This was so not fucking happening. Under the beating Ohio sun, the gentle whistle of a warm breeze that sifted through the bed of trees, the melodic sound of a piano somewhere in the distance; it sounded so perfect. But no. No, this couldn't be happening.
How could she have known about this place? Actually, she shouldn't have been surprised; the girl knew about everything music related. Jesus, the girl went to music camp every damn summer, that had to prove something right?
No, she shouldn't have been surprised, and seriously, who was she fooling? She should have known that the pamphlet that she had stumbled across in the choir room hadn't just magically appeared out of nowhere. Someone had placed it there - and the only one who really gave a damn about music in Glee Club was maybe Mr. Schuester when he wasn't trying to get into the recently divorced Miss. Pillsbury's pants and one Rachel Berry, who now stood across from her, a look of complete shock and wonderment in her eyes.
With a very over ecstatic wave and a beaming smile that put the gleam of the sun to shame, the girl in question began to run toward her. "Quinn!"
Oh holy mother of God.
"Quinn! What a pleasant surprise!" Rachel beamed, coming to halt a few inches away from the blonde, "What are you doing here?"
The blonde glanced down at the garish green polo shirt she was wearing, the one with the camp's logo over her left breast, and also the identity badge that she had hanging from her neck with her name, picture and the word 'councillor' on was a big giveaway, but Berry just continued to grin at her like she'd just learnt the meaning of life.
"I'm a councillor."
"Me too!" Rachel chirped, grabbing her badge between her thumb and index finger, swinging it in front of the taller girls face. She felt like just grabbing it and ragging Rachel to the ground, and she almost did, but the moment was lost when Rachel released the badge and let it fall back between her breasts. "So what brings to Camp Musicality?"
Okay, so when she'd first read the name of the camp she'd laughed…for around ten minutes before her lungs started to hurt, but after actually sitting down and reading the pamphlet that was left on top of Brad's piano, the camp had begun to sound rather intriguing.
The camp was settled in the middle of a woods on the outskirts of Lima (one that she was already introduced to thanks to Sue Sylvester and her Pre-Cheerio's Survival Race a month before Freshman year) and she knew the woods, in the height of summer, would be beautiful to stay at.
Camp Musicality, while severely lacking on imagination for it's name, was beautiful - it's cabin's looked something straight out a teen movie, beautifully cut and preserved although Ohio suffered from severe thunderstorms.
Although the camp looked something straight out of a holiday brochure, there were some hidden gems that Quinn couldn't help but love. The lake behind the camp (out of bounds to campers unless they had express permission from not one, but two councillors) was the one that sealed the deal for Quinn. It truly was beautiful, and although she wouldn't tell anyone, the thought of fresh water fishing on her days off was something that really stood out to her; just sitting on the bank of a pristine lake, feet in the cool water, music in her ears, a homemade fishing rod in her hands…
Okay, so she was a bit of a geek, and sure…she had to do something to pass the time seen as though her DS was banned from camp grounds. Apparently electronics of the gaming kind were not allowed on site, and it almost brought her to tears when she handed it over, as well as her Pokémon games, to the camp leader and watched them be locked away in a safe.
But she'd been sneaky and managed to smuggle her cell phone in (through means that she didn't want to explain to anyone, lets just say she had severe front wedgie for a couple of hours as she took a tour around the camp) to use when she got bored, because seriously, while the camp was cool, she wanted to keep some form of outside contact.
And it looked like she needed it, if Rachel Berry was going to be stuck in the same camp as her for the duration of summer.
"You must have read my pamphlet!" Quinn blinked lazily, "Oh this is fantastic! Which group are you counselling?"
"The over 8's…" Quinn mumbled, taking in the green of Rachel's polo shirt. Did she actually look that horrible in it? Her polo wasn't fitted as well as the brunette's, maybe because she was the last to join up? But Rachel's clung to all the right places and accentuated her br-
Wow, okay.
"Oh…" Rachel cringed slightly, "Well…uhm…good luck with that." Before Quinn couldn't even ask, the singer continued, "I'm counselling the 15 and ups, mostly because of my talent and-,"
"I get it Berry, your voice is awesome, mine sucks and that's why I'm stuck with the kids."
"What?" Rachel shook her head, "No, I wasn't insinuating that, I was just saying-,"
"Yeah, whatever…look I gotta go, I have a group meeting in ten minutes."
She didn't, but it felt good to get away.
"How's it going?"
"Pretty well I think, I mean…I haven't needed to spend anything yet. I'm just rationing, only getting what I need to."
"Where are you? You can't be far away from me?"
"Where you were you last time we spoke?"
"Uh…a bridge, just on the outskirts of…crap I forgot the name of the town."
"Quinn…seriously, you can't remember?"
"This camp is killing my brain cells!"
"Just try to remember? I want to see if I'm close."
"Okay…I think I was near Route 8..."
"First visit…? Quinn…if you tell me it's your first visit I'll be very disappointed, like…seriously."
"No, not my first visit, what do you take me for?"
"Heh…just making su- oh no! No! No! No!"
"What? What happened? Damn it, tell me!"
"That biker…Phillip…he killed my Krookodile with his Krokorok."
"Isn't your Krookodile something stupid like level 60? How did a level 36 Krokorok make it faint?"
"Because I have a blonde Pokémon fanatic in my ear trying to get her fix."
"Chang, don't start."
"Why don't you just…I dunno…steal your DS back? They have wifi there right? We could totally hook up and play on a night."
"Are you trying to make me cry…?"
"Me? Nah…just looking out for my number one closet nerd."
"I hope you're far away from a Pokémon centre…"
"There's one right up the trail!"
"…I hate you."
"Haha…text me when you've got your DS back, I totally need to show you what I did to my Haxorus!"
"I hope your DS combusts."
"Enjoy your singing trip, Fabray."
"I really do hope your DS combusts, Chang."
"Ha! I have two other DS' just ready and waiting."
"Urgh!" She's about to hang up when she stops, puts the phone back to her ear and sighs, "Chang…I'm going crazy, I need my DS."
"Give me a few hours, I'll text you with a plan. A super sneaky plan."
"Don't let me down."
"If I let you down…I'll eat Panda Hair Soup for the rest of my life."
"…Gross."
The only reason she wanted to do this 'Once in a lifetime Musical Magical Experience™' was because she kinda…sorta enjoyed musicals. Even though she might have had a moment of weakness in New York and almost screamed her declaration that she didn't give a damn about choir competitions, it still didn't change the fact that she knew that Cats had closed on Broadway over eleven years ago.
No one asked how she knew that, so she kept it to herself. While being a closet nerd, she was also a musical freak. She owned a collection of musicals, not a huge collection, only six, and only one of them was watched on repeat. A ripped DVD that she'd bought on eBay for $4 of Spring Awakening.
So when the pamphlet showed beautiful scenery, singing musical numbers, a promise of time away from her nagging mother and from her two best friends that mount each other on regular occasions, she just had to do it.
The fact that Rachel Berry was also at said camp, kinda put a hamper on her plans. Of course she'd be busy with counselling her age group to talk with Rachel, but all the councillors stayed in the same part of the camp, three separate cabins that housed five councillors each.
And after a stop off at the main office to check on the sleeping arrangements, she knew that God must have it in for her or something, because in the very same cabin that she was suppose to sleep for the duration of the summer, was Rachel freaking Berry (with a damn star next to her name!)
Okay, she didn't hate Rachel. Seriously, she didn't. The girl was just annoying. She loved music…so much it was an obsession, and sure…Quinn could recite all the Pokémon from the original to the Next Gen, including their type, stats and where they were usually found…Okay, so maybe she was just as obsessed, but it wasn't as if she was up in everyone's faces about it!
If she was going to survive summer with Rachel Berry, she needed to get her DS back, or get some serious fishing on.
She felt around for her phone and sighed when she felt it settle against her palm. She only hoped Mike would come back with a plan. The dude was a ninja…and Asian. He had to come up with something awesome.
Rachel was in the distance, clapping her hands together at a group of kids, all around the age of fifteen, maybe a bit older. They all looked eager…really eager, especially one boy that took a place beside the singer. Rachel shot him a smile, and seemed to continue with whatever she was talking about; Quinn couldn't hear, she was too far away but it was probably about Barbra or Liza or something about New York, but the boy…he just kept staring.
He was a few inches taller than Rachel, his hands were stuffed in the pockets of his board shorts, and he stared in wonder down at his councillor. Quinn couldn't help but chuckle; leave it up to Rachel to get a fifteen year olds heart racing.
She was about to turn and climb the stairs to her classes cabin when she saw Rachel link arms with the boy beside her and walk further into the woods, the rest of the group following very closely behind.
"Huh…" Quinn mumbled, staring off into space until the group disappeared behind a group of trees. She shrugged and headed into the cabin, her class wouldn't wait forever.
Two hours later, one song later and a migraine later, Quinn Fabray came to the decision she hated children.
