Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
I.
Sam Evans did not understand a lot of things, partly because of his dyslexia and mostly because he tended to get lost in his fantasies of awesome giant blue skinned humanoids.
A lot of things confused him and gave him headaches- things like his math class and the fact that they were throwing all sorts of letters and weird shapes combined with numbers at his already discombobulated head.
What confused him the most though was his tiny friend's infatuation- borderline obsession- with the head cheerleader, Quinn Fabray.
He ignored the dull incoherent lecture going on in front of him and glanced at Rachel, who was sitting next to him at the back of the classroom.
Unfortunately for them, they shared their second period Spanish class with mostly jocks and cheerleaders. They usually just tried to blend in with the giant Mexican sombreros on the walls as much as they could.
He followed Rachel's troubled gaze and focused on the sight right in front of them.
Puck's wide cocky smirk was hard to miss and so was the fact that only one of his hands was currently visible. It was obvious that the boy was preoccupied with trying to cop a feel of an irritated looking Quinn who sat rigidly next to him grinding her teeth.
"I'm going to kill him," Rachel muttered, glaring daggers at the back of the boy's head. "Sam, do you see what he's doing to her? She clearly does not want to be- to be fondled!" She sputtered out. "How completely disrespectful!"
Sam sighed, "Yeah, man, he's a total dick." He whispered back.
"Don't be so crude!" She replied not taking her eyes at the horrific scene.
He rolled his eyes. "Sorry, bro."
Rachel began to gag when Puck leaned over to plant a quick sloppy kiss on Quinn's neck.
"Dude, you okay?" He snickered in amusement as he watched his friend's reaction.
Rachel was his bro, his best friend. The girl had bonded instantly with his little brother Stevie and his baby sister Stacy. When he got slushied the first time and practically started crying in the hallway cause he was wearing his limited collection Avatar shirt with Jake Sully on it, she took him to the bathroom and helped him clean up. She even managed to salvage his shirt.
He couldn't understand how someone could be so infatuated with a person who didn't even know they were alive.
When he first found out that Rachel was infatuated with the most popular girl at school, he just smiled at her sympathetically, and asked if she wanted to go the comic book store with him to forget about the woes of being social rejects for awhile.
Quinn was beautiful-
-there was no point in denying that- but she was also the reason him and Rachel had to bring extra sets of clothes to school everyday.
Quinn was one of the main reasons their lives were so miserable and it made him sad to see his friend waste so much time with a girl as mean and cold as Quinn.
"If she were mine...I'd never force her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with." Rachel smiled when Quinn discreetly smacked Puck upside the head and shoved him away from her. "I'd respect her, Sam. Treat her right, you know?"
"Yeah, but she's not yours, Rach. She's Puck's girl." He said lightly not wanting to upset her, but also trying to get her to come out of the clouds. "Dude, come on. Just look-"
"Sam!"
The blonde boy groaned internally when the class turned to look and snicker at him as their Spanish teacher called him out.
Mr. Scheuster shot him one of his 'I'm so disappointed in you' looks. "Anything you'd like to share with us?"
"Yeah, Fish Lips. Spill the dirt on the happenings of your nonexistent social life, please!" Santana snarled from her seat near the front of the room, not bothering to glance up from filing her nails. "We're all just dying to hear about it!"
Brittany looked at the scowling girl and frowned. "San, that wasn't very nice."
"Yeah, well, neither is looking at the giant mouth on that disproportional face. Seriously, look at it. It's freaking me out."
Sam sunk down in his seat, face turning almost purple in embarrassment, as various people snickered and laughed at him.
The overly coiffed teacher ignored Santana's remark, already so used to hearing abuse spill out from the young girl's mouth. He shushed the class before turning around and continuing the lesson.
When class ended- he glanced at his side and saw that Rachel had made no move to leave. He reached over and punched her lightly on the shoulder. "Rachel, class is over."
"Do you think I have a chance with her, Sam?" She mumbled staring at the back of Quinn's figure as she exited the room with Puck. Her face dropped as Puck's hand moved to rest on the curve of the blonde girl's ass.
His heart clenched as sad doe brown eyes looked up at him. "I don't know, man." Sam answered honestly.
Rachel merely nodded at his reply. She stood up from her seat while grabbing her stuff. As they made their way out of the classroom, she turned to him and said, "Can you stay a bit later after school today?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. What's up?"
