The three teenagers made their way downstairs. "Relax Quinn, you look like your about to walk to your death," Santana whispered.
Quinn took a deep breath and followed Santana and Finn into the dining room. Three adults were already at the table, including Maribel. It wasn't hard to figure out who the other two adults were. "Sit," Maribel said gesturing to the three empty seats.
Quinn took a seat next to the man that was obviously Santana's father. His dark brown eyes watched her every move. When he first heard the daughter of Judy Fabray was in his house he thought it was a joke. But here she was about to have dinner with his family. It was certainly an interesting development.
"You must be Quinn. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Eduardo Lopez, Santana's father," Eduardo said smoothly.
"Nice to meet you sir," Quinn said shaking his head.
"Eduardo, please. That is Carole Hudson, Finn's mother," he introduced.
"Nice to meet you Quinn," Carole said with a smile. "Please call me Carole."
Maribel served herself some salad and passed the bowl around. "So Quinn, I didn't see a car in the driveway. How did you get here?" Eduardo asked curious.
Quinn blushed in embarrassment and looked down at her salad. "Quinn's mom made her walk home," Santana said when Quinn gave no indication that she was going to answer the question.
Eduardo raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just move here?" Carole asked confused.
"We got in yesterday," Quinn confirmed.
"And she made you walk home on your first day of school, do you even know how to get home?" Carole torn between being angry at Judy and concerned for Quinn's safety.
"Yeah, I memorized the directions on the way to school this morning," Quinn told her.
"Why would your mom make you walk?" Finn wondered.
Quinn twirled her fork around. "My mom thought it would be good for me," Quinn replied. Santana narrowed her eyes but didn't correct Quinn. It wasn't her place to tell her family about Judy.
"Do you have a car?" Maribel asked.
"Yes ma'am, sorry Maribel," Quinn answered. "My mother thought it was pointless for me to drive when we were going to the same place even though I would have to walk home."
"Well you're welcome to join the kids carpool," Carole inputted. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind." Carole glanced at her son.
Finn dropped his fork and swallowed a mouthful of salad. "You should join us," he said agreeing with his mother. "The five of us always ride together and if we take my Tahoe there's plenty of room for you as well."
"Thanks Finn. I think I will take you up on that," Quinn said grateful she wouldn't have to walk home. Finn grinned and went back to his food. Quinn glanced at Eduardo. He had been staring at her most of the meal. "I heard you are a businessman, what kind of business do you do?"
All eyes flickered toward Eduardo. They wondered what he was going to say. "I work in the importing business," he replied. Santana snickered.
"Oh," Quinn said, not sure what else there was to say. She couldn't figure out why her mother was investigating him. There was nothing suspicious about importing and he seemed nice enough. "Do you get to travel a lot?"
"Quite a bit," Eduardo said honestly. "Mostly along the east coast, New York and Florida in particular, but occasionally I get to New Orleans."
"I've always wanted to travel," Quinn admitted. She looked down embarrassed. She didn't want them to think she was asking to go with them.
Eduardo looked thoughtful. Quinn was nothing like he imagined the daughter of Judy Fabray to be. "I'm sure we can arrange something."
"So, what are your hobbies Quinn?" Maribel asked curious.
"I like photography and writing," Quinn told her. "I tried painting once when I was younger but it didn't work out. I'm hoping to try it again sometime, maybe drawing too. As of this afternoon I also love playing Xbox."
The adults laughed. "San we should invite her to our weekend gaming," Finn grinned. Quinn glanced at Santana. "Every couple weeks or so we do this Halo marathon," Finn explained. "We stock up on more junk food you can imagine and we go to the Puckerman's house. Their dads made the basement into a game room for us. Three big screen TVs so we can all play together. There's nothing better."
"Of course we tell them jog down the street every couple hours so they don't become total couch potatoes," Carole added.
"What Mom said," Finn said grinning sheepishly.
"You should come," Santana agreed. "The numbers will be even and Rachel will finally learn to share."
"And your parents don't mind?" Quinn asked looking back and forth between the Lopez's and Carole.
"As long as they take care of their other responsibilities we don't see the harm in it," Eduardo replied. "It does them no good to stress over school all the time."
"I'll talk to Puck and see if we can get together this weekend," Finn offered.
"Make it next weekend," Santana told him. "I'm sure Quinn needs to catch up on homework." She looked to Quinn for confirmation. Quinn nodded. She was at least a week behind. Her teachers were supposed to have her make up assignments by tomorrow. "You can come over this weekend if you want. Rachel and I can help you catch up."
"That would be great," Quinn said scooping another enchilada onto her plate. They were absolutely delicious.
Santana took the dish from Quinn's hands and served herself two more enchiladas. "Food's good isn't it?" Finn asked taking the dish from Santana. Quinn nodded. "Maribel makes the best food."
Maribel patted his cheek. "I do alright," Maribel said modestly. "There's more in the kitchen if you're still hungry dear. I always make plenty." She looked to her husband. "Should I make a plate for Elliott?"
"Yes, he would appreciate that," Eduardo answered.
Quinn leaned over to Santana. "Who is Elliott?" she asked curious.
"A family friend," Santana replied. "He doesn't have anyone, other than us."
Quinn dropped her napkin after her fourth enchilada. "I hope you saved room for dessert. We have apple and cherry pie and ice cream," Maribel announced.
