First and foremost, I would like to apologize profusely for the obscenely long time it took for me to get this chapter out. For all of summer, I had zilch inspiration and I started school back up this week and I've been like a _ (insert cool noun verb type thing here) of inspiration. Enjoy!

4

People parted way in the hallway to allow her to move directly down the center and she couldn't help but smirk. The thing that she had dreamed of for so long that her favorite frenemy seemed to always somehow steal back just when she got close enough to taste it was finally hers.

Santana Lopez continued to move with the same amount of swag and ease that only Santana had and could work. She searched the hallway for the familiar locker that she had spent all of freshmen year and the half of sophomore year at gossiping and discussing dance routines. She finally found it and set off quickly for the blonde girl she had been dying to see since yesterday after glee club.

After Berry had finished performing that one Uncle Kracker song, Santana couldn't help but notice Quinn's reaction. It was different from her normal Fangirling-Over-Rachel reaction that she normally got whenever the dwarf performed something… she was acting like it had been especially for her or something.

And that made her start thinking, and now she just needed to know if she was right.

"Quinn," Santana said cooly as she approached the blonde, "what's up with you?"

Quinn Fabray eyed her old friend with a note of suspicion…and – what was that? Was it longing? Did she miss the Unholy Trinity friendship? The popularity? Or did she envy something of hers?

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Santana." Quinn replied slowly, her eyes never leaving the Latina. Santana was obviously up to something, and Quinn wasn't in the mood for Santana to beat around the bush about it. But then, did San ever beat around the bush at anything?

Santana rolled her eyes. Apparently, she wasn't up for it either. "I'm talking about with you and Berry. I saw your face when she was performing. You were like glowing, Q."

Quinn calmly kept her face calm of any emotion. "What are you implying, San?"

The Cheerio's face illustrated clear frustration, but then suddenly softened. "Look, Q, I'm going to say something that I've thought for a long time but never had enough ladyballs to confront you about,"

The blonde closed her eyes and waited for it. She knew what Santana was going to say – the Latina was just so knowing about these things.

"Are you a lesbian?" she finally whispered.

She felt something warm dripping down her cheeks. Quinn suddenly realized she was crying. "I-I don't know, San. I just don't. I'm so confused," the girl whimpered, looking down and allowing her honey blonde hair to cover her tear stained cheeks from any on lookers. "I've thought about talking to you about it for the longest time because I knew you would understand. But so much has happened and I…"

"I understand," Santana replied softly, "I'm sorry for how I've been treating you, Q."

Quinn nodded. "I'm sorry too, S. So sorry."

Santana gave her a small smile and pulled her into a warm embrace. She had forgotten how much she missed having actual friends other than B. "So it's Rachel, right?" Santana whispered as she pulled away.

The blonde shot her a confused look.

"You're crushing on Rachel, correct?" she clarified.

Quinn blushed and nodded quickly.

"And it's been you writing the notes to her, I take it?"

Quinn nodded again.

Santana nodded, looking thoughtful. "Look, Q," she said when she spoke again, "I can't tell you how to go about this, and God knows I'm probably the worst person to talk to about this stuff, but can I give you some advice?"

"Yeah," Quinn said back without missing a beat. "I would love it."

"I worried too much about what other people thought about me, how they would label me and what they would say, and instead of focusing and how much I l-love," she gulped, "Britt, she couldn't wait for me forever, and I ended up screwing it up. I guess the moral is… focus more on the love, not the hate of other people. And don't wait too long; you can't expect Berry to wait forever for a secret admirer, can you?"

The bell rang over head, startling both girls.

"I'll talk to you later, Q."

And Santana swayed away, leaving a pondering Quinn in her wake.

The next couple weeks passed by, and Quinn and Rachel's note-relationship had developed a considerable amount. Words came easier, smiley faces were more often, and they even had a few inside jokes. She had even mustered up enough courage to be a little bit nicer to Rachel in person.

In short, Quinn Fabray was absolutely glowing with happiness.

But still, Quinn couldn't shake the feeling that this was calm before the storm. She had a feeling that something was going to happen – what she didn't know – all she knew was that something would eventually happen to reveal Quinn and lose Rachel's trust.

That scared her beyond words. She didn't know why she was so scared of people finding out. It wasn't like she had anything to hide. She hadn't written anything in the notes that could wreck her reputation or anything.

Maybe what she was really scared of wasn't people finding out, but the way people would react. The whispering… Not that anything in those notes would cause people to whisper, of course.

Right?

Shaking her head, she decided to pay attention to what Mr. Schue was talking about. She really needed to pay attention more…

Things had gotten better on Rachel's end even. She wasn't being bullied half as bad as she was before by the glee clubbers. Maybe because her personality had toned down quite a bit these past couple weeks.

She really hoped she didn't just jinx Rachel.

Mr. Schue kept talking about their latest assignment. The words "solo" and "musical" were said and Rachel's head instantly perked up. So naturally, Quinn's head perked up as well. It must be something good.

Sure enough, soon Rachel's hand was shooting into the air. Around her, groans sounded.

Quinn just barely resisted the urge to turn around and tell them all to shut up.

Mr. Schue's mouth moved and soon Rachel was standing in front of the room and speaking. Quinn forgot how much she missed Rachel in front of the room.

Not that she, um, had liked it before of course… Well, she did have some pretty good ideas normally… And it also gave to observe the girl's outfit without seeming weird.

In her knee high socks, plaid mini skirt, and animal sweater Rachel Berry truly was something else. Anyone else would've been repulsed by her fashion sense – they were repulsed by it – but Quinn found it kind of it kinda adorably cute.

"As being the most musically knowledgeable person in this room, I find it imperative that you all chose to put me on lead for this particular group number."

Around the room, people started to mock Rachel – speaking in high voices, making obscene hand gestures, making weird facial expressions.

The brunette felt tears well in her eyes. She never meant to come off so… strong about these kind of things, but she just got so excited and how much she wanted it just tended to take over and do all the talking for her.

Crap, Rachel, don't cry, the singer chanted to herself. You're stronger than this.

But she couldn't help it. She found her feet taking her to the door and heard satisfied laughter and Mercedes talking about "adding black flair to lame musical number" and there were feet following her. Why were there feet following her?

Quinn watched as Rachel darted into the nearest girls' bathroom. And she knew this time, writing a simple note wouldn't be enough.

It was time to take the next step.

So Quinn walked into the bathroom that she had seen Rachel disappear into.

Rachel looked up, eyes wide with shock, when she saw the blonde standing before her. She cleared her throat. "I-if you've come to continue with what our lovely fellow glee clubbers have started, please just get it over with quickly."

Quinn couldn't say anything. She was just standing there, gaping at her soundlessly. She should do something, she really should, but what do you do to comfort a girl you bullied for two years and have secretly been writing notes to?

"I'm so sorry, Rachel," she heard herself saying.

Rachel gasped. Quinn Fabray, her number one tormentor for years, was apologizing to her? Had the world gone crazy? When a minute or so passed without her busting up laughing she decided that yes, the world was crazy.

"Th-thank you?" Rachel stuttered, her eyes never leaving the blonde.

Said blonde in question's face lit up like a Christmas tree from her response. An unsure thank you was better than an 'I hate you' or no response at all, right?

"Look, it's the end of the day. I don't know about you, but I kind of don't feel like going back to glee for the remainder it has left. What do you say to getting out of here?"

The singer blinked in incomprehension. And for once, Rachel Berry was speechless.

Well, for a moment anyway.

"Yes. Yes, I would very much like to get out of here. With you, I presume? As in the pair of us traveling away from here… together?"

Quinn giggled. She actually freaking giggled.

"Well, yeah," she replied, as if this type of thing happened every day. "We can come back later for your car."

Rachel nodded and felt herself getting up and walking towards the girl. She knew this was completely crazy. Her brain was screaming at her that this was a cruel set up, that Quinn had a plan to humiliate her further, and this was stupid, stupid, stupid. But something else in her was saying that if she didn't go, she'd be missing out on something important.

So she allowed herself to follow her tormentor out of the bathroom and down the hall. After all, it was vital for every teenager to do stupid things every once in a while, right?

"Wait," Rachel called to Quinn when they passed her locker. "I need to get my stuff from my locker."

Quinn nodded in understanding and gave her a sweet smile.

When she opened her locker, there was no note. She felt her face drop with dismay. It was the first time in weeks her admirer hadn't left a note.

But she couldn't allow herself to be to upset about it when she heard Quinn quietly clear her throat. After all, it was kind of unhealthy and more than a little pathetic to wait around for notes from someone who was too scared to approach her in person. Who wasn't real.

Quinn was here.

And she was most definitely real.