Chapter 38: Cheerleader Politics
"Didn't pick up the chihuahua this morning?"
"We had early practice. I wasn't going to make her come in two hours before school starts," Quinn replied with an eye roll, purposefully ignoring the dig. Besides, it was kind of ironic, not to mention laughable, that Santana would call Rachel a chihuahua when she was pretty sure that title was already taken...
Quinn had rejoined the Cheerios after Rachel took a few days to think about it. She wasn't able to get her uniform back from Coach Sylvester, but Rachel decided she didn't need it after all. She knew Quinn. Clothes weren't going to change what they had, what they were, or who Quinn was now. She did, however, make Quinn swear on the Bible several times that she would not revert to her old ways or even use the word "manhands" in so much as a jest. Quinn, of course, swore to it all. It didn't worry her a bit. She was just looking forward to getting back into her role as Captain of the Cheerios - "CO-CAPTAIN!" Santana usually interjected to correct her - and being able to have that control back in her hands now that they were going back to McKinley for their final year.
When she came in, the other girls immediately began the usual worship/fear routine. Quinn Fabray was a legend to the freshman and the other underclassmen knew her well enough not to cross her. Santana and Sue had already handpicked the team, which Quinn didn't mind so much because the girls they chose were pretty good. ...All except one, actually.
Kitty Wilde.
Quinn wanted her gone from day one, arguing with Santana that she didn't have what it takes to be a Cheerio. She didn't follow orders; she was lazy, and Quinn did not like the way this girl looked at her. There was something oddly threatening about the way Kitty would watch her, like Quinn was a bug that she wanted to squash. Instead of falling in line with the rest of the girls following their Captain, she just turned her nose up at Quinn. However, she did obey Santana, which made the situation even more frustrating and awkward than it already was. Quinn knew, from the first time she met Kitty, just what this girl's problem was. And every day since, that knowledge had only grown more secure.
Kitty wanted to be her.
And with Quinn back, there was no way that would ever happen. Kitty wanted Quinn's power, her fearlessness, the sway she held over everyone, how people obeyed her, the way the boys drooled over her, and the way the girls worshiped the ground she walked on. But she couldn't have it and, in her mind, Quinn was the only thing standing in her way. The only outcome was for this to end badly.
Santana didn't see that though and Quinn was struggling already with having to share power that had once been at her disposal alone. It was infuriating that she couldn't just get rid of this girl before any trouble started just because Santana thought Kitty was good enough to keep up and fit their image. She also thought it couldn't hurt to let her stick around because the boys loved her. Not to mention, she got such a rush from being obeyed by someone who didn't want to give Quinn the time of day. It was role reversal at its best, something Santana had been waiting for ever since Quinn got her demoted to bottom of the pyramid last year.
As the three of them, Brittany, Quinn, and Santana, crossed the parking lot together, Quinn saw Kitty laughing and running up the steps into the school with some of the other younger Cheerios. Again, she brought up her objections to allowing Kitty to stay on the team with the trouble she could see brewing on the horizon.
"Since when do we allow the tiny brain in the guys' pants dictate the line up? That girl needs to be gone. As of yesterday. She's supposedly 14? She looks like she's 40! It's disturbing."
"Wasn't that a movie?" Brittany mused, frowning.
"Come on, Quinn. She's not that bad," Santana said. "You know that if she sucked, I never would have let her through. There were way worse people!"
"Yeah, Q. There was this majorly paraplegic girl who tried to convince us that she could be used as a human juggling ball, but Santana told her no. I thought it was a cool idea though..."
Santana held her hand towards Brittany as if to say "See?"
Quinn wasn't buying it.
"But that girl is an evil bitch!"
"So are we, honey. Did you forget? And we're so much better at it. I don't know why this chick has gotten under your skin like this."
"She even talks a lot about God and death and stuff. I thought you two would get along," Brittany added.
"She's deranged. Did you hear the nonsense she was spewing about 'Judgment Day' and 'being left behind' last week? She said she wants to start a club about it!"
"Okay, so she's a relig-obsessed freak. Whatever. Needs I remind you about your past, ex-Celibacy Club President?"
That earned her a scowl.
Santana was unfazed. "She hasn't done anything to deserve to be kicked off the team and you know it."
"Yet," she emphasized. "She hasn't done anything yet, but it's going to happen. I know it; you know it. Even Kitty knows it! So why are we waiting? We should cut her off at the knees before it gets out of hand."
"You're not allowed to cut off knees," Brittany mused, "but maybe the cops go easier on you if you just cut off a foot? I mean, it's just one foot..."
"Have you ever heard of 'innocent until proven guilty'?"
"Our squad doesn't exactly abide by the judicial court rules," Quinn replied dryly. "You've forgotten who our coach is. Need I remind you of the dietary restrictions, camp hazing, or that time she had you go-"
Santana's finger shot into the air to cut her off and she glared at Quinn. "You so do not need to go there."
"I'm right about this, Santana."
"I stand by what I said." She shrugged. "She hasn't fouled up and unless we go to Coach with some damn good lies, there's no reason to get rid of her. Plus, we'd also have to hold auditions to find her replacement. It's too much work. She's fine where she is. What do you think, Britt?"
"Kitty's kind of boring and her basket toss is a mess; but I don't care if she stays or not. As long as she doesn't do anything super important. We need people to step on a lot and she's good at that. Just keep her at the bottom."
Quinn both loved and hated the adoring look on Santana's face as she smiled at Brittany, like the girl had just tied down the moon for her.
"All right!" she snapped. "Fine. But no warnings for her. The second, and I mean the second, she steps out of line-"
"...We will kick her pretty little preachin' ass out the door." Santana nodded in agreement. "No worries, I got your back."
Quinn scoffed. "Well, that's a change."
"This year is all about the change, Lil' Miss Good N' Plenty." Santana stretched her arms out and spun around, gesturing to the rest of the student body that was rushing past them. "We are taking back this school and it's gonna be on our terms this time around."
"I do like the sound of that..." She grinned.
Santana raised an eyebrow in bemusement. "And some things will never change..."
They made their way up the steps, stopping at the doors, and looked at each other.
