"What's real is something that the eyes can't see, what the hands can't touch, what them broads can't be, and that's you."

-Jermaine Cole

Rachel had never thought that a slushy could be so cold.

Although she wasn't too familiar with them as her fathers hadn't allowed her too many sweets as a child, she can't remember the few she had reminding her so vividly of Ohio's icy showers.

She could barely register the laughter around her over the blood rushing to her ears. She couldn't tell if she was more angry or embarrassed; her emotions were everywhere. She was definitely confused. But above all else, she was hurt.

Using her now soiled sleeves to wipe away the tear-laced slushy from her eyes, she made her way to the girl's bathroom as quickly as her feet would carry her.

Entering the bathroom, she didn't bother to check the stalls to make sure she was alone. She immediately ran for the sinks in hopes there was still a chance to save her favorite blue argyle sweater. The red coloring of the slushy was not helping at all.

Turning on the water, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. There was slushy everywhere, some had even managed to splatter into her hair.

She didn't realize she was crying again until she felt the tears drip onto her hands, clenching eitherf side of the sink so hard her knuckles grew pale.

As she sobbed quietly to herself, she failed to hear the stall behind her open and the sink next to her turn on.

"Are you okay?" Came a raspy voice filled with concern.

Not wanting to be embarrassed any further by crying in front of stranger, Rachel tried her best to sound like she wasn't just Carrie-d in the middle of a hall full of her peers. "Y-yes, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." She refused to look up to meet this strangers eyes.

She hoped her voice didn't betray that her eyes still glistened with tears.

For a moment there was silence. The sullied girl assumed the stranger had decided to drop it.

Suddenly there was a body invading her personal space and a finger swiping across her right cheek.

"You're covered in red juice. And from the looks of it, not by choice. So either you're a really messy eater" the girl chuckled at her own joke "or you've been introduced to McKinley's most asinine tradition that I've been hearing so much about." She traded in her smile for an eye roll.

"I wouldn't be so uncoordinated as to spill an iced beverage all over myself." Rachel mumbled in response.

"So it was the latter then. I figured, but, well yeah. I'm really sorry. Some people can be real assholes."

Rachel was kind of stunned at the apology. Here was a total stranger apologizing for something she had played no part in. The rest of her peers had just laughed as she was essentially assaulted in the middle of the hallway. She had already chalked up the entire school to be a hellhole full of Neanderthals.

Finally feeling courageous enough to face this clearly out of place stranger, Rachel's eyes immediately landed on soft hazel-green eyes. If she thought this girl didn't belong at McKinley before, she was absolutely certain now.

This stranger was beautiful.

From naturally curly, blonde locks flowing just passed her shoulders to perfectly pouty lips biting into the bottom one to the scarlet hoodie that wouldn't look that good on anybody else.

And those eyes.

Hazel seemed to flicker indecisively between green and gold. Rachel felt herself getting lost.

In effort to not get caught staring, Rachel bowed her head. "I-Its nothing you should be apologizing for. You didn't throw that cup in my face."

"Sure, but no one should have." The beauty responded.

"Really, its fine, but I really do appreciate your concern—sorry I didn't catch your name."

A perfectly manicured hand reached out for hers, "Quinn Fabray. Freshman"

Rachel timidly took her hand, shaking it. "Rachel Barbara Berry. Also a freshman." The girls palm was so warm, Rachel hardly wanted to let go. But feeling as though she would somehow scare the girl away if she just held her hand in the middle of the bathroom while covered in slushy, she reluctantly dropped it.

"Ohio State. Is that where you aspire to go?" Rachel asked referring to the blonde's hoodie in attempt to make conversation, wanting more than anything for the girl to not leave just yet.

Rachel raised her head just in time to see the girl's lips twist into a smirk.

She swooned.

"Yup. Ever since I was twelve, it's been my dream to go to OSU to play football and be a buckeye."

"Really? If you don't mind my saying, you're a bit on the petite side." The brunette blushed at making the comment in regards to the girl's body. "I know you're bigger than me, but those guys are massive. I'd be especially concerned for your safety out there."

Quinn chuckled at her. "I'm totally joking, Rachel. I got the sweater from my older sister, Frannie. She graduated from there last year."

Rachel didn't think she could be redder from having taken the girl's joke so seriously. "Well, it's still a nice sweater."

The blonde chuckled again. "Thanks, Rachel. I'd say the same but…" she trailed off as she gestured toward the slush still covering Rachel's sweater.

