Quinn has to get a summer job in order to experience real life before going off to College. AU fic where Quinn went to Carmel instead of McKinley. I intend to introduce most of the beloved McKinley Crew as the story progresses.
It's just for a few months. It's just for a few months. It's just for a few months.
Quinn looked down at the offensively bright uniform with a grimace. Her mother had laid it out for her freshly ironed. The gesture felt strangely misplaced considering the circumstances. Judy had forced Quinn into the worst kind of summer job imaginable and now that it's Quinn's first day she's been acting like it's going to be the most exciting time of her young life.
Yeah I doubt it.
Quinn gingerly picked up the red three quarter pants which made up one third of her new uniform. She forced herself not to shudder away from the awful polyester fabric blend, making a mental note to stay away from any open flames.
Just a few months. She reminded herself forcefully and slipped her legs into the awful shorts/fucking nightmare pants. The button up blouse was equally offensive but in a different way. The fabric was easily as abrasive and just as bright but instead of solid red, the geniuses that had vomited out the Chuck's Grill uniform opted for a pin striped combination of red blue and white. The density of stripes gave that optical illusion swirl which was guaranteed to make Quinn hurl if one of her coworkers rushed towards her too quickly.
Quinn's Coworkers. Fellow pond-scum. Quinn was most apprehensive about meeting the undoubtedly unwashed individuals she would be whiling away her employment hours with. Her job interview was conducted by the store manager in an office space at the back of the...restaurant/den of despair so she hadn't met any other staff. The manager had seemed nice, if a little insane. Quinn supposed you'd have to be at least a little nuts to work in a fast food chain into your adult years but Holly had seemed bright and intelligent, her unfortunate choice of employment aside.
Quinn finished the last button on her new uniform and picked up the hat which topped off the truly repulsive ensemble. The hat, like her ridiculous pants was red. With a three dimensional, cartoon cow attached above the brim.
Three dimensional. Cartoon Cow.
Quinn placed the ridiculous hat on her head and scowled at her reflection in the mirror. What a fucking loser. Quinn is pretty sure that if ANYONE from her old school sees her like this she will actually die of embarrassment. Why did she have to live in such a crap hole of a town.
Her only other option for two months of employment was her mother's real estate office. That would have had a better uniform but it would also have been two months of her mother calling her Quinnie.
In front of other people.
And of course the daily delight of Judy's boss staring squarely at her chest instead of her face. No. Just no. Skeezy old men aside, it would have been two months of gut wrenching, soul destroying, paper sorting tedium. At least at Chuck's grill there would be a little variety. She hopes.
Quinn glanced at the clock cursing as she realised how far behind time she was. Dammit, she should have been ready ten minutes ago. She'll have to skip her morning coffee. Whatever, the coffee at Chuck's grill can't be too bad.
Quinn gave her uniform one more scowl as she passed the mirror behind the coat rack by the front door. Her bag swung wildly off one shoulder as she raced to the rusty yellow Datsun which served as her transport these days. Selling the red bug which her Father had purchased for her sweet sixteenth allowed for a serious upgrade to the sound system setup in her room.
What, she likes music, okay.
Once Quinn had plugged in that last speaker and knew her listening setup was perfect she'd bought the rust bucket.
Turning the key she was please when the engine turned over straight away. Quinn stroked the dash lovingly thanking Daisy—Yes the car's name is Daisy, what of it?— and moving away from the curb. With Daisy idling noisily at a set of traffic lights fifteen minutes later Quinn glanced at the minnie mouse watch strapped to her wrist. She was actually making good time. Now confident that she wouldn't be late for her first day of training, Quinn switched on the car's stereo and plugged in her iPod. The sound system she'd installed herself cost more than Daisy on the whole but it was totally worth it.
David Bowie's Lets Dance was the last track that Quinn had played and she skipped back to hear it again from the beginning.Throwing her ridiculous red cow hat into the passenger seat Quinn turned up the volume and sang out the first line of the song.
