Chapter 5: Pry-dew
Chapter song: "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" – Bing Crosby
Time: August

AN: There'll be some French language in this chapter; there's a translation of it after each sentence in the square parenthese: []

You can do this, Quinn thought as she looked at herself in her locker mirror. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before closing her locker. It had grown out over summer and was now just down to beneath her shoulders. Then she straightened her cream coloured dress with her hands and headed towards the choir room.

It's okay, it'll be okay. You can do this she repeated to herself, but she was practically panting as she approached the open door. She stopped just outside, took a deep breath and then stepped in.

Santana and Brittany were sitting at the back row pecking each other's cheeks and Puck was sitting next to them not being able to tear away his gaze from the atypical couple. Rachel and Finn were sitting in front of them leafing through a music book, then an empty seat and then Mike and Tina. Artie and his cheerleader girlfriend Anna were sitting in the front row, him showing her his biceps, telling her how he didn't have to work out since rolling around his chair was enough work out. No sign of Sam or Mercedes. Quinn let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

As soon as the others noticed her, Tina jumped up and ran over to her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Quinn! We've missed you! How come we haven't heard from you all summer?"

"Missed you too. My mother and I decided to extend our stay in Paris. I only got home a few days ago." Quinn smiled, shortly forgetting about her ex-boyfriend.

"You've got to tell me all about it. Come sit next me." She pulled Quinn over to the rest of the group. Quinn hugged Artie on her way and waved at Anna before sitting down between Finn and Tina. Mike, sitting on the other side of Tina, lent out a hand for Quinn to high five. Then she felt a warm breath on her neck and turned around to face Puck who was blinking at her.

"Looking good, Fabray."

"Puckerman." Quinn sighed although she couldn't help but smile a little.

Rachel leaned in over Finn and put a hand on Quinn's lap. "Have you talked to Mercedes yet?" she asked curiously. Finn just looked straight ahead, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

"N-no." Quinn said. Of course she had seen the couple numerous times during that day, but she didn't have the guts to face them just yet. At least not if she could avoid it.

"Mercedes has been asking about you," Tina said. "She's missed you."

"I guess I've missed her too." Quinn said unsure if that sounded bitchy or not. Did I intend for it to sound bitchy? She thought, once again unsure.

Suddenly the buzzing of the room died away as a certain blonde boy entered the room followed by a very nervous looking Mercedes.

Oh god, Quinn thought as she saw them holding hands. I'm so not ready for this. Not yet not yet not yet. She hastily looked down at her hands in her lap. What am I going to do, will I never be able to look at either of them ever again? And why the hell is everybody so damn silent? She tried to muster up some anger, but she only felt scared.

Luckily Mr. Schue entered the choir room just as Quinn's head was about to explode.

"Welcome back everybody, it's good seeing you all again," he said cheerfully while Sam and Mercedes found their seats.

They sat down on the first row in front of Rachel and Finn. Just before Mercedes sat down she looked up at Quinn and as if planned Quinn raised her head in that exact moment. Their eyes locked for a brief second. Quinn gave Mercedes a small smile and nodded subtly. Mercedes let out a small sigh and sat down next to her boyfriend.

Mr. Schue began to talk and Quinn stared straight ahead trying to ignore the light hair she could see out of the corner of her eye. Somewhere very far away she could hear Santana asking Puck about his loser girlfriend and Puck explaining how Maya had bigger boobs than Santana and that they weren't even fake. A millions thoughts were running Quinn's head and she felt as if she was going to puke, when she saw Sam wrapping his arm around Mercedes' shoulders. She was just about to get up to escape the incredibly tense situation, when the principal stepped into the choir room. After him followed a boy Quinn hadn't seen before.

"Figgins," Mr. Schue exclaimed. "How can we help you?"

No, that's not true, Quinn thought. I have seen him before. Wasn't he one of the kids waiting for the school bus?

"William, let me introduce Mr. Prideaux (pry-dew). He's an exchange student from France."

"It's Prideaux (pree-DOH)," the boy said smilingly with a heavy accent. He had long goofy looking legs, slender built with chestnut coloured hair combed to one side. He was wearing a blue shirt with short sleeves, black jeans and brand new red all stars.

Welcome to America, Quinn mused chuckling slightly, completely distracted from Sam and his new girlfriend.

"Yes, well-" Figgins continued. "Mr. Prideaux (pry-dew) would like to join the Glee Club. He said he wants to sing, but he didn't know what the word 'glee' meant when he was to choose his classes."

"Okay then, welcome to the club Mr. Prideaux." Mr. Schue smiled.

Figgins leaned into the Spanish teacher and whispered "He doesn't know the language very well," before exiting the choir room.

Mr. Schue put his hand on the new boy's shoulder. "We're down with one guy anyway, so you'll fit right in. There's has been some changes made since last year, but Anna is new as well," he pointed to Artie's girlfriend. "So you should have no problem. Are you staying the entire year or just the first semester?"

The boy looked confused and scratched his arm. "I-I… I don't understand," he said slowly.

"Oh, okay-" Mr. Schue said, realizing the modest size of the French boy's vocabulary. "Well, Kurt speaks French fluently…"

"Kurt is not here today, Mr. Schue." Finn said. "He's still in Michigan with his dad visiting his grandparents. He won't be back until the first week of September."

"Ah," Mr. Schue said looking slightly worried before turning his eyes to the new boy. "I'm afraid you'll have to-"

"Wait," Mercedes interrupted. "Quinn just spent the summer in Paris. Maybe she can help him."