Rachel looked down, suddenly remembering that her favorite sweater was still covered in red mush. She quickly turned away from the blonde to grab some paper towels. After cleaning off her face and the few spots in her hair, she started cleaning off her sweater, growling in frustration when she noticed it was stained underneath.

"I don't think that's coming out with just paper towel." The blonde said as she walked towards the smaller girl. "Unless you planned on walking around in that, you might want to change."

"I didn't bring an extra shirt because I was hardly expecting to be attacked by barbarians." She hadn't meant to sound so irate but it was, after all, her favorite sweater and she honestly didn't have another shirt.

Thinking on her feet, Quinn began taking her hoodie off, "Here, take mine."

Rachel's neck and ears began to burn as the girl began undressing in front of her, revealing a plain white blouse underneath "N-no, Quinn, I can't." The girl stammered. "It's your sister's, it must mean something to you."

Pulling the hoodie over her head, Quinn smiled, "Sure, but it'll mean more to not see you drenched in slushy all day."

Rachel went to protest again, but was stopped as the girl shoved the hoodie closer to her face, "Rachel. Please. Take it."

Rachel graciously accepted the hoodie. "Thank you, Quinn. I promise I'll have this cleaned and returned to you as soon as possible."

"No rush." Quinn smiled again.

Turning away from the girl, she began to remove her stained sweater and replace it with Quinn's.

"If you don't mind my asking, are you new here? I've never seen you around before. Lima's pretty small, so most people are easily recognizable." As she pulled the sweater over her head, she couldn't help but smell it. Vanilla roses.

"I am. My family moved here from Columbus a few weeks ago. I've been trying to get unpacked and ready for school, so I haven't gotten out much. That means, of course, I'm not really familiar with anybody here. I'll be sure to avoid the people who messed up your sweater, though." Quinn answered as the small girl turned back to face her. The hoodie was a bit large on her, but it would do.

"My dads have taken me to Columbus a few times. It's really quite beautiful. Especially relative to Lima."

"Dads? Like, you have two?" At Quinn's question, Rachel immediately found herself filling with dread. Was this going to be the straw that broke the camel's back? Of course, this beautiful heroine had to have a tragic flaw.

"Yes." She replied meekly.

"That's cool. I've just got one and he's kind of a douche" the blonde grinned.

Rachel's head snapped up, staring the girl straight in the eyes, looking for any sign that she was being mocked. It was something she had grown accustomed to in middle school.

She found none.

Rachel couldn't stop herself from falling if she wanted to.

"Well, hey I've been loitering in the bathroom long enough and first periods about to start." Quinn started. "Hopefully, I see you around."

Rachel smiled back at her in return.

"And hey," Rachel's breath hitched as the girl got closer, "You missed a spot." Quinn laughed as she used her thumb to wipe slush from the girl's eyebrow.

As Quinn made her way to leave, Rachel called out to her, "Quinn. Thank you." The girl said, genuinely.

Assuming she was referring to the loan, Quinn winked and exited the bathroom.

From that fateful day in the girl's bathroom freshman year, Rachel and Quinn had what some might call a peculiar friendship. They would run into each other more often than not for the duration of freshman year. And Rachel would be slushed every now and again. Eventually, she stopped giving Quinn the hoodie back, storing it in her locker instead so she always had something to change into.

By the time they were sophomores, they were running in separate crowds. Quinn had managed to not only become one of Sue Sylvester's Cheerios, but Sue Sylvester's head Cheerio. And Rachel had claimed her rightful spot as co-captain of the Glee Club.

Although Quinn was technically McKinley royalty due to being a Cheerio, Rachel could tell the girl was trying her best to not let the title go to her head. She always stepped in when the more popular kids ridiculed or taunted her. There were even times when Quinn went out of her own way to help her.

When the Glee club had a small ticket selling completion for one of their first shows, Rachel had been in dead last. Although Quinn hadn't come to the show, she had bought four tickets from Rachel to show her support.

Though they saw each other less, Rachel refused to let it get to her. She held on to the blonde's hoodie as a symbol of their friendship, though she hadn't needed it in a while. She had an inkling that was Quinn's doing.

She had been mind-blown when Quinn joined the Glee Club. Many had assumed it was because Finn, her co-captain and Quinn's boyfriend, had joined.

She liked to believe it was for something else.

What had severely disappointed her was the baggage Quinn had brought with her in the form of Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce.

Although she didn't really have personal issues with Brittany, Rachel placed some of the blame of her drift from Quinn on the ever-present Santana.

As freshmen, Rachel had noticed the two together sometimes, but had thought nothing of it, confident that Quinn would see right through the vicious girl.

She had never been more wrong.

