"Are you kidding me, Rachel? You're as clumsy as an elephant on a tightrope!" spat Santana. She was standing with her classic 'hands on hips' stance, leaning slightly forward with her eyes like slits. "What idiot said you could join the Cheerio's?"
"Actually that idiot was me, fake boobs." said Coach Sylvester as she strolled up behind them, making Santana jump out of her skin. She immediately backed off Rachel and looked at her feet. "I've heard that Rachel's voice could give us an edge at Nationals. Turns out the judges are tougher this year and we need something to distract them from those giant balloons on your chest that could deflate at any minute resulting in Hurricane Santana." She turned to Rachel, "So congrats kiddo! Welcome to the Cheerio's. I'll sort you out a uniform for practice this afternoon and please take that God awful headband off." Coach Sylvester walked out of the locker room and left Santana scowling. Just as she was about to pounce, Quinn Fabray walked in.
"What's going on here? The air feels tense." breathed Quinn, barely looking up from her locker. Santana swung around on her heels to face her.
"Man hands' is on the Cheerio's. Has this entire school gone crazy? No me gusta!" yelled Santana as she stormed out of the locker room. Quinn put her bag in her locker, let out a huge sigh and slammed it shut.
"If you do anything to ruin our chances at Nationals, I'll personally go out of my way to make your life hell." snapped Quinn. "I've taken enough crap this year so losing this trophy would just be the cherry on top." Rachel who had been standing awkwardly for a while now looked up at Quinn with slightly angry eyes.
"Do you think I even wanted to do this? Coach Sylvester ma…" Quinn interrupted Rachel mid-sentence.
"However, I'm willing to sacrifice my spare time to train you up. I just can't risk losing. Understand?"
Rachel was now confused but she hesitantly nodded in agreement at Quinn's offer. Joining the Cheerio's is the only chance she had left at being able to walk through the school corridors without getting slushied.
"Great. So I'll see you at 4 in the gym. And I expect to see you in your uniform with your hair tied back." demanded Quinn as she glided out of the locker room and into the gym leaving Rachel confused and nervous. She couldn't mess this up.
Quinn sat in Math and tapped her pen on her desk. How could Coach take such a huge risk right before Nationals? She knew that adding an edge to the routine, such as singing, could make them stand out, but adding someone with no cheerleading experience into the squad could sacrifice the glory for them all. Quinn liked Rachel most of the time- she was an amazing singer and excelled in Glee club. She knew that Rachel could become huge one day. Quinn mused all lesson about Rachel. Could she have talent in other areas too? Well, she'd definitely find out this afternoon.
Rachel wandered into the locker room five minutes late- Jacob has been following her the whole way there begging to see her bra. Being late probably wasn't the best start. Rachel expected the locker room to be full of Cheerio's doing their hair and comparing how skinny they were, but it was empty. "That's weird." Rachel said to herself as she found an empty locker and began to get changed into her new uniform. As she zipped up the back of her skirt, she looked down at herself. She looked pretty good- her long legs seemed endless in the short skirt and her average sized breasts seemed bigger in the tight material. Not bad at all, Rachel she thought to herself.
After she'd tied her hair up into a perfect ponytail, she made her way to the gym. Just as she walked through the doors, she took a deep breath. Come on, this is only cheerleading. It's nothing to be afraid of. I have a whole wall full of certificates and trophies for performing for Gods' sake!
"Glad you could finally make it, Rachel." Said Quinn wryly without even turning around. "Everybody else has gone outside to practice but I figured you need some intense one-on-one training."
"Yeah sorry, I got held up." replied Rachel matter-of-factly. Quinn turned around to face her. Rachel felt even more nervous when Quinn looked slightly stunned as she moved her eyes slowly up and down her body. "So erm… What are you teaching me today?"
Quinn blinked, looked away and cleared her throat.
"We'll be doing some basic jumps today. Like this…" said Quinn as she leaped into the air, moving her legs up to her outstretched arms. She slightly stumbled as she landed. What is happening to me? Rachel walks in in her cheerleading outfit and I find myself checking her out, then I stumble on a jump that I have been doing to perfection since I was 12! Her legs are pretty nice though- I wish I had those legs. Wait… what? Stop it, Quinn! You're here to teach, not admire.
"That doesn't happen usually, I swear." Quinn managed to laugh it off and, luckily, Rachel seemed to believe her.
The two girls practiced in the gym for around two hours, but in that time, Rachel had got the hang of many of the jumps and basic moves pretty quickly. As they walked into the locker room out of breath, they realised that everyone else had gone home and they were alone.
"Wow, we were in there for longer that I thought." said Quinn as she got her bag out of her locker. "Well done, you were good in there today. I have high hopes." Rachel returned Quinn's shy smile. I guess she's not used to giving out compliments to me, thought Rachel. "I errrm… didn't see your car in the lot today. Do you need a ride home?" offered Quinn. For some reason, she didn't want to leave Rachel yet. She wasn't used to spending so much time with her but she kind of liked it when she did.
"Oh no, my Dads will pick me up," stuttered Rachel. "They brought me here this morning so…"
"Come on, Rach. We both know there's no point in you hanging around waiting to be picked up when I could easily drop you off on my way home," explained Quinn. She didn't want to sound too nice though- she didn't like to show off her soft side- it was a sign of weakness. "I mean, I wouldn't have offered if I had to go out of my way to take you home." she added.
"Fine. Thanks."
In the car ride home, Rachel couldn't help but groan when The Black Eyed Peas came onto the radio. Quinn briefly looked over.
"What's your problem?"
"I hate this song so much." Rachel stated as she immediately changed the station. It was an involuntary reflex that she'd managed to pick up from when she was a child who had first started to love music.
"Wow Rachel, making ourselves at home aren't we?" said Quinn with cut-throat sarcasm. Rachel knew she wasn't being nasty as Quinn had a little smile on her face. "Hey, try this one. It's usually got some classics on," said Quinn as she changed the station again. "See." The starting music to 'I Feel Pretty/Unpretty' was blasting through the speakers.
"I love this song! You take the first verse." demanded Rachel. Being in Glee club, they both knew exactly how to make songs into duets without even practising. Quinn happily obliged. They sang the whole song, taking it in turns with different harmonies. They never knew their voices could work so well together and sound so… beautiful.
As they pulled up to Rachel's house, Quinn turned to face Rachel.
"I don't think you should get a nose job… I mean, I heard you talking about it to Tina and Mercedes in Glee club and I think your nose is f-fine." Why am I stuttering?
"Thank you, Quinn. I was still unsure but now I've got your approval to keep it, then I guess I'd be dumb to get a nose job." replied Rachel. Quinn looked confused. "What?"
"Why does my opinion make a difference?" asked Quinn.
"Because you're well… the prettiest girl at school. Beautiful in fact. So I appreciate any opinion you have about appearance." said Rachel shyly. She didn't look up at Quinn's face immediately but when she did, she met a set of perfect, hazel eyes that looked genuinely touched. They just stared at each other for a while with big smiles on their faces until Rachel heard her Dads car pull into the drive.
"Erm… I should go. My Daddy is always mad when I'm late for dinner- not that he can cook or anything. Dinner means take-out in our house." Rachel joked as she opened the car door. "Thanks for dropping me off. I really appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow." And before Quinn could say anything back, Rachel had already shut the door and started walking towards her house.
Quinn just sat in her car watching Rachel walk. She really did like those long, tanned legs of hers. She managed to rip her eyes away and bang her head against the wheel. What the hell is going on with me? Did Rachel Berry just give me butterflies? Quinn rapidly drove off and tried her hardest to get Rachel off of her mind.