Chapter 4

-What Does That Mean?-

RPOV

I woke up early today eager to get to school. Wow I'm not usually excited for class. In fact I usually cringe at the thought of school and hope that the day goes fast and without too many obstacles. Now however I want to get there as fast as I can to get to know Quinn more and to invite her over sometime as my dads said last night.

I hustle through my morning routine, shower, get dressed and before I know it I'm at my locker getting my books for my first set of classes. Finn has practice this morning so there's no need to stand out in the open. Where anyone could attack. I head off to first period to wait for Quinn.

It seems like it takes her forever but she finally appears through the door.

"Hey Quinn! How are you doing today? How are you finding McKinley so far?" I blurt out before my mind has a chance to catch my mouth. She smiles at me.

"I'm doing great and I really like McKinley so far. How was your night?"

"It was excellent. I spent time with my fathers before my dad had to go to work. He's a surgeon at the hospital in town and works the night shift. So we had a nice dinner and talked about our days. That reminds me they wanted me to invite you over for dinner one night when you're available. They want to meet my savior" I smile at her and grimace. I did it again!

"Sorry," she says again. "Like I said, I talk a lot, so if you ever get overwhelmed or annoyed by if feel free to stop me at any time."

"No, Rach. Don't worry about it. Like I said yesterday I don't mind at all. In fact I think it's cute" I can feel myself blush. This gorgeous girl just called me cute! My mind is going crazy right now. Oh wait she's talking again! "Now back to what you said before, I would love to come over for dinner sometime. Thank them for the offer. And I really am not your savior. Just a girl trying to protect her friend."

"I'm your friend?" I can't help the huge smile now gracing my face.

"Of course! If you'll have me Miss Berry?" I nod, not trusting my voice right now. "Well that's settled then."

My smile turns to a frown when I remember something I said and she didn't say anything about it.

"What's wrong?" She noticed, of course she noticed my change of mood.

I take a breath. I better just tell her now and get it over with. That way if she's not okay with it at least we haven't gotten too attached to each other yet. "I'm not sure if you caught what I said earlier but I feel like I should tell you…. Before we get too attached and then you find out and don't approve. Then I'll be sad and I'm sure you'll be sad or upset. And I really like you and really want to be your friend…" I know I'm rambling again but I can't help it. I ramble when I get nervous, or excited. And I'm both right now so you can just imagine how long this could go on.

She seems to know that I'm going off the deep end I feel her take my hand and squeeze it. I look up and meet her eyes. "Rachel, just breath. Whatever it is just say it. I promise we'll still be friends afterwards."

"I have two dads… As in they're gay, together." I blurt out and I feel a whole lot better now. And I hear her chuckle. Okay so laughing is a good sign right? She must see my apprehension. Man she's good at reading me.

"I'm sorry I laughed. I did catch that but wasn't positive I heard you right so I decided to address the other topics you brought up and figured I'd find the other one out later."

"You're okay with that?" I ask surprised but happy at her openness.

"Sure, I know I come from a small town, smaller than this, and I haven't met many gay couples but I'm totally okay with you having two dads. As long as they love you it's all that matters. And I'd be a pretty big hypocrite if I wasn't okay with it."

Well I wasn't expecting her to say that. What does that even mean? Are her parents gay? Is she? Or maybe a family member? Just as I'm about to ask her what she means Mr. Schues decided that five minutes after the late bell rings is the perfect moment to come to class and start teaching. Now I have to sit on this new piece of the puzzle that is Quinn and find its proper place later.

I feel Quinn lean in towards me and whisper, "Is this Spanish IV?" I smile and fight off the laughter that is begging to be released.

"Too advanced for you?" I ask in a sarcastic tone. "You're in the right class, Mr. Schue's a bit behind on the content he should be teaching our class. I think he might just follow the same lesson plan for all his classes." I see her sit back in her seat. And I'm guessing she's zoning out just like everyone else in this class. I think we would get more out of all of us just having a free period. Maybe I can talk to Schue about this. Maybe suggest that everyone can only talk in Spanish during the free period or something. That would give him a lot more time to daydream about Ms. Pillsbury.

My thoughts travel back to the last comment Quinn said before Mr. Schue came clapping in. I'm pretty sure it's either her parents are gay or she is. Why am I hoping it's the latter?

Right now I'm sitting at my table in the cafeteria waiting for Quinn to come in. She said that she'd sit with me today and I can't wait! I'm hoping to be able to talk to her more. I want to know everything there is to know about her but I know I need to take it slow. I don't want to scare her off just when I finally find someone that generally likes me. She even likes my verbosity. The bell rings overhead and Quinn still isn't here. I knew I should have stayed with her. But I didn't want her to think I'm clingy and she said she would meet me here. Maybe something happened to her! I should go check, maybe take Tina and Mike with me to search for her. Or maybe she decided that I wasn't worth it and is blowing me off! I knew it was too good to be true. There's no way someone like Quinn would want to hang out with me.

Just when I'm starting to feel down about losing Quinn I see her walk through the cafeteria doors with Artie. She and Artie got food and are now on their way over to me!

"Hey Quinn! I thought you might have gotten lost. I was ready to send a search party!" She laughs cause she thinks I'm joking.

