gay or she is. Why am I hoping it's the latter?

Right now I'm sitting at my table in the cafeteria waiting for Quinn to come in. She said that she'd sit with me today and I can't wait! I'm hoping to be able to talk to her more. I want to know everything there is to know about her but I know I need to take it slow. I don't want to scare her off just when I finally find someone that generally likes me. She even likes my verbosity. The bell rings overhead and Quinn still isn't here. I knew I should have stayed with her. But I didn't want her to think I'm clingy and she said she would meet me here. Maybe something happened to her! I should go check, maybe take Tina and Mike with me to search for her. Or maybe she decided that I wasn't worth it and is blowing me off! I knew it was too good to be true. There's no way someone like Quinn would want to hang out with me.

Just when I'm starting to feel down about losing Quinn I see her walk through the cafeteria doors with Artie. She and Artie got food and are now on their way over to me!

"Hey Quinn! I thought you might have gotten lost. I was ready to send a search party!" She laughs cause she thinks I'm joking.

"No I was just meeting new people." She smiles at Artie and he returns it. Hmm I wonder what that means.

"Yea, in the men's room. Ha-ha" They laugh and she shrugs at me. She can tell I'm confused. "I got slushied on the way here and Quinn saw and helped with the cleanup." Ahh that makes more sense. Quinn just being amazing again.

"Are you trying to get on their hit list?" Kurt asks.

"Hit list?" She replies.

"Yea, you know they're on top and have to keep the "bottom feeders" in line." Tina replies.

"And by the way you stopped Karofsky yesterday and helped Artie today I'd say you're probably on it now. You sitting here with us isn't helping either." Kurt continues.

"Hmm. We'll see I guess. I'm Quinn; I don't think I've met you guys yet. Besides Rachel and Artie."

"Oh I'm sorry Quinn, How rude of me," I can't believe my manners. My fathers would be appalled! "This is Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, Tina Cohen-Chang, Mike Chang, and you already know Artie Abrams and myself."

"Nice to meet you guys." She says with sincerity and the others say the same before they rush out everything they're wondering about this new interesting person.

"Where'd you come from? Why would you pick Lima? Where do you live? What kind of skin car do you use? Your skin is flawless. What do you like to? Are you dating anyone?"

"Guys!" I stop them or they would have kept going. "One at a time." I slump down in my seat. I'm never going to be able to talk to her. Quinn laughs.

"Thanks Rach." I smile when she calls me Rach. "Um I grew up in Illinois in a small town, smaller than this place. Then I was in Cali for a while. My dad got promoted and the position was here so we moved. I live on Elm? I think, I'm not familiar with the place so I just go by landmarks. I don't do anything particular for my skin just wash it, and thanks. I like a lot of things so you might have to narrow that down or we'll be here all day and no I'm not dating anyone at the moment… I think that was all the questions, right?"

Everyone nods at her and I'm still impressed at how much she can take in and process at a time. She really is a good match for me. She hasn't eaten anything yet so I know I shouldn't start asking her questions. I decide to let her eat and find another time to talk with her. Hopefully she'll come over sometime soon and we'll have more one-on-one time. To talk of course! Nothing else. haha

"I like you," Mercedes states and everyone else nod. I'm glad everyone likes her. I just hope they don't take her away from me.

The end of the day brought Glee, which got me very excited for the first meeting of the year. I have to admit that even though these people don't like me much I missed them and this crazy dynamic we have going on here. We have people represented from every clique in school. The Jocks (Finn and Puck), the cheerleaders (Santana and Brittany), computer nerd (Artie), the smart kids (Tina and Mike), the Divas (Kurt and Mercedes) and of course the kid (me) bourn to be famous. We are all so different and yet we make it work. Well, most of the time…. At least some of the time… I don't have to worry about slushies here so that's all I can ask for. Plus it's time I can spend with Finn, my boyfriend. Who I really haven't spent much time with at all.

"Hey babe." Finn greets me at my locker with a kiss on the cheek. I smile at him.

"Hello Finn. How was your day? Are you ready for Glee? He looks down at his huge feet.

"Uh, yeah about that.. Look Rachel, I don't think I'm gonna do it this year. It's really bringing my rep down and last year we barely had enough to compete and ended up getting our ass…. Butts handed to us at regionals. It's just not worth it anymore you know?" He gives me his signature sideways smile. I used to melt to that smile. Now I want to punch it. I take a calming breath and resist the urge.

"Finn, I understand that you have a lot of pressure on you being the quarterback, but you managed just fine last year. So I don't see any reason it would be different this year. Besides last year was our first year competing. Now that we know what we're up against we will definitely be better. As for needing members to fill the graduates positions I am already compiling a list of capable candidates. And as co captain you should be too. I'm sure there are other guys on the football team that would be willing to join."

"There's not."

Have you asked them?" I already know the answer.

"Well no, but I just know that none of them are interested."

"Finn what about us? This is one of the only times we have to spend time together with our busy schedules."

"We'll still see each other babe. We can get together after school like we did yesterday. And we can go to each others houses, go on dates. You can come watch my games and practices." Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun for me.

"Finn, you know that I have singing and dancing practices after school most days and on weekends."

"Well can't you skip classes every once and a while or quit one of them. I mean you're already really good Rachey. You don't need all that extra help." He smiles triumphantly, thinking he just gave me a great compliment. By this point I'm livid and will punch him if I don't get away from him.

"You know that I need to go to extra lessons so I can be good enough for Broadway Finn. That's the end goal for me. So no I can't just skip or quit one of them. Because no matter how good you think I am, there is someone better out there and if I sit back and relax my dream can be taken away from me."

"Look Rach, I'm sorry but I'm tired of making all the sacrifices." What sacrifices? When have you ever sacrificed anything for me? "But I'm not coming back to Glee. We'll have to find another way for us to spend time together. I gotta go though; I'm meeting up with some of the guys to play some Xbox. Call me later." He tries to kiss me but I turn my head so his lips hit my cheek and then he's gone. Call him later. Yeah right. I let out a frustrated sigh and head off to Glee. I feel a welcome back to school this sucks solo coming on. Hopefully that will cheer me up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, so I hope you like it so far. I apologize again for any errors. It's just me and spell check looking over it so obviously some things will slip through. Hopefully it's not too bad for you. **

**I'm sure you're wondering when Rachel will get rid of Finn. Don't worry it will happen. I don't like writing him with Rachel but it's part of the story.**

**Any comments or suggestions are welcome! Just let me know!**

**Chapter 5**

_-Bullies Apologize-_

**QPOV**

Last night with Dave went a lot better than I thought it would and once we got all the heavy stuff out of the way we ended up having a really good time. Now it's time for another day at McKinley High. I got to admit that I thought it was going to be a lot worse than it is so far. I guess I shouldn't say that too soon. It is only the third day after all. All right enough thinking, off to school.

As I'm walking to my locker I greet some of the people I've met so far with the usual good morning how's it going. As I reach my locker Dave is there waiting for me. He looks nervous.

" Hey man. What's up?" I greet him with our special handshake we made up during our movies.

"Not much." He says but I can tell he wants to say something. I just close my locker and wait. When he makes eye contact with me I raise my eyebrow as an "okay what's really on your mind" way and he sighs. "I'm just nervous. I told you I would apologize to the people I've bullied today but I have no idea what to say or how to approach them. I doubt they'd even stand by me long enough to let me get out what I want to say. And even if I do, I doubt they'll believe me. They'll probably just think it's a trick to ambush them later when they're not expecting it."

"Whoa Dave, breath." I stop him so he doesn't pass out. "Yeah, it's gonna be tough, and they may not believe you, or even listen to you, but all you can do is tell them the truth. That you're not that guy anymore and then prove it to them. Actions speak louder than words. I know that was a corny thing to say but it's true, and after a while of you proving yourself to them they'll start to trust you. Okay? So just take it one person at a time. You might not be able to talk to everyone today but just start and it will get easier. I'm here for you too. Whenever you need me." I smile up at him and it looks like I calmed him down.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Q."

"Anytime. Now go get them…. But not in the "Hey loser I'm gonna slushy you sense," more in the " hey I'm sorry" sense." He chuckles at that then takes a big breath and lets it out.

"Alright, here goes nothing." And with that he walks off to find his first person. I kind of want to follow him and see the looks on the kids faces when he apologizes. I know it's going to be epic.

At lunch I sit with Rachel again and we're talking about the assignment we got in English and what we're going to do for it. Well, when I say talk I mean Rachel is talking and I'm listening and putting in a word here or there. Kurt butts in to our conversation, interrupting Rachel.

"You know you can tell her to stop, or just put up a hand to silence her," He puts his hand up in a stopping gesture, "That's what we do when she goes on like that." He finishes with a smirk which Mercedes returns.

I look at Rachel and her head is down and her cheeks are flushed with embarrassment. But she's not angry at his intrusion. They must do this a lot. I'm getting mad now. How can they treat this amazing person like this?

"Actually, Rachel and I were having a nice conversation and I have no problem with how much she talks. I quite like it. Especially since I'm on the quiet side. You on the other hand just rudely interrupted her only to insult her. Now that, I'm not okay with. You want to join the conversation and put in your two cents? Fine. The more the merrier. But don't pretend to know what I like and don't like about Rachel. If I had a problem I would address her about it myself, alone. I wouldn't embarrass her or make myself look like an ass." I finish to a completely quiet table. Everyone is looking at me. They're shocked that I just defended Rachel.

"Really you like how she talks?" Kurt adds, not ready to give up the fight. "You can barely understand her half the time."

"Just because you have a smaller vocabulary doesn't mean everyone does. And if that was the issue, I'm sure Rachel wouldn't mind simplifying things for you. Would you Rach?" She's staring at me with a deer in the headlights look. It takes her a minute and she clears her throat before answering.

"Yes, of course I would be hap…"

"That's not what I was implying at all!" Kurt butts in again, and I can see that he's angry as well as embarrassed.

"Oh, well I guess you should have explained it better then. But again you just interrupted while she was speaking. Again not cool"

"It's just MANHANDS!" Kurt yells standing up. I stand up to across the table from him. I'm at least a few inches taller.

"What did you call her?" Kurt shrinks back a little from my angry glare.

"I..it's just a name people call her." Kurt stutters out.

"Who calls her? Her friends? That seems like a very hurtful nickname for friends. You are friends with her right?"

"Y y yes"

"Hmm. It doesn't seem like it to me. You interrupt her when she talks, you barely listen to her, are constantly rolling your eyes at her, and you call her names that I'm guessing her bullies call her?" I look to Rachel for confirmation on that last one. She nods her head.

"I don't know Rach, It seems like you're getting the short end of the stick with these guys." Tina, Mike and Artie are at least looking ashamed at what they've been doing. I see Mercedes and Kurt start to argue but I glare at them and they stay silent. "From what I've seen Rachel is nothing but accommodating to you guys. She happily greets you whenever you pass or are in classes together, she will listen with the utmost attention when you guys are talking, and will patiently wait to add what is on her mind. She won't say anything when you interrupt her and she never says anything when you roll your eyes at her or ignore her. And trust me, she does see when you do that and so does everyone else" I look at all of each one of them and their eyes are trained on the table right in front of them. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that Rach, but I had to say something." I pick up my tray. "I think it would be best if I finish my lunch somewhere else. I'll see you in class Rach." And with that I walk off to the "band geek" table and ask if I can sit down. I don't look back at Rachel's table because if I did I would want to go back and yell at them some more. I can feel their eyes on me though.

My body is shaking from the adrenalin so I try and take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I start up a conversation with some of my band mates. Yes, I am a band geek. I started playing trumpet when I was in fourth grade with my best friend. He quit after the first year and I stuck with it. I love music so there was no way I was giving it up.

Once lunch is over I get to my last class I share with Rachel as fast as I can and wait for her to show up. I really hope she's not mad that I yelled at her friends. If you can even call them that. I've got to stop thinking about it or I'm gonna get angry again. About a minute after I sit down Rachel come speeding into class. I stand up ready for her to lay into me but instead she lunges at me and hugs me so hard it leaves me breathless. Or that could just be because Rachel is hugging me. Yeah, probably the latter. She hasn't released me yet and my limbs are finally working again so I wrap them around her waist and hug her closer to me and burry my head in her hair. She smells like strawberries. She smells amazing! If I could stand here all day in her arms I would be happy for the rest of my life.

I feel her shaking in my arms so I draw her away from me so I can look into her eyes. She's crying. Oh crap! What'd I do? I knew she was going to be mad at me. Good going Fabray! You made her cry!

"I'm so sorry Rachel. I know I shouldn't have talked to them like that but they were being so mean. I just couldn't sit there and let them…." She cuts me off with a watery laugh.

"No Quinn, I'm not upset with you. I could never be mad at you after you did something like that; After all you've done for me. I'm just so happy and touched that you stood up for me like that. No one has ever done something like that for me. Ever. Thank you," she snakes her arms back around my neck and hugs me again. "Thank you so much."

"Anytime Rach." I state. Totally relieved that she's okay with what I did. She leans back and looks up at me again and I wipe her fallen tears away with my thumbs.

"I just don't understand why you're doing this." She says with complete confusion in her eyes. My heart breaks again at how she really doesn't know how amazing she is. I just look into her eyes and say the most obvious and true thing there is to say.

"Because you're worth it." I see her blush and that mega-watt smile that I love so much appears. Before either of us can say anything else we hear voices coming closer and realize that we're still in school. We let go of each other and sit down at our desks. We don't say anything else during class. She seems lost in thought and I'm worried I said too much to her. Every once is a while we'll catch each other's glances and look away quickly, each blushing and smiling. I don't think I retained any information from class. Hopefully there wasn't anything important covered.

Rachel and I part ways and I head off to the band room. On the way I see two huge hockey players hovering ominously over Kurt. I also see the slushies their holding in their hands. Where do people get all these things! This can't be cost effective for them. They buy it just to throw it away. I don't get it.

"Hey!" I yell running over to them before they can release their sugar bombs. I stand in front of Kurt, shielding him from the lumbering oafs. "Don't you think you'd be using your money a little more wisely if you drank that instead of tossing them at people smaller than you?" The jocks look at me then look at each other and shrug. Before I know it I'm hit with a wall of ice that blinds me.

Holy crap that burns! This can't be good for my contacts. I really wasn't prepared for this sensation. It's like getting the wind knocked out of you while tiny daggers attack your exposed skin. I bet this is what it feels like to do the polar plunge. But they do it voluntarily. Crazies!

I try the best I can to wipe my eyes clean but it's no use. It seems that they threw both slushies at me and I'm covered in cold sticky syrup. All of a sudden I hear someone shout from down the hall. I open my eyes and see Karofsky come barreling down the hallway and pushing one of the hockey guys into a nearby locker.

"Pick on someone your own size you douche bags!" I can tell that Karofsky is easily bigger than both hockey players and he's seething right now.

"What the hell Karofsky!" The kid with the red haired mullet whines. "We're just putting the new girl in her place. Just cause she's on the football team doesn't mean she can disrupt the order we have around here. You should be thanking us."

"Quinn's off limits. In fact, everyone is off limits now. No more slushies. You hear me? You're done with them or I'll come after you." He lets mullet go and he stumbles and almost losses his balance.

"Looks like we got another fag on our hit list!" The guy shouts as him and his buddy retreat down the hall. Dave is about to go after them when I grab his arm.

"Don't Dave, they're not worth it." I smile up at him and that seems to ease his anger. I turn around and see Kurt still standing behind me shocked. It looks like I was a great barricade for him. His shoes are the only things that seem to have been hit by the back splash.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Dave grabs onto my arm and leads me to the nearest bathroom. I hang on so I don't slip. On our way I see a few teachers pass us by and they don't even give me a second glance. That's just awesome.

Dave leads me into a bathroom. I'm not sure if it's girls or guys but it doesn't really matter. The bell just rang so everyone should be in class. The door opens after us and Kurt walks through looking unsure.

"Why'd you help me?" I look at him from the sink and then go back to washing my hair and face while Dave is gathering towels from the dispenser.

"I don't like bullies." I look at him. "Of any kind." He looks down at his feet. He got the message that I was calling him a bully for what he's been doing to Rachel. "Two against one is never fair. I thought I'd just even it out, maybe help them see reason." I sigh dramatically. "But alas, it was no use." Kurt smiles at that.

"I'm sorry, that you got slushied because of me, and about earlier, with Rachel. You were right I was being rude. We all have been and we apologized to her after you left."

"Good." I take some paper towels from Dave and can see that he's staring at Kurt and biting his lip. I nudge him and when he looks I tilt my head towards Kurt to tell him to go talk to him. He understands but grows pale and doesn't move. I take the remaining paper towels from him and push him towards Kurt. He glares at me but then clears his throat and turns to Kurt. I go back to cleaning myself off to try and give them some privacy.

"Hey Kurt, I've been meaning to talk to you today…. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am about how I treated you." He turns to look at me and I smile to encourage him to go on. "You never deserved what I did and said to you and I'm so sorry. I know this might not mean much now. But I promise that I'll never treat you like that again and will try to protect you from other people that are targeting you when I can. I'm sure you don't believe me and can't accept my apology, but I'm going to prove to you that I've changed." He lets out a big breath and his shoulders slump down in relief of getting all that out.

Kurt hasn't said anything for a few minutes now and I am finally done getting slush off of me. I look to Kurt and it looks like he's in shock. I try and break the tension.

"I really feel bad for the janitors at this school." Both boys look at me funny. I look down at my feet where there is a sticky puddle. "They must spend all day with a mop in their hands cleaning this crap up. You would think that would be enough to get slushies banned from school. Just imagine the cost of floor cleaner." They both laugh at that.

"Thanks for apologizing Dave. I'm not sure if I can trust you yet or am ready to forgive you, but I'm willing to give you a chance." Dave gives Kurt a big smile. I think that might have scared Kurt. I don't think he's ever seen Dave smile before.

"Thanks Kurt, I promise you won't regret it." Kurt nods at him.

"Well it looks like you're alright in here so I'll just head off to class. Thanks a lot for helping me Quinn." I nod and he's out the door. I turn to Dave and he's still smiling.

"So? How do you feel?" I ask him.

"Great! I talked to a few others earlier today too. They seemed more frightened than Kurt did, and I doubt they believed me, but I'm really glad I did it." His smile only gets bigger.

"That's awesome dude! I'd hug you but I'm sticky so I'm gonna wait till I'm a bit more clean. Thanks for helping back there. It really helps to know that someone's got my back."

"Always" He replies and we do our handshake.

"Alright, let's get to class."

Practice was tough today. Coach did a lot of endurance training to help get us ready for next weeks game. We're playing one of the better teams so we have to be as prepared as we can be. When I'm leaving to get to soccer practice I see Karofsky talking to Rachel. She seems more frightened than Kurt did earlier. I knew I should have followed him around today. I decide to stay and make sure Rachel's okay before I go. I have a few minutes to spare anyways.

When Karofsky leaves Rachel is just standing there. I start to head her way when I see… oh what's his name again? Something to do with a shark.. dolphin… whale…..FINN! There we go. He walks up to her and kisses her on the cheek. That seems to get her out of her daze and she looks up and smiles at him. Hmm, are they dating? Just then he leans in again and kisses her on the lips and I'm crushed. Yep, I'd say they're dating. I can't watch anymore so I get to my car quickly and drive away.

While I'm driving away I will myself not to look in the rearview mirror in fear of getting a glimpse of them together. I'm glad that I have soccer to go to now. Hopefully that will get my mind off of what I've just seen. I arrive at practice and start warming up. I'm the first one there so I start kicking the ball around just focusing on the ball at my feet. Them kissing replays in my head again and my heart breaks a little more each time. It makes sense. Someone as amazing as Rachel wouldn't be interested in me anyways.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_-Strange Day-_

**RPOV**

I'm up right at 6:00am and get right into my morning workout. I'm still a bit down about Finn abandoning Glee, but singing yesterday really did help. I can't help but feel nervous. Now that Finn isn't in Glee we won't have anything in common anymore. Plus we won't be able to see each other as much. I am still mad at him that he suggested I quit one of my classes so we can be together more. He knows how important it is that I get out of here and onto Broadway. But he is my boyfriend. He's the only one that's shown any interest in me.

I finish my workout and start getting ready for school. Right when I'm finishing my breakfast I hear Finn honking outside. He texted me last night saying that he would pick me up so we could spend more time together. I can see my dads roll their eyes at Finns lack of manners. They've commented so many times before that they don't even say anything anymore. I kiss them goodbye and head out to his car.

"Hey babe" He greets me with a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning Finn. Thanks for picking me up."

"No Problem." He smiles and drives off towards school.

"Finn I want to talk to you about Glee. I know you said that you don't want to be involved anymore but we need you. Please won't you consider coming back?"

"We talked about this yesterday Rachel, I can't be in Glee anymore. The guys are really giving me a hard time."

"But Mike and Puck are still in it and they're on the team as well. Surely you three can stick together and be alright." I argue.

"That's not the point Rachel. I want to hang out with the other guys without them hassling me. Look, I know you want me there so we can be together more but it's just not working for me. We'll find time together. How bout we go out this Friday? Sound good?" By then we've made it to school and he gets out of the car before I can even answer him. A date does sound nice. I run to catch up to him.

"Of course Finn. A date Friday would be great." He takes my hand and walks me to my locker. He deposits me there and goes off to his first lesson. Maybe this won't be too bad. We can make this work. We haven't been on a date in a while so this will be great. I make sure I have all I need and head off to my first class.

Classes seem to fly by with Quinn by my side and before I know it we're at lunch talking about our English assignment. Of course I'm talking more but she's smiling so obviously she doesn't mind. As we're talking I see Kurt and Mercedes looking at us and it's apparent that they're making fun of me. Just then Kurt interrupts me. I was wondering when he was going to do that.

"You know you can tell her to stop, or just put up a hand to silence her," He puts his hand in my face. "That's what we do when she goes on like that." I am used to this by now so I just stay quiet. They probably want to talk about something. I would hate to monopolize all of Quinn's time, but then she speaks up.

"Actually, Rachel and I were having a nice conversation and I have no problem with how much she talks. I quite like it. Especially since I'm on the quiet side. You on the other hand just rudely interrupted her only to insult her. Now that, I'm not okay with. You want to join the conversation and put in your two cents? Fine. The more the merrier. But don't pretend to know what I like and don't like about Rachel. If I had a problem I would tell her about it myself, alone. I wouldn't embarrass her or make myself look like an ass." I look to the others at the table and they're all stunned by what just happened. Honestly so am I.

"Really you like how she talks?" Kurt adds. I can tell that he's embarrassed and wants to try and prove his point. "You can barely understand her half the time."

"Just because you have a smaller vocabulary doesn't mean everyone does. And if that was the issue, I'm sure Rachel wouldn't mind simplifying things for you. Would you Rach?" I can't believe she just said that. Kurt's going to be pissed. I realize there was a question in there so I answer.

"Yes, of course I would be hap…"

"That's not what I was implying at all!" Yep he's pissed.

"Oh, well I guess you should have explained it better then. But again you just interrupted while she was speaking. Again not cool"

"It's just MANHANDS!" Kurt stands up and Quinn is quick to follow suit and glares at him.

"What did you call her?" He shrinks down, deflating more and more under her angry gaze.

"I..it's just a name people call her." She's actually getting him to stutter!

"Who calls her? Her friends? That seems like a very hurtful nickname for friends. You are friends with her right?"

"Y y yes"

"Hmm. It doesn't seem like it to me. You interrupt her when she talks, you barely listen to her, are constantly rolling your eyes at her, and you call her names that I'm guessing her bullies call her?" I nod my head when she looks at me.

"I don't know Rach, It seems like you're getting the short end of the stick with these guys." This is amazing. She's defending me! Again! I want to stop her and tell her that it's not that big of a deal. That this sort of stuff happens all the time. But she's on a roll.

I look to the others and Tina, Mike and Artie look ashamed, Mercedes and Kurt seem like they're about to argue with her but she glares at them again and they all but freeze in their seats.

"From what I've seen Rachel is nothing but accommodating to you guys. She happily greets you whenever you pass or are in classes together, she will listen with the utmost attention when you guys are talking, and will patiently wait to add what is on her mind. She won't say anything when you interrupt her and she never says anything when you roll your eyes at her or ignore her. And trust me, she does see when you do that and so does everyone else" She stops for a moment and looks at me. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that Rach, but I had to say something." She picks up her tray; "I think it would be best if I finish my lunch somewhere else. I'll see you in class Rach."

No, don't go. I want to call her back but then decide that following her would be the better option. After hearing everything she's been saying she does make some valid points. I'm just about to get up myself when Tina starts talking.

"I'm really sorry Rachel. Quinn was right, you've been nothing but kind to us and we've been awful." Mike and Artie nod in agreement. Kurt and Mercedes are staring down at the floor and looking like their parents just put them on time out. Kurt speaks up.

"Yea Rachel, we're so sorry. I was way out of line. Especially calling you that name. I was just embarrassed and my ego got the better of me. Do you think you can forgive us?" All of them are looking at me and I can tell that their apologies are sincere.

"Of course, I'll forgive you guys. I can see that you all are regretful so we can put this all behind us." I smile my signature Rachel Berry smile and look to where Quinn is. I really want to go sit with her but she looks like she having a nice conversation with the people at her table. It seems like she can make friends anywhere. She's laughing with the people at her table and I can't help but smile. She's so pretty, especially when she smiles. Just them Tina leans in close to me.

"I really like her Rachel, and she treats you so great. She seems like a really great _friend_." I turn and look at Tina, who is smiling at me and looking like she knows something,

"She really is." I smile and think about all the amazing things she's done for me within the span of a few days.

Once the bell rang I rushed to get to my locker for my things then head straight to my class to talk to Quinn. All thoughts go right out of my head when I see her. I go right up to her and throw myself at her, wrapping my arms around her neck. I feel her wrapping her arms around my waist and I start crying. I can't help it. It's like nothing I've ever felt. I feel like… like I'm home. I've never felt so safe and comforted like I do now, besides when I'm with my dads. I feel her pull away from me and I just want to pull her back to me as close as I can get her. I look in her eyes and I see she's worried.

"I'm so sorry Rachel. I know I shouldn't have talked to them like that but they were being so mean. I just couldn't sit there and let them…." I laugh at how cute she is. She thinks I'm mad at her for defending me.

"No Quinn, I'm not upset with you. I could never be mad at you after you did something like that; After all you've done for me. I'm just so happy and touched that you stood up for me like that. No one has ever done something like that for me. Ever. Thank you," I feel the need to hug her again so I do. "Thank you so much." I feel her tighten her arms around me again. I think I'm addicted to her.

"Anytime Rach." I look up into her gorgeous hazel eyes and she wipes away my fallen tears. Why is she so nice to me?

"I just don't understand why you're doing this." I have to know. No one has ever been this nice to me. Not even Finn, my boyfriend. What she says back throws me off balance.

"Because you're worth it." I can't help the smile that inhabits my face. It's almost painful. She said that as though it was obvious. Before I can say anything, not that I would be able to, we're brought out of our little world by some kind of noise. I'm not sure what. I forgot we were even in school. We sit in our seats and wait for class to start. I don't say anything because honestly I have no clue what to say. During the lesson I keep looking over to her just to make sure that she's still there; that this isn't just a dream. When she catches me looking I turn away quickly, embarrassed at being caught. When the bell rings we go our separate ways with shy goodbyes. I really wanted to hug her again but I don't. I don't want to freak her out.

The rest of the day went by quickly. I barely paid attention in class. I kept thinking back to Quinn and how amazing it felt being in her arms. I'm still thinking about it while I'm waiting for Finn to get done with football practice. That's why I don't see David Karofsky sneak up on me.

"Hey Rachel." I jump back startled out of my thoughts. Oh no, should I run? He can sees how scared I am and puts his hands up. "Don't worry, I'm not armed." He smiles at me but I'm not falling for it.

"I just wanted to talk to you quick. I know this may not mean much to you but I'm really sorry about how I've treated you. You don't have to believe me or accept my apology but I promise it's sincere and I'm going to try my best to prove it to you." He finishes and I just stand there shocked. I know I'm making the situation awkward but I have no words to describe what is happening right now.

"Look you don't have to say anything. I'm sure you're probably not convinced that I've changed and that's fine. I'm going to go and leave you alone. I am really sorry Rachel." And with that he turns and walks away.

Not long after David leaves Finn shows up, (thankfully showered). He kisses my cheek and I'm pulled out of my head.

"Hey babe," He smiles at me and leans down to kiss me thoroughly. I kiss him back but can't help but feel like something is missing. I pull away after a few minutes.

"I'm really tired Finn. Do you mind just taking me home?"

"Sure, no problem." I can tell he's disappointed I don't want to kiss more but I just can't right now. So much has happened today and I'm exhausted.

When I get home I run straight to my Dads to talk about everything that happened. I tell them everything, especially big things. And there have been a few big things that happened today. After I'm done telling them my day it has been decided that I need to find a day for Quinn to come over. My parents are dying to meet her and repay her for all that she's done. I just want to spend as much time as I can with her. Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow we will have a plan to do just that.


	7. Chapter 7

**All right, here's chapter 7. Sorry again for any mistakes.**

**Chapter 7**

_-Dining with the Berrys-_

**QPOV**

Last night wasn't the best. I came home exhausted from two hard practices, but was still upset about Rachel. My parents could tell right away that I had a rough day so we sat down and talked about everything that happened. They were really upset about me getting slushied and were ready to go in to talk to the principle. After a few minutes of ranting I convinced them to let me handle it. They also told me not to feel too down about Rachel. That there still may be a chance with her or there are sure to be other suitors at this school.

I convinced myself that it was good that I found out now that Rachel's taken instead of later when I get more attached to her. I'll just put her in the friends category and leave her there. Yep, easy as that. It's just… she's the first girl I've been interested in since… Yea I need to stop thinking about that. I'll just move on.

As soon as dinner was finished I went up to my room to sleep since I was so exhausted. My mind however, would not shut off so I ended up staying up way to late and getting minimal sleep.

So now here I am walking out of the principles office feeling a lot worse than when I started the day. Apparently I need witnesses, (teachers), to report it. But he assures me that the guys that did it must have just tripped and it was a big "accident." How did this Figgins guy get to be the principle? Whatever, I need to get to class.

As soon as I get to the room put my head down on the desk and try to rest a little before class.

"Hey Quinn!" I jump from the sudden noise. I think I actually fell asleep for a bit there. I look up and see Brittany standing in front of me and Santana is right behind her.

"Hey Britt, What's up? Hey S." Santana just nods.

"Not much, I just wanted to see how you're doing?" Brittany's my cousin. Her mom and my dad are siblings. That was another perk of moving to Lima, (besides and awesome house), getting to spend time with Britt.

It just so happens that Santana lives right next door to me. So me Britt and Santana spent a lot of time hanging out when I moved here during the summer. Santana was a little off-putting at first but once you get to know her and she gets to know you she's really not that bad. In fact, she's pretty hilarious and she treats Britt amazing.

"I'm good, just getting used to the school. You know." I smile at them.

"We heard you've been throwing stones in the fragile pond that is McKinley's social order." Santana adds with a smirk. "More like boulders actually. You going after all the meatheads you have makes me think you got hit one too many times in the head at practice."

"Haha, yea I seem to have gotten a bit of the backsplash on me yesterday, but it's nothing I didn't expect to happen."

"I get why you feel like you need to be the hero and save all the nerds but do you really need to spend so much time with the dwarf? I mean I think that's stretching your community service a little too far there." I'm not sure who she's referring to.

"Who are you talking about S?"

"The midget? The smurf? The ewok?" I'm just staring at her with a blank look. She looks exasperated. "Berry! Rachel Berry! Seriously Q, she's beyond help." Now I'm mad and I think Santana sees the change.

"So you're someone you call her names?! Really S? How could you be so mean? What did Rachel ever do to you?"

"Nothing, except open her mouth. She never stops talking unless you stop her. The names help me in doing just that. Lighten up Q."

"No, you of all people should know what happens when it comes to bullying! Nothing good!" Santana start to defend herself but I don't let her. "No, you know what happened to me. And yet here you are hurting innocent people." I'm not even mad anymore just disappointed. Santana doesn't say anything, she just walks off.

"Don't worry Quinn San secretly likes Rachel"

"How do you know that Britt?"

"Cause she likes the smurfs and this ewoks are cute." And with that Brittany turns around and goes to catch up to Santana. I smile at how smart Britt is and how much she knows Santana.

I'm brought out of my thoughts when Rachel sits down next to me buzzing with excitement. My stomach flips and I can't help the huge smile on my face when she greets me good morning. Then remember yesterday and silently berate myself. _She has a boyfriend! STOP!_

"Hey Quinn, how are you this morning?" I can tell she's trying to be polite and do proper welcoming procedures but really wanting to skip that. I laugh at how cute she is. _Ah boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend…_

"I'm good Rach, what's going on?" I decide to give her a way to get to whatever she wants to talk about.

"Well, I know we talked a little bit ago about coming over to meet my fathers and have dinner. So I was wondering if you would be interested in doing that this weekend, say Saturday?" I see her let out a breath and smile at herself. I'm sure she's happy that she didn't go on a long-winded rant.

"That sounds awesome Rach, what time?" I can't help but feel giddy at the thought of spending some time with Rachel outside of school.

"5:30 sound okay?"

"Sounds good"

"Could I get your number so I can text you my address?" She looks nervous after asking me that.

"Of course, I've been wanting to get yours actually." She smiles at this and we exchange numbers. Mr. Schue comes in and starts the lesson. I know I'm not missing anything so I let my mind wander to thoughts of the beautiful brunette sitting beside me.

