Lucy walked through the halls, anonymous; she blended into the background unnoticed.
"Holy crap, she got fatter over vacation, I didn't think that was possible." said the head cheerleader, Monique with a maniacal laugh.
Lucy's insides burnt with anger. She hated Monique. She hated everyone in this dump and most of all she hated herself.
It was quite obvious when four year old Beth stood next to Shelby that they weren't biologically related. Beth was a slight toddler with an eager smile, blonde hair, green eyes and a classical beauty. Shelby was a slim, a charming smile, dark brown hair, brown eyes and, well, a bit of a big nose.
Beth knew she was adopted; she'd even met her birth parents. Mostly she hung out with Puck, when he was in the neighbourhood, he taught her how to play guitar and showed her his screen play before he sent it off to the production company. Admittedly she'd only met Quinn a couple of times but it was obvious where Beth got her looks from.
Until Beth went through puberty.
When Beth was eight, she starting being a bit chubby. She didn't become obese overnight. She just found she had a lot more puppy fat, and she couldn't exercise it off. Shelby told her it was natural, and not to worry, when she had a growth spurt she'd soon stretch out. Some kids told Beth she was a fat, and that she needed to lose weight. But Beth didn't care; at least she didn't think she did.
When Beth was eleven, she starting having break-outs. Little red bumps would emerge all over her t-zone, and her skin was often oily. Beth was careful to wash her face with expensive face wash, but it didn't stop her being spotty. Some kids called her pepperoni face; others said she had a disease. But Beth didn't care; well she pretended she didn't at least.
When Beth was twelve, the dentist referred her to an orthodontist. Who told her she needed a Brace to sort put her over bite. A month later he clamped a wire on her top and bottom teeth, it was horribly uncomfortable. Beth struggled to speak, the brace made her lisp badly, and she couldn't sing as well as she used to. Some kids called her train trackers and metal mouth. But Beth didn't care… That's a lie, Beth cared. Beth cared so much.
When Beth was fourteen, she was spotty, she was chubby, and she had braces. She was a million miles away from the pretty little blonde toddler. And she was a million miles away from the glamorous Quinn, who Beth hadn't seen since she was a little blonde toddler. But tomorrow Beth was going with Shelby to visit Quinn, who was surely going to take one look on the plain Beth and turn away.
Quinn wouldn't understand. Why would someone so beautiful understand?
Beth sat in the passenger seat of the car, She was very nervous. She hadn't seen Quinn since she was five. Now Quinn had bumped into Shelby in town and the two had agreed to meet up. Beth wasn't nervous about seeing her 'real mum' she was nervous about her 'real mum' seeing her.
Beth hated how she looked. She hated it so much, and she wanted to impress Quinn. She wanted to be that bubbly, pretty little girl filled with energy, she wanted Quinn to hear her sing and play guitar, and she wanted Quinn to be proud. But Beth was shy and nervous, she daren't sing in case she lisped so badly that the words slurred together, and she didn't want to just play guitar without singing. There was no way Quinn would be proud of that.
Shelby smiled at her daughter,
"Don't you worry, Quinn will love you… Quinn does love you." Shelby tapped Beth gently on the shoulder.
"I-I'm not scared, I see Puck all the time, Rachel takes me shopping, why shouldn't Quinn be different." Beth frowned; it made so much sense, but why wasn't it true?
"Look you haven't seen Quinn in ages, and she hasn't seen you. It's natural if you're a bit nervous."
"I'm fine." Beth smiled. Wow those acting classes were paying off.
The car purred into a car park, and Beth got out. She patted her hair, making sure it was looking nice; she spent an extra hour getting ready this morning, choosing her clothes carefully, and gently teasing her hair into tousled waves. Shelby locked the car and the two set off.
"You're quiet today," Shelby observed, "Are you sure you're not nervous?"
"It's just so much has changed," Beth admitted, "what if Quinn doesn't like me anymore."
"Beth! Quinn loves you, she always has, she always will."
"How do you know that?" Beth challenged.
"Because I didn't see Rachel for sixteen years, and I didn't stop loving her for sixteen years. You and Quinn are tied together, you're family."
"But she's not my mum…"
Shelby pondered for a while, "I'm your mum, but Puck and Quinn are ever present in your life, they'll always be there for you. You have one mum, but three parent figures."
"I love you -third parent figure- I mean mum," Beth joked.
Shelby laughed, "I love you too."
Beth sat down at the table, scanning he menu, and sipping on diet coke. Shelby looked at her watch impatiently.
"Where is Quinn?"
"What?" Beth frowned.
"She's late." Shelby grumbled.
"Actually, I'm just on time." A voice form behind Beth interrupted their conversation.
Beth turned around immediately. Quinn smiled her perfect smile at Beth, dumping her coat on the back of the chair and collapsing into her seat,
"So Beth, long time no see," Quinn didn't stop grinning, "catch me up."
