Disclaimer: Still mine. Or not. Whatever.
A.N.: And this is Day 3. Thank you to everyone who subscribed, marked as favorite, and reviewed! (everyone from last chapter, plus mag721, CrayonsPink, aclassicistkitten, Dasey-Naleyfan14, GleeFreak-VampireChik, Just-Hazel-Eyes123, aussietasha, twighlightangel61090)
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He knocked on the glass door.
"Hey" he said when she looked up.
"Hello" she answered formally and looked back down, continuing to work.
He sighed, and not waiting to be invited, walked into her office and sat down on one of the chairs in front of her desk.
"Emma, I…" he started, but she interrupted.
"Look, Will, I don't have time to talk right now. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do"
They stayed in silence for a few moments, during which she did not look at him once.
"I just want to fix things between us, Emma"
Her head kept saying it was too late, but her heart, as it always happens, said something different.
"Not now, Will. We are at work"
"Alright. How about dinner?"
"What?" she looked up confused.
"Tomorrow night. We can have dinner at my place"
"Will, I don't think…"
On an impulse, he grabbed her hand that was resting on top of her desk and squeezed it. "Come on, Emma. It's just dinner. It will give us a chance to talk, sort things out"
"I don't know if I'll be available tomorrow night" They both knew it was a lie. She took her hand away from his grasp.
"We can do it any other night" He rested back on the chair with a sad look in his eyes "Please, Emma. I know I screwed up badly. But give me one more chance. Let me explain everything. I'm not asking you to forgive me just yet, but to hear me out. Please?"
She looked deep into his eyes and saw his regret, his sadness and his pain. But a little voice inside her head warned her that nothing was stopping him from hurting her again.
But would he? It was Will she was talking about. For a long time, he had been her most trusted friend. Would he deliberately do something to cause her pain?
"It happened once, it can happen again" her conscience told her.
"I'll be there at seven" she finally said.
He smiled and got up to leave. When he reached the door, he looked back at her and whispered:
"Thank you"
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Dear Diary,
For three days now, I haven't come across any members of that disgusting glee club. Surprisingly, I haven't seen William, either.
Has God decided to make my wildest dream come true and got rid of all those losers?
I don't think so. It would be too good to be true. If I want to destroy them, I'll have to use my own hands. I have learned long ago that it's no good to wait on other people if you want something done.
But truth is, Diary, although I hate to admit it, I don't know what to do anymore. Yes, that's right, Sue Sylvester is clueless. I have tried everything to turn glee club into dust, but nothing has worked so far. Somehow, those annoying brats always find a way to overcome every single obstacle I carefully and thoughtfully put in their path.
But don't you worry, Diary. I will not rest until I see tears of defeat roll down William Schuester's face.
I will do whatever it takes.
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"Hey, Quinn!"
She turned around, and bumped into a football player.
"Watch it, preggo" the boy said, walking away.
"Want me to go after him?" Matt asked as he caught up with her.
"No, that's okay" she smiled. It was still hard not to be the queen of the school anymore, but she was getting used to it, little by little.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure, Matt" she laughed.
"Ok. I was thinking maybe you and me could start work on the assignment for real. I mean, it didn't really work the other day, did it?"
"No, it didn't" they started walking together down the hall to their next classes.
"I got a few ideas already"
"I have some too"
"Great. We can go to my house. Is 4 ok?"
"It's fine. I'll be there"
"Alright. See ya, Quinn"
"Bye, Matt"
She walked into her Spanish class and he continued on. The room was empty, except for Rachel, who was sitting in the last row. She didn't look at Quinn, who couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong. Rachel always sat in the first row in every class.
Quinn put her books down in her usual chair, but didn't sit down. She was thinking whether she should ask Rachel what happened, or just ignore her, as she used to do. However, Quinn was pulled out of her thoughts by the other girl's voice.
"How do you do it, Quinn?" Rachel's voice was barely audible.
"What do you mean?"
"How do you cope with being laughed at, and with people talking about you behind your back all the time?"
Quinn slowly made her way to where Rachel sat, and turned the chair in front of her around, so they could be face to face.
"Everyday I say to myself that I have to be strong for one day, one more day only" Quinn said softly.
"You make it sound so easy" Rachel smiled sadly and looked up at the girl. Quinn noticed she had been crying.
"I think you know it's not. But we have to go on. I wake up in the morning, and go to bed at night. In the meantime, I try to survive the best way I can"
"I've been doing that for the past few years"
"And I just now learned how to do it. We're on the same boat now, Berry, whatever that means" Quinn smiled and held Rachel's hand.
They looked at each other, and both were thinking the same thing: How could they so quickly go from mortal enemies to what they were now?
"What happened?" Quinn asked.
"Some boy threw a slushie at me" Rachel sighed "I know I should be used to that by now, since it happens almost everyday, but I can't bring myself not to be upset by it"
"You should not accept it, Rachel. Those boys don't have a right to mock you."
"There's nothing I can do"
Quinn stayed silent for a moment. She knew Rachel was right; there was nothing she could do to stop being the laughing stock of the school, just as there was nothing Quinn could do to stop the mean comments that spread around every time she walked by.