Quinn groaned. She was full but dessert sounded so good. Maribel stood up. "Let's see some of everything for you two," she said looking at Finn and Santana. "What would you like Quinn?"
"I'll have what they're having," Quinn said.
Maribel nodded. "Eduardo?"
"Just some cherry pie," he requested. "Thanks dear."
Carole got up and followed Maribel to the kitchen. They returned minutes later with several plates. A large plate with two slices of pie and four scoops of different ice creams were placed in front of Quinn, Santana and Finn. Quinn's eyes widened at the sight. "You don't have to eat it all," Maribel informed her, patting Quinn's head.
Quinn dug into the pie. "Oh my god," she moaned. "This is the most delicious pie I have ever had."
Maribel beamed. "Told you so," Finn grinned filling his fork again.
"Chew," Carole instructed her son, knowing he would inhale it all and end up choking. Finn nodded and chewed up his food.
"Do you want help with the dishes?" Quinn asked when they were all finished eating.
"No thanks Quinn, you go on upstairs with Finn and Santana," Maribel said with a smile.
Quinn and Finn followed Santana upstairs to her bedroom. "Are we going to play again?" Finn asked.
Quinn shifted by the door. "Actually I was thinking I should go home and get my homework done," she said.
Santana frowned. "History homework right?"
"Yeah and I have some math homework too," she answered.
"Do it here," Santana suggested. "Finn do you have homework too?"
"Nah, I did it before we came over," Finn said grabbing the controller.
"Alright, well Quinn and I can get our homework done while you play," Santana said rubbing the back of her neck. "We'll play when we finish. Shouldn't take too long. What do you say Q?"
Quinn shrugged. "Works for me," she replied. "I don't have my computer though. I need to do some research for our history paper."
"Wait here," Santana instructed. She walked out of her bedroom. She returned a few minutes later with a laptop in her hands. "It's my Mom's. She won't mind you borrowing it for homework."
"Thanks," Quinn said taking the laptop. She grabbed her backpack and looked around the room. "Do you mind if I work on the balcony?"
"Sure, I'll join you," Santana said grabbing her own backpack. "We'll be outside Finn."
Finn paused the game. "Alright, have fun with homework," he said wagging his eyebrows at Santana. Santana rolled her eyes and pulled the slider open.
"It's a little cool out here," Santana noted.
Quinn shrugged. "I kind of like it," she commented. "Kind of feels like home."
"Alright but if you get cold let me know and I'll grab some blankets," Santana told her. The two girls settled down in their spots. "What country are you going to write about?"
"Haven't decided," Quinn said turning on the computer. "What about you?"
"Probably Germany," Santana answered. Quinn shook her head. "What?"
"Germany is the obvious choice, same with the US," Quinn said. "Most of the class is going to choose one of those countries. It's almost like cheating."
"Fair enough," Santana said leaning back in her chair. "What country will you do then?"
Quinn scanned the Wikipedia list of countries involved in the war. "Bulgaria looks good. They sided with Germany, should find some decent information. At least enough for this paper."
"Let me see that," Santana requested. She sat her laptop aside and took the offered one. She quickly scanned the list of countries. "Fine, I'll do Russia then." She handed the laptop back and grabbed her own so she could start researching.
It took both girls no more than forty-five minutes to finish their papers. Quinn's ended up being close to two pages while Santana's was about a page and a half but both were satisfied with the results. Quinn opened up her email account while Santana printed her paper. "What are you doing?" Santana asked curious. She glanced over at the computer screen and saw Quinn's email.
"Emailing my paper to myself so I can print it when I get home," Quinn answered.
"You can print it here," Santana said. "Here give me that." Santana took the laptop before Quinn could react. She pulled up Quinn's paper and printed it. "There, it's printing in my room."
"Thanks," Quinn said grateful. That's one last thing to worry about.
"No problem," Santana said with a shrug. "Do you need help with your math homework?"
"A little," Quinn admitted with a blush. She pulled her textbook, a notebook and a pencil from her backpack. "It looks like this class is a little ahead of my class back home."
"Scoot closer," Santana instructed. Quinn moved her chair closer to Santana and Santana snatched the textbook from Quinn's lap. "What page?"
"Fifty five," Quinn told her.
Santana flipped to the proper page and scanned the problems. They both had pre-calculus with the same teacher but were in different classes. The good thing was they learned the same things at the same time. It made helping Quinn must easier.
Santana spent an hour teaching Quinn everything she needed to do her homework. She ended up doing her own homework in the process. It was easier to explain things to Quinn that way. "Have you gotten your make up assignments yet?" Santana asked.
"No, I'm supposed to get them tomorrow," Quinn replied packing up her things.
"Come over this weekend," Santana told her. "Like I said over dinner, Rachel and I can help you catch up. We have most of the same classes anyway. It's a lot of work to do on your own."
"I… okay," Quinn agreed. Anything to get her out of her house. "Santana," Santana looked up, "why are you guys being so nice to me? I never got a straight answer from Rachel or Jake and we don't know each other, so why are you inviting me into your home?"
"You remind me of myself a little," Santana said honestly. "Actually, you're like a mixture of all of us. I guess we're all drawn to that. The fact is Quinn, we may not know you well but you're one of us now. So get used to it. Are we done with the mushy stuff? Cause I would really like to go blow up some people."
