I'M SOOOOO SORRY FOR THE WAIT. I knowww I said I'd update earlier, but... Well... I had a writers block. I'm never going to say when I'm gonna update again because I can't keep a promise. However, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a bit longer than other chapters. Have fun reading.
x
Quinn has never seen Rachel as confident as she is right now. She smiles brightly, walks with her head up and all her fear for going to school is suddenly vanished. Maybe those new clothes weren't such a bad idea after all. Quinn smiles at her friend as she sighs contently. Rachel looks at her with shiny eyes and links her arm into hers. Together, they walk into the school. Immediately as they walk through the door, people look at them. Quinn feels herself heating up as they walk through the crowd, to their lockers. Quinn hears people whisper and their eyes are pointing into her back. Every damn person is watching them.
"Look, it works! They appreciate my new look." Rachel states shakily. She smiles nervously. Please let her be right. Please don't let it be that people are still going to bully her.
"I guess so." Quinn grins back, hesitantly.
Rachel catches her hesitanetness. "Quinn... Please don't act like this. I'm gonna be fine. Nobody's gonna bully me now. Say it." Rachel pleads her. Quinn sees some worry in her eyes and she knows Rachel is just as nervous about this as her.
"I'm just afraid new clothes aren't going to stop the bullying. I'm sorry." Quinn shakes her head sadly.
"Enough!" Rachel snaps. Quinn takes a step back at the sudden outburst. Her eyes widen.
"Oh god, I'm sorry." Rachel looks sadly at her. "I didn't mean to do that."
Quinn smiles softly. "It's okay, Rach. I get it: you're nervous about this."
Rachel nods. "It's just... I've been bullied my entire life. I just want to be happy. To be free for once, you know?"
Quinns heart breaks at the vulnerability in Rachels voice. She walks up to Rachel and grabs a small hand into hers. Her other hand goes up to Rachels cheek and she runs her thumb across the soft skin. "I promise you I'll keep you save. And you're gonna be happy. You're so wonderful, sweetie. Don't let them ruin you."
Rachel sniffs and looks up to her with watery eyes. "Thank you." Her voice trembles slightly.
Quinns hand wipes away the wetness under Rachels eyes. "You know I love you, right?" She softly says.
Rachel chuckles at this with a sniffle. "Yes, silly. Of course I know that. I love you, too."
Quinn grins. "Well, I'll walk you to your first class, okay?"
Rachel nods and grabs her hand tightly. Together, they walk through the whispering crowd again. As they finally arrive at Rachels first class, Quinn squeezes her hand for a second. "Be strong." She adds. Rachel nods shakily. Quinn watches her as she walks into the classroom. Sighing, she slings her bag over her shoulder and walks to her own class.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
After three hours of worrying about Rachel, it's finally break time. She has heard many whispers about "the gay couple" of McKinley the last three hours and she knows they're talking about her and Rachel. She really thought that rumor would be gone by now, but apparently not. Almost stumbling over the bags of other kids, she half runs, half walks to her locker, hoping to find Rachel there. But that's not the case. Impatiently, she waits for another minute but still, no Rachel. After that, she walks to the canteen. And there... Well... No Rachel.
"Gosh, Rachel... Where are you..." The mumbles to herself.
A few jocks walk by. "What are you doing, Fabgay? Searching for your little girlfriend?" laughing, they walk further.
Quinn wants to yell at them, attack them, kick them in the nuts. But she's worried sick about Rachel and that's all she cares about right now. Suddenly, she sees Kurt walking out of the canteen.
"Kurt! Do you know where Rachel is?" Her voice trembles. Kurt frowns worriedly.
"No, why?" His voice shudders. Quinn brings a trembling hand to her forehead.
"She should've been here right now." Quinn starts sweating.
"I would've helped you if I wasn't in a hurry right now. I have to clean the floor of Sue's office." He sighs
Quinn looks questionably at him. Kurt rolls his eyes. "Don't ask. It's silly. But I REALLY have to go now, so good luck, Quinn. I hope she's okay. And give her a kiss from me." Quinn nods quietly.
After Kurt left, Quinn walks to her locker, silently praying that Rachel showed up after all. Of course that's not the case.
"...Pay back for what she did to the guy. Hilarious!"
"No kidding? Ha! And how can you live without meat? I'd need my chicken wings!"
Quinn catches a conversation between two cheerleaders. Freshman's. She has a weird feeling the thing they're talking about involves Rachel and she almost cries, because GOD she promised the girl to keep her save.
"Q!" She hears behind her. She turns around and finds Santana, who's out of breath and holding on to a locker. She shakes a hand as if she gets oxygen out of that.
"I have no fucking idea why I'm here but I'm kinda worried about Igor." Santana explains, slowly catching her breath.
"Who?" Quinn frowns.
"The dwarf, of course! How slow is that pretty head of yours?" Santana snarls, irritation in her sharp eyes.
"What's wrong?" Quinn worriedly asks.
"Karofsky took Igor for a walk. She didn't look very comfortable when he pulled her with him into a random classroom." Santana rolls her eyes.
Quinn feels herself shaking. "Santana. Bring me to that classroom." She slowly says.
"But I..." Santana protests.
"It wasn't a question." Quinn threateningly says.
"FINE!" Santana snaps and she grabs Quinn by the arm, pulling her with her in a death grip. Quinn wants to say that it hurts her but then she hears voices on the other side of the hallway. Shouting, cheering voices. Quinn feels her stomach turn.
"Please say me she's not in there." Quinn pleads. In that classroom on the other side of the hallway, is definitely not only Karofsky. It must be a whole crowd.
Santana shrugs helplessly. "Sorry."
Quinn knows enough. Rachel is in there, with Karofsky and a whole bunch of people. People who do not like Rachel. And she realizes another thing: The whole school knew about this. All the whispering, the conversations behind her back. It's all a big, stupid, conscious prank.
