"Don't let Santana get to you"
Rachel visibly jumped as she heard Quinn's voice cut through the silence in the girls' restroom. She hadn't even heard her come in.
"I-I don't know what you mean."
"Yes you do. I know that look." Quinn stepped closer, crossing her arms and leaning her hip against the sink beside Rachel.
"What look?"
"The look of someone staring in the mirror and not liking what they see." Quinn took a deep breath then continued. "You don't need a nose job, Rachel."
"Why not?" Rachel snapped, defiant. "Is this your way of keeping me ugly so I can't win Finn back?"
"Can we just forget about Finn for the moment?" Quinn sighed, exasperated. "He has nothing to do with this. This about you. Do you think you and I can manage to have a conversation without him being a part of it?
Rachel sighed, conceding to Quinn.
"Do you remember when last year when Dakota Stanley told you to get a nose job?" Quinn asked softly. "You informed him that everyone told Barbra Streisand the same thing. You've never had a problem with your nose Rachel , and I'm going to break my own rule now but if Finn hadn't busted it in practice and drawn attention to it you would have shrugged off Santana's comments the same way you've done everyone else's.
"Your nose doesn't make you ugly, Rachel. It makes you YOU! Rachel Barbra Berry. It's a different kind of beauty; it's a dominant feature on what's called exotic beauty. It just means you're not the stereotypical boring pretty. You're still pretty just in a different way."
"You think I'm pretty?" Rachel asked, looking at the floor.
"Look, I know I have called you some horrible names in the past, and that was wrong of me…but I was jealous." Quinn confessed.
"Of me?" Rachel could not keep the incredulity out of her voice.
"Yes."
"Quinn….y-you're the most beautiful girl in the school." Rachel reasoned.
"Well you know what they say about beauty." Quinn scoffed. "Skin deep. You've always known and accepted who you are, you've always liked yourself just the way you are, and your parents love you just the way you are. Mine never did." Rachel's eyes snapped up to meet hers. "They always wanted me to be better, like any parent should, but my best was never good enough for them. And as a result, I have never truly liked myself. The closest I have ever gotten to accepting myself was when I was pregnant and I started trying to figure out who I really was. I have battled self-esteem and body issues my entire life and I would get so angry when I would see anybody who was "beneath me" walking around with their head held high like you did. So what did I do? I called you names, I insulted you, I spread rumors about you, I slushied you. I wanted to make you feel as ugly and worthless as I did. Whenever I would see someone else doing any of those things to you, I would laugh, I would cheer them on.
"But do you remember what you did the first time I got slushied? When you walked into the bathroom and saw me crying at the sink?" Quinn pressed. "That was your moment, Rachel, that was your chance for revenge….and you washed my hair. You cleaned it off of me." Quinn said, tears stinging her eyes but she refused to let them fall.
"That wasn't the first time you did something like that. When you found out I was pregnant you tried to support me (stealing my boyfriend all the while) but still. You told me you and Glee would be there for me when you knew if you were in my shoes I would have made your life miserable. You're a truly good person Rachel. You can be ambitious and selfish but you truly care about everyone in that club and would do anything for us even when we're horrible to you. And because of that, you're more beautiful than I will ever be."
Rachel inhaled sharply, her mouth trying to form words, but no sound would come.
"Looks don't matter." Quinn continued. "I've been told I'm beautiful my whole life, but I've always had trouble believing it because I didn't feel it. I could look in the mirror and say 'yeah', but inside…I'm a mess. Don't change for anyone Rachel, it's not worth it." Without another word Quinn turned and left the restroom leaving a speechless Rachel Berry in her wake.
The next day
"Quinn?" Rachel asked apprehensively as she approached Quinn in the choir room after rehearsal.
Quinn turned to face Rachel, "Hey" she said somewhat tensely, not knowing what to expect after their conversation the day before.
"I wanted to let you know that you were wrong," Rachel began, then after a beat, "about yourself."
Quinn shook her head and turned to leave, "No, please hear me out, Quinn." Rachel pleaded. Quinn stopped and turned to her again. "I spent last night thinking about true inner beauty and how that can affect how people see you. I thought about people like Coach Beiste and everything she has done for us and the heart of gold that she has. She will never grace the pages of a fashion magazine yet she is one of the most beautiful people I know. And then I thought about you, how you are so beautiful on the outside but feel like anything but on the inside. But you're wrong. Yes, you have said horrible things to me, yes you have made me self-conscious and insecure, I spent a lot of last year wishing I looked like you….I even tried to make myself throw up once" Rachel confessed.
"Rachel," Quinn began sternly, "Don't you ever-"
"I haven't," Rachel soothed her. "I wasn't even successful that time and I've never tried it again since, but the point is…the fact that you came to me yesterday, the way you've opened up to me recently and have encouraged me shows me that there is someone in there who is as beautiful as the outside.
"Aaaand I was thinking," Rachel drawled, finally getting to her point, pulling several sheets of paper out of her bag, "Mr. Schue wants us to sing songs this week about self-acceptance, and the truth is Quinn…no one has taught me more about myself, no one has pushed me and challenged me and made me who I am today, more than you. And I just find it strange to realize that the one person who has had the most profound effect on my life is one of only people in glee that I've never done a duet with." She offered the sheets to Quinn who took them hesitantly. "I think I have found a mash-up that is quite descriptive of our relationship with each other and with our own selves. You don't have to, if you say no I'll understand, just look it over and let me know." Rachel smiled warmly and moved towards the door as Quinn looked down to scan the sheet music. Her hand had just touched the bar of the door when she heard Quinn softly say her name. She turned to face her.
"I'll do it."