Here's another Finn/Quinn story for all my wonderful Fuinnatics =).

It's sort of AU I guess. Set at the beginning of Season 2. Quinn never went out with Finn - or Puck - and therefore never joined Glee club.

Warnings: Rated for a bit of bad language.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee... that should be exceedingly obvious considering my pairings of choice ;P. I do however like to take the characters and play with them for my own amusement =D.

Anyways, here goes, enjoy 3.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hanging around, nothing to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Finn Hudson was having a bad day.

Actually, Finn Hudson was pretty much having the worst day in his own personal history of bad days. It had been just been your average bad day until football practise, and he thought it might still have been saved from being the absolute worst, if only his mom hadn't been held up at work, forcing him to walk home… and it hadn't started to pour down with rain when he was only halfway between home and school. So yeah, Finn Hudson was most definitely having a bad day; and it was only Monday!

Soaking wet he considered throwing the English test he'd gotten back in last period in a trashcan as he approached it; but he had already told his mom about the test, and she'd only ask him where it was. So, instead, he kicked at the trashcan as he walked past it. It was an attempt at releasing some frustration, but all it did was make a loud clanging noise and hurt his foot. He stopped, wincing and swearing at the offending inanimate object, and looked around him to gage where he was… maybe it would be faster to just head to Puck's house… no, not Puck, maybe one of the other football guys.

As he was wasting the time that might have been better spent continuing his journey on deciding how best to continue said journey, his eyes glanced over a hunched shape on a bench on the opposite sidewalk. At first he looked straight past it, but when it shifted in the corner of his vision, his eyes snapped back. It was a girl… blonde, possibly; it was hard to tell with her hair soaked and plastered to her skin. She was clearly upset about something. Now, Finn wasn't the most observant guy in the world – something his football coach liked to remind him of almost every session – but that much he could tell. She was hunched over, her head in her hands, her fingers curled slightly into her wet hair as if pulling at it, and most importantly she either didn't realise that it was raining, or she simply didn't care. Finn thought of just walking away and leaving her to it for exactly five seconds before he found himself already walking across the street towards her.

"Hey," He called as he drew closer. The girl looked up, her eyes narrowed in his direction, but other than that she didn't respond as Finn halted, standing beside her now. "Are uh… are you okay?" oh wow, stupid question, well done, he thought almost hitting himself.

"Do I look okay to you," The girl snapped. Finn supposed he had well and truly asked for that one. He peered down at the girls face, her eyes were red and puffy and her make-up was running slightly – probably from the combination of crying and the heavy rain – clearly she was not okay. Stupid, stupid question! She shook her head in clear frustration and buried her head back into her hands.

"Uh, no I guess not…" Finn trailed off lamely, biting his lip. He wasn't sure what to do now. It was obvious that this girl didn't want him there, but on the other hand, it just didn't feel right to leave her here sat in the rain; however hostile she might be acting. "Can I… um… can I help at all? Do you maybe want… to talk about it," Her head shot up again and the glare she gave him was truly quite frightening.

"Why the hell would I want to talk to you about my problems, what do you know huh?" She growled, "Just… leave me alone okay?"

Finn frowned to himself, not knowing how to handle this. Crying women were not his forte, especially crying women he didn't even know. Plus, he was a little offended and annoyed by her statement. What did he know about problems? Plenty, as it happened. He arranged his features to glare right back at her, but found she was looking away towards to other end of the street. Making his mind up he huffed loudly and said "Fine!" marching a couple of steps forward and parking himself down beside her on the bench. He ignored her indignant squawk of protest; in fact he ignored her all together. Choosing instead to stare straight ahead towards the trashcan he had kicked a few minutes ago, sending it all his annoyance for causing this situation in the first place.

There was silence for about a minute, in which he was very aware of her staring right at him, but he kept his eyes firmly focussed ahead; eventually however she was the one to break it.

"Just what exactly are you trying to achieve here?"

Finn shrugged, "Nothing much,"

"Oh right, I'm supposed to believe that you're here out of the goodness of your heart right? You're just a 'nice guy', right?"

Still staring ahead Finn screwed up his face in mock annoyance "I'm sorry, why do you assume that this is about you?" he asked, flicking his eyes to his right to watch her expression change from the corner of his eye. He had to battle to keep himself from laughing at the confusion that spread across her face. She recovered swiftly however and glared again.

"Because it is, you…"

"No actually it isn't. It was, and now it's not,"

"Then what the hell are you still doing here?" She was nearly shouting by this point, her whole face red now, not just her eyes.

"It's a free country; I can sit on a bench if I want to." Finn replied.

"You don't have to sit on this one," She said sulkily, leaning back and folding her arms.

"I don't see any others around here,"

"Why do you want to sit on a bench in this… this?" She gestured wildly to the rain that continued to pour down on both of them.

"I'm feeling sorry for myself,"

"What do you have to feel sorry about yourself for?" she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Finn scoffed and finally looked around. "Oh, so you're going to shoot me down for asking you what you're doing here but now you want to know about my problems?" He said, "That's a little hyp… hip... hypa…"

"Hypocritical?" She snapped impatiently, looking away from him again. He blushed slightly, his façade slipping a little.

