So I know in Mash Off Quinn asks Shelby if she can join the Trouble Tones, but I'm not going to include that in this story. A lot of this storyline just doesn't make any sense to me, Quinn tries so hard to get her daughter back but when Shelby leaves with Beth, Beth and Quinn's feelings about her are never mentioned again? In my story Quinn stays in the New Directions and is not so set on getting Beth back, instead exploring more of Quinn's feelings about having Beth back in her life. This also means Shelby doesn't stop allowing Quinn to babysit Beth.
Also I have no idea where these Tina and Quinn moments came from, but there's also another underrated friendship that I absolutely adore. Ryan Murphy had the perfect opportunity to include a Rachel, Quinn, and Tina trio and he completely ignored it so I'm adding it for him. I might add some more moments of them or just Tina and Quinn throughout the story depending how I feel.
Mash Off
She gets a text from Tina that Glee rehearsal will be in the auditorium afterschool. She's one of the last ones there and is extremely confused when she sees the Trouble Tones on the stage as well.
She's excited at the idea of a mash off. Of course Quinn loves Santana and Mercedes, Brittnay too, they're all her girls. But if she's being honest? Part of her is a little excited that they're gone. Maybe now she will finally have the opportunity to sing more in Glee club. She knows that Rachel will call dibs on any solos, but maybe her or Tina will get a portion of a group number to themselves rather than just singing backup and swaying in the background.
She's okay with giving Rachel all the solos because she's too terrified to sing in front of an audience by herself, but every once and a while she would love to feel appreciated and included, and she knows that Tina feels the same way. Two days ago she had complained to Quinn that Blaine has had more solos in his first week of joining than Tina has had her entire time in being in Glee club, and she's one of the original five members. So is Quinn a little excited to finally get a chance to shine? You bet she is.
Finn sends them all a text in their new Glee Club group chat (the one that doesn't have Santana, Brittany, or Mercedes in it) about the dodgeball match afterschool. Tina and Quinn both skip their last periods to get ready together. They laugh about the idea of Rachel playing dodgeball as they enter the girls change room together.
Quinn groans as strands of her hair keep falling out of the ponytail she is trying to put her hair in. Tina laughs from beside her and tells her to sit on the bench behind them, telling her, "here, let me."
She gets two red hair ties from her makeup bag, parting Quinn's hair in half for pigtails. Quinn giggles and tells Tina, "thanks. It's so difficult to put my hair up now that I've cut it all off."
Tina just smiles. They settle in a nice silence while Tina does the finishing touches on Quinn's hair. She places her hand on her shoulders while she looks at the blonde in the mirror. "It's good to have you back Quinn, I missed you." Quinn smiles back, unsure of what to say because she didn't realize that many people would even care that she was gone.
By the time they've finished getting ready the girls from the Trouble Tones are walking in. To avoid conflict they leave to help Finn set up everything.
She has a lot of fun, using dodgeball as a good way to release her pent up anger. She giggles when she hits a Cheerio who hit on Sam last year while they were dating square in the face. She's able to get a few girls out and protect Artie before she's hit herself and out of the game.
She laughs along with Tina and Blaine as Rachel just stands behind Finn, shrieking everytime a ball flies in her direction. She thinks it's cute how he deflects them all so none of them hit her, but as soon as it's the two of them she gets too scared and forfeits leaving Finn on his own.
Unfortunately they lose when Santana gets Finn, but Santana is not satisfied with the victory. She and some of the Trouble Tones hit Rory causing his nose to bleed. Quinn runs after Kurt with Tina to help out Rory. They find a first aid kit in the gyms office. While Kurt and Tina are helping clean his nose she contemplates whether or not she should talk about her treatment towards certain New Directions members. Something is up with Santana, she was never this cruel. So Quinn decides now that she's dealt with her own problems she should at least attempt to figure it out.
The day of the New Directions mash off performance, Rachel, Tina and Quinn all get ready in one of the dressing rooms behind the auditorium. Tina does their hair and Quinn volunteers to do light makeup for all of them because Rachel had picked their outfits.
She's surprised at how well they're all getting along, she hasn't wanted to strangle Rachel even once. She's found a new appreciation for Rachel, especially after she nominated Quinn and Tina take the female solos for their mash off and sit this one out so it's more unexpected.
