Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I feel this might become recurring due to College :/ But I will try to get at least one chapter up a week, no promises though!
Thank you to my Beta who corrected my awful grammar!
Enjoy
The glee kids chat together, sat in their usual seats. Quinn sits at the back, looking at the whiteboard with boredom. Her teeth nibble on her bottom lip as she waits for Mr Schue to arrive. Or Rachel. She'd rather Rachel arrives first. She's made sure to keep the seat next to her empty just for the brunette. She knows it's early in their friendship but she can't not sit next to Rachel when they're in the same room. If she doesn't , she feels like she may explode.
Quinn immediately smiles brightly when Rachel walks into the room. It falls though when she notices the big hand clamped around Rachel's hand. She looks away from the couple as they make their way over to the two free seats in the front. Quinn glances up and catches Rachel's eye. Rachel smiles at her sadly, sitting down beside Finn. Quinn keeps the bile rising in her throat from projectiling over the pair when Finn wraps his arm round Rachel.
Ramona sits down next to Quinn and smiles sadly at her. Her eyes dart to Rachel then back to Quinn. She sighs and rotates in her seat, placing a hand upon Quinn's. She doesn't say anything to Quinn, all she does is squeeze her hand. It's all Quinn needs. The blonde looks over at Ramona and smiles at her in thanks.
"All right guys, time to talk about..." Mr. Schue finally enters the choir room and immediately walks over to the white board, scrawling a word onto it in his god-awful hand writing. "Sectionals! Who's got any ideas?"
It shocks everyone when Rachel's hand flies up into the air. Before she and Quinn went away, Rachel remained quiet when in the choir room, only speaking when adressed. Mr. Schue smiles at Rachel in encouragement and points at her.
"Yes, Rachel"
"As a former member of Vocal Adreneline, I can safely say that our best bet at beating them at Nationals is to do original songs."
"Okay keep that in mind when it comes to Nationals, but what about Sectionals?"
"I don't think you understood me, Mr. Schue." Rachel gets up from her chair and strides to the middle of the floor.
"Oh great, the hobbit won't shut up now," Santana mumbles.
"I propose, that to wow the judges we should do original songs for Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals."
Mr. Schue furrows his eyebrows together and takes a step forward, placing a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "Won't that be a little repetitive? The judges would have already seen-"
"Actually, each stage has different judges so we can still do original songs for all three and not be repetitive. Especially if we don't repeat those original songs," Rachel explains.
Quinn narrows her eyes at Mr. Schue when he scratches the back of his head. "Uh, that's a great idea but none of us are song writers."
Quinn recognises the look in Rachel's eyes and panics. As soon as Rachel looks over at her, she knows straight away what the brunette is about to say. She's already sinking into her seat when she says, "You have one right in this room Mr. Schue. Quinn," gesturing to the slowly reddening blonde.
Quinn notices Rachel's eyes lock onto Ramona and Quinn's interlocked hands before she looks away, now refusing to look in Quinn's direction.
"Is that true Quinn? You write songs?"
Everyone turn to looks over at Quinn who looks down into her lap, embarrassed. She hears Santana's snickers to her right and hits her without looking up. She shrugs and scratches at her neck. "Yeah, but they're not very good."
"No, they're not," Rachel says bluntly, bringing everyone's attention off of Quinn. "They're amazing. I heard her play one on our trip away."
"Well then," Mr. Schue says, clapping his hands together, "Quinn, next week you should perform us one of your songs and then start a workshop for us to think of songs for sectionals!"
"Shouldn't we do that this week? It is Sectionals next Friday. We should start working out choreaography," Rachel says, looking at Mr. Schue with a questioning look.
"Mike and Brittany can teach it to us sometime next week after they've though of it. Now...!"
Quinn shakes her head at her teacher, knowing that if they get through sectionals, it will all be down to pure luck.
Quinn grabs hold of Rachel's arm and drags her into the janitors closet. Rachel squeeks and begins to fumble around.
"I have pepper spray!" She says, right into Quinn's face.
Quinn reaches out and clamps her hand over Rachel's mouth, shutting her up. "It's me."
"Quinn! There are better ways for you to get me alone rather than manhandling me like you did! What would you have done if-"
"Why did you tell them," Quinn asks, cutting Rachel off.
"Because you have a talent and people need to know about it."
Quinn knows Rachel can't see her, but she hits her palm to her head and sighs. "I didn't want anyone to know about it."
