2.
"Whatever the hell," the blonde growled in a dangerously low voice, "is going on here— it ends now." She walked forward with surprising grace and grabbed Cassie by the hair. "Listen up, Regina George, you wanna make a public scene of things?" she demanded. "Go back to whatever circus you came from."
Quinn chose to then ignore Cassie for the time being and turned to the rest of the crowd, "Everybody clear out! Show's over!" Just like that, the smarter jocks and cheerleaders bustled off in various directions, all except for Puck, Sam, Mike, Brittana, and Rachel. And, of course, Cassie and Azimio. Blaine gave Quinn a questioning look, to which she responded with a nod, before he left too.
Cassie, realizing that it was now her and her boyfriend against the Unholy Trinity (enough said), and three guys who had all played football and sacked more than their fair share of linebackers, decided to do the stupid thing and resorted to jibes.
"So now you're playing protector to the losers, huh Q?" she laughed, like wasn't she just so clever.
"Don't start something you can't finish, Fabray. Or weren't you the one who started Berry's best nicknames? RuPaul, Man-Hands, Treasure Trail… remember those? We all know what you're up to, yeah? Some sort of final senior prank, special just for the little queen loser herself," Azimio continues tauntingly.
The harsh laugh that resounded from Quinn's throat and echoed throughout the parking lot was dry and mirthless. "You caught me, Adams!" she replied with a sarcastic sneer. She threw her hands into the air and let them fall as she began to pace in front of him. "Yeah, this is all just some joke, some sick elaborate scheme to… what, exactly? What do you think would I have to gain from pretending to be Rachel's friend and then shattering her, huh?"
Cassie stepped toward her angrily. "You used to have a reputation around here, until you decided to blow it all off to hang out with the losers. Whatever happened to the ruthless Head Cheerio, hmm?"
Quinn's eyes narrowed to slits. "She grew up. You should try it sometime, it's refreshing." Quinn spun on her heel to approach Rachel, reaching for her hand.
But Azimio wasn't quite finished, and neither was Cassie. The other Cheerio stalked after Quinn and grabbed her arm roughly. "You can't protect her forever, Q. Losers like her need to know their place, and she'll never be anything but a freak—"
On the drop of a dime, Quinn turned around and shoved Cassie back against the wall. Unfortunately, Azimio hadn't been caught entirely off-guard like his girlfriend had and the back of his hand struck her across the face. That's when Quinn really flipped out. The gloves came off, the claws came out, and before anyone knew what was happening Azimio's nose was broken and so was Quinn's right fist.
Her left one, however was fine, and she grabbed Cassie by the front of her shirt as the lower-level Cheerio slid to the ground and drew the younger girl in close. "We'll see how big you talk in ten years when her name is in lights and you're stuck in this hellhole of a town with five kids and a good-for-nothing husband," Quinn snapped in a vicious whisper. "And if you ever threaten or do anything to her again, or say a word about this to anyone, I'll make sure you have much worse than a broken nose."
Puck helped Quinn to stand up, but she politely shrugged him off when she was upright, instead making her way to Rachel and tried to envelop the teary-eyed girl into a hug.
Rachel, however, shoved her away angrily. "Don't –touch me," the brunette snapped at Quinn with ire in her tone, punctuating the words.
"Okay," Quinn replied, holding her hands up where Rachel could see them and taking a step away from the girl. "I won't touch you, see? But we do need to get you home and take care of those cuts and scrapes."
The look of absolute hurt and near hatred in Rachel's normally soft, warm, brown eyes made Quinn feel sick to her stomach. "I'm not going anywhere with you," the brunette screamed, tears falling down from her bronze cheeks. Then the smaller girl turned on her heel and ran back inside the school to hide until Quinn left. She should have known that Quinn wouldn't let that happen.
Rachel made it to the lobby before Quinn caught up to her and lightly grabbed her elbow with her uninjured hand. "Get off me!" she shrieked, throwing Quinn's hand off.
A sob broke forth from Rachel's beautiful mouth and Quinn wanted nothing more than to engulf her best friend in a hug and wipe away the star's tears; to tell her that they were all wrong because Rachel was beautiful and amazing and so, so talented. That it was over. To tell her that this wasn't Rachel's fault and Quinn wouldn't let it happen ever again. But Rachel seemed so full of contempt and loathing.
"Rachel, I tried to get to you—" Quinn tried to explain, but Rachel was having none of it.
There were several moments where Rachel laughed like a bitter maniac, and Quinn's mind went through several different scenarios of what she could do. Then Rachel spoke, "Oh, and you did, Quinn." Another humorless scoff. "God, how could I have been so stupid!" she shouted in self-admonishment. "I really believed that you had changed, that you were finally letting me in, letting me get to know the real Quinn Fabray." Rachel looked at Quinn as if she wanted to slap her. "And you played me," she added in a quieter voice.
Quinn eyes widen when she realized with sudden clarity why Rachel was treating her this way. "Oh God, Rachel, that's not it! You've got it all wrong, okay?" she spoke up to defend herself.
"Don't. You and your clique have had your fun, Quinn, so you can give up the 'friends' act." In that moment, Quinn realized that the only thing scarier than angry Rachel, was resigned Rachel, because here was her best friend sounding betrayed and heartbroken with zero hope in her voice.
"Rach, that bitch Cassie is not my friend. You're my friend, Rachel," Quinn told her in a soft voice.
"I TRUSTED YOU!" Rachel screamed at her as a fresh bout of tears erupted to the resurface. "I trusted you and you set me up! Shattered my heart like it was nothing to you, like I meant nothing to you!" She glared at Quinn with all the disdain in the world written all over her face. "I hope you enjoyed yourself, Quinn, because in a few months, we're going to graduate and you're going to Yale and no one will fear or admire you there, they'll just see you for the self-absorbed, superficial, two-faced, ice-hearted bitch that you are! The person that I tried to convince myself was all just a mask you put up to keep everyone out because you didn't want them to see the sweet and vulnerable girl underneath."
Rachel was crying full-out now, sobbing and screaming almost unintelligibly, but Quinn understood her and her words hit the blonde like an uppercut to the stomach. Had Rachel really given up on her that quickly?
Quinn took a few panicked steps toward the brunette now, as Rachel began to move for the doors. "Rachel, Rachel! RACHEL!" she called desperately as Rachel strode out into the chilly early-April air. Quinn vaguely registered that their friends were still there, loitering around but she didn't care. She finally managed to grab the girl and spin her around to face the blonde, who was now openly crying as well. "Rachel, please. Please," she begged through broken sobs.
The brunette eyed her coldly. "I never wish to speak to you again," Rachel said with indifference. "Have a nice life, Quinn. I'm sure you'll receive everything you deserve." With that, she stepped out of Quinn's grasp and began to walk away without looking back once.
If this weren't reality, which Quinn prayed it wasn't, she would laugh at how melodramatic she was being as she fell to her knees in the parking lot, sobbing and still calling out for Rachel to come back. But she wasn't laughing.
Two pairs of strong arms lifted her to her feet and supported her weight from either side, walking her to someone's car and putting her into the backseat where a warm body climbed in with her, and she desperately wished it were Rachel.
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