Quinn was a hard shell to crack. She was the coolest girl in school, though no one would formally admit it. She didn't give a shit what people thought of her and she did what she wanted. Her hair was short, falling in choppy layers to just below her chin and popped with the bright, hot pink dye. Bits of blonde shown through, her eyes wrapped in sensual black eyeliner, her nose ring constantly in and glinting. One day she could be wearing ripped up jeans and an old-school band tee with Docs, the next she'd be in a skater dress and converse. But never without what people had dubbed, her signature leather jacket. Black as night, the leather worn, smelling of an odd cacophony of stale cigarettes and her perfume. As odd as it sounded, it was an insanely tempting smell.
Most of all to Rachel Berry, the other girl who didn't give a shit about what other thought. She wasn't popular by any means but she wasn't at the bottom of the food chain. She was driven, the leader of the Glee club, and a force to be reckoned with. In the beginning of her high school years, she had dressed like an odd combination of a grandmother and a toddler, which Santana had dubbed, "An Asian businessman's wet dream." Suffice to say, Rachel hadn't cared. But her style had grown more mature, with her shifting away from that to flowing dresses paired with kitten heels intermixed with her jeans, blouses, and heeled boots. With her long chocolate brown hair, doe like dark chocolate orbs, tanned skin, and impossibly long legs, some would say she was a bombshell. But again, no one would formally say it, save for Puck and Brittany, both of whom had zero filters.
The two girls were on different spectrums, they ran on different wave lengths. Quinn skipped class yet was someone in standing for Valedictorian and acting captain of the Varsity Girls Lacrosse team, Rachel was Noah Puckerman's best friend and fought for her grades. Quinn hung out at the skate park taking pictures, Rachel sang her heart out in the auditorium. Yet oddly enough, they had one thing in common from their earlier years: The Glee Club.
Quinn had been roped in by Santana and Brittany, mostly Brittany, and Rachel had joined simply for the joy of singing and performing. From the start, sparks flew between the two that everyone could see. Everyone but the two girls, who brushed it off as being like-minded and therefore tending to butt heads. Yet as time drew on, realization dawned on Rachel and inevitably Quinn. Problem was, the punk wasn't about to give in. Which leads us to now.
"I need to change her mind! For god's sake, she practically eye-fucks me back!" Rachel ranted, pacing back in forth in front of Puck. The boy snorted, cocking an eyebrow at his best friend.
"Dude, you're gonna burn a hole in the ground with that much walking."
"Not the time for witty remarks Puckerman. We have one more year and I need to change her mind! I've tried asking her out, I've tried wooing her, I wrote her notes with lyrics from her favorite bands, gave her a mixtape, what more does she want." The brunette threw her hands in the air and stared at Puck, who was also friends with Quinn.
"Have you tried singing to her?" She stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before facepalming.
"I'm a moron."
"Yes, yes you are." Puck retorted, ducking as she threw her notebook at him.
"But we both know how she feels about that sort of stuff. She hates it." Rachel whined and Puck snorted.
"Dude, everyone loves being sung to. It's like, personal and sweet and shit. 'Member how I serenaded Lauren and helped her out when she wanted to sing? It gives peeps confidence. Just cuz little miss badass says she doesn't like that shit, doesn't mean she means it."
Rachel stared at him for a moment, jaw slightly unhinged. "When the hell did you get so smart?"
"About the time you figured out you were into Fabray."
"… You're an ass you know that?"
"You love me for it."
Rachel rolled her eyes but nodded and sat down on the choir room floor. "Well, now we gotta figure out what song to do for her."
"Song for who?" We looked up as Santana and Brittany walked in, pinkies linked and a sly smirk on the Latina's face.
"Oh my god Rae, are you finally gonna sing to Quinn like how Heath Ledger did in 10 Things I Hate About You? Cuz that would totes be cute. And she's got lacrosse practice everyday, so you could totally surprise her like that! You'll be like Kat and Patrick!" Brittany squealed, jumping up and down as Rachel and Puck gaped and Santana started laughing.
"Brittany, you're a genius!" Rachel shouted, jumping up and tackling the dancer in a hug.
"Whoa, paws of Hobbs. You gots to get your own blonde hottie." Santana swatted the girl on the arm until she let go, Brittany and Rachel still laughing and Puck chuckling.
"Alright, so, what song?" Rachel looked between the three, all having thoughtful looks.
"Slam Crunk?"
"Too obnoxious for a serenade, though we should perform that as some point as a fun group number."
"Baby?"