"Well, why not," Rachel demands. Quinn doesn't want to answer, she can't answer. Because by answering, she'd have to tell Rachel that it shows how much she loves her and she's...she's not ready for everyone else to know that yet.
"I just don't, okay," Quinn growls, storming out of the janitor's closet. Rachel steps out after and goes to follow, only to have a hand on her arm stop her.
She looks up and sees the concerned eyes of Puck looking down at her. "I think you have some explaining to do," Puck says. Rachel nods and walks down the opposite end of the hallway with him.
"Wait, so you're telling me that you kissed her," Puck asks, watching Rachel with wide, excited eyes.
Rachel rolls her eyes at how Puck is practically drooling. "Yes and I enjoyed it."
Puck closes his eyes. "Hold on a sec, I need to picture this," he says, holding up his hand and turning his head to look up to the sky.
He stays silent whilst Rachel watches him with growing impatience. Her foot taps the ground with a fast pace, her fingers drum against her arms and her teeth gnaw on her bottom lip.
"Okay, I've got it stored in the wank-"
"Noah," Rachel repriminds.
"Woah, calm down, babe." He scratches his mohawk, "So, you kissed her and you liked it? And you hope your boyfriend doesn't mind it," he asks with a smirk.
Rachel, once again, rolls her eyes. "If you're done quoting Katy Perry, yes, I did. I don't want Finn to ever find out."
"Why? You've got to tell him, Rach!"
"Because he'll get hurt! I can't hurt him," Rachel sighs and slumps down onto the bench, staring out at the empty football field.
"The longer you keep this from him, the more hurt he'll get."
"I know, I know."
"So, are you going to confess your feelings to Quinn yet and dump Finn?"
Rachel looks away from the field, her eyes widening comically, "Noah, I-I can't do that. My Dads-"
"I didn't say to the whole town, Rach, I said just to Quinn." Puck stands from the end of the bench and walks so he's closer to Rachel, "Look, Rach, you need to tell Quinn how you feel. You can't play with her emotions like a yoyo. If you kiss her again but then go to Finn afterwards, it'll destroy her."
"How do you know? Quinn doesn't like me in that way."
"Can you really not see it?"
"See what?"
Puck sighs in exapseration. For a smart girl, Rachel can be really dense sometimes. "Think about it. You kissed her-your supposed enemy- but yet she didn't pull away or hit you. You tell her about your condition and instead of freaking out on you, she decides to help you. She's calling you beautiful every day until she can't any more. Rachel, Quinn has wanted to be here for you ever since you were little, but didn't think she could because of how you acted towards her, so she did what she did best-retaliated. It killed her to do so, but she was so full of pride she couldn't admit it. Quinn is in love with you, Rach. She'd take a bullet for you."
Rachel looks at Puck with disbelief, "No. No she isn't. You're just teasing me. Well, it didn't work."
"I'm not teasing you," Puck growls in frustration. Why couldn't she believe him?
"You are Puck, and I must say, it's not one of your best jokes."
"Fine. I tried to tell you but go ahead. Go play Quinn about, see what I care. Just know Rach, that if you do this, play Quinn about, it won't be a smooth road for you." And with that, Puck leaves an angry and frustrated Rachel behind.
Quinn jumps in her seat when Russell throws a College magazine down onto the table in front of her. She peers over at them, rolling her eyes when they settle on the OSU magazine.
"What's this?" Quinn asks, picking up the magazine.
"A buddy of mine put in a good word for you at OSU. He got some soccer scouts to agree to come to the championship game!"
Quinn peers up at her Dad from over the magazine "Dad, we need to win the tournament before going to the championship game."
"You guys will get there easily."
"I'm not sure what I want to do" Quinn goes back to eating her cereal.
"Rachel's known that she's wanted to go to NYADA since she could sing."
"But I'm not Rachel, Dad. I haven't planned my future like she has."
"But ever since you first touched a soccer ball, you've wanted to play it professionally,"
Quinn throws the magazine back onto the table, watching her Dad sit down in the seat opposite her."Maybe I don't want to do that anymore."
Russell looks at Quinn like she's a little naive girl that doesn't know what goes on in the big, bad world. It's patronising. "Well, what do you want to do then," he asks, a little too smug.
Quinn leans back in her chair and narrows her eyes. She purses her lips at her Dad-something she hasn't done in a very long time- and calmly replies, "I wish to compose music and songs."