"Good evening, Quinn!" Rachel beamed from her seat at a picnic table. Most of the kids were surrounding a large bonfire, talking amongst one another while others sang, played guitar and toasted marshmallows, "How was your first day at Camp Musicality?"
Quinn all but dropped into the seat opposite Rachel, "Exhausting. One kid didn't even want to sing, even though he's the best singer in my class. Another puked because he was so nervous, then another kept telling me she hated me because I had blonde hair and I was 'old'."
Rachel giggled gently, "I must apologize, if I had known in advance you were coming I would have talked to Mr. Rogers about putting you with an easier age group. Most of the councillors here try to avoid that age group like their lives depend on it."
Mr. Rogers, the Camp's Coordinator and Leader, had almost seemed Gleeful (no pun intended) about giving her that age group. At the time she didn't see why, but now she wanted to drown him in the lake behind the camp.
"Yeah…now I just want to sleep."
"You can't sleep yet, Quinn! Everyone has a singsong at the end of the night; it's when all age groups can come together and sing as one!" Rachel jumped from her seat and pulled Quinn right up along with her, "It's magical."
If she heard the word magical again today, she'd scream.
She was laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, just listening to the four other councillors around her sleeping. She and Rachel were on opposite sides of the cabin, but even then she could still hear the diva's little snores. It wasn't annoying…in a way it was kinda adorable, and she was half tempted to whip her phone out and record it to blackmail her - maybe she could get Rachel to 'magically' swap groups?
The blonde decided against it however, when her phone buzzed gently under the covers of her hard single bed. Seriously, would it have killed to get some sort of comfort in this place? First they commandeer her beloved custom cover DS, throw her into a group of eight year olds that hate her or have an obsession with puking, and then making her sleep in a rock hard bed?
Jesus.
Yo, it's Mike. I have the perfect plan, I just need to logistics! Where is your DS being held?
She glanced around slyly, hoping that the bright shine from her screen hadn't made anyone wake up.
In a safe in the main office, the thing looks like a bank vault. And no, I'm not joking.
Okay, so here's the plan. You just need to find the keys, then use the keys on the safe, and hey presto, you have your DS back!
Are you being serious? That's your perfect plan? One of my eight year olds could have come up with that!
Look, I've been to enough football camps to know that they always have security rounds in those places. They do there, right?
Yeah, one cabin of councillors do one night, then another. It rotates I think?
Awesome! Wait until it's your night and then get someone from your cabin to help you. A look out.
Oh yeah, that'll work. You want me to go up to someone and ask them if they'll help me by being a look out while I steal back my Nintendo and my collection of Pokémon games? Great plan, Chang.
Listen to me, Fabray. You're there all summer. I'm stuck at football camp so I can't give you a spare, so it's either you get someone to help you, or I overtake you so much on Pokémon that you have to play double shifts to make it up.
Urgh. Fine. I'll try. Berry's here, I might ask her.
Berry? As in Rachel Berry? Hahahahaha!
Chang, shut it. I don't have to tell her it's for a DS, I'll just say I need my phone.
This is Rachel Berry we're talking about. She'll demand to know, or flat out refuse because she doesn't want to break the rules.
Then I guess I'll have to persuade her.
How? You can't really say you'll steal Finn back from her, I mean…they broke just before summer I think? Tina told me.
They broke up? They'd only been together a few weeks!
Yeah, apparently she just got fed up with him lol. He was complaining via Halo ODST, blowing stuff up and saying it was her! XD
Huh…well…good for them? But whatever, I'll persuade her, I'll tell her I'll give her tickets to a play or something.
Or you could…y'know…
Y'know what…?
Y'know…tell her that she can play with your Poké Balls…
Chang…what the actual fuck…?
You really don't know…?
A rustle from outside the cabin made her stuff her cell deep into her covers. She rolled onto her side and feigned sleep. The sound of the cabin door opening could be heard seconds later, and after a slow shine of a flashlight across each bed, the door shut again.
Gotta go. I'll text you when it's safe.
The next morning was a little bit better - she'd managed to sleep and the campers didn't usually rise until going on nine, which meant she could sleep in till around eight before having to drag her sorry ass out of bed.
Rachel walked past her to use the bathroom, and actually scratched her ass on the way past Quinn, which made her howl with laughter. Rachel just glanced at her like she had a screw loose, but the blonde knew that, thanks to Rachel's epic butt scratch, this day was going to be significantly better.
And it was.
She thought it would be a good idea to get out of the stuffy cabin and into the woods for an impromptu sing song with her kids. They all beamed at the idea; even the girl that told her she hated her because she was blonde. They sat together, in a circle, Quinn with a guitar in her lap. "So what do you want to sing?"
All their hands went up, and they fidgeted in their seats, faces bright red with excitement.
"Jenna?" Quinn asked, nodding toward a bright eyed, raven haired girl that seemed more excited then the others.
"I think we should sing Lady Gaga!"
Quinn blanched. Did eight year olds listen to Gaga? I mean, sure…she was awesome, but she sung about Judas and…disco sticks…and bluffing with muffins. These kids didn't know what that meant did they?
"Uh…" She chuckled nervously, "I think Lady Gaga is a bit out of your age group, don't you think?"
The boy that puked yesterday shook his head, his floppy blonde hair swishing past his eyes, "She's real cool…I don't think she has a willy though, but if she did, she'd still be cool."
"I…ah…" Quinn glanced wide eyed at her kids who grinned and nodded at the little boy, "Well…it would…really depend on the song."
"I wanna sing Born This Way!" One boy piped up, his front tooth was cracked, "It's awesome, I always listen to it on my iPod."
Quinn chuckled, "It is a good song, I actually sung it with my Glee Club a couple months ago."
"Were you good…?" This question came from the girl that hated her.
"I'd like to think so, but it was a group performance, so there were no solo's really."
The girl nodded, stared for half a second then went back to picking at the grass. Quinn blew out a breath, adjusted the guitar on her lap and lined her fingers up for the first chord, "Ready guys?"
"Are we all gonna sing together?" A girl asked from beside her, looking up at her with wide brown eyes.
"Yup. I'll sing the first couple of lines, and then you all come in when I give you the signal, okay?"
"Why do you get to sing first?" Katie, the girl who hated her, asked, fingers still plucking at a few blades of grass.
"Well…It's just to time you guys all in, Katie." Quinn bit the inside of her cheek, "Then you guys can sing the rest of the song."
"Whatever." Katie sighed, threw the grass that she'd shredded in her hands to ground and sat up straighter, puffing out her little chest to ready herself, "Go on then."
The blonde was about to tell the little girl to change her attitude, but decided against it at the last minute. Everyone else in the group were looking at her with such shining, excited eyes, she didn't really want to let them down by losing her temper. So with a large intake of breath to calm herself, she strummed out the first chord and began.
"Quinn!"
Quinn stopped, left hand clutching the neck of her Tanglewood as she turned to face the person who called her name. One of the camp councillors, Jake, ran up to her, his bright blue eyes shining as he looked down at her, "Hey."
"Hey," Quinn replied, smiling, "What's up?"
"Well…bit of an emergency, I seemed to have lost one of my kids."
"How are you not freaking out?" Quinn asked, wide eyed as she glanced around her, trying to spot the allusive kid. Then she realized she had no idea what said kid looked like, so she looked back at him.
"Well, I know where he is…I think he's macking out with one of the sixteen year olds from Claire's group."
"What do you want me to do about it? If you know where they are, go after 'em."
"Well…I kinda can't. I don't have the right anatomy."
"Huh?"
He blushed, "They're in the girls bathroom, I can't exactly storm in there."
"Ah…" She chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, "Hold. "She handed him the guitar, and watched him with narrowed eyes as he took it, "It's my baby, don't damage it."
"Damn, I was planning to dump it in the lake."
It was a joke, but the way her eyes narrowed made him realize that joking was not an issue. The guitar cost her over $300 and she'd be damned if it got a nick on it or anything.
Okay, so she wasn't expecting to catch the guy with his pants at his ankles, literally. They both had the good grace to blush; the girl yelped and dashed into a nearby stall and the sexually promiscuous boy just ragged up his jeans and sighed, "Shit."
"Uh-huh." Quinn rolled her eyes, "You're in big trouble, get outside and wait for me." She turned her head to the stall, "That goes for you too when you've adjusted your knickers."
The girl huffed from within the stall, and with a smirk, watched as a blur of brunette hair sped past her, checking her shoulder in the process. She would have complained, but the way she was shaking from keeping herself laughing was just too much to handle all at once.
This job was just hilarious.
"You seem more chipper," Rachel commented as Quinn took a seat opposite her in the camp cafeteria. The councillors were at the back of the room, nearest to the kitchen - it was good to just have a little space away from the campers for a little while.
"Eh, good day." Quinn smirked, "Caught someone doing it in the girl's bathroom."
"…And you got some sort of…pleasure from that?" Rachel asked, seeming to chew disgustingly over the words.
