A/N: (Sadly) I do not own Glee, any of the characters or the songs mentioned here. This is my first fic, so don't go too hard on me... but I would love your reviews telling me what you think! Should I continue it?

After the talk with Rachel in the girls' bathroom, Quinn sat in her math class not really paying attention. She kept thinking and thinking about what Rachel told her. Finn asked her to marry him and she was actually considering the idea!

How could that be the same girl who once put her dreams above anything and anyone else? The one who needed applause to live? Okay, that was a little dramatic, but still... Rachel had always been the one who was sure she'd be out of Lima as soon as high school was over. She was meant to go to New York, and Kurt had told her how excited she was when they got to perform on a real Broadway stage.

Until Finn, Quinn thought. Finn had already ruined their chance at Nationals by kissing Rachel on stage, and all Rachel did was take him back... they freaking lost Nationals for that kiss! Yes, Quinn did stop Santana from going all Lima Heights on the girl, but she had been disappointed in what had happened too. How could she not be? They truly had a chance at winning, their songs were really good, but he had blowed them with that selfish gesture.

And now Rachel was considering the idea of marrying him, of being chained to a high school crush? No, Quinn couldn't let it happen to Rachel. The girl who ALWAYS saw through her and never gave up on her, even though she would have had every reason to...

Rachel had been the one who thought about singing "Keep Holding On" to her. Rachel had been the only one who told her that she was more than her beauty. Rachel had been the only one who didn't force her to do something, but waited for Quinn to be ready. And Rachel had been the one who kept her from taking Beth away from Shelby, even if Quinn thought it was what she wanted, what she NEEDED, to be someone in life. And now it was time for Quinn to return the favour. Rachel may want Finn, but she couldn't let the girl think she needed the boy to be someone... she couldn't let Rachel doubt her talent, her future. She was going to do for Rachel, what Rachel did for her. Not give up on her.

Quinn looked at the sketchbook on her desk and smiled... without even realizing it, she had scrabbled what was her goal. What she saw when they were going to New York for Nationals. Rachel Berry looking at New York skyline from their plan, with her hands clutched at her heart and with shining and excited eyes.

Glee club was up next, and she was going to show Rachel what she meant with "If you wanna be happy, you're gonna have to say goodbye", and what a better way than a song?

As Quinn enters the choir room, she has no idea of what she will say after her performance... she had told Mr. Schuester about her early admission at Yale just before Glee began, and she was going to tell her friends right after her song. She had choosen "Never Can Say Goodbye"... it was What Would Michael Do Week after all, wasn't it?

She doesn't even sit on the chair, and while she waits for all of her friends to sit she chats with the band guys, whom she had learned to appreciate during her rebel phase... she never doubted that spending time away from the people who had always been there for her would have hurt, and so when she wanted to take some time alone she would go read in the choir room instead of the library, when the band was praticing for their jazz songs. She found that music quite relaxing, and she knew they would have been too busy to bother her or ask questions... it was the perfect place to not feel completely left out of the Glee club. So, after sharing a joke with the blonde guitarist, Quinn gave them her thumb up for her performance to begin... as the first verse went on, she closed her eyes and tried to feel every word the song.

"Never can say goodbye, no no no... never can say goodbye. Even tho the pain and heartache seem to follow me wherever I go..."

She knows she's singing this song for and to Rachel, because she's the one now that can't say goodbye to a boy to follow her dreams, but she can't help thinking about how these words could have easily suit her just some months ago...

"Though I tried and tried to hide my feelings, they always seem to show. Then you try to say you're leaving me, and I always have to say no..."

Her thoughts drift back to the weeks right before Prom, when Finn had wanted to break up with her and she didn't want that to happen... because she had to say no to that, to save her image at school...

"Tell me why is it so, don't wanna let you go, I never can say goodbye boy... I never can say goodbye."

Quinn is looking at Puck now, smiling sweetly, because she doesn't need to let him go anymore, at least as a friend... they would always have Beth to bring them together, and she know he would be the only one understanding her feelings when birthdays were coming around.

"I keep thinking that our problems soon are all gonna work out, but there's that same unhappy feeling and there's that anguish, there's that doubt... it's that same old dizzy hang up can't do with you or without, I never can say goodbye..."

She looks at Rachel now, trying to make her words clear to the girl... as she told her a year ago, she will never get it right if she keeps looking for her happy ending, and she still hasn't understood that right now she has to let go of something... Finn, or her dreams.

As the song comes to an end, Quinn notices that Rachel looks uncomfortable, and she can't do anything but hope her message went through.

Her thoughts are interrupted by Mr. Schue, encouraging her to share her big news... so she collects herself, or at least tries to, because she can't contain her happiness while she tells everybody: "I... I got into Yale!"

"Yeah!"

"Wooooo"

Her friends are all clapping excitedly for her, happy that Quinn finally saw her true potential and even got into Yale with early admissions! She accepts congratulations from Mr. Schue again, and then looks at Mercedes who states calmly: "We're so proud of you, Quinn..."

And she knows she mean it. For the first time in her life, she can believe those words. "I wanted to thank you, guys... - she starts saying with her voice low, while scanning the room searching the eyes of every one – because without each and everyone of you, this would've never happened. You supported me and loved me through all the drama... and that's why I'm standing here. I waisted so much time hating myself for the stupid mistakes that I made, but the truth is... is that without all of those, I would have NEVER dreamed of this to be my future."

Her voice cracks a little, but she still can't let her emotions overcome her, she still needs to tell Rachel what she had wanted to tell her in the bathroom but didn't... so she quickly collects herself and locks eyes with Rachel, hoping that she will understand.

"I was the one standing in the way of myself. - she sees Rachel's face quickly changing in understanding, and Finn turning to her, but she has to go on, even though she feels her heart beating faster and her eyes watering – You can't change your past... but you can let go, and start your future."

She sees Rachel lowering her eyes, and Quinn can't help but wonder why this was so hard to do... giving advice to a friend should be a normal thing, it should not cause your heart to beat fast and to clinch just at the thought of your friend – because that's what Rachel is to her, right? - not achieving her dreams and staying in Lima, instead of being in New York... she can only starts to worry about the fact that they would be too far apart if Rachel stayed in Lima, when her friends surround her hugging and congratulating her and she leaves those thoughts in her mind... for now.