Automatically, Russell brusts out into laughter. His fist pounds the table comically, his joyous laugh filling their dining room. Quinn stares at her Dad in astonishment as he continues to laugh hysterically, obviously thinking it was a joke. He holds his belly, his legs kicking about, as if someone was tickling him.
He wipes a tear away from his eye, "Oh god, Quinn, you are funny."
Quinn doesn't reply, she only purses her lips some more. Russell notices, his expression turning serious, "You weren't joking?"
"No."
"Oh, honey." Russell grabs hold of Quinn's hand, smiling up at Judy as she places their breakfast down onto the table. He doesn't notice Judy disappear upstairs. "You can play guitar okay, but you don't write songs."
Quinn narrows her eyes at her Dad. "How would you know?"
"Because I'm your farther. You just..aren't blessed in those areas. OSU is the place for you and soccer."
Judy walks back down the stairs, a disappointed expression on her face. Quinn looks up at her Mum and stands up, dropping Russell's hands from her own. She pushes her plate of bacon away from her and steps away from the table.
"I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going to school. Thanks Mum," Quinn says, kissing Judy on the cheek before grabbing her jacket and skatebaord, keeping her tears at bay.
Quinn runs down her drive way, anger and shame running through her body. She doesn't notice Rachel shouting out to her and takes off down the street, planting her feet onto her skateboard and letting it take her away.
As the front door shuts, Judy looks back at Russell who shakes his head at her and begins to dig into his breakfast. "That girl, Judy," he said, "doesn't know what's best for her."
Judy drops Quinn's music and lyric book onto the table beside Russell, watching her husband with distaste. "Actually, she does. Maybe if you have a look, you'll see. I have never been so disappointed in you," she says before grabbing Quinn's plate and storming off into the kitchen.
Russell looks down at the notebooks and swallows his food. He shakes his head and goes to take another bite, but something stops him. Faith. Faith in his wife and faith in his daughter's abilities. With a sigh, he drops his fork onto his plate and grabs the lyric book, opening the front page.
Quinn storms through the auditorium doors, throws her skateboard and jacket to the side haphazardly and turns to the band practising. She hands them all sheet music she found in the library (surprisingly enough).
"I know, I know," Quinn says when the band sends her incredulous looks. "Please, just play." They nod at her, sensing that Quinn just needs to sing this.
Quinn walks to the middle of the stage as Brad begins to play the keyboard, the notes echoing through the empty auditorium.
"The day a door is closed
The echoes fill your soul
They won't say which way to go
Just trust your heart
To find you're here for
Open another door
But I'm not sure anymore
It's just so hard"
Quinn shuts her eyes as the guitar riff starts to play through. Once the drums come in, she starts to dance, her moves in rhythm with the beat. She spins on the spot, planting her feet shoulder width apart as she sings the next verse.
"Voices in my head
Tell me they know best
Got me on the edge
they're pushin,' pushin,'
they're pushin'"
Quinn begins to move once more, her movements smooth and natural. Not only is she speaking through lyrics, but she's speaking through dance as well. She channels her anger at her Dad, at his lack of support on her decision. She channels her conflicting emotion with Rachel.
"I know they've got a plan
But the balls in my hands
This time its man-to-man,
I'm driving, fighting inside
A world that's upside down
Spinning faster
What do I do now? Without you
I don't know, where to go, what's the right team?
I want my own thing. So bad I'm gonna Scream!
I can't choose, so confused! What's it all mean?
I want my own dream. So bad I'm gonna Scream!"
As Quinn sings her way through the next verse, she doesn't notice Rachel make her appearance at the top of the auditorium, by the seats. Rachel looks on, captivated as Quinn sings soulfully. Despite the odd song choice, Rachel still finds Quinn's singing wonderful. She hasn't got the same tone as Zac Efron, but her alto still seems to suit the song perfectly.
Rachel slides into a seat in the middle just as Quinn gets to the bridge.
"Yeah, the clock's running down,
hear the crowd gettin' loud!
I'm consumed by the sound!
Is it her? Is it love?"
Rachel and Quinn's hearts both flutter at the word love, though both are too distracted to notice.
"Can the music ever be enough?
Gotta work it out, gotta work it out!
You can do it, you can do it!"
At some point during the bridge, Quinn had grabbed herself a guitar-something Rachel did not pick up. She looks on in amazement as Quinn throws herself into the guitar solo, her skills coming out. Quinn takes off the guitar at the end of the solo and throws it off stage and delves back into the chorus.
