Respect

Chapter 10

I OWN NOTHING!

"Rachel?" Quinn stood in the girl's doorway.

"Yes Quinn?" Rachel looked up from where she was hunched over on her desk making the final changes to the music so the songs were in the right key for each girl. "Are you feeling alright?"

Their relationship had done a severe one-eighty over the last three days. They'd gone from enemies, to tolerant teammates, to friends, the first having occurred over the months spent in glee together. Not that Rachel didn't want more than that, she just wasn't ready to risk her heart again.

Quinn shook her head. "I'm fine," she bit her lip. Rachel had shared so much of herself the last few days, everyone was treating her differently now. The girls at least, and Coach Sylvester.

"Are you having a craving?" Rachel reached for her keys.

"No!" Quinn shook her head again. "No, nothing like that." How was she going to say this? "Rachel, are you…?"

"Bisexual?" Rachel suggested, knowing how some of her comments over the weekend and during the meeting could be taken. Not to mention some of the dance moves she and Brittany had worked into the choreography.

Quinn nodded. "How did you know?"

Rachel sighed. "I've known since middle school," she replied. Opening a drawer, she pulled out a single photo and handed it to Quinn. "Eliza Stone, my first and so far only girlfriend."

"I don't remember her…" Quinn handed back the photo.

"I went to Carmel Middle School, then the house was finished and we moved out here during the summer." Rachel explained. "I've known Noah since we were toddlers because our families are part of the same Temple. I was glad to know at least one person, besides Jacob," both girls shared a disgusted look, "and then he threw his first slushy at me. Next to last Friday, my first day as a freshman at McKinley ranks as one of the worst days of my life."

"Santana and I weren't much better," Quinn remembered giving Rachel's the infamous 'man-hands' nickname without ever speaking to her. The others had come right after it, easily enough and to impress the older Cheerios.

"Yes, but you and Santana, although I did not tell you this, have apologized for your actions." Rachel told her. "I've forgiven you both, and I'm not expecting anything from either of you." She gave the blonde a weak smile. "I've learned the hard way that my standing at McKinley is what it is and nothing is going to change that."

"There are several ways you could boost your popularity." Quinn replied. "Even being…bisexual would seem like a blip compared to being the richest kid in Lima."

Rachel shook her head. "Yes, but that would be as fake as the argyle sweaters, knee socks, and Mary-Jane's." She turned to straighten the pages of sheet music into a neat stack. "I'd rather be the girl at the bottom of the social ladder then pander to a group of teenagers that believe high school holds the best years of their lives, that the four years we spend inside that building actually mean anything."

"You're not on the bottom of the social ladder Rachel," Quinn stepped into the room and approached the chair they had brought in over the weekend and had yet to remove. "I'm pretty certain that spot belongs to creepy little stalkers like Jacob Ben Israel."

Rachel snorted. "He actually has friends and gets invited to parties." She wiped the tears from her eyes. She'd given up crying over her social standing years ago when she realized that the only reason she ever received party invitations was because the child having the party was made to invite either the whole class or all the girls. "I've never had any actual friendships or relationships that lasted a complete school year. I intimidate those around me without meaning to. I'm overly intense. I'm an obnoxious know-it-all with two dads'. I have plenty of talent but little in the way of social skills. I don't know how to play well with others. I'm bossy, arrogant, annoying, unattractive, and multitudes of other things that turn people off."

Quinn listened as Rachel continued. This wasn't just from the last year and a half of high school, she realized. How had her parents missed this? Rachel was right on some points, but if she had only herself and her currently absent fathers for company how was she supposed to gain social skills? It was no wonder the girl was so driven to achieve her dream and gain recognition as being the best in glee, it was all she really had.

The girl was so starved for attention, she went looking for it anyway she could get. No wonder she'd made such a tempting target, at least being bullied told her she was being noticed. By the reaction of the other students today, ending the slushy facials because of Rachel's lack of fashion sense was simple with a change in her clothing style. She'd still looked professional (as professional as a 5'2'' sophomore girl could get at least), appropriate (some of her skirts, even paired with knee socks and an argyle animal sweater, weren't), and she'd looked really pretty. Who cared if she had a big nose, wide mouth, and loud voice? Those, in Quinn's opinion, were parts of the real Rachel Berry that everyone got to see no matter what role she was trying to play at that moment. It gave her…character, Quinn decided that was the right way to describe it.

"You're also stronger than anyone at that school would give you credit for," Quinn told her when she stopped to breath. "You are most certainly not unattractive. Yea, you could stand to tone it down a bit over some things, but people could also take a moment and listen to you. If they did," she smirked, "they'd realize that you actually know what you're talking about and you have some very good ideas."

"Thank you Quinn, but I think—" Quinn pressed her hand over the diva's mouth.

"I've been listening to you for the last four days," she continued, "and the last three so have the other glee girls. I can't speak for them, but I am your friend. I have a lot to make up for, but…just maybe we could be more someday?"

Rachel nodded and Quinn removed her hand. "Why did you really let Noah get you drunk and sleep with him?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Honestly," Quinn sighed. "I was afraid that my gay was showing. My parents kicked me out for getting pregnant, they'd probably really disown me if I told them I liked girls." She looked away.

"No one else knows, do they?" Rachel asked softly, drawing Quinn into a hug. "Just like Santana can't accept her attraction to Brittany beyond sex."

Quinn snorted, wiping away her own tears. "So you've noticed that, have you?" She sighed, leaning into Rachel. Why was it so easy with the tiny girl? None of her boyfriends had made her feel like this. "No, no one else knows. I think Brittany might know, but she can keep a secret when she wants to. Santana probably knows, but like you said, she's not ready to accept herself let alone anyone else."

Rachel stood and led Quinn to her bed. Both girls were already in their sleepwear, so it was a simple matter of actually getting into the bed. Quinn let her, wanting and needing the contact.

"I notice a lot of things," Rachel admitted. "One of the reasons it's so easy to forgive you and Santana for the things you've both done to me is because I already knew you were both hiding under Pride flags in Narnia and were scared to come out from behind the reinforced titanium door."

Quinn snorted in amusement at Rachel's way of stating her knowledge of the matter. They curled up on Rachel's bed together as if they'd done it hundreds of times already. Like Quinn had noticed just moments earlier, this was easy. With Rachel, it was easy being unguarded and open. It was scary and Quinn wanted to run, but she was exhausted.

Maybe, she thought as she drifted off, I'll run away tomorrow…maybe.