Standard disclaimer I do not own Glee or any of it's characters.
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"Okay…" Quinn says drawing out the last syllable, slightly frustrated at Rachel's refusal to answer her question. "Let's try this again only a little more direct. Rachel, why are you hiding a pair of your panties behind your back and why do you look so nervous?"
Rachel looks around nervously like she is backed into a corner and desperate for an escape, so Quinn decides to back off a bit. "If this is some kind of… I mean… I'm not here to judge… you know… never mind I'll just turn around and pretend that I never saw anything."
"Wait Quinn! It's not what you think!" Rachel says sounding really upset and looking completely flustered. "It's just… look, I have something I need to do and… and…"
Quinn starts to realize just how serious this is for the other girl and quickly makes her way over to Rachel who is still standing by her dresser with her hands hidden behind her back, fidgeting in agitation.
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Quinn asks gently as she lightly runs her hand up and down Rachel's arm comfortingly.
"Look it's… It's no big deal… I just," Rachel forces a smile onto her face. "Please just forget about this and please don't think of me as some kind of deviant."
"It obviously is a big deal, otherwise you wouldn't be so evasive about it and you wouldn't be this upset. Talk to me, we're friends right?"
Rachel nods her head sadly, she had hoped to deal with this all on her own, Quinn already had so much to worry about, but if nothing else Quinn deserved some kind of warning.
"I… I was cornered in the choir room yesterday…" Rachel says nervously looking down, missing the dangerous flash in Quinn eyes at hearing that. "It was Jacob Ben-Israel… you know that creepy kid with the afro?"
"Yeah I know who he is." Quinn growls out.
"Well… I guess he overheard you talking to Puck about… being pregnant, and he was working on how he wanted to approach you with this information to well… blackmail you, but then he heard you and Finn talking yesterday and well, he heard that you and I were living together and he's had a crush on me for a while now… so…" Rachel trails off.
"Rachel what did he do?"
"He said that if I didn't do what he said then he was going to post the story about you being pregnant and homeless on his blog and I know he's a creep but a lot of people read that thing and his information is never wrong and he never writes them so that the people look good and if I can do something to make him not do it then I'm going to do it because you're my friend. So don't worry about it, it's just a pair of my underwear and he promised that he wouldn't say anything… so don't worry about it." Rachel tries to push past the embarrassment and keep smiling like this wasn't a big deal.
"Put it away Rachel, you are not going to do a damn thing for that little pervert." Quinn snarls.
"But if I don't do this then he'll tell everyone about you and you have so much to deal with already, you don't need the added pressure of everyone talking about you and it really isn't a big deal."
Quinn lets out a sigh, she can't believe how sweet and incredibly naïve Rachel is being right now. "First of all Rachel, thank you for trying to come to my defense like that, you have been a really great friend these past few days and I hope that I can deserve it one day and be that good of a friend to you."
"Quinn-
"Second," Quinn interrupts the other girl. "There is no way in hell that that little freak isn't going to post the story about me Rachel."
"But he… he promised that if I did what he said, if I brought him my… my underwear he wouldn't."
"And you believed him because you are a good person who would never blackmail someone like this. But I promise you, it wouldn't stop with just bringing him your underwear, he would have wanted more and more, pushing you until you would finally say no and then he would publish it. Hell even if you said yes to all of his demands he would still publish it, because that's just the way he is. I don't give into blackmail Rachel and the fact of the matter is everyone is going to find out anyway. The only thing is that little shit thought he could get something out of my misery, but he forgot one little detail, I've already lost everything that this information could hurt me with."
"But Quinn, your reputation is-"
"Going to be destroyed anyway and I can guarantee you that I will not let you or anyone else pay for my mistakes."
"So what do we do?" Rachel asks meekly.
"First of all put it away, you aren't going to give into any demand that that little pervert is making, second when were you supposed to meet him to do this and where."
"After school in the choir room."
"Fine, meet up with him like you planned and I'll meet you there."
"What are we going to do?"
