AN: Here we go its "Ballad" and right now I'm regretting going all the way back to Season 1 as most of my ideas are for Season 2. But I still like this chapter. Again I will be using certain dialogue from the show. I own nothing. If I did Finchel would have never existed.
AN2: Believe it or not but the pairings in this chapter were made by drawing names out of a hat.
Just like he would start all his weekly lessons Mr. Schue began by writing something on the whiteboard. "Ballad, from middle English balade. Who knows what this word means?" Both Rachel and Kurt raised their hands.
"It's a male duck." Brittany answered which caused most people in the room to roll their eyes.
"Kurt?" Mr. Schue motion to him ignoring the eager diva.
"A ballad is a love song." Kurt replied confidently
"Sometime, but they don't always express love." He corrected. "Ballads are stories set to music, which is why they're the perfect storm of self-expression. Stories and music are the way we express feelings that we can't get out any other way. Okay so sectionals are in a few weeks, and there's a new rule this year. We have to perform a ballad."
"Looks like my weekly letter to the Ohio Show Choir Committee finally paid off." Puck unwrapped his arm from around his girlfriend seemingly out of embarrassment. Quinn couldn't help but chuckle.
"Okay, so here's our assignment for the week. I'm going to pair you off, and I want you to pick a ballad to sing to your partner. Look them right in the eye," he squatted and looked into Artie's eyes in a completely 'not creepy' way. "Find the emotion you want to express, and make them feel it."
"Well this hot Jew is mine." Puck declared placing arm around his girl once more.
"Uh no, no, no, no. Too easy. Your partners will be chosen by fate. I've put all your names into this hat," he pointed out as he grabbed a top hat. "Whoever you chose is your partner."
"But, with Finnpotent gone," Quinn shot Santana a glare. "We have an odd number of members." Mr. Schue nodded in realization.
"I guess I'll have to put my name in the hat for now."
"Actually Mr. Schue." Puck waited until he got his attention. "I may have a solution for that." Intrigued, Mr. Schue motioned for him to continue. "There's this new kid that transferred in last week. I tried to recruit him, and seemed interested enough."
"That's- that's great! Well anyway let's get started. Any takers?" he asked waving the hat back and forth. Tina got up and reached inside.
"Other Asisn?"
"Hey! I have a name!" Tina went over to sit with Mike.
"Matt. Who's Matt?" Brittany mused.
"I'm Matt." He raised his hand slightly.
"Oh, hi Matt. I'm Brittany." She greeted extending her arm.
"I know who you are Britt." She sat down next to him.
Upset that Brittany was taken Santana decided to go next. "Mercedes." It was then that Quinn noticed who was left to be paired up with. She currently had a pretty good chance to get paired with one half of the most nauseating couple in McKinley. She decided to get up now rather than have other people determine her fate. Closing her eyes, she reached into the hat.
Her eyes went wide as she looked at the name she pulled out. "Puck," she just breathed out. Defeated she sunk into a chair next to Puck. Rachel went up next obviously disappointed she wasn't working with her boyfriend.
"Kurt." A slightly audible complaint from Kurt was barely heard.
"Um, Mr. Schue. I know this means I'm paired up with you, but do you think I can just wait until this new guy joins. I'm kinda uncomfortable of the idea of singing a song to you." Quinn's mind had already drifted elsewhere so she didn't hear much else.
Well look on the bright side. You can check up on how serious Puck is, and keep him and Stubbles away from each other. They are so sickening together.
Hmm, for once we agree. Seeing them so happy does make me feel sick sometimes. I just wish Finn would look at me like that.
Shaking her thoughts aside, she decided to discuss the project with her partner. Trying to accomplish their task at the earliest convenience they planned to meet the following afternoon at Quinn's place. In honesty, the blonde wasn't very comfortable with the idea of him over at her house, but she always felt uncomfortable around Puck's mom. Her parents on the other hand wouldn't be home, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
For the rest of the time she and Puck proposed idea's for their respective ballads. Or to be more accurate only Quinn proposed ideas. Her partner just came up blank, and she considered just ignoring the assignment and just explaining how her partner was just impossible to work with.
As Glee Club let out she went off to the football field. She took a seat on the bleachers. Coach Tanaka had extended their practices after he gave the Glee Clubbers an ultimatum, most likely in an effort to make up for the loss of four key players. It hadn't done him much good, and the extra effort the team had to put into these practices probably did more harm. Whenever a game came up they were typically too exhausted to put up much of a fight.
Seeing Coach Tanaka dismiss them, she got up from her seat and approached her boyfriend. He greeted her with a chaste kiss before asking her out the following night. "Tomorrow? I can't do tomorrow. I've got a Glee assignment I need to work on." He inquired about it. "We were paired up and have to sings ballads about how we feel about each other." Hesitantly he pushed further, more specifically about her partner. "Puck." His face contorted. "Don't even give me that look. I know I was hard on you when you hung out with Berry, but I got over that." Not really. "So you need to do the same." His silence spoke his understanding. They left the field towards the locker rooms so Finn could change out of his practice uniform.
