CONNECTION

If Jesse felt like being profound or philosophical –more so than he already obviously was– he'd view Quinn's life with a metaphorical approach. Quinn was swimming. Quinn was drowning. She was wading around in some god-awful lake called Lima while weights were chained to her arms and legs because she was dumb like that. Jesse was her personal lifeguard, and he was keeping her afloat. He mainly liked the option of thinking about things like this because it made him look good, well, better. However, despite Rachel's appreciation for metaphors, Jesse didn't actually like to use them. He never understood why people would want to waste their time saying something else when they can just say things exactly how they are. Plus, to be honest, he wasn't even sure what a metaphor was exactly. He never took the time to learn literary terms. He was to be a triple act on stage. Literary terms were for people who are good for nothing and have pointless passions. Like writers. Anyway, to continue on with the metaphor that he was going to forcefully end after this next statement, Quinn has lost one of her weights and is now a full head above water.

The day Kurt and Plaine's backwater therapy took place, Jesse admittedly was concerned. When they went home, Quinn was clearly not okay. They couldn't find a Wayans Brothers' film on TV, but they did happen upon The Hot Chick. Rob Schneider would have to do. Something had to intoxicate Quinn and get her talking. Nothing did. So Jesse took his long drive home and didn't see her until the next morning at McKinley. And then, it was like a miracle happened. The small change in Quinn was visible. She was lighter. Everything that she had internalized because of Finn since they began their own real therapy during summer was now off her shoulders. If this was still about his original plan, he would be thrilled that he had gotten Quinn past the simplex Finn thing and moving on to Rachel. Now he was just happy that his friend was a little less somber. He rewarded New Directions and their earnest stupidity for locking them all in the choir room by cutting their pre-practice workouts in half. He would have cut them out completely except that Quinn's mini change turned out to be the only good thing to come out of all of this.

The tension and agitation that resided in glee before the prison sentence happened was now replaced with awkwardness and avoidance. As promised, Karofsky, Kurt, and Blaine had settled things between them. Blaine and Karofsky were no longer setting each other off and instead they just ignored each other; only interacting when the performances called for it. This, thankfully, erased most of the conflict between Mercedes and Santana ensuring that their duet flowed between them. (There were still some problems there as the two generally just bickered like jilted exes.) On the other side of the stage, nothing changed between Jesse and Rachel which meant nothing had changed between Jesse and Finn. However, now there seemed to be some type of gap between Finn and Rachel, but no one other than Finn and Rachel cared about this so they all let it slide. That left Quinn and Rachel to be dealt with. They were where the awkwardness came into play.

They took turns ignoring that the other one existed before swapping strategies and trying to make sure that the other one knew they existed. Quinn stopped insulting Rachel, Rachel lost all of her Berry eloquence in Quinn's presence, and tiny elephants stumbled around. Apparently, both girls were fine with living the life of a crappy '60s sitcom. (Jesse thinks that they should've at least aimed for the '80s.) He's since tried to get Quinn to talk about what was said in the choir room, or more importantly, what she didn't get the chance to say, but Quinn was staying mum. This was oh-so hilariously odd considering Rachel was normally a topic Quinn always had something to say about. She never seemed to run out of complaints on Jesse's tiny singer. This change was something to be both annoyed and intrigued by. Perhaps he'd value the girls' entertainment if it wasn't jeopardizing his choreography. Whatever their middle school problem was, was palpable when they stood next to each other in the background during Mercedes and Santana's duet. And this duet needed to be perfect. It was going to be what won them all Sectionals. Their group number was turning out to be quite the mess.

For starters, Jesse could just tell that something was missing. It's not that his designed choreography was flawed (duh), it's just that it had yet to have that grand feel to it. For middlers, New Directions simply did not belong on stage. They were just such a…odd looking bunch. Vocal Adrenaline was an assemblage of perfect bodies and showfaces flowing together. New Directions was not. It was hard to work with. For finishers, the vocals in the song had to be changed. Artie and Mercedes were still leads, but Jesse found he had to incorporate something else into the song as it didn't sound right the first time around. So now teams of Santana and Sam and Rachel and Blaine layered over Arties voice when the song called for it. This meant Rachel and Santana's small part together was cut. Despite the fact that they now had more lines with this new arrangement, Rachel still wasn't happy about this. Such the little star. If anyone else would've thrown this fit, Jesse would've thrown them out. He had to be very diplomatic with her and switch the order in which the background teams were singing before she was happy again. It was all very political.

