Standard Disclaimer, I don't own Glee or any of its characters.
(Brittany Singing)
(Santana Singing)
(Both Girls Singing)
Chapter 3
When Quinn woke up the next morning she was confused and her head felt like it was about to split open. What was going on? And then it all came rushing back to her, everything, Finn and Rachel, the assembly. Puck… Oh God… Puck. So it wasn't just some horrific nightmare that she had imagined.
She glances over at the clock to see how much time she has before she needs to start getting ready and immediately jumps up, which was a huge mistake as her head throbbed at the action. But she was already fifteen minutes late, so she powered through it. How come no one had woken her?
After a quick shower and as she is brushing her teeth, she checks her phone and sees that she now has 75 new messages and 19 missed calls.
"Fuck!" She exclaims as she spits the toothpaste back into the sink.
Most of the messages had come from Brittany and Santana, and they got progressively more frequent and worried. Well Brittany's got more worried, Santana's latest message, sent about an hour ago, had told her that, 'if she wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere, she would be.' Which was Santana speak for 'I'm scared out of my mind, and I was up all night worrying about you.'
But she was shocked to see that about a third of the messages had come from Finn and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.
She however did send out a quick message to all of them letting them know that she was alive.
To: Santana, To: Brittany, To: Finn- I'm fine, I'll talk to you at school.
She hesitates hitting send, because right now she is anything but fine, but there is no point in worrying them anymore than she already has. Well no point in worrying Brittany and Santana anymore. She was still trying to work out how she felt about her… boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend…? She just didn't know at this point.
Their responses are immediate.
From: Santana- You bitch! When I see you, you won't be! Fucking scaring me like that, I love you to death but God dammit, you don't get to scare me like that! You owe me and Britt an explanation, she spent the entire night crying, worrying about you!
She felt a stab of guilt, on top of everything else, about worrying them so much, and her eyes began to water.
From: Brittany- R U Ok?! I luv U so mch x1000. Plze dn't ever scare me lke that a-gin! LOVE U so much! Plze plze plze x1000 tlk to us. C U soon.
She takes a moment and takes a few deep breaths before reading Finn's text.
From: Finn- I'm glad U R ok! We reely need 2 tlk! C U soon.
She sneer's at his text, angry. Oh he's glad she's okay, nice of him to care today. Too bad he didn't seem to care yesterday at that assembly, or later when he had his tongue down that dwarf's throat, too bad he didn't care last night when she got drunk and…
Her angry rant is cut short as she recalls that part of yesterday, and any fire that she had was gone. She just felt defeated, like she had hit rock bottom. And she knew, she just knew, that Puck would be spreading it around school that he had slept with her, and that she would have to deal with these smug little grins all day. She almost decided right then and there to skip school today.
But no, she wouldn't be intimidated and she really wanted to see how bad the fallout from yesterday was going to be and just get it over with, rather than stay at home and worry about it.
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xXx-Scene Break-xXx
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She finally reaches the school but had completely missed first period. So she makes her way to her second class of the day which is luckily for her gym, so she'll be able to shower at the end of it, and won't have to smell like she ran the entire way here.
As she enters the locker room she is suddenly engulfed by a hug from Brittany. "Are you okay? What happened?" The taller blonde asks.
"Seriously Q, you left yesterday super pissed, and then dropped off the face of the earth, what's going on?" Santana asks, walking towards her friend with an angry scowl on her face. When she reaches her she crosses her arms and stares expectantly at her friend. "Well, we're waiting."
"San, be nice." Brittany frowns.
"Screw that! We've been going out of our minds, she owes us an explanation!" Here Santana jabs Quinn in the shoulder with her finger, hard. "Start talking."
Yesterday was awful, she was pretty sure she and Finn were through. He had pretty much made that abundantly clear at the assembly yesterday. And any hope she may have had, had been destroyed when she saw him kissing Rachel in the auditorium. She had hurt her two best friends, who were now super pissed at her. Santana looked moments away from hitting her, and even though Brittany was being nice, Quinn could see the look in her eyes and knew she was only doing just better than Santana. She had lost her virginity last night in a completely humiliating and degrading way to a person she didn't even like, and to top it all off, she had been late to school.
She was tired, she was sore, she was hung over and she was embarrassed as well as disgusted with herself and she just didn't have any fight left in her today. So she did the only thing she could do, she fell to her knees and began to sob.
"Oh, shit!" Santana says startled by her reaction. She had expected Quinn to tell her to fuck off, not… this.
