Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride,

nobody gonna slow me down, no no

I got to keep on movin!

It was 6 A.M and Rachel Berry was ready to go. She sat up in her bed and reached to turn her alarm off, lightly stretching her limbs like a cat, and threw her covers off. Some might have found the colossal grin on her face a bit disturbing, but Rachel was convinced that physically smiling always put you in a better mood. Also, there is no better way to start the day than armed with a broad smile and a cheery mood. She hopped up and slipped on her pink workout shorts and a black sports bra, grabbing a cherry red headband off of her dresser. The diva marched purposefully over to where her elliptical was waiting patiently in the corner. Mounting it, she took a deep breath and pounded way for the next 45 minutes.

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In the shower, she reveled in the hot water, lathering up her body with vanilla body wash and excitedly thinking about the day to come while humming 'Good Morning Baltimore' (She used to sing it, but had to stop when her fathers had angrily pounded on her door at 7 one morning, demanding that she not sing in the shower anymore). It was going to be spectacular. When she was about ready to get out, Rachel twisted the knob and made the water go freezing for a few seconds before she exited the stall; it was something she'd always done, she felt it killed two birds with one stone by invigorating her and closing her pores. She smirked at herself in the mirror; efficiency was her middle name.

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Breakfast- a simple affair. She blended a few fruits in with soy milk and protein powder and poured the viscous shake into a glass, heading for the door. She opened it wide, taking a moment to deeply inhale the fresh morning air. She pulled out her car keys and skipped daintily to the driver's side, opening the door and sliding inside. "Vroom," she said softly, giggling as she started up the engine, plugged in her iPod, set it on her traditional ride-to-school song- 2 Legit 2 Quit- and sped off to McKinley.

XXXXXXXXX

The building looked the same as it always did - bricks, bricks, bricks, and graffiti; it looked wonderful to her. She had this...feeling - she just knew, today was special. And Rachel Berry was nothing if not absolutely confident in her impeccable sixth sense- even her fathers concurred that she might have inherited a recessive ESP gene from one of them (Grandma Abigail always did seem to know it was Rachel who'd sneak homemade cookies out of the jar when everyone was distracted...). She pulled into her parking spot, taking a last sip of her breakfast before grabbing her bag and getting out of the car. Walking through the mostly empty parking lot, Rachel popped her earphones in and played some music. As she listened to the song, she compiled a mental list of things the artist could've done to make it better; add a little tambourine in the second chorus, layer another voice over the thin vocals in the chorus, maybe even a didgeridoo solo in the bridge would give the overall feeling a little more-

"Oomph!" She had collided with something big and solid. She felt steadying hands grab her shoulders as she yanked her earbuds out, "Watch where you're going!" She reprimanded, although she'd been the one walking with her eyes closed.

"Hey hey, chill, Rach. I was looking for you." She looked up to see Finn grinning at her.

"Well, you found me." She crossed her arms and eyed him expectantly. He shrunk a little under her gaze, but offered his arm anyway,

"Walk with me."

She took it, letting him lead her to the main hallway. She was suprised to see that there were already more than a few people there- how had she not noticed the cars, or better yet, how had she not gotten run over? She mentally shrugged, attributing it again to her superb psychic sense which could now, apparently, guide her through throngs of cars just begging to plow her into the ground. Melodramatic much? She thought, then shook her head, Nah.

She was pulled from her thoughts when her companion suddenly stopped, turning her to face him. Rachel's brow furrowed, "What?"

Finn grinned giddily, put one hand on her shoulder, and pointed with his other to further down the hall. Confused, Rachel followed his gaze until her eyes landed on Quinn Fabray putting books in her locker.

She turned to Finn, "Am I supposed to know why you're showing me your girlfriend?"

Finn frowned at her, "Um, yeah...don't you remember?" Rachel's expression remained clueless, "Last Friday?..." He prompted.

The girl's eyes lit up in comprehension, "Oh! Oh, my! Oh shit!" Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth, "Excuse my language," she amended quickly; she never cussed. She glanced back at Quinn and the reality of what she had promised to do hit her in the schnaus. "Fuck!" She exclaimed abruptly, drawing a few curious stares, then turned to Finn with her hand on her heart, "I'm terribly sorry, I don't know what's come over me." She cleared her throat, "Finn. Are you entirely sure this is a good idea?"

The boy groaned, "Raaaaach, you promised! I heard you, with my own ears!" She rolled her eyes, what else would he hear her with? "You promised." He repeated, looking into her eyes imploringly.

She heaved a great big sigh, knowing that he had her there; she never went back on her word. "Yeah, I know. I'll do it, don't worry."

Finn's shoulders sagged in relief and he grinned fondly at the girl, "You know you're the best right?"

"Whatever. Let's get this over with," She turned back in Quinn's direction. Come on, Rachel, where's your optimism from fifteen minutes ago? Today's gonna be great! Just go, ask Quinn out, accept her rejection, tell Finn to satisfy his stupid plan and get on with this fantastic day! Rachel nodded determinedly to herself. Yes, she could do this. She straightened her posture and began almost strutting down the hallway, leaving Finn gaping after her, ignoring his cries of "Wait! I didn't tell you what you have to say!".

