"That's her, huh."
It wasn't a question but Quinn nodded anyway. She started to take a drag from the cigarette she'd forgotten she still held but threw it down in disgust on seeing it had burned out.
"What the hell was that, Mack?" Her frustration churned up and found an outlet. "Beating her up for $10? You know sh-they're off-limits."
"Hey, relax," Mack raised her hands in mock surrender. "It was just to get her out of here before you completely lost control. You were practically gonna throw yourself at her feet."
"It was kind of pathetic, really." Ronnie's whispered aside to Sheila was loud enough for Quinn to overhear and reignited her simmering temper.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked coldly.
"Nothing, sheesh. Meee-ow." Ronnie held up her curled hands in a parody of claws. "What the fuck is up with you? You should be thanking Mack, seriously. You were totally molesting her with your eyes."
Mack stepped in again before Quinn could reply. "Actually, she was kinda cute. Annoying, but cute. And brave," she added, looking mildly impressed. "People don't usually bother the Skanks on their turf."
"Yeah," Ronnie agreed, eyeing Quinn. "She must have had a very important reason." Sheila and Mack smirked, the emphasis not lost on them.
Or Quinn. "Guys, don't even go there. She only wants me back in glee because now she has Finn and everything's perfect in her perfect little life and she wants to win Nationals and apparently I can help." She frowned thoughtfully at her own words. If it came to that, would she rejoin glee club to help them win? She liked winning and it would look great on her college application, but to put herself through that. For Rachel.
As quickly as it'd come, the fight left Quinn. Mack was right. She had been moved by Santana and Brittany's plea to return to glee club but never really tempted. But Rachel just showing up and looking at her with those eyes and smelling wonderful (thanks, Ronnie, for calling attention to that, by the way!) had almost been enough for her to cave. She'd known immediately what Rachel wanted and had hoped to cut her off by tersely interrupting and letting her know she wasn't coming back. But she was so polite and nice and had even charmed the Skanks with her response to Sheila's obvious put down of the Go-Gos. And then she had talked about how she was sad not seeing her and then listed all the ways in which she did completely see and notice her. It was almost as if...
Quinn shook her head as if to clear it. "So, the Bangles?" she raised an eyebrow at Sheila and grinned wryly, knowing that had been another attempt to break up the discussion.
The others leaned back and relaxed. Not that they'd been nervous, of course, but Fabray was weirdly scary when really riled up and nothing riled her up like Rachel Berry.
"Hey, Fabray. You're popular today." Sheila indicated a quickly approaching Santana. Quinn frowned.
"I already said I wasn't going to com..." she faded off, taking a closer look at Santana. She looked nervous and-had she been crying? "What's wrong?"
Looking defeated, Santana simply said, "Sue. She knows."
There was no need for Quinn to ask what Sue knew and she felt a rising sense of panic for Santana (and herself, if truth were to be told). "What? How? What's she going to do? Did she do anything? I thought she was going to be nicer after the whole...thing." Quinn motioned vaguely, still uncomfortable with Jean and...the whole thing. "Is Bri-" she cut herself off again, noticing the interested looks from the Skanks. Discussing herself with them was one thing, but she wasn't going to tell them about Santana and Brittany without first checking with them.
Santana followed her gaze and sneered. "Something interesting, Skanks?" putting an emphasis on their name that hinted at more insult than irony. Quinn couldn't help but smirk at how even now, Santana was full of attitude.
Seeing that the Skanks were about to respond, and from their demeanor, not necessarily with words, Quinn held up a hand to forestall them.
"Come on." She grabbed Santana's elbow to lead her away from the bleachers but frowned when Santana wouldn't move.
"Uh, sorry about that," Santana said sheepishly. "Just worried about something."
"Your crazy coach find out you're a total lesbo?" Mack asked lazily, still smarting from the earlier dig. Santana gasped as Quinn winced. Her own outing hadn't been any less blunt but at least she hadn't had the very real fear of a rampaging Sue Sylvester on her trail. Or did she?
She turned back to Santana, who seemed still in shock. "How did Sue find out?"
"How did they find out, Quinn?" Shock had apparently given way to fury. "Did you tell them?"
"Please," Sheila scoffed. "It'd be hard not to know. The way you and your blonde bitch go at it." The other Skanks nodded in agreement.
Quinn braced herself to hold back Santana from retaliating for the "bitch" comment but the explosion didn't come. Instead, Santana had paled alarmingly and looked to be on the verge of crying. Quinn and the other Skanks exchanged glances before Ronnie jumped up to guide Santana over to sit down with the other girls clearing room for her.
"Santana? Are you okay?" Quinn asked softly. Encouraged by a nod and no tears (yet), Quinn went on, "What did Coach Sylvester say?"
Santana sniffled and with a catch in her voice said, "She said that I play for both sides and that I should do that for the Cheerios and glee too."
Quinn tensed. She'd thought the glee club would finally be free of Sue. Or at least for a few months. This was ridiculous. "What does she want you to do?"
"Destroy those stupid purple pianos." She turned to Quinn. "I don't want to get thrown off glee, Q. What do I do?"
