Tina wasn't waiting for me at my locker today when I got to school and I was surprisingly disappointed. She was no doubt angry with me for cancelling our girls night. Not only that but Quinn's suggestion I tell them that I'd let them know when I would reschedule meant she probably thought I was blowing her off.

I got myself ready for class intent to make today a good day despite my misfortunes. I wasn't going to stand around feeling sorry for myself. I was Rachel Berry, future star of the stage and maybe screen. I wasn't going to let this high school nonsense get me down.

My cell phone chirped in my pocket. I recognized the tone of the message. Quinn's tone. I dug my phone out eagerly and checked the message.

Cheerios, Celibacy Club. Frannie.

I had no idea what it meant. I figured it was a mistake. That stuff meant nothing to me. I shoved my cell phone back into my pocket and head off to class.

Twenty five feet before I reached home plate I heard somebody call my name. "Rachel Berry."

I knew the voice. Santana. Normally I would attempt to flee but I was comfortable in the knowledge that Quinn's popularity would protect me. As long as she was my personal tormentor the other popular kids wouldn't touch me. And Santana wasn't in the position to make an enemy out of me either. I had dirt on her and she knew it.

I turned to face my would be tormentor. She wasn't alone, they were all here. The whole Cheerios squad. Well almost the whole squad, strangely enough Quinn was missing from the group.

"Rachel Berry, Quinn Fabray has gone on record with you. She's looking to move you up the social ladder from nobody to flunky. As a flunky you'd be under her permanent protection unless she states otherwise. You'd be invited to all the cool parties and introduced to all the cool boys. You would have a one day a week invite to sit with us at the Cheerio's table. And Quinn will begin to personally acknowledge you in the halls."

This could be interesting. Flunky was better than nobody.

"You would be responsible for doing whatever she says, whenever she says. You'll be at her beck and call."

"Okay. Sign me up." I said. Now we were getting someplace. Why hadn't she done this before? It would have made things so much simpler.

"Not so fast there Rupaul. You can't just say okay and be let in. You have to either A pass a fashion test, which you fail miserably. Librarian toddlers should not be sexy. Somehow you manage to dress like a preteen girl and a trashy old lady at the same time." Santana said.

I fought back the urge to giggle at the insult. I saw some of the girls in the crowd give in and crack smiles.

"Or B, you pass a knowledge test about Fabray." Santana stared at me and I could tell there was a hint of eagerness in her eyes. She wanted me to pass this test. "You'll get three questions. One wrong answer and you fail and are stuck in loser-ville for the remainder of the school year."

"First Question." Brittany asked. "What are Quinn's two C's."

My first thought went to breasts but that couldn't be right I was the only pervert here. They wouldn't be asking me a question about Quinn's bra size. Would they?

Okay think Rachel, her two C's. The text. Cheerio's and Celibacy Club.

"Cheerio's and the Celibacy Club." I answered with confidence. She'd snuck me the answers before hand.

"Correct." Brittany said with a smile. A closer look at her revealed she was now wearing Santana's heart shaped necklace. I'd never seen Santana without it until today.

"Okay. Question two." Santana said. "What is Quinn's sister's name."

"Frannie."

Santana began to nod. "Good. Good. Looks like you do have half a brain in that big head of yours."

Did I have a big head?

"Last question. What color are Quinn's eyes?"

My mind searched the text message. She'd only given me two answers. Why wouldn't she give me this answer too?

I could feel the eyes watching me closely. They were waiting and I suddenly wondered if I had a time limit. What color were Quinn's eyes? They were blue, right? She had blue eyes. Blonde hair and blue eyes.

I began to open my mouth to speak but I could see Santana motioning to the wall nearby with her eyes. She was clearly giving me directions and had anybody been standing close to her they'd have surely seen. I could see Brittany's face scrunch up with confusion. She looked confused and I knew what she was thinking. How could you not know this?

"Come on Berry, some of us have stuff to do. Christmas is coming." Santana said. She was using her bitchy tone but her eyes were still motioning towards the nearby wall which was painted green.

"Green." I blurted out. "Her eyes are green."

I could see Brittany let out a sigh of relief. I should have been ecstatic, I was done being tortured at school, I was semi-accepted but somehow I still felt like crap. I didn't know what color my girlfriends eyes were.

