6.

Monday morning came too quickly for Quinn's liking. Her weekend had been wonderfully anti-climatic and lazy after making up with Rachel, and Quinn was happy for the reprieve. She spent the weekend doing homework and talking and walking in the park and driving around Lima with her best friend; but now the real trial was beginning, and Quinn wasn't sure if Rachel could handle it.

"Quinn?" Rachel's voice called to her. "Is everything okay?"

She turned her head to meet Rachel's hazelnut gaze, much closer than she had expected, and Quinn suddenly realized that the two had arrived in the McKinley parking lot and Rachel had cut her engine already. She shook her blonde head, trying to clear it of her distressed thoughts, and pulled a semi-convincing smile onto her face.

"Yeah, I'm great!" she returned, a little too enthusiastically. Quinn silently cursed herself; this was Rachel she was talking to, and Rachel knew her much better than that. The diva wouldn't buy it for a second.

Low and behold, the brunette pressed her pouty lips into a hard line, only serving to make the cut on her lower one more prominent than ever. "Quinn, you're lying to me," Rachel stated in clipped tones. "If you don't want to talk about whatever is bothering you, that is fine; but lying to me is unacceptable." Rachel made a quick move to get out of her car, muttering, "Lock the doors when you get out," as she stormed off.

Quinn allowed her head to fall back against the headrest of her seat and sighed. No one had ever said that loving Rachel Berry would be easy; in fact, she had known from the get-go that it would be one of the hardest things she would ever do. She had just never thought it would be this hard.

Pulling herself from the car and locking the doors behind her as Rachel had instructed, Quinn made her way toward the school entrance. It was eight-a.m. and she was already developing a headache. She was almost to the steps where hell had broken loose on Friday, when someone suddenly stepped into her path, forcing her to stop abruptly.

She looked up, expecting Azimio or Cassie, or even Santana or Puck. What she got instead was a shock, which quickly transformed into anger. She glowered up at the boy with a growl of, "Finn, you're in my way. Move."

"Stay away from Rachel," the boy said in return. He glared down at her with more contempt than she had the energy to muster today.

"No," she shot back, then tried to push past him.

He stepped in her way again. "She can't handle it anymore, Quinn. Everyone knows how you really feel about her, but you're not good for her; you're the only one who won't face reality," Finn argued, getting more frustrated now than ever. "You're bad for her, Quinn. You can't help but hurt her over and over again. She always ends up feeling unhappy and bad about herself whenever you get involved."

Quinn stood shell shocked. "She said that?" Quinn asked, feeling her heart suddenly shatter like glass. "But. . . Friday night. . . and this weekend . . " Everyone knew she was in love with Rachel. Rachel always felt hurt and unhappy where Quinn was involved. Rachel couldn't handle being her friend anymore.

"She was upset about our fight, and then youshowed up at her house, and gave her a self-esteem boost, trying to get her to forgive you," Finn explained. "You told her all the things that she wanted to hear. She was probably vulnerable and she needed somebody. Anybody. And you were there.
"Friday was kind of the last straw for her, Quinn, and she's tired of fighting. She feels like too much has happened for her to be able to forgive and forget and learn to trust you, and it's all about trust with Rachel."

The blonde crossed her arms and stood her ground, still trying to believe that Rachel didn't really feel this way. "Really? Then why didn't she just tell me all of this herself on the ride to school this morning?" she demanded, fighting to keep her tears back.

Finn's gaze softened. "Because she's Rachel, and she can't stand to see anyone hurt, especially because of her. Even if she knows that the two of you can never be friends, that doesn't mean she wants to hurt you. She's not mean. Look, if you care about her, you'll just back off and let her be. Don't make it harder than it has to be, Quinn."

As Finn began walking off, Quinn called back, "How did you know how I feel about Rachel?"

The tall boy turned back to look at her for a moment. "Friends can betray you sometimes," he replied simply.

As soon as Finn was out of sight, Quinn ran like hell, not even knowing her destination until she reached the door that led directly into the auditorium. She picked the lock, with what would have been ease had her tears not obstructed her vision, and pried the door open.

When she was inside, she hurled her bag angrily somewhere in the seats. Quinn's feet echoed loudly as she pounded up the steps to the stage, grabbing her iPod from her pocket, scrolling through her list to select a song and jamming it onto the outlet on the sound system.

Quinn did the one thing she had enough heart left to do- she opened her mouth, and sang.

"You, you got me
Thinking it'll be alright.
You, you told me,
"Come and take a look inside."
You believed me,
In every single lie.
But I, I failed you this time.

I was waiting
For the day you'd come around.
I was chasing,
And nothing was all I found.
From the moment you came into my life,
You showed me what's right.

And it feels like tonight.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight.

I never felt like this before.
Just when I leave, I'm back for more.
Nothing else here seems to matter.
In these ever-changing days,
You're the one thing that remains.
I could stay like this forever.

And it feels like tonight.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight.
Tonight.
Tonight."

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