"Uh yeah, that…"

They lapsed back into silence again, this time Finn stared while she tried to ignore him. He could practically see her mind working as she chewed on her bottom lip. She was dying to ask him about why he was moping and he knew it.

"Anyway is it so hard to believe I might have my own problems?" he said after watching her stew for a while.

"If you don't want to talk about it then don't!" She replied, still refusing to look at him.

"Well, they say a problem shared is a problem halved right? Even if it is with someone who couldn't care less," She huffed.

"Fine!" She said, shifting on the bench so she was facing him, a look of what was clearly mocking interest on her face, "Fire away jock boy, what does the famous Quarterback have to be upset about!"

Finn was taken aback for a moment, "Wait, you know who I am?" she rolled her eyes again. "Everyone in the school knows who you are," he felt suddenly bad, she knew who he was, and he didn't have the first clue who she was. He stared at her for a moment, and now he thought about it, she was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place her.

"Yeah well… that's probably not going to be true much longer," He said, looking down at his hands. "Coach says if my grades don't pick up, I'm off the team,"

"Oh poor baby," came the sarcastic reply.

"Yeah well it might not seem like anything to you, but I need to get a football scholarship so I can go to college and get the hell out of this stupid little town!" He snapped back at her; and to her credit she had the decency to look a little ashamed.

"You think I want to be stuck here my whole life in some dead end job? But I can't even get a half decent grade on a stupid English test," he swung his rucksack off his shoulder, unzipping it angrily and reaching inside to pull out the damning piece of paper; shoving it under her nose.

"That… well…"
"Yeah. Not great huh?" He said, stuffing the now sopping wet paper back into his bag, not even really caring that it might tear.

"And not only that, but my girlfriend broke up with me last week because, and I quote 'you're too popular'… she wanted me to quit football and focus more on Glee club or something, as if I don't do enough for them already, every time they have a fucking crisis I have to be there to pick up the pieces, and to top it off today she sang this romantic song with my ex best friend – who for the record is also on the football team – and who she is probably going out with now considering how flirty they were being,"

"Sounds like a bitch,"

Finn sighed loudly, "That's the thing… she's not really. I mean she can be a bit in your face and overdramatic sometimes but, she can also be really sweet too, and she tries so hard to please people, it had to be hard for her to be with someone popular when she isn't herself… but I mean, well, it wasn't working,"

"Sounds like you still have it pretty bad though,"

"Maybe… not really… I don't really know."

"I forgot you're in the Glee club, that's weird, I mean… you being quarterback and stuff,"

"Yeah… apparently the rest of the football guys think so too, got my usual slushie facial this morning,"

"I've seen them do that…"

"It sucks." He said angrily, "It's like… well really it's being hit in the face with lots of tiny little shards of ice, so it's like instant brain freeze and pain; and the dye stains too… You'd think the quarterback would catch a break huh? But no. Even Santana and Brittany don't and they're Cheerio's."

"Yeah, they complain about it at practise," Finn's head span around.

"You're on the Cheerio's?"

She let out a slightly shrill laugh at that, "Well, I was!" her tone was bitter, and Finn wondered why she wasn't any longer on the schools cheerleading team… girls didn't quit Cheerio's, that uniform meant stardom – unless you were also in Glee club – it was instant popularity. Finn studied the girl again, sure that he would recognise a Cheerio. She sighed dramatically through his silence and pulled her hair back, holding it up as if in a high ponytail, "Any better?" she asked. It clicked very suddenly, and Finn couldn't believe he hadn't recognised her straight away, but then, it was raining and her usually flawless appearance was… less than flawless, and besides she looked very different with her hair down.

"Quinn Fabray?" he exclaimed suddenly, and letting her hair fall back around her face she nodded, shrugging slightly and looking down into her lap.

It was ridiculous. He was sat in the pouring rain, on a bench, venting his problems to head cheerleader Quinn Fabray; and he hadn't even realised it. Well this was surreal.

"What do you mean… you were?"

She shifted slightly in her seat, looking uncomfortable.

"I got kicked off,"

Finn looked at her, confused. Quinn Fabray was the most popular girl in school. She wasn't the type of girl who got kicked out of anything, people practically begged her to be in their clubs, she'd made head cheerleader after her freshman year and lead the Cheerio's to a Nationals win.

"But… why?"

Quinn was silent, still looking down into her lap. Her eyes were turning red again, and she was clearly holding back more tears.

"Wait, is that why you're out here?"

Her head snapped up and the glare was back in full force, "Don't be ridiculous! Do you honestly think I'm that pathetic?" Finn threw his hands up in surrender almost immediately.

"Woh, okay, scary girl… I didn't say that,"

There were a few seconds of silence where she continued to glare, but then it seemed she got tired of it and sighed as if defeated tilting her head back and closing her eyes "I… I got kicked off because… I was slacking and apparently I put too much weight on," she said after a moment. Finn looked her up and down, raising an eyebrow. She certainly didn't look like she wasn't in shape to him.