Waiting outside for him, she could only go back to her thoughts from earlier. Their relationship had become a bit of a chore. She couldn't remember the last time they went out. No actually that was a lie. The last time they went out was a few weeks ago. It was to Breadstix, quite the cliché for a Lima couple. It had been awful. They just kind of sat there eating their dinners in silence. Occasionally they chatted about Glee Club and football respectively, but that had been about it. There was a rift growing between them. And it all had started thanks to Rachel Berry. The tiny brunette was now, more or less, out of the way, but the damage had been done.
She decided not to dwell on it. The last thing she needed was to give herself unnecessary stress, especially while pregnant. There were still no plans on keeping her baby girl, but that didn't mean she wasn't concerned about her unborn child's well-being. As such, she had reconsidered any ideas of giving her child to Terri Schuester. After really thinking it through, she decided that the woman was kind of crazy.
There were far too many thoughts racing through her mind lately. Perhaps that's happens when you end up getting a lot of free time, and so she was glad when Finn exited the locker room and they went off to his car. He asked her if something was wrong, and she brushed it off as nothing just glad that they hadn't lost everything.
-GLEE-
Quinn was lying down in her bed. Puck sat at the end of it, and the blonde had considered kicking him in the ribs. "Can you seriously not come up with a song to sing to me?" she huffed. "You were able to find one for Berry, I'm sure you can find one for me." She sat up to get a better read on his expression. He looked offended but chose to ignore her. "What's so special about her anyway?" That got his attention.
"Well that's the thing, she is special." Quinn went silent finally satisfied that she got a response from him. "I never thought about it before, but she's probably the coolest girl I know." Quinn scoffed. "Seriously, unlike the rest of the girls I've dated she doesn't care about what people think about her." She went silent again, this time out of embarrassment. "She could be popular if she wanted. She has the looks, and in her shape, she could even be a Cheerio. But none of that matters to-"
"Out." She barely whispered out.
"What?"
"I said, OUT!" She yelled forcefully, now thankful that her parents weren't home. "You want to be with your perfect little girlfriend, then go! No one's stopping you!" He locked his eyes onto her eyes for a few seconds, trying to convey that he didn't mean to single her out. But as she broke contact he decided to leave. Quinn went to lay herself back down, now feeling unusually tired. Unable and unwilling to do much else she decided to just drift off to sleep not even going through the trouble of changing out of the clothes she had been wearing during the day. She really needed her sleep. Her father wanted to finally meet Finn and had invited him over to dinner the following night. And that was far more important than some Glee assignment.
-GLEE-
Having and extended amount of sleep, Quinn felt better the following day. She still felt apprehensive about dinner that night, but overall her good night's rest had treated her well. The whole day was more or less done and she had completely forgotten why she had been upset until she heard a familiar voice call out her name. She turned on her heal and to no surprise there she was the bane to her existence, Rachel Berry. "What do you want?"
"Noah told me what happened last night." The tiny diva stated shyly. Quinn stared at her incredulously. "We're completely honest with each other, Quinn." The brunette answered her unasked question.
Completely honest? I doubt that.
Her brown eyes were darting back and forth, careful not to meet hazel ones. "I'm sorry for how he acted, Quinn." She paused and for the first time during their exchange their eyes met. "It was my fault that he acted the way he did. It's no secret that he liked you, I mean what guy wouldn't have liked you at some point." A small smile appeared on the blonde's face as she reminisced back to the days when hallways would part for her.
"And I suppose that occasionally," Rachel bit her lip as if pondering if she really wanted to speak her mind. "I may have voiced my insecurities about being compared to you." Her eyes then dropped to the floor, and from her angle Quinn wasn't sure if her facial features flipped into a frown. She suddenly felt the urge to pull the girl into a hug, rub her back, and tell her that she was beautiful. Instead she just brought a hand to her chin lifting it up so their eyes met.
"Hey, you shouldn't think like that." Rachel shifted her eyes away "Don't be like that." Reluctantly the brunette locked their eyes again. "Don't you notice how he can't keep his eyes off you?" The girl shook her head. "Well pay more attention, Berry. He obviously loves you."
Wait, what was that Fabray? Keep her hopes up, fine. But don't go telling her lies like that.
Ignoring her thoughts, she just focused on the brunette before her. "You think so?" Quinn nodded in response. "Thanks, Quinn. I'll see you in Glee Club." Her face lit back up and she went on her way. She felt a mixture of pride and sympathy at Rachel's admission. It was a bit confusing for her.
Admit it Quinn, Rachel's grown on you. She's stuck up for you constantly, even when she was going after Finn.