Sam raised his brows in curiosity as he watched his friend thumb her suspenders nervously. "I'm sort of trying out for the football team." She glanced around the hallway nervously as she waited for his reaction.
"I'm sorry, uh, I thought I just heard you say that you were trying out for the football team." Sam looked at her like she was crazy.
Which she probably was- judging from the fact that she was a five foot nothing stick who dressed sort of like his grampa, and apparently had some sick fantasy of dying on a football field. "Please tell me I heard you wrong."
"You didn-"
"Dude. You could seriously get hurt."
"I won't." Rachel crossed her arms in determination. "Sam, I've been preparing for this moment for months. Now's my time to shine." She replied calmly. "I know what I'm doing. And I need you, as my best friend, to come support me."
He sighed and ran his a hand through his blonde locks in frustration. "Why do you even wanna join the team? Rachel, those guys are complete assholes to us, when they even bother acknowledging that we're alive. Why would you ever wanna be one of them?"
Her bravado faltered and her graze dropped to the floor. "I just want her to notice me, Sam."
"You're seriously risking bodily harm like this all for a girl." Sam cautiously continued, "You're not even sure if she's gay, Rach."
"She's best friends with Brittany and Santana," she pointed out.
"Who are not dating," he countered back at her. "No matter how much you think so."
"You're gaydar is absolutely atrocious."
He shrugged back at nonchalantly. "I don't even know what that means, so- I still win."
"Look, I know you think it's just a stupid crush and that she's not worth all the effort, but she is, Sam." Rachel argued vehemently.
He cut her off before she could give him one her long passionate spiels about the blonde girl. She spoke about the Quinn like the hazel eyed girl invented Nutella or something. "She's not a nice person, Rachel."
Rachel shook her head at him in disapproval. "People just see her as this mean girl who doesn't care about anything but popularity, but she's so much more than that." Rachel looked at him with determination. "I see her, Sam."
Sam couldn't help the wide goofy grin from breaking out on his face. "Don't think that quoting Avatar makes me understand your craziness, bro."
"That's what her sevin menari does to me," she shrugged sheepishly.
He cursed silently to himself. Speaking in Na'vi with the one other person in the whole school who knew the language fluently instantly brought him back in a good mood. "Not fair, man."
"Sam, I can't do this without my best friend there supporting me." If possible, Rachel managed to make her big eyes even bigger and jutted her bottom lip out. "Pleaseeeee-"
Don't do it, Sam.
Must resist-
She's crazy!
I can do this.
Last time you listened to her you got roped into joining the glee club.
Very true.
Don't look into those Bambi death sentences. Don't look, don't look, don't loo-
Ugh dammit!
Fuck. You looked.
"Alright, alright, geez, cut it out with the eyes, bro." He huffed, shoving the girl back lightly.
"So, I can definitely expect to see you at the stands cheering on your best friend in the world on, right?" She grinned at him, holding out a fist.
He bumped it with his own reluctantly. "I'll be there, bro."
"Fantastic." She grabbed his arm and abruptly started dragging him behind her. "Come, Sam, off to my locker! I must give you the shirt I made just for this occasion. It's bedazzled with rhinestones!"
"Rachel!"
"Whaaaat?"
Damn all to hell.
II.
Finn Hudson squinted in confusion as he stared at the sight before him. "Coach, uh, there's like, a girl next to you wearing football gear." The quarterback said in uncertainty as he scratched at his head.
"Very perceptive as usual, Hudson."
"Not sure what that means, but thanks Coach!" The boy beamed brightly. Finn waved gleefully at the tiny creature, who waved back at him enthusiastically.
"Just... shut it, Hudson." Coach Beiste sighed as she shook her head."This is Rachel Berry." She announced loudly, shoving the diminutive figure forward.
"Greetings." Rachel smiled at them brightly, flashing them the 'Vulcan salute'.
Finn grinned in recognition and tried hopelessly to copy her hand gesture. "I totally saw that movie! Live long and prosper to you too, dude!"
The tall boy was suddenly shoved aside by Puck who rolled his eyes hard at the whine his gigantic friend let out. "That's enough of that. The hell is she doing here, coach?"
"Berry's trying out for the team."
Everyone, besides Finn, roared at the statement.
