Quinn and Rachel part ways as soon as the nurse returns with a cucumber, wrapped in a condom. Seriously, how is that supposed to help anyone?
Quinn attends class with the overly perky Brittany, smiling her whole way through a repeat lesson on Henry Ford.
"Did you kiss her yet?" Brittany asks as they exit their class together. Quinn feels herself blushing ten different shades of red.
"No." Is her mumbled response. Brittany nudges her friend, hoping to get her to speak up.
"What was that?" Brittany teases. Quinn shakes her head and laughs at herself. Since when does THE Quinn Fabray get flustered at the mere mention of a person?
At the thought of Rachel, Quinn remembers Rachel was unable to bring in her box of canned foods because she was busy taking care of Quinn. The least the blonde could do is help the diva.
"Hey Britt, tell Santana to not forget to stop Sam and Artie from running into Rick?" Quinn spews it off so quickly that her fellow blonde looks at her confused, not only unable to understand what she said, but not understanding the context as well.
"Huh?" Brittany asks, her mouth slightly agape. "Tell San to stop Artie and Rick from making Sam go on a run?"
"Just tell her to stop Sam!" Quinn calls back over her shoulder, already heading out of the school.
Quinn makes it to the empty parking lot, no one is in sight. She leans against Rachel's car, wondering if the diva will even show up to bring in the canned goods during break. Is she wasting her time?
"Quinn?" The blonde smiles at the sound of her name. She follows the sound of the voice to see Rachel approaching her car.
"Hey. Hi. I uh figured, you know, because you helped me, that I could help you. With what you were struggling with before you saw my bruise." Quinn is very aware that she is rambling. She is also aware that Rachel looks slightly amused by it, but mostly she's surprised that Quinn is waiting for her at her car.
"You want to help me?" Rachel sounds skeptical. She must have thought that Quinn's kindness this morning had been a temporary lapse in judgement because of her head injury. Rachel was being kind because she took pity on her.
"Well yeah." Quinn nods, pushing off of Rachel's car to allow the diva to open the trunk. "You were so nice to me this morning."
Rachel pops open her trunk, almost as if she is actually deliberating if Quinn's act of kindness is true or if it's in result of her head injury. Quinn supposes she could understand why Rachel is so reluctant. Even though Quinn herself has seen and felt and had trouble trying to process her feelings. Quinn has gone through each step of her transformation. Rachel has not.
Rachel is familiar with the cold Quinn. Rachel's yesterday had a whole different Quinn who had yet to process her feelings for Rachel. Who refused to even believe she had feelings for her. This Quinn must seem so drastically different to the one she is familiar with.
"It's really not necessary." Rachel tells her, reaching for the box in her trunk. Quinn beats her to it though.
"You didn't have to stay with me in the nurses office, but you did." Quinn counters, taking a firm grip on the box. Rachel bites her lip (Something Quinn can't help but focus on) and nods, finally allowing it.
"It's what anyone would have done." Rachel tries to wave off her act of kindness as they walk back to the school.
"There wasn't exactly a line of people waiting to help me." Quinn argues, not letting Rachel play off their encounter that morning as something trivial.
"It's the uniform." Rachel jokes. "It can be rather intimidating at times." Quinn looks down at her uniform. "It might also be the hair that's throwing them off." Rachel adds, admiring Quinn's wavy locks.
"Does it look bad?" Quinn asks, suddenly wishing she had taken extra time on styling her hair that morning.
"No!" Rachel shakes her head fervently. "No of course not. You look great. I mean, it. It, your hair, looks great." This time it's Rachel's turn to fumble over her wording. "People just aren't sure what to make of it. You look so relaxed-"
"Code word for bed head." Quinn interrupts with a smile.
"No, not at all. You just look so free, but you're wearing your uniform. You only wear it on game day these days." Rachel explains.
"You notice when I wear my uniform?" Quinn asks, surprised the diva has been paying attention to her.
"Everyone does." Rachel corrects Quinn. Of course.
Before Quinn knows it, they are standing before 's office.
"How did you know I needed to come here?" Rachel asks, tilting her head slightly.
"I uh- what?" In her defense, what else could she say?
"How did you know that I needed to come to Ms. Pilsberry's office?" Rachel repeats her question.
"I was following you." Quinn covers quickly. Maybe if she had sounded more confident, the diva would have believed her.
"No." Rachel shakes her head, tapping her foot impatiently.
The warning bell rings. Literally saved by the bell.
"Look's like I gotta get to class." Quinn tries to open the door to the counselors office, the box is pretty heavy, plus it's the perfect excuse to get the hell out of there.
"Quinn!" Rachel complains. She looks at the blonde expectantly, but Quinn knows she'll sound crazy if she tells the brunette the truth. That could also mean that she would have to reveal her theories as to why this is happening to her and Quinn is not ready for THAT conversation just yet.
"I noticed there were cans in here. I sometimes bring in cans too." Quinn covers. Rachel's face softens at the admission. Quinn now wishes she hadn't lied to her. Or maybe she wishes it were true, especially with the way Rachel is smiling at her.
