Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I hope this chapter isn't going to disappoint you guys. I just couldn't find the flow to carry the story where I wanted to go. But I rather have something up than make you guys wait any longer. Sorry for any mistakes.

"You have disappointment me and disgraced my immaculate squad." Sue spat at her head cheerleader. "You should be ashamed of yourself letting one of your own make the most idiotic mistake anybody could make in the duration of their high school career. This is publicity that I don't need, Q. Things our sponsors don't care about. You have no control over your squad leading me to believe that you're too weak to lead our team into victory." Sue spat at her.

Quinn's fist clenched tightly as she fought internally to she hold her tongue.

"And don't get me started with your face." Sue pointed.

She was still sporting an ugly bruising that was still purple thanks to Santana.

"I should kick you off the squad and tear apart that annoying group of squealing pigs you call Glee Club." Sue continued to berate the blonde. "Then you can truly fit in with your band of misfits."

She was getting very annoyed with people that were holding her responsible for Santana's mistake. But as much as she hated sitting there and hearing Sue scold her, Quinn knew better than to say anything.

She knew the smartest thing to do was take coach harsh lecture and get out of here. She honestly didn't care if coach kicked her off the squad.

"But I'm not. You remind me of a young Sue Sylvester and I'm going to punish you in my own way."

Quinn took a deep breathe as she mentally prepared herself for the hell she's going to go through for God knows how long. Probably until she graduated from this godforsaken school.

Coach was not known for being lenient on her punishments.

"For starters, you will find someone better than the Mexican preggers you call your best friend to fill in her vacant spot. And I want somebody by the end of the day, Fabray. You will clean all the trophies everyday. You will stay how ever long it takes you to fall to the floor covered in your own puke after practice running laps. And I want to see blood, sweat and tears from you. Do you understand me?" Sue asked with a menacing stare.

Quinn gulped.

"Yes coach." Quinn dutifully accepting her punishment.

"Get the hell out of my office." She barked before returning to write in her diary.

Quinn quickly scampered out of Sue's office before she could add anything else.

"Finn!"

Finn furrowed his brow as he turned around to find his Spanish teacher calling his name .

"I'll see you guys later." Finn said to his teammate who were all leaving the locker room from a light morning football practice.

"Mr. Shue, Did I fail another test? Spanish is really hard." Finn asked scratching his head.

"Actually, yeah-you did failed the pop quiz I gave last friday, but that's not what I want to talk to you about." Will said quickly leading his student into his empty classroom.

"Okay." Finn said taking a seat while Mr. Shue closed the door.

Mr. Shue went behind his desk and opened his drawer to reveal a bag of marijuana before throwing it on the desk in front of Finn. He was not proud of what he was going to do but he was getting desperate.

"Um... I don't want to smoke pot with you, Mr. Shue." Finn drawled out awkwardly staring at the bag of drugs.

"Very Funny. That belongs to you. We found it in your locker after the routine locker check this week." The curly haired teacher lied.

He honestly would find it discomforting on how easy he was able to obtain a bag of marijuana if he wasn't so keen on his mission to get Terri fired. He had overheard some students reveal that a former teacher was selling them to Mckinley High Students. He would usually report this type of activity to Mr. Figgins but he had more important matters to focus on.

Finn abruptly scraped his chair backwards and stood up, putting a good amount of distance from the illegal substance.

"That is not mine. I've never done that in my life."

Finn had a lot of things on his plate and being accused of possession of drugs is something he didn't need right now.

"You can get in a lot of trouble for this. No football. No scholarship. You can even get expelled from school." Will said in a serious tone trying to scare Finn.

"I swear...I don't even know how that got in there. Are you sure you got the right locker?" Finn asked panicking, frighten at what might happened.

"Calm down." Will put an hand on the taller boys shoulder.

"I promise you that's not mine." He tried to convinced Mr. Shue again.

"I'm not going to tell Figgins." Will calmly assured.

"Your not?" He furrowed his brow in confusion.

"No." Will answered softly.

