A/N: I'm baaaack! I'm so sorry for making this what could very well be the most stretched out fic on FanFiction... it's not fair to you, and it's not fair to my story, either - I hope you don't think so, but I feel like I honestly pulled this out of my butt and posted it. How crappy is that? (Wow, I just realized how much that sounded like a bad joke... Oops). This chapter could be considered a filler, but it could also be considered an attempt to regain a smattering of an audience... possibly. Nope, I think it's a filler. Besides, the really good stuff is coming next chapter, which is also the last! :'( I do love this story, but it has definitely taken too long to get to the climax, so unfortunately, we'll be leaving the story at the high point. (Maybe that is a fortunate thing!)
But don't worry about the end, if you are! That doesn't come for a few more days! Let's just focus on the now... :)
Quinn POV
How dare she act all innocent and victim-ly when I'm the one who's been hurt! Rachel Berry doesn't deserve to have Finn's attention! I do!
Ugh! Why does this sort of thing always happen to me? I mean, whenever I make plans, something gets in the way. Like that one time at cheerleading camp last summer, I was so ready to be made Spirit Queen when Jenna Broadman just had to steal the crown! Maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to put bug spray in her moisturizer afterwards, but who cares? She knew that I wanted Spirit Queen soooo badly! How could she just ruin my plans like that?
I'm a nice person. I mean, yeah, a lot of people probably don't believe that, but it's true. Way true. I recycle my bottles and cans and paper, I listen to my parents (most of the time) and I go to church every frickin' Sunday! So I obviously don't deserve a crappy, LimaLoser boyfriend! Finn is not a LimaLoser! Do you see where I'm going with this?
"Quinn?"
"WHAT?" I scream.
"Um," Brittany starts, "I just wanted to know if I could have your brownie…?"
"Whatever," I huff, crossing my arms and turning away. This pool party couldn't have been a bigger fail.
Rachel is sitting over with her loser friends. God help them. They are soooo desperate to look cool that they're actually laughing at something Artie said. I actually kinda feel bad for him and the goth girl, Tina. But not Rachel. She deserves everything she gets.
I'm soooo pissed right now. I can't believe that Finn would even talk to that showbiz freak, like he was trying to get even with me or something. Why on earth would he do that? I mean, doesn't he wanna kiss me? Of course he does, silly. But I just have to coax him into it. And if I can kill two birds with one stone and ultimately get Finn while making Rachel look even more ridiculous, I will be AMAZING.
Believe me, I'm not done with trying to humiliate her. I'll give her the summer to think that she's safe. But I will personally make sure that her entire high school experience will be close to a living hell once school starts.
Y'know, at first, this whole "problem" I had with Rachel was just a game, some kind of entertainment that, I'll admit, was kind of weak. But now, with Finn as the prize, it's personal, and I promise you: I… will… win.
Rachel POV
So Quinn just screamed. That can't be good.
I'm absolutely shocked that she would bring her petty behavior to a party where her classmates' parents are present. Absolutely juvenile. I don't know why, but I actually thought she had more class than to try to publicly humiliate me for all those people to see. Obviously, I was completely wrong.
I would have been extremely embarrassed had Finn not come to my rescue. He was so chivalrous! And he went out of his way to talk to me! Coming to this pool party was definitely worth the turmoil.
"Are y-y-you okay?" Tina asks me as we sat around a table to eat.
"Yeah, that was a pretty bitchy thing she did," Artie says.
"I'm completely fine," I reply as what I'm sure is a dreamy smile crawls onto my face.
"R-r-really? I would have b-b-been so emb-b-barrassed!" Tina exclaims.
"I think I would have been too," I begin, "if Finn hadn't been there." Tina gives me a knowing smile.
"Yeah, but I'm surprised he didn't get all klutzy and spill the burger on you," Artie says. The three of us laugh – Finn has spilled things while trying to be helpful more than once.
"That probably would have made the whole ordeal much worse," I agree. I lift my burger up to my mouth when it hits me, again – Finn gave me this burger. A quick thought darts through my mind: Should I save it? No, that would be way too creepy. Instead, I take a bite out of the burger, savor the fact that Finn is my hero, and sigh.
-~:~-
A while later, Tina's parents come over to our table and tell her that it's time for them to leave.
"J-j-just a little bit l-l-longer? P-p-please?" she asks.
"No, sweetheart, all the other parents are leaving. Besides, you have violin practice tomorrow morning," her mom replies.
Tina sighs. "S-s-sorry, you guys," she says wearily, and leaves. I turn to Artie.