"Santana!" Brittany cries at the Latina angrily as she drops down next to the sobbing girl and pulls her into her arms. Quinn clings to Brittany like she's a life line, the only thing keeping her alive, and continues to cry. "I told you to be nice!" The girl is glaring at Santana.
Santana quickly drops down next to the two girls and looks at Quinn nervously. Wanting to hug the girl but afraid of making it worse, so she just kneels there and hovers by her awkwardly.
"I'm… I'm so so sorry, Q. Really… um, you don't… I mean… Um, a little help B."
Brittany holds Quinn close and begins to gently rock them back and forth, not saying a word, just letting the girl cry. After a few minutes pass and Quinn has stopped sobbing she begins to quietly sing to the girl.
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but
I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too
Quinn lets out a soft giggle at Brittany's song choice, and Brittany holds her a little more tightly at the sound, a happy smile on her face. Glad that she's making Quinn feel a little better.
You're still in bed at ten and work began at eight
You've burned your breakfast, so far things are going great
Your mother warned you there'd be days like these
But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees and
Santana reaches over and holds one of Quinn's hands in her own and then adds her voice in with Brittany's for harmony.
I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too
No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Seems you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me
Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with
Someone I'll always laugh with
Even at my worst, I'm best with you, Yeah
At this point Quinn has stopped crying and is just content to let her to friends hold her and sing to her. She is finally starting to feel a little better. And a surge of gratitude towards these two girls rushes through her. She leans into Brittany a little more, and squeezes Santana's hand affectionately.
I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too
Both girls softly draw out the last note and then let it quietly fade. Quinn is staring at them in gratitude and amazement. "I can't believe you guys just sang the Friends song." Quinn laughs as she wipes the last of the tears from her eyes.
"Whatever, you know that show rocks." Santana says rolling her eyes. "Besides we kicked that songs ass, so what ev's."
"Well that's because we're awesome." Brittany throws in. The three girls then get up off the floor.
"So Quinn, you totally don't have to, but if you want to you can tell us what happened yesterday." Brittany says kindly. "But only if you want to."
She can't tell them everything; she just can't, as much as she wants to. She feels so ashamed and drained by what happened with Puck that she doesn't ever want anyone to find out. That's probably not a viable option but she'll keep it a secret for as long as she can. She already looks at herself differently, and not in a good way, but she can't stand the thought that they might look at her differently too. Still she did owe them some kind of explanation so she decides to tell them the bit about Rachel and Finn.
"After I left class yesterday I went to find Finn. I mean you guys saw that assembly; you saw how bad it was. He had just told me that morning that there was nothing going on and then I have to see that. I was out for blood, you know." She tells them looking down.
Quinn shrugs her shoulders, "Well I found him. He and man-hands were making out in the auditorium, and I don't know it just really got to me. I kind of freaked out and I just I couldn't deal with it… I'm, I'm sorry guys." She finishes lamely.
"I'm going to kill him, seriously. Both of them, no way they get away with this!" Santana fumes.
Brittany looks Quinn right in the eyes, and in a deadly serious voice she tells her. "What do you need us to do? I'm serious, whatever you need."
"Nothing for now."
"What!?"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure you guys. Look Finn wants to talk so I'm pretty sure he's going to break up with me today. I just want to get it over with and move on with my life."
"No!" Brittany says upset. "No, he doesn't get to break up with you! Don't let him, you break up with him first, he doesn't get to cheat on you and then break up with you, so you break up with him first. You're totally a strong kickass woman and you need to confront him."
"B's right, take the initiative and drop humpty dumpty like a sack of potatoes." Santana agrees with Brittany.
"You guys think?" Surprised that she hadn't actually thought of doing that herself.
"Yeah Q, kick some ass."
"Totally."
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xXx-Scene Break-xXx
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It was lunch time before Quinn finally found Finn, or he found her anyway. She was at her locker grabbing her books when he heard him call out to her.
"Hey Quinn!" He runs up to her with a smile on his face, but stops short when he sees the glare that she is giving him and his smile falters a bit.
Just as she's about to tear into him, he surprises her by pulling out a bouquet of flowers and handing them to her. "Look, I know you're mad at me about the assembly and you have every right to be, but please let me explain."
This is so not what she was expecting from him that she is a little stunned and so she motions for him to continue.
"I should have told you about glee club, but I knew how you would react. You would have been pissed off and forced me to quit, and the thing is, yeah it's kind of lame at times but it's also really cool and I really like it. Plus I was worried that you would make fun of me, your opinion matters to me, I mean I know that sometimes I don't listen, and I'm not the brightest tool in the shed but I do listen to you, and what you say and think about me is important to me. So I was really worried that, you know, you would think less of me, so I lied to you and I told you I had detention with Mr. Schuester when in reality I was at glee club rehearsal."
