Chapter Five
Quinn leaned against the locker next to Rachel's. Rachel's heart skipped a beat when she saw her, but she kept her eyes on her books a second longer to regain her calm.
"Guess what?" Quinn said.
"You've came to your senses and realized that Santana's a total bitch?" Rachel had seen Santana getting into the orange curly-haired kid's face earlier that day, threatening to shove his head in a toilet if he tried to harass Brittney again with his stupid camera for his video blogs.
"No, your such a smart ass Rachel, and Santana's really nice once you get to know her. Just really protective of Brittney...well all her friends really, but Brittney more than anyone else...but what I came here to tell you is extremely obvious: I got Coach Sylvester to let you try out."
Rachel closed her locker and started walking towards class, Quinn followed.
"But there is one condition though, I have to work with you after school to make sure you know enough to make it onto the team with me. Your tryout's next week Monday, so, you should start preparing for it today, can you come over to my house after school? You'll have to sit through Cheerios practice first though, but Coach Sylvester has agreed to let you watch."
"Yeah, meet me at my locker after seventh period."
"Alright," Quinn said smiling at the subtle assertiveness in Rachel's voice.
Rachel smiled back and then they parted ways to go to class.
Nervousness climbed up Rachel's stomach as she followed Quinn towards Cheerios practice. Quinn told her to wait in the gym while she changed so Rachel took a seat on the empty bleachers. She was tempted to sit high on the row farthest away from the gym floor, but she didn't want to look that repulsed and afraid to be here, so she sat in a row somewhere towards the middle, but more towards the front rows.
Coach Sylvester was the only person in the gym. She was arranging objects with her back to Rachel. "Hello Rachel," she said without turning.
Coach Sylvester was allowing Rachel to tryout only as a favor to Quinn who had snuck into the principles office and stolen a tape from him that he had made of Sue to blackmail her, he had apparently gotten tired of Coach Sylvester always being the one to threaten him. Coach Sylvester knew that Quinn was a valuable player, both on the team and for, ah, running other errands she needed to get done. So she wanted to keep her happy. She was hoping though, that if she could scare Rachel enough by making the Cheerios do a particularly hard workout today, Rachel would change her mind about wanting to be on the team.
"Hi," Rachel squeaked. "I-I mean, hello."
Coach Sylvester turned and smiled up at her. It wasn't exactly a friendly smile, it was more amused than friendly. "Quinn's told me a lot about you."
"She has?" Rachel didn't know what Quinn would know about her too tell.
"Yes, she has. But don't worry Rachel, you don't need to be nervous yet."
Rachel smiled uncertainly.
"Actually you shouldn't be nervous at all, you should be terrified." With that Coach Sylvester picked up her megaphone and addressed the cheerleaders who were now slowly filing out of the locker room. "Alright girls, look alive, hurry up. We've got a tough workout today and if your muscles aren't burning at the end of it like you were just shot all over your body by a drunk redneck with a rifle then your doing it wrong! I won't have lazy people on this squad, that's what golf club is for."
A groan rose up from the crowd of girls.
"No whining!" Coach Sylvester yelled sharply. "You girls are all lucky to even be on this squad."
Rachel watched the cheerleading practice with her knuckles whitening against the bleacher as she gripped it and her eyes wide. She was leaning back slightly, as if her body was trying to escape Coach Sylvester's loud voice as she yelled at the girls all through practice.
Rachel left the gym at the end of practice with her ears ringing, and her mind full of doubt. When Quinn had offered to help her with the tryouts earlier that day, she had actually begun to think that she could do this, but after seeing just how harsh Coach Sylvester really was, she knew that there was no way that she could do this. "Quinn-" she began but Quinn cut her off, knowing from the look on her face what she was about to say.
"You can do this Rachel. It looks so much harder than it is, and besides, you'll have me to teach you."
Rachel gave a small smile at the affectionate tone in Quinn's voice, but she shook her head. "There's no way that this is going to work."
"You can't back out now Rachel, you promised."
"Fine, but I'm not going to pass this audition."
"Yes you are, you just have to have a positive attitude. And," Quinn smiled in amusement, "its not an audition, its a tryout, like, your trying something out."
They had to walk to Quinn's house, because both of her parents were at work. It was a lot longer of a walk than the path Rachel took to her own house, and Rachel found herself sweating a little by the time they made it to Quinn's neighborhood. Rachel estimated that the walk was about three miles, while the walk to her own house was just two. This must have been why Quinn was so thin, Rachel decided as her eyes absentmindedly traveled down her figure.
