Rachel Berry allowed a slight smile to play at the corners of her mouth as she walked through the halls of McKinley High one morning, her two best friends, Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce walking just slightly behind her. The crowds parted and she caught a glimpse of a goofy smile as Finn Hudson, her boyfriend of ten months, turned to look at her.
"Hey babe." She greeted him, presenting her cheek which he gratefully kissed.
"Morning beautiful. You ready to go?"
"Yup." Rachel linked hands with him and they walked off, Brittany and Santana still following.
Eyes followed the group with awe but none more so than the golden eyes of Quinn Fabray. The blonde girl was in complete and utter awe with the popular head Cheerio and would do just about anything to be friends with her. Unfortunately for her, she was the co-captain of the Glee Club, alongside overly gay Kurt Hummel. She loved Kurt like a brother but sometimes she felt like he brought her down, always telling her to forget the Cheerios and the three girls that ruled the school.
"Quinn! Stop staring at that girl like a love sick puppy. She's never going to notice you." Kurt's voice pulled Quinn out of her daydream. She turned to him with a sigh.
"I know, I know. Come on, let's just get to the choir room. I want to talk to Mr Schue before he goes to class." She allowed him to link elbows with her and together they walked off towards the choir room. They had a free period first up and planned to use it to practise for the upcoming Invitationals against Vocal Adrenaline.
"Quinn, Kurt, what can I do for you?" Mr Schue looked up as the two of them entered his office.
"We were just wondering if you could give us a few songs we could use at Invitationals?" Quinn asked, looking at him hopefully.
"Actually, I have something I need you two to do for me."
"Sure." Kurt said. He was always eager to do something for the club. Quinn frowned, disappointed that her practise time but willing to do something for the one teacher who actually believed in her.
"There's a new kid. A transfer from Tennessee. I heard him singing the other day and I thought he would be a good addition to the club. I need you two to talk to him for me."
"Um, okay I take it he's got a free period?" Quinn asked.
"Yup. I want you two to find him and talk to him, see if he'll consider trying out."
"Okay, what's his name?" Kurt was ready to go.
"Sam Evans. Apparently he's already hit it off with the football boys so I need you to work fast."
"Got it. Come on, Q, let's go." Kurt was already dragging her out the door as the bell rang, signalling first period. Suddenly they were faced with the usual stampede of teenagers hurrying to get to class. Instead of being crushed, they huddled against the lockers, waiting for the halls to clear. They were about to head off again when they heard a familiar laugh.
"Oh look! It's the fairy princess and her prince." Quinn went red as she turned to face the laughing brunette Cheerio and her posse
"Hello Rachel."
"Feeling confident today, are we?" Santana taunted from behind Rachel.
"Come on Q, just ignore them." Kurt pleaded, tugging on her arm. He couldn't understand Quinn's fascination with the three cheerleaders. The amount of teasing and bullying they put her through should have been enough to put anyone off wanting to become friendly with them. Instead of running away, though, Quinn only wanted to get closer.
"Look at this, pretty prince is standing up for the princess." Rachel laughed and brought her hand out from behind her back, revealing the ice-cold slushy that Brittany had subtly passed to her. It took Quinn as second to realise what was happening… a second too late because she felt the cold sticky mess hit her face and drip down her clothes before she could respond. Rachel, Brittany and Santana laughed and walked off, leaving Quinn gasping for breath. Kurt groaned and took hold of his best friend's arm, dragging her towards the bathroom, checking that no-one else was inside before following her inside to help her clean up.
"Quinn, stop moaning over her. Look at what she just did to you." Kurt snapped after Quinn began to whimper when he roughly scrubbed at the purple dye still on her face.
"I know but…"
"But what, Q? Rachel Berry is a bitch, so are Brittany and Santana. They're never going to notice you as anything other than something to throw slushies at."
"I just keep hoping, though."
"Well, don't. You've got me. And Tina. We're your friends and we're not going to throw grape slushies at you and ruin your clothes."
"Okay." Quinn sighed, knowing she wouldn't get any further in this argument with Kurt. She took the wet paper towel from him and began to wipe away the sticky substance herself. "Can you get the change of clothes from my locker? And my make-up bag?"
"Sure. I'll be back in a minute." He hurried out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind him. When he was gone, Quinn dropped the paper towel and leant on the sink, staring at herself in the mirror.
"Why me? I'm the star. Why am I the one who gets picked on? I should be the one leading the Cheerios and the New Directions to National championships." A tear slipped from her eye as she imagined the life she wanted, a life where she was not only captain of the New Directions but also Sue Sylvester's star Cheerio. She knew what she wanted but had no idea how to get it. Little did she know, the answers waited for her in the school library in the form of a young boy.
"Q? Is anyone else in there?" Kurt's voice interrupted her thoughts when he called through the door. She wiped the tears away and turned away from the mirror
"No. Come in Kurt." He slipped inside, handing her the bag containing clean clothes and taking up a leaning stance against the wall. Quinn hurried into one of the stalls, changing out of her ruined clothes and into the fresh new ones, shoving the old ones into the bag. When she was done, she went back to the mirror and applied a quick coat of mascara and turned to Kurt.
"Done." He announced and he pushed himself off the wall.
"Good. Now let's go. We've already wasted nearly half the free period and we've got to find this Sam person." Quinn nodded and followed him out. On their way through the halls to the library, they stopped at Quinn's locker to dump the bag.
In the library, they split up, Quinn heading to the study tables and Kurt heading to the aisles of books, searching down each one. It was Kurt who eventually found him, looking through a section of physics textbooks.
"Hi, er, are you Sam Evans?" He asked the blonde boy, making him jump slightly. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
"That's okay. Yeah I'm Sam. Who's asking?"
"Uh, Kurt. Kurt Hummel." He offered Sam his hand and the blonde boy shook it.
"Nice to meet you Kurt."
"Hey Kurt, did you have any luck finding-?" Quinn appeared, stopping short when she saw that Kurt was talking to someone.
"Q, this is Sam." Kurt introduced and Quinn smiled.
"Hi. I'm Quinn."
"Good to meet you QUinn. If you don't mind my asking, why exactly are you guys here?" Quinn and Kurt share a look before Quinn turns to him.
"We're co-captains of the Glee Club. We heard you singing the other day and wanted to ask you to audition for us." Sam looked startled.
"Glee Club? I'm not sure. I've heard…"
"Don't worry about what you've heard. It's probably just rumours spread around by Rachel Berry. We actually have a lot of fun and we're all really good friends. All we're asking for is an audition. It doesn't mean you have to join or anything." Kurt interrupted him, knowing that, since he'd apparently already hit it off with the jocks, he probably would have heard Rachel's venemous rumours about the club.
"Uh...okay then. When are the auditions?"
"Next week. Tuesday at 4 in the auditorium."
"I'll see what I can do." Sam smiled at them and turned back to the shelves.