Put on your red shoes and dance the blues!
She drummed her hands across the steering wheel, swinging her cropped blonde hair back and forth to the beat.
To the song that's playing on the radio.
Her favorite part of the song was blaring through her speakers as Quinn pulled into the staff carpark at the back of Chuck's Grill. She wailed out the lyrics, confident that she would have Bowie stuck in her head for the rest of the day.
If you should fall Into my Arms, Tremble like a floooooower.
Quinn closed her eyes, swaying into the intensity of the song. There was not even a tiny crackle in the speaker and Quinn was glad she'd spent that $400 bucks upgrading the sound system in her rust bucket instead of new tires. What good are new tires compared to the awesome power of Bowie blasting at superhuman volumes.
Quinn killed the power and unplugged her ipod, throwing it into her bag with her headphones. The headphones which would undoubtedly be necessary through the duration of her lunch break. Quinn had never actually eaten at Chuck's grill before but she had no doubt that the music would be the most soul crushing garbage imaginable.
Quinn grabbed her special new cow hat and pushed open her door. The morning was hot and bright with the sun glaring up off the bitumen. She checked the time once again to confirm that she was in fact early. The lack of traffic at this time on a Saturday morning seriously cut her travel time in half.
She kept the cow hat in hand as she approached the back door. Leaning against the wall, also waiting in (sort of)matching uniforms were two girls about Quinn's age. Quinn slowed her pace a little so she could make a quick visual assessment of these girls she would presumably be working with.
The taller of the two was blonde and athletic looking. Her eyes, Quinn could see even from a distance were a crazy kind of blue and she wore a number of blue strings platted into her hair which was drawn up into a tight high pony tail. Her wrists were decorated with dozens of plastic bands and bracelets of varying pastel colours. She had rolled up the hem on her uniform pants and her long legs managed to make them look like something a human being would wear.
The shorter girl was as dark as the taller was fair. She had long, naturally black hair left loose around her shoulders and the white tee she was wearing contrasted strongly against her dark skin. This girl had gone for a more direct approach with her uniform pants which stopped mid thigh and had obviously been hacked at with a pair of scissors. Or possibly a knife. Quinn noticed that neither were wearing the striped uniform top and wondered why she hadn't though to just change once she got to work.
Oh well, there's always tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. For two fucking months.
Quinn felt a pang of regret for the summer she would no longer be having as she lifted one hand to greet the two girls. The Latina raised one eyebrow with a slight smirk pulling at her lips. The blonde was much more enthusiastic, grinning broadly and waving madly. Quinn stopped a few feet short of the girls, quickly shoving that ridiculous cow hat into her bag. With her eyes down she nearly missed the blur of movement that was the blonde girl rushing forwards to tackle her into an entirely over exuberant bear hug.
"You must be Quinn!" The tall blonde squealed into Quinn's ear. "I love new people and you look like you're going to be super fun cause you're super cute and I bet you're fun too and this summer is going to be the best ever."
Quinn did her best to remain upright as the girl's arms finally released her. "Ah. yeah. I'm Quinn."
She glanced at the Latina who remained against the wall, reaching out one hand to the taller girls arm. Quinn noted absently that they both wore identical silver bracelets. The pretty heart charms hanging from both caught the morning sun, glinting brightly.
"Remember what Holly was telling you yesterday Britt? We introduce ourselves with full names and hand shakes before crash tackling new people."
The blonde girl—Britt?—looked momentarily abashed. Her smile dropped slightly but then returned full force as she lifted one hand palm upwards between herself and Quinn.
"Hi Quinn Fabray. My name is Brittany S Pearce and this is Santana Lopez."
