I'm super sorry that this update took such a long time!

I've been very busy with school :(

But to make up for it, I'll update either this or my one-shot collection before I go to bed later :D

...

Quinn sat down in the driver's seat of her car, forehead resting on the wheel. The tears have stopped falling and she was over the whole encounter with Puck. I guess it's not that easy to forget, she thought to herself. A light knock against the car window brought Quinn back to the present. Sam was outside her car, waiting for her to unlock the door. She quickly wiped the tear stain off her cheeks and plastered a smile before letting him in.

"Ready to go?"

"Yup," Sam jumped in the front seat of the car and set his bag down by his feet.

Unlike the ride going to school, Sam and Quinn were mostly quiet on the way back home. Sam wasn't sure how to act around her anymore. His first impression that she was the perfect, girl-next-door type was shattered in just after one period beside Jacob Ben Israel. They have only known each other for less than a day and he knew it wasn't his business to meddle into hers. As the car drove out of the parking lot, passing by the front entrance of the school, Sam saw Puck exiting the doors, his gaze fixed on Quinn and Sam as they drove off.

I guess it is true. Everything Jacob told me about her, Sam thought. He tried to examine the blonde without her noticing. Her eyes were fixed on the road while his were on her. No baby weight, no mood swings, nothing. She looked perfectly normal, even better than normal, she looked stunning. If anything, she was beautiful. If it wasn't for the dirty look Puck had earlier, it would've been impossible to believe that this girl sitting beside him was once the head cheerleader and the president of the celibacy club who cheated on her boyfriend with his best friend and carried their bastard baby for nine months.

"What's the matter?" Quinn asked Sam. He was spaced out.

"Nothing," he lied. "You mind if I turn up the radio?"

"Go ahead."

New songs from Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, and Justin Bieber played up until they reached Quinn's house. Every now and then, Sam sang along to the song, hoping to get rid of the deafening silence. Without another word, both alighted from the car and entered the house.

"So, if you need anything, I'll be in my room," Quinn said before heading to her room. For the second night in a row, she would stay in her room and would only show herself for dinner.

...

Friday

"Hey, congrats dude," Luke, a football player high-fived Sam. "Welcome to the team."

Sam heard that Coach Beiste had already posted the final cut for the football team in the locker room and he went to check during lunch break. He walked over to the list. A small group of guys crowded to see if their names were on the list. As soon as he was able to get in front, he scanned the small sheet of paper. Sam Evans - Quarterback

"What?" he heard a familiar voice from behind him – Finn.

"What's wrong, man?" Sam asked his new friend.

"It says here we're both quarterbacks," Finn eyes haven't left the sheet of paper as he scanned it for the last time. "But coach didn't indicate who the starting quarterback will be."

"Well, that's because this year, we're using a two-quarterback system," Coach Beiste's booming voice interrupted the two boys' conversation. "I can't decide between the two of you."

"So, do we have to try out again?" Sam asked.

"No, it means that half of the games this season, Hudson here will be starting quarterback, and the other half, you will be starting quarterback," Coach Beiste answered. "…that's if I don't eventually get to chose. You two will be under constant assessment until I find myself the quarterback for this team," she said before leaving the two in the locker room.

"Well, good luck to whoever she picks," Sam said. "Hope there's no tension between us."

"Nah, whoever she picks will be the best for this team," Finn held fist towards Sam for a fistbump. "By the way, talked to Mr. Schue for you. We're having a meeting right now. Mr. Schue has an announcement…maybe you wanna join us today?"

"Sure."

"Come on, I'm headed there," Finn led the way for Sam.

They walked out of the locker room and along hallways that led to the choir room. From the other side of the corridor, they could already hear Mr. Schuester arguing with Finn's loud and opinionated girlfriend, Rachel Berry. When they were finally right outside the choir room, only a door separating them from the rest of the club, Finn turned to Sam.

"You'll fit right in," the tall boy assured his friend.

"Mr. Schue, I appreciate that our club pays tribute to Journey and all of their powerful rock ballads but if we do another one of their songs for Sectionals, we will be overdoing it," Rachel Berry was standing, hands on her hips.

"Rachel, Sectionals is still a long time from now and this is just a draft of our setlist," Mr. Schue was holding a sheet of paper in his hand. "Now please sit down so that I can make an announcement."

Rachel crossed her arms across her chest and sat down.

"Uhm, Mr. Schue," Finn tried to get the attention of the glee club.

The glee club fell silent upon seeing a new face in the room. Sam felt a bit self-conscious as all eyes were on him. On the last row at the back, there she sat with a surprised look on her face. Since the afternoon of his first day in school, Quinn hasn't said more than two sentences to him. She just stared at him, not even sparing a smile to welcome him in the glee club. In front of her, however, was an even less than welcoming Puck.

