Chapter 4: The Winds of Change
Quinn strutted through the double black auditorium doors. Quinn Fabray was no half-timer. If she'd agreed to take part in Operation Boink Berry, (Santana came up with the name) then she was going to damn well do it right. Even if that meant bringing back HBIC Quinn Fabray.
She was greeted by Santana's grinning face sat down in the same place that they had been sitting for the past week.
Santana grinned up at her. 'Sealed the deal already Fabray? Wow, I must say I'm impressed!'
Quinn scowled smacking her right foot propped up against the seats in front of them. 'When the doctor did your boobs, are you sure he didn't slip some silicone into your brain too?' she retorted almost like a reflex.
The Latina chortled letting the blonde past. 'Touche Fabray.'
Quinn managed to settle into her seat without anyone noticing she was the last one in the class every day for the past week and a half.
Rachel Berry inhaled deeply on the other side of the curtain, trying to push the morning's images out of her head. The way Noah's hands had slipped easily down her ribs and...Stop it Rachel, focus! She scolded herself, shaking her head. She swallowed trying to refocus, and stepped out from behind the curtain into the bright lights of the Constantin Stanislavski Auditorium.
Quinn almost swallowed her tongue. (Although she'd never admit it to Santana.) Rachel Berry stepped out onto the stage wearing round-toed black heels, a deep raspberry pink v-necked jumper that was cut dangerously low, and one of the most form-fitting black pencil skirts she'd ever seen. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing a thick black headband, her cute-but-sexy bangs still fell over her forehead and she was smiling at the class. Oh...god, Quinn groaned inwardly watching the small brunette. She contemplated quickly praying that she wouldn't have to leave her chair in the darkened audience.
'For today's class,' the brunette announced 'I'm going to need a partner.'
Santana's head snapped around like one of those creepy clowns, her eyes matching her almost comically large grin looking straight at Quinn. She adamantly shook her head knowing exactly what she was thinking. Being best friends with Santana Lopez for this long does something to a person.
'Do I have a volunteer, or am I just going to have to pick one of you...?' the small woman continued.
Not missing a beat, Santana's tanned arm shot into the air pointing her index finger down at Quinn. 'Quinn will help!' Santana called out from the darkness.
Rachel Berry shaded her eyes from the stage lights to see her students a little better. She saw a brunette Latina in the back row pointing down to a sour looking blonde sitting next to her. She thought her nomination was a little childish, but beggars can't be choosers really now, can they?
She nodded. 'Okay, Quinn come right up.' she waved her arm welcomingly. Quinn huffed and stood up straight, looking down at her very amused Latina best friend. Sometimes she wondered why exactly they were best friends. 'I will get you for this Ronald McDonald.' she hissed in warning.
'Just helping you out.' Santana cackled. Quinn grumbled something unintelligible before walking down the aisle towards the stage.
Rachel waited until Quinn was standing adjacent to her on the stage before continuing. 'Watching you all practicing your monologues in the past week, I have noticed that you have not been instructed how to breathe properly, to project your voices as far and loud as possible. This is essential for stage acting, and essential for you all to learn as a simple foundation. So with Quinn's help,' she brushed her fingertips against Quinn's arm 'I'll be showing you the proper breathing exercises designed to help both the projection of your voices in large spaces such as this one, and also the preservation of your vocal chords which are bound to be put under pressure when you are performing.'
Rachel pressed the flat of her palm against Quinn's toned abs and pressed down lightly. Quinn felt her skin prickle lightly with the contact, and her palms began to gather a light perspiration. She could almost feel Santana's amused grin staring straight at her from the darkness. The darkness of the rest of the auditorium both relaxed her and made her feel incredibly uneasy. She felt as if her and Rachel were the only ones in the room, as she couldn't see any of her peers, which relaxed her. However at the same time, knowing her peers were out there watching them both together, but not being able to see them, made her feel uneasy.
Quinn placed both of her hands on her hips and raised her chin. She knew if she was gonna make it through this humiliation, she was gonna have to rely on HBIC Quinn. Santana smiled as she watched Quinn inhabit her HBIC stance, and she knew old Quinn was back with a vengeance. Rachel applied more pressure on Quinn's abs, and she instantly tensed. Rachel smiled and leaned into her side slightly.
'Relax,' she breathed. Quinn swallowed subtly as a sick feeling began to swim in the pit of her stomach at the contact. Rachel's perfume wafted over her, and she fought her reflex to close her eyes and take in the scent. Quinn gave the most convincing smile she could muster and Rachel continued.
'You'll have a partner in this exercise, to experiment with each other.' Quinn's stomach dropped further and Santana clamped her hands over her nose and mouth in an attempt to muffle the snort she immediately released. Quinn kept her chin pointed into the air trying the best she could to keep a straight face.
'One of you will put your hand on your partner's abdomen, just like I'm doing to Quinn. Quinn will repeat the sentence 'the fox jumped over the hill', while I push down against her abdomen, and slightly up towards her ribs, like this.' Rachel pushed into her as promised, as her fingertips brushed the skin over the bottom of her ribs. Rachel nodded giving her the cue to repeat the sentence. Quinn confidently looked out into the darkness, with her HBIC guard fixed in place.
