Title::..Revenge of the Gleeks
Spoilers::..Ballad
Rating::..G
Genre::..Drama
Characters::..Quinn, Finn, Rachel, Artie, Kurt and OC Charlotte
Author's Note::..The third Glee fic I ever wrote, more Quinn, what can I say? I love Dianna. This was written before Hell-O was broadcast and I thought it was pretty weird how the writers hadn't yet addressed the fact that the Cheerios were without a leader. Had to slip in a mention to Avatar, ILY James Cameron, writing oblivious Finn is pretty fun :)
Summary::..Quinn had always known there would be a girl to replace her as Head Cheerio. Of course Sue wouldn't let her back on the squad, not while she was super-sizing. She shouldn't be surprised. But maybe, secretly she had hoped Sue wouldn't replace her. It was insulting. The new Head Cheerio instantly gets under Quinn's skin.
Quinn didn't think there could be anything worse than being pregnant. God would not approve of an abortion, so she was stuck like this for the next nine months. Her Cheerios uniform lying at the bottom of her wardrobe, unwearable. Sleeping in the guest room of Finn's house, amongst all of the outdated, broken appliances. She was certain her hips were growing wider with every passing day. She dreaded waking up and seeing her disgusting reflection.
She couldn't remember the last time she had felt pretty. Finn had no idea what she was going through; he didn't understand how greatly she needed to feel she was still attractive to him. He hardly kissed her anymore; did he find her too repulsive to put his lips to hers anymore? She wished he would tell her she was beautiful without her having to drop any hints.
Instead he was too busy looking at Rachel. Even though he was holding Quinn's hand he had eyes only for Rachel and her perfectly flat stomach. Quinn wished she could punch Rachel and mess her nose up even more. Quinn hated the way he looked at Rachel. He hadn't looked at Quinn in such a way for the longest time.
They were drawing closer to Rachel's locker. Quinn forced herself to look away, in hopes of gaining some control over her anger. Then there was a loud splash followed by Rachel's shocked gasp. Quinn wished she hadn't looked away, now as she looked back she saw someone had thrown a Slushie in Rachel's face. Laughter scattered around the hall. Quinn couldn't help but laugh as well as she watched the blue crystals slipping off of her face. Quinn wished she knew who had thrown it so she could thank them; it was exactly what she needed to improve her mood.
She surprised herself by smiling. Until Finn went to Rachel, comforting her. His hand slipped from Quinn's as she remained in the middle of the pathway. She kept her mouth clamped down on all of the rude things she felt like spitting at them.
Finn offered the cuff of his shirt to Rachel, padding away some of the liquid. "Are you okay?"
"Sure, I mean I have lots of past experience with this kind of thing." She replied.
"Next time I see that guy I'll trip him up for you, I promise." He told her.
She smiled. "That's highly unnecessary, but very sweet, thank you Finn."
Quinn rolled her eyes; she couldn't stand it any longer. She was beginning to feel sick watching this display. Rachel looked good with the Slushie all over her face, Finn should leave it on. She stepped forward, grabbing a hold of his backpack and tugging. "Come on, we have to get to English."
He had produced a tissue from his pocket and he gave it to Rachel before taking some steps away. "I'll see you in Glee."
"Okay." She beamed, watching after him with bright eyes – her knight in shining armour.
They fell into the same pace, up the stairs toward the English department. He reached his hand out to hers. When she felt his fingers brush against the back of her hand she quickly snatched her hand away from his.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Of course." She replied, although her tone completely contradicted what she was saying he would never pick up on it. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He followed her into the room, with the face of a wounded puppy. She attempted to ignore him. She had nothing to apologize for. She could smell the blue Slushie on his cuff. Her stomach began to twist around her breakfast.
Quinn had always known there would be a girl to replace her as Head Cheerio. Of course Sue wouldn't let her back on the squad, not while she was super-sizing. She shouldn't be surprised. But secretly, she had hoped Sue wouldn't replace her. It was insulting. The shine had been completely taken off of Quinn – an apple dropped on the ground and now nobody wanted it. All of the nice things Sue had ever said about her were meaningless. If she had meant any of it she wouldn't have found it so easy to find someone new to put in her place. She wasn't special.
She sat in the football stands, in her plain, loose clothes. Meanwhile they wore the tight, bright uniforms, the skirts flicking around cheerfully as they kicked their legs into the air. They wore radiant smiles under the direction of their new dark-haired, olive-skinned leader.
