A/N: This story is mostly A/U. The characters will be mostly the same, Rachel will be a little more cynical. It's written in third person, but still from a character's POV. First Rachel's, then Quinn's. I'm working on a couple Crossovers with Glee, but this is my first fic in the Glee world.
Rachel Berry was strong. She had to be to endure the penitentiary some people claim to be the greatest four years of their lives. And she's sure that for some people it is the greatest four years of their lives, or if not the greatest, definitely among them. But that was for people like the jocks, the popular kids. It was for people who were self-serving and power-hungry, people who would peak during or shortly after high school, maybe college. High school was built for people who had it all, people like Quinn Fabray.
Quinn Fabray had it all, at least as far as Rachel could see. Quinn was pretty. No. That was an understatement. Quinn was stunning, freaking gorgeous; she was absolutely beautiful, almost like a goddess, especially when compared to the other teens at McKinley High. Quinn was the queen bee, or as they would be more likely to say at McKinley, the Head Bitch in Charge. She captained the Cheerios, even as a freshman, which, even if she hadn't pretty much held the school in the palm of her hands, gave her free reign over the student body population, and more importantly, it got her Coach Sylvester's backing, which meant she pretty much had the faculty in the palms of her hands as well. She was the captain of the celibacy club, which kind of gave her a wholesome vibe to those who didn't know better. And, of course, she was dating the quarterback (talk about a cliché), Finn Hudson.
If she was being honest though, Rachel could see the big deal about Quinn Fabray, but she didn't quite understand what the big deal with Finn Hudson was. He wasn't exactly what you'd call good-looking. He was okay, not completely repulsive like that Jacob kid with the Jewfro, but he wasn't a looker. He wasn't even that good of a player. In her opinion, which didn't really mean much since she didn't know much about sports, at least not ones like football, if you're on a team that loses as badly as McKinley's does, even being the quarterback shouldn't give you much pull. Really, the only things the poor boy had going for him was that he was the quarterback and he's dating Quinn.
But Rachel wasn't like these people. Rachel knew before she'd even entered the doors her freshman year that high school would not be anywhere near the best four years of her life. She knew that she was destined for bigger and better things than to peak in high school in a middle of nowhere town like Lima. She was fated to be a Broadway star, and one day people like Finn Hudson and David Karofsky would be pumping her gas when she was in town visiting her fathers. She knew that when she finally made it, the stories of how she'd been thrown in dumpsters and been given slushie facials nearly every day in high school would just serve as an inspiration to a young girl like her who had ambition that was sorely unappreciated by her adolescent peers.
This year was going to be better though. This year Mr. Ryerson was gone and another teacher had apparently stepped up to coach the, what would otherwise be disbanded, glee club. Rachel hoped that Mr. Schuester would be a better advisor than Mr. Ryerson had been and would see and take advantage of her obvious talents.
Rachel smiled as she carefully wrote her name on the audition list for the new glee club, placing her signature gold star at the end. This would be the one thing during school that she would look forward to, this would be the one good thing.
Rachel turned and walked away from the board. She made it no more than ten feet away when she felt the harsh chill of yet another slushie being thrown her way. She just stood there in the middle of the hallway, wiping the slushie away from her eyes so that she could open them when she heard it. It was a sound she was so attuned to after the last year.
The laughter of Quinn Fabray.
Rachel's head whipped automatically in the direction of Quinn's laughter. It was a natural reaction, Rachel thought, to want Quinn Fabray. And in way, she, like most everyone in the school, wanted Quinn Fabray, but when you look like Quinn Fabray, it's not surprising that everyone is drawn to you. At the same time, though, Rachel hated Quinn.
Quinn was heartless. She took no mercy on those deemed losers at the school. In fact, she took no mercy on anyone. She was so vindictive and vengeful and downright despicable that Rachel couldn't see how she or anyone else could possibly be interested in the likes of Quinn Fabray even with her hot body. In short, Quinn Fabray was a bitch. Rachel was quite sure that the only good thing about Quinn was her heavenly looks.
Rachel glared at Quinn and her sidekicks, Santana and Brittany, before releasing a huff and stalking off to the bathroom clean herself up and change into some not so sticky clothes.
