The first day of junior year, the day was already halfway over, and Quinn Fabray was nowhere to be found. Somehow, none of the teachers for the classes were worried, and she had yet to be marked absent for a class, but no one could find her.
The talk of the school, though, was the new blonde boy that spent all of his free time with Rachel. He was short for a guy, about five foot six inches, if he would stop slouching so much. His choppy blonde hair fell in his eyes, which were covered by glasses. No one could really make out what color they were; some people were saying he had green eyes, other people were reporting back to Santana that they were brown.
And Santana, she was intrigued. This boy was thin and slender. His build was slight, and he was far from muscular. He was toned though, almost too toned for a boy. And so around lunch time, she set out to intercept him.
He was walking through the halls with his messenger bag draped over his shoulder. He had a green zip up hoodie zipped halfway up his chest, a Green Lantern t-shirt underneath it. The sleeves were pushed up, because it was hot out, at least for Ohio, it was rather hot. His khaki pants were baggy enough to disguise his legs, but they were well fitting enough that they broke just over the shoe, and just below the knee. Whoever this new boy was, he knew how to dress himself.
She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him to her, but he wouldn't look her in the eye.
"You're new here. I'm Santana," she told him with a flirty smirk on her face. "Unless you want to get to know Snix. That's definitely an option you've got, cutie." She bit her lip, looking him over. "I'm the second most popular girl in school here, in case you haven't figured out the social dynamics here." She turned to the lockers before leaning against them, pulling the boy over with her by the hand. "Though everything is pretty off today, Q isn't here. She's our head cheerleader." Santana shook her head. She didn't want to talk about Quinn with this new boy.
"Oh shit," was all Santana could say when Quinn looked up, eyes meeting Santana's. "That's why they couldn't tell me if you had green or brown eyes. Because they're hazel." She brushed the hair from Quinn's eyes. "Q, you've flown under the radar all day. How? And…what are you doing? You make a handsome boy, but you're a beautiful girl." Believe it or not, Santana actually did care about Quinn. They became best friends their freshman year on the squad, and as much as they go head to head, Santana had always felt something towards the blonde.
Quinn took a deep breath and looked around, making sure they were alone in the hallway. "It feels right," was really all she could say in her defense, shrugging. "My hair is a lot more manageable now, and no one knows what I look like when I wear these chunky things," Quinn reached up to wiggle the glasses that were perched on her nose. "Somehow, no one besides you has figured out that it's me – maybe because I've been careful not to talk." She ran a hand through her hair, pushing her bangs out of her face, and revealing her hair line in the process. It was still so far forward, and the edges were rounded and not squared. All the telltale signs she was hiding that her body is fueled by estrogen came to the forefront as she stood there with Santana.
Rachel came out of nowhere, wrapping an arm through Quinn's and waving at Santana. "Hey, Santana, I see you've met our new kid," Rachel gave Santana a dazzling smile, a blush staining her cheeks as she glanced up at Quinn.
"You can cut the act, Berry. I already figured out that it's Q. I'm just shocked she managed to hide it from us for so long. People can't figure out if our new boy has brown or green eyes." She looked up at Quinn with a smirk. "You clean up nicely, Fabray."
Rachel nodded, pulling back from Quinn to readjust her hoodies strings. "I helped pick the outfit. Anything green looks great on Quinn, and tan pants go great with green shirts." Rachel looked up at Quinn and smiled, and all Quinn could do was grin back and duck her head.
"I just like to be comfortable, and for me this is comfortable right now. I know I have to change into my uniform for practice, but that's not for a couple more hours…" Quinn trailed off, looking at her feet. She wasn't looking forward to returning to the Cheerios, where they would do nothing but objectify her, and where she would be forced to wear the skirt, spanks, and that restricting shirt.
"The one question I still have for you, Q," Santana said, looking at the blonde with curiosity, "is how you managed to go through all of your classes so far today without a single absence. You haven't responded to your name during role call not once." She squinted her eyes at the blonde, hoping the answer to this would be as juicy as everything else she had found out so far.
All Quinn could do was laugh for a good minute before answering Santana's question. "No one realized that for a new kid, I knew my way around here awfully well. I just went to class early, told the teacher I was here but didn't feel well." She shrugged, pushing her messenger bag back up on her shoulder. "Are we done with the Spanish Inquisition now? Because Rachel and I were going to go have lunch in the auditorium." Quinn gestured over her shoulder towards the auditorium, backing that way before turning around to head there, pulling Rachel with by the hand.
That night, Quinn got a text message from Santana, more a proposition than a question.
And the next day, she walked into the school, dressed similar to how she was yesterday. She was wearing a flannel shirt and some jeans that fit her nicely, but still disguised how curvy her legs were. She had a t shirt under the flannel, and had buttoned it halfway up her chest; she was trying to obstruct any possible signs that she didn't actually have a flat chest. The only thing that was really so different today was that she walked into school hand in hand with Santana.
They had come to a sort of agreement between the two of them – Quinn was the handsome new "boy" at school. This gave Santana a popularity boost and also added to the mystery surrounding Quinn currently. The part of their deal that they didn't discuss was that Santana would be dating a girl through the course of this all. She could experiment with her sexuality, while at the same time maintaining her image in the public sphere. Quinn's end of the deal was that she got to be a guy, and more importantly, someone's boyfriend, at least in the public eye. This was a test run for her coming out. She got to see if she was truly comfortable in her own skin this way, all while everyone else was using the pronouns she wanted to try. She honestly felt like she got a far better end of the deal, not that she would ever tell Santana why she was dating her. On that note though, Santana would never tell Quinn why she proposed the idea either, except the concept of the popularity boost.
While walking up the hall together, every head turned to face them. Quinn only dropped Santana's hand when she heard a yelp.
She ran over to Rachel, picking the book up off of the brunette's foot, handing it to her. "Careful," she said quietly, meeting Rachel's eye with a soft smile. Her smile fell, however, when Rachel pushed her away, mumbling the Latina's name repeatedly before walking to her first class. Quinn would have to be sure to ask her about that at lunch.