A/N: Wow, thank you guys for all the kind comments! Had I known a warm reception like that was waiting for me, I would have started writing sooner. Here is a quick update as my thanks. It's shorter, but it comes with the promise of more soon and a pinky swear that I'll actually finish the whole story. :) Thanks again!

Oh, and to answer the question about Rach as QB (when there are potentially more fitting positions for her). Well. True story: I know absolutely nothing about football. I set her up as QB because it conflicts most directly with Quinn's plan. It probably won't be the most outlandish plot point before the end, though, so get your suspension of disbelief hats ready. This is the Glee-verse after all. ;)

Quinn squirmed in her seat, first period couldn't end quickly enough. She was still trying to ingest the idea that Rachel Berry was the new Titan quarterback. Her notebook was a dead giveaway for how distracted she was—doodles of tiaras, footballs and stars littered the margins.

I have got to find Finn. There must be some way to fix this. What could he have screwed up so badly that Coach Beiste made Rachel, of all people, the QB? Why not Puck? Or Sam? Why couldn't the boyfriend I already have be the quarterback instead of her? It's like God is punishing me for being ambitious.

The bell finally sounded. Quinn crammed her notebook back into her bag as she hurried from the classroom. Having her eyes trained on the 6-feet-high zone of the hallway in search of Finn, she failed to spot Rachel before colliding with her. Both girls fell to the floor, Rachel with a soft "oomph" and Quinn with a growl.

"How clumsy of me, I'm so sorry I... " the words died in the smaller girl's mouth as she caught Quinn's glare.

"Watch where you're going much?" Quinn slapped her hands on the ground and thrust herself quickly upward. Possibly flying high from her new status, Rachel returned the glare and shot out her hand, pointedly asking for help to stand up. The blonde scoffed, but took the proffered hand anyway. The smallest quarterback in all of Ohio was hauled onto her feet and began smoothing her outfit. An outfit which included a football jersey with a large, gold star bedazzled on the front. "You must be joking," Quinn muttered.

With a denim skirt, knee socks and sneakers, no less. I'm surprised the laces aren't gold lamé.

Rachel glanced between hazel eyes and down at her attire, confidence wavering slightly, "I thought, football uniforms, though well-designed for their ultimate purpose during a game, are rather lacking in showmanship off the field. Adding some glitz and glam to an otherwise drab garment was absolutely necessary, in my opinion. As the leader of both the Glee club and the football team," the brunette hesitated, hoping to have caught the other girl off guard. No such luck, so she continued, "It's my responsibility to put my best face forward for both groups." Quinn folded her arms and remained silent. "Perhaps you've heard? I'm the Titan's new star quarterback."

Quinn pursed her lips, "You are unbelievable."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, I guess I've always known you were crazy, but are you dumb, too?" Rachel opened her mouth to object, but the taller girl pressed on. "Seriously, Berry. You are going to get yourself killed playing football."

"Quinn, while I appreciate your concern for my-"

"You know what? Forget it. Play football. Maybe somebody will do me a favor and put you in a coma."

Quinn stormed off, once again leaving Rachel to puzzle out their exchange.

"Why did Coach Beiste make Berry the quarterback?"

Sam's chewing slowed while he regarded his girlfriend. When the two of them had first gotten together, he had worried that her interest in Rachel was linked to jealousy over Finn. He had been relieved to find her apparent obsession with the other girl still in tact over the holiday, after the Glee-leading duo broke up. Well, sort of relieved. Sam liked the little singer and it bothered him when Quinn was overly cruel to her. Lately, she'd been going fairly easy on Rachel. He had hoped things would stay that way.

Shrugging off the thought and swallowing his bite of burrito, he answered, "She kind of challenged him to a diva-off, but like, football-style."

Quinn's eyes narrowed, "What?"

"Finn was trying to get Coach to kick her off the team for her own good, but Rachel wasn't having any of it. She said something about being an asset to the team because of her low center of gravity... " he scrunched his eyebrows, trying to recall the litany of benefits Rachel felt she provided. "Anyway, Finn kept interrupting her and yelling and stuff. She kind of lost it and told Finn she made a better player than he did. And then she asked Beiste if she could audition for Finn's position."

"She really used the word 'audition?'" a forkful of salad paused halfway to the her mouth.

"Yeah, she did. Coach actually okay'd it, which was the really nuts part. She had them run some sprint drills and then throw against the QB net for a while. Rachel is small, but she's super fast—faster than Finn, even with shorter legs. She can't throw as far, but her aim is easily five-times better than Finn's. Weird, right?"