She was more than relieved to find that the bathroom was indeed empty aside from herself, allowing her to clean and change, for what she was quite sure would only be the first of many times today.
She wasn't sure why she seemed to be targeted more than anybody else, but she was pretty sure that it had something to do with Quinn Fabray, and her apparent hatred for her. Rachel didn't know what she'd done to piss off the ice queen, but obviously, she must've done something. She wasn't sure how she'd have done something, after all, the slushie facials started coming the first day of high school, and that had been the first day Rachel had ever seen Quinn. She'd never actually spoken a word to the Cheerio.
Rachel was grateful when she made it to seventh period before she'd been slushied again. And once again she'd heard the enchanting laughter of Quinn Fabray. She was simply drawn to that magical sound, even if Quinn was laughing at her. And somehow, it always stood out, every single time she'd been slushied it'd been followed by that laugh. She wondered what she would do if she got slushied and the laugh didn't follow. Would she be disappointed? It was just something she expected, something she craved even, it was the only upside to getting slushie facials, not that she cared for Quinn. Quinn was a superficial bitch, but she had the most delightful laugh.
Rachel mentally compared her slushie situation to that of Pavlov's dogs, and then laughed out loud herself. I mean why shouldn't she laugh right now? She was standing in the middle of a hallway covered in sticky flavored frozen ice with everyone around her laughing and she was mentally comparing herself to dogs, what about that wasn't funny?
She could feel everyone staring at her, simply because she was laughing. Of course they didn't know why she was laughing, not that she'd tell any of them. Who laughs after a slushie facial? Rachel Berry does apparently. She made a mental note that she'd probably be completely drenched tomorrow, and the furious glares she's getting from Quinn and the Cheerios confirm the thought.
She sighs heavily, and once again makes her way to the bathroom to take care of the slowly melting ice dripping from her.
When it's finally time for the glee auditions, Rachel is thrilled. She knows she's an excellent singer, and she'll have no problem getting into glee club. What she doesn't know is how few people are even auditioning, which makes getting into glee club simple: all you have to do is sign up and sing. You don't even have to sing well, you just have to sing.
But Rachel being Rachel, she sings her heart out. She was originally going to sing something from a Broadway show. It makes sense right? But at the last minute she decides to sing something different.
"Next" Mr. Schuester calls from the middle of the auditorium.
Rachel walks quickly and confidently to the center of the stage.
Quinn Fabray held her head up high, as she always did, holding back a smirk as the people parted in front of her like the red sea. She knew what she had to do to survive and she did it. She wasn't going back to how it had been before high school. She was never going back to that. She didn't care that nobody really knew her. Aside from Brittany and Santana, of course, but even they didn't really know her.
She knew that in high school who you are isn't nearly as important as who people think you are. She lets people think she's a bitch, in fact, she even forces herself to act like a bitch, which is hard because she really doesn't want to do most of the things she does. Sure, she rarely does anything mean, she usually orders someone else to do her dirty work for her, but she knows what it's like to be considered one of the losers, so it really kills her inside to be treating other people that way. She'd never let that show though. Not here.
It hits her like a ton of bricks, the insanely familiar smell of vanilla that could only mean one thing. Rachel Berry is near. Quinn doesn't hate Rachel, though she'd fooled everyone into thinking she did. The truth was, Quinn wanted Rachel to hate her, so that she'd know there was no possibility of getting her. She, Quinn Fabray, could not be gay, could not like girls. Not only would it kill her reputation that she's worked so hard to maintain, it was a sin! Her father would kill her.
Quinn texts one of the football players, and ninety seconds later, Rachel is covered in a grape slushie. She sees Rachel wipe away the ice from her eyes, and unconsciously lick her lips. She secretly wishes that she could be the one licking Rachel's lips, but keeps her sinful thoughts carefully concealed. She forces herself to laugh, as she does every time she sees Rachel get slushied, which is every time. She feels bad for laughing, and sees the brunette glare at her. Quinn thinks it won't be much longer before she has no chance with the loser, which is precisely what she wants. What she needs.
