Simple

In a quiet classroom, all by herself, Tuesday afternoon, Quinn Fabray sat, staring blankly at an open math book and a sheet of paper. The second hand on the clock went around a few times before Quinn grasped her pencil in her hand began to write out the equation from the homework problems in the book. Brain hurting, she attempted to solve the very stupid equation of numbers, x's and y's but found herself going frustrated. After taking up a whole page of what she was sure was wrong, she let out a small scream and threw her eraser at the chalkboard. It hit with a clunk then fell to the ground.

Burying her head in her hands, Quinn tried to calm herself down. Mr. Peters was one of the only teachers in school who didn't seem to understand the importance of Cheerios. In her other classes, Quinn barely passed any of her tests but her teachers understood and always marked the tests higher. She was a Cheerio. She had more important things to do than homework. And now, with Glee, she had an added responsibility. But Mr. Peters insisted that she pass his class with a C or he would fail her, and then she would have to put her poms poms aside because of a low G.P.A. She was determined not to let that happen.

An "ahem" from the doorway of the room caused her to raise her head and she found herself staring into Artie's eyes.

"What do you want?" she snapped at him.

His eyes shot to the eraser on the floor, then he rolled himself over and picked it up. "I think you dropped this."

Rolling her eyes, she indicated a desk. "Just leave it there and I'll get it later."

Following her orders, he seemed prepared to leave when he blurt out, "You seem upset about something."

Holding her head erect, she assured him that he was fine. At her words, he shrugged his shoulders, placing his hands on his wheels. Remembering that he was the president of the math club, she was tempted to cry out for him to stop. Before she could further think about it, she called out, "Artie, wait!" Spinning around, he regarded her, one eyebrow raised in question. "Uh, it's…math. It's not…simple. Maybe you could help me with it?"

Seemingly taken aback by her request, he didn't respond at first. Biting his top lip, he looked into the hall before saying, "Sure, I can help you." Grateful, she grabbed her stuff and moved to a desk that was on the periphery of the classroom, which granted him the access he needed to sit next to her in his wheelchair. "You know, math is actually pretty simple. You just have to look at it the right way."

Shaking her head, she placed the math book before him and pointed to the problem that earlier given her so much pain. "Quadratic equations are not simple."

Leaning forward, he started to explain the principles of quadratic problems while Quinn attentively listened, head tilted to one side. At one point, he glanced up at her, to see if she was following along with what he was saying and with what he was scribbling on the paper. Smiling, she let him know that she was. Yet, even though she was, she couldn't help but notice the intense blue of his eyes. Swallowing, she found herself suddenly having trouble concentrating. She had been close enough to really see the color of his eyes only once before.

"Not me," he had told her.

He wasn't like everyone else and Quinn believed it. Reaching for the eraser, the tips of his fingers brushed her knuckles and she could feel the calluses that had formed from years of playing the guitar. For a fleeting moment, she wondered what those fingers would feel like on the skin of her face.

"Quinn?"

Lurching, she faced him. "I'm sorry, I missed that last piece."

He went over it one more time, then handed Quinn the pencil. "Think you want to try?"

Taking the pencil, she attempted the equation he had put at the top of the page and was surprised that it was so easy.

"You got it right!"

Overjoyed, she almost leaned over and hugged him, but stopped herself at the last minute. Glancing at Artie, she realized he might be right about math. It could be simple. But other things, things like boys who wore glasses and were confined to wheelchairs, weren't so simple.

- - - - - - -

Spinning the combination to her locker, Tina couldn't help but look furtively around. It seemed every day Puck was close to her locker, just waiting to ask her to go parking with him. And every day she refused. It was bad enough having Thomas and Ryan constantly fighting over her affection but it was even worse having the football player stalking her. Not that he was actually stalking her but it was close enough. She figured he remained so persistent only because no other girl had refused to go parking with him before. Sighing, Tina closed her locked, glad that Puck hadn't shown up.

"Tina?"

Startled Tina spun around to find herself face to face with a petite strawberry blonde whose face was covered with freckles. "Oh, hi K-Katie."

"Didn't mean to startle you," the girl said sheepishly. "But I was curious as to whether you know the whereabouts of Artie. Math club is supposed to start but he's not present."

Shaking her head, Tina stuttered, "N-no. S-sorry K-Katie."

Obviously upset the girl said, "Thanks anyway," then headed back down the hall to the room where the math club met.

