Quinn was four when her parents moved their small family to Lima, Ohio. Her older sister had just graduated middle school, and Quinn would start Kindergarten the very next year. She would enter Kindergarten 1 year early because her preschool teachers back in Phoenix had tested her, determining that she could enter Kindergarten at age four instead of five. It seemed as good a time as any for the family to relocate. Phoenix was a large city, which made the overprotective Catholic parents nervous about the environment their precious children would be raised in. They were both looking for a quieter place to settle down to let the girls, particularly Quinn, grow and learn. What better place than Lima, Ohio?
When the shiny mini van parked, Quinn jumped out of the door quickly, excited. "There's so much grass" She said, stopping for a moment before she was moving again, up and into the house, her light up sandals sparkling as she went. The house was so much bigger than she'd been used to, their condo in Phoenix didn't compare at all.
"I get that one" Quinn shouted, flying across the hall to the bedroom at the front of the house before her sister Frannie could. "Get out Fran!" She said, sticking her tongue out. "This is my terrerroterry." Her sister rolled her eyes. "It's territory." She said, and Quinn stuck her tongue out again. Laying on her back on the wood floor of the empty room, she practiced her singing, giggling at the way it bounced off the walls. She was belting out the National Anthem by the time her Father came up to tell her that if she kept that up she'd lose her voice and have to miss school, which immediately quieted the five year old, who, after closing the door to her room securely, deciding it was too hot to stay inside the not yet air conditioned house. Going out the front door, she peered over the perfectly trimmed hedges into the green yard next to the left of her own, hearing laughter. A tan boy and girl were playing. The girl was about Quinn's size, maybe taller, and the boy looked older. Tucking her wavy blonde hair behind her ear, she stepped closer, watching the girl's black hair swing from her ponytail as they both yelled at each other in a liquid language that Quinn didn't understand.
"Hello!" She chirped over the hedge, causing the two of them to stop and look at her. The fact that there was a boy playing there hadn't bothered Quinn at all. She would've said hello even if they were both boys. She'd never uttered the word "cooties" once in her life. Instead, she pushed her blonde hair back behind her shoulders and was the pitcher every gym class when they played softball at school. She wasn't afraid to get dirty (not like she ever did though), nor was she afraid to be the only girl playing the games, which she sometimes was. When she wasn't playing softball or soccer back in Phoenix, she was at the ballet studio, dressed in pink, among little girls with huge ballerina dreams. She was popular with all her friends, because that's who she was. She was Quinn.
"¿Quién es?" She heard the girl ask the boy, who shrugged. With an accent, the girl with the long ponytail said back, "Hi… who're you?" Quinn smiled brightly, showing all of her teeth, aside from the one she was missing on the bottom.
"I'm Quinn Celeste Fabray!" She beamed proudly. Her father had always warned her not to tell strangers her name, but Quinn didn't look at them as strangers. They were little kids, to Quinn, her new friends.
"I'm Santana, this is Anthony," She said, motioning to her older brother, "You wanna play tag?" Anthony was about to tell her to walk down and around the hedges, but Quinn just backed up and crashed right through them, bringing a whole bunch of leaves with her, and earning a scolding from her mother, who was unloading the car. "Play nice dearie!" She called as she went inside. Quinn turned and waved to her. At the same time, Santana and Anthony ran forward and tagged her. "Not it!" She two shouted, and Quinn turned around, taking off toward Anthony, which surprised both the Latinos. What surprised them even more was her speed, tagging Anthony in just a few seconds before darting off again. Santana looked on, impressed, until her brother made a beeline for her and she had to start running again.
This continued for several minutes, now Santana was chasing Quinn. Quinn was running, her head turned looking back at Santana. Tripping, she fell forward, Santana going right on top of her. The two somersaulted once, limbs tangled together before thumping to a stop, Santana on her back, Quinn sideways over Santana on her stomach. "Wow." Quinn said, rolling off her and getting up. She brushed her dress off and straightened the headband in her hair before offering Santana her hand to get up. "That was fun let's do it agai-" "Quinn Celeste Fabray!" The small blonde jumped at the sound of her mother's voice, turning to see her standing on the porch with an apron. "Dinner! Come on I've been calling you for 5 minutes!" Quinn giggled. "oops, gotta go! Maybe we'll play tomorrow!" She said, turning and running, ducking her head as she crashed through the hedges. Holding the door open for her, her mother picked a stray leaf out of Quinn's hair as she ran in the door.