Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapters. I know this story is sort of a downer but please be patient while I excise a few demons. I promise to give Rachel a happy ending.

Since I was already late for first period I took the opportunity to get myself together. I camped out in the backseat of my car until I heard the second period bell ring in the distance. I'd stopped crying almost immediately after I sent the text message to Quinn. Afterwards I fixed my makeup and decided it was time to face the music.

I hated breaking up with her over the airwaves. It was tacky. Unfortunately I knew any conversation we had wouldn't go smoothly. Quinn was likely to get angry at me and the last thing I needed to do today was face her down and attempt to explain myself.

How had I gotten this way? How had I become this person? In the beginning things were so good. She was so sweet to me at first. Attentive and charming. She listened to me rattle on about Barbra Streisand for eternity. She smiled excitedly as I sang her favorite song. She told me I was beautiful. She was sweet. She looked at me with passion and for the first time in my life I felt important. I even saw fireworks the first time we kissed. It was quick and only a soft peck on the lips but it felt like the most important thing in the world at the time. Now look at me. I was hiding in my car doing my best not to let anyone see me cry over her.

I ducked into my second period class oblivious to the stares I was still getting because of Quinn's Facebook comments about me. People were staring and for the first time in my life I wished I was invisible. I wanted to go home but leaving school would only raise questions and I didn't want my father's to know that my life was falling apart. I'd just gone on a rant about how mature I was and shucking my responsibilities to cry in my bedroom wasn't very mature.

Five minutes into my second period class Quinn pushed through the door and locked eyes with me. Her gaze was defiant, cold. I could tell right away that she didn't feel like I did. She hadn't spent the last hour crying like I had. She hadn't spent any time wondering why she was with me. She looked like she had all the answers, the same way she always did.

"May I help you Ms. Fabray?" My Social Sciences teacher Mr. Collins asked her.

She turned slowly and handed him a hall pass. He looked it over quickly and turned his attention to me.

"Ms. Berry Principal Figgins would like to see you." He informed me.

I sighed. I knew Principal Figgins didn't want me. This was a Quinn ruse to get me out of class. I didn't want to go. No good would result from me being alone with her.

"Mr. Collins I hardly think missing this lecture will be good for my academic future." I told him. It was lame but extremely Rachel Berry-ish. None of the other students even blinked when I spoke the words. They expected me to say things like this. If I wasn't so distracted by my situation with Quinn I'd have sunk my head in shame.

"I think your academic future will survive Ms. Berry. In any case I'll make sure you get today's assignments."

The corner of Quinn's mouth lifted and her face softened just enough to let me know she was proud of herself. Defeated, I pulled together my things and rushed out of the classroom. She was on my heels in seconds and before I had a chance to get away she grabbed my forearm tightly.

"You can't hide from me Rachel. I'll keep coming for you until you talk to me."

I turned to face her but didn't speak. We were still in the middle of the hallway. The last thing I wanted to do was cause a scene. Best case scenario I'd start crying again. Worst case we'd out ourselves to the whole school.

She kept a tight grip on my arm and started dragging me down the empty halls behind her like a puppy on a leash. My heart began to pound. I had no idea where we were going. For all I knew she was going to drag me to the school's boiler room and push me into the furnace. A rush of panic washed over me. I didn't want to go with her. I couldn't go with her. I knew she didn't plan on killing me but whatever she had planned for me wouldn't be good. I knew it in my proverbial 'gut'. I did the only thing I could think to do, I put on the brakes and stopped walking.

"Rachel come on." She told me. Ordered me was more like it.

"No. I'm not going with you. I don't want to. I'm done with this." I told her.

Her eyes bore into me and instead of insisting I obey her she pulled me towards a nearby door. A bathroom. Great. It may as well be an MMA octagon.

I didn't resist. She wasn't going to quit until we talked and I didn't have the energy to fight about where we were going to have our fight. I followed her into the bathroom and watched as she checked each stall for company.

"Quinn why are we here?"

Once she was done checking the room for spies she pulled her phone out of some hidden compartment in her Cheerio's uniform.

I could see the anger finally come over her face. This was the Quinn I'd been waiting for. The Quinn I'd been expecting. The angry, take no prisoners HBIC.

"What the hell is this?" She asked holding her phone out to me. My text was front and center on her screen.

"A text." I said softly.

