Chapter Four
"What's the plan?" Rachel asked as she turned to the smirking brunette.
Santana moved her gaze from her nails and onto the other brunette, "I um, I haven't really thought that far ahead…" She admitted guiltily.
"This is absurd," Rachel sighed as she moved to lean back against one of the lockers, right by Santana, "Do you need me to go over the importance of thoroughly strategizing such things?"
Santana rolled her eyes in response, "God, please don't," She pushed off the row of lockers to stand in front of Rachel, "Look, I didn't think you'd be that easy." Rachel's brown eyes widened at her, "Like, to convince, not that, though, given yours and Juno's situation, you probably are." She chuckled at her own joke.
"Santana!" Rachel chastised her and narrowed her eyes at Santana, "If you have such a vast amount of free time to create uninteresting puns and jokes, may I suggest that perhaps you should use that time to devise further preparations for our plan."
"I don't know, I thought it was hilarious," The smirk on her face slightly faded when she noticed Rachel giving her a stern look, "Let's face it, you're borderline crazy, like, you're so close to crossing that line sometimes, it makes me want to punch you in the tit—"
"Santana," Rachel growled and pushed off the lockers, stumbling closer to the other brunette, "Do you have a point at the end of this topic and conversation or are you going to continue to insult me?"
"Feisty, Berry, Me Gusta," She said as her smirk deepened, "If you would have let me finish, you'd see that I was getting to my point. Basically, I need to watch you closely for the next week."
Rachel made a face, "That's creepy."
"Please, don't flatter yourself, Dwarf," Santana hurriedly continued when the short brunette was about to interrupt, "I need to watch you for a full week straight and see how you act around Quinn and how she acts around you so I'll know which parts we need to work on. Since it's you, I'm sure we'll have a lot of work to do…"
Rachel groaned and decided to ignore the insult. It was Santana; they were only to be expected. "Will you please tell me exactly why it is that you're helping me?"
Santana sighed and diverted her eyes, unexpectedly landing on a certain tall blonde.
Rachel watched as Santana's dark eyes went from serious to soft in a matter of seconds and her brown eyes followed the gaze, finding Brittany Pierce blatantly flirting with Noah Puckerman.
Santana broke her intense stare and focused on Rachel, "I can tell you that your secret is safe with me and despite how big of a bitch I am, you can trust me."
Rachel scrunched her eyebrows together, trying to figure out what just happened before shrugging it off, "Well then, I have one condition…"
"Great," Santana said sarcastically, "What is it?"
"No nicknames," She replied in a serious tone.
"Are you frickin' serious?" Santana asked and when Rachel twitched an eyebrow and remained serious she groaned, "Fine, but I'm not calling you by your first name."
"Also, we will not have sexual intercourse, ever." Rachel stated.
Santana scoffed, "Fine by me. But can I see it again," She glanced down at the brunette's crotch area with a wink.
"No!" Rachel exclaimed as she rubbed the flap of her skirt down, trying to cover something that wasn't even there, "And besides, I told you, I don't have it all the time."
"That is so cool, though, like, you have a pair of tits, pussy, and fully functioning penis one week out of the month. Tell me, when you mastur—"
Rachel covered Santana's mouth with her hand, "Will you be quiet? I don't want the whole school knowing about my condition and regardless, I wouldn't answer your perverse questions, Lopez."
The bell rang, interrupting any reply Santana was going to make, "So, does our friendship pertain to the public or is it to remain a secret?" She removed her hand.
Santana rolled her eyes and grabbed the bend of the brunette's elbow, tugging her to follow to the choir room, "I don't do anything that ends with 'ship'"
"Really, I've heard you literally will do anything." Rachel giggled to herself.
"Ay Dios Mio, you've already been hanging out with me too long."
Rachel gasped as she was unexpectedly shoved towards a row of lockers and when she looked up there was a flurry of red colored ice hitting a hockey player directly in this face.
"Do you all see this asshole?" Santana shouted to the students gathering around the scene, "This goes for all of you, if you try slushying Rachel Berry, I will go alls Lima Heights on your asses." She grabbed the shocked brunette and continued tugging her towards the choir room, "Does that answer your question about publicity?" She whispered.
"You didn't have to do that, Santana." She said quietly as they rounded the corner and stood in the doorway.
"Don't get all emotional on me and shit," Santana said. She didn't do emotions. It just wasn't her. "Don't mention it," She replied in a softer voice and when Rachel was going to reply she cut her off, "Really, don't."
Rachel shut her mouth.
Santana moved to sit in between Quinn and Brittany as Rachel took the floor with Finn, to sing yet another duet together. It was supposedly why the trio was there, because Quinn said the brunette was trying to steal her boyfriend but Santana had her own assumptions.
"Why are you socializing with Man-Hands?" Quinn leaned over and whispered to the Latina.