'The fox jumped over the hill.' she repeated confidently, her voice filling the auditorium. Quinn didn't move her head but saw out of the corner of her eye, Rachel beamed at her nodding once.
'See what I did there was to stimulate the air around Quinn's diaphragm to carry the air out of her chest to project her voice.' Santana clamped her hand harder over her mouth trying to suppress the giggle threatening to spill out. Quinn was just waiting for the stage to open beneath her and swallow her whole.
Rachel then stepped behind her and wrapped her hands firmly around Quinn's waist. You've gotta be kidding me, Quinn thought as she silently groaned. She felt Rachel's warm breath against the skin on the back of her neck. Rachel's thumbs slid to Quinn's back beside her kidneys as the rest of her fingertips pressed against her front around her waist. As the pads of her thumbs brushed her back, Rachel's breath hitched hitting the back of Quinn's neck. Quinn thought she must have been hallucinating when she felt Rachel's mouth just behind the shell of her ear.
'Is this okay...?' Rachel whispered, breath tickling her ear. Quinn only responded by nodding once. Rachel stepped to the side slightly, hands still on Quinn's waist. 'This is another way you can expel air out of the diaphragm and lungs.'
Rachel lightly squeezed and Quinn repeated the sentence creating the same effect.
Shortly after, Rachel finally released her grip. She may have been small, but she had a surprisingly firm grip. She smiled right at Quinn. 'See me after class.' she whispered before sending Quinn back down into the audience with the rest of her peers. Exhaling a breath, she sat back down in her deep navy seat next to Santana.
Santana smirked but kept looking at the stage. 'Enjoy yourself?'
'Shut up.' Quinn fired back.
'Y'know you really need to work on your turned on face...'
'What?' she hissed finally looking at the brunette.
Santana smothered herself with her hand again, hiding her amusement at Quinn shocked face. 'I'm kidding, I'm kidding!' she cackled through her fingers.
They each paired off to practice the exercises that Rachel and Quinn had just demonstrated, of course Santana and Quinn were stuck together. Quinn took the opportunity to inflict some physical pain, just to show the Latina that she was still royally pissed about her humiliating nomination.
'Y'know, I don't know why you're so pissed. I'm helping you out.' said Santana breathlessly after having the air literally forced out of her by Quinn. She didn't reply, just rolled her eyes when they picked their bags up from the floor at the end of class. When she turned her body towards the stage Santana gave her an odd look. 'Berry asked me to hang back after class.'
Santana raised an eyebrow, amusement sparkling in her eyes. 'I bet she did...' she retorted before filing out of the auditorium after her classmates.
Rachel was sorting some papers on a hidden desk at the back of the stage when she heard footsteps behind her on the stairs.
She turned to the blonde girl smiling. 'You did good today.' Quinn returned her hands to her hips and simply nodded. Rachel watched her and smiled to herself. Her defence mechanism, she mused.
'Ive been watching you, Ms. Fabray.' Quinn's brow furrowed. Rachel chuckled lightly, the airy tinkling sound hitting deep within the blonde. 'I've noticed you've been late to every class since we started the new semester.' Quinn released a slight sigh. 'Is there anything, going on...Ms. Fabray?'
Her hands tightened around her waist, looking Rachel straight in the face. 'No, Ms. Berry.'
'Call me Rachel, Ms. Fabray...So there's no explanation for your lateness?'
Quinn shrugged, playing the nonchalant card. 'I sleep in.'
Rachel chuckled. 'Well that's going to have to change Ms. Fabray.'
'Obviously.' she stated shortly. 'Call me Quinn, Rachel.' she replied almost mockingly.
Rachel folded her arms across her chest and Quinn tried to focus her attention away from the way her pert tanned cleavage was brushing against the V in her jumper. The taller girl searched for distraction in the dark audience.
'Y'know Quinn,' she leaned back against the desk behind her. Quinn turned her eyes back to the stunning brunette. 'We're not that different, you and me.'
'We're nothing alike.' Rachel was a little taken back by the blonde's bluntness. Quinn kicked herself internally, it totally didn't come out right. But she couldn't back down now.
Rachel sensed there was something off with the girl in front of her. 'Quinn, y'know you can talk to me if you need to. Or I can help you find someone to talk to.'
Quinn slid her thumb underneath the light brown strap of the satchel dangling from her shoulder. 'I gotta go.'
Before Rachel knew it, Quinn had disappeared back into her cloak of darkness. Before she could think, she felt a pair of hands slide around her waist and spin her around.
She looked up into chocolate eyes. 'Hey babe.'
She slid her small hands against his triceps and he leaned down, giving her a soft kiss on the lips.
She pulled back. 'What you doing here? What happened to your class?'
'Class dismissed baby.' He cooed kissing her again.
She rested her temple against his defined chest, looking out into the darkness.
There's just something about her.
Quinn rested her palm against one of the double doors leading out of the auditorium. She felt a sick feeling begin to slide up her body as she watched Rachel smile back up at the mystery man.