I like the idea of Quinn having hidden sides to her personality.

Her Closest Enemy

Ω

"…Aaand that's why you haaave the cutest pooores," Tiffany droned.

"Totally!" gushed Stacy. "I mean, they're so…small! I bet you couldn't even see them with a gyroscope!"

Quinn felt a headache building at the base of her skull. She really wasn't in the mood for this stuff today, but she shut her locker and forced a smile as she turned around. "Um, I think you mean a microscope, Stacy. Not that I would know about things like that."

"Oh, of course not!"

"You're not a braaaain," Tiffany agreed.

"Anyway, I know how perfect my skin is. As ambassadors of fashion, we can't spend all day looking at our own pores when we could be improving the vastly inferior pores of others!"

"Sorry," said Stacy. "But we just wanted you to know. Just between you and me, I think your skin is even nicer than San—EEP!"

Quinn followed the timid girl's gaze to the end of the hall-where the queen of the Fashion Club was approaching them. Lesser students stepped aside. Those in front of her examined the floor, and the ones behind cast envious looks at her back.

A sudden vision flashed through Quinn's mind of a bright blue serpent sliding into a den of fearful mice, with cruel blank eyes and a forked tongue darting out to taste their fear. But almost every predator was something else's prey, or at least Ms. Barch said that once before going off on a rant about victimized women.

Great, now I'm thinking like a brain AND a goth, Quinn said to herself. She shuddered and tried to think about her new miniskirt instead.

Sandi Griffin regarded her three friends with her usual frosty demeanor. Their sudden silence was not lost on her. "Hello. Please don't stop talking on MY account. By all means, continue."

Stacy went pale. "Oh! Well, I was just…uh…"

"We were taaalking about pooores," Tiffany said, clueless as ever. Quinn could have slapped her. Why did every day have to start like this? Even the last day of their junior year.

Sandi ruins everything...

"Thank you for clearing that up, Stacy," Sandi frowned. "I assume you gave mine the proper attention? Unless you were too busy talking about gross stuff, like sweat or something."

The pigtailed tomboy looked like she might start sweating herself. "Er…um, well, no, I wasn't…"

"I knew it! God, Stacy!"

"I'm sorry!" she cringed.

Sandi leaned closer to her so-called friend, clearly relishing her discomfort. "I think perhaps it is time we re-evaluated your membership in the Fashion Ca-lub. I'm sure that Brooke wouldn't be having inappropriate conversations about bodily functions behind my back."

"Don't be so sure," muttered Quinn.

"Did you say something, Quinn?"

"Of course not, Sandiii! I just think that maybe-"

"I think that maybe this doesn't concern you. So as I was saying, Stacy...consider yourself on probation, until you are finished being a walking embarrassment for the Club. See you in class." she stalked away in the direction of the bathrooms, leaving a hyperventilating Stacy and a quietly seething Quinn. Even Tiffany had a vaguely troubled look on her face.

"Oh God. W-what did I do?" Stacy whimpered. There was a tear on her cheek.

Quinn came to a decision. She smiled and placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Nothing. You guys never do anything bad, okay? Stacy, you're the nicest girl I've ever met, and Tiffany, you're…well, being mean just wouldn't occur to you. So stop feeling bad already."

"Huuuuh?" Tiffany frowned.

Stacy's eyes shone with gratitude, and maybe something else that Quinn wasn't ready to deal with right now. "You mean it? Oh, Quinn, thank you! You're so awesome...I mean, I..."

"Thanks! Now go get our club meeting notes ready for class, okay? I'm sure Sandi is just in a bad mood today. Let me talk to her."

The fashion-ettes walked off, looking somewhat happier.

Oh, yes. Let me handle her...

Ω

Sandi fumed as she checked her makeup in the mirror of the girls' bathroom. Why was she cursed with having the most clueless friends in the world? Her mother always told her she was too tolerant. Of course Stacy was sorry, but she apologized for everything, and in Sandi's mind that amounted to never apologizing at all.