"Okay." Finn's body finally relaxed.

"As a favor in return for not turning you in, you need to do something for me." Will said taking a seat on the desk.

"Anything." Finn quickly said.

"Miss Del Monico is making a mockery at of the Glee club and doesn't have what it takes to lead you guys to National. I think you guys deserved to make it and take the trophy home. To be proud of being apart of something." Will started.

"Yeah, She lets the Cheerios do whatever they want." Finn agreed.

"Exactly. You guys are the underdogs. Everyone deserves a chance in the spot light." Will smiled at how quickly he was getting through to the quarterback.

"Okay. What are you saying? What do you need me to do?" Finn asked still confused.

"We are just going to make Figgins see that Miss Del Monico is not fit for that role. I want to take over Glee. I can really help you guys be successful."

"Okay as long as Rachel and I get to be co-captains. I have to get her back." Finn readily agreed.

He was going to take any opportunity to win Rachel's affection again.

"Deal." Will smiled victoriously.

Quinn groaned internally as she watched another stereotypical cheerleading routine. Finding someone to fill Santana's spot is going to be harder than she thought.

One after another, Quinn was slowly dying in boredom. Every one of these prospect was making her lose hope on finding a replacement.

They were all pathetic.

The Cheerios and the type of cheerleading they were all about was more about athleticism than coming up with cheesy rhyming routines. She was getting the idea that the school really didn't know what the Cheerio's were capable of.

Quinn signaled with her hands for the girl in front of her to stop her pathetic routine.

"Can you do an aerial flip?" Quinn questioned.

"Um...I can put my fist in my mouth?"

Quinn shook her head.

"Get out." Quinn said annoyed that this girl wasted her time.

Quinn shoulders slumped as she took in the endless line of girls waiting to tryout. She wondered if Sue threaten every girl in this school to tryout just so Quinn would have to endure hours of misery as another form of her torturous punishment.

She wish she could just randomly pick one but coach told her that she had to watch every audition.

When Quinn glanced up briefly to address the next person in line, she saw Brittany stride past the wide open gymnasium's door.

"Tryouts will continue after school." Quinn announced, ignoring the collective groans, before quickly standing up to race towards the door before Brittany got away.

"Brittany, can we please talk?" Quinn yelled before the taller blonde could disappear in the hallway.

Quinn lightly jogged the remaining distance when the blonde stopped.

"What do we need to talk about?" Brittany asked turning around.

"I want a chance to explain- to apologized."

"You've apologized already. And you don't need to explain anything." Brittany said curtly and continued to walk away bristly.

Quinn grabbed her wrist.

"I want to fix this." Quinn insisted sternly.

"I can't right now. It hurts too much." Brittany said with a tinge of sadness.

"What can I do?" Quinn desperately wanted her friend back.

"Just leave me alone." Brittany pleaded.

Quinn huffed in frustration.

"I get that your hurt...but..."

"Hey girls, the hallways are now drama-free zone. Do you guys want to go to the Choir room?" Miss Del Monico quickly interrupted bringing her arms around both of the blondes trying to usher them away from Figgins office.

After the unpleasant meeting she had with Figgins, she was going to make sure to interact with her Glee Club if she sees any one of them in the hallways, to keep them from fighting, especially the Cheerios.

Brittany stared fixedly at the ground while shuffling her feet.

"I have to get to class." She muttered, ducking under Miss Del Monico arm to continue her destination.

Quinn watched her go, as she felt defeated.

"So you and Santana made up right?" Miss Del Monico asked the head cheerleader.

"Satan could rot in hell for all I care." Quinn spat out before walking the other direction for her own class.

"Okay...don't forget glee rehearsals later, you guys." Terri called out to them, trying to remain cheerful.

Quinn swung her legs softly back and forth as she sat at the end of the stage waiting alone. She had texted Brittany before lunch if she would meet her in the auditorium so they can go over their duet one last time before Sectionals tomorrow, but the blonde had not responded. She knew it was a long shot but she decided to wait there if the taller blonde by any chance changed her mind. She knew how much Brittany loved Glee and wouldn't take the chance of lowering their chance to win tomorrow.

