Author's Note: In this chapter, I am writing Quinn and Rachel, while DryadSpeaks is writing Artie, Brittany and Santana. Feedback is appreciated. Thanks! :D

Chapter Four: Beginning of a Coop

Wednesday, after school but before the yearbook meeting, Quinn was confronted by Rachel, right before she could reach her locker.

Grinding her teeth, Quinn glared as she spun her locker combination. "This is borderline stalking, Rachel."

"It is not!" Rachel protested. "I just think it's of utmost importance that I-"

"You sent me like seven texts in the last hour. You wait for me after every class. You were at my house when I got home from school yesterday evening! " Quinn cried. "Actually, I think that's beyond borderline. I think it's just plain stalking."

Pouting a little, Rachel took a step back. "I wouldn't be so adamant if you would actually listen to my ideas. Instead, you ignore me at every turn."

Slamming her locker shut, Quinn faced the smaller girl. "I have a lot going on in my life, Rachel. So I'm sorry if I can't be at your beck and call. Now…I have a yearbook meeting to attend. You do too. Maybe you can sit by Jacob as you're starting to take after him." Pivoting on her heel, Quinn marched off.

Frowning, Rachel watched her for several seconds. "I am not like Jacob…" she muttered. Sniffing, she started to walk to yearbook when she heard a noise. Swiveling her head, she saw Santana and Brittany leaning against some lockers, opposite from Quinn's. "Have you two been there the whole time?"

"How long is the whole time?" Brittany asked, looking confused

Santana whispered something in Brittany's ear, before turning to Rachel. "Yeah, we've been here the whole time. Stalking, huh? Gotta say, that's a bit much...even for you."

Stamping her foot, Rachel sort of whined, "I was not stalking her! I have simple questions that she refuses to answer! And, since you were listening, I did not send her seven texts in the last hour. It was more like two."

"You were waiting outside her house. How is that NOT stalking?" Santana said, raising her eyebrow.

"I was actually inside her house," Rachel clarified. "Her mother was serving me cookies and tea. Mrs. Fabray is a very considerate and warm hearted person. And, also, I don't think it can be considered stalking if I call her ahead of time and tell her I'm coming over, can it? I even told her to call me back if it wasn't okay and she didn't!"

"Santana said that if you ignore people enough, they go away. Maybe she thought you went away," Brittany said, twirling her hair around her finger. "Then she wouldn't have to call you back."

"Well, that's..." Frowning, Rachel was surprised that what Brittany said had actually made sense. So much surprised that she was rendered speechless for several seconds. "Oh...I...guess that could be true," she finally said. "Do you two want something?"

"We want a coop. You know...for the ducks." Brittany was grinning.

"No, Brit, a COUP," Santana said. "We're not happy with the way yearbook is being run, and we know you're not either. You want power. Brit wants ducks. I want Brit to be happy. Anyway, I think we should take over yearbook from Quinn. Everybody wins that way. Well, except for Quinn."

Rachel thought for several for seconds, tilting her head to one side, before answering slowly. "I don't know. That seems rather underhanded and I've been trying to be less…deceptive. Noah says-" Cutting herself off, she blushed a little, cleared her throat then continued on with, "I used to do anything to get my way but I'm trying to change." To affirm her statement, she gave a sharp nod.

"I just want ducks," Brittany said, looking down at the floor. "Please don't underhand them."

"Look at it this way, Rachel," Santana started off. "If our plan works, Britt and I are willing to give you total control, as long as you let there be ducks on at least half the pages in the yearbook. You will be in charge of everything. You can do whatever you want."

"Half the pages in the yearbook?" Rachel sputtered. "That seems rather excessive. And if this is going to be the best yearbook ever... Perhaps we can add some photos from around Lima and include at least one of the duck pond." Holding her notebooks to her chest, she stood up straighter. "In fact, a photo of ducks taking off from the pond as they go into flight would be actually quite beautiful."

"Yes! I have lots of pictures of ducks!" Brittany was grinning from ear to ear.

"Fine," Santana said, turning to walk away. "Oh, and Berry? If you're going to be in charge of the yearbook, you're going to have to stop dressing like my great aunt. Are those anteaters on your sweater?"

Looking down at her attire, Rachel surveyed her outfit. "No, they are giraffes! And when are we going to coordinate our plan of attack?" she called out after them.

"Lunch," Santana said over her shoulder, turning the corner.

Unsure of what Santana meant, Rachel followed the girls, hissing as she got closer, "Lunch when? Lunch tomorrow?"

"No, Berry, lunch next Friday. Of course tomorrow." Santana rolled her eyes.

"I don't know how I was supposed to know that." Entering the yearbook classroom, Rachel said, under her breath, "Then we'll discuss this more, tomorrow at lunch."

