A/N: My second fic, so please be kind. :p Reviews and criticism are welcome and would definitely help me out a lot! This story has not been beta-d so I apologize for any mistakes I might have missed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.
Pairing: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Inspiration from Episode 1x13 Sectionals.
Awaken Me
Looking down the hallway, slushie in hand, she spotted the familiar brunette by a locker. As expected, the small girl was in a cheerful mood, humming some Broadway show tune and all the while obsessively embellishing her locker with gold stars Unfortunately, for Rachel, this made her the perfect target for a morning slushie facial.
Of course, as HBIC she wasn't about to do the actual act of throwing the slushie, she had a reputation to uphold and a manicure to maintain. Before walking any further, she stopped Karofsky in his tracks.
"Karofsky, here, take this and go give Manhands over there a well needed slushie facial."
The jock smirked, high-fived the other dumb jock with him. They stormed down the hallway, mindlessly pushing random students to make way. As they got closer to Rachel Berry, they threw the slushie, completely surprising the brunette. Karofsky and his fellow teammate laughed as they walked by, and threw the cup to the ground.
All the while, Quinn still stood at the end of the hallway, watching from afar. She could see Rachel frantically searching for her 'Slushie Emergency Kit' with tears silently rolling down her cheeks. Quinn couldn't tell if those tears were from the sting of the slushie in her eyes, or if they were real tears. Whichever it was made the blonde regret doing what she did. Knowing that she shouldn't be feeling this way, the blonde turned and walked in the opposite direction of Rachel, she couldn't stand seeing the brunette cry.
The blonde was spotted, yet again in the same spot a month before, slushie in hand, staring intently at the brunette on the other end. She didn't know what to do, there she was, frozen and glued to the floor as everyone around her stared. She began to walk and continued strutting down the hallway, but found herself stopping just a few feet away from the brunette. She sighed as she continued to contemplate her actions. A few moments later, she quickly walked past Rachel.
"Good morning, Rupaul."
Rachel looked up from her locker, quietly eyeing the slushie in the blonde's hand "Oh, uh, good morning Quinn."
Quinn silently smiled to herself as she walked by and heard Rachel say under her breath "Oh thank God!"
Later that afternoon, Quinn sat on her chair in Glee club, patiently waiting for Mr. Shue to walk in and start their lesson. For some odd reason, a mysterious force kept making the blonde turn her gaze at one Rachel Berry, quietly sitting there with a sad expression overwhelming her face.
This was not like Rachel. By now, she would have been proposing some weird Glee ideas she thought of last night as she was recording her Myspace videos.
Instantly her attention was turned to Finn as he stormed up to Puck as he entered the room. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Puck was now on the floor grunting in pain from Finn's physical assault. Everyone in the choir room bolted out of their seats surrounding the two boys on the ground. Mr. Shue came running in and instantly separated the two boys.
"TELL THE TRUTH!"
"What the hell, I just walked in when he sucker punched me!"
No, no, no, no, no, no, NO. This could not be happening. Not now, please. Oh, God, please. Tears were now streaming down the blonde's face.
"W-Who told you Finn?"
Kurt piped up, "Obviously it was Rachel."
Rachel tried denying this fact, averting Quinn's eyes. "What? I didn't do anything!"
"Yes, it was Rachel. But I want to hear from both of you!"
"Finn, just calm down."
"NO! They both LIED to me. Just tell me, is it-is it true?"
Quinn slowly approached the boy with tears in her eyes. "Y-Yes. Puck is the father. I'm so, sorry." The blonde turned her gaze to the small brunette to her left, noticing that tears were clouding up the brunette's vision as well. And for a good second, they just looked into each other's eyes; seeing the hurt they both cost each other in their lifetime.
It was safe to say that there was no Glee lesson that day as Quinn solemnly sat at a lone bench in the middle of the hallway.
"I'm so sorry. I fully understand if you want to beat me up." The blonde spun her head around, focusing her eyes at the girl before her. "If you can, just try to avoid my nose." Rachel began to close her eyes and scrunched her face, awaiting her punishment.
"I'm not mad at you." And that was the truth. No matter how many times she had poked fun of the brunette, she never truly hated her. In fact, she admired her. Here, sat Quinn Fabray, who worked so hard to get to the top, only to be brought down after getting knocked up because she got drunk on some wine coolers. She was broken, her parents abandoned her, as did Finn, but he had every reason too. But there was Rachel, who somehow, after all her torment, always found a way to get past it and keep moving. Who, standing right in front of her, is apologizing for doing something Quinn could never do, tell the truth.
Of course, every parent teaches their kids to be honest and always speak the truth, but after growing up in such a restrictive, conservative and religious household, Quinn learned to just say what people, mostly her parents, wanted to hear.
"All you did was what I wasn't brave enough to do…tell the truth." Quinn gave her a small smile. The brunette took the initiative and sat down next to her.
"I-I was selfish when I told him. I wanted to break you two up so that you…." Rachel became silent, unable to finish her sentence. The blonde fixed her eyes upon the girl, patiently waiting for her to finish.
With a sigh, Rachel continued, "I wanted to break you two up so that you…would want to be with me."
Quinn widened her eyes, shocked at what Rachel had just said.
What? Did I hear her correctly? S-She wants to be with me? When did this happen, I thought she hated me. If I were her, I would hate me. Impossible, Rachel Barbara Berry, wants me?
Rachel just looked forward, unable to look at the blonde, afraid of her reaction. She expected to have been insulted by now or be called by derogatory term. But, no, she was just sitting there, most likely mulling over the sentence. By now, she wouldn't mind the abuse or torment, at least she'd know what she was thinking, and anything was better than this silence.
Quinn looked at her briefly and caught her eye. She just couldn't think properly right now with Rachel looking at her all lovingly and patiently. A month before, she probably would have sneered and called her some name and walk away laughing, plotting to tell the whole school that Rachel Berry is a lesbian. But everything is different now and the truth is maybe she did have feelings for the brunette as well. The Glee club became her true friends shortly after Sue Sylvester kicked her out of the Cheerios and lost her positions as HBIC. She just needed time to think this over. Too many things just happened on one day and she felt that all this drama was too suffocating.
She quietly spoke up "C-can you just leave now?"
Much to Rachel's dismay, she nodded and proceeded to walk away, silently condoning herself for telling the blonde her true feelings.