LeRoy lived in a pretty nice neighborhood, but Quinn's was even more fancy. Her house was lightly colored and spacious. There were large windows along the back walls.
Quinn led her down the stairs to a basement filled with blue mats, a treadmill, and other workout equipment. The air was much cooler down here.
The first thing Quinn had Rachel do was stretch. When Rachel didn't understand the position Quinn would guide her arms into the right place or press gently but firmly on her stomach and back. Rachel had to suppress a shiver every time Quinn touched her, even though her hands sent warmth into her body wherever they touched.
Rachel sometimes purposefully did the stretch wrong so Quinn would touch her. But with some stretches Rachel tried to get it right the first time, a little afraid to have Quinn touch her again even though it felt good. Like when Quinn held Rachel's ankle and helped her stretch her leg up to her face, it took Rachel an incredible amount of self-control to keep from moaning.
Quinn did however notice the expression on her face and smirked. "Good," Quinn said holding onto her ankle a little longer than necessary before slowly letting it down. "You're already very flexible. Other leg."
After they were done stretching Quinn slowly worked her through her first routine, which was similar to the one Rachel saw them doing in practice.
Rachel caught on quickly, encouraged by Quinn's simple words:
"Come on."
"You can do it."
"Push a little harder."
And her praise:
"That's it."
"You got it."
"Good job."
There was a concentrated fury in Quinn's eyes as they worked. Her eyes moved over Rachel's body strategically.
When they were done Rachel's body was drenched in sweat and she was a little flustered. But she panted in satisfaction.
Quinn gave her a small grin and a nod. She handed her a stack of videos. "Here, take these home, watch them and practice the routines on them in the morning before you go to school. And then after school, you get to work with me."
As Rachel lay awake in bed that night listening to music, she set her alarm for 5:00 AM, so she would be up an hour before school started. She forced herself to take out her headphones after a few more songs and turn her ipod off. She was still breathing differently than she was before the workout with Quinn. Rachel smiled bravely into the darkness. She wasn't going to let Quinn down.
Quinn continued to teach Rachel new moves and drill her on the routines. If Rachel was late to school, it was no longer because she had overslept but because she took too long in the shower after a workout. Eventually, Quinn chose a routine for Rachel to use for the tryouts and had her work solely on that one.
Even though Quinn made sure Rachel had it down by the time Monday rolled around, Rachel was still nervous before she went into the gym for the tryout.
Quinn held Rachel's forearms, trying to send her strength through the firm grip. "You can do this Rachel, I know you can."
Rachel was shaking. Her eyes were large like she was about to start crying and her expression was hopeless. Quinn couldn't stand it. Some reflex in her brain switched on, and before she knew what was happening Quinn reached forward and kissed Rachel. Quinn pulled back quickly, not giving Rachel time to kiss her back. She scanned Rachel's face frantically for signs of disgust.
Rachel looked shocked, but she had stopped shaking. As her eyes remained on Quinn, lust lingered in the depths of them. Her mouth was now graced with the hint of a grin.
Quinn smiled awkwardly.
"Thanks," Rachel said softly.
As Quinn watched Rachel walk into the gym, worry filled her as her eyes slid over Rachel's back. She hadn't meant to do that. She had wanted to though for a while, but it was a subconscious wish. As her eyes had traveled over Rachel's body when she danced in their training sessions, instincts in her body had burned with the desire to kiss her. But she would never actually do that in real life. Realistically speaking she barely even knew Rachel. And then there was the darker thought, even though Quinn was ashamed of thinking it: what if Rachel told someone?
Of course, another nasty voice laughed in her head: who would Rachel even tell?
Quinn gave herself an internal shake. She really cared about Rachel, that was all she knew, and she wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize their friendship, and she really hoped that she hadn't already did.
Quinn's kiss filled Rachel with fire as she did the routine and she preformed it better than she ever had. She didn't even flinch when Coach Sylvester talked to her.
Rachel had always been a little confused about her sexuality. Over the years, she had learned to pick a guy in each school that she found friendly and good-looking and tell people that he was her 'crush' when they asked. But she had always been secretly obsessed with a girl, usually a different one every year. She had never understood what the obsessions meant. But she did now, and this filled her with a new kind of self-confidence that she had never experienced before.
Plus Quinn had kissed her! She had always wondered if the love she felt for Quinn was unrequited, but now, there was a possiblity that Quinn loved her back. Or would come to love her someday.