Quinn Fabray sat in the passenger seat of her mother's car, her duffel bag in her lap, and her tennis shoes squeaking together nervously. She'd spent her entire life as a chubby, near-sighted, crooked-nosed outcast, and now that she was…well, in her eyes, pretty…she really didn't know how to handle it. She'd spent all last year taking gymnastics and ballet, and just a few weeks ago did she finally get her braces off and contact lenses. Her nose was finally healed from the plastic surgery, too. Lucy Caboosey was no longer that freakish little girl…She was Quinn Fabray, now. A size-four athletic fourteen-year-old girl who was finally pretty.
"…What if they don't like me?" She asked her mother, who was intent on driving. Judy Fabray's eyebrows furrowed before she took a look at her daughter.
"Lucy, why wouldn't they like you?" she asked, putting a hand on Quinn's knee. "You're smart, funny, gorgeous…" Quinn rolled her eyes. The classic mom motivational speech. But this was something foreign to her…Quite literally. Since the move, Quinn was the new girl in town. All of these girls she was going to come across at this Lima cheer camp would have known each other since kindergarten, or earlier. Most of them would have been cheerleading since they could walk…This was new territory for Quinn, the gymnast-ballerina. But if she wanted to continue the Fabray women streak of being on their high school cheerleading squad, Quinn would have to do it. Besides, it would be a great way to make friends before showing up, new and friendless, at McKinley High.
She shook her head. "They're all going to be grouped up into pre-established cliques, mom. No one's going to want to be my friend. You've said it yourself- cheerleaders are vicious." This earned a chuckle from Judy.
"Keep your head up, kid, and keep those teeth shining. Because if you have the confidence, everyone will want to be your friend." Quinn smirked at her mother's advice, and anxiously wrapped a lock of reddish-brown hair around her index finger. It was a nervous habit.
The car turned into a gravel parking lot, and Quinn was immediately in awe. The camp was so gorgeous, and so…summer camp-y. It had a dozen cabins lined up in rows, and an open grassy plain for the teams to practice on. The few big buildings were probably for administration and the cafeteria. And if you looked far enough, you could see the glimmer of Indian sparkling in the summer sun. All of Quinn's anxiety seemed to wash away with the mist of the water coming in through her open car window. Judy parked, and waited there with her daughter for a while.
"Want me to get out with you?" the blonde asked, turning to Quinn. Quinn shook her head slowly, unsure, and gave her mother a hug.
"Bye, mom." she said into Judy's shoulder. Her mother embraced her back, and patted her hair.
"Bye, baby. Have a good time. Call every night, and if you want to come home tell me. Alright?" Given Quinn's past with bullying, Judy was always conscious of her youngest daughter in social situations.
Quinn gave a nod, and clutched the handle of her duffle in her right hand. Her mom kissed her on the cheek, and popped the trunk open for Quinn to get the rest of her luggage. She stepped out of the car, her tennis shoe crunching on the gravel, and her pale legs tingling in the summer sun. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to tan before showing up to cheer camp in a pair of cotton shorts. She grabbed her two suitcases out of the trunk before slamming it shut.
Weighed down by her luggage, Quinn passed the passenger seat of her mother's car window, and waved a sad goodbye. Sleep-away camp would be hard…especially in this new, strange town, where she would know no one.
As she got further into the area, she could see what seemed like hundreds of other girls scattered about the camp. A woman stood at the entrance of the camp with a clipboard in hand, and a baseball cap shadowing her face from the sun.
"Name?" she asked as Quinn approached.
"Quinn Fabray." she said, nodding. She had to get used to being called Quinn, now. Ever since changing her look, she didn't want to be Lucy. She associated Lucy with Lucy Caboosey. The woman looked up and down the clipboard, and marked by Quinn's name.
"Alright, Fabray." she said, pulling out a red paper bracelet. The kind you would get at a carnival. Funny, Quinn felt like she was in an amusement park. "You're in the McKinley cabins." The brochure had said that the cabins and teams would be divided up by schools in the district. "They're the ones with the red flags. Carmel high is blue, Jane Addams is gold, Thurston is grey. You can hang out outside your cabins and your coach will be there soon to assign your roommates. Alright?"
Quinn gave a quick nod before heading in. The stupid red paper bracelet was already itching. She'd put it on too tight. The entire site was full of incoming high school freshmen gearing up to be on their school's elite cheer squad. Quinn was going to be apart of this…
There were about twenty girls hanging out outside the McKinley cabins. None of them were all too intimidating. In fact, Quinn felt like she was fitting in a bit. That was, until the coach showed up.
Coach Sylvester was a tall, statuesque woman with a blonde bob and a perfectly tailored red Adidas track suit. A few of the girls quickly scuttled to the front and lined up in perfect rows. As any good new girl would do, Quinn followed. As soon as Coach Sylvester walked into the scene, the relaxed atmosphere tensed up, and all of the girls stood ten feet taller. Quinn was standing so straight, he back was practically arched.
