"Quinn, you look hot. You look fine on your own. Why the fuck do you feel the need to go with Hudson again? Go alone. Ditch him. Dance the night away... and get Berry." Santana Lopez watched as her best friend gazed at herself in the mirror. Even though they were going separately, they decided to get ready at Santana's house, because it was closer to the school. Quinn smiled at herself in the mirror and turned to Santana.
"For the 50th time Santana, I'm not going alone. I'm going with Finn. I want to go with Finn."
"Except you don't," Santana sneered, flipping a page of the magazine she was reading. Quinn glanced at the cover and noticed it was an old Playboy magazine that probably belonged to Santana's dad.
"Does your dad know you have that?"
"Yeah," she laughed, "he gave me a whole stack." She pointed to the corner of her room where most of the magazines laid. "He said he didn't have any use for them and he thought I might like them. Kind of weird, but they're awesome."
"You're lucky your parents are so accepting now," Quinn sighed, walking towards Santana on her bed. "I'll never come out. Not that I want to, anyways. But if I did I'd be homeless."
Santana snickered. "Nah, you'd just stay with me. So, you ready?"
"Yeah," Quinn hesitantly replied, "I guess." Smoothing at her dress, she put her best smile on, knowing she didn't want to go at all. She had a bad feeling about tonight, but she didn't tell Santana. She figured Santana knew she didn't want to go anyways. All Quinn wanted was to be with Rachel tonight but she just couldn't. She couldn't ever be with Rachel. She'd never be with Rachel. The thought of never having Rachel was starting to consume her every thought, and it was starting to drive her insane. She was constantly off task, her grades were slipping, her relationships with everyone were slowly fading away, and so was she. She was losing herself just as much as she was losing her mind.
But she faked it. She faked her smile, her personality, and her life. No one could know these thoughts, other than Santana, but she didn't even know the beginning of it.
"Quinn? Quinn are you in there?" Santana waved her hand in front of Quinn's face. She got lost in thoughts again. Santana noticed she had been doing that a lot lately and it was starting to worry her. She could see her best friend slowly drifting away and she didn't know how to stop it, but she'd sure as hell try.
"Sorry, sorry, I was just trying to remember if I have everything I needed."
"Sure you were." Santana wrapped her arm around her best friend's shoulder as they started down the stairs. After Santana's parents took many pictures, they walked out the front door without knowing that soon enough, they'd be walking to their worst nightmare.
Santana and Quinn walked into the doors of McKinley High to find Finn already waiting. Quinn hugged him, placing a kiss on his cheek. "You look beautiful, Quinn. So do you, Santana."
"Mhm, I know Hudson. You look fine yourself," she winked, walking into the gym. Finn laced his fingers through Quinn's as they soon followed her inside. Quinn could feel her throat closing as she caught a glimpse of Rachel from across the room. She looked beautiful. Rachel was wearing a black, strapless dress, with her hair down and curled. She looked marvelous and you could tell she felt that way too. Quinn wanted so badly to go and kiss her, then and there... but she couldn't. It tore her apart. Finn saw Quinn leering and soon realized she was gazing at Rachel.
"Wow, Rachel looks beautiful! I helped pick out that dress."
Quinn looked at him. "You went shopping with her?"
"Well yeah. She invited me. We're best friends." Finn waved at Rachel, trying to get her attention. Quinn grabbed onto his jacket. "Do not do that, Finn. You are my date. You will not ruin this night for me again, you hear me?"
Finn nodded, forcing himself out of the girl's tight grip. "I got it. Crystal clear." Quinn could tell he was shaken up. She didn't mean to be so mean or aggressive. She took his hand and pulled him to the dance floor but they were quickly interrupted by a very familiar voice. It was Rachel.
"Hi guys!" she exclaimed, doing a little jump in the air. Quinn looked down at her feet, trying not to look at the girl at all, as she and Finn hugged each other tightly, exchanging a few words. Quinn could feel Rachel behind her. She wishes she'd just go away. Each breath made Quinn even more uneasy. She bit at her lip when Rachel tapped her on the shoulder. "Quinn!"
"Hi Rachel," she said, looking at her quickly. Rachel wrapped her arms around Quinn and Quinn shook... and Rachel felt it.
"Hey, are you okay? You cold? I have my jack-"
"I'm fine," Quinn sternly replied. "You look nice, Rachel."
She smiled. "Thank you Quinn! You look beautiful! We kind of match, strapless dresses and all. Red suits you well."
"Thanks," Quinn meekly smiled back at the girl.
Finn could feel the tension between the two girls. He didn't know if he should leave them alone or ask what the problem was. They always seemed to be so resistant towards each other, mostly Quinn. He had always wondered if Quinn maybe had feelings for Rachel. Maybe Quinn was gay. He pushed that to the back of his mind though because she just couldn't be. He figured he'd really know by now if she was.