"Don't worry about it." Quinn says as she links arms with Rachel and then leads her downstairs as if she didn't have a care in the world. She may have been the picture of cool and calm on the outside but on the inside it was a completely different story. She was livid and nervous and out for blood. Her initial reaction was to basically make his life such a living hell that he would have no choice but to transfer schools. It would be no big deal for her at this moment in time to call a few people up and basically make him the number one target for dumpster tossing, swirlies, and slushy facials. It was actually really scary when she thought about it, how much control over the student body the cheerios captain had. But Quinn had the beginnings of another plan in mind.
Once Rachel left for school, glancing at her nervously before going, Quinn sent off a quick text to Santana and Brittany asking them to keep a close eye on Rachel today saying that she had a rough morning and that Quinn just wanted to make sure she was alright. After that she got online and checked out his blog, she wasn't surprised to see that he had published the story already, Jacob Ben-Israel rarely wasted time putting out a story, but she had thought he would have shown a little more patience, although he had been sitting on this story for a while if he had overheard her conversation with Puck. She had to give him credit though, he did have a flair for the dramatics, granted she wasn't exactly being portrayed in the most sympathetic of lights, but none the less she could appreciate how well written and sensationalized it was.
In all honestly, Quinn probably should have been mortified by this article, knowing that by this time tomorrow just about everyone in school would know about her, however once your father bashes your face in and then both of your parents kick you out on the street because you're pregnant, the tiny little blog of some high school piss-ant doesn't really have the same impact that it once might have had. Or at least that was what she was telling herself. Still she needed to retaliate; he couldn't get away with not only doing this to her but also for trying to blackmail Rachel.
After popping a pain med and icing her face Quinn spends the next hour getting ready to go out and once she feels she looks presentable she heads down stairs to Hiram's office, standing outside the closed door she can already hear the furious typing of the room's occupants. When she asked him about his writing he said that for him he just never stopped typing. It didn't matter what he typed as long as he got it down, it worked in that he was often surprised by when the inspiration hit, however editing and deleting the mess from the brilliance could be quite daunting at times.
Quinn takes a calming breath and then quickly and lightly wraps on the door three times. "Come in." is the shouted reply.
Quinn opens the door and steps inside. The room is a complete mess, books and stray notes and old Chinese food take out containers litter the room and sitting at a completely consumed desk is Hiram leaning back in his chair looking at her with a sheepish grin on his face as someone besides himself sees the mess that he works in. "Hey Quinn, what's up?"
"Mr. Berry, I'm sorry to bother you but I need a ride."
"Sure," He says standing up and stretching. "Where to?"
"The police station, I need to speak with Ben."
The smile drops from Hiram's face. "Are you okay, is everything alright?" He asks concerned.
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"Ben!" Quinn calls out smiling as the large man comes out of his office to greet them. He has a big smile on his face and he wraps Quinn in a huge but gentle hug as they reach each other.
"Hey Q-ball, how are you, we haven't really had a chance to speak since everything went down. Phoebe has been worried sick about you." He affectionately ruffles her hair.
"I want you to know that we love you and are there for you if you need us, 24/7 no matter what." It always amazed her that someone as large as Ben could be so gentle. Benjamin Pierce was 6'8" and he was built like a machine. He wouldn't look out of place standing next to a group of professional wrestlers.
"Thanks." She says softly, like the with the Lopez's she always felt better, safer when she was with the Pierces. "I'll be by to visit soon."
"Ben," She says as she motions to a serious looking Hiram who is standing behind her. She had told him a little of what was going on on the way over. "This is Hiram Berry, Mr. Berry, this is Benjamin Pierce."
Hiram steps forward and offers his hand which Ben takes. "It's good to see you again, thanks for watching out for our Quinn." Ben says.
"It's our pleasure." Hiram reassures him.
"So not that I'm not happy to see you, but what's up is everything okay?" Ben asks.
"Actually that's why we're here, my friend Rachel, she's in a bit of trouble."
"Alright, why don't you two step into my office and you can explain to me what's going on."
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Ben didn't bother with any sense of decorum as he marched up to the Ben-Israel home and began to pound on the door, doing his best to get the house's occupants' attention. Once Quinn had sat down and explained to him what was going on he was livid. He had three girls, five if you counted Santana and Quinn, which he did and things like this really pissed him off. He had no sympathy for sexual predators and from what Quinn had told him this kid was walking down a dangerous path.