Quinn laughed. "Sounds good to me."
They went back into Santana's room. Quinn grabbed her paper from the printer and tucked it away in her backpack. She left her backpack by Santana's desk and climbed on the bed. Finn paused the game. "You two look cold," he noted. He climbed off the bed. "I'll go downstairs and get you some hot chocolate."
"Thanks Finn," they said.
Santana tossed Quinn a blanket that she had dug out of her closet. "Grab some cookies too," Santana called as he left the room. Quinn groaned. She was still full but cookies sounded so good. "Unpause the game Q."
Quinn unpaused the game and Santana quickly signed on so she could play too. "Should we wait for Finn to come back?" Quinn asked.
Santana shook her head. "Halo is only two players unless you play with people online. He can play later."
"Oh," Quinn said feeling guilty for taking Finn's place.
"Don't worry about it Quinn. He can play later. He won't mind. We'll need to make you an Xbox live account soon," Santana mused.
Finn returned a few minutes later with a tray that had three cups of hot coco and a plate of cookies. Santana scooted closer to Quinn so Finn could climb back on her bed. Finn passed a cup of hot coco to Santana who passed it to Quinn. "Thanks," Quinn said accepting the cup and taking a sip. It was delicious. The plate of cookies was placed on Santana's lap so they could all reach.
"So Quinn, what shows do you like to watch?" Finn asked curious.
"I like a lot of crime shows," Quinn said after a moment of thought. "My favorite are Prison Break and White Collar."
Santana paused the game to look at Quinn. "Really? I didn't think Judy Fabray would let you watch things like that. You might feel sympathy for criminals or some shit like that."
"What my mother doesn't know won't hurt her," Quinn said with a shrug. "And I do like the shows because they humanize criminals. Everyone, including my mother, is so quick to crucify them but I believe there is more to the story."
Santana and Finn stared at her for half a minute. They exchanged a look and Santana resumed their game. "Puck loves Prison Break," Finn said after a minute. "It's on Netflix. We should have a marathon sometime."
"Sure," Quinn agreed.
"We should have time over the weekend. You'll probably be begging for a break," Santana suggested.
"Most likely. I hate math," Quinn grumbled.
"You're in luck. Rachel loves math and she's better at it then me," Santana told her.
Two hours later Quinn was getting tired. She checked her phone and found it was close to 10pm. Her eye's widened at the time. Her mom was bound to be upset if she noticed Quinn's absence. "I need to get home," Quinn said dropping her controller and standing up.
Santana checked her clock. "Alright, I'll drive you home." She signed out and passed Quinn's controller back to Finn.
Quinn grabbed her backpack and the dress Santana wanted her to wear tomorrow. "It was nice to meet you Finn."
Finn paused the game so he could give Quinn his full attention. "Nice to meet you too Quinn." He turned to Santana. "Don't forget to tell her."
"Yeah, I know," Santana said. She grabbed her car keys and led Quinn downstairs.
Eduardo, Maribel and Carole were sitting in front of the fire sipping tea. There was a boy eating on the couch. He looked to be a couple years older than Quinn. "Hello girls," Maribel greeted. "Did you need more drinks?"
Quinn shook her head. "No ma'am, I mean Maribel, I'm going to head home. I wanted to thank you all for having me over and for dinner. It was truly great."
"You're welcome here anytime Quinn," Eduardo said standing up and offering Quinn his hand.
"Thank you," Quinn said again. She shook Eduardo's hand.
Quinn eyed the boy. "Oh, sorry," Santana said realizing that while Quinn knew of Elliott she didn't actually know him. "Quinn, this is Elliott Gilbert. Elliott, meet Quinn Fabray."
Elliott dropped his fork and stood up. "Pleasure to meet you Ms. Fabray," he said kissing Quinn's hand.
"Nice to meet you too Elliott," Quinn said with a blush. "I'm sorry to take you away from your dinner."
Elliott waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. Perhaps we can chat another time."
"Sure," Quinn agreed.
"It was nice to meet you Quinn," Carole said as Elliott went back to his meal. "I hope we will see you again."
"You will," Quinn promised. Santana tapped Quinn's shoulder. "Goodbye."
Quinn followed Santana out of the house and into Santana's Porsche. "What did Finn mean when he said you need to tell me?" Quinn asked.
"We're picking you up at 6am," Santana told her. "Every morning we get breakfast, either at a fast food place or a sit down restaurant. Sometimes we go to the coffee shop and hang around. Finn wanted to make sure you would be ready in time."
"6am, got it," Quinn said. Santana pulled into Quinn's driveway. Judy's car was already there. She didn't bother asking how Santana knew where she lived. It was a small town so it wasn't all that hard to figure out. "Thanks for the ride Santana, and thanks for letting me come over."
Santana looked at Quinn. "Anytime Q. We'll see you in the morning."
Quinn climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. She looked back and found Santana still parked in the driveway. Santana remained in the driveway until Quinn was safely in her house. Quinn headed upstairs. She really did not want to deal with her mother tonight and she doubted the woman knew she was home.
Quinn stripped off her clothes and pulled on her pajamas. She washed her face and brushed her teeth before setting her alarm and climbing into bed. She was so glad she did her homework at Santana's house. She was too tired to even attempt to do anything tonight.