"What?" Quinn mumbled around a mouthful of ham sandwich, "No!" Quickly she swallowed, "It was cool having that power, because in school we're always the ones that have to watch our backs."
"True," Rachel smiled, glancing down at her empty plate, "So how were the kids today? Better?"
"Yeah," Quinn nodded, taking a long gulp of her water, "That girl Katie still hates me though, no idea why. We sung Gaga."
"Quinn! While Lady Gaga is a very good artist, do you think it's wise to sing her songs with eight year olds?"
"Relax Berry before you blow up," Quinn chuckled, "It was just Born This Way. It was pretty good with just an acoustic arrangement."
Rachel's eyes brightened, "Acoustic?" Then she paused and asked gently, "You play the guitar?"
"Yeah, Sam and Puck taught me."
"…Well-,"
"FOOD FIGHT!"
"Jesus," Quinn sighed, reaching for her whistle and standing up. Rachel did the same, and she'd only just put the whistle in her mouth when a slice of pepperoni pizza full on hit her in the face. "Ew!" She slid the greasy concoction of her face and glared.
Rachel was hunched over, and at first the blonde thought she was in pain, but the loud squeaky laughs that erupted from the brunette's lips were a big give away.
"Gee, thanks!" Quinn muttered, narrowly avoiding a bowl of spaghetti, "Okay seriously? So 90's!"
Rachel moved around the table and pulled Quinn down, the table somehow making a make shift barrier for the two, "We'll let the other councillors deal with it, I don't really fancy getting any sort of food product in my hair. But you…" The brunette almost snorted she laughed that hard, "That pizza in your face, oh Quinn…I'm sorry but that was hilarious."
She sounded so snooty, and before she even had time to think about it, Quinn reached up, grabbed a bowl of cool potato and leek soup and all but poured it over the diva's head.
"Quinn!"
Rachel squeaked and stood automatically, and with such ill timing that could only predicted in a movie, became acquainted with a chocolate muffin to the nose.
Quinn laughed until her sides ached, Rachel just glared, cupping her nose. The diva glared down at her, and all but stomped her foot on the linoleum floor.
"This is not funny, Quinn! I could have seriously damaged my nose, and what would that do to my voice?"
"Oh relax Berry," Quinn pulled at the singer's hand, pulling it away from her nose that only looked a little sore, "I'm sure Santa will find you and pick you up."
"I don't like you very much right now."
"Deal with it, Berry. You have me all summer."
Thanks to the ice breaker (messy ice breaker) that was lunch, Quinn decided to talk to Rachel about her and Mike's 'get my DS plan' back that very night. It was true that she didn't really see eye to eye with Rachel on most occasions, but really…the singer was kinda…cool when she wasn't at school. She wasn't as uptight, and sure she was a little high strung still, but that was only because she was in a position of power.
Rachel joked a lot more, seemed more relaxed and didn't wear hideous sweater's that should only see the light of a furnace. She wore shorts and tank tops, she carried herself with a confidence that didn't overpower or make the people around her want to shove her into a tree; she was like any other teenage girl. Someone who just fit in, settled into a crowd.
It was pretty cool.
"But I don't understand, my voice is a lot better than Jack's."
Quinn stopped and glanced up at the window she was passing, it was a bit higher than her head, so with a style that would make Mike Chang proud, pushed herself up against the cabin wall and waited silently.
"I am well aware, but I have to focus on the other talents in the group Benjamin. I appreciate your talent, you have a fantastic voice, which could still use a little more work, but I can't just forget about the rest of my students. It's just not fair."
It was Rachel with her usual Rachel Berry monologue. She sounded a bit miffed, so Quinn reached for the bottom edge of the window and hoisted herself up. "Holy crap, I'm heavy…" She whispered to herself, almost busting a lung as she pulled up.
She managed to get her eyes to the bottom of the sill before her arms cried out 'no more'. Rachel was sat at a desk, back to it as she faced a boy, Benjamin, the same boy who was always attached to her hip during lesson.
He was stood with his back to the opposite wall, hands clasped behind his back. The way his eyes seemed to dance over Rachel's body made Quinn readjust herself at the window. Was he totally checking his councillor out?
"We're gonna lose the competition if you use Jack as the lead soloist. I can feel it."
Rachel smiled, "It's not always about winning."
"You little liar…" Quinn whispered. She immediately snapped her mouth shut when she heard the desk chair creak.
"Quinn?"
Rachel stared at her from her seat, "Uh…" The blonde glanced at Benjamin, who stared at her with furrowed eyebrows, "Uh…" Then she glanced at the window sill, "Just…checking the windows."
"Why?"
"I was told to…"
"By whom? Why was I not informed?" Rachel crossed her arms delicately over her chest, and Quinn knew immediately that the tiny singing was just playing with her.
"I'm just gonna go…"
"You do that." Rachel replied with a little laugh.
Okay, so she wasn't much of a ninja, and she was sure she wasn't going to tell Mike about her little escapade, but she made sure to put upper body workouts back on her exercise regime.
"Hey Quinn, can I steal you a sec?"
She stopped and glanced toward one of the cabins, Jake, one of the councillors was stood at the door, a huge stack of papers in his hands. "It'll only take two seconds," He said with a bright grin.
Quinn shrugged, she had nothing better to do. Dinner had already been and gone, and curfew wasn't for another three hours. "Sure." She followed him into the cabin, taking the steps two at a time. "What's up?"
"Well…it's an off day tomorrow, y'know, we rotate every week. I had a few ideas for activities, and I'm suppose to give the final idea to Mr. Rogers by the end of tonight, but I can't settle on one idea."
He seemed flustered, and the way he seemed to almost insistently push back his dark brown hair from his eyes, made Quinn pity him a little.
"Do you handle all the activity days yourself?"
He nodded, "Well yeah… I mean, I don't sing…I'm only doing this because my mom made me. She thinks it's a better waste of my time."
"But it's the summer, you're meant to relax."
Jake shrugged and collapsed onto the couch, "Yeah, that's what I said. But she said she wants me to start earning money and I don't really do that 'cos I'm round my girlfriend's house all the time."
Quinn chuckled, "Couldn't you have got a part time job?"
"I tried, but no one was hiring. I'd left it so late that everyone who wanted a summer job, got one."
"Ah," The blonde cringed and took the couch opposite Jake, "And what did your girlfriend say?"
Jake hunched his shoulders, "I smuggled my phone in, y'know…to ring her and text her whenever I had the chance? I rang her when I got here, she just hung up on me, and when she text me, I could never text back so she assumed I was ignoring her. It totally sucks."
"Sneak out and go see her." She didn't know where the suggestion came from, but the way the boy's eyes lit up, made her regret saying it, "But I don't think you should. You could get caught and then what would your mom do then?"
His shoulders slumped again, "Life sucks."
Quinn chuckled, "Don't get all depressed on me, c'mon…I'll help you with the activities." She stood and moved to his couch, grabbing a few pieces of paper and glancing down at them.
"Seriously…egg and spoon race…?"
He just glanced at her, "I ran out of ideas!"
"Well, seen as though it's an off day, you should do things that have the whole camp involved. This woods is huge…why don't we go on…I dunno, a hike?"
"Hike to where, though? It's not like there's any mountain ranges we could travel to."
Quinn fiddled with the papers in her hand and thought back to her Freshman year. She'd been stuck in a group with Santana, Brittany and another Cheerio that didn't make the final cut. They'd travelled for hours, and after Brittany whined for what seemed like the millionth time that she was tired, they'd come across a fresh water spring.
It was beautiful, and they'd spent the rest of the day just lounging in the hot summer sun, swimming in the spring.
"There's a fresh water spring in the woods." She paused, "Do you have a map? I could point it out."
Jake immediately jumped up and lunged for the map that was lying strewn amongst other pieces of paper, "Do you remember the exact location?"
"I think I do," She took the map from him, "I remember it was on the outskirts of a rock ridge. My friend Santana fell down it and swore sideways that I pushed her."
Jake smirked, "Seems like an awesome friend."
"Oh…you have no idea." Her hazel eyes sped across the map, taking in the individual areas. At first she thought she couldn't remember where it was, but when her eyes zoned in on a particular area North East of the camp, she knew she'd found gold. "It's right there," She jabbed her index finger down, almost tearing a hole through the paper.
"Are you sure?" Jake asked, hunched over the map, glancing up at her, "'Cos I don't wanna get there and there be nothing."
"Trust me, it's there."
"Awesome!" He circled the area with a red marker from his shorts pocket and grinned, "I'll make up the groups tonight and have them posted in the morning."
"Great, look forward to it." She rose from her seat and headed to the door, Jake following closely behind, "This better be a relaxing off day, Jake."
"Or what?" He chuckled, heading out onto the cabin deck.
"I'll figure something out. I'll steal your cell or something."
"Yeah, good luck with that."
One eyebrow flicked up, "Why?"
"It's stuffed in my boxers." He winked playfully, "Wanna grab it now?" He asked, playfully pulling on the hem of his shorts, "Go ooooon, you know you wanna."