It was bad enough that he had posted that trash about Quinn, unfortunately there wasn't much he could do about it, when it came to online things, the law unfortunately got a little blurry. However, the blackmail is something that he could deal with. Quinn and Hiram were both waiting for him by the car.
The door creaks open slightly and a nervous looking woman peaks through the crack. "Yes… can, can I help you?"
"Mam, my name is Benjamin Pierce and I am with the Lima Ohio police department. May we come in and speak with you; it's about your son."
"My Jacob," She asks worriedly as she opens the door, "Is he okay, did something happen to him?"
"Physically he's fine, but whether something is wrong may be completely up to you."
After being invited in, Jacob's mother, Abigail, called her husband and they waited patiently in the kitchen for his father, Joshua, to come home. Quinn had to admit that the Ben-Israel house wasn't nearly as creepy as she had thought it would be. It was your typical middle class, suburban home. And Mrs. Ben-Israel wasn't how she imagined either. Jacob was a creep but Abigail seemed like such a normal person, a little jittery and she had been timid at first, but really if some guy dressed in a police uniform had come up to her house and pounded on the door looking like Ben did she would have been nervous as well. Actually given the circumstances, she was being a fairly good hostess.
When Joshua arrived Quinn was surprised to see how… well not creepy he looked as well. She had envisioned an older looking Jacob but now seeing both of his parents she could see that he took after his mother, though you wouldn't really know it at first glance. She was so used to how Jacob acted that she kind of figured that he picked it up from his parents but they seemed pretty normal. They all moved into the living room and then Quinn once again told them what was going on.
"You're absolutely sure my son is doing this, I mean you have proof?" Joshua asks defensively, not quite willing to believe that his son would do something like this.
"My husband is right; this doesn't sound like my Jacob."
"I can show you the article and he's supposed to be confronting Rachel after school today, will that be proof enough."
After showing them the article that he had written about her the Ben-Israel's looked devastated. Mr. Ben-Israel was speaking with Hiram, apologizing profusely on his son's behalf for what he had done and promising that this would be taken care of and Mrs. Ben-Israel couldn't stop cry or apologizing to her for the article. She and Hiram shared a quick look and both agreed that while they weren't feeling particularly forgiving, they would take the high road on this.
"It's fine Mrs. Ben-Israel, just… make sure that he gets the help that he needs, this isn't the first time he's written something like this about someone." Quinn tells her.
"Trust me; this is not okay, what he is doing, not in this household. Look I know neither of you have any reason to, but please I am begging you," Mr. Ben-Israel looks Hiram straight in the eyes, "as one father to another, let me handle this, I am so sorry for what he has done to your daughter and to you Quinn," sparing her a glance, "but he is my son and somewhere along the way I failed him, please, don't punish him for my failings as a father. I promise you that this won't happen again and that this won't go unpunished."
Ben looks to Hiram, "It's up to you."
"Alright, you seem just as shocked and upset as I am by all of this, but if this ever happens again, if he even talks to my daughter again or Quinn… I am giving you a chance to fix things with your son, but I do not forgive him and he stays away from them, forever."
"It won't be a problem, I promise, thank you, thank you." Mrs. Ben-Israel says relieved.
"Yes thank you, I'm going to go grab him, that computer is going in the trash and we are going to put a stop to this right now. And once again, I am so so sorry for what he has done." Mr. Ben-Israel thanks them.
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Rachel had been miserable all day and Santana had just about had enough. When she had first gotten Quinn's text she had been fine with keeping an eye on the other girl, they were kind of sort of friends now, so it wasn't a big deal. But Santana had never thought that she would miss the loud obnoxious musical obsessed girl that she normally was. It was lunch time and Brittany, herself, and Berry were all sitting at a table in the corner, just picking at their food as the tension grew.
Brittany was worried about Rachel and Rachel wouldn't tell them what was wrong, in fact she was insisting everything was fine, even when it was obvious it wasn't. And it didn't matter how much she pressed the other girl she wouldn't give it up. However Quinn had said that she had had a rough morning so Santana was willing to let it slide… for today, tomorrow she had better get some details or something because she wasn't putting up with this gloomy shit two days in a row.
