The music had died down and now there were quite a few pair of eyes that were looking in her direction. Including a dark chocolate one that she knew well. Too well for her to be comfortable in this situation. Rachel had let go of her hand somewhere during the song to go sing with some random redhead. Not that Quinn had noticed or anything. But she was now highly aware that she somehow wound up standing alone in front of the group. Weren't there girls beside her not two seconds ago? Not anymore apparently.

Ok, this is getting awkward, why is no one saying anything. Isn't there usually a teacher to take the lead in these sort of situation?

Apparently not. There were only girls in uniforms here, no adult looking type of person.

"So… Is this the Glee Club?" Quinn wished she could take back the words already. Dumb question. And she wasn't the only one to think so.

"No, we just sing here, when we should be in class. Seems like an appropriate thing to do." A few girls laughed. That was the redheaded girl that stole Rachel's attention earlier. She smiled to show she was joking around. She had a gap between her two front teeth that she managed to make look quirky but beautiful. Quinn didn't care for her right away.

"Sorry, I'm new and I just wanted to make sure. I'm Quinn."

"Yeah, Quinn who's seventeen, likes to read and has an older sister." The redhead was still smiling as she said that. "I'm in three of your classes and you've been repeating the same thing all day."

"I'm boring like that, I guess." Quinn went to put her hands in her pocket, only to realize that her uniform skirt didn't have any. So she continued the movement and awkwardly brushed the side of her hips, hoping no one noticed. But she could see by the way Rachel's lips turned upwards that at least one person had.

"I'm Devin by the way." The redhead – Devin – broke the silence again.

What is she, their spokeswoman?

Rachel still hadn't said anything. Which was unusual, to say the least. She had turned around and was going through her backpack, completely disinterested. Quinn furrowed her brows in confusion. She had half-expected her to start blurting about their shared history as soon as the song was over. Quinn had calculated how far was the door and how fast she could get Rachel out before talks of cheerleading, slushies and pregnancy came around. No emergency plan was needed yet, it seemed. Quinn was still on her guard. You never knew when the loud-mouthed Barbra lover would strike.

But she didn't. The period went by faster then Quinn thought it would. The teacher was indeed absent that day and had forewarned her students by giving them a few scale exercise and telling them to work on the different voices in the new song they had learned the week before. Which was not Lady Marmelade, as it turned out. The girls were slowly getting ready to leave, and Quinn still didn't know what to do. Should she speak to Rachel, or run for her life? The brunette was talking to Bavin, whatever her name was, again.

As if they hadn't talked enough during the whole class.

Jealous?

Who asked you?

Quinn decided that she had to talk to Rachel, even if only to beg/threaten not to say a thing about their past high school. She tried to put herself in Rachel's eyesight, so she would notice her, but she seemed really absorbed in her conversation with Gap-Teeth. So Quinn came forward and interrupted them.

"Berry, I need to talk to you." Quinn mentally face-palmed.

Way to sound nice.

"You guys know each other?"

"Quinn is an old acquaintance that, I have to admit, I thought I would never see again. We have to catch up so if you'll excuse us Devin, we'll get right to that. I will, however, see you later tonight." Rachel said all that not once looking at Quinn.

Devin smiled to the brunette and asked: "Do you want me to wait for you to go to dinner later on?"

"Don't worry, I'll be just fine, I'll meet you there to eat. I have been here for a while now, I think I know my way around the school by now," Rachel said with a teasing smile, one that Quinn had never seen on the other girl's face. She had to admit, it suited her.

Devin left after saying goodbye to both girls. Rachel watched her leave and then turn to face Quinn. She realized it was the first time the brunette looked her in the eyes since that moment they shared during the song. Quinn gulped looking in the dark brown eyes. She couldn't remember what she had wanted to say. So she didn't say anything. Rachel had crossed her arms and was looking at her expectantly. Still, no word came out of the blonde's mouth.

"Since you don't seem in such a rush to talk to me now, I will start. I have been at this school for a little over two months now. The girls are nice and I can confidently say that at least a few of them like me. I have friends here and I don't intend for that to change. So, I would ask you to not destroy what I have tried to build for myself here and in return, I will keep to any unfortunate stories I know about you."