They snap a few mirror selfies with the extra time they have left. She sends a few to Sam who replies back saying how sad he is that he missed a Hall and Oates number. She rolls her eyes.
The three of them do their own mini show circle before exiting the room, grabbing each other's hands. Rachel leads of course, telling them she's super excited and knows the two of them are going to kill it. She expects that to be it, but Rachel continues catching Quinn by surprise.
"I know sometimes I come off as this solo stealing control freak," Tina snorts which makes Quinn laugh and Rachel roll her eyes. "But I really care about all of you guys, and losing half of our girls has made me realize I need to stop being so selfish, I really want all of us to finish our senior year not only as a united Glee Club, but as a family."
Quinn smiles and squeezes her hand. "Thanks Rach."
Tina interrupts both of them by saying "If we continue this conversation I will shed tears and that is not a good look right before our performance. Let's go do this!" They all laugh as they exit the room and head towards the stage.
She's taken a big role in helping Kurt out with his election since Rachel had to step down for obvious reasons. The day where the candidates present their presidential speeches she sits with Tina and Mike and gives Kurt two big thumbs up before his speech.
She's almost one hundred percent sure that Brittnay is using her biology essay on tornadoes that she and Santana had edited for her two years ago. She's also one hundred percent sure that the school won't even allow Brittnay to go topless on Tuesday's, she rolls her eyes but claps for Brittnay anyways.
Kurt had only talked to her about his obesity stance, about having a salad bar in the cafeteria and only making tots available to students one day a week, despite Mercedes' protests. Bullying? Was not something they discussed.
But she loves it so much more. She'll admit it, Quinn has done her fair share of tormenting at this school, but she has also fallen victim to it too. When she feels weak, she brings down others, sometimes when she doesn't even mean too. If Kurt wins this election at least she'll have something to stop her from doing so.
She was not expecting Rachel to sacrifice herself for Kurt. She knows Rachel, how far she is willing to go to make sure she gets what she wants. It's a terrible quality to have, willing to sell those closest to you down the river to make sure you come out on top. Quinn would know, she has it too. So she's surprised when Rachel drops out and tells everyone to vote for Kurt. Surprised definitely, but also proud. She sees now what Rachel was telling her in the beginning of the year, how they're all a family.
Shelby texts her asking her to babysit Beth while she's on Facetime with Sam helping him with a project that's due next week. He laughs at how joyous she is and tells her to go, that they can just finish later and she throws on her jacket excitedly, picking up a gift she put together for Beth a few days ago.
Shelby looks guilty when she gets there. She also looks a little frazzled, telling Quinn that she's late to a staff meeting she completely forgot about and she appreciates so much that Quinn was able to babysit for her.
She stops in front of Quinn before she heads out the door, hugging her telling her "thank you." She also swears she hears Shelby whisper I'm sorry into her shoulder before releasing her, but she decides she must be mistaken.
She decides today is probably a good day to talk to Santana, she doesn't want there to be any fighting when the Trouble Tones before afterschool in the auditorium.
She stops by Sue's office asking her if she knows where she can find Santana. Sue looks a little distraught, telling her to check the Cheerios washroom and to tell Santana that she can take all the time that she needs.
That worries her, so she jogs to the Cheerios washroom and finds Santana sobbing on the floor.
"Santana?!" She quickly drops her bag on the floor and wraps her arms around her. "Santana what's going on?"
Santana just shakes her head and cries out "I can't believe this is happening!"
Quinn tries her best to try and figure out what exactly Santana is talking about, but comes up short. Santana muttering I am going to kill Finn Hudson over and over again between sobs doesn't help either.
While Quinn tries to figure out what exactly could be wrong, Santana starts hyperventilating, "I haven't even told my parents yet. And my grandmother, Quinn how am I going to tell my grandmother? Everyone at school is going to start treating me differently and I-" and oh, Quinn finally understands. Yes she's always had the feeling Santana wasn't straight. She's best friends with Santana and Brittnay, she knows better than anyone what they do when she's not there.
So she closes her eyes and blurts out, "I'm still in love with Sam!" to distract her, thinking it might calm her down.
Santana looks at her confused, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "What?" she asks, voice raw from all the crying.
"I never stopped. I still love Sam." Quinn whispers, more embarrassed now that she's realized what she's said. Well, she thinks, at least it prevented her from having a panic attack.