"Good, Good Berry. You're correct. You still suck but apparently not as much. Now off you go, we'll see you at lunch time."

(Lunch)

When I stepped into the cafeteria I searched the room for Tina. She wasn't around so I decided to head over to the Cheerios table like Santana told me. Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were sitting at the end of the table not eating lunch as usual.

"Sit down Rachel, relax." Santana told me.

Quinn didn't look at me or speak to me. She didn't look angry but then again Quinn never looked any particular way. She was extremely hard to read. They didn't call her the Ice Queen for nothing.

"Congratulations." Quinn finally told me. "Since you're going to be my slave now I figure we should get to know one another. Maybe we should grab some food just the two of us so I can tell you what my rules are."

All I could do was nod. I had to give it to her. She was brilliant. She'd just given us a perfect reason to be seen together in public. From now on us being seen speaking to one another, or doing something that even remotely looked like hanging out would be totally normal.

"Good. In the mean time I'm going to need another kid to torture. If it's not you it has to be somebody else. I want you to choose who."

Me why me? Why did I have to choose? I didn't want to be the reason somebody get's bullied at school.

"Why do I have to pick?" I asked her.

She looked at me as if I had asked her to explain the Theory of Relativity.

"Everything comes at a price Rachel. You didn't want to be picked on anymore so somebody has to take your place. If you don't want to do it I understand, we can just go back to how things were." Quinn told me. I could tell by the tone of her voice that this particular choice was acceptable, at least to her. She'd love to torture me again I bet.

"Berry pull your pantyhose up and just pick somebody already." Santana told me. This would be easy if I were more of a heartless bitch like her.

"There's a girl in my Physics class that I don't like." I blurted out. "Terri something."

Santana arched an eyebrow at Quinn, a hint of a smile on her face. "I told you."

Quinn didn't respond, she simply took a long sip out of her Cheerios water bottle.

"Everybody's corruptible Fabray. Even Berry." Santana gloated.

(Breadstix)

Quinn picked me up at six thirty and we went to Breadstix for dinner. I had never really been on a date before so I wasn't sure where I should ask to go. Breadstix wasn't fancy, or particularly nice, but it was where everybody went and since we were allowed to be seen together in public I couldn't help but want to show off a bit.

Quinn was quiet. She'd been quiet all day. I was starting to wonder if she were mad at me. If she were I was sure I'd know about it. She didn't keep her anger to herself. This was something else. Something new.

"Is everything okay?" I finally had to ask. She'd been picking through her salad for the past ten minutes.

"Everything's fine." Was all she said. I could tell she was lying but I didn't want to press her about it.

I went back to my dinner not sure on how to proceed. Asking questions had never worked out well for me. She hated being questioned. Still, according to the first chapter of one of the books my fathers bought me knowing there was a problem and not asking what it was is as bad as ignoring it.

"Tell me what's wrong Quinn. You can't shut me out." I pressed cautiously.

"Okay, what color are my eyes Rachel?" She asked. Her face was hard and I could practically see the anger in it. If she had lasers in her eyes they'd be burning a hole through me right now.

Her eyes. I knew that was going to come back to kick me in the behind. "They're green."

"Hazel. And don't pretend to know now, Santana had to tell you."

I didn't have an excuse. There was nothing I could say to defend myself. I was a hundred percent in the wrong. "I'm sorry." Seemed about all I could manage.

"You know all this time I put up with your selfish bullshit because I thought you loved me. But you don't do you? You don't know anything about me?" Her voice was loud and carrying. The middle aged couple sitting across from us began to stare.

"Calm down, you're causing a scene."

She rolled her eyes. "Zero, Thirty-Seven, Nine." She said. "When you threw that stuff in my face it hurt. It hurt like hell. When did I ever throw your flaws in your face? Did you ever stop to think that the reason I never said I loved you was because I was scared? Did you even care? How many times have you made me cry Rachel? Or is it okay to dump me after a year through a damn text message?"

Our waitress began to make her way over to tell us to keep it down. Quinn simply glared at her and the woman immediately backed off. If she weren't ripping me a new one I'd be amazed. That glare could melt ice.

