Lean on me

Summary: teacher Quinn Fabray and student Rachel Berry's lives intertwine, causing lines to blur.

Rating: M

A.N.: hi everyone! This is my first fanfiction so please be gentle. I appreciate every single review and will keep your comments in mind in the next chapters. All mistakes are mine and there will probably be a lot of them due to the fact that English is not my first language and I apologize in advance. This chapter is not beta'd. All characters belong to RIB.

K.D.P.

CHAPTER 1

Walking through the still empty halls of William Mckinley High School gave Rachel Barbra Berry, former self-proclaimed diva, a sense of calm. Especially when those douchebags jocks weren't in my line of sight, she thought. She was glad school was back but those freaking cups filled with that liquid of hell gave her nightmares. The hairs on the back of her arms stood up from just thinking about it. She used to believe the assaults would stop once Brittany and Santana joined glee, or once her relationship with Finn became official, but boy was she wrong. She couldn't shake the sad feeling that her Senior year will probably be as bad as previous ones despite changing her behavior, toning it down a bit. Even though she wasn't as loud, or as some would say obnoxious, as she used to be, she was still the number one target of the school's bullies.

She was on her way to the auditorium like she always did when she had some time to kill and as usual she found the room empty. One of the Glee club goals, and of course her personal favorite, was becoming national champions. Maybe it could give them some respect, which they certainly lacked. Or it could stop those awful daily slushie showers. Don't get your hopes up, Rachel, you'll probably be covered in liquid within the hour. Her train of thoughts stopped when she reached the piano and began playing some random song.


Her second year as the English teacher at WMHS came much faster than she expected. Last year Quinn Fabray had the opportunity to temporarily substitute Mrs. Walker and just a few days ago she received a call from Principal Figgins that she could permanently take over her classes. Her summer had flown by too quickly because of all the bonding time with Beth. With school starting again, Beth had to go back to her adoptive mother, Shelby. Despite being heartbroken, Quinn was very grateful Shelby and her have been able to recreate a trusting friendship between one another. From now on Beth could only visit from Saturday evening until Sunday evening.

As she walked through the halls of her old high school Quinn felt content but not overjoyed. While attending Yale she always thought she'd end up as an independent woman in New York or some other big city in order to fulfill her dreams of being a writer. Instead, she became a teacher at a school in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I've got to stop moping over things that can't be changed, she thought, I'm here for Beth and won't abandon her again. On the plus side, she'd been dating a wonderful woman, Gwenn, for the past six months. It wasn't serious yet but it had the potential to be.

She noticed the first high school students arriving and sought out the one place she knew would be empty the first hour of the day.

Standing in front of the main entrance of the auditorium, she realized there was already a woman inside, a woman with a wonderful voice that is. Curiosity got the best of her and she snuck inside. Oh my god she's breathtaking. She was most of all surprised that some petite brunette like her could have such a set of pipes on her. She hadn't seen this girl around school yet.

Whilst the girl belted her lungs out, Quinn couldn't shake the feeling she was invading her privacy and reluctantly dragged herself out of the room.

Rachel heard some shuffling in the back of the last row of seats and caught a flash of blond hair before the door clicked shut. Well, their loss.


One month and an endless amount of slushie showers had passed and Rachel was seriously thinking of just hiding out in the bathroom when class was out. It's not like someone would notice I'm missing, except for Kurt or Tina. Finn's too busy with his reputation of quarterback and whilst I've established a somewhat friendly relationship with Mercedes, Santana and Brittany, they wouldn't come look for me.

The end of English class was nearing and Rachel felt somewhat sorrowful because the new teacher made the usually boring lesson pretty interesting. She had a way of pulling her students into the reading material and she was able to provoke enjoyable debates about the underlying meanings of things. Miss Fabray looks exceptionally pretty today. With her short blond hair, white shirt tucked into a black pencil skirt, and don't get me started on those killer heels. Rachel had to suppress a laugh with how ridiculous the boys were acting.

They were trying to impress the teacher with their plain dumb and honestly offensive answers. Next to her, Kurt was rolling his eyes. He was thinking the same thing, like he always did.

"You'd think they'd realize how dumb they sound" he whispered.

The bell rang and Quinn reminded them of their assignment which was due on Friday.

