I don't know why I agreed to come back.

It wasn't like I was ever a leader in Glee club- half the time I was trying to destroy it. Yet after catching up with Brittany and learning of Finn's takeover of the club, I felt obligated to. Naturally, I had an ulterior motive; college ended up being much more time-consuming than high school and I hadn't been able to see Rachel since the summer. If this was my chance to see her, then I would be there.

Of course, this is before I heard about what happened at Grease.

There was no way Rachel was going to show up after that and I felt pathetic hanging around my old high school with the likes of Finn Hudson. But, I made a commitment, and Quinn Fabray sticks to her word. My break started earlier than the rest of the New Directions alum, so the first day, I was the only one to join Finn.

On the surface, Glee club looked very different. New faces mixed with old, yet the personalities hadn't changed one bit. Sure, Rachel, Finn, Mercedes, Puck, and I had graduated, but it seemed that Mr. Shuester had found new versions of all of us. Jake Puckerman was just like his brother; too cool for school with a soft spot when you looked hard enough. Unique replaced Mercedes as the outspoken diva. Ryder easily took Finn's dumb jock spot. Marley was sweet and determined, just like Rachel. That left my replacement- Kitty.

Was this my legacy? An insecure cheerleader, willing to do anything to stay on top? That's who I was, not who I am.

I took it upon myself to ensure Kitty learned from my mistakes before it was too late.

Everyone was gathered in the choir room for the first Sectionals meeting. I never understood why Mr. Shuester only began preparing a mere week before a competition, but here we were.

"Alright everyone, we have Sectionals coming up one week from today, so we need to pick our songs and start practicing today," Finn said, looking a little too confident.

"Wait, Sectionals is in a week? Why are we just starting to prepare now?" Marley asked, slightly annoyed.

"It always worked for us," Finn responded, looking to me for reassurance. Instead, I stared at him blankly. "Anyway, we usually do a solo, a duet, and then a group number. So, we need a theme. I was thinking doing Journey songs."

"Unique does not approve of using a three year old program," Unique bluntly responded.

"Yeah, it's a new era for the Glee club," Ryder chimed in.

Finn's face fell; his protégée had turned against him. I couldn't help but smirk, and saw the same look on Brittany and Tina's faces.

Ryder must have seen Finn's face, because he then added, "But, we could do songs about the same thing. Like friendship!"

Finn's face lit up, while Kitty and Jake noticeably scowled. "Great idea! Seeing as we haven't heard anything else, that will be our theme for Sectionals! Now, who has some song suggestions?"

For now, I felt it was a good idea to be a background character; I wouldn't be singing the songs, so I shouldn't pick them. The rest of the group slowly came around to the idea of singing songs about friendship. I don't know what songs they were going to choose; we had already used "Lean on Me," "True Colors," and "Keep Holding On."

"What about 'You're My Best Friend' for the group number? Queen is always a hit with the judges," Artie suggested.

"Great! You, Blaine, and Tina will take the lead on that one." Finn said, eagerly writing the song on the whiteboard. "What else?"

"What about 'Stand By Me' for the solo? A sped up version would be cool," Unique proposed, seeing how easy it was for Artie to get what he wanted.

"Excellent! Do you want to sing it?" Finn asked, clearly trying to get the set chosen as quickly as possible.

Unique nodded, and was chosen for the solo. Finn was trying to be fair, but his method had flaws.

Murmurs filled the choir room as the remaining members of the New Directions tried to decide what a good duet would be.

Seeing as Marley was the New Rachel, it was no surprise that she spoke first. "What about 'Time After Time' for the duet?"

It was a good choice and Finn quickly agreed to hit. However, before he could assign her partner, I decided to intervene.

"May I?" I asked, before he could speak. He nodded, looking relieved. "I know that you two are dying to sing this song with Marley," I said, gesturing towards Jake and Ryder. "However, if the spirit of this competition is friendship, I feel that Kitty would be a much better choice, don't you Finn?"

Finn always agreed. "Yeah, that's great Quinn! Thanks!" He finished the set on the board, not giving either of the girls a chance to protest. Marley looked fine, though maybe a little frightened, while Kitty looked like she was going to strangle me. Both boys sat with their arms crossed, trying not to look upset.

"Alright, this is it. We'll start off with Marley and Kitty's duet, followed by Unique's solo, and we'll end with the group number, led by Artie, Tina, and Blaine. I hope you're all prepared to work your butts of this week!" he said, effectively dismissing the group. "Thanks for your help today Quinn. I've gotta head to the tire shop," he yelled while exiting the room.

Soon, only Kitty and Marley remained in the choir room. Jake and Ryder attempted to get them to leave, but they insisted that they needed to talk to me. Alone.

"Quinn Fabray, it is an honor to meet you, really, but are you crazy? I can't sing a song with this loser!" Kitty cried.

"You're going to regret that some day. The fall from the top is awfully painful and without a real friend like Marley around, you're going to be awfully lonely," I responded, cooly.

Marley cocked her head to the side, confused. I just smiled.

"Listen, I get it. Really, I do. You hate her because you're popular and she's not, but she's still gets the attention of the boys you want attention from. You think she's wronged you in some way and you will desperately try for the next two years to make her pay for it. But, during your senior year, you will grow and realize that there is life outside of this ridiculous high school and that you wasted all this time being a jerk when you could have had a really good friend," I told them. Both of their eyes grew wide, clearly they had no idea that their experience was not special.

"If you're lucky enough, Marley will still want to be your friend by then."

The room was silent for a couple of seconds before Marley's phone went off.

"Shoot. I've got to go meet my mom. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," she said as she walked out of the choir room.

I had to admit she was cute, though she was no Rachel. Kitty's eyes followed her out and lingered at the door.