In fact, that could maybe be his backup plan to his backup plan. Star performer first, psychologist second, politician third. Senator St. Jam- No, no wait, President St. James. It had a nice ring to it. Captain of the United States. Commander. King. Jesse St. Ruler. He could do it too. He was attractive enough to get voted in on looks and smile alone. Of course, then again, maybe he could just be a federal court judge. He was applicable wh-

"Jesse!" One of the gleeks interrupted his musings. He didn't bother noticing which one.

"Hmm? What?"

"We were just wondering if that was what you wanted." Artie asked carefully.

"Oh, well, I think it can be said that we're getting there. It was…better. I'm afraid I need to rethink some things. We're done for today. You're dismissed." He stood and stretched at the judge's panel. "Rachel." He called her as the rest of the team was leaving, carrying their things and Artie up the stairs. "Stay behind for a few minutes?" She nodded and began to walk up to him in the audience.

Jesse noted that Finn didn't seem too happy about this request. He also noted that Rachel and Finn didn't bother saying goodbye to each other either. He'd laugh, but that might seem a tad rude. Per Quinn's advice, he was still working on winning over New Directions. It was part of that political skill set.

Rachel finally made it up all the steps to him, and Jesse guided them to sit a few chairs over. "It's not good is it? 'Stand!'." She spoke softly.

"It will be fine." He assured.

"Well maybe we should-"

"Rachel, we're not changing anything else about this number." She opened her mouth to argue before he jumped back in. "Or replacing it with anything else."

She shut her mouth, but as it was Rachel, that lasted only a few seconds. "You have a boy in a wheelchair singing a song entitled 'Stand!'. You don't think that's at all problematic."

"No. It's a metaphorical," he paused to offer an eye-roll at this, "meaning. It's pure irony having Artie sing it. I think the judges will view it as art rather than just an everyday performance."

"You know, you and Mr. Schuester have more in common than you think."

"Okay, you need to stop saying things like that. I've never been more insulted."

She laughed quietly. "What do you want with me, Jesse?"

"Do you really want the answer to that?"

"I meant why you kept me behind."

"I need a favor."

"Okay. What type of favor?"

"I need you to talk to Quinn."

"That's more than a favor."

"It would just be a simple conversation."

"No, it wouldn't." She sighed. "It's never just a conversation between Quinn and I."

Jesse smirked. "Well then all the more reason to start now. There's a first time for everything." He watched as she hesitated, most likely to decline. "Look, you two are really screwing up 'Killing Me Softly'."

Rachel huffed, indignant. "We are not."

"Yes, you are. Whatever the problem is, is noticeable to the audience. Rachel, the duet needs to be perfect. You know this."

She crossed her arms, defiantly. "Why come to me? You and Quinn are buddy-buddy now. Why not just ask her to apologize?"

"Because I don't think she has anything to apologize for. And besides, this is one of those times where someone needs to be the bigger person, and I can guarantee you that it isn't going to be Quinn this time. That leaves you."

"You don't think she should apologize for any of the awful things she said."

"Not when they're all true, no."

Rachel glanced away, opting not to argue with him. "Jesse, asking me to speak with Quinn is asking more than you realize. It's difficult."

"Oh, no it's not. It's Quinn." She didn't look like this was believable information. He sighed, exasperated when he knew what he was going to have to say next. "You like metaphors, right? Well then think of Quinn as an abused puppy."

Rachel quickly glanced back at him. "Abused?" She asked worriedly, and Jesse tried really, really hard not to roll his eyes and remind her that this was the girl she had just thought needed to apologize.

"Not physically. Emotionally I'm sure. Unintentional of course." He waved off glibly. "Just approach her cautiously on her terms and then fix whatever it is. Lie to her if you must. Tell her she was right or offer her peace. Tell her it's for glee. It won't matter; she'll see it coming a mile away anyway. But she'll still take you up on it because it's the easy way out."