If Santana had been planning on saying anything more, she never got the chance because, as soon as the three girls took their seats, Quinn informed them, "You are over five minutes late. Please try to be on time for our next meeting."

Rachel and Santana exchanged a glance before devoting their attention to the current commander in chief of the yearbook.

As Quinn announced that each member of the committee would be making a progress report for each of the sections they were assigned to, Artie's mind wandered a bit.

He was already in the room when Quinn arrived. As she walked towards what he secretly referred to as her "command post," he noticed that she looked even more beautiful than usual.

Wait. "More beautiful than usual?" Did that mean that he'd noticed how beautiful she was before?

She also looked incredibly stressed, and he wondered what was going on there. He hoped that it was nothing too serious, and thought that he'd try talking to her about it after the meeting. Last time he'd tried that it hadn't been too successful, but he felt like he had to try.

As each person detailed their progress, or lack thereof, he found himself watching her. With each person's comment that they "hadn't done much yet," coupled with the fact that Santana and Rachel kept looking at each other, glaring at her, and making disapproving noises every so often (these mostly came from Santana), her face tensed a bit more. Finally, by the time Jacob announced that he didn't know if he'd be able to continue with his section because of threats from the football team, she looked like she was going to explode.

Clenching her jaw a little, Quinn told Jacob she'd have Finn talk to the other football players before calling the meeting to an end for the day. The progress reports had been what she had expected, still so early in the year (it was only the beginning of October, after all) but Rachel and Santana had made the meeting almost unbearable. Both girls had reputations of doing anything to get what they wanted and, since she had slighted both of them at the previous meeting, she had a feeling they had a common goal of undermining Quinn's authority. If they kept it up, they just might succeed. And on top of that, Finn hadn't asked her to the Homecoming dance yet. He probably figured they were going together but still, he should ask her…

Reaching into her bag, she felt around for the bottle of aspirin she always carried with her. When she didn't find it, she let out a few choice curse words, though she wasn't often prone to swearing.

As he watched people file from the room, Artie overheard Quinn swearing at her bag. He rolled up to her. "Lose something?"

Throwing her bag across the table, Quinn looked up at Artie. "Yes, I can't find my aspirin and I have a headache. Do you have any?"

Artie reached into his bag. "Aspirin, ibuprofen, and tylenol. Take your pick."

"You carry all three? That's um…" Weird but Quinn was grateful for his drugs so she refrained from saying so. "Aspirin."

"Well, I like to be prepared for anything," he shrugged, handing her the first bottle.

"Thanks." Unscrewing the top, she placed three tablets in her mouth and washed them down with what little tea she had left in her dark purple steel Sigg bottle. "So, um…how's your part of the yearbook coming along?" He had just given her the status of his portion but she felt like she needed to ask something and didn't know what else to address.

"Oh, pretty good. I've got a ton of pictures, and am collecting a few quotes from people. I thought it might be nice to have people's words on the pages along with the pictures. Not too sure what it's going to look like yet, but I know I can make it work." He smiled. "I know my parts will be done on or ahead of schedule, so maybe I can step in somewhere and pick up the slack if things don't get done."

"Fairly certain that Rachel is watching and waiting to pick up any slack there might be," Quinn muttered, the expression on her face darkening.

"Yeah...Rachel. I was going to ask about that. What's the deal with her and Santana today?"

"I have no idea," Quinn said, gathering her stuff and standing. "Lately, Rachel has been texting me, calling me, showing up at my house, all in the effort to try to improve the yearbook. Her words. I know she thinks she could do a better job than I could as the student editor in chief. And Santana's just…Santana. I wonder if they've joined forces now. That would not be good." She realized she was sort of rambling and she looked down into his eyes. They were really blue. She had never noticed how blue they were before. She opened her mouth to go on but Artie spoke before she could.

"Do you think they'd try to push you out of your role as editor in chief? Because I wouldn't let that happen." His face flushed. "I mean...I and the rest of the committee wouldn't let that happen. You're doing a great job."

That hadn't actually crossed her mind but now that it had… It seemed more than a remote possibility. Her thoughts were so focused on the potential double crossing that she completely missed that Artie had just sort of offered to be her champion.. Biting down on her bottom lip, her eyes wandered to the clock that hung above the classroom door. When she saw the time, her eyes widened. "Oh my God, I'm so late for practice! Thanks for the aspirin, Artie!" And then she bolted out the door, dashing down the hall, praying that Coach wouldn't give her hell for being late, though she knew that was exactly what would happen.

Artie sat there for a moment, trying to work through everything that had just happened. He'd given Quinn aspirin. Then they'd talked about Rachel and Santana, and he had suggested that they might try to push her out of her role as editor. Judging by the look on her face, if only for a fleeting second, this had not crossed her mind. He didn't know how far they'd actually take something like that, but if Rachel and Santana were working together, he was pretty sure something was going to happen, and it wasn't going to be good.