"Rachel Berry, could you stay behind for a moment please". She needed to have a chat with one of her best students. When everyone stepped out of the classroom one by one, Kurt waved Rachel goodbye. Quinn saw the girl look expectantly at her.

"What can I do for you Miss Fabray?", Rachel asked, and Quinn could hear the worry in her voice. Her amazingly beautiful voice. After the first time she 'spied' on the girl, she made it in a habit of sneaking in the auditorium when the girl was singing.

"Miss Berry, please have a seat. I'd like to ask you about your latest tests which you nearly failed. You usually get straight A's and I was wondering if it was just a temporary bad result or if something was going on?" She stared in Rachel's eyes because she wanted her to know the girl could always come to her teachers with any kind of question. When Rachel looked up their eyes locked for a moment. Why does she always have her head down and hide behind those bangs, Quinn asked herself.

Rachel blushed and her eyebrows scrunched together whilst she was contemplating on telling her teacher why she had trouble concentrating. She decided against it. What could a teacher possibly do about the torment I have to go through every day. It's the whole student body I have to go up against.

"I'm sorry Miss Fabray. It won't happen again", Is all she answered. Quinn noticed the way her eyes turned to the floor which indicated there was more to it but she couldn't force the girl to open up.

"I want you to know that you can always talk to Miss Pillsbury if you need to."

Yeah right, Rachel thought, when she's not busy giving Mr. Shue googly eyes.

"Thank you Miss Fabray but that won't be necessary. I appreciate your concern", Rachel responded politely.

There was that eye contact again and Quinn found herself wanting to know the reason behind Rachel's shyness. A nice girl like her shouldn't be so introvert. Next year she'll graduate and the world is hers to explore. Maybe I was a little too confident for my own good. Look where that's gotten me. Rachel on the other hand, found herself with the inability to look away from those beautiful hazel eyes.

"Alright. I hope this is all temporary and you'll have your straight A's back in no time." Quinn smiled warmly at her. "See you next lesson, Miss Berry".

Rachel snapped out of her daze and mumbled something unintelligible as she scampered of.

Quinn made a mental note to keep an eye on Rachel.


The next day Rachel made it twenty feet inside the school when she felt as if she was hit with a ton of bricks, scratch that, an iceberg would have been more accurate. Her eyes stung and her senses were clouded. Silently praying she had her slushie kit in her bag, she rushed to the most nearby bathroom. Once inside, she slid down a wall and let her tears fall freely.

When Quinn saw what had happened she called out the boy with the slushie cup in his hand and send him to the principal's office. She berated if she should've gone after the girl, to make sure she was alright. I shouldn't impose, she probably needs space, Quinn thought, but if everybody thinks that way she's all alone. So she decided to peek inside and when she saw Rachel sitting on the ground, with her head in her hands, covered in red liquid, she stepped inside.

Rachel heard someone stepping closer but didn't have the heart to look up. What if it's one of the cheerios to just laugh in her face? That wouldn't be the first time.

"Miss Berry, are you okay? Let me help you up" was all Quinn can offer, her heart went out to the girl.

She saw Rachel tense and she regretted coming in and invading her privacy.

Rachel scrambled up and tried to wipe away the tears but all she did was get more slushie in her eyes and it stung like a bitch.

"Wait a moment, I'll help you wipe this stuff away, I see you're in pain" Quinn gently pulled at some paper towels, wet them and brought them to Rachel's face. The singer closed her eyes in anticipation.

Rachel's breath hitched and she didn't know if it was from the cold paper towel or her teacher's proximity. Quinn concentrated on getting the job done but lost her focus when Rachel opened her eyes again. The moment was interrupted when Quinn took a step back. "The stain on your shirt probably won't get out with just water…" she said nervously.

"That's not a problem. I anticipated this anyway so I carry some extra clothes at all times. These are just some from the back of my closet, I can't risk my good clothes getting stained" Rachel rushed out without looking at her teacher.

"Is this a recurring incident? Because if it is, then I'll have to report this"

Rachel's head turned up so quickly she was afraid she'd have a whip plash. "NO please Miss Fabray this doesn't have to be a big deal. I deserve it anyway and it doesn't happen that much."

Quinn couldn't believe what she was hearing. "First of all, Miss Berry, nobody deserves to deal with such bullying. Especially not you. Secondly, I have this feeling this does occur often, and am I wrong if I say this is why your grades are dropping too?" While Quinn didn't realize what she'd said, Rachel wondered what Miss Fabray meant with "especially not you".

