Thank you to everyone who continues to read this, and know that I'm writing just as much for myself as I am you guys. I still love Fabrevans, even if RIB don't.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or Glee etc.

Quinn was sitting in the passenger seat of Sam's truck; they were on the way to physical therapy. Since that first Thursday, it had become a habit for the blond boy to take her. It was a good deal for Quinn – she didn't have to sit around, fending off Max and waiting for her mother to drive; she was making huge progress with all the extra time and, honestly, she really loved spending time with Sam. However, she couldn't quite work out what was in it for him – he was missing Glee rehearsals and had to sit around for hours watching Quinn fall over as she regained full mobility. When she asked him if he minded, he just said that it was the right thing to do and gave no further explanation.

There was a slight lull in the conversation and Quinn quietly listened to the song 'Royals' by Lorde on the radio. The girl leant her elbow against the window of the car, watching the streets of Lima whiz by, when she heard:

And we'll never be royals,

It don't run in our blood,

Quinn turned in shock towards Sam, who only grinned back at her. The boy's smile was infectious and, without thinking, she sang along with the next lines.

That kind of luxe just ain't for us,

We crave a different kind of buzz.

The girl couldn't remember a time when she'd felt this free and happy. It reminded her of how Glee and its members where there for her during the tough times and why she stuck with the club, despite it ruining her popularity. She was having so much fun singing that she didn't notice that, by the end of the song, Sam had stopped and was merely listening to her.

Let me be your ruler,

You can call me Queen Bee,

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule..

Let me live that fantasy.

There was a long pause before Sam finally said, "I'd let you be my ruler." Quickly, the boy realised how goofy he sounded and added, "I mean, Prom Royalty that is.. What I meant is that.. er- I'll vote for you, however stupid your running mate is." The last part was barely a whisper, but Quinn still caught Sam's quiet words.

"Thanks," she smiled – Quinn had been practicing her smile in the mirror a lot recently, until she found one that was friendly enough for her to be approachable, but also reminded people that she was above them, all without seeming too smug. The girl had forgotten how much effort being 'cool' was, and she was seriously starting to question whether or not it was worth it. "Max isn't stupid," she added as an afterthought.

"He kind of is.." Sam pressed, "You know, coach said that if he storms off the field one more time then he'll be dropped as starting quarterback, then it'll go to me."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Quinn snapped. She hated the accusation that she was only with Max because he was quarterback, even if it was true. The most popular girl in school shouldn't have to take shit from anybody. She was also slightly angry at herself for taking such little notice. She hadn't even realised Sam was back on the football team. She wanted to ask if he still did swimming, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"No," Sam replied, slightly defensively, "I just meant that I'm making my comeback. We're almost exactly where we were last year – you head cheerleader, me almost the Quarterback. Just that, you know, if me not being popular enough was a problem.." he trailed off.

"Sam-" Quinn's voice cracked over the boy's name.

"No, I get it. I'm sorry." Sam replied hastily, cutting the girl off. "You know, even though you rejected me a couple of weeks ago, I really admire you for that. What happened with us, with Finn, it hurt and I'm glad to know that you've changed. It just sucks that you've done it for him."

Quinn couldn't take the hurt tone in Sam's voice, or the fact that his puppy dog eyes were glistening, "I'm sorry," she whispered, lost for anything else to say. This was the first time they'd spoken about the kiss and there were so many things that she wanted to say to the boy but couldn't. She wanted to tell him that it had shattered her, to push him away, that she had never gotten over him, that she didn't, nor ever would love Max. In this moment, Quinn couldn't fathom why she wasn't with Sam – she was pretty sure she still loved him – only that it had something to do with holding on to a popularity that she wasn't even sure she wanted anymore, what was the point in being at the top if it was so lonely?

However, the girl lost the opportunity to voice any of these thoughts as Sam pulled into a parking space at the NovaCare Rehabilitation and select Physical Therapy Centre and announced, "We're here".

"Great," Quinn sighed, opening the door herself. Once out of the car, she took a few moments to steel herself, before heading inside to what was hopefully one of her last physical therapy sessions. Though, Quinn couldn't help but feel sad about this, not because of the therapy – which she hated – but because she would soon be denied of the opportunity to hang out with Sam.

"Come on, let's go." She called, making her way inside the facility.

Quinn was sitting at her vanity when the doorbell rang. After physical therapy, she'd changed into her comfy sweatpants and a T-shirt. Of course, the Queen Bee would never be seen wearing such casual clothing outside, but she'd been spending her evening practicing putting on Prom make-up with her mother and wasn't expecting any visitors. Judy Fabray, who was standing over Quinn, rubbing blush on to her daughters pale cheeks went to answer the door, whislt the petite blonde girl continued to layer colour on her face. Judy had been senior Prom Queen herself, and so, she was helping Quinn perfectly co-ordinate her make-up and hair with her dress.

"Quinnie, Max is here!" Judy called up the stairs.

"Shit!" Quinn muttered under her breath - why was he here? "I'll be right down!" She called. The girl rushed around her room, throwing off the sweatpants into a corner and grabbing some jeans, hastily pulling them on. She also changed out of her casual T shirt into a cute, pink cropped top. As a last thought, she ran a make-up wipe over her face, then headed down the stairs.

"Hey," Max smiled at her.

"Er- hi," Quinn smiled back, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk" Max replied.

"Okay.." Quinn's voice was drawn out in her confusion. Since when did Max bother to talk to her? The only times they conversed was when he was trying to show her off in front of his friends, or that time they'd made a deal about their Prom campaign. She led Max back upstairs to her room and sat on the side of her bed, motioning for him to join her. The girl couldn't help but notice that he'd closed the door behind them.