Santana smirked. Of course she'd noticed their short interaction at the doorway. God, it was almost too easy. "I didn't realize that it mattered to you who I socialized with." She replied, emphasizing a double meaning on the word 'socialize'. She watched from the corner of her eye as the blonde's nostrils flared and she tensed her jaw slightly.
"Well, it does because you're my second in command and we can't be seen consorting with that freak." Quinn hissed in a hushed voice.
Santana turned a little and leaned in closer to the blonde's head, "Listen, Quinnie, you don't control me. I can do what I want, when I want and if it just so happens that I want to doanything with Rachel…" She trailed off with a mischievous chuckle—mostly because of the way the smaller brunette's name rolled off her tongue, "I will." She finished and straightened her posture, smirking as she watched Quinn clench the sides of her chair and grit her teeth together. Finn came and sat down on the other side of the blonde before she could respond. And oh how Santana wondered exactly how she would've responded.
-xx-
Quinn slowed her sluggish movements as she rounded the corner of her doorway, shutting the door as she stepped over the threshold and dropped her gym bag carelessly to the ground. She collapsed on her bed with a groan, blankly staring at the ceiling.
Cheerios practice was literally kicking her ass. Before, it didn't matter because it was just her she had to worry about but now that she was pregnant, she was constantly thinking about whether or not the strenuous activity was affecting her baby or not. Her baby. It was such a weird thing to think, let alone know that this tiny person was actually growing inside of her. But it was impossible to not form a maternal bond between her and the life inside her and with every day that passed that bond grew stronger, especially because the ultrasound picture—that was safely tucked in between her mattresses—constantly reminded her that this was real.
She lifted the sweater she had changed into after cheerios practice, exposing her pale abdomen and gently cupped her hands over the unnoticeable bump. She still didn't know what she was going to do. There were approximately 7 more months left and she wasn't sure about whether or not she wanted to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. Yes, Finn had a job now and he was actually trying to help. His constant support made her feel bad because she could see how exhausted he was; mentally and emotionally, and it made her feel guilty because he was doing all of this for a baby that wasn't genetically his. She couldn't raise a baby and start a family based upon a lie, it would tear her apart daily and every time she would look into this baby's eyes she'd be reminded of that lie.
She felt her hazel eyes sting with unshed tears, but blinked them away. Usually, she was good at suppressing her feelings and emotions but lately it hadn't been that way. Maybe it was the hormones making her crazy. Maybe she was in too deep and just too attached already.
The soft knocking on her door halted her thoughts. Her mom peeked her head through the crack in the door, "Quinnie?" She called out, her light eyes instantly falling on her daughter's pale hands resting on her stomach.
Quinn grabbed the hem of her sweater and hastily pushed it down, feeling incredibly exposed, "Yeah, mom,"
Judy snapped her eyes up to her daughter's face and gave a soft smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "I was just checking up on you… You've been really exhausted lately and when I passed by your bedroom the other morning, I heard you get a little sick."
Quinn swallowed hard and diverted her hazel eyes before meeting her mom's again, "Cheerios practice has been real hard lately, and Coach Sylvester is doing everything to make sure we win the title this year, again." She smiled before continuing, "And I ate something bad at Brittany's house the night before that morning and it made me sick." She lied. She'd been lying for weeks now, it almost came naturally.
Judy exhaled a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding, "Okay, I'll let you get your rest then. Dinner will be ready at 6 and please come down on your own; I don't want you to give your father a reason to get riled up."
"Of course," Quinn answered dryly with a fake smile.
She watched her mom disappear through the door and clutched a pillow to her chest tightly, burying her face in it as if she were trying to escape this reality.
She really feared for when they found out the truth about everything.
-xx-
Rachel glanced down the hallway to find Quinn putting in her locker combination. She turned her attention back to her own locker and began gathering the things she needed, shoving them into a neutral colored gift bag and nudging the metal door closed when a tan hand grasping the edge stopped it from shutting successfully. She focused her brown eyes on the annoyance, "What do you want now?" She asked with sigh. Santana had been consistently interrupting everything she was doing to woo Quinn Fabray that week.
"I'm saving your ass before you make a fool of yourself." Santana's dark eyes flickered to the gift bag cradled in Rachel's small hand, "What's in it?"
"Nothing that'll embarrass me," She rolled her eyes and slammed her locker shut with her free hand, not caring that it made the other brunette jump back in order to save her hand. "You said you were going to watch me for a week, not control everything I do."
"Berry, I'm helping you." She replied as she blocked Rachel's attempt to escape. "Do you even know what Quinn would think if she saw your little crazy stunts?"
"They weren't crazy!" Rachel narrowed her eyes into tiny slits, glaring daggers at the Latina. Really, they weren't so bad.