"urrm," Beth faltered, "I-I haven't been up to much."
"Puck tells me you're great on the guitar."
"So are you and Puck still in contact?" Shelby asked.
Quinn laughed uneasily, "Yeah, we're still friends."
"Pucks a great teacher," Beth admitted, "He shows me his screen play too."
"I can't believe his screen play got picked up by a production company." Shelby said, "Who knew that a story about a Jewish girl and a Frank-n-teen and their epic romance would be such a hit?"
"Hmm," Quinn smirked, "My favourite character is the beautiful witch who is in love with the 'Frank-n-teen' but suddenly falls for a rock star."
"I know!" Beth joined in, "I know it's only on a minor channel, but it's got a small fan-base."
"It's crazy, who knew he had it in him." Shelby said.
"So Shelby how's the day-care centre going," Quinn steered the subject away from Puck, "I hear you're caring for the biggest names in broadways, tiny diva-kids."
"It's great Beth helps me out a lot, she plays and sings to help the little ones snooze during nap-time." Shelby replied.
"I'm taking grade three in a couple of months." Beth added.
"I can't wait to hear you play… and sing along if you're comfortable with that." Quinn smiled her perfect smile, she could have asked Beth to present a daytime cooking show in the nude, and Beth would have done it for Quinn.
"You could come hear me play in the leaving concert, it's mostly classical stuff but us guitar people get to do a song, and we sing too." Beth offered.
"I'll be there, I can't believe you're going to High School in September" Quinn said as she gave Beth a funny look. It only lasted a second, it couldn't really have mean anything, it was a sort of intrigued, judgemental sort of look that doctors give when they're sceptical about somebody who insists they're fine.
"Is Puck telling the truth when he says you went into labour on stage?" Beth blurted out.
"Yes, I'd literally left stage for ten seconds and my water broke," Quinn replied.
"Is it true you'd just finished performing sexy and I know it, solo, in your underwear?" Beth asked Quinn threw her head back and laughed hysterically; she wiped a small tear from her eye and replied.
"Puck's just messing with you, besides that song hadn't even been recorded when I had you! Sexy and I know it, in my undies, solo! Puck knows how to make me laugh." By the time they'd finished their food Beth felt much more comfortable with Quinn, who was down to earth and genuine. Unfortunately Beth was still quite uncomfortable with herself, she would blush and look away if Quinn stared at her for too long or glanced at her in a certain way. Shelby didn't notice this and watched the two chat happily, glad that Quinn had matured enough to be 'trusted' around Beth.
All too quickly it was time to say goodbye, Quinn hugged them both promised to call Shelby and gave Beth her email,
"If you need any advice, any help, or just want to chat you send me an email, bye sweetie," Quinn hugged Beth tightly and kissed her on the forehead, "you know, you remind me of me more than I do myself." Quinn waved goodbye to them and they parted ways.
As Shelby and Beth headed home Beth reminded herself of what Quinn had said, "You remind me of me more than I do myself," what did that mean. Beth thought this over for a while before giving up.
"I'm worried about her," Quinn said as she pulled her robe on to cover her body.
"Babe you don't need to," Puck replied, Quinn's duvet covering his body, "she's got three adults looking out for her she doesn't…"
"May I interject Puck?" Quinn interrupted, Puck nodded. "This is an entirely physical relationship, to relieve ourselves of our personal and professional pressures. This sort of regular hooking up doesn't require the use of the word 'babe'."
"Look," Puck defended himself, "I called you babe out of habit, and Yale turned you posh cos' I didn't understand all of those long words, and I'm a professional writer." Quinn rolled her eyes and crawled back into the rumpled bed, she collapsed with Puck's arm around her.
"This is great: no commitment, no awkwardness, just sex and lots of good company." Quinn nestled herself into Puck.
"Well we never really went out properly, we just had sex and make out sessions," Puck shrugged.
"And a child," Quinn added, "Which brings me back to what I was saying. I'm very worried about Beth. I know what she's going through, I could tell she was embarrassed, I want to offer her my help but I don't want to offend her."
"What's wrong with a few spots and some puppy fat, she's a teenager, it's the prime time for the braces and the glasses combo," Puck pointed out.
"Yeah, and it's the prime time to be judged on your appearance," Quinn added. "When you were her age did you judge girls for having acne and braces and glasses."
Puck nodded embarrassed, "and I judged the girls who looked like mini Miranda Kerr's."
"It's not the same, those girls get the right sort of attention, and Beth's going to attract the wrong sort of attention."
"Who cares, nobody gives a damn about school, as soon as you leave none of it matters anymore," Puck reassured Quinn.
"I can't bare the idea of her being bullied by people because of the way she looks. It will get worse when she goes to High School." Quinn closed her eyes and rested against Puck.
AN: I've been working on this for a while and I'm finally pleased with chapter 1. Please review and tell me what you think. This took too long to get just right.