"So Quinn, I have a question to ask you..." Rachel said. Quinn eyed the girl, trying her best to keep her cool. Quinn nodded. "It's kind of private."
"Well, let's go into the hall."
The two girls walked out of the gym, side by side, but very far apart. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Rachel faced Quinn, and looked her straight in the eyes. "I don't really know where to start..."
"Just get to the point, Berry. I don't have time for this right now. I have to get back in there."
Rachel licked her lips, sending a rush through Quinn's body. God, she hated when she did that. It made her want her so bad. God, she wanted her so bad.
"Well... I heard that... you might like me," she whispered.
"Berry, we're friends. I like you."
Rachel shook her head. "No, not like that... I heard you might have feelings for me. There are rumors going around everywhere."
Quinn stood motionless. She could barely feel her heart beat, and she couldn't breathe. Her cheeks began to blush and she could feel her insides twisting. Quinn didn't know what to do. The truth was out. Rachel knew. She turned and ran down the hallway, into the bathroom. Rachel soon followed her and urged her to calm down. "This is YOUR fault, Berry. You made me feel this way. You made me love you. YOU RUINED ME!"
"That's not tru-"
Rachel's words were stopped with a single slap to the face. Quinn lashed out her anger on Rachel and hit her. She stood in disgust of her own actions and stared as Rachel cupped at her face, glaring at Quinn.
"Who told you Rachel? WHO TOLD YOU?" Quinn screamed, pacing around the bathroom. A single tear ran down Rachel's face. She couldn't hold it in... Quinn had actually hurt her. She knew she didn't mean it... but it hurt.
"Santana...," Rachel whispered. "She didn't mean to... she only did it to try to help you... I'm so sorry Quinn. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you tonight."
"Yeah Rachel, you SHOULDN'T have. I'm going home. Have a nice fucking prom." Quinn walked out of the bathroom and ran out the front doors of the school. Sitting on the steps, she held her head in her hands, wondering just how it got so bad. How did she get this way? Why did she let it get this bad? Why did she have to love Rachel so much?
She didn't know what to do. She was lost and confused. Quinn had just physically hurt the girl she was in love with. She couldn't believe Santana had done that. It didn't help at all... this only made things worse.
"Where'd Rachel go?" Kurt asked Blaine, taking a sip of the fruit punch that they had both made. Being on prom committee was something they decided to do together, to have fun and get to know other people. It worked pretty well. Blaine rolled his eyes and looked at Kurt. "Does it really matter? You're here with me. You don't need Rachel."
"Oh, calm down. She's my best friend. I just want to know she's okay."
Blaine could tell how nervous Kurt was, and it drove him mad. Kurt's relationship with Rachel drove him crazy. It was always Rachel this, Rachel that. Why wasn't he the important one? I mean, he was his boyfriend after all, and he did give him attention but sometimes it felt like Kurt cared more about Rachel than he cared about him. It pissed him off.
"I'm sure she's fine Kurt. She's probably just in the bathroom, redoing her makeup or something."
"Yeah, probably," Kurt agreed. He slipped his arm under Blaine's and laid his head on his shoulder. Tonight was perfect. Everything was going great, much better than last year. Kurt smiled as he glanced over at Dave Karofsky, who actually had a date this year who was actually his type. Dave had finally come out and life was starting to improve so much for him. It was nice to see him happy for once. "Thank you for tonight, Blaine. It's been amazing," Kurt looked up at Blaine and smiled. He just nodded in reply. Kurt could sense something was wrong and he noticed how tense Blaine had gotten over the past few minutes. Was it because of Rachel? Had he seen him looking at Karofsky? Thoughts started going through his head and he started to get nervous. "What's wrong, Blaine?"
"Nothing Kurt. I'm just fine and dandy. Maybe if you didn't spend all your time with Rachel, or talk about her so much, maybe things would be better."
"I'm sorry," Kurt pouted, "I didn't realize I did it so much."
"It's all you fucking do Kurt and quite frankly, I'm sick of it. She's not even that great anyways. She's ordinary."
Tears filled Kurt's eyes as he realized that Blaine might be breaking up with him on prom night. Of all nights to break up with him, he decided to do it on prom night. "Blaine I didn't even-"
"Don't you realize she's trying to steal your spotlight? She thinks she's better than you and you're letting her believe that. You're letting her take your fame, your potential. You're wasting your talent so she can have it all."
Kurt lost all of his defenses and ran out of the gym, down the hallway. When Blaine followed, he ran faster. His words had really hurt Kurt, and Blaine hadn't meant to be so blunt, but he meant all that he said, that's for sure.
They both came to a sudden halt when they saw Rachel walking down the hallway, her face tearstained and bruised. To Kurt's surprise, Blaine followed him as he rushed to her side. Kurt took her in his arms, asking what happened and what was wrong.
"She hit me," was all that she managed to get out before crying again.