"I wouldn't have made fun of you." Quinn mumbles looking down and Finn just gives her a look because they both knew that was a lie.
"You would have teased me relentlessly and we both know it," Finn says smiling at her.
"Okay, you're right I would have, and I would have made you quit, you're right about that as well. But Finn that still doesn't excuse what you did, you promised me that there was nothing going on between you and Rachel and then you guys did that dance and-"
"Woe, the dance was just choreography! Mr. Schue wanted us to do this really bad disco number, I mean like really bad. We would have been murdered out there, and we would have ruined any chance we had at getting new members. And we need more people really bad, if we don't have at least twelve people to perform we can't compete and then the clubs over. So Rachel came in-"
Finn paused after mentioning Rachel's name because of the way that Quinn was scowling at the mere mention of her. "Look I know you don't like her and she can be a little intense at times, but she's nice, and anyway she came to us with this idea to do this song to really grab people's attention. And it worked I mean you saw right? Everyone was cheering at the end of it."
Quinn thought her head would explode when she heard him saying that Rachel was nice. She knew just how nice Finn thought Rachel really was, she saw first-hand how nice Finn thought she was and just as she was about to bring it up he started talking again.
"But the thing is, nobody has tried out yet. So I was thinking, maybe you could join up."
The suggestion was so ridiculous that it actually pushed all other thoughts from her mind and all she could do was half scream, "What!? You can't be serious!?"
Finn rubs the back of his head, "Well yeah, I mean I know you have a great voice, I've heard you sing at your church and I know that you're mad that I haven't been spending as much time with you so I thought that this would be a great way to do it. We could spend the time together and you'll see that it's really a lot of fun. So what do you say, will you do it?" Finn asks hopefully.
"Won't that cut back into your singing time with Rachel?" She asks scathingly, eager to get the topic back onto her so that she can call him out on kissing her.
"Rachel is just a friend, and I really want to sing with you."
"Just a-"
"Please Quinn?" Finn pleads with her. "I know you're mad at me, and I hate it. I hate that you're mad at me. Please tell me what to do so that things can go back to normal with us."
And it was that word right there that stopped Quinn from confronting him. Normal. She wanted so badly for things to go back to the way they were before he joined that stupid club, before she saw him kissing Rachel, before she slept with Puck.
She looks down ashamed, and her shoulders sag in defeat. How can she confront him about kissing another girl, when she considers what she just did last night? She wants so badly to be angry at him, she wants to yell and scream and rage and blame him for everything. But she can't, she made a decision last night, and it's one she'll have to live with for the rest of her life. But here and now, despite everything, he is unknowingly giving her a way to get things back to normal.
She looks up at him and smiles though it looks painful. "Fine." She groans out. "I'll join your club."
He grins at her and then embraces her in a huge hug. "Really this is great! Thank you so much Quinn, you're the best."
"Finn, you're smashing my flowers."
"Oops, sorry!" He steps back a little embarrassed but the boyish smile never leaves his face.
"Listen… Finn I…" She hesitates, she wants to tell him what happened, she wants to tell him that she knows what he did as well, but she just can't do it. She should, she knows she should but she chickens out. She just can't do it, she knows she's being a coward, that she should just step up and get everything out and in the open but she just can't. 'Maybe I'm more like my mother than I thought.' She thinks to herself disappointedly.
"Yeah?" He asks as he holds her hand smiling.
"I… Will you walk me to class?" She finishes lamely, absolutely disgusted with herself.
"Sure."
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xXx-Scene Break-xXx
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"You did what!" Santana yells at her. School has just ended for the day and she had finally told Santana and Brittany what had happened with Finn. "No seriously, are you out of your fucking mind!?"
"Are you sure this is what you want Quinn?" Brittany asks worriedly. "If you want, me and San can go with you right now and you can end things."
"I don't want that, I just, I want things to go back to the way they were. So I've decided to forgive him, everyone makes mistakes and I need to remember that." She says, thinking more about her own mistake than his.
"Wow," Santana says slowly and incredulously, "He must have had one hell of an excuse for why he kissed treasure-trail."
"He doesn't know I know." Quinn tells Santana, unable to meet her eyes.