The next morning Quinn was woken by Beyoncé at 5am. She yawned, rubbed her eyes and shut her alarm off. Despite it being so early in the morning Quinn felt fairly well rested. She climbed out of bed and grabbed the outfit Santana gave her to wear. She carried her things to the bathroom and got ready.
By 5:50am Quinn was completely ready. Her backpack was sitting by the front door. She headed to the kitchen in order to get a cup of coffee before Santana and the others showed up. "You're up early," Judy commented looking up from her papers. She sat her coffee on the table and focused her attention on Quinn.
"My friends are picking me up so we can go to breakfast before school," Quinn told her. She poured herself a cup of coffee, added a bit of creamer and walked over to the table.
"Breakfast," Judy repeated with a small frown. "Are you going to need money?"
"No," Quinn replied. Quinn hated asking Judy for money just as much as Judy disliked giving her money, other than her weekly $10 allowance. "I have money."
"Good," Judy muttered.
A car horn blared and Quinn checked her cell phone. It was exactly 6am. "That's them. I've got to go."
"Should I expect you home tonight?" Judy questioned before Quinn could leave.
"Eventually," Quinn said honestly. "I plan on going to my friend's house after school and I'll probably be there most of the weekend."
"Fine. If you plan on spending the night let me know." Judy went back to her work and Quinn knew it was a dismissal.
Quinn dropped her cup in the sink. She walked over to the front door and grabbed her backpack before leaving the house.
Finn was in the driver's seat of his Tahoe. In the passenger seat was Puck. Jake was sitting in the very back while Santana and Rachel were in the middle section. Quinn walked quickly to the passenger side where Santana was sitting. Santana opened the door for her and scooted next to Rachel. "Morning Q." Santana eyed Quinn's outfit. It was the black dress she had given her and it went with the black dress she was wearing. "You look good."
"Morning and thanks," Quinn said nervously.
Puck turned around in his seat as Finn pulled out of the driveway. "Damn, Finn's right. She is hot," Puck whistled eyeing Quinn.
Finn and Quinn both blushed while Rachel wacked the back of his head. "What did we say about embarrassing Quinn?" she hissed. "It's her second day. We told you to wait at least a week." Rachel grinned at Quinn.
"Thanks for that," Quinn muttered.
"So Quinn, Finn and Puck are wanting all you can eat pancakes from IHOP, is that alright with you?" Santana asked.
"Yeah, that sounds great," Quinn answered.
Finn drove to IHOP. It was on the opposite side of town from school but it didn't bother Finn in the slightest. The six students climbed out of the Tahoe. Quinn went to grab her money from her backpack but Jake stopped her. "We got this covered," he told her.
"But," Quinn tried to protest.
"Not buts," Jake said firmly. "We do this every morning, not IHOP necessarily but breakfast in general. Can you really afford to buy breakfast every morning?" Quinn didn't comment. "I didn't think so. We're not trying to make you feel bad it's just… we have more than enough money. So please, let us do this for you."
"Fine," Quinn sighed. She dropped her wallet back into her backpack and followed Jake to the door. The other four were already inside and waiting for them. Jake held the door open for Quinn and ushered her inside.
"How many?" the hostess asked.
"Six," Puck answered.
"Right this way." The hostess led the group to a booth in the corner. Finn, Rachel and Puck slid in first. Jake sat beside Puck while Quinn moved in beside Finn with Santana on the end. "Your waiter will be with you momentarily."
Puck and Finn didn't bother opening the menu. They knew exactly what they wanted. "Santana and Finn said you're hanging out with us this weekend," Puck commented.
"Yeah," Quinn confirmed fiddling with the napkin.
"Awesome. Do you play video games?" Puck asked.
"As of last night, yes," Quinn replied.
Puck's jaw dropped. "You just started playing last night." He shook his head. "So much time to make up for. What do you think about Mario?"
"I don't know what that means," Quinn said honestly. She was vaguely familiar with something called Mario but she couldn't remember what it was or where she had heard it.
"You don't know what Mario is," Puck muttered in horror. "We will be fixing that this weekend. Mario is the best. You can't not know Mario." Puck put his head in his hands and faked sobbed like this was the worst news he had ever had.
Quinn glanced at Santana hoping the other girl would help. Instead Santana was shaking with laughter. "Puck, bro, Quinn's favorite show is Prison Break," Finn told him.
Puck lifted his head. "Seriously?" Quinn nodded. "Fuck yeah," he yelled. "Marathon tonight."
Quinn was looking forward to it but she frowned. She was going to have a lot of homework to do. "Puck, Q has make up work," Santana said seeing the look on Quinn's face.
Puck shrugged. "She can do it tomorrow," he said like it was obvious.
"Up to you Quinn," Santana said with a shrug.
Lucky for Quinn the waiter came to get their orders. "How many checks?" the waiter asked.
"Just one," Santana told him.
"What can I get you?" the waiter questioned focusing his attention on Santana.
"I'll take the all you can eat pancake combo," Puck ordered drawing the waiter's attention away from the girl. "I want chocolate chip pancakes though with sausage and scrambled eggs and I'll take the endless coffee with that. Regular coffee, none of that decaf crap."
"It will cost more for chocolate chip pancakes and the endless coffee," the waiter warned.
Puck shrugged and handed the menu back. "That's fine."