"Well guys, I know it's been hard after Matt left but looks like our luck has turned, we have a new member, Sam Evans," Mr. Schue warmly introduced him with a light pat on the shoulder. "Why don't you take a seat, Sam, and I'll give the class the first assignment for the school year."

"Hey," he greeted her before taking a seat at the empty chair right in front of her beside Puck.

When everyone settled down, Mr. Schue grabbed the white board marker and wrote in big, capital letters DUETS. He turned around, "Alright, question for the group, what's a duet?"

"A blanket," the blonde Cheerio sitting beside Santana quickly replied.

"A duet is when two voices join to become one," Mr. Schue corrected. He went on describing what a great duet is like. "So, boys and girls, stand and pair yourselves up. And, since you guys seem to love our Defying Gravity diva-off, I'm making this a competition."

"What does the winner get? " Mike Chang asked.

"Dinner for two, on me, at BreadstiX," Mr. Schue announced to the delight of everyone. "What are you guys waiting for? Pair up, then start practicing! I'll see you next week."

"I was wonderin-"

"Quinn, would you-"

Sam and Puck turned to Quinn at the same time.

"You weren't gonna ask her to pair up with you, were you?" Puck faced Sam. "Cause I was."

"She's the only one I know-" Sam tried to explain.

"Then get friendly with the other girls and back off, man," Puck took a step closer to Sam.

"Leave him alone, Puckerman," Quinn glared at Puck, not wanting for the two boys to cause a scene. "Come on, Sam, we're gonna be late for class."

...

The rest of the day zoomed by. Cheerio practice ended at the same time as football. Quinn got numerous criticisms from Coach Sylvester for forgetting most of the routines because she was out for so long. Truth is, she knew all the steps but how could she concentrate when Puck and Sam were throwing glances at her and when they weren't, they were giving looks at each other. She didn't know Sam yet and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to pair up with him or not. One thing's for sure, though, she was sure as hell she wasn't pairing up with Noah Puckerman.

"So, how does it feel being a Cheerio again?" Santana caught up with Quinn who was on her way to her locker.

"I thought it would be everything I wanted but-"

"No buts! Being a Cheerio is the best thing that could ever happen for any high school girl," Santana cut her off.

Quinn rolled her eyes and dialed in the combination for her locker.

"I noticed you're at a crossroad for the duets assignment," Santana "Let me make it easier for you. You pair with your babydaddy and I'll pair up with Sam."

"Aren't you dating Puck?"

"Sex is not dating," Santana replied. "Besides, I'm sure Sam's lips have other purposes aside from looking super sexy and irresistible…and I'm not talking about singing," she smirked. "I gotta go. You think about it, Q."

Okay, note to self, do not leave Sam alone with Santana. That girl is crazy, Quinn thought to herself. She closed the door of her locker and, just like clockwork, Sam entered the hallway to meet her and head their way home. She was walking towards him but before reaching where he was standing, Azimio and Karofsky pop out from behind her and slushied him in the face.

"Welcome to glee club, lady lips," Azimio taunted while Karofsky laughed mockingly.

She felt bad for him, red slushie oozing down from his hair and face. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the nearest restroom. She took out her red towel and led him to the sink. "Bend down," she said, leading his head down to the running water while he washed off the sticky drink off his face.

"The blue berry flavor is the worst especially if it gets down your pants, it looked like a creature out of Avatar down there when I got slushied," Quinn said, trying to make him feel better.

"I saw Avatar like six times," he said.

She looked at him, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. "Oh, anyway, you'll get used to it," she handed him her towel.

"You're a cheerleader, why do you even bother? You don't need glee club," he asked while he wiped his face.

"I like to sing," she fixed the hair that was stuck to his forehead. "…and, the fact is, those guys were pretty cold to me last year when I wasn't on top. What's the point of being popular if you can't do what you want," she wiped his face using her extra face towel.

"Lor menari."

Quinn knitted her brows in confusion.

"It means you have pretty eyes," Sam explained, looking straight into her eyes. "It's Na'vi…the Avatar language."

...

"Man, you should've seen the look in his face!" Azimio hooted.

"He was about to cry before Quinn pulled him in the ladies' room," Karofsky added.

"What do you mean Quinn pulled him in the ladies' room?" Puck was leaning against the wall of the school building. He was waiting for Azimio and Karofsky to come back with a report on what they did to Sam.

"Where else will he go? He sure as hell can't be in the men's room."

"I meant, what was she doing there?"

"I dunno. Probably to help him clean off the slushie from his Bieber cut."

"You idiots!" Puck pushed off against the wall and stood up in front of them.