Saturday could not come fast enough. The rest of the week was agonizingly slow. Dave and I both got slushied a few more times and each time teachers were there to witness it. Yet none of them said anything. The most we got was a sad look and then they'd walk away.

Though it was rough it couldn't keep my spirits down. It was finally Saturday and I'm so excited I woke up at 6am. 6am! On a Saturday. Ugh now I gotta wait almost twelve hours before I can see Rachel.

I already picked out what I was going to wear yesterday. Dave helped me pick it out, so I can't distract myself with that. Soccer practice was canceled and my parents decided to go out antiquing so I'm home all alone with nothing to do to distract me. I'm so nervous about meeting Rachel's parents and spending time alone with her.

After going though the TV channels for the tenth time I decide that I need to do something to calm my nerves. I change into some shorts, t-shirt, sneakers and my iPod and head out to get to know the neighborhood. I put my iPod on shuffle and soon get lost in the music.

While I'm heading home from my run I see a man probably my dads age battling some groceries. It seems like he's loosing the battle so I run over to help him.

"May I help you with those sir?" I try and ask as nicely as I can. I know some people don't like strangers just coming up to them. He looks startled by me but after the initial shock wears off he smiles and I return it.

"That would be wonderful dear!" I grab a couple bags and follow him inside. We take a few more trips and are now placing the last bags on the counter. Battle won. "Thank you so much…" I realize he wants my name.

"Quinn, Quinn Fabray." I hold out my hand for him to shake. His eyes go wide and his smile grows as he enthusiastically shakes my hand.

"The Quinn Fabray?" He asks.

I'm not sure how to respond, has he heard of me? Well, it is a small town.

"Is that the "infamous Quinn Fabray" or the "famous Quinn Fabray"?" I ask. He laughs at that.

"Definitely "the famous Quinn Fabray" with the way my daughter talks about you. And I have to say she's been quite accurate so far."

I'm trying to figure out who his daughter is.

"My name is Hiram Berry, I believe you know my daughter Rachel. And if I'm not mistaken you are scheduled to come over for dinner tonight. That you just helped bring the groceries in for."

Oh wow, this is one of Rachel's dads. I'm glad I haven't made a fool of myself… yet. Oh no I need to knock on wood. I move discretely as I can to the doorway and knock. Okay, all better.

"I do know Rachel, and I'm looking forward to dinner tonight. Thank you so much for inviting me Mr. Berry."

"Please Quinn, call me Hiram." He smiles sweetly at me. "Would you like something to drink? You look parched."

"Thanks, but I'm good. I should be going. I have to go get ready for a dinner I'm going to." We laugh.

"Alright, well when you come back I'll get you something."

"That sounds great sir."

"Hiram, is there any requests for dinner or dessert?"

"I'm sure anything you make will be amazing, so I have nothing to add." I smile ready to make my exit before I embarrass myself.

"You keep talking like that and I might just have to keep you."

"Ha-ha, I'm sure my mom would have something to say about that, maybe you guys can work on some kind of schedule with me. It was great to meet you, but I better get going if I want to make it back here on time."

"Alright sweetie, thank you again for helping. We'll see you tonight."

"Bye" I head out and realize that Rachel lives really close to me. That's convenient.

It took no time at all to get ready since I prepared everything in advance. Now I'm back at the Berry's front door, incredibly early. I just couldn't stay at my house any longer. I was hoping the drive would take a little longer, but it didn't. I couldn't exactly go five miles an hour when cars were behind me.

I've been on their front door for about five minutes and I'm debating between ringing the bell and going back to my car to wait. I'm a half hour early and I don't want to be a burden if they're still getting things ready. All right I'll just go wait in my car. Right when I turn to go back to my car the door opens and Rachel is standing in it's wake. I'm breathless for a moment taking her all in. She's wearing a white and yellow dress, her hair is flowing down her shoulders in soft curls and she's wearing just a touch of eye shadow and lip-gloss. She's stunning. I finally realize I've been staring at her and haven't said anything to her yet.

"Hey." I squeak out. I clear my throat and groan at myself. "You look great." She blushes and looks down then back up at me.

"Thanks, so do you." I look down at myself. I'm wearing dark skinny jeans a black v-neck t and black flats. I feel a bit underdressed compared to her.

"Thanks." I smile because that's all I can do around her. "I'm sorry I'm a bit early. I… was just a bit excited for tonight and was getting antsy and my house. I was just going to hang in my car so I wasn't a nuisance to you or your dads."

"Nonsense Quinn, it's perfectly fine that you're early and you will not wait in your car. You will never be a nuisance and I'm glad that you're excited because so am I. My dads are as well. Actually, they might be more excited than I am. Come in; let me introduce them to you. And don't worry everything is all set, we're just waiting for the lasagna to finish in the oven." She grabs my hand and pulls me into the house.

My hand feels like it's on fire where Rachel is touching it. But a good kinds of on fire, if that makes sense. I can't explain it. It just feels right. I really want to move my hand just a little bit more and intertwine our fingers but I know I can't. She's got a boyfriend, she's straight and I just need to keep reminding myself that.

Rachel leads me passed what looks like a living room and stairs, down a hallway and into the kitchen where her parents were fixing dinner.

"Dad, Daddy this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my daddy Hiram and my dad Leroy. They're both smiling brightly at me. Hiram the smaller Jewish man I met earlier steps towards me.

"Hi sir it's nice to see you again." I shake his hand.

"Good to see you again as well Quinn. And what did I tell you earlier?" He raises his eyebrows and puts his hands on his hips.

"Sorry Hiram." I smile sheepishly at him.

"I think we missed something here star." Rachel's taller, darker skinned, more intimidating father says to Rachel.

"Quinn and I are old friends." Hiram replies and both Leroy and Rachel are confused. He laughs and explains further. "I was having some trouble bringing the groceries this morning and Quinn here came to my aid." They still looked a little confused.

"I was running around the neighborhood and I saw Hiram with his hands full so I helped him carry in the groceries." That seemed to clear things up.

"Rachel's right, you are a hero. Saving people wherever you go." Leroy says, "It's nice to finally meet you." He extends his hand and I take it.

"You too Mr. Berry."

"Call me Leroy, Quinn. There's too many Berry's in this house." I nod at him.

"Well why don't I give you a tour while we wait for dinner to be ready?" Rachel asks.

"Sounds good." She claps excitedly and starts talking as if she's a tour guide in a museum. It's extremely cute, (In a completely platonic kind of way of course).

"As you can see this is the kitchen, where all our nutritious meals are cooked." She sweeps her hands at the whole kitchen space. She goes towards the fridge and points toward a stack of papers in a little basket clipped to the fridge. "Or ordered from." I smile and realize the stack of papers is take-out menus. They must have every menu available in Lima. That stack is huge.

"Carrying on.." She leads me back down the hall towards the living room. "The living room." I look around the room that is littered with pictures. I step up to one wall and look at all the pictures of Rachel, her dads and her extended family. I smile at how much love shines through the pictures. I feel eyes on me and turn to see Rachel looking at me with an intense stare. When she sees me looking back at her she smiles and leads me to the stairs.

"Up here we have all of our bedrooms and the office. My parents room and the office are to the left." She turns to the right. "These are our guestrooms." She gestures to two rooms we pass." The bathroom, and this is my room." We're at the end of the hall. Her door is white just like the others but there is a gold start on it as well. "Stars are kinda my thing." She points to the start then opens her door.

When I step into her room I'm greeted with four lilac colored walls. Her bed is in the far corner of the room. There's a desk against the same wall facing towards the window. She has a laptop and other electronics on top of it. On the same wall as the door she has her dresser with a TV on top of it. There's two bookshelves as well, one contains books the other has movies. There are Broadway musicals posters and pictures hung up around the room. Attached to the room is a walk in closet that connects to an in suite bathroom. It's nice; it feels comfortable and homey like the other parts of her house that I've seen so far. I look at her walls and see a bunch of playbills of shows she's' been to.

"This is great." I tell her, turning my head towards her. "I really like your room."

"Thanks, I do too." She walks further into the room, sitting on her bed. "This is a place I can relax and not have to worry about other people." She has a thoughtful look on her face. I can tell that this place is special to her. Judging by the way people treat her at school, this is probably the only place she can be herself and not worry about anything else. When our eyes meet she smiles at me and gets up from her bed.

"Shall we continue?" She asks in her tour guide voice again.

"We shall."

"Good because I have to show you the best place in the house." She grabs my hand and yanks me out of her room and back down the stairs. She leads me back into the kitchen and gestures to the laundry room and backyard/patio area quickly before pulling my down a set of stairs to a dark room. I hang on to her hand a little tighter. Just because it's dark and…. I could fall down the stairs if I'm not careful. Or she could so… yea.

When we reach the bottom she turns on the lights and I'm shocked at what I see. On One side of the room there is a mini-bar, some couches and an entertainment center with a few shelves of movies. What really catches my attention is the stage on the other side of the room. There's special lights set up that I'm sure you can change for what ever mood you're trying to set. A pink blinged out mic sits right in the middle of it and there is a box off to the side which I am assuming is for karaoke. Along the walls there are trophy cases that are stuffed full of awards and medals.

"Wow. I'm just taking a wild guess here, but you kinda maybe a little bit like to sing?" She laughs and I join in.

"How'd you know?" She asks in mock astonishment.

"No Idea. I just threw out something completely random." I smile at her. "So Broadway huh?"

"Yea, it's been my dream since I won my first award at three months." I can't help but chuckle at the image of a tiny Rachel Berry crawling around some stage. I'm sure she stole the show. Once you see he you can't help but be memorized by her. I'm sure her singing is no different.

"You'll have to sing for me sometime. I'm sure you're amazing." I tell her with no doubt in my voice. She just nods.

"You could hear a lot if you wanted to. I'm in Glee club at school, you should join it's a lot of fun." She smiles at me. I'm not sure what a Glee club is but I'm sure it's awesome if Rachel's in it. Deciding it would be better to figure out what Glee club is before I sign up I ask her. Those eyes are dangerous.

"What's Glee club?"

"You didn't have Glee clubs at your previous schools?" I just shake my head. "It's a club where you sing and dance. It's also called show choir." Ah I know what that is. "It's a lot of fun and we go to competitions. This year if we qualify we could go to Ney York!"

"That sounds great, but I'm not really into singing in front of people. I don't think I'm very good and I think I'd get too nervous to even try." Once I say it I feel bad because Rachel's smile falls into a frown but she quickly recovers.

"I could always give you personal lessons Quinn, I am a very good teacher and I am sure I could help you overcome your stage fright and improve your singing." She smiles and stares at me with those eyes. They should be illegal! I close my eyes to clear my head.

"I'll think about it okay?" She seems okay with that answer. Before we can say anything else, Hiram calls down to us that dinner is ready. I'm happy to have the interruption, because I'm sure after a few more minutes with those eyes I would have caved to anything she wanted.

"So Quinn, Rachel tells us you're from Illinois, How do you like Ohio so far?" Leroy asks.

"I like it so far. I miss my family. Most of my mom's family lives really close to each other. But some of dads family lives here so it works I guess. Most of the people here are really nice." I smile at all of them. "The school I'm still getting used to and I'm not the biggest fan of some of the people there but not much can be done about that right now." I continue to eat my dinner. "This lasagna is amazing!"

"Why thank you sweetheart, it's my own secret recipe." Hiram beams.

"This is the best lasagna I've ever tasted." I emphasize my point by shoveling more into my mouth.

"Quinn stop right there or we won't be able to live with him. His ego will be too big for us." Leroy jokes.

"Oh you don't listen to him Quinn. You can compliment me all you want, but if you go too much further I really am going to keep you." Hiram smiles at me.

"Daddy!" Rachel exclaims. "Don't threaten my friend with kidnapping, you're going to scare her off!"

"Ha-ha, it's okay Rach. It wouldn't be so bad staying here against my will if all the food is like this." I look into her eyes. "The company wouldn't be bad either." I smile and blush at what just came out of my mouth and in front of Rachel's fathers.

Rachel smiles and looks down at her plate. It looks like she's blushing but her hair has formed a curtain around her face so I'm not sure.

"What do your parents do Quinn?" Leroy breaks the silence that fell over the room.

"My dad is the general manager of the packaging plant here in town. That's why moved here, because he got a promotion. My mom's a lawyer and is working at a firm just outside of town."

"Oh really? I'm a lawyer what's her specialty?" Hiram asks

"Family law. What about you?"

"Corporate law, there's not a lot of that around here so I mainly handle cases in Columbus."

"What do you like to do? Any special talents?" Leroy asks.

"Dad stop interrogating her!" Rachel turns to me. "I'm sorry Quinn you don't have to answer anything you don't want to."

"It's okay Rach, I don't mind." I reassure her. "I really like sports and being active so I usually have something, or a few things to keep me busy. I'm on the football team and on the club soccer team in town right now."

"Really? You're on the football team? I didn't know that." Rachel asks.

"Yea, Coach Beast recruited me. I've never played on a team before but I really like it."

"What position?" Leroy asks.

"Wide receiver, but I'll probably play running back and corner back as well."

"I see, I was quarterback when I played." Leroy beams.

"Dad was really good. He played in college." Rachel adds.

"That's awesome! Where'd you play?" We talk a bit more about football and they ask me about soccer as well. When it's time to clean up I offer my services for dishes. They refused at first but I insisted since they made dinner.

"It's what we do at my house, If you cook you don't clean up." With that I head into the kitchen followed closely by Rachel. I washed then handed them to Rachel to dry.

"You're dads are great Rach. I really like them." I look over to her and smile.

"They really like you too. I think my daddy is serious about keeping you so be careful with him." We decide to play a game to get to know each other better. We take turns asking questions and we both answer them. I start.

"Favorite color?"

"Purple, if you couldn't tell from my room."

"I would have never guessed, Forest green."

"Favorite subject?"

"Math."

"English."

"Favorite food?"

"Fries."

"Is it hard to find fries you can eat? Being Vegan and all."

"It can be, but when I do I can eat a large order by myself. I get very possessive of them, I rarely share them." I laugh at the thought of Rachel fighting people off a huge mountain of fries.

"Thanks for the warning. I'm the same way with bacon. I need it to sustain my life force." I mentally face palm at how dorky I just sounded.

"Bacon! Do you realize what those poor animals go through just so you can enjoy a few pieces of bacon?!" Rachel seems angry at me.

"I wouldn't say it's a few, it's more like a whole package…." She doesn't like my joke. "I'm sorry Rachel, that wasn't funny. I'm just addicted I can't help it." I really hope she's not mad at me.

"Well I'll just have to convince you that bacon substitute is just as good." I look at her not at all convinced that it's anywhere near as good as the real thing. But those eyes get a hold on me and I'm lost. I shake my head to come back to this world.

"I guess we'll just have to see then." We finish the dishes and head into the living room where Rachel's fathers are talking.

"Thanks for doing the dishes girls. So how about a game?" Rachel and I both nodded.

"All right why don't you two go pick one out? Oh, and no Monopoly Rachel. I don't think Quinn is ready to see that side of you yet." Leroy states. Rachel doesn't say anything just huffs and storms out of the room. I follow her to pick out a game.

"So what's up with Monopoly?" I ask when Rachel hasn't said anything. We reach a closet in the hallway and she opens it. There's tons of different games, some I've never even heard of.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just tend to get a little competitive when I play. Things get a bit heated when we play games, especially Monopoly. So, as the guest you get to pick the game. What will it be?" I looked at the selection and one stood out from the rest. It was my favorite game when I was little. I got it out and showed it to Rachel. "Good choice." We head back into the living room.

"And what did you decide?" Hiram asks. I hold it up and he and Leroy smile. "Excellent."

We set up the game and it soon becomes very serious. Right now Rachel and I are tied with two wins. Hiram and Leroy each have one win. So it's down to this game.

"Where in Illinois did you live?" Hiram asks while we're waiting for Rachel to play.

"Johnsburg. It's a really small town close to the Wisconsin border." I see recognition flash in both Hiram and Leroy's eyes. They definitely remember what happened there, and probably what happened to me, but they don't say anything. I'm grateful to them; I really don't want to talk about that right now. Rachel has finally decided her move.

"Okay, Miss scarlet in the lounge with the lead pipe." I shake my head and turn to Leroy to see if he can prove her wrong.

"I got nothing." He says.

Hiram slides a card to Rachel revealing a clue and Rachel marks it down.

It's my turn now and I roll hoping to get the number I need to get to my destination. I get just enough and get ready for my guess.

"Miss Scarlet in the conservatory with the lead pipe."

"Nope." Leroy states.

"I've got nothing." Hiram says.

We turn to Rachel to see if she can disprove my theory. She doesn't look pleased. She releases a long sigh.

"I cannot disprove your assumption." She looks so cute when she's frustrated.

"I deduce that it was Miss Scarlet in the conservatory with the lead pipe." I take the manila envelope and take out the cards. I look at them and then place them on the board. "Yahtzee!" I yell in triumph.

"I think you have the wrong game Quinn." Rachel says still huffing a bit at her loss. I just shrug and I can tell she's trying not to smile.

I look at the clock and realize that it's pretty late.

"I should probably get going. Thank you so much for inviting me." I smile at the Berries as I get up from the floor.

"Are you sure you have to leave? We could watch a movie." Rachel says.

"I'd love to but I have church in the morning and then a soccer game so I should be getting home. Rain check?"

"Of course." Rachel and the other Berries stand up to say goodbye. Hiram and Leroy hug me and tell me to come back soon. Rachel walks me to the door.

"I had a really great time Rach. Thanks so much for inviting me." I'm not sure if I should hug her, shake her hand or just leave. I decide to just go for it and bring her in for a hug. I feel Rachel's arms around my neck and I know shouldn't have hugged her. I don't want to let her go now.

"I did too. We should do this more often." She speaks into my neck, and I chills run down my body.

"Definitely." I pull away from her reluctantly and start heading to my car. Half way there I turn around and see her staring at me. It looked like she might have been looking at my butt. I quickly banish that idea, not wanting to hype myself up for nothing. But she is blushing now…

"Goodnight Rach." I say and walk the rest of the way to my car.

"Goodnight Quinn." I hear her say as unlock my door. I hop in and head back home. Though I know I need get some sleep I doubt that I'll be able to shut my brain off anytime soon. But I don't mind. I can't think of anything better to be on my mind than Rachel.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_- Dining with the Berrys Part 2-_

**RPOV**

I was incredibly nervous about asking Quinn over for dinner Saturday. I know she said that she would but she could have just been trying to be nice. I know that if I'm going to ask her I need to do it right away so I don't chicken or make myself sick. My plan was working great till I actually saw her and extreme nervousness took over my body. She somehow knew I wanted to ask her something and gave me a way to just get it out there. So that's what I did. She accepted and seemed genuinely excited about it.

The past few days my fathers and I have been preparing my house for Quinn's visit. It is now Saturday and I am beside myself trying to figure what I've forgotten to do. I think I'm driving my dads insane. When they find me at three in the morning scrubbing my in-suite bathroom floors they sit me down and make me stop obsessing.

"Rachel sweetie, we know you're excited to have Quinn over and want things to be perfect, but you are taking it a little too far. We're excited for her to come over too, but everything is all set. We've cleaned every available space in this house. All that's left is getting the groceries, which I will be getting soon," He knew I was about to freak out about that, "and put it all together. Now we are all going to go back to bed and will get up at a normal time. Then you will go to your dance class and relax until our guest arrives. Everything will be fine." Daddy finishes and I have no room to argue. I know I've gone a little overboard I just want everything to be perfect. She's the first friend I've ever had come over to my house, besides Finn of course.

It's not to say that I haven't invited others over. I have, but all have either declined or accepted only to not show up. My thirteenth birthday was one such occasion where I invited most of the girls in my grade, they all accepted but on the day no one showed.

Oh no! Is that what Quinn is going to do?!

"Baby girl come here." My dad brings me out of my panicked thoughts and opens his arms. I go over and am wrapped securely in a strong, soothing hug. "She'll be here. She's not like the others. She won't blow you off, and we'll all have a great time. It's time to stop worrying and get back to bed. What are you always saying about sleep?"

"That it's imperative to get the recommended eight hours of sleep to be properly prepared for the day." I reply

"Exactly, so stop worrying and get in that bed." He hugs me tight one more time and then lets me go so that I can slip back into bed. Both of them tuck me in, kiss my forehead and head out the door. They're whispering while they leave my room but I can still here what they say.

"This girl must be really important. Rachel wasn't even half this nervous when Finn was coming over for the first time." I hear my dad say. What he said should have worried me but I'm just too exhausted to think much about it right now. The past few days of cleaning and stressing are catching up to me and I nod off as they're closing my door.

I feel great when I wake up, until I see what time it is. I over slept! Well technically I did get my eight hours, but still…eleven?! Ugh I get up and head downstairs.

"Daddy why didn't you and dad wake me up?" I ask him when I walk into the kitchen. He looks up from his paper and smiles at me.

"Good morning pumpkin, we thought you should sleep in and catch up on some of the sleep you've been missing." He goes back to reading his paper.

I huff and sit down at the table. I can't really say anything to him. I really did need sleep. My dad sets down a bowl of fruit in front of me.

"Thanks dad." I start eating. "Is everything set for tonight? Have you gone shopping yet? What time are you going to start dinner? Because you need to pick the right time so it's not done too soon or late…" My dad stops me before I can say more.

"Everything is all set, I will be shopping while you and your father are at your dance class and dinner will be served on time. Now you need to stop worrying, eat your breakfast and then get ready for dance. Everything will be fine." He kisses my cheek and sits down next to daddy to eat his breakfast. The controlling part of me wants to drag my parents to the store right now, but I know that I need to stop. I finish my breakfast, get ready and head off to dance.

Dance class was exactly the distraction I needed to today. It took out some of my excess energy so when I got home I wasn't so tense. Right now I'm patiently waiting in the living room, (because my dad kicked me out of the kitchen), for Quinn. I hear a car in the driveway and immediately jump off the couch and rush to the door. I was just waiting for her to knock but she hasn't yet.

Why hasn't she knocked yet? Oh no she's finally realized what a looser I am and is going to leave. I shouldn't be surprised, I knew this was going to happen sooner of later. I look through the window that's to the right of the door and see her start to retreat. Before I can stop myself I rip the door open. I see her turn towards me surprised.

Oh great now what! She hasn't said anything yet. Probably because I just ruined her escape plan. Maybe I should give her a way out. Before I can think too far ahead she speaks up.

"Hey. You look great." Even though I know she wants to leave and never look back I can't help but blush. She just does that to me. I look at what she's wearing, dark blue jean and a black shirt that fit her perfectly. It's simple but when it's on her it looks like she's heading off to a GUESS photo shoot.

"Thanks, so do you."

"Thanks." She smiles, and I melt. "I'm sorry I'm a bit early. I… was just a bit excited for tonight and was getting antsy at my house. I was just going to hang in my car so I wasn't a nuisance to you or your dads."

She's nervous! She's so cute when she's nervous. Um, well… you know cute like friend cute. All my fears of her running from me are immediately thrown out the door. (It would have been out the window… but I'm at the door right now so that works better). She looks like she's about to head to her car again so I have to stop her.

"Nonsense Quinn, it's perfectly fine that you're early and you will not wait in your car. You will never be a nuisance and I'm glad that you're excited because so am I. My dads are as well. Actually, they might be more excited than I am, (doubtful, but she doesn't need to know that). Come in; let me introduce them to you. And don't worry, everything is all set, we're just waiting for the lasagna to finish in the oven."

I grab her hand to ensure that she'll follow me in and not back to her car. As soon as I touch her skin my stomach starts flipping. It's so hard to describe. I just know that I've never felt anything like it before. I try not to think too much about that right now and lead her into the kitchen.

"Dad, Daddy this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my daddy Hiram and my dad Leroy. Daddy walks up to her.

"Hi sir it's nice to see you again." I'm a bit taken back at what she just said. When did they meet?

"Good to see you again as well Quinn. And what did I tell you earlier?" They definitely have met before. He's being playful with her.

"Sorry Hiram." My dad looks to be in the same boat I am and speaks up.

"I think we missed something here star."

"Quinn and I are old friends." Daddy laughs when he sees our confusion. "I was having some trouble bringing the groceries in this morning and Quinn here came to my aid." That would be something Quinn would do, but why was she at our house? Quinn see's my question before I say anything and clarifies.

"I was running around the neighborhood and I saw Hiram with his hands full so I helped him carry in the groceries." Ahh, makes a lot more sense now.

"Rachel's right, you are a hero. Saving people wherever you go." dad says, "It's nice to finally meet you." They shake hands.

"You too Mr. Berry."

"Call me Leroy, Quinn. There's too many Berry's in this house."

"Well why don't I give you a tour while we wait for dinner to be ready?" I ask her.

"Sounds good." I can't help clapping excitedly when she agrees and decide to give her the special Rachel Barbara Berry Tour. I've been on enough tours to know how to play the part of a tour guide.

I show her the kitchen, back to the living room and then upstairs. I point out the bedrooms and office then take her to my room. I see her looking at my star.

"Stars are kinda my thing." I open the door and let her into my sanctuary. She starts looking around and I start to get nervous. My fathers are the only ones that have been in here. Well, and Finn but it was only for a few minutes and he didn't really look around. I actually caught him staring between the bed and me so I was quick to get him out of there before he got any ideas.

"This is great. I really like your room."

"Thanks, I do too." I sit on my bed. "This is a place I can relax and not have to worry about other people."

I start to think about all the things I've had to deal with. All the bullies and people trying to bring me down and the fact that since she came into my life I haven't had to deal with it as much if not at all. I'm so happy she's here. I realize that I've been in my mind a little to long so I stand up.

"Shall we continue?" I ask.

"We shall."

"Good because I have to show you the best place in the house." I grab her hand and practically run downstairs to the basement. I feel her squeeze my hand and my breath hitches. I turn the light on and turn to see her reaction. Her eyes widen as she takes in the amazingness that is my diva room.

"Wow. I'm just taking a wild guess here, but you kinda maybe a little bit like to sing?" We both laugh.

"How'd you know?" I joke.

"No Idea. I just threw out something completely random." She smiles and I notice that her eyes are shining. "So Broadway huh?"

"Yea, it's been my dream since I won my first award at three months." I tell her still captivated be her eyes.

"You'll have to sing for me sometime. I'm sure you're amazing." I nod and find this is the perfect time to bring up Glee club.

"You could hear it a lot if you wanted to. I'm in Glee club at school, you should join, it's a lot of fun."

"What's Glee club?" She asks.

"You didn't have Glee clubs at your previous schools?" she shakes her head. "It's a club where you sing and dance. It's also called show choir. It's a lot of fun and we go to competitions. This year if we qualify we could go to Ney York!"

"That sounds great, but I'm not really into singing in front of people. I don't think I'm very good and I think I'd get too nervous to even try." I frown, I have to convince her. I need to spend more time with her.

"I could always give you personal lessons Quinn, I am a very good teacher and I am sure I could help you overcome your stage fright and improve your singing." I try my puppy dog eyes on her; it works great on my dads.

"I'll think about it okay?" That'll have to be good enough for now. My daddy opens the basement door to tell us that dinner is ready so we head upstairs.

"So Quinn, Rachel tells us you're from Illinois, How do you like Ohio so far?" Dad asks.

"I like it so far. I miss my family. Most of my mom's family lives really close to each other. But some of dads family lives here so it works I guess. Most of the people here are really nice. The school I'm still getting used to and I'm not the biggest fan of some of the people there but not much can be done about that right now. This lasagna is amazing!"

"Why thank you sweetheart, it's my own secret recipe." I can see my daddy glowing with pride from here.

"This is the best lasagna I've ever tasted." I groan internally, we're not going to be able to live with him now.

"Quinn stop right there or we won't be able to live with him. His ego will be too big for us." Dad jokes.

"Oh you don't listen to him Quinn. You can compliment me all you want, but if you go too much further I really am going to keep you."

"Daddy! Don't threaten my friend with kidnapping, you're going to scare her off!"

"Ha-ha, it's okay Rach. It wouldn't be so bad staying here against my will if all the food is like this." She captures me with her eyes. "The company wouldn't be bad either."

I smile and try and hide my blush with my hair. This girl is going to kill me. I'm not sure what to say or if I could even if I tried.

"What do your parents do Quinn?" Dad asks, effectively breaking the silence.

"My dad is the general manager of the packaging plant here in town. That's why moved here, because he got a promotion. My mom's a lawyer and is working at a firm just outside of town."

"Oh really? I'm a lawyer what's her specialty?" Hiram asks

"Family law. What about you?"

"Corporate law, there's not a lot of that around here so I mainly handle cases in Columbus."

"What do you like to do? Any special talents?"

"Dad stop interrogating her!" I turn towards Quinn. "I'm sorry Quinn you don't have to answer anything you don't want to."

"It's okay Rach, I don't mind." I reassure her. "I really like sports and being active so I usually have something, or a few things to keep me busy. I'm on the football team and on the club soccer team in town right now."

"Really? You're on the football team? I didn't know that." I ask. I wonder why Finn didn't say anything about it.

"Yea, Coach Beast recruited me. I've never played on a team before but I really like it."

"What position?" Dad asks.

"Wide receiver, but I'll probably play running back and corner back as well."

"I see, I was quarterback when I played." Dad says smiling.

"Dad was really good. He played in college."

Dad gushed about football and we continued to learn more about Quinn and sooner than I realized we were done with dinner and Quinn was insisting on doing the dishes. Normally I would complain about having to the dishes but I didn't mind if I'm doing them with Quinn.

We decide to play a game to get to know each other better and I can't help but absorb every bit of information she gives me. I feel bad about going off on a tangent about her liking bacon but I couldn't help it. I want to be mad at her but those damn eyes! I concede to just convert her to the vegan substitute.

After dishes we decide on playing a game that Quinn chose. I was a little annoyed that we couldn't play Monopoly, I dominate that game! Quinn picks one that I'm still the champ at when it comes to game nights so I'm okay for now.

"And what did you decide?" Dad asks when Quinn and I return to the living room. She holds it up for them to see. "Excellent."

So here we are in a nail-biting situation. My fathers each won one game and Quinn and I are tied with two wins each. I'm taking my time deciding what my next move will be. Daddy decides to interrogate Quinn some more while they're all waiting for my winning guess.

"Where in Illinois did you live?"

"Johnsburg. It's a really small town close to the Wisconsin border." I make up my mind and make my move.

"Okay, Miss scarlet in the lounge with the lead pipe." Quinn shakes her head. I look to my dad.

"I got nothing." He says. I think that I've got it, but daddy slides a card towards me. I really don't like the smirk he's sporting right now. I mark it down and give it back to him. Now it's Quinn's turn. She rolls and goes to the conservatory.

"Miss Scarlet in the conservatory with the lead pipe."

"Nope." Dad says.

"I've got nothing." Daddy says next. That leaves only me. I know I don't have the cards, but I look down at them again anyway. I'm secretly hoping that one will change to one of those cards. But alas, I'm no magician. I let out a sigh. She's the guest I let her win. Yep, that's it.

"I cannot disprove your assumption." I can tell she's trying to hide her excitement.

"I deduce that it was Miss Scarlet in the conservatory with the lead pipe." She says in her best Sherlock Holmes voice. She takes the envelope, looks at the card and then puts them on the board for us to see. "Yahtzee!" She yells with a fist pump. That was probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

"I think you have the wrong game Quinn." I try and act annoyed but it's too hard. And have to smile after a minute.

"I should probably get going. Thank you so much for inviting me." She says while getting up. It's too soon!

"Are you sure you have to leave? We could watch a movie." Trying to entice her to stay longer.

"I'd love to but I have church in the morning and then a soccer game so I should be getting home. Rain check?"

"Of course." We all stand to say goodnight. My fathers hug her and I walk her to the door.

"I had a really great time Rach. Thanks so much for inviting me." She looks like she's struggling with something. I'm about to ask if she's okay when she hugs me. Again I'm astounded at how good I feel in her arms.

"I did too. We should do this more often."

"Definitely." She pulls away and I have to hold in a whine. She walks towards her car and I can't help but look at her rear while she's retreating. I really can't help it. Those jeans look amazing on her. I see her turn around suddenly and I blush because I'm pretty sure she just caught me "Goodnight Rach." She smiles shyly at me, and walk the rest of the way to her car.

"Goodnight Quinn." I say once my voice returns. I stay outside until her car is out of sight then head back in to my parents.

"We Approve!" They both say at the same time when I sit back down.

"Me too." I smile and help them clean up the game while they gush about how amazing Quinn is. Afterwards I head up to my room to get ready for bed. I checked my phone and saw there were some missed calls and texts all from Finn. Finn, I forgot about him. He didn't leave any voicemails so I check the texts.

**7:00 pm  
Finn: Hey babe just tried calling but no answer. rents gone come over!**

**7:05  
Finn: Hey where u at? Plese come over?**

**7:07  
Finn: Is phone dead?**

**7:09  
R u mad at me? Whatever I did I sorry. :(**

**7:15  
Finn: Fine Rachel don't talk to me.**

I'm appalled, after all the times I've talked to Finn about this he still can't grasp the importance of proper grammar. I do feel bad about him thinking I'm mad at him but I did tell him multiple times that I was busy tonight. I reply back to him.

**10:30  
Rachel: I'm not mad at you Finn. I told you that I was busy tonight and my phone was in my room. I didn't get your messages until just now. **

I sent it and got ready for bed. When I climbed into bed I see that he sent me a message back.

**10:35  
Finn: OK what were u doin?**

**10:36  
Rachel: I told you Quinn was coming over for dinner and then we played games with my fathers. **

**10:37  
Finn: The new girl? I didnt no you guys new eachother.**

I can only roll my eyes at him. I know I've talked a lot about her with him.