By the time they were sophomores the three, including Brittany, had become attached at the hips. After they all became Cheerios the students had dubbed them 'The Unholy Trinity.'

She hardly ever got a moment to hang out with Quinn without the two hovering around, Santana ready to trade sharp words with her at any given moment. They had been going at it for years with no end in sight.

After Quinn stared dating Finn, she saw her even less.

With Quinn in Glee, she finally had her chance to rekindle their friendship. It was, however, not without even more verbal altercations with Santana Lopez. The two had never hated each other more before that year.

By their junior year, Quinn and Finn had been broken up for a while, and Quinn had moved onto Puckerman. When Finn asked her out at the beginning of their junior year, she had felt awkward, but assurance from Quinn that she was completely fine with it had prompted her to accept. He was a decent guy, a great singer, and she was definitely attracted to him. Above all, she couldn't have who she really wanted so she settled.

Quinn and Puck hadn't lasted very long due to the boy's inability to remain faithful. So, for the first time in a longtime, Quinn was available. Rachel found herself trying to get up the nerve to leave Finn and finally make a move on the Cheerio. She spent her entire summer after junior year pumping herself up and preparing the best strategy to pull it off, even deciding to serenade her in glee.

She got the second biggest surprise of her life when she saw Quinn walking down the hall with Sugar Motta on her arm the first day of senior year.

She spent the first night of her senior year crying in her room. Her dads assumed she had another fight with Finn and did their best to comfort her.

The following day, Rachel told herself that she was Quinn's friend first and foremost, so she would support her relationship. But she vowed to herself, if she ever got the opportunity again to make Quinn hers, she wouldn't let it get away from her.

Presently, Rachel stood at her locker after Glee practice packing up her bag to go home. Reaching in the back, she pulled out the Ohio State hoodie she'd kept in there since that first slushy. Hugging it close, she smiled to herself as she realized that she now had the chance she had been wishing for. Placing the item in her bag, she closed her locker and made her way down the hall.

All through practice, Santana couldn't keep the grin off of her face. She was sure the other girls had noticed, as many of them eyed her suspiciously the entire time. Meanwhile, as everyone's eyes were glued on her, hers were glued on Quinn.

The girl didn't look nearly as down as she had in glee, but it's hard to be in a mood with Sue breathing down your back. Although her movements didn't hold the same fire they usually did, they were nonetheless flawless.

Since the moment she had first seen the girl perform at their tryouts the summer before sophomore year, she knew there was no way she wasn't going to be captain. Not even Sue Sylvester could deny the girl's talent.

That was also the moment she had realized just how attracted she was to the talented cheerleader.

The girl had looked so confident standing in front of all the upperclassman cheerios and their coach. She had moved through each move Sue called out effortlessly. Santana had caught herself staring at her friend's ass on more than one occasion.

The way she had smirked when she was finished had left Santana needing to change her panties.

She had always known Quinn was pretty. She had eyes. But when Quinn performed, she had taken on a whole different persona.

Quinn, her friend, was this quiet, kind of reserved, sweetheart who somehow managed to not only take Santana's fiery words, but throw them back at her. Their verbal spars were how they showed their love for each other.

Of the three of them, Quinn was probably the most pleasant. As much as Santana hated it, she knew that Quinn hung out with Rachel Berry, but she couldn't fathom why.

This Quinn, however, was far from the sweet and well-mannered girl she had grown fond of. This Quinn was confident, dangerous. Sexy. She was yearned to see this side of Quinn more often.

When Sue announced Quinn as the captain, Santana was positive that she would.

She wasn't wrong.

Soon, she was seeing all of Quinn on a daily basis; her sweet Quinn and HBIC Quinn. Although the blonde wasn't outlandishly rude as many captains before her, she definitely knew how to command attention. And her attraction for her fellow Cheerio only managed to increase ten-fold.

Despite the fact that Quinn had started dating Finn, Santana couldn't fight the attraction. She shrugged Finn off as a side note, sure that Quinn was with him simply because he was the quarterback. And she knew for a fact that Quinn wasn't giving it up.

Even still, she kept her attraction to herself, scared of freaking out one of the girls she considered her best friend. After all, she told herself, it's just attraction, Fabray's hot. Not like there's any feelings there. Not to mention, she herself was currently in something like a relationship with Matt Rutherford.

And for a while, that was true.

That was until Quinn decided to play knight in a shining Cheerio's top the summer before their junior year.

Santana and Quinn had been having their bi-weekly Unholy Trinity sleepover at Quinn's house. Brittany was absent after sending a group text the day before claiming she didn't feel good. The duo had sent back a multitude of sad faces, and 'get better' texts.