Because Rachel Fucking Berry haunts her. Sure, her sense of fashion needs a little work, but Quinn knows the girl is beautiful. She's not entirely sure, other than her own work, of why the girl is considered a loser. She supposes it might have something to do with the glee club, or the way she rattles on when she talks, though Quinn finds it adorable. Rachel even stars in Quinn's dreams, leaving Quinn very frustrated. She tries to make her father proud, not that he'd ever know, by not having sex, even with herself, she never lets herself get that relief that she so desperately needs.
Quinn couldn't help herself. She knew she was in trouble from the instant she'd laid eyes upon the girl, and she's been fighting bother herself and Rachel ever since. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. But there it was. Her darkest secret. Well one of them anyway.
Quinn is standing by her locker talking to Santana and Brittany and a few of the other Cheerios when the scent of vanilla assaults her senses again. It isn't long before Rachel is drenched in yet another slushie. In fact, she ordered Rachel to be slushied so often that she's fairly confident that she has half her wardrobe hidden somewhere in the school.
Quinn forces herself to laugh at Rachel again, feeling bad about it for the millionth time. Only this time it's different. This time Rachel begins to laugh too. She hasn't moved an inch since Karofsky covered her in purple ice and she was standing there dripping and laughing. What the hell? Why was she laughing? I narrowed my eyes, furious that she could possibly be becoming immune to my long-lasting attempts to get her to hate me completely. She was therefore promoting my suffering. I resolved to make tomorrow a living hell for her.
Coach Sylvester calls Quinn into her office. She begins ranting to the young blonde about how infuriating and unjust it is that the huge Cheerios budget got cut ever so slightly for the reformation of the Glee Club. Quinn's mostly tuning her out, because, well because for the sake of what's left of her sanity, that's just what she had to do. She caught a few words here and there, listening just enough to provide the correct responses.
Coach Sylvester drags Quinn to the top of the auditorium to spy on what would eventually be the Glee Club. They watch as the kids audition. There's just five of them total, and the four that have auditioned so far are decent, but nowhere near good enough to have a chance at winning regionals, which is what they needed to do in order to maintain the club.
Quinn stares wide-eyed as Rachel steps out on the stage. She should have known that Rachel would be here, after all Rachel had been in the glee club last year under the supervision of that Mr. Ryerson guy who'd been fired on charges of molesting a male student or something of the sort.
"My name is Rachel Berry," she says.
Quinn wonders what song she'll sing. She also wonders if Rachel's any good. She hopes for her own sake that she's not, because she's always had a thing for good singers and musicians, and she can't afford to be feeling more for Rachel than she already does. She's having a hard enough time as it is. She also wonders why Rachel didn't announce what song she was singing like the rest of the glee kids.
It's been a long week
I've got a slow leak in my left front tire
I'm sick of where I work
My boss is such a jerk, don't care if I get fired.
My back's about to break
No money in the bank
And she don't call me anymore
I'm down to my last drink, it's time to sell my things
Quinn's jaw drops. She can't believe it. She can't believe how amazing Rachel sounds right now. She's both furious and completely captivated. She never imagined Rachel to know a band like Love and Theft, but she's pleasantly surprised so far with her rendition of it. Of course, she's also annoyed because, yeah, now what does she do?
And pack my bags and never look back
Run a parallel line with the railroad tracks
And make my getaway
I'll put the pedal to the metal as the sun goes down
Leave everybody sleeping in this sleepy town tonight
At the break of day
I'll be a runaway
A hundred miles in, I got a stupid grin
On my scruffy face
With every cigarette I'm burning my regrets
Don't want to leave a trace
And from the rearview, I got a clear view
Of who I used to be
A little bit faster now
Don't want to turn around
I'm gonna pack my bags and never look back
Run a parallel line with the railroad tracks
And make my getaway
I'll put the pedal to the metal as the sun goes down
Leave everybody sleeping in the sleepy town tonight
At the break of day
I'll be a runaway, I'll be a runaway
It's crazy, I know, to count on this road
To give me what I need
But with every state line
Somehow I find another part of me, yeah, yeah
I'm gonna pack my bags and never look back
Run a parallel line with the railroad tracks
And make my getaway
I'll put the pedal to the metal as the sun goes down
Leave everybody sleeping in this sleepy town tonight
At the break of day
I'll be a runaway, I'll be a runaway
What do you think? Please review!
Song is "Runaway" by Love and Theft