"But-"

"If that doesn't work, force her into doing what you want her to do. It's easy to do because Quinn has no idea what she wants for herself. She'll blindly do what other people want her to if she thinks it's in her control. It's beginner's manipulation."

"Jesse, that-"

"Then you two can go back to resenting each other and arguing or what have you. Anger can be dealt with in a performance. Anger is emotion. Emotion can be used. Whatever it is now, cannot."

Rachel traced her eyes over the stage below them before speaking again. "I'm not angry with her."

"Oh good." He perked up, surprised. "Because I don't think she's angry with you either."

She turned to look up at him hopefully. "She isn't?" He shook his head. "That might make talking to her easier."

"I don't care how you do it. I just really need you to do this, Rachel. This whole thing has Quinn at a standstill. It's not good when she gets like that."

Rachel listened to the concern lacing his voice. He was obviously worried for more than their performance. She didn't understand why he didn't just say that from the start. Boys. "Okay. I'll talk to her."

Jesse just grinned. "Terrific."

Jesse spent the next day waiting for Rachel to keep to her word and talk with Quinn. He didn't get what she was so nervous about. He always found Quinn to be easy to talk to, mainly because she didn't talk. And even when she did talk, most things she said were trivial and not something to pay any mind to. There was only a small percentage of the time that Quinn opened up and truly conversed. And yes, that was difficult to respond to because of the countless amounts of defense mechanisms and emotional outbursts. But Rachel was acting as if she had only ever had to engage in the difficult ones which yeah right. He loved her dramatics.

So far, he had spent the morning going back and forth between his two girls. He'd harass the nervous Rachel who would do nothing but delay the conversation until she agreed to go talk to Quinn. Then he'd wait and nothing would happen so he'd begin talking to Quinn himself again. He'd subtly bring up Rachel and get no response from the blonde. He was seriously beginning to detest both of them. Right now it was Betty's turn again because Veronica was off somewhere, busy flocking around like and unexpected chicken.

"Do you think Rachel would appreciate yellow tulips?" Jesse asked Quinn, leaning on the locker next to hers.

Quinn didn't look at him and only continued to swap notebooks. "You're asking me this because?"

"General curiosity. You've known her longer than I have. I thought I'd take a chance."

"Well, I have no idea what flowers Rachel likes or probably eats for that matter." She smirked. What? Vegans are dumb girls who grow up to wear fringed vests and eat flowers while dancing around in grass. It's like a fact.

"Oh well." He sighed heavily. Too heavily Quinn noticed. "Hey." He brightened up. "Speaking of Rachel." And there it was. "Have you spoken to her yet today?"

"No, and I have no plans to. So can you stop this now?"

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything."

"Jesse."

"Quinn."

Quinn slammed her locker. "I'm not going to talk to you about this because there's no this to even talk about, okay? You've been trying to do this ever since that damn day in the choir room. There's nothing to say."

"Fine, fine." He sighed wistfully and was silent for a beat before he was anything but silent. "You don't find it at all notable that you seem to place so much of the blame for several of your life's problems onto one girl?"

"I don't just place blame onto Rachel." She countered. Quinn tended to blame a lot of things.

"Or that you have such a keen focus on this same girl. One that is strong enough to cause you to lay into her and Finn. Something I've been trying to get you to do for months, mind you."

"Uh, last time I checked you were the one who was obsessed with Rachel."

"Or that you, under normal circumstances, find any excuse to talk about her."

"I don't find excuses. You're the one who always brings her up. In fact, everyone is always bringing up Rachel around me. What? Should I just ignore it?"

"Why not? You ignore everything else."

"You know, this would all be very insightful if it wasn't coming from someone who had their own seething hatred and 'keen focus' for Finn."

"Yes, but I have reason. Finn is the block of Styrofoam standing in the way of the girl I love. What's your explanation?"

"That she's Rachel Berry. Rachel more than earns the animosity toward her."

Jesse continued on like Quinn never even said anything. "I used to find it annoying that you endlessly insulted the girl I had feelings for, but I allowed it because I assumed she was your Finn. She was the one who was with your ex-boyfriend. I thought it to be normal. Something else we had in common even. But now that it's more than clear you're over Finn and have been for months, it's just strange."

