Author's Note: Well, here you have it! A Quinn based chapter with some Faberry interactions! I know as a reader of faberry fics myself, this is what we all get excited to see. So, I hope the piece of the puzzle you all get now is a good one. I do promise you all faberry, but it will not be a fast paced progression. Both girls have a lot they need to work out, and I am a huge fan of character building, so have patience with me. I will reward you! I promise.

As for the rest of the fic, the drama and big plot will reveal itself down the road. I just want to introduce all the main characters and give you all a solid foundation for the story. Thank you all for your interest and boosts of encouragement!

This was her year. This was her chance to get everything back. Quinn's entire summer was spent working out, dieting, and perfecting the moves to old cheerio routines. She did everything and anything she could to occupy her time from thinking about the baby.

The blonde's theory was that if things went back to normal, then she would feel happy again. Well, she would at least feel something. Something instead of the empty feeling that consumed her since Regionals. Quinn needed some semblance of normal to return to her life, and school was the only place where she would get that. Her home life was shot to hell after all. Sure, her mother was trying to make things better, but all Quinn could think of was the day her mother stood by and did nothing. The day her mother chose ignorance over courage. They had a long way until they could get better, so for now, Quinn went with the one thing that she figured would be easy to fix, her reputation.

Getting her spot back on the cheerios was easy enough. The moment Quinn had spotted Santana Lopez near the end of summer vacation, the solution was quite literally right before her eyes. How did her alleged best friend think that she was going to explain her boobs going up at least a whole size the summer before junior year?

As soon as Sue discovered that her head cheerio had a self esteem issue, she demoted her to the bottom of the pyramid. That action left her with no other choice than to reinstate Quinn as her head cheerio. No one else in that school had the leadership skills that the blonde did besides Santana, and Sylvester knew it. Although, continuously being compared to a young Sue Sylvester without the impeccable cheek bones was disturbing, it was a small price to pay for her red and white suit of armor.

The students parted for her like the red sea once again, but the feeling of empowerment didn't feel as gratifying as it once did. For the first time, Quinn could see the look of fear in her peer's eyes. How had she not noticed them before? Even her own glee teammates looked as if the devil or something equivalent had returned, and that hurt more than she ever imagined it would. Well, at least it was feeling.

That feeling was soon followed by an actual physical feeling of pain. Her body was shoved hard into the row of lockers to her right and immediately she knew who the culprit was. There was only one person who would be courageous enough to shove her, and that would be none other than Santana Lopez.

Although a small part of her felt bad for selling out a girl that used to be considered one of her best friends, the remorse was nothing compared to the pain she felt when she thought of what a horrible best friend the Latina was. Where was her best friend months ago? Where was Santana when she was pregnant, homeless, and completely miserable? Oh yeah, she was out spreading rumors about the paternity of said pregnancy and calling her tubbers for seven months. Yes, Quinn hadn't been the award winning best friend previously either, but what she went through went far beyond sleeping with your friend's boyfriend. Quinn had nothing, and Santana didn't even seem to care.

So, when Quinn grabbed the back of Santana's pony and pulled as hard as she could, there was only one word going through her mind, vengeance. It wasn't long before Mr. Schuester came along to try and break both girls up. The blonde wasn't finished. She was determined to show Santana who ruled, who the true HBIC was, but before she could, a strong yet gentle pair of hands wrapped around her waist from behind and lifted her off the ground and away from the scene. She figured that it had to be Puck or Mike since they were the only two guys Quinn knew who would step in and were strong enough to hold back the furious blonde.

The only thing the blonde could do was scream the first command that came to her mind. "Walk away! And tighten up your pony before you get to class!"

Quinn was still too angry to even realize that the person was still walking while carrying the blonde to some unknown destination. Looking down at the hands for a brief second, all the cheerio registered was tan skin which caused her to roll her eyes in exasperation. He was the last person she wanted to deal with right now. "Puck, you can put me down now. It's not like I'm going to chase her into Mrs. Fletcher's class and start a fight again."

Silence. That is all the blonde was met with. The person whom she assumed was Puck just continued walking until they were inside the bathroom at the end of the hall. It was a bathroom that was rarely ever used. "What are you.." but before Quinn could finish her thought, she was being placed down. Now annoyed on top of being angry, the cheerio quickly turned around to give the buffoon a piece of her mind, but all of her actions stopped when she was met with someone else entirely.

Words were now difficult for Quinn to find as she stared at the tan girl before her. Well, not exactly, but the words beautiful, stunning, and mysterious were not ones that the blonde could outright say.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you or anything of the sort. I just saw how angry you were and figured that you would need a quiet place to calm down before continuing on with your schedule."

Okay who speaks like that, was the first thought that popped into Quinn's mind. She was fairly positive that only grandmothers, hell, maybe even great grandmothers were the only people who still spoke that way. Then the curiosity as to how a girl of her size was able to lift the cheerio off the ground and carry her a decent distance dawned on her. All of that was then once again followed with the word mysterious. At first Quinn was going to go into her previous HBIC mode with her hands on her hips and a perfectly sculpted arched eyebrow in place, but then it dawned on her. The entire time she had been in there with the new girl, she hadn't felt completely empty. Her previous emotions of loneliness were replaced with feelings of intrigue.

This girl could provide Quinn with a new opportunity. The brunette wasn't someone who had expectations for her or knew her as the pregnant girl who gave up her baby. It was a clean slate. "And you are?"

The brunette giggled which was most likely the most melodious sound Quinn had ever heard. "I apologize. We haven't been properly introduced." The brunette then extended her hand before saying, "I'm Rachel Berry."

This time Quinn did arch an eyebrow as she eyed the outstretched hand. Teenagers were never this formal, but the blonde decided to give in. Maybe the girl was home schooled before coming to McKinley. "I'm Quinn Fabray."

They shook hands briefly before the brunette released her hold. "I know."

A silence spread over the two of them, but it didn't feel awkward like Quinn would expect it to. It was one of those quiets that she experienced in the company of a beautifully well written book.

"We're late for class. AP European History, right?"

"You're in my class?"

"Yes."

Quinn was sure the brunette's small laugh was somehow going to be the only thing she would want to hear all year. "Great," Quinn said with a groan as she checked her high ponytail in the mirror. "Mr. Peterson is known for his killer exams."

Rachel walked past the blonde and held open the bathroom door. As Quinn nodded her head in thanks and walked ahead, she heard Rachel speak one last time.

"Luckily for you, I've already taken this class."

And with that, Rachel walked into the classroom and sat in the very front. The HBIC had no idea why, but she wanted to know that girl. Maybe it was just her wanting a distraction, or for once wanting a real friend. She didn't know the answer to the why exactly. All she knew was that Rachel Berry made her feel something again, and that was all Quinn wanted.