During the sleepover, Santana continuously grilled Quinn on what she saw in Puckerman, who she had started dating a few weeks prior. "He has a ferret on his head, for God's sake." The brunette snarked as she shoved more popcorn into her mouth, not taking her eyes off the TV playing Paranormal Activity. She loved scary movies, something she and Quinn shared. They hardly got to watch them, though, because Brittany hated them.

"He got a haircut." The blonde replied next to her.

"He may be able to change his hair, but he can't change his personality. He's kind of an ass, Q."

"So are you" Quinn smirked, "and I keep you around."

"Well you love me. It's different." She smiled snidely at her friend.

Instead of a response, the girl just stared back at her, silently.

"Get the fuck out, Quinn! You can't love him, you only started dating him like two minutes ago!"

Quinn let out an airy laugh, "Of course not, Santana. Could've fooled you though." She smirked. "Jealous much?"

"You wish, bitch" Santana scowled as she threw popcorn at the blonde. "I just can't stand the thought of Puckerman talking his way right into your pants and having to play godmama to his spawn." Quinn only laughed harder.

"You'd definitely be my first choice for godmother. That way, my kid could be a little Puck with Santana influence. Imagine the terror she would raise on Lima." Santana joined in her laughter.

Turning their attention back to the movie, they got about halfway through before Quinn's mom knocked on her door, handing her the landline claiming it was for her.

Assuming it was probably Quinn's sister, Santana continued watching the film.

"Hello? Oh hi, Mrs. Pierce."

That had definitely gotten Santana's attention. Why would Brittany's mom be calling if she was at home?

"No, Brittany's not here. She told us she wasn't feeling well and was going to stay home." Santana couldn't stop the worry from filling her head. Brittany had lied to them. She'd never done that.

"Okay. We'll let you know if we hear anything," Quinn said, hanging up the phone soon after.

Before she could ask what was happening, Quinn was pulling her shoes on. "Put your shoes on Santana." She calmly demanded, already searching for what Santana assumed were her car keys.

Santana complied, getting up to put her shoes on, "Wanna fill me in, Fabray?"

Finally locating her keys, Quinn replied, "Brittany hasn't been home all day and she hasn't been answering her phone."

Santana looked at the time on Quinn's alarm clock. It was almost 1 in the morning. Brittany would never stay out that late without telling someone.

"Hey, Santana, don't worry. We're going to go find her and everything's going to be perfectly fine, okay?" Quinn said as she grabbed the shorter girl's hand. She had obviously noticed the panic evident all over the girl's face.

"O-Okay." Santana attempted to shake off her nerves. "What do we do first? Where do we check? Wh-"

She was cut-off as Quinn placed her phone in her hand.

"You're going to call her, and if she doesn't answer you're going to call every person she knows. If they yell at you for waking them up, tell them to bite it. I'm going to drive through every inch of this town. And if we don't find her, we're going to drive to the next town and keep looking until we do." Santana stared straight in the girl's eyes as she spoke, noting that the girl had never looked more serious.

"Okay."

"Okay, let's go."

Santana immediately started dialing as they made their way to Quinn's car, clad only in their pajamas.

They had been riding around for an hour, having checked multiple parks, the school, and late-night restaurants. Santana felt like she had called at least 60 people. None of them knew anything and she was beyond frustrated.

"I can't believe this!" she shouted as she slammed her fists into Quinn's dashboard. "Nobody has seen or heard from her. This sucks like birdshit."

Quinn peered at her angry friend, curious of for her choice of metaphor. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, San. I know a place we haven't looked yet." She said, starting her car again.

15 minutes later they pulled up to the Lima Lake in the Ottawa Metro Park. Sure enough, they spotted a figure sitting just off the edge of the lake.

"Figures. She loves coming here to feed the ducks." Santana scolded herself for not having figured it out sooner.

They both climbed out of the car and approached Brittany.

"Britt! Are you okay? What are you doing here?" Santana questioned, kneeling in front of the surprised blonde as soon as they had reached her.

"Santana? Quinn?" The blonde questioned, as her friends appeared in front of her, "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Quinn here went all Liam Neeson trying to find your ass," Santana gestured towards the blushing blonde. "The real question is, why are you here? We were worried about you, and your parents are, too, Britt."

At the mention of her parents, Brittany's eyes began to water. "Guys, I think I did something bad."

"What is it, Britt? You can tell us anything, you know that." Santana asked softly.