"I don't hate her," she admitted, turning towards me.

"I know you don't. There's a lot of pressure being on the top. But I promise, you do not want to end up like me."

"Why not? You can't even tell you had a baby and you go to Yale," Kitty asked, sitting down in one of the more comfortable plastic chairs. I sat down next to her, trying to think of the best way to say what I needed to.

"True, but during my time as head Cheerio, I ruined any chances of ever being with the person I love."

I looked in front of us, to the floor where Rachel had poured her heart out so many times to us. No matter how hard I tried, I could never keep my eyes off her. If I was in a horrible mood before Glee club, all it took was Rachel's singing to make me feel better.

Kitty gazed ahead as well, and while I didn't know what she was thinking, I knew that my words had impacted her.

"You really don't have a chance?" she asked a few minutes later, breaking the silence.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. I don't deserve her anyway," I muttered.

I probably shouldn't have said that last part, but it was going to come out eventually.

"I'll do it," she said, changing the topic.

"What?"

"I will sing the duet with Marley at Sectionals."

I smiled, but thinking about Rachel and being in the choir room without her made me sad and I didn't have the heart to say anything more. I hoped my plan would work and Kitty wouldn't have to suffer like me.

One week later

"Alright guys, we made it! Before we go out there, I want to thank all my Glee club alums for helping out," Finn said, gesturing to a group of us in the back.

Santana, Mike, Mercedes, and I smiled politely to the club before they returned their attention to Finn.

"How do you think they'll do?" Mike asked, quietly.

"I worked with Unique all week on the song; she's going to kill it!" Mercedes said.

"Yeah, and the group number looks great," Santana added, "How was working on the duet?"

"Good," I smiled, "I just wish Rachel had been here to help me."

The light flashed overhead, meaning that it was about time for the New Directions to perform. The four of us headed out into the audience; Finn had made sure to reserve seats for us in the front row, and included a couple extra in case Rachel and Kurt could make it from New York. We caught the end of another group's rendition of "God Only Knows" while we were sitting down.

"Give it up for that great number!" the announcer boomed. "Alright, up next we have last year's national champions, the McKinley High New Directions!"

As the curtains pulled back, I heard a familiar voice approaching.

"Sorry, excuse me."

I turned to see Rachel Berry climbing over people to get to the seat next to me. I felt an instant smile form on my face and knew it wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. She gently placed her hand on top of mine when she sat down.

"Sorry I'm late," she started, but then Marley began to speak.

"Hello everyone! Thank you so much for coming out to see us sing! Kitty and I wanted to dedicate this number to our mentor, Quinn Fabray."

Rachel turned to me with a smirk, and Marley began to sing, with Kitty joining in soon after.

"If you're lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting, time after time."

The set went by smoothly and the New Directions won without any real competition. What did surprise everyone, however, was Kitty leaping into Marley's arms and kissing her on stage. It might have even surprised Marley, but the kiss still hadn't stopped when the curtain was drawn, so probably not in a bad way.

Santana turned to me and smirked and I simply shrugged my shoulders.

"Can we get out of here?" Rachel asked, taking my hand.

She didn't have to ask me twice. I figured she wanted to avoid Finn because of the Grease disaster, and would gladly comply. We were almost out the door when Kitty and Marley nearly ran us over.

"I'm so sorry, we were just really excited," Marley immediately said, backing up behind Kitty.

"Quinn! I thought you said you ruined your chance! You tricked me!" Kitty exclaimed. She must have noticed Rachel and I holding hands.

Rachel looked puzzled. "A chance at what?"

I shot Kitty a death glare before she could say anymore. She shrugged and back down the hall with Marley. I turned to Rachel, my cheeks flushed and my heart racing.

"What was she talking about?" Rachel asked again.

"Can we talk about this somewhere more private?"

She nodded, and led me to her car. She quietly unlocked the doors and we both sat down, both looking straight ahead instead of at each other.

"Quinn, will you please tell me what Kitty was referring to?" Rachel asked, as calmly as she could. She turned to me, but I knew I couldn't say what I was about to while looking at her.

I drew in a deep breath. "On the first day they practiced for Sectionals, I was the only one here. I suggested the Kitty and Marley do a duet together because the theme was friendship and it was clear that they needed to work on theirs. They're just like us, you know?"

Rachel slowly nodded, the pieces coming together in her mind.

"I couldn't let her make the same mistakes I did and I told her that because I was so stupid, I would never get to be with the person I love. I guess… I guess she figured out that it was you."

I felt like my heart was going to leap out of my chest, and if that didn't happen, then I was surely about to vomit everywhere. I had finally admitted it to her. Maybe now I could start to move on.

"Me?" she asked, gently moving my face towards hers so she could see my eyes.

I nodded, tears forming in my eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"No, you don't have anything to be sorry about," she said, enveloping me in a hug. I breathed her in, not knowing if she would ever let me be this close again. The tears cascaded from my eyes, making a mess of her hair and shirt, but she didn't say anything or pull away. Instead, she turned towards my ear and whispered, "You really love me?"

I nodded into her shoulder and tightened the hug between us.

When she pulled away, she put both hands on my face. I could see that she had been crying to, but in a much calmer manner than I had.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Before I could answer, her lips were on mine, and the briefest of seconds seemed like the moment I had been waiting my whole life for. It was quick and chaste, but soft and better than I ever could have imagined.

"I want to try," she said, and I started crying all over again.

She smiled and grabbed some tissues from her purse. As I tried to make my face look presentable, she started up the car and headed towards her house. She insisted that her fathers were not home and we would be able to talk about this without any interruptions. I smiled and took her hand.

I hoped Kitty and Marley appreciated my help as much as I appreciated theirs.