The waiter wrote the order down and turned to Finn. "I'll have what he's having." Finn handed the menu back.
One by one the group ordered the same thing until it finally got to Quinn. "I'll have the same thing but with double bacon, no hash browns," she requested. He jotted the order down and took the menu.
"I'll be right back with your coffees," the waiter told them.
The waiter left leaving them alone once again. "Santana mentioned you could use help with your math work," Rachel said.
"Yes," Quinn agreed. "Math's never been my best subject and it looks like I've missed a lot."
"It's okay. I can help you," Rachel assured her. "I'm the best at math. Are you joining glee club?"
The waiter showed up with their coffees. Quinn poured two creamers into her coffee and stirred it. She took a sip. It was good coffee. "I told Santana I would audition but I don't know if I want to join."
"Why not?" Puck asked curious. "I know the others are pretty lame but the five of us are awesome."
"Singings never really been my thing," Quinn said honestly.
"Is it Mr. Schue?" Santana asked. "He's a better glee coach than he is a Spanish teacher. Then again that's not saying much cause he's not the greatest glee coach but he tries and he really does care about his students."
"If only he would listen to me," Rachel sighed. "Last year I told him repeatedly that a Journey medley wouldn't be enough to win Regionals and I was right. It was an embarrassing loss for us. Even with our skill."
"Rachel is co-captain of the glee club," Jake explained. "Finn's the other co-captain."
"Not that it matters much since Mr. Schue won't listen to us," Finn said with a frown. "It's frustrating. Rachel has great ideas but no one will listen to her, other than us." Quinn watched Rachel smile at Finn and wondered if there was something going on between them. She didn't ask though as she didn't think it was any of her business.
A server came out with two of their plates. She dropped the plates in front of the two closest people, Puck and Santana, and went back to get the rest. After the third trip everyone had their food and dug in.
"Man I love all you can eat pancakes," Puck muttered through a mouthful of pancake.
"Noah don't talk with your mouth full of food," Rachel scolded.
Puck rolled his eyes. "Yes Mom."
After their food was gone they all ordered another stack of pancakes. "After school we're heading to Chief Markets," Rachel told Quinn. She sipped her coffee. "We'll stock up on junk food and some soda before going back to Santana's house to hang out. Do you have a curfew?"
"Not really," Quinn replied. "My mom didn't say anything about a curfew. She just said if I stay the night to let her know."
"You can stay the night," Santana informed her. "It might be easier that way."
"Do your parents really let you buy a bunch of junk food?" Quinn asked.
Santana shrugged. "They don't really care. I mean my mom will fix some fruit and veggie trays for us and usually healthier dinners but other than that they don't do anything. Does your mom not let you eat junk food?"
Quinn shook her head as the servers returned with more pancakes and refills of coffee. "She's pretty strict and never lets me do grocery shopping."
"Well you will get plenty of it with us," Finn said grinning.
Santana, Finn and Puck requested another stack of pancakes while Jake, Quinn and Rachel were full. The three patiently waited for their friends to finish eating, drinking their coffee while they waited.
"Good luck today," Jake said to Quinn. The others glanced at Jake. "Quinn has to do a modified fitness test today," he explained.
Rachel winced. "Good luck. Mr. Bennett's tests are brutal."
"Thanks," Quinn said.
The waiter returned with the check and Santana immediately snatched it. She shoved her ATM card in the folder after a brief glance at the total and waited for the waiter to pick it up. The waiter came back and grabbed a couple empty plates and the bill.
The waiter dropped the folder with Santana's card and the receipts. Santana quickly added a tip to the bill and the six friends got out of the booth and headed back to Finn's Tahoe.
There was ten minutes left until the first bell rang when they finally got to school. The guys and girls separated at the door. Quinn, Santana and Rachel shared their first period so they went straight to their lockers. Quinn dumped her math book into her locker and shut it. They arrived at the classroom just as the first bell rang.
"Papers on my desk," Mr. Varner called as the majority of the class walked in the classroom at the same time.
Santana, Rachel and Quinn dumped their bags and sat down at the two desks at the back of the room. Quinn dug around for her paper and pulled it out. Rachel snatched it out of her hand and turned their assignments in.
The lecture was long and just as boring as the day before. Quinn ignored most of it and before she knew it the bell rang again. "Homework, two page paper on World War I, at least one primary source and one secondary source. You can write about anything you want associated to WWI. Due Monday first thing. Ms. Fabray, come see me." Quinn walked to the front of the class as students started to leave. Rachel and Santana stayed back to wait for her. "Here are your assignments. They will be due a week from Monday but I want at least one turned in this Monday, understood?"
"Yes sir," Quinn said taking the piece of paper from Mr. Varner.
Rachel groaned as they left the classroom. "I swear he is trying to punish us," she said as they walked to Quinn's locker first. Quinn switched her history book for her chem book.
"Does he always give this much homework?" Quinn asked.
"Pretty much every time," Santana answered leaning against the locker next to Quinn's. "Usually only one or two essay's a week. We always have an essay over the weekend and it the longest one we have to write."
"They take their AP classes very seriously here," Rachel added. "They are basically college classes."
Quinn sighed as they walked to Rachel's locker. Rachel quickly exchanged her books. "I'll see you guys at lunch," Santana said before walking off to her English class.