"I said I was sorry about that Quinn." I whispered across the table.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "No, you didn't." She whispered back.

Darn it, I didn't. "Well I'm sorry."

She laughed. "I don't want your pity now. I needed it then. I needed it when you left me crying in the damn hallway like a fool. I know what I did was wrong. I was lying to you but you know nothing would have ever happened between me and Finn. I do what I do to protect myself and I won't apologize for that. I will not go back to being Lucy Caboosey."

Lucy Caboosey? "Did people used to call you that?"

The question seemed to enrage her. "Are you serious? I've told you that. I told you that when I told you my real name was Lucy."

My mind began to search that day. I remembered her telling me her name was Lucy but the rest of it was a fog. I was distracted with something. Oh my goodness she may be right.

"You don't remember do you? Were you even listening?"

I bit my lip. "Look maybe we should talk about this later. Clearly there are things we both need to get off our chest. Maybe we should do this in private." It was as good a ruse as any to get us off the subject.

"So you have more complaints about my behavior." She asked me.

I shrugged.

"What?"

My pride was still stinging from her accusations. I childishly felt that I need to get even. "You're a bit controlling."

She seemed offended by the thought of it. "How?"

"You tell me who I can and can't speak to." I told her. Her demands that I stay away from Santana and Puckerman were fresh in my brain after I spent all day doing my best to avoid speaking directly to Santana.

"That? You're mad about that?" She seemed amazed. Did she not see how crazy it was to dictate to me who my friends were? Did she not know it was controlling of her to tell me not to speak to this person or that person?

"Of course I'm mad about that. What gives you the right to tell me who I can speak to or not?"

"You know what, fine. We'll do it your way. But don't say I didn't warn you." She told me. Something about her tone gave me the willies.

"What does that mean?"

"It means those people are not your friends Rachel."

Okay here comes the jealousy. "What do you think I'm trying to steal your friends?"

She laughed, actually started to laugh, she even covered her mouth to contain her amusement. "Are you kidding? That's what you think that I'm worried about, you stealing my friends?" She began to shake her head, laughter continuing. "They aren't my friends either Rachel. They can't be trusted. Puckerman only wants in your pants and Santana is evil incarnate. Don't be fooled by the Santana you see with Brittany. Brittany has got Santana wrapped around her finger but that doesn't apply to the rest of the human race. Santana is Satan in stilettos. And the first chance she gets to hurt you she will. She'll do anything just so she can have something on you. So she can maintain her place on top. Don't ever trust anything she says. She's always got something up her sleeve."

That wasn't what she said back at the hotel. She told me Santana would steal me away from her and she wasn't going to let her because she loved me too much. She was drunk so I doubt she had the presence of mind to lie to me.

"That's not why you don't want me around her. You're scared she's going to try to get me into bed." I told her.

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "What? Why would you think that?"

It was true. I could tell by the way she lost the fire she'd had a second ago. "You told me so, back at the hotel. You told me that she'd steal me away and get me into bed."

She took an awkward sip of her diet Coke. "Fine. That's part of the reason but not all of it." She leaned back in her chair and began to shake her head. "What else did I say?"

"That you loved me and I don't have any idea how much." I told her.

She began to nod. "Right, I do. And if I'm telling the truth about Santana then I have to be telling the truth about my feelings for you."

I couldn't argue with the logic. "Still you can't tell me who my friends are."

She shrugged. "When are you going to learn to trust me? When are you going to learn that I know what's best for us? You act like I'm doing all this to hurt you Rachel. I love you. I love you and without me you'd drown. Nobody cares for you as much as I do, you know that."

My heart began to pound. I wanted to believe her, I wanted to trust her. I wanted her to be telling me the truth but I wanted to run my own life. I was her puppy. She had to learn that this relationship was a two way street.

I heard the pinging of cell phones. Somebody had sent us both messages. I didn't check mine but she did. She rolled her eyes when she read the message.

"It's Santana, your new best friend. There's a party at Puckerman's."

I shrugged my shoulders. "And?"

"And your invited now, you're my flunky. You get invites."

Cool. I'd never been to a cool kid party. "Are you going?"