Guys shot Rachel confused, irritated, and angry looks; she looked each of them head on, not letting the idiots intimidate her into backing down from this.
"Any more back sass from any of you and you're all running laps till you puke!"
As rage filled the large woman's features, even Puck who had been making lewd gestures, stopped and shut his mouth.
"Are we gonna whine like pansies just cause a girl wants to prove that she might be better than you, idiots, or are we gonna play some football?" Rachel looked up at the coach with a new found admiration.
Coach Beiste ignored the childish grumbles and eye rolls from some of the hooligans she coached and yelled out instructions for the scrimmage they were about to play.
Before Rachel could make her way to her assigned team, she was pulled back with a gentle tug. She looked back and stared at the coach curiously.
The woman gave her something that closely resembled a smile. "Go out there and show em' what you got, kid."
Even the foul smell of the helmet shoved on her head couldn't make her goofy grin go away.
.
Rachel glanced at their constipated looking team captain as they huddled together for the play.
"Are you okay?" She whispered at the squinty eyed boy. "You look like you need to use the restroom."
Finn shrugged at her distractedly. "It's my thinking face. My mom said that my pop use to get the same look whenever he was thinkin' and stuff."
"You got a play or what, Finn?" One of their sourly looking teammate barked in annoyance.
The spiky haired boy turned to look at Rachel, stared at her blankly for a moment- a wide grin suddenly appeared on his face..
Bingo!
Hudson found a light-bulb.
"Dude, we're making you halfback and you're running the ball," he said to Rachel as everyone in the tight circle listened with matching looks of disbelief..
"Tell me you're not that stupid, Hudson." A big surly looking boy named Shane grunted.
"Yeah, we don't even know if she can play, man." Another boy replied.
Finn furrowed his brows and shook his head. "I'm the Quarterback of this team and as captain, I gotta give everyone a shot to show what they've got." He looked at them determinedly. "Rachel, right after they snap the ball at me, you're my guy."
She nodded back at him, grateful for his kindness. "I won't let you guys down."
He grinned at her goofily. "Let's kick some ass, bro!"
.
"That degenerate lowlife scum." Sue Sylvester scowled as she clutched the megaphone in her hand tighter. "I specifically told that macabre that to able to make this ridiculous deal work that I was not to ever see her face nor her team of imbeciles and they were to be off my field before my arrival."
Sue turned to face her squad and shot them a gruesome smile. "Take a seat and enjoy the show as I take care of that repugnant woman and her vendetta against one Sue Sylvester."
The jumpsuit clad woman turned on her heel and marched over to the other coach. Quinn led the squad to the stands and watched as their insane coach began a confrontation with a distracted looking Shannon Beiste.
.
Sam watched in awe as his best friend ran across the field.
It was just like watching that scene in Avatar where Jake Sully was testing out his new giant blue body. The girl was running faster than he'd ever seen anyone run.
"Yeah, Rachel!" He jumped up on the stands and hollered when the girl caught the football Hudson threw perfectly.
He and others watched as the small halfback weaved her way through her big bodied counterparts.
"Holy shit! She's gonna make a touch down!" Sam laughed happily and kept cheering on his friend.
.
Rachel Berry- the loner who picked last on every single team during PE, the target who became the bulls eye of every game of dodge ball ever played, the loser that got tripped as she ran the laps she was assigned for making suggestions to the teacher to cut back on their food intake cause their belly jiggled whenever sudden movement was made- was about to make a touchdown.
She literally seconds away from victory.
This was going to get her on the team for sure.
She could vaguely hear the overjoyed and awed cheers of her teammates.
'This one's for you, Quinn,' Rachel thought as she ran as fast as her legs could go.
"TOUCHDOWN!" Finn screamed as he jumped up joyously and pumped his fist into the air. "Go Rachel!"
Rachel let out a breathless laugh and spiked the ball.
She turned to face her teammates, but before she could all the wind from her lungs were knocked out and her vision went black.
During the split second that Sue managed to distract Beiste from the game, Azimio Adams, a boy who was easily five times the size of the petite brunette completely blindsided the girl and tackled her from the side just as she reached the goal line.
.
Brittany glanced at the frantic boy wearing a bedazzled pink shirt as he made his way down on to the field and tilted her head in concern.
"Q, I think we should go down there." She murmured as she gently grabbed her captain's elbow.