Rachel and Quinn walked to their chem class. Kurt was already there, watching Quinn as she entered the room. Quinn and Rachel grabbed a pair of googles and a lab coat. "Good luck with Hummel," Rachel said, patting Quinn's arm.
"Spill," Kurt demanded before Quinn could get seated.
"Spill what?" Quinn asked feigning innocence.
"I saw you get out of Finn Hudson's car. I saw you with all of them," Kurt said. "Now spill, when did you become friends with them?"
"Yesterday," Quinn answered deciding to be honest, mostly. "Santana gave me a ride home yesterday since I had to walk. We ended up hanging out and I met Finn. They offered to pick me up for school and that's why I was getting out of his car."
"I can't believe it," Kurt said in disbelief. "They never talk to anyone. They're never nice to anyone. What makes you so special?"
Quinn was getting tired of all the questions and demands from Kurt and blurt out the first thing that came to mind, "Did you ever think maybe it's you guys they don't like?" Kurt stared at her in surprise.
Lucky for Quinn the teacher showed up and they had to get to work on their labs. "Ms. Fabray," Ms. Bailey said walking up beside Quinn. She sat a small stack of papers on the table. "Here is your assignments. I know you have makeup assignments in all of your classes so I will give you two weeks to complete them. I do request that you turn them in as you finish as it will make grading quicker for me."
"Yes ma'am," Quinn agreed, tucking the papers into her bag.
Quinn and Kurt finished early yet again and cleaned up their mess. "I think it's best if we do the lab report on our own this week," Quinn told him before leaving the classroom.
Quinn switched her books in her locker and headed to her third period class. She hoped Rachel was mad at her for ditching her but she did not want to be around Kurt at the moment. There was something about the way he talked in class that made it seem like he didn't think she was worthy of Santana and her friends attention. She didn't like that feeling, mostly because she was afraid he was right.
The bell rang just as Quinn got to her English class. She waited for the class to empty before walking inside and taking a seat at the back of the room. Rachel walked in a few minutes later with Evans right behind her. "Sorry about bailing on you," Quinn apologized.
Rachel waved away the apology. "It's fine. I figured Hummel pissed you off and you wanted to get away."
"Pretty much," Quinn said.
"What did he say?" Rachel asked curious.
"He couldn't figure out why I was special enough for you guys to pay attention to me. It seemed like he was jealous more than anything but I didn't like it," Quinn explained.
"He is jealous," Rachel told her. "His dad used to date Finn's mom but Carole dumped him after a week or so. She found out Kurt had set them up so he could get closer to Finn and Carole got pissed."
"Kurt has a crush on Finn?" Quinn asked surprised.
"Oh yeah," Rachel said. "He has since we were in middle school and it's only gotten worse. Poor Finn is too nice to tell him to fuck off. Noah tried it once but Finn yelled at him. Ever since then Kurt saw Finn as his knight in shining armor."
"Poor Finn," Quinn said shaking his head. "Wait I thought Kurt was dating Blaine Anderson. I mean he introduced Blaine as his boyfriend."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at the mention of Blaine. "Oh they are dating but Finn was Kurt's first crush and it's hard to let go of your first crush, apparently."
Their English teacher began her lecture effectively ending Quinn and Rachel's conversation. At the end of class they were assigned the first chapter of the Scarlet Letter as well as a short quiz on it in order to make sure the class actually read the book. Like in her first two classes Quinn was called to the front before she left. Mrs. Waterman gave her, her makeup work and informed her she had a week to finish.
Quinn sighed as she walked to her next class, pre-calculus. She was dreading this class more than her others because it was her worst subject and she already had a lot of work to catch up on. Thank God she had Rachel to help her. Sure enough at the end of class Quinn had even more homework than before. A dozen math assignments plus a makeup test that she was allowed to do at home. Like her chem class she was given two weeks to complete her work.
By lunch Quinn had a headache and was ready to throw herself off the roof of the school. Finn was leaning against the wall next to the door to the cafeteria. "Hey Quinn," he said cheerfully. "How was your classes so far?"
Quinn groaned. "Terrible. I have so much homework."
Finn winced in sympathy. "I'm sorry. But at least you have us to help you catch up."
"Thank God for that," Quinn muttered.
Finn and Quinn walked into the cafeteria so they could get their lunch. They stood in line and patiently waited. There were only two people in front of them so it didn't take long to get their food. They paid and headed to the table. Quinn could see Kurt and Mercedes trying to catch her eye as she followed Finn but she ignored them.
"Hey hot mama," Puck greeted when they got to the table. Quinn sat down beside Santana and Finn.
"How's classes been so far?" Jake asked ignoring his brother.
"Overwhelming," Quinn answered. "I'm hoping it will be better once I'm caught up."
"Rach and I will help you," Santana assured her. "Don't worry about it. Hummel and Jones are looking this way."
All five heads went up at the same time. They looked at the table and saw Hummel and Jones staring at them, well staring at Quinn. Hummel looked betrayed while Jones looked angry. Quinn quickly looked down at her food. She shouldn't have to feel guilty for making friends, no matter who those friends were.
"Nosy bitches," Rachel muttered.
Quinn looked up and found Puck staring at her. "Do I have something on my face?" she asked concerned.
"No," Puck replied with a grin. "You know I've nailed almost all the hot girls at this school. Santana still refuses to sleep with me but that's no matter."