"Sam sang that last year, along with you Puck."
"Chelsea?"
Rachel stared at Brittany once again, the gears turning. "Maybe not that song, but another song by them will work perfectly. I'll go hunt down the sheet music and get working on it. Can you guys help me get a mic?"
"I think I can bribe a couple AV geeks to help us out." Santana smiled wickedly, pulling Brittany back out the door with her as Rachel trailed behind.
"Hey wait, what am I supposed to do?" Puck called and Rachel looked over her shoulder with a smirk.
"Sit there and look pretty!" She called, the trio of girls laughing as Puck huffed and rolled his eyes.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"God, is it national asshole day?" Quinn grumbled, slamming her locker shut.
"What's got you in such a shitty mood?" Puck asked, falling into step with the blonde.
She cut him a sidelong look. "Some jackass cut me off in the parking lot this morning and stole my spot so I had to park in the very back. Then said jackass nearly backed up into me when I was walking by. Not to mention everyone in this school is a dipshit." She grunted.
Puck chuckled. "You hit anyone?"
"I'm pretty damn close."
Puck snickered, Quinn joining in as they turned down the athletic hallway. "So, whatcha guys doing at practice today? Getting ready to kick that Michigan teams ass?"
"Duh. You guys are doing the same right?"
Puck nodded, shifting his lacrosse bag up on his shoulder. "Yeah but coach is getting pissed cuz Finn is such a shitty goalie and can't even stop shots from Azimio."
"What's so shitty about that?"
"Az aims for his stick." Puck deadpanned and Quinn quirked an eyebrow and burst out laughing.
"How the hell is he even your guys' goalie?"
"Sam got too many concussions, his last one put him out for the season after he got his bell rung by Karfoshky. The asshole ran him down and slammed him head into the goal post."
Quinn grimaced and nodded in understanding. "Considering how many concussions I have, I know the feeling. Listen, I gotta go but we're going to get food after alright?"
Puck smirked and nodded, watching as she headed into the locker room and shook his head. "Man, she's in for one helluva surprise."
Out in the stadium, Rachel stood in the commentators box and looked over the shoulder of one of the AV club boys Santana had roped into helping. "Here's the mic, just give us the cue and we'll turn it on and start the music up. If security shows up, we had nothing to do with this. Santana beat us up and forced us to give you the keys."
Rachel snorted but nodded. "She tell you to tell me that?"
"Yup." He stood and made his way to the audio system to make sure it was ready and Rachel rolled her eyes.
"Of course, she did."
She turned back to look out the windows, watching as the both the boys and girl's lacrosse teams filed out onto the large field. They split the field half and half, with each switching off days to borrow the full field for scrimmages and such. The brunette immediately spotted the pink haired punk, dressed in baggy basketball shorts and just her chest protector on top, the rest of her gear on and her helmet dangling at the end of her stick. Rachel smiled softly, watching as the girls stretched as Coach Sylvester screeched at them. On the other side of the field, Puck and Mike were passing, warming up like the rest of the boys without their helmets on. Brittany and Santana sat in the bleachers, ogling the lacrosse girls together and harassing the Gleek boys as much as possible.
Down on the field, Puck glanced up towards the box and spotted Rachel, waving slightly. She waved back and Mike looked up, eyebrows raising. "Who let Rach into the box?"
"Couple AV geeks. They're helping us out." Puck passed the ball and Mike caught it easily, confusion written on his face.
"Why're they helping you guys out?"
"Jewbabe finally got some balls." Puck said mysteriously, smirk on and Mike shook his head.
"You guys are gonna get in trouble one of these days."
"One of these days?"
"Ladies, enough chit chat! Get your asses moving, we've got Hartland this weekend and they're top in their state, right behind East Grand Rapids and Rockford!" Beiste bellowed, clapping her hands and waving her clipboard.
Coach Sylvester did the same and as they ran, Rachel looked down at her outfit. Just a simple pair of her favorite jeans, paired with her worn out Vans high tops, a pale grey Henley, and a black denim jacket over top, her Raybans perched on her head. Both teams finished their laps and began their stretches and Rachel looked at the AV kid.
"Start it up."
He looked back at her and gave her a thumbs up, flicking the mic on and hit play.
Music blew through the speakers loud and clear and everyone stopped, looking around in confusion. Puck, Santana, and Brittany grinned widely as a voice joined in and everyone looked around the stadium.