Santana snorts and says "really Q? Trouty mouth?" which causes Quinn to roll her eyes. Even with this happening to her, Santana is still able to be Santana.
"Enough about me, want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Santana sighs and Quinn squeezes her hand.
"I like girls." She hears Santana hold her breath as if she's waiting for Quinn to tell her that she doesn't accept her or something similar to that and it makes Quinn's heart break a little.
"Santana, I love you regardless of who you decide to love. You being a lesbian is never going to change that. You can't break up the Unholy Trinity, remember?"
Santana smiles at her through her tears and chokes out, "thanks Q."
Quinn bites her lip before asking her "who else knows?"
Santana sighs and closes her eyes, leaning her head against Quinn's shoulder. "I know everyone in Glee Club already has their suspicions, and I told Brittnay I loved her last year but she rejected me because she was dating Artie. We're dating now though. Oh, Karofsky knows too."
Karofsky? She thinks confused, but decides now is probably not the best time to ask Santana about it. She's happy for Santana, that she's finally found someone she can genuinely be happy with. And Quinn doesn't have to worry about her trying to take her boyfriends anymore, but that's not the point.
"I know I'm mean to Finn and he doesn't deserve it, but I never thought he would out me like this." Quinn's body fills with rage. Finn outed Santana? Quinn herself hated Santana last year, but she would have never done that to her. Everyone knows that outing someone crosses some sort of line. She thought Finn out of everyone would know better, especially with all the stuff that happened to Kurt last year.
Santana pulls Quinn out of her thoughts when she says softly, "I don't know what I'm going to do Quinn."
Quinn sighs, she doesn't know how to make this situation better either, she can't believe Finn. But she places her hand overtop of Santana's and tells her, "you're going to get through this. I know you will because I'm going to be here for you the entire time."
She helps Santana get ready for her performance and walks her to the auditorium. She hears Brittnay ask Santana what's wrong, but Santana just shakes her off. Quinn glares at Finn as she goes and takes a seat, who of course doesn't even notice because he's too busy making eyes at Rachel.
Santana looks off the entire performance. Quinn knows what's on her mind, but she's afraid what Santana's going to actually do about it. Her fears are confirmed when Santana jumps off the stage and starts yelling at Finn.
She watches in shock as Santana slaps Finn. Everyone is quiet, Finn sits there and Santana stands above him breathing hard. As everyone seems to be registering what just happened, Santana runs out of the auditorium. As soon as Quinn processes everything, she gets up and quickly runs after her.
"Santana!" she calls after her, hoping the girl will take pity on the fact that Quinn hasn't actually done any proper form of exercise in a while other than booty camp and is struggling to catch up to her. But of course, Santana just runs harder.
She can hear Brittnay ask "Quinn?" from down the hallway so Quinn stops and tells her, "it's okay Britt, I got her."
Quinn finds her in the washroom again, hugging her and whispering in her hair "come on, let's go to my house."
Santana is not normally a quiet person, so Quinn is understandably worried as she watches from the driver's seat as Santana stares out the window the entire ride to her place.
Santana tells Quinn that she doesn't want to talk about it, so they watch a bunch of awful romcoms. They even Facetime Sam for a bit, which excites Santana because she finally gets to tell him all the mouth jokes that she has come up with while he was gone. She texts Brittnay while Santana's not looking, telling her that Santana will probably tell her when she's ready.
Santana ends up falling asleep with her head in Quinn's lap during their Twilight marathon. She runs her hand through the brunette's hair, wishing for easier times for the both of them. It's ironic how the strongest always seem to break the worst.
I Kissed A Girl
Santana texts her as she pulls into school the next day that she was pulled into Figgins office with Finn. Quinn rolls her eyes, there's no way they will actually punish Santana. Her and Santana had gotten into an actual fight last year and neither of them had even ended up with a detention.
She's shocked when Santana texts her back fifteen minutes later saying Finn wants her to come back to Glee Club for a week or else she's suspended for two. Quinn can't believe him, he is in no position to be giving out ultimatums. But Santana seems like she's not too bothered, so Quinn decides that she won't be either.
Lady Music Week? Really? That's the best Finn can think of? She refrains from rolling her eyes because she knows that Finn is only doing this because he feels responsible for everything, which he should. This wouldn't have happened if he had just been able to keep his mouth shut.
