Quinn awoke to the piercing beeping of her alarm clock and the equally stirring autumn sunlight streaming into the room. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched under the covers before reaching out for the phone on her bedside table. 2 missed calls from Rachel and 3 texts, not as many as she'd expected but still unhealthily satisfying.

Where are you Quinn? I need to get home it's 11 o'clock! Rachel x

Quinn, it's 11.15, where are you! Rachel x

Santana said you left already, why didn't you tell me you were going? Rachel

She closed the messages and dropped her phone back onto her desk before rolling over and stretching out again with a yawn. It was then that it hit her that it was 6am and she had to be at Cheerios practice in an hour and she was without a car. She let out a groan and threw the covers off herself before shuffling into her bathroom and practically falling into the shower. After possibly the quickest shower she'd ever had Quinn was out and dressed by 6.15, hair in a flawless ponytail and all homework and books packed inside her Cheerios duffle bag. She shouldered the bag and jogged downstairs before grabbing her phone once more and sending Santana a text.

Any chance of a lift? Q x

She put her phone back down on the counter and set about pouring a glass of smoothie for herself as sounds of life could be heard filtering down from upstairs. Her phone vibrated against the marble countertop.

Its 6.15 fuck off! S

Quinn let out a laugh before texting back.

We have practice in 45mins Q x

You think I'm going to practice after last night?

Sylvester will kill you Q x

No she won't, she loves me S

Whatever, see you in History Q x

Let me sleep already!

Quinn let out a laugh and put her phone into her bag before putting her now empty glass into the dishwasher and preparing for a speed walk to practice. Just as she was exiting the room she was stopped by the small frame of her mother who was already fully dressed and ready for work, unusually early.

"Let me have a coffee and then I'll give you a lift." She said as though this happened every day. Quinn raised her eyebrow as her mother walked past her into the large kitchen and turned on the coffee machine.

"...Ok" Quinn said dubiously as her mother poured herself a coffee and took a sip. "Why are you up so early?"

"You don't have a car and I thought you'd need a lift." She said turning back to face Quinn and taking another sip of coffee. She had to hand it to her mum it was quite impressive how she managed to drink so much and then get up at 6 the next day and revive herself with just one cup of coffee.

"Won't dad be angry that you're giving me a lift?"Quinn questioned sceptically.

"Your father isn't up yet and I doubt he'd want you to be late for school over one minor slip up." A slip up, that was a nice way of phrasing it, it was a slip up that she was at the Berry's house, it was a slip up that she was now friends with Rachel and it was a slip up that she was in love with said girl and had been for about a year. If only her parents could see all of her 'failings' in that way, minor slip ups, hiccups within their perfect lives.

"Right" Quinn said turning back to leave the kitchen. "I'll be in the car." She said exiting the room and grabbing her mother's car keys.

The journey was strange to say the least, it was as though they were two strangers in a car for the most part, as though Quinn was some hitchhiker and her mother some random driver, their lives brushing for the briefest of times before they went on with their separate and opposite lives and forgot about ever meeting one another. That was until Judy broke the silence.

"Where did you go last night?" she questioned after they were about 3 blocks from their home. Quinn almost spluttered at her mother's question.

"What? I was in my room of course."

"Quinn your keys were gone for half the night, are you telling me you were just sat in your room staring at you keys before replacing them at some point before 12?" Quinn paled considerably.

"I could have been for all you know." She spat back with more venom than intended.

"Don't make this about me, I'm asking you where you were."

"What does it matter where I was, it clearly didn't matter to you or dad last night, you were too busy drinking to care what I was doing! I could have been out fighting crime for all you know."

"That's why I'm asking where you were." Judy replied with remarkable calm, Quinn was sure that if it was her dad she'd have been out on the sidewalk by now. Despite this she remained silent. "Your father doesn't know and I won't tell him if you just tell me what you were doing last night out until midnight?"

"I wasn't out until midnight."

"Right, so when were you out until?"

"11" Quinn gave in.

"And where were you?"

"At Puck's house." Her mother's eyebrows rose. "It was a party." Quinn explained.

"And who else was there?"

"It was a party mum, I'm not gonna reel off a list of everyone who was there."

"Who invited you?"

"Santana"

"And who were you there with?" Quinn paused for the briefest of seconds.

"Santana and Brittany." She said however her mum wasn't satisfied with the answer.

"Who were you there with?"

"I told you, Santana and Brittany!"

"Was that Rachel girl there?" Now Quinn paused for a more noticeable amount of time.

"Yes"

"Quinn, you know what your father said about her!"

"That's rubbish and you know it!" Quinn was starting to get angry again, she was fed up of people judging the girl for no real reason other than the fact she had two dad's rather than a mum and a dad. Judy Fabray paused this time and avoided Quinn's remark.

"Your father asked you to stop seeing-"

"He didn't ask me, he told me." Quinn remarked however her mother carried on.