"Shall we?" Quinn said.
"Out of the way! I'm first!"
She chuckled, allowing Santana to push her back, but just as they entered the hallway, Quinn smoothly strode forward, cutting the Latina off, and resumed her usual place just slightly ahead of the other two. It was too late for Santana to get back in front now. Their entrance was made; everyone was looking, all eyes on them as they walked through the crowd parting for the Three Cheerio Queens...their masters and commanders.
"You bitch," Santana hissed under her breath.
Quinn let the corners of her mouth curl up into a smirk, feeling pretty damn satisfied with herself. She put her hands on her hips and walked down the hallways like she owned them...because she did.
Yeah, some things never would change.
Rachel was nervous.
Okay, nervous was an understatement, especially judging by the state of her nails and how raw her bottom lip was from being gnawed on all morning...
Quinn had been grounded for a week after the pool party when her Mom got home to several phone calls from the neighbors with noise complaints. Rachel was worried about what it would do for their relationship to have yet more stress like that added, but Quinn's anger was focused on the fact that it meant she couldn't spend time with Rachel, not with her Mom being upset with her. In fact, Quinn told Rachel that Judy seemed kind of relieved that her daughter was doing something normal again, showing signs of that once pristinely perfect cheerleader, honor roll student, most popular girl in school, that her daughter had once been before the rug was pulled out from beneath them.
Rachel thought that was insane.
Between the grounding, Rachel giving her blessing for Quinn to rejoin the Cheerios, and subsequent summer training regimen that Quinn had to jump into, it left hardly any time at all for them to be together. Suddenly, summer was over, and today was the first day of their last ever year at William McKinley High.
Her stomach was in knots all morning. She hardly slept the night before. Quinn was so exhausted from practice that she had texted Rachel good night and said that she would see her in school before falling asleep. They never had a chance to discuss what seeing her in school actually meant.
After the bliss that could describe their summer vacation, the amount of time they got to spend together, alone and with their friends, getting to know each other better, knowing all their ins and outs, not a moment wasted...all that was going to change when school started. They would have less time for each other. They weren't going to be able to be as free as they were the past three months. They had to go back to making sure they only looked like friends and how were they going to manage that when they had a taste of knowing what it was like to be... Well, they hadn't been completely open in public, but they were able to be themselves around their friends, Rachel's fathers, and even when they left Lima for impromptu road trips. It couldn't be like that anymore, not for a long while. They had to go back to hiding again.
And to make matters worse, Quinn was Captain of the Cheerios again. Yes, she had given her consent, but that was mostly due to how much Quinn wanted to do it. Rachel wasn't going to deny her that just because she had self-esteem issues about having a popular, powerful, cheerleader for a closeted girlfriend...who just might realize what a mistake she'd made in wasting the last year with Rachel and needed to move on to bigger better things now that college was on the horizon. Her heart was protesting against such thoughts. She knew Quinn loved her! She knew how dedicated they were to each other. After all they had gone through, all Quinn was doing for her now, why would she question all of that simply because of a stupid cheerleading team?
However, the...questionably...logical side of her brain was screaming otherwise.
She remembered how badly it had gone when she tried to make Finn give up football so that she would feel more important to him, more secure about their relationship. He refused, of course. He always chose himself over Rachel or Glee club or anyone else. Finn was all about Finn. Was Rachel being unreasonable at the time to ask him to quit the football team to make her feel better about herself? Yes. It was absolutely wrong to ask him that and somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that. But a part of her still needed him to say yes; to choose her over something else that meant something to him, to even make him less popular so she didn't have to feel so inadequate next to him in the halls when everyone wondered what the freak from Glee club was doing with the quarterback. She felt queasy when memories of that time flitted through her mind. What was wrong with her back then?
Finn.
Finn was what was wrong.
She knew better than that now and would never dream of asking Quinn to do something like that for her own selfish purposes, but there was such an astronomical difference between the situations that she couldn't even compare the two. Quinn didn't make her feel like she was somehow less deserving – the way Finn always did, whether he meant to or not. Quinn never made an issue of Rachel's popularity. Quinn didn't make Rachel feel inadequate. In fact, she went out of her way to reassure her of just the opposite. Rachel's social, sexual, and overall confidence had skyrocketed in just the last few months with Quinn.
But even remembering all that didn't make her feel better about what she was going to face with Quinn this year.
Would they really just revert to how it used to be? Sam wouldn't be on her arm, but with the Cheerios...everyone would be throwing themselves at Quinn. Again. How was Rachel supposed to compete with that?
Quinn was stepping back up into the position she had before she joined Glee club. She didn't need them anymore. She'd gotten through her pregnancy; the school seemed to have some kind of convenient selective memory because no one ever talked about it anymore. Maybe the Fabrays had paid off all their parents so they would keep their mouths shut... Rachel rubbed her forehead. This was giving her such a headache, not to mention the panic attack that was bubbling up beneath the surface.
Mostly, she was just scared of what she would find when Quinn walked down that hallway.
Someone slapped her hand, and she yelped, pulling away before they could hit her again.
"Consider that your first warning," Kurt said with a frown, leaning against the lockers next to her. "Your nails look atrocious...like some kind of mutant hamster has been gnawing on them."
Rachel just pouted.
"What's up with you? It's the first day of school; usually you're a bubbly mess of enthusiasm that makes everyone want to avoid you."
"I haven't seen Quinn yet," she said, glancing up and down the hallway anxiously.
"Down, girl. Don't let the drool show. Surely you can handle a few hours away from your lady friend."
"Kurt!"
He shouldn't have said that so loudly! There were too many people in this crowded hallway to overhear them.
"Seriously, Rachel, what is going on?"
She finally tore her eyes away from the hallway corners to look at the boy and he seemed genuinely concerned. A little part of her melted to know that she had a friend there to support her, who cared about her.
Sighing, Rachel tilted her head back to knock against the lockers. "Quinn's the Captain of the Cheerios again," she admitted forlornly.
"...Something that's been old news for a few weeks now. I thought you two were on the same page with that?"
"We are," she replied unconvincingly.