"Well, that's alright. We can still –" I'm cut off by an obnoxious ring tone coming from Artie's pocket.
"Hold on," he says, giving me a somewhat guilty smile. "Hey, mom. Really? Come on. You know that's not… fine. Whatever." He snaps his phone shut. "I gotta go. Sorry, Rachel." And with that, he wheels himself to the front of the house.
I scoff at myself. How pathetic is that? In less than two minutes, I have become companionless. What the heck? I stare at the tabletop in dismay for what feels like forever, and then finally decide to do something. It's getting much darker outside, but Quinn's fancy pool is lighted, and I have nothing better to do. Before I can stop myself, I jump in.
Finn POV
No, no, not me… please, not me!
The bottle slows down a little bit, then a little more, and then almost comes to a stop. I close my eyes – I don't wanna see who gets to kiss Santana.
Someone wolf whistles, and a few girls start giggling. Oh no.
"Well, Puck," Quinn says from across the circle. "Into the closet you go!"
I open my eyes. The bottle is pointing at Puck, who's sitting next to me. Thank god. I seriously thought I was going to have to kiss Santana, who'd spun the bottle. I mean, yeah, I guess she's hot, but I have a feeling she'd try to stick her tongue all the way down my throat or something. Not my style.
Puck puts his arm around Santana's shoulder and says, "Well, hot stuff, you gonna show me how they do it in Mexico?" Of course, he gives her his dumb eyebrow waggle.
"I'm from Venezuela, dumbass," Santana replies, shrugging off his shoulder. Me and the other guys laugh at Puck's mistake as he flips us the bird and disappears into the closet with Santana.
"So," Quinn says, almost like she's looking at me. "We wait."
"Uh, yup," I reply. She makes me feel really weird. And not the good kind of weird. The really weird kind of weird… yeah. But not good.
We all just sit there for a while, waiting for the seven minutes to be over with. Then Quinn comes over to me and says, "Wanna go outside?"
Crap. I really don't want to. But if I don't, all the guys are gonna think I'm a wimp, or worse – a pussy. Besides, Quinn is considered hot. It would be really dumb of me to turn her down. Maybe the guys didn't hear her?
"Uh," I say, stalling, as I look over her shoulder. Sure enough, all the guys are looking at me with looks on their faces like I need to say yes. Crap.
I sigh, and then say slowly, "Sure."
There's a kinda half smile on her face as she takes my hand and leads me out to the patio. A few kids are still out here, mostly the unpopular ones. Some are sitting in a circle on the grass beyond the pool playing an elementary school hand game or something, and I think that the Jacob Ben Israel guy is taking pictures of random stuff around Quinn's house. That's really creepy.
Some movement in the pool catches my attention. Rachel Berry is floating in the deep end, looking up at the stars above her, I guess. That's when I remember that I'd decided that I'd talk to her tonight. Hmm…
"So, Finn," Quinn says, snapping me back to her. "I wanted to apologize about breaking up your water gun game with Puck earlier."
"That's okay," I say. I'm kind of distracted with thinking about how to ditch her without really ditching her.
"No," she says, putting her hand on my arm and rubbing it. That's weird. "It's not. I was really out of line, and…"
She just goes on and on about being rude earlier (and she was, but whatever) as I glance around, trying to find some inspiration for my escape plan. Everyone outside is still doing stuff… I just can't get over how weird that Jacob kid is… and what's up with his glasses?
That's it! "Oh crap!" I yell, cutting off Quinn (but I don't really care).
"What?" she asks, really surprised.
"I just remembered. I lost a contact in the pool hours ago." Wow. I'm actually lying. And I don't think it's obvious. Way to go, Finn!
"Huh? I didn't know you wore – "
"I'm gonna go look for it, okay?" I say, turning to jump in the pool.
"Want me to help?" she offers.
"No, no, that's fine. You might as well just go back in. It could take forever to find it. Bye!"
"Oh," Quinn replies like I just called her a smelly cow. "Whatever," she says over her shoulder as she stomps back inside. I shrug, give one glance to the pool, and jump in.
A/N: Yup. Most definitely a filler. Oh well. You all have waited since June for a legit chapter, you can wait a little bit longer right? I'M JUST KIDDING! Honestly, I will crank out the last chapter as soon as I can. Thank you all so much for dealing with my not-very-reliable-ness. Review if you'd like to... not that I deserve it... but please please please don't feel obliged... I don't always review every chapter or fic that I read. :) - littlefish