**10:39  
Rachel: Yes Finn, the new girl. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight Finn.**

**10:40  
Finn: Night babe. :D**

I put the phone down and stare at my ceiling. You know something's not right when you realize that you haven't even thought about your boyfriend once the whole day. I'm supposed to love him, and yet the only thing on my mind today and previous days is this new, exciting, thoughtful, courageous, breathtakingly beautiful girl that you just had one of the best times in your life with. I'm in trouble….


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing so far. I know you're wondering what happened in Johnsburg. It will be revealed, but it's going to take some time. I've decided to add some other characters points of view. Hopefully you'll like that. I'm not sure if I'll keep switching back and forth from Quinn and Rachel every chapter. We'll just have to see how it goes. Let me know how you like it. And of course I don't own Glee or the characters in it.**

**Chapter 9**

_-Lunch Outing-_

**QPOV**

The weekend went by way too quick, as it always does. We ended up winning our soccer game and I was able to score a goal and get an assist. Plus I had an amazing Saturday night with Rachel and her dads. It is now Wednesday and the slushies haven't stopped. If anything they've gotten worse. Dave and I were able to get Coach Beiste to stop the football team from being a part of it, but the hockey team is a whole different story. It's like they need to do double duty since the football team has stopped.

At the moment Dave and I are heading to lunch. I've been switching between sitting with Rachel and her friends and sitting with Dave during. They haven't forgiven him yet for his past indiscretions so in the mean time we decided this was the best option. Right as we turn the corner to the next hallway we hear it, the all too familiar gasp of a slushy to the face. We look ahead and see Kurt covered in grape slush and Rick the "Prick," (which I have taken to calling him) standing over him. Dave and I run to Kurt's aid. When we get there Dave gets right in Ricks face.

"What's your problem!" Dave yells. Rick, who was just laughing a second ago is scowling at him now.

"What's the matter Dave? Don't like me picking on your boyfriend?" Rick pushes Dave away from him and starts walking away.

"Wow really original there Rick." Rick turns around to look at Dave.

"You're not even gonna deny it. Hah I knew you were a fag!"

"You know I find it funny that you constantly call people that. It seems to me that you think about it a lot, anything you want to share with us Ricky?" That really sets him off. He starts stomping his way back to us when Coach Beiste intercepts him.

"Whoa there, you wouldn't be trying to start a fight now would ya?" She asks although everyone already knows the answer.

"No." Rick says and walks off down the hall after glaring at Dave.

When Rick is out of sight we turn to see how Kurt is. Dave hands him his handkerchief that he had in his pocket, (Who carries around handkerchiefs anymore?), and he wipes his eyes.

"Thanks." He says to Dave and sighs. "I better go clean up."

He starts walking down the hall and I nudge Dave. He looks at me confused. I raise my eyebrows and gesture towards Kurt with my head. He still hasn't caught on so I push him to get him going and silently tell him to go help. He finally gets it and starts off down the hall to catch up to Kurt while I head to the cafeteria.

**Dave's POV**

I walk into the bathroom Kurt just walked into and see him at the sink furthest from the wall washing his face. I grab some paper towels and walk towards him.

"Hey." I say and he jumps in surprise. He must not have heard me come in. "Can I help?" I hold up the paper towels in my hand.

"Why?" He asks me.

"Because I thought you might need a hand cleaning up."

"No, I mean why are you helping me? Why are you being nice to me, and sticking up for me?" I can see he's genuinely confused.

"Because you're a nice guy and don't deserve this. Like I said before, I really am sorry for all that I've done to you and I want to make it up to you. I'd like to be your friend someday if that's even possible anymore." I take a deep breath and wait for what he has to say.

"I honestly thought you were playing a prank on me or something when you first apologized…. You really want to be my friend?" He looks shocked. I can't blame him there. All I've done since we've known each other is make fun of him. All because I was too scared to be myself.

"I really do Kurt. I know my past actions would suggest otherwise but if I'm honest, I've always wanted to be your friend. It's really cool how you're always yourself no matter what people say or do to you. I know I still have to prove to you and a lot of others that I've changed but I'm willing to do it." When I finish I just wait for Kurt to talk. He's just staring at me. I'd look down at my watch to see how long we've just been staring at each other but I can't break his eye contact. This is important. He needs to see that I'm serious about this.

Finally after what seems like an hour he speaks and I can't believe what I hear him say. "I believe you." He smiles at me and turns back to the sink to keep cleaning himself up. I know that I have a long way to go but I can't help the feeling of happiness I get from those three words he just spoke. I realize that I must seem like a creeper smiling like an idiot and staring at him so I shake my head to get out of my dazed state and decide to make myself useful. I get the "slushy chair" that is in the corner of the bathroom, bring it over the sink Kurt's at and have him sit down.

"Lean your head back." I tell him as I slowly rinse out the slush that is in his hair. I can't help thinking that his hair feels really nice and I'm wondering if it feels as nice for him as it does for me. I see his eyes close as I apply a little more pressure to his head, massaging his scalp, and he hums. I'd say he likes this. I smile, happy that for once I'm putting a smile on his face rather than a frown or scowl.

My mood turns sour when I wonder how many times he's had to use this chair/ sink to clean up, and how many of those times were because of me directly. I stop my ministrations and he seems to take it as a sign that I'm done and stands up. I turn away from him so he doesn't see how close I am from breaking down. I was so awful to him, why isn't he yelling at me? I deserve it. I deserve worse. I shouldn't be asking for his forgiveness. I'm not worthy of it. I'm asking too much of him. I should just get out of his way and not bother him anymore. When did this room get so small? Oh god, I gotta get out of here! I'm about to make a run for it when I feel a hand on my arm. I look down and see Kurt smiling at me.

"Thanks David. I really appreciate all you've done."

"Don't, don't thank me." His smile fades and I kick myself for making it disappear. "I haven't done anything. I should be thanking you for being so nice to me after all I've done. I should be apologizing every second I can to you." I can feel my throat constricting and tears starting to form in my eyes. I'm trying to look anywhere but at Kurt.

"Now, now Dave, if you apologize every second you could I wouldn't get a word in and we both know that wouldn't work." I finally look at him and he's got a soft playful smile on his face. "I know you're sorry and I can see you trying to make up for what you did but dwelling on it and dragging yourself down will not help. I accept you apology. I don't fully trust you yet but I'm sure that will come with time. Right now however, I should really get into some clean close and we should go to lunch before we miss it all. I don't know about you but getting bullied really gives me an appetite." He turns back to the mirror one last time to make sure his hair is as perfect as it can be in the current circumstances and then heads for the door. "You coming?" I smile and nod at him, not trusting my voice yet and we head out of the bathroom together.

"Do you have extra clothes? Cause if you don't I think I have some in my gym locker. They might not smell the best, but that's what happens when it's left to mingle with all the dirty guys clothes in there." I shudder just thinking about how unhygienic some of the guys at this school are.

"Thanks for that very appealing offer but I happen to have some spare clothes in my locker. You know, just in case."

I try not to dwell on the fact that he's in the habit of bringing extra clothes to school.

"Is that sarcasm I detect with reference to my clothes?" I ask and nudge him a little with my shoulder.

"Not at all." He smirks. "Come on, we better hurry if we want to eat at all." With the threat of skipping a meal hanging in the air, I pick up my pace making Kurt almost jog to keep up with me. I hear him laugh. "Someone's hungry." I smile at him.

"Yeah, you better hurry up. I get angry if I don't eat at regular intervals, and you wouldn't like my when I'm angry." He looks a little worried and slows down. I don't think he got my Hulk reference. I laugh. "I'm kidding Kurt. But we really should hurry cause I'm starving." He smiles at that and I pull on his arm to get him moving faster. I'm happy when he doesn't flinch or move away when I touch him. I hope this is a sign that we could be friends in the future. We'll see I guess. I hope the lines not too long when I get to he lunch room..

**QPOV**

I walked into the cafeteria and get in line for food, I got what I need and head over to Rachel and her friends. Dave might take a while so I might as well sit with them while I wait.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" I ask when I approach the table. Rachel turns towards me with a look of surprise, then her whole face lights up.

"Yes! I mean no, of course we don't mind." I scoot in her next to her. "Aren't you supposed to eat with David today?"

"Yea, but he's helping Kurt out and they're probably gonna be a little while so I thought I would sit with you guys for a bit if you don't mind."

"Of course not Quinn." Rachel says smiling. I feel that pull again to just sit and stare at her. I know it sounds creepy, but really it's just because she's so beautiful. Right now she's just staring back at me. I see something in her eyes but I can't tell what it is. I don't think I'll ever be able to look away from her. Luckily Mercedes interrupts whatever was going on between us, effectively pulling me out of my Rachel haze, as I've come to call them.

"So wait, you left Dave Karofsky alone with Kurt?" she asks.

"Yeah?"

"Are you insane?!" She practically screams at me. I'm taken back by her sudden outburst. I look around and it seems everyone else is looking at me like I'm insane as well. Well, all except Rachel. I think she's starting to see that Dave has changed.

"No, why is it a big deal?" I ask.

"Why? WHY! Because it's Dave Karofsky! One of the biggest bullies in school! Not to mention one of Kurts biggest tormentors!" She's giving me a really angry look right now and I'm starting to get pissed at her. She knows that Dave's trying to change. I know Kurt has told Mercedes about Dave's' apology. I was just about to tell her off when Rachel beats me to it.

"Mercedes you know that David has apologized to all of us including Kurt for his past actions and I believe he has changed. I know Quinn trusts him and that is enough for me to give him another chance."

"Come on Rachel, you don't really think he meant that do you? He's obviously lying and trying to get us to trust him so we can let our guard down. Just when we think it's safe he'll strike." Okay that's it.

"You know it wasn't easy for him to apologize to you guys. It takes a lot of courage to go up to people and admit that you were wrong and ask for forgiveness. And I can tell you for a fact that he's not trying to play you guys. I know he's done some awful things in the past but he truly is a different person." I'm really trying not to lose my temper with he. But as I'm talking I see her roll her eyes, multiple times. Man this girl is rude.

"You've only been here for what? A week and a half? You don't know what he was like, what we had to go through." She was about to go on but I cut her off.

"Just because I didn't know Dave before doesn't mean I don't know about bullies. It doesn't mean that I haven't had to deal with bullies, because I have. One thing I can tell you about them is that there's usually a reason why they're so mean. It doesn't excuse what they've done but it definitely helps to know how they got that way. Yes Dave was a bully to all of you and a lot of other students in this school, but he realized what he was doing was wrong and is trying to make it right. Why can't you give him a chance to show you? I can tell you without a doubt that if you gave him a chance and got to know him you'd really like him."

My hands were in tight balls. I was definitely regretting my decision of sitting with them. Before I could contemplate leaving I felt a hand on top of my own. I looked over and saw Rachel smiling at me with understanding.

"Just leave it Mercedes, Quinn and Dave are friends. You don't like it that's fine but don't talk bad about him around Quinn. That's just rude."

To my surprise it was Tina who spoke up that time. I think I would be more shocked than I am if Rachel's hand wasn't still on top of mine. However, it's still there so I'm barely paying attention to anything else. It's tingling, and oh man she's rubbing my knuckles with her thumb now. I can't help but look down at our hands, amazed at the sight of her smooth tan hand against my less tan hand. I look at Rachel and find her looking at our hands as well. She looks up at me and we both blush and turn away from each other.

"Oh My God!" Mercedes exclaims. Rachel quickly takes her hand away from mine and I look to Mercedes to see what she's so hyped up about. She's looking towards the cafeteria doors. Dave and Kurt just walked in together and seem to be talking civilly, which I'm very pleased with. It seems the sight of the two of the together has caught the attention of the rest of the student body. The room has become eerily quiet as they make their way to our table. I'm not sure if I should get up and go sit somewhere with Dave or stay here. Luckily I don't have to make that decision because Dave comes and sits down to the left of me and Kurt sits across from us. After they sit down people start talking again. Most likely commenting on the pair.

"I've invited Dave to join us, I hope you guys don't mind." I can't help but smirk over at Mercedes who has her mouth wide open gaping at the situation.

"Kurt, are you sure that's a good idea?" Mercedes asks once the initial shock has worn off.

"I'm sure Cedes." He can see her about to rebuttal but he cute her off. "Drop it. We'll talk later about this I promise." She doesn't look pleased but she can see that that's the best she'll get right now so she accepts it and leaves it alone. I see Dave beaming and lean over to talk to him.

"So… what's up?" I whisper to him.

"He accepted my apology." He's practically bouncing in his seat. His eyes have a shine to them, he looks so happy. I fling my arm around him and give him a half hug, which is a little awkward since he's so big.

"That's awesome!" His happiness is radiating off of him and flowing onto me. I remember just a week ago how sad and lost he looked. I give him another squeeze and hand Dave some lunch I bought for him. I figured he wouldn't have a lot of time so I decided to just grab something for him. He kisses my cheek in thanks and starts eating his sandwich. I look to Kurt and see him eyeing us suspiciously.

"Here Kurt," I say handing him the salad I got for him. "I figured you wouldn't have too much time to eat so I thought I would get something for you. I wasn't sure what you would want so I just took a chance on this. I've seen you eat salad a few times and I think that was the dressing you used." As I talk a big smile overtakes his face.

"Wow, thanks Quinn! That was really thoughtful of you." He beams.

"Yea no problem." I smile in return and in my periphery I see Dave snag my brownie that I brought from home. "Oh no you didn't just take my brownie!" I say glaring at him. By the time I fully face him half the brownie is gone. I look in his eyes and there's no remorse what so ever. He just smiles and finishes the rest off in one bite. "I go and buy you lunch because I know how you get when you're hungry, and this is the thanks I get? Thievery?! I can't believe you." I turn away from him. I know this seems dramatic but they're really good brownies. They're those Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies! I turn away from him and pout.

"Aww, I'm sorry Quinnie." He says trying to get me to look at him.

"Oh no! Don't you Quinnie me! My mom's the only one allowed to call me that. That is a term of endearment. Something that a scoundrel like you is not allowed to use." I harrumphed, crossed my arms over my chest and pouted.

"Quinn." Dave whined. I didn't respond. "Please look at me Quinn."

"No" I said lifting my chin in the air in defiance, (I'm not really mad anymore, but it's fun to pretend).

"Please." I hear him whimper and I look over to see him trying to do a puppy dog look. Rachel's is a thousand times better. But his is highly amusing, especially when I take in everyone else's reactions at our interaction. Most I would say are feeling like the are in another dimension, Rachel looks between amused and… jealous hmm, and Kurt is looking at Dave like you would look at a begging puppy. So maybe his puppy dog look is effective for some people. I look back at him and I can't help but burst out laughing.

When I don't stop laughing he realizes that I'm laughing at him and he starts poking me in the side. I yelp and try to get away. He realizes that I'm ticklish and I can see a mischievous glint in his eye as he leans closer to me.

"Don't you dare!" I tell him in total seriousness. He just smirks and lunges at me. I can't help but squeal in surprise and laugh when he starts attacking my sides. I very gracefully, (not really), fall off the bench and start running away from him. I don't get to far before he grabs me and spins me around. We're both too caught up in our antics to realize that everyone in the room has stopped what they're doing to watch us. We're both laughing when we hear someone clear their throat. He turns us around and see one of the lunch monitors giving us a cold stare. Dave puts me down and we both apologize before going back to sit down at our table. When we're seated we're both trying not to laugh because the monitor is still looking at us.

"Scoundrel? Really Quinn?" I nudge him with my elbow and he cracks first and starts laughing. I follow soon after. After a few minutes we're finally able to control ourselves again. Just in time too. It was getting hard to breath. Our reprieve is short-lived however when Kurt decides to ask us a question.

"Are you guys dating?" We look at each other and burst out laughing again. Once we reign ourselves in again I can see everyone at the table completely confused.

"Sorry Kurt. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings by laughing. It just caught me off guard. Dave and I are definitely NOT dating." I put a lot of emphasis on the not part and turn to Dave. "No offense."

"None taken." He chuckles.

"Are you sure? Cause you guys seem pretty cozy with each other." Mercedes asks this time.

"Yea we are definitely sure." I reply.

"It's just that you spend so much time together, and Dave has changed so much and he seems happy now so…." Mercedes continues.

"We're sure Mercedes, I'm gay so Dave isn't really my type." I smile and look around the table to see their reactions. All of them are definitely shocked except for Tina. She's just looking at me with a knowing smirk and looks from me to Rachel, man she's observant. I give people a few minutes for it to sink in.

"Oh" Kurt says. "I had a feeling you weren't quite straight, I just didn't expect you to be totally bent." He smiled at me. He's obviously okay with it. Dave puts his arm on my shoulder and brings me into a side hug. Everyone starts giving they're approval/support.

"That's cool."

"Whatever floats your boat."

"Awesome!"

I look over to Rachel. She's look straight ahead and hasn't said anything yet. I lean closer to her and whisper to her.

"You okay Rach?" That seems to break her train of thought.

"I'm sorry what did you say Quinn, I seem to have spaced out." She looks up at me.

"That's okay Rach, I asked if you were okay. Are you okay?" I ask her, generally concerned. Out of everyone in this school I want her to be okay with me. I need her to be okay. She immediately smiles and I can see that it's genuine.

"Of course Quinn, I have no problem with you being gay. That comment about you being a hypocrite makes a lot more sense now. Thank you for telling us. You didn't have to and it just shows that you trust us. I appreciate it." I let out a sigh of relief. She's okay with it, with me. Awesome!

"So why didn't you tell us before?" Kurt asks.

"You didn't ask, and it never came up." I shrug.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Mercedes trying to dig up all the dirt she can. I can already she her itching for her phone to start mass texting. I'm sure everyone will know by the end of the day is not sooner.

"No I don't." I say smiling at them.

"Have you dated a girl before." It looks like Mercedes and Kurt have decided to trade off asking questions.

"I dated a girl in California." I can see where this is going and I'm not sure I like it.

"What happened?"

"Kurt!" Rachel speaks up before I have a chance to say anything. "That is none of our business! Would you like it if someone was trying to pry information out of you about your personal life?" I can't help but smile at how adorable she looks giving Kurt an angry glare.

"What personal life?" I hear Kurt say under his breath. "Sorry Quinn, you don't have to tell us."

"It's okay Kurt, I know you're just curious and you can ask me anything you like. I'd just prefer not to talk about that right now." I smile to reassure him that I'm fine with his questions. I turn to Rachel. "Thanks Rach."

"You're welcome Quinn." Oh crap her eyes. I knew I shouldn't have locked eyes with her. Quick think of something to say so you're not just being a creeper and staring at her. But she's staring at me too, maybe it's okay. No! She has a boyfriend!

"Hey babe." Speak of the devil. Our connection is broken when Finn walks up to the table. "Come on I'll walk you to class."

Class, what? I look around and everyone is heading to the exits. The bell must have run. I look at Rachel and she looks just as confused and a little… annoyed?

"Sure Finn. I'll see you in class Quinn." With that Finn swallows her hand in his own and starts walking off. I sit there for a minute just trying to collect my thoughts. I didn't even hear the bell. I really need to stop this. Rachel is clearly taken. I get up and walk out towards my next class.

I'm a foot out the cafeteria door when a wall of blue ice hits me. I wipe my eyes and see Rick the Prick standing in front of me smirking.

"You looked thirsty." He says and then struts down that hall. I let out a shaky breath, trying to calm myself down. I huff and start making my way to the locker room to clean up and get warm. I'm freezing!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_-Pros and Cons-_

**RPOV**

Saturday was amazing; I wish I could say the same about the rest of my weekend. Finn decided to drop by unannounced and "sweep me off my feet" with a surprise date. I have to admit, any other day I would have found it romantic but today I just knew that it would be a disaster.

He brought me red roses that I remember telling him that I don't like. He said he wanted to treat me to a nice romantic dinner at a new restaurant that just opened and then to a movie. I had no idea that the new restaurant would a steakhouse and that the movie was the new gory action movie. By the end of the night I was struggling to keep my patience with him. It's like he knows nothing about me. What made it worse was the smug look on his face when he pulls up to my house like he just swooned the pants, (or in my case skirt), off of me. He leaned into kiss me and it took all of my will power not to pull away from him. I knew there was no way I could kiss him right now so I turned my head at the last second and his lips connected with my cheek. When he realized he missed his target he pulled away and gave me his confused face.

"Rach? What's wrong?" He asked, completely shocked that I'm not falling all over him because of his awesome date. I take a deep breath so I don't yell at him.

"I'm just not feeling well. I think I need to get inside now."

"Now? You can't stay just a little bit longer? I just took you out on a great date." I see hurt and maybe anger floating around in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Finn. Thank you for taking me out but I really need to go lie down. Have a good night I'll see you tomorrow." With that I kiss his cheek and run into my house.

I'm halfway up the stairs when my fathers call out to me. I head into the family room where they're snuggling on the couch and catching up on one of their shows. I can't help but smile at them. After all these years they still have to be as close as they can get to each other whenever possible.

"Hey sweetie how was your date?" My daddy asks while they both separate enough to give me enough room to squeeze in between them. I sit down and am immediately wrapped up in them.

"It was okay."

"Just okay?" Dad asks. I'm sure he can tell something's wrong just by me saying those three words.

"Yeah, it won't be making it to my top ten dates ever list." I say replaying parts of it in my head and shuddering.

"What happened hunny? Did Finn try and pressure you into something you're not ready for?" Dad asks starting to get angry.

"No Dad! It wasn't anything like that. It just wasn't good." That seemed to ease his worry a little bit. "I had a feeling it was going to be bad before we even left. I just wish I would have listened to that feeling and declined Finns offer. Although he didn't really ask me in the first place." I finish getting annoyed just thinking about it.

"You seem pretty upset about this pumpkin why don't you tell us what happened." Daddy says.

"I just… it was wrong right from the start. He showed up unannounced and assumed that I didn't have plans. He brought me roses, which would have been sweet, but I've told him multiple times that I don't like them. Then he takes me to a steakhouse. A STEAKHOUSE! Where I can only get a salad, and then asks me if I'm sure I don't want anything else. After that we go watch that new action movie that was all blood and violence and to top it all off he expects me to kiss him and swoon all over him because of his "awesome" date." I finish my rant and take a breath, already feeling better getting that off my chest. Then I start to worry if I'm making too big of a deal about this. "Maybe I'm just being too picky but I feel like he should know me a little better by now. I mean we've been dating for quite a while. I would think he would at least remember that I'm vegan! Am I wrong? Should I be more grateful to him?"

"No hunny, you're right in this." My dad says getting angry again. "I've never been fond of this Finn boy and to be honest you can do so much better."

"I highly doubt that dad. You know how much I get picked on at school, and if I dump Finn it will just get worse. Besides who would want to date the biggest loser in school? Before Finn, the only ones who looked in my direction were my tormentors, and that was just to make sure their cold projectiles reached their target." I say this as a few tears leak out of my eyes. I feel my dads squeeze me into them tighter.

"Rachel hunny, you're not a loser. I know things are tough at school and people pick on you, but that's because they're jealous. They can see that you're going places and want to try and bring you down so they can feel better. And staying with Finn just because you think no one will like you and he gives you a little protection from the bullies is no reason to stay with him. Didn't you say yourself that it's gotten better at school? This might be hard to hear but Finn's not going to change. You're right to feel mad that he knows nothing about you when you've been dating for so long, and being with him will only make you feel worse." Daddy finishes giving me a kiss on my temple and a tight squeeze.

He is making sense, and If I am completely honest with myself, I haven't been happy with Finn for a while now. I know I need to do something about this.

"I think I'm going to retire to my room for the night and write down some plan of action lists. Night." They give me one better squeeze and I head up to my room to figure out what I want to do.

"Don't stay up too late sweetie." I hear them say as I reach the top of the stairs. I'll have to set a timer to make sure I stop at a reasonable time. I do have school tomorrow.

School has continued to be quite good. I received my first slushy of the year Tuesday, which is definitely a record in my books. I usually have at least three under my belt after the first day.

I've decided to take some time to consider what I want to do about Finn. I spent a long time Sunday night compiling pro and con lists and possible outcomes for different decisions I make and am still unsure if I should hold on to what we have or just end the relationship.

Quinn and I have continued to get to know each other. Every spare second we have during, and in between classes we're talking and asking as many questions as we can think of. With every bit of information that I gain from Quinn, I can't help but want to learn more about her.

This week has sped by and I can't believe that it's Wednesday already. I'm a little bit down as I walk to lunch because I know that Quinn will be sitting with David today. I was in complete shock when David first approached me and apologized. I was at first convinced that it was just a trick, but as the time went on I thought back to his apology and can see how heart-felt it was. It also helped that he has stopped a few attacks on me and helped Quinn get the rest of the Football players to stop bullying. I hope the other members of New Directions realize his sincerity soon. I know that's why David and Quinn don't sit by us. I'd really like Quinn here at this table everyday, not just every other.

"I've just finished laying out my lunch and am about to bite into a carrot when I hear someone speak behind me.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" There is no stopping the smile that overtakes my face when I see Quinn standing with what looks like a weeks worth of food on her tray.

"Yes! I mean no, of course we don't mind." She sits down next to me. I'm so happy that she's come to sit with me! I mean us. But I can't help but wonder if she forgot that she's supposed to site with David today. "Aren't you supposed to eat with David today?"

"Yea, but he's helping Kurt out and they're probably gonna be a little while so I thought I would sit with you guys for a bit if you don't mind." She says, like I'd ever mind spending time with her.

"Of course not Quinn." Her eyes capture mine again. Which, by now I am used to. I wonder if her eyes have some kind of power that entraps anyone who gazes into her warm hazel eyes, not letting them escape until she releases them. I have no problem with being trapped here with Quinn. Just as I'm realizing there are others at the table with us Mercedes speaks up.

"So wait, you left Dave Karofsky alone with Kurt?" The spell is broken once Quinn looks towards Mercedes.

"Yeah?" I can already hear the freak out that is most definitely going to happen.

"Are you insane?!" Yep there it is. Quinn seems confused at Mercedes outburst.

"No, why is it a big deal?"

"Why? WHY! Because it's Dave Karofsky! One of the biggest bullies in school! Not to mention one of Kurt's biggest tormentors!" I can see in Quinn's exquisitely expressive eyes that she does not like what she is saying.

"Mercedes you know that David has apologized to all of us including Kurt for his past actions and I believe he has changed. I know Quinn trusts him and that is enough for me to give him another chance." I try and calm down the situation. Of course Mercedes will not let it go.

"Come on Rachel, you don't really think he meant that do you? He's obviously lying and trying to get us to trust him so we can let our guard down. Just when we think it's safe he'll strike." Before I can respond Quinn speaks up.

"You know it wasn't easy for him to apologize to you guys. It takes a lot of courage to go up to people and admit that you were wrong and ask for forgiveness. And I can tell you for a fact that he's not trying to play you guys. I know he's done some awful things in the past but he truly is a different person."

"You've only been here for what? A week and a half? You don't know what he was like, what we had to go through." Right now I just want to put my hand over her mouth to silence her. I wonder how mad she would be if I stuffed a bunch of her tots in her mouth. I mean it is her favorite food, surely that would cancel out her anger at me silencing her. Right?

"Just because I didn't know Dave before doesn't mean I don't know about bullies. It doesn't mean that I haven't had to deal with bullies, because I have. One thing I can tell you about them is that there's usually a reason why they're so mean. It doesn't excuse what they've done but it definitely helps to know how they got that way. Yes Dave was a bully to all of you and a lot of other students in this school, but he realized what he was doing was wrong and is trying to make it right. Why can't you give him a chance to show you? I can tell you without a doubt that if you gave him a chance and got to know him you'd really like him."

Her words catch me off guard. She's been bullied? This beautiful, amazing girl in front of me was picked on? I can't get my head around it and suddenly I feel angry and want to find the idiots that hurt her and put them in their place. I also feel sad that she was ever in pain and before I can stop myself I reach out and put my hand on one of hers, trying to comfort her. Once my hand contacts Quinn's, her angry eyes turn to shock and look to me. I just smile and try to convey that I'm here for her.

Tina says something and I'm sure it's to defend Quinn, but I didn't catch what she said. Most of my attention is on mine and Quinn's connected hand. It's so soft and I can't help rubbing my thumb over her smooth silky skin. Looking up I see Quinn looking at me and I turn away to hide as much of my blushing face as I can.

"Oh My God!" Mercedes exclaims. I jump and retract my hand from Quinn's thinking she saw what I was doing. Not that I was doing anything. I mean, friends hold hands… I'm about to tell her to mind her own business and that we were just holding hands when I see that she's looking towards the entrance of the cafeteria. Everyone else at the table looks over and we see Dave and Kurt walking in together. They seem to be talking amicably with one another.

This does not go unnoticed to the rest of the school and soon the whole room is silent, watching them make their way over to us. Suddenly I'm worried that Quinn is going to leave once Dave reaches us to go sit with him. To my relief, Dave just sits down next to her. Once both him and Kurt are seated conversations start again. I'm sure there will be rumors circulating about this later.

"I've invited Dave to join us, I hope you guys don't mind." I see Mercedes with her mouth open and look to see Quinn smirking at her.

"Kurt, are you sure that's a good idea?" Mercedes asks.

"I'm sure Cedes." Before she can protest he speaks again. "Drop it. We'll talk later about this I promise." That seems to stop any other comments she had.

Quinn and David seem to be having a private conversation so I turn to my lunch and start eating. I feel a little jealous when I see Quinn put her arm around David's shoulder. They hug and I see her give him some of her lunch. That's why she has so much. I was kind of worried about her having an overactive metabolism or something. He kisses her on the cheek and my jealousy is back in full force.

She turns to Kurt and hands him a salad.

"Here Kurt, I figured you wouldn't have too much time to eat so I thought I would get something for you. I wasn't sure what you would want so I just took a chance on this. I've seen you eat salad a few times and I think that was the dressing you used."

"Wow, thanks Quinn! That was really thoughtful of you." He beams. I can tell Kurt is positively smitten with her and I'm thankful that he's gay. Although that doesn't seem to matter where Quinn is concerned. I'm sure she can charm the pants off anyone in here.

While I'm rapt up in my thoughts of Quinn something has happened because when I turn back to the pair I see Quinn pouting. I've decided that it's the most adorable thing I have ever seen. I wonder what happened.

"Aww, I'm sorry Quinnie." Dave says trying to gain her forgiveness.

"Oh no! Don't you Quinnie me! My mom's the only one allowed to call me that. That is a term of endearment. Something that a scoundrel like you is not allowed to use." I know she is upset but it is too cute and I have to turn away so she doesn't see me giggle while David tries to get her to look at him.

"No" She says taking on the look of an angry five year old and I can see the corners of her mouth twitch. She's trying to keep up her charade.

"Please." David says in a voice I never thought possible coming from him. I scoff at his attempted puppy dog eyes. Perhaps one day I'll show him how it is really done.

Quinn bursts out with laughter and when she doesn't stop he pokes her ribs. As soon as his finger touches her side she jumps away from him with a yelp and presses herself into me trying to escape him. I'm more than happy at this change of events and love how warm she feels against me.

"Don't you dare!" She tells him while he's leaning closer. When he lunges for her she lets out a cute squeal and falls off the bench. Before I have time to check if she's okay she is off, trying to get away from her attacker. He easily catches up with her, picks her up and spins her around. I'm baffled by what is happening, as I am sure the rest of the school is. This is after all David Karofsky, the guy I have never seen smile unless it's because he just picked on someone. Even then it's never a genuine smile. They don't stop until they see one of the lunchroom monitors glaring at them. Dave puts her down and they return to their seats.

"Scoundrel? Really Quinn?" David asks and they both start laughing again.

"Are you guys dating?" Kurt asks once they have calmed down, but that seems to set them off again. I hope they calm down soon because I would really like to know that answer as well.

"Sorry Kurt. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings by laughing. It just caught me off guard. Dave and I are definitely NOT dating. No offense." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when she said that.

"None taken." He chuckles.

"Are you sure? Cause you guys seem pretty cozy with each other." Mercedes questions.

"Yea we are definitely sure."

"It's just that you spend so much time together, and Dave has changed so much and he seems happy now so…." Mercedes continues, and it seems like she's trying to convince them that they are in fact dating. I wanted to tell her to stop before they change they're minds. They do make a cute couple.

"We're sure Mercedes, I'm gay so Dave isn't really my type." I'm shocked at her admission but at the same time overjoyed. Maybe there is hope for us. Wait, Finn, I keep forgetting that I have a boyfriend. Well, maybe have a boyfriend. I still haven't made up my mind about what to do with him. Should I put this in my pro side of my "Should I Break Up With Finn" list?

I'm broken out of my thoughts by feeling of warm breath against my neck. I shiver a little.

"You okay Rach?" Quinn asks.

"I'm sorry what did you say Quinn, I seem to have spaced out." I look up at her sheepishly knowing that I missed some of their conversation.

"That's okay Rach, I asked if you were okay. Are you okay?" It seems she's waiting anxiously for my answer, almost like it's important.

"Of course Quinn, I have no problem with you being gay. That comment about you being a hypocrite makes a lot more sense now. Thank you for telling us. You didn't have to and it just shows that you trust us. I appreciate it." I see her relax, and Kurt and Mercedes start with their interrogation.

"So why didn't you tell us before?" Kurt asks.

"You didn't ask, and it never came up." I wonder why that never came up with all the other things we went over with each other.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I can see in Mercedes eyes that she's been given gossip gold. I'm sure by the end of next period everyone in school, if not the whole town, will know.

"No I don't." I cheer in my head, and then berate myself for it. I still have a boyfriend.