Understanding finally lit up Kurt's eyes and he nodded slowly. "Hey, listen to me." He squeezed her arm lightly. "Nothing's changed and nothing will change. She's still the same Quinn that couldn't take her eyes off your precious, charming, adorable, occasionally irritating, self all summer long. The same one who held a car wash on your lawn and had an actual stage built just for you in her backyard to sing karaoke. Simply appreciate that uniform in all its sinfully formfitting, polyester glory, and leave it at that."
"And she made that shirt too..." Rachel mumbled.
"Shirt? What shirt?"
"She...she made this t-shirt that said..." Rachel trailed off with a sigh, deciding against it, and smiled up at him gratefully. "Never mind. You're right. You're absolutely right. I just...you never know, do you? One moment everything is more perfect than you ever thought possible and the next it's all been ripped away from you without a second's notice. Does that feeling ever go away? The fear?"
Kurt paused thoughtfully, tilting his head in a way that said he knew exactly what she meant. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "But is it really the way you want to live your life? Waiting for the other shoe to drop?"
"It always seems to for me."
"Seems to for Quinn as well. She hasn't exactly had the easiest time of it these past couple years."
"That would be an overwhelming understatement."
"It's your choice, Rachel. You can throw yourself into this head first and pray there'll be something to keep you from hitting the ground or you just hold back, let the fear eat away at you, and before you know it, you'll have lost her because you were too afraid of what bad things could potentially happen."
She let her head fall back against the lockers in defeat. "When you put it that way..."
"You really do not have anything to worry about," he said with a reassuring smile. "Quinn is transparent as cellophane these days. She has the most Sapphic of Sapphic love for you. It's not going to vanish in one morning as she walks into school with the Cheerios."
Despite frowning at his choice of words, she couldn't help but feel lightened just a little bit. "You're a good friend, Kurt."
"I should start billing you for this."
"Consider it even with the hours I spent talking to you about a certain person..."
He rolled his eyes. "Fair enough."
"...The same person that's right behind you now."
Kurt's eyes widened and he spun around.
"Hey guys!" Blaine walked up to them with an excited grin.
Rachel had called Quinn as soon as Kurt went home after hours of rambling over a tub of vegan ice cream about Blaine transferring from Dalton to be at McKinley with him. She got into bed as she relayed the whole saga over the phone to her girlfriend.
"I'm happy for Kurt, really, but...is it wrong that I'm jealous of him too?"
Quinn paused for a moment before replying quietly, "You mean because Kurt's already out in school?"
Rachel nodded before reminding herself that she was on the phone and said, "Yeah. It's just...I know how badly Kurt gets treated sometimes, but at least he's not-"
"...lying," she finished for her.
"That's it," Rachel said softly.
"I wish I could give that to you."
Rachel could hear how pained her voice was and it made her feel ten times worse for even bringing up the subject.
"You give me so much, Quinn. I'm not talking about this to make you feel badly or guilty, I just wanted you to know what I was feeling. We said no more secrets, right?"
"We did. And I know. I get it. I hate it as much as you do, Rachel...if not more."
The brunette sighed and burrowed down into her pillows. "Just...tell me more about what we'll do when we leave Lima."
"Another bedtime story?" Quinn teased.
Rachel loved it when Quinn talked about their future. Together, they would create scenarios about what they would do, where they would go, what they would see, just what their lives would be like, what an exciting day would be like, what a rainy day would be like.
Everything they could do together when they were finally free.
"Well, I am in bed, and it would be nice to have a little romantic fairytale to go to sleep thinking about."
"Fairytales aren't real. My stories are. Or, at least, they will be someday."
"So tell me another story."
Quinn chuckled at how demanding Rachel sounded. "All right. Once upon a time..."
"I thought this wasn't a fairytale," she interrupted. "That's how all fairytales start. You promised me real, Miss Fabray."
"If you could shut your mouth for a few minutes, you'd get your story!"
"You're a terrible storyteller. Don't ever volunteer to read to children at the library."
"No, I'll just invite the Wicked Witch of Show Tunes to scare them all away."
Rachel gasped. "You are this close to having me hang up on you!"
Quinn ignored her. "It's snowing. There's a blizzard. And the whole city is shut down. Our classes are canceled and we are stuck inside our cozy little apartment. There's frost covering the windows and you try something ridiculous with the hair dryer to melt it off so that you can see your city in its winter wonderland. But you don't get to stay at the window long."
"Why is that?" she breathed.
Quinn had her hooked.
Quinn always had her hooked. She was an addiction that Rachel never wanted a cure for.
"Because I'm naked in our bed," she murmured huskily. "And you know me, I'm not the patient kind."
Rachel sucked in a breath. "I love it when you say 'our' bed."
"Our apartment, our couch, our TV, our table, our chairs, our bed, our kitchen, our sink, our shower..."
Quinn kept on listing every single item that could possibly be in their future living space and with every 'our', Rachel's heart swelled.
She wanted to be the 'our' and 'we' with Quinn Fabray for the rest of their lives.
Kurt and Blaine were talking excitedly to each other, but Rachel wasn't listening. Her gaze was still ping-ponging up and down the hallway.
Where is she?
After what felt like far too long, she heard the student chatter get louder and more pronounced before falling away into a hushed silence. Turning to the left, she waited for what she knew was going to appear through the crowd. She'd seen it so many times over the last three years...
And there it was.
The crowd parted. Kids whispered, riveted, fearful. And they appeared.
The three Goddesses of McKinley High strode down the hallway. They were gorgeous, fierce, and absolutely awe-inspiring. If that sight didn't make you stop in your tracks, then you were blind. There was such a tangible energy radiating off of them, one that spoke of beauty, power, and even a slight hint of malice.
Quinn was looking straight ahead, the slightest hint of a smirk on her face, her hands on her hips, with Santana and Brittany in tow. The other two glanced here and there at the other students along the side with that superior, knowing look on their faces, but Quinn never bothered. Her gaze was focused at the path in front of her; no one else mattered. She was better than all of them.
"Whoa..." Blaine whispered from somewhere behind Rachel. "That is surreal."
