In the days leading up to the start of high school; Quinn Fabray was a 14 year old girl with a plan. She knew exactly what she wanted, and which strategic moves to make in order to accomplish her, albeit shallow dreams. During the warm summer days, Quinn spent all of her time in the company of her older sister, lazing by the side of the pool in their parent's backyard. Grace was leaving for college come September, going against their father's wishes to study Interior Design at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago. Russel Fabray had shouted for hours, demanding that Grace do something worthwhile with her life. He ended by giving her an ultimatum; switch majors or lose access to the substantial college fund that had been building over the years. Judy Fabray however, was a long term devote fan of Home & Design Magazine, so had taken a tearful Grace out of the room and away from her pacing father, and promised that she would help pay her daughter's fees.
In the evenings, Quinn helped her sister pack away the remainder of her belongings that would not be going with her to college. Grace had grudgingly accepted Quinn's constant pleas to relinquish her substantially larger bedroom, only with the promise that whenever she came home to visit, Quinn would wash her car and cater to whatever whim she may have. As the siblings transferred items into boxes, and boxes into the garage, Grace regaled the younger Fabray with stories from her past years in high school.
Quinn always listened attentively, hanging onto every word spoken about Prom, the pros and cons of off campus lunches, and the benefits of being a social chair committee member. Throughout their conversations, one thing became clear to Quinn; with popularity came power.
When the time came for Grace to leave, Quinn hugged her tightly before standing back and waving at her father's retreating Sedan. Once the car had disappeared from view, the blonde rushed into the house and climbed the stairs two at a time. She stood in the entrance to her old bedroom, taking a moment to survey everything before hurriedly throwing things into boxes. Gone was her collection of china dolls that her grandmother had been sending her periodically every Christmas, taking their place on the vanity in her new room was a collection of cosmetic products that Grace had thrown away. She regarded the oil paintings of horses and puppies that adorned her old walls with distaste. She would put up meticulously cut out pages from high fashion magazines, specifically those that she felt showcased a woman's body as the perfection she would strive to achieve.
The room in which she had grown up in suddenly annoyed Quinn. It looked as if a four year old clown who had eaten far too much cotton candy had struggled with a bout of motion sickness before throwing up rainbows and glitter all over the small space. Whereas her new bedroom looked sophisticated and chic. It was a new era, she had decided, she was starting high school and it was time to grow up.
On Monday morning, Quinn woke up long before her alarm went off. She stretched her arms above her head and ignored the flutter of nervousness in her stomach. Once she had made her bed and said her morning prayers, she padded barefoot down the stairs. The house was empty, but that wasn't a surprise considering it was around six thirty and her parents always left for work early. She poured herself some cereal and sat at the table in the dining room. There was a note from her mother, stating that both she and Russel had to work late so Quinn would have to fix dinner for herself. No acknowledgement that this was a big day for the blonde, no good luck wishes. But again, that wasn't so surprising.
She packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, along with some chips and a juice box for lunch then headed back upstairs to shower and change. After considering no less than five different outfits, she chose a beige summer dress and a navy cardigan in case it got cooler. After putting the necessary stationary into her backpack, she threw one last fond look at the cross adhered to the wall above her bed, then left the house to wait for her best friend's dad to pick her up.
The first few hours of high school were going easily for Quinn, after arriving with Santana Lopez they had quickly discovered that they shared most of their classes together. As the lunch bell rang, the halls crowded with over exuberant freshmen, all making their way to the cafeteria. Quinn and Santana followed the masses, chatting idly about some of the faces they recognized from middle school, and those who were completely new.
The cafeteria was erupting with chatter; teenagers from all over town were introducing themselves and attempting to strike up friendships. Quinn knew she needn't worry about fitting in, thanks to the mental blueprint of instructions she'd created from Grace's stories, she had a checklist for success. Once she had completed each step, the students of William McKinley High School would be begging to know even the most trivial piece of information about her.
She took a seat at a table with Santana against the far wall of the room, underneath a large window looking out onto the quad. She deemed it the best table in the cafeteria, already striving for elitism as she glared at the people around her. Quinn and Santana were in the middle of discussing when would be best to approach the infamous Coach Sue Sylvester in a bid to join the school's cheerleading squad, when a lanky blonde haired girl literally skipped over to their table and sat down. She introduced herself with a sunny smile as Brittany, and Quinn was about to let rip with one of the scathing remarks she had been practicing in the mirror all weekend, but Santana interrupted her. Instead, her best friend bit back her own usually hostile demeanour and welcomed Brittany to hang out with them for lunch. Quinn raised a questioning brow at the Latina, but Santana just glanced at the girl sitting next to her and shrugged. Sensing the eyes on her, Brittany flashed both girls a toothy grin before pulling three rainbow topped cupcakes out of her lunch bag. Quinn felt the agitation leave her body as the taller blonde handed her one of the treats. The three girls then continued to plan out the phases in Quinn's figurative popularity handbook, step one – become a Cheerio.
Step two was simple, she had informed both her best and new friend, though it came in two parts. The first was to join the Christ Crusaders; McKinley's abstinence club. The second was to date a high calibre future sports star. Quinn had already perused the student signup sheet for the football team tryouts and after matching the names with the faces, decided that Finn Hudson, Noah Puckerman and Matt Rutherford seemed worthy of their interest. The point of this step, she had elaborated after seeing the confused and exceptionally baffled looks on Santana and Brittany's faces, was to seem both unattainable and attainable at the same time. The celibacy club protected their innocence, whilst having boyfriends kept the student body interested. Also, if their boyfriends made the varsity team, their high school royalty status would be sealed.
It was during Quinn's explanation of the importance of the third and final step that would ensure their popularity that Brittany noticed a Big Quench machine to the side of the cash register. She stood up abruptly and all but danced towards the line of students queuing to pay for their meals. Not wanting to be interrupted mid scheme, Quinn motioned for Santana to follow her over to where Brittany was impatiently standing, waiting to be served.
She eyed the ice drink suspiciously as Brittany sucked happily on her straw. Chalking it up to her first loss to peer pressure; Quinn began filling a cup of her own. She turned to her friend's, the slushie still pouring from the dispenser. The third step was to always ensure there was someone lower than you on the social ladder. Just as the students needed people to worship, they needed people to look down on too, otherwise there wouldn't really be any kind of caste system, everybody would be the same, and Quinn didn't want to be just another high school girl. She wanted people to remember her, to adore her, to fear her. There was a fine line between love and hate after all, and Quinn was used to blurring her vision to make her world look a little brighter.
She had told Santana and Brittany that their assigned project for the day was to pick a student and begin crafting them into a social leper. Brittany seemed to sulk and Santana announced that Quinn's Big Quench cup was full. The blonde spun on her heel with the intent to pay for the drink but felt her shoulder collide with something soft. Looking up as a soft gasp met her ears, she was momentarily dismayed to realise she had accidently spilled the majority of her grape slushie all over a timid looking brunette.
She was about to apologize profusely, but the crowd gathering in the cafeteria had seen what had happened, and suddenly the laughter was deafening. Instead, Quinn ignored the tears gathering in the other girl's dark eyes and focused on her ruined outfit. Purple liquid was seeping into the fabric of dark blue argyle, dripping down a pleated skirt and white knee socks, pooling around overly polished Mary Jane shoes. The girl sniffled once, before hastily running towards the exit and Quinn turned back to a wide eyed Brittany and a satisfied Santana, declaring that she had found her pick.