"Have you dated a girl before?"

"I dated a girl in California." I can tell that she's getting uncomfortable with the direction this is going.

"What happened?"

"Kurt! That is none of our business! Would you like it if someone was trying to pry information out of you about your personal life?" I reprimand him.

"What personal life?" He says quietly. "Sorry Quinn, you don't have to tell us."

"It's okay Kurt, I know you're just curious and you can ask me anything you like. I'd just prefer not to talk about that right now." She tells him and then turns to me. "Thanks Rach."

"You're welcome Quinn." I look up at her….and I'm trapped again. Everything fades out but us, but before I can process what is happening someone breaks our connection.

"Hey babe." I look up to see my boyfriend, the one that I keep forgetting about standing over us. "Come on I'll walk you to class." At first I'm confused by what he means, but then I look around and see everyone exiting the room. How did I not hear the bell? I'm trying to find a way out of walking with him. When I come up blank a sigh and answer him reluctantly.

"Sure Finn. I'll see you in class Quinn." He grabs my hand and starts pulling me towards the doors. Once we're out I have to remind him where he's supposed to be leading me. I'm definitely going to have to go over my lists again after school.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_Game Day_

**QPOV**

I'm an idiot. I forgot that we didn't have morning practice today because we have a game tonight. So I'm now at school way too early than I should be but going home would not be worth it. What makes this even better is that I even wore my jersey to school. You would think that would have tipped me off right there, but sadly no.

The room I have my first class in is locked so I decide to check my luck with the music room. Once I'm almost there I hear music playing. My curiosity gets the better of me and I find myself opening the auditorium doors and walking in. What I see completely takes my breath away.

There, in the middle of the stage is Rachel. A spotlight illuminates her while the rest of the stage is dark. I'm not sure what song she's singing but I know that if I heard the original and compared it to her singing it, she would win hands down. I don't even realize that I've made it down to the front near the stage until she finishes and I start clapping.

She jumps at the sudden noise and searches for the source. When her eyes land on me she's shocked but pleased that it's me.

"Quinn, I didn't know anyone else was here." She says still a little breathless from her performance.

"Sorry Rach, I didn't mean to startle you. I came to school early and was out in the halls when I heard music and just had to see what it was. That was incredible Rachel. You really do have talent." She beams at me while blushing slightly.

"Thank you Quinn. I'm glad you think I'm good."

"You're amazing! I could listen to your voice all day. There's no way you won't make it to Broadway." I blush when I realize what I said. She might take "listening to her voice all day" wrong. I look at Rachel and see her smiling. She doesn't seem creeped out by my confession. That's good.

"So, are you excited?" Rachel asks.

"What?"

"The game tonight? It's your first of the season, are you excited?" Realization dawns on me. Of course the football game.

"Yeah, I am. I'm a little nervous. I'm just hoping I don't make too big a fool of myself." I laugh nervously. The truth is I'm terrified.

"Well don't be. I am confident that you will do great. Obviously it means something that you were singled out by the coach to join the team. And you're a captain too, so you are definitely good." She finishes pointing at the "C" on my jersey. Coach chose the captains yesterday. Dave, Puck, Finn and I are the captains that coach picked.

"Well thanks for the vote in confidence. I'm sure I'll feel better once I start playing. Waiting for everything to start is the hardest part in my opinion." She nods in agreement.

"I must admit that I too get anxious before a performance but once I start it's like I'm in my own world and no one can touch me." She comes to the edge of the stage and sits down while I hoist myself so we're sitting on a level plane. "So what brings you here so early besides my amazing voice." She gives me a mischievous smirk. That's one smile I haven't seen on her.

"I actually forgot that we didn't have practice this morning." I tell her sheepishly.

"You forgot your first game is today?"

"No, I remembered that I had a game. It just slipped my mind that because of said game, we didn't have practice this morning." I look up and I can tell she's trying not to laugh at me.

"So you came to school early for practice while dressed in you jersey?" She asks and I can hear the laughter in her voice.

"Yes, I realize that I was not all there, while getting ready this morning." I sigh. "It's funny cause I was not looking forward to practice this morning. But when I remembered that I didn't have practice I couldn't even be that excited about it because I was at school…. early." She can't hold it in any longer and starts laughing. I laugh with her because it is funny and I'm ecstatic that I made her laugh.

"So where were you at while your body went into autopilot while getting ready." She asked when we had quieted down. And of course me being me I say the first, (and totally true), thing that pops into my head.

"Oh you know, just thinking about this beautiful, brown haired, smart, tiny, amazing singer that I met recently." I finally realized what I was saying when the last word leaves my mouth.

I was stunned. I definitely had no intention of saying that out loud and now I have no idea what to do.

I finally get the courage to look at Rachel to gage her reaction and she's just looking at me. She's got a huge smile on her face and now I'm happy that my mouth and brain aren't communicating as they should be. Suddenly she's pouting and am freaking out that perhaps she's just realized what I said. She crosses her arms over her chest.

"I am not short!" She exclaims puffing her lower lip out. I can't help but laugh. Partly because of how adorable she is right now, and part in relief. "I am of average height I'll have you know. You're the abnormal one here!" I laugh again.

"Is that so? And who said I was talking about you?" I ask, messing with her. Her eyes widen and I can tell she's starting to worry that she was wrong in her presumption. I speak again before she can starts rambling. "Alright, I was talking about you. The comment about the person being short gave it away huh?" I can see relief cross her features and then she huffs at me.

"Not funny." She pouts, I chuckle.

"Aww, I'm sorry. I was just joking. Please put the pout away? You really should not be allowed to use that unless in life and death situations." She smiles at that. "Now, why don't you continue with what you were doing before I rudely interrupted you, and I'll just sit and listen and not distract you. If that's okay with you, that is."

"That would be acceptable." She says while standing up, and brushing off the non-existent dust off of her almost too short skirt. "You could always join me in an impromptu duet?"

"Uh, I don't want to mess with perfection, I think I'll sit this one out." Before she can protest I jump off the stage and sit in one of the auditorium chairs. She walks back to the spot light but before she can start singing again the bell rings telling us that it's time to come back to reality. I grab my bag and head out into the madness with Rachel by my side. Not a bad way to start my Friday.

My day's been pretty good so far. Apart from a lot of people giving me weird looks. I think it's because of the jersey. Lunch was actually a lot of fun. Dave and I have been sitting at Rachels table since Wednesday and the tension that was there at the beginning is slowly easing. I'm hopeful that the others will soon see Dave as the great guy that he is.

Since I came out Wednesday I haven't received much backlash. I know word got around, I can see it when people look at me. Some people are curious others there's disgust or confusion on their faces, but other than that there's just been some random names here and there from the hockey team. All in all I'm quite happy about my coming out.

Of course when I let my guard down for just a minute I get hit, literally, with a red slushy bomb. Well, nothing can be said about their school spirit, Go Titans! I clear the slush from my eyes and see Rick again. I've tried to figure out why he needs to pick on people so much. My conclusion was that he just wants to. I've tried to talk to him but that only make it worse. I'm getting pretty sick of having to change at least every other day. I look into his laughing face and just sigh.

"Hey!" I hear someone shout from down the hall. Pucks comes flying at us and pins Rick to the lockers across from us. "What the hell do you think you're doing Prick?" He yells in my tormentors face.

"Come on Puck she's just some dy…" Before he can finish his sentence puck grabs his shirt and slams him into the lockers again.

"Don't you even think about finishing that sentence!" Puck is seething, which is very alarming to see. Anyone that's ever spent any time with Puck knows that he's usually all about playing around and cracking dirty jokes. Before anything serious can happen, I grab Pucks arm and pull him from Rick.

"Come on Puck he's not worth it." I give him a smile when he looks at me, so he can see that I'm okay and that it's no big deal to me.

"Q, he's been on you since day one. I mean look at you. This is what he does to you at least every other day. He needs to be put in his place." I look down at myself and am thankful that it's an away game so we're wearing our red jerseys today.

"Hey, at least it's not purple or blue." I smile at him and continue to pull him away. "He obviously has nothing better to do than try to bring others down. I'd rather not give him the satisfaction of making me upset." He sighs and finally stops resisting my pulls. He slings his arm around my shoulder only to retract it with a grimace. I'm pretty sticky, and now his arm is too. I laugh at the face he's making.

"You know he's gonna get blue and purple slushies to throw at you now." I smirk at him.

"I know." He looks at me totally lost. "Those are my favorite flavors. If I'm gonna get hit with them, I might as well enjoy the taste. I mean, have you had the cherry? Gross!" I make a face and he starts laughing.

"You're brilliant!" He exclaims offering his fist to bump. I do and we both laugh as we continue down the hall. Puck and I have been hanging out after school along with Dave and Sam. Sam goes to the same church that I do, but I hadn't gotten to know him till now, and I found out that we actually like a lot of the same things. Puck is this big tough guy on the outside but a big softy on the inside. So far I really like my time in Lima. Well, besides the slushies.

"All right, I better go wash this before it stains. I'll see you on the bus later." I say and head off to the locker room to change.

"Later Q." He says, and then walks off.

The games close. Right now we are down by three points and it's the fourth quarter with two minutes left, we have the ball and it's third and fifteen thanks to Finn running out of the pocket and getting knocked back a ways.

I was extremely nervous before the game but once I got on the field it all went away, just like it always does. We've been playing pretty good. Although, I'm sure we'd be winning if Finn would get out of his head and just play. Puck and I have each got a touch down, mainly from a short pass and us running the ball in thanks to our awesome coverage.

I've caught most of what Finn's thrown to me but I always have to reach out for it, which leaves me open to get wrecked by the other teams defense. I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow. One play Finn over threw it and thankfully I'm a good jumper because if not, that ball would have been intercepted. However, when I came down two guys smashed into me, knocking the wind out of me for a good minute.

Anyways, back to the present. Third and fifteen to first down, Finn snaps the ball and I sprint out to run my pattern, Finn completely overthrows the ball out of bounds and that's it for the offense for now. We can only hope to get the ball back without them scoring again. Finn stomps off the field and throws his helmet on the ground and sits on the bench pouting. I can tell that a lot of the guys are losing hope so Puck and I start cheering on our kicker and defense and get the other players on the line to join it.

"It's not over yet boys!" Puck yells, and we cheer back in agreement.

The ball is kicked and luckily we're able to stop them from getting too far. Puck and I are back on the field to try and recover the ball. The first couple plays they try and run the ball. Our line is too strong and we make them throw it. The clock is winding down and on third and five they decide to throw it deep. I'm covering one of their best players about twenty yards out from the line, I'm ready if their QB decides to throw it my way but he decides to throw it deep. Once I see it leave his hands I start running after it and see one of their players in the perfect position to catch it. All I can think of is, Crap!

Then, out of nowhere, Puck jumps up and intercepts the ball. I immediately turn around and start running towards our goal line trying to give him as much coverage as I can. Luckily most of their players were out of position so it's a pretty clear shot to the goal. Ten yards to the goal I see one of their players running straight for Puck. I run right into him with all my strength and Puck is able to pass right by us and score, giving us a three-point lead. We get the extra point for a four-point lead, and all that's left is to punt it to them and shut their last play down.

Once the ball is kicked all the defenders rush the other team and they barely gain a yard. With five seconds left, they try for one last attempt to win. It looks like they're going to throw the ball deep but before their quarter back can even get his hand back Dave barrels into him ending the game and sealing our victory. The first victory in quite a long while.

We all go nuts and end up in a mass group hug/jump thing with all of us yelling for joy. Once we calm down we shake the other teams hands and then our fans and cheerleaders take the field to congratulate us. While I'm looking for my parents I see Coach talking, (more like yelling), at Finn and Finn not looking happy at all about it.

Once she's done "talking" to him she makes her way to the rest of us to congratulate us on our performance. One thing I can say without a doubt is that Coach Beiste is the best coach I've ever had. She has a way of teaching that doesn't make you feel like she's talking down to you. She always has good things to say and constructive criticism to help make you better.

I find my parents near the entrance to the bleachers and they both give me big hugs and congratulate me on a great game, although my mom is less than pleased at how much I was hit. She relaxes a bit once I ensure her that I'm fine.

I was on my way to the locker room to change when I saw Rachel and Finn talking. As I got closer I heard Finn yelling at Rachel but before I could get to them and stop him he stalked off. I looked at Rachel and she looked hurt and very annoyed. This made me want to go and beat some sense into Finn. I knew that wasn't an option so I opted for the next best thing, cheering Rachel up. It doesn't look like it will be too hard because once she sees me her face lights up. Man, she's beautiful.

"Quinn! Great game! You played amazing out there!" She exclaims and launches at me, giving me a hug. I chuckle and hug her back the best I can in my gear.

"Hey, thanks Rach, you okay?" Her face falls a little and I curse myself at making her sad.

"I am great Quinn." I raise my eyebrow in question. She huffs but gives in, "Finn is very upset and I'm just not sure what I did." She finishes worrying her lip. All I want to do is take her lip from the perils of her teeth and kiss it. I shake my head of those thoughts.

"No Rach, you didn't do anything. Finn is just upset about how he did. Coach talked to him after the game. I'm not sure what she said, but he looked pretty upset afterwards, so I'm guessing that's why he's mad right now." I bend down to meet her gaze that's been staring at the ground before now. Once our eyes connect I continue. "It's not your fault Rachel. Finn's just misplacing his anger, and I'm sorry you had to be on the receiving end. But I promise you it wasn't anything you did and I'm sure once he cools off he'll see what a jerk he was."

"Thanks Quinn." She says and hugs me again. When we pull away I see her parents walking up to us.

"Hey there champ, good game!" Leroy says and gives me a side hug. Hiram comes up on the other side of me and does the same a Leroy.

"You really did good Quinn." He says as he pulls away from me.

"Thanks Mr….. Leroy and Hiram. I'm glad you guys were able to come watch us play." I see most of the player making their way to the locker room. "Sorry, but I should probably go get changed. It looks like most of the team is in there already." I smile apologetically because I really like spending time with this family.

"That's quite alright Quinn, we don't want to keep you. Great game again, and don't be a stranger. You come over anytime you want okay?" Hiram says

"I will. I'll see you all later." I give one more smile to Rachel and head to the locker room.

Everyone is still amped up on the bus ride back and Puck announces that he's hosting a party at his house.

"I did not hear that. But everyone better be safe, and if you get in trouble you are dead." Coach chimes in.

"What you think? You going?" Dave asks as we exit the bus.

"Nah, I'm not feeling it tonight. I'm just gonna hang at home. Maybe I'll watch a movie and relax." I tell him, not at all in the mood to deal with a bunch of drunk people.

"That sounds sweet, mind if I join you?"

"Not at all, you should see if you can stay over we could have a movie marathon or something." I say, excited about just hanging with my friend.

"Sounds good to me. I'm sure it'll be okay. As long as it's okay with your folks."

"Pshh, you kidding? They love you. Of course it's okay." It's true my parents do love him. He came out to them a few days after he first came to my house and they engulfed him in a big hug and told him that he was welcome whenever he wanted or needed.

"Alright I'll get my stuff and be over." He chuckles and heads off.

We're halfway through X-men Origins when Puck calls me.

"_Hey puck what's up?"_

_Hey Q, I need you to come over to my house."_

"_Thanks for the invite Puck but I'm not up for partying tonight. Maybe some other time."_

"_No, not to party. It's Rachel… She needs you."_

That's all I need to hear and I'm off running upstairs with Dave right behind me. I don't even bother changing from my sweats and tank top. The only thing on my mind is getting to Rachel as fast as I can.

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. And thanks for all the reviews so far. It really helps to know what you guys think. So I thought I would ask your opinion on song selection for Glee auditions. I plan on a few people auditioning for New Directions and was planning on having them to a group number. **

**So I have some ideas what one do you like…The wanted- All time low, Neyo- love me love you, Matt Kearney- Sooner or Later, or a Beiber song? Feel free to suggest others. Also should Quinn sing a song by herself?**


	12. Chapter 12

**RPOV**

_-An Unexpected Ending-_

**Chapter 12**

I think I've finally made a decision regarding my relationship with Finn. After refiguring my lists and making a power point, (that I had no one to present it to) I've decided that it would be best to break up with Finn. I no longer feel that spark when I'm with him, and it's not fair to lead him on when I know it will lead nowhere. It's also not fair to be in a relationship with someone and be thinking about someone else.

So yes, I am breaking up with Finn. Now I just need to find the right time. I think I'll wait till after the game to talk to him. I would hate for our breakup to affect his performance in the game tonight.

After breakfast I head off to school to practice in the auditorium like I always do. Today however, Quinn surprises me. I'm flustered when I first realize that she was watching me sing. I'm just thankful that I chose one of my better songs in my extremely extensive repertoire.

When she says that she's been thinking about me and calls me beautiful all I want to do is break out in song. As that is not the best idea; I'm having a little Broadway moment in my head. Equipped with full orchestra, lights and a show stopping number.

I can see she's embarrassed. I can only assume she didn't mean to let that slip so I decide to help her out and fake that I'm hurt about her short comment.

My fathers and I drove to the game to cheer on my fellow Glee clubbers and Quinn… oh and Finn. I was on edge the whole game. Every time I saw Quinn get hit, and it was a lot, I cringed and held my breath until she got up.

At the end of the game I made way over to a very angry Finn. I knew now wasn't the time to talk about our relationship so I settled with congratulating him on the win.

"Great job out there Finn! Though I'm not well versed in football, I thought you threw the ball very well and you guys won!" He didn't seem happy at all about it.

"Whatever." He says and starts to walk off.

"Finn what's wrong? You guys just won your first game in years. You helped with that. You should be happy." I finish grabbing his arm to stop him from stomping off. I might not want to date him anymore but that doesn't mean I don't care about him.

"You would think that, but some how coach doesn't see it like that." He takes his arm from my grasp. "She says I need to work on my accuracy and my attitude. I'm not a team player. Whatever, I'll see you later." And with that he leaves me there feeling hurt that he just screamed at me. Then I start to get angry because it's not my fault he was yelled at. I definitely have to end this tonight.

I see Quinn walking towards me and my mood immediately perks up. I give her a big hug and can't help but notice that she doesn't smell. I figured after playing as hard as she did she would be all smelly and gross like Finn but she's not, she smells great and I don't even mind her sweat. In fact, I think it's quite an attractive look for her.

She's gone too soon for my liking, to get changed, and now my fathers and I are heading to our car to drive back home. We cross paths with Noah on our way.

"Hello Mr. and Mr. Berry, hey Rachel." I always find it humorous how much Noah changes when talking to elders from our Synagogue.

"Noah" My fathers say while still walking to the car leaving Noah and I alone.

"So my hot Jewish-American Princess, you coming to my party tonight? It's gonna be epic! First win baby!" He yells that last part and people around us cheer.

"I don't think so Noah, perhaps another time." I say, and start walking towards my dads car.

"Come on Rachel you have to come! It won't be the same without you. All the gleeks are going." I stop and think about it for a minute. I do need to talk to Finn, and the sooner the better. Plus people I know will be there. I'm actually being invited to a party. That never happens, and maybe someone else will be there….

"Alright Noah, I'll attend your party."

"Awesome!" He exclaims. "I'll see you there." He winks at me and then walks away.

Noah never specified what time the party was to start, so once my fathers and I return from the game, I get ready and head to the Puckerman residence. Noah lives just down the street so I was in front of his house in a matter of minutes.

There are quite a few people here already and the music is obnoxiously loud. Everyone seems to be in good spirits, obviously elated by the win tonight. No one has stopped me yet to ask what I'm doing here. In fact a few have actually said hi or gave my high fives. Though I have no personal reference before this, I'm pretty sure those people were inebriated, why else would they interact with me? Right now I am walking around the house trying to find someone I actually talk to at school.

"Jew babe!" Noah shouted from across the room. I turned and saw him making his way towards me. I greeted him once he was standing next to me.

"Hello Noah." He slung one of his arms around my shoulder and brought me into a side hug.

"I'm so happy you came Rachel! I totally thought you were going to ditch me." He said.

"Of course I came Noah, thanks for the invite. Are any of the glee kids here?" I asked still searching the room for them.

"I think Kurt and Mercedes are here somewhere, and Finn is in the kitchen playing beer pong." As soon as he said Finns name my thoughts went to my breakup plan. I knew I had to do it tonight, and I might as well get it out of the way.

"Thanks Noah." I say as I head to the kitchen to make my boyfriend my ex.

When I make it to the kitchen it takes me a few minutes to figure out what is happening. There in the kitchen is Finn, not playing beer pong, but sitting at the table with a cheerleader on his lap. Both are leaning in and are about an inch away from kissing.

When they're just about to kiss Finn notices me. His eyes go wide and he jumps up from his chair, effectively dumping his kissing companion on the floor.

"Rachel! What are you doing here?" He asks not noticing that the girl he was about to kiss is still on the floor.

"I was invited here. I think the better question is what are you doing in here with another girl Finn?"

I put my hands on my hips and give him the best glare I can manage. I know I was going to dump him, but seeing him about to cheat on me is really getting me angry. It makes me wonder if he's done it before. Finn looks really guilty until he looks around and sees that a crowd that has started to form around us. Now he's smiling and I have no idea who this person is in front of me.

"Listen Rachel, I've been thinking and I think we should break up. We barely see each other and when we do we just don't work. I'm tired of getting crap about being with you and not getting anything out of the relationship. I know this is gonna be hard for you but in time I'm sure you'll get over it. Hey, maybe after some time apart we could try it again." He finishes giving me his dopey grin.

If I didn't hate violence I'd punch that smile right off his idiotic face. How dare he break up with me like this, in front of a lot of our peers! I'm not even mad that he ended it; I'm actually elated that it's over, but what he said just hurts so much. In order to get out of this situation with some dignity, I view this as an acting challenge that I will do doubt face in the future.

"I couldn't agree with you more Finn. We are clearly not suited for each other and I'm sure we can become good friends eventually, I don't see us being anything more in the future." I say making my voice sound as normal and cheerful as possible. With that I step forward and help the cheerleader up from the floor which Finn completely forgot about and left the room heading upstairs to the nearest unoccupied room to have some privacy where I then break down.


	13. Chapter 13

**QPOV**

_-Movie Night-_

**Chapter 13**

I can hear the music blaring from down the block as Dave and I drive up to Pucks house. It seems like half the school is here, if the cars lining the street is anything to go by. All that's on my mind is getting to Rachel as fast as I can. I open the door and start searching frantically for her.

I tried looking around the room, but there's so many people that it's making it difficult. It doesn't help that Rachel is the shortest one in the place. It got worse when people noticed that I just walked in.

"Quinn!" Someone shouts and everyone starts cheering and crowding around me. Suddenly I'm surrounded by a bunch of drunk people telling me how great I was in the game. A few cheerleaders come up and hug me. One of them kiss my on the cheek.

"You were amazing out there Quinn, really sexy." She purred into my ear.

"Uh, thanks…" I'm trying to recall her name, dang why am I so bad with names. She sees me struggling and luckily she's not pissed, she laughs actually.

"Megan" She tells me.

"Right, thanks Megan. I didn't get to see you cheer because of the game, but I'm sure you did really great too. I've seen you guys practicing and you're really good" I mentally slap myself in the head. Yeah, that didn't sound creepy at all. "I mean, not that I watch you guys at all in a creepy way but yea….." I stop there so I don't dig myself in deeper than I am already. I rub the back of my neck trying to think of a good way to get out of this so I can find Rachel. Megan runs her hand down my arm and takes my hand.

"You are too cute." She says while she plays with my fingers.

"Thanks Megan." Now, normally I would be all for flirting. Megan's beautiful with brown hair, tan skin, full lips, an athletic body and piercing green eyes. Tonight however, it's different. My friend needs me, who also happens to be the girl that's been invading my every thought as of late. I take my hand back from Megan and step away from her. "It was really nice talking to you but I have to go. Have a good night." I can see her disappointment, but I have more important things to do right now so I walk further into the room.

I scan the room again and my eyes land on Finn scowling at me. I look behind me to see if he may be looking at someone else but there's no one. I look back at him confused. Why is he looking at me like that? I start walking over to him when Puck intercepts me.

"Thank God you're here!" Puck says while leading me to the stairs.

"I thought you were Jewish Puck?" He just shrugs and then I remember why I'm here. "What happened to Rachel? Is she okay? Where is she?" He cuts me off before I can continue.

"Rachel's okay, she up here." He says while we ascend the stairs. "Finn broke up with her a few hours ago, and it was pretty public. Like the whole party saw it happen. She's locked herself in my bedroom and I can't get her to open the door. I know you guys are friends, her only real one. So I figured if anyone could get her to open up it would be you." He finishes and I can hear the worry in his voice.

It takes all that I have not to march downstairs and teach Finn a lesson in discretion and tact. As it is, I can't do that and take care of Rachel so I pick the most important thing and approach Pucks bedroom door. Before I knock I turn to Puck.

"Thanks for calling me Puck and caring for Rachel. You're a really good guy." I smile at him.

"Uh, yea whatever. I just know that the Puckzilla is gonna need the room tonight so I'm making sure it's available for later."

"Of course." I say and chuckle. "I got it from here. You're free to go back to your party." He nods and heads back down. Before he reaches the stairs he turns around to face me.

"Thanks for coming for her Quinn. It means a lot to me knowing she has someone to look after her. Take care of her okay?"

"I will, promise." I respond and turn back to the door while Puck goes down the stairs. I take a deep breath and knock on the door. I don't get a response so I knock again.

"Go away Noah." Is the muffled response I get and I can her the tears in her voice. My heart breaks at the sound.

"It's Quinn. Can you open the door Rach?"

"Quinn? What are you doing here? I thought you didn't come?" She asks, but the door remains locked.

"I heard you were here so I figured it must be the place to be." She doesn't say anything but she does open the door. The first thing I notice are her red puffy eyes, then the black streaks from where her mascara ran, her nose is red as well and wet from the mixture of tears and drainage from her nose. All these things shouldn't be cute or take my breath away, but that's exactly what happens while I'm looking at Rachel. A sad smile is playing at her lips.

"What are you really doing here Quinn?" She asks while trying to not break down again.

"Puck called me. He was worried about you. He told me something was wrong with you so here I am." I step closer to her and cup her face with my hands. "What happened Rach?" I ask while my thumbs caress her red cheeks and catch falling tears as they make there way from her eyes that are shining with hurt.

She tries to talk but breaks down in sobs before any words can make it from her mouth. I take a final step forward and diminish any space that was between us, bringing her into a hug. I feel her wrap her arms tightly around my waist and I wrap mine around her shoulders. I try and incase her as much as I can into my body to keep her from breaking apart. After a few minutes of us standing there, well me standing and Rachel leaning on me while her body shakes with sobs, I walk us into the room. I close the door and I lead us to the bed where I sit down and bring Rachel onto my lap. I was afraid that this might be too much but she just snuggles into me holding on tight to my tank top and start rocking her back and forth while rubbing her back.

I'm feeling so many things right now. Anger at Finn for hurting her like this, pain for how she's hurting, relief that it's not something more serious, and determination to help her not only tonight but as long as she needs until she is back to how she was; better than how she was even.

She's stopped shaking a while ago. Her breath is even and if she didn't have a death grip on my shirt still I would think that she fell asleep. I pull away from her to look at her face. I can tell she's embarrassed because she won't look at me. She looks beautiful to me, but I'm sure she doesn't want other people seeing her like this so I stand both of us up and take her to Pucks bathroom to clean her up. I wet a washcloth and gently wipe her face. The washcloth helps cool her skin down and by the time I'm done, her face is mostly back to normal.

She still hasn't looked at me so I take her chin with my thumb and finger and gently raise it so our eyes meet. There's so much sorrow in her eyes that it hurts me.

"I'm sorry." She croaks out, her voice scratchy from crying.

"There's nothing to be sorry for Rach. How about we get out of here?" I ask hoping to convey with my eyes that I really am okay being here with her.

"I think I will go home, but you don't need to leave on my account Quinn. I'm sure you would rather stay at the party. I'll just call one of my fathers to pick me up."

"I told you Rach, you are the party. How about we go back to my place? We can watch movies and eat junk food and talk, or not talk. It's up to you. You can sleep over even." I say hopeful that she'll say yes.

"Are you sure? I don't want to ruin your evening."

"I'm positive. In fact, you will make my whole weekend if you do me the honor of gracing me with your presence at my humble home Ms. Berry." She chuckles at my dorkyness and I pat myself on the back for making her smile.

"Well in that case, I would love to grace you with my presence Ms. Fabray." I take her hand and lead her out of the bedroom and out of the house. On our way out I tell Dave what I'm doing and ask if he still wants to hang out.

"Why don't we do that another night. You worry about Rachel tonight. I'm fine here." We say goodnight and I take Rachel out of the house and to my car.

On our ride back to my house Rachel gets permission from her dads to stay the night. We don't speak, just letting the music play softly in the background while we're both thinking about what's happened tonight.

When we reach our destination I lead her inside and am heading upstairs to my room when my mom comes walking in from the kitchen looking worried.

"Quinnie? Are you all right? All of a sudden I hear you and Dave leaving without so much as a goodbye. I was just about to call you. What happened?" I put my hands up to try and calm her.

"Everything's fine mom, I just had to go help a friend. I'm sorry I didn't tell you or dad. I wasn't thinking about anything else and I guess I'm still not used to telling you guys where I'm going all the time." My words seem to calm her a bit and she finally registers that my guest in no longer Dave but a small girl. I look to Rachel and her head is down. She's staring at the floor and looks nervous. I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. She looks up at me and I smile.

"Mom this is Rachel. I invited her over for the night, if that's okay with you and daddy." I see my moms eyes flash with recognition of the name. She smiles warmly at Rachel and surprises the young singer by bringing her into a hug.

"Rachel, it's great to finally meet you. Quinn has told us so much about you." She pulls back and looks at Rachels face. I know she can tell that Rachel is the one I went to help. Her red eyes and still slightly red nose give it away.

"It's great to meet you as well Mrs. Fabray. I'm afraid I'm the reason Quinn ran out and scared you and your husband. I apologize, I don't want to impose on you so I can just call one of my fathers to pick me up." Before Rachel can break away from the embrace my mom speaks up.

"Nonsense Rachel, you are more than welcome to stay here. It'll give us a chance to get to know you. And please it's Judy."

"And I'm Russel, don't even try that Mr. Fabray stuff on me." My dad comes into the room and shakes Rachels hand. Rachel smiles and chuckles at the silly face my dad is making. He always was good at lightening moods.

"So what are you two up to tonight?" My mom asks.

"We were thinking of watching some movies, and eating junk food. Care to join?" I respond

"That's sounds like fun. Well why don't you two get comfy and I'll start putting together some snacks." My mom says. I can already see her working out what she wants to make in her head.

"You don't have to do that Judy, I'm sure we'll be okay…" I place my hand on her shoulder and shake my head.

"It's too late Rach, she's already got her Food Network Star face on." My mom heads to the kitchen.

"I'd love to join but I'm afraid I have to go into the office for a little bit tomorrow so it's an early night for me. Enjoy your night girls. Rachel I hope to see you again soon."

"Night dad." I give him a hug.

"Night Russell and I'm sure we'll be seeing each other."

"Oh and make sure you watch your mother, you know how she gets with movie nights. I don't want to have to come down there." He gives me his best stern face but his lips twitching up give him away. In the kitchen we can hear my mom gasp.

"Russell! I never!" Whatever else she says is drowned out by our laughter and her banging around in the kitchen.

I take Rachel to my room to get some pajamas. "I know I should be a good host and give you a tour, but how about we save that for tomorrow and get right into the movies tonight?" I ask as I hand her my soccer sweats and a plain gray t-shirt.

"That sounds perfect Quinn." Rachel says and goes into my bathroom to change. I'm all ready in my sleepwear so I just sit on my bed waiting for Rachel to return.

When she does we make our way down to the kitchen. Mom already has way too much food out in bowls and on plates. I know I have to stop her before there's no more room left on the counter.

"Okay mom, I think that's enough. We're not going to finish what's here already." My mom raises her head from the bowl she's working on and she looks like I just told her Dancing With The Stars is cancelled. "Okay, fine. One more thing and that's it." She smiles triumphantly and places the final bowl into the mix of other treats. I'm glad I let her too. It's her famous corn and bean salsa, yum!

All three of us grab a couple snacks and go down to the theater room. Once there I see Rachels eyes widen.

"You've got your stage and I've got my screen. Together I'd say we're covered in the theatrics department huh? She nods

"It's amazing."

We sit in the middle of the room with all three of us sharing a sofa so we can get to all of the snacks. Once we're settled I get up and pick the first movie. The lights dim as I sit down and the movie starts.


	14. Chapter 14

**RPOV**

_Impromptu Movie Night_

**Chapter 14**

I can't believe it! Out of all the possible outcomes that could have happened tonight, this was not one of them. I never would have imagined that I would be at Quinn Fabrays house watching my favorite movie after she comes to my rescue. Again!

When Quinn came and sat back down after selecting the first movie my mouth drops open.

"You like Funny Girl?" I ask in complete shock. She chuckles and shakes her head.

"I've actually never seen it but my mom likes it and I know it's your favorite, so I figure why not start out with it." She shrugs when she stops talking and turns her attention back to the screen. And just like that, I'm a puddle on the floor. Quinn Fabray has melted me with how thoughtful she is.

I'm not sure how long I've been staring at Quinn, but she soon notices that my attentions are on her instead of the movie and turns to look at me. Her eyes are full of concern.

"Are you okay? Would you like to watch something else? Or if you're not up for it I can take you home." She says with worry in her voice.