"Yes...they are certainly back in form for this year," Kurt replied uneasily.
Rachel's heart was racing, her palms sweating, making it more difficult to hold onto her books. She held her breath as Quinn got closer and closer to her.
And she wasn't looking at her.
Rachel felt herself crumbling inside. It really was going back to the way it used to be before. Hiding. She wasn't anything to Quinn right now. She was just Rachel, the annoying girl she talked to sometimes because they were in Glee together. That's how it had to look.
She loves you. She loves you. She loves you.
Maybe if she said it enough in her head, she could make herself believe it.
Santana was grinning evilly at her; Brittany had a genuine smile for them, but Quinn acted as though they didn't exist...as if Rachel didn't exist.
Just as she was about to pass her by, Rachel saw it.
It was the tiniest little smile playing on Quinn's lips.
Not a smirk, a smile.
She didn't imagine it.
It was real!
Then, to Rachel's disbelief, Quinn turned her head as she walked by and winked at her before going down the rest of the hallway and around the corner, out of sight. The din of the hallway started up again as all the students were talking with more enthusiasm after witnessing the legendary Quinn Fabray with Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce again.
Everyone knew that had just set the tone for the rest of the year.
"That was so weird," Blaine said with a frown. "Why didn't they stop to say anything to us?"
He was trying to be polite by avoiding saying what he really meant, which was 'why didn't Quinn stop to talk to Rachel?'
"Ah, don't," Kurt muttered out of the corner of his mouth, warning his boyfriend not to go there.
Rachel didn't care. A thousand pounds had just lifted off her shoulders, or her heart, rather. That sweet Quinn smile, her Quinn's smile, and that wink... Her heart felt like it could burst. Quinn didn't just acknowledge her; she had looked happy. She looked so happy. It was such a small moment, but it was so intimate, so perfect; Rachel was on cloud nine. It changed everything she was feeling. All the doubts she'd been tormenting herself with that morning and the night before had evaporated with that tiniest of confirmations that Quinn was still there.
She turned back to her locker and focused on remembering the combination, not wanting anyone to see the brilliant smile that was lighting her face. It would be too suspicious. You don't just grin like a lovesick idiot at another girl unless you actually were a lovesick idiot for that same girl. She finally got the locker to open while trying to contain her emotions so she could start the day, when there it was.
A folded piece of paper sitting neatly on top of her things.
She gasped unthinkingly, which prompted Kurt to ask if everything was all right, but she could only nod, turning her back to him while hastily unfolding the letter to read in private. As much as she loved her friend, this was something special between her and Quinn, so Kurt was definitely not finding out about this.
The first thing she noticed was that the paper seemed oddly crumpled, as if Quinn had to smooth it out a few times afterward. That was strange because all of her letters from Quinn up until that point had always been on pristinely cared for stationery. Rachel didn't give it another thought beyond that, too eager to read what her girlfriend had in store for her today. Of course, she'd written her own already, and it was waiting in Quinn's backpack for the other girl to discover later today. But it had completely eluded her thoughts that Quinn would remember to give her one as well. She'd been too busy worrying about everything else.
Hey, you.
Looks like it's the beginning of the end of our time here at McKinley. I know that it's supposed to be bittersweet, but it just makes me all the more eager for it to end and for the real world to begin. In the meantime, we'll have to make the most of it. I'm Captain of the Cheerios again
There were some odd scribbles like Quinn was having a seizure on the page and then someone else's large, loopy handwriting cut in.
CO-CAPTAIN! Don't make me regret letting you share with me!
There was a gap and it was Quinn's writing again.
Oh, and I must have heard Coach wrong when she said that I could have the spot alone if I wanted it. But, no, I asked to have my friend stay and do it with me! Maybe I'm the one regretting it!
BERRY, YOU'RE
There was a lot more scribbling and marks all over the place. Did those two honestly have a tug of war over the pen? Rachel couldn't help but laugh. She was starting to understand why the letter was looking a little worse for the wear.
Finally, it was just Quinn again.
Rachel, I would have thrown this out and started over or at least crossed all this out, but with your love for all things dramatic, I left it as is, and you will be pleased to know that Santana paid for that in practice later.
Don't be worried about today. I'm not. Nothing has changed except for how much time we have to be together. I know the Cheerios will take up a lot of my time again, but I promise I'll do everything I can to make up for that. I don't like being away from you and after this summer, I've been spoiled. You don't think I'm gonna give that up now? We'll make this work and we're going to have an amazing year. I'll lead the Cheerios to another National Championship title. You'll lead the Glee club to ours, and we're going to enjoy it all. This is our year, Rachel, and nothing is going to stand in our way.
Oh, and I know you had plans for this uniform, but plans have changed. I've decided that its going to be much more fun to have you wearing it... Be prepared to channel your inner Cheerio, Rachel Berry. And, yes, that is a challenge.
See you in Physics in an hour.
She drew a small heart at the end of that sentence.
Oh, remind me to thank Mike for hacking into the school database to change our schedules. We'll have to take him and Tina out to dinner for a double date sometime.
Rachel wholeheartedly agreed. They really owed him for moving their schedules around so that the girls could have most of their classes together. He said that it actually gave him an excuse to do something romantic for Tina and change their schedules as well, but all the same... Mike went full-on ninja for them and they owed him.
She was about to tuck the letter safely into one of her folders when she caught a glimpse of writing on the back. Turning it over, she read the words and tears stung her eyes.
Rachel? My love is here to stay. Don't doubt me. Don't doubt us. We deserve better than that now.
Somewhere in the background, she knew Kurt was trying to talk to her again. Mercedes had joined the group by then, along with Artie and Tina, but she never paid attention to a word of the conversations going on around her.
She was in a world all of her own...her world with Quinn.
This year was going to be amazing.
This year was going to suck.
Two weeks in and Quinn was convinced of it. She had no idea that sharing her captaincy with Santana would cause such a problem. She was so used to the privilege of making all the decisions about the team on her own, cutting whomever she wanted, punishing whomever she wanted, without ever having to answer to anyone except Sue, and Sue stayed out of the way unless she thought Quinn was being detrimental to the team. With the exception of her getting pregnant, Quinn never did anything wrong as Captain in Sue Sylvester's eyes.
