Chapter 4

Okay, I did not expect Sam Evans of all people to betray me like that.

So I just got the bus to school and walk into the common room with intention of getting my books for the first couple of periods, and then I glance over to the right and I see something I've never expected to see, not in a million years.

Sam Evans is talking up Quinn Fabray.

I didn't even know they were friends, I didn't even know they knew each other to be honest. As far as I'm concerned, they don't share any classes. So what on earth could explain how Quinn is laughing heartily at whatever Sam's spouting through his huge mouth and pushing him playfully?

A pout forms on my lips and my eyebrows furrow against my will as I slam my locker shut a little harder than I should have. I need to investigate what is going on with this unlikely duo and put a stop to this before Sam corrupts Quinn forever with those horrible, horrible jokes of his.

"So the Lord said to John," Sam was saying as I moved within earshot, but not close enough for either of them to notice my presence. "Come forth and you shall receive eternal life," Sam deepened his voice to mimic the Lord, I guess. I have to stop myself from recoiling with disgust.

Quinn's eyebrows are raised, waiting for the punchline. "And?" she presses when Sam stays silent for a few seconds, clearly trying to hold back his laughter.

"But John came fifth, and he received a toaster." Sam deadpanned before bursting into vivacious, dorky laughter.

It took two seconds before Quinn's jaw dropped in amazement. "Noooo…" she shook her head, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Goddamn it Sam," she giggled before bursting into laughter too, and my frown deepens.

That joke was not even fucking funny. Why the hell is Quinn into this kind of charm?

"That was good, wasn't it?" Sam grinned proudly. "You can't deny my jokes aren't funny any longer, can you?" he teases.

"Stop…" Quinn rolls her eyes before pushing Sam's shoulders playfully. "You're such an idiot."

Swallowing heavily, I leave and march for form room registration, leaving the two blondes, Ken and Barbie behind without them ever noticing my eavesdropping.

Screw you, Sam Evans. I need to rewatch that video of how to do three middle fingers at one time, because that's how many Sam deserved right now. Two doesn't cut it.

"What's with the cold shoulder?" Sam nudged my shoulder, which is warm may I add, pouting his guppy lips. I don't know if he's trying to look cute or whatever, it's not working. He looks even more like a fish, make him a mermaid at this point ugh.

"Nothing!" I say defensively before clearing my throat. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. I'm okay."

"Sure," Sam shrugs it off before the Cheshire grin is back on his face. "Just saying you looked a little moody. Hey, how about you listen to a new joke of mine to cheer you up?"

"Can you just stop?" I say angrily, stopping in my tracks and whirling to face him. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, likes your jokes! So stop trying to be a wannabe Sean Connery and cut it!"

Sam sets his jaw, and for the first time ever he's no longer so bubbly. "Quinn liked my joke this morning."

Okay, I should feel bad for hurting Sam's feelings and normally I would've apologised by now, but the mention of Quinn's name reminded me of why I was giving Sam the 'cold shoulder' in the first place and that is more fuel to my anger / frustration.

"Can you not tell? Quinn is – I… Quinn…" I don't usually fumble over words, and goddamn it is this a bad time to start. It's like you come up with this sick roast for somebody you hate, but you stutter and it loses all its effect. "Quinn was just being polite, okay? So just… stop. And don't try to act all cavalier and funny with her, it's not going to work!"

"You… Quinn? You Quinn what?" Sam's downcast expression quickly turns into a smirk. "I knew it."

"You knew what?" I snap.

"You're jealous." Sam teases.

"What? No!" I say quickly, blinking. "I'm not jealous."

"You have a crush on Quinnie-boo, don't you?" Sam grins. "So that's why you were giving me the cold shoulder? Because I was talking to Quinn earlier?"

"No! Ugh, you… nope, I can't with you right now," I press my fingers to my temples. "I need to get to class."

"Sure sure," Sam's glee is evident in his voice as I turn on my heels. "You're not as subtle as you think, Santana!" He calls as I stalk away, and I'm glad I rewatched that video over break because just before I turn the corner, I whip around and flip Sam off with three middle fingers.

Shamefully, I didn't have economics today so I didn't get a chance to talk to Quinn. But on the bright side, I do have double economics tomorrow and I do sit next to her now, so I have that to look forward to, I guess.

It's late at night, and honestly I'm a bit conflicted. Sam knows about my crush now, and obviously I didn't confirm it or anything but Sam knows it's true.

You're not as subtle as you think! His voice echoes in my head. What could he mean by that? I mean, sure, I do stare at Quinn a lot, especially in class because I can use the excuse of sitting my back against the wall. And I sure do try to approach her when she's alone in the library, but who would notice that I have a crush on Quinn? These aren't obvious signs. And I'm not relevant enough for people to dig around looking for gossipy clues.

I'm conflicted because a part of me doesn't want Sam to tell other people, and a part of me does. I don't want this to spread because there's a high chance Quinn doesn't like me back and it would make things awkward. And I don't want to be the talking (or laughing) stock of the year group when the secret does get out.

But there's this tiny part of me that does want Sam to tell other people, because it means I won't have to tell Quinn myself. And in that tiny slim chance Quinn is open to having a relationship with me, it's probably worth the risk.

I don't know.

