Chapter 3
"Aw, hell no" Mercedes moaned
"you cannot be serious?" Kurt added taking to his feet and storppely crossing his arms over his chest.
"i.i.i.i. don't t-think this is a good idea" Tina also added
"i don't see the problem, I think this could be good for us" Finn smiled,
Every glee club member whipped their head to where he sat at the drum kit before he raised both the sticks questioning their hostility.
"Wait a minute, how come Rachel hasn't said anything?" Mercedes asked causing them all to whip their heads to her.
She sat motionless in the second row looking off to the side. Just staring as though she would rather be anywhere but where she was in that precise moment in time
"Rachel, what do you think?" Finn asked hopeful, hw placed down the sticks and moved out from the kit.
She looked at him, then to the eyes staring at her before looking to the middle of the room where 3 cheerios' lead by Quinn stood in perfect formation, each with one hand on their respective hips. She could feel their eyes burning in her skin, a wicked smile crept along Quinn's lips. She knew by the way Rachel was avoiding any eye contact that inside she was seething.
"Its not upto me" she said folding her arms over her chest and looking back to a very interesting albeit only to her spot at the far wall.
"Guys, you know the rules anyone who auditions for this club gets in" Mr Schue explained with a kind smile
"It's a ruse, they've probably got slushies stashed in their pom-poms" Kurt waved his hands at them
Mr Schue furrowed an eyebrow and looked to them. Questioning them silently but relenting when each girl smiled sweetly.
"Can they even sing?" Mercedes asked
Quinn turned to Mr Schue and smiled with a nod giving him his cue to reach over the piano and press play on the blue portable stereo.
The opening bars filled the room and The 3 cheerio's took their places,
Santana and Brittany moved to the front covering Quinn and began moving their hips in time with the music "I say a little prayer for yoouuuu" they sang in unison before Quinn dramatically pushed through them taking centre stage, self-assurance and smugness ringing throughout her face as she set her eyes on Rachel.
"The moment I wake up .. before I put on my make-up"
They danced perfectly in time, Rachel wasn't surprised though, she hated all 3 of them with a burning passion but they were surprisingly incredible cheerleaders and dancers, if and when she attended a football game she was always mesmerised by their ability to read each other's minds and make the exact same move at the exact right time. What she was surprised it was Lucy/Quinn's new found singing voice. For years throughout their friendship she begged and pleaded for them to sing together, wither it be Disney-sing-along, learning all the songs to every musical Rachel could think of or forming a rock band. Lucy/Quinn's shyness would envelope her and render her mute, so instead she would be the audience, along with Sparkles and Goldie. Rachel's childhood teddies.
She smiled remembering who they used to be but when she looked up and caught eyes with Quinn's everything that happened since last summer streamed through her head and her smile dropped. This didn't go unnoticed by Quinn, it threw her off for a fraction of a second but she quickly regained her composure and finished their song. No applause came until the three girls glared at their audience forcing them to reluctantly clap their hands together.
"Welcome to the New Directions" Mr Schuester said as the unholy trinity sauntered across the floor towards the plastic chairs and took the row in front of her.
A six-year-old Rachel curiously watched the little girl. She opened her lunch box looked inside before shutting it again and looked around the cafeteria, she looked at the other kids while they laughed, talked and messily ate their own lunches. Rachel continued to watch as the little girl then flicked her eyes to one of the teachers. The teacher turned for a few seconds and the little girl leaned forward and opened her mouth as though she wanted her attention but slumped back in her chair when the teacher looked away, she leaned forward again and re-opened her lunch box before repeating the whole process 6 further times.
On the 7th time Rachel gathered up her own lunch box and made her way to the end of the table, she stood over the girl while she continued to stare in her box,
"I'm Rachel" she said proudly
The little girl looked up with tear rimming her eyes
"Are you not hungry?" Rachel asked looking from the strange girl then to her lunch box the "my little pony" box
The girl watched her for a second and then reached forward and opened the box allowing Rachel to look inside,
"My juice box burst" she looked at Rachel helplessly as a tear fell from her eye, Rachel looked and saw sandwiches being pickled in orange juice before she reached over and shut the box and pushed it into the centre of the table.
"You can share mine" Rachel smiled broadly and took the seat next to Lucy.