Even if she was mad at her.

Quinn lifted her head sharply when she hears the auditorium door open, hoping to see Brittany. But instead of a tall blonde sporting a Cheerios uniform, there was a small brunette with a short argyle skirt, knee high stocking, topping it off with an adorable owl sweater wearing a bright smile when their eyes met.

Rachel had confronted her earlier concern about her well being after the fight between her and Santana yesterday. Only when Rachel saw her she had fussed over more over her prominent bruises she found adding to the ones the blonde acquire during the hallway fight. Quinn was able to calm her down and promise to tell her about it later and gave her the excuse that she was going to be late to class.

Rachel's initial smile faded into a frowned when she noticed the blonde's shoulder slumped slightly in disappointment.

"I thought you would be more happy to see me?" Rachel asked as she made her way towards the stage.

"I am but I was expecting Brittany."

Rachel's expression was sympathetic.

"The rumor mill is that the Unholy Trinity broke up" Rachel said as she took a seat next to Quinn on the stage.

Quinn wasn't surprised.

But most of all, she didn't care.

Quinn sighed and laid down on the stage, resting her head on Rachel's lap.

She moaned softly when she felt Rachel releasing her blonde lock out of her pony tail and lightly threading her fingers through her hair. These were the moments she found the most soothing.

Yes.

Sue Sylvester would reprimand and her punishment would be even more treacherous if she was every caught with her hair down but Quinn couldn't careless at the moment.

She cherished these one on one moments with Rachel.

"I broke up with Finn." Rachel revealed.

"Oh." Quinn said trying to act surprise but Rachel could feel the head cheerleader's body tense that tells her something different.

Quinn knew the only person who knows about Finn's infidelity besides Santana and herself was Brittany but she didn't think the taller blonde would let that type information get out.

"I thought you would be more excited, I mean I know you have a lot of going on and losing two of your longest friends would be traumatic for anyone but this is what you wanted right?" Rachel asked timidly as she gently intertwined their hands.

Quinn curled her fingers tightly around Rachel's smaller ones. They were so soft and smooth. They fit perfectly in her own.

"You do still want to be with me?" Rachel asked nervously again when the blonde didn't answer her.

Quinn could hear the vulnerability in her voice.

"Rachel, I have to be honest with you. If anything were to happen with us, I want us to start it off right. " Quinn reluctantly sat up and faced the brunette.

Inhaling a deep breath, Rachel tried to keep her voice even.

She was suspicious about this since her encounter with Finn but she tried denying it.

"What are you talking about?"

"I knew about Finn cheating on you with Santana" Quinn revealed not wasting anytime.

"What?" Rachel releases the intertwined fingers.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you. Santana is my best friend...or was...I don't know."

"So the whole time we been kissing and spending time together, you knew all along that Finn might have fathered Santana's child?" Rachel stood up quickly to create some space and Quinn followed.

"I know I could have gone with this a different way but..."

"But what?"

"Rachel, I'm sorry..." The blonde apologized.

"I can't believe this, I've thought you've change."

"Hey, I have changed."

"Is this a sick joke you and Santana were playing on me?"

"I wouldn't do that to you." Quinn looked incredulously at her for even thinking that she would do something like that.

"No? You are responsible for making my high school life a living hell." Rachel covered her mouth as soon as the words came out, quickly regretting every word.

Quinn stood shock.

She was afraid Rachel wouldn't see past her mistakes.

"Quinn.."

"It's okay, I deserve that. I know I put you through hell, and there's is not a day that goes by that I tried to figure out how to make it up to you."

"I don't think of you like that anymore, Quinn." Rachel said.

"But a little bit of you is afraid that I'll hurt you."

Rachel looked down shamefully.

"Maybe we should wait until..." Quinn couldn't even finished because that is definitely not what she wanted but she knows it's probably the right thing to do.