"I know it's a goddamn text What does it mean?" She asked. I could hear the indignation seeping from her tone. She really didn't understand.

The text was self explanatory but telling her that was no doubt going to make her even angrier. "Quinn I don't think we should see each other anymore." There I said, now all I had to do was stick to my guns.

Her anger seemed to disappear instantly. Her defiance and confidence struck down by my words. "What? Why?'' Her voice was shaken, her confidence shattered. She sounded afraid.

I didn't know what to say. She looked so confused. So gentle. How could she be this clueless? She was playing me, she had to be. She knew what she did. She knew why I was upset. Didn't she?

"You're mean to me. You're mean to me and you cheated on me with a boy."

She began to shake her head. "No. No, that isn't real. You know that isn't real." Her voice was pleading. "You can't break up with me because of that. Not over him. I hate him."

She closed the distance between us and grabbed my hand. When she interlocked our fingers I felt a twinge of something in my stomach that reminded me that I loved this girl. She meant the world to me. I wanted to be with her. I loved her. I know she loved me in her own way. Somehow that had stopped being enough.

"It's not just him Quinn."

She began to shake her head. "I'm sorry okay. I'm sorry for what I did, whatever it was. I don't want us to break up. I love you." Her eyes were red and she began to cry. "You still love me right?"

My heart broke. She was crying. Over me? Was I making a mistake? Quinn never cried, now I'd seen her do it twice in twenty four hours.

Quinn didn't let up, not a bit. With her tears flowing she pressed me hard for an answer. "You love me don't you Rachel. You said you did. You told me you loved me and you made me have sex with you. I was a virgin before the other day." The tears started to flow harder. "You took advantage of me Rachel."

Panic set in. "No. That's not true. I do love you Quinn. I didn't take advantage of you. You initiated things. We made love to each other, I didn't force you into it. You know that."

She began to sob harder now. "You can't just break up with me. You won't even tell me why. This isn't right. You're supposed to love me. Your supposed to love me and make me feel safe and you never do."

What? "I do love you." What did she mean I was supposed to make her feel safe?

"No you don't. You never want to talk to me. All you do is complain and tell me how terrible I am. You've made me cry too but you don't care. You've never asked me how I feel about our relationship. All you want to do is talk about what I do wrong. All you do is judge me."

Was that true? Did I complain all the time? Did I make her feel like a bad person? Is that why she was so distant?

"Quinn I do care how you feel. You say I don't want to talk to you but that's not true. You don't want to talk to me. You shut down whenever I try to get to know you."

She shook her head, tears slowing, sobs easing. "No that's not true. You don't try hard enough. I always listen to you. I know everything about you. I know all the things that make you smile, all the things that are important to you."

I didn't doubt that. Quinn was nothing if not thorough. She noticed everything and forgot even less. She was like a sponge.

"I know." I admitted.

"See, you know how much I love you. I do nice things for you all the time. I buy you pretty things. And give you gifts to make you feel special. But you don't do anything for me. When's the last time you've done something nice for me?" She asked. She'd closed the distance between us and brought my hand to her mouth. She kissed it gently.

I'd worn the sweater she bought for me on her birthday and had wore my hair the way she liked it. Besides that I was drawing a blank. Oh my God was she right? Was I a bad girlfriend? If I was a bad girlfriend how could I expect her to be a good one?

"All you do is talk about yourself. You don't ask me any important stuff." She suddenly pulled away from me angrily. "What do I want to study in college?"

Oh Lord, I know this one. Uh, uh. OH, I know! "Real estate."

She crossed her arms across her chest. "No. I want to study business management but I said I'll probably end up selling real estate because nobody believes I can do it. Not even you. You don't even care enough to pay attention to my dreams and goals."

Son of a belly dancer. Business management, I knew that.

Quinn walked over to the sink and stared at herself in the mirror. "There are so many things I want to do that I can't. I want to go places and do things too Rachel. You talk about going to New York after high school and you've never once included me in those plans. All you care about is going to Broadway and leaving me behind."

Oh my god she was right. I was just as bad as she was. Maybe worse because I never listened to what she said. She listened to everything I said. Even if it was just to use it against me later. There was never any doubt she was paying attention to me when I talked.

"Why do you want to break up with me? Tell me what I did wrong at least." Her steely Quinn façade was back.