"Puckerman," Santana barked "If Quinn wants to sleep with you she will tell you. Until they leave her alone, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. She'll come to me sooner or later. No one can resist Puckasaurus," Puck smirked.
The others, minus Quinn, rolled their eyes at Puck. They were used to his antics and this time wasn't any different. "He's a lot easier to resist than he thinks," Santana said.
"Well that's because you're a…" Finn kicked him in the shin. Santana patted Finn's thigh as a thank you.
Quinn looked back and forth between Puck and Santana. Santana was apparently hiding something but it was none of Quinn's business so she didn't ask. They barely knew each other so it wasn't like Quinn had a right to know.
"Jake will take you to choir room after school," Rachel said in an attempt to change the subject.
It worked. "Alright," Quinn agreed. "I'm going to need to shower after though. So we might be a little late."
"Don't worry about it," Jake said. "I'll wait for you. Mr. Schue is always late anyway so it doesn't really matter."
"With all that homework you really should consider spending the weekend at Santana's," Finn said dropping a French fry. "We're going to stay."
Quinn pulled out her phone. I'm staying at my friend's house this weekend.
She dropped her phone on the table. "Can we stop by my house after school to pick up some things?" she questioned.
Quinn's phone buzzed. Fine. Quinn rolled her eyes and put her phone away.
"Sure, we can stop there after the store," Santana agreed, happy that Quinn decided to stay the weekend. "Does your mom mind?"
"She doesn't care," Quinn replied. "I doubt she will be home anyway. She's been working nonstop on this case since we moved." The others exchanged looks but Quinn didn't notice.
"So it's settled, we go shopping and then to Quinn's house," Rachel said. The others agreed.
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. "Time to sit through another horrible Spanish class," Santana sighed. "You ready Q?"
"Yeah," Quinn said standing up. "Do we have to go?"
Santana laughed. "Sadly yes."
The two said goodbye to the others and headed to class. "How are we expected to pass Spanish when he's not teaching anything useful?"
"I can help you," Santana offered. "I'm fluent in Spanish. I'm only taking the class cause it's easy and I didn't want to do French. But if you're willing I can teach you grammar, more than just the difference between por and para. I, and my parents, taught the others."
"That would be great," Quinn exclaimed. "I know words mostly but not enough grammar."
"Alright, we can work on your makeup work," Santana told her.
Santana held open the door for Quinn. Mr. Schue was sitting at his desk when they arrived. "Quinn," Mr. Schue said cheerfully. He handed her a large manila envelope. "Here's all your makeup work. Turn it in whenever you can."
"Uh, thanks," Quinn said. She followed Santana to their desks.
"Figures Mr. Schue would be the one teacher to not care when you turn in your work," Santana commented.
"I'm not complaining, gives me more time to work on the other stuff," Quinn said relieved that she had one less thing to worry about.
"Fair enough," Santana said. "I hope you don't feel obligated to stay at my place this weekend. We would like you stay but you don't have to."
"I know," Quinn said glancing at Santana. "Honestly, I want to stay. I like you guys."
Santana grinned. "I am pretty awesome." Quinn snorted. "About Puck, he's a big flirt but he does know his limits. If he makes you uncomfortable just tell him and he will stop or I can tell him if you don't want to."
"It's fine even if it's a little surprising," Quinn said. She pulled out her notebook, although she wasn't sure she would need it, and a pen.
Santana stared at Quinn. "You were being serious when you said you never really dated." Quinn nodded. "Have you never had guys pay attention to you?"
Quinn shrugged. "A few but none of it was really serious. Just lame attempts to get in my pants and when I rejected them they left me alone."
"For what it's worth Quinn, those guys were idiots," Santana said softly.
Quinn tilted her head to look at Santana. "Thanks Santana."
Mr. Schue began his lecture. Santana and Quinn decided there was no point in listening and started to play a game of twenty questions in an attempt to get to know each other better.
Middle name? Santana wrote on a piece of paper.
Lucy. Favorite color?
Red. Favorite movie?
Fast and Furious, all of them. Quinn tapped her pen against her chin in thought. Favorite book?
The Great Gatsby. What's yours?
Quinn dropped her pen. Wow, impressive. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Favorite food?
Don't sound so surprised Q. Shakespeare, really, your mom lets you read that? Mami's enchiladas. Favorite food?
Quinn rolled her eyes. It was cute that Santana thought her mother knew, or cared about what she did, or read, in her spare time. Sushi. Now you know my favorite TV shows, what's yours?
Santana tucked the note under her binder when Mr. Schue looked at her. When he went back to his lecture Santana pulled it out again. Well I love Prison Break and White Collar but I also love Big Bang Theory and pretty much everything. First kiss?
Quinn blushed. To be determined. You?
Santana stared at Quinn in surprise. Finn when I was five. Some boy pushed me on the playground and Puck went to beat him up. Finn came over and kissed me to make me feel better. Favorite dessert?
Brownies with ice cream.
That was how Quinn and Santana spent their Spanish class. Toward the end they switched to asking and answering in Spanish and Santana was pleasantly surprised by Quinn's knowledge. The grammar was nowhere near perfect and occasionally Quinn wouldn't know a word so she wrote in English but for the most part she did well.
The bell rang. To their relief Mr. Schue did not assign homework for over the weekend. Santana and Quinn grabbed their things and scurried out of the classroom. Rachel was outside the door waiting for Quinn. "I'll see you in the choir room," Santana said. "Hey Rach, see you later."