The salad still hadn't made it to Quinn's mouth.

"That's pretty much it. Coach was impressed and said she'd give Rachel a shot, wanted me and Finn to teach her the playbook. Since we already won the championship, she said it wouldn't hurt to have Rachel be the quarterback in our spirit game. Finn blew up."

"Wait, so she's not really the quarterback then? Finn is still the real quarterback."

"Well, he would have been, but when he lost his temper, Coach suspended him."

"Are you kidding me? I thought you didn't have enough players as it was, what is Coach Beiste thinking?"

Sam frowned, "Look, he was being really uncool about it. The season is basically over, and Rachel wasn't half-bad, like I said. Coach just wanted to give her a shot and Finn flipped."

"Do you honestly think this a good idea?"

He leaned back in his chair, "Why are you freaking out about it? Is this because of Finn?"

Crap.

Quinn could sense that she was treading dangerous water and backed down, softening her voice, "No, that's not it at all. It's just that, don't you think having a girl for the quarterback is going to make a mockery of the team? Besides, Coach Beiste should know better. It's irresponsible to put a girl that size out on the field."

Sam squinted a little and then smiled.

"What?"

"You're worried," he said triumphantly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He leaned forward, conspiratorially, "You're worried about Rachel getting hurt."

Me? Worried about Rachel Berry? As if.

Quinn was about to protest, but he patted her knee and kept going, "She'll be fine. She's got all the Glee guys looking out for her. And after winning last week, even Adams is being respectful."

She wanted to set the record straight, but she caught sight of Finn sulking in the corner of the cafeteria.

This is more of a train wreck than I thought.

Quinn smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I still don't think it's a good idea, Sam." She paused, threw a concerned look in Finn's direction and turned back. "Maybe I should go talk to Finn. If he apologies to Ber—to Rachel, maybe Coach Beiste will revoke his suspension."

Sam grinned at his girlfriend, "It's really cool how much you care about the team, even when you aren't a Cheerio. Yeah, definitely go talk to him." He picked up his burrito again and chomped down happily.

A more astute boyfriend might have caught the light leaving her eyes at the cheerleading comment, but it went unnoticed. "Right," Quinn picked up her salad and purse, "I'll talk to you later."

Sam waved with his free hand and watched as she headed over to Finn's empty table.

"You need to fix this," Quinn slammed her partially eaten salad down on the table, causing Finn to jump.

"What are you talking about? This happened to me—it isn't my fault! Rachel just-"

"Rachel nothing, Finn. How does it look to the rest of the school when their quarterback gets replaced by a girl?" her eyes were hard as she stared down at her ex-boyfriend.

"Did you just come over here to yell at me? Why do you care, anyway?"

Okay, this isn't going how I planned. Calm down. Focus, Fabray.

Switching gears, she tried some saccharine, "Because...because I care about you. And I can see that you're upset."

Finn perked up, "Yeah?"

She smiled sympathetically and sat down, "Of course, silly. I just don't want to see you lose credit for all your hard work. You were the one that lead us to the biggest win in recent McKinley High history. Rachel may have scored the touchdown, but who was there to call the play? You."

Finn sagged a little, "Actually, Rachel came up with that idea."

I should have known. Always the flair for theatrics, of course Berry was the one to come up with the zombie mind game attack.

Thinking quickly, she countered, "But you were calling the shots for the other 98% of that game. So-"

"We didn't even start catching up until I put Sam in as QB and came to get you guys away from Coach Sylvester," Finn glowered miserably into his plate.

Quinn blew out a forceful breath, "Fine. Can we at least agree you get credit for all the games leading up to last week?"

He nodded slowly, then smirked a little. "Yeah...yeah, you're right. That was all me."

"Good," she said, finally having made some progress. "So what do we need to do to get you off suspension and back on as quarterback?"

The giant of a boy shrugged, "I think Coach is pretty set on Rachel playing quarterback for at least one game. I mean, if she quit or messed up or something... ."

Quinn's eyes took on a manic glint, "Well, you just do everything you can think of to get back in Coach Beiste's good graces and maybe the other part will work itself out."

Finn nodded, unaware of the scheming going on in Quinn's head. He looked up as she made to leave the table, "Thanks, Quinn. I feel a little better, actually."

"I'm glad."

Now I've got to find a way to get Berry kicked off that team.

Lunch ended and the plotting began.