I wavered. I wavered just enough to give her an advantage. She left her place at the sink and walked over to me and ran her hands through my hair.

She asked me again. "Tell me what I can do to make this better. You know how much I love you right?" She leaned into me and kissed me. It was the first time she'd ever showed me any kind of affection at school. I liked it. I kissed her back.

As much as I wanted to stay mad at her I couldn't bring myself to. "I love you too." I swallowed hard. "I want you to break up with that boy. I don't want to share you."

She smiled. "Done. I am officially Rachel Berry property. What else?"

This was my opportunity. I had to get it all off my chest. "I don't like being your secret. I want you to take me places."

Her smile washed away and I thought she'd say no. Instead she nodded. "Like a date. You want us to go out on dates?"

I bit my bottom lip and nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, what else." She asked me.

Nothing like putting me on the spot. "I want you to be nice to me."

She smirked at me. "Define nice." She rested her arms on my shoulders. "Tell me what you want specifically."

"I don't like it when you do mean things to me. It makes me feel bad."

She nodded. "Okay. I won't be mean to you at school anymore." She stared at me and waited for me to say something but I had nothing else.

"I'm sorry." Was all I could manage to say.

She nodded. "It's okay. All couples have fights. I just want to make sure you know that I'm not taking any of this lightly. I'm going to be better for you, you'll see."

"I know." I said. I wasn't sure if it was true or not but I know she at least understood my concerns.

"So we're back together. We're not broken up anymore?" She asked me.

I wanted to be strong but I wasn't. I was weak for her. Her smile was like a drug. Heroin to my lonely love starved veins. I couldn't stay mad at her. I needed her. Plus she promised she'd be better now.

"Yes. We're back together."

She smiled, letting the excitement show on her face. I could see joy in her eyes. "Good. I'm coming over after school so we can celebrate."

Oh darn. I forgot about my dads new rules. "My dads heard us last night. They gave me rules. We can't be in my bedroom with the door closed anymore."

She didn't seem to care. Not one bit. "Let me worry about your dads baby. I'll fix everything."

I had no doubt she would.

(Lunch)

By lunch time I'd calmed down considerably. The rest of the day slowed down and the hours passed without much excitement. The kids were still staring at me but I could handle that. Stepping into the lunchroom however was awkward. Kids were laughing and pointing at me. This was different, what in the Sam Hill was going…

My mind froze as I felt the liquid pour down over my head. Oh my God, did I just get slushied? What in the world was going on? I wasn't getting slushied anymore.

"Berry I have been waiting for a year to do that. When Quinn told us this morning that she was done torturing you I jumped for joy. I knew she'd eventually get tired of making you her personal whipping post. I told Karofsky it was just a matter of time before she moved on to somebody else."

I couldn't force myself to turn around and look at Azimo Adams. I didn't have to. I could picture his wide happy grin in my mind. I could remember his eager grin like it was yesterday. It was a look I'd never forget. Sheer unadulterated joy at my humiliation.

"At first I thought her idea that we choose one kid each to torture instead of the whole school was a terrible idea. I mean I got stuck with that Sunshine Corazon girl, she wore a damn rain coat to school everyday, took all the fun out of it. But now Rachel Berry you are all mine." He leaned into me and gave me a what felt like a playful kiss on the cheek. It sent a shiver down my spine. "Me and you are going to become really good friends."

(After School)

I suffered through the rest of the day in a blue stained shirt. It had been so long since I'd been slushied I no longer kept spare clothes in my locker. I was forced to walk around with a constant reminder of my misfortune. I couldn't believe it. I was being slushied again. By Azimo no less. He was a complete ogre. At his nicest he was worse than Quinn at her meanest.

When I sat down in my car I checked my phone and saw that I had gotten a text from Quinn.

:( Sorry!

Was she serious? She was sorry. Was that all she had to say? I ask her to stop torturing me and she gives me this instead. Sorry. What about, I'll fix it Rachel. What about, I'll make sure it never happens again.

I was snapped out of my angry haze by a knock on my window. Brittany. Brittany Pierce had never taken the time to speak to me. We'd hung out once last weekend but even that wasn't on purpose. Having her here waiting to speak to me was odd to say the least. I rolled down my window my eyes never leaving her. With the type of day I was having I half expected her to throw something in my face.