"No, everything is fine Quinn." I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. "Perfect, in fact." I smile at her and turn my attention, (well part of my attention), to the movie. I'm still holding Quinns hand so there's no way I can concentrate on anything else fully. Looking at the scene ahead of me, I see that we're about ten minutes in to the movie.

"Okay." She says and turns back to the movie, and to my delight she keeps her hand in mine. In the corner of my eye I detect some movement and realize that it's Mrs. Fabray. I completely forgot that she was here with us! I look towards her and it seems like she's trying to cover up a smirk. I can't be sure though. It's not like I can just openly stare at her. That'd be creepy and completely rude, and Rachel Berry is neither of those things…. I hope.

A few minutes later I am wrapped into the movie. I can't help it, It my favorite! And Barbara is just…inspiring. I've started to recite the lines like always when I completely freeze. As subtly as I can I look down at mine and Quinns joined hands. I notice Quinn has interlocked our fingers and is now rubbing her thumb over the top of my hand. I feel a tingling sensation start at my hand and radiate to the rest of my body. After running through my whole body the tingling stops at my stomach and hand. With every gentle swipe of Quinns thumb across my hand my stomach flutters and my hand gets bombarded with that tingling feeling again.

As discretely as possible I take a breath and let it out slowly. I train my eyes back the screen and with a bust of confidence I start to rub my thumb against Quinns hand copying her actions. I hear her take an audible breath in and stop my thumbs movements for a moment. When she doesn't remove her hand from mine I start moving my thumb again and she continues hers as well. I can't help but smile at how amazing it feels just holding her hand.

The movie ends, it seems a lot sooner than it should have, and the three of us are left with credits slowly scrawling on the screen.

"Well, that's all for me kiddos." Mrs. Fab.. Judy says while getting up. Quinn and I get up as well and start cleaning up our snacks. "Oh don't stop the fun on my account." Quinn turns to me.

"How about we put away this stuff n then we can start another movie? Or we could go to bed if you're tired." She asks me.

"That's a great idea. I don't think I could eat anything more and if this stuff is here I know I'll keep eating. And I am totally up for another movie." With that the three of us cleaned up the mess and bring the dishes and leftovers up to the kitchen. Then Judy hugs us and goes to bed while Quinn and I retreat back downstairs. Quinn tells me to pick the next movie so I pick Miss Congeniality. I start up the movie through their touch screen controller. I still can't believe how awesome this room is!

I turn to go sit down and am suddenly nervous. I have no idea where to sit. Before I didn't have to worry about where I was going to sit because of the snacks. Now though, I have to choose to either sit by Quinn or sit away from her. I really want to sit by her but I don't want to invade her space. I think Quinn somehow heard my internal struggle and solved my problem for me. She patted the spot next to her on the love seat she is now occupying.

"Comon Berry, get over here. The movie's starting." She says with smile.

Once I'm seated she pulls a blanket over both of us and turns towards me.

"Are you ready to have your mind blown?" She asks with a smirk. Now there are a lot of scenarios running through my head about what she could be talking about, some not so decent… But what she does next I was not expecting.

She leans over the side of the sofa in search of something. Then all of a sudden our love seat is moving. The back of the chair falls down and the bottom comes up so that the couch is almost flat with a little incline so we could still see the screen. The love seat's a recliner! It's just like a pullout bed without all the hassle and uncomfortable mattress. Huh definitely didn't expect that.

"When my dad and I were looking for furniture for this room we found these and I was in shock. Had no idea there were big recliners. My dad and I knew we had to have these. I'm pretty sure the sales people thought we were nuts. We sat in them for a half hour making them go up and down and pretending we were in our, then "imagined" theater room, watching the Lord of the Rings or something." She laughs as she remembers it. "Sorry, it's probably not that cool for you. I'm a dork. I'll stop gushing about inanimate objects now." She chuckles shaking her head.

I laugh picturing Quinn and her father playing in the chairs and those poor sales associates.

"Well my mind is certainly blown, I've never seen one of these before, and it is incredibly comfortable." She nods in agreement. "And I'm sure those associates were fine with your antics after they found out that you were cleaning them out." I look at around at all the sofas, loveseats and recliners. "I'm sure you made their month!"

"Hmm, they did give us free coffee cups."

"You probably could have got more."

"Nah, once they said free I was done for. I'm a sucker for giveaways. I'm sure they saw it in my eyes that we were sold." Quinn rests her head back on the chair and tilted towards me. She looks so beautiful, with her hair in a messy but and a lazy smile on her face. I put my head down and tilted towards her. Both of us just smiling at each other, not talking. I feel so content and happy right now. Which is weird, since I barely know her. I'm usually trying to find ways to fill the silence, but with Quinn I don't feel that need. It's…. really nice.

A loud car honking jostles us out of our connection. I look to the screen and see that they're at the part where Gracey-Lou is learning how to walk. I've watched this so many times I'm sure I can recite their lines but I still laugh. It's such a great movie. I settle into the loveseat and pay attention to the movie, even though I'd rather have my attention on something else, or someone….

The next thing I know, I'm waking up in an almost pitch black room. It takes me a few minutes to remember where I am and recall all that happened last night. Quinn came to my aid, like the white knight that she is, and now I am lying on a very comfy couch with this beautiful girl. I look over to a slumbering Quinn, who is lying on her side facing me with both of her hands clasping one of mine.

I didn't realize that my hand was being held captive, but I can't find it in myself to care. I just smile over at the blond who is even more adorable, if that's even possible, while sleeping. I turn my body towards Quinn and close my eyes, reveling in the close proximity of our bodies. I'm hit with an impulse to be closer to her so I scoot my body towards hers. I'm just about to put my arm around her when I stop myself and put my arm on the couch. Although Quinn didn't seem to mind me rubbing her hand earlier, it's an entirely different thing cuddling with someone. No, for now I'm okay with handholding. Especially if it feels like that all the time with Quinn, which it has so far. I use my free hand to pull the blanket up over us again and I soon find myself nodding off, squeezing Quinns hand just to make sure she's still with me.


	15. Chapter 15

**RPOV**

_-Breakfast-_

**Chapter 15**

Waking up I'm relieved to find Quinn still there, still close, perhaps a little closer than we were earlier, and is awake. Wait! She's awake, and staring at me. My sleepy state is quickly shaken off and I'm completely awake and staring right back at Quinn.

"Morning." She says. You can hear the sleep still in her voice so I assume she just woke up as well. She's smiling at me and looking right into my eyes as she moves some of my hair out of my face and behind my exposed ear. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better, thanks to you." I blush at how lame that sounded and look away from her.

"Good." She says and I feel her start to shift next to me. I look back to her and see her sitting up and I already miss the closeness. She stretches her arms over her head and her shirt rides up her body to reveal a sliver of smooth, tan skin. My eyes zero in on it and I lick my lips. Gosh! What am I doing? When did I become a hormonal, teenage, boy? I force my eyes away from her body and try to clean up my thoughts.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Quinn asks. "About what happened last night?"

I shake my head no but then I start talking in spite of what my body is telling my head.

"I'm embarrassed really. About how I acted last night, just breaking down like that. I didn't want anyone to see how much Finn affected me. It wasn't even about him breaking up with me. I'm honestly glad that we broke up. I'm more hurt at the way he did it. At how public and inconsiderate it was. I mean, we were together for a year. I thought he cared about me more than that. But he just…. If I hadn't been there he would have cheated on my. I walked in on him cheating and then, instead of taking me to another room or leaving to talk, he just breaks up with me right there." My eyes start to water thinking about it again. "He was my first real friend in high school, and I though…" Tears are starting to fall down my face and I have to stop speaking to let out a sob. I'm soon enveloped in a warm embrace as Quinn brings me into her chest. I rest my head in the crook of her neck. "I though he cared about me." With that I break down again.

Quinn doesn't say anything; she just holds me tight and I cling to her as last night plays in my head again. Finn was the one person who showed he cared for me publicly besides my fathers, well before Quinn, and he just wrote me off like that in front of most of their peers.

I'm suddenly dreading school on Monday. I'm sure there will be a lot of people wanting to remind me just what happened Friday. Plus Finn's protection will no longer be there. I better bring extra clothes. Maybe I should invest in slushy resistant clothing, is there even such apparel?

Before I can go deeper in my head on how fashionable blue plastic ponchos are these days Quinn starts humming something. I'm not sure what, I've never heard the melody before, but it's doing wonders to calm me.

"Thank you" I say into her neck after I'm sure I'm not going to break down again. I retract myself from her and look into her eyes. "Really, thank you Quinn. I really appreciate you coming to help me. I can't even begin to thank you for all the help you've given me since we first met. I'm so glad that we've met, that you moved here." I move back into her and hug her and I feel her arms squeeze me in closer.

"I'm so happy I'm here too Rach, and if my dads boss wasn't so creepy, I would go hug him for transferring him here." We both laugh at that and the mood lightens.

"Yes, we wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea anyways. Please refrain from hugging creepy men, or creepy people in general. I wouldn't' really like that, and I'm sure it would make things awkward for you father." She lets out a cute laugh.

"Would you be jealous? If I hugged the creepers?" She asks with a crooked grin and an arched eyebrow. I gulp at how tempting that mouth of hers looks right now.

"You wish Fabray." I say trying to take some deep, calming breaths. She says something really quietly, I couldn't quite hear it, but it sounded like she said, "I do." Before I can ask her what she said she stands up from the couch.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. You feel like some breakfast?" My stomach decides I'm taking too long to respond and growls. She chuckles and I blush.

"I suppose I could eat." I say worrying about having to turn down a lot of their food options because of my lifestyle. We head upstairs and as soon as the basement door opens we're hit with delicious smells wafting in from the kitchen. We enter the kitchen and are greeted by Judy and an outrageous amount of food.

"Morning girls, I was just going to go down and get you ladies for breakfast." Judy puts the final pancakes she was making on the stack that's already there. "Dig in!"

We both sit and I start in on a bowl of fruit Judy puts in front of each of us.

"Don't you want any eggs or pancakes dear?" Judy asks.

"I'm sorry Judy, but I'm vegan so I can't eat them."

"Oh, I'm sorry dear." She starts to say, and I already feel guilty for her going to all of this trouble for me, and it go to waist. "I should have told you that everything here is vegan." She leans forward and whispers, "Even the bacon," and leans back putting a finger to her lips and looks towards Quinn who is currently going through a healthy stack of said bacon. "I used vegan friendly ingredients, so you can eat whatever you would like. Unless you don't like eggs or pancakes, then that is perfectly fine. Next time I'll ask what you would like to eat."

I'm not sure what to say. I'm shocked at how far Mrs. Fabray went to make me feel comfortable here and really touched that she did this.

"No everything looks amazing, and I love pancakes, I haven't really had egg substitute alone before so I'll definitely try some of that as well. Thank you so much. You really didn't have to go to so much trouble." I say as I scoop some eggs onto my plate and grab a pancake and put some strawberries on top.

"It was no trouble dear. Honestly after Quinn told us that you were vegan, I looked up some information about it, and found that there are a lot of great health benefits of being vegan. I decided to substitute some of our food to vegan options. I don't think we can completely convert, but we will definitely have some vegan things here so don't you worry about putting us out or think that you won't have anything to eat when you come here okay?" She gave me a warm smile that I returned and then some. I'm still completely blown away at how amazing this whole family is.

"And a lot of my friends in California are either vegan or vegetarian so I'm not a stranger to different foods." Quinn added.

Not knowing what else to say I nod and start in on my food. Everything was delicious, especially the foe-bacon. Judy and I laughed at Quinn's reaction when she found out that she was eating fake bacon.

"How could you? My own mother, lying to me like this." She says as she holds up a piece of bacon like it's going to bite her.

We didn't have time to talk or for Quinn to give me that tour after breakfast since both Quinn and I had places to be in the afternoon. I had to get to my dance and singing classes and Quinn had soccer practice. And let me just say, Quinn in soccer shorts and a t-shirt….is definitely a good sight to see. I think I'm becoming a soccer fan.

While Quinn is driving me home we talk about how great Barbara was in Funny Girl and her other roles, well I'm talking and Quinn is listening. She doesn't seem to mind me talking though if the smile on her face is any indication.

We say our goodbyes and I go inside to get ready for class.

"Hi Dad, Daddy" I greet my fathers in the kitchen. Both of them give me a funny look but greet me as well.

"Better hurry hunny, we have to leave soon." Dad says. I look at the clock, and sure enough, I have twenty minutes to get ready and leave so I get there on time. (Which is a half hour earlier than the class is scheduled to start. It's always good to be thoroughly warmed up before starting any physical activity though).

I rush off to my room to change. As soon as I close my door I notice my outfit I have on. I'm still wearing the sweatpants and shirt Quinn gave me last night. I take a minute to look at the sweatpants and I notice that Fabray is printed along the right pant leg and a number ten on the left positioned on the upper leg. No wonder my fathers were looking at me weird. Oh I left my clothes at Quinn's. Well, it's not like I won't see her ever again. In fact, this will give me a great reason to see her again! With that settled I get changed quickly and run downstairs to my fathers waiting car.


	16. Chapter 16

**QPOV**

_Flashback to Friday Night_

**Chapter 16**

"Hey Q, how was the rest of your weekend?" I turn around and see Dave catching up to me as we are making our way into school.

"Hey it was good. Yours?" I ask him.

"Good." He responds, putting his hands into his pockets of his jeans. Hmm, those seem new. I look at his dark jeans and then observe the rest of him. He's wearing a grey polo shirt that seems new as well with his letterman jacket over it and his hair seems to be styled differently. "How'd the game go Sunday?" He seems nervous.

"It was good, we won." I smile at him and hit his outstretched hand with mine.

"That's awesome!"

"Yea," I agree. "Hey about Friday, I'm sorry I bailed on you. I hope your night wasn't ruined because of me."

"No, not at all. My night was just fine after you ditched me for a hot girl." He replies smirking and I roll my eyes at him.

"You know it wasn't like that…."

"Uh huh, sure Q"

"Nothing happened, we just hung out at my place and watched some movies. No big deal. You totally could have come with us. My mom even hung out with us."

"Honestly Quinn, it wasn't a big deal. I actually had a good time at the party." When he says that he blushes and I stop walking and really look at him. Something definitely happened at that party. I grab his arm to stop his forward movement.

"Something happened at the party." It wasn't really a question but Dave's deepening blush and non-answer would sure be an answer if I needed one. We still have some time before the bell is going to ring so I drag Dave to the bleachers and sit us down. "Okay, spill."

"Nothing happened.." He starts, but my glare shuts him up. He lefts out a breath and rubs the back of his neck. "Okay, maybe something kind of happened." He pauses to organize his thoughts.

"Well, when you went to help Rachel I mingled with people at the party…"

**DPOV**

**Friday Night**

When people see that Quinn and I made it to the party people go nuts and start swarming us. I'm sure it's mainly because Quinn is here and a lot because of how much alcohol these people have consumed. I'm sure if I was by myself and people were more sober I would have the opposite reaction from them. I wasn't the best person in the world before Quinn showed up…

Everyone is surrounding us, patting us on the backs and congratulating us on the win. I notice a good amount of cheerleaders are cozying up to Q. I smile, thankful that they're not giving me that kind of attention. I'd rather not have to pretend to be into that. Or worse, turn them down and have them start crying and asking why they aren't hot enough. I shiver at the image.

After talking to a few people around us I slink away to the kitchen to get something to drink. Most of the linesmen are congregating around the keg and when they see me they cheer and one of them hands me a cup. We mainly talk about the game or what one of the hockey players is doing out in the living room, trying to get girls attention. At the moment we're watching two hockey players compete in a Tabasco drinking contest. Man, how drunk are they? Soon after they start one of them starts chocking and spitting the hot sauce everywhere in his vicinity, including onto one of the girls they were trying to woo. As soon as he catches his breath his whole face goes green and he sprints out the front door, I'm sure to puke his guts out. The other one is soon to follow him outside, leaving one girl furious that her outfit was ruined and everyone else laughing hysterically.

When I finally get my breath back from laughing so hard I look back to the seen and there across the room is Kurt along side Mercedes. He's looking straight at me with a smile on his face. Obviously he's just seen the macho display and was amused as well. I shake my head and laugh while he rolls his eyes. Mercedes says something to him, he nods his head and I watch her leave him, I'm guessing for the bathroom. He's still staring at me and raises his eyebrow in a, what are you waiting for, (I'm hoping) kind of way. Just as I'm about to go over to him Quinn finds me.

I tell Quinn to go on without me and walk, (smoothly I hope), over to where Kurt is. I lean against the wall next to him. I don't say anything to him. Just lean against the wall slowly sipping my beer and watching all the partiers. When I look at Kurt I see that he's looking at me. He blushes at being caught and turns to look away. I can't help but smile. Was he checking me out? I finally realize it's a little weird to just walk up to someone and not say anything. But what do I say now? Something witty….

"Hey" I internally cringe at my lameness. 'Hey' really!

"Hi" Kurt responds, smiling up at my through his abnormally long lashes. Okay, maybe that wasn't so bad.

"Having a good night?" I lean towards him so he can hear me over the noise around us.

"Of course. I love watching people get totally smashed and make bad decisions." He says sarcastically.

"Aww come on, you aren't the least bit tempted to drink Tabasco sauce after that riveting display of manliness?"

"I can't say that the urge has hit me yet, but give it time. I'm sure tomorrow I will be completely devastated that I didn't do it as well." He says trying to suppress a smile.

"Well there's still time tonight." I smile and fake like I'm going to get a bottle to let him fulfill his dream. He places his hand on my arm and I look at him.

"I think I'll live without that experience under my belt." He smiles at me. "I'm more than fine, staying here." The way he says it makes it seem like he's actually saying, he's fine hanging out with me, and it that's the case than so am I.

I just nod and lean back on the wall next to him, not sure of what to say next. When I look back to Kurt I catch him staring at me again, and again he quickly looks away blushing. I suddenly realize that Kurt's still holding my arm and my blush appears. I look down at my shoes to try and hide what I am sure is the goofiest smile ever.

"So I heard you had a good game."

"You didn't go?" I ask, trying to hide my disappointment.

"No, I went. I just don't know much about football, so I'm not the best person to judge performance. You did look fierce out there though. I wouldn't want to be opposite you. And that uniform suites you." I can't help the smile that breaks onto my face at that.

"So… you were checking me out?" I smirk at him. I watch his eyes go wide and his mouth drop open. I think he gets a little paler. I can't help it so I let out a laugh. He's just too cute.

"Umm, no… I…" He huffs and takes his hand from my arm and crosses it with his other across his body. Crap I shouldn't have laughed. "As you know, I know all about clothes and fashion and I just happened to observe that your uniform compliments you. That's all" He finishes and huffs again turning away.

I laugh again at his dramatics, but sober up once he doesn't turn around right away.

"Hey." I try but he does nothing. Crap, he's probably embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you." He still does nothing so I lean in closer to him and nudge him with my shoulder. "Thanks," He turns to look at me. "You definitely know about clothes, so you saying that means a lot."

"DIVA!" Someone yells and we turn to see Mercedes coming over to us. We straighten up and put some distance between the two of us. When did we get that close? I look around the room to see if anyone was looking at our interaction.

I'm not worried that they see me and Kurt talking, I'm definitely not embarrassed about being friends with Kurt; if that is even what we are. I'm just not sure I'm ready for people to find out about me. And if anyone was paying attention to us just then I'm sure they would have got the impression that I was flirting. Besides, Kurt might not even be interested.

It seems like I'm in the clear, so I turn back to Mercedes and Kurt. Mercedes is now draped over Kurt and it seems Kurt is having some difficulty keeping them both upright.

"I love you Kurt." I hear Mercedes say.

"I love you too Mercedes. How much have you had to drink just now? You were completely fine when you left a little while ago." Kurt asks.

"What's with the inquisition Kurt? I just had a couple drinks, maybe a shot or two." Mercedes says getting angry and then her face changes suddenly and she seems worried. "Are you mad at me?" Yep, definitely wasted.

"No Mercedes I'm not mad at you. I'm just worried, that's all. How about we get out of here and go back to mine. I'm tired." He says trying to convince his friend to leave so she can get sober.

"Okay," She says and heads to the door without another word. Kurt looks back at me apologetically.

"I should really get her to bed." He starts to apologize but I stop him.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You're friend needs you. I'm probably gonna head out too. I'm not feeling in the party mood." I say and we head to the door together. When we get out we find Mercedes sitting on the front steps of Puck's house with her head in her hands. She doesn't move when Kurt tries to get her up, so I help him get her into his car.

"Are you going to be able to get her into your house?" I ask looking at the sleeping girl in Kurt's car. I can see the worry on his face. "How about I go with you to your house and help you." He looks nervous. "I mean, if you're okay with me being in your car…" Of course he's not okay. We just started talking to each other, and before that I was one of his biggest tormentors.

"That would be amazing. You don't mind?" I smile, happy that he's okay with me helping him.

"Not at all." We hear Mercedes groan in the front seat. "Come on. We should get her to bed, or maybe to a bathroom…" Kurt's go wide at that, and we both get in the car.

"Mercedes, you need to tell me if you're going to be sick so I can pull over. You are not throwing up in my car!" Kurt tells his friend and I doubt she heard him.

The car ride was filled with music playing in the background and occasional groaning from Mercedes but otherwise it was quiet. When we got to his house I helped Mercedes into the house while Kurt got all the doors and directed me to a place to deposit her.

Once I set Mercedes down on Kurt's bed, Kurt and I head back outside.

"Thanks for hanging out with me at the party, I'm glad you were there." I start walking backwards down his walkway.

"Yea, I'm happy I went too." I start to turn around and walk away when he stops me. "I can drive you home. It's the least I can do to thank you for your help. I'm sure Mercedes would have either slept in my car or somewhere between there and my bed if you weren't here to help."

"Don't worry about it Kurt. I'll be fine walking home. I'm sure Mercedes will need you. She probably shouldn't be left alone, just in case." I could see wanted to argue so I spoke again before he could. "Besides, I don't live too far from here. You live closer to me than Puck does and I would have walked from his place. So really I should thank you for shortening my walk." I smile at him to show that I mean what I'm saying.

"I really don't like the idea of you walking home alone by yourself… But you're right, I really shouldn't leave Mercedes alone." I can see that he's still struggling on what the best thing to do is. "Will you text me when you get home? So I know you got back okay?" He asks nervously.

"I can't." Kurt looks hurt when I say that. "I don't have your number." His face brightens immediately after I say that. I step closer to him and hand him my phone. "Here, put it in for me." He does and hands it back to me. "Thanks. I'll text you as soon as I get home."

"Okay, good. Well…" He stops talking.

We both stare at each other, neither sure what to do. Do we hug? No too personal. High five? Friends high five, but I doubt Kurt does that with his friends. I finally decide that I should get out of there before my brain wanders to different ways to say goodbye…. and too late. I clear my throat.

"Um, I should go and you should probably get back up to your friend. Just in case she needs you. I'll see you Monday." With that I give a simple wave and start the walk to my place.

"Yea, see you Monday." Kurt yells. "Don't forget to text me when you get home!"

"I won't forget." I yell over my shoulder.

The walk really wasn't bad at all. It took me about five minutes. Gotta love small towns. When I got into my room I retrieved my phone to text Kurt.

Dave: Hey Kurt, It's Dave. I'm home safe and sound.

Kurt: Oh thank God! I think that was the longest five minutes of my life.

I can't help laughing at Kurt's dramatics.

Dave: Well I think that was the loneliest five minutes of mine. :(

Once I sent that out I regretted it. He's gonna think I'm a big dork.

Kurt: Aww Well next time maybe I can keep you company.

Wait is he flirting with me?!

Dave: I definitely wouldn't mind company. Esp. if it's you. ;)

Crap I really gotta stop that faces…

Kurt: That's good to know. :D

Another message comes in right away.

Kurt: I hate to cut this short but Mercedes just rushed to the bathroom. I should go check on her. Night David.

Dave: Goodnight Kurt.

Dave: Sleep tight.

Sleep tight? Really? It's official, I am a huge dork.

**QPOV**

"Aww Davey. That's sooo cute!" I tell him and see him start to blush.

"Yea, well. Like I said nothing happened…." He says getting nervous.

"Of course something happened! You and Kurt hung out and had a moment or two if I'm not mistaken. This is huge!" I wrap my arms around him. "It's okay to be excited and happy about this Dave." And just like that a smile stretches its way across his face. He looks down, still feeling shy about talking about his feelings to someone. "So when's the date?"

He looks up at me, completely confused.

"For the wedding?" I tell him with my serious face on. "Yours and Kurt's? I mean after Saturday it inevitable; you guys are meant to be. Yep only a matter of time." He finally catches on that I'm joking around with him and he gives me a playful glare. This is too much fun. I lean into him so the first part of what I say next can only be heard by us.

"Kurt and Davey sitting in a tree." I move away when I see him try to grab me and get louder. " G…" Now I'm running away from him trying to get into the school before he can catch me. "First comes love, then comes…." That's as far as I get before he grabs me and puts a hand over my mouth to silence me. Dang, if it wasn't for a group of kids stopping right in front of me I would have gotten away.

"That's enough from you." Dave says. If you were to look at him, you would think that he's pissed but his voice gives him away. He totally likes the fact that there's someone for me to tease him about, and I do too.

When he thinks I'm not going to start up again he releases me.

"You still have to give me details about your exciting Friday night." Just then the bell rings. We start walking to our lockers.

"Like I said before, we didn't do much, but we'll have to continue later." We just reached his locker and I still need to get to mine before the tardy bell rings.

"Hang out after practice?"

"You know it!" I say as I forge my way through the masses towards my locker. "Later!"


	17. Chapter 17

**QPOV**

_Cold Showers and Angry Fathers_

**Chapter 17**

Do you ever have that feeling that something bad is going to happen?

That's how I'm feeling right now. I haven't been slushied once this past week. I'd like to think that because of last Friday's game, the hockey team has decided to get off my back. That would be amazing if that actually happened, but I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that this is not what's happening. No, I'm pretty sure they're planning something and that something will probably go down today. No better time to do something than on the day of the homecoming game. Right?

It happened between second and third period. I was at my locker trading out books when I felt them. I left everything in my locker, closing it and turned to find most, if not all the hockey team surrounding me, each holding a big gulp cup. I had just enough time to close my eyes before the ambush started. You would think that after the first few that my skin would be numb so I wouldn't feel the rest coming. But if anything it got worse. It felt like my skin was being attacked by a hive of bees. Nothing was safe, even the skin covered by my clothes felt the assault. The only thing could think of while this was happening, was that I was glad that I took off my jersey after I had that bad feeling earlier. White does not go well with colored corn syrup.

After what seemed like forever, the slushies stopped coming. I wiped my eyes as best as I could and looked up to see Rick the Prick smiling at me.

"You're walking around here thinking you're better than us. We thought we would show you just where you stand here at McKinley. Right at the bottom. Keep trying to fight us or stop us from showing others where they belong and you can expect this everyday of your miserable life here dyke." With that he walked forward and dumped his cup right over my head. After he was done he dropped his cup at my feet and walked away with his teammate. They were all laughing and high-fiving each other as they went.

The hallway was completely silent. Everyone was just staring at me. I looked down at the lake of meting slush around me, embarrassed and freezing. When I look back up I see Mr. Boehler, my next hour teacher walking past me. He looks straight at me and then keeps walking, not saying a word. Really! He doesn't even look sorry about what just happened!

Now I'm pissed. I stalk off to the bathroom and wash my face. The tardy bell rings before I can do more than clean my face off so I decide that if the teachers are okay with people getting slushied in the halls then they should be okay with bringing the mess into their classrooms. I take my shirt off and ring out as much liquid as I can and head to Mr. Boehlers room. I don't even bother getting my books from my locker. I doubt I'll be there that long.

Everyone's seated and Mr. Boehler's already teaching by the time that I get there. Rachel sees me and immediately shoots up from her seat.

"Quinn! What happened? Are you alright?!"

"I'm okay Rach, just a little cold. The hockey team decided I looked a little thirst.." I say as I take my seat, putting my ruined shirt on my desk.

"Ms. Fabray, what do you think you're doing?" I turn and glare at my teacher.

"What everyone else is doing sir, learning, or I will be once you start teaching." I say in the sweetest voice I can muster.

"You know that's not what I meant Ms. Fabray. Why did you come into my class like this." He gestures to the sticky mess that is on me and now on everything my body has come in contact with. "You know you should have cleaned up before coming to class."

"I'd probably miss all of class cleaning myself up sir."

"Then you could have got the information you missed from one of your classmates."

"And get a detention for skipping?"

"If you would miss all of class then you would get a detention, yes. That's just school policy."

"I see, and then just forget about what happened?"

"Exactly. I'm sure what happened was an accident. You coming in here in your state of undress and getting everything in here dirty is unaccept…." I cut him off.

"You know what I think is weird? How the most popular people in this school are also the ones that achieve the least. I mean, look at the football team. Before this year, they hadn't won a game in years. And the hockey team is just all kinds of messed up. I don't think half of them know how to skate. Yet the players on these teams are the coolest people in school? I just don't get it." I pause a minute as a chill runs through my body. Man I'm cold! "I can understand why the Cheerios are popular. They actually win things and work hard to do so. There are so many other students that succeed in this school, but all the funding goes to programs that aren't succeeding. I know the school orchestra is constantly winning awards, the marching band has competed and placed in national competitions, the math, debate and science clubs are winning ribbons and trophies left and right. The Glee club went to regional's last year and some students in this school have some of the highest SAT test scores in the state. That's just some of the achievements at this school. So tell me Mr. Boehler, why is it that the lower achieving students can do whatever they want without consequences?"

The only sound in the room after my rant is the occasional drip that is running off myself and hitting the floor. I watch as Mr. Boehlers face goes from shock to embarrassment to anger.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about Ms. Fabray."

"I'm talking about the fact that the whole hockey team decided to gang up on one girl in the hall and no one did anything. You just walked right by." I'm griping the desk tight so I don't do something stupid, like physically knock some sense into this guy.

"I think you better leave and clean yourself up." He says completely ignoring what I just said.

"No I'm good, just a little cold. Please continue the lesson."

"Ms. Fabray, you need to go put a shirt on. This" he points to my upper body, "is not okay."

"I'll tell you what, I'll put on a shirt when the adults in this school get their heads out of the asses and start doing something about the bullying going on around here." I say leaning back in my seat and folding my arms over my body, willing myself not to shiver.

That did it. Mr. Boehlers face is red now.

"OUT!" he yells. "Go to the office I'll be there shortly." I shrug and get up to leave. That took a lot longer than I thought it would to get kicked out.

Rachel starts to stand to protest but I stop her.

"It's okay Rach. I'll see you later." I grab my shirt and toss it in the trash on my way out.

Before I go to the office I stop at my locker to get my phone and push call.

"_Hello?"_

"_Dad? Hey. You're gonna have to come to school."_

"_What? Quinn are you okay?!"_

"_I'm okay. I just, might be in trouble."_

"_Okay, I'm on my way. Why don't you tell me what happened."_

"_Okay, but before you get here could you run home and pick up a shirt for me?"_

"_What happened to your shirt Quinn?"_

"_Well…." _I tell my dad everything that happened while he's making his way to me. When the bell rings for lunch I tell him that I have to get into the office. He says that he's close and he'll see me soon. When he hangs up I go into the office and wait.

I just stand in the office. I don't want to ruin the chairs in here. I'd rather not have to pay for the cleaning bill. When I walk in, the office ladies all look at me with wide eyes and open mouths. It makes sense. I am in only a bra and jeans and am covered in blue and purple goo.

It didn't take long for Principle Figgins to come out and bring me into his office. Mr. Boehler came and started yelling at him about how disrespectful I was to him and all the teachers in this school. Not to mention, making a mess of his classroom. Once he was done ranting Principle Figgins turns to address me.

"Well Ms. Fabray, what do you have to say for yourself?"

There was some commotion outside and then the office door opened to reveal a very angry Russell Fabray.

"Mr. Fabray. What are you doing here?" Figgins gets up from his chair to greet my father.

"I'm here to make sure my daughter is okay and find out what is happening at this school. The better question is, why didn't anyone call me when you decided to have a meeting with my daughter? Don't you think it prudent to have a students parents present if there is trouble?" I just got chills, and I'm not sure if it's because of the lack of shirt or because of my Dads voice. You can tell he's angry but his voice is calm and not giving anything away. After years of discipline, not that I needed much, I knew what that voice meant. If they aren't careful this could end badly.

"I assure you Mr. Fabray, that if we thought this warranted your presence we would have called you immediately. As it is, this situation seems to be pretty simple. Your daughter was disrespectful to Mr. Boehler which she will receive detention for and will not be allowed to play in tonight's game." I want to stand up and yell at how unfair that is but I don't. I know my dad will handle this.

"And exactly how was she rude to Mr. Boehler? When she was asking why no one did anything about the bullying going on in this school or when she talked about Mr. Boehler specifically seeing what happened to her today and on other occasions and not doing anything?" Mr. Boehler starts to defend himself, but my dad won't let him.

"No, you're not talking now." Boehler flinches and my dad turns to Figgins. "My wife and I came in and talked to you specifically when we were looking for a school for Quinn. You know her history, and you assured us without a doubt that this was the school for her. Yet here we are, dealing with issues that you told us did not happen here at your school. So were you just not aware of what was going on or did you decide that it was best to turn the other cheek? I'm guessing the latter after what Quinn told me about what you told her after she came to you about the issues she and other students are having."

"I can't begin to tell you how lucky you are my wife isn't in town, because if she were here and found out what happened today child neglect charges would be the least of your worries. As it is, she is not, and though I would agree one hundred percent with whatever she would do I'm willing to give you and your staff one last chance." He pauses so that the two dumbfounded men behind the desk can register what he just said.