She shook her head. "No. I promised you Karaoke. I don't have to keep up appearances. Being a member of the celibacy club exempts me from this sort of thing. No good will come from being with those people. I'd prefer to party with people I love and trust to take care of me."

I understood she meant me but was being gracious by not saying it. "We should go for a bit."

"Rachel haven't you heard anything I said? You can't trust them."

"Right because I can only trust you. Because only you love me. Nobody else."

She sighed, seemingly giving up. "You know what. Do what you want. I'm going to pay the check and I'll meet you at the car." She didn't even give me a chance to tell her I wasn't finished eating. She was up and out of her seat and at the bar in seconds. I collected my things and went to the car.

(Puckerman's house)

Quinn didn't speak to me on the way home. I wanted badly to apologize but my pride kept getting in the way. I knew in my head I was right. She was controlling and manipulative. She was stubborn and intent on keeping me under her thumb. But if I didn't stand up for myself I was sure to end up in a terrible bind in the future. I kept my mouth shut and painfully let her drive off without saying goodbye.

I went to Puckerman's house alone. Stepping through the door made me nervous. I half expected the whole party to be a ruse to get me there so they could torture me some more. The whole popular gang was there. Football jocks, Cheerio's, the whole McKinley in-crowd.

It took about a full minute of me standing by the door lost before somebody called out to me. "Berry!" Puckerman yelled. "Berry get in here." He instructed. He wrapped an arm around me pulling me into his body. He smelled like cheap beer and Stetson cologne.

"Hello Noah." Was all I could say.

"Go get yourself a drink Berry. Relax. If you get good and liquored up I'll even let you sing. You like to sing right?"

I was already sold. "I love to sing."

"Good. Go find Lopez and have her make you something." He told me before stumbling off into a mass of teenage bodies and disappearing out of sight.

I found Santana in the kitchen in a chef hat making drinks. Brittany was standing nearby slow dancing with a boy. They looked extremely close, grinding on one another actually, but Santana didn't seem the least bit interested.

"I'm supposed to instruct you to give me a drink." I told her. She smiled when she saw me. The smile gave me the creeps. The only thing I could think about was what Quinn told me earlier, that this girl was not my friend and shouldn't be trusted.

"Berry it's good to see you. Where's your handler?" She asked. Calling Quinn my handler like I was some monkey in the zoo made me cringe. I wanted to respond but the mix of alcohol and my low level status kept me quiet. She was liable to punch my lights out in her liquored up state and Quinn wasn't around to save me.

"Quinn had homework." I lied for her. Despite our fight I didn't want anyone thinking badly of her. I didn't want them knowing she thought of them as ruffians who weren't really friends of hers.

Santana nodded with a smirk. "Still writing that Virgin Mary essay I see."

I didn't laugh. If it had been about anyone but Quinn I'd have thought it was humorous.

"Alright no drinking and driving and no drunk dialing. So cell phone and car keys please."

Okay, I didn't plan on getting drunk but a glance over Santana's shoulder revealed two large bowls. One filled with keys another cell phones. Keys I understood, cell phones didn't make sense. Did they not want anyone getting drunk and calling their parents?

"I'm not going to get intoxicated Santana." I informed her. Maybe this way I'd be allowed to keep my belongings.

"No can do Berry. We don't know you well enough to give you the benefit of the doubt. Last year we let Becky Green keep her phone and the moron called her mom for a ride home and got all of us busted for underage drinking."

Of course. "Well how do I get home on the slim chance I find myself intoxicated."

"We have designated drivers. We even do car drop offs." She said and extended both hands. "You'll get them back at the end of the night."

I nodded in understanding. "Okay." I said handing them over. My cell phone needed a code to unlock so I was sure the secrets I kept inside were safe. Worst case scenario somebody would steal it.

"What you drinking?" Santana said as she dumped my belongings into bowls with the rest.

I didn't know much about alcohol. "Wine cooler?"

She laughed at me. "No grandma, the wine cooler party isn't for another fifty years or so." She began to pour things into a cup then shoved it in my direction. Her smirk was back and I felt a cold streak run down my back. "Here drink a few of these and have a good time."

(Four drinks and 2 hours later)

I wasn't sure where I was but I knew I was lying down. Was I home? How did I get home? It was dark in my bedroom but through my foggy mind I could tell I was still dressed. I reached down and pulled off my shoes. They felt like they weighed a ton.

