Quinn had locked herself in a bathroom stall. She sat sideways on the seat and rested her legs against the wall. She was breathing deeply as she tried to control her body urging herself not to breakdown and cry. She didn't know what to think or what to do. Everyone had seen her talking to 'herself', and now everyone thought she was crazy. She didn't know if she could go through with it again, even if it was just for a year. The bullies at her last school's had been horrible.
She leant crossed arms on her knees and buried her head, letting out a groan. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She couldn't hide out in here for the rest of the school year. She suddenly found herself wishing that she had taken Rachel's advice more seriously. Rachel. At least there was one person that didn't think she should be locked up in an asylum… not yet anyway.
"Quinn?" A voice cut her off. She recognised the voice and scowled into her arms.
"Go away Amy," she snapped.
"Quinn, I'm so sorry, I thought you knew I was a ghost, I-"
"If I knew, I wouldn't have had a damned conversation with you in the cafeteria!" Quinn growled, immediately covering her mouth. She was being too loud. She sighed. "Look Amy, sorry for yelling. I just, I just don't want another school to think I'm a freak show."
"I just, couldn't resist talking to you. It's been incredibly lonely for me since I died a year ago and I didn't even think people like you existed so I got excited," Amy explained. Quinn's head popped up and looked towards the door with a question dancing on the tip of her tongue.
"How did you know that I'd be able to see and hear you?" Quinn asked, curiously as she felt her anger being replaced by interest.
"I could sense it just by looking at you. Almost like a tingling rush throughout my body."
"Huh, no ghost has ever told me that before," Quinn mused.
"Have you ever talked to one long enough to ask?"
"No. I don't make a habit of talking to them, looks bad on my sanity," Quinn half joked half snarled.
After a moment in silence, Amy glided through the door, making Quinn jump a little. Amy looked at her and smiled sympathetically. They sat not saying anything for a while until Amy noticed Quinn fiddling with her camera from inside her bag.
"What do you take pictures of?" Amy asked, breaking the stillness.
"Stuff," Quinn replied casually as she seemed intrigued by her device. She stopped and looked towards Amy, leaning her head back against the stall wall. "I wonder what ghosts look like on pictures?" She said thoughtfully.
"You've never tried to take a picture of one before?"
"No," Quinn said, angling her camera towards Amy. The camera flashed and Quinn waited for the picture to process.
"What's it like? Do I even show up?"
"I don't know yet, its'-"Quinn cut off her words, her smile fading fast, only to be replaced by a heavy, pulling feeling deep in her stomach.
The picture of the bathroom was fine and you couldn't see Amy at all, but there was an over exposure, almost like a glowing bubble where her face should have been. Quinn felt her mouth go dry as she remembered she had seen this in another recent photograph. Was Rachel a ghost? That was the first thought that exploded in her mind, followed by a dozen others.
She thought back to their encounter yesterday, gulping hard to ease her dry throat. Rachel's feet had slapped against the floor, she had definitely heard them. Her breath had even caught in the air; she'd never seen a ghost do that before. So, if Rachel wasn't a ghost, what caused the over exposure? Quinn turned away from Amy, muttering that the photo was 'cool'. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Quinn hauled herself from her seat and walked right through Amy, feeling a shiver ice down her spine as she walked out of the bathroom. She looked back but didn't see the ghostly cheerleader following her. She let out a breath of relief, only to hear a snicker to her left. A tall boy wearing a football uniform walked past her, laughing into his hand as his fellow jocks were whispering and laughing to each other. She kept seeing people look up and look away with a smirk on their faces or sometimes they'd stare at her with a mocking expression.
Quinn kept her watery eyes glued to the floor as she battled her way past shoving people on their way to homeroom. She glided through the door and took the back seat in the corner of the room.
Shortly, the room filled with students and a teacher. The man began to take students names, but when it came to 'Quinn Fabray', she felt her face heat up as people giggled and snickered in her direction. The teacher ushered the class and continued as Quinn could feel herself slinking down in her seat.