But, now, she was constantly captain-blocked by Santana!
Santana had to agree on every decision with her and vice-versa. Kitty was becoming a constant headache following Quinn around day after day. Already she heard the rumblings of discontent from the younger Cheerios. Quinn and Rachel's friendship was suspiciously at the center of it all. Apparently her ability to lead was called into question because how could Quinn command any kind of respect if she was hanging out with the diva freak with two Dads?
Kitty was behind this and Quinn didn't need actual evidence to know the truth. She knew it was only the beginning. Meanwhile, Santana was in complete denial. She argued with Quinn every time the subject came up and always took Kitty's side.
"You can't prove it's her that's talking smack about us, Quinn. It could be any one of those idiotic froshies. We just haven't pushed them hard enough yet. We've gone soft; they don't know that they're supposed to fear us. Let's just up our game!"
"We have barely started the year and already we're getting this kind of backlash? There's something serious going on here and I know she's the one behind it."
Santana folded her arms across her chest. "Prove it."
Quinn ended up leaving in a huff.
The only reason why Santana was standing against her on this was because Kitty was one of the decisions she had made as solo captain during the summer. Admitting that she made a mistake with this girl was, in her eyes, like admitting that she wasn't as good a captain as Quinn. Her stubborn pride was getting in the way and Quinn didn't know how to fight it without doing something that would ruin their friendship.
And it wasn't even just the Kitty problem. Cheerios took up so much more of her time than she remembered and in the fourteen days since school started, she'd only spent one night with Rachel. And that was when they went out to dinner with her fathers. Otherwise, she'd been too busy with practice, schoolwork, and mandatory church attendance, to spend any time with her girlfriend.
Quinn was going out of her mind.
The one, brief, shining moment out of the past couple weeks was when Finn got mega-slushied. Yes, she was immature enough to admit that she got a great deal of satisfaction out of that.
He'd been walking around the school like he was God's gift to the world because he had sex with some girl at the end of the summer. He'd been bragging about it to all the guys. Apparently one time with this poor girl was enough to make him think he was the best lay ever because he couldn't wipe the dopey, smug grin off his face. That is until eight Big Gulps filled with blue icy humiliation wiped it off for him.
Quinn had Santana to thank for that and it was definitely going to be one of the highlights of her year, to see Finn storming off, blue as a smurf, finally put back into his place.
"Nice job."
"Ugh. If I had to look at Lumps the Clown's smirk just one more time, I was going to vomit. I wish we knew who had the misfortune of getting smothered under that sweaty, out of breath, sack of potatoes soaked in body spray because I would send her flowers expressing my condolences."
"But, Santana," she drawled teasingly, "doesn't it bring back all those warm and fuzzy memories of that precious, intimate time you shared with him?"
"You mean all two seconds of it?" she spat. "No, thank you. I've blacked out the whole thing due to severe emotional trauma."
Quinn chuckled. "You're not getting any sympathy from me. At least I knew enough not to have sex with him."
"You banged Puckerman!"
"So did you," she replied calmly. "And of the two, which would you choose to do again, if you had to?"
She grimaced. "No contest...and point taken."
"Thank you."
"QUINN!"
They both looked up to see a very displeased Rachel walking up to them and the reprieve ended. Rachel lectured them both about how they should be above antics like this by now. Quinn pled innocence because while she approved of Santana's actions, she actually didn't have anything to do with it happening. So she couldn't be blamed for it.
That didn't help though. Rachel was still upset with her for condoning it and they didn't speak for the rest of the day.
Freaking Finn Hudson.
And Kitty Wilde.
And Santana Lopez.
Just when she thought this could actually be a good year...
When Quinn plopped in the chair next to her in Glee, looking like someone had swapped her regular coffee with decaf, Rachel sighed heavily. Quinn had been in this mood for weeks now and it didn't look like it was going to break anytime soon. She hadn't been very forthcoming about it, but Rachel knew it had something to do with one of the new Cheerios and Santana. Cheerleading politics wasn't exactly her forte, but if this was going to continue, she was not going to be pleased. Quinn rejoining the team was supposed to be something positive for her, something she wanted to do for herself before leaving this school, but if it was going to continue to put her in this dark mood, Rachel wasn't going to stand for it. She was, however, trying to give Quinn a little time to work it out before she really chose to intervene with this train that seemed to be stuck on the wrong track rattling towards disaster.
"Hey..." she put her hand on Quinn's forearm and leaned in to whisper against her ear, "my parents are going to be out for a while tonight. Think you can make it over to my house without falling asleep?"
Quinn chuckled softly at Rachel's teasing tone in her ear; the tension in her body seemed to release a little bit.
"That actually sounds perfect."
"And maybe this weekend I could tackle that challenge you set out for me..."
Quinn's cheeks flushed red at the thought and she turned her head away shyly. Although it had been her idea, it didn't stop the embarrassment when she heard Rachel say it aloud. Writing something and having it spoken were two very different things.
"T-that sounds like a plan."
Rachel giggled and trailed her fingers down the back of Quinn's exposed neck. Quinn almost moaned at how good it felt. Three and half weeks of nothing but restricted, in-school interactions, had deprived her of what felt as essential as oxygen...Rachel's touch.
"I'll light some candles..." she murmured against Quinn's ear, low enough so that no one else chattering around them could hear, "maybe give you a massage with those new scented oils I bought when we went shopping..."
Quinn shut her eyes as Rachel's voice washed over her, immersed in the touch of her fingers gently stroking along the bare skin at the nape of her neck. The image she was conjuring up for her was unbelievable...unbearable...and oh God!
So inappropriate right in the middle of Glee club!
Quinn gasped and her eyes snapped open, pulling herself out of the heady trance and moved away so that Rachel had to drop her hand. She looked around worriedly to see if any of the others had seen what Rachel was doing to her just then; she'd been so obliviously sucked into it...
But people were still filtering in, talking amongst themselves, and no one seemed to be paying any attention to Rachel and Quinn.
"Don't do that!" she whispered to Rachel harshly once she was sure no one had caught on.