"Look, Rachel, I'm not so good in giving advice, but if there's one thing I learned with this pregnancy, is that things can change when you least expect them to, for better or for worse. Whatever happens, you have to hold on to the good things in your life, or you'll go insane."
"What did you hold on to?"
It was the most personal question anyone could ask her, Quinn thought. "My family was not an option. The only thing I have left now is Glee club and the people in it" She smiled.
"How's that working out for you?"
"Terribly"
They both laughed. Rachel was thankful for Quinn having changed so much.
"Rachel, as long as you focus on the good things you have, it'll get better, I promise"
Rachel dried the remaining tears on her cheeks and smiled. They did not need any more words to know that everything had changed in between them.
Quinn got up and walked to where she had put her things earlier, picked them up, and walked back to Rachel, giving up her usual seat (right in the middle of the room – not too much to the back, so Mr. Schue wouldn't think she wasn't interested in the class, and not too much in the front, so she would be covered if she wanted to do something else during class, like a crossword puzzle or something – not that she ever did that) to sit beside the other girl.
As she sat down and Rachel smiled at her full of gratitude, Quinn knew she had just discovered what song she would like Matt to sing for the Glee club assignment.
"Good morning" Mr. Schue walked in and dropped his things on his desk.
"Morning, Mr. Schue" both girls said.
The professor looked around to see if they were alone. Then he walked up closer to where the girls were – noticing and being surprised by the fact that they were together – and said hesitantly:
"Girls, I need your help"
Rachel and Quinn looked at each other then back at Mr. Schue, who seemed nervous.
"How do I say I'm sorry to a woman I really care about?" he asked, and knew they understood what he was talking about.
The girls smiled wickedly. This was going to be fun.
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"Brittany, you know your song is originally a duet, right?"
Kurt caught up with the blonde as soon as Spanish class was over. Both had noticed Quinn and Rachel whispering and laughing in the back during the whole period, and, although everyone else seemed to think it was the strangest thing in the world, the glee club members knew that that kind of bonding was becoming something common in their group.
"Yes" the girl answered innocently, and continued walking to her locker.
"And you don't think that's a problem?"
"Kurt, Mr. Schue said to pick our favorites. That's my only favorite" she looked at him apologetically.
"Alright. But I'll probably have to change a few things."
"That's ok" she smiled sweetly. Kurt smiled back and was turning to leave when she said "Kurt, are you going to the party?"
"What party?" he asked, interested.
"Brian, this guy from the football team I've been kissing again, is having a big party tomorrow night at his house. He told me not to invite any losers, but he didn't say anything about glee club"
Kurt didn't remind her that the losers were the glee club.
"Thank you, Brittany. I'll spread the word" he said, and walked away, taking his phone out of his pocket and dialing Mercedes' number. "Diva" he said when she picked up "Get ready. We're taking the Prada out of the closet"
As he chatted, he passed by Rachel, who was walking to her next class.
Thanks to Quinn's jokes and their attempts to draw out a course of action that would take Mr. Schue right into Ms. Pilsbury good graces again, she was feeling much better than when the class started. She had even a hint of a smile on her face.
But that little smile faded like a lamp burning when she saw Puck.
That wouldn't have happened had he been alone.
Whispering on his ear, in the most suggestive way possible, was a blonde cheerleader with a flirtatious smile on her face.
The girl was beautiful, and it shouldn't have surprised Rachel when soon she and Puck had their tongues intertwined, showing off their lip lock as if they wanted people to stop and stare.
Rachel did not understand immediately what came over her that moment, but whatever it was, it caused her to turn around and run to the bathroom.
Thankfully, it was empty. As she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she knew what had caused her to run. But she did not want to admit it was jealousy.
What did that mean?, she asked herself. Was she in love with Noah Puckerman? Was that even possible? Did the fact that, when she saw him kissing the cheerleader, she remembered him kissing her in her bed, mean anything? Should she be worried that she missed his lips on her?
Tears threatened to roll down her face for the second time that day, and she cursed herself for being so vulnerable.
She was not in love, she told herself over and over again.
But what if she was? Noah Puckerman, of all the people in the world? You are crazy, Berry.
What good could come out of this? She was so tired of being hurt.
A single tear fell from her eyes as she started singing quietly to herself.
I've had love and love's had me
I've been held and been set free
And I have lived enough to know
That you might stay or you might go
So here I am, one more time
Call me brave, call me blind
I'm gonna count to three
I'm gonna hold my breath
Try not to be afraid,
Though it scares me half to death
I'm out here on a limb
Although I know that it might break
My heart is gonna want you anyway
And if this love has any chance at all
Someone's gotta be the first to fall
She could not stop the tears anymore.
A.N.: I think this story might end up being longer than I expected. Anyway, the song is The First to Fall, by Terri Clark. Constructive criticism, song suggestions and any kind of feedback is always welcome. I have noticed that many people are subscribing but not reviewing. Thinking of those who don't review because they don't know what to say, I've created two standards review lines. You can copy and paste the one you feel fits your opinion better. Option 1 – I liked it. Good job!, Option 2 – I didn't like it. What the hell are you doing?.