Chapter 1

Quinn Fabray has never been more confused in her life. She seemed to live on a roller coaster; her life was just ups and downs, and not just the regular ones. When she would fall, she would hit rock bottom. When she would rise, she would reach the stars other only dreamt of. But neither the rock bottom nor the stars could keep her there, something pulled her every time she felt like she had finally settled, and she was tired of that. She was tired of collecting herself when she would fall too hard and smash into pieces, and tired of trying to keep herself in one piece when the spotlight would cast her shadows all over the room, exposing her most vulnerable sides.

But the worst part of feeling like that is that she could predict what would happen right before it did. And she was helpless; she couldn't do anything about it but sit back and watch. Enjoy the show of her crumbling life. It was like building a sandcastle right by the water, and as soon as the tide would come, everything would come crashing down. Although she understood that she needed to move, she was stubborn in her attempts to defeat the laws of physics.

Days before prom, the one thing she was actually looking forward to in her life at the time, both because it would grant her some feeling of acceptance and a personal victory over Rachel, whom Finn still moaned about, the worst case scenario she could think of came true.

No, she didn't die, if that's what anyone else would think of when pondering over that thought. And no, Finn didn't dump her. Something far worse than that happened: Jesse St. James strolled in his designer boots back into Lima and their lives.

If Quinn could have chosen between breaking a leg and having Jesse back in their lives, she would have opted for breaking her leg. There was nothing that triggered Finn's deepest emotions for Rachel like having Jesse around. He was like a time bomb ready to explode the second he would see Rachel swooning over Jesse instead of him. And, unfortunately, Quinn was right there to see his reaction when he first learned about Jesse's comeback.

They were standing in the hallway, giving out promotional material, campaigning and fighting for every vote in the school. Quinn knew each and every vote mattered. She wasn't obsessive, she was just a good campaigner, and when she was in a competition, she was in it to win it. Being prom queen was no different in that view.

Yet, being voted prom queen did mean to her more than other competitions did. She needed that. After her downfall the previous year, after everything she had been through, she felt like she wasn't the same person anymore and she wasn't sure how to cope with the person she had become. The head bitch in charge, queen bee, she knew how to handle that person, more importantly, other people knew as well. But the pregnancy changed her. Her relationship with Sam changed her, and she wasn't sure what to do with that change.

And, consequently, people weren't sure how to act around her as well, sensing her own feeling of insecurity, which all made cracks in her plans for the future. She needed to land that crown, she needed to establish herself as someone and something around the hallways, since the Cheerio's uniform could no longer do that for her. And by landing the crown, she would have a tighter grip on Finn.

She was no fool; she knew very well what she was getting herself into when she started dating him again. Rachel may think she knows Finn the best, but she is wrong. Quinn knows him like the back of her pocket. Why is it like that, she could never explain.

Yes, Finn was her first love. At one point she really did love him and she believed he loved her back. But the fact that he fell so easily under the influence of Manhands Berry killed Quinn a little. Every time she would catch him staring at her, Quinn would die a little on the inside. Luckily, she went through that phase the first time they were together. She believed that she could handle his mixed feelings until he is certain in his love for Quinn. Because, certainly, he could not love Rachel more than he loved her, right? It was Rachel, after all. No matter how mean or insensitive Quinn sometimes appeared to be, she was nowhere near as annoying as Rachel. That she needed no proof of.

She could handle Berry; she had Finn for herself, once again. And even though she knew Finn still had feelings for Rachel, he was the one who chased after her and that had to mean something. She just needed Finn to focus until Prom was over and they are reinstated as the stars of the school. Then, she would stop giving him a hard time, because Finn would listen to people, and people would tell him that Quinn was right for him. That's how it worked with Finn. He needed the approval of broad masses to be sure in his actions. And Quinn was not going to let that slip away from her hands.

It all seemed to work well, or as well as it could when she was slaving Finn and making him do all the things he hated, when the worst happened. You see, Quinn could deal with his feelings for Rachel and Rachel's childish attempts to win him over, but Quinn stood no chance against the presence of Jesse St. James around Rachel. That boy seemed to make not only Rachel swoon, but Finn as well. If she didn't see how close to the edge Finn was, Quinn would tease him he had a boy-crush. But the situation was dangerous for both of them, because one word from Jesse and Finn would destroy every progress Quinn managed to make in their relationship.

It was quite the usual day. Classes and campaigning in between, sometimes even during them. They were standing at the entrance of the school, when a couple of juniors walked by them.

- They say he broke eggs on her head. – One of them chuckled. The word egg seemed to catch Finn's interest ever since the incident and this was no exception.

- Hey, who are you talking about? – He demanded to know, and nobody would say no to the star quarterback.

- That kid from Carmel that went here for some time and egged that girl Berry last year. – Another guy answered, as the other two exchanged looks, grinning. Quinn gave her best and warmest smile, handing them out pens with their names on.

- Remember, vote Hudson-Fabray. – The guys all took the pens and nodded; one of them smirked and winked at her.

- Jesse St. James? – Finn asked, not even acknowledging Quinn's existence at that moment, making her smile drop a little. – What about him?

- He's back. – The first guy shrugged, as they walked past them. Finn frowned in that way only he could, but Quinn had to remain calm, she had to think fast.

- Why is he back? – Finn asked, though it was more a rhetorical question and Quinn wanted to slap him. He was not going to lose it now, not when they were so close.

- Why do you care? He's not back at this school, nor is he a competition at Nationals. Just let it go, Finn. He is most likely visiting his family.

- I need to find Rachel. – He gave Quinn all of his pens and walked away, not even hearing her yelling.

- Finn! Get back here!

Oh no, things were definitely not looking good, Quinn realized as Santana passed her on her way out of school, smirking at her. Quinn was angry, and not just any kind of angry. She was full on, pregnancy-induced, hormonal angry, even though she was none of those things at the moment. Only Finn could cause the Loch Ness monster in her to swim to the surface and he just did, along with squeezing his fist around her heart.

It was more than Quinn could take.