"After school today you will call a mandatory staff meeting and let everyone know that ignoring the bullying is no longer okay. You also need to have an assembly or have the teachers talk to all of the students and let them know that bullying will no longer be tolerated. This all will be done by after school on Monday."

"Mr. Fabray, please, you need to give us more time. We will not be ready to implement the bully ban by Monday. Perhaps in a month.."

"No. You will get this done by the end of Monday or I'm taking Quinn out of here and I'll let my wife do what she feels is necessary. And I can guarantee jobs will be lost, starting with you two." He looks between the two.

"What was I supposed to do? Kids pick on each other, that's what they do." Mr. Boehler protests.

"You were supposed to be an adult." My dad says glaring at him and then looks at Figgins again.

"We told you about Quinn's past, but we also talked about what's going on in her future. You know what something like this getting out would do to this school. What it would do to you." Figgins eyes widened at that and he slumped down in his chair defeated.

"I can assure you Mr. Fabray, this will be taken care of by Monday. No further action will be required."

"Good. Now, I'm taking Quinn home for the rest of the day. Make sure all her teachers are informed about her excused absence and she will be playing tonight." With that he turns to me handing me a shirt and we leave the office.

"Quinn!" I'm putting the shirt over my head when Rachel comes up to us. "Are you okay? What happened? Are you in trouble? They can't" I pull my shirt down and put hands up to stop her.

"I'm okay Rach. My dad came in to help and I'm definitely not in trouble. If anything they are."

"Oh, well good." She says a little thrown off. I'm sure she was ready to bust into the office and give them a piece of her mind. I'm a little sad she didn't. I definitely would have been hot…I mean cute. She looks behind me and sees my dad. "Hi Mr. Fabray, it's good to see you again. How are you?"

"It's good to see you too Rachel. I'm alright, how are you doing? Not missing class I hope." My dad says in a semi-serious tone.

"Oh no sir, it's lunch now."

"Good. Thanks for worrying for Quinnie here. But don't worry, she's not in any trouble." My dad looks at me. "Ready to go?"

"Yea." I look to Rachel. "I'm heading home for the rest of the day. I think it might take a while to get all this off." I indicate the sticky mess that is my body. "Thanks for worrying about me."

"Of course Quinn, I care about you." I feel my body heat up at her words.

"Maybe I'll see you later?" I ask hoping I'll see her at the game or after. I wouldn't mind a repeat of last week. Well, without her getting hurt that is.

"Definitely."

"Awesome!" Great, way to sounds too eager. But she's smiling so. Crap her eyes have me again. A voice clearing behind me brings me out of the trance. "Alright, well I should…" I gesture to the doors.

"Yes, of course. I should get to lunch." She seems just as dazed as me. "I'll see you later Quinn, Bye Mr. Fabray."

"Goodbye Rachel."

"Bye." She smiles at us and walks away. I turn to my dad and see that he's smirking at me. "Don't." I say as I lead the way out of the school. I hear him laughing behind me.

"I think I see what you were saying before. She's definitely not interested."

"Dad." I try to cover his mouth with my hand but he dodges me.

"You two getting lost in each others eyes is definitely a sign that nothing will ever happen." He laughs and I slump in defeat.

"She had a boyfriend." I say trying to make a point.

"She had a boyfriend. So she's available is what you're saying." He counters

"No, she's not available because she's only had a boyfriend. She's straight."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No."

"Well then you might have a shot, and if any of the interactions me or your mother have seen is any indication, I'd say she's interested as well." He stops walking to look at me fully. "Look Quinn, I know it's scary putting yourself out there. Especially after what happened last time. But at some point you just have to jump in again. You really like Rachel right?" I roll my eyes and nod because I obviously like Rachel. "Then you have to be willing to put yourself out there. Go for it, and I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed with the outcome. If it doesn't work out you'll have people to help you back up and a line of girls waiting to get a chance to find out how amazing you are." He slings his arm around me and I lean in to hug him.

"Thanks Dad. I promise I'll try with Rachel. But I think I'll give her a little time. She did just break up with her boyfriend."

"That sounds reasonable." We walk to his car and he unlocks it. "You can leave your car here and drive it home after the game."

"Should I sit in the trunk?" I say as I look at my Dads BMW and then myself.

"Nah, I don't think you'd fit."

"Haha funny." I say as I open the door to find a few towels on the seat. We buckle up and head for home.

"Have you talked to Mom yet today? How's Jake?"

"He's doing okay. He's out of surgery and is awake. You can call him after you get cleaned up." I nod and look out the window.

Jake is my cousin. We grew up together and people would always confuse us as twins and we might as well be. We're the same age, born a month apart. He's the older one and loves to rub that in. We have the same hair color, are the same height and both love comics and all things superhero. When we were younger people could only tell us apart from our eyes. He has deep blue eyes.

The other difference is that Jake has a heart condition. They found out when he was a toddler and have been trying to overcome it ever since. A few years ago he had a heart transplant that was supposed fix everything. Apparently there are some complications now and he was rushed to the hospital yesterday for emergency surgery. My mom went to be with her sister and her family and I really wanted to go too but my mom convinced me to wait a couple weeks when I don't have football or soccer games. I'd rather just go now but I know my teammates are counting on me.

The game was not going great. We're down by fourteen and we just lost possession by Finn taking a knee instead of running the ball or passing it. Coach looks pissed right now.

"Hudson! What was that?"

"What do you mean coach?"

"You taking a knee when you could have tried for a first down. That's what I'm talking about! We were two yards away. You could have run it in or even passed it. Puck was open deep!"

"Coach you saw those guys coming at me! There was no way I could have gotten through them and Puck wasn't in my line of sight. If the defense would have held them off I could have gone for it. But" Beiste cuts him off.

"Don't even think about blaming your line Hudson. Those guys were doing their job. You hung onto the ball for too long and made poor decisions." Coach dropped her voice so she wasn't yelling anymore. "Finn, you're a captain and the quarterback. It's your job to make good, quick decisions out there. And if you do something wrong you're responsible for it. You don't go blaming everyone else for your mistakes."

Finn just scoffs at her and rolls his eyes.

"Obviously you don't agree with that so why don't you sit out for the rest of the game and think about what I said and how you can improve." She turns to Sam. "Evens! Start warming up, you're in when we get the ball back." Sam's eyes widen and then a big smile appears on his face when he realizes he's going in.

"Yes Coach!" He starts stretching his arms and throwing the football with one of our teammates on the sideline while we wait to get back in there.

Normally I'd be on defense as well, but this game has been pretty draining so I'm sitting out for a few plays.

"What! Coach, that is so unfair!" I look over and see Finn in five-year old tantrum mode. When Coach doesn't say anything he rips his helmet off and throws it on the ground. He doesn't feel like that's enough so he stomps over to the water table and knocks one of the jugs over spilling all the water out.

"That's enough Hudson! Go to the locker room and cool off. You are not returning to this game." Knowing he wasn't going to get his way, Finn stalks off to the locker room.

The Defense did an awesome job holding the other team off. Only letting them gain a few yards before it was turned over. The offense takes the field and we huddle together.

"Alright guys, Defense did their job holding them off. Now it's our time to do ours. We're still in this!" I say trying to get the team riled up.

"Yeah we got lots of time so let's use it. Stay calm and lets give it our all. Lets do this!" Dave adds and all the guys yell in agreement.

Sam calls the play and we break to get to our positions. I slap Sam on the shoulder pads.

"Here we go Evens!" He looks pretty nervous. "You got this. Let's have some fun." I say and go to the line and wait.

The last few minutes of the game were hard. We had to push ourselves to make up the points. We scored after the third down, by Sam throwing a deep pass right into Pucks hands. Coach told Puck, myself and a few others to stay on the field for the rest of the game to give us the best chance at winning.

We put a lot of pressure on the other team and because of that they fumbled the ball and we were able to recover it. One of the linesmen was able to scoop it up and run it in for another touchdown. We were all tied up and still had a few minutes left. Our kicker was able to punt it right at one of their players. It hit him right in the stomach and bounced back to us. Puck and I were able to pounce on it before the other team was able to get to it. Everyone in the whole stadium was going nuts even us. Coach called a time out so we could calm down and get our heads back in the game.

It was slow going, but with our teamwork and Sam's accuracy we made our way closer to our goal. We decided to try one of our new plays. It's second and five. We're twenty yards form the goal line and we've overloaded the right side of the field. Before the balls snapped I sprint to the left side of the field. Once Sam hikes it I take off. Right before I get to the goal line I make a sharp right turn just in time to catch the ball and run into the end zone with no pressure on me.

If I thought it was loud before, it was nothing compared to how loud the McKinley fans got when we scored. I can barely hear my teammates as they all come rushing at me to create one big group hug.

We get the extra point and there's only time left for the other team to return. The ball was kicked long and our defense shut them down quickly, ending the game and starting our homecoming celebrations.

As soon as the officials blow their whistles, our fans rush the field to congratulate us. Our team is hugging each other and jumping up and down. We're all so happy at how well we worked together.

Dave and I found each other and we did our handshake. It's hard to describe but at the last part of it we pretend we're shaking a can of soda, bump knuckles, they explode and we pretend like we're wiping off each others helmet or shirts off which usually ends with us trying to get the last hit in.

"Party at my house!" Puck shouts and everyone around us cheers. I can only imagine how crazy this party is going to be. I start making my way through the crowd to find Rachel or my dad, or both but stop when Puck grabs my shoulder. "You're coming this time Quinn. No Excuses. And before you even start to argue. Last time did not count because you just came to rescue someone. So I'll see you in a little while, be ready to Party!"

I just sigh. I was hoping to maybe have some alone time with Rachel again. Oh well, I'll just have to hang out with her there.

I found my Dad but could not find Rachel so I decide to text her when I get home.

**Quinn: Hey Rach, I couldn't find you after the game. Puck's having a party tonight and I was wondering if you would want to go with me?**

The reply comes not even a minute later.

**Rachel: Hello Quinn, I couldn't find you either. It was a little crazy when the game ended. I ended up going home after I couldn't find you. I am actually going with Tina, Kurt and Mercedes. I hope that is okay.**

**Quinn: That's totally fine. I'm glad to hear you didn't get trampled by the masses. I was a little worried. ;)**

**Rachel: Quinn Fabray! Is that a joke about my height?!**

**Quinn: Yes, that would be, but it also was a concern. You're just so small.**

It took a few minutes for a response to come in.

**Rachel: You cannot see it, but I am glaring at you right now.**

I laugh at that.

**Quinn: Aww I'm sorry Rach. Please don't be mad at me. I like how short you are. It's cute. :D**

I don't get a response. I really hope she's not mad. I look at the clock and know I should be getting ready.

**Quinn: Well I have to get ready. I hope you're not too mad at me and would consider hanging out with me at the party. It would make my night. See you later.**

I hit send and then head to the bathroom hoping I'll get to spend some time with Rachel tonight.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your reviews, follows, favorites… I'm so glad you guys like it so far. I know it takes me a while to update usually. I'm trying to write more so I can update faster, but I won't promise to update a certain time because I don't want to let you guys down. It's going to take a while yet for Quinn and Rachel to get together so I hope you guys don't mind. But you will be learning more about Quinn's past coming up here. I hope you like the update. **

**Till next time.**

**RPOV**

_Never Have I Ever_

**Chapter 18**

Kurt, Tina, Mercedes and I finally arrive at the party a lot later than I expected we would. When they picked me up Tina apologized for being late. Apparently Kurt and Mercedes kept changing their minds on what they wanted wear. I just hope Quinn doesn't think I'm mad at her or that I don't want to spend time with her. I'm still reeling after the texts she sent me. She thinks I'm cute! Well, my height is cute, but also that hanging out with me would make her night! I didn't respond to her because I just didn't know how to respond. I just figured I would talk to her here. I just hope she's still here.

My worries disappear as soon as we enter the living room, because there is Quinn looking as beautiful as ever in dark jeans and a fitted green t-shirt. We all decide to go join her. As we're approaching one of the Cheerios comes up and hugs her.

"Quinn! Awesome game! You did great out there!" Who is this girl and why does she have her hands on Quinn!

"Hey Allie, Thanks. How's your night going?" Quinn asks

"It's going good so far. It's pretty crazy in here!" Quinn nods. "Oh hey! I meant to tell you. You did great last Sunday. Well you do great every time you play, but you did great singing. You have a great voice." What is this girl talking about? Quinn said she can't sing in front of people. I see Quinn blush and rub the back of her neck.

"Thanks, I sounded okay? Because I was super nervous. It helps that I wasn't the main singer."

"You were great, and I couldn't tell that you were nervous at all. You should sing more often."

"Well I'll be this Sunday, Tim's not going to be there so I have to take the song he was supposed to sing. I just hope I can get through it without throwing up." Quinn and Allie laugh. Allie puts her hand on Quinn's arm.

"I'm sure you'll do great. But I'll have a bucket for ya just in case." She says and winks at Quinn. I can't believe she's just flirting with Quinn like that that in front of everyone! Why is Quinn singing on Sundays and why is this girl there for it? Ugh, I'm so confused. Looking at the others I came with, they are too.

"Sounds good." Quinn chuckles.

"QUINN! Get over here! You're up!" One of her teammates calls her over to the couches where they're currently playing some kind of army game.

"Coming!" Quinn replies and then turns back to the Cheerio. "I'll see you Sunday. Don't forget that bucket." With that she makes her way over to the TV where she is handed a controller and sits down next to the other players.

I turn back to my companions and see that they're all still wondering what Quinn could be doing on Sundays. Before Allie can run off, to hit on other people, Kurt stops her.

"Hey Allie." She turns around and sees the four of us.

"Oh hi guys." She greets us. She seems generally happy to see us, which is definitely a change from the usual Cheerios. But now that I think about it, this girl has never done or said anything mean to me. I suppose there could be worse people to hit on Quinn. Like Megan, the girl that was hitting on Finn last weekend, and who is currently sitting on the arm of Puck's couch right next to Quinn. Why is her hand on Quinn's back! I suddenly have the urge to go over there and push her off her makeshift seat. There's an open recliner right by her! No need ruining someone else's furniture! It's a struggle, but I stop myself from putting my thoughts into action. I know Kurt is going to find about Quinn singing and I really would like to know.

"We couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Quinn. Is there like a bar or club in Lima that we're unaware of that Quinn sings at on Sundays?" Kurt asks and Allie starts laughing.

"What? No." She keeps laughing and we're all just staring at her, even more confused. "Quinn and I go to the same church and she's in the worship band." Allie laughs again. "I'm sorry for laughing. I was just picturing our congregation at a club."

"Where do you guys go to church?" It's Mercedes who asks this.

"It's the Lutheran church on Johnson. You guys should come if you like. It's actually a lot of fun."

Allie sees some of her friends walk in so she goes over to them.

"Hmm, I do believe Ms. Fabray has been hiding something from us. What do you ladies say to a field trip this Sunday?" Kurt asks with a devious smirk.

"It depends on what time it is, since I've got church with the folks." Kurt takes out his phone to try and find out the times of the services.

"It looks like the worship band plays at the 10:00 service."

"That'll work, we go to the early service at my church so I'm in." Mercedes says

"Me too." Tina confirms and they all look at me.

"Will you be joining us Captain?" Kurt asks me. I feel like this might be and invasion of Quinn's privacy, but curiosity wins out.

"Sure, I'm in." We decide that Tina will pick us all up again and try and make it there right before the start so Quinn won't wee us. Which I don't know why that would matter…

I look back towards the TV and see that Quinn is gone but a pouting Megan is still there.

"Hey guys!" I hear to my right and turn and see Quinn walking up to us. The other three say hi and congratulate her on the winning touchdown. She thanks them and then turns to me.

"Hey. I'm glad you made it. I was starting to get worried that you weren't coming." I can tell that she really was worried with the relief that's showing on her face now.

"I'm sorry to worry you Quinn, but it took longer than expected to get here because some people couldn't decide what to wear." I turn to look at Kurt and Mercedes, but they and Tina seem to have disappeared.

"I see, were you taking your time to impress anyone Ms. Berry?" Quinn asks and I blush. I did pick out my outfit with the hope of looking nice for a certain someone. Just a red dress with a black belt around my waist and black Mary Janes. But I wasn't the one holding us up.

"Actually I was talking about Kurt and Mercedes. Besides, who would I be trying to impress?"

"I don't know, but you look great either way. You always do." There she goes again, making me blush.

"Even in my animal sweaters?" I laugh.

"Especially in your animal sweaters. If you look great with a big owl on your chest you'll look amazing in anything. They're very cute on you." Cute! She said it again!

"Alright losers Spin the Bottle time who's in?" Puck says and people start to make their way over to him. Quinn and I just stand there. I'm not really comfortable kissing strangers and I certainly don't want to kiss Finn, who just sat down in the circle with his sideways smile plastered on his face.

"Are you coming Quinn?" Megan comes up and puts her hands on Quinn again. Before I can yell at her to stop throwing herself on Quinn, Quinn steps away from Megan.

"Eh, I'm not interested, you go have fun." With that she turns to me. "Feel like getting some air?"

"Sure!" I can't contain my excitement. Not only do I not have to worry about kissing people I don't want to, but Quinn's turned down one of the hottest girls in school to hang out with me!

While we're leaving the room we see the first spin and Finn and another football player end up kissing. Finns face afterwards is hilarious.

We walk out of the house and sit on the porch stairs that leads Puck's extremely nice yard and pool. We just sit here for a little while and listen to all the noise inside and try and guess who had to kiss who.

"So how are you? I know earlier you said you were fine but, what happened today was disgusting and I am so sorry that I wasn't there to help you at all." I'm so upset at myself for not being there for her when she was there for me so many times. When Tina told me what happened I wanted to call my Daddy and have him sue the school and every single hockey jerk that did that to her. I tear up just thinking about it. I feel her warm hand take mine and I look up at her.

"Rach, you have nothing to be sorry about. You did nothing wrong. It wasn't your fault they did that and it wasn't your fault that you weren't there. So please don't blame yourself for anything that happened earlier. Please?" When she said the last part her eyes were begging me to comply with her. I just nod, how can I not?

"Good. I have to admit. It was a little scary having a bunch of guys surround me like that. I'm just glad they only slushied me. When I first saw them, my mind went to the worst possible scenarios." I shutter. "But I just got a really cold, sticky shower. I feel sorry for them really." I give her an incredulous look and she laughs.

"Think about it. They set out to embarrass me right? When really they embarrassed themselves by having ten or so huge guys gang up on one girl. That's just depressing for them really." I'm speechless and completely blown away at the way this girl looks at, and processes things.

"You're amazing Quinn Fabray. You know that?" I say when cognitive thinking returns to me.

"You're not so bad yourself Rachel Berry." She says nudging me with her shoulder. The contact is too brief so I lean into her and she doesn't pull away so we're now leaning against each other.

"I still think those boys should be punished." I say angry at the hierarchy of the school.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." She says and I turn and see a smirk on her face. "My Dad reamed Figgens out pretty good and before the game he called every parent of those boys and let them know what they're little boys have been up to. Also my teammates are pretty pissed at what they did, so I'm sure they're plotting some form of revenge." I frown at the thought of more violence. "Don't worry, I specifically told them not to beat them down. But I don't think I can persuade them not to pull some pranks on them."

"As you know, I'm not a fan of violence. However, what those hockey jerks did was appalling so I would not be against a few pranks being pulled." Quinn chuckles beside me.

"Quinn! Get your sexy ass in here! We're gonna play Never Have I Ever and you're playing no exceptions." Santana yells to us from the sliding glass doors of the house.

"I'm not drinking S."

"Then I'll make you a virgin cocktail. Stop being a hermit and join the living. You have one minute to get in here or I'll come out to get you. You too Midge." With that she walks back in but leaves the door open. Obviously we're supposed to shut it when we go in. I turn to address Quinn.

"I think that is the nicest she's ever been to me." It was meant to be funny but Quinn obviously doesn't find humor in it. Her eyes show hurt in them. I take her hands in mine. "Hey it's okay. I didn't mean for that to be a mood killer. I was just surprised but happy at the change." I keep eye contact with her, hoping that she can see that I'm not upset or sad. "Come on, we should get inside. I'd rather not press my luck with Santana." We get up from the stairs but I stop my move to the doors when Quinn squeezes my hand that stayed in hers.

"You don't give yourself enough credit. I know you haven't had the best time in school and that people were mean to you. You don't deserve it and what they've done to you is not okay. And yet you're here interacting with them, talking to them as if they haven't tortured you for most of your life." I really don't want to talk about this now. My eyesight is getting blurry because of the tears that are threatening to spill out. As if she knows exactly what I need, Quinn brings me into her for a hug and I wrap my arms around her neck tight. After a moment or two she starts speaking again.

"You give them another chance everyday to be better people. You're incredible Rachel and you might not believe that yet, but I plan on hanging around and helping you with that." Her voice is soft and full of love and I'm sure if I were to look in her eyes right now I would see the same shining through them.

"Fabray! Berry! Get in here! Now!" Santana yells from inside the house.

"We probably should get in there. Who knows what she'll do if we ignore her twice." Quinn says as we separate but I'm happy to notice that she takes my hand and leads me into the house.

"Finally." Is the only word Santana says as she gives us our drinks. Quinn looks at it for a moment and then sniffs it.

"I feel like I should have brought some of those coasters that test for date rape." She says with a straight face.

"Bitch please, like I'd want you when I've got Britt." Quinn shrugs.

"That's true. Alright, let's get this over with."

"Alright, for those that haven't played this is how it works." Puck starts. "We go around and everyone will say something they've never done, if you've done it you drink. Got it? Cool let's do this. Britt start us off"

"Oh, OK. Never have I ever… had a pet duck." No one drinks for that one. It's my turn next.

"Never have I ever stolen anything."

"Shocking." Santana says and takes a drink. Almost everyone in the circle drinks, even Quinn. "Uh oh, goodie two-shoes Quinn stole something? Gasp!" Quinn laughs at Santana.

"You're a criminal? I never would have guessed." I said teasingly.

"I was really little okay? I was shopping with my grandpa and while we were checking out I picked up a box of orange Tic Tacs. I was just looking at them but then my grandpa was done and took me out of the store. We were in the car before he saw the Tic Tacs, but he took me back into the store so I could apologize and pay for them."

"It's not stealing if you pay for them Q." Everyone laughs and I can't help it either.

"Hey if you leave a store without buying it, it's stealing." She pouts and she's so adorable. "Whatever, my turn. Never have I ever pierced anything but my ears."

"Boring." Santana says while she takes another drink. Puck's up next.

"Never have I ever had sex with someone that's the same sex." Obviously Santana and Brittany drink and another cheerio but that's it. "Hot. Quinn you're gay aren't you?"

"Yeah Puck, I'm gay." Quinn sighs.

"So why didn't you drink?"

"I would think that would be obvious." She says.

"But you've had a girlfriend?" She nods. "And never had a boyfriend?" She nods again. "So you're a virgin?!" he says surprised.

"Is it really that crazy that I've never had sex?"

"Yes" A few people say at once and there's a "Hell No!" from Santana.

"Oh, okay."

"So… why haven't you?" Puck asks.

"I just haven't found the right person yet." She says not caring that a lot of the group is looking at her like she's crazy. "As fun as this is, I think we're getting a little sidetracked from the game.

As the game progresses and the drunker people get, the things people say gets more and more risqué. It finally ends when most of the football team gang up on Finn and say things to specifically make him drink. He ends up storming out of the house.

They obviously aren't happy with his performance at the game. I can't say that I'm impressed with him either. I saw his tantrum on the sidelines. He obviously said or did more than that to get his whole team mad at him.

Not long after the game ends, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and I leave and head to Kurt's house for an impromptu sleepover. I'm a little sad that I can't spend more time with Quinn but I'm ecstatic that these three have decided to include me in their plans. Besides I'll see Quinn Sunday.


	19. Chapter 19

**RPOV**

_Let's Go To Worship_

**Chapter 19**

The sleepover at Kurt's was a lot of fun. We did our nails and talked about the latest fashion and gossip in Hollywood. In the morning Kurt was thoughtful enough to make me a bowl of fruit and once we were done eating and cleaning up our mess from last night Tina drove Mercedes and I home.

At the moment the four of us are just getting to Quinn's church. It's a good sized church and there are a lot of people here. We are given pamphlets for the service and we manage to find some seats in the back.

Most of the people here are walking around talking to other members of the church. Everyone seems to know each other. Which isn't a huge shock since it is Lima, but it's different here. It seems like more of a friendly gathering than a church service. Even some of the people sitting around introduce themselves to us.

When music starts people go back to their seats and I can finally see the worship band. They're set up in the front left of the room and right in the middle is Quinn playing a guitar. I didn't know she could play. Another thing to add to the list. She looks great. She's wearing white dress pants and a blue dress shirt with a white headband to keep her hair out of her face.

There's another face I recognize up there as well. Sam, the other new student at school and the one who replaced Finn at Fridays game. He's playing guitar as well. Other than those two, there is a pianist, a drummer, and someone on bass.

As the service progresses Quinn plays her guitar and sings backup. Though she hasn't sang much yet she sounds amazing. I have no idea what she was going on about before. She has an amazing voice and she's singing in front of a whole group of people so this whole stage fright thing is not holding up for me. I'm going to have to talk to her about this.

**QPOV**

With every song I get more and more nervous. This was a bad idea. I should have told Sam to do it instead. There's one more song then I'll be up while people are taking communion. I just have to relax. I really don't want to throw up. Especially in front of everyone, and what if I throw up on someone?! Oh no I'm gonna throw up on my pastor!

Okay, I have to stop thinking about that. No self-fulfilling prophecies today. Deep breaths, that's all I need to do is take some deep breaths and close my eyes.

I close my eyes and just focus on breathing. I feel better after a minute and am able to get through the last song before my solo. We all go up for communion before anyone else and then we hurry back to our instruments. I take another deep breath, Sam smiles at me and gives me a thumbs up. I close my eyes and start playing the intro of the song on my guitar. When it's time for me to sing I open my eyes and start.

_Why are you striving these days_

_Why are you trying to earn grace_

_Why are you crying_

_Let me lift up your face_

_Just don't turn away_

_Why are you looking for love_

_Why are you still searching_

_As if I'm not enough_

_To where will you go child_

_Tell me where will you run_

_To where will you run_

The other instruments come in here and Sam sings back-up.

_'Cause I'll be by your side wherever you fall_

_In the dead of night whenever you call_

_And please don't fight these hands that are holding you_

_My hands are holding you_

_Look at these hands at my side_

_They swallowed the grave on that night_

_When I drank the world's sin_

_So I could carry you in_

_And give you life_

_I want to give you life_

_And I'll be by your side wherever you fall_

_In the dead of night whenever you call_

_And please don't fight these hands that are holding you_

_My hands are holding you_

_Here at my side wherever you fall_

_In the dead of night whenever you call_

_And please don't fight these hands that are holding you_

_My hands are holding you_

_'Cause I, I love you_

_I want you to know_

_That I, yeah I'll love you_

_I'll never let you go, no, no_

_And I'll be by your side wherever you fall_

_In the dead of night whenever you call_

_And please don't fight these hands that are holding you_

_My hands are holding you_

_Here at my side wherever you fall_

_In the dead of night whenever you call_

_And please don't fight these hands that are holding you_

_My hands are holding you_

_Here at my side, my hands are holding you_

_Ohhh..._

We finish and I feel like my heart's going to beat out of my chest. Sam pats me on the back and my other band mates tell me good job. We play two more songs and then we're done and I can go onto less stressful things, like my soccer game I have later today.

When service is over I pack up my guitar and then go talk with the other members of the congregation. As I make my way through the room I see four people that I don't recall seeing at the beginning of the service, or any other service for that matter. I make my way over to them and when they spot me they all give me very stern looks.

"Uh, hey guys. What are you doing here?" I say rubbing the back of my neck. Why are they looking at me like that? Rachel was the first to speak.

"You know Quinn, I distinctly remember you saying that you're not good at singing and that you don't sing in front of other people. So imagine my surprise when we find out that not only you can sing and are in a band, but you are also really good! Care to explain yourself?" When she's done she puts her hands on her hips.

"Uh…" I'm not sure what to say, but Rachel continues before I can say anything else.

"Did you just not want to join Glee Club? I can understand with how much we get picked on, that it doesn't really make people excited to join. I would have understood though Quinn. You've done so much for us already. It's understandable that you wouldn't want to put yourself through even more ridicule at school."

"No, Rach. That's not it at all." I look at the other three and they don't seem to believe me. "Look, I wasn't lying before when I told you that I don't sing in front of people. I joined the worship band to play the guitar, but they needed backup singers as well. It took me a while to even sing loud enough for anyone to hear me. And it wasn't that bad because there were other singing with me. I sang this week, reluctantly, because Tim couldn't make it today and I know the song the best out of the others. Although, if you ask me, they just lied so I had to sing. Which is just wrong. I mean, this is a church!" Residual nervousness and adrenaline still in my body made me start babbling. I can't stop!

"Wow, and I thought I was long winded." Rachel said smirking. I glared playfully at her.

"Rachel Berry knows how to joke? Who knew?" Mercedes says.

"Me." I say smiling at Rachel.

"Well now that we know that you can in fact sing and you seem to be handling singing in public you have to join Glee Club!" Kurt says.

"I don't know guys…." Before I can say more Rachel takes my hand in hers and looks at me.

"Please Quinn? We need more people to even compete. Please?" She gives me the most adorable, hopeful, pleading look I've ever seen and I know I'm a goner.

"This isn't fair." Referring to the power her eyes have on me.

"I have to audition right? In front of everyone?" They nod. I close my eyes and let out a sigh. "I'll think about it okay?" I somehow manage to look away from Rachel and towards the other three. Knowing that's the best they're going to get they all nod. I turn back to Rachel and see that she's smiling triumphantly. Like she already knows that I'm going to join, which I am, but she doesn't need to know that.

"I didn't say that I'd do it." I tell her.

"I know, I heard you Quinn. You said you would think about it" Her smile doesn't fade.

"I'm serious Rachel, I don't want you to get your hopes up if I can't do this."

"Of course."

"Then stop smiling like that!" I say shoving her playfully.

"Like what Quinn?"

"Like you know that I'm going to join."

"But you just said you're going to think about it so obviously I don't think that." She says coyly.

"Good." I say and can't help but smile at her.

"Quinn" I hear my name being called behind me. I turn and see my parents coming up to us.

"Hey mom, dad." I say as they pull me into a hug.

"You sounded great sweetheart." Dad says as we pull away.

"You really did. I don't know why you were so nervous." Mom says and I shrug. I turn back to the Glee Club members.

"Mom, Dad, this is Tina, Mercedes, Kurt, and you already know Rachel." My parents shake their hands.

"It's great to meet you all." Dad says. "Rachel, great to see you again."

"It's great to see you too sir." She replies while my mom goes over and gives her a hug.

"I didn't know you invited friends to worship Quinnie. You should have said something, they could have sat with us." My mother scolds.

"I didn't know they were coming actually. I guess they heard that I was in the band and wanted to come see me." The others nod confirming my statement.

"Oh, well that was very nice of you to come support Quinn." Mom says smiling at the kids.

"Quinn, we should probably get going if we want to get to the game on time." My dad says handing me my soccer bag. I look at the time and realize that he's right. "Go get changed, I'll get your guitar." I nod and turn to the others.

"Sorry, I gotta go. It was good seeing you guys. I'll see you all Monday."

"Good luck Quinn." Rachel says.

"Thanks Rach." With that I head off to the bathroom to change and get to my game.

**The song is "By Your Side" By Tenth Avenue North.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Heya! Thank you so much to everyone that has commented, favorited and followed so far. I love hearing what you guys think. Here's a longer chapter for ya. Next chapter will be Quinn auditioning for Glee. Let me know what you guys think. And of course I don't own Glee or any of the characters.**

**RPOV**

_I Lean More About You Everyday_

**Chapter 20**

Hearing Quinn sing was…. I don't even know. It was soft but strong at the same time. I could tell that she was nervous in the beginning, but as she progressed through the song I could see her nerves slip away as she let herself go. One thing I do know; I'm hooked.

It was really hard to be mad at Quinn about not telling that she's in a band. Especially when she is so adorable.

Quinn just left to get changed leaving Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and I with Quinn's mother, her dad left to put away Quinn's' guitar. I still can't get over how amazing she looked playing.

"You're all welcome to come to the game if you're like and aren't busy. I'm sure Quinn would love it if you guys came to cheer her on." Judy says to us.

"What will she be doing? I didn't think there was football on the weekends." Kurt asks.

"Oh, she's on a club soccer team." I say, Kurt nods in understanding.

We all look at each other. I definitely want to go but I'm not sure about the rest of them. Tina's the first to speak.

"I've got nothing going on."

"Me either." Mercedes says.

"I suppose I'll live if I sit through one soccer game." Kurt shrugs. I look back to Judy.

"We would love to go to Quinn's game." I say smiling at her. I'm already getting excited about seeing Quinn play. Seeing her in her soccer uniform I'm sure will be quite pleasing as well.

"Great! Quinn will be so happy. Do you need a ride there? You're all welcome to come with us."

"Oh no we're okay Judy, Tina drove. So we'll just meet you over at the field."

"Sounds good dear. Her game is at Hiller Park at 12:30. We'll see you there, be safe driving." She gives us a wave and walks out to the parking lot.

"No wonder Quinn's a knockout, with parents like that." Kurt says abruptly.

"Oh, I know, especially her mom." Mercedes says.