"You are to obey your parents. It's a commandment Quinn."

"What do you think about her then? Do you think it's right to ignore someone because of things outside their control?"

"Your father has said-"

"What do you think mum? I'm asking you."

"It doesn't matter what I think."

"Yes it does, your my mum, I want to know what you think." They had pulled up in the school parking lot by this point and it was clear Judy was not going to make a reply.

"Have a good day at school, you'll have to make your own way back home tonight and don't sneak out again or I will have to tell your father." Quinn opened her mouth once or twice however couldn't think of anything to say so just opened the door and shouldered her bag.

"Thanks" she said bitterly before shutting the door with more force than necessary and making her way to the gym.

Quinn walked into History just seconds before the final bell sounded to signal the beginning of class, she'd timed it just so to avoid any time she might have to speak to Rachel. The brunette gave her a weak smile as she sat down however Quinn refused to acknowledge her and went about pulling out her books ready for the class.

"Hi?" Rachel said quietly as the teacher began to call out the register.

"Rachel Berry?"

"Yes sir"

"Hi" Quinn replied without looking at the diva.

"Why did you leave early last night?"

"I felt sick." Quinn replied coldly.

"Quinn Fabray?"

"Yes sir."

"Oh" came the brunette's reply, "You should have said something."

"You were dancing with Finn, I didn't want to intrude." Quinn replied bitterly causing Rachel to squirm slightly; she hadn't heard Quinn's HBIC voice for quite some time and the change was unnerving to say the least. Quinn was surprised at how bitchy that sounded however it was the truth, she was jealous.

"I would have gone with you." Rachel replied quietly. Quinn looked over at the brunette finally however the register was over and the teacher was in full swing so the blond turned her head back to the front and didn't reply.

After a brief set of instructions they were set to watch a video and make notes as the teacher went out of the room to do whatever it is teachers do when they're not in class. Most of the room erupted into chatter as soon as the door closed and any hope of using the video as a viable distraction disappeared.

"I had to call my dad's to give me a lift." Rachel remarked having got back some of her confidence.

"Why didn't you get Finn to give you a lift back?" Quinn said, the bitterness still lacing her voice.

"He was past the legal limit to drive and he didn't have his car. My dad had to drop him off at his place." Quinn practically crushed her pen at this new piece of information, ink spilt onto her notepad and hands.

"I have to go clean this up." Quinn remarked getting up from her place and exiting the room with graceful yet angry strides. Rachel stared after her in confusion and watched as she through the broken pen into the bin with unneeded force. Santana's eyes were also directed at her friend as she swept from the room, momentarily distracted from talking to Brittany and some of the Jocks sat in front of them.

Quinn stormed into the bathroom and violently twisted the tap allowing an angry jet of water to stream from the stained chrome. She began to scrub her hands to rid herself of the ink stain with unnecessary vigour until it was nearly all gone leaving a red patch in its place. She pulled out some paper from the dispense and dried her hands off before looking at herself in the mirror. What was she doing? She was going to completely lose Rachel if she couldn't control her jealousy and that was something she couldn't risk all for the sake of some dumb party and an even dumber teenage boy. She balled her fists on the edges of the cold sink and gave herself the once over, allowing her breathing to return to normal before tightening her pony tail and exiting the bathroom.

She returned to the room to find Rachel attempting to listen to the video over the racket of the class with that dramatically determined face. Quinn took her seat again and Rachel looked nervously at her.

"Do you have a spare pen you can lend me?" Quinn asked calmly to which the diva's face lit up.

"Of course" she smiled and reached into her pink fluffy pencil case pulling out an equally garish pen.

"Thanks" Quinn said accepting the pen with a smile. They remained in silence for a minute or so until it became apparent that the video could never be used as a viable excuse to avoid conversation with all the noise in the room.

"Do you feel better today?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, yeah, loads better."

"And your parents didn't find out about you going out then I'm guessing?"

"No, well my mum did but for some reason she didn't tell my dad." Quinn said with furrowed eyebrows, she hadn't realised how strange that was until now that her mum hadn't told her dad, she hadn't even properly told her off.

"That's good then."

"Yep. Show what did your dad's say about having to come and pick you up from a house party?" Quinn asked with a smirk.

"They were surprised more than anything, they'll probably have something to say about it tonight though, especially the fact that they had to pick me up and give a heavily intoxicated teenage boy a lift home." Quinn swallowed at the reference as she felt both jealousy and guilt at the fact that she'd just left Rachel at the party, she was actually surprised Rachel hadn't had a go at her for that.

"When did you get back?"

"It was about half 11 when I got into bed." Quinn paused for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry for just leaving you there, I just... I needed to get away from there."

"I know" Rachel said with a little too much sympathy and it made Quinn feel even guiltier. She swallowed it down and carried on with the conversation.

"So did you have fun then even though I just left you there?"