"Hi Rachel." She said, her chipper tone was not at all lost on me. Brittany always seemed to be in a good mood. Then again why wouldn't she be? She was tall, pretty and popular. Not only that but she had a really hot girlfriend.

"Hello Brittany." I returned.

She frowned suddenly. "I'm sorry about lunch. I wanted to try and get you but Santana wouldn't let me switch. I have Kurt and he does Santana's hair before school everyday."

I nodded. "It's okay Brittany."

"Azimo isn't very nice. He's going to slushie you every Monday."

Great. "Only on Monday?"

Brittany nodded. "Yeah. Quinn said we can only do it one day a week tops because it gets expensive." She looked around. "Why did you make Quinn switch? Quinn would have never slushied you."

"She was mean to me Brittany." I said. It should have been obvious, she was there for all the stuff Quinn was doing. "Yeah but no more than she was to anybody else. She couldn't just leave you alone. She had to do stuff. Santana said the popular kids have to be mean to the not popular kids." She leaned into the car and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Besides Quinn loves you. She said so the other night. She already went through hell because she never slushied you. People already thought it was weird."

Really? She was getting trouble from her friends for not being mean enough to me? That's exactly what she told me the other day outside my house. She told me that she was helping me and I didn't even care. Is that what she was talking about?

Brittany started to look around again. "I have to get to Cheerio's but you really should try to get Quinn to take you back. I don't know why she switched but things are going to get worse for you. You should apologize. Azimo's really mean. I heard he made Sunshine dress like a cowboy one day."

I didn't know how to respond to that. A cowboy? That just sounds insane. I look terrible in Denim. And as for taking Quinn back as my tormentor? I wanted to laugh. I should apologize? Me. She tortures me, and cheats and I'm the one who should say I'm sorry. This whole thing was totally ridiculous.

"Thank you Brittany." I said. I'd had enough of her advice.

"Don't be mad at me but we can't be friends at school. San said we can hang out with you outside of school with Quinn but at school we can't be your friend. I like you Rachel and I know it's mean but Santana thinks it's best and she always knows what's best. She protects me. I have to listen to her."

I understood. We can be friends, just not at school. On the weekends when nobody knew. Not out in the open where people could see. It was familiar. It was exactly what Quinn said.

(At Home)

I stepped into the house feeling like I'd just completed a heavyweight boxing match. My head was pounding furiously, my heart beat even harder. I wanted to get to my room, lay down, and pretend today never happened.

My father Leroy was home early from work and when I stepped into the house he called me into the kitchen. I wanted to ignore him but I didn't have the heart. I knew he'd be worried when he saw the slushie stains on my shirt.

"Rachel you have a huge surprise." He told me as I stepped into the room.

Sitting in a vase on my counter was a huge bouquet of roses.

"They're for you. From a certain pretty blonde. She dropped them off about an hour ago."

Quinn. She had brought me roses. How sweet. "They're beautiful."

His face scrunched up with stress. He closed the distance between us, his brown eyes staring at me, his face suddenly concerned. He rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"She told me about your fight. She told me how you asked her to be more attentive to your feelings. I didn't realize you guys were going through so much. She told me how you really expressed yourself and put your foot down. She said we should be proud of you."

I laughed. Really. "She said that?" That didn't sound like Quinn at all. Quinn hated it when I put my foot down. She wanted me under her thumb. Easily controlled and quiet.

He nodded. "I asked her if you put up a fight when she laid out her list of requests." He looked at me closely his face showing something I wasn't familiar with. Was he angry?

"What did she say?" Knowing Quinn she could have said any number of things to make me look ridiculous.

"She said you never asked. She said you went through this whole list of things you wanted from her and when you were done you just walked away. She said you wouldn't even entertain the idea that you were doing something wrong. She seemed upset by that. Hurt even."

Wait, that wasn't true. I did want to know what her issues were. What in the world was happening? Did she come over here and tell my father how terrible I was? How dare her. "She said all that?"

My father started to shake his head. "Now don't get mad at her. I practically had to beat it out of her. She begged me not to say anything. She said you'd be upset with her if I told you. She actually admitted that you broke up with her earlier today and she was terrified you'd change your mind if you thought she were complaining. She asked me if she could come over and make dinner for you later. Me and your father are actually going to make ourselves scarce tonight to give you some privacy. I'm going to meet him downtown and we're gonna have dinner and see a movie. We'll be home by eleven."

