Pity and Promise

Rated: T (for language)

Pairing(s): Faberrittana, Finchel (implied)

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the songs used in this story.

A/N: I appreciate reviews to give me feedback as well as ideas! Please leave a review and give me ideas on what you'd like to see the "new" Rachel Berry do. :D

Quinn stayed in the bathroom for a little while, fixing her own hair and makeup that also gave her time to think about Rachel. It wasn't just a two-day sore throat that was different; she looked like Quinn, only two months ago. Lost and desperate to find herself. But this was not the way to do it.

I thought she learned that when I did the same thing.

She didn't want to think bad of Rachel; she was actually trying to be decent, if not friends with her. She just couldn't believe that after trying-in the end, successfully-to get her to rejoin glee club and get back to the way she was before, the real Quinn, Rachel would decide to try it for herself. She definitely needed more answers. And from how the girl was acting now, she'd need help to pry them from her.

Quinn left the bathroom with a heightened confidence, and would have walked to her next class if she hadn't seen Brittany and Santana. They stood close together and both their jaws were dropped at the sight of something around the corner. Quinn slowly walked over to them, with the two cheerios beckoning her to come closer, quickly.

She swiftly closed the distance between them and she paused. "What's going on?" She asked Santana, since Brittany was still distracted.

"See for yourself." The latina pointed around the corner.

Quinn looked around. There was a group of students with the same expression and reaction at the sight in front of them. Against the wall was Dave Karofsky, one of the football players who took great joy in throwing slushies at members of the glee club. But this time around Karofsky didn't have the smug smile and empty Big Quench to show for his assault. It was the jock that had the purple slush on his face and jacket.

The blonde cracked up and laughed along with Santana seeing the football player against the wall with a more than shocked look on his own face. The one thing that they didn't notice right away was the one that threw it. Brittany tapped Santana on the shoulder several times before she actually turned around. "Oh my god."

"What?" Quinn asked, and she was as shocked as Santana after the crowd cleared. There stood Rachel Berry, cup in hand, glaring up at Karofsky.

"I didn't think I'd ever see the day Berry gave a slushie facial. Payback's a bitch." she snickered.

"Santana. Rachel just slushied Karofsky." She lifted her brow.

"Yeah, I know. This new Berry is kinda badass."

Quinn smacked Santana's shoulder harder than she intended. "This new 'badass' Rachel is going to get her ass kicked."

"Or maybe it'll help her rep." Santana shrugged. "Besides, I could have fun with her. Maybe get her to do something really crazy." Quinn looked down nervously.

"That sounds like fun." Brittany said. "But it looks like Rachel's leaving. Guess we'll have to talk to her in glee."

When the three looked again, they could see the hallway full of shocked students parting just to let Rachel pass without a problem. Either from respect or fear, it didn't really matter.

"Something's different." She didn't realize she said anything until they both looked up at Quinn.

"Obviously." Santana rolled her eyes.

"She shoved me in the bathroom." Quinn pointed out.

"Ooo, Berry's getting violent now, huh? Why were you in the bathroom with her?" She lifted her brow.

"I just walked in and she was there. Putting a bunch of crap of her face." Quinn said. "I started talking to her and when she tried to leave she shoved me out of the way."

"Damn." Brittany whispered.

"Maybe we should get the glee club to talk to her-"

"Hold on a minute Q. As you know I've been a lot less vicious towards the midget since we joined glee club. But that doesn't stop the fact that she's a lot less annoying than she was before. Like I said, we could have a lot of fun with the new Berry."

Quinn considered it. Even if she wanted to help Rachel, it might do her some good to live a little. And in this new state, it seemed that she was willing to cross any boundary.

"I dunno, San, I don't think Rachel wants to get in trouble." Brittany said.

"Come on, Britt, I know you kinda wanna hang out with the hobbit. Besides, it doesn't look like she's that concerned about rule-breaking right now."

Brittany nodded. "Okay. We can be friends with Rachel." She smiled.

"Good." Santana smirked.

"What did you have in mind?" Quinn sighed. There was no way to get out of this. As long as they didn't go crazy, it might be fun to experiment with how much they could get away with.

"It looks like Berry's got a grudge. Against who, I don't know. I really don't want to know. But paying a little visit to our friends at Carmel won't get us in much trouble. If we get some more glee-clubbers in on it, I'm sure they'll agree." Santana smiled. Brittany nodded along.

They both looked expectantly at Quinn, who had all but lost all precaution. She nodded with Brittany.

"I'm in."