Finn is so full of crap. Yes everyone in the room accepts Santana and Brittnay, they're all family. But they celebrate it? The only reason why they 'celebrate it' is because Finn took away the opportunity for Santana to come out herself.
She's confused by Puck's solo. Is he singing a song to her? But he told her he didn't care about her, he only cared about Beth. But then it clicks, he isn't looking at her, he's looking at Shelby. Why is he singing a song to Shelby?
And then she remembers what she thought she heard the last time she went to babysit Beth, Shelby whispering to her that she's sorry. But Shelby wouldn't do that, she knows Shelby wouldn't do that because she's an adult and Puck is barely eighteen. The thought of the two of them together makes her sick to her stomach.
So she sends Kurt to investigate because she has sworn off being alone with Puck again for the rest of her life, but he just tells her Puck said the song was about babysitting. Babysitting? As if she thinks to herself.
She loves Brittnay to death, they have been best friends for as long as she can remember, but Brittnay as Senior Class President? She'll burn the entire school down. So she votes for Kurt because she likes what he stands for. Plus she helped him with his campaign, what friend would she be if she didn't vote for him after doing that?
She gives Kurt a wink as soon as she leaves the voting booth and he smiles back, mouthing thank you as he clasps his hands together underneath his chin.
Her and Brittnay try to spend as much time with Santana the day after Reggie's commercial was aired so if anything has something to say to Santana, at least one of them will be there. She suggests that the three of them leave campus for lunch because they haven't done that since last year. If Santana notices something is up, she doesn't say anything to them.
But unfortunately they can't be with her at all times. She goes to the bathroom in between periods with Santana, but Santana tells her she needs to grab something from her locker before Glee Club rehearsal, since the girls are doing a group number today anyways. She tells Santana she'll go with her after she's finished, but Santana insists she'll be fine alone.
"Quinn, I'll be alone for like two minutes tops. Nothing is going to happen, I'm a big girl." Quinn bites her lip, but reluctantly agrees. As she leaves the washroom her fears are confirmed when she sees some stupid jock she's never seen before talking to Santana at her locker. Thankfully the girls get there in time.
Is this guy serious? Being gay is not a choice. She's disgusted by the morons at this school. She wraps her arm around Santana's shoulders as they all walk to Glee rehearsal together and asks her "are you okay?"
She nods and smiles, whispering to her, "thank you Q, for everything."
Kurt calls her later that night while she's on Facetime with Sam. She assumes it's about his Student Election results so she declines the call and tells him just to text her the results.
He calls her again and she frowns, it must be some sort of emergency. So she tells Sam she just has to take a quick call and answers the phone while still on Facetime. "Hey Kurt what's-"
"I think you were right Quinn." He sounds off, like there's something bothering him. Something is wrong and he doesn't know how to tell her. Of course she's right, but what about is the question.
"Right about what?" Sam looks up at her confused and she shrugs her shoulders, she's just as puzzled as he is.
"Finn told me something tonight that just didn't really sit right with me. Puck apparently left in the middle of one of his classes earlier today so Finn texted him to ask him what happened. Puck apparently told him it was a family emergency, Shelby had called him during class that Beth had slipped and hit her lip on the floor and needed stitches. Did she call you and tell you?"
Her mind is spinning. Something happened to Beth, her daughter, and no one told her about it? She shakes her head a few times, but then realizes that Kurt can't even see her. "No, no one told me." Her voice breaks. She hadn't realized she had started crying until the tears hit her keyboard in front of her.
"Oh Quinn. I'm sorry honey, but I think you might have been right." She doesn't know what to think. There's a difference between thinking something is true and actually knowing, and that difference? Hurts like a bitch. Kurt tells her he needs to go, but to call her if she needs something.
She doesn't know what to do, so she puts her head in her hands and cries as Sam tells her everything is going to be okay from the other side of her computer.
She's at the grocery store buying food for the weekend since her mom will be on a cruise when Santana sends her a text. She looks down at her phone, Gma was a no go. Her heart aches for her, Quinn knows how close Santana was with her grandma.
She sends her back, want to come over? Mom gone for the wknd. Bring Brittnay for a sleepover.