She approached Quinn's locker from the side where the locker opened so the girl couldn't see her yet. She steeled herself for the suicide she was about to commit and reached out her hand, closing Quinn's locker firmly enough to get her attention, but not slamming it; she was trying to be somewhat beguiling, after all. The blonde jumped slightly, turning to look at Rachel with startled eyes that turned confused and then hardened slightly as she put on her 'bitch face'.

Rachel plastered her brightest smile on her face and chirped, "Good Morning, Qui-"

"Do you mind, Berry? It's not exactly polite to just slam people lockers while they're using them, you know." She said, looking only slightly put out. Rachel thought she saw the other girl's pupils dilate a little, but she figured it was just the light.

"Well, Quinn, that certainly is no way to greet a friend, yes? I only came to..." This is it, "...tell you a joke! Yes, a joke that I heard yesterday and thought you might enjoy." She chickened out.

Quinn quirked an eyebrow, shifting her weight to her other foot. "Oh?" She said softly, almost shyly, her annoyance of just moments ago seemingly completely gone.

"Yes." Rachel replied shortly, nodding to accentuate. Inside, she was panicking, wracking her brain frantically trying to come up with a joke. Quinn waved her hand in Rachel's face.

"Well, are you going to tell me or just stand there?"

The brunette glanced up quickly and stood before Quinn with deer-in-headlights eyes. She abandoned her no cursing rule, adopting a new mantra of every curse word she could think of, muttering it to herself as she and Quinn stood silently in the hallway while life carried on around them. Why hasn't Quinn yelled at me or left yet? Ugh! I can't fucking come up with a joke! What to do, what to do...

Quinn cleared her throat awkwardly.

Rachel scuffed her shoe on the linoleum floor and looked down at the ground.

"Actually, Quinn, I lied." She mumbled, but the cheerleader heard her loud and clear. The blonde's other eyebrow joined its counterpart in almost disappearing in her hairline. Good, she'd caught Quinn's attention. Under the other girl's intense stare, Rachel debated backing out again, or maybe just flat out sprinting away. No, she promised Finn. She nodded resolutely," I-I came to talk to you."

Quinn crossed her arms, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, actually, to...ask you something." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and make sure her voice didn't crack. "Well, I have been thinking recently, about a number of things, one of them being...you." Quinn shifted her weight again, staying silent, "I firmly believe that not only would you and I be aesthetically pleasing together, but that our remarkably similar yet polar opposite personalities would be seamlessly complementary, and although it may initially be shocking to our fellow glee club members and subsequently, the rest of the student population, I think they too will come to see the light and be overjoyed at the discovery of our unmatchable compatibility. Also, you have great legs." She finished, sucking in air that she had not breathed since she began her speech. She mentally did a jig and congratulated herself; she totally just pulled that out of her ass. But...the more she thought about it, what she said actually...made sense? And, of course, Quinn did have great legs.

Quinn stood in front of her slack-jawed, "Did...did you just ask me out?"

Rachel bit her lip, "I...yeah, I guess I did."

There was a moment of tense silence as both girls debated what to do next. Quinn opened her mouth to speak and Rachel braced herself for the coming barrage of verbal slander, but then...

"Yes."

Rachel sighed, disappointed for some reason,"Yeah, I figured as much. Oh well, it was worth a t-wait, what?"

Quinn flushed, "Well-uh- I mean, if you wanted to, you know, take me out on a...d-date and everything, I...wouldn't be, um, opposed..."

Rachel stood gaping, her mouth opening and closing like the clown at hole nine at Bart's Mini Golf Wonderland. What the fuck was she supposed to do now? Quinn wasn't supposed to accept! But she couldn't just, like, take it back! It'd be like saying, 'Hey Quinn? Wanna go out with me? Oh? You do? Well, I was just joshin', ha ha, it was a joke. Catch you later!' Yeah, no.

"U-Um, great! So...I'll, uh, pick you up at...seven on, er, Friday?" This was insane. Rachel concluded that the only way this was happening was if she was in an alternate universe. She had to be.

And then, her alternate universe theory was confirmed when Quinn smiled, actually smiled, at her, "Awesome." Then she the smile dropped off her face, and Rachel panicked; did she say something wrong? "I have to break up with Finn first, though. He's such a great guy..."

It was then that Rachel's eyes practically bulged out of her head and she whirled around. She spotted the tall boy just down the hall, discreetly yet totally noticably hiding behind a trophy case. He caught her eye and flashed a thumbs-up with both hands. Rachel smiled weakly and turned back around to Quinn, palming her forehead.

"Rachel? Is something wrong?" The blonde asked with a suprising amount of concern.

Rachel looked bacl at Finn's innocent grin, then at Quinn's concerned frown, "Oh fuck me." She muttered right before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted, smack in the middle of the hallway, right into Quinn's confused arms.

A/N: So, there it is! Hope you enjoyed this, leave me a comment and tell me what you though! Review make for a happy me and consequently, happy readers! Haha, just kidding, sorta, anyway, thanks for reading!

A/N 2: Anon- Why yes, as a matter of fact I did! Thanks for the inspiration! (: