A/N- Sorry for the long wait. This chapter may include some errors, don't say I didn't warn you.
After the two hour drive from Lima to Dayton, they finally arrived at the house Puck claimed they'll be staying at. Santana recognized the scenery because one of their good pals lives around here; more specifically the house they parked in front of.
"We're staying with Froggy Lips?" Santana yawned and stretched out her muscles.
"Yeah, he agreed to take us in. Plus, he missed us." Puck unlocked the cab and went to open the trunk to bring out their luggages.
Santana looked back and saw Rachel curled up on the seats, sleeping peacefully. Who could possibly ruin her slumber...Santana can. She banged her knuckles on the window and that seemed to startle the sleeping brunette.
"Do you see me messing with your blissful sleep?" Rachel snarled while Santana kept smirking but still shook her head "Then don't mess with mine."
"You told us to wake you up. Welcome to Casa de Trouty."
Ah, Sam Evans. She almost forgot that he lived out here, but the last time they visited him, he told them that he'll be moving out soon to have a better education and affordable rent. The house didn't look abandoned and the grass is freshly cut and watered.
Puck handed them their bags and went straight to the door, he knocked a few times then heard the sounds of metal unlocking. Then Sam appeared with a huge grin on his face, happy to see his best friend after so long "Welcome home, man."
The Jewish boy brought him in for a quick hug and pat on the back. He entered the home, followed by his two girls who also greeted him with a hug, and settled on the couch. Puck notice that some furniture was missing; the rug, foot stool, coffee table, inside the home was half empty.
"Where's all your stuff?"
"My folks bought a house in Lima a while ago, but we still own this house for anyone to rent."
"How come you never visited us?" Rachel felt unwanted that her close friend didn't at least tried to contact them.
"With the move and adjusting to a new area I haven't really had much time to explore, and plus the stress of school."
"Which high school you go to? We could stop by and hang out." Santana suggested.
"McKinley."
Puck and Rachel knew where that was since they went to the same high school, but not at the same time. Santana came from Lima Heights, so there was no way she knew about McKinley. They all talked and catched up on their lives, it was a nice change for Puck and Santana to get out the house and mingle with their friend, Rachel never seen them this relaxed and happy in a while.
Hours of eating and talking about what's new, Sam had to leave back to Lima because he has school in the morning. He left the keys on the hook near the front door and said his goodbyes and also to leave this place nice and clean. When Sam left, Puck announced that in two hours they'll be driving around the city for a new spot to tag on "So have your paint ready and ideas sketched out."
Rachel rushed her way to her room and started to draw, many ideas were flowing out onto the paper, but it didn't seem wall-worthy to waste time and paint on. Somehow the thought of Quinn telling her that she could achieve her dreams crept up on her, but it's risky to create and it'll summon questions from her two knuckleheads. She'll make up a story once she's done with her piece.
She began her drawing by doing an outline of Quinn's eye, making sure to get the right shape and put in as much details as possible by doing her lashes and the flecks of gold into her iris. Even though she's drawing Quinn's eye, she still has to have her signature touch to it which is the Statue of Liberty. She drew in her statue into the pupil, visually telling the viewer that New York is all she sees. Rachel's outdone herself with this piece, usually she draws her statue, but this one truly holds a new meaning.
She can't draw this here, this needs to be seen by the person who inspired it. Rachel sighed and tucked away the drawing under her pillow. She'll just stick with her usual stencil.
"Quinn, please talk to me." Brittany pleaded and kept her pout, she knew Quinn couldn't resist the puppy dog look.
"No." Quinn was furious, she felt the knife stab her back once Brittany told her father that she went to go see Rachel again. That night was horrific and involved a lot of yelling from her parents and half-hearted apologies from her. Now, thanks to her 'friend' Brittany, her mother drives her to school and waits for her to be picked up.
"I said I was sorry, I'm just worried about you."
Quinn took a sharp turn into the girl's bathroom and almost slamming the door into Brittany's face "Just leave me alone."
"I can't, we have the same class next and we sit next to each other."
"You betrayed me, you knew how much I wanted to catch her and now I can't," Quinn snarled, dropping her cheerios bag in the process "Who knows where's she at or what she's doing. She could possibly be rounding up her gang and plan to attack my dad."
But Rachel would never do that. Sure, she still hasn't forgotten the hand incident and will punish Rachel when she sees her again, but Rachel wouldn't actually attack on her dad.
"I just wanted to protect you." Brittany said softly, afraid that if she speaks any louder Quinn will go off on her.
"I know, but I also want to protect my dad."
The bell rang and both girls went to class with no bad blood between them, Quinn saw where Brittany was coming from and that made Quinn smile. Their English Lit class was a bore since the teacher kept yapping about other things than the lesson, just a couple more classes to go then she gets swept off her feet into her mother's car and straight to home lockdown.
After school, Quinn looked around to see if her parents would actually go through with picking her up from school and obviously they weren't there. She knew they weren't actually serious, probably taking her to school was the only thing they can do. They both work till five or six in the afternoon. Quinn walked past her cheer squad that were talking in the front of school and said goodbye. She thought about visiting the subway station, but Rachel wouldn't be there so that thought left her mind.
She was so consumed in her thoughts that she bumped into another person, almost knocking her off her feet. Quinn barked out "Watch where you're going." Even though she was the one who was in wonderland and didn't see the guy she bumped in.
The blonde male was confused since it wasn't his fault at all, but this was the head cheerio, the whole school knows to never prove the Queen Bee wrong, but he still didn't want her to get away with it "Maybe you should, too."
"Excuse me?" Quinn stepped further into his personal space and jabbed a finger to his chest "Do you know who you're talking to."
"Everyone knows who you are, you're the Queen Bee of McKinley, but do you know who am I?"
Of course she doesn't know nor have the time to remember everyone's name. With confidence, she shook her head.
He extended his hand "Sam Evans, I'm in Glee club."
"Well Evans, next time watch where you're going." And with that she left.
Sam furrowed his brows and watch as she walked away. His theory was right: the Queen Bee is mean inside and out. And you know who else hates people like that? A certain brunette that happens to be his friend. He can tell Rachel all about her and she might have a plan to sucker punch that bitchy attitude out of her.
Speaking of Rachel, he decided to go check out their art spot and see what new stuff his friends came up with. When he arrived at the subway station, he saw the many art works on the wall and can already tell which one is theirs. Their art style hasn't changed nor as their drawings, but he can see that is does attract people down here. He saw a young boy staring at the pigs and went up to him "You like it?"
The little boy nodded "It's funny; my brother drew the donuts though."
"Where is your brother?"
"We don't live together, but he keeps telling me to see his drawings."
Sam looked at the paintings then back at the boy. His friends did travel two cities to make their artwork known, this is his chance to help them out "Little man, would you mind telling your brother something?" The little boy nodded "Can you tell him to send more people down here? My friends drew those other paintings and wanted people to see them."
The boy smiled widely and vigorously nodded. Sam thanked him as the little boy went back out the subway. Sam truly believes that his friends have what it takes to make it big, maybe not with street art, but with actual art skills, like Picasso or the guy with only one ear. He wonders how it's going over there with them, Dayton does have more competitive street artist than Lima.
"I feel like I'm going to get shot," Rachel grunted as she walked through a popular alley way, it's not the safest alley, but it does get a lot of views from other artist "Why did we have to come when it's getting dark? And why couldn't we stick to the one we went to yesterday."
"The darker it is, the more free space we have." Puck settled down at a spot that was big enough to fit all three of their paintings "No need to draw at the same place twice."
"Rach, do you think this time we should sign it? Or at least put our city?" Santana asked since they are not from around here people don't know who they are.
"A nickname is fine."
The gang began spraying on their artwork onto the wall. Puck did his usual big-booty piece, which Rachel still has to ask why he choose to draw that, and Santana did something more symbolic. She drew a chipped human heart with a halo then added the devil in the crack of the heart. It represents her and her sins, Santana is a good person, but heart filled with 'evil' according to her grandma. Rachel always felt sorry for her when she draws emotional things like that. It wasn't Santana's fault that her grandma kicked her out the house because she was gay, her grandma was just so religious and thought having a sinful granddaughter would put both of them to hell.