The stark note of desperate pleading in Santana's eyes shook Quinn. She hadn't fully realized just how important the glee club was to Santana. And the alternative, something that she herself couldn't contemplate, was hardly something she could could suggest. Nodding to herself, she came to a decision.
"Nothing. We'll do it for you." She grinned at Santana and the Skanks.
"Hold on. I was hoping you'd come up with a way to deal with Sue, not let somebody else go ahead that plan. Bri-the glee club likes those pianos. And destroying school property could get you suspended."
Quinn smiled with a confidence she had faked enough for it to become second nature. "Don't worry. We're the skanks."
The rest of the Skanks had gone on a beer run when Santana stormed back.
"He kicked me off. I can't believe that son of a bitch kicked me off." Santana wasn't crying, but her rage and sorrow were obvious, as were the fresh tear tracks trailing down her face.
"What?" exclaimed Quinn. The way they'd planned it, Santana hadn't been directly connected to the fire at all.
"He knew. He just...he knew, Q."
Quinn didn't know what to say. She'd voluntarily quit glee but she understood the pull it had. And somehow, pointing out that Santana still had the Cheerios didn't seem like the comfort it might have been.
"Did anyone try to stop you?" she asked hesitantly.
A bitter shake of the head. They both knew who "anyone" referred to.
They both sat in a disconsolate silence until Santana broke the silence. "It's so unfair." After a pause so long, Quinn was just about to ask what was, Santana continued, "How come when I do shit, it comes back to bite me on the ass while you get to do whatever?" Seeing Quinn's eyebrows jump in disbelief, she clarified, "I mean, yeah, the pregnancy, but you're back to where you were before. Even Finn came back to you. Puck, Sam. Any other boy in school would be panting after you if you let them. You can screw over Sue and Mr. Schuester and they'll be begging you to come back within a week."
She stopped, seemingly surprised at her own rant. Quinn, for her part, was more than surprised, and feeling guilty and defensive, began to get angry. Before she could say anything, Santana turned to her.
"Did Rachel ask you to rejoin glee?" It was such a simple question, Quinn couldn't help but nod, not seeing its relevance. Seeing her confusion, Santana smiled sadly. "You and me. Who treated her worse?" Quinn saw her point. She had probably been far crueler to Rachel over the years, and while Santana's natural bitchiness lent itself well to bullying, most of it had actually been during her reign at school. And yet Rachel was still asking her to return. She stifled the ever stubborn blossom of hope at that and shrugged at Santana.
"Well, when you got it, you got it," she quipped, hoping to add some levity to an increasingly depressing mood.
Instead, Santana burst into dramatic sobs. Not knowing what to do, Quinn shuffled closer to Santana and warily put an arm around her shoulders. In New York, she'd used Santana's shoulder quite literally to cry on and it wasn't in her to refuse to return this favor.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?"
Quinn and Santana jerked up and looked around in sync. Brittany was standing next to the end of the bleachers, her quizzical look turning to concern when she saw Santana's tears. Quinn moved away in relief to let the much better-equipped Brittany deal with Santana. She paused for a bit on seeing an unfamiliar expression fleetingly pass on Brittany's face, almost as if she was angry.
Was she jealous?
Later than late...After the Skanks had returned and kicked out Santana and Brittany from the bleachers, though not before finding out what had happened ("Ass-face kicked you out? What the fuck did we destroy the piano for? Okay, what the fuck did Quinn destroy the piano for? Whatever, it was fun. But Ass-face still sucks."), Quinn found herself wandering around McKinley. Unknowingly mimicking William Schuester's actions two years earlier, as she passed by the auditorium she heard the faint strains on music that, try as she might to walk away from, she could not. She did recognize her own sense of deja vu as she stood in the shadows watching and wondered at the differences. There was the same surprised and reluctant admiration for a high school glee band more talented than anybody-including themselves-understood, but no longer tinged with the regret of knowing she would have to destroy them.
This time, there was no Sue or Santana with her. Sue no longer needed to watch them to know what she was up against. Santana had played her hand and lost, losing far more than she'd intended. Brittany was actually up there in front of her right now, as was Puck, who she vividly remembered outlined against the sunny glare, vague memories of their night together still churning unpleasantly in her stomach.
Kurt, who had grown up so much, in so many ways. (She would not admit how grateful she was for his friendship with her). He had dealt with so much and with grace and she couldn't find it in herself to be resentful for his prom queen...win. Two years ago, she would have set out to destroy the confidence and self-belief he exuded now but she was happy for him, as much as she could be happy for anybody. For all of them, Tina and Mike, who had somehow found each other, and despite all their sameness, seemed to complement each other in their differences. For Brittany and Artie, who could stay friends despite the two 's' words lurking between them. For Mercedes, who had surprised them all by announcing she had broken up with Sam before anybody had known they were dating and introduced them to her new boyfriend. It was funny how entrenched they were with the football team, despite all their problems.
Which brought her to the biggest difference of all. Two years ago, there had been only an inkling of the feelings between the two glee leads. Now, there was a comfort to Rachel's interactions with Finn that made Quinn queasy and once again assured her that she had made the right decision in leaving glee.
Hadn't she?