"Some girls get all the luck." Tina adds. "And her body? I mean wow!" We all look at her. "Oh come on, don't pretend like you didn't see her with her shirt off Friday. I would kill for her abs." I can't help but agree, wait NO! Quinn was just trying to do the right thing, and change things at school for the better! And all I, we, can think about is how amazing she looked without a shirt and wonder how her skin would have tasted… AHH no! Bad thoughts. I shake my head to try and rid myself of the images playing in my mind.

I look over at my three companions to see if they noticed me spacing off. Mercedes and Kurt didn't seem to notice anything. Tina however, seems to be smirking at me for some reason.

"That's true, girl's got a rockin body." Mercedes says!

"Although girls don't appeal to me, if I were to ever experiment Quinn would be my pick." Kurt adds. This conversation is too much for me right now so I head off to the car, hoping the others get the message that we should be leaving.

We get to the field just as Quinn and her teammates finish stretching and are starting some drills. We make our way to the bleachers and end up sitting next to Quinn's parents. Right before the start of the game Dave Karofsky shows up.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Fabray." He turns to us. "Hey guys." We wave at him.

"Hey Dave!" Mr. Fabray says while shaking his hand.

"Hi David." Mrs. Fabray says as she brings him in for a hug. "How are you?"

"Good mam, u?"

"I'm very good thank you for asking." Judy sits back down and Dave sits down at the end of our row next to Kurt. I see Kurt and Dave talking but I don't pay attention to what they say because the game has started.

Quinn was at the middle of the field and once the whistle was blown she raced after the ball. I don't think the opponent was prepared for how fast Quinn is because before she could get rid of the ball Quinn took it from her.

It was amazing watching Quinn play. It seemed like the ball is attached to her with an invisible string, like it's an extension of her, and the way she weaves in and out of the other teams players makes it look like she was performing some intricate dance. She made it a few feet away from the other teams net before the other team thought it would be a good idea to put more than one person on her. As three people converged on Quinn to take the ball away, Quinn passed it to one of her teammates to the right of her that was now unguarded. Once her teammate had the ball she made quick work of shooting, and making it into the far corner of the net, scoring for her team. Everyone on our bleachers jumped up cheering for the girls as they make their way back to their side.

It seems like thins game is going to be pretty bad for the other team, but as the game progresses the other team seems to get more focused and work better together. Even though I know nothing about soccer it is still exciting. When Mr. Fabray learns that I am uneducated in the rules of the game he decides to teach me some the basics.

I learn quite a lot. Like the only one that can touch the ball with their hand is the Keeper or when the ball is kicked out of the sidelines and they have to throw it in, which is called a throw-in. The game is ninety minutes long, with forty-five minute halves with no timeouts. This surprises me because the players are constantly running. No wonder Quinn's in such great shape!

There are four main positions, Keeper, defense, midfield, and forward. Mr. Fabray said that there was a little more to it but its not important for me. Quinn plays forward. It has been quite an educational game.

At one point in the game it looked like the other team was going to score but then the official blew his whistle for no reason and the ball was given to the McKinley team. I thought that was nice of him, but unfair for the other team. When I told this to Mr. Fabray he laughed and said that the other player was offsides and that's why the ball was turned over. He started explaining the logistics of that rule but I just could not grasp it. It was way to confusing. The gist of it, I believe, is that it prevents the opposing team from standing at your net while the ball is all the way on the other side of the field; Mr. Fabray called it cherry picking.

Though the other team did start playing better the game ended in a four to nothing victory for McKinley, with Quinn making two of the four. Quinn was walking back to her side from shaking hands with the other team and officials when a girl from the other team approached her. I'm too far away to hear what they're saying but the other girl is smiling too brightly for someone who just lost a game. They're shaking hands and the girl hangs on to Quinns a little too long.

"Uh oh." I hear down the way from me. I look down and see Dave smirking at Quinn. Kurt asks what everyone is wondering.

"What?"

"Nothing." He says and laughs. I look back towards Quinn and the girl is a lot closer to her now. She leans in and whispers something to Quinn that makes her blush and rub the back of her neck. After a few more seconds the girl winks at Quinn and walks back to her teammates.

When Quinn makes it back to her teammates they all wolf whistle, which makes her blush again.

"Stop!" She says laughing at her teammates actions. Some of them keep going but she seems to be ignoring them. She takes her gear off, putting it in her bag, and heads over to her parents and that's when she spots us and her smile widens.

"Hey guys! I didn't know you were coming!"

"We were free and we wanted to see you play so here we are." I say when she's right in front of me.

"Twice in one day, how'd I get so lucky?" She said looking right at me.

"Who knows." Kurt says breaking our connection.

"Well, thanks for coming guys!" We all congratulate her on her game.

"You all should come over for lunch!" Mrs. Fabray exclaims like it's the best idea she ever had. "Before you decline, I insist that you come over. You came to support Quinnie with two different things today, the least we can do is feed you all." All we could do was agree with her so we all nod our heads. "Wonderful! Russell and I are going to head home to start cooking. We'll see you all there. We'll see you there as well David."

"Of course Mrs. Fabray." He answers and with that they leave.

"Well, I guess I'm hitching home then." Quinn states with a fake pout. We all laugh at her. "My parents don't neglect me I swear. My mom's just really excited about having people over." She laughs.

"You guys ready to head over?" We all nod. "Rach, you remember how to get there right?"

"Of course. You do live just a few block from me."

"Are you alright going with them and giving directions and I'll go with Dave?"

"I'm perfectly fine with that Quinn." I say smiling up at here.

"Great, I'll see you there then." As Quinn walks off Dave says something to her that makes her punch him in the arm. It seems that he's teasing her about something and her hitting him did nothing so now she's chasing him to his car. They really are cute together. Good thing she's not interested in him…

"Are you coming Rachel? You can check Quinn out more when we get to her house." Kurt says as they're walking to Tina's car. My eyes widen, I really need to be more discrete. Tina and Mercedes start laughing at me and I stomp my foot. That seems to make them laugh more. Not wanting to get left behind I quickly catch up to them.

"I'll have you know that I was not checking Quinn out. I was merely admiring the close bond that she and David share."

"I'm sure that was it Rachel." Tina says with a smug smile on her face. I feel like the best thing to do is just ignore what they were saying so I change the subject.

"Tina, can we stop at my house on the way?" I ask

"We don't have time to wait for you to change your outfit to look pretty for your girlfriend Rachel." Mercedes says from the front passenger seat. I can tell she's still trying to tease me.

"I don't need to change Mercedes, I wanted to get some cookies to bring over to the Fabrays. I baked some yesterday and since they will be feeding us, the least we can do is bring something to them. It would be the polite thing to do." I say as I cross my arms over my chest. "Further more, Quinn and I are not in a relationship."

"But you want to be." Kurt states from his seat beside me. They all look at me with knowing smiles. Even Tina from her rear view mirror, when she should be paying attention to the road! They continue to just stare at me and not say anything. I try to ignore them but even when I turn away from them I can still feel their eyes boring into me.

It only takes a minute for me to crack and break the unbearable silence. I mean, let's be real here, it is me. I talk non-stop, and hate awkward silences.

"Fine! Perhaps I like Quinn as more than a friend and would not be adverse to pursuing a romantic relationship with her. Happy?!" Tina and Mercedes nod.

"Very," Kurt says. "So when are you going to make your move?"

"Why do I have to make the first move? Quinn could take some initiative and ask me out."

"Maybe she doesn't think you like her." Tina says.

"I doubt that since it seems like everyone else knows."

"It's always harder to realize that someone likes you, unless you told her. Have you told her?" Mercedes asks.

"I haven't made my feelings known to her, no."

"What are you waiting for?"

"What if she doesn't return my feelings Kurt?"

"Honey, you could see from day one that she was head over heels for you."

"Well if that's the case why hasn't she asked me out yet? I am single now."

"Rachel, you just got out of a relationship with Finn. She probably thinks you need time to get over him. Plus Finn is a guy, so she might not even think you're gay or interested in dating girls." Kurt continues.

"Yeah, you may be right." I sigh. We jut arrived outside my house. "I obviously have to give this more thought. I'll be right back." I take off my seatbelt and run to the house to retrieve the cookies.

**QPOV**

Rachel texted me while Dave and I were driving to my house to say that she was stopping at her house before coming over so I decide to take a quick shower. I was really surprised that they not only came to church but to my game as well!

I was just finishing putting clean clothes on when I heard the doorbell. Dave called up to say he'd get the door. I dried my hair as best I could with my towel and then went down to greet my guests. I could see the impressed looks on Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes, as they looked around the entry way/front rooms of the house.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it." Rachel smiles at me.

"It's not like we really had a choice in coming. Your mom was ready to kidnap us if we said no." She says as she walks up close to me.

"Yeah, you can't really say no to her if she really wants something to happen. That's probably why she's such a good lawyer." I see Rachel holding something. "What's that?" I ask her.

"Oh, cookies. I made some the other day and thought I would bring some over since we're coming to eat your food." She hands me the plate of cookies.

"These look great Rach, thanks. We can drop these off in the kitchen and then I can show you guys around if you like." We make our way down the hall to the kitchen.

Mom's already there preparing our lunch, and it looks like dad is working on the grill. I set the cookies down and tell mom where they came from.

"Oh thank you dear, but you didn't need to bring anything." My mom says as she gives Rachel another hug. I'm so glad they get along so well. "It will be about thirty to forty minutes until lunch is ready, I'll call you when it's done."

"Do you need any help Mrs. Fabray?" Tina asks.

"I'll be just fine, but thank you for the offer. And call me Judy. Now everyone out. Quinn, be a good host." That's the last thing she says before she turns back to the food.

"Well I'm glad you said that, because I was planning on being a horrible host." I grumble as I lead them out to the backyard. When we moved in we saw that the land behind us was for sale and bought that as well, so we have a huge backyard. It's big enough to put a soccer field in, if we really wanted to.

"So this is the backyard." I say as everyone steps out the sliding glass doors and onto the patio. Dad is to the left manning the girl. He waves at us as we pass him. I hear a few gasps as we make our way to the steps leading down to the pool area. Kurt's the first to speak.

"Holy crap Quinn, this is amazing!" I nod it really is, I'm still blown away by our house, but especially the backyard. We have a huge, oblong shaped pool that has a basketball/volleyball playing area, a waterfall and slide. Pool chairs are scattered alongside the pool and well as lounge areas with canopy's that can enclose the areas for privacy. There's also a hot tub and bar. It looks like something you'd find at a fancy resort.

Behind the pool there's a wide-open area to play whatever you could possibly want, except for maybe paintball, there are still houses close by…

Once they're done gawking at the pool we head back inside. I show them the rest of the main floor, the living room, dining room, my parents office, and then we head upstairs.

I show them some of the guest rooms and my parent's room and then take them to my room.

"And this is my room." I tell them as I open the door and let them walk in.

**RPOV**

I can definitely see Quinn in this room. The last time I was in Quinn's room I obviously wasn't paying close attention to detail since my mind was on other things, so I'm glad I get to really look this time. Her walls are a dark green, which suites her, as it is her favorite color. There's a Queen size bed with a dark brown frame and a white comforter that has brown accents in it. The headboard is positioned along the middle of the wall to the right of the bedroom door. To the right of the bed was her bathroom. The wall furthest to the door has a big bay window with white cushions. Two bookshelves are on either side of the window and are filled with books. The left wall has a desk with a computer on it as well as a dresser. Along the walls of her room pictures are hung up, either in frames or pinned to the corkboard above her computer desk. The last thing I notice in her room is an acoustic guitar on a stand in the corner.

The others start looking at her pictures while I head over to her guitar. I've always wanted to learn how to play. She must be really good because this one is different than the one she was playing at church. This one is black with white flowers along the front and back of the guitar. Where the one at church was the usual brown.

"What's this?" I hear and turn to see Dave holding up a piece of paper with a smug smile on his face. I look over to Quinn and see her stalking over to Dave annoyed. She snatches the piece of paper out of his hands and punches his arm.

"I don't know Dave, maybe it's garbage since you found it in the trash." She says as she rips it up and puts it back in the trash. Tina, Kurt, Mercedes and I are very confused.

"What is it?" Kurt asks.

"Nothing." Quinn states shortly while glaring at Dave and he just laughs.

"Come on Quinn, it's really rude of you to just throw that away." He says obviously teasing her.

"You know it's rude to have a conversation while there's others in the room and not include them." Kurt cuts in again, still trying to find out what's going on. Dave turns to Kurt.

"Quinnie here was given a number by one of her many admirers and she just threw it away."

"That girl that was talking to you at the end of the game? She gave you her number?" Mercedes asks surprised. Quinn sighs but nods her head confirming that that is indeed what happened.

I feel my stomach drop and anger stir up in me. How dare she hit on Quinn! The nerve of her! She doesn't know if Quinn's single or even gay!

"That girl was hot! Why'd you throw out her number?" Quinn turns to look at Tina and raises her eyebrow. "What? A straight girl can say that another girl is hot."

"You sure you don't want her number Tina?" She asks. Tina walks up to Quinn and pushes her playfully.

"I am happily taken, thank you very much. And don't deflect, why'd you throw her number?" Quinn shrugs and looks down.

"That's not even the first one she's tossed either." Dave adds.

"I'm just… not interested." She sighs. "How bout we stop with the inquisition and I show you guys the rest of the house." She clearly doesn't want to talk about this anymore, and everyone gets the message and just follows her out of her room. I'm fine with that, as I'd rather not listen to how many girls hit on Quinn.

We descend the stairs to the space that I've seen the most of, her basement. The ones that haven't been here before are gawking again at how amazing her house is, and they haven't even seen the theater yet.

She shows us around the main room of the basement and then takes us to my favorite place in her house, the theater. (Although her room was really nice. I could see myself really liking her room as well…)

"Oh my gosh! I know where we're having movie nights from now on." Kurt says as he's drooling at the plush seats and huge screen.

"You got your own popcorn machine!?" Mercedes exclaims, Quinn just chuckles at them.

"Okay, there's one more room." Quinn says as she leads us out of the theater. She takes a right when we get out of the room and leads us down a short hallway to a closed door that I never noticed before. She opens the door and lets us walk in.

I was wrong earlier; this is my new favorite room. Right when I walk into the room my eyes zero in on the beautiful Steinway and Sons black baby grand piano. Further into the room there's a drum set, a bass guitar and a few other instruments. I'm blown away at how many different instruments there are in here and wonder who plays what instruments.

"You guys really don't like music huh?" Tina says after we've all taken in the room. Quinn laughs.

"Nope, not at all."

"Quinn, can you play all these?" I ask, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer already.

"Yeah, For the most part. I'm not good at all of them…." She says, rubbing the back of her neck. I'm about to sit down on the bench, but her mom calls down letting us know that it's time for lunch.

Throughout lunch I'm pretty quiet, letting the others around me keep up the conversation. I'm too distracted by all the new information I learned today to pay attention.

"Are you alright Rach? You're really quiet." Quinn whispers to me from my side. I shake myself back to the present and smile at her.

"I'm great Quinn." She looks at me a little longer and then nods and turns back to the conversation at the table.

All that I can think is that there's so much I didn't know about Quinn, and I'm sure there's still a lot discover. And I am determined to uncover everything I can about this amazing girl.


	21. Chapter 21

**RPOV**

_Auditions_

**Chapter 21**

Quinn was right when she said that her dad put pressure on Principle Figgins to stop the bullying. First thing Monday morning Figgins announced a mandatory assembly in the auditorium, and I smiled seeing the whole hockey team and their parents sitting in the front row. I'm sure all the boys would be mortified right now if their parents weren't glaring at them like they're grounded for life.

The message of the assembly was simple. Zero tolerance policy for bullying. If they see you will be punished and depending on how severe or how many times you do it you could be expelled for it. Figgins also said that there were more surveillance cameras around the school and if someone reports something and they see it on the tape you will be punished.

After he's done with the new policies he has some speakers talk about the affects bullying has on everyone.

During the principles speech the whole room was silent. Everyone is obviously shocked at how things have changed so fast. I look around to see if I can find Quinn. I wasn't able to find her before the assembly started. After a minute of searching I find her near the back surrounded by her teammates with Dave right at her side. While everyone else's face shows shock or happiness, she has a faraway look. She's obviously lost in thought but whatever she's thinking about can't be good. I can see sadness and, I can't be sure since I'm so far away, it looks like she could cry at any moment.

David leans in close to her and whispers something and in response she moves closer to him and puts her head on his shoulder while he wraps his arm around her. Something's obviously bothering her and I wish I could go to her and comfort her like David is.

When the assembly ends we're all told to go to our first hour classes. Since the assembly took up a good part of the morning all of our classes today are shorter. It's like we have a half-day.

I really want to talk to Quinn and make sure she's okay but because of the shortened periods our teachers jump right into the content not giving us any free time and lecture right to the bell. Quinn, for her part, seems completely fine when she shows up for first period. And if I hadn't seen her face with my own eyes I would have thought everything was okay.

Lunch finally comes, and thankfully we get a full period to eat. Since last week Dave and Quinn have stuck to sitting with us for lunch so I know I'll get my chance to talk to her. I grab my lunch from my locker and head to the lunchroom. I walk up to my table and see Quinn already there eating and talking with the others. Luckily there's a spot right next to her open.

"Geeze Fabray, you've been here what? Three, four weeks and you've already completely changed the place. Nice." Puck says as he continues to chew his burger. Gross. I sit down and greet those at the table.

"Hello everyone, I hope everyone is doing well."

"We're splendid Berry. Thank you ever so much for inquiring about us!" Santana says with false enthusiasm.

"S." Quinn says and I see Santana roll her eyes.

"Be nice Sanny." Brittany says. "Hi Rachel, I'm great!" That's another change in our table; Since Quinn started sitting with us Puck Brittany and Santana have also decided to join our table.

"Hey Rach." Quinn says next to me. "How you been? I feel like it's been ages."

"Don't you both have all your morning classes together?" Mercedes asks.

"Well, yeah but because of the shorten periods we haven't talked at all today." Quinn defends herself.

"Don't worry Quinn, feel the same way." I smile to reassure her. "And I've been good. Though I do feel like I'm in the twilight zone or something."

"Oh I know!" Kurt adds. "I don't think I've ever seen so many teachers in the halls during passing periods." Everyone nods around the table.

"I heard they had a meeting last Friday and this morning and Figgins told them that they would be held responsible if things went down in the halls. I guess in their contracts it states that they have to monitor the halls during passing periods along with other things that they obviously haven't been doing. If Figgins finds out that they're not doing they're job they could get in trouble just like us." Once Mercedes has put in her two cents she returns her attention to her tater tots.

"That's really gonna cut down Mr. Shue's "wooing Pillsbury time." Puck jokes. Santana snorts a laugh and high fives him.

"Puck! Who knew you could be funny?" She says messing with his mohawk. "So Q, I hear you're joining the Gleeks."

"I said I'd think about it S. I'm still not sure about it."

"Quinn you have to! It's sooo much fun! We dance and sing all the time, and you're really good at both of those things so you have to!" Brittany exclaims from across the table.

"I don't know… what would I have to do to join?"

"You just have to sing a song and then you're automatically in. I could totally help you with a song and put together a dance! Oh my gosh this is gonna be so much fun!" Brittany is so excited she looks like she about ready to burst into song and dance right now.

"Calm down Britt, I still need to think about it. But if I do decide to do it I will definitely let you help me with my audition okay?" Brittany nods her head while bouncing in her seat.

The rest of lunch passes quickly and before I know it the bell rings signaling the end of lunch. Shoot! I didn't get a chance to talk to Quinn. I'll just have to talk to her later.

**QPOV**

The assembly was rough. I mean it was good that they're actually doing something now, but for me it brought up a lot of stuff from the past. I'm trying really hard not to think too much about this. But it's hard not to wonder what if, or wish that I had done something sooner back then. I'm just glad that Dave is with me. He's one of the only people who know what happened to me back in Illinois, and he knows how hard it is for me to sit at this assembly.

"You okay Q-bear?" Dave whispers to me. I don't say anything; I just lean into him and feel him wrap his arm around me. I close my eyes and try not to think about anything. I've already spent way too much time on what ifs and I don't want to go back to that.

Once the assembly ends we're rushed through our morning classes and before I know it I'm sitting down for lunch. When Brittany starts talking about me auditioning for Glee I immediately start to get nervous. I've already decided to join but now that I know I have to audition I'm going to take a few days to prepare, and I'm definitely going to get Britt to help me. That girl is crazy good!

I've also decided that I'm not going to audition alone so after football practice I walk up to the other new recruits for the New Directions. They just don't know it yet.

"Hey guys, guess what we're doing Thursday?" I say smiling at them. By the way they're looking at me, it seems that they already know that they're not going to like this.

Thursday could not come fast enough and yet I still felt like I needed more time to prepare for the audition. As soon as the final bell rang I had to fight the urge to run out of the school and not stop until I reach the safety of my room. Unfortunately I don't, instead I go to my locker to drop off my books and get my clothes to change into for the performance. That's right, I have an outfit for my audition. Brittany apparently decided that if we were going to audition that we had to "do it right" so Dave, Sam and I have matching outfits for this thing.

One good thing out of this is that Sam and Dave both agreed to join Glee with me. It took a little convincing/beating them at COD/buying them dinner to get them to agree, but they did. So after practice Monday we had Britt come over to my house to help us with our audition piece. Everyday since then we've been practicing and hopefully we're ready for this.

I go to the bathroom to change my clothes. We decided to go with Dark blue jeans, white button-up shirts with rolled up sleeves, black vests, black skinny ties, black and white converse shoes, and black sunglasses. I put my other clothes in my locker and head off to meet the guys. I talked to the band the Glee club uses earlier in the week so they had our music and told Mr. Shue we would be auditioning today so he was aware, so all that's left is to actually do it. Easy….yup. My bed's sounding really good right about now.

I get to the choir room and see that Sam, Dave, Brittany and Santana are all standing outside of the room waiting.

"Took you long enough Q, I totally thought you bailed." Santana says joking.

"I wish…"

"Quinn, just relax. You guys are gonna be awesome! You know the choreography and sound great. I'm so excited this is gonna be so great! Plus you guys look really sexy." Brittany says as she hugs me. I return her hug and let out a deep breath to calm my nerves.

Once she releases me, her and S walk into the room leaving me and the boys out in the hall. I look at both of them and it looks like they're both as nervous as I am. If not, more so in Daves case. He's starting to look a little green. I hear Mr. Schue say that there's an audition to day so that's our queue. No turning back now. I look at both boys and hold my fist out.

"Let's do this." I say, they smile and bring their fists in, when they connect with each other we blow em up and walk into the room.

As we walk in I look at all the faces in the room. There's a lot of shocked looks, some very happy faces, and one scowling face coming from Finn, (ha remembered his name!). Hmm, what's up his butt?

"Uh, hey so Sam and Dave and I decided to audition. I hope that's okay. Okay so here we go." We line up next to each other and I nod to the band to start.

(Sam/_Quinn_/**Dave**/_**all**_)

Sam starts off first, he's in between Dave and I who have our heads down as the drums start the beat to the song.

Dressed in your Friday best, and ready to impress oh woah,

I like the show oh oh

And can I say that you're the prettiest girl that I know, or will ever know

So give me your hand

Once he sings this he puts his hands on our shoulders and our heads come up looking towards the stands.

_I've gotta record on the table and I think it's gonna gonna make you wanna let go_

**An opportunity to get a little wild**

**Baby can I get a smile, smile**

**Damn, I hope so**

Now we're turning up the heat, turn the shuffle

to repeat 

When the chorus comes we start the choreography Brittany taught us. There's a few simple moves and spins that we will repeat at every chorus.

_**She said, "I love this song, I've heard it before**_

_**And it stole my heart**_

_**I know every word,"**_

_**She's gonna dance all night, night, til it hurts**_

_**Singing the best song ever, best song ever**_

_**So give me your hand**_

Sam goes over to Britt and pulls her up to dance.

_**Give me your hand**_

I go up to Santana and pull her up too.

_**She said this is the best song ever, best song ever**_

_Music colliding with the words singin' what you wanna say_

_I hope it's my name, hey hey_

_And everytime you hear it you'll remember this night again_

_Again and again_

_**So give me your hand**_

Dave grabs Mike from the risers.

_Cause I'm ready and I'm able and I'm thinkin I can make you finally wanna let go_

**Just to show you my affection turn the speakers up to ten then eleven 'til we break the window**

Now we're turning up the heat, turn the shuffle to

repeat 

_**She said, "I love this song, I've heard it before**_

_**And it stole my heart**_

_**I know every word,"**_

_**she's gonna dance all night, night,'til it hurts**_

_**Singing the best song ever, best song ever**_

_**Give me your hand**_

Dave goes and gets Kurt while I go get Rachel.

_**Give me your hand**_

Tina gets pulled up by Mike and Mercedes by Britt while Sam rolls Artie into the mix.

_**She said this is the best song ever, best song ever**_

**We're not coming down, you're all mine**

**Keep you in the sound**

**We're so high**

**Rocket to cloud nine**

**When we're turning up the best song ever, best song ever**

Everyone's up dancing now except for Finn and Mr. Schue and when we get to the chorus again everybody does the dance steps with us.

_**She said, "I love this song, I've heard it before**_

_**And it stole my heart**_

_**I know every word,"**_

_**She's gonna dance all night,night, 'til it hurts**_

_**Singing the best song ever best song ever**_

_**Give me your hand**_

_**She said, "I love this song, I've heard it before**_

_**And it stole my heart**_

_**I know every word,"**_

_**she's gonna dance all night, night, 'til it hurts**_

_**Singing the best song ever, best song ever**_

_**So give me your hand**_

_**Woah oh oh oh oh**_

_**Give me your hand**_

_**She said this is the best song ever, best song ever**_

We end the song with Sam, Dave and I in the middle of the group. When the music stops everyone starts clapping and tells us how good we did. Brittany runs over and jumps on us making a very odd group hug.

"That was great guys! Welcome to New Directions!" Mr. Schuester stood up from his seat beside a brooding Finn and was clapping excitedly.

"I don't know Mr. Schue," Finn interjects. "I mean, you couldn't really get an idea of their voices by that song. They were rapping more than anything else."

"Finn, you know our rules. All you have to do is audition to get into New Directions." Rachel puts in. "And they were amazing." She turns to us. "You will all be great additions to our group." She said beaming at us.

"Rachel's right Finn, It's always been that if you audition you get in. And they had a great audition." Mr. Schue says to back up Rachel.

"Yeah, but we all had to audition alone. It's not fair that they auditioned together." I know he isn't having the best couple of days but what is his problem?

"Finn…" Mr. Schue starts, but I interrupt him.

"No Mr. Schue, it's okay. We can sing one more." I look at Sam and Dave and they both nod, Dave reluctantly.

Sam went and grabbed an acoustic guitar and started playing Billionaire. As he's singing Dave leans into me.

"Quinn, I don't think I can do this." I look over to him and can see that he's even paler than before we did our group performance. Maybe my phobia of singing in front of people isn't so bad. "I know you wanted to do this together but I don't think I can sing by myself right now. I'm just gonna go." I take his hand and give it a gentle squeeze.

"Hey, I said we were going to do this together so that's what we'll do okay? We'll sing something together, and if that's not okay with them, (Finn), then we'll get outta here. Alright?" He seems to relax at that and nods in agreement.

When Sam finishes everyone claps for him, he really does have a great voice. Dave and I stand up. I take the guitar from Sam and sit on a stool next to Dave.

"If it's alright with you guys we're gonna sing together. We both have solos in the song so you'll be able to hear what our voices are like." Finn pipes up again.

"We all had to audition by ourselves, it's not fair if you do it together." He says crossing his arms across his chest.

"Look Finn, I'm not sure what your problem is but some of us aren't comfortable singing in front of people. If the only way we get in is if we audition ourselves than we can walk." I say and look to the rest of the club. Finn's about to respond when Santana stops him.

"No one cares what you think Finnept. You're just mad that you're not hot shit anymore and more like a pile of it. Go ahead Q." I nod at her in thanks and turn to Dave.

Once we take a few deep breaths I start.

**Dave**/ _Quinn_/ both

_Open wide I'm ready for the battle_

_Our fight, this burning bed_

_See the bones that bullets have shattered_

_And I feel every drop of blood you've bled_

At the second verse I start playing the guitar

_Lay down these promises broken_

_Take me into your hurricane_

_While violent clouds roll over_

_I'll hold your hand till the colors fade_

_I'll be here till your dying day_

Sing loud from the roof tops

Come dance on the rivers edge

Carry me over mountains to the end of love

Close the gates to the city

Hear the drums on the hillside

Carry me over mountains to the end of love

**Standing in a field of voices**

**Find shelter from the blame**

**Even if you think it's all over**

**I'll be here till the colors fade**

**I'll be here till your dying day**

Sing loud from the rooftops

Come dance on the rivers edge

Carry me over mountains to the end of love

Close the gate to the city

Hear the drums on the hillside

Carry me over mountains to the end of love

**Put down the knife you're weilding**

**Let high stone walls fall away**

**With gentle time will be an ending**

**And I'll be here till the colors fade**

**And I'll be here till your dying day**

Sing loud from the rooftops

Come dance on the rivers edge

Carry me over mountains to the end of love

Close the gate to the city

Hear the drums on the hillside

Carry me over mountains to the end of love

_Sing loud, burn it down, call the river as we fall apart_

I finish the song and Brittany bounds up to Dave and I and hugs us both; everyone else is clapping for us. After everyone settles down Mr. Schue speaks up.

"It looks like we have three new members! Welcome to the club!" Everyone whoops and claps as they welcome us to the club. Well, everyone but Finn… "Well that took up a lot of our time so let's just end early and we'll pick back up tomorrow. Have a good night everyone." With that Mr. Schue leaves the room and everyone starts packing up their things.

Rachel walks up to me as I'm on my way out and looks a little nervous. I smile at her and wait for her to say whatever she obviously wants to say. I hope our performances were okay.

"I don't know why you were so worried Quinn, you all sounded amazing." I smile wider at that, happy that she approved. "I was just wondering if you wanted to perhaps get together after the game on Friday? Maybe you could come over and stay the night? If not that's completely understandable, I mean I'm sure you have to attend parties afterwards. So it's fine if you are unable to." She trails off and waits for my response.

"That would have been great Rach, but I have a soccer tournament this weekend and my parents and I have to leave after my football game tomorrow because our first game is early Saturday morning. Maybe we could do it next weekend?" I ask hoping that she would still want to.

"Of course Quinn that would be great! Well I better get going, I'm sure my father is waiting for me. See you tomorrow." She waves and heads out to the parking lot.

Everything was going great. We won our game Friday, we placed first in our tournament for soccer and the bullying seemed to stop, or at least decrease dramatically from what it was before. So of course something has to happen.

I was exchanging my books from my morning classes at my locker when it all went down.

"Hey, Karofsky!" I heard shouted out a little ways down from me. When I turn in that direction I see five members of the AV club surrounding Dave and throwing slushies at him all at once. The hall goes from obnoxiously loud to complete silence in an instant. I immediately rush over to Dave.

"Not so tuff now huh?" I hear Jacob something something, (what?! I'm still horrible with names!), say as I reach them.

"What the hell is going on? Did you not get the memo? This," I point to the sticky mass that is Dave, "is not okay! What's wrong with you guys?"

"Stay out of this Ms. Fabray. This does not concern you." Jacob whatever says.

"Dave's my friend, so yeah it concerns me. This needs to stop and it was until you decided to do this!" Gesturing to Dave.

"And it will stop once all the jocks in this school get a taste of their own medicine." Ben-Fro continues to speak for his little posse. I shake my head at him and turn to Dave.

"You okay bud?" Stupid question I know but I couldn't think of anything else to say. Dave's eyes are closed and he's shivering slightly.

"My eyes really sting, but other than that just cold. It's okay Quinn I deserve this…"

"No you don't, no one deserves this." I cut him off. I see Kurt walking up to us and I hand Dave over to him. "Can you take him to the bathroom to rinse his eyes please?" He nods and takes Daves arm to lead him to get cleaned up. I turn back to the revenge seekers.

"Look, you might feel awesome right now for getting one of your tormentors back, but you need to stop this. You're really lucky that you decided to target Dave first. Because I can guarantee if you would have attacked someone else first you would be in a whole world of trouble. Revenge will only make things worse. All of you are smart, I really don't know why you guys thought that this was okay."

"Dave is one of the worst bullies here so he deserves anything we give to him." One of the others in the group speaks up.

"Everyone knows how mean Dave was, but that is in the past. He's trying to be better. He's apologized to the people he's picked on. I was there when he apologized to some of you! If you didn't believe him or didn't forgive him you should have said that! But no, instead you wait until you think you'll be safe and then gang up on people. That's really great!" I can't stand to look at them so I start to make my way to where Dave and Kurt went. Of course Jacob can't leave it at that so he decides to speak up.

"It's easy to act all high and mighty when you've never experienced it. You've been here for a few months and got a few slushies? That's nothing compared to what we've been through our whole lives here." I keep walking and trying to ignore him. "I bet if you had to deal with just portion of what we had to you'd do exactly the same thing, but I'm sure at your old school you were just as bad as Karofsky. You're probably just doing this to make yourself look good. You're just as bad as the others, A dumb, hypocritical jock who'll go nowhere after high school." I can't take it anymore. His whiny voice that's just trying to get people to feel sorry for him is too much and I know if I don't say anything they'll just continue to attack people and probably end up in the hospital. I turn around and stalk towards him.