It was almost with a sigh of relief when Lacy Hardwell, a senior on the cheerios and one of the easier ones to get along with came up to greet them. "Hey Santana, Brittany, where's Quinn?"
"Hi Lacy."
"Q's out on some personal business for the week, what's up?"
"The whole week?" Lacy sounds disappointed by this news.
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh I just wanted to ask her about my placement at the next competition, I've been working really hard and I think I deserve a more up front position, so I wanted to ask her about it."
"I'll be seeing her later today, so I'll pass along the message and see what she thinks, but you and Q are cool and she's mentioned the improvements you've made these past few weeks so I don't think it'll be an issue, of course final say goes to coach." Santana tells her.
"Thanks San, and you, you're that… oh yeah, you're the Glee girl right?" Lacy says turning to Rachel.
"Oh… um yeah," Rachel says nervously.
"You have a great voice," She then she turns her attention back to Santana and Brittany. "So I'll see you at practice then?"
"Yep."
"Later Lacy."
"Bye guys."
"So what was that about?" Rachel asks curiously after a few moments pass.
"Oh, Lacy just wanted to move her position, I don't know how it works on other squads but in cheerios everyone has to be able to do a little bit of everything or be really good at a specialty. The best spots, or in glee terms the solos are the more up front and center positions. It's where you get noticed at, kind of like the top of the pyramid, she's been practicing a lot lately so she wanted to ask about moving her position in the squad. You know be more of the center rather than support." Brittany shrugs. "Quinn will probably approve."
"Oh God I hope so," Santana groans, "anybody would be better than that bitch Annie, I swear to God if she misses her mark one more time I'm going to break her legs and give her a reason."
"That seems a little harsh." Rachel says bemusedly at how serious Santana and Brittany talked about cheerios.
"Oh you think so," Santana says a little challengingly, "cheerios is a nationally recognized cheerleading squad, having won nationals the past five years in a row and always placing in the top five for the past ten. That is in addition to various other competitions that we generally place first in. If you miss your mark or do anything less than perfect Coach Sylvester has the entire squad run wind sprints or something else along those lines until we're all exhausted and then we have to start all over again. She demands perfection and if even one person fails to provide it we are all punished. So forgive me for not being more understanding about somebody who keeps screwing up. I don't mind helping someone out if they're struggling, but you can only correct someone so many times before you get fed up with it. Annie has just enough natural talent to be on the squad, but she doesn't put in the work to deserve to be there. I don't like her."
Rachel looks to Brittany to see what she thinks, who shrugs her shoulders almost apologetically and says, "I'm with San on this one. I understand needing help, believe me, but… it's hard to help someone who doesn't seem to even try. She gets the job done, but it's no fun working with her, I hope Lacy gets it."
"Seems like a lot of work and a lot of politics for a… well no offense intended but a silly little cheerleading squad." Rachel knew she probably shouldn't have worded it that way, but she just didn't understand why they would work so hard for something like that, it was just cheerleading.
"Alright listen up midget because you are about to get an education." Santana says angrily. "I've done a lot of sports in my time, soccer, basketball, track and field, I'm athletic and I enjoy it, nothing and I repeat nothing pushes me like cheerios does. And that silly little cheerleading squad as you so ignorantly put it has provided more college scholarship opportunities by itself than every other school club and activity combined. This school is full of loser clubs that muck things up for everyone and nobody would give this school a second glance if it wasn't for cheerios. You want to talk about discipline you want to talk about perseverance, about getting you prepared for just how tough it can be out there in the world, I promise you, nothing forces you to learn those things here like cheerios does."