"It's none of our business what happens to those Neanderthals." Santana cut in coolly, but she had her gaze set on the field below them. "And I'm sure they have it under control."
Brittany turned to her girl with a frown. "But San, Quinn's like the only one who passed that super scary and confusing survival class that Sue made us all take this summer." She gave the brunette cheerleader a small innocent smile. "She's practically a doctor, or something."
"Babe, I'm sure the kid's fine." Santana reassured with a fond smile she only gave Brittany.
The hazel eyed blonde stared at the small figure that lay unmoving on the grass. She bit her lip in concern as she watched that big mouthed new kid run to the field in a hysterical fashion.
Brittany turned to Quinn with a pout. "Q, I don't want that boy in the really cool shirt to be sad. He looks like that little boy in My Girl who like, was super duper cute."
"San totally cried when he died." She added when no one made a move to do anything.
"Brittany!" The Latina exclaimed in horror.
Brittany merely wrapped an arm around her in response and obliviously grinned. "It's okay, San. Quinn's seen the movie so I'm not, like, ruining it for her or anything." She pecked the shorter girl's warm cheek.
Quinn smirked at the blushing brunette before catching sight of her boyfriend-
-said boyfriend who wore a guilty look on his face, instead if the typical disgusting sexy face he tried to pull whenever possible.
Golden eyes with flecks of gold narrowed thoughtfully as their owner connected the dots.
"That idiot." She stormed down the stands with her hands clenched into fists at her side.
.
"How is she?"
Sam panted as he joined Finn and Coach Beiste who were already crouched down beside an unmoving Rachel as the other players all stood around them. Azimio looked down at them smugly while Puck clenched his jaw and looked away.
Coach Beiste gently took off the girl's helmet and winced when she saw blood trickling down the small girl's chin. "Busted your lip pretty bad there, Berry, but holly hell was that one hell of a catch!"
Rachel groaned as she dazedly wiped the wetness of her chin. "Is my nose okay?"
Sam rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It's fine, Rach."
She sat up with the two boys help and looked up at them groggily. "I did it, Finn." She smiled lightly at the tall boy and held out her fist.
He bumped it with his own before ruffling her hair. "You did good, Rachel."
Turning to Sam, she fist bumped him as well. "How'd I do, bro?" She beamed delightedly at the sight of her best friend wearing the product of her amazing T-shirt designing skills.
The blonde boy grinned down at her and offered his hand. "The way I had it figured, Toruk's the baddest cat in the sky. Nothing attacks him. So why would he ever look up? That was just a theory."
At the confused looks on the others' faces, she smiled at them and clarified. "Avatar, Jake Sully." She grabbed Sam's hand and winced as she got back up on her feet.
Sam turned to the intimidating woman next to him and gave her a wide smile. "She's fine, ma'm. Definitely not concussed or nothin'. My best friend here's a champ. Ain't nothin' can bring her down." He bumped his shoulder with Rachel's and looked at her proudly.
"Did she make the team, Coach?" Finn said as he turned to face his coach with a hopeful dopey grin.
Coach Beiste smirked at them and clapped the girl on the back. "You made the team, Berry!"
.
"You moron!" Quinn shoved the mohawked boy roughly.
Puck glared in annoyance as he tried to avoid his angry girlfriend's quick moves. "What the hell, babe?"
"Did you think that was funny?" She growled disgustedly at the ashamed looking boy in front of her. "She could have gotten seriously hurt, Puckerman."
Quinn could barely contain her rage when the injured player's helmet came off and she saw that it was a girl underneath all that football gear. And when the sight of the girl's blood registered in her brain-
-she seriously thought she could kill Puck.
She may be a bitch, whatever, she sort of owned that. But she wasn't so cruel as to physically harm someone just for show.
Puck took a step back to avoid the blonde girl's fury. "It's football, Quinn! People get hurt." He scoffed at her mockingly. "And beside it wasn't even me that tackled her so step off!"
"Oh, please." She huffed in exasperation. "This whole thing has your name written all over it."
He gave her a mildly confused look. "What do you care, huh, Quinn?" He raised his brows at her in mock curiosity. "You don't even know her name. She's a loser!"
Quinn rolled her eyes and walked away from him. "Call me when you're done being an ass!"
"Oh, great! What, now you're pissed at me for playing a game how it's supposed to played?" He called out angrily.