From her own box she pulled out a napkin and laid it down on the table before placing on it half a crust-less peanut butter and jelly sandwich, babybel, some grapes and half a banana. Lucy watched her new strange friend as she slid the napkin in front of her. Then pulling out her care-bear flask she sat it between them.
"You can have as much as you want, it'll make you feel better" Rachel smiled and lifted her sandwich taking a bite
"I'm Lucy"
"Rachel?"
She got so lost in her own thoughts that she failed to noticed the entire glee club staring at her, including Finn who was now sitting next to Quinn with his big stupid arm around her stupid shoulders. She scowled. Then looked up to Mr Schuester as he stood expectantly waiting for her
"Huh?"
"ideas, for sectionals?" he goaded
"Oh" She stood up and made her way to the centre of the room and turned and faced the rest of the glee club, purposely avoiding eye contact with the 3 cheerleaders and Finn.
"We have to do something that will make us stand out, make us memorable, sure we could amaze them with my amazing vocal abilities but I think we should do original songs"
She waited for gasps, applause and at the very least a standing ovation but instead was met with groans. She looked around at their unimpressed faces wondering why she had been blessed with such mediocre talent. Seriously why didn't the appreciate her greatness.
"Anyone else?" Mr Schuester kindly guided a visibly upset Rachel back to her seat.
Quinn teetered on the edge of her bed and furiously scrolled through the phone in her hand while she was careful to keep an eye on the bathroom door, ignoring the fact that it was kind of stupid considering she would be able to hear when someone was going to approach, the flushing would be a dead giveaway., in seconds she scrolled trough text messages, call logs and snap chats, looking for something without knowing what. Maybe it was the 'Lucy' in her, sometimes her self-consciousness creep up. Finn loved her, she knew he did, but there was always that niggling little voice from the back of her head screaming that she was a fraud and one day everyone would join the dots and find out who she really was.
After finding nothing on his phone she was about to discard it when another though crept into her mind, she looked around the room and located her own phone, scrolling through his address book she found Rachel's name and copied it into her own. The toilet flushed as expected and she returned the phone to its previous abode before moving over to her dresser and pulling open a drawer.
"Are you ready? Finn emerged from the bath room and moved until he wrapped himself around her waist and kissed the crook of her neck, she smiled and let herself melt into him, she thought she would never get tired of this feeling. For the first time in a long time she felt safe, he made her feel safe.
"I don't feel like going to that party" she groaned and turned in his arms, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck as he pecked at her lips and smiled
"we could just stay here and …" he nodded towards the bed with a grin.
He kissed her again but started trailing his lips along her jawline and down her neck, she giggled into him and allowed him to lift her off her feet she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him hard on the lips while he moved both of them towards the perfectly made bed and laid both of them down. Their lips connected aggressively, there was no routine, lips just mashing together, she didn't know if she liked it, she thought kissing would be different she thought it would feel nicer, she never thought it would feel like..well nothing.
She could feel his hands start to trail up and down her body, she didn't mind at first until his hand was on the bare flesh of her thighs getting higher and higher until she batted his hand away, he groaned and disconnected his lips from hers
"I'm sorry, I just got carried away" he brought his body up so he was sitting and she mirrored him
"It's ok" she smiled but he took to his feet and turned from her
"Are you ok?"
"I erm, think its best that I go"
Without giving her the chance to answer he grabbed his jacket and phone and exited the room without as much as a bye. Sighing she lay back on the bed and punched the mattress. He really was a good boyfriend, He never tried to push Quinn, he allowed her to take the reins on every aspect of their relationship, but she did totally understand his frustrations. He was a teenage boy after all and she was his hot girlfriend. she closed her eyes, they would always get so far and for some reason she would always stop anything going any further than over the bra touching. No matter how much she wanted it to.
Her phone beeped and she reached into empty space for a few seconds before locating it and bringing it into view.
Finn: "I'm sorry, see u 2moro? Xxx"
She smiled, and began typing back when she remembered what she had done earlier. After finishing her reply, she began a new message.
Quinn: Hello
She deleted it
Quinn: Hi
She deleted it
Quinn: Hey
She Deleted it, but re-wrote it and for a few seconds she pondered over the 'Send' button before closing her eyes and pushing down on her screen.
Her phoned beeped almost instantly.
Rachel: Hey, Who is this?