But she would learn. Today would be like every other day this school year; she would show them all who was boss. A dull click registered in the back of her mind, almost like a door locking. Probably just her imagination—

"HI, Sandi!" A red-haired fashion idol shrilled in her ear.

Sandi jumped. How did she do that? "Ahhhh! Um, I mean, ah-hah. There you are, Quinn. Have you come to defend Stacy's tastelessness and complete disregard for my perfect complexion? Because I just am not in the mood."

Quinn checked her bangs in the mirror. "Don't be silly, Sandi! We ALL respect your pores. Stacy wouldn't stop talking about them. It was crazy."

Sandi gave her rival a withering look, and was surprised that she returned it without flinching. "Gee, Quinn. That's an interesting tone you're using. It's almost like you were annoyed that someone else complimented my looks instead of yours. I thought you would be used to little things like that."

"Oh, but I don't feel that way at all. If anyone can sincerely appreciate how cute you are, it's the three of us."

There was something different about her, Sandi thought. A shadow around her eyes, a frustrated exhaustion. Or maybe it was just the cheap fluorescent lights. In any case, now was a good time to fake sincerity. She reached out and gave her 'frenemy' a stiff hug. "Um, very well. I will think about my decision on Stacy. You guys are good friends."

Instead of stepping back after a few seconds, Quinn slowly slid around and held Sandi from behind. In the mirror, it looked almost creepy. Actually, it was kind of…

"Of course we're good friends," Quinn agreed warmly. "How could we not be, with your generousness?"

Sandi wasn't in the mood to correct her grammar. "Um, ha ha. That's good. I have to, um, go now."

Quinn's arms tightened around her shoulders.

"Wait, Sandi. I've just GOT to tell you something."

"W-what?"

The other girl's dark eyes gleamed. "Stacy looks so unattractive when she cries, doesn't she? I mean, her makeup runs everywhere and it's just a mess. And when Tiffany feels bad, she kind of just drifts even farther away, and nobody looks good like that."

"Um…I guess."

"And since I know you're not the kind of girl who would ever need to make herself look better by making other girls less cute, not that we don't all do that but some of us just enjoy it way too much, and not that you could look any better anyway…then there's no reason why you would ever have to hurt them, right?"

"Gee Quinn, could you possibly do a worse job of explaining that? I'm afraid your communication skills just are not bad enough. Now can I go—ow!" she winced as fingernails, painted pink and yellow, began to dig into her sides.

"No."

"W-what do you want?!"

"Try this. If you ever make Stacy cry again, or if you make Tiffany feel stupid one more time…I'll take the Club away from you," Quinn whispered. Her voice was a syrupy hiss. "I'll leave you with nothing. And you know I can do it."

"N-no," Sandi stammered, but her façade was crumbling. This was a side of Quinn she never knew was there.

"I'm so tired of this bull****," Quinn seethed, her Highland vocabulary slipping out. She shoved her friend even closer to the mirror, bending her painfully over the sink. "Look at yourself. LOOK!"

Sandi wanted to scream, or run, but she could do neither. She watched herself trembling in the mirror. Next to her Quinn's face was cold and hard as polished stone-statuesque, just like her body.

"You're freaking beautiful, and it's not enough for you. You're so screwed up you can't feel good if you're not hurting someone. And everybody knows it. The other kids are always asking why I let you be in charge. But that's the whole point. I let you be in charge," The hug got so tight that for a moment she could barely breathe. "Cause if you're not, you'll just go around hurting other people, and that's something I really can't let you do. Okay?"

Sandi whimpered, nodding wildly at the face she no longer recognized.

It was like someone had flipped a switch. In a split second the redhead let her go, stepped back and smiled. The sweetness was real again. Or had it ever been real? "Thanks, Sandi! It's a deal! You're so understanding."

"Stay away from me."

"Oh, Sandi, are you still talking about that? Hey! Once we're in class, let's talk about our summer wardrobes. See you there!"

Sandi stared down into her purse and rummaged through it just to avoid looking at her. Her hands were shaking so hard that she spilled its contents on the floor.

She knelt down to retrieve them, and by the time she looked up, Quinn was gone.