"Um.." the girl started, not really sure of what to say.

"What were you doing with Evans earlier?" Max demanded, "And don't deny it, I saw you walking to his car."

Quinn's mouth opened in shock at the brunette's bluntness and she raised her eyebrows. She was also surprised that Max took any notice of what she did at school when she wasn't by his side, fawning over him for his friends. "I.. we're friends." She replied, her tone was non-committal.

"Yeah, but I thought Thursday was our day, you know.. since there's no football or cheerleading practice because of Glee club," The boy practically spat the words 'Glee club', it was still clear that the club was uncool.

"I know.." Quinn hesitated slightly, unsure of what to say. She didn't want to admit to Max that she was attending physical therapy – her last session was next week and she'd been able to get away with no one but Sam knowing about her weakness and she certainly wasn't going to give Max something to make fun of her about since he loved belittling her in front of his friends. "I just had somewhere to be."

Her tone signified that it was the end of the conversation, but Max continued to press the issue, "Have you re-joined Glee?" he asked fiercely.

"No!" Quinn frowned and spoke as if that was the last thing in the world she'd want to do, although, since her impromptu singing on the way to physical therapy earlier that day, she had pined for the club and her old friends.

"Good." Max spoke decisively, "Well, we can make up for lost time now." He leaned over towards Quinn and pressed his lips against her, shoving his tongue inside her mouth.

The girl gave in and kissed him back, kissing Max wasn't a chore and he was one of the best looking guys in the school, also, when they were kissing, he wasn't jeering at her. It was just that, the whole time, she was wishing that he was someone else, someone blond, with much bigger lips.

The pair fell on to Quinn's bed, Max lying on top of her. His kisses became more urgent and, soon, his hands began to roam her body. "You know, I much prefer you in a skirt," he purred against her lips, in a way that probably every other girl would find seductive, but Quinn couldn't get the blond boy out of her mind.

Instead of roaming around her legs and butt, Max's hand crept upwards, across the blonde girl's stomach and slid under her shirt. The boy's hand lingered on Quinn's breast, first, over the bra, then under. He squeezed it in a way that wasn't un-pleasurable and began playing with her nipple. The girl lay there, responding to his hot mouth and remembering the agreement they had made – allowing him to touch her breasts in exchange for him paying for their Prom campaign photo shoot. She was trying to enjoy the moment, he was hot and his jealousy over Sam kind of turned her on. It was good for her to be with Max, even better if she could enjoy it, he was a far better option than Sam – she didn't truly care about him so he couldn't hurt her, and he was her best shot at winning Prom Queen.

Though Quinn's enjoyment didn't last long. Max's hand trailed from her breast down to her jeans. They paused for a moment at the waistline, and Quinn prayed that he wouldn't try anything, but still, his fingers crept under her jeans.

"Stop it," Quinn batted his hand away, trying to pull his mouth back to hers to distract the boy.

"Why?" Max mumbled against her soft lips, "Come on, you know we're going to win Prom King and Queen anyway so we may as well do it now."

"No," Quinn replied fiercely, pushing the boy off her.

"Whatever, you have tiny boobs anyway." Max spat, Quinn's eyes glistened - one of the only drawbacks of her new, tiny frame, was that was now much less curvy than she'd been before and she wasn't the curviest girl to start with – it hurt that he'd brought up this flaw.

"I think you should go," Quinn's tone was harsh.

"Good idea," Max pushed off her bed and sauntered towards the door, "You're giving it to Sam, so why won't you give it to me? You cheating bitch." He spat before leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

Something inside Quinn had snapped. She stormed out of the room behind him and shouted, "What did you just say?"

"You heard me," Max spat back from the bottom of the staircase, "I'm not stupid Quinn, you've cheated on every boyfriend you've had. You had a baby in sophomore year! I thought being with the school slut would mean sex all the time but obviously not."

"You really think that?" Quinn's voice was eerily calm.

"Everyone thinks that!" Max shouted.

Quinn stormed down the stairs, "No they don't! You and your ignorant football friends just think you own the world but you don't. You're uneducated and you judge based only on appearance. Thank you for reminding me why I left for Glee. Popularity isn't worth this. I'm not a slut, yes I've made some bad decisions but I've changed. I was faithful to you, this whole time and you're not worth it. We're over, Max."

"Fine, you're not that hot anyway." He shouted angrily then stormed out of the house.

Quinn marched back up to her bedroom, closed the door and threw herself on the bed. Hot tears ran down her cheeks but they weren't of sadness, instead of relief. She thought that being popular was everything, but it wasn't worth that. She'd joined Glee because she realised it before and she'd lost her way. The Glee club, especially Sam, were the ones who'd put her back together after she'd had Beth, and she was glad that she finally remembered that and had time to pick up the pieces before graduation.

"Quinnie, are you okay?" Came a timid knock on the door.

"I'm fine, Mom," Quinn called back. But suddenly, it all came crashing down on her. Prom was only a month away and she'd lost her date – her ticket to winning Prom Queen. Her mother would be so ashamed of her, and she wouldn't have the right to call herself a Fabray. Quinn sighed heavily and ran through her options, she even considered begging Max to take her back, but that really wasn't worth it. Would she be able to win without him?

The girl shook her head and lay down on the bed. She was so confused, why couldn't Glee co-exist with popularity? Why were they such paradoxes? After a long while, the girl had tired herself out from thinking and drifted off into a deep sleep.

We're finally getting somewhere with Quinn's internal struggle over popularity against doing things that she actually enjoys. I hope you liked it!

Questions, comments, and criticisms are always welcome!