A/N: We've made it to Day 8! This takes place pre-season one, ideally in the same universe as the first couple episodes, if not more. Rachel sees Quinn four times. Hope you enjoy!

Day 8: Shopping

The first time Rachel sees her is at the store.

She starts high school in two weeks, and she's out shopping for school supplies with her dads when she sees her for the first time. A blonde girl, about her age, with glasses and a small white piece of cotton taped to her nose, for what Rachel assumes is some sort of splint. She's wearing a casual, pale blue dress with sandals, and, for whatever reason, Rachel can't seem to take her eyes off of her.

She's shocked that she doesn't recognize her. Having lived in Lima her entire life, Rachel has gone to school with the same group of kids since kindergarten. She knows everyone around her age, or at least knows of them. After all, it isn't very often that new people arrive in Lima.

But Rachel knows this girl must be new to town. She knows she would have remembered a face like that because, wow, she is pretty. Her face is obstructed by the tape on her nose, but Rachel can still see that she is extremely pretty, in a classy way that Rachel simply is not.

(It gives her a tingly feeling in her stomach that she decides to ignore.)

The girl is there with a woman who Rachel assumes is her mother, and they are standing at the end of the aisle that Rachel is currently in. She nudges her dads and nods over at the girl and her mom; her dads glance in their direction and share a look that Rachel's fourteen-year-old brain can't quite understand.

"You know her, Rachel?" Hiram asks.

"No," Rachel says, "I think she's new. Can I go say hi?"

They share another look before Leroy says, "Yes, but I'll come with you."

Hiram stays behind as Rachel and Leroy walk over to the end of the aisle. Rachel watches the girl pick a couple spiral notebooks from the rack and place them in their cart. She hesitates for a moment and then grabs a small composition notebook and sneaks it into the cart when her mom(?) isn't looking. Rachel smiles to herself at the action and walks up to her.

"Hello," Rachel greets, "I'm Rachel Berry. Are you new to town?"

The girl looks surprised, and a light blush paints her cheeks. "Hi. Yeah, I am. I'm Lu–Quinn. My name's Quinn."

Rachel grins at the sound of her voice and the delicate, musical quality it carries with it. "That's a pretty name. How old are you?"

"Thanks. I'm fourteen." Quinn smiles shyly at the compliment, and Rachel thinks it's the prettiest smile she's ever seen.

"Me too! Are you going to be a freshman this year?" Rachel says excitedly. Quinn nods in response, and Rachel asks, "Do you have your schedule? I have mine memorized already, and I could see if we have any classes together, and—"

"Rachel, sweetheart, let the girl settle in. She just moved here." Leroy interrupts, laughing a bit and reaching his hand out to the woman standing next to Quinn. "I'm Leroy, Rachel's dad."

The woman shakes his hand. "Judy. I'm Quinnie's mom."

Quinn's cheeks flush at the nickname, and Rachel can't stop herself from saying, "You're really pretty."

Rachel slaps her hands over her mouth, embarrassed, and Leroy just laughs at her. Quinn blushes even harder as Judy lights up at the compliment. Rachel knows she has no filter sometimes, and she really needs to work on it, but she thinks that the smile currently gracing Quinn's face made it worth it, at least this time.

Still, Rachel goes to say, "I'm sorry. I'm sure you get that all of the time, and I'm sure there's a lot more to you than your looks, and I shouldn't have said that, especially as burgeoning teenage girls with all sorts of self-esteem issues heading our way, but—"

This time, Quinn is the one to interrupt her rambling. "It's okay, Rachel. Thank you."

"Of course." Rachel says. "I like the colors of the notebooks you picked out. Pink is my favorite."

Her comment draws their attention to the shopping cart, and Judy picks up the composition notebook curiously. "What's this, Quinnie? I didn't see it on the list."

Quinn looks nervous, like she's just been caught doing something she shouldn't have, and Rachel steps in before she can even figure out why she's doing so. "It's for English class," She lies, "We were all sent an email to get one because they forgot to add it to the list this year."

Hesitating briefly, Judy accepts her lie with a nod, putting the notebook back into the cart, and Quinn sighs with relief. Rachel relishes in the reassured look on Quinn's face, knowing she said the right thing. Then, Quinn's eyes focus on something behind her, and Rachel turns to see what she's looking at.

"Do you know that man back there?" Quinn asks her.

"Well, yes." Rachel says, "That's my dad, Hiram."

Quinn looks confused as she gestures to Leroy, asking, "I thought this is your dad?"

"They're both my dads." Rachel explains. "I have two fathers."

A look passes over Judy's face. "What did you say your name was, again?"

"Berry, ma'am." Leroy answers, his face hardening slightly.

Judy simply nods. "Right, yes," She says, "Quinnie, we should get going. Don't want to be here all day."