"What?" she replied innocently. "I was just discussing our plans for the week. There's nothing wrong with that."
"You were trying to seduce me in the middle of class!"
Rachel smirked. "Trying? I believe I succeeded, Miss Fabray."
"Did not."
"So you don't want to meet me in the auditorium before your Cheerios practice later?"
"Shut up," Quinn muttered halfheartedly.
"Fine." Rachel sat back and folded her arms across her chest. "I'll just go straight home then."
"Hey, guys! Everybody ready to get started?" Mr Schuester walked in, putting his bag on a chair instead of the piano because apparently Brad filed a complaint with Miss Pillsbury about 'a co-worker who consistently showed a lack of respect for his valuable time, effort, talent, and personal space'. "Who wants to go first today?"
Quinn looked at Rachel out of the corner of her eye and saw the hand start to go up. She leaned over and whispered, "You better meet me before practice or there will be hell to pay for that stunt, Berry."
Rachel looked at her in surprise, not expecting that forceful comeback, and her hesitation lost her the chance to go first because Blaine had jumped up happily in front of everyone. Narrowing her eyes, Rachel turned away, and Quinn smirked self-satisfactorily. She wasn't going to let Rachel get away with her little joke that easily.
But before she even had a chance to revel in her tiny victory, Rachel leaned across her lap, placing her hand high on the inside of Quinn's thigh to support herself as she asked Kurt some ridiculous question that Quinn couldn't even pull her head together enough to listen to. Rachel's fingertips were brushing ever so lightly against her center, well hidden under her Cheerios skirt. The scent of her hair filled Quinn's nose. She'd even moved it to one side so that all Quinn saw was the exposed flesh of her neck, just begging to be tasted. Her heart was pounding violently against her chest and she rolled her eyes back to the ceiling, trying to control her breathing.
Game, set, match: Rachel Berry.
This girl was going to be the death of her.
"So then I told Santana that if we were going to have sex later, she had to buy me a unicorn. Which she did right away, of course. She basically ran to the counter."
"You really shouldn't use sex against her like that. It's not a healthy thing for your relationship, Brittany."
Quinn pushed the door to the Cheerios locker room open and walked in ahead of her.
"But how were we going to do what we planned if she didn't buy it?"
"Why do you need a stuffed animal for...?"
Wait. Maybe she didn't want to know the answer to that.
"Stuffed animal?" Brittany echoed in bewilderment and then shook her head. "No, Santana gave me Norman the Stegosaurus Unicorn years ago for my birthday. I meant the unicorn horn from the sexy toys place we went to in Columbus last week. Santana was going to be my pony so how was that supposed to work without the magical horn?"
Quinn wanted the earth to open up and swallow her whole just so she didn't have to hear another word of this conversation. Brittany didn't notice the extreme discomfort Quinn was feeling at their topic of conversation and kept on chatting casually, shifting her Cheerios bag over her shoulder.
"Oh, speaking of sexy times, have you and Rachel started playing 'My Little Ponies' yet?"
Quinn nearly collided headfirst with a row of lockers.
Fortunately, or perhaps not so fortunately, she was spared from having to respond because the chatter they heard when they first walked in had grown louder. There were a bunch of girls in the back of the room, close to the showers, and Quinn's first thought was 'why doesn't Santana have them out on the field yet?' They took turns leading practices and today was Santana's day.
But then they were close enough that the echoing didn't distort the voices too much anymore so Quinn and Brittany could clearly hear everything that was being said.
"And that Rachel girl she's always with? Stuck to her like glue? What is up with that?"
Quinn's face turned to stone. That was Kitty's voice. She stopped just behind the row of lockers where the group of girls were talking on the other side. Brittany was right next to her, quietly listening in as well.
"It's been like that since last year," another girl said. Quinn knew it was one of the older ones. "They're friends from that weird singing group."
"Exactly! Don't you see how bad it is? They even have Coach Sylvester fooled. She fawns over the three of them and still lets them be in charge even though they're dragging us through the mud with their gross version of 'Freaks and Geeks: The Musical'!"
"It's not that bad, Kitty," a different girl chimed in. "I've heard them sing; they're kind of good."
"That is so not the point, Rebecca!" she said shrilly. "We have a reputation to uphold. One of our captains is already certified lezzer, but at least she's keeping it inside the family with the retard."
Quinn exchanged a look with Brittany and the other girl just looked sad, shrugging.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"Duh, yes! There is something seriously off with Quinn and that girl."
"You're totally cray cray. Quinn's not gay. She's dated some of the most popular guys in school! Like, Finn Hudson and Sam Evans. She even got knocked up by Puck!"
"Something many of us have narrowly escaped..."
There were several low, meek murmurs of agreement.
"Shut up!" Kitty snapped. "I'm not kidding. Don't you see what's happening here? Our captains are not only hanging out with the freaks, they are the freaks! We're risking the entire reputation of the squad! The Cheerios legacy is being destroyed with them in charge."
"Don't you think you're being just a little-?"
"Excuse me. Did I say you could speak?"
"Kitty, why don't you just shove it-"
"Oh, I see. You want me to tell everyone what happened over summer break, right? You know. How I saw everything?"
There was silence.
"No? Good. Maybe you should just keep your mouth shut from now on, Rebecca. Like I was saying, there's something seriously wrong about Quinn and this girl. I think it's high time we called her out on it."
"You want us to ask Quinn if she's sleeping with a girl?"
There was some nervous laughter ringing through the room.
"You are so new. You have no idea what Quinn Fabray could do to us. Santana is wicked scary, but Quinn..."
Another girl picked it up for her. "Quinn Fabray has been in charge since she was a sophomore. She purposely knocked Bianca Perry down on the last day of practice before Nationals so that she could have the top spot in the competition. And, she got it. Coach Sylvester made her Captain right before they announced our team the winner. She always tells us that Quinn Fabray is everything we can never be."
"Because we're not singing dykes?"
A few of them gasped; some giggled, but Quinn was pretty sure that a few remained silent out of fear.