"That's nothing to be embarrassed about Quinn." Rachel chastises the girl. Quinn struggles with the box in her hands, Rachel must notice the strain.
"Oh I'm sorry." Rachel gasps, opening the counselors office for the blonde.
"Oh Hi Rachel, Quinn!" Emma gasps. Quinn is getting really sick and tired of people looking so surprised that A: Quinn likes to spend time with Rachel and B: She's a good person.
Though it's somewhat understandable, it's really getting on her nerves.
"I gotta get to class. See you around Rachel." Quinn has to bolt out of there before she gets caught in her lie.
"Thanks Quinn!" Rachel calls out after the blonde. She smiles as she speed walks to 3rd period.
"So, what the fuck did you do to me?" Santana slams her books down on the desk, practically startling Quinn out of her seat. The blonde groans, her head ache has progressively been getting worse throughout the day. She had originally thought that she would sit next to Rachel during fourth period, but she figured her best friend would want to talk. As luck would have it:
"Seriously Q, this shit is fucked up." Santana curses, looking up at the doorway of the classroom. "Billy Radner is about to stumble into the classroom. Shit was funny the first time around. Now it's just pathetic." Quinn follows her best friends line of sight, and sure enough Billy Radner trips over his feet, nearly concussing himself on the corner of a desk.
"Believe me I know." Quinn groans, hiding her face in her arms, laying her head on her desk. "And I didn't do anything to you." Quinn's voice comes out muffled through her arms. "This isn't an STD i can pass around."
Santana pokes the top of Quinn's head until the blonde finally looks up. Santana smirks slightly, she loves irritating Quinn.
"WHAT?" Quinn barks out, exasperated. Santana has the good sense to scoot her chair away from Quinn.
"Who peed in your cheerios?" Santana asks, then frowns at her wording. She is a cheerio after all.
"I just have a head ache." Quinn sighs, Santana winces, taking int Quinn's black eye.
"I take it things didn't go well with your girl?" Santana asks, using a feather light touch to prod at Quinn's eye, assessing the damage.
"Not my girl." Quinn reminds her again. She's told this to her best friend various times, now that Santana remembers the previous mondays, she knows Quinn has corrected her each time. She's just choosing to be difficult. "And why would say that?"
"Incoming dwarf." Santana nods over at Rachel who is very deliberately headed their way with a scowl on her face.
"Don't call her that." Quinn growls just before Rachel stands in front of their desk. Rachel stares at Quinn expectantly as if the blonde can read her mind.
"Hi Rachel." Quinn greets, trying to ignore the butterflies. And also trying not to look so stupidly enamored in front of her best friend. Santana would never let her live it down.
"Quinn." Rachel says evenly, not even bothering to look at Santana.
"Santana." Said girl pipes in, probably not wanting to feel left out. Rachel side eyes her, but otherwise ignores the Latina's presence. "Sup bitches?"
Quinn is actually feeling small under Rachel's glare. Absolutely no one has that power over Quinn Fabray, not even Santana, but apparently one Rachel Berry does.
"Alright then." Santana says awkwardly. "I have to go get..." Santana can't even find an reason to excuse herself. "Who am I kidding? I just don't want to be here." And with that Santana grabs her books and orders the boys sitting in the desk in front of Quinn to move.
"So I was thinking-" Quinn starts, trying not to sound too eager. She's coaxing herself in trying not to smiles so broadly for two reasons. One, because she looks like a love struck idiot. Two because her wide smile is making her head hurt even more.
"No." Rachel cuts her off. Quinn arches an eyebrow, confused. She watches as Rachel stomps around the desk and takes a seat next to Quinn.
"No?" The blonde questions. Watching her, slightly amused.
"You lied to me this morning. Ms. Pilsberry told me you have not once, donated what kind of person lies about that? So I got to thinking because despite what everyone thinks and what you want everyone to believe, you are a good person. So I though: what is Quinn hiding?" Rachel is slightly blue in the face when she finishes off her rant. having said it all in one breath.
"You think I'm a good person?" Quinn asks, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
"That's all you got out of what I said?" Rachel sighs, exasperated. No, that isn't all she got, that's just what she chose to fixate on.
"So I thought back to our conversation." Rachel continues her story. "I have what I like to call a sort of eidetic memory-"
"You either have an eidetic memory or you don't." Quinn tells the diva. Rachel waves her off, continuing without pause.
"And I wondered where our conversation went wrong. And you got all weird-"
"I did not get weird." Quinn defends.
"When I asked you how you knew where I needed to take the donations So Quinn, I'll ask you again: How did you know?" Again, Quinn is saved by an interruption. Ms. Howard steps into the classroom and promptly starts her class.
Thankfully, Rachel will always be the respectable student she is, and turns her full attention to the front of the room, though she looks unhappy about it.
This day couldn't possible get any worse. Why can't she go back to her and Rachel exchanging notes? Not sitting rigidly next to her, hoping she is not letting off this weird supernatural type vibe. How else could you explain it?
"You know Quinn, this morning I thought there was something different with you. Clearly I was wrong." Rachel tells her once the class is over, performing one of her perfect diva storm outs.