Quinn's mouth was slightly open. She was not expecting the rant that she just heard.

"Are you trying to negotiate with me?" Those were the first words that cam to her.

"I don't believe there is anything to negotiate. You obviously have some things you would like to escape, if your transfer in the middle of the semester means anything, and I just want to continue my school year peacefully, without any rude nicknames haunting my steps." Rachel had her arms still crossed in front of her and was waiting for Quinn to speak.

The blonde was shocked. She didn't know what she thought their reunion would be like but she couldn't have imagined anything like this: Rachel Berry, taking control of the situation and setting her rules and actually expecting Quinn to follow them. Not that Quinn wouldn't. They weren't unreasonable. Quinn had left that part of her personality in Lima and didn't want it to follow her around. She also thought she had left everyone who knew about her, so the transition should have been easier. Easier than having to see a reminder of who she used to be everyday.

"Look, Rachel, about that, I'm sorry, I didn't mean half of it and I didn't know it would turn out so bad."

"Let's not do this, Quinn, that's an insult to both our intelligence. I have already made my peace with everything that happened at McKinley, and I realized that there was nothing else for me there. And, like you I'm sure, I didn't expect for us to be in this situation right now. We just have to keep a reasonable distance between us at all times and maybe we can even forget the other is attending this school." Rachel spoke more to herself now and almost didn't realize that Quinn interrupted her.

"I don't want that." The words rushed out of Quinn mouth without her being able to do anything about it.

Silence followed the affirmation.

"What do you mean?" Rachel looked at her curiously.

"I just, you know, don't want that, that thing about us avoiding each other and it just seems complicated for nothing, I mean with the Glee club and…"

"So you're staying in Glee club?" Rachel had uncrossed her arms and was fiddling with the strap of her backpack.

"Well, yeah, I guess." Quinn didn't know what else to say.

"You are aware that there are quite a few other options for you I could even point out those I think would benefit…"

Quinn interrupted another impending rant: "I know. I just don't know what else to do."

Rachel looked at her pointedly: "Well, if you had let me finish I would have told you that surely something else could spark your interest."

"No, I mean, there isn't anything else I'm good at."

Rachel looked shocked. "Oh." That was the only thing that came out.

Quinn didn't know how to feel about a speechless Rachel. "Not that I am really good at Glee club anyway, you said yourself that I tend to go sharp and I spent half of last year not really dancing because of the baby and my range is not, you know, well like you or anything."

Rachel was still mute but her eyes were following Quinn closely as she had moved to sit down while speaking. The blonde was looking at the floor.

"But I don't think I would feel comfortable anywhere else. It's the only thing familiar around here."

Rachel seemed indecisive for a few moments, but it didn't last and she sat down next to Quinn, leaving an unoccupied chair between them.

"You realized we would have to see each other everyday, right?"

"I already said I was sor…" Quinn interrupted herself as she looked up and realized Rachel was sporting the same teasing smile she had given that other girl earlier. She hadn't quite evaluated the impact it had, having not been the recipient at the time. But now that it was directed at her, she couldn't help herself. She beamed. A very un-Quinn like smile was gracing her face.

Rachel must have noticed because her own grin transformed itself in a small laugh. Her eyes crinkled and her laughter grew a little louder until she let out a snort. Her right hand covered her mouth and nose as she silenced herself, looking self-conscious for half a second. But Quinn exploded in laughter right beside and Rachel joined her again. And for a moment, it was all there was. Two girls sharing a laugh over something that didn't matter. Quinn thought this was what she was looking for when she choose to leave McKinley. Simplicity. She felt weightless; as if nothing that had happen before really mattered if she could let go like this, right now.

They looked into each other eyes as their hilarity died down. Quinn rose her eyebrow in question.

"So, I guess we're not avoiding each other then."

Rachel was still smiling.

"We'll see."

A.N. : Sooo, anybody watched the Grammy's last night? Did you see how fabulous Adele was?

I know, there's probably no one that even remember this story, but I sort of re-read it today for the first time in months and I thought: I'd read that story. So I thought maybe I wasn't alone.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to review the pas chapter. This one is for you and because of you. Keep being fabulous.

Love, xxxx