Rachel decided to not disturb her this time, let her deal with it on her own. She resumed her own art work, it was just the black, plain statue. It needed some more..color. Rachel never used color in her works since she sees the world as a dark and twisty place, there's no such thing as rainbows and butterflies when it comes to reality. However, this piece does look like it could use some color. Her mind went back to the piece she sketched out about Quinn and how she has someone that believes in her, so she used that same inspiration to add the color. Taking out brushes and tubes of green and white pain, she mixed the two colors to create a light green tint. Setting her brush on the very top of the statute and swirled it around the figure like a ribbon.
Santana took a look at Rachel's painting and raised her eyebrows "You see color now?"
"I'm just trying something new."
"Why green? Why not gold or something."
Because Quinn doesn't have gold eyes, that phrase almost rolled out her mouth, but luckily she caught herself "The statue is light green, San. If I had painted it with a different color then it wouldn't make sense."
Santana nodded and gave her a thumbs up. They all finished within an hour and headed back to the house, great progress so far and hopefully they'll have some admirers by tomorrow. If they don't then they traveled all this way for their dreams to be crushed. On the way home, Puck notice that the gas light was on and they were on their last gallon "Crap we need gas.."
Santana cocked her head and raised a brow "Why you telling me for, go pump."
"With what money! I spent it to fill up just to make it here."
"This is what happens when you settle for less," Santana turned back to look at Rachel "Take notes, Rach. Note number one: When you sell drugs for your friend, don't settle for only a 5 percent profit."
"I know, San. You remind me every time we run out of money." Rachel rolled her eyes and continued to watch the conversation between for friends.
"Before, people didn't know where to get their drugs and that made us more money. Now, it's everywhere and it's killing both of us. You try selling pot on the streets." Puck argued since he's the only one that does the selling and putting his life in danger on the streets.
And that's when it hit Rachel like a truck "Then let's sell here. Dayton is crawling with teenagers waiting to get high right now."
"I don't even have the stuff. It's back at the house."
"You're driving his car, I'm pretty sure if we look in every nook and cranny we'll find some."
It didn't hurt to try. Puck pulled over to the side of the road and they looked in every spot someone would hide weed in. Rachel found some underneath the seats, tucked away very nicely. Santana found a good chunk in the glove compartment. The jackpot hits Puck when he found a hundred dollars with a note saying "Just in case you need it- Eric"
"My man, he may be stingy when it comes to paying up, but he really is a good friend."
Rachel's shoulder slacked when he found the money "Do we put this away then?"
"What? No way," Santana snatched the little bag from Rachel's hands "I say we sell these and keep the money we made from it. I'm tired of this 5 percent bullcrap."
Puck smiled at his friend's insistence of gaining more money. He agreed with Santana, but they'll start tomorrow. First, he has to train them to be discreet and subtle about it. Santana and Rachel will literally hand them out in public as if they were giving out candy. It will take all day to teach them the do's and the don'ts, but it doesn't matter since he won't be doing it by himself anymore.
The next few days, Puck, Rachel and Santana have been driving around Ohio sharing their creativity and a little bit of pot. Rachel and Santana caught on pretty fast for someone who is stubborn and loud, nonetheless they had a great time spending time with each other in another area. They really needed this road trip, to finally have time away from Russell, to expand their work, and meet new people. The gang met a couple of street artists in Cincinnati and got along pretty well, they even collabed with them and they promised to spread their name around town. Sadly, their stay was overdue and had to go return to Lima.
Secretly, Rachel was beyond excited to return home, she had so many inspiring paintings that included Quinn and she can't wait to post them all over the subway walls. She promised herself that she wouldn't let Quinn invade her mind and take over her brain, that promise was broken after two days. Quinn's a special type of person to Rachel, she's the officer's daughter and tried many attempts to arrest her, yet she talks to her as if she's her best friend. You don't meet people like those around, very rare, very valuable.
Once Puck dropped off the girls at the apartment, he went to Eric's house to return the taxi cab. Santana dragged her luggage and threw it inside her room "I'm going to bed, wake me up never." and then she slammed the door, she never was a road trip person. Right now is the best opportunity to do her paintings since no one is in her way, she grabbed her bag and left a note on the couch saying she'll be right back.