I didn't know what to say. Had she set herself up to be the victim? I sounded totally unreasonable. She made me sound like a crazy dictator. When she told me that she would take care of things with my dads I hardly expected this. I hadn't expected her to come to my house and talk to my fathers. Not only that but she'd come over and told lies on me.

Well, not exactly lies. I hadn't asked her what she wanted me to do better. My mind went over our blowup in the bathroom. She had to ask me what I wanted changed. My mind was so focused on things being over I had never set forth any kind of ultimatum. She made me tell her what my issues were then willingly offered to change them. She asked me and I told her and didn't return the favor. She was telling me the truth in that bathroom when she said that she thought I was selfish. Everything she said about me was a fact. I was selfish. I hadn't asked what she needed. I hadn't asked because I hadn't cared. I only cared about myself.

"Rachel the most important part about being in a relationship is communication. It's good that you know how to stand up for yourself but nobody likes a selfish person. You need to talk to her. I get the feeling Quinn is a bundle of nerves and she wants to open up to you. I don't think you're doing a good job of listening to her."

His words stung as they reached my ears. All the complaining I'd been doing these past few days, was it possible I was just as guilty? Was it possible she wasn't that bad but I was?

"Daddy I need to go shower." I told him.

He didn't try and stop me. "Okay. We're going to talk about that stained shirt of yours. I thought we were done with that."

'I love you." Was all I could say as I crept upstairs to wash away today's pain and sorrow.

(8:45pm that night)

"You see. You see how bad things are when we don't work together. All this time we were happy and you break up with me and everything goes to hell." Quinn told me. We were laying in my bed. She'd come over earlier and made dinner like she promised. We ate in silence before Quinn took me upstairs to my bedroom and shut the door, defiantly skirting my fathers rules.

"I love you Rachel. Nobody can love you like I can. Nobody will ever make you feel as good as I do. I know I messed up but you can't just break up with me like that. That's not fair. All the time we've invested in this relationship, you can't just throw all that away."

She began to stroke my hair, her fingers sliding effortlessly through my long brown mass. She'd been at it for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of I love you, and we need each other. I didn't dispute it. We'd tried it my way and things hadn't gotten better. They'd only gotten worse. I was back to being a slushie target at school, my dads thought I was a selfish screw up and I realized for the first time in my life that I was self absorbed and selfish.

"Tell me you don't want to throw all this away. Tell me that you love me." She insisted.

"I love you."

She nodded an approval. "Good. You know how much I love you right? To the moon and back. It's going to be me and you Rachel. Me and you until the end of time. You have to trust me. Trust me that everything I do I'm doing for a reason."

I didn't have the strength to argue with her. I didn't know if I actually could at this point. Everything she'd told me had been proven true. Everything she said so far had come out like she said it would.

"I trust you." I admitted weakly.

"Of course you do. Now. Now you finally see that you need me right. You need me and I need you. You have to let me love you. Let me love you the best way for both of us." She laid her head on my shoulder. "Did you like dinner?"

Dinner was delicious even though I didn't have much of an appetite. She was a wonderful cook. I didn't even know she could cook vegan dishes. "Yes. Thank you for cooking for me."

"What about your flowers? You liked them too right?"

"I loved them. They were lovely."

She kissed me on the cheek. "I'll fix things with Azimo for you if you want. I'll fix it so things will go back to normal at school. I know I said I won't be mean to you anymore but you see it's necessary now right. You see I have to make you hurt now right." She kissed me again. "It's only because I love you. Nobody loves you like me."

I sat in silence. Was she offering to take me back at school? Things hadn't really been that bad had they? She said mean things, and did things to make me look bad but it was because she loved me. It was so she could protect me. I could live with that.

"Okay. But only if you promise not to pour slushie on me." I said finally relenting.

"Never. Nobody will pour slushie on you. You're mine Rachel. I won't ever let anybody hurt you. It's me and you." She told me.

"Me and you." I repeated.

"Until when?" She asked.

"The end of time." I answered knowing it was exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Good, now we need to celebrate our love. We don't have much time." She didn't wait for me to answer before she started to loosen the belt on my skirt. "I know I've made you hurt but let me show you how good I can make you feel. Let me show you how much I love you."

All I could do was say okay. My heart hurt too much to say anything else.