She swung her right hand behind her to gesture to the girl still leaning against the wall before apparently remembering that she was meant to be shaking with it. She swung it back out in front of her, seemingly proud of her amazing introducing skills. Quinn hesitated for only a moment before taking Brittany's hand. Brittany's smile got impossibly bigger and she gave a quick excited squeal before letting go and bouncing back to link her arm with Santana's.
"It's nice to meet you?" Quinn didn't mean for it to come out as a question.
Santana's eyebrows inched closer to her hairline. "So what's your story Blondie? So far I know that you're a David Bowie fan from Ohio," She glanced at my watch with a smirk, "With a potentially unhealthy Minnie Mouse fetish. How'd you end up amongst the desperate and dateless of Chuck's Charred Wasteland?"
Quinn blushed lightly. Apparently the little sing along in her car did not go unnoticed. She shrugged in what she hoped was a confidently blasé way.
Come on Fabray, your good at people.
"Not much to tell. My mother decided I needed some 'real world' experience before going to college in the Fall. The choices for short term employment are pretty limited in Lima."
Santana grimaced her agreement. "So you were a Senior last year. But you didn't go to McKinley." It wasn't a question. "I mean that's where we all went and I'm pretty sure I'd remember you. We're you like home schooled or something?"
Brittany nodded. "Yeah totally. I made out with all of the hot people in our year and I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd made out with you."
What the hell? This girl was something else entirely. And is she sucking on a candy necklace? Quinn shook her head slightly, trying to remember Santana's original question.
"Umm, yeah. I mean no, I didn't go to McKinley. I went to Carmel. It was pretty traumatic actually. But that's high school I guess."
Quinn tried to laugh but felt her cheeks flame red yet again. She wondered where the fuck her mind had gone and if maybe someone would take pity and find it for her. Or kill her as humanely as possible. She needed coffee.
"Fucking Carmel." Santana's voice was surprisingly bitter and Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"Carmel's show choir were kindov the big rivals for our Glee club." Brittany offered with a small shrug.
Quinn couldn't imagine either of these girls in Glee club and she said so. "You look more like a cheerleader," she said directly to Brittany. She nodded enthusiastically.
"We both were. Santana was head cheerleader even," she nodded proudly and hesitated before adding, "You weren't in the show choir at Carmel or we would have seen you at competitions."
"You were head cheerleader?" Quinn hadn't meant to say it out loud let alone directly to Santana but she couldn't take it back. She'd taken in the girls ragged shorts, mangled Red converse and...is that a tattoo, and assumed she was more of a stand-under-the-bleachers-and-smoke-pot kind of girl. Santana just smirked broadly.
"What of it? You worried about sharing space with a true HBIC?"
Quinn smiled, doing her best to appear nonchalant. "Actually I was Head cheerleader. From time to time."
"From time to time?"
Quinn sighed. "Yeah. I had to leave the squad for a while. Due to um...circumstances."
"Circumstances. Right. Well I'm glad that's clear." Santana seemed unsure whether to push for more information. Mercifully she changed tack all together. "We were national champions."
"Yeah, I know actually. My squad should have been there up against you guys but all the money always went to Vocal Adrenaline and the hockey team. Never got the chance to kick McKinley's asses."
She smiled to show she was joking. Mostly. Santana seemed torn between amused and ready to rip Quinn's throat out. Apparently being head cheerleader for a national champion team was a point of pride for her. Brittany lay a gentle hand on Santana's wrist.
Santana's eyes softened immediately and she scoffed before turning to Brittany. "Yeah B, I know, play nice."
Santana glanced at the clock on her phone. "Where the fuck is Berry? That girl is allergic to late. We got here early for a change and I would like some freakin credit for that."
As if on cue there was the crunch of gravel from behind Quinn who turned to see a big green truck pull up into the car space next to her own. Her poor little Daisy looked puny in comparison. The driver's side door opened and a person fell out of the cab with all the grace of a recently berthed giraffe.
"Smooth moves Berry!" Santana called as Brittany giggled into her hand.