Jealousy was inescapable. Cheerio practice had often been a tedious bother. But afterwards she would always be filled with a great feeling. Completely robbed of any energy but a swelling sense of pride was her reward. All of the star-jumps and cartwheels paid off with her slim figure. As long as she didn't eat anything for the rest of the day she could continue to feel comfortable with her appearance. She supposed it was all a feast for her ego as well. She had been their leader, their better; they had looked to her to know what to do to impress Sue. No one had ever ignored her.
Now they had moved on to their new leader. Like a dog, if one hand didn't feed it then it instantly moved on to the next. They were all in awe of the new Head Cheerio, who was probably smart enough to use protection when sleeping with her boyfriend's best friend. The people who, not so long ago, had worked so hard to have Quinn call them friend somehow couldn't find the energy to raise their arms and wave to her.
She wasn't special. Not while she left her Cheerio uniform at home every day. Not while the only thing to swell within her was a baby. They were drawing close to the end of the routine – the routine Quinn had choreographed with Sue. Quinn felt her stomach turning, worse than before. Food she had thought to be settled was making a quick departure from her stomach, zooming back in the direction it had entered from.
She couldn't watch the new Cheerio any longer. She got to her feet and was soon taking the stairs four at a time. She managed to get to a toilet before it was too late. If only her hands in her hair could move as quickly. She exited the cubicle, using toilet paper to remove as much as the liquid as she could from her hair.
Approaching the basins Quinn was forced to look up. Her feet were not the only pair in the girls' room. She looked up and found the Head Cheerio standing at the mirrors. Quinn supposed she should be glad it was this stranger, instead of one of her old friends watching another stage of her fall from grace. The Head Cheerio was fixing her hair with perfect precision. Her eyes flicked to Quinn's reflection in her own mirror. Quinn stepped slowly to the basin the furthest from the stranger's. Their eyes locked several times before Quinn made sure she was the first to leave, wishing she could have something alcoholic in her system to help her through Glee Club.
Quinn hoped to never see her replacement again. She planned on avoiding football games and any kind of Cheerio practice. Anything to give her a wide berth from this girl.
But all of Quinn's luck had run out at once, it seemed. She arrived in Math class (later than the others, if only she could digest food properly like the other students) to find the Head Cheerio sitting in the seat beside the one assigned to Finn. She was nothing but a blur of silky brown hair as she flicked it around, Finn watching in wonder. Quinn ground her teeth together as she took to her seat in front of them.
Quinn attempted not to look back at them. This would have been quite simple if not for their constant joking and laughing. Curiosity made it impossible for her to not glance back over her shoulder. She told herself not to worry. She had no reason not to trust him. If there was any mistrust to be laid in their relationship then it would be placed on her shoulders.
But when she pushed her quiz across the desk for Finn to copy he didn't look up. He was already too busy copying from the girl beside him. Quinn ground her teeth again, moving the paper in front of her. She glanced up at the clock at the front of the room. Only ten minutes left. She thought she could manage keeping her frustration within her until the bell rang.
As soon as she heard the sound she rose from her seat, stuffing her bags into her pack. She couldn't zip her pack up and get it on her back quick enough. Their voices were too loud over the rest of the classes murmuring.
"Thanks for helping me Charlotte." Finn said.
"Call me Charlie." She offered. "All my friends do."
Quinn threw her bag onto her back, paying no attention to the thump against her back. She marched out the door, happy to be amongst the stampede of students. A distraction. The tromping of obedient feet and the constant catcalls were something else to listen to, they helped drown out Charlotte's voice.
Finn moved skilfully against the wave, catching her by the arm. "Hey, what's your hurry?"
"What was I supposed to do, stay there and wait for you to finish up your flirting?" She snapped.
"I wasn't flirting with Charlie; I was just trying to be-..."
"Charlie?" She screeched. "Charlie? What, so you're friends with her?"
He glanced around at the people who were casting odd looks at them as they passed. "What is your problem?"
"You're always looking at Rachel or now I guess its Charlotte." She stated. "You never look at me, not anymore."
"I'm looking at you right now." He told her.
"But you're not seeing me." She replied.
He furrowed his brow. "Is this like the 'I see you' thing with the blue dudes in Avatar?"
She rolled her eyes before turning her back on him, leaving.
Rachel had never noticed Charlotte before today. Rachel barely ever noticed the other people she shared her school with. None of the others mattered; paying them any kind of attention was a waste of her time. They were all obstacles on the path of her taking Glee to Sectionals and launching her career.
As soon as she heard Charlotte's voice she considered changing this policy. Music class was usually Rachel singing with the band, maybe with some assistance from back-up singers. Nothing started until she arrived. She liked to take her time getting to class, allowing the band a few minutes to warm up.
