Her tennis shoes crunching on the ground beneath her feet, Quinn slowed to a stop in front of her cabin. It was six in the morning, when most girls were encouraged to get up, but she'd taken the initiative and gone for an early-morning jog around the camp. It was so peaceful when there weren't other girls jumping around and doing herkies and toe touches about the grounds. Quinn stayed with her hands on her knees, taking a few deep breaths to gather herself before going inside. Santana and Brittany could be still sleeping, and she'd hate to wake them…well, she'd hate to wake Santana.
She stretched a few times, and caught a glance from across the lake. There was a boy…tall, baby-faced, with black hair, wearing red gym shorts and tossing a football. He and Quinn's eyes locked. For a second, she wondered if she had something on her face or in her teeth…but then, she realized that from all the way across the camp, he probably wouldn't be able to see anything that small. The boy gave her a smile, and she smiled back, thankful for those two years of braces. And in a split second, he was back to tossing the football.
Quinn smirked to herself. Boys had never really looked at her like that before…But oh well. It was just a boy. Who knows- she may never see him again. Quinn took a few steps up the stairs, opened the screen door, and walked inside, only to find her roommates sitting criss-cross on the floor like she had on her first day. As always, they were in their own little world.
"You're a sight for sore eyes, Q." Santana commented, looking up from whatever she and Brittany were doing. Quinn pulled her elastic out of her hair and let down her messy ponytail, shaking her red tresses out, feeling the sweat cool on her scalp.
"Why is that?" she asked before taking off her shoes and joining them on the floor. Between the two girls was a Lima Jr. High yearbook, open to the Class of '08 eighth grade page.
"Twenty McKinley girls already cried to mommy and left. And fourteen Carmel girls." Santana rolled her eyes. Honestly, Quinn couldn't blame them.
Quinn raised an eyebrow. "But it's only the second week." she said, placing her chin on her palm.
"Coach Sylvester's being nice this year." Brittany chimed in. "I hear last year, forty girls dropped out in the first week."
And Quinn thought she was breathless after finishing her run. That nearly knocked the breath out of her. "….Oh. So…" she began, eager to change the subject, "…whatcha doing?"
Santana shook her head. "Oh, nothing. Just…middle school stuff."
Brittany shrugged. "We should show Quinn, too! She's going to high school with us in the fall."
Santana gave a smirk. "True. And I guess we could let her know what she'll be up against."
"Oh, and we're planning on sneaking across the lake later to the football camp." Brittany said. The look Santana gave her made it clear that that wasn't meant to be told to Quinn. She was only slightly offended. I mean, she had only been their roommate for two weeks. But was it really too much to think she'd be included in their secret plans by now?
Santana rolled her eyes, and held the yearbook in front of Quinn. "Alright, these are all the confirmed McKinley Freshman Class of '08 that we know." she flipped a few pages, landing on the P-Q page.
"Noah Puckerman." Santana declared. "But don't go near him. He's mine. At least…he will be in time for Homecoming." Quinn took a good look at the boy. He had a curly mohawk, olive skin, and piercing green eyes. She could see why Santana was into him. He looked like he was about twenty, and he was what- fourteen? Fifteen at the oldest? The smirk on his face said that he was almost constantly up to something. And she could tell that he probably was.
Brittany got hold of the pages and flipped them back towards the beginning. Santana's expression was both expectant and annoyed.
"Mike Chang." Brittany said, pointing to a picture of an Asian boy with a crooked smile. "We met at hip hop classes in sixth grade."
Santana rolled her eyes. "Brittany's been crushing on him ever since."
"Why not? He's hot and he can make me sushi whenever I want. What's not to love?" Brittany chuckled. But something told Quinn she was completely serious about the sushi thing.
Santana snatched the yearbook back, and was on her way to the R section, but Quinn's eyes caught glimpse of a baby-faced black-haired boy. "Stop." she said. Santana's brow furrowed, but she stopped anyway. In the H section. It was the boy from the football camp. "Who's that?" Quinn asked, pointing to him, though she could see his name under his photo. Finn Hudson.
"Finn Hudson." Santana grimaced. "Six-foot-two, and growing. Awkward, two left feet, except on the football field. I'm convinced he is Frankenstein's monster reincarnated."
Quinn didn't think he looked awkward at all…he looked rather cute, actually.
"Your names rhyme!" Brittany exclaimed. Quinn gave a smile. They did. It was kind of like fate…Well, cheated fate, since she wasn't born Quinn, but…
Santana rolled her eyes. "Moving on." she flipped through the yearbook, going back into the seventh grade section.
"Ooh, 'Tana, show her Artie." Brittany said. Santana stopped in the A section, and held the book out to Quinn. "He was in an accident in the third grade that turned him into a robot."
"….Wheelchair." Santana explained. Honestly, Quinn couldn't take her mind off of Finn Hudson. But this Artie kid was interestingish. "He's our age, but he won't be at McKinley 'til next year. Therefor, you don't need to worry about him just yet. Besides, I doubt that one year is going to magically turn him into a football-playing stud, so why bother?"
Quinn couldn't help but wonder where this whole "Cheerleaders dating footballers" thing came from. And how. It seems to be a tale as old as time, and only the most stereotypical thing ever. But why.
"So when we sneak into the football camp, Finn's going to be there, too?" Quinn asked nonchalantly.
"Ugh." Santana groaned. "Are we still on Finnocence? Everything about him scuh-reams virgin. Why would anyone want to be with a beached walrus?" Quinn made a reach for her cross necklace once again. Oh boy. So she was around that group of kids. At her old middle school, the kids who were sexually active were judged and ridiculed. Not by Quinn, of course, but they were. Here, they were praised?
"…Oh." was all Quinn said, fingering her rosary some more. Santana then raised an eyebrow.
"You haven't lost your V-Card yet either, have you?" she asked with a sinister tone. Quinn stammered….would now be a time to lie?
She shrugged. "No. I'm um.." she cleared her throat, "…I'm waiting until I'm married."
Santana and Brittany both giggled. "That's so cute." Santana pouted, stifling her laughter. "Good luck with that for four more years."
Quinn wasn't sure what that meant, but she was pretty certain of her vow to chastity. High school couldn't be that corrupt, right?
"I'm so excited!" Brittany exclaimed, dancing on the floor. "I can't wait to see the guys. And introduce Quinnie to Finnie. We can be like cupid, San!"
Santana threw herself backward onto the floor next to her friend. "Whatever. I just want to see Puckerman."
"….This means I get to come too…" Quinn said cautiously.
"Whatever." Santana said once again. Quinn was incapable of suppressing her grin. She laid down next to the two girls, smiling up at the ceiling. The three girls laid in silence until the blaring voice of Coach Sylvester came in over the loud speaker.
"McKinley girls, get your butts to the gym. Be there in thirty seconds or I will leak piranha into the lake and force you to swim your way away from them."
Quinn, Brittany, and Santana exchanged humored glances, then jumped up and sprinted toward the gym. Because knowing coach Sylvester, that piranha thing was probably true.