The tiny brunette huffed slightly as she jumped up onto the top step to retrieve her bag from the cab. The girl was wearing the same uniform as Quinn, complete with stupid hat and awkwardly long three quarter pants. She slammed the door on her monster truck closed and shuffled her bag higher onto her shoulder. She approached the three girls with her nose in the air, clearly trying to regain a certain level of dignity post truck cab acrobatics.
Her brown eyes brightened slightly as they swept over the group and saw Quinn who was awkwardly pushing a rock around with the toe of her black converse.
"You must be Quinn." The brunette said as she pushed past Santana to get to the door with a set of keys at the ready. Quinn smiled her best Sunday Church Service smile, wondering if this tiny girl would be one of her supervisors.
"I'm so glad you're starting today Quinn, we have been quite short-handed since Matt left us without much notice. I'm sure you're here to knuckle down and work hard with only the best intentions and attitudes. We of the Chuck's Grill franchise aim to please in delivering the highest quality cuisine with convenience and a reasonable price, although I'm sure you will have read all about that in your introductory, New Employee package that you will have received in the post as of Wednesday or if the Lima post has been its usual dependable self Thursday."
The girl looked at Quinn expectantly.
Oh shit, there must have been a question in there somewhere.
Quinn just nodded dumbly whilst trying to discern whether or not the Brunette had taken a single breathe through that entire speech.
"Oh and I'm Rachel. I assume you have already met Santana and Brittany?"
Quinn just nodded again before realising that she should probably use her words before they thought she was some kind of incommunicable imbecile. "Yeah. I met them."
Great job Fabray.
She really needed some coffee. Especially dealing with this puny brunette who apparently didn't need regular oxygen to speak at a hundred miles an hour. Rachel looked mildly concerned but straitened the smile on her face as she opened the door for them to enter. Quinn wrinkled her nose as the smell of bleach accosted them. She supposed bleach would have to be better than the bad food smells that had probably been washed away by the bleach.
Rachel strode through the door, her mary janes squeaking against the polished linoleum. Santana rolled her eyes and glanced at Quinn.
"Come on Blondie. Lets find you a locker. Hit the lights will you B?"
The sound of several switches being thrown was followed by an electronic hum as row after row of fluorescent lights flickered to life throughout the building. Santana led the way as Brittany pulled the heavy back door closed.
They passed the small managers office where Quinn had been interviewed for the job and through a door marked as 'Storage'. True to what was written on the door, this room was indeed for storage, of piles and piles of crap. Crates and cardboard boxes were stacked from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. There was also broken furniture, light fittings, pieces of the ugly ass uniform and a multitude of additional miscellaneous crap strewn about the space. In the middle of the room, with a narrow mote of floor space was a bank of lockers.
There were 5 columns and two rows much like the ones in her old school. Each door was decorated enough to show that every locker was occupied except for the bottom middle row whose door was blank and had a key jutting out from the lock. Above this locker was a door marked with a large glittering gold star.
"You'll be under Berry." Santana smirked at the innuendo. "And Britt and me are here and here."
She gestured to the two lockers at the top left. Santana's locker had been painted black with the lyrics to a song—Maybe Adelle?— painted in gold letters across the bottom half. Brittany's locker was...well, interesting. It was covered in photos and drawings, mostly of an extremely fat cat. It had streamers pasted in sections with a border of glittering fairy lights. How the girl got them to light up Quinn had no idea. Battery pack maybe?
Brittany opened the door and a unicorn stepped out. Okay, not entirely true but it was just as bright on the inside as the door. There were even more pictures of the fat cat as well as dozens of photos of smiling people. Lots of Brittany and Santana together but also other people including one or two group photos which included that Rachel girl. Some showed the group of people in costumes singing and dancing.