"I don't like her. She doesn't like me. We never really have. And whether you like it or not, we probably never will. That's it."

"Except I don't believe that."

"Well that's your problem not mine."

"I keep going over everything you said that day, and I no longer can believe that you hate her. If I had to take a guess, the best I can come up with is jealous. It's fine, though. Even I'm a little bit jealous of Rachel. Her talent goes unmatched. Even by me, sadly."

"I'm not jealous of Rachel."

"You sure? Because really. We can just talk about that and put this whole thing behind us."

"There's nothing to put behind us."

"Must you always-" Jesse quickly shut his mouth, smirk now growing. "Never mind."

Quinn narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She turned around slightly to see what gained his attention and changed his mind. Great.

"Quinn, Jesse, hello." Rachel greeted, stopping in front of them.

"Well hello, Rachel." Jesse beamed just for Quinn's sake. Jerk. "It's such a lovely day isn't it? Quinn and I were just having a discussion. It was quite boring. Perhaps you can do better."

"Oh, um, well, yes." She inhaled, composing her sudden stutter. "Quinn, I was wondering if we could have a chat."

"Actually-"

"Talk with her now and I'll never pester you about what I was just pestering you about again." Jesse offered before holding up his hand. "Scouts honor."

Quinn reached over to lower his pinky. "Scouts honor is three fingers not four."

"Oh." He lowered his hand.

"But you've got yourself a deal. And if you go back on your word, I promise to tell everyone I can about what your mother told me you used to do with that famous sock of yours."

Jesse froze. Damn his mom for giving Quinn blackmail material. There were only a handful of times that Quinn had been to his house, and after the last time, he promised never again. "Fine. And for the record, I still haven't forgiven my mother for that."

She watched him walk away a few feet down the hall before calling after him. "I'd feel bad for you if you weren't having Scrabble dates with my own mom every other week." He just smirked and held up his hands at the now interested hallway full of students. She did not think that last statement through. "So um, what did you want to talk about?" She sheepishly looked back at Rachel, looking for some type of poise.

Rachel tried, and failed, not to let out a little smile. "Maybe we can go somewhere private?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be better." Would've been great about twenty seconds ago.

Quinn followed Rachel through the crowded hallway, and the shorter of the two noticed that Quinn seemed just as uncomfortable as she did. It was becoming the norm. Quinn typically made Rachel nervous. It hadn't always been like that. Once upon a time, Rachel would ignore the insults Quinn would spat at her as the then cheerio passed her in the hall. And if it was a one-on-one confrontation, Rachel would sometimes even stick up for herself and go off on rants about how high school was high school and one day Rachel would be ahead of all of them. Quinn would usually falter when that happened before steeling herself off and coming back with something even harsher. Those were the words that actually stung, but Rachel still stood up for herself each time anyway.

However, since Quinn joined glee things had been drifting into a different territory. Now more times than not, Quinn made her anxious and uneasy. And if Quinn was still the same cheerio Quinn she was pre-glee, then she would have won. Rachel's head would have not been held high like it always used to be. But Quinn, though still vicious at times, wasn't that Quinn anymore. And Rachel, though still brazen at times, wasn't that Rachel anymore. She wasn't sure if this change was positive or not.

Rachel had thought about Jesse's request since yesterday in the auditorium. She had tried to think of something adequate to say to Quinn. She had come up with a list of potential outcomes and scenarios. Quinn was Quinn, and nine times out of ten she clashed with Rachel. But Rachel wanted that to stop. Make it more like five times out of ten until it just dwindled lower and lower. She didn't just want to fix things because they were supposedly messing up "Killing Me Softly." Rachel had never once enjoyed their fights like Quinn seemed to. So she would offer an honest truce. One that they didn't turn their backs on yet again. It was too tiring not to.

Quinn had the innate ability to see every insecurity Rachel had, both hidden and on display. She would then go on to superbly point them all out. It probably didn't help matters that the blonde herself created several of them. And boy did Quinn pull off this trick miraculously last week. She somehow, even without trying to, pointed out all of Rachel's Finn-fears. She was able to bring up everything that Rachel and Finn have avoided talking about since they gave their relationship another chance in the library last year. Rachel really wanted to hate her for it, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never hate Quinn Fabray. Or anyone for that matter.

Things had been different between herself and Finn since the pseudo therapy. For one thing, it had been quieter since Quinn's words sliced through them. Finn had been mellow and subdued. Rachel didn't know if this was because of Quinn or herself. She imagined it wasn't easy for him to watch her not able to answer why she loved him. It's just, she'd never been asked before. She knew she loved Finn. He was Finn. For some reason, she just couldn't put it into words that day. But Finn hadn't asked her about it yet. He's been distant. He wasn't even yelling at Jesse with the same conviction or any conviction really. Whether they wanted to admit to it or not, they were eventually going to face bigger problems than Jesse St. James.

"Thank you for finding the time for this, Quinn." Rachel smiled as they entered the astronomy room.

Quinn didn't look at her and instead walked over to place her books on the cleared off teacher's desk. Okay, seriously. Did anyone ever even take class in this room? As she glanced around at the foamed planets, it was at that moment she decided she now hated space. She didn't know why. She just did. It was this new thing she was trying.

Rachel walked over, also placing her books down on the desk. She squared her shoulders and faced Quinn. "I want us to be friends."

And it was at that moment that Quinn stopped glancing around the room and halted all movement. Was this seriously what Jesse had been trying to accomplish all day? "I'm sorry?"

"I want us to be friends." Rachel repeated.

Rachel's final conclusion last night was a friendship-truce. She had been trying to come up with the proper title for her plan for today's discussion with Quinn but had nothing to call it. She couldn't label them as rivals because whatever this was went a little further than a petty high school rivalry over a boy. They couldn't be called friends because they weren't friends; never have been. They weren't enemies. They weren't "frenemies." They weren't even acquaintances. All they were at this point were glee teammates. But as Rachel tried to write that out, it had just felt too light for them. So she concluded that she wanted a definition. A positive one.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't be anymore." Rachel continued. "We share a common bond through Jesse. You're obviously over Finn so that shouldn't play a factor. We can actually try to find some companionship, Quinn, rather than just doing what we normally do and pretend to be civil toward each other. It never gets us anywhere other than back to square one. We can both actually work and commit to it being different this time."

Quinn just stared at her for a while, scrutinizing. "Why bother at this point?"

"Why not? I'm sure I can come up with just as many reasons to counter yours."

"Rachel, just let this year die. Let it be over with for once."

"Don't you ever get tired of being like this?"

Quinn gritted her teeth before responding. "Being like what?"

"So…just so…melancholy." Rachel frowned. "You used to be happy, Quinn."

She chuckled emptily. "Happiness has never been more than fleeting in my life."

Rachel took a determined step closer. "Well don't you want to change that?"

"And you think being friends with you would accomplish that?" Quinn retorted slowly.

"No, but it wouldn't hurt to lose an advisory." Rachel continued trying to convince.

She didn't. "We're not friends, Rachel. It will never happen."

Rachel only smiled shyly in return. "I predicted this response as a possibility, and I'm okay with it. Because you see, Quinn, I'm going to be your friend whether you choose to be mine in return or not." She shrugged. "It's alright if you don't want to reciprocate the friendship, but you could at least play nice for glee's sake. Jesse thinks we're making the duet awkward, and I know you care about glee's success-"

"Not really."

Rachel paused. "Quinn, that- You quit the Cheerios last year for glee, and you brought us Jesse this year. I refuse to believe you don't care."

"Why? Glee isn't glee anymore. What? It's not and don't even try to argue that. It used to be fun and supportive."

"It still is."

"Really? So it's not just a group of people who want their own solos and stardom and romance? No one puts themselves first?" She tested. "Face it, glee hasn't been what it was founded to be for a long time now. It's changed and so has everyone in it. Our individual success comes first, and glee's comes second. That's not a team. I don't see why I should waste my time caring when no one else really does."

"Then we'll change it. It's a new year. We have a new instructor. A new outlook."

Quinn sighed. "You know sometimes it's just too late for things, Rachel."