Cigarettes, American beauty
Young corvette, a heartbreaker running wild
Running wild
Rachel danced out of the box, flipping her sunglasses down and grapevined down the steps slowly. Puck and Mike catcalled from their position, Quinn dropped her helmet, and Santana and Brittany danced to the beat.
Blonde ambition, black leather jacket
Joy Division, thunderstorm, out all night
Out all night
She made it down to the two girls and danced together with them, getting into the beat and as she sang the next lines, she flipped her sunglasses back up and pointed directly at the punk lacrosse goalie.
I'm gonna steal your heart before it kills me
I'm gonna go too far even if it kills me
She jumped down the steps as the chorus started, watching as some of the other lacrosse girls danced along, giggling and shoving Quinn towards the brunette. Quinn tried to hide the flush by rolling her eyes and shoving her teammates back, though the small smile danced on her lips.
Hey you, queen of the cool
Something 'bout you making me lose my mind
Lose my mind
Rachel made it to the edge of the bleachers and did some ridiculous dance move, with a little shoulder rolling and foot kicking. Puck jogged over to Quinn and nudged her with a knowing wink.
Hey you, rock and roll dress
Hard to impress, baby I'll change your mind
Change your mind
"She got your attention now didn't she?"
"Fuck off Puck."
The boy smirked, turning back to his best friend who was still dancing, with Brittany and Santana jogging down the steps and hopping over the fence with ease in front of her.
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Rachel followed after, smoothly slipping over the high fence and landed, a little puff of breath coming through the mic as she continued to sing. Up in the booth, both the AV club boys were getting into it too.
Midnight teen a booth in the corner, members only
Talking shit with your friends
All your friends
Rachel slowly made her way over to the lacrosse girls, going as far to hop up onto their bench, knowing over several bags and sang. Coach Sylvester huffed and rolled her eyes at the antics but said nothing, even going as far as to nod her head in approval at the rambunctious brunette.
Heartbeat pounding, this is the moment
Feelers courage, baby just let me in
Let me in
"You know Rachel is like, totally pulling a 10 Things right now right?"
"It's your favorite movie!"
"I'm aware guys." Quinn huffed out, biting back a smile as she watched her friend and the girl she had eyes for sing.
I'm gonna steal your heart before it kills me
I'm gonna go too far even if it kills me
Hey you, queen of the cool
Something 'bout you making me lose my mind
Lose my mind
Hey you, rock and roll dress
Hard to impress, baby I'll change your mind
Change your mind
Rachel stood in front of Quinn now, dancing still with Brittany and Santana on either side, chiming in every other word with smiles on all their faces, an impish one on Rachel's.
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
I'm gonna steal your heart before it kills me
I'm gonna go too far even if it kills me
She pointed right at Quinn and crooked her finger in a come hither motion, which the blonde rolled her eyes at and shook her head, sticking her nose up. Rachel huffed a laugh and shook her own head, dancing away from the girl.
Hey you, queen of the cool
Something 'bout you making me lose my mind
Lose my mind
Hey you, rock and roll dress
Hard to impress, baby I'll change your mind
Change your mind
Rachel tried again, this time having the backing of Quinn's teammates and Puck, who shoved her right into Rachel. They collided and Rachel grinned, wrapping an arm around the goalie's waist.
Hey you, queen of the cool
Something 'bout you making me lose my mind
Lose my mind
Hey you, rock and roll dress
Hard to impress, baby I'll change your mind
Change your mind
She pecked Quinn's cheek and danced away, laughing a bit at the blush and wide eyes the blonde sported after the move.
"Awww, Quinnie's blushing."
"Fuck off you guys." She whined, shoving Brittany and Santana with a small laugh.
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Rachel slid to her knees in front of Quinn, looking up at her and pointing as she threw her head back and sang. The team cheered, with some of the boys lacrosse team joining and Quinn shaking her head at the antics. It was so nineties teen rom-com material and so good. And so sweet.
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Girl, gonna change your mind, mind, mind, mind
Change your mind, mind, mind, mind
"So? Did I change your mind?" Rachel gasped out, hunching over a bit and looking up at the punk hopefully.
Quinn quirked an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side. Everyone waited in anticipation, Santana going as far as to nudge her. Quinn smacked her and pulled Rachel up.
"I might need to talk shit with my friends first." She responded seriously, shoving down the smile fighting to appear.
Rachel sighed dramatically and Quinn laughed.
"Yes, you changed my mind." She said.
The team cheered and Rachel threw her first in the air, John Bender style, which just brought a whole new round of laughter and head shaking, with one knuckle bump from Puck.