Okay, any sane girl would fall for his charm. He was pretty good looking, his nose was a little bent, but not so much that it distracted from his face. He was pretty well built, but not a wall of muscle that Puck was, and his shining blue eyes could make anyone swoon.
"In your dreams," She laughed, swatting his stomach.
He laughed and gave her a hug goodnight.
"Okay guys, round up!" Jake shouted from the makeshift wooden stage in the centre of the camp. He shuffled the papers in his hands and smiled as councillors and campers alike, surrounded him. "Okay, awesome, so we're going on a hike for today's activity, to a fresh water spring. I've posted the group up on the bulletin board right over there, so go look and get yourselves into your group. Councillors, I'll give you the groups your leading today."
Quinn shuffled toward Jake, who winked playfully at her. She just smirked.
"Okay, so group A will be headed by Alice and Ian. Group B will be headed by Quinn and Rachel. Group C will be headed by Jacob and Tim. Group D will be headed by myself and Kate, and finally Group E will be headed by Louise and Erin. Good luck today guys, and we'll see you at the spring!"
The crowd of councillors dispersed and headed toward their respective groups. Quinn turned to talk to Rachel, but noticed the brunette was already stomping her way toward their group.
"Okay guys, listen up." Quinn called out, finally catching up to Rachel who stood beside her, arms crossed over her chest, "Uh…" She glanced away from her and addressed the group, "No funny business, we're here to have fun. So just enjoy yourself. I'll take point, I suppose?"
She looked to Rachel for clarification, but all she got was a curt nod in response.
"Well…okay."
Leading the group was easy as pie, most of them walked beside her and asked what she wanted to do when she left school (which was still a sore subject, she still saw herself as a Lima loser) so she made some excuse up about travelling to UCLA or something. It got the questions off her back, but she hated lying, and the way Rachel glanced away from her own conversation with one of the quieter girls in the group, she knew she'd been caught out.
Rachel hadn't said one word to her since they'd left camp - it was stupid, the woods was beautiful, especially in the early morning sun; she expected Berry to be running around in circles she was so excited…but nothing. She was just calm, talking gently with whoever came up beside her.
She still had yet to say a word to Quinn. It was weird, Quinn wasn't particularly bothered if Rachel was silent or not (sometimes it was good to get away from all that damn nagging) but the fact that the singer seemed to be so obviously avoiding her, put her a little on edge.
What had she done?
After thirty minutes, the group decided to whine that they were tired, so Quinn cut them a break and decided to have a little sit down off the trail. Rachel just nodded stiffly and followed the rest of the group, but a hand on her wrist stopped her and jarred her back.
"Do you mind?" Rachel asked, snatching her hand back.
"What the hell is your problem?" Quinn growled, "You've been in a rotten mood since we set off this morning."
Rachel crossed her arms tightly over her chest, "Did you happen to read the list of rules that come with this job? That need to be abided by?"
The blonde dumbly nodded, of course she had - Mr. Rogers had leered over her as she read the damn booklet.
"Rule number four - fraternization between councillors is highly prohibited."
"Okay…" Quinn replied, not really seeing the brunette's point, so with a sigh she added, "So…?"
"Are you being purposely obtuse, Quinn? It is very unbecoming of you."
"Berry…I honestly have no idea what the hell you're on about."
"I wouldn't like to see you lose your job, Quinn. Maybe you should stay away from Jake West."
Then she turned and walked toward the group, leaving Quinn, who stood stock still, eyes wide. Okay, honestly, Quinn wasn't stupid. She really wasn't stupid, she knew how things worked and she'd been in high school long enough to know the meaning behind people's words and actions.
Berry didn't give Quinn some 'friendly' advice, she spoke from pure jealously.
And that made Quinn completely intrigued.
Two hours later, she received a call on one of the camp's walkie talkies from Jake, "We made it to the summit and I don't see you in sight. Does that mean I beat you, Fabray?"
Rachel's flared nostrils just made Quinn chuckle more at Jake's comment, "I suppose you did, but I don't take defeat lying down. I'll get you back some day."
She clipped the walkie talkie to her waist and purposely came up beside Rachel, "So…your friendly advice earlier on?"
"What about it?" Rachel asked, glancing at Quinn with a look of complete indifference in her eyes.
Quinn shrugged, "I just wondered if you thought he liked me or something…from what you were insinuating."
Slowly, Rachel turned her head to face forward and muttered, "He's all over you, it's obvious."
"Jake, come here." Quinn called out softly from the back of a tent that Jake had just finished pitching. All the groups had rendezvoused at a summit nearby to the fresh water spring. Three councillors had taken most of the kids with them, although some of them still remained, pitching up the tents they'd need for the night.
"What up, boo?" Jake smirked, crouching down in front of her, "Uh, why are we hiding?"
"I'm gonna be blunt, and I want a blunt answer in return."
"Uh…sure?" He replied, brow furrowed, "Go ahead, shoot."
"Do you fancy me?"
Jake blushed, "Well…I don't know if you've noticed, but I've already told you I had a girlfriend." Then he chuckled gently, "I'd be blind to not find you attractive…but I really see you as a friend."
Quinn sighed, surprisingly with relief, "Good, okay."
"Well don't sound too relieved," He laughed, "What did you ask anyways?"
"Do you know Rachel Berry?"
"The high strung, rule abiding, strong head of the over 15's?"
Quinn chuckled, "That would be the one."
"What about her?"
The blonde dropped down onto her backside and crossed her legs, "She seems to think that there's something going on between us. She said she was only looking out for me because of the rules, but I don't know-,"
"Dude, she totally wants you."
"-If that's…wait, what?"
Jake smirked, "When I first met Rachel, the first thing she told me was that she had two gay dads. I don't know why she mentioned it, and I just let it off, but then I saw her eyeing one of the councillors…who happened to be a girl."
Quinn scoffed, "I shouldn't surprised…but Berry never gave off any of those signals at school that she batted for the other team."
"I think she bats for both, if I'm being honest." Jake shrugged, "Why are you asking though? Do you think she's jealous?"
"I have no idea."
"Then let's find out."
An hour later, Rachel returned with a large chunk of the group, and stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of Quinn and Jake setting up a campfire. They were both laughing, Jake looking down at her with bright eyes, and Quinn had that smile that she always gave the guy she liked - that all knowing, teasing 'I know you want me smirk' and it made the singer's blood boil.
Okay, so she was being obvious. She'd had a thing for Quinn since the beginning of Sophomore year, although the girl was horrible to her and ordered slushy facials daily - something about the blonde just made her want her. The vulnerability Quinn sometimes showed, mostly in her presence, the tears that she shed only in her company, it made the blonde human, and less like the robotic Cheerio that she'd become accustomed to.
She was over the moon when she'd found out Quinn had found the pamphlet for the camp, and even more overjoyed when Quinn had turned up and asked for a counselling job. It wasn't that she'd just left the pamphlet there especially for Quinn; she'd left it for the whole club. Working with and around music even while on summer vacation was a fantastic opportunity to broaden your horizons!
The fact that it was Quinn, the object of her affections, was just an added bonus.
Things hadn't been working out with Finn, and they both knew it. Finn had been an idiot enough not to notice that her glances were usually in the direction of a blonde ex-cheerleader. And then when her now ex-boyfriend had been told about the situation, it'd blown up.
Chairs were kicked over like the child Finn was, screaming abuse was exchanged, mostly from the giant's side, and then Rachel had broken it off. She couldn't be with a boy that behaved like a child, or screamed and acted out when he didn't get his own way. It just wasn't Rachel Berry's style.
So yes, it was fantastic that Quinn had gotten the subtle hint that she'd dropped.
But now Jake West was stepping on her toes and it infuriated her to high heaven. The stupid boy was all over Quinn, without even trying! Quinn laughed at his jokes, joked around with him, spent time in his cabin doing 'work related things'.
It just wasn't right. Rachel was meticulous for planning things through - this…this wasn't apart of the plan.
Jake had to go.
"I'm putting in a formal complaint," Rachel all but rounded on the two as they sat around the campfire later that night, heads bowed as they spoke to one another, "This is completely unacceptable. We're around young children."
Jake glanced up, "We're just talking, Rach."
"My name is Rachel thank you very much," She huffed, sparing a second glance at Quinn, who just stared up at her, "I warned you Quinn about this behaviour, but it seems as if Jake didn't get the message."
"I'm right here," Jake muttered, glancing at Quinn, "We're only talking, right, Q?"
"Yeah Berry, just relax. It's not like I'm mounting him right here am I?"
Rachel saw red, and instead of shouting, or kicking over a chair like Finn would most certainly do. She turned and stormed off toward the fresh water spring - if she caught one more look at Jake's smug face, she'd be tempted to knock it off.
"Go after her and talk to her," Jake nudged her with his strong shoulder, "If you don't talk now, I'll be out of the job, and I kinda wanna keep it."
Quinn sighed and nodded, "I got all the proof I needed, didn't I?"