She glides across the stage, her leg bouncing to the beat. Her moves are hard hitting with the music, her body locking and unlocking effortlessly. Rachel never knew Quinn could dance like that. All she ever saw of Quinn's dance abilities was the pathetic choreography Mr. Schue gave the New Directions at Regionals last year.
"I don't know, where to go, what's the right team?
I want my own thing. I want my own thing!
I can't choose, so confused! What's it all mean?
I want my own dream. So bad I'm gonna Scream!"
Thankfully, Quinn forgoes doing the cringe worthy scream at the end and just finishes the song with a final dance move. Quinn pants heavily, her eyes trained on the stage floor as she regains her breath. She turns round to the band and thanks them, happily taking the little jokes they throw at her for the song as they exit the room.
Quinn walks over to the edge of the stage at sits down, her feet dangling over the edge. Her head snaps up in surprise at the sound of clapping. She squints slightly, just making out the figure of Rachel walking down the aisle to meet her.
"Breaking into school to sing about your feelings? How very 'High School Musical' of you," Rachel says with a teasing smile.
Quinn chuckles, helping Rachel up onto the stage. "It's not exactly breaking in if the school is open in the mornings."
Rachel nods and looks out at the empty auditorium, a smile gracing her lips. She looks down at her hands, scratching at her scars. Quinn's hand automatically covers hers, stopping her from doing so. She looks up and sees Quinn's concerned eyes.
Rachel shakes her head slightly, realising that this is the time for her to ask Quinn about her feelings, on how she's feeling rather than the other way round. She stops whatever Quinn is going to say by interrupting her.
"Want to talk about what made you sing that?"
Quinn closes her mouth and looks away from Rachel. She runs her hands through her hair and shakes her head, "How are you feeling? Finn treating you okay?"
"Don't change the subject. I'm asking about you, now," Rachel says sternly. "Now, what's wrong?"
Quinn's silent for so long that Rachel feels she may have over stepped some sort of boundary. The blonde just stares ahead and takes her hands back from Rachel's. Rachel prepares herself for when Quinn gets up. She knows Quinn must need to speak about this instead of keeping it all locked up. Rachel knows exactly how bad that can be.
"It's my Dad," Quinn quietly admits, quelling Rachel's growing anxiety. "He-he just doesn't understand that Soccer isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life."
Rachel tilts her head to the side, "I thought you loved Soccer?"
"I do," Quinn says, "but that doesn't mean I would want to do it forever. I-I don't want to go to OSU."
"Where do you want to go?"
"I know it's a bit too hopeful and way out of my league to probably even consider but...I really want to attend Julliard."
Rachel's eyes widen, "Really," she says a little breathlessly, "Julliard?"
Quinn narrows her eyes at Rachel much like she did to Russell, "Do you not think I can do it?"
"No, no! I'm just shocked you even thought about that."
Quinn shrugs and leans back on her hands. "Yeah"
"What do you want to study?"
"Song writing or music composition, whatever they call it there. But mainly song writing."
Rachel clears her throat, "I don't think they have a song writing course. They have a music composition course though." Rachel looks at Quinn like a light bulb went off in her head. "But I do know which college does have a song writing programme that also incorporates music composure! NYADA!"
"NYADA? Really?"
"Yes! Oh Quinn, we must go look now, I know Graduation is months away but it doesn't hurt to look." Rachel goes to leave, but Quinn's hand on her arm stops her from doing so.
Quinn smiles at Rachel's excitement, thinking about how adorable the girl is. "Like you said Rach, we've got months."
"It never hurts to be prepared Quinn! I've been preparing myself for NYADA ever since I was-"
"Four years old," Quinn finishes for Rachel, rolling her head to look at her. She smiles, not realising how close their faces were until now. Rachel's nose is close to touching hers. "I know. I listen."
Rachel blushes and looks down at her hands. "I'm sorry, I forgot. Not many people tend to listen."
"I do."
"I know."
Rachel looks back up at Quinn, her hair falling over her left eye like a curtain. She sucks in a breath as Quinn's hand reaches up to brush the fallen hair behind her ear again. Quinn's soft hand cups her cheek gently, hazel eyes darting down to Rachel's plump lips.
Quinn swallows nervously, "Can I kiss you?"
Rachel nods, even though she desperately wants to say Quinn doesn't need to ask. She forgets all about Finn once again and allows the familiar feeling of Quinn's lips touching hers to take over again. Her hands grab hold of Quinn's neck, pulling the girl closer to her. She moans into Quinn, allowing her tongue to move into her mouth.