"I disagree. Sometimes I think you need to fight for what you want whether it be change or anything else. Just look at Finn and I. We would have been over several times had either of us just given up. But we love each other, and that propelled us to keep trying."

"So you finally scripted that answer then?"

"If you're asking for me to explain why I love Finn, then yes. I love him because it feels right doing so. When we're togeth-"

"I don't want to hear this."

"You're the one who challenged me on this last week. You asked me why I loved Finn. You made the big deal about not responding to your liking."

"That's not…God, you are so frustrating." Quinn hastily reached over to swipe her books off the desk and headed to the exit. Halfway to her escape, she turned back around. "I don't want to hear about you and Finn because I think you two are a joke. Do you get it now? I can't bring myself to believe you and Finn are any more real than Finn and I was."

"I didn't mean to imply that I think my relationship with Finn is in some way better than yours was."

"That's not what this is about." She shook her head. "Don't you ever just listen to the two of you talk? Or pay any attention at all to the rest of the relationships in glee? They're nothing."

Quinn didn't wait for Rachel's reaction and made it all the way to her exit, making sure not to turn back around this time. Thanks to Rachel and undoubtedly Jesse's dumb ideas, she was late for class. Stupid, stupid day was all she kept repeating to herself as she sped-walked through the hallways. She probably would have gotten to class sooner had she not run into Finn coming out of the boys' bathroom. She couldn't win. Lovely, it was the tall half of Finchokeme. Or whatever their self-created portmanteau is. And really. New Directions had to stop doing that with each other.

"Hey." Finn nodded at her as they passed each other. She ignored him, and he hated it. It hurt every time he looked at her now. Everything that the blonde had said that day in the choir room had been on his mind ever since. It was all he thought about really. Well, and Rachel and killing video game zombies and stuff. "Quinn." He called after her.

"What?" She turned around a few feet away from him.

"Can we talk? Please?" He waited as she visibly considered her options before finally nodding sharply. Quinn walked the few steps over, because why not just get this over with too, and the pair gravitated to the rows of lockers for privacy in a wide open space. "I wanted to apologize." He told her.

Yeah, now. After I pointed everything out, she thought spitefully before telling herself to tune back into the Finn show.

"I'm so sorry for everything I did to you. I didn't know that I hurt you so bad or that you were still upset over everything. You've always been good at hiding your feelings." She raised an eyebrow, challenging that callback. "Sorry. I just…I want you to know that I didn't want to date you and then fall back in love with Rachel. That wasn't supposed to happen. I really never meant to hurt you, Quinn."

"You don't have to tell me that. I already know that. You're not vindictive." She watched his eyebrows scrunch up and willed herself just continue on without an insult being thrown out. "I know you're not mean. And I know you never set out to intentionally hurt people. I get that. You're not like me or Santana or Jesse. You're a good person, but you do hurt people, Finn." She closed with surety. "It may not be on purpose, but it's all the same. You do it because you're selfish. Just like everyone is. I just don't understand how no one else can see that."

"You mean like Rachel?" That was something else that had been on Finn's mind. The phrases "You're better than him." and "Finn is Lima." constantly replaying themselves on a loop. Taunting him.

"Yeah like Rachel." She half-shrugged. "Or anyone else."

Finn frowned at her aloofness. "Did you ever even love me?" He asked and watched her think of her response.

He had been wondering about this too. He didn't see how it was possible after all the terrible things she said about him last week. She basically said she hated him now. Finn was fine with her being angry with him, but he wasn't sure he could handle it if Quinn truly hated him. Even if they weren't ever perfect, they had memories together. They had been through things. Quinn was the first chapter in his book of high school.

"Yeah, I did." She finally answered quietly, and he noted that it was nowhere near calculated enough to be a lie. He was relieved for a second before she continued. "Just not as much as a girlfriend should love their boyfriend. But you can't get mad at me for that because that's exactly how you felt about me."

Finn slumped against the locker. She was right of course. That pretty much defined them. He loved Quinn. It just wasn't big enough. "I'm really sorry you couldn't be that girl for me."

Quinn breathed tiredly. "Yeah, me too." Everything would have been so much easier if she was that girl and he was that boy. The last three years would have been perfect if they had the relationship they always desperately pretended to.