"I really want this..." Rachel pleaded. She wanted to believed they could still be together and work on these issues.

"Me too, but I want you to be able to trust me completely, if this is ever going to work."

Rachel felt like they were breaking up and it felt way worse then her actual breakup with Finn. She knew in her heart that this was the smartest decision but she still hated it.

"We can still be friends right." Rachel asked timidly.

Quinn gave her a sad smile.

Quinn didn't want that. She wanted to be more than that but she knew that this was for the best.

"Yeah. Friends." Quinn didn't like the way the word taste as it came out of her mouth but she forced a smile for the brunette anyways.

"Miss Del Monico, You don't really believed Santana is going to pull through tomorrow do you? We need a plan B." Mercedes exclaimed.

This was their last rehearsals before Sectional the next day, and everyone spirits were broken.

"Santana is going to be there." Terri tried to sound convincing even though she herself was not.

"Miss Del Monico Quinn is not comfortable with our routine and we decided that maybe mike can take her place with our duets?" Brittany asked.

Quinn snap her head up from her book towards the blonde with a sour expression. She has been on spot with the routine.

"I know Mike can't sing as well but..." Brittany tried when Miss Del Monico didn't answer.

"Is that okay with you Quinn?" Miss Del Monico interrupted. Her main focus was getting Santana back.

Quinn meets Brittany challenging gaze. It was unnerving that Brittany was being so hostile to her.

"Fine," Quinn relented before turning back to her book masking the hurt look on her face.

If Brittany didn't want to dance with her so be it.

"Okay, what about Santana? Has anybody heard from her?" Terri asked the club but pointing looking at Quinn and Brittany specifically.

Quinn was fighting not to lose her cool while Brittany just looked at the ground.

"We might as well find someone else." Rachel chimed in when they didn't answer.

Obviously everyone knows that the small brunette was referring the herself.

"No, I'll find her. Everyone be at the bus on time tomorrow." Terri said running out of the classroom.

"You should have let her gone to school today."

Santana tried not to roll her eyes. She almost preferred going to school than hearing her mother's endless rants all day. But that was not the case, so she just put her head down and slowly picked at the dried chicken on her plate.

"I mean, you are just babying her Miguel. She's responsible enough to go have sex and thinks she's an adult, then she should own able to face her peers at school."

When her dad didn't saying anything, she could feel the steam coming off her mother.

"Hey!" Santana yelled when her mom snatched her plate away along with her dads.

"The chicken is dried anyways." Her mother said as she dumped them in the sink.

"Calm down, Maribel." Her father tried.

"Calm down? How can you be so calm? How can we ever trust her not to make another stupid mistake? Next time it could be drugs or something worse. What if we find lying in a ditch somewhere. I just..." Maribel started tearing up. Miguel stood quickly from his seat to console his crying wife.

Santana heart broke at the sound of her mother sobbing and knowing she was the cause of her pain. She looked down at the table disappointed with herself. She didn't know what to do. Apologizing didn't seem enough. She wanted to lock herself up in her room.

Interrupting her thoughts was the sound of the doorbell.

Santana looked up to her father to see if he was going to answer it but he nodded his head to the door signally her to answer it because he was obviously still busy calming her mother down.

When she opened the door she was surprise to find her Glee Club director but then again Sectional was tomorrow and knew that Miss Del Monico was worried that the brunette didn't show up today and her phone was confiscated by her parents.

"Miss Del Monico, what are you doing here?" Santana asked.

"You weren't at school today and nobody has talk to you and I was worried." Terri said

"Thanks but its not a good time as you can imagine." Santana said as she tried to close the door.

"Wait..." Miss Del Monico pushed the door back from keeping it from closing.

"What?" Santana rolled her eyes.

"Sectionals are tomorrow and..."

"I can't make it." Santana interrupted. She was not ready to face everyone yet.

"You can still dance. It wont hurt the baby, it's barely developing..."

"I'm not pregnant." Santana whispered looking at the ground.