When he received no response, he scowled and angrily threw his helmet on the ground.
Bitches be crazy.
.
As Coach Beiste left them to go deal with Sue Sylvester, Sam and Finn both gave the small brunette matching high fives.
"Dude, that was the most epic catch I've ever seen." Finn breathed out giddily.
Sam bobbed his enthusiastically. "Remember when I found that limited edition Luke Skywalker poster on ebay for ten bucks?" When he received a nod from Rachel in reply, he grinned. "Watching you play is like a million times more awesome!"
Rachel grinned up at them goofily.
As she opened her mouth to reply however-
-she was caught off by the unbelievable sight of Quinn Fabray heading her way.
It was like tunnel vision.
She could vaguely hear Sam and Finn babbling away, but who the hell cared what those two were going on about when the girl of her freaking dreams was currently a mere few feet away looking beautiful as her skirt artfully moved with every step she took.
Could she be anymore perfect?
The wind picked up and Quinn's skirt rose up on smooth alabaster thighs and Rachel's eyes bulged out when she caught a brief glance of the cheer leaders red spanks.
Oh god oh god oh god oh god-
Oh god.
She continued to gape unabashedly at Quinn as the blonde stopped in front of them and nodded at Finn in acknowledgement.
When the stunning beauty bit her lip in apprehension before turning to face her, well- Rachel just about died.
Rachel flushed as she watched Quinn take in her dirt and blood stained face, disheveled hair, rumpled uniform, and the stupid lovestruck face she undoubtedly wore on her face.
"Are you okay?" Quinn asked coolly. She frowned in mild concern at the look on the girl's face. The poor girl looked like she was about to projectile vomit and/or pass out.
At that thought, she took a small step back.
She watched as the brunette before her turned bright red and sputtered nervously.
The sight was...sort of- sort of...completely adorable.
Quinn then winced at the thought because, um, yeah- just, no.
The blonde boy next to the brunette awkwardly patted the bleeding girl on the back. "She's not really good with talking to people," he said lamely, scratching his own head in embarrassment. "Not to say that she's a weirdo loner who doesn't talk to anyone, or anything like that. Um- She's just...uh- shy!" He added hastily, flailing his arms for emphasis. "Super shy, but really cool."
Quinn raised a perfectly sculpted eye brow at the two awkward teens before turning to look at Finn's dopey face. "Is she concussed?"
"Nah, she's fine!" The tall boy beamed at her as he clasped his ginormous claw on the tiny girl's shoulder. "Rachel's a beast, Quinn. One hit can't keep her down!"
She nodded to his reply and regarded Rachel for a few seconds. "Try not to get hurt next time."
Rachel watched in hopeless silence as Quinn turned and began to walk away from them.
Oh, no, please don't walk away yet.
Say something!
You're the most perfect thing I've ever had the honor of laying my eyes upon. Don't leave, please.
Something less weird!
Are your lips as soft as they look?
Oh, god, no! Get it together.
Uh...um...
Come on! Think of something!
"On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year!" She blurted out.
What. The. Hell.
Did she really just say that? Glancing at the dumbfounded expressions on Finn and Sam's faces, her suspicions were confirmed.
Oh, god. I did.
Less weird, Berry! That was not less weird!
I'm not normal.
The tiny brunette ignored Sam's bewildered look, Finn's typical squint of confusion, and continued. "Be careful with a- those, um, things...we use them everyday, never fully understanding just how hazardous they are to our- to our lives, you know?"
Rachel eyes almost fluttered shut as she watched Quinn's lip quirk in mild amusement before she turned away again and made her way over to where a triumphant Sue Sylvester had just finished harassing an angry looking Coach Beiste.
She barely noticed as Finn gave her a congratulatory pat on the back before stumbling over to talk to the other guys.
Quinn Fabray just talked to her.
The single most amazing girl in the whole school just talked to her, Rachel 'leader of the losers' Berry.
They just had a conversation.
Okay, not really, but still!
She should have tried out for the football team and got herself knocked down years ago!
Rachel grinned goofily to herself. Sure, it wasn't exactly how she wanted her first conversation with her dream girl to go, but who the hell cared.
She asked if I was okay!
Which could only really mean one thing...
"She so wants to get all up on this," Rachel exclaimed confidently, ignoring her best friend's dubious glare.
"...maybe you are concussed."
.
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