"Trouble in paradise?" Santana asks Quinn, watching the Diva leave the room.
"Fuck off." Quinn mutters. She stands and exits the classroom.
Quinn thought that if she had stopped one event from happening, it would result in stopping the domino effect that was the produced. I.e. Santana was supposed to stop Sam from shoving Rick. Meaning Rick would no longer have to seek out revenge.
Clearly her hypothesis was wrong though, because like any other day, Rick strolled menacingly down the hallway with a slushie in hand.
"RICK!" Quinn barks, not in the mood. The boy looks at her, eyes narrowed at the cheerios uniform, then tosses the slushie right in her face.
A gasp echoes across the halls, for a second Quinn had thought it was hers. Turns out the whole student body gasped collectively at the sight of the cheerio dripping blue.
Quinn isn't mad. She isn't even feeling down about it. She is simply done with this day. Something went wrong, but lately she has been living in a nintendo game, so lost a life? Don't worry you get another try.
Quinn turns on her heel, seemingly unaffected, sloshing through the hallway. In fact, the blonde looks bored. Th blonde can hear a commotion behind her, and she's more than positive that she hears Santana beating up Rick, but she continues on, briefly locking eyes with Rachel before exiting the school.
When dinner time came along, Quinn opted staying in her room instead. Judy must have noticed her daughters foul state, so she actually joined her in her room when dinner time came. It was the nicest thing Quinn and Judy had experienced together in a long time. They sat cross legged on Quinn's bed, watching a movie.
When the doorbell rang, Quinn sighed. When she had started off the day, she was most excited about this part. Now she was dreading it.
"Don't worry honey, I'll get it. I'll take the dishes while I'm at it." Quinn nods, not even bothering to argue, maybe Rachel will go away. It's not that she doesn't want Rachel there, she just rather not look crazy in front of Rachel. Which is what will happen if Rachel asks her for answers.
"Quinn?" Rachel taps on the door. Of course she wouldn't leave. Rachel is persistent. Quinn is curled into a ball facing away from her doorway. She hugs her legs to her chest, dressed in her cheerio sweats and one of her sisters old college tshirts.
"I'm awake." Quinn let's her know. Though she doesn't move. She isn't even sure why she said that, she could have pretended to be asleep and the brunette would have left.
"How are you feeling?" Rachel asks tentatively. Quinn feels her bed dip. She's suddenly very aware of the brunettes proximity to her.
"Insane. Tired. My head still kind hurts. Take your pick." Quinn lists off, turning over on her side so she can look at Rachel. She sits on the very edge of the blondes bed, she isn't looking at Quinn though. She's admiring the blondes room.
"Surprised there isn't any Bieber posters?" Quinn asks, smiling. Rachel slowly turns her attention back to Quinn.
"Yeah, actually." The brunette laughs.
"You know, I've never been in your room before, but something about it feels so familiar." Rachel shakes her head, probably wanting to ward of the strange feeling.
"I should have followed you, helped you get cleaned up." Rachel expresses this guiltily. Quinn shrugs and pats the emptiness next to her, allowing Rachel to lie down. She is only hesitant for a moment before joining the blonde.
"I came right home. I was having a bad day, so I decided to end it early." Quinn shrugs.
"I still could have followed you. You were being so nice to me this morning. And I had to go and ruin it by accusing you of... I don't even know." Rachel shakes her head, disappointed in herself.
"It's fine. I'm over it." Quinn admits. She's honestly just enjoying the feeling of Rachel lying with her on her bed.
"Can I ask you something though?" Rachel asks quietly.
"Go ahead." Quinn allows, closing her eyes. She really is exhausted and the sound of Rachel's voice is lulling her to sleep.
"How did you know?" Rachel whispers, and Quinn might be crazy, but did Rachel just scoot a little closer to her?
"Literally ask me anything but that." Quinn sighs, opening her eyes slightly.
"Anything?" Rachel looks excited by this.
"Why not?" Quinn yawns. Seriously what's the worst she could do?
"There's something different about you." Rachel notes, Quinn has to open her eyes to make sure Rachel isn't done, but apparently she is.
"That's not a question." Quinn teases. Rachel smiles this time Quinn knows she isn't imagining Rachel scoot closer to her.
"What changed?"
Quinn has to take a moment to think about her answer. She really doesn't want to come off as crazy or creepy.
"Me I guess." Quinn answers, unsure. Rachel shakes her head. Not liking this answer.
"No, you're still the same person you've always been, you just- the walls you build up, they're not there." Rachel notes. Quinn had not been aware that Rachel pays so much attention to her.
"No they're still there." Quinn argues "I guess they aren't there for you."
"Why?" Rachel asks, but Quinn can feel herself falling asleep again.
"Because Rachel, I'm tired of hiding from you."
How are you guys doing? Hope all is well.
Can I just say? WOW! You guys are so amazing with the reviews, it really made my week.
So if you guys promise to keep it up, I promise to write you guys an extra fluffy chapter next. Deal?
What did you guys think?- A