"Maybe we can try being friends, though? I think we can manage that." He smiled at her. He smiled like everything was okay. It was naïve and sincere. That innocent smile was always something she loved about him. There were times when it actually made her believe things would be okay. But nothing was ever okay.

"Why don't we try working on being teammates?" She countered, and that smile dropped off. "I don't want to be your friend, Finn. At least not right now and you need to respect that."

"Yeah, okay." He nodded dejectedly before trying to perk himself up again. It didn't really work, and despite everything, Quinn didn't want to be the one to hurt him. She said her piece last week. She was done with Finn now.

"Um, look, Rachel may still be in the astronomy room, and she might be a little upset. You probably want to go check on her." She told him uncomfortably, trying to get out of this hallway.

"Oh. Well, uh…" He trailed off. It would seem weird if he didn't jump to go check on his girlfriend. He hadn't really been talking to Rachel, but Quinn didn't need to know that. "I should probably just get to class." He held up his hall pass.

Quinn mimicked his actions with her books. "So should I."

"See ya." Finn gave her a half-smile which she just nodded at. Then the two went their opposite ways.

When Quinn finally arrived to class, she put on the polite-smile and added in a sweet-girl explanation. Teachers tended to love her because she got good grades, and they assumed she was an angel based on her daily act. So she was just given a warning or something for coming in ten minutes late. She wasn't exactly listening to Mr. Sullivan; it was all on auto-pilot right now as her mind was elsewhere. She was quite the popular person today. Apparently everyone wanted to be friends with her now. Losers. She could maybe one day befriend Finn. He was Finn. He was as dumb and sad as a dog without its ball. He was harmless. So she could be friends with him. Rachel (and Jesse), on the other hand, was an idiot if she thought Quinn would ever be friends with her. The girl was beyond annoying. She dressed like a five year old unapologetically. She was unbelievably self-involved. Her name and a tiny, reflective gold star were staring her right in the face. What the? Great. She took Rachel Berry's books by mistake. Well Rachel better have hers because accommodating teacher or not, there was no way Quinn was getting out of this room before the bell.

A few periods later, Rachel entered the always dreaded cafeteria. She looked around before her eyes landed on her target. She took a deep breath and swallowed her nerves. Once ready, she carried her books and the tin Annie lunch box she had proudly used since the fourth grade. Well, on the days she chose to bring a lunch that is.

Quinn looked up on instinct, sensing someone in front of her table. Upon seeing who it was, she really wished she had just kept her head down. "Um…Kurt's table is on the other side of the cafeteria." She tried.

"Yes, I'm aware." Rachel nodded once before plopping down next to Quinn. "I've sat with them a few times. I normally don't choose to come here, however. I usually spend my lunch in the auditorium before getting in some extra practice. Perhaps if Finn had this lunch hour I'd eat here." She briefly thought if that would be the case before shaking it off. "Will Jesse be joining us today? I know he eats lunch with you from time to time."

"Oh, I…Us?" Quinn frowned. This conversation seemed to be moving faster than she was. She didn't like it.

Rachel reached into her pile of books before pulling a small stack out and passing it to Quinn. "I believe we accidentally switched books earlier."

"Yeah. I was going to bring yours to glee."

"That's fine." Rachel told her, and Quinn watched as her eyes darted around, literally searching for something else to talk about. "You keep very nice notes, Quinn. I especially enjoyed when you would tangent off of them and start writing down lyrics to songs or sketching out little doodles. I do that too. The song thing not the doodle- I'm actually horrible at drawing. Yours are nice, though. Have you thought of maybe signing up for an art class?"

"Uh…no?"

"Oh, well maybe you should. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed a few sheets of paper for my own notes. Mr. Chase droned on for the whole period today. I think I may regret choosing to take American Studies."

Quinn could respect this. She unfortunately had the man for Humanities which for the record, was so not a class where you just get to watch movies. She really needed to learn how to not listen to Puck. "It's fine, Rachel. It's just paper."

"This is me being friends with you." Rachel said abruptly before adding on. "You seemed confused by our conversation."

