Chapter 18: Quinn Steps Up But Ends Up Falling

Disclaimer: I do not own glee or pretty little liars

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"Okay everyone. I know the bake sale was a hit and everything but Principal Figgens will only let us do it one week every month. So I have devised an idea. Now I know last year both our play and our musical fundraiser and our caroling for classes all failed- but this time I'm sure this idea will be great. We will be hosting a talent show. That way other people will be able to join- hence more of an audience- but the money is funded to our club. Plus- all of you will be able to sing in it," said Mr. Schue.

Everyone looked at each other.

"That actually doesn't sound horrible," said Artie.

Mr. Schue. smiled.

"Alright! So everyone start thinking of the songs- or dances you want to do. If you're doing a group get one together! This is going to be awesome. We'll have it the week after halloween so everyone will have a couple weeks to prepare. And then a week after that is sectionals! So it will be great practice"

"Actually sectionals is two weeks after that" said Sam.

"Right! Okay! Everyone- talk amongst yourselves about the performance"

Rachel looked around the room. Normally she would've been excited about this but everything was really making her upset lately. Kurt looked over at her and sighed. He tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Rachel- you want to do a duet together? We could do 'For Good' like last year in New York"

Rachel shrugged.

"I don't know Kurt. Maybe" she looked down. "Um- are you sure Santana would be okay with that?"

Oh right... he had a girlfriend. He was supposed to be straight. The song would kind of make them look like they were in love with each other now.

"Yeah... you have a point" he said.

This wasn't good- he needed to find a way to prevent Rachel from singing a depressing song to Puck. He looked at Blaine. And he needed to prevent himself from singing another love song to Blaine. Santana was bound to get suspicious eventually.

All of the sudden his phone beeped. He jumped. What now! He looked down but it was only Finn who had sent a text to him, Rachel, Puck, Quinn, and Santana.

We should meet together after our practices. I need to tell you guys something

Kurt looked at Finn. He was still freaking out about "G" being in his bedroom. Kurt had had to put up with two nights of Finn sleeping in his bedroom- no three- he had slept there after the party!

He hogged the bed and snored really loudly. It was starting to get really annoying.

Rachel sat at the Hudmel table with her head laid down on the table and a sad expression on her face.

"What's her problem?" Santana asked.

Kurt shook his head. He took a tray of vegan cookies and set them on the table in front of Rachel.

"You want one?" Kurt asked.

Rachel looked up at him. Then she sighed at took one from the tray. Quinn was standing in the corner with her arms crossed looking at the three of them.

"How long does it take for Puck and Finn to get here from football practice?" she asked bitterly.

Santana just glared at her and took a cookie from the try sitting down at the table. Quinn boredly looked down at her phone. She had a text from Eduardo.

We need to talk

Quinn rolled her eyes.

No

He texted back.

I need to tell you something important

Quinn could've ripped her phone in half.

Why should I talk to you?

And then she looked down at her phone.

I saved your life

Quinn felt her face turn red. Was he really going to use that against her? She didn't have a lot of memory of the party but she remembered that Eduardo had come and then she tripped down the stairs and Sam took her home. And then there was that stupid message she sent Sam...

Fine she wrote reluctantly.

She looked up. She noticed Santana looking at her.

"What," she snapped at her.

"Who are you texting?"

"No one" Quinn said angrily putting her phone back into her bag.

At that moment the door opened. Finn and Puck walked in.

"Sorry we're late- Coach wanted us to stay overtime" Finn said.

Everyone sat down at the table.

"So what was so important that you needed to gather us all together?" Santana asked glaring at Quinn.

"Something really bad happened the other day- and its really been freaking me out"

Everyone looked at him.

"'G' stole something from my bedroom. The night of the party. 'G' was in this house"

Everyone's expressions changed (with the exception of Rachel and Kurt).

"Oh my g- what- what do we do! This is really bad" Santana said taking deep breaths.

Kurt patted her on the hand. Quinn looked around the room. Puck and Kurt, who were usually the ones to step up when something was going wrong- weren't doing anything. There was no chance of Rachel and absolutely no chance of Santana who was pretty much reaching a breaking point. Why did everything have to depend on her?

"Guys! We need to hold it together okay? Its not like 'G' is going to kill us or something. All 'G' did was take something of Finn's. Its not like they tried to attack him or something"

"Yeah- but I don't want this freak in my house!" Santana cried.

"Well 'G' has probably already been in weird places- come on- how the heck do you think they know some of the stuff they do about us?"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"We need to find out possible ways 'G' could be sneaking around and make it impossible for them to do it again. That way if we make any other mistakes in the future we'll be fine and we will be able to focus on other things like finding out who it is"

"Wow- who knew. Fabrey actually has a point" Santana said eyeing her suspiciously.

Quinn rolled her eyes then took out a notebook from her bag.

"Okay everyone- lets try to go through everywhere that 'G' has spied on us" she said.

Rachel tried not to look at Puck. There was no way that she was saying where she was.

"Quinn- maybe we should figure it out ourselves" said Puck.

Rachel looked down.

"Guys! We need to do this. Think about it. We could find patterns in where 'G' has been. This could help us figure this out"

Everyone was quiet.

"Are you guys serious?" she asked extremely annoyed. She stood up putting her bag over her shoulder. "You know what. If you guys aren't going to help then I'm doing this on my own!"

She waited for someone to tell her not to leave but no one did. She tried to ignore the tears forming in her eyes and stormed out of the house.

Everyone looked at each other.

"I'll go," Rachel said. Everyone looked at her shocked. "We need her guys. I need- so badly to find out who 'G' is- and she seems to be the only one in this group who can motivate us right now"

"We don't need her," Santana said. "She pisses me off"

"We need each other okay? Now more than ever"

Rachel walked out of the room out the door. She saw Quinn's car pulling out of the driveway.

"Quinn!" she screamed out trying to run after it.

The car didn't stop though. She wanted to get in her car and follow her but her bag was inside and she would lose Quinn. So she took off after the car trying to catch up to Quinn's window.

"QUINN!" she called out again.

The car finally stopped at a stop sign. Rachel quickly made her way to the passenger side door and tapped on the window breathing heavily. The window rolled down.

"Rachel? Did you just run after me?"

Rachel nodded still unable to breath. Quinn looked at her confused.

"Why?"

Rachel took a breath.

"Because we need you Quinn. You were right. Its just- some of us don't want to say where some of the things took place- because that might be part of the secret. But- you were right to try to get us to do something. I should've said something- I'm sorry"

"No your not"

"Yeah I am" said Rachel. "We all need each other. And- I think that if someone in the group is upset about something we should all be able to be there to support each other"

Quinn looked at her.

"You really want to help me with my problems?" she asked.

Rachel nodded.

"I think everyone should have someone to go to when they're upset"

Quinn looked at Rachel for a moment. Then she opened the door.

"Get in" she said.

"What?"

"You said you would help me with my problems and I really need help right now"

Rachel looked at Quinn in disbelief but got into the car shutting the door behind her. First Santana, now Quinn... maybe there was a bright side to this "G" thing.

Puck was sitting leaning on the wall by the table where Finn was endlessly eating cookies. Kurt was upstairs talking to Santana about something. It had been a while since Rachel and Quinn left. Puck knew they weren't coming back. He didn't know if he would be able to hold up the pain any longer around Rachel. She was so miserable. She had been all day. Especially when he told her that "G" made him sing the song. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. It wasn't true. He loved her. He really did. He should've just told her. But then what? Would she just come running into his arms? Probably not. He was crazy. She was in love with Finn. They were never going to break up.

Why did he always get himself into these things?

"Puck- why does it have to be us?" Finn asked.

Puck looked over at him. "Because apparently we really annoy the hell out of someone and they think its fun to get back at us"

"Who would do that?"

"Someone with a really sick mind"

Quinn pulled up in front of an apartment and got out of the car with Rachel.

"Where are we?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed. She couldn't believe she was doing exactly what "G" had told her to- but for a completely different reason.

"This guy- he's a douchebag and he's making me talk to him. I can't go in there alone because-" Quinn started. The images of him trying to kiss her and pinning her to the car door and running his hand up her leg rushed through her head. Quinn shuddered. "Just come on"

Rachel followed her up to the apartment and Quinn knocked on the door. The door opened.

"Hey Quinn-" Eduardo started reaching for her arm. Then he spotted Rachel. He examined her bunny sweater and her above the ankle jeans. "Ugh... hi" he said awkwardly.

"This is Rachel," Quinn said. "She's my best friend"

Both Eduardo and Rachel looked at Quinn confused. Quinn gave her a look that told her to just go with it.

"Hi" Rachel said awkwardly.

Eduardo nodded at her.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Quinn asked.

"Ugh..." Eduardo looked from Rachel to Quinn. "I actually thought we were going to be alone"

"Sorry I'll-" Rachel started. Quinn pulled her back.

"I tell Rachel everything anyway. She won't bother you. She doesn't like to talk that much"

Rachel almost wanted to laugh.

"Okay- well then- you can um- come in" said Eduardo stepping out of their way so they could enter the room.

They all sat down in Eduardo's living room.

"Weird him out" Quinn hissed to Rachel.

Rachel immediately started playing with her hair and looking really uncomfortable. She noticed Eduardo looking at her weirdly.

"I- I- like the carpet" Rachel said.

Quinn bit her tongue so she wouldn't laugh. She never thought the day would come where she would see Rachel unable to talk a mile a minute- even if she was acting. Maybe Rachel really actually was very talented.

"Thanks" said Eduardo.

"So Eduardo- what is it that we needed to talk about?"

"Ugh..." his eyes were still on Rachel.

Rachel faked a blush. Quinn took a deep breath so she wouldn't laugh.

"I just wanted to talk- you know? You've been acting kind of weird around me lately"

Quinn narrowed her eyes at him.

"I have a reason"

"No you don't Quinn. And I've really been trying to make it up to you"

"Yeah right" said Quinn.

"Yeah- I tried to take you home from that party- but you wouldn't go with me and I risked-"

"Why?" Quinn asked.

Rachel looked at the two of them. She was so confused.

"Because I really like you. But you obviously still like that Sam kid over me"

Rachel saw Quinn's face drop and her nails claw into the couch. Quinn still liked Sam?

"You know what- I don't really want to be here right now. Don't text me again" Quinn said standing up.

"Quinn- I really-" Eduardo started.

Quinn shook her head and ran out of the room. Rachel stopped for a second then walked after her remembering that Quinn was her ride out of here. She got to the elevator and pressed the button. It was on the first floor. She sighed and ran down the stairs. It felt like she was running in endless circles.

When she finally got to the first floor and ran out the door Quinn was no where to be seen. Rachel looked around horrified. She had left her phone in her bag at Kurt and Finn's house. Eduardo ran outside behind her.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"She left! She fricken left me!" Rachel screamed. "Can I borrow your phone?" she asked.

"Yeah- its up in my room"

Rachel nodded and followed him upstairs.

Quinn wasn't thinking when she left Rachel there. She was just scared of what Rachel would say to her about Sam. She looked at the closest u-turn. She had to get back. She neared the u-turn but couldn't make her arms move the steering wheel. She looked in the rear view mirror as the turn got smaller and smaller in the distance. Quinn clutched the steering wheel tighter. Why was she doing this? Why couldn't she just turn around?

Rachel pressed Finn's number into the phone and held it up to her ear listening to it ring. She noticed Eduardo looking at her. She smiled at him awkwardly. The phone went to voicemail.

"Hey- its- wait- its on right?" Finn's voice said.

"Yes Finn! I am not doing this again!" Kurt's voice said.

"Wait! Kurt! This is so confusing! Come back!". There was a door slam. "Ugh- I can't come to the phone- so call me back. Bye".

