PART 9

"It's over."

"What do you mean it's over?"

"It's over. I'm not doing this anymore."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Santana was totally confused. She just got out of the shower and was in the middle of putting on her clothes when Quinn cornered her to tell that it was over, but she couldn't figure out what was supposed to be over. So all she could do was stood there and waited for Quinn to elaborate.

Quinn let out a frustrated sigh. "This -" Quinn lowered down her voice and looked around, but the girls' locker room was mostly empty now, "this stupid competition. It's over."

"Oh," Santana finally understood, but then something crossed her mind and she smugly asked, "What's wrong? The Hobbit's not giving it to you, is it? Aww, poor Quinn, for once she's not getting what she wants." She playfully patted Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn flicked Santana's hand away. "This has nothing to do with her," Quinn hissed.

"Then what? You can't just call it quit whenever you want." Santana turned around to close her locker door, "unless," she turned around slowly, "it means that you lost, which means you need to pay up."

Quinn was furious, "I didn't lose. I just don't want to be in this stupid thing anymore."

"I guess your power doesn't work on girls, huh? Tough luck," Santana mockingly patted Quinn's shoulder again and Quinn swatted her hand. Santana couldn't help but laughed at the look that Quinn was giving her, it was a bit of desperation and humiliation and a touch of sadness.

"It's nothing to do with that. I said it's over then it's over, that's it." Quinn was trying to exercise her authority.

"Fine. Pay up then and we're done," Santana crossed her arms.

"I'm not paying you. The deal is whoever got the other person to declare their love, and so far Karofsky hasn't said anything to you. So until he did, no one wins."

Santana huffed up her annoyance, "it's going to happen soon anyway."

"Oh yeah, when?" Quinn disbelievingly asked.

"Soon. He's kinda hinting it." This time it was Santana that was trying to avoid the subject.

Quinn scoffed, "whatever, until it happens, you're not getting a penny out of me," and she walked out of the locker room.


The first part was easy. Quinn had thought long and hard and she had come to terms on what she needed to do. Whatever the consequences would be, she was willing to bear them. What important was that at the end of the day, it would clear her conscience and make it easier for her to sleep at night, or so she hoped. She didn't want to have this burden anymore. She had done so many stupid things in her life, some she still regretted to this day, so she didn't need to add more to the things that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

She had been avoiding Rachel for the past few days that she even skipped Glee club practice. But then Rachel wasn't seeking her too, which was a bit disappointing. She somehow thought that one of these days that Rachel would at least leave a note in her locker. After all she did leave the auditorium in the verge of crying the last time Rachel saw her. Didn't she wonder how I am doing? But then I did walk away from her right after she ... poured her heart out to me? Quinn shook her head. She didn't want to read too much into that. She could have read Rachel wrong. Maybe all she wanted was to get Quinn's honest opinion about the song. But all that didn't matter anyway.

Even though she had made up her mind, putting them into action was another thing. Every time she saw a glimpse of Rachel, she would quickly find a hiding spot. The things that she needed to do required lots of courage and determination, and she needed all that time to gather it. But there was no point of prolonging this anymore. She hardened her resolve and made her way down the hallway.

And here comes the second part, and this was the hardest.

She had left a note in Rachel's locker earlier that day asking to meet her at the auditorium after school. She hoped after all the avoidance on her part, that Rachel wouldn't be avoiding her now. As she made her way, suddenly her feet felt like lead and her heart was beating faster with the thought that Rachel wouldn't come to the auditorium. Oh well, by the end of the day, she probably wouldn't want to talk me anymore anyway, so what difference does it make. Quinn was too wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even stop to take a moment before entering the auditorium. She never thought that Rachel would be there earlier than her.

Rachel was just idly playing the piano when Quinn walked in and both of them stopped in the middle of their action, with Quinn halfway down the steps and Rachel's fingers still on the piano keys. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Rachel broke the tension.

"Hi," Rachel smiled softly. It was nice for her to be in the same room with Quinn again after all the avoidance that Quinn had done these past few days.

"Hey," Quinn tried to smile but she felt a choke in her throat. She slowly made her way to the stage.

"How have you been? I haven't seen you for a while," Rachel prodded gently. "I feel like you've been avoiding me."

Quinn stopped on her track, "I'm sorry Rachel. I just ... well, I just have so many things on my mind and I've been busy with classes and homework, you know, all that stuff."

Rachel nodded even though she doubted that was the real reason. "You missed us trying to help Mr Schue figured out a way to propose to Miss Pillsbury. Isn't that sweet?"

Quinn was surprised by the news, "Oh, they're getting married?" She was up on the stage but maintained a distance between them.

"He's finally going to propose to her. I'm sure she'll say yes. But he wanted us to help him come out with a romantic way to propose. I'm not sure what the boys would do but we're planning on something, so we're going to practice tomorrow. Would you like to join us? I mean, I wanted to ask you but … I haven't seen you," Rachel finished off softly.

"Umm … it's okay. I'm going to sit this one out."

"Oh, okay," Rachel sounded disappointed. "So why did you want to meet me here?"

This was it, the time for her to come clean. Quinn started pacing. Even though she had practiced the speech many times, it wasn't easy to get them to come out now that she was standing in front of Rachel.

"So … umm … I …" Quinn felt frustrated with her inability to come out with the words. "So ... okay ..." Quinn swallowed hard and she shot a glance at Rachel that was eagerly waiting for her to say something.

"Quinn, what is it? You can tell me anything," Rachel stood up and was about to make her way to Quinn but Quinn stopped her.

"No Rachel, please stay, just hear me first. You'll probably hate me after this, but I want to tell you something."

Rachel chuckled but she sat back, "Quinn, I can never hate you."

"You will," Quinn said it so softly that Rachel couldn't hear her.

"What?"

Quinn shook her head, "nothing." Then she looked up to Rachel and took a deep breath. "Erm ... okay ... here's the thing." She figured it was better for her to get everything out in one go, "Santana and I made a wager, a competition. We both claimed that we can easily get anyone we want to fall in love with us. So we made this competition and whoever managed to succeed in making that chosen person to fall in love with them will win." She was looking at Rachel the whole time to gage her reaction, but so far Rachel's face was unreadable. She continued, "so we picked a name from a box, Santana got Karofsky, and I got ... " Quinn indicated Rachel. Rachel's face was still unreadable that Quinn wasn't sure she heard everything that she said. "Rachel, it was a stupid competition made by stupid people." Rachel didn't say anything. She was glued to her chair and her eyes were following Quinn's every movement. It was a bit unsettling for Quinn, "Rachel, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for things to go this far. I mean, I realized that it was really stupid and insensitive and I called it off. I -"

Rachel stood up and cut Quinn off. "Well, congratulations," her expression was hardened. "You won."

"What?" Quinn was confused with the statement.

"You won the competition," she said in a monotonous voice. Quinn was the one who was lost for words now and all she could do was blinked. Rachel took a few steps towards her, "but admit it."

That broke Quinn from her daze, "Admit what?" Quinn asked softly.

"Admit that you're in love with me too," Rachel said in a challenging tone.

Quinn was so shock with that statement that her face turned pale. Her mouth was opened but nothing came out. After a few seconds of just staring at each other, Quinn stuttered and took a few steps back, "I ... don't ... I … can't," she was shaking her head, "I don't know ... I mean I can't." She turned around and hurriedly walked out of the auditorium. Once the door was closed, Rachel slumped to the floor and cried.