Quinn is led away by her mom before Rachel can say anything else to her. Sighing, she turns around and walks back to her dad.

"And?" Hiram asks.

"Her name is Quinn, she's my age, and she seems really nice." Rachel tells him with a smile.

Hiram eyes Leroy before saying, "That's good, sweetie. Maybe you can be friends."

"I hope so."

The second time she sees her is on their first day of school.

Rachel's pleased to see Quinn walk into her first period Honors English class on the first day, and she's even more pleased when Quinn smiles at her and sits next to her. She's wearing a Cheerios uniform, the school cheerleading team, and Rachel is shocked.

"Hi, Quinn," Rachel greets, "I didn't realize you were a cheerleader."

Quinn shrugs. "I went to bootcamp last week, and I had fun and made some friends."

"Well, that's good. So you're settling in okay?" Rachel asks, remembering her daddy's words from the store two weeks ago.

Quinn shrugs again. "I guess you could say that."

"I'm glad." Rachel says honestly.

The warning bell rings, and Rachel is moving to pull out her notebook and multicolored pens when Quinn says, "Rachel?"

Rachel looks up at her. "Yeah?"

"I just… want to say thank you. For the thing at the store with the notebook. I just…" Quinn trails off, trying to find the right words, and Rachel watches her closely. "I like to write. And my parents don't know, or don't care, or don't let me, or whatever. So, I just… thanks."

"You're welcome, Quinn."

The final bell rings, and Rachel turns her attention to the front of the class, not missing the smile that is currently lighting up Quinn's face.

The third time she sees her is later that day.

Rachel is walking to grab her lunch when she sees Quinn standing at her locker. She passes up her own locker and walks right up to Quinn instead.

"Hi!"

Quinn startles at her voice. "Rachel, hi."

"How is your first day going? Finding all of your classes okay?" Rachel asks.

Quinn nods. "Yeah, I am."

Then, Santana and Brittany walk up to them, both wearing Cheerios uniforms as well, and Rachel resists the urge to roll her eyes. Santana has been a royal pain in her ass for years, and she has never been able to understand why the girl hates her so much. Brittany, on the other hand, has always been kind to her, but never when Santana is around. And, these days, the two are pretty much inseparable.

"Quinn, what are you doing talking to her?" Santana asks, heavy traces of malice in her voice.

"I-I, um…" Quinn stutters.

Rachel senses her discomfort and answers Santana, simply saying, "Science project. We're lab partners."

Santana scoffs. "Bullshit. On the first day? Yeah, right." She eyes Quinn. "We don't talk to the troll, Fabray."

Rachel watches Quinn's face go from confusion to realization to mild contempt, and Rachel's hopeful for a moment that Quinn will side with her over Santana.

Instead, Quinn says, "Right, yeah," and shuts her locker in Rachel's face. She walks away with Santana and Brittany, and Rachel's heart aches inside of her chest.

The fourth time she sees Quinn is five seconds later when Rachel has just been hit in the face with her first slushie, and she turns around to see Quinn laughing with the rest of the crowd that had gathered around to watch it happen.

Later that day, Rachel's sitting at the dinner table with her dads when they ask her how her first day of school went.

"I saw Quinn," is the first thing to come out of her mouth, and Rachel's cheeks flush.

"Oh, did you?" Hiram asks. "How is she?"

"She's… she's good."

"Is she settling in okay?" Leroy says.

Rachel nods. "Yes, she is. She's, um, she's on the Cheerios." She explains, intentionally leaving out the incident in the hallway today. She doesn't want her dads to have to worry about stuff like that, especially on her first day.

"Good for her." Hiram comments.

Leroy nods and says, "Rachel, there's something you should know." Rachel meets his eyes, and he continues, "I work with Quinn's dad. He started at our company at the beginning of the summer, and I've seen pictures of his wife and daughters before, so I knew who they were when we saw them at the store."

Rachel's confused. "Okay? What does this have to do with anything?"

Frowning, Leroy just shakes his head. "He's… not a great man, baby girl. He's made several homophobic remarks around me, once or twice directly to my face, and he's an outspoken Catholic, and he's openly claimed to support the NRA and some other not great organizations."

Rachel gasps at the idea of Quinn having this man as her father. "What does this mean?"

Leroy sighs. "I just don't think it's the best idea for you to get too close to this Quinn girl. She seems sweet, but it might be best to keep your distance, at least until you learn more about her and see what she's really like."

Rachel frowns at the idea, but she simply nods and continues to eat her dinner.

That night, Rachel lies in bed, thinking about the Quinn she met at the store and the Quinn that laughed at Rachel getting a slushie thrown in her face. How had she changed that quickly? And now her dads wanted her to keep her distance?

No, Rachel thinks. She's not going to do that. The Quinn she met at the store was not the girl she saw today, and Rachel is going to do everything in her power to get that Quinn back.