"You were gonna sing a lullaby to her in Glee!" Santana shouted glancing around the hallway to make sure no one was within ear distance, "Totally not awkward or crazy, at all." She said sarcastically.
Rachel pursed her lips, okay fine; maybe she had her on that one, a little bit.
"And what about the whole 'Team Quinn' shirt at the game?" Santana had to bite her lip to refrain from laughing, again. "If I didn't find you before the game started…" She shook her head with a grimace. There just weren't any words to describe how horribly wrong that could have gone. "She's not even on the team! We're cheerleaders, we cheer, and only crazy people cheer on cheerleaders at games." This time she couldn't help but laugh lightly.
Rachel ducked her head as she thought about it. Okay, so maybe there were a few crazy things she tried to do. "That's only two things, Santana. Two." She replied defensively.
"Your creeper calls." Santana added for good measure.
Rachel's mouth fumbled open and close, "You know about those?"
"Quinn mentioned them in the locker room the other day. She doesn't know who, but for me it was obvious." Santana laughed again. She was just so helpless.
"I wanted to talk to her but every time I dialed her phone number, I'd start thinking about different types of scenarios. Like, what if she asks how I got her number. What if she hangs up on me? And then she'd pick up when I was still thinking about everything and I'd sit there just listening to her repeatedly say 'hello?'" She explained as Santana simply arched an eyebrow at her, uninterestedly. She groaned and leaned against the row of lockers, "I'm screwed. I should just forfeit now."
Santana sighed loudly. She was really getting tired of how insecure this bitch was. Okay, maybe it was their fault she was this insecure, but still. Being around the small diva wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She mentally face palmed at realizing she actually didn't mind the friendship she was starting to form with her, so much so that she actually felt bad about calling her a bitch in her mind. She snickered at her thoughts.
"Look, you suck, okay?" She had bite her lip to refrain from breaking into fits of laughter at the way Rachel's big brown eyes further widened at her. "I mean, you just suck so much. It's like you sucked up all the suck in the world and—"
"Santana!" Rachel exclaimed as she put her hands on her hips, "Must I remind you of our little talk last week, about your inappropriate insults and getting to the point?"
"Right…" Santana nodded. "It's not that bad though, alright? But you need to tell me what's in the bag before you mess up any progress we've made."
"Progress?" Rachel asked in a meek voice.
"Well, yeah, no thanks to you." Santana rolled her eyes when the other brunette scoffed at her. "It's clear Quinn has some sort of feelings for you. Every time I'm next to you she just radiates rainbows and jealousy…"
Rachel tuned the other brunette out to glance down the hallway and sure enough, the blonde was glaring their way but quickly turned her attention back to her locker when she noticed Rachel was watching. That certainly was interesting.
"And then when I had to…" Santana shut her eyes for a minute with a disgusted look on her face as she thought about the memory, "When I had to hug you to hide that hideous shirt you wore to the game, she chewed my ass about nothing in particular and gave me hell on the next day's practice."
Rachel nodded her head, mostly because she didn't know what to say. "There's nothing in this bag that'll affect anything. It's just some things for Quinn that I thought would help her out through her pregnancy."
Santana's mouth dropped into an 'o', "Well I guess that's not so bad…" She turned her attention to the other end of the hallway and found Quinn's hazel eyes on them. "Now, go get em', Berry," She grabbed the small brunette and nudged her in that direction, delivering a firm smack on her ass just for kicks because Quinn's eyes were still on them.
Rachel whipped her head around to glare daggers at the Latina before stumbling in the direction of Quinn's locker. She let out a groan as she realized the blonde cheerleader was no longer alone; she had Finn Hudson with her now. She cleared her throat to announce her presence as she approached.
"Berry," Quinn greeted her in an irritated voice.
"Hey Rach," Finn sounded a little more cheerful.
"Hello, Finn. Quinn," Rachel fought the urge to roll her eyes, seriously how could two people whose names practically sounded identical, date. "Finn, may I speak to Quinn alone? It's important."
"Actually, Rachel, I just got here and I'm kinda talking to her about something, too. I have a na—"
"Finn," Quinn interrupted him through gritted teeth. "I'll talk to you at lunch, please." She said in the same tone.
Finn's eyebrows rose as he easily recognized the blonde's look. He knew when to back off because of this pregnancy stuff. It kind of seemed like Quinn was always turning into 'scary Quinn' around him now a days. "Okay," He replied with his boyish smile, leaning in to place a chaste kiss on the blonde's forehead and a little unsubtly rub his large hand over Quinn's stomach area.
Rachel's jaw tensed as she watched the interaction. For anyone else, it'd appear to be a boyfriend being affection to his girlfriend but with her knowledge, she knew it was much more intimate than that. She had the urge to clobber him and scream that the baby wasn't his, which was an odd thing because Rachel was never a violent person, not physically at least.