"You're kidding right?" Santana asks, unable to believe what she had just heard. "This asshole causes you to take a quick leap off the deep end and you just forgive him. You just let him off scot free, and he doesn't even know you know!? He's just going to keep on going, thinking that he got away with it and will probably do it again and-"
"Stop! Okay, just stop. I know alright, but this is what I want. You said," she then turns to look at Brittany. "You both said that you would support me in this, so that is what I'm asking you to do. You don't have to like my decision but I'm asking that you accept it. Please." She begs them. "I just want to put this whole thing behind me."
Brittany looks frustrated but finally lets out sigh, "Fine," she then smiles sadly at Quinn. "If this is what you want."
"I'm not happy with this Q, I think that this is a stupid idea, and I don't like it. But fine, if this is the choice you've made then I won't go against it."
"Thank you, both of you. And now I have to ask you both something much harder."
"Harder than asking us to watch you let yourself be screwed ove-" Santana is interrupted by an elbow from Brittany.
Quinn decides to ignore the comment and continues on as if Santana had said nothing. "Finn asked me to join the glee club with him and I said yes."
The looks of horror on their faces would have been priceless if it weren't for the fact that she was feeling the exact same way about it on the inside as well.
"I need to keep an eye on Finn and make sure that that girl stays away from him, and so I was hoping that…?" She looks at them meaningfully.
"NO! no, no, no, no, no! Uh uh, no way, not happening! Not a chance!" Santana refuses vehemently as soon as she understands where Quinn is going with this.
Quinn looks to both of her friends and silently begs them to say yes. Brittany gets a pained expression on her face and then turns to Santana.
Santana looks at Brittany in horror. "NO!"
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xXx-Scene Break-xXx
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The three girls stand outside of the choir room. Mr. Schuester was inside writing in some notebook and hadn't noticed them standing outside the room.
"He hasn't noticed us yet Q, there is still time to walk away and pretend this never happened." Santana quietly begs her. Brittany is looking at her with big hopeful eyes, hoping and praying that Quinn will agree. She gives them an apologetic smile, she's asked a lot of them today, and is so grateful for all that they have done.
"Damn it, fine, so what, we just go in there and sing?"
"Actually I was thinking that we needed to put on a little show, I mean yeah this club is the lamest idea in the world but if we're going to be here we might as well rule it."
Santana and Brittany nod, seeing her point. "So what did you have in mind?" Brittany asks.
"Say a Little Prayer," is Quinn's response.
Santana scoffs, "You mean that lame ass thing we did when we were twelve?" They had done a Julia Roberts night at a sleepover once when they were twelve and had seen My Best Friend's Wedding, for the first time and had loved it. And so that night they had come up with a dance routine for that song and had actually won a church talent competition with it.
"It's a high school glee club, he'll just be grateful we're there and can carry a tune. But why not surprise him by being awesome?"
"And this is awesome?" Santana asks her pointedly. She was actually okay with the audition choice, she really didn't care what they did, but she was still a little pissed at Quinn for making her come to this thing so she was arguing for the sake of arguing.
"Again, it's a high school glee club." Quinn points out, aware of what Santana is doing and is just grateful that the girl had showed up at all.
"Fine, point taken… I can't believe I'm about to do this." Santana mutters under her breath.
"Just picture me in my underwear." Brittany smiles at her.
"Brittany!" Santana quietly exclaims while looking around nervously, her eyes quickly settle on Quinn, before finally moving back on to the other blond.
Quinn holds back a giggle at her friends red face and looks away pretending that she hadn't just heard that, which she knows Santana is grateful for. Her friend just isn't ready for anyone, not even her best friend, to know that about her. Not yet at least, so Quinn can at the very least pretend she doesn't notice. Even when it's blatantly obvious that she had. She gives them a minute to work out whatever it is they are whispering about, before drawing their attention.
"You girls ready?" Quinn asks them.
"Sure." Brittany says as she skips through the door into the choir room.
"Let's just get this over with." Santana grumbles, still red faced, as she moves forward. As she does she does she subtly nudges Quinn, a barely there smile of gratitude on her face.
"Hello Mr. Schuester." Quinn greets the startled man, as they file in before him.
"Oh Miss. Fabray, Miss. Lopez, and Miss… Pierce, what can I do for you?" He asks smiling.
"Why Mr. Schue, we're here to join glee club." Quinn answers with a big fake smile on her face as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. She really owes her friends for this.
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A.N. So the song was obviously "I'll Be There For You" originally by the Rembrandts. However the version sung is more akin to the Boyce Avenue cover of the song. Much softer, and more intimate. Give it a listen if you feel so inclined.