I'm Soo bad with keeping up. Sorry about the delay! Reviews are appreciated!
Quinn
Big chocolate brown eyes. Very close big chocolate brown eyes staring at her.
That was the first thing Quinn saw when she opened her eyes. Her first instinct was to immediately fight off the intruder but the person on top of her had her pinned down.
It was a little girl, not much older than herself. Her skin was a rich caramel color and her face had small scratches scattered around, complete with a Band-Aid decorating just beneath her eye. She had long, black hair that cascaded down and was used as a curtain surrounding their faces.
Quinn opened her mouth to protest but a small hand clamped over her mouth. The girl's eyes went wide and she let out a high pitched scream as Quinn's teeth sunk into her palm in reaction. The blonde took the moment of surprise and pushed the other girl off of her and on the floor with a dull thump. Footsteps were heard clambering down the hall quickly and Carlos burst through the door with a woman at his side looking panicked.
"Santana!" The woman pushed past Carlos to kneel beside the fallen girl, who was cradling her hand to her chest and looked like she was trying hard not to cry.
"Mamí, she… attacked me!" Santana growled angrily, pointing a finger to Quinn. She quickly jumped to sit up on the bed to defend herself.
"She's lying! I was sleeping and this creep was on me, watching me!" The blonde exclaimed, clenching her fists as she hopped off the bed to advance on Santana. The Latina didn't back down and pushed away from her mother's arms, balling up her uninjured hand into a fist.
Quinn was so close to swinging on the other girl but a strong pair of arms scooped her up from behind and away from Santana. She kicked away from Carlos to no use.
"I see you've met my daughter. Quinn, this is Santana." Quinn only tried to fight away from Carlos once again but the man held on tightly. "Maribel, take Santana downstairs, we'll be down shortly." The woman nodded and picked up the younger Latina and walked out of the room. Carlos let Quinn down.
"I swear, she started it!" Quinn immediately defended herself. She didn't want to admit it but she actually enjoyed staying the night. She wasn't in a rush to be kicked out because some creepy kid decided to intrude on her.
"I believe you, Quinn. Santana has a bit of an anger problem." Carlos sighed with a shrug, walking over to the covered window to pull back the curtains, letting the bright sunlight shine through. "Now, breakfast is ready and there are some clothes that'll fit you in the closet." He smiled before leaving the room.
Once Quinn took a shower and got dressed in a worn out pink sweater and black jeans, she made her way downstairs where everyone was already seated. Immediately, she locked eyes with Santana. The girl rolled her eyes as soon as she saw Quinn. The table was covered with food, like something out of a movie. There was pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns, fruits, and a pitcher of orange juice. Carlos sat at the head. Santana sat to the right of him and Maribel on the left.
Quinn noticed a boy sitting on the other side of Santana. His skin was tan but not as dark as the rest of the family's and he had medium length brown hair. Like Santana, he had multiple scratches on his face and a bandage stuck to his forehead. He wore a black muscle shirt that didn't show anything off. She would've assumed he was Santana's brother but none of his features matched Carlos' or Maribel's.
She took a seat at the opposite end of the table, next the boy, who was too busy noisily eating his piled up plate of food to notice her. Her plate was already filled with two pancakes, five strips of bacon and eggs. The table still had plates full if she wanted more.
"Noah." Carlos cleared his throat at the boy beside Quinn. He looked up with bacon grease and syrup surrounding his lips, a confused expression on his face when he saw the newly added blonde. "This is Quinn. She arrived last night and we're hoping to enroll her." The boy nodded and wiped his hand on the front of his shirt and reached it out to her. She cautiously shook it.
"I'm Puck." He said, grinning with his teeth exposed.
"He's Noah." The annoyed voice of Santana piped up. Noah, or Puck, huffed and looked back to his plate.
"Jeez, San, if you keep telling people that, it'll never catch on."
"Yeah, well if you keep telling people that, they're going to think you're stupid." Quinn could see it wasn't just her who got the bad side of Santana's personality. Puck's face balled up like he wanted to say something but didn't have a good comeback so he just angrily bit into another piece of bacon.
Quinn remained quiet a while after their little argument and picked at her food. This feeling- this environment was foreign to her. Arguments that didn't end in storming off or a fight, food presented to her without being asked, or her presence being acknowledged just weren't things that she would experience.
It was the most welcome she'd felt in the last 5 years. It was probably longer than that since her parents abandoned her. So, maybe this was the most welcome she has felt throughout her entire life; it was nice.
The remainder of breakfast went by quickly. Santana and Puck butt heads more than once, and by the amused looks on Maribel and Carlos' faces, it was a normal occurrence. At one point, Santana addressed Quinn (only to have someone agree how stupid a name like Puck was; how they got back to that topic was beyond her) and to her surprise, she laughed. It was almost like a normal family event.
As Maribel gathered up the dirty dishes and the other two children gathered their things for class, Carlos addressed Quinn.
"McKinley is a safe place for Deviants. That feeling you have right now? It's what you can feel everyday if you stay here." Quinn raised in eyebrow as to how he knew what she felt. He chuckled, "Empathy. As I said, this is a safe place for us. For our students, we provide meals, a dorm, a courtyard, and basic education along with quality training. We teach you how to control your ability and grow it."
"What do you mean grow?" The girl asked curiously.
"Our abilities, we're able to grow them. Make them better." He explained, "It's much like levels, as we become more in control of them, the more they advance. As a boy, I could only feel emotions through physical contact. Now, I am able to extend my own emotions to others… but through physical contact. I still have some growing to do."
"What else would I be able to do when my power grows?"
"Well, you have a mental ability. How it advances can be completely different than what we expect." Quinn nodded. Santana hopped back into the kitchen to press a kiss to her father's cheek and grab a pink book bag from the living room. Puck grabbed the black one next to it.
"See you later, Papí." She called to him on her way out the front door, swinging her bag over her shoulder. The older Lopez watched after her.
"Have a good day, Mija." He waved them out the door.
"What can they do?" Quinn asked as she watched Puck closed the door behind them.
"Santana is a telepath. She developed early, much like yourself, but she is still struggling with it." He sighed, "Puck's ability hasn't manifested."
"So what does he do while everybody else grows their powers?"
"Those whose abilities has not manifested train as any other student without specific goals to meet. He trains to heighten his normal physical, mental, and emotional states. Once a month, we put the of age students who have not yet discovered their deviation in extreme situations, hoping it would trigger their manifestation." Carlos shook his head with a slight chuckle, "That method was brought to us by our very passionate coach."
Quinn looked down at the bare table. It seemed like a nice set up. Her gaze shifted to the window. There were kids out now, each going into one of the five buildings facing Carlo's home. Some were horsing around with their peers. She spotted a flame spouting from the hand of a particularly lanky boy and watched as Santana and Puck joined up with the group currently surrounding him for warmth. She felt her lips tug into a smile, a small flicker of hope igniting in her that she could be a part of that group. She hid the smile quickly and turned her head back to Carlos, who wore a knowing smirk.
"Will I have to room with your daughter? I'm not sure how much I liked my wake-up call this morning." The man gave a grateful grin before laughing that hearty laugh only fathers seem to be able to conjure. He got up from his spot and Quinn did the same. Carlos placed his hand on her shoulder as he led her into the second half of the house which held the administration office.
"Let's get you a schedule."