Quinn smiles into the kiss, holding onto Rachel's cheek with her left hand whilst her other one holds her hip. She gives Rachel one last peck before breaking away, the bell ringing through the school.
Quinn heaves herself up from the floor, holding her hand out to Rachel. She smiles when Rachel doesn't let go of it once she's standing, instead she interlaces their fingers together whilst they walk out of the auditorium.
However, the happy feeling disappears as soon as Rachel drops her hand and walks up to Finn, allowing him to greet her with a sweet peck on the cheek. Quinn looks on, slightly heartbroken before turning around and walking in the opposite direction, ignoring the sympathetic look from Ramona.
Quinn winces slightly, a hiss passing her lips as the nurse removes her stitches, lightly wiping at her arm with a cloth. She bites her lip as the final one is pulled away and one final wipe is swept down her arm. The nurse smiles at Quinn before she starts wiping Quinn's arm with antiseptic.
"You'll have this wound for a few years," the nurse says as she finishes up.
Quinn's feet kick against the bed and she nods, finally happy she won't have to wrap her arm in a bag every time she showers. The nurse packs her things away, informing Quinn that her doctor will be with her in a short moment before pulling open the curtain and leaving.
Quinn peers round the room and jumps off the bed. She scrunches her eyebrows together as she stares at a picture of a liver. At least, she thinks it's a liver. It's kind of...icky. It isn't in a liver shape...more like a bunny rabbit. Actually, it kind of looks like the one in Alice in Wonderland. She chuckles to herself as imagines the liver jumping around saying to all the other organs, "I'm late! I'm late! Oh so very late!"
"That's what will happen if you drink too much alcohol."
Quinn spins round, smiling when she spots Dr. Edwards smiling back at her. His grey hair is combed back like normal, his face cleanly shaven and his smile welcoming. She walks back over to the bed and jumps back on, kicking her feet about again like a little girl.
"What's up, Doc," she asks with a cheeky smile.
Dr. Edwards rolls his grey eyes at her and shakes his head. "It seems to me that your arm is absolutely fine. The stitches didn't become infected-well done by the way-and your wound healed very nicely."
"Rachel made sure I kept them clean"
Dr. Edwards raises an eyebrow, "Is this the same Rachel who rushed to your aid when you hurt your arm?"
Quinn nods, taking a lollipop from the tin Dr. Edwards offers her.
"You have a good friend in her, Quinn. Tell your Dad I said hi," he says before opening up the curtain and allowing Quinn to leave. Quinn's Dad used to go to school with Dr. Edwards, they both were good friends to one another. Russell stopped a group of bullies from beating Dr. Edwards up once.
Quinn grabs her skateboard from the desk where the receptionist kept hold of it, smiling at her in thanks and rolls out of the hospital, gliding onto the pavement and weaving between pedestrians.
She kicks her board up, easily grabbing it in her hand when she spots Russell waiting for her on their doorstep. She slowly makes her way up the driveway, stopping when she gets to her Dad. He peers up at her and smiles weakly. She notices a magazine rolled up in his hands, but can't quite make out the front cover.
She wordlessly sits down next to Russell, her hands fiddling with the wheels of her skateboard.
"Y-Your...lyrics are...," Russell trails off, making Quinn think the worst. Did he not like them? How did he even find them? "Beautiful, Quinn. I couldn't read your music-that's where your talents come from your mother-but Judy did tell me that what you had composed was amazing."
"Mum gave them to you?"
Russell nods, "Right after you left." He licks his lips, "If you wish to go to NYADA or Julliard, I will support you all the way, Quinn." Quinn smiles, ducking her head to look at her board. "But, promise me that you'll have OSU as a backup plan? The scouts will still come to the championship game."
"I don't-"
"Just in case you don't get in. This is only an if because there's not a single doubt in my body that you won't. I have faith in you." He hands Quinn the magazine, revealing it to be NYADA'S.
"Okay," Quinn agrees, holding the magazine in her hand.
Russell smiles and gets up, wrapping his arm around Quinn, "Now, how about we get take out tonight," he asks as he guides Quinn into the house.
Quinn nods her head, unable to contain her smile. Her Dad is the best.
Hope you guys like it! Please review, I'd love to hear your opinions!
Song used: Scream-HSM3
Thank you
xx