Santana tells her it's okay, she's spending time with Brittnay now and kind of just wants to be alone, but they might take her up on her offer later depending on how she feels. Quinn smiles and tells her she understands before heading down the chip aisle.
She glares at Shelby during Santana's solo, hoping she will get the hint that she knows about her relationship with Puck.
She's so furious with Shelby that she didn't even notice wasn't in Glee Club until she walks in after Santana's solo. Rachel stuffed the ballot box? That's why Kurt didn't win. She feels awful, she's been so focused on herself Kurt didn't even feel like telling her the real reason why he lost to Brittnay.
And Figgins banning Rachel from Sectionals? Yes Rachel turns insane around competition time, but everyone knows she is a big reason why they win. Sure during their mash off competition the stakes weren't as high so Tina and Quinn could take the solos, but no Rachel when they have already lost Santana and Mercedes? They might as well forfeit at this point. She looks around the room and it seems that everyone seems to have the same reaction.
Hold Onto Sixteen
She's surprised when she sees Rachel in the hallway the next morning. Isn't she suspended? So she walks up to her and asks her about it.
She tells Rachel they don't have to worry about losing to the Trouble Tones at Sections because she's going to have Ms. Corcoran fired. She knows it's a low blow, but she's having a relationship with a student. It's completely inappropriate and makes Shelby such a hypocrite. All that crap she gave Quinn for putting your needs second to your childs? Yeah Shelby sure did a great job with that. As the mother of Beth, Quinn has every right to be concerned.
She can't believe Rachel thinks she's lying. Does Finn not tell her anything? And Quinn's going to ruin her reputation? Shelby did that, she ruined it the second she started sleeping with Puck. She tells her it's not a lie, she heard it from a trusted source.
But Rachel still defends Shelby and Quinn can't believe her ears. This is the woman who broke her agreement to wait until Rachel was eighteen to contact her, and used one of her students to get close to her.
Quinn doesn't care what Rachel has to say, she's doing it and she'll be waiting to take Beth as soon they realize Shelby is an unfit mother. Looks like she didn't even need the hot sauce or the books, Shelby screwed everything up on her own.
She doesn't understand why Rachel is being so cruel to her. Did she not hear Quinn correctly, Shelby is sleeping with Puck, and if Quinn decides to tell Figgins, she's the one who hit rock bottom? How is she always the bitch in every situation.
Apple Cider? Is Mr. Schue serious? They don't even have enough members for Sectionals, what the hell could they possibly be celebrating? Maybe we're not celebrating Quinn thinks to herself smirking, maybe this is a funeral for the New Directions. She agrees with Kurt, there's no way they can recover from this.
But then he comes in and she feels like she's dreaming. Sam? But she spoke with him two days ago, he was in Kentucky. If he was coming back he would have told her about this. Her heart is racing and she doesn't know how to act. She pinches herself to make sure this is actually happening, he's really here, before running up and hugging him.
Of course he sings a country song, and of course she enjoys every second of it. She dances around with Tina because Kurt is clearly not enjoying any of it. She missed his charm and his witty humour. Who is she kidding? She missed everything about him.
She runs after him when she finds him in the hallway. "Hey Sam wait up!" He stops and waits for her, and she links her arm into his. "Why didn't you tell me that you were coming back?" She's super happy to have him back, seeing him in person is so much better than seeing him through a screen everyday.
He laughs and tells her, "I wanted it to be a surprise."
Here we go she thinks to herself. She spent the rest of lunch after Glee rehearsal thinking of how she was going to tell Sam how she feels. She's scared that if she just ambushes him and tells him, I never stopped loving you, please be with me again. It will scare him off and he will reject her, ruining their friendship. So she decided using Beth was the perfect way to do it.
She starts off easy, telling him that Mercedes has a new boyfriend who has a full ride scholarship to Ohio state because she does know if he is over her or not. He answers back with, "nice to see you too Quinn."
He must have taken it the wrong way so she tells him, "no, no, it's a good thing. See I'm free, you're free. She tells him how skinny she's gotten as a plus."
He's clearly not interested in any of it, which takes her by surprise because he asks her, "what do you want Quinn?"
She tells him how terrible she feels about last year, how she didn't appreciate how good he was to her. Which is the truth, he has no idea how many nights she spent awake thinking how different things would have been had she not cheated on him with Finn. The two of them are perfect together, Ken and Barbie.