"I left because I don't want my parents to be mad at me." The girl remarked, bowing her head.

"Why would they be mad, Britt? What happened?" Santana pressed.

"B-because. I'm pregnant."

Santana was stunned into silence. She looked at the blonde in front of her, blue eyes pleading for help, then at the blonde to her right who looked just as shocked as she felt.

"Wh-wh, are you sure?" Santana sputtered?

"My boobs really hurt, and I was throwing up a lot yesterday. When I looked on Google, it said that I was pregnant." Tears spilled down her cheeks as she continued, "My mom and dad are going to be really mad at me."

"Sweetie, it's okay." Quinn finally spoke up as she kneeled down and took Brittany's face in her hands. "First, we're going to call your parents and tell them you went to Tina's house and forgot to mention. And then we're going to get you a pregnancy test from the drugstore, and go back to my house so you can take it. And no matter what it says, Santana and I are going to be behind you one-hundred percent, and so are you're parents because we all love you. If you are, we'll be there with you to tell your parents, and to kick the ass of whoever is responsible, okay?" As promiscuous as Brittany was, her friends found it hard to keep up with her conquests.

After Brittany nodded, Quinn stood up grabbing Brittany's hand to help her up and began to walk her back to the car, Santana trailing behind them.

True to her word, Quinn not only took Brittany to buy four different pregnancy sticks, but made them all wait in the bathroom for the all the results. Much to all of their relief, every single test came back negative. They later found out Brittany had been throwing up because of food poison she'd got from eating the fondue from her YouTube show. And her boobs were hurting because…well they never really figured that part out. But it was Brittany.

Santana remembered that day like it was yesterday. She remembered being so scared for Brittany, but what she remembered more than that was realizing that she had actual feelings for Quinn Fabray.

The way the girl had been so supportive and non-judgmental of not only their friend through her short-lived crisis, but also herself. Santana was sure she was half-way to a mental breakdown that entire night. Quinn had been so calm and attentive to them both the entire night. When she spoke to Brittany at the lake Santana couldn't tear her eyes from the girl's face. She was noticing for the first time that she was more than just hot; she was beautiful.

She was sure the butterflies in her stomach had nothing to do with wanting to get into her friend's skirt.

The fact that Quinn was dating Puck haunted her for an entirely different reason after that night.

Later into their junior year, Quinn had dumped Puck after finding out he was still cleaning the pools of cougars in more ways than one. Santana couldn't believe how much of an idiot the boy could be for letting her get away.

Meanwhile, Brittana was in full swing, and Santana liked to believe that she had gotten over the 'crush' she had on her captain. That, however, didn't stop the butterflies from filling her stomach whenever she found herself alone with the girl or when they went back and forth trading sharp words.

It wasn't until she and Brittany had broken up a couple of months later, citing that they were just better off as friends (in other words: Brittany wasn't that into monogamy, and Santana wasn't that into her) that Santana would admit to herself again that she still had it bad for Quinn Fabray. The two had been growing considerably closer over the years and Santana was convinced she had never felt the feelings she had for Quinn with anyone else.

By the end of their junior year, she was ready to make her move. She was single and hot. Quinn was single and hot.

It was perfect.

Until their first bi-weekly Unholy Trinity sleepover of the summer, where Quinn decided to tell them all about the 'amazing girl' she had met at the Lima Bean. She had gushed for hours about how this girl was the most beautiful girl she had ever met, how she was hilarious, and how they had met because they had both ordered the same drink and reached for it at the same time and ended up sitting together and talking for a while.

Santana had heard that story about a thousand times. She hated it after the first.

Brittany had seemed all too excited to join in on Quinn's giddiness. Santana, however, had felt like she was just punched in the gut. She felt the second punch when Quinn announced how the girl would be attending McKinley the following semester.

The third when she found out she was only a junior.

The fourth when she found out her name was Sugar.

For the rest of the summer, she and Brittany saw less of Quinn because she was spending more time trying to get the Sugar girl to go out with her. Santana loathed hearing about the newest attempt of trying to woo the clearly delusional girl.

It was the middle of summer when Quinn announced she had scored a date with the stubborn girl.

And it was the end when Santana's heart broke after Quinn announced that she had made Sugar her girlfriend.

She had spent the following months in a one-sided relationship with one of her best friends as said best friend seemed to fall harder and harder for the dimwitted airhead.

She smiled to herself as she realized that was all over now. Having found out the couple called it quits, Santana knew she now had the chance she had been wishing for. She'd be damned if she let her girl get away again.

"We ain't picture perfect, but we worth the picture still."

-Jermaine Cole