"Yup. So go." He jumped up to his feet and pulled her up, "From what you've told me, it seems like you like her too…"
"I don't know how I feel."
"Then go find out."
Rachel was sat on a rock, overlooking the fresh water spring. There we no stars, no moon, just pitch darkness that enveloped the forest around her. She knew she shouldn't be out alone, especially in such darkness, but the thought of being around that camp with Jake and his smirking face, or Quinn's blatant disregard for conduc-
Oh who was she kidding, she was just jealous. Jealous of him, jealous of the fact she couldn't have the one girl that evoked these feelings within her. Her fathers always told her that you could fall in love with more than one person, but there was always that one special person that made you feel special.
She was seventeen, but she knew Quinn was that person. It wasn't some stupid teenage crush that came and went; she didn't feel this way with Puck of Finn or Jesse. This was new, it was raw…and it so fucking terrifying she just wanted to run away.
And she never ran.
"Berry." She heard behind her, far away, and then once again closer, before a familiar warmth settled beside her, "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to be alone," She gestured out toward the spring with both hands, then around at the forest, "Obviously."
"Do you want me to go…?" Quinn asked quietly, gently.
No.
"Yes."
"Tough," And Rachel couldn't help but smirk to herself, trust Quinn to completely disregard her wishes, "I'm here to talk and that's what we're going to do. Actually…no, you're just gonna sit there and listen for once in your life and not interrupt me."
"I do not interru-,"
Quinn's eyebrow raise stopped her mid sentence, and with a sigh she looked down to her feet, digging her heels into the rock.
"For some asinine reason you think something is going on between me and Jake…you're wrong, so wrong in fact that it's laughable. Jake and I are just friends, he has a girlfriend and even if he didn't, I wouldn't be interested. I don't want to be with every guy that I set eyes on. I'm not annoyed at the fact that you think something is going on, but the fact you're threatening the two of us, really does annoy me. You're using the rules as an excuse. I know the real reason Rachel, so I'm only going to give you one chance. Tell me here and now why you hate the fact that Jake and I are friends."
Rachel slowly opened her mouth, shut it and opened it again, "I…" She choked out, and with a gentle cough she covered her throat, "It's just because of the rules. You know how I am about rules."
Ever so slightly, over the gentle breeze, she heard Quinn sigh and say, "Is that the only reason…?"
No, it wasn't. She wanted to tell Quinn; wanted to tell her how she felt, and how it was killing her being in close proximity to her day in and day out. She thought that being at the same camp would open up a friendship, and in a way it did, but this…this was just too raw and she knew Quinn easily scared when it came to emotions.
She'd just push the blonde away.
"That's all," She whispered, and with it, she felt the last bit of hope drain away from her.
"So…how's it going…?"
"Ask me another question," She whispered quietly into her phone, standing a little out of way from the camp. The rest of the campers and councillors were asleep, it was a little past one in the morning, but Quinn couldn't sleep.
"Ah…what happened? Did your DS break or something?"
"For some reason, I think that would feel better than this."
And it would, no matter how much of a Grade A dork she was, the thought of losing her beloved DS and games was nothing compared to the torment she was going through now. She'd returned to the camp, reluctantly, and Rachel returned ten minutes later, quickly feigning exhaustion and heading toward her tent for the night. It felt horrible, to watch Rachel walk away, see the puffy redness around her eyes and not be able to do a damn thing about it.
She'd given Rachel a chance, and she hadn't come through. End of story.
"What happened? Come on, tell me."
"It's Ra-Berry…it's Berry."
It was always Rachel, somewhere in the back of her mind it always was. The way she'd picked Rachel out from a crowd that first day of school, the way she'd taken time to draw those pornographic pictures on the bathroom stalls, the way Rachel always seemed to be there, ready for an argument. Then there was Glee, the performance of Keep Holdin' On where Rachel had blatantly sung to her, the way Rachel had gone out on a limb and told Finn about the baby not being his and apologizing for it, the way Rachel always seemed to be there, somehow, just existing.
"What did she do? Is she making your life hell or something…?"
"In a way…" Quinn gulped when she felt the emotions somehow stick in her throat, "It just hit me now and I don't know why…"
"What…?" Mike asked gently, staying deadly silent as he waited for his friend to calm down, because he was just a good friend like that.
"Mike…I think I like Rachel."
"…" There was silence, and Quinn thought she'd disgusted him or something stupid like that. But then Mike was back, and she felt like sobbing with relief, "Okay…so what are you going to do about it?"
"I already talked to her, Mike…it's a long story but she just flat out denied she liked me. I don't know what else to do."
"Yo, Fabray…you've been there what…three days or something stupid? You have just a little less than two months to sort this out. You can do it."
"How?"
"Catch her in your Poké Ball, dude."
Quinn just laughed, "Thanks, Chang."
"Hey, I got your back, alright? You're my Pokébro, I'll stand by you."
And she just cried, because in a way, she knew she didn't deserve a good friend like him, but she was willing to take it with both hands…just because she could.
It was two weeks later that even Rachel acknowledged that Quinn was still at the camp. Quinn was in her cabin and sat with Katie, whose attitude still stunk, "Katie, can you please tell me why you're acting like this?"
The girl shrugged her shoulders and kicked her legs out on the chair she was sat on.
"I just want to know if I've done something to offend you. If I have, I want to apologize for it and make emends." Katie wasn't having any of it, the girl just looked away and frowned, "You're a really good singer Katie, and if you keep at it, you can be even better. I don't want to see your talent go to waste just because you don't like me or something."
"…I like you," The girl whispered gently, now looking down at her feet, "It's just…"
And Quinn sat back, crossing her legs slowly, she was a councillor, maybe only for singing classes, but a councillor all the same. She'd dealt with two issues of bullying over the past two weeks, and both got resolved. It wasn't her job to do it, but damn it felt good doing it.
"You're so cool and…you can play guitar and…you're really pretty…and you can sing real good…"
"Thank you," Quinn whispered, bashfully.
"I could never be like you."
And the first thing that came out of the blonde's mouth before she could even help it was, "Why would you want to be like me?" She smiled gently when Katie's head snapped up, "At school…" She sighed, "I was a horrible person, Katie. I picked on people, I bullied people, just because I didn't like who they were, or I didn't like what clothes they wore. I was a big bully."
"But…you're so nice…"
"I wasn't then," Quinn shrugged, "and you're going the same way as me. You're shutting people out; I've noticed you don't speak to any of the other kids in the group. You're always out by yourself…you need people in this life, Katie…don't shut yourself out just because you don't think you're 'cool enough'."
"But how can I be cool like you…?"
Quinn smirked, "I play Pokémon, day in and day out."
Katie's eyebrow's shot up, and Quinn laughed, "Not so cool, huh?"
"Wow…you're just a big geek."
"Yup, pretty much." Quinn nodded, mostly to herself, "But y'know what? I'm happy being a geek, because it makes me happy. I have friends who like me for who I am. Don't try to settle into the mould that people try to make you be. Be yourself."
"Could I do that?"
"If I can, you can."
The hug she got almost brought her to tears, and the way the girl's hands fisted the back of her polo shirt made her pull her closer, "Thank you, Quinn."
The blonde smiled as the girl pulled back from her awkward position, standing in front of Quinn, "I should go…it's lunch and…I'm sure there's some people from my group I could sit with."
"That's the spirit."
Katie nodded, smiled bashfully and dashed from the cabin, narrowly avoiding another councillor. The girl didn't even stop, but she tossed a quick, "Sorry!" over her shoulder before she disappeared into the distance.
Quinn turned in her seat, forearm resting on the back of the chair. Rachel stood there, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over her chest, "Pokémon, huh?"
"Yup…" The blonde nodded shyly, "Pokémon."
Rachel's lips curled into the shadow of a smirk before she pushed off the door frame and disappeared.
She was eating lunch with one of the councillors, Louise, when she caught sight of Rachel entering the cafeteria.
"We're on duty tonight," Louise groaned, stabbing a slab of meatloaf with her plastic fork, "We have to stay up all night just to make sure no one sneaks out. I need my beauty sleep!"
Louise was a character, and it made Quinn smirk, "You need more than one night for that, then."
The raven haired girl snapped her head toward Quinn, mouth agape, "Oh my god, you don't mean that, right?"
Quinn chuckled, "Of course I do."
Louise scoffed and slapped her on the arm, "Bitch, you are so doing the first shift."
And Rachel was walking toward them, and she still hadn't got her DS back, and she knew how to get Rachel to talk to her again.
"Gotta go," Louise said, pushing away her plate, "I have a class."
"Sure thing," Quinn mumbled, not really paying attention. She waved Rachel over, and she didn't feel hurt when the diva hesitated for a second, "Hey." She said as the singer took a seat opposite her.
"Hey."
"So I-,"
"How're-,"
The two girls chuckled and glanced down at their plates. Rachel unscrewed her bottle of water and took a sip, glancing around the cafeteria.