Quinn: Guess ;)
Rachel: I'm not in the mood for childish games
Quinn Thought for a moment, maybe this wasn't going to be as fun as she thought it was, she was about to discard her phone when another message came through
Rachel: I know It's you Lucy, what do you want? Isn't it enough you terrorise me in school but now you're actively seeking me out?
Quinn: MY NAME IS QUINN!
Rachel: whatever, what do you want?
Quinn: 2 talk
Rachel: About what?
Across town Rachel sat deep in the corner of the red leather sofa as her fathers cuddled up on the opposite matching grey one watching a documentary about Darwin's finches, The room was dark with only the light from the 50" LCD TV and Rachel's phone illuminating them. Quinn hadn't replied to her as quickly as she had been, as much as she hated it she was slightly disappointed knowing that this was probably the end of their small almost conversation. Sighing she threw her phone down on the empty seat next to her.
"Everything ok sweetie?"
She turned to her father voice and was met with both of them looking at her with worried expressions on their faces.
"Yeah, I'm fine" she tried her best fake smile before pulling herself off the leather.
"Think I'm going to get an early night" she stood up and stretched out her tiny body, faking a yawn.
"Its 8:30" Leroy replied
"It's Friday night" haram added
She sighed then threw herself back down, both continued to watch her until she picked up her phone to check it but threw it back down with another sigh
"Waiting for someone?"
"No Daddy" she replied and focused her attention back towards the screen
They looked at each other before turning their attention back to the tv, both silently worrying about their only daughter.
A week passed and Rachel hadn't heard anything from Quinn, even at school Quinn seemed to try and avoid her. Their usual morning encounter at the lockers went without so much as a glance, it was unsettling to Rachel, in a weird way she would rather have vicious words or a slushiness slung at her, at least then she knew what was happening and she wouldn't have this unnerving feeling in the pit of her stomach. Quinn definitely was up to something, but Rachel couldn't figure out what but whatever it was she was sure that she would find out this afternoon at their weekly Glee meeting.
"You need to step up your game Q, time is running out"
Quinn watched Santana as she leaned over the porcelain sink and smoothed out the cherry lip balm on her bottom lip with her finger.
"I'm handling it"
Santana stopped and stood straight checking her reflection.
"Sure you are" she said with a wicked smirk before tightening her pony tail and heading towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Quinn asked
"Glee, remember?"
Quinn choose the row behind Rachel this time, Finn sat on her right side and Santana on her left, Brittany was over next to Mike Chang trying to out dance each other, Quinn observed them for a few seconds before flicking her eyes to Rachel who was sat herself in the second row watching Tina, Kurt and Mercedes who were sat in the front row talking and laughing amongst themselves, she watched her profile. Knowing that she was obviously upset at being left out. The Lucy part of her felt sad, she wanted to go to her but the Quinn part overtook and with one last fleeting look she turned her attention to Finn as he put his arm around her.
"Sectionals!" Mr Schuester clapped his hands together as he entered the room, in two sweeping glides he was front and centre,
"What about them Mr Shue?" Finn asked excitedly.
"We still need the wow factor!" he pointed his finger in the air and waited for suggestions that never came.
"C'mon guys, there must be something"
Rachel thought for a second before putting her hand in the air. The smile faded from his face knowing what she was about to suggest.
"Rachel?" he audibly sighed
She stood up but didn't move from the circumference of her seat.
"I know you Don't like what I'm about to say but I really think this is best thing we could do, and I know you're going to say there isn't enough time, but I really believe as a group we could do this"
The group groaned, even Mr Schuester rolled his eyes until a voice came from nowhere
"I don't think it's that bad an idea"
Everyone including Rachel turned and looked to Quinn wide eyed.
"I mean, if we want to win we gotta be the best, and to be the best we have to do something no-one has ever done before"
Everyone's eyes where glued to her.
"There just isn't enough time, maybe next year" Mr Schuester turned his back in an attempt to end the conversation
"What are you so afraid of?" Quinn challenged
A room full of mouths gaped open and switched their eyes to him as he turned back around.
"Fine, if you and Rachel think this is such a good idea, then why don't you write the songs together?"
It was like a tennis game, eyes where flicking between Mr Schuester, Quinn and Rachel.
Quinn thought for a moment knowing that he has just played right into her hands.
"Fine" she smiled and looked to Rachel, who was staring back at her almost aghast with eyebrows furrowed into the centre
"Wait, what?"
.