Except when she arrived today someone was already singing. She instantly decided it to be a recording. The voice was amazing, pitch-perfect. It couldn't be a person she attended music class regularly with – she would have heard this voice before and remembered it. It was some new singer Ms Skidnit had found on the internet and she was going to tell them the sob story of how long this girl had suffered for her career.
But when Rachel opened the door she found the voice was coming from a person, rather than the plastic casing of the speakers. A beautiful girl, Rachel supposed it was fitting packaging for such a beautiful voice. Everyone sat around, watching her in awe and it didn't take Rachel long to join them, falling into the seat drawn up alongside Artie's wheelchair.
The song finished and the girl looked around her, expecting applause. When clapping commenced she smiled. Rachel understood the clapping wasn't due to the class's relief to hear someone other than herself sing. This girl deserved their applause. She had an astounding voice.
"Who is that?" Rachel asked Artie, grabbing his wheel before he could flock to her like the others.
"Charlotte." He replied. "You arrived late again so she offered to show us what she's got."
"She's a fantastic singer." She stated.
His eyebrows jumped up. "But she's nowhere near as good as you?"
"Artie!" She squeaked. "That is so sweet of you to say."
"No, it's what I was waiting for you to say." He informed her, causing her arms to still on their path to wrapping around his shoulders. "You're always saying crap like that."
"Oh." She returned the hands to her lap. "Well, not this time. I think she has incredible talent and that shouldn't be envied, it should be congratulated."
He considered her carefully for a moment. "Are you feelin' okay?"
"Yes and my mind is working perfectly." She told him.
"That's good." He replied uncertainly.
As soon as the lesson was finished Rachel made a beeline for Charlotte's locker. Despite her Cheerios uniform Rachel didn't feel nervous of speaking to her. Spending time with Quinn had shown Rachel that underneath the pressed uniform was a regular person.
"Hi, Charlotte?" Rachel opened with.
Charlotte considered Rachel with a bored glance, a piece of gum lolling about in her open mouth in an unladylike manner. "Yeah?"
"I'm Rachel Berry and we have music class together." Rachel said, giving Charlotte her friendliest smile.
Charlotte tilted her head back, looking down her nose at Rachel, making her feel she was talking to the Cheerios chin as opposed to her eyes. "Is that the whole story?"
"No. I wanted to tell you how breathtaking your voice is. And I think Glee Club is the right place for you, you could be a fantastic addition to really help us along on our path to Sectionals." Rachel explained. Charlotte began to laugh, Rachel's confidence shrinking away. "And we have two other Cheerios in our club so you would be amongst friends." Finally Rachel gave up with a sigh.
"Yeah, right, I'm gonna be a Gleek like you." Charlotte mocked, laughing as she left.
"Gleek." Rachel repeated, considering how it felt in her ears. "That's a new one."
"Do you know what the others are calling us?" Rachel asked, sitting down with four of her fellow Glee Club members.
"Gay." Artie supplied.
"Tone-deaf?" Tina asked.
"Losers." Mercedes stated.
"Inbred monkeys." Artie offered.
"Gay fags." Kurt said. "This doesn't make a lot of sense, considering it means homosexual homosexuals."
Rachel shook her head. "Other than that. Gleeks, that's what they call us, Gleeks."
The other four exchanged questioning glances. None of them could decode Rachel's message.
"If this is all the gossip you have to bring to the table then we're not gonna invite you to sit with us anymore." Kurt told her.
"I only just heard it." She said, wearing her excited grin. "I think it's kind of cute, don't you?"
Mercedes scoffed at her. "Cute?"
"Sure, it has all the charm of a queen's fart." Kurt commented.
Being late to music class was never a big deal. But being late to Glee Club was not okay. Rachel often liked to be there before the others arrived. She waited for Glee to top off her day. Glee kept her sane, even though at times the others drove her crazy.
A week after approaching Charlotte Rachel had pushed the rude Cheerio out of her mind. She may have an enchanting voice and a look that suggested she could be a part of the Gossip Girl cast. But they didn't need her. Rachel was certain they could win without any help from Charlotte. It didn't take Rachel long to decide Charlotte not joining was a good thing. A great thing in fact. Rachel loved being the female lead of Glee; she didn't need Charlotte coming in to take it away from her.
As Rachel was going to the auditorium for Glee she heard a voice. A familiar voice. A voice that shouldn't be filling the auditorium at this time of day. Rachel rushed down the stairs and found that her ears weren't deceiving her. There Charlotte stood, on Rachel's stage, next to Finn, Rachel's prince charming, while Mr Schuester played a song on the piano, Rachel's mentor.
Rachel checked her hand to make sure she wasn't disappearing. She was being replaced. Why? She hadn't died. She hadn't even quit. She looked from her ever-present hand to the stage where Schuester had finished the song and had now taken to gaping at Charlotte.