But it seems that he doesn't agree, so she panics and brings up Beth, telling him how she's going to get her back. She told him about Puck and Shelby that night Kurt called him, he just doesn't know that she's planning to tell Figgins. She tells him they'd be perfect to raise her together, he's so good with kids, but it just makes him laugh.
"Quinn, you've got what I called 'rich white girl problems.'" And ouch, that stings a bit because she always felt like her problems were valid, but apparently not everyone thinks the same. "It's a tough world out there, I know, I've been through it. You only get one senior year. Enjoy it." Doesn't he see that she's trying? She would be enjoying it so much more if the adoptive mother of her child was not sleeping with an eighteen-year-old, but she is still trying. Her therapy has been helping her so much, helping her deal with her problems, but isn't everyone entitled to at least one relapse? So why can't she have hers?
He starts talking about this song she's never heard of and she prays that he doesn't start singing in the middle of the hallway. He tells her about some stupid lyric that's his favourite, and her heart sinks to her stomach because doesn't he realize the whole point of her doing this is because she wants to be with him? Beth is just an added bonus, but he doesn't because he leaves her standing there with her heart crushed between his hands.
She finds out from Kurt, who found out from Rachel. He tells her about how Rachel and Finn had found him at a strip club and apparently wants to incorporate some of the dance moves he learned there into their Sectionals performance, causing him and Blaine to go at it a little bit. Kurt can clearly see the worry on her face because he tells her that Sam had quit once he had moved in with him and Finn.
But she knows Sam better than that, she knows that if the cash is good, he won't quit. Not when it means helping out his family. So she asks Kurt to drop her off at the strip club on a Wednesday night when Sam had told her he had to run errands. She's thankful when Kurt doesn't ask many questions. She gets his old 'Dairy Queen' schedule from his mom so she doesn't have to wait for him that long, and leans against his truck when it hits eleven o'clock.
He comes out the back door at quarter past eleven with a duffle bag slung across his shoulder. He freezes when he sees her, but then sighs and points his keys at his truck, unlocking it.
"You know," she tells him. "I always thought you were more of a candy type of guy. I remember you telling me chocolate was too sweet for you." She taps her finger on her chin playfully and he rolls his eyes as he gets closer.
"What are you doing here Quinn?" He sounds exhausted and she feels kind of bad, but then she remembers the reason why she came.
"You know I could ask you the same thing Samuel, what the hell do you think you're doing?" He rolls his eyes and stops in front of her. Up close she can see the eyebags underneath his eyes, and the glitter that Kurt would not shut up about.
"Can we not do this tonight? I'm tired. You can lecture me all you want tomorrow, but I don't want to do this right now. If you don't want to use a GPS going home you can just follow my truck going home."
She knows he expects her to give up now, she always did have a soft spot for tired Sam, but she's not giving up easy this time. He took care of her while she was struggling, now it's her turn.
She bites her bottom lip and tells him, "I can't," while shrugging her shoulders. "Kurt dropped me off and then left, I don't have my car."
He sighs, frustrated, and runs his hand through his hair. Her hand twitches by her side, wanting to reach up and fix the pieces that are sticking up. He nods towards his truck "Alright fine, get in."
They drive in silence for a while, the only noise being the soft hum of his car's radio. The quiet makes her uneasy, so she says something before she gets too jumpy. "It can't be ideal driving three hours to work every night."
He chuckles and she feels relief at the fact that he isn't still annoyed. "Good thing I don't work every night."
She plays with the end of her dress because she doesn't know what else to do with her hands. "I think you should quit." She sees his head snap to look at her through the corner of her eye so she looks up at him and continues talking so she can explain herself. "I care about you Sam, you're one of my best friends," she says best friend quickly because it burns the inside of her throat. "There's a reason you didn't tell your parents, you know you shouldn't be doing this."
"I need the money Quinn." It's a chickenshit answer, he knows it is, but he's happy knowing that he can get his mother flowers whenever he feels like it, or if Stacy wants a new barbie because all the other girls in her class got it, he can buy it for her.
"So find a different job Sam. There are tons of places around Lima that have decent pay, I'm sure Burt would even hire you to work in his shop." He sighs and she bites her bottom lip, afraid she's said too much. "Tell me you really want to do this."