"Whoa, man, we thought this is what you wanted."

"I wanted you to embarrass him in school not push him into Quinn's arms!" Puck yelled out. "You two can't do anything right!"

"Hey, we thought we were doing you a favor. We have a common enemy which makes you our ally. Anyone with that kinda haircut and those huge-a lips cannot be trusted."

"I guess I have to do things by myself then," Puck muttered to himself.

...

Quinn was on the couch on the living room, clicking through pages on her laptop. She had no schoolwork to be done and she found herself on Sam's facebook page. Scanning through his profile, Quinn became more and more interested about the boy that was staying in their guest room. There were tagged pictures of him, comments from his friends, statuses he had posted in the past.

His first week of school at McKinley ended rather badly and she felt sorry for him. Even though it broke her new rule of not getting close with any boy, she was going to befriend Sam. He needed at least one friend aside from Finn.

"I was getting hungry and was wondering if you were too," Sam popped in from behind her and she quickly snapped her laptop shut and placed it on the table.

"Uhh, yeah, sure," she managed to say but failed to hide the look of shock on her face.

Sam's lips pressed into a grin, seeing how wide-eyed she was. "What do you got there?" he said, reaching for her laptop.

"Nothing!" she tried to snatch it away but she was too late.

Sam was holding her laptop in his hands and opened it. He was surprised to see numerous tabs open, all links from his own profile. He looked at her with an amused look on his face while she blushed bright red. "Were you stalking me?"

She grabbed her laptop back and snapped it shut. "Fine, I was. In my defense, I was checking to see if you were a murderer or not."

Quinn got up and ran to the kitchen to heat up dinner and to get away from the humiliating incident. Sam followed behind her, still laughing. He helped set the table while she got the food out of the microwave. She couldn't stop the smile creeping up on her face, thinking about how embarrassing it was being caught. She couldn't even look at him. When the food was finally ready, they sat across from each other.

"It's unfair that you know everything about me and I know nothing about you," Sam said, breaking the silence.

"What's there to know about me?" Quinn brought a spoonful of food to her mouth.

"A lot," Sam replied but got no response. "I just want to get rid of this whole awkward bubble around us."

"I don't think we're awkward…"

She was looking straight into his eyes as she said those words. He could hear his heart racing. This beautiful girl had power over him and he wasn't going to fight it.

"Okay, so we are a little awkward," Quinn laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to being around anyone aside from Cheerios and glee club."

"For someone who's a cheerleader, you're pretty glum…You're prettiest when you smile," Sam blurted out. "I wish you'd smile more often at school."

She wanted to fight back the smile but it was already out.

"See, it's not that hard," Sam joked.

"How was your try-out?" Quinn changed the topic. "Don't worry, I've seen many-a-game played by our team and they pretty much suck. Last year, we only won that one game Kurt played," Quinn fondly recalled. "It was torture having to cheer for a sucky team. If you're half a decent player, then you'll definitely get in."

"It actually went well. Coach assigned Finn Hudson and I as quarterbacks," he informed her. "And at least I'll get to be with some of the glee guys that are on the team too…though I don't think that's entirely a good thing."

Quinn bit her lip. "I'm sorry about Karofsky and Azimio…and also about Puck earlier in glee club," her face was apologetic. "He's kind of an ass to everybody."

"I'm used to guys like them. It doesn't bother me," Sam replied. "What went on between the two of you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, he obviously likes you and, two, I think he was threatening me when I asked you to be my duets partner," Sam laughed.

"It's not like that," Quinn replied. "It's…it's…"

"Oh good, you guys have dinner prepared," Judy walked in the dining room. She was wearing a little, black dress, her hair up in a neat bun, and an elegant pearl necklace. "I have a meeting to go to. I hope you two will be fine on your own."

"Oh come on, mom. I'm no longer a child," Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's called a date."

"It's not a date," a small smile crept on Judy's face. "It's just dinner with a friend, then, maybe a late-night showing of a movie."

"Or in other words, a date," Quinn teased her mom. "A date with that handsome fellow from church."

"Regardless of what it's called, I will be home late tonight," Judy said. "You two stay in and call me if you need anything."

"Hope you have a wonderful time, Mrs Fabray."

"Thank you, Sam, but please, call me Judy," she said. "Oh, before I forget. Sam, darling, it's kind of embarrassing to ask but since summer, we haven't had a man in the house and Quinny here doesn't know how to work the lawn mower. I was hoping if you could maybe mow the lawn tomorrow. The grass is getting knee-high."

"No problem, Mrs Fa-" Sam cut himself off when Judy raised an eyebrow at him. "No problem, Judy."

(January 16, 2011)