Quinn sighed, frustrated. She should've known that this wasn't put to rest in the astronomy room. "You know you don't have to listen to Jesse. In fact, I'd prefer it if you didn't."

"Jesse didn't tell me to do this." She clarified softly. "I think we should be friends. You'll just have to accept this."

"Whatever." Quinn wasn't in the mood to argue about this right now. Maybe after she finished eating and replenished herself. "But I'm not talking to you if I don't feel like it."

"Fine."

"And I'm not listening to you either."

"Understandable."

"And I reserve the right to insult you if I feel like it."

"I can accept this."

"Well just so we cleared that up."

"So." Rachel's eyes darted around again, settling on her lunch. "Whitewater crouton?" She offered, holding out a Tupperware container with a grin. "They're vegan friendly."

Quinn just stared a moment before deciding that she was more than replenished. "What's the matter with you?"

"Well plenty of people can enjoy vegan food without-"

"No. I mean what is your childhood damage?" She snapped, and Rachel donned her patented wounded-Berry face. Quinn ignored this. "Why do you continuously try to be friends with people who don't want you around? I've basically been a bitch to you since the moment I laid eyes on you, and you're sitting here trying to be my friend. Do you have some type of pain fetish that no one's aware of? Actually, that would explain a lot."

"Well, Quinn, I can assure that being in pain whether it be physically or emotionally is not a-a fetish of mine. Those types of fantasies usually include a damsel in distress type situation."

Quinn scrunched up her nose before a possible savior caught her eye. "Jesse."

"Well, yes, he was at one point included in the Pepé Le Pew slash Penelope Pussycat one."

"…what?"

"Oh, well, it, um-" Thankfully Quinn was scarred no further as Jesse finally sat down across from them. Rachel immediately blushed at his sudden appearance. "Jesse. Guess what? Quinn and I were just getting acquainted. One-sided, but still."

"Oh who cares about you two? I figured it out." He bounced. "I had a vision in the choir room earlier. One of walkabout, mirage standards. It was brilliant. We will officially win Sectionals without a worry in the world. We can probably just sleepwalk through that competition." He trailed off before plucking out a crouton from Rachel's lunch. "Whitewater?" Rachel beamed that face-splitting Berry smile at his inquiry.

Quinn shook her head at both of them. "Are you going to tell us?"

Jesse frowned before remembering. "Oh. Right. Artie is going to stand."

"I don't think that's possible."

"Do you plan on using the ReWalk?" Rachel asked him.

"I thought that turned out to be rented?" Quinn frowned. Rachel merely shrugged.

"Hear me out." He requested. "At the end of Brittany and Mike's freestyle dance off part, two of the guys, don't care who, can lift him until it looks like he's standing. Then we'll all end on a big 'Stand!'."

"You've lost it." Quinn told him.

"I don't know. I think it could be quite inspirational if handled correctly." Rachel nodded at her assessment.

"Exactly." Jesse agreed. "We take away the irony and make it a feel good story. It will lift the audience's hearts and impress the judges by being creative."

Quinn scoffed. "Okay, a few weeks ago you didn't even want to use Artie because you thought it would look like we were pandering. What exactly do you think this is?"

"Hey we got it, minds well use it."

"Hmm. One would argue that the same could be said about my voice, could it not?" Rachel hinted not at all subtly.

"Oh you will get your time, Rachel. This is only Sectionals. If we were to honestly need you to win Sectionals, then we should just quit now. Sectionals are a joke. I'm saving you for the brighter stages." They swapped smiles only meant for delusional people who wanted to be on stage. "The only reason I'm not using you now is because I need to appease the rest of New Directions so they won't realize how useless they are."

"Despite the fact that my talent exceeds everyone else's in glee, they're not useless."

"They're random bodies that could be replaced by anyone, and it'd still give off the same effect." He looked at Quinn out of the corner of his eye. "Oh. No offense."

Quinn could do nothing but watch as the other two table occupants went deeper into their conversation. Oh God. This was going to be the rest of her high school life wasn't it? Having uninvited people befriend her against her wishes and then talk. A lot. Like she wasn't even there. Just sitting on the sidelines. Not included. And what the hell was a whitewater crouton anyway?