Rachel looked her teacher in the eye, "I promise my grades will go up. Please let it be."

After a few moments Quinn dropped the eye contact and complied, "Alright Rachel"

They just stood there, not knowing what to do. After a brief awkward silence, "Miss Fabray, do you mind if I could get changed?"

"Oh! Yes, of course! I'm sorry, I was just... I forgot" Give the girl some space, Fabray.

"No problem, thank you for helping me, I'm the one who should be apologizing for taking up your time".

"No worries Rachel, I didn't have class."

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you already at school so early?"

"Because…" I just come to school to hear you sing. No don't say that! "I grade some papers to kill time." With that, she was very pleased with her own response.

"Oh, well, please don't think I'm weird but I thought I've seen you at the auditorium a couple of times."

Quinn could feel her ears getting hot at the thought of being caught. She faltered for a moment. "I-I, that could be true. I happened to overhear you one day, and I peeked inside to know who could sing so wonderfully".

"Th-thank you Miss Fabray, that means a lot coming from you" Rachel was just over the moon. "Maybe next time you could stay, I'd love some feedback."

"That can be arranged" Rachel received a megawatt smile.

They parted ways, both having this pleasant feeling in their stomachs.


Later that day, Rachel was making her way to her next class with Kurt. He saw his step brother walking towards them and whispered to Rachel, "Do not let him push you around again Rachel", before walking away.

"Hey Rach, wait up!". Rachel stopped in her tracks and turned around to find Finn jogging over with this dopey grin on his face. They hadn't seen each other much since school started again. Over the summer they spend a couple a days per week together, and it was 'okay'. When they had a conversation Rachel got the feeling he was never listening except when he wanted to get in her pants.

He leaned down and kissed her. "I came over to ask you out to Breadstix on Saturday night, at eight?" He gives her this puppy look she kind of came to hate.

She found herself nodding in agreement but without any excitement. I guess I don't feel the same way as I used to.

"Awesome. There's this new Playstation game out and I can't wait to tell you all about it. I have to go, football practice." In his excitement he pushed his lips roughly against Rachel's and gave her no time to respond. When she looked at her left she saw Miss Fabray looking at her with this stone mask on her face. Rachel smiled and gave a little dorky wave, which seemed to pull her out of her trance. She gave a tightlipped smile back and disappeared in her classroom.


"B, honey, eat with your mouth closed", Quinn smiled down at her. It's Saturday evening which meant Beth could spend some time with her.

"Yes Mom" When Quinn came back into her daughter's life a couple of years ago, it felt weird to have her call Quinn 'mom' and Shelby her first name, but it was her own choice and they learned to be comfortable with each other in a mom-daughter relationship despite Beth living with Shelby. Shelby was also her mother, it was just different. For being an 8 year old Beth was very mature and so smart. She understood their situation at an early age.

"So how was school this week? I heard you're doing so well, I'm really proud of you."

"We had this cool art project, it was so fun…", whilst Beth recounted her week, Quinn noticed Rachel and Fred... Finn, that's it, Finn, walking in together.

"So what do you like most? Coloring or painting?" The English teacher was genuinely interested in everything Beth did or said, but she couldn't keep herself from zoning out on their conversation and focusing her eyes on Rachel. She didn't seem sad anymore, but she didn't seem happy either. They were seated against the back wall of the restaurant, directly in Quinn's line of sight. The student noticed the pair of eyes on her and gave her this sneaky smile. She couldn't help but smile back before focusing her attention back on Beth.

"Are we going to visit Gwenn after dinner? She helped me with my project and I have to tell her how it went." Quinn was glad Beth liked Gwenn, if she didn't she wouldn't keep dating her.

"Of course honey."

They were in the middle of dinner when Finn started rambling about some new game and Rachel completely lost track. Is this how Finn feels when I ramble about Broadway? Her eyes began to wander and they landed on Miss Fabray. Lately, it seems as if she's everywhere.

She focused back on their conversation and when dinner was over Finn took her home. Luckily they talked about something more interesting in the car. Rachel ended up having an 'okay' time again. Her dads weren't home yet so she invited him in. Her mind kept going back to Miss Fabray and the little girl. Who's that girl? Could she be a little sister?