"What?" She knows she has no place to judge, she's never been in his position. She has grown up privileged, she knows that. She knows how lucky she is that she has all that she does. But just because Sam is struggling doesn't mean he needs to do this to himself, stripping is harmful, God knows what those women are capable of if they have a few drinks in them and find him alone.
"Tell me you really want to do this and I'll stop pushing. I won't bring it up again and I'll learn to not have a problem with you working there, but look me in the eyes and tell me you love it." He grumbles under his breath and she takes that as her answer. "You have so much to offer the world Sam, don't sell yourself short."
"You know Quinn, I could tell you the same thing." She rolls her eyes because of course he's going to make this about her, Sam has always hated talking about his problems. "Beth is not going to be the only child you have, you're so young Q, I know this seems like the right answer right now, but one day you will thank yourself for giving her up to Shelby, Beth will too."
She scoffs, "tell me you'll quit and I'll think about it."
He laughs and shakes his head, but agrees. "It's a deal."
Of course he would want Mercedes back, why wouldn't he? Mercedes is perfect and she's kind and she didn't cheat on him. And she doesn't have all this crap going on in her life.
She sees him grab her hand in the hallway. She hides behind Santana's locker who just looks at her weird until she sees what exactly she's hiding from and then rolls her eyes. "Really Q? This is ridiculous, why are you even hiding?"
Quinn just shushes her and tries her best to eavesdrop on their conversation. She hears him shout down the hall that he's going to fight to get Mercedes back regardless of who her boyfriend is. She feels her lunch start to rise up her throat.
Santana must see the blood drain from her face because she looks at Quinn sympathetically, "Q, I'm sorry." It just makes her more nauseous.
Quinn just shakes and puts her hand up. "Don't. It's fine. I'm fine."
Santana just sighs and starts to drag her to their next class, "whatever you say."
Her and Tina have made it a tradition now where they get each other ready. Whether it be for a competition, performance, or even a football game, Tina does hair and Quinn does makeup. They've found it calms them down and also makes for a perfect gossiping session.
Kurt joins Quinn while she's putting the last finishing touches on her makeup because Tina told her she has to go deal with Mike, whatever that means.
"So, how's the whole Shelby Puck situation?" He asks her, playing with one of her brushes.
"I'm going to tell Figgins right before our performance." She tells him while looking at herself in the mirror to see if she needs to fix anything, she doesn't bother looking to see what his reaction is, she's gotten used to the disapproval.
Before Kurt can answer her, Shelby and the Trouble Tones walk in. She makes a comment about Puck so Shelby knows that Quinn knows about their relationship, she's done playing nice, all it ever does is get her screwed over.
He hears someone run after her when she leaves the auditorium, so she walks faster hoping they won't catch her in time. "I know you Q, and I know you don't really want to do this."
Of course it's Sam, and of course Kurt told him about her plan. Still she asks, "what are you doing here? How do you even know what I'm about to do? You know what? It doesn't even matter, I'm an adult. I can do whatever I want."
Sam starts walking towards her and the little voice inside her head is screaming at her to run, don't listen to him and just run to Figgins, but she's frozen in place. "That may be true, but that little girl whose life you're about to go ruin? She's still a child Quinn. Shelby might deserve this, but Beth doesn't." She looks away from him as soon as he stops in front of her, she knows if she looks in her eyes he'll end up convincing her not to do it. "Look Quinn, if you're going to go through with this, you at least owe it to Shelby to tell her first. It's the adult thing to do."
"Fine." She mumbles and takes his hand as he leads her back to the auditorium. "Wait, I want to go talk to her first." He nods as if he understands and tells her he'll be waiting for her outside the classroom.
She walks in with her arms crossed, annoyed that Shelby would even be thinking about small talk, so Quinn gets right to the point. "I know about you and Puck. I'm going to tell Figgins and get you fired."
Hearing Shelby talk about how she's planning to end it just makes her angrier. Is that supposed to make it all better? Is that supposed to show that she's a responsible adult capable of taking care of her daughter?
"You shouldn't have come here with her. I would have been fine. What you did was wrong, what you're doing with Puck is wrong."
She wasn't expecting Shelby to be so raw and honest. She was expecting her to deny it, or tell Quinn that if she tells Figgins she'll never allow her to babysit Beth again. What she wasn't expecting? Was for Shelby to apologize.