"Oh god, Rachel."
Quinn feels tears welling up. She pulls herself out of Santana's grip and starts running. Everything seems to go in slow motion all of sudden: The moment she almost reaches the door, the moment she hears Santana yelling behind her, the moment she opens the door. Slow motion everywhere. But it stops as soon as she sees what's behind the door. That's the moment she starts crying, because she sees Rachel on her knees with tears streaming down her cheeks, Karofsky with a hand on her neck pushing her towards a plate with a whole bunch of meat on it and a huge crowd around them who are now looking at Quinn.
"Leave her alone." Quinns trembling voice says. Karofsky frowns at her and smirks.
"Look who's there. The midget's girlfriend. Say hi to your girlfriend, manhands." He laughs at the shaking girl in front of him.
"I mean it. KEEP YOUR FILTHY PAWS AWAY FROM HER." Quinn shouts, now more confident. Her heart breaks as she looks at her little VEGAN soulmate, who's crying heavily and panting like she's choking.
"What do you think? Should I let her go?" Karofsky turns his attention to the crowd. They all scream "NO". Karofsky shrugs and smirks at Quinn again.
"Guess she has to pay for what she did to my friend. Slushying my friend wasn't very nice of her." He sighs, faking sympathy.
"She helped me. You should punish ME." Quinn snaps.
Karofsky frowns. "Hmm, so you want me to punish YOU instead of your girlfriend. How adorable." He laughs again.
"She's not my girlfriend." Quinn hears herself saying, almost like she's in pain because of it. She curses herself for it.
"Oh, she's not? But you want her to be, right?" He smirks. Rachel looks up to her now. She swallows the lump in her throat away.
"...Yes." She looks at the ground. The crowd laughs at her, judging her. A member of the Fabray family is gay. That's a big deal. This could ruin her father's reputation. She feels tears welling up again.
"Aww she is crying! What now? Hmm, let me see. I have a deal for you, Fabray." Quinn looks into Karofsky's eyes. He grabs a videocamera from behind his back. "I actually wanted to film her while eating meat because that would be hilarious, considering she's a vegan. But I guess it would be so much more fun to film her while you're kissing her, right? A present for your dad? Wouldn't that be just WONDERFUL? His baby girl, the perfect cheerleader with the perfect grades, a filthy lesbian?"
"She's not filthy." A voice startles them. Quinn looks at Rachel, who opened her mouth. Her heart swells.
"Preparing for the kiss, Berry?" Karofsky barks at her. Rachel shuts her mouth and looks at the ground again, fearfully.
"I can't." Quinn quietly says.
Karofsky sighs. "Well, let's make her eat meat then. Berry, look at that coward of a friend you have here."
Rachel looks at her with fear. "I-It's okay, Quinn. You d-don't have to d-do this. I'll just eat t-the meat."
Quinn knows how important her vegan lifestyle is for her and she feels ashamed. Karofsky grabs Rachel by the neck again and slowly pushes her towards the plate. The crowd is going crazy, cheering and whistling. Quinn can't take it anymore. Rachel is just about to reach the plate, while screaming and crying, as she speaks up.
"NO! I'll do it." She shouts. She regrets it immediately. Karofsky stops his movements and looks at her with amusement.
"Wow. Didn't know you had it in you, Fabray. Well, go to your dwarf, then. I'll just stand here and film it." Karofsky starts his camera.
Quinn swallows heavily and slowly walks up to Rachel, who's still on her knees. She stands in front of her and lowers herself onto her knees, too. Rachel looks up to her and Quinn sees tears in her eyes. She brings her hand to Rachels face and wipes away the tears.
"Don't be afraid. I'll just kiss you and it'll all be over, right?" She hears the doubt in her own voice.
"You know this is a big deal, Quinn. I don't wanna hurt you." Rachel whispers back.
"You can never hurt me." Quinn lies.
"Honey, you know I can." Rachel's voice breaks.
"Just... Just don't hate me for this, okay?"
After she says that, she grabs Rachel's face with both of her hands and smashes their lips together. At first, nothing happens and Quinn whimpers with sadness. Then, Rachel starts moving, gliding her lips against her own. Quinn feels that Rachel is unexperienced in this, considering she never had a real kiss before, so she decides to take the lead, slowly stroking Rachels cheek while sensually stroking her tongue against Rachels bottom lip, who whimpers at the contact. Rachel opens her mouth a bit further, letting Quinn's tongue meet her own. Quinn throws all her love for the smaller girl into the kiss, playing with the tiny hairs behind Rachels neck. She wants to make it special for Rachel, although this might've not been what Rachel wanted. She feels Rachels hand on the small of her back, slowly stroking circles. Their tongues battle, a bit sloppy because Rachel never did this before, but in Quinn's eyes it's perfect. They totally forget about the crowd around them, who are watching them with interest, and about Karofsky, who's filming the whole thing with amusement.
"Well, girls. I think I have all I need. Thank you both for the SPECTACULAR show. Come on, guys. We're done here."
The crowd leaves, following Karofsky. Santana stands at the door, looking at them with big eyes as they finally break the kiss, blushing at each other.
"Okay guys, I don't know what I missed but THAT was hot." Santana shakes her head with a grin.
"I-I..." Rachel wants to speak but she's still crying.
"I'm so sorry." Quinn feels her own tears streaming down her face. She wants to stand up and walk to Santana, who's now frowning with confusion because 'what the heck has happened here', but a small hand grabs hers and she looks at Rachel again, worry and fear in her eyes.
"I-I love you."
x
Sorry for the cliffhanger. Review, Follow, Favorite. The usual stuff. (and again, don't mind the grammar mistakes. I'm horrible in English grammar)