Sam cringed slightly upon hearing his current girlfriend saying the name of his former girlfriend, but luckily it didn't seem like Mercedes noticed.

"Quinn?" Mr. Schue asked

Quinn shifted slightly in her seat, suddenly feeling very exposed. "Th-that's probably not a good idea. I-I only speak a little French. And poorly."

"Essayez," the exchange student said smiling encouragingly. ["Try"]

Quinn took a deep breath. "Well, uhm, je ne parle pas très bien franςais et je ne sais pas si je peux t'aider..." She swallowed and looked down on her hands in her lap. ["Well, uhm, I don't speak French very well and I'm not sure I'll be able to help you."]

"N'arrêtez pas, vous êtes très bien!" The new boy laughed. "Ton accent est impressionnante, es-tu sûr que tu n'es pas d'origine française?" ["Don't stop, you're very good! Your accent is impressive, are you sure you're not French?"]

"Trop vite!" Quinn exclaimed. "Parlez lentement, s'il te plait." ["Too fast! Speak slowly, please."]

"Désolé," the boy said grinningly. "Tu parles très bien français. Est ta famille française?" ["Sorry. You speak French very well. Is your family French?"]

"Non, mais merci beaucoup" Quinn smiled. ["No, but thank you very much"]

Sam didn't know one French word, but he could recognize a compliment in any language. Or rather he could recognize that grateful smile Quinn was giving this new dude at the moment. He'd seen that smile every time he complimented her. Well maybe not quite the same, but similar.

"It seems to be working fine," Mr. Schue said. "Mr. Prideaux, why don't you take a seat next to Quinn?" He pointed towards Quinn and the French guy picked up immediately. Tina and Mike scooted one seat to the side thus an empty seat appeared next to Quinn.

He sat down and took Quinn's hand, saying "Je m'appelle Augustin Prideaux." ["My name's Augustin Prideaux"]

"Quinn Fabray," she answered with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Quinn." He repeated trying to imitate the American pronunciation.

Throughout the rest of the class Quinn would quietly translate everything Mr. Schue said into French and Augustin would nod and try to fathom the system of Glee Clubs and competitions. They'd have some difficulties every once in a while, but they got by by mixing English and French. When Mr. Schue let the group brainstorm regarding songs for sectionals, Quinn asked Augustin about his musical skills.

She discovered he was a trained choir singer, knew how to play the guitar and the piano but wasn't a very good dancer, or at least he said he wasn't. There's something slightly feminine about him though - no, not feminine - classy about him, that makes me think otherwise, Quinn mused while studying the new boy. He had dark brown eyes and a funny-looking face with big eyes, a big nose and a wry smile. On top of it all, he kept tugging his earlobe every time he had to ask her to repeat something. He did it just now.

"Excusez-moi?" he begged making his ear go red. ["Excuse me?"]

"Ils chantent la plupart des solos. C'est pourquoi nous les appelons 'The Power Couple'." ["They sing the most of the solos. That's why we call them 'The Power Couple'"]

"The po…" Augustin tried

"The power couple," Quinn said slowly while enunciating strongly.

"The power couple" he tried hesitantly.

"Oui. Exactement. Rachel and Finn are the power couple."

"Rachel and Finn are the power couple. D'accord. Et ils sont les seuls?"

"Quoi? Je ne comprend pas." ["What? I can't understand."]

"Eh, is it… is there other power couple?"

"Oh!" Quinn exclaimed. "You want to know if there's another power couple…" she thought for a moment, not really sure what to answer. "Well. No" she said quietly, slightly taken aback by his question. She couldn't exactly explain to this stranger that there probably would have been another power couple if she hadn't acted so foolish last year. Furthermore she felt pretty sure that Sam was looking at her. He was still sitting on the front row across from her, but she could feel his gaze burning into her neck and shoulders.
If she had turned around, she would have discovered that she was right.

"Sam!" Mercedes snapped her fingers in front of him. "Summer break is over and you better get your pretty little butt into this conversation and not let me do all the work."

"Right," Sam said turning his eyes to his girlfriend. She looked beautiful with her purple headband and her heavy golden earrings. "S-sorry." He laughed awkwardly afraid he had gotten busted, but she didn't really seem mad.

"I'd like to do a solo, but Mr. Schue already knows that. However he doesn't know that I'd also like to do a duet…"

Sam tilted his head a bit, not quite following.

"… with you," Mercedes said nervously. It came out as more of a question than a fact.

Sam gave her a big toothy smile and put his arm around her. "That'd be awesome!" he said, thinking how much fun they had had at nationals last year. She kissed his cheek and they both turned towards Mr. Schue as he began to speak.

"Right guys, it sounds like we're definitely getting somewhere. As I said I don't know if there's going to be a theme for sectionals yet, but I'll tell you as soon as I know. Good job today everybody, I think this year is going to be great."

Sam heard Quinn translating the last sentences for Augustin, right before the latter reached over and kissed her cheek while squeezing her hand.

Once again Sam cringed and this time Mercedes definitely noticed. She raised one eyebrow and left the choir room without bidding him farewell.

"Thank you, Quinn. You are grand help," Sam heard Augustin say as he picked up his things and ran after Mercedes.

Thank you for reading! And thus the story begins. First of all:
- To those of you who speak French: I apologize for the grammatical errors and simple language, mais je ne parle pas très bien franςais :-)
- To those of you who don't speak French: I hope this isn't too messy. I promise that mister Prideaux will indeed improve his English and therefore there'll be less French in the following chapters.
I have a pretty clear idea of where this is going, and I think (well, I hope) that it's going to be interesting. Thank you for your reviews and story alerts, they make me smile 3