I pace around my room (I do that when I'm in deep thought okay? Don't judge me) for what must have been fifteen minutes before I make my decision. The cons outweigh the pros, I need to make sure Sam doesn't spread the secret. I trust him enough, he's not the gossipy type because he's much more invested in looking at all those Dad jokes accounts online. And it's my secret to tell anyway, if I can't be brave enough to tell Quinn by the time we part for university, I probably don't deserve a chance with her anyway.

I grab my phone which was casually tossed onto the bed and open up Snapchat. I don't have to scroll far to find Sam's name and I text him.

Fine, you were right. Maybe I do like Quinn. But please don't tell anyone, okay?

I huff and flop back to my bed before my phone vibrates. Sam has already sent a message back.

Okay. Don't worry. He added a thumbs-up emoji for good measure, and I sigh. I don't bother replying as I flop back to the bed again. Sam already knows anyway, so it's not like it's a huge deal at this point.

I should probably focus on how to make my staring more discreet, hmm.

I pick up my phone again and it opens straight to Snapchat, and since I'm bored I scroll down my contacts out of curiosity of who I have contacted in the past and how long ago.

Damn, it sucks seeing how most of those contacts have a blue or red triangle with Opened next to it… how many people have aired me?

I scroll down a bit further before I stop at a name. Quinn Fabray. It says Tap to chat with a grey speech bubble, meaning I've never interacted with her before on this app.

Oh, man, I don't know…

I tap on her bitmoji and open up her profile. Her tag is quinnbee (fitting and creative honestly) and she has a snapscore of nearly 200k. Damn, my snapscore of 15k can't compare lol.

I'm kind of tempted… and besides it's not like I don't have a reason to initiate a conversation with her anyway, I do have economics homework due tomorrow after all…

I open the camera before sitting up, fiddling with my hair so it falls into place nicely. Then I take a few pictures of myself with varying width of smiles (hey, it has to be perfect, okay?) before I'm finally satisfied.

Do you know how to do Q3 of the homework? I type as the caption of the image, and my finger hovers at the send button.

Oh my god this is fucking hard. Why am I sweating?

I reread the caption a few times. It doesn't sound dodgy, does it?

But my OCD self decides to delete it anyway and I type a new caption: How did you do Q3 of the homework? That might be better, because with the first one she might get the wrong idea and think I'm calling her dumb, which is the last thing I want to happen.

Before I could talk myself against it I brace and tap the send button, and yes, my snap is sent to quinnbee.

I slap my phone on the bedsheet as I lie back down. Now I think about it, Quinn probably gets tens of snaps every hour, mine will probably be one of the many ones that get buried in her list, never opened. And if she opens it two weeks later, it's gonna be hella awkward to reply and she's going to leave me on read.

Ahhh, why did I ever think this was a good idea? I grab my phone and instantly type into the search bar: 'How do you unsend a Snap?"

But before I could press enter and complete the search, a notification pops up.

Snapchat: from Quinn Fabray

What? She's replied already?

Oh my god.

I press the notification and open Quinn's snap, heart racing at what it could be.

Quinn's face appears on my screen, a small pout with the cutest perplexed furrow of her eyebrows.

Of all people you ask ME for help!? She captioned.

Ohh dear… she isn't happy, is it? I can't tell what the tone is with that caption. Is she annoyed that I distracted her? Or is she surprised that I asked her of all people? Flattered, even?

I'm overthinking. God, have I opened a can of worms here?

I take a picture of myself with a small, uncertain smile. I mean, you sit next to me so…

So… what? I have no idea how to finish the sentence. I'll leave it up to her, I guess. I send it through before I could overthink again.

Hopefully, she replies within the next thirty minutes.

But almost instantly, Quinn has already sent a snap back to me.

It's a picture of Quinn with a small smile, hazel eyes looking up at the camera. I want to curse the developers of Snapchat right now, because I want to take screenshots of the incredibly cute snaps Quinn's sending me but she'd be notified and that would be super creepy.

Haha, sorry to disappoint you but I genuinely don't know! I was planning to copy you in class tomorrow loll

I smile at her response, she doesn't seem annoyed that I have snapped her out of nowhere, so that's promising.

No worries! Not our fault for not knowing how to do the q, blame it on Schue's incompetence

I attach a rolling eyes emoji before sending it across.

Ugh, tell me about it, Quinn sends back.

I don't really know what to say to that so I settle for taking a picture of me shrugging one-armed before sending it across. I don't really expect Quinn to send a picture back after that because I was technically ending the conversation here, but I don't really care that much. My mind is buzzing because I just texted Quinn for the first time. And seeing her face light up my screen like that… ugh, it's so hard not to simp.

I leave to brush my teeth and I return to see Quinn has sent me a snap back.

It's a picture of her rolling her eyes with a playful smile, and I think my heart just melted from cuteness overload.

I decide to go simple and send a picture of me smiling back at her with no caption, I'll leave it to her to decide if she wants to continue this back and forth snapping. Best case scenario, she starts a streak with me. Worst case scenario, she airs me here. Not that it matters, because I'm satisfied already.

I check my phone one last time before I go to bed, but no Snap notification from Quinn. Oh well, I'll sleep the night off.

Overall a pretty good day, except for the fact I'm so fuelled up with adrenaline I doubt I'll be able to fall asleep in the next hour.

A/N: I guess I'm back to finish this story now... don't expect consistent updates tho haha. I'll still try my best tho!

...and pleak review it means the world to me :')