Although Quinn was sat at the very back, by the time the bell rang, she was already halfway out of the door. She was desperate to just go back to when it was a couple of hours ago and she was still just the invisible new girl. She came to a stop in front of her locker, only to be met by the sight of Holly and her followers. Quinn's breath caught and she felt a little dizzy. There was no doubt as to why Holly was here. She must have heard what happened in the lunch hall.
"Oh hey Quinn," Holly said with a slight bitterness betraying her fake niceness. Before Quinn had time to respond, Holly continued, "That is your name isn't it? You're all that anyone has talked about this lunchtime." Quinn felt her heart drop in her chest and her mouth dried up. "You want to know what they're saying?" She asked Quinn, a malicious smile spreading on her glossed lips.
Quinn looked away and shook her head, opening her locker. She bit her tongue and jumped when Holly's hand slammed the locker shut.
"They say you talk to yourself. That you had a full blown conversation with no one in the cafeteria. You know what else they say? That you're crazy," Holly ended in a stage whisper as she and the other Cheerios broke off into girlish laughs.
Quinn ducked her head and bit her lip, forcing herself not to cry. She wasn't about to give these girls any more material.
"Hey! Holly!" Quinn's head shot up as a new voice echoed across the hall. The defiant voice belonged to a tanned, dark haired girl that was accompanied by a taller, blonde girl. They were both dressed in Cheerio outfits and marched their way over to the group. "How about you stop being such a bitch?" The new, dark haired girl said to Holly, looking straight into her eyes. She was smiling but her eyes were cold and daring the girl to argue back.
Holly smiled back and tilted her head. "Whatever Santana, I suppose I really should listen to the vice-captain," she mocked Santana who had desperately competed with Holly for the title of captain. Holly never failed to bring it up in a conversation as she knew Santana simply couldn't stand the fact that she hadn't been chosen.
Santana chewed her bottom lip angrily and the tall, blonde girl placed a hand on her shoulder as she watched Holly turn their back on them. Santana bristled and stomped forward, grabbing Holly's long ponytail. The head cheerleader let out a small cry as she tried to remove Santana's hand.
Eventually, some of the other cheerleaders pulled the two apart and Holly shot a distraught look at Santana who was yelling in Spanish whilst gripping on to stands of Holly's blonde hair.
"You're still being a bitch Holly!" Santana called after the fleeing group of other cheerleaders as the taller Cheerio gripped her around her waist. Holly looked back over her shoulder with anger seeping from her face. She gave Santana one last cold stare before turning forward and carrying on through the halls.
"She could never be a unicorn," the tall blonde said quietly and seriously as she watched them leave.
"I know Britt," Santana huffed as she composed herself. They both smiled at each other and linked pinkies. They then looked at Quinn who was still stood against her locker after witnessing the whole charade.
"Don't worry about Holly, she's just jealous because you're hotter than she is," Brittany told Quinn.
"That, and she can't seem to find her way out of her own ass," Santana added callously.
"Thank you," Quinn simply said.
The cheerleaders smiled. "I'm Santana, this," she motioned to the left with her head, "is Brittany. It's Quinn isn't it?"
"Oh, so you've heard about me then," Quinn said dismayed.
"If you mean about your issue of talking to yourself, then yeah. People over exaggerate things so much," Santana told Quinn in reassurance.
"Yeah, I mean, you should see the way people look at me when I tell them Lord Tubbington washes the dishes and cleans the floor," Brittney chirped in.
Quinn raised an eyebrow and looked at Santana who guessed what Quinn was wondering.
"Her cat," Santana cleared up.
Quinn's eyes glittered as she laughed, realising this was the first time she had felt at ease all day. The bell rang to signal fourth period and Quinn quickly grabbed her books out of her locker.
"We've got class to go to, so we'll catch you later Quinn," Santana waved over her shoulder as Quinn watched the two girls leave. Maybe she could still make some friends after all.
The rest of the day went by without a hitch- apart from the odd smirk or laugh- and as the last bell rang, she suddenly remembered she was going to see Rachel in the house. She still didn't know what the make of that picture. After all, Rachel had made noise with her feet and ghosts definitely couldn't do that. She decided she was going to have to test this.