Rachel hung up. She really had to help Finn change it some time. She then dialed Kurt's number. It went to his voicemail too. Rachel sighed. She couldn't call either of her dads. They were out of town. She hadn't memorized Santana's number so she couldn't call her either. There was only one either person she could call- and she really didn't want to.

"Its kind of late. Are any of your friends even awake?" Eduardo asked.

"Yeah- I think"

"Do you want to just stay here?" Eduardo asked.

Rachel looked at Eduardo. He was really cute but he had this broken nose and missing teeth which made him look a little creepy in the lighting. Plus Quinn seemed to have a lot of issues with him.

"Let me just try one more number" she said.

She looked down at the phone sadly. She couldn't believe she had to do this. She put the phone to her ear.

"Hi Noah" she said.

"Rachel?" he asked. He sounded nervous.

"Um- I was wondering if you could pick me up from somewhere," she said.

"Ugh- sure"

Eduardo wrote down the address on a piece of paper and Rachel told it to Puck.

"Okay- yeah I know where that is. I'll be there in ten minutes"

Rachel put the phone down.

"I'm going to wait downstairs" she told Eduardo.

"You told him the apartment number though. He'll know where to go. Its pretty shady down there at night," he said.

Rachel nodded.

"Do you want a drink or something?" Eduardo asked.

"Um- I'm fine," said Rachel.

Eduardo sat down beside Rachel.

"So how's Quinn doing?"

"Um- she's fine-" Rachel said.

"Does she talk about me a lot?"

Rachel shook her head. She could've sworn she saw a little smile creep on Eduardo's face.

"So do you do cheerleading with her?"

"No- I'm in Glee club with her"

"Oh. That's cool. Don't you guys sing or something?"

"Yeah"

"Wait- aren't you that girl who gets all of those solos?"

"I do- get- some solos. Not all of them. I wish though"

"You sound like a singer. You have a really pretty voice"

Rachel noticed he was a little closer to her.

"Thanks" she said inching a little bit away from him. She looked at him and blurted out "I have a boyfriend".

Eduardo laughed and stood up.

"How come you seemed so surprised that Quinn liked Sam. Don't you guys tell each other everything?"

"Well- um- I guess she didn't tell me that"

"Has she told you anything about how we-" Eduardo started.

At that moment there was a knock on the door. Rachel rushed over to it. Eduardo opened it. Puck was standing there.

"Bye Eduardo," Rachel said making her way out the door.

Him and Puck looked at each other.

"Who are you?" Puck asked.

"A friend of Quinn's" Eduardo said.

Puck looked over at Rachel who looked miserable. He cracked his knuckles.

"Well let's go Rachel" he said.

"Tell Quinn to talk to me," said Eduardo.

Rachel quickly made her way to the elevator with Puck. The doors opened and they got in.

"What's going on?" Puck asked.

"I was just trying to help out Quinn with something"

"And you got stranded at this creeps place?"

"I really wish I didn't come here"

Rachel looked down.

"Did he do something to you?"

Rachel shook her head.

"He was just really- I don't know. And something bad happened between him and Quinn. I think he did something to her,"

Puck looked at Rachel.

"Thanks for picking me up," she said.

Puck nodded. Rachel looked up at him. She flipped the off-switch on the elevator.

"I really miss being friends with you Noah. I wish- I want to just put this behind us"

Puck's heart beat rapidly.

"Me too"

"We were both- we were both drunk. It was a-" Rachel paused. "We were both drunk"

"Yeah" said Puck.

He stared at Rachel for a moment. She switched the elevator back on and the doors opened. There before them was Quinn. Rachel looked at her. Quinn immediately started crying.

"I'm so sorry Rachel," she said.

Rachel stepped out of the elevator.

"Its fine Quinn," she said and made her way out of the building with Puck not looking back on Quinn.

Ah! Quinn!

Spoilers:

another Santana/Kurt sleepover. Kurt is humiliated by Santana

Rachel goes to her callbacks

someone out of the group finds out someone's secret

Finn and Rachel have an intense fight

this is a bad time for Rachel

Puckelberry moment!