"Coach Sylvester is very particular about our weight," Quinn added in explanation. She reached her hands up to wipe the water off her face, looking back down again and playing with the bottom of her coat. No more explanation seemed to be coming however and Finn wasn't willing to let the conversation die out now, just when he'd been getting somewhere.

"Seems like we've both had pretty sucky days huh? You get kicked off the team and called fat, and I'm pretty damn close to being kicked off my team, I get ice in my face in the morning, bad grades, my mom leaves me to walk home in the rain… and to top it all off, you know what happened on my way back?"

"What?" Quinn asked glancing up at him.

"I met this really odd girl who insists on sitting on benches in the rain, and hey I was just trying to be nice, but she got all snappy with me and now I'm sat here wallowing in self-pity with her,"

He grinned to himself as he watched the corners of her mouth twitch upwards just slightly. "On the plus side though, I'll probably catch a cold and have a valid excuse for missing school tomorrow,"

"You're the moron who chose to stay," she replied, the small smile still on her lips.

"That's true I guess, must have hit my head during practise or something,"

Quinn let out a tiny, breathy laugh, and went back to fiddling with her coat.

"My parents are getting a divorce," she said suddenly, sniffing slightly a moment later. Finn doesn't really know what to say, so he stays silent and lets her continue.

She sniffs a couple more times, and swallows hard before speaking again, "They uh… my Dad was cheating on my mom so she uh, she threw him out, the papers came through this morning. I guess I was so upset I completely forgot about my diet and just comfort ate for weeks so that's why I'm off the team… and my older sister is away and she can't get back so I don't even have anyone to talk to… I mean for all I'm supposed to be popular I couldn't think of a single person I felt I could talk about this with, how sad is that huh? I'm supposed to be Quinn Fabray head cheerleader, head of the celibacy club, the most popular girl in school and I realised today that… I don't actually have any friends. Not like, real ones or anything… just, people I hang out with at weekends. I mean why would I? I'm a bitch to most people and I keep even the other popular kids at a distance. And to top it all off my I broke up with my boyfriend a few days ago, because when I tried to talk to him he made out that I was overreacting and that it wasn't even a big deal, and then he complained when I refused to sleep with him, he even tried to get me drunk enough to agree…" she was crying again now, and Finn reached out a hand and put it on her shoulder, feeling slightly uncomfortable, but suddenly very sorry for the girl sat beside him. He had seen his own mother go through enough heartache to understand how that hurt, but he'd never had a father, so he couldn't imagine losing one like that; and he'd always had friends he could talk to, especially since joining Glee club… actually.

"You should join Glee club," He said suddenly.

Quinn sniffed loudly and looked up at him, and kind of 'the hell did you just say' expression on her face "What?" she asked, incredulously.

"I uh… look I know people think that it's lame and everything but… Glee club is fun, and everyone is really good friends in there, it might be good for you," He squeezed her shoulder slightly, "They've been there for me this year a lot, and for each other… plus we sing some really awesome songs and it's a laugh, we got through to regionals last year which was really awesome."

"You realise it's social suicide right?" Quinn said raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah but…"

"And that you spent a good few minutes ranting at me about how horrible it is getting a slushie thrown in your face?"

"Well, yeah."

"And this is what you want me to walk into?"

"Look, I know it sounds kind of bad when you put it like that…
"Well it doesn't sound great," she said, cocking her head to one side, a slightly amused expression beginning to find its way onto her tear stained face.

"But really it's awesome and…" Finn trailed off, eyeing her suspiciously, "You're messing with me," he said after a moment, watching her smile fully for the first time since he had walked over.

"Honestly? I actually really wanted to join Glee club, I love singing and dancing and all that" She said, "But I guess, it was just so… not cool… I didn't dare. But hey, if I'm going to be a nobody anyway right? And I… already have a friend in there, it might be kind of nice"

Finn gave her a slightly questioning look before her meaning dawned on him. He grinned at her, "Totally… and it'll be awesome to see the looks on the rest of their faces when you walk in,"

"I hope they don't walk out… I haven't exactly been nice to them myself…"

"They'll be fine, they accepted Santana after all,"

Quinn giggled slightly at that. "I guess," She said. Finn smiled at her, kind of proud of himself for cheering her up. She looked a lot prettier now that she was smiling. Like he'd always thought she was kind of hot… all the Cheerio's were – but right now, even with her hair soaked and with puffy eyes and running makeup, with that smile on her face she looked really pretty; and he'd put it there.

"Maybe we can get off this bench now?" He suggested, and she laughed again, wiping at her face before nodding. They stood up together.

"Is your house far?" She asked, as they started to walk.

"Uh… about twenty minutes,"

"Mine's just around the corner… do you… would you like to dry off? My mom will be there but she won't mind,"

Finn only had to think about it for a moment, before nodding; trying to control it and stop it from seeming too eager, but judging from Quinn's giggle, failing miserably.

"That would be great, thanks,"

She nodded in reply "This way then," she said brightly, and slipped and arm through his and beginning a brisk pace down the street, as if getting to her house fast made any difference to how wet they'd be when they got there. Finn stepped easily alongside her – having at least a head and shoulders height on her – and thought idly that perhaps this wasn't the absolute worst day ever.

Reviews are the surest way to show you care =). Xx Rini