She walks out shortly after Shelby and shakes her head indicating to Sam that she doesn't want to talk about it, trying to walk past him towards the auditorium. He grabs her arm and pulls her back, wrapping his arms around her. He whispers, "I'm proud of you." into her hair and kisses the top of her head. It doesn't make her feel any better.
She watches the way that Sam looks at Mercedes while she's performing and it makes her feel even worse. Does Sam not realize he's doing to Shane exactly what Finn had done to him last year? But she still smiles at him when he looks over at her because she's his best friend, she's supportive of all of his decisions, even the ones that break her heart.
All of her worries and problems wash away as soon as she steps onto the stage. That's one of the reasons why Quinn loves being a part of Glee Club, for three short minutes she's able to forget about everything that's wrong with her life and just enjoy herself.
She cheers during Sam's dance solo even though she's not supposed to, she guess it doesn't matter since Tina is laughing hysterically beside her.
She runs into the choir room with Tina after their performance, high off of adrenaline. She runs and hugs Rory to congratulate him on his first competition.
She stands next to Kurt on stage and grabs his hand while they're announcing winners. As soon as she hears the Trouble Tones came in second she screams and hugs Kurt, turning around to hug Tina next.
She looks over at Santana and Mercedes who look devastated and decides maybe that whole being nice thing doesn't always screw her over, maybe she should give it another shot.
She waits for Rachel in Figgins' office the next day because her suspension has finished. She tells Rachel that the reason why she's there is because she wanted to talk to her, to tell her that she's not going to tell on Shelby.
Rachel asks her, "we're kind of friends, huh?" And first the first time Quinn actually believes it.
She asks Rachel what she thinks about Yale because she's been debating on applying even though their deadlines are next week. She tells Rachel that she knows that she's not the singer her and Kurt are, but Yale has an amazing drama program and she really likes to perform.
She's happy to see how much they have grown and matured over the years. If you had told Quinn three years ago that she would end up being close friends with Rachel Berry she would have laughed in your face.
She tells Rachel there is one thing that she can do for her. "Remember right before our mash off number when you said you wanted all of us to graduate as a family?" Rachel nods and Quinn continues. "How about letting the Trouble Tones do a number for each competition if I can convince them to come back?"
Rachel smiles, "it's a great idea, I'll talk to Mr. Schue."
She finds the three of them in the girls bathroom and tells them they all need to have a talk. She expected them to not want to listen to her, she knows them all well by now. So she doesn't say anything about rejoining right away, she just asks "do you know what growing up is about?"
None of them answer her so she tells them, "losing things. In six months we'll all be gone, scattered." Mercedes tells her that they'll all keep in touch but everyone knows for some of them that won't be true.
"Yeah, but it won't be the same. When we'll see each other it'll be a special occasion. It'll be different. I don't want to grow up yet, I'm not ready to lose you girls." She was also expecting them to not want to come back if they knew they were just going to sing backup again. So she tells them, "what if Mr. Schue agreed to let the Trouble Tones sing at least one number per competition?"
She tells Santana that Rachel has already agreed as well when Santana tells her Rachel would never let that happen. She tells them, "look, I know I went a little crazy. But I'm here now. I'm seventeen I have the rest of my life in front of me. I love Glee Club. I love you girls. And when we're twenty-seven, or eighty-seven, I want us to be able to look back on these next couple of months and talk about how it was the best times of our lives. We can't do that if we are not all together." She doesn't give them time to answer her, she wants her speech to sink in so she tells them about the number they're doing in the auditorium to celebrate their Sectionals win. She tells them they could use a few more girl voices and then leaves.
She might have to deal with more of Sam and Mercedes now but that is a risk she is willing to take.
She's the last one there, so she quickly takes a seat next to Sam to soak in the last few moments she has with him where she has his undivided attention. The two of them dance together and she doesn't even notice the girls have come in until Mercedes starts singing.
She runs over and grabs Mercedes, taking her back to the stage. She slowly migrates her way back to Sam and wraps her arm around his shoulder as he wraps one around her waist. She pulls Santana over to dance with them. She enjoyed getting her solos and a chance to finally have the spotlight on her, but she can't deny she missed this so much more.