Santana sneers, "And hey I get it, from the outside looking in we probably look like a bunch of silly little girls prancing about in tiny skirts, but I promise you nobody gives the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that cheerios do. You want to talk about a silly little club, why don't you take a look at that glee club of yours. Compared to cheerios, it's a joke, none of you put in the work into glee club that Brittany, Quinn, and I put into cheerios, we practice and we practice and we work for it over and over again, and we plan it out from beginning to end, this early in the year and we're already working towards Nationals, glee isn't even ready for sectionals yet, and each performance that we give is just a chance to chip away the imperfection so that we can find that perfect performance. Don't sit there and act like you're so superior to us just because you have this idea in your head about what it's like to be a cheerleader, like all we're good for is being the arm candy of some dumbass jock, we do double the work for half the respect of every other sports team in this school, and make no mistake cheerleading is a sport, and we still come out on top as the most powerful, most respected group in school. Unlike wearing some kind of football or basket-ball jersey, wearing a Cheerios uniform actually means something in this school and I am damn proud of all of the work I've done to get where I am. I'm starting to like you Rachel, your this kind of weird but likable mix of snarky and sweet, and I can look past the whole Broadway thing because hey, like what you like and make no apologies for it, but you had better change that attitude about what we do because I'll tell you right now I'm getting sick of it."
When Santana finishes speaking Rachel looks to be near tears and Brittany is smiling at Santana and covertly slips her hand under the table and gives Santana's hand an affectionate squeeze because her girlfriend had just said what she wanted to say only a lot better than she could have, if only a little more direct.
"I… I'm sorry… I'll… I'll just… just go." Rachel is doing her best not to cry, but she can't help it and as the tears start to flow she stands up and moves to leave.
"Ay dios mios." Santana curses, grabbing Rachel by the arm and yanking her so she is sitting back down. "Look, we all say and do things that piss the others off, we always call each other on our shit, it's why we're such good friends. You were pissing me off so I called you on it, but seriously you don't have to leave and I'm sure I'll do something that will piss you off and you'll call me on it. Friendships don't end just because of an argument. So sit down, say you're sorry, and that'll be the end of it."
Rachel nods her head meekly. "I'm sorry." She mumbles and then squeaks when Brittany pulls her into a hug.
"See, no worries Rach, we're all good, and like San said if we do something that really gets to you, tell us, say something about it, we're still going to be friends at the end of the day." Brittany then kisses the top of Rachel's head.
"Well… acquaintances." Santana says before sending Rachel an obvious wink, causing the girl to giggle.
"I really am sorry; I guess I just speak before thinking sometimes. And I treat glee club the same way you guys treat cheerios so…"
"See there you are, now let's move on, because we only have ten minutes before class and I don't want to spend it all heavy and serious."
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Rachel paced nervously in the choir room as she waited for Quinn to show up, it was getting closer and closer to the time when Jacob was supposed to show up and she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Santana and Brittany had split from her after Glee club, saying that they had some things to do, Rachel didn't want to say anything because it seemed like they were shy about it but she had a sneaking suspicion that they were dating and they just wanted some alone time and Rachel was happy to give it to them, at least she didn't have to think of a reason to get rid of them.
Both Santana and Brittany had hung out with her all day and it had been nice. Finn had been avoiding her lately and she wasn't sure what to do about that and now that she was friends with Quinn she needed to make sure that she was okay with her pursing a relationship with the boy, assuming he was even still interested. Mercedes, Kurt, Tina and Artie all ate together and she was sure they would have allowed her to have sat with them, they had in the past, but she always felt like she was intruding when she did. She was still getting to know Matt and Mike and she wouldn't have felt comfortable asking to join them, especially not when they usually sat with their other football team mates. And as for Noah, he was the father of Quinn's baby so she wasn't sure if they were a thing or not and she didn't want to step on any toes. Plus he had that bad boy reputation and that honestly made her a little uncomfortable.
Usually she spent her free time or lunches in the auditorium or choir room when they were available and she would practice her vocals. But with Brittany, Quinn, and Santana taking her in like they had it was different, she didn't feel like she was intruding or a burden. And while she would miss the extra practice time, she wouldn't miss it as much as she had enjoyed talking and chatting and laughing with Santana and Brittany today. Yes she had been distracted today and a little down, but it was still one of her better days here at school and once this whole business with Jacob was over with things could go back to normal.
"Hey Rach, sorry about the wait." Quinn says as she walks into the room.
