Rachel stood in the hallway, passing out papers to anyone who would take one. Most people took one glance at it before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash or just dropping it. Many of them laughed before showing their friends, and quite often people would ignore Rachel completely. The brunette spotted Quinn walking towards her, clearly confused about the abundance of balled up papers, and smiled. Finally, someone who would stop pretending to hate her. The taller girl stopped in front of Rachel, who thrust a piece of paper in her direction.

"Would you like an autographed photo, Quinn?" Rachel watched the girl intently, hoping Quinn of all people would be so kind as to accept the picture.

"Um…sure. Sure thing." There was a hint of indecision in her voice, but Rachel would take whatever she could get. Quinn took the photo and tucked it between two of her notebooks. She began to turn away, but then quickly spun back around to face Rachel again.

"Hey Rachel, have you, um.. have you talked to Shelby lately?" The brunette glanced at the floor, shook her head and let out a feeble, "Why?"

Quinn regretted asking as soon as she saw the other girl's eyes. They were beautiful even in their sorrow. The sheer anguish that had surfaced in them revealed how betrayed she felt by Shelby. Quinn realized that Rachel must thing she had brought up her mother to torture her. Guilt immediately filled her, for what she had just asked and for every cruel comment she had made in the past.

"I wanted to know if you had heard anything about Beth." Once Quinn had made her intentions clear, a little of the pain in Rachel's eyes faded.

"Oh. Well my fathers talked to Shelby two weeks ago. Beth is doing quite well. They informed me that she took her first few steps recently." Quinn nodded and smiled.

"Thanks so much Rachel. I have to go talk to someone, but I'll see you at Glee club. Oh, and thanks for the autograph." She turned and walked off, searching for a certain wide-mouthed blonde.

/

Rachel watched as Quinn walked away and smiled as she saw the blonde stop a freshman from throwing away their copy of the photo. For a moment she had been terrified. Quinn was being so nice lately, but it had looked like she was about to torment Rachel again. Fortunately, that hadn't been the case, though. Just as the brunette turned to head to class, she saw Finn. She handed him one of the photos and smiled.

"What's this?"

"An autographed photo. I am passing them out to my fans. It seems as if the school has recently discovered how talented I am, so to show my appreciation I plan on passing out these photos for the next few days. I'll always have some on me, also, in case a fan needs one."

"I don't need one of these, I have the real thing."

"But Finn, that isn't the point. It's to express my appreciation to my fans." He continued to stare blankly at her. "Quinn took one."

"Quinn's a bitch."

"She's been nice to me lately.. she's been defending me and-"

"It's an act. You shouldn't be talking to her; she's just going to make your life hell like she did last year and the year before. "

"But Finn, she's been really nice. I was actually thinking about doing a duet with her. Our voices would sound very-"

"No. No Rachel, you don't understand. Why won't you just listen to me? She's not nice and you won't do a duet with her. Get it? I don't want you talking to her."

"Oh.. um.. okay. If you think she's pretending.."

"I do." With that, he stalked off to class, leaving Rachel to walk alone to hers.

/

"Sam!" The boy turned around, looking for whoever had just called him. A look of confusion flashed across his face when he saw that it was Quinn.

"Uh, yeah? What's up Quinn?" She sped up and stopped in front of him, quickly covering the half-visible photo of Rachel with a notebook.

"Can you do me a favor? I need to learn how to play guitar. I know you don't have a lot of time, but I can pay you. Just name your price." As time went on he began to look more and more confused. Quinn had such a serious look on her face that he couldn't help but laugh.

"Quinn you don't have to pay me. We can start Friday, after Glee Club. Is that a good time for you?" She nodded. "And you have a guitar?" Another nod. "Okay, and can I ask why you so desperately need to learn?"

"I'll tell you on Friday. Thanks a lot Sam. I'll see you after school. Get to class! You better not get detention." Laughing, she walked to her own class.

/

"Why did you need to learn how to play guitar?"

"You'll see Micah. You've got your mothers patience." She laughed and smiled at the memories for a moment.

"What happened after you asked Sam to teach you how to play?"

"Not much for the rest of the day. Until we got to Glee club, that is."

"What happened in Glee club?"

"Let me speak and you'll see."

/

Finally school was over. Rachel had been in a rush to get out of her math class, so she was the first one in the choir room. The rest of the club began filing in, taking their usual seats. Quinn sat next to Rachel, but as Finn walked in Rachel moved a seat away from the blonde. She didn't want Finn to get mad, and maybe he was right about Quinn. The other girl had been so cruel just last year, so what could have made her change so drastically over the summer? Rachel couldn't think of anything, so Finn must be right. Quinn looked hurt, but Rachel tried to ignore it. Finn sat between the girls and put his arm over the back of Rachel's seat. He was saying something to her about football, but she couldn't help but be distracted by Quinn. It was hard for her to believe that she would pretend to be nice. Out of all of the people at the school, Quinn had been the only one to want to take an autographed picture, and she had even stopped others from destroying their copies. It didn't seem like she was being fake, but Finn knew her better than Rachel did. He was still talking about football when Santana walked in and sat behind them. Suddenly Rachel felt a ball of paper hit the top of her head, and then about 20 of them fell around her. Taking a better look, she could see that they were pictures of her; autographed pictures of her. Just as she felt the tears coming, she heard Quinn's voice. The blonde was yelling now, and Santana was yelling back. Rachel tried to compose herself enough to turn and look at the two girls, who had both stood up.

"Why do you keep defending her, Fabray? She's a loser!"

"And you're a bitch! I don't see people picking on you! Call her a loser again, I dare you!"

"Hey Rachel, you're a loser." Quinn lunged, but Puck held her back. Brittany had a hand on Santana's arm, keeping her from going after the blonde. "Aw look at Quinn, defending man hands. I think it's time to get you a haircut, Quinn. Maybe you should go get some softball lessons too, because clearly you're a lesbian." The blonde froze for half a second, then jumped right back into the argument.

"No, I think that's you." Now it was time for someone to hold back Santana, who had, despite Brittany's touch, jumped at Quinn. Mike had his arms around her waist, holding her back, while Puck still held Quinn in place. They were yelling over each other now, making their words completely beyond understandable. Rachel sat stunned, and past confused. She knew, at least, that Quinn wasn't a lesbian. She couldn't be. This meant though, that Quinn wasn't pretending to be nice to her. She wouldn't do this far to be fake. Both Quinn and Santana were still yelling, and still fighting to get away from Puck and Mike, when Mr. Schue walked in. He stood stunned for a moment before telling them all to calm down. It took a little while but eventually everybody sat down and listened to what he had to say. It was honestly miraculous how he could ignore such an event to go right back into a discussion on show choir tactics.