"Uhm," Quinn cleared her throat, "I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
"You want my help?" Rachel asked, genuinely shocked, and then bashfully, looked down to her polo and pulled an invisible piece of lint from the material, "With what…?"
"Pokémon."
She knew she had the singer intrigued when Rachel's eyebrows shot up.
"I cannot believe you coerced me into this!" Rachel hissed into the air, her back to a cabin door as she glanced nervously up and down the centre of the camp. "This is against the rules, we could be fired…and what would I do for the rest of my summer, Quinn?"
She heard a sigh behind her and then some rustling, "Look Berry…just…will you be quiet, or we will get caught. I need to make a call so keep an eye out."
Rachel's eyes widened as she turned, peering into the darkness of the main office, "Quinn! Having a phone is unacceptable, it should be locked away just like the rest of the councillors and campers!"
"Chill Berry," She heard somewhere in the darkness, "Keep a look out."
With a grumble, Rachel turned and crossed her arms over her chest, fighting off the chill that had suddenly befallen the camp, "I cannot believe I'm doing this…" She muttered to herself, "I must be crazy."
"Chang, how do you break into a safe?" She heard lightly behind her. Chang? As in…Mike Chang? Since when were Quinn and Mike friends?
"I know that, numbnuts…I have the key, but there's another little door inside with a number combination."
She heard some grumbling, then some shifting, "Okay…so where would you hide a combination? Mr. Rogers is old, he must forget the combo sometimes."
Rachel rolled her eyes. Mr. Rogers wasn't that old.
"His shoes? Chang, what are-," Then a sigh, "There's like…two pairs of shoes under the desk. Yeah…fine, I'll check, but you're gonna be wrong."
Rachel hesitantly glanced over her shoulder, trying to see any movement. She caught a flash of blonde, but then it disappeared.
"You're so wrong, why would you think shoes…?" Then the scuffing of shoes against a wooden floor, "One pair down…Chang, seriously, you watch way too many cop show-,"
Then there was silence, and Rachel panicked, "Quinn?" She whispered through a hiss.
"How…the hell…you know what Chang, I'm not even going to ask." Rachel heard Quinn chuckle, and she breathed out a sigh of relief, "Seriously, I owe you. Yeah yeah…you just try and finish White before me. Catch you later."
"Did you find it?" Rachel asked quietly.
"Yeah…I won't be a minute."
Rachel nodded, mostly to herself, as she turned her attention back to the camp. She froze. There, in the distance, one of the councillors was making her rounds from around the back cabins, "Oh my Moses, Quinn. Someone's coming!"
"Wait, what?" She heard, muffled behind her, "Then hide!"
"Where do I go?" Rachel asked, panicking as she kept her eyes on the councillor, flashlight in hand, "Oh no, she's going to see me." Then she all but ran into the cabin and slammed the door shut behind her.
"Great going, ignoramus. They've probably heard the slam."
"I panicked, okay?" Rachel hissed, crawling toward where she heard Quinn's voice, "You don't think they'll investigate, do you?"
"What do you think?" Quinn ah-ha'd in victory as she imputed the combo and opened the second safe door, "Jackpot!"
"Quinn, keep your voice down!"
"Oh, DS…" Quinn shuffled around a little and Rachel squinted, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dark. Quinn was clutching a rectangle device, obviously her DS, and reaching into the safe to pull out several small squares from the back, "And the games. Jackpot!"
"Quinn!" Rachel launched out and, inadvertently falling at weird angle when she saw a beam of light shoot through the cabin window, she collapsed on top of Quinn, palm flush to the blonde's lips, "Uhm…sorry…" She whispered gently.
"Ushdsm…" Quinn's eyes shot to the cabin door.
"Doors unlocked…" She heard someone mutter from outside, Louise's voice, "Damn old fool…" Then the jangle of keys, and a click in the lock of the door, then footsteps walking and dying away.
"Umfkso!"
"What?" Rachel asked, glancing back down to Quinn, pulling her hand away.
"I said 'get off me'." Quinn sighed, pushing Rachel up and then herself, "Great going…now we're locked in."
"This is not my fault, Quinn Fabray! It was you and your absurd plan to get back a portable gaming device!"
"It was your fault for panicking when you saw her! If you'd have been quiet, she wouldn't have had to check the door!"
Rachel and Quinn sighed in unison, "I don't suppose you have a nail file on you…?" Quinn asked, watching as Rachel shuffled to sit against the safe.
"What? Uhm…no."
"Great," Quinn propped her chin on her knees and sighed, "We're just going to have to wait till morning then."
"Mr. Rogers will catch us in here…" Rachel groaned, "We're going to get fired, Quinn! Why did I agree to this stupid plan?"
Quinn bit her bottom lip and glanced at her dejected DS, "Wanna play Pokémon to pass the time…?"
Okay, so Rachel had made an agreement that Quinn couldn't come over to her side of the cabin, which was right by the front door. Rachel had flat out refused to play or watch Quinn play Pokémon and gone into a strop.
Hence why, still in the dark, only the glow of Quinn's DS lighting up her face, the two girls sat far away from one another, not talking.
"Damn…this is the Philip he talked about…" Quinn muttered to herself, and Rachel glanced away from the window to look at her. The blonde's brows were furrowed in concentration, eyes glued to the tiny screen, thumbs bashing relentlessly on the buttons out of habit. "Damn, no!"
Rachel rolled her eyes, "It's just a game."
Quinn paused her game and looked up to Rachel, "You're talking to me now?"
"I'm still mad at you," The singer turned back to look out of the window. She heard the sigh from across the cabin, and the scuffle of Quinn's shorts against the floor, before she felt the delicious heat of the blonde beside her.
"Watch me play Pokémon."
"No. It's annoying and a complete waste of both our times."
"…I'll name the next Pokémon I catch after you…"
Rachel huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "Are you likening me to a Pokémon, Quinn?"
"Only the cute ones."
The brunette's head snapped to face Quinn. The blonde was smiling bashfully, hand tapping the DS against her inner thigh, "So…? Wanna watch?"
Rachel hesitated, "Fine…but only for a little while, then we sleep."
They never slept.
The next morning, Quinn took all the blame, which Rachel was definitely not expecting. They were stood in front of Mr. Roger's desk, his eyes ablaze with fury as he looked up at the two councillors.
"How could you?" He brushed back his greying hair, "Sneaking into my office, what were you two doing?"
"We weren't doing anything," Quinn answered, glancing at Rachel, "I just…wanted to speak to Rachel about something, and this was the only quiet cabin there was out of the way."
"You couldn't have gone to your own…?" The camp leader asked, leaning back in his seat.
"Most of them were sleeping, and others were just getting back from their rounds. I didn't want to disturb them. We ended up getting locked in here, it was an honest mistake."
The old man sighed, "You are aware this is against the rules…" He looked to Rachel, "Miss. Berry, you weren't even meant to be on duty this week. As punishment for rule breaking, you'll serve in the kitchen. Washing up duty."
Quinn glanced at the two, "Sir, it was my fault, not Rachel's. Let me take the punishment, please."
He stared at the two girls for a long time, saw the way that Rachel stared at Quinn, and knew that he wouldn't win unless he gave in, "Fine. Quinn, you're on kitchen duty, starting today for one week. Rachel, you have a warning. You both can leave now."
"Thank you sir," They both chorused miserably before turning and walking out of the cabin.
Rachel was at her cabin, when she finally spoke up, "Why did you take the blame?"
"Like you said," Quinn shrugged, hands in her shorts pocket, "It was my plan, my idea, my fault." Then she smiled, "I'll catch you later, I suppose."
"Yeah…" She whispered, watching as Quinn turned and headed toward her cabin, "Bye…"
"You look dead on your feet," Jake mumbled, plopping himself down beside her, on an old dejected log that looked like it would snap at any given moment. She was sat in the forest, just by herself, staring at the ground, her DS pressing deliciously into her leg.
"Long night…"
Jake crossed his arms over his knees and leaned forward, pursing his lips, just listening to the tweet of birds in the trees around him, "Wanna talk about it?"
"All my life, I thought I was this one linier person. A Fabray, that had to live up to her daddy's wishes and ideals. I was told to go to church, I did. I was told to believe in God, and I do. I was told to work hard in school and I do. I accepted the fact that…when I did leave school, I'd stay in Lima with my husband and have a couple kids."
Jake turned his head to look at her.
"I was the popular blonde cheerleader with the hunky quarterback boyfriend. I was the girl at school that everyone wanted to be; that everyone thrived to become. But I know…that's not me."
Jake asked, "Then who are you…?"
"I'm a geek, I play video games way too much and I hide that because I think people will think I'm weird. I love to play the guitar and write my own music, I love to sing and dance, and I love to laugh. I like being around people and I like feeling as if I'm wanted somewhere." Quinn turned to look at Jake, eyes awash with unshed tears, "I want to be the person I am so desperately, but I don't think I have the strength to…"
Jake turned to straddle the log, taking Quinn's hands in his own, "The fact you just told me all that; a guy you've known for only three weeks…just proves to me how strong you are. You might not know it yet, but you can still be that person."