"Quinn!" Rachel says angrily. "Where have you been!? I have been a nervous wreck, what if Jacob had shown up before you, I had no idea what I was supposed to do! You didn't call me or text me! What the hell!?"
Quinn holds her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry, you're right I should have at least called or texted you."
"What are we going to do Quinn, Jacob hasn't shown up yet but he could be here any moment!?"
"I've already taken care of it." Quinn says calmly.
"What… but… but how? What about the article, what's going on?"
"Don't be too mad, but after you left I went to your dad."
Rachel's eyes widen in horror, "You did what!?" Rachel screeches at a decibel that only dogs could hear.
"I went to your dad and then we went to Ben, Brittany's dad, and then the three of us visited Jacob's parents. They were surprisingly helpful, not at all as creepy as knowing Jacob would have you believe, anyway they came and picked him up from school earlier today, I don't know the details but I do know he is in huge trouble, I saw his mom toss his computer into the trash as we were leaving."
Rachel is stunned to hear all of this. "So my dads know about what was going on?"
"Yep, and they told me to tell you that we are going to be having a family conversation about what happened." Quinn is smiling as she says this bit.
"Why are you smiling, this is sooo embarrassing!?"
"Sorry," Quinn laughs, "It's just in my family, a family conversation meant a psychological beat down with militant Christian undertones. This seems more like a, if you're in trouble you need to come to us we're your parents kind of talk, and I've had a few of those recently from Maribel and Ben, and even Hiram today and… well I…" Quinn trails off a little embarrassed.
Rachel nods her head in understanding. "And what about the article? Did they stop him from posting it?"
Quinn smiles sadly at Rachel and soothingly runs her hand up and down Rachel's arm. "I told you sweetie, he was going to post that story no matter what, he put it up before he came to school today."
Rachel gasps in horror, her hands covering her mouth, before she quickly steps up and hugs Quinn. "I am so sorry Quinn, I… this is why I was going to do what he said, I didn't want him to do this to you, but you were right, he was going to post it anyway, and I am so sorry Quinn."
Quinn gently squeezes Rachel back, "Don't worry about it; I knew I couldn't keep this a secret for long…" Quinn takes a deep breath as she tries to calm herself down. "I guess by this time tomorrow the entire school is going to know what a hypocritical slut I am." Quinn's voice cracks as she tries not to cry. "Quinn Fabray, founder of the celibacy club, captain of the cheerios, homeless and pregnant… I guess I can officially kiss my reputation goodbye."
"What can I do Quinn, what can I do to make this okay?" Rachel asks desperately as she holds Quinn who is still trying so hard not to cry, to not break down at the news that her entire situation is going to be passed around the school as gossip for the rest of the student bodies' enjoyment.
"Nothing… don't worry about it, let's just go." Quinn pulls away from Rachel and starts to leave and so Rachel does the only thing she can think to do.
To: Santana- Quinn's in trouble, please come to my place as quick as you can, she really needs you guys!
To: Rachel- On our way.
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A.N. So there you go, chapter 19, I hope you all enjoyed it. First of all I want to take a moment and thank each of you who have taken the time to read and review my story. I love hearing from you guys and it's always nice to hear about what I'm doing well and even what you think I could improve on.
Second, Jacob Ben-Israel… Look, they let that kid run a muck in the actual show and I'm just thinking to myself if I had ever acted like that and my parents had found out they would have kicked my ass. So that was how I wanted to run it in this story. I mean that isn't something I made up, he actually blackmailed Rachel into giving him a pair of her underwear so that he wouldn't post the story about Quinn in the actual show and then he did it anyway. I'll grant it that it was as part of the war between Mr. Schue and Coach Sylvester, but still.
And Finally the cheerios bit in this chapter, I would like to start out by apologizing to any reader who is actually involved in cheerleading, I have just about zero knowledge of how it works and how things are set up, I just know that any time I've talked to anyone who was a part of it, they've mentioned how physical it was and so for this I multiplied that by like 10, because hey it's Cheerios. But otherwise I have no working knowledge of the in's and out's of how cheerleading works or how the competitions are set up. So I hope that you will all forgive my ignorance.
Anyway, once again I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will have the next one up next Friday.