"Maybe she's right," a younger one spoke up. "How is it going to look if both of our captains are lesbos? As Cheerios, we're supposed to get top pick of any guy we want! It's one of the perks, why half of us joined the team in the first place."
"That and the safety of never being at risk of getting slushied," another girl added.
"No guy will want to go near us if Quinn and Santana are making it look like the whole squad has turned gay! They'll ask to watch, but..."
"Look, even if Quinn is like that, Kitty, you don't know what you're in for. Quinn Fabray is legend. She always will be. You don't want to take her on."
"Oh, but sweetie...that's exactly what I'm gonna do. And every single one of you is going with me. Quinn's little secret isn't so secret anymore."
"You want to out her?"
"You still don't even know for sure-"
"It doesn't matter! Quinn Fabray is over, dead, and yesterday's trash. It's time for some fresh blood to run these halls. We're taking over."
"YOU LAZY BITCHES, GET YOUR ASSES OUT ON THAT FIELD NOW BEFORE I HAVE YOU RUNNING DOUBLE SUICIDES FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!" Santana's bellowing was deafening as it echoed through the locker room.
There was a mad scramble as the girls squeaked and tried to get their things together, rushing out to get to the field before Santana made good on that threat. Quinn yanked Brittany behind the shelves that held the Gatorade coolers and they hid there, unnoticed as six or seven girls went running past them. Kitty was the last to leave and she wasn't in any hurry.
It took all Quinn had not to go scratch that girl's eyes out right then and there. The door closed and the locker room was finally empty. Quinn and Brittany stepped out from their hiding place and Brittany turned to look at her with wide eyes.
"We have to tell Santana."
"I don't have to do anything," Quinn replied coldly, staring at the closed door ahead of them. "Santana lost that courtesy every single time she defended that scum sucking bitch."
"But she didn't know..."
It didn't matter. Quinn was already halfway out the door, leaving Brittany to run after her.
Santana was walking along the sidelines as she inspected the squad during their warm ups. Sue wouldn't be joining them until the end when they went through the routines from start to finish so she could pick it apart and add new, crazy stunts for them to try the next day. While often dangerous and physically exhausting, this was how the Cheerios won Nationals seven years in a row (before breaking the streak last year when her best three squad members defected). Sue Sylvester was a nasty, horrible, scheming, psychotic, woman, but she knew how to win. She always held Quinn's admiration in that respect. Winners got to be on top; winners never had to kowtow to others. Winners – the undefeated – were a force to be reckoned with and the only way to get by in this world. Winners were respected.
Quinn had made a promise to herself a long time ago that she was always going to be one of them.
She walked briskly up to the field, using every ounce of strength and willpower left within her to stay in control of her emotions. She had to.
"Listen up, girls!" she called out, hands set on her hips, and the squad looked up from their stretching warily.
They knew that tone.
They knew to fear it.
"I want everyone in line! NOW!"
They scrambled to their feet to fall into formation, shoulder-to-shoulder, in front of the blonde.
"What are you doing?" Santana ran up to her angrily. "This is my day, my practice, so back off!"
"Not anymore. I had a chat with Coach Sylvester and she gave me specific instructions to carry out. You don't like it? Take it up with her."
Not waiting for Santana's response, she strode out in front of the girls. "It's been painfully obvious from day one that many of you are not living up to Cheerio standards. Actually, that's being too kind. A bunch of you - we'll find out who they are shortly - are disgusting messes that should never have been allowed the privilege of donning our colors. So, today, we'll be doing 'Darwin'."
The older girls gasped, looking at each other warily. The freshmen didn't quite understand what was happening.
'Darwin' was one of Sue's creations: survival of the fittest. It was a sudden death game where each girl had to pass a test on individual skills and if they didn't prove themselves worthy, they were cut. It had only ever been used during the summer, before the official cuts were made. The older girls understood that Quinn was going to get rid of some squad members today, but the freshmen were still too naïve at that point to know that their position on the Cheerios was never a sure thing. At any given time, anyone could be kicked out, if Sue was just having an off day, if they wobbled on the pyramid, or if they just didn't have their ponytail high enough.
Anything.
No one was ever safe, not even Quinn Fabray, as the past year had shown them.
"What the hell?" Santana snapped harshly against her ear. "You can't do that! I handpicked this team!"
Quinn glared at her so viciously, Santana actually flinched, moving away slightly.
"And now I'm going to fix your mess," she said in a clipped, icy tone. "You should be thanking me."
"Thanking you?" she cried. "You're doing exactly what you've always done! You're taking the team, my spot, my place, again! You haven't changed a bit, Q. I was an idiot for thinking you ever cared about anyone but yourself."
Quinn was unfazed. "Step back, Santana."
Looking murderous, the Latina reached out to grab Quinn by the back of her hair, but Brittany's hand was suddenly on her, pulling Santana away.
"No! Let go of me, Britt! You don't understand! She deserves to have that pretty face of hers eating turf!"
As angry as she was, struggling against Brittany's vise-like grip, she still couldn't bring herself to yell at her girlfriend. So it all came out in furious whispers.
"You don't understand!" she replied, hushed, and wrangled her around so Santana was forced to look at her. "You have to let Quinn do this. It's the right thing. I'll explain it all later, but San, you have to support her right now."
"Support her? She's kicking me out of my spot as Captain!"
"No, she's not! I swear, she's not."
"Brittany, you don't-"
"Trust me. You just have to trust me. Do you?"
Santana stopped fighting against her at once, the pleading look on Brittany's face was impossible to ignore and tugged at her heart.
"I-I do, Brittany," she said tightly, her gaze fell to the ground. "Of course, I do. But I don't get-"
Brittany didn't let her finish and instead she grabbed her hand, pulling Santana back over to the rest of the squad. The Latina still fumed, staring daggers at Quinn's back, but she stayed silent as Brittany stood between them, and waited while Quinn gave her instructions.
"...If you pass, you earn your place on this team, a place half of you barely deserve and the other half definitely don't deserve in the least, but we'll make do with some of you. The rest? Not anymore. We've been too lenient on you this season; you've forgotten what it is to be a Cheerio. That all changes now. I'm not going to Nationals, let alone a simple exhibition competition, with this pathetic excuse for a cheerleading squad. If I think you suck, you're done. You'll hand in your uniform by the end of practice today and there are no second chances. Don't screw up. Becky!"