"What?" Terri stared at her owl-eyed.

"I'm not pregnant." Santana repeated harshly as she shut the door behind her.

"The doctor you recommend is a piece of shit and my dad is in process in closing that whole clinic down. They were breaking like a million sanitary code. And they apparently had the wrong results switching mine with someone us and I conveniently got my period today. So, no, i'm not pregnant." She spat out angrily at her Glee Club director

"That's good news right?" Terri said smiling at Santana despite the ex-cheerleader's deathly glare.

"I lost my two best friends, Coach Sylvester kicked me out of the Cheerios, everyone at school thinks I'm a whore, my parents are inside crying at how their only daughter is a big disappointment to them. No there is no good news." Santana shouted.

"Okay, Okay..." Miss Del Monico threw her hands up in surrender as she tried to calm the brunette down.

Miss Del Monico finally looked sympathetic to the young brunette as she watched her slump down on her front door steps putting her hands in her face. It was the first time she wasn't thinking about Glee or keeping her job and was actually concern about someone.

She was never good at the comforting anyone. She sadly watched as the Latina look like she finally broke down as her shoulders were slightly shaking and she imagine that she was probably the last person in the world that brunette would show that type of vulnerability to.

She awkwardly decided to sit next to her captain in silence for a few minutes.

"I know everything is messed up. But all those things you can fix. It doesn't seem like it now but trust me, everyone will calm down. As much as joy a baby is to the world, you are in no position for the responsibility and you should be at least thankful that things turn out the way it did."

Terri looked over and saw that the brunette's sniffling as slow down.

"Look Santana, honestly my intentions for coming here were selfish. If you don't make it to Sectional we won't have enough members to compete. And I'm out of a job. But I finally realized I was missing the big picture. It's not about me. And it shouldn't be. Yes it would suck if Figgins fired me and I was stuck working at Sheets and Things for the rest of my life. But can you honest tell me that you hate Glee. What we are doing is amazing and you all have great talent. Well some more than others."

Terri smiled when she heard Santana laughed.

"I love Glee." Santana whispered almost ashamed to admit it out loud. "But they all hate me and I don't know if I can face it right now. I mess up big time, Miss Del Monico."

"Yeah." Miss Del Monico nodding in agreement.

"I don't even know where to start..."

"Come to Sectionals." Terri stood up.

"That's where you start. If you want to make it better with your friends and everyone in Glee. That where you should start. But if you don't that okay too. Just don't regret it." Terri smiled before walking away.

Santana watched as her Glee director walked away until she disappear in the dark leaving her conflicted with her own thoughts.

The last place Quinn wanted to be right now is finding a particular brand of spaghetti sauce at Trader's Joe that happened to be about 30 minutes out of town because her mom wouldn't be satisfied with any other brand. She was so tired from all the insane drudgery that her psychotic coach had put her through all today, she honestly didn't know how she was still awake.

She had managed to chose someone acceptable to her coach to replace Santana's spot. She wasn't in the same league as her ex-best friend but keep it to herself because she could care less about the Cheerios right now. She had other things to worry about it.

As she stood in the middle of pasta aisle looking at the all the different sauces with her blurry tired eyes, she catches a movement to her right and was staring at a familiar looking brunette whose back was towards her. Before she could think twice about it Quinn smiles and walks towards her.

"Hey beautiful, it's strange to see you in this part of town," Quinn flirted even though they had agree earlier to just be friends.

"Excuse me?" The women turned around to face Quinn, revealing her face.

"Oh my god," Quinn's cloudy vision cleared up in record time when she realized that she just came on to a stranger that she mistaken to be Rachel.

"I'm so sorry," Quinn's face felt like it was on fire. "I thought you were someone else."

The women smiled amusingly at the young blonde's embarrassment.

"Quinn Fabray."

Confusion etched on the blonde's face as her name came out from the unknown women.

"How did you..."

"As Vocal Adrenaline's director it is my job to known all of our competition." Shelby smiled kindly at the teenager.