Wondering herself why Artie was missing math club, something he very rarely did, Tina began her amble down the hall but was stopped when a hand pulled her to the wall. Eyes wide, she twirled to see Puck, brown eyes fixed on her.

"I'll ask you again Tina."

"A-and I'll s-say n-n-no aga-again."

Frustrated, Puck let out an almost feral growl.

Frustrated herself, Tina remembered when relationships with boys had been much more simple. Back in kindergarten. The first boy who had ever liked her had chased her around the playground, trying to steal a kiss. The only reason he had caught her was because he had grabbed her by the hair, yanking her to the ground. Once there, he had pressed his lips to hers in short kiss. Then he had run away, manically laughing. Incensed, little Tina had raced after him, pummeling him with her fists until a teacher had separated them and put Tina on timeout. The very next day, the whole incident had been forgotten and the boy had gone back to just being her friend. Yes, that had been much more simple.

"What's your problem Tina? I mean, a lot of girls would love to get this offer."

"Th-then ask th-them. B-but I'm n-not inter-interested."

Stepping closer to her, she could feel the heat radiating off his body. "I chased you then and I'll chase you now."

Jutting out her chin, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Th-this t-t-time you won't c-catch me."

Reaching out, he grasped her hair, letting the silky strands slip through his fingers. "Whatever you say Tina C." Smirking, he sauntered away, turning once to wink at her, before he disappeared around the corner.

Agitated, Tina wished that Puck would just forget about whatever fascination he had with her, as he had in kindergarten, because Tina didn't like it when things got complicated.

- - - - - - -

Finn's life had been much simpler before he had joined Glee. Well, truth be told, Finn's life had been much simpler before Rachel Berry had entered it, bringing with her a complexity of emotions that Finn had never before experienced. Sometimes she drove him crazy and all he could think about was shutting her up with a big kiss. Other times, she looked into his eyes and he believed she understood him better than anyone.

At that moment, however, she was making him hold back laughter as she told him about the time she had performed "Les Miserables".

"Wait," said Finn, stopping her just as she was reaching the end of her tale. "You were really only five years old then?" She nodded in confirmation. "And you had memorized the entire musical?"

"It's always been my favorite," she said, as if that would explain away his amazement. "There's a video of my performing it, if you ever want to see it."

"I would like to see it sometime," he told her, kicking his heels against the stage and thinking about Rachel at five. He figured she had probably been one who had pushed her boundaries just as far as she could. A smile played on his face as he pictured a stubborn five year old Rachel belting out the tune from her favorite musical. Without meaning to, he laughed.

Frowning, Rachel glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her long hair sliding down over her shoulder and almost reaching her lap. "What's so funny?"

"Uh…" Taking a deep breath, he said, "I was just imagining you performing Les Miserables as a five year old."

Excited about something, she suddenly swiveled her whole body to face him, a light shining out of her eyes. "You've seen Les Mis?"

"Actually," he replied, moving in position so that he was also facing her. In the process, his knee (unintentionally, he told himself) made contact with hers. Ignoring the feeling that spread from the touch up to his cheeks (and maybe to his heart), he went on with his statement. "I never really have. My mom was watching the movie version this one time and I overheard some of the songs. I was just picturing you singing the pieces I know."

Disappoint clouded Rachel's features. "Oh."

"But, hey," he said, quickly, wanting the light to return to her eyes. "We could watch it together some time. You could…teach me about it."

"Really?" Luminous eyes met his and one of her small hands wrapped around one of his. "That would be wonderful!"

Heady because of the entire situation, Finn felt his body, completely of it's own accord, lean forward. His eyes moved from hers to land on her full lips. As the distance between them lessened, Finn felt his heart beat faster, his pulse race wildly. Had he dreamed of that instance before? He thought he must've because what was occurring felt all to familiar.

The intensity of the moment, however, was interrupted, when Rachel leapt off the stage, grinning up at him once her feet hit the floor. "I have to get home," she said, already beginning the trek up the aisle.

Caught off guard, Finn blinked a couple of times before jumping from his perch on the stage and marching after her. Confused, he opened the door for her, glimpsing a troubled look on her pretty face. Perhaps he had read the signs wrong. Letting out a deep sigh, he followed Rachel out of the building, thinking how their relationship had become so complex in such a short time.

It wasn't at all simple but, despite the fact that she had dodged his kiss, he was okay with that. Because no matter how many times Rachel avoided his romantic interest, he wasn't giving up.

Because Finn believed that they were two stars, destined to eventually collide.