That doesn't change the fact that she was being a home wrecker.
But she's not anymore. Would it really be that bad to have a real friendship with her? She did help Finn get a job, and you didn't even thank her. She's trying to help.
Stop right there. Just stop.
Her internal argument went on until the end of the day. At which point it ended in a stalemate, with stalemate meaning that all of her was now focused on the dinner that night. A first impression on her parents was vital. She was utterly terrified, but her initial fears dissipated as they looked to be hitting it off. They were discussing this and that, but then the topic of Glee Club came up.
"Actually, I quit Glee Club." Finn answered her parents. "I've decided to focus on football." He declared proudly.
"Well that's good." Russell spoke proudly. "Maybe you can talk our Quinnie in to leaving too." A small frown fell upon the blonde in question. "I've been trying to do so myself, but she's been insistent."
"I like Glee Club, Daddy." She protested silently.
"But sweetie," Judy was now speaking. "Ever since you join that Glee Club, and quit the Cheerios you've just been looking sad all the time." Russell nodded his head in agreement. And it was true Quinn had appeared sad, but it had nothing to do with Glee Club. Her parents went on their about it a bit longer with Quinn giving the best responses she could. Occasionally she would eye Finn, hoping for some backup, but he seemed to prefer to say out to the conversation altogether. Therefore she was eternally grateful when they let the subject drop
The night had gone better than she had anticipated, but it did nothing to make her feel better. She picked up her phone and went through the contacts, wanting to find someone to talk to. As she scrolled down it dawned on her that many of the numbers on her phone were people who were only friends with her because she was popular. Quickly she deleted said numbers. She didn't need fake friends.
That though left her few options. All she really had were the Glee kids. And even then her options were limited. She only spoke to about half of them outside of Glee Club, and out of that half she was only really comfortable with Brittany and Santana.
Those two though were also out of the question. She and Santana weren't on the best of terms, and while Brittany was fun to be around Quinn found it difficult to talk about more serious subjects with the taller blonde. Not to mention that she didn't enjoy venting to Brittany.
Her final option was Rachel Berry, whose number she acquired when the tiny diva requested to obtain all their contact info. Biting her lip she made the call. One ring. Two rings. "Hello?" she heard on the other line. And without thinking she hung up. She dropped her phone on her bed, and a few seconds later it began to ring. Picking it up she found that it read 'Man Hands'
I should probably change that.
"Hello?" she did her best to act casual.
"Hello, Quinn. It's Rachel. By chance did you just call me?"
"No, why?"
"Oh." She wasn't certain, but to Quinn it sounded as though the brunette was disappointed. "It's just because I had received a call from your number and then was hung up on. I suppose it was just on accident." She was silent and Quinn considered saying goodbye. "So did you have a good night?"
"Um, yeah. My parents invited Finn over for dinner. It was the first time they've met. I was really nervous." she admitted.
"Why?" the genuine concern in her voice was something the blonde would have really appreciated earlier in the night. "I realize that it's important to make a good impression, but wouldn't your parents be supportive of you regardless of who you're with?"
"You clearly don't know my parents, Berry. But thank you." Both girls went silent as neither one of them knew what the thank you was for.
"You're welcome. And you're right, I don't know your parents. And I'm sure you have other things you'd like to do so good night, Quinn."
"Good night."
-GLEE-
The following afternoon the Glee Clubbers had begun singing their ballads and Mr. Schue was asking for volunteers. Rachel raised her hand. "Okay, Rachel. Show us what you got."
"Actually, Mr. Schue. While I am fully committed to completing the assignment this week, I was wondering if I could sing a song for someone else." She requested shyly. Hesitantly he let her have the floor.
"I've seen myself in a thousand faces, strung out on life's path"
"I would add up what you mean to me, but I cannot do the math"
"And this fashionista's garden party, well I've had enough of that"
"Cause the only one I come undone for is you, cause the only one I come-"
"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! You can fawn over Puck in privacy, but don't do it in front of me or I'ma go all Lima Heights on you."
"Santana, I assure you. While this song does express my feelings for Noah quite accurately, I was not singing this to him."
"Whatever you say, Stubbles." The Latina gave her a fiery warning glare before the few others you had something prepared went on to preform until Mr. Schue let them go. As she went to leave brown eyes met hazel ones. The two girls shared weak smiles, smiles so weak that they couldn't be sure if the opposing girl did in fact smile back. And Quinn Fabray felt and oddly familiar, yet completely new sensation throughout her body.
AN: Reviews please. Also I've been thinking of adding a Charlie Fabray (a twin for Quinn), but I'm uncertain at the moment. And if you didn't notice this chapter features a song that wasn't covered by Glee. I feel like having some sort of contest for who can tell me the song first. Eh, maybe. Hope you enjoyed.