She watched him walk away, glaring at the back of his head and turned back to the blonde whose hand was clutched to her forehead as if she were experiencing minor discomfort. "Are you okay?" Rachel asked with worry evident in her voice.
Quinn reopened her hazel eyes, landing on Rachel big brown ones and swallowed, hard. That unsettling feeling in her stomach reappeared as they shared another intense stare, "I'm fine." She answered as she diverted her eyes to the ground, "What do you want?"
Rachel extended her hand and offered her the gift bag clutched in her hand, "It's just some things that I thought would help you through your pregnancy… There are some books, and one of them has great reviews and it's supposed to help with your options, whether or not you should keep the baby, and how to tell you parents—have you already decided about keeping the baby?" She held her breath as she cut herself off, expecting Quinn to snap at her for interfering with her life.
Quinn simply shook her head 'no', "Finn wants to do whatever I want to do and I haven't decided…" She fiddled with the handles of the gift bag, "He just suggested we name our baby, 'Drizzle'. He said it was a gender neutral name." She scoffed as she rolled her eyes. When she refocused on the short brunette, she found her smiling a beaming smile at her. "What?" She asked a little nervously.
"N-nothing, you just said our baby. It sounded kind of nice, especially when I imagine it is me that you're talking about." Rachel stated and watched as the blonde ducked her head in response. "That's very insensitive of him, though."
"How do you figure?" Quinn asked. She thought it was a particularly dumb thing to do because the name was just not cute, at all.
"Because… You don't even know if you're keeping it yet and it's kind of insensitive to be throwing around names as if you've made your decision." Rachel shrugged and couldn't help but add, "It's not even his baby."
"Rachel," Quinn warned.
"Well it's true, Quinn. I hate watching him parade around all proud because of this. He gets to go to your doctor's appointments, he gets to touch your stomach, and he gets you. It's not his baby." Rachel wasn't sure why all these words were coming out, especially right now. Maybe she was just sick of holding it all in.
"Yeah, well, it's not yours either. It's mine and it's my decision, not yours and not his." Quinn said as she shoved the gift bag in her locker and slammed it shut.
"I wasn't implying that I wanted to help with your decision," Rachel spoke a little softer and waited until Quinn visibly relaxed a little, "I just want to be there for you. As a friend more than anything else and-" She cut herself off to inhale a deep breath, "And I don't see how he's better than me."
Quinn wanted to insult her, degrade her, and speak to her in a voice laced with venom but as she watched the brunette's brown orbs feel with moisture, she couldn't bring herself to do it. This was happening to her, too. Maybe not directly but she was going through it too. "This is all I have, Rachel," Quinn said as she gestured to her cheerio's uniform, "Captain of the Cheerios, quarterback boyfriend, and my perfect looks—" Her breathy voice broke as she said the last part, knowing that within the next 2-3 months, she wouldn't look like this anymore. She felt her own hazel eyes burn with unshed tears and glanced around the hallway, to be sure no one was suspiciously watching them. "Let me keep this for now, please." She begged and swiped at a stray tear that fell down her porcelain cheek.
Rachel sniffled but kept all tears at bay. She wouldn't cry. Not in the middle of a hallway at school, and so she refused to look into Quinn's vulnerable hazel eyes knowing that if she did, there'd be no way to hold the tears back. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Quinn." Rachel needed the blonde to hear her apologize for that night, regardless of whether or not it was solely her fault, "I never would have intentionally done this to either one of us."
She watched as Quinn simply nodded her head, "You still didn't answer my question." She stated as she realized that the blonde had no intention of responding to her apology.
Quinn thought about the question. How was Finn Hudson better than Rachel? She assumed she meant as a parent for the baby because, really, she couldn't have meant for Quinn. They didn't have feelings for each other like that, right? Well, he wasn't. Finn was a dimwitted boy and albeit sweet at times, he'd never be better than Rachel, in anything. But let's face it; Rachel Berry was destined to do things bigger than being stuck in Lima. She was going to New York, she'd take Broadway by storm and eventually venture into other great things and a baby would only hold her back.
She stiffened her posture and took a deep breath before meeting Rachel's unsure and vulnerable brown eyes, "Because you're not just a loser anymore, you're also a freak." She stated in a malicious tone and pushed past the small brunette and towards her first period, feeling nothing short of empty.
Rachel slumped against the row of lockers, completely taken aback by the blonde's words. She hadn't been expecting them, at all. She didn't realize she was crying hysterically until she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her frame, inches away from hitting the ground. She instinctively buried her face in the crook of this person's neck and from the height difference she realized that she was in Santana Lopez's arms.
"Shh, you're okay." Santana assured her as she rubbed soothing circles on her quivering back.
"No I'm not," Rachel answered through trembling lips in a broken voice and Santana's heart broke at the words.
Rachel felt so out of control in this situation and she absolutely hated it.