As she walked away from McKinley, she couldn't shake the tugging feeling in the back of her mind that she was missing something, but as she approached the old house, every thought was replaced with ghosts and Rachel.
Quinn gently pried open the door and slipped in, sidestepping past some broken wood. "Hello?" She called in to the air, though nothing responded. "Rachel, you there?" She waited a few seconds, starting to become doubtful that Rachel was even going to show.
"Quinn?" Rachel appeared in one of the side doors, smiling that huge, beautiful smile at Quinn. Quinn's gaze dropped to Rachel's feet as her pumps tapped on the floor, Quinn noted the noise indefinitely. Today, Rachel was harbouring a very casual look. Grey pumps, light blue jeans and a plain vest top. Could ghosts change their clothes? Or did they always wear what they died in? Quinn couldn't remember, she had never really talked to a ghost long enough to notice.
Rachel stopped short in front of her, raising her brow. "Is everything okay Quinn? You look a little dazed."
Quinn's eyes snapped to Rachel's and she saw genuine concern held within them. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling her short, blonde hair brush over her fingers. "I'm just tired, you know, first day of school and all. I've been used to getting up at ten every day, not half six."
"How was it?" Rachel asked, looking Quinn up and down.
"It was…interesting," Quinn told Rachel, wishing she wouldn't continue the conversation any further. She had no desire to tell Rachel how people already thought she was the school freak.
"Did you make any friends?"
"Who are you, my mom?" Quinn giggled back at Rachel who grinned. "But yeah, actually I did. Two Cheerleaders."
"I'd guessed as much, you've got an amazing figure, plus you're drop dead gorgeous, I'm surprised they've not forced you to join their team yet," Rachel chirped, causing Quinn to blush.
"I don't think I could ever see myself in one of those uniforms," Quinn confessed.
Rachel looked at her playfully and wet her lips. "I wasn't talking about you being a Cheerio, maybe just the mascot or something," she said to Quinn with a wink, in an attempt to cheer the blonde up. Quinn laughed as Rachel's plan worked. She went to playfully hit Rachel's arm before she knew what she was doing.
Just as her hand came close she remembered her theory about Rachel being a ghost. She'd finally know what the deal was with this girl, but did she even want to know? Her heart flooded with surprise and warmth as her hand made contact with Rachel's solid arm. Quinn simply started at her hand for a minute as she processed what that meant. Her arm was cold, but it was solid. Did this mean that Rachel wasn't a ghost after all?
She finally looked up at Rachel, who seemed equally surprised. "Sorry," Quinn mumbled embarrassed.
Rachel shifted in her stance and fixed her gaze on Quinn, studying everything about the girl. "You know what I heard today?" Quinn felt her heart speed up just a little. Did Rachel know?
"Um, what?" Quinn asked tentatively, not really sure if she wanted to know.
"That you talk to yourself," Rachel told her without a hitch in her voice, as though it was completely normal.
Quinn's heart jammed and caught against her ribcage. She searched Rachel's eyes but became even more panicked when she couldn't read Rachel's expression.
"I-I don't, I, "Quinn spluttered, unsure of how Rachel had found out. Quinn started to panic, unsure of what she was about to do but in her scattered thinking, the truth seemed like a logical idea.
"I don't talk to myself," Quinn finally managed to get her sentence out. Rachel cocked her head childishly, waiting for Quinn to continue. "I can," Quinn started, attempting to take in as much air as would fit in her lungs, "kind of talk to dead people." There it was, Quinn's deepest and darkest secret finally out in the open to someone other than her parents. Quinn realised Rachel was the first person she had told ever since Quinn figured out that she shouldn't tell people.
Quinn watched Rachel, anticipating her response. She still couldn't read Rachel's expression but finally Rachel spoke, "I know," she told Quinn gently.
Quinn frowned in utter confusion. What did Rachel mean? How could she have possibly known that? Quinn was about to open her mouth to bombard Rachel with a thousand jumbled questions but Rachel beat her to it.
"I've got to go Quinn. Come back tomorrow? Oh, and bring those photographs, because you know what else I know? That you forgot them," she said to Quinn, winking as she started for the stares. Though, she was right of course, Quinn had forgotten them.