"How…?"
Jake smiled, "Just live."
A week later, on the last day of Quinn's kitchen duty, Rachel caught up with her. The blonde had just left the kitchen, and was sat by the lake just on the outskirts of the camp, legs dangling off the side of a small make shift pier that didn't look that safe.
A red DS sat beside the blonde, lid open, screen flashing, and a makeshift fishing rod stood proudly in the blonde's hand.
The way the sun glowed off Quinn's hair made the brunette's breath catch, and with hesitating steps, she walked toward her, quietly, hoping not to shock the other girl.
"You fish now…?" Rachel asked gently, sitting down beside her, legs crossed delicately.
Quinn smiled at her, "Thought I'd give myself some TLC after all that scrubbing." The blonde pulled back on the rod and extended once again, the force flexing the strong muscles in her arm.
Rachel smiled, "You didn't have to take the punishment, you know."
"It was my crazy plan…" Quinn shoved the rod into a crack in the wood, shaking it a few times to make sure it wouldn't slip, "Just like you said all night."
The brunette chuckled, "I was just a little worried."
"A little?" Quinn picked up her DS and held it in her lap, "I thought you were going to have a heart attack at one point."
"Oh please, I'm not that dramatic," Rachel replied, playfully rolling her eyes. Then she glanced down at the DS, "How's 'Berry' doing…?"
True to her word, Quinn had captured one of the cutest Pokémon in the game, an Oshawott and named it after Rachel. Sure…the Pokémon was only cute in it's first form, but Rachel didn't really need to know that part.
"Pretty good, I'm training her up right now." Of course, she'd come across a lot of male Oshawott's and Rachel had asked her why she'd kept on just dashing from the battles. But having a male Oshawott named Berry would have been a little weird.
Rachel laughed, "You're such a dork."
Quinn slowly paused her game, "Is…that a bad thing?"
"No, not at all." Rachel leaned down to catch Quinn's downcast eyes, "It's actually pretty cute."
Quinn glanced at her and shyly asked, "Really?"
The smaller girl whispered in return, "Really." And suddenly everything clicked into place. This is who she was, a Pokémon playing geek that…really…really liked Rachel Berry. This is who she had to be, this who she wanted to be. Not some ungrateful bitch that sneered at others from her high pedestal.
"Quinn…?" She heard her name whispered, and Rachel's lips were a lot closer than she remembered before, "I uhm…"
"You don't have to say anything…" Leaving the DS dejected on her lap, Quinn raised her hand a brushed back a lock of brown hair from Rachel's face, "I'm not scared to be who I want to be anymore."
"Really…?"
Quinn smiled, "Really." And she was leaning forward, her nose brushing delicately against Rachel's.
Mouths were only a breath apart, when the crack of wood against the pier made their heads shoot down, "Uhm, you've caught a fish."
Quinn groaned as she pulled back, grabbing onto the rod, "So it seems, just gimme a sec."
Rachel waited paitently as Quinn wrestled with the rod, but when she saw the blonde go red in the face, she frowned, "Are…you having difficulities?" Rachel laughed, watching as Quinn stood up and dug her sneakers into the pier.
"It's strong!"
Rachel laughed and jumped up, "Oh come on, it's just a fresh water fish, how big can it be?"
A splash in the distance as a large Karp jumped up from the lake and thudded harshly back into the water.
"…Okay." Rachel muttered, still staring at the ripples on the water, "That's a big fish."
"Little help…?" Quinn groaned, clutching the rod tighter.
"Just…let it go!" Rachel exclaimed, looking back to Quinn.
"Seriously, do you not…" She groaned and hunched her knees, "Do you not know how competitive I am? If Chang saw me give this fish up he'd die of laughter."
"You really need to explain you friendship with him," Rachel laughed, "Okay, what do I do?"
"Just…I need leverage," Quinn explained through a groan, "Hold onto my waist and pull me back, I want a picture of this damn fish! Chang will…have a heart attack!"
"Uhm…" Suddenly nervous, Rachel moved behind Quinn and hesitantly wrapped her arms around the blonde. It felt perfect, and Rachel moulded herself against the blonde, just content to hold her, to feel the muscles flex in her back as she pulled back on the rod, to smell the perfume that she knew Quinn wore but never had the chance to really indulge in.
"Right…" Quinn grumbled, panting heavily, "Now on the count of three, we pull, okay?"
"Uhm…okay." And she tightened her arms around the blonde, and listened to the blonde count down.
"Pull!" And they both pulled, with all their might. Rachel thought she heard Quinn squeal in triumph, but she also heard the cracking of wood. At first she thought it was Quinn's rod, but then she was falling, Quinn still wrapped in her arms and into the lake.
Spluttering, Rachel kicked to the surface, body completely sodden from head to toe, "Quinn?" She shouted, swimming around in a little circle, trying to catch sight of the blonde, "Quinn?"
Then there was a flurry of splashing water in front of her, and Quinn was spluttering for breath, "Jesus!" The blonde coughed a few times and glanced around before landing her eyes on Rachel, "You okay?"
Rachel nodded slowly, "I think so, are you?"
"Yeah…not my ego so much though…" Then she glanced up at the hole they'd made in the pier, "Oh thank god! My DS is still on there."
Rachel would have crossed her arms is she wasn't so scared of drowning at the age of 17, "Seriously? We've just fallen into a lake and all you care about is your DS?"
"It's a custom body…" Quinn replied bashfully before wading herself toward Rachel, "You sure you're not hurt?"
Rachel sighed, "No I'm fine…" She smiled up at the blonde, "I'm sorry about the fish."
Quinn shrugged, wiping the water from her eyes, "Don't worry, just don't tell Mike about it."
They were silent, just looking at one another, and Jesus fucking Christ the lake was cold, but suddenly Rachel's body was just warm, and Quinn was wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her against her body, her free arm wrapped around the pier leg.
"Quinn…?"
"We didn't…you know…get to…earlier on."
"Was that sentence…?" Rachel teased, leaning closer to Quinn, for body heat, but mostly because Quinn's body just felt good.
"I'm going to kiss you now." Quinn said, mock confidently, and then added hesitantly, "Okay…?"
"…Kay…" Rachel whispered breathlessly, looking up at Quinn.
It wasn't like anything she'd ever experienced. As soon as Quinn' lips were on hers it was as though an unseen wall between the two was abruptly smashed down. Rachel's arms moved to loop around Quinn's body, hands moving to grab tightly at Quinn's sodden polo, fingers digging into soft flesh, moans of appreciation that echoed out into the forest.
Quinn's lips felt soft, and luxurious, and Rachel thought she might die if she even thought of pulling away. So she just pulled herself closer, legs moving to wrap around Quinn's waist. The blonde just went with it, left arm burning from holding them up, but right arm clutching at a beautiful woman that pressed against her body.
Rachel's tongue flicked against Quinn's lower lip, gently brushing, and Quinn's first thought was, damn Rachel was a good kisser, then it was, when did she get so confident and then it was just oh God yes.
Quinn sucked gently on Rachel's tongue, luxuriating in the moan that was pushed into her mouth before brushing her own tongue against Rachel's. They moaned against each other in appreciation, eyes shut tight, afraid to open in case it was a fleeting dream that would disappear into the wind.
The need for oxygen made them pull back, and with swollen lips and flushed cheeks, they stared at one another, and giggled.
"You sound happy."
"That's because I am," Quinn grinned, on the last night of her evening patrol, "I kissed Rachel."
"Get outta here. Was it good?"
"Mind-blowing…now I see why there are lesbians in the world…and why I'm most probably bisexual."
"Haha! Awesome, Fabray! So…what're you gonna do when you get back to school…?"
"What…?"
"Well…y'know, are you two dating or…? I mean, when you get back to school, are you going to be out n' proud?"
"I…"
"You didn't think this through…did you, Fabgay?"
She didn't know why, but she stayed away from Rachel for a few days, just getting her head together. She didn't go to any of her usual hang outs, or even her own cabin on a night. She stayed out in the forest, only going back into the camp to shower, teach her classes and eat; and even then she took her food and disappeared again.
She had her Tanglewood in her lap, just strumming a haphazard tune that didn't really come to be anything spectacular when she heard the rustle of some trees.
"I was sent to find ya," Jake called out, hands up in the air, "I come in peace."
Quinn rolled her eyes and looked back down to her acoustic, "Sent by Rachel I presume?"
"Yup…when she came to see me I thought she was coming to kill me…but she seemed upset…" Jake tilted his head to the side, "You've been avoiding her since you two kissed."
Of course, she'd told Jake about Rachel, how could he not know? He was a great guy, and an even greater friend. He knew nothing of her background, and that way, he could give her advice that she'd actually be willing to take.
"I just…freaked out a little." Quinn shrugged, "This camp is a whole different world compared to McKinley. When we go back, are we just going to be suddenly girlfriends?"
"What's the problem with that?"