Quinn bent down to examine her own blank locker, wondering if it was worth decorating since she was only going to be there two months. Really only, like 8 weeks when you get down to it. Not long at all. She threw her bag inside after retrieving the stupid cow hat and closed the door, standing back up to find a naked Brittany. Okay, not so naked but, shirtless. Quinn snapped her hand to her face with a quiet Oh My God. She could hear Santana snickering and she lowered her hand blushing, yet again. God, what was wrong with her today? She was acting like a child. A nervous child.
"I thought you were a cheerleader?" Santana laughed through her question. "The Cheerios were practically naked, like ninety percent of the time in the locker room. Or at least, that's how me and Britts were." She shrugged with a wink at her blonde friend before lifting her own shirt over her head. Quinn looked at her feet mumbling something about just surprised and wasn't expecting.
Once both girls were mercifully fully clothed Quinn stopped staring at her shuffling feet. The two girls had taken even more liberties with the top half of their uniform than the bottoms. Both wore a striped shirt that was at least two sizes too small and Santana had gone so far as to roll up the sleeves on hers, fixing them high on above her bicep with a safety pin. Brittany had fixed an embroidered love heart to one of her sleeves and a rainbow on the other. It was a little ridiculous but Quinn had to admit that it was the good kind. They both managed to make to uniform look kind of...cool.
Santana smirked through Quinn's visual appraisal acknowledging that yes they were just that hot. Rachel chose that moment to squeak her way into the locker room.
"I really wish you two would stop altering your uniforms so much. We are paid representatives of The Chuck's Grill company and as such it is expected that we present a clean and professional visage." Rachel pretentiously pulled out the last syllable of this statement and Quinn grimaced.
Really?
Santana just gave the tiny brunette an amused look. Raising her middle finger at Rachel she returned to her conversation with Brittany who was prattling away about...something. Rainbows? Rachel visibly bristled but obviously decided it wasn't worth picking a fight.
She turned to Quinn with a broad smile and a small plastic badge in her hand.
"This is your new name badge Quinn. You will be expected to wear it throughout the duration of you shift so it can be easily read at all times. Corporate research shows that customers like to know the names of those who would serve them in order to establish a basic human connection and avoid any unfortunate slave connotations associated with people in the food services industry or any industry which involves one person servicing the needs of another. So basically any customer service role."
Quinn only half listened wondering if Brittany and Santana ever wore their name badges. She doubted it but took the badge with yet another fucking cartoon cow, pinning it to her shirt to mirror the one already attached to Rachel's shirt.
"Excellent." Rachel smiled a little wider. "We're going to start you up in service today. Really throw you into the deep end to see how you can go with customers. I'm sure you'll be fine as soon as you start sharing that beautiful smile of yours." Rachel's smile faltered only slightly as her cheeks reddened. Rachel hesitated as Quinn let a small bashful smile push out her reddening cheeks.
It wasn't like no one ever told Quinn she was attractive. Her parents' friends would make comments about her looks all the time. Her father had paid good money for this nose so he was always pretty pleased when compliments went her way. And occasionally boys at school would call her pretty. Or hot, but whatever. Mostly boys were just trying to get into her pants. The way that Rachel had said the word beautiful and then blushed—like it had just slipped out—It felt like a genuine compliment.
"A-and...Umm you'll have both myself and...umm...Brittany to assist you at the counter so..." Rachel was interrupted by Santana's loud scoff.
"Oh My God Britt, The Munchkin just said 'um'! Twice. In one sentence. Well done Fabray. Are you feeling alright Berry?" She glanced at Quinn then back to Rachel. "Cause I think your Gay is showing." She laughed heartily and pushed past a now thoroughly red Rachel and an equally red Quinn. "If you'll excuse me ladies, I gots me a grill to prep. Let me know if Puck ever gets here."
"This is gonna be the best summer ever!" Brittany bounced excitedly clapping her hands before linking her arm with Quinn's. "Come on Quinn. I'll show you how to take people's money."
Quinn smiled at the exuberant girl, allowing herself to be dragged into her first day in the 'real world'.