My head began to spin and I felt my stomach churn. Oh my God, I was going to be sick. I began to feel around for the trash can I kept beside my bed and couldn't find it. I exhaled a few dry heaves and decided to finish getting undressed for bed.

I pulled off my light sweater and pulled off my top tossing them both carelessly to the floor. It wasn't until that moment that I realized I wasn't alone.

"Hey you aren't getting started without me are you?"

The voice startled me. WHO IS THAT? And what are they doing in my bedroom? I searched the room before I found him. Noah Puckerman was across the room, shirt off, boxer shorts still on, thank God.

What was Noah Puckerman doing in my bedroom? A glance to the wall revealed a cold hard truth. I wasn't in my bedroom. Where my framed Barbra poster should be there was a thumbtack hung poster of a topless blonde straddling a motorcycle.

I began to panic. Oh my God, Oh my God. What was I doing? Was I in his bedroom? And what was I starting without him? Was he planning on us having sex? Did I agree to have sex with him? If I hadn't what was I doing in here? A thousand different scenario's raced through my mind.

I began to pull myself off the bed but my coordination was off. I stumbled right into his arms as the bedroom door opened.

"Get your fucking hands off her right now Puck or I swear to God I'll gouge your eyes out."

My heart sank. I didn't have to look to know who it was. She wouldn't have had to speak for me to know. The second the door opened I knew it would only be one person. Could only be one person. My luck was too crappy for it to be anyone else.

"Quinn. It's not what it looks like." I began trying to explain.

"Get dressed and let's go." Was all she said to me.

Noah finally decided to let me go and disappeared quickly into a nearby bathroom. Even he could feel the tension.

"Nothing happened I swear." I began again.

"Just get dressed." Was all she said. She didn't leave me however. She stood there waiting for me to get dressed. She probably assumed if she did I'd take the chance to finish up with Puckerman.

"This isn't happening." I told myself. I pulled my shirt back on and fumbled around on the floor for my shoes. Of all the times to be proven wrong how could I end up with this? She was going to hate me. She was going to dump me and never speak to me again. Oh Lord this is bad. This is terrible.

"Quinn I didn't do anything. I don't even know how I got here. I just woke up in this bed. I thought I was at home."

"I guess there's no need for me to apologize after all." Quinn said.

"You have to forgive me." I said.

"Let's just get you home now Rachel. The rest of this conversation can wait."

(Home)

I was sober but Quinn didn't let me drive. Instead she had Santana, who was strangely still sober, follow us in Quinn's car. We had been sitting in my car in front of my house for five minutes but neither of us were talking. I was terrified to open my mouth.

"Look. We both know we were headed here. You think I'm a bitch anyway. Maybe its good that this happened. Maybe we aren't supposed to be together. I'm just so crazy when it comes to you that I don't think straight. I end up sounding like a crazy person and you clearly think I'm trying to run your life. Maybe it'll be good. Maybe you'll find somebody better for you than me."

I didn't understand what she was saying. Was she breaking up with me?

"Rachel I think we should break up. If I were a good girlfriend this wouldn't have happened. I practically dared you to do this. I thought I was doing the right thing for us but I see that I wasn't and if you need more I understand."

My mind began to race. She was breaking up with me. In my car, in my driveway.

"Quinn don't do this."

"It's okay Rachel." She leaned into me and kissed me on the cheek. "Don't worry about school. I still have your back." She got out of the car leaving me sitting there feeling empty and alone. I didn't know what to feel. I'd complained about her for days, I'd even tried to break things off. Now I had my wish but somehow it felt all wrong. It didn't feel good. It hurt.

I leaned back into the passenger seat of my car and let myself utter my first naughty word. "Motherfucker."

Thanks for reading and reviewing. There isn't much left to this story, a few chapters maybe. A lot of people come away from this story hating Quinn but hopefully this chapter redeems her motives in most people's eyes. Sure she's manipulative and mean and totally controlling but maybe, just maybe her heart's in the right place. And maybe Rachel, as much as we love her, isn't the most reliable source when it comes to Quinn's behavior. Doesn't it strike anyone that she's a bit too self absorbed to see things clearly?