"That was amazing." He said, shaking his head with his mouth hanging open.
Charlotte appeared to be humbler in front of Schuester and Finn. "Oh, you don't have to say that."
"No, I mean it. Charlotte thank you so much for coming today." Schuester said.
Charlotte shrugged. "Well Finn made it sound like such fun."
"Nice recruitment job Finn." Schuester said. "Charlotte, you're going to take this Glee Club to new places with that incredible voice."
Rachel had gotten used to being the lead and therefore most important girl in Glee Club. She didn't like having the spotlight off of her. Sitting back and watching Charlotte sing was not Rachel's idea of fun. She wondered if this was how bored the others had been in Glee when she had been singing. Then she dismissed the idea. She was a fantastic singer and people could feel the emotion in what she was singing about.
Unlike Charlotte. She hardly looked at her audience, because she didn't need their approval. Her confidence was high enough without needing the boost that came from applause. Schuester was under her spell, transfixed by the sound of her voice. Rachel had no idea he had been this starved for new talent.
It had been only four days since Charlotte had joined Glee. But already Schuester had thrown Rachel aside as if she were an old, ragged doll. This wasn't a good feeling. Rachel didn't like being knocked off of her pedestal. She had made herself quite comfortable at such a height.
"Okay, I thought for today we could do some cheesy movie soundtrack music." Schuester announced. "How does that sound?"
"The Time of My Life." Finn read from the top of his sheet.
The next sheet was handed to Charlotte. "And for you, Madame."
Charlotte screwed her face up in confusion. "I don't know this song."
Rachel bit down on her tongue, hard. This was hardly fair. She had lived Dirty Dancing; she should be singing the theme. Not Charlotte, who looked at Finn in a way that was plain unacceptable. Glancing to the row behind her Rachel found Charlotte's suggestive movements did not sit well with Quinn either. Rachel could reclaim her throne. Although she needed assistance and Quinn's expression said it wasn't out of her reach.
At the end of Glee (aka Finn and Charlotte's love-in) Rachel didn't feel as afraid to approach Quinn. Quinn was Rachel's equal. The disgusted snarl on Quinn's lips matched that on Rachel's.
"Quinn?" She began.
"What?" Quinn snapped.
"I would ask if you had noticed the way our new friend Charlotte has been looking at Finn, but that would be insulting your intelligence, how could you not notice." Rachel said.
Quinn's usually smooth forehead was now full of creases. "That slut is not my friend."
"Of course not and I would never imply such a thing." Rachel quickly said. "We need to do something about her, get rid of her."
Quinn's frustration turned to curiosity. "What do you mean?"
"We need to get her out of Glee, she should not be here." Rachel stated.
"How do we get rid of her?" Quinn asked.
"It's a work in progress." Rachel replied. "I'm thinking humiliation. Humiliation worse than Glee, humiliation she won't ever be able to live down."
"I'm in." Kurt's voice commented from over their shoulders.
They both quickly whipped around. "What?" "Why?"
"There's only one attention-seeking, solo-hogging girl I can stand and that's you Rachel." He explained. "Charlotte's got to go."
Charlotte weaved her way in-and-out of the throng of students. She was going to Cheerio practice. She didn't rush; she allowed the others time to admire her as she passed. Without this uniform she would find herself as a faceless new kid. The uniform told them she was important and worthy of their attention. She had never liked disappearing into the background. She adored her Cheerio uniform and the way people responded to it.
She saw Kurt was headed her way. She thought it best to ignore him. Outside of Glee Club she couldn't be seen socializing with any of them. She could bend this rule for Finn. But comparing Kurt to Finn was flattery. She turned her head away from him, there was no clearer sign she could give him. She hardly acknowledged the Big-Quench cup in his hand.
He drew closer but she wasn't looking. She had spotted a familiar Cheerio waiting for her. She saw the green liquid flying through the air, but there was no time to react. It exploded onto her face. Her mouth fell open in shock and soon she tasted lime jelly crystals in her mouth. Soon the whole hallway had erupted in laughter. Even the people who had been hit by the splash-back laughed, because there was nothing funnier than someone having a Big-Quench thrown in their face.
Kurt had left too quickly for Charlotte to see him. She opened her eyes to find Quinn laughing at her. Laughing and pointing, like the others. Charlotte couldn't move. Her brain couldn't compute what had happened. She had never been humiliated like this before. She couldn't understand why or how. All she could do was gape, letting the liquid trickle down her face.
Rachel came striding up to her. "You're gonna wanna move quickly, because once that stuff sets it is really difficult to wash out." She laughed, unable to contain herself as Quinn raised her hand for a high-five.
The End.