"Bye San," Rachel called as Santana walked away. "How was class?"
"I don't know. Santana and I weren't paying attention," Quinn admitted.
Rachel laughed. "Santana's corrupted you already. That didn't take long. What did you guys do in class?"
"Twenty questions," Quinn replied. "We decided it best to get to know each other since it looks like I'll be spending a lot of time with you guys."
"Not a bad idea," Rachel agreed. "What did you learn?"
"I'm terrible with Spanish grammar," Quinn laughed.
They stopped outside of the locker room. "Good luck with your fitness test."
The locker room was crowded when Quinn got inside. She weaved in and out of the half-naked girls until she finally got to her locker. She quickly changed into her gym clothes and shoved her backpack inside. Jake was waiting for her when she got outside.
"Hey Quinn."
"Hey Jake."
"You ready to get this over with?" he asked.
"Actually I would rather be here than in my other classes. This class doesn't give homework," Quinn reminded him.
"True enough," Jake agreed.
Jake and Quinn walked to the basketball court where their class gathered. Mr. Bennett was waiting for them. He took role as quickly as he could. "Fabray with me, the rest of you are free to do what you want." Quinn walked up to Mr. Bennett. "Are you ready for your fitness test?"
"Yes sir," Quinn said with a nod.
"Alright then, follow me to the track," Mr. Bennett said. Quinn followed Mr. Bennett to the track with Jake trailing behind them. Jake headed to the bleachers to watch Quinn. "Yesterday I gave you an idea of how this would go but I'll say it again. You will run one mile, a total of four laps. You will not be timed this time around but I still want you to try your hardest. I will give you a five minute break after the mile. Then we will move onto the exercises, like you saw yesterday. You will do as many of everything as you can and then you will be done. Sound good?"
"Sure." Quinn began running and felt in her element. She loved running. It was her favorite type of exercise.
She finished the mile in a little over six minutes. It wasn't her best time but it wasn't her worst. She was a little out of shape since her mom decided to make them move but it wouldn't take long for her to get back in shape.
"Impressive Fabray," Mr. Bennett praised. "Have you thought about cross country?"
Quinn shook her head and took two deep breathes. "I'm thinking about track though," Quinn said.
Mr. Bennett nodded in approval. "You would do well there. Take a five minute break and we will get started on the next part."
Quinn walked over to Jake, who was leaning against the fence with two bottles of water and a bag of Doritos in his hands. "Nice job," Jake complimented. He passed over the Doritos and a water.
"Thanks," Quinn said grateful.
Quinn ripped open the Doritos and munched on them. "Don't choke," Jake joked.
Quinn rolled her eyes but continued shoving Doritos in her mouth. "God I'm hungry," Quinn moaned.
Jake laughed. "I'll get you another bag while you do the rest of the test," he promised.
Four minutes later Quinn was called back over. She handed Jake her half empty water bottle and empty Doritos bag. She jogged back to their teacher. "Start with sit ups," Mr. Bennett told her.
Twenty minutes later Quinn was moaning in pain and cursing every deity she could think of. She collapsed beside Jake on the bleachers and took the water and chips. "You okay?" Jake asked.
"Yeah," Quinn assured him.
The bell rang and Quinn and Jake made their way back to the locker rooms. Quinn showered as quickly as possible and changed back into her clothes. Jake was leaning against the lockers across from the girl's locker room when she finished. "Ready?"
"Yeah, let's go," Quinn said.
Jake led her to the choir room. Everyone was already there when Jake and Quinn showed up. Kurt and Mercedes were surprised to see Quinn, last they heard Quinn didn't want to join glee. Santana and the others grinned at the sight and Santana made her way over to Quinn. "Are you ready for this?"
"Yes," Quinn answered.
"Quinn," Mr. Schue exclaimed. "What brings you to the choir room?"
"I…uh…" Quinn glanced at Santana. "I want to audition for glee club."
Mr. Schue's eyes lit up. He rarely had people willing to audition. "That's great. Do you have a song prepared?" he asked eagerly.
"Yes," Quinn confirmed. "Um, it's actually a duet, with Santana."
Mr. Schue glanced at Santana. "Alright then." He turned to the glee kids. "Everyone let's welcome Quinn Fabray who has come to audition with the help of Santana. Ladies, the floor is yours."
Quinn and Santana grabbed two microphones and stands and walked over to the front of the room. Santana got the background music ready while Quinn tried to calm herself. "You ready?" Santana asked. Quinn nodded and Santana hit play.
"Stand on the box, stomp your feet, get clapping. Got a real good feeling something bad about to happen…" Santana and Quinn sang.
At the end of the song Puck, Rachel, Finn and Jake stood up and clapped. "Excellent job Quinn," Rachel praised. "And Santana too. Your voices work wonderfully together." Rachel glanced at the grin on Finn's face. "I think I speak for Finn when I say, we would love to have you in glee club."
"Hell yeah," Finn exclaimed.
"I…" Quinn looked at Santana. She still didn't know if she wanted to join or not.
Santana leaned over to Quinn. "You don't have to participate if you don't want to but at least come. You might like it and we could use your voice."
Quinn turned back to Rachel. "Thanks," she said. "I'm looking forward to being here."