Quinn watched Rachel's back as she sauntered upstairs. Quinn hummed to herself as she pulled out her camera in awe. Just who was this girl? Quinn took another picture of Rachel and waited patiently for it to show up on her screen. Again, all of Rachel could be seen, except for the splodge of light covering her face. Quinn huffed and looked up about to call out to Rachel and ask her why she was heading upstairs if she was heading out, but she had vanished.
"Rachel?" Quinn tested, waiting for a reply that never came. Quinn ran up the stairs, trying the right winged corridor first. She noted that there were three doors in this section. Two rooms were just filled with dust and debris, but as she came to the last door, it wouldn't budge. It had been locked.
"Rachel? Are you in there? I want to show you something," Quinn asked and decided to try the left wing when no one answered her.
She had no luck down the other corridor either. One room was completely blocked off by built up wood and rubble and the other two were empty.
She returned to the spot at the top of the stairs and sat down, resting her head in her hands and not caring that her jeans would now be covered in dust and dirt. Where had Rachel gone? Why was that room locked?
Quinn rubbed her temples, feeling the oncoming surge of a headache. She decided it'd be for the best to leave and come back to see Rachel tomorrow. At least then she could be ready with her questions.
Upon walking through the door to the new Quinn Fabray household she was bombarded by her mother.
"Quinnie how was your first day sweetie? Did you make lots of friends? Are the teacher's treating you nicely?" Her mother asked her, all the questions coming out at once, making Quinn's head spin and pound even harder. She held her hands up, gesturing for her mother to stop.
"Whoa mom, chill," Quinn said, as calm as she could. Judy pouted.
"Everything okay honey? You seem a little tense," Judy pried.
Quinn let out a breath, knowing her mother wouldn't let this go. "It happened again," Quinn stated.
Judy Fabray pulled her daughter into a hug. "It'll be okay sweetie, it's only another year. People will probably have forgotten all about it in a couple of weeks' time," she said to reassure her daughter.
"It was in the middle of the cafeteria mom, everyone saw me talking to thin air."
Judy didn't reply, she didn't know how to make her child feel better so she just kept on hugging her until Quinn wormed out of the embrace.
"Do you want anything Quinnie?"
"Can I just go to my room? I'm not hungry, I don't want any dinner," Quinn asked drearily. Judy nodded and Quinn smiled once more at her mom before heading for the stairs.
Halfway up the stairs, Quinn paused, hearing her father's gruff voice sound loudly from the living room with her mother's which was trying to hush Russell.
"No, we're not moving again. What, just because the girl thinks she can see dead people. There are no such things as ghost Judy; you should know that, you'd be Naïve to listen to her. Sometime I swear it's just for the attention."
Quinn's mouth dropped and a static energy tingled in her finger tips as she seethed at her father's comment. Why the hell would she go to all that trouble to sabotage herself? To make her own life a misery when it came to school? She shook her head angrily. Obviously, her father didn't know his daughter like he thought he did.
"I know, I know she's sick Russell, but the doctors won't do anything about it, they say she's fine when she's clearly not! I just don't know what to do with her anymore." Apparently her mother didn't know her like she thought either.
Quinn quietly slunk into her room, closing the door softly behind her so that her parents didn't realise she had been listening. She paced around her room, unable to believe her parents. She'd always thought they had supported her. Quinn snorted. Looks like she was wrong.
She carried on seething until a dim light caught in the corner of her eye. It was coming from the window. From the abandoned house. Quinn slowly walked over to the window. There was a light coming from a window on the upper floor and Quinn knew exactly which room it belonged to. It was then that Quinn saw the subtle flash of brunette hair. She set her sights on the house as she tugged her shoes back on. Quinn then hoisted the window up and looked out and down at the drop.
It was a long way down but there was a sturdy drainpipe just to the side of her window ledge. She decided there and then that she was going to get some of her questions answered, whether Rachel liked it or not.
She climbed through her window and grabbed onto the drainpipe as she shuffled her way down. Everybody else thought she was crazy, except for this girl who seemed to think something else entirely different.