"Oh..." Quinn tried to hide her embarrassment as she now recognize who the women in front of her was. "We saw you guys perform. You guys are amazing."

"Thanks. You guys are... cute." Shelby complemented.

"Cute?" Quinn asked a little offended.

"Come on Quinn, you guys just started a couple months ago and haven't found you're rhythm yet. It's taking me years to get Vocal Adrenaline where they're at now. As head cheerleader of Sue Sylvester's Cheerio's, you should understand that it takes hard work to get to the top." Shelby said honestly.

"For what it's worth I think you guys might me able to slide by Sectionals but Regionals is whole different story."

Quinn could tell the older women was not trying to be rude and was genuine but she couldn't help but firing back.

"You'll be surprise at what we can do." Quinn said in a challenging tone wearing her signature Fabray eyebrow. She surprised herself by defending the New Directions. She thought she didn't care about the Glee Club and was only there for Rachel but here she was standing up for the group.

It was't the strongest stance but she was exhausted.

Shelby smiled at how the the fiery cheerleader in front of her was just tomato red from embarrassment just 15 seconds ago.

"I'm surprise how clever the name New Directions was. Did you come up with that?" Shelby lightly teased as she walked away from the blonde. "You know it sounds like..."

"We know what it sounds like." Quinn said cutting her off.

Shelby laughed.

"Good luck tomorrow, Quinn."

As she watched the older women walk away, she felt something oddly familiar about the women but couldn't put her finger on it. She couldn't give it anymore thought as she felt her eyes getting heavy and her body started to feel sore again. She sighed and returned to the task she was doing before her encounter with Shelby. She also noted to herself never to hit on anybody in public.

"Honestly, I don't see how we can possibly win tomorrow with all the drama that has escalated in our Glee Club. Miss Del Monico is so naive thinking Santana just waltz right in tomorrow and saves the day. Her favoritism is..."

Quinn listened patiently to the endless rambling that the tiny brunette was famous for on the other line. She wanted to curl in her bed after her quick dinner with her mother but Rachel had call and she couldn't find it in her heart to ignore it.

She tries to hide her yawn as she pulls the phone away from her ear for a second, not waiting Rachel to think she wasn't paying attention or didn't care.

"...we should come up with a back-up plan tonight and I don't care if it takes us all morning."

Quinn's eyes widen.

"Rach, no. We need to rest tonight and save our energy. It will work out tomorrow, I promise. Don't stress yourself over this. We'll be fine."

"You're are absolutely correct Quinn, we do need adequate amount of sleep, but our situation is in dire need of..."

"Rach," Quinn interrupted softly.

She can hear the brunette sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry Quinn. I've never had a friend that I could talk to on the phone with for over 5 minutes and that was when I was calling all the Glee members and telling exactly what they needed to work on vocally only to have them hang up on me. Are you going to hang up on me now?"

Quinn laughed.

"No."

Quinn can imagine Rachel smiling on the other end.

"Okay."

"I ran into the Coach of Vocal Adrenaline at Trader's Joe's today and she more or less said we have a good chance on winning tomorrow." Quinn told her trying to be positive.

"Shelby Corcoran said that?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. It was funny how we ran into each other. I mistakenly thought she was you." Quinn laughed at her earlier mistake.

"You thought I was an older women?" Rachel asked offended.

"No!.. I only saw her back and I may have flirted..." Quinn grimace at her stupidity.

"You flirted with her!" Rachel voice climbed louder.

"No! she...you...I don't... I'm very tired." Quinn sighed as she felt maybe she should have ignore Rachel's called after all.

"Goodnight Quinn. I hope you enjoy your precious sleep and dream about older women laying in your bed."

Quinn frowned in disgust of thought of Miss Corcoran like that. But before she can defend herself, Rachel had hung up on her.

"What the hell?" Quinn said confused at how fast the conversation got lost from her. She would berate herself for stumbling so much and not being in control of that conversation but she blamed it on her fatigue-ness and quickly shut her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.