ix. all your excuses for everything
Brittany lasts all of one period before she tells Santana that she can't find her diary anywhere.
They disappear into the boiler room and it's the first time those four walls have seen them remain entirely clothed for the duration of their stay. The two Cheerios go through everything in Brittany's backpack, three times for good measure, and then to make absolutely sure they go through everything in Santana's backpack. Santana has a forged hall pass - eleven, in fact, all with different teachers' signatures and all provided to her by one Sue Sylvester - and they take advantage of the relatively-empty halls to tear Brittany's locker apart... and then to make absolutely sure they do the same to Santana's locker.
"You're sure it's not at home?"
"No. I always bring it with me to school so that Charity—"
"It's okay, Britt." Santana heaves a sigh; she know what their next step will be, as much as it pains her:
Berry.
The three girls - "Don't walk so close, Berry, people might actually associate us with you." - rip through each of their lockers, Rachel's included. They check all the classrooms that Brittany's been in, which isn't difficult because it's only second period. They search the boiler room. The girls' locker room. The Glee club room. The gym. The stands outside on the football field. Santana's car - since she always gives Brittany rides and Brittany's car wasn't even at school; she claimed Charity has stolen her keys after her cat's unfortunate SUV accident. They even check Rachel's car, just because.
Quinn remains completely ignorant of all of the above.
At the end of the day, had she walked by the auditorium doors five minutes later instead of departing the parking lot, she would have seen Brittany, Santana and Rachel huddled close together and speaking in hushed tones. Had Quinn remained quiet and made her way to the edge of their cluster, this is what she would have heard:
"—bad feeling about this—"
"—try to get out of practice as soon as we can—"
"—so sorry, the cricket is not only stealing my jewelry but now—"
"—really, really bad feeling about this—"
"—not your fault, B—"
"—leave work as early as possible—"
"—sure Tubbers will be okay—"
"—she won't, and her name is Quinn."
But Quinn is completely ignorant, utterly oblivious.
Therefore, at precisely five PM, Quinn Fabray steps out of her car, adjusts the strap of her purse a bit tighter around her shoulder, and walks directly into the mouth of a hell that would have made Lucifer tear his skin off.
David Karofsky is waiting for her.