"Yes I had a great time; I never knew how much fun that dancing in a crowd of sweaty people could be." Rachel wasn't going to make this easy for her.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool. Did you dance for long?"

"Until about 11.05 when Finn went to get us drinks and I realised the time and I couldn't find you." No, she was definitely making this very difficult the jealousy came back with vengeance.

"Cool" Quinn said, she knew what she wanted to ask now, what she needed to know but really really didn't want to. "Are you two... dating then?" she asked with hesitance. Rachel coloured slightly, blood flushing her cheeks.

"I... Not really, I mean, you only just broke up with him Quinn and I don't want to just-"

"I-Its fine really, I ended it not him so it's fine." Quinn replied with a shaky voice, she didn't know what she was doing, her mouth was acting of its own accord, doing the right thing when her whole body was screaming for her to stop it, to be a bitch and keep Rachel all to herself, stop her from doing what she wanted just for the sake of what she herself wanted. It hurt but if she wanted to stay in any kind of relationship with Rachel than she had to let her make her own decisions.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked with apprehension.

"Totally" Quinn replied with a weak smile, why did being selfless hurt so much? Doing what was right was meant to feel good surely but this made her feel awful; conflicted and jealous. Then Rachel gave her the warm and bright smile and the pain seemed to dim for a few brief and glorious moments before the teacher re-entered the room causing Rachel to turn away and Quinn was struck with the implications of her words. She still had Rachel but only as a friend, she had her knowing full well that Finn had more, Finn had the part she longed for or at least he would have it in the not so distant future.

The bell rang above their heads and Quinn began to pack away her stuff rolling the pen back across to Rachel who mumbled a muffled goodbye before leaving the classroom. Quinn exited the room and walked to her next lesson in a slight daze as she looked back over what she'd said to Rachel in the last hour. Today was going to be hell.

Glee club rolled around after an agonizingly slow day and Quinn entered the choir room to see Finn and Rachel sat side by side. The brunette gave her a wave as she walked to the chairs which the blond weakly returned before noticing their intertwined fingers and looking away, walking across the room to sit beside Brittany and Santana.

"Hey Q" Brittany said cheerful as she sat down.

"Hi" Quinn replied in a rather dulcet tone. Santana turned away from Brittany to look at her friend with an air of concern.

"How are you?" she asked with evident worry.

"Fine" Quinn replied equally monotonous.

"You don't look fine." Santana replied.

"How do you want me to look?" Quinn bit back.

"Don't take all your shit out on me Q, you could have stopped it." Santana snapped back but before Quinn could reply Mr Schuester entered the room and practice began. Finn and Rachel were unbearably coupley throughout the session which inspired many bitchy remarks from Santana and equally forlorn looks from Quinn while the rest of the Glee club just looked a little sickened by the new couple. Thankfully practice was cut short as Mr Schue had an appointment or something and so Quinn only had to endure just under an hour of this new optical torture.

"Do you need a lift home Quinn?" Rachel asked after saying goodbye to her oversized boyfriend.

"I-"

"Look Manhands do you think Q wants to get a lift home from a boyfriend stealing, argyle wearing, dwarf?" Santana interrupted Quinn with her usual bitchy attitude.

"I..." Rachel was actually lost for words after that display, she didn't think she'd hurt Quinn by dating Finn, she'd even asked her permission.

"Exactly, now run along home treasure trail." Santana waved with a mockingly sweet face. Rachel looked from the Latina to Quinn in hurt and question before quickly exiting the choir room.

"Rachel" Quinn called as the diva exited the room before turning to Santana with an angry expression. "Why did you call her that?" she yelled.

"Because she's a bitch, come on if you want a lift." Santana said picking up her bag and exiting the room, pinky interlinked with Brittany's.

"She's not a bitch, I said it was fine for her to date him, it is fine for her to date him, it's not like I own her or anything, she deserves to be happy!" Quinn called as she followed the two girls down the corridor. Santana stopped and swung around.

"Don't give me that self righteous crap Q, what about you? Don't you deserve some happiness?" Santana questioned, the blond was stumped for a return. She hadn't thought about herself throughout all of this. "You dumped Finn because you liked Berry and now you're letting him have her without a fight. That seems a little stupid to me." The Latina continued. Quinn furrowed her eyebrows, Santana was right, she hadn't even tried to stop it, if she really liked Rachel than she should try everything she could to get her. Her face set in determination and Santana gave her a smirk. "Finally she gets it." She said in triumph. "Now can we please get out of this dump?" Quinn smiled before following her two friends out into the parking lot to get a lift home and begin plotting her strategy to win Rachel Berry.

A/N: Don't hate me for this turn of events; don't worry I hate Finchel so it will be kept to a minimum, I just enjoy a good bit of jealous!Quinn so I thought I'd write it in. Anyway, how long do you guys want the chase to last? I could carry on for a long while but if you're all impatient then I won't because I'm nice like that.

So there's the question; how long can you wait? Thanks for reading and please review!