"Don't you even start to think you know anything about me. You know nothing about me or what I've been through. Which is shocking seeing as you're supposed to be the one that knows everything and everyone else's business right? The kid that creeps in the shadows to find out dirt and then broadcasts it on your stalker blog. I mean it's been a while, but I thought that someone like you would have picked up my story right away. Although I can't say I'm upset that you haven't figured it out yet." That seems to deflate him and peak his interest all at the same time. I shake my head at him and walk away again. I see that my locker's still open so I go and close it and turn back to him. "I'll make it easy on you. Search Lucy Fabray and Johnsburg High School and see what you come up with."

I don't wait to see how many people start to remember, I walk to the nearest bathroom and can already hear whispering behind me. Of course there were no teachers anywhere in sight as that whole confrontation happened. The bell rings signaling the start of lunch as I enter the boys bathroom.

"Everyone decent?" I ask not bothering to wait for a reply.

"Not at all." Dave says, completely decent, from the sink at the far wall of the bathroom. He's dabbing at his eyes with a paper towel and looks at me as I lean against one of the other sinks.

"Aww, you got my hopes up. I was hoping I'd get a little show." I say with a fake pout. Dave chuckles at that.

"You know that show aint cheap, ten dolla." He says and puts his hand out to collect.

"Ten? That's it? Pshh I totally would have paid more, what with that colorfully tasty outfit you have on." I wink at him and we both laugh. I see Kurt over at the towel dispenser and he's laughing as well. When he looks at me I nod in thanks and he returns it. "You're probably gonna need a shower big guy. Unless you want to be sticky the rest of the day."

"Yeah I probably should, it's a bit uncomfortable. Besides I don't want to think about what you would do to me if I stayed like this. I mean, this hot bod, plus artificially flavored syrup? You'd be stuck to me the rest of the day." He says with a smirk.

"Mmm, totally." I pretend to check him out. "Shower it is!" I say and we leave the bathroom and head towards the boys locker room. "Hey Kurt do you think you could get us some food? Dave won't have enough time to eat if he has to wait in line to get it, and I'd rather not be around everybody right now." I say, hoping he doesn't ask any questions.

Luckily he doesn't and soon enough he's back with food for us while I'm waiting for Dave to finish showering. I'm definitely not looking forwards to the rest of the day.

**Songs used in this were. Give Me Your Hand by The Ready Set, Billionaire by Travie McCoy/Bruno Mars, and Sing Aloud by Alpha Rev. **

**Sorry it took so long to post. Next chapter we'll find out what happened at Quinns old school. Hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I had to change to rating to M because of the language. You finally get to see what happened to Quinn at the old school. Don't worry there's still surprises to come. Let me know what you think. And of course I don't own Glee.**

**RPOV**

_Show Me What Really Happened_

**Chapter 22**

I am honestly shocked at what just happened. Not only did the "Losers" stage an ill-timed uprising, but Quinn just went and…. just… I can't believe I didn't realize it before. I really want to go talk to her but I should just wait and let her help David. He needs her right now.

It seemed like it took forever for the school day to end. Quinn didn't come to lunch and she made it to our afternoon class just as the bell rang so we weren't able to talk at all. The day seemed to drag on but finally it was the last hour meaning it was my free period and I decided to go to the choir room to practice.

It seems that I wasn't the only one with that idea. As I entered the room I saw Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and Artie are all crowding around the computer on the desk.

"Hello all, did you come to practice as well?" Whatever they are looking at must be very interesting because they all jumped when I spoke up. Obviously not noticing my arrival.

"Oh, hey Rachel. No we're not practicing, we're googleing Quinn." Artie responds.

"And it's a good thing you're here cause we have a bone to pick with you." Mercedes says. "Why didn't you tell us about Quinn. We're supposed to be a family Rachel and families share things."

"Especially something as big as this!" Kurt finishes.

"Well Kurt…. And everyone else, I didn't know about it. However, even if I did I wouldn't have told you without Quinns permission to do so. She obviously didn't want to talk about it and I can't blame her. Can you just imagine what that must have been like? What she had to go through? Besides she hasn't known us for that long so perhaps she would have divulged that information after some time. If anything we should feel bad that we didn't recognize her. It was all anyone could talk about for months."

"Rachel does have a point, Johnsburg and Quinn, well Lucy, were the only things on T.V. for so long we definitely could have made the connection…" Tina says. Mercedes and Kurt seem to agree and drop their attitudes.

"So what are you guys doing again?"

"We're just looking up all the stuff on Quinn to see if there was anything new added." Artie says while pulling up a new page.

"Hey click on that." Tina points to a video that was posted about a year ago. Artie clicks on it and it asks to verify our age. He puts in that he is eighteen and it starts to play.

The screen is black for a few seconds until white letters appear.

_These video clips, pictures, and recordings were put together to give an accurate account of what happened on June 2__nd__ at Johnsburg High School. It is as close as possible to what actually happened. The only part I omitted was the murder of Jay Manner, the only casualty in that awful even. _

That message left the screen after a few minutes and another appeared in red.

_WARNING: this video contains violence and foul language._

The letters disappear and the black screen turns into a grainy video of what could only be the Johnsburg gymnasium. We can hear people crying and moving around somewhere off camera. Suddenly the camera turns and faces a wall that students are sitting against. Some are in their gym clothes while others are dressed in their regular school attire.

"I remember this video." Kurt says. "It was all over the news, like a few months after. They said that the girl recorded everything with a hidden camera and it saved to her computer and set to automatically send out to the media at a certain day. I thought all of the footage was taken down or destroyed….""

Everyone just nods, remembering it as well. Obviously someone was able to get a hold of this somehow.

The girl finally speaks. "Fabray! Get your ass out here now, or else Ill come get you and shoot everyone in my way until I get to you!" A second later Quinn emerges from the locker room. She's dressed in her gym uniform like some of the others. "Are there more inside?" Quinn shakes her head no. You can see her shaking. "Maybe I should check, and if I find you're lying I shoot you." She lifts her gun up so that it's in the cameras view. Quinn takes a deep breath and clenches her hands into tight fists.

"You can do that if you like. It seems like I'm dead either way right?" Her voice is shaking but it's still strong.

"True". The gunman states and you can see anger flash in Quinn.

"Why? Why are you doing this Stephanie?" Quinn takes a step towards the girl.

"Why? Why?!" Obviously that was the wrong thing to ask. "Don't play dumb Quinn, You're too smart for that." Quinn looks completely confused. She takes another step towards her.

"Stephanie, I promise you I have no idea what you are taking about. Please just tell me so we can figure this out."

"God you're good. If I was a little dumber I might believe you. Too bad I'm not huh? You know this wouldn't even be happening right now if you had just kept you're mouth shut. But you've been having a really big problem doing that this year it seems. You should really watch what you say and who you say it to because obviously it can get back to the people you're taking shit about!" Quinn turns to look at something that's not onscreen and then back to the gunman.

"And what did I happen to say about you? Refresh my memory, because like you said before, I've been saying a lot this year." Quinns voice is hard now and her eyes are cold.

You know what you said! You just want me to repeat it so I can humiliate myself! Because that's how sick and twisted you really are!" The shooter is screaming and you can hear it echoing in the otherwise silent gym. "Even when you're about to die you still want to humiliate people! I should shoot you right now!"

"So do it!" Quinn Shouts back. "Shoot me! That's what you came here to do so do it! I'm right here, Ill even make it easier for you!" She takes a few more steps towards her and puts out her arms. "Cant get a better shot than this, so do it already. SHOOT!" Her last word rings through the gym.

Quinn is breathing heavy and you can see that the other students against the wall are stunned by what Quinn just said.

"Or you can stop for one fucking second and actually think about this. Think about who I am and who told you about all the stuff I supposedly said. Who talked to you about me Stephanie?"

"Jessica…" She says. You can see Quinn shake her head.

"Well that makes a lot of sense right? Jess and I are bffs, been friends since forever, barely leave each others sides, _attached at the hip they say."_ You can hear the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She turns to the girls along the wall. "Obviously Jess has graciously let you all know what I said and think about all of you as well. It makes so much sense that all your information would come from one source." No one says anything but they don't need to. She puts her hands in her hair and pulls at it in frustration.

"I know I don't hang out with most of you but I figured you know enough about me to know I wouldn't do something like this. I mean, we've all grown up together. Before all the rumors started what was your impression of me?" She doesn't wait for a response. "But that doesn't matter. You just believed whatever you were told without a second though." She turns her attention back to the shooter. "So go ahead, shoot." She pauses and takes deep breath. "Or you can hang on for one fucking second and think about this. Why would I talk to Jess about all this stuff? A girl that I barely say one word to during a whole month. It seems kind of odd to me. Especially how much I apparently told her. And even if I had told her, why would I continue to tell her things when she's been telling other people everything I say? Seems kinda dumb to me, and as you said before I'm to smart for that." Even with the poor quality of the video you can see Quinn visibly shaking.

I've seen this footage before when it was first released and at that time I was blown away by how the girl handled herself in this nightmare of a situation. But now seeing it again and knowing that it was Quinn that went through this, it's definitely harder to watch. And even though I know that she's fine, that it worked out, I still feel scared for her. My heart is racing and I just want to reach into the screen and pull her to safety.

Everything is quiet on the screen as everyone digests what Quinn, or I guess it was Lucy at the time, just said. The screen splits in half, the top still shows the shooters camera view, and the bottom part of the screen starts playing the local news coverage. It's showing the outside of the school where students and parents are standing in the back end of the parking lot and the local and state police are keeping people calm while others are by the school doors, trying to find the best way to get in. The shooter seems to have wrapped her head around what's been happening because you can see the camera moving and stop in front of a girl, that is probably the Jess Quinn keeps talking about. She has brown hair that goes a little past her shoulders, brown eyes and a fake n bake tan to put some of our Cheerios to shame.

"Is it true? Have you been lying to me?!" She points the gun right at the girl. The girl looks terrified and hasn't said anything yet. She cocks the gun and points it at her face. "ANSWER ME!" She screams at the girl. Jess flinches away from her.

"Yes." She says and if the shooter wasn't so close we wouldn't have heard it.

"So Lucy hasn't said anything that you've been telling us? You've just been making things up to make people hate her?!" Jess nods. "Why? What possible reason would you have to turn people against her?" Jess doesn't say anything.

"So what you told me that Lucy was saying was really just stuff you thought of?!" the gun starts shaking on screen. "So it's really you that I'm after! Stand up. Now!" She gets Jess to stand where Quinn is. "Any last words?" the gunman says while still pointing her gun at her.

"Stephanie, don't. Don't do this. She's not worth it! Don't ruin your life because of her!" Quinn tries to reason with her.

"She needs to learn Lucy, everyone does. It's not okay to do what they do. Pick on people, tell lies about them, push them around! It's not okay and it stops today! Starting with that bitch!"

"She does need to learn, you're right. But not like this. Put the gun down, let everyone go and we'll figure something out. Don't do something you can't undo and will have to live with for the rest of your life." Quinn pleads.

"It's too late for that if you haven't noticed Lucy." Quinn looks at something off the screen and looks away quickly, most likely the fallen gym teacher. "My life's already over so why not destroy it all together!"

"So instead of one person you'll have two people on your conscience? I may not know much about you but I know that you're better than that. I know you don't want that."

"You're right, you don't know me, no one does and yet they're just fine treating me badly. I've been their target for years and no one's done anything to help me! They've been doing the same to you. Why aren't you happy that I'm willing to do something about this?"

"Because this isn't the way to solve anything. I'm sorry Stephanie. I'm so sorry that I never did anything. I should have helped you, done something to make people stop, but I didn't. I just said nothing and I am so sorry." Quinn has tears rolling down her face. "No one should have to go through what you went through. And I promise that I'll help you as much as I can. Let's just get out of here. I don't know about you but I could go for a nap." We can see the shooter lower her gun.

"Why me? Why did they choose to pick on me Lucy?" You can hear in her voice that she's ready to breakdown.

"I don't know, but we're gonna make sure it doesn't keep happening yea?"

"It's because you're a freak." Jess speaks up. You can see Quinns eyes go wide at what she just said.

"Shut up Jess." Quinn says trying to get jess to be quiet so they can get out of here.

"What? I'm just trying to be honest with her. It's not like things are going to get better for her when she leaves here. She'll still be a freak. You're dirty, and no one will ever want to be around you." Jess says looking right at the shooter.

The gun makes its way back onto the screen and points at Jess again. Jess, for some reason looks shocked at that.

"Well at least I'm a freak with a gun!" The shooter shouts out. Quinns arms raise towards her to try and stop her from shooting.

"Steph wait! Please don't…" Quinn starts but the she's cut off.

"It's too late." Is all she says before we see her arm tense as she pulls the trigger.

Everything happens so fast. There's the loud boom of the gunshot that blasts through the computers sub-par speakers disrupting the silence of the room we're in. And we see Quinn and Jess fall to the floor. The screen is still split between the shooters view and the news footage so you see the reaction to the crowd when the gun goes off. Most people duck down or start crying thinking that one of their friends was just killed. All the policemen take out they're guns and point them towards the doors. Then there's silence again. The angle of the camera doesn't let us see the two on the ground, and though I know what happened I'm still terrified. The sound of people crying starts to make it through the speakers again from the students in the gym.

"Oh god, I'm gonna die!" We hear Jess start to cry from the floor. The camera starts to move forward and in a few steps you can see the two lying there with Quinn on top of the other girl. Quinn's not moving, just breathing hard.

"Jess, where you hit?" Quinn breathes out.

"I…. um" Jess whimpers out but she looks like she's thinking hard. "I don't know, I can't feel anything! Oh god that's not good is it?!"

The shooter gets closer to the two girls, bends down and pushes them apart. We hear Quinn groan in pain and Jess is still crying hysterically. When the shooter looks over Jess there's blood on her, but when you look up a little higher you can see a puddle on the floor. She turns towards Quinn and you can see that Quinn took the bullet intended for Jess. The video then does a slow-motion replay of what just happened and we see Quinn tackle Jess onto the floor and as they're falling we see the bullet hit Quinn in the shoulder.

"What did you do?!" The shooter screams. She stomps over to Quinn and kicks her in the stomach a few times. Each kick you can hear connect to her stomach and a grunt come out of her from the pain. All Quinn can do is curl up into a ball to protect what she can and wait till she's done, or passes out. I turn away from the screen unable to watch her be beaten. "Maybe I should kill you too, so you stop ruining all my plans!

Quinn puts her right hand up to try and halt the girls actions.

"You can do that," Quinn rasps out, "but what are you gonna do about them?" She points to something behind the shooter. The camera whips around to where Quinn pointed and we see an empty part of the gym before the camera view shoots up to the ceiling. There's a thud and a grunt of pain and then the camera goes black and all we hear is rustling and heavy breathing. The view changes to a grainy phone video camera that one of the hostages must have been taking. It shows the moments before where Quinn trips up the shooter, making her fall to the ground. Quinn, then rolls on top of her and brings the back of her fist down on the fallen girl, making her hit her head on the gym floor and effectively knocking her out.

Quinn lays there for a minute just getting her breath back and then gets up and takes the gun from the unconscious girl on the floor. She's doing something with the gun and then you see/hear bullets hit the floor along with pieces of the gun. It looks like she took apart the gun. She's about to say something when a loud beeping starts. Quinn walks balk to the incapacitated girl and kneels down next to her. Quinns body is blocking the view of the camera but you can tell she lifts up the girls shirt. It's dead quiet and then there's an eruption of screams coming from the computer speakers. The only word that stands out is bomb and then the video is too shaky to see anything and the camera angle changes back to the shooters point of view, which is still facing the ceiling. We can hear doors opening and closing, people running around and then it's quiet. We can only assume that everyone left but then the camera starts moving. After a few more seconds we hear something hit the gym floor and then Quinn comes back into view. She lifts the girl up over her uninjured shoulder and starts moving.

"Couldn't give me a little more time huh?" She asks the unresponsive girl.

Not a second later there's a loud boom and the video feed cuts out and transfers back to the local news footage. An anchorman is talking about the latest details when you see all the students that were in the gym, sans Quinn, run out of the school, and then the bomb goes off. We hear the boom and the doors to the school are blasted open from the bomb while debris flies outside.

Shock is the expression on most faces we see. Police officers that were once in a crouched position, ready for an attack stand up and just stare at the scene like everyone else. It's completely silent except for the wind blowing into the news crews microphones. Just then the live feed of the school shuts off and the local news anchors are on the screen. A man and woman are on display and you can tell they're at a loss for words as well. Finally the woman speaks.

"As you can see a lot is happening out there at the high school. Just before, what we can only assume is a bomb exploded, we did see some students make it out of there. We do know that there were 30 students and a teacher trapped inside with the one responsible for this when this all started. All we can do right now is hope that they all made it out of there. For those of you just joining us we have been following…" The woman continues to recap what has been happening throughout the day as they replay the footage they have. As they show the explosion again the man speaks up.

"We are getting a report from Lisa at the school that theirs is more information coming in, let's get back there. Lisa, what seems to be happening?" The camera goes back to the school and the field reporter.

"Tom, Amy, as you know twenty minutes ago we witnessed an explosion that started inside the school. Just before that we saw people running out of the building. I can confirm that only twenty-nine people made it out before what we now know was a bomb went off. From what I have heard the teacher that was in there was killed before the explosion. There is no sign of the shooter, who is a fellow student here, or that other student." The screen jumped back the newsroom again where they started recapping the event thus far when the feed was switched, without warning, back to the school.

The camera was zoomed in to one of the doors of the school where we see Quinn carrying a still unconscious shooter. Quinn takes a few more steps and then is surrounded by yelling police officers. Two of them rip the shooter out of Quinns hands while, more officers than what is necessary to detain a young girl, tackle Quinn to the ground. Her arms are forced behind her back and she cries out in pain as one of the officers starts to handcuff her.

"No!" All of us watching shout at the computer screen. Luckily a few of the other students that were in the gym tell the officers of Quinns innocence and they release her. Once She's free, she gets up from the ground and distances herself from the officers, obviously terrified that they'll hurt her again. When she's sure that they won't try anything else she turns to the barricades, towards all the news crews and bystanders, trying to find something or someone.

An EMT walks up to her to try and see to her wounds but she brushes them off and continues to search. You can see her getting more frantic as her search continues. She looks about ready to break down when something catches her eye and you can see her whole expression change to one of relief. The camera pans out and shows another blond pushing her way through the crowd to get to Quinn. On The screen and arrow shows up pointing at the blond with a caption that says "Sister." When they reach each other Quinn is enveloped in her sisters arms. After a little bit they pull away and her sister looks worried. You can see she's saying something and Quinn is shaking her head. Then all of a sudden Quinn's body falls toward her sister who lowers her to the ground while yelling for help and trying to get Quinn to wake up.

When the paramedics put Quinn on the ground to start their work the camera zooms in on her sisters shirt, which is now full of blood. When the paramedics rip Quinns shirt to start CPR the screen goes black and then comes back in a newsroom where the same anchors are reporting. The date on the screen shows that it's three days after the shooting. The anchorman, Tom starts speaking.

"A bittersweet day for the students at Johnsburg High School, as the seniors take the stage to receive their high school diplomas. Millions of people from around the world have been watching with us while the details from that horrible day have been put to light. Of the thirty students that were trapped in that school, ten of them are graduating seniors. And no one will argue who is the reason that they're here, able to receive their diploma today. Lucy Fabray, the girl that not only saved her classmate from getting shot by taking the bullet herself, but also took down the shooter, Stephanie Jenko, before the bomb that was strapped to Stephanie's body could go off.

As most of you know already, after saving the students in the gym, including the shooter, Quinn was rushed to the hospital where she immediately went into surgery to repair internal bleeding. Besides the internal bleeding Quinn suffered broken ribs; a concussion as well as the gunshot wound and has yet to wake after her surgery though doctors do feel she will make a full recovery. During the ceremony Johnsburg will honor the memory of the sole casualty from that day, Jay Manner; a teacher who died trying to protect her students. She is no doubt the other hero of that day."

The screen switches to the graduation ceremony where someone, I'm assuming is part of the school board is speaking. Up on stage is a big picture of the fallen teacher. After only speaking a few sentences there's a commotion coming from the crowd that silences the speaker. Then people start clapping, standing up from their seats and yelling. The graduates look completely confused until they spot what has got the crowd so riled up. One graduate runs from their spot on the field to where everyone else is looking. The camera moves around to find the source and stops on a very battered and tired Quinn, standing at the side of the field looking at her sister.

The camera angle changes to one closer up and you can see Quinns sister gently wrap her arms around her. Both of them have tears running down their faces.

"You're supposed to be in the hospital." She says to Quinn.

"Pshh, my big sister's graduating high school today. No way I'm missing that." Quinn says. They pull away and smile at each other. "You're supposed to be out there you know." She gestures with her head out to the field. Her sister laughs.

"Yeah well, my sister's been unconscious for three days and I just found out now that she's awake. It's kind of a big deal."

"I suppose." Quinn says. "But these things are kinda long and I'm a bit tired so maybe you should get back so this can be over faster. I was hoping I'd show up just in time for your name to be called." Quinns sister starts moving away from her and laughs.

"You just slept for three days! Why are you so tired?!"

"No idea." While her sister is making her way back to her spot, Quinn notices that everyone is still standing and clapping for her. We can see her cheeks redden, which is adorable. Not knowing what else to do she raises her hand slightly to acknowledge to crowd and then turns her attention to the stage. After a few more seconds of the camera on Quinn it goes black and writing appears again on the screen.

_A lot happened that year. Much more than the media ever played. Lucy suffered a lot because of the words of one girl. Words that turned almost everyone against her without a second thought. Most if not all of the people in that gym were terrible to her for no better reason than the lies one girl was telling. I am ashamed to say that I was one of them. And I am alive because Lucy was better than all of us. I made this video to not only try and make amends for what I have done, but also for a way for others to see what their actions and words can do. It's okay to make mistakes, it's never too late to change, but you have to want it. Please, I beg you, if you see someone being bullied say something. If you're the bully, think about how you would feel if it was you or your kids/siblings instead. If you get bullied talk to someone and get help before it gets bad enough that something like what happened here is your only solution. Thank you for watching. __**B**_

The words stayed up for another minute and then the screen goes black and the video ends.

"Not the best movie, but it has a pretty good ending." We all jump at the unexpected voice and turn to see Quinn leaning against to doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest.

Busted.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

_You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea_

**QPOV**

It was funny to see their reactions when they realized that I was standing in the doorway. I chuckled at their wide, shocked eyes. It definitely helped quell some of my nerves that I had since the incident with Jacob earlier. I knew everyone was going to figure out my history now. I rocked myself off the doorframe and into the room.

"So…. I'm assuming you guys have questions for me?" I asked, even though I'm sure they have tons to ask. Most of them started talking at once so I couldn't hear a thing they were saying. I put up my hand to stop the madness and let out a sigh.

"So you have a lot of questions." I state and we all laugh. The bell rings signaling the end of the day and we hear the hall outside fill up with noise from all the students. "All right how about this, when the others get here we can talk about it, if it's okay with Mr. Schue. Sound good?" They all nod and we take seats on the risers.

The rest of the group files into the room, followed by Mr. Schuester a few minutes later. Thankfully he got here when he did. A few minutes more and I think the gossip queens, (Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina), would have gone on a hunt for him. As soon as Mr. Schue clapped his hands in his signature way to start talking, Kurt shot up from his chair and interrupted him.

"As you all know, we have acquired some new information regarding the past of one Quinn Fabray, aka Lucy Fabray, and with everyone's okay and Mr. Schues approval" Kurt paused to look at Mr. Schue, " We would like to spend this Glee club session getting to know the newest member of our school a little better." Kurt nods signaling he is done and sits back down next to Mercedes.

"That's a great idea Kurt, I'm glad you're this dedicated to getting to know your fellow Gleeks. Are you okay with this Quinn?" Mr. Schue asks.

"That's fine with me." I say getting nervous again. Surprisingly Finn doesn't protest todays new agenda. Perhaps he's just as curious about what happened as everyone else is.

Mr. Schue suggested we all get in a circle and people could go around and ask questions. Kurt decided to start.

"So the shooting happened because that girl, Jess, told Stephanie that you were talking about her?" I nodded. "That just seems ridiculous that words would lead to that."

"It wasn't just words. It was the constant teasing that Stephanie had to go through everyday. If you were subjected to constant teasing and bullying everyday for years it wouldn't seem so ridiculous to you."

"Why you? I mean, you don't seem like the type to make enemies easily, but this girl definitely had something against you. The media didn't get into much of what happened before the shooting except to talk about how awful people treated the shooter. How do you play into all of this? Was it because you're gay?" Mercedes asks. I take a breath and organize my thoughts.

"It wasn't because I'm gay. I… Johnsburg isn't the most liberal place around, but it's not too bad. I came out the beginning of freshmen year. It wasn't something I broadcast or constantly talked about, but I did start to tell my friends and family. It eventually got around the school and some people didn't approve of it but I wasn't persecuted for it. If anything, I became more popular when I came out."

"So what happened? Why'd Jess all of a sudden start this vendetta against you?" Tina asked.

"She was mad at me and embarrassed about something that happened between us." I see everyone scoot to the ends of their chairs as if getting closer to me will bring the information out of me. I knew they wouldn't leave it at that so I elaborate. "Long story short, She came onto me at a party. I turned her down, so she started telling people lies about me."

"She turned a whole school against you because you turned her down?" Finn scoffs. "That doesn't make sense."

"We were at a party when she did it. She came onto me. I said I wasn't interested but she was really persistent and I ended up have to yell at her to get off of me. People around us started laughing at her. I left right after, but I guess people made fun of her the rest of the night. People were still teasing her on Monday and that's when she decided she would lie and say that I hit on her. By the end of the day Jess was telling people that I basically tried to rape her."

"But, people saw what happened at the party." Rachel states incredulously. I shake my head.

"According to Jess, I was trying to get her to have sex with me and when she refused I decided to make a scene to try and embarrass her." I shrug. "From there all it took was Jess telling people that I've been talking crap about them and presto! I became public enemy number one."

"How could the whole school turn against you though? You had to be the most popular girl at the school. I mean, look at you!" Mercedes states.

"I haven't always looked like this. In fact, growing up I was on the chubby side. Some people would pick on me because of my weight or because I was a nerd. It wasn't until eighth grade that I had a growth spurt, lost my baby fat, finished with braces, and got contacts. By then the popular cliques were formed and I didn't make the cut. I didn't mind though. I had a good group of friends who liked me for me. I was happy with that."

"What happened to your friends when Jess started spreading rumors?" Sam asks. I give him a sad smile and look down at my hands.

"Most of them ditched me. I guess the peer pressure was just too great for them. I can't really blame them; people were harassing them because they hung out with me. In the end it was just my best friend Aiden, my sister and a few of her friends who stuck by me through it all. I honestly don't know if I would have made it through everything without them."

"Why'd you save her?" Puck speaks up. "This chick tormented you and turned everyone against you and you still took a bullet for her."

"I didn't think about it. When it was happening I just knew I had to try to help her. At the time I felt like it was my fault. That it was happening because of me and I couldn't let someone die because of me." I can see people start to protest what I just said so I continue quickly. "I know now that it wasn't my fault, but at the time…. All I could think about was that this girl came to school with a gun to come after me. That I was her target and everyone around me was going to pay because of me. That someone was already dead because of me. Even though Jess really hurt me, I'll never regret pushing her out of the way. If I hadn't and she had died, I know for a fact that I would always wonder if I could have done something to save her."

"And Stephanie? Why'd you save her?" Mike asks.

"She was just another person manipulated by a stupid girl. I'm not saying that Stephanie is innocent in what happened, but things could have been different if anyone would have just noticed what was happening to her. She didn't deserve to die because someone used her."

"That's why you've been sticking up for people since you got here?" Artie chimes in.

"Yea," I nod. "I spent too much time being silent and not helping the people that needed it. What happened at Johnsburg showed me that being silent can be almost as bad as being the bully."

"How did you make it out of there alive? We saw you pick up that girl and then a few seconds later the bomb went off." Rachel asks.

"Luckily I made to the other side of the gym wall when it went off. It blew Stephanie and me away and I definitely didn't come out of there unscathed. A piece of debris sliced my stomach pretty good and I lost my hearing for a while, but considering how close we were to the blast it's definitely a miracle that we made it out."

"What happened when you went back the next year?" Tina asks

"I didn't, that summer I moved out to California. I haven't been back to that high school since my sisters graduation." As soon as I say this I know what will be asked next and I wish I didn't have to answer this yet.

"Why'd you move to California? And where did Quinn come from?" Of course Kurt's the one to ask.

"I moved to Cali because I had something going on there. And Quinn is my middle name." Mercedes knows I'm holding back so she prods some more.

"What were you cast in a movie or something?" She and a few others chuckle. I just stay silent. "Oh my god! You were weren't you?!

"I was, and I changed my name because my manager thought that Quinn was more of a marketable name and it didn't make people think about the shooting." Everyone's eyes, well almost everyone's, eyes went wide after I said that.

"What!" They all exclaim at once.

**RPOV**

Everyone in the room is completely shocked over what Quinn just said, including myself. Well, everyone except Dave, Santana and Brittany it seems. It seems everyone is lost for words so I decide to ask a question.

"You three don't seem shocked by what Quinn just said." I say as I look at the only indifferent people in the room.

"We've known for a while now." Santana shrugs.

"I just found out about a week ago." Dave interjects. I can't help but feel a little hurt that Quinn didn't tell me sooner.

"What makes you guys so special?" Finn asks.

"Well Brittany's my cousin and Santana is with Britt so…" Quinn trails off. That makes sense; there's no way Brittany would be able to keep a secret from Santana even if she wanted to. Quinn continues, "And Dave was at my place when I was talking to my manager so I told him then."

"Were you ever going to tell us?" Mercedes asks.

"I was. I didn't plan to tell you all so soon but with what happened today things were bound to come out about me." Quinn says. "And I should probably just tell you now about the other thing since everyone will find out soon anyways."

Quinn takes a deep breath, preparing herself, which makes me think about the worst possible things she could say. I just hope she's not sick. She doesn't look sick, but if she is, what the heck is she doing playing football! That is definitely not something she should be doing in her condition! That is, if she is in bad condition.

Before I can get too far away with my thoughts Quinn speaks again.

"While I was in California shooting the movie I met some people." Oh no, she joined a CULT! "And they happened to be on a reality TV show, and since I was hanging out with them I was in it too." She looks nervously around the room waiting for everyones reactions.

"What show?" Kurt asks, in a way too calm tone.

"Um, have you guys heard of Hollywood High?" Quinn asks. That did it, the next thing we hear is screeching. I look to my right and see Kurt, Mercedes and Tina all going nuts.

"Oh my god! You're on Hollywood High? How did that happen? What are they all like? Who was you favorite? Do you have any of their numbers? Do they plan to come visit you?!" All these questions and more come pouring out of those three. Quinn's eyes go wide at the bombardment of questions thrown at her.

"Uh, there is no way I can answer all that." She states and laughs at the three still bouncing around from excitement. "I figured I should tell you all before the season starts next week. And before anyone asks, I can't talk about anything pertaining to the show. I still talk to most of them, but I don't think there are plans to visit as of yet."

Just then the bell rings signaling the end of club activities. I can tell that everyone is sad that our time is up, especially the Kurt, Mercedes and Tina. All I can think is how stupid I was to ever think someone as amazing as Quinn would ever be interested in me. Not only is she a hero, but she's also an actress and will be staring in a reality TV show! I'm obviously delusional. I sigh and start packing up my things.

I feel too miserable to stay and talk to anyone so I just leave the room and head to my locker. I've almost made it when someone calls my name.

"Hey Rachel, wait up!" I turn and see Quinn jogging over to me. I feel so embarrassed that I can't make myself look at her so I keep my head down as she approaches.

"Hi Quinn, did you need something?" I ask trying to keep the sadness out of my voice.

"You ran out of there pretty quick and I know that was a lot of new information to be put out there. I wanted to make sure you're okay?" She looks really nervous.

"I appreciate your concern Quinn, but I can assure you I'm fine." I say still looking everywhere but her.

"If everything's fine then why can't you look at me?" Curse Quinn and her observant self! "Rach." She says and I don't have to look at her to know she's worried, though I do anyways. Her breathtaking hazel eyes are shining with unshed tears. "I know this is a lot to take in and things are going to be different once more people find so I understand if you don't want to be friends with me anymore." That's all I can take before I launch myself into her surprised arms and hug her as tight as I can without hurting her. Once she gets over her shock her arms wrap around my waist bringing us closer together.

"Of course I still want to be friends with you Quinn. I'll always want to be friends with you." I whisper in her ear. I hear her let out a sigh and tightens her hold on me. I want to be more. I wish I could tell her.

"Good." She replies just as softly to me.

After an amount of time that would be deemed more than a friendly hug time we slowly move apart from each other but not enough space to lose our hold on the other.

"So are we still on for a sleepover this weekend?" She asks hesitantly. Before I can respond Brittany bounds up to us.

"A sleepover! That sounds like soo much fun! I'm in!" She squeals and grabs Santanas arm. "San's in too!" It looks like Santana is about to protest but she takes a one look at how excited Brittany is and caves.

"Fine. When and where is this thing happening?" I have no idea what to do. I really wanted it to just be Quinn and I. I look to Quinn and it looks like she's thinking the same thing.

"Um.." Quinn starts but is interrupted.

"What's happening where?" Mercedes asks as her, Tina and Kurt walk up to us.

"We're having a sleepover!" Brittany exclaims. The three newcomers get excited and start talking about everything they'll need to bring for the perfect mani/pedis.

Quinn and I just look at each other, dumbfounded at how our sleepover just got taken over. Quinn shrugs and looks apologetic about the intrusion, and after a minute I can't find it in me to care. I just realized that Quinn and I are still holding on to each other. And that by far overshadows our botched weekend plans.


End file.

Glee, Romance