"No I was just meeting new people." She smiles at Artie and he returns it. Hmm I wonder what that means.

"Yea, in the men's room. Ha-ha" They laugh and she shrugs at me. She can tell I'm confused. "I got slushied on the way here and Quinn saw and helped with the cleanup." Ahh that makes more sense. Quinn just being amazing again.

"Are you trying to get on their hit list?" Kurt asks.

"Hit list?" She replies.

"Yea, you know they're on top and have to keep the "bottom feeders" in line." Tina replies.

"And by the way you stopped Karofsky yesterday and helped Artie today I'd say you're probably on it now. You sitting here with us isn't helping either." Kurt continues.

"Hmm. We'll see I guess. I'm Quinn; I don't think I've met you guys yet. Besides Rachel and Artie."

"Oh I'm sorry Quinn, How rude of me," I can't believe my manners. My fathers would be appalled! "This is Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, Tina Cohen-Chang, Mike Chang, and you already know Artie Abrams and myself."

"Nice to meet you guys." She says with sincerity and the others say the same before they rush out everything they're wondering about this new interesting person.

"Where'd you come from? Why would you pick Lima? Where do you live? What kind of skin car do you use? Your skin is flawless. What do you like to? Are you dating anyone?"

"Guys!" I stop them or they would have kept going. "One at a time." I slump down in my seat. I'm never going to be able to talk to her. Quinn laughs.

"Thanks Rach." I smile when she calls me Rach. "Um I grew up in Illinois in a small town, smaller than this place. Then I was in Cali for a while. My dad got promoted and the position was here so we moved. I live on Elm? I think, I'm not familiar with the place so I just go by landmarks. I don't do anything particular for my skin just wash it, and thanks. I like a lot of things so you might have to narrow that down or we'll be here all day and no I'm not dating anyone at the moment… I think that was all the questions, right?"

Everyone nods at her and I'm still impressed at how much she can take in and process at a time. She really is a good match for me. She hasn't eaten anything yet so I know I shouldn't start asking her questions. I decide to let her eat and find another time to talk with her. Hopefully she'll come over sometime soon and we'll have more one-on-one time. To talk of course! Nothing else. haha

"I like you," Mercedes states and everyone else nod. I'm glad everyone likes her. I just hope they don't take her away from me.

The end of the day brought Glee, which got me very excited for the first meeting of the year. I have to admit that even though these people don't like me much I missed them and this crazy dynamic we have going on here. We have people represented from every clique in school. The Jocks (Finn and Puck), the cheerleaders (Santana and Brittany), computer nerd (Artie), the smart kids (Tina and Mike), the Divas (Kurt and Mercedes) and of course the kid (me) bourn to be famous. We are all so different and yet we make it work. Well, most of the time…. At least some of the time… I don't have to worry about slushies here so that's all I can ask for. Plus it's time I can spend with Finn, my boyfriend. Who I really haven't spent much time with at all.

"Hey babe." Finn greets me at my locker with a kiss on the cheek. I smile at him.

"Hello Finn. How was your day? Are you ready for Glee? He looks down at his huge feet.

"Uh, yeah about that.. Look Rachel, I don't think I'm gonna do it this year. It's really bringing my rep down and last year we barely had enough to compete and ended up getting our ass…. Butts handed to us at regionals. It's just not worth it anymore you know?" He gives me his signature sideways smile. I used to melt to that smile. Now I want to punch it. I take a calming breath and resist the urge.

"Finn, I understand that you have a lot of pressure on you being the quarterback, but you managed just fine last year. So I don't see any reason it would be different this year. Besides last year was our first year competing. Now that we know what we're up against we will definitely be better. As for needing members to fill the graduates positions I am already compiling a list of capable candidates. And as co captain you should be too. I'm sure there are other guys on the football team that would be willing to join."

"There's not."

Have you asked them?" I already know the answer.

"Well no, but I just know that none of them are interested."

"Finn what about us? This is one of the only times we have to spend time together with our busy schedules."

"We'll still see each other babe. We can get together after school like we did yesterday. And we can go to each others houses, go on dates. You can come watch my games and practices." Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun for me.

"Finn, you know that I have singing and dancing practices after school most days and on weekends."

"Well can't you skip classes every once and a while or quit one of them. I mean you're already really good Rachey. You don't need all that extra help." He smiles triumphantly, thinking he just gave me a great compliment. By this point I'm livid and will punch him if I don't get away from him.

"You know that I need to go to extra lessons so I can be good enough for Broadway Finn. That's the end goal for me. So no I can't just skip or quit one of them. Because no matter how good you think I am, there is someone better out there and if I sit back and relax my dream can be taken away from me."

"Look Rach, I'm sorry but I'm tired of making all the sacrifices." What sacrifices? When have you ever sacrificed anything for me? "But I'm not coming back to Glee. We'll have to find another way for us to spend time together. I gotta go though; I'm meeting up with some of the guys to play some Xbox. Call me later." He tries to kiss me but I turn my head so his lips hit my cheek and then he's gone. Call him later. Yeah right. I let out a frustrated sigh and head off to Glee. I feel a welcome back to school this sucks solo coming on. Hopefully that will cheer me up.