Something seemed strange when Rachel arrived at the subway station. Every time she would come no one was in sight, but now she just saw two guys entering and they had masks on. Rachel got concerned of her paintings and was worried someone might be messing it up, once she came to view of the wall, it was all painted. Brighter colors, new drawings, even new people. Rachel went up to one of the guys and asked "What's going on here?"
One of the guys took of their mask "Nothing you should be worried about. Now run along little lady, this is no place for pretty girls like you."
"This is my turf, my friends and I drew some of these paintings. Let me ask again, what's going on here."
"We're just here painting, someone told us to come check it out and it's a rad place."
Rachel didn't mind that people were now coming to use this place, but she liked it a whole lot better when no one was around "And who told you?"
"I don't know, my brother said he had a huge mouth."
How on earth did Sam know these people and why did he tell them to come here. Now she has to find a worthy wall to paint her masterpiece, but first she has to find Sam and ask him why the hell did he open his big mouth. He's probably at school since it's Friday so she has to hurry to catch him. Going back to that school will bring back some awful memories, the slushies, the name calling, the teasing, all of it. The name calling part really gets to her, they would call her a Lima loser or weirdo because they thought she wasn't going to make her dreams come true. Sadly, they were right, she's not in New York, not in school, ran away from home, and she's a Lima loser.
She has to stop letting shit like that get to her, she's stronger than that. Once arriving to the pit of hell she calls a school, she spotted Sam out like a sore thumb and marched her ass towards him. When he saw the brunette angrily stride his way he knew he did something wrong.
"Why in God's name would you tell people about my subway spot?"
Sam twiddled with his thumbs, he thought he did something good to promote them, but he guesses it backfired "You said you wanted people to see your stuff, so I shouted you out."
"They weren't interested in the paintings just the spot," Rachel rubbed her temples to calm down her incoming headache "Just never do that again."
"Sorry," He just thought of a way to cheer her up "Guess what, I found your next target."
"My what?"
"Next victim to terrorize, I just met the rudest and bitchiest person on Monday," Sam lead her inside the building and Rachel had chills up her spine. They walked till they reached the back end of the school to lead them out into the football field. He pointed to the cheerleaders and they were doing the pyramid "The one on top."
Rachel squinted her eyes to get a clear look, her heart pumped faster realizing who he was talking about. It was Quinn. She goes here? Small world...anyways, she turned to Sam to tell him that she knows her, but he spoke first "On Monday she bumped into me and told me to watch where I was going, after that she has been sending guys to slushie me after school. Probably to teach me a lesson or something."
No, she can't be the tormentors of this school. Her blood started to boil and clenched her fist, Quinn Fabray can not get away with bullying her friend. Her feet had a mind of its own and started to speed walk her way to the cheerios.
Once Quinn saw Rachel on the field, she lost her balance and the whole pyramid came down. Luckily she had her teammates catch her. She thought she was dreaming and her mind playing games again, but this was real life. Rachel's back. Quinn told everyone to take five while she went to talk with Rachel "You came back, how was your trip?"
"How dare you slushie my friend, all he did was bump into you and you had the damn nerve to call upon your minions and drench him with crushed ice."
Quinn's eyes diverted between Rachel and the blonde behind her. She doesn't remember slushing him, he knew not to mess with her the moment they met, so she had no reason to remind him over again "Rachel-"
"I can't believe you, does seeing someone be humiliated give you happiness? Do you like torturing innocent people?"
"I didn't-"
"Save it. Don't ever come near Sam or me ever again." Rachel retreated back into the building with Sam hot on her trail.
Quinn was still shell shocked that Rachel went off on her like that about something she didn't even do. She only teaches someone a lesson when she knows they deserve it and Sam wasn't on the list. There is only one other person who has enough power to send those slushies on him. Quinn gazed through the field till her eyes landed on the star of the team. Some might say he's a real ladies man, a catch, a piece of arm candy. He's the Quarterback of a team that hasn't won a game in two years. Finn freaking Hudson.
This is not how she imagine meeting Rachel after being apart for a week. She has to clear things up before she even thinks about talking to Rachel. The things she does for someone she's supposed to hate.