All about Quartie this time around :)
Thank you so much to everyone who favorite, and alerted this story! And a special thank you to LilacSky128 for reviewing!
Enjoy! :D
XXX
Quinn Fabray was beautiful.
She was perfect; perfect white teeth, perfect hair, perfect face, perfect body. Perfect perfect perfect.
Half of the girls wanted to be her friend, while the other half wanted her to disappear. She tried to not let it get to her. But as she walked down the hallway she couldn't help but notice how some of the girls would whisper as she walked by. Their faces' would turn into something that made her stomach a little queasy; their faces' reminded her of what happened in sophomore year, and all the mistakes she made.
She slams her locker closed and sees Sam, her current boyfriend, out of the corner of her eye. He smiles at her, and automatically she smiles back. He closes his own locker and makes his way over to her, "How's it going?"
Quinn sighs, "I've got a test next period that I stayed up all night studying for."
Sam nods empathetically and takes her hand, "Walk you to class?"
She laughs lightly, and interlaces their fingers as they walk. Quinn loves Sam; he's tall, athletic, funny, strong, and will do anything for her. But she isn't too sure if it's just a passing fling or the real deal. He makes her feel lighter than air and invincible. But so does glee club.
And then there was Finn and Puck to think about. She had never really gotten over her first love; Finn. He was an idiot, but he had been the perfect gentleman towards her. He could go from a horny teenager to a caring and compassionate man in less than a second. She always loved how Finn trusted her with everything, and she knew she could have gone to Finn for anything.
But then she broke that trust. She still cries about it sometimes.
She had slept with Puck, gotten pregnant, and lied about everything. She messed up her perfect little world for a night of pleasure. But then an image of Puck flashes in her mind, and she knows that it wasn't all in vain. She had gotten the honor of seeing a kinder and gentler side of Puck no one had previously known before.
A part of Quinn wants the old life back, where she was on top and got anything she wanted. But the other side of her, the more mature and wiser side, disagrees. In the present, Quinn has a group of true friends that got her back no matter what and a heart full of painful memories that will hopefully become something precious and beautiful in time.
Sam squeezes her hand one more time before he lets go, "See you later, and good luck." he places a kiss on her forehead before he leaves. She watches him go with a smile.
Since it's the first period of the day, she's a little early. As she slides into her desk she catches a glimpse of Artie playing air drums with two pencils, she smirks, "Having fun?"
He looks up and smiles a little sheepishly, but his witty reply comes anyway, "Care to join? I could use a bass player."
"Sorry, I'm a singer. That's all I'm good for."
He nods and pushes up his glasses, "Of course." his eye catches something behind her and he grins, "What up dawg?"
Quinn shakes her head at Artie's attempts to be "white-gangsta", as he so eloquently puts it. She moves her elbow which sends her pencil rolling off her desk. She sighs and leans down to get it, but a larger hand swoops down and picks it up. She sits up and Puck's face comes into view, he hands her her pencil, and she mumbles a thank you as he casually makes his way over to Artie.
Artie gives Puck a nod of acknowledgement before he smiles ever so suave, "Come here often?"
Puck smirks, "Baby, I go wherever the pretty ladies are." the two boys fist bump and Quinn rolls her eyes. The whole friendship between them doesn't really make sense to anyone, but the two balance each other out. A dramatic foil, Quinn smirks a little, her eighth grade teach would be so proud.
The two boys continue their conversation and Quinn zones out, running over the multiple equations she had spent the entire night studying over. But really, all this 'fancy' math never made sense to her, when would she ever needto know the missing side of a triangle? Waste of time.
But of course she studies and drills the equations and problems into her brain, because that's what the teachers tell her to do. Without adequate knowledge, she'll never amount to anything. At least, that's what they tell her.
And after all, when were adults ever wrong?
She internally sneers; my dad would be a good example.
Her grip on her pencil tightens; she still wasn't sure how to deal with her dad's betrayal to their family. She knew her dad wasn't as happy as he claimed to be, but she never knew how unsatisfied he truly was until the truth came out. On one hand, she's relieved that she doesn't have to put up a façade around her dad anymore, but she still kind of misses him.
It's at this point that Artie looks over at her; eyebrows drawn in, hardened eyes, and pursed lips, he stares at her, contemplating whether or not he should ask her if something was up. Eventually he excuses himself from Puck, and rolls himself over to Quinn.
""Sup baby girl?"
Quinn quirks an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"
He smiles softly, "You look upset." he notices how her eyes are a little unfocused, "What's up?"
She turns back to her notes and flips the page; Artie can feel her put up defenses, "Nothing. I was just studying."
His mind blanks, and he wonders how to handle a situation where the girl he's talking to has gone through more shit than anyone he'd ever known. He mentally curses himself, why had he bothered to come over here? What could he have possibly done to help her? He and Quinn had never been chummy. Only that one time when they were paired up for duets, but that had been about it. But maybe he came over because, for a split second, he had been slightly reminded of Tina.
He looks back at Puck for help, because surely Puck is the guy who knows the most about Quinn-
and who is also flirting with the girl behind him. Artie gives the back of Puck's head a nasty glare before he turns back to Quinn; who is also staring at Puck.
Artie sees the hurt in those hazel eyes and he immediately regrets coming over to her. He'd never been good with handling matters of the heart; it kind of freaked him out. But luckily, Artie had enough balls to trudge through awkwardness and managed and shaky, "He doesn't understand when to quit, I keep telling him to focus more on school and less on girls.
Quinn sighs, "Must be nice not to care who you hurt."
He didn't think the situation couldn't have gotten any more painful, he was wrong. "Well, I wouldn't say that, I think there's mutual usage going on between both parties."
A flip of the page is his only response.
"A-And besides," he continues on, because his mom had always taught him to help girls in need, "I think we both know what he's really trying to do."
Hazel eye's flicker up to his, but only for a moment, "I don't understand what you mean." her tone was icy, he flinched.
An image of Tina, for some odd reason, flashes through his mind. Quinn and Tina were similar, he decides; they both hid behind walls when things got to rough. Both are good at lying, at running away.
But Quinn isn't the same girl she was in sophomore year, she didn't treat others like they were dirt anymore, and when she smiled it was genuine, not forced or strained. She could stand on her own two feet now, making sure everyone knew of her fierce independence.
Artie tries a new tactic, one last try, "You know its okay to allow yourself to feel."
Her head shoots up in surprise, "You don't think I know that? I understand perfectly well that I'm human and that I can allow myself to feel weak." she slams her book loudly, gaining the attention of some of the students around her. "Please don't look at me and stick a label to me."
He mentally freaks; offending her was the last think he wanted. Damn his chivalrous tendencies!
However, to his growing surprise, Quinn offers a thin smile, "But, thank you. Most people wouldn't have done that." her tone is slightly guarded, like she's trying to find a hidden motive behind his gesture. But regardless, he knows she's sincere.
The teacher walks in and announces the start of class, so he finds himself rolling away from her and towards his seat. His head is swimming, not exactly comprehending what just happened. He still isn't sure if he had helped or made the problem worse, but if his pounding heart is any indication, he knows it was serious. Serious enough to make him go over there in the first place.
So as he takes his test, he can't help but notice the tuff of blonde hair in his peripheral.
XXX
Artie is probably way ooc, but to me I can see this happening. I really don't know why, but I think it has to do with me picturing Artie comparing Tina and Quinn together, and seeing a resemblance. I think Tina is also the type to build walls, hence the reason she pretended she had a stutter.
Anyways, I really hoped you enjoyed!