The blonde shook her head, "I don't know!" She exclaimed, angry with herself, "I'm scared about what other people will think of me…"
"Why should you give a shit?" Her head snapped to Jake, who looked suddenly infuriated, "You told me you lived for other people ideals all your life, and now you can finally be who you want to be. So what if that's a person who likes to play video games, or a girl that likes to walk down the halls with a another girl. It's cool, and you should be cool with it too. Fuck all of them, they don't live your life for you, you do."
"I just don't like it when people talk about me. When I was pregnant…I hated knowing that people were talking about me behind my back, it put me on edge. I was out there, alone."
"But you're not alone this time, are you?" He grabbed her guitar, and then grabbed her hand, pulling her up, "You have a girl that's proud to have you on her arm." He handed her Tanglewood back and smiled, "At least show her the same courtesy."
They'd talked, of course they had, they had to, it was their jobs. They still went on little trips out into the forest with the campers, and they still sat in the cafeteria with one another and ate lunch together. On there own they held hands, and tentatively kissed before wishing one another goodnight.
But they never really talked.
Time was running out, and both Jake and Mike had given her a figurative kick up the backside to get it sorted. Rachel was amazing, even though Quinn could tell she was still hurting. Now there was only a week left of camp left, until real life settled in once again.
And Quinn needed to sort it ASAP.
"Thanks for teaching me to play the guitar, Quinn. I'll keep practicing super hard when I get home!" Katie beamed as she packed away one of the camp's guitars she'd loaned.
"It's not a problem," Quinn smiled, watching the small girl. Katie really had come along in leaps and bounds, her attitude had gotten a lot better, and so had her singing. The group dynamic seemed to become more relaxed too, knowing they didn't have to walk on eggshells around the girl, "Hey…"
"Yeah?"
"How about we put your guitar to practice, huh? We do a little concert, to wrap up the summer? Just our group."
"Really?"
Quinn smiled, "Really."
It took three days for all the kids to finally sit down and learn their parts of the song, and it took that three days for Quinn to learn the musical accompaniment. It was hard, and her wrist ached like a bitch for those three days, but it was a good ache. She knew she could make it right, and doing it with the kids she'd learned to cherish over the summer, just made it that much better.
She enlisted the help of Jake, who was glad to help, to round up the campers and councillors for an impromptu concert, that really wasn't that impromptu.
Rachel had no idea what was going on, in fact, over the past few days she'd been distant from Quinn, almost realizing that their whirlwind romance was finally coming to a close. It was just a summer relationship that really wasn't going to set off, it was a hard conclusion to come to, but one she had.
But when she saw Quinn jump on stage, with a guitar she'd only seen the blonde handle the few times she'd sat in on her classes, she was instantly confused. Why wasn't she a part of this concert? And why didn't she have a solo?
Quinn sat at the front of the stage on a stool, the kids all sat behind her, grinning excitedly out into the crowd. The blonde tapped the mic in front of her and cleared her throat, "As a goodbye, me and my group would like to sing a song. It's been a great summer and," Her eyes dashed to Rachel's, "I'm sure the rest of the year will continue to be great too."
Then she glancing behind her, nodding at the kids, who nodded straight back. With a smile, she looked down at her guitar and began to strum out the chord of the song. Rachel didn't know the song, especially not with an acoustic arrangement, but when Quinn's voice filled the air, she was in awe.
I wake in the morning tired of sleeping.
Get in the shower and make my bed alone,
I put on my makeup talking to the mirror.
Ready for a new day without you.
Then she knew the song, she'd only heard it a handful of times, but she knew it. Quinn's voice was so different to Leona's, and even though she may have been slightly biased, she knew that Quinn sung it a thousand times better.
And I walk steady on my feet, I talk, my voice obeys me.
I go out at night, sleep without the lights,
And I do all of the things I have to keeping you off my mind,
But when I think I'll be alright I am always wrong 'cause,
And then the kids were joining in, and Rachel's eyes widened at how beautiful the kids sounded together, along with Quinn who had shut her eyes, squeezing them shut as she belted out the chorus.
My hands, don't wanna start again.
My hands, no, they don't wanna understand.
My hands, they just shake and try to break whatever peace I may find.
My hands, they only agree to hold.
Your hands, and they don't wanna be without.
Your hands, and they will not let me go, no, they will not let me go.
Rachel chewed on her bottom lip, and her feet itched to just jump up and race toward the stage and into Quinn's arms.
I talk about you now and go a day without crying,
I go out with my friends now, I stay home all alone,
And I don't see you everywhere and I can say your name easily,
I laugh a bit louder without you.
And I see different shades now and I'm almost never afraid now,
But when I think I'll be okay I am always wrong 'cause,
And then the kids were back, standing from their stools and circling Quinn, taking over as Quinn stopped singing, content to let the kids take the rest of the song, fingers strumming with ease over the strings of her acoustic.
My hands, don't wanna start again.
My hands, no, they don't wanna understand.
My hands, they just shake and try to break whatever peace I may find.
My hands, they only agree to hold.
Your hands, no, they don't wanna be without.
Your hands, and they will not let me go, no, they will not let me go.
And then Quinn was looking at Rachel, staring at her with gorgeous hazel eyes, eyes that shone in the moonlight with unshed tears as she sung.
Sometimes I wake, I see them reaching out for you,
Quietly breaking whatever shields I spent so long building up,
I cannot fake 'cause when they cry I'm unspoken,
They miss holding my baby...
And then Rachel was crying, because Quinn sounded so beautiful and the crescendo of the kids voices as well as Quinn's around her just made her well up. She felt Jake wrap and arm around her, and she accepted it, leaning into his body for support as he grinned up at Quinn with support.
My hands, no, they don't wanna understand.
They just shake and try to break whatever peace I may find,
My hands, your hands, they don't wanna be without.
Your hands, and they will not let me go, no, they will not let me go.
My hands, don't wanna start again.
My hands, no, they don't wanna understand.
My hands, they just shake and try to break whatever peace I may find.
My hands, only agree to hold.
Your hands, no, they don't wanna be without.
Your hands, and they will not let me go, no, they will not let me go.
No, they will not let me go.
"She did good…yeah?" Jake asked through a whisper.
"She did good…" Rachel nodded against his chest.
"She's difficult, but if you give her a chance, she'll show you what sort of love she's capable of."
Rachel glanced up at the man she'd grown to love and smiled, "Really?"
"Really."
She hadn't seen Rachel since the concert, she hadn't even been able to find her in the crowd. Obviously she'd done something wrong - had she picked the wrong song? Should she have gone up there alone? Should the kids have sung a little less or a little more? With a groan she packed her guitar away and flopped onto her bed.
The bed might have been uncomfortable as hell, but it was her bed for the past two months. It had been good to her…and mercifully…her back.
Everything had changed so quickly, over the course of two months she'd realized her feelings for a girl she thought she hated, she'd finally decided that she wanted to be true to herself, and been courageous enough to show that person to the people around her. To the people that mattered.
Jake.
He was going back to Carmel after camp was over. Just one more night and he'd be gone. They'd already exchanged numbers, so of course, he wouldn't be gone forever. He'd just be one call away for that pep talk, for that kick up the backside that she desperately needed from time to time. And she'd always be there for him.
Mike.
They'd return to their bi-weekly gaming competitions around at his house as soon as they got back. It was a good stress reliever, and it seemed as if she needed it, especially if Rachel had anything to do with it. He'd be there, with his advice, and his epic gaming quotes that just made her smile.
And then there was Rachel.
Who…she just hoped…would be there, standing by.
But it looked like she would even have that.
With a heavy sigh, she shut her eyes. Summer was over, and so was the romance she'd grown to adore. She wasn't sure about love, who was sure about love at 17? But she knew that this summer had been something special, had been something she'd never forget and always cherish.
She breathed out to sigh again when she felt something press into her body, immediately her eyes snapped open, and almost flailed when she caught sight of Rachel on top of her, smiling shyly.
"Hey…"
Quinn smiled and brushed back the curtain of brown hair from around them, tucking it behind Rachel's ears, "Hey."
"You were…amazing out there, Quinn."
With a blush, Quinn smiled, "Thanks…I mean, I didn't know if you'd like the song, but I wanted to do something special for-,"
Then Rachel's lips were on hers, and Quinn was wrapping her arms tightly around the brunette atop her, holding her close. They kissed sweetly, serenely for what felt like hours before Rachel finally pulled back, cheeks flushed, "I…understand if you don't want to continue this when we go back to school Quinn…but…"
"I want to."
"But,"
"I want to live my life, Rach…and right now…I want you there, I mean…if you will?"
A tear trekked its way down Rachel's cheek, and gently, Quinn leaned up to kiss it away. Rachel kissed just beside her ear and snuggled up into the blonde, just content to hold one another.
"Really…?" Rachel whispered, clutching Quinn's shirt tightly.
And with a smile, Quinn kissed her new found girlfriend on the forehead and hummed, "Really." in return.
My Hands by Leona Lewis