"Alright, ladies." the coach all but shouted. "I'm Sue Sylvester. I coach the McKinley High Cheerios. And in about three seconds after I say this, going down this line, you will all be expected to do five round-off back handsprings across this grass. Three..two…" The girls like Quinn who clearly didn't know miss Sue Sylvester shook with fear and asked questions like, 'Is she serious? Oh my God.', while the girls who had made some bargain with the devil seemed as if they expected nothing less, and were perfectly composed and complied.
As it went down the line, the girls tumbled across the grass, some successfully, some…not. When it came to be Quinn's turn, she imagined herself in gymnastics, and not in this foreign cheer camp. Back handsprings were a no-brainer when she imagined the blue mat below her bare feet.
She moved effortlessly across the grass, and stuck the landing, earning a nod of approval from coach Sylvester.
"Now, girls. If you couldn't do that, get the hell out of my sight. Because if you think that's hard, try having to coach a bunch of girls who think I can turn them into National-Champion Cheerios overnight." A large portion of the girls seemed so broken already, and like they could run out at any second, but Quinn kept herself composed. "Now…" Coach Sylvester flipped through her clipboard, and went through the role. "There will be three girls per cabin." Quinn waited anxiously for her name as she called out the roommates. Then finally, "Santana Lopez, Brittany Pierce, and Quinn Fabray in room M3."
Quinn strained her neck to see who her roommates could be. Any of these girls could be Brittany Pierce, but only a few seemed like they could be Santana Lopez. But it wasn't until Quinn saw the two girls jumping with joy at the fact that they were roomed together. The first was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, and the other was shorter and Latina. Fan-freaking-tastic. It was Quinn's worst nightmare- getting roomed with girls who were already the best of friends. She'd be isolated and alone, just like in elementary school. Some things never change.
Once the girls were dismissed to their cabins, Quinn took her time heading to M3. Mostly because she didn't want to meet her roommates, and partly because she was weighed down by her luggage. Her tennis shoes crunched on the dirt and sticks beneath her as she approached the door. The cabins from the outside were so stereo typically summer-camp. They were like small wooden houses, with a tiny porch in the front and a red flag sticking out of the roof. It was kind of endearing.
Quinn opened the screen door and stepped into the cabin. Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez were sitting criss-cross on the floor, speaking teenage girl speak all too fast for Quinn to catch up with. They hadn't even noticed she had come in the room until she dropped her suitcase on the floor.
Brittany's head was the first to snap into Quinn's direction. She stood, her ponytail swinging behind her, and her long legs took swift dancers' strides as she made her way across the room. "You must be Quinn!"
Quinn gave a nod, eyeing the tall blonde. "You're…Brittany?" she asked. Brittany nodded.
"I love the color of your hair." she took a lock of Quinn's red-brown hair and played with it in a childish manner. Brittany had this all-around childish whimsy about her that Quinn could pick up on right away.
Santana stood in the middle of the room and slowly made her way to the two girls.
"I'm Santana." she interrupted, before Quinn could respond to Brittany's compliment. "To cut to the chase, I'm a bad bitch." Upon hearing the word, Quinn clutched her cross necklace. She was raised in a religious household and cursing was most definitely not the biggest sin she could commit, but Santana's overall demeanor was simply unholy…yet kind of charming.
Quinn gave a slightly awkward chuckle. "I don't doubt that for a second." she smiled to Santana. Santana smirked back, and Brittany nearly jumped through the roof, clapping. The look on her face said that she was expecting to befriend Quinn and have loads of peppy fun at cheer camp, now that Quinn had Santana's approval. "So…" Quinn decided to cut to the chase. "How long have you two been friends?"
Santana and Brittany shared a knowing glance, something that Quinn probably wouldn't be able to decipher until the end of the summer. Maybe even later.
"Kindergarten." Santana said, holding out her pinky. Brittany did the same, and they linked fingers tightly, with Quinn just staring.
"Oh. Well, I just moved here." she said, trying to remain casual. She thought of the lineup when Coach Sylvester first presented herself to the girls. Brittany and Santana were the first to snap to attention, which was funny, because coach Sylvester coached at a high school. How would they know? "What are the odds that you'd be put in the same room? If I didn't know better, I'd say you made some sort of pact with the coach."
Santana nodded. "She came and scouted us at our middle school. Britts and I were only the best of the best at Lima Jr. High." Quinn nodded. So it was kind of like a bargain with the devil.
"…She was always creeping around our practices and I thought she was a secret agent. I still think she's a secret agent, but even more secret." Brittany said. Quinn started to laugh, until she realized that Brittany had said it with the utmost seriousness. Quinn shared a glance with Santana, who simply gave her a protective glare. She was testing her. Brittany was clearly not the brightest crayon in the box, and by not laughing at her best friend, Santana was scoping her out to see if she'd be worthy of their friendship. Because Brittany-isms, as they would now be called, clearly happened more than often.
"Um….is the cafeteria open?" Quinn asked, holding her head high and keeping her smile on her face, just as her mother had advised. No better way to avoid conflict than to avert the conversation, right? "I'm starved."
"You think you're starved now?" Santana chuckled. "Wait until you're on the Sue Sylvester diet."
Quinn hadn't had a clue what she was getting herself into when she signed up for this cheer camp, but now that she was on the course, this journey didn't seem like it would be stopping any time soon.