The girl came running up from the bleachers where she was watching, always watching, as Sue's eyes and ears.
"What up, bitch?"
Quinn rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Clipboard."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"I'll tell Coach."
Quinn narrowed her eyes at her. "Be my guest, but you'll be giving me the clipboard first."
Becky scoffed. "You suck, Fabray."
But she still handed her the clipboard before walking away, presumably to go tell Sue.
Quinn didn't care. She scanned the list of all the squad members quickly and started to call out names. The first girl was a freshman and just so happened to be one of the voices she recognized in the locker room. She had her do a full layout and when the girl was finished, she chuckled, told her that a one legged gorilla could have been more graceful, and sent her to one side of the field. The same happened again and again until most of the freshmen were standing huddled in one group, each one told how unworthy they were.
"Rebecca Mallick!"
One of the taller Cheerios with dark hair in a long ponytail frowned at hearing her name and stepped forward nervously. "Quinn, seriously? I'm a junior. I've been here for three seasons already..."
"So that means you should be three times better than everyone else," she said simply and waved for her to go.
Feeling like she was done for, Rebecca sighed and took her turn. When she walked back over to Quinn, she had her hands clasped tightly behind her back, eyes cast down, as she waited to be ripped to shreds like every one of the other girls before her.
Instead, Quinn nodded approvingly, marking the clipboard.
"And that's why you're still here. Take a seat on the bench."
Rebecca stared at her in shock before breaking into a huge smile and ran over to the bench as fast as she could.
"NEXT!" Quinn called out.
Santana's venomous gaze was fading now and instead she watched Quinn with curiosity, not to mention confusion, as time went by.
Soon, the bench had more girls added to it, but there was still a group on the field. Every time they had to perform another skill, the more pressure there was to perform, and the more they started screwing up. Whenever Kitty stepped up to take her turn, Quinn's knuckles turned white with how tightly she gripped the clipboard, but still her face remained expressionless. She would simply tell Kitty it was subpar and order her back on the field. With each skill test, Kitty started to get angrier and angrier as she was sent back to the dwindling group instead of the bench.
When Quinn called a halt, there were three girls left, two freshman and one sophmore. Kitty was so angry and embarrassed, her face was bright red and her nostrils flared out like a bull's. Of course, it was no coincidence that the other two girls had also been present at Kitty's little locker pow-wow. Quinn remembered them giggling and chiming in with eagerness.
"Walk off this field and hand over your uniforms to Coach Sylvester immediately. You are no longer a Cheerio. You never should have been one."
Quinn leveled her gaze at Kitty before turning her back to her and walked towards what was left of the squad sitting anxiously a little further away.
"That's not fair!" Kitty cried.
Quinn looked over her shoulder, raising her eyebrow, and smirked. She never said a word. The other two girls had already started back towards the locker room in tears.
"You bitch!" Kitty shrieked. "You can't do this to me! I'll go to Coach! I'll tell her-"
Santana came out of nowhere, stepping right into Kitty's personal space.
"You're gonna tell her what?" she mocked. "Sue gave us her stamp of approval for this decision. You were tested, you flunked. You're out. It's that simple. Now get your pathetic mess of an existence off my damn field before I have you tossed off it!"
Kitty looked like she was gearing up to say something, but the look in Santana's eyes made her second guess that decision. After a few moments of turning purple and getting flustered, she finally relented and stormed off the field.
Watching her go gave Quinn the most relief she'd felt since rejoining the Cheerios, not to mention the immense satisfaction about her revenge. She had just congratulated the rest of the squad for earning their spots again and dismissed them for the day when Santana came up behind her.
"You gonna tell me what the hell that was all about?"
Quinn sighed, sitting down on the cold metal, letting the fury she'd been keeping bottled up for hours finally dissipate. She relayed everything she'd heard earlier in the locker room, only when she got to what Kitty said about Brittany, the taller blonde was shaking her head no behind Santana imploringly. Quinn understood why; Brittany didn't want Santana to get in trouble. If she knew what Kitty had called Brittany, the only result was going to be a guaranteed suspension, if not expulsion, for Santana depending on how far she went. You never hurt Brittany Pierce without having to answer to Santana Lopez for it.
When Quinn was finished, Santana sat down next to her on the bench with a thump. She hunched forward guiltily with her hands clasped between her legs. Brittany disappeared to return the clipboard to Becky and hopefully get them back on the girl's good side.
"I screwed up."
"Yes, you did."
"You're not trying to be solo Captain again?"
"No. I said we'd share it and that's what we're going to do from here on out. I'm going to respect your opinion and you're going to respect mine."
"That bitch..."
"Is gone," Quinn finished for her curtly. "It's over."
"I'm not so sure."
"What?"
"You saw her." Santana jerked her thumb back towards the building. "That girl was Carrie at the Prom psycho. I don't think she's going to let this go, especially not after you just ruined her social status for the next four years here."
Quinn's eyes narrowed. "You think she'll still try to come after me? Without the protection of the Cheerios?"
"I think she's crazy enough to try."
She shook her head with a sigh. "I can handle it."
"We will handle it."
"We?"
"Yeah, Quinn. I got your back." She shrugged sheepishly and added, "From here on out..."
Quinn nodded. "Does that mean you'll back me up when I go to Sue and tell her we have to hold tryouts to fill three spots?"
Her eyes widened. "You mean you didn't actually get permission from her?"
She shook her head laughingly and Santana groaned, muttering in Spanish.
"I hate you, Quinn Fabray."
"Is that a yes or a no?"
Santana sighed, stood up, and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Let's do this before I change my mind," she said, rolling her eyes. "We're gonna get reamed."
"It's worth it."
She shrugged noncommittally, but Quinn knew she agreed.
Brittany bounded over to them. "So did you guys kiss and make up?"
Quinn and